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 Bampton lectures 
 
 
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ASPECTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 OTTLEY 
 
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
THE BAMPTON LECTURES, iSpj 
 
 ASPECTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 CONSIDERED IN EIGHT LECTURES 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT LAWRENCE OTTLEY, MA. 
 
 SUCCESSIVELY STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH AND 
 
 FELLOW OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE 
 
 SOMETIME PRINCIPAL OF THE PUSEY HOUSE 
 
 'Caritas congaudet veritati.' — i Cor. xiii. 6. 
 NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 
 \_All rights reserved] 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 "I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the 
 
 "Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of 
 " Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the 
 "said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and 
 " purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and 
 " appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ox- 
 " ford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, 
 '-■ issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, 
 "and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- 
 <' mainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 " mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and 
 " to be performed in the manner following : 
 
 "I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in 
 " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads 
 " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining 
 "to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the 
 " morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity 
 "Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in 
 
vi EXTRACT FROM CANON BAMPTON'S WILL 
 
 "Oxford, between the commencement of the last month in 
 " Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. 
 
 "Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture 
 " Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following 
 '• Subjects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and 
 "to confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the divine 
 "authority of the holy Scriptures — upon the authority of 
 "the writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and 
 " practice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our 
 " Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the 
 " Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as 
 " comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. 
 
 " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- 
 "ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months 
 " after they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the 
 " Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of 
 " every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of 
 " Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; 
 '' and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the 
 "revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the 
 "Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the Preacher shall not be 
 " paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- 
 " fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath 
 " taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the 
 "two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the 
 " same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 " mons twice." 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following lectures are intended rather to illus- 
 trate than to defend exhaustively a view of the Old 
 Testament which to the writer has long been habitual, 
 and which, having some claim to be considered a via 
 media, will, he hopes, commend itself to thoughtful 
 Churchmen. 
 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith has recently asserted that those 
 whom he calls ' rationalistic apologists ' do but tamper 
 with their conscience and understanding when they 
 claim that the Old Testament contains both a divine 
 and a human element. 'Far better it is,' he says, 
 ' whatever the effort may cost, honestly to admit that 
 the sacred books of the Hebrews, granting their 
 superiority to the sacred books of other nations, are, 
 like the sacred books of other nations, the works of 
 man and not of God \' Such statements as this, and 
 they are not infrequently made, seem to challenge the 
 attention of loyal Churchmen, and to justify the 
 attempt to deal dispassionately both with the un- 
 deniable facts that have been brought to light by 
 
 1 Guesses at the Riddle of Existence (Essay on ' The Church and the 
 Old Testament ')j P- 95- 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 historical and critical research, and with the theories 
 which they are supposed to support. 
 
 In writing these lectures I have had in view several 
 different classes of persons. 
 
 There are those who, like Mr. Goldwin Smith him- 
 self, imagine that 'High Churchmen, having studied 
 recent criticism, feel that there is a millstone to be cast 
 off^' Speaking for myself, I am unaware of any 'mill- 
 stone' other than the strange and inveterate miscon- 
 ceptions which are widely prevalent, and are apparently 
 shared by the distinguished essayist himself, respecting 
 the true place and function of the Old Testament in 
 the life and system of the Christian Church. Those 
 who have watched the course of religious thought on 
 the subject will certainly feel that Mr. Goldwin Smith's 
 strictures on the honesty and good sense of Church- 
 men are somewhat belated and irrelevant. I say con- 
 fidently that the effect of a more strictly historical 
 and scientific study has been to enhance the interest, 
 reverence, and love with which we Churchmen regard 
 the Old Testament. We deplore the comparative 
 neglect of the Bible which has to some extent been 
 the consequence of recent unsettlement, and we are 
 anxious to enrich others as we have been enriched, 
 by imparting to them a point of view from which the 
 verdicts of criticisms can be justly appreciated. 
 
 It is a matter of simple experience that modern 
 research has both enlarged our insight into the actual 
 course and method of divine revelation, and has shed 
 abundant light on many points which the pre-critical 
 conception of Hebrew history left obscure or alto- 
 gether unexplained. 
 
 Again, there are those whose dislike or suspicion of 
 the critical movement has led them, as I think, to 
 
 ^ Op. cif. p. 50. 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 minimize the significance and' value of its assured 
 results. The main defect of some books written in 
 defence of traditional theories is that while they en- 
 deavour, not without a measure of success, to discredit 
 the results of an extreme, one-sided, and rationalistic 
 criticism, they do not always appear adequately to 
 recognize the importance of those conclusions which 
 the research of 150 years has rendered inevitable, 
 which sober critics of every school practically agree 
 to accept, and which in any case have considerably 
 modified the traditional theory of Hebrew history and 
 religion \ 
 
 My aim is to show that it is possible to regard as 
 conclusive and to welcome with cordiality many verdicts 
 of the ' Higher Criticism,' without necessarily accepting 
 what is merely conjectural and arbitrary. 
 
 Once more, there is a class of persons to whom 
 maxima debetur reverentia. 
 
 It may be asked whether I have seriously considered 
 the probable effect on the simple faith and piety of 
 ordinary Churchmen of statements which question 
 cherished beliefs, and may possibly disturb or en- 
 danger faith itself. Certainly I r£cognize with sincere 
 pain that certain assumptions and statements contained 
 in this book may possibly cause disquiet and alarm to 
 some devout Christians. But it is one of the diffi- 
 culties of our present transitional position that each 
 step in advance, while it brings relief to many, occa- 
 sions distress or even scandal to some. We must face 
 the inevitable cost involved in intellectual movement. 
 The duty of a teacher is to weigh the perils of frank 
 utterance against those of continued silence. On the 
 
 1 I may mention such typical works as Prof. Robertson's Early Religion 
 of Israel, Mr. Baxter's Sanctuary and Sacrifice, and Prof. Hommel's 
 Ancient Hebrew Tradition illustrated by the Mottumefits. 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 one hand, he may know of many — clergy, students, 
 schoolmasters, thoughtful laymen, highly educated 
 women charged with the religious training of children, 
 and others — who are deeply impressed by the solidity 
 and weight of the case for the Hiorher Criticism of the 
 Old Testament, and who, in view of its apparent 
 results, are eagerly looking for guidance and reassur- 
 ance. On the other hand, he is bound to consider 
 carefully the danger of wounding or scandalizing those 
 who have little or no opportunity of forming an inde- 
 pendent judgment on matters of science or criticism, 
 and who cannot be expected to part with convictions 
 that are indissolubly bound up with their religious 
 experience. 
 
 In view of this difficulty, a man is justified in com- 
 mitting himself to the guidance of God, and doing his 
 best at once to aid the perplexed, and to deal tenderly 
 with those whose faith has been hitherto undisturbed. 
 I do not ask any reader to accept without due inquiry 
 the particular conception of Hebrew history which has 
 been adopted in these lectures; but I do desire to 
 show that a Christian believer need not cast away his 
 faith because his traditional view of the Old Testament 
 has been shown to be inadequate or untenable. And 
 if through any want of due reverence, caution, or con- 
 sideration I have needlessly troubled any devout mind, 
 I can only express my sorrow, and unreservedly 
 submit what I have written to the judgment of the 
 Church. 
 
 I must acknowledge a debt of gratitude to friends 
 who have given me the benefit of their counsel and 
 criticism, especially to Dr. Driver, Dr. Moberly, and 
 Dr. Lock. To the governors of the Pusey House who 
 granted me a Term's absence from Oxford, and to my 
 friend Mr. Hutton of St. John's College who allowed 
 
PREFACE XI 
 
 me the use of his house at Burford, I am equally 
 indebted. Mr. Rackham of the Community of the 
 Resurrection, who has devoted unsparing pains to the 
 revision and correction of the proof-sheets, has rendered 
 a signal service both to the writer and to the readers 
 of this book. 
 
 R. L. O. 
 
 WiNTERBOURNE BaSSETT, 
 
 August, 1897. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 The Christian Church and the 'Higher Criticism.' 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Catholic spirit illustrated I 
 
 Subject of the lectures proposed 6 
 
 Standpoint from which it is approached 1 1 
 
 I. The belief in the Incarnation 12 
 
 The Incarnation illustrates the divine use of media, and the 
 
 divine self-accommodation to human capacities ... 13 
 Analogy of the Incarnation applied to Scripture . . -15 
 
 (1) The unity of Scripture . ...... 15 
 
 (2) Its twofold nature I? 
 
 (3) Its self-witness 20 
 
 II. The belief in Inspiration 22 
 
 The action of the Holy Spirit discernible — 
 
 (1) In the formation of Scripture 26 
 
 (2) In the writers themselves 27 
 
 The meaning of Inspiration to be ascertained inductively . 29 
 
 Its peculiar characteristics 3° 
 
 III. The main results of historical criticism-assumed ... 32 
 
 Summary of these results . 33 
 
 Special observations on the higher criticism — 
 
 (1) Historical consistency of its results .... 36 
 
 (2) Hindrances to their acceptance 4° 
 
 (3) The duty of deference to experts 44 
 
 IV. Factors determining the true use of the Old Testament — 
 
 (i) The authority of Christ 46 
 
 (2) The spiritual experience of Christians . ... 49 
 
 The doctrine of the Church : its bearing on our inquiry . • 5 ^ 
 
 LECTURE IL 
 
 Different Aspects of the Old Testament. 
 
 The special function of the Old Testament 53 
 
 General survey . . . -55 
 
xiv SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS 
 
 FAGB 
 
 I. The Old Testament a history of redemption .... 56 
 
 The story of the ' origins,' its character and purpose . . 57 
 Special features of redemptive history — 
 
 (1) The occurrence of miracle 61 
 
 (2) The principle of limitation or severance ... 63 
 Character of the historical narratives 65 
 
 II. The Old Testament the history of a progressive revelation . 66 
 
 Different views of the evolution of the idea of God ... 67 
 
 Effects of the exodus 68 
 
 The foundations of monotheism 69 
 
 Of the idea of holiness 72 
 
 Of the idea of grace 75 
 
 The continuity of revelation 78 
 
 III. The Old Testament traces the history of a covenantal relation- 
 
 _ship 79 
 
 The divme requirement mvolved in it 81 
 
 IV. The Old Testament and the Messianic hope .... 82 
 
 The idea of a kingdom of God or ' theocracy ' . . . .84 
 
 Its history considered 85 
 
 Its characteristics proclaimed by the prophets- 
 Universality 86 
 
 Spirituality 87 
 
 V. The Old Testament vi^itnesses to a divine purpose for the indi- 
 
 vidual 89 
 
 Growth of the sense of individuality . . . . . .90 
 
 The teachings of spiritual experience and of national calamity 91 
 The general arrangement of the Hebrew Bible — 
 
 Its correspondence with the five above-mentioned aspects 
 
 of Old Testament theology 93 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 The Historical Element in the Old Testament. 
 
 Analogy of Scripture to physical nature 98 
 
 The Old Testament an historical book loo 
 
 Preliminary considerations — 
 
 (i) Composite character of the narratives . . . loi 
 
 (2) Probable results of archaeological research . . . 105 
 
 (3) The (2 /r/^;^' credibility of miracle .... 107 
 
 I. The patriarchal period relatively pre-historic .... 109 
 
 The narratives historical in substance Iio 
 
 (1) A true picture of the general conditions of patriarchal 
 
 life 113 
 
 (2) And of the main factors in Israel's religious develop- 
 
 ment 115 
 
 (3) Element of idealization in the Pentateuch, its extent 
 
 and characteristics II9 
 
 The ' priestly narrative ' : its character 121 
 
 Prophetic idealization in the older narratives .... 125 
 
 Considerations which appear to justify it . . . ... 128 
 
 II, The Mosaic period — 
 
 The work of Moses that of a prophet 131 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Main features of the Mosaic narratives 133 
 
 (1) They regard the exodus as a fundamental fact . .134 
 
 (2) They aim at exhibiting the character and requirement 
 
 of God 138 
 
 (3) They depict an ideal theocracy 140 
 
 (4) Typical significance of the narratives . . . .142 
 General reflections 144 
 
 III. The historical books — 
 
 The materials forming their substratum, and their general 
 
 features 145 
 
 Three elements in the prophetic theory of the history— 
 
 (1) The reality of grace 151 
 
 (2) The importance of critical epochs . . . .152 
 
 (3) Method of divine deliverances 154 
 
 The action of the Holy Spirit in Israel's history . . .155 
 General summary 1 57 
 
 Note A. The patriarchal narratives 160 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 The Progressive Self-Revelation of God. 
 
 The continuity of revelation 161 
 
 I. General features of Hebrew revelation considered as progressive 162 
 
 The method justified in Christ 164 
 
 Illustrations of the tendency of Old Testament religion — 
 
 (a) In the sphere of worship 166 
 
 The principle of selection 167 
 
 Circumcision 167 
 
 Sacrifice 168 
 
 (d) In the sphere of ethical ideas 170 
 
 The idea of ' holiness ' 171 
 
 Mosaism and the Decalogue 172 
 
 The idea of personality ....... 175 
 
 Human sacrifice : Gen. xxii. 176 
 
 The slaughter of the Canaanites 178 
 
 'II. The 'Name' of God progressively unfolded .... 181 
 General names, '£/, 'E/oa/i, 'E/o/u'm, 'El 'Elyon ; their mean- 
 ing and use 183 
 
 The patriarchal name, '£■/ .S'/w^<3'az 184 
 
 The name y^;//z/^/i . 1 85 
 
 1\\&i\i\^%Adonaizxi^JahvehTsebaoth 186 
 
 The Hebrew conception of revelation 187 
 
 Theological significance of the different titles of deity . . 189 
 
 '£■/, 'Elo/nin, ' Eloah, 'El "Elyon 190 
 
 '£■/ Shaddai and 'Adonai 191 
 
 Jehovah {Jahveh) 1 93 
 
 Anthropomorphic language in the Old Testament . . . 194 
 
 The attributes oi Jehovah 195 
 
 (i) 'Righteousness ' and 'truth' 198 
 
 (2) * Kindness ' or ' grace ' 199 
 
 The jealousy oi Jehovah ........ 200 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jehovah Tsebaoth ' . . . . 203 
 
 The ' fatherhood ' of God in the Old Testament . . . 204 
 Conclusion 205 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 The Ancient Covenant and its Worship. 
 
 The covenant between Jehovah and Israel inaugurated at Sinai . 206 
 
 I. The idea of the covenant : its history and conditions . . . 209 
 
 II. The moral requirement involved in the covenant . . . 213 
 
 The Decalogue : its contents and characteristics . . .2x5 
 
 (1) Religion the foundation of personal morality and social 
 
 duty 219 
 
 (2) Absence of directions bearing on worship . . . 220 
 
 (3) Moral symbohsm of the Mosaic institutions . , 222 
 
 III. The sanctuary and the sacrifices — 
 
 The prophetic idea that underlies them 224 
 
 The description of the tabernacle an idealized sketch . . 226 
 
 The levitical sacrifices 227 
 
 (i) The sacrifices based on pre-existing customs . . 229 
 
 (2) The attitude of the prophets towards sacrifice . . 230 
 
 (3) Was the levitical system ever in actual operation? . 231 
 
 (4) The development of piacular sacrifice .... 232 
 Names and characteristics of the different classes of 
 
 sacrifice 234 
 
 General features common to all . . . . . 236 
 
 Features distinctive of each ..... 238 
 
 IV. Symbolic and typical significance — 
 
 Of the Tabernacle 247 
 
 Of the sacrificial system 250 
 
 Fulfilment of levitical types in Christ — 
 
 The Burnt-offering 253 
 
 The Sin-offering 255 
 
 The Peace-offering 258 
 
 Spirituality of the Law 259 
 
 Note A. The symbolic significance of the Tabernacle . . .261 
 
 LECTURE VL 
 
 Prophecy and the Messianic Hope. 
 
 The use of the phrase ' The Law and the Prophets "... 265 
 
 Prophecy, the distinctive element in Hebrew religion . . . 269 
 I. The beginnings of prophetism — 
 
 An institution common to the Semitic tribes .... 270 
 
 The work of Samuel • . . . 272 
 
 Elijah 273 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS 
 
 conception 
 
 II. Tbe prophets : aspects of their work — 
 
 (i) Prophetic inspiration : its character. The name Nadht 
 
 (2) The sphere in which the gift of prophecy was exercised 
 
 Function of the prophets 
 
 Social and poHtical conditions of the eighth century 
 Social influence of the prophets . 
 Their work that of proclaiming judgment 
 
 (3) The religious influence of the prophets 
 The prophets in relation to monotheism and univer 
 
 salism 
 
 The teaching of Amos : Jehovah the moral ruler of the 
 
 universe 
 
 Hosea : the prophet of divine love 
 
 Two permanent elements in the prophetic 
 
 of God 
 
 Teaching of the book of Jonah 
 
 III. The Messianic hope : its gradual growth . 
 
 (1) The promise of spiritual victory — 
 
 The Protevangelhtin 
 
 The ' Blessing of Jacob ' 
 
 The prophecy in Deut. xviii. 15 
 
 (2) The hopes connected with David's house 
 The oracle in 2 Sam. vii. 
 'Figurative prophecy' .... 
 The Hebrew idea of royalty 
 Limitations of prophecy 
 
 (3) The self-manifestation of Jehovah — 
 
 ' The day of the Lord ' . 
 
 A day of judgment and of salvation 
 
 (4) The suffering people of God 
 Effects of calamity on the Messianic hope 
 ' The servant of Jehovah ' . . 
 
 (5) The new covenant .... 
 Teaching of Jeremiah and Ezekiel 
 
 (6) The post-exilic prophets 
 The apocalyptic literature . 
 Ideal fulfilment of prophecy in Christ . 
 
 274 
 277 
 279 
 281 
 283 
 285 
 286 
 
 287 
 
 288 
 290 
 
 292 
 293 
 295 
 
 296 
 297 
 298 
 299 
 300 
 301 
 302 
 306 
 
 304 
 305 
 308 
 309 
 310 
 312 
 313 
 314 
 316 
 318 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Personal Religion in the Old Testament. 
 
 Tendencies of the post-exilic age foreshadowed at an earlier period 323 
 Circumstances which gave an impulse to the development of per- 
 sonal religion 324 
 
 The post-exilic age spiritually fruitful 328 
 
 The Hagiographa : their character and contents .... 329 
 The foundation truths of personal religion — 
 
 I. The idea of a future life 334 
 
 (i) The Law witnesses to the truth of man's personal 
 
 relation to God 336 
 
 Hebrew conception of death 337 
 
 The dignity of human nature recognized . . . 338 
 
 b 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS 
 
 (2) The anomalies of life and divine retribution 
 Doctrine of the Law .... 
 The 'era of difficulties' : the book of Job 
 The ' era of quiescence ': Ecclesiastes 
 
 II. The idea of a personal providence : the Psalms 
 
 Witness of other books ; Cantica, Ruth, Esther 
 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah . 
 
 III. The sense of the fruitfulness of suffering 
 Characteristics of the 'Wisdom literature 
 The book of Job .... 
 The book of Ecclesiastes . 
 Summary and conclusion . 
 
 Daniel 
 
 PAGE 
 
 343 
 343 
 346 
 348 
 350 
 
 355 
 359 
 359 
 361 
 364 
 370 
 
 by 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 The Old Testament and Christianity. 
 
 T "S^ ^^^^^SJ between the incarnate Word and Scripture 
 1. 1 he New Testament view of the Old — 
 
 (i) The Old Testament revelation fragmentary. 
 (2) Variety of methods in which God manifested Himself 
 Tu^' ^f "<i'n^entary character of the old dispensation . 
 1 he New Testament verdict on the Law . 
 Unique authority of the Old Testament asserted 
 
 Christ 
 
 For Him there was 'a Bible within the Bible ' .* 
 Principles observed by New Testament writers in thei 
 
 employment of the Old .... 
 Existing methods of interpretation : Halachah, Ha^mdah 
 
 and Sodh . 
 
 Our Lord's employment of these methods .' 
 The New Testament exegesis of the Old— 
 (i) Its breadth and freedom .... 
 Apostolic use of Haggadah and Halachah 
 
 Allegorism 
 
 (ii) Moral purport of the quotations '. 
 /•••^ £°"^^^^^ between Christ and the Scribes and Pharisees 
 (inj Messianic use of the Old Testament . 
 
 Summary 
 
 II. The permanent function of the Old Testament in the Church 
 Preliminary questions— 
 
 The historical quality of the Old Testament narratives. 
 1 he existence of a ' secondary ' sense . 
 (1) The sacramental view of the universe 
 Tu r^^f' "^^^ organic relation between Judaism 
 -TK • Testament, a revelation of God's nature 
 Ihe aim of God's moral government considered 
 Its methods and laws of action 
 The place of suffering ..." 
 ^' 7^^,P^^ Testament as witnessing to Christ 
 Its Messianic import 
 What is ideal is Messianic .' \ 
 
 and Christianity 
 and character 
 
 373 
 
 378 
 379 
 380 
 
 381 
 382 
 
 383 
 
 384 
 385 
 
 389 
 390 
 392 
 393 
 
 394 
 396 
 400 
 401 
 
 401 
 405 
 406 
 408 
 412 
 413 
 414 
 415 
 416 
 
 417 
 419 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Function of the Old Testament in forming and training character 421 
 The * morality of the Old Testament '— 
 
 Theocentric 423 
 
 And altruistic 424 
 
 4. The Old Testament as a manual for the spiritual life . . . 426 
 
 5. The Old Testament as an instructor in social righteousness . 430 
 Social doctrine of the Old Testament — 
 
 Not based on individualism 431 
 
 Recognizing moral forces in social progress .... 432 
 
 6. The Old Testament as an aid in New Testament exegesis . . 433 
 
 Summary of the lectures 436 
 
 Concluding reflections— 
 
 The duty of individual Christians 437 
 
 Place of Scripture in the system of the Church . . . 440 
 
ASPECTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 LECTURE I 
 
 All things are yours. — I Cor. iii. 21. 
 
 There are few terms the precise significance of 
 which it is more difficult to fix than the word ' catholic/ 
 As applied to the Christian Church it connotes primarily 
 her world-wide extension. The holy Church th7^ough- 
 out all the zvorld doth acknowledge Thee. To the idea 
 of extension the idea of doctrine is added. The Church 
 is 'catholic' inasmuch as she is the teacher of all 
 truth needful for man in the conduct and development 
 of his spiritual and moral life ; she is the home of all 
 graces and virtues, and the school in which every 
 variety of human character may find its appropriate 
 discipline \ But there is another, sense in which the 
 Church of Jesus Christ is a 'catholic' society: to 
 her most loyal children she is the imparter of spiritual 
 breadth, she fosters a true catholicity of heart and 
 temper. Faithfulness to the mind of the Church and 
 submission to her discipline has sometimes been sup- 
 posed, and with a show of justice, to involve hostility to 
 the advancement of learning, cramped and petty views 
 of things, and a one-sided estimate of human nature. 
 And ye1; if the Church of God be the abiding-place of 
 that Holy Spirit whose presence brings liberty, and 
 the home of that charity which rejoiceth zvith the truth ^, 
 
 1 Cyr. Hier. Caiech.yivm. 23. Cp. Lightfoot on Ignat. ad Smyrn. viii. 
 ^ 2 Cor. iii. 17; i Cor. xiii. 6. 
 
 9 ^ B 
 
2 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 a faithful son of the Church will have a just sense 
 of the infinitude and many-sidedness of truth. He 
 will cultivate in himself the spirit of candour, and 
 width of intellectual sympathy. He will be keenly 
 alive to the strength of an opponent's case \ He will 
 discriminate carefully between what is essential and 
 what non-essential in the cause he defends. And 
 here probably his difficulties will begin. Indeed every 
 thoughtful Christian has sooner or later to face a 
 practical problem, upon the right solution of which 
 the advancement of truth depends. He has to com- 
 bine the temper of restfulness with that of mobility, 
 the stedfastness of a soldier with the detachment 
 of a pilgrim. While he is the faithful and self- 
 forgetful guardian of a precious heritage transmitted 
 from the past, a heritage of belief and usage which 
 necessarily moulds his thought and shapes his conduct; 
 while he cherishes all those heavenly gifts which per- 
 taifi unto life and godliness'^, he will yet be pene- 
 trated by the thought so simply and comprehensively 
 expressed in the words, All things are yonrs. 
 A Christian teacher or student will adhere jealously 
 to the inherited rule of revealed truth, the immemorial 
 tradition of the faith, and yet his utterances will be 
 so far reserved, fragmentary, and incomplete as they 
 correspond to the infinite mystery of godliness^. 
 There was in Jesus Christ, the Word of Life, that 
 which men could see with their eyes and handle 
 with their hands ^ ; but there was also more than 
 they could fathom with the intellect or express in 
 forms supplied by human speech. In the presence 
 of His unveiled glory they were as men who stam- 
 mered, not knowing what they said^. Accordingly 
 in the earliest ages of Christianity at least, there was 
 seldom absent from the minds of great teachers of 
 
 ^ Chrys. Horn, in ep. ad Phil. 246 C, D 'H ydp Xn^npa vUt] koi eic 
 TTepinvaias yivofxevi] avrr] iarlv, orav to. doKOvvra avrutv laxypa eivai fxrj 
 aTTOKpvnTcofjLfV TovTO yap dndrr] t'crri ixaWov t} vIk]. 
 
 2 2 Pet. i. 3. ^ I Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 * I John 1. I. ^ Luke ix. z^. 
 
I] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 3 
 
 the Church a deep consciousness of insufficiency. In 
 them, reverence was ever, so far as might be compatible 
 with fidehty to truth, reserved and slow of speech. 
 Even their most confident dogmatic statements were, 
 so to speak, forced from them by the ' obstinate 
 questionings,' whether of devout faith or of self-willed 
 perversity, and they were advanced with manifold 
 apologies and qualifying cautions ^. It has often been 
 remarked how unsystematic are many of the utterances 
 of the early fathers; they felt themselves to be moving 
 ' in worlds' not realized ' ; they had presages rather 
 than clear intuitions of the largeness and splendour 
 of the divine revelation vouchsafed to man in Jesus 
 Christ. This circumstance explains the grandeur, 
 and yet the vagueness, of some occasional statements 
 made by such a writer as Irenaeus. He knew that 
 the Spirit of the living God had entered into the 
 visible universe in order to possess, appropriate, and 
 hallow it. The vision of God Himself was the true life 
 of man-, and human nature was already the receptacle of 
 the grace and glory of God. Already man was a son 
 of God, but it did not yet appear what he should be ^ 
 Only it was certain that man's destiny was a continual 
 assimilation to his Creator. Irenaeus clung tenaciously 
 to the deposit of faith, but he felt that only the pro- 
 gressive unfolding of the divine purpose for humanity 
 would adequately interpret the full content of the rule 
 of truth. In our day, when knowledge widens its range 
 with such bewildering rapidity, we too have to dis- 
 charge a twofold obligation. We are bound to guard 
 the faith committed to us in its integrity, but with due 
 
 ' See for instance Hilary's language in de Trin. ii. 2 : ' Compellimur 
 haereticorum et blasphemantium vitiis, illicita agere, ardua scandere, 
 ineftabilia eloqui, inconcessa praesumere. Et cum sola fide expleri quae 
 praecepta sunt oporteret, adorare scilicet Patrem et venerari cum eo 
 Filium, Sancto Spiritu abundare ; cogimur sermonis nostri humilitatem 
 ad ea quae inenarrabilia sunt extendere, et in vitium vitio coartamur 
 alieno : ut quae contineri religione mentium oportuissent, nunc in peri- 
 culum humani eloquii proferantur.' 
 
 "^ Iren. Ha-r. iv. 20, 7 : ' Vita hominis visio Dei.' 
 
 ^ Cp. I John iii. 2. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 carefulness to discriminate between what is and what 
 is not of faith ; on the other hand we have to bear 
 constantly in mind that to us Christians nothing 
 achieved or discovered by human faculties is without 
 its bearing on the Christian revelation ; all things are 
 ours in so far as they throw light on the destiny of 
 man, on the ways of the eternal God, on the methods 
 and conditions of His self-manifestation. We cannot 
 divest ourselves of responsibility for the use of our 
 judgment in bringing all things to the test of Christian 
 reason and experience. He that is spiritual judgetk 
 all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who 
 hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct 
 him ? But we have the mind of Christ ^ With the 
 creed of the Catholic Church in his hands, a thought- 
 ful Christian may look round upon the universe of 
 things with eyes that penetrate deeper than the surface 
 of lite. The world may present to him a confused and 
 bewildering spectacle, like that which Wordsworth 
 studied so observantly In the London of his day : 
 
 * But though the picture weary out the eye, 
 By nature an unmanageable sight, 
 It is not wholly so to him who looks 
 In steadiness ; who hath among least things 
 An under sense of greatest ; sees the parts 
 As parts, but with a feeling of the whole V 
 
 The Christian knows that In his hands he holds the 
 clue to this tangled maze ; the ktns^doms of this world 
 are on the way to become the kingdoms of our Lord 
 and of his CJndst ^ Thus the Christian slowly and 
 gradually comes to recognize the inexhaustible signifi- 
 cance of his creed. He finds in the Catholic Faith, 
 ' loved deeplier, darkller understood,' that which will 
 best minister to the intellectual and moral wants of the 
 age in which he lives. To be truly catholic, In a word, 
 is to be large-hearted ; to be no mere votary of the 
 past, but a student of the present ; not a servile 
 adherent of the creed, but a wise and sympathetic 
 
 ^ I Cor. ii. 15, i6. ^ The Prelude, bk. vii. ^ Rev. xi. 15. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 5 
 
 interpreter of it to living men. We Christians should 
 set before us the task of endeavouring to understand 
 our own age, its needs, its perils, its possibilities. We 
 should ever look upward for light to see what knowledge, 
 what aspect of truth, is most serviceable and necessary 
 for the days in which we live. And conversely each 
 new development in human life or social organization, 
 each gift of civilization, each discovery of science, each 
 achievement of human toil, energy, and skill, each 
 true partus tei?iports, will be of vital interest in so far 
 as it interprets to us more luminously the clauses of 
 our creed and the ways of divine wisdom ; in so far 
 as it gives us a truer sense of proportion and a larger 
 insight into the things of faith. 
 
 Of this catholic heart, this spiritual versatility, the 
 most conspicuous example is to be found in the wTiter 
 of the Epistles to the Corinthians himself, whose 
 vocation it was to preach to the world the mystery of 
 a catholic Church. The great charter indeed of the 
 Church's catholicity is contained not in the present 
 passage, but rather in others which lie behind it: All 
 things are delivered tinto me of my Father ^ A II power 
 is given 2c?ito me in heaven and in earth "-. This truth 
 of the Church's lordship in Jesus Christ is one which 
 we are sometimes apt to overlook ; this it is of 
 which the Corinthians especially are reminded in the 
 text. Accordingly St. Paul sets down what has been 
 called *an inventory of the possessions of the child 
 of God': All things are yonrs ; whether Paul, or 
 Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or 
 things present, or things to come; all are yours. 
 The Corinthians were absorbed in the disputes of the 
 hour — disputes which turned largely upon personal 
 preferences for this or that individual teacher in 
 the Christian community. They were glorying,^ as 
 St. Paul with a significant allusion to prophecy points 
 out ^ not in God the Creator of the Church, but in men 
 
 * Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke x. 22. "^ Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 
 '•' 1 Cor. i. 31. Cp. Jer. ix. 23, 24. 
 
6 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 who at best were mere instruments of His providential 
 purpose. To the Apostle, this blindness to the due 
 proportion of things appeared disastrous and even 
 intolerable. The Corinthians, he says in effect, are 
 forgetting altogether the transcendent dignity of their 
 Christian vocation, the ideal splendour of their privileges 
 as saints. Not merely one scattered ray of the eternal 
 light conveyed through one limited medium is theirs, 
 but each 'bright beam of lisfht' that God through His 
 Apostles 'casts upon His Church.' Each teacher is 
 a divine gift to the Church. St. Paul even manifests 
 in his rapid transition from teachers, Paul, Apollos and 
 Cephas, to the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
 or things to come, a kind of noble impatience with the 
 pettiness which is absorbed in discussing individual 
 claims, and types of doctrine, instead of rising to the 
 full recognition of sublime spiritual prerogatives. ' All 
 things,' he seems to say, ' are yours ; all are intended 
 to minister to your spiritual growth ; you are inheritors 
 of the world, destined to be its judges, called to use 
 for the highest ends its products, gifts, and oppor- 
 tunities. Angels minister to you as heirs of salvation ; 
 all things work together for your good. You are 
 heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. He that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him 2ip for tcs 
 all, hozv shall he not with him also freely give us all 
 things ^ f ' 
 
 In the lectures which I am allowed to deliver here 
 I propose to consider very simply and practically the 
 present function of the Old Testament Scriptures in 
 the Christian Church, Such an attempt, which is 
 obviously beset with grave difficulty, is dictated by 
 considerations which it may be well to indicate as 
 briefly as possible. In the first place, a Christian 
 teacher cannot fail to be seriously concerned at the 
 
 ^ Rom. viii. 32 ; cp. Rom. iv. 13, viii. 28 ; i Cor. vi. 2, vii. 31 ; Heb. i. 
 2, 14 ; and Firmil. adCyp, \_Epp. Gyp. Ixxv.] c. 4 : ' Ouoniam sermo divimis 
 humanam naturam supergreditur, nee potest totum et perfecium anima 
 concipere ; idcirco et tantus est numerus prophetarum, ut multiplex 
 divina sapientia per multos distribuatur.' 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 7 
 
 practical disuse into which for many ordinary Christians 
 the Old Testament has fallen — a disuse which, what- 
 ever be its causes, must tend to impoverish the 
 spiritual life of the Church ^ ; and secondly, any one 
 who is in contact with thoughtful persons younger 
 than himself, or who is called to minister to the spiritual 
 perplexities of devout Christians, is well aware that 
 the real and apparent results of the ' Higher Criticism ' 
 have raised questions, a provisional answer to which 
 cannot be indefinitely deferred without a certain breach 
 of trust. In Germany many attempts have been made 
 during the last few years to define anew the position 
 of the Old Testament, and to bring the claims of 
 Lutheran orthodoxy into harmony with those of his- 
 torical inquiry. In England, however, the task of recon- 
 ciliation has scarcely yet been attempted. Its peculiar 
 delicacy lies in the fact, amply proved by experience, 
 that while many are asking for guidance, many on the 
 other hand are unwilling or unqualified to investigate 
 the claims of criticism, or even to give a hearing to 
 that which is believed in a vague and undefined way 
 to threaten the foundations of Christian faith. A 
 somewhat unintelligent conception of the Scriptures, 
 and of their true place in the system of the Church, 
 has also much to answer for. The result is that an 
 attempt to guide and reassure troubled faith is beset 
 with difficulties. The Christian apologist himself is 
 suspected or even denounced ; what he concedes 
 appears to some to involve a virtual betrayal of 
 essential truth ; what he defends or maintains is 
 thought by others to be an untenable remnant of 
 exploded error. There seems indeed to be no subject 
 in regard to which prejudice is more slowly dispelled, 
 
 ^ Some causes are discussed by Prof. Kirkpatrick in 772.? Divine 
 Library of the Old Testame7it^ pp. 117 foil. Mr. J. Paterson Smyth in his 
 useful work How God inspired tJie Bible, p. 15, quotes a typical letter 
 from a young student in which the following sentences occur. 'There 
 are hundreds . . . like me, who do not want to lose our grasp of the Bible, 
 but we can no longer view it as we have been taught to do. If there is 
 any way by which we can still hold it and treasure it, do our teachers 
 know it? and if they do, why do they not tell us?' 
 
8 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 and passion more vehemently excited, than that which 
 is to be considered in these lectures. The most 
 necessary qualification for dealing with it is a certain 
 tenderness of sympathy with those who are harassed by 
 the breaking in upon them of new modes of thought 
 and new collections of facts. A teacher must have 
 reaHzed in his own experience at least some of the 
 pains of mental growth and the difficulties of self- 
 adjustment to the claims of truth as it is progressively 
 manifested ^ We must not be surprised that mental 
 versatility is a rare endowment, and that in the 
 case of Holy Scripture the conflict is not merely 
 between new knowledge and a traditional view, but 
 between new knowledge and deeply-rooted spiritual 
 experience. The real nature of the distress that 
 agitates so many ordinary Christians at the present 
 time is amply recognized by reverent criticism. ' It 
 would argue,' writes the late Prof Robertson Smith, 
 ' indifference rather than enlightenment, if the great 
 mass of Bible readers, to whom scientific points of 
 view are wholly unfamiliar, could adjust themselves 
 to a new line of investigation into the history of the 
 Bible without passing through a crisis of anxious 
 thought not far removed from distress and alarm ^.' 
 Sympathy then with troubled faith should in any case 
 guide the attempt to bring succour and relief to per- 
 plexed thought. 
 
 One ground of reassurance is to be found in 
 a true apprehension of the exact conditions of modern 
 inquiry. The battle, it has been well said, is not 
 between rationalism and faith, but between true 
 criticism and false ^ Historical and literary criticism 
 is to be regarded not as a foe to be held at 
 bay, but as a good gift of God to our generation. 
 
 ^ Bernard, ift Caftt. xxxix. 3, makes a striking observation : ' Benignus 
 est Spiritus sapientiae, et placet illi doctor benignus et diligens, qui ita 
 cupiat satisfacere studiosis, ut morem gerere tardioribus non recuset.' 
 
 ■^ The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, p. i . 
 
 * Cp. Briggs, Biblical Study, its Principles, Methods, and History, 
 p. 104. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 9 
 
 It wHl be our duty presently to indicate at least 
 in rough outline the considerations which appear to 
 justify a cautious and provisional acceptance of at 
 least the main results of modern critical investiga- 
 tion. Meanwhile let it suffice to remark that the 
 traditional view of the Old Testament religion has 
 in any case been profoundly modified, first, by the 
 idea of historical development, which has given 
 intrinsic reasonableness to the supposition that the 
 Hebrew religion passed very gradually from a quite 
 rudimentary stage to that of maturity ; secondly, by 
 the discovery or employment of facts and sources 
 by which the results of literary criticism have been 
 supplemented or confirmed. It is scarcely too 
 much to assert that the century now verging to 
 its close has witnessed the birth of a series of new 
 sciences, if the title is strictly applicable to those 
 fruitful departments of knowledge usually included 
 under such names as ' Assyriology,' ' Egyptology,' 
 and the like. The discovery of Phoenician inscrip- 
 tions, systematic inquiry into the usages of early 
 religions, the scrutiny of materials supplied by the 
 mounds of Babylon, Egypt, Nineveh and Palestine 
 — these have yielded a mass of data which have 
 practically changed the conditions of Old Testament 
 criticism^. It is often imagined ^that because many 
 problems are apparently insoluble and many details 
 are confessedly obscure or uncertain, the traditional 
 view of the Old Testament remains virtually unaf- 
 fected. But it is important to bear in mind that, even 
 when all crude speculations and fantastic theories 
 are excluded from view, there remains a mass of 
 ascertained facts which the mere dislike of trouble 
 may incline men to ignore, yet which deserve the 
 most patient and painstaking attention of all educated 
 Christians. In a famous sermon the late Archbishop 
 Magee once pointed out the demoralizing effect of 
 
 ^ See J. Darmesteter, Les Prophctes (Tlsracl, pp. 158 foil. Cp. Renan, 
 Histoire du peuple d' Israel, pref. p. xxiv [Eng. Tr.]. 
 
lo THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 distorted or exaggerated preconceptions as to the 
 nature of Scripture. The Church, he said, has too 
 often 'attempted to evade the pressure' of criticism, 
 ' by wire-drawn explanations, far-fetched harmonizings, 
 ingenious hypotheses which do more credit to the 
 abiHty than to the candour of those who have resorted 
 to them \' We have surely been taught by the 
 experience of the past that for a child of God candour 
 is the first of duties, and the question has now forced 
 itself to the front, whether or no something more is 
 needed than doubtful disputations on points of detail ; 
 whether or no the present state of knowledge demands 
 a reconstruction of our- ideas respecting the mode 
 of God's self-revelation in the sacred history. At 
 the same time let us remember that the demand 
 made upon our faith and courage is not a new thing. 
 We are now facing, as the Hebrew Christians were 
 called to face, * the trials of a new age -.' It has been 
 pointed out that in their case the trials were such as 
 sprang ' in a great degree from mistaken devoutness.' 
 Those who live in an age like ours likewise need, 
 it is true, a woi^d of consolation ^. New ideas, new 
 phases of thought, new aspects of old problems, press 
 upon us ; ancient modes of statement seem sometimes 
 to have become void of meaning ; paths trodden by 
 the feet of many generations seem to be outworn : 
 
 airavd' 6 jinKpos KavnpL0fxr]Tos ;^po'i'Of 
 (pvei T (iSriXa Koi cpnvh'Ta KpvnTiTai' 
 
 KOVK e<TT cUXttTOV OvStV*. 
 
 But faith finds her solace in the history of the Church. 
 She has the experience of nineteen centuries to sup- 
 port her, and to giv^e her the assurance that God has 
 been with His people all along, is with them now, and 
 
 ^ T/ie Gosf>el a7id the Age, p. 322. Cp. the impressive words of 
 Delitzsch, New Cominefifary on Ge/iesis, vol. i. pp. 54 foil. : ' The love of 
 truth, submission to the force of truth, the surrender of traditional views 
 which will not stand the test of truth, is a sacred duty, an element of the 
 fear of God.' 
 
 - Cp. Westcott, Chrislus CoJisuvimator, ch. i. 
 
 ^ Heb. xiii. 22. * Soph. Ajax, 646 foil. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' n 
 
 will lead them even to the end. Scripture itself is the 
 record of the struggles and conflicts through which 
 human faith has long since triumphantly passed ; it bears 
 witness to a divine truth which has never failed, and 
 a love which has never abandoned its purpose. Thus 
 encouraged faith may calmly confront new problems, 
 neither minimizing their importance nor exaggerating 
 their difficulty. This at any rate is the temper in 
 which our subject is to be approached. Our aim is 
 to consider in a constructive and practical spirit some 
 fundamental aspects of the Old Testament, regarded 
 as a divine message to mankind for all time. 
 
 It has appeared after careful consideration, that the 
 object in view might be most satisfactorily attained, 
 not by attempting to reconstruct the history of Israel 
 — a task which Mr. Montefiore has with striking 
 ability achieved in his Hibbert Leciiires — hul by 
 approaching the subject from the point of view of 
 Old Testament theology. If we wish to reassure 
 persons who suppose that Christianity itself is en- 
 dangered by the results of Old Testament criticism, 
 we shall find it advisable to start from the great 
 religious thoughts and verities which Christianity has 
 inherited from the Jewish Church and to look at 
 them afresh in the light of modern research. It is 
 not indeed as mere inquirers or searchers after truth 
 that we approach the Old Testament, but rather as 
 men of faith eagerly desiring to understand more 
 intelligently the ways of One who has already made 
 Himself known to us in Christ and who requires of 
 men ti^ufh in the inward parts. We have to use 
 our faculties honesdy as in His sight. For St. Paul, 
 as we have noticed, claims for Christians the judicial 
 office ; he implies that it is the function of Christian 
 reason to pass judgment on the phenomena of human 
 life and the products of human wisdom or skill. But 
 Christian reason is synonymous with the mind of 
 Christ \ The fixed standpoint from which a Christian 
 » I Cor. ii. i6. 
 
12 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 approaches the consideration of all problems, ethical, 
 social, or intellectual, is that of belief in the person 
 of Him who by the presence of His Spirit inhabits 
 and enlightens the Church, A true estimate of the 
 Old Testament, its character, purpose, and teaching, 
 is only possible on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ, 
 the Son of God made man. 
 
 I. 
 
 First of all, then, we approach the Old Testament 
 as believers in the Incarnation of the Son of God : 
 that unique revelation of the glory and love of the 
 Father, which lies at the root of all our Christian 
 life and experience. We know that the Son of God 
 is come, and hath given us an understanding that we 
 may know him that is tj^ue, and we a7^e in him that 
 is trne, even in his Son yesus Christ^. In comparison 
 with this fact all that foreshadowed it in the world's 
 history, or in the literature which enshrined the ex- 
 pectation of good things to come, is of secondary 
 importance and interest. We know that the Son. of 
 God is come. In their assurance of this divine gift. 
 Christians can bear with much uncertainty and per- 
 plexity in regard to problems which lie on the fringe 
 of God's self-revelation. But something is to be 
 gained from a closer survey of the Incarnation in 
 relation to the task which at present engages our 
 attention, for it is a fact which necessarily illustrates 
 the divine method of dealing with mankind. For 
 example, the Incarnation is the perfect consecration 
 of nature. It is the crowning example of the em- 
 ployment by God of media, of the appropriation of 
 things visible and material as organs and vehicles of 
 divine gifts to mankind. In the Incarnation, Almighty 
 God reveals Himself as a being who wills to take 
 things common and make them instruments of grace 
 
 * I John V. 20. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 13 
 
 and power ; to consecrate human nature, and elevate 
 it into fellowship with the divine life ; to convey 
 spiritual blessings to the world through the mediation 
 of human service and human suffering. Again, the 
 Incarnation reveals to us a love which addresses itself 
 to the actual conditions, and accommodates itself to 
 the present needs, of mankind. ' Accommodation,' 
 it has been said, * is an essential principle in the 
 method of a revelation of grace ^'; and on a broad 
 scale we are familiar enough with the exhibition 
 of this principle in Hebrew history. In the election 
 and education of a peculiar people, God is seen 
 taking man as He finds him to make him what 
 as yet he is not, adapting Himself to the existing 
 capacities of a backward and untutored race. That 
 this is the true inner secret of the Old Testament 
 history we are assured when we study the life and 
 work of the incarnate Son. If Jesus Christ were 
 merely the last and most eminent of a line of prophets, 
 there would be more to be said for that familiar type 
 of criticism which represents Israel's religious develop- 
 ment as a purely natural phenomenon, having its 
 starting-point and controlling principle not in any 
 intervention or guidance of a gracious and loving God, 
 not in any supernatural revelation imparted to elect 
 souls at different epochs in Israel's history, but in 
 fetichism, or totemism, or polytheism, whence by 
 a slow process of purely natural evolution it passed 
 to its final stage in ethical monotheism -. Here we 
 touch one of the distinctive features of Israel's 
 religion, which separates it sharply from other con- 
 temporary religions of antiquity, namely, that it is 
 a religion of revelation, whereas they are products of 
 the ordinary development of man's religious and moral 
 faculties ^ 
 
 The Incarnation, then, sets a seal of confirmation 
 
 ^ A. B. Bruce, T/ie CJiief Ejid of Revelation, p. 113. 
 
 ^ Cp. Kohler, Uber Berechtii^itng der Kritik des A. T. p. 66. 
 
 ^ Riehm, Altteslamentliche Theologie, \ 4, pp. 26, 27. 
 
14 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 to the general principle which was really at work 
 in Israel's religious history; it reveals the secret of 
 its upward tendency, namely, the condescending love 
 and patience of God. And to that condescension 
 who shall venture to prescribe limitations, considering 
 what we now know of the depth to which divine love 
 will stoop in order to win man from his sin and lead 
 him to holiness ? In the light of God's actual 
 dealings with the world in the gift of His Son, we 
 can appreciate better all that recent research has taught 
 us respecting the close affinity between Israel's early 
 faith and practice, and that of its heathen neighbours 
 and kinsfolk. It no longer startles us to find the 
 divine wisdom adopting, regulating, and consecrat- 
 ing to higher uses traditional customs or practices 
 common to the entire Semitic race, in order to employ 
 them as elements in a system of rudimentary instruc- 
 tion and of graduated moral discipline. We cannot 
 be surprised even to find that very low and inadequate 
 conceptions of the Godhead are accepted as the 
 necessary basis of higher and more spiritual ideas. 
 Indeed, not to enlarge upon so familiar a theme, it is 
 enough to recall the saying of Wellhausen, that the 
 religion of the Old Testament ' did not so much make 
 men partakers in a divine life, as make God a partaker 
 in the life of men \' If God really was, as we believe, 
 preparing the world for such an event as the taber- 
 nacling of God with men, we have no occasion for 
 wonder that He should, through long centuries of 
 education, have accommodated Himself to what was 
 partial, rude, and imperfect, while ever aiming at that 
 which was perfect. 
 
 ' God a partaker in the life of men,' Let us pause 
 to consider the significance of this expression in its 
 application to our subject. Does it not suggest that 
 the divine action will inevitably transcend the range 
 
 ^ Sketch of the History of Israel and Juifah, p. 17. The first volume of 
 Renan's Histoire du peuple d' Israel is a striking illustration of this thesis, 
 in spite of much in its pages that seems arbitrary, prejudiced, and fantastic. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 15 
 
 of our' experience, and possibly contradict the first 
 suggestions, though not the ultimate conclusions, of 
 reason itself? If the love of God be love indeed, it 
 will not be deterred from self-manifestation. It will 
 break down barriers. It will adapt itself to the actual 
 situation. It will use the available material, the 
 instruments ready to hand. There will be no limit 
 to the range of divine condescension, except that 
 imposed by the law of perfect holiness. 
 
 * What lacks then of perfection fit for God 
 But just the instance which the tale supplies 
 Of love without a limit ? So is strength, 
 So is intelligence ; let love be so, 
 Unlimited in its self-sacrifice, 
 Then is the tale true and God shows complete.' 
 
 And, indeed, such a fact as the Incarnation, a 
 mystery of which St. Paul and St. John have taught 
 us the cosmic significance, inevitably suggests that 
 in all departments of its operation, the love of God 
 will exhibit a certain uniformity of method. Hence, 
 we are only reasoning as serious Christians must 
 necessarily reason, when we apply to the questions 
 involved in the present day study of the Old Testa- 
 ment principles suggested by the acknowledged fact 
 of the Incarnation. Let us follow out this line of 
 thought somewhat in detail. 
 
 I. First let us bear in mind that in the Bible the 
 Word of God comes to us \ and addresses us as 
 beings capable of moral response. The Bible appeals 
 to us as an inspired book, a divine product. It 
 is one as the person of Christ is one. Whatever 
 conclusions may be ultimately ascertained as to its 
 structure and the mode of its formation, it presents 
 itself to us as a whole, possessed of a certain unmis- 
 
 ' We must not without caution identify the 'Word of God' with 
 ' Scripture.' Such an identification is not biblical and is open to serious 
 objections. ' In the Old Testament the term Word of God is applied 
 chiefly to particular declarations of the purposes or promises of God, 
 especially to those made by the prophets ; in the New Testament it 
 denotes commonly the gospel message.' (Driver, Sermons ofz Old Tesia- 
 tmnt Subjects, pp. 158, 159.} 
 
i6 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 takeable unity of function ^ Like the human eye, or 
 the trained conscience of a human being, the Bible 
 is an organism respecting which we may reasonably 
 think that we can in some degree trace the stages 
 of its growth and development. And just as the 
 question of the manner in which an organism or 
 faculty is developed is entirely distinct from the 
 question of its true function and capacities when in 
 a developed state ^ so in the case of Scripture, the 
 question of the nature and use of the complete or- 
 ganism, the product viewed in its entirety, is one, 
 comparatively speaking, unaffected by inquiries re- 
 lating to its structure and formation. The mystery 
 with which we are face to face in Scripture is that 
 of a message or word from God, a divine book, 
 which, as a matter of age-long experience, has actually 
 produced in every period which has followed its com- 
 pletion spiritual results of infinite magnitude and 
 importance. It is the total product, the complete 
 work, which fulfils such vast and varied functions 
 in the spiritual history of mankind 3. Questions in 
 regard to the mode of its formation are secondary. 
 When the different oral accounts of Christ's life 
 were first committed to writing, there can be little 
 doubt that the earliest narrative was that which 
 recorded His public acts and utterances during the 
 
 ^ Anancientexpositor of the Psalms, Didymus of Alexandria, compares 
 Scripture to the seamless robe of Christ : ov yap (Bediacrixevrji' tvaxriv, aWa 
 avfx(f)vi} exei' eariv de kgI civadev Sin to 6fi.ivvev(TT0^ elvai' ixfiaj/Tos 8l oXov, 
 6ta TTCKTTjs yap 8vuafifa)S t] ypa(f)i] aucodev ((TTIv [in Psalm. XXI. 19). 
 
 2 Cp. Wace, Boyle Lectures, ser. i. p. 18. 
 
 =* Cp. Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 402 : ' If we take a wider range, 
 and look at the diversified products of this individual inspiration, and see 
 how they combine together, so as to be no longer detached units but 
 articulated members in a connected and coherent scheme, we must needs 
 feel that there is something more than the individual minds at work ; they 
 are subsumed, as it were, in the operation of a larger Mind, that central 
 Intelligence which directs and gives unity of purpose to the scattered 
 movements and driftings of men.' Dalman, Das A. T. ehi Wort Cottes, 
 p. 10, observes that for our Lord and the New Testament writers, ' im 
 Grunde liegt der Nachdruck nicht auf der Weise der Entstehung der 
 biblischen Biicher, sondern auf dem Resultat des litterarischen Processes 
 dem sie entstammen.' 
 
I] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 17 
 
 period of His sacred ministry; the mystery of His 
 birth was one in which the Church was keenly 
 interested, but for an answer to her questionings she 
 could, it would seem, afford to wait. The point of 
 primary importance to the earliest believers was not 
 whence our Lord came, but what He laas, what He 
 did, what He claimed of man when He actually 
 appeared. By analogy we may regard the Bible as 
 a book in which the continuous spiritual experience 
 of mankind has recognized the very presence of the 
 Word of God : the declaration of His whole mind 
 and will concerning His creatures, the unveiling of 
 His character and of His everlasting purpose of 
 grace \ Here is something which historical and 
 critical study cannot impair. A leading critic of the 
 Old Testament has used words which admirably^ 
 express the result of Christian experience on this 
 point. ' Of this I am sure . . . that the Bible does 
 speak to the heart of man in words that can only 
 come from God — that no historical research can de- 
 prive me of this conviction or make less precious the 
 divine utterances that speak straight to the heart. 
 For the language of these words is so clear that no 
 re-adjustment of their historical setting can conceiv- 
 ably change the substance of them. Historical study 
 may throw a new light on the circumstances in which 
 they were first heard or written. In that there can 
 only be gain. But the plain, central, heartfelt truths, 
 that speak for themselves and rest on their own 
 indefensible worth, will assuredly remain to us V 
 
 2. This point which we have barely touched upon 
 here will be recalled at the close of the present 
 lecture. Meanwhile we pass on to consider some 
 further teachings suggested by the fruitful analogy 
 of the Incarnation. We have seen that it illustrates 
 
 ^ Cp. Iren. Haer. iv. 5. I : ' Quoniam impossibile erat sine Deo discere 
 Deum, per verbum suum docet homines scire Deum.' 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. lect. i. p. 19. The whole of this 
 admirable lecture is worthy of careful study. 
 C 
 
i8 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 the divine unity of Scripture as fulfilling a special 
 function in the spiritual history of mankind. But the 
 same analogy reminds us of a duality of natures \ As 
 Christ was at once divine and human, so Scripture is 
 found to have a twofold aspect. We shall be prepared 
 to recognize frankly that on one side it is perfectly 
 human, when we remember that about the incarnate 
 Son when He appeared on earth all was simple, plain, 
 natural, common. He wdiS found in fashioji as a man. 
 The great trial indeed for our Lord's contemporaries 
 — the trial under which average Jewish faith actually 
 broke down — was the simplicity and the plainness 
 of His outward appearance. Is not this, they said, the 
 carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and 
 foses, and of Jitda and Simon ? and are 7iot his sisters 
 here with us ? And they were offended at him -. Now 
 similarly Scripture is found to have a literary history, 
 exceptional indeed in certain respects, but by no 
 means entirely mysterious or inexplicable. In pro- 
 portion as critical science advances, we recognize that 
 in its letter, in its prima facie appearance, Scripture 
 is, if I may so say, more human, more ordinary. It 
 displays to a certain extent the same traces of human 
 workmanship, human compilation, even human limita- 
 tion and fallibility, as are discoverable in other products 
 of oriental literature. The Pentateuch for example, 
 or at least a considerable portion of it, proves to be 
 a collection of fragments gathered together no one 
 can certainly say how, when, or by whom. If we take 
 a more general survey of the Old Testament, we find 
 that, in spite of the impressive unity of purpose which 
 pervades the whole, there is a remarkable diversity in 
 the types of literary production incorporated in it. All 
 species of composition known to the ancient Hebrews 
 would seem to have been utilized, in so far as they 
 
 ^ This thought is worked out with admirable skill in Abp. Magee's .^ 
 sermon on ' The Bible human and yet divine.' See The Gospel and the " 
 Age, pp. 311 foil. 
 
 * Mark vi. 3. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 19 
 
 were capable of becoming adequate vehicles of 
 spiritual teaching. We have in fact to deal with 
 a library in the Old Testament — a library containing 
 history, poetry, proverbs, philosophical discussions, 
 annals, genealogies, semi-historical folk-lore, and primi- 
 tive myths. It is evidently a literature which, as Ewald 
 has remarked, has shaped itself just as freely as that of 
 all other ancient nations. It is distinguished by an 
 extraordinary simplicity, vigour, and naturalness — 
 a simplicity which is owing not to any deficiency of 
 refinement or culture in the periods which produced 
 the several books, but to 'the dominant power of 
 a true religion ^,' or rather to the continuous and 
 controlling guidance of the self-revealing Spirit of God, 
 There is then admittedly a human side to Scripture, 
 and the condescension which we witness in the Incarna- 
 tion of the Son of God prepares us to find that In the 
 Old Testament God has left to the human instruments 
 of His will more than we had once supposed^. He 
 has employed diff'erent types of mind and character to 
 execute or advance His purposes. In the recording 
 of His acts and words He has sanctioned the em- 
 ployment of literary methods which in a higher stage 
 of culture might be judged inappropriate. He has con- 
 secrated Individual peculiarities or special intellectual 
 endowments to ends of His own. The result Is that 
 to the critical eye Scripture wears an ordinary and 
 occasionally even humble exterior ; it is not free from 
 such Incidental defects, limitations, and errors, as are 
 Incident to all human composition ; but under this lowly 
 form is concealed a special divine presence ^ Here, 
 as in the Incarnation, may be discerned the self-unveil- 
 
 ^ H. Ewald, Revelation, its Nature and Record (Eng. Tr., T. &T. Clark ), 
 p. 320. 
 
 ^ See Sanday, The Oracles of God, serm. ii. 
 
 ^ Jukes, The Types of Genesis, p. xvi, ' Christ the incarnate Word of 
 God seems to me, not an illustration only, but a proof, both of the 
 preciousness of the letter, and of the deeper spirit which everywhere 
 underlies the letter throughout the word of God.' The same point 
 underlies Origen's distinction between the ' flesh' and 'spirit ' of Scripture 
 (de Princ. iv. 11 and 14). 
 
 C 2 
 
20 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 ing of a divine Spirit, the operation of divine power, 
 the appeal of divine love. These I repeat are great 
 realities of the spiritual world, which have been put 
 to the test by a thousand generations of Christians. 
 Their experience has shown that the highest office of 
 Scripture is one that transcends the range and sphere 
 of critical investigation. The appeal of the Spirit who 
 speaks in Scripture is to man's spirit ; the appeal of 
 power is to man's sense of need ; the appeal of love is 
 to the faculties of man's heart and will. 
 
 3, For there is one further point in this fruitful 
 analogy which may be profitably mentioned. We may 
 consider the importance of the self-witness of Scripture. 
 On the one hand, like our Lord's human body, the 
 Bible is a thing in rcrum natura, a book among books ; 
 on the other, its self-witness challenges us to acknow- 
 ledge a higher claim ; it speaks as having authority ; 
 it, claims to be something more than a mere human 
 compilation. Just as Jesus Christ arrested the attention 
 of men, drew them to Himself by the exercise of an 
 incomparable moral authority, and put forward super- 
 human claims to their allegiance, so Scripture appears 
 to challenge inquiry and to claim authority in virtue 
 of its direct bearing on conduct and character, its con- 
 tinual appeal to faith and its express testimony to the 
 divine purpose for humanity. A book that touches 
 human life at every point cannot be of merely human 
 origin. It bears the Impress of a controlling mind ; it 
 displays the action of an informing Spirit, who knows 
 what is in man. St. Paul even speaks of the Old 
 Testament as a living personality : it sees beforehand 
 the purpose of God's electing grace ; it preaches the 
 gospel to Abraham \ This aspect of Scripture is one 
 which lies outside the scope of critical inquiry. 
 
 ^ Gal. iii. 8 ; cp. Rom. ix. 17. — ' For us and for all ages,' says Bishop 
 Westcott, ' the record is the voice of God ; and as a necessary consequence 
 the record is itself living. It is not a book merely. It has a vital connection 
 with our circumstances and must be considered in connection with them. 
 The constant use of the present tense in quotation (Xf-yft to nvu/ixa to 
 ayiov, Ae'-yei 17 ypc^'i] k.t.X.) emphasises this idea.' {77ie Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, p. 475.) 
 
I] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 21 
 
 True criticism indeed never dissects the Bible as if 
 it were a dead body. It treats each book of the Old 
 Testament, for instance, as ' a fragment of ancient life,' 
 not to be fully comprehended or justly appreciated 
 without a sincere effort to enter into sympathy with 
 the thought and circumstances of the age in which it 
 was written \ Yet criticism after all moves on the 
 plane of human science ; it is concerned mainly with 
 the natural and historical side of Holy Scripture ; it 
 deals with that which Origen apdy calls ' the flesh of 
 the word.' But the Christian student will ever bear 
 in mind that beneath the outward veil which with the 
 aid of the critic he reverently scrutinizes, there breathes 
 a living Spirit, who directly appeals to conscience, will, 
 and faith. There is the living word of _ God, the 
 word that quickens and converts, that pierces and 
 heals, that enlightens and guides the spirit of rnan ; 
 the word that claims to be the food of souls, the light 
 of the conscience, the sword of the Spirit, the mirror of 
 humanity, the unchanging witness to the work and 
 ofhce, the authority and glory of the Son of God ". 
 
 II. 
 
 Our inquiry then presupposes and takes as its 
 foundation the fact of the divine Incarnation, and so 
 far we have been engaged in considering some of the 
 features which such a fact, supposed to be true, would 
 lead us to anticipate beforehand in the written records 
 of revelation. Students of the history of doctrine will 
 further notice that there has been a tendency in regard 
 to Scripture analogous to that which may be observed 
 in some stages of the evolution of Christology. The 
 human element has occasionally been minimized or 
 altogether forgotten. Men have been tempted, says 
 
 ^ Cp. Robertson Smith, O. T. m J. C. p. 16. 
 
 2 Cp. Heb. iv. 12 ; 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; 2 Pet. i. 19; Jas. i. 25; Eph. vi. 17; 
 John V. 39. 
 
22 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 Archbishop Magee, to make of the Bible ' not a super- 
 natural book, which it is, but an unnatural book. . . . 
 They were determined to find the whole Bible as it 
 were in every text of the Bible. . . . They were for 
 ever turning rhetoric into logic, vision into history, 
 poetry into hardest and most literal prose.' They 
 forgot that in the Bible Almighty God 'was using 
 human hearts, human thought, human knowledge, 
 human peculiarities of character, in order that in and 
 through them His word might be conveyed to us ^' 
 Rabbinical methods of scriptural exegesis supply one 
 example of this tendency ; the theory of verbal in- 
 spiration another 2. But without further enlarging on 
 the subject I proceed to mention another truth pre- 
 supposed in these lectures, namely the fact of the 
 inspiration of Scripture ^ What, speaking generally, 
 ought we to understand by this term } To this inquiry 
 some provisional answer at least is necessary at this 
 point. It shall be as brief and clear as the conditions 
 of the subject will allow. 
 
 It is to be observed in the first place that the 
 doctrine of inspiration is designed to explain a fact 
 which is quite independent of human theories. It is 
 an attempt to give a rational account of the unique 
 religious influence which has been exercised by the 
 Bible. That influence is not dependent upon a par- 
 ticular doctrine, the form of which may have varied at 
 different periods. ' The word,' it has been finely said, 
 ' which is like a fire and like the hammer that breaks 
 
 ^ The Gospel and the Age, p. 321. 
 
 ^ e. g. the theory expressed in the Foniinia consenstiS Helvetica (1674), 
 can. 2: ' Hebraicus V. T. codex . .*. turn quoad consonas, turn quoad 
 vocalia, sive puncta ipsa sive punctorum saltern potestatem, et turn quoad 
 res turn quoad verba Beimv^wrTo^ ... ad cuius normam, ceu Lydium 
 lapidem,universae quae extant versiones, sive orientales sive occidentals, 
 exigendae et sicubi deflectunt revocandae sunt.' See the passage in Augusti, 
 Corpus Librorum Syjnbolicorufn, p. 445. 
 
 ^ Driver, Introductioti to the Litt7-atnre of the Old Testament, pref. 
 p. xix : ' Criticism in the hands of Christian scholars does not banish or 
 destroy the inspiration of the Old Testament; it presjipposes it ; it seeks 
 only to determine the conditions under which it operates, and" the literary 
 forms through which it manifests itself.' 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 23 
 
 in pieces the rocks, does not need to be accredited by 
 any human theory as to its origin ^' 
 
 Next we should bear in mind that inspiration in its 
 primary sense does not properly describe the character 
 of a sacred book, but rather denotes the living action 
 of God on the faculties of men. Revelation takes the 
 form on the one hand of an outward historical move- 
 ment. It implies an actual movement towards man on 
 the part of a living Being, possessed of perfect freedom 
 to act, to intervene, to manifest Himself on behalf of 
 His good purpose ^. Revelation, in a word, means the 
 historical self-manifestation of God in redemptive 
 action, and it may be remarked in passing that miracle 
 is an antecedently probable element in such action. 
 Divine will and purpose must have at least the same 
 scope in the universe that is open to the mind and 
 energy of man. But parallel to this outward action 
 •of God is an internal operation of His power upon 
 human faculties. The outward course of history is 
 accompanied, so to speak, by the Spirit of prophecy, 
 which acts upon the constitution of man in such a 
 fashion as to enlarge his capacity to apprehend and to 
 correspond with the outward self-manifestation of the 
 divine character and mind. The New Testament 
 takes it for granted that there have existed prophets 
 since the world began, men indwelt by the Spirit, 
 organs of revelation who were enabled to apprehend 
 and sympathize with the purpose of God while it was 
 in actual process of historical realization. ' Israel's 
 religious teachers,' says Prof Schultz ^, ' are prophets, 
 not philosophers, priests, or poets. Hence the Old 
 Testament religion can be explained only by revela- 
 tion, that is by the fact that God raised up for this 
 people men whose natural susceptibility to moral and 
 
 ^ Oettli, Der gegenwdrtige Kampf urn das A. T. (1896), p. 5. 
 
 2 Phil. ii. 13. 
 
 3 Theology of the Old Testament, vol. i. p. 54 [Eng. Trans.]. Cp. 
 J. Darmesteter, Les Prophctes dTsrael, p. 220, and Ewald, The prophets 
 of the O.T. [Eng. Tr.], vol. i. pp. 3-8. 
 
24 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 religious truth developed by the course of their inner 
 and outer lives, enabled them to understand instinc- 
 tively the will of the self-communicating, redeeming 
 God regarding men ; that is, to possess the religious 
 truth which makes free, not as a result of human wis- 
 dom and intellectual labour, but as a power pressing in 
 upon the soul with irresistible might. Only those who 
 frankly acknowledge this can be historically just to the 
 Old Testament.' When in fact we examine the Old 
 Testament religion, and ask ourselves how out of the 
 rude polytheistic nature-worship which was common to 
 the Semitic race, there arose a religion which so 
 evidently contained the secret of a lofty spiritual 
 development, we are practically forced to find the 
 explanation in the fact of inspiration ; in the immediate 
 action of the living Spirit of God, arousing at least in 
 the leading figures of the Hebrew race a consciousness 
 of God \ For it is not necessary to assume — indeed • 
 the Old Testament itself contradicts the supposition — • 
 that a lofty conception of God was at any time, at 
 least before the exile, a paramount force in the life 
 or thought of the masses of the Hebrew people '^. 
 Certainly however, the unique development of Hebrew 
 religion, and its constant elevation above the level of 
 kindred faiths surrounding it, irresistibly suggest the 
 conclusion that there were from the very earliest 
 dawn of the history, individual men on whom the Holy 
 
 ^ Observe the importance of the religious ginitis in revelation, ' It is 
 a defect,' says Pfleideier {Gifford Lectures, i. 183),' of the present reahstic 
 theory of development, that it underestimates or entirely overlooks the 
 signihcance of personality in history, and endeavours to find the active 
 forces of progress only in the masses. The masses however are never 
 spiritually creative. All new virorld-moving ideas and ideals have pro- 
 ceeded from individual personalities, and even they have not arbitrarily 
 devised them or found them out by laborious reflection, as men find out 
 scientific doctrines by investigation ; but they have received them by that 
 involuntary intuition which is also participated in by the artistic genius, 
 and which everywhere forms the privilege of original genius, to whose eye 
 the essence of things and the destination of men are disclosed . . . yet . . . 
 the revelation of the religious genius is the expression of what the best 
 men of their time have divined and longed for, the unveiling of their own 
 better self, the fulfilment of their own highest hopes,' &.c. 
 
 ^ See Riehm, Alttestamentliche Theologie, p. il. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 25 
 
 Spirit of God was directly acting, leaders of religion of 
 the true prophetic type, quick to apprehend the mean- 
 ing of those successive acts in which Almighty God 
 revealed His own character, His control of history, 
 and His purpose for mankind at large. Inspiration 
 then in the first instance is an idea correlative to 
 that of revelation. It means a divine action on man's 
 faculties, by which his intellect is continually trained to 
 more intelligent apprehension of divine purposes, his 
 conscience to deeper knowledge of moral requirement, 
 his heart to worthier love, his will to more exact 
 response. For He who is the object of knowledge 
 Himself imparts the faculty to know; and it follows 
 that ' the essence of a revealed religion is absolutely 
 dependent on prophecy. Without it we have only 
 natural religion or philosophy ^.' Indeed the funda- 
 mental characteristic of Hebrew religion is the con- 
 viction that God is a self-communicating Being, who 
 does not isolate Himself from the world, but by His 
 Spirit awakens in His creatures the capacity to know 
 and execute His will. That a true knowledge of God 
 is possible, that it depends upon His self-imparting 
 grace, that the word of God actually comes to indi- 
 vidual men, making them messenorers of the divine 
 will to their fellows, that God speaks to them in modes 
 and under conditions of His own choice and appoint- 
 ment, that He admits them to communion and converse 
 with Himself — this is indisputably an axiom of Israel's 
 faith, and indeed of any supernatural religion -. 
 
 Now, believers in inspiration maintain that in regard 
 to the Bible there can be apprehended by the spiritual 
 mind a special action of the Holy Spirit akin to that 
 which manifests itself in the prophets. This action is 
 discernible, partly in the providential formation and 
 preservation of the Scriptures, partly and chiefly in 
 their intrinsic quality and characteristics. Inspiration 
 
 ^ Schultz, op. cit. i. 237. 
 
 * Ibid. ii. 118. Cp. Sunday, Bampton Lecitires, pp. 124-128. 
 
26 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 implies on the one hand the continuous direction and 
 over-ruHng guidance of the Spirit, acting apparently, 
 as Dr. Liddon pointed out in his last sermon from 
 this pulpit, on the principle of selection \ and so 
 controlling the entire process of the Bible's formation, 
 as might best serve the spiritual interests of man- 
 kind. In regard to this providential action of the 
 Holy Spirit, Origen makes a far-seeing observation in 
 his Letter to Africanus. Dealing with the question 
 of variations in the Hebrew and Septuagint text of the 
 Old Testament, he appeals boldly to what we might 
 call a self-evident principle of a revelation of grace. 
 ' Can it be,' he asks, ' that the divine proviclence, 
 having given in holy Scriptures material for edification 
 to all the churches of Christ, was unmindful of those 
 who had been bought at a price, those for whom 
 Christ died ^ } ' Origen evidently means that in 
 Scripture a divine regard for the spiritual interests of 
 mankind is abundantly manifested. Certainly the Old 
 Testament is very far from being the kind of volume 
 which human ingenuity would have compiled for 
 religious purposes ; but experience has shown that 
 nothing less expansive, less full, less varied, less mys- 
 terious, would have satisfied the needs and yearnings 
 of human nature. Further, the spiritual experience of 
 Christians warrants the belief that the action of the 
 Holy Spirit, while it has controlled the formation and 
 selection of such writings as should best serve the 
 providential purpose of God, has also protected them 
 from such defects as might be injurious to that purpose. 
 An inspired Bible does not mean a book free from 
 a large admixture of imperfect elements, but it does 
 mean a book perfectly adapted to fulfil the function it 
 was intended by God to discharge. 
 
 On the other hand, inspiration is primarily a quality 
 
 ^ See his University Sermon on T/ie Itisph-ation of Selection, preached 
 May 25, 1890. 
 
 "^ Orig. ad Afric. iv. So Aug. finds providential purpose in the ob- 
 scurities of Scripture {de doc. ii. 6). 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 27 
 
 of the writers or compilers to whom we owe the 
 several books of Scripture. Men of different types 
 were moved to write, and enabled for their special 
 work, by the Holy Spirit, who employed the pro- 
 ducts of their pen in His own way and for His 
 own purposes ^ In considering this matter, however, 
 we are bound to remember that critical analysis of the 
 Old Testament books has somewhat altered the con- 
 ditions of the problem. In the case of writings which 
 have passed through a prolonged literary process, it 
 is somewhat misleading to speak of the writer as if he 
 were a single person "-. Waiving this point, however, 
 let us inquire wherein the inspiration of the biblical 
 writers consists ? Chiefly it would seem in a gift of 
 special moral and religious insight ^ The inspired 
 writer is one who is spiritually enlightened. He is 
 alive to the character, requirement and purpose of the 
 A 11- Holy. He gives prominence to spiritual truths 
 and laws. He reads history in the light of his present 
 spiritual knowledge. He looks upon the world as 
 God's world ; in history he traces the dealings of God 
 with various types of character, individual or national. 
 He reads in the events of the present, a divine com- 
 mentary on the past ; in the records of the past he 
 finds laws of future development. It is indeed signi- 
 
 ^ Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 227 : * The authority of the word 
 written was precisely the same as that of the word spoken. ... It was 
 inherent in the person who wrote and spoke, and was derived from the 
 special action upon that person of the Spirit of God.' Driver, Serm. on 
 O. T. SubJ. p. 136: 'The divine thought takes shape in the soul of 
 the prophet, and is presented to us, so to speak, in the garb and imageiy 
 with which he has invested it ; it is expressed in terms which bear the 
 external marks of his own individuality, and reflect the circumstances 
 of time and place and other similar conditions, under which it was first 
 propounded.' 
 
 2 Cp. Dalman, Das A. T. ein Wort Gottes, p. 18. 
 
 ' Driver, Serm. on O. T. Subj. pp. 146, 147 : 'We may, I suppose, say 
 that what we mean by it [inspiration] is an influence which gave to those 
 who received it a unique and extraordinary spiritual insigJit, enabling 
 them thereby, without superseding or suppressing the human faculties, 
 but rather using them as its instruments, to declare in diflerent degrees, 
 and in accordance with the needs or circumstances of particular ages or 
 particular occasions, the mind and purpose of God.' 
 
28 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 ficant that the larger part of the Old Testament books 
 are ascribed by Jewish tradition to prophets, that is to 
 men who were regarded as specially assisted by the 
 Holy Spirit, whether in reading aright the lessons of 
 national experience, or in divining correctly the pro- 
 vidential course of events in the future. Indeed this 
 tradition is so far correct that beyond any question 
 prophetism seems to have been the distinctive element 
 which made Israel's religion what it was ^ ; and as 
 a matter of fact nothing was introduced into the canon 
 which was not believed to be in some sense prophetic ^. 
 For the prophetic faculty alone could enable the biblical 
 writers to interpret the true drift and meaning of the 
 events or experiences which they described. In this 
 lies the present importance of their work. Without 
 being either perfect in form or free from error, the 
 writings of Old Testament sages and historians give 
 us such a representation of the mighty works and 
 gracious revelations of God as can best minister to 
 the education of faith in every age. For under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, Hebrew literature took 
 a direction, and attained to a height, peculiar to itself. 
 ' Just as we have here a nation,' says Ewald, ' wholly 
 different from any other elsewhere upon earth, so we 
 have also a literature shaped and fashioned under 
 a spirit, and thence also with results, wholly different 
 from those of foreign or other Semitic nations,' and 
 this in spite of the fact that, ' in external literary forms 
 Israel followed the old models of earlier Semitic 
 culture ^' 
 
 The above discussion of the term ' inspiration ' will 
 suffice to make clear the standpoint presupposed in 
 
 ' Cp. J. Darmesteter, Les Prophetes d' Israel, p. 210 ; Driver, Serm.on 
 O. T. Subj. p. 101 ; yi€\n\\o\6i, Jesics iind das A. T. pp. 103, 104. 
 
 ^ Cp. Josephus, c. Apion. i. 8 ; Girdlestone, The Foicndations of the 
 Bible, p. 17 ; Sanday, Banipton Lectures, p. 254. The Jews appear to 
 have supposed 'that books composed during the prevalence of Prophecy 
 were inspired in the strict and true sense, and that those composed after 
 the cessation of Prophecy were not.' 
 
 ^ Revelation, its Nature and Record, p. 308. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 29 
 
 the following lectures. A merely mechanical theory 
 of Inspiration is untenable for this reason amongst 
 others, that it ignores the possibility of degrees in 
 inspiration ; nor does it adequately recognize God's 
 providential action in regard to the sacred literature 
 of other religions 1. Further, the history of the 
 canon is instructive as reminding us that the relative 
 value of the different books contained in the Old 
 Testament varies somewhat widely I The very fact 
 that there was hesitation in reference to the inclu- 
 sion of several disputed books is sufficient evidence 
 that the precise spiritual function of a particular 
 writing might not always be obvious or certain, and 
 in any case if the true bearing and import of the 
 divine message in each book is to be correctly under- 
 stood, it can only be by patient effort to enter into the 
 historical conditions under which it was produced, and 
 the state of mind or culture to which it was addressed. 
 We arrive then at a true conception of inspira- 
 tion inductively by careful study of the Bible itself. 
 The term ' inspiration ' includes on the one hand ^ 
 the providential superintendence or guidance which 
 controlled the formation of the canon, on the other j f (/ 
 that supernatural influence which heightened the 
 faculties, or directed the genius, of the biblical _^ 
 writers. Inspiration has been admirably described as 
 ' an influence within the soul, divine and supernatural, 
 
 ^ Cp. Sanday, Bampfon Lectures, pp. 398 foil. Observe, the true con- 
 ception of inspiration does not require us to regard the inspiration of 
 non-Israelites as impossible or imaginary. What distmguishes the bibhcal 
 writers is the character of their knowledge of God and their peculiar 
 insight into His requirement of man. Schuhz, i. 255, points out that in 
 its earlier parts, the Old Testament itself 'goes upon the supposition that 
 even a Balaam is inspired by the true God, and that his curse or blessing 
 takes effect (Num.xxii. 6 ; xxiii. 5 ; xxiv. 3f. Cp. Mic. vi. 5) ; that Moses 
 has a certain resemblance to the wise men and the sorcerers of Egypt ; 
 that even heathen kings have dreams of a truly divme significance (Gen. 
 XX. 6 ; xl. 5 f. ; xli. I, 25", 28) ; that the prophets of the Philistines prophesy 
 truly (i Sam. vi. 2f.) ; in a word, that God speaks even beyond the bounds 
 of Israel,' &c. . , . , . 
 
 2 Sanday, op. cit. p. 259: 'Just as there is a descending scale within 
 the canon, there is an ascending scale outside it.' Cp. Driver, Serm. on 
 O. T. Subj. p. 153. 
 
30 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect 
 
 working through all the writers in one organizing 
 method, making of the many one, by all one book, 
 the book of God, the book for man, divine and human 
 in all its parts ; having the same relation to all other 
 books that the person of the Son of God has to all 
 other men, and that the Church of the living God has 
 to all other institutions K' That this influence works 
 mainly in the direction of moral illumination is the 
 view of many ancient Christian thinkers on this 
 subject. Thus while Tatian and Justin Martyr lay 
 stress upon the affinity in character, which makes 
 men suitable instruments of the divine Spirit'-, Origen 
 declares that the Holy Spirit ' enlightened the ministers 
 of truth, the apostles and prophets, to understand the 
 mysteries of those things or causes which take place 
 or act among men or concerning men ^.' * By the 
 contact of the Holy Spirit with their soul,' he else- 
 where says, ' they became more clear-sighted in their 
 faculties, and more lustrous in their souls *.' 
 
 This view of inspiration is to be distinguished 
 from the popular notions, which undoubtedly influenced 
 other ancient writers. There were some who failed 
 to discriminate between inspiration in the moral sense 
 described above and the passive reception of a divine 
 afflatus. This latter idea was characteristic of Greek 
 ' mantic ' ; it exercised considerable influence upon the 
 mind of Philo, and of those fathers who were penetrated 
 by Hellenic modes of thought ^ Such a conception, 
 
 ^ From a sermon quoted by Briggs, Biblical Study, p. i6i. 
 
 ^ See Tatian, c. Graecos, §§ 13, 29 (quoted by V^^'estcott, Introd. to 
 the Study of the Gospels, p. 424). Cp. Justin, Cohort. 8, and Dial. c. 
 Try ph. 7. 
 
 ^ de Princip. iv. 14. 
 
 * C. Gels. vii. 4 ^fpfiriKforepoi tov vovv koi rrjv ^f/V)(i)v XniiirpoTepoi. 
 
 ® Cp. Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 75. Philo and apparently Josephus 
 seem to have considered inspiration to consist in a species of frenzy or 
 ecstasy, an actual suspension of the reasoning faculties in man, so that he 
 was simply a passive instrument or mouthpiece of the divine Spirit. 
 Substantially the same view was held by some ecclesiastical writers, e.g. 
 Athenagoras, Le^;. pro Chr. § 9 ; Hippol. de Ant/chr. ii. ; Clem. Alex. 
 Protrcpt. i. 5 ; &c. See generally passages quoted by Westcott in his 
 essay on ' The primitive doctrine of inspiration ' {Introd. to the Study of 
 the Gospels, pp. 417 foil.). 
 
I] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 31 
 
 however, must obviously be corrected by investigation 
 of the Old Testament itself. There is nowhere a 
 trace that the writers of the historical books for 
 example were conscious of being supernaturally in- 
 formed of facts ascertainable by ordinary means, or 
 of not enjoying entire freedom and power of inde- 
 pendent judgment in their selection and arrangement 
 of materials. They appear simply to use the historical 
 sources open to them in their own way, and they 
 nowhere advance any claim to have worked in a 
 fashion difterent from that of ordinary profane writers. 
 We may go further, and maintain that the very idea 
 of a ' special revelation ' of past facts, e. g. the process 
 of creation, or the origins of tribal history, is con- 
 tradicted by analogy. Revelation in no case under- 
 takes the task of imparting information in regard to 
 the events of past history. It ever proclaims God's 
 will and requirement in the present, and to that end 
 interprets the past or unveils the future ^. The 
 popular idea that a fact, because it stands in Scripture, 
 is strictly historical and infallibly true results from 
 an untenable theory as to the true meaning and 
 purpose of inspiration and implies a real confusion 
 of thought. The question at issue is, What is the 
 nature of that inerrancy which all Christians alike 
 ascribe to Scripture, when they acknowledge that it 
 is a divine book ? For on this point the teaching of 
 Jesus Christ and the experience of Christendom may 
 suffice to guide us". In the Old Testament He, who 
 afterwards spake to us by a Son, spake beforehand by 
 the mouth of prophets in many parts and many fashions. 
 Modern research, however, is throwing new and startling 
 light on the modus operandi actually followed by the 
 Holy Spirit in His self-communication to man, and in 
 
 ^ This is well stated by A. Kohler, Uber Berechtigiing der Kritik des 
 Alien Testdme?i/es, p. 14. 
 
 ^ Orig. de Princ. iv. 9 maintains \i.r] avdpdiTroiv tivai avy-ypufifjiara ras 
 Upas jdLJ:i\ovs, uXX' e^ eninvoias tov ay'iov nvevfxaros ^ovXripari. tov naTpbi TUiP 
 oX(t)v 6ta 'irjcroii XpioroG Tavras dvayeypdcpdai. (cat els ijjuar iXrjXvdivai. 
 
32 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 His superintendence of the process by which a sacred 
 literature was gradually formed. The consequence is 
 that the best we can do is to describe in general and 
 somewhat vague terms what we mean by inspiration ; 
 it would be perilous to attempt any formal definition. 
 We should certainly define at the expense of over- 
 looking some vital element of divine truth. Inspira- 
 tion is our mode of denoting the influence of a Spirit 
 whose operation is manifest in two or even three 
 distinct but closely related spheres. We may trace 
 that operation, first, in the personality of those great 
 religious leaders whose ministry or testimony was 
 employed as a medium of divine revelation; secondly, 
 in the community whose spiritual life, rather than that 
 of single individuals, is reflected in such great literary 
 products as the Psalter; thirdly, in the providentially 
 guided action of those who so compiled, edited, and 
 collected the records of revelation, as to impress on 
 the total product of their labours a peculiar uniformity 
 of tone and character \ A II these worketh that one 
 and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every 'man severally 
 as he wiW^. 
 
 III. 
 
 There is yet another subject in regard to which 
 some preliminary explanation is desirable, namely, 
 the extent to which the results of historical criticism 
 are to be taken for granted in the following lectures. 
 There is, however, the less need for any lengthened 
 statement because it has been a constant practice with 
 Bampton lecturers to presuppose the labours of their 
 predecessors. Briefly stated, the position provisionally 
 accepted in these lectures is one of substantial agree- 
 ment with the cautious and well-considered summary 
 of Prof. Sanday in the second and third of his lectures 
 
 ^ Cp. Dalman, Das Alte Testament ein Wort Gottes',^. ig. 
 ^ I Cor. xii. II. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 33 
 
 on Inspiration. He has with characteristic fairness 
 and clearness stated what may be taken as the 
 estabhshed results of nearly 150 years' investigation 
 of the Old Testament ^ 
 
 It seems scarcely necessary to give any complete 
 account of those results. Broadly speaking, the out- 
 come of historical criticism has been a modification 
 of the traditional view respecting the order of the 
 successive stages in Israel's religious development. It 
 has been rendered most probable and even morally 
 certain that the active ministry of the prophets 
 preceded the discipline of the law, at least in its 
 completed form. ' The great change of perspective,' 
 says a French writer, ' which recent criticism intro- 
 duces in the sacred history is that it assigns the 
 central place in this history no longer to Moses on 
 Sinai, but to the choir of the prophets ^.' This is 
 hot in reality such a revolutionary statement as might 
 appear at first sight, for on the one hand the activity 
 of the prophets certainly presupposes the stage of 
 Mosaism, that term being carefully guarded so as 
 to imply not a fully developed system of ritual 
 and law, but an historical movement that laid the 
 foundations of a divinely organized polity and sug- 
 gested the ideas, religious and moral, by which that 
 polity was afterwards moulded ^ : -an element of law 
 was thus present as a working factor in Israel's pro- 
 gress from the time of Moses. On the other hand, 
 Moses himself is regarded by the prophets as one of 
 their number ^, nor can there be any question that 
 he is the most distinguished figure in that lone line 
 of inspired men who appeared at the turning-points 
 
 ^ See especially Sanday, Bampton Lectures, pp. 116-121, 172 foil. For 
 a sketch of the progress of criticism in relation to the Pentateuch, see 
 Delitzsch, New Co)n))ientary on Genesis, introd. 
 
 ^ Darmesteter, Les Prophites cT Israel, p. 11. 
 
 ' Mosaism would be based on the ' Book of the Covenant' and perhaps 
 the 'Decalogue.' Prophetism developed Mosaism on its ethical side. 
 Judaism was a period of education and discipline in which sacritice was 
 almost the sum total of obedience. Cp. A. B. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 170. 
 
 * See Hos. xii. 13 ; cp. Deut. xviii. 15. 
 
34 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 of Hebrew history as representatives and exponents 
 of a higher rehgion than that of their contemporaries. 
 The work of the prophets, then, preceded the prolonged 
 and strict disciphne of the Pentateuchal law. At the 
 same time, the history of the canon justifies us in 
 continuing to speak of ' the law and the prophets ' 
 so long as we are referring not to the order of 
 historical appearance, but to those great divisions of 
 the Hebrew Scriptures which are respectively known 
 by these titles, and which were successively compiled 
 in their present shape during and after the Exile. 
 The completed Pentateuchal law may still be re- 
 garded as a principal factor in Israel's spiritual 
 discipline — only it was an instrument employed in 
 a manner, and at a stage of the history, other than 
 was once supposed \ The prophets are still to be 
 reverenced as the great leaders of religion who, in 
 due succession, laboured to keep alive in Israel the 
 light of the Lord. It is a reassuring circumstance 
 that, in regard to the history and work of the great 
 Hebrew prophets, there is substantial accord between 
 the defenders of the Hebrew tradition and the 
 adherents of the higher criticism -. But the compi- 
 lation and redaction of their oracles was the work 
 of a later age than that in which the prophets 
 themselves flourished, and there is good ground for 
 thinking that some anonymous pieces were inserted 
 in the volume of their collected works and assigned 
 ^ to different great names, in accordance with a well- 
 - ' known literary practice of the time. It might also 
 seem that the collected record of prophetic teaching 
 acted more powerfully on a later age than the living 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 3T0 : 'The time when [the law] 
 became God's word, i.e. became a divinely sanctioned means for checking 
 the rebellion of the Israelites and keeping them as close to spiritual 
 religion as their imperfect understanding and hard hearts permitted, was 
 subsequent to the work of the prophets. As a matter of historical fact 
 the law continues the work of the prophets, and great part of the law was 
 not yet known to the prophets as God's word.' Cp. Hunter, A/ier the 
 Exile, part i. pp. 273 foil. 
 
 ^ Cp. Darmesteter, Les Prophhies dVsra'cl, p. 121. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 35 
 
 voice of the prophets had acted on their own con- 
 temporaries. To conclude, we have here a fixed point 
 which is amply confirmed by an investigation of the Old 
 Testament itself: the work of the prophets preceded 
 the discipline of the completed law. In some shape 
 or other this proposition is admitted even by opponents 
 of the higher criticism. No person capable of judging 
 can refuse to recognize the fact that the levitical 
 code only became a powerful and regulative influence 
 in Israel's national life after the return from Babylon. 
 Nor need we find any difficulty in supposing that 
 prophetism was followed by a stage relatively lower — ■ 
 that of law. The question however is not whether 
 the legal stage was inferior to the prophetic, but 
 whether or not it served an indispensable purpose 
 in the religious education of Israel ^ 
 
 Literary criticism and analysis has also rendered 
 necessary a new view as to the composition of the 
 Old Testament documents. In particular it has 
 shown with unquestionable clearness and force that 
 there are at least three main strata of laws incorpo- 
 rated in the Pentateuch, strata which are not all 
 of one age, but ' correspond to three stages in 
 the development of Israel's institutions,' stages still 
 clearly recognizable in the narrative of the historical 
 books ^ It is important, however, "that we should not 
 
 ^ See the suggestive remarks of Dr. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 262. 
 
 - Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 3S8. These strata of laws are — 
 
 (1) The first legislation, contained in the so-called ' Book of the Cove- 
 nant ' (Exod. xxi-xxiii), which, roughly speaking, belongs to the age of 
 Moses himself. 
 
 (2) The law of Deuteronomy (Deut. xii-xxvi), which reproduces but 
 expands the first legislation. 
 
 (3) The levitical legislation, which includes the ancient 'Law of holiness' 
 (Lev. xvii-xxvi) and represents the usage of the priests as codified and 
 supplemented during and after the exile in I5abylon. 
 
 A careful comparison of these three bodies of law makes it evident that 
 they belong to different periods of Hebrew history ; on one point there is 
 practical unanimity, viz. that the book of the law discovered during the 
 eighteenth year of Josiah's reign (621; in the temple at Jerusalem, was 
 none other than the Deuteronomic law (cp. Cornill, Einleitiaig in das 
 A. T. ^ g; Ryle, Canon of the 0. T. chap. ii.). At any rate the influence 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 exaggerate the significance of this and other similar 
 discoveries. The fact that a continuous divine reve- 
 lation was made to the Hebrew people remains 
 unaffected by inquiry into the nature and origin of 
 the records which embody either the history or the 
 spiritual products of that revelation. At what period 
 these records were severally committed to writing, 
 out of what materials they were compiled, under 
 what conditions they were produced and reached 
 their present shape — all these are matters of secondary 
 importance ^ To the same category belong most 
 questions of authorship. It will probably never be 
 precisely settled how much of the great literary or 
 legislative creations which tradition assigns to Moses, 
 David, Solomon, Isaiah, or Zechariah, can be truly 
 attributed to them. It is not vitally important that 
 we should ever attain to definite knowledge on such 
 points, and certainly it Is a great mistake to overrate 
 the need of exact Information In regard to matters 
 which do not affect the substance of revelation. At 
 any rate a Christian apologist may conscientiously 
 claim the right to retain a perfectly open mind on the 
 purely literary questions that may from time to time 
 be under discussion among experts In criticism. 
 
 I have given some bare Illustrations of the changes 
 which our present knowledge involves In current 
 conceptions of the Old Testament. But in order to 
 anticipate objections It is necessary to add two or 
 three observations bearing upon the whole subject 
 of criticism. 
 
 First, the results of the higher criticism commend 
 themselves to students of the Old Testament on broad 
 grounds of historical probability and consjstency -. 
 
 of the book of Deuteronomy on the course of the history and on the 
 historical books btX'ns at that point of time. 
 
 1 Cp. Westcott, Y//^ Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 493. 
 
 2 Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 234. 'The results [of Old Testa- 
 ment criticism] are broad and intelligible, and possess that evidence of 
 historical consistency on which the results of special scholarship are 
 habitually accepted by the mass of intelligent men in other branches of 
 historical inquiry.' Cp. Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 414. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 37 
 
 As a branch of historical science, biblical criticism 
 concerns itself with the interpretation of facts which 
 lie open to the observation of every attentive reader 
 of Scripture. This task has been pressed upon scholars 
 partly by the results of mere literary analysis of the 
 Old Testament, and partly by the accessions to our 
 knowledge which have been gained in departments 
 directly or indirectly illustrative of Hebrew life and 
 religion, in the special fields covered by archaeological 
 and ethnographical research, or by the comparative 
 study of religions. The critical method of dealing 
 with Hebrew history is that of comparing the actual 
 w^orking institutions described or implied in the historical 
 books, with those contained in the legal parts of the 
 Pentateuch ; its aim is to reconstruct the story of Israel's 
 development in accordance with all the available 
 evidence. Now in regard to this reconstruction of 
 the history, it is obvious that to a non-expert that 
 theory will ultimately commend itself which supplies 
 the most satisfactory and comprehensive explanation 
 of the divergent phenomena \ Attempts to defend 
 the traditional view of Israel's history are too often 
 entirely unsatisfying. The detailed and sometimes 
 forced interpretation of innumerable points of difficulty 
 cannot be regarded as an adequate answer to a massive 
 and consistent argument based on historical facts and 
 supported by analogy. We have seen that the most 
 noticeable point in which criticism revises the tradi- 
 tional view of the Old Testament is the relative 
 position to be assigned to the prophets and the law. 
 According to the critical view the Pentateuch embodies 
 the legal code not of Mosaism properly speaking, but 
 of post-exilic Judaism. In proof of this position it is 
 pointed out that in the historical books we find a state 
 of things prevailing which strikes at the very root of 
 the full-blown levitical system -. For while the 
 
 ^ Cp. Sanday, op. at. p. 215. 
 
 ^ See Robertson Smith, (9. T. in J. C. pp. 271, 317. 
 
38 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 levitical law rigidly restricts sacrificial worship to 
 a single central altar and shrine, the custom practised 
 and sanctioned till a late period in the history of the 
 divided kingdom is freedom of sacrifice. It appears, 
 in fact, that the central principle of the Pentateuchal 
 legislation was either unknown or ignored before the 
 age of Josiah. It has been shown, with what seems to 
 many unanswerable force, that the centralization of 
 worship and its limitation to a single sanctuary was 
 a result only gradually achieved ; that during the 
 period previous to the erection of Solomon's temple 
 a totally opposite state of things prevailed, which was 
 apparently sanctioned by judges, kings, priests, and 
 prophets alike ; that the tendency towards limitation 
 was encouraged by the great prophets of the eighth 
 century, who perceived and denounced the abuses 
 which had grown up in connexion with the popular 
 cultus ; that a doubtful attempt was made by Hezekiah, 
 and a somewhat more successful effort by Josiah, to 
 abolish the local sacrificial worship, but that until 
 Josiah's reign scarcely a trace can be discovered of 
 the observance in fact of the Deuteronomic law by 
 which sacrifice was restricted to a central sanctuary ^ 
 In this case the references found in the historical 
 books to a centralized worship do not appear to be 
 nearly sufficient to outweigh the argument drawn 
 from silence and from plain facts which justifies the 
 critical theory ^. It is plain indeed that the general 
 conception of Israel's previous history formed by the 
 compilers of the historical books does not entirely 
 correspond with the conclusions suggested by the 
 narrative itself; and that we have to deal not merely 
 
 ' Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel (Eng. Tr.), ch. i. 
 
 ^ The traditional theory is well stated by Dr. Robertson Smith, O. T. 
 /;«/. C. pp. 231 foil. Its weakness is (l) that 'the standard which it 
 applies to the history of Israel is not that of contemporary historical 
 records ' ; (2) 'the account which it gives of the work of the prophets is 
 not consistent with the work of the prophets themselves ' ; (3) in general, 
 there is a serious discrepancy between the traditional view of the Penta- 
 teuch and the evidence of the historical books in regard to the freedom 
 of sacrifice allowed by men like Samuel, David, and Elijah. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 2D 
 
 with a great mass of important historical materials in 
 the Old Testament, but with theories and interpre- 
 tations of history which themselves demand close and 
 reverent attention, but must not be supposed to fore- 
 close independent scientific investigation of recorded 
 facts. 
 
 But further, in regard to the literary composition of 
 the Old Testament writings, and especially of the 
 legal and historical portions, the critical view falls in 
 with the analogy presented by the phenomena of other 
 ancient literatures. ' Modern research,' we are told by 
 a very candid friend of the higher criticism, ' has 
 shown that a considerable part of the most ancient 
 literature of all nations was of composite origin, more 
 especially when it was of a historical or a religious 
 character. Older documents were incorporated into it, 
 with only so much change as to allow them to be 
 fitted together into a continuous story, or to reflect the 
 point of view, ethical, political, or religious, of the later 
 compiler. The most ancient books that have come 
 down to us are, with few exceptions, essentially com- 
 pilations ^.' Accordingly if the literary analysis of the 
 Old Testament points to such phenomena as these : 
 gradual accretions added to the national annals, 
 frequent assumption that Institutions of comparatively 
 late date go back to an earlier age,^ groups of writings 
 of different style and date connected with certain 
 historic names, the uniform ascription of laws to a 
 primitive legislator — we are only required to recognize 
 in Hebrew literature the operation of the ordinary laws 
 observable In that of other ancient nations. 
 
 Speaking broadly, the modern reconstruction of the 
 history can justify itself on the one hand by Its general 
 accordance with the results of a purely literary analysis 
 of the Old Testament, since the conception which 
 historical criticism has formed of the general course of 
 
 ^ Prof. Sayce, 77;,? Higher Criticisvi and the Monuments^ p. 3. See 
 a good description of the phenomena common in secular writings of 
 antiquity in Sanday, The Oracles of God, pp. 27, 28. 
 
40 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 Israel's history is one that explains almost innumerable 
 discrepancies and confusions which the traditional view 
 left unsolved, or dealt with in a superficial and unsatis- 
 factory manner. On the other hand, it harmonizes 
 with the knowledge acquired in other branches of 
 scientific research ^ Further, it is worth while to note, 
 that the admissions even of conservative writers on 
 Old Testament subjects occasionally suggest inferences 
 more far-reaching than those actually put forward by 
 their authors^. We may welcome these admissions 
 as indicating a tendency among Christian scholars 
 towards cautious acceptance of at least the main 
 positions of the critical theory, a theory which is 
 favoured not only by a mass of positive and negative 
 evidence, but also by a striking degree of a prioi^i 
 probability ^ 
 
 Secondly, it must be frankly admitted that the 
 acceptance of the higher criticism has been hindered, 
 not only by the mistaken fears and a ■p7'iori prejudices 
 of believing Christians, but also by the undisguised 
 hostility to supernatural religion with which con- 
 spicuous foreign critics have conducted the investiga- 
 tion of Old Testament subjects. Critical theories have 
 been occasionally advanced in the interests of avowed 
 
 ' The general study of history throws light not merely on the formation 
 of the Old Testament books, but on the character of their contents. In 
 all early history there is a stage of myth, and a stage of prehistoric 
 legend or saga. ' I hold,' wrote the late Prof. Freeman, ' and I see nothing 
 in our formularies to hinder me from holding— that a great part of the 
 early Hebrew history, as of all other history, is simply legendary, I never 
 read any German books on these matters at all, but came to the con- 
 clusion simply from the analogies supphed by my own historical studies.' 
 (Life cmd Letters of E. A. Freeman, by W. R. W, Stephens, B.D., vol. i. 
 P-345-) 
 
 ^ See for instance Girdlestone, The Foundations of the Bible, p. 42 (on 
 the work of the Chronicler) ; pp. 138, 139 (on the ideal character of the 
 Mosaic legislation) ; p. 193 ('concessions and convictions '). 
 
 ^ For example, the late codihcation of the Priestly code (P) falls in with 
 the evidence that among the Semitic tribes ritual and ceremonial were 
 generally a matter of unwritten usage and traditional j?^;-rttYz(V [O. T. in J. C. 
 p. 332) ; it also explains the object of Ezekiel's Torah (Ezek. xl-xlviii), 
 and its relation to the levitical legislation ; moreover, it falls in with all 
 that we know from other sources of the temper of the Jewish people after 
 its return from exile. Cf. Bruce, Apologetics, pp. 264-266. 
 
I] AKD THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 41 
 
 naturalism ; they have often been dictated by disbehef 
 in the possibility of miracle. Further, distrust has 
 naturally been excited by the arrogance, the patronizing 
 temper, the dogmatism, the overweening confidence of 
 tone, displayed by some critics. These faults are noticed 
 by a brilliant French writer in a noteworthy passage 
 which many Old Testament students would endorse. 
 Speaking specially of German criticism, M. Darmesteter 
 says, ' It has generally been wanting in flexibility and 
 moderation. It has insisted upon knowing everything, 
 explaining everything, precisely determining every- 
 thing. It has claimed to arrive at the primal elements 
 of formations which have been repeatedly modified 
 and of which we have only the remains. It has intro- 
 duced into the work of reconstruction, which ought to 
 sacrifice facts that are indifferent or devoid of historical 
 significance, the scruples of an analytic method which 
 has no right to ignore or neglect anything. Hence 
 complicated and obscure theories, provided with odd 
 corners in which all the details may be sheltered, and 
 which leave the mind little opening or leisure to 
 observe the tendency of facts and the general currents 
 of history \' Indeed, a conspicuous fault of the critical 
 temper is its disinclination to make allowance for the 
 immense range of our ignorance, and for the con- 
 sequent difficulty of attaining completeness and pre- 
 cision beyond a limited sphere -. Further, we cannot 
 fail to notice a certain want of spiritual sympathy with 
 the age and writers of the documents which are from 
 time to time under discussion, yet such sympathy is 
 absolutely necessary if we are to avoid shallowness 
 and presumption in estimating the evidenced It is 
 
 ^ Les Prophites d'' Israel, pp. 4, 5. The same writer speaks severely of 
 rationalism in the sphere of criticism. ' Le rationahsme, cet epouvantail 
 de I'orthodoxie, est une chose bien differente de I'esprit historique qui seul 
 est ftcond, et auquel il est peut-etre plus contraire que la critique croyante.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Sanday, Oracles of God, p. 74. 
 
 ^ Cp. Sayce, op. cit. pp. 5, 15. Girdlestone, op. cit. pp. 195, 196, says: 
 'They (critics) write as if they expect everj'thing to be brou;4ht up to the 
 critical style of the present century, regardless alike of the age of the books, 
 
42 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 the want of it which formerly led some critics to cast 
 imputations on the moral probity of the Old Testament 
 writers. 
 
 While however we allow that there was much which 
 seemed to justify the uncompromising hostility with 
 which Christian men of the last generation met the 
 advance of criticism, we must in fairness acknow- 
 ledge much fault on our own side ^ : much slowness of 
 heart, much want of faith and undue timidity, much 
 unreasoning prejudice, much disproportioned and mis- 
 directed zeal, much unwillingness to take trouble, much 
 readiness to explain away unwelcome facts, whereas 
 ' explaining away is a process which has no place in 
 historical inquiry ^Z We have failed to do justice to 
 the laborious and patient thoroughness, the exact and 
 profound erudition, the sagacious insight of the great 
 scholars of Germany. We have seldom made due 
 allowance for the immense difficulties of their self- 
 imposed task, we have exaggerated the deficiencies of 
 their method and the insecurity of its results ^ If 
 however in the past suspicion and dislike have been 
 carried too far, there are welcome indications that such 
 a temper is gradually disappearing, and that Christians 
 are learning to distinguish more accurately between 
 what is essential and what is non-essential to their 
 faith ^ And .if it should be objected that we of this 
 
 of the genius of the people, and of the spiritual intent of the writers.' Cp. 
 Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 329. 
 
 ^ For a frank admission of faults on the traditional side see Girdlestone, 
 op. cit. p. 196. 
 
 - Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 421. 
 
 ^ As Darmesteter justly remarks {Les Prophetes d'Is?-ael, p. 232) : 
 ' Inegalites d'erudition et temerites de methode sont le prix n^cessaire 
 dont se paye toute synthase surtout au debut de la science. Ces syntheses 
 prematurees . . . n'en sont pas moins d'incomparables instruments de 
 progres,' &c. 
 
 * The following passage from one of Professor Freeman's letters is 
 interesting in this connexion : — 
 
 ' It seems to me that the Old Testament history falls into the hands of 
 two sets of people. There is one that thinks itself bound to defend every- 
 thing at all hazards— or, what is worse, to put sonietJiing out of tJicir oivn 
 heads instead of what is really iii the hook. And there is another- set who take 
 a nasty pleasure in picking every hole they can : the small German critic, 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 43 
 
 generation are unfaithful to the traditions of those 
 venerated teachers in whose place we are allowed to 
 stand, we can but reply that wisdom is justified of all 
 her children. We whose training has been in many 
 respects diverse from theirs, whose difficulties and 
 responsibilities are altogether different, cannot fairly 
 plead their example as an excuse for evading the task 
 specially assigned to us, or for refusing to consider the 
 claims of that which presents itself to us in the name 
 of truth. It is not impatience, or love of novelty, or 
 self-confidence, or a mere wish to be abreast of recent 
 thought that has led to the changed attitude of 
 younger men ; it is the desire to follow humbly and 
 honestly the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. There 
 comes a time when suspense of judgment, indefinitely 
 prolonged, may become a breach of trust or at least 
 a failure in courage. We should be untrue to the high 
 traditions of Christian theology were we simply to 
 reject the conclusions of criticism on the ground either 
 that they conflict with private preconceptions, or that 
 they occasionally emanate from quarters hostile to the 
 Christian Faith. For while it is scarcely necessary to 
 point out that a believer in the Incarnation will not 
 share those antecedent objections to the supernatural, 
 or those a priori theories in regard to the origin and 
 growth of religious ideas, which have doubtless biassed 
 some continental critics in their discussion of Old 
 Testament problems, it is reassuring to remind our- 
 selves of at least one conspicuous instance in which 
 a great conception bearing vitally on religion reached 
 us from a non-Christian source, I mean the idea of 
 evolution. Christians have welcomed that idea ; it 
 has profoundly modified and enriched our knowledge 
 of the creative methods employed by Almighty God, 
 and of His present relation to the universe. Yet this 
 idea at first sight appeared to threaten cherished 
 
 or rather guesser^ grown smaller and nastier because he thinks it fine. 
 From neither of them will you ever get truth.' {Life and Letters, Sec, 
 vol. ii. p. 412.) 
 
44 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 Christian beliefs. Accordingly we have abundant 
 reason for anticipating that the critical sagacity which 
 for nearly a century and a half has been devoted to 
 the literature of the Old Testament, will in the long 
 run enlarge our knowledge of the ways of God, and 
 promote His glory; we may therefore appropriate all 
 that true criticism has to teach us with the confidence 
 and trustfulness of those who believe that All things 
 are theirs. Since Christian faith has welcomed the 
 theory of development in nature, it has no reason to 
 fear an evolutionary account of Hebrew religion ^ 
 
 Once more, if we are told that the time has not 
 really arrived for a verdict on the results of the critical 
 movement and that nothing can be more fooHsh and 
 short-sighted than premature concessions, we can only 
 be guided by the opinion of experts in regard to the 
 actual point which Old Testament inquiries have 
 reached. Many competent authorities think that we 
 have now entered on the period of reconstruction ^. 
 This does not mean that the time has arrived for 
 pronouncing a comprehensive and final judgment on 
 the labours of criticism. We must decline altogether 
 to be deeply committed on critical questions ; we may 
 even hold that some points which are now confidently 
 assumed to be settled beyond dispute are either 
 insoluble, or still highly uncertain. But it is main- 
 tained, and as it seems to me with justice, that certain 
 critical conclusions are practically established which, 
 even on the lowest estimate of them, profoundly 
 modify the traditional view of the Old Testament. 
 Although in the matter of minor details we may regard 
 these conclusions as tentative and provisional, we must 
 not exaggerate the importance of such divergences of 
 
 ^ Cp. BrncG, Apologetics, p. 173. 
 
 ^ e.g. Prof. Sayce, The Higher Criticism, &c., p. 24. Robertson Smith, 
 O. T. in J. C p, 16 : ' The true critic has for his business, not to destroy 
 but to build up. The critic is an interpreter, but one who has a larger 
 view of his task than the man of mere grammars and dictionaries— one 
 who is not content to reproduce the words of his author, but strives to 
 enter into sympathy with his thoughts, and to understand th'e thoughts as 
 part of the life of the thinker and his time.' 
 
I] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 45 
 
 opinion on minor points as may exist among critics at 
 the present time. The question is whether there is 
 not a soHd body of ascertained facts on which they are 
 substantially agreed ^ Even if we maintain that some 
 critical verdicts need to be revised or altogether 
 rejected, or that the preconceptions on which they are 
 based are arbitrary and untenable, yet the right and 
 duty of scholars to inquire into the history of the Old 
 Testament literature cannot be gainsaid. Erroneous 
 criticism cannot be corrected by dogmatic theology, 
 but only by a better, more searching, and less preju- 
 diced criticism 2. We must be careful not to give occa- 
 sion for the reproach that the maintenance of a tradition 
 is of more consequence to us than the acceptance of the 
 results of scientific inquiry. Attempts to dispute the 
 importance, or minimize the significance of the higher 
 criticism are no longer of any avail, but rather do injury 
 to the cause of Christian truth, inasmuch as they excite 
 the justifiable suspicion that we Churchmen have not 
 the courage or the moral force to look facts fairly in 
 the face. It is right to raise the question whether our 
 general unwillingness to accept critical conclusions is 
 due to an honest disbelief in their validity, or whether 
 it results from indolent dislike of taking trouble, from 
 a narrow and inadequate theory of inspiration, or from 
 a tendency to force the Bible into a- false and untenable 
 position — ' a position perilous to its authority, un- 
 warranted by its own statements, and, worst of all, in 
 a great measure obscuring the real power and beauty 
 of its teaching ^' 
 
 ^ Sanday, Batnpion Lectures, p. 120: 'We may reasonably say that 
 what they [the results of criticism] offer to us is a minimum which under 
 no circumstances is capable of being reduced much further, and that the 
 future is likely to yield data which are more, and not less, favourable to 
 conclusions such as those adopted in these lectures.' Cp. Ch&yn&i Aids to 
 the Devout Study of Criticism, p. 172. 
 
 ■^ Cp. Kohler, op. cit. p. 68. Delitzsch, New Commetitary on Genesis, 
 vol. i. p. 54, observes : ' Believing investigation of Scripture will not subdue 
 this nuisance of critical analysis unless it wrests the weapon from its 
 adversary's hand, and actually shows that analysis can be exercised with- 
 out thereby trampling under foot respect for Holy Scripture.' 
 
 ' J. Paterson Stnyth, How God Inspired the Bible, pp. 15, 16. 
 
46 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect 
 
 IV. 
 
 Having now cleared the ground by a definite state- 
 ment of the presuppositions with which we approach 
 our subject, I shall endeavour in the following lectures 
 to illustrate the positive functions which the Old 
 Testament, viewed in the light of modern research, 
 is intended to fulfil in the Christian Church. It may 
 be useful to illustrate the way in which a servant and 
 disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ may still continue 
 to use the Old Testament, even though inevitable 
 changes have passed over his conception of its origin, 
 structure and character. I cannot, however, conclude 
 the present lecture without a brief consideration of two 
 factors which determine the true use of Scripture 
 and specially of the Old Testament : first, the authority 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ; and secondly, the collective 
 experience of the Christian Church. 
 
 I. Nothing is more certain to a devout Christian 
 than the fact that the Old Testament comes to us 
 solemnly commended by the express authority of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the danger of ignoring 
 and misunderstanding its special teaching, or of omit- 
 ting to devote to it honest, reverent, and intelligent 
 study. 
 
 But our study must be discriminating. We must 
 draw a careful distinction between the inspired teaching 
 of the Old Testament in regard to divine and spiritual 
 things, and those many matters contained in it which 
 fall within the sphere of natural knowledge. Christ 
 did not come into the world to teach history or science, 
 but to make sinful men children of God and heirs of 
 eternal life. How carefully He warns us in the 
 Gospels that there are tasks and functions the fulfil- 
 ment of which formed no part of His mission. / am 
 not come to call the righteous. I came not to -judge the 
 world, but to save the world. I came not to do mine 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 47 
 
 own will. Man, who made me a judge or a divider over 
 you'^f It was surely not the purpose of His coming 
 to teach us the exact course of Israel's history, or the 
 origin and nature of the sacred books which recorded 
 it, but rather to point men to the sources from which 
 they might learn necessary truth about the nature and 
 character of God, His requirement of man and His 
 purpose for the world. Search the Scriptures, He 
 said to the Jews ; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
 life-. Considering, however, that both Christ and His 
 Apostles represent Israel's history as a preparation 
 for His coming, and refer to the Old Testament as 
 God's express word concerning His previous dealings 
 with humanity, a Christian cannot be satisfied with 
 any representation of the history which denies that it 
 was throughout its whole course a continuous prepara- 
 tion for the coming of Christ. At the same time he 
 will ever bear in mind that the Incarnation completed 
 the self-revelation of God which, in divers parts and 
 in divers inanners, had been communicated to mankind 
 from the first. He will remember that our Lord 
 nowhere claims for the Old Testament that it is an 
 infallible authority in regard to such points as the 
 course of primitive history or of Israel's national de- 
 velopment. To grasp correctly and present adequately 
 the actual incidents of a long historical movement 
 falls within the sphere of men's natural faculties, and 
 is a proper subject of scientific investigation according 
 to the recognized laws of historical research ^, and 
 consequently any appeal to Christ's authority on such 
 points is dangerous in so far as it mistakes the 
 true purpose of His coming. He came to reveal 
 
 ^ St. Matt. ix. 13 ; St. John xii. 47 ^nd vi. 38 ; St. Luke xii. 14. 
 
 "- St. John V. 39. __ 
 
 ^ Cp. Kohler, Uber Berechtigung der Kritik des A. T. pp. 24, 25. 
 Valeton, Christies und das A. T. p. 27, speaking of the appea] to Cl^rist's 
 authority on points of scientific or historical research, well remarks : ' Es 
 ware ein wenigstens teilweises Obertragen seiner Bedeutung von dem 
 Gebiete, wo sich alles dreht um Leben, Errettung, und Seligkeit, auf ein 
 ganz anderes und fiir diese Dinge neutrales Gebiet, wo bless Fragen 
 wissenschaftlicher Art verhandelt werden.' 
 
48 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 God to men, and He points to the Old Testament 
 Scriptures as the source whence an adequate, if not 
 an altogether perfect, knowledge of God and of His 
 kingdom may be derived. And we shall find that 
 criticism in no way impairs this function of the ancient 
 Scriptures. We approach them as of old, only with 
 a heightened consciousness of the divine operation 
 which has brought the Old Testament into its present 
 and final form. That form has been reached under 
 the providential guidance of One who foresaw our 
 circumstances, and who so controlled the tongue of 
 the seer, the imagination of the poet, and the pen 
 of the chronicler, that their utterances possess an 
 abiding and progressive significance, speaking with 
 fresh meaning and power to each successive generation 
 of God's children. We must not lose in any literary or 
 scientific investigations the characteristic Christian 
 spirit. We may be keenly interested in the researches 
 of critics ; we ma)^ ourselves approach the Old Testa- 
 ment as students of literature, as philologists, as 
 historians, as linguists, as archaeologists ; but, after all, 
 the main interest must not, cannot, be merely scientific 
 or technical ; it must be ethical and spiritual. The 
 distinctively Christian temper is that which approaches 
 the Bible as the record of a real and continuous 
 revelation of God — His mind, His character. His moral 
 requirement, His disciplinary dealings with mankind. 
 We need to place ourselves on a level with believing 
 students of all ages who, apart from the accidental 
 circumstance that their critical knowledge or their 
 exegetical methods were less perfect than ours, do 
 nevertheless set before us an example of the true 
 spirit in which Scripture should be approached and 
 used. They do not allow personal tastes or predi- 
 lections to blind them to the real purpose of Scripture. 
 They do not suffer any subordinate interest to interfere 
 with the primary object of biblical study, which is to 
 make us wise tinto salvation ^, to teach us about man 
 
 ^ 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
I] 4ND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 49 
 
 and his need of Christ, about God and His purpose 
 for humanity, about the conditions of acceptable wor- 
 ship and the attainment of perfect character. 
 
 2. It remains to estimate briefly the importance of 
 Christian experience. It might be asked why Christian 
 faith is more or less independent of critical contro- 
 versies in regard to the Old Testament ? The answer 
 is because the Bible is 'a book of experimental 
 religion^'; it depicts in each of its various stages the 
 history of an actual friendship between God and man. 
 The most potent factor in the formation of the canon 
 was undoubtedly religious experience. The Old 
 Testament books gained their authority and their 
 place in the sacred library because, as a thoughtful 
 critic has said, ' they commended themselves in 
 practice to the experience of the Old Testament 
 Church and the spiritual discernment of the godly 
 in Israel ^.' The Mosaic dispensation did, as a 
 matter of fact, educate in devout Israelites a certain 
 faculty of spiritual insight ; it produced a high 
 level of religious knowledge and affection ; it trained 
 powers of discrimination which could be entrusted 
 with the delicate task of gradually selecting or deter- 
 mining the contents of the Old Testament canon. 
 At the period when the necessity for collecting a 
 canon was realized, most of the Old Testament books 
 were already familiar to the faithful, who found in 
 them the light of their consciences and the food of 
 their spiritual life. In fact, the canon assumed its final 
 shape and gradually attained to authority as the result 
 rather of an experimental process, than of theological 
 reflection or discussion. For the canonical books, 
 sufficiently at least for all purposes of religious edifi- 
 cation, illustrated the great evangelical truths by which 
 faith is kept alive ^ They gave adequate expression 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 8. 2 /^/,/_ p_ jg^^ 
 
 ^ On this point, so far as it bears upon the Jewish Hmitation ot the Old 
 Testament to the ' canonical ' books and the exclusion of otliers, see an 
 excellent passage in Buhl, Cano)i aitd Text of the O. T. [Eng. Tr.j § 22. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [lect. 
 
 to the vital needs which divine revelation satisfied. 
 Indeed in large part that which we call with some 
 freedom of expression the word of God is actually 
 the word of man, since it gives utterance to the appeals, 
 the supplications, the questionings, the yearnings 
 after God, which make the Bible a universal book, 
 reflecting the experience and the wants of humanity \ 
 And the authority of the Bible, like that of Jesus 
 Christ Himself, lies in the directness of its response to 
 man's needs. Like the Lord's own teaching, Scripture 
 is self-evidencing. Like Him, it speaks directly to the 
 hearts and consciences of men, and its divine origin 
 and authority is vindicated by the continuous testimony 
 of Christians who have verified its message ; and let 
 us remember that its appeal to our generation is 
 ' strengthened incalculably by the results of that same 
 appeal to the minds and hearts and consciences of 
 every preceding generations' 
 
 Spiritual experience then lies behind the record in 
 which it is enshrined, and this leads us to the observa- 
 tion that, after all. Christian faith is essentially inde- 
 pendent of the Old Testament. The great fundamental 
 verities are not learned by us from the pages of the 
 ancient Scriptures. For instance, the writer of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that we learn the 
 fact and the true significance of the world's creation, 
 not from the pages of Genesis, but as the result of 
 Christian faith ^ ; we find the verification of the fall 
 of man in universal experience ; we infer the pity of 
 God for the human race from the upward movement 
 which has marked its development and which culmi- 
 nates in the advent of the Son. In the Old Testa- 
 ment, Christian faith puts itself to school with the 
 saints of the preparatory dispensation ; it enters into 
 their hopes and fears ; it takes their language of love 
 or trust on its lips ; it learns how they regarded those 
 great acts of God to which their whole history bears 
 
 ^ Cp. J. Paterson Smyth, op. cit. p. 122. 
 "^ Ibid. p. 27. Cp. pp. 21, 22. ^ Heb. xi. 3. 
 
i] AND THE 'HIGHER CRITICISM' 51 
 
 undying- witness. But faith carries with it a religious 
 test learned in the school of Christ : it appropriates 
 everything in the Old Testament which can edify the 
 conscience, while it passes by all that falls short of 
 Christ's teaching ; thus it sometimes sets aside what 
 the ancient saints extolled — the vengeance of Jael, for 
 instance, or David's treatment of Moab — discriminat- 
 ing freely between what is profitable for the spiritual 
 life and what belonc^s to a lower stao^e of human 
 development \ 
 
 There is one final reflection specially appropriate in 
 this connexion. We have noticed the attestation 
 which is given by Christian experience to the function 
 of the Old Testament, but what has been said after 
 all amounts to the assertion that the Old Testament 
 Scriptures are an integral part of a treasure which 
 peculiarly belongs to the Church of God — that divine 
 society which exists as the living witness of God's 
 continuous self-revelation in the world and which 
 appeals to the Scriptures as corroborating her own 
 primary testimony to God's truth. Believing then, as 
 we do, that new and impressive views of God's pro- 
 vidence are being opened out to us by the gradual 
 advance of critical science, and that a revelation is 
 being made to us respecting God's word in Scripture 
 parallel to that which is already familiar to us in the 
 sphere of physical nature, we shall realize the far- 
 reaching importance of that foundation doctrine of the 
 Church which God seems to have restored to us in 
 time to enable us to deal with the critical question 
 dispassionately and fearlessly. We, in this University, 
 are not likely to forget the honoured names of those 
 great spiritual leaders to whom, under God, we owe 
 the recovery of this doctrine ; nor can we easily over 
 rate its vast significance. The doctrine has a plain 
 bearing on our present inquiry. The Church of God ! 
 
 ^ Cp. Kohler, op. cit. pp. 64, 65. Aug. de docirifta, ii. 8, gives a rule 
 for determining the canonicity of different books which presupposes the 
 guidance of organized experience. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, ETC. 
 
 — we belonored to her, her message was deUvered to us, 
 her powers were at work upon us before we were 
 able to read a hne of the Bible. She taught us that 
 in the Bible God's voice was to be heard, but the 
 manner in which it speaks she did not define. Thus 
 the way has been left open for those who might 
 competently instruct us in regard to the methods 
 actually employed by the Holy Spirit. We certainly 
 are not true to the mind of the Church, nor to that lofty 
 temper which St. Paul commends to the Corinthians 
 as specially characteristic of Christians, if we fail to 
 appreciate and worthily use the gift of new knowledge 
 with which this age of scientific criticism has enriched 
 us. We approach the Old Testament with reverent 
 interest as behevers in the incarnation of the Son of 
 God ; with a deep sense of our own insufficiency as 
 believers in the mystery of inspiration, and finally with 
 the quietness and confidence of those whose feet are 
 planted on the rock of the Holy Catholic Church, 
 that city of God which claims as her own all that is 
 good in human character, all that is precious in human 
 life, all that is true in human knowledge. All things 
 are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the 
 world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to 
 come; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's; and Christ 
 is God's. 
 
LECTURE II 
 
 But continue iJioii in the things which thou hast lear7ted and hast been 
 assured of, knowiitg of whom thou hast learned them; and that from 
 a cliild tJwu hast ktiowtt the holy scriptures, which are able to ma];e thee 
 wise unto salvation through faith tuhich is in Christ Jesus.— 2 Tim. iii. 
 14, 15- 
 
 In this passage St. Paul at once indicates the scope 
 and purpose of the Old Testament, and prescribes the 
 condition of using it profitably. He begins by stating 
 the reasonable ground on which the authority of the 
 Christian Church is based. Continue tJioit, he says to 
 Timothy, in the things zvhich thon hast learned and 
 hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned 
 them. The acceptance of authority in itself implies an act 
 of the moral judgment. The individual submits himself 
 to the guidance of the Christian community mainly 
 because it exhibits an impressive consensus of belief in 
 regard at least to certain fundamental truths, but the 
 testimony of the Church is commended and enforced 
 by the spiritual life and character which lie behind it. 
 The neophyte can venture upon an act of self-com- 
 mittal, because his reason tells him that the highest 
 type of human excellence within the sphere of his 
 observation has its roots in the creed of Christendom. 
 In verse 15 the apostle appeals to Timothy's personal 
 experience and training. From a child he has been 
 taught to study the ' sacred writings ' of the Old 
 Testament and to find in them the necessary guidance 
 of his religious thought and conduct. The peculiar 
 function of these Scriptures is to make wise unto salva- 
 
54 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 Hon. The very phrase conveys a warning that men 
 may approach Holy Scripture not only in a wrong 
 temper and spirit, but under a positive misconception 
 as to its true purpose. The study of the Old Testa- 
 ment is calculated to impart 'wisdom' — the knowledge, 
 that iS; of the great principles of divine action in the 
 world, of the conditions under which man can be 
 admitted to fellowship with his Creator ; knowledge 
 which is contrasted, on the one hand, with the intel- 
 ligence or insight {avvecns) which apprehends the 
 immediate purpose of God, on the other hand, with 
 the practical wisdom {(f>p6vr]cn's) which dictates right 
 courses of action. The condition of acquiring this 
 wisdom is faith resting on Christ Jesus. The true 
 function of the Old Testament can only be rightly 
 estimated from the standpoint of faith in one whose 
 coming was from the first destined to crown the entire 
 ^history of revelation. 
 
 Leaving on one side the exegesis of this particular 
 passage, let us pass on to consider some general aspects 
 under which the Old Testament presents itself to the 
 Christian student. Viewed historically, the Old Testa- 
 ment is the sacred book of Judaism, the charter so to 
 speak of the community which was organized by Ezra 
 and Nehemiah on the basis of the levitical law and of 
 the sacrificial cultus of the post-exilic sanctuary. It 
 embodies the account, first, of the origin, historical 
 career, and peculiar character of the holy community 
 and of its sacred institutions ; secondly, of the divine 
 communications imparted to it from time to time 
 through the agency of the prophets. Thirdly, it 
 contains products of religious emotion and reflection, 
 which illustrate the spiritual influences that prevailed 
 in the Jewish Church and helped to mould its 
 character. Lastly, the Old Testament depicts the 
 external circumstances and conditions under which 
 Judaism grew to maturity ^ But the interest of 
 a Christian in the ancient scriptures cannot be merely 
 
 ' Cp. Dalman, Das A. T. ein Wort Gotfes, p. 13. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 55 
 
 literary' or archaeological. He will be concerned with 
 other aspects of the Old Testament, and of these five 
 especially seem to deserve attention. 
 
 The Old Testament is to be studied, in the first 
 place, as a record of the history of redemption. It 
 contains the account of a continuous historical move- 
 ment of which the originating cause was the grace of 
 God and the aim the salvation of the human race. It 
 scarcely requires to be stated that this aspect of the 
 Old Testament opens very serious and urgent questions 
 in regard to the precise character and extent of the 
 strictly historical element in the ancient narratives. 
 Secondly, the Old Testament is the authentic record 
 of a divine revelation. It describes the course of a 
 progressive self-manifestation of God, of the unveiling 
 to man according to his needs and capacities of 
 a supreme personality to whom he finds himself 
 standing in necessary and intimate relationship. 
 Thirdly, the Old Testament may be treated as the 
 history of a covenantal relationship between man and 
 God, of a continuous converse or friendship which 
 from the first depended on moral conditions, and ever 
 tended towards a more perfect mode of union between 
 the divine and human natures. Fourthly, the Old 
 Testament is to be regarded as the record of a growing 
 anticipation or hope, the hope which we call Messianic, 
 and which found expression not merely in ancient 
 oracles and prophecies, but also in the symbolic institu- 
 tions of the chosen people. This expectation was 
 rooted in spiritual experience, outlived even the most 
 formidable disasters which overtook the Hebrew 
 nation, and found its accomplishment in an event 
 of which only a chosen few were able to recognize the 
 true significance. Lastly, the Old Testament is to be 
 studied as the revelation of a divine purpose, not 
 merely for a particular nation or even for humanity at 
 large, but also for the individual soul in its frailty and 
 solitariness, its sense of accountability, its presages of 
 immortality. 
 
55 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 In the present lecture these five aspects of the 
 subject will be dealt with in general outline. The 
 ensuing lectures will elaborate each in somewhat 
 fuller detail. The classification does not pretend to be 
 exhaustive, but it will probably be found to embrace 
 the main points which are of special interest to 
 Christian students of the Old Testament, and which 
 are more or less affected by the discoveries of recent 
 criticism and research. At any rate, ample scope will 
 be provided for illustrating the new points of view in 
 regard to scripture which we owe to the labours of 
 modern scholarship. Our ideas of the methods 
 actually employed in divine revelation will perhaps be 
 enlarged, while some misconceptions may be removed 
 which have hitherto hindered some minds from profit- 
 ably studying the Old Testament. On the other 
 hand, we may be led to a more intelligent use of the 
 materials that are now available for those who desire 
 to form a true estimate of Israel's place and function 
 in the history of religion. 
 
 I. In the first place, then, we are to study the Old 
 Testament as a history of redemption. This point of 
 view enables us at once to discern the significance and 
 purpose of that sublime statement of fundamental 
 truths which forms the vestibule, so to speak, to the 
 edifice of the Old Testament ^ The early chapters 
 of Genesis contain the presuppositions which alone 
 could render welcome and intelligible the thouQ-ht of 
 a redemptive movement on the part of God for the 
 salvation of men. They describe the creation of the 
 world by God, the formation of man in the Creator's 
 own image, the entrance of moral evil, and the divine 
 purpose of restoration. 
 
 It will be convenient at this point to discuss these 
 wonderful narratives, which are essentially poetical in 
 
 /^^ Cp. Dillman, Comtn. on Genesis, p. viii : ' Die Genesis ist die Vor- 
 /be."eitung zu den folg. Buchern oder gleichsam die Vorhalle zu dem 
 Tempel der Theokratie dessen Errichtung in den folg. Biichern dargestellt 
 wild.' 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 57 
 
 their form, and clearly stand on a different level from 
 the historical books properly so called, which are to be 
 considered separately in a subsequent lecture. fThey 
 deal not with the substance of redemptive history, but 
 rather with the facts of human nature which lie behind 
 it '^ and consequently any prolonged discussion re- 
 specting the nature, sources, or scientific value of the 
 ' narrative of the origins ' is for present purposes 
 irrelevant, or at least of very secondary importance. 
 QEven a slight observation of the characteristics of the 
 Hebrew mind will suffice to show us that the scientific 
 interest, if it existed at all, occupied an entirely sub- 
 ordinate place in the religious thought of an Israelite \'j 
 and thus the story of the origins, though cast in" 
 a quasi^storical or mythical form, is in fact in- 
 stinct with a religious aim. It does not appear to 
 have had any peculiar or special connexion with 
 Israel, but was in some form or other common to 
 other branches of the Semitic race. The current 
 traditions of the Creation, the Fall, and the Flood, 
 are employed as a suitable medium for expressing the 
 fundamental thoughts of true religion: the distinctness 
 of God from the created universe ; the immediate 
 dependence on Him of all being at each stage of its 
 development, and the essential goodness of that 
 which owes its existence to Him.' To the student 
 of comparative religion it is no doubt of great interest 
 to notice that in the story of the origins we have 
 a narrative which shows clear traces of connexion with 
 Phoenician and Chaldaean traditions ; to the believer 
 in divine inspiration it is of chief importance to notice 
 how primitive myth is consecrated to spiritual uses, and 
 how in the process it is purged of all that is puerile 
 or immoral, the main outlines of the original story 
 being retained, while the lower elements in it are 
 entirely overmastered by the sublime spiritual thoughts 
 
 _} Cp. Schultz, Old Testament Theology fEng. Tr.], ii. 180; Kcihler, 
 Ube7- die Berechttgung der Kritik des A. T. pp. 25, 26 ; Driver, Serm. on 
 O. T. Subj. No. I. 
 
 \/ 
 
58 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 of a lofty religion ^. Such elements are indeed only 
 survivals, like the survivals in natural history, serving, 
 for aught we know, some beneficent purpose, showing 
 that Israel's religion had its roots in a Semitic 
 paganism, from which under the impulse of the Spirit 
 of God it gradually emancipated itself. No student 
 of the Old Testament will find serious difficulty in the 
 existence of mythical or even polytheistic elements 
 which have in fact become the medium of pure 
 religious ideas, and which have been so far stripped 
 of their original character as to serve the purposes 
 of a monotheistic system ^. ' Where the Assyrian or 
 ^'Babylonian poet saw the action of deified forces of 
 / nature, the Hebrew writer sees only the will of the 
 / one supreme God ^' It is only necessary to remark 
 1 in passing that we have here the earliest, and In some 
 respects the most striking, illustration of a law which 
 pervades the entire religious development of the 
 people of God. The higher faith retains elements 
 derived from the lower stages of religion, but only to 
 regulate and to purify them, or in some cases even to 
 pass explicit judgment upon them. While in fact it is 
 abundantly clear that the religion of Israel presupposes 
 the nature-worship of the ancient Semitic peoples, it 
 is equally certain that it displayed from the very first 
 an upward tendency in the direction of a spiritual 
 monotheism. The ultimate outcome of Israel's long 
 discipline manifests the reality of that 'continual and 
 delicate divine pressure which lifted a rude and 
 barbarous tribe above its surroundings and raised it 
 to the throne of spiritual influence, in reference to 
 "which Athanaslus declares that Israel was ' a sacred 
 
 f^ 
 
 ' Cp. Wellhausen, op. cit. pp. 304, 305, 314. 
 
 2 Schultz, op. cit. i. 118. 
 
 ' Sayce, The Higlier Criticism and the Momimcnts, p. 71. Cp. Renan, 
 Histoire du peupie d' Israel, bk. i. ch. 4. Renan illustrates at length the 
 influence of Babylonia on the Hebrew story of the origins, and points 
 out how *A free will, as implied by the words He created, substituted 
 for ten thousand capricious fancies, is a progress of its kind ' [Eng. Tr. 
 p. 67]. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 59 
 
 school- of the knowledge of God and of the spiritual 
 life for all the world ^' 
 
 The account of creation is followed by other funda- 
 mental statements relating to man's nature and destiny, 
 the entrance of sin, and its culmination in death and, 
 divinely inflicted judgment. Distinctive of the Old 1 
 Testament is the view that man was created in the ' 
 divine image, that by the law of his original constitu- 
 tion he was a personal, self-conscious, and spiritual 
 being, designed for communion with his Maker -, and 
 endowed with faculties enabling him to fulfil a spiritual 
 destiny. Here again we do not look for scientific 
 anthropology, but rather for a conception of human 
 nature based upon experience and reflection. The 
 narrative of the Fall is to be regarded as a particular 
 solution, in poetical form, of a problem which at 
 a very early period presented itself to human thought. 
 In its essence the Fall consists in man's conscious 
 choice of something lower than God Himself, something 
 antagonistic to His revealed will. It is the perversion 
 or defect of will ; it is aversion from God ^. The 
 inspired story of Genesis suggests profound spiritual 
 truths in regard to the character rather than to the 
 origin of human sin. It presents a picture entirely 
 true to nature of the awakening of moral consciousness 
 and of that which is its ordinary sequel : the recogni- 
 tion by man that his will is out of harmony with the 
 requirements of the moral order ; the instinctive dread 
 of severance from the source of all life ; the discovery 
 of the true significance of death for a spiritual being ; 
 the consciousness of physical evil as an impediment 
 and obstacle in the way of human development. The 
 biblical narrative is, in fact, the Hebrew solution of 
 a fact which is quite independent of the scriptural 
 evidence and is attested by the moral experience of 
 
 ' de Incarn. c. xii. 
 
 ^ Schultz, ii. 238 : ' The seal of the Eloliim nature is stamped as it were [/ 
 on the substance of the fleshly nature.' 
 
 * Ath. c. Cent, v r) tu>v icptnTovuiv aTTO(TTpo(\>r}. Greg. Nyss. 0?af. 
 Catech, v 17 a.i:h tou koKov tijs ^i/X^^ avax^oipijcns. 
 
6o DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 humanity ^ The narratives then are apparently in- 
 tended simply to justify and render credible the 
 revelation of a divine love displayed in man's restora- 
 tion. It is noticeable that they tell us nothing in 
 regard to the conditions of primitive civilization. 
 They merely indicate that man's original state was not 
 what it is now. They do not suggest that he was 
 perfect in the sense that he attained at once to com- 
 plete development. They imply 'a living commence- 
 ment which contained within itself the possibility of 
 a progressive development -.' Man was destined to 
 develope upwards, and a certain measure of com- 
 munion with his Creator was intended to guide and 
 condition his progress, by giving to it impulse, 
 direction, and stability. But the interest of the 
 ^rliest compilers is primarily soterlological. Original 
 sin is for them the starting-point of a divine purpose 
 of recovery — of an historical movement passing 
 I through stages of orderly development and working 
 Vmalnly from within the fallen race itself^. 
 
 The story of the Flood brings into view the 
 principal factor in salvation — the gracious action of 
 God crowning and rewarding the faith of man. The 
 details of the story may appear to curious inquirers 
 contradictory or even impossible * ; nevertheless, the 
 narrative gives expression to the religious thought 
 that while God in His wrath visits sinful man with 
 unsparing calamities, even at the very moment when 
 he least expects It, yet in the midst of His judgments 
 He guides and protects His own elect. Christians 
 
 ^ Coleridge, Aids to Reflectio7i, aphorism cix; Mozley, Lectures a7td 
 other Theological Papers, ix, x. Observe, in his allusions to the fall St. Paul 
 does not always connect the fact with Adam. He rather insists that 'all 
 have sinned' (Rom. iii. 23). So Athanasius (e.g.) describes the fall in 
 plural terms. See c. Gent, iii; de I/icarn. v. It is the apostasy not of 
 a via7t, but oi mankind, that is the occasion of redemption. Rom. vii. 21 
 shows that the point of importance is the existence of a uniform law, which 
 in the Hebrew story is represented as resulting from the physical connexion 
 between the human race and its first progenitor. 
 _ ivi Marlensen, Christ iati Dogmatics, § 78. 
 -^ Cp. Oehler, Theology of the O. T. ^ 7. 
 
 * Cp. Meinhold,/^j«j ufid das A. T. p. 114, &c. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 6l 
 
 accordingly are not concerned to maintain that the 
 narrative as it stands is Hterally correct. It is enough 
 to learn from it those true conceptions of God's char- 
 acter and action which formed the basis of Israel's 
 faith, and which have been verified by the subsequent 
 religious experience, not of Israel only, but of man- 
 kind. 
 
 The Old Testament, then, regarded as a history 
 of human redemption, starts with certain necessary 
 presuppositions which, though embodied in a primitive 
 and childlike form, find their verification ultimately in 
 the moral experience of mankind. The precise value 
 and importance of the historicaT books will occupy our 
 attention later. Meanwhile, it will be appropriate in 
 this general survey of the subject to notice briefly 
 two particular features which give a distinctive char- 
 acter to the sacred history. 
 
 In the first place, the course of redemption is 
 marked at various points by the occurrence of the 
 supernatural. In the Old Testament history divine 
 action .or intervention is represented as having been 
 specially conspicuous at certain great crises or epochs, 
 particularly it would seem on occasions when Jehovah 
 willed to manifest Himself as unique or supreme 
 among the supposed deities of heathendom, and accord- 
 ingly miraculous powers are usually attributed only to 
 a few leading instruments of revelation, such as Moses, 
 Elijah, and Klisha ^ Now it cannot be questioned that 
 a complete self-manifestation of the divine nature 
 demands action as well as utterance, and that miracles 
 of grace and power are constitutive elements that 
 may be antecedently expected in any authentic revela- 
 tion of God 2. The abstract possibility of miracle 
 seems to be necessarily implied in the religious con- 
 ception of God as a free, spiritual being, to whom the 
 moral interests of the universe are of higher importance 
 than the uninterrupted maintenance of physical law. 
 
 ^ Oehler, The Theology of the O. T. § 63. 
 
 ^ Cp. Uruce, The Chief End of Reveiatio7i, p. 168. 
 
62 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 Miracle is also a natural element in any revelation of 
 grace which takes the form of action rather than 
 speech, for, as Dr. Bruce observes, ' the maximum of 
 gracious possibility cannot be manifested without 
 miracle ^' A logical theism must claim for God the 
 power to intervene in His own universe on behalf of 
 ^ His good purpose'^, and to display His entire exemption 
 from any bondage to the present order of nature or to 
 I the past course of history 3. In point of fact it is 
 creative epochs in the history of religion that seem 
 generally to be signalized or heralded by an excep- 
 tional coruscation of miracle. Indeed, if the Old 
 Testament be the record of a divine movement des- 
 ; tined to culminate in the Incarnation and Resurrection 
 I of the Son of God, a miraculous element in the history 
 seems to be not only antecedently probable, but even 
 necessary, as indicating the special purpose, direction, 
 and moral quality of the divine action ^ This general 
 defence of the Old Testament miracles does not, how- 
 ever, imply a belief that every supernatural occurrence 
 related in the different books literally happened exactly 
 as it is described. Since it is admitted that the 
 majority of the historical books only attained their 
 present form centuries after the occurrence of many 
 of the events recorded in them, we may — at least 
 while the date of the original materials out of which 
 they were compiled remains uncertain — safely allow 
 the possibility of cases in which poetical or hyper- 
 bolical language has been hardened into concrete fact. 
 It has been suggested that this is a probable explana- 
 
 " ^ 77/1? Chief E7td of Revelation, p. 175. ^ Phil. ii. 13. 
 
 ^ See Isa. xliii. 18, (S:c. Cp. the remarks of A. Ritschl, U7iter7-icht in 
 der ch?istlic/ien Religio7t {Bonn, 1886), § 17: 'Die religiose Betrachtung 
 der Welt ist daraut gestellt, dass alia Naturereignisse zur Verfiigung 
 Gottes stehen, wenn er den Menschen helfen will. Demgemass gelten 
 als Wunder solchc auffallende Naturerscheinungen, mit welchen die 
 Erfahrung besonderer CJnadenhilfe Gottes verbunden ist, welche also 
 als besondere Zeichen seiner Gnadenbereitschaft fiir die Glaubigen zu 
 betrachten sind. Deshalb steht die Vorstellung von Wundern in noth- 
 wendiger Wechselbeziehung zu dem besonderen Glauben an Gottes 
 Vorsehung, und ist ausserhalb dieser Beziehung gar nicht moglich.' 
 
 * Cp. A. L. Moore, Science and the Faith, pp. 98, 99. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 63 
 
 tion of the narrative which describes the standing still 
 of the sun at the command of Joshua \ Nor is it 
 a matter of crucial importance to contest the opinion, 
 whatever it may be worth, that even in the case of 
 great personages belonging to a much later age, there 
 has been a somewhat free ascription of symbolic 
 miracles. Thus, in the case of Elijah and Elisha 
 it is sometimes maintained that the analogy of secular 
 history points to a possible growth of popular tradition, 
 filling up or adding to the record of their mighty 
 deeds. Differences of opinion in regard to the precise 
 extent of the undoubtedly historical nucleus contained 
 in the narratives relating to such heroic figures may 
 reasonably be admitted. In any case the miracles, 
 whether actually performed or popularly ascribed, fore- 
 shadowed the redemptive works of the incarnate Son/ 
 To lay equal stress on the miracles of the Old Tes- 
 tament and on those of our Lord not only involves 
 a serious confusion of thought ; it implies misappre- 
 hension of the true character of the Old Testament 
 and forgetfulness of the principle expressed in Augus- 
 tine's maxim, Sicut Veteri Testamento, si esse ex Deo. 
 bono et suinmo ncgetu7% ita et Novo Jit injicria si Veteri 
 aeqiietur. 
 
 Secondly, we may notice a general principle which 
 underlies the redemptive action of God, namely, the 
 principle of limitation or severance. The tendency of 
 Hebrew history is towards specialization : the action 
 of -d. purpose of God according to election ^ is observable. 
 The entire story of Genesis, for instance, consists in 
 
 ^ Kittel, History of the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 303 [Eng. Tr.], says of 
 Joshua X. 12-14: 'This [event] can signify nothing but an extraordinary 
 duration of the day of battle which allowed Joshua to finish his martial 
 day's work. The daylight held out till the work of vengeance on the 
 enemy was completed. Joshua has poetically glorified this in the song as 
 a standing still of the sun, because he knew of no other explanation.' 
 Kittel implies that a miracle did take place, but the reviser of the book of 
 Joshua turned the song ' into matter-of-fact prose.' Kenan, Histoire, 
 &c., bk. ii. ch. 3, gives a simple literary and linguistic explanation of the 
 passage, on which Judg. v. 20 sheds some light. A parallel instance 
 is perhaps to be found in Num. xxii. 28. 
 
 ■■' Rom. ix. II. 
 
64 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 a series of separations. Even the account of creation 
 itself begins by recording an act of severance as if it 
 were a constant law of the divine action : God divided 
 the light from the darkness, the waters above the 
 firmament from those below, the dry land from the 
 seas^ In the actual history this law of severance 
 meets us in a new form as the principle of election, 
 according to which the few are set apart and educated 
 in order that, by their means, blessing may be extended 
 to the many. The account of the patriarchs is so 
 framed as to give special prominence to the idea of 
 election^, but it already emerges in Gen. iv. 26, where 
 a contrast is implied between the world-power and the 
 worshippers of the true God. And there can be no 
 doubt that the same principle gives us the true key to 
 the significance of Israel's entire history. It is uncer- 
 tain at what point in its career the truth of its election 
 was fully realized by the nation, but it is clear that the 
 divine purpose was in process of fulfilment from the 
 first. This people have I formed for mysef ; they shall 
 show forth my praise 2. At the earliest stage of its 
 national existence Israel was reminded of the purpose 
 for which it had been separated from the nations of 
 the world. Even in the primitive forecast of its great 
 destiny a universalistic element was present * ; in 
 Abraham and his seed all the nations of the earth 
 were to be blessed ; and subsequently Israel was 
 taught that He who had brouoht the nation to Him- 
 self, with the design of making it a kingdom of priests 
 and a holy nation, was no merely national God like the 
 deities of the heathen, but the Lord of all the earth ^ 
 Israel was chosen, as we may well believe, in prefer- 
 
 ^ Gen. i. 4, 6, 10. 
 
 - See Gen. xii. 3; xiii. 14; xv. 5 ; xvii, 5; xviii. 17-19; xxii. 16, &c. 
 
 ^ Isa. xliii. 21. The doctrine of Israel's election seems to be most 
 clearly brought out by the prophets of the eighth century, and a stimulus 
 was given to the conception by the publication of Deuteronomy. See 
 Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 124 ; Sanday, Bamptoti Lectures^ p. 163. 
 
 * Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, pp. 198, 199. 
 
 * Cp. Exod. xix. 5, 6; Joshua iii. li. 
 
Ill THE OLD TESTAMENT 65 
 
 ence to other nations ' because in genius and temper it 
 was best fitted to realize God's purposes towards man, 
 to be the channel of His grace, and to develope. through 
 many failures, an ideal of godliness and faiths' But 
 if Israel was called to be the medium of a blessing 
 designed for humanity at large, the privilege imposed 
 high obligations. For the Hebrew people was chosen 
 to be the depositary of a purer faith and loftier 
 morality than that recognized by other races. Hence 
 the necessity of Israel's isolation from the surrounding 
 heathen and its subjection to a special moral discipline. 
 It was the task of the eighth-century prophets to bring 
 home to the nation the ideal purpose of its separation 
 from the world and the bearing of God's elective 
 action on the spiritual destinies of mankind. There 
 is true discernment in the fine remark of Irenaeus, 
 'Jehovah brought His people out of Egypt in order 
 that man might once more become a disciple and 
 follower of God V The ultimate object of the divine 
 grace was not Israel, but humanity. 
 
 In speaking of the Old Testament as a history of 
 redemption, we do not mean that it furnishes a com- 
 plete history of Israel. It has been said with truth 
 that the Old Testament rather ' supplies the materials 
 from which such a history can be constructed ^.' It i§^ 
 indeed a record of God's action in history, but one that' 
 is marked by special purpose and character, interpreting 
 what it narrates, and selecting facts according to some 
 inner principle of fitness. The historian may justly 
 require that the record in its main outlines should 
 be adequate and that Israel's interpretation of its own 
 history should be in essential points trustworthy. But 
 we shall see that it is unwise to over-estimate the 
 extent of the strictly historical element in the Old Tes- 
 tament. The selection of facts and the mode of their 
 presentation are dictated not so much by a merely 
 
 ^ Driver, Serin, on the O. T. p. 57. 
 
 ^ Iren. Haer. iv. 16. 3. Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 182. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith in his preface to Wellhausen's /Vtf/^^c?;«^«a, p. vii. 
 
 F 
 
c 
 
 N 
 
 66 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 historical interest as by a sense of the religious import 
 of what is narrated. ' It has not pleased God,' says a 
 recent writer, ' to convey to us instruction concerning 
 the ancient period [of Israel's history] in the form of 
 indisputably historical documents ; consequently the 
 external details of the narrative cannot be for us the 
 matters of chief significance. Occasionally the pro- 
 phetic elucidation of material not in itself religious 
 may be the important thing in a particular book. For 
 example, to a historian the narratives in the book of 
 Judges which relate the exploits of Hebrew heroes are 
 more important than the Deuteronomic framework ; 
 yet it is precisely this framework that gives the book 
 its canonical character. The historical and the canoni- 
 cal valuations of a book follow different laws, and go 
 in different directions ^' The evident aim, generally 
 speaking, of the writers and compilers of the sacred 
 history is to convey and emphasize a certain religious 
 impression, not to give a complete or rigidly accurate 
 picture of events. 
 
 II. The second of those general aspects of the Old 
 Testament which will occupy our attention is by far 
 the most important. The Old Testament does not 
 merely contain the history of a divine redemptive 
 movement : it is also the record of a self-revelation of 
 Almighty God ; it describes the gradual disclosure 
 of the clivine name and attributes. The permanent 
 interest of Israel's history for mankind lies in the 
 fact that in the history a supreme moral personality 
 is unveiled. Israel's sacred literature is primarily 
 a school of divine knowledge for the whole world. 
 
 Now, that the Old Testament exhibits a gradual 
 evolution of the idea of God is, of course, indisputable. 
 Naturalistic criticism gives its own clear, plausible, 
 intelligible account of the gradual advance of Israel's 
 belief. In the earliest stage of Semitic thought the 
 divine nature is vaguely conceived in polytheistic 
 fashion as distributed among a plurality of beings 
 
 ^ Dal man, Das A. T. ein Wort Gottes, p. 15. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 67 
 
 whose operation lies hidden behind the various pro- 
 cesses of nature. As the consciousness of tribal unity 
 is developed, each tribe recognizes a special deity, 
 linked to itself by ties of interest and natural affinity. 
 When different tribes coalesce and realize something 
 of national unity, the deity is elevated to the position 
 of a national god, united by a special bond to one 
 particular people and land. Presently, when the 
 nation comes into conflict with neighbouring peoples 
 and their gods, the dignity and importance of the 
 deity is enhanced in proportion to the measure of 
 national success in warfare. He is honoured as the 
 mighty god whose power extends even beyond the 
 limits of his own special sphere of influence. With 
 the advance of culture and civilization, men recognize 
 moral qualities in their god, attributing to him the 
 virtues which they fear or reverence in their fellow- 
 men. As the horizon of human thought widens, the 
 deity is acknowledged to be a righteous being who 
 controls and guides the destinies, not only of his own 
 subjects, but also those of alien nations. Finally, 
 when the faculties of abstraction and reflection have 
 reached a certain point of development, the conception 
 is formed of one God, the creator of all things, reign- 
 ing in solitary majesty over all the nations of the earth. 
 The whole process is thus represented as one of simple 
 natural development, and the idea of special revelation 
 is set aside as unwelcome and unnecessary. 
 
 As is usually the case, the same set of facts is capable 
 of being interpreted in two distinct ways and from two 
 opposite points of view. The real question at issue in 
 our present-day controversy with naturalistic criticism 
 is whether or no God is a living being ^, to whom 
 the spiritual interests of mankind are of supreme im- 
 portance, and who at each stage of development, 
 physical or moral, is Himself present in the universe 
 
 ^ See Oettli, Der gegenwiirtige Katiipf um das yi. Z. p. 13; Valeton, 
 Christus unci das ^. 7'. p. i. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 as an impelling, directing and overruling caused The 
 ■""distinctive feature of Israel's religion is prophetism, 
 and where the voice of inspired prophecy is heard, God 
 is specially at work in history ; the purely naturalistic 
 account of the phenomena breaks down. It is no part 
 of our present task, however, to discuss so fundamental 
 a point as this. There can be no question in regard 
 to the belief of those who felt themselves to be not 
 chance discoverers of interesting truths, but inspired 
 organs of divine revelation. We may observe, however, 
 that the idea of a gradual evolution in the conception 
 of God is expressly recognized by the Old Testament 
 itself One main object of the priestly narrative which 
 forms the basis of the Pentateuch seems to be that of 
 indicating successive stages in the self-revelation of 
 God, each stage being apparently marked by some 
 new declaration of the divine name, in other words, 
 by some express manifestation of His character. It 
 will be our duty to examine hereafter the theological 
 import of these several names. At this point it is only 
 necessary to notice the general outlines of the Old 
 Testament doctrine of God, surveyed as a whole. The 
 divine self-revelation, be it remembered, was chiefly 
 embodied in action and history. Indeed the Bible 
 contains very little of mere abstract teaching or formal 
 doctrine ; the character of God and His relation to the 
 universe are rather left to be inferred from His action. 
 To the prophets the supreme interest of human history 
 lies in its being a sphere of observation in which the 
 attributes, purposes and methods of God may be 
 studied. And the very foundation of Israel's national 
 history was constituted by an event to which in later 
 times the religious mind of the people continually 
 reverted, — a signal historical deliverance, an act of 
 divine intervention, which in itself implied a unique 
 manifestation of God's nature and character. The 
 incidents of the exodus could scarcely fail to suggest 
 some general ideas about God which the whole subse- 
 
 ^ Cp. Oettli, op. at. p. 4. 
 
II] THE OLD TESTAMENT 69 
 
 quent" history was destined to elucidate, confirm, and 
 enlarge ; even at this early stage there emerged, so to 
 speak, the ideas of the divine unity, the divine holiness, 
 the divine grace, that is, the willingness and power of 
 God to redeem. 
 
 We should be passing beyond the limits of pro- 
 bability if we insisted that the exodus did more than 
 suggest these ideas. It will scarcely be disputed that 
 they can have been apprehended, perhaps not very 
 distinctly, only by a few leading spirits in the newly- 
 formed nation ; and they were not openly preached, so 
 far as we can judge, until the period of the eighth- 
 century prophets. In the book of Deuteronomy they 
 may be said to be leading and characteristic theses. 
 Take, for instance, the first of the ideas now in question 
 — that of the divine unity. An unbiassed study of the 
 Old Testament discloses to us the gradual develop- 
 ment of the conception. It is practically certain that 
 in its earlier stages the worship of the ordinary 
 Hebrew was not monotheistic but monolatrous. Till 
 a comparatively late period the average Israelite seems 
 to have believed in the existence of other gods than 
 Jehovah — deities who stood in the same relation to 
 foreign tribes and nations, as that in which Jehovah 
 stood to Israel. Prof. Riehm draws attention to the 
 tendency, common apparently among tribes of Semitic 
 descent, to acknowledge a special tribal god. The 
 natural basis en which a true monotheism could be 
 securely built up was formed by monolatry or heno- 
 theism ^. Israel's earliest religious lesson was, in 
 fact, learned on the Red Sea shore. In the mar- 
 vellous deliverance of His people from the tyranny 
 of Eg3pt, Jehovah was already proved to be at least 
 incomparable, or unique, among gods -. It was not as 
 yet distinctly perceived, at least by the mass of the 
 
 ^ ATI. Theologie, p. 45. Renan, Histoire du ■pcuple d' Israel, bk. i, 
 ch. I, remarks that 'even from the most ancient times the Semite 
 patriarch had a secret tendency towards monotheism, or at least towards 
 a simple and comparatively reasonable worship.' 
 
 2 E;;od. XV. II. Cp. I Sam. ii. 2 ; Isa. xl. 25. 
 
70 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect 
 
 ransomed people, that Israel's God was the Lord of all 
 the earth. He was regarded as the tribal god of the 
 Hebrews, fighting its battles, and claiming its allegiance, 
 in opposition to the gods of surrounding nations. It 
 has been thought by some critics that the idea_ of 
 Jehovah's uniqueness only appears in the early period 
 of the monarchy ^ ; but it is more probable that it arose 
 as a direct consequence of the events of the exodus. 
 That solemn crisis in Israel's history signally manifested 
 the impotence and insignificance of other gods m 
 comparison of Jehovah. Thus the foundation of 
 a consistent monotheism was laid, not in any definite 
 declarations of the divine unity— such as we find at 
 a later period— but in a practical proof that other 
 'Elohim were powerless to resist the will of the Deity 
 who had chosen Israel for Himself and had wrought 
 its salvation "-. The exodus manifested the incompar- 
 able glory and irresistible might of Israel's God. And 
 indeed during the period of its conflict for the posses- 
 sion of the promised land Israel was too deeply 
 absorbed in practical tasks to feel any special interest 
 in the question whether other gods ' had or had not 
 metaphysical existence. The practical point was that 
 Jehovah proved Himself stronger than they by giving 
 Israel victory over their worshippers ^' And so long 
 as other supernatural beings were regarded as merely 
 
 1 Cp. Darmesteter, Les Prophetes d' Israel, pp. 23, 24: *Avec les 
 victoires de David, avec les splendeurs de Salomon, avec la construction 
 du temple qui donne enfin h. Jehovah une demeure tixe et k son culte un 
 centre de plus en plus absorbant, Jehovah devient definitivement le dieu 
 propre d'Israel. Les triomphes de David prouvent,qu'il est plus puissant 
 que les dieux voisins : Oui est comme toi parmi les Elohim, 6 Jehovah ? ' 
 
 2 Cp. Oehler, Tlieol. ^ the O. T. § 43 ; Konig, The Religious History 
 of Israel [Eng. Tr.], p. 74. . . ^ 
 
 3 Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel (ed. i), p. 60. Darmesteter, 
 op. cit. pp. 217, 2 1 8, seems to state the case correctly : ' La tribu ... est 
 polytheiste, puisque le croyant reconnait la multiplicite des forces et des 
 volontes divines et croit a plus de dieux qu'il n'en adore ; mais elle est 
 monotheiste en ce qu'elle se livre specialement k un seul, monotheisme 
 chancelant, qui se concilie parfaitement avec I'idolatrie et transportera 
 aisement son obedience et ses offrandes de Jahve k M-olokh, Baal ou 
 Camoch, etc. . . . Mais ce monotheisme incertain, idolatrique et sans 
 morale, contient en germe le monotheisme strict.' 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 71 
 
 relative, and incapable of resisting the one God of 
 Israel's allegiance, a naive belief in the existence 
 of other ' EloJiim did not necessarily conflict with the 
 idea of the divine unity. Prof. Schultz justly observes 
 that ' Where it is a matter of religion, not of philosophy, 
 the first and necessary thing always is the conviction 
 of having God as one's own, and of being also 
 God's — not the consideration of how this God stands 
 related to the possibility of there being other gods \' 
 At the same time there is ample reason for supposing 
 that there was a constant tendency in the spiritual 
 leaders of Israel, or at least in the special organs of 
 divine revelation, to combat the popular notion that 
 Jehovah was merely one God among many. Certainly 
 the whole drift of the chapters in which the events 
 connected with the exodus are narrated, is the exalta- 
 tion of Jehovah as the one being whose existence, 
 influence, and righteous will it behoved the chosen 
 people to acknowledge^. It is probable ox\. a priori 
 grounds that, though the age of what may be called 
 theoretic monotheism was introduced by the teaching 
 of the eighth-century prophets, the idea of the divine 
 unity was an inference, so to speak, from premisses 
 which the exodus had suggested to reflective minds. 
 Such an event could not fail to give birth to the thought, 
 on the one hand, of Jehovah's irresistible might, on the 
 other, of His moral transcendence. Here we seem to 
 have the historic basis of the doctrine of the divine 
 unity ^ 
 
 There are, then, good reasons for the supposition that 
 a strictly monotheistic belief does not date from the ■ 
 earliest period of Israel's national existence. On the 
 contrary, there are unmistakeable indications that a 
 belief in the actual existence of other deities survived 
 to a comparatively late age. The existence of heathen 
 gods was not uniformly denied. They were either 
 
 ' O. T. Theology, i. 180. 
 
 "^ See Exod. vi'ii. 10; ix. 14, 16; x. 2 ; xv. 3, II, 18. 
 
 * Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures^ pp. 134, 135. 
 
 Ay^-^ 
 
72 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 regarded as 'Eliiim, 'nothings'^; or they were 
 supposed, if existent at all, to be subordinate instru- 
 ments of the one God: Jehovah alone was God of gods 
 and Lord of lords 2. The ascription however of unique 
 majesty to the national Deity tended towards His 
 elevation to the dignity of an only existent Lord of 
 the universe ^ 
 
 The facts of the case thus justify the idea of evolu- 
 tion in religious thought which historical analogy itself 
 might antecedently suggest. We have no interest in 
 maintaining that Israel's religion sprang to the birth, 
 perfect and complete, in the age of Moses. The 
 monotheistic idea had a long history even within the 
 limits of the chosen race whose mission it was to teach 
 mankind the knowledge of God. But the idea seems 
 to have been closely connected with another which 
 next claims our attention, namely, that of the divine 
 holiness. ' The belief that Jehovah was the only God,' 
 says Prof. Kuenen, ' sprang out of the ethical concep- 
 tion of His being'*.' The question is at what period 
 such a conception first appeared. What is contended 
 is that the events of the exodus could not fail to 
 introduce certain moral elements into the idea of God 
 which Israel inherited from its Semitic ancestors. 
 
 The truth of the divine holiness, in its developed 
 form, is one of those ideas which impart a unique 
 character to Israel's religion. It was a truth which 
 other religions were constantly striving to express, and 
 which the universal human conscience instinctively anti- 
 cipated in external institutions of worship. But Israel 
 alone was enabled to lift the idea of holiness from the 
 purely outward and ritual, into the inward and ethical 
 
 ^ DVvN Lev. xix. 4 ; 2 Kings xvii. 15; Jer. ii. 5; viii. 19. See also 
 Deut. iv. 19 ; X 17 ; Ps. xcv. 3 : xcvi. 5. Cp. I Cor. viii. 5, 6. 
 
 ^ Cp. Pfleiderer, Gifford Lectiire5,vo\. ii. 48 : Ritschl, Uiiterricht in der 
 Chrisilichen Religion, § II. The belief in the existence of other gods 
 seems expressly indicated in such passages as Exod. xv. II ; Judges xi. 34 ; 
 Ruth i. 16; I Sam. xxvi. 19 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 16. 
 
 ^ Cp. Darmesteter, op. cit. pp. 213, 214. 
 
 * Hibbert Lectures^ p. 119 ; ap. Montefiore, op. cit. p. 135. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 73 
 
 Sphere, and thereby gave to its religion a distinctness 
 from all other faiths not only in degree but in kind ^ 
 What then is the historical genesis of this idea ? If the 
 date of the documentary evidence is disputed, we are 
 left to a balance of probabilities; and there are at least 
 some considerations in favour of the view that the pro- 
 cess by which the notion of holiness was, so to speak, 
 mor alined began at the period of the exodus. Jehovah 
 is first described as ' holy ' in the Song of Moses, and 
 the term apparently implies merely the negative notion 
 of 'separation,' or possibly 'transcendence-.' The 
 'holy' God is He who is raised absolutely above the 
 world, and is thereby separated from the creature. 
 Of earthly things, every object or being is holy in so 
 far as it is appropriated to religious service, or is 
 withdrawn from common uses. Originally therefore 
 holiness, even as applied to persons, was not in any 
 sense a moral attribute ; it implied only ritual separa- 
 tion ^ and we can almost trace the process by which, 
 under the influence of prophetic teaching, the idea of 
 holiness passed from an outward to an inward sphere, 
 from the notion of external consecration or dedication 
 to that of moral sanctity. But it is in relation to the 
 divine Being Himself that the word ' holy' is specially- 
 remarkable — not only because the conception of holi- 
 ness was constantly elucidated by every fresh stage in 
 the self-revelation of God, but also because it was the 
 basis of that peculiar consciousness of Israel's function 
 in the world which is characteristic of the later prophets 
 and of the priestly school who impressed upon Israel 
 its permanent and ineffaceable stamp of separateness. 
 Ye shall be holy ; for I am holy. Israel, as belonging 
 
 * Cp. A. L. Moore in Ltcx Mtindi, p. 72 foil. 
 
 ^ Exod. XV. II. Cp. Isa. xl. 25 ; Ps. xcix. 2 foil. 
 
 ^ On 'holiness' see Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, pp. 224 foil.; 
 Oehler, op. at. §§ 44, 45 ; Riehm, A 77. Theologie, § 12. As is well known, 
 the idea of ' holiness ' (separation) was common to the heathen neighbours 
 of Israel, and might incidentally, e.g. in the case of the 'holy' persons of 
 Canaanitish nature-worship, imply consecration to immoral purposes. See 
 Robertson Smith, Religion of t lie Semites, pp. 90, 192. 
 
74 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 to Jehovah by redemptive right, must necessarily 
 participate in His character, and look upon itself with 
 something of the reverence due to what is divine. 
 We are justified in believing that the idea of its 
 holiness, its call to consecration, is the secret of that 
 fine spirit of self-respect which has never abandoned 
 Israel even in the most stormy and sorrowful vicis- 
 \ situdes of its subsequent history. 
 
 1 Holiness, then, seems to be a conception which had 
 !its roots in the circumstances of the Mosaic age. It 
 "^was a keynote of national polity and organization 
 from the first. In calling God 'holy' Mosaism 
 guarded the truth of the divine transcendence ; it 
 protested, as it were, against the religious error of 
 contemporary heathendom, Egyptian or Canaanitish, 
 which confused nature with God, and as it were 
 degraded God into the region of the creature. In 
 calling things or persons 'holy,' Mosaism lifted them, 
 so to speak, out of the region of what was profane 
 or unclean into a divine sphere. But the whole 
 tendency of Mosaism was to develope and extend 
 the idea. True, holiness in the ethical sense was 
 far from being Israel's present character ; rather it 
 was the nation's ideal goal and destiny ^ While then 
 the ' holiness ' of the newly-formed nation was in the 
 first instance a mark or character impressed from 
 without on its physical and social life, and found 
 embodiment in visible ordinances relating to external 
 and .ceremonial purity, 'holiness' was ultimately 
 destined to be transformed into an inward quality or 
 attribute, a real separateness not from mere bodily 
 uncleanness but from spiritual and moral defilement; 
 aloofness not from the idolatrous pollutions of Egypt, 
 but from sin. Thus the character of Jehovah's chosen 
 people was to be conformed to that of Him who 
 had sealed them as His own. 
 -^ There was yet another idea which the exodus 
 
 ^ As God's own people Israel is t^'ip, Exod. xix. 6" Lev, xx. 26, 
 opposed to iri Lev. x. 10 ; i Sam. xxi. 5 foil. ; Ezek. xxii. 26. 
 
„] THE OLD TESTAMENT 75 
 
 suggested, and which subsequent periods of reflection 
 served to impress permanently on the mind and 
 imagination of Israel, viz. the idea of Jehovah's 
 redemptive grace. In the deliverance of His people 
 God had manifested Himself as one who is able and 
 willing to redeem ; able because He is almighty \ free 
 from anything like entanglement in the processes 
 of nature, and having perfect liberty to intervene 
 with direct personal energy in the history of men 
 and nations. The Old Testament writers look back 
 with awe and exultation to the days of the_ nation's 
 birth, signalized as it was by a mighty display of 
 supernatural force; but the occasion of Jehovah's 
 intervention made it manifest that His power was 
 guided by love and gracious willingness to redeem. 
 The God who had espoused the cause of an enslaved 
 and oppressed people must needs be a Being full 
 of pity and rich in mercies, faithful to His promises 
 and righteous in His judgments 2. The exodus was 
 indeed a supreme display of character, and we are 
 even justified in holding with Ewald that the very 
 keynote of the Pentateuch is the conception of 
 Jehovah as a merciful deliverer. That idea, as he 
 points out, is embodied in the sanctions affixed to 
 the first five commandments of the Decalogue. In 
 each case the divine precept is base'd on some feature 
 in the beneficent character of God. Thus in the 
 first word Jehovah proclaims Himself as the Saviour 
 who has ransomed Israel from the house of bondage ; 
 in the second as a jealous God, good to them that 
 love, severe to them that hate Him, yet even in 
 sternness remembering His mercy; in the third as 
 a glorious God, who will by no means clear the guilty 
 or give His glory to another; in the fourth as a God 
 who has thoughts of peace and refreshment for His 
 * desert-wearied ' people and leads them to blessedness 
 and rest ; in the fifth as a God who gives bounteously 
 to the poor, and prepares for them a land to dwell 
 
 1 Exod. vi. I. * Exod. iii. 7, 8 ; vi. 5, 8. 
 
76 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 in. Israel's obligation to obedience is rooted in 
 Jehovah's character. His redemptive acts on behalf 
 of His elect people stand in the forefront of the moral 
 law, and supply the motive of love and service. 
 
 Qrace is, in fact, a prominent element in the divine 
 self-revelation from, the first point in Israel's history 
 to the last. And, in accordance with the whole course 
 of man's religious history, a stage of external mani- 
 festation precedes that of inward realization. Grace 
 is first revealed in the sphere of history and provi- 
 dence, — God working for the redemption of a down- 
 trodden people ; ' doing for Israel what she could 
 not do for herself, in love and pity redeeming a 
 helpless enslaved race from a state of bondage,' and 
 throughout its history ever renewing the manifesta- 
 tion of his goodness. In all their affliction he was 
 afflicted, and the angel of his fn-esence saved them; 
 pi his love and in his pity he redeemed them ; and he 
 bare them, and carried them all the days of old ^. 
 
 At a later period, grace came to be regarded by the 
 prophets as an internal operation of divine love, 
 ' a beneficent power working within men, enabling 
 them to fulfil the divine will V a power subduing sin, 
 cleansing the conscience, and renewing the heart. 
 So the historical and external enfranchisement was 
 acknowledged to be the type of a spiritual deliverance ; 
 and as religious affections became more perfectly 
 developed, devout Israelites became ever more alive 
 to the true significance of Jehovah's mighty acts on 
 behalf of their fathers in the time of old ; witness 
 the tenderness of such a passage as the following 
 extract from the fourth book of Esdras. Thus saith 
 the Almighty Lord, Have 1 7iot prayed you as a father 
 his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her 
 
 ^ Isa. Ixiii. 9. 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apologetics, p. 249. Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 35, remarks 
 that in the Old Testament as in the New we have a redemptive act of 
 God: ' Im alten Bunde eine Eriosung des Volkes ven ausserlicher 
 Knechtschaft, im neuen eine Eriosung aller einzelnen von geistlicher 
 Knechtschaft.' 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 77 
 
 youn^ babes, that ye would be my people, and I should be 
 your God; that ye would be 7ny children, and I shotdd 
 be your father f I gathered you together, as a hen 
 gather eth her chickens tender her wings'^. Indeed the 
 most essential characteristic of Old Testament religion 
 is its unshaken conviction, that the Holy God who 
 manifested Himself to His chosen people was above 
 all else a God of grace : Israel's election, and redemp- 
 tion, and its preservation throughout the perilous 
 vicissitudes of its chequered history, were standing 
 proofs that the most fundamental and enduring element 
 in the divine Being is Love ^. 
 
 It will be our business in a later lecture to investigate 
 more particularly the main points of the Old Testament 
 revelation of God. Meanwhile, let it suffice to remark 
 that we only do justice to the labours of criticism 
 when we acknowledge the fact of a long and slow 
 development in Israel's conception of deity. Some 
 have supposed that the knowledge of God was 
 originally simple and pure, and that the religion of 
 Israel was merely the re-establishment of a primitive 
 monotheism. But, in spite of the admitted possibility 
 of degradation as a factor in religious history, it must 
 be frankly owned that there is a lack of evidence 
 for the existence of an original monotheistic religion 
 among the Semites, and indeed the Old Testament 
 itself contains indications that even in Abraham's 
 family there was a survival of idolatrous practices 
 and beliefs ^ 
 
 The history of Israel seems, as a matter of fact, 
 to show us clearly marked stages in the development 
 of the idea of God, the prophets from Moses onwards 
 beins: the leaders of relimous thous^ht. In the earliest 
 period, Jehovah is popularly conceived as a national 
 God, opposed to the gods of surrounding nations, 
 having the same attributes as they, chiefly wrathful- 
 
 ^ 4 Esdras i. 28 f. The date of this book is thought to be circ. 90, a.D. 
 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, § 11, pp. 62, 63. 
 
 ^ Cp. Gen. XXXV. 2; Joshua xxiv. 2. Cp. Riehm, op. cit. pp. 31, 32. 
 
78 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 ness and jealousy, worshipped with similar rites and 
 making the same demands. But, as we have seen, 
 higher and purer ideas were impressed by the marvels 
 of the exodus on at least the more receptive minds. 
 Step by step the evolution of thought proceeds. 
 The narrative of Israel's conflicts is the story of the 
 ivars of Jehovah \ of a struggle between Israel's 
 national God and the deities of alien tribes. The 
 work of the prophets was to moralize the conception 
 of Jehovah ; to show that His essential attributes were 
 ethical, His necessary requirement of man, holiness. 
 Finally, in the great overthrow of the nation the 
 national conscience was led by the Holy Spirit to 
 recognize that which the loftier spirits had already 
 discerned ages before ; it acknowledged the triumph 
 of the divine righteousness ; it rose to the conception 
 of a God one, holy, and gracious ^. 
 
 With one general remark we leave the subject 
 of progressive Revelation. It has been already 
 pointed out that belief and unbelief are confronted 
 by the same facts ; they are distinguished by the 
 divergent account which each gives of the facts. The 
 process of evolution in Israel's faith lies on the very 
 surface of the Old Testament, and is verified by all 
 that we know of God's dealings in every department 
 of His action. We recognize then the progressive 
 development of Old Testament religion : but we look 
 upon it not as ' a spontaneous upward movement of 
 the human mind, whereby it passes from crude errors 
 to purer forms of thought, but as a progressive self- 
 unveiling of Deity in the sphere of revelation, as 
 a divine work of education, dealing with stubborn and 
 
 ^ Num. xxi. 14. 
 
 ^ Cp. Darmesteter, op. cit. pp. 165 f. It is very important to bear in 
 mind the contrast between the mass of the Hebrew people and the inner 
 circle which responded to the teaching of prophetic leaders. There is 
 every ground for asserting with Riehm, op. cit. p. 11 : 'Die Masse des 
 Volkes, insbesondere auch die Priesterschaft, blieb immer im Grossen 
 und Ganzen auf jener ersten Stufe der volkstiimlichen Ausgestaltung der 
 alttestamentlichen, Religion stehen, wiihrend die hohere- Entwicklungs- 
 gestalt des Prophetismus sich auf einen engeren Kreis beschriinkte.' 
 
Ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 79 
 
 intractable material'.' The contrast between these 
 two views is profound, and we owe a debt of gratitude 
 to the historical criticism which has enlarged our sense 
 of the continuity observable in divine revelation. We 
 have learned to apprehend more clearly what has been 
 an axiom of Christian thought since the principle was 
 vindicated by Irenaeus in opposition to the Gnostics^ 
 ' It is the same God,' says a recent writer, ' who made 
 Himself known to Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah, 
 who revealed Himself as our Father in the person of 
 Jesus Christ. He is the same with the fathers as with 
 the children : but He condescends lovingly to submit 
 Himself to those limitations of man's spiritual life 
 which He Himself ordained. He reveals Himself 
 to children, according to their capacity, to men in 
 such wise as is suitable to men; He does not at one 
 sweep get rid of all obscurities and all obstacles, but 
 overcomes them gently and patiently by acting on 
 them from within ; He does not annihilate with one 
 magic stroke all alien elements, which His revelation 
 finds already present in the minds of its recipients, 
 but allows the measure of divine knowledge and 
 experience which can be imparted to work as a ferment 
 which in time will sever the defective elements from 
 the good ^.' ^ . 
 
 III. A third point of view from which the Old ' ^ 
 Testament may be studied will have to be considered. 
 It traces the history, and states the conditions, of a 
 covenantal relationship between God and man; of 
 a life of friendship or communion which grows out 
 of the original relation in which the Creator stands 
 to the creature. This life of love begins historically 
 with God's election of the patriarch Abraham : and 
 the deliverance of his descendants from servitude 
 became the basis of a 'covenant' between Jehovah 
 and those whom He took by the hand to lead them 
 
 ' Oettii, op. cit. p. 19. 
 
 "^ Cp. Iren. Haer. iii. 3. 3, &c. ; also Novat. de Tritt. viii. 
 
 ^ Oettii, op. cit. p. 20. 
 
8o DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 Old of the land of Es^ypf^. For the present it is 
 desirable to waive the question when the unique 
 relationship of God to His ransomed people first came 
 to be regarded in the light of a covenant, a question 
 of which Wellhausen seems to dispose somewhat too 
 confidently. At this point it will suffice to touch upon 
 some leading features of the settlement which was 
 traced back by Hebrew faith to the time of the 
 exodus. 
 
 First, it is noticeable that the ' covenant ' is rather 
 a matter of divine institution or disposition than a 
 contract between two equal parties ^. The initiation 
 is taken by Jehovah, and is purely an act of grace. 
 He who establishes a bond of union between Him- 
 self and man also fixes the necessary conditions 
 of it. This is tantamount to saying that behind 
 the covenant lies Israel's election, a thought which 
 is specially characteristic of the book of Deu- 
 teronomy^. Again, we find that the covenant is 
 formally ratified by sacrifice, in accordance with the 
 principle universally recognized — SiaOi^Kr] knl v€Kpo?9 
 /Se/Sai'a^ The death of a sacrificial victim on the 
 one hand secured the immutability of the terms laid 
 down in the covenant, and on the other symbolized 
 the surrender of man's natural life, which must be 
 freely yielded up if it is to be brought into contact 
 with the divine nature. Only by accepting death can 
 human nature enter upon a higher sphere of active 
 serviceableness in the kingdom of God. Further, 
 the sprinkling of the victim's blood upon the people 
 was an emblem of their consecration to the life of 
 covenant-fellowship. It was a kind of baptism by 
 which Israel was translated into a spiritual kingdom, 
 and endued with the sanctity of the divine life. It 
 was a seal of that act, or series of acts, by which 
 
 * Jer. xxxi. 32. Cp. Heb. viii. 9. 
 
 ^ AinSriKr] rather than avvdr^Ki]. Cp. Westcott, Ep. to the Hebreus^ 
 pp. 222, 299. 
 
 * Deut. vii. 7 ; viii. 18. * Heb. ix. 17. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 8i 
 
 Jehovah had appropriated the nation to Himself and 
 made it His own ^ Finally — and this is the main point 
 — the covenant necessarily involved a divine require- 
 ment. Accordingly, in Exod. xxiv. the newly-formed 
 nation binds itself to Jehovah's service, All that the 
 Lord hath said will we do, and be obcdieiW^. 
 
 Thus at the very outset of its national career Israel 
 is pledged to moral obedience, and it is forewarned 
 that a special character is the condition of union with 
 the holy God ^. Ye shall be a holy nation — such is 
 the divine command ; Ye shall be holy, for I am 
 holy, — words which point to the future rather than 
 the present ; to a predestined purpose rather than an 
 accomplished fact. 'From the first the people were 
 told of their calling . . . what they existed for, what 
 their existence pointed to*,' and the position of the 
 Decalogue, both in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, is 
 a significant token of the principle so emphatically 
 insisted on by the prophets that the moral law is the 
 essential bond of union between God and man, and 
 that ethical obligations transcend those of the cere- 
 monial and ritual law. So Jeremiah insists ^ : / spake 
 7iot unto your fathers, 7wr commanded them in the day 
 that I brought them- out of the land of Egypt, con- 
 cerniiig burnt offerings or sacrifices; but this thing 
 commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will 
 be yo2cr God, and ye shall be my people ; and walk ye 
 in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it 
 may be well unto you. It is, as Irenaeus points out, 
 the Decalogue which fixes the eternal conditions of 
 fellowship between God and man ; and consequently 
 its precepts are extended and enlarged, rather than 
 dissolved, by the personal advent of the Redeemer^ 
 
 ^ Cp. Ezek. xvi. 8 : ' Then becamest thou mine.' See Oehler, Theol. of 
 the O. T. § 121. 
 
 ^ Exod. xxiv. 3, 7. 
 
 ' This is already implied in Gen. xviii. 19. Cp. Exod. xix. 6 ; Lev. xi. 45, 
 xix. 2. 
 
 * R. W. Church, DiscipHtie of the Christian Character, p. 30. 
 
 ^ Jer. yii. 22, 23. These verses have naturally played an important part 
 in the history of criticism. ^ Iren. Haer. iv. 16. 4. 
 
82 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 The thought, then, of a covenant unithig man to his 
 Creator may be said to pervade the Old Testament, 
 and It cannot be adequately accounted for apart from 
 some actual divine movement towards man. For the 
 express object and end contemplated in the covenant, 
 in each stage of its history, and on each occasion of its 
 renewal, is ever the same, and is achieved by the same 
 method of divine action. By a process of limitation, 
 by a severance at once physical and moral, the God of 
 Israel sets apart a peculiar people to be the instrument 
 of His purpose and the organ of His praise'. But 
 though the initiative belongs to the God of grace, the 
 very institution of a covenant-relationship implies the 
 recognition of the freedom and dignity that belongs to 
 human nature. ' Man in relation to God,' observes 
 Prof. Schultz, ' is not a being without rights, or one to 
 be treated in an arbitrary way or merely with lenity. 
 •He stands to God in a relation of personal and moral 
 fellowship -.' Thus, as a being created in the image 
 of God, man is not only called to correspond to the 
 moral law ; he on his side may claim to share in 
 a measure the thoughts and purposes of God. The 
 notion of a covenant involves a certain relationship of 
 equality, and an element of mutual obligation. In the 
 Old Testament are laid the foundations of a spiritual 
 connexion between God and His creatures which was 
 destined to be perfected in the mystery of the indwell- 
 ing Spirit. Man already becomes in a sense au heir 
 of God and a joint-heir with His Christ ^ 
 
 IV. Yet another aspect of the Old Testament will 
 engage our attention. It is a record which unfolds in 
 successive stages the growth of a unique anticipation 
 or hope concerning the future, not of the elect race 
 only, but of mankind. The Israel of the Spirit was 
 ever waiting, throughout the long ages of the national 
 history, for the manifestation of the kingdom of God *. 
 In the days that immediately preceded the first Advent 
 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, op. cit. p. 35. "^ O. T. Theology, ii. 5. 
 
 ' Rom. viii. 17. * Cp. St. Luke xxiii. 51. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 83 
 
 this was the hope to which Israel passionately clung — 
 it was indeed the only hope that remained. And the 
 history of Israel is unlike that of any other nation in 
 that the chosen people was divinely destined to fulfil 
 a peculiar mission to the world. The sense of mission 
 was at first, no doubt, dim and obscure, but in the 
 prophets it became powerfully developed, and in it 
 originated the hopes that we call ' Messianic' If we ' 
 wished in a single phrase to describe the ideal destiny 
 of Israel, we might select the term, Servant ofJeJwvak^, 
 since the mission of the chosen people was, in fact, to 
 proclaim to the nations in Jehovah's name the kingdom 
 of God. In the momentous events of the exodus, 
 as they were interpreted by the piety of later ages, the 
 foundations of a visible kingdom of God among men 
 were laid. Ye have seen luhat I did unto the Egyptians, 
 a?id how I bare yon on eagles wings, and brought you 
 2into myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice 
 indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
 treasure 7into me above all people : for all the earth is 
 mine: and ye shall be ztnto me a kingdom of priests, and 
 an holy nation -, that is, a people bearing the marks of 
 special consecration to Jehovah, and entrusted with 
 a spiritual mission, extending to all the nations of the 
 earth. It is highly doubtful whether the nation at 
 the time of its foundation was conscious of its vocation. 
 There can be no question, however, that in looking 
 back on its wonderful past, the spiritual Israel of 
 a later period rightly interpreted the significance of its 
 redemption from Egyptian servitude. Through painful 
 discipline a remnant at least of the nation became con- 
 scious that it was called to be a vehicle of divine 
 knowledge and salvation to the world ; it was com- 
 
 ^ Cp. Edersheim, Warburton Lectures, p. 45 ; and Wellhausen, Pro- 
 legomena, p. 400, Observe the title 'Servant of Jehovah' implies a call 
 to special service or obedience. It is used of Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 24), 
 Caleb (Num. xiv. 24), Moses (Deut. xxxiv. 5, &c.), Joshua (Joshua xxiv. 29), 
 David (2 Sam. vii. 5, &c.), Job (i. 8), Isaiah (xx. 3, &c.). The phrase, in its 
 collective sense applied to Israel, is first used by Jeremiah (e.g. ,\.\x. loj 
 and Ezekiel (e.g. xxviii. 25), and is common in l3eutero-Isaiah. 
 
 ^ Exod, xix. 4-6. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 missioned to proclaim the sovereignty of God. Thy 
 saints give thanks unto thee, sings a psalmist, they show 
 the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy powei^ ; that 
 thy pozuer, thy glory, and mightiness of thy kingdom 
 ,mi(^ht be known tmto men'^. Hence the keynote of 
 Moses' song is the reign of God on earth : Jehovah 
 shall reign for ever and ever ^ ; and the thought thus 
 expressed becomes the one ' pervading and impelling 
 
 ^ idea of the Old Testament ^' 
 
 Now of this kingdom of God the polity of ancient 
 Israel was a kind of external and visible embodiment. 
 Although the religion of the Old Testament from the 
 first contained the potency of becoming a world- 
 religion, yet in its beginnings it bears all the marks 
 of a purely national or tribal religion. The kingdom 
 of God is seemingly confined within the limits of an 
 organized nationality ; fellowship with God means par- 
 ticipation in the chosen peopled The divine sove- 
 reignty is not conceived as a relation in which Jehovah 
 stands to the whole created universe ; it is rather the 
 dominion which He exercises over the special people 
 of His choice. Hence Israel's polity might be called a 
 
 ■^ ' Theocracy/ a term apparently invented by J osephus 
 to denote the immediate, personal sovereignty of 
 Jehovah in Israel ^ When the primitive covenant 
 between Jehovah and the people was ratified, God 
 became King in Jeslmrtm^, the fountain-head of all 
 authority and governance, all civil and religious enact- 
 ments. He became the sovereign, the law-giver, the 
 judge, the champion, the protector of His people. 
 
 * Ps. cxlv. IO-I2. ^ Exod. XV. l8. 
 
 ^ Keim ap. Edersheim, op. cit. p. 48. 
 
 * Cp. Riehm, op. cit. pp. 27, 28. 
 
 ^ Cp. Oehlcr, Theol. of the O. T. § 91. 
 
 " See Josephus, c. Apion. ii. 16 (quoted by Oehler, /. c). Robertson 
 Smith, The Prophets of Israel (ed. i), p. 52, remarks that 'The word 
 theocracy expresses precisely that feature in the rehgion of Israel which it 
 had in common with the faiths of the surrounding nations,' but Stanton, 
 The Jewish and the Christian Messiah, p. 100 note, points out that the 
 word ' does describe very happily what became distinctive of Israel. . . . 
 The idea was preserved among them when other nations had lost it' in 
 a very elevated lorm. 
 
II] THE OLD TESTAMENT 85 
 
 He went before them to battle as their leader ; their 
 triumphs were victories won by His Jioly arm ^ 
 
 It would be a mistake however to suppose that the 
 idea of a theocracy was completely realized in the primi- 
 tive Mosaic institutions. We must remember that they 
 are described to us by writers who are dominated by 
 the theocratic idea, and whose conceptions of ancient 
 Hebrew history are coloured by the facts and ideals 
 of their own time. Nevertheless, there is no reason 
 to doubt that Moses planted a seed which the lapse 
 of time was destined to bring to maturity. The 
 position of utter dependence on their God and His 
 appointed mediator in which the newly enfranchised 
 Hebrews found themselves contained the essential 
 germ of theocratic ideas. Researches into the primi- 
 tive religion of the Semites give support to this 
 view. Wellhausen maintains that in ancient Israel 
 the theocracy never existed in fact as a form of con- 
 stitution ; it only came into existence in the strict 
 sense after the exile, and was transported in an 
 idealized form to early times. But this statement 
 must be qualified by the consideration that among the 
 Hebrews, as among other Semitic tribes, it would be 
 obvious and natural to address the tribal god as 
 king, and the belief in such a sovereignty would carry 
 with it the conviction that the supreme guidance of 
 the state was actually in the hands of the deity, and 
 that the whole sphere of ordinary social and civil life 
 was subject to His control and direction^. Under 
 the monarchy the theocratic idea was gradually 
 recognized, developed, and expanded. The reign of 
 David and his successors had very far-reaching con- 
 sequences in this connexion. The monarchy ' drew 
 the life of the people together at a centre, and gave it 
 an aim ' ; it developed a ' national self-consciousness ' ; 
 while political developments necessarily affected the 
 
 ' Ps. xcviii. 2. 
 
 ''■ Wellhausen, Prolegomena, c. vii, p. 256, and c. xi. p. 411 [Eng, Tr.]. 
 Cp. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 31. 
 
86 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 growth of religious ideas. The kingship of Jehovah 
 was, as it were, visibly realized under the monarch ; 
 the reigning king of David's line was reverenced as 
 Jehovah's representative, reigning by His grace and 
 in His name; and to the prophets of the eighth 
 century the kingdom of Jehovah became practically 
 identical with the kingdom of David. Isaiah, observes 
 Wellhausen, ' is unconscious of any difference between 
 human and divine law: law in itself, jurist's law in the 
 proper juristic sense of the word, is divine, and has 
 behind it the authority of the Holy One of Israel . . . 
 Jehovah is a true and perfect king, hence justice is 
 .His principal attribute and His chief demand \' On 
 the whole, it is probable that the kingship of Jehovah 
 was a conception belonging indeed to the Mosaic age, 
 but under the monarchy consciously acknowledged and 
 taken as the foundation of ideal hopes for the future. 
 The conquests of David and his successors over the 
 tribes bordering on Palestine appeared to the prophetic 
 eye to signalize a gradual extension of the victorious 
 sway of Jehovah. Kingship appears to have invariably 
 suggested to a Hebrew mind the notion of conquest 
 over foes, and extension by victorious conflict of a 
 rightful dominion. Thus the prophetic picture of the 
 Messiah represents him as an Ideal ruler, filled with 
 the spirit of Jehovah, and adorned with all the virtues 
 of a just and powerful prince. 
 
 As time went on, however, the Ideas of the prophets 
 were at once expanded and spiritualized -. They 
 were inspired to proclaim two truths respecting 
 the kingdom of God which the mass of the nation 
 had peculiar difficulty In apprehending: viz. Its uni- 
 versality — the kingdom was to embrace mankind ; and 
 its spirituality — It was to be a kingdom of holiness. 
 Each of these Ideas was suggested by the events, 
 or by the needs of the present. The thought of 
 universal dominion resulted in part from the disasters 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Prolegotnena, c. xi. pp. 413-415. 
 * See Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 126 foil. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 87 
 
 which -overtook Israel on the broad stage of secular 
 history. The outcome of contact or collision with 
 the great world-powers of Egypt, Asshur, and Babylon, 
 was the conception of a world-wide empire of Jehovah, 
 embracing the very nations which threatened or 
 oppressed the defenceless kingdom of God. The 
 temptation of the average Israelite was to mistake 
 a portion of the divine kingdom for the whole ; but 
 prophecy rose to the sublime thought of a world- 
 wide kingdom of God, into which all the nations 
 of the earth should flow and bring their glory, in 
 which a Prince, enthroned as Jehovah's representa- 
 tive and vicegerent, should reign in peace and 
 righteousness over a universe redeemed from all 
 elements of moral or physical evil. Certainly the 
 constitution of the visible theocracy, as we find it 
 fully developed in Judaism after the exile, seems at 
 first sight to mark a retrogression from the ideals 
 of Messianic prophecy ; but here also zvisdom is 
 justified of her cJiildren ; and we can see now that the 
 legal stage of Israel's development was the means of 
 keeping alive and deepening those great spiritual ideas 
 which alone could give to the religion of the Old 
 Testament a true universality. 
 
 Again, the prophets proclaimed the spiritual character 
 and purpose of Jehovah's kingdom. It was to be a 
 kingdom of righteousness. The obstinate and cherished 
 belief of ordinary Israelites was that the divine favour 
 had been pledged to them unconditionally, and that 
 Jehovah would under any circumstances intervene on 
 His people's behalf; it was thought to be self-evident 
 that any difficult or dangerous crisis would certainly 
 end in Israel's favour. On the other hand, it was the 
 work of the prophets to combat this delusion. In 
 season and out of season they were the preachers of 
 God's moral requirement. They insisted that the holy 
 God could be Israel's God only in so far as the laws 
 of social righteousness were recognized and fulfilled. 
 They refused, as Wellhausen finely expresses it, 'to 
 
83 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 allow the conception of Jehovah to be involved in 
 the ruin of the kingdom. They saved faith by- 
 destroying illusion^.' Their function, in a word, was to 
 vindicate the spirituality of God's kingdom; to pro- 
 claim the indefeasible conditions of the divine covenant. 
 Moreover, they perceived that a spiritual kingdom 
 rriust necessarily outgrow nationalistic limitations : its 
 dominant tendency and its irresistible impulse must be 
 to embrace universal humanity. 
 
 The kingdom of God, then, began with the founding 
 of the Mosaic state. Israel was welded into a compact 
 community by uniform laws, customs, and ordinances 
 of worship. It became a nation not by growth from 
 within but by a kind of constraint from without. It 
 was bound together by the truth which it cherished. 
 Thus organized, the nation was in due time launched 
 into a tumultuous sea of heathen peoples — as the object 
 of a ' relative, temporary, economical preference '-,' in 
 6rder to become the vehicle of revelation to the whole 
 earth. Isolated Israel certainly was : lo, the people 
 shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the 
 nations ^, but only with a view to the ultimate accom- 
 plishment of a definite purpose of grace towards the 
 world. The Gentiles are accordingly summoned by 
 Jehovah to rejoice with his people'^, while Israel, the 
 covenant people, with its spiritual mission to the world, 
 is hailed as the fij^stborn, the light of the Gentiles, 
 the head of the heathen °. Such was Israel's ideal 
 calling, and all the prophecies that relate to the con- 
 version of the world through Jacob or the ' Servant of 
 Jehovah ' are primarily applicable to the ideal Israel. 
 We know how these great and precious promises 
 became gradually narrowed to a remnant and only 
 received final fulfilment in the representative personality 
 of one, who was himself the true Israel, the true Prince 
 
 ^ Sketch of the History of Israel and Jttdah^ p. 89. 
 
 ^ Bruce, Chief End of Revelation, p. 116. 
 
 ^ Num. xxiii. 9. 
 
 * Deut. xxxii. 43; Rom. xv. 10-12, 
 
 ^ Exod. iv. 22 ; Isa. xlii. 6 ; Ps. xviii. 43. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 89 
 
 of God But what was fulfilled in Him had primary 
 reference to the people of whose stock He willed to be 
 born ; through Him the Church of the Old Testament 
 was destined to fulfil its prophetic and priestly calling ; 
 in Him all the glories and sufferings predicted by 
 prophecy for the chosen people were to find full 
 accomplishment ; and thus in the historical fulfilment 
 a single individual embodied and represented the race 
 from which He sprang ^ 
 
 The Messianic hope of the Old Testament will 
 therefore occupy our attention. We shall attempt to 
 study the elements which history contributed to it and 
 the stages of its progress ; we shall also have to notice 
 the limitations of prophetic foresight, and the strictly 
 historical conditions of prophetic prediction. But the 
 point of highest interest is the steady growth of the 
 universalist idea of salvation ; of the thought that 
 Israel's God is the God of all the earth, that in 
 the last days the people of God is destined to be 
 surrounded by a world of converted nations, that in 
 Zion, the city of His choice, the Lord will destroy the 
 face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that 
 is spread over all fiations; that He will szuallow tip death 
 in victory, and wipe away tears from off' all faces -. 
 
 V. The Old Testament is to be studied, in the last 
 place, as witnessing to a divine purpose for the indi- 
 vidual soul. It continually directs attention to the 
 importance of personality in the development of the 
 kingdom of God. It sets before us at each stage 
 of a progressive movement the figures of men, 
 sometimes pliable and passionate, sometimes com- 
 manding and majestic, on whose ready will, prompt 
 obedience, or bold ventures of faith, nothing less 
 depended than the cause of God in the world. The 
 Old Testament is indeed from one point of view 
 a history of vocations, either accepted by faith or 
 neglected by indolence ; either awakening the response 
 of human will or forfeited by human sin. In self- 
 
 ^ Riehm, Messianic Piophecy, p. 218. ^ Isa. xxv. 7, 8. 
 
90 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 surrender and submission to the call of God the soul 
 of man became conscious of itself and of the con- 
 trarieties which religion alone explains, the strange 
 blending in human nature of weakness and misery 
 with orreatness and strenoth \ A^ain, the Old Testa- 
 ment repeatedly illustrates the fact that man's obedient 
 response to vocation is followed by a consciousness of 
 personal inspiration which enhances the sense of indi- 
 viduality : the soul recognizes the illuminating or 
 strengthening influence of a power higher than itself, 
 educating the intellect, expanding the heart, and 
 quickening the conscience ; it becomes aware of a 
 divine operation which does not constrain man ' me- 
 chanically to receive the truth, but enables him to 
 know it ' ; does not merely reveal to him what God 
 would have him believe and practise, but raises him 
 into intelligent sympathy with His mind and will ^. 
 , The sense of personal union with Deity however did 
 not override or overpower individuality, but rather 
 developed and stimulated it. The inspiration of pro- 
 phets and saints was no mere possession of the soul 
 by a divine influence, no ecstatic ebullition of irrepres- 
 sible feeling, but a power which added dignity to its 
 subject, awakening at once his consciousness of divinely 
 appointed mission, and his perception of the heights 
 to which human frailty might be exalted by divine 
 grace. ' It belongs to the notion of prophecy, of true 
 revelation,' says Wellhausen in a memorable passage, 
 ' that Jehovah, overlooking all the media of ordinances 
 and institutions, communicates Himself to the indivi- 
 dtial, the called one, in whom that mysterious and 
 irreducible rappori in which the deity stands with man 
 clothes itself with energy. Apart from the prophet, i?i 
 abstracto, there is no revelation ; it lives in his divine- 
 human ego '^'. 
 
 ^ Cp. Pascal, Pense'es, art. iv. 
 
 "^ J. Caird, Philosophy of Religion, ch. iii. Cp. Meinhold, Jesus tatd das 
 A. T. p. 139 : ' Es findet ein mit dem Steigen der geistigen Entwickelung 
 gleichlaufendes Anwachsen der Aufnahmefahigkeit fiir religiose Dinge 
 statt.' ^ Piolegoniena^ p. 398. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 91 
 
 But again beyond the quickened sense of personal 
 dignity and wordi which resulted from conscious 
 inspiration, the preciousness of the individual soul 
 seemed to follow from the very thought of a God who 
 was willing to communicate Himself to His creatures. 
 The goodness of God, manifested in His readiness to 
 bring man into a relationship of sacred intimacy with 
 Himself, formed as it were an implicit premise whence 
 the hopeful conclusion might be drawn that a creature 
 so favoured was not destined to extinction, but rather 
 to a life of fellowship with his Maker, not to be inter- 
 rupted even by death. Thus the evolution of the 
 sense of individuality depended upon the spiritual 
 experience of elect souls. There arrived a stage in 
 Israel's religion when good men found their only solace 
 in the life of communion with God. In the troublous 
 and dreary period of Israel's permanent subjection to 
 a foreign yoke, personal religion became the strength 
 and stay of the devout. To the psalmists, for example, 
 the thought of God is a refuge in any trouble ; He 
 alone is the object of the soul's confident trust, its 
 adoring joy, its sacred thirst, its supreme exultation, 
 its limitless love. And the soul which was capable of 
 such yearnings and aspirations, felt itself ennobled by 
 the reflected majesty of Him to whom it clung. With 
 strong confidence it rested in the assurance that what 
 God had so highly favoured and blessed, He would 
 not despise. Thou zvili not leave my soid in hell — such 
 was the cry of the human heart. God will j-cdeem my 
 soul from the poiver of the grave : for he shall receive 
 fjie. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the 
 strength of my heart, and my portion for ever^. The 
 man whose portion is this life clings to what is vain 
 and transitory ; and he passes away with that to which 
 he clings. But the soul which holds to God discovers 
 in its very love the pledge of an undying life. 
 
 The hope which is fulfilled in Christianity is thus 
 foreshadowed and anticipated in the Old Testament : 
 
 ^ Pss. xvi. 10, xlix. 15, Ixxi i. 26. 
 
92 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 the hope, namely, of a kingdom of God which is also 
 a kingdom of personality ; a sphere in which, with 
 the advancing development of the community, the 
 individual also arrives at the plenitude of liberty, 
 perfection, and blessedness \ 
 
 There remains yet another factor which tended to 
 develope the life of personal religion. Just as the 
 dissolution of the Greek states gave a certain impulse 
 to the spread of Stoicism with its characteristic doc- 
 trine of the avTccpKeia of the individual, so the disasters 
 which darkened the later stages of Judah's history 
 inevitably suggested some fundamental moral pro- 
 blems, to the solution of which the wisdom of the 
 time devoted its energies. At the same time the 
 pressure of national calamity roused in individual 
 men doubts and questionings respecting their personal 
 relation to the God of their fathers. In fact in the 
 sacred literature of the Hebrews we have an example 
 of a phenomenon familiar in secular history. One con- 
 sequence of political disorganization was that Hebrew 
 sages devoted themselves to inquiries concerning the 
 duties of life and the conditions of personal well-being, 
 either by way of compensation for the loss of a sphere 
 of public activity, or as a solace amid the troubles of 
 a declining state. The prevalence of violent social 
 anomalies and contrasts, combined with the corruption 
 and decay of public religion, quickened the spirit of 
 inquiry into the deeper mysteries of the divine deal- 
 ings with mankind. Such fundamental religious ideas 
 as those of personal responsibility, of the need of 
 atonement for sin, and of the efficacy of repentance 
 were the fruit of sorrowful meditation on the causes of 
 Israel's national ruin. These ideas took their place 
 as permanent elements in the religious character ; the}'' 
 practically marked an advanced stage in the growth of 
 the human mind. Ancient theories of human suffering 
 and of divine retribution upon wrong-doing had be- 
 come too strait to satisfy the needs of -an enlarged 
 
 ' Cp. Martensen, Christian Ethics {General)^ § 63. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 93 
 
 experietice. They failed to provide a resting-place 
 for thought, or an adequate explanation of indispu- 
 table facts. Man's perplexities, in short, drove him to 
 find refiige in the inscrutable power and changeless 
 character of God. Thus the Old Testament Is a 
 history of the education of faith ; it ends with 
 a presage of a divine self-manifestation which alone 
 can solve the riddle of the universe and throw light 
 on the destiny of man. 
 
 We have now reviewed in a summary fashion the 
 main topics which will be severally considered in 
 subsequent lectures. It is worth while to observe, in 
 conclusion, how closely the general arrangement of the 
 Hebrew Bible appears to correspond with those five 
 aspects of Old Testament theology which have been 
 briefly described. 
 
 In the Pentateuch and the historical books, the two 
 most prominent ideas are those of redemption and 
 revelation. The book of Exodus contains the account 
 of a redemptive movement on God's part which forms 
 a kind of creative period in the history of Israel and of 
 mankind ^. The deliverance of the chosen people laid 
 the foundation of that view of history which is charac- 
 teristic of the Bible : it gave birth to the conviction 
 that God is in very truth a living God ; that His hand 
 is at work in the universe, controlling the destinies of 
 nations and using the faculties of individual men ; that 
 He manifests Himself in the world in order to further 
 moral purposes of His own, in ways that are relatively 
 to us supernatural. But the deliverance of Israel from 
 bondage was also the starting-point of a higher revela- 
 tion. The character of Jehovah was displayed both in 
 the fact of the deliverance, and in the manner of its ac- 
 complishment. The God of Israel's salvation revealed 
 Himself as a beinsf of transcendent beneficence, lono-- 
 suffering, and pity for the oppressed '-. And the 
 evidence for the actual events of the exodus is parallel 
 
 * Cp. Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and Juda/i, p. 7. 
 
 * Cp. Bruce, Chief End of Revelation, pp. 193, 194. 
 
94 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF [lect. 
 
 to that which attests the resurrection of Christ. The 
 testimony Hes in Israel's national life and historical 
 career, which cannot be satisfactorily explained apart 
 from some great original impulse that can only be 
 attributed to divine power. The deliverance itself 
 called into existence a church or witnessing body, 
 which cherished the recollection of its wonderful past 
 in living hearts and memories. The testimony to the 
 fact of the exodus was thus independent of any written 
 record ; such a record was quite possibly formed at 
 a period contemporaneous with the events, but as it is 
 impossible to say whether any portion of it survives in 
 its original shape, so it is important not to over- 
 estimate our dependence on documentary evidence. 
 
 To resume, in the Pentateuch we find a history of 
 redemption and a revelation of Jehovah, together with 
 that which necessarily accompanies such revelation, 
 namely the institution of a new relationship between 
 God and man, which in the book of Exodus is con- 
 ceived as a covenant based on moral conditions. The 
 historical deliverance was the foundation of a higher 
 religion, marked by a higher standard of morality. 
 There can be no doubt that this new morality was an 
 original element in Mosaic religion, whatever may 
 have been its precise extent in the earliest legislation. 
 The object of Israel's redemption was proclaimed from 
 the first, though it was only very gradually and slowly 
 brought to fulfilment. The original law^ of Israel, says 
 Professor Robertson Smith, ' is pervaded by a constant 
 sense that the righteous and gracious Jehovah is 
 behind the law, and wields it in conformity with His 
 own holy nature. The law, therefore, makes no pre- 
 tence at ideality. . . . The ordinances are not abstractly 
 perfect and fit to be a rule of life in every state of 
 society, but they are fit to make Israel a righteous, 
 humane, and God-fearing people, and to facilitate 
 a healthy growth towards better things \' In a word, 
 the undoubted tendency of the first legislation was 
 
 ^ O. T.inJ. C. p. 343. 
 
ii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 95 
 
 towards the development of a higher morahty. The 
 character of the divine kingdom was ethically deter- 
 mined even in the earliest stage of its history. 
 
 The next division of the Hebrew Bible — the book 
 of the prophets, former and latter — is mainly concerned 
 with the actual history of the covenant relationship 
 which Jehovah had established between Himself and 
 Israel. In these books history is described or inter- 
 preted from the theocratic point of view ; events are 
 regarded as worthy of record in proportion as they 
 illustrate the advance or the retrogression of the theo- 
 cratic idea. The writers of the earlier books make it 
 their chief aim to illustrate the blessings which follow 
 faithful observance of the covenant conditions and the 
 loss that follows unfaithfulness. The great prophets 
 themselves have two main themes : judgment and 
 redemption. Their mission is to denounce Israel's 
 unfaithfulness, and to vindicate the spiritual conditions 
 of the divine covenant ; but their warnings and rebukes 
 alternate with promises of a glorious future — promises 
 which reach their climax in the prediction of a new 
 covenant' unlike the ancient covenant of the exodus— 
 a covenant under which the spiritual blessings for which 
 the heart of man waits and longs shall be effectually 
 attained. From one point of view, at any rate, this 
 passage may be regarded as the culminating point of 
 Messianic prophecy ; so at least it seems to be treated 
 by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The 
 characteristic blessings of the Messianic age are vir- 
 tually summed up in three promised spiritual gifts : 
 power to do Gods will, knowledge of His character, 
 remission of past sins. 
 
 Lastly, the writings classed as Hagiographa illustrate 
 In various forms the subjective apprehension of the 
 blessings of covenant fellowship. They are the pro- 
 duct of religious emotion and religious reason. 
 Accordingly In this group of books there Is something 
 that gives us the sense of a ' many-sided sympathy ' in 
 ^ Jer. xxxi. 31 foil. 
 
96 DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 the Old Testament ^ ; there belongs to some of them 
 at least an interest not merely national but universal, 
 while others seem specially adapted to enter into the 
 circumstances and minister to the needs of individual 
 souls. There are some elements in the Hagiographa 
 which appear to constitute a link of connexion 
 between Judaism and the heathen world; and others 
 which witness to the providential care of God for the 
 individual soul, and to the divine regard for every 
 variety of conditions in human life. 
 
 With this brief indication of the way in which the 
 different aspects of the Old Testament find each its 
 peculiar expression in different parts of the sacred 
 volume, we may close the preliminary survey of our 
 subject. 
 
 1 Ryle, The Canon of the O. T. p. 182. 
 
LECTURE III 
 
 We have heard with ottr ears. O God, our fathers have told us, what 
 thou hast done in their time of old. — Ps. xliv. i. 
 
 An inspired book, such as we believe the Old 
 Testament to be, cannot be designed merely to record 
 the religious experiences or promote the spiritual 
 interests of one favoured nation ; still less can it be 
 intended for special and particular groups of indivi- 
 duals — leaders, priests, antiquarians, or scholars. It is 
 meant for universal humanity. It must be adapted to 
 serve world-wide purposes ; it must be capable of being 
 to all men everywhere a source of the same divine 
 power, guidance, grace and encouragement which it 
 supplied of old to members of the covenant-people. 
 We need not pause to dwell on the fact that Christian 
 experience has vindicated this high estimate of the 
 practical purpose which the Old' Testament was 
 destined to fulfil. I will only notice that the univer- 
 sality of their scope helps us better to appreciate 
 the inexhaustible variety which characterizes the 
 Scriptures — a variety not only in the style and tone of 
 the different books, in their subject-matter, point of 
 view, and mode of treatment, but a variety also in 
 respect of their canonical value and function. It has 
 been suggested that if we regard the Bible as an 
 organism in which every particular book has its dis- 
 tinct office and function, the analogy justifies us in 
 considering some books to be more important than 
 others, some more essential to the integrity of the 
 whole than others. This way of regarding the Bible 
 
98 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 is intended to reassure the perplexed by reminding 
 them that there may be questions raised in regard to 
 certain books 'without vital consequence to faith 
 ensuing ^.' We may, however, somewhat extend the 
 analogy, and observe how the phenomena of physical 
 nature, viewed in their totality, illustrate the diversity 
 which is so noticeable in the contents of Scripture. 
 For nature also is a book in which, as in Scripture, 
 we study the manifestation of a divine life. We 
 observe that nature is in a mysterious way bound up 
 with the fortunes of man : the day of the Lord comes 
 upon it as upon him, in judgment or benediction. 
 When man is glad, nature also rejoices with joy and 
 singing. It has an inner sympathy with him ; it is the 
 sphere of his labour ; it is in a great measure subject 
 to his control ; it is the medium of God's dispensations 
 of power or blessing concerning him. Nature, then, 
 •may be expected to give us a clue to the right view 
 of Scripture. It is infinite in its variety — a variety so 
 vast that thought has to partition off one department 
 after another for the purposes of special investigation. 
 Indeed, the extent of variation seems to outrun the 
 requirements, so far as our human faculties can judge, 
 of adaptation to particular ends. Again, nature is 
 fragmentary in appearance. It continually suggests — 
 even in the scenes of waste and devastation with which 
 the surface of the universe is overspread — that God 
 employs means and aims at results which lie beyond 
 the range of our present powers of perception. And 
 yet there is in nature an inner unity and completeness — 
 the sense of which partly arises from our instinctive 
 transference to nature of the unity which underlies our 
 own sense of personality and partly follows from our 
 conception of God as the single sustaining cause of all 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apologetics, pp. 314, 315. It is noteworthy that in the First 
 Prayer Book of Edw. VI (1549) the following rubric was inserted: 'The 
 Old Testament is appointed for the first lessons at Matins and Evensong, 
 and shall be read through every year once, except certain books and 
 chapiters which be least edifying, and might best be spared, and therefore 
 are left unread.' This direction was omitted in the revised Book of 1662. 
 
Ill] . IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 99 
 
 things, rcrum tenax vigor '^. This harmony is taken 
 for granted in our blessed Lord's parabohc teaching. 
 It is the harmony of a consentient witness. Thus by 
 its completeness and by its fragmentariness, by its 
 sternness and rigour no less than by its softness and 
 loveliness, by what it is and by what it is not, nature 
 witnesses to the indwelling and sustaining presence of 
 its Author. And when we turn to Scripture we are 
 prepared to find that God adapts Himself to the 
 diversity of human needs in ways analogous to His 
 operations in nature. We find Scripture also marked 
 by an infinite variety, yet by a clearly felt harmony. 
 We find it to be fragmentary, yet in one view complete. 
 It exhibits strange features of apparent imperfection 
 and anomaly, yet it is manifestly an organic whole. 
 Scripture is analogous to nature also in this : that while 
 its general aspect is stern and sombre, its promises and 
 suggestions point to an unearthly glory and perfection 
 of things yet to be revealed. Further, the interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture, as of nature, is seen not to belong 
 exclusively to any one age or time. Each generation 
 reads it with the aid of fresh light, and finds in it a new 
 significance. It contains much that can only be appre- 
 hended and interpreted in the light of an acquired 
 knowledge of the whole and an enlarged acquaintance 
 with human nature and its needs. The attentive 
 reader of the Old Testament, like the student of nature, 
 has moments of insight when he perceives ' gleams like 
 the flashing of a shield.' For Scripture, like nature, 
 points persistently beyond itself to a uniform purpose 
 pervading the multiplicity of historical events which it 
 
 ^ Cp. Briggs, Biblical Study, p. 359. 'The Eible is a vast organism, 
 in which the unity springs from an amazing variety. The unity is not that 
 of a mass of rocks or a pool of water. It is the unity that one finds in the 
 best works of God. It is the unity of the ocean, where every wave has its 
 individuality of Hfe and movement. It is the unity of the continent, in 
 which mountains and rivers, valleys and uplands, flowers and trees, birds 
 and insects, animal and human life, combine to distinguish it as a magni- 
 ficent whole from other continents. It is the unity of the heavens where 
 star difters from star in form, colour, order, movement, size and importance, 
 but all declare the glory of God.' 
 
 H 2 
 
loo THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 describes, and of spiritual moods which it reflects. It 
 unveils, even while it partially conceals, a presence for 
 which the human heart instinctively yearns, towards 
 Avhich it stretches out hands — a presence which speaks 
 and appeals to man as spirit to spirit and heart to 
 heart. 
 
 And if it should be asked what led to the formation 
 and eventual completion of a * canon ' of the Old 
 Testament, the answer is perhaps something of this 
 kind. The conviction arose after the overthrow of 
 the Hebrew state that it was desirable to secure in 
 a permanent form the spiritual forces which had 
 built up and moulded the characteristic life of the 
 Jewish Church, and that there already existed writings 
 sufficiently qualified to fulfil this function. In regard 
 to the methods by which canonical problems were 
 gradually settled we are very much in the dark, but in 
 the total result we can trace the action of religious 
 experience, guided by divine wisdom to select those 
 particular writings which had proved themselves best 
 adapted to develope and educate religious faith. 
 
 Regarded in its entirety, the Old Testament is the 
 record of man's communion with his Creator ; it traces 
 through all its successive stages the history of a 
 friendship between God and man which reaches its 
 climax in the spiritual life of Christian saints. It tells 
 the chequered story of that sacred mutual love : on 
 the divine side, the disappointments of love — its con- 
 stancy, its patience, its tenderness, its hopefulness ; on 
 the human side, the fallings away and vanishings of 
 love — its recoveries, its heroisms, its ventures of faith, 
 its perpetual tendency towards consummation in a per- 
 fect union between God and man, in the Incarnation of 
 God and the presence in human hearts of the in- 
 dwelling Spirit. In the Old Testament the story is all 
 but completed, and it is enshrined in enduring forms 
 of typical value and significance, for in the retro- 
 gressions and advancements of one particular nation 
 lies hidden the whole spiritual history of mankind, in 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT loi 
 
 SO far as Israel represents that instinct of communion 
 with Deity which belongs to man as man. 
 
 We come, then, to the Old Testament as to an 
 historical book. * The Bible,' says Ewald ^ ' is through 
 and through of historical nature and spirit. Standing 
 conspicuous amid all the efforts of antiquity, the most 
 profound as a work of mind, the loftiest in elevation 
 and sweep of thought, a product of noble pains, com- 
 pact in itself and finished, it bears upon its face, looked 
 at as a whole, the clearest impress of historic truth.' 
 Ewald goes on to draw an obvious contrast in this 
 respect between the sacred book of Islam and the 
 Bible. In this there is no need to follow him, but 
 I would take the above passage as a keynote of the 
 discussion on which it is our business to enter to-day, 
 respecting the nature and extent of the historical 
 element in the Old Testament. For certainly the 
 primary and most important subject of investigation in 
 regard to the Old Testament is its claim to be a trust- 
 worthy history of redemption. The fullness and the 
 diversity of its contents serve to fill with life and 
 colour the outlines of a vast historical picture, in which 
 the progress and perfection of all true religion is 
 included ". 
 
 The historical element in the Old Testament : how 
 vast and how difficult a theme ! It is obvious that we 
 must begin by suggesting a few considerations essential 
 to the inquiry. 
 
 I. In the Hexateuch and the historical books we 
 are dealing, as will be allowed on all hands, with highly 
 composite narratives, in which the oldest historical 
 traditions have been revised, developed, supplemented, 
 and to some extent remodelled in a religious spirit 
 and from a point of view in some cases priestly, 
 in others prophetic. In the Hexateuch, primitive 
 traditions and later conceptions as to the course 
 of Israel's early history have been woven together in 
 
 ^ Revelatio7i, its Nature and Record., p. 407. 
 2 Ibid. p. 408. 
 
102 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 a double or threefold cord, so as to present to critical 
 eyes the appearance of a highly ingenious and elaborate 
 mosaic constructed out of materials of very different 
 historical value. In the prophetic books of Judges, 
 Samuel, and Kings, early traditions have been at 
 different times selected or revised in such a way as to 
 impress on the narrative a uniform stamp or quality 
 and to infuse into it certain strongly marked religious 
 ideas \ There are plain tokens in these writings that 
 both the original selection of facts and the mode of 
 estimating them are determined by particular religious 
 preconceptions, and it w^ould even appear that in some 
 cases the special standpoint from which events and 
 incidents are regarded, and the framework In which 
 they are set, are of more Importance for religious 
 purposes than the facts recorded. The peculiar 
 character of the books of the Chronicles will be noticed 
 later. It Is sufficient at this point to say that owing 
 to their late date they cannot claim to be placed on the 
 same level of historical value as the earlier authorities 
 on which they are manifestly based. 
 
 What has been now said amounts to the assertion that 
 the written documents available for constructing the 
 history of Israel are, when tested by a modern standard, 
 of unequal value and of very divergent quality. They 
 contain fragments of contemporary records and annals 
 which would satisfy any modern tests ; but these are 
 Intermingled with elements of quite another kind : 
 quasi-historical narratives which clothe religious 
 thoughts In a poetic and symbolic garb -, and popular 
 stories or traditions which owe their vivid beauty to 
 the creative genius of a race singularly gifted with 
 imaginative power ^. Embedded In them we find con- 
 siderable fragments of ancient songs and of very early 
 narratives, borrowed apparently from the archaic Book 
 
 * Cp. Wellhausen, Prolegomc7ta, pp. 293, 294. 
 
 2 This of course applies "to the history of the origins. .Cp. Meinhold, 
 Jl'sus und das yi. Z'. pp. 112, 1 18, 132. 
 
 3 Cp. Schultz, O. T. Theology, i. 21. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 103 
 
 of yashar, or the Wars of Jehovah, which extolled the 
 exploits of primitive Hebrew heroes. There is also, in 
 the Hexateuch at least, a considerable element of 
 apparent history, which really consists of law embodied 
 in the form of historic precedents. We have perhaps 
 been accustomed to regard the early books of the Bible 
 merely as historical records ; but critical inquiry has re- 
 minded us that to every species of literary composition 
 natural to the ancient Hebrews has been assigned by 
 the overruling Spirit of God a place in the sacred 
 volume, and we must be prepared to part boldly with 
 exclusively modern prejudices in dealing with this 
 wonderful literature. The trained historical sense of 
 western minds is apt to take offence at the notion that 
 the faculty of poetic or historic imagination should be 
 employed as a suitable medium of instruction by the 
 Spirit of truth. But to those who study the Old Testa- 
 ment in the temper of sympathy and reverence, no 
 genuine and natural product of the human mind will 
 appear common or unclean or incapable of consecration 
 to lofty and divine uses. Speaking broadly, the docu- 
 ments now under consideration seem to have a twofold 
 value. On the one hand, without themselves professing 
 to give an account of the exact course of Israel's 
 history, they supply materials with which historical 
 investigation may successfully work. 'On the other hand, 
 they furnish a valuable means of ascertaining the point 
 of view from which Israel regarded its past career, and 
 the religious conceptions which influenced the literary 
 treatment of ancient traditions. An attentive student 
 of the Old Testament cannot fail to notice how pro- 
 foundly the records of Hebrew history are penetrated 
 by religious ideas. The ideals and conditions of the 
 age in which the books attained to their present form 
 are projected into antiquity, and the problem of the 
 modern historian is to disentangle from its ideal or 
 imaginative embodiment the genuine historical nucleus 
 which unquestionably underlies the record. As it 
 now stands, the sacred history has been aptly com- 
 
I04 THE HISTORICAL ELEMEN7 [lect. 
 
 pared to an epic poem \ and there is no reason for 
 denying that a certain epic character belongs to Israel's 
 historical documents in common with other ancient 
 literature. The Semitic mind seems in fact to have 
 been distinctly wanting in the purely scientific interest 
 which loves historical precision and accuracy of detail. 
 Its interest was confined to the discernment of religious 
 principles ; it was inclined rather to interpret the 
 spiritual significance of events than to lay special 
 stress upon exactness of detail. To certain great facts 
 of past history the Hebrew mind clung with un- 
 wavering tenacity. These were cherished as constant 
 objects of devout contemplation ; they were the 
 support and joy of faith ; they were the favourite 
 theme of sacred poetry ; they were the commonplaces, 
 so to speak, of prophetic preaching. And we cannot 
 wonder that the mighty acts of Jehovah on behalf of 
 His people were idealized and invested with a sacred 
 halo of glory or even of romance. In admitting the 
 action of impassioned imagination, we neither question 
 the occurrence of the historical facts themselves nor 
 detract from their religious significance. The present 
 -point, however, is that the historical writings of the 
 Old Testament reflect the characteristics of the race 
 that produced them. Their historical quality is modi- 
 fied and coloured by the peculiar genius of the writers, 
 and it is accordingly undesirable and imprudent 
 to attach overmuch weight to historical details for 
 which corroborative evidence is not forthcoming ^. We 
 must be content to possess a narrative which in its 
 main outlines is demonstrably authentic, but we must 
 
 ^ See Renan, Histoire dzi peiiple cT Israel, bk. ii, ch. 4 s. fin. and Kittel, 
 A_ History of t lie Hebi'ews, vol. i. p. 40 (Eng. Tr.). So Hofmann ap. Kohler, 
 Uber Berechtigiing der Kritik des A. Z". p. 41. Cp. J. Darmesteter, Les 
 Prophetes d' Israel, p. 240: 'Ainsi se forma cette merveilleuse epopee 
 publique, example unique d'une histoire refaite a coup d'ideal.' 
 
 ^ Mr. Schechter, Studies i)t Judaism, p. xviii, refers to the interesting 
 fact that some Jewish scholars have substantially accepted the above view 
 of the historical portions of Scripture. Zunz, for instance, holds that the 
 early history is presented ' in an ideal light,' in accordance with a ' tradi- 
 tional interpretation adapted to the religious needs ' of a particular age. 
 
Ill] AV THE OLD TESTAMENT 105 
 
 not allow ourselves to reason as if all the sources 
 available for ascertaining the true course of Israel's 
 history were of equal value. And in endeavouring to 
 arrive at a general estimate of the historical trust- 
 worthiness of the records, we must distinguish between 
 the various strata of the ancient tradition, which are 
 either left in juxtaposition or have been fused together 
 into a single narrative. It is here that we shall in the 
 long run be bound to submit to the guidance of experts 
 in criticism, accepting their verdict where they agree, 
 and suspending judgment where they differ. Thus 
 a cautious student will recollect that the early history 
 of the Hebrews, as of other races, is involved in 
 o^reat obscuritv ; he will therefore be on his oruard 
 against the idola iridiis which occasionally influence 
 the critical mind — the passion for positive results, for 
 finality, for systematization even in spheres where these 
 are, from the nature of the case, unattainable. He 
 \vill not be unduly impatient of necessary distinctions, 
 and of a certain complexity and obscurity in problems 
 which he might antecedently have expected to find 
 simple and straightforward. 
 
 2. A second consideration relating to our present 
 subject is the fact that a mass of evidence, which bears 
 upon the primitive history of the Hebrews, is being 
 gradually accumulated in other fields of inquiry, and 
 it is accordingly a plain duty to make allowance for 
 actual or probable results of archaeological research as 
 a modifying factor in our estimate of the Old Testa- 
 ment narratives, corroborating or correcting the con- 
 clusions that might be drawn from the internal evidence 
 of the written documents ^ The Hebrew Scriptures 
 after all form only one fragment of a vast literature, of 
 which other portions are gradually coming to light in 
 different parts of the East. These discoveries prove 
 
 ^ In the Bampton Lectures of 1859 by the Rev. G. Rawlinson, an 
 attempt was made to state anew 'the historical evidences of the truth of 
 the Scripture records, with special reference to the doubts and discoveries 
 of modern times.' Clearly the attempt must be repeated from time to 
 time in the history of the Church. 
 
io6 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 not only that the art of writing is of far greater antiquity 
 than was once supposed, but also that a certain degree 
 of literary culture prevailed throughout western Asia, 
 even at a period preceding the exodus of Israel from 
 Egypt ^ Hence it is not more than reasonable to 
 expect that they may modify some of the conclusions 
 which had been reached by literary criticism respecting 
 the most ancient periods of Hebrew history. It would, 
 however, be unwise to overrate the extent to which 
 critical results are likely to be modified by this branch 
 of knowledge. There are no doubt discoveries which 
 lead us to defer our acceptance of certain critical 
 verdicts ; there are others which have to some extent 
 qualified or corrected the axioms on which literary 
 criticism has at times too confidently insisted. But 
 there is an agreement between literary critics and 
 archaeologists on at least two points : they are at 
 one in their estimate of the general character, as 
 distinct from the intrinsic value, of the Old Testa- 
 ment documents ; and they seem also to be agreed 
 in acknowledging that we have reached a period 
 of reconstruction ^. This may well encourage us in 
 an attempt to deal not merely critically but con- 
 structively with the literature and theology of the Old 
 Testament. The real value of sacred archaeology 
 is that it enables us to enter into the circumstances of 
 those to whom the Word of God came, with that 
 intelligent sympathy which alone can appreciate the 
 quality of their writings and the conditions which 
 moulded or influenced their thought. Indeed, the 
 change which has come over our conception of the Old 
 Testament documents seems to be due not merely to 
 the results of research into special points of history, but 
 also to the fact that there has been a development of the 
 historical sense, and an enlargement of the power of 
 insight into the peculiar characteristics of the Hebrew 
 
 * See generally Sayce, The Higher C7-iticism and the Montanents. On 
 the antiquity of writing in the East, Cornill, Einleitiing in das A. T. § 4. 
 ^ Sayce, op. cit. p. 24. Cp. Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 16. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 107 
 
 mind. When we are asked why we hesitate to ascribe 
 to the early books of the Old Testament a uniformly 
 historical character, we can only reply, first, that there 
 is no sufficient reason for assuming that Hebrew 
 history has been exempted from the ordinary con- 
 ditions observable in all other primitive annals ; and 
 secondly, that in any case the ancient Scriptures are 
 a genuine product of the Semitic mind, guided and 
 controlled no doubt by the wisdom of the divine 
 Spirit, but clearly reflecting the characteristics of the 
 oriental temperament — its imaginative capacity, its 
 passionate moral fervour, its intuitive perception of 
 spiritual laws and realities. 
 
 3. Once more it is necessary to repeat with all 
 possible emphasis that a Christian reader of the Old 
 Testament will feel no a priori difficulties in regard to 
 the occurrence of miracles ^ On the contrary, he will 
 be prepared to find in the course of redemptive history 
 creative epochs at which the moral character and 
 purpose of Almighty God manifest themselves in 
 a manner relatively to our ordinary experience super- 
 natural. The possibility of miracle in point of fact 
 logically follows from the belief which is everywhere 
 conspicuous in the Old Testament — the belief in the 
 living personality of God. The anthropopathic expres- 
 sions which are so frequently applied to Jehovah — the 
 ascription to Him, for example, of love, hatred, wrath, 
 jealousy, scorn, and repentance — do tend to inculcate, 
 perhaps in the only possible form, a fundamental truth 
 of religion, namely that the Creator and Ruler of the 
 universe is akin to man in the essential characteristics 
 of His being — in the possession of will, character, and 
 moral freedom. Inadequate of course as descriptions 
 of the divine nature, anthropopathic modes of speech 
 reflect this conviction which dominated the Hebrew 
 mind and which gained strength and clearness in pro- 
 portion to the advance of Israel's religion. But, as was 
 previously pointed out, a general acknowledgment of 
 
 * See Rawlinson's Bam f ton Lectures (1859), pp. 27 foil. 
 
io8 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 the a priori credibility of the Old Testament miracles 
 does not bind us to regard every supernatural occur- 
 rence recorded in the Old Testament as literal fact. 
 In regard to this point we may the more confidently 
 claim freedom because, on the whole, miracle is kept 
 in the background in the Old Testament, while in 
 some passages (such as Deut. xiii. 1-3) a comparatively 
 low estimate of its evidential value is expressed. 
 Indeed, it would appear that it was only in the age 
 of Judaism that there arose a kind of passion for 
 the miraculous, in some respects anticipating the 
 temper of mind which sought after a sign and was 
 rebuked as evil and adulterous by our Lord ^ Miracles 
 may justly be believed to have accompanied a momen- 
 tous creative act of God, such as that which brought 
 into being the nationality of Israel ^ ; but, after all, their 
 chief significance in the view of the Old Testament 
 writers is that they constitute an unmistakeable sign of 
 Jehovah's presence among His people at particular 
 crises of their history ^. They do not seem in the old 
 dispensation any more than in the new to have been 
 a normal part of the divine method under normal 
 circumstances ^ So far as we can judge from the 
 records, the closing stage of the journey from Egypt 
 to Canaan appears to have been marked by a gradual 
 cessation of miracle ^ a fact which illustrates the action 
 
 ^ Cp. Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 409- 
 
 2 Cp. Deut. xxxii. 6, Isa. xliii. i, &c. 
 
 3 Cp. Joshua iii. 10. Schultz, op. at. vol. ii. pp. 193 foil., has some 
 admirable remarks on the O. T. view of miracle. He points out how the 
 Hebrew mind, with its vivid consciousness of God's immediate action m 
 nature, would view a miracle : regarding it not as an unnatural or super- 
 natural event, but rather as a striking proot of God's power and freedom. 
 To the Hebrew a miracle ' does not stand out as an irregular individual 
 occurrence in contrast with a differently ordered whole ; but it stands out 
 as a specially striking individual occurrence in contrast with other single 
 events, which, being less striking owing to their frequency, are less calcu- 
 lated to produce the impression of God's almighty power in executing 
 His purposes.' It is a significant fact, and consistent with his treatment 
 of the Gospel narrative, that M. Renan attributes the miracles of the 
 wilderness-journey to imposture [Histoire du peuple (T Israel, bk. i, ch. 13). 
 
 * Cp. Mason, Ilie Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, p. 477. 
 ^ Cp. Joshua v. 12. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 109 
 
 of what has been called a ' law of parsimony ' in revela- 
 tion — of a principle of restraint and limitation, avoiding- 
 both waste and extravagance. 
 
 We may nov*^ pass to the special subject of this 
 lecture, prepared by what has been already said to be 
 contented with broad general conclusions only, and 
 remembering that in this matter, as in many others, it 
 is possible to overrate the importance of completeness 
 and precision. For convenience' sake we shall do well 
 to limit our survey of the history of Israel to three 
 distinct epochs : (i) the patriarchal age, (2) the Mosaic 
 period, (3) the period of the Judges and of the early 
 monarchy. From the nature of the case it is plain that 
 the evidence available for the history of each epoch is 
 different in quality, but this need not deter us from 
 attempting to form some conception of its value that 
 may be practically serviceable in the study of the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 I. 
 
 In dealing with the patriarchal period we must bear 
 In mind that the age to be investigated is, relatively 
 speaking, prehistoric. The available documents, in their 
 final shape at least, belong to an age removed by an 
 interval of several centuries from the events. The 
 narrative which is generally held by critics to be the 
 earliest, that of the Jehovist, seems indeed to be based 
 on ancient popular tradition, but it describes the age of 
 the patriarchs as In some essential respects so closely 
 similar to later periods, that it can only be regarded as 
 a picture of primitive life and religion drawn in the 
 light of a subsequent Jige. We have here to do with' 
 the earliest form of history, traditional folklore about 
 primitive personages and events, worked up according 
 to some preconceived design by a devout literary 
 artist ^ The question at once naturally arises how 
 
 ^ Cp. Wellhausen's Prolegomena, pp. 295, 296. 
 
no THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 these narratives are to be employed and inter- 
 preted. As is well known, some very extreme con- 
 clusions have been advanced by critics, as for example 
 that the patriarchs are not real historical personages 
 at all, but mere personifications of particular Semitic 
 tribes \ Some writers maintain that ' Abraham,' ' Isaac,' 
 and 'Jacob' are titles of primitive tribal deities^. It 
 is not my business to investigate these theories, which 
 in their extreme form are never likely to pass beyond 
 the stage of unverified hypothesis. It may at once 
 be pointed out that while no convincing reasons have 
 ever been alleged for doubting the historic personality 
 of the great patriarchs, there are some considerations 
 which materially support the traditional view. There 
 are of course historical points respecting which the 
 verdict of a purely literary criticism cannot be final, 
 and its more or less provisional conclusions need to be 
 supplemented or even corrected by archaeological data. 
 The discoveries of recent years have admittedly shown 
 that during the age in which Hebrew tradition places 
 the patriarchs, there was much more intercourse between 
 Palestine and the far East than was formerly suspected, 
 — a circumstance which increases the probability that 
 a genuine historical siibstratiivi underlies the patriarchal 
 narratives ^ Again, there Is a striking element of 
 internal consistency in the story of the patriarchs. It 
 fits in with known facts; it accounts for subsequent 
 developments. The entire course of events in the 
 Mosaic period seems to presuppose the nomad and 
 migratory stage which tradition connects with the 
 person of Abraham and his immediate descendants. 
 
 ^ See Kuenen, The ReHgion of Israel, vol. i. p. in. For a similar but 
 ' slightly modified view see Welihausen, Prolegomena, p. 320. Cp. Renan, 
 Histoire die pcitple d' Israel, bk. i, ch. 8. 
 
 - See Kittel, History of the Hebrews (Eng. Tr.), i. 171. 
 
 * Cp. Sanday, Bamptoji Lectures, p. 221. The importance of Gen. xiv, 
 \vhich seems to lie outside the recognized sources of the Pentateuchal 
 narrative, must not be over-estimated. It renders credible, but cannot 
 be said actually to prove, the facts related in the patriarchal narrative. 
 See some judicious remarks of Meinhold, Jesus and das A. T. p. 124. 
 Cp. Kittel, op. clt. i. 1 75-180. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT in 
 
 As Professor Kittel, following Dillmann, points out, 'the 
 religious position of Moses stands before us unsupported 
 and Incomprehensible \' unless we accept the tradition 
 which traces to the patriarchs the rudiments at least 
 of a higher religion and the first tentative occupation 
 of the promised land. The fact-basis which underlies 
 the story of Abraham's call may be his migration from 
 Chaldaea, dictated by motives of ' vague dissatisfaction 
 with prevalent religious beliefs and practices, rather 
 than a new clearly conceived idea of God ^' Thus we 
 may hold it to be Intrlnslcaliy probable that so unique 
 a history as that of the elect people had precisely 
 such a beCTlnnlns^ as the book of Genesis relates. The 
 circumstances indeed of the patriarchal age may not 
 have been in all points vvhat they afterwards appeared 
 to minds trained in the school of levltlcal piety and 
 imbued with strict theocratic ideas ; but it may be 
 confidently claimed for the patriarchal narratives that 
 they give the true ideal significance of the events 
 summarily, and. perhaps obscurely, described in them. 
 
 While, however, in receiving the narrative as sub- 
 stantially true, though coloured by later prophetic 
 conceptions of Israel's history, we are accepting an 
 account which is entirely consistent with all that we 
 otherwise know respecting the redemptive methods of 
 Almighty God", we have no interest in denying a 
 certain element of idealization In the description of the 
 primitive period. There may possibly be an element 
 of truth even In the view that the figures of the patri- 
 archs are tribal personifications. We may agree with 
 Baethgen that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are historical 
 persons, but that ' these personalities are invested with 
 the characteristics which afterwards marked the tribes 
 descended from them ^' It is likely enough that the 
 
 ' History of the Heh-ezus, vol. i. p. 174. 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apologetics, p. 199. ^ Cp. ib'd. pp. 195-199. 
 
 * Baethgen, Der Gott Israels nnd die Cotter der Heiden, quoted by 
 Meinhold, yijj/^j- und das A. T. p. 120: 'Die hervorstechenden Eigen- 
 schalten, durch welche ein Vo-k sich vom andern unterscheidet, werdcn 
 auf die Helden der Vorzeit iibertKigen, so dass diese zu typischen Gestalten 
 
112 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 great figures of the remote past were made the subjects 
 of many popular legends and traditions^ ; and it is no 
 doubt possible that to a certain extent a tribal history 
 may have been expressed in a personal and individual 
 form ^. It might be admitted, for instance, if it could 
 be made to appear historically probable, that Joseph 
 was a prominent chieftain belonging to a tribe which bore 
 his name, and that the story of his personal career 
 conceals the record of a tribal migration from Canaan to 
 Egypt ^ There is ample scope for speculation on this 
 and kindred points, nor does a general acceptance of 
 the Hebrew tradition In its main outlines preclude 
 a certain latitude of view in regard to such minor 
 details. We have indeed no reason for abandoning, 
 even though we may be required to modify, our 
 ordinary view of the patriarchal narratives ; but we 
 should be open to the charge of misconceiving alto- 
 gether the spirit and intention with which they were 
 compiled if we insisted, as some are inclined to do, on 
 their possessing a character which cannot justly be 
 attributed to them. We are dealing with stories which 
 are probably derived for the most part from oral tra- 
 dition, and are unlikely to have been based to any 
 great extent on contemporary records, though the 
 existence of such documents is admittedly possible. 
 It has been sometimes asserted that oral tradition was 
 more likely to be preserved in a state of integrity 
 among the Hebrews than elsewhere, but the grounds 
 
 werdcn .... Mir steht es fest dass Abraham, Isaak und Jakob . . . ge- 
 schichtliche Personlichkeiten sind ; ebenso sicher ist est mir, dass diese 
 Personlichkeiten zu idealen Tragern der Charactereigenschattengeworden 
 sind, welche das Volk als seine eigenen erkannte.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Darmesteter, Lcs Prophctes d' Israel, pp. 220 foil. 
 
 "^ In the Book of Judith (v. 6 foil.) the movement of Abraham from 
 Chaldaea is described as a t7-ibal migration. 
 
 ^ So, for instance, Renan and Kittel. JMontefiore, Hibbcrf Lectures, 
 pp. 12, 13, follows Kuenen and Renan in regarding all the patriarchs as 
 legendary heroes ' individualized heroes epoiiynii,' whose family story 
 represents the early career of the Beni-Israel. On similar grounds it has 
 been held that names like 'Mamre' and 'Eshcol'.are collective and 
 represent tribes. See however a criticism of the theory in Robertson, 
 The Early Religion of Israel, pp. 123 foil., and note xi (p. 499). 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 113 
 
 urged -in support of such a belief are precarious and 
 sometimes arbitrary. Accordingly, while there are 
 sufficiently good reasons for holding that the main 
 outlines of the pre-Mosaic history are trustworthy, it 
 would be unwise to insist particularly on more than 
 the following points, which are unlikely to be disputed. / 
 
 I. The narratives of Genesis present in the main a '' 
 faithful picture of the general conditions of patriarchal 
 life, especially in respect of its moral characteristics. 
 A Hebrew writer, we must remember, would be con- 
 tinually in a position to observe with his own eyes the 
 habits and customs of primitive civilization ; among 
 the tribes of Bedawin Arabs on the east side of the 
 Jordan, some of the unchanging features of nomadic 
 shepherd-life may be witnessed to this day. The 
 oldest narrative, though coloured by prophetic ideal- 
 ism, gives a vivid portrait of patriarchal life: its simple 
 forms of worship, its family priesthood, its sacrificial 
 feasts, its sacred customs and social institutions. 
 Moreover, there are features in the story which point 
 to a comparatively low standard of ethical and religious 
 development, especially the use of cunning and 
 violence, together with a certain element of sexual 
 licence. We notice also obvious traces of the close 
 affinity that existed between the religion of the Hebrew 
 patriarchs and the common ideas and practices of the 
 neighbouring Semitic tribes : the notion, for instance, 
 that the revelation of deity was confined to certain 
 definite spots, such as Sichem, Bethel, Hebron, and 
 Beersheba ; the reverence paid to sacred pillars, trees, 
 and other emblems which were regarded as monuments 
 and tokens of a special presence of God ; and the use 
 of teraphim for oracular purposes, a custom which 
 apparently lingered to a comparatively late period ^ 
 
 ^ See Riehm, ATI. Theologie, pp. 51, 52. Cp. Gen. xxi. 33, xxviii. 
 18 foil., xxxi. 19, xxxv. 2, 14, &c. Teraphim were still found in the time 
 of David (l Sam. xix. 13). On the general characteristics of the patri- 
 archal age see Renan, Histoire dii peitpie (V Israel, bk. i, chh. 2 and 3. 
 M. Renan forms a high estimate of the book of Genesis regarded as ' the 
 idealistic description of an age which really existed.' A book, he adds, 
 I 
 
114 T^^^ HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 These indications of a very rudimentary religions 
 condition are valuable, not only as enhancing the 
 credibility of the narratives, but also as deepening our 
 consciousness of the divine influence which actually 
 oruided the Hebrew race from the first, controllinor the 
 development of faith, accepting what was rude and 
 primitive as a needful stage in a constant upward 
 movement, and gradually raising the ancestors of 
 Israel above the general level of their age. It is not, 
 I think, too strong to assert with Schultz that ' we 
 cannot, in point of fact, picture to ourselves the rise 
 of the Hebrew religion in any other way than Hebrew 
 legend does,' when it represents God as entering into 
 converse and communion with primitive man in 
 modes suited to his present capacity. The whole 
 subsequent course of revelation tends to confirm the 
 idea that at some point in early Hebrew history 
 there actually took place such an event as we believe 
 the ' call ' of Abraham to have been : a self-manifesta- 
 tion of Almighty God and a vocation addressed to 
 a particular man, on whose response to the divine 
 call the future development of the redemptive move- 
 ment was allowed to depend. This is the important 
 point, and there are many extraneous matters in 
 regard to which we can well afford to be neutral or 
 indifferent. All that we are told by literary critics 
 respecting other internal features of the early narra- 
 tives — for instance, respecting the presence in them 
 of mythical details or euhemeristic elements ' — only 
 serves, if modern theories can be substantiated, to 
 illustrate more vividly, first, the antecedently probable 
 fact that Israel's religion was rooted in the natural 
 soil of Semitic usage and worship ; secondly, the fact 
 that it contained, even in its most rudimentary stage, 
 
 which is not strictly historical, may well supply a perfect historical picture. 
 Elsewhere, he remarks (pref. p. xiii, Eng. Tr.) that ' nothing in the history 
 of Israel can be explained without reference to the patriarchal age.' 
 
 ^ Such elements are probably to be discerned in the traditions of the 
 antediluvian period. Such names as Tubal-cain, Jubal> Enoch, Lamech, 
 &c., point to the possibilityof figures originally mythical becoming human. 
 See the cautious remarks of Schultz, vol. i. pp. 112 foil. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 115 
 
 a divinely implanted germ or element, which by per- 
 petual upward pressure ultimately attained to complete 
 predominance, and imparted to the faith of Israel its 
 capacity in the fullness of time to welcome and adore 
 the Son of God himself, manifest in human flesh. 
 
 2. In the patriarchal tradition we may reasonably 
 contend that we have a faithful representation of the 
 two principal factors which determined the distinctive 
 character of Israel's religion : namely, a personal and 
 redemptive operation of God in history on the one 
 hand, and the response of human faith on the other. 
 If we wished to select the master-thought of the Old 
 Testament, we should be justified in saying that it is 
 belief in the providence and direct action of the living 
 God. Certainly this was the point of view from which 
 the writers of the Pentateuchal narratives described 
 the early stages of the history ; it was the standpoint 
 from which the prophets reviewed and interpreted 
 Israel's wonderful past. It was the living experience 
 of Jehovah's might that made Israel unique among 
 nations : Unto thee it was shoiaed, that thou mightest 
 kitow that the Lord he is God ; there is none else beside 
 him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, 
 that he might instrtict thee : ajtd iipon earth he showed 
 thee his great fire ; and thon hcardest his words out of 
 the midst of the fire. And becatise ke loved thy fathers, 
 therefore he chose their seed after them, and bronghf 
 thee out in his sight zvith his mighty poiver 02U of 
 Egypt^. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, says the 
 psalmist, that did he in heaven, and in earth, and in 
 the sea, and in all deep places ^. In the Old Testament 
 Jehovah is not merely represented as one who con- 
 trols the course of natural events ; He interposes. He 
 actively operates. He brings mighty things to pass, He 
 makes Himself known in acts that display the tenacity 
 of an invincible will, the splendour of a spiritual pur- 
 pose, the reality of redemptive power. And although 
 in early times the mass of the nation probably thought 
 
 ^ Deut. iv. 35-37. * Ps. cxAxv. 6. 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 of Jehovah as one who worked only on behalf of His 
 own elect people, yet the prophets and those who were 
 imbued with their spirit recognized the divine hand in 
 universal history. They teach that the sovereignty of 
 Jehovah is co-extensive with human life and society, 
 and that His moral purpose embraces all the nations 
 of the world. They magnify His power to initiate, 
 to -impel, to control, to overruled Is anything too 
 Jiardfor the Lordf they ask-. Ah Lord God ! cries 
 Jeremiah, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth 
 by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is 
 nothing too hard for thee . . . the great, the mighty God, 
 the Lord of hosts is his name, great in connsel, and 
 mighty in work : for thine eyes are open upon all the 
 ways of the sons of 7nen^. That the Most LLigh 
 rnleth in the kingdom of men ^ is, in short, a primary 
 axiom of the highest Hebrew faith, and any expres- 
 sions, however anthropomorphic, which serve to convey 
 an idea of the living personality of God are employed 
 by the sacred writers without any fear of misconception. 
 It is scarcely necessary to point out that this idea 
 of deity pervades the narratives of Genesis. The 
 living God Himself is ever at work controlling and 
 judging the deeds of men. On the other hand, the 
 book teaches in the most striking and emphatic way 
 the necessity and significance of man's response to 
 the revealed will and electing love of God. It is 
 noticeable that Kuenen who questions the historical 
 existence of the patriarchs, explicitly rejects the idea 
 of a divine election to which their faith was a response. 
 Ts,' he asks, 'the belief in Israel's selection still tenable 
 in our days ? That the first Christians — who knew but 
 a small portion of the inhabited world, and could hope 
 that within a comparatively short time the true religion 
 would have reached that world's uttermost bounds — 
 
 ^ Amos ix. 7; Deut. ii. 12, 22; Isa. v. 26 foil., vii. 20, viii. 7, ix. II, 
 X. 5 foil., xxiii. 9, xlv. I ; 2 Kings v. 1. 
 
 2 Gen. xviii. 14. ^ Jer. xxxii. 17 foil. 
 
 * Dan. iv. 17. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 117 
 
 shoul'd have acquiesced In this view Is most natural. 
 But we ? Is this behef In harmony with the experience 
 which we have now accumulated for centuries together, 
 and with our present knowledge of lands and nations ? 
 We do not hesitate to reply In the negative. . . . We 
 now perceive that the means of which God was formerly 
 thought to have made use are altogether dispro- 
 portioned to the end which In reality was to be 
 attained. So long as we yet knew but little of " the 
 heathen," and formed but an indistinct Idea of their 
 number, their characteristics, and their development, 
 we could reasonably believe that God had siL^crcd 
 them to walk in their own ways In order, with a view 
 to them and their future, to manifest Himself first of 
 all to one nation. Now this Idea seems to us a childish 
 fancy. Israel is no more the pivot on which the 
 development of the whole world turns than the planet 
 which we inhabit is the centre of the universe. 
 In short, we have outgrown the belief of our 
 ancestors \' 
 
 Now the Old Testament, It need scarcely be said, 
 assumes precisely the contrary state of things to be 
 the fact. The principle of election is obviously con- 
 ceived to be a primary element in the divine method, 
 and accordingly the whole story of Genesis describes 
 the response made to God's action by successive indi- 
 viduals — men In whom had been awakened a certain 
 susceptibility to the divine self-revelation. There were 
 holy prophets — that Is, men of spiritual genius — since 
 the world bezcin. The reli2:ion which was to embrace 
 mankind could only find an entrance through some 
 solitary soul, quick to apprehend and to welcome the 
 promises of God. This is tantamount to saying that 
 the progress of the race In religion, as in other things, 
 has depended upon Individuals ; and even If it could 
 be shown that the name of Abraham Is merely a 
 mythical abstraction, or a tribal personification, it would 
 yet be reasonable and indeed necessary to assume that 
 
 } Religion of Israel, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. 
 
ii3 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 at a certain point in history an individual man appeared, 
 capable of so entering into communion with God as 
 to be the true father of the faithful. In point of 
 fact, does not the whole history of religion show 
 that there are critical moments when everything 
 turns on the fidelity, the simplicity, the courage, with 
 which some individual soul surrenders itself to obey 
 the will of God ? The only adequate explanation 
 of the rise and growth of Hebrew religion is the 
 supposition that God actually made known His will 
 to some individual human spirit, and manifested Him- 
 self to him singly and alone. Abraham's history, 
 says Dean Church, ' is marked as the history of a 
 man, a soul by itself in relation to Almighty God ; 
 not as one of a company, a favoured brotherhood, or 
 chosen body, but in all his doings single and alone, 
 alone with the Alone, one with One, with his Maker 
 Z.S he was born and as he dies, alone : the individual 
 soul, standing all by itself, in the presence of its Author 
 and Sustainer, called by Him and answering to His 
 call, choosing, acting, obeying, from the last depths 
 and secrets of its being V Belief in God, belief that 
 what He promises He is able to perform, faith — this 
 is the second essential factor in the religion of the Old 
 Testament. It is easier to believe that this faith was 
 born in the heart of an individual than that it was 
 the simultaneous impulse of a tribe ; but even this 
 latter supposition would not necessarily conflict with 
 the principle of election, nor with the great promi- 
 nence assigned to faith by the Old Testament as a 
 vital element in the spiritual history of mankind. I say 
 then confidently that the early narratives do faithfully 
 present the conditions and factors which alone account 
 for the rise and onward movement of Israel's religion. 
 Thus there seems to be no just reason for doubting 
 the main incidents of Abraham's traditional career. 
 The rite of circumcision may well have been selected 
 
 ^ Church, Discipline of the Christian Character^ p. 20. 
 
 V 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 119 
 
 as a fitting sign of the higher relationship with God to 
 which Abraham and his tribe felt themselves called ^ 
 
 3. It will be convenient here to touch upon a delicate 
 and difficult point suggested by the special character- 
 istics of the Pentateuchal narrative, a point to which 
 some reference has already been made. I allude to 
 the fact that the Pentateuch unquestionably exhibits 
 an element of what may be called idealization. The 
 character of the ancient patriarchs and their manner 
 of worship, the story of the Egyptian plagues, the 
 experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness, their 
 movements to and fro, their conflicts, their tribal 
 arrangements, their internal polity and order, above 
 all, their sanctuary with its ordinances of sacrifice — 
 all these not only must be supposed, but can actually, 
 as I believe, be shown, to have been to a considerable 
 extent idealized by the pious reflection of a later age. 
 It has been pointed out that a special tone and ten- 
 dency characterizes each of the principal documents 
 which appear, so far as our present knowledge extends, 
 to form the substance of the Pentateuch. The Elohist 
 writer, for example, seems to narrate the history of 
 Israel's origins from a prophetical standpoint ; he in- 
 terprets in a religious spirit what he records, and aims 
 at bringing out the didactic significance of events 2. 
 The Jehovist, on the other hand, displays an inclination 
 towards profound theological reflection. He is pene- 
 trated by the thought of Jehovah's mercifulness, long- 
 suftering, and covenant-faithfulness. He delights to 
 trace the successive stages in the development of 
 faith. It is he who tells how Abraham believed in the 
 Lord, and he counted it to him for righteoiisness ; how 
 a heavenly benediction ever crowns the response of 
 human faith to the electing grace of God 3. The 
 Jehovist appears in fact to survey the field of history 
 
 ' See the section in Riehm, A Tl. Theologie^ on ' The Religion of the 
 Patriarchs,' § 9. 
 ^ See e.g. Gen, 1. 20. 
 ' Gen. XV. 6. Cp. Exod. xiv. 31, xix. 9 ; Num. xiv. 11. 
 
I20 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 with the eye of mature spiritual experience ; in the 
 lowly beginnings of Hebrew history he discerns the 
 divinely intended consummation — the ultimate purpose 
 which from the first filled the incidents of ordinary life 
 with solemn significance ^ Once more, the author of 
 the priestly document evidently purposes to give a 
 systematic and circumstantial sketch of the sacred 
 institutions of the theocracy, and from this standpoint 
 he regards the entire career of the nation. In effect 
 he presents us with an ideal picture of the Mosaic 
 age. ' His representation as a whole,' says Dr. Driver, 
 ' seems to be the result of a systematizing process 
 working upon the [ancient] materials, and perhaps also 
 seeking to give sensible expression to certain ideas or 
 truths -.' Of this ideal sketch there is beyond reason- 
 able doubt an historical basis, but the facts and institu- 
 tions described are so conceived as to exemplify ideal 
 theocratic principles. It is no part of my plan to enter 
 at length into the well-known characteristics of the 
 priestly code. By way of illustration it will suffice to 
 refer to one point. It would appear that the dominant 
 thought of the priestly writer is that of Jehovah's 
 abiding presence in the midst of His people. That 
 sublime prophetic idea was, as it were, visibly realized 
 in the local position and organized atltus of the second 
 temple. But the writer seems to project back into the 
 Mosaic age an ideal system which was only realized in 
 fact at a period several centuries later than the exodus. 
 He accordingly describes the tabernacle as occupying 
 a central position in the camp of the Israelites, whereas 
 the earlier composite narrative (JE) regularly repre- 
 sents the ' tent of meeting ' as outside the camp. 
 Moreover, the writer's usual conception of the collec- 
 tive people is as a ' congregation ^,' a term that does 
 not occur in the non-priestly portions of the Hexateuch. 
 
 ^ Gen. ix. 22 foil. ; xvi. 12 ; xix. 31 foil. ; xxv. 25 foil. ; xlix. 9 foil. 
 
 - Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, p. 120. See 
 generally Wellhausen, Prolegomena, ch. viii ; Robertson Smith, O. T. in 
 J. C. lect. xiii. ^ my. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 121 
 
 Now k is to be observed that there is absokitely no 
 question of the writer's good faith ; he does not carry 
 his ideahzing tendency to the point of overlooking the 
 sins by which the divine purpose, either for the people 
 or for Moses himself, was thwarted or abrogated ^. 
 But in historical details, especially those which relate 
 to chronology, the priestly writer is evidently more 
 concerned with ideal conceptions than with actual facts. 
 His work is interwoven with the older writing, which 
 represents a different tradition, in such a way as to 
 make the total result unique : a kind of blending of 
 fact with theory, of actual institutions with an imagi- 
 native conception of their original form and ideal 
 significance. 
 
 It may assist us to form a clearer notion of the 
 idealizing process under consideration if we endeavour 
 to depict to ourselves the motive and purpose of the 
 priestly compilers of the Pentateuch, and the method 
 of procedure which they appear to have adopted. The 
 facts are probably somewhat as follows. At a late 
 stage in Israel's history, apparently during the exile in 
 Babylon, when the process of national development 
 seemed to be arrested, and an age of enforced inac- 
 tivity and reflection succeeded a period of tumult 
 and disaster, an unknown priestly writer, or possibly 
 a school of writers, took in hand thfe task of framing 
 a compendious and concrete picture of the early history 
 of the Hebrew people. They were guided, no doubt, 
 by the light of that divine purpose for Israel which 
 the oracles of prophecy and the teachings of calamity 
 had at length brought home to the national conscience. 
 To a devout Jew placed in these circumstances the 
 lessons of history would appear unmistakeable. It was 
 plain that from the first Jehovah had formed Israel to 
 be a holy community, bound together by sacred insti- 
 tutions of divine appointment and by the presence of 
 God Himself dwelling in the national sanctuary. The 
 authors of the priestly code evidently entered on their 
 
 ^ See Exod. xvi. 2 ; Lev. x. i ; Num. xx. 12, 24 ; xxvii. 13 foil. &c. 
 
122 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 task filled with precise legal conceptions of what an 
 ideally holy community should be, and accordingly 
 their theory of Israel's history is entirely religious. 
 'To the community is assigned a purely religious 
 end : political aims are ignored, for the people lives 
 for God's sake and not for its own^' 
 
 On the whole it cannot, I think, be fairly disputed 
 that Prof. Robertson Smith's general description of the 
 writing in question is correct. ' It is only in form,' 
 he says, 'an historical document; in substance it is 
 a body of laws and precedents having the value of law, 
 strung on a thread of history so meagre that it often 
 consists of nothing more than a chronological scheme 
 and a sequence of bare names.' From the fact that 
 ' the supposed Mosaic ordinances and the narratives 
 that go with them are,' practically and at least in their 
 developed form, ' unknown to the history and the 
 prophets before Ezra. . . to the Deuteronomic writers 
 and ... to the non-priestly parts of the Pentateuch, . . . 
 it follows with certainty that the priesdy recasting of 
 the origins of Israel is not history (save in so far as it 
 merely summarizes and reproduces the old traditions 
 in the other parts of the Hexateuch) but Haggada, 
 i. e. that it uses old names and old stories, not for the 
 purpose of conveying historical facts, but solely for 
 purposes of legal and ethical instruction -.' 
 
 Such is the theoretical point of view from which the 
 priestly narrative of Israel's early history and sacred 
 ordinances is compiled. The object of the writers is 
 not to supersede the work of the prophetic narrators, 
 but to supply a counterpart to it. Before the cap- 
 tivity a fusion of the two main historical documents 
 of the Pentateuch (the Jehovistic and the Elohistic ^) 
 had in all probability taken place ; the combined narra- 
 
 ' See Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, No. vi. p. 319. This lecture gives 
 an admirable account of the influence under which P was compiled. 
 
 ^ O. T. in J. C. p. 420. 
 
 ' For a good account of the different documents see Dillmann, Comm. 
 on Cc?iesis, pp. ix-xiv. Observe, Dillmann uses for P, E, J, the symbols 
 A, B, C. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 123 
 
 tlves had been revised from the Deuteronomic stand- 
 point, and had already, as it seems, been united with 
 the book of Deuteronomy ^ At the close of the exile, 
 writers of the priestly school completed what had been 
 already begun, combining the materials already extant, 
 and piecing them together in a framework which in 
 form is historical, but is really little more than a con- 
 tinuous exposition of the legal and religious ordinances 
 of Israel, tracing them for the most part to Moses 
 himself. 
 
 Such, then, seems to have been the literary process 
 towards which the available evidence distinctly points. 
 Without unduly insisting on the accuracy of details, 
 we may attempt to describe summarily the view 
 which our present knowledge may lead us to form of 
 the Pentateuch in its final shape. The work viewed 
 in its entirety as a single product contains two expo- 
 sitions of Israel's history which stand side by side, 
 separate and distinct in origin, purpose, and internal 
 characteristics, forming together a combination of 
 different elements, of prophetic narrative with priestly 
 torah. It contains history idealized, the actual historic 
 traditions and the ideal goal towards which the history 
 was tending being presented in juxtaposition. In esti- 
 mating, therefore, the evidential value of the narratives, 
 it is essential to bear constantly in mind the two ele- 
 ments they contain : on the one hand, the ancient 
 traditions of Israel's past, moulded in forms of race 
 grace, dignity, and simplicity under prophetic influence ; 
 on the other, side by. side with these, and often inter- 
 woven with them, the idealistic and imaginative sketch 
 of the priestly writers, whose chief interest lay not in 
 tracing the actual course of Israel's primaeval history, 
 but in exhibiting the spiritual and theocratic consum- 
 mation towards which it was advancing from the first. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. m J. C. p. 425. The history of the ancient 
 'law of holiness' (Lev. xvii-xxvi) is obscure. It comes to us embedded 
 in P, but the process by which it was taken up, expanded, and accommo- 
 dated to P's standpoint cannot be traced. The antiquity of many of the 
 injunctions contained in this law, especially in chh. xviii-xx, is undoubted. 
 
124' THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 Some writers have spoken with undisguised contempt 
 of the authors of the priestly document, but it would be 
 absurd to charge them with wilful desertion or falsifi- 
 cation of the historical tradition. Even while they 
 ' reshape the narrative in order to set forth later laws 
 under the conventional form of Mosaic precedent^' they 
 leave the ancient tradition of JE substantially in the 
 form handed down to them. How shallow and unjust 
 are those criticisms of the narrative which ignore its 
 essential character ! how futile is the attempt to 
 measure them by the standard of modern historical 
 literature ! To treat the priestly narratives as worth- 
 less fictions is anachronistic ; to treat them as literal 
 and undiluted history is to ignore the distinction 
 between history and Haggadah ^. The Ha(^gadistic 
 treatment of history implies a certain amplification of 
 incidents recorded or alluded to in the original narra- 
 tives, according to the views and necessities of later 
 times. It admits the play of fancy ; it manipulates the 
 details of sacred history in such a way as may best 
 serve the purpose of instruction or edification. It was 
 in Judalstic times at least a recognized mode of dealing 
 with the early narratives which probably had passed 
 through a long process of development. Since criticism 
 has discovered so much that Illustrates the mind and 
 intention of the different contributors to the Pentateuch, 
 we are bound to study it not only with more intelli- 
 gence and sympathy, but also with more discrimination 
 than was formerly possible. 
 
 The Imxportance of the priestly writing from a religious 
 point of view is certainly great. The Pentateuchal law 
 played a significant and necessary part in the develop- 
 ment of true spiritual religion. It preserved and 
 sheltered some of the loftiest and most beautiful ideals 
 of prophecy : e. g. the idea of a holy people dedicated 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 3S7. 
 
 "^ Ibid. p. 430. Obs. P is essentially a law-book, an(l cannot be used as 
 an independent source for the actual history of the Mosaic and pre-Mosaic 
 period. Cp. Kittei, op. cit. i. pp. 96 foil. 
 
ml IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 125 
 
 to God; and of the divine consecration of its natural 
 life ; the idea, in a word, of an indwelling presence of 
 God among men. What criticism justly questions is 
 whether, in view of our present knowledge, we have 
 a right to go to the priestly literature for historical 
 information ; whether such use of it does not imply an 
 entire misconception of its essential character. 
 
 But an element of idealization in the stricter sense 
 is to be found even in the older prophetic narratives. 
 The primitive story describes the ancestors of the 
 Hebrew people with an evident intention to represent 
 them as types of spiritual character. It is true indeed 
 that there is a vivid reality, and faithfulness to human 
 nature in the narratives of Genesis which strengthens 
 our impression of their general truth to fact. These 
 life-like figures — so entirely human both in their weak- 
 ness and in their strength — cannot be mere creations 
 of pious fancy. But even in these vigorous delineations 
 of actual men and women we are able to recognize 
 the overruling guidance of Him to whose purposes the 
 narrators unconsciously ministered. The figure of 
 Abraham especially, the friend of God, is to a certain 
 extent idealized. He is represented as a prophet, 
 a saint, a servant of God, a priestly intercessor, a hero 
 of faith, a recipient of splendid promises; his outward 
 prosperity and wealth correspond to his spiritual dignity; 
 it is manifest that he is pourtrayed from the stand- 
 point of men who fully recognize his transcendent 
 importance in the history of religion — an importance 
 which eventually seems to overshadow even that of the 
 great lawgiver of Israel himself. Further, the very 
 fact that in the New Testament Abraham reappears 
 as the most sublime figure in the past history even of 
 all mankind \ confirms the impression that we have 
 here a case of legitimate and profitable idealization. 
 Abraham is an historic personage, but he is also 
 a spiritual type : he is the ideal representative of the 
 
 * Cp. Rom. iv; Gal. iii ; Jas. ii. 21 foil.; Heb. xi. 8 foil., besides the 
 passages in the gospels, Luke iii. 8 ; John viii. n foil. 
 
126 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 life of faith and of separation from the idolatries of 
 an evil world. He prefigures ' the ideal character and 
 aims of the people of God ^' His descendants, too, 
 are typical figures : Isaac is a type of the life of 
 spiritual sonship, Jacob of the spirit of service, Joseph 
 of the purifying power of suffering and of the glory 
 that follows it. The spiritual purpose of the narra- 
 tives is manifest ; they are literally penetrated with 
 religious ideas. In fact, as Origen forcibly insists ^ the 
 Pentateuch was intended to serve higher purposes 
 than merely that of supplying historical information. 
 It was written for our learning ; it is profitable 
 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness^. It was intended to be a mirror 
 of human life, not only as it is, but as it should 
 be and is hereafter destined to become ; a glass 
 in which a man may behold the face of his genesis * 
 and go his way, ready not to forget, but to fulfil 
 what he has learned. 
 
 Considering indeed the real function of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, we cannot fail to appreciate the value of the 
 ideal element which we have been illustrating. If 
 the object of the Bible be to teach us the outlines 
 of religious character and the true knowledge of God, 
 to instruct us how we ought to walk and to please God'"", 
 it might be justly maintained that these Old Testa- 
 ment portraits of human character, faithful in general 
 outline but idealized in colour, are most suitable for 
 the purpose of edification. The peculiar features 
 and essential elements of the religious life are in fact 
 nowhere so vividly pourtrayed as in the living and 
 
 ^ Driver, Sermojis on the Old Testament, p. 127. Cp. Aug. senn. ii : 
 * Quicquid scriptura dicit de Abraham et factum est, et prophetia est.' 
 
 '^ See A. Jukes, The Types of Getiesis briefly co7tsidered as revealing 
 the development of hiima7i nature, esp. pref. p. xiii. Cp. Orig. Horn. 2 in 
 Exod. § I : ' Nos omnia quae scripta sunt non pro narrationibus anti- 
 quitatum, sed pro disciplina et utilitate nostra didicimus scripta.' Horn. 
 I in Exod. § 5 : ' Non nobis haec ad historiam scripta sunt neque putandum 
 est libros divinos Aegyptiorum gesta narrare, sed quae scripta sunt ad 
 nostram doctrinam et commonitionem scripta sunt.' 
 
 ^ Rom. XV. 4 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16. * Jas. i. 23. f I Thess. iv. I. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 127 
 
 breathing pictures of the patriarchs. The fundamental 
 conditions of the hfe of communion and converse with 
 God find here an entirely adequate expression. In 
 the hands of the inspired writers who narrate them, 
 the simple incidents of the patriarchal story become 
 parables of the spiritual life. The call of Abraham, 
 the trial of his faith, Isaac's willing self-surrender, the 
 vision of Jacob at Bethel, the sorrows and exaltation of 
 Joseph and his self-discovery to his brethren — these and 
 such-like incidents may be accepted as historical, but 
 in any case they are much more than this. They are 
 symbolic parables of God's dealings with His children 
 in every age of human history ; they are narratives to 
 which the spiritual experience of saints has set its 
 seal. The phrase ' children of Abraham ' tends from 
 the first employment of it in Scripture to acquire a 
 moral and spiritual significance. The great patriarch 
 is the father of all them that believe. That the idealized 
 sketch of his life was intended to convey sacred teach- 
 ing is actually proved by the continuous experience of 
 those who in every age have set their faith and hope 
 on God ^ 
 
 On the whole, we shall feel that in frankly recog- 
 nizing the idealistic element in the Old Testament nar- 
 ratives we are on the way to a more sympathetic and 
 intelligent study of them. For the element is present 
 in other historical books ; to some extent it is to be 
 looked for in all. The character of David, for instance, 
 is idealized in the first book of the Chronicles, much as 
 Abraham's figure is in Genesis -. Confining our atten- 
 tion, however, to the patriarchs, we may observe that 
 the spirit of due veneration for them was displayed 
 not only in the circumstantial minuteness of the 
 beautiful narratives relating to their career, but in 
 the ascription to them of ancient oracles, like the 
 Blessing of Jacob, which probably had an independent 
 
 ^ Cp. I Pet. i. 21. 
 
 "^ On the character of David see Cheyne, Aids to the Devoid Study of 
 Criticism, part 1. Kenan's account of David is greatly impaired by the 
 strong prejudice displayed in it {Hisioire^ &c., bk. ii. chh. 16 foil.). 
 
128 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 origin ^ Thus, in the memory of the nation of which 
 they were the honoured progenitors, the patriarchs 
 veritably survived in such a way that they, being 
 dead, yet continued to speak -. 
 
 Before, however, we leave the subject, it is desirable 
 to suggest an answer to the question whether idealiza- 
 tion of history such as we have indicated is morally 
 justifiable. In part the answer has already been given 
 in the consideration that the Bible was intended to 
 teach religion rather than natural knowledge, the ways 
 of God rather than the exact course of history, the 
 needs, aspirations, and capacities of human nature 
 rather than the achievements or sufferings of individual 
 men. But a further suggestion may be advanced. 
 A true justification of the scriptural mode of present- 
 ing history lies, we may think, in the fact that the 
 sacred writers are reading the story of human life from 
 a divine point of view. We are told of each stage 
 in creation that, though relatively imperfect, it was 
 good in the sight of God: God saw that it was good. 
 On a somewhat similar principle the characters of the 
 patriarchal age and of subsequent periods are delineated 
 not merely from the human, but also from the divine 
 standpoint. We see them in their imperfections, their 
 frailties, their deceits, their deeds of violence, lust or 
 revenge, which do not surprise us if we bear in mind 
 that even the highest level attained by Old Testament 
 morality is comparatively low and defective ; but there 
 is another way of estimating human character, which is 
 more true and more God-like. He who discerned the 
 end in the beorinninof loved even a fallen and alienated 
 world; He beheld it ennobled, transfigured, and glori- 
 fied ; He saw what the universe might ultimately 
 become, new heavens and a new earth, iv herein dwelleth 
 righteousness^. In the same spirit perhaps the inspired 
 writers idealize the characters which they describe, for 
 it is the mark of the spirit of goodness not to impute 
 
 ^ Ewald, Revelatio7i and its Record^ p. 323. 
 
 ^ Cp. Heb. xi. 4. '^ 2 Pet. iii. 13. 
 
 I 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 129 
 
 evil, bat to discern in all things the best and highest 
 that they contain. Indeed, this habit of idealization is 
 a fundamental trait of the sacred writers both in the 
 Old and New Testament. How cordially St. Paul 
 appreciates and makes much of what is good and 
 promising in the several churches to which he indites 
 his epistles ! He commends their faith, their good- 
 ness, their patience, their love ; he gives thanks to 
 God that in everything they are enriched by him, in all 
 utterance and in all knowledge, he rejoices over their 
 election of God ^ ; he glories in their constancy ; he 
 recognizes with large-hearted charity each token that 
 they exhibit of Christian sanctity and grace. Similarly 
 St. John in each of his messages to the seven churches 
 begins with praise. And our blessed Lord Himself 
 ever sets us the example of quickness and readiness 
 to welcome goodness wherever it is to be found. 
 ' A devil,' it has been said, ' can mark our faults, but it 
 needs the grace of God to mark the dawn of grace -.' 
 When God looks upon us He loves us non qtiales 
 sumus scd gtiales erimtis; and it is not unfair to suppose 
 that even this tendency to idealization, which might at 
 first sight be supposed to impair the strictly historical 
 value of the early narratives, is after all a token of the 
 working of the divine Spirit, who alone can penetrate 
 below the surface of life and discern in each human 
 soul what it may yet become — what it is on the way 
 to be. It is not fanciful, but the truest wisdom, to 
 think loftily of the early stages of a movement which 
 was destined to culminate in the Incarnation of the 
 Word. There was an ideal greatness about him who 
 rejoiced to see Christ's day ; and he saw it, and was 
 glad^. Poor, base, and low may have seemed the 
 origins of Hebrew religion ; Jacob was as a wandering 
 Syrian ready to perish in the eyes of Laban, but the 
 favour, the tenderness, and the gentleness of God 
 lifted him to greatness. Hast thoic, says the writer of 
 
 ^ See I Cor. i. 5 ; l Thess. i. 4, (Sic. ^ Jukes, op. cit. p. 9. 
 
 ^ John viii. 56. 
 
 K 
 
130 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 Job, eyes of Jiesk, or seest thou as man seeth? Are 
 thy days as the days of man ? are thy years as mans 
 days, that thou enquirest after mhie iniquity, and 
 sear chest after my sin ^ f Job appeals to his Maker 
 as any man may appeal who is conscious of his frailty, 
 yet is assured of his heavenly vocation, who has been 
 haunted by heavenly visions which he fears to disobey, 
 who has dreamed splendid dreams of the heights to 
 which human nature may attain, and of the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love him ^. 
 
 It has seemed desirable to dwell at some length on 
 this point, inasmuch as it is of more importance to 
 recognize the principles which have moulded the 
 structure of the Old Testament narratives, than to 
 determine precisely their historical value, even if we 
 could reasonably hope to do so. What has been said 
 about the patriarchal history practically amounts to 
 .this : that in it we possess a general outline of Israel's 
 origins, coloured to a considerable extent by the 
 thoughts and habits of a later period. The writers 
 were evidently penetrated by certain moral and re- 
 ligious ideas ; their aim was apparently didactic, and 
 they were influenced by an instinctive tendency to 
 idealize what they described. This peculiarity, while 
 it is very far from depriving the narratives of all 
 historical value, is yet specially calculated to serve the 
 purposes of spiritual edification and instrticlion in 
 righteousness ^. The historian may complain with 
 Kuenen that the strictly historical kernel which can 
 be safely extracted from such a book as Genesis is 
 vague and more or less indefinite ■*. The fact is that 
 the great figures of the patriarchal period are presented 
 to us in narratives ' of which,' says Prof. G. A. Smith, 
 ' it is simply impossible for us at this time of day to 
 establish the accuracy.' We have simply to accept 
 
 ^ Job X. 4 foil. 2 I Cor. ii. 9. ^2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 * See The Religion of Israel, vol. i. p. 113. Cp. Q. A. Smith, The 
 Preaching 0/ the Old Testametit to the Age, p. 37. See Note A at the 
 end of the lecture. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 131 
 
 the farct that in the present state of our knowledge 
 there are no clear criteria by which to distinguish 
 precisely the historical nucleus contained in the patri- 
 archal narratives from the idealized picture. If there 
 is uncertainty on this point we can only conclude that 
 knowledge of the precise details of the history is not 
 of vital importance. But from the standpoint of 
 religion, the book is rich in instruction beyond what 
 even the keenest student can fathom. ' In Genesis,' 
 it has been said, ' is hid all Scripture, as the tree is in 
 the seed^' 'The book of Genesis/ says another living 
 writer, *is the true and original birthplace of all 
 theology. It contains those ideas of God and man, 
 of righteousness and judgment, of responsibility and 
 moral government, of failure and hope, which are pre- 
 supposed through the rest of the Old Testament, and 
 which prepare the way for the mission of Christ 2.' 
 Such an estimate every Christian who thoughtfully 
 studies the Old Testament will eagerly endorse. 
 
 II. 
 
 Passing to the period of Mosaism, we touch ground 
 which is acknowledged on all sides to be compara- 
 tively solid. Even those critics ^ who regard the 
 records of the entire pre-Mosaic period as legendary, 
 allow that the exodus of Israel from Egypt and the 
 personality of Moses are ' assured historical realities ^' 
 It is no doubt true that the figure of Moses himself 
 is drawn in the light of a much later age, but that 
 which made him the most conspicuous creative genius 
 of Hebrew history stands out with luminous clear- 
 ness, namely, the fact that he was a prophet, a man 
 conscious of a supernatural call, strengthened and 
 sustained throughout his eventful career by the sense 
 
 ^ Jukes, op. cit. p. 4. 
 
 ^ Girdlestone, The Foimdations of the Bible, p. 155. Cp. Delitzsch, 
 Neiv Coviuientary 07i Genesis, vol. i. p. 56. 
 ^ Montefiore, Hibbert Leciiaes, p. 14. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 of divine mission. Indeed, since the consolidation 
 of Israel's nationality was in every sense a creative 
 act, it cannot be adequately explained apart from 
 the appearance of a personality like that of Moses ^ 
 ' Nothing,' says Professor Kittel, ' is less likely to 
 arise spontaneously out of the depths of a people's 
 life than those new creations which make epochs in 
 the history of religion and morals. They slumber 
 there, but they do not come to the surface until 
 a single spirit, of whom they have taken entire 
 possession, finds them in himself, grasps them, under- 
 stands and proclaims them, and thus becomes the 
 religious and moral hero, the prophet of his people -.' 
 The prophetic activity of Moses is not the less real 
 because it is rather displayed in action than embodied 
 in writings. The results of his activity, which are 
 plainly visible in the subsequent history, show that 
 •his work was a work of God, and he himself a com- 
 missioned organ of Jehovah's will ^. 
 
 It seems to be most probable that what we call 
 * Mosaism ' had an historical basis in existing religious 
 beliefs, that there already prevailed religious ideas and 
 aspirations to which Moses could appeal, that at least 
 in some inner circle of the Hebrew clans the rudiments 
 of a pure and simple faith had been cherished since 
 patriarchal times. Something, too, may have been 
 owing to the Influence of Egyptian culture, with 
 which, accordins: to tradition, Moses was familiar, 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apolngetics, p. 197, makes a siijjgestive remark : ' The creation 
 of Israel, like the creation of the world, may have been a much more 
 complicated process than it appears in the sacred page, and the secular 
 history of the process, if it could be written, might assume a very difterent 
 appearance in many respects to the biblical, just as the scientific history 
 of the physical creation differs widely from that given in the first chapter 
 of Genesis.' 
 
 2 History of the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 240. Observe that Moses is referred to 
 as a ' prophet ' in Num. xii. 7 ; Deut. xviii. 15 foil., xxxiv. 10 ; Hos. xii. 13. 
 c;od holds converse with him as a man spcaketh with his friend, Exod. 
 xxxiii. II. To him is vouchsafed the manifestation of God's character 
 •which dominates Israel's history,' Exod. xxxiv. 6-8. .(Y>x\wtr, Sermons 
 on the O. T. p. 128.) Cp. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 399. 
 
 3 Cp. Riehm, A TL Theologie, pp. 54-56. 
 
hi] in the old TESTAMENT 133 
 
 though it is on the whole probable that the influence 
 of Egypt was prejudicial to the comparatively pure 
 faith which the tribes of Israel may be thought to 
 have inherited from their ancestors ^ 
 
 Further, there is no reason a priori for rejecting the 
 supposition that Moses borrowed from other sources 
 such religious forms or institutions as he judged to 
 be suitable vehicles of the main religious thoughts 
 that formed the basis of his system. Nevertheless, 
 his work was that of an originator. Channing has 
 said that the true task of God's ministers is ' to give 
 vitality to the thought of God.' Such was indeed the 
 aim of Moses. He has been sometimes represented 
 as nothing more than a powerful leader or social re- 
 former; but the history of Hebrew religion shows that 
 he was a prophet indeed. In his proclamation of 
 the truth that Jehovah was Israel's God, and that He 
 was a God of righteousness ^ was contained the expan- 
 sive germ from which the higher faith of subsequent 
 times was developed. 
 
 When we turn to the books of the Pentateuch, in 
 which the historic narratives relating to Mosaism are 
 contained, we notice at once that they do not profess 
 to be complete. The greater part of the history of 
 this period is contained in the priestly document, but 
 the book of Deuteronomy contains' a retrospect which 
 is in all probability earlier than the narrative of the 
 priestly writer. It is a striking fact that the Deutero- 
 nomic writer is silent in regard to those very subjects 
 which occupy a central place in the priestly writing ; 
 for instance, the erection of the tabernacle and the 
 
 ^ Riehm, p. 53, thinks that the old Semitic worship of Jehovah under 
 the symbol of a bull was revived under Egyptian influence. He also 
 traces to Egypt the worship of satyrs, Lev. xvii. 7 (D''^^y:^'). Cp. Renan, 
 Histoire, &c., bk. i. ch. 1 1. 
 
 ^ Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 48. Cp. p. 55. ' The story of Israel's 
 religion opens with the work of a great personality, who taught his people 
 to worship one God only, a severe but just deity, demanding from the 
 tribes which acknowledged his dominion the practice of the simplest rules 
 of civic morality.' 
 
134 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 institution of its worship \ But taking the narratives 
 as a whole, it is plain that they do not aim at giving 
 an exhaustive account of the historical facts. The 
 thirty-eight years of wandering in the wilderness are 
 passed over almost in silence, while other incidents, 
 which must have occupied considerable spaces of time, 
 are compressed or grouped together in cameo-like 
 pictures. There are indeed many phenomena in the 
 Pentateuch which justify Kuenen's observation, that 
 ' in the memory of a nation the events of a series of 
 years become compressed into one great fact and are 
 attached to one great name^' Nothing indeed can 
 be more natural than that the events of one great 
 crisis in a nation's history should become encircled 
 with a halo of sacred tradition, in which particular 
 incidents recede into the background, and general 
 features and principles of divine action emerge and 
 come to the front. The all-important fact of Jehovah's 
 deliverance and guidance of His chosen people seems 
 to live ii) the religious consciousness of the Pentateuchal 
 writers, and perhaps somewhat overpowers or dims 
 their interest in historical details. 
 
 Let us attempt to indicate briefly the main features 
 of the narrative which deals with the history of the 
 exodus and the wanderings in the wilderness. 
 
 I. First, we mark the general tendency of the 
 account, to represent the wonderful deliverance from 
 Egypt as the fundamental fact of Israel's national 
 career. The leading incidents we may regard as 
 practically certain : Israel's flight from Egypt, the 
 passage of the Red Sea, the desert journey, the 
 conflict with Amalek, the delivery of a law at Sinai 
 embodying some definite but rudimentary system of 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. pp. 391-393. 
 
 ^ TJie Religion of Israel, vol. i. p. 135. Observe that this compression 
 IS found also in the account of the processes of creation (see Driver, 
 Sermons on the O. T. p. 173), and also in such a narrative as that of Joshua 
 X. foil., which ' gathers up all the details of slow conquest apd local struggle 
 in one comprehensive picture, with a single hero in the foreground.' See 
 Joshua xi. iS (C. T. in J. C. p. 131). 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 135 
 
 worship and polity, the long sojourn at Kadesh, the 
 conquest of the region east of Jordan, the occupation 
 and gradual appropriation of the promised land. It 
 is in regard to minor points that the evidence is 
 defective, for the circumstantial and curiously minute 
 sketch of the priestly writer, systematic, detailed, and 
 precise though it be, cannot for reasons already in- 
 dicated be regarded as constituting an independent 
 historical authority ^ Thus in regard to the nature of 
 the ' tent of meeting ' and its precise position in the 
 camp there is a conflict of evidence, nor is it ever 
 likely to be determined to what extent a sacrificial 
 culttts was actually carried on in the wilderness. The 
 outstanding fact, however, of the Mosaic history is 
 contained in a passage which has been called ' the 
 gospel of the exodus.' Ye have seen what I did tmto 
 the Eoyptians, and how I bare you on eagles wings, 
 and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye 
 will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then 
 ye shall be a pecitliar treasure 7tnto me above all people ^. 
 The exodus implied first and foremost the exaltation 
 of Israel's God ^ ; next, it marked the birth of a 
 nation, and its call to a special position of dependence 
 on its deliverer. Thus saith the Lord, Isj^ael is my 
 son, even my firstborn *. The new title corresponded 
 to a unique fact, viz. that the Hebrew race was 
 adopted by Jehovah, and brought into a peculiar 
 relationship to Himself. The prophets occasionally 
 describe God as the creator of Israel^, in virtue 
 of those mighty redemptive acts by which Israel 
 was severed from Egypt and made the people of 
 divine election. In this display of condescending 
 grace Israel recognized the God of its fathers as the 
 
 * As instances of P's partiality for definite and precise details of number, 
 measure, and weight, see the description of Noah's ark (Gen. vi. 14 foil.), 
 and such passages as Exod. xxxviii. 24-31, Num. vii and xxxi. See 
 Driver, Introductioti to the Literature of the O. T. pp. 1 18-122. 
 
 2 Exod. xix. 4, 5. ^ Exod. xv, I, 2. * Exod. iv. 22. 
 
 ® See Isa. xliii. if. 
 
136 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 founder of its nationality ^, and accordingly it is with 
 the exodus that the real history of Israel begins, at 
 least in the view of the earlier prophets ^. Then for 
 the first time was established that unique relationship 
 between Jehovah and Israel which became the basis 
 of a theocratic polity ; nor can we wonder that pro- 
 phetic and priestly writers of a later period incor- 
 porated in the Pentateuchal picture of the Mosaic age 
 an account of those fully-developed theocratic institu- 
 tions, the germinal origin of which could be traced to 
 Moses himself For the primitive ordinances estab- 
 lished at the period of the exodus, the sacrifice ot the 
 Passover with its accessories, the feast of Mazzoth 
 and the sanctification of the firstborn, gradually came 
 to be regarded as symbols of Israel's original con- 
 secration to the worship and service of Jehovah, 
 Observe the month of A bib, says the writer of 
 Deuteronomy, and keep the passover tinto the Lord thy 
 God: for in the month of A bib the Lord thy God 
 brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. . . . Tho2L 
 shaft eat no leavened bread with it ; seven days shalt 
 thoiL eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of 
 affliction ; for thou earnest forth out of the land 
 of Egypt in haste : that thott may est remember the day 
 when thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt all 
 the days of thy life^. To this corresponds a passage 
 in the book of Exodus : By strength of hand the Lord 
 bi'ought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage : 
 and it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let 
 lis go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land 
 of Egypt . . . therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that 
 openeih the. matrix, being males ; biU all the firstborn 
 
 ^ Cp. Amos ii. 9 foil., iii. i ; Hos. ii. 15, xi. i, xii. 9, 13, xiii. 4 foil. 
 
 ^ I\leinhold,/<;'i'//j' n}id das A. T. p. 133, observes that if the stoiy of 
 Genesis is of fundamental importance, it is difficult to explain the fact that 
 the prophets generally regard the exodus as the beginning and foundation 
 of Israel's religion. It is certain that Abraham is very seldom alluded to 
 by pre-exilic prophets (Isa. xxix. 22 ; Jer. xxxiii. 26. Mic. vii. 20 is not 
 certainly pre-exilic. See Kirkpatrick, The Dcctrine of the Prophets, p. 230^. 
 
 ^ Deut. xvi. 1-3. 
 
Ill] . IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 137 
 
 of my children I redeem \ We know how the events 
 of the exodus Hved in the memory of the people. 
 Again and again, in the days of alarm and calamity, 
 the thouQ-hts of the faithful reverted to that sio^nal 
 manifestation of Jehovah's beneficence and might. 
 It was a comprehensive type of all divine salvation ; 
 it constituted a sure basis of the loftiest hopes ; 
 it rekindled faith even when it seemed to be over- 
 whelmed by the disasters of later history ; it was 
 the ground of the most passionate appeals : Awake, 
 awake, ptU on strength, O aj^m of the Lord ; awake, as 
 in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou 
 not it that hath cnt Rahab in pieces, and pierced 
 the dragon'^. God is my King of old, working 
 salvation in the midst of the earth, lliou didst divide 
 the sea by thy strength: thott brakest the heads of the 
 dragons in the waters ". I will meditate of all thy 
 work, and talk of thy doings. Thy zuay, O God, is in 
 the sanctuary : who is so great a God as our God f 
 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thoit hast 
 declared thy strength among the people. Thou- hast 
 with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob 
 and foseph. The ivaters saw thee, O God, the zvaters 
 saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also ivere 
 troubled'^. With these inspired outbursts may be 
 classed the wonderful song of Moses', which is inserted 
 in the prophetic narrative of the exodus, and is the 
 most exalted expression of the triumphant feelings 
 aroused by that memorable event l The exodus was 
 indeed a turning-point not merely in the history of the 
 world, but in the development of human faith. It 
 not only gave birth to a nation, but was the starting- 
 point of a higher religion. Israel saw the mighty act 
 which Jehovah performed upon the Egyptians : and the 
 
 ^ Exod. xiii. 14, 15. ^ Isa. li. 9. 
 
 ^ Ps. Ixxiv. 12, 13. ■* Ps. Ixxvii. 12 foil. 
 
 ^ The structure of the song is examined by Kittel, Hist, of the Hebre^us, 
 vol. i. p. 225. He follows Dillmann in distinguishing between a shorter, 
 older form contemporary with the event, and the enlarged form, ' which 
 is a psalm composed according to the rules of art ' and belongs to a later 
 period. Cp. Driver, Itiiroduciiofi to the Literature of the O. T. p. 27. 
 
138 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 people feared Jehovah, and believed in Jehovah, and in 
 Moses his servant ^ 
 
 2. Another principal aim of the Mosaic narratives of 
 the exodus and settlement in Canaan appears to be 
 that of bringing into clear relief the character and 
 requirement of God. The very programme of the 
 new religion is contained in the sentence prefixed to 
 the Decalogue, I a77i Jehovah, thy God; while, as Riehm 
 observes, the ideas of mercy and truth as elements in 
 the character of God seem to dominate the course of 
 the entire narrative 2. Certainly the purport of the 
 book of Exodus is on the one hand to extol the 
 patience, longsuffering, and condescension of Jehovah, 
 and on the other to give prominence to His moral 
 requirement. In a later lecture this last point will 
 be more particularly considered. It is only necessary 
 in this place to draw attention to the ethical tendency 
 ■ of Mosaism as illustrated in what is generally reckoned 
 to be the earliest legislation: the Decalogue^ and the 
 so-called 'Book of the Covenant' (Exod. xxi-xxiii). 
 Worthy of notice is the comparative silence of this 
 legislation on points of ritual and ceremonial ob- 
 servance. The characteristic contribution of Moses 
 to the religion of Israel was the teaching embodied 
 in the Decalogue. His aim was to foster a higher 
 morality; 'the distinctive character of the [Mosaic] 
 religion,' says Prof. Robertson Smith, 'appears in 
 the laws directed against polytheism and witchcraft, 
 in the prominence given to righteousness and 
 humanity as the things which are most pleasing to 
 Jehovah and constitute the true significance of such an 
 ordinance as the Sabbath, and, above all, in the clear- 
 ness with which the law holds forth the truth that 
 Jehovah's goodness to Israel is no mere natural 
 
 1 Exod. xiv. 31. Cp. Delitzsch, O. T. History of Redemption, § 23. 
 
 "" Riehm, A fl. Theologie, p. 63. 
 
 ' There are difficulties in regard to the ' Ten Words ' arising from the 
 fact that 'in ancient Israel there were two opinions qs to what those 
 words were' (Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 335)- The question 
 must for the present be waived. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 139 
 
 relation, such as binds Moab to Chemosh, that His 
 favour to His people is directed by moral principles 
 and is forfeited by moral iniquity \' The chief object, 
 however, of the whole Mosaic narrative seems to be 
 that of emphasizing the significance of the divine 
 self-revelation implied in Israel's deliverance from 
 Egypt. The marvels of the exodus, like some of 
 our Lord's miracles, appear to have been intended 
 to arrest attention, and to rivet Israel's gaze, as it 
 were, upon its divine teacher. Jehovah alone did lead 
 him, and there was no strange god with him 2. We 
 have already noticed that each of the first five com- 
 mandments of the Decalogue is based on some trait of 
 the divine character. And in the long and pathetic 
 story of Jehovah's forbearance with Israel's stiff- 
 necked perverseness and perpetual backsliding we 
 have a revelation of the divine nature more striking 
 than any mere display of omnipotence could possibly 
 be. Forty years, we read, suffered he their manners, 
 or, possibly, bare he them as a nursing father in 
 the zvildcrness^. Sternness mingled with generosity, 
 righteous indignation controlled by pitying love, 
 patience as of a father with a fractious child — these 
 are traits which lie upon the surface of the narrative. 
 At times Jehovah is represented as weary — as even 
 longing to be released from the burden of Israel's 
 folly, ingratitude, and perverseness ^ But each fresh 
 rebellion leads to a new manifestation of love. 
 Throughout the narrative ' we behold,' says Dr. Bruce ■% 
 ' a manifestation of all the divine attributes, power, 
 wisdom, patience, faithfulness, unwearied loving care 
 — not a momentary manifestation only, but one 
 extending over a lengthened series of years, supplying 
 material for a history rich in pathetic stirring incident 
 which endures for ages, an imperishable monument to 
 the praise of Israel's God.' Who can fully measure 
 
 1 O. T. inf. C. p. 344. 2 Deut. xxxii. 12. ^ Acts xiii. 18. 
 
 * See R. W. Dale, llie Ten Comma?idincnts, p. 18. 
 " The Chief End of Revelation, p. 108. 
 
I40 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 the significance of this new and profound idea of God 
 — an idea which, possibly even in the mind of Moses 
 himself, was dim and vague, but which to the faith of 
 his prophetic successors became distinct and clear ? 
 'The significance of that struggle for a new conception 
 of God,' observes Prof Kittel, ' can be estimated by 
 any one who possesses two qualifications. He must 
 know the illusions and the degrading bondage in 
 which the people of Israel were held, owing, doubtless, 
 to their view of God. He must reflect on the religious 
 usages of western Asia, which deeply wounded man's 
 moral sense and trampled the dignity of human nature 
 in the dust : these, with their bewildering orgies, he 
 must compare with the spirit of the religion of Moses. 
 Nature-religion, with its tendency to enslave man, to 
 set at nought his natural freedom and moral dignity, 
 could not but rob the nations in ever-increasing 
 measure of their civilization and humanity. By his 
 religion, Moses w^on for his people and the world the 
 road to freedom, human dignity, and the development 
 of pure humanity \' 
 
 3. A third aim of the Mosaic narrative, regarded as 
 a whole, is doubtless to depict an ideal theocracy or 
 kingdom of God. The conception of a theocracy 
 may have been only dimly present to the conscious- 
 ness of the newly formed nation 2, but the essential 
 elements of such a conception were implicitly con- 
 tained in the belief that Israel belonged to Jehovah, 
 and that He was Israel's God. At any rate, in the 
 view of the Pentateuchal writers, prophetic or priestly, 
 it is clear that Jehovah is the king of His elect people, 
 and Moses a human deputy divinely empowered to 
 act as mediator between Jehovah and His subjects, 
 
 ^ Hist. 0/ the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 251. 
 
 ^ Monte'fiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 105, seems to speak too strongly 
 when, following Wellhausen, he asserts that ' the old Israelite has no 
 knowledge of his nation's peculiar position or destiny. The idea of 
 a theocracy is wanting.' Riehm's opinion seems the more probable 
 {ATI. Thcologie, p. 58): ' Der Grundgedanke des IMoaaismus ist nichts 
 anderes als eine Fortbildung und Naherbestimmung des Bewusstseins der 
 Patriarchen iiber i\ix Ann'hdrtg^kdtsverhaltiiiss z\x dem einen wahren Gott.' 
 
 J 
 
ni] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 141 
 
 Jehovah is represented as communicating His will 
 through organs appointed by Himself. The ordinances 
 of the Law are treated as His express commands ; even 
 the leadership of Israel's armies is ascribed to Him^ 
 Indeed, the narratives were, in point of fact, compiled 
 and edited by men to whom the thought of God's 
 immediate sovereignty over His elect people was 
 a self-evident truth, and to whom, consequently, Israel's 
 demand for an earthly king appeared to be a rejection 
 of Jehovah ^. Certainly this idea seems to pervade 
 the story of the exodus and the description of Moses' 
 legislation. Moses was the vicegerent of Israel's 
 unseen ruler, and accordingly to his express authority 
 are ascribed all the ordinances and institutions in 
 which the truth of Israel's special consecration to 
 Jehovah was visibly embodied. 
 
 The question naturally arises how the completed 
 priestly code stands related to the Sinaitic legislation. 
 Roughly speaking, there are upwards of eighty 
 chapters in the Pentateuch comprising the priestly 
 law as it actually existed in a developed and codified 
 form at a period subsequent to the return of the 
 Jews from Babylon. They form the central portion 
 of our present Pentateuch, and the picture they 
 present of Israel's institutions embodies an ideal 
 which was aimed at but not actually attained before 
 the exile. The fundamental thought which inspires 
 the sketch we have already noticed, viz. the idea of 
 Israel's holiness as a consecrated community, in the 
 midst of which Jehovah himself dwells as lawgiver 
 and king. Now all the evidence confirms the sup- 
 position, antecedently probable, that the legislation 
 of Moses himself was primitive and simple in its 
 features and confined itself to the regulation of the 
 most essential points, in the matter of cultns probably 
 adopting some traditional usages of ancient Semitic 
 worship. The most reasonable view is that in the 
 detailed descriptions of the tabernacle and the sacri- 
 
 ^ Exod. xiii 17. Cp. Judges v. 23. ^ I Sam. viii. 7. 
 
142 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 ficial ordinances contained in the priestly code we 
 have a highly idealized sketch of institutions which 
 probably existed only in a rudimentary form during 
 the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness. Thus, 
 for example, the simple tent of Mosaic days known to 
 the early narratives is represented as an elaborate 
 and costly structure, such as can hardly be supposed 
 to have existed under the difficult circumstances of 
 life in the wilderness \ Nevertheless, when all reser- 
 vations have been made, it cannot be fairly denied 
 that in germ at any rate the idea of a theocracy was 
 Mosaic, and that the first legislation was based on 
 the idea of Jehovah's immediate sovereignty. It is 
 impossible to account satisfactorily for the collapse 
 of Canaanitish civilization before the advance of the 
 invading hosts of Israel, except on the supposition 
 that there was some inspiring idea which animated 
 .the nation, welded it into unity, and stimulated it to 
 extraordinary efforts. Such an idea certainly was the 
 kingship of Jehovah ; Israel was conscious of being 
 under the immediate rule and guidance of the God 
 who had promised to their fathers the land of Canaan 
 for their inheritance. 
 
 4. Once more the typical significance of the Mosaic 
 narratives must not be overlooked. The New Testa- 
 ment writers habitually refer to the actual experiences 
 and characteristic institutions of the church in the 
 wilderness^ as foreshadowing the mysteries of the 
 spiritual life and of the divine kingdom in its widest 
 sense. The general principles of redemption as they 
 are exhibited in the fortunes of the Church and in 
 the experience of its individual members, the great 
 characteristic conceptions of Christianity, the phraseo- 
 logy and imagery of the New Testament — all these 
 are rooted in the Pentateuch. 
 
 ^ Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews^ vol. i. p. 238. * The description of P 
 corresponds to the idea which people in later times, influenced probably 
 by what they saw of the continually increasing costliness of their 
 sanctuaries, formed of the sacred desert-tent of the days of Moses.' 
 
 ''' Acts vii. 38. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 143 
 
 We- are in fact justified by the express authority 
 of the New Testament in recognizing the symboHc 
 character of the Pentateuchal history. The narratives, 
 whether prophetic or priestly, come from the hands of 
 men who loved to trace in history the action of eternal 
 principles. Israel's deliverance from servitude, its 
 maintenance in the wilderness and its victory over 
 the hostile powers of heathendom exemplified fixed 
 and constant laws of divine action. It was confidently 
 expected that the future development of the kingdom, 
 of God would proceed on lines already laid down, 
 and would be accompanied by conditions closely 
 parallel to those which the nation had experienced in 
 its youth. Moses was regarded as bearing a figurative 
 and predictive relation to a prophet greater than him- 
 self, yet to come. Again, the compilers of the priestly 
 law belonged to a period when men were becoming 
 conscious of the sacramental character of the ancient 
 ceremonial worship. They understood, at least in a 
 measure, that the sanctuary and sacrificial system 
 veiled under material forms spiritual mysteries here- 
 after to be revealed ; that outward ceremonies, objects, 
 and acts embodied the thoughts of God concerning 
 salvation and His kingdom. It was, however, only 
 an instructed faith, and a fully developed experience 
 that could discern in the Mosaic system the shadow 
 or outline sketch of heavenly realities, of which the 
 Gospel presents a complete pictured The signi- 
 ficance of the Pentateuch for Christians lies in the 
 fact that the fundamental conceptions which pervade 
 each Testament are the same : the redemptive action 
 of Almighty God ; the separation from an evil world 
 of a people brought by grace into covenant-relation- 
 ship with its divine King and consecrated to His 
 service ; the foundation of a kingdom of God upon 
 earth ; the setting up of His tabernacle among men 
 
 ^ See Heb. x. I. Cp. Ambrose in psalm, xxxviii. 25 : * Umbra in lege, 
 imago vero in evangeiio, Veritas in caeiestibus.' The quotation is given by 
 Willis, Worship of the Old Covenant, p. 14. 
 
144 T^HE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 and the building of a city which bears the title, The 
 Lord is there'^. 
 
 Enough has been now said to Indicate that In the 
 Pentateuch we are not dealing with history in the 
 ordinary sense of that term, but with an Idealized 
 and partly prophetic picture, the principal purpose of 
 which is to convey certain religious thoughts and ideas 
 which beyond doubt formed the permanent basis of 
 Judaism. This is the positive point on which it is 
 needful to insist. The possibility of wide differences 
 of view In regard to the Intrinsic character and value 
 of the Pentateuchal narratives must be frankly recog- 
 nized. It is only necessary to make two concluding 
 observations. First, to question the strict historical 
 accuracy of the Mosaic story involves no denial of its 
 inspiration. Whatever be the nature of the narratives, 
 they have unquestionably been selected by the wisdom 
 of the divine Spirit as the vehicles of spiritual truth 
 best adapted to human needs and capacities. Secondly, 
 there is every reason to suppose that the Pentateuch, 
 whatever be the date of Its final compilation, is based 
 on genuine historical traditions and embodies in their 
 developed form very ancient Institutions and usages. 
 It seems not improbable that the prophet Ezekiel led 
 the way In reducing to theory and formulating the tra- 
 ditional usage of the pre-exillc sanctuary, and that he 
 thus practically became the founder of a school which 
 devoted itself to the task of codifying the priestly ordi- 
 nances and regulations ^ If, however, It is difficult to 
 determine the precise antiquity of particular elements in 
 the Mosaic system of worship, It is possible, under the 
 guidance of the New Testament, to comprehend the 
 typical significance of the system, regarded as a single 
 complex product of a germ planted by the hand of 
 
 ' Ezek. xlviii. 35. Cp. Riehm, Emiezhtfig in das A. T. vol. i. pp. 362 
 foil., especially his remark: ' Die in einem Institute verkorperte Idee ist 
 das innere Band zwischen dem Typus und Antitypus.' . 
 
 "^ Cp. Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, p. 131 ; 
 Ryle, The Canon of the O. T. p. 72. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 145 
 
 Israel's inspired legislator at the very dawn of its 
 history. 
 
 III. 
 
 In passing to the historical books and prophecies, 
 we enter upon firm historical ground. For there is 
 little reason to doubt that the documents which form 
 the substratum of the books of Samuel and Kings 
 were official notices of political events, and nearly 
 contemporary narratives, some of which may reason- 
 ably be supposed to have been written by prophets 
 like Gad, Nathan, Iddo, and others. These books, 
 then, contain very ancient materials, although the 
 framework is unquestionably due to later editors. 
 The main influence that can be detected in the com- 
 pilation is that of the book of Deuteronomy. Writers 
 of the Deuteronomic school seem to have reduced 
 the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings to their 
 present form between the death of Josiah and the 
 exile. The books did not, apparently, ' escape further 
 additions and interpretations in the post-exilic period ; 
 but their main character, the framework in which the 
 facts are arranged, and the uniform lesson they are 
 made to teach, were the product of the periods im- 
 mediately before, and either during, or soon after, 
 the exile \' 
 
 What, then, are the general features of these books ? 
 In the first place they are compilations, and in their 
 work the compilers seem to have retained consider- 
 able freedom, incorporating their authorities as they 
 stood with but few changes, arranging the material 
 on some plan of their own, and adding comments 
 
 ^ y[or\te'noxe, Hzbbert Lectures, "PY). 231, 232. Cp. Wellhausen, /'r^/i?- 
 gomcna, ch. vii. The book of Joshua is not particularly dealt with 
 because it is closely connected both by its subject-matter and its literary 
 structure with the Pentateuch. It describes the closing stage of the move- 
 ment that began with the exodus. By the Jews, however, the book is 
 classed among the ' former prophets.' 
 
146 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 here and there in order to bring out the rehgious 
 significance of the facts recorded \ They would not 
 be at pains to harmonize the style or even the con- 
 tents of the different documents employed, the truth 
 being, as we have more than once pointed out, that 
 their interest in fact as 7;^<?r^ fact was quite subordinate 
 to the religious ideas by which they were influenced. 
 And what is true of the compilers is to a great extent 
 true of the original narrators. Their aim was to draw 
 out the moral import of what they related, and in depict- 
 ing the more prominent figures of their story, they 
 w^ere occasionally apt to ascribe their own beliefs and 
 modes of thought to their hero ^. 
 
 Another point that strikes us in reading these 
 books is the uniformity of tone displayed by the com- 
 pilers. It is evident that they represent the views of 
 a particular prophetic school, possessed by the con- 
 viction that the capital offence of Israel throughout 
 the pre-exilic history had been perverted worship of 
 J ehovah and idolatrous worship of other deities. H ence 
 their conception of the past is uniformly pessimistic. 
 The institution of monarchy, which seems at its 
 first foundation to have been hailed with such hope 
 and rejoicing, is in one of the two narratives of Saul's 
 elevation regarded as the result of a disastrous apostasy 
 from Jehovah^; and though after the establishment 
 of the kingdom the reign of David for a time actually 
 realized the ideal hopes of the nation, yet the general 
 course of Israel's history is represented by these 
 writers as one long and continuous declension from 
 the religious position which the nation occupied at the 
 death of Moses *. 
 
 ' See * the methods of oriental historiography,' well described in Prof. 
 Kirkpatrick's Divine Library of the O. T. pp. 13-15. He observes that 
 ' this compilatory method of composition brings us mto a closer contact 
 with th3 events and the actors than any other method of historical 
 writing could have done.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Cheyne, Aids to the Devout Study of Criticism, p. 26. 
 
 ^ I Sam. viii. 7. Cp. Driver, IniroduciiOft to the O. T. pp. 165 foil. 
 Renan, Histoire^ 8:c., bk. ii. ch. 14. 
 
 * IMontefiore, op. cit. pp. 232 foil. 
 
hi] . IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 147 
 
 A somewhat closer study will reveal to us a leading 
 tendency in each book, and will show how far the 
 historical element has given way to the didactic 
 purpose of the writer. The book of Judges, which 
 seems to be based on archaic narratives and songs 
 already extant in oral or written form, describes 
 the period of disintegration and comparative anarchy 
 which followed the death of Joshua. There are 
 elements of hope in the story, an upward movement 
 towards the monarchy^, an occasional outburst of 
 fiery zeal for the honour of Jehovah 2, and a cer- 
 tain pride in adhering to His worship ^ Nor does 
 it appear that the state of morals was utterly lax. 
 The phenomena are in fact such as might be looked 
 for in a young and robust nationality in * a dark age 
 of beginnings ^.' But the period was certainly one of 
 great disorganization. The conflicts described are 
 mostly those of individual tribes — a fact which justi- 
 fies the inference that the Judges w^ere not so much 
 rulers of the whole nation as tribal heroes or cap- 
 tains with local authority ■' : probably some of the 
 judges were holding office simultaneously in their 
 respective tribes. The books of Samuel describe 
 the origin of the two important institutions on which 
 the future progress of the national religion mainly 
 depended. It was the mission of Samuel to revive 
 and reorganize the functions of prophetism, and to in- 
 augurate the monarchy. Both of these institutions 
 served the common purpose of impressing upon the 
 nation the idea of Jehovah's immediate personal 
 sovereignty, and of quickening the consciousness of 
 Israel's ideal calling and destiny. The appointed 
 task of the prophets was that of keeping alive the 
 light of the Lord^ and causing it perpetually to 
 
 ' Cp. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 235 ; Bruce, Afohgefks, p. 227. 
 ^ Judges V. 13 foil., 23 ; viii. 4 foil. ; xix. 29 foil. ; xx. i ; xxi. 10 foil. 
 ^ Judges xvii. 7 foil. ; xviii. 18. 
 
 * Bruce, I.e. Cp. the account in Renan, Histoii-e, &c., bk. ii. ch. 7. 
 ^ Wellhausen, pp. 233, 413. Cp. Meinhold, Jesus unddasA. T. p. 36. 
 
 * Isa. ii. 5. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 beam out anew. They were to be in the highest 
 sense * the watchmen of the theocracy,' ' the con- 
 science of the state/ the occasional organs of divine 
 interposition in the national history. The begin- 
 nings of prophetism have been rightly called a 
 ' Pentecostal phenomenon ' in the Old Testament. 
 Though its origin was rude and chaotic, prophetism 
 was destined to become a dominant factor in the pro- 
 gress of Hebrew religion ^ The special significance 
 of the monarchy, on the other hand, was that it 
 habituated the nation to the idea of a human deputy 
 or representative sitting upon the throne which pro- 
 perly belonged to Jehovah Himself^. Its institution 
 was the starting-point of the Messianic expectation 
 in its stricter sense. And there are indications 
 that the pessimistic view of the monarchy was not 
 commonly held before the exile. It is neither con- 
 sistent, strictly speaking, with the solemn significance 
 attached to David's reign, nor with the glowing 
 language of the prophets, whose ideal hopes centred 
 in a prince belonging to David's house ^. 
 
 The books of Kings trace the fortunes of the kingdom 
 down to the period of its dissolution, a noticeable 
 feature of the record being the prominence assigned 
 to prophets, of whom Elijah and Elisha are the chief. 
 Where the historical narratives become fragmentary or 
 defective, we are able to supplement them by means of 
 the books of contemporary prophets. The general 
 impression left by the story of the kingdom is one of 
 ever-deepening gloom. The nation, together with its 
 kings, continues to move along a downward path ; the 
 
 ^ See Delitzsch, O. T. History of Redemption, § 35. 
 
 ^ I Chron. xxviii. 5 ; xxix. 23. Cp. Schultz, O. f. Theology, \. 169. 
 
 ' See Wellhausen, Prolegomena, pp. 253, 254. Riehm observes in 
 A Tl. Theologie, p. 253 : ' Nach dem alteren, dem nationalen Interesse 
 mehr Rechnung tragenden Bericht (i Sam. ix-x. 16) erscheint das Konig- 
 tum schon bis e.\r\Q gottgewoHte, die Freiheit, Selbstandigkeit und Macht 
 des Gottesvolkes bezweckende (i Sam. ix. 16), den theokiatischen Orga- 
 nismus konsolidierende und kronende Institution.' The same general 
 tone of comment is found in Gen. xvii. 6, 16 ; xxxv. 11, and in the prophecy 
 of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 7, 17). 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 149 
 
 heavy' task of the prophets is to announce that the 
 theocracy in its existing state is inevitably doomed. 
 Such is the character, briefly described, of the writings 
 inchided in ' former prophets.' 
 
 Of the later books, such as the Chronicles. I need here 
 say very little. No one would place this work on a level 
 with the original sources from which it derives its 
 material ^ The peculiarity of the chronicler is his in- 
 tense interest in the sacred forms of Jewish religion as 
 they existed during the period of the second temple. 
 His work has been well described as ' a great historical 
 theodicy . . . intended to further and to strengthen a 
 religious ideal as it had shaped itself in the author's 
 mind -.' The value of the work lies chiefly in its faithful 
 portraiture of a prevalent mood, or temper of mind, 
 which marked the closing centuries of Israel's history-'. 
 Occasionally no doubt the writer preserves information 
 drawn from trustworthy ancient sources. But in one 
 or two significant allusions to a Midrash^, the chronicler 
 seems to indicate the standpoint and character of his 
 own work, which is to be regarded as a specimen of 
 Haggadah, i.e. an independent and imaginative handling 
 of historic tradition for purposes of popular edification. 
 It is enough to mention by way of illustration the writer's 
 transformation of David into a levitical saint, and his 
 tendency to judge the character of each king of Judah 
 by the standard of devotion to the levitical cultus and 
 ceremonial law. What has been said of the books of 
 Chronicles applies in some measure to those of Ezra 
 and Nehemiah, since these works, which in the Jewish 
 canon form a single book, were apparently compiled 
 
 ' ' There is an end to historical study if we accept the later account 
 against the earlier' (Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. lect. v). The 
 Chronicles are minutely investigated by Wellhausen, Prolen;omena, ch, vi, 
 and Kuenen, Rel!gio7i of Israel, ch. x. See also Kittel, Hist, of the 
 Hebrews, ii. 229 foil. 
 
 ^ Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 448. 
 
 ' Schultz, O. T. Theology, i. 407 ; i<ucnen. I.e. The date of the books 
 of Chronicles is probably between 300 and 250 B.C. 
 
 * 2 Chron. xiii. 22 ; xxiv. 27. Cp. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 227. 
 Driver, biiroduction, &c., pp. 497, 506 foil. 
 
I50 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 by the author of the Chronicles ^ Contemporary 
 documents no doubt form the basis of each, but their 
 historical value is somewhat impaired by their in- 
 completeness and by the lateness of their compilation. 
 It is not necessary, however, to consider these books 
 particularly, especially in view of the fact that they 
 find a place not among the historians in the ' former 
 prophets,' but in the HagiOgrapha^. With regard to 
 the three last-mentioned books, our only concern is 
 to disclaim for them a character which their very 
 position in the canon seems to contradict ". 
 
 We are now free to reconsider the historical books, 
 properly so called, the books of Judges, Samuel, and 
 Kings, with a view to ascertaining their true importance 
 and value. 
 
 We perhaps find a clue to the real character of 
 these books in the significant circumstance that tradi- 
 . tion ascribed the authorship of them to prophets. 
 Wellhausen questions the opinion that the Hebrew 
 people owed its historical annals to the labours of 
 the prophets ^ But he allows that they ' shed upon 
 the tradition their peculiar light,' and ' infused into it 
 their own spirit.' In any case these books are clearly 
 not to be regarded as history in the narrow sense of 
 mere chronicles or annals. Their historical importance 
 is undeniably great ; taken in conjunction with the 
 writings of contemporary prophets, where these are 
 available, and with the evidence of inscriptions, they 
 enable us to construct a fairly complete and trust- 
 worthy account of the actual course of events during 
 the period they cover. But the point of chief im- 
 portance is that their very title, 'former prophets,' 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith thinks the Chronicles originally formed one book 
 with Ezra and Nehemiah {O. T. in J. C. p. iHz). Cp. Ryle, Canon of the 
 O.T. p. 134. 
 
 The same remark apphes to the book of Esther, the historical value 
 of which is a matter of dispute. See Driver, op, cit. p. 452. It was with 
 some difficulty admitted to the canon (Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. 
 pp. 183 foil.). 
 
 ^ Cp. Ryle, Canon of the O. T. pp. 139-141. 
 
 * Prokgo/nena, p. 293. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 151 
 
 exempts them from the rigid application of ordinary 
 historical canons. They contain history and some- 
 thing more. They record events in the light of 
 a known purpose of God, and consequently do not 
 hesitate to interpret what they relate, in order to 
 exhibit the leading principles of the divine govern- 
 ment, and the laws which control the development of 
 events \ Accordingly our task is to estimate the truth 
 and validity of the theory which guides the sacred 
 historians in their selection of incidents, and in their 
 comments upon character and upon matters of fact ^. 
 
 Now the leading ideas which constitute the prophetic 
 theory of Israel's history, and which give a character- 
 istic complexion to the historical books, would seem 
 to be mainly three : (i) the reality and perpetuity of 
 Jehovah's redemptive grace; (2) the idea that Israel's 
 election implied obligations which the nation constantly 
 failed to discharge ; (3) the uniformity of method 
 exhibited in divine deliverances. 
 
 I. One leading idea of the narratives is the reality 
 of divine grace. The foreground of the picture is 
 occupied by self- revelations of Jehovah in act or 
 prophecy : displays of power and compassion in which 
 His undeserved favour towards Israel is manifested. 
 
 ■* Riehm, A Tl. T/teoIogie, pp. 209 foil. : ' DerProphet hat die Verhiiltnisse 
 und Ereignisse seiner Zeit in das Licht des gottlichen Ratschlusses zu 
 stellen, und so iiber Bedeutung und Zvveck der gottlichen Fiihrungen 
 Aufschluss zu geben. Uberhaupt ist er Interpret dessen was Gott in der 
 thatsachlichen Sprache der Geschichte zu seinem Volke redet, weshalb 
 auch dieOcschichtschreibungzu denprophetischen Berufsaufgaben gehort.' 
 
 2 Bruce, Apologetics, p. 197. The function of the prophetic writers was 
 ' not to narrate facts, but to teach the right point of view for reading truly 
 the religious significance of Israel's whole history.' Cp. Kittel, Hist, of 
 the Hebrews, vol. ii. p. 5 : 'We recognize [in the historical books] the 
 historical standards of men who had absorbed the ideas of the prophets, 
 and who regarded the national past from a purified point of view in con- 
 sequence of Israel's calamity. It is not so much histor)' as a philosophy 
 of history. It is elucidation, estimation, adjustment of facts from the 
 standpoint of subsequent knowledge of t/ie consequences and goal of the 
 historical development, rather than simple narration of the course of the 
 events themselves ; a history that is more satisfactory as a means of 
 religious and moral improvement, than as supplying historical knowledge 
 about the original course of events.' See also Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures, 
 pp. 72 foil. 
 
152 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 The thought of divine intervention on Israel's behalf 
 is evidently uppermost in the minds of the historians. 
 It forms the keynote of those summary reviews of the 
 history which meet us at different points in the narra- 
 tive \ The most conspicuous feature of the past had 
 been the display of divine lovingkindness and for- 
 bearance. It had been signally manifested in the 
 deliverance from Egypt, in the protection and sus- 
 tenance of the people during the long years of 
 pilgrimage in the wilderness, in the amazing conquests 
 both on the east and west of Jordan, and in the 
 raising up of strong and heroic leaders in times of 
 national pressure and distress. 
 
 2. But, secondly, in close connexion with repeated 
 declarations of Jehovah's grace and longsuffering, we 
 find descriptions of critical moments at which Israel's 
 own relation to God is determined or manifested. 
 The Old Testament history is remarkable in this 
 respect especially — that in the main it is the record 
 of a series of crises. Long periods are passed over 
 in silence, e. g. the thirty-eight years of wilderness life, 
 the seventy years of exile. Between the death of 
 Joshua and the appearance of Samuel a period of con- 
 siderable length, possibly nearly three centuries, elapsed; 
 yet how brief and compressed is the record of an age 
 in regard to which Kuenen declares that it ' is of the 
 highest importance for Israel's entire development 2.' 
 How much that might have filled the pages of a 
 modern manual of history do the biblical writers 
 ignore : the slow process by which the tribes of Israel 
 passed from the rough habits of nomadic life to the 
 settled ways of agriculturalists, the rise and growth 
 of the trading instinct through intercourse with the 
 cities of Phoenicia, the religious syncretism which 
 resulted from Israel's self-identification with the con- 
 quered territory ^. How much that might absorb the 
 
 ^ Judgesii. 6 foil., iii. 6foll. ; i Sam. xii. 7 foil. ; 2 Kings xvii. 7-23, 34-41. 
 
 ^ The Religion of Israel, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 ^ Cp. Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and ftidah, p. 36 ; cp. 
 Kittel, op. cif. vol. ii. pp. 93 foil. ; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog. of the Holy 
 Land, pp. 88 foil., and iii. 
 
 I 
 
in] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 153 
 
 attention of a student, or kindle a poet's imagination ^ 
 is passed over. The record is essentially a religious 
 history, of which the gist is practically this : that Israel 
 as a nation had been peculiarly favoured by God, that 
 "the calamities and reverses which followed the settle- 
 ment in Canaan were due to national shortcoming and 
 sin, that in the sorest straits deliverance came through 
 some human instrument specially raised up by Jehovah, 
 and that, finally, popular expectation was directed to- 
 wards the southern tribe of Judah, as if the imperative 
 need of a stable monarchy was likely to be supplied 
 from that quarter-. It may be granted that the 
 picture of this period is somewhat highly coloured, for 
 Israel's shortcomings scarcely seem on a superficial 
 survey to have amounted to a formal or visible apos- 
 tasy from Jehovah again and again repeated, as the 
 Deuteronomistic passages in the book of Judges appa- 
 rently suggest ^. But at least the general fact of 
 unfaithfulness to a recognized standard of worship and 
 morals is clear, and it is judged from the standpoint of 
 Him whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts. 
 The pure worship of Jehovah was evidently hindered 
 or tainted by the spirit of religious syncretism, i. e. the 
 corruption of the Mosaic ciiltus by the admixture of 
 usages and symbols borrowed from the nature-worship 
 of Canaan ^ The manifest elements of retrogression 
 which appeared in the period of the Judges are re- 
 garded by the Deuteronomic school as constituting 
 
 ^ One naturally thinks of Mr. Keble's beautiful lines in The Christian 
 Year, poem for the third Sunday in Lent. 
 
 ^ Observe that the book of Judges begins with an oracle implying the 
 promise of victory to Judah, Judah shall go up (i. 2), and closes with 
 narratives connected with Bethlehem Judah, designed apparently to 
 illustrate the remark. In /hose days there was no king in Israel (xxi. 25). 
 The book of Ruth, which is an idyll of Bethlehem and gives the ancestry 
 of the first true king, forms an appendix to the book of Judges. Cp. Riehm, 
 Einleitiaig i7i das A. T. vol. i. p. 473 ; Delitzsch, O. T. History oj Re- 
 demption, § 33. 
 
 ' Judges ii. 11 foil., iii. 5 foil., viii. 33, x. 6 foil. Cp. Kittel, vol. ii. p. 97. 
 It is significant that in the rdsunid of Israel's history contained in Neh. ix. 
 7 foil, the same salient features appear, the faithfulness of God and the 
 faithlessness of His people. See Y{wi\iQ.x,After i lie Exile, part ii, pp. 201 foil. 
 
 * Cp. Oehler, Theol. of the O. T. §§ 15S, 159 ; Kittel, vol. ii. p. 98. 
 
154 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 formal apostasy to heathen gods ; and it may be 
 contended that, from an idealistic and prophetic point 
 of view, the representation corresponds with the facts. 
 Israel was during this period falling short of better 
 knowledge; from the earliest times the spirit of un-- 
 faithfulness to the obligations implied in Israel's 
 special relationship to God did manifest itself in 
 the national life. In a word, the picture is dark and 
 sombre, but we have every reason to suppose that 
 in essential features it is correct. If, as we have no 
 reason to doubt, Israel recognized in the events of the 
 exodus its special vocation to be the people of Jehovah, 
 if this had been the burden of Moses' teaching, the 
 point of view from which the compilers of the historical 
 books contemplate the course of events is true ; and 
 it may be remarked that it is common to these writers 
 with the great prophets of the eighth and following 
 centuries, notably Amos, Hosea, and Jeremiah ^ The 
 same general line of thought applies to the view which 
 the historical writers take of the schismatic aUtits 
 established in the northern kingdom by Jeroboam. The 
 theory of the writers and of the prophets is that the pure 
 and imageless worship of Jehovah inculcated by Moses 
 hasinthe calf-worship sunk back to the level of a heathen 
 cultus. That it represented a reactionary movement 
 can scarcely be doubted, and it is equally probable that 
 the relative purity of religious /;'^.i7.y in Judah was due 
 to the persistency with which the prophets represented 
 the northern cultus in its true character ^. 
 
 3. A third feature of the historical books is that 
 they dwell with peculiar interest upon the method of 
 the divine deliverances. The intention of the narra- 
 tives does not seem to be that of glorifying the heroic 
 figures of old time, but rather that of illustrating the 
 principles on which Jehovah acts in His work of 
 salvation. There is little or no attempt to idealize the 
 
 ^ See Robertson, The Early Religion of Israel {Ba.\x6.'LtciViXQ ior 1889), 
 ch. V. 
 2 Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologte, p. 195. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 155 
 
 character of the Judges, or of Samuel, or even of 
 prophets hke EHjah. The period of the Judges was 
 no doubt ' an age of contradictions ^' Hke other periods 
 of rehgious transition which are apt to witness a certain 
 relaxation of moral principles and disintegration of 
 beliefs ; and the figures that appear in the forefront 
 of the history reflect the tendencies of the time : its 
 hold upon certain fundamental religious truths and 
 its laxity in religious practice, its capacity for wild 
 moral excesses combined with ' a certain robustness of 
 conscience^.' In this point the narratives are life-like 
 and consistent, but the main truths which the historians 
 bring into prominence are — first, that the saviours sent 
 by Jehovah are men directly empowered by His Spirit ; 
 secondly, that it is His habit to select lowly and despised 
 instruments in the execution of His redemptive purpose. 
 Thus the exploit of Gideon is always regarded in the Old 
 Testament as a typical deliverance ; the day of Midian 
 becomes indeed a kind of proverbial expression in later 
 prophecy ^. The choice of Saul, from the least of all the 
 families of the smallest of the tribes of Israel'^, is another 
 illustration of the same principle, while the career of 
 David derives its special significance from the lowliness 
 of his origin. He chose David also his servant, and took 
 Jmn away from the sheepfolds. As he was folloiving the 
 ewes great luith young ones he took him : that he might 
 feed facob his people, and Israel his inheritance ^. 
 
 In their conception, then, of the period embraced in 
 the historical books, the writers cannot be fairly regarded 
 as mistaken. In its estimate of the pre-prophetic period 
 modern criticism does not always make due allowance 
 for the factor which imparted to Israel's history, 
 throughout its course, a unique significance — the factor 
 which we call ' Inspiration.' The ' Song of Deborah,' 
 for example, which seems to be contemporary with the 
 
 ^ Schultz, O. T. Theology, i. 150. 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apologetics, p. 227. The book of Ruth forms a valuable 
 counterpart to the stormy scenes of Judges. 
 
 ^ Judges vi. 15 ; vii. 2. Cp. Isa. ix. 4 foil.; x. 26 ; Ps. Ixxxiii. 10 foil. 
 * I Sam. ix. 21. " Ps. Ixxviii. 70, 71. 
 
156 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 events described in it, clearly proves that the age of the 
 Judges was not merely one of rude prowess and war- 
 like adventure, but that, at least among the leaders of 
 the nation, there existed conceptions of Jehovah which 
 could not fail to be a motive force in religious develop- 
 ment, and a certain sense of consecration which 
 inspired conspicuous acts of heroic valour. The action 
 of the Spirit of God upon men was a fact which alone 
 sufficed to explain the greatness of their achieve- 
 ments ^ It was a power very dimly understood, but 
 recognized as working in and through human instru- 
 ments on behalf of God's purpose of salvation 2. This 
 continuous operation of the divine Spirit forms part of 
 that ideal element in Israel's history which is plainly 
 reflected in the prophetic narratives. Moreover, sup- 
 posed inconsistencies are softened or removed if we 
 remember to draw necessary distinctions between the 
 religious leaders of Israel and the mass of the people ; 
 between the fundamental Mosaic beliefs cherished in 
 religious centres like Shiloh, and the general level of 
 culture, morality, and worship exhibited by the nation 
 as a wholes 
 
 On a survey of the ground we have traversed, it 
 appears that there are good reasons for believing that 
 the inspired writers give a presentation of the facts 
 which is not primarily historical, but prophetic, their 
 
 ' Cp. Judges iii. lo ; vi. 34 ; xi. 29 ; xiii. 25 ; xiv. 6, 19 ; xv. 14 ; i Sam. 
 X. 6, 10; xvi. 13. 
 
 ^ Cp. Schultz, vol. ii. pp. 204 foil. ; Robertson, op. cit. pp. 118 foil. 
 
 ^ Some such distinction is recogni:ied as ' a fair inference from the Song 
 of Deborah' by Cheyne, Aids to the Devout Study of Criticism, p. 31. 
 Cp. Driver, Sa-m. on the O. T. p. 138: 'Throughout their history the 
 people are represented as needing to be taught by others, as declining 
 from truth by which they ought to have been guided, as falling short of 
 the ideal propounded to them. The natural tendencies of the nation did 
 not move in the direction of spiritual religion. There is no ground to 
 suppose that, apart from the special illumination vouchsafed to the great 
 teachers who originated or sustained the principles of its faith, the reli- 
 gious history of Israel would have differed materially from that of the 
 kindred nations by which it was surrounded.' There were, in point of 
 lact, repeated occasions when the Israel of the Spirit found its almost 
 sohtary representative in a single prophet. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 157 
 
 main design being that of religious edification. It 
 follows that we can await with equanimity the verdict 
 of criticism in regard to the exact historical worth of 
 the narrative. That there is a great regard for certain 
 outstanding facts of the history is unquestionable, but 
 the facts are often coloured by high imaginative power, 
 and are estimated according to moral significance. In 
 regard to minor details there is ample room for diver- 
 sity of opinion. To take two passing illustrations. The 
 religious lessons of Samson's history are not materially 
 affected by any particular view respecting the precise 
 character of the narrative which describes his career ^ 
 The portrait of David is not the less a treasure for 
 all time because to a great extent it is idealized by 
 devout writers of a later age ^. The important ques- 
 tion is whether, in their interpretation of Israel's 
 history, the prophetic writers of the Old Testament 
 are fundamentally wrong. We have found reasons 
 for supposing that in its general point of view ' the 
 prophetic philosophy of history ' is true, and w^e may 
 accept the cautious summary of Prof Robertson as 
 fairly stating our conclusions. ' The great events,' 
 he says, ' of Israel's history, the turning-points, the 
 points determinative of the whole life and history, are 
 attested by the nation at the earliest time at which we 
 are enabled to look for materials on which an opinion 
 can be based. No reason can be given for the 
 invention of them just at this time, or for the signifi- 
 cance which the prophets assign to them. It may be 
 that a fond memory invested with a halo of glory the 
 great fathers of the race ; it may also be that a simple 
 piety saw wonders where a modern age would see 
 
 ' As is well known, there is a view that the story of Samson originates 
 in a solar myth (|•t^'CC' = ' Sun-man.' See Kuenen, Religioji of Israel 
 [Eng. Tr.], vol. i. p. 307). It is far more probable that Samson was an actual 
 hero of the tribe of Dan, around whose name a certain ' mushroom- 
 growth of legend' gradually gathered, intermingled possibly with some 
 foreign elements. See Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews, vol. ii. pp. 91, 92. 
 
 "^ See Che>'ne, Aids to the Devout Study of Criticism, part i, on the 
 David-narratives. 
 
158 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT [lect. 
 
 none. Yet the individuality of the characters is not 
 destroyed, nor are the sequence of events and the 
 dehneations of character shown to be the work of 
 a fitful and unbridled imagination \' 
 
 It is, on the whole, sufficiently clear that the aim 
 of the historical writers of the Old Testament was to 
 bring out the religious significance of Israel's histor)^ 
 They interpret events in accordance with their stead- 
 fast belief in Jehovah's original election of Israel. 
 This idea of election was one of which the nation as 
 a whole probably became conscious very gradually. 
 But it is reasonable to suppose that even in the earliest 
 period there were men of prophetic spirit who dis- 
 cerned the drift and tendency of God's dealings with 
 their race. An English historian has pointed out the 
 effect on our nation of the destruction of the Armada. 
 ' The pride of the conquerors,' says Mr. Green, * was 
 hushed before their sense of a mighty deliverance. . . 
 The victory over the Armada, the deliverance from 
 Spain, the rolling away of the terror which had hung 
 like a cloud over the hopes of the new people, was 
 like a passing from death unto life ^.* It is not too 
 much to claim that such an event as the exodus, im- 
 pressed as it had been on the national memory, 
 profoundly affected the point of view from which the 
 whole subsequent history was studied. Here, I think, 
 we have the very heart of the matter. Some critics 
 think that the general scheme of biblical history is an 
 after-thought leading to ' a systematic representation 
 of earlier events in the light of much later times ^ ' ; 
 but the point to be observed is that the early history 
 itself suggested the ideas by which all the subsequent 
 development was interpreted. The Hebrew mind was 
 not what the modern mind sometimes is, intensely 
 matter of fact, and consequently it did not set the 
 
 ^ The Early Religion of Israel, p. 1 35. It is worth while drawing special 
 attention to the retrospect of Israel's history in the book of Judith (ch. v. 
 6-19) as a main outline of historical facts. 
 
 "^ History of the English People, vol. ii. pp. 446-447. 
 
 ^ See Robertson, op. cit. p. 30. 
 
Ill] IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 159 
 
 same exaggerated store on mere outward fact as if it 
 were synonymous with the essential truth of things. 
 In his Studies in Jiidaism, Mr. Schechter makes the 
 suggestive remark that Judaism ever ' bowed before 
 truth, but it had never made a covenant with facts 
 only because they were facts. History had to be re- 
 made and to sanctify itself before it found its way 
 into its sacred annals \' The Jew looked at historical 
 events as manifestations of that which he deemed to 
 be of infinitely higher interest, viz. the purposes and 
 character of God. And while we may admit the 
 defectiveness of the historical writings if judged by 
 modern standards, it is a fair question whether this 
 point of view was that of the sacred writers them- 
 selves, and whether it is of the supreme importance 
 which the scientifically trained mind is apt to assume. 
 
 The fact is that these narratives which historical 
 criticism analyzes so minutely are lifted by the touch of 
 divine insight displayed in them to a level higher than 
 that on which the scientific faculty moves. The Old 
 Testament records the history of the people of God 
 as it unfolds itself before the eyes of Him who sits 
 upon the throne of heaven judging the deeds and lives 
 of men according to trnth'^. We who believe that 
 Scripture is divine as well as human are prepared to 
 find anticipated in it that awful reversal of human judg- 
 ment and of the earthly estimate of things for which we 
 look hereafter in the day when God shall judge the 
 secrets of men by Jesus Christ ^. 
 
 ^ Ijitrod. p. XXV. Prof. Ramsay, in his striking vindication of St. Luke's 
 genius as an historian, observes that ' Historical truth implies not merely 
 truth in each detail, but also truth in the general effect, and that kind of 
 truth cannot be attained without selection, grouping, and idealization' 
 (St. Paul the traveller and the Roman citizen, p. 4). See also Bruce, 
 With openfaee, ch. iii. (' The idealized picture of Luke '). 
 
 "^ Rom. ii. 2. 
 
 ^ Rom. ii. 16. See Mozley's sermon on 'Tlie reversal of human judg- 
 ment ' [University Sermons, no. iv). J5p. Wordsworth makes a sugges- 
 tive remark in reference to the thirty-eight years of Israel's wandering in 
 the wilderness : 'We know that the people existed. . . . They themselves 
 have no liistoiy. Their names are written in water; they have no place 
 in the annals of heaven ' ( The Holy Bible with commentary, Introd. to 
 Genesis and E.\odus, p. .xxxi). 
 
i6o THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT, ETC. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 On the patriarchal narratives Prof. G. A. Smith says {op. cit. 
 p. 49), ' If v/e will go to the characters of the O. T. as they 
 are, and treat them, not as our dead prey, but as our masters 
 and brothers, whom it is our duty to study with patience and 
 meekness, there is almost no end to the real benefit they shall 
 do us. The careful study of the original narrative, the study 
 of the history of the times, the study of the contemporary 
 monuments, which of late are being discovered in such large 
 numbers, reveal to us that these characters are neither the lay 
 figures nor the mere symbols of doctrine which they are often 
 •represented to be by a certain kind of preaching, nor, on the 
 other hand, can they be only mythical heroes — incarnations of 
 a tribe or reflections of natural phenomena — to which some 
 mistaken schools of criticism think to reduce them. There is 
 a vividness, a moral reality, about nearly all of them ; and 
 although they rise amid circumstances that we cannot always 
 explain, and are sometimes surrounded by miracles to which 
 our conscience does not always respond — through all this 
 they stalk unhindered, real characters with life and way upon 
 them.' A reader of Kenan's Histoire du pcuple d' Israel, 
 bk. i, will, I think, derive from it a very strong impression 
 of the general truth of the patriarchal story. See, however, 
 the temperate remarks of Dillmann, Commentary on Genesis 
 [Eng. Tr.], vol. ii. pp. i foil. 
 
LECTURE IV 
 
 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy Cod, which 
 have brought thee out of the lattd of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
 Jhou shalt have no other gods before me. — Exod. xx. i foil. 
 
 We have considered the Old Testament in its 
 historical aspect as the record of a divine movement 
 towards the human race, which formed the starting- 
 point of a higher religion ; and we have attempted to 
 estimate the character and value of this record, regarded 
 as a collection of historical documents. It is now our 
 task to survey the Old Testament as the account of 
 a progressive self-revelation of God. 
 
 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews opens his 
 letter with the words Q^o-i b XaXi^aa^, and it may be 
 observed how closely such an exordium corresponds 
 with the apparent object of the writer in keeping 
 himself anonymous. To this great Christian apologist 
 God is the one speaker in revelation. Human agency 
 falls entirely into the background. Throughout re- 
 demptive history a single voice, the voice of God, was 
 making itself heard, speaking by the prophets in divers 
 portions and in divers manners; and the highest 
 function of the Scriptures, whether of the Old or New 
 Testament, is to transmit from age to age the record 
 of that continuous utterance. God spake. Revelation 
 had its several parts, stages, chapters or acts. The 
 whole could only be judged retrospectively in the light 
 of the final result. The key to the meaning of the 
 voice, which spake to the fathers by the prophets, was 
 the Word made flesh. It was the divine message to 
 
i62 PROGRESSIVE SELF -REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 man contained In the life and labours, the death and 
 glorification, of Jesus Christ, that illuminated and in- 
 terpreted the method of divine action in the past. The 
 Incarnation enables us to distinguish what is frag- 
 mentary and provisional in revelation from what is 
 complete and final. The divers modes of divine self- 
 communication were adapted to the existing needs and 
 capacities of human nature at each particular stage of 
 its development. In visions and dreams, in types and 
 symbols, in precepts and ordinances, in voices and 
 prophecies, in the unmlstakeable language of outward 
 fact and in secret communications to elect souls, God 
 spake to mankind. Revelation is one because its 
 Author is one, and we approach the Scriptures with 
 this end in view above all others — that we may know 
 God: what He is in Himself, what He has wrought 
 in history, what are His thoughts for human nature, 
 and what His purposes for the universe. In Scripture 
 the word of God comes to us through the medium of 
 human language ; but It is the very mind of God which 
 unveils itself therein, teaching us how to live according 
 to His will, and revealing to us what in His eternal 
 being and character He is. 
 
 In this lecture I wish to consider, first, the pro- 
 gressiveness of the divine self-revelation, and secondly, 
 its content. We must glance at the spiritual education 
 of man described in the Old Testament, and we must 
 examine the import of the successive names or desig- 
 nations by which Almighty God condescended to make 
 Him.self known to His creatures. 
 
 I. 
 
 The idea of progressive revelation has profoundly- 
 influenced all modern attempts to reconstruct the 
 history of Hebrew religion ^. It has been the legiti- 
 mate and necessary outcome of applying to the Old 
 Testament those historical or comparative methods of 
 
 ' Cp. Oettli, Der gegenwdrtige Kainpf, &c., p. il. 
 
 V 
 
IV] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF COD 163 
 
 Study \vhich have proved so fruitful in other fields 
 of knowledoe and were themselves suf^sfssted, or at 
 least encouraged, by the recognition of the evolutionary 
 principle in nature. The modern habit of mind is to 
 study institutions, social phenomena, opinions, literature, 
 creeds, in the light of their development. We delight 
 in the observation of growth or process, and there is 
 perhaps no department in which study based upon this 
 method has been more serviceable than in that of 
 Christian apologetics. It has assisted us to estimate 
 aright the inevitable defects of early morality and 
 religion. It has enabled us to form a true judgment 
 of the divine dealino-s with mankind duringf the 
 primitive stages of its spiritual development. It has, 
 we may say with reverence, vindicated the character 
 of Almighty God by imparting the necessary point of 
 view from which His recorded commands, require- 
 ments, and modes of action should be regarded. It has 
 opened our eyes to the infinite wisdom, tenderness, 
 and patience of the actual course which redemptive 
 love has pursued. Indeed, the contemplation of the 
 patience exhibited in the moral government and 
 education of the world may, in some cases, have led 
 thinkers to qualify or correct their conception of the 
 laws which guide the operations of nature itself. They 
 have learned that the perplexing slowness and apparent 
 imperfection of physical processes corresponds to the 
 comprehensiveness of the divine plan for the universe ^ 
 Further, the divine character revealed in Jesus Christ 
 prepares us to recognize the principle of accommodation 
 in the Old Testament. The direction of the movement 
 therein described is towards a liberation of human 
 nature from the shackles of a rudimentary state. 
 There was evidently a law of progress at work in the 
 Mosaic system ; some element which exerted a steady 
 and continuous upward pressure. At the same time 
 there w^as a gradual extrication of eternal principles 
 from their local, material, and temporary embodiment, 
 
 ^ See a striking passage in Flint's Theism, pp. 25S foil. 
 M 2 
 
i64 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 and to this process no doubt the teaching of the 
 prophets mainly contributed. It has indeed been 
 maintained that the chief ethical and religious ideas of 
 Judaism were practically the creation of the prophets, 
 but there are ample indications that their task was 
 rather that of bringing to light principles which, in 
 a germinal form at least, had been asserted by Moses 
 himself; and that the foundations of Hebrew religion 
 had already been deeply laid in the days of the nation's 
 youth \ It was indisputably the preaching of the 
 prophets that brought home to Israel's conscious- 
 ness the moral conditions attaching to its privileged 
 position ; but from the first the nation had been 
 instructed that its special relationship to Jehovah, the 
 holy God of redemption, involved a call to separation 
 from the sins and pollutions of Semitic heathenism. 
 Granted that the nature and meaning of its vocation 
 was for centuries very imperfectly realized by the 
 Hebrew people, it is at least abundantly evident that 
 the religion of the Old Testament originated in the 
 fact of an election — that is, in a special consecration 
 of Israel to the service of its Redeemer. And the 
 enduring value of Israel's religious history lies to 
 a great extent in this — that it expands and enriches 
 our whole conception of deity. For it bears witness 
 to the operation of an omnipotent Being who stoops 
 from His throne to become the educator of man, 
 and who is guided in His dealings with our race not 
 merely by a fixed purpose of love, but by a perfect 
 insight into human limitations. In His Son God has 
 explicitly revealed the principle which had all along 
 determined the method of His self-manifestation. We 
 are told that the Saviour of men spake the word 7into 
 them as they were able to hear it'. And while the 
 advance of knowledee has filled these words with 
 
 ^ Cp. Konig, TJie Religions History of Israel, ch. xi. 
 
 ^ Mark iv. 33 ; cp. Isa. xxviii. 10. Oettli, op. cit. p.. 19, remarks : * Im 
 Lichte der Offenbarung sich uns die Entwicklung nunmehr als Erziehung 
 darstellt.' 
 
 1 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 165 
 
 deeper significance in proportion as it has taught 
 us to take more sober views of human nature and 
 its capacities, practical experience has vindicated the 
 intrinsic reasonableness of the wearisome tardiness 
 which has marked the onward progress of revelation. 
 ' Grace submitting to delay,' it has been beautifully said, 
 'is only love consenting to be guided by wisdom \' The 
 protracted discipline to which the chosen people of God 
 was subjected, was the one and only means, so far as 
 we have faculties for judging, by w^hich the blessings 
 of a higher religion could have been in the long run 
 secured for mankind at large. 
 
 We proceed, then, to illustrate the progressive 
 character of the Old Testament religion ; but it will 
 not be superfluous in passing to remind ourselves 
 that Christian criticism is distinguished from purely 
 naturalistic by its belief in a supernatural revelation. 
 We speak indeed of the * progressive development ' 
 of religious ideas. It must not, however, be forgotten 
 that the Old Testament exhibits not merely an inevit- 
 able evolution of human thought, but a progressive 
 self-manifestation of God. Israel's relig-ion is a relioion 
 not of thinkers but of prophets, whose characteristic 
 formula is T/ms saith the Lord. It presupposes 
 the immanence of God in history^ and the reality 
 of His self-communications. W^ith this prefatory 
 remark we enter upon our subject, and we may 
 begin by directing attention at once to the beneficent 
 moral purpose which lies upon the very surface of 
 the Old Testament dispensation. The goal of the 
 entire redemptive movement was an ethical one, the 
 salvation and perfecting of human nature. Thus in 
 judging of any particular stage of Israel's religious or 
 moral attainment, we are bound to take into account 
 the dominating tendency of the entire Old Testament. 
 The observation of tendencies is, as Bishop Butler 
 reminds us, a true source of knowledo^e ^. It ciivcs us 
 
 ' A. B. Bruce, The Chief Ejid of Revelation, p. 112. 
 ^ See The Aiialcgy, Part I, ch. iii. 
 
i66 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 a clue to the existence of rational purpose in move- 
 ments which at first sight perplex the mind by their 
 unaccountable anomalies. 
 
 Accordingly it is our duty to estimate the character 
 and object of Israel's spiritual education in the light 
 of its final stage. And if the distinctive element in 
 the religion of Christ is ' inwardness',' there can be no 
 question that the conspicuous feature of the old 
 dispensation is that it uniformly exhibits a principle of 
 progress, from outward to inward, from legal status to 
 ethical attainment, from external restraints to internal 
 principles, from law to love. The regulation of 
 conduct precedes the cultivation of religious affections; 
 active conformity to a code or system comes before 
 renewal of heart; the sign or symbol prepares the way 
 for what is real and essential ; the material and 
 ph)'sical for the spiritual and moral. No ancient 
 • writer, it may be remarked, has a clearer conception 
 of the educational significance of the Old Testament 
 history than Irenaeus. ' God,' he says in one memor- 
 able passage, 'was all along instructing the people which 
 so readily turned back to its idols, educating them by 
 repeated admonitions to persevere and to serve God, 
 calling them by means of things secondary to things 
 primary — that is, by means of things typical to things 
 real, things temporal to things eternal, things carnal to 
 things spiritual, things earthly to things celestial^.' 
 
 Thus, to take the sphere of worship, we must 
 begin by recalling to mind the usual characteristics 
 of early religion. ' Ritual and practical usage,' says 
 Prof. Robertson Smith, 'were, strictly speaking, the 
 sum total of ancient religions. Religion in primitive 
 times was not a system of belief with practical applica- 
 tions ; it was a body of fixed traditional practices to 
 which every member of society conformed as a matter 
 of course. . . Practice preceded doctrinal theory^.' 
 
 ^ Aug. de nat. et grat. Ixxii : ' Facere est iustitiam in vero Dei cultu 
 cum interno concupiscentiae malb interna conflictatione pugnare.' 
 ^ Haer. iv, 14, § 3. 
 ^ Tlie Religioti of the Seuiiies, p. 21. 
 
IV] PROGRESSIVE SELF^REVELATION OF GOD r6j 
 
 Now the distinctive ordinances of the Hebrew ^?///z/i- 
 were ascribed to Moses, and were usually sanctioned 
 by the formula, Jehovah spake unto Moses. The study 
 of comparative religion, however, renders it practically 
 certain that the primitive lawgiver selected from an 
 existing body of practices those which might best pro- 
 mote the purpose of moral cultivation. It will probably 
 never be clearly ascertained what usages were thus 
 inherited, and what were newly instituted by Moses 
 himself; what is plain, however, is the principle which 
 guided the organization of Mosaic religion. Whatever 
 traditional customs, institutions, or ideas peculiar to the 
 Semitic race Moses adopted or retained, they were, 
 under divine guidance, so regulated and purified as to 
 become disciplinary agents in the evolution of a higher 
 type of spiritual and moral life ; they were consecrated 
 to the service of a purer faith, and were made the instru- 
 ments of a purpose of grace. As Riehm observes, 
 ' What the Old Testament religion has in common 
 with the other religions of antiquity is to be regarded 
 as permitted by God, and as having a basis in the 
 divine educational purpose' for mankind. Restriction, 
 however, seems to be more characteristic of Mosaism 
 than comprehensiveness. Indeed, the earliest legisla- 
 tion confines itself mainly to prohibition. It rather 
 regulates existing institutions than adds to them, but 
 its dominating tendency is manifest. It 'ever aims 
 at bringing popular custom into conformity with the 
 principles of equity, generosity, and truth \' Thus, 
 for example, the rite of circumcision was not set aside, 
 but was retained, and hallowed as a token of the new 
 relationship established between God and man at the 
 exodus. Though its actual origin and purpose is 
 somewhat obscure, there is no doubt that the practice 
 was customary in other Semitic tribes -. Apparently it 
 was known to the Hebrews in patriarchal times, and was 
 
 ^ Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 62. 
 
 "^ Cp. Riehm, ATI. Ihcologie, p. 51; Robertson Smith, Religio7i oj 
 the Seiniics, pp. 309, 310; Renan, Histoire dii feuple cV hnicl, bk. 1, ch. 9. 
 
i68 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 then adopted as a seal and condition of admission to 
 religious privileges. Under the influence of Moses 
 it firmly established itself in the national religion 
 of Israel ; and the moral effect of the practice may 
 be inferred from the fact that in course of time the 
 word 'circumcised' became equivalent to 'consecrated,' 
 and could be indifferently applied to the heart, the 
 ears, and the lips \ No circumstance could more 
 aptly illustrate the aim and tendency of Mosaic 
 institutions. So, again, the tribal customs connected 
 with slavery, retaliation, the observance of the seventh 
 day, the payment of tithes, divorce, marriage with 
 a brother's wife, and even polygamy, were probably 
 recognized by Moses. Some of these institutions 
 were tolerated in view of the hardness of the 
 people's hearts ; others were so regulated and 
 restricted as to become effective media in Israel's 
 moral improvement — media full of religious signi- 
 ficance, and pointing beyond themselves to a spiritual 
 counterpart of all that was as yet purely material and 
 external. 
 
 The system of sacrifice itself is a striking illustration 
 of divine accommodation to immature ideas. It is 
 apparently recognized in the Old Testament as a natural 
 means of approach to God^ Man's instinctive way of 
 rendering homage to God and appeasing his own con- 
 sciousness of guilt was incorporated in the practical 
 system of Mosaism, and the very fact that the institution 
 was divinely sanctioned raised it to a new level of im- 
 portance. Israel's sacrificial worship tended to become 
 an elaborate and comprehensive system of spiritual 
 instruction, awakening aspirations which no material 
 oblations could ultimately satisfy. It was, however, at 
 a mature stage of Hebrew civilization, in dark days 
 
 ' Lev. xix. 23, xxvi. 14; Exod. vi. 12, 30 ; Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6 ; Jer. vi. 10, 
 ix. 25, &c. 
 
 ^ Lev. xvii. il : 'The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have 
 given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.' This 
 passage implies that what Jehovah accepts and blesses is in a true sense 
 His^//? to man. 
 
 I 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 169 
 
 of national decline, that the spiritual truths symbolized 
 by sacrifice were brought into prominence ^ Hebrew 
 faith then at length perceived that sacrifice was 
 a means and not an end ; that it had a value only 
 in so far as it represented an inward act of self-oblation 
 to Jehovah. On the other hand, it came to be recog- 
 nized that where a man's heart was true, external 
 offerings might be acceptable to God as proof of 
 his devotion. It is the broken-hearted penitent 
 who, after declaring that the only true sacrifice is 
 a contrite heart, utters the fervent vow, T/ieit shall 
 thoiL be pleased zvith the sacrifices of righteousness, with 
 the burnt-offerings and oblations : th:n shall they offer 
 yotuig bullocks upon thine altar ^. 
 
 A true revelation, then, of God's character is involved 
 in the very fact that He sanctioned sacrificial worship 
 and such other primitive customs as found a place in 
 the system of Moses. It may indeed be questioned 
 how far Israel in Egypt is correctly represented as 
 a sunken and barbarous race^ Oehler points out that 
 in the Pentateuch the Israelites appear to be rather an 
 unmanageable than an uncultivated people. In any 
 case, however, a prolonged and carefully graduated 
 discipline was needed to lift them above the degraded 
 nature-worship towards which, when Jeft to themselves, 
 they habitually gravitated, and it is analogous to the 
 ordinary method of God's providential government that 
 He should condescend to use existing customs and 
 institutions; that He should even for a while bear with 
 very crude and imperfect conceptions of His own 
 nature and character. This is the significance of the 
 fact that the Pentateuch repeatedly dwells upon the 
 low standard actually exhibited by the people in early 
 times. Indeed, one object of the prophetic book of 
 
 ' Cp. Ps. 1. 8 foil., li. 15 foil. ; Amos v. 24; IIos. vi. 6; Isa. i. 16 foil. ; 
 Jer. vii. 21 foil. 
 
 2 Ps. li. 19. 
 
 ^ See Renan, Hisioire du petiple cf Israel, bk. i, ch. 1 1 ; Edersheim, 
 Warbiirton Lectures, pp. 233 foil. ; Robertson, The Early Religion of 
 Israel, note .xxiv ; Oehler, Tlieology of the O. T. § 26, note 3. 
 
170 PROGRESSIFE SELF-REVELATION OF COD [lect. 
 
 Deuteronomy is to * dissuade ' the people * from the 
 opinion of their own righteousness by rehearsing their 
 several rebellions \' Understand therefore, says the 
 writer, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good 
 Imid to possess it for thy righteousness ; for thou art 
 a stiffnecked people. Remember, and forget not, how 
 thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the 
 zvilderness : from the day that thott didst depart out 
 cf the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye 
 have been rebellious ac^ainst the Lord'^. It is worthy of 
 God that He should deign to be the educator of His 
 people. The mere recognition or toleration of what 
 is rude and morally defective reveals a deity not 
 only righteous and just, but patient, wise, and loving. 
 In the simple precepts delivered to an untutored race, 
 in the directions that were adapted to the circum- 
 stances of a primitive age, ' we can recognize,' it has 
 been said, ' the beating heart of the living God '^l 
 
 When we turn from the sphere of religious 
 observance to that of ethical ideas, we see at once 
 how progress depended upon the existence of some 
 well-defined, though simple, conception of the divine 
 character. Nothing short of a belief in the living 
 God was capable of giving impulse and direction to 
 the movement towards a higher standard. In its 
 fundamental idea of Jehovah's character lies the secret 
 of Israel's moral superiority to the surrounding 
 heathen. The ethics of Mosaism are in fact rooted 
 in its theology, just as its theology is based on the 
 historic fact of the exodus from Egypt. I am fehovah 
 thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out 
 of the house of bondage. As a consequence of its 
 deliverance, Israel entered into definite relationship 
 with a Being personal and moral, a Being not merely 
 possessed of invincible might, but manifesting Himself 
 as righteous; for the overthrow of Egyptian power was 
 a triumph both of grace aiding the weak, and of right- 
 
 ^ Deut. ix (heading in A. V.). - Deut. ix. 6, 7. 
 
 ■^ Oettli, op. cit. p. 20. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 171 
 
 eousness punishing the oppressor. Thus an ethical 
 conception of deity formed the starting-point of Israel's 
 religion. Holiness was declared to be at once the rule 
 of divine action and a law for human conduct ^ 
 
 It would be misleading to speak of Mosaism as if It 
 embraced a formal system of ethics. It did, how- 
 ever, prepare the way for a system by a gradual, 
 but in the long run effectual, elucidation of two ideas 
 which a religious system of morals seems to pre- 
 suppose : first, the idea of holiness; secondly, the idea 
 of the worth and dignity of personality. 
 
 In a former lecture we have noticed how the idea of 
 holiness was transferred in process of time from the 
 sphere of ritual to that of ethics ; how the notion of 
 religious separation gradually passed into that of moral 
 sanctity. The point, however, to be observed here is 
 that the deeper sense of the word 'holiness' was 
 suggested at the very starting-point of Israel's career. 
 The proof of this statement lies in the general 
 characteristics of the earliest legislation. On the 
 one hand, there is a comparative silence in regard 
 to points of ritual. Certainly the Mosaic czlUiis 
 was for a long period merely ' an affair of practice and 
 tradition, resting on knowledge that belonged to the 
 priestly guild ^.' It does not appear to have been 
 reduced to theory or formally codified at the time of 
 the exodus. The positive ordinances that relate to 
 worship in the 'Book of the Covenant' are of the most 
 simple and primitive character. There is only one 
 direction that touches upon ceremonial purity, viz. 
 a precept to abstain from the flesh of animals torn by 
 wild beasts ". There are also injunctions bearing upon 
 the erection of altars, the offering of firstfruits, and the 
 observance of three stated feasts connected with the 
 ordinary conditions of agricultural life. All the other 
 
 1 Cp. W. S. Bruce, Ethics of the O. T. ch. iii. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 332. 
 
 ^ Exod. xxii. 31. Cp. xx. 24, xxii. 29, xxiii. 14 foil. Observe two points 
 of sacrificial ritual in xxiii. 18. Cp. Driver, Introduction to the Literature 
 of the 0. T. pp. 33 foil. 
 
172 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 precepts of the first legislation are social and ethical ; 
 they regulate the transactions of man with his fellow ; 
 they provide for the due punishment of injuries 
 inflicted upon a fellow Israelite either unwittingly or 
 with malicious intent ; they define the elementary 
 fights of the slave and they enjoin certain minor 
 duties of humanity. The crimes restrained are such 
 as would be common in a rude and semi-civilized com- 
 munity. What is most striking, however, is the con- 
 stant reference made to the divine authority behind 
 the law. If the widow or fatherless child is afflicted, 
 Jehovah will hear their cry, and His wrath shall ivax 
 hot". Jehovah himself watches, as it were, over the 
 administration of justice and guards the interests of 
 the helpless and friendless. Indeed, the distinctive 
 peculiarity of the legislation is the prominence assigned 
 to righteousness and humanity. Its effect could not 
 •fail to be that of deepening the sense of Jehovah's 
 chief requirement, or, in other words, elucidating the 
 notion of His holiness. 
 
 The Decalogue is especially significant in this con- 
 nexion, for in it w^e may confidently believe that 
 we have an original monument of Mosaism. It is 
 indisputable that ' the ten words ' are an index to the 
 character of Moses' M'ork in so far as they place 
 morality in the forefront of Israel's religion, and 
 form a commentary on the meaning of the ' holiness ' 
 ascribed to the God of redemption. I am aware of 
 the view advanced by some eminent critics that the 
 Decaloofue, even in its original form, cannot be as- 
 cribed to Moses ^. Moreover, as is well known, 
 there is a so-called second Decalogue contained in 
 Exod. xxxiv. 10-28 ^, which is one of the puzzles of 
 
 ^ Exod. xxii. 24. 
 
 ^ See e.g. Cornill, Der Israelitisclte Prophetismus, 17; Wellhausen, 
 Sketch, &c., p. 21 ; Montefiore, Hibbert Lectm-es, appendix i. (p, 553). 
 There is, of course, an important revelation of Jehovah's character in the 
 sanctions attached to the first four ' words ' ; but on this point it would be 
 unwise to insist, inasmuch as these sanctions appear to- belong to a later 
 age than the Decalogue itself. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 335 ; Driver, op. at. p. 2>7- 
 
 I 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 173 
 
 criticism. But we seem to be justified in adhering to 
 the traditional view of the Decalogue chiefly on the 
 ground that it is intrinsically credible. It is consistent 
 with all that we know of Israel's subsequent history, 
 and it would be impossible to explain satisfactorily the 
 vitality and vigour displayed in the conquest of 
 Canaan without the supposition that the long observ- 
 ance of some primary laws of moral conduct had 
 moulded the character of the nation and consolidated its 
 strength \ On the other hand, it is scarcely conceiv- 
 able that the prophets were the first ethical teachers of 
 Israel. It has been justly pointed out that 'the more 
 the pre-prophetic religion is depreciated, the more 
 difficult it will be to account for its sudden rise to the 
 level in which we find it in the earliest writing 
 prophets 2.' The prophets never claim the position of 
 pioneers in religion ; they regard themselves as 
 restorers of a moral and religious ideal which had 
 been set before the people at the very outset of its 
 history ^ Their language implies that Mosaism was 
 pre-eminently an ethical religion ; that, in fact, it had 
 laid the foundations of Israel's polity in a lofty con- 
 ception of God, and in the exaltation of righteousness 
 as the essential element in true and acceptable wor- 
 ship. Certainly this view harmonizes with the fact 
 that the Old Testament uniformly Ascribes to Moses 
 a prophetic character. 
 
 The notion of holiness, then, was closely associated 
 with morality in the Sinaitic legislation, and each 
 fresh disclosure of Jehovah's character contributed 
 something to the education of conscience and de- 
 veloped more profound conceptions of human duty. 
 In this progressive movement the book of Deutero- 
 
 ^ Prof. Kamphausen, quoted by Montefiore {Hibbert Lectures, p. 47), 
 says: ' I recognize in the fact that the small number of the Israelites was 
 not absorbed by the Canaanites, who were by far their superiors in all 
 matters of external culture, a convincing proof of the ethical power of the 
 Yahvistic religion.' 
 
 ^ Robertson, The Early Religion of Israel, p. 264. 
 
 ^ Cp. Konig, Religious History 0/ Israel, p. 25. 
 
174 PJ^OGRESSIFE SELF-REVELATION OF COD [lect. 
 
 nomy may be said to play a decisive part^ The 
 didactic recapitulation of the history and legislation, 
 which is characteristic of this book, was apparently 
 intended to serve the purpose of deepening the 
 religious life of Israel by bringing out the spiritual 
 significance of its past experience. It is the spirit of 
 the prophets which gives to Deuteronomy its peculiar 
 tone and impress. In teaching that the service of 
 Jehovah demands not formal compliance with the ex- 
 ternal precepts of the law, but an inward devotion of 
 heart and will, the book bears eloquent testimony to 
 the true genius and character of Mosaism. It evidently 
 presupposes the existence of a well-understood moral 
 code reaching back to the very commencement of 
 Israel's national life. And if it is urged that the low 
 moral condition of the people during the wanderings 
 contradicts the idea that Moses instituted a pure and 
 imageless worship of the true God, it may be rejoined 
 that the practical failure of the prophets to win the 
 mass of the people to a higher standard of morals and 
 worship proves the possibility at least of an analogous 
 condition of things in the time of Moses himself. 
 Wellhausen and others question the authenticity of 
 the second commandment on the express ground that 
 its observance was virtually unknown throughout the 
 older period of the history. ' Could Moses,' it is 
 asked, 'have forbidden image-worship, when we know 
 that the representation of Jehovah under the form of 
 a bull was a common and scarcely reprehended custom 
 down to the age of Amos^.'*' Now the analogy of 
 later history renders it perfectly credible that 
 a spiritual worship of Jehovah was enjoined as an 
 ideal by Moses, but that it did not prevent an 
 occasional or even constant declension of the people 
 to a lower standard. This account of the matter Is 
 more simple than the supposition that the second com- 
 mandment Is a late insertion into an earlier form of 
 
 » Cp. W. S. Bruce, T/ie Ethics of the O. T. pp. 224 foil. 
 ^ Montefiore, Hilbert Lectures^ appendix i. 
 
 i 
 
IV] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 175 
 
 the Decalog'ue ^ ; moreover, it is consistent with the 
 fact, pointed out by M. Renan, that nomadic rehgion 
 is as a rule simple in character, and that the primitive 
 Semites had little liking- for figured presentments of 
 the deity 2. ^ Neither theory, however, vitally affects 
 the main point on which I have been insisting, namely, 
 the distinctively ethical character of Mosaism. The 
 basis of righteousness was laid in simple precepts 
 designed to protect life, property, chastity, and the 
 reverence due to parents 3. The holiness of Jehovah 
 was in process of time seen to consist in His utter 
 abhorrence of inhuman and unrighteous conduct ; and 
 ni the^ ethical connotation imparted to the notion 
 of holiness lies the characteristic contribution of 
 Mosaic religion to the advancement of ethical theory 
 and practice. 
 
 There was another idea which needed develop- 
 ment before morality could become in any sense 
 systematic : the idea, namely, of the worth, dignity, 
 and rights of personality. 
 
 In the early stages of Hebrew civilization, religion 
 appears to accommodate itself to a defective or even 
 debased notion of human individualit3^ This state- 
 ment may be justified by such incidents as the 
 destruction of Achan's household, the doom of Dathan 
 and Abiram with their company, and^the slaughter of 
 the Canaanites whom Israel dispossessed of their land. 
 An attentive reader of the Old Testament, however, 
 
 ^ Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 212. Kittel, HisL of the Hebrews, vol. i. 
 p. 23s, takes a mediating view. ' Neither the Decalogue nor the Book 
 of the Covenant in their present form can be directly Mosaic. Criticism 
 must be allowed a free hand in separating the later additions and enlaroe- 
 ments, which here also are quite intelligible. When this is done, the 
 original kernel, both of the one document and of the other, must remain 
 Iheir Mosaic origin is witnessed to in a manner which deserves the 
 tuLest credence: the infrequency with which such witness is borne- the 
 contents, as well as the concise and lapidary style, of these two funda- 
 mental laws ; the history of tlie circumstances amidst which we have 
 shown they originated ;— are sufficient proofs.' 
 
 ^ Histoire du peuple d' Israel, bk. i, ch. 4 init. 
 
 Mt is significant that in referring to 'the commandments' our Lord 
 does not mention the first, second, third, or fourth (Mark x. iq ; cp. Matt. 
 XIX. 16 foil., Luke xviii. iS foil.). 
 
176 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 will observe that the foundations of a true conception 
 of personaHty are being laid even at a period when 
 the existence of individual rights seems to be totally- 
 ignored. The germ of a doctrine of human indi- 
 viduality is perhaps to be traced in the rite of circum- 
 cision, which was extended to children and even to 
 the servants of a Hebrew household. Further, we 
 may point to all primitive enactments which limited 
 the arbitrary power of those who owned slaves ', or 
 enjoined simple duties of charity and humanity^. Nor 
 must we overlook the influence of those sacred tradi- 
 tions which witnessed to a divine tenderness for the 
 humble and lonely soul, the story of Hagar, for 
 example, whom the angel of the Lord 'found' by 
 a fountain of water in the wilderness of Shur and 
 addressed by name : Hagar, Sarais maid, whence 
 earnest tJioiL ? and whither wilt thoiL go ^ ? These con- 
 siderations show that the Law in its earliest stages 
 implicitly recognized that very truth of man's relation- 
 ship to God and to his fellow which ultimately led 
 to the recognition of his own personal rights as an 
 individual ^. By way of illustrating this point, we 
 may notice the practice of human sacrifice and the 
 divine injunction to slaughter the Canaanites. 
 
 In regard to human sacrifice we may at once 
 set aside the notion of an original connexion 
 between the worship of Moloch and the service of 
 Jehovah, which some critics base, so'^iewhat fancifully, 
 on the description of Jehovah as 'fire^' Neverthe- 
 less, it is clear that the primitive Semites regarded 
 human life— the life, for instance, of a fellow-tribes- 
 man — as a thing of unique sanctity, and therefore 
 likely to be specially efficacious when employed as 
 
 ^ Exod. xxi. 20 ; Deut. xxi. 10 foil. 
 
 ^ See Exod. chh. xxi-xxiii ; Deut. chh. xx, xxii, xxiv, xxv. 
 
 ^ Gen. xvi. 8 ; cp. xxi. 17. 
 
 * Cp. Mozley, Riding Ideas ift Early Ages, p. 235. 
 
 ^ See Konig, The Religion of Israel, ch. ix ; Robertson, Early Religion 
 of Israel, ch. x. On human sacrifice in Israel see Schultz, O. 71 
 Theology, vol. i. p. 191 ; Dillmann on Genesis xxii ; -Kamphausen, Das 
 Verhdltnis des Menschenoffers zur Isr. Religioji, &;c. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 177 
 
 a medium of atonement. This will account for the 
 occasional tendency of Israel to relapse into the bar- 
 barous customs of heathen worship. The primitive 
 notion that God might claim for Himself a human life 
 as man's most acceptable offering, probably lingered 
 long in the popular mind. The idea, indeed, con- 
 tained an element of nobility and truth which the 
 religion of Jehovah was destined to extricate and 
 purify. We nat?urally think in this connexion of the 
 offering of Isaac by Abraham described in the twenty- 
 second chapter of Genesis. What, then, is the 
 purport of this narrative ? The point of it appears 
 to depend on the ' prevailing low theology of sacrifice,' 
 in which for the moment Jehovah seems to acquiesce ^ 
 The injunction to sacrifice a human victim to Jehovah 
 was in accordance with the ideas common to Abra- 
 ham's race and the age in which he lived -. There 
 was nothing in the spirit of his time that would 
 necessarily deter the patriarch from executing it. 
 Further, the passage in question supplies an explana- 
 tion of the fact, that at a comparatively early stage in its 
 history the Hebrew people was distinguished from its 
 heathen neighbours by the disuse of human sacrificed 
 God dealt with the custom pedagogically, and in a 
 manner analogous to His action in other departments 
 of man's moral education. The element of good 
 which lies at the root of human sacrifice was en- 
 forced — viz, the principle that man is bound to devote 
 to God his best and choicest gift. It was this element 
 which made Abraham's act not only morally glorious, 
 but typical of the perfect ' sacrifice, oblation, and satis- 
 faction ' which was consummated on Calvary. The 
 subsequent effect of the tradition embodied in this 
 narrative was twofold. On the one hand, the practice 
 of human sacrifice came to be regarded with horror as 
 
 * Cp. Newman Smyth, Old Faiths in New Lights, pp. 84-90. 
 
 ' Cp. Renan, Histoire du peuple d'lsracl, bk. i. ch. 9 [Eng. Tr. 
 p. 102]. 
 
 ^ Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, p. 254. Cp. Fairbairn, Religion 
 in History and in Aloderfi Life, lect. ii. p. 129. 
 N 
 
173 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 a shocking relapse into heathen atrocities; on the other, 
 there arose a more profound conception of Jehovah's 
 requirement : He was a God ' who did not dehght in 
 destroying hfe, but in saving and sanctifying it^'; and 
 the oblation in which alone He could delight was the 
 free-will offering of a perfect human obedience. Thus 
 the divine Educator practically succeeded in destroy- 
 ing the fatal errors, and saving the vital truth, of 
 sacrifice 2. He accepts the best th^t primitive man 
 can offer, and, as Dr. Mozley observes, directs his 
 'earlier ideas and modes of thinking towards such 
 great moral achievements as are able to be founded 
 upon them ^.' 
 
 So much may be said from an apologetic point of 
 
 view in reo^ard to Genesis xxii. The bearino- of the 
 
 .... 
 narrative, however, upon our present subject lies in its 
 
 contribution to the idea of the worth of personality, 
 
 and in its restriction of absolute paternal rights. It 
 
 inculcates the lesson that ' parents have only such 
 
 rights over their children as are consistent with the 
 
 acknowledgment of God's higher right of property V 
 
 This last point leads naturally to the consideration 
 
 of the divine injunction to exterminate the inhabitants 
 
 of Canaan. Various attempts have been made to 
 
 explain, or mitigate, a sentence of destruction which 
 
 at first sight seems so inconsistent with the very 
 
 features of Jehovah's character which the deliverance 
 
 of Israel from Egypt had manifested ^ As in the 
 
 matter of human sacrifice, so in this case it might be 
 
 said that God appears to acquiesce in a view of human 
 
 life which knows nothing of individual responsibility. 
 
 ^ Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, p. 255. 
 
 "^ Newman Smyth, op. cit. p. 89. Cp. Oehler, Theol. of the O. T. § 23. 
 On the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter see Schultz, vol. i. p. 191 ; 
 Robertson, Early Religiofi 0/ Israel, p. 255. 
 
 ' Mozley, Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, p. 55. 
 
 * Oehler, § 105. He observes that the same principle appears in the 
 ordinances relating to the redemption of firstborn sons, representing 
 perhaps the whole family (Exod. xiii. 13). 
 
 ^ See W. S. Bruce, The Ethics of the O. T. pp. 259 foil. ; Mozley, 
 Ruling Ideas, &c., lect. iv. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 179 
 
 But the judicial extirpation of the Canaanites may 
 rather be regarded as a proof that the interests of 
 man's moral progress occasionally demand the em- 
 ployment of stern and relentless methods. The 
 Old Testament itself indicates the real ground of the 
 transaction when it insists that the inhabitants of the 
 land had already been long spared in spite of their 
 abominations, and that the cup of their iniquities was 
 now full ^ Herein consists the moral impressiveness 
 of the tragic doom that overtook the Canaanites — 
 a doom delayed for centuries, but at length descend- 
 ing upon the guilty with appalling severity. The 
 whole proceeding enters as a wholesome element 
 into the moral education of Israel and of the world. 
 It had at least the effect of signalizing the divine ab- 
 horrence of portentous sensuality. It was an act 
 characteristic of that Power which throughout human 
 history ' makes for righteousness ^,' and sweeps away 
 degenerate races in order to make way for such as are 
 fresh and vigorous. ' Here is no partiality,' says 
 Dr. Bruce, ' of a merely national God befriending 
 His worshippers at the expense of others without 
 regard to justice ; here rather is a Power making for 
 righteousness and against iniquity ; yea, a Power 
 acting with a beneficent regard to the good of 
 humanity, burying a putrefying carcase out of sight 
 lest it should taint the airV After all, the Canaanite 
 nations were put under the ban, ' not for false belief, 
 but for vile actions V a significant circumstance which 
 plainly implies that in the execution of His righteous 
 purpose Almighty God is guided by one supreme aim, 
 namely, the elevation of human character. If Israel 
 was duly to discharge its mission, and to become the 
 vehicle to mankind of a purer religion and a loftier 
 morality, it was necessary, humanly speaking, that 
 
 ^ Lev. xviii. 27 foil. ; Deut. xii. 31. Cp. Gen. xv. 16. 
 
 ^ See Oehler, § 32, note 3. 
 
 ^ Chief End of Revelation, T^'p. lJ\o{o\\. 
 
 * Westcott, Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 139. 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 a signal manifestation should be made, at the very out- 
 set of its history, of the divine hostility to sin. It Is 
 to be observed, finally, that Israel Itself Is threatened 
 with a similar judgment In the event of Its yielding 
 to the depraved rites or practices of heathendom \ 
 These considerations at least sucrorest that the Idea of 
 individuality Is one for which a moral basis Is required. 
 The Interests of morality may well have demanded an 
 inexorably severe treatment of an evil which might 
 have fatally thwarted God's beneficent purpose for 
 mankind at the very outset. It was more Important 
 that a people, destined to be the missionary of the 
 world, should have a just conception of the meaning 
 of divine holiness, than that It should learn the duty 
 of respect for individual rights. The sense of national 
 consecration was utilized as a factor In the develop- 
 ment of morality, but It naturally preceded by a long 
 interval the Idea of /'t7'i-(9;/(2/ sanctificatlon. 
 
 With these few Illustrations of the progresslveness 
 of Israel's ethical education I must be content. The 
 caution however may be repeated, that it is incon- 
 sistent with all sound historical principles to pronounce 
 a verdict upon the morality of the old dispensation 
 apart from due consideration of Its uniform tendency, 
 and of the purpose by which It was manifestly in- 
 spired and guided ". 
 
 ^ Deut. viii. 19, 20 ; xiii. 12 foil. ; Josh, xxiii. 15 foil. 
 
 ^ Cp. Mozley, Ruling Ideas hi Early Ages, p. 238: 'When you talk 
 of the imperfect and mistaken morality of the Old Testament dispensation, 
 ask yourself, to begin with, what you mean, and what you intend to assert 
 by the expression. Do you mean to assert that the written law was im- 
 perfect ? If that is all, you state what is simply a fact ; but this does not 
 touch the morality of the Lawgiver, because He is abundantly fortified by 
 the defence that He could give no higher at the time to an unenlightened 
 people. Do you mean to assert that the scope and design was imperfectly 
 moral? In that case you are contradicted by the whole course of history. 
 . . . You blame in the Old Testament dispensation, i. e. in its Author, 
 what? The moral standard He ■peniiitsl It is the highest man can 
 then receive. The moral standard He desiresl He desires a perfect 
 moral standard, and ultimately establishes it.' 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-RE I ^ELA TJON OF COD 1 8 1 
 
 II. 
 
 Hitherto we have been eno^afred in considerlncr 
 the progressive character of revelation, and the h'ght 
 which the history of Israel's moral development 
 throws upon the nature and attributes of God. The 
 prophets and psalmists are fully alive to the inner 
 significance of the divine dealings with Israel, and 
 they delight to describe in homely and tender imagery 
 the relationship of love which bound Jehovah to His 
 people. They conceive of Him as guiding Israel's 
 footsteps with a fathers compassion, and feeding His 
 people with a shepherd's watchful care. ThoiL hast 
 seen, says the writer of Deuteronomy, hoiu that the 
 Lord thy God dare thee, as a man doth, bear his son, in 
 all the ivay that ye zvcnt, until ye came into this place '. 
 As for his oiun people, sings the psalmist, he led them 
 forth like sheep, and carried them in the wilderness like 
 a flock ^. In all their affliction, says a prophet, he 
 was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them ; 
 in his love and in his pity he redeemed tJum ; and 
 he bare them, and carried them all the days of old^. 
 Such passages have a religious importance apart from 
 their literary beauty. The psalmists and prophets 
 look back upon the chequered 'history of God's 
 relationship to Israel with the eyes of love. In the 
 stern but merciful discipline of the wilderness, in the 
 intervention of almighty power, in the miracles of 
 redeeming and sustaining grace, they discern the 
 unwearied faithfulness and tenderness of a self-reveal- 
 ing deity. Their chief interest is to trace at every 
 stage or crisis of national development the handiwork 
 of God ; they dwell upon all situations or incidents 
 that illustrate the attributes of God and the methods 
 of His action. History, in a word, is to the prophets 
 and saints of old the continuous self-manifestation of 
 a person, the gradual disclosure of the ineffable Name. 
 
 ' Deut. i. 31 ; cp. Hos. xi. i. * Ps. Ixxviii. 53. ^ Isa. l.xiii. 9. 
 
i82 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF COD [lect. 
 
 The 'Name' of God signifies that which may be 
 known of Him, or rather that which He has made 
 known of Himself to man. It does not represent the 
 divine essence in itself, but such a manifestation of it 
 as human faculties can apprehend. In short, the 
 Name of God is His character as He would have it 
 acknowledged and held in honour by man. It is that 
 which in the life of His beloved Son was finally 
 manifested, and the successive declarations of the 
 divine Name may be said to mark in broad outline 
 different stages of revelation. The conception of 
 deity becomes more definite and clear in proportion 
 as redemptive history advances. 
 
 Now speaking broadly, there appears to be a gradual 
 transition from general designations of the divine 
 nature to specific and full statements of character. 
 The ancient Hebrews started from some indetermi- 
 • nate conception of God common to the whole Semitic 
 race, and were led on by slow degrees to a living 
 apprehension of the being whom they worshipped. 
 There was a relative purity and spirituality in the 
 most ancient Semitic ideas of deity which distinguished 
 them from those of Aryan peoples. This might be 
 inferred from the different titles of Semitic deities : 
 thus El signifies ' strong one ' ; Bel or Baal, ' owner ' ; 
 Adonis, 'lord'; Moloch, 'king'; Rimjnon, probably 
 'thunderer^' The fact is one which confirms the 
 impression that Israel had antecedent aptitude for 
 becoming the vehicle of the true religion to the 
 world. The Hebrew started fairly; he had not 
 utterly confounded God with nature. And thus from 
 a feeling of vague dependence and fear he was led 
 onward and upward towards the perception of a per- 
 sonality to whom he could stand in a moral relation- 
 ship of devotion, trust, and love. He outgrew the 
 stage in which the thought of deity merely inspired 
 
 ^ Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, pp. 46, 47. Riehm observes that among the 
 Semites 'die Gottheit wird nicht so tief, vvie bei den Ariern, in die Natur 
 imd das Naturleben herabgezogen.' 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 183 
 
 awe, a'nd finally attained that in which the very 
 mention of God was a joy, the very thought of Him 
 a refuge and a solace. It is a wonderful ascent in 
 religious experience, the successive moments of which 
 seem to be indicated in the different designations of 
 God contained in the Old Testament. 
 
 The names of God must first be briefly con- 
 sidered with reference to their meaning and origin. 
 We have, first, a group of general names, of which 
 the most common are 'El, 'Eloah, 'EloJiim, and 'El 
 '^Elyon. The name 'Elohim has been thought to 
 point to the polytheistic idiom of the early Semites; 
 but, as is well known, when applied to the God of 
 Israel it denotes the one and only God, and is used 
 with a singular verb '. The name may perhaps be 
 traced to a time when it was commonly believed 
 that there were supernatural beings infesting certain 
 localities, and vaguely supposed to be hostile to 
 men. ' If,' says Prof. Robertson Smith, ' the Elohim 
 of a place meant originally all its sacred denizens . . . 
 the transition to the use of the plural in a singular 
 sense would follow naturally as soon as this inde- 
 terminate conception gave way to the conception of 
 an individual god of the sanctuary-,' It should be 
 borne in mind that the word is by no means exclu- 
 sively applied to God. It is occasionally applied to 
 a person who is regarded as the mouthpiece of a 
 divine sentence, for instance to a judge or to a civil 
 magistrate. Moreover, 'Elohim is commonly used, 
 not only of the false deities of alien nations, but also 
 of a class of beings, Sons of 'Elohim, who possess 
 supernatural powers, and belong to an invisible and 
 spiritual order. When applied to the God of Israel, 
 the plural 'Elohim is best described as intensive, 
 expressing the notion of ' fullness ' — plenitude of 
 superhuman might, or, as others prefer to explain, 
 
 ^ See Schultz, i. 121 ; ii. 126 foil. 
 
 2 Religion of the Semites, p. 1 50. Cf. Renan, Histoire dupetiple ci'Istaiil, 
 bk. i. ch. 3 [Eng. Tr. pp. 25, 26J. 
 
i34 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 of that which inspires awe ^ In any case it implies 
 a being who claims the submission and adoration of 
 men; and it may fairly be maintained that the word, 
 especially when united to a singular verb, indicates 
 that all divine powers are, as it were, concentrated in 
 one personal being ^ ; indeed, the phrase may be 
 thought to have possessed dogmatic value as com- 
 bating the notion of an abstract and sterile monotheism. 
 
 Akin to ' Elohim may be the name 'El, which is 
 sometimes found in poetry, but scarcely ever in prose. 
 The root-meaning of the word is apparently 'the strong 
 one,' and the fact of its appearing in old proper names, 
 e.g. Methusael, Ishmael, or Bethel, points to its 
 being the most primitive Hebrew designation of God'\ 
 With respect to the name 'Eloak, the singular of 
 'Elohim, some scholars hold that it corresponds to 'El 
 as a subjective to an objective designation : '£"/, the 
 absolutely strong one, being regarded by man as 
 'Eloak, the object of man's dread*. Finally, the 
 phrase El ''Ely on, * Most High God ' — a title which 
 has Phoenician affinities ^ — implies the relative tran- 
 scendence or elevation of the Deity, and it has been 
 surmised that the use of this name in the passage 
 relating to Melchizedek (Gen. xiv. i8) points to the 
 early existence of an ancient monolatrous worship on 
 Canaanite soil ^ 
 
 Next to these eeneral names comes the tide which 
 
 ^ See Riehm, op. cit. pp. 48, 49. Riehm questions the correctness of 
 the opinion that Elohini had originally the notion of plurality. He thinks 
 that, like other words, e. g. CDJJ' and □'•D, it might simply imply extension, 
 mass, or fullness. Darmesteter makes a similar remark : * Le pluriel 
 Eloliitn construit avec un verbe au singulier est un fait de grammaire et 
 non de psychologic religieuse, et ne prouve guere plus la multiplicite 
 primitive du dieu que Nous et Notre Majesie no. prouvent la multiplicity 
 des majestes humaines ; bref, Elohitn est un de naissance autant que 
 J alive'' {Lcs Prophet es d'' Israel, p. 215). 
 
 '' See Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, note xv (p. 502). Cp. 
 I Cor. viii. 5, 6. 
 
 ^ Renan points out the religious significance of this fact, as attesting the 
 relative purity of the Hebrew conceptions of deity {op. cit. bk. i. ch. 8 init.). 
 
 * Oehler, § 36. Cp. Riehm, p. 49. ^ Schultz, ii. 130. 
 
 * Oehler, § 23, note 8. Cp. Westcott on Heb. vii. I. 
 
iv] PROCRESSIl'E SELF-REVELATION OF COD 185 
 
 is characteristic of the patriarchal period, 'ElShaddai^. 
 
 There can be no question that the general import 
 
 of the name is correctly given in the usual English 
 
 equivalent, 'God Almighty.' The idea conveyed by it 
 
 is that of absolute control over the forces of nature 
 
 and the course of history. Abraham, as the recipient 
 
 of Jehovah's gracious promises, may lean confidently 
 
 on Him, with full assurance that luJiat he Iiatli 
 
 promised he is able also to perform- ; He is unfettered 
 
 either by human perversity, or by the fixity of physical 
 
 laws. The appearance of this designation of God 
 
 marks a significant advance in religious ideas. It 
 
 seems to imply the drawing of a conscious distinction 
 
 between the one true omnipotent God and the 
 
 powerless deities of heathendom. It corresponds 
 
 to the simplicity and relative purity of patriarchal 
 
 faith and worship when compared with the debased 
 
 nature-religion of the Canaanites. 
 
 Specially distinctive of the Mosaic period is the title 
 
 which is peculiarly the Name '^ of revelation, Jahveh. 
 
 Into the disputed history and origin of the word there 
 
 is no occasion to enter minutely. It may suffice to 
 
 say briefly that it appears to be a genuine Hebrew 
 
 formation, directly connected with the third person 
 
 singular imperfect of a verb*. But it is still a 
 
 matter of some uncertainty what was the precise 
 
 si<jnificance of the orioinal verbal stem ; whether the 
 
 . . . 
 
 form is a Qal or a Hiphil; and therefore whether the 
 
 word itself means ' the living one ' or ' he who causes 
 
 to be,' ' the Creator,' It is noteworthy, however, that 
 
 names derived from the Imperfect tense — such names, 
 
 for instance, as Jacob or Israel — seem generally, like 
 
 Latin formations ending In -tor, to indicate a constant 
 
 quality in the object of which they are predicated. 
 
 There is sufficient reason on the whole for accepting 
 
 ' Exod. vi. 3. Observe this is according to P. ^ Rom. iv. 21. 
 
 ' Lev. xxiv, 1 1 : Dti'n, LXX. ro '6vQ\ia. 
 
 * For various accounts of the derivation see Riehm, p. 59 ; Robertson, 
 Early Religion of Israel, pp. 268 foil. ; Renan, Histoire diipetcple (V Israel., 
 bk. i, ch. 6; Sindia Biblica, vol. i. pp. 11 foil. 
 
i86 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 the view that the word means 'he who will be.' There 
 is an inevitable vagueness in the phrase, but, as Prof. 
 Robertson Smith explains, it implies that ' no words can 
 sum up all that Jehovah will be to His peopled' It 
 essentially conveys the notion of a living and active 
 moral personality. Jehovah is a personal being pos- 
 sessed of definite will and character ; free to intervene 
 in the course of events, and to enter into a relationship 
 of grace with His creatures; faithful to His own 
 nature, persistent and self-consistent, an object, there- 
 fore, on which human hopes may securely rest ; a being 
 moreover who, because He truly is, is therefore holy, 
 for evil is only the negation of true being. Id mahun 
 est, says Augustine, deficeix ab essentia et ad id tender e 
 tit non sit ^. 
 
 There remain two Hebrew titles of deity, 'Adonai 
 and JahveJi Tsebaoth, 'Jehovah of hosts,' of which the 
 latter only needs a word of explanation at this point. 
 The name first appears in the narrative of the books 
 of Samuel, a circumstance which sus^S^ests that it was 
 commonly associated with the early fortunes of the 
 monarchy. The original sense and application of the 
 name is disputed, but most probably its earliest appli- 
 cation was to the armies of Israel itself, which were 
 habitually regarded as the hosts of Jehovah, marching 
 under Him as their captain and waging w^ar in His 
 name ^. According to this view the title naturally 
 occurs in the early historical books, having been 
 suggested by the warlike experiences of the exodus 
 and the entry into Canaan. 
 
 Before we consider the relation in which these 
 various names of God stand to one another, and the 
 special importance of each in the history of revela- 
 tion, let us pause to notice the general conception of 
 revelation which they imply. 
 
 ^ Prophets of Israel, lect. ii, note lo. Cp. Robertson, Early Religion 
 of Israel, p. 286. 
 
 '■* de mor. Ma7iich. ii. §§ 2, 3. Cp. Conf. vii. 12 ; Ath. c. Gent, iv, vi. 
 
 ' Cp. Exod.vii. 4, xii. 41 ; Num. xxi. 14; i Sam. xvii, 45. Cp. Robertson, 
 Early Religion of Israel, note 16, p. 503. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELE-REV ELATION OE COD 187 
 
 In the first place, the Old Testament witnesses to 
 an implicit belief that God approaches man inde- 
 pendently of man's efforts to find God. The Hebrew 
 idea of God was simple and concrete. The Jew 
 instinctively thought of Jehovah as a personal bein^, 
 and therefore capable of making communications to 
 man. A single expression marks the gulf that parts 
 the ancient from the modern habit of mind. The 
 Hebrew prophet speaks of ' seeking God,' not of * seek- 
 ing after truth.' God is already for him an existing 
 personal being, the high and lofty one that inhabitcth 
 eternity, zvhose name is holy ^ but who has revealed to 
 man the conditions of entering into communion with 
 Himself. In a word, the religion of the Old Testa- 
 ment has rather a prophetic than a philosophic 
 character. It is presupposed that God can and does 
 speak to man in language that he is capable of com- 
 prehending : dreams, visions, oracles, theophanies, 
 angelic communications, prophetic messages — these 
 are the usual media of communication between God 
 and His creatures, and they all point onwards to the 
 possibility of that immediate converse between the 
 human spirit and the Spirit of God, which is the goal 
 and crowning-point of revelation. The childlike 
 narratives of the early history represent Jehovah as 
 holdinor intercourse with His elect, talkinc^ with them 
 as a man speaketh tinto his friend-. In proportion as 
 the idea of deity becomes more developed this kind 
 of language disappears. The distance is not widened 
 between the Creator and His creatures, but the mode 
 of His communication with them is more spiritually 
 conceived. Throughout the Old Testament, how- 
 ever, there is no change in the general idea of divine 
 revelation, namely, that a self-acquired knowledge of 
 deity is impossible for man, that the first approach 
 must be made by God Himself, that so much only can 
 be known of Him as He is willing to manifest from 
 time to time in the course of history. 
 
 * Is>a. Ivii. 15. * Exod. xxxiii. ii. 
 
i88 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 That Jehovah, then, is a being who communicates 
 with man is, for the Hebrew, an instinctively drawn 
 inference from the belief in the divine personality. 
 That God should enter into close relationships with 
 men, that He should intimately associate Himself with 
 their tribal and family life, w^ith their traditional 
 customs of worship, with their joys and sorrows, their 
 migrations and feuds — this was an integral element 
 in early Semitic belief Not less habitual was the 
 ascription to deity of a readiness to intervene with 
 counsel in difficulty, or with an authoritative sentence 
 in matters of dispute. There was something in this 
 habit of mind which manifestly fitted the Semitic race 
 to be the vehicle of divine revelation to mankind. 
 The desire to know God and to hold fellowship with 
 Him was a natural basis on which the fabric of 
 revealed religion could be built up. Imbued with the 
 sense of a close antecedent relation to God, determin- 
 ing his tribal status and his social duties, the primitive 
 Semite displayed an habitual inclination to explore 
 the purposes and to ascertain the will of the powerful 
 being to whom he felt himself so closely bound and 
 so irresistibly attracted. Hence doubtless it is that 
 soothsaying and prophecy, whether in its lower or 
 higher forms, are so constant a phenomenon in Semitic 
 religion \ It seemed entirely natural that the deity 
 should converse with man, that He should employ 
 human organs in the declaration of His will, that by 
 secret communications of His Spirit He should impart 
 that knowledge of His nature and requirement w^hich 
 constitutes the true life of man. 
 
 On the other hand, the Old Testament teaches 
 that the faculty which apprehends the divine com- 
 munications is moral rather than intellectual. What 
 differentiates Hebrew prophecy from heathen mantic 
 is not only its actual content, but the moral conditions 
 which it presupposes. The power of prophecy implies 
 as its basis the life of friendship with God, and friend- 
 
 ' Riehm, ATI. Tkeologte, p. 46. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 189 
 
 ship can only exist where there is Hkeness in character 
 and aim. The reh'gion of Israel tends ever more 
 completely to exclude the ethnic notion of inspiration 
 divorced from morality. Spiritual insight is the out- 
 come of the fear of God — a fear which is no mere 
 slavish emotion of abject dependence or terror, but 
 a principle of practical wisdom ^ and a faculty of 
 spiritual perception, discerning in all things the divine 
 purpose and in all action guided by the divine will -. 
 Such fear involves the renunciation of self-conceit. 
 Lean not, says the Hebrew sage, unto thine oiun 
 understanding. Be not wise in thine own eyes ^. And 
 Jeremiah insists even more emphatically. Let not the 
 wise man glory in his tvisdom, . . . but let him that glorieth 
 gloiy in this, that he nnderstandeth and knoweth me, 
 that I am the Lord which exercise lovin^kindness, 
 J2idg77ient, and righteousness in the earth ^ Thus the 
 inspired wisdom of the Old Testament anticipates the 
 teaching of the New, in laying down two main condi- 
 tions under which alone a true knowledge of God is 
 possible for man. First, human faculties cannot reach 
 a deity who hides himself ; religion, the life of friend- 
 ship between the human heart and God, is impossible 
 except on the basis of a divine self-communication. 
 And, secondly, the capacity to know God is a moral 
 quality ; inspiration and revelation aVe the correlative 
 aspects of a moral relationship subsisting between 
 God and man, God making His communications to 
 a being whose power of response primarily depends on 
 the condition of his heart and will, on the degree 
 of his moral sympathy with his holy Creator. 
 
 We may now consider somewhat more in detail 
 the revelation of God in which the several names 
 above mentioned seem to mark distinct and definite 
 stages. 
 
 The general names, 'El, 'Elohim, ' Eloah, El '^Elyon, 
 which were apparently common among the Semitic 
 
 * Cp. Prov. ix. 10. See Oehler, § 240. 
 
 * Cp. Prov. iii. 6. ^ p^^y^ jjj ^^ 7^ 4 jgj. j^. 23, 24. 
 
190 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 tribes, correspond to that vague and undefined con- 
 ception of deity which would be natural at a primitive 
 stage of civilization. 'Eloliim is a power who tran- 
 scends nature and man, who is elevated above the 
 limitations of the visible universe. The title seems 
 to concentrate in a single term all that may be known 
 of God by contemplation of the universe, regarded 
 as His handiworks 'Elohim is the Creator mani- 
 festing His wisdom and omnipotence in all the varied 
 processes of nature which at the same time He 
 transcends. From the first, the use of the name in 
 Hebrew religion served to exclude pantheistic con- 
 ceptions of deity. The notion of transcendence, how- 
 ever, came to be more distinctly conveyed by the rare 
 'El 'Elyoii, 'God Most High,' a name which distin- 
 guishes the one true God from other conceivable 
 'Elohim. Speaking generally, this entire group of 
 terms may be described as universalistic in their 
 connotation. They indicate the relation of God to 
 all that He has made, as its creator and sustainer. 
 Thus when creatures other than man are repre- 
 sented as speaking, they employ the term ' Elohim'^. 
 Again, it has been observed by scholars that ' Elohim, 
 as the title of God most frequently employed in 
 post-exilic days, is a symbol of the increasingly 
 spiritual and transcendental conceptions of God 
 which the teaching of later prophecy displays ^ The 
 tendency of religion at this period was to exalt the 
 deity to a point where He stood far removed from 
 contact with the world, and consequently to describe 
 Him in abstract and general terms. ' The names 
 God of heaven, Most HIq/i God beq-in to be used, and 
 
 ^ Cp. Rom. i. 19. "^ e. g. Judges ix. 9. 
 
 ^ Renan strangely regards the w^va^ Jahveh as representing a lower 
 stage of faith than Elohim. ' The religious progress of Israel will be 
 found to consist in reverting from Jahveh to Elohim, ... in stripping him 
 of his personal attributes and leaving him only the abstract existence of 
 ]*:iohim' {Histoire du peuple d' Israel, bk. i. ch. 6). 'The history of 
 Israel,' he says elsewhere (bk. ii, ch. 5), ' was an effort continued through 
 long ages to shake off the false god Jahveh, and to return to the primitive 
 Elohim.' 
 
IV] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 191 
 
 are even put into heathen mouths \' The covenant- 
 name ydiovah is withdrawn, as if a reluctance had 
 gradually arisen to name the living God. or perhaps 
 a vague dread of dishonouring His awful majesty^. 
 But a providential purpose may be discerned in what 
 might at first sight seem to be a retrogression. 
 The revival of these primitive titles 'Elohim and 'El 
 ' Elyoii has a theological significance in so far as they 
 bear witness to a redemptive purpose of God extend- 
 ing beyond the pale of His covenant with Israel. In 
 the third book of the psalter, for example, the use of 
 the word 'Elohmi was perhaps designed by the compiler 
 to counteract the exclusive temper, which was Israel's 
 peculiar danger in the age subsequent to the return 
 from Babylon. A good instance of the same point is 
 furnished by the book of Ecclesiastes. Here Elohim 
 is the solitary title of deity employed ; and the divine 
 nature is described in such general terms as might 
 awaken a response in the heathen conscience. While 
 'EloJiiin testifies to the providential regard of the God 
 of Israel for the Gentile world, the names 'Creator' 
 and 'Judge' would suggest a character and function 
 already ascribed to deity by the higher spirits of 
 heathendom. The name 'Elohim, corresponding to the 
 Greek title to 0e?oi/, would constitute one of those 
 links between the religion of Israel and the higher 
 thought of the Hellenic world on which the future 
 spread of Christianity so largely depended. Indeed, 
 in the system of Philo the later Jewish mode of con- 
 ceiving the deity easily coalesces with the transcendental 
 tendencies of Platonism. 
 
 The name El Shaddai, ' God Almighty,' is repre- 
 sented by the priestly document in the Pentateuch as 
 characteristic of the first stage in redemptive history ^. 
 
 ^ See Neh. ix. 32 foil. ; Ezra i. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 23 (Schultz, vol. ii. 
 p. 114). 
 
 "^ To blaspheme the Name was to blaspheme God as He had revealed 
 Himself through Moses to His people. See Lev. xxiv. Ii, 16. 
 
 '' Gen. xvii. i, xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11 ; Exod. vi. 3. The name Shaddai is 
 also characteristic of the book of Jolj. See Driver on Joel, p. Si. 
 
192 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF COD [lect. 
 
 It denotes a divine "power to control or overrule 
 nature in the interests of a providential purpose. It is 
 'El Shaddai who makes childless Abraham the father 
 of many nations, and supports him in his loneliness 
 among the heathen. The expression obviously marks 
 an advance beyond the notion that the deity is merely 
 strong or powerful {El), for it suggested the higher 
 moral attributes of God to which His omnipotence 
 is subject. El Shaddai was a name that prepared 
 the way for the notion of grace. ' Grace/ observes 
 Delitzsch, ' always raises itself on the foundation of the 
 natural after it has destroyed it ; thus the body of 
 Abraham must become as good as dead before he could 
 become the father of the son of promise ^' It is an 
 instructive circumstance that in the hymn of the 
 blessed Virgin the thought contained in 'El Shaddai 
 recurs. He that is mighty (o hwaro^i) hath done to 7ne 
 great things, and holy is his name"-. Finally, while 
 the title lifts the conception of God high above old 
 polytheistic associations, it also confirms the tradition 
 that the foundations of the true religion had already 
 been securely laid in the pre-Mosaic period. El 
 Shaddai had manifested Himself in the separation of 
 Abraham from the falsities of encompassing idolatry, 
 in the guidance and protection vouchsafed to him 
 during a long and chequered career, in the gift of a son 
 when the patriarch was far advanced in years, in the 
 gracious promises made to him and to his seed. And 
 all these blessings were tokens not only of God's 
 favour, but also of His all-sufficing power. 
 
 There is another title of God which we are justified 
 in considering at this point, inasmuch as it represents 
 the subjective aspect of the truth implied xW El Shaddai, 
 I mean the name 'Adonai, ' My lord.' This name 
 appears to express the temper of trustful depend- 
 ence; the consciousness of being linked to God by 
 a tie which constitutes a continual claim on the 
 
 * CA/ Tesf. History of Redemption, § i6. Cp. Rom. iv, 19 ; Heb. xi. 12. 
 ^ St. Luke i. 49. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 193 
 
 divine " bounty and protection. The term ' Lord ' 
 (Ac/oji) is specially used in connexion with two kinds 
 of relationship : that of wife to husband, and that of 
 servant to master ^ It is not uncommon in pro- 
 phecy-. There are some indications that in the pre- 
 prophetic period the term Baa/, ' Master,' ' Owner,' or 
 ' Lord,' was occasionally used in the same connexion, 
 but it was naturally repudiated when the worship of 
 Jehovah under this title had become mero^ed in the 
 local cults of the Canaanitish Baalim'^. The name 
 'Adonai implies that man's relationship to God is 
 one of loving trust rather than of fear. In it, says 
 a recent WTiter, ' was couched a strong ethical motive, 
 which becomes influential in Christian ethics, being 
 accentuated especially in the Pauline theology ; . . . the 
 Old Testament saint delighted to call God by the 
 name that helped him to realize that he was both the 
 subject and the property of his Lord*.' 
 
 We now pass to the most important and distinctive 
 designation of God in the Old Testament. The 
 name ychovah {jfahvcJi) may be considered in itself 
 and in its relation to the names of deity already 
 discussed. The title connotes primarily that which 
 differentiates the nature of God from the changeable- 
 ness and dependence of created being. Jehovah is 
 absolutely self-subsistent and independent. With 
 Him is the fountain of life ; He has life in Himself. 
 Further, the name points to the future. Jehovah 
 is one whose intercourse with the human race is 
 continuous, living, and progressive. He is a personal 
 being who in free self-determination can manifest 
 Himself to man according as His purpose may re- 
 quire, whether in a moral law, or in deeds of power, 
 or in acts of forgiveness and beneficence. Thus, 
 
 ' Cp. Jukes, The Names of God, pp. 114 fell. 
 
 "^ ''31X Isa. vi. I, xxi. 16, xxix. 13. \\'y^r\ Isa. x. 16, 33, &c. Cp. 
 Schultz, ii. 129. 
 
 ^ Cp. Hos. ii. 8, 13 ; and see Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 
 p. 95 ; and Robertson, liarly Reliction of Israel, pp. I'ji-1 73. 
 
 * W. S. Bruce, Eihics of the O'. T. p. 44. 
 O 
 
194 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 when contrasted with ''Elohini, the title signifies a beinof 
 who continuously unveils Himself in history, as opposed 
 to a supra-mundane power once for all manifested in 
 nature ; on the other hand, the title supplements the 
 thought of omnipotent power ^El Shaddai) by that of 
 covenantal love. The notion of grace from the first 
 qualifies the attributes of a merely national deity. 
 The appellations which the heathen gave to their 
 deities, Baal, Milcom, and the like, point to little 
 more than a relationship of abject dependence. The 
 title yehovah, on the contrary, implies that God's 
 dealings with His people are not those of mere 
 arbitrary sovereignty, but those of covenantal love ^ 
 And at this point let us observe the special signifi- 
 cance of the fact that it is in connexion with this name 
 that anthropomorphic expressions are most frequently 
 employed. The personality of God is emphasized by 
 phrases borrowed from the common actions and 
 bodily motions of men. We hear of the ' mouth ' of 
 Jehovah speaking, the 'hand' of Jehovah being out- 
 stretched, the 'voice' of Jehovah shaking the wilder- 
 ness, the 'eyes' of Jehovah running to and fro 
 through the whole earth. 'The Old Testament writers,' 
 says Schultz, ' speak like materialists, simply because 
 they have not yet clearly apprehended the distinction 
 between spirit and matter ^.' What they are concerned 
 to maintain is something more important for religion 
 than any philosophical or speculative conception of 
 Godhead, namely, the truth that the Creator is a living 
 person who thinks, purposes, wills, and chooses ^ They 
 
 ^ Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 246. Renan, Histoire dii peuple 
 cf Israel, bk. i, ch. 3, remarks that ' religious abjection was repulsive ' to 
 the primitive Semites ' and this fine feeling afterwards brought its reward.' 
 
 2 O. T. Theol. ii. 107. 
 
 ^ Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 61 : ' Dass nun Jahve Perso7ten7tame 
 des Gottes Israels ist und die Vorstellung Gottes als eines freien, 
 selbstbewussten und sich selbst bestimmenden Ichs mit ihm sich 
 verkniipft, dafiir ist ein augenfal.iges Zeugniss, dass mit diesem Gottes- 
 namen in der Kegel die Anthropomorphismen und Anthropopathismen 
 . . . verbunden sind, wiihrend sich EtoJu'/n in solcher.Verbindung selten 
 findet.' Origen defends the anthropopathic language of Scripture against 
 Celsus as illustrating the divine condescension. See c. Cels. iv. 71 : 'As 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 195 
 
 interpret deity by the highest category within their 
 reach, and though their phraseology is sometimes 
 incongruous, it is perfectly consistent with their purely 
 religious aim and interest. It is, moreover, significant 
 that precisely in those later passages of the Old 
 Testament which insist most impressively upon the 
 divine transcendence and freedom from the limita- 
 tions of creaturely existence, we find the most unre- 
 stricted use of anthropomorphic language. In no 
 other way could the fundamental postulate of Hebrew 
 religion, the personality of God, be clearly enforced ; 
 while from the Christian standpoint the habitual 
 employment of such phraseology may be regarded as 
 an element in the educational process by which humanity 
 was being prepared for the advent of the Word made 
 flesh. 
 
 The name Jehovah, then, embraces all that God has 
 made known of Himself in His successive dealings 
 with His chosen people; the content of it, so to 
 speak, is unfolded by the advancing experience of 
 the faithful. Thus it happens that the compilers 
 of the records of revelation occasionally seem to make 
 a point of identifying Jehovah with other manifesta- 
 tions of the divine Being. In the phrase Jehovah 
 Elohim, which is characteristic of a small section of the 
 Pentateuch \ and is frequently employed by Ezekiel, 
 Jehovah is identified with the Creator of the universe ; 
 in the expression Jehovah God most high -, Jehovah 
 is acknowledged to be supreme in majesty and in His 
 claim to Israel's homage and adoration. To Haear, 
 
 vc ourselves when talking with very young children do not aim at 
 exerting our own power of eloquence, but, adapting ourselves to the 
 weakness of our charge, both say and do those things which may appear 
 to us useful for the correction and improvement of the children as 
 children ; so the Word of (lod appears to have dealt with the history, 
 making the capacity of the hearers, and the benefit which they were to 
 receive, the standard of the appropriateness of its announcements 
 [respecting God].' In de Orat. xxiii. he says that the passages which 
 ascribe corporeal acts or conditions to deity fiemXr^rrTiov npeKovrws rals 
 fi(yu\(ns Kiu TTi'fvfinTtKd'is fi'i'oiius rre/ji 6(ou. Cp. Novatian, de 'Irin. vi-ix. 
 \ Gen. ii. and iii. ; E.xod. ix. 30. '^ Gen. xiv. 22. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 Abraham's bondmaid, Jehovah manifests Himself as 
 the living one who seeth \ This wonderful expres- 
 sion is one which makes us pause. The living one! ^ the 
 home and source of life, the being whose will is that 
 all His creatures should share in His inexhaustible 
 fullness of life, who is utterly separated from all that 
 is dead, or formal, or mechanical, or unspiritual ^ 
 Such passages as Psalm cxv, or Isaiah xliv, develope in 
 detail the thought of the measureless interval that 
 parts Jehovah from idols, the work of mciis hands. 
 Nor is Jehovah only a living person ; He is 'El 'Olam *, 
 ' the everlasting God,' unchangeable in character, 
 persistently fulfilling His purpose of grace throughout 
 age-long dispensations of mercy and power. It corre- 
 sponds with the thought of the continuity of Jehovah's 
 work that He is described by titles which define His 
 special relation to the elect people. He is the God 
 -of Shzm, God of the Hebi^ezvs, God of the fathers, God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — phrases which seem to 
 imply that the worship of Jehovah was already tradi- 
 tional before the time of Moses. Nor must we over- 
 look the expression which is the very charter of the 
 Mosaic religion, Jehovah the God of Israel. The 
 more developed form of this last title, the Holy One of 
 Israel, has special importance as marking a stage in the 
 evolution of Israel's faith into a universal religion, 
 a moment of transition when the idea of Jehovah's 
 uniqueness as the object of Israel's devotion passes 
 into that of His moral perfection as revealed in the 
 Law and in the work of grace. First employed, as it 
 would seem, by Isaiah, the name gathers up all that 
 Israel might have learned touching the character of 
 
 ^ Gen. xvi. 13, 14. 
 
 ^ Cp. Josh. iii. 10 ; i Sam. xvii. 26, 36 ; Deut. iv. 28 ; v. 26 ; Ps. xxxvi. 
 9 ; xlii. 2, 8 ; Jer. ii. 13 ; x. 10, &c. Cp. the phrase The Lord liveth. 
 
 ^ Contrast the frequent phrase applied to idols, DvvX. Lev. xix. 4 ; 
 Ps. xcvii. 7; Isa. ii. 18, 20; x. 10; xix. I, 3; Ezek. xxx. 13. Cp. 
 Ps. cvi. 28. 
 
 * Gen. xxi. 33. Cp. Jukes, Names of God, pp. 13S-141. See also 
 Ps. xc. 2 ; I Tim. i. 17. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 197 
 
 Jehovah hi the pre-prophetic period : His love in 
 separating unto Himself a peculiar people, His moral 
 requirement revealed in the Law, His abhorrence of 
 ceremonial worship divorced from righteous conduct. 
 When it was first proclaimed, the name served a 
 double purpose : it was intended at once to alarm and 
 to console. Jehovah's holiness was a principle which 
 must assert itself at once in the chastisement of Israel's 
 sins, and in the overthrow of their oppressors ^ 
 
 The above illustrations sufficiently prove that 
 In the view of the Old Testament writers Jehovah 
 can only be fully apprehended, under a large diver- 
 sity of names or attributes ; and it has been truly 
 remarked that this very fact implies that Jewish 
 monotheism is not of a bare and merely abstract 
 character, like the doctrine of Islam. ' The idea of 
 God is not a bare unit'; the divine nature 'involves 
 diversity as well as unity-'; and from the idea of 
 a diversity of external relationships, a short step leads 
 to the conception of a being who possesses in the 
 fullness of His own self-sufficing life internal relation- 
 ship of love. 
 
 There appear to be successive stages discernible in 
 the manifestation of Jehovah's attributes. As we have 
 already seen. He is revealed first as 'holy,' that Is, 
 absolutely 'separate' from the world; and by His 
 gracious severance of Israel from Egypt He consecrates 
 to Himself a people to share His holiness. Ye shall 
 be holy tinto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have 
 severed you from other people, that ye should be mine ^. 
 Under the discipline of the Law, which awakened and 
 educated the sense of moral shortcoming, the prophetic 
 spirit in Israel gradually elucidated the ethical mean- 
 ing of holiness as involving separation from sin. 
 But already, at an early point in the history, an 
 explicit manifestation of Jehovah's character was 
 elicited by the very fact of Israels unfaithfulness. It 
 
 ' Cp. Kirkpatrick, The Doctrine of the Prophets, pp. 175 foil. 
 
 2 Caird, The Philosophy of Religion, p. 312. * Lev. xx. 26. 
 
198 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 should be noticed that the wonderful declaration of the 
 Name of Jehovah recorded in Exod. xxxiv, stands 
 in close connexion with the account of Israel's first 
 signal act of apostasy, the making of the golden calf. 
 The exact nature and degree of the nation's guilt 
 in this matter is not a point which concerns us here. 
 It is sufficiently evident that the compiler of the 
 narrative intended to suggest a close connexion 
 between Israel's guilt and the self-revelation of God 
 which was occasioned by it. Let us devote a few 
 minutes' attention to the great passage in question. 
 Jehovah, we read, passed by before him, and proclaimed, 
 Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim, merciful and gracious, 
 longsuffej'ing, and abundant in goodness and truth, 
 keeping mercy for thousands, foi'giving iniquity and 
 transgression and sin, arid, that will by no means clear 
 the guilty ; visiting the iniqiiity of the fathers upon thz 
 children, and upon the children s children, tmto ths 
 third and to the foztrth generation \ 
 
 Here are described two sides of the divine character, 
 which may be said to constitute two permanent and 
 complementary elements in the Old Testament con- 
 ception of God. On the one hand, the passage ascribes 
 to Jehovah the attribute of truth or righteousness ; on 
 the other, that of kindness or grace ^ 
 
 I. First, then, Jehovah is righteous and true ^. 
 These two attributes, if not precisely synonymous, do 
 at least mutually explain each other. The attribute of 
 ' righteousness ' denotes the moral exactitude with 
 which Jehovah necessarily acts and judges. He deals 
 with men by rule and measure — by the standard of His 
 own moral perfection. He requites them according to 
 their deeds ; He fulfils His purposes in perfect accord- 
 ance with His threats and promises ; He is ever mindful 
 of that which He has pledged Himself to perform, 
 ever true to the character which He has already 
 
 ^ Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7« 
 
 ^ 'Die beidenentgegengesetztenPoIedesWesensGottes.' (Riehm,p. 62.) 
 
 ' On y'Ti, nplifj see Schultz, ii. 152 ; Gesenius, Lexicon, s. v. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 199 
 
 made known. The word 'trudi^' or ' faidifulness ' 
 answers to ' righteousness ' as subjective to objective, 
 implying the fidelity, stability, dependableness of the 
 divine character. In Jehovah man finds that on which 
 he may lean with confidence, security, and hope. Faith- 
 fulness is, in fact, an attribute of God before it is an 
 element in true human goodness ; and there is no 
 attribute of God more frequently alluded to and more 
 trustfully appealed to, throughout the records of 
 Israel's troubled history, than this of the divine faith- 
 fulness. It finds expression in such ancient designa- 
 tions of God as Ike Rock 2. In a world of movement 
 and change, as contrasted with the transitoriness and 
 mutability of man, the divine character is fixed, per- 
 manent, and changeless. It is poetically likenecl to 
 those immense landmarks in nature which endure 
 when countless generations of men are no more. 
 Thy rig/Ucoiisness, cries the psalmist, is like the 
 mount ains of God'^. Nay, Before the mountains were 
 brought forth, or ever the earth and the ivorld were 
 made, thou art God from everlasting and world with- 
 out end. Thus the persistence and self-consistency of 
 Jehovah is regarded in a moral light as the necessary- 
 condition of His moral government, and as the stable 
 foundation of the divine kingdom. 
 
 2. On the other hand, God is gracious and merciful, 
 full of lovlngkindness and of pity for the penitent, the 
 suffering, the oppressed. It is this side of the divine 
 character which manifests itself on the occasion of 
 Israel's wilful apostasy. It is the deepest and most 
 enduring element in Jehovah's nature ^ The most 
 expressive term denoting this attribute is chewed, 'grace' 
 or ' lovlngkindness,' which, though frequently applied 
 to man, belongs primarily to Jehovah '\ One of the 
 
 1 nr:N, r\'m^, Cp. Schultz, ii. 156. 
 
 "^ "lli*. See especially Deut, xxxii. 4 ; cp. Num. 1. 5, 6, 10; iii. 35. 
 ^ Ps. xxxvi. 6. Cp. xc. 2, 
 
 * Cp. Robertson, Early Reh\i^t07i of Israel, pp. 323 foil. ; Schultz, ir. 159. 
 " As applied to man, "IDPI means (l) the piety or covenant-love of Israel 
 towards Jehovah, (2) brotherly kindness between man and man. 
 
200 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 first of the eighth-century prophets, Hosea, conceives 
 of Israel's entire history as a love-story. The only 
 metaphor which can express the tenderness of 
 Jehovah's dealings with His wayward people is 
 borrowed from the marriage-tie. God's love for 
 Israel has been like that of a husband for the erring 
 wife of his youth. But the conception of the divine 
 lovingkindness was broadened by experience. It came 
 to be understood that the attribute was proper to 
 Jehovah, not merely as Israel's God, but as Creator. 
 The glory and beauty of creation, the providential care 
 displayed towards even the lowest creatures, testified 
 to the creative goodness and compassion of God ; in 
 the book of Jonah the divine pity is extended even to 
 the heathen world, which Israel held in such abhor- 
 rence. Indeed, as Israel's religious consciousness 
 developed, it came to be understood that the most 
 fundamental and far-reaching attribute in the character 
 of Jehovah was lovingkindness. This seems to be 
 clearly proved by the frequency with which the great 
 passage in Exodus is alluded to in other books of the 
 Old Testament. Three of the minor prophets, Jonah, 
 Micah, and Nahum, are linked together by their 
 common interest in it ^ ; and in such a psalm as the 
 hundred and third, its characteristic teaching is beauti- 
 fully and richly expanded. 
 
 It is a direct consequence of Jehovah's love that He 
 is also represented as jealous". Jealousy in God is 
 the zeal of outraged love. In the Mosaic period we 
 cannot but recognize the imperfecdy moral conception 
 formed of Jehovah's character. The wrathful and 
 fiery elements of the divine nature are regarded as the 
 most prominent. The anger of Jehovah is kindled by 
 any infringement of covenant-conditions ; it blazes 
 forth with sudden vehemence at the least outrage 
 done to His honour ^ It has even been maintained 
 
 ^ See Jonah iv. 2 ; Mic. vii. 1 8 ; Nahum i. 3. Cp. Riehm, p. 63. 
 
 2 N3p 7S. Num. xxv. 11 ; Deut. iv. 24 ; v. 9 ; vi. 15, «S:c. 
 
 ^ Cp. Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 38, 39 ; and see Robertson 
 
IV] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF COD 201 
 
 that the conception of Jehovah marks a retrograde 
 step in the evolution of the doctrine of God ; that 
 the patriarchal Elohini is a more benevolent being 
 than the JeJiovah of Moses and the prophets ^ 
 
 It may be replied, however, that the primitive idea 
 of Jehovah's wrath as roused by even the slightest 
 disregard of His holiness, marks a necessary stage in 
 the education of the human conscience ; it is the first 
 step towards the development of the sense of sin. 
 To the prophets the anger of Jehovah means His 
 essential hostility to moral evil ; they do not think of 
 it as lightly or quickly aroused : they point to a day 
 of vengeance in the future, when the long-delayed 
 judgment of God upon human sin will be manifested^. 
 But the distinctive point of the prophetic teaching is 
 that it connects the wrath of Jehovah with the thought 
 of His covenant-love. There are two things by which 
 that wrath is specially provoked : the faithlessness 
 or apostasy of His chosen people, and outrage done 
 to them by others. Thus the metaphor of a marriage- 
 bond subsisting between Jehovah and His people 
 moralizes the older view of the divine wrath. 
 While the prophets denounced the popular delusion 
 of their time, that in any event, and apart from ethical 
 conditions, Jehovah was bound to be on Israel's side, 
 they ascribed to Him a love fqr Israel that did not 
 exclude, but rather demanded, the occasional display 
 of His holy indignation. While, however, earlier 
 prophets dwell chiefly on the thought of divine 
 jealousy as provoked by Israel's sin, Ezekiel and 
 Zechariah generally regard it as a vindication of 
 Jehovah's personal honour and holiness, which is 
 bound up with Israel's fortunes. Jehovah's anger is 
 righteous jealousy on behalf of those whom He has 
 received into covenant union with Himself. Whoso- 
 
 Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 147; Robertson, Early Religion of 
 Israel, p. 298. 
 
 ^ See Darmesteter, Les Prophctes d' Israel, p. 213 ; Renan, Histoire du 
 peitple d' Israel, bk. i. ch. 13. 
 
 ^ Cp. Isa. xxxiv. 8 ; Ixi. 2 ; Ixiii. 4 ; Ps. xciv. i. 
 
202 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 ever touches them touches the apple of his eye^. His 
 hohness has been profaned by the exile of His people ; 
 He has been reproached as though He were unable or 
 unwilling to protect His chosen. But he has pity for 
 His holy name, and accordingly He promises to 
 deliver Israel from captivity, and so to sanctify His 
 great name, which was profaned among the heathcn\ 
 Thus since lovingkindness is the dominant element in 
 the being of God, the manifestation of His indigna- 
 tion against Israel's sin is only a transient stage in 
 His dealings with His chosen. In wrath Jehovah 
 remembers His mercy. For a small moment have 
 I forsaken thee; bnt with great mercies will I gather 
 thee. In a little zvrath I hid my face fro7n thee for 
 a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have 
 m^crcy on thee, saith the Lord thy redec^ner^. 
 
 We have now considered the two complementary 
 sides or aspects of Jehovah's revealed character. 
 How deeply they enter into the theology of the Old 
 Testament may be gathered from the fact that the 
 divine 'kindness' and 'truth' are habitually co-ordi- 
 nated in Israel's hymns of praise and in prophetic 
 visions of the future. The short Psalm cxvii, for 
 example, has been said to embody ' the essence of all 
 Messianic psalms.' O praise the Lord, all ye hccithcn : 
 praise him, all ye nations. For his merciful kindness 
 is ever more and more towards us: and the tr^ith of the 
 Lord endureth for ever \ And we may observe that 
 in the 'truth' and 'kindness' of the Old Testament 
 conception of Jehovah is contained a pledge and 
 
 1 Zech ii 8. Cp. Deut. xxxii. 2i, 22, 36. The phrase 'to be jealous 
 for' is apparently first used in the prophetic period; see Zech. 1. 14, 
 
 ^"2" Ezek. xxxvi. 21-24. See Kirkpatrick, T/ie Doctrine of the Prophets, 
 PP^ 339. 340- 
 
 * Cp.' P^ss.^'xl.' 10 foil.; Ixi. 7 ; Ixxxv 10; Ixxxix passim; cxv. I, &c. 
 See the combination of a*o. and aXr,^«a m Rom xv. 8- 9- Obs 
 The abbreviated form Jah expresses m a concentrated form all essentia 
 elements of Jehovah's revealed character. t is found m Exod. xv. 2 , 
 Ps. Ixviii. 4 ; Isa. xii. 2, and especially m the Hallelu-jah. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 203 
 
 prophecy of One in whom should be manifested 
 the fuUness oi grace and truth^ \ who should be 
 at once the author of a perfect redemption and of 
 a final revelation : manifesting God as love and as 
 light. 
 
 There is yet one more title of God peculiar to the 
 Old Testament which needs some notice, viz. Jehovah 
 Tsebaoth. This name seems to have arisen as the 
 result of prolonged national experience, since it com- 
 memorates the visible proofs which Jehovah had 
 given of His presence with the armies of Israel. 
 The title, so far as we can judge, was specially promi- 
 nent during the period of the monarchy, the victories 
 of Israel's kings over the heathen being looked upon 
 as pledges of Jehovah's sovereignty over a hostile 
 world. It was 'a name of memories and triumphs,' 
 and perhaps came to be regarded as that title of 
 Israel's God to which a ruined state or church might 
 most fittingly appeal in times of national distress. 
 The frequency of its occurrence in the writings of 
 Isaiah, and in the books of the three post-exilic minor 
 prophets, is significant. There are, however, clear 
 tokens of expansion in the use of the name Jehovah 
 Tsebaoth ; for while in the early historical books it has 
 military and national associations, in the prophets it 
 includes the hosts of heaven, the stars and angels, as 
 well as the armies of Israel ^. The post-exilic use of 
 the title accordingly marks a striking advance. ' The 
 old popular notion,' says Prof. Cheyne, ' of a territorial 
 and local deity had faded away, and the traditional 
 names of God had received an ampler meaning. 
 Jehovah was not merely the God of the armies of 
 Israel, but the God of all the hosts of heaven . . . and 
 of all the forces of nature.' Thus, in such a psalm as 
 the twenty-fourth, the psalmist ' is really thinking of 
 the triumph of the omnipotent God in His holy 
 
 * John i. 14. 
 
 ^ See Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, note xvi (p. 503) ; Konig, 
 The Religion of Israel, pp. 89 foil. 
 
204 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD [lect. 
 
 temple. IVko is this King of glory ? JeJiovah of 
 hosts, he is the King of glory \' 
 
 Within the Old Testament itself we find a distinct 
 approach to the doctrine of the divine fatherhood. 
 As applied to God the term 'Father' quickly loses 
 any physical associations that may have originally 
 attached to it, and comes to denote the relationship 
 of 'love and moral communion in which Jehovah has 
 placed Israel' God is the 'Father' or 'Creator' 
 of Israel in the sense that by divine acts of power 
 and grace He brought the nation into special relation 
 to Himself 2; or it is used with a personal reference 
 to the theocratic king, who was the official represen- 
 tative of the people and inherited the promises 
 originally vouchsafed to David and his house. It 
 seems to be a title suggestive of the close and con- 
 tinuous relationship in which Jehovah had stood to 
 Israel ; it would recall memories of divine protection, 
 help, and guidance, and of the condescension manifested 
 in Israel's prolonged spiritual education ^ In the later 
 Judaism we mark an advance : God is conceived as 
 a pitying Father, whose compassion extends to those 
 that fear Him. Yea, like as a father piticth his own 
 children, even so is fehovah merciful unto them that fear 
 him'^. Yes; but only to those who fear Him. The 
 limitation is characteristic. Judaism recognizes indeed 
 that God, the Father of Israel as a nation, is also 
 the Father of Israel's faithful sons. The pious 
 Israelite rejoiced in the sense of divine favour. ' He 
 was gladly conscious/ says Mr. Montefiore, ' that God 
 was cognizant of all, and cared not only for His people 
 in the mass, but for every unit of which it was com- 
 posed ^' But outside the pale of love were the godless 
 
 ^ Aids to the Devoid Study of Criticism, pp. 284, 285, 
 "^ Cp. Exod. iv. 22 ; Deut. xxxii. 6 ; xiv. 2 ; Hos. xi. i, 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, ATI. Thcologie, p. 227, Observe the title 'son' used of 
 
 Israel (Deut. viii. 5; xiv. i ; Mai. i. 6; Jer. iii. 19; xxxi. 10; Isa. i. 4; 
 
 XXX. I, 9) implies corresponding national obligations. The individual 
 
 Israelite could not appropriate the name for himself. 
 ■• Ps. ciii. 13. 
 ^ Hibbert Lectmrs, p. 463 ; cp. pp. 539 foil. 
 
iv] PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF GOD 205 
 
 members of the nation itself and the heathen world in 
 general. It was only through the revelation of the 
 incarnate Son that men could be brought to apprehend 
 the universality of the divine Fatherhood ^ As 
 Tertullian tersely remarks, Nobis \iiomcn Dei] rcvcla- 
 tum est in Fiiio. 
 
 In concluding this lecture, let us acknowledge the 
 debt which theology owes to the evolutionary con- 
 ception of Israel's history and theology. It seems to 
 be the object of writers like Konig to minimize, or 
 even to question altogether, this conception. But all 
 analogy forbids us to suppose that the religion of 
 Israel was revealed in its completeness from the 
 very first. The metaphors by which in the Old 
 Testament God's relationship to Israel is described 
 point to a very different conclusion, suggesting a view 
 of the divine action which is at once supremely worthy 
 of God and consistent with all that we know of His 
 methods and character. Historical science professes 
 to trace the process of revelation, and its account in the 
 main we can scarcely hesitate to accept. The tribal 
 God becomes the God of a nation, and finally the God 
 of the universe. Each advance in man's moral recep- 
 tivity renders possible a further disclosure of the 
 divine nature. All that is debased, crude, limited, 
 or ethically defective in the earliest Semitic ideas of 
 deity gradually falls away, until in the fullness of time 
 man is enabled to recognize the glory of God, His 
 essential character. His eternal attributes, in the face 
 of Jesus Chfisf^. Thus we find that critical science 
 does, after all, vindicate for Jesus Christ the position 
 which He claims for Himself. He came to crown 
 a long ascent, to fulfil anticipations which His own 
 Spirit had inspired. In the Old Testament the record 
 of the divine preparation for His coming lies before us. 
 It describes the different stao;es in the progressive 
 manifestation of God ; it exhibits the actual and living 
 
 ^ Cp. Westcott, The Historic Faith, p. 35. Cp. Tert. de oraf. iii. 
 ^ 2 Cor. iv. 6. Cp. Meinhold, Jesus und das A. 7". p. 139. 
 
2o6 PROGRESSIVE SELF-REVELATION OF COD 
 
 operation of those divine attributes which are now, as 
 ever, the hope, the support, and the solace of the 
 individual soul. A gifted French writer has spoken 
 mournfully of ' a cry which fills our age — the cry of the 
 orphan who no longer possesses a Father in heaven to 
 speak to him and guide him. It rings from one end of 
 the century to the other ; it makes itself heard beneath 
 the tumult of wars and revolutions, the triumphant 
 declarations of science, the sarcasms of egotism and 
 scepticism, the ceaseless murmur of life as it passes on 
 its course ^' Nay, the truth of the divine Fatherhood 
 is not lost. It is overclouded indeed and obscured by 
 the apparent rigour of Nature, by the discoveries of 
 science, by the appalling catastrophes which sometimes 
 overwhelm us with the sense of our frailty, our 
 ignorance, our helplessness. Nevertheless in God, 
 God Almighty, the Lord Jehovah, the Father revealed 
 in the passion and resurrection of Jesus, the Father 
 who watches over even the least of His children with 
 wise providence, with discriminating tenderness, the 
 burdened and perplexed heart of man may find refuge 
 and rest. For the divine self-manifestation, even if it 
 fails to satisfy all our questionings, is at least co- 
 extensive with our needs. Blessed indeed is he to 
 whom, as to Moses, the unfolding of the ineffable 
 Name is a fact of personal experience ; whose ear has 
 caught amid the tumults and distractions of time the 
 accents of the eternal voice whispering to the soul, 
 / will make all my goodness pass before thee, and 
 I will p7'0claim the name of the Lord before thee; and 
 will be gracious to whom I will be gracioiLS, and will 
 show mercy on whom I will show mercy ^. 
 
 ^ Darmesteter, Les Propheies d* Israel, pref. p. iii. 
 ^ Exod. xxxiii. 19. 
 
LECTURE V 
 
 Gather my saints together nnio mej those that have made a covenant 
 with me by sacrifice. — Ps. 1. 5. 
 
 Both In this psalm, and in some passages that might 
 be quoted from the prophets, we observe how the 
 devout Israelite gradually awoke to a consciousness of 
 those spiritual realities which were symbolized by the 
 external institutions of his religion. The fiftieth 
 psalm, and perhaps the fortieth and fifty-first, seem to 
 mark a new stage in the development of inward 
 religion, when the practice of the sacrificial system had 
 already ceased in great measure to satisfy the moral 
 needs of men, and had driven them to reflect upon the 
 spiritual truths which the system was intended to 
 foreshadow^. A bond such as that which the Israelite 
 believed to exist between his people and Jehovah 
 could be no merely external link of connexion. It was 
 the token of a special relationsl^ip between personal 
 and moral beings, implying on one side an act of 
 condescending grace, on the other certain ethical and 
 spiritual obligations. And when the Pentateuch finally 
 attained its present form, the relation between Jehovah 
 and Israel was universally conceived as based upon an 
 original covenant. The deliverance which had resulted 
 in the formation of Israel's nationality was regarded as 
 an act of grace by which the new relationship was 
 established. The covenant was ratified by a sacrifice 
 of victims and by the ceremonial sprinkling of blood. 
 The people on their part accepted the proffered con- 
 
 ^ Cp. Cheyne, Aids to the Devout Study of Criticism, pp. 194 foil. ; 
 Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 225. 
 
2o3 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 ditlons : all that the Lord haih said will we do and be 
 obedient; and when the solemn formaHties were finally 
 completed, chosen representatives of the nation — 
 Moses, Aaron and his two sons, together with seventy 
 of the elders of Israel — were admitted to a mysterious 
 communion with Deity ; they were called to participate 
 in the feast and the vision which were, so to speak, 
 a foretaste of the entrancing- delights of the divine 
 kingdom ^ Thus at the very outset of its national 
 history Israel was subjected to a law of obedience as 
 the indispensable condition of fulfilling its high des- 
 tiny. It was taught that covenantal union with God 
 demanded a special character in man. The principle 
 was for ever established that the great link between 
 God and humanity is the moral law. The Mosaic 
 Law thus retains an essential significance for mankind 
 in virtue of the fundamental idea which it embodies. 
 We may study the Pentateuch with a keen historical or 
 archaeological interest, but critical investigations must 
 never blind us to the fact that the Law witnesses 
 mainly to a spiritual truth, viz. that in the life of 
 fellowship between God and man, moral obligation is 
 the master fact. The central principle of the entire 
 levltical system is comprehended in the words, Ye 
 shall be holy, for I the Lord yonr God am holy -. 
 
 At the same time, no one, I think, can read the 
 twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus without a very strong 
 impression of its idealistic character. There are few 
 passages in the Old Testament so mysterious, so 
 sublime, so prophetic. The bare mention of a solemn 
 slaughter of sacrificial victims and of a meal symbolizing 
 covenant fellowship does not carry us beyond the 
 limits of ordinary historical fact. But the description of 
 the mysterious vision of God and of the feast in His 
 presence can only be a mode of symbolical repre- 
 sentation, foreshadowing a future spiritual consum- 
 mation, recorded for our admonition who look and wait 
 for a time when his servants shall serve hiiu and shall 
 
 ^ Exod. xxiv. Cp. Jer. vii. 21 foil. '^ Lev. xix. 2 ; cp. xi. 44 ; xx. 7. 
 
V] AND ITS WORSHIP 209 
 
 see Ms face; when they that are called shall sit down 
 at the marriage supper of the Lamb \ 
 
 In the present lecture it is proposed to consider 
 (i) the idea of covenant relationship in general; 
 
 (2) the requirement which this relationship involved ; 
 
 (3) the institutions in which the spiritual truths under- 
 lying it found a typical outward embodiment ; (4) the 
 fulfilment of the levitical types in Jesus Christ. 
 
 I. 
 
 For our present purpose, which is theological rather 
 than historical, the questions that have been raised re- 
 specting the antiquity of the covenantal idea in Israel's 
 religion are comparatively unimportant. There can be 
 no doubt that the Hebrew tradition of an actual covenant 
 concluded at Sinai between God and Israel is constant 
 and unanimous, nor does there seem to be any con- 
 vincing reason for setting it aside in favour of the idea 
 that the word * covenant ' in this connexion represents 
 only a later mode of conceiving the Sinaitic revelation. 
 Certainly the thought of Israel's covenant status is 
 very prominent in the mind of the author of the 
 priestly document in the Pentateuch. This narrative, 
 which forms the framework of the whole, carries back 
 the tradition of a divinely instituted covenant into the 
 dim prehistoric past. It even regards the relation- 
 ship of God to the patriarchs as based in each case 
 upon a formal covenant. Three such compacts 
 are in fact mentioned : the first covenant with Noah, 
 the second with Abraham, the third with the ne\vly- 
 formed nation of Israel. In each case there is a dis- 
 tinctive sign. The Noachic covenant' is attested by the 
 bow in the cloud; the covenant with Abraham is 
 scaled by the rite of circumcision ; the covenant with 
 Israel by the sprinkling of sacrificial blood. Moreover, 
 
 ^ Rev. xxii. 3, 4; xix. 9. 
 P 
 
2IO THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 each covenant had its characteristic obligation, each 
 its accompanying revelation of graced It is, in short, 
 evident that the covenantal idea was dominant at the 
 period when the Pentateuch was compiled, but there 
 seems to be no sufficient ground for supposing that it 
 was unknown in pre-prophetic times. For our present 
 purpose, however, it is immaterial whether the tra- 
 ditional view is correct, or whether Wellhausen, 
 Stade and others are justified in asserting that the 
 relation between Jehovah and Israel was only thus 
 conceived first in the prophetic period ^. We are 
 concerned with the total result, as embodied in the 
 Pentateuch, of an historical movement which began 
 with the exodus. It will be generally admitted that, 
 after the exodus, Jehovah instituted between Himself 
 and Israel a special relationship of grace, and that 
 the historical severance from Egypt which consti- 
 tuted Israel the peculiar people of Jehovah ^ was 
 intended to symbolize an inward separation from the 
 idolatries and immoralities of the heathen world. The 
 question, however, respecting the mode under which 
 this unique connexion between God and Israel was 
 conceived is, I repeat, one of secondary importance. 
 Hosea, although he uses the word ^C''^'2. in more than 
 one passage^, speaks of the relationship under the 
 metaphor of a marriage ; while occasionally, like 
 Isaiah, he represents it as an act of divine adoption 
 whereby Israel as a nation became the son of Jehovah ^ 
 Amos, without employing the term ' covenant ' in its 
 theological sense, gives prominence to the Idea, in so 
 far as he emphasizes the moral obligations which the 
 connexion between Jehovah and Israel involved. The 
 same conception was probably emphasized by the 
 reformation which followed the publication of the 
 
 ^ Cp. Gen. ix. 1-17 ; xvii. 1-14; Exod. xxiv. 3-8; xxxi. 13-17. 
 
 ^ We.lhausen, Prol€gQ})ie7ia. 417 foil. Cp. Montefiore, Hibbcrt Lectures^ 
 pp. 124 foil. See on the other side, Konis:, Religion of Israel, ch. x; 
 Robertson, Early Religioji of Israel, note xxii, (Sic. 
 
 ^ ri7:D Dy Exod. xix. 5. Cp. Num.xxiii. 9. 
 
 * Hos. vi. 7 ; viii. i. ^ Hos. xi. i ; Isa. i. 2 ; cp. Exod. iv. 22. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 211 
 
 Deuteronomic law in the reign of Josiah. There is 
 at any rate no difficulty in accounting for the influence 
 of the idea on the thought of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 
 the later Isaiah, and we may reasonably suppose that 
 the exile tended to popularize the conception, and to 
 foster the belief that the continuance of Israel's 
 covenant stattts depended upon the strict maintenance 
 of 'holiness' with all that this might imply. 
 
 Such in brief outline is the history, so far as 
 it can be certainly traced, of the idea of a covenant 
 between Jehovah and Israel. The attempt, however, V 
 to ascribe its origination to the prophets of the 
 eighth century seems to be based on inconclusive 
 arguments. There is good reason to suppose that the 
 idea had its foundation in pre-prophetic times, for 
 the prophets * plainly do not regard the conception as an 
 innovation,' and it harmonizes entirely with the dis- 
 tinctively ethical character of Mosaism. Further, the 
 thought constantly recurs that even the legal covenant 
 is essentially a work of grace, prepared for in patri- 
 archal times by a covenant of promise ^ The initiative 
 comes from Jehovah, who necessarily appoints the 
 conditions upon the observance of which the main- 
 tenance of covenant union depends. It is a 'disposition' ■ 
 (SiadrjKr)) rather than an 'agreement' or contract 
 between two equal parties ((Tvv$T]Kr]) ; and its basis 
 is purely moral ^. According to the prophetic survey 
 of the national history which we find in the 
 book of Deuteronomy, the covenant requirement 
 was wholly contained in the Decalogue : T/iese words 
 the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out 
 of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick 
 
 ' Cp. Lev. xxvi. 42; Deut. iv. 31. 
 
 "^ Oehler in Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie s. v. ' Testament ' : ' Unter- 
 scheidet sich diadt'jKr] von awdr'iKr] dadurch, dass bei jener kein rein 
 wechselseitiges Verhaltniss stattfindet, sondern von einem der beiden 
 Paciscenten, als dem duiBefifvos, die Initiative und die Feststellung 
 der Vertragsbedingungen ausgeht.' Riehm points out tliat in this use 
 of 8ta6r]^T] is involved the possibility of a transition from the thought 
 of a 'covenant' to that of a 'testament' {Handworterbuch des Bibl. 
 Alter ttans, s.v. 'Bund'). 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 darkness, with a great voice, and he added no more *. 
 The prophetic view manifestly was that the moral 
 element in the Mosaic system was predominant if not 
 exclusive ; that the Decalogue, not the ritual law, was 
 its peculiar characteristic. It was in fact the work of 
 Moses to teach Israel two things : first, the significance 
 of the revelation of God's nature and character implied 
 in the events of the exodus ; secondly, the truth that 
 the vocation to be Jehovah's people involved a higher 
 and purer morality. It has been justly said that 
 Moses' work as the originator of a higher religion 
 bears the impress of 'a simplicity analogous to the 
 simplicity of Christ ^.' The later prophets recognized 
 that they were called to be continuators of his mission, 
 and in looking back on the forces which had moulded 
 Israel's history, they discerned in the moral law the 
 distinctive feature of the covenant. They strenuously 
 endeavoured to reinstate this law in its original 
 position, and to vindicate its supremacy by applying it 
 as a standard of measurement to the social and poli- 
 tical conditions of their age. 
 
 But behind the fact of human obligation lay 
 the mystery of redemptive love, deigning to enter 
 into relationship with man. It was this high relation- 
 ship that was conceived as a covenant, implying 
 as it did both the dignity of human nature and the 
 condescending grace of God. It was in fact such 
 a contract as can only subsist between beings who are 
 united by a pre-existing kinship of nature. Indeed 
 the covenantal idea is most aptly illustrated by actual 
 examples of primitive contracts between man and man. 
 In its essence a covenant did not materially differ 
 from an oath ; both were generally accompanied by 
 symbolic ceremonies^ ; both imposed mutual obligations 
 
 ^ Deut. V. 22 ; cp. Jer. vii. 22. "^ Bruce, Apologetics, p. 222. 
 
 ' On the phrase ri''"l3 n"^3 see Driver on the Book of Deuteronomy, 
 iv. 13; Dehtzsch, New Commeiitary on Genesis, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14. On 
 the relation between a covenant and an oath see R. Kr^etzschmar, Die 
 Bundesvorstellutig itn A. T. (\. Teilj, pp. 15, 16. 
 
V] ' AND ITS WORSHIP 213 
 
 of service. It was a covenant that linked together in 
 perpetuity friends hke Jonathan and David ^ ; a cove- 
 nant that secured a man's fidehty to his betrothed-. 
 The prophets were the successive witnesses of the act 
 of divine grace by which the Hfe of divine fellowship 
 and covenant consecration had been initiated. But 
 the Mosaic covenant did but indicate in a rudi- 
 mentary fashion the true consummation to which the 
 deliverance from Egypt pointed, namely the life of 
 personal friendship between God and man. God 
 reveals Himself in the Decalogue as educating man 
 for that life ; to use the striking phrase of Irenaeus, 
 He is se&n praestruens hominem per decalogum in sicam 
 aniicitiam ^. 
 
 IL 
 
 It was then the moral requirement involved in the 
 covenant which formed the basis and distinctive mark 
 of Israel's religion. He who made Himself known to 
 the people in acts of grace and power demanded of 
 them a life conformed to His own character. He re- 
 quired not merely the ordinary expressions of religious 
 homage, but a higher morality, justice, humanity, 
 mercy, and good faith. In other words, at Sinai were 
 laid down the great ethical principles which afterwards 
 became the standard of prophetic religion, and within 
 the lines of which all subsequent Torah, all prophetic 
 or priestly instruction, was bound to move ^ The 
 knowledge of God ^ mentioned by Hosea may certainly 
 have embraced leo^al, civil, and ceremonial decisions, 
 
 ' I Sam. xviii. 3 ; xx. 8, 16, 42 ; xxiii. 18. Cp. Kraetzschmar, p. 20. 
 ^ Ezek. xvi. 8. ^ Iren. Haer. iv. 16. 3. 
 
 * Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 305. Montefiore, op. cit. p. 45, says : 
 'The Torah— Qx teaching— of the priests, half-judicial, half-pedagogic, 
 was a deep moral influence. . . . There is good reason to suppose that this 
 priestly Torah is the one religious institution which can be correctly 
 attributed to Moses. If that be so, then not only did the pre-prophetic 
 religion itself include an important ethical element, but this very element 
 was part and parcel of the original Mosaic teaching,' &c. See generally 
 Wellhausen, Prolegomena, ch. x. 
 
 * Hos. vi. 6. 
 
214 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 but, says Wellhausen, * since its practical issue is that 
 God requires of man righteousness, faithfulness and 
 good-will, it is fundamentally and essentially morality, 
 though morality at that time addressed its demands 
 less to the conscience than to society \' Indeed, 
 the practical prominence of social righteousness in 
 the Law, which finds comprehensive expression in the 
 sentence Thou shall love Ihy neighbotLV as thyself^, 
 constitutes a link between the prophets and the 
 legalists of Israel, and anticipates with whatever 
 limitations the teaching of the Gospel. It is true 
 that in the development of Hebrew morality there 
 seem to be occasional moments of retrogression. For 
 instance, the intense hatred of foreigners and the exag- 
 gerated spirit of nationalism does not appear to have 
 prevailed to the same extent in the pre-exilic period 
 as in subsequent times. The older legislation appears 
 in some respects to breathe a higher spirit than the 
 liter ; and a similar contrast may be traced between 
 the earlier and the later prophecy, between the uni- 
 versalistic utterances of an Isaiah and the tone of such 
 books as those of Daniel, the Chronicles, Ezra and 
 Nehemiah ^. The fact is that different elements in the 
 religious character became prominent in different ages, 
 nor was the spirit of any particular period strictly uni- 
 form or consistent. In the post-exilic period, for example, 
 the germs are discernible of the temper which gradually 
 developed into Pharisaism, the anxious and scrupulous 
 spirit which aimed at strict legal obedience and careful 
 conformity to a code of minute external ordinances. 
 But at the same time this very period awakened the 
 spiritual joy, fervour, and devotion, the filial delight in 
 God and in His worship, which is reflected in the 
 Psalter. It produced also a type of teaching which 
 laid stress on charity to those in need, and on ' the 
 doing of kindnesses ' as the chief of human duties *. 
 
 ' Proles,'onietia, p. 395. 
 
 "^ Lev. xix. 17. ^ See Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 61 foil. 
 
 * See Schechter, Studies in Judaism, no. ix, and Montefiore's Hibbert 
 LectureSy no. ix, on ' The Law and its Influence.' 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 215 
 
 The mature fruit of the Law only appeared in an age 
 of violent contrasts, the character of which we are 
 sometimes apt to misconceive. Legalism had its 
 beautiful and beneficent, as well as its baneful 
 and harsh consequences. But if it be true of later 
 Judaism that 'morality penetrated through Jewish 
 society and was a potent link or bridge between class 
 and class ^' we must trace this result far back to the 
 character once for all impressed on Hebrew religion 
 by Moses, whose 'great merit,' says Kuenen, 'lies in 
 the fact of his connexion of the religious idea with the 
 moral life ^.' 
 
 It seems natural at this point to consider somewhat 
 more in detail the ten words of the covenant 3, in 
 which the will of God for His elect people finds its 
 most simple and universal expression. The Decalogue 
 indeed has been proved by experience to be a compre- 
 hensive summary of human duty. It defines in broad 
 outlines the conditions of a right relation to God and 
 to all that He has made^ 
 
 But first a word is necessary on the question of the 
 antiquity of the Decalogue. We have already noticed 
 that its Mosaic authorship has been questioned mainly 
 on two grounds : first, the uncertainty as to the precise 
 contents of the ten words alluded to in Exodus xxxiv. 
 27, 28; secondly, the fact that t^he second command- 
 ment seems to be practically unknown until the time 
 of Hezekiah's reformation, when the long-established 
 
 ^ Montefiore, p. 547. ^ Religio7i of Israel, i, p. 282. 
 
 ^ Exod. xxxiv. 28. Cp. Deut. iv. 13 ; x. 14. In some passages (e.g. 
 Exod. XXV. 16, 21) the Decalogue is called 'the testimony,' (DHyn) 
 i. e. the declaration of Jehovah's will. So the ark which contained the 
 tables of stone is called 'The ark of Jehovah's covenant' (Deut. x. 8). 
 
 * Iren. Haer.'w. 15. I : 'NamDeus primoquidem pernaturaliapraecepta 
 quae ab initio infixa dedit hominibus admonens eos, id est per decalogum, 
 nihil plus ab eis exquisivit.' Ibid. 16. 3 : ' Similiter permanent apud nos, 
 extensionem et augmentum sed non dissolutionem accipientia per cainalem 
 Ejus adventum.' Cp. T. Aquin. Sum»ia Theologiae, i. ii^^. qu. 100, 
 art. 3 : ' Omnia praecepta [moralia] legis sunt quaedam partes prae- 
 ceptorum decalogi.' See also Riehm, ATI. Theolo^ie, § 14; Schultz, 
 O. T. Theology, ii. 46 foil. ; W. S. Bruce, The Ethics of the O. T. 
 ch. vi. 
 
2i6 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 cult of the brazen serpent was finally abolished. There 
 are other more subjective arguments alleged : e. g. 
 that the monotheistic idea embodied in the code is 
 too pronounced to be considered primitive, and that 
 the universality of its moral teaching is incompatible 
 with the notion of an early date ^ Into the merits of 
 this contention I do not propose to enter at length. 
 It may be observed, however, that even those who 
 abandon the Mosaic authorship of the Decalogue 
 assign to its substance a very high antiquity, and agree 
 in holding that the main element in the teaching of 
 Moses was ethical. In other words, it is generally 
 admitted that the morality of the Decalogue was 
 a factor in Israel's religion from the first. At most 
 the Mosaic origin of one particular commandment is 
 questioned ^. It seems to me then that the traditional 
 view, even if it has to be slightly modified, is 
 essentially justifiable. Since, however, our present 
 concern is not so much with historical and critical 
 questions as with the moral and spiritual use of 
 the Old Testament, there is the less need to 
 go behind the ordinary belief respecting the origin 
 of the Decalogue. We have simply to review its 
 intrinsic character and importance viewed as the 
 charter, so to speak, of Old Testament religion. The 
 ten commandments fall most naturally into two pen- 
 tads ^, the fifth in each case having a close connexion 
 with the four preceding ' words.' The first table regu- 
 lates those duties which result from the spiritual re- 
 lationship to his Creator into which man finds himself 
 called. The first * word ' warns Israel to be faithful 
 and loyal in the service of its Redeemer, and to regard 
 
 ^ See Wellhausen's Sketch of the History of Israel and ftidah, p. 21, 
 and Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, Appendix, pp. 553 foil. Delitzsch, New 
 Comfiwntary on Genesis, vol. i. pp. 29 foil., touches briefly on the subject. 
 
 "^ Kuenen accepts the Mosaic authorship of the Decalogue, regarding 
 Exod. XX. 2 as the * first word ' and xx. 4-6 as a later expansion of the 
 * second word ' (xx. 3). {Religion of Israel, ch. v [E. T. vol. i. pp. 2S5 toll.].) 
 
 ^ This method of division which is adopted by Philo and Josephus is 
 commended by Rom. xiii. 9, and by the fact that the first five 'words' 
 are enforced by reasons. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 217 
 
 Him for all purposes of worship as the one and only 
 God'\ The second directs that the worship paid to 
 God shall be in accordance with His true character; it 
 prohibits the deification of nature, or such sensualism 
 as wOuld entangle the Creator in mundane conditions. 
 Especially noticeable is the revelation of God as jealous. 
 Ewald remarks that heathenism drew a distinction 
 between the loving and the avenging deity. Whereas 
 Aeschylus, for example, believes in two orders of gods — 
 the powers of vengeance and those which make for 
 mercy, the Old Testament leads us to conceive the 
 jealousy of Jehovah as the heat of outraged goodness 
 and love. The third ' word ' teaches the holiness of God 
 as revealed to Israel. His name, that is the expression 
 of His revealed character, is to be held in honour, and 
 not to be used lightly, falsely, or without just occasion. 
 The fourth 'word ' by its injunction to ' remember ' indi- 
 cates that Israel already inherited a tradition in regard to 
 the observance of the seventh day. But the command 
 to sanctify the day is characteristic. It lifts an ancient 
 Semitic custom to a new dignity, consecrating it to be 
 a symbol of covenant union between Jehovah and Israel^. 
 The commandment in effect lays the foundation of all 
 Israel's ordinances of worship. At the same time it 
 provides for the due recreation of that human nature 
 which by creative right belongs to God and is destined 
 for communion with Him. The fifth commandment 
 closing the series gives a religious sanction to family 
 relationship. It implies that the authority of parents is 
 a counterpart of the divine authority. Reverence for an 
 earthly father or mother is a special form of the fear of 
 God ^ In later legislation the commandment appears 
 to be extended so as to include what we may call 
 spiritual parentage : special precepts enjoin the duty of 
 respect towards old age, and reverence towards magis- 
 
 * Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 83 : ' Tritt JHVH nur als Nationalgott 
 Israels den Gottern andrer Vdlker gegeniiber mit dem Ausspiuch, dass 
 Israel ihn ausschliesslich verehre.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Meinhold, /i?j«j mid das A. T. p. 71. 
 
 * Cp. Lev. xix. 3 and 32. 
 
2i8 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 trates and rulers \ who share the honour due to Him 
 in whose stead they administer justice. Thus the 
 whole social order is securely based on the regulation 
 of family life, and the institutions of government are 
 invested with a sacrosanct character. 
 
 The second table deals with duties towards fellow- 
 men, and ' gives to social ethics the sanction of reli- 
 gion 2 ' : it enjoins respect for the life and property of 
 others, and guards the sacredness of the marriage bond. 
 The ninth commandment probably implies not the duty 
 of truthfulness and integrity in general, so much as 
 that of abstinence from any false oath or declaration 
 which might involve detriment to a neighbour's life 
 or property. The concluding ' word ' embodies the 
 principle which was destined to be expanded in the 
 New Testament: the close connexion between act and 
 thought. ' The revealed law,' says Oehler, ' here 
 undertakes the functions of conscience. . . . By bringing 
 man to a consciousness of the essential nature of 
 a higher divine righteousness the Law roused the con- 
 science from its slumber, taught the knowledge of evil as 
 
 .... 
 sin, and so awoke the need of reconciliation with God^' 
 
 The tenth commandment virtually anticipates that 
 ' inwardness ' which specially characterizes the morality 
 of the New Testament, and it is instructive to remember 
 the function which it discharged in the moral education 
 of St. Paul : / had not known sin but by the law : for 
 I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shall 
 not covet *. 
 
 Some general observations may be made touching 
 the character of the Decalogue and the relation in 
 which it stands to the rest of the Mosaic legislation. 
 
 ^ Prophets are hailed as 'father,' Judges v. 7 ; 2 Kings ii. 12 ; xiii. 14. 
 Cp. Ps. xxxiv. II. Rulers have the same title; Gen. xlv. 8. Cp. Lev. 
 xix. 32, and Exod. xxii. 28 ; Ps. Ixxxii. 6. In the N. T. cp. Rom. xiii. 1-7. 
 
 2 VV. S. Bruce, op. cit. p. 136. 
 
 ^ Theol. of the O. T. vol. i. p. 266. Cp. R. W. Dale, The Ten Comtnand- 
 ments, p. 241. Obs. Some suppose that 'coveting' implies an actual 
 attempt to get possession by fraud or force or false pretence of another's 
 property. See e.g. Schultz, ii. 52, and cp. Mark x. 19, fifj dnoaTeprja-rjs. 
 
 * Rom. vii. 7. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 219 
 
 I, First we notice that the Decalogue makes religion 
 the foundation of all personal morality and social duty 
 or right. Human duty is here based on the revelation 
 of God's character. The first table recalls to Israel's 
 recollection the redemptive grace which as a nation 
 it had actually experienced. The gracious acts of 
 Jehovah are set forth partly as an incentive to grati- 
 tude, partly as a motive to obedience. The prophetic 
 writer of Deuteronomy dwells on the essential unity 
 of the moral law viewed as a law of love : A nd now, 
 Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee bzit 
 to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and 
 to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart and with all thy sonl ^ ? This is the point at 
 which Hebrew and Christian ethics practically meet 
 each other. Augustine remarks that the most pregnant 
 and obvious distinction between the two Testaments 
 lies in the fact that the one inculcates fear, the other 
 love ; the one points men to a schoolmaster whom 
 they are to fear, the other to a master whom they 
 may love 2. He is thinking of the prohibitory form 
 of the Decalogue, which of course corresponds to its 
 paedagogic function as part of a primary course of 
 instruction. The will of God, before it can educate 
 that of man, necessarily comes into collision with his 
 natural propensity to evil. Thei^e was indeed a law 
 written on the heart of man, but all moral education 
 must begin with definite restriction of undisciplined 
 desire. Augustine, however, seems to overlook for 
 the moment a feature in the Decalogue which lifts it, 
 so to speak, to the New Testament level. The appeal 
 of love lies behind the command to obey. / am the 
 Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land 
 of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Jehovah 
 introduces His law by a declaration of His saving 
 
 ^ Dent, X. 12 ; cp. vi. 5 foil. 
 
 ^ Exod. XX. 2. See Aug. c. Adimant. Manich. discip. i. 17 ; cp. de util. 
 cred. 3 : ' Die igitur paedagogum dedit hominibus quern timerenlj qui 
 magistrum postea quern diligerent.' 
 
220 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 grace, of the compassion which makes so great a claim 
 on the affections and wills of the redeemed. Thus 
 the vital and informing principle of the obedience 
 enjoined in both Old and New Testaments is one : 
 T/ioit shalt love the Lord thy God. The book of 
 Deuteronomy, while it lays much stress upon the 
 spirit of love and loyalty in which the law is to be 
 ideally fulfilled, appears in two points especially to 
 anticipate the teaching of the New Testament : it 
 makes religion consist in devotion of hearty and 
 it points to the sphere of moral duty as one near 
 and accessible to all : The ivord is very nigh zmto thee, 
 in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 
 It has been remarked that the teaching of Deuteronomy 
 is most closely akin to that of Hosea^. Certainly in 
 the simplicity of its view of religion, in the conception 
 that the service of God fundamentally consists in a life 
 of active love, Deuteronomy brings us to the very 
 threshold of the Gospel ^ The history of subsequent 
 prophetic activity shows how immense was the influ- 
 ence of this book in fixing a standard not only of 
 external observance by which the actions of men were 
 to be judged, but also of inward devotion towards 
 which individual souls might aspire. The secret, how- 
 ever, of the appealing beauty that pervades the book 
 lies in its prophetic insistence upon the electing love 
 which lay behind the covenant and its legislation ^ 
 
 2. Another striking feature of the Decalogue is the 
 absence of any directions bearing upon worship ^. 
 Only one commandment, the fourth, provides for 
 
 ' See Deut. vi. 2, 5 ; x. 12, 16; xi. I, 13, 22; xiii. 4; xix. 9. For the 
 characteristic thought of 'circumcision of heart' (x, 16) cp. Jer. iv. 4; 
 Ezek. xliv. 7, 9. See also Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 239. 
 
 2 Monte^ovQ, Hibbert Lechcres, Y>- 184. 
 
 ^ Cp. Hieron. ep. ad Pauliniim, 9: ' Deuteronomium secunda lex, et 
 Evangelicae legis praefiguratio ; nonne sic ea habet quae priora sunt, ut 
 tamen nova sint omnia de veteribus ? ' 
 
 * Cp. Deut. vii. 7 foil. 
 
 ^ Riehm, op. cit. p. 74 : ' Keine Opfer, keine Gaben, iiberhaupt keine 
 bestimmten ausserlichen Kultushandlimgen werden im Grundgesetz des 
 Gottesreiches gefordert, sondern nur die . . . thatsachliche.Anerkennung 
 der Heiligkeit des JHVH angehorigen Tages.' 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 221 
 
 a positive religious observance. The second 'word' 
 indeed regulates the general character of the national 
 cultus. The true worship of God is to be not only 
 monolatrous, but imageless \ We have seen that the 
 question has been raised, when this principle was first 
 explicitly affirmed. The choice lies between the sup- 
 position that material representations of Jehovah were 
 forbidden by Moses, though the prohibition was to 
 a great extent forgotten or ignored for centuries ; and 
 the view that the commandment was first inserted in the 
 Decalogue at the time when the prophets began to pro- 
 test against the use of images in worship. In favour 
 of the first supposition is the fact that at the official 
 centres of worship like Shiloh, and afterwards Jeru- 
 salem, the use of images seems to have been unknown ; 
 and it is also certain that the prophets of the eighth 
 century, who believed themselves to be the true ex- 
 ponents of Mosaism, regarded the bull-worship of the 
 northern kingdom as a danger and a snare to Israel, 
 if not an actual form of apostasy from Jehovah ^. We 
 must not, however, insist too strongly on the significance 
 of these facts. It is enough that the prophets bear 
 witness to the essential characteristics of the Mosaic 
 legislation : first, in their silence as to questions of 
 ritual — a silence which reflects the negative attitude 
 of the ten commandments ; secondly, in their positive 
 insistence on social and personal righteousness as 
 Jehovah's sole requirement. Their attitude towards 
 ritual and sacrifice, to say nothing of such explicit 
 statements as that of Jeremiah vii. 22, incontestably 
 
 ^ Montefiore, p. 127. Renan points out that the nomadic Semite was 
 distinctly lacking in a taste for the plastic arts, and was if anything averse 
 by temperament to the use of images in worship (Histoire du peuple 
 d'Israel, bk. i. ch. 4 ifiii.). This fact seems to add credibility to the 
 traditional view of the second commandment. 
 
 ^ See Montefiore, p. 128. Amos alludes only once, and with indignant 
 contempt, to the bulls of Samaria (viii. 14). But Hosea's attitude is 
 one of strong antagonism. ' He does not hesitate to call the idols of 
 the national god Baalim, and the service thus rendered to Yahveh 
 Baa/serv'ice.' Cp. ii. 13-16; iii. i; xiii. 2; xiv. 3. On the difference 
 between the attitude of Hosea and that of Amos, see Robertson Smith, 
 Prophets of Israel, pp. 176 foil. 
 
222 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 proves that the Mosaic Torah was not mainly con- 
 cerned with matters of ciilHts. Certainly the legal 
 and ritual Torah of the priests was traced to Moses, 
 but so also was the Torah or word of the prophets — 
 that very word which habitually subordinated ritual 
 observance to the fulfilment of moral duty. This 
 original supremacy of the ethical element in Mosaism 
 corresponds to the conclusion arrived at by criticism 
 that the discipline of the ceremonial law was subse- 
 quent to the work of the prophets ; that the high 
 development of ritual is characteristic of a totally 
 different and comparatively late stage in Israel's 
 history. 
 
 3. One more point may be noticed, namely, that 
 the positive institutions and observances of Hebrew 
 religion gradually came to be regarded in the light of 
 Moses' ethical teaching, as moral symbols, expressive 
 of a spiritual status and vocation ; and as outward 
 emblems of the holiness that became a kingdom of 
 priests. Thus the rite of circumcision, which in Egypt 
 was apparently confined to the priesthood, was looked 
 upon as a token of the purity of life to which every 
 Israelite was called. The ordinance of the Passover 
 again, participation in which was enjoined under pain 
 of extirpation in case of neglect, symbolized the sacer- 
 dotal status of the nation. It was a yearly memorial 
 of the deliverance which had made Israel a people 
 holy to Jehovah, a yearly renewal of the covenant, 
 a yearly reconsecration of individual Israelites. Each 
 household in which the sacred meal was solemnized 
 was thereby constituted a sanctuary, and each family 
 a priestly company ^ The readmission of the healed 
 leper to his forfeited privileges was accompanied by 
 ceremonies similar to those observed in the consecra- 
 tion of priests 2. The same idea was implied in the 
 sanctification of the firstborn, which represented the 
 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, ATI. T/ieotogie, § 26. 
 
 ^ Riehm, loc. cit. Cp. Lev. xiv. 14 foil, with Exod., xxix. 20, Lev. 
 viii. 24. 
 
V] AND ITS WORSHIP 223 
 
 vocation of the entire people to Jehovah's special 
 service ^. 
 
 Even when these rudimentary institutions had been 
 developed into an elaborate ceremonial law, yet the 
 prophetic element derived from the Mosaic covenant 
 would make the levitical code a real aid to the religious 
 life. Its ordinances concerning sabbaths, festivals and 
 fasts, its ideal agrarian res^ulations, even its careful 
 dietary and distinction between clean and unclean — 
 must have tended ' to give a certain dignity and 
 sanctity to life ^,' and to foster true thoughts in regard 
 to the worth of time, the responsibilities of property, 
 and the solemnity of everyday acts and occupations 
 when carried on under the consciousness of the divine 
 presence. Even in such a book as Chronicles, which 
 is entirely pervaded by the levitical spirit, we find 
 occasionally the prayer for inward devotion, for a perfect 
 heart and a willing mind^, as if this after all was the 
 one thing needful for acceptance with God. So in 
 the ceremonial law, as in the law of worship presently 
 to be considered, we miss the inspiring and Informing 
 element if we overlook the result towards which it 
 tended, and which in part it successfully achieved. 
 For the ceremonial observances of the ancient law 
 had a spiritual aim. They were intended to result, 
 says a recent writer, * in clean hancls and a pure heart, 
 in a conduct characterized by separation from sin and 
 devotion to the cause of righteousness ^.' Indeed, as 
 Origen observes, there are evangelical elements even 
 in the law : Sic ergo invenitur et Evangelii virtus in 
 lege, et fundamento legis subnixa intelligunticr evan- 
 gelia ^. 
 
 ^ Exod. xiii. I foil. Cp. Num. viii. 16 foil. 
 
 ^ Cp. Montefiore, op. cif. p. 511. See also a striking passage in 
 Dr.Fairbairn's Religion i7t History and in Modern Life, lect. ii. pp. 127 foil. 
 
 ^ I Chron. xxviii. 9 ; cp. xxix. 18, 19; 2 Chron. xvi. 9, &c. (Monteiiore, 
 p. 483)- 
 
 * W. S. Bruce, Ethics of the O. T. p. 210. 
 
 " in Num. horn. ix. 4. On the application of the Decalogue to 
 Christian conduct, see Gore, The Sermon on the Mount, Appendix ii. 
 
224 ItiE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 III. 
 
 There are two institutions minutely described in 
 the Pentateuch which specially presuppose and embody 
 the idea of covenant fellowship — the sanctuary and 
 the sacrifices. Mosaism is throughout a religion of 
 symbolism. Its characteristic institutions give con- 
 crete expression to a very vivid and spiritual faith. 
 For we must remember that, in their developed form, 
 the Pentateuchal ordinances do not merely prefigure 
 and typify spiritual realities, but actually give material 
 form to spiritual ideas. There lies behind them the 
 prophetic conception of a holy people, in whose midst 
 the God of holiness Himself has deigned to make His 
 abode. Hence that typical character which belongs 
 to Jewish institutions ; they give substance to essential 
 verities of catholic and spiritual religion, and they fore- 
 shadow in visible objects and in external ceremonies 
 a consummation towards which Hebrew religion was 
 ever tending \ In the Christian dispensation all things 
 are made new. The tabernacle of God is with men, 
 and he will dwell with them and zvill be their God'^. 
 Yes ; but we must not forget that this great thought 
 penetrated the prophet whose influence is most de- 
 cidedly impressed on the entire sacrificial system. 
 Modern criticism has enabled us to understand the 
 historical place and significance of the ritual code or 
 Torah which closes the book of Ezekiel — a passage 
 which has even been described as ' the key of the Old 
 Testament ^' Ezekiel's plan is partly ideal, partly 
 allegorical, partly based on old priestly usage, re- 
 
 ^ Aug. c. Faust. Manich. vi. 9 : ' Illud enim erat tempus significandi, 
 hoc manifestandi. Ergo ipsa scriptura, quae tunc fuit exactrix operum 
 significantium, nunc testis est rerum significataium, et quae tunc obscrva- 
 batur ad praenuntiationem, nunc recitatur ad confiimationem.' 
 
 ^ Rev. xxi. 3. Cp. Ezek. xxxvii. 27. 
 
 ^ Orth ap. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 421. On Ezekiel's draft 
 sketch, see Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. pp. 376 foU. ; Montefiore, 
 liibbert Lectures, p. 255. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 225 
 
 modelled in accordance with the idea of Jehovah's 
 holiness. Probably in great measure it shaped the post- 
 exilic organization of the priesthood, and the sacrificial 
 worship of the second temple. But the dominating 
 idea of the entire sketch is one which the Incarnation 
 alone was destined to verify ; it is indicated in the 
 closing words of Ezekiel's prophecy : The name of ike 
 city from that day shall be, The Lord is there^. This 
 indeed may be said to be the Messianic ideal of the 
 priesthood : the enthronement and permanent presence 
 of Jehovah in the midst of His people. The sanctuary 
 and worship of Israel may or may not have been insti- 
 tutions actually realized in detail ; but in any case the 
 description of them has a providential and didactic 
 purpose. We are warranted not only by New Testa- 
 ment references, but by our knowledge of the motive 
 which dictated the elaborate description of the sanc- 
 tuary, in believing that it was expressly intended to 
 embody certain characteristic ideas of Judaism, and 
 to symbolize religious truths ^. From this point of 
 view it makes no material difference whether the 
 sketch is strictly faithful to historical fact, or whether 
 it is a partially ideal creation. In either case the 
 religious idea is present, and this to a Christian reader 
 of the Old Testament is the point of paramount 
 interest. 
 
 It follows from what has been said that the symbolical 
 interpretation of the tabernacle and its services, which 
 we find in the New Testament, especially in the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews, has a foundation in reason and in 
 spiritual fact. There is a sense in which, as Origen 
 boldly says, the Law is ' always new ^' It interprets 
 
 ^ Ezek. xlviii. 35. Cp. Darmesteter, Les PropJictes d' Israel, p. 108. 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Prolegomeita, p. 81, says : ' The spiritualization of the 
 worship is seen in the Priestly code as advancing pari passu with its 
 centralization. It receives, so to speak, an abstract religious character.' 
 
 ^ Orig. 171 Num. horn. ix. 4: ' Nobis autem qui earn [legem] spiritaliter 
 et evangelico sensu intelligimus et exponimus, semper nova est, et 
 utrumque nobis novum testamentum est, non temporis novitate sed 
 intelligentiae novitate.' Cp. Aug. de util. cred. 9 : ' Evacuatur namque 
 in Christo non vetus testamentum sed velamen eius, ut per Christum 
 
226 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect, 
 
 to us our o-wii faith, and Christian experience has 
 proved that a close study of the ancient sanctuary and 
 its worship not only gives the clue to the meaning 
 of New Testament thoughts and expressions, but also 
 enlarges our comprehension of the general principles 
 of divine revelation. This will become more apparent 
 in the sequel. 
 
 It has, however, already been pointed out that 
 critics appear to be justified in maintaining that the 
 description of the tabernacle in the book of Exodus is 
 very highly idealized. There is no sufficient ground 
 for questioning the existence of a simple tent in the 
 earliest Mosaic period, which formed a shelter for 
 the ark, and stood without the camp in accordance 
 with ordinary Semitic usage. But what is called in 
 question by criticism is the existence in the wilderness, 
 among tribes living under nomad conditions, of a 
 splendid, costly, and elaborate structure, 'wrought in 
 the most advanced style of oriental art ^' Apart from 
 the character of the building, there is the serious 
 difficulty that Hebrew tradition appears to know 
 practically nothing of such a shrine in pre-exilic days -. 
 It knows something of the ark and of a central 
 sanctuary at Shiloh, but of the sumptuous tabernacle 
 described in the book of Exodus it makes no mention. 
 A Christian apologist can afford to admit that the 
 elaborate description of the tabernacle is to be regarded 
 as a product of religious idealism, working upon an 
 historical basis, and that the sketch as a whole is largely 
 coloured by reminiscences or traditions of the splendid 
 temple of Solomon. A prophetic idea underlies the 
 picture, namely, that the unity of God implies unity 
 and centralization of cultus. ' The tabernacle,' says 
 Wellhausen, ' is not narrative merely, but, like all the 
 
 intelligatur et quasi denudetur quod sine Christo obscuium atque 
 adopertum est.' 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 39. 
 
 2 The writer of Chronicles assumes the existence of the tabernacle in 
 Canaan before the building of the temple, but his evidence does not out- 
 weigh, for obvious reasons, the silence of the earlier books. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 227 
 
 narratives [in Exodus], law as well ; it expresses the 
 legal unity of the worship as an historical fact, which, 
 from the very beginning, ever since the exodus, has 
 held good in Israel. One God, one sanctuary, that 
 is the idea \' But there is no reason for questioning 
 the fact that in a rudimentary form suited to the 
 conditions of wilderness life, a simple tent of meeting 
 was constructed by Moses as the place of Jehovah's 
 abode. We might infer this not only from con- 
 siderations of a priori probability and from the 
 express testimony of tradition, but also from the very 
 structure of the more elaborate sanctuary, which in its 
 arrangements appears to be modelled on the ancient 
 shepherd's tent, with its open court, its large outer 
 apartment, and its private sanctum ^ Moreover, as 
 Riehm points out, the ancient law of Leviticus xvii. 
 implies the existence of a simple Mosaic tent, which 
 had essentially the very significance afterwards attri- 
 buted to the ideal structure of the priestly document 2. 
 
 From the symbolic sanctuary we turn to the institu- 
 tion of sacrifice, which in the Pentateuch is ordered 
 and reo^ulated as a leo^itimate and recoijnized mode 
 of approach to God : of either entering into covenant 
 relationship with Him, or restoring it when interrupted. 
 
 The levitical sacrifices demand special attention 
 in so far as a vital connexion is, assumed in Scripture 
 to exist between the death of a sacrificial victim and 
 the inauguration or renewal of a covenant. This con- 
 nexion is evidently regarded as axiomatic and self- 
 evident in the Epistle to the Hebrews ^ and it seems 
 to underlie the solemn words in which our Lord 
 Himself institutes the perpetual memorial of His 
 sacred passion. The New Covenant had been fore- 
 shadowed in the Old, and had been expressly predicted 
 
 ^ See Prolegomena, pp. 34-50. 
 
 2 Schultz, O. 7. Theology, i. p. 351. 
 
 ^ ATI. Theologie, p. 79. Even Renan allows the existence of such 
 a tent. 'But this,' he says, 'was only a germ' {liistoire du petiple 
 d' Israel, bk. i. ch. 15 s.fin.), 
 
 * Heb. ix. 17. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 by Jeremiah ^ It was a better covenajit both in what 
 it promised and what it ordained ; but it was better 
 chiefly in respect of the dignity and preciousness of 
 the sacrifice on which it rested. Each covenant was 
 inaugurated with bloodshedding 2, but the ancient 
 slaughter of victims was the symbol of a spiritual self- 
 oblation of infinite worth — a self-oblation which in 
 itself changed the relationship between man and God, 
 and became the foundation of a covenant union per- 
 manent and complete. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ 
 comprehends all the moral elements which the Hebrew 
 cidtus strove to express in a material and symbolic 
 form. It includes that consecration of life, that dedi- 
 cation of will, that devotion of heart which the notion 
 of a 'covenant' between the All- Holy and His 
 creatures necessarily implies. Thus in studying 
 Israel's sacrificial worship we ascertain the spiritual 
 conditions involved in man's communion with his 
 Creator. 
 
 Now speaking generally, the purpose of the ctdtns 
 was at once disciplinary and didactic. On the one 
 hand, the sacrificial worship was intended to develope 
 and deepen the consciousness of sin, to make the 
 thought of Jehovah's holiness and of His separation 
 from the creature a practical power in human life. On 
 the other hand, it was intended to awaken and train 
 religious affections : the spirit of dependence and holy 
 fear, the temper of trust, devotion, self-surrender, thank- 
 fulness, love, and the longing for divine grace. Thus 
 though the post-exilic elaboration of sacrificial ritual 
 seems at first sight retrogressive and reactionary, yet 
 it was inspired by an ethical and spiritual motive. It 
 was not a reversion to heathenism, with its purely 
 external conception of religious obligation. It was 
 not intended to place ritual on a level with morality, 
 as if both were equally acceptable to God. It was the 
 
 ^ Jer. xxxi. 31 foil. Cp. Heb. viii. 8 foil. See also Matt. xxvi. 28 and 
 Luke xxii. 20. 
 2 Heb. ix. 18. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 229 
 
 outcome of a penitent sense of national unfaithfulness 
 to Jehovah in the past, and of a genuine desire to 
 provide safeguards against future apostasy, or negli- 
 gence in His service. The culhis was doubtless 
 regarded by its authors 'as a very important means 
 towards the great end of keeping the people of Israel 
 faithful in heart and life to God ^' 
 
 Before we consider the sacrifices in detail, however, 
 it will be advisable to make four preliminary observa- 
 tions. 
 
 I. The Institutions of sacrifice described in the 
 Pentateuch are based on pre-existing customs. It has 
 been observed that the origin and rationale of sacrifice 
 are nowhere explained in the Old Testament. ' That 
 sacrifice is an essential part of religion is taken for 
 granted ^.' The ritual of the second temple was based 
 on immemorial usage and tradition. In numerous 
 details it illustrates the affinity of Hebrew institutions 
 to those of the Semitic race generally. Consequently 
 much light has been thrown upon the origin and 
 meaning of Mosaic institutions of worship by inquiry 
 into the customs of Semitic paganism. Distinctive, 
 however, of Israel's religion is the tendency visible 
 from the first to moralize the cultns, and to reduce 
 its significance as a mere opus operatum by insistence 
 on Jehovah's ethical requirement. So far as we 
 can gather, Moses seems to have contented himself 
 with a minimum of ritual legislation, and we may 
 suppose that such ceremonial traditions as were 
 allowed or instituted by Moses himself were cherished 
 and observed in pre-prophetic days by the priest- 
 hood at the sanctuary of Shiloh. The codification 
 and further development of sacrificial usage may 
 well have begun at the period when Jerusalem, in 
 consequence of the building of Solomon's temple, 
 became the religious centre of the kingdom. ' The 
 priesthood,' says Riehm, ' as the guardians of the Mosaic 
 
 ^ Bruce, Apologetics, p. 265. 
 
 2 Robertson Smith, Religioii of the Semites, p. 3. 
 
230 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 traditions, traced back the entire contents of the 
 priestly law to Moses, but historically this is only 
 true of the spirit that dominates the whole system and 
 of its main outlines \' By the ' spirit of the whole 
 system' we may understand the desire to keep alive 
 in Israel the spirit of loyalty to Jehovah's covenant. 
 Characteristic of PvTosalsm is the Decalogue : of post- 
 exilic Judaism, the sacrificial system ; but the motive 
 underlying the legislation of Moses and of Ezra is 
 practically the same — a desire to secure Israel's faith- 
 fulness to the divine covenant ^. 
 
 2. We are struck by the attitude of the prophets 
 towards sacrifice. Some of them appear to represent 
 it as a concession to spiritual immaturity ; all of them 
 speak of it as wholly subordinate in importance to 
 moral obedience. Such is the force of the celebrated 
 passage, Jeremiah vii. 22 ^ Later prophecy seems to 
 regard sacrifice as the appropriate symbol of a perfect 
 devotion to God ; it values the levitical worship not 
 indeed for itself but for that which it signifies, namely 
 the entire consecration of life to God^ Ezekiel in 
 the last nine chapters of his book appears at first sight 
 to co-ordinate ritual worship with morality, but such is 
 not the tendency of his prophecy surveyed as a whole. 
 Legalistic as is the habit of Ezekiel's mind, we must 
 remember that he is pre-eminendy the teacher of 
 personal religion and individual responsibility, while 
 in his early chapters the statutes andjicdgmcuts which he 
 proclaims are exclusively moral ^ On the whole, then, 
 it would appear that the prophets were comparatively 
 indifferent to the actual details of the cultiLS. Their 
 polemical statements prove little as to the Mosaic 
 
 ^ Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 8i. Bruce, Apologetics, p, 221, refers to 
 this passage, and observes that the rehgious customs were 'ascribed to 
 Moses not so much as author, but rather as authority.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Bruce, p. 219. 
 
 ^ Cp. Amos V. 25, and see Iren. Haer. iv. 17. 3 : ' Non enim principaliter 
 haec [sacrificia], sed secundum consequentiam . . . habuit populus.' (See 
 the whole passage.) 
 
 * See Isa. Jxvi. 20 foil. ; Zech. xiv. 16 foil. ; Mai. iii. 4. 
 
 * See ]\Iontefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 257. Cp. Ezek. xviii. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 231 
 
 origin- or precise character of the contemporary 
 worship; what they denounce is the immorahty and 
 profligacy which had come to be associated with the 
 popular worship, and the hypocrisy which imagined that 
 effusive reHgiosity was a kind of compensation for 
 unrighteous conduct. 
 
 3. The question has also been raised by criticism 
 how far the levitical system was ever actually in 
 operation. The sacrificial usage codified in the Penta- 
 teuch represents what was at least intended to be 
 observed in the post-exilic temple. It is evidently 
 a highly complex and artificial system, the product 
 of a reforming movement, which attempted to 
 restore and develope ritual praxis on the lines of 
 ancient tradition ^ The peculiar form of the cere- 
 monial prescribed in Leviticus is determined partly 
 by the antiquarian tendency of the time, partly by 
 the desire to give an adequate symbolic expression 
 to a deepened spiritual experience. There is indeed 
 every reason to suppose that the system existed in 
 germ even at the earliest period of Israel's national 
 history ^ ; in outline it is represented in the ceremonies 
 connected with the consecration of the priests, which 
 probably represent a very ancient tradition. But in 
 any case, whatever may have been the extent to which 
 the sacrificial system was practically observed before 
 the exile, it derived new significance from the Deutero- 
 nomic law of the one sanctuary. In ancient Israel 
 sacrificial feasts were freely celebrated at local sanctua- 
 ries : but with the concentration of religion at one 
 central shrine, sacrifice, though it ceased to be the most 
 vital element in popular worship, acquired special 
 dignity and importance as a representative national 
 service. It virtually served the purpose of an object- 
 lesson to Israel during the period when prophecy was 
 
 1 Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol, i. p. 373 ; Robertson Smith, Religion of 
 the Semites, pp. 198 foil. ; O. 71 in J. C, lect. xi. 
 
 * Edersheim, Warbiirton Lectures, p. 239, declares that the non- 
 observance of the system in the wilderness was ' unquestionably a necessity 
 imposed by the times.' Cp. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 412. 
 
232 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 silent. It put an end once for all to the practical 
 heathenism against which the pre-exilic prophets had 
 preached without avail ; and it embodied in visible 
 form prophetic teachings in regard to the nature and 
 character of God, and the conditions of covenantal 
 fellowship with Him. It is clear that the critical 
 analysis of the Pentateuch relieves us of a difficulty. 
 Had the sacrificial ritual been certainly prescribed in 
 its present form by Moses we should have had to 
 explain the fact that an elaborate system solemnly 
 established under divine sanctions of the most stringent 
 kind was practically ignored for centuries, and failed 
 in great measure to effect its object, namely the 
 restraint of the people from idolatry and apostasy \ 
 On the other hand, if we accept the modern theory, 
 the facts to be explained fall into their true place. 
 
 4. Lastly, it is noticeable that the chief feature 
 distinctive of the levitical ritual is the development 
 of piacular sacrifice. The simplicity and joyousness 
 of primitive worship, reflecting to a great extent the 
 conditions of an early age and the placid happiness of 
 agricultural life, found appropriate expression in rites 
 and festivals connected with the changing seasons of 
 the year. But a religion of this type could not with- 
 stand the strain of prolonged disaster and adversity. 
 Accordingly in the seventh century B.C. we find the 
 development in Palestine of a more sombre species of 
 worship, under the pressure of accumulated national 
 calamities which appeared to betoken the abiding 
 displeasure of the deity, and awakened a new con- 
 sciousness of guilt 2. Thus the idea of the expiation 
 of sin gradually tended to displace or modify the 
 primitive conception of sacrifice as the creation or 
 renewal of a life-bond between the deity and His 
 worshippers ^ The levitical sin-offering is in all 
 
 ^ Cp. Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. pp. 315 foil., 377. Cp. Ezek. 
 x'iiii. 7 ; xliv. 6 foil. 
 
 2 Cp. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 240, 374 ; O. T. in 
 J.C. p 380; '^\^\\m.,Ei7ilcitimg in das A. T.vol i. p.351 ; Sch_ultz,ii.p. 176. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 330, 333. ' 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 233 
 
 essential features * identical with the ancient sacrament 
 of communion in a sacred life ^ ' ; but the men of 
 a later age were led to invest the ancient form of 
 sacrifice with a new significance, in proportion as they 
 came to realize more profoundly the inviolable holiness 
 of Jehovah, the sinfulness of man, and the consequent 
 need of priestly mediation. 
 
 The sin-offering then is an institution distinctive of 
 the Hebrew cuiius, but in other points there is close 
 affinity between the sacrifices of Israel and those of 
 other Semitic tribes. The true ideas latent in ethnic 
 sacrifice appear in a purified and developed form in 
 the levitical system : for instance, the conception of 
 the sacrificial meal as a feast of communion with 
 deity, and a means of participation in the sacred life 
 of a victim. Again, the primitive idea that the offering 
 is a tribute to the divine King or a meal conveyed 
 to Him, underlies such phrases as 'the bread' or 
 ' food of Jehovah ^.' The last- mentioned idea, however, 
 is carefully guarded by the doctrine that God has no 
 need of such material gifts, whereas the pagan belief 
 was that the deity literally feasted on the flesh of the 
 victim, as it rose from the altar in the sublimated form 
 of smoke or steam "\ In estimating indeed the moral 
 effect of the levitical worship we have to bear in mind, 
 first, the fact that the worshippers were for the most 
 part deeply imbued with the characteristic teaching 
 of the prophets ; secondly, the fact that in post-exilic 
 days sacrificial worship necessarily 'ceased to be the 
 expression of everyday religion.' Prof Robertson 
 Smith appositely remarks that ' the very features of 
 the levitical ordinances which seem most inconsistent 
 with spirituality . . . appear in a very different light in 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, ReUgioti of the Semites, p. 331. 
 nin'' Dnb — a name applied to sacrifice in general. See Lev. iii. ll, 16 ; 
 xxi. 6, 8, 17 ; xxii. 25 ; Num. xxviii. 2 ; Ezek. xliy. 7 ; Mai. i. 7. Cp. Well- 
 hausen, Prole_^omena, pp. 61, 62. The phrase Bread of God in John vi. 
 "ijl seems to imply that the self- oblation of Christ gives perfect satisfactiott 
 to the Father. Cp. Eph. v. 2. 
 
 ^ See Tylor, A7it/iropology, p. 365. Ps. 1. 9 foil, is a protest against this 
 idea. Cp. Iren. Haer. iv. 18. 3 ; Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, pp. 286-287. 
 
234 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 the age after the exile, when the non-ritual religion of 
 the prophets went side by side with the Law, and sup- 
 plied daily nourishment to the spiritual life of those 
 who were far from the sanctuary ^' 
 
 The above considerations may guide us in our 
 survey of the levitical sacrifices. It only remains to 
 bear in mind ex abimdanti cautela that the completely- 
 organized system is the result of a long and slow 
 development of traditional usages, each of which had 
 its separate history^. 
 
 We may proceed to deal first with the names and 
 prominent features of the several sacrifices described 
 in the Pentateuch. 
 
 The names most generally employed are two : a 
 sacrifice is described in the priestly code as Qorban 
 (LXX. Scopop), ' a gift,' or as hh-sheh (Ova-ia), ' an offering 
 by fire.' The first is the wider and more primitive 
 designation, and includes every species of oblation. 
 The original meaning of the word seems to be ' some- 
 thing presented ' or ' brought near ' to a superior, and 
 it corresponds to the most simple aspect of sacrifice as 
 a tribute due to God^ The second term, Is/i-s/ie/i, 
 implies the established use of fire as a mode of con- 
 sumption \ The remaining words for sacrifice become 
 specialized by limitation of their usage. The most 
 important distinction is that between Minchah {Ovaia), 
 ' gift ' or * present,' which though applied to sacri- 
 fice in various passages, and even to an ordinary 
 present ^, is in the priestly code restricted entirely to 
 the meal or vegetable offering ; and Zcbach, ' slain 
 
 ' O. T. in J. C. pp. 378, 379. 
 
 "^ The use oifire^ for example, as a mode of consumption seems to have 
 been introduced at a comparatively late stage in the evolution of Semitic 
 sacrifice. That it was a subordinate feature seems to be implied in the 
 name of the altar, nnti3, ' place of slaughter.' On the whole subject see 
 Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, ch. x, and below, p. 238. 
 
 * Wellhausen, Prolegoumia, p. 61. The vb. ':^'^'^T\ corresponds to pip. 
 See Lev. i. 2 ; ii. li ; iii. I, (Sec. 
 
 * Lev. i. 9, 13, 17 ; ii. 2, 9, &c. ; Num. xv. 3; xxviii. 8, 
 
 ^ Gen. iv. 3-5 ; Num. xvi. 15 ; i Sam. ii. 17 ; Ps. xl.6 (LXX. Trpotr^opd), 
 &c. Cp. Gen. xxxii. 13 and 2 Sam. viii. 2, 6. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 235 
 
 sacrifice/ which appears to be a more ancient designa- 
 tion than Miiichah, implying nomadic conditions of 
 life such as would ordinarily precede the settled habits 
 of an agricultural people ^ 
 
 From these general names we pass on to consider the 
 three main classes of sacrifice described in the levitical 
 Law : the sin-offering ^ with its special variety, the 
 trespass- or guilt-offering ; the burnt-offering ^, which 
 was invariably accompanied by a meal-offering and 
 a libation of wine ; and the peace-offering *, including 
 several species, such as the ' vow,' the ' praise-offering,' 
 and the ' free-will oblation.' Each of these three main 
 divisions of sacrifice is connected with either the 
 renewal or the maintenance of covenant fellowship 
 with Jehovah. The order, however, of their historical 
 development is to be carefully distinguished from that 
 of the detailed treatment in the book of Leviticus. 
 When the three classes are mentioned together, the 
 essential order of thought seems to be observed. First 
 in order stands the sin-offering, implying the necessary 
 expiation of guilt which might have severed the 
 Israelite from the privileges of the covenant ; next the 
 burnt-offering, suggesting the idea of renewed self- 
 dedication ; and, lastly, the peace-offering, with its 
 sacrificial meal, which was the seal as it were of 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 226. 
 
 2 Heb. HNOn, ' sin ' (LXX. Trepl dfxnprins), Lev. iv. 24, &c. DK'N,' trespass ' 
 (LXX. Trepi Tijs n\TiniJL€\euts) is scarcely distinguishable from the sin- 
 offering. Cp. Lev. V. 6-8. See below, p. 238. 
 
 ^ Heb. n^y {6\oKavTa>[ia),' that which ascends.' To this corresponds the 
 vb. n!?vn ; cp. Ps. li. 19. Occasionally the poetical word ^1^3, ' whole- 
 offering,' occurs (l Sam. vii. 9 ; Deut. xxxiii. 10). With the burnt-offering 
 were offered the meal-offering (nn:?D) and the drink-offering, or libation 
 of wine (TID3). 
 
 * CDPLi' n^T, ' slain-victim of Shelamim^ i.e. * vows,' from vb. DbC'/ pay ' 
 or ' discharge ' (Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 219 note), or 
 preferably 'fullness' of salvation (so apparently Wellhausen, op. cit. p. 71, 
 and Schultz, i. 378). The sing, xb^ occurs only in Amos v. 22. The 
 name, according to Riehm, conveys the notion of unimpaired and perfect 
 fellowship. The peace-offering is a symbol of peaceful and friendly com- 
 munion with God [ATI. Theologie, p. 120}. 
 
236 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect, 
 
 restored fellowship, and the highest expression of 
 perfect communion with deity. 
 
 All these classes of sacrifices had three elements in 
 common. In each case there was the ceremony of 
 presentation, the act of slaughtering, and the disposal 
 of the victim. 
 
 The victim was to be presented at the door of 
 the tabernacle court by the offerer himself, in token 
 of that willing intention which constituted the accept- 
 able element in the oblation. This act was followed 
 by the imposition of hands [scmichah), i. e. an actual 
 pressure of both hands upon the victim's head. This 
 rite appears to have implied not so much the idea 
 of substitution, or transference of sruilt, thoucrh it was 
 ordinarily accompanied by detailed confession of sins, 
 as that of entire self-identification with the victim, 
 or the dedication of it to some special object or 
 office, such as the removal of guilts The slaughter 
 of the victim next took place. This was performed 
 by the offerer, not by the priest, except in the case 
 of a sacrifice offered for his own sin, or for that 
 of the whole congregation 2. The slaying ^ which 
 took place on the north side of the altar — perhaps 
 because the north was regarded as the quarter with 
 which judgment or punishment was connected — 
 seems to have had no independent significance ; it 
 served simply as a means of obtaining the blood or 
 
 ' On the ni''DD see Schultz, i. 391, who seems to give the true account 
 with clearness ; cp. Robertson Smith, Rcli^^ion of the Semites, p. 402 ; West- 
 cott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 290 ; Jukes, The Law of the Offeiings, p. 38 : 
 ' This act in itsc/f\va.s nothing more than the expression of the identity of 
 the offerer and offering. . . . The offering, whatever it might be, stood for, 
 and was looked upon as identical with, the offerer.' Riehm, A Tl. Theo- 
 logie, says that by the seinichah the victim was made ' Trager der Gesin- 
 nungen, die er (the offerer) gegeniJber Gott bethiitigen will,' 
 
 ^ See Lev. i. 5, 9 : possibly also the priest slew the victim in the rite 
 for cleansing lepers. See Lev. xiv. 13, 25, and cp. Oehler, i. 411. In 
 2 Chron. xxix. 24 the slaying by the priests seems to be mentioned as 
 exceptional. Ezek. xiiv. 10-16 shows that it was an ignoble office. 
 
 ^ The Heb. vb. is ^TW. Cp. Lev. i. 11, and see Isa. xli. 25, Jer. i. 14, 
 li. 48. On the general significance of the slaughter see Oehler, loc. cit. ; 
 Schultz, i. 394 ; Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 291. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 237 
 
 sacred life. The Law seems to have laid no stress 
 either on the intrinsic fact of suffering, or on the 
 material value of the sacrifice, as is shown by the 
 limited scale of the offerings : neither hecatombs of 
 victims nor human sacrifice were required for the pur- 
 poses of acceptable atonement. Indeed, it is clear 
 that the significant part of the ceremony was not 
 thought to lie ' in the death of the victim, but in the 
 application of its life bloods' 
 
 And this brings us to the third point — the disposal 
 of the victim : of its blood and its flesh. The 
 blood of sacrifice was the appointed medium of atone- 
 ment as being the seat of the sacred life, and could 
 accordingly be presented only through the media- 
 tion of the priest^. Without going here into special 
 detail it is sufficient to notice that the mode of 
 dealing with the blood varied, the precise variations 
 being minutely specified. Thus in the case of the burnt- 
 offering or peace-offering the blood was thrown or 
 dashed ^ against the sides of the brazen altar ; but 
 in the case of a sin-offering part of it was solemnly 
 sprinkled on the horns of the altar when offered for 
 a private person, but within the holy place on the 
 horns of the incense altar when offered for a priest or 
 the whole congregation. On the Day of Atonement 
 there came as it were a climax in tl\e ascending scale. 
 On that day alone the blood was carried within the 
 veil and solemnly sprinkled by the High Priest tipoii 
 ike mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat seven times *. 
 With regard to the disposal of the flesh the Law 
 required that the victim should be flayed by the offerer 
 and divided, and then consumed by fire upon the altar or 
 elsewhere. It was to be wholly burnt in the case of 
 the burnt-offering, in part only if the sacrifice was a sin- 
 or peace-offering. The use of fire in this connexion is 
 
 * Religion of tJie Semites, p. 319. 
 
 2 Lev! xvii. 11. ^ j^eb. pit (LXX. npocrx^'iv). 
 
 * Lev. xvi. 14-19. On the disposal of the blood in Semitic sacrifice see 
 Robertson Smith, Religion oj the Setnites, especially lectures v, vi, and ix. 
 
238 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 noticeable. In primitive ethnic sacrifices fire would be 
 regarded as a means of conveying food in an etherial- 
 ized form to the deity ; but in the levitic rites it 
 seems to be employed merely as a safe and appropriate 
 method of disposal, when the flesh of the victim was 
 regarded as a thing too holy to be touched, or 
 disposed of in any other way, even by consecrated 
 persons ^ Through the action of fire the flesh was 
 finally withdrawn from the possibility of profane use 
 or contact. 
 
 Besides these general elements common to all 
 sacrifices, there were special features distinctive of each 
 particular class. The sin-offering in some sense ranks 
 above the other sacrifices as being ' most holy V 
 that is, entirely withdrawn from ordinary human use. 
 Whether there is any clear distinction between the 
 sin-offering and the trespass-offering is disputed ; but 
 one thing seems evident, viz. that the entire com- 
 plicated system of atonement existed only in relation to 
 minor offences, committed whether through ignorance, 
 carelessness, or infirmity. For open breaches of 
 the ten words — sins with a high hand^ — there was 
 no availing atonement possible ; they were to be 
 punished with death. Such sins were theoretically 
 regarded as involving a presumptuous violation of 
 covenant conditions, and a deliberate withdrawal 
 from the sphere in which sacrifice was efficacious. 
 Apparently, however, a distinction was possible in 
 the case of minor transgressions. The trespass- 
 offering appears to have implied some previous act 
 of fraud ; some infraction of the rights of ownership ; 
 some withholding from God of His due. But any 
 artificial distinction between the sin- and the trespass- 
 offering is precarious *. The two species of sacrifice 
 
 ^ Cp. Schultz, i. 396 note ; Religion of the Semites, lect. x. 
 
 '^ Lev. vi. 17 and 25 foil. 
 
 ^ Heb. HDI n^3. Num. xv. 30 ; cp. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 * On this point see Willis, Worship of the Old Covoimtt, ch. vii. 
 § 2 ; Schultz, i. 3S0. Wellhausen, Prolegoinctta, pp. 74, 75, observes 
 that ' the sin- and trespass-offerings of the Pentateuch still bear traces of 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 239 
 
 seem, however, to correspond to two different aspects 
 of human shi, regarded as demanding expiation on 
 the one hand, on the other as admitting to a certain 
 extent of reparation. 
 
 In the ritual of the sin-offering some special points 
 call for attention : for instance, the exact specifi- 
 cation of the victim, which differed according to the 
 grade of the offerer or the dignity of the occasion ^ ; 
 and the verbal confession of sins which was uttered by 
 the worshipper leaning upon the victim's head "-. The 
 most characteristic feature, however, of the sacrifice 
 was the ceremonial sprinkling of the sacred blood at 
 spots to which belonged different degrees of sanctity, 
 implying different stages of nearness to God. On the 
 Day of Atonement, by the sprinkling of the blood on 
 the mercy-seat the highest moment of reconciliation 
 known to the Law was attained : the life of the people 
 being in a representative act of dedication brought into 
 closest contact with the divine presence. Noticeable 
 also is the disposal of the victim's flesh : all the fat, as 
 being the choicest part, was burnt upon the altar for 
 a sweet savour unto the Lord^ ; the remainder of the 
 flesh was disposed of in different ways. If the offering 
 was that of a private person it was consumed by the 
 priests within the precincts of the sanctuary * ; but in 
 certain cases, when the sin-offering was that of a priest 
 or of the entire congregation, it was regarded as too 
 holy to be eaten even by consecrated persons, and it was 
 burned outside the camp, as the safest method of dis- 
 
 their origin in fines and penalties ; they are not gifts to God, . . . they 
 are simp.y mulcts payable to the priests, partly of fixed commutation 
 value (Lev. v. 15).' See 2 Kings xii. 16 for a mention of ' trespass-money 
 and sin-money.' 
 
 ^ Lev. iv. 
 
 2 Lev. v. 5 ; Num. v. 6 foil. Cp. Willis, op. cit. p. 141. 
 
 ^ Lev. iv. 31. 
 
 * Thus the sin-offering retains a relic of the ancient sacrificial feast of 
 communion, only the communion is restricted to the priests. Obs. Hos. 
 iv. 8 implies (l) that some form of sin-offering existed in the prophetic 
 period ; (2) that the guilty priests, instead of attempting to stem the sin- 
 fulness of the people, longed for its increase with a view to fresh gains. 
 See Cheyne ad loc. in Cainb. Bible for Schools. 
 
240 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 posing of a most holy thing. The culminating service 
 of national expiation, which was solemnized on the Day 
 of Atonement, is worthy of special study, because it 
 sums up and interprets the significance of the entire 
 system of piacular sacrifice. In the ordinances of that 
 day we see ' writ large ' the conditions of access to 
 God, the method by which the state of covenant privi- 
 lege for Jehovah's people was renewed. At the same 
 time the mark of imperfection was visibly impressed 
 on the whole procedure of the day, and it had to be 
 yearly repeated, as if to remind the people that their 
 tenure in God's house was not absolute, but renewable 
 only from year to year. 
 
 The bitrnt-offering^ or holocaust, if we may rely on 
 the early historical notices, was apparently known, but 
 not very commonly practised, in the patriarchal period. 
 There are traces of the yet more primitive slain-sacrifice 
 with its sacred meal in the book of Genesis ^ ; and the 
 account in Gen. xxii of the offering of Isaac marks, as 
 we have noticed, a critical epoch in the development of 
 the doctrine of sacrifice. The passage illustrates the 
 way in which ethnic corruptions were purified : it 
 disconnects the spirit of absolute devotion from the 
 necessity of any particular material exhibition of it^. 
 Some writers have supposed that the use of fire had 
 its origin in the custom of human sacrifice ; the victim 
 was burned in a spot apart from men, as being too 
 sacred to be eaten : but whatever be its origin, the 
 practice of burning the bodies of ordinary animals on 
 the altar very early established itself. The essential 
 idea of the holocaust was probably that of a grateful 
 tribute to God as king. It would be an exceptional 
 form of sacrifice, expressive of man's grateful dedica- 
 tion of himself and his possessions to God. Certainly 
 in its developed form the burnt-offering would present 
 itself to the mind of a devout Israelite as an apt symbol 
 
 ^ Gen. xxxi. 54 ; xlvi. I. 
 
 ^ Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews^ p. 284 ; cp. Oehler, § 121, note I. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 241 
 
 of entire self-consecration to God. It would give out- 
 ward expression to the spirit of perfect devotion, 
 conscious of the infinite gulf that separates the sinful 
 creature from the All-holy \ In this connexion it is 
 significant that the principal act of public worship in 
 the days of the second temple was the daily or con- 
 tinual- burnt-offering, which consisted in the oblation 
 of a spotless lamb every morning and evening. 
 Around this as a centre were grouped the prayers 
 and the praises of Israel ; it formed as it were the 
 foundation of the whole sacrificial system. Probably 
 the offering of incense was kindled in the holy place 
 simultaneously with the burnt-offering, while the assem- 
 bled congregation stood praying without in the court. 
 Together with the burnt-offering, as a kind of supple- 
 ment were presented the Minchah or meal-offering 
 (a portion of which, called the ' memorial ^,' was burned 
 upon the altar), and the drink-offering consisting of 
 wine. This feature was one common to the Hebrew 
 sacrifices and to those of classic paganism. The name 
 Minchah indicates that the notion of the meal-offering 
 was that of a tribute paid by the worshipper to God 
 and wholly given over to Him, whereas in the case of 
 animal sacrifice there was originally at least a com- 
 munion feast in which God and the offerer shared. 
 The accessories of the burnt-offeriaig are among those 
 many details which are of the nature of survivals in 
 the Mosaic religion. Certainly when sacrifice had be- 
 come an act of national homage to Jehovah, maintained 
 at the public cost, the daily burnt-offering acquired 
 unique importance and dignity. We may judge of 
 the importance of the Tamid or 'continual' burnt- 
 offering by the fact that its cessation was thought 
 
 * Riehm. ATI. Theologie, p. 119: ' Wie die Erhabenheit der Gottheit 
 iiber die irdische Welt in alien semitischen Religionen stark betont wird, 
 und im Mosaismus in der Idee der Heiligkeit Jahves mit besonderem 
 Nachdruck sich geltend macht, so nimmt auch das Brandopfer im Kultus 
 Israels die Hauptstelle ein.' 
 
 ■^ Ex. xxix. 42; Num. xxviii. 3. 
 
 3 m3IN (LXX. fxvrjiJiwrvvov) Lev. ii. 2. 
 
243 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 practically to involve the abolition of public wor- 
 ship^. Its maintenance came to be regarded as the 
 absolutely necessary condition of covenant-union be- 
 tween Jehovah and His people, and in daily life the 
 devout Jew followed 'with an inward longing and 
 spiritual sympathy the national homage which continu- 
 ally ascended on behalf of himself and all the people of 
 God in the stated ritual of the Temple ^Z 
 
 The levitical system of sacrifice is completed by the 
 peace-offering, which is of peculiar interest as repro- 
 ducing in a higher and more spiritual form the main 
 features of primaeval sacrifice. Originally, when the 
 slaying of animals for food was a comparatively rare 
 event, all slaughter was regarded as a sacrificial act ; 
 and, conversely, a sacrifice was habitually connected 
 with a communion feast. Accordingly the Zebachim 
 represent the original type of sacrifice out of which all 
 other forms were developed. In early ages sacrifice 
 was a family or tribal action, the object of which was 
 to re-establish the bond of communion or fellowship 
 between the tribe and its god through joint participa- 
 tion in a sacred victim. Such sacrifices followed by 
 feasts were characteristic of a period when religious 
 ideas were of a physical cast, it being the fundamental 
 conception of ancient religion that the gods and their 
 worshippers formed one community united by the tie of 
 kinship 'K The evidence of the earlier Old Testament 
 books shows that the primitive religion of Israel so 
 far resembled in its general character that of the other 
 Semites, that * a meal was almost always connected 
 with a sacrifice V 'In ancient Israel,' says Cornill, 
 
 ' See Dan. viii. ii foil., xi. 31 ; cp. xii. li. Wcllhausen, ProIcs:om£na, 
 p 79, says: 'According to 2 Kings xvi. 15, an Hpy in the morning and a 
 nn:D in the evening were daily offered in the temple of Jerusalem, in the 
 time of Ahaz. ... In the Priestly Code the evening Mijtchah has risen to 
 the dignity of a second 'Olah\ but at the same time survives the daily 
 Minchah of the high-priest, and is now ofiered in the morning also (Lev. 
 vi. 12-16).' 
 
 2 Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 252. 
 
 ^ See Relifrion of the Semites, p. 33. 
 
 * Cp. Welihausen, Frolegoi/ie/ia, p. 71 ; Cornill, Der Israelitische Pro- 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 243 
 
 ' the worship of Jehovah had always a bhthe and 
 joyous character. ... It consisted in making merry 
 before God. In the sacrifice, of which God received 
 a definite portion, while the worshipper himself con- 
 sumed the rest, a man entered into table-fellowship 
 with Deity; he was the guest of his God, and 
 thereby became doubly assured of union with Him.' 
 When, however, the Deuteronomic law of one sanc- 
 tuary and one altar came into force, the eating of flesh 
 inevitably ceased to be a purely religious act. It is 
 deeplyinteresting, however, to observe that the crowning 
 sacrifice of the levitical system consecrates, as it were, 
 the very oldest forms of Hebrew worship, and repro- 
 duces in an age of heightened spiritual aspiration the 
 mystical idea which underlay the ancient sacrificial 
 meal, viz. that man's highest life consists in living 
 fellowship with God, which is most appropriately 
 typified by a sacred meal \ 
 
 There were some peculiar features in the ritual of 
 the peace-offering. A larger latitude was allowed in 
 the choice of a victim, and there were certain ceremonies 
 of presentation — 'heaving' and 'waving-' — of which 
 the explanation is somewhat doubtful ; but the most 
 prominent feature of the sacrifice was the subsequent 
 meal, in which God, the officiating priest, and the 
 offerer, together with his friends and such poor as 
 he might invite, alike participated. The inner fat 
 portions — those in which the sacred life was believed 
 specially to reside — were burned upon the altar as the 
 
 j)hetismus, pp. 38 foil.; Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel (ed. i), 
 pp. 98, 99 ; and Religioti of the Semites, pp. 236 foil. 
 
 ^ Conversely, the sin of ' eating upon the mountains ' (Ezek. xviii. 6 foil.) 
 consisted in the fact that it involved holding communion with false gods : 
 the meal was a token of fellowship as a guest with the idol. Cp. the 
 argument of i Cor. x. 20. 
 
 ^ Heb. HDlin and HQUn. The ceremony probably implied simple pre- 
 sentation to Cod, the 'waving ' being a movement to and fro, the ' heaving ' 
 a movement up and down. Rabbinic writers, however, explain it as 
 a recognition of the divine omnipresence. See Oehler, ^ 133 (vol. ii. 
 pp. 6 foil.) ; and so)iie interesting details mentioned in Willis, Worships 
 &c., pp. 175 foil. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 portion appropriated to the deity ; the wave-breast 
 was the perquisite of the whole body of priests, the 
 heave-shoulder of the officiating minister. All that 
 remained was eaten by the offerer and his friends on 
 the day of sacrifice, those who took part in the meal 
 being obliged to be ceremonially clean ^ The broad 
 conception of the whole ceremony was that God re- 
 ceived the offerer at His table, the part returned to the 
 worshipper being made the occasion of a blessing in 
 which others might share. Such was the main cha- 
 racteristic of the peace-offering in all its forms ; the 
 special species of such offerings, whether votive, free- 
 will, or eucharistic, it is unnecessary for present pur- 
 poses to describe in detail. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Our object in these lectures is to indicate the princi- 
 ples which should guide a Christian student in his use 
 of the Old Testament. Having therefore briefly de- 
 scribed the two principal institutions in which the 
 covenant-relationship that subsisted between Jehovah 
 and His chosen people found expression, it remains 
 to consider the symbolic significance of the sanctuary 
 as illustrated by the express teaching of the New 
 Testament, and the spiritual ideas which the sacri- 
 ficial system was intended to embody. 
 
 And here we must proceed with caution. What is 
 called typical interpretation consists in the application of 
 things and incidents described in the Old Testament to 
 those which are recorded in the New ^. And the ques- 
 tion may fairly be asked, How are we to determine in 
 any given instance whether a thing is typical or not ? 
 
 ^ Lev. vii. 19. 
 
 ^ ' Typus lusioriae est sensus Scripturae mysticus, quo res gestae vel 
 facta Vet. Testamenti praefigurant et adumbrant res in Novo Testamento 
 js'estas.' Glassius ap. Waterland, pref. to Saipture Viftdicated (llW/cs, 
 vol. vi. p. 12). Glassius distinguishes between types historical and pro- 
 phetical. The ceremonial law is an instance of the first, Jeremiah making 
 yokes and bonds (Jer. xxvii. 2) of the second. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 245 
 
 The answer has been given, that since the warrant for 
 typical interpretation is supplied by Holy Scripture 
 itself, we are not justified in going beyond the limits 
 which it expressly sanctions in various instances. In 
 spite of its habitual reserve on such points, there are 
 certain cases in which the New Testament itself 
 indicates that two objects or incidents * were so con- 
 nected that the one was designed to prefigure the other ' ; 
 that both were in fact ' fore-ordaincd as constituent 
 parts of the same general scheme of providence ^' 
 Others, while recognizing the necessity of safeguards 
 against abuse of the method in question, plead for 
 a certain liberty of interpretation, 'beyond the pre- 
 cedent, but according to the spirit of Scripture V In 
 the case, however, of the Jewish sanctuary and ritual 
 we are not left destitute of a key which unlocks the 
 spiritual sense of the passages describing them. More- 
 over, the belief that the ordinances of Hebrew religion 
 were intended to foreshadow the mysteries of the new 
 dispensation may legitimately be inferred from the very 
 notion of inspiration. For inspiration implies a special 
 action of the one Spirit of Him to whom all his works 
 are knozvn from the beginnins; of the zuorld^, an opera- 
 tion whereby He ever guided and controlled the course 
 of redemptive history, and continuously informed the 
 minds of those who from time, to time assisted in 
 organizing the polity, the law, or the ceremonial 
 worship of Israel. At the same time revelation has 
 been progressive, accommodating itself to the actual 
 condition of mankind, through material things and 
 rudimentary institutions indicating its spiritual purpose 
 and goal. Thus it is that the New Testament writers 
 discern in the Law at once a temporary discipline and 
 a prophecy of good things to come ^ Their general 
 
 * See Marsh, Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, 
 PP- 375, 376. 
 
 * Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Century, ch. i. § 3. 
 ^ Acts XV. 18. 
 
 * Iren. Haer. iv. 15. i : ' Lex et disciplina erat illis et prophetia futuro- 
 rum.' Cp. Heb. x. i. A historical sketch of the patristic view of the 
 
246 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 view of the Old Testament as a vast prophecy is based 
 on the principle that in revelation as in nature there is 
 continuity ; and speaking broadly, their conception 
 has absolutely justified itself in Christian experience. 
 Even the fantastic ingenuity and extravagance in 
 exegesis which occasionally disfigure the writings of 
 the fathers may be regarded as only instances of the 
 misapplication of a principle both simple and true : 
 the unity of Scripture and the continuity of revelation 
 alike bearing witness to the unity of their Author, and 
 of His purpose for mankind. The levitical ciclizis in 
 particular is a product too intricate and mysterious to 
 allow us for a moment to suppose that it was an anti- 
 quated and meaningless excrescence upon a decaying 
 system. ^ Further, criticism teaches us that in its 
 developed shape the cultus was inspired by thoughts 
 which a Christian knows to be eternally true. It 
 was intended to give outward expression to that 
 thought of divine indwelling which has been realized 
 in the Incarnation and in the experience of the 
 Christian Church. Ezekiel's vision of a city which is 
 Jehovah's dwelling-place is essentially identical with 
 St. John's conception of the heavenly Jerusalem ^ 
 Accordingly, it is natural and reasonable to discern in 
 every detail of the Jewish ritual a divine thought, 
 a spiritual idea, foreshadowed dimly in the legal type, 
 but manifested in Jesus Christ; Nihil enim vaamm 
 neque sijie signo aptid Deiim ^. As we learn from the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, the whole system of worship 
 was the pattern and shadow of heavenly realities ; the 
 holy places made with hands w&vq Jigiu-es of the true; 
 under material symbols and visible arrangements were 
 continuously disclosed thoughts which the Holy Spirit 
 
 Ceremonial Law will be found in Diestel, GcscJiichte des A. T. in der 
 christlidien Kircke, § 7. 
 
 ' Ezek. xlviii. 35 ; Rev. xxi. 3, 22, 23. 
 
 ^ Iren. iv. 21, 3. Cp. Orig. de Pri/ic. iv. 6 to evvrrupxov 4>a)s tw Mmvaecos 
 vi'ifxcp KuXifM^aTi, fvanoKeKpiifjifitvov (Tvvf'Kufixj/e tjj 'lt]<Tov eTritrjfjLiq, T;fpinip(6iVT0S 
 Tov KoKvixpaTOSy Kai toiv ayadoiv Kara ^paxp fls yvaxTLV epxafitvatUMV (TKidv et;^e 
 TO ypdixfxa. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 247 
 
 intended to teach from the firsts In fact, we miss the 
 real purport of the minute descriptions of the taber- 
 nacle and its worship contained in the Pentateuch if 
 we fail to discern beneath the picture of the ideal 
 sanctuary the outlines of the kingdom of God which 
 is destined to find its consummation in the perfected 
 Church of the redeemed. 
 
 For the Mosaic tabernacle seems to give concrete 
 and pictorial expression to three fundamental truths 
 of catholic religion. 
 
 First, it was a symbol of the right of access to 
 God vouchsafed by the divine mercy to man. The 
 tabernacle w^as the tent of meeting'^, the spot where 
 God could be approached, and where He deigned, 
 under conditions of His own appointment, to draw 
 near to man. The writer to the Hebrews points 
 out that in Jesus Christ man acquires the right of 
 priestly access to God. In Him as the representa- 
 tive of His redeemed people we can drazv near in 
 full assurance of faith ; we can come boldly iinto the 
 throne of grace^. In union with Him the individual 
 soul may perpetually enjoy that privilege which was 
 imperfectly foreshadowed by the solitary entry of 
 the High Priest, on one day only in the year, into 
 the Holy of Holies. The proof of divine inspiration 
 in the account of the tabernacle lies not necessarily 
 in its actual correspondence with fact, but rather in 
 the ideal anticipations of which it is the product. It 
 bears witness to the consciousness, which ever haunted 
 the Israelite, of his vocation to communion and con- 
 verse with God. 
 
 Secondly, the tabernacle was the abode where God 
 made Flis dwelling in the midst of His people. Hence 
 
 ^ Heb. ix. 8 toDto oifkovvros tov Tlvevnaros rov ayiov, k.t.X. Cp. Heb. 
 viii. 5, ix, 24. 
 
 2 nyiO 7nX. Exod. xxvii. 21 ; cp. xxix. 42. 
 
 ^ tleb. x. 22, iv. 16. Cp. vii. 25, &c., and observe tbe frequent use of 
 the words irpoaipx^tTOaiy tyyi^eip in the Epistle. See also Rom. v. 2 ; 
 Eph. ii. 18, iii. 12. 
 
248 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect 
 
 it is frequently called Jehovah's dwelling-place \ 
 wherein He deigned to walk with His ancient people 
 throughout the days of their pilgrimage in the wilder- 
 ness. It prefigured that mystery of condescension 
 which was fulfilled in the tabernacling of the divine 
 Word made flesh among men ^ It was a visible 
 emblem of that body of the incarnate Redeemer 
 which was the ' temple ' or tabernacle indwelt by 
 His divine person. The simplicity of the ancient 
 shepherd's tent probably suggested its structure and 
 arrangements. But another name of the tabernacle 
 indicated a more advanced and spiritual conception of 
 the divine indwelling : namely, the phrase tent of the 
 testimony^, which implied that Jehovah's presence 
 among His people was *a moral fact conditioned by 
 God's covenant grace' rather than any mere local 
 proximity. ■ It was the moral law that was Israel's true 
 glory, and formed the pledge of its special nearness 
 to, God. 
 
 Lastly, in its structure and characteristic services 
 the tabernacle was an emblem of the inaccessible 
 holiness of Jehovah. Its arrangements and ritual were 
 intended indeed to satisfy man's desire for approach 
 to God, but the privilege of access was jealously 
 restricted. The Jewish worshipper was held, so to 
 speak, at arm's length. He was constantly reminded 
 of the gulf that intervened between sinful man, what- 
 ever might be his aspirations, and the all-holy God. 
 The very fact that human approach to God was 
 possible only under the most jealous restrictions 
 served to bring home forcibly to the heart of the 
 Israelite the inherent imperfection of the whole ancient 
 system. ' The inaccessibility,' remarks Dr. Bruce ^, 
 
 ^ pC^'JO. See Exod. xxv. 8, 9 ; cp. xxix. 45, 46. The tabernacle was 
 the place of the nVDIi'. 
 
 2 See 2 Sam. vii. 6 foil. Cp. John i. 14, ii. 19 ; Rev. xxi. 3. 
 ^ JTnyn 7ns. Num. ix. 15. Cp. Exod. xxxviii, 21, &c. ; and see Schultz, 
 O. T. Theology, i. 353 foil. 
 
 * In an exposition of Heb. ix. i-io ; see Expositor, ser. 3, po. Ix (Dec. 
 ,1889). 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 249 
 
 * was not absolute, but the solitary exception made the 
 sense of inaccessibility more intense than if there had 
 been no exception. ^ Had entrance been absolutely 
 forbidden, men would have regarded the inner 
 sanctuary as a place with which they had no concern, 
 and would have ceased to think of it at all. But the 
 admission of their highest representative in holy things 
 on one solitary day in the year taught them that the 
 most holy place was a place with which they had to 
 do, and at the same time showed it to be a place 
 very difficult of access.' This indeed seems to have 
 been the true import of the arrangement, the Holy 
 Ghost signifying this thereby ^ It was a perpetual 
 memorial to the Jew of the divine holiness. It was 
 a tabernacle of the congregation only in the sense that 
 the people in the person of their divinely-appointed 
 representative there met with God "-. j The structure 
 of the tent and the regulations in regard to entry 
 taught in the most impressive way the truth that zvith- 
 oiit holiness no man shall see the Lord^; and indeed 
 this was perhaps the most significant of the purposes 
 served by the picture of the ancient sanctuary. It 
 fulfilled a function corresponding to its place in the 
 system of divine education. The restrictions under 
 which approach to God was allowable, qualified the 
 sense of His gracious condescension by laying deep 
 the foundations of holy fear. Ve shall reverence my 
 sanctuary, says the Law of holiness : / am Jehovah ^. 
 And it is obvious that only when the immeasurable 
 interval subsisting between the divine nature and the 
 human had been adequately realized, was the founda- 
 tion prepared for a true doctrine of their union 
 in the person of the incarnate Son of God. The 
 religious idea of God's distinctness from nature was 
 
 » Heb. ix. 8. 
 
 - The above A. V. translation of 'Ohel Mo'ed is thus Incorrect. See 
 Willis, Worship, &c., p. 68. 
 
 ' Heb. xii. 14. See Riehm, ATI. T/ieologie, p. 88. 
 
 * Lev. xix. 30, xxvi. 2. On the natural basis of this fear or reverence 
 for holy places see Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, lectt. iii, iv. 
 
250 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 educated by a moral discipline which, while it em- 
 phasized the possibility of union between God and 
 man, deepened the consciousness of a barrier which 
 only divine grace could remove ^. 
 
 When we turn to the sacrificial system we still find 
 ourselves under the guidance of the apostolic writer who 
 first explicitly draws out the general significance of the 
 levitical sanctuary. In regard to the law of the offerings, 
 his teaching implies that they were divinely intended to 
 foreshadow the mystery of Christ's person and work, 
 and their intricacy and many-sidedness corresponds 
 to the diversity of aspects under which the work of 
 redemption may be contemplated -. The analogy of 
 the Gospels illustrates the mode in "which a Christian 
 student may use the Old Testament types. Speaking 
 generally, each Gospel gives a separate view of Christ's 
 person, just as each parable in St, Matthew's thirteenth 
 chapter presents some different aspect of the divine 
 kingdom. So it is with the Old Testament sacrifices. 
 When Faustus the Manichaean complains that they 
 are no better than a system of idol-worship in which 
 the Church by accepting the Old Testament becomes 
 a partaker, Augustine replies by explaining their real 
 significance for Christians. Though they do not, he 
 says, form any part of our practice, yet we welcome them 
 among the other mysteries of Holy Scripture as aiding 
 us to understand the things which they prefigured. 
 ' Even these,' he continues, ' were our examples ^, and 
 
 ^ On the symbolism of the tabernacle, see Note A at the close of the 
 lecture. 
 
 2 Novatian, de TriJt. ix : * Hunc enim Jesum Christum . . . et in Veteri 
 Testamento legimus esse repromissum et in Novo Testamento animad- 
 vertimus exhibilum, omnium sacramentorum umbras et figuras de prae- 
 sentia corporatae veritatis implentem.' Cp. Jukes, T/ie Law of the Offtritjgs, 
 p. 41 : 'The offering of Christ . . . was but one, and but once offered ; but 
 the shadows vary in shape and outline according to the point from whence, 
 and the light in which they are looked upon. In other words, the one 
 oftering had several aspects, and each aspect required a separate picture. 
 Had Christ's fulness and relations been less manifold, fewer emblems 
 might have sufficed to represent them ; but as they are many, and each 
 to be variously apprehended, no one emblem, however perlect, could 
 depict them all.' 
 
 '' I Cor. X. 6. 
 
V] AND ITS WORSHIP 251 
 
 all such ordinances in many and varied fashions fore- 
 shadowed that one sacrifice whereof we now celebrate 
 the memorial. Hence since it has been revealed, and 
 in due time offered, the ancient rites have been 
 removed from the sphere of frequent observance, but 
 in the way of signification they have remained authori- 
 tative^/ This statement corresponds to Augustine's 
 distinction between Old Testament ordinances as 
 partly praecepta vitae agendae, partly praecepta vitae 
 significandae. The moral law given to the Jews is of 
 permanent obligation, the ritual directions are of per- 
 manent significance. Like prophecy, the ceremonial 
 code laid hold of eternal principles, and in so doing 
 foreshadowed the future developments of the divine 
 purpose. "' Consequently, as Augustine elsewhere ob- 
 serves, the Apostle speaks not of the abolition of 
 the Law, but of the doing away in Christ of the veil 
 which concealed its true sense ^. 
 
 The writer to the Hebrews regards Christianity 
 mainly under one aspect — as the final or absolute 
 religion. It has the characteristic of perfection 
 (reXeiWf?), inasmuch as it establishes that unimpeded 
 fellowship between God and man which in the 
 levitical system was adumbrated but not attained. 
 The faith of Christ is the religion of the better hope, 
 whereby we draiv nigh tmto 6^^?^^ ■^' For Jesus Christ 
 fulfils in Himself two distinct types of priesthood. He 
 is a priest after the order of Melchizedek ; His priest- 
 hood belongs to an order eternal and supra-national. 
 It is based on divine promises and combines with 
 sacerdotal functions those of royalty ; it is the medium 
 of high and heavenly blessings to mankind. But, on 
 the other hand, Christ is the antitype of the Aaronic 
 priest. He fulfils all that was prefigured in the 
 levitical ordinances by offering Himself as a spotless 
 victim, and by entering within the veil of the true 
 
 * c. Fatist. Mafiich. vi. 5 ; cp. vi. 2. 
 
 2 de uHl. cred. 9 (2 Cor. iii. 14). Cp. Bas. de Splr. sando, 21. 
 
 ^ Heb. vii. 1 1 and 19. 
 
252 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 tabernacle^, there to present Himself in the presence 
 of God on behalf of His brethren and to dedicate 
 them in His own representative person for the life of 
 acceptable service 2. As the true Melchizedek, Christ 
 bestows blessing, and feeds His people with eucharistic 
 bread and wine : as the true priest of Aaron's line, 
 He purges the whole sphere of man's worship with 
 His own blood ; He cleanses the individual conscience 
 from the defilement of sin ; He ever liveth to make 
 intercession ^. 
 
 Such is the well-known teaching of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, which gives a sanction to the patristic 
 view of the sacrificial ritual ; and having this sanction 
 we may proceed to inquire what were the main ideas 
 symbolized in the cziltus, and how they were fulfilled 
 in the work of Christ. 
 
 We have seen that the informing idea of the 
 levitical sanctuary, as sketched first by Ezekiel and 
 afterwards in the priestly code, was that of Jehovah's 
 presence in the midst of Israel*. The thought that 
 inspires the sacrificial ritual seems to be that of 
 maintaining Jehovah's covenant. Thus its fundamental 
 significance is ethical, for the covenant implied on 
 the one side Jehovah's grace, on the other Israel's 
 moral obedience. The sacrifices were full of spiritual 
 symbolism : they spoke of self-surrender and devotion 
 to the will of God ; of the need of forgiveness and the 
 blessings of divine fellowship. The prophetic teaching 
 as to Jehovah's requirement gave them a typical 
 meaning which, if we may judge from the language 
 of some of the Psalms, was transparent enough to 
 devout and thoughtful minds. The burnt-offering, 
 for instance, was a vivid type of man's willing self- 
 surrender in a life of unbroken obedience ; the sin- 
 offering with its ceremonial sprinkling of blood spoke 
 of the submissive acceptance of penalty by the sinner 
 
 * Heb. viii. 2. ^ Heb. vii. 27 ; viii. 3 ; ix. 14, 26 ; x. 10 foil. 
 ' Heb. ix. 13, 14. 23 foil. ; vii. 25. 
 
 * See Ezek. xxxvii. 26-28 ; Exod. xxix. 45, 46. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 253 
 
 as the necessary condition of forgiveness ; the peace- 
 offering with its communion-feast expressed the idea 
 of fellowship between God and man renewed and 
 consummated. Here, then, were prefigured in broad 
 outline the moral conditions of man's reunion with 
 God : but in the fulfilment of them by Jesus Christ 
 even the minor details of the aUtus were found to 
 possess a previously unsuspected significance. 
 
 I. For, in the first place, Christ's life of perfect 
 devotion to the will of God is the antitype of the 
 burnt-ofi"ering. His whole life is comprehended by 
 St. Paul in the single word obedience^ — an obedience 
 which was an integral element in the acceptableness 
 of His self-oblation. In Christ man rendered to God 
 that w^hich alone could satisfy Him, a whole-hearted 
 self-devotion, a perfect consecration of every faculty — 
 of will, thought, and affection 2. That element of 
 voluntariness which from the nature of the case could 
 not be represented by an irrational victim was in the 
 highest measure present in the oblation of Christ's 
 life. He discharged the covenant obligation of obedi- 
 ence which Israel could not render, and crowned it by 
 the surrender of His life. For the death upon the 
 cross cannot be separated from the earthly pilgrimage 
 which it consummated ^ It was the highest exhibition 
 of that love wherewith Christ lov^ed tis and gave him- 
 self for 2is an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- 
 smelling savour *. 
 
 The life and ministry of Jesus were in fact prefigured 
 by the Tamid or continual offering which was intended 
 to remind Israel of its ideal vocation. Day and night 
 without intermission there ascended from the temple 
 
 ^ Rom. V. 19 ; cp. Phil. ii. 8. 
 
 ^ Cp. Lev. i. 8, 9; and see Matt. iii. 17, xii. 18, xvii. 5, xxii. 37 ; John 
 viii. 29. Observe, the fire which consumed the burnt-oftering is an emblem 
 of the perpetual devotion of love (cp. John xiv. 31). See Euthymius on 
 Heb. ix. 14 (quoted by Westcott, ad loc). 
 
 ^ Cp. Heb. X. i-io. 
 
 * Eph. V. 2. Observe the phrase o(t\}.^] eicoSt'ay, which is used also of the 
 burnt-offering and symbolizes divine acceptance. See Gen. viii. 21 ; Lev. 
 i. 9, 13, 17 ; cp. Ezek. xx. 41. 
 
254 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect, 
 
 court into the clear air the smoke of the sacrifice 
 which lay upon the brazen altar. It was at once 
 a memorial wherein Israel was as it were continually 
 presented before God, and a striking emblem of 
 that to which as a holy people it had pledged itself \ 
 the whole-hearted and unbroken service of Jehovah. 
 But the daily burnt-offering was a type fulfilled only in 
 the life of Christ — in the perfection of His self-sur- 
 render, in the spotless purity and nobleness of what 
 He offered, in the infinite acceptableness and victorious 
 might with which it pleaded, and yet pleads, before 
 God. For the continual offering of the Jewish 
 sanctuary points to a perpetual function of Christ. 
 His perfect obedience has not merely prevailed for 
 man's acceptance in the past; it yet pleads with living 
 power where the great High Priest now presents 
 Himself on man's behalf, and wheresoever on earth 
 the memorial sacrifice of Christendom is uplifted before 
 the Father's face. In that unceasing act of inter- 
 cession the Israel of God is ever presented before 
 the throne of Heaven, nor is it fanciful to suppose 
 that the meal-offering, and especially the ordinance 
 of the shewbread, was divinely intended to prefigure 
 the mystery wherein the Christian Church shows the 
 Lord's death till he come"-. The least that can be 
 said is that the meal-offerings prepared the Jewish 
 mind for ' the acceptance of that form of sacrifice 
 which was to supersede all others, in which the 
 elements were to be simply bread and wine ^ ' ; in 
 which bloody sacrifice was to be replaced by the 
 
 ^ Cp. Exod. xxiv. 7. 
 
 ^ I Cor. xi. 26. The shewbread (CJD DPI?, LXX. «pTot ivannoi or aproi 
 rrjs npudeiTfws) was set forth as a memorial. Lev. xxiv. 7 : 'icrovrax. o\ ciprot 
 els avafivrjaiv TTpoKilpivoi ra Kvpla, Cp. Luke xxii. 19. The loaves of shew- 
 bread were in fact a kind of perpetual sacrifice (Schultz, i. 355). Cp. Lev. 
 xxiv. 8. Its typical character consists (l) in its being a Mmcliah or 
 non-bloody offering, (2) in its having a memorial significance, (3) in its 
 being wholly consumed by man. It thus combined the idea of sacrifice 
 with that oi coininunioft (Willis, Worship of i/ie Old Covenattt, p. 166). 
 
 * Willis, p. 163. The Fathers commonly regard Mai. i. 11 as a prophecy 
 of the Eucharist. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 255 
 
 oblation of incense and by the pure offering [Minchak) 
 mentioned by Malachi. 
 
 2. In the next place, Jesus Christ as the representa- 
 tive of humanity accepts death, in token of His sub- 
 mission to the penalties of human sin. ' It is noticeable 
 that the burnt-offering was in idea independent of 
 the thought of sin. ■ Its atoning virtue was incidental. 
 Its essential significance was that of self-dedication ; 
 it implied the satisfaction not of offended justice, but 
 of a holy requirement ^ The sin-offering, on the 
 contrary, was piacular ; it implied the development 
 of a consciousness of guilt ; it witnessed to the reality 
 of retribution and the need of satisfaction ; to the 
 impossibility of remission without shedding of blood ^. 
 The antitype then of the sin-offering is the atoning 
 death of Jesus Christ who makes propitiation for sin 
 by His own blood,- ' Moreover, the death of Christ 
 may be regarded as a trespass-offering ^, inasmuch as 
 the second Adam offers satisfaction and makes restitu- 
 tion for the wrong done to the majesty of God by the 
 first Adam. 
 
 Here let us pause to consider the meaning of the 
 use of blood in connexion with the ancient sin-offering. 
 There was, as we have seen, but very little significance 
 attached to the victim's death ; slaughter was simply 
 the means employed for obtaining the blood, which 
 was sacred as the seat of life*. And it is important 
 to observe that in the transaction which followed the 
 slaughter— in the presentation, and sprinkling of 
 the blood-^the dominant idea was rather that of the 
 surrender of life than that of the acceptance of death. 
 The blood was in fact reo^arded as still livin^^ ; it was 
 only liberated for higher purposes by the act of 
 slaughter ; it was conceived as still living and in a real 
 
 * Cp. Lev. i. 4, and see Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 
 329, 330 ; Jukes, Law of the Offerings, p. 52. 
 
 ■■^ Heb. ix. 22. 
 
 ^ Obs. DCN in Isa. liii. 10. 
 
 * Gen. ix. 4 ; Lev. xvii. ii. Cp. Schultz, i. 392. 
 
256 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 sense active beyond death \ Tradition tells us that 
 it was usually caught by the officiating priest, as it 
 flowed from the slain animal, in a pointed vessel which 
 could not be set down, and was constantly stirred to 
 prevent coagulation. Quick, warm, alive it was 
 carried to the appointed place and there solemnly 
 sprinkled. ^< The blood thus offered was in fact an 
 emblem of life yielded up in perfect self-surrender, 
 and dedicated to the service of the living God. -i The 
 act of sprinkling on the horns of the altar or on the 
 mercy-seat typified the reception of human life into 
 the sphere of divine fellowship. The slaughter then 
 of the victim was ' only an initial stage in a great 
 sacrificial transaction ; in conformity with the legal 
 type, Christ, living through and beyond death, must 
 needs pass within the veil as our perfected High 
 Priest. The atoning work was not complete until, 
 by His ascension, Christ had passed into the Holy of 
 Holies, which is heaven itself, thei'e to be manifested 
 in the presence of God for tcs as our representa- 
 tive.' There 'the ascended Lord, taking with Him 
 those for whom He died, presents them in Himself 
 to His eternal Father 2.' With His own blood shed 
 on man's behalf He passes into heaven itself^, and there 
 accomplishes what was dimly prefigured in the solemn 
 sprinkling of the sacrificial blood by the levitical priest. 
 He brings the life of man into perfect fellowship with 
 deity. 
 
 It will have appeared from what has been said that 
 the complete type of the atoning work of Christ is to 
 be found only in the ceremonial of the Day of Atone- 
 ment which was regarded as completing the whole cycle 
 of piacular sacrifices *. In a sense it ' summed up and 
 
 * Cp. Westcott, Epp. of S.John, p. 35 ; Ep. fo the Hebrews, p. 293. 
 "^ I'he Docfyiiic of the Incarnation, vol. ii. p. 313. 
 
 ^ Heb. ix. 24. 
 
 * Cp. Lev. xvi. 21. The Day of Atonement v^'as held to cleanse the 
 people from all their sins, i.e. 'according to the Mishnic interpretation, to 
 pmge away the guilt of all sins, committed during the year, that had not 
 been already expiated ' {Religion of the Semites, p. 388). 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 257 
 
 interpreted the whole conception of sacrifices' in so 
 far as they were divinely intended ' to gain for man 
 access to God ^' The great feature of the day was 
 the entry of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies, 
 a representative act in which the whole nation was 
 year by year admitted to the presence of Jehovah, 
 but which was only possible in virtue of blood, that is 
 of life, shed, and solemnly offered 2, In this trans- 
 action the life of the people was first symbolically 
 yielded up as a token of submission to the penalty of 
 sin, and afterwards brought within the veil into the 
 immediate presence of God. Israel was first ransomed, 
 then dedicated; first pardoned, then consecrated 3. 
 The covenant status of the people was renewed; 
 Israel was restored, by the removal of sin, to the posi- 
 tion of a community in which Jehovah could continue 
 to dwell *. 
 
 But the blood of the sin-offering sacrificed on the 
 Day of Atonement was not only offered on behalf of 
 the people ; it was applied. By its presentation at 
 the mercy-seat it was endued with cleansing and 
 sanctifying efficacy. Sprinkled on the floor of the 
 sanctuary, and on all the sacred furniture, it purged 
 them from the defilement they had contracted from 
 the handling of sinful men ; it reconsecrated them to 
 holy functions. - And the blood of^ sprinkling^ may be 
 regarded as a sample of all the Jewish rites of purifi- 
 cation^, which could purge at least outwardly those 
 who had involved themselves in ceremonial unclean- 
 ness and needed restoration to covenant privileges. 
 The writer to the Hebrews, however, draws attention to 
 the contrast between these merely external ordinances 
 and the inward effectual operation of Christ's blood. 
 
 1 Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 279. Cp. Schultz, ii. 402 foil. 
 ^ Heb. ix. 7 ; cp. Lev. xvi. 14, 15. 
 
 * See Milligan, The Resurrection of our Lardy pp. 133 foil. 
 
 * Cp. Lev. xvi. 16. ' Heb. xii. 24. 
 
 " In Heb. ix. 13 the blood of Christ is placed in line with (i) the blood 
 of bulls and goats, i.e. the rites of the Day of Atonement, (ii) the water of 
 sprinkling mixed with ashes of the red heifer (Nam. xix). 
 
 S 
 
253 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 ' The Mosaic rites availed to renew the covenant 
 fellowship between God and His people, which might 
 have been interrupted by sin ; they removed the 
 accumulated defilement arising from daily action and 
 intercourse or from contact with death. But their 
 effect was outward and transitory. -They hallowed, but 
 could not purge the worshipper. Their effect might 
 be described in the word ayiaa/jLos, which implies 
 merely the reconsecration of what had been dese- 
 crated or profaned. ' But the effect of Christ's blood 
 is a true and inward purgation of the character and 
 conscience from moral and spiritual defilement; His 
 blood is a real means of cleansing [KadapLafxSs), of 
 actual deliverance from the stain of guilt and from the 
 power of sin. . . . The communication of the blood of 
 Christ, whether in the gift of absolution or in the 
 grace of Holy Communion, is in fact the communi- 
 cation of a divine life, annihilating the stains and 
 reinforcing the frailty of nature \' 
 ^ 3. This brings us to the third division of sacrifice 
 and its fulfilment in Christ. He is the slain victim of 
 the peace-offerings, His sacrifice being the groundwork 
 of a communion feast ^. r A meal is the ordinary 
 symbol, according to oriental conceptions, of fellow- 
 ship and peace. And the eucharistic feast of the 
 Christian Church is the highest realization, under 
 the conditions of our mortality, of the blessedness for 
 which man was created. ' It typifies the peace which 
 follows upon penitent self-surrender to the will of God. 
 It is a means whereby he becomes a partaker of the 
 divine nature, and a recipient of the divine life ^ 
 In a real sense it anticipates the consummation to- 
 wards which the kingdom of God ever tends, the 
 perfect indwelling of the Creator in His creatures. 
 On this point there is no need to dwell at length. It 
 is enough to draw attention to the impressiveness of 
 the circumstance that the earhest and rudest forms 
 
 ^ T^e Doctrine of the Incarnatiofi, vol. ii. pp. 325, 326. • 
 
 ^ Heb. xiii. 10. ^ 2 Pet. i. 4 ; John vi. 53-57. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 259 
 
 of sacrifice foreshadowed a religions idea than which 
 none is more distinctive of Christianity. We are told 
 on high authority that the ancient sacrificial meal had 
 both a social and a religious significance. ' The primi- 
 tive notion was that those who ate and drank together 
 were ' by this very act tied to one another by a bond 
 of friendship and mutual obligation ' ; such an act of 
 worship cemented ' the bond between man and his 
 god, and also the bond between him and his brethren 
 in the common faith \' Further, it was a widespread 
 belief in Semitic antiquity that ' by eating the flesh or 
 drinking the blood of another living being a man 
 absorbs its nature or life into his own 2.' How re- 
 markable it is that the great Christian sacrament 
 should embody and consecrate the element of truth 
 which, often in the crudest and most fantastic forms, 
 underlay these ancient ideas ! It is true not only in 
 the critical moments of religious history, but also in the 
 development of religious ordinances, that there are last 
 which shall be first, and there are first which shall be 
 last^. 
 
 As we look back over the different ordinances of 
 the levitical legislation in the light of their Messianic 
 antitypes we shall recognize the truth of St. Paul's 
 bold assertion that the law is spiritual'^.-^ Under those 
 carnal ordinances imposed as a burden tintil the time of 
 reformation ^ lay concealed a spiritual fact which was 
 their basis and presupposition — the fact of Jehovah's 
 electing love. It is true that, speaking generally, 
 ' Israel did not rise to the level of its institutions, but 
 rather brought them down to its ever-lowering stand- 
 pomt ^ ; we must judge, however, of the tendency of 
 the Law, not by its acknowledged failures, but by its 
 spiritual triumphs. And doubtless in those books of 
 the Old Testament which represent the devotion and 
 
 ^ Religion of the Semites, p. 247. 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 295. ' Luke xiii. 30. 
 
 * Rom. vii. 14. Cp. Orig. de Princ. iv. 6 to nvevixariKov tov Mcovtrews 
 vonnv fXa^\j/ev (mbrjiirjaaVTos 'It](rnv. 
 
 ^ Heb. ix. 10. * Edersheim, Warburton Lectures, p. 245. 
 
 S 2 
 
26o THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 faith of the spiritual Israel, and the fruit of the 
 discipline through which it had passed, we learn what 
 was the divinely intended outcome of the Law and its 
 appointed worship. Such books as Deuteronomy and 
 the Psalter reflect the spirit which found satisfaction 
 or edification in the services of the sanctuary ; they 
 illustrate the religious affections which the Law 
 awakened in chosen souls ; their thirst for righteous- 
 ness, their holy fear, their longing for purity of heart, 
 their passionate desire for union with God. It was 
 this life of the affections which the sacrifices were 
 peculiarly fitted to educate. The ethical foundations 
 of covenant fellowship with God had been firmly laid 
 by the teaching of Moses and of the prophets. -The 
 Decalogue and the early legislation, social and moral, 
 were calculated to act as a restraint upon conduct 
 and a discipline of character. But the ordinances of 
 worship in their developed form were at once a school 
 for the heart and a channel of spiritual instruction. 
 In the intention of its priestly compilers no doubt 
 the ceremonial Law was designed to emphasize and 
 elaborate the external holiness of Israel. But the 
 thoughts of God are not man's thoughts, neither are 
 our ways His ways ^ ; and the actual effect of the 
 cullus, at least in devout hearts, was to deepen the 
 inwardness of their religious life, to stir emotions 
 which only the divine heart could fathom, and to 
 awaken unutterable yearnings which the love of God, 
 manifested in His Son, alone could satisfy. 
 
 » Isa. Iv. 8. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP z6i 
 
 Note A. 
 77/^ Synnholic Significance of the Tabernacle. 
 
 The following note, based largely upon a chapter in The 
 Worship of the Old Covenant (Oxford, 1880), by the Rev. 
 E. F. Willis, is inserted as an illustration of legitimate typical 
 interpretation. 
 
 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews insists em- 
 phatically on the fact that all the arrangements of the 
 earthly sanctuary were, according to the divine injunction, 
 modelled after the pattern displayed to Moses on the mount ^ 
 It is evident that in his view the description of the sanctuary 
 was an embodiment of divine thoughts, of mysteries which 
 it was the work of the Holy Ghost to partially unveil. 
 Accordingly, to quote Bishop Westcott^, 'there can be no 
 reasonable doubt as to the symbolism of the tabernacle. ' It 
 conveyed of necessity deep religious thoughts to those who 
 reverently worshipped in it. It was, however, a natural and 
 indeed a justifiable belief that the spiritual teaching of the fabric 
 was not confined to its ruling features, but extended also to 
 every detail. There are correspondences between all the 
 works of God which deeper knowledge and reflection make 
 clear. The significance attached to the numbers which 
 continually recur in all the relations of the several parts 
 cannot be questioned.' But we have also to remember that 
 the sanctuary 'was not simply an epitome of that which is 
 presented on a larger scale in the world of finite being ; the 
 archetype to which it answered belonged to another order ; the 
 lessons which it conveyed were given in the fullness of time in 
 a form which is final for man,' namely in the humanity of 
 Jesus Christ". 
 
 In its general structure it is not difficult to see that 
 'the tent of meeting' is a type of Him who was made 
 flesh and tabernacled among Jts ^ ; and that each several part 
 or chamber is emblematic of a dispensation in redemptive 
 
 ^ Heb. viii. 5. Cp. Exod. xxv. 8, 9 ; Acts vii. 44. 
 
 ^ Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 237. 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 340. * John i. 14. 
 
263 THE ANCIENT COVENANT [lect. 
 
 history. The outer court with its bleeding sacrifices and its 
 laver of purification symbolizes the preparatory stage of 
 Mosaism with its sacrificial system and comprehensive 
 ceremonialism. The number five, which is the prevailing 
 figure in the measurements of the court, being half of ten, the 
 number of perfection, serves to convey the moral idea of in- 
 completeness, while the inferior metals employed in the 
 construction of the altar and the laver symbolize what is 
 imperfect and rudimentary ^ The Holy Place entered by the 
 veil which separated it from the court contained three symbolic 
 objects — the golden altar of incense, the table on which stood 
 the pure vegetable oblation of the shewbread, and the seven- 
 branched candlestick with its lamps. Here faith may find 
 a type or representation of the Christian Church with its 
 Eucharist, its sevenfold gift of the Spirit, its perpetual inter- 
 cession in union with that of its ascended High Priest. But 
 the Holy Place held a position which in iiself was para- 
 bolic^, and not merely prophetic. It witnessed indeed to 
 man's true destiny as called to fellowship with God ; but 
 the fact that he might not penetrate to the innermost shrine 
 constantly reminded the Jewish worshipper that he could not 
 yet enjoy the fullness of divine communion ^. In the Holy 
 Place Jehovah was manifested only in condescending grace ; 
 in His divine glory and majesty in the Holy of Holies alone. 
 Thus the realities [avTa to. TipayixaTa) of heaven itself were 
 typified by the most Holy Place. Its very form was an 
 emblem of God's dwelling-place, /<?r the length and the breadth 
 and the height of it were eqital"^. It formed a perfect cube of 
 ten cubits, as if to suggest the ideal ultimate perfection which 
 the kingdom of God was destined to attain. It was lighted 
 only by the Shekinah, the divine glory dwelling in visible 
 manifestation between the golden cherubim, upon the mercy- 
 seat or covering of the ark. The mercy-seat was the 
 sacred place of reconciliation or atonement ; the ark was 
 the receptacle of Israel's most sacred possession, namely the 
 tables of the testimony which formed the charter of the 
 divine covenant. Upon the mercy-seat stood cherubim — 
 probably standing figures in human or possibly composite 
 form, representing the most exalted of created beings, nearest 
 to the throne of deity and highest in service, yet reverently 
 stooping as if to gaze into the mysteries of God. The thought 
 
 ^ See generally Willis, The Worship of the Old Covenant, ch. v ; Oehler, 
 Theol. of the O. T. §§ I15-I19. 
 "^ Cp. Heb. ix. 9. ^ Cp. Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 250. 
 
 *.Cp, Rev, xxi. 16. 
 
v] AND ITS WORSHIP 263 
 
 is thus-visibiy expressed that the self-revelation of God is at 
 the same time a self-concealment. The cherubim, according 
 to the usual imapjery of the Old Testament, at once proclaim 
 the presence of God and veil His essential glory ^ 
 
 The materials of the tabernacle, gold, silver and brass, and the 
 colours (^ the hangings, blue, scarlet and purple, are employed 
 in such a way as to suggest the ideas of gradation, continuity 
 and splendour. The furniture of the outer court is mostly 
 brass ; in the Holy Place no brass is used except in the 
 sockets of the pillars at the entrance. Silver, the emblem of 
 moral purity, is used in the foundations of the Holy Place, and 
 it is noticeable that the capitals of the pillars in the outer 
 court are of the same material, as if to show that ' the highest 
 glory of what the court foreshadowed was inferior to the 
 lowest of that which was typified by the Holy Place ^.' The 
 materials employed in the Holy Place and Holy of Holies are 
 acacia wood and gold with which it was overlaid, but the 
 mercy-seat and the cherubim are wrought of solid gold. The 
 colours also are symbolic : white is the emblem of holiness, 
 of soiled robes cleansed from stain. Blue,, the colour of the 
 sapphire stone ^ suggested the heavenliness of the divine 
 calling. Scarlet, the colour of blood, signifies created life. 
 Purple, the intermingling of scarlet and blue, is a symbol of the 
 union of two natures, divine and human. All these different 
 materials and colours suggest different degrees of glory and 
 dignity, beauty and excellency : all are emblematic of the 
 holiness, purity and majesty of the kingdom of God. They 
 suggest thoughts of that glorious body of which the Apostle 
 speaks *, of that glorioits church ^ which Christ purposes to 
 present to Himself. 
 
 Once more, the measurements of the different parts of 
 the tabernacle are not without significance. For we cannot 
 but be struck by the stress laid upon number and measure 
 in the Bible*'. In the account of the tabernacle and of 
 the. temple^, and in Ezekiel's prophetic description of 
 
 ^ Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 90. On the mercy-seat (mD:n, LXX. 
 iKacTTripiov) see Willis, op. cit. p. 105 ; Riehm, loc. cit. Cp. Gifford on 
 Romans, iii. 25. On the cherubim, see Schultz, O. T. Theology, ii. 229 
 foil. He says (p. 236) : 'The cherubim were not angels, but symbolical 
 figures, combining the noblest qualities of the created world— a man being 
 the symbol of intelligence, a lion of sovereignty, an ox of strength, and an 
 eagle of swiftness.' See also Oehler, § 119. 
 
 2 Willis (quoting Rev. H. Douglas), p. 92. 
 
 ^ Cp. Exod. xxiv. 10. * Phil. iii. 21. ^ Eph. v. 27. 
 
 ^ See Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. i. p. 352 note; cp. Willis, pp. 76 foil. 
 
 '' I Kings vi and vii. 
 
264 THE ANCIENT COVENANT AND ITS WORSHIP 
 
 an ideal sanctuary and city, the dimensions of things are 
 prominently and minutely recorded ; and they even find 
 a place in St. John's picture of the heavenly Jerusalem. We 
 have noticed already that while the tabernacle is of oblong 
 shape, the Holy of Holies forms a perfect cube ; a contrast 
 which suggests the incompleteness of the visible kingdom of 
 God as contrasted with the ideal perfection towards which it 
 tends. As to the numbers, those which occur most frequently, 
 either singly or in combination, are three, four, five, seven, ten, 
 and twelve. Three is generally recognized as an emblem of what 
 is divine. It symbolizes divine appointment, and corresponds 
 to the revelation of the divine nature and attributes. Accord- 
 ingly, in the tabernacle we find three main divisions, three 
 veils, three metals used, and three colours. Four suggests the 
 notion of created being, and, as we should expect, the number is 
 very prominent in the structure of the visible sanctuary {ayiov 
 Koa-jjuKov) \ being impressed upon the general design of the 
 whole building and upon its contents. Seven is the union of 
 four and three ; it symbolizes a covenant relationship— the 
 union or reconciliation of man with God. It is not so dis- 
 tinctly characteristic of the tabernacle itself as of the Jewish 
 dispensation and ceremonial regarded in its entirety ^. It 
 corresponds to the name Emmanuel, God wz//i its. The 
 number ten denotes perfection or completeness. Its employ- 
 ment in the measurements of the tabernacle suggests the 
 idea that, though temporal in form and use, the structure was 
 yet perfect of its kind. Five, the half of ten, evidently conveys 
 the idea of incompleteness.' Finally, the number twelve, four 
 multiplied by three, corresponds to a more intimate relation- 
 ship between the Creator and the creature than is expressed 
 in the number seven. It symbolizes the indwelling of deity 
 in the creature, and accordingly we find that the number is 
 characteristic of the Church of God in all the successive stages 
 of its history : there are twelve patriarchs, twelve tribes, twelve 
 stones in the breastplate of the High Priest, twelve Apostles of 
 the Lamb. The number is specially prominent in St. John's 
 vision of the heavenly Jerusalem. It corresponds to the con- 
 summation of the mystery of the Incarnation — a state or 
 sphere in which God is not merely with men, but in them ; 
 not merely visits and redeems His people, but possesses them 
 with His indwelling presence. 
 
 \ Heb. ix. I. 
 
 - In the tabernacle we have the seven-branched candlestick ; in the 
 levitical system the number frequently occurs. Cp. Willis, p.. 79. 
 
 V , 
 
LECTURE VI 
 
 ' And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited 
 for him, and He will save tis : tliis is the Lord; we have waited for 
 him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. — Isa. xxv. 9. 
 
 The general results of Old Testament criticism 
 might be summed up in a single sentence in which at 
 first sight two opposite views of the sacred history 
 appear to be contrasted : instead of speaking of ' the 
 Law and the Prophets ' we might equally speak of ' the 
 Prophets and the Law.' , Now it is to be borne in mind 
 that both expressions are found in the New Testa- 
 ment, either totidem verbis or in some equivalent 
 form ^ ; but there can be no question that the usual 
 order in our blessed Lord's repeated references to the 
 subject is ' the Law and the Prophets,' and we might 
 naturally infer from this language the priority in time 
 of the Law. A few moments' attention, however, will 
 show in what sense the phrase ' the Law and the Pro- 
 phets,' though apparently unhistorical, is both perfectly 
 natural and strictly accurate. The history of the growth 
 of the Hebrew Canon supplies the real clue "to our 
 Lord's ordinary mode of speech. The formation of the 
 Canon began with the codification, promulgation, and 
 eventual canonization of the book of the Law. The 
 foundation-stone of the work was laid in Josiah's reign, 
 which witnessed ' the dawn of that love and reverence 
 for Scripture with which the true Israelite, whether 
 Jew or Christian, was destined ever afterwards to be 
 identified 2.' The publication of ' the book of the Law ' 
 
 ^ Cp. Acts xxvi. 22, ' the Prophets and Moses.' 
 ' Ryle, Canon of the O. T.p.6i. 
 
266 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 (the Deuteronomic code) was the primary stage in 
 a movement which was carried on during the exile 
 mainly, it would seem, under the influence of Ezekiel. 
 The so-called priestly code seems to have been slowly 
 compiled and elaborated before the return from 
 Babylon, but apparently the work was not finally 
 completed before the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem ; it 
 is with Ezra's name that we ought to connect the 
 promulgation of the completed book of the Law, 
 described in the eighth chapter of the book of 
 Nehemiah. All the evidence points to the conclusion 
 that the book publicly read by Ezra on the occasion 
 of Nehemiah's arrival at Jerusalem (444 B.C.) was none 
 other than the Pentateuch substantially in its present 
 ' form. What had hitherto been a priests' book became 
 a people's book, and thus the Law became the nucleus 
 of the Old Testament scriptures \ 
 
 The ' Prophets ' do not as yet seem to have been 
 collected in any authoritative or canonical form. 
 Writings of various prophets were already current, 
 both historical documents which were afterwards 
 classed as ' earlier ' or * former Prophets,' and the 
 books ascribed to most of the ' latter ' Prophets them- 
 selves. But these did not as yet form a recognized 
 part of Scripture. It was only on the analogy of the 
 Law, and at a considerably later period, that ' the 
 Prophets ' came to be regarded as a canonical book, 
 and to be ranked as Holy Scripture by the side of the 
 Law ^. • Now it is most probable that our Lord 
 in speaking of ' the Law and the Prophets ' is simply 
 referring to those two great divisions of Hebrew 
 Scripture which were respectively known by these 
 titles. He refers to 'the Law' as the oldest and most 
 venerable portion of the Hebrew Bible, and to 'the 
 
 ' Ryle, op. cit. ch. iv. It was the Pentateuch which the Samaritan 
 synacjogue took over from the Jews in about the year 430 B.C. 
 
 '^ Perhaps not before 300 B.C. Prof. Ryle says, ' Before the beginning of 
 the second century B.C., the second stage in the formation of the Canon 
 had ended; and the limits of "the Law and the Prophets." had been 
 determined' (p. 109). 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 267 
 
 Prophets ' as a collection of writings formed at a later 
 date, and probably not regarded by the ordinary Jew 
 as standing entirely on the same level of dignity and 
 authority as the Law. According to His wont, our 
 Saviour is conversing with the Jews on the basis of 
 their own traditions and preconceptions. He is 
 addressing men whose religion was predominantly 
 legalistic ; and it is noticeable that two of the passages 
 where the phrase ' the Law and the Prophets ' is found 
 occur in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ is 
 as it were proclaiming the new law of the Messianic 
 kingdom ^ He is speaking to those whose religion, 
 whether for better or for worse, had tended to become 
 the religion of a book or even a code, and there can be 
 no question that He speaks not from the critical stand- 
 point, but from the standpoint of one who is concerned 
 with the practical work of religious instruction, and 
 who is dealing with men to whom the Law was the 
 most sacred of possessions and the most authori- 
 tative of institutions. 
 
 Speaking broadly, the phrase the ' Law and the 
 Prophets' represents two spiritual tendencies, which 
 were not absolutely opposed, or even two distinct 
 periods in the history of Israel's religion, which were 
 not as a matter of fact strictly successive in point 
 of time. So far as we can judge, Prophecy and Law 
 were co-existent and co-operative elements in Israel's 
 spiritual development from the first : but it is evident 
 on a careful study of the Old Testament history, and 
 of the course of events which followed the return from j 
 Babylon, that two main epochs are practically distin- ' 
 guishable : the age of the Prophets, which lasted for ■ 
 some two centuries before the exile, and the age in 
 which the Law became the principal factor in Israel's 
 spiritual progress. But, as a recent writer observes, 
 * No one maintains that the Law first appeared, or first 
 began to exercise its influence, when the prophetic 
 development had already come to a close. The 
 
 ^ Matt. V. 17; vii. 12. 
 
268 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 existence of the book of Deuteronomy in the seventh, 
 and of the " Book of the Covenant" already apparently 
 in the ninth century, would instantly refute any such 
 assertion. On the other hand, no one denies that Pro- 
 phecy exercised decisive influence upon the formation 
 and development of the Law. Even the most convinced 
 defender of the traditional view will allow to Moses in 
 his activity as lawgiver prophetic inspiration, and will 
 not deny him a prophetic character \' We have 
 already seen that Moses was recognized by later 
 prophets as himself one of the greatest of prophets. 
 The book of Deuteronomy indeed reminds us at its 
 close., that There arose not a prophet since in Israel 
 like tinto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face ~\ and 
 Hosea expressly teaches that By a prophet the Lord 
 brought Israel ont of Egypt, and by a prophet was he 
 preserved ^. 
 
 Thus the expression ' the Law and the Prophets,' or 
 its. converse, was not necessarily intended to emphasize 
 the idea of -succession in time ; it implies a refer- 
 ence to the Hebrew Scriptures according to their 
 constitutive elements. In any case it cannot be 
 meant to imply that the work of the prophets was in 
 any sense of secondary importance in the develop- 
 ment of Israel's religion. On the contrary, when we 
 consider the entire tone and tendency of our Lord's 
 teaching we shall conclude that He, the Wisdom of God, 
 sets His seal to the work of the ancient Prophets when 
 He places the moral requirements of God in the very 
 forefront of the new law, and assigns to the fulfilment 
 of legal righteousness a subordinate place : Except your 
 righteozisness shall exceed the righteoicsness of the scribes 
 and Pha7'isees,ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom 
 of heaven. Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will 
 have mercy, and not sacrifice. If ye had known what 
 this meaneth, I will have inercy, and not sacrifice, ye 
 would not have condemned the guiltless. Woe unto 
 
 ^ Valeton, Vergdttgliches tmd Ewiges im A. T.p.22. 
 
 * Deut. xxxiv. lo. - Hos. xii. 13. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 269 
 
 you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay 
 tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted 
 the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and 
 faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the 
 other undone^. Nay, does not this last passage remind 
 us that He whose Spirit inspired the sacred writers 
 Himself recognized the oneness of divine intention which 
 underlay the teachings of the Law and the Prophets 
 alike. In both of them the Jews were right in 
 supposing that they had eternal life ^ : for man's true 
 life consists in the love of God and the imitation of 
 Him. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
 do ye even so to them ; for this is the Law and the 
 Prophets. On two chief commandments hang all the 
 Laiv and the Prophets ^. 
 
 It cannot be too often repeated that prophecy is 
 the dominant and distinctive element in Israel's 
 religion. Without it Israel would only have been one 
 of the innumerable nomad tribes of the Semitic race, 
 the very traces of which have perished ^ Hebrew 
 history has been justly called ' a history of prophecy,' 
 since it is the history of a relation between God and an 
 elect people in which prophets were the principal 
 mediators. The God-ward aspirations of Israel 
 attained in them the highest and most representative 
 expression; through them the message of Jehovah 
 was communicated to His people. All the great 
 turning-points in the history were connected wath the 
 appearance of prophets. Their activity was the most 
 decisive factor in the moral and social progress, as 
 well as in the religious development of the nation. In 
 
 ^ Matt. V. 20 ; ix. 13 ; xii. 7 ; xxiii. 23. ^ John v. 39. 
 
 * Matt. vii. 12; xxii. 40. Observe that Christ's references to 'the Lavvand 
 the Prophets ' seem to indicate that to Him these were the most important 
 parts of the Canon. The 'Writings ' formed a group, of which the limits 
 were scarcely yet precisely defined. The reference to 2 Chron. xxiv. 21 
 in Matt, xxiii. 35 appears to imply that the books of Chronicles closed 
 the Hebrew Canon then as now. See Valeton, Chrisius ujid das A. T. 
 31 foil. 
 
 * Darmesteter, Les Prophltes d' Israel, p. 210. Cp. Driver, Sermons 
 on the O. T. p. loi. 
 
270 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 a word, apart from prophecy the history loses all its 
 significance. Consequently, although it cannot be 
 said that our present tendency lies in the direction 
 of underrating or ignoring the influence of Hebrew 
 prophetism, our subject requires that some attempt 
 should be made to estimate anew its unique signifi- 
 cance. I run the risk of touching on a good deal that 
 is already very familiar to my hearers, but the theme 
 is one of special importance to all who desire to under- 
 stand the ideals which make Christianity what it is — 
 the religion of the better hope. 
 
 I. 
 
 The beginnings of prophetism bear witness to the 
 close connexion that existed between Hebrew institu- 
 tions and the phenomena of Semitic religion in general. 
 Tradition points to the activity and influence of 
 Samuel as marking a creative epoch in Israel's 
 history, and it is significant that his distinctive work 
 was the regulation and organization of prophetism. 
 The natural soil out of which the prophetic gift was 
 developed seems to have been the tendency to 
 ecstatic religious excitement which is characteristic 
 of the Semitic temperament. Prophetism was in 
 fact an institution which Israel originally shared with 
 its heathen neighbours \ The gods of Phoenicia had 
 their prophets ; the prophets of Baal we know — 
 fanatical devotees who with wild dancing and music 
 endeavoured to attract the attention or win the 
 favour of their god, by cutting themselves with 
 lancets and knives till the blood gushed out upon 
 them^. In some respects akin to these Canaanitish 
 Nebiim seem to have been the bands of prophets 
 
 ^ The story of Balaam shows that in a rude form prophetism existed 
 among the Semitic races before the conquest of Canaan. The NabJii of 
 that age was httle more than a sorcerer, whose incantations were supposed 
 to operate with infalhble eftect. See Renan, Histoire du peiiple d'hiadf 
 bk. li. ch. I. 
 
 ^ 1 Kings xviii, 28. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 271 
 
 described in the first book of Samuel in connexion 
 with the early career of Saul ^, enthusiasts who have 
 been compared, not perhaps inaccurately, to the 
 dervishes of the East ^, displaying in a kind of 
 ecstatic behaviour the effects of special religious 
 exultation. These prophets appear to have lived 
 together in companies or schools ; they wore a coarse 
 garment of skin in token of their religious calling ; 
 they probably depended for support upon the charity 
 of the faithful, and were objects of mingled contempt 
 and reverence to the multitude. The prophet who 
 was commissioned to anoint Jehu king was despised as 
 a 7nad fellow ^, and the point of the inquiry Is Saul 
 also among the prophets ? lies in the popular astonish- 
 ment that so distinguished a man should be found 
 in such strange company. There are incidents in 
 the career even qi Elijah and Elisha which imply 
 a similar connexion between prophetic inspiration and 
 physical excitement ^, but apparently these phenomena 
 accompanied only the early stages of a movement to 
 which we owe the noblest figures of Hebrew history, 
 and the most sublime literature ever produced. 
 Nevertheless, we can frankly recognize the rudimen- 
 tary character of the early stage ^ ; and when we 
 attempt to measure the interval that parts the wild and 
 uncouth behaviour of these primitive devotees from 
 the exalted and chastened majesty of men like Isaiah, 
 we shall acknowledge that Hebrew prophetism supplies 
 a conspicuous example of the method of accommoda- 
 
 ^ I Sam. X. 5-13 ; xix. 23, 24. 
 
 "^ Coinili, Der Israelitisclie Propheiismtis, pp. 13-15. Cp. Renan, 
 Histoire, &c., bk. ii. ch. 13, and Kittel, Hisi. of the Hebrews, vol. ii. 
 p. no. 
 
 ^ 2 Kings ix. n. * See i Kings xviii. 46 ; 2 Kings iii. 15. 
 
 ^ Riehm, A Tl. Theologze, p. 203 : ' Gehoren im ATI. Prophetentum 
 die Zustande bewusstloser Ekstase riur der niedrigsten Stufe seiner 
 Entwickelung an, wahrend in seiner Bliitezeit die prophetische Begeister- 
 ung immer mit volier Klarheit des Bewusstseins verbunden ist.' Cp. 
 Ewald, The Prophets of the O- T. fEng. Tr.] vol. i. pp. 16, 17. It is 
 noticeable that Amos himself, one of the most striking prophets, seems 
 to have been popularly regarded as one of the class of professional 
 Nebdm (Amos vii. 14), but repudiates the suggestion. 
 
272 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 tlon which marks the entire history of Israel — God 
 condescending to use a defective and rudimentary 
 institution, a rude native outgrowth of the Semitic 
 character, in order to develope therefrom a glorious 
 product of grace. ' We must not be reluctant,' says 
 Cornill, ' to recognize many strange elements in the 
 religion of Israel. We do not set them aside ; on the 
 contrary, we regard them as evidence of the highest 
 vitality, and of a most powerful faculty of assimilation. 
 The people of Israel in its spiritual capacity resembles 
 the fabled king Midas, for whom all that he touches 
 turns to goid^' Everything indeed which Israel 
 derived from its past or present environment was 
 transmuted into something new and unique, so that it 
 is difficult to recognize in the final result the lowliness 
 of the elements which contributed to it, but which in 
 due time disappeared. , 
 
 Samuel then it was who revived or re-organized the 
 prophetic office, and vv^e may pause to consider the full 
 significance of his work. What he apparently aimed 
 at was the regulation of the turbulent and boisterous 
 elements in the behaviour and character oitho^ Nediim, in 
 order to enlist the movement in the service of a higher 
 and purer type of religion '^ There is no reason for 
 rejecting the supposition that the earliest outburst of 
 prophetic enthusiasm was connected with a patriotic 
 uprising against Philistine oppression, but Samuel's main 
 object was probably not political. He discerned that 
 
 ^ Der Is?: PropJietismus, p. 15. 
 
 ^ Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews, 11. no. Observe the contrast which is 
 perhaps suggested in i Sam. ix. 9 between Samuel himseh", cahii and 
 self-contained, and the excitable and undisciplined troops of Ncbiiin. 
 He is a 'seer' (Roeh), they are 'prophets' (Nebiim). Montefiore, 
 Hibbert Lecticres. p. "j^, thinks that the two names represent two orders, 
 the one native Hebrew (seers), the other Canaanite (prophets), and that 
 later prophecy is a result of a coalition of the two ; a ' grafting of 
 Canaanite prophecy upon the old stock of Hebrew seers.' But he admits 
 that there is little to support his conjecture. The narrative contains 
 a note stating that Nabhi is a more recent and Roch an older name for 
 the same thing. Cornill points out that the passage implies the recent 
 2iX\d foreign (i. e. Canaanite) origin of the Profhetism {Der Isr. Profhetis- 
 mus, p. 13). 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 273 
 
 the .fierce ardour for Jehovah's cause and for the 
 integrity of His land which fired the Nebiim might be 
 educated into a powerful religious force. Accordingly, 
 he gathered them into organized schools or guilds in 
 which the prophetic gift might be cherished, and the 
 life of religious devotion cultivated. Possibly also 
 the art of sacred song was studied in these societies, 
 and the historical annals of the nation formed or 
 collected \ From this time forward, at any rate, the 
 schools of the prophets occupied a recognized sphere 
 in the religious life of the nation. We hear of the 
 Nebiim again in connexion with the reign of Ahab, 
 and it is probable that their renewed activity was 
 occasioned by alarm at the king's syncretistic propensi- 
 ties. It would seem that by this time the ecstatic 
 and fanatical element had been more or less subdued, 
 and that the Nebiim were on the point of becoming 
 a regular order. But it was not as an order that they 
 became influential. When they became a professional 
 class they seem to have given way to professional fail- 
 ings ^. ' First-rate importance cannot be claimed for 
 the Nebiim', says W^ellhausen ^, but occasionally there 
 appeared among them 'individuals who rose above 
 their order and even placed themselves in opposition 
 to it.' The first and most eminent of these striking 
 personalities was Elijah. ' Elijah,' says Kittel '', 
 ' introduced into prophecy that species of categorical 
 imperative which distinguishes him as well as the later 
 prophets ; that brazen inflexibility, that diamond- 
 like hardness of character, which bids them hold 
 fast by their moral demand, even should the nation be 
 dashed in pieces against it. For him the demand 
 means to stand by Jehovah as against Baal.' Hence- 
 forth, then, the prophets acted on the nation by the 
 
 * This is denied by Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and 
 Judah, p. 64 ; but there seems nothing improbable in the suggestion. See 
 Kuenen, Religion of Israel, ch. iii [Eng.Tr., vol. i. p. 210]. 
 
 2 Sanday, Bampton Lectures, p. 134. 
 
 ^ Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, p. 64. 
 
 * Hist, of the Hebrews, vol. ii. p. 266. 
 
 T 
 
274 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 sheer force of inspired personality. As individual 
 witnesses for God, steeped in the fundamental ideas of 
 the religion of Jehovah, they proclaimed His word, 
 His sovereignty, His righteousness, His election of 
 Israel, His abhorrence of lip-service. His hatred of 
 social wrongdoing. For aught we know, much may 
 have been accomplished in this way by the banding 
 together of the Nebiim in organized companies ; but 
 experience shows that the influence of even large and 
 powerful religious communities is unequal to that of 
 a single great religious leader. It was to the influence 
 of personality that Israel's religion owed its persistent 
 vigour, its perpetual upward tendency, and the growing 
 purity and loftiness of its fundamental conceptions. 
 
 II. 
 
 In order, however, to gain a comprehensive idea of 
 the significance of Hebrew prophecy for the Christian 
 Church, it is necessary to survey briefly the chief 
 aspects of the prophets' work. 
 
 I. First, the prophets were inspired men, 'men of 
 ihe word.' The root from which NabJii is derived 
 can be traced in the ancient language of Assyria and 
 Babylon as well as in Arabic. In Assyrian it has the 
 meaning, 'utter,' 'proclaim.' It appears in such patro- 
 nymics as Nebu-kadnezar, and Nabo-polassar, and in 
 the title of the Babylonian deity whence they are 
 derived, Nebo or Nabu, which probably signifies the 
 God of wisdom or wise utterance, corresponding to the 
 Greek Hermes. The word Nabhi would thus origin- 
 ally mean ' one who utters.' But in Arabic the root 
 has a more specific connotation : it imports the 
 announcement of a message which the speaker is com- 
 missioned to deliver. Nabhi would accordingly seem 
 to bear the sense of a commissioned speaker.' Aaron, 
 for example, is called the Nabhi or ' prophet ' of Moses 
 as speaking in his name and by his commission ^ 
 
 ^ Exod. vii. I ; cp. iv. 14-16. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 275 
 
 A prophet, then, is one who speaks as the accredited 
 messenger of Almighty God. This seems a better 
 account of the word than that which some writers 
 prefer, viz. that Nabhi means one in whom the flood of 
 divine inspiration ' wells ' or * bubbles up ^ ' ; one who 
 speaks as the passive instrument of the divine Spirit. 
 In fact the term corresponds rather to the Greek 
 Trpo^rirr)s than to [idvTLs : it means a forth-teller rather 
 than one who foretells \ one who announces what has 
 been supernaturally revealed to him as an organ of 
 divine interposition in the affairs of men. And if we 
 wish to understand the essential characteristics and 
 true significance of Hebrew prophetism it is impor- 
 tant to rid ourselves of the associations which have 
 gathered round the English word ' prophet,' implying 
 that the essential element in the work of the Hebrew 
 prophets was prediction. This, we shall find, was far 
 from being the case. The vital element in prophetism 
 was the prophet's own consciousness that he was not 
 acting or speaking in his own name, but as the instru- 
 ment — sometimes indeed the reluctant instrument — of 
 a higher Power. 
 
 In two respects the prophets may be distinguished 
 from the ordinary soothsayers (fxduTeis) of heathendom, 
 Aryan or Semitic ^. First, they were conscious and 
 intelligent when they uttered their oracles. Hebrew 
 prophecy rapidly outgrew the ethnic stage of mere 
 possession, or ecstasy. The prophet was no * un- 
 intelligent medium ' of divine communications ; he 
 spoke under a sense indeed of overmastering moral 
 constraint, but all his faculties were intensified and illu- 
 minated by the power of the divine Spirit ^ So vividly 
 
 * So Kuenen, Religion of Israel, ch. iii, note. Cp. Oehler, Theology of 
 the O. T. ^ 161 ; but see Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel, lect. ii. 
 note 18; Cornill, Der Isr. Prophetismus, pp. 6-11, and Schultz, O. T. 
 Theology, vol. i. pp. 264-265. 
 
 2 The Pythia of Delphi is an instance. On the other hand, Homer's 
 Calchas, the Athenian Musaeus, Socrates, and Plato (in his prophecy of 
 the righteous suffering) are instances of phenomena more nearly akin to 
 those of Hebrew prophetism (Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 204). 
 
 * Driver, Sermons on the O. T. p. 135: 'The psychical conditions 
 
 T 2 
 
27^ PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 conscious are the prophets of their mission that they 
 ordinarily use the first person when they speak in God's 
 name, but they never lose their sense of the distinction 
 between their own thoughts or impulses and the re- 
 vealed word of Jehovah \ Secondly, the Hebrew 
 prophet stands alone in the character of the message 
 delivered. What was it that distinguished the true 
 prophets from the heathen soothsayers or from the 
 false prophets ' who gave out the dreams of their 
 own heart as God's word ' ? It was the profoundly 
 moral purport of their message that made the pro- 
 phets unique. TrtUy I am ficll of power by the spirit 
 of the Lord, and of judgmeiit, and of might, — so cries 
 Micah, to declare nnto facob his transgression, and 
 to Israel his sin ^. Prediction, indeed, is an element 
 of comparatively secondary importance in prophecy. 
 The main work of the prophet is to turn men from 
 their sins and to proclaim the sovereignty of Jehovah. 
 Where prediction constitutes the dominant element, 
 prophecy loses its distinctive character and is better 
 described as apocalypse. The book of Daniel, for 
 instance, is an apocalyptic book rather than a prophecy. 
 The predictions of the prophets are the outcome of their 
 unshaken belief in the moral government of the uni- 
 verse, and in the impending fulfilment of the divine 
 purposes ; they are the result of inspired insight into 
 
 under which God spoke in them, the nature and operation of the initial 
 impulse which brought them to the consciousness of Divine truth, may 
 belong to those secrets of Man's inner life which God has reserved to 
 Himself; but by whatever means this consciousness was aroused, the 
 Divine element which it contained was assimilated by the prophet, and 
 thus appears blended with the elements that were the expression of his 
 own character and genius.' Cp. Riehm, op. cit. pp. 212 foil.; Kittel, 
 op.cit. p. 317. 
 
 ^ Cp. Oettli, op. cit. p. 19: 'Nach ihrem sonnenklaren Zeugniss die 
 Quellen ihrer Religion, wie ihrer besondern Erleuchtung, nicht in ihrem 
 eignen Geiste, sondern in einer wunderbar ihnen erschlossenen tran- 
 scendenten Welt von gottlicher Realitat lagen.' 
 
 "^ Mic. iii. 8. Cp. Just. M. Dial. c. Tryph. vii fyevovro rives . . . (inKapioi 
 Kai oiKaiot Kui deocpiXeis deico nvevfjinTi AaXi-jtravrfy koi to. fieWovra deanio'uvTfs 
 a or) vvv yivezai. 7rpo(p7'jTas ?e avrovs KnXovcnv. ovroi fxopoi to aXrjdes Koi 
 flSov Kai e^f'inov cwdpoiirois, prjr evXajHrjde'i'Tfs firire 8vfT03Trr]6(VT(s Tti'n, pfj 
 7jTT(op.evoi do^Tjs dWa poi/aTavra flnovres a tJKova-av koi deidov dyi'co trXripadivifs 
 nvivp-an. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 277 
 
 the, inevitable tendencies and consequences of human 
 action, and of national or personal wrongdoing ^ Not 
 that the power of prophecy is any mere apotheosis 
 of human reason ^ : it implies, however, not the 
 supersession or suspension of ordinary human facul- 
 ties, but the elevation of them to the highest point 
 of intensity. The prophets claim to utter a message 
 from Jehovah, and they know that He who bids them 
 speak enables them by His Spirit, and is with them 
 to strengthen, and if need be to deliver them ^ 
 
 2. Such then were the characteristics of prophetic 
 inspiration. It is natural in the next place to consider 
 the sphere in which it was exercised, and the conditions, 
 social and moral, with which it was appointed to deal. 
 From the days of Samuel onwards we find the prophets 
 standing in the closest relation to the political circum- 
 stances of their times. They have been called ' watch- 
 men of the theocracy ^' and undoubtedly they believed 
 it to be their mission to intervene from time to time in 
 politics, with the view of keeping alive in the minds of 
 their fellow-countrymen just and true conceptions of 
 the theocratic state. They made it their business to 
 watch the course of national affairs in general, and 
 specially to control and judge the conduct of the reigning 
 monarch and his counsellors. They steadfastly be- 
 lieved in the fact of Israel's electlpn, and in the spiritual 
 mission with which it was charged. The exalted 
 destiny to which the chosen people had been called 
 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, p. 206 ; Bruce, Apologetics, p. 242 ; Chief End of 
 Revelation, p. 217. The following striking remarks of M. Darmesteter 
 illustrate the same point : ' Le Proph^te ne predit jamais. II voit les 
 grandes lignes de I'avenir, parce que, s'etant fait une doctrine et une 
 philosophic du monde, il se fait une idee nette et precise de la destinee 
 qui attend son peuple, suivant la voie ou il s'engage : le grand mouvement 
 des choses et des idees, avec leurs consequences lointaines et necessaires, 
 est la seule chose qui I'interesse : le detail, le fait concret, le petit hasard 
 de I'actualite lui echappe ; il I'ignore, il I'abandonne aux charlatans de la 
 prophetie ' [Les Prophetes d' Israel, pp. 137, 138). 
 
 2 Darmesteter, p. 246: ' Le Dieu des prophetes n'est que la raison 
 humaine projetee au ciel.' 
 
 ^ Jer. i. 8, 19. 
 
 * Cp. Mic. vii. 4; Jer. vi. 17; Ezek. iii. 17; xxxiii. 7. See Oehlcr, 
 Theology of the O. T. § 162 and Ewald, op. cit. pp. 28, 29. 
 
278 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 could only be fulfilled by continual faithfulness to the 
 great religious ideas which underlay Israel's vocation '. 
 Accordingly it was the chief aim of the prophets 
 to keep Israel faithful to Jehovah as He had revealed 
 Himself at Sinai, as a God in whose eyes pure worship, 
 social righteousness, and fraternal charity were of 
 supreme value. Further, they fulfilled their mission 
 not only by their preaching, but by their own lives. 
 As individual ' men of God ' they represented typi- 
 cally the realization of that living fellowship with God 
 towards which the theocracy ever tended as its ultimate 
 goal. And in their unbroken moral converse with God, 
 in their pureness of heart, and in the simplicity of their 
 faith and dependence on Jehovah, lay the secret of their 
 influence ^ It has been said that by producing the pro- 
 phets Israel realized her vocation ^ Certainly as ' the 
 servant of Jehovah' the prophet bore a title which was 
 ideally applicable to Israel as a people, and which ex- 
 pressed the actual calling of each individual Israelite. 
 For the ideal of the Old Testament was a dispensation 
 in which all should be prophets : Would God, exclaimed 
 Moses when Joshua envied for his sake, — Would God 
 that all the Loi'd's people were prophets, and that the 
 Lord would put his Spirit upon them *. The prophets 
 then were examples of the illuminative power of holi- 
 ness and single-hearted devotion to the will of God. 
 Moreover, their fate was in most cases typical. Their 
 position might vary from time to time according to the 
 disposition of the reigning monarch. Prophets were 
 held in honour by kings like David, Hezekiah, and 
 Joslah, who understood the necessity of maintaining a 
 close connexion between the national life of Israel and 
 the spirit of religious failh ; but sooner or later their 
 
 * Cp. Isa. ii. 5. 
 
 2 Cp. Amos iii. 7; Wisd, of Sol. vii. 27. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, 
 p. 204, observes, ' Die hoheren Stufen prophetischer Begeisterung warden 
 auf eine Gottverwandtschaft der Seele zuriickgefiihrt.' 
 
 ' Bruce, op. cit. p. 195 ; cp. Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 291. 
 
 * Prof. Cheyne remarks that this idea is characteristic of the post- 
 exilic period {Aids to the Devout Study, &c., p. 151 ; cp. p. 203). 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 279 
 
 fearless denunciations of vice could scarcely fail to bring 
 therri into collision with royal self-will or with popular 
 prejudice and fanaticism ^ One and all, in greater or 
 less degree, they were called to suffer for their faith, for 
 their boldness in rebuking sin, or for their devotion to 
 the revealed will of Jehovah. Thus in their isolation 
 from the world, in the intimacy of their relation to God, 
 and in the sorrows which they were called to endure, 
 they typically embodied the ideal vocation of the 
 righteous nation ^ viewed in its entirety. 
 
 The prophets then were the accredited guardians 
 of the fundamental ideas upon which the theocratic state 
 was based. Their testimony accompanied, so to speak, 
 the historical realization of the divine purpose for 
 Israel, the word of Jehovah constituting a kind of con- 
 tinuous commentary on His acts. Accordingly we find 
 that a considerable element in the prophetic function 
 consists in the elucidation or interpretation of past 
 history and of contemporary events. The prophets 
 trace and proclaim the ruling principles of divine action 
 and governance : and specially it is their work to bring 
 out the moral significance of the Mosaic Law — a task 
 the fulfilment of which necessarily brought them into 
 relation to the priests, who were the official guardians 
 of the law. But while the priests were the permanent 
 teachers of Torah, the prophets were occasional mes- 
 sengers of Jehovah. Through the priest the covenant 
 people exercised its privilege of drawing near to God. 
 Through the prophet God drew near to His people. 
 Naturally the priests submitted themselves to the pro- 
 phets as to extraordinary and direct agents of Jehovah ^ ; 
 but there were elements of antagonism in the two 
 orders which were frequently in danger of coming into 
 
 ^ Cp. Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. i. pp. 248 foil. 
 
 - Isa. xxvi. 2 ; cp. Deut. xxxii. 15 (Jeshurun). Aug. c. Faust. Man. 
 iv, 2 says: ' Illorum hominum non tantum lingua sed et vita prophetica 
 fuit.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Konig, Religious History of Israel, p. 160. Kuenen, Hibbert 
 Lectures, pp. 81 foil, discusses the teaching office of the priests, and the 
 prophetic complaints of their shortcomings. 
 
23o PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 collision. The history of Israel shows how strong was 
 the tendency of the priesthood to exaggerate the value 
 of ritual, and to change into hard and fast law what 
 originally might be a matter of variable custom. It 
 was obviously the interest of the priesthood to exalt 
 the laws of ceremonial purity ; they would be apt to 
 lay stress on details, and to lose sight of principles. 
 But the prophets were more concerned to insist on 
 Jehovah's moral requirement as a whole ; and in putting 
 morality on a higher level than ritual, they undoubt- 
 edly continue and develope the teaching of Moses 
 himself. They reassert the claims of justice and 
 mercy which the ancient legislation of the Decalogue 
 and the Book of the Covenant had placed in the fore- 
 front \ Their well-known polemic against sacrifice 
 does not indeed amount to a rejection of the institu- 
 tion, as has been sometimes asserted ; but they 
 unquestionably do insist that punctiliousness in sacri- 
 fice is no equivalent for civil and social well-doing. 
 What they abhor is ' religion divorced from right con- 
 duct/ ritual, however costly and elaborate, combined 
 with neglect of moral obligations ^. On the whole 
 the attitude of the prophets towards sacrifice is nega- 
 tive. They content themselves with ' condemning such 
 elements in the popular worship as are inconsistent 
 with the spiritual attributes of Jehovah ^' From an 
 early period, then, in the history of prophecy we find 
 a tendency towards antagonism between prophets and 
 priests, the former reminding the latter that all true 
 
 ^ Cp. Driver, Sennojis on the O. T. pp. 113 foil. See also some good 
 remarks in Oettii, Der gege?i'wdrtige Kampf tim das A. T. p. 9. 
 
 '^ See Amos v. 24; Hos. vi. 6; Isa. i. 16 foil.; Mic. vi. 8; Jer. 
 vii. 21 foil. This last passage does not imply that ritual laws formed 
 no part of the Mosaic legislation, but it may fairly be used as testi- 
 mony (i) that in Mosaism the most important element was ethical, 
 (2) that the elaborate levitical code was unknown to Jeremiah. See 
 a note in Riehm, A 77. Theologie, pp. 246, 247 ; cp. Wellhausen, 
 Prolegomena, p. 58. Even Konig {Religious History ^ of Israel, p. 1 68) 
 allows that ' religion and morality were from the beginning the basis of 
 Israel's favour with God.' 
 
 * Robertson Smith, O. T. in J. C. p. 305. Cp. Hos. iv. 6 ; Zeph. 
 iii. 4. 
 
VI ] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 281 
 
 Tor ak must move within the Hnes of Jehovah's original 
 covenant with Israel. In a more awful and momen- 
 tous form the antagonism ultimately meets us in the 
 pages of the Gospel ^ 
 
 But it is time to resume our main theme — the social 
 and political conditions of the period in which the 
 great prophets appeared upon the scene of Hebrew 
 history, and for convenience' sake our survey will be 
 confined to the northern kingdom. The political 
 activity of such men as Isaiah or Jeremiah in the 
 kingdom of Judah exercised so profound an influence 
 on the fortunes of the Hebrew state and on the de- 
 velopment of its religion, that it seems better to omit 
 any detailed reference to the work of these great pro- 
 phets than to deal with it summarily within the narrow 
 limits of a lecture. The eighth century was indeed a 
 critical epoch in Israel's career. Hitherto prophecy had 
 frequently taken the form of an occasional rebuke 
 sternly administered by individual prophets to unright- 
 eous rulers. Thus Samuel had rebuked Saul, Nathan 
 had denounced the crime of David, and Elijah had been 
 the divinely-appointed scourge of Ahab and his house. 
 But with Amos and Hosea the spirit of prophecy comes 
 into collision with the temper and tendencies of the 
 nation as a whole, and in so doing it passes into the 
 wide sphere of social and political activity. The general 
 conditions of the time were In fact rapidly obscuring 
 Israel's sense of spiritual and moral vocation. In the 
 eighth century a new conception was dawning upon 
 thoughtful hearts — the Idea of the world and the 
 world-empire. It was an Idea that was only to be 
 deeply Impressed on the minds of men by ' the pitiless 
 hammer-strokes of fate ^' And the prophets discerned 
 
 * Consider Luke xxiv. 19, 20. Schultz, vol. i. p. 338, remarks : * This 
 antagonism naturally showed itself still more plainly where, as in the 
 northern kingdom, the priesthood wished, in spite of the preaching of 
 the prophets, to maintain an antiquated and impure form of religion 
 (Amos vii).' Cp. Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 208. 
 
 2 Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews^ vol. i. p. 242 ; ii. p. 259. Cp. Riehm, 
 A TL Theologie, pp. 224, 225. 
 
2C2 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 that Israel's appearance in the world-theatre must 
 necessarily seal her destiny as an independent state. 
 It was manifest that she could never hold her own as 
 one of the monarchies of the East. The huge and 
 restless empire of Assyria darkened the distant horizon 
 like a menacing thunder-cloud, but the storm did not 
 immediately burst. Danger from a nearer quarter 
 threatened Israel. In the reign of Jehu's son and 
 successor Jehoahaz {cii'-c. 815) the northern kingdom 
 was harassed by the pertinacious hostility of Syria ^ ; 
 and although Israel played a valiant part in the 
 ensuing struggle, its deliverance was eventually due to 
 the intervention of the Assyrian power, which had 
 already begun to advance in a westward direction 2. 
 The war between Syria (Aram) and Assyria ultimately 
 broke the power of Damascus. Israel recovered its 
 strength in proportion as that of Syria declined ^ until 
 in the reign of Jeroboam II the northern kingdom 
 appears to have reached the very zenith of material 
 prosperity. But the social and economic effects of long- 
 continued warfare constituted a growing peril which 
 prophecy was quick to discern. The cessation of 
 hostilities had indeed led to a great increase in Israel's 
 wealth and resources, but the simplicity of pastoral 
 and agricultural life had vanished. The whole con- 
 ditions of society had given way to the exigencies of 
 military organization. The prolonged struggle with 
 Damascus had impoverished the small landholders to 
 such an extent that they were rapidly sinking into 
 abject poverty and even slavery. Meanwhile the court 
 and a corrupt aristocracy absorbed the land, and 
 exhausted the wealth of the nation ; and the gulf 
 between class and class became every day wider and 
 more menacing. On the other hand, the mercantile 
 spirit had received a great impetus from the recent 
 wars ; the sins of a growing and insolent middle class 
 began to make their appearance ; there was a vast 
 
 ^ 2 Kings xiii. ' '^ Cp. 2 Kin^s xiii. 5. 
 
 ' 2 Kings xiv. 25 ; Amos vi. 14. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 283 
 
 amount of dishonest trading, and considerable harsh- 
 ness in the exaction of debt. Finally, the inveterate 
 curse of oriental life was embittering the social miseries 
 of the time, viz. venality and corruption in the judges, 
 with its inevitable result that the oppressed classes 
 were left without hope and without redress ^ 
 
 The social influence of the prophets has sometimes 
 been exaggerated. It is rather misleading to call 
 them, as Darmesteter does, ' a series of religious and 
 poHtical tribunes ^ ' ; or to speak of their ' programme 
 of reform,' as if they were mainly social agitators, 
 intent upon overthrowing the existing order of society. 
 As Professor Robertson Smith pregnantly observes, 
 their cry is ' not for better institutions but for better 
 men ^' Beyond doubt, however, the prophets were most 
 conspicuous as preachers of social righteousness. They 
 were champions of the poor and oppressed. The 
 spirit of the excellent priest described in a recent 
 French romance was theirs. ' I am not,' says the 
 Cur^ de Canton, ' a socialist ; but I nevertheless admit 
 that I conceive life otherwise than as a continual 
 battle. And if there is such a battle, I shall range 
 myself gladly on the side of the weak rather than on 
 that of the strong ^' The prophets waged war not 
 with wealth as such, but with ' that reckless and 
 material temperament ' in which tjiey recognized ' the 
 completest type of enmity to Jehovah and His 
 religion^.' In one and the same spirit they denounced 
 the heartless luxury of the wealthy and the material- 
 
 ^ On the social conditions of Israel and Judah in the eighth century 
 see Kittel, vol. ii. p. 313 ; Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, lect. iii, 
 and O. T. in J. C. pp. 349 foil. ; Darmesteter, Les Prophetes d' Israel, 
 pp. 36-40. 
 
 "^ Les Prophetes, &c., p. 122; cp. p. 141. Cp. Mill, Representative 
 Government, pp. 40 foil. (p. 17 in popular edition). 
 
 3 O. T.mJ.C.^.3^2>. 
 
 * Lettres dhm Cure de Canton, publiees par Yves de Querdec (Paris, 
 
 1895)- 
 
 ^ Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 153. Cp. Meinhold, Jesus und das 
 A. T. p. 90: ' Der Glaube an Gott, den Gott Israels, ist ihnen so stark, 
 dass das Benutzen weltlicher Mittel zur Rettung des Volks als Glaubens- 
 losigkeit erscheint.' 
 
284 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 istic aims and self-seeking worldliness of statesmen ^ 
 Further, what intensified their moral indignation at 
 the prevailing iniquities of the social state was the 
 outwardly flourishing condition of the national religion. 
 Religious worship was an institution at once pleasant 
 and fashionable. There were stated sacrifices con- 
 nected with the culiiis of Jehovah, and religious 
 festivals in abundance ; the sanctuaries were thronged 
 on these occasions by crowds of enthusiastic and 
 riotous worshippers, who regarded the sacred feasts as 
 a legitimate opportunity for self-satisfied enjoyment 
 and tumultuous revelry -. The growth of national 
 prosperity which followed the close of the Syrian wars 
 was popularly accepted as a comfortable token of 
 divine favour. There was a widely-diffused notion 
 that under no circumstances would Jehovah fail to 
 befriend the people of His special choice. Israel was 
 the favourite of God, and His interests — It was con- 
 fidently assumed — were bound up with those of His 
 people. Enough and more than enough was being 
 done to secure the divine regard by a richly-appointed 
 and well-maintained aiitus. Thus any prediction, like 
 that of Amos, which threatened Israel with overthrow 
 was regarded as blasphemy against Jehovah. Jehovah 
 must necessarily side with Israel against Its foes. To 
 question this was to question the very existence of 
 the covenant relationship established by Mosaism. 
 Accordingly a favourite watchword of the time seems 
 to have been the day of Jehovah ^, a phrase which 
 embodied the general expectation of some overwhelm- 
 ing and triumphant display of Jehovah's favour, 
 manifested for instance in the overthrow of Israel's 
 enemies. Failing utterly as they did to recognize the 
 true character and requirement of Jehovah, the people 
 persistently claimed to be special objects of His favour 
 
 ^ See e.g. Amos vi, and Isa. xxx, xxxi. 
 
 ^ Cp. Cornill, Der Isr. Prophetismus, pp. 38 foil. ; Kuenen, Hibbert 
 Lectt(res, no. 2. 
 ^ Amos V, 18 foil. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 285 
 
 and protection. Jehovah God of hosts is with us, they 
 declared : us only docs Jehovah know of all the families 
 of the earth. But while from this confidently assumed 
 premiss Israel drew the conclusion, 'Therefore Jeho- 
 vah will take our part and defend us from invasion,' 
 the earliest of the great prophets, Amos of Tekoa, 
 deduced a precisely opposite inference : Thei^efore 
 will Wq p2C7iish you for your iniqtnties ^ 
 
 For indeed the primary work of the prophets was to 
 proclaim not salvation but judgment. They were 
 confident that the great social iniquities of the time — 
 the luxury, greed, profligacy, oppression, and practical 
 atheism of the upper and middle classes — were certain 
 to bring upon the sinful nation a crushing retribution. 
 Naturally enough they ranged themselves on the side 
 of the down-trodden and oppressed, but their zeal was 
 inflamed not so much by sympathy for the poor and 
 suffering classes, as by a passionate belief in the 
 supremacy of the law of righteousness. In an age of 
 glittering prosperity and of ostentatious care for the 
 externals of religion, the prophets were not blind to 
 the symptoms of a profound moral corruption, which 
 they knew to be the one fatal obstacle to the mainten- 
 ance of the covenant relationship between the Holy 
 God and His people. They proclaimed that because 
 Jehovah is what He is, the theoqracy in its existing 
 condition must be inevitably doomed. The foundation 
 on which it rested was rotten 2. Thus in their insist- 
 ence on the moral requirement of Jehovah for Israel, 
 the prophets were not merely acting as defenders 
 of outraged rights and liberties, or as champions of 
 the poor against their oppressors ; they were preach- 
 
 * Amos iii. 2 ; v. 14. Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 124, makes the 
 striking remark, 'This terrible "Therefore" must have been as a bolt 
 from the blue to the popular religious consciousness in the days of King 
 Jeroboam.' 
 
 2 Darmesteter, p. 48, mentions the ' four axioms ' of prophecy : * What is 
 not founded on righteousness must perish— Jehovah has revealed His 
 righteousness to Israel— Israel is bound to realize and embody this 
 righteousness — It will be realized in the future.' 
 
286 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 ing ' the august idea of the moral government of the 
 world ^' 
 
 3. This brings us to a third point: the religious 
 function and influence of prophecy. It is often stated 
 that the prophets were the creators of ethical mono- 
 theism ; the founders of that * true biblical religion 
 which came to its fulfilment in Christianity ^Z Certainly 
 they proclaimed with burning and passionate ardour 
 the moral element in Jehovah's character. They 
 taught that His anger was not fitful or unreasonable, 
 not lightly arising or falling indiscriminately, but 
 essentially and perfectly righteous. Two remarks, 
 however, suggest themselves in regard to the statement 
 that the prophets were 'creators of monotheism.' In 
 the first place, it is necessary to protest against 
 the idea that the higher conception of God was the 
 outcome merely of human reflection, or the product 
 of a higher phase of moral culture. What the 
 natural evolution of religion leads to we see in 
 the religions of heathendom. The gods of paganism 
 were deified human beings, reproducing the attributes, 
 or at least some one attribute, of their worshippers ; 
 heathen deities wear the impress of the national or 
 tribal character which they reflect. But the God of 
 the Hebrew prophets is one who stands in sharpest 
 contrast to His people ; indeed it is their unlikeness to 
 Jehovah that is the secret of their threatened ruin. 
 Left to itself the northern kingdom would have chosen 
 Baal, and the worship of Jehovah might have even 
 disappeared but for Elijah in the' ninth century, but 
 for Amos and Hosea in the eighth ^ Secondly, the 
 monotheism of the prophets was no new article of 
 faith. It was the revival of a belief which probably 
 had been the implicit conviction of the best in Israel 
 
 ^ Kuenen, op. cit. p. 124. 
 
 "^ Pfleiderer, Gifford Lectures, vol. ii. p. 45. Cp. Nicolas, Des doctrines 
 reli^ieuses des Jui/s, p. 25 : ' Les prophetes sent des initiateurs h. la veritd 
 divine ; les premiers ils ont entrevu ce spiritualisme religieux dont le 
 christianisme a ete I'expression la plus devee.* 
 
 * Cp. Oettli, op. cit. p. 15. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 287 
 
 ever .since the time of Moses \ The vital importance 
 of the prophetic doctrine was that it was a turning- 
 point in the transformation of faith in Jehovah as 
 the national God into a universal religion. Pro- 
 fessor Kuenen has pointed out that the doctrine of 
 Jehovah's holiness lifted the whole conception of deity 
 to a new and higher sphere. It was in His holiness 
 that Jehovah was unique, and if holiness were an 
 essential element in the divine character, the God of 
 Israel must be the only God ^. He cannot belong only 
 to one particular people ; every nation that recognizes 
 an ethical standard, whether it be the law of nature 
 written in the heart ^ or some positive code devised by 
 human wisdom, stands in a necessary relation to the 
 Holy One of Israel. Thus while we are not justified in 
 concluding that the idea of monotheism was entirely 
 new in the prophetic period, that idea was undoubtedly 
 proclaimed with fresh emphasis, and under circum- 
 stances that gave precision and point to a dimly-realized 
 belief which hitherto had been probably confined to 
 a very small circle of the faithfuls For the nation 
 as a whole cannot have been in any strict sense mono- 
 theistic. The average Israelite regarded the gods of 
 the heathen as really existing beings who within their 
 own sphere or domain were as powerful as the God of 
 Israel in His. In opposition to this belief the prophets 
 taught that where the law of righteousness was recog- 
 nized, however defective or rudimentary might be its 
 content, there the sway of Jehovah extended. Right 
 was everywhere right, and wrong wrong. If the God 
 of Israel were once acknowledged to be the God of 
 righteousness. His dominion must necessarily be con- 
 ceived as co-extensive with the law of righteousness 
 itself, in a word with the inhabited world. The 
 appearance therefore of Amos, the earliest of the 
 
 ^ Cp. Bruce, Apologetics, p. 176. 
 
 ^ Cp. Kuenen, op. at. p. 119. ' Cp. Rom. ii. 14. 
 
 * See Robertson's criticism of Kuenen, Early Religion of Israel^ 
 pp. 320 foil. 
 
233 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 eighth-century prophets, forms an era in the history of 
 human thought. Amos, says Cornill, ' is the pioneer 
 of a process of development from which a new epoch 
 in humanity dates.' If righteousness is indeed the 
 supreme law of the universe, the God of Israel is the 
 God of the whole earth, and in the creed of Israel are 
 concealed the germs of a world-religion. 
 
 Mark how Amos enforces this truth. His prophetic 
 glance extends beyond the borders of Israel itself. 
 The heathen nations are arraigned by him as amenable 
 to the judgment of God for offences against ordinary 
 laws of humanity and international good faith. Da- 
 mascus, Philistia, Edom, Amnion and Moab — they 
 also are subject to the just sway of Jehovah, though 
 they acknowledge Him not. On them, too, Jehovah 
 inflicts the penalties which are the expression of His 
 necessary resentment against human sin; it is His 
 holiness which is outraged by the wholesale barbarities 
 irlflicted by one nation on another ; it is He /^ whom 
 vengeance belongeth ^. What is this but an anticipation 
 of St. Paul's statement. The wrath of God is revealed 
 from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
 of men '^ ? Assuredly in this prophetic view of God, 
 in this conviction that the area of judgment extends 
 beyond the limits of Israel ^, are hidden the elements 
 of a true universalism. The teaching of Amos is still 
 a long way removed from the generous faith which 
 welcomed the nations into the kingdom of God and 
 looked upon them as participating in the privileges 
 and hopes of the chosen people ^ But that faith was 
 already implicitly contained in the doctrine of Amos 
 that Jehovah was the God who had controlled by His 
 providence the restless movements of the nations, or in 
 that of Micah that the substance of Israel's conquered 
 
 ^ Ps. xciv. I. ^ Rom. i. i8. ' Montefiore, o^, cit. p. 146. 
 
 * Montefiore has some interesting paragraphs on the growth of the 
 universalist conception, pp. 145 foil. He regards the prediction of 
 Isa. xix. 22-25 as 'the high-water mark of eighth-century prophecy' 
 (p. 149)- 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 289 
 
 foes should be consecrated tcnfo the Lord of the whole 
 earth ^ 
 
 Corresponding to this primary conception of God is 
 the prophetic philosophy of history ^. A large share 
 of attention is devoted by most of the prophets to 
 Israel's past career. They delight to trace the course 
 of the divine dealings with the chosen people, and to 
 point out the critical epochs in Jehovah's self-manifes- 
 tation. In a certain sense, * as we have seen, their 
 mission is extended to all the nations in turn. Egypt, 
 Tyre, Asshur, Edom, Moab, Babylon, though outside 
 the sphere of the sacred covenant, were within that 
 of the divine governance. But the real distinction 
 between Israel and the nations consisted in the fact 
 that Jehovah was not to His elect people merely 
 what He was to the heathen — a dimly recognized 
 power making for righteousness, but a covenant God 
 manifesting Himself and making known the laws of 
 His operation in condescending grace. The guilt of 
 Israel was conspicuous in proportion to the degree 
 of divine knowledge, and the measure of divine favour 
 which it had enjoyed. Heathenism, it has been said, 
 ' has neither a religious view of history, nor a philosophy 
 of history ; for it knew no absolute final moral purpose 
 to the attainment of which the fates of the nations 
 were to serve as means. Israel, on the other hand, 
 knew such a purpose of history — namely, the realiza- 
 tion of a kingdom of God, of a human fellowship and 
 community corresponding to the holy will of God.' 
 It was the belief of the prophets in the purpose of 
 a righteous God that made them for all mankind ' the 
 teachers of the religious view of the world which con- 
 templates all that is perishing, all that is transitory, sub 
 specie aeternitaiis ^.' 
 
 ^ Amos ix. 7 ; Mic. iv. 13. 
 
 "^ Cp. Darmesteter, op. cit. p. 208 : ' La philosophic de I'histoire est 
 nde le jour oil les proph^tes crurent trouver au monde et k la vie un sens 
 et un objet.' 
 
 * Pfleiderer, Gifford Lectures, vol i. pp. 191, 192. Cp. Robertson 
 Smith, Prophets of Israel^ p. 138. 
 
 U 
 
290 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 But Other elements were contributed by the pro- 
 phets to the idea of God. If the ethical doctrine of 
 Amos stood by itself, it might appear to have a certain 
 one-sidedness. The God whom he proclaims is essen- 
 tially a moral ruler and judge, an object rather of fear 
 than of love or trusts In Hosea we discover that 
 which forms the counterpart to the teaching of Amos. 
 By Hosea a religious, rather than an ethical, aspect of 
 God's relation to Israel' is brought into prominence. 
 To Amos, God is Israel's king and judge; to Hosea, 
 her husband and father : to Amos, Israel is a state, 
 a sinful kingdom, which has brought upon itself the 
 righteous penalty of sin ; to the mind of Hosea, the 
 house of Jacob presents itself as 'a moral individual' 
 or person, whom Jehovah has graciously brought into 
 a close relationship with Himself^. The idea indeed 
 of the continuity of this relationship colours Hosea's 
 brief retrospect of history. In the career of Jacob, 
 the progenitor of Israel, who had so manifestly ex- 
 perienced the strength and tenderness of Jehovah's 
 pity and pardoning love, the history of the nation was 
 typically summed up. Punishment and discipline — 
 these had been the great factors in Jacob's life — but 
 they had ever been controlled by an unfailing purpose 
 of grace; they had been the instruments of moral puri- 
 fication ; they had been visible proofs of Jehovah's 
 abiding favour. I will not leave t/iee,\v2iS the promise 
 to the lonely wanderer at Bethel, tintil I have done that 
 ivhich I have spoken to thee of^. Similarly, the entire 
 history of Israel, from the days of the patriarchs down- 
 wards, is for Hosea the history of 'a single unchanging 
 affection always acting on the same principles, so that 
 each fact of the past is at the same time a symbol of 
 the present or a prophecy of the future ^' Hosea then 
 crowns the doctrine of Jehovah's justice by dwelling 
 on the constancy of His love. It is noticeable in this 
 
 ^ Cornill, Der Isr. PropJictismits, p. 48. 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, Prophets of Isuwl, p. 165. ^ Gen. xxviii. 15. 
 
 * Robertson Smith, loc. cit. C'p. Hos. ii. 15 ; ix. 9; Joshua vii. 24. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 291 
 
 connerxion that the favourite word of Hosea, Chcscd, 
 * loving-kindness,' is not found in Amos. The use of it 
 imphes that between Jehovah and Israel there exists a 
 relationship of love, involving mutual obligations. This 
 love is sometimes contemplated as maritaP — Israel is 
 the betrothed spouse of Jehovah, whom He has tended 
 with unwearying faithfulness; sometimes as parental — 
 Israel is the child whom Jehovah has taught to walk 
 in His ways with watchful and considerate tenderness ; 
 sometimes as covenantal — Israel being regarded as 
 a single person pledged to observe all the obliga- 
 tions that were involved in covenant-union with God 
 and had been set forth in the ancient Torah, the con- 
 tinuous instruction which Israel had enjoyed through 
 the mediation of the priesthood ^. The word Ckcsed, 
 however, is by no means confined to Hosea ; it plays 
 a great part in the theology of the Old Testament. 
 But Amos and Hosea may be regarded as the represen- 
 tatives respectively of that twofold aspect of the divine 
 character which is so familiar in the Psalter. Amos is 
 the teacher of God's faithfulness or truth ; His entire 
 self-consistency, His essential fidelity to the law of 
 righteousness. Hosea dwells on His mercy; His 
 tenderness and loving-kindness to man — inviting the 
 response of a similar affection on the part of man ^ The 
 word Cke§edm fact, as employed, by Hosea, suggests 
 the truth that ' those who are linked together by the 
 bonds of personal affection or of social unity owe to one 
 another more than can be expressed in the forms of 
 legal obligation *,' As a term of common life. Chewed 
 tends powerfully to simplify the thought of God. It 
 anticipates the full disclosure of the New Testament 
 God is love. 
 
 Thus by combining the teaching of Amos and 
 Hosea we are enabled to form an impression of the 
 epoch-making significance of Hebrew prophecy. For 
 
 ^ Hos. i-iii, Cp. Jer. ii. 2, iii. i foil. - Hos. iv. 6; viii. i, 12. 
 
 ^ See iv. I ; vi. 6 ; x. 12 ; xii. 6. 
 * Robertson Smith, op. cii. p. 160. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 the two characteristic thoughts, one of which each 
 prophet represents, are distinctive and permanent ele- 
 ments in the prophetic conception of God. The one 
 idea, that of Jehovah's righteousness, reappears in the 
 characteristic teaching of Isaiah, to whom Jehovah is 
 the Holy One of Israel — not merely separate from the 
 creation which owes its being to Him, but distinct from 
 all that is limited and morally imperfect \ It is this 
 attribute of Jehovah which is at once the necessary cause 
 both of the judgments which fall upon Israel, and of 
 the deliverances by which He vindicates His claim to 
 be the hope and confidence of the faithful. The same 
 idea underlies Ezekiel's thought of the greatness and 
 inviolability of Jehovah's name, which in a sense has 
 been profaned both by Israel's unfaithfulness and by 
 the ignominy of their punishment^. On the other 
 hand, to the three prophets whose writings are linked 
 together by a common interest in the great passage, 
 Exod. xxxiv. 6 foil, namely Micah, Nahum. and the 
 writer of the book of Jonah, the leading element in 
 God's character is His mercy and loving-kindness; 
 on this they base their hopes, not of Israel's deliver- 
 ance from foes, but of that spiritual enfranchisement 
 from sin of which any outward salvation was only 
 a distant emblem ^ And it may be said that in the 
 M'onderful book of Jonah, possibly the latest product 
 of the prophetic spirit, the thought of the divine loving- 
 kindness receives its crowning expression. The design 
 of the book, which was probably written in the post- 
 exilic period, was mainly didactic^. It appears to have 
 been composed with the aim of correcting the narrow, 
 exclusive particularist idea — peculiar to the Judaism of 
 that period — viz. that the sphere of salvation and grace 
 was confined to Israel alone. Jonah's reluctance to do 
 
 ^ Cp. Kirkpatrick, The Teaching of the Prophets, p. 175. 
 
 * Ezek. XX. 9 foil. ; xxxvi. 22. See Kirkpatrick, op. cit. p. 339. 
 
 ' Mic. vii. 18-20. Obs. Mic. vi and vii appear to belong to a later 
 period. 
 
 *■ See an admirable account of the book in Hunter, After the Exile, 
 part ii. chap. 3. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 293 
 
 Jehovah's bidding and his anger at Nineveh's repent- 
 ance reflect the usual attitude of later Judaism towards 
 heathendom \ Jonah for the moment represents the 
 temper of which Tacitus hits the main characteristic: 
 adversus omnes alios hostile odiuvz ^. Such an attitude 
 of mind was indeed in direct conflict with the higher 
 teaching of the prophets. Jeremiah, for instance, had 
 taught that even in the case of the heathen repent- 
 ance might avert the punishment of sin ^ And among 
 all other mysterious features which make the book of 
 Jonah one of the most precious in the Hebrew Canon, 
 we should perhaps assign the highest place to its evan- 
 gelic purport. Whenever God brought Israel Into 
 relation with any heathen people it was for the purpose 
 of making Himself known to it as a God of power and 
 grace : to Egypt by Joseph and Moses ; to Philistia 
 through the capture of the ark; to Syria by Elisha 
 when he healed Naaman ; to Babylon by Daniel; to 
 Persia by Esther. And so in the case of Nineveh, the 
 mission of Jonah had borne witness to a truth which 
 perhaps could only be adequately recognized in a much 
 later age — the age in which the story of Jonah was 
 clothed in a literary form — the truth namely of the 
 universality of God's gracious purpose ; the possibility 
 of a natural goodness that implied some hidden 
 operation of divine grace * ; the fatherly love of the 
 Creator and His compassion for all that He has made. 
 His mercy extended even to the lowliest of all His 
 works. This is the last word of the book of Jonah, and 
 perhaps in that word we have the farewell voice of 
 Hebrew prophecy. Thus the writer of Jonah Is linked 
 to Hosea as the preacher of the divine love \ 
 
 ^ Cp. Actsxiii. 45 ; i Thess. ii. 16. 
 
 2 Hist. V. 5. Cp. Maurice, The Prophets and Kings of the O. T. 
 P- 354- 
 
 ^ Jer. xviii. 7 foil. 
 
 * There seems to be an intentional contrast suj^gested between the 
 conduct of the Ninevites and that of Jonah fleeing from God's presence. 
 The conduct of the heathen sailors is also presented in a very favourable 
 light (Jonah i. 13 foil.). 
 
 * Memholdi, Jesus und das A. T. p. 10. The book of Jonah ' ist gegen 
 
294 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 I have said enough at least to illustrate the religious 
 influence of the prophets and the extent of their 
 contribution to wider, purer, and richer conceptions 
 of God. Before passing on, we may, at some risk of 
 repetition, call attention again to the fact that the 
 prophets are striking examples of the power of per- 
 sonality in the development of religion. Each prophet 
 is in his own way and degree a religious genius. And 
 here we have just that factor which is antecedently 
 incalculable, and which any naturalistic account of 
 Israel's religious development tends to ignore or mis- 
 conceive. For it is in this element of individuality 
 that Israel's religion is so distinct from that of sur- 
 rounding peoples — an element which, I repeat, is the 
 very core and essence of prophetism. A religious con- 
 viction so intense, a faith so glowing and so tenaciously 
 grasped, as to mould or elevate the spiritual life of 
 a. nation, cannot have been merely the result of un- 
 inspired reflection. We can, as Schultz points out, 
 only be historically just to the Old Testament in pro- 
 portion as we acknowledge the presence and working 
 in the history from first to last of the element of 
 divine inspiration. The religion of the prophets is in 
 a word the outcome of the operation of the Holy 
 Spirit. The freedom, independence, and force of the 
 prophet's personality results from a fact of which he 
 was invariably conscious — the fact of his being called 
 to his work and enabled for his high function by 
 Jehovah Himself \ 
 
 die Engherzigkeit des Judentums gerichtet und lehrt dass die Juden 
 (Jonas) die Aufgabe haben den Heiden (Nineve) das Wort des wahren 
 Gotteszu verkijnden. Denn Gott ist ein liebender Vater auch der Heiden 
 und ein Feind der engherzigen Abgeschlossenheit des Judentums' 
 (Jonah iv. 1 1). See Corniil's enthusiastic estimate, Der Isr. Prophetismus, 
 p. 169. (' One of the deepest and most large-hearted books that have 
 ever been written.') Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 371 (cp. Hunter, 
 loc. cit.), thinks that the book of Ruth may have been written with a similar 
 intention. Valeton, Christiis unci das A. T. p. 46, points out that in 
 His reference to it (Matt. xii. 39 foil.) our Lord 'sets His seal to the 
 spirit and tendenry of the book of Jonah.' He deals with it rather as 
 a prophetical than an historical book. 
 1 Cp. Mic. iii. 8. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 295 
 
 III. 
 
 We now pass to that which many consider to be 
 the most distinctive feature of prophecy — the element 
 of prediction. The Old Testament is a book of hope. 
 It is the record of a constant and growing anticipation, 
 based on a divine promise to humanity, and embracing 
 a future in which the whole race of mankind has an 
 interest. Now the Christian student of prophecy is 
 guided as a rule by one of two objects. He either 
 studies the history of the Messianic hope in the apolo- 
 getic interest — as a great department of the evidence to 
 which his religion appeals in attestation of its truth ; or 
 he investigates it for the purpose of personal illumina- 
 tion and edification, interpreting by the aid of ancient 
 prophecy what is still dark and mysterious in the 
 dealings of God with men or in the primary Christian 
 facts. He uses it in a word for the confirmation and 
 education of his faith in pursuance of the inspired 
 writer's injunction, We have also a more stire word 
 of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as 
 tinto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day 
 dawn and the day star arise in yonr hearts^. In Old 
 Testament prophecy we have a sure word and a light : 
 a ' sure word ' of which the general fulfilment is in 
 large measure an established fact of experience ; 
 a 'light' or 'lamp' in so far as prophecy brings to 
 bear on the enigmas of human life the revealed laws 
 of God's moral government. The ordinary concep- 
 tion, however, of the actual development of Messianic 
 ideas has been in some degree modified by the con- 
 clusions of criticism. Accordingly my present object 
 is to sketch the history of prophecy in such a way as 
 to indicate the elements which successively moulded 
 the image of the Messiah in Hebrew thought, con- 
 fining my survey however so far as may be possible 
 within Old Testament limits. 
 
 ^ 2 Pet. i. 19. Cp. Tert. Apol. xx. 
 
296 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 It IS possible to trace a chronological order in the 
 stages of Hebrew prophecy, inasmuch as it was rooted 
 in the history of Israel, and events themselves sug- 
 gested the ideas which we call Messianic. In its 
 onward movement prophecy continually incorporated 
 new elements, of which now one, now another, came 
 to the surface. The peculiarity indeed of Israel's 
 career was that it lent itself so easily to idealistic 
 treatment, and Messianic prediction was to a con- 
 siderable extent the result of a continuous process of 
 reflection on the history of the past. But it is never 
 a simple or easy task to discover the actual birth of 
 an idea. In general no doubt it is true that advanced 
 spiritual ideas postulate a relatively advanced stage 
 of moral development ; but it would be hazardous to 
 overlook the part which the intuitions of spiritual 
 genius have undoubtedly played in the growth of 
 religion. Analogy suggests that at a very early stage 
 of Israel's history, there were leading spirits who 
 though they received not the promises yet saw them 
 afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced 
 them \ We do not know all that lies hidden in that 
 mysterious saying of our Lord, Your father Abraham 
 rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad ^. 
 On the whole, however, it is possible to distinguish 
 certain clearly defined stages in Messianic anticipation 
 — periods in which a particular ideal hovers before 
 prophetic eyes and determines their vision of future 
 events. 
 
 1. First, then, we observe that the primaeval promise 
 to humanity Is that of spiritual victory. ' Antagonism 
 to evil is decreed to be the law of humanity 2' : and it 
 is the essence of the Protevangelium, that it promises 
 to man as man — to universal humanity — victory over 
 moral evil. Since the higher life of man is to be 
 the result of an arduous and painful struggle, it 
 
 ' Heb. xi. 13. "^ John viii. 56. 
 
 ' Driver, Sermons on the O. T. p. 52. Observe Gen. iii. 15 forms part 
 of the oldest (prophetical) narrative (J). 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 297 
 
 essentially consists in dominion, in victory. Just as 
 the words Have dominion are the charter of man's 
 position in the universe ; so the words / will put 
 enmity between tliee and the zuoman, and between thy 
 seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou 
 shall bmiise his heel, define the general conditions 
 under which man's regal destiny shall b'C fulfilled. 
 The first stage of Messianic prophecy as embodied in 
 the traditions which are preserved and shaped by the 
 writers of the Pentateuch consists in the further eluci- 
 dation of this primary idea. The promise to Abraham 
 is in effect a promise of dominion — that he shall be 
 the heir of the zvorld^. It is renewed to Isaac and 
 Jacob as heirs zvith him of the same promise'^ in terms 
 which suggest that ultimately it will find its fulfil- 
 ment in an individual ^. 
 
 In the so-called 'Blessing of Jacob' we probably 
 possess the earliest testimony to the nature of the 
 hopes in which the expectation of a personal Messiah 
 originated. It has been supposed that this very 
 ancient poem is an ode composed of different tribal 
 songs or proverbs ; it perhaps formed part of an 
 ancient collection of national poetry, and its original 
 compilation may belong to the period between the 
 Judges and the reign of David ^. In this song the 
 passages of chief importance ai^e the predictions 
 relating to Joseph and Judah. The figure of Judah 
 is glorified and idealized as the future holder of 
 sovereignty over his people. On him are to depend 
 the destinies and the eventual triumph of God's 
 kingdom. Judah is depicted as a ruler or judge, with 
 the staff of office in his hand ; enjoying a dignity 
 which is destined to give way only to a more complete 
 and perfect form of sovereignty ; which ' in other 
 words is not to cease at all, but simply to develope 
 into a glorious kingdom of perfect peace ^.' To this 
 
 ^ Rom. iv. 13. ^ Heb. xi. 9. 
 
 ' On the phrase 'thy seed' cp. Gal. iii. 16 and the Commentaries. 
 * See Schultz, vol. ii. p. 336. ^ Schultz, loc. cit. 
 
298 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 comprehensive picture corresponds the prediction 
 ascribed to Balaam in the book of Numbers (xxlv. 17). 
 This also hints at the sway of an individual which 
 is to proceed from Israel, and is to extend over the 
 other nations of the East. Probably the primary 
 reference is to some historical king ; but the prophecy 
 becomes the foundation of more precise conceptions of 
 Messianic sovereignty. 
 
 So far prophecy is indeterminate and vague, but 
 we must note that the actual conditions under which 
 alone the world-conquest could be realized, had already 
 been foreshadowed in the historical Incidents of Israel's 
 deliverance and formation into a people of Jehovah. 
 The prospect of national triumph, the hope of an age 
 of peace after national struggle, these were visions 
 suggested by the momentous era of the exodus. 
 At^'^the same time the religious separation of Israel 
 from the rest of the nation and the promulgation of 
 the law at Sinai afforded a proof that the future 
 victory of humanity would depend on moral and 
 spiritual conditions. True, the victories of Israels 
 youth were prophecies of the ultimate exaltation of 
 God's kingdom over all the kingdoms of the earth, 
 but already the prophetic spirit would discern that 
 the historical deliverance was after all only the type 
 of a hlo-her and more blessed deliverance ; and that 
 the judgments of God descending on Israel's enemies 
 were declarations of His thoughts in regard to human 
 sin and of the specific character required in those 
 whom He had formed into a holy community for 
 
 Himself. . 1 r tj 
 
 Further, Moses himself was a typical figure. He 
 had been indisputably raised up by Jehovah to be the 
 human instrument of a redemptive purpose. By 
 a prophet Israel had been brought out of bgypt . 
 As a mediator between Jehovah and His people, 
 Moses had declared the mind of God; he had em- 
 bodied Jehovah's revealed requirement in a written 
 
 1 Hos. xii. 13. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 299 
 
 law. .The principle was, as it were, laid down that 
 the divine guidance of Israel would be direct but 
 mediatorial. The passage in Deut. xviii. 15 foil, 
 which describes Moses as a 'prophet,' thus contributes 
 an important element to the Messianic idea. No 
 doubt it primarily refers to a class of prophets 
 through whom Jehovah will make known His will 
 as occasion may require. It is implied that prophecy 
 will be an integral element in Israel's development, 
 an essential feature in the true religion. But the 
 figure of the prophet already points to a Messianic 
 counterpart. The consummation of the divine king- 
 dom demands not only a line or order of inspired 
 teachers keeping alive the sense of Jehovah's con- 
 tinual guidance of His people, but a ruler and 
 lawgiver like 2uito Moses, that is, one in whom the 
 divine thought for man will be finally and authorita- 
 tively disclosed. The law of God's redemptive action 
 already manifested in the person and work of Moses 
 will find a new fulfilment in an ideal and transcendent 
 form ^. 
 
 2. Thus the course of events constantly tended to 
 give greater definiteness and precision to the concep- 
 tion of Israel's future royalty ; but it was not until the -. 
 reign of David that the Messianic idea in its primal 
 and most simple form was expande,d and developed by 
 the associations connected with visible sovereignty. 
 Riehm observes that while the institution of the 
 monarchy involved on the one hand a certain perilous 
 materialization of the Mosaic ideal of a theocracy, on 
 the other hand it was a necessary element in the con- 
 solidation of the ideal. And the significance of David's 
 rule is that it clearly manifested the compatibility of 
 
 ^ We do not find the promise of Deut. xviii. 15 connected with the 
 person of Messiah elsewhere in the Old Testament, though possibly 
 it was cherished among the Samaritans (see Westcott, In/rod, to the 
 Study of the Gospels, ch. ii. note ii), but the expectation of a comin;^' 
 prophet seems to have revived before our Lord's advent. It is implied 
 in Mai. iv. 5. See also I Mace. xiv. 41. Cp. Stanton, The Jewish 
 and the Christian Messiah, pp. 126 foil. 
 
300 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 a human hereditary monarchy with the idea of a 
 divinely ruled polity ^ In David the hopes of the 
 nation were centred, as In one who had been chosen 
 by God to fulfil and realize the theocratic sovereignty. 
 Certainly the consciousness of such a vocation and 
 destiny seems to find expression In two utterances 
 which sound criticism warrants us In ascribing to 
 David himself — Psalm xvili (2 Sam. xxli.) and the 
 words preserved In 2 Sam. xxiil. 1-8. In these two 
 passages David praises God not only for signal deliver- 
 ances from his enemies, but also for loving-kindness 
 which is pledged to his house for evermore ^. The 
 promise which became the foundation of such exalted 
 hopes Is indicated in the account of Nathan's oracle 
 preserved in 2 Sam. vil. 4 foll.^ 
 
 It Is possible that this oracle has been partially 
 coloured by the associations of Solomon's magnificent 
 reign, but In the main It seems to reflect the hopes 
 which the men of David's own generation connected 
 with his name and family. At any rate it Is beyond 
 question that It exercised an Important influence on the 
 future direction of Messianic prophecy. Three main 
 Ideas are prominent In It: (i) The human descent 
 of a promised king. He is to be a son of David ; 
 and so fixed did this belief become that henceforth 
 the title Messiah, ' the anointed,' became limited spe- 
 cially to the Hebrew monarchs regarded as lineal 
 descendants of David's house. (2) The everlasting 
 continuance of David's throne and house. The family 
 of David may suffer chastisement and humiliation, 
 but Is not to be finally rejected. The hope of ever- 
 lasting dominion was In fact destined to survive the 
 lowest humiliation that ultimately overtook David's 
 descendants. (3) The dignity of divine sonship 
 bestowed on the theocratic king, who is to stand in 
 
 ' ATI. Theologie, p. 194. "^ Ps. xviii. 50. 
 
 ' See a careful note in Kittel, Hist, of the Hebrews^ vol. ii. p. 160. 
 Cornill, Einleitung hi das A. T. p. 104, regards ch. vii as probably not 
 earlier than the time of Isaiah. Cp. Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. ii. 342 ; 
 Cheyne, Aids to the Devout Study, &c., p. 26. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 301 
 
 a peculiar relation of privilege to Jehovah Himself; 
 to him, in other words, the sacred vocation of Israel 
 is to be specially delegated. Nothing less is involved 
 in the solemn transference of the title ' son ' from 
 Israel^ to its king than the assumption that hence- 
 forth the holder of the promised sovereignty is to be 
 an individual of the reigning house. 
 
 This oracle, reflecting the Messianic consciousness 
 of a unique vocation, becomes the starting-point of 
 what is sometimes called ' figurative prophecy,' that 
 is, the ascription of Ideal attributes to the reigning 
 monarch. The idealization of David himself and of 
 the period of his reign begins with the narrators of 
 the books of Samuel, and reaches its climax in the 
 representations of the Chronicler. To prophets like 
 Jeremiah and Ezekiel, whose position Is Intermediate, 
 the name of David became the recognized symbol of 
 Messiah ^. David's reign came to be regarded as the 
 pattern of Messianic times, a kind of golden age In 
 Israel's history ; and amid the calamities of a later 
 period the national hopes were sustained by the 
 promise of a kingdom framed on the Davidic pat- 
 tern. Prophecy henceforth takes a new development. 
 The king who from time to time sits on David's 
 throne is seen ' in the light of the promise made to 
 David, and in that light he is ^transfigured ^ ' and 
 invested with more than human attributes, whether as 
 victorious warrior (Ps. ii), or as royal bridegroom 
 taking to himself a consort from the heathen world 
 (Ps. xlv), or as monarch reigning in righteousness and 
 peace (Ps. Ixxii), or finally as one who combines the 
 functions of royalty with those of priesthood (Ps. ex), 
 the promised dignity of the Davidic prince with the 
 prerogatives of the ancient king who had blessed the 
 
 ^ Exod. iv. 22. 
 
 '^ Jer. XXX. 9 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24 ; xxxvii. 24, 25 (referred to by Cheyne, 
 Aids to the Devout Study ^ &c., p. 70). Cp. a striking passage in Mein- 
 \io\di^ Jesus und das A. 71 p. 99. 
 
 ^ Perowne, Commentary on the Psalms, Introd. (vol. i. p. 54). 
 
302 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 patriarch Abraham himself ^ Thus prophecy creates 
 a khigly image with ideal attributes — each monarch 
 being in his degree a type of the coming Messiah. It 
 is true that in Palestine, as in the East generally — in 
 Egypt and Assyria and Chaldaea — there was a tendency 
 to deify the king ; to regard him as the visible embodi- 
 rrtent of the divine majesty 2. But there is a special 
 significance in the application of the title Elohim to 
 the Hebrew monarch. It implies that the divine 
 sovereignty is in a manner actually delegated to a 
 human representative. The theocratic king reigns 
 and feeds his flock in the name and in the strength of 
 Jehovah ^. He occupies a unique and central position 
 in the kingdom of God — the kingdom of righteousness. 
 He is endued with a full measure of the Spirit of God, 
 executing God's holy will, guided by His wisdom, 
 judging with His righteousness, even revealing His 
 essential attributes ^ We may observe that circum- 
 stances at one time elevated the thought of a theocratic 
 king into prominence, at another time threw it into the 
 background ; but the vision was never completely lost. 
 In the days of the disastrous struggle with Assyria, 
 when the world-power attacked the kingdom of God 
 specially in the person of its monarch, the figure of the 
 king naturally became the centre of Israel's hopes; 
 through the king there would be deliverance from the 
 national foe ; in allegiance to David's house alone 
 would there be any prospect of salvation for the hardly- 
 pressed northern kingdom ^ For in an age of distress 
 and decay it was the figure of David that lived in the 
 memory of the nation — David taken from the sheep- 
 folds to feed Jehovah's people; David the ruler of 
 strong hand and powerful arm, wise of heart as an angel 
 of God^. In the most distressful days faith clung to 
 the covenant established by Jehovah with David and 
 
 ' Heb. vii. 4 foil. 2 Schultz, vol. i. p. 169. ^ Mic. v. 2-4. 
 
 ■• See Isa. ix. 6 and xi. Isa. xi. is called by Darmesteter ' une vision 
 de paix, qui depuis a hant^ I'univers ' {Les Prop/iefes d' Israel, p. 63). 
 * Hos. i. II ; iii. 5 ; Amos ix. 11 foil. Cp. Jer. 1. 4. 
 " 2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20; xix. 27. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 303 
 
 his hoiise. * Thus,' says Schultz, * it was a faith in 
 things not seen, a faith in the everlasting significance 
 of this house.' It is a phenomenon without parallel 
 in history that even under the worst disasters of a later 
 period ' the confident hope of seeing the Saviour of the 
 future born of this dishonoured family was never lost\' 
 We may briefly notice some other associations which 
 are never quite absent from the scriptural idea of 
 royalty. David was a typical man of war, and the 
 Messianic ideal did not fail accordingly to include the 
 element of victorious triumph over foes. The title of 
 king was essentially that of a warrior, a leader of hosts 
 in the wars of the Lord. The notion of sovereignty 
 thus implied the deliverance of Jehovah's people from 
 their enemies and a perpetual extension of the boun- 
 daries of God's kingdom. Under the title ' king ' applied 
 to Messiah we discern ' the potency and promise ' of 
 universalist ideas. The Messiah must reign //// kc hath 
 put all enemies under his feet ^. But this aspect of the 
 Messianic character was not the most prominent. One 
 of the best-known representations of Messiah depicts 
 him as making his entry into Jerusalem in the garb of 
 a prince of peace, just and having salvation, lozuly and 
 riding tipon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass: 
 without the implements of war he extends his right- 
 eous sway. He shall speak peace tcfito the heathen, and 
 his do7ninion shall be from sea even to sea, ajid from the 
 river even to the ends of the earth ^ A typical passage 
 which combines the idea of a peaceful rule with world- 
 wide conquest is to be found in the prophecy of Micah 
 (chapter v), which represents the future Saviour as 
 feeding His people in the strength of Jehovah, in the 
 majesty of the name of Jehovah his God; and the 
 rejnnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people 
 
 ^ O. T. Theology, vol. i. p. 173. Cp. Hunter, Af/cr the Exile, part i. 
 pp. 225 foil. 2 J (-QJ.. XV. 25. 
 
 ^ Zech. ix. 9, 10. The date of Zech. ix-xiv is very uncertain. See Kirk- 
 patrick, Doctrine of the Prophets, pp. 440 foil. ; Cornill, Der Isr. Prophc- 
 tismus, p. 166. Schultz, ii. 416, and apparently Riehm, regard Zech. 
 ix-xi as pre-exilic. 
 
304 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 as a dew from Jehovah, as the skowei^s upon the grass ; 
 but also as a lion among the beasts of the forest ; while 
 Messiah executes vengeance upon the heathen, such as 
 they have not heard^. The two conceptions illustrate 
 the effect on the imagination of the prophets of the 
 two primary facts in the historical situation during 
 the time when Micah wrote. The advance of the 
 Assyrian power no doubt gave a stimulus to the con- 
 ception of a world-monarchy advanced by warlike 
 prowess ; but the permanent form of Messianic pre- 
 diction was mainly determined by visions of a stable 
 and peaceful re-establishment of David's kingdom -. 
 
 3. Another permanent element in Messianic prophecy 
 is the idea of a personal manifestation or intervention 
 of Jehovah to set up His kingdom as sovereign in 
 Zion. The final purpose of the kingdom of God is 
 to manifest Jehovah Himself as supreme over the 
 universe : for he cometh, for he cometh to jndge the 
 earth : he shall jud^e the world with righteonsness 
 and the peoples with his truth"^. As we shall see, 
 the prophets do not attempt to adjust or correlate 
 the two parallel lines of thought which pervade their 
 writings. They look upon the Messianic salvation 
 sometimes as the work of a Davidic king, sometimes, 
 on the other hand, as the outcome of Jehovah's 
 personal visitation of His people. But in any case, 
 whoever may be from time to time the instrument 
 in effecting His redemptive purpose, it is Jehovah 
 Himself who is the real and sole source of help 
 and deliverance. Further, the day of divine mani- 
 festation is a turning-point in human history, the day 
 of judicial intervention, the day of God's decisive act, 
 the day of the Lord. We have noticed the blind 
 confidence with which the mass of Israelites clung to 
 the thought of this day as an object of hope in all 
 
 ' Mic. V. 4, 7, 8, 15. 
 On the significance of Hezekiah's reign in relation to the Messianic 
 
 hope see Darmesteter, Les Prophetes d' Israel, pp. 60 foil. 
 * Ps. xcvi. 10, 13 ; xcvii. i ; xcviii. 9, &c. Cp. Schultz, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 354. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 305 
 
 times of distress. It was supposed to be 'self-evident 
 that the crisis would certainly end in favour of Israel '.' 
 We have seen that it was the special task of Amos to 
 denounce this temper, and to proclaim the unpalatable 
 truth that only through the overthrow of the existing 
 theocracy and the salvation of a mere remnant would 
 the purpose of God be accomplished^. It was incon- 
 ceivable that in view of the moral corruptions of the 
 time there should be deliverance except by the way of 
 judgment. Accordingly, from the rise of prophecy 
 until its close in literature of a definitely apocalyptic 
 type the thought of the day of the Lord continually re- 
 appears. It was to be a day of outward terror; the 
 ordinary course of nature would be violently inter- 
 rupted ; the sun would be darkened, the moon turned 
 into blood ; the earth would tremble ; the works of 
 man would one and all be brought low ; his loftiness 
 would be humbled to the dust^. It was to be a day 
 of moral sifting, a manifestation of divine indignation 
 against wickedness : crtiel both with wrath and fierce 
 anger to lay the land desolate ; and he shall destroy the 
 sinners thereof out of if^. It would be a day of judg- 
 ment in which God would test and refine not only the 
 nations of the heathen world but His own people by 
 the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning^, 
 yehovah alone shall be exalted in > that day. With 
 a searching visitation He will vindicate His outraged 
 majesty, He will purge His kingdom of all that 
 offends '^. 
 
 This is one aspect of the day of the Lord. But it 
 has another side. It is a day ushering in the blessings 
 of the Messianic age. Though the corrupt mass of 
 the people are warned not to wish for a day which to 
 them shall be darkness and not lighf^, the true Israel is 
 encouraged to look forward to it with hope and joy. 
 For the day of the Lord will be a day of vengeance on 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Sketch, Sec. p. 83. ^ Amos ix. 8, 9. 
 
 ' Isa. ii. 12 foil. * Isa. xiii. 9. * Isa. iv. 4. 
 
 ' Isa. i. 24 foil. ' Amos v. 18. 
 
3o6 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 Israel's oppressors, a day of release and of consolation. 
 God's people shall with their eyes behold and see the 
 reivard of the nngodly \ Further, we find that the 
 picture of the Messianic deliverance varies according 
 as one heathen power or another Is the temporary 
 oppressor of J ehovah's people. ' The prophetic oracles,' 
 says Dr. Bruce, ' were addressed to the present, were 
 rooted in the present, were expressed In language suited 
 to the present, and pointed to a good in the near future 
 forming a counterpart to present evil or to an evil 
 In the near future which was to be the penalty of 
 present or past sin 2.' If Jerusalem Is threatened by 
 hostile armies, hard pressed and compassed about, 
 standing In the midst of a wasted and ruined land like 
 a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, the blessing of the 
 future shall be the vision of Jerusalem a quiet habitation, 
 a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, an island pro- 
 tected by broad rivers and streams, zvherein shall go no 
 galley luith oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby^. 
 If Israel is carried away captive, merged and over- 
 whelmed in the sea of nations, cut off from life and 
 hope — the promise Is given of a resurrection, a bring- 
 ing back from the grave, a revival of perished hopes 
 by the renewing might of Jehovah's Spirit*. Forlorn, 
 exiled, and scattered as they seem, the children of 
 Zion may look forward to a home-coming more glorious, 
 more amazing even than the exodus from Egypt. The 
 day of the Lord is not merely a terror to the evil ; It Is 
 to be a day of everlasting joy to the righteous. The 
 ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion 
 with songs and everlasting joy 2pon their heads ; they 
 shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing 
 shall flee away ^. 
 
 At this point it may be well to notice some limi- 
 tations in the prophetic vision of Israel's future. We 
 
 ^ Ps. xci. 8. ^. , ,^ . . 
 
 2 Bruce, Chief End of Revelation, p. 221 ; cp. Riehm, Messianic 
 Prophecy, pp. 95 foil. 
 
 2 Isa, i. 8; xxxiii. 20. * Ezek. xxxvii. ^ Isa. xxxv. 10. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 307 
 
 have seen that two great elements alternate in pro- 
 phetic thought — the glory of a Davidic king, and the 
 personal manifestation of Jehovah ; and that the 
 promised redemption of Zion is connected now with 
 one element, now with the other. But the two lines of 
 thought are parallel, and are nowhere actually combined 
 in the picture of a single divine-human figure. They 
 are continuous and co-existent elements in Messianic 
 prediction. They meet us again in the writings of 
 Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In the last-mentioned prophet 
 the two ideas are found in close juxtaposition. Jeho- 
 vah Himself is the shepherd of His people, and the 
 Davidic king is a prince ruling in His name^. Further, 
 nothing is more remarkable than the adherence of the 
 prophets to the forms and figures suggested by present 
 experience. They picture a kingdom of God visibly 
 founded on earth ; they regard Jerusalem as the neces- 
 sary centre of Messianic government, and as the spot 
 where the divine self-manifestation will ultimately take 
 place. In these representations we recognize the effect 
 produced by the magnificence of Solomon's temple 
 and the worship connected with it. The visible theo- 
 cratic institutions in fact coloured the entire picture of 
 the future, and though Jeremiah in days of religious 
 and political upheaval was able to rise in a measure 
 above these limitations 2, the prophetic thought of 
 a later period reverted to the earlier conceptions. 
 Thus the prophecy of Ezekiel closes with the vision 
 of the restored temple as the earthly dwelling-place of 
 Jehovah in the midst of His people, while the later 
 Isaiah looks for the restoration of Jerusalem in radiant 
 splendour as the scene of a spiritualized levitical 
 worship in which all nations of the earth are summoned 
 to participate ^ Again, in predicting future blessings 
 
 ^ See Ezek. xxxiv. il, 23, 24, and xxxvii. 22, 24, 25 ; Jer. xxiii. 3-6, 15. 
 Cp. Schultz, vol. ii. pp. 417 foil. ; Kirkpatrick, Doctrine of the Prophets, 
 p. 312. Obs. in the apocalyptic writings the two conceptions are united, 
 the figure of the Messiah being invested with a halo of superhuman glory. 
 
 ^ Jer. iii. 16 foil.; xxxi. 29-34. Cp. Riehm, yi 77. Theologie,^^^. 220, 221. 
 
 ' Cp. Zech. xiv, and Cornill's remarks on it {Der Isr. Prophetismus, 
 pp. 166 foil.). See also Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 108, 109. 
 X 2 
 
3o8 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 the prophets know not the time or manner of fulfilment. 
 To them the present and future are contiguous and 
 as yet undistinguished. Each prophet gives an inde- 
 pendent picture of the future, exhibiting it from his 
 own standpoint and depicting it in terms suggested by 
 the actual experiences of his own time. A living hope 
 indeed is inevitably inclined to hasten the natural 
 course of events ; it regards each crisis as final, and 
 the conditions of the moment as ripe for the occurrence 
 of a catastrophe. In general, therefore, the prophets 
 proclaim salvation as a blessing of the immediate 
 future ; yet the delay of the promised consummation 
 does not shatter their hope and confidence, partly 
 because they regard even a small and relative measure 
 of fulfilment as a pledge of an ampler and more decisive 
 deliverance yet to come, partly because they are keenly 
 alive to the conditional character of Jehovah's word, 
 since impenitence or apostasy on Israel's part neces- 
 sarily interrupts or postpones the advent of Messianic 
 times ^ But whether remote or near at hand, the 
 coming of Messiah was the consummation on which 
 hope was fixed. ' The long vista of expectation 
 was closed with His form ^.' Faith waited for Him 
 that should come and did not look for another ^. As 
 king He would be supreme, as prophet or teacher He 
 would bring a final and authoritative message from 
 God to man *. The unclouded light of truth and the 
 blessings of righteous sovereignty were alike connected 
 with His advent. The age of the Messiah was an 
 epoch beyond which prophecy did not look, since 
 it would inaugurate an era of eternal peace and 
 blessedness ^. 
 
 4. But to proceed. When royalty in and after the 
 days of Manasseh declined in influence and prestige, 
 and the national fortunes became more and more 
 
 * Cp. Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 222. 
 
 ^ Stanton, The Jewish and the Christian Messiah, p. 148. 
 
 ' Matt. xi. 3. * Cp. John iv. 25 (Westc6tt, ad loc). 
 
 * Cp. Stanton, loc. cii. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 309 
 
 disconnected from those of the reigning house, 
 another Messianic conception, at which earher prophets 
 had already hinted, rose into prominence — that of 
 the holy remnant or true people of God. It was 
 a period of violent reaction against the teaching of 
 the prophets, which lasted for about fifty years. The 
 contrast between Manasseh's reign and that of his 
 father Hezekiah has been justly compared to that 
 which is presented by the era of the Stuart restoration 
 in its relation to the Puritan ascendency which pre- 
 ceded it. The insolent, materialistic spirit of libertinism 
 revived. Jerusalem again became the scene of strange 
 idolatries ; Manasseh himself practised the hideous 
 rites of Moloch worship ; the arts of sorcery, magic, 
 and soothsaying amused the indolence of a corrupt 
 court. The living voice of prophecy sank into silence\ 
 and was only again uplifted when Josiah had ascended 
 the throne. Moreover, from this time onwards an 
 increasing volume of calamity threatened the Jewish 
 state. Before the close of Manasseh's reign (638) the 
 terrible inroads of the Scythian hordes took place. 
 They overran for a period of twenty years the greater 
 part of western Asia, spreading desolation and terror 
 to the very borders of Egypt. Meanwhile Nineveh 
 was tottering to its fall (607); then followed a struggle 
 for supremacy between the giant-powers of Babylon 
 and Egypt, which was decided by Nebuchadnezzar's 
 defeat of the Egyptian army at Carchemish (605). 
 The period was in fact one of almost unbroken excite- 
 ment, terror, and distress; the effects of Josiah's 
 attempted reformation of worship on the basis of the 
 Deuteronomic law were superficial and soon passed 
 away ; it was manifest that for Jerusalem the day of 
 reckoning was close at hand. Zephaniah at the be- 
 ginning of Josiah's reign had already proclaimed 
 that in the impending deluge of judgment Israel 
 would by no means escape. Habbakuk represents 
 
 ^ Darmesteter, pp. 65, 66. Possibly, as Ewald and Cornill hold, Micah 
 chh. vi, vii belong to the reign of Manasseh. 
 
310 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 the patience of faith waiting on God amid universal 
 convulsion. Jeremiah is the prophet of Jerusalem's 
 fall ^ He, together with Habbakuk, gives utterance 
 to the distress of that righteous remnant of Israel 
 which in an evil time had set itself to seek God. The 
 whole problem of suffering began to press for solu- 
 tion ; and rightly to estimate the spiritual importance 
 of the epoch which began with Josiah's death (about 
 609) and only ended with the return from exile, we 
 must bear in mind its general character : the entire 
 period was one of judgment, inevitable, crushing, 
 and complete. The sorrows of the holy seed, the 
 spiritual Israel, in the land of captivity served to 
 accentuate the problem which perplexed the minds of 
 Israel's prophets and saints. The faithful remnant, 
 conscious of its own integrity of heart and of its newly- 
 awakened zeal for God, was overwhelmed in the 
 common calamity which had overtaken the nation. 
 Old theories of retribution had thereby been proved 
 to be inadequate. A new doctrine of suffering was 
 imperatively needed to account for the new circum- 
 stances in which the righteous found themselves placed. 
 And, speaking broadly, it is not inaccurate to say that 
 the lesson which above all others Israel learned in 
 its day of calamity was the real meaning and purpose 
 of suffering. 
 
 The principal pictures of the righteous sufferer con- 
 tained in the Old Testament — for instance, the 
 twenty-second psalm, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, 
 the story of Job — seem to embody the deepened 
 spiritual experience of the exile. In these great pas- 
 sages of Scripture tribulation is recognized as being not 
 merely a judgment upon human sin, but an element 
 in the progress of the kingdom of God, a discipline by 
 which the true servant of Jehovah is trained and edu- 
 cated for his unique mission. The thought of the 
 priestly or mediatorial office of God's people comes to 
 
 ^ Cp. Cornill, Der Israelitische Prophetismus, pp. "JJ foil. ; Montefiore, 
 Hibbert Lectures, pp. 171 foil. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 311 
 
 the front; and, according to a characteristic tendency of 
 the Hebrew mind, we find a disposition to individualize 
 the nation, and to bring to a focus the characteristic 
 thought of the age in * the conception of an individual 
 righteous man who as the accepted representative of 
 his nation must needs make atonement by suffering 
 for its sins, and so become a prevaiHng intercessor 
 with God. In this ideal servant of Jehovah are 
 concentrated the scattered characteristics of God's 
 faithful : their spirit of dependence, their patient devo- 
 tion, their unswerving faithfulness in the fulfilment of 
 vocation, their brave constancy under trial, their meek 
 acceptance of death ^' In the fifty-third chapter of 
 Isaiah prophecy seems to rise to this culminating 
 point. It delineates the figure of one who by pouring 
 out his soul unto death can indeed make atonement 
 for the transgressions of his people, and who passes 
 through the gate of death to a new and glorious life 
 of fruitfulness and power. ' This wonderful figure 
 combines in itself,' says Schultz, 'the figure of the 
 Priest who offers Himself up as a sacrifice for the 
 world, the figure of the Prophet who by His know- 
 ledge of God brings justification, and the figure of 
 the King who, transfigured and blessed, enjoys the 
 fruits of His sufferings -.' 
 
 During the exile, then, the hope of Israel was 
 finally transferred from the theocratic king to the 
 servant of yehovah, the faithful remnant which still 
 represented the people of God. Conscious as they 
 were of possessing the true knowledge of God, and 
 of vocation to His service, the faithful patiently 
 awaited the issue of the conflict between the true 
 religion and the idolatries of heathenism. The sublime 
 prophet of the exile in fact developes the thought of 
 the mediatorial functions of God's people which the 
 very circumstances of the exile suggested. 
 
 In his pages the universalist ideas of earlier 
 
 ^ Repeated from T/ie Doctrine of the Incarnation, vol. i. p. 55. 
 ^ Schultz, vol. ii. p. 435. 
 
312 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 prophecy become deepened and spiritualized. The 
 Israel which he represents recognizes its prophetic 
 and priestly function, its vocation to be a light to the 
 Gentiles^. It learns that the purpose of grace mani- 
 fested in Israel's election embraces the entire family 
 of mankind. ' And in accordance with these ideas, 
 prophecy henceforth displays a new sense of the 
 dignity of priesthood and its functions. Already in 
 his ideal sketch of the age of restoration, Ezekiel 
 assigns special prominence to the Aaronic priesthood. 
 The priests are to be the teachers and judges of the 
 future, and are to represent in their own persons 
 the entire consecration of Israel to Jehovah 2. In 
 the prophecy of Zechariah, Joshua the high-priest 
 stands on a level with Zerubbabel the theocratic 
 prince. There is a juxtaposition of the offices of priest 
 and king implied in the coronation of Joshua ^ The 
 high-priest is not as yet identified with the prince ; 
 what Zechariah's prophecy signifies is the perfect 
 harmony and unity of two elements indispensable in 
 • the newly-established settlement. The counsel of peace, 
 he says, shall be between them both. Only at a more 
 advanced stage, it would seem, did prophecy rise to 
 the thought of a monarch who as representative of 
 the priestly nation should himself hold the dignity 
 of the priesthood, being made by the oath of Jehovah 
 a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek *. I n 
 Psalm ex is to be found the combination of two 
 separate lines of prediction. 
 
 5. Corresponding to the conception of a people of 
 God charged with a spiritual mission to mankind is 
 that of a new covenant — a covenant of which grace, 
 not law, is the outstanding characteristic. It was 
 a hope to which Jeremiah had already given touching 
 expression ^ In his days it must have seemed the 
 
 ^ Isa. xlix. 6. "^ Ezek. xliv. 10-28; xlviii. 11, &c. 
 
 ^ Zech. vi. 11-14. Cp. Schultz, ii. 423. 
 
 * Ps. ex. See a note in Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 257. 
 
 * Jer. xxxi. 31 foil. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 313 
 
 only hope that remained for an apostate Israel. In 
 effect Jeremiah appears to have abandoned the 
 expectation of any response to his warnings and 
 denunciations. He renounces the nation which is 
 hastening headlong to its ruin, and apparently devotes 
 himself to preparing the way for a new people that 
 should emerge from the ashes of the old\ The 
 hope of a new covenant was indeed the stay of 
 the faithful under continual disillusionment. The ex- 
 perience of ages is embodied in the pregnant verdict 
 of Jeremiah on the final result of the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion : which my covenant they brake, although I zvas an 
 husband unto them, saith the Lord'^. Jehovah had 
 purposed to make Israel a kingdom of priests and an 
 holy nation, but the only hope of the ideal being 
 realized lay in the free action of Jehovah's grace. The 
 old covenant was marked by inherent deficiency : it 
 was powerless to secure the obedience it enjoined, 
 it was burdensome as a law of positive precepts and 
 ordinances ; in relation to the removal of sin it was 
 hopelessly ineffective. Prophecy therefore recognized 
 that the old covenant was waxing old and ready to 
 vanish away^. It looked to the future for a new 
 covenant of grace, under which not merely the outward 
 life, but the heart of Israel, should be renewed unto 
 holiness. In the Messianic age, the law of Jehovah 
 should be written in the heart ; each soul should have 
 immediate knowledge of God and unrestricted access 
 to Him ; above all, the clinging burden of sin and 
 defilement should be finally removed. For I will 
 forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins 
 no more. Thus it was at length realized that the 
 Messiah was not destined to fulfil the aspirations 
 of national ambition, but to satisfy the yearnings of 
 spiritual need : to preach good tidings nnto the meek, 
 to bind tip the broketi- hear ted, to proclaim liberty to the 
 
 ^ Darmesteter, p. 67. ^ Jer. xxxi. 32. Cp. Heb. viii. 9. 
 
 ' Heb. viii. 13. 
 
314 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are 
 botind \ 
 
 In the prophecies of Ezekiel we find a continuation 
 of Jeremiah's teaching. One effect of the exile on the 
 faithful was doubtless a deeper consciousness of sin, 
 and a sense that the mere collective and national 
 access to God provided for in the institutions of pre- 
 exilic worship was incapable of satisfying the thirst of 
 the individual soul for salvation 2. Ezekiel repeats 
 and emphasizes Jeremiah's doctrine concerning indivi- 
 dual responsibility ; but he goes further and points to 
 the prospect of an inward renewal wrought by the 
 power of Jehovah's spirit. / will sprinkle clean water 
 tiponyon, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness, 
 and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new 
 heart also will I give you, and a 7iew spirit will I put 
 within you : and I will take away the stony heart out 
 of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh ^. 
 Thus the prophets who had been, to quote Well- 
 hausen's striking expression, * the spiritual destroyers 
 of old Israel V became the pioneers of a new era. 
 They hold out the prospect of a nationality which has 
 renewed its youth ; they look for a new creation. 
 Behold, I create new heavens and a ?iew earth ; a?td the 
 former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 
 Btct be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I 
 create; for, behold, I create Je^'usalem a rejoicing, and her 
 people a joy ^. 
 
 6. The post-exilic prophets gather up the substance 
 of former predictions, their aim being to deepen those 
 conceptions respecting the Messiah and his work 
 which were already current. In Haggaiand Zechariah 
 the idea of Israel's spiritual mission to the world 
 reappears, but in a form moulded by the special 
 circumstances of their time — the rebuilding of the 
 temple and the reorganization of worship on the 
 levitical pattern. The interest of prophecy centres 
 
 ^ Isa. Ixi. I. 2 Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 36. 
 
 * Ezek. xxxvi. 25 foil. * Sketch, Sec. p. 122, * Isa. Ixv. 17, 18. 
 
VI] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 315 
 
 in the' temple as at no previous period in history. 
 Haggai, for example, points to a new glory of the 
 national sanctuary as the appointed centre of divine 
 self-manifestation in the future. The sudden coming 
 of Jehovah to His temple will usher in the age of 
 Messianic blessings \ Thither the desirable things 
 of all nations shall be brought ; there the deepest 
 yearnings of man's heart shall be finally satisfied : In 
 this place will I give peace, saiih the Lord of hosts. 
 Nearly a century later the same thought reappears in 
 Malachi in a somewhat modified shape characteristic 
 of his time. Jehovah will manifest Himself through 
 the mediation of an ano;el, the messens^er of His 
 covenant, and instrument of His righteous judgment. 
 To Malachi, as to Haggai, the temple is the destined 
 scene of the future theophany ; and the main object 
 of the divine judgment is to purify the sons of Levi, 
 that there may once more be a faithful priesthood 
 in Israel, and a pure offering acceptable to God^. 
 On the other hand, the moral and ethical tone of 
 prophecy, and its insistence on the divine requirement 
 as a condition of covenant communion, is still dominant 
 in the prophets of the restoration. In Zechariah 
 especially we find * the two correlative aspects of 
 spiritual reformation ' enforced : as ' the bounden duty 
 of man, and as the promised gift of God ^' 
 
 It is difficult to trace the process by which it came 
 about, but there can be no doubt that the hopes of 
 later Judaism are of a narrower and more nationalistic 
 cast than those of the exilic period. In fact, as Pro- 
 fessor Pflelderer remarks, in some respects ' the legal 
 religion of the synagogue shows a retrogression from 
 the lofty idealism of the prophets *.' The unlversalist 
 
 ^ Hag. ii. 7-9; Zech. ix. 9 foil. It is noticeable that for a brief space 
 the prince of David's house, which in the person of Zerubbabel emerged 
 from its obscurity, figures once more in the pages of prophecy. See Zech. 
 iii. 8 ; cp. Jer. xxiii. 5. 
 
 2 Mai. iii. 1-5, 16 foil. 
 
 ' See Zech. iii. 4 ; v. 5-1 1 ; viii. 16, 17. Cp. 'MonX.t^oxtyHibbert LecttcreSy 
 vol. ii. p. 300. 
 
 * afford Lectures, voX.u.T^. ^l. 
 
3i6 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 hopes of the later Isaiah fall into the background, and 
 give way before the ambitions of Jewish particularism. 
 The spirit of rigid exclusiveness fostered by the 
 levitical Law displayed itself in an attitude of hatred 
 and contempt towards the heathen world. Cornill ob- 
 serves that the stage was a necessary one in Israel's 
 development, for the life and death struggle with 
 Hellenism was yet to come \ The observance of the 
 Law, which sharply separated Israel from the heathen 
 world, formed a kind of defensive armour, which the 
 polished shafts of paganism could neither break nor 
 penetrate. Judaism was a hard shell under which the 
 kernel of true religion was preserved and transmitted 
 unimpaired. Nevertheless, the effect of this period 
 on prophecy was not altogether happy. The book 
 of Joel seems to represent the temper of the new 
 Judaism. Its tone is strongly nationalistic ; it regards 
 the heathen as objects only of vengeance, not of grace ; 
 it reflects the confidence of the Jew that Israel is 
 a righteous people and the object of a divine favour, 
 which is sufficiently secured by the care bestowed on 
 the temple C2iliiis'\ In fact, it has been thought, 
 though the point is necessarily uncertain, that in the 
 book of Joel we pass from the older type of prophecy 
 to the class of apocalyptic literature, which has pecu- 
 liarities and merits of its own, but cannot be fairly 
 judged by the same standard as earlier prophetic 
 writings. While prophecy is the mature fruit of 
 ancient Israel's religion, apocalyptic writings are the 
 characteristic product of Judaism. They bear witness, 
 like the belief in the Batk Qol, to the consciousness 
 that Jehovah had ceased to speak immediately to 
 His peopled 
 
 ^ Der Israelitische Prophetismus, p. 1 62. 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 163. The book of Obadiah seems to display a similar 
 tendency. 
 
 ^ On the distinctive characteristics of the apocalyptic literature see 
 Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 389 ; Drummond, The Jewish Messiah, Introd. ; 
 Westcott, art. ' Daniel ' in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. The last writer 
 points out that the exile ' supplied the outward training and the inward 
 necessity for this last form of divine teaching ; and the prophetic visions 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 317 
 
 The apocalyptic literature, in fact, arose as the 
 result of that passionate aversion to heathenism and 
 grief at its apparent triumph which came to a head in 
 the Maccabaean struggle. The unfulfilled ideals of 
 prophecy were studied afresh with the hope of finding 
 a clue to the past course of history and the future 
 prospects of the nation. With the peculiarities, how- 
 ever, of this literature we are not specially concerned. 
 It is only necessary to remember that it also was 
 used as a vehicle of divine teaching. Its contribution 
 to the Messianic idea was, comparatively speaking, 
 indirect. The apocalyptic writers occupied them- 
 selves with the prospects of the divine kingdom in its 
 relation to the empires of this world, rather than with 
 the personal glories of the promised Saviour. Conse- 
 quently, their works reflect in their comparative silence 
 as to a personal Messiah, the condition of the nation 
 when it had lost its independence and had passed 
 under the rule of a priestly hierarchy. In the extra- 
 canonical literature the Messianic king was generally 
 depicted as a hero of whom it was confidently 
 expected that he would re-establish Israel's national 
 independence and inaugurate a world-wide dominion ; 
 but in regard to details old ideas and new were 
 strangely intermingled. The rule of righteousness 
 and peace was to involve ' the full triumph of the law 
 and the law's religion ^' The universal kingdom of 
 Messiah was destined to manifest the peculiar favour 
 with God enjoyed by Israel. 
 
 Perhaps the most significant feature in later canonical 
 prophecy is the stress laid on Messiah's humanity. 
 The book of Daniel speaks of one like unto a son of 
 ma7t^, an expression which in its original context 
 
 of Ezekiel form the connecting link between the characteristic types of 
 revelation and prophecy.' On the book of Joel see Hunter, After the 
 Exile, part i. ch. xii. Its apocalyptic character is noticed by Comill, 
 Einleitiing in das A.T. p. 182. 
 
 ^ See Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, No. viii. 
 
 "^ Dan. vii. 13. On the probable date and origin of Daniel see Comill, 
 pp. 176 foil. On the influence of the book see Riehm, ATI. Theologie, 
 p. 3S9. 
 
3i8 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect. 
 
 seems to describe the characteristics of the ideal king- 
 dom of the saints which is destined to supersede the 
 heathen empires founded on brute violence and 
 material force. It was apparently in a later apocry- 
 phal work — the book of Enoch — that the title was 
 first restricted to a personal Messiah, but the passage 
 in Daniel may be regarded as marking a new stage in 
 the growth of the Messianic expectation ^ Apart 
 from this isolated expression, the figure of the anointed 
 prince"- in the book of Daniel is highly significant. 
 The Messiah is numbered with the saints of the most 
 high as their head and representative, exercising the 
 universal dominion bestowed on him as his rightful 
 heritage by Jehovah Himself The conception of 
 a specially close relationship between the Messiah and 
 Jehovah is also found in the later chapters of Zechariah, 
 which depict the expected Saviour as the rejected 
 shepherd of his people, as \\\^ fellow of Jehovah, and 
 as one in whom Jehovah Himself is pierced ^ 
 
 There is no need to extend our survey of Messianic 
 prediction beyond the limits of the Old Testament, 
 since the permanent elements that contributed to the 
 conception of Messiah are already contained in the 
 Hebrew Canon itself The subsequent period is of 
 great importance in so far as it throws light on the 
 expectations of our Lord's own contemporaries ; but 
 this subject lies outside the range of our inquiry*. 
 Accordingly, it only remains to point out briefly how 
 the work of Christ, the history of His Church, and 
 the experience of His saints unfold and develope the 
 significance of those great principles which prophecy 
 had learned to trace in Israel's history. 
 
 For we have seen that the prophetic visions of the 
 
 ' See Stanton, op. cii. p, no ; Drummond, op. cit, bk. ii. ch. 7. 
 
 '^ Dan. ix. 25, 26. 
 
 ' Zech. xi. 15 foil.; xiii. 1-9; xii. 10. On the date of Zech. ix-xiv see 
 Cornill, p. 166. 
 
 * See Schiirer, The Jewish People in the tinle of Christ (Eng. Tr.), § 29 ; 
 Westcott, Inirod. to the Study of the Gospels, pp. 94 foil, j Stanton, op. cit. 
 pp. Ill foil. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 319 
 
 future- were for the most part inspired by reflection 
 on the history of the past. The Messianic hope had 
 its roots in the faith that Israel had been originally 
 brought into a special relationship to Jehovah. The 
 expectation even of a personal Redeemer was coloured 
 by vague anticipations that Israel itself would ulti- 
 mately realize the ideal foreshadowed in the original 
 covenant established with its ancestors. The personal 
 advent and work of the true Messiah only inaugurated 
 the fulfilment of the earliest and most widespread 
 hopes of the nation \ Thus the idea of salvation as 
 a work of divine grace visiting the afflicted, or as a 
 victory by which a captivity was carried captive, had 
 been visibly illustrated in the exodus from Egypt ; 
 the idea of a kingdom of God had its foundations laid 
 in the polity organized, at least in rudimentary form, 
 by Moses, and was further developed and consolidated 
 by the institution of the Hebrew monarchy; the con- 
 ception of a people of God charged with a priestly 
 mission to mankind had probably never been entirely 
 absent from the highest spiritual thought of the people. 
 The place, meaning, and function of suffering had from 
 the first been suggested by the recorded experience of 
 righteous men from the dawn of history : Abel had 
 been slain by Cain ; Isaac had been laid on the altar of 
 sacrifice ; Jacob had been a wanderer ready to perish : 
 Joseph had been rejected by his brethren and the iron 
 entered into his soul ere he could become the saviour 
 of his kindred and of Egypt ; Moses had been a fugitive 
 and exile before he was raised up to be a captain of 
 salvation over Jehovah's people and to fill the desert 
 with songs of deliverance; David had been a per- 
 secuted outlaw before he became the light of Israel. 
 Yes ; ' the heralds of salvation, the bearers of God's 
 mercy, have to pass through suffering and death 
 before they win salvation for themselves and others 2.' 
 So in later days each of the goodly fellowship of the 
 prophets was in his measure a man of sorrows and 
 
 ^ Cp. Stanton, op. cit. pp. 99, 135. * Schultz, vol. ii. p. 353. 
 
320 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE [lect, 
 
 acquainted with grief. Finally, the remnant of Israel 
 in exile recognized itself as the suffering servant of 
 yehovah prepared to fulfil its unique mission by meek 
 endurance of affliction. Thus prophecy is faith's 
 interpretation of the past ; in the temporary conditions 
 and circumstances of Israel's history lay concealed 
 eternal thoughts of God, which in Jesus Christ were 
 to receive their perfect elucidation \ In His passion, 
 death, resurrection and exaltation to the right hand 
 of God, St. John contemplates the supreme triumph 
 which the seed of the woman was from the first 
 destined to achieve^ ; and the writer of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews points to Him as one in whom the 
 destiny of our race is potentially accomplished. TJioto 
 hast pnt all things 2inder his feet. Such is the promise ; 
 now however we see not yet all things put tinder him. 
 But we see Jesus. In the triumph of the ascension 
 man may behold a pledge of the fulfilment of his own 
 appointed destiny. 
 
 Again, in the moral reign of Jesus Christ over the 
 hearts of the faithful we recognize the transfigured 
 kingdom of David ; we see the spiritual counterpart 
 of those great ideas which the age of Solomon fore- 
 shadowed — a world-wide empire over the souls of men 
 and a universal religion — a catholic Church and a 
 catholic Creed. In the action of the Holy Spirit upon 
 society and individual men, consecrating the peculiar 
 endowments and gifts of each to divine uses, we 
 welcome the fulfilment of prophetic visions of a 
 righteous people of Jehovah sprinkled with clean 
 water, and drawing near to God in acceptable service. 
 Finally, in the overthrow of Israel's enemies Chris- 
 tian faith sees the removal from the true kingdom of 
 God of all things that offend, and them which do 
 
 ^ There is a valuable chapter on 'the use of the Old Testament in the 
 early Church ' in Mr. Stanton's Jewish and Chrisiiafi Messiah, with an 
 exhaustive table showing the Messianic use of the Old Testament in the 
 New Testament. 
 
 ^ Rev. xii ; cp. Heb. ii. 6 foil. 
 
vi] PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 321 
 
 iniquity ; and the forthshining of the righteous as the 
 sun in the kingdom of thcii^ Father ^ 
 
 Thus the person, the work, the Church of Jesus 
 Christ explains the many-sided imagery of the Old 
 Testament; and if we believe that the Incarnation is 
 at once the plainest of facts and the deepest of 
 mysteries, we shall feel that no study of Hebrew 
 prophecy can be too painstaking or minute ; inasmuch 
 as it embodies the thoughts of God — those thoughts 
 of which the Psalmist says, How precious are thy 
 thoughts unto me, O God ! how great is the sum of 
 them ! If I should count them, they are more in number 
 than the sajid. Many, O Lord my God, are thy zvondei^- 
 ful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which 
 are to us-ward ; they cannot be reckoned 7ip in order zmto 
 thee : if I would declare and speak of them they are 
 more than can be numbered'^. 
 
 Prophecy has been defined as ' the expression of an 
 ideal truth which, just because it contains an eternal 
 law of the order of the world, also finds ever new 
 fulfilment at all times ^.' In it we touch what is deepest 
 and most vital in religion. Prophecy is not merely 
 the judgment of sagacious men on the events of their 
 own day, or on the state of the society in which they 
 were called to move and act ; it is an inspired com- 
 mentary on the phenomena of uniyersal history. Its 
 idealism is the result of God-given insight into the 
 true conditions of human welfare, and into that true 
 order of the universe which has been obscured and 
 perverted by human folly, selfishness, and crime. The 
 optimism of the prophets, says Dr. Bruce, ' does not 
 consist in shutting the eyes to the evil that is in the 
 world. On the contrary, it knows how to take the evil 
 into the ideal as one of its constitutive elements, and 
 transmute it into the highest good ^.' It is their sense 
 of a power pervading human history and 
 
 * Matt. xiii. 41, 43- ^ Ps. cxxxix. 17 foil. ; xl. 5. 
 
 ^ Pfleiderer, Gifford Lectures, vol. ii. p. 42. 
 * Bruce, Apologeiics, p. 256. 
 
322 PROPHECY AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE 
 ' From seeming evil still educing good ' 
 
 that makes the study of the prophets at once so 
 necessary and so fruitful. In reading their books we 
 find ourselves fired by the same passion of hope, 
 illuminated and cheered by the same splendid visions. 
 Thus the study of the Old Testament may most 
 appropriately begin with the prophets, not only because 
 the date of their activity and the authenticity of their 
 works are in the main certain and undisputed, but also 
 because their writings will give us the true point of 
 view from which to approach the entire history and 
 institutions of Israel. They will educate our sense of 
 proportion in dealing with the narrative and legislative 
 parts of the Old Testament. They will imbue us 
 with a consciousness of the gravity of the problems 
 which confront society at the present day. They will 
 develope our insight into those needs and aspirations 
 of human nature which the religion of the Incar- 
 nation was destined to satisfy ; and, finally, they will 
 awaken and stimulate in us that which is the highest 
 power for good in human life— the passion for righteous- 
 ness, the love of man, the thirst for God. 
 
LECTURE VII 
 
 O God, thou art 7ny God. — Ps. Ixiii. I. 
 
 The age of the prophets had contributed to the 
 rehgion of Israel all that was most essential to its 
 further development. We may notice two points 
 particularly in which the tendencies of the post-exilic 
 period were already foreshadowed before the return 
 from Babylon. First, prophecy had risen to the 
 conception of a universal religion. The vision of the 
 Messianic age, in proportion as it became spiritualized, 
 enlarged its range. The great prophet of the exile 
 represents the heathen world as waiting expectantly 
 for the salvation of God. Israel is to be the herald 
 of redemption to all the nations of the earth, the 
 centre of a world converted to the service of Jehovah. 
 Secondly, the conception of an' individualized re- 
 ligion had already appeared. This can be traced 
 back to the prophet Jeremiah, whose position of 
 peculiar isolation and dependence upon God led 
 him to reflect particularly on the relation of the 
 individual to God. His prolonged experience of 
 the supporting power of divine grace under the 
 pressure of overwhelming difficulties constituted him 
 a link between an old and a new state of things. By 
 his own personal fidelity to God, he rescued as it 
 were the true religion which in those disastrous times 
 was in danger of perishing outright. It is even 
 possible that the inspired picture drawn by the exilic 
 prophet of the faithful servant of Jehovah making 
 
 Y 2 
 
3=4 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 atonement and intercession on behalf of his people 
 was suggested by the memory of Jeremiah's labours 
 and sufferings ^ In his own inner life the prophet 
 realized the efficacy of repentance, the need of personal 
 conversion ^, the yearning for newness of heart. And 
 in Jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant with 
 Israel, which is to be the characteristic blessing of the 
 Messianic age, we have perhaps the first suggestion 
 of a salvation not merely national but personal. They 
 shall all know me, from the least of them tinio the 
 greatest of them, saith the Lord^. The Law was one 
 day to be written, not on tables of stone, but on human 
 hearts. It was the task of Ezekiel to deepen the 
 impression made by his predecessor, to educate in 
 the faithful a consciousness of personal accountability 
 for sin, and to proclaim the divine promise of a time 
 when consciences should be cleansed and hearts 
 renewed by the gift of the Spirit. These two lines of 
 prediction are distinct, and yet they seem to be mutually 
 connected. A spiritual religion can no longer be a 
 merely national religion ; the law that can be written 
 on the single human heart is a law for mankind. On 
 the sense of individual relationship to God a world- 
 religion can be founded, for God is one and His 
 Spirit one. The thought underlies St. Paul's striking 
 argument in the third chapter of Romans : Is he the 
 God of the Jeivs only f is he not also of the Gentiles ? 
 Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is 07ie God, which shall 
 justify the circumcision by faith, ajid uncircumcision 
 through faith •*. 
 
 Now in the period that followed the exile these 
 characteristic products of prophetic thought — the 
 idea of universal religion, and that of personal 
 salvation — were destined to be developed, but rather 
 through the stress of the circumstances in which 
 
 ^ Meinhold, Jesus tmd das A. T. p. 105. Cp. Montefiore, Hibbert 
 Lectures, p. 218. 
 
 "^ Jer. xvii. 14; xxxi. 18. 
 
 ^ Jer. xxxi. 34 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 
 
 * Rom. iii. 29, 30. Cp. Pfleiderer, Cifford Lectures, vol. ii. pp. 50, 51. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 325 
 
 Judaism found itself placed, than through any con- 
 scious or deliberate effort to realize the spiritual hopes 
 of prophecy. At first sight indeed the whole epoch 
 wears a retrogressive aspect : religion becomes formal 
 and legalistic, while the wider Messianic ideals give 
 way before a temper of narrow particularism. Never- 
 theless, looking back upon the period, we are able 
 to discern the providential work of God going on 
 under the unpromising exterior features of the history. 
 The dispersion of the Jews brought them into contact 
 with the culture and thought of heathendom, not 
 without adding to their religion elements of expan- 
 siveness which the rigid legal discipline of Palestinian 
 Judaism tended to repress. On the other hand, the 
 troubled conditions under which Jewish nationality 
 struggled to maintain its independence led to a certain 
 religious concentration ; sorrow and misfortune became 
 to the Jew a school of the heart. 
 
 Let us pause to consider some of the circumstances 
 which gave an impulse to the development of personal 
 religion. First, we notice the depression and sense of 
 disappointment which quickly followed the restoration. 
 The returned exiles, their ears still ringing with the 
 uplifting music of the voice which bade them depart 
 In triumph from the land of captivity, and come with 
 singing tmto Zion, and with everlasting joy upon their 
 head^y found themselves In their ancient home — in 
 a city ruined, comfortless, unprotected, and surrounded 
 by alien or hostile tribes. The community Itself was 
 only a miserable remnant of a once powerful nation. 
 Hopes of revival and recovery seemed to have been 
 blasted at their birth -. The foundations of the 
 temple were laid, but the opposition of the Samaritans, 
 combined with the despondent apathy of the exiles, 
 
 * See Isa. li. 11 ; lii. 7 foil. ; Iv. 12, &c. 
 
 ^ Stanton, The Jewish and /he Christian Messiah, p. 97, observes : ' It 
 has come to be very generally recognized that illusion followed by the 
 discipline of experience and disappointment played no unimportant part 
 in the formation and definition of the clearest Messianic hope of Israel.' 
 See Hunter, After the Exile, part i. chap, v, 'Among the Ruins.' 
 
326 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 led to a prolonged cessation of the work. Nor were 
 the prospects of the community materially improved 
 even at a later time, when the temple had been 
 completed and the national worship organized on the 
 levitical system. Jehovah's promises seemed to have 
 come to nought. Things remained as before. In the 
 place of Babylon, the heathen power of Persia had 
 brought Israel under an oppressive yoke. Moreover, 
 the restored worship of the temple provided no 
 effective compensation for the miseries of the time. 
 The book of Malachi bears witness to the prevailing 
 temper of the prophet's contemporaries. Evidently 
 the requirements of Jehovah's service were regarded 
 as an oppressive and costly burden. The strict dis- 
 cipline of the Law provoked a spirit of moroseness, 
 of religious indifference, and even of resentment against 
 God ^ The community as a whole, and even the 
 priesthood, had apparently sunk into listless apathy 
 and heartless formalism. 
 
 Meanwhile, the ideal which reformers like Ezra 
 and Nehemiah set before themselves was that of 
 a holy community, separated by elaborate restrictions 
 from the pollutions of heathendom, and from the 
 semi-paganism of the ' people of the land.' In pur- 
 suance of this ideal even the habits and incidents 
 of daily life were brought under the discipline of an 
 all-embracing system, the result of which was a 
 gradual change in men's moral conceptions. The 
 righteousness which the prophets had preached as 
 Jehovah's supreme requirement came to be identified 
 with an anxious and scrupulous legalism, the cul- 
 minating point of which was eventually reached in 
 Pharisaism. 
 
 The tendency to externalism in religion manifested 
 itself most conspicuously in the zeal expended upon 
 the worship of the national sanctuary. The restriction 
 of the levitical cultus to the temple tended to make 
 
 ^ See Mai. ii. 17 ; iii. 14. Cp. Cornill, Der Isr. Prophetismiis, pp. 155, 
 156 ; Hunter, op. cit. part i. pp. 121 foil. ; ii. p. 242. 
 
VI i] THE OLD TESTAMENT 327 
 
 a particular spot the centre of religious interest. 
 Everything came to be regarded from the point 
 of view of Jerusalem, and the sacrificial system by 
 which the nation maintained its covenant-union with 
 Jehovah gradually assumed a disproportionate im- 
 portance. From this point of view a characteristic 
 product of Judaism is to be found in the books of 
 Chronicles. The writer does more than display 
 a devout and passionate interest in the temple and 
 its services. He makes the legal cultus a standard 
 by which the conduct of the Jewish kings in pre-exilic 
 days is judged. This standpoint in fact colours his 
 entire representation of Hebrew history. On the sup- 
 position that the levitical system prevailed in the days 
 of the first temple, the chronicler commends or blames 
 the various monarchs according as he believes them 
 to have religiously observed or wilfully neglected the 
 legal observances. 
 
 But although the tendency to externalism was no 
 doubt most decidedly pronounced in Jerusalem itself, 
 even among the habitual worshippers in the temple 
 there must have been some to whom the sacrificial 
 ciiltiLS was the centre of a deeply-rooted spiritual life 
 and a true means of spiritual education. The very 
 calamities of the time would impel devout minds to 
 seek for solace in the services of the sanctuary. Nor 
 must we overlook the very important influence of the 
 synagogue-worship. The synagogues of Judaism re- 
 placed the local sanctuaries of the earlier religion, and 
 they became centres of spiritual education — prayer 
 and the reading of the Law being the most prominent 
 features in their services \ The effect of such an institu- 
 tion as the synagogue could not fail to be important. Tt 
 actively helped,' says Mr, Montefiore, ' to individualize 
 religion, and to bring it home to the hearts and under- 
 standing of all ^.' The synagogue in fact provided a 
 
 ^ See Kuenen, Religion of Tsi-ael, vol. iii. chap. 9. 
 
 2 Hibbert Lectures^ p. 391. Cp. Riehm, A TL Theologie, p. 397 ; 
 Hunter, op. cit. p. 222. 
 
328 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 certain spiritual satisfaction for the growing needs of 
 the personal religious life, and while on the one hand 
 it helped to diffuse the knowledge of the Law, thus 
 giving an impulse to the temper of legalism, it could 
 not fail also to suggest more profound ideas of the 
 divine requirement. It served in some measure to 
 counteract the tendency to lay inordinate stress on 
 the sacrificial cultus of the temple. 
 
 It would accordingly be a serious mistake to 
 suppose that the post-exilic age was a barren period 
 in the religion of Israel. The Psalter alone affords 
 evidence sufficient that the triumph of the nationalistic 
 and legalistic element in Judaism did not fatally impede 
 the growth of personal religion. As a matter of fact it 
 seems to have acted in two ways. In some cases the 
 fervid ecclesiasticism of the time probably tended to 
 produce a temper of sceptical reaction, such as we find 
 reflected in the pessimism of the Preacher : the 
 elaborate citltus of the temple may have seemed to 
 exclude the presence or action of the living God. On 
 the other hand, to some the levitical worship seemed 
 rather to bring God nearer ^, and to give vitality 
 to the thought of Jehovah's presence in the midst of 
 His people : to such the cullies was full of symbolic 
 teaching, and the study of the Torah a great means of 
 communion with God. The Psalter has been said to 
 illustrate ' the combination of prophetic principles with 
 warm attachment to the purified forms in which 
 religion was outwardly clothed ^.' In the Psalms the 
 religion of the prophets is perpetuated : their sacred 
 hopes and fears, their joy in God, their boundless 
 devotion to His service. The Psalter testifies that the 
 discipline of the Law did not necessarily quench the 
 
 ^ Montefiore, p. 385: 'Spiritual communion with God and the pure 
 joy of a felt nearness to Him were born from participation in the Temple 
 service.' Cp. Schechter, Sticdies in Judaism, p. 292 ; Kuenen, Hibbert 
 Led tires, p. 165. 
 
 - Montefiore, p. 386. See a valuable passage in Bruce, Apologetics, 
 pp. 272 foil, as to the religious significance of the critical view in regard 
 to the origin and date of the Psalter. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 329 
 
 life of' religious emotion, but rather purified it and 
 imparted to it a new intensity. Nor is it only from 
 the Psalter that we can infer the actual spiritual effects 
 of the period of legalism. In the other writings which 
 complete the Hagiographa we are brought face to 
 face with characteristic products of Judaism. The 
 number and variety of the books composing this group 
 is significant ; they bear witness to the zeal, literary 
 culture, and religious devotion of the post-exilic age. 
 
 The Hagiographa testify to a growing receptivity 
 of the Jewish mind, a capacity for assimilating ideas 
 derived from Persia or Greece, and for clothing old 
 faiths in new forms. They practically represent the 
 religious life of a people which had passed through 
 many chequered experiences. - They comprise the 
 products of religious reason exercising itself upon the 
 problems of life and of religious emotion striving to 
 find for itself adequate utterance. They embrace 
 books so opposite in character as Ecclesiastes, Esther, 
 Daniel, and the Psalms. Thus they embody diver- 
 gent phases and types of spiritual experience, and 
 give to the Old Testament a peculiarly representative 
 character, making it a book which reflects the needs, 
 perplexities, and aspirations of humanity at large. 
 
 As to the Psalms and Wisdom literature, it is suffi- 
 ciently obvious that they reflect much more than the 
 spirit of one particular age. They do indeed give 
 utterance to ideas and conceptions peculiarly Jewish : 
 the Psalms, for instance, display here and there the 
 characteristic temper of Judaism : its passionate sense 
 of national rectitude, its haunting consciousness of 
 uncleansed guilt, its rigid exclusiveness, its vehement 
 hatred of national foes. But, on the other hand, the 
 Psalms are the product of a spirit which has realized 
 the mystery and blessedness of communion with God ; 
 they give expression to its infinite yearnings, its awe, 
 its agonies, its desolation, its exultation. The Old 
 Testament Wisdom also, while it busies itself with the 
 problems of human life, or gathers up the lessons of 
 
330 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 age-long moral experience, displays to some extent 
 the limitations of Judaism. To the Jewish sage, 
 for instance, the existence of God is an axiom 
 which lies beyond the range of possible question. 
 But though Jewish thought always works with a 
 religious background, it deals with universal problems, 
 and those the most urgent — the anomalies of human 
 life, the purpose and meaning of pain, the mystery 
 of retribution. And if the Hebrew sages do not solve 
 the problems into which they inquire, it may at least 
 be claimed that they adequately state them ^ 
 
 Again, the sacred histories. Chronicles, Ezra, Nehe- 
 miah, Esther, and Ruth, are connected together by the 
 fact that they are ' studies ' of particular periods of 
 Jewish history, written from a particular point of view, 
 and dictated more or less by a didactic purpose.. The 
 first three books, which seem originally to have formed 
 together a single work and are closely connected in 
 style and method, reflect in a very instructive way the 
 general effect on thought and character of Judaism in 
 its earlier stages. Their point of view is purely 
 religious and particularistic : their aim is to illustrate 
 the blessings of faithfulness to the requirements of the 
 levitical code. The book of Nehemiah even displays 
 some traces of the growth of a doctrine of merit -, and 
 a consciousness of personal righteousness which 
 occasionally meets us in the Psalter also. The book 
 of Esther has been variously judged. Doubtless it 
 reflects the fierce passions awakened by the Maccabean 
 struggle, and so far, in the vindictive spirit which 
 characterizes it, the story serves the purpose of 
 practically illustrating a leading defect of the Old 
 Testament discipline. But though the inclusion of 
 Esther in the Canon was perhaps designed for instruc- 
 tion rather than spiritual edification, the book is by 
 no means altogether wanting in religious charac- 
 teristics ^ The LXX. translation seems to bring out 
 
 * Cp. Bruce, Apologetics^ p. 242. ^ Nehem. v. 1.9; xiii. 14, 22. 
 
 " Cp. Delitzsch, O. T. History 0/ Redemption, § 81. See Luther's verdict, 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 331 
 
 more clearly than the Hebrew the belief of the writer 
 in God's providential guidance ; and other lessons 
 may be derived from it : the ' deep sense of personal 
 vocation to do God's work, faith in self-sacrificing 
 intercession,' courage, patriotism, and a steadfast ad- 
 herence to the true faith even amid heathen surround- 
 ings, which the modern European in India, Africa, 
 or Japan might imitate with advantage \ There 
 is no difficulty in recognizing the canonical value 
 of the book of Ruth, which some would regard 
 as a polemical product of Ezra's reforms, marking 
 possibly a tendency to reaction against the puri- 
 tanical narrowness of the time ^. If this be a correct 
 account, the book of Ruth fulfils much the same 
 function as that of Jonah. It bears witness to the 
 universality of God's purpose of grace and to His 
 compassion for the heathen who lay beyond the pale 
 of the covenant. 
 
 Finally, the book of Daniel, apparently composed 
 as a manual of consolation for the confessors and 
 martyrs of the Maccabean period, is a specimen 
 of prophecy in its later apocalyptic form. With this 
 type of literature the modern western mind can only 
 imperfectly sympathize ; but the fact is undeniable 
 that apocalyptic writings exercised a very powerful 
 influence on Jewish thought during the last two 
 centuries before Christ ^ The book now in question 
 bears witness to the strong hold which Messianic 
 hopes had gained upon the imagination of the faith- 
 
 ap. Kohler, Uber Berechtigung der Kritik, &c., p. 31. Cornill's estimate of 
 the book is very severe, Einleitungin das A. T. p. 13S. Cp. "^\(t\xi\\o\A, Jesus 
 nnd das A. T. pp. 97, 98 ; Hunter, After the Exile, part i. pp. 237, 23S. 
 
 •^ See some suggestive notes of Professor Lock in Sanday, Bauipton 
 Lectures, pp. 222-223. Cp. Ryle, O. T. Canon^ p. 176. 
 
 " Cp. Hunter, op. cit. pp. 44 foil. 
 
 ^ Cp. Drummond, The Jewish Messiah, p. 8: 'The authors of the 
 various apocalyptic works . . . are not justly open to a suspicion of wilful 
 deceit. Our modern taste accords little welcome to this kind of literary 
 inventiveness, and our modern strictness may regard it as not altogether 
 permissible, but I see no reason why it may not have been practised by 
 high-minded and honourable men.' See also Kuenen, Religion of Lsrael^ 
 ch. X [Eng. Tr. vol. iii. p. 114]. 
 
332 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 ful ; it shows how effectively they sustained drooping 
 faith under the pressure of persecution. It also illus- 
 trates the characteristic religious practices of Judaism, 
 its fervour in prayer and fasting, and its growing 
 sense of the merit of almsgiving^ Moreover, the 
 book of Daniel indicates a certain advance in religious 
 thought, due probably in a measure to the contact of 
 Israel's religion with that of Persia 2. Again, it illus- 
 trates the remark of Darmesteter that to the Jewish 
 mind human life and the world's history were a drama. 
 The book is an attempt to grasp the history of the 
 world as a whole •\ It is dominated, not only by an 
 unshaken confidence in the ultimate triumph of truth, 
 but also by an overmastering sense of a universal divine 
 purpose which overrules all the vicissitudes of human 
 history, the rise and fall of dynasties, the conflicts of 
 nations, and the calamities that overtake the faithful. 
 
 Such is a general description, with one or two 
 •unimportant omissions, of the contents of the Haglo- 
 grapha. They display to us in very varied forms 
 the religious mind and character which the teach- 
 ing of the prophets and the discipline of the Law 
 had brought to maturity. But they also contribute 
 to the Old Testament an element of many-sided 
 sympathy which otherwise it might have lacked, since 
 some of the ' Writings ' reflect the experience derived 
 from contact with Gentile thought and life, while 
 others are the product of that habit of direct com- 
 munion with God by which man gains the power to 
 penetrate the hidden mysteries of the unseen world. 
 The Hagiographa, in a word, give a universal character 
 
 ^ Cp. Dan. iv. 27. Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, pp. 397, 401. On our 
 Lord's references to the book, see Valeton, Christ its tend das A. T. 
 pp. 49 foil. 
 
 ^ e. g. in the doctrine of angels, the clearer conception of Satan, and 
 possibly the idea of a resurrection of the body. Cp. Kuenen, Religion of 
 Isjael, ch. ix. The influence of Persia, however, on Jewish thought must 
 not be overrated. See Hunter, op. cit. part i. pp. 82, 83; Nicolas, Des 
 doclrines religieiises dcs Juifs, partie i. ch. 2. 
 
 ^ By Jerome, ad Paulimtm, 14, Daniel is described as 'temporum 
 conscius, et totius mundi (f)i\ia-TO}p.' Cp. Kuenen, o/>.- cit. ch. x, and 
 W'estcott in Smith's Dictionary of the Bilde, art. ' Daniel.' 
 
vn] THE OLD TESTAMENT 333 
 
 to the Bible. 'AH the sacred books,' says Origen, 
 'breathe the spirit of fullness, and there is nothing 
 in them which does not descend from the plenitude 
 of the divine majesty^' But these writings especially, 
 both in what they are and what they are not, seem to 
 testify to the presence and operation of the Spirit who 
 bloweth where He listeth, and from whom the secrets 
 of no human heart are hid. It is this remarkable 
 universality of scope w^hich differentiates the literature 
 of the Hebrews from that of other races. Granted 
 that the sacred books of India, Persia, or China dis- 
 play real traces of divine inspiration, or at least of 
 providential guidance, it nevertheless remains true 
 that the Bible alone has proved itself adequate to the 
 task of instructinof the ignorance, assuao;ino; the s^riefs, 
 and ministering to the perplexities, not of one race 
 merely, but of mankind. 
 
 In this lecture we are chiefly concerned with the 
 books of the Hagiographa as throwing light on the 
 divine purpose for the individual soul, thereby laying 
 the foundations of personal religion. It seems to be 
 specially their function to prepare the way for three 
 truths which in the New Testament are openly pro- 
 claimed : first, the doctrine of immortality ; secondly, 
 the mystery of divine providence ; thirdly, the fruit- 
 fulness of suffering. Christ Himself openly reveals 
 these truths, and in so doing He responds to the 
 most anxious questionings of the human heart. In 
 the Old Testament, however, we are dealing only 
 with the intuitions and presages of holy men, dimly 
 anticipating a future solution of their perplexities. 
 In their searchings of heart we are enabled to study 
 the spiritual needs which God's self-revelation in Christ 
 was designed to satisfy — needs the very consciousness 
 of which was inspired by Him. The function of the 
 Bible in the Church is not so much to originate faith 
 as to aid and educate it : and faith may be helped as 
 well by a sympathetic recognition of difficulties as by 
 
 ^ Horn, ill Jerevi. xxi. 2. 
 
334 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 the solution of them, by actual examples or life-like 
 pictures of faith perplexed not less than by instances 
 of faith triumphant and crowned. 
 
 I. 
 
 It is natural to deal first with the idea of a future 
 life — an idea which is by no means entirely wanting in 
 the theology of the Old Testament, but which neces- 
 sarily demanded a moral basis in the human mind. 
 There could be no doctrine of personal immortality 
 at a stage in civilization when as yet the sense of 
 individuality was undeveloped. Amid the conditions 
 of primitive society the individual as such was practi- 
 cally unrecognized. In religion, we are told, as well 
 as in civil affairs, * the habit of the old world was to 
 think much of the community and little of the indi- 
 vidual life. . . . The God was the God of the nation 
 "or tribe, and He knew and cared for the individual 
 only as a member of the community^.' The Old 
 Testament indeed represents the redemptive move- 
 ment as beginning with an individual man's venture 
 of faith, but it is with a family or tribe, in course of 
 time with an entire nation, that Almighty God estab- 
 lishes His covenant-relationship. We may indeed see 
 a rudimentary recognition of the individual in the 
 doctrine that Jehovah visits the sins of the fathers 
 upon the children unto the third and fourth genera- 
 tion of them that hate Him; this implies that the 
 welfare of a small group of persons within the nation 
 or tribe would depend on the conduct of a single 
 member of the group ^. But in the main it is 
 obviously true that the statics and duty of each indi- 
 vidual was determined by the character and calling 
 of the nation. Certainly the Israelite is enjoined 
 ever to bear in thankful remembrance the vocation 
 
 ^ Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites, pp. 241, 242; R. W. 
 Church, Discipline of the Christiajt Character, Serm. i. . 
 2 Cp. Riehm, A Tl. Theologie, p. 28. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 335 
 
 and the privileges of his peopled and there seems 
 to be^ in the pre-prophetic period at any rate, no 
 thought of the salvation of the individual apart from 
 that of the nation. From the Mosaic point of view 
 a man's position depended upon his relation to the 
 covenant people. He was accepted and recognized, 
 so to speak, by Jehovah only in so far as he could 
 claim lawful membership in the elect nation. It is 
 only when viewed collectively that Israel is honoured 
 with the title of Jehovah's son ^. The individual 
 Israelite had no right to appropriate personally either 
 the style or the privileges of sonship. He enjoyed 
 filial dignity only in virtue of his incorporation into the 
 community which collectively inherited the promises 
 vouchsafed to the patriarchs ^. An individual and 
 personal sonship scarcely makes its appearance within 
 the confines of the Old Testament. 
 
 The utmost that we can clearly discern in the 
 religious history of Israel is a gradual and progressive 
 moral discipline paving the way for a doctrine of 
 personal immortality and salvation, which without such 
 a preparatory education might have appeared incredible 
 and even unwelcome to human thought. Now we find 
 the moral groundwork of the doctrine of immortality, 
 the premisses as it were from which the conclusion 
 might have been drawn, and was in a measure actually 
 drawn, in two great verities — the one characteristic 
 of the age of Mosaism, the other of the troubled 
 period of Israel's later history : (i) the truth of man's 
 relation as an individual soul to God, (2) the truth 
 
 ^ Cp. Deut. iv, 7 ; vi. 7-9. Konig holds an opposite view to that stated 
 in the text, but his arguments fail to carry conviction. See his Religions 
 History of Israel, pp. 178 foil. ^ Exod. iv. 22. 
 
 2 Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 28: 'Die sittlich-religiose Bedeut- 
 ung der Personlichkeit ist noch nicht vollig erkannt. Gott steht im 
 Verhaltniss zu dem ganzen Volke, aber der einzelne nennt ihn nicht Vater. 
 Nur das Volk als solches ist erwahlt, und einzig als died desselben hat 
 der einzelne an dieser Erwahlung teil. Jede Storung des Gemeinschafts- 
 verhaltnisses zwischen Gott und Israel wird daher auch von ihm nicht 
 bloss schmerzlich, sondern auch als Storung seiner personlichen Bezieh- 
 ungen zu dem Hochsten empfunden.' See also Oehler, Theology of the 
 O. T. i. 259. 
 
336 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 of a fundamental moral order concealed beneath the 
 perplexing anomalies of the world. 
 To deal with these in order. 
 
 T. In the Law, even in its final shape, no doctrine 
 of the soul's existence after death is definitely taught. 
 What is characteristic of Mosaism is its deliberate 
 and entire exclusion of any distinct conception of 
 the state after death. Dr. Mozley points out how 
 favourably this absence of any clear conception con- 
 trasts with the false and unworthy notions which 
 we meet with in contemporary paganism. Mosaism 
 is on the whole marked by a chilling, negative idea 
 of death — an idea no doubt in many ways suitable 
 to a dispensation of which the aim and tendency 
 was to reveal the divine holiness and abhorrence of 
 sin. The word Shc'ol—th.Q. place of departed spirits — 
 1 is variously derived, but perhaps the best account 
 ' of the word is that it is connected with the verb by^ 
 • to be hollow : it would thus have the primary meaning 
 of 'hollow place' or 'pit.' It occurs even in the 
 earliest writers, and is very frequent in the Psalms 
 and Prophets, being often poetically personified ^ 
 The only definite statements as to their condition 
 are to the effect that the state of the departed is one 
 of utter privation of all or of most that belongs to 
 life ; in She'ol there is darkness instead of light, for- 
 getfulness and sleep instead of waking and conscious 
 thought ; there is neither hope nor joy, nor power of 
 praise, nor any longer the solace of communion with 
 God. To descend \\\to She'olis to go down into the 
 depths of the earth, to a place of corruption and of 
 the worm, to a horrible pit, to the dust of death'^. 
 But on the other hand, there is not supposed to be 
 any annihilation of personality in She'ol', the soul 
 exists in a state of consciousness ; the identity of 
 personal being continues. In Shc'ol the dead are 
 
 ^ Cp, Schultz, ii. 324. 
 
 ^ See Job x. 22; Eccl. ix. 5 foil.; Ps. xxii. 15; Ixxxviii. 12; cxv. 17; 
 Isa. xiv. 10, II. 
 
VII] THE OLD TESTAMENT 337 
 
 gathered without distinction, in tribes and famiHes ; 
 men are said to be gathered to their fathers not as 
 sharing necessarily a common tomb, but as having 
 a certain social existence even after death. To some 
 extent there is a reproduction in the place of the 
 departed of the circumstances and conditions of the 
 upper world : kings are thought of as sitting on 
 thrones ; the righteous rest in their beds. Such ideas 
 contradict the supposition that death to an ancient 
 Hebrew meant annihilation^ The dead were believed 
 still to exist, though their condition was shadowy and 
 phantom-like "-. Moreover, the practice of necromancy 
 implies a belief that the departed have a higher 
 measure of knowledge than the living, and are con- 
 sequently able to foretell future events ^. But the 
 prevalent view is that their condition is one of loss, 
 and of final withdrawal from all the activities, hopes 
 and rewards of life. In She'ol, according to the 
 Preacher, there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
 nor wisdom. There, forgetful and forgotten, the dead 
 lie like sheep, cut away from the hand of God^. It 
 is evident indeed, without further illustration, that 
 the ordinary Hebrew conception of the state of 
 death, which results from the discipline of the Law, 
 is based on the visible phenomena connected with 
 death. All the effects of dissolution, as they im- 
 pressed the imagination of the devout Israelite, are 
 of course undeniable, and are intended no doubt to 
 produce a certain impression on the human mind. 
 ' The order of nature,' says Dr. Mozley ^, ' is a melan- 
 choly revelation on the subject of death, placing one 
 sepulchral picture before our eyes of generation after 
 
 ^ See Isa. xiv. 9 ; Ivii. 2 ; l Sam. xxviii. 15 ; Ezek. xxxii. 21, 24. 
 
 ^ They are called D^NSI, 'weak' or 'pithless ones,' 'shades.' Cp. 
 the Homeric fl'SuXa Kn\i6vT<xiv. Job xxvi. 5 ; Isa. xxvi. 14, &c. See 
 Oehler, § 78 ; Renan, Histoire, &c., bk. i. ch. 9. 
 
 ** Cp. Riehm, AT/. Theologie, p. 190. The practice of necromancy is 
 forbidden in Lev. xix. 31 ; xx. 6, 27 ; Deut. xviii. ii. On the other hand, 
 Eccl. ix. 5, ' The dead know not anything,' &c. 
 
 * Eccl. ix. 10; Ps. xlix. 14; Ixxxviii. 5. 
 
 ** Essays, vol. ii. pp. 172 foil. 
 
 Z 
 
 y 
 
338 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 generation of men entirely disappearing, and being 
 heard of and seen no more. Now in the case of the 
 Jew the appeal of nature was as strong as it is now, 
 the opposing one of Scripture much weaker. The 
 consequence was that the order of nature, an order 
 intended to affect the mind in a particular way under 
 all dispensations — for God does not make even 
 appearances for nothing, but intends that joyful ones 
 should duly gladden and mournful ones duly depress 
 us — affected the Jew more strongly than it does the 
 Christian. As such was his lot, he bowed meekly 
 to it and received the whole of that melancholy 
 impress upon his passive soul.' The Old Testament 
 horizon, in point of fact, lies wholly on this side the 
 grave. A continued existence in his descendants — 
 this was the utmost that a pious Israelite could 
 reasonably hope for; the loss of life was in a sense 
 a ' withdrawal of the highest good ^' Consequently, 
 . even devout hearts look forward with dread and 
 unconcealed bitterness of spirit to the monotony and 
 dreariness of She'ol. The highest blessedness, the 
 supreme reward of covenant faithfulness, is long life 
 in the land which is God's gift to His people. 
 Nothing that death could give — rest from the storms 
 of life, and final deliverance from suffering, oppression 
 or contumely — seemed to be any compensation for 
 the total loss of the blessings of continued earthly 
 existence, to which the Jew clung with a pathetic 
 eagerness. 
 
 What then, it might be asked, did the Mosaic 
 dispensation contribute towards the idea of a future 
 life, of personal immortality for the individual ? The 
 answer Is — it impressed on the Israelite's mind the 
 truth of man's covenant-relationship to God, his 
 dignity as admitted to the life of fellowship with 
 
 ^ Stade ap. Schultz, ii. 327. Even after the exile, the pious Jew 'did 
 not as yet venture to express the hope of a life after death, of a resur- 
 rection of the body. The utmost he hoped for was a vieniorial in Jem- 
 salcni (Neh. ii. 20), a monument within its walls which was better than 
 sons and daughters (Isa. Ivi. 6j.' Hunter, op. cit. i. p. 83. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 339 
 
 God. . Man's personality was of permanent worth and 
 importance, inasmuch as he was created capable of 
 standing in an essential relation to the source of all 
 good and to the moral law as the reflection of God's 
 being. It is this side of the Mosaic teaching which is 
 developed in the Psalms. Meanwhile, we may notice 
 in passing that Jewish faith was not entirely unvisited 
 by anticipatory gleams of consolation and hope : to 
 sustain this faith there existed the tradition of Enoch, 
 who zvalked luith God, and he was not, for God took 
 him ; the narrative of Elijah's translation to the unseen 
 world in a chariot of fire ; and that of the return of 
 Samuel from the abode of the departed to prophesy 
 the doom of Saul ^. These are at least testimonies 
 to an anticipation which later reflection was destined 
 to render more explicit. Moreover, the Jew could 
 always find rest in his fundamental assurance that 
 a holy God existed — a truth which implied the reality 
 of an invisible world of which God was the centre. 
 Further, it was certain that Jehovah had willed to 
 make a covenant of grace with men, in order to bring 
 them into a living fellowship with Himself Jehovah 
 was the Almighty God of the patriarchs ; and herein 
 lay an implicit pledge — a latent prophecy — that He 
 would continue through and beyond death the exis- 
 tence of a creature to whom He had displayed such 
 condescending love. Our Lord seems to draw the 
 conclusion which the unbelief of the Sadducees 
 hesitated to deduce in His recorded answer to their 
 captious questioning : Noiv that the dead are raised, 
 even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the 
 Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
 the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, 
 but of the living ; for all live unto him'^. In the 
 belief of holy Israelites that God continued to stand 
 in an unbroken and eternal relationship of grace to 
 the forefathers of the nation, lay an implicit sense 
 
 ^ Gen. V. 24; 2 Kings ii. ll ; I Sam. xxviii. 11 foil. 
 2 Luke XX. 38. 
 
 Z 2 
 
34© PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 of the enduring dignity and preciousness of human 
 nature — a sense which formed a suitable foundation 
 for the idea of personal immortality \ Nor must 
 it be forgotten that the Law itself, in appealing sternly 
 to man's faculty of obedience, implicitly recognized 
 his worth as a being capable of response to moral 
 commands. Mosaism recognizes, so to speak, the 
 theomorphic structure of man ; it treats him as a 
 spiritual being ; it recognizes his moral freedom, his 
 capacity for perfection and for fellowship with God. 
 Indeed it might be maintained that upon this view 
 of human nature 'the whole religion of Israel, with 
 its idea of the kingdom of God, its worship and its 
 prophecy, is founded -.' 
 
 The Mosaic conception of human nature is inherited 
 and further developed by the prophets and psalmists. In 
 the writings of the prophets the individual relationship 
 of man to God is contemplated from the moral side. 
 -Thus Jeremiah and Ezekiel qualify the doctrine of 
 inherited guilt by insistence on the truth of individual 
 accountability. The former prophet in his vision of 
 the future new covenant includes the idea of personal 
 salvation : Ifi those days they shall say no moi^e, The 
 fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the childreii s teeth 
 are set oil edge. But eveiy one shall die for his ozvn 
 iniquity'^. And the thought is expanded in detail by 
 Ezekiel : The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son 
 shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall 
 the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness 
 of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of 
 the wicked shall be np07i him'^. (It may have been 
 Ezekiel's sense of the heavy personal responsibility 
 
 •^ Cp. Riehm, A Tl. Tlieologie, p. 192 : ' Lag in der Gewissheit, dass der 
 Fromme in der Gnadengemeinschaft mit dem ewigen Gott sterbe, der 
 triebkraftige Keim, aus welchem sich die Hoftnung des ewigen Lebens 
 entwickeln, und in jenem Glauben an Gottes Macht liber Tod und 
 Totenreich lag das Fundament auf welches der Auferstehungsglaube 
 gegriindet werden konnte.' 
 
 '^ Schultz, ii. 263. ^ Jer. xxxi. 29 foil. 
 
 * Ezek. xviii. 20. Cp. Kirkpatrick, The Doctrine ef the Prophets, 
 pp. 340 foil. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 341 
 
 involved In his own calling and mission that led him 
 to develope this line of thought.) It was the neces- 
 sary correction of a view of divine governance which, 
 though it seemed to be the logical outcome of the 
 Mosaic dispensation, had now done its work. Ezekiel, 
 dealing as a divinely appointed watchman or pastor 
 of souls with the despondency and apathy of the 
 exiles, found it necessary to proclaim a truth that 
 formed a new starting-point in the evolution of 
 religion ^. 
 
 Ihe psalmists occasionally betray their conscious- 
 ness of two opposite aspects of human life. Lord, 
 what is man, that thoit art mindful of him, and the 
 son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him 
 lower than the angels, to crown him with glory and 
 worship. Thou madest hijn to have dominion of the 
 works of thy hands, and thou hast put all things in 
 subjection under his feet"-. Of these two views, how- 
 ever, the more ideal one everywhere prevails, and 
 indeed gives its characteristic tone and colour to 
 the Psalter. Consequently, although w^e find in the 
 Psalms the same chilling and cheerless conception of 
 death which the discipline of the Law had fostered, 
 yet alongside of it we find a conviction, ever growing 
 in clearness and strength, of the subsistence of an 
 indestructible bond between the Hying God and the 
 creatures whom He has visited and redeemed. The 
 idea has been justly called ' a sentiment rather than 
 an article of faith ' ; yet it seems to be powerful 
 enough to resist successfully the impression made by 
 the exterior phenomena of death. Thus we have 
 such passages as Ps. xlix. 15, God will redeem my soul 
 from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me, 
 the verb used being the same which occurs in the 
 narrative of Enoch's translation (Gen. v, 24), He was 
 not, for God took — received — him. With this passage 
 we may compare the outburst of faith in Ps. xvii. 15, 
 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness ; 
 
 ' Cp. Ezek. xxxiii. 7, 10; xxxvii. 11. ^ Ps. viii. 4, 5. 
 
342 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 / shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. 
 And to these might be added the subhme verses 
 which close the seventy-third Psalm : Thou shall guide 
 me with thy counsel, and afterward receive vie to 
 glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there 
 is none tLpon earth that I desire beside thee. My 
 flesh and my heart fail eth, but God is the strength of 
 my heart, and my portion for ever. The devout Jew 
 was in fact able to feel secure even with the prospect 
 of dissolution before him, in the firm conviction of his 
 relationship to a perfectly holy and loving being. He 
 rested in the thoughts of peace which his religion sup- 
 plied, not inventing, as the heathen did, a definite 
 picture of the future state, but trusting calmly to omni- 
 potent goodness as the one constant and fixed reality 
 amid the decay and change of visible nature ^ He 
 was not blind to the positive lessons presented by the 
 daily spectacle of human mortality. He doubdess 
 learned to connect the mystery of death with the fact 
 of sin and of God's wrath, as the ninetieth Psalm 
 testifies ; and this consciousness of a close relation 
 subsisting between death and sin would certainly be 
 deepened by the ceremonial defilement which under 
 the Law was involved in any contact with death. 
 Nevertheless, the true Israelite could hold fast to 
 his trust in God^ ; he could submit to be gathered 
 to his fathers in peace, secure in the thought of that 
 personal relation to God which he had proved by the 
 experience of life to be a solace and a stay. For 
 the very call to communion with God of which he was 
 conscious would be to him a pledge of uninterrupted 
 life. The character of God — His covenant-faithful- 
 ness. His creative compassion for the souls which 
 He had made — could assure the righteous man of 
 protection. Death would be a supreme and trustful 
 self-surrender. Into the hands of God he would com- 
 
 ^ Cp. Mozley, Essays, ii. 173. 
 
 "^ See Job xix. 25 foil; Ps. xcii. 13 foil.; Prov. xi. 7; xiv. 32; xxiii. 18; 
 xxiv. 14 ; Isa. Ivii. 2. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 343 
 
 mend hrs spirit in confidence that a being whom God 
 had so highly favoured would not utteriy perish. The 
 hope of the devout Israelite might, in short, be ex- 
 pressed in the words of Augustine : Jiuige cor iuii7n 
 immortalitati Dei, et ctim illo aetermis eris \ Without 
 therefore laying too much stress on isolated passages, 
 or reading into them a- belief which was not yet 
 developed, there is ground for the statement that at 
 least the foundation was laid in the Mosaic system for 
 a doctrine of Immortality, since the Law presupposed 
 and inculcated the truth of man's dignity and worth as 
 a being called to communion with God and capable of 
 rendering moral obedience to His will. 
 
 2. The second main foundation on which the doc- 
 trine of a future life could be based is to be found In 
 the gradually awakened sense of the anomahes and 
 difficulties of God's moral government, and the apparent 
 uncertainties of divine retribution. 
 
 The Mosaic doctrine of retribution Is well repre- 
 sented In such a passage as Lev. xxvl, which em- 
 bodies the general doctrine of the Law that ultimately 
 man's earthly lot will correspond with his desert. It 
 Is one of the Incidental limitations of Mosaism that 
 It represents the present world as the only scene of 
 God's distributive justice. It almost Invariably connects 
 material prosperity with righteous, conduct and dis- 
 aster with wickedness. Certainly there are traces In 
 the Old Testament of somethinof much hioher than mere 
 eudaemonlsm. Earthly blessings are promised to the 
 righteous, but It is taught that they are to be prized 
 mainly as tokens or pledges of divine favour. The 
 psalmists and prophets rise to the thought that In 
 the presence of God is fullness of joy, that He Is the 
 hope of the soul, Its treasure and Its p07dioii in the 
 land of the living, its unfailing source of gladness, even 
 although the Jig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit 
 
 ^ Enarr. in Ps. xci. 8. Cp. Cheyne, Aids to the Devout Study of 
 Ciiticism, p. 159 : ' Living as he does by prayer, and with a sense of the 
 invisible things which grows every day in strength and purity, he cannot 
 imagine that his intimacy with God will come to an abrupt end.' 
 
344 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 de in the vines'^. And in general it seems to be true 
 that the Old Testament idea of 'life-' as the sum 
 of blessing points to something higher than material 
 prosperity, just as the narrative of Joseph sold by his 
 brethren, wrongfully accused and thrown into bondage 
 in Egypt, might suggest the possibility of suffering 
 befalling the innocent. But these are only dim antici- 
 pations of a deeper conception of retribution. The 
 simpler Mosaic doctrine was one with which Jewish 
 faith was evidently loath to part. It seems to underlie 
 the treatment of history in the books of Samuel and 
 Kings. In the books of Chronicles the belief appears 
 in an almost unqualified form — the writer's apparent 
 aim being to construct a theodicy^ rather than a 
 history, based on the principle that the temporal 
 happiness or misery of the nation was entirely deter- 
 mined by its attitude to the moral and ceremonial 
 injunctions of the levitical Law. But it is clear that 
 while this theory might be suitable to the phenomena 
 of a simple and comparatively stable condition of 
 society, it was liable to break down under the strain 
 and stress of troublous times ; it would not correspond 
 with men's experience of the actual and visible facts 
 of a highly-developed and corrupt civilization. In 
 such a state of things the invariable association of 
 righteousness with earthly prosperity was not found to 
 hold good. The afflictions of the godly were matters 
 of daily experience. A Josiah was slain in battle; 'a 
 Jeremiah was crushed beneath a thousand woes, and 
 sorrow-stricken psalmists prayed in vain to be delivered 
 from the injustice and oppression of the great. ... In 
 a word, evil appeared to come purely from a law 
 of nature, absolutely irrespective of moral order ^' 
 Now these unwelcome facts of human experience 
 
 ^ See Ps. xvi. 5 foil; cxlii. 5 ; Habak. iii. 17, 18. Cp. W. S. Bruce, 
 The Ethics of the O. T. pp. 21, 22. 
 
 - D'^TI Deut. XXX. 15 foil.; Prov. viii. 35; xii. 28, «S:c. Cp. Oehler, 
 §S9. 
 
 ' Cp. Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, p. 448. 
 
 * Schultz, ii. 209. 
 
vii] . THE OLD TESTAMENT 345 
 
 were met sometimes with a persistent denial, sometimes 
 with sorrowful expostulation and strenuous assertions 
 of innocence : for we must remember that the Law had 
 not only trained men to the belief that suffering is the 
 result of sin ; it had also produced the sense of guilt, 
 and its opposite the consciousness of innocence. This 
 latter spirit was characteristic of post-exilic Judaism. It 
 breathes in many of the Psalms ; and a main element in 
 Job's truthfulness and rectitude of character is his stead- 
 fast refusal to condemn himself ^ The same temper 
 finds utterance in the cries of expostulation with God on 
 the apparent injustice of His dealings, which we meet 
 with in Scripture — in the protests and appeals of such 
 typical passages as Psalm Ixxiii ; Jeremiah, chap, xii ; 
 or Habakkuk, chap. i. The fact is that an adequate 
 doctrine of future retribution was as yet lacking. The 
 righteous sufferer of the Old Testament was left to 
 hope against hope that what he had ever believed to 
 be a law of divine governance would yet somehow be 
 triumphantly vindicated. The same sense of injured 
 rectitude also contributes to the impatience and thirst 
 for vengeance which startles us in the imprecatory 
 passages of the Old Testament. Both alike — the 
 expostulations and the curses uttered by godly 
 Israelites — bear witness to the perception of a serious 
 moral difficulty, the attempted explanation of which 
 was to lead to more profound views of the future state, 
 as one in which the anomalies of the present would be 
 corrected. 
 
 So far as the Psalms deal with this problem, a solu- 
 tion seems to be implicitly contained in the idea 
 previously noticed, that namely of such a ' saving and 
 indissoluble union with God' as might adequately 
 compensate the righteous man for his undeserved 
 suffering and for the prosperity of the wicked. In 
 the Wisdom literature, however, we seem to be able to 
 trace a continuous and progressive effort to solve the 
 problem. Thus the book of Proverbs, reflecting the 
 
 * Job xxvii. 5. 
 
346 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 experience of a relatively simple state of society, 
 reproduces on the whole the g^eneral principles which 
 had been inculcated by the Mosaic discipline. The 
 authors of the Proverbs have a naive confidence in 
 their belief that sin and suffering, righteousness and 
 earthly prosperity, are causally connected. This 
 optimism, says Professor Cheyne, is 'just what we 
 might expect in a simple and stationary condition 
 of society. The strange thing is that it should have 
 lasted on when oppression from within or hostile 
 attacks from without brought manifold causes of 
 sorrow upon both bad and good. . . . There must 
 have been circles of Jewish moralists averse to specula- 
 tion who would continue to repeat the older view of 
 providential government even at a time when the 
 social state had completely exposed its shallowness ^.' 
 There are, however, hints here and there in the 
 Proverbs that suggest a more profound moral insight ; 
 in some passages, at least, there is a consciousness 
 expressed that suffering may fulfil a probationary and 
 disciplinary function even in the case of the righteous. 
 For instance, in Pro v. iii. ii, 12 we discover a view of 
 suffering different from that of the traditional theory: 
 Afy son, despise not tJie chas telling of the Loi^i, 7ieither 
 be weary of his correctiofi ; for who7ii the Lord loveth 
 he correcteth, even as a father the son in zuho7n he 
 deiio^hteth. 
 
 Then follows an * era of difficulties - ' — such a period 
 as included the decay and ruin of the Jewish monarchy, 
 the great cataclysm of the exile, and the difficulties 
 of life in Palestine after the restoration. The age of 
 Solomon appeared, in retrospect at least, as a golden 
 age : at any rate, it was believed to have been a period 
 of generally diffused prosperity. Probably there had 
 been in Solomon's reign a strong consciousness of 
 national unity, a fair administration of justice, and 
 
 ^ Job and Solomon, p. 122. 
 
 ^ See Dean Farrar's introduction to the Book of Wisdom in the 
 Speaker's Commentary. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 347 
 
 a sense of order, stability, and security in the conditions 
 of life." But towards the close of the monarchical period, 
 when pastoral habits had to a great extent disappeared 
 and given way to those of commerce and trade, in- 
 equalities of social condition became more apparent ; 
 the prosperity of wicked men was a patent fact, 
 and the social troubles of a decaying civilization 
 forced the question of retribution again into notice. 
 The miseries of life in Palestine during the time of 
 the Persian domination seem to be reflected in the 
 book of Ecclesiastes. The prevalent evils were 
 ' unrighteous judgment, despotic oppression, riotous 
 court-life, the raising of mean men to the highest 
 dignities, the inexorable severity of the law of military 
 service, the prudence required by the organized system 
 of espionage ^' But above all, the captivity itself was 
 the crowning example of the undeserved sufferings of 
 the righteous 2. The figure of the patriarch Job is, as 
 we have noticed elsewhere, a type of the righteous 
 servant of God overwhelmed by unmerited affliction, 
 and there is some reason to connect the composition 
 of the book with the period of the exiled It may be 
 intended to impress upon the godly in Israel a new 
 view of suffering as not merely penal but probationary 
 and disciplinary, testing fidelity and patience. It may 
 be remarked in passing that this was an idea which 
 we find already suggested in the book of Deuteronomy 
 and In some passages of the prophetic writings ^, and 
 that the author of Isaiah liil carries the thought further. 
 He points to the possibility of vicarious or substitu- 
 tionary suffering ; and the traits common to the sublime 
 figure of that chapter, and the representation of Job, 
 make it probable that the same idea is hinted at in the 
 
 ^ Delitzsch, quoted by Cheyne, Job and Solomon, p. 258. See Eccl. 
 iii. 16 ; iv, I ; V. 8; viii. 9 ; x. 16 foil. Possibly the book of Joel also 
 illustrates the condition of Palestine during the Persian period. Cp. Hunter, 
 op. cit. pp. 238 foil. ; Cornill, Einleitiing iji das A. T. § 28. 
 
 ' Cp. Habak. ii. ^ Cp. Driver, Inirodtection, &.C., p. 405. 
 
 * See Deut. viii. 2; Hos. ii. 8 foil.; Jer. xxxv. 13; Isa. xxvii. 8; 
 Ps. Ixvi. 10 foil. 
 
348 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 book of Job itself, which teaches that Job's sufferings 
 give him intercessory power \ The problem discussed 
 however remains, as Professor Cheyne observes, un- 
 solved in the book itself Indeed the older doctrine of 
 retribution is expressly confirmed by the issue, accord- 
 ing to which Job's fidelity is rewarded with an enlarged 
 measure of earthly blessedness. The net result of the 
 book then is the proved insufficiency of the traditional 
 opinion that all suffering can be accounted for by 
 personal sin. In chapters xiv-xix, however, we find 
 a further advance towards a solution of the difficulty, 
 in the hints there given of a supra-mundane justice 
 manifesting itself, if not in this life, then beyond its 
 boundary. It is difficult to determine exactly the 
 significance of the main passage (xix. 26, 27) that bears 
 upon the point in question ^, and it is manifest that the 
 suggestion is left undeveloped, whatever be its precise 
 import. Job himself falls back on the lower standpoint 
 .and presses for a solution of his unexplained sufferings 
 on this side of death. And the great lesson of the 
 book is that of patient waiting. 
 
 The book of Ecclesiastes, reflecting the sad expe- 
 rience of days when the bulk of the nation was in 
 danger of losing its higher hopes and sinking into 
 listless and sullen despondency, marks an ' era of 
 quiescence.' In the book of Job an appeal is made 
 to the divine omnipotence, the thought being that 
 supreme power implies a supreme righteousness in 
 which the pledge of a further revelation is involved. 
 But in Ecclesiastes the problem of retribution is 
 virtually abandoned as insoluble. The writer is led 
 through the many-sided experience of life, which for 
 him ends only in satiety and despair, to give up his 
 fruitless efforts to comprehend the principles of God's 
 moral government ^ He evidently realizes keenly the 
 
 ^ Job xlii. 8. 
 
 ^ See Riehm, ATL T/ieoIogie, pp. 360, 361. The idea of Job seems to 
 be that God as a Gael or Avenger of blood will some day stand over 
 his grave and vindicate his character. Cp. Schultz, ii. 329 foil. 
 
 ^ Renan, L Ecdesiaste, p. 40 : ' Cohelet a sa place definie dans cette 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 349 
 
 untenableness of the traditional view of retribution : 
 but he ultimately arrives at the negative conclusion 
 that trustful obedience, submission to God's known will 
 for man, and steadfast fulfilment of moral duty can 
 alone make life tolerable. There is, however, a sugges- 
 tion peculiar to the book : it ends with the presage of 
 a judgment, involving a new self-manifestation of God, 
 by which the riddle of the present world will be solved ^ 
 Moreover, it is noticeable that the writer of Ecclesiastes 
 still clings to that sense of personal relationship to 
 God which differentiates man from the brute ^, and 
 points to a possible continuation of existence after 
 death. 
 
 On the whole, then, the last word of the Old Testa- 
 ment is one of resignation not unhopeful. The 
 tendency was already manifesting itself to push the 
 solution of the moral problems of human life beyond 
 the limits of life itself, and to base the justifica- 
 tion of God's ways on eschatological doctrine ^ 
 It is true that in some passages of an apocalyptic 
 character we find a doctrine of resurrection, though 
 still confined within nationalistic limits. The idea of 
 a resurrection of Israel as a nation from its grave is 
 found in Hosea and in Ezekiel*. But the author of 
 Isaiah xxiv-xxvii foretells a divine victory over death 
 in the Messianic age, and the awakening to new life 
 of the godly members of the elect nation who have 
 perished. The purport of Daniel xii. 2 is similar. 
 
 histoire du long combat de la conscience juive contre I'iniquit^ du monde. 
 II represente une pause dans la lutte.' Cp. YMsntXi, Religion of Israel, 
 ch. X. 
 
 ^ Observe this is a point common to the Old and the New Testament. 
 Cp. Ritschl, UnterridU in der Christlicheti Religion, § 18, note d : 'Die 
 Uichter im A. T. sehen sich durchgehend in ihrer natiirlichen Ervvartung 
 getauscht dass es den Gerechten gut, den Gottlosen iibel ergehen mlisse. 
 Sie miissen sich begniigen, die Auf losung des umgekehrten Thatbestandes 
 fiir die Zukunft von Gott zu erbitten. Deshalb wird die Herstellung der 
 richtigen Ordnung auf die Erwartung des zukiinftigen Gerichtes Gottes 
 fixirt, sowohl im A. wie im N. T.' 
 
 "^ Eccl. iii. 21 ; xii. 7. 
 
 ^ Cp. Farrar, ubi supra, p. 417 ; Cheyne, Job and Solomon, p. 2or. 
 
 * Hos. vi. 2; xiii. 14; Ezek. xxxvii. Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, 
 p. 346. 
 
350 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lfct. 
 
 This passage does not imply a general resurrection 
 from the dead, but a rising- ao^ain of all Israel's 
 dead, good and bad alike, some to everlasting life, and 
 some to shame and everlasting contempt ^ The doctrine 
 of a general resurrection first makes its appearance in 
 some post-canonical literature, e. g. the Apocalypse of 
 Baruch, and the book of Enoch -. Only in the New 
 Testament is it proclaimed with such clearness that 
 St. Paul can declare that life and immortality have 
 been drought to light thi'ongh the gospel 2. 
 
 II. 
 
 A presage then, rather than any definite or clear 
 anticipation of a future life, was the outcome of the 
 long period of discipline which began with the legisla- 
 tion of Moses. But, at any rate, the foundation of 
 a true spiritual life was laid ; the soul of the godly 
 .Israelite learned to possess itself. Conscious of its 
 high calling, Hebrew faith strove to apprehend the 
 significance and privileges of that close relationship 
 with God to which it felt itself summoned. We see 
 the fruit of its endeavours in the book of Psalms. 
 
 We shall best understand the true function of this 
 book if we consider the real meanino- of relis^ion. 
 The question what in its essence religion is, is an old 
 one, and the history of human thought on the subject 
 is full of solemn pathos, mainly because it is the 
 story of fundamental and most disastrous miscon- 
 ceptions. There was, for instance, an age, and a condi- 
 tion of human speculation about God, when it could 
 be said in bitter earnest — 
 
 'Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorumV 
 
 And there are those even in the present day whose 
 confidence in their power to survey the whole field of 
 
 ^ Cp. 2 Mace. vii. 9; xii. 43; and see Nicolas, Des doctrines re- 
 ligieuses des Jutfs, partie ii. ch. 6. 
 
 ■^ See Apoc. 0/ Baruch, chh. xlix-li, with Mr. Charles' notes. Cp. the 
 same writer's edition of the Book of Enoch, p. 52. 
 
 ' 2 Tim. i. 10, * Lucr. de Rer. Nat. i. loi. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 351 
 
 human progress leads them to speak of Jesus Christ as 
 one whose intentions were good, yet who has done 
 infinite mischief to the world '. The imperfections and 
 inconsistencies of religious men, the disastrous mistakes 
 into which the Church has now and then been 
 betrayed by the folly and shortsightedness of her own 
 children, the divisions of Christendom — all these have 
 no doubt fatally wounded nascent faith, and retarded 
 the advance of the divine kingdom : they have pro- 
 duced either the impatience which betrays or the despair 
 which abandons the cause of God. And yet when we 
 endeavour to explain to ourselves that overwhelming 
 and heart-piercing fact of the general aversion from 
 religion which is so common in the present as in every 
 age we shall, I think, find that ultimately it is due to 
 a fundamental mistake as to the true meaning of 
 religion. The experience of saints recorded in Scrip- 
 ture shows that religion is, and from the first ever has 
 been, the life of friendship with God ; nothing can be 
 clearer than this conception as it is marked for us in 
 each stage in Israel's history ^. A friendship between 
 God and the soul of man — this is religion. So the 
 Old Testament tells us of Enoch, who walked with 
 God ; of Noah, to whom God revealed His secret 
 purpose of judgment ; of Abraham, who was called 
 the fi'iend of God; of Jacob, the_ object of divine 
 pity, protection and favour throughout the days, few 
 and evil, of his pilgrimage ; of Moses, with whom the 
 Lord spake face to face as a man spcakcth with his 
 friend; of Samuel, dedicated to the service of Jehovah 
 from his childhood ; of David, the recipient of awful 
 and momentous, yet most tender, promises. The 
 prophets too — they are fric7ids of God ^ : they repre- 
 
 ^ The remark is quoted, apparently with approval, by Darmesteter in 
 a review of Kenan's Histolre dupeuple crisrai'l (see Les Prophetes d' Israel, 
 p. 204). 
 
 ^ There is great truth in a striking remark of M. Renan : ' Le peuple 
 juif est k la fois le peuple le plus religieux et celui qui a eu la religion la 
 plus simple ' {L EccUsiasie, p. 28). 
 
 ^ Wisd. vii. 27. 
 
352 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 sent in their own persons the ideal calHng of every 
 individual Israelite : that life of holy intimacy, of 
 upward-looking faith, of unreserved self-surrender 
 which was really involved in the vocation of God's 
 chosen from the first. 
 
 But it is chiefly in the psalmists that we find typical 
 representatives of religion — of the life of love. The 
 element that is local, national, temporary in the Psalter 
 is comparatively insignificant. ' What gives the Psalms, 
 even more than the Prophets, their value as classical 
 devotional writings for all times and peoples, is just 
 the withdrawal and partly the total absence of the 
 national theocratic point of view. Cares about the 
 fates of peoples and the future ideals of universal 
 history lay far from the Psalm-poet of the Persian and 
 Greek age ; to him the place of the secular state was 
 taken by the religious community^,' The Psalms 
 describe the converse of the human soul with God — 
 the human soul in its solitariness, its frailty, its aspira- 
 tions, its yearnings for ideal truth, light, peace, love, 
 and joy. They bear witness, as no human literature 
 has ever done, to the elemental fact of life, that 
 
 ' God alone can satisfy whom God alone created.' 
 
 For to the psalmists God is all in all : the refuge in 
 any trouble, the rock which stands unshaken amid the 
 storms of human life, the supreme solace in loneliness, 
 the living object of the soul's thirst, its richest and 
 most precious portion and possession, the object of 
 its tenderest, most passionate and yet most restful 
 self-surrender, trust, and love. This is the blessed- 
 ness of the true Israelite's religion : his portion is 
 God, the living God^, more close, more dear, more 
 faithful than father or mother ^ bringing refreshment 
 as the true fountain of life, and gladness as the 
 source of all beauty and light. In the Psalms it is 
 
 * Pfleiderer, Gifford Lecttires, vol. ii. pp. 57 foil. 
 
 * Ps. xlii. 2. Cp. Ps. Ixxiii. 25 ; Lam. iii. 24. 
 ^ Ps. xxvii. 10. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 353 
 
 love which breathes, love which awakes and sings like 
 a bird in spring. The whole passion of the human 
 heart pours itself forth in that endless variety of 
 phrase in which it strives to realize what God is to the 
 soul. The psalmists look at all things with the eye of 
 love : at the past history of Israel, the vicissitudes 
 of the soul's life, the troubles of the righteous, the 
 ordinances of temple worship, the requirements of the 
 Law, the solitariness of exile, the mysteries of pain and 
 death. And here we touch on what is most fundamental 
 in human life : the soul's capacity for loving God 
 above all things, and resting in Him as a refuge and 
 home. It is surely for this reason that the Church of 
 God places the Psalter in the hands of her children : 
 she would train them to think the thoughts, to utter 
 the language, to experience the affections of love. 
 There can be no more eloquent testimony as to the 
 true meaning and power of religion ; there can be no 
 higher expression of its essential spirit than is con- 
 tained in the Psalms. Religion — the relationship of 
 love — is here described, is here describing itself, as 
 the supreme satisfaction of man's deepest and most 
 personal needs ; and the essential inter-dependence of 
 ethics and religion is implied in the soul's discovery 
 that the hiorhest orood is God, and that communion 
 with Him is the only blessedness. 
 
 Now the peculiar contribution of the Psalter to the 
 religious life seems to lie in its uniform recognition of 
 the truth of divine providence — of the personal care 
 of God for the soul — that mystery which (as was once 
 said by Dr. Newman in this place) might well * make us 
 laugh with perplexity and amazement/ O God, ihott 
 art my God: here is the keynote of the book. The 
 confession marks a wonderful advance in the story of 
 human faith. A devout Israelite did indeed recognize 
 the hand of God in nature and in history. He 
 watched with reverence and awe the operation of an 
 invincible and righteous will in the universe. He 
 acknowledged its supremacy : Whatsoever Jehovah 
 A a 
 
354 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the 
 sea, and in all deep places. It was He who bringeth 
 foj'-th the clouds from the ends of the world; He who 
 smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of Titan and beast \ 
 Jewish faith intuitively perceived that all things were 
 so guided and controlled as to serve the purposes and 
 promote the ends of a moral kingdom. The conception 
 of miracle was unclouded by any speculative difficulty, 
 for to the Jew the idea of the fixity of natural laws 
 was entirely subordinate to the sense of a righteous 
 will bearing all things onward in a divinely pre- 
 determined course. The self-revelation of God — this 
 was what gave to history its significance, to human 
 life its dignity, to nature its mysteriousness ^. But it 
 needed a certain development of subjective religion 
 to prepare the way for the belief which is reflected 
 in the Psalter — the belief in God not merely as the 
 awful ruler of the universe, but as the precious 
 possession of the soul. It is indeed, if we think of it, 
 a new spiritual discovery that underlies the habitual 
 language of the Psalms. That the Creator cares for 
 the single soul, that He answers prayer, that His 
 ear is open to the cry of spiritual desolation or need, 
 that He can dispose and overrule the hearts of men as 
 it pleases Him, that He watches and protects the 
 individual life, shields it from peril and provides for its 
 natural necessities, that His care extends even to the 
 beasts of the forest or of the field, and to the birds of 
 the air — this belief was new. In modern times it is 
 that which seems most to be threatened by the im- 
 mensities opened to us by science. Yet once realized 
 it is the very foundation-truth of religion. He that 
 Cometh to God, says an apostolic writer, mnst believe 
 that he is ^ ; and he surely who prays and longs to 
 love God, must believe that He hears, and cares for 
 
 ^ Ps. cxxxv. 6 foil. 
 
 ^ It is noticeable that the later Psalms are full of the thought of God's 
 immediate presence and handiwork in the ordinaiy processes and 
 incidents of nature. 
 
 2 Heb. xi. 6. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 355 
 
 the soul. The Psalms testify to the fact that the 
 Jew equally with the Christian, so far as each is 
 true to his faith, lives in the sense of divine provi- 
 dence \ It is a belief which must in any case 
 follow from any vivid realization by man of God's 
 personality, and of his own. The restoration in our 
 time of the lost sense of a Father's providence, which 
 watches and tends and guides the individual soul, 
 depends upon the measure in which the Christian 
 Church can bring home to men the truth of the divine 
 personality, and by its active ministries can re-awaken 
 the consciousness of a love which works behind the 
 veil, though obscured by the unlovely struggles, the 
 harsh competitions, the agonies, disasters, degradations, 
 and failures incidental to the march of civilization. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enlarge on this point ; but it is 
 worth while to notice that the general teaching of the 
 Psalms on this subject pervades other books of the 
 Hagiographa. In a sense the Psalter gives a character 
 to the entire division of the Hebrew Scriptures in 
 which it occupies the foremost place. Its importance 
 corresponds to its apparently accidental position, and 
 to the fact that the entire collection of Hagiographa 
 seems to be occasionally quoted by the title of llie 
 Psalms \ All the books may be said to be con- 
 nected by the common conception of religion as not 
 merely a covenant relationship between God and the 
 chosen people, but as a personal possession and stay 
 of the individual soul. The dramatic Song of Solomon, 
 in its primary acceptation, may be regarded as a divine 
 consecration of human love. Incidentally, in so far 
 as it makes for purity in the relation of the sexes, it 
 serves to emphasize an element in the religion of 
 Jehovah which sharply distinguished it from the nature- 
 worship of Canaan. But the usage of the New 
 Testament and the traditional practice of interpreters 
 
 * Consider Ps. xxxiii. 13-15. See generally Vv' oiW, Le Judais7ne, ses 
 digmes et sa mission^ troisieme partie, chh. i, 2. 
 ^ Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
 A a 2 
 
356 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 warrant us In regarding the Song as a description of 
 the mystical relationship between God and the indi- 
 vidual soul. Hengstenberg has pointed out that 
 the New Testament is pervaded by references to the 
 Song of Songs, and all of them are based on the 
 supposition that it is to be interpreted spiritually. 
 ' Proportionately,' he says, ' no book of the Old 
 Testament is so frequently referred to implicitly or 
 explicitly in the New Testament as this one \' The 
 song is in fact an idealized representation of that 
 relationship of love between the soul and God which 
 in the New Testament is so often described under 
 the metaphor of a bridal -, The power of using 
 the book with spiritual profit is a great test both 
 of proficiency in the spiritual life, and of purity of 
 heart ; and its general significance seems to be inde- 
 pendent of difficulties in regard to its arrangement and 
 exposition. When we consider its place in the Hebrew 
 • Scriptures, and the close connexion of some of its 
 language with that of the Psalms, we shall feel that 
 the allegorical method of interpretation which prevailed 
 both among the Jews and the Christian Fathers, 
 though it has been modified in detail by a critical 
 investigation of the book, is yet in the main a true 
 mode of dealing with it. In any case its ethical value 
 has been vindicated; but we may also truthfully 
 recognize in it a spiritual and mystical purport ^. 
 
 Something of the same personal character seems to 
 distinguish the historical books of the Haglographa. 
 The book of Ruth and the book of Esther seem to 
 describe in conspicuous instances the way in which 
 the providence of God works through individuals and 
 guides their fortunes. The book of Ruth is not 
 only of historical Importance as recording the ancestry 
 of Israel's first klngf. It also bears witness to the 
 
 ^ See passages collected in Coimn. on Eccles., Szc, pp. 297-303. 
 "^ e.g. John iii. 29; Eph. v. 27 ; Apoc. iii. 20; xix. 7 foil. 
 * Cp. Keil, Ititroduction to the O. T. vol. i. p. 506; Y)x\\g.x, Introduction, 
 &.C., pp. 423, 424; A. Reville, T/ie Song 0/ Songs (Eng.'Tr.). 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 357 
 
 reality -of a divine love which welcomes, accepts, and 
 crowns with a fitting reward, humble and trustful 
 obedience to the laws of natural affection. It 
 describes the fulfilment beyond expectation of the 
 blessing pronounced by Boaz, The Lord recompense 
 thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord 
 God of Lsrael, binder whose wings thou art come to 
 tj'iLst \ The book of Esther shows us the providence 
 of God acting with the same individual and dis- 
 criminating tenderness, but on a grander stage. In 
 Ruth, God's guidance of the soul is illustrated; in 
 Esther, His providence overruling the destinies of 
 His Church. There are of course defective moral 
 elements in the book which lie upon the surface ; but 
 its deeper teaching is not prejudiced by these 2. 
 Again, the historical portions of the book of Daniel 
 seem designed to illustrate God's willingness to mani- 
 fest Himself even to the heathen, and the reality 
 of His lordship and sovereignty in the kingdom of 
 men ^ Once more, in the large historical work which 
 comprises the books of Chronicles and their sequel 
 Ezra and Nehemiah, it would be a mistake to assume 
 that the historical interest is uppermost. In Chronicles 
 the aim is very clearly moral and didactic. We may 
 question the accuracy of the Chronicler's retrospect 
 of Israel's history, but we must acknowledge the 
 general truth of the lesson which he aimed at enforc- 
 ing, namely, the reality of God's disciplinary dealings 
 with His people. A leading feature indeed of the 
 book seems to be the tendency to refer all effects to 
 the direct causation of God — to bring out vividly and 
 directly the reality of God's moral governance in 
 
 ^ Ruth ii. 12. 
 
 2 Dalman, Das A. T. eiii Wort Go/ies, p. 13, remarks: 'Steht das 
 Esterbuch im losesten Zusammenhang mit dem Zweck der Sammlung, 
 nicht well von Rache darin die Rede ist, . . . auch nicht, weil der 
 Gottesname darin fehlt, . . . sondern weil das Purimfest, welches es 
 motivieren will, kein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Gottesdienstes des 
 nachexilischen Israel der vormakkabaischen Zeit war, wie es ja auch 
 niemals in das Tempelritual Eingang gefunden hat.' 
 
 ^ Cp. Dan. iv. 17, 25, 32. 
 
358 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 history, especially in that of the Hebrew nation. It 
 need not be a stumbling-block to us that the writer 
 ' consciously or unconsciously shapes the facts to suit 
 the theory' if the theory be in itself plainly true, 
 though we may think that it is somewhat artificially 
 conceived and illustrated. An essential element in 
 true religion is the conviction that God's will is in 
 very truth the supreme force, the one ever-present 
 cause in history and human life, working indeed 
 on lines less simple than the Chronicler perhaps 
 imagined, but still acting ceaselessly in judgment, in 
 retribution, in far-seeing providence, in the overruling 
 of evil for purposes of universal good. The books of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah are also plainly more or less sub- 
 jective in character. In these the personality of two 
 conspicuous men is very prominent ; but in both cases 
 the thought of a providential mission underlies their 
 recorded experiences ; the moral value of such a sense 
 of mission . and its effect on conduct and character 
 could hardly be more plainly exhibited. The two 
 pictures together present us with two types of indi- 
 vidual devotion, inspired by a consciousness of divine 
 guidance, and of a task providentially imposed. It 
 was the work of Ezra and Nehemiah to establish and 
 organize a Church, on such principles as would guard 
 Israel's distinctness from the heathen world and pre- 
 serve its national unity. In the broad fact that these 
 books describe the reorganization of the temple 
 worship and the endeavour of the Jewish leaders to 
 secure a more general faithfulness to the conditions of 
 the divine covenant, we are to discern the element 
 which gives them a place in the Hagiographa. The 
 instruments whom God raised up to carry His purpose 
 to fulfilment were men who were themselves penetrated 
 by the thought of the blessedness of covenant fellow- 
 ship with God. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 359 
 
 III. 
 
 There is a third element in the life of personal 
 religion which the Old Testament Hagiographa bring 
 into prominence : namely, the sense of the fruitfulness 
 and blessedness of suffering. This theme, treated 
 under various aspects, is especially characteristic of the 
 Wisdom literature — the books of Proverbs, Job, and 
 Ecclesiastes. 
 
 The Importance of these writings is due to various 
 causes, but the most obvious and striking feature in them 
 is the spirit of universalism. They are the products in 
 large measure of the contact between Judaism and 
 heathen, especially Hellenic, thought ; and they have 
 an enduring: interest as forminor a link of connexion 
 between Judaism and the philosophy of other nations. 
 In its exile and dispersion Israel became conscious 
 of its missionary function in the world, but it probably 
 also began to realize the religious capacities of alien 
 races and to take wider views of the divine govern- 
 ment \ And so far as the Wisdom literature reflects 
 the spiritual experience which Israel had thus acquired, 
 it marks a stage in the advance of Judaism from being 
 a national faith to being a world-religion. What is it 
 then that gives to the Wisdom of the Hebrews its 
 universalistic character ? 
 
 First, no doubt, we should place the very con- 
 ception of divine Wisdom. It was a conception by 
 which Hebrew thought bridged over the gulf between 
 God and the created universe ; and what was primarily 
 regarded as an attribute of God became poetically 
 personified as an objective power working in the 
 universe, at once reflecting and executing the creative 
 thoughts and purposes of the Most High. Wisdom 
 thus personified has been admirably described as 
 constituting ' a middle term ' between the religion 
 of Israel and the philosophy of Greece. The Jewish 
 
 ^ See some interesting remarks on this point in Stanton, The Jewish 
 and the Christian Messiah, p. 105. 
 
360 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 use of the word was calculated to suggest that ' the 
 life of righteousness might be identified with the life 
 of true wisdom.' 
 
 Secondly, we notice in the Wisdom literature a ten- 
 dency towards the systematic study of ethics. It is 
 the nearest approach to philosophy exhibited by the 
 Hebrew mind. It starts indeed with religious presup- 
 positions : it bases the theory of life on a high and pure 
 conception of God ; it approaches problems from the 
 standpoint of Hebrew religion ^ But there is a certain 
 absence of religious warmth and a certain freedom 
 of treatment which are not distinctively Hebraic. The 
 book of Proverbs, for example, treats the subject 
 of ethics as resting on an independent ground of 
 reason, common sense, and experience, apart from 
 the teaching of revelation. It shows that the Jewish 
 thinker learned, through his contact with the wise and 
 cultured of other nations, that there was a common 
 ground on which he might stand side by side with 
 them ; while, conversely, in the sacred books of Israel, 
 a Greek would find shrewd and homely practical 
 teaching on the subjects of life and duty, virtue and 
 vice, wisdom and folly, which would be analogous to 
 that which was traditional among men of his own 
 race 2. Indeed, in translating the book of Proverbs 
 the compilers of the Septuagint version would find 
 themselves compelled to borrow equivalent terms 
 from Greek ethics. The book is, in short, a mono- 
 theistic treatise on practical ethics, its distinctive 
 feature being the idea of wisdom as something 
 transcendental, as a gift from God, manifested in a 
 supreme degree in Israel's Law, and attainable by 
 man only on condition of reverence and submission 
 to the revealed will of God. It is true that Ecclesiastes 
 shows little trace of religious ideas. On the contrary, the 
 writer seems to have lost his interest in religion ; it may 
 be he had been repelled and alienated by the exces- 
 
 * Cp. Schultz, ii. 83, 84, 
 
 ^ Cp. Prov. viii and ix with Xenophon, Memorabilia, ii. i. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 361 
 
 sive systematization of religion in the temple ctiltus, 
 or possibly his contact with Hellenism had raised in 
 his mind misgivings and questionings which his tra- 
 ditional belief failed to allay or answer. Nevertheless, 
 if the book is to be treated as a unity, it must be 
 said to end with a religious solution of the problem 
 of human life. Its notion of duty is the fear of God 
 and obedience to a will supposed to be known. So 
 far the book recognizes a special divine revelation 
 vouchsafed to Israel. 
 
 But the most striking proof of the universalist 
 standpoint of the Wisdom literature is to be found 
 in the nature of the problems discussed in it : the 
 worth of life, the reality of God's providential govern- 
 ment, above all the meaning and purpose of suffering. 
 Hence is derived a certain catholicity of tone in these 
 books which has often attracted attention. Thomas 
 Carlyle speaks of the book of Job as 'a noble book — 
 all men's book,' and Professor Froude comments on 
 its remarkable freedom from nationalistic elements. 
 'The life, the manners, the customs,' he observes, 'are 
 of all varieties and places. Egypt with its river and 
 its pyramids is there ; the description of mining points 
 to Phoenicia ; the settled life in cities, the nomad 
 Arabs, the wandering caravans, the heat of the tropics 
 and the ice of the north — all are foreign to Canaan, 
 speaking of foreign things and foreign people ... as 
 if in the very form of the poem to teach us that it 
 is no story of a single thing which happened once, 
 but that it belongs to humanity itself and is the 
 drama of the trial of man \' 
 
 There is no doubt a national reference in the 
 narrative of Job. The book contained teaching 
 
 ^ Short Studies, &c., vol. i. pp. 296, 297. In view of the freedom of the 
 book of Job from specially Hebrew characteristics, and specially the fact 
 that it illustrates the action of divine grace outside the pale of the covenant 
 people, Bishop Wordsworth observes that 'The reception of the book into 
 the Hebrew canon was a generous and large-hearted act of genuine 
 sympathy and comprehensive liberality and love. It was like a kiss of 
 peace given by Israel to its brother the Gentile world' {Commetitary on 
 the Bible, Introd. to the Book of Job, p. vi). 
 
362 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 peculiarly adapted for Israel during the period of its 
 humiliation and suffering in a strange land. It may 
 be regarded as 'a new reading' of Hebrew history. 
 For the hero seems both in his circumstances and 
 in the tone of his thought to represent the afflicted 
 remnant of Israel, which appears to have had a 
 history marked by severe trials, borne with great 
 constancy of faith ; and some have supposed that 
 Job's wife, who appears as a temptress endeavouring 
 to seduce Job from his allegiance to God, represents 
 the multitude of Jews who apostatized or lapsed into 
 indifference under the stress of trial and persecution. 
 In any case there is a certain idealistic character in 
 the sufferings that fall upon Job, which cannot fail 
 to sugrorest a connexion between them and the 
 calamities threatened in the book of Deuteronony in 
 the event of Israel's disobedience to the divine 
 warnings ^ ; moreover, as has already been pointed 
 •out, the figure of Job corresponds with the ideal 
 sufferer of Isaiah Hi and liii. Accordingly we may 
 discern in the epilogue of the book a word of con- 
 solation for the true Israel : a promise of glorification 
 after suffering patiently endured^. The writer very 
 probably intended his fellow- Israelites to see in Job's 
 history a representation of their own misfortunes, and 
 to trace in the issue of them a forecast of their own 
 future restoration. We may also discern a corrective 
 intention in the book of Job. The form of the 
 picture was probably designed to act as an antidote 
 to the temper of self-righteousness, and to expose 
 the deficiencies of the current notion of retribution. 
 But it is in its contribution to the Messianic idea 
 that the special importance of the book seems to 
 lie. In one of his essays Dr. Mozley has pointed 
 out that the book of Job virtually stands in an 
 ' interpretative ' relation to the general body of 
 
 ^ Cp. Deut. xxviii. 27, 35 with Job ii. 7. 
 
 '^ Isa. Ixi. 7 speaks of Israel as receiving double; cp. Job xlii. 12. See 
 also Isa, liv. i ; Ix. 7 ; and cp. Job xlii. 10 with Ezek. xxxvi. 10 foil. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 363 
 
 Messianic prophecy. If the Jew with his growing 
 expectation of a brilliant, prosperous, and victorious 
 Messiah was ever to accept a Messiah who should 
 lead a life of sorrow and abasement, and ultimately 
 be crucified between two thieves, 'it was necessary 
 that he should be somewhere taught that virtue was 
 not always rewarded here, and that therefore no argu- 
 ment could be drawn from affliction and ignominy 
 against the person who suffered it.' This function 
 is evidently fulfilled not only by isolated passages 
 in prophecy, but by an entire book in which the 
 esson is enforced, the book of Job\ To those who 
 ike Job's three friends pertinaciously insisted on an 
 invariable connexion between suffering and sin, the 
 cross could not fail to be a stumblingf-block ^. 
 
 But apart from all reference to the particular 
 circumstances of Israel, the book of Job has a catholic 
 aspect and function, in that it discusses a problem 
 which in one form or another is the problem of the 
 universe — the mystery of pain. The Hebrew ten- 
 dency to individualize Israel's national experience, so 
 familiar a phenomenon in many of the Psalms as 
 well as in Job, falls in with the entire movement 
 of man's moral education as described in the Old 
 Testament. The sorrows of the nation led to deeper 
 reflection on the function of pain -in the life of the 
 individual. Suffering was gradually recognized as 
 a necessary element in the evolution of higher life. 
 What the Christian learns from the example of his 
 Saviour, the devout Jew was taught to discover in 
 the collective experience of his people. It was a diffi- 
 cult lesson. ' It came into collision,' says Schultz, 
 * with everything which a superficial faith was wont 
 to regard as most certain. When Israel was first 
 brought face to face with the idea that suffering might 
 fall upon a saint without being deserved as a punish- 
 ment, it was only after a hard struggle, and many 
 
 ^ See Mozley, Essays, vol. ii. pp. 227 foil. 
 ^ Cp. Luke xiii. 2 ; John ix. 2, 34. 
 
364 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 a bitter trial that it succeeded in making- this thought 
 its own^' The book of Job bears witness to the 
 truth of this remark ; and it might be added that 
 an historical example of the agony which accompanied 
 the gradual dissolution of the traditional idea of suffer- 
 ing is to be found in the experience of Jeremiah. 
 Almost startling is the expostulation of the afflicted 
 prophet : / sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor 
 rejoiced ; I sat alone becaiLse of thy hand, for thou 
 hast filled me with indignation. Why is my pain per- 
 petual, and my wonnd incurable, which refuseth to be 
 healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and 
 as waters that fail '^f It was only by a discipline 
 which involved the righteous in the calamities brought 
 upon themselves by sinners that a new conception of 
 suffering could be awakened. It had to be recognized 
 that pain might have an educational function in the 
 personal life of the soul : that it was the necessary 
 condition of spiritual power, that it equipped men for 
 the task of raising, blessing, and saving their fellows, 
 that it imparted new gifts of character, and heightened 
 the faculty of moral intuition, that it was in short 
 a necessary element in the personal religious life. 
 
 It is not fanciful to discern a somewhat similar line 
 of teaching in the book of Ecclesiastes. Into its origin 
 and character it is needless to enter particularly. It 
 is certain, however, that it belongs to a time when 
 Hellenistic influences had deeply penetrated the 
 higher thought of Israel ^ It is also generally agreed 
 that the book is in some sense an autobiography — 
 perhaps a record of the conflicting moods and ex- 
 periences of a child of Israel who had travelled far 
 and observed much, had perhaps utterly lost and then 
 painfully recovered, at least in a rudimentary form, 
 the faith of his childhood. A more detailed examina- 
 tion of this book seems likely at the present time to 
 
 * Old Testament Theology, vol. i. p. 319. ^ Jer. xv. 17, 18. 
 
 ' The date of the book seems to be not much earlier' than 200 B.C. 
 See Cornill, Einleitutig in das A. T. p. 252. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 365 
 
 be fruitful. In the past it has certainly provoked 
 curiously different estimates. Luther, for instance, 
 calls it 'a noble book which it were well worth while 
 for all men to read with great carefulness every day.' 
 On the other hand, a modern German critic declares 
 that ' the end of all the preacher's admonitions is 
 recommending ease and enjoyment of life.' And 
 while Cornill compares the writer to Thersites, and 
 another critic describes the book as ' the work of 
 a morose Hebrew philosopher, composed when he was 
 in a dismal mood and in places thoroughly tedious,' 
 M. Renan has described it as * livre charmant ! le seul 
 livre aimable qui ait ete compose par un juif^' 
 Perhaps the more common impression formed of 
 Ecclesiastes is that expressed by von Hartmann. The 
 book, he says, is ' the breviary of the most modern 
 materialism.' 
 
 Now considering the probable date of its composi- 
 tion and the place which it holds in the canon, we are 
 probably right in considering that the main lesson of 
 the book relates to the mystery of pain. But first we 
 should notice the fact that it has a place in the litera- 
 ture of Israel because it has a theological or redemptive 
 significance. 
 
 It is not inaccurate to describe the book of 
 Ecclesiastes as a divine comment on the life and 
 thought of the Gentile world. Consider St. Paul's 
 description of that world as it lay open to his 
 experienced and penetrating gaze. Its leading cha- 
 racteristic was vanity, aimlessness, — a life in which 
 no faculty was directed aright, in which all labour 
 seemed profitless and mean, all unselfish effort value- 
 less, all worship emptied of satisfaction or hope. The 
 Gentiles walked in the vanity of their mijid^; and 
 St, Paul bids his Ephesian converts remember what 
 and where they had been : Gentiles in the flesh, with- 
 
 ^ V Antichrist, p. loi Cquoted by Cheyne, Job and Solomon, p. 242). 
 Cp. the same writer's U Ecclesiaste, p. 24. 
 2 Eph. iv. 17. Cp. Rom, i. 21. 
 
366 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 out Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, 
 and strangers from the covenants of promise, having 
 no hope, and without God in the world^. These last 
 words, kXniSa fir] €^ovt€9 Kal d$eoL kv T<p koct/ko^ concentrate 
 in a single phrase the sum of human misery, yet how 
 appropriately they would form the motto of Eccle- 
 siastes. From this point of view the interest of the 
 book Is almost unique. It stands on a level with the 
 prophetic narrative of Jonah, and fulfils, if we may so 
 speak, an equally indispensable function in the litera- 
 ture of revelation. In this book a pagan worldling, 
 sated, despairing, and weary of life, would find him- 
 self not merely described but understood : he would 
 find his own hatred of life ^ his alienation from God, 
 his cynical despondency expressed and Interpreted. 
 Thus the presence of the book In the canon may be 
 regarded as a token to the Jew that the Gentiles, 
 wandering in vanity and moral darkness and seeming 
 •to be beyond the pale of divine care and covenant 
 grace, were after all not forgotten, not altogether 
 abandoned. The book Is a pledge of coming good 
 even for them, and this not only because It describes 
 so truthfully the conflict of passionate moods that 
 might distract the undisciplined Gentile heart, but also 
 because it recognizes the fundamentals of natural 
 religion to which such a heart might half uncon- 
 sciously still adhere. It speaks of God, the God 
 of Israel's faith, only by titles which the heathen 
 would acknowledge, avoiding the sacred name as was 
 customary In the later period of Judaism, and describ- 
 ing the deity only as ' Creator' and ' Judge.' And In 
 the key-word of the book,^ // is vanity, the writer seems 
 to cast up the sum-total of man's life and labours apart 
 from God ; nay, he expresses the condition of the 
 whole visible creation in Its state of alienation from 
 
 "^ Eph. ii. II, 12. 
 
 2 Eccl. ii. 17, ' I hated life.' Renan, LEcdesiaste, p. 90: 'Le pessi- 
 misme de nos jours y trouve sa plus fine expression.' On the relation of 
 the book to moderfi pessimism see Wright, Ihe Book of Kpheleth (Donnel- 
 lan Lectures), ch. vi. 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 367 
 
 its Maker ; he describes the inherent emptiness and 
 nothingness of all that has not God for its end and 
 object ^ Solomon, in whose person the author 
 describes his own experiences, is taken as the type 
 of universal wisdom, which had put to the test all 
 that life had to offer of temporal good — pleasure, 
 wealth, power, knowledge — and had found a resting- 
 place for heart and mind nowhere but in God. But 
 though ascribed to the Hebrew monarch, the book 
 reflects the condition of a paganism that is practically 
 bankrupt ^. 
 
 But it is in relation to the problem of suffering 
 that Ecclesiastes marks a moment in the education 
 of humanity. It deals with pain, first, as a difficulty 
 to be discussed on the basis of traditional ideas; 
 secondly, as a disease to be ministered to, and if 
 possible healed. For the pain which it contemplates 
 is not merely that which affects bodily life and well- 
 being, but that which arises from contemplation of 
 the anomalies of the world in its totality. The book 
 reflects a spirit of far-reaching scepticism which calls 
 in question not merely the dealings of God with 
 the righteous, but the very existence of any provi- 
 dential plan or government in the universe at all. 
 Consequently, Ecclesiastes may be said to have a 
 twofold aim : philosophic and didactic. First, it con- 
 tributes something to the philosophical or moral 
 problem of retribution already noticed. We have 
 already observed that its standpoint is that of quies- 
 cence. It practically renounces the fruitless effort 
 to comprehend the mystery of God's dealings with 
 
 ' Cp. Rom. viii. 20 ; and see Greg. Nyss. Horn. i. in Ecd. naTau'iTrjs 
 iaTiv i) pr]^a abiavurjrov fj irpayyui dvuvrjTov rj f:iovKt) awTTucTTaTus tj anovSr} 
 vepas nvK exovaa fj KudoXov to enl nai/Ti XvcriTfXovvTi dvvmipKTov. Cp. Hugo 
 de S. Vict., HoDi: in Ecd. i. 
 
 2 Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 33, says: *Das Heidentum als solches, 
 das sich durch die Tiiibung jenes Gottesbewusstseins durch das Welt- 
 bewusstsein charakterisiert, kann sonst nur negativ auf das Christentum 
 vorbereiten, sofern es mit sich selbst im Widerspruch steht und das 
 religiose Bediirfniss des menschlichen Herzens unbefriedigt lasst und 
 darum mit Bankerott endet.' 
 
368 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 men, in view of the fragmentarlness of human know- 
 ledge. This, as Cornill remarks, is a signal triumph 
 of Old Testament piety. The writer of Ecclesiastes, 
 he says, is so penetrated and dominated by the spirit 
 of Hebrew religion that he escapes the apparently 
 inevitable conclusion of his reasoning, viz. that the 
 world is subject to a blind and relentless Fate, and 
 falls back upon the belief in a personal God in whose 
 light the human race will see lights Besides the 
 voice of pessimism, or 'malism' as Professor Cheyne 
 prefers to calls it ^, we discern tones in the book which 
 contain ' the germ of a higher optimism ' ; for it ends 
 with the prediction of a judgment to come — a judg- 
 ment which will solve the perplexities of the present, 
 and which because it is personal and particular, will 
 be relative to the opportunities of individuals, and 
 will involve the manifestation of every secret thing 
 in its true character. 
 
 • Again, the book of Ecclesiastes has a didactic import. 
 Just as it seems to indicate the care and compassion 
 of God for the seemingly unregarded millions of 
 heathendom, so it is a welcome token of divine 
 sympathy with the mental perplexities and spiritual 
 sorrows of individual men. From this standpoint 
 we can even ascribe to the book an evangelical 
 function. It is an instance of the simple law that 
 in order to minister effectually to perplexity, we 
 must show that we understand it. Here, as occa- 
 sionally in the Psalter and in the book of Job, Scripture 
 addresses itself to an abnormal mood — perhaps the 
 very darkest which the human soul is capable of 
 entertaining ; in order to give a proof of its complete 
 power of understanding and even sympathizing in 
 some degree with every phase in the life of the human 
 spirit ^ But Scripture only depicts the dark mood 
 
 ^ Einleitn7t^, p. 251. "^ Job and Solomon, p. 20. 
 
 ^ So Augustine says of Ps. xciv that it speaks comfortably to the 
 perplexed soul, Enarr. in Psalm, xciii. 9 : ' Compatitur tibi et Psalmus, 
 quaerit tecum, non quia nescit, sed ideo tecum quaerit qupd scit, ut in illo 
 invenias quod nesciebas. Quomodo qui vult aliquem consolari, nisi 
 
vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 369 
 
 in order that the soul may be educated out of it and 
 lifted Into the light of faith. Ecclesiastes ends by 
 pointing to the certainty of judgment, and to the 
 life of obedience. In these lies the only hope of 
 attaining to further light in regard to the problems 
 of existence. Thus while the Old Testament finds 
 a place for the cry of perplexity, and shows its com- 
 passion for the agony of doubt, it teaches that a 
 remedy or alleviation is to be found only in fidelity 
 to known moral duty. Our Lord practically endorses 
 the admonition with which the book of Ecclesiastes 
 concludes when He plainly says, If any man will do 
 his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be 
 of God, or whether I speak of myself ^. 
 
 We have reason then to be thankful that, owing 
 apparently to the liberal and large-hearted spirit 
 that prevailed in the school of Hillel, Ecclesiastes 
 was allowed to find a place in the Hebrew Canon -. 
 For it is undoubtedly a book of peculiar value to those 
 who have to deal with the mental ailments, often so 
 subtle and so complex, that are peculiar to the present 
 bewildering stage of modern civilization. It illustrates 
 the manner in which the temper of paralyzing scep- 
 ticism may be most efficiently treated, and it points 
 to a simple creed as the best antidote to hopelessness, 
 aimlessness, and heedless oblivion. Its characteristic 
 lesson is the need of strenuousness in the life of the 
 soul — a lesson concisely summed up in the words 
 of St. Peter: Gird tip the loins of yonr mind, be sober, 
 and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought 
 unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ"^. The 
 last word of the Old Testament Wisdom is a warning 
 that human life must be ennobled by moral purpose, 
 
 condoleat cum illo, non ilium erigit. Prius cum illo dolet, et sic eum 
 reficit sermone consolatorio.' Cp. Enarr. ii. in Psalm, xxi. 4 : ' Intelligat 
 homo medicum esse Deum, et tribulationem medicamentum esse ad 
 salutem, non poenam ad damnationem.' 
 
 ^ John vii. 17. 
 
 "^ See Cheyne, Job and Solomon ; and Ryle, Canoi of the O. T, 
 pp. 195 foil. 
 
 ^ I Pet. i. 13. 
 
 Bb 
 
370 PERSONAL RELIGION IN [lect. 
 
 brightened by hope, and sobered by perpetual recollec- 
 tion of the end. 
 
 I have endeavoured to show that the Hagiographa 
 are pervaded by certain ideas which bear directly 
 upon the spiritual life in man. These ideas were 
 suggested by the actual experience of Israel's history; 
 they were developed and confirmed by the discipline 
 of the Law, and they have been transmitted to Chris- 
 tianity as permanent elements in the religious character. 
 It is a remarkable characteristic of the Hebrew genius 
 that it clings closely to concrete facts and historical 
 traditions, without apparently possessing the plastic 
 power to create, as the Greek and Teutonic spirit 
 created, a purely imaginative literature. ' The mind,' 
 it has been said, ' which feeds eagerly on the evidences 
 of an actual Providence will not care to live in a 
 world of its own creation ^' The Jew stood alone 
 .in his persistent sense of a vocation to the life of 
 communion with God. The thought possessed him 
 and absorbed him ; it awakened memories, it quickened 
 imagination, it roused emotion, it trained the faculty 
 of spiritual insight. A passionate conviction of the 
 divinely-ordained dignity of human nature stirred him 
 to self-consecration. He recognized that man was in 
 nature only a little lower than the angels, that dominion 
 over the creatures was his birthright, that God had 
 verily put all things under his feet. 
 
 From the sense of human worth and dignity the Jew 
 advanced slowly and tentatively to a presage of his 
 own immortality. A being so favoured, so aspiring, so 
 richly endowed, so precious in the sight of God, could 
 not be made for naus^hf^, could not be destined to pass 
 into nothingness. But the longings and intuitions of 
 the devout Israelite were not left to exhaust them- 
 selves in vain speculations : they rested upon the 
 solid basis supplied by an historical revelation. The 
 
 ^ R. H. Hutton, Essays Literary and Theological, vol. ii. p. 21 1. 
 "^ Ps. Ixxxix. 47. 
 
Vii] THE OLD TESTAMENT 371 
 
 tradition of ancestral faith testified to the existence 
 of a God of redeeming grace who had actually- 
 entered into a covenant relationship with Israel, and 
 whose supernatural guidance of its fortunes was a 
 reahty testified by age-long experience. This faith 
 gave strength and consistency to the hope of a life 
 beyond the grave, since it suggested the idea of a 
 watchful providence which, while mindful of national 
 destinies, was yet careful of the single life. The 
 Israelite could commend his parting soul into the 
 hands of a faithful Creator, who had tended and 
 guided him. throughout the days of his pilgrimage, 
 and could be utterly trusted not to forsake him in 
 his passage through the valley of the shadow of death. 
 It was a dim faith, but it sufficed till the day of a new 
 revelation should break, and the shadows flee aivay ^ 
 
 But advancing experience, while it deepened the Jew's 
 assurance of an overruling providence sustaining and 
 guiding the individual, gave rise to a new perplexity. 
 There came a period when the Israel of God, conscious 
 of its zealous devotion to Jehovah and its fidelity 
 to His revealed will, found itself in exile — comfortless, 
 afflicted, persecuted. In their efforts to comprehend 
 the meaning of a calamity that seemed to contradict 
 their most cherished convictions, godly men were 
 led to a more profound view o-f the mystery of 
 suffering. Israel's history suggested dimly at least 
 the great part which sorrow had played in the de- 
 velopment of God's purpose ; it had been the puri- 
 fying discipline through which the ancient heroes 
 and saints had passed. And the teaching of history 
 was to be supplemented by personal experience. The 
 Jewish saint possessed his soul in patience, and as 
 the result of endurance learned to say. It is good for 
 7ne that I have been in trouble, that I may Icarfi thy 
 statutes^. So there arose a religious philosophy of 
 suffering ; it was seen to be in great measure the chas- 
 tisement of human sin, but it was also a manifest dis- 
 
 * Cant. ii. 17. ^ Ps. cxix. 71. 
 
 B b 2 
 
372 PERSONAL RELIGION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 cipline of human character, and the needful probation 
 of human fidehty. Much was still left unexplained : 
 there were perplexities which no reasoning could 
 solace, and no analysis could satisfactorily explore. 
 Such perplexities are reflected in the book of Eccle- 
 siastes, and they seem to be intended to recall the soul 
 to its primary intuitions — to its faith in God, duty, and 
 human accountability. In this record of the experi- 
 ence of ' a child of Israel, a child of God ' the sorely 
 troubled spirit may recognize itself; it may be com- 
 forted or at least touched by the discovery that 
 however far it has wandered from light and love, 
 it is not forgotten, it is understood, it is followed, it 
 is pitied. For to the heart of man God is a refuge 
 in any trouble; in the thought of His creative com- 
 passion there is hope; in the revelation of His good- 
 ness there is a pledge of love which will deign to 
 subject itself to the conditions of our mortality, there 
 ' is the implicit promise of a divine self-sacrifice. The 
 perplexities which overwhelmed the heart of the 
 Hebrew sage press not less heavily upon us. With 
 the apostolic writer, we can only say concerning man, 
 We see not yet all things put tmder him. But we 
 Christians possess in our creed a key to the dread 
 mystery of existence. We see Jesiis^. We see the 
 Son of man exalted to the throne of God. The 
 Gospel of the risen and ascended Christ suffices to 
 sustain and reassure the hearts that shrink and the 
 spirits that faint : — 
 
 'Beyond the tale, I reach into the dark, 
 Feel what I cannot see, and still faith stands. 
 I can believe this dread machinery 
 Of sin and sorrow would confound me else, 
 Devised,— all pain, at most expenditure 
 Of pain by who devised pain, — to evolve 
 By new machinery in counterpart 
 The moral qualities of man, — how else ? 
 To make him love in turn and be beloved, 
 Creative and self-sacrificini^ too, 
 And thus eventually God-like.' 
 
 1 Heb. ii. 8, 9. 
 
LECTURE VIII 
 
 Ope7i tJiou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy 
 law. — Ps. cxix. 1 8. 
 
 The7i opened he their understanding, that they inight tmderstand the 
 scriptures. — Luke xxiv. 45. 
 
 In my first lecture it was pointed out that Scripture 
 has a twofold character corresponding to the dual 
 nature of Christ ; and it would seem that erroneous 
 ideas about the Bible and its inspiration have often 
 been the direct result of forgetting the analogy that 
 subsists between the written and the incarnate Word 
 of God. 
 
 The self-manifestation of God in Jesus Christ was 
 the answer to an age-long prayer; it presupposed 
 human aspirations and human faith ; it appealed to 
 ideas of God which a divine discipline had already 
 moulded and purified. The Gospels in fact show us 
 that the power to discern the true nature and to 
 apprehend the teaching of Christ depended upon the 
 temper and attitude of individual minds. Mere 
 intellect and human learning were of little avail ; as 
 often as not they proved to be obstacles in the way of 
 true discernment. Christ's manifestation of Himself 
 was addressed to faith and to the consciousness of 
 need. He was the saviour of the lost, the physician 
 of the sick, the rewarder of humility and perseverance. 
 The Pharisee with all his zeal for the law of God, the 
 Sadducee with all his supposed superiority to antiquated 
 prejudices, the scribe with all his learning, saw in 
 Jesus Christ nothing more than a human teacher ^ In 
 a word, men found in Him what they were prepared to 
 
 * Cp. John iii. 2 ; Luke vii. 39 ; xx. 41. 
 
374 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 find ; some listened to Him, some admired Him, some 
 hated and feared Him, some received him \ and to 
 these last gave he power to become the sons of God^. 
 No man could come unto Him in a saving sense 
 except such as were drawn to Him by the Father who 
 had sent Him^. And that the written word comes 
 to men under similar conditions has been proved by 
 experience. We cannot too often remind ourselves 
 that of all the faculties with which we seek God and 
 apprehend His will, one only brings the soul into actual 
 contact with Him — namely, that which St. Paul calls 
 faith working by love^. It follows that the right 
 understanding of Scripture is a reward by which 
 persevering faith is crowned. In the upper chamber 
 He who had Himself inspired the Hebrew prophets 
 and guided the pen of chroniclers, poets, and sages, 
 answered the prayer to which the Psalmist gives 
 utterance : Open thou mine eyes, that I 'may behold 
 wondrous things out of thy law. He expou7ided unto 
 His disciples in all the scriptures the things concerning 
 himself^. He enabled them to penetrate through 
 the veil of the letter to the Messianic sense beneath ; 
 He taught them to regard the Old Testament as 
 a vast and continuous prophecy of Himself; and in so 
 doing He gave His sanction to that method of 
 interpreting Scripture which corresponds to its two- 
 fold character : the method which finds unsuspected 
 spiritual meaning, eternal and ideal teaching, concealed 
 beneath the exterior form which meets the eye. Thus 
 the anticipations of an earlier age were justified. For 
 the Psalmist's prayer illustrates the effect produced on 
 devout hearts by the study of the sacred Law, which 
 formed the earliest canon of Hebrew Scripture. It 
 testifies to the growth of a consciousness that the 
 written word embodied a spirit which had ceased at 
 least for a M'hile to be a living force in the hearts of 
 men. For the voice of prophecy in its strict sense was 
 
 ^ John i. 12. 2 John vi. 44'. 
 
 ^ Gal. V. 6. * Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
silent.. It had been succeeded by the learned labour 
 of the scribes — teachers who no longer based their 
 claim to attention on any personal divine commission, 
 but were content to appeal to the authority either of 
 the written word\ or of the unwritten HalachaJi, or 
 law of custom by which the Torah was supplemented 
 and almost superseded. 
 
 The 119th Psalm, however, is evidently the fruit 
 not of mere traditional instruction orally received, 
 but of personal study and contemplation of the 
 sacred law. It witnesses to a rising sense of the 
 depth, the mystery, and the many-sidedness of a book 
 which the spiritual experience of the faithful had 
 recognized as God's word to His people. It reminds 
 us that even the most perfect methods of literal and 
 historical exegesis may fall short of appreciating the 
 full significance of Scripture. The search after God 
 and after a true knowledge of His ways implies not 
 only a temper of constant dependence on the guidance 
 of His Spirit, but a continual recollection of the 
 limitations and defects of even the highest faculties, 
 and the most skilled methods of research ^. No 
 one who contemplates in the spirit of Pascal or of 
 Butler the infinite mystery that surrounds human life 
 and divine revelation will deny the reasonableness and 
 necessity within limits of a spiritual or mystical inter- 
 pretation of Scripture. To despise the use and results 
 of a method which has undoubtedly been sometimes 
 employed in an arbitrary and fantastic fashion, is to 
 incur a serious spiritual and mental loss ^ A true 
 
 ^ O&mW, Dergegen wciriige Ka7npfum das A. 71 p. 10: 'An die Stelle 
 des lebendigen und begeisterten Prophetenwortes tritt der heilige Kodcx, 
 der die Religion normiert und bindet.' Cp. Hunter, Afler the Ex/L\ 
 part ii. ch. 16 ; Kuenen, Religion of Israel, ch. ix. 
 
 ^ Cp. Aug. de util. cred. 4: ' Sed praesumo quod et in hac spe, qua 
 spero vos viam sapientiae mecum obtenturos, non me deseret ille cui 
 sacratus sum; quern dies noctesque intueri conor ; et quoniani propter 
 peccata mea propterque consuetudinem plagis veternosarum opinionum 
 sauciatum oculum animae gerens, invalidum me esse cognosce, saepe 
 rogo cum lacrymis.' 
 
 ' Cp. Westcott, biirod. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 458: ' It may be 
 as unfair to disparage the symbolic interpretation of Scripture by Origen's 
 
376 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 element in spiritual perception is the sense of mystery. 
 Just as many common words have a long history 
 behind them, and are charged with associations reach- 
 ing far back into antiquity, so many incidents of 
 ordinary human experience, and a fortiori the facts 
 recorded in sacred history, are rightly regarded as 
 embodying and illustrating eternal truths and prin- 
 ciples. On this subject it would be premature to 
 enlarge at this point. It is enough for the present to 
 draw attention to the significance of St. Luke's state- 
 ment, Then opened he their tinder standing, that they 
 might understand the scripttires. It was after the 
 resurrection, when the Lord Jesus had passed into the 
 world of mystery that lies beyond death — it was then 
 that He opened the eyes of His chosen disciples to 
 the infinite depth of Scripture, teaching them that the 
 things of the Spirit can only be spiritually discerned'^, 
 and that the written word contains a revelation which 
 needs to be approached with the same sense of in- 
 sufficiency wherewith in the days of His flesh Christ 
 would have had men approach Himself. We know 
 by sad experience that the mere literary or scientific 
 study of Scripture has often left us utterly dark and 
 barren. The real moments of insight and spiritual 
 elevation, when our hearts burned within us, were 
 those in which we were conscious that we were 
 walking with the risen Christ in the way, and holding 
 communion with Him, while he ope?ied to us the 
 scriptures"-. Thus we have proved the truth of 
 St. Paul's aphorism. If any man think that he knozueth 
 anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 
 But if any man love God, the same is known of him"^. 
 
 Our task in the present day seems to be that of 
 mediation between opposed methods of Scriptural 
 interpretation. While we welcome gladly and eagerly, 
 in spite of the temporary pain and perplexity which it 
 
 errors in detail as to judge of the capabilities of inductive science from 
 Bacon's " Theory of heat." ' 
 ^ I Cor. ii. 14. 2 Luke xxiv. 32. ^ i Cor. viii. 2, 3. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 377 
 
 costs us, all the light that historical research and critical 
 learning can throw upon the structure and literary form 
 of the Old Testament, we shall reverently endeavour 
 to do justice to methods of using Scripture which 
 the apostles and saints of Jesus Christ have taught us 
 to be profitable and based on true conceptions of the 
 character of the written word. In this concluding 
 lecture of our series we shall consider, first, the 
 light which is shed on the Old Testament by 
 its employment in the New ; and, secondly, the 
 function which the Old Testament seems designed to 
 fulfil under our present circumstances. In a word, we 
 shall attempt an inquiry into the present use of the Old 
 Testament in the Christian Church. 
 
 I. 
 
 Speaking generally, the New Testament seems to 
 ascribe to the Old Testament three main character- 
 istics : — ■ 
 
 I. First, it insists on t\\& frag-mentary character of 
 the revelation contained in it. The divine self-com- 
 munication to man was made in many parts (noXv fie poos). 
 It was a process which had many different stages, in 
 each of which however the continuity of revelation 
 was maintained. This is tantamount to saying that 
 the Nev/ Testament embodies what has been called 
 'a strictly historical conception' of the Old \ The 
 new religion recognized that it was rooted in the 
 ancient dispensation, and that each epoch in the sacred 
 history of Israel had been a preparation for the next. 
 There was no single stage at which the ultimate 
 purpose of God for the world was discerned in its 
 completeness. Types and prophecies were alike 
 fragmentary: each foreshadowed one aspect of a vast 
 and- intricate scheme yet to be disclosed, a scheme 
 complex as the universe and wide as human life. At 
 
 * Sanday, T/ie Oracles of Cod, p. 141. 
 
378 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 each point In the progressive movement of the world's 
 education faith mityht have discerned a divine thouoht. 
 Accordingly the New Testament constantly draws 
 attention to the fact that the utterance contained In the 
 Old Testament is the voice of God. What proceeded 
 from the mouth of the prophets was spoken of the 
 Lord^ \ the promises to the patriarchs, the tokens of 
 guidance which they followed, were alike vouchsafed 
 by Him 2 ; the commandments of the Mosaic Law came 
 from Him^; by Him were foretold the blessings of 
 the Messianic age*. Indeed throughout the whole 
 period of the preparatory dispensation there was 
 a continuous self-communication of the Holy Spirit to 
 man, a progressive unveiling of His purposes, a constant 
 indication of His requirement ^ But revelation was 
 at each stage only partial and incomplete. It has 
 been well said that the Bible supplies a rule that is 
 constantly improving on itself, and that later editions 
 of the rule are intended to antiquate the earlier ^. The 
 New Testament in fact already sets us the example 
 which modern criticism has enforced — that of reading 
 the Old Testament with discrimination, with readiness 
 to judge the part in the light of the whole, and to 
 recognize in each fragment its true, but not more than 
 its true, value and function in relation to the entire 
 organism of which it forms a part. 
 
 2. Again, the New Testament contrasts with the 
 simplicity and singleness of God's self-revelation in 
 His incarnate Son the variety of methods by which He 
 manifested Himself to His ancient people. God spake 
 to the fathers in many fashions {TToXvrpoTrm) as well as 
 in many parts ; and this statement implies that the 
 different portions of the Old Testament are not all to 
 be used in the same way: we are not to confound law 
 with history, prophecy with fact, dreams with waking 
 
 ' Matt. i. 22 ; ii. 15. "^ Acts iii. 25 ; vii. 2, 3. 
 
 ^ Matt. XV. 4. ■* 2 Cor. vi. 16 foil.; Heb. i. 5 foil. ; v. 5 foil.; vii. 21. 
 
 ^ Acts xxviii. 25 ; Heb. iii. 7 ; ix. 8 ; x. 15. 
 
 « Bruce, Apologetics, p. 323. Cp. the language of Heb. viii. 13. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 379 
 
 realities, poetical anticipations with typical events. 
 Accordingly, we have to be careful as to the extent to 
 which we insist on the historical element in the Old 
 Testament as literal fact. We may occasionally be in 
 danger of misusing what was given us for another 
 purpose. Anticipations of the Messiah and of His 
 work may not only have been foreshadowed in 
 historical fact, but may also have inspired literary 
 creations. Thus there are incidents recorded in the 
 Old Testament respecting which a large latitude 
 of opinion is surely desirable. Some, for instance, 
 may regard the story of Jonah as literally true; 
 others see good reason for finding in it an alle- 
 gorical narrative written with a didactic purpose. 
 In any case it is certain that the word TroXvTpoirois 
 warns us against dogmatic statements as to what viiist 
 be the nature of different Old Testament books, and 
 also against unintelligent and undiscriminating employ- 
 ment of them. The different modes of divine self- 
 manifestation — through dreams, visions, prophecies, 
 oracles, and types, or through the ministry of an 
 angel — will repay study, and will quicken our sense of 
 the condescension with which Almighty God in His 
 communications to mankind has adapted Himself to 
 very varied types of mind and stages of moral 
 development. We are far too apt to make the modern 
 western mind the standard of what is credible not only 
 in the content, but in the manner and methods, of 
 revelation. 
 
 3. Once more, the New Testament everywhere 
 presupposes the rudiinentary character of the old 
 dispensation. Our blessed Lord Himself draws atten- 
 tion in the Sermon on the Mount to the inherent 
 defects of the ancient religion, its self-accommodation to 
 the low moral standard of those whom it was designed 
 to instruct, discipline, and elevated His example and 
 that of His apostles teaches us that we are to consider 
 the drift of the whole bible in judging the Old Testa- 
 
 ^ Matt. V. 19 foil. ; xix. 8. 
 
SCo THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 ment ; we are to be filled with the spirit of the Gospel, 
 and make it the one standard of measurement in 
 estimating conduct and character, frankly recognizing 
 defect where it exists ^ and not explaining away 
 what obviously conflicts with Christian principles, but 
 attending fairly to the difference of time and circum- 
 stances which made imperfect character relatively good 
 and admirable. We must remember how just is the 
 distinction between immorality and crude morality, 
 between transgression of a high standard and con- 
 formity to a low one ^. I have already pointed out 
 that no Christian writer has a stronger sense at once 
 of the continuity of revelation and of the moral im- 
 perfection that characterized its earlier stages than 
 Irenaeus. As he truly says : Una salics et iinus Dens. 
 Quae aiUem fonnant hominem praecepta inulta, et non 
 pauci gradiLS qtii ductint hominem ad Deuin ^. 
 
 One point is worthy of particular attention in this 
 connexion — viz. the general character of the New 
 Testament verdict on the Mosaic Law. The question 
 has been raised ' how far the transposition of the Law 
 as it lies before us in the Pentateuch, from the time of 
 Moses to the time of Ezra,' affects the New Testament 
 estimate of Mosaism * ? Now we have already seen 
 reasons for supposing that legal discipline of some 
 kind was a constant element of Mosaism, present in it 
 from the first. What is to be noted here is that the 
 critical conclusions which assign a relative inferiority 
 to the Law on the ground of its comparatively late 
 codification entirely fall in with the teaching of apostolic 
 writers as to the place and function of law in Israel's 
 education. Professor Bruce points this out with great 
 force. If we bear in mind St. Paul's teaching in 
 
 ^ e.g., the '■ philo-leviticaP spirit of the chronicler, which is a reHgious 
 defect in view of such a passage as Heb. vii. i8 (Bruce, Apologetics, 
 p. 324). Bruce draws attention to other defects, for instance the spirit 
 of vindictiveness, the hatred of foreigners, the tendency to self-righteous- 
 ness, &c., which were characteristic of Judaism. 
 
 ^ Bruce, op. cit. p. 329. " ^ Haer. iv. 9. 3. 
 
 * Bruce, op. cit. pp. 275 foil., 308. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 381 
 
 regard to the temporary and economic purpose of the 
 Law, or that of the writer to the Hebrews in regard to 
 the weakness and tinprofitablcness thereof'^, we shall be 
 prepared to admit that the critical theory tends entirely 
 to confirm the apostolic view of the Law. If the ver- 
 dicts of the New Testament ' hold good as against 
 a law emanating from Moses, a fortiori they hold good 
 against a law which came into force nearly a millennium 
 later. . . . The important principle enunciated by Paul, 
 that the law was subordinate to the promise and came 
 in after it and between it and the [fulfilment of the] 
 promise, obviously holds on the critical hypothesis.' 
 Our general conception of the Law is the same. 
 Accepting the critical view however, we recognize that 
 the rigid legal discipline to which Israel was subjected 
 came at a period in its history later than was formerly 
 supposed ; and the words of St. Paul apply even more 
 forcibly to the Judaistic than to the Mosaic stage of 
 Hebrew history. Before faith came we were being kept 
 ill ward, shut tip under the law unto the faith which 
 should afterwards be revealed'^. The rudimentary 
 purpose and function of the Law is a truth practically 
 unaffected by critical disputes ; and certainly we have 
 no reason to be surprised that the legal discipline was 
 so protracted in duration, when we consider how 
 effective it was in its final result. - 
 
 The New Testament then recognizes the frag- 
 mentary character of the old dispensation, the variety 
 of the methods observed in the divine self-revelation, 
 and the rudimentary nature of the discipline which 
 gradually prepared Israel for the coming of its pro- 
 mised Saviour. At the same time we cannot overlook 
 the fact that Christ and His apostles assign to the 
 Old Testament a unique and inviolable authority ^ 
 
 ^ Heb. vii. 18. 2 Gai_ jji 33, 
 
 ' Cp. Dalman, Das Alte Testament ein Wort Gotfes, p. 9 : ' Bei Jesus 
 
 wie bei Paulus geht ofifenbar Hand in Hand mit ciner klaren Einsicht in 
 
 die Unzulanglichkeit der alttestamentlichen Offenbarung eine dadurch 
 
 nicht erschiitterte Ueberzeugung von der gottlichen Autoritat nicht nur 
 
382 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 / am not come to destroy, dtit to fulfil. For verily I say 
 tinto you, Till heaven and earth pa^s, one jot or one tittle 
 shall in no wise pass fro7n the laia, till all be ftdfilled'^. 
 The scripture cannot be broken "-. Even its smallest 
 fragment must h& fulfilled; i.e. it must be shown to 
 occupy its rightful place; must be brought under the 
 true point of view, and its significance in relation to 
 the whole vindicated. The same truth is implied in 
 the apostolic vindication of prophecy. The distinctive 
 character of the prophetic word of God is that no 
 prophecy is of any private interpretation'^. It has more 
 than one application ; it has a deeper and wider 
 reference than is apparent on the surface. A 
 careful study does indeed show us that for Christ 
 there was to some extent ' a Bible within the Bible V 
 The books to which He most commonly refers are 
 Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and Isaiah — those in a 
 word which are most full of the Messianic element. 
 His first public discourse at Nazareth was based on 
 a passage of the later Isaiah ; the ministry of teaching 
 and healing placed Him as it were in line with the 
 ancient prophets; the martyr-spirit numbered Him 
 with the righteous men of old whose sorrows and hopes 
 breathe in the Psalter ; His consciousness of Messiah- 
 ship and His passion for righteousness found expres- 
 sion more often in the utterances of the saints and 
 prophets than in those of the historians or legalists of 
 ancient Israel. There can be no doubt however as to 
 the general attitude of Christ towards the Jewish Scrip- 
 tures. He speaks freely of Moses, perhaps we might 
 say more often as a supreme authority than as an 
 author; He refers to him as leader, legislator, and 
 writer ^, but always, it would seem, and necessarily, in 
 
 der im A. T. ausdriicklich als von Gott stammend bezeichneten Worte, 
 sondern des Schriftwortes iiberhaupt.' 
 
 ^ Matt. V. 17, 18. 2 John x. 35, ' 2 Pet. i. 20. 
 
 * Cheyne, Aids to the Devoid Study of Criticism, p. 155 note. Cp. 
 Bruce, Apologetics, p. 363. Cheyne notices that the O. T. Canon was 
 ' not finally settled in all its parts in our Lord's time.' Cp. Valeton, 
 Christ us nnd das A. T. p. 30. 
 
 ^ Cp. Mark xii. 29 ; Luke xvi, 29 ; John v. 46 ; vii. 19. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 383 
 
 accordance with the current hterary conceptions of His 
 time, and with the declared purpose of His mission ^ 
 We are not at present concerned with the manner of 
 our Lord's quotations, but only with the general 
 character of authority which He attributes to the 
 ancient Scriptures. He speaks of them as if they 
 discharo^ed an orcranic function, and must ever hold 
 a permanent place, in the religion of which Hew^as the 
 founder^. While He points out the defective elements 
 in the old dispensation, and supersedes the detailed 
 precepts of the Law by principles of far-reaching- 
 simplicity. He never fails to give the impression that 
 He recognizes in the Old Testament the abiding 
 W'ord of God. As fhe author and finisher of our fait Ji'^ 
 He points us to the ancient Scriptures as the food 
 which nourished His own spiritual life and gave due 
 expression to His own Messianic consciousness ; as the 
 soil in which the gospel of salvation had its roots, and 
 in which the treasure of eternal life lay hid. Salvation, 
 He declared, is of the Jeivs'^. 
 
 We may now pass to the consideration of the prin- 
 ciples which appear to guide our Lord and the New 
 Testament writers in their references to the Old. And 
 here it is important to remember that in the time of Christ 
 there already existed among the scribes traditional 
 rules of interpretation, which were of high antiquity 
 and unquestioned authority. The scribes were in fact 
 
 ^ Cp. Kohler, (Jbey- BerecJitigting dcr Kritik des A. T. p. 13. Christ, 
 he says, must have used the ordinary Hterary language of His day if He 
 was to make Himself intelligible to His hearers, and if He was not to 
 exceed the limits of His Messianic vocation by giving instruction on 
 points of natural knowledge. The references to Daniel (Matt. xxiv. 15) 
 or to David (Matt. xxii. 41 foil. ; cp. Acts ii. 24 foil.) are most reasonably 
 explained on this principle. To the same effect Valeton, Chrzsius urid 
 das A. T. p. ;^7; Delitzsch, A^ew Comm. on Genesis [Eng. Tr.], vol. i. p. 21 . 
 
 ^ John V. 39. 
 
 ^ Heb. xii. 2. Cp. Valeton, Christus und das A. T. pp. 20, 21. See 
 also an admirable lecture by Prof. G. A. Smith, The preaching of the 
 O. T. to the Age, pp. 11, 12. 
 
 * See Oettli, op. cit. p. 22. Valeton, Christus und das A. T. p. 12, 
 remarks that so close is the inner connexion and correspondence 
 between the words of Christ and the language of the O. T. as almost to 
 justify the paradox, * In His teaching there is nothing new but Himself.' 
 
384 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 guided in their treatment of the canonical Scriptures 
 by two chief aims : first, the systematic development 
 and establishment of the Law, which had now become 
 the central shrine, so to speak, of Jewish religion; 
 second, the didactic manipulation of the historical 
 books. Hence there arose on the one hand the 
 ' Halackah, or customary law, the general object of 
 which was to protect the Law, by a fence of minor 
 restrictions, from even the chance of infringement ; 
 and on the other hand the Hazgadah, i. e. narrative or 
 •legend by which the Old Testament history was 
 enlarged, illustrated, or homiletically enforced. The 
 basis of both methods was Midrask, or regular exegesis 
 of the biblical text, and they presupposed the principle 
 that inspired writings can contain nothing that is 
 arbitrary, fortuitous, or indifferent, since Scripture 
 both in its organic unity and in the diversity of its 
 contents reflects the infinite being of its Author. And 
 indeed if it be granted that Scripture comes from God 
 in a special and unique sense, it is only reasonable to 
 suppose that even single words of Scripture may 
 conceal a multitude of thoughts and contain truths of 
 inexhaustible significance. 
 
 Two methods then of dealing with the sacred text 
 were already current. By the time of our Lord the 
 Halackah, or exegetical expansion of the Law, had 
 already resulted in the formation of a vast body 
 of casuistry under which the original Law of Moses 
 was in danger of being practically buried, while 
 the Haggadah had produced a mass of legendary 
 accretions by which the biblical history was expanded, 
 for purposes of moral and religious instruction \ 
 
 ^ For an account of the Halachah and Haggadah see 77/,? Literary 
 reviai7is of Emanuel Deutsch, ch. i. Also his article, 'Versions, ancient 
 (Targum),' in the Did. of the Bible. The description of Haggadah 
 merely as 'narrative' needs some qualification. It really implies the 
 amplification or imagitiative development of the Old Testament history, 
 especially of that which is not directly expressed in the text, but is sup- 
 posed to be indirectly hinted at. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jestis 
 the Messiah, vol. i. p. 1 1, n. 2. remarks that Halachah might be described 
 as the apocryphal Pentateuch, and Haggadah as the apocryphal prophets. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 385 
 
 The Chronicles supply an example of Haggadah in 
 dealing with the history of the Jewish kings. The 
 Chronicler enlarges the material contained in earlier 
 sources by a whole class of narratives intended to 
 illustrate his favourite thesis, viz. the merit acquired by 
 monarchs who zealously maintained the priestly ritual 
 of the temple. He was doubtless actuated in his 
 treatment of the history by a desire to meet the actual 
 needs of his age, but the result is that his work, as 
 we have already seen, has only a quasi-historical 
 character \ It is a didactic work, which is inspired by 
 a purely religious and moral aim, and in which imagina- 
 tion is allowed large play. 
 
 It will suffice to mention another method of interpre- 
 tation which undoubtedly plays a large part in apostolic 
 exegesis, and may be illustrated from Christ's own 
 teaching, namely the method of Sodh, by which the 
 mystical or allegorical sense of a passage was elicited. 
 This seems on the whole to have been more charac- 
 teristic of Hellenistic than of Palestinian Judaism. 
 The Hellenists in their endeavour to amalgamate 
 Greek thought with Hebrew ideas of revelation, found 
 the allegorical method ready to their hand, since it was 
 already in use both among Platonists and Stoics. The 
 true principle that underlies this method will engage 
 our attention presently. 
 
 Now a careful study of our Lord's usual mode of 
 teaching makes it evident that in the matter of scrip- 
 tural interpretation and exposition, as in other points, 
 He occasionally condescended to adapt Himself to the 
 customs of His time. We cannot fail to observe, 
 however, a wide difference between the teaching of our 
 Lord and of the scribes in two main respects — indeed 
 the divergence was already obvious to those who first 
 
 ■^ Schiirer, The Jewish People in the Time of Christ, § 25. Observe 
 the references to Midrash (A. V. Story) in 2 Chron. xiii. 22, xxiv. 27, 
 the latter passage embracing the entire history of the kings. 'The 
 compilers of chronicles seem to have used such promiscuous works 
 treating of biblical personages and events, provided they contained aught 
 that served the tendency of the book ' (Deutsch, /. c). 
 
 C C 
 
336 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 listened to His discourses. In the first place, Christ 
 appears to set aside the method of Halachali as quite 
 secondary, whereas with the scribes it had become of 
 primary importance. 'Legal Judaism,' says Schilrer, 
 ' laid the chief stress upon correctness of action, and 
 comparatively free play was therefore permitted in the 
 sphere of religious notions^.' The scribes in fact 
 represent a tendency diametrically opposed to that of 
 true prophetism. What Frederick Maurice has said 
 of the scholastic theology of the Greek Church in the 
 seventh and eighth centuries might well apply to 
 the scribes : ' Notions about God more or less occu- 
 pied them, but God Himself was not in all their 
 thoughts -.' With them holiness was too often 
 treated as something merely technical and external, 
 and the religious life was cramped and fettered by 
 innumerable petty restrictions, in a word, the scribes 
 represent that reactionary spirit which at first sight 
 seems to give a discouraging aspect to the post-exilic 
 stage of Israel's religion. Jesus Christ, on the other 
 hand, was recognized by the conscience of His con- 
 temporaries as a prophet of God. He lifted high once 
 more the standard of prophetism ; righteousness and 
 the love of GoA, judgment, mercy, and faith^ — these 
 were the theme of His preaching. He left the 
 Halachah untouched, and scarcely noticed. To Him 
 the one thing of supreme importance was that men 
 should have true thoughts about God and His require- 
 ment. Accordingly — to notice the second point — the 
 teaching of Jesus was authoritative, and not like that of 
 the scribes. It was characteristic of the //rt;^4^«^<r?/^ that 
 though it practically represented what we should call the 
 
 1 The Jewish People in the Time of Christ, § 25. Deutsch in the Diet, 
 of the Bible, s. v. 'Versions' (vol. iii. p. 1641), says: 'The aim of the 
 Has^gadah being the purely momentary one of elevating, comforting, 
 edifying its audience for the time being, it did 7iot pretetid to possess the 
 slightest authority: Schechter, Studies in Judaism, p. 420, says : 'The 
 theological side of Judaism, as well as its ideal aspirations and Messianic 
 hopes, find their expression in the Agadah: 
 
 2 The Religions of the World, p. 23. 
 
 3 Matt, xx'iii. 23 ; cp. Luke xi. 42. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 387 
 
 dogmatic and moral dieology of Judaism, it was never- 
 theless comparatively unauthoritative. It was nothing 
 more than oral instruction ; it represented the acumen 
 and insight of individual teachers, and possessed only 
 the weight which might happen to attach to their 
 utterances. It was taken by the hearers in fact for 
 what it was worth. But the very teaching which the 
 scribes made matter of Haggadah was in our Lord s 
 view essential and primary. Consider His first dis- 
 course in the synagogue of Nazareth. It opens with 
 a proclamation, ineffably gracious and tender, of God's 
 character and ways of working. Its theme is grace ; 
 its character prophetic ; its illustrations are taken not 
 from the Law but from two episodes of Hebrew 
 history speaking the one of judgment, the other of 
 mercy \ In the manner of Haggadah is the brief 
 comment on each, illustrating the method of God's 
 redemptive action. But most significant is the personal 
 reference to Himself as the anointed of Jehovah, and the 
 calm majesty of the declaration, Verily I say 2tnto yoic. 
 No wonder that in Jesus men instinctively recognized 
 a teacher come from God"^, whose zuord was with pozver ^. 
 The theme of His teaching imparted its own sublime 
 simplicity to His method of expounding Scripture. He 
 freely employed the Old Testament as illustrating the 
 truths which He revealed about God, but He spoke on 
 the strength of an immediate knowledge of Him whose 
 glory and kingdom He proclaimed ; He taught not on 
 authority, but with authority ; not as a professional 
 teacher who has studied religious traditions, but as 
 a prophet who by direct intuition knows God. 
 
 Thus, speaking generally, the very object of our 
 Lord's coming determined the method in which He 
 employed the ancient Scriptures. To Him all that 
 made for righteous conduct and for truer conceptions 
 of the divine character was of primary importance; to 
 all that the scribes had overlooked or treated with 
 indifference He assigned its rightful prominence. 
 
 ^ Luke iv. 18-27. ^ John iii. 2. ^ Luke iv. 32. 
 
 C C 2 
 
388 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 Haggadah was in a word His favourite method of 
 teaching, but while * the rabbins interpreted the Scrip- 
 tures to accord with the traditions of the elders, Jesus 
 interpreted them to accord with the mind of God their 
 author ^' The sacred liberty which is the characteristic 
 gift of the Holy Spirit- appears in the very manner of 
 Christ's citations from the Old Testament. And 
 herein lies another point of contrast between Him and 
 the scribes, whose anxious enslavement to the letter 
 not only blinded them to the inner sense of Scripture 
 and to the daily and hourly fulfilment of it which was 
 going on before their eyes, but actually robbed them 
 of essential reverence for the word of God. They 
 honoured Jehovah with their lips, diet their heart was 
 far from hiin"^. 
 
 It is clear then that our Lord and His apostles 
 freely sanctioned by their own example the current 
 principles of exegesis, but it is also manifest that both 
 in the subject-matter of their teaching, in modes of 
 illustration, and in the observance of moral proportion, 
 they produced an impression ofi their hearers different 
 in kind from that which was derived from the teaching 
 of the scribes. In endeavouring, however, to elicit 
 principles from the practice of Christ and the New 
 Testament writers, we have to bear in mind that they 
 used the current methods of exegesis in the way most 
 suitable to the capacity of each particular class of 
 hearers and most appropriate to the subject of their 
 discourse. Moreover, the apostles display differences 
 corresponding to their individual temperament and 
 training: St. Peter, St. James, and St. Jude inclining 
 to the method of Haggadah ; St. Paul to that of 
 Halachah with free use of allegorism ; while St. John 
 and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews are distin- 
 
 ^ Briggs, Biblical Study, Tp. 314. I wish to express my obligations to 
 this useful work, on which some of the following paragraphs are largely 
 based. 
 
 ^ 2 Cor. iii. 17. 
 
 ^ Matt. XV. 8. See Valeton, Christus wid das A. T. pp. 13 foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 389 
 
 guished by their preference for this latter method, 
 whether in its Palestinian or in its Hellenistic form. 
 
 What, then, are the most striking features in the New 
 Testament exegesis of the Old ? 
 
 I. First, we notice its remarkable breadth and 
 freedom. Our Lord and His apostles adapt their use 
 of the Old Testament to the requirements and capaci- 
 ties of those whom they address. They deal with 
 Scripture in ways which the popular teaching of the 
 scribes had already rendered familiar. There are 
 passages in the Gospels which are at least closely 
 analogous to the method of Halachah. Such would be 
 the a fortiori argument of St. John x. 34-36 : Is it not 
 written in yoiir law, I said. Ye are gods ? If he called 
 them gods, tinto whoi7t the word of God came . . . say ye 
 of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into 
 the zvorld, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son 
 of God? Such again is the illustrative combination of 
 references to the Law and to the former and later Pro- 
 phets in St. Matt. xii. 3 foil., where our Lord is defend- 
 ing against the Pharisees the action of His disciples in 
 plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day ^ On 
 the other hand, there is nothing in our Lord's teaching 
 that corresponds to the casuistry of the scribes ; indeed 
 it is only in controversy with the learned that He even 
 appears to use the method of Haiachah. The large 
 majority of His references to the Law are intended to 
 enforce great principles of morality, and seem calcu- 
 lated to qualify the paramount estimation in which the 
 Law was held by the Jews. Thus many of the quota- 
 tions, especially from the book of Deuteronomy, are 
 ethical rather than legalistic, and it is significant that in 
 dealing with a lawyer, our Lord takes occasion to 
 enunciate in two passages from the Torah the law of 
 love in its widest form, adding to them the comment 
 that on the two commandments of love towards God 
 
 * Aug. de Kill. cred. 6 refers to this passage as a simple use of Scripture 
 secundum hisioriain. 
 
390 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 and love towards one's neighbour hang all the law and 
 the prophets \ 
 
 Of the apostohc writers, St. Paul especially shows 
 partiality for Halachah. Thus in Rom. iv. 3-6 we 
 have an argument on the subject of faith, applying 
 a general principle to an individual case, which is in 
 the manner of Halachah '^. So in i Cor. ix. 9 (cp. 
 I Tim. V. 18) a passage of Deuteronomy (xxv. 4) Is 
 appealed to as implying the acknowledged rule of 
 equity, that service merits reward. Again, such 
 a combination of passages as is used to illustrate or 
 prove a point in Rom. iii. 10 foil, is In accordance with 
 the principles of the Halachah ^ 
 
 More suitable, however, than Halachah for purposes 
 of popular teaching would be Haggadah, that is ex- 
 pansive comment on passages of sacred Scripture, 
 or free imaginative application of them. There can 
 .be no doubt that the apostolic writers were divinely 
 guided in their use of this method, so markedly do 
 they avoid the idle or absurd legends which the Hag- 
 gadah of the scribes had woven around the sacred 
 story. Thus St. James illustrates the nature of faith 
 from the cases of Abraham and Rahab, and enforces 
 the lesson of patience from the experience of Job^ 
 Indeed it may be said generally that all references to 
 Old Testament passages and incidents as typical or 
 prophetic of Christ and His kingdom are in the style 
 of Haggadah. Conspicuous instances would be the 
 Messianic citations in St. Paul's Epistles and the de- 
 scription of Melchizedek, or the catalogue of the heroes 
 of faith in the Epistle to the Hebrew^s, so far as these 
 
 ^ Matt. xxii. 35-40; cp. Luke x. 25-28. On Matt. xxii. 40 Valeton, 
 Chrisius tmd das A. T. p. 16, remarks : ' Hier ist mehr als ein einfaches 
 Zitat aus Deut. 6. 5 und Levit. 19. 18; hier ist wieder eine kleine Probe 
 von der gottlichen Freiheit, die nicht auflost, sondern erfilUt.^ 
 
 2 A somewhat similar argument from ' the law ' (in this case Isa. xxviii. 
 II, 12) is found in I Cor. xiv. 21 foil. It is possible that the word 
 hihauKoKia in the N. T. signifies Halachic teaching. 
 
 ^ Compare a somewhat similar combination of passages to prove a point 
 in James ii. 8-13. 
 
 * James ii. 21 foil.; v. il. 
 
vin] THE OLD TESTAMEN'I AND CHRISTIANITY 391 
 
 enforce or illustrate principles of moral conduct and 
 laws of divine action ^ In these cases passages of the 
 Old Testament are employed not strictly speaking as 
 predictive, but as illustrative of New Testament facts 
 or truths. A great number of St. Paul's references to 
 the Old Testament are of this description : for instance, 
 the argument in the Epistle to the Galatians which 
 turns upon the use of the phrase Abraham and his 
 sccd^, or the quotation from the 68th Psalm in Eph. 
 iv. 7, 8. St. Paul is not here using the Old Testa- 
 ment passage as a proof-text, but as a free illustration 
 of a particular principle of the Christian system ^ It 
 should be added that in one passage of St. Paul and 
 in two other passages of the New Testament we find 
 reference made to legends supplementary of the Old 
 Testament history and probably already embodied in 
 extra-canonical books ^ 
 
 In view of the fact that the parable {mas ha I) is 
 commonly found in the ancient Midrashim, it may 
 be questioned whether our Lord's habit of teaching 
 in parables may not be regarded as a particular appli- 
 cation and transfiguration of the Haggadah method ; 
 for His aim ever appears to be didactic, the parables 
 and the direct references to the Old Testament being 
 intended to illustrate the redemptive action of God, 
 or laws of His moral government. Such is his 
 reference to the story of the flood and the fate of Lot's 
 wife, which are used to enforce a solemn spiritual 
 lesson ^ Indeed, generally speaking, our Lord's refer- 
 ences to the incidents of Old Testament history do not 
 enable us to judge how far He lays stress on their 
 historical importance. He is not concerned with 
 
 ^ See especially Rom. x. 18 (Ps. xix. 4), and Rom. x. 6 foil. (Deut. xxx. 
 II foil.). 
 
 =^ Gal. iii. 16 (Gen. xvii. 7). Cp. Driver in Expositor for Jan. 1S89, 
 pp. 18 foil. 
 
 ^ See Driver, Sermons on the O. T. pp. 198, 199. 
 
 * I Cor. x. 4; 2 Tim. iii. 8; 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude 9 foil. Cp. Acts vii. 22, 
 53 ; Gal. iii. 19; Heb. ii. 2. So Gal. iv. 29, 'persecuted' seems to be based 
 on a Midrashic development of Gen. -xxi. 9. See Lightfoot, ad loc. 
 
 ^ Matt. xxiv. y] ; Luke xvii. 32. 
 
392 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 history as such ; and the analogy of His silence on 
 points of science would suggest that He neither 
 endorses nor repudiates the ordinary conceptions of 
 His time in regard to the quality of the ancient narra- 
 tives. In any case it is clear that He only employs 
 them homiletically for purposes of spiritual edification. 
 He does not apparently intend to teach positively on 
 points which belong to the domain of scientific criti- 
 cism \ But there is something significant in the fact 
 that the employment of the Old Testament history 
 by Christ is supplemented by the system of parabolic 
 instruction, while His perfect simplicity in teaching 
 tacitly discountenances the extravagance which ofteri 
 characterized the Haggadah of the scribes. He avoids 
 such subjects as would divert the minds of His hearers 
 without instructing them ; He has an eye to their 
 moral and spiritual needs ; He uses that form of 
 teaching which is best adapted to make great truths 
 understood by the meanest capacity 2. 
 
 The freedom of the New Testament writers in their 
 use of the Old is most strikingly displayed in their 
 tendency to employ the method of Sodk or allegorism, 
 a point which needs passing illustration. Instances 
 in St. Paul's epistles will immediately occur to our 
 minds ^; we shall recall the Hellenistic colour of the 
 
 ^ On this difficult subject the writer would practically agree with the 
 following statement : ' He who came from heaven in order to reconcile us 
 to God, speaks in regard to the things of ordinary earthly life — and to 
 these belongs the formal side of Old Testament knowledge— the speech 
 belonging to His earthly environment, to His time and to His people. 
 He does not move at an inaccessible height above the heads of men, but 
 lives in their very midst. The eternal becomes a child of His time. . . . 
 He had a task quite other than that of busying Himself, or instructing 
 men, in regard to questions which are discussed in the schools and 
 for the specialist may be of the highest importance, but which are 
 unprofitable for the life of the soul, and in view of His life's work are so 
 infinitesimally small, indeed are scarcely worth even mention.' Valeton, 
 C7trishis und das A. T. pp. 28 foil. 
 
 ^ See some wise and beautiful thoughts on preaching in Bp. Wilson's 
 Sacra Privata (cd. Oxford, 1840), pp. 243 foil. 
 
 ^ St. Paul uses it specially in the Epistles to Corinth, possibly owing 
 to the connexion of that Church with Apollos. See e.g. i Cor. x. 1 foil. 
 Cp. Gal. :v. 22 foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 393 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, with its skilful treatment 
 of the figure of Melchizedek, and its insistence on 
 the symbolic structure and ceremonial of the ancient 
 sanctuary ; we shall remember the predominance of 
 symbolism in the Apocalypse. Our blessed Lord 
 may be thought to give sanction to this method in 
 the general tenour of His teaching, which implies 
 that the whole of the Old Testament is prophetic 
 and figurative, foreshadowing the mysteries of His 
 person and kingdom. But it cannot be said with 
 truth that He freely employs the method of alle- 
 gory as generally understood. He rather confines 
 Himself to setting before the Church an open door, in 
 pointing to the essential mystery of Scripture as the 
 work of the Wisdom of God ; and in accepting or 
 ascribing to Himself titles bearing far-reaching Old 
 Testament associations, such as Lamb of God, King of 
 Israel, Son of David, Prophet of Nazareth, Son of Man, 
 the Good Shepherd, the True Vine, the Corner-Stone, 
 the Messiah, the Wisdom of God. It is indeed some- 
 times difficult to distinguish between the allegorical use 
 of the Old Testament to illustrate a fact, and the Hag- 
 gadistic use of it to enforce a spiritual law. Augustine 
 only gives one instance of allegorism from our Lord's 
 own teaching : namely the reference to Jonah's deliver- 
 ance as a sign or type of the resurrection ^ But no 
 writer is more conscious of the typical and symbolic 
 character of the Old Testament viewed as a whole. 
 
 2. Enough has been said to illustrate the freedom 
 of the New Testament in its references to the Old. 
 The next point that claims our attention is the moral 
 import of the quotations. Our Lord, it has been said, 
 deals with the words of Scripture as ' living words of 
 God to man bearing upon human conduct -.' It is 
 scarcely accidental that His first recorded quotation is 
 from Deuteronomy viii. 3 : Man shall not live by 
 bread alojie, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
 
 ^ Matt. xii. 39, 40 ; xvi. 4. Cp. Aug. de util. cred. 8. 
 2 Briggs, Biblical Study, p. 315. 
 
394 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 mouth of God^. In the hands of the scribes the Old 
 Testament rehgion was not indeed a dead thing, but it 
 had lost any capacity of further development and ex- 
 pansion. It could not in any way satisfy the desire of 
 the true Israel for a new word of God, a fresh revela- 
 tion of truth. Our Lord and His apostles, on the 
 other hand, quickened the very letter of Scripture by 
 pointing to the living personality behind it. The 
 words of the living and eternal God were shown to be 
 full of enduring vitality and continuous significance. 
 The phrase It is written in our Lord's mouth implies 
 that each scripture appealed to is not a lifeless formula 
 of law, but the revelation of a living personality and 
 character 2. What the living God inspires lives in Him, 
 lives unto Him, lives for all who abide in communion 
 with Him. St. Paul even speaks as if Scripture were 
 endued with personality. From the first it foresaw 
 the purpose of God ; it preached the gospel beforehand 
 unto Abraham ^ It accompanies the people of God 
 
 throuoh the aoes as a monitor and witness, sustainin<7 
 ... . . . 
 
 the spirit of patience, quickening expectation, and 
 
 kindling hope *. Like the incarnate Word Himself, 
 
 the written word reveals its true character only to those 
 
 in whom faith lives and the sense of need has been 
 
 awakened. To the Pharisee and the scribe Scripture 
 
 was practically a fetich ; to the cold and critical wisdom 
 
 of this world it is a dead thing to be dissected and 
 
 analyzed, or a common thing that may be rejected and 
 
 despised, or approved and patronized ; to faith and the 
 
 spirit of prayer Scripture is the very voice of God 
 
 which warns or encourages, the very eye of God which 
 
 watches and guides the soul. As employed indeed by 
 
 our Lord and His apostles, the function of Scripture 
 
 ^ Matt. iv. 4. 
 
 "^ Cp. Valeton, Christus tiftd das yi. 71 p. i8 : ' Durch ihn jedes Teilchen 
 der Schrift auf seinen rechten Platz komiut : das Kleine, vielleicht lange 
 iiberschatzt, wird klein : das Grosse, vielleicht wie der von Gott auser- 
 sehene Eckstein (cp. Matt. xxi. 42), lange von den Menschen verachtet, 
 wird gross. Er bringt Leben und Bewegung : er bringt Kp'uris; die 
 Schriften werden "erfiillt." ' 
 
 " Gal. iii. 8. * Rom. xv. 4. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 395 
 
 Stands -in close relation to their entire system of dealing 
 with human souls. The tendency of Pharisaism was 
 to bring men into leading-strings, ' to leave as little 
 as possible free to the individual conscience, but to 
 bring everything within the scope of positive ordin- 
 ance \' The free play of individuality, the development 
 of personal character, was utterly remote from the 
 range of their ideas. Even the ideals of prophecy 
 were to them of secondary interest. Their one aim 
 was to secure by a comprehensive discipline the prin- 
 ciple of technical holiness. They were dluid leaders of 
 the blind^^ inasmuch as they had lost all sense of pro- 
 portion in their estimation of Scripture. They clung 
 to what was temporary and transient ; they made what 
 was little great, what v^^as morally Indifferent all-impor- 
 tant, while they overlooked the broad tendency of 
 Scripture as a whole, and thus lost any sense of a con- 
 tinup:us divine utterance, and of a law written not on 
 tables of stone but in the heart of man. Of our Lord, on 
 the contrary. It is a truism to say that He cherishes and 
 reverences personality, that He ever aims at awaken- 
 ing and cultivating Individuality. He founded a Church 
 that was to be a school of individual character, in 
 which the diversified capacities of each soul were to be 
 freely developed ^ And the usage of the New Testa- 
 ment generally, to say nothing of th-e explicit teaching 
 of Christ, shows that In the work of moral and spiritual 
 education the study of the Old Testament discharges 
 a necessary function. It Is the light of the individual 
 conscience; it ministers to individual needs; it is an aid 
 to individual perfection ^. But such a use of Scripture 
 presupposes a living relationship to God, correspon- 
 dence with the gift of His Spirit, and an earnest purpose 
 to ascertain His mind and will ^ And thus the ulti- 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, p. 186. 
 
 2 Matt. XV. 14 ; xxiii. 16. ^ Cp. Col. i. 28 ; Eph. ii. lo. 
 
 * 2 Tim. iii. 17. 
 
 ' Aug. de util. cred. 13 : 'Quidquid est, mihi crede, in Scripturis illis 
 altum et divinum est : inest omnino Veritas, et reficiendis instaurandisque 
 animis accommodatissima disciplina; et plane ita modificata, ut nemo 
 
396 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 mate proof that a divine voice speaks in Scripture lies 
 in the region of spiritual experience. 
 
 The central point, however, of Christ's teaching 
 is that the revelation recorded in the Old Testa- 
 ment is mainly a revelation of human duty. If 
 we set aside those instances in which our Lord 
 reasons with the learned, and accommodates Himself 
 apparently to their standpoint and to their pre- 
 conceptions, it is striking how closely analogous His 
 teaching is to that of the prophets. The doctrine 
 of God's Fatherhood stands in the forefront of His 
 teaching, but He ever brings out its moral import 
 as implying an ideal of sonship by which the ethical 
 law of the Old Testament is transfigured. The old 
 obligations are not abolished, but are spiritualized. 
 The eternal principles of righteousness are extricated 
 from their temporary kernel. Christ recognizes the 
 element of accommodation in the ancient Law, and 
 His main work is to impart to His hearers a point of 
 view which will enable them to discern for themselves 
 between the provisional and the permanent elements 
 in the old dispensation, and to teach them that the 
 supreme requirement of God is not the righteousness 
 of conformity to outward law, but the holiness of 
 a heart purified by love towards God and towards 
 man. The lost sense of spiritual proportion was for 
 ever re-established in the statement that this, the law 
 of love, is the law and the prophets \ 
 
 3. Once more, Christ Himself and the New Testa- 
 ment writers represent the Old Testament as con- 
 stituting- an organic whole, to which the Messiah and 
 His kingdom are the key. They look upon the entire 
 preparatory dispensation as a shadow of good things 
 to come. The ordinances imposed under the ancient 
 system and the incidents described by sacred historians 
 were divinely overruled in such a way as to prefigure 
 
 inde haurire non possit quod satis est, si modo ad hauriendum devote ac 
 pie, ut vera religio poscit, accedat.' 
 ^ Matt. vii. 12 ; cp. xxii. y] foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 397 
 
 the mysteries and circumstances of the new covenant. 
 It was of Christ that Moses wrote ^ ; it was the suffer- 
 ings and glories of Christ that prophets unconsciously 
 described -. Of the apostolic writers each one seems 
 to give special prominence to one particular aspect of 
 the prophetic character ascribed to the Old Testament. 
 St. Paul discerns in the history of Abraham the as- 
 sertion of that principle of faith which preceded the 
 discipline of the Law, and lies at the root of the 
 relationship between God and man which is revealed 
 in Christ ^. St. Peter claims for the Christian Church 
 titles which imply that she is the heir of the covenant- 
 promises and privileges of God's ancient peopled 
 The writer to the Hebrews points to the fulfilment in 
 Christ both of the law of sacrificial worship and of the 
 purificatory rites of Judaism. The ancient ceremonial 
 system was a shadow or outline-sketch of heavenly 
 realities manifested in Christ ^ In the Apocalypse 
 St. John invests the incarnate Son with the glories of 
 the Messianic kingdom, unfolds the judgments of God 
 and the fortunes of the Church in symbolism derived 
 from the prophets, and describes the bliss of the 
 redeemed in imagery transferred from the earthly 
 Jerusalem to the heavenly sanctuary and the city of 
 God. 
 
 In this case again the justification of the method 
 employed in dealing with the Old Testament lies in 
 the appeal to spiritual experience. The prophetic 
 character of the ancient Scriptures is vindicated by the 
 skill which so applies them. ' The spiritual sense,' it 
 has been said, ' is its own proof, as a key by opening 
 a complicated lock sufficiently proves that it has been 
 designed for it ^' There is no need to enlarge on this 
 point, which will be dealt with later. Let it suffice to 
 
 ^ John V. 46. Our Lord's references to the fulfihnent of the Old 
 Testament in His own person and in the conditions of His earthly life 
 are amply illustrated by Valeton, CJiristus U7id das A. T. pp. 22 foil. 
 
 ^ I Pet. i. II. * Rom. iv ; Gal. iii. 
 
 * I Pet. ii. 9. ^ Heb. x. i. 
 
 ® Jukes, The Types of Genesis, p. xv. 
 
398 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 observe that this character of the old covenant corre- 
 sponds to the predominance of prophetism in Israel's 
 religion. For the creative element in Hebrew religion 
 was a real and continuous self-communication of God 
 to men ; the one Spirit was ever at work, enabling 
 those whom He inspired to anticipate His purposes, 
 and to read, each in his measure, the divine thoughts 
 for mankind \ Thus ' there is not one New Testa- 
 ment idea that cannot be conclusively shown to be 
 a healthy and natural product of some Old Testament 
 germ, nor any truly Old Testament idea which did not 
 instinctively press towards its New Testament fulfil- 
 ment^.' It is indeed characteristic of a divine religion 
 that its main ideas do not suddenly break in upon 
 human thought ; the wisdom of God prepares the soil 
 in which these ideas shall take root and flourish ; it 
 fosters anticipations which may welcome the truths 
 ultimately to be disclosed ; it impresses even upon 
 external incidents and ordinances tokens of what is to 
 come. The stage of promise, preceding that of law, 
 is a comprehensive prophecy, real though dimly under- 
 stood, of the goal towards which the whole religion 
 tends. And there is truth in the suggestive remark 
 of Augustine that the whole Old Testament is a 
 promise in figurative form ". It is only when we 
 endeavour to grasp the meaning of St. Paul's phrase 
 the fulness of Chi^ist ^ that we can do justice to the 
 many-sidedness of the Old Testament. In it the 
 various aspects of the Incarnation are presented in 
 fragmentary forms, 'Christ in His offices; in His 
 character; in His person; Christ in His relations to 
 God and man ; Christ in His body the Church ; Christ 
 as giving to God all that God required from man ; 
 Christ as bringing to man all that man required from 
 
 1 Cp. Schultz, O. T. Theology, i. p. 54. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 52. 
 
 ^ Serin, iv. {de Jacob et Esmi) 9: 'Vetus enim Testamentum est pro- 
 missio figurata; Novum Testamentum est promissio spiritaliter intel- 
 lecta.' 
 
 * Eph. i. 23. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 399 
 
 God ; Christ as seen in this dispensation in suffering ; 
 Christ as seen in the next dispensation in glory ; 
 Christ as the first and the last, as all and in all to His 
 people \' in whom all the promises of God are yea, and 
 in him Amen ^. 
 
 Enough has been now said to illustrate the method 
 observed by our Lord and the New Testament writers 
 in their use of the ancient Scriptures. Their example 
 teaches us that the true key to the Old Testament is / 
 possessed only by those who have the mind of Christ "', 
 and who are guided by the same Spirit that ' spake by 
 the prophets.' There are indeed one or two passages 
 in which our Lord seems to suggest principles of 
 scriptural interpretation which could be safely em- 
 ployed only by Himself. Such is His answer to the 
 Sadducees as tonching the dead that they rise^. Here 
 we have an instance of interpretation that necessarily 
 transcends any human method, and that raises far- 
 reaching questions as to the degree in which ordinary 
 minds can penetrate the significance of Scripture. 
 Only He who knew God with an absolute knowledge 
 could thus reveal a mystery necessarily involved in 
 covenant- relationship to Him. 
 
 The authoritative tone with which both here and in 
 the Sermon on the Mount Christ elucidates the inner 
 meaning of the ancient law constitutes an element in 
 His claim to be more than man, and it may well check 
 the temper of confidence with which men pass judg- 
 ment on the contents of the Old Testament, or criticize 
 the reasoning of the New. We cannot for a moment 
 suppose that with His unique spiritual insight our Lord 
 could mistake the real character of the Scriptures to 
 Avhich He so solemnly appeals. That He penetrates 
 to the very heart of their meaning, that He assigns to 
 each part of them the exact significance they were 
 
 ^ Jukes, The Law of the Offerings, p. 10. Cp. Rev. i. 17 ; Col. iii. II. 
 ^ 2 Cor. i. 20. ^ I Cor. ii. 16. 
 
 * Mark xii. 26 foil. Valeton, Christus tind das A. T. p. 43, makes some 
 good remarks on this passage. 
 
400 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 divinely intended to convey, that He grasped un- 
 erringly their general drift and their precise bearing on 
 His own work and mission, it is simply impossible to 
 doubt. And although, as we have seen, He does not 
 discard methods of interpretation which were in general 
 use at the period of His active ministry. He so employs 
 them as to rescue the Old Testament from the misuse 
 it had suffered at the hands of the scribes, and to 
 restore to the written word its rightful vitality and 
 authority. Thus to His Apostles and to His believing 
 Church Christ is verily ' the light of all Scripture.' 
 
 By way of summary it may be said that both Christ 
 and His apostles use the Scriptures with a certain 
 prophetic freedom. In the contrast between their 
 teaching and that of the scribes is implied the revival 
 of the spirit of prophecy. The word of God again 
 comes to Israel, again has free course. It is significant 
 indeed that the Old Testament is not expressly called 
 * the word of God' in the New. In the Gospels ' the 
 word of God ' means the oral delivery of the gospel. 
 It is not something written, but a living seed implanted 
 by the preaching of the divine message in the heart of 
 the hearer. Nay, Jesus Christ Himself is in utterance 
 and act the living sermo Dei^. In the Old Testament 
 the Word or Wisdom of God lives as the soul in the 
 body ; and every scribe instructed tmto the kingdom of 
 heaven must bring forth out of his ti^easure things new 
 as well as things old"^. Accordingly the apostolic 
 writers display a certain flexibility in their use of 
 exegetical methods and in their practical applications 
 of Old Testament Scripture, as if to teach us that 
 those who cling to rigid rules of exposition may fall far 
 short of ascertaining the mind of the Spirit. Practically 
 the New Testament points us to the tmction from the 
 Holy One^ as the only unfailing source of spiritual 
 truth. 
 
 * Cp. Meinhold,yi?j?cj und das A. T. p. 60. Consider the use of \6yos 
 in James i. 18 ; i Pet. i. 23. 
 
 '^ Matt. xiii. 52. ' ^ l John ii. 20. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 401 
 
 II. 
 
 What has been said respecting the use of the Old 
 Testament in the New is after all only introductory to 
 the main subject under consideration in the present 
 lecture. Our aim is to ascertain if possible the present 
 value and permanent function of the Old Testament 
 in the Christian Church, especially in view of those 
 critical conclusions which have so largely modified 
 traditional opinions respecting the character of the 
 ancient Scriptures. 
 
 First however, in view of these conclusions, there is 
 yet a final word to be said bearing upon the historical 
 character of the Old Testament records, and upon the ,/ 
 existence of a so-called ' mystical ' sense in Scripture. 
 
 We have already dealt at some length with the 
 historical element in the Old Testament, its nature and 
 its extent.Ni But the point now to be insisted on is 
 that we must recognize frankly the impossibility of 
 precisely determining the historical value of the narra- 
 tives in which Israel's history is contained. When 
 the character of the different materials is carefully 
 sifted, and when ordinary historical tests are employed, 
 it is manifest that elements are present in the Old 
 Testament which are historical only in form, and that 
 the history has been in part coloured by a poetical 
 imagination, in part interspersed with semi-historical 
 matter, with legal precedents in narrative shape, and 
 even with free creations of fancy ^ ,^ The modern 
 historical spirit arrives on different grounds at general 
 conclusions which were already reached by a somewhat 
 more subjective process in early times. In the fourth 
 book of the de Principiis Origen defends his theory 
 
 ^ The caution conveyed in some wise words of Prof. Vnleton is im- 
 portant : 'A historico-critical verdict upon a narrative is not equivalent 
 to a decision upon the historical character of the C7'cnts narrated. Even 
 though all the accounts relating to the foundation of Rome are relegated 
 to the sphere of legend, yet none the less Rome was founded.' (Quoted 
 from an Academical address in Christus tend das A. T. p. 40.} 
 
 Dd 
 
402 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 of the spiritual sense of Scripture by a free criticism 
 of the Old Testament narratives. It may be worth 
 while to illustrate his position by a few quotations. 
 ' The Scripture,' he says, ' has interwoven in the history 
 what did not actually happen ; in some places what 
 . could not possibly have happened ; in others what 
 might possibly have happened, but certainly did not 
 happen \' - In a subsequent passage Origen points out 
 that the narrative of the fall is purely figurative. 
 <^ \t conveys spiritual truths under the appearance of 
 history 2. It is true that the strictly historical narra- 
 tives are more numerous than the figurative ^ ; but 
 a fruitful cause of error is the temper which refuses to 
 penetrate beneath the letter to the inner mystical sense 
 of Scripture ^ beneath the corporeal or fleshly husk to 
 the spiritual kernels It is clear that Origen attached 
 no special value to the purely historical study of 
 Scripture, though he does not by any means over- 
 look the literal sense. What is chiefly to be noticed 
 is his readiness to acknowledge the presence of 
 a non-historical element in the Old Testament. He 
 recognizes, however, that even the semi-historical 
 portions of Scripture are full of inspired teaching, and 
 that their very existence in the Old Testament proves 
 that the purpose of the Bible is not to impart natural 
 knowledge that may be otherwise acquired, but to 
 ■y teach spiritual truth ^ Now modern criticism is chiefly 
 ^ concerned to determine the character and value of the 
 literary materials contained in the Old Testament; 
 
 ^ de Princ. iv. 15. Cp. similar statements in chh. 19, 20, and a strong 
 passage on the ceremonial law in hmn. vii. ad Lev it. § 5. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 16 5ia hoKOvar]% laTopias Kai ov acofxaTiKU)! yeyii'rjfx}iivr]i. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 19 TToWu) yap TrXftora eari to. Kara ti)v laropiav aXi^dtvufiiva, rap 
 TrpoavcpavdiVTav yvfivav nvevfiaTiKcou. 
 
 * /^/^. 9. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 1 1 (a-ap^ T?]S ypn(f)7ii) ; I4 (to o-cojunrtKoi/ rrjs ypn(f>ris). 
 
 ® Orig. /« Ge;!./!om.\v. i describes Scripture as 'secundum disciplinam 
 divinae eruditionis aptatam, neque tantum historicis narrationibus 
 quantum rebus et sensibus mysticis servientem.' Cp. in /erem. horn. 
 xxxix : ovK fo-riv Ibitra tv 1) pia Kepaln ytypappivr] iv rfj ypa<pr] rJTi.s toIs (niara- 
 pivois ;(pi5(r^ai r^ ^vvapfi. roiv ypappartav ovk fpyd^frai to iavTrjs epyov. Cp. 
 Aug. de util, cred. 9 s. fin. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 403 
 
 it considers indications of date and authorship ; it 
 estimates the time that separates the origin of a docu- 
 ment from the events recorded therein ; it examines the 
 inner consistency of the narrative, and its harmony with 
 facts otherwise ascertained : and no Christian student 
 of the present day can afford to neglect the ascertained 
 conclusions of critical science. But on the other hand, 
 when he has frankly recognized the distinction between 
 what is historical and what is semi-historical or imagi- 
 native, he will place himself on a level with ancient 
 Christianity in his endeavour to ascertain the spiritual 
 and personal bearing of what he reads. Augustine 
 had little or no opportunity of acquiring linguistic or 
 critical knowledge, but there is something strangely 
 modern in the tone of the following passage taken 
 from the first chapter of the de Genesi ad literam. 
 * In all the sacred books,' he says, 'our duty is to 
 examine what eternal truths are intimated therein, 
 what facts are narrated, what future events foretold, 
 what duties we are commanded or advised to perform. 
 - Accordingly in the narrative of actual facts inquiry is 
 made whether all things are to be accepted only in 
 a figurative sense, or whether they are also to be 
 maintained and defended as having literally occurred. 
 For that there are not things which must be figuratively 
 understood, no Christian will venture to affirm, if at 
 least he pays heed to the apostle's words Now all these 
 things happened tmlo them in a figure (i Cor. x. 11); 
 and to the text in Genesis, and they twain shall be one 
 flesh — a text which presents to us the great mystery of 
 Christ and of the Church V- Here Augustine recognizes 
 the need of discrimination between what is historical 
 and what is merely figurative. From a different starting- 
 point the modern Christian student arrives at a similar 
 point of view. In detail the conclusions of the ancient 
 and of the modern student would differ. But both, in 
 so far as they were true to the limitations of their know- 
 ledge, would surely admit that it is not only a great 
 
 ^ de Gen. ad Hi. i. I. 
 D d 2 
 
404 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [llct. 
 
 blunder, but a serious failure in truthfulness, to insist 
 overmuch on the historical element in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and to build indiscriminately on narratives which 
 have been conclusively shown to be utterly different in 
 literary quality and in historic worth. This cautious 
 position is entirely consistent on the one hand with 
 a profound and reverent sense of the spiritual precious- 
 ness of all, even of what is only apparently and not 
 really historical, and on the other with a frank suspense 
 of judgment in regard to details. We have already 
 pointed out that it is possible to overrate the import- 
 ance of certainty on many points of criticism ; Indeed, 
 it appears probable that some questions now In dis- 
 pute will practically prove to be beyond the range 
 of satisfactory solution. ■ It Is enough that we can 
 use the Old Testament narratives for purposes of 
 moral illustration ; while those which are true to fact 
 teach us what Almighty God has actually wrought or 
 ' allowed, those which are parabolic or Imaginative 
 reveal sometimes the anticipations and ventures of faith, 
 sometimes the thoughts of the Inspiring Spirit. Like 
 the parables of our Lord, they Illustrate the dealings 
 of God with men, or the progress of man's spiritual 
 education, or the workings of divine providence, or the 
 judgments that fall on sin and the blessings which 
 crown righteousness. \t is a priori probable that In 
 the literature of a religion of which prophecy is the 
 characteristic feature, there should be a considerable 
 element of what Is simply parabolic and figurative. ■ If 
 we follow the method of the New Testament writers 
 we shall use the Old Testament stories mainly for the 
 purpose of spiritual and moral edification, considering 
 (to use Augustine's phrase) q^iae ibi acterna intimentur\ 
 the spiritual depth and sublimity of such narratives as 
 that of Jacob's dream at Bethel, or that of the heavenly 
 feast and vision by which the divine covenant with 
 Israel was sealed. Is practically unaffected by con- 
 siderations as to their precise character.' It suffices 
 that they convey intimations of God's character, His 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 405 
 
 discnniinating providence, His purposes for mankind, 
 His ways of dealing widi the individual soul, which 
 have formed an integral element in the spiritual educa- 
 tion of our race. These and such-like things are 
 written for our admonition, and as Augustine elsewhere 
 says, we must diligently ponder their meaning * until 
 the interpretation is brought to bear upon the kingdom 
 of love \' For the end of God's ways is the sanctifica- 
 tion of man through a saving knowledge of Him. 
 
 o _o o 
 
 The existence and rationale of a 'secondary' or 
 ' mystical ' sense in Scripture next claims attention. 
 This is a question forced upon us not only by the 
 universal habit and tradition of the Catholic Church — 
 a fact which it would be supremely foolish and pre- 
 sumptuous to ignore — but also by the express teaching 
 of Scripture itself^. In their vindication of the claims 
 of biblical criticism and exegesis the humanists and the 
 early reformers insisted upon the principle that ' Scrip- 
 ture should be its own interpreter, and that it was not 
 to be interpreted by tradition or external authority ^.' 
 Now it is this very principle that justifies the recogni- 
 tion of a mystical sense in the Old Testament. It is 
 not merely the case that the New Testament writers 
 habitually treat the ancient Scriptures as symbolic and 
 prophetic in the widest sense. There is a certain con- 
 stancy in the employment of imagery^erived from nature 
 or from Israel's history which implies that both are 
 sacramental, that is, that they embody in local, visible, 
 and material forms and incidents the realities which 
 belong to a spiritual and eternal order. We have 
 already noticed that the spiritual sense of Scripture 
 is practically its own proof, but it is desirable to indicate 
 
 ^ de doc. iii. 15: 'Servabitur ergo in locutionibus figuratis regula 
 huiusmodi, ut tarn diu versetur diligenti consideratione quod legitur, 
 donee ad regnum carilatis interpretatio perducatur.' 
 
 2 See an article on 'The mystical interpretation of Holy Scripture,' in 
 the Church Quart eriy Revieiu, no. 43 (April, 1 886) : the Bavipton 
 Lectures for i S24, by the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, on ' The history and 
 limitations of the secondary and spiritual sense of Scripture'; Stanton, 
 The Jewish and ilie Christian Messiah, pp. 184 foil. 
 
 ^ Briggs, Biblical Sitidy, p. 331. 
 
4o6 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 briefly two independent grounds of reason on which 
 the practice of mystical interpretation ultimately rests. 
 Now it might be fairly argued that the very fact 
 that the Jewish mind displayed a tendency to allegorize 
 points to the presence of a considerable element of 
 allegory in the Hebrew writings themselves. But in 
 order to escape a possible charge of petitio principil it 
 is better to defend the method now in question by 
 other considerations. And first, there evidently under- 
 lies it a sense of the inexhaustible significance of 
 language when applied to subjects of spiritual contem- 
 plation, or when employed as a medium of divine self- 
 communication to man. Human language is obviously 
 inadequate as a vehicle of the thoughts of God ; it is 
 at best a sign pointing to the thing signified and 
 leading us back at one step to the sphere of nature 
 and human life, in which God reveals Himself by 
 means of the concrete language of outward fact ^. 
 "The fault of the rabbinical methods of dealing with 
 the letter of Scripture — methods which culminated in 
 the system of the Cabbala — was twofold : on the one 
 hand they ignored the human element in the Old 
 Testament, forgetting that the letter was human 
 though the spirit was divine ; on the other, they were 
 content with the manipulation of the letter instead of 
 passing beyond it into the broad fields of nature and 
 history -. The extravagances of mystical interpreta- 
 tion have in some instances perhaps been due to these 
 mistakes ; in others, doubtless, to a defective percep- 
 tion of the progressive character of revelation ^. More- 
 over, extravagance was closely allied to arbitrariness, 
 which even Origen appears to recognize in his admis- 
 sion that the mystical sense is not always certainly or 
 safely ascertainable ^ , The fact is that the study of the 
 
 ^ Cp. Newman, University Sermons, p. 268, and the suggestive 
 remarks of Mozley, University Sermons, pp. 134 foil. 
 
 ^ Cp. Briggs, op. cit. p. 302. 
 
 •' e.g., Aug. de doc. iii. 12 insists that the morally defective actions of 
 Old Testament characters are all figurative. 
 
 * de PritlC. ix oti, fxh oikoio/juu tlai tlks /xucrTt/cat 8t]\o{'fi(vai dia ToiV 
 
viii] JIIE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 407 
 
 written word, regarded as a revelation of the divine 
 mind, needs to be supplemented by devout contempla- 
 tion of the things and facts which human language only 
 imperfectly symbolizes. Augustine, after carefully distin- 
 guishing between signa propria and signa trmislata, that 
 is, between language literal and language metaphorical, 
 insists that a deeper knowledge of things is necessary 
 for comprehending the significance of scriptural terms. 
 Reruin ignorantia, he says, facit obsciiras Jigiiraias 
 loc7itiones^. In the language of Scripture a real though 
 imperfect impression is conveyed to man of the works 
 in which the eternal power and godhead oi the Creator 
 are made known. And possibly one of the reasons 
 why our Lord adop'ted the parable as His chosen 
 method of instruction was that while His words were 
 often perverted or misunderstood owing either to the 
 malignity or to the literalistic habit of mind of His 
 different hearers, His parabolic teaching was calculated 
 to direct attention to the correspondence between two 
 classes of facts, between the processes of nature and 
 the operations of grace. It implied that all the works 
 of God are words, and that nothing is unspiritual or 
 void of signification in a universe the Creator of which 
 is a living spirit -^ 
 
 A sacramental view of the universe, then, seems to 
 be everywhere presupposed in Scripture, the visible 
 
 deiSiV ypa<^o)v, rravres Koi ot aKepaioraTOi twv tw Xoyco TrpoaiovTcov nc!n(TTivKa(ri. 
 rives 8i avrai. ol fvyvwfiovfs koi arvcpoi o/xoXoyoCcrt fif) elSevm. 
 
 ^ de doc. ii. 16. Cp. T. Aquinas, Stunma Theol. i. q. i, art. 10: 'Auctor 
 sacrae scripturae est Deus in cujus potestate est ut non solum voces ad 
 significanduni acconimodet (quod etiam homo facere potest) sed etiaiti 
 res ipsas.' 
 
 " Cp. Trench, Notes on the Parables, Introd. p. 18. I cannot refrain 
 from quoting a striking statement of a divine whose cautious and scholarly 
 temperament inclined him to distrust anything like the play of imagination 
 in the exegesis of Scripture. The late Dr. Hatch in his Hibtcrt Lectures, 
 pp. 83, 84, points out the permanent principle which underlies the method 
 of mystical or allegorical interpretation. ' It is based,' he says, ' upon 
 an element in human nature which is not likely to pass away. Whatever 
 be its value in relation to the literature of the past, it is at least the 
 expression in relation to the present that our lives are hedged round by 
 the unknown ; that there is a haze about both our birth and our de- 
 parture, and that even the meaner facts of life are linked to infinity.' 
 
4o8 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 creation being a type of the spiritual world. Thomas 
 Aquinas indeed finds the rationale of different senses 
 in Scripture not in the nature of the written letter, but 
 in the concrete realities behind them. Ipsae res signifi- 
 catae per voces, he says, aliariim rerum posswit esse 
 signa^. The Cabbalistic manipulation of the written 
 word is not only discredited by the stubborn facts 
 of textual criticism ; it is based upon a shallow and 
 unphilosophical view of the nature of language. The 
 curiosities which it brings to light are of that unprofit- 
 able kind which minister questions rather than godly 
 edifying zvJiich is in faith 2. 
 
 j A second justification of mystical interpretation is to 
 be found in the relation subsisting between Judaism 
 and Christianity. The new religion clearly has an 
 organic connexion and essential continuity with the 
 old. Both rest on the same foundation, namely, a self- 
 revelation of God resulting in new religious experiences 
 ' and a new standard of human duty/^Both are dominated 
 by the idea of the kingdom of God as the consumma- 
 tion of history and the goal towards which nature 
 tends. Mn both the divine requirement is the same. 
 Faith is essentially the same quality in both dispensa- 
 tions, in spite of the fact that the object-matter of faith 
 is not in all respects identical ^"''"' Finally, the idea of 
 salvation is the same in both, with the difference that 
 in the Old Testament God condescends to moral im- 
 maturity by embodying His promises in material and 
 transitory forms ^ From the unity of the Author of 
 
 ^ Stcmina, i. q. i, art. lo. Cp. Waterland, pref. to Scripture Viitdicated 
 {Works, vol. vi. p. 7) : ' The words properly bear but one sense, and that 
 one sense is the literal one ; but the thing expressed by the letter is 
 further expressive of something sublime or spiritual.' 
 
 "^ I Tim. i. 4 ; cp. vi. 4. 
 
 ^ Cp. Riehm, ATI. T/ieologie, p. 34. 
 
 * Aug. de pecc. iiier. et reniiss. i. 53 : * In illis [libris V. T.] quod 
 occultatur sub velamento velut terrenarum promissionum, hoc in Novo 
 Testamento praedicatione revelatur.' Cp. c. duas epp. Pelag. iii. 13 : 'Ideo 
 in illo sunt promissa terrena, in isto promissa coelestia : quia et hoc ad 
 Dei misericordiam pertinuit ne quisquam vel ipsam terrenam qualem- 
 cumque felicitateni nisi a Domino creatore universitatis putet cuiquam 
 posse conferri.' 
 
 I 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 409 
 
 revelation follows the New Testament principle that 
 no prophecy is of private iiiierpretation^. It has been 
 repeatedly made manifest in the course of redemptive 
 history that Scripture has successive applications which 
 correspond to different stages in the work of God. 
 Spiritual laws declared by prophecy, or set forth in 
 typical institutions, or in the personal discipline of 
 Hebrew saints and heroes, were seen to be con- 
 tinuously in operation, and from time to time working 
 themselves out afresh. Accordingly, what had been 
 originally spoken of the chosen nation, such as the 
 passage Out of Egypt have I called my son, found 
 a fresh and ideal fulfilment in Him who embodied in 
 His representative humanity the people from which, 
 as touching the flesh, He sprang, and who recapitu- 
 lated in His own life the experience of all the 
 ancient saints. ^ And what was truly accomplished in 
 Him necessarily had a mystical reference also to 
 the true spiritual Israel of God of which He was 
 the founder and archetype -. Finally, the individual 
 Christian, in so far as he realizes his union with 
 Christ, discerns in the narrative of Israel's fortunes 
 and in the institutions of its polity or worship a kind 
 of picture, writ large, of his own spiritual course, and 
 of the truths by which he lives. He recognizes 
 the application of the history to himself in his own 
 religious experience. He finds that ' it is true of him- 
 self in virtue of his relation to the Church, and as one 
 member of that redeemed body V Indeed, the very 
 
 ^ 2 Pet. i. 20. 
 
 2 Valeton, Christtis tend das A. T. p. 25, makes a striking remark : ' Ich 
 glaube, die Schriften werden nie mit mehr unmittelbarer Anwendung auf 
 den Leser selbst gelesen und durchstudiert worden sein als von dem 
 Herrn. Was nacii Ausweis der Schriften Gott zu verschiedenen Zeicen 
 und auf mancherlei Weise in und mit dem israelitischen Volke gethan 
 hat, an sich selbst sieht er es erst ziir vollcn Verwirklichung herangereift ; 
 . . . was Israel sein sollte, Jesus ist sich bewusst es wirklich zu sein: er 
 ist der Messias, der Menschensohn, derjenige, der da kommen soil, — 
 Gottes Ratschluss ist in ihm erfijllt' 
 
 ^ This principle is of course recognized by Augustine in his discussion 
 of the ' Rules of Tichonius '; see especially de doc. iii. 34. Cp. Jukes, The 
 Mystery of the Kingdom^ pp. 17, 25. Observe, the application of Scripture 
 
4IO THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lfct. 
 
 distinction between Israel after the flesh and Israel 
 after the spirit, between the seed of Abraham literally 
 understood and the children of Abraham by promise, 
 implies that there is a necessary spiritual application 
 of the Old Testament to those who constitute the 
 spiritual Israeli - What in the letter belongs to the 
 ancient people can only be figuratively or mystically 
 applicable to the Church. That it is so applicable is 
 ■warranted by the express teaching of the New Testa- 
 ment and attested by the universal experience of 
 Christians. The mystery of solidarity in the kingdom 
 of grace is the basis and justification of the mystical 
 interpretation of Scripture. The facts of redemptive 
 history point beyond themselves in so far as they 
 illustrate living laws of the divine government and 
 self-manifestation ; in so far as they are moments in 
 the forthcoming of the eternal Word 'whose path is 
 and ever must be one ^.' , If the Incarnation was indeed 
 a great ' recapitulation ' of the past ^ the manifestation 
 in its fullness of a divine purpose predestined from 
 the beginning, it is not surprising that the actions 
 and experiences of ancient prophets, saints, priests, 
 martyrs, and kings should have been prophetic ; 
 that in these should have been foreshadowed different 
 aspects of Christ's office and person. Such partial 
 and fragmentary indication of good things to be fully 
 revealed in the future is consistent with all that we 
 know of the divine character and methods. 
 
 Again, the typical element in the Old Testament dis- 
 pensation seems to follow from the constancy of spiritual 
 
 to the individual soul seems to constitute the moral or fivpological s&nse, 
 or 'soul' of Scripture. Thus Orig. hojn. i. in Exod. § 4 (speaking of 
 Joseph's history) says : ' Sed et moralefn in his non omittamus locum ; 
 aedificat ejtivi anhnas attdito)tiin' 
 
 ' Gal. iv. 29. Aug. enarr. i. in psalm, xxi. § 25 explains ' semen 
 Israel' as 'omnes ad novam vitam nati, et ad visionem Dei reparati.' 
 
 - Cp. Jukes, The Mystery of the Kingdom, p. 18 : 'Whether it be Israel 
 of old, or one of Israel, or Christ, or the Church, or the believer, each, if 
 faithful to his calling, is or has been a vessel for the manifestation of the 
 Word whose path is and ever must be one.' 
 
 ^ Eph. i. 10, 
 
VIII] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 411 
 
 law in. the universe. The relation of faith to God and 
 to the facts of Hfe is essentially the same in every age. 
 There are facts and circumstances in history which 
 have a representative character, which exemplify the 
 operation of a moral principle and are accordingly 
 prophetic \ ■- A particular spiritual experience neces- 
 sarily repeats itself because the needs and trials of 
 
 human nature in successive grenerations remain con- 
 es 
 
 stant and unchanged, and because God is eternally 
 self-consistent in His character and in His dealings 
 with mankind. And it may be observed, in conclusion, 
 that the typical character of Israel's history corresponds 
 to the prophetic character of its religion. In a typical 
 transaction, object, or person a law of the spiritual 
 world is to be observed in actual operation. In 
 prophecy the intellect of man, guided by the divine 
 Spirit, lays hold of the law and brings it to the light. 
 Thus, while the continuity of revelation makes the 
 institutions and the history of Israel actually typical or 
 symbolic, it is the office of the prophetic faculty to 
 exhibit its inner significance. There is every reason 
 a priori to suppose that the sacred writers or compilers 
 were controlled by the Holy Spirit in their selection, 
 and even in their omission ^, of particular incidents and 
 events. They were guided ' to record them in such 
 a way that over and above the -direct moral and 
 spiritual instructiveness they should be susceptible of 
 a parabolic interpretation too V 
 
 ^ Alexander of Hales in his Sumina Theologiae (i. q. i, mem. i) makes 
 a striking remark : ' In sacra scriptura ponitur historia non ea ratione seu 
 fine ut significentur singulares actus hominum significatione sermonum, 
 sed ut significentur universales actus et conditiones pertinentes ad infor- 
 mationem et contemplationem divinorum mysteriorum significatione 
 rerum. . . . Introducitur ergo in historia sacrae scripturae factum singulare 
 ad significandum universale.' 
 
 ^ Thus the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews argues from the silence 
 of Scripture in vii. 3, not surely, as Prof. Hommel insists, from another 
 version of Genesis, now lost. The remark of Augustine about the Gospel 
 narratives may be applied to those of the Old Testament : ' Tanta facta 
 sunt quanta tunc fieri debuerunt ; tanta scripta sunt quanta nunc legi 
 debuerunt ' {serm. in dieb. Pasch. ccxl). 
 
 ^ See art. in Ch. (2tcari. Review, above mentioned* 
 
412 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 Having dealt with these preHminary points we may 
 turn to the consideration of the permanent function 
 which the Old Testament seems designed to fulfil in 
 the education of Christian faith. In discussing this 
 subject, we shall naturally bear in mind the peculiar 
 needs and circumstances of our own day. 
 
 I. The main purpose of the Old Testament is to 
 be inferred from consideration of the primary element 
 in our Lord's own teaching. He came into the 
 world for the express purpose of revealing to men 
 the mind, the character, and the will, of Almighty God. 
 He pointed men to the Scriptures as a true source of 
 divine knowledge. Their readiness to accept Himself 
 would be proportionate to the anticipations they had 
 already formed of God. If they read the ancient 
 Scriptures aright they would be prepared for a dis- 
 closure of the divine life and character, crowning and 
 not contradicting the recorded revelations of the past. 
 Diligent search of the Scriptures would train and 
 develope certain preconceptions, which were likely to 
 welcome the manifestation of the incarnate Son. The 
 study of Israel's history under the guidance of the 
 prophets would prepare the Hebrew mind for a revela- 
 tion of grace transcending, but strictly consistent with, 
 the wonderful dealings of God in the past. 
 
 In the Old Testament, then, we find a revelation of 
 God's nature and character which justifies and inter- 
 prets to us our faith in Christ. The message of the 
 Old Testament, it has been said, is summed up in one 
 word — the word God \ A personal, holy, spiritual, 
 and gracious Being there manifests Himself. We can 
 study His dealings with men in almost every stage of 
 development and culture ; we can watch Him educating 
 His elect people and nurturing the heathen; we see 
 Him as a Judge punishing sins, as a Father dis- 
 ciplining His children. What is the great truth 
 which the history of Israel enforces, and which is 
 a necessary element in the religious view of the world ? 
 
 ' G, A. Smith, The Preachmg of the Old Testament to the Age, p. 57. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 413 
 
 The answer to this question is that the Old Testament 
 impresses upon us the thought that in His moral 
 government of the world Almighty God sets before 
 Himself one aim, that of bringing His creatures to the 
 highest degree of perfection of which their nature is 
 capable. The moral perfection of man — this is the 
 goal of human history. In the divine view of the 
 world all else appears to be of subordinate importance. 
 The tremendous discipline to which Israel was sub- 
 jected is a measure of the supreme place assigned in 
 the universe to moral law. The Old Testament 
 exhibits to us the Creator taking in hand that one 
 among His creatures which is capable of holding 
 communion with Him and of wearing His image and 
 likeness, carrying him through all the stages of an age- 
 long discipline, and finally bringing His purpose to 
 accomplishment. Nor is there anything perhaps more 
 necessary in our day than a revival in men's minds of 
 a just conception of the divine purpose which is slowly 
 working itself out in national history. From the Old 
 Testament history we learn what is the meaning of 
 the stern discipline of war, pestilence, and famine, of 
 national distress and signal public catastrophes, of the 
 vicissitudes and shocks which darken the lives of 
 individual men. All these things are divinely intended 
 either to heighten the standard of national righteous- 
 ness, or to advance the work of personal sanctification. 
 Nothing can more forcibly bring home this lesson, at 
 least to the generality of men, than the inspired record 
 of God's dealings with His people in the time of old. 
 In legend and allegory, in narrative and song, in the 
 homely wisdom of proverbs and in the inspired inter- 
 pretations of history, the spirit of faith reads one 
 continuous lesson : This is the will of God, even your 
 sanctification ^ The passion for moral beauty, the 
 thirst for righteousness, which fired the Puritans of 
 the seventeenth century, was to a great extent nourished 
 by the zealous study of the Old Testament; and in 
 
 ' I Thess. iv. 3. 
 
414 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 these days of paralyzing moral scepticism and frequently 
 misdirected moral energy it is well to learn once more 
 from its pages what are the things best worth living 
 for, and what is the consummation on which the Lord 
 of all the earth has set His heart: namely, the 
 exaltation of humanity into moral fellowship with the 
 divine life. 
 
 But the Old Testament does not merely reveal and 
 illustrate the aim of God's moral government ; it also 
 exhibits the methods and laws of His action. God is 
 manifested as one who bears with man in his present 
 condition in order to raise him to a higher level. 
 God separates man from the sphere of sin and corrup- 
 tion in order to make him a co-operating agent in the 
 execution of a world-wide purpose of grace ; He uses 
 man's social instincts and tendency to corporate life 
 as the main instrument in his moral development- 
 A kingdom of God is planted upon earth, a sphere 
 within which the quickening forces of the divine 
 Spirit visibly work, a centre of life and light amid the 
 darkness of universal death. And the Old Testament 
 history anticipates and prefigures the fortunes of the 
 Messianic kingdom. For it is the history of an elect 
 people, of a Church invested with a mission to man- 
 kind. In the story of Israel's lapses and revivals, 
 distresses and failures, advances and conquests, we 
 have a divine commentary on ' the chequered annals 
 of Christendom \' The broad principles of redemptive 
 history do not change with the ages, since they reflect 
 the very being of God and correspond to the com- 
 prehensive unity of His plan ; they manifest themselves 
 anew in the kingdom of the Incarnation, they finally 
 triumph in the consummation of all things. 
 
 Once more, while the Old Testament history illustrates 
 the diversity of the means by which the divine will is 
 ultimately accomplished, we are nevertheless struck 
 by one special feature in the narrative, namely the 
 prominence of suffering. It has been justly observed 
 
 ^ Westcott, Ep. to the Hebrews, p. 494. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 415 
 
 that Scripture is a record of human sorrow ; certainly 
 the Old Testament teaches more emphatically than 
 any other literature the moral necessity of suffering- as 
 a factor in man's development and in his progress 
 from that which is natural to that zuhich is spiriliial'^. 
 In the culminating vision of prophecy, the exilic 
 picture of the afflicted servant of Jehovah bearing the 
 sin of his people, we see disclosed ' the innermost secret 
 of the divine way of salvation ^.' The sober solemnity- 
 which pervades the entire history of the Old Testa- 
 ment corresponds to the dominant aspect of human 
 life ; it is the story of faith passing through days of 
 warfare and trial. So too the poetry and the wisdom 
 of the Hebrews give utterance to the complaints, or 
 reflect the perplexities, of righteous men suffering 
 without a cause. In every part of the Old Testa- 
 ment the Hebrew mind is as it were being prepared 
 for the appearance on the stage of human life of the 
 Man of sorrows. The trials of Abraham and Isaac, the 
 sorrows of Jacob and Joseph, the discipline of Israel 
 in the wilderness, the wrongs endured by the first true 
 king, the persecutions that befell holy men of God — • 
 psalmists, prophets, martyrs, and saints ; the afflictions 
 of the righteous remnant in exile — a moment's reflexion 
 will show us how large a part these played in the slow 
 fulfilment of the divine purpose, - how constant an 
 element they formed in the spiritual education of 
 mankind. Man, like Joseph, dreams of rule : he is 
 sustained by the light of the divine blessing which 
 whispers to him of dominion ; but it is only by the 
 way of sorrow that he attains that for which he was 
 intended from the first. In the Old Testament the 
 whole warfare of man upon earth is set forth. The 
 law of man's glorification is already clearly ex- 
 hibited : If ive suffer with him we shall also reign with 
 him ". 
 
 Thus the study of the Old Testament tends to 
 
 ^ I Cor. XV. ■46. "^ Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 430. 
 
 ^ 2 Tim. ii, 12 ; cp. Rom. viii. 17. 
 
4i6 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 deepen our impression of the constancy and perpetuity 
 of those great spiritual laws which govern and guide 
 the development of mankind. In its fullness the divine 
 character makes itself known only in the life and 
 teaching of our Saviour ; but there are elements in 
 that character which seem to emerge, so to speak, at 
 different intervals and on critical occasions in the 
 history of Israel : the holiness of God revealing itself 
 in the promulgation of the moral law and in the 
 ordinances of the levitical sanctuary ; His long- 
 suffering and readiness to pardon being manifested in 
 His dealings with those who provoked and disobeyed 
 Him in the wilderness, and in the providential tender- 
 ness with which He <5^r^ and carried His people all 
 the days of old^\ while His patience and tenacity of 
 purpose is exhibited in the restoration of His exiled 
 people to their own land, and in the revival of His 
 work in the midst of a dreary waste of years -. Every 
 student of the Old Testament can fill up these outlines 
 for himself; but speaking generally, the point of chief 
 importance is that we should regain and deepen the 
 sense of what is most fundamental in the teaching of 
 the ancient Scriptures, namely the reality of God's 
 eternal purpose — the perfection of man ; the method 
 of His action — taking man as he is in order to make 
 him what he is capable of becoming; the means He 
 employs in the execution of His will — the discipline 
 of suffering. We are to get into the habit of reading 
 modern history in the light of the spiritual purpose 
 revealed in Scripture, and to judge of movements 
 social and political by their effects on human character. 
 We are to learn from the prophetic philosophy of 
 history that ' the fates of nations are conditioned 
 by their bearing towards the moral purpose of 
 GodV 
 
 2. A second great purpose of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures is comprehensively described in our Lord's 
 
 ' Isa. Ixiii. 9. ^- Hab. iii. 2. 
 
 "^ Pfleiderer, Gifford Lectures, vol. ii. p. 42. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 417 
 
 declaration to the Jews : t/icy are they which testify of 
 me^. Christ in all the varied aspects of His person 
 is the final cause and ultimate explanation of the Old 
 Testament, nor can we understand even imperfectly 
 what is meant by His 'Messianic self-consciousness' 
 without its aid. Origen indeed observes that the very 
 proof of its inspiration lies in the fact of Christ's 
 advent 2. Certainly the true character of the ancient 
 Scriptures is only manifest in the light of the Incarna- 
 tion. A product so vast and wonderful can only be 
 supposed to stand in vital relation to some unique 
 event in human history, for which it prepares the way. 
 In this connexion it is unnecessary to do more than 
 direct attention to the organic unity of the Old 
 Testament regarded as a history of redemption. The 
 fact of this unity is presupposed in the science of Old 
 Testament theology, which assumes that every element 
 and institution in the discipline of the Hebrew nation 
 had a direct bearing upon the fulfilment of a single 
 divine purpose. If the idea of redemption is the 
 keynote of the Old Testament, the advent of a 
 Redeemer is its goal and consummation. But just 
 in proportion as the idea of redemption is profound 
 and complex, the unity of aim that marks the Old 
 Testament implies an infinite variety in the character 
 of its component parts. Jesus Christ came not to 
 destroy but to fulfil the teaching of the Old Testa- 
 
 ' John V. 39. 
 
 ^ de Pri)ic. iv. 6. It is scarcely necessary to say that in the early 
 Church the Old Testament was chiefly valued for apoloo'etic and con- 
 troversial purposes. The argument from prophecy vvas ' the one formal 
 method of proof employed by the first Christians. Stanton, TJie Jewish 
 and CJn-istian Messiah, p. 176. The argument from prophecy has gained 
 in force by being restated in accordance with our wider critical know- 
 ledge. In its modern form it is parallel to the argument from design, 
 laying less emphasis upon particular predictions and resting rather on 
 the broad general correspondence between prophecy and fulfilment. For 
 a contemptuous but somewhat belated estimate of prophecy, see 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith's recent Gi/esscs at /he Riddle of Existence, pp. 167 
 foil. The writer's general point of view will be plain from the following 
 extract: 'The Messiahship of Jesus is a question with which we need 
 practically concern ourselves no more. The Messiah was a dream of 
 the tribal pride of the Jew to which ... we may bid a long farewell.' 
 
 E e 
 
4i8 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 ment; but His person was so mysterious, His work 
 so many-sided, that each portion of the book which 
 fore-announced His coming may reasonably be sup- 
 posed to have reference to some aspect of His person 
 or some element in His work. Thus if, as St. Paul 
 teaches, Christ is the second Adam, it is evident that 
 the mysterious narrative of man's origin in some way 
 prefigures the work of the new creation exhibited in 
 the life of the incarnate Son. The titles Lamb of 
 God and Oitr Passover recall the solemn associations 
 connected with Israel's deliverance from bondage, and 
 its formation into an elect people of God. The name 
 Jesus points back to the ministry and achievements of 
 Joshua. The word Saviour recalls the memory of the 
 deliverers under whose auspices Israel gained secure 
 possession of the land of their inheritance. The name 
 David or Son of David appropriates to Christ the 
 experiences of the first true king and his godly suc- 
 cessors on the throne ; in Christ the mystery of the 
 kingdom finds its fulfilment. The title Messiah 
 embraces the spiritual counterpart of all offices dis- 
 charged by those on whom under the old Law the 
 sacred unction had been bestowed ; it includes the 
 dignity of kingship, and in a subordinate degree the 
 functions of prophecy and the grace of priesthood. 
 So, again, when our Lord refers to the temple of his 
 body, or to His blood as the blood of the new covenant, 
 or to His death as a ransom for many, or to His 
 sacred flesh as fneat indeed, it is obvious that He points 
 to the entire sacrificial system and the very structure 
 of the ancient sanctuary as typical of Himself. Finally, 
 when He refers to Himself as the Wisdom of God He 
 seems to bring within the range of the Messianic 
 element in Scripture the whole khokmah literature ; 
 while His comparison of Himself to a Bridegroom 
 justifies the symbolical application of Solomon's Song. 
 Our Lord's teaching in fact suggests and implies much 
 more than it explicitly declares ; namely, that in His 
 own person and work all that was limited, shadowy, 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 419 
 
 fragmentary, or disconnected in the writings and 
 characters of the Old Testament, was harmonized, 
 developed, and completed. His life and teaching, 
 His death and exaltation, formed together or singly 
 the key to the true interpretation of Scripture, and the 
 principle of its unity. In narrative, symbol, prophecy, 
 and song. Christians may discern the outlines of His 
 living form ; in every righteous hero, in every innocent 
 sufferer, in every steadfast martyr, in every victorious 
 king, in every prisoner of hope, in every ministering 
 priest, in every dispenser of blessing, we may see 
 Christ Himself In every typical ordinance some 
 aspect of His Messianic office is prefigured, in each 
 judgment on sin His coming is anticipated, in every 
 prophet His Spirit speaks, in every conqueror of 
 God's enemies He is the victor, in every afflicted 
 saint He complains, in every godly king He reigns \ 
 
 What has just been said suggests the further remark 
 that the Messianic quality of many Old Testament 
 passages depends on their idealistic character. It has 
 been said that the true justification of man}^ New 
 Testament quotations from the Old is simply the broad 
 principle that what is ideal is Messianic. Thus the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews in his employ- 
 ment of the eighth Psalm, and St. Peter in his reference 
 to the sixteenth -, seem to base their argument on 
 a definite law of scriptural interpretation. Christian 
 teachers would doubtless gradually accustom them- 
 selves to read highly idealistic passages of Scripture 
 in the light of the Messianic expectation, and ascribe 
 to them a certain secondary or mystical meaning, thus 
 expanding and spiritualizing their original sense. The 
 
 ■• Cp. Aug. c. Faust. UTati. xix. 31 : 'Quod [sc. regnum caelorum] ori 
 ejus etiam nominandum servabatur quem regem ad regcndos, ct sacerdo- 
 tem ad sanctificandos fideles suos universus ille apparatus Veteris 
 Instrument! in generationibus, factis, dictis, sacrificiis, observationibus, 
 festivitatibus, omnibusque eloquiorum praeconiis et rebus gestis et rerum 
 figuris parturiebat esse venturum ; qui plenus gratia et vcritatc et ad 
 praecepta facienda adjuvando per gratiam et ad promissa implenda 
 curando per veritatem, venit legem non solvere sed adimplerc.' 
 
 2 Heb. ii. 6 foil. ; Acts ii. 25 loll. 
 
420 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 idealistic tendency indeed, like other peculiarities of 
 the Hebrew writers, was doubtless ever under the 
 control and guidance of the divine Spirit and was 
 made to minister to His purposes. The prophet or 
 psalmist was thus led to use language the full scope 
 and application of which was hidden from himself, but 
 which had a divinely intended reference to distant 
 events concealed in the foreknowledge of God \ This 
 habit of the Hebrew mind did not necessarily imply 
 that it spiritualized the persons or events which it 
 invested with ideal dignity or significance. On the 
 contrary, it delighted in concrete imagery ; it described 
 even spiritual realities in terms of the non-spiritual ; it 
 regarded the material universe as the sphere of divine 
 self-manifestation ; it linked physical nature to the lot 
 of man, and to the purposes of God. And in the 
 interpretation of prophecy we have to remember how 
 hyperbolical and highly-coloured is the symbolism 
 used to express or prefigure spiritual truths or events. 
 The most awful phenomena of nature foreshadow 
 solemn crises in the spiritual history of mankind. So 
 St. Peter, describing the gift of Pentecost, tells his 
 hearers that this is tkatzvhick zuas spoken by the prophet 
 Joel'^. The pouring out of the Spirit was an event 
 so momentous that it could only be described in terms 
 of fearful natural phenomena. / zvill show zvonders in 
 heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and 
 fire and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into 
 darkness and the moon into blood before that great and 
 notable day of the Lord come. The same general 
 principle of interpretation, viz. that everything ideal 
 
 ^ The hyperbolical and transcendental language of some of the psalms 
 (e.g. Ps. xxii) seems dictated by a consciousness in the writer that the 
 spiritual principles discernible in the facts of the present were destined 
 to find a more complete expression in the future. See the article in Ch. 
 Quart. Review already cited. Stanton, T]ie Jewish a?ui tJie CJtrisiian 
 Messiah, p. 98, well remarks : ' On the ground of this divine intention, 
 those who start from the full Christian idea of the Messiah are justified 
 in noting as Messianic every element of thought in the Old Testament 
 which was eventually taken up into the complete idea.' ' 
 
 2 Acts ii. 16 foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 421 
 
 has reference to the Messiah and His kuigdom, seems 
 to guide St. John's use of Old Testament imagery in 
 the Apocalypse. It is, however, enough to have 
 briefly indicated a rule observed by New Testament 
 writers in the Messianic application of prophecy, which 
 is very simple and comprehensive, but which we might 
 easily overlook. It seems to give us a clue to the 
 freedom and boldness with which the ancient Scriptures 
 are applied to the person of Christ and the fortunes 
 of the Church. All forms of nobleness or loveliness, 
 all types of excellency or majesty, are seen in the light 
 of the Incarnation to be only shadows of the uncreated 
 beauty: but the body is of Christ^. The song of the 
 redeemed claims for Him all that excites the wonder 
 or merits the praise of man : Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slaui to receive power, and riches, and zvisdoni, and 
 strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing"-. 
 
 3. A third great function of the Old Testament is 
 that of forming and training human character. This 
 function it discharges partly by its explicit and formal 
 teaching, partly by presenting living patterns of 
 humanity by which we are taught hoiu to zvalk and to 
 please God^. 'The morality of the Old Testament' is 
 a phrase to be used with discrimination. There is the 
 morality which God tolerates as the best that can be 
 attained under the rudimentary conditions and circum- 
 stances of those with which He is dealing. There is 
 the morality which He approves and delights in because 
 it rises above the average level of the age in which it 
 appears. There is the morality at which He aims — 
 the final or perfect morality which is disclosed in the 
 spotless life of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there 
 is the morality recognized or allowed by the standard 
 generally prevalent at a particular time, but retrogres- 
 sive in so far as it falls short of a higher standard 
 
 ^ Col. ii. 17. ^ Rev. v. 12. 
 
 ^ I Thess. iv. i. See Aug. dc doc. ii. 9 : * In his omnibus libiis timentes 
 Deum et pietate mansueti quaerunt voluntatem Dei ' ; iii. 10 : ' Non autem 
 praecipit scriptura nisi caritatem, nee culpat nisi cupiditatcm, et eo mode 
 informat mores hominum.' 
 
422 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 already acknowledged. And it is this which is plainly 
 described as hateful to God, and as bringing down upon 
 men the fire of His judgment. Take the great sin of 
 David for instance — a sin of which it was truly said 
 that it had g-ivcii great occasion to the enemies of the 
 Lord to blaspheme ^ The man after God's own heart 
 falls into deeds which might have been matters of 
 every-day occurrence in an ordinary oriental court. 
 David acts as any eastern monarch might have acted 
 who was not restrained by a conscience educated under 
 the discipline of a recognized moral law. But in one 
 single sentence the true character of David's deed is 
 declared — the thing that David had done displeased the 
 Lord^. And his subsequent history is the divine com- 
 mentary on his crime ; the sword never departing from 
 David's house, the rebellion of his favourite son with 
 all its fatal consequences, the outbreaks of lawless 
 passion by which the royal household was subsequently 
 defiled, the over-clouded and sorrow-laden old age of 
 the king himself. Thus even in the historical narra- 
 tives the eternal requirement of God for man and His 
 thoughts concerning human sin are made abundantly 
 manifest. Augustine indeed insists that the sins of the 
 ancient saints of God are described in order to teach 
 us humility. ' There is not a page,' he declares, ' in 
 the sacred books which does not ring with the truth 
 that God resisteth the prozcd, diet giveth grace unto the 
 humble^' If evil is described, it is described in its 
 nakedness and loathsomeness ; if it is denounced as by 
 the prophets, it is denounced in words that burn, in 
 sentences that might well ' make mad the guilty and 
 appal the free'; while, on the other hand, the great 
 outlines of religious character and the primary elements 
 of human duty are everywhere set forth, with a con- 
 tinual tendency (as in the more humane injunctions of 
 the Law) to raise the whole standard of morality, and to 
 encourage the growth of that inwardness, that purity 
 
 ^ 2 Sam. xii. 14. "^ 2 Sam. xi. 27. 
 
 ^ de doc. iii, 23. Cp. Jas. iv. 6. 
 
 J 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 423 
 
 of mative which is the distinguishing mark of Christian 
 goodness. 
 
 In two respects Old Testament morality transcends 
 the ordinary level of pagan ethics ; it is theocentric. 
 and it is altruistic. It is theocentric : T/ioic shall 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and zvith all 
 thy soul, and with all thy might \ This is the funda- 
 mental and regulative commandment. As we have 
 already noticed, the characteristic feature in Israel's 
 conception of God was that it gave vitality and sub- 
 stance to the thought of the divine personality. God 
 was a person capable of relationships of love — the true 
 and adequate object of devotion, trust, gratitude, obedi- 
 ence, and service. He was one with whom and before 
 whom man might walk ; whom to know was man's 
 glory 2, whom to serve was his joy. How strange and 
 complete is the contrast between such a conception of 
 deity and those vague and undefined notions which 
 are characteristic of Semitic paganism. The religion 
 of the Old Testament marks a forward step in the 
 spiritual development of humanity which can never be 
 retraced. It represents man as standing in an intel- 
 ligible and moral relationship to God ; as linked to 
 Him not by the mere accident of birth, carrying with 
 it the obligation to perform correctly certain stated 
 observances ^ but by community- of moral nature. 
 For the theocentric idea of morality which pervades 
 the Old Testament corresponds to a theomorphic view 
 of humanity. Man was created in God's image ; in 
 other words, his very constitution made him capable of 
 communion with God and of progressive assimilation 
 to Him. From the first the Old Testament sets 
 before man not merely his obligations, but the personal 
 relationship, the tie of kinship to God, on which they 
 rest. Already moral good presents itself to man in 
 the shape of a personal appeal : Be ye holy, for I the 
 
 * Deut. vi. 5 ; x. 12 ; xi. I, &c. ' Jer. ix. 24. 
 
 * Cji. Robertson Smith, The Religion 0/ the Semifes, pp. 29 foil. 
 
424 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 Lord your God am holy ^ Already morality is suf- 
 fused with emotion : the coldness of a mere abstraction 
 disappears, and the moral law is seen to be the expres- 
 sion, the very essence, of the living personality behind 
 it. Obligation is set before man as dependent on a tie 
 of vital relationship between persons. Thus the re- 
 vealed morality of the Old Testament marks an epoch 
 in the history of man's ethical progress, inasmuch as it 
 exhibits with absolute clearness the fundamental cha- 
 racteristic of moral action. For it has been justly said 
 that ' Morality begins with the relation of person to 
 person, and all moral government — pre-eminently the 
 government of God — is founded upon and legislates 
 for this relation ^.' 
 
 Secondly, the morality of the Old Testament 
 is altruistic. Its essential feature is no longer the 
 self-regarding performance of stated rites calculated 
 to secure the favour or avert the anger of jealous 
 deities, but the fulfilment of duty as a member of the 
 human brotherhood. A conspicuous feature both of 
 the Law and of the prophetic teaching is that in both 
 great practical prominence is assigned to duty towards 
 one's neighbour. It is social righteousness which is pre- 
 eminently the theme of the prophets. Integrity, justice, 
 faithfulness in every relationship of life, compassion 
 for the oppressed, the friendless, the poor, self-restraint 
 towards an enemy, humanity even to animals, merciful- 
 ness in dealing with slaves, reverence for the marriage 
 tie and for the laws of hospitality, habitual respect 
 for age and station, fidelity in the matter of oaths and 
 promises, and strict administration of justice — these 
 are the distinctive points in Israel's moral law ; and 
 the sum of them, as St. Paul teaches, is briefly compre- 
 hended in this saying, namely, Thozt shall love thy 
 neighbour as thyself^. It is in fact a sense of the 
 
 ■^ Lev. xix. 2 ; xx. 7. 
 
 ^ See Bp. Ellicott, The Being of God, p. 120 note. 
 
 ' Lev. xix. 17, 18; cp. Rom. xiii. 9, See Fairbairn, Religion in 
 History and in Modern Life, lect. ii. pp. 123 foil., especially the admirable 
 passage, pp. 132-134. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 425 
 
 dignity and wordi of human personality as made in 
 the image of God that underhes the moral precej^ts of 
 the Pentateuch : and it is in its recognition of this 
 principle that the law of the old covenant is of per- 
 manent and eternal validity. At the same time the 
 prophetic denunciations of hypocrisy, of formalism, and 
 of the false externality that preferred ceremonialism to 
 righteousness, anticipate those utterances of our Lord 
 in which He distinguishes between the false and true 
 types of goodness. There was much indeed in the 
 Old Testament system that might foster the tendency 
 to serve God in the anxious and timid spirit of a 
 servant; but a corrective element was contained in 
 the injunction to love God : and Hebrew saints and 
 psalmists illustrate the power of this love to chasten 
 and refine character, even when moulded by the stern 
 discipline of the Law. 
 
 Speaking generally, the characters delineated in the 
 Old Testament are marked by features which give 
 them typical significance and permanent value as ex- 
 amples. We may admit that the heroic figures of 
 antiquity are idealized, but they are the more valuable 
 on that account as patterns, the qualities ascribed to 
 them being precisely those which are essential parts of 
 the noblest human goodness — fidelity, kindness, self- 
 respect, hospitality, domestic affecti£)n, patience in trial, 
 self-restraint, disinterestedness \ These are qualities 
 which are constant elements in religious character, 
 because they spring from the root of faith in a living 
 God, the righteous Loj^d who lovctJi righteousness, who 
 calls men to walk before Him and to be perfect, who 
 delights in trustful obedience, and in that fidelity to 
 obligations which is the reflection of His own unchang- 
 ing self-consistency and covenant-faithfulness. Thus 
 we habitually turn to the Old Testament for lessons of 
 human duty ; we regard it as ' a family album of the 
 saints of God".' 'In a certain sense they are all 
 
 ^ Cp. Driver, Sermons oft the Old Testa?!ieni, pp. xii, xiii. 
 2 Valeton, Vergiingltches und Ewiges tin /3. T. p. 13. 
 
425 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 types ; but certainly men of flesh and blood, men in 
 whom we can recognize ourselves, and whose spiritual 
 life, in spite of the immense interval of place, time, and 
 circumstances between us and them, is the same [in its 
 general conditions] as ours, and therefore can serve us 
 as a mirror \' In a word, one of the most important 
 functions of the Old Testament is to teach us a know- 
 ledge of men and of the human heart — its possibilities 
 of nobleness, its strange self-deceits, its variable hold 
 on moral law, its haunting sense of a vocation to know 
 and love God. 
 
 4. Akin to the function of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures just described, is the office which it fulfils 
 as a manual of the spiritual life, profitable for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness : that the man of God may be perfect, 
 thro7Lghly furnished ttnto all good works'^. The word 
 of God, whether written or orally delivered, adapts 
 itself to the requirements of individual men. Thus 
 it is sometimes described as the food of souls — food 
 which is milk or strong meat according to the capacity 
 of him who feeds upon it. It claims to be a lantern 
 or lamp — a light of the conscience — setting before 
 men, whether in the incidents of personal biography 
 or in the annals of national life, the dealings of God 
 with nations and with individual souls. It reveals 
 to them His requirement, it unveils His character, 
 it unfolds His judgments, it encourages them by the 
 splendour of His promises and by the special tokens 
 of His presence. The value of the letter of the Old 
 Testament in this connexion is great ; it is, so to speak, 
 a pledge of the continual providence which ' ordereth 
 all things both in heaven and earth.' ' Most precious 
 is the letter,' says a devout writer, ' as showing . . . 
 how the path of lonely men, if they walk with Him, 
 their wells, and sheep, and feasts, and wars, are all 
 His interests ; that not a marriage, or birth, or death, — 
 not the weaning of a child, or the dismissal of a maid, — ■ 
 ^ Valeton, Vergdngliches tend Ewiges ini ^. 7". p. 13. ^2 Tim. iii. 16, 71. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 427 
 
 not the bargain for a grave, or the wish respecting 
 the place of burial, — but He watches and directs it\' 
 The literal sense of the Old Testament is indeed 
 a consecration of the natural life of men, just as the 
 New Testament is the v^^itness of their spiritual 
 calling and destiny. This seems to be the point of 
 Augustine's observation that the Old Testament 
 belongs to the old man, with which human nature 
 must necessarily begin, while the New Testament 
 concerns the new man, into which human nature 
 ought to pass over from its old estate ^ Again, Scrip- 
 ture is a mirror — such is the striking thought of 
 St. James — a glass in which the child of God may 
 behold himself^ not only in his imperfection and 
 frailty, but in the ideal manhood towards the attain- 
 ment of which he tends. In the word he may, if 
 he pleases, ascertain what manner of man he was in 
 the divine thought for him. There he can discern 
 to what he is called; what religion essentially is — 
 the life of ever-growing friendship with Almighty God ; 
 what is the end of all things — the appropriation and 
 penetration of nature and humanity by the divine Spirit. 
 Once more, to the writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews Scripture is a sword : a weapon of defence 
 for the spiritual man engaged in his inevitable 
 conflict with ghostly foes. So our blessed Lord used 
 the Old Testament in the stress of His temptation, 
 and thereby taught us to do the same. To Him it 
 was the written record of God's unchanging will for 
 man, and His thoughts concerning him. To the Bible 
 viewed in this aspect St. Paul's words apply: T/ic 
 weapons of our warfa7'e are not carnal, bnt mio;hty 
 throiio^h God to the pnllin^ down of strouf^Jiolds ^. And 
 it is to be noted in passing that through disparage- 
 
 ^ Jukes, The Types of Genesis, p. xvi. 
 
 2 Aug. c. duas epp. Pelag. iii. 13. So Enarr. i. in psnhn. xxi. I, Augustine 
 speaks of Christ as ' personam servans veteris hominis, cujus mortalita- 
 tem portavit.' 
 
 5 2 Cor. X. 4. Observe this aspect of Scripture is very prominent in 
 Cyprian. See his de oral. dom. i ; epp. xxxi. 5, Iviii. 7. 
 
428 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 ment or neglect of the Old Testament, men may find 
 themselves defenceless in the day of strong temptation 
 or mortal fear. The szvord of the Spirit is to be 
 grasped by habitual study of Scripture, and by really 
 putting it to the proofs 
 
 In one memorable passage St. Paul indicates the 
 special character of the support which the study of the 
 Old Testament lends to faith. He tells us that whatso- 
 ever things zuere written aforetime were written for our 
 learning, that ive through patience and comfort of the 
 scriptures might have hope'^. When we consider the 
 stress which our Lord and His apostles lay upon 
 the necessity of endurance, it is easy to understand 
 how wisely the Old Testament is adapted to our 
 spiritual needs. For it is a book of hope, teaching 
 in every part of it the faithfulness of God, and the 
 meaning and expediency of those delays and trials by 
 which promised blessings are hindered or postponed ^ 
 The Old Testament is the history of a promise, the 
 fulfilment of which was earnestly awaited and often 
 despaired of by those who were its heirs ; a promise 
 only accomplished under circumstances undreamed of 
 and in days when its essential nature was well-nigh 
 forgotten. Further, the Old Testament is a history 
 of grace. It teaches the capacities of that human 
 nature which God condescends to train and discipline. 
 It traces the steps by which the Israel of Egypt and 
 the wilderness became the people of the star and 
 sceptre, the holy nation, the kingdom of priests, the 
 mother of saints, the people prepared for the Lord. 
 It records miracles of national recovery, irresistible 
 awakenings of conscience, the continual overruling 
 of disaster for good, the regenerating force of personal 
 character, the healing influences of the Spirit of God. 
 In a word, the Old Testament witnesses to the 
 continual advance, even through periods of fear, 
 
 ^ See Heb. v. 12; i Pet. ii. 3 ; 2 Pet. i. 19 ; Jas. i. 25 ; Eph. vi. 17; 
 John V. 39. 
 
 ■■^ Rom. XV. 4. ^ Cp. Jas. v. 11. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 429 
 
 depression, and degeneration, of a victorious purpose 
 of good ; nor does it fail the human spirit in its hours 
 of overwhelming fear or perplexity. It is a book of 
 hope because it faces the anomalies and enigmas of 
 life which overcloud and baffle so many minds. It 
 teaches us that though we cannot understand the 
 ways of God, at least He understands us. The 
 Psalmist comforts himself by the simple reflection 
 that when his spirit was in heaviness God knew his 
 path ^ The problems of existence have not been 
 essentially altered by the immense changes of cir- 
 cumstance that part one period of history or one 
 stage of human culture and experience from another. 
 But the Old Testament is a pledge to us that all 
 things — our needs, our perplexities, our failures, our 
 aspirations, our struggles for existence, our toils on 
 behalf of others, our joys and griefs, our hopes and 
 fears — ai^e naked and opened tmto the eyes of him ivith 
 whom we have to do ^. 
 
 Spiritual edification then is one important function 
 discharged by the Old Testament. It is at once 
 a manual of moral instruction and a book of devotion. 
 It teaches us how to please God, and how to approach 
 Him. It illustrates the close connexion between 
 obedience, faith, and worship. In regard to this point 
 it is instructive to mark how large a place the study 
 of the Law appears to occupy in the thought of those 
 to whom we owe some of the deepest and most 
 spiritual of Psalms. We learn from this circumstance 
 that the free temper of religious devotion can only 
 have its root in a long and patient spiritual education : 
 that the severe schooling of the will must precede 
 the awakening of religious emotion and aftection. 
 It was the discipline of the Law that awakened in 
 man's heart the consciousness of what God really 
 was in Himself, and in His relation to man. And 
 in two respects the Psalms seem to embody the 
 entire spiritual teaching of the Old Testament : first 
 
 ^ Ps. cxlii. 3. ' Heb. iv. 13. 
 
430 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 in their recognition of the individuaHty of the soul, 
 of its lonehness in its conflict with spiritual enemies 
 and of its dignity as a creature made by God 
 and for God ; secondly, in the thought of the all- 
 sufficiency of God, who is to the soul of man all that 
 it needs, all that it longs for. ' The principle of 
 devotion,' says a writer on the spiritual life, 'is that 
 God being the one source and the one author of 
 holiness, the reasonable creature ought to depend on 
 Him in everything and be absolutely governed by 
 the Spirit of God ^' This may indeed be described 
 as the final lesson of the Old Testament, by which 
 it is fitted to give expression to man's highest spiritual 
 yearnings. Its office is not only to confirm personal 
 faith by witnessing to the truth of God in the fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy ^ but to guide it by continuous 
 revelation of the divine will ^ 
 
 5. The Old Testament may be studied in the next 
 'place as an instructor in social righteousness*. It 
 exhibits the moral government of God as attested 
 in His dealings with nations rather than with indi- 
 viduals ; and it was their consciousness of the action 
 and presence of God in history that made the prophets 
 preachers, not merely to their own countrymen, but 
 to the world at large. The study of prophecy cannot 
 but deepen our sense of the continuity of national 
 life, of the reality of national vocation and responsi- 
 bility, of the principle of judgment visibly at work in 
 national history. Israel's career, as interpreted by the 
 continuous commentary of prophetism, obliges us to 
 
 ^ Grou, Mamial, &^c. p. 2. 
 
 ^ Cp. Tert. ApoL xx : ' Quicquid agitur, praenuntiabatur ; quicquid 
 videtLir, audiebatur, &c. . . . Idoneum, opinor, testimonium divinitatis 
 Veritas divinationis. Hinc igitur apud nos futurorum quoque fides tuta 
 est, jam scilicet probatorum, quia cum illis quae quotidie probantur, 
 praedicebantur.' So Aug. c. Faust. Mati. viii. 2 : ' Non in servitute 
 facimus quae jussa sunt ad nos praenuntiandos, sed in libertate legimus 
 quae scripta sunt ad nos confirmandos.' 
 
 ' Aug. de doc. iii. I : ' Homo timens Deum voluntatem ejus in scripturis 
 Sanctis diligenter inquirit.' 
 
 * See G.^A. Smith, The Preaching of the O. T. to the Age, pp. 19 foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 431 
 
 consider the light thrown upon social arrangements 
 and institutions by the revelation of the moral will of 
 God. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the 
 sinful, kingdom, cries Amos, and I will destroy it from 
 off the face of the earth''. It was their hold upon law, 
 their inspired sense of the claims of an objective moral 
 order embracing all nations in its scope, that enabled 
 the prophets to predict. It is in their abhorrence of 
 insincerity, in their consciousness of moral proportion, 
 that they are so uniquely qualified to guide Christians 
 whose lot is cast amid the complex conditions of the 
 modern social system. There is indeed significance 
 in the fact that in spite of their ardent zeal for social 
 reform they did not as a rule take part in political 
 life or demand political reforms. They desired, it 
 has been justly said, not better institutions but better 
 men. They were in fact conspicuous as religious 
 leaders — men who, feeling themselves commissioned 
 to speak in God's name, were deeply convinced 
 that the divine purpose must be commensurate 
 with human life, must cover the whole field of social 
 action and interest. They were perpetually rebuking 
 that strange self-deceit which besets human nature 
 in every age — the supposition that the province of 
 religion can be severed from that of social life and 
 duty, and that there are departments which lie outside 
 the regulative influence of faith. The prophets were 
 the spokesmen of a righteousness which is ev^erywhere 
 valid ; they proclaimed the supremacy of an irresistible 
 will, not to be ignored either by men or nations except 
 at their own infinite peril. 
 
 Two points are noticeable in the social doctrine 
 of the Old Testament regarded as a whole. F"irst, 
 it is to be observed that the polity of ancient Israel 
 is not based on individualism. It has lately been 
 maintained that the Old Testament is dominated by 
 the conception of collectivism ^, and it is at least true 
 that to the prophets the nation and not the individual 
 
 ^ Amos ix. S. 2 \v_ 3. Bruce, The Ethics of the O. T. p. 22. 
 
432 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 is the recipient of promises, the possessor of cove- 
 nantal status and privileges. Their tendency is to 
 individuahze the nation, and to represent its corporate 
 vocation and responsibiHty as dependent on a quasi- 
 personal relationship to Jehovah. Certainly the idea 
 of individual rights remained for a long period unde- 
 veloped. The highest prayer of the devout Israelite 
 was that he might see the felicity of God's chosen, and 
 rejoice in the gladness ^ His people, and give thanks 
 zuith His inheritance'^. The salvation for which he 
 looked was national rather than personal ; the highest 
 good for which he waited was a kingdom, the kingdom 
 of God. The thought of personal well-being was 
 overshadowed by ' the contemplation of the divine 
 sovereignty".' The sense of belonging to the true 
 Israel has in the later history of Judaism sustained 
 individuals under the pressure of untold disasters, 
 and has perhaps even mitigated the sense of personal 
 shortcoming ^ The whole tendency of the Old Testa- 
 ment is in harmony with the revelation of nature and 
 with the social ideals now dawning upon us : its main 
 thought is the comparative insignificance of the in- 
 dividual life in relation to the divine purpose for 
 humanity as a whole. Secondly, it is evident that 
 the idea of a spiritual kingdom took deep root in the 
 Hebrew mind, and the conviction that no material 
 forces could either help the fortunes of the elect 
 people, or hinder the supremacy of God's righteous 
 will. The contact of the Hebrew state with the great 
 world-powers was an epoch in religious history. It 
 taught Israel to realize its own special vocation; it also 
 proved that forces were at work in the world more 
 effective and enduring than even the highest products 
 of human ambition, energy, and skill. As one after 
 another the vast empires which had been founded on 
 violence fell into decay and vanished from the scene, 
 
 * Ps. cvi. 5. 
 
 ' Westcott, Social Aspects of Christianity, p. 86. 
 
 ' See Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, ?• SM- 
 
VIII] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 433 
 
 the spiritual leaders of the elect nation came to under- 
 stand that what is eternal and heavenly must owe its 
 being- to God ; that the true kingdom of humanity- 
 must be based not on forces of this world — greed, 
 self-assertion, or the right of the strongest, but on the 
 foundation of faith, justice, and truth. And certainly 
 one chief office of the Old Testament is to teach the 
 modern mind to read history aright, by showing what 
 are the true factors that mould, sustain, and perfect 
 human society; that they are moral and spiritual, not 
 material ; that character is the most powerful social 
 force, that courage, mercy, and self-control are the 
 real instruments of lasting social amelioration. The 
 chequered story of Israel's career carries with it the 
 lesson that while the kinodoms of this world are built 
 up by the natural energies of man, and must inevitably 
 ' have their day and cease to be,' the kingdom of God 
 is the city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God^. The fruit of the Spirit in man 
 accomplishes what the excellences and virtues of 
 nature cannot achieve. The transfiguration of society 
 can only result from the indwelling of God Himself 
 in individual souls. 
 
 6. I must be content with a very brief allusion to 
 one more function of the Old Testament, namely, 
 to assist us in the right interpretation of the New -. 
 It is an important aid in tracing the history of 
 ideas, and in determining the significance of parti- 
 cular terms. Augustine somewhere observes that 
 a Christian ought to study the prophets in order that 
 he may not forget why he believes '•'. It is equally 
 necessary to read the Old Testament to gain an 
 intelligent idea of what we believe. The content of 
 our faith, as distinguished from its form, is largely 
 revealed in the Old Testament. Such terms as the 
 Christ or the kingdom of God are charged with the 
 
 ^ Heb. xi. 10. 
 
 ^ Cp. Kirkpatrick, The Divine library of the O. T. p. 126. 
 
 ^ c. Faust. Man. xiii. 1 8. 
 
 Ff 
 
434 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 memories and associations of a long religious history. 
 The ideas of ' righteousness,' ' atonement,' ' redemption/ 
 ' propitiation,' which play so large a part In New Testa- 
 ment theology, have their roots in an immense and 
 complicated system of mediation, apart from which their 
 significance can only be Imperfectly understood. The 
 full connotation of such a phrase as the Son of God can 
 only be ascertained in the light of Hebrew and Judaistic 
 thought and feeling. Nor must we forget that there are 
 many points of contact between the language of the New 
 Testament and the Talmud — that vast ' microcosm,' 
 as it has been called, which is the most characteristic 
 product of post-exilic Judaism \ Some of the leading 
 ideas of the New Covenant were 'household words' 
 of Talmudic Judaism. ' It is the glory of Christianity,' 
 says Emanuel Deutsch, ' to have carried those golden 
 germs, hidden in the schools and among the " silent 
 community " of the learned, into the market of 
 humanity-.' It Is unnecessary to multiply Instances 
 In Illustration of this points But It Is an Important 
 consideration that our estimate of the New Testa- 
 ment revelation as a whole will depend upon the idea 
 we have gained from the Old Testament of the needs 
 and weaknesses of human nature. We have to read 
 the New Testament In the light of our knowledge of 
 Hebrew modes of thought, and also with a due sense 
 of the cravings that needed satisfaction, the sorrows 
 that lacked assuagement. Some of our Lord's own 
 utterances, such as the promise of- rest to the heavy- 
 laden, or of living water to the thirsting soul, or of life 
 to the dead, or of dominion to the meek, imply wants and 
 experiences in the spiritual life of His hearers which 
 need to be patiently studied before the true significance 
 of His words, who spake as never man spake, can be 
 
 ^ Nicolas, op. cit., pref. p. vii, says very justly : * II importe, dans 
 I'interet meme de la parfaite intelligence de Tceuvre de Jesus Christ, de 
 fenetrer le plus profondement qii'il est possible da7is Vhistoire reltgieuse et 
 inorale dit judai'sme immidiatonetit aiiierieur^ 
 
 ^ See his Literary Remaitis (London, 1874), p. 27. 
 
 ' See Valeton, Vergd7igliches und E%viges im A. T. pp. 8 foil. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 435 
 
 understood. Whatever enables us to understand the 
 historical conditions under which the writings of the 
 Old Testament were produced gives us a deeper 
 insight into the nature of New Testament ideals, and 
 the meaning of evangelical faith. For if it be true, as 
 Wellhausen has said, that ' the Gospel develops hidden 
 impulses of the Old Testament \' it is clear that any 
 real advance in comprehending the genius of Christi- 
 anity depends to a great extent upon more accurate 
 knowledge of Hebrew religion and literature and also 
 of the boundless and little-explored field of Talmudic 
 Judaism and Rabbinic theology. Closer acquaintance 
 indeed with all pre-Christian systems will heighten 
 our sense of the assimilative power of the Gospel. It 
 will reveal to us the useless or corrupt elements which 
 were excluded by Christianity, the forms which perished 
 because they were rotten, the systems which could not 
 stand the test of that fire which Christ came to send 
 iipoji the ear th'^. But it will also make manifest the 
 truth and nobility of that which the new religion 
 claimed as its own, or used, and transfigured in the 
 using ^ And here lies the peculiar value of those 
 historical and critical studies which have enabled 
 us to distinguish between the different elements 
 contained in early Christianity — between ideas carried 
 forward from Judaism and ide~as transplanted from 
 the sphere of Hellenic thought. We have learned, 
 partially at least, what elements Christianity found 
 ready to its hand in the teaching of prophets and 
 psalmists, what it owed to Alexandria and to Greece, 
 and what is due to the work and personality of its 
 Founder *. Thus we shall come to recognize more 
 
 ' Proh\i^o7ne»a, p. 509. ^ Luke xii. 49. 
 
 * See a noble sermon of Mr. Stopford Brooke, Christ in iModcrn Life, 
 no. iv. 
 
 * Cp. Sanday, The Oracles of God, serm. ix. Valeton, op. cit. p. 9, 
 observes : 'Mit dem Christenthum auch eine ncue Sprache entstandcn ist, 
 und zvvar eine Sprache, die ebensoviel gricchisch ist wie israclitisch, 
 Wir habcn ja allerdings jedes Dogma nur in einer niehr odcr minder 
 philosophischcn Form, die der griechischcn W elt enllcbnt ist ; dcr 
 icligiose Kei^n abcr ist aus Israel gcnommen.' 
 
 Ff 2 
 
436 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 perfectly the inexhaustible significance of the Catholic 
 creed, and its fullness and depth as an interpretation 
 of life. Doubtless the criticism of the Old Testament 
 is a gift which brings with it large responsibilities and 
 special anxieties and trials. But our gains are not less 
 considerable. If Christ is, as Irenaeus expresses it, 
 the treasure hid in the field of the ancient Scriptures \ 
 we may expect to discover there mysteries which we 
 shall never completely fathom, to find, as knowledge 
 advances, new aspects of truth constantly disclosed, and 
 fresh beams of light cast upon elements in Christian faith 
 and life which as yet we only dimly apprehend. The 
 historical study of Scripture reverently pursued with 
 the aids which modern research places within our reach, 
 will certainly not evacuate the Old Testament of 
 mystery ; rather it will make us more modest in our 
 judgments, more humble in the estimation of our 
 powers. We shall say with not less conviction than 
 Augustine himself: Quidquid est in Scriphiris illis 
 alhnn et divimtm est: inest omnino Veritas'^. 
 
 My task is now drawing to a close, and I need not 
 say much by way of summary. In the first lecture 
 I stated those presuppositions, doctrinal and critical, 
 with which the subject of the lectures has been ap- 
 proached. The general aim was to show that there 
 is a point of view from which the results of criticism, 
 so far as they are satisfactorily established, may be 
 cordially welcomed. In the second lecture we con- 
 sidered generally those aspects of the Old Testament 
 which were afterwards discussed separately. In the 
 third we endeavoured to estimate the nature and 
 extent of the historical element which pervades the 
 Old Testament, regarded as a history of man's redemp- 
 tion. Our conclusions were necessarily somewhat 
 general, but we saw reason to suppose that in all 
 its main outlines the traditional view of Israel's history 
 is not discredited by sound criticism ; on the other 
 hand, there appears to be much more of the subjective 
 
 ^ Haer. iv. 26. I. ^ Aug. de util. cred. 13. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 437 
 
 element in the history, much more play of religious 
 feeling and imagination, than had been allowed for in 
 the pre-critical period. The fourth lecture dealt with 
 the self-revelation of God which accompanied the 
 historical movement. We attempted to illustrate the 
 distinctive features of Israel's religion regarded as 
 a progressive moral education and a continuous self- 
 manifestation of deity. In the fifth lecture the spiritual 
 purpose and meaning of the Mosaic dispensation was 
 discussed, the traditional view of Israel's covenantal 
 relation to Jehovah considered, with special reference 
 to the moral obligations involved in it and the typical 
 system of worship by which the covenant-union was 
 maintained. In the sixth lecture the function of 
 prophecy occupied our attention, the element which it 
 contributed to Israel's religious history, and the nature 
 of the Messianic hope which it served to keep alive. 
 The seventh lecture dealt with the divine purpose for 
 the individual, and the main elements contributed by 
 the Old Testament to the idea of personal religion. 
 At this point the universalistic tendency of Hebrew 
 religion became more apparent ; we found that its out- 
 look embraced not merely the interests of an elect 
 nation, but the spiritual needs and yearnings of universal 
 humanity. In the eighth and last lecture we have 
 considered what light is thrown upon the Old Testa- 
 ment by its employment in the New, and the important 
 functions which Old Testament studv has to fulfil in 
 the present-day life of the Christian (Church. 
 
 It seems advisable to conclude with two reflections 
 intended to reassure those who either view the critical 
 movement with dismay and suspicion, or are tempted 
 to suppose that its results are necessarily hostile to 
 Catholic Christianity. 
 
 I. In the first place, I trust it will have appeared 
 that no Christian believer needs to cast away his faith 
 because a new conception of the Old Testament 
 challenges his attention and perhaps commends itself 
 to his mature judgment. I have attempted to show 
 
438 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 that a man who beheves in the truth of historic Christi- 
 anity with all his heart, and who finds in it the only- 
 adequate solution of ' the riddle of existence,' is not so 
 committed to any traditional view of Hebrew literature 
 as to be precluded from revising it in the light of 
 advancing knowledge. T'o an increasing number of 
 Christian students it appears that the view of Israel's 
 history and religion provisionally adopted in these 
 lectures immensely reinforces the claim of Christianity 
 to be the final or absolute religion ; it conspicuously 
 illustrates the profound axiom of St. Paul, Howbeit that 
 tuas not first zvhich is spiritual, bitt that which is natural; 
 andafterward that which is spiritual'^; and it falls in with 
 very much that we have ascertained in other fields of 
 knowledge concerning the ways of divine wisdom and 
 providence. Accordingly the attempt has been made 
 in these lectures, not so much to support or commend 
 a particular solution of the difficult problems connected 
 with Old Testament research, as to mediate between 
 opposed, but not mutually exclusive, points of view, or 
 at least to discriminate between what is essential and 
 what non-essential to faith. We have seen that 
 a believer in the divine Incarnation has no reason for 
 sharing the rooted dislike of miracle and prophecy, or 
 the contempt of the idea of divine revelation, which is 
 sometimes justly attributed to certain schools of conti- 
 nental criticism ^. But, on the other hand, a thoughtful 
 Christian will bear in mind that the knowledge neces- 
 sary for forming a judgment on the complicated 
 questions raised by modern historical science and the 
 trained judgment and true sense of proportion indis- 
 pensable for duly appreciating the results of criticism, 
 are qualities attainable by few. He will also remember 
 that in every age faith has been tried not only by the 
 direct attacks of its professed foes, but by an enlarge- 
 ment of human knowledge which was ultimately destined 
 to enrich men's conceptions of God. There cannot be 
 
 ^ I Cor. XV. 46. 
 
 "^ Cp. Stanley Leathes, The Laiv in the Prophets, p.' 271. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 439 
 
 mental growth, readjustment, or self-adaptation without 
 perplexity and pain ; without the 7'e}novino- of those things 
 that are shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken 
 may. remain ^ 
 
 In regard to the Old Testament particularly we shall 
 recognize the danger of using «;z^r/^;'/ methods, and the 
 folly of insisting on hard and fast conditions as those 
 under which alone inspiration is possible. It is suffi- 
 ciently ma'nifest that our highly-developed notions 
 respecting literary morality, and our scientific concep- 
 tions of what history means, are out of court when 
 applied to the ancient Scriptures. As Wellhausen 
 tersely remarks : * What mnst have happened is of less 
 consequence to know than what actually took place -/ 
 We shall have to revise our notions of what it is abso- 
 lutely necessary to know. And it is evident that we 
 shall have to be content with something very far short 
 of certainty in regard to some points which we have 
 hitherto supposed to be indisputable. Advancing ex- 
 perience will show us how large a part suspense of 
 judgment must play in our present controversies, but 
 at the same time it may be safely maintained that the 
 matters likely to remain in dispute are, speaking 
 broadly, neither many in number nor of crucial import- 
 ance. For after all, the field which remains unaffected, 
 or which, to speak more accurately, has been thoroughly 
 explored and illuminated by criticism, is for all practical 
 purposes of religion very extensive. Necessary un- 
 certainty in regard to the nature of the earliest historical 
 narratives does not rob us of ' the revelation of God, 
 the writings of the Law, the oracles of Prophets, the 
 music of Psalms, the Instruction of Proverbs, the ex- 
 perience of histories •\' On the contrary, modern 
 research only reinforces the characteristic teaching of 
 the Prophets and the Psalmists ; It Imparts new vivid- 
 ness and clearness to what is demonstrably historic, 
 while it In no degree Impairs the spiritual and edu- 
 
 ^ Heb. xii. 27, ^ Prolegomena, p. 46. 
 
 ' Bp. Andrewes, Devotions (First Day). 
 
440 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 cational function of those portions of Holy Writ, the 
 character of which cannot at present be precisely deter- 
 mined. We must not be too impatient to draw 
 necessary and just distinctions. We must cordially 
 acknowledge our obligation as students of God's 
 holy word to those illustrious scholars, whether 
 English or foreign, whose learned labours, patient 
 sagacity, reverent insight, and trained judgment have 
 achieved such fruitful and deeply interesting; results. 
 
 2. Those, however, who do not feel the force 
 of the appeal made by the historical criticism of 
 our day, need to beware of an exaggerated or one- 
 sided conception of the function discharged by the 
 Bible as a source of divine knowledge. It is un- 
 questionable that one principal cause of the suspicion 
 with which many devout persons regard the critical 
 movement is the fear of anything that seems to 
 threaten or tamper with the foundations of faith. They 
 are apt to speak of the higher criticism with ill-advised 
 and shallow vehemence as 'an assault on Christian 
 faith.' But apart from the vitally important duty of 
 making an intelligent distinction between the witness 
 of the Old Testament and that of the New, such per- 
 sons ought to consider whether they have not assigned 
 to Scripture in general a position of inordinate import- 
 ance in the system of religion. If the Church of God 
 be anything, if human reason and conscience be any- 
 thing, if the Holy Ghost be a living power in the life of 
 redeemed humanity, we must not overlook or under- 
 estimate the sources of divine knowledge other than 
 Scripture which God has placed within our reach. 
 The Church and the Bible certainly co-exist in the 
 world as two great sources of authority, mutually cor- 
 roborative of each other, and to some extent mutually 
 corrective of each other \ Both of them have a share 
 in leading us to the knowledge of God in which con- 
 sists eternal life : but the mistake is not uncommonly 
 made of overlooking the true function of either one or 
 
 1 Cp. Forbes, The XXXIX Articles, p. 95. 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 441 
 
 the Other. By the teaching of the New Testament we 
 are encouraged to put ourselves under the guidance of 
 the Church so far as it extends, looking to it for the form 
 or outline of sound words, which it supplies to us in the 
 Creed. To Scripture, on the other hand, the Church 
 bids us look as filling in and giving substance to the 
 outline of faith which we have already received in the 
 Creed. But within and beyond the Bible and the Church 
 there is a guide of whom we in practice think too little. 
 We ought to trust to that 2inction from the Holy One 
 which rests on Christians, unveiling to us as we are able 
 to bear it the inexhaustible significance of our holy faith 
 and illuminating for us the Scriptures which enshrine 
 it. ' We have a Lord,' says Chrysostom, ' who loves 
 mankind, and when He sees us anxious and strongly 
 desirous of understanding the divine oracles, He does 
 not leave us destitute of ought besides, but straightway 
 enlightens our understanding, bestows that illumination 
 which proceeds from Himself, and according to His 
 benign wisdom communicates all true doctrine to our 
 souls ^' Thus the means which God has placed within 
 our reach are all to be used in combination : we are to 
 hear the Church, and then to diligently search the 
 Scriptures ; but above all, we are to remember that 
 God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. 
 This simple reflection is intended to reassure us in view 
 of the great complexity of all human questions, and 
 the obvious fragmentariness of even the highest human 
 knowledge. We may be confident that the Spirit of 
 Truth will not allow us to be deceived in any essential 
 matter if we diligently ask Him to enlighten us and to 
 guide. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty '^. 
 It is remarkable that this statement occurs in con- 
 nexion with St. Paul's complaint that a veil is upon 
 
 ^ Opera [ed. Ben.], iv. p. 216. Cp. Orig. Jjo}n. xii. in Exod. § 4 : ' Non 
 solum studium adhibendum est ad discendas literas sacras, verum et 
 supplicandum Domino, et diebus et noctibus obsecrandum, ut veniat 
 Agnus ex tribu Juda, et ipse accipiens librum signatum dignetur aperire.' 
 To the same effect Aug. de doct. iii. s. fin. 
 
 ^ 2 Cor. iii. 17. 
 
442 THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY [lect. 
 
 Israel's heart in the reading of tJie old testament. 
 That veil is done azvay in Christ through the power of 
 the converting Spirit. And we Christians need Origen's 
 caution that it is possible for a veil to be on our hearts 
 if we are either negligent in the study of Scripture, or 
 if we take no pains to acquire the knowledge necessary 
 foi: a true comprehension of its teaching ^ We stand 
 over against Holy Scripture, not as literalists, or slaves 
 of the letter, but as children of God guided by the 
 same Spirit who possessed and inspired the sacred 
 writers. We do not doubt the truth of our Christianity 
 because we see in part, and know only in part ; because 
 in this world of half-lights and impenetrable shadows 
 our knowledge is at best fragmentary and imperfect. 
 On the same principle we have no reason to be dis- 
 mayed or perplexed at the blending- of human frailty 
 with the unearthly majesty and mystery of the Scrip- 
 tures. We have this treasure, the word of God, in 
 earthen vessels ^ ; and while it is a sign of levity to 
 overlook the treasure and throw it away because the 
 vessels are of earth, it is a mark of narrowness to 
 ignore the distinction between the vessels and the 
 treasure they contain. Just as the remarkable reli- 
 gious revival of the last half-century has enabled us to 
 realize the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in 
 the public life and active ministry of the Christian 
 Church, so questions respecting the inspiration and 
 character of the Bible remind us of His continuous 
 work in the immediate guidance and edification of 
 individual souls ^ An era of difficulties, mental and 
 
 ^ Orig. loc. cit. ' Manifeste si negligenter audimus, si nihil studii ad 
 eruditionem et intelligentiam conferimus, non solum Legis et Prophetaruni 
 scriptura, sed et Apostolorum et Evangeliorum grandi nobis velamine 
 tegitur.' 
 
 ^ 2 Cor. iv. 7. For what follows see some remarks of Frank quoted by 
 Kohler, Uber Berechtigimg der Kritik des A. T. pp. 48, 49. 
 
 * Tyndale, Works, vol. iii.-p. 139 [Parker Society], quoted by Briggs, 
 Biblical Study, p. 163, says: 'For though the Scripture be an outward 
 instrument and the preacher also to move men to believe, yet the chief 
 and principal cause why a man believeth or believeth not. is within ; that 
 is, the Spirit of God leadeth His children to believe.' 
 
viii] THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY 443 
 
 spiritual, is meant to reawaken in men the spirit of 
 dependence on Him whose real presence in souls is 
 the source of present consolation and of unquenchable 
 hope for the future. The modern student may heartily 
 endorse the noble words of Orlgen : ' We cannot 
 declare that anything in the literature of the Holy 
 Spirit is otiose or superfluous, even though to some it 
 appears obscure. But our main concern should be 
 this : to turn the eyes of our mind to Him at whose 
 biddinof these thinofs were written, and to besf from 
 Him the capacity to understand the same ; that whether 
 there be infirmity in our own soul, He may heal us who 
 heals all its sicknesses ; or whether we be limited in 
 comprehension, He may be present with us as a Lord 
 protecting His little ones', and may so nurture us as to 
 bring us to the full stature of spiritual manhood \' 
 Yes ; the secret of liberty, of largeness of heart and of 
 steadfastness in the faith is with Him. Ye have an 
 anointing fj^ont the Holy One, and ye know all things. 
 . . .And as for yoit, the anointing zvhich ye received of 
 hi^n abideth i7i you, and ye need not that any one teach 
 yotc ; bnt as his anointing teacheth you concerning all 
 things and is trtce, and is no lie, and even as it taught 
 you, abide ye in him ^. 
 
 ^ Orig. in Num. horn, xxvii. I. ' i John ii. 20, 27 (R. V. vta?-g). 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abraham, history of, ill, Il8; 
 
 idealization of, 125 ; place in the 
 
 thought of St. Paul, 397. 
 Achan, 175. 
 Adonai, 186, 192. 
 Aeschylus, 217. 
 Allegorism, its employment in the 
 
 New Testament, 392. 
 Amos, teaching of, 288. 
 Andrevves, Bishop, quoted, 439. 
 Anthropomoi-phism, anthropopa- 
 
 thic expressions, 107, 194. 
 Apocalypse, the, 393, 397, 421. 
 Apocalyptic literature, 317. 
 Aquinas, T., quoted, 408. 
 Archaeology and the Old Testa- 
 ment, 105. 
 Assyria, 282. 
 Athanasius, quoted, 58. 
 Atonement, Day of, 237, 239, 256. 
 Augustine, quoted, 63, 186, 219, 250, 
 
 343, 393, 403, 405, 407, 422, 427, 
 
 433, 436. 
 
 Baal, the name, 193 ; prophets of, 
 270. 
 
 Baethgen, iii. 
 
 Balaam, prophecy of, 298. 
 
 Baruch, Apocalypse of, 350. 
 
 Bath Qol, the, 316. 
 
 Bible, the, its analogy to the incar- 
 nate Word, 15 foil. ; to nature, 
 98 foil. 
 
 Blood, use of, in sacrifice, 237 foil. ; 
 255 foil. 
 
 Briggs, C, quoted, 405. 
 
 Browning, E., quoted, 352. 
 
 Browning, R., quoted, 15, 370. 
 
 Bruce, Dr. A., quoted, 13, 62, iii, 
 139, 165, 179, 229, 248, 306, 321, 
 381. 
 
 Bruce, W. S., quoted, 193, 223. 
 
 Burnt-offering, the, 235, 240 ; daily, 
 
 241 ; fulfilled in Christ, 253. 
 Butler, Bishop, 165. 
 
 Cabbala, the, 406. 
 
 Calf-worship, the, 221. 
 
 Canaanites, slaughter of the, 178. 
 
 Canon of the Old Testament, its 
 formation, 100, 265 foil. 
 
 Carchemish, battle of, 309. 
 
 Catholic, the term, i foil. 
 
 Channing, quoted, 133. 
 
 Che§ed, 199, 291. 
 
 Cheyne, Prof. T., quoted, 203, 346. 
 
 Christ, authority of, in relation to 
 the Old Testament, 46 foil. ; sacri- 
 fice of, 228, 253 foil.; on priesthood 
 of, 251 ; Hisviewofthe Old Testa- 
 ment, 381 foil. ; His person and 
 work the key to the Old Testa- 
 ment, 396 foil. ; parabolic teach- 
 ing of, 391, 407. 
 
 Chro?iicles, Books of, 102, 149, 223, 
 327, 344, 385 ; teaching and pur- 
 port of, 357. 
 
 Chrysostom, quoted, 441. 
 
 Church, doctrine of the, 51 foil.; 
 relation to the Bible, 441. 
 
 Church, Dean, quoted, 81, 118. 
 
 Circumcision, 167, 222. 
 
 Corinthian Church, 6. 
 
 Cornill, quoted, 242, 272, 288. 
 
 Covenant, idea of the, 79 foil., 207 
 foil. ; the new, 227, 312 foil. 
 
 Covenant, Book of the, 138, 1 7 1. 
 
 Creation, story of, 57 foil. 
 
 Criticism, the higher, results of, 33 
 foil. ; defects pointed out in, 41. 
 
 Cultus, the Hebrew, its purpose, 
 228. 
 
 Cure de Canton, 283. 
 
INDEX 
 
 445 
 
 Dalraari, quoted, 66. 
 Daniel, Book of, 276, 317, 331. 
 Darmesteter, quoted, 33, 41, 206. 
 David, character of, idealized, 127 ; 
 
 reign of, 299 foil. 
 Day 0/ Jehovah, the, 284, 304. 
 Death, Hebrew conception of, 336. 
 Deborah, so7tg of, 155. 
 Decalogue, the, 75, 172, 215 foil. 
 Delitzsch, quoted, 347. 
 Deutero7iotny, Book of, 12^^, 133, 145, 
 
 169, 173, 219. 
 Deutsch, E., quoted, 434. 
 Driver, Prof., quoted, 65, 120, 296. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, Book of, 190, 347 foil. ; 
 
 relation of, to the problem of 
 
 suffering, 364, 367 foil. 
 'El, 'ErElyon, 183 foil., 189 foil. 
 Election, the idea of, 64 foil. ; re- 
 jected by Kuenen, 116. 
 Elijah, 273. 
 ^Elilim, 72. 
 ^Elohim, 183 foil., 1S9 foil. ; applied 
 
 to King, 302. 
 Elohist writer, the, 119. 
 'El Shaddai, 185, 191 foil. 
 Enoch, Book of, 318. 
 Esdras, Fotirth book of, 76. 
 Esther, Book of, 330, 356. 
 Eucharist, the, 254, 258 foil. 
 Evolution, the idea of, 43. 
 Ewald, quoted, 19, 28, 75, loi. 
 Exile, literary activity during the, 
 
 121 ; effects of the, 310 foil. 
 Exodus, the, importance of, 69 foil., 
 
 134; evidence of, 94. 
 Exodus, Book of, its teaching and 
 
 purport, 93 foil., 138 foil. 
 Experience, function of Christian, 
 
 49 foil. 
 Ezekiel, 144 ; teaching of, 201, 307, 
 
 314, 324, 340; iorah of, 224, 230. 
 Ezra, 266, 326. 
 Ezra, Book of, 149, 358. 
 
 Fall, account of the, 59 foil. 
 Fatherhood of God, 204. 
 Fire, use of, in sacrifice, 238, 240. 
 Firstborn, sanctification of the, 136, 
 
 Flood', the, 60 foil. 
 Froude, Prof, quoted, 361. 
 Future life. Old Testament doctrine 
 of a, 334 foil. 
 
 Genesis, Book of, narratives in the, 
 
 113 foil. ; value of, 131. 
 Gideon, 155. 
 Girdlestone, quoted, 131. 
 Grace, idea of, in historical books, 
 
 151. 
 Green, J. R., quoted, 158. 
 Grou, quoted, 430. 
 
 Habakkuk, 309. 
 
 Haggadah, 124, 149, 384, 386 foil. 
 
 Haggai, 314. 
 
 Hagiographa, the, 95, 329 foil. 
 
 Halacliah, 384, 386. 
 
 Hebrews, Epistle to the, 225, 227, 
 246, 250 foil., 393. 
 
 Hengstenberg, quoted, 356. 
 
 Hexateuch, narratives of the, lor. 
 
 Historical documents in the Old 
 Testament, their character and 
 value, 102 foil. 
 
 Historical element in the Old Testa- 
 ment, 97 foil., 401 foil. 
 
 Holiness, idea of, in Old Testa- 
 ment, 72 foil. 
 
 Holocausts, 240. 
 
 Holy One of Israel, 196. 
 
 Holy Spirit, the, in relation to the 
 Bible and the Church, 441. 
 
 Hosea, teaching of, 200, 290. 
 
 Idealistic language of the Old Testa- 
 ment, its significance, 419. 
 
 Idealization in the Pentateuch, &c., 
 119 foil. 
 
 Image worship, 1 74. 
 
 Immoi'tality, see ' Future life.' 
 
 Incarnation, the, its relation to 
 Scripture, 12 foil.; analogy sug- 
 gested by, 15 foil. 
 
 Individuality, idea of, in the Old 
 Testament, 90 foil., 1 75. 
 
 Inspiration, meaning of, 22 foil. ; 
 prophetic, 274 foil. 
 
 Irenaeus, 3, 81, 436; quoted, 65, 
 166, 213. 246. 
 
 Isaac, sacrifice of, 177. 
 
 Isaiah, teaching of, 292. 
 
 Ishsheh, 234. 
 
 Israel, early history of, 134 ; social 
 condition of, in eighth century B.C., 
 282. 
 
 Jacob, the blessing of (Gen. xlix), 
 297. 
 
446 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jahveh, Jehovah, 185, 193 foil. ; his 
 character displayed in the exodus, 
 139 ; attributes of, 198 foil. 
 
 Jahveh Tsebaoth, 186, 203. 
 
 James, St., references of, to the Old 
 Testament, 388 ; view of Scrip- 
 ture, 427. 
 
 Jashar, Book of, 103. 
 
 Jealousy, the divine, 200. 
 
 Jehovist writer, the, 109, 119. 
 
 Jeremiah, teaching of, 307, 313, 323. 
 
 Jeroboam, 154. 
 
 Job, Book of, 347, 361 foil. 
 
 Joel, Book of, 3 1 6. 
 
 John, St., his use of the Old Testa- 
 ment, 3S8, 397. 
 
 Jonah, Book of, 292 foil. ; narrative 
 of, 379- 
 
 Joseph, history of, 112. 
 
 Josephus, 84. 
 
 Judah, 297. 
 
 Judaism, 316. 
 
 Jude, St., references of, to the Old 
 Testament, 388. 
 
 Judges, the, period of, 155. 
 
 Judges, Book of 102, 147. 
 
 Jukes, A., quoted, 129, 1 3 1, 397, 426. 
 
 Justin Martyr, 30. 
 
 Keim, quoted, 84. 
 Kingdom of God, the, 86 foil. 
 Kings, Books of, 102, 148. 
 Kingship, Hebrew idea of, 86. 
 Kittel, quoted, 132, 140, 273. 
 Konig, 205. 
 
 Kuencn, quoted, 72, 116, 134, 152, 
 215, 286. 
 
 Language, inadequacy of, 406. 
 Law, the, its doctrine of retribution, 
 
 343 ; New Testament verdict on, 
 
 380 foil. 
 Legislation, earliest Hebrew, 171. 
 Liddon, Dr., 26. 
 Lock, Prof. W., quoted, 331. 
 Lucretius, quoted, 350. 
 Luther, quoted, 365. 
 
 Magee, Abp., quoted, 10, 22. 
 Malachi, Book of, 315, 326. 
 Manasseh, I'eign of, 308 foil. 
 Martensen, Bishop, quoted, 60. 
 Maurice, F., 3S6. 
 Mazzoth, feast of, 136. 
 Melchizedek, 251. 
 
 Messiah, the title, 300. 
 
 Messianic hope, 82 foil., 296 foil. 
 
 Micah, Book of, 303 foil. 
 
 Midrash, 149, 384. 
 
 Minchah, 234, 241. 
 
 Miracle in the Old Testament, 61 
 foil., 107 foil. 
 
 Moloch, 176. 
 
 Monolatry, 69. 
 
 Monotheism, 2S6. 
 
 Montefiore, C, 11 ; quoted, 122, 
 145, 174, 204, 215, 327,328. 
 
 Morality of the Old Testament, pro- 
 gressive, 165 foil. ; an ambiguous 
 phrase, 421 foil. ; features of Old 
 Testament ethics, 423 foil. 
 
 Mosaism, 33, 132 ; its ethical ten- 
 dency, 138. 
 
 Moses, prophetic work of, 2)1), Iji, 
 298 ; song of, 137 ; legislation of, 
 141. 
 
 Mozley, J. B., quoted, 178, 337, 363. 
 
 Mystical sense, the, 405 foil. 
 
 Nabhi, Nebiim, 272, 274 foil. 
 
 Name of God, 182. 
 
 Nature, analogy suggested by, 98 
 
 foil. 
 Nehemiah, 326. 
 Nehe/niah, Book of, 149, 330, 358. 
 
 Oehler, quoted, 218. 
 
 Oettli, quoted, 7%, 79. 
 
 Old Testament, various aspects of, 
 53 foil. ; employment of in the 
 New Testament, 383 foil. ; func- 
 tions fulfilled by, 412 foil.; its 
 final cause and ultimate explana- 
 tion, Christ, 417 ; social doctrine 
 of, 431 foil. 
 
 Origen, quoted, 21, 26, 30,223, 225, 
 333, 402,406, 417.442,443. 
 
 Origins, the, narrative of^y foil. 
 
 Parables of Christ, the, 391, 407. 
 Passover, the, 136, 222. 
 Paterson Smyth, quoted, 45. 50. 
 Patriarchal narrative, 109 loll. 
 Patriarchs, the, no foil. 
 Paul, St., 5 foil., 20 ; his use of the 
 
 Old Testament, 388 foil., 397. 
 Peace-oftering, the, 235,^ 242 ; its 
 
 significance, 258 foU. 
 Pentateuch, the, leading ideas of. 
 
INDEX 
 
 447 
 
 93 foil. ; its significance for Chris- 
 tians, 143; narrativesof the, 144. 
 
 Persia, influence of, on Hebrew 
 thought, 332. 
 
 Personal religion in the Old Testa- 
 ment, 325 foil. 
 
 Personality, Hebrew conception of, 
 338 foil. 
 
 Peter, St., his use of the Old Testa- 
 ment, 38S, 397. 
 
 Pfleiderer, quoted, 2S9, 315, 321, 
 
 35?- . 
 
 Pharisaism, relation of, to Scripture, 
 394 foil. 
 
 Philo, 30. 
 
 Piacular sacrifice, 232. 
 
 Post-exilic period, 323 foil. 
 
 Priesthood of Christ, 251. 
 
 Priestly document, the, 120 foil., 
 141. 
 
 Prophecy, fulfilment of in Christ, 
 318 foil. ; importance of studying, 
 430 foil. 
 
 Prophetism, origins of, 270 foil. 
 
 Prophets, the, former and latter, 95, 
 266. 
 
 Prophets, Hebrew: their attitude 
 towards ritual, 221 ; their view of 
 sacrifice, 230; functions of the, 
 275 foil. ; sphere of their activity, 
 281 foil. ; preachers of mono- 
 theism, 286 ; their philosophy of 
 history, 2S9 ; limitations, 306. 
 
 Protevangeliiun, the, 296. 
 
 Proverbs, Book of, teaching on re- 
 tribution, 345. 
 
 Providence, doctrine of a personal, 
 353 foil. 
 
 Psalms, Book of, 328 ; teaching of 
 the, 341 ; on retribution, 345 ; 
 relation to religion, 352, 429 ; 
 Psalm cxix, 375. 
 
 Qorbati, 234. 
 
 Religion, meaning of, 351. 
 
 Renan, E., c^uoted, 365. 
 
 Resurrection, doctrine of, in Old 
 Testament, 349. 
 
 Retribution, Old Testament doc- 
 trine of, 343. 
 
 Revelation, the Old Testament a 
 record of, 66 foil. ; progressive 
 character of, 162 foil. ; Hebrew 
 idea of, 1S7. * 
 
 Riehm, quoted, 167, 229. 
 Robertson, Prof., quoted, 1 57. 
 Robertson Smith, Prof., quoted, 8, 
 
 49. 65, 70, 94, 122, 138, 229, 233, 
 
 242, 283, 334. 
 Royalty, Hebrew idea of, 303 foil. 
 Ruili, Book of 331, 356. 
 Ryle, Prof., quoted, 265. 
 
 Sacrifice, human, 176. 
 
 Sacrifices, the levitical, 227 foil. ; 
 
 names of the, 234 ; symbolic 
 
 meaning of, 250 foil. 
 Samson, story of, 157. 
 Samuel, 272, 2S1. 
 Samuel, Books of 102, 147. 
 Sanday, Prof, 32. 
 Sayce, Prof, quoted, 39. 
 Schechter, quoted, 159. 
 Schultz, H., quoted, 23, 25, 71, 82, 
 
 114, 167, 303, 311, 319, 340, 344. 
 
 363. 398. 
 Schiirer, quoted, 386. 
 Scribes, ■^ti2> foil. 
 
 Scythians, the invasion of the, 309. 
 Secondary sense, see ' Mystical.' 
 Semichah, the, 236. 
 Semitic religion, character of, 182. 
 Se7-va7it offehovah, the, ZZ, 311. 
 She'ol, 336 foil. 
 Shewbread, the, 254. 
 Sin-offering, the, 232,235, 238 ; ful- 
 filment of, in the sacrifice of 
 
 Christ, 255. 
 Smith, Prof. G. A., 130; quoted, 
 
 160. 
 Sodh, the, 385. 
 Solomon, age of, 346. 
 Song of Solo)>i07t, the, 355. 
 Soplrocles, ciuoted, 10. 
 Spiritual sense, the, 397. See 
 
 ' Mystical sense.' 
 Stanton, Prof, quoted, 30S. 
 Stoicism, 92. 
 Synagogues, 327. 
 Syncretism, 153. 
 Syria, kingdom of, 2S2. 
 
 Tabernacle, the, 120, 226 foil. ; s)Tn- 
 bolic significance of, 247 foil., 261 
 foil. 
 
 Tacitus, quoted, 293. 
 
 Talmtid, the, 434. 
 
 Tamid, 241, 253. 
 
448 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Tatian, 30. 
 
 Temple, the, in prophecy, 315 ; 
 
 worship of the second, 326. 
 TerapJiiin, 113. 
 TertulHan, quoted, 205. 
 Testament, Old, New Testament 
 
 view of the, yj"] foil. 
 Theocracy, 84, 140 foil. 
 Thomson, quoted, 322. 
 Torah, 213, 222, 279. 
 Trespass-ofifering, 238. 
 Types in Genesis, 126. 
 Typical interpretation, 244 foil., 
 
 410 foil. 
 
 Unity of God, 70 foil. 
 
 Universalism, 288. 
 
 Valeton, quoted, 267, 425 foil. 
 
 Wars of Jehovah, Book of the, 103. 
 Wellhausen, quoted, 14, 86, 87, 90, 
 
 150, 214, 226, 273, 395, 435, 439. 
 Westcott, Bishop, quoted, 179. 
 Wisdom literature, the, 329 foil., 
 
 359 foil. 
 Wordsworth, quoted, 4. 
 
 Zebach, 234, 242. 
 
 Zechariah, Book of, 312, 315, 318. 
 
 Zephaniah, 309. 
 
 Zerubbabel, 312. 
 
 OXI'ORU: HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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