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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

THE VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE VALUE OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT

BERNARD J. SNELL, M.A., B.Sc.
AUTHOR OF "THE VALUE OF THE APOCRYPHA," "GAIN OR LOSS," ETC.

LONDON
JAMES CLARKE & CO. 13 & 14 FLEET STREET
1908

PREFACE
A new situation has arisen with regard to
our estimation of the books that constitute the
Bible, and it is disingenuous of us to behave as
though there were no change. I make no
apology for my position of general sympathy
with the conclusions of the Higher Criticism,
for I have the privilege of speaking to a patient
and thoughtful church, who bid me give them
the best fruit of my brain and heart. I am
conscious alike of the unworthiness of my work
and of the inadequacy of the result, but such
as it is I render it; and some have thought
that my words might be of service to others
beyond the circle of Brixton Independent
Church. The contents of this small volume are not
original or personal to myself. They may be
found in any well-equipped library, and they

Preface
belong to the commonplaces of the lecture
room. I lay no claim to exact scholarship : a
busy ministerial life leaves small room for re
search. I have read the best that I could
read, and have laid all under contribution in
order that I might put the best at the service
of the church to whom I minister.
The little book named "Gain or Loss"
passed through so many editions, and brought
me such an access of correspondence, that I
would fain hope that these further chapters
may render help to my readers. B. J. S.
Brixton,
July, 1908.

VI

CONTENTS

PAGE
I. THE DUTY OF UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE II
II. HISTORY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ... 43
III. HEBREW POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY ... 67
IV. FICTION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . . . I03
V. HEBREW PROPHETS AND PROPHECY . . -125
VI. THE RELIGION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT I5I

THE DUTY OF UNDERSTANDING
THE BIBLE

I
THE DUTY OF UNDER
STANDING THE BIBLE
" Out from the heart of Nature rolled
The burdens of the Bible old." Emerson.
The Bible needs neither our apology nor our
eulogy : it needs only to be understood. And
it is not understood. Despite the publication
of excellent expositions of the conclusions of
competent scholars, despite the fact that in
the centres of sound learning these conclusions
form the basis of instruction, the ignorance of
the Christian public is almost undisturbed, and
the majority of professional teachers of the
Bible speak as if nothing had happened to
interfere with the traditional assumption that
all Scriptures are equally inspired, authorita-
n

The Value of the Old Testament
tive, and infallible. The fallacy has been
exposed, times without number. It is a
doctrine which breaks down from its own
weight. They who contend that the Bible is
without error attempt the most difficult of all
dialectical undertakings, for they attempt to
prove a universal negative ; and no sophistry
can conceal the fact that many marks of
imperfection occur within these pages.
Few readers of the best current literature
realize how thoroughly the idea of a book
miraculously perfect has saturated the intelli
gence of the English-speaking peoples, and
some may be inclined to imagine that any
reference to the subject is but a belated
" slaying of the slain." But I am persuaded
that the great majority of our fellow-country
men, if challenged on the point, would strongly
maintain that the Psalm which indicates the
writer's wish that the little ones of his enemies
should be dashed against the stones was in
spired by the same Spirit which moved in the
heart of our Lord, when He said, " Love your
12

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for
them which despitefully use you." Notwith
standing the mass of incontrovertible evidence
against such a proposition, it is continually
asserted that the Bible claims to be infallible
throughout. As Dean Burgon said in the
chief pulpit of Oxford University, — " Every
book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of
it, every word of it, every letter of it is the
direct utterance of the Most High," — so would
the majority of the professional teachers of
religion in our midst maintain. And that
baseless and preposterous claim is working
untold mischief. As in Catholic countries the
main cause of the hatred of Christianity is the
Church's claim to be infallible, so in Protestant
countries this doctrine of Biblical infallibility
is the nursing-mother of infidelity, for to the
Bible it brings little but derision and contempt.
So far from being a fetish too sacred for
examination, more than any other book the
Bible needs to be read with open eyes ; and
then it becomes the most intensely interesting
13

The Value of the Old Testament
work in all human literature. Many have
no glimpse of that fact, because they read it
with minds encumbered by the preconception
of inerrancy. The pity of it ! Of all subjects
of human thought, none is so perennially
interesting as religion : of all books none is so
fascinating as this volume; and by our dull
formalisms we have brought it to pass that
these subjects are regarded as arid and
soporific ! The Bible is grievously wounded
in the house of its friends. Superstition has
hedged around the greatest book in the world
with thorn-fences, lest it should be harmed !
The superstition must go, if faith in the Bible
is to be maintained. The book must be handled,
studied, examined, understood.
Error and ignorance cannot be stirred until
a man grasps the elementary truth that the
Bible is a progessive literature, the story of the
education of a race struggling upward through
sin and ignorance into a purer air, the expression
through many changing centuries of a nation's
life and thought, the history of a great Divine

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
purpose moving on to its realization. These
Scriptures are not a legal document to be con
strued as of equal cogency throughout ; they are
the literary monument of a people's growth in
the understanding of religion. The Book of
Esther is not on the spiritual level of the
second half of the Book of Isaiah, nor is the
morality of the Book of Judges comparable
with the Beatitudes. The Hebrews climbed
slowly out of the abyss of vile idolatry and
polytheism to pure monotheism and the ideal
of the prophets. As the history moves on its
course, we see nomad sheikhs wandering
through the wilderness and building altars to
the God of their fathers, warriors lifting blood
stained hands to their tribal Deity, wild-eyed
hermits issuing from their rocky fastnesses
and pronouncing the doom of princes with a
stern "Thus saith the Lord," prophets declar
ing a God who despised sacrifices and sought
only the contrite heart, exiles in a far country
dreaming of the new King and of the land
that is very far off. To assert that it is all
15

The Value of the Old Testament
equally good and all to be received with blind
credence is bewilderingly wide of the facts.
We must not expect a full exposition of the
highest spiritual truth in the crude history of
a primitive people.
Let the truth be told. There is nothing to
hide. Pious evasion of the truth has landed
us in the deplorable position, which is being
widely recognized, that the tendency of men is
away from our churches, because they think that
there counsel has been darkened and because
they affirm that there they are not sure of
hearing the honest truth honestly uttered.
Some day the truth will be known, and the
result may well be disastrous. It is not fair to
our children that they should receive their first
lessons in Biblical criticism from crude writ
ings without reverence, or from orators without
a symptom of scholarship or of historic
imagination. I have made many mistakes in
my ministry, but at least I congratulate myself
that I have always maintained the natural
right of men to hear the whole truth in church.
16

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
Where else, if not there ? It is better to offend
than to deceive, to alarm than to beguile.
Parents teach their children to honour and
worship our Father, the God of truth and love.
When a lad reads that God ordered the ruthless
massacre of the Canaanites, that God struck a
man dead for preventing the ark from falling
off a cart, that God plagued Israel with a fearful
pestilence because their king had taken a
census, and when such incidents perplex his
mind, the worst possible procedure is to tell
him that he is wicked to feel any perplexity,
that he must accept what is in the Bible,
because in all that is there recorded God is
speaking to him. Rather let him be frankly
told that in far-off times men knew God no
better than to believe such things of Him, that
such ideas were the ideas of cruel and ignorant
ages, that it was to deliver men from such
terrible mistakes that the prophets proclaimed
their brave message, and that Jesus Christ
preached His Gospel, though for doing so He
was slain by men who knew no better than to
i 17 B

The Value of the Old Testament
think that in killing Him they did God service.
The young are entitled to the privilege of being
started aright. We owe them the best that we
can give. Let us guard their reverence for all
the sanctities, especially for the supreme
sacredness of truth.
I have occasionally been asked how I " get
over " this or that in the Old Testament. I do
not desire to "get over" anything. In the
midst of the Pentateuchal Law (Exodus xxi.,
20 — 21), we read: " If a man smite his servant,
or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his
hand, he shall be surely punished ; notwith
standing, if he continue a day or two, he shall
not be punished, for he is his money," and I
am asked if I imagine that the All-Father could
speak of a servant as so much property and
permit such horrid cruelty to be unpunished.
In 2 Samuel xxi. we read of a famine in
Israel concerning which David enquired of
Urim and Thummim (a kind of sacred lottery),
and the priest said that Saul had slain the
Gibeonites, thereby violating the covenant,
18

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
whereupon David sent seven of Saul's sons
to be hanged by the Gibeonites, after which
God was entreated and the famine was stayed.
I am asked if that is the same God that Jesus
loved and worshipped. I am asked why there
are such things in the Bible. " How in the
name of the Holy God can you dare tell us
these things were done by Divine command ? "
Why are slavery and polygamy set forth there,
and the atrocious conduct of Abraham, Jacob,
Samson and David, apparently with the
approval of the inspired chronicler ?
The late Dr. John Watson once declared that
he refused to be regarded as a low-class criminal
barrister holding a brief for Jacob and his
kind. Under what compulsion are we pledged
to excuse the bad conduct of men mentioned in
Scripture, orto defend everything that its writers
described as done by the command of God ?
These things are in the Bible, just because
the Bible is human history reflecting the long
process from gross superstition to high spiritual
faith. These are the footmarks of the process.
19 b 2

The Value of the Old Testament
They do not move me to denunciation or con
tempt. I see the pathos of it, the human-ness of
it. I see the poor beginnings of religion
among barbaric folks, I see their gradual rise
and purification, I see men reaching out after
higher and better ideas of God. At first their
only idea of God was that of a stern, vengeful
tyrant, who dwelt in the thunder-cloud and
gloried in the reek of horrid sacrifices, a jealous
God hard to pacify so that men had recourse
even to the awful extremity of human sacrifices.
I read the story with my imagination alive. It
is a story full of errors, of passions, and of dark
and hateful things, but at least it is a human
story. These men were like ourselves, bearing
the burden of life, fronting the awful darkness
of death ; thus they prayed, and thus they hoped.
Their conception of God was very similar to
the conception of all the dim forefathers of our
race : an angry, vindictive Being, who con
tended with other gods, who advised Israel
to deceive and rob the Egyptians, and bade
them slaughter their enemies without mercy —
20

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
a God with something of the nature ofSetebos
as set forth in Caliban's soliloquy.. But from
the dark and lurid faith in a tribal God they
passed on to a vision of God expressed in terms
of human endearment — " Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear Him," " As one whom his mother
comforteth, so will I comfort you," " He
knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we
are dust." From the crude ethics of Arab
nomads they passed on to the matchless
morality of the Sermon on the Mount.
When a text is quoted as a Divine oracle,
calculated to end all controversy, it is
necessary to know to what stage of the long
ascent it belongs, or we may find ourselves in
like predicament to that lamentable error of
our Puritan ancestors, who "justified" the
Cromwellian massacres in Ireland by references
to Israel's recorded actions in Canaan, or to
the pitiable fallacy which led many American
Christians to apologize for slavery as a
Divinely ordained institution, or to John
21

The Value of the Old Testament
Wesley's conclusion that "the giving up
of witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible."
All sorts of evils have been defended with a
" Thus saith the Lord," which was but the voice
of the Hebrew conscience in an elementary
stage of advance.
It is essential that we should discriminate
as we read. Psalm li. is profoundly spiritual :
" Have mercy upon me, 0 God, according to
thy lovingkindness . . . Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God,
thou wilt not despise." But when we read
the concluding verse, " Then shalt thou be
pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering,
then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar,"
— is there any soul so dull as to be unconscious
of an anti-climax, an alien element that is
entirely out of harmony with the rest of the
psalm ? Deuteronomy xiv. permits the faithful
Israelite to sell the tithes of his flocks and
22

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
harvest-produce, and with the proceeds to
purchase strong drink or " whatsoever thy soul
lusteth after," and rejoice, he and his house
hold. Such a passage is not likely to do us
any harm ; but it is represented as a " Thus saith
the Lord," and it is difficult to understand
what is to be made of such a passage on the
theory of plenary inspiration. Common-sense
indicates that we should regard it as a fossil-
remainder of the times when men thought it
right and becoming to use strong drink at
solemn festivals held in the Divine honour.
Such a passage is not directly helpful to us,
but it is valuable as showing the way in which
religion grew.
There are many things contained in the Bible
which have no more bearing on our loyalty
to Christ as the Master of our souls than our
acceptance of the Arthurian Legend has to
do with loyalty to King Edward VII. There is
no reason in the world why we should not
judge such things with utterly candid minds.
And it may not be superfluous to remind
23

The Value of the Old Testament
readers that the standard by which we arrive
at our conclusions has been made for us by
the greatest teachings of the Bible. The
earlier Bible is corrected by the later.
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe had taught her
boy that it was wrong to be angry, and the lad
asked, " But does not the Bible tell us that
God was angry ? " She took refuge in the
platitude that he would understand better by
and by, but the boy was not to be silenced.
" Mother," said he at last, "I know: God was
angry because he had not yet become a
Christian." It is a story that repays thought,
for it suggests the now established principle of
the steadily increasing illumination of men with
regard to the Divine character.
Protests are made against the historical
criticism of the Bible. Nor is it strange that
such should be the case. There were protests,
quite as strenuous and much more heated,
against the principle of evolution when it was
first promulgated; yet it is now accepted in
every science-school in Christendom, and is
24

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
regarded as quite innocuous by every Christian
who knows enough science to know what
evolution means. In all probability the protests
against Biblical criticism will follow a similar
course : at first, a great spilling of denuncia
tory adjectives ; then the discovery that after
all there is something to be said for it, coupled
with the suggestion that the Bible itself may
be interpreted as hinting that some discrimina
tion is allowable ; and then the stout assertion
that there is nothing whatever new in the con
clusions of the experts, but that they have been
long accepted and integrated in the finding of
the Church.
It is not the best conceivable method of
making advance ; but at any rate advance is
made, and it is good to appreciate that main
fact. Even now the general results of the
higher criticism are slowly percolating the
intelligence of the Christian public, though
many would be astonished if they recognized
the source of their new information. How
indefinitely more valuable and interesting have
25

The Value of the Old Testament
the teachings of the Hebrew prophets become
in recent years ! It is the higher criticism that
has rescued them from neglect and misunder
standing. Think of the changed attitude in
regard to the little Book of Jonah. Not so long
ago, whenever that book was mentioned among
intelligent people, something like a smile of
derision swept round the company ; they all
thought that the " great fish " story was
ridiculous, and very little heed was paid to any
part of the book's contents beside that. But the
new scholarship has enabled us to appreciate
this little book as one of the most beautiful and
instructive pieces of ancient literature, as a
remarkable plea for the universality of the
Divine law. It enunciates the evangelical
truth that repentance and right-doing are all
that man needs and all that God requires. It
is an illuminated lesson in forgiveness. The
episode of the great fish is but part of the
poetic machinery of the parable, no more to be
taken literally than Emerson's precept, " Hitch
your waggon to a star." Many who had been
26

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
quite alienated from the book have found a new
enjoyment in its pages, while those who had
handled it superstitiously are taught to use it
spiritually. Indeed, it is not too much to say that just as
the principle of evolution has made natural
history intelligible, so the higher criticism is
making the history and literature of the Hebrew
people intelligible.
Here is the Old Testament, with its thou
sands of various readings. It consists of
books of all kinds of literature, the best
literature of the Hebrew people. To the
Greeks we owe philosophy, sculpture, and the
drama. To the Romans we owe law and
political organization. The Hebrews surpassed
both in religious sensibility and insight : a
genius for religion distinguished their noblest
spirits, and it is these that are the real authors
of the Old Testament. We know nothing of
the books beyond what their contents indicate.
We have but a dim conception of the method
by which they were collected into the Sacred
27

The Value of the Old Testament
Canon. They have existed in their present form
for two thousand years, and there has been
a uniform tradition that Moses wrote the
Pentateuch, that Joshua, Samuel, and the
prophets wrote the books bearing their names,
that David wrote the Psalms, while Solomon
was responsible for Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and
the Canticle. The tradition, derived from the
Talmud, is of little weight when it is examined
carefully, but it is only recently that such
examination has been brought to bear
upon it.
Let us ask a question or two of the old
tradition. It is supposed that Moses wrote the
Book of Genesis, but we read (xxxi. 31) "before
there reigned any king in Israel." How could
such a sentence be written until after there
had been kings in Israel ? There was a trial
concerning a will alleged to have been made by
one who died twenty years previously. The
plaintiff asserted that the document was
actually much more recent, but his evidence
was not impressive. He chanced to hold the
28

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
document between his eyes and the light, and
in that moment saw that the water-mark of the
paper bore the name of a manufacturing com
pany which had not existed ten years. That
fact clinched his plea. Why is not a similar
argument conclusive when applied to the
problem of the authorship of Genesis ?
Again, it has been traditionally held that the
Ceremonial Law of the Hebrews was due to
Moses, by whom it was established in its
entirety, and that the whole of the Ceremonial
Law was emblematic of the person and work
of our Lord. Age after age these ordinances
were solemnly fulfilled, and no one knew their
real meaning ; nor until Christ's death did
those ordinances of Heaven receive their
meaning, and then they were superseded. It
seems inexplicable that the law should have
become intelligible to men only at the moment
when it was abolished. But disregarding this,
how was it that for many years after the death
of Moses no one should have seemed conscious
of the existence of this Ceremonial Law ?
29

The Value of the Old Testament
How dared prophets and psalmists inveigh
against the ritual of sacrifices, if that ritual had
been delivered to Moses by the Divine com
mand ? If from the very beginning of the
nation's history it was forbidden, as we read, to
sacrifice in any place save at Jerusalem, how
came Gideon and Elijah to sacrifice elsewhere
amid miraculous marks of the Divine approval
of such sacrifice ? If from the beginning there
was an ordinance of the Law that the Holy
Place was to be entered only by the high-priest,
and by him only once a year, how came Eli to
cause the child Samuel to sleep beside the ark?
If this Ceremonial Law was in existence, why
did Samuel and David conduct their worship
on lines that contradict the first principles of
the Levitical cultus? and why do the earlier
prophets, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, appear
to know nothing of such a legal code ?.
The answer, which it has been usual to give
to these and like questions, is that the Law
was in existence, but that it was forgotten.
Such an answer is incredible. The answer
30

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
given by the higher criticism is that the Law
did not exist, as we have it in our Bibles, until
after the Captivity.
Broadly expressed, the higher criticism may
be said to have given a new order to the
religious growth of the Hebrew people. We
were trained to believe that the legal system
was given intact at the beginning of their
national life and that the elaborate system of
ritual and ceremonial linked with the name of
Moses moulded the whole life of that people.
We are now taught that the Ceremonial Law
was almost the last thing perfected by the
Hebrew race, that while Moses laid the founda
tions of Hebrew polity, the elaborated fabric
belongs to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah,
and even later. In other words, our Pentateuch
is a codification made during the Babylonian
exile, its editors collating the precepts that had
gradually accumulated and re-issuing them as
a body of laws supported by the highest
sanctions which they could conceive.
Such a theory of Hebrew history gives
3i

The Value of the Old Testament
Israel time to develop and permits the Hebrew
people to be young before being old. It was a
strain upon credulity to be asked to believe
that immediately after their redemption from
slavery in Egypt, they were disciplined into a
nation with complete civil and ecclesiastical
legislation, a highly organized hereditary
priesthood, and in full possession of a lofty
monotheism. It was a further strain upon
belief to learn that after a short period came
the iron age of the judges, when they reverted
into a mere loose federation of independent
clans practising a crude, uncouth religious
cultus in the most irregular of ways. Then
came the period of Samuel and David, which
was but little less wild and barbaric. Where
was it possible to find room for the marvellous
depth and spiritual maturity of the Psalms,
which were ascribed to that monarch ? Did
the man, who thought that to be expelled from
Israel was the same thing as to be compelled
to serve other gods, the man who kept tera-
phim or household gods, write " Whither shall
32

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
I go from Thy presence " ? and "Thou desirest
not sacrifice else would I give it " ? Such a
paradox cannot be admitted unless we deny
that the books of the Old Testament stand in
any organic relation to the times in which
they were written ; unless, indeed, we are
content to sacrifice every principle of inter
pretation on which we are accustomed to rely
in other branches of study.
The finding of the higher criticism intro
duces order and intelligibility into the whole
story of the Hebrews, and makes it vital and
organic. But I am not concerned to deny
that it is revolutionary in some of its aspects.
Many have quailed before the suggestion that
there was no such thing as an elaborate taber
nacle in the wilderness, and many more have
shrunk from the idea that the completed Law
was not given amid the thunders of Sinai but
by the waters of Babylon. But that is sub
stantially the view of all modern Biblical
scholars. It is a view that brings the history
of Judaism into line with all other history.
33 c

The Value of the Old Testament
Every national statute book of which we have
cognizance is of gradual growth and of com
posite origin, an aggregate of laws of many
ages, where ancient maxims and modern
glosses stand side by side. In this respect
the Hebrew Law-Book is not unlike the
law-books of all other nations.
If it be heresy to hold these opinions, then
orthodoxy is committed to the guardian care
of ignorance and its doom is certain. Surely
it needs the possession of but the smallest
modicum of humour to perceive that it is not
probable that all the experts are wrong and
the inexperts right, on an issue which is sus
ceptible of determination only at the hands
of scholarship and learning. If the best
scholars are mistaken, the only remedy is
better scholarship which will establish con
trary conclusions, and at present such scholar
ship is not forthcoming. There has been
extravagance of statement on the part of some
of the critics, and there is disagreement among
them in many minor respects. But within
34

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
certain wide boundaries the conclusions are
practically unanimous, and on the main facts
it appears as though something like finality
had been attained.
No one need be scared by the term "criticism."
Criticism is simply reading with the mind fully
alert ; no book demands that alertness more than
the Bible does, and no book repays alertness
more liberally. Nor let it be overlooked that the
straitest of us all are accustomed to use some
amount of criticism. Who accepts Solomon's
terrible dictum about sparing the rod and spoil
ing the child, or St. Paul's views on marriage,
or the imprecatory psalms, or the Levitical
laws? What parent gathers his children
around him and studies every chapter of the
Bible ? In visiting the sick, are we indifferent
whether we read a chronicle of names, or some
groanings of Ecclesiastes, or a chapter of St.
John's Gospel? We all recognize that the
Bible has its deeps and its shallows, that some
parts are more edifying than are other parts.
Who dares say that all parts are equally fine ?
35 c 2

The Value of the Old Testament
What lectionary of what Church dares include
all the Scriptures ? In other words, criticism
is exercised even by those who decry it, and the
only question that remains is, Shall criticism
be orderly and scholarly, or shall it follow
individual caprice ?
We have the freedom of the Scriptures : let
us walk at liberty. Jesus Christ vindicated the
fullest criticism. He treated the Old Testament
quite freely, declaring that much of it was to
be laid aside by reason of the supersession of
its ethical standard. " Ye have heard . . .
Ye have read ... It is written . . . But I say
unto you." Nothing could be freer than that
method. Some precepts He put aside, some
He deliberately broke. " An eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth," said the Levitical law, and
our Lord declared it a false teaching. He
established principles which abrogated the old
formularies, and He encouraged His disciples
fearlessly to set aside what was obsolete. He
did not condemn earlier men for their mistakes ;
their mistakes were those of their own times.
36

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
They had spoken according to the highest they
knew, but to subsequent ages God had given
better knowledge. Was there ever freer criti
cism than this ? As Christ's followers we are
the children of liberty, summoned to prove
all things, to hold fast only that which is good.
We are entitled to know the truth. The Bible
can well afford to have the truth told about
itself. " Truth will always heal the wounds
which Truth herself has made."
The foe of the Bible is not criticism but
indifference. That is the present cause oi
dismay in earnest hearts.
Only at a great price did our fathers win for
us the precious heritage of an open Bible.
For centuries it had been shut by the priest
hood, and it needed the strenuous and self-
denying struggles of many brave men to
unlock its pages. But it was done. Oliver
Cromwell told the House of Commons that
the glory that should dwell in our land was the
glory of a free Gospel ! And the children of
these men are becoming supine and negligent!
37

The Value of the Old Testament
The printing of the Bible awoke Europe and
produced the Reformation. The free reading
of the Bible made England a free people. That
struggle for political freedom was led by men
who drew their impulse and inspiration from
that sacred fountain of the spirit of nationality,
the Old Testament.
If a nation breathes the air of the Bible,
sooner or later its citizens stand forth God's
free-men. No book is so feared by priestcraft
and tyranny. It is the most democratic book
in the world, the treasury of the humble, the
Magna Charta of the poor and oppressed.
For three centuries it has been woven into
the best and noblest in our history and litera
ture. About it cluster countless holy associa
tions. From it spring a myriad hopes of better
days to come.
It is worth while to understand as far as we
can the greatest book in the literature of the
world. The one claim that it makes for itself is that it
is profitable for instruction in righteousness, that
38

The Duty of Understanding the Bible
it will make men wise unto salvation and guide
their feet into the path of right. That claim it
makes good. There is no book to compare with
it for touching the conscience and for creating
a sense of the Divine Presence and Majesty.
The venerated Scriptures of Hinduism,
Buddhism and Mohammedanism are alike
leagues away. Max Miiller said, " If you
would know the distinction of the Bible, com
pare it with the other sacred books of the
East." The Bible stands as a Book of Religion, the
Book of Religion. There is, as Coleridge
said, more in the Bible that finds us than in
all other books put together. It easily holds
the supreme place in "the literature of
power." We call it inspired, because it
inspires. It kindles love of the highest, it
deepens devotion, it purges the heart of un
worthy emotions, it enlarges and elevates our
conceptions of God and man, of life and duty.
That is the quality that makes it the Holy
Bible. 39

HISTORY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

II
HISTORY IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT
Hebrew literature and history began to
flourish about a thousand years before the
Christian era, in the days of David and
Solomon. Then it was that this people became
conscious of its unity and sufficiently interested
in itself to record its own doings in official
annals, and then were made the first attempts
to ascertain in an ordered way what had trans
pired in past ages. In the same way we are
accustomed to think of the rise of English
history as under Alfred the Great, for then the
" Saxon Chronicle " utilized the meagre
materials surviving from the past, reduced
the chaos of those remainders to something
43

The Value of the Old Testament
like order, and brought the story of England
down to date.
This Hebrew history, dating from this time,
forms the basis of the early books of the Bible.
It is now undoubted that these books, as we
have them, are composed of various documents
carefully pieced together ; and the ingenuity of
scholars has succeeded in disentangling them
in a striking fashion so that we can discern
with a fair amount of assurance the primitive
document picked out from the surrounding
text. Its contents are recognizable mainly by
reason of the fact that the ancient chronicler
invariably employs the word Jehovah to repre
sent the Supreme Being. Hence it is currently
spoken of as the Jehovistic document. It is a
simple narration, delighting in episodes and
adventures, weaving prehistoric traditions and
folklore into a continuous story. It was com
piled, probably in Jerusalem, in the reign either
of David or Solomon.
After the disruption of the kingdom into
Israel and Judah, the northern section
44

History in the Old Testament
gradually became superior to the smaller
kingdom of the south, and about a century
later wrote its own history dealing with
practically the same incidents as were recorded
in the older history. This document is known as
the Elohistic document, because the chronicler
employs the word Elohim to represent God
during the pre-Mosaic period, in accordance
with the tradition that the name Jehovah was
not revealed until the time of Moses.
Again, a century later when the northern
kingdom was annihilated by the Assyrians,
such literature as it had became the possession
of the surviving kingdom of Judah. Then
these two documents, the Jehovistic and the
Elohistic histories, were welded together into
one narrative. Sometimes we have the one
version, sometimes the other, and occasionally
both are mingled together in the Bible narra
tive. Thus, we have a double narrative of the
Creation (i. i to ii. 4, and ii. 4 — 25) , of the Deluge
(woven together of alternate paragraphs into
a continuous narrative), and of the giving of the
45

The Value of the Old Testament
Decalogue (Exod. xx., Deut. v.). Occasionally
it is impossible to synthesize the two accounts ;
as for example when according to one version
the Flood lasts forty days (vii. 17), and according
to the other one hundred and fifty days
(vii. 24), or again when in one narrative Noah
takes two of every kind of creature into the
ark (vi. ig), and in the other narrative takes
two of the " unclean" but seven of the "clean"
creatures (vii. 2), or when in one document
Joseph is sold to Midianites, and in the other
document to Ishmaelites (xxxvii. 25, 28, 36).
During the Babylonian exile this narrative
was modified by the priests, who with patriotic
piety marshalled all existing historic materials
into a unity. Under the influence of Ezekiel
the priestly legislation of the Pentateuch came
into being. The work of editing and re-editing
the sacred text was not finished until after the
return from Babylon, when the complete canon
was produced by the scribes.
So the Old Testament, as we have it, was the
growth of about nearly a thousand years, and
46

History in the Old Testament
is a collection of the documents and memorials
of Hebrew history and religion.
Now let us glance summarily at the historic
contents of this series of books. The prologue
is the great prose epic of Creation. The stories
that compose it are of great antiquity, though
their final form was not fixed for many centuries
later. That man must be very dull who looks
for scientific accuracy in this psalm of Creation,
and he must be very disingenuous who claims
to find in Biblical details a forecast of the
conclusions of modern science. In truth
this narrative is the answer which ancient
wisdom gave to questions concerning the
origins of things, and it is swathed in
the atmosphere of myth which all ancient
peoples wove around so remote and difficult
a subject.
Then follows the story of Eden, as history
quite incredible, but as a spiritual experience
one that strikes a universal note. It is an
allegory of the birth of conscience, man awaken
ing to his secular conflict with evil. It includes
47

The Value of the Old Testament
within itself the answers of old-world wisdom
to such questions as, Why is there such a thing
as Death ? Why are men doomed to toil ?
Why the pains of motherhood ? Why has
mankind that shame of sex which the beasts
have not ?
The story of Babel is their explanation ot
the diversity of human languages. God had
inflicted this disability to check the too great
ambitions of the race.
The stories of the patriarchs are not historical
in the sense in which Freeman would have
spoken of history. The figures are embellished
by the piety of later ages, and we are reading the
Hebrews' ideas of their origins as a people and
their relations to neighbouring peoples. Simi
larly the Greeks told of their forefather Hellen,
and through his sons explained the divisions
of their Hellenic race. It is often difficult to
determine whether the proper name in Genesis
refers to an individual or to a tribe : for example,
" Esau who is Edom " (Gen. xxxvi. i), while
Jacob's Blessings in chapter xlix. describe the
48

History in the Old Testament
characters of the tribes rather than of his
individual sons.
The Titanic figure of Moses, the architect of
the Israelitish people, towers out above all
others. The Exodus was the birthday of the
nation ; and that fact has been universally
recognized, for the Passover is still the national
festival of the Jews. Some portion of an
Arabian tribe had been reduced to slavery in
Egypt, a weak, disunited, dispirited clan.
Moses was their emancipator ; he led them
forth from Egypt during a time of plague, and
they escaped to the wilderness. By his
sagacious statesmanship he induced a certain
unity among them, most of all by initiating a
new departure in their religion. Instead of a
religion of " gods many and lords many," he
gave them a God of their own, Jehovah, and
bound them in allegiance to Him by the
" Covenant," which is the germinal fact of all
Hebraism. They became under Moses " the
people of the Covenant," and such they have
ever since remained. At Sinai Moses ratified
49 D

The Value of the Old Testament
this solemn league and covenant between
Jehovah and Israel with such awe-inspiring
rites as would appeal to the imagination of a
primitive people. Having slain oxen in sacri
fice, " Moses took half of the blood and put it
in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on
the altar. And he took the book of the cove
nant, and read it in the audience of the people,
and they said, All that the Lord hath said will
we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the
blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and
said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which
the Lord hath made with you concerning all
these words" (Exod. xxiv. 6 — 8). In that
striking incident was the spring of all Israel's
religious history. That covenant is embedded
in material of much later origin, but it is writ
plain in Exodus xx. 22 — xxiii. 33. It includes
regulations concerning life and property. It is
strangely like the Civil Code of Babylon, which
was found a few years since, — the Code of
Hammurabi, 300 laws inscribed on a great
block of black marble. Hebrew Covenant
5°

History in the Old Testament
and Babylonian Code are cast on the same
principles. The sacrificial rites of Israel
differed nothing from the customs of neigh
bouring peoples, indeed were so similar that
one of the prophets did not hesitate to condemn
the whole sacrificial cultus as of heathen
origin (Jeremiah vii. 21 — 23). " Put your burnt
offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh,
for I spake not unto your fathers, nor com
manded them in the day that I brought them
out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices. But this one thing
commanded I them, saying, obey my voice,
and I will be your god and you shall be my
people." Even the Sabbath and circumcision,
which were once regarded as peculiarly
Hebrew in origin, are now seen to have
been the common property of all Semitic
peoples. After the death of Moses there was little to
hold these nomad tribes together. The Song
of Deborah (Judges v.) shows how weak were
the bonds that united them : only a few
51 d 2

The Value of the Old Testament
helped against Sisera, while the rest held
aloof. The same book shows us that the detailed
conquest of Canaan had to be undertaken by
the tribes independently one of another. There
is little information concerning this period of
chaos. The various tribes seem to have sub
sisted in a chronic state of warfare with the
peoples in possession of the land, and many
years passed before the Hebrews succeeded in
obtaining an effective foothold. The chronicler
naively expresses the situation when he says
(Judges i. 19), " The Lord drave out the
inhabitants of the mountains, but could not
drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because
they had chariots of iron." The historic fact
seems to indicate rather a gradual coalescence
with the Canaanites than any such extermination
of the original inhabitants as we have been
accustomed to imagine.
The first man of power to gather the tribes
into one whole was Saul, who carried forward
the work of national consolidation, and must
hold high and honourable place in the nation's
52

History in the Old Testament
history. David was called to succeed him.
He was shepherd, musician and outlaw, with
great faults but with rare magnanimity and
with the personal magnetism with attracted the
loyalty and devotion of his contemporaries, and
has won for him the suffrages of his race as the
ideal king of Israel. As a warrior he was
terribly ruthless (2 Sam. xii. 31) : " He
passed the Ammonites under saws and harrows
of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them
pass through the brickkiln." He captured
Jerusalem, and made it the first capital of
Israel and the perpetual sacred city of his
people. He originated a civil service, organized
a priesthood, and brought the ark into the
royal sanctuary.
His successor, Solomon, was a man of peace
He gave attention to commerce and the arts,
and contracted various foreign alliances. He
built a vast temple for Israel's tribal God,
Jehovah, and at the same time secured the
friendship of neighbouring peoples by erecting
smaller temples to their gods. His taxation
53

The Value of the Old Testament
was so oppressive that it led to insurrection
during his life and disruption at his death.
Israel, the division of the Ten Tribes, was
richer and stronger but more unstable than the
smaller division of Judah, and lasted but two
hundred years. Its history consists chiefly of
intestinal feuds, changing dynasties and foreign
wars. The mighty monarchies of Assyria and
Babylonia began to loom up in the East.
" The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the
fold," and kept coming until he swept Israel
away captive, and the Ten Tribes disappeared
from the scene, were scattered through Assyria,
and either succumbed to misery or were
absorbed in the conquering people.
Judah, though the poorer and less powerful
state, lasted a century longer. The most note
worthy reign in her history was that of Josiah,
made famous by the finding of the Book of
the Law in the Temple (2 Kings xxiii. 21).
This book was substantially our Book of Deu
teronomy (i.e., the Second Law), compiled by
one or more of the reforming prophets and
54

History in the Old Testament
accepted as the legislative programme of the
reformation. Until that time the only law in
existence had been the Ten Words, the Book of
the Covenant and a few fragments of ritual
ordinances. I suppose that we may speak of
Deuteronomy as the oldest book in the Old Tes
tament, for though the two great narratives, or
sagas, which underlie the first books of the Bible
were of course earlier, yet the present form of
these books dates back only to the period after
the exile. Certainly Deuteronomy was the
first book to be accepted by the Hebrews as
authoritative Scripture, and its influence on the
domestic and personal religion of the nation
has been greater than that of any other part of
the canon. It is one of the most attractive
books of the Bible, built upon the foundation
of the prophets, and in all probability owes its
origin in an especial degree to the influence of
Hosea. It was a nobly conceived endeavour
to stir the conscience of the nation and to lead
it along the line of the principles of its great
founder. Written in the style of personal
55

The Value of the Old Testament
appeal, insisting earnestly on the debt ot
gratitude and obedience owed to Jehovah,
it is intensely monotheistic. Previously the
Hebrews had believed in many gods though
they served but one ; they had been polytheistic
in theory, though not in practice. But the
Deuteronomist declared Jehovah to be the one
only God, a God of mercy and lovingkindness,
to be loved with heart and mind and soul and
strength. Love to Him was to be the motive
of right conduct. Much more humanitarian
than anything that had preceded, the new law
mitigated the conditions of slavery, forbade
usury, enjoined solicitude for the fatherless and
widows, and ordained that animals were to be
treated with kindness, children to be properly
educated, and justice to be impartially
administered to all.
The public reading of this newly-formed
book to the king and the vast gathering of
his assembled subjects must have been a most
impressive experience. It is not difficult to
conjure up the thrill that must have passed
56

History in the Old Testament
through that great audience, solemnly hushed
to expectancy, when the familiar passages
of Deuteronomy xxviii. were recited for
the first time : — " It shall come to pass, if
thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the
Lord thy God to observe to do all His com
mandments and His statutes which I command
thee this day, that all these curses shall come
upon thee and overtake thee. . . . And the
heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,
and the earth that is under thee shall be iron
. . . and thou shalt become an astonishment,
a proverb and a byword among all the nations
whither the Lord shall lead thee. . . . More
over, all these curses shall come upon thee
and shall pursue thee and overtake thee, till
thou be destroyed. . . . And the Lord shall
scatter thee among all people from the one end
of the earth even unto the other. . . . And
among these nations shalt thou find no ease,
neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest ;
but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling
heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind,
57

The Value of the Old Testament
and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee,
and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt
have none assurance of thy life ; in the morning
thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! and
at even thou shalt say, Would God it were
morning ! for the fear of thine heart wherewith
thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes
which thou shalt see."
That book was the inspiration of the
reformation. All the symbols of idolatry,
which had but recently been the state religion,
were swept away, images and shrines were
broken to pieces, the temple was reconsecrated
and made the one place of worship for all
Israel. Such were the firstfruits of this great
book, and it cannot escape the attention of any
student of the life of our Lord that Deuteronomy
made a profound impression on His mind. In
the Temptation Jesus refuted the suggestion
that He should make bread out of stones by
the words, " Man doth not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God" (Deut. viii. 3). When He
58

History in the Old Testament
refused to prove the grounds of faith in God
by an experiment, instead of waiting for their
verification by experience, His weapon against
the ill suggestion was the quotation, " Ye
shall not tempt the Lord your God " (Deut. vi.
16). And He ended the Temptation by repeat
ing the Deuteronomic creed of Israel, " Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve " (Deut. vi. 13).
There is not much more to be said of the
history of Judah as a kingdom. The Baby
lonians had wasted the Assyrians, and pro
ceeded to ensure their victory by reducing
neighbouring peoples to subjection. They
besieged and sacked Jerusalem, and took
away all the leading inhabitants, leaving
the peasantry to wring a living from the
reluctant soil. The wretched lot of these
fellaheen is portrayed in the Book of Lamen
tations. Politically and religiously the exile in Babylon
was the supreme crisis in the history of the
Hebrew race. Here their history would have
59

The Value of the Old Testament
ended, as ended the history of so many con
quered tribes of which we know nothing but
the name, were it not for the strange tenacity
with which they held on to faith in Jehovah.
That faith has made them unique. The Exile
brought them into contact with the highest
civilisation of the world, and in Babylon a
marvellous quickening of ideas took place.
" The genius of Israel flowered in the dark
night of Exile."
Under the influence of their prophets and
under the pressure of harsh circumstance the
national ideal was wholly changed. The old
impossible dream of power faded, and there
rose the vision of a nation divinely charged to
lead the world to a knowledge of the true God
who loveth righteousness. Herein consists the
supreme vocation of Israel as a people, and the
crowningglory of the Old Testament Scriptures.
After fifty years a colony of exiles was allowed
to return to Canaan. Cyrus the Persian, who
had overthrown Babylon, liberated this body
of captive Hebrews in order that they might
60

History in the Old Testament
serve as a buffer-state between himself and
Egypt. Their joy at the news that they were
free to return to Jerusalem is reflected in those
majestic words, which have been re-consecrated
by usage in so many other connections, " The
spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath sent
me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the
acceptable year of our God. . . . They
shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up
the former desolations. . . . Arise, shine,
for thy light is come, and the glory of the
Lord is risen upon thee " (Isaiah lx. and lxi.).
They looked for another Exodus, from Babylon
as from Egypt, the second more glorious than
the former.
There were many thousands of returning
exiles, and every seventh man of them was a
priest. It was a journey of months, and they
cheered their way with songs of rejoicing:
" The ransomed of the Lord shall return and
come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting
61

The Value of the Old Testament
joy shall be upon their heads: they shall
obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sigh
ing shall flee away " (Isaiah xxxv. — the whole
of which chapter belongs to chapter li.,
between verses 4 and 5).
Subsequently Nehemiah was appointed
governor of Judaea ; and he, with Ezra, pro
claimed "the book of the Law of Moses,"
which was the priestly legislation of the
Pentateuch, then publicly set forth for
the first time. Under his patronage and
care a national library was formed at
Jerusalem. It matters little to tell the successive
holdings of the land by Persians, Greeks,
Egyptians, Syrians, and Romans. The politi
cal history of the Hebrews is dull and profitless
reading, save only for the heroic episode of
the Maccabasan revolt, which saved Jewry
from extinction under the relentless persecu
tion of Antiochus Epiphanes. Thereafter they
flourished in Palestine, and sent forth many of
their number to settle in Egypt, Greece,
62

History in the Old Testament
and Italy — known as the Jews of the Dis
persion. But the real interest lies in their
religious history : synagogues arose in every
town and village, and there they listened
to the reading of the Law, which was re
ceived as the Divine rule of faith and prac
tice. The synagogues, free from the limitations
of a centralized worship with its attendant
sacerdotalism, outlived the temple, and proved
to be the instrument of the re-construction
of Judaism after the great catastrophe of
a.d. 70.
In this same " period between the Testa
ments " the great Jewish sects arose, — Phari
sees, Sadducees, and Essenes. And then it was
that the Old Testament took its final form,
being prepared for religious use in synagogue
and home.
In the year 61 b.c. Pompey, alleging as his
excuse the senseless quarrels of the Jews
among themselves, took Jerusalem. He
entered the temple, where priests sat robed
in black sacklcoth, and penetrated the Holy
63

The Value of the Old Testament
of Holies in order to see for himself the
symbol of the mysterious God of the Hebrews
— and found nothing !
In 37 b.c. Herod, the Edomite upstart,
established himself king of Judasa, and at the
end of his reign the boy Jesus was born.

64

HEBREW POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY

Ill
HEBREW POETRY AND
PHILOSOPHY
In a nation's poetry the heart of that nation
stands revealed. Nowhere do we get nearer
to the greatness and genius of the Hebrew
race than in its poetry. That poetry is almost
all of it religious, as indeed is true of the poetry
of most ancient peoples. From the beginning
poetry has been allied with religion : in those
high and impassioned moods natural to religion
the soul of man has sung itself forth in solemn
and ordered verse, which in the process of time
tends to be regarded as sacred.
It is difficult for us to discern the rules of
Hebrew prosody, but it is easy to see that they
paid more heed to the " rhythm of ideas " than
to the music of sound. In simplest form this
67 E 2

The Value of the Old Testament
is shown in the reduplication or parallelism of
the same idea in slightly altered form. Psalm
cxiv., which was part of the Great Hallel sung
at solemn festivals, shows this construction in
every verse : —
i. " When Israel went out of Egypt : the house of
Jacob from a people of strange language,
2. " Judah was his sanctuary : and Israel his dominion.
3. " The sea saw it and fled : Jordan was driven back.
4. " The mountains skipped like rams : and the little
hills like lambs.
5. " What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest :
thou Jordan that thou wast driven back ?
6. "Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams: and ye
little hills like lambs ?
7. " Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord :
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8. " Which turned the rock into a standing water :
the flint into a fountain of waters."
Instances of this reduplication will occur to
anyone who is in the least familiar with the
Scriptures. " I am become a stranger unto my brethren : and an
alien unto my mother's children.
" Seek ye the Lord while He may be found : call ye
upon Him while He is near.
68

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
" He shall come riding on an ass : and on a colt the
foal of an ass."
(Concerning which a curious mistake of
interpretation has occurred through neglect of
this structure of Hebrew verse.)
The finest example of this form is found in
the Song of Deborah (Judges v.), the most
ancient relic of Hebrew poetry, dating from a
period before the unification of the tribes into
a commonwealth, a poem rugged and pictur
esque, full of the tumult of rude times, inspired
by splendid patriotism and terrible scorn.
" They fought from heaven : the stars in their courses
fought against Sisera.
" The river of Kishon swept them away : that ancient
river, the river Kishon.
" O my soul, march on with strength.
" Then did the horsehoofs stamp with pransings : the
pransings of their mighty ones.
" Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord : curse
ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof.
" Because they came not to the help of the Lord : to
the help of the Lord against the mighty.
" At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down : at her
feet he bowed, he fell : where he bowed, there he
fell down dead."
69

The Value of the Old Testament
Sometimes the changes are rung anti
thetically by the opposition, instead of the
parallelism of ideas. Most of the Proverbs
are constructed on this principle : —
" A wise son maketh a glad father : but a foolish son
is the heaviness of his mother.
" The memory of the just is blessed : but the name of
the wicked shall rot.
" The rich man's wealth is his strong city : the
destruction of the poor is their poverty."
Sometimes line follows line, repeating the
same thought with some rhetorical amplifica
tion. Hear the beat and crescendo of
2 Samuel i. 19 — 27.
" The beauty of Israel is slain upon their high places :
how are the mighty fallen !
" Tell it not in Gath : publish it not in the streets of
Askelon.
" Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice : lest the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
" Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew on
you : neither let there be rain upon you, ye fields of
offerings.
" For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast
away : the shield of Saul, as of one not anointed.
" From the blood of the slain : from the fat of the
mighty,
70

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
" The bow of Jonathan turned not back : and the
sword of Saul returned not empty.
" Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their
lives : and in their death they were not divided.
" They were swifter than eagles : they were stronger
than lions.
" Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed
you in scarlet with other delights : who put on
ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
" How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
O Jonathan thou wast slain in thine high places.
" I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan : very
pleasant hast thou been unto me : thy love to me
was wonderful : passing the love of women.
" How are the mighty fallen ! and the weapons of war
perished ! "
Another splendid example is found in the
opening of Psalm ciii.

The Psalms
The Psalter, "a little hymn-book compiled
for the use of a little upland sanctuary in an
obscure province," has become the world's
chief book of devotion. Intensely Israelitish in
tone, expressing the very spirit of the national
life, these psalms have proved themselves
7i

The Value of the Old Testament
susceptible of universal adaptation. The
struggles and defeats, hopes and sorrow, joy
and despair and aspiration of the singers hold
sway over the general heart. They are to the
devotional side of human nature what the
literature of Greece has been to its intellectual
side. The simple fact that they are the only
poems which have found any acceptance in a
translated form is in itself a perpetual tribute
to their supremacy.
It may not be superfluous to say that in order
to get the best out of poetry it must be read
aloud, or sung. These psalms are lyrics meant
to be sung to the accompaniment of a psaltery.
The Psalter was founded by King David,
who made a place for song in the ritual of
Hebrew worship and taught the use of the bow
in stringed instruments. But it is difficult to
affirm with assurance that we have psalms
of his actual composition. The headings,
which ascribe various psalms to various periods
in his life, were the work of the scribes who
edited them at a very much later period. If any
72

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
are m be attributed to David, they are
Psalms vii. and xviii.
Probably this hymn-book came into exist
ence much as our hymn-books do : additions •
being made from time to time, some hymns
being omitted, others modified. We may
think of it as a gradual growth, through several
centuries, a hundred different authors con
tributing the deepest experiences of their hearts.
There was a section that bore the name of
David (cf. Psalm lxxii. 20), and there were at
onetime separate collections ascribed to the sons
of Korah and bearing the name of Asaph, and
there was a little psalter for the use of pilgrims
who went to keep the feasts at Jerusalem.
Some psalms are evidently of very late
origin. Some bear evidence that their authors
had assimilated the teaching of the great
prophets. Some {e.g., cxix.) sing the praises of
the Law, which was not codified until the time
of Ezra. Some tell of synagogues and of
persecutions, which bespeak the time of the
Maccabees. Some are said to bear tokens of
73

The Value of the Old Testament
the influence of Babylonian penitential poetry.
Psalm cxxvi. tells of the return from captivity and
of delight in the restored temple. Psalm cxxxvii.
was begotten of the gloom of the captivity.
The last verses of this psalm : —
" O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed,
happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast
served us.
*' Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy
little ones against the stones,"
necessitates the remark that there is much in
the Psalter which appears to be unfit for use
as a means of worship by a Christian congre
gation. Surely, more solid cursing was never
heard than —
(lxxxii., 13) " O my God, make them like whirling
dust, as stubble before the wind."
(cxl., 10.) " Let burning coal fall upon my enemies, let
them be cast into the fire, and into deep pits from which
they cannot rise."
(cix., 7 — 14.) " Let his prayer become sin, ... let his
children be fatherless, beggars and vagabonds for ever,
... let there be none that will have mercy on him, or
on his fatherless children."
There are also verses that extol bloody sacri-
74

Hebrew]Poetry and Philosophy
fices, psalms that contradict the hope of
immortality (e.g. vi., xlix., cxv.), psalms that
express the worship of a tribal god who
"dwelleth at Jerusalem," who "sitteth between
the cherubim," the " lord of hosts," the "god
of Jacob," whom it is difficult to identify with
the God of the New Testament, the God and
Father of our Lord, and our Father. When
we try such scriptures by the mind that was
in Christ, they are woefully defective. There
is no explaining away these evil excrescences,
their meaning is only too plain. The Jews
were atrociously persecuted and used words
born of fierce passion of resentment : it was
natural enough that they should do so, but it
is not for us to use their errors as vehicles of
our religious expression toward heaven. Such
utterances are rightly contained in the Bible,
which reflects the various stages of growth
through age-long processes, but their occur
rence in the Bible constitutes no reason why
we should make our worship unreal by their
inclusion. 75

The Value of the Old Testament
The greatest of the Psalms, how unsurpass-
ably fine they are ! Unexhausted by the mighty
powers of organ, orchestra and choir, yet
folding themselves to the measure of a mother's
song as she watches over her child. Think of
Psalm xc. uttered beside myriads of graves.
Think of the associations which attach them
selves to Psalm ii., that psalm of good heart
in hard times, " Why do the heathen rage and
the people imagine a vain thing ? " — how the
apostle used it to strengthen the spirit of the
first Christians against persecution, how the
Jews sang it at the siege of their capital, how
it was the favourite hymn of the First Crusade,
how Athanasius found in it "a trumpet-call
against the enemies of the faith," how it was
on Savonarola's lips when the city of Florence
was in her greatest peril, and on those of
Luther a generation later in his stand for God
and righteousness.
What can one say of the finest religious
song ever written, Psalm xxiii. ? Born in the
soul of the old-world Hebrew, it sings itself
76

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
straight to the soul of man, and its words are
of universal application. Everyone can under
stand it, everyone feels something of its power.
It reaches away far beyond our philosophy and
theology, a serene song of clear, resolute music
and of steadfast confidence in God. It will
never grow old.
Doubtless the words of the Psalter have
been enriched in the passage of the years, their
meaning deepened, illumined and idealized :
" Words which have drunk transcendent meaning up
From the best passion of all bygone times,
Steeped through with tears of triumph and remorse,
Sweet with all sainthood, cleansed with martyr-fires."
" In palace halls, by happy hearths, in squalid
rooms, in pauper wards, in prison cells, in
crowded sanctuaries, in lonely wildernesses —
everywhere these Jews have uttered our moan
of contrition and our song of triumph, our
tearful complaint and our wrestling conquering
prayer." How many faithful hearts have
been cheered: what millions of the troubled
have strengthened and refreshed their souls
77

The Value of the Old Testament
with their divine melody ! The seal to their
inspiration is set by untold multitudes of all
the ages since. They will not be forgotten
while men wrestle with difficulties, stagger
under burdens, or raise exultant cries in the
great moments of triumph.
The central reason of their power, that
makes them " not of an age but for all time,"
is the all-pervading presence of the thought of
God amidst all the changes and chances of
our mortal life. They tell of things that know
no age, of man's quest and of the divine
intuition which is still a lantern to his feet
and a light to his path ; they tell of man's
sorrows upon the road and of his joys, how he
is bowed in penitence and paralyzed by fear,
and how he is lifted up and comforted. Some
times we criticize their ethics and their theo
logy, but their words thrill us none the.less ;
we hardly understand their import,, for they
speak as music speaks, to the emotions rather
than to the intellect. The sense of the Divine
Presence is through it all. If the psalmist
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
tells of a storm, as in Psalm xxix. (and where
is there anything like it ?), he sees not so
much the majesty and terror of it as God at
work :
" The voice of the Lord is upon the waters : the God
of glory thundereth.
" The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
"The Lord sitteth upon the flood."
It is ever so. "He maketh the grass to grow
upon the mountains." " The heavens declare
the glory of God." Light is His garment, and
He walketh upon the wings of the wind. The
visible universe is but the hieroglyph of the
invisible God. All history is but the story of
His doings : He shepherds His children,
He sustains and comforts His own, He
is saving them. The psalmists' insistence
upon the mercy, patience, pity, gentle
ness, and long-suffering of God is much
more Christian than most Christian theology,
and the New Testament itself can scarce
carry us further than do the best of the
Psalms.
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The Value of the Old Testament
The Book of Proverbs
belongs to the wisdom literature of the
Hebrews, all of it grouped around the name
of Solomon. " Solomon spake three thousand
proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and
five ; and he spake of trees, from the cedar-
tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop
that springeth out of the wall ; he spake also
of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things
and of fishes ; and there came of all people
to hear the wisdom of Solomon " (i Kings
iv. 32).
Various collections of proverbs are put
together, with Solomon's collection as the
nucleus ; beside the king certain sages are
named as authors, while the " men of Heze-
kiah " appear as the contributors of one
group. This storehouse of proverbial wisdom
probably received additions while Hebrew
remained a living language. We know that
there arose in later Israel a class of thinkers
called "the wise." Their wisdom consisted
80

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
in training men to a right ordering of their
life on the fixed basis of the fear of God.
They constituted an order so well recognized
that they could be ranked with priests and
prophets : e.g., " The law shall not perish
from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor
the word from the prophet" (Jeremiah xviii. 18).
This book constitutes the nearest approach to
philosophy that we find in Scripture, reflecting
the conclusions of shrewd sagacity and pru
dence. Many of the sayings set forth the
advantages that accrue from industry, from
thrift and temperance. Many go ruthlessly
to the undeniable and unwelcome truth of
things : —
"Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar, yet
will not his foolishness depart from him."
" As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a beautiful
woman without sense."
" Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble
is like a broken tooth, or a foot out of joint."
" He that vexeth himself with the strife of others is
like one that taketh an angry dog by the ears."
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches."
" Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker."
8l F

The Value of the Old Testament
ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACHER
The author of this book took Solomon as
his mouthpiece, and his name has saved for
us this portraiture of life. It is in the form of
a monologue of a man arguing with himself.
The tone is sceptical, epicurean, pessimistic,
fatalistic. He feels life to be a terrible tangle,
a vanity, the pursuit of wind, weariness.
Chance is over all. He touches upon the
theory of a future life, but to reject it. The
text of the book and the result of all the
writer's thinking is that all is nothingness,
absolute nothingness ! His general advice is
that we should not take life too seriously:
" Be not righteous overmuch, neither be over-
wise." It is pleasant to live in the sunshine :
be content to take the days as they come.
The epilogue of the book is, by almost unani
mous consent, by another hand. It shatters
the cynic's creed with an unanswerable plea
in favour of the steadfast fear of God and
obedience to His commands. 82

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
For myself I think it good that we have this
book. Its moods and phases have their place
in a great literature. But I am unable to
understand what can be made of it by the
man who cherishes the idea of the plenary
inspiration of all within the Canon.
The Song of Songs
is a very " human document," made up of
lyrics celebrating the joy of the wedding-time.
Bride and groom describe one another's
charms with a frankness that does not accord
with modern sensibilities, so that no church-
lectionary has dared to include it. Albeit the
fundamental intention of the poem is moral
and beautiful.
The book owes its place in the Canon to a
thorough misunderstanding. It was inter
preted as an expression of the love of God
for His people. Rabbi Akiba declared " The
whole world is not worth the day on which
the Song of Songs was given to Israel ; for
all the Scriptures are holy, but the Canticles
83 f 2

The Value of the Old Testament
are most holy." This high eulogy is, of
course, due to the fact that he took the
allegorical view of the book, which prevailed
for many centuries among the Hebrews.
There is no evidence whatever that the author
intended his poem to be treated after this
allegorical fashion ; but it is still widely
regarded in this light, — as a mystic casket of
spiritual truth. The headings of the chapters
sufficiently indicate the views of the interpre
ters : " The church's love unto Christ," " The
church having a taste of Christ's love is sick
of love." This persistent error has conduced
largely to that voluptuousness of religiosity
that finds expression in some popular hymns,
concerning which it is necessary to say that
they are noxious to reverent culture and right
feeling. Tennyson hit the gold of the target, when
he described the book as "the most perfect
idyl of the faithful love of a country girl for
her shepherd, and of her resistance to the
advances of a great King." It is a drama, in
84

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
the same sense in which " Pippa Passes " is a
drama. The names of the characters are
not given, and the reader has to judge
from internal evidence who it is that speaks.
But once the clue is obtained, it is not
difficult to make out the main trend of the
poem. A maiden has given her heart to a young shep
herd, to whom she has been betrothed by her
mother. Working among the vines she has
become swarthy from the sun's rays, but still
she is comely and beautiful. One day she
wanders beyond the home-estate, when lo !
the cavalcade of the King going northward
to his summer palace on the slopes of
Lebanon. Some of his myrmidons, struck
by the beauty of the brunette peasant, take
her into the royal presence. Solomon is
fascinated by this " Rose of Sharon," and
adds her to his cortege. "Where the word
of a King is, there is power " ; and there is no
appeal. She is taken to the palace, and every
one expects that she will feel the greatness of
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The Value of the Old Testament
the honour that has fallen to her. But she
pines for her shepherd-love. The ladies of the
court flatter her and press her to consent. But
again and again she expostulates with them.
" I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that
ye stir not up nor awaken love, until the heart
so inclines." Solomon strains his powers to
induce her to forget her lover, but the constant
burden of her reply is : "I am my beloved's,
and he is mine." Meantime, her betrothed
has followed her, made his way to the palace
and effected an interview. She assures him of
her unalterable love ; all the luxury and gorgeous-
ness of her surroundings shall not move her.
One thought alone shall fill her heart. At
last Solomon recognises the uselessness of all his
persuasions, and with more magnanimity than
we usually attribute to despots, he determines
to resign her to him whom she has chosen.
As things went in those days, that was remark
able. She may well boast: "I was inacces
sible as a wall, my bosom impregnable as
a castle ; I was as one in his eyes who must be
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
left to go in peace." Then, the lovers return
to their village-home, she " leaning upon her
beloved." Henceforth, through sad or shining
weather, they will not walk alone. A
chorus of villagers greets them and praises
such virtue: "Love is strong as death, a
very flame of the Lord ; many waters
cannot quench love, neither can the floods
drown it."
That is the motive around which the story
is built. It is good that the poetry of true love
has its place in the Bible. The poem moves
in a sphere where many a life has been wrecked.
That is sufficient reason for its being in the
Bible, and for speech upon it, unless the pulpit
is to stand aside from the realities of human
life. There are ominous facts in our modern
life which indicate that we shall do well to
glorify the faithful love which " looks on tem
pests and is never shaken," holy household
love which is the high consecration of wedded
life.

87

The Value of the Old Testament
Job
In literary quality this book ranks with
Prometheus Vinctus, Hamlet and Faust. It
is the finest flower of Hebrew literature, and
one may doubt if there is a greater and nobler
writing in the world's library. It is an epic of
the inner life, portraying the conflict of faith
with doubt in the presence of sore calamity.
It appeals to all who are capable of high
seriousness, all who are conscious of the
" heavy and the weary weight of all this
unintelligible world."
It dates from the later times of Hebrew
story. When bitter experience had shaken the
time-honoured axiom of their ancient faith, that
God rewarded well-doing with prosperity, and
punished ill-doing with adversity, then some
great unknown poet arose and arraigned the
traditional theory of divine administration.
It did not answer to known facts. Too clear-
eyed to rest in delusion, too honest to cover
up contradictions with pious falsehoods, with
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
passionate earnestness he put on record the
doubts which many shared but dared not
express. The poem is founded on the tradition of the
man of Uz, who had been distinguished for his
patriarchal integrity and his fine fortitude
under crushing calamities. The hero is pre
sented as a perfect example of human virtue.
We see him in prosperity, "the father of the
oppressed and of those who had none to help
them." He sat as judge, and " righteousness
clothed him." He "broke the jaws of the
wicked and plucked the spoil out of his
teeth." Friend of the poor, " the blessing of
him that was ready to perish came upon
him, and he made the widow's heart to sing
for joy."
Then we see the heavenly court convened,
and there appears the prosecutor, Satan. He
cannot deny the integrity of Job, but it is (he
alleges) due to calculating selfishness on his
part. While Heaven rewards virtue with pros
perity, there is no lack of sufficient motive for
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The Value of the Old Testament
right conduct. Let him but suffer loss, and his
vaunted piety will vanish. God permits the
trial, and misfortunes fall on the patriarch,
blow on blow, with startling swiftness. Calamity
only serves to establish Job's disinterestedness.
But Satan changes his method of attack. If
it be not selfishness that actuates the man,
then it is fear. He is but cringing before God,
lest a worse evil befall ; let him suffer in him
self and he will curse God. This test also is
applied : Job is smitten with terrible disease.
But still Job holds fast his integrity. His wife
bids him, " Renounce God and die," but he
rejoins, " Thou speakest as one of the foolish
women. Shall we receive good at the hand of
God and not evil ? "
Then the poem unfolds, and we see his great
soul wrestling with his thoughts. His three
friends come to condole with him, sagacious,
honest, kindly men, religious after a con
ventional fashion. " And when they lifted up
their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they
lifted up their voice, and wept ; and they rent
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust
upon their heads toward heaven. So they
sat down with him upon the ground seven days
and seven nights, and none spake a word unto
him, for they saw that his grief was very
great" (ii. 12-13). This silence showed Job
that in their secret hearts they felt that so
great misery could have been produced only
by great wickedness. That was the finding ot
their orthodox faith. The poignant note in
the situation is that this had been the life's
faith of Job also, and now it lay in ruins in his
soul. While all had gone well with him, it
had been easy to believe in Divine justice,
but now that easy faith was gone.
" And Job spake and said, Let the day perish
wherein I was born, and the night in which it
was said, There is a man child conceived. Let
the day be darkness ; let not God regard it
from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Let darkness and the shadow of death claim
it ; let a cloud dwell upon it, let the blackness
of the day make it terrible." 91

The Value of the Old Testament
" Wherefore is light given to him that is in
misery, and life unto the bitter in soul ; which
long for death, but it cometh not, and dig for
it more than for hid treasures ; which rejoice
exceedingly and are glad, when they can find
the grave ? " (iii. 2 — 5, 20 — 22). He knows that
he has not deserved this suffering by wrong
doing. His friends claim to know without
doubt the divine method of dealing with men :
Job must have sinned, and they piously invite
him to repent. But how can he repent of
evils of which he is not conscious ? They even
have the assurance to promise restoration to
health and prosperity, if he will but follow their
good counsel. " Happy is the man whom God
correcteth, therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty, for He maketh
sore and bindeth up, He woundeth, and His
hands make whole." " Thou shalt come to
thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn
cometh in his season. Lo this, we have
searched it, so it is ; hear it and know thou it
for thy good " (v. 17, 18, 26, 27). Was ever
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
noble smitten soul faced with more pitiable
pleas? The terrible mockery of such words
deepens his despair, — " Let me alone, for my
days are vanity." He finds no hope ; his
friends have failed him in his need, they who
have loved him have believed evil of him, they
preferred to believe him transcendently wicked
rather than allow that their theories were at
fault. He expostulates with God : " Thou
knowest that I am not wicked, and there is
none that can deliver out of Thy hand :
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me
together round about, yet Thou dost destroy
me? " "Wherefore then hast Thou brought me
forth out of the womb ? Oh, that I had given
up the ghost, and no eye had seen me !
I should have been as though I had not been ;
I should have been carried from the womb to
the grave. Are not my days few? Cease
then, and let me alone that I may take comfort
a little, before I go whence I shall not return,
even to the land of darkness and the shadow
of death, a land of darkness, as darkness itself,
93

The Value of the Old Testament
and of the shadow of death without any order,
and where the light is as darkness " (x. 7, 8,
18 — 22). There is deep pathos in that appeal ;
the billows had gone over him. But to his
friends it is fearful effrontery, the raving of a
madman who will brazen it out even to the
crack of doom. They are confirmed in their
theory. " Shall mortal man be more just than
God ? " They insist that God must be in the
right, for He can crush all opposition. " Canst
thou by searching find out God, canst thou
find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is
high as heaven, what canst thou do ? Deeper
than hell, what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth and broader
than the sea. If He cut off, and shut up, or
gather together, then who can hinder Him ? "
(xi. 7 — 10). But that is not the God for whom
Job is seeking. Their theory has dispelled the
God of Justice, and only an almighty tyrant
remains. " Miserable comforters are ye all " ; it
is all special pleading and debasing to the moral
currency. Job will not play the sycophant ;
94

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
at any risk he will not lie. If God wants such
apologists for His misgovernment, He shall
not find one in Job. He rebels passionately
against their idolatry of power that is not
just ; he will protest to his last breath that he
is innocent, and he will prove it to God's self,
if only they two can meet on equal terms,
as man meets man in argument.
His friends cannot understand this at all.
They rehearse their nostrums, while his heart
is crushed. He hungers for human sympathy
and they empty forth their turgid sophisms.
More and more Job sees that there is no relief
for him in their way of thinking, for their
theology is hopelessly bankrupt. " I cry out
against wrong, but I am not heard ; I cry for
help, but judgment there is none." But as he
is driven from their theology, he is driven back
on God. There is no other refuge. Out of
the depths he cries unto God. God must be
just, yea, "though He slay me, yet will I trust.
in Him " (xiii. 15).
That was faith worthily so called : the resolu-
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The Value of the Old Testament
tion to stand or fall by the highest and best
that the soul can conceive. " Ye have heard
of the patience of Job ": it was rooted in his
faith in eternal Right. " I know," said he,
" that somehow, somewhere God will vindicate
the right ! " There stands that heroic soul,
steadfast amid the wash and welter of the
world, steadfast amid his own torture of body
and of mind. In that faith his soul rests. He
does not know why he suffers, but his soul is
at rest, for he has cast himself on God the
just. " Shall not the Lord of all the earth do
right ? "
The nobility of the situation thrills the soul
of the reader. But we have not yet arrived at
our author's solution of the problem of the
universe. He reminds us that perfect Wisdom
is at work in nature, and suggests that He who
orders all physical phenomena will deal with
man rightly, though His ways are past man's
finding out. Then at the close of the poem he
introduces God to answer out of the whirlwind.
It is speech of thunder, as worthy the Divine
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Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
lips as human genius can contrive. "Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth, when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? Have
the gates of death been revealed to thee ?
Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades !
Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens ?''
Thus speaks the Almighty ; and the words of
the poet are sublime, his imagination rising to
its utmost with this theophany. He pictures
the lightnings that start forth at God's voice
and answer " Here we are " : the treasure-
houses of the snow : the sea swathed in
darkness and " clad as in swaddling-bands."
It is all so overwhelming that Job's answer is
of few words : " I know that Thou canst do all
things, and that no purpose of Thine can be
restrained. Thou hast asked, Who is this that
hideth counsel without knowledge ? Therefore
it is that I have uttered what I understood not,
things too wonderful for me which I knew
not. Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak ;
I will demand of Thee, declare Thou unto me.
97 G

The Value of the Old Testament
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear,
but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes "
(xlii. 2 — 6).
But after all Job is right. " The Lord said
to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled
against thee and against thy two friends ; for
ye have not spoken of me the thing that is
right, as my servant Job hath" (xlii. 7). Those
pious conventionalists are wrong ; that solitary
suffering spirit is right. It is not true that all
suffering is caused by sin : it is not true that
men are righteous only because righteousness
brings prosperity : it is not true that with
facile doctrines we can explain all the ways of
the Eternal. On this note the stupendous
poem goes out like retreating thunder.
The Epilogue was added because the book
was of itself too profound for its generation.
Some editor, suffused with the same theology
as that of Job's friends, superimposed the
" happy ending " and set up again the very
doctrine against which the poem is a passionate
98

Hebrew Poetry and Philosophy
protest. The Epilogue mars the tragic unity
of the work. The conclusion of the whole
matter is that, when we have uttered all our
arguments and registered all our protests, we
are driven back on those inspirations of the
soul which nothing can destroy. That is the
foundation of all high-minded faith.

99 g 2

FICTION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

IV
FICTION IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT
If any reader be unnerved by the suggestion
that the Bible contains fiction, let him ask
himself what more natural conduit of inspira
tion can there be than imagination. Is it not
as fitting to teach spiritual truth by story and
allegory as by history and sermon ? Why
should it be easier to think of a Biblical
Froude, Gibbon, or Macaulay than of a
Biblical Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, or
Scott ? The lessons derived from our Lord's
parable of the prodigal are as cogent whether
the parable was based on an actual incident
or whether it was wholly created by Jesus's
imagination. We read that He " knew what
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The Value of the Old Testament
was in man," and assuredly He understood that
" truth embodied in a tale may enter in at lowly
doors." In the Old Testament there are four books
which may be described as fiction with a pur
pose. In other words, they are valuable, not
so much for the recital of incidents, as for the
exposition of great lessons.
Ruth is a winsome story written after the
Exile. When Benjamin Franklin was Minister
of the United States in Paris, he offered to the
literati of that city an Eastern story for their
criticism. Reading to them this ancient idyll
he was not surprised to hear them praise it
with unanimity, but he was surprised to receive
from several the request that he should divulge
to them its origin.
The Hebrews hated and despised all neigh
bouring peoples ; shutting themselves within
a ring-fence of isolation, they forbade all
marriages with foreigners. With the bittef
patriotism which has always characterised
them, they were primarily concerned in main-
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Fiction in the Old Testament
taining the purity of blood of the " children
of the Covenant." Their leaders used their
influence to discourage all intercourse with
"the lesser breeds without the Law." Had
a tariff been invented in those days, they would
have made it prohibitive. Then it was that
an unknown writer produced this story of
Ruth, showing how in Israel's better days
foreign marriages had been held lawful, and
how David himself had included a Moabitess
among his ancestry, a woman belonging to
a race that was specifically denied all rights
of citizenship in Israel (Deut. xxiii. 3).
And here is the plot of the story. There
was famine in the land. Crops were destroyed,
sheep starved in the uplands, cattle died in
the glens. Famine ! and the children cried
with hunger. Under pressure of want a
certain Hebrew mortgaged his little estate,
and with his wife escaped from the stricken
country into Moab, where food was to be found.
Two sons, whose names " Sickly " and
" Pining" suggest that we are in story- world,
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The Value of the Old Testament
accompanied them. In Moab they settled,
and the sons on reaching adult years married
women of the country. Then death enters ;
the three men are snatched away and three
widows are left — Naomi and her two daughters-
in-law, Ruth and Orpah.
Naomi longed for the homeland and deter
mined to go thither. The two younger women
resolved to accompany her ; but Naomi knew
Israel's hatred for Moab and endeavoured to
dissuade them. She could stand alone —
" Leave me to my wretchedness, alone." Still
they persisted ; and the end of it was that
Orpah remained at home in Moab, while Ruth
clave to Naomi, though the only prospect was
the sharing of poverty with a sad old woman.
" Entreat me not to leave thee ; whither thou
goest, I will go ; thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God." So they two
went until they came to Bethlehem.
The townspeople saw the bent form of the
old woman leaning upon Ruth, and enquired,
" Is this Naomi ? " " Nay, call me not Naomi
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Fiction in the Old Testament
(happiness) ; call me Mara (sorrow) ; for bitter
is my lot." The old homestead was in ruins ;
the old estate was in other hands. The two
women were left to their own devices. Ruth
gleaned in the harvest fields, and " her hap
was in the field of Boaz." The rich farmer
fell in love with the young Moabitess, whose
devotion to Naomi had already won her many
admirers. The story of their courtship is all
of the olden time, before our standards of
propriety were fashioned. Boaz married Ruth
and redeemed the family estate ; and their
great-grandson was King David.
If foreign marriages were to be banned, was
this excommunicate ? Where would have
been the monarchy, where the paragon of
Israel's kings, but for this marriage of a
Hebrew with an alien ? The writer is too
politic to labour his moral, but it is writ
large for all who read his story with open
eyes. Esther is a historical romance that makes
very free with facts, a tale for the traveller's
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The Value of the Old Testament
tent, written about a century before the opening
of our era. It is singular among the books
of the Bible in that it mentions neither God
nor the " Holy Land." Its atmosphere is as
Persian as that of the " Arabian Nights," and
it was admitted to the Canon only after grave
hesitation. It purports to explain the origin
and meaning of the mysterious feast of Purim,
which is now generally supposed to have been
adopted from the heathen festivals of Ishtar
and Marduk (deities whose names are reflected
in Esther and Mordecai).
Xerxes the Great, who invaded Greece and
at his first defeat fled to his capital, in a drunken
orgie ordered Queen Vashti to exhibit her
beauty to his guests. She in noble scorn
refused ; and he divorced her, issuing a solemn
decree that every man was to be master in his
own house and to speak the language of his
own nation !
He determined to choose as the successor ol
Vashti the most beautiful maiden in the realm.
Whereupon ensued a competition that is re-
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Fiction in the Old Testament
volting to out modern sensibilities ; but it is
superfluous for us to complain of the unpleasant
customs of the past. They were what they
were. Esther (whose name denotes " the star
of love "), the niece of Mordecai, was selected
without her Jewish origin transpiring. Now
the grand-vizier Haman hated Mordecai, and
his race because of him. He poisoned the
king's mind with calumnies, telling how " the
Jews despise the laws," and bidding the king
slay the whole noxious tribe and seize their
wealth. Such a prospect has since that time
frequently inspired the actions of monarchs
with regard to " the chosen people." Xerxes
issued the death-warrant of the whole race,
anticipating the modern procedure of the
Ottoman despotism with the Armenians.
Haman cast lots (Purim) to decide the fatal
day, and the lots determined a date at eleven
months' distance.
Then Mordecai implored his niece to inter
vene for her people. She hesitated, for
precedent showed that to be a dangerous
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The Value of the Old Testament
process. Whereupon Mordecai urged her to
the step as to her high duty, — " Who knoweth
but that, for such a crisis as this, thou art come
to the kingdom ? " And Esther resolved to
face all risks for the sake of her threatened
people. Now it happened that the king could not
sleep, and caliph-like he ordered the reading of
the court records — an expedient calculated to
promote slumber. In the course of the recital
of recent events he heard, apparently for the
first time, that Mordecai had once frustrated
an attempt made on his royal life and that his
loyal service had never been requited. Next
day he asked his vizier, " What shall be done
for the man whom the king delighteth to
honour ? " Swollen with vanity and self-
conceit, Haman suggested honours such as he
himself coveted ; and to his chagrin he found
that it was all for Mordecai !
Then came Esther as suppliant at Xerxes'
feet. " My lord the king, someone is devising
my death and the death of all my people ; pro-
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Fiction in the Old Testament
tectus!" "Who?" " It is Haman." "Let
Haman be hung ! " said the tyrant, so they
hung Haman on the gallows which he had
prepared for Mordecai. So did vaulting
ambition o'erleap itself!
Now, according to laws of the Medes and
Persians, the decree for the slaying of the
Jews could not be revoked, therefore a codicil
was added to the decree to the effect that the..
Jews were at liberty to defend themselves !
On the fated day, therefore, the Jews with the
support of the officials slew seventy-five
thousand of their foes, but took no spoil.
At Esther's request they were permitted to
continue the carnage for a second day.
Of course it is all fictitious. I should not
care to take the responsibility of saying that
this book contains the mind of the Spirit.
This story of Esther is to this day the comfort
of a race pursued by remorseless Judenhetze ;
albeit the fact constitutes no reason why we
should not plainly say that it is utterly at
variance with Christian ethics. Luther pitched
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The Value of the Old Testament
the book into the Elbe and wished that it had
never been written. But that is surely an
extreme judgment. This story of a woman's
brave heart can never be forgotten by the
Jewish race.
Daniel has been very widely read. It has
been largely treated as a kind of sacred
" meteorological office," which published before
hand the issues of diplomacy and warfare.
Such treatment proceeds from an error as to
the meaning of prophecy.
The book is an Apocalypse. The New
Testament contains another, and there are still
others not admitted to the Canon of Scripture.
In these books the author writes under the
name of some departed worthy (in this instance
borrowing the name of a pious man of the
times of the Captivity, who was mentioned by
Ezekiel along with Noah and Job), transports
himself in imagination back to the distant
time, and makes his hero see in vision the
events which have happened in the interval.
Having completed that task the author sets
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Fiction in the Old Testament
forth his expectation of Divine interference in
the near future.
The book opens with a series of wonderful
stories written with an edifying purpose :
Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's
dream, the thrusting of three Hebrew youths
into a furnace for their faith, Nebuchadnezzar's
life for seven years as a beast of the field, the
episode of Daniel in the lions' den, and the
destruction of Belshazzar. All these stories
tend to exalt the wisdom and guardian-care of
Providence, who surely brings evil to nought
and good to prosperity. Probably each story
had some traditional basis, but they are all
rewritten to establish the stedfastness of the
persecuted Jews under the tyranny of Antiochus
Epiphanes. Then follow in the form of visions four
sketches of the history which had led to the
tyranny of this mad monarch. Chaldasans,
Medes, Persians and Greeks had ruled in turn,
but it is Antiochus whose crimes haunt the
writer's mind. He is the " little horn," which
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The Value of the Old Testament
became great and exalted itself against
Heaven. He had defiled the Temple at
Jerusalem and set up " the abomination
of desolation." He had harried the Jews
with frightful oppression.
This book encouraged them to endure and
bade them expect celestial relief speedily.
Michael, Israel's guardian angel, shall come
and defend his own ; Antiochus shall surely
be punished as God punished Nebuchadnezzar
and Belshazzar ; and of the faithful to whom
it had not been given to see the reward of their
fidelity, "many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake, and they that be wise
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament,
and they that turn many to righteousness as
the stars for ever and ever " (xii. 2, 3). Thus
for the first time the doctrine of immortality is
laid down.
The book was born when the night of
Israel's fate was darkest. It kept alive the
vital spark of hope through a crucial hour and
fed the forces of the Maccabsean revolt. But
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Fiction in the Old Testament
for this book the nation might have succumbed,
and gone out without fulfilling its high mission.
Who shall say ?
Jonah : It is pitiful to recall how much
scornful laughter has been excited by this
little book, how — though it contains some of
the finest teaching in the Old Testament — it is
known to most people simply because of its
introduction of the " great fish " as part of the
apparatus of the story. Of course this was
inevitable so long as the literalist had his way
with the book. Yet it is difficult for us to
imagine anyone seriously taking the contents
for anything but parable. As a story it is one
of the most beautiful and compact ever penned,
but there is no historical confirmation of any
incident portrayed in it.
When Israel's heart was filled with impas
sioned hatred against the Gentiles, then some
one dared to write this book — the only
book in the Bible concerning itself solely with
the welfare of a foreign people, — some unknown
writer dared the suspicion and danger that
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The Value of the Old Testament
befell one who rebuked the intolerant narrow
ness of his fellow-countrymen.
Jonah ("the messenger,") of whom we learn
elsewhere only the simple fact that a prophet
bearing that name had lived in the times
following Elisha (2 Kings xiv. 25), was com
manded to go to the capital of the world,
Nineveh, and to announce God's anger at its
wickedness and His intention to destroy it.
Jonah did his best to escape, "to flee from the
presence of Jehovah," i.e., beyond the limits of
the land which acknowledged the sovereignty
of Jehovah. He fled not because of cowardice,
but because he knew how merciful God was and
how prone He was to repent Him of intended
evil. If he announced Divine vengeance, the
people in question might repent and on their
repentance God would certainly spare them ;
where then would be his reputation as a
prophet ? Moreover, Jonah wanted the hateful
city to be destroyed.
He took ship, but the swift steps of Nemesis
were on the sea and the vessel was in danger
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Fiction in the Old Testament
of being lost. In vain the sailors cried to their
gods, while Jonah prayed to Jehovah as the
only true God on land or sea. They drew lots
to ascertain who of their number was obnoxious
to the celestial powers ; and the lot fell on
Jonah, who forthwith acknowledged that he was
trying to evade the Divine command. The
sailors were terrified at the admission of such
impiety, and enquired of him what sacrifice
would be likely to appease his offended God.
The prophet answered sardonically, " Throw
me into the sea." From such an act the sailors
shrank with humane dismay ; they did their
utmost to reach the land and save the
threatened life of their luckless passenger.
All their attempts were futile and Jonah was
cast overboard.
But this was not to be the end of the prophet.
God provided a great fish to be his preserver
from death in the deep. (There is no reason to
call the creature a whale, except that in truth
a whale is a great fish. To the imagination of
the old world the sea was full of fabulous
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The Value of the Old Testament
monsters, dragons and leviathans that played
within its depths.) This great fish swallowed
Jonah, and from within the belly of the fish the
prophet sang a song of thanksgiving for his
deliverance ! This song consists almost
entirely of excerpts from the psalms, and
some of the psalms that are laid under
contribution were not written until after the
Exile. The fish vomited Jonah forth on the shore,
whereupon finding that he is unable to escape
the pursuit of God, the prophet went to Nineveh
and proclaimed his message. Then this great
city of people " repented at the preaching of
Jonah," repented after one day's preaching by
this weird stranger from among the Hebrews.
King, citizens and cattle were clothed in
the garb of penitence ; and God saw and
pardoned. Here we touch the great lesson of the book.
Jonah angrily declared that his preaching had
gone for nothing ; he had been befooled, as he
had foreseen that he would be. He brought
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Fiction in the Old Testament
railing accusation against God : " I knew that
Thou art gracious and merciful, I knew that
Thou wouldst repent Thee of evil." He was
in such villainously bad humour that he thought
more of his reputation than he thought of the
preservation of a great city.
Then follows a masterpiece of imagery.
Jonah, the reluctant messenger of God, flung
himself on the ground. The hot sun was pour
ing down upon him, and God caused a vine to
spring up swiftly and to shelter him. When
its office was fulfilled, it speedily perished;
and Jonah mourned its withering. And God
said, " Doest thou well to be angry ? Thy
pity is stirred for a mere vine that sprang up
suddenly, a vine that cost you no labour or
pains. And am I not to take pity on a
city for which I have laboured and cared for
centuries ? A city of penitent men and
women, besides innocent children and much
cattle ? "
With that passage of fine irony and pro
found pathos the book ends, and we are left
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The Value of the Old Testament
with a vision of God's compassion bending
over all.
As history the book of Jonah awakens de
rision ; as a story, full of precious truth, it
should have stirred the consciences of those
to whom it was addressed.
What then was " the sign of the prophet
Jonah " ? He gave no sign, he but called to
repentance. When the Pharisees pressed
Jesus for "a sign" that His teaching was
from Heaven, He replied, " No sign shall be
given you but the sign of the prophet Jonah :
My teaching is identic with his : he taught the
universal grace of God, so teach I : that truth
is its own authority."
Alas ! how modern it all is. Still the mean
heart of bigotry cries, " Shall men be saved
who are outside the Covenant, who are
unbaptized, who have never accepted Christ
as their Saviour ? We have been saying that
these things are essential. It is unendurable
that God should be so merciful and gracious ;
it is intolerable that He shall show Himself so
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Fiction in the Old Testament
much more loving than we have said." And
the burden of Jonah the prophet is that —
" The love of God is broader
Than the measures of man's mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind."

121

HEBREW PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY

V
HEBREW PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY
Herein we come upon the profound deeps
of Hebrew Scripture, and in this we have the
most interesting of all Biblical themes. But
such is the pitiable and persistent ignorance of
the Bible on the part of our educated classes,
that the prevailing idea appears to be that no
one can be expected to understand what the
prophets were striving after, or what they
stand for. The ordinary worshipper in our
Christian churches is inclined to say that the
prophetic writings consist in part of proposi
tions that seem to us to be self-evident, and in
part of oracles that are to us dim, perplexing,
and past all comprehension. Nor is it so
strange that such a conception should still
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The Value of the Old Testament
prevail, when it is remembered that only within
a comparatively few years have the contents
of prophecy been made intelligible, and that
still more recently have even scholars grasped
the fact that through the Hebrew prophets was
developed the religion to which modern civiliza
tion pays homage. Indeed, suppose an
inquirer from outside the limits of Christendom
were to put the question, " Why do you attach
so great importance to the history and litera
ture of ancient Israel ? " the answer would
of necessity set forth the fact that the one
element that distinguishes the Hebrew records
is the presence within it of prophecy, the
greatest and most profound that the world
holds. Slowly this fact is being perceived.
Hebrew prophecy emerged from very lowly
origins — from frenzy and divination. It was
dug from that pit of superstition which is found
in all old religions. Was a criminal to be
detected, were lost asses to be found, was it
desired to know the propitious time for sowing
a crop or beginning a war, men had recourse
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
to the soothsayers, who gave reply by means
of omens and signs, by " Urim and Thummim,"
by teraphim and by the flight of birds, or the
entrails of slaughtered animals.
But these things of darkness were left
behind, with necromancy, with " wizards that
peep and mutter," and the forecastings of
destiny. I am aware that there are among
the uninstructed not a few who think the
prophets were men who wrote history before
it came to pass, and that the prophecies of the
Old Testament are possible sources of infor
mation on the future history of Austria, Turkey
and the Papacy. But such an idea is simply
a survival from the ages of superstition: Pro
phecy is not prognostication but inspired
preaching, not the prediction of what will
happen but the splendid declaration of what
ought to be done. The ancient " man of God"
could no more forecast the future course of
human affairs than can the modern " man
of God." The prophets were men having
understanding of the times, and knowing what
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The Value of the Old Testament
Israel ought to do. They proclaimed and
interpreted the will of God. They stood and
cried, " Righteousness exalteth a nation."
They denounced the woeful issues of ill-doing,
they strove to turn the wicked from the evil of
their ways. Essentially they were preachers,
using the same arguments as preachers still
use, speaking of sin and mercy, of an erring
people and a compassionate God, and calling
men to repentance.
Only the later prophets wrote their message;
the earlier prophets declaimed. There is no
suggestion that Samuel, Elijah, or Elisha ever
wrote a word. They stood amid their com
patriots and denounced the abuses of the
times, sensuality, rapacity, cruelty, mal
administration. They were citizens and
patriots, and for that very reason they are
nearer to us and strike a more modern note
than the writers of the New Testament
epistles, who were so obsessed with the idea of
the near end of all things that the concerns
of civic life faded away almost to nothingness.
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
The prophets, so far from reflecting the
political and religious opinions of their day,
stood alone and made their protest. Every
one of them is opposed to the judgment of the
multitude, and their strife is with custom,
tradition, the law, popular usage. Nearly all
of them were great tragic figures dwelling in
a solitude difficult for our imaginations to
picture. Attempts were made to silence them,
they were derided and persecuted. It is
sufficient to recall the salient facts of the
career of Elijah, of Amos, or of Isaiah, or of
Jeremiah, concerning whom it was written,
" I have made thee this day a strong city and
an iron pillar and brazen walls against the
whole land, against the kings of Judah,
against the princes thereof, against the priests
thereof, and against the people of the land "
(Jeremiah i. 18).
With great differences in temperament and
capacity they had certain marked character
istics in common, so that the reader who
understands one is in the way to understand
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The Value of the Old Testament
all. They had nothing like a creed in com
mon, nothing that could be called the creed of
the goodly fellowship of prophets ; but they
all had an over-mastering sense of a God of
righteousness. That sense made and conse
crated them prophets, as we use the name.
They were distinguished by their realization
of righteousness as Divine ; which is equiva
lent to saying that they were called to the
office of prophet by their realization of God
as a supremely ethical being. Not the tribal
deity that their fathers had imagined as
Jehovah, kindred to Moab's Chemosh, but
the One Holy God over all, who required
reverence, justice, and mercy from His
worshippers.
" Not He, whom with fantastic boasts
A sombre people dreamed they knew ;
The mere barbaric God of hosts
That edged their sword and braced their thew ;
A God they pitted 'gainst a swarm
Of neighbour-gods less vast of arm.
A God like some imperious king,
Wroth were His realm not duly awed,
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
A God for ever hearkening
Unto His self- commanded laud ;
A God for ever jealous grown
Of carven wood and graven stone."1
That was the out-worn idea that Hebrew
prophecy left behind and renounced. From
that pit the prophets raised Hebrew thought,
from that rock they hewed it into a high
and majestical idea which still commands
the awe and admiration of the world. "In
God is my salvation and my glory ; the rock
of my strength and my refuge is in God ; '
" O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the
Lord there is mercy and plenteous redemption."
That is the standpoint of all the prophets,
and herein lay the distinctive message of
Israel, the prophet-nation.
First of the great prophets, in the middle of
the eighth century B.C., when Rome was being
founded and when England was still over
run by savages and wild beasts, was Amos, a
peasant. " God said unto me, Go, prophesy
1 William Watson.
131 I 2

The Value of the Old Testament
against my people Israel." " The lion hath
roared, who will not fear ; the Lord God hath
spoken, who can but prophesy?" Clad in
rough-spun garments, his face tanned by sun
shine and storm, this shepherd stood in the
royal city and gave forth his message. He
told of a God of Justice, whose kingdom
extends as far as the law of right is recog
nized by the human conscience, whose guid
ing principle is not the interests of .a
single people but the supreme righteousness.
That utterance seemed to his hearers like
unpatriotic blasphemy, for it implied that Israel
was not the covenanted race whom God had
promised never to cast off. And the answer of
Amos was equally startling, " You only have I
known of all the families of earth, therefore
I will punish you for your ways." The only
bond between God and Israel was a spiritual
bond, and for that reason God was not and
could not be limited to Israel. They had
thought that for Israel to be defeated meant of
necessity the defeat of God. No ; Israel might
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
perish, but still He would remain and work out
His purposes of good in the destinies of the
world. It was impossible to conceive of a God
of righteousness as a local deity. It was equally
impossible to conceive of a God of Justice as
demanding or conniving at a system of sacrifice
and ceremonialism as the all-sufficient worship
of His Name.
And Amos said all this, said that God hated
feasts and fasts in His honour and said that
God rejected and scorned the whole disgusting
and debasing business of sacrifices. It is not
strange that tradition tells us that Amos was
wounded by the priests, and borne half dead
back to his native moors. It is certain that
when his voice was stilled by his adversaries, he
wrote his prophecy in a book and we have his
authentic message :
" Ye who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off
righteousness in the earth, seek Him that made the seven
stars and Orion, and turned the shadow of death into the
morning, and maketh the day dark with night, that calleth
for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the
face of the earth. The Lord is His Name.
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The Value of the Old Testament
" Forasmuch as your treading is upon the poor and ye
take from him burdens of wheat, ... I know your
manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, for ye
afflict the just, ye take a bribe and turn aside the poor
from their right.
"Hate the evil and love the good, and establish
justice in the gate.
" Let justice run down as waters and righteousness as
a mighty stream."
It was not merely the more degraded forms of
ceremonial worship that the prophets opposed,
but all forms of ceremonial whatsoever. Accord
ing to them the cultus of sacrifices was essen
tially pagan and unworthy. It had never been
ordained by God ; itwas an insult to His majesty.
It is impossible to imagine stronger contradic
tion to and fuller denunciation of the whole
levitical system of sacrifices than we have in
(Amos v. 25) " Have ye offered unto me sacrifices
and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of
Israel ? "
(Jer. vii. 21) " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices,
and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor
commanded them in the day that I brought them out of
the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices ;
but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice
134

Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
and I will be your 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. But they hearkened not, nor
inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the
imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and
not forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth
out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have sent unto
you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early
and sending them ; yet they hearkened not unto me nor
inclined their ear, but hardened their neck ; they did
worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all
these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee;
thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer
thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation
that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor
receiveth correction ; truth is perished and is cut off from
their mouth."
It is so impossible for us to associate any
feelings of worship with a reeking altar, that
only with an effort do we realize the slowness
of the long processes by which the leading
peoples of the world were delivered from the
throes of that baleful superstition, and gradually
awoke to the fact that the blood of bulls and
goats could not take away sin. The prophets
were the great factors in this movement. They
were the first to discern afar off the abiding
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The Value of the Old Testament
substance of sacrifice, " Lo ! I come to do Thy
will, O God " ; and by disclosing the spiritual
idea which alone imparted religious value to
any offerings they contributed to the disappear
ance of the old sacrificial system which so long
dominated the world.
Next came Hosea, with a prophecy which is
a burst of strong emotion, now hotly indig
nant at Israel's blind wickedness and then
lamenting as a mother laments over her erring
boy. Amos was pre-eminently a prophet of
Ethics, Hosea a prophet of Religion.
He was a man of lofty and beautiful
character, to whom came a tragedy of woe.
His wife became a profligate and went forth to
open shame. What followed is almost beyond
human nature, for Hosea still kept watch over
the woman who had been the loved wife of his
youth, and provided her with what was needful
to keep her from want. He even brought
their children to her, in the hope that they
might awaken her better self, but in vain.
By inevitable steps she sank in misery and
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
was left alone in disease to wait the hideous
end ; and her husband came to claim her, telling
her that as all others had turned from her,
now she must let him care for her. She
should stay in his home, while he went forth
to do his best for God and the people.
That grief of his home anointed Hosea to
proclaim the tenderness of the infinite heart of
God. That was the discovery that he made in
the blinding darkness of his distress : God was
husband to Israel, and Israel had played the
harlot. " How can I give thee up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender thee, O Israel ? My
heart is turned within me, my compassions
are kindled together. I cannot pour out all my
wrath upon thee, for I am a God, and not a
man." " 0 Israel, return unto the Lord thy
God." The tenderness of it ! Justice cries against
wrong-doers, but the Divine Heart yearns
after His own and struggles to bless them
in their own despite. And if He punishes
it is but to bless ! " God only knows the love
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The Value of the Old Testament
of God." Of all our poets I know none that
have caught the poignant note of Hosea as
did William Blake :
" Think not thou can'st sigh a sigh,
And thy Maker is not by :
Think not thou can'st weep a tear,
And thy Maker is not near.
Oh, He gives to us His joy,
That our grief He may destroy ;
Till our grief is fled and gone,
He doth sit by us and moan."
It is difficult to realize that Hosea penned
that great message nearly three thousand
years ago, for it seems but yesterday that we
attained to the idea that the best and clearest
medium by which we can interpret God is
through the highest moods of the best men.
We know the love, pity, and nobleness which
are the crown and glory of our human nature;
but we have been slow to perceive that it is
not reasonable to suppose that we puny
beings, who are but of yesterday and presently
disappear, should be able to originate spiritual
excellence wherein our Creator falls short.
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
We have but tardily attained the idea that
it is inconceivable that God should fashion
creatures who have more of the Divine quality
than He Himself has, or that He should, as if
by miscalculation, produce beings that are
ethically and spiritually His superiors. The
argument was familiar enough in the appeals
of our Lord to His contemporaries, for He
frequently bade His hearers believe that the
best in man was but a faint shadow of the
Divine perfectness, and explicitly declared that
it was our duty from the fatherly and motherly
heart in ourselves to infer the greater than our
best in the Divine Heart. But it is surprising
indeed that in one of the early prophets of
Israel we should find the sanction and authority
for belief in the Divine loving-kindness founded
upon the exceeding tenderness of Hosea's
own soul. Verily, it is a splendid premonition
of the great Christian truth that God's children
are of one substance with the Father.
The prophecies of Isaiah are built on the
foundation of the teachings of Amos and
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The Value of the Old Testament
Hosea. He became an influence in shaping
the destinies of the State, inspiring the refor
mation effected by King Hezekiah. His
characteristic contention was that national
safety lay in holding aloof from all foreign
alliances. "Trust ye in Jehovah." "In quiet
ness and confidence shall be your strength."
Instead of a Lord of Hosts, Isaiah proclaimed a
God of peace. " The battle-bow shall be hewn
in pieces, and war cease out of the earth."
" God shall judge among the nations, and they
shall beat their swords into ploughshares and
their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more." " And the work
of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance for
ever." Space does not permit me to tell at any
length how " at sundry times and in divers
manners God spake in times past unto the
fathers by the prophets." I can but quote those
high-sounding and far-reaching words of
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
Micah, whose prophecy is overflowingly full of
high teaching and of fine protest: "Oh my
people, what have I done unto thee and
wherein have I wearied thee ? Testify against
me. . . . What doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God ? Who is a God
like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity ? He
will turn again, He will have compassion upon
us ; He will subdue our iniquities. And Thou
wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the

sea."

Of all the prophets perhaps the most imper
fectly understood and the most sadly misinter
preted is Jeremiah, who ingeminated doom
when the destruction of the nation was practi
cally certain. A crowd of false prophets
promised peace and prosperity, while only
Jeremiah had the fortitude to declare boldly
that all-too-certain catastrophe. " Trust ye
not in lying words, saying, The temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of
the Lord are we." Ruin was at the door, and
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The Value of the Old Testament
the only safety lay in quick submission to
Babylon's invincible might. They charged
him with cowardice, but the issue showed that
he was right. He saw that nothing less than
exile and captivity could cut the cancer from
the nation's life ; but he also saw that out ot
the calamity might issue a larger and better
religion. In the thirty-first chapter Jeremiah
rose to the thought of the New Covenant, than
which there is no greater spiritual height in the
Old Testament : " Behold the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new Covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah ; not according to the Covenant that I
made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which My Covenant they brake,
although I was a husband unto them, saith
the Lord ; but this shall be the Covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel; After
those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law
in their inward parts and write it in their hearts,
and will be their God, and they shall be My
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
people. And they shall teach no more every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all know
Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of
them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more." If there is no more fundamental passage in
the Old Testament than Exodus xxiv. i — ii,
there is no more revolutionary passage than
this of Jeremiah. The word " Religion " does
not occur in the Old Testament : its equivalent
is " Covenant." Israel was the people of the
Covenant. Jeremiah saw that the Old Cove
nant had failed, and that a new authority was
required to inspire loyalty and impel obedience.
The Old Covenant had rested upon the assump
tion that they could influence the attitude of
God toward His creatures by gifts and sacri
fices. It reposed on legal formalism and the
rigid fulfilment of external purifications. The
New Covenant, which was proclaimed by Jesus
Christ, reposes on the inner disposition of the
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The Value of the Old Testament
soul. No longer is it God who needs to be
reconciled to the world, but it is the world that
stands in need of reconciliation with God.
The writers of the New Testament — or Cove
nant, the words are one — agree in representing
the Christian dispensation as a fulfilment of
Jeremiah's great prophecy. St. Paul described
himself as a " minister of the New Covenant,"
and Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper with
the sacred words, " This cup is the New Cove
nant in My blood." Here we attain to the
inmost essence of Religion. And Jeremiah was
the father of the faithful who realized the
seminal idea of the invisible church of God,
" The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."
With Ezekiel, the first of the prophets of the
Captivity, we fall away from the splendours of
the prophetic ideal. He was the father of
Judaism with its punctilious ritual and its
rigorous exclusiveness. Judah as a nation had
perished ; through Ezekiel the Jewish Church
survived the wreck. He struggled to preventthe
absorption of the people of Jehovah by the race
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
that had led them captive, and he saw that the
only hope of preserving their continuity lay
in their sedulously regarding themselves as
the elect, peculiar people. All the mass of
legalism and ecclesiasticism, for which Ezekiel
more than any other was responsible, had this
practical object, and, as history declares, its pur
pose was abundantly fulfilled. But from our point
of view the best that can be said concerning
the Law is that it guarded the sacred deposit,
until the fulness of time was come and the
Religion of the prophets was disclosed and
verified in our Lord Jesus Christ, who, Himself
in the lineage of the Hebrew prophets,
recognized in their Religion the one spiritual
Religion, which was and is and ever shall be.
The last prophet to whom I can refer is the
Second Isaiah, " the evangelical prophet," who
lived towards the end of the Exile, and amid the
misery of their condition, with his unconquerable
confidence in God, comforted His people.
What was the meaning of all their calamities ?
The sublime answer of this prophet was that
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The Value of the Old Testament
Israel was God's smitten servant suffering that
the world through Israel might be blessed.
These purifying troubles were anointing Israel
to become a missionary people, a light to
lighten the Gentiles and to bring all nations to
a knowledge of the true God. He saw in
vision all men streaming to Zion, the world's
teacher of Religion.
Who is this " suffering servant of God,"
" despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief"? The
Christian heart answers with assurance that
Jesus of Nazareth alone fulfilled this ideal.
But it is certain that this was not the original
application of the prophet: "Ye are my
witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant
whom I have chosen " (xliii. 10), " Israel is my
servant " (xli. 8, xliv. 21). As the oracle unfolds,
it is evident that the prophet is thinking of an
Israel within Israel, an Israel of the spirit.
Why shall we not say at once that the spirit
of prophecy was larger than the prophet, and
that the holy company of all the martyrs of
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Hebrew Prophets and Prophecy
mankind, all of whom the world was not
worthy, the master-spirits of humanity, the
great misunderstood who gave themselves to
the highest, the sufferers through whose stripes
we are healed, all who have washed their robes
in the blood of disinterested sacrifice — all these
are the stricken servant, despised and rejected
of men but accepted of God ? And may we not
add that the supreme fulfilment of the prophecy
was in Christ, in whom the prophet's dream
became a living reality, in whose cross the
modern world has found the sacrament of
the Love of God, the symbol of the Lamb
of God slain from before the foundation of the
world ?

147 k 2

THE RELIGION OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT

VI
THE RELIGION OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT
Having rehearsed the story of Israel's quest
after knowledge of the true God, in the light
of modern research, I am confronted with the
question, " Why do you busy yourself with the
Old Testament at all ? Why not confine your
self to the New Testament ? " Not only
because the New Testament presupposes the
Old, and cannot be adequately understood
except through the Old, but because here we
have great Scriptures full of noble thoughts
nobly expressed, thoughts that will never grow
old. No ancient literature can compare with
it in elevation of contents or of diction. From
these documents of the history of Hebrew
Religion have flowed three great Religions —
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The Value of the Old Testament
Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism.
The race which has already given Religion
to nearly half the population of the world must
be peculiarly endowed with a genius for Re
ligion, and the records of their endeavours to
read the riddle of life and to understand the
truth about God must be well worthy of the
best study that we can apply to them. More
over, on these Scriptures Jesus nourished His
soul and to the fulfilment of its ideals He set
Himself. None can say how much His re
ligious strength gained by His constant study
of the Old Testament.
Only in recent years has it been permitted
to examine and discuss these monuments of
Hebrew thought and history as freely as we
discuss the memorials of other peoples. And
such has been the flood of light thrown on these
ancient Scriptures that there is grave danger
of a breach between the scholarship of the
study and the utterance of the pulpit.
Christian people are ill-prepared to receive
frankly the best results of the application of
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The Religion of the Old Testament
scientific methods of research to the sacred
records. But experience has surely taught us
that no cause can be so fatuous as the refusal
to hear the results of the best scholarship
available. Erasmus said long ago, " Identify
the new learning with heresy, and you make
orthodoxy the synonym of ignorance." There
should be no antagonism between the old
reverence and the new knowledge. If we only
recognized the fact, criticism has made the
Old Testament "habitable by modern men"
and revealed in it a treasure-house of delights
that were before unsuspected. It is not
enough to say that its religious value is intact ;
its religious value has been enhanced to him
that hath eyes to see.
We have seen that after all the Hebrews are
as a race not utterly dissimilar from all other
races, and their history is of the same sort as
the history of other peoples. Stories of the
creation and flood occur in Babylonian and
Assyrian Scriptures known to us. The civil
code of Babylon, discovered since the opening
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The Value of the Old Testament
of this century and dating from before the time
of Moses, contains many principles that occur
in the Law of Israel ; even the Sabbath and
circumcision were the common property of all
Semites. The sacrificial rites of the Hebrews
differed in no way from the customs of their
neighbours; indeed, the prophets condemned
the whole sacrificial cultus as essentially
heathen in origin and in idea. Like neigh
bouring peoples they had a God of their own
and recognized the right of their neighbours
to have gods of their own. Chemosh was as
real to Moab as was Jehovah to Israel, and
Moab as clearly recognized the actuality of
Jehovah in Israel as Israel recognized the
actuality of Chemosh in Moab. There is a
stone in the Louvre on which the King of
Moab describes his revolt against the lordship
of Israel in the ninth century b.c. : — " I am
Mesha, King of Moab : I made this high place
for Chemosh, a high place of salvation, because
he had saved me from all the kings and because
he had let me see my pleasure on all them that
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The Religion of the Old Testament
hated me. Omri was king over Israel, and
he afflicted Moab for many days, because
Chemosh was angry with his land. And his
son succeeded him, and he also said, ' I will
afflict Moab.' In my days said he thus, but
I saw my pleasure on him and on his house ;
and Israel perished with an everlasting destruc
tion. And Chemosh said unto me, ' Go, take
Nebo against Israel. And I went by night,
and fought against it from the break of dawn
until noon. And I took it, and slew all the
men and women, for I had devoted it to
Chemosh. And I took thence the vessels of
Jehovah, and I dragged them before Chemosh.
So Chemosh drove him out from before me."
(For every line of this there are parallels in
the historical parts of the Old Testament.)
We have to deal with the growth of a people
from its earliest origins. It is an autobio
graphy ; innumerable hands have made their
contribution to the coralline structure of the
pages. If we are to understand any branch
of human history, we must approach it
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The Value of the Old Testament
sympathetically, or it is a thousand times
better to leave it alone altogether. If, with
out a shred of reverence or appreciation, you
are going to make sport with " the mistakes
of Moses," and ridicule what earnest souls
have deemed sacred, and make a jest of that
wherein they have laid up their toils and hopes
and fears, " Ah, yet consider it again ! "
Israel originated as a nomad people, part of
the northern branch of the Semitic race whose
primaeval home was Arabia. According to
their own traditions their birth as a nation
ensued on the exodus from Egypt, and their
birthplace was the desert peninsula of Sinai
to the south of Palestine. Their name —
Hebrews (the people from beyond) — reflects
a still more ancient tradition of a nomadic
movement of emigrants from Mesopotamia to
Canaan, of which there are indications in the
story of Abraham.
They ascribed their deliverance from Egypt
to the benign activity of " their God," Jehovah,
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The Religion of the Old Testament
under Moses, His first and greatest prophet.
Jehovah was their God, and Israel was His
people, that is, He was supposed to be exclu
sively concerned in their welfare and progress.
But there are suggestions that their early
religion was that common to the whole Semitic
stock, and that aboriginally they believed in
spirits, worshipped their ancestors, paid homage
to certain sacred stones, wells, trees and animals,
and that sacrifice was the rare festival of their
tribe's communion with the Unknown.
Entering Canaan the Hebrews came into
contact with a people of considerable civiliza
tion, with whom they slowly coalesced, partly
by conquest, partly after a peaceful fashion.
From the Canaanites they learnt the arts of
agriculture, and with them they settled down
in peaceful coalition. Their religion was pro
foundly modified by the Canaanitish religions ;
while the God of Israel became the God of the
whole land,1 the Canaanitish religious festivals
1 David believed that Jehovah's influence did not
extend beyond the limits of Israel, and that if he were
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The Value of the Old Testament
(intimately connected with agriculture) were
adopted, along with the Canaanite sacrificial
cultus. The great distinction between the
religion of nomad Israel and the religion of
Israel settled in Canaan is that sacrificial
cultus. In their desert experiences sacrifice
had counted for almost nothing (cf. Amos v. 25,
Jer. vii. 22), but in their settled condition sacri
fice became more important than anything else.
It became a rule that no one had a right
to appear before Jehovah without an offering.
This was due to the influence of the Canaanites,
and so the prophets regarded it.
We have seen that the supreme product of
Hebraism was the prophetic religion as set
forth in the prophetic books from Amos to the
Second Isaiah. At its best this rises to New
Testament level, as, e.g., in Jeremiah's New
Covenant, in Isaiah's description of the
driven out he would be forced to serve other gods
(1 Sam. xxvi. 19).
Naaman took earth from Canaan to erect on it an
altar to Jehovah in Syria, since Jehovah could be wor
shipped aright only on Palestinian soil (2 Kings v. 17.)
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The Religion of the Old Testament
suffering servant, in the remarkable book of
Jonah, and in such Psalms as xli. and lxxiii.
Allowing for all differences in temperament,
character and ability, there is fundamental
unity in the teaching of the great prophets,
and that teaching is spiritual monotheism.
I. There is but one God over all. The
prophets reached that thought, not through
philosophy, nor through any sense (such as
we have) of the oneness of the universe, but
through their idea of a God of righteousness.
A righteous God could not, in the nature of
things, be monopolized by Israel as a tribal
deity ; morality transcends nationality. If God
be altogether righteous, then the whole world
must be as capable of fellowship with Him as
was Israel.
II. Religion and ethics are indissolubly
one in substantial identity. Religion without
ethics is a mischievous superstition. Ethics
without religion has no root and withers away.
Religion is simply the moral imperative felt as
Divine. What room was left alongside this
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The Value of the Old Testament
prophetic conception for a sacrificial cultus,
that central idea of all national religions ? The
prophets declared that God did not and could
not demand sacrifices as a sign of the religious
life ; they opposed and repudiated the fearful
horror as the chief hindrance to a right under
standing of God, and as a stumbling-block to
right fellowship with Him. " To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ?
saith the Lord ; I am full of the burnt-offerings
of rams and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of
he-goats. When ye come to appear before me,
who hath required this at your hand, to tread
my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations ;
incense is an abomination unto me ; the new
moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies,
I cannot endure ; it is iniquity, even the solemn
meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts my soul hateth ; they are a trouble unto
me, I am weary to bear them. And when ye
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes
from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers,
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The Religion of the Old Testament
I will not hear ; your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil
of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease
to do evil ; learn to do well ; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord ; though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool" (Isaiah i. ii — 18; cf. Isaiah lviii.;
Amos v. 21 — 24). Many Psalms and Proverbs
propound the same moral — that to do justice is
more acceptable than sacrifice. Men deceived
themselves when they thought that Divine
favour was purchaseable by gifts ; the righteous
God demanded right living, and no sacrifice
could be a substitute for that.
Gradually it is being seen that the real dis
tinction of the Old Testament does not consist
at all in any sacrificial or ceremonial system,
for these things are common to all ancient
religions, but that what sanctifies the Old
Testament, and gives it perennial value, is the
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The Value of the Old Testament
prophetic protest against those things. The Old
Testament is a Scripture of spiritual religion.
Jesus was in the succession of the prophets ;
He was not an isolated phenomenon in the
history of the race. Men felt that a great
prophet had arisen in Galilee. There was no
link whatever between Jesus of Nazareth and
the priesthood ; there were many bonds between
Himself and the prophets. He was a prophet
in His mode of life. He was a prophet in His
method of teaching. He thought as a prophet
poetically, — He taught as a prophet using
parables (the exact equivalent of the older
"visions"), — He spoke as a prophet, as one
having authority, and not as the Scribes. If
Jesus had spoken in Hebrew, His words would
be seen at once to have belonged to the volume
of the prophets. St. Paul was a rabbi rather
than a prophet, an expositor rather than an
originator. Jesus was a prophet in the essential
character of His teaching ; it did not differ in
kind from the teaching of the Old Testament
prophets, it was the perfect consummation of
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The Religion of the Old Testament
their teaching, without creed or dogma, but
with an all-pervading, all-mastering sense of
the reality of God and His goodness. He
arraigned the legalism of His day, as the olden
prophets had arraigned the legalism of their
day, with irony and terrible invective : " Full
well ye reject the commandment of God, that
ye may keep your own tradition " (Mark vii. 9).
He, too, preached religion as inalienably united
with ethics, and this made His teaching " quick
and powerful." With the unerring instinct of
the highest religious genius He brought within
small compass all the best of the Old Testa
ment, and united and illuminated all by the
dominant principle of the oneness of the love
of God and the love of man. Jesus took up
the old prophetic burden and proclaimed it
with increased emphasis, deliberately setting
aside legalism, and dissolving all ritual obliga
tion. And Jesus evoked the same response
as the prophets before Him had done :
Jerusalem had killed the prophets and stoned
them that were sent unto her, and true to
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The Value of the Old Testament
her character she cried, " Let Him be
crucified." For explicitness' sake let me say that in
respect of the Hebrew sacrificial system Jesus
was at one with the prophets, and recognized
them as His spiritual kindred. It was His
attitude to that system more than anything
else that brought about the violent end of His
career (Matt. xxi. 12, 13). He had been
accustomed to the puritanical worship of the
synagogues of the North, and what He saw in
the Temple moved His spirit profoundly
(Mark xi. 11). It was not, as is sometimes
strangely alleged, some unheard-of profanation
of the sanctuary which aroused Him ; it was
the normal procedure of that house of His
Father. Everything therein indicated a place
of slaughter rather than of prayer, and in His
heart was the old prophetic word that God's
house should be a house of prayer for all
nations (Isaiah lvi. 7) . It was altogether unen
durable to Him. The revolting superstition of
such horrors — as the established worship of
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The Religion of the Old Testament
the Father ! — filled His soul with loathing, just
as ages before it had moved the prophets to
denunciation. In an access of splendid indig
nation He drove the hucksters out, and expelled
the whole apparatus of delusion. His teaching
centred in the Fatherhood of the Holy God,
whose sole demand was obedience to His will.
That was, and that is, the only Christian
doctrine of sacrifice : " Lo, I come to do Thy
will." That is the spiritual sacrifice with
which alone God is well pleased.
Divine forgiveness is the immediate conse
quence of repentance ; who of us dares to say
that a soul filled with shame and sorrow for
sin can remain unpardoned of God ? The
Heavenly Father needs no urging to forgive,
He " delighteth in mercy." By the inmost
necessity of His Nature the Creator is Saviour;
and the whole sacrificial system implied deep
dishonour to God, for if He be such that He
can be propitiated to clemency only by the
blood of the innocent, then to worship such a
God were infamous. The sacrificial system
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The Value of the Old Testament
was an error, which the prophets of the Highest
renounced and denounced ; and the worst
service that can be rendered to the cause of
Christianity is the attempt to graft the Revela
tion of Christ on to the old-world blunder.
Jesus came to reveal God, not to propitiate
Him. Men ask, " Would there have been a
Gospel to preach if Christ had not died ? "
Of course, there was the gospel that Christ
preached. His teaching did not wait to be
made perfect at the hands of St. Paul or St.
Augustine. The Saviour was not less " evan
gelical " than those who came after Him. He
endorsed the high teaching of the prophets,
and carried it to its highest terms, Himself the
greatest of the prophets.
But to return and to conclude : a period of
deterioration in religious thought and practice
followed on the age of the prophets. It is now
plainly discerned that the prophetic religion
influenced only a restricted circle in Israel, while
the mass of the people did not and could not
grasp " the height of their great argument."
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The Religion of the Old Testament
During the Exile, Ezekiel "the first dogmatist
of the Old Testament," laid the theological
foundations of the structure which Ezra the
scribe subsequently reared. During the Exile
the " Law of Moses " was completed. As in
recent years we have learnt to expand the "week
of Creation " into aeons of a still incomplete
evolution, so instead of one primitive giving of
the Law on Sinai, we have the development of
the legal system prolonged through the whole
history of the Hebrew race from Moses to the
Captivity. Returning to Jerusalem they brought with
them the finished Law, a conglomerate of the
sacrificial cultus and the ethical demands of the
prophets. That Law was read in the
synagogues, which sprang up all over the land,
and the people came to regard their whole duty
to God and man as a matter of legal obligation.
When religion becomes a Book Religion, all
growth is ended ; only exposition is possible.
Piety became a technical thing ; Pharisaism
tried to "put a hedge round the people," i.e.,
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The Value of the Old Testament
to surround life with ceremonial obligations,
and so preserve the character of the sacred
nation of God. Judaism fell into the old error
against which the prophets had protested, and
formalism with its rules and rubrics and rituals
cramped liberty of thought and made religion
unprofitable. " The people who knew not the Law were
accursed." It was the era of the scribes, to
whom is due that vast pyramid of exposition,
casuistry and tradition in which Judaism lies
entombed. There were some men of strong
character and deep feeling, who were imbued
with the prophetic thought, and understood
religion as the practice of reverence, purity
and love : men like Malachi, some of the later
Psalmists, the authors of Job, Jonah and Ruth:
but the main current legalism swamped all
other currents, and the religion of the Law
superseded the religion of the prophets.
Sacred books became the centre of Israel's
faith and hope. The history of many centuries
is behind that Talmudic parable, which tells of
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The Religion of the Old Testament
the Jewish maiden parted from her lover, yet
keeping troth with him through long delay,
because she is able to go into her chamber and
read and re-read his letters. Israel, said the
rabbis, is that maiden, entering her synagogues
to study the writings of God. The Law
conquered, and has not budged an inch unto
this day. Judaism is petrified in formulas.
Who does not obey the Law stands outside
" the people of the Law." Only in keeping the
Law can salvation be found, for in that is the
supreme and final expression of the Divine Will.
That was the tragedy of the prophets' life and
work, and it is on that failure that the New
Testament opens. Against Legalism Christ
made His appeal, and was rejected : the priests
and scribes of the Law crucified Him.
But let us do justice to the religion of the
Old Testament. That volume is not composed
of Esther and the vindictive Psalms, the ritual
laws of Leviticus and Numbers, and the
casuistry of the scribes. An ancient literature
is not fairly judged, when it is assessed by its
169

The Value of the Old Testament
poorest and most trivial parts. To "believe"
in the Old Testament means something very
different from believing that an axe-head
floated, or that an ass spoke, or that sun and
moon stood still to give larger space for
slaughter, or that Daniel foresaw the
Napoleonic dynasty. All that is puerile and
negligible detritus on the moraine of history.
To believe the Old Testament means that
we appreciate its great thoughts — God behind
Nature, God behind history, God behind con
science, God in fellowship with man. If, as
we read its great oracles, we feel the breath
of new power and resolution for right living,
new meaning in the difficulties of life, new
comfort in the troubles of life, let no theorists
about " inspiration " vex us, for already we
have that of which their theories are but the
attempted explanation.
What made Israel a peculiar people was
their belief that God is the ideal of human con
duct and^character: " Be ye holy for I am holy";
"The righteous God loveth righteousness."
170

The Religion of the Old Testament
That idea was not possessed by any other
ancient people. The Greek gods were immoral
and were judged so by their worshippers ; it
was held to be more honourable to be like a
man than like a God. The Hebrew God was
the living centre of Hebrew morality, and there
fore the energies of their religion tended to lift
the worshippers.
The Eternal Law is Religion and Ethics in-
dissolubly united in the depths of the human
conscience. The answer of Jesus, to the man
enquiring the way of eternal life, was a pair ot
quotations from the Old Testament : " Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength (Deut. vi. 5) ; "And
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"
(Lev. xix. 18). " This do and thou shalt live."
That answer holds and will hold. It is the
religion alike of the Old Testament and of the
New Testament.

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THE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE
Edited by Frank Knight Sandebs, Ph.D., Woolsey Pro
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Fosteb Kent, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and
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L The Messages ot the Earlier Pbophets.
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•X. The Messages of Jesus According to the Gospel
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XIL The Messages of the Apostlfs.
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CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 23

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21 JAMES CLARKE AND CO.'S
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28

JAMES CLARKE AND CO.'S

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Christianity In Common Speech :
day Belief. By J. Compton Rickett.

ions for an Every-
Demy 8vo, Is.

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(Cheap
Bound in red
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R. F. Horton, M.A., D.D.

The Christian Life.
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By

Edition) cloth, Is. each.
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6ds
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and will bring light and leading to many bewildered souls."

CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 27

Gd.
CLARKE'S SIXPENNY SERIES
Demy 8vo, Paper Covers.
Violet Vaughan. By Emma Jane Worboise.
The Bow of Orange Ribbon. By Amelia E. Barr.
The Fortunes of Cyril Denham. By Emma Jane Worboise.
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Jan Vedder's Wife. By Amelia E. Barb.
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A Daughter of Fife. By Amelia E. Babb.
Ourselves and the Universe. By J. Bbiebley.
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of Hackney College, Hampstead. Crown 8vo, paper cover,
id. net.
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— London Quarterly Review.
The Unique Class Chart and Register. By Rev. J. H.
Ridette. Specially arranged and absolutely indispensable
for keeping a complete record of the scholars according to
the requirements of the Meggitt Scheme of Sunday-school
Reform. Linen cover, 4-d. net.
3d. Net
School Hymns, for Schools and Missions. Words only.
Compiled by E. H. Mayo Gunn. Cloth limp, 3d. ; cloth
boards, 6d. ; music, 3s. 2d. Net
The Sunday Afternoon Song Book. Containing 137 Hymns.
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Gatherings. Compiled by H. A. Kennedy, of the Men's
Sunday Union, Stepney Meeting House. Twentieth Thousand,
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" Contains 137 hymns, the catholic character of which, in the best sense
of the term, may be gathered from the names of the authors, which include
Tennyson, Ebenezer Elliott, Whittier, G. Herbert, C. Wesley, Thomas
Hughes, J. H. Newman, Longfellow, Bonar, and others. While the purely
dogmatic element is largely absent, the Christian life, in its forms of aspira
tion, Btrugale again°t .in aud love for the true and the good, is well Ulus-
trated."— Literary World,.

28

JAMES CLARKE AND CO. '8

Index of Titles

Abbey Mill, The .
Adrift on the Black Wild Tide
America in the East
Ancient Musical Instruments
Angels of God, Tho
Animal Fun
Animal Gambols .
Animal Playtime . .
Apocalyptical Writers, The
Messages of the
Apostles, The Messages of the
Art of Living Alone, The
Atonement and Progress
Atonement in Modern Thought
The
Aunt Agatha Ann
Authority & the Light Within
Awe of the New Century, The
Baptist Handbook, The
Barrow, Henry, Separatist
Beads of Tasmar, The .
Between Two Loves
Bible Definition of Religion,
The
Bible Story, The : Retold for
Young People
Bishop and the Caterpillar, The
Black Familiars, The .
Border Shepherdess, A .
Bow of Orange Ribbon, The
10, 17,
Britain's Hope
Brudenells of Brude, The
Burning Questions . 9,
Canonbury Holt . .
Cartoons of St. Mark
Challenge, The .
Changing Creeds and Social
Struggles
Character through Inspiration
Chats with Women on Every
day Subjects .
Children's Pace, The .
Christ of the Children, The
Christ of the Heart, The
Christ that is To Be, The
Christ, The Private Relation
ships of.
Christ Within, The
Christ's Pathway to the Cross
Christian Baptism
Christian Life, The . 20,

PAGE
. 1716 4
21 2023

22 1111
2016 7
26
1625 14 2
1010
25 15
25 171027 19
17 1917 5
13 9
20 18
21 13 59 5
20 18
19 28

Christian World Pulpit, The ,
Christianity and Social Prob
lems . ...
Christianity in Common Speech
Chrystatral . . 10.
Church and Modern Life
Church and the Kingdom, The
Church, Ministry and Sacra
ments in the New Testa
ment ....
Cinderella ... 3,
Comforts of God, The .
Common Life, The
Common-sense Christianity .
Conquered World, The . 20,
Conquering Prayer
Courage of the Coward, The .
Crucible of Experience, The .
Daughter of Fife, A . 10, 17,
Debt of the Damorala, The .
Divine Satisfaction, The
Do We Need a New Theology ?
Dutch in the Medway, The .
Early Pupils of the Spirit
Earlier Prophets, The Messages
of the ....
Earliest Christian Hymn, The
Emilia's Inheritance
England's Danger
Episcopacy ....
Epistle to the Galatians, The .
Esther Wynne . .10,
Eternal Religion, The .
Evolution of Old Testament
Religion, The
Ezekiel, The Book of .
Faith and Verification .
Faith and Form .
Faith the Beginning. Self-Sur
render the Fulfilment, of
the Spiritual Life . 20,
Family Prayers for Morning
Use
Father Fabian . ,
Feet of Clay .
Fireside Fairy Tales
First Christians. The
Flower-o'-the-CornForgotten Sheaf, The .
Fortune's Favourite
Fortunes of Cyril Denham, The 17.

PAGE 6

6
26 17 7
21

5
17
21 8
18
26 12 8
18
27 1725
22 10
16 1115
17
26 111517 8 7
2 5
18

26 9
17 10
22 8
1719 17
87

CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

29

Fragments of Thought .
Friars' Lantern .
Friend Olivia
Gain or Loss ?
Gamble with Life, A
Garcia, G. H. R. .
Garrisoned Soul, The .
Gloria Patri: or, Our Talks
about the Trinity .
Glorious Company of the
Apostles, The
God's Greater Britain .
Golden Truths for Young Fo
Good New Times, The .
Gospel of Grace, The .
Grey and Gold . . 10,
Grey House at Endlestone
Growing Revelation, The
Haromi : A New Zealand Story
Harvest Gleanings
Health and Home Nursing
Health in the Home Life
Heart of Jessie Laurie, The
Heartsease in the Family
Heirs of Errington, The .
Helen Bury .
Helps to Health and Beauty
Higher on the Hill
His Next of Kin . . 10,
His Rustic Wife .
History of the United States,
Holy Christian Empire .
Holy Spirit, The .
Household of McNeil, The
House of Bondage, The .
How to Become Like Christ
How to Read the Bible .
Husbands and Wives
Ideals for Girls
Immanence of Christ in Modern
Life, The
Incarnation of the Lord, The
Industrial Explorings in and
around London
Infinite Affection, The .
lnioldings and Unfoldings of
the Divine Genius .
Inspiration in Common Life
Invisible Companion .
Inward Light, The
Israel's Law Givers, The
Messages of .

Jan Vedder's Wife
Jealousy of God, The ,
Jesus and His Teaching ,

1

8 4
22 9 9
22 9
16 9
23
15 7
17
17 6
4
14
23 12 4
12
17 12
24 6
17

27 1810 17
20 23 17 16 12 69
1220 18
18 8
11
27 20 1

Jesus : Seven Questions
Jesus, The Messages ot. Accord
ing to the Synoptists
Joan Carisbroke . . 10,
Job and His Comforters .
Joshua, The Book of
Judges, The Book of
Kid McGhie .
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus
The . . .20,
Kit Kennedy : Country Boy 3
Lady Clarissa
Last of the MacAllisters, The
Later Prophets, The Messages
of the .
Leaves for Quiet Hours .
Let us Pray .
Letters of Christ. The .
Liberty and Religion
Life and Letters of Alexander
Mnckennal, The
Lifted Veil, A .
Louis Wain's Animal Show
Loves of Miss Anne, The
Lynch, Rev. T. T. : A Memoir
Lyrics of the Soul
Making of an Apostle, The
Making of Personality, The
Manual for Free Church Minis
ters, A .
Margaret Torrington
Martineau's Study of Religion 20,
Maud Bolingbroke .
Max Hereford's Dream .
Messages of Hope . .
Messages of the Bible, The
Millioent Kendrick . 10.
Miss Devereux, Spinster
Model Prayer, The
More Tasty Dishes
Morning and Evening Cries
Morning Mist, A .
Morning, Noon, and Night
Mornington Lecture, The
Mr. Montmorency's Money 10,
My Baptism
My Belief
My Neighbour and God .
New Evangel, The
New Mrs. Lascelles, The
New Points to Old Texts
New Testament in Modern
Speech, The .
Nineteen Hundred I ,

PAGE 7

30

JAMES CLARKE AND CO.'S

Nobly Born .
Nonconformist Church Build
ings ....
Old Pictures in Modern Frames
Oliver Cromwell .
Oliver Westwood . . .
On Seeing Angels . .
Ordeal of Faith, The .
Our City of God .
Our Girls' Cookery
Ourselves and the Universe 8,
Outline Text Lessons for
Junior Classes
Overdale . . .10,
Passion for Souls, The .
Paul and Christina
Paul, The Messages of .
Paxton Hood : Poet and
Preacher
Pearl Divers of Roncador
Reef, The .
Personality of Jesus, The
Pilot, The ....
Poems. By Mme. Guyon
Polychrome Bible, The . 2,
Popular Argument for the
Unity of Isaiah, A .
Popular History of the Free
Churches, A . . 4,
Practical Lay Preaching and
Speaking to Men .
Practical Points in Popular
Proverbs
Prayer ....
Preaching to the Times .
Price of Priestcraft, The
Pride of the Family, The
Problems of Living
Prophetical and Priestly His
torians, The Messages of .
Psalmists The Messages of the
Purpose of the Cross, The .
Quickening of Caliban, The .
Quiet Hints to Growing
Preachers in My Study .
Race and Religion
Reasonable View of Life, A .
Reasons Why for Congrega
tionailsts
Reasons Why for Free Church
men ....
Reconsiderations and Rein-
forcements
Reform in Sunday School
Teaching

PAGE
10, 17

15
2024 171615 5
25
27 23 1718
10 11

9
11 1311 3
15
14 13
15IS 9
22 17 8
111116 10 11
21 1818

Religion and Experience
Religion of Jesus, The . .
Religion that will Wear, A
Resultant Greek Testament,
The ....
Rights of Man, The
Rise of Philip Barrett, The 4,
Robert Wreford's Daughter .
Rogers, J. Guinness
Rome from the Inside .
Rosebud Annual, The . 6,
Rose of a Hundred Leaves, A .
Ruling Ideas of the Present Age
School Hymns . . 12,
School of Life, The
Sceptre Without a Sword, The
Scourge of God, The
Seven Puzzling Bible Books 5,
She Loved a Sailor
Ship of the SouL The . 20,
Ship's Engines, The
Short Devotional Services
Sidelights on Religion . .
Simple Cookery .
Simple Things of the Christian
Life ... .
Singlohurst Manor . 10,
Sissie . . . .10,
Sister to Esau, A . . 10,
Small Books on Great Subjects 19,
Social Salvation .
Social Worship an Everlasting
Necessity . . 20,
Squire of Sandal Side, The 10,
St. Beetha's . 10, 17,
Storehouse for Preachers and
Teachers
Stories of Old
Story of Congregationalism in
Surrey, The .
Story of the English Baptists,
The ....
Story of Penelope, The .
Studies of the Soul
Sunday Afternoon Song Book 26,
Sunday Morning Talks with
Boys and Girls
Sunny Memories of Australasia
Supreme Argument for Chris
tianity, The .

FAGK 8

16
23 14 4
1610 2
24 12 46
27 12
25 17
1910
262621 T
1618 17 17
17
20

17
27 21 13

8
17 8
27 14
19
20

Tale of a Telephone, A . .25
Talks to little Folks . . 24
Taste of Death and the Life of
Grace, The , . 20, 26

CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

31

FACE
Tasty Dishes . . .24
Ten Commandments, The . 15
Theology and Truth . . 6
Theophilus Trinal, Memorials of 5
Things Most Surely Believed . 12
Thornycroft Hall . . 17, 27
Thoughts for Life's Journey . 7
Through Science to Faith . 4
Tools and the Man . . 6
Town Romance, A ; or, On
London Stones . . 17
Trial and Triumph . .19
Types of Christian Life . . 20
Undertones of the Nineteenth
Century . . .14
UngildedGold . . 13, 19
Unique Class Chart and
Register . . .27
Unknown to Herself . .17

Value of the Apocrypha, The .
Value of the Old Testament .

18
16

Vida; or, The Iron King's
Daughter .
Violet Vaughan . 10, 17,
Voice from China, A .
Warleigh's Trust .
Way of Life, The .
Wayside Angels .
Web of Circumstance, The
What Shall this Child Be ?
Who Wrote the Bible J .
Why We Believe .
Wideness of God's Mercy, The
William Jeffery
Woman's Patience, A .
Women and their Saviour
Women and their Work
Words by the Wayside .
Working Woman's Life, A
Woven of Love and Glory
Young Man's Religion, A

27 8
17
20 24 4
1518 1418 191722 19
21 7
10 14

Index of Authors

Abbott, Lyman .
Adeney, W. F. .
Aitchison, George .
Aked, C. F.
Allin, T.
Andom, R. .
Andrews, C. C.
Antram, C. E. P. .
Armstrong, Richard A.
Barr, Amelia E. . 4,
Barrett, G. S.
Barrows, C. H.
Becke, Louis
Bennett, Rev. W. H.
Benvie, Andrew .
Betts, C. H. .
Blake, J. M. .
Bloundelle-Burton, J.
Bradford, Amory H.
Brierley, H. E.
Brierley, J- .
Briggs, C. A. •
Brock, W. .
Brooke, Stopford A.
Brown, C.
Burford, W. K. .
Burgin, J. •
Campbell, R. J. .
Carlile, J. C. .

4,

6

Carman, Bliss •

,

,

5

23

Cleal, E. E. .

.

7

21

Clifford, Dr. .

20.
26
o',
9
Collins, B. G.
.
16
21
Coulton, G. G.
8
*
9
Crockett, S. R. .
3,
17
17
Cubitt, James .
,
15
22
Cuff, W.
19
'. 20,
26
Darker, F. H.
,
19
10, 17,
27
Davidson, Gladys .
.
23
15
Dods, Marcus
.
20
11
, .
9
Ellis, J.
21,
23
3
69
Evans, H. .
•
22
farningham, Marianne
18
7, 10,
12,
19,
22
17
Finlayson, T. Campbell
26
'. 6, 8,
20
Fiske, J.
.
2
22
Forsyth, P. T.
20
26,
27
6, 7, 8,
27
Fraser, J. .
11
6
Furness, H. H.
•
2
15
Gibbon, J. Morgan
,
15
20,
26
Giberne, Agnes
.
17
. 18,
1924
Gladden, Washington
.
6, 6, 7,
18,
19,
21
.
4
Glover, R. .
.
21
20
Greenhough, J. G.
14,
20
8.
24
Griffith -Jones, E. ,
'o.
18,
20
JAMES CLARKE AND CO.'S CATALOGUE

PAGE

paos

Griffis, William Elliot .

4

Metcalfe. R. D. .

.

26

Grubb, E.

16
Mover, F. B.
.
18
Gunn, E. H. Mayo
12,
27
Michael, CD.. ¦
,
13
Guyon, Madame .
11
Moore, G. F.
.
3
Morgan, G. Campbell >
15,
18
Haupt, P. .
2
Morten, Honnor . .
.
12
Haweis, H. R.
16
Mountain, J.
,
16
Haycraft, Mrs.
9
Munger, T. T. .
,
20
Heddle, E. F.
Henderson, J. G. .
17 9
Notewell, Nicholas
¦
16
Henson, Canon Hensley
» 9
Orchard, W. E. .
7
Hocking, S. K.
9
Peake, A. S.
.
19
Horder, W. Garrett
20
Pharmaceutical Chemist, A .
24
Horne, C. Silvester
Picton, J. Allanson
.
16
4, 14, 15, 18,
19
Powicke, F. J.
,
2
Horton, Dr. R. F.
Pulsford, John
,
20
5, 7, 18, 24. 25.
Hunter, John
2620
Rees, F. A. .
Rickett, J. Compton 9,
io'.
15
26
"J. B." of The Christian
Ridette, J. H. .
27
World .
24
Robarts, F. H. .
14
Jefferson, C. E. .
11
Roberts, J. E.
.
19
Jeffs, H.
13,
15
Rogers, Dr. Guinness .
.
2
J. M. G. .
9
Rudge, C. .
.
19
John, Griffith
8
Russell, F. A.
.
18
Jones, J. D. 7, 12, 1
6, 18,
22
Sanders. Frank Knight .
11
Jowett, J. H.
18
Schrenk, Erich von
.
7
Kane, James J.
16
Scottish Presbyterian, A
23
Kaye, Bannerman
4
Sinclair, Archdeacon
20,
26
Kennedy, H. A. .
26,
27
Smyth, Dr. Newman
4
Kennedy, John
15
Snell, Bernard J. .
IS,
22
Kent, C. F.
11
Stevenson. J. G. .
4,
13
Kenyon, E. C.
18
Sutter, Julie
.
19
Lansfeldt, L.
Lee. W. T. .
1713
Swan, F. R. .
Swetenham, L.
.
12 12
Lewis, E. W.
18
Thomas, H. Arnold
20
Llewellyn, D. J. .
19
Toy, Rev. C. H. .
.
2
Lyall, David
4,
15
Trotter, Mrs. E. .
.
14
Lyall, Edna .
26
Tymms, T. V. .
.
5
Lynch, T. T.
5
Tytler, S. . .
•
17
Lynd, William
21
Varley, H. .
.
18
Macfadyen, D.
Macfarland, C. S. .
6
12
Veitcb, R. .
Von Schrenk, E. H.
.
8
7
Macfarlane, Charles
10
Wain, Louis . 22,
23,
26
Mackennal, Alexander
20,
26
Walford, L. B. .
4,
17
Manners, Mary E.
25
Warschauer, J.
7,
12
March ant, B.
17
Waters, N. McG. .
14
Marshall, J. T. .
14
Watkinson, W. L.
.
18
Marshall, N. H. .
'. 5,
16
Watson, W. .
,
18
Martineau, James .
. 20,
26
Weymouth, R. F. .
.
14
Mason, E. A. .
26
White, William .
.
4
Mather, Lessels
23
Whitley, W. T. .
5
Mather, Z. .
6
Whiton, J. M. 9, 10, 16,
20',
25
Matheson, George 7,
13, 21,
25
Williams, T. R. .
.
20
Maver, J. S. . .
21
Wilson, Philip Whitwell
13
Meade. L. T.
17
Worboise, Emma J. 10, 12,
17,
27
W. Speaioh-t t Sons, Printer*, Fetter Lane, Londen, B.C.
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