I Ttiltnttu nil
'isr. Gl.Ql. ^niK*^
THE
BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Edited by the
REV. E. H. PLUMPTRE, M.A.,
TICAK OF EICKLEY, PREBENDARY OP ST. PAUL's, AND PROFESSOR OF EXEGESIS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, KINQ's
COLLEGE, LONDON.
Vol. hi.
NEW YORK :
E- P. DUTTON & CO.
LONDON AND NEW YORK .-
CASSELL. PETTER & GALPIN
:b3
CONTENTS OF VOL. Ill,
ANIMALS OF THE
BIBLE,
THE
Dove, Pigeon
7
Partridge
Quails
71
88
Fowls, Domestic
134
Peacocks
136
Ostrich
201
Crane
232
Bittern
312
Heron .
327
u
Swan .
•
328
t
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
k
The Rise of the Maccabees ..... 82
Judas Maccabseus
83
Jonathan Maccabasns .
.
84
Simon Maccabaeas
86
John Hyrcanus .
254
Alexander Jannseus
255
The Last Asmoneans — The Victories of Pompeiua
272
Antipater the Idiimsean ....
273
The Sons of Antipater ...
319
Herod King of Judaea .....
320
Herod and Octavius
321
Cruelties of Herod . < . . .
352
Herod rebuilds the Temple
Herod and the Sons of Mariamue
353
354
Death of Herod .
368
BIBLE WORDS.
Obsolete Words and Phrases . 53, 100, 224, 383
BIBLICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
The Scriptural Contrast of Psyche and Pneuma . 171
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE.
The Gospels — Introductory ..... 144
The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark . . 193
The Epistles of St. Paul 268
First Epistle to the Thessalonians . . . 301
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians . . . 338
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE.
Kings, The Two Books of 1
Malachi . . . .30, 45, &Q, 89, 108, 115
Chronicles, First and Second Books of . 137
FAOB
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT {c^titmeX).
Haggai 161, 203
Euth 257
Hosea 274
Psalms, The 314, 323
Job . 365
Amos ......... 370
COINCIDENCES OF SCREPTUEE, THE.
Local Colouring of St. Paul's Epistles : —
Epistle to the Galatians, The ... 19
Epistle of the First Imprisonment . . 210
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
The Gospels : —
St. Matthew ... 37, 78, 101, 133, 146
St. Mark 166
St. Luke 230, 278, 326, 341
St. John 373
The Acts op the Apostles . . . 208, 267
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
Media and Persia ...... 22
Persepolis and Susa . . . . . .103
Concluding article :—
Ahava ........ 247
Aram ........ 247 '
Ashkenaz ....... 247
Ava 247
Canneh 247
Carchemish, or Charchemish . . 247
Casiphia ....... 247
Chebar (River of) 247
Charran ....... 248
Chilmad 248
Cushan . . . . , . .248
Cnth, or Cuthah 248
Dedan ........ 248
Dura, Plain of . .... 248
Eden 248
Ephah. .248
Gog 248
Gozan 248
Habor ....... 250
Halah 250
CONTENTS.
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE (continued).
Conchidiiig article {continued) : —
Haran 250
Ivah 251
Kir 251
Koa 251
Magog 251
Merathaim ...:... 251
Mesech, or Meshecli . . ' . . . 251
Mesha. . '. 251
Midian 251
Ophir 251
Padan-aram ....... 253
Pekod 253
Pethor 253
Raamali ....... 253
Rehoboth by the River .... 253
Rezepli 253
Sepharad 253
Sepharvaini ....... 253
Sheba 253
Shoa 253
Sinim 253
Tadmor 253
Tel-abib 254
Telassar, or Thelasar ..... 254
Tiphsah 254
Tubal 254
Zobah 254
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE, THE.
Palestine (3) : Races in the Land of Israel from
the Conquest to the Christian Era . . . 197
Time of Joshua 197
Time of J udges 199
Time of Solomon 233
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, The , 56
I. From the Sources of the Jordan to Lake
Huleh 58
n. From Lake Huleh to Sea of Galilee 168, 183, 279
III. From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea 342, 358
fEISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, THE
263
ILLUSTRATIONS PROM EASTERN MANNERS
AND CUSTOMS 212
ILLUSTRATIONS OP HOLY SCRIPTURE PROM
COINS, MEDALS, AND INSCRIPTIONS . . 242
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OP THE
BIBLE.
Hebrew Measures of Capacity . . . .10
Hebrew Measures of Weight. . . . d9, 9G
?.IEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS {conthmcd).
Coins of the Bible : —
(a) Jewish Money 97, 175
(b) Money not Jewish . . . . 177
Tables of Coinage 180
Value of Land, Labour, Corn, Silver, and Gold
during the course of tlio History recorded in
the Bible 222
Smaller Measures of Time : —
Division of Day (Twenty-four Hours) . . . 238
Substitute for a Calendar, in Division of the Year 239
Cycles — The Week — The Courses of the Priests —
The Jubilee 241
Larger Measures of Time : —
The Septennate and the Jubilee : — Prom the
Exodus to the Pall of Bether .... 330
Modes of Reckoning used in the Bible . . 331
Coincident Modes of Reckoning . . . 347
Rough Reckoning of the Book of Genesis 349, 361
Tabular Outline of Thirty-four Sevens of Sep ton -
nates, from the Exodus to the Fall of Bether 362
MINERALS OP THE BIBLE, THE.
II. Medals, Mining, and Metallurgy ,
188
Gold
181'
Silver
190
Copper, Brass, Bronze, Tin
191
Iron and Steel ......
295
Lead ........
299
Mining and Metallurgy ....
29t«
MUSIC OF THE BIBLE, THE.
Vocal Music of the Hebrews
371
OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED i:^ THE NEW.
Sacred Seasons {continued) . . . . 12, 26
Sacred Places . 39, 120, 148, 226, 259, 290, 308
PLANTS OP THE BIBLE, THE.
Order XXII. Geraniacea; .
„ XXIII. Zygophyllaceffi
„ XXIV. Rutacese
„ XXV. Aurantiaceae
215
215
216
217
/poetry op the bible, the.
Structure of the Verse {continued} . 10, 48. 80, 112
Figurative Language . . . . .181, 219
Sources of Biblical Imagery — The National History 286
Imagery from Nature . . . . . 356, 379
SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHIES.
Sanmel
Elijah ....
Saul ....
Jehu ....
32, 62
74, 93, 154
. 125
. 304
Ahab 333
D.V.2.
THE
BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE TWO BOOKS OF KIKGS.
BY THE EEV. CANON EAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOIi OF ANCIEXr HISTOET IN THE TJNTVERSITY 07 OXFORD.
EXTERNAL and external evidence alike
show that our " Two Books of Kings "
formed originally a single continuous
work. St. Jei'ome ^ tells us that in aU the
Hebrew manuscripts existing in his day they still con-
stituted a single book, entitled the Sepher m'laJcim, or
" Book of Kings." The notion of dividing the work
into two portions seems to have originated with the
Alexandrian Jews, who adopted from their Greek fellow-
citizens the idea of parcelling out the continuous works
of ancient authors into portions,- and giving to each
portion a separate name.^ Two Books of Kings are
first found in the Septuagint version ; but as this first
translation natui-aUy became a model for others, the
division introduced at Alexandria in the thii-d century
B.C. has come now to be generally adopted, even the
Jews themselves conforming to the arrangement. The
aiTangement is, however, purely artificial, no natural
line of separation dividing the two Books one from the
other.*
The Book of Kings is proba1)ly the work of the
prophet Jeremiah. This is the tradition of the Jews;^
and so many little coincidences are found between the
acknowledged works of Jeremiah and this composi-
tion,^ that it is almost impossible to doubt that they
proceeded from the same author. Tlie tone of the
work, too, is exactly the same with that of Jeremiah's
prophecies, being a tone of despondency and gloom,
such as was natural to one who wi-ote during the early
1 Prcefat. in librum Regum {Op., vol. iii., fol. 6, M).
2 The " Books " of the Iliad and the Odyssey, of Herodotus,
Thucydides, and Xenophon, are inventions of the Alexandrian
grammarians, who thus broke into portions what was originally
continuous.
3 As the names Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, &c., to the
" Books " of Herodotus. The word " Pentateuch,'' and the Greel:
names " Genesis," "Exodus," &c., indicate that the Greek-speak-
ing Jews of Alexandria were the first to divide up "the Book of
the Law of Moses."
* The actual division made hetween the two "Books" is most
awkward ; and it is difficult to assign any reason for it. The reign
of Ahaziah, commenced 1 Kings xxii. 51, and termiuated 2 Kings
i. 18, is cut in two by the artificial separation.
5 Baha-Bathra, fol. 15, 1. "Jeremiah wrote his Book'' (i.e.,
that which goes by his name), "and the Book of Kings, and
Lamentations."
6 See the " Introduction to Kings " in the Speaker's Commen-
tary, vol. ii., pp. 470—1, note 5 ; and compare Haveruick {Einlei-
tung, vol. ii., pp. 171 et seq.).
49 — VOL, IIL
years of the Captivity. Jeremiah's authorship is indeed
especially apparent in the later chapters, but as those
chapters are the natural sequence of the earlier ones,
and harmonise with them very remarkably in style and
general character, the entire work must be ascribed to
the same hand that wrote its last section.
This unity of authorship must, however, be under-
stood ivith a difference. The Book of Kings, like most
histories which cover a considerable space of time, is
in the main a compilation. Di^-ine inspiration did not,
in the case of the wi-iters of Holy Scripture, supersede
the use of the ordinary methods of obtaining knowledge.
Tlie author of Kings constantly refers his readers to
authorities from whom they may obtain fuller particu-
lars concerning the personages mentioned in his narra-
tive than he himself places before them ; and it can
scarcely be doubted that he drew his knowledge of the
past principally, if not wholly, from these authoi'ities.^
He cites a '"Book of the Acts of Solomon" (1 Kings
xi. 41), a " Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Judah " (1 Kings xiv. 29, &c.), and a " Book of the
Clu-onicles of the Kings of Israel" (1 Kings xiv. 19, &c.)
— ^works which must clearly have covered exactly the
gi-ound that he traverses ; works which he evidently
regards as authentic, and which he can, therefore,
scarcely have failed to f oUow.
If this be allowed, it becomes a matter of much in-
terest to consider the character of these works, and the
probable method of theii- composition. Now, it appears
from the Books of Chronicles that it was among the
regular duties of the prophets and seers, who succeeded
one another without interruption from the commence-
ment of the Jewish kingdom under Said to the Capti-
vity of Zedekiah, to compose histories of the kings with
whom they were contemporary on a scale much larger
than that in which their histories are delivered to us in
the Old Testament. Samuel began, Nathan continued,
and Gad finished, a " Book of the Chronicles of King
David " (1 Chron. xx™. 24 ; xxix. 29) ; Nathan, Abijah,
and Idtlo wrote accounts of the reign of Solomon
' This is generally allowed by the critics. (See De Wette,
Einleitung, i ISi; Ewali, Geschichtc, § 211; Havernick, JSmleitim?,
§ 150; Keij, Commentar., § 3; Movers, Kritische Untersuchungm
uber d. hihl. Chronik, p. 1S5 ; &c.)
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
(2 Chrou. ix. 20) ; Shemaiali aud Itldo related tko history
of the rcigu of Relioboam [ib., xii. 15) ; Iddo recorded
the liistory of Aljijah, Rehoboam's son (ib., xiii. 22) ;
Jehu, the sou of Hauaui, tliat of Jehoshaphat [ib., xx.
34) ; Isaiah, that of Uzziah {ib., xxvi. 22) aud Hezekiah
(ib., xxxii. 32) ; Hosai, that of Mauasseh {ib., xxxiii. 19,
marginal rendering). Other portions of the history
were probably composed by Azariah, the son of Oded
{ib., XV. 1) ; Hauaui, the father of Jehu {ib., x\i, 7) ;
Eliezer, the son of Dodavah {ib., xx. 37) ; Elijah, the
Tishbite (ib., xxi. 12); Elisha; Jonah, the sou of
Amittai (2 Kings xiv. 25) ; aud Jeremiali. The works,
as first composed, were on a tolerably large scale, re-
sembling, perhaps, the " Chi-onicles of the Kings of
Media and Persia" (Esther ii. 23 ; vi. 1; ix. 32 ; x. 2), or
the acta diurna of the early Roman emperors.* After
a time, it was found convenient to form a digest of the
materials accumulated, aud two books were compiled —
a " Book of the Kings of Judah,"^ and a " Book of the
Kings of Israel " ^ — from the accounts of the several
reigns composed by contemporary projjhets. In form-
ing this digest, sometimes it was fouud convenient to
adopt one of the special works bodily iuto the general
history ; '' but more often some abbre\'iation was thought
to be desirable, and lengthy narratives were greatly
curtailed, or were cut down to a few paragraphs. Some
idea of the difference between the f uU accounts of the
history as wi'itten originally by the several prophets,
and the shorter narrative of the digest, may be obtained
by comparing the history of Hezekiah as contained in
four chapters of the Prophecy of Isaiah (chaps. xxx\'i.
to xxxix.), with the same history as delivered to us in
three chapters (really less than two and a half) of the
Second Book of Kings (chaps, xviii. 13 to xx. 19) ; or,
again, from compaiing the concluding section of Kings
(2 Kings, chaps, xxiv. and xxv.) with the historical j)or-
tions of Jeremiah (chaps, xxxviii. to xliii. and lii.),
which cover the same ground, and proceed probably
from the same author.
The wi'iter of Kings appears to have drawn his
account of events preceding his own time mainly, if not
solely, from the digest in question. He quotes no work
of any special prophet, but only (as has been already
mentioned) a " Book of the Acts of Solomon," a " Book
of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel," and a " Book
of the Clu'oniclos of the Kings of Judah." From these
works it is probable that he for the most part transcribes
his history. The history of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii.
13 to XX. 19) is transcribed almost icord for icord, but
with one remai-kable omission (Isa. xxxviii. 9 — 20), from
onr Book of Isaiah, or rather, perhaps, from a parallel
passage contributed by Isaiah to the " Book of the
^ See Tacit., Ann., iii. 3 j liii. 31,
2 1 Kings xiv. 29 ; xr. 7, 23 ; 2 Kings viii. 23, &c.
3 1 Kings xiv. 19 ; XV. 31 ; xvi. 5, It, 20, 27, 4c.
* See 2 Chron. xx. 34, where our version has, " the book of Jehu,
the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the Kings of
Israel," but where the true rendering is, " the book of Jehu, &c.,
■which was made to ascend" (i.e., "which was transferred")
"into the book of the Kings."
Kings."* Other i)assages iudicato l)y little turus of
exj)ression that they are similarly transferred, the ex-
pi-essions used being sometimes unsuitable to the age of
the writer of Kiugs.« But literal transcription Avas not
always the course pursued. Besides oxercisiug the right
of abbrcA-iatiou whenever he pleased, the author some-
times took the liberty of modifj-ing phrases, of using
sjTionyms, of expanding and exiilainiug. He also, in a
certain sense, recast the history, introducing a certain
set phraseology for the commencement aud close of each
monarch's reign,' which it is scarcely probable that ho
found in the " Books of the Kings." Finally, he re-
garded himself as entitled, if ho pleased, to introduce
his own reflections, to comment upon the facts recorded,
and draw a moral from them ; though this right he has
exercised but rarely, and only once at any length.^
The result is, that we have, in the greater part of
Kings, a compilation made by the i^rophet Jeremiah
from certain previously existing works, in wliich he
mainly uses the language of his authorities, only occa-
sioually introducing a change, or making a remark of
his own ; wliile in the concluding section (2 Kings xxii.
— xxv.) we have a substantive work of the prophet him-
seK, who was the national historian for his own time,
and wrote the closing section of the "Book of the
Kings," to which former prophets had, each in his turn,
contributed. In the earlier section (1 Kings i. — 2 Kings
xxi.) there is, however, one loug passage wholly from
Jeremiah's pen — ^viz., 2 Kings xto. 7 — il, which, to-
gether with the final section, forms the bulk of his
contribution to the history. The above conclusions
may be thus tabidated : —
* The passage in Kings contains some facts not mentioned by
Isaiah, and not deducible from his narrative, as those of chap
xviii. 14—16, and the statement in chap. xix. 35, that Sennacherib's
host was destroyed on the very night of the day on which Isaiah
prophesied its destruction.
6 E.g., the expression used of the staves of the ark, as arranged
in the Temple by Solomon, " There they are to this day " (1 Kings
viii. 8) ; the declaration (chap. is. 21) that the bondage of the
Amorites, Hittites, &c., to Israel continued ; the assertion that
Israel was still in rebellion against Judah (chap. xii. 19) ; and the
statement that Selah (Petra) still kept the name of Joktheel, which
Ainaziah gave it.
i" The formula for the commencement of a reign is, during the
existence of the two kingdoms : " In the a th year of , King of
Israel (or Judah), began , King of Judah (or Israel), to reign
over Israel (or Judah) ; .v years old was he when he began to reign,
aud he reigned x years in Samaria (or Jerusalem)." It is some-
times shortened by the omission of the clause giving the age of
the king at his accession. This formula occurs, either in full or
abbreviated, twenty-seven times. After the fall of the kingdom
of Israel, the formula runs: " was x years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned x years in Jerusalem ; and his mother's
name was , the daughter of ."' Then follows a statement:
" He did that which was evil (or right) in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that his father had done ; " and, in the case of the
Kings of Israel, it is said, with scarcely an exception, " He de-
parted not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which
made Israel to sin, but walked therein."'
At the close of a reign there is another almost unvaryincf for-
mula : " And the rest of the acts of and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah (or Israel) ? And slept with his fathers, and was
buried (with his fathers) in the city of David (or in Samaria) ;
and , his son, reigned in his stead."
8 See 2 Kings xvii. 7 — tl. Shorter comments on the history,
originating with the compiler, are 2 Kings xiii. 23 j sir. 26, 27 ;
XV. 12 ; xviii, 12.
THE TWO BOOKS OF KINGS.
1 Kings, chaps, i. — si. Drawu by Jeremiah from the Book of the
Acts of Solomon.
1 Kings, chaps, xii. — xxii. Drawn by Jeremiah from the Books
of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Kings, chaps, i. — xvii. 6. Drawn by Jeremiah from the Books of
the Kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Kings, cha^D. xvii. 7 — 11. Written hy Jercmlali. himself.
2 Kings, chaps, xviii. — xxii. Drawu by Jeremiah from the Book
of the Kings of Judah.
2 Kings, chaps, xxiii. — xxv. Written by Jeremiah himself.
The object proposed to himself by the author of
Kings was the cariying on of the Israelitish history
from the point to which he found it brought at the
close of the Second Book of Samuel to his own time,
in a compendious form, and in the spii'it of the earlier
sacred writers. He commences his work with the copu-
lative conjunction "and," thereby indicating that it
has the character of a continuation.' He then devotes
his first section (1 Kings i. — ii. 1 — 11) to the closing
years of Da-\dd, less, however, with the object of com-
pletiag Da^dd's history, which he perhaj)S found com-
pleted in Samuel," than with that of introducing to us
the person and histoiy of Solomon, which was what he
especially proposed to set before his readers in the
fii'st great division of his narrative. That narrative
really consists of three main j)ortions — (1) A history
of Solomon from his association by David to his death
(1 Kuigs i. — xi.). (2) A history of the parallel king-
doms of Israel and Judah, down to the extinction of the
former (1 Kings xii.— 2 Kings xvii.) ; and (3) a history
of the kingdom of Judah from the time of the downfall
of the sister state to the final destruction of the Davidic
monarchy by Nebuchadnezzar, Kiug of Babylon (2
Kings XAdii. — xxv.).
(1) The history of Solomon is divided into two por-
tions— (o) his history from his association in the king-
dom to his father's death (1 Kings i. — ii. 1 — 11) ; and
(b) his subsequent histoiy as sole monarch (1 Kings ii.
15 to end of chap. xi.). The first chapter gives an
account of his association, and of the circumstances
which brought it about ; the second, to verse 9, gives
the dying charge which David left him. Then, in two
verses (10 and 11), David's death and the length of his
reign are briefly mentioned. "With verse 12 of chapter
ii. commences the second portion of the history of
Solomon's actual reign. This is carried on to the end
of chapter xi., when Solomon's death is recorded in the
usual terms, and the name of his successor is given.
The account of Solomon's reign thus occupies nearly
ten chapters, or more than a fifth of the whole work. The
author notes the piety and good promise of his youth,
the glory of his manhood, and his miserable falling
away in his old age. He sets before us the fii'st in two
chapters (ii. — iii.), the second in seven (iv. — x.), and the
third in one (xi.). He thus dwells mainly upon the
' Joshua, Judges, Euth, and Samuel, -which are continuations
of the previous history, are similarly comtmenced. Chronicles,
which is not a continuation, but a re-writing for a particular pur-
pose of the whole history, commences differently.
- It is a reasonable conjecture that Samuel, as originally written,
contained an account of the death of David, which was omitted
subsequently on acconut, of the more minute details accompanying
the account given in Kings.
glorious period, and especially upon the crowning glory
of Solomon's reign, the building and dedication of the
Temple, to which he devotes somewhat more than four
chapters (v. — is. 9). But he does not disguise from us
the fact 3 that even at this most brilliant period, when
" all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom,"
there was a canker of corruption in the state, which
promised ill for the future. Fornication (iii. 16),
idolatiy (xi. 33), and rebellion (xi. 26) already showed
themselves ; plain i^recepts of the law were disregarded
(x. 14—25, 27—29 ; xi. 2) ; idol-temples polluted the
land (xi. 7) ; and rites were instituted of an impure
and inhuman character. The warning voice of Solomon
(viii. 46) — nay, of God Himself (is. 6—9) — was raised
to declare the di-eadful j)imishment which the nation
would bring upon itself hj its apostacy, unless it re-
turned and repented. The first judgment, the disrup-
tion of the kingdom of David, was plainly announced
(xi. 13, 31, &e.). Altogether, we are iirepared, even in
the section treating* of the glories of Israel, the time
when the kingdom extended from the river of Egypt to
the banks of the Euphrates, for the coming desolation,
when Jerusalem " sat solitaiy as a widow, and wept
sore, and had none to comfort her" (Lam. i. 1, 2).
(2) The histoiy of the double monarchy, or the two
parallel kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which forms
the subject of the second main section of Kings, is treated
by the author with much skill and ability. An ordinary
writer would have narrated the two histories separately,
completing the one before he entered upon the other.
The writer of Kings — no ordinary author— combines
the two liistories in an artistic and highly elaborate
way, making each reflect light on the other, treating
of each in its turn, but never dwelling so long upon the
one as to cause the other to be forgotten, and particu-
larly bringing into prominence the points in whicli the
two histories were connected. The unwise severity of
Rehoboam leads to the reA'olt of the Ten Triljes, to the
establislimeut of Jeroboam as "King of Israel," and
the setting up of an unauthorised worship at Dan and
Bethel to rival the authorised ritual of Jerusalem (chap,
xii.). The open rivalry naturally leads to war (xii. 21 —
24 ; xiv. 30 ; XV. 6—7, 16) ; and war leads to the calling
in of foreign allies on the one side or the other (xiv. 25 ;
XV. 18 — 20), whereby each kingdom is in turn weakened.
At length, after three generations of strife, the rival
kingdoms, imder the pressure of foreign aggression,
come to terms ; amity and alliance take the place of
constant jealous hostility; Jehoshaphat, the fom-th
King of Judah, marries the daughter of Ahab, the
seventh King of Israel ; and the two powers are, for the
space of thi-ee reigns, close allies and friends, imder-
taking conjoint enterprises (1 Kings xxii. 48, 49),
going out to battle together (1 Kings xxii. 2—32; 2
Kings iii. 7—27), and exchanging visits of congi-atula-
tion, condolence, or ceremony (1 Kings xxii. 2; 2 Kings
viii. 29 ; X. 13). But this cordial intercourse is in its
effects worse than the precedent hostility. A foreign
3 In Chronicles all mention of Solomon's sins is avoided.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
idolatry, a more gross ami open defection from Jehovah
than the anterior '' calf -worship," lias been introduced
into Israel by Aliab; and the afEnity contracted by
Jelioshaphat with this king, and the connection thereby
established, natm-ally lead on to the adoption of this
fearful abomination by Judah also, and so to the corrup-
tion and ruin of both kingdoms. The evil is indeed stayed
in both cases — in Israel by the establishment on the
throne, through prophetical agency, of a dynasty hostile
to the house of Ahab, which continues in power for above
a century ; in Judah by a priestly revolution, issuing in
the execution of the princess who has brought the cor-
ruption in, and the placing upon the throne of an infant
prince, during whose minority the high priest is regent,
and the worship of Jehovah is restored. The taint,
however, had penetrated too deep to be eradicated. In
Isiaol the house of Jehu, though staunch against the
Baal-worship, maintained the idolatry of Jeroboam
(2 Kings X. 31 ; xiii. 2, 11 ; xiv. 24 ; xv. 9) ; and the
later kings permitted the introduction of strange cults
and rites from all the surrounding nations. The author
of Kings, in his history of the double monarchy, treats
more especially of Israel, to whose affairs he devotes
eighteen whole chapters out of twenty- eight, and more
than the half of seven others. He traces esj)ecially the
sins and the warnings of this portion of the promised
people ; and then, having completed his narrative by
relating their conquest by the Assyrians, ho appends a
remarkable passage, consisting of retiectious upon the
history, justifying the ways of God thus far, and
showing that the nation brought upon itself its own
destruction.
(3) Having concluded his account of the double
monarchy, the writer of Kings (in 2 Kings xviii.) enters
upon the third groat division of his work, and proceeds
to trace the remaining history of the kingdom of Judah
through eight reigns," from the accession of Hezekiah, six
years before the extinction of the kingdom of Israel, to
the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Ho
dwells especially upon the histories of Hezekiah and
Josiah, the two best kings of this period, the latter of
whom he had probably known personally (Jer. i. 2).
He delivers the history of Hezekiah, almost in the exact
•words of Isaiah (Isa. xxx%'i. — xxxix.), in three chapters
(2 Kings xviii. — xx.) ; that of Manassch and his son,
Amon, in one (chap, xxi.) ; that of Josiah in two (xxii.
-and xxiii.) ; and that of his successors, also in two (xxiv.
and XXV.). In this section, as in the preceding one, he
notes esijccially the sins of the chosen people — the
popular worship of the brazen serpent (xviii. 4), the
ostentatious exhibition of his wealth by Hezekiah (xx.
13), the cruelties and manifold idolatries of Manasseh
(xxi. 2 — 17), the similar iniquity of Amon (xxi. 20 — 22),
the persistent opposition to Jehovali of Jehoahaz (xxiii.
32), Jchoiakim (ift., verso 37), Jehoiachin (xxiv. 9), and
Zedekiah [ih., verse 19). Having thus prepared his
readers for the final catastrophe, which could not but
1 The roiiTiia of Hezekiah, Manasseb, Amou, Josiali, Jehoahaz,
Jehoiakim, Jehoiachiu, and Zedekiah.
follow upon such obstinacy in evil, he in his last chapter
(2 Kings XXV.) narrates with extreme brevity the closing
scene — the capture and destiniction of Jerusalem, the
captivity of the people, the fate of Zedekiah and his
sons, the burning of the Temple, the cari-ying off of its
treasures, the massacre of the chief prisoners at Riblah,
the establishment of GedaUah as governor over the
" remnant left in the land," his murder, and the retreat
of the " remnant " into Egypt. Hero his narrative
might seem naturally to come to an end. All was over.
Sin had worked out its natural result of suffering. A
complete apostacy had provoked an entire destruction.
But the writer will not leave his readers in the dreary
darkness to which he has conducted them, without
cheering them with a gleam of light. God had pro-
mised that, at the worst, he would never whoUy fail
David. David's throne and kingdom, if in abeyance
for a time, should be re-established, and should in some
true sense continue for ever (2 Sam. vii. 16). Bearing
this in mind, the writer -ends his work with a section
which seems to say that the worst is past, the deepest
dai-kness gone by, the day-dawn approaching. He notes
how, after a weary capti^aty of thirty-seven years, the
last scion of the house of David, ere his death, passed
from a prison to a palace, from a dungeon to a " throne,"
exchanged his wi'otched life in the confinement of a
Babylonian gaol for a seat with other kings at the
banquet-table of the Great Monarch, who " spake kindly
to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings
that were with him in Babylon; and changed his prison
garments," and gave him bread to " eat continually
before him all the days of his life " (2 Kings xxv. 28,
29). Thus the cloud lifts ere the scene closes upon us;
a promise of better things to come appears ; the nation
which has been told so plainly — even sternly — the
truth, that its own sins have brought it to ruin, is en-
couraged to hope in the long-suffering mercy of God,
and to look forward to a time when it too, like Jehoi-
achin, may find its captivity terminated and itself re-
stored to a position of honour.
Such is the general outline of the history contained
in Kings. The peculiarities of the writer are not many.
Like the other sacred historians, he occupies what has
been called "the religious stand-point " — that is, ho views
the events of history in their religious and moral, not in
their mere civil, aspect. He " regards the Jews, not as
an ordinary nation, but as God's people. He does not
aim at exhibiting the political progress of the kingdoms
about which he writes, but intends to describe to us
God's treatment of the race with which He had entered
into covenant. Where he records the events of the
civil history, he does not record them for theirownsake,
but simply as illustrative of the nation's moral condition,
or of God's dealings with it."^ Hence it follows that
he often omits altogether (or treats with the utmost
brevity) events which the ordinary historian woiild have
considered as of primary importance. Thus he takes no
notice at all of the expedition of Zerah the Ethiopian,
' 8pe<xker'$ Commentary, vol. ii., p. 477.
THE TWO BOOKS OF KINGS.
the great event of Asa's reign (2 Chron. xiv. 9 — 15 ; xvi.
8); he omits wholly the war of Jehoshaphat with
Moab, Ammon, and Edom (2 Chi'on. xx. 1 — 25) ; that
of Uzziah against the Phihstines {ib., xxvi. 6 — 8), and
that which ended with Manasseh's capture by the
Assyrians [ib., xxxiii. 11—13). He describes with ex-
treme brevity the conquest of Jerusalem by Shishak
(1 Kings xiv. 25, 26), the war between Abijam and
Jeroboam (ib., xv. 7), that of Amaziah with Edom (2
Kings xiv. 7), and that of Josiah with Pharaoh-nechoh
{ib., xxiii. 29). As a general rule, he passes lightly over
the military history of the two kingdoms, contenting
himself with referring his readers to the " Books of the
Kings of Israel" or " Judah" for the events to which
an ordinary secular historian would have given the
greatest prominence.
It has been regarded as " characteristic " of him, that
he makes the activity of the prophets in the state, and
the narrative of theii* miracles, leading topics in his
history; and undoubtedly it is true that the projjhets,
their words and acts, do occupy a considerable space in
his narrative, and attract to themselves much of the
attention of the reader. The doings and sayings of
Elijah the Tishbite occupy four entu-e chapters (1 Kings
xvii. — xix. ; 2 Kings i.) and a considei-able portion of two
others (1 Kings xxi. 17—29 ; 2 Kings ii. 1—11). Those
of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, are related even at gi*eater
length, occupying four chapters completely (2 Kings
iv. — vii.) and portions of six others (1 Kings xix. 19 —
21 ; 2 Kings ii. 12—25 ; iii. 11—25 ; viii. 1—15 ; ix. 1—
10; and xiii. 14 — 21). Two chapters (2 Kings xix. and
XX.) are almost wholly concerned with Isaiah. Besides
nameless prophets, whose doings occupy most of two
chapters (1 Kings xiii. and xx.), we have mention in the
history of Ahijah the Shilonite, Shemaiah, Jehu the
son of Hanani, Micaiah the son of Imlah, Jonah the son
of Amittai, and Huldah the prophetess. Altogether,
nearly a third of the entire work is concerned with the
activity of the prophets, with their miracles, and the
part which they played in the history of the two king-
doms. It does not appear, however, that the prominence
of the prophets is due to any particular bias of the
writer*s mind, or to any determination on his part to
assign them an undue place in his narrative. It is
simply due to the fact that the time was one of remark-
able prophetic activity, and that during it the religious
history of the Israelitish nation was largely affected by
the exertions and influence of the prophets. We know
that of the four greater prophets, three, and of the
twelve minor ones, nine, lived during the period; and we
hear in Chronicles of seven other persons as prophesy-
ing under the kings, who are not included in either of
these lists, or mentioned by our author. Thus an
honest history of the time, and of its religious pheno-
mena, necessarily included frequent reference to the
prophets, to their teaching, their influence, and their
miracles, which were so largely instrumental in giving
them their influence.
A more special characteristic of the Book of Kings,
as it has come down to us, is its elaborate and apparently
exact chronology. In no other part of Scripture has
anything like the same degree of attention been paid to
the chi'onological element which underlies the history ;
nor is it common to find even in profane writers of this
same early age, such constant and particular notes of
time as occur in this composition. In Judges and
Samuel the estimates of time are palpably incomplete ;
and the numbers, which are most commonly roimd ones,
have an appearance of inexactness. In Kings round
numbers do not occur with any frequency ; no intervals
of time are unestimated ; and in the main section of the
work, the central one (1 Kings xii. — 2 Kings xvii.), a
system of double notation of a comphcated character
prevails, an attempt being made to synchronise exactly
the parallel histories of Isi'ael and Judah. It may be
doubted, however, whether this peculiarity is, at any
rate in its present pronounced form, an original feature
of the work, or whether it has not rather been super-
added on some revision. Strong reasons have been
alleged for regarding the first date which occurs (" It
came to pass, in the ■iSOth year after the children of
Israel were come out of the land of Egypt . . . that
Solomon began to buUd the house of the Lord " — 1 Kings
vi. I) as an interpolation ; ^ and it may be suspected
that a similar character attaches to the entire series of
synclironisms between the two kingdoms of Israel and
Judah. These synchronisms are always parenthetic ;
and in many cases the sense would be cleared, and the
gi-ammar improved, were they omitted. " So Tibni
died, and Omri reigned ; in the thirty and first year of
Asa, King of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel
twelve years " (1 Kings xvi. 22, 23), is scarcely a satis-
factory sentence. Nor are the following any better : —
" In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah, King of
Judah, began Menahem, the son of Gadi, to reign over
Israel ten years in Samaria" (2 Kings xv. 17) ; " In the
fiftieth year of Azariah, King of Judah, Pekahiah, the
son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria
two years " [ib., 23), where our translators interpolate the
words " and reigned " before " ten years " and " two
years," because otherwise the sentences are incongruous
and have no clear sense. It may be added that the
chronology is thrown into inextricable confusion by the
synchronisms, which cannot be reconciled one with
another, excepting by a long series of violent and most
improbable suppositions,- as that the initial year of a
king is reckoned differently in different passages, and
that long interregna occurred of which the historian
says nothing.
The authenticity of the general narrative of Kings is
scarcely questioned by any writer, ancient or modem.
No one doubts that from the time of David the Jews were
familiar with writing, and adopted the practice of keep-
ing state records ; nor is it questioned that, in the main,
the writer of Kings honestly drew from this source.
Certain exceptions to the general rule are, however,
1 See the Spea?icr's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 515,
2 Some of these are given iu the margin of many of our Bihles.
Others will he found iu Clinton (F. H., Yol. i., pp. 315—329) and
in the Comm,ent on Kings by Keil.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
made by some critics ; aud on these it seems riglit to
say a few words before this article is couchided. (1)
The prayer of Solomou (1 Kiugs viii. 22 — 53) is thought
by some not to be a genuine utterance of that king, but
to be the composition of Jeremiah, or some other writer
of the Captivity period, a vaticinimn ex eventii or " pro-
phecy after the event," based perhaps on some tradition
of Solomon's having made a solemn prayer at the
Dedication of the Temple, but really first written some
centuries afterwards.' When such a \iew is put for-
ward, when an integral portion of a work — found in all
the MSS. — is separated olf from the rest and assigned
to a period several centuries later, it is uatm-al to ask,
in the first place, on what is this opinion based ? what
grounds are alleged for it ? In the present instance,
the grounds appear to be two only — first, the captivity of
the Jews is jilainly declared in tlio prayer, and there-
fore, real prophecy not being regarded as possible, the
document, it is supposed, must have been wiitten after
the Capti^'ity had commenced; and, secondly, the late
composition of Deuteronoviy being assumed as a fact,
aud the references to Deuteronomy in the prayer being
numerous and unmistakable, it follows that the prayer
must be of a late date, Deuteronomy being so. These
are, it is believed, the sole grounds taken. It is not
pretended that the language of the prayer is critically
distinguishable from that of the chapters preceding or
following it. Nor is it alleged that the thoughts are
unsuitable to the time of Solomon. Thus the view
maintained rests upon two assumptions — (a) that pro-
phecy is impossible ; and ib) that Deuteronomy was
not written till long after the time of Solomon. Now,
with regard to the first of these two assumjitions, it
is enough to say, that it is simply a denial of the super-
natural, and scarcely consistent even with deism ; to
combat it, in a work addressed to Christians, would be
out of place ; and we therefore pass it by. With
respect to the other ground, we think it enough to refer
the reader to the " Introduction to Deuteronomy "
already pubhshed in this work,^ where they will find
the late composition of the book refuted, and its Mosaic
authorship shown to be in the highest degree probable.
There are thus absolutely no solid reasons for suspect-
ing the prayer ; it breathes a spirit closely akin to the
Davidical Psalms, with which its language is also in
harmony; it is a document of a kind that would be
likely to be inserted in the state records ; •* and it has a
double sanction, being given as Solomon's, not only
by the writer of Kings, but also by the compiler of
Chronicles, an independent authority, and one who in
this matter evidently did not draw from Kings, but
from some larger source,'' probably the state records
1 See Ewald, Geachichte d. Volkea Israel, vol. iii., p. 404.
2 See Bible Educator, Vol. I., pp. 273—276.
3 The prayer of Solomon on this solemn occasion would as
naturally be entered in the state records as the psalm of David
when he brought the ark into Jerusalem (see 1 Chron. xvi.
7-36).
* A comparison of 1 Kings viii. 50—53 with 2 Chron. vi. 40—42
shows this.
themselves, which must have still existed in his day,
since he refers his readers to them continually.*
(2) Objection is taken to tho.se portions of Kings
which treat of the histories of Elijah aud Elisha. These
portions, it is said, are not di'awn from the state records
but from an entirely different source. They come from
some collection of traditions respecting those persons
made many years after their deaths, either by the writer
of Kings, or by some other person, from the mouths of
the common people.*^ They may, therefore, safely be
set aside as unhistorical. Here again, if we examine
into the ground of the assertions made, we shall find
that in the objectors' minds the only real reason for
separating ofE these naiTatives from the rest of the work
is, that they contain accounts of miracles, and the critics
in question have laid it down as an axiom, that miracles
are impossible. Not the shadow of a philological,
or critical reason has been shown for separating off any
part of the account of Elijah, or more than two passages
of the account of Elisha, from the rest of Kings and
attributing them to a peculiar soui'ce, or to a special
author. The actions of Elijah are mainly of a public
character, and would as natiu-aUy form part of the
" Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel," as the
actions of Isaiah did of the " Book of the Chi'onicles of
the Kings of Judah" (see 2 Kings xix. — xx.). And
the actions of Elisha are largely of this character. The
foretold destruction of Moab (2 Kings iii. 14 — 25), the
cure of Naaman the Syrian {ib., v. 1 — 19), the revelation
of the King of Syria's designs {ib.,vi. 8 — 12), the cap-
ture of one of his armies {ib., 13 — 23), the foretold
deliverance of Samaria {ib., vu. 1 — 20), the journey of
Elisha to Damascus {ib., -viii. 7 — 14), the anointing of
Jehu {ib., ix. 1 — 10), the interview between Elisha and
Joash {ib., xiii. 14 — 19), were public matters, and were
such as the Israelite historians — members, let it be
borne in mind, of the prophetical order — would be
almost certain to have entered in. the state archives. To
a small portion only of what is told us of Elisha does
a private character attach. The miracles related in
2 Kings iv., vi. 1 — 7, and viii. 1 — 6, were in a certain
sense private ; they would originally be known to few,
and would scarcely find a place in tho state records. It
is not unlikely that these portions of his narrative were
taken by the author of Kings from a biography of Elisha,
written in a familiar style, and in language containing
provincialisms.^ But they need not on that account be
any the less authentic. It is a gratuitous and impro-
bable supposition that the miracles of the great Israel-
itish prophets were collected " long after their deaths."
The natural thing would be that at the close of a great
prophet's career, his special successor, if he had one, or
otherwise some favourite disciple, should collect his
miracles and other remarkable deeds and commit them
to writing. Elisha may probably have done this for
5 1 Chron. xxvii. 24 ; xxix. 29 ; 2 Chron. ix. 29 ; xii. 15 ; xiii. 22,
&c.
fi De Wette, Eiiifeitiin^ in d. Alt. Test., p. 185.
7 Some peculiar forms of speech, which seem to be provincial,
occur in 2 Kings ir. 1—37, and viii. 1—6.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
Elijah, and the most magnificent section of Kings
(1 Kings xvii. — ^xix.), and again, 2 Kings i. — ii., may be
mainly from his hand. Jonah (2 Kings xiv. 25), or
some " son of the prophets " who had known him, may
have collected the mu-acles and other doings of Elisha.
The whole result is, that unless we consider miracles
incredible, there is no reason why we should regard
the accounts which the author of Kings gives of Elijah
and Elisha as any less authentic than the rest of his
narrative.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE EEV, W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., KECTOK OF PKESTON, SALOP.
DOVE, PIGEON.
[HE Columhiclce, pigeon and dove family,
is represented in Palestine by the follow-
ing species : — the Cohimba palumbus, or
common wood-pigeon of this countiy, the
C. livia, the rock-pigeon, also occurring in our own
country near the sea-coast, the C. schimperi, or rock-
pigeon of Egypt, to be seen in countless myi-iads in the
Wady Hamam (i.e., "ravine of pigeons," from the
Arabic hamdmat, " a wild pigeon "), leading from the
Plain of Gennesaret, in the ravine of the Kelt near
Jericho, in the recesses of cliffs which shut in the rivers
Arnon and Zerka in the land of Moab ; and the stock
dove (C cenas), which visits Palestine in the summer.
Of turtle-doves (Turtur) the following are inhabitants
of the Holy Land: T. auritus, or common turtle-dove
of England, which visits us in the summer (it is
tolerably abundant in Shropshire, where it is called the
"Wrekin dove) ; the collared turtle {T. risoriiis), the
largest species of the group; and the palm turtle {T.
Senegalensis), pretty numeroiis in the plains of Jericho,
and Shittim, and round the Dead Sea.
There are many allusions to pigeons and turtle-doves
in the Bible. Two Hebrew words express either a pigeon
or a turtle-dove, viz., t6i\ always translated "turtle-
dove " or "turtle," and yondh, "pigeon" or "dove"
(A. v.). Another word, gozdh, occurs in Gen. xv. 9,
as the name of " a young pigeon," from a root, meaning
"to chirp."
The first mention of a dove occurs in the Biblical
account of the Deluge (Gen. viii. 8), where we read
that Noah sent forth from the ark one of these birds
three times. On the first occasion it soon returned ; on
the second it came back with an olive-leaf in its mouth ;
on the thu'd time it came back no more. A pair of
turtle-doves or two young pigeons was by the Levitical
law allowed as a substitute in some of the offerings for
a lamb or a kid in the case of poor persons (see Lev. i.
14 ; V. 7 ; xii. 6, 8 ; Luke ii. 24). A Nazarite, in the
case of accidental defilement from a dead body, was
ordered to bring to the priest on the eighth day two
turtles or young pigeons to be sacrificed, one for a
burnt-offering, the other for a sin-offering, as an atone-
ment (Numb. vi. 10). With a view to facilitate the
purchase of these birds for offerings, the Jews in our
Lord's time established a kind of market witliin the
court of the Temple, a proceeding emphatically con-
demned by Christ (Matt. xxi. 12; John ii. 14 — 16).
The rajiidity of a pigeon's flight is alluded to in Ps. Iv.
6 : " Oh that I had wings like a dove 1 for then would
I fly away, and be at rest." Also in Hos. xi.^ll : "They
shall hasten trembling [A. V., "tremble"] as a bird
out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyiia,"
The plaintive voice of the dove is alluded to by Heze-
kiah in his sickness (Isa. xxxviii. 14) : " I did mourn as
a dove," See also lix. 11, and Nah. ii. 7, in which latter
passage the maids of the city of Nineveh, personified
as a queen, are represented mourning the fate of their
mistress as vrith the voice of doves.^ The beautiful
metallic lustre seen in certain angles of the light on the
necks of some pigeons, notably on that of the stock
dove, Columha cenas (whence indeed its specific name
ceneiis, "of bronze"), is referred to by the Psalmist,
though the passage has been variously translated:
" Though ye have lien (p. p. of verb to lie, A. S. licgan,
p. p. legen, common in the sixteenth centmy) among
the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold " (Ps.
lxviii._13). Abetter rendering of the Hebrew words would
be, " If ye lie among the sheepfolds, it is as the wings of
the dove," &c. The glittering of the dove's feathers in the
sun is an emblem of peace and prosperity. If God gives
His people peace, it is well, and all is joyous as the
play of colours on a stock dove's neck ; if God causes
war and scatters Israel's enemies, it is as when he
illumines dark Salmon with glistening snow (ver. 14),
another emblem of joy. This is Hengstenberg's
explanation, which seems to us simple and natural-
Some commentators refer the scattering of the kings in
their glittering armour to the white i^atches of snow
lying in broken masses on the dark forest boughsj
others think the whiteness refers to the bleached bones
of the slain, comparing the " campi ossibus albent " and
" humanis ossibus albet humus " of Vii-gU (^)i., xii. 36)
and Ovid {Fasti, i. 558). See Maurer, Delitzsch, and
Perowne, on this subject. Nevertheless, the passage is
obscure ; the literal rendering of the words is so uncertain,
that the import of the whole passage can only be, to a
gi-eat extent, a matter of conjecture.* The gentleness
1 The text here is obscure. " And Huzzab shall be led away,
she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the
voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.'' The following more
correctly represents the original : " It has been determined (3Srr,
hoph. of Ii*:), she (Nineveh) is laid bare, carried into captivity,
and her maids groan like the cry of doves, smiting on their
breasts."
2 See Speaker's Commentavy, ir., p. 321.
8
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of tlio dovo is alluded to by our Lord : " Be ye therefore
wise as serpents, and harmless as doves " (Matt. x. 16).
Doves' eyes were considered very beautiful (Cant.
1. 15 ; iv. 1 ; V. 12). The wild rock-pigeon builds its
nest in lofty cliffs and in deep gorges. This is referred
to in Cant. ii. 1-4 : " O my dove, thou art in clefts
of the rock, in the secret places of the cliffs " (" stairs,"
A. v.); " O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and
dwell in the rock, and bo like the dovo that maketh her
nest in the sides of the hole's mouth " (Jer. xlviii. 28).
in the second week in April, and clouds of doves are
feeding on the clovers of the plains. They stock
every tree and thicket. At every step they flutter up
from the herbage in front; they porch on every
tree and bush; they overspread the whole face of
the land. So universal, so simultaneous, so conspi-
cuous their migration, that the prophet might well
place the turtle-dove at the head of those birds which
'observe the time of their coming ' " [Nat. Hist. Bib.,
p. 219). The collared turtle {T. risorins) occui-s in
KINO-DOVE (Palumbus torquatus).
Tlie migration of the turtle-dove, whose return to
Palestine in the spring is, as Dr. Tristram says, one of
the most marked epochs in the ornithological calendar,
is definitely mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah : " The
turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time
of their coming " (viii. 7) ; and by the author of the
Canticles : " For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over
and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of
the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle
is heard in our land " (Cant. ii. 11, 12). The dove here
especially alluded to is the Tiirtus auritus. " Search
the glades and valleys even by sultry Jordan at the end
of March, and not a turtle-dove is to be seen. Return
great numbers near the springs and streams on tho
shores of the Dead Sea where trees grow ; and here it
resides throughout tho year. In the summer it spreads
northwards up the Jordan valley, and may be seen in
the woods of Mount Tabor and Giload. This bird is a
larger variety, and darker in plumage than the dove so
frequently kept in cages and aviaries in England, so
familiar to all. Dr. Tristram says that Palestine appears
to be almost the western limit of this bird. It is very
common in India, but is not found in a wild state in
Europe.
The palm turtle {T. Senegalensis), like the preceding
species, is non-migratory, being a permanent resident
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
in those places it frequents, sucli as tlie plains of
Jericho and Shittim, round the Dead Sea, and other
spots where palm-trees flourish. But at Jericho, when
the palm is no longer foimd, this turtle frequents the
thorny jujube-trees {Zizyplms spina-christi). It is a
small bird of a ruddy chestnut colour, with no collar
on the neck, which is clothed with dark feathers having
a slight metallic lustre.
his wealth by the possession of a large separate dove-
cot built of mud or brick, and roofed over, filled with
earthen pots with a wide mouth, each of which is the
home of a pair of pigeons. The poorer people rear
them in their houses, and in the villages about Carmel
there is a row of small square pigeon-holes formed in
the wall just under the roof, opposite the door, each of
which has a j^air of tenants, who fly in and out over the
TUKTLE-DOVES {Turtv.T axiHtus).
The domestication of the pigeon dates from very
early times. The prophet Isaiah probably refers to tame
birds when he says, ' ' Who are these that fly as a cloud,
and as the doves to then- windows ? " ( Isa. Ix. 8) ; but Pro-
fessor Lepsius informed IVIr. Darwin that, as early as
the fifth Egyptian dynasty, or 3000 B.C., pigeons were
domesticated ; and Dr. Birch, of the British Museum,
says that the pigeon appears in a bill of fare ui the
previous dynasty. In Palestine at the present day the
pigeon is "the invai*iable companion of man wherever
he has a settled habitation. The village sheikli marks
heads of the family through the common door." The
pigeon tribe is exceedingly abundant in Palestiue. This is
accounted for by the botanical character of the country,
which is extremely rich in various kinds of clover,
trefoil, and other leguminous plants, on which the birds
delight to feed. Our word pigeon is from the Latin
pipio (a young pigeon), that from pipire, "to chii-p
as a young bird." Dove is from the Anglo-Saxon
duva, that from dufan, " to dive " or " to duck
the head," in allusion to the well-known habits of the
family.
10
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
MEASUEES, "VVEIOHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BT F. R. CONDEK, C.E.
HEBREW
'^TTlxi^HE actual content of the measures
capacity mentioned in the Bible is, up to
the present time, a moot point. One
reason of the obscurity which has been
allowed to rest on the subject is this. Josephus makes
repeated reference to Hebrew measures, and explains
them to his readers by the use of Greek terms,
that only approximately coincide. Thus in one place
{Ant., ^^ii. 2, 9) he says that the bath contains 72
xestce ; that is to say, that it is eqiial to the Greek
metretes, or a little over ten gallons. In another
passage {Ant., xv. 9, 2) he says that the Jcov is equal to
ten Attic medimni ; which gives a bath of a little
over eight gallons. In a third j)lace {Ant, iii. 15,
3) he makes seventy hoH equal to forty-one Attic
medimni. And his references, in two other passages,
to the cotyle and the choa arc no less inconsistent
with one another, and with the foregoing comparisons.
It is thus evident that no accurate determination of
these ancient measm-es is to be obtained from Josephus.
If we say, in round numbers, that the hiii is the
Jewish gallon, and the hor the Jewish quarter, we shall
be nearer the mark than if we attempt to work out
elaborate equivalents on the plan hitherto pursued.
Maunonides, in his commentary on the tract of the
Talmud, De Angnlo (c. viii. m. 5), gives us a measurement
of the log, a small measure of capacity, in digits.
But the question of the size of this digit is left open.
If we take the Hebrew digit of two barley corns, we
obtain too small a result. If we consider the pollex
of Maimonides to eqixal an English inch, we have too
large a result. It is useless to attempt to base a metrical
system on so vague a foundation.
The Oral Law, however, has referr'ed the Hebrew
measures of capacity to the natural standard of the
contents of an Qgg. The log, one of the smallest
dimensions in the scale, is equal to the contents of six
eggs. Tliese are said by the Ghemarists to be middle-
sized birds' eggs ; which they take to be represented
by the largest og^^i of the domestic hen. Although
a question may arise, how far s\ich a standard can
be considered as permanent, our fii*st step must be
to ascertain what the cubic contents of a large hen's
eg^ actually are.
A considerable range of difference, in the size of the
eggs of the hen, actually exists. But from a series of
measurements of full-sized eggs, as they are laid in this
country, we arrive at an average of four cubic inches of
contents. It is extremely rare to find an (^gg exceed
this cajiacity by more than five per cent. There is an
obvious advantage in making use of so simple a unit.
Not only are all calculations thus rendered extremely
simple ; but further, as afterwards will appear, the
Hebrew measm-es of capacity are thus brought into
MEASURES OF CAPACITY.
of direct mathematical accordance with those of length.
It may l>e said that the log of twenty-four cubic inches is
only an approximately determined measm-e. Let it be
so considered. At the same time, the metrical results
of this approximation are so simple, and so precise, that
there is good reason for supposing that they are
actually in accordance mth the principles of the ancient
system.
We have a positive check as to this determination, by
weight. Twenty-four cubic inches, or "6752 of an English
pint, contain 6,060 grains of water at 62'' Fahrenheit.
Maimonides states that the weight of water wliich an
anphal-, or quarter log, will contain, is equal to twenty-
six Egj^)tiau drachmae. He does not state the tem-
perature employed ; and further, there is a doubt as to
the exact weight of the drachma. The Attic drachma
(about B.C. 25) weighed 61'3 troy gi-aius, and it subse-
quently fell to 57 grains, or lower.' Rabbi David-, who
was the sixth from Maimonides, estimated the weight
of the anphalc of water at twenty-five drachmce. If
we consider the aiiothecaries' drachm of sixty troy
grains to be the unit employed, the determination of
Rabbi David would make a log of water weigh 6,000
grains. The heavier drachma would give 6,240 grains ;
the lighter, 5,928 gi-aius. It is thus «lear that our
own result of 6,060 grains is not far from the precise
truth.
The difficulty experienced, in modern times, in estab-
lishing a geometrically accurate standard of measure-
ments, at an arbitrarily fixed tempei-ature of 62^^
Fahrenheit, was not fully overcome imtil Sir Joseph
Whitworth supplied to mechanical science a method
which may be considered practically perfect. The
attempt made by the French men of science to base
a new metrical system, by means of astronomical
observations, on the polar diameter of the eartli, is
now known to be inexact in its results. The hilo-
gramme^ was intended to be the weight of a cubic
decimetre of pure water, at its maximum density; but
it is, in fact, somewhat greater.^ The imperial gallon
is stated in an Act of Parliament to contain 277 "27-4
cubic inches ; but its actual contents, accoi'ding to the
standard volume of 101b. avoirdupois of pure water at
the temperatui-e of 62'^ Fahrenheit, under the pres-
sure of thirty inches of mercmy, is stated by Professor
Raukino to bo actually 277'123 cubic inches.
The Roman modius, the Hebrew sea or satum,
and the English peck, are so nearly identical in their
cubic contents, that it is difficult to oppose the idea
1 His(on/ of Ji'ifiah Coinage, p. 234.
- Tract De Angulo, iii. 6, comnieutAry of Guisius.
3 Useful links and T.ibl«s. By W. J. M. Eankine, p. 97.
■• Raukine's Useful Rules and Tables, p. 99.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
11
tliat tliey were once, liistorically regarded, the same
measure.
Tlie Hebrew cepha, according to the determination
we have above stated, contains exactly a cubic English
foot, or the cube of three-quarters of a Hebrew cubit.
An exact relation of this nature, between measm-es of
length and measures of capacity, is at once more simple
and more satisfactory, than any determination obtained
by the intex'mediate use of the scale beam ; and appears
to preclude the idea that it owes its oi'igin to mere casual
coincidence.
A difficulty of a different order besets the student of
Hebrew measures, who seeks for information from the
Authorised Yersion of the Bible. It is one which arises
from the uncertain transliteration of Hebrew words ; that
is to say, from their spelling in English letters. The trans-
formation, which gradually occiu's in aU languages, had
proceeded to a considerable extent in Hebrew, before
it was arrested by the introduction of the points by the
Rabbis of Tiberias. That invention crystallised the
speech of the age ; and has preserved to us the pronun-
ciation, the masoretic interpretation, and the grammar,
of the fourth century A.D. These not iinf requently differ
from those of the third centuxy B.C., which again are, to
some extent, preserved in the LXX. With the original
language, there is good reason to believe, the discrepancy
is often more serious. The current Arabic of the i^resent
day preserves, in some words, an unpointed Hebrew
pronunciation, which is entirely lost in the rabbinical
Hebrew. Thus the name of Ayoub, " the haunted man,"
is familiar ia Palestine ; where the Job of the English
Bible, and the mB of the LXX., would be entirely
unrecognised.
The beaiing of this change iu the pronunciation of
the Hebrew language upon oiu* present subject, is this :
We find, in the Bible, references to a Jewish measure
called the omer ,i and again, in other places,- to the
homer. It is veiy natural to confuse these two similar
words ; and the LXX. translators have actually done
so, by the translation of each of them by the word
gomor in some places, although in others they use the
Persian word artaba^ for what our translators call the
homer. This measure, which in unj)ointed Hebrew is
spelt hmr, contains one hundred of the meastu'es which
are, in the same way, spelt both omr and oimr. The
former word originally meant a heap, the latter is used
in the Pentateuch and iu the Book of Ruth to denote
the handful of the gleaner.
That the measures of capacity among the Jews were
occasionally tampered with for dishonest purposes may
be inferred from the rebuke of the prophet Amos,4
"making the ephah small, and the shekel great," or,
in other words, selling short measure to the poor, at
fuH or exaggerated price.
1 Exod. xvi. 36.
2 Isa. V, 10 ; Ezek. xlv. 14. ; Hos. iii. 2.
3 Isa. V. 10. Omer is not to be found iu the thirtieth edition of
Professor Eadie's Cruden's Concordance.
•* Amos viii. 5.
In the tables of Hebrew measures of capacity sub-
joined, there will be found a representation of the actual
contents of the several denominations (together with
their mutual relations), expressed in definite English
equivalents. These equivalents are not only as close to
the truth as the information which exists on the subject
will allow a writer to calculate; but are as close as the
ancient measures could, in all probability, be made by the
artisans of the time. And evenf urther than this, their geo-
metric exactitude, as compared with the linear measm-es,
is so j)erfect, that there is every reason to believe that
we have recovered the positive and exact standard.
From what follows on the subject of weight, there seems
reason to apprehend that this standard was that of the
Chaldeans. Our troy weight exactly, our feet and
inches exactly, and our gallon and quarter very closely,
represent Hebrew measures; our ounce avoirdupois,
on the other hand, is the Roman uncia. The Hebrew
lehineh, or haK cubit, bears precisely the same relation
to- the English foot, that the fii-st Hebrew shekel bears
to the troy ounce. Coincidences so exact can only be
explained by a common origin, and that origin may be
traced to Chaldea, by means of the Chaldean weights
now in the British Museum. The slight differences
that exist between the principal English and Hebrew
measures of capacity are dependent on the fact, that
the size of the former has been lately determined by the
weight that a given measure would contain, while the
size of the latter is a true measure of bulk, expressed in
terms of the linear measures. We shall see, before we
conclude, that the accordance between weight and
capacity iu the Hebrew measures is quite as close as
is that between different determinations of the value of
the same nominal measures in England.
The measures contained in the table are the principal
metrical terms that occur in Hebrew literature. It will
be seen that they form only a portion of the elements
of a comprehensive and organised system.
In the New Testament, the fii-st tlu-ee Gospels are
characterised by an exact use of the Jewish metrical
terms, which is obsciu'ed bytlie English translation. Thus
in the parable of the imjust steward (Luke xvi. 6) we
read of one hundred Mths of oil, and one himdred
cori of wheat ; being the same measm-es, liquid and dry,
that are named in the Book of Kings (1 Kings v. 11 ;
1 Chron. u. 10) in the time of Solomon. The general
term, measure, which is appropriately used iu mauy
places (as in Matt. vii. 2) has been occasionally substituted
for the names of specific dimensions. In the parable as
to leaven, three sata of meal (that is to say, an epha), are
mentioned both by Matthew and by Luke. The only
foreign word of this nature that is employed by these
evangelists is the modius, which in our version is
translated bushel. The Roman modius held within a
small fraction of the contents of the satiim, and the
word was therefore naturally employed during the time
of the Roman procurators. It would be more properly
translated by the word peek, than by bushel. The
c/ice«,ia;, mentioned in the Apocalypse, is a Greek measiire,
which has no Hebrew equivalent. It held 1-454 English
12
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
pints. For this measure of wheat to bo sold for a
denarius, indicates a famine price approaching thirty
sMUinjirs a busliel.
Liquid Measure.
HEBEBW MEASURES
OF
CAPACIT-S
'.
Dry Measure.
Q. 1 C.
(EW. j S.
<KP.
~1
C.
CUB. IK.
English
Measure.
Quadrans
Cabus .
(Emer .
Saturn .
(Epba .
1
4
24
72
1
6
18
1
10
1
3
24
96
172-8
576
1728
•6752 pint
•6752 quart
2^494
2-0385 gallons
6-2355
Corusor )
Homer j
720
180
100
30
10
1
17,280
•993 quarter
A.
L.
H.
s.
B,
CUB.IN.
English
Measure.
Anpbak
1
—
_
6
•6752 gUl
liOg.
4
1
—
—
24
•6752 pint
Hin.
48
12
1
—
—
268
1-0128 gaUon
Saturn
96
24
2
1
—
576
20385 „
Bath
288
72
6
3
1
1728
6-2355 „
Lavacruui, or batb, of Ezra, contained ... 40 sata.
Golden Pitcher, used for pouring water at
Feast of Tabernacle ... ... ... ... 3 logs.
Quantity of water necessary to be poured over
the bands before eating ... ... ... 1 anphak.
Letek ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 baths.
Tarcab ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 cabi.
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
BY THE KEV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE XTNIVEESITY
OF ABERDEEN.
SACEED SEASONS (continued).
' E turn in this paper to the most interest-
ing and important of all the sacred
seasons of Israel, that which more than
any other was bound up with the people's
covenant life, which especially distinguished them from
the heathen nations of the world, and which jjlayed by
far the most abiding and effective part in their religious
history — the weekly Sabbath. The commandment to keep
it is the fourth of the Ten Commandments given amidst
80 many circumstances of solemnity at Sinai (Exod. xx.
8 — 11). Its observance is again and again enjoined in
language of even more than ordinary earnestness (Exod.
xxxi. 13—16 ; XXXV. 2, 3 ; Deut. v. 12). It is enforced
under the threatening of death for its violation (Exod.
XXXV. 2). It is spoken of as the sign of God's covenant
with Israel (Exod. xxxi. 17). It is placed at the head
of all other feasts (Lev. xxiii. 3), and is the standard by
which they are measured (Exod. xxiii. 11, 24). The
neglect of it is represented as the source of the severest
Di\-ine judgments, and its sanctification as the spring
of the richest Di\Tne mercies ( Jer. xvii. 21, 22 ; Ezek.
XX. 13, 16; Isa. Ivi. 26; hdii. 13, 14). Its restoration,
after disuse, was the great means of religious reform
(Neh. xiii. 15—19). And, finally, tvo cannot forget that
it was our Lord's alleged violation of this sacred day
that, more almost than anything else, roused the opposi-
tion of " till """ews," and was made the plea on which
they awakened the popular indignation against him
(John v. 16). An institution such as this, marked out
for honour by God himself, lying at tlie root of the
highest solemnities of the faith of Israel, and intimately
associated with its deepest religious feelings, can hardly
fail both to be interesting in itself, and to have some
fulfilment in the higher and better dispensation pre-
figured in all the parts of God's ancient economy.
The first question that meets us in connection with
the Sabbath, one closely related, as we shall hereafter
sec, to the inquiry with which we are more immediately
concerned, is the date of its institution. In examining
into this point, we must distinguish between the concep-
tion of the day as a part of the Divine purpose, as an ex-
pression of the Divine mind, and its formal setting apart
from other days as an ordinance to be positively ob-
served by Israel. When we look at it in the latter hght,
we find no distinct commandment upon the point pre-
vious to that given in the Decalogue. The language of
Gen. ii. 2, 3 — " And on the seventh day God ended his
work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. And
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because
that in it he had rested from all his work which God
had created and made "-^undoubtedly points to a dis-
tinction di'awn in the very infancy of creation between
six days of the week and the seventh ; while the traces
of a hebdomadal division of time contained in the lives
of the patriarchs favoui* the idea that, in one way or
another, seven days were held to have in them a com-
pleteness and perfection tliat no other number would
have possessed (Gen. viii. 10, 12 ; xxix. 27, 28). A
commandment, however, is something much more pre-
cise and definite than this, and at least throughout the
Book of Genesis we meet with none upon the point
before us.
It might seem that it is othei-wise in the earlier part
of the Book of Exodus. We are told there that among
the instructions given for the gathering of the manna
was tlio following : " And it shall come to pass, that on
the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in ;
and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily " (Exod.
xvi. 5). This instruction was obeyed by the people, " and
all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses "
(ver. 22). It is not said why they told liim ; but whether
it was in complaint, or to report the faithful obedience
given to the Divine command, tlie reply received by them
was, " To-morrow is a rest, a Sabbath holy to the Lord,"
followed on the next morning by the injunction, " Six
SACRED SEASONS.
13
days shall ye gather it; but on the seventh day, which is
a Sabbath, in it there shall be none. . . . See, for
that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he
^veth you on the sixth day the bread of two days ; abide
ye eveiy man in his place, let no man go out of his place
on the seventh day " (vs. 23, 25, 29). Yet it is only in
appearance that these words reveal the existence of a Sab-
bath as an institution previously enforced by the direct
commandment of God. They speak of it rather as now
for the first time enforced, as havmg had a place indeed
in the Divine conception, but as not hitherto made form-
ally binding upon man; and, in so far as now made bind-
ing, made so only in reference to the particular labour
specially referred to. Even this passage, therefore,
neither contains nor implies any formal uistitution of
the Sabbath preA-ious to the arrival of Israel at Sinai.
For such institution we must look to the legislation
there.
All the passages, however, to which we have referred
have a bearing on the question with which we are now
dealing. They show that, if not yet formally appointed
for man, the Sabbath, whatever be its meaning, had an
existence in the mind of God. Its idea was a part of
the eternal verity of His nature. In it, not less than
in the work of creation (Gen. ii. 2, 3), He gave utterance
to what He was. He awakened the echo of it in the
hearts of those who walked with Him, and were saved
(Gen. viii. 10, 12) ; and, when He stepped in to provide
miraculously for His people's wants, He did so in such
a manner as to give by means of it, not a partial only, but
a complete revelation of Himself (Exod. xvi. 5). It will
l^e well to take these considerations along with us for
future use. In the meantime, we remark only that the
institution of the Sabbath, as a positive ordinance of
God's ancient economy, is to be sought for only in the
Fourth Commandment.
Our second question has relation to the manner in
which the Sabbath was to be observed. Three things
first meet us here. The usual morning and evening
offerings were doubled, two lambs with then* appropriate
meat and drink offerings being used that day in addition
to " the continual burnt offering and his drink offering "
(Numb, xxviii. 9, 10). The twelve new-baked shew-bread
loaves were set out upon the table in the holy place
appointed for the purpose (Lex. xxiv. 8). There was
a "holy convocation" of the ^jeople (Lev. xxiii. 2, 3).
All these things were evidently designed to stamp the
day with a character of sacredness, and not merely with
an importance higher than the other days of the week.
While this, however, was the case, it can hardly be said
that sacred exercises were the special object for which
the day was given. That object was rest from labour,
the intermission for a time of aU the ordinary toils of
life : " In it thou shalt not do any work ;" " Six days
thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou
shalt rest ;" " To-morrow is a rest, a Sabbath holy to the
Lord, six days may work be done, but in the seventh
is a Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord" (Exod. xx. 10 ;
xxiii. 12 ; xxxiv. 21 ; xvi. 23 ; xxxi. 15). Passages
such as these are very numerous in the Law, and
they point to rest as the distinguishing characteristic
of the day. The "rest" was indeed to be "holy;"
it was to be u.sed, at least to some degi-ee, for purposes
of instruction and edification in Di-vine things, but it was
itself the leading idea of the time. It had been so con-
nected with the thought of God's own rest at the first
(Gen. ii. 2, 3), and that reference is taken up again in
the Fourth Commandment, " For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed
the sabbath day and hallowed it " (Exod. xx. 11). The
same thing appears also in the fact, that in later times
that spu-it of ceremonial punctiliousness which destroyed
the true spirit of the institution, took its degenerate
course in this direction rather than any other. We
learn from many statements of the New Testament, as
well as from the Rabbins, that it found expression not
so much in excessive and minute demands for religious
observances on the part of the people, as in accumu-
lated and paltry precepts in regard to abstinence from
work.
We shall err, however, it appears to us, if we confine
this idea of rest to that of a rest to be talcen by every
toiling Israelite. It was not less a rest to be given to
those under theu* care by all possessed of authority over
others, " In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-
servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates ;" "' On the seventh day thou shalt rest
that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of
thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed ;"
" That thy manservant and thy maidservant may
rest as well as thou" (Exod. xx. 10; xxiii. 12; Deut.
V. 14). Here was the introduction of an entirely new,
and in some respects a higher, idea in connection with
the observance of the Sabbath than that of merely rest-
ing oneself from labour. It imi>lied consideration for
others, and the exercise of benevolent feelings towards
them, as a part of the duties of the day. Not in thank-
ful refreshment from one's own toils only was it to be
sanctified, but in remembering that all, whether man or
beast, who toil for us are entitled to rest at our hand.
The same privilege extended by God to each head of a
house or of a family in Israel, that head was again to
extend to such as were under his control. The rest of
the Sabbath, in short, was not merely a personal enjoy-
ment to be j)assively received; it was to be an active
entering into the mind of God. What had been be-
stowed on him, each Israelite was to ('■' -f~^bute in the
same spirit of love and thoughtful care as that in which
he had himself been dealt with.
These remarks may prepare us for the next point
that meets us — What was the true idea and meaning "of
the Sabbath institute ? This idea is first of all to be
sought in the view already taken by us, that the Sabbath
had a relation to God himself, and that it is not to be con-
sidered merely as an arrangement for the good of Israel.
It may, sometimes, no doubt, be well to point out the
physical and moral benefits which it was calculated to
bestow upon the people; but, in judging of the institu-
14
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tion as a wliole. the thought of theso must always bo
kept entirely subordinate to the higher conceptions
■which it embodied. Wo may be confident enough that
every Divine idea ■will result in blessings to man, and
may rejoice that it will do so, but we must be careful to
assign to the Divine idea itself the prominent place in
our consideration. We must descend from it to the tem-
poral benefits, not ascend from them to it. That there
is such an idea thus involved in the institution of the
Sabbath is clear from what we have seen, that long before
it was actually introduced and mado binding on Israel,
it existed in relation to God himself. He had blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it He
had rested from all His work which He had created
and made (Gen. ii. 2, 3). In giving the manna to Israel
He had again brought forward this thought of His own
being, and the reference of the Sabbath to what He was
(Exod. x\i.). Nay, even in assigning to the institution
a place in the Law, the relation thus connected -with it in
earlier times is taken up and confirmed — " for in six days
the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in
them is, and rested the seventh day " (Exod. xx. 11).
What then is this idea? Before attempting to answer
the question, we must turn to two passages of the New
Testament, the fii'st of which at least is not often enough
brought into connection with this matter, or, when
brought, is frequently misinterpreted. The passages
are John v. 17 and Heb. iv. 3, 4.
In John V. 17 we have the answer given by our
Lord to "the Jews," when they complained of His vio-
lating the Sabbath day by first healing the impotent
man at the pool of Bethesda, and then bidding him take
up his bed and walk. " My Father," says the Saviour,
" worketh hitherto," or until now, " and I work." It
seems impossible to attach any but one meaning to this
answer. Our Lord had done what in the eyes of " the
Jews " was a piece of work upon the Sabbath day, and
He had commanded the impotent man to do the same.
In His defence against their murmurings He draws no
distinction between different kinds of work, as if He
would have defended Himself in the same way as on other
occasions, by sho^wing that on the Sabbath it was at all
events lawful to do good (Matt. xii. 12; Mark iii. 4).
No distinction of this kind indeed would have been a
defence against what appears from the tenth verso of the
chapter to have mainly offended the Jews, the man's
caxrying his bed. It could not be pleaded that that act was
one either of necessity or mercy. It was not demanded
by the circumstances of the case, and it had no analogy
to the rescuing of a sheep which had fallen into a pit
upon the Sabbath day. Nor only so. There is not a
word in the narrative to lead to the thought of such
a distinction. It is the whole Divine working that the
Saviour has in view, a working indeed that is never for
anything but good ; and He says of it all, " My Father
worketh until now, and I work" — that is, My Father's
working and mine go on continually ; we are not and
cannot be inten-upted by the Sabbath day; our work
admits no break to it. If this be a correct interpretation
of the passage, it shows that there is a sense in which
the idea of constant working may be predicated of
God.
The second passage of which we spoke was Heb. iv.
3 — 5 : " For wo which have believed do enter into rest,
as he said. As I have sworn in my wrath. If they shall
enter into my rest : although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God
did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in
this place again, If they shall enter into my rest." The
sacred writer is engaged in exhorting the Hebrew Chris-
tians to take warning by the example of their forefathers
who through unbelief fell in the wilderness, and did not
enter into God's rest. He has to show, therefore, that
there is such a rest still in existence, a rest for those
who now receive the Gospel message in faith. He does
this by biingiug into close relation ■with each other tho
words of Genesis ii. 2, 3, and of Psalm xcv. 11 ; and, in
so far as concerns our present purpose, he argues thus :
— The latter text was spoken long after the former, yet
it tells of a rest of God, a rest that has not come to an
end, although the works were finished from the foun-
dation of the world. In other words, although God is
said in Genesis to have rested on the seventh day, that
rest must continue, otherwise David coidd not have de-
scribed it in his time as a present thing. Here, therefore,
the whole period that had passed away from the date of
creation is set before us, under a point of ■view exactly
the converse of that from which it was looked at by our
Lord in the Gospel of St. John. In the latter it is all
a period of working : in the former it is all a period of
rest. How are we to reconcile the two ?
We answer, Both ideas are to "be' predicated of God,
and the meaning of the Sabbath in its relation to Him is
that it expresses one of them. Had the Book of Genesis
or the fourth commandment contained only the one
statement that God made aU things in six days, wo
should have associated with Him merely the thought of
work. No more than one part of what He is would
have been revealed to us. But the rest of the seventh
day comes in, and immediately wo see that in God there
is not only the idea of work, but of rest. Not that He
works at one time and rests at another. That is only
the human mode of conceiving and representing the
complex truth. Both things are in Ham combined. In
one sense He is always working : in another sense He
is always resting. His work is the work of rest : His
rest is the rest of work. Tho work is not the work of
toil, but is performed in the calm majesty of repose :
the rest is not the rest of idleness, but is enjoyed in
the constant activity of doing good.
Hence also, wo imagine, the particular determination
of the seventh day for rest. It is possible — we are far
from contesting the truth of the supposition — that in
the harmonies of nature, in tho physiological or social
condition of man, there may be some deep reason why
a seventh day's rest should be preferable to one occur-
ring at an interval of six or eight or ten days. At
present, however, we are dealing with the thought of
the Sabbath of God, as well as man. and wo must seek
SACRED SEASONS.
15
the ground of the selection of a seventh day rather
than of any other in something else. Nor is it easy
to see in what else it can be sought than in this,
that seven is the number of God in His relation to
His people. It enfolds that idea in its completeness.
Therefore, when six days express the idea of God's
work, there remains only one number, the seventh,
to express the idea of His rest. It is fitting, too,
that the six should be chosen for work, the seventh
for rest, rather than that the numbers should be re-
versed. Man is to imitate the Di^dne, and it is only
imperfectly that he can do so. He must separate into
parts what in God is one, and it would be fatal to all
the arrangements needed for the welfare of humanity
were one day only given to work and six days to I'est.
Such, then, being the idea of the Sabbath in its rela-
tion to God, we see also what it was to Israel. Israel
was God's covenant people, His son. It was to take
home to it, therefore, in the Sabbath, the idea of the
Divine rest. It was to learn that a life moulded upon
the idea of the life of God was not to be all toil. Life
was to have also its repose, and that a repose in which
God was to be imitated not only by resting, but by rest-
ing in the spirit of beneficence, when each head of its
households gave rest to his sons and his daughters, his
manservants and his maidservants, and his cattle.
Hence also we see how naturally it happened that the
Sabbath could be associated with other considerations
than the rest of creation. It could be spoken of as " a
sign" between God and Israel throughout all their
generations (Exod. xxxi, 13), for to no other people had
God so fully unfolded His character and ways, and these
were largely expressed in the institution. It could be
connected with the blessing of deliverance from Egypt
^"and remember that thou wast a servant in the land
of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out
thence thi'ough a mighty hand and by a stretched out
arm ; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to
keep the sabbath day ' ' — for that deliverance was the
most signal manifestation of God's covenant love to
Israel, the most palpable proof that He was their God,
and they His people. It was thus also that the pimish-
ment of death could be annexed to the violation of the
Sabbath law, for in breaking that law the covenant with
God was broken. And, finally, it is thus that we can
well believe, what indeed we know from different pas-
sages of Scripture to have been the fact (Hosea ii. 11 ;
Luke xiv, 1), that Israel's Sabbath, though enforced with
such a tremendous penalty, was not a day of austerity
and gloom, but of hilarity and joyfulness, of all that
joyfulness which neither secularises nor wearies as much
as, often more than, work.
The considerations now adduced throw light also upon
another point often felt to be attended with considerable
difficulty, that the idea of the Sabbath was in existence
before the Fall, It seems at first sight as if no Sabbath
could be needed by man while the ground had not yet
been cursed for his sake, and laboiu' had not yet become
toil. Nor would it be easy to escape this conclusion
were we to think of the institution only in reference to
him. But, if it reveal a part of what God is, the diffi-
culty disappears. Even in his state of innocence man
had to work (Gen. ii. 15), and thus he learned to know
God as One who worked and who required work of His
creatures. That, however, was only a part of His ways.
He not only worked, but rested ; and if, therefore. He
was to be fully known, some revelation of Him must be
given in this light also. The Fall then has no necessary
connection with the Sabbath's rest. That rest is a part
of God's own manifestation of Himself, and it is desir-
able that man, whether in his estate of innocence or of
sin, should know Him as He is.
Such then being the idea of the Sabbath in reference
to' God — an idea in existence from the first, and probably
in some way or another revealed, though not embodied
in a commandment — it may perhaps be asked. Why
should not this always have been enough ? Why, at a
later date, should it have been necessary to impose the
Sabbath upon Israel by positive law ? The answer is,
Because thus only could the idea be preserved. It was
indeed the peculiar function of Israel to preserve by
means of positive laws ideas which would otherwise have
perished. The effect of this was certainly to limit the
ideas for the time, but we are not to consider the limited
form as their true and adequate expression. The limita-
tion rather points to the illimitable, the partial conception
to the complete. Had it not been for such a command-
ment as the fourth, the idea of God's rest and of man's
rest in Him would have been lost. Human sinfulness,
together with the hard pressure of life, would have made
our earthly existence a round of uninterrupted endless
toU, The whole course of each succeeding week would
have been laid hold of for the world, and God would
have been forgotten. Here, therefore, the command-
ment mercifully interposed, and, by demanding one day
in seven for rest because God had rested, became a
witness for the higher and better order of things that
had once had place. It did not, however, confine the
views of the people to the sanctification of the one day
of which it spoke. They were even called upon, by the
very ground assigned in it for keeping the one day holy,
to rise to the thought of God, and in Him who knows
no succession of time, to the thought of sanctification of
all days. It was thus a testimony to something higher
than its words expressed. It contained within it not a
dead letter but a living germ, waiting for the favour-
able opportunity to burst its covering and to spring up,
" after its kind," in primeval beauty.
Thus, then, we are brought to the fulfilment under the
Christian dispensation of Israel's Sabbath law. In what
is that fulfilment to be found r Certainly not, we
answer, in the Lord's Day of the Christian Church, We
have seen that aU the sacred seasons of Israel which
have passed under our notice pointed onwards not tv
institutions but ideas, that not one of them is fulfilled,
in any supposed corresponding ordinance of New Testa-
ment times. It is thus also in the case before us; and
analogy alone might justify the conclusion, that we are
not to find the fulfilment of the Jewish Sabbath in the
Christian Sunday. But we are not left to analogy. We
16
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
have tho direct teacliiug of Scripture on tlie point ; and
that teacliing is, tliat tlie Sabbath is fultillod in Christ
himself and in His Church.
As to Clirist himself, it is in this very light that He
comes before us in the fifth chapter of the Gosi>el of St.
John. We fail to reach the meaning of that miracle at
the pool of Bethesda recorded there, if we think of it
only as a manifestation on the part of Jesus of His
Divine power and grace. Looked at in all its accom-
panying circumstances, and in the light of the whole
structure of the Gospel which contains it, it teaches a
far deeper lesson. Its ti-ue language is that Christ is
the reahty of which the Sabbath of Israel was the ty^ie,
the substance of which it was the shadow. What Christ
does is the accompHshment of the Divine idea of work.
The calmness, the rest, the oneness with the Father, in
wliich He does it, is the accomplishment of the Di\-ine
idea of rest.
But what is fulfilled in Christ is fulfilled also in His
people, and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
has again distinctly shown us how we are to find in cir-
cumstances connected with the general position of Chris-
tians in Christ their Head the fulfilment of the Sabbath
law. In the fourth chapter of his Epistle, from whicli
we have already quoted, he exclaims as he draws liis
argument to a close, " There remaineth therefore a rest
for the people of God " (Heb. iv. 9). The word here
translated a rest is literally a Sabbatism or a keeping of
a Sabbath ; and the words would bo more truly ren-
dered, " There remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping
for the people of God." That this Sabbath -keeping is
conceived of in the light of an enlarging and extending
of the original seventh day's rest, is clear from the
previous portion of the chapter ; and the meaning of the
sacred writer is. that God permits His people to look
forward to a Sabbath-keeping upon whose fulness they
have not yet entered, to a Sabbatic rest similar to His
own, when they shall cease from their works as Ho did
from His. The eternal rest set before us at the close
of our present pilgrimage and warfare is, therefore, the
true fulfilment of Israel's Sabbath. Then the work here
given us to do, in so far at lea.st as it is work of toil, and
mingled with weariness and disiippointmeut and sorrow,
sliall at length come to an end. We shall rest not from
working, but from all that makes working a burden
and a pain. " To you who are troubled," says St. Paul,
" rest with us " (2 Thess. i. 7). " And I heard a voice
from heaven," says St. John, " saying imto me, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence-
forth ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours ; and their works do follow them " (Rev. xir. 13).
Such is the great fulfilment of Israel's Sabbath law;
but, while it is so, it seems necessary to remark in con-
clusion that we cannot limit the f idfilment to the state
of eternal blessedness beyond the grave. All that is
fulfilled in Christ, all that is to be the portion of His
Church hereafter, is more or less the actual possession
of Christians even now. The perfected kingdom of
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is always viewed in the
New Testament, and not less in the Epistle to the
Hebrews than elsewhere (comp. xii. 22), as something to
which they are ah-eady " come." There must, therefore,
be a present as well as a future fulfilling of the Sabbath.
And there is ; for, amidst many imperfections, with
only a partial realising of what is theirs, the people of
God keep a constant Sabbath. Their work, like Christ's,
is then- Father's work : their rest, like Chi'ist's, is rest
in God. Their time, like aU their other gifts, is His
who has redeemed them to Himself, their days at once
spent in His holy yet free ser^-ice, and enjoyed in the
feehug of repose communicated by the thought of His
uuchansfiusr love.
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE EEV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN'S, ALTTH, N.B.
STEUCTUEE OF THE VEESE (continued).
§ 3. — PARALLELISM (continued).
I ROM the last-mentioned variety of pai*al-
Iclism it is an easy transition to that class
called by Bishop Lowth synthetic or con-
structive. Here the rhythm is not one
of thought, but depends entirely on a resemblance in
the form of constnictiou. There is no longer in the
second member of the verse an elevation of the image
and sentiment of the first, but there is a correspondence
in the shape and turn of each proposition, and in the
constructive parts — noun answering to noun, verb to
verb, negatives and interrogatories to similar forms in
the parallel sentence. As might be imagmed, this style
admits of the greatest variety. It lends itself readily
to the caprices of free lyric song. It is especially
adapted to the genius of the Hebrew Muse, who loves to
build up the structure of her verse by adding figure
to figure, and accumulating one image on another. It
is therefore among complex forms of parallelism that
the finest si^ecimens of this style are found. In the
following passages, although there are some wcll-mai-ked
couplets, the tendency to multiply the parallel lines
until they fonn a stanza or strophe of verses almost
symmetrical in construction, is very plainly exhibited.
( " Praise Jeliovah from the earth,
[" \ Ye dragons and all deeps:
( Fire and hail, snow and ice ;
( Wind and storm fulfilling His word ;
( Mountains and all hills;
\ Fruitful trees and all cedars ;
f Beasts and all cattle ;
I "Worms nud feathered fowls :
( Kings of the earth, and all peoples ;
\ Princes, and all judges of the world :
( Young men and maidens ;
( 01 J men and children :
Let thorn praise the name of J^-hovah ;
For His name only is excellent.
And His praise above heaven and earth."
(Ps. cxlviii. 7—12).
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
17
( " I am comiug into my garden, my sister, my betrothed ;
I I am ^theriug my myrrh with my spices ;
( I am eatiug my honeycomb with my honey ;
( I am drinking my wine with my milk." (Cant. v. 1.)
The synthetic is the prevailing rhythm of this ex-
quisite love song.
( " With Him is wisdom and might ;
\ To Him belong counsel and understanding.
( ( Lo, He puUeth down, and it shall not be built ;
) \ He encloseth a man, and he shall not be let loose.
") ( Lo, He withholdeth the waters, and they are dried up,
( ( And He sendeth them forth, and they overturn the earth.
i With Him is strength and perfect existence ;
( The deceived and the deceiver are His."
(Job xii. 13—16.)
Frequently one line or member contains two senti-
ments.
" The nations raged ; the kingdoms were moved ;
He uttered a voice, and the earth was dissolved.
Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted in the nations ;
I will be exalted in the earth." (Ps. xlvi. 6—10.)
In the following there is an antithesis between the
Iwo members of each verse.
" Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be famished ;
Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty ;
Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded ;
Behold, my servants shall sing aloud for gladness of heart.
But ye shall cry aloud for grief of heart.
And in the anguish of a broken spirit shall ye howl."
(Isa. XV. 13, 14.)
One of the finest examples of all occurs in the
19th Psalm.
( " The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul ;
I The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple ;
J The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart;
'. The commandment of Jehovah is clear, enlightening the eyes ;
! The fear of Jehovah is pure, enduring for ever ;
(^ The judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are just altogether ;
( More desirable than gold, or than much fine gold,
( And sweeter than honey or the dropping of honeycombs."
(Ps. xix. 8—11.)
Under the head of synthetic parallelism, Lowth
includes a peculiar figure which is frequently employed
in the poetical books. It consists in using two con-
secutive numbers in such a way as either to convey the
sense of indefiniteness, or else to add point and vigour
to an enumeration of facts or objects. A few examples
will serve better than further explanation.
" In six troubles will He deliver thee ;
Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee ;
In famine He shall redeem thee from death.
And in war from the power of the sword ;
Thou shalt be hid when the tongue scourgeth ;
Neither shalt thou be afraid when destruction cometh.
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh ;
Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth."
(Jobv. 12—22.)
*' These six things Jehovah hateth :
And seven are the abomination of His soul :
Lofty eyes, and a lying tongue, *
And hands shedding innocent blood ;
A heart fabricating wicked thoughts :
Feet hastily running to mischief ;
A false witness breathing out lies ;
And the sower of strife between brethren."
(Prov. vi. 16—19.)
The 30th chapter of Proverbs contains many elegant
examples of the same kind. A long series of denuncia-
tions in the prophet Amos is rendered more impressive
50 — VOL. in.
by the judicial tone gained by the repetition of this
figure.
Thus saith Jehovah : —
" For three transgressions of Damascus,
And for four, I will not restore it."
In the song of Deborah there is a most vivid touch
given by the same means.
" To every man a damsel or two ;
To Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of
embroidery ;
One of divers colours, two of embroidery, for the neck of the
queen." (Judges v. 30.)i
The constructive form of parallel verse might be
abundantly illustrated from the New Testament. The
instances are, however, chiefly of a complex kind, the
verses extending beyond two members . The Beatitudes
vdll occur to every one. The following couplets are
from St. James, whose style is throughout singularly
like that of the sententious poetry of the Old Testament.
" Gnome follows gnome, and the discourse hastens from
one similitude to another, so that the diction often
passes into the poetical, and in some parts is like that
of the prophets." This Jewish cast of thought is the
more striking, because the language of the epistle is
unusually free from Hebrew grammatical constructions.
( " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you ;
\ Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.
f Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,
\ And purify your hearts, ye double-minded."
(James iv. 7, 8.)
The following passage from one of our Lord's dis-
courses, also contains .synthetic couplets : —
C " Sell that ye have, and give alms ;
< Provide yourself bags which wax not old ;
(^ A treasure in the heavens which faileth not ;
J Where no thief approacheth ;
\ Neither moth corrupteth ;
{For where your treasure is
There will your heart be also." (Luke xii. 33, 34.)
The next class of simple parallelisms corresponds to
Bishop Lovrth's antithetic class. The outward and in-
ward harmony are both preserved, the structures being
perfectly symmetrical, and evenly balanced, but the
proportion appears by contrast rather than resemblance.
Ewald names it the gnomic, or sententious rhythm, and
describes it as " averse consisting of two members of seven
or eight syllables corresponding to each other, as rise
and fall, and containing a thesis and antithesis, a sub-
ject and its image.- The degrees, however, of the anti-
thesis are various. Sometimes the opposition extends to
all the terms ; sometimes it is confined to one. Now
the contrast is a general one of sentiment; now it is
minutely drawn out between each particular term, and
the propositions are made to balance so nicely that
singular answers to singular, plural to plural, and so on.
The following examples exhibit the varieties of anti-
thetic parallelism : —
" The blows of a friend are faithful ;
But the kisses of an enemy are treacherous."
(Prov. xxvii. 6.)
1 We may compare with this figure the common Latin phrase,
0 terque quaterque heati.
^ DichUr Aes A. B.
18
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
i^" There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath uothiug' ;
There is that maketh himself ijooi", yet hath great riches."
(Prov. siii. 7.)
In these examples every word has its opposite, aud
while the antithesis is complete, perfect extei'nal har-
mony is j)reserved.
" A wise son rejoicetli his father.
But a fooUsh sou is the grief of his mother."
(Prov. X. I.)
Here, too, the opposition extends to every tenu, since
father and mother are relatively opposite.
In the following all terms but one are opposed. The
other terms are synonymous in meaning, though ex-
pressed in different words.
" He that walketh with wise men shall be wise ;
But the compauion of fools shall be destroyed."
(Prov. xiii. 20.)
" The memory of the just is blessed ;
But the name of the wicked shall rot." (Prov.x. 7.)
" A soft answer turueth away v^rath ;
But grievous words stir up auger." (Prov. iv. 1.)
" All the w.ays of ii man are clean in his own eyes ;
But Jehovali weigheth the spirits." (Prov. xvi. 2.)
Here the antithesis is of a general kind, well marked
in the contrast of sentiment, hut not extending to the
several terms. The following is another instance :^
" The lot is cast into the lap ;
But the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah."
(Prov. xvi. 33.)
Sometimes the effect is heightened by the introduction
of a second antithesis between the parts of each member
of the verse, as in
" There is that scattereth, and still increaseth ;
And th.at is unreasonably sparing, yet groweth poor."
(Prov. xi. 2i. Translated by Lowth.)
These examples are all taken from the Proverbs of
Solomon, where they aboimd. It is a form jieculiarly
adapted for the adages aud aphorisms which embodied
and preserved Hebrew wisdom. Nothing else could
stamp the distinction between good and e\al in such en-
during character on a nation's mind. Unsuited as the
language of the Jews imdoubtedly was for expressing
the more refined processes of abstract thought, it pos-
sessed, in this power of condensing into two short incisive
lines the experience of ages, the most efficient agent for
promoting practical ethics. Solomon has given an
accurate and powerful description of his own proverbs.
" The words of the wise are as goads.
And as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies."
(Eccles. sii. 11.)
Tliey penetrate the heart, and remain fixed in the
memory, preserved from oblivion, not only by their
brevity, but by the rhytlimic fonu in which their sliarp
and pointed contrasts fall.
But the antithetic stylo is not confined to gnomic
poetry. It is not inconsistent with the lyric muse, and
though the sublimer poetry adopts it but seldom, Isaiah,
by means of it, without departing from his usual
dignity, adds greatly to the sweetness of his compo-
sition. The following is one out of other instances : —
J " In a Uttle anger I have forsaken thee ;
( But with great mercies will I receive thee again.
( In a short wrath I hid my face for a moment from thee ;
\ But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee."
(Is. Ixv. 13, U.)
The Psalms also afford exami)les : —
( " These in chariots, and these iu horses ;
( But we, iu the name of Jehovah, our God, wUl be strong.
J They are bowed down and fallen ;
( But we are risen, and maintain ourselves firm."
(Ps. XX. 7, 8.)
The New Testament contains many examples of the
antithetic parallelism. It was a mode of teaching not
likely to be neglected by our Lord.
( " He that exalteth himself shall be abased,
( And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
/ AVhosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man it shall
J be forgiven him ;
j But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it
V shall not be forgiven." (Luke xii. 10.)
The aphoristic sentences of the rabbinical writings
generally take the antithetic form.
^"Whosoever maketh himself humble, him the holy blessed One
3 exalteth ;
j But whosever exalteth himself, him the holy blessed One
V. maketh humble ;
. ( And whosoever ijursueth dignity, him dignity fleeth ;
\ But whosoever fleeth dignity, to him doth dignity return."
The antithesis is sometimes strengthened by the em-
ployment of a very elegant figure, which is well known
to readers of Greek and Ijatiu. The terms of the
contrast are arranged in what Greek grammarians call
chiasmus, that is, cross-wise, like the letter x —
" He that spareth his rod hateth his son ;
But he that loveth him chastiseih him betimes."
(Prov. xiii. 24.)
If we transpose the terms of the second member, the
whole effect is weakened.
" He that spareth his rod hateth his sou ;
But he chastiseth him betimes who loveth him."
A similar instance occurs in the next chapter.*
" He that oppresseth the weak reproacheth his Maker ;
But he that honoureth Him hath mercy upon the poor."
The English translation of Luke i. 53 has detected
the Hebrew idiom under the Greek, and has added
greatly to the force of an impressive passage in Mary's
song.
" He hath filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich He hath sent empty away."
The use of this figure is not confined to the antithetic
pai-allelism. We shall see presently with what elegance
it is introduced into strophes of four lines. It is also
found in the ordinary simple verse, as in these two
instances from !^salm 107 : —
" For He hath satisfied the craving soul ;
And the famished soul He hath filled with goodness."
(ver. 9.)
" For He hath destroyed the gates of brass ;
Aud the bars of iron He hath smitten asunder."
(ver. 16.)
In Latin this figure is of frequent use. The ari'ange-
ment —
" Katio consentit, repngnat oratio" —
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
19
is more elegant and forcible than
" Katio consentit, oratio repugnat." (Cic, Ve Fin., iii. 3.)
The English poet Spenser has thus imitated the Yirgui's
song : —
" He pulleth doune, he setteth up on hy ;
He gives to this, from that he takes away."
•
There is a beautiful illustration of the fondness of
Eastern nations for this mode of expression. " When
the Arabs salute one another it is generally in these
terms, Saldm aleikutn (' Peace be with you ') ; in speaking
these words they lay the right hand on the heart. The
answer is, Aleihum essaldm (' With you be peace ')."'
In the Song of Solomon there occurs a cu.rious
verse, in which the antithetic terms of the parallelism are
an-anged on a difEerent system of alternation.
" I am black, but yet beautiful, 0 daughters of Jerusalem ;
Like the tents of Kedar, like the pavilions of Solomon."
(Cant. i. 5.)
That is, black as the tents of Kedar (made of dark-
coloured goat's hair), beautiful as the pavilions of
Solomon.
There are instances of a similar construction where
the parallelism is not of the antithetic kind.
" On her housetops, and to her open streets.
Every one howleth, descendeth with weeping."
(Isa. sv, 3.)
That is, every one howleth on her housetops, and de-
scendeth with weeping to her open streets.^
We may compare the following exquisite verse from
Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, where also the \'ivid
1 Niebuhr, quoted by Jebb, Sacred Literature, p, 74.
2 Lowth, Isaiah. Homer has some fine examples of this arrange-
ment, combined with the elegance and force of the Chiasmus, e.g.,
" Wailing and triumph-cry commingled rose
From those who slew, from those, too, tliat were slain."
{H., iv. 450.)
" Him t]ie Muse loved, and gave him good and ill.
Of sight bereaved him, gave him sweetest song.""
(Oct., viii. 63.)
eifect that can be produced by parallelism may bo
noticed : —
" My wings are folded o'er mine ears ;
My wiugs are crossed o'er miu^ eyes;
Yet through their silver shade appears.
And through their lulling i)lumes arise,
A. shape, a throng of sounds ;
May it be no ill to thee.
O thou of many wounds !
Near whom for our sweet sister's sake,
Ever thus we watch and wake."
Tlie poetic mood does not at all times submit to
the cousti'aint of fixed metre. Exceptions, which are
called poetic licenses, occur in long poems so frequently
as to become recognised varieties of verse. Such, for
example, in Latin hexameters, is the occurrence of two
spondees at the close of a line, in English heroics of an
Alexaudi-ine, in English blank verse of lines which liave
eleven or twelve syllables. The lyi-ic song of Israel was
•n-ild and free in its movements. It compelled the
ilexible rhythm to every change of its fluctxiatiug mood.
In the older poetry especially, the animation of the
verse i^ sustained by frequent and rapid changes.
One of these modifications was gained by sacrificing
the symmetry of sound which in the perfect j)arallel
verse exists between the two members. While j)re-
servingthe equivalence of thought, the sentences cease to
baknce one another. There is a marked inequality
between them, which has gained for this kind of verse
the name of uneqiud parallelism.
It arises in many cases from the suppression of some
member of the proi^osition, which may be supplied in
thought. But at other times it must be referred to the
freedom claimed by the Muse. The following examples
will guide to the discovery of others : —
"Jehovah is my strength and my song ;
Eor He was my salvation." (Exod. xv. 2. )
" Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth ;
Sing praises to Jehovah." (Ps. Ixviii. 33.)
" Well havel kept Thy commandments and Thy testimonies :
For all my ways are before Thee." (Ps. cxix. 68).
" The poor and the needy seek for water, and there is none ;
Their tongue is parched with thirst." (Ps. xli. 17.)
" Hearken unto me, ye that pursue righteousness.
Ye that seek Jehovah." (Is. li. 1.)
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTUEE
THE LOCAL COLOURING OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.
BY THE EDITOE.
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.
FOLLOWING what is now recognised by
most critics as the right chronological
order of St. Paul's Epistles, we pass from
those addressed to the Chm'ch of Corinth
to that written to the Churches of Galatia. As in-
tended for a province, not for a single city, it takes
into account what we may speak of as the national tem-
perament of the race by which the province had been
peopled, rather than the circumstances specially con-
nected with any given locality. It is, we may note, the
only Epistle of St. Paul's (imless we except that to
the Ephesians, which many regard, from the fact that
the words " in Ephesus " are omitted in some of the
most authoritative MSS., as intended for many of
the Asiatic Churches) which has this quasi- encyclical
character.
Into the main subjects of the Epistle, the contro-
versy -with the Judaisers, the Apostle's vindication of
his authority as independent of any human agency,
20
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
coming as a direct immediate revelation from the
Lord Jesus, his arguments as to the powerlessness of
the Law to justify, and the nullity of circuuicisiou in
relation to the great work of the salvation of the soul,
I do not now purpose to enter. What I desire to note
is the agreement between the defects of character and
temperament which St. Paul reproves, and those which
are known to have been the special characteristics ef
the race. That rac« occupied, it will be remembered, a
peculiar position among the population of Asia Minor.
The name Galatse, by which the Greeks knew them,
was also that by wliich they described the Gauls of
Western Europe. The name, which seems to occui^y
an intermediate jiosition between Keltse and Galli, and
represents, probably, a transition stage between two
divergent forms of the same root-word, was applied to
them because they belonged to the same great division
of the Keltic race that had invaded Rome at the com-
mencement of the fourth century before Christ (B.C. 390),
had occupied the broad plains of the Po, and peopled
the greater part of the country which we now know
as France. About 150 years later, another body of the
same people had invaded Greece. Their invasion was
repelled, and the rescue of the great sanctuary of Apollo
at Delphi from the destruction with which they threatened
it, was looked upon by the Greeks as the direct result
of a di\'ine interposition by the god who was there
worshipped. A portion of the invading host had, how-
ever, crossed the Hellespont, overran the greater part
of Asia Minor, were finally allowed by Attains I., King
of Pergamos (b.c. 230) to occupy a border region between
Phrygia, Bithjmia, and Cappadocia, of about 200 miles
in length, and the district received from them its new
name Galatia. After taking the side of Antiochus the
Great against the Romans, they shared in his defeat, and
became subject to the Republic, B.C. 189. Roman writers
knew the country thus acquired as Gallo-Grtecia.
Here then these Gauls remained, retaining their old
national temperament, much even of their old language,
adopting some of the customs of the Greeks among
whom they were settled, and the older religion of
Phrygia, wliich consisted mainly in the worship of
Cybele, as the groat Earth Goddess. The chief seats
of that worship were at Ancyra (the modern Angora,
famous for its goat's-hair fabrics) and Pessinus. The
priests who were consecrated to it devoted themselves
to the service of the goddess — with that strange per-
version of the sense that purity from sensual lust is a
condition of true worship, which marks many of the reli-
gions of the East — by self-mutilation. The rites of that
worship were in the highest degree wild and orgiastic.
The belief in magic, with all its details of charms, spells,
incantations, common more or less among all semi-
barbarous peoples, was nowhere stronger than among
them. Lastly, in addition to these influences, the Jews
of the dispersion, following in the track of the caravan
road by which traffic found its way from the south-
eastern to the north-western provinces of Asia Minor,
had found their way there, and in the time of Augiistus
were prominent enough at Ancyra to claim special pri\i-
leges, which, by the emperor's decree, were inscribed
upon tablets phxced in the temple of that city.
It was to this people that St. Paul turned his course
on what we know as his second missionary journey,
accompanied by Silas and Timotheus. His success in
dealing with a population more or loss resembling them
at Lystra, the knowledge which, as a worker in the sail-
cloth made for tents, he might have gained of their
textile manufactures, his desire to take the most direct
route to the western coast of Asia, which he was clearly
bent on reaching, may have determined his purpose in
thus visiting them.
The excitable temperament of the race was attracted
by the presence of one who came among them with
marvellous gifts of sijeech and power to influence others,
as the preacher of a new faith. This readiness to catch
at anything that showed new thoughts and feelings had
been noted before by a Greek rhetorician as charac-
teristic of these very Galatians. " They," it was said,
" were more quick, acute, ready to learn than the purer
Greeks. If they caught sight of the cloak of a philo-
sopher they would cling to him like iron filings round
a magnet." (Themistius, Orat., xxiii.,,p. 299, quoted by
Lightfoot.) So, we may believe, they received the
Apostle. He came among them sufBering from some
"infirmity of the flesh," which, in itself, would have
led men to loathe and shrink from his presence, yet
they received him as "an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus." It was to them a theme of blessing and con-
gratulation that he had come among them (Gal. iv. 15).
If, as we may well believe, the " infirmity " of which he
speaks was identical with " the thorn in the flesh " (2 Cor.
xii. 7), and that, in its turn, with some sharp inflammation
of the optic nerve, inflicting agonising pain, and impaiiing
his powers of sight, we can well understand how that
quick enthusiasm of personal affection would lead them
to desire, had it been possible, even " to pluck out their
own eyes" and give them to him. There was no church,
probably, among all those which St. Paul founded,
which seemed to offer a fuller or more quick return to
his labours as an evangelist.*
But there was also no church within the limits of his
mission labours which answered so exactly to those
who, in the parable of the sower, were described as like
the seed that fell upon the rock, where there was no
depth of earth, no moisture to sustain and nourish.
On such a soil growth was indeed rapid, but the soil
was too shallow for the plant to take deep root, and
when the noontide sun blazed and the hot wind smote
on it, it withered away. Such a faith as that of the
Galatians could not stand the test of time, or persecu-
tion, or rival influences. Here, too, we have the national
character. The "mobilitas et levitas animi," which
Caesar noted in the Gauls of Western Europe, which
made him hesitate to ti*ust those whom he found so
fickle and changeable in their counsels, their insatiable
' I venture to refer to the " Thoughts of a Galatian Convert,"
iu the volume which I have pubHshed under the title of " Lazarus,
and other Poems," iu illustration of what is here said as to
St. Paul's work as an apostle iu this region.
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
21
love of novelty {Bell. Gall., ii. 11 ; iii. 10 ; iv. 5), wove
not less prominent in their Asiatic brethren. The mere
fact of the absence of the Apostle weakened his hold
upon them, and left them open to new impressions from
without. And when the Jndaising teachers came, they
found in the old traditions of the race, in tliat religions
temperament which has at all times mai-ked the Keltic
branch of the human family, that which predisposed
them to receive the teaching which was antagonistic to
St. Paul's. The old Grauls were a people, to use Caesai-'s
words again, " admoduni dedita religionihus," ad-
dicted to superstitious obsei-vances of all kinds, believ-
ing, more than the Romans then believed, in auguries,
charms, and incantations ; and that type of character,
however it may be stirred for a time by religious emo-
tions, is essentially inclined to a ritualistic rather than
a spiritual reUgion. It welcomes rules, is easily swayed
by teiTors of the unknown, accepts multiplied ob-
servances to soothe its vague alarm. The Keltic race
stands out in contrast with the Teutonic in the history
of modem Europe as holding out against the Protestant,
the Pauline, mode of thought, and clinging to the gor-
geous ceremonial and the authoritative guidance of the
Church of Rome. So it was that, even though " Clirist
crucified " had been preached among them with such a
vividness of word-painting, that it was as though the
very scene of Calvary had been set before their eyes as
in a picture, they fell under the influence of those who
came with claims to a higher authority than St. Paul's,
bidding them observe " times and seasons and days and
years " (Gal. iv. 10). It was, to use his own expressive
word, a word specially forcible as addressed to such a
people, as though they had been " bewitched," fascinated
as by an evil eye, such as, in the widely difBused beliefs
of both East and "West, had power to control the wLUs
of those on whom it fell. (Gal. iii. 1.)
Other coincidences, touching on points of minor im-
portance, have been stated with so much force and clear-
ness by Professor Lightfoot, that it is better to quote
from him than to state the same facts in less expressive
language of my own : " His (St. Paul's) denunciation of
drunkenness and revelliugs, falling in with the taunts of
ancient Avriters, will appear to point to a darling sin of
the Celtic people. His condemnation of the niggardly
spirit with which they had doled out their alms as a
'mockeiy of God,' will remind us that the race is con-
stantly reproached with its greed of wealth, so that
Gaulish avarice passed almost into a provei-b. His
reiterated warning against strife and vain-glory will
seem directed against a vice of the old Celtic blood
stUl boiling in their veins, and breaking out in fierce
and rancorous self-assertion. His vei-y expression, ' if
ye bite and devour one another,' will recall the angiy
gesticulations and menacing tones of this excitable
people." (Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 13.)
The effect of this convergence of many distinct in-
dications of national character is, it 'sdll be admitted,
striking and suggestive. The " local colouring " is
perhaps stronger in this Epistle than in any other of
the Pauline Epistles. There remains, however, one
instance more strikiug than any other, which, in spite
of the difficulties which the nature of the subject
presents, it would not be right to pass over.
When the burning indignation of the Apostle is aroused
against those who were impairing the liberty and cor-
rupting the simplicity which is in Christ, he bursts out
(Gal. V. 12) into the wish (as in the Authorised Version)
that they who thus troubled the Church might be " cut
off." As we commonly read those words, we under-
stand them to mean that he prayed for some shai'p
judgment of God to fall upon the workers of evil and
cut them short in the middle of their course, or that
they should be excommunicated and thus "cut off"
from all fellowship with the Chm'cli which they were
thus disturbing. In the judgment of well nigh aU
competent scholars, however, the words have a very
different meaning.
The older religion of these Phrygian Gauls had in-
cluded the worship of Cybele. The orgiastic rites of
that worship were precisely such as fell in with their
national temperament. And the priests of Cybele were
consecrated to her sei-vice, as has been abeady stated,
by self-mutilation. It is, at any rate, a singular
coincidence, that these priests of the Earth- Goddess
were known to the Romans by the name of " Galli,"'
and, although other and more fantastic etymologies of
the woi'd were given by the older Latin etymologists, yet
it is at least probable that the word was transferred to
the priests from the people of whom they were the
most conspicuous representatives. As might be ex-
pected, the word was extended to take in others who
were in the same state as that to which the priests had
reduced themselves.
Rememljcriug these facts, we can recognise a new
meaning, a keener and more ciittiug irony in St. Paul's
words. The Judaisiug teachers came, insisting on the
necessity of circumcision. St. Paul had to fight over
again the battle which had seemed to have been settled
once for all at the Council of Jerusalem. Circumcision
he contended, had no longer any sjiiritual efficacy.
Even its significance as the seal and token of a conse-
crated life had passed away. It was now simply an
outward rite, a "concision," not a " cii'cumcision "
(PhU. iii. 2), analogous to the wild "cuttings of the
flesh " which marked the worship of the priests of Baal
(1 Kings xviii. 28). The one true circumcision which
remained for the Church of C'liist, was that of the
heart, " in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God " (Rom. ii. 29.)
The Galatians who suffered that rite to be imposed
upon them as a religious ordinance, a condition of
salvation, were, therefore, from this point of view,
practically faUiug back, not into Judaism, but
into heathenism, into the "weak and beggarly ele-
ments " which had been theii* portion in the days of
ignorance. The wish that St. Paul expresses, with a
1 This derivation of Gall!, as deucting the eunucli-priests of
Cybele, from the Gallo-Grfflcians or Ga'atiaus, is adopted by Faccio-
lati in his Latin Dictionary. Other etymologies have, however,
been suggested.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
bold Luther-like velicmeuce wliieli it is difficnlt to
reproduce iu modern speech, is that those who had dis-
turbed the peace of the Church would at least be
thorough and consistent in their practices, carry their
principles to their logical results, and be as the priests
of Cybele. That would certainly bo the fitting end
of those who still clung to a mere fleslily sign of
consecration and purity, as though it were a sini'itual
and eternal obligation.
Norii. — Wordsworth, Alford, Liglitfoot, Jowett, ma> be uamed
as giviuy; o. sufficient consciisiw for the English reader. Bishop
EUicc' ' accepts, but very hesitatiugly, the other iuterpxetatiou.
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
BT THE REV. n. W. PHILLOTT, M.A., RECTOR OF STAUNTON-GN-WTE, AND PKiELECTOR OF HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.
MEDIA AND PERSIA.
OSTPOISriNG for the present our notice
of the less important names connected
with Bible geography, which lie to the
Avest and north of the Tigris, we proceed
eastwards into the region which iu its northern portion
lies on the other side of the great mountain range of
Zao-ros, a range running nearly north and south, which
is said by Strabo to divide Media from Babylonia, and
which towards the south abuts on the lower waters of
the Tio-i-is and the combined stream of the Shat-el-Arab.
Tliis region iu modern days belongs to the kingdom of
Persia, but iu early times its northern part was the
abode of the Median race, and its southern that of the
Persian, while iu a portion of it at the north-east dwelt
the Parthians, a race in early days subject to Persia, but
which iu New Testament times had acquired a power
and influence surpassing that of their former masters.
(Acts ii. 9 ; Strabo, xi., p. 622.)
To begin with the Medes. Though there is some
reason to think that the Medes once occupied a part of
the Mesopotamian region, it is certain that during the
period of authentic history their country lay on the
south-west of the Caspian Sea, and reached north as
far as the Araxcs. It was bounded on the west by that
branch of the great Caucasian mass called Choatras or
Parchoatras, which is continued in Zagros. Their
name appears to be contained iu that of Madai, son of
Japhet, and they were probably of the same Aiyan
stock as the Per.sians. (Gen. x. 2 ; Herod., "vnii. 62).
The Assyrian records inform lis that in the ninth
century B.C. they wore invaded by an Assyrian monarch,
whose name and exploits are recorded on an obelisk
now iu the British Museum. Little impression, how-
ever, was made by this inroad, and it was not imtil the
time of Sargon, about 712 B.C.. that the Assyrian power
made itself felt seriously by the Medes. He appears
to have gained possession of their country so far as
to be able to place cajitive Israelites hi some of their
tovnis. (2 Kings xviii. 11.)
But Media was never incorporated with Assyria, and
if Herodotus is to be believed, the Modes very soon
after this revolted, though it seems probable that this
revolt took place later. Tlie subjugation begun by
Sargon was probably completed by Seimacherib, who
says, as the monuments tell us, that he exacted tribute
from the Medes (Herod., i. 95, 106 ; Rawlinsou, Out-
lines, J). 10). But the time of retaliation was at hand.
The successors of Sennacherib held the reins of empire
over the Medes with a weaker hand, and in 633 B.C. an
independent kingdom was established by Cyaxares,
who, eight* years later, took the principal share iu the
capture and destruction of Nineveh, B.C. 625.
The verisimilitude, if not the absolute verity, of the
Book of Tobit appears iu connection mth these facts.
From his residence at Ecbatana, Tobit, an Isi'aelite
captive, beheld with joy the triumph of Assuerus
(Cyaxares), and was enabled with his countrymen to
" rejoice over Nineveh." (Tob. xiv. 15.)
The Medes were now joined with the Babylonians,
and shared in some at least of their conquests, for
Josephiis relates that Necho, Kiug of Egy[>t, led that
expedition against them and the Babylonians iu which
Josiali, King of Judali, lost his life, and in which
Necho Avas defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar.
(2 Kings xxii. 20 ; Jei*. xlvi. 2 ; Joseph., Ant., x. 5, 1.)
About 597 B.C. Cyaxares was succeeded by a king who,
in the aijocryiihal supplement to the Book of Daniel,
called Bel aud the Dragon, is named Astyages, if, in-
deed, this name, which is omitted in the Persian histories
of the time, be not a title i-ather than a personal name,
iu which case it might pei-haps denote the person called
in the Book of Daniel, Darius the Mede. If this be
the case, he must have ascended the Median throne as
a mere child, for we know that in 538 B.C. he was sixty-
two years old. But before this date, the independent
existence of a Median monarchy had fallen before the
power of Cyrus, and the Medes were A-irtually incor-
porated with the Persians, though ihey made inefEectual
attempts to recover their independence iu the time of
Darius, son of Hystaspes (about 500 B.C.), and in that
of Darius Nothus (about •420 B.C.). A new and inde-
pendent Median kingdom was founded in the northern
part of the region after the death of Alexander the
Great, by Atropates, Satrap of Media, which lasted
•until the first century A.D., when it was absorbed into
the Parthian empire, which had already occupied the
southern portion for more than 250 years. (Ker Porter,
Trav., I. xiv. ; Rawlinson, Herod., i. 416, 419 ; Herod., i.
127, 128,130; vii. 61; Xqu., Hell, i. 2—19; Arrian,
Ex}).. vi. ; Esther i. 3, 14, 18; ix. 2; Dan. vi. 8, 12;
Strabo, xi. 522, 523.)
The Medes were naturally a vigorous and warlike
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
23
race, and are described by Polybius as the most bardy
of tbe Asiatic nations, anid best provided in -warlike
equipments, especially borses. Tbey appeal- to bave
maintained a separate existence for a long time, even
among tbe races to wbom tbey became subject, for
besides being named before tbe Persians, \ybeu tbey
are mentioned in tbe Book of Daniel, we bear of tbe
Median language as being more or less a distinct dia-
lect, side by side witb tbat of tbe Partbians and tbe
Elamites, or Persians of Elymais, at tbe time of tbe
Gift of Tongues, immediately after oiir Lord's Ascen-
sion (Dan. vi. 8 : Acts ii. 9 ; Herod., i. 34 ; Polyb., x. 27).
Tbey were divided into six tribes, of wbicb tbe name
of one, tbat of tbe Biidii, may be tbougbt to resemble
tbat of Phut, joined by Ezekiel witb Lud and Persia,
as mercenaries of Tyre. (Ezek. xxvii. 10 ; xxxviii. 5 ;
Gen. X. 22 ; Herod., i. 101.)
No Median city is mentioned in canonical Sci'ipture,
except Achmetha, a name wbicb probably answers to
Ecbatana, "'• tbe palace in tbe province of tbe Medes,"
in wbicb tbe national records of Persia were preserved
(Ezra vi. 2). Tbere were j)robably two cities, if not
more tban two, of tbe same name : one in Upper
Media, Atropatene — tbat of wbicb we are now speak-
ing, tbe otber in tbe greater Media, Media magna.
Tbe former may perbaps answer to tbe city said by
Herodotus to bave been built by Deioces, and may
be placed in tbe valley of Mourg-ab, in wbicb are some
very remarkable ruins, especially one called TaTilit-i-
Suleiman, " Tbrone of Solomon," a j)lace at wbicb
Solomon is said to bave received tbe Queen of Sbeba,
and wbicb perbaps represents Ecbatana; and about two
miles distant from it, a tomb said to be tbat of Solo-
mon's motber ; tbougb tbe Solomon tbus mentioned was
probably of a date not older tban tbe seventb century
A.D., if indeed it be not mucb later tban tbis. Tbe
tomb is in all in-obability tbe tomb of tbe great Cyrus ;
and tbere are some remains near it in tbe valley, wbicb
are probably tbose of tbe ancient city of Pasargadae.
Tbe description given by Arrian of tbe tomb answers
so exactly to tbe present state of tbe monument, tbat
tbere seems no doubt of its identity. We sball perbaps
be forgiven if we place tbe two accounts in juxtaposition.
Arrian, and also Strabo, following tbe account given
by Aristobulus, an officer commissioned by Alexander
to restore tbe tomb, botb say tbere was a quadrangular
platform, on wbicb was a stone building baving a roof,
and a door so narrow tbat it was difficult even for a
small man to enter. Witbin tbe cbamber was a coffin
of gold, in wbicb reposed the body of Cyrus ; and a bed
near tbe coffin, wbicb bad golden feet, and on it a
Babylonian carpet. Besides tbis, tbere once were
several otber articles, wbicb bad been carried ofE by
plundei-ers. Tbe tomb was entrusted to tbe care of a
family wbo bad inberited tbe cbai-ge from tbe time of
Cambyses, son of Cyrus, and wbo received regular
proA-ision from tbe king for tbeu* service. It bore
an inscription : — " O man, I am Cp'us, son of Cambyses,
wbo founded tbe Persian Empire, and reigned over
Asia. Grudge me not my memorial."
Sir R. Porter describes tbe tomb as follows : " The
base rises in steps of vast blocks of marble. The door
was four feet high and two feet ten inches in width.
The cbamber inside seven feet wide, ten feet long, and
eight feet high. Tbe floor was composed of two im-
mense slabs, and botb the walls and floor were much
injured by invaders. Tbere was no ancient iuscrii^tion,
but on a pUlar not far off is one in cuneiform characters,
which is thus read : —
" Cyrus, Lord, King, Euler of the 'World."
The Persians bebeve the tomb to be that of the
mother of Solomon, and to bave been biult by genii at
his command. There are strong reasons for thinking
that the neighbouring remains, known by the name of
Takht-i-Suleiman, are those of the city of Deioces, called
in tbe time of Herodotus, and for some time af tenvards,
Ecbatana, or rather Agbatana; but in later times,
Gazaca or Ganzaca, a name which perhaps means
treasure-city, from gaza, a Greek word of Semitic
origin, but adopted into Persian, signifying treasure.
Later still, it was called /S/iiz by the Ai-abian geogi*aphers.
Whether Deioces was a real personage, or the name
was only a title or apj)ellation, is doubtful ,• but the
word Agbatana appears to have been given to places
used as depositories of treasure ; and if so, tbe identi-
fication of Agbatana witb Gazaca becomes inteUigible.
On tbe whole, the city or fortress of Ecbatana may be
regarded as connected, perhaps as its citadel, with the
Persian city Pasargadae, witbin whose park the great
Cyi'us was buried, in tbe tomb which has been already
described. Tbis Ecbatana was probably tbe place
mentioned in tbe Books of Tobit and Jucbtb. (Tobit
A-ii. 1 ; xiv. 12, 14 ; Judith i. 2 ; Herod., i. 98 ; Aman,
Ex})., A-i. ; Strabo, xv. 729, 730 ; Rich, Residence, u.
220 ; Porter, Trav., i. 267, 284, 498, 499 ; Yaux, Nineveh
and Persepolis, App., pp. 414, 424 ; Heeren, As, Nat,,
ii. 351.)
In connection with this neighbourhood we may men-
tion tbat tbe river of Gozan, near wbicb tbe captive
Israelites were placed by tbe Asspian conqueror, has
been thought from the likeness of name to be the Kizil-
Ozien, wbicb runs from tbe south-west into the Caspian
Sea. (2 Kmgs xvii. 6 ; Porter, i. 267, 284.)
We can only mention in passing the ancient and im-
portant town of Rages, mentioned in the Book of Tobit,
which was visited by Alexander in his pursuit of Darius,
and wbicb was the birthplace of tbe famous Arabian
Khalif, Haroun-al-Raschid, whose name is so familiar
to every reader of the Arabian Nights. Its remains
stUl exist imder the modern name of Rhey, and are
situated about five miles south-east of Teheran, the
modern capital of Persia, just under tbe colossal moun-
tain range of Elburz. Its neighbourhood, imder the
name of the plain of Ragau, was pei'baps the scene of
tbe great battle mentioned in the Book of Judith.
(Tob. i. 14 ; Judith i. 5 ; Strabo, xi. 524 ; Arr., Exp.,
iii. ; Fraser, Persia, p. 61 ; Porter, i. 357, 364.)
We come now to the undoubted Ecbatana, tbe Median
capital, represented in modern times by the city of
24
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
HamaJan, situated in lat. 34*^ 53', long. 40-*, under
Moiiut Orontes, now Ehvend. During the Parthian
monarchy it was the summer residence of the kings,
who spent their winter at their principal city, Seleucia,
on the Tigris. Ecbatana is called the Parthian capital
by Orosius, and Semiramis is said to have built a palace
there. At the destruction of Nineveh, much of the
spoil was removed to Ecbatana by the Median commander,
Arbaces. During the period of the Persian dominion,
the Persian king, in the time of Xenophon, used to
spend his spring and summer there, or at least two
twelfth century Benjamin of Tudela, who visited it, says
that there were 50,000 Jews there, and that it cout^iined
the sepulchres of Esther and Mordecai. These tombs
are still existing, though as to their genuineness much
doubt may bo entertained. (2 Mace. ix. 2, 3 ; Strabo, xi.
522, 524 ; Diod., ii. 13, 28 ; Curtius, v. 8, 1; Orosius, vi.
3; Xen., Anab., iii. 5, 15 ; Cyrop., viii. 6, 22 ; Arr., Exp.,
iii., iv., vii. ; Polyb., x. 27 ; Earrly Trav., p. 109; Porter,
i. 102, 114.)
We now pass on to Persia, a country tvhich, as to
its general position, necessarily holds an important place
TOMB OF CYKUS.
months in the height of summer. Darius, after his final
defeat at Arbela, fled to this place, and was pursued by
Alexander, who, after the assassination of Darius, sent
his murderer Bessus thither for execution by the Medes
and Persians. It was here, too, that Hephsestion, the
great friend of Alexander, met with his death. Polybius,
the Greek historian, describes Ecbatana and its situation
at lengtli, and says tliat it was an unwalled town, but
ha%Tng a remarkably strong citadel ; tliat he does not
like to pass over in silence its palace, but knows not
how to describe it, for fear of being accused of exaggera-
tion. Antiochus is said, in the Book of Maccabees, to
have passed through Ecbatana on his way to jilunder
Perscpolis. In the fourteenth century the town was sacked
by Timour Lenk, and it is now much decayed. In the
in Bible geograp^.j, though there is not much mention
of it in detail. As distinguished from the great Persian
empire, the country of Persia, properly so called, was
contained nearly within tii3 modern province of Fars,
bounded on the north by Media, on the south-west by
the Persian Gulf, on the east by Carmania, and on
the north-west by Susiana or Elam. It is mentioned
by Ezekiel (xxxviii. 5). Before 558 B.C., the Per-
sians were subject to the Medes for about eighty
years, when they revolted, and imder Cyrus established
a powerful empire, the terror of Greece, its unwieldy
invader, and in later times its helpless and prostrate
victim. Except the mention of Persia Proper by Ezekiel,
the history of the Persian empire does not come into
contact with that of Israel until the faU of Babylon, or
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OP THE BIBLE.
25
rather until the prophetic mention of Cpnis in connec-
tion with that event, which may thus be regarded
historically as identical with it (Isa. xlir. 28,; xlv. 1).
Of the successors of Cyrus, we have mention made in
Scripture history more or less certainly of the follow-
ing:— 1. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, under the name of
Ahasuerus (Ezra iv. 6). 2. Smerdis, or rather Gomates,
the Magian usui-per, as Artaxerxes (Ezra iv. 17, 22).
3. Xerxes, son of Daiius, the invader of Greece, as
Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, as a King of Persia
in that of Daniel (Esth. i. 1 ; Dan. xi. 2). 4. Ai-taxerxes
power of impressing the services of others, conveyed
messages throughout the empire, between stations at
fixed distances from each other, with great regulai-ity
and dispatch, a service which is described minutely by
Herodotus. (Esth. iii. 13 ; viii. 10 ; Herod., viii. 28.)
After the interval of Macedonian supremacy, conse-
quent upon the conquest of Alexander, Persia became
subject to Parthia from B.C. 167 to A.D. 226, when a
new Persian monarchy was founded. It is during this
period that we find mention made of the three lan-
guages of the Parthians, the Medes, and the Elamites,
Longimanus, as Artaxerxes in the Books of Ezra and
Nehemiah (Ezra vii. 11, 28 ; Neh. ii. 1, 9). 5. Darius
Codomanus, the last Persian monarch, as Darius the
Persian in the Book of Nehemiah (Neh. xii. 22).
The division of the empire into governments called
satrapies is noticed, though not veiy distinctly, in the
Book of Esther, and in those of Ezra and Nehemiah.
In the two latter books mention is made of " governors
beyond the river," by whom, no doubt, are meant the
satraps of the provinces on the west of the Euphrates.
(Esth. iii. 12 ; ix. 3 ; Ezra \'i. 6 ; Neh. ii. 7, 9 ; Herod.,
iii. 89.) The Book of Esther also, which contains so
A-ivid a picture of a part of the internal organisation of
the great Eastern despotism, and of some of its results,
brings before us a notice of the government estabhsh-
ment of forced "posts," i.e., couriers who, with the
— i.e., a period when both the Medes and the Elamites, the
people of Persia Proper, were subject to the Pai-thians ;
when the Persian empire was, so to speak, in abeyance;
and when the older name, Elam, that of the province
which was the original seat of the nation, was more
appropriate to its inhabitants than that of Persia, by
which they are so much better known in general history.
The order in which St. Luke places the three nations
(Acts ii. 9), indicates their relative importance, or at
any rate the superiority of the fii-st of them at that
time. We know also how formidable to the Romans the
Parthians were diuing a period of more than 150 years,
from the time when in B.C. 53, they defeated the attack
made on them by the greedy and ambitious Crassus, a
disaster of which we shall have occasion to speak when
we come to Haran,
26
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
BY THE REV. WIIililAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PKOFESSOE OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF ABERDEEN.
SACEED SEASONS {concluded).
* E have noAV brought to a dose nil that we
have to say of the Saci'ed Seasous of Israel
properly so called, of those OAviiig their
institution to the Di\-iuc command and,
like all the other i^arts of God's ancient economy,
properly typical of better things to come. In theii- case
only, so far as this branch of our subject is concerned,
is it possible to speak of a fulfilment of the Old Testa-
ment in the New. Ingenious speculations may indeed
be made with regard to other holy times observed by
Israel than those expressly appointed by the Almighty,
and regulated by His law. Spiritual meanings may
without difficulty be found for them. A resemblance
between them and particular conditions of the Christian
life may be pointed out ; but we have no right to speak
of their liaA-iug been fulfilled in Christ. That implies
that they were a part of the will of Him who appoiuted
the Jewish dispensation as a preparation for the Chi-is-
tian, whose revelation of Himself in both the Old and the
New Testament is the same in principle though not in
extent or clearness, and who j)urposely arranged all the
features of the type with a view to the antitype, accord-
ing to His own words to Moses, " See that thou make all
things according to the pattern shewed to thee ia the
mount " (Heb. ^iii. 5). With all proin-iety, therefore,
we might leave any other sacred seasons observed by
the Jews out of question in these papers. We do so in
the case of all of them except two ; and we shall sj)eak
of these simply in theu' historical, not in any supposed
typical character. The exception is to be justified on
the ground that both are mentioned in the Bible, one of
them indeed in circumstances makmg it a Httle doubt-
ful whether the sacred writer was not thinking of it as
really fulfilled in Chiist.
The first of the two seasons to which we allude was
the Feast of Purim.
A full account of the institution of this feast is given
us in the Book of Esther. It was designed to celebrate
the wonderfiU dehverance proA-ided by the Almighty
through the instrumentality of Mordecai and Esther for
that portion of the Jews who, wandering forth from
their OAvn land, had found a settlement in the territories
of the great king Ahasuerus, " which reigned from In-
dia even unto Ethiopia over an hundred and seven
and twenty pro-vinces " (Esth. i. 1). It is imnecessary to
dwell here upon the cruel destruction so artfully pre-
pared for these Jews by the haughty and bloodthirsty
Haman, the favourite of the king. All the circumstances
connected both with it and with the story of Mordecai
and Esther, so simply and beautifully told in the book
still Ijcaring the queen's name, are familiar to every
reader of the Bible. It is enough to bear in mind that
Hainan's machinations were defeated, and that, when
"the day for that ancient St. Bartholomew arrived, the
Jews rose against theu* enemies and, with a happier fate
than the ^-ictims of the later massacre, eveiywhere ob-
tained a complete victory over them. This was on the
thirteenth of the month Adar, the twelfth month of the
Jewish calendar, corresponding nearly to our March,
and nothing Could be more signal than their success. It
was celebrated with an iuteusity of rejoicing which shows
us how great the danger and terror must have been, the
day after the victory being made "a day of gladness
and feasting, and. a good day, and of sending portions
one to another " (Esth. ix. 19). It had happened, how-
ever, that the contest between the Jews and their
opponents lasted a day longer in Shushan the capital
than in the unwalled towns, probably because the sti'ong-
holds of the former were iu possession of the inhabitants,
and that thus, while the Jews of the coimtry kept their
feast upon the fom-teenth, those of Shushan were imable
to keej) theirs until the fifteenth. To meet the difficulty
both days were taken into the feast, "and Mordecai
sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the i^ro-
vinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to
stablish this among them that they should keep the
foui-teenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth
day of the same, yearly, as the days wherein the Jews
rested from their enemies, and the month which was
turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourn-
ing into a good day ; that they should make them days
of feasting aud joy, and of sending portions one to
another, and gifts to the poor " (Esth. ix. 20—22).
The feast thus instituted received the name of the
Feast of Purim, from the word Pur, signifying a lot, be-
cause Haman had for a whole year had lots cast before
him from day to day, to determine when would bo the
best opportunity for his murderous pui-pose (Esth. ix.
24; comp. iii. 7). With some little opposition made to it
at the first, it became in a very short time in the highest
degi-ee popular ^vith the whole Je^vish people, and the
popularity seems to have increased with years. When
a second month Adar was intercalated to remedy the
defects of the Jewish Calendar, which, dei)ending
mainly upon the moon, was constantly bringing round
different seasons at the same months of the year, Purim
was even celebrated a second time ; while we are told
that such proverbs as these were in circulation, " The
Temple may fail, but Purim never;" "The Prophets
may fail, but not the MegUlah" — i.e., the Book of
Esther read at the feast.
As to the mode in which the feast was celebrated, there
seems reason to beheve that it was altogether unworthy
both of the events commemorated and of the general
spirit of the Jewish festivals. It was preceded by a fast
called "the fast of Esther," on the thirteenth of the
SACRED SEASONS.
27
montli, in commemoration of Esther's message to Mor-
decai — " Go, gather together all the Jews that are pre-
sent in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor
drink thi-ee days, night or day ; I also and my maidens
will fast hkemse" (Esth. iy. 16). Bnt, the fast over,
aU restraints upon disorder and impropriety seem to have
been broken thi-ough. Feasting and di-inkiug to excess
marked the time. Israel was not able to bear the want
of law ; and when no Divine fences hedged them in, the
l)eople were destitute of the power of self-control. The
Feast of Pui-im, accordingly, is said to have degenerated
into a kind of Satm-nalia. We have only to add in re-
gard to it that when the 14th Adar feU upon a Sabbath
the feast did not begin uutU the followiug day. Although,
as we had occasion to notice in a former paper, the Sab-
bath of the Jews was a day of hilarity, and of giving
and receiving such simple entertainments as were com-
patible with the law as to the preparation of food, it
was felt that the feasting of Purim was of a different
and more worldly kind, and that, even if it could have
been carried out upon that day of which God had said
that it was to be called ''the holy of the Lord and
honoiu'able " (Isa. Iviii. 13), it woidd have been wholly
inconsistent with its character.
Such was the Feast of Purim. It is an interesting
question, whether it is at any time alluded to in the
New Testament, and a supposition very generally
adopted is that we have such an allusion in John v. 1 —
" After this there was a feast of the Jews ; and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem." This feast, it is said, can be no
other than that of Puiim. On the other hand, many
eminent scholars urge that we have here the Feast of the
Passover ; and, though other feasts also have been fixed
on, the two now mentioned may be said to divide the
suffrages of the most able critics of the New Testament.
The maiii interest of the question lies in its bearing on
the dm-ation of the earthly ministry of Jesus. If the
feast referred to be that of the Passover, then foui*
Passovers are mentioned in the Gospel of St. John
(ii. 13 ; V. 1 ; vi. -4 J xiii. 1) ; and, as that feast occun-ed
only once a year, the ministry of our Lord must have
extended over at least about three years and a half. On
the other hand, if it be the Feast of Purim, then the pro-
bability is that it fell between the Passovers of John ii. 13
and vi. 4, and the ministry of om* Lord must, so far at
least as depends on intimations in the New Testament,
be reduced by a year. The question, however, is also
interesting on other groimds, for if Purim be the feast,
the fact 'of Christ's going up to Jerusalem to be present
at a feast not enjoined in the law would illustrate the
strength of His sympathy with the history and feelings
of His people.
We have not space in a paper such as this to go into
the question at the length necessary to vindicate any
positive conclusion respecting it. Let it be enough,
therefore, to say first that the feast referred to can
hardly be the Passover. Even supposing that we were
to insert with many critics the definite article, and to
read not " a feast " but " the feast," the insertion would
be almost fatal to the idea of which it is often brought
forward as the main defence. Neither the New Testa-
ment in general, nor the Gospel of St. John in particu-
lar, knows anjiihhig of such a method of expression as
would characterise the Feast of the Passover simply as
"the feast." Read "a feast," and it may have been
the Passover ; read " the feast," and the words are
simply unintelligible. " A feast," however, is the true
reading; yet it is in a Jiigh degi'ee unlikely that the
reference is to the Passover. When St. John sj)eaks of
the Passover, he names it (ii. 13; vi. 4; xiii. 1) ; and any
apparent exceptions to this ride, such as the words of
xiii. 9," Buy those things that we have need of against
the feast," arise from the circumstance that the particu-
lar feast has been mentioned in the pre^-ious context,
and that there can be no doubt on the mind of any
reader which it is. Besides this, there is absolutely
nothing in the narrative to suggest the thought of the
Passover. Is it then Purim ? Both remarks now made
with regard to the Passover apply with equal force to
this idea, while it has also to contend with special diffi-
cidties of its own. Thus it may be doubted whether, in
the eyes of St. John, Pm-im would appear " a feast of
the Jews " at all. It was not a theocratic, but a popidar,
festival. It was not associated with the thought of
those religious guides and rulers of Israel to whom the
term " the Jews " is always applied in the fourth Gos-
pel. It had to do with political deliverance rather than
religious freedom.^ In addition to this, it is at least
improbable that our Lord shoidd have gone uj) to Jeru-
salem to express sympathy with the people in the cele-
bration of a festival obsei-ved with so much gluttony
and excess. We conclude that, if not the Passover, it
was still less Purim.
In the present state of the question, so far as public
expression has been given to any definite views, the
true solution appears to be that the Evangelist has
intentionally kept us ignorant of the feast of which
he thought. Mention of it might have led to a mis-
understanding alike of the miracle at the pool of Beth-
esda, and of the whole chapter of which it forms a
part. It woidd be foreign to our present object to say
more upon the point. Retui'ning to what immediately
concerns us, we come to the conclusion that Purim,
though its origin and nature are so fully described to
us in the Old Testament, is not once alluded to in the
New.
The second of the two sacred seasons of which we
proposed to speak is known as the Feast of the Dedi-
cation. No reference can h& made to it in the Old
Testament, for it did not come into existence till long
after the last of the jsrophets had written ; but it is
spoken of in John x. 22, 23 — " And it was at Jerusalem
the feast of the dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus
walked in Solomon's j)orch ; " and its origin is fidly de-
scribed to us in the Old Testament apocryphal book of
1 The argument here employed derives some confirmation from
the fact that when the Evangelist, at x. 22, mentions the feast of
the Dedication, which, though quite as eagerly ohserved hy Israel as
any other, had not been instituted hy God himself, he does not call
it " a feast of the Jews."
28
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
1 Maccabees. It was indeed in that most remarkable,
the Maccabean, period of Jewish history, that it was
instituted. The cruelties and profanities of the mad
Antiochus Epiphanes, who had penetrated southward
from Syria, and had subjugated Judaea and Jerusalem,
could be no longer borne. That prince had not been
content with merely putting to death, it is said, 40,000
of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and selling as many
more into slavery, after his capture of the city ; he had
also made the most wanton and unprovoked attacks
upon the Jewish faith, wounding the people in their
tenderest susceptibilities, and treating with brutal pro-
fanity all that was most holy in their eyes. As de-
scribed in 1 Maccabees, he " entered proudly into the
sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the can-
dlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table
of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials,
and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns,
and the golden ornaments that were before the temple,
all which he pulled ofE ; " nay, not only so — after he
had returned to his own country with his spoils, " he
sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah that they should follow the laws and rites of
the strangers of the land, and forbid burnt-offerings, and
sacrifice, and drink-offerings in the temple ; and that
they should profane the sabbaths and festival days, and
pollute the sanctuary and holy people, set up altars, and
groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh
and unclean beasts; that they should also have their
children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable
with all manner of uncleanness and profanation, to the
end they might forget the law, and change all the ordi-
nances. And whosoever would not do according to the
commandment of the king, he said, he should die "
(1 Mace. i. 21,22,44—50).
Tyranny of this kind draws a swift Nemesis in its
train. It was most certainly so in the present in-
stance, and the family of Mattathias, belonging to the
priestly line, raised the standard of revolt. It would
be foreign to our present purpose to follow the party
attaching itself to them, and taking the name of Mac-
cabees, through all their varied and romantic fortunes,
while they strove to expel the intruder from their soil
and to regain for their brethren freedom to worship
God. Sufi&ce it to say that the end was at last ef-
fectually accomplished, the Syrians were expelled, and
amidst great solemnity and rejoicing the Temple was
cleansed from its pollutions. " Now on the five and
twentieth day," it is said, " of the ninth month which is
called the month Caslcu (or Chisleu), in the hundred
forty and eighth year, they rose up betimes in the
morning, and offered sacrifice according to the law upon
the new altar of burnt-offerings which they had made.
Then all the people fell upon their faces, worshipping
and praising the God of heaven, who had given them
good success. And so they kept the dedication of the
altar eight days, and offei-ed burnt-offerings with glad-
ness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and
praise. They decked also the forefront of the Temple
with crowns of gold, and with shields, aud the gates
and the chambers they renewed and hanged doors upon
them. Thus was there very great gladness among the
people, for that the reproach of the heathen was put
away " ( I Mace. iv. 52, 53, 55—58). Thus the Temple
was cleansed and the worship of the true God restored,
and to commemorate the event the Feast of the Dedication
was instituted. " Moreover, Judas and his brethren, with
the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the days
of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their
season from year to year by the space of eight days
from the five aud twentieth day of the month Caslou,
with mirth and gladness " ( 1 Maec. iv. 59).
Such was the institution of the Feast of the Dedication
about the year 164 B.C., and it will be observed that it
fell in the month Chisleu, the ninth month of the Jewish
year, corresponding to the close of our November, when
" it was winter." The feast was known to Josephus
under the name of "Lights," and he imagines that this
name was given to it because at the time when it was
aj)pointed, liberty beyond all their hopes was recovered
by the people {Ant., xii. 7, 7).
Whether the conjecture of Josephus be correct or
not, it is at least worth obser\-ing that a vessel of oil
was said to have been found in the Temple at the time
when it was cleansed, the only vessel of the kind which
had not escaped pollution, and that it miraculously sup-
plied the lamps of the sanctuary for eight days. It is
to this miracle that Maimonides refers in a passage
which at the same time shows us how much the
Feast of the Dedication was understood to have been
honoured among the Jews before his day, and how
much it was still honoured in his own. " The precept,"
he says, " about the lights in the Feast of Dedication
is very commendable ; and it is necessary that every
one should rub up his memory in this matter, that he
may make known the great miracle, and contribute
towards the praises of God, and the acknowledgment
of those wonders He doth amongst us. If any one liavo
not wherewithal to eat, imless of mere alms, let him beg
or sell his garments to buy oil and lights for this feast.
If he have only one single farthing, and should be in
suspense whether he should spend it in consecrating
the day or setting up lights, let him rather spend it in
oil for the candles, than in vdne for the consecration
of the day. For, as they are both the prescription
of the scribes, it were bettor to give the lights of the
Encenia (that is, the Feast of the Dedication) the pre-
ference, because you therein keep up the remembrance
of the miracle."' The festival indeed was one of great
joy, resembling in many respects, it is said, the Feast of
Tabernacles. Like the great feasts of Israel it lasted
eight days.
We have already had occasion to quote those words in
which this feast is alluded to in John x. 22. The most
interesting inquiry in connection with them would be —
Wliat is the Evangelist's object in introducing them as
he docs into his narrative ? It is hardly possible to
think that they are introduced by him for the simple
' Quoted in Lightfoot's Hor, Heir., Worls, xii. 342,
SACRED SEASONS.
29
purpose of marking the season of the year. It is not in
St. John's manner to deal with facts of that kind only
as facts. He everywhere beholds in connection with
them profounder meanings, deeper and more mysterious
intimations, symbols of other and more important parts
of that great plan of God which comprehends both the
worlds of nature and grace, and expresses itself after a
similar manner in both. The intimations of what this
thought is, in the present instance are, however, so slight
that it is not easy to come to any definite conclusion on
the point. It is possible that the Evangelist sees in
Jesus, as He walks in the Temple at the Feast of the
Dedication, the true consecration of God's house, the true
Priest and Victim of His people, the Redeemer in whom
Israel ought to rejoice as the Perfecter of its privileges,
the Bestower of a freedom which is freedom indeed.
But, while he sees this, he remembers Israel's blind-
ness and coldness and hardheartedness — " it is winter."
And what a winter it is ! To the very Jews to whom
Jesus would so fain make Himself known in all the
fulness of His grace and love. He is obliged to say, " Te
are not of My sheep " (ver. 26). The very persons whom
He would so eagerly welcome to His fold "take up
stones to stone Him " (ver. 31), and when He urges home
His words upon them anew, they seek again to take
Him, and He must needs escape out of their hand (ver.
39). Yes, it is winter — winter though Jesus would so
fain make it spring — a winter of the heart, a winter of
national life to God's ancient people, a winter cold and
desolate and full of storm. We do not venture to say
that this is the real meaning of the statement of St.
John, that it was the Feast of the Dedication and that it
was winter at this time. But some such meaning we are
persuaded there is, and we commend the subject to the
reader's thoughts. "Words of a precisely similar nature
will be found in xiii. 30 with reference to Judas : " He
then having received the sop went immediately out ;
and it was night." That the Evangelist beheld this
deeper meaning at this time in the feast before us, and in
the season at which it occurred, is, however, something
entirely different from his seeing in it any " fulfilment,"
in the proper sense of that term. As already stated, it
is not possible to speak of either Purim or the Feast of
the Dedication as '' fulfilled " in Christ. They were not
Divinely instituted parts of that ancient economy whose
meaning is to be sought mainly in the fact that it was
a preparation for " Him that was to come."
Thus, then, we bring to a close what we have to say
of the Sacred Seasons of Israel. It is obvious that the
function performed by them for that people was one of
extreme interest and value. They not only preserved
religious feeling alive and prevented the secularisation
of life, but they all pointed onwards to the hope of a
better and a brighter day. They were an earnest,
teaching that a whole would yet be given ; an antepast,
containing the pledge of the perfect feast. That they
would convey such ideas only to the more spirituaUy-
minded is triie, but even to the many who might not
comprehend their real purport, in whose hands they
might degenerate into merely superstitious rites or
carnal ordinances, they were a standing lesson to be
interpreted and applied, as fitting opportunities arose,
by the higher knowledge and more penetrating insight
of the few. lU understood as they might often be, it
was far better for the people to have them than to be
left destitute of any religious arrangements but such as
they might themselves devise. Appointed by Him, the
principles of whose government of His Church have
always been the same, they were a distinct point of
connection for the fuU unfolding of His plans ; and,
when they received the reflex light of the advancing
development of His kingdom, the very harmony of the
past and of the present, the very sight of the eternal
purpose running through so many ages, would tend at
once to heighten the sense of its importance, and to
bring it home more powerfully to the heart.
And now they have all passed away, and in the form
of actual ordinances have left no successors. It might
seem at first sight as if the Christian Church were left
more destitute than the Jewish, as if equally careful
provision had not been made for her strength and
comfort. The explanation is to be sought in the fact
that that Church is no more a child, no longer like
an heir under tutors and governors until the time
appointed of his father, but come to her inheritance, and
required to administer it in the wisdom and strength of
ripened years. If that wisdom and strength are not
always actually, they are at least ideally, hers ; and it is
her special province and responsibility to realise ever
increasingly in act what thus belongs to her in idea.
She lives in the Spirit, let her walk in the Spirit.
Not indeed that the Church of Christ may not ap-
point festivals of her own. The early Church, in the
first freshness of her Christian instinct, rightly appre-
hended this when, keeping firm by the eternal truth
involved in the institution of the Sabbath, she yet
departed from the day expressly named in the fourth
commandment, and set apart the first instead of the
seventh day of the week as the Christian Lord's Day.
She saw it again when she introduced her great Chris-
tian festivals of Christmas, Easter, and so on, all the
leading festivals of the Christian year, to commemorate
in a distinct and individual manner the great facts
upon which she rests, the leading doctrines of her faith.
And, though the privilege has been at times abused,
though ceremonies have been multiplied, and days made
sacred to the memory of men who, had they known
what awaited them, would have acted the part of St.
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra (Acts xiv. 14, 15), and
disowned the honour, the remedy is not to be sought
in extinguishing altogether a privilege which flows di-
rectly from the reality and earnestness of the Church's
life. It is to be sought rather in a truer and deeper
cultivation of the spirit, as falsehood is not to be ex-
pelled by the destruction of truth, but by giving truth
a constantly more extended range, and clothing it with
a constantly increasing power.
One thing only the Church is ever to bear in mind,
that her rites and ceremonies and festivals must be the
simple and natural expression of the Spirit of G^ist
30
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
within her. They must be the clotli which Christiau
thought weaves, the skins wliieh Christian wine fashions
for itself ; for, when this is not the case, a new patch
sewn upon an old gariuout makes the rent worse, and
new wine put into old skins bursts the skius, so that
both it and the skius perish.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTx\MENT.
MALACHI.
BY THE KEV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
INTRODUCTION.
I N interval of more than two centuries di-
A-ides Malaehi from Zephaniah; and diu-ing
this iuterval grave changes took place in
the history of the Hebrew nation. The
capti\4ty, threatened by the earlier i^rophet, had been
endured ; the redemi^tion from that captivity, which he
had foretold, had been accomplished. The Temple of
Jerusalem had been rebuilt under Zerubbabel ; the walls
of the city under Nehemiah ; the worship of Jehovah
had been resumed : and though as yet the seed of
Abraham wore under the sceptre of the Persian despot,
they had, in Nehemiah, a clement and generous governor
of their own race.
Malaehi is the last of the prophets,- and is there-
fore called " the Seal," his book closing the Old Tes-
tament canon. Like Habakkuk, he is, in so far as his
personal histoiy is concerned, "a name, and nothing
more." The Sacred Chronicles, even in the Book of
Nehemiah, do not so much as mention him, although
he was a zealous fellow-labourer with that ijatriotic
governor, and greatly aided him in his endcavom-s to
secure a willing and grateful obedience to the Di\'ine
law. In this, however, he does but share the fate of
those Psalmists who, on the return from the Captivity,
composed many songs for the Temple service. They,
too, are unknown to fame. Their songs found a place
in the Hebrew Psalter, but no chronicle carried down
their names to after ages. " Dead to name and fame,"
they are not dead to "use." Even to this day their
works do follow them.
But though history says nothing of Malaehi, tradi-
tion, which ever babbles most freely where history is
dumb, has much to tell us of him. According to tra-
dition, speaking by many voices, he was " a member of
the Great Synagogue," " a Le\'ito of the tribe of Zebu-
lun ;" he was Ezra, he was Mordecai, he was Zerubbabel,
he was Nehemiah. Nay, he was even " an angol," at
least in the view of some ancient and of some modei'n
commentators — a view by no means complimentary
to the angelic host, since the style and poetry of Malaehi
are confessedly inferior to those of most of the inspired
authors. This view, however, is a mere inference from
the meaning of the prophet's name. Malaehi means
" messenger," and is probably a contraction from Mala-
chijah, or " messenger of Jehovah," just as Abi (2 Kings
xviii. 2) is contracted for Abijah (2 Chron. xxix. 1).
The Septuagint translates the Hebrew words for " by
Malaehi" by Greek words which mean " by the hand
of his angel" or messenger ; and on this slender founda-
tion the whole fable of an angelic authorship has been
buUt up. The simple fact is that wo know nothing of
the personal history of Malaehi, and cannot even be
sure whether " Malaehi" is a proper name or an appel-
lative. The Old Testament closes, as the New Testa-
ment opens, with the words of one who is " a voice "
to us rather than a man.
But though we know nothing of the author, we can
fix the date of this prophecy with reasonable accuracy.
Indeed, it dates itself. All the notes of time it con-
tains poiat steadily, and with one consent, to the second
sojourn of Nehemiah in Jerusalem, i.e., about B.C. 420.
It may even be said that the prophecy of Malaehi, the
last of the prophetic books, is simply a commentary on
Nehemiah, the last of the lustorical books. From the
whole tone of the i^rophecy it is ob-vaous that the Temple
had been long rebuilt, its worship long restored — long
enough for grave abuses to have crept in, and to have
become habitual. Among these abuses were the viola-
tion of the Sabbath law, the offering of maimed and
unclean sacrifices, the withholding of tithes, indifference
deepening iuto weariness of the worship of the Sanc-
tuary, and intermarriage with heathen races on the
part of the priests as well as the people. These are
the sins which Malaehi denounces, and these were the
sins with which Nehemiah had painfully to contend.^
It grieved him much, on his return from Babylon, to
find that the priest who had " the oversight of the
chambers of the House of God " was allied with Tobiah
the Ammonite, and had even allotted that crafty and
unscrupulous heathen '" a great chamber " in the Temple,
which aforetime had been used as a storeroom for the
vessels and tithes of the Sanctuary. No sooner had
the incensed governor " cast out the household stuff "
of Tobiah, and restored the chamber to its original and
sacred use, than he perceived there was little need of
a storeroom for tithes, &c., since " the portions of the
Levites were not given them," and the famishing
Levites had fled the service of the Temple to till their
fields. He recalled them, " set them in their place," com-
pelled all Judah to bring tithe of their com and new wine
and oil into the Temple treasuries, and appointed f aitlif ul
men to guard the treasuries, and "to distribute unto
their brethren." Ho then discovered that the Sabbath
was habitually profaned, the Jews treading their wine-
presses on that day, and bringing into the city sheaves
"and all manner of burdens" on their laden beasts,
and even holding a public market for " fish and all
J Neb. xiii.
MALACHI.
31
manner of ware," broiight into Jerusalem by certain
" men of Tyre." From this pollution also he cleansfed the
sacred city, setting Levites to watch the gates, that no
foreign dealers might enter, and no Hebrew citizen bring
in any manner of burden on the day that the Lord
had set apart for Himself. And, finally, with a great
outburst of rage and grief, he found that both priests
and people were contracting marriage with " outlandish
women " of Ashdod, and Ammon, and Moab — mar-
riages which were themselves a sin, and which led to
sin. With these offenders against the law and destiny
of Israel he " contended," " and cursed them, and smote
certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made
them swear " that they would offend no more.
These are the men we meet in the Book of Nehe-
miah ; and these are the very men we meet in
Malachi. Wliile the governor is redressing wrongs
with the strong hand of political authority, the pro-
phet is denouncing the self -same wi-ongs and pleading
against them in the name of the Lord. He makes
Jehovah Himself' denounce the culprits and their
offences : — " Ye have corrupted the covenant : ye have
departed from my statutes, and have not kept them :
ye have defrauded me in tithe and offering : ye have
profaned that which was holy : ye have married the
daughter of a strange god." In fine, the historian and
the' prophet place before us the same scene ; the same
actors hold the stage, at the same period of time.
There is, however, one objection to this date which
demands a moment's consideration, if only to show how
carefully the various indications of time contained in
the proj)hecy have been collected and weighed. A
learned living commentator ^ disputes the conclusion to
which we have come, on the ground that the " governor''
mentioned in chap. i. 2, must have been a Persian
satrap; for, he argues, Nehemiah himself says,^ "the
former governors that had been befoi*e me were charge-
able unto the people, and had taken of their bread and
wine, beside forty shekels of silver ; yea, even their
servants had rule over the people : hut so did not I,
because of the fear of God." Nehemiah, therefore,
was not " chargeable to the people for the expenses of
his table, ag the governor in Malachi's time was. Thus
it appears that Malachi did not prophesy under Nehe-
miah, but before the latter became governor of Judaea,
i.e., under a Persian." But the answer to this argu-
ment is plain and obvious. Nehemiah did not burden
the people with taxes, nor demand that his table should
be supplied by them. But, unless he broke through
a custom of Oriental etiquette, which, dating from imme-
morial antiquity, rules throughout the East unto this
day, he must have received presents from his inferiors in
rank as often as they formally waited upon him. To enter
the presence of an Oriental superior without a nuzzar, or
offering, would be to challenge his resentment ; to offer
him that which was defective, bad of its kind, would
be to convert an act of homage into an insult, Nehe-
' Dr. Davidson, in Introd. io tTie Old, Testammt, vol. iii., p. 242,
2 Neh. V. 14.
miali was a pechdh, i.e., a satrap, or imperial repre-
sentative, although he was also a Jew. Many valuable
beasts would be presented him by the wealthier sup-
pliants or officials who entered his divan ; and there-
fore, even under the generous Nehemiah, there would
be ample scope for the prophet's argument :—
" When ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is that no wickedness ?
And when ye offer the lame and sick, is that no wickedness ?
Offer it now to thy governor ;
Will he be gracious to thee, or accept thy person ? "
The contents of the Book of Malachi may be divided
in several ways; but perhaj)s the most unforced and
orderly division is that which is now generally adopted.
The book opens with a brief introduction or preface
(chap. i. 1 — i) the theme of which is, God's love to
Israel a reason for a response of love to Him. After
the introduction come the three main sections of the
book — (1) on the impiety and profanity of the priests ;
(2) on the heathen marriages of the priests and jpeople ;
and (3) on the day of the Lord.
Section I. extends from chap, i, 6 to chap. ii. 9. It
is addressed to the priests, who had despised the
name of Jehovah, and laid defective and polluted offer-
ings on His altar. They are rebuked for the mercenary
and perfunctory spirit of their service, and for despising
the worship which they themselves had rendered despic-
able. They are threatened with the Divine curse and
punishment if they continue in their sins, but are assured
that the threatening is designed to bring them to repent-
ance and amendment. Perhaps their severest rebuke is
contained in that fine sketch of the true priest (chap. ii.
5 — 7) with which this section draws to a close — one
of the most admired and suggestive passages in the
whole book : —
" My covenant of life and of peace was with him,
And I gave them to him.
For the fear which he shewed for Me,
And the awe in which he stood of my Name.
The law of truth was in his mouth.
And no iniquity was found in his lips ;
He walked with Me in peace and integrity.
And brought back many from guilt :
For the priest's lips should preserve knowledge,
And men should seek the law at his mouth."
Section II. extends only from ver. 10 to ver. 16 of
chap. 2. This section is addressed to the people as weU
as to the priests, and reproves a sin of which both had
been guilty. In defiance of the law of Moses, they had
treacherously and wrongfully divorced their Hebrew
wives, that they might take to themselves consorts from
the idolatrous daughters of Moab and Philistia. The
sighs and tears of the wronged women " covered the
altar of Jehovah," so that He no longer regarded the
offerings that were laid upon it. They are warned that,
by these divorces and forbidden alliances, they are vio-
lating, not the law of Moses alone, but the pure marriage
law which God had given to man " in the beginning."
Section III. extends from chap. ii. 17 to chap. iv. 4,
and has for its main theme that " day of the Lord," that
day of judgment ushering in a golden ago of purity and
concord, of which all the prophets had spoken. The
Lord will come, though Ho tarry, come when they look
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
not for Him, come to try aud to rctiue His people. Let
them repent, therefore, and rcnoimce their sins, that
they may be able to abide the day of His coming and to
stand when He appeareth. God will be faithful to His
promises; they need not question that, as though it
were a vain thing to serve Him. And when He comes
to fulfil tliem, He will divide the righteous from the
Avickcd; He will deliver the wicked as stubble to the
flames, and cause the Sun of Righteousness to arise on
the righteous, with healing in liis wings.
The prophecy concludes with a brief admonition
(chap. iv. 4 — 6), in which they are enjoined to remem-
ber the law of Moses, but to look for the coming of
a better law ; to stand in the old ways, but to look for
the new. In fine, Malachi is " like a late evening which
brings a long day to a close ; " but he is also like a
morning dawn, which brings with it the promise of a
new and more glorious day.
In style Malachi differs greatly from the earlier pro-
phets. He shows the influence of the Great Synagogue,
established by Ezra, in his more formal aud scholastic
tone. He lacks the simple grandeur of Joel, and still
more ob\'iously lacks the fire and passion of Habakkuk.
Though his language is pure and beautifixl, and has a
certain poetic rhythm, he is not so much a poet, " sing-
ing in full-throated ease," as a scholar elaborating
an edifjdng discourse. Indeed, it is curious to note how
faithful he is to a single form of composition, and that i
a very simple one, whatever the theme he takes in hand.
Invariably, without a single exception, he develops his I
subject in the following order : first, he briefly states '
his thesis ; then he states the sceptical objection with I
which he supposes it may be met ; and, lastly, he trium- |
phantly refutes the objection. Thus, for example, he
opens* his book with the assertion that God has loved
Israel ; this is his fii-st thesis. The sceptical " but" in-
stantly follows, " But wherein has He shown His
love ?'' and is followed by an argument dra^vn from the
strikingly different destinies allotted to the sons of
Esau and tlie sons of Jacob.
This is MaJachi's method throughout, this "aU his
art." But he often invests it with power and spii'it by
means of the dramatic colloquies, or dialogues, beneatli
whicli he conceals it. And though his method be simple,
aud his meaning lies for the most part near the surface
of his \vords, he nevertheless deals with truths so momen-
tous, and of such an abiding value, that we cannot fail to
derive profit from our study of him, if we seek and love
the truth. Above all, his j)rophecy rises to a Messianic
close. With more fulness aud distinctness than most
of the prophets, he teaches us that that day of blended
judgment and mercy of which they had all spoken
dawned upon the world when, for the f aU and rising of
many, the Son of man manifested forth His glory. Not
only does the last of the prophets foresee the Gospel
day, on which the Sim of Righteousness is to shine out
with unclouded .splendour; he also foresees the bright
morning starwhich is to herald and announce its advent.
And thus Malachi is a link between the two Dispensa-
tions and Covenants. As we close the Old Testament
we catch a glimpse of the Christ whom we ai-e to meet,
and with whom we are to walk, in the New Testament ;
and of the Baptist who came before Him, in the power
and spirit of Elijah, to prepare His way, aiid to attest
that this was He of whom Moses an-" the prophets
did write.
SCEIPTURE BIOGRAPHIES.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON EESIDENTIART AND PK.ffiCENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
SAMUEL (continued).
Israel is presented to us in "four distinct scenes, each
jAMUEL has hitherto been presented to
us as the judge : we have now to view
him as the inaugurator of the monarchy.
In no portion of his histoiy does the heroic
greatness of his character stand forth more conspicu-
ously. Keenly alive to the ingratitude for his past
services which, thinly veiled, appeared in the desire
for a change of government, resenting at first almost
as a personal slight the demand of the people for a
king, with a noble spirit of self-sacrifice he calmly
divests himself of his own dignity, and transfers it to
the youtliful favourite, whom his own hand anoints and
Ms o^vn voice proclaims as his successor in power, and
his rival in the affection of the nation. Nowhere in
Holy Scripture shall we find a grander example of the
complete subjugation of human passion, and the triumph
over natural feeling, except perhaps in the relations of
John the Baptist to Him whose way he was sent to
prepare. (John i. 27, 28; rii. 28—30.)
This momentous episode in the national di-ama of
impressed with a type of its own, and bringing out
a separate phase of the prophet's character. (1.) The
first of these is laid at Ramah, when the Elders of
Israel, as the representatives of the nation, first present *
the unwelcome request, and Samuel is made acquainted
with the Divine will in the matter (1 Sam. ^-iii.).
(2.) The second, probably also at Ramah, describes the
selection and anointing liy Samuel of the Divinely-
chosen monarch (ch. ix., x. 1 — 16). (3.) The third
narrates the choice of the king by lot in the general
assembly at Mizpeh (ch. x. 17—27). (4.) The fourth
gives us the confirmation of the election by another
national assembly at Gilgal, with Samuel's solemn re-
monstrance with the people on their disloyalty to their
Theocratic king, and the assertion of his own integrity
(ch. xi. 14; xii.). We proceed to consider these in
order.
1. No stronger proof of the nation's confidence in the
purity of Samuel's patriotism could have been given
SAMUEL.
tliau wheu " the ciders of Israel " caine to liim at liis
home at Ramah, and addressed to liim the startling re-
quost that he would voluntarily lay down his authority,
and himself look out a successor who, under another
title, should govern them in his stead. Such a demand
argues a long experience of the unselfishness of Samuel's
character, and a well-grounded assurance that he would
prefer the well-b'ing of his nation to any private
interests. The deputation grounded its request on
three pleas: Samucrs advancing age, and diminished
activity; the corruption of justice by his sons; and the
sense of their weakness in contest with their enemies,
from the want of a recognised leader to head their
armies and command them in battle (ch. viii. 5, 20, 21).
This demand, somewhat brusquely urged by the elders,
caused the aged judge at first extreme offence. The
old are slow to recognise the failure of their powers,
and parents are proverbially blind to their children's
derelictions of duty, of which they are often the last to
hear. We cannot, therefore, be astonished if to Samuel
the necessity for a change of government was less
evident than to the nation, and that he should have
resented the proposal as a personal affront; "the thing
was evil in the eyes of Samuel when they said. Give
us a king to judge us " (ch. viii. 5). But with wise
self-control Samuel did not trust himself to make
any reply, until he had laid the matter before God,
and learnt what was His will. " Samuel prayed unto
the Lord." Tlie Divine answer graciously soothed his
wounded feelings, by reminding him that this perverse
and rebellious "ition were only showing to him the
same ingratitude that had marked all their relations to
Gcd Himself, and that the sfiglit he felt so deeply was
a 5 nothing compared with that put upon their Divine
King — "According to all the works which they have
(l.juc since the day that I brought them up out of
Egypt, even unto this day ... so do they unto thee.
They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected
Me, that I should not reiou over them " (vs. 7, 8). But
though the spirit from which the demand sprang was
reprehensible, the demand itself was in aceordanec with
the Divine will. The nation wae ripe for the estabfish-
ment of kingly power, and it should be given them.
But, like many most coveted blessings, it would greatly
disappoint them in possession. The price they would
be called to pay for their king would be far higher
than they, in their rash eagerness for change, antici-
pated. And this they must clearly understand before-
liand. The choice must be made with their eyes open,
and with a distinct knowledge of its consequences.
Samuel, therefore, while he was instructed to yield to
their desire — "hearken unto the voice of the people
in all that they say unto thee " (ver. 9) — was commis-
sioned previously to set before them the burdensome
sei-vices the monarch Avould claim as his prerogative,
aad the heavy tributes he would lay upon them, which
would make them vainly desire to be freed from his
galling yoke. " Ye shall cry out in that day because
of yeur king which ye shall have chosen you ; and
the Lord will not hear you" (vs. 11—18). But the
51 — VOL. III.
alarming pictm-e of the despotism they were creating
was unavailing to alter their determination. Witli
childish obstinacy they repeated their demand for the
glittering idol on which their fancy was set — " Nay, but
we will have a king over us ; that we also may be like
all the nations ; and that our king may judge us, and go
out before us, and fight our battles " (vs. 19, 20). The
crisis in the nation's fortunes was far too important for
Samuel to decide on his own responsibility. Again the
Lord was consulted, and His acquiescence signified,
" Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king "
(ver. 22).
Not at once, however, did Samuel communicate
to the elders the Divine sanction given to their impor-
tunate request. So momentous a resolution must not
Ve carried out hastily. Time and thought were needed
to make due preparation for it. If the people would
have a king, they must be content to wait for him.
So the elders were dismissed without any decisive
reply — "Go ye every man unto his city" (ver. 22) —
though, probably, with a pretty clear understanding
that the answer would not be long delayed, and that
when it came it would be in accordance with their
wishes.
2. The second scene in this history is still laid at
Ramah' (chap. ix). It is one of the freshest and most
graphic of the Old Testament narratives. It was a feast
day. A sacrificial banquet was prepared in the " high
l^lace " — the citadel or acropolis that crowned the summit
of the loftier of the two elevations on which tlie city was
built. The guests were assembled, and were waiting for
Samiiel to " bless the sacrifice " before they sat down
to table. Just then two weary, travel-stained wayfarers
were seen climbing the steep path that led up to the
city. One of the two was still in the pi'ime of his
youthful strength and beauty, and challenged attention
by his tallness of stature. This was Saul, the son of a
free-born Benjamite named Kish ; the other was his
servant. The two had started three days before, at
Kish's bidding, to seek some strayed asses. Their
search had^been fruitless, aud the young man, begin-
ning to fear lest his father's care for his lost property
should be exchanged for solicitude for the safety of
his son, had proposed to return home, but had been
deterred by his servant, who, finding that they were
within reach of the house of Samuel, the famous seer,
recommended that they should apply to him for intelli-
gence as to the fate of the asses. On their way up the
hill they fell in with some maidens descending to draw
water from a well at its foot, and learnt iv.nn them
where to find the seer, who had only that day returned
to the city. The day before, Samuel had received a
Divine intimation that the future monarch of Israel was
1 The name of the city is not mentiouecl, and commentators
differ as to whether it was Eamah or not. The view we have
adopted as the most probable is that supported by Vatablus,
Ewald, Milmau, and the Bishop of Bath aud Wells. If Samuel
had been only a casual visitor there, it is hardly likely that Saul's
servant would have known of his being in the city. His words
(ver. 6) seem called forth by his finding himself within reach of
the place of Samuel's custom.ary residence.
31
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
that day to present hiinsolf before him. Just as ho was
lea^aug his house to go up to the high place, the
youthful Beujamite made his uppcarauco witliiu the
city. The saiue Voice tolls him that ho is the expected
one — Ic Desire. He replies to Saul's iuqimy with
gracious courtesy, makes known that lie is " the soor "
ho is in search of, and astonishes him by his knowledge
of his errand — " As for thine asses that were lost three
days ago, set not thy mind on them, for they are
found" (ch. ix. 20) — and by the still more astounding
iutiiaation that " all the desire of Israel " was on him.
What the '" desire " of the nation was at that time
could not be unkno^vn to Saul, and, conscious of his
own insignificance as a member of one of the meanest
famiUes of the smallest tribe in Israel, he modestly
puts away from himself the dazzling i^rospoct. It is
impossible that he should be called to so high a dignity.
StUl he and his servant follow Samuel to the summit
of the hill, where they find a large company of guests
assembled in the hall attached to the sanctuaiy, and at
his bidding occupy the chief places. The princij)al dish,
specially reserved by the cook in expectation of his
arrival — "the shoulder and its appurtenances" — is set
before the wondering Benjamite. " So Saul did oat
with Samuel that day " (ver. 24). The meal over, SaxU
descends the hiU to Samuel's house, and, after an earnest
conversation, in which the prophet would doubtless
disclose to him the Divine revelation he had i-eceived,
sleeps in a bed prepared for him on the house-top.
Very early, " at the spring of the day," Samuel awakes
his young guest with the ciy, " Up, that I may send
thee away " (ver. 26). This is the crisis in Saul's history.
The servant is sent on before, that there may be no
spectator of the solemn transaction; and tlien, at the
outskirts of the «ity, Samuel pours on Saul's head the
anointing oil, and kisses him in token of homage.* To
Saul's implied or expressed wonder at the meaning of
these strange symbohcal rites, he answers, " Is it not
because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over
His inheritance ? " and the future monarch is dismissed
with the prediction of three tokens on his way home^
which would confirm his faith in the future destiny so
unexpectedly thrust upon him (chap. ix. 27 ; x. 1 — 7).
The true nobility of Samuel's character sliines out in
the whole of the remarkable interview. We do not see
a trace of the irritated feeling called forth l)y the de-
mand of the elders. AU sense of personal slight has
vanished before the assurance that it is God's will that
he should hand over his power to this young Benjamite.
The inward conflict is over. He has wrestled and
overcome.
3. This anointing of Saul l^y Samuel was, as wo have
seen, a private act, known only to themselves. But
it was necessary that this inner pri^-ate call should be
followed by another public call, in which he shoidd bo
recognised by the people as the king given them by God.
The tribes are therefore called together by Samuel to a
' Compare Ps. ii. 12, " Kiss the son." To kiss, according to
Eastern custom, was to proffer homage and service. (1 Kings xix. 18 ;
Ho3. xiii. 2.)
religious assembly at the ancient sanctuary of Mizpoh
(1 Sam. X. 17). At that hallowed spot, full of the
memories of the great national repentance at the
opening of his judgeship, and the solemn rites with
which their covenant with the Most High had been
renewed (1 Sam. ^ii. 5 — 11), the aged prophet onco
more upbraids them with their ingratitude — not to
himself, but to their God, who Himself had saved them
out of all "their adversities and their tribulations" — in
domandiug a king, and bids them resort to the lot to
determine who that king should be.
In obedience to his du-ection, the people " present
themselves before the Lord by their tribes and by their
thousands," and fii-st the tribe, then the family, and
lastly the individual chosen is revealed. Saul the son
of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, is given by God to
His people as their king. Drawn out of his hiding-
placo among the baggage of the congregation, he is
presented by Samuel to the assembled nation with
words of generous commendation : " See ye him," he
cries, pointing to the chosen one as he stands towering
above the crowd by his shoulders and upwards — " See
ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none
like him among all the people." The people joyfully
accept the goodly young monarch, and receive him with
shouts of " Long live the king !" (1 Sam. x. 20 — 24).
One duty yet remained for Samuel to fulfil before
he finally sun'endered his authority. The monarch of
God's people must not be an arbitrary despot, govern-
ing according to his own caprice, but a constitutional
king, I'ulLug according to fixed princii)les and di\'inoly
established laws. These principles and laws had been
already laid down by the great Lawgiver of Israel, who
had foreseen that the (hij would come when the nation
would grow weary of the Theocracy, and insist on
ha\'ing a king (Deut. xvii. 14 — 20). Samuel now re-
hearses these ordinances, adding perhaps certain fresh
limitations, applicable to the circumstances under which
the monarchy had been established, and committing
them to writing in what has been termed " the Bill of
Rights of the Hebrew Nation," deposits the constitu-
tional record in the Holy of Holies, where the Book of
the Law had been j)re%aously laid up by Moses (Deut.
xxxi. 26). This done, Samuel dismissed the assembly,.
" every man to his house " (1 Sam. x. 25). With anxious |
heart ho must have watched them separating. The \
irrevocable step had now been taken ; the national |
revolution was complete ; Israel had descended from i
her proud exceptional position, and thenceforth was to
be " like all the nations." Would not the day come
when they woidd deplore the exchange they had
made and " cry out to the Lord because of their
king P " But it would be too late to escape the
consequences of their self-will. Their sin should be
their punishment.
4. Although the monarchy had been thus solemnly
inaugurated, and the king, designated by the sacred lot,J
accepted by the representatives of the nation at Mizpeh^
Samuel could not but see that his task as the establishoi
of the kingly power was stUl incomplete. The choice
SAMUEL.
35
of the king from the small and insignificant tribe of
Benjamin conld hardly fail to wound the pride of the
more important tribes. The popular voice had hailed
him with acclamation on account of his stature and
o-oodly person, and a band of warriors had attended
him to his rural home at Gibeah (ch. x. 26). But he
received no other marks of respect or homage such as
A newly-crowned monarch might justly expect. Some
*' children of Behal " eA^en spoke of him with undis-
guised contempt— " How shall this man save us?"
•" They despised him, and broug-ht him no presents "
(ver. 27). He seems to liave quietly taken his old
place in his father's household, and to have resumed
his agricultm-al labours without any remonstrance from
his new subjects. Instead of the intelligence of the
peril of Jabesh-gilead being brought to him first, as
the head of the nation, he was left to learn it by his
own inquiries (ch. xi. 5). Indeed, but for the successful
issue of his bold appeal to the personal apprehensions
of his people (ver. 7), in the relief of the beleaguered city,
and the defeat of the Ammonites, his kingly authority
might have remained merely nominal, limited, as that
of the judges usually was, to liis own tribe. It was
this chivalrous expedition, and the complete victory
which closed it, that secured his recognition by the
nation. Samuel, who must have been trembling for
the issue of his work, and almost questioning whether
he could have misread God's will, at once seized the
opportunity, now that the tide of popular favour set
in so strongly towards Saul, to obtain the ratification
•of the national choice.
In obedience to a summons from him, the representa-
tives of all the tribes assembled at tiie ancient sanctuary
of Gilgal, where the circle of grey stones, plucked from
the bed of the Jordan, marked the first encampment of
the Israelites on the soU of the Promised Land. There
"the kingdom" was "renewed," and the now popular
young monarch anointed king a second time, with the
sacrifice of peace-offerings, and a general rejoicing
(ch. xi. 15). Tliis is the last recorded instance on
which the aged prophet appeared publicly before the
nation. Saul's throne was now secure, and Samitel
might safely complete the surrender of his authority,
and retire into privacy. But before he did so he stood
up once more among the assembled tribes, and with
calm and collected dignity made his farewell address to
them. In the strength of conscious integi-ity he ap-
pealed to the whole assembly, as in the sight of the
Lord and their anointed king, to bear witness to the
unswerving rectitude of his administi'ation. His whole
Me, from childhood onward, was before them. He had
grown grey in their service. "What single crime could
they charge him with ? (1 Sam. xii. 2 — 5.)
Samuel then took a rapid review of the past history
of the nation, enumerating their past deliverances, and
showing how in all their emergencies God had raised
lip a champion to rescue them. Their national dis-
tresses were the fruit of their own sins. If they had
been faithful to the Most High, no kiug would have
been needed to deliver them (vs. 6 — 12). Nor let them
suppose that because the Lord had not oi^enly ex-
pressed His displeasure, and had permitted His prophet
to be the instrument in establishing the monarchy and
inaugurating the kiug, their conduct had been well-
pleasing m His sight. They had been guilty of dis-
obedience and ingratitude towards their Divine King,
nor could His anger be appeased and their pimishment
averted save by more faithful service both on the part
of monarch and people. But i£ they would be willing
and obedient, God's favour should still rest upon them
both.
In confirmation of his words, and to awaken the
people to a sense of their "wickedness," the sign of a
thunderstorm at the imusual time of wheat-harvest was
sent at Samuel's prayer. The people, full of terror,
acknowledged their guilt, and entreated the prophet's
intercession to save them from the threatened destruc-
tion. " Pi-ay for thy servants unto the Lord thy God,
ihat we die not ; for we have added unto all our sins
chis evil, to ask us a king" (ch. xii. 19). There is but
a step from presumption to despau-. Samuel saw the
danger the i^eople were in of imagioing that aU was
lost, and that they had sinned beyond the possibility
of restoi-ation. In his reply, therefore, he cheered them
by the assurance that, grievously as they had sinned,
their case was not desjjerate. On the other hand,
certain ruin would descend on both king and people if
they forsook Him. He concluded by the promise of
the continuance of his intercessions, the intermission
of which would be nothing less tlian a " sin against
the Lord," and a final appeal to their gratitude and
their fears—" Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in
truth with all your heart : for consider how great
things He hath done for you. But i£ ye shall stiU do
wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your
king" (vs. 24, 25).
The deliverance of Israel from the Philistine yoke was
one of the chief objects contemplated in the appoint-
ment of a king (1 Sam. ix. 16). But any hopes that
might have been entertained that this deliverance would
be speedily effected were soon shown to be fallacious.
The Philistines continued to occupy strongholds in the
very heart of the Promised Land — at Gibeah (ch. x. 5),
at Geba (xiii. 3), at Michmash (xiii. 5)— and to exercise
capricious tyranny over the unresisting Israelites. So
complete was their subjugation, that the Philistines
had actually carried out a general disarming of the
nation, and had removed all the smiths, who might
have forged new weapons, to their own garrisons, so
that the Israelites had to submit to the degradation of
taking their agricultural implements to their enemies'
quarters if they needed repair or sharpening. The
thoroughness of this disarming may be gathered from
the fact that " on the day of battle " the only warriors
armed Avith sword and spear were the king and his
sou (ch. xiii. 22). Not that the rest of the host were
imarmed. Bows and arrows, slings — in the use of both
of wliich Saul's tribesmen, the Benjamites, were adepts
( Judg. XX. 16 ; 1 Chron. viii. 40 ; xii. 2)— ox-goads, mth
36
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
which Sham gar did such execution among tliese same
Philistines in the days of the judges ( Judg. iii. 31), and
otheV extemporised Tveapons of an agricultural people,
would still render them formidable enemies. With such
arms as these, the Ammonites had been defeated before
Jabesh-gilead, and they would have vanquished the
Philistines if they had been wielded with the same
dauntless spirit. But the cnthusiiism then awakened
was like a fire of thorns, fierce but soon exhausted.
The nation had sunk down into their old craven apathy,
and a general rising against the Philistine yoke seemed
hopeless. Under these circumstances Saul, in the
second year of his reign,' gathered about him the
nucleus of a standing army, two thousand men, under
I'.is personal leadership, and another thousand imder
his gallant son, the youthful and adventm-ous Jonathan,
of whom we now hear for the first time. The first
blow was struck by him. He and his band made a
successful attack upon the Philistine gairison at Geba.-
The Philistines at once realised the significance of
Jonathan's explodt, and resolved to stamp out the rising
rebeUiou of their ti-ibutaries, by a ten-ible vengeance.
For this iiui-pose they collected an immense army,
"thirty thousand'^ chariots, and six thou.sand horse-
men, and people as the sand which is on the sea- shore
in multitude."' Saul, too, on his part, felt the im-
portance of the crisis. Unless his son's success were
instantly followed up by vigorous action, it would
be worse than iiseless. The Philistines would have
been exasperated to no purpose. He therefore caused
the trumpet to be blo^vn throughout all the land,
saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." But the news of
Jonathan's having smitten a garrison of the Philistines
had the contraiy effect on the people to that he antici-
pated. Instead of flocking to his standai-d, as when
Jabesh-gilead had to be relieved, a general panic per-
1 The text of the opening' words of 1 Sam. xiii., "Saul reigned one
year; andwbea he had reig^ned twoyears over Israel," &c.,is certainly
corrupt. The existing Hebrew text admits of no other transla-
tion than " Saul was the son of a year" — i.e., a year old — "at his
becoming king; and he reigned two years over Israel." The
same form of words occurs in thirty-seven other passages in the
Old Testament, and always in the same sense. First the king's
age on his accession is stated, and then the number of years of
his reign (cf. 2 Sam. ii. 10; v. 4; 1 Kings xiv. 21 ; xxii. 42, &c. ).
There can be no doubt, therefore, that the numeral stating Saul's
age at his accession has dropped out of the text. Ewald, one of the
best authorities where Hebrew scholarship is concerned, regards
the translation of the latter clause of the verse as correct : " Saul
had only reigned two years when he organised the picked bands of
warriors" {Hint, of Isr., Trans., iii. 52).
* The word translated " garrison " — yji, netzih, from a verb signi-
fying " to be set up, established " — may also mean " one set over,"
" a prefect," a sense it bears in 1 Kings iv. 19 ; 2 Chron. viii. 10.
This is tho meaning adopted by Ewald and Dean Stanley : " Jona-
than had givea the signal for a general revolt by attacking and
slaying the Philistine officers" (Jowixh Church, vol. ii., p. U).
Thenius translates it "pillar" (as Gen. xix. 26, the "pillar of
salt" into which Lot's wife was changed), and understands by it
a column or trophy set up as a mark of Philistine power indig-
nantly overthrown by the impetuous Jonathan. Our translators
have followed the Latin Vulgate " stationem," and this rendering
ruay be accepted as proljably correct.
3 There cau bo no doubt that this number is incorrect. Tho
number of 30,000 chariots is enormously in excess of all probability.
Jabiu (Judg. iv. 3) had " nine hundred chariots of iron." Pharaoh
pursued after Israel with " six hundred chariots " (Exod. xiv. 7).
Nor is it likely that the chariots so far outnumbered the horsemen.
vaded the land. Overwhelmed with terror at the vast
army the Philistines were gathering to avenge the insult,
and utterly hopeless of being able to make any effectual
resistance, tho inhabitants of the land abandoned their
homes, and betook themselves to concealment or flight.
Some, like David in Absalom's rebellion, put the Jordan
between them and their enemies, and crossed to the
hind of Gad and Gilead. Others hid themselves in the
caverns, with which the limestone strata of Palestine |
abound, or among the rocks and thickets of the I
mountain-sides, or found a place of refuge in under-
ground chambers, or empty water-tanks."* The land
was depopulated. Saul himself, and the small band
that had answered his summons, felt it wise to retreat
eastwards to the veiy confines of the land, and pitch
their tents on the old camping ground of Gilgal. So
great was the dread of the Philistines, that the panic
invaded Saul's army : " all the people followed him
trembling" (1 Sam. xiii. 7). It seemed to be a crisis in
the nation's fate. It actually was one in that of Saul.
The great trial of his faith and obedience was at hand,
which was to determine whether he was fit to govern
God's people or not. Samuel had promised to come to
Gilgal ^vithin seven days, to offer the necessary sacrifice
before going out to battle, and had plainly intimated
that no decisive step was to be taken till he arrived.
It was a very severe trial of Saul's faith and obedience.
His raw levies were becoming daily more and more
demoralised, and were crumbling away before his eyes.
" Samuel came not, and the people were scattered from
him." AU seemed to depend upon his striking a blow,
while he had still some soldiers left, and their courapt^
had not entirely given way before the mighty Philistiuf
host. But this he was forbidden to do. He must
restrain his eager spirit, and wait for Samuel's coming.
At last the weary wearing week was over. The seven
days of fierce trial were ended, and Saul breathed more
freely. Samuel would soon be with him, the sacrifice
would be offered, and he would be at liberty to advance
on the enemy. But Samuel came not. Hour after hotir
passed by, and still the form of the grey-haired prophet
was not seen drawing near. Saul's impatient spirit
chafed within him at the unlooked-for delay. Surely
it could not be expected of him to linger any longer.
He had been bidden to wait seven days, and he had
waited. Some unexpected hindrance must have prc-
David had 700 chai-iots to 40,000 horsemen (2 Sam. x. 18) ; Solomon,
1,400 chariots to 12,000 horsemen (1 Kings x. 26) ; Zerah, 300 cha-
riots to an army of a million (2 Chron. xiv. 9); Shishak, 1,200
chariots to 60,000 horsemen (2 Chron. xii. 3). What the correct
number is we cannot determine.
■* The word translated "high places " (1 Sam. xiii. 6), TVys, tsariahh
— is only found here and in Judg. ix. 46, 49 (the history of Abime-
lech, at Shecheui), where it is rendered "the hold." The meauiuir
" tower" given to it in the Spealcer's Commentary is unsuitable for
a hiding-place, and is rejected by the best critics, who give it the
sense " cell.ar " or "subterranean chamber." The "pits" were
probably dry tanks or rain-water cisterns, which were often used as
places of concealment as well as of confinement (Gen. xxxvii.
20-29; Jer. xxxviii. 6—13; xli. 9; Zcch. ix. 11). It was such
a tank in the courtyard of the house in which Jonathan and Ahimanz
were concealed, in the time of Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. xvii.
18,19). Theword then used, however, is difltereut — TN3, h'cr, instead
of lia, bor.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
o7
veuted Samuel's fulfilling his promise. The prophet,
if he knew the sti'aits he was iu, would be the first to
absolve him from his obedience. It would be madness
to wait till the Philistines poxired down from Mich-
mash, and swept him and his little troop before them
*Tito the bed of the Jordan. So, with rash impetuosity.
Saw. uttered the fatal command, '" Bring hither to me
the burnt-offering and the peace-offeruigs,*' ' "and"
— whether with his own hand,- or that of the priests
who happened to be there, it matters not ; the offence
was not that of encroachuig on the sacerdotal office,
but of presumptuous wilfulness — " he offered the
bumt-offeiiog. " Scarcely had the victim been con-
sumed on the alta.r, when the intelligence reached him
that the long-expected prophet was arrived at the out-
skirts of the camp. Saul, with little anticipation of the
reception that awaited him, '• went out to meet him,
that he might salute him " — offer, that is, the tribute
of respectful homage due even from the monarch to
the prophet of the Lord. ' ' What hast thou done ? " was
Samuel's brief and stem question. Yain were all
the excuses urged by Saul to cover his disobedience,
''Samuel witli a word reproved and convicted, and
1 Not as iu tlieA.V., "a burnt- offering and peace-offerings," but
•" the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings " — those, that is, that
bad been prepared for Samuel's arrival, that there migh<; be no
■delay when the prophet came.
2 " He offered" does not imply that Saul offered sacrifice with
his own hand, and thus usurped the priest's office. The co-opera-
tion of priests on such an occasion is taken for granted, just as in
the sacrifices offered by David and Solomon (2 Sam. xjdv. 25 ;
1 Kings iii. 4; viii. 63). In the latter passage the enormous
number of the victims—" two and twenty thousand oxen, and an
hundred and twenty thousand sheep " — precluded the possibilitj'
of the king being the actual sacrificer. Here the rule holds good,
■" Qui facit per alium facit per se." (See Keil ou 1 Sam. siii. 9.)
sentenced and silenced him."^ The plea of unwilling-
ness, " I forced myself and offered the burnt-offering,"
was shown to be a mere empty pretext. His worldly
policy had proved the veriest foUy — " Thou hast
done foolishly " — evidencing his want of faith in the
power and promise of God. He who had bidden him
wait till His pro^jhet came, knew all the dangers of
his position, and would have carried him safe through
them, and having thus tested him and jiroved him
worthy, would have established his dynasty over Israel
for ever. Tliis he had wantonly forfeited by his
wilfulness and disobedience.
We now pass ou to the second occasion on which
Samuel was commissioned to test the obedience of
Saul.
The circumst^inces were briefly these : — Centuries
before, God had sworn that He would make perpetual
war upon the fierce marauding tribe of Amalek for
the hostility shown by them to Israel after the Exodus
(Exod. xvii. 14 — 16). The sentence of extermination
had hithei-to been only partially fulfilled, and the time
had aii-ived when Israel, gathered as a nation under
a miht^-y head, could avenge the insulted honour of
Him who regards all, either of good or evil, that is done
to His people as done to Himself. Samuel was the
bearer of the Divine commission to Saul. It came
from one, as he reminded him, who had anointed him
king, and whose word he was bound to receive as that
®f the Lord himseK. "The Lord sent me to anoint
thee to be king over His people : now, therefore,
hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord "
(1 Sam. XV. 1).
J. H. Kewmau, " The Trial of Saul"— Piaiu Sermons, vol. v,, p. 196.
DIFFICULT PASSAaES EXPLAINED
THE GOSPELS:— ST. MATTHEW.
BT THE EEV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAE OF WINKFIELD, BEKKS.
" And Eis disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the Scribes
that Elias must first come ? And Jesus answered and said unto
tbem, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I
say unto you. That Elias is come already, and they knew him not,
but have done unto him whatsoever they listed." — St. Matthew
xvii. 10—12.
i'EFORE entering on the discussion of a
passage of no inconsiderable difficulty, and
one on which a gi-eat difference of opinion
exists, it will be desirable to present our
readers with as close a translation as is practicable of
the inquiry before us, as recorded by St. Matthew and
St. Mark, and as found in the best manuscripts : —
" And his disciples asked him, " And they asked [or inquired
saying, Why then say the Scribes of] him saying. Why say the
that Elijah mustcome first? Aud Scribes [or,That the Scribes say]
he answered and said, Elijah that Elijah must come first;
indeed corcPth, and he will re- and he said to them, Elijah [in-
store all things. But I say un' o deed] cometh first and restoreth
you, That Elijah is come already, all things [ht., having come
and they did not recgnise him, fir.st, restoreth all things] ; and
but did unto him [lit , in him] how it is written of the Son cf
whatsoever they would." man that he should suffer many
things and be set at nought.
But I say unto you, That Elijah
also [or indeed] is come, and
they did to him whatsoever they
would, as it is written of him."
Tlie use of the particle oOy, then, and tlie close con-
nection of the inquu-y, as recorded by both the Evan-
gelists, with the account of the Transfiguration aud the
descent from the Mount, seem to furnish a clue to the
chain of thought which existed in the mind of the
inquirers. They were, doubtless, familiar ^-ith the
prophecy of Malachi (iv. 5), " Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the hearts
38
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of the falliers to tlic children, and the hearts of the
children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse." The expectation that this prophecy-
would receive its literal fulfilment in the person of
Elijah is cv-inccd by the fact that in most MSS. of the
Septuaguit version, instead of " Elijah the prophet,"
we find "Elijah the Tishhite;" and in the panegyric
pronounced upon Elijah in Ecclesiasticus xlviii., we find
it affirmed (vcr. 10) that Elijah was not only ordained
of old for reproofs, but that he was ordained also '• to
tm'n the heart of the father imto the son, and to restore
the tribes of Jacob. "
Such being the prevailing expectation of the Jews
in the time of our Lord, as is apparent still further
from the inquiry made of John the Baptist, " Art
thou Elias ?" (John i. 21), it is easy to understand
how the momentary appearance of Elijah on the
Mount of Transfiguration would affect the minds of
the three highly-favoured Apostles, who on that, as on
two other special occasions, were singled out of the
number of the twelve to be the companions of their Lord.
Elijah had indeed appeared, as they had been taught
that he would appear, but instead of appearing, as the
Scribes had led them to believe, before the coming of
Christ, he did not appear till aft-er ii, and instead of
remaining upon the earth to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and to restore the tribes of
Jacob, his appearance had been but for a moment, and
he had speedily vanished from their view.
There can be no doubt that the voice of ancient
prophecy was but very imperfectly apprehended by the
Jews in this, as in other respects, and that the words of
our Lord were designed to supply what was wanting in
their interpretation of its import-.
With very few exceptions — some have alleged, but,
as it should seem, on insufficient gi-ounds, with none —
uo distinction is made in the prophecies of the Old
Testament between the two advents of the Redeemer ;
and they ai'e represented rather as one continuous
whole, than as sepai'ated by that " little while " of
which our Lord himself spoke (John xiv. 16), which
now intervenes between the two.
In fhis respect, then, our Lord undoubtedly corrected
the mistaken views of His disciples. He taught them
that, as regarded the predicted preparation for His first
advent, the messenger foretold alike by Isaiah (xl. 3),
and by Malachi (iii. 1), was John the Baptist. Thus
far the meaning of our Lord is explicit ; and it is placed
beyond the reach-of doubt by the facts (1) that the angel,
when foretelling the birth of John the Baptist (Luke
i. 17), expressly declared concerning him that ho should
go before the face of the Lord, " in the spirit and
power of Elias," and (2) that Zacharias, being " filled
with the Holy Ghost," and prophesying of his sou, re-
echoed the same assurance (Luke i. 76).
The questions which remain open to discussion are :
(1) whether the prophecies of Malachi (iii. 1, 2, and iv.
5, 6) are to be taken together or separately — i.e., as
both having reference to the same advent of Christ, or
respectively to His first and second advents ; and (2)
whether, if both have primary reference to the fii'st
advent, their fulfilment, as regards the work of pre-
paration, was partial only or complete in the ministry
of John the Baptist.
Now, although at first sight Mai. iii. 1, viewed in con-
nection with Isa. xl. 3,' might seem to have exclusive
reference to the first coming of Christ, yet when we take
into consideration (1) the predicted stiddenness of the
advent — " The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come,
to His temple" — (2) the iaquiry of the following verse : — •
" But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall
stand when He appeareth ?" — and (3) the fact that "both
in the words of Gabriel (Luke i. 17), and in those of
Zacharias (i. 76), the two prophecies of Malachi appear
to be combined in the miud of the speaker,- we can
scax-cely err in arri^dng at the conclusion that Mai. iii.
1, 2, as well as Mai. iv. 5, 6, has direct- I'eference to the
second coming of Christ as well as to the fii-st.
The remaining point for consideration is, do these
passages announce the advent of one forerauner of
Christ only, or of two ? in other words, do they predict
a prepai-atiou to be made by an earthly messenger for
the first only, or also for the seco yicZ advent of the Lord?
It may be impossible to return any positive reply to
tliis inquiry. At the same time, there are some reasons
for believiag that these prophecies are not yet exliausted,
but stiU await theu* complete fulfilment. Of these
reasons we may mention the following : —
I. If it be admitted that the second as well as the
first advent is foretold in both jilaces by Malachi, it
seems almost impossible to deny that a preparation is
to be made for both — ^by the " messenger " foretold in
the one case (Mai. iii. 1), and by the "prophet" simi-
larly announced in the other (Md. iv. 5).
II. Jn Mai. iv. 5 it is expressly affirmed that the
" prophet " is to be sent " before the coming of the
gi-eat and dreadful day of the Lord." Now, the only
precise parallel to this expression is to be found in Joel
ii. 31, where the same six words occur in the original in
the same order, and hence the determination of the
reference in that place will go far towards the deter-
mination of the true meaning of the same words in
Malachi.^ Now it can scarcely be questioned that
the prophecy in Joel, taken, as it must be, in connec-
tion with Isaiah xiii. 9 — 12, and more particularly with
the prophecy delivered on the Mount of Olives, as re-
corded by the three synoptists (Matt. xxiv. ; Mark xiii. ;
Luke xxi.), in both of which prophecies direct reference
is made to "signs in the sun and in the moon,''
1 It is deserving of notice tLat the expression rendered " prepare
the way" is peculiar to Isaiah, who uses it three times (xl. 3; Ivii.
1-t ; Ixii. 10), and to Malachi (iii. 1).
2 In the former case the words "He shall go before him'' seem
to refer to Mai. iii. 1, whilst "iu the spirit and power of Elias"
manifestly refer to Mai. iv. 5. In the latter case, the words
"thou Shalt go before the face of the Lord" have undoubted
reference to Mai. iii. 1, whilst the words " shalt be called the
prophet of the Highest " have probable reference to Mai. iv. 5 —
" Elijah the prophet."
3 The reference of the words to the second advent in both of
these prophesies is confirmed by the undoubted reference to that
event iu mo.st places, both of the Old and New Testament, in whicli
the " great day " of the Lord is mentioned.
SACRED PLACES.
39
announces those external plienomena in the natiu-al
world which shall be some of the precursoi-s of the
second coming of the Lord. And although, at first sight,
it might be thought (as some, indeed, have maintained)
that St. Peter detenniues the reference of this prophecy
to the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 16 — 21), it will apj)eai*,
on a closer examination and comparison of the words
of the prophet with those of the Apostle, that it can be
only the incipient fulfilment of the prophecy on that
day which is affirmed by St. Peter, and that, as Bishoj)
Wordsworth has observed, "as at the Ascension the
angels pass immediately from speaking of tliut event
to speak of Christ's Second Coming to judgment, so
here, on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter proceeds to
speak of tliat second advent, because (as Bishop
Andrewes says — iii. 315), ' from Christ's departiu-e till
His return again, from this Day of Pentecost, " a gi-eat
and notable day," till the last "great and notable day,"
between these two days no more such day. Therefore
he called them the last days.' " ^
III. Our Lord's own reply to the inquiiy of the
three Apostles seems to point to the same conclusion.
" Elias, indeed, cometh first, and shall restore all things."
It is tme that the words which immediately follow,
"Elias (or an Elias) has ali'eady come," may seem to
denote that the foregoing words had already received
their accomplishment in the mission of the Baptist. But
there are gi-eat, if not insuperable, difficulties in this
explanation of their meaning. The word here used
(oTrofcoToo-TTjfret, Cf. Mark ix. 12, where the same verb
occurs, which answers to the Hebrew T-crr) is the same
which occurs in Acts i. 6, where the Apostles inquire
of our Lord whether He was about at that time to re-
store the kingdom to Israel. Another form of the same
word occurs in Acts iii. 21, " Whom the heavens must
receive until the times of restitution of all things, which
1 Commentary on Acts ii. 20.
God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets
since the world began." In this fuU and comprehensive
sense of the word, it is impossible to allege that the pro-
phecy received its complete and exhaustive fulfilment
in the preparatory mission of Jolm the Baptist.
IV. It is at lca.st remarkable that some of the miracles
ascribed to the " two witnesses " in Rev. xi. 5, 6 bear a
striking correspondence to those performed by Elijah.
And, lastly, it is an incontrovertible fact that it was
the expectation not only of the Jews, but also of many
of the early fathers of the Christian Church, that Elijah
was destined to appear again upon the eaiih before the
coming of the Lord. Amongst these it will suffice to
mention (1) Tex'tullian — " They {i.e., Enoch and Elijah)
are reseiwed for death, that, by their blood, they may
destroy Antichrist ;"' (2) Chrysostom — "As John was
the precm-sor of His first advent {i.e., of Christ), so
EKjah will be the precursor of His second advent j"^ (3)
Augustine — "What John was to the first advent, that
will Elias be to the second advent. As there are two
advents of the Judge, so are there two heralds. "••
Whilst abstaining, then, from, any dogmatic assertion
on a subject of so much difficulty, it appears to be more
in conformity (1) with the general character of ancient
prophecy, (2) with the pregnant impoi't of the prophecy
on the moimt, and (3) with the literal import, and
the earliest exposition of our Lord's words, to un-
derstand them as affirming that, in the intei-pretation
affixed by the Scribes to the prophecies of MaJachi,
they were partly right and partly wrong — that in their
primary reference those prophecies had received then-
fulfilment in the mission of John the Baptist, whilst
their ultimate accomplishment awaits the close of thia
present dispensation, and will usher in the second advent
of the Son of man.
2 De Anima, cap. 1. ^ 57t?i Homily on St, Matthevj.
■1 On the Go$-pd of St. Jolin, Tractate iv.
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
SACEED PLACES.
EY THE KEV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF ABERDEEN.
I ROM the Sacred Seasons of Israel we
pass now, secondly, to its Sacred Places
and Things, and first to that place which
was the very centre of the Theocracy,
associated with all its most solemn rites, connected with
all its highest privileges, the most hallowed spot
even of a land the whole of which God had chosen
for HimscH, and bestowed upon His people in fulfilment
of His covenant — the Tabernacle. It may seem, indeed,
to some that we ought rather to have chosen the Temple,
inasmuch as it belonged to the brightest period of Jewish
histoiy, stood for centui-ies after the Tabernacle had
disappeared, and was so often spoken of by our Lord
HimseK in its relation to the higher dispensation which
He introduced. But it must be bonie in mind that the
Temple was, in aU its different parts, only a repro-
duction, though on an enlarged, more splendid, and
more enduring scale, of the earlier structure; that
those religions ideas of Judaism of which we are now
in search, in order to discover theii- fulfilment, may be
looked for in their greatest purity the nearer we place
ourselves to the period of their Divine embodiment ;
40
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and — what is poculhirly worthy of our notice — that tlie
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in speaking of
the accomplishment of the types of the Old Testament,
always refers to the Tabernacle and not the Temple.
It is with the former then, rather than with the latter,
that we have to do, and any separate consideration of
the Temple, its furniture, its otiieials, or its worship,
will be uunecessary.
It was immediately aft«r the exodus, on the first
constitution of the Jewish state— when redeemed from
its bondage in Egypt Israel became not only a separate
and independent, but God's covenant people — that direc-
tions for the rearmg of the Tabernacle were given to
Moses. Nothing of the kind appears to have existed
either during the captivity in Egypt or in the patii-
archal age. Of the worship, indeed, of the i)eo2)le while
they were iu Egyi)t we know nothing. Of the patri-
archs we read only, as in the case of Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, that " they built altars unto tlie
Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord," while of
Noah it is added that he " took of every clean beast,
and of cveiy clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on
the altar" (Gen. viii. 20, xii. 7, xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 20). In
those simple and early times, when piety was of an
indi^ndual and family, rather than of a national type, its
tlame was more easily kept alive than when Israel had
become a great people, with all such a people's varied
elements ; when it mixed more or less with the hea.then
nations around it ; and when it needed far more distinct
and elaborate arrangements to keep it in mind of its
obligations towards God. No sooner, accordingly, was
the nation constituted, and in danger of forgetting its
relation to the Almighty and His covenant, than steps
were taken to secure it a constant and impressive token
of the presence of the true Jehovah in its midst, and of
the worship required by Him at its hand. That token
■was more especially the Tabernacle.
It is not our intention to enter her© into the contro-
Ter^y with regard to the mode in which all the diffei'ent
parts of the Tabernacle were put together, or even to
give any minute description of it. To do so would
require more space than we can command, and would
also divert attention from the object that we have im-
mediately in view. It will b^; enough to speak of such
leading particulars of the structure as were in the
minds of the New Testament wi-iters when they alluded
to its fulfilment in the dispensation of " the fulness of
the times."
Looking, then, at tlie arrangements as a whole, and
as they would strike the eye of any one observing them
from without, we see first a large enclosed space in the
form of a parallelogram one hundred cubits long (the
cubit being as nearly as possible a foot and a half), by
fifty broad. The length of the space is from east to
west, the breadth from north to south. It is marked
off by pillars all round, five cubits high, between which
are suspended hangings or curtains of fine twined linen,
five cubits broad, the only difference being at tin;
entrance to the enclosure, which was in the middle of
the east side, and of a breadth of twenty cubits. Here
the curtains were of a more elaborate description, " blue,
and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought
with needlework" (Exod. xxvii. IG}, thus resembling
the curtains for the door of the sanctuary, of which wo
have not yet spoken.
Within this enclosure, and taking no note of its
furnishings, which will remain for after consideration,
we have immediately before us, at a distance of fifty
cubits, and iu the centre of the court, an oblong erection
made of wood, ten cubits broad and thii-ty long, the long
sides stretching westward towards the back wall of the
court, and terminating twenty cubits from it. This
erection, though the first thing that strikes the eye, is
entirely subordinate to two great coverings or cloths,
one of which alone is fully visible, though having two
other skin coverings on the top of it, which do not
concern us at present. The covering that we see is of
cloth of goats' hair. It is " the tent " of the Old Testa-
ment description, unfortunately too often rendered in
our English version '• Tabernacle," and its object is at
ouc« to conceal and to protect the Tabernacle beneath it.
The Tabernacle itself is the chief part of the whole
structure. Properly speaking, it is only the rich and
costly cloth, of which it is said, " Moreover thou shalt
make the Tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined
linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet : ■with cherubun
of cunning work .shalt thou make them " (Exod. xxvi. 1)
These ten curtains are all, however, carefully joined to
one another, and constitute one whole. The larger
covering requires support, and the space enclosed by it
is to be di\-ided into two parts. To attain these ends
is the purpose of the wooden erection to which we have
referred. The covering stretches across it, is hooked to
the top of the boards which form the walls, and falls
down within them to the distance of a cubit from the
ground. It is not visible, except, perhaps, in a small
degree at the eastern end, to any one standing on the
outside, being concealed by the goats' hair covering
formerly described. The space within is di-^-ided into
two, the part nearest the entrance being twenty cubits
long, the innermost ten. The former is the holy place,
into which the priests alone were admitted ; the latter
is the Holy of Holies, into which none but the high
priest might enter, and that only once a year, upon the
great Day of Atonement. The holy place is separated
from " the court " by five pillars, from which is sus-
pended a vail, that first vail, whose existence is implied
in the mention of the " second vail " of Hcb. ix. 3. Li
appearance and style of workmansliip the vail is similar
to that at the entrance of the court itself. The Holy of
Holies, again, is separated from the Holy Place by four
pillars, from which is suspended another vail, " the
second " (Heb. ix. 3), made in the same style as the
others, but with the important addition that it was
wrought with figures of cherubim. It has to be added
that both the Holy of Holies and the holy place are
inaccessible to the light ©f heaven, and that both of
them have important articles of furniture, of which for
the present we say nothing.
Such, necessiirily omittLng various details for want of
SACRED PLACES.
41
42
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
space, was tlio Tabernacle, aud for our present pur-
pose it is sufficient to observe that it consists of
three parts — the court, the holy place, aud the Holy
of Holies. The secoud and thii'd together constitute
the Tabernacle proper, consisting of two parts. The
ditigram (p. 41) will sufficiently illustrate what has
been said.
Wliile we have abstained from entering into the
multiplied details and difficult questions connected witli
the erection of this structm-c, and by which we should
only have confused our readers, there are yet one or
two general observations to be inade regarding it before
we inquire into either its meaning or fulfilment.
1. First, it was all to be executed in strict accordance
with the Divine directions, and nothing was to be left
to merely human ingenuity or skQl. "And let them
make me a sanctuary," are the words of the Almighty
to Moses, " tliat I may dwell among them. Accorduig
to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the Taber-
nacle aud the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even
so shall ye make it " (Exod. xxv. 9). The injimction is
afterwards repeated, with the addition that the pattern
referred to had been shown to Moses '' in the moimt "
(xxv. 40, xxvi. 30) ; and the importance felt to be due to
this part of its arrangements is illustrated by the fact,
that it is dwelt upon with emphasis both by St. Stephen
and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, " Oiir
fathers had the Tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he
should make it according to the fashion that he had
seen;" '"As Moses was admonished of God when he
was about to make the Tabernacle : for. See, saith he,
that thou make all things according to the pattern
showed to thee in the mount" (Acts. vii. 44; Heb. viii.
5\ It is not, indeed, necessary to suppose that Moses
had there seen an actual model of the Tabernacle he was
to raise, but he had at all events so seen it ideally, or in
vision, that he could proceed to its erection as one who
had a model before his eye. In conformity, too, with
the spirit of this injimction, it is worthy of notice that
directions for the construction of all the ^larts are given
in the Old Testament with unexampled minuteness.
Besides numerous other allusions, the whole of the
26th and 36th chapters of Exodus are devoted to it,
and the directions extend not only to its leading parts,
but to the smallest particulars, the loops of the curtains,
the hooks of the pillars, the rings of the bars, the cords,
and the pins.
2, Secondly, the work was not only to be thus exe-
cuted in strict accordance with the Divine directions, it
was to be so iinder the power of a Divine spirit. " See,"
it is said, " I have called by name Bezaleel the son of
Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah : and have
jfilled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, aud in
understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold,
and in sUver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to
set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all
manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given
with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of
Dan : and in the hearts of all that are ^vise hearted I
have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have
commanded thee ; the Tabernacle of the congregation,"
&c. (Exod. xxxi. 2—7).
3. Thirdly, it was to bear all the marks of the Divine
richness and glory. Everything about it was to be exe-
cuted in a lavish and costly style. Much of the work
was to be of solid silver, much even of solid gold. All
the boards of the Tabernacle, forty-eight in number, and
with a superficies of about 1,050 square feet, were to
be overlaid Avith gold ; while, at the same time, they
were to be based on silver sockets, each weighing a
talent, or about 1,500 ounces. The connecting rods,
going round the whole extensive enclosure of the court,
Avere to be of silver. Brass — or rather bronze — was freely
used ; aud there can be no doubt that the embroidery of
the hangings or curtains was of the most elaborate kind
which it was then possible to produce. The execution
of the whole may, no doubt, have been imperfect and
coarse, compared with what would be expected now;
yet it is also probable enough, when we remember that
the Israelites had just left Egypt, that it may have
been in no small degi-ee artistic. Nor, even although it
had not been so, would it in the least degree have faUed
to accomplish the end that was proposed. The work
met the ideas of the time, and the whole fabric exhibited,
as it was intended to exhibit, the utmost richness and
gorgeousness of effect to which men were then able to
attain.
4. Fourthly, the Tabernacle and all its furniture
were to be erected from the freewill offerings of the
people. The invitation by Moses to offer for the pur-
pose is recorded at length in the 35th chapter of the
Book of Exodus, and it is worth while to notice that
every particular conjiected with the structure is men-
tioned in it. Nothing was too costly to be offered,
nothing too trifling to be accepted. The invitation, too,
was answered with a cordiality leaving nothing to be
desired. All classes and both sexes, the chiefs and the
people, the rich and the poor, contributed their aid.
" Tlie children of Israel brought a willing offering unto
the Lord, every man aud woman, whoso heart made
them willing to bring for all manner of work, which
the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand
of Moses " (Exod. xxxv. 29). Nay, so great was the
readiness to offer, that Moses had to be told that the
people were bringing more than was required, and
had to issue a proclamation tlu'oughout the camp that
the giving should cease. " so the people were re-
strained from bringing, for the stuff they had was
sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much "
(Exod. xxxA-i. 6, 7).
5. Lastly, it lias to be observed that the whole work
was stamped with a Di\ane harmony and unity of j)lan.
This was effected by means of the measurements and
numbers employed in it. "We cannot enter here upon
the remarkable part played by numbers in the Bible.
Even after Biihr's labours, the subject requires to bo
investigated more fixlly than has yet, so far as we know,
been done. But we have only to look at the numbers
SACRED PLACES.
43
before us iu the present instance, in order to be satisfied
that all must have been selected with a A-iew to the
expression of Divine ideas. Thus it is at once obvious
that foiir is the fundamental number for the Taber-
nacle proper. It is composed of strips of a covering
fastened together into oile cm-tain, each strip being
four cubits broad and twenty-eight (4 X 7) cubits long.
The boards surrounding and enclosing it are forty-
eiglit (4 X 12) iu number, twenty in each of its sides,
and six together with two comer boards (Exod. xxvi.
23, 24), making eight (4 X 2), at the back. There are
fom* coveiings in all — the Cherubim curtain, that of
goats' hau', that of rams' skins, and that said in our
English version to have been of badgers' skins (Exod.
xxvi. 1, 7, 14). There are four colom-s in the innermost
cm-tain and in the vails, blue and purple and scarlet
and white, and four pillars are set up before the
entrance (Exod. xxvi. 31, 32). There can be no doubt,
however, that under the Mosaic economy four Avas the
number of the kingdom of God estabhshed iu the world,
the stamp of God as taking iip His abode with men ;
and this idea, therefore, found expression in the number
thus fixed uj)on as the ruling number of the sanctuaiy,
or most peculiar dwelling-place of God in Israel.
Again, ten is allowed by all inquirers to be the nmnber
of perfection, and hence the part assigned to it iu
connection with the work. The Holy of HoHes was
ten cubits long, ten broad, and ten high, thus forming
a perfect cube, an idea, we may notice in passing,
preserved in the New Jerusalem as seen in vision by
St. John, of which, Tv^th that defiance of all verisimi-
litude so characteristic of the Jewish imagination, it is
said, " And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is
as large as the breadth : and he measm-ed the city with
the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and
the breadth and the height of it are equal " (Rev. xxi.
16). Even the holy place has its proportions deter-
mined by the number ten ; for it is ten cubits broad,
ten high, and twenty long, twenty in the latter case
taking the place of ten, because the idea of perfection
is not yet attained in it, while at the same time twenty
is the only multiple of ten by which it can be made of a
size suitable to its pui-pose of sustaining that innermost
or Cherubim coveiing which is the centre of the whole.
Once more, the size and construction of '" the com*t " are
regulated by the number five, as appears especially
from the fact that the pillars surrounding it were five
cubits high, and the spaces between them five cubits
broad, while the whole number made use of was sixty
(5 X 12). It is almost needless to observe that the
length and breadth of the com-t, one hmidred cubits by
fifty, are no less multiples of five than they are of ten.
But five is a part of ten broken into two, and is thus
the representative of imperfection and incompleteness,
the characteristics of that outer court in which Israel
had not yet attained to intimate commtmion with God.
Thus in aU its parts did the Tabernacle in the wilder-
ness bear the stamp of the Divine harmony and order,
of that Divine unity of plan which in one way or another
finds expression iu all the operations of Him who is the
author, not of confusion, but of harmony, alike in the
Church and in the world.
The observations now made lead us iu no small
degree to the answer to be given to the next and most
important questions connected with this subject : "What
did the Tabernacle symbolise to Israel ? and, "What is
its fulfilment now ? Tliat it had a symboUcal meaning
no careful inquirer will deny ; and that such a meaning-
was impressed upon aU its parts is proved by the fact
that aU were to be constructed according to the pattern
showed to Moses iu the motmt, by then- constructioa
upon such a fijced scale, and with such a recm-rence o£
liarticular numbers and measures, as can only be ex-
plained by this admission, by the general analogy of the
whole Old Testament worship, and by the distinct inti-
mations alike of the prophets of the old economy and
the sacred writers of the new. It may be more difficult
to say what this symbolical meaning- was ; and certainly
no chapter of Scripture interpretation affords a larger
number of illustrations of the most fanciful, although
not seldom highly ingenious, speculation. It is impos-
sible, however, to enumerate, far less to discuss, these at
j)reseut. "We must confine ourselves to stating briefly
what appears to us to be correct. It will be foimd that
the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which,
looked at in too one-sided a manner, may easily lead
astray, admits in connection with it of being simply and
natui-ally explained.
The Tabei-nacle, then, was esj)ecially designed to
represent the dwelling of God in the midst of His
people. It was the place where He had taken up His
abode in Israel ; and taken it up, we desu-e especially to
urge, in the fidness of that character which belonged to
Him — not in mercy and condescending gi-ace alone, but
also in that holiness which cannot tolerate sin, and which,
at the very giving of the covenant, showed itself in the
lightnings and thunders and the voice of the trumpet
exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the
camp trembled. If we keep this out of view, as seems
to be generally done, we change tjie whole character of
the Tabernacle ; we make it a mere message of mercy
to Israel; we miss the meaning both of its different
parts and of the most important articles of its fur-
niture ; we obliterate t/ie most fundamental aspect of
God's character, and how can we say that He dwells
there ? The Tabernacle, then, was God's dwelling-place
among His people : " Let them make me a sanctuary,
that I may dwell among them ; " " And I will sanctify
the Tabernacle of the congregation. . . . And I will
dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their
God ; " "I will set my Tabernacle among you : and
my soul shall not abhor you. And I wiU walk among-
you, and -will be your God, and ye shall be my people '"
(Exod. XXV. 8 ; xxix. 45 ; Lev. xxvi. 11, 12). No words
could more clearly express the object of the structure
we are considering ; and it was in conformity with this
that, while " a cloud covered the tent of the congre-
gation, the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle "■
(Exod. xJ. 34). "Whatever other thoughts, therefore, may
have been connected with it, this aspect was its fii-st
44
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and most impoi'taut.. Lot it ouly further be observed,
tliat in thiukiug of the Taberuacle as the dwelliiip^-place
of God, it is of God, not in His abstract being, but as
He makes Himself known to, as lie comes into covenant
>Tith, men. It is not a model upon a small scale of the
universe, as if He of whom Solomon at the dedication
of the Temple sublimely said, '• Beliold, the lieaven
aud licaveu of heavens cannot contain Thee," were
desirous of an earthly representation of His boundless
abode. If a comparison is to be made betvreeu it and
hearen, where God may be said to dwell, it, not heaven,
comes first. The progress of thought is from it to
heaven, not from heaven to it. We have here to do
"with God in the relation in whicJi He stands to man.
Of thjit relation, as it existed towards Israel, the Taber-
nacle iri a symbol.
Hence also its other name, the " Tabernacle of Tes-
timony, or of Witness : " of testimony or witness to
what ? Surely to the Almighty, not as the Sovereign
Suler of the Universe, but as the God of Israel, who in
His law had witnessed to Himself and to what He re-
<iuired, and who had commanded that that law should
l>e placed in the very centre of tliis His abode.
But, further, the other name by which the structure
"was known, and which is even more frequently given
it than that of Taberuacle, must also be taken into
account. It was the "Tent of Meeting," words un-
happily reudered in our English version the " Taber-
nacle of the Congregation ; " and it received this name
Lecause there, not indeed within it, but at it, God met
■with Israel. " This," it is said, " shall be a continual
burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door
of the tent of meeting before the Lord : whore I will
meet you, to speak there unto thee. Aud there I will
meet with the children of Israel " (Exod. xxix. 42, 43).
It was not, it wiU be observed, that the people there
met with one another, but that there God met with
"them.
Such, then, was the meaning of the Tabernacle. It
"Was the place in which God dwelt, where He witnessed
to Himself and to His law, and at which His people met
-with Him. It had relation to the Almighty, not as the
Huler of the Universe, but as One wlio desired to bring
His siuful children nearer to Himself, that they might
be sanctified for His service, and be made to rejoice
in His favour. And it had relation to man, not as a
creature to be bowed do\vn beneath the thouglit of
infinite power, but to be elevated to communion and
fellowship with that holy yet merciful Being who had
-formed him to show forth His praise, and to find in
•doing so his true dignity and joy.
This fundamental idea, accordingly, at once explains
to us the division of the whole erection into three
parts, as well as the regulations with regard to the
persons by whom these parts might be severally entered.
Eor even in the case of such as ai*e in a certain sense
redeemed, within the covenant, aud called to make those
privileges their own wliich God is ever waiting to bestow
in all their fulness, there are three stages of this
appropriation to bo passed through. The first is that in
which, under a sense of the sins still cleaving to them,
they cry tremblingly for a Mediator : " Speak thou witli
us, and we will liear ; but let not God speak with us, lest
we die" (Exod. xx. 19); the second, that in which the
Mediator is foiuid, through whom they draw near with
confidence to God, and dwell iu His house ; the third,
that when the work of mediation is not only completed
for them, but in them, — when its effect is not so much
reached after as en joyed, — when realising the truth that
they are in Him, rather than looking to Him in any
external relation, they have themselves attained to the
confidence of souship, and themselves ciy Abba, Father,
to One who is not only their Mediator's God, but their
Gx)d — not ouly His Father, but their Father. The first
stage is that of children whose position does not differ
from that of servant*, though they are lords of all ; the
second, that of sons who have just reached the time of
their majority, aud have cast away their spirit of Ijondage ;
the third, differing from the second, not so much Lu kind
as in degree, that of these same sons when a happy
experience has established them in their position, and
the Spirit of God gives continuing witness (Rom. viii.
16) with their spirits that they are the sons of God.
To these three stages of spiritual life, of dwelling iu
God and having God dwelling in us, the thi-ee di\'isions
of the Tabernacle corresponded — the first aroimd aud at
the Tabernacle proper, but not within it ; the second and
third both Avithin it, but the second not so deep in its
recesses as the first, aud still separated from it by a vail.
Hence also the fact that these three parts of the
Tabernacle were entered as they were — the first by
the people who had not yet made clear to themselves the
souship which was theirs ; the second by the priests in
whom this souship character of Israel was for the time
realised ; the third by the high priest alone, in whom
it reached its cidminatiug point, and to whom, therefore,
it was given to pass into the immediate presence of the
Almighty, as One the light of whose countenance is the
portion and joy of His redeemed.
If this be the true meaning of the Tabernacle as it
presented itself to Israel, its fulfilment under the New
Testament dispensation ought hardly to be a matter of
doul)t. It is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and in His Church.
First, iu the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Him
God has taken up His abode with man. For, says the
Apostle John, " The Word was made flesh, aud dwelt,"
or rather tabernacled, "among us " (i. 14) — that is, came
to us as the Tabernacle of old to Israel, only " full,"
not of the glory of the law given through Moses, but of
the " gi-ace and truth " which come through Jesus Christ.
So also throiTghout all St. John's Gospel, the Son is
ever He in whoin the F.nther dwells, and by Avhom He
makes known iho glory of His pi-esencc among men :
" No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten
Son, which is in tlie bosom of the Father, He hath
declared Him ;" " He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father ;" " If ye had known me, yc shoidd have Icnowu
my Father also" (i. 18; xiv. 9; viii. 19). It is true
that the writer of the Epistle to tlie Hebrews appears
MALACHI.
46
at first si^lit to give a different fulfilment, -when lie
distinguislies between Chiigt and the Tabernacle, speaks
of the former as passing " through" the latter (ix. 11 ;
compare iv. 14, where "through" ought to be read for
"into"), and even expressly exclaims, "Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of +he true ; but into heaven itself, now
to appear in the presence of God for us " (ix. 24). The
explanation of this language, however, is to be found in
the fact akeady mentioned, that the figure here employed
is taken from the Tabernacle, not the Tabernacle from
any cosmical arrangement which it may seem at first
sight to make use of, and, in making u.se of it, to estab-
lish as something in corresiDondence with the actual
realities of the case. If the Tabernacle, in its various
parts, represent the dwelling of God ■with man, it is
a perfectly appropriate thought, that He in whom
that dwelling is realised — who in the deepest and
most intimate sense is one with the Father, and with
whom the Father is one — should be spoken of as
having possession of it all ; and that, for this purpose.
He should be described as passing through its outer
apartments into those inmost recesses where God has
His peculiar abode. It is in His passing through these
parts that His unity with God is seen. As He passes
through them their distinctions disappear ; and He
Himself, at the throne of God, becomes that throne to
lis — a throne no longer separated by a vail from the
eye of faith, but beheld with open face by all who have
learned to see in Him the glory of God. The difficulty,
in short, of harmonising the statement of the Epistle
to the Hebrews with the general teaching of Scripture
upon the point before us disappears, if we on-ly re-
member that the different stages of an approach to
God may be locally as well as spu-itually represented ;
that in Christ such an approach is complete; and that
an antitype is at one time the fulfilment of one, at
another of another, feature of its type. The constant
lesson of Scripture is that in Christ Jesus all the
fulness of the Godhead dwells, and that in Him we
have " the Tabernacle not made with hands " (Heb.
ix. 11).
But the fulfilment is not in Christ only ; it is also in
the Church, " which is His body " (Eph. i. 23). For,
using that word which denotes the innermost shrine of
the Temple on Mount Moriah, that part of the Temple
which corresponded in the strictest manner to the most
sacred part of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the
Apostle says, " Te are the temple of the living God ;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them ; and I will be their God, and they shall l)e my
people " (2 Cor. vi. 16). In the Church God dwells.
There He exhibits the glory of His character, and there
He bestows the fulness of His blessing. There He
meets him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,
those that remember Him in His ways ; and there His
people enter not only into the holy, but into the most
holy place. For the Church of God in her l^ew Testa-
ment condition all the lower parts of the Tabernacle
have passed into its liighest part. She knows no outer
covirt, no holy place even, in which to pause as she
advances onward and inward to the very throne of God.
She has already reached the Holiest of all. " Having
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and li"\ang way, which He hath consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say. His flesh, she
draws near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
ha^nng her heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and
her body washed with pure water " (Heb. x. 19, 20, 22).
One with her gi-eat High Priest, she enjoys the privi-
leges not only of a priestly, but of a high-priestly state ;
and so identified with her Mediator that all that is His
is also hers, she comes dii-ect to the throne of grace,
knowing that "the Father Himself lovethher" (John
xvi. 27) and heai-s her prayer. The prophecy of Ezekiel.
as he looked ferward to better times, is fulfilled : " My
tabernacle also shall be vrith them ; and the heathen
shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my
sanctiTary shall be in the midst of them for evermore "
(Ezek. xxxvii. 27, 28). It is a mistake to think that the
Holy of Holies is only fulfilled in the heavenly Jerusa-
lem. It is fulfilled now ; and the city is already estab-
lished in the world of which, if Ave have to say that we
see no temple in it, it is not really because there is no
temple, but because it is all a temple lightened by the
glory of God and of the Lamb.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
MALACHI.
BY THE REV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
LiALACHI'S PREFACE.
CHAP. I. 2 — 5.
^HE " oracle " or prophecy of Malachi opens
with a few prefatory verses on Jehovah's
love for the sons of Israel — a theme of
which the whole book is but a series
of variations. And it is surely most appropriate that
the closing Scripture of the Old Testament should
have for its ruling theme that Divine inalienable Love
the supreme manifestation of which the New Testament
was to record.
Malachi deals with this theme in his characteristic
manner, adopting at the outset the somewhat scholastic
form of composition which he maintains through-
out. First, he simply announces his thesis, " I have
loved you, saith Jehovah." This succinct general
affirmation is instantly followed by a sceptical objec-
tion, thrown into the inten-ogatory form : " And ye say.
46
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Wherein hast Thou loved tts /" And then comos the
argument iu which the objection is met and the thesis
maintained ; Johovah has proved His love for the sons
of Jacob by preferring them before the sons of Esau :
" Is not Esan brother of Jacob .^ and I loved Jacob, but
Esau I hated." This form — thesis, objection, argumen-
tative reply — chai'acterises the entire book, and would
run no small risk of becoming tedious, because too
obviously formal and scholastic, were it not for the fine
dramatic colloquies in which it is clothed. When God
iind man discoui'se together, and that on the highest
themes, the dialogue must be clumsily reported indeed
if it fail to engage our attention.
The argument of the prefatory dialogue is simple and
conclusive, although it has to silence an objection on
behaK of which much might be urged. It was by no
means unnatural that the Jews of Nehemiah's time
should doubt that God loved them. Few and feeble,
dwelling in a city "large and great," but undefended
by walls, and in which only a few scattered houses -were
built ;^ with Ai'abian and Samaritan robl>ers riding
through the streets to stab and burn and plunder ; often
unable to harvest the scanty crops they had i^ainfully
•wrung from the neglected fields ; the perpetual scorn of
the heathen, the frequent prey of t^ie Persian satraps ;
— ^what proofs had they that they were the people whom
Jehovah had chosen for Himself .^ They might well
<loubt a love which shewed itself in forms so austere,
and dispensed its gifts with so niggardly a hand.
To this doubt the prophet replied with an argument
that could not fail to touch the national pride. Jacob
and Esau, the fathers of Israel and Edom, were twin
brothers. It might therefore have been thought tliat
they, and their posterity, would be treated vrith equal
favour by the God of Abraham and Isaac. And yet,
argues God, " I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated." Even
before their birth Jacob was predestined to special
favour; it was ordained that Esau should serve his
brother.- And just as Jacob acquired both birthright
and blessing, while Esau found no place of repentance,
though he sought it with care and tears, so also it had
been, and was, and would be with their descendants.
And here was the proof : while Israel was rebuilding
its mined capital and cultivating its waste places, the
mountains of Edom were still desolate, and its heritage
was the haunt of jackals ; Israel should yet arise, shake
herself from the dust, and enter on a new, glorious
career ; but Edom, despite occasional gleams of hope,
was doomed to defeat and extinction.
This is the general course of thought in these verses;
but if we would enter into their meaning and spirit —
if, above all, we acre not to condemn Malachi's concep-
tion of the Dirae election and providence as altogether
immoral, wo must consider a little more carefully the
heritage and lot of Edom.
As you travel south from Jerusalem, the way lies for
a few miles along slojies and fertile plains whose verdure
is clothed in the j)urple and crimson hues of the lilies,
1 Nell. rii. 4.
Gen. xsT. 23.
or anemones, which our Lord bade men consider. The
road soon loses itself in a strip of sandy and barren
desert, beyond which rises a double range of hills. These
hills were once " the heritage " of Edom. The higher
and further range is composed of limestone rocks,
covered by chalk-loving " downs :" the lower and nearer
range, which is composed of red sandstone, forms one of
the most striking and picturesque scenes in Syria. Its
crests run to about two thousand feet in height. The
friable stone of which it consists is all worn and split
into deep seams, abrupt chasms, precipitous ravines;
while the broad rock-ledges, or platforms, are covered
with a fertile soil very prolific both of com and flowers.
The profuse and gorgeous colours of this " red range,"
and the amazing fertility of its soil, are a constant theme
of admiration to ti-avellers. Ton must walk, they tell
us, on the rich sweet grass dappled with wild flowers, in
the deep glens, or on the broad level platforms wa'^'ing
with a wealth of com, and sheltered by precipitous
rocks whose deep crimson hue is streaked and suffused
with purple and indigo and orange, before you can form
any adequate conception of the scene. Among these
gorgeous hills lie the caves, and deserted temples, and
fallen columns of Petra, once the capital city of Edom,
but which has now lain desolate a thousand years.
The feud Ijetween Edom and Israel was deadly and
unceasing. The fiery sons of !Esau, well named " chil-
dren of the sword," for ever turned their swords against
the sons of him who was " a plain man and dwelt in
tents." Through all the vicissitudes of the Hebrew
monarchy they were its foes, though, as a rule, con-
quered foes. And when the Babylonians came up
against Jerusalem to destroy it, the Edomitcs eagerly
allied themselves with that fierce and impetuous nation,
and stimulated them to even more than their wonted
cruelty, urging them to raze tlic Sacred City, "yea,
raze it even to the foundations thereof." ^ This offence
the Hebrews never forgave. The later Hebrew pro-
phots are perpetually denouncing woes on Edom, woes
such as this : " Because he did pursue his brother
with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger
did tear perpetiuilly, and he kept his wrath for ever,"
therefore " Edom shall be a desolation : every one that
gocth l)y it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the
plagues thereof."^ The predicted woes soon began to
fall. Tlioir eagerness to destroy the city and kingdom
of Judah in concert with the Babylonians did not save
the Edomites from a similar fate. The Hebrew blood
was hardly wiped from their swords before they them-
selves liecamo victims of the Babylonian arms. Their
hUls were invaded, their cities destroyed, and the in-
habitants thereof carried away captives within a few
years of the fall of Jerusalem. And Cyrus issued no
decree restoring them to their native land. A hundred
years after the Lord had turned again the captivity of
Zion, Malachi could point to the Red Range, and de-
clare that the mountains of Edom were still a desolation
and his heritage a haunt of wUd beasts. And, indeed,
3 Ps. cxxxvii. 7; Obad. i. 10—14.
■» Amosi. 11, 12; Jer. xlix. 7— 18.
MALACHI,
47
Edom neuer recovered tliat blow, never thereafter
became a dangerous rival to Israel. Conquered and
enslaved again and again by the Persians, by the
IsTabatheeans (or Ishmaelites), by the Greeks, by the
Jews under the Maccabees, by the Romans, they were
utterly exterminated by the followers of Mohammed ;
and, to this day, their cities are deserted heaps of ruins,
through which the jackals prowl, and their fertile
o-lens are covered with a mere jungle of brambles, and
wild flowers, and weeds.
This terrible doom MaLachi, like most of the projihets
who were before him, describes and foretells. Besides
pointing to the mountains then lying desolate and the
cities haimted by wild beasts, he predicts that if at any
future time Edom should say,
" We are broken in pieces,
But we will rebuild the ruius."
Jehovah would reply,
" They may build, but I will pull down ;
And men shall call them, The Border of Wickedness,
And, The people with whom Jehovah is angry for ever."
Whether there was ever a strictly literal fulfilment
of these latter words ; whether the coimtiy of Edom
was ever familiarly known as " The March of Wicked-
ness," its inhabitants a,s "The people with whom
Jehovah is angiy for ever;" or, as Isaiah predicted,
" The people of the Ban," I do not know : nor do I
know that the prophecy would gain much by a literal
fulfilment of that kind. It is enough that the intention
of the prophecy has been fulfilled ; that, whenever the
Edomites have set themselves to build themselves up,
God has puUed them down. To this day Petra and its
dependent towns are "desolate cities," the houses of
Avhich, according to the Oriental sui^erstition preserved
in Job,^ " none should inhabit, ordained to be riiias" by
God Himself. To this day the rangers of the desert
hurry by the abandoned tenements and temples, and
through the long rock-hewn avenues, deeming them
perilous and accursed, and muttering prayers for the
Di^ane protection.
Here, then, according to Malachi, was the proof that
God loved Israel. They might be few, feeble, despised,
and exposed to a thousand cakmities and dangers.
Ifevertheless, they were at least redeemed from their
captivity ; Jerusalem was fast rising from its ruins ; the
Temple was rebuilt ; a bright prospect of hop© Ulumined
theii' future. Whereas they had but to look out on the
mountain range which formed the southern rampart of
their land, to descry the home of other children of
Abraham who were still captives in a strange land,
whose cities were left unto them desolate, whose pros-
pect was darkened by an ever deepening gloom, a niglit
to which there woidd be no dawn. To what was this
difference, this preference, owing»but to the love of
Jehovah ?
Such words could not but be comfortable to the
people of Israel, as both flattering their national pride
1 Job XV. 28.
and gi-atifying their national animosity. But can they
be altogether comfortable to us ? Can it give us any
pleasure to hear that God proves His love for one race
by hating another ? Rather it sounds to us like a
blasj)hemous Hbel on the Divine nature and goodness.
^Vhen we hear Jehovah say, " I loved Jacob, but Esau
I hated,'' wo are tempted to exckim, " Thank Heaven,
then, the Jehovah of the Jews was not the God and
Father whom we know in Christ Jesus the Lord ! "
Nor can we evade the difficulty by saying, " This is
only an Oriental and hyperbolical way of saj-ing that
God preferred Israel to Edom." That is not a fair
way of reading the passage ; nor is it any easier to vin-
dicate an unjust j)Veference than an imjust hatred:
nor, again, is it possible to distinguish from hatred a
preference which dooms an entire race to the sword.
How are we to i^ead the passage, then ?
Let us read it in its natural sense, as meaning that
God did love Israel and did hate Edom. Why should
He not hate that which is hateful? Would He be
God if He did not ?
The key to this passage, as to many others, is the fact
we are so apt to forget, that God does nothing arbi-
trarily ; that He has a reason, a good and kind reason, for
all His choices and acts. We are not here told what His
reason for hating Edom was. Nor could we arrive at all
the reasons that went to make up His reason without re-
viewing the entii-e history of Israel and Edom, and the
beai-ing of that history on the history and welfare of the
whole world. Happily, there is a shorter and easier
method of dealing with the difficulty. And it is this,
" He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword "
is a saying which, when it is rightly imderstood, com-
mends itseH to every man's conscience ; for it is but a
form of that Di^•iue and wholesome law of retribution
which we find in our own lives no less than in the
Written Word. Well, the Edomites took the sword.
So fierce and cruel were they that they were called " the
cliildi-en of the sword." Was it imjust, then, that they
should perish by the sword ? Suppose — though this is
very far from being the whole truth — that Jehovah had
no other reason for hating them than this, that they
were for ever plunging their swords into the breasts of
men and women whom He loved, and making peace and
the fruits of peace impossible : was not that reason
enough ? Was that stem hatred which our fathers
cherished for the French when Napoleon, to indulge their
lust of conquest and domination, led them to campaign
after campaign, so that all Europe was converted from
a fruitful field into a baiTcnand bloody arena — was that
an imrighteous feeling ? And if it was right in them,
was it wrong in God ? We too often think of Love as
a tender-eyed, soft-handed, weak-knee'd grace, for ever
pilling in caressing tones, and la\-ishing its embraces in-
differently on all. But the true love, the unselfish love,
is strong and ardent, and can make even a hen a match
for a hawk. Indifferent to its own perils and pains, it
flames out against whatever would injure those whom
it cherishes. If, for wise and kind ends that embraced
the welfare of the whole world, God loved Israel, Ho
/
48
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
could d<* uo oilier than hate Edom, the insolent and
implacable foe of Israel.
And that His love for Israel did embrace cuds of
mercy that went beyond Israel is hinted in the closing
lines of this brief pi-eface :
" And year eyes shall see it, and ye shall say,
' Great is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel.'"
One reason for the judgments that fell on Edom was,
that the Jews miglit know, and that from them the
wholo after-world might learn, that Jehovah was not
their God alone ; that He coxild only be their God as He
was also the God of all kindreds and tribes. Doubtless
their first conception of this lesson was imperfect. They
conceived of God as punishing other nations out of love
for thera. But it did not take them long to discover
that if God were angry with the heathen when they did
wrong, He was pleased with them when they did right.
The Psalms of this period conclusively prove that if
they still held " salvatioH to be of the Jews," they knew
it to he for all men. They learned that they themselves
were chosen and called, not for their ovm sake alone, nor
for their fathers' sake, but for the world's sake, in order
that they might become the ambassadors of God to the
heathen, and give both preachers and a pattern o£
righteousness to mankind. They are for ever calling on
" all peoples " to praise the Lord, and " all nations " to
magnify Him, because His mercy and trutli ai-e over all
and endui-e for ever.^ And thus, at sundry times and
in divers manners, as they were able to bear it, the great
truth was brought home to them, that He who was great
iti Israel was also " great beyond the border of Israel ;"
that in every nation he who feared God and wrought
righteousness was acceptable to Him.
1 See Psalm cxvii., and the otlicr psalms of that period.
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
EY THE KEV. A. S. AQLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN'S, ALYTH, N.B.
STETJCTURE OF THE VERSE (continued).
§4.
-COr.IPLEX PARALLELISM.
>LTHOUGH the principles of Hebrew
rhythm are so obscure, and so easily
elude our most careful analysis, the ear
soon becomes accustomed to the har-
mony of the veivse, and distinguishes its several varie-
1 ies without difficulty. No one, for instance, in reading
the Book of Proverbs can miss the peculiar cadence of
its ajitithetie style. The Song of Solomon soon cap-
tivates the ear with the gi-accful melody of its limpid
verse. If it had but the completeness given by rhyme,
ii would want nothing of the richness of soimd of
those irregular measures in which modern poets love
to express tlieii* sweet and wayward fancies.'
' Cf., fcr instance, the " golden cadence " of the following lines
with part of Tonuysou's Maud: —
" For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone ;
The flowers appear upon the fields ;
The time of singing is come ;
The cooing of the turtle-dove is heard in our land ;
The fig-tree sweetens her green figs;
The vines blossom —
They diffuse fragrances.
Arise, my fair one, and come !
My dove in the cleft of the rock, |
In the hidintj-place of the cliffs,
Let me see thy countenance ;
Let me hear thy voice ;
For sweet is thy voice.
And thy countenance lovely."
(Cant. ii. 11, &c. Ginsburg's Trans.)
" A voice by the cedar-tree,
In the meadow under the hall !
She is singing an air that is known to me —
A passionate ballad, gallant and gay ;
A martial song like a trumpet's call!
Singing alone m the morning of life,
In the ?iaj>py morning of life and of Ma\i,
Singing of men that in battle array,
In their development from the simple rhythm, the
complex forms of verse follow the analogy of rhymed
i stanzas in English and other modem poetry. Just
1 as the original rhyming couplets have developed into
I verses of every possible variety, so the simple Hebrew
I rhythm has undergone countless variations and fonned
! numerous combinations. The rhytne of thought has
been treated like the rhyme of soiind. In this way
gi'ew up what is recognised as the strophe system of
I the Psalms. It may well be designated by this name
when it returns with regularity in the compass of one
poem.^ This is often, but not always, the case. The
verses do not always run even, and the structure,
while in all cases it follows the sense, by which the
psalm may generally be di^nded into paragraphs, does
not always admit of a rhythmical division. It follows
that in the arrangement of the strophes there is scope
for much ingenuity, and, at the sarme time, for arbitrary
conjecture. But where the divisions are obvious, the
stanzas are easily referred to certain ground forms
from which they have been developed ; and these, in
their tuni, are but developments of a more original and
simple form.
This original form is the distich, or couplet. It is
visible, as we have seen, in the earliest song that has
been handed down to us (Gen. iv. 23, seq.) It has been
already indicated that this peculiar rhythm was not called
Keady in M^art, and ready in hand,
March with banner, and bugle, and fife,
To the death, for their native land."
There ore other passages which show even g^reater resemblance.
The natural— almost inevitable— use of true parallelism in such
verse will strike the student who reads the preceding. The italicised
lines arc a perfect specimen of progressive parallelism.
2 Cf. Davidson's Introduction to Psalms.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
40
iuto ciisteiiee as a necessity of exi^ausiou of tliougiit,
but that the Hebrew mode of expandiug the thought
results from the requirements of the rhythm. The poet's
ideas obey the rhythmical rise and fall, the diastole and
systole, -which is a necessity of his physical organisation.
The genius of other tongues permits of this represen-
tation in the successive cadences of single lines. In
Hebrew the ascending and descending rhythm demands
at least a pair of verses, which bear to one another the
relation of rhythmical antecedent and consequent, of
■jpocfiSus and iircj>56s-^
But it often happens that the two parallel sentences
are not so related. They are both, as it were, m the
ascending scale of emotion, and need a further line or
couplet to complete the rhythm. From tliis necessity have
arisen the various sources of complex parallelism.
(1) The simplest of these is a combination of couplets,
which takes a form exactly analogous to the well-known
long-metre verse of English hymns. The thought,
unable to exhaust itself in two lines, is spread over four,
each pair being completely parallel, perfect in the pro-
portion both of matter and form ; in a word, a pair of
perfect thougJit rhymes.
( " By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made ;
( And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
( He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap ;
\ He layeth up the depth in storehouses.
j Let all the earth fear before Jehovah .-
( Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
( For He epake, and it was done ;
\ He commanded, and it stood fast." (Ps. xxsiii. 6 — 9.)'-
A verse of Keble's "Hymn for Easter" is ai^pended
for comparison : —
" ' Wbere is your Lord ? ' she scornful iisks ;
' Where is His hire ? We know His tasks.
Sons of a king ye boast to be ;
Let us your crowns and treasures see." "
Sometimes an additional couplet makes the stanzas of
six lines. Psalms xcvi. and xcvii. an*ange themselves
in these hexastichs. There are also strophes of eight
Unes, and of sixteen. Each of the standard forms of
parallelism — progressive, constructive, and antithetic —
may be developed in this way. The following beautiful
oxample combines in its six lines the synonymous and
antithetic rhythm.
" Sing unto Jehovah, ye saints of His,
And give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger endureth but for a moment ;
His favour for a life long.
At evening weeping cometh in for the night,
And in the morning cometh a shout of joy."
(Ps. sxx. 5, 6.)
The following, from the Song of Moses, is an example
of the progressive parallelism in a stanza of this kind.
j " Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea ;
\ His chosen captains were drowned in the Red Sea ;
( The depths have covered them ;
I They sank to the bottom as a stone." (Exod. xv. 4, 5.)
(L.) Another common arrangement of rhymes occurs
^ Delitzsch, Introduction to Psalms.
Cf. Ps. xxi. In these and many other examples, I have fol-
lowed the translation of Delitzsch in Clark's Foreign Library. This
writer has paid particular attention to the strophe system of the
Psalms.
62 — VOL. irr.
In the well-known English baUad metre, or common
metre, where the rhymes, instead of being regulai-,
alternate. Take as an example a verse of Keble's
•' Hymn for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity." ^
" How shall we speak to thee, 0 Lor.l,
Or how in silence lie ?
Look on us, and we are abhorred ;
Turn from us, and we die. "
By a similar alternate ai'rangement of coiTespouding
sentiments or of corresjjonding expressions — the He-
brew poets produce an analogous effect.
" Jehovah is my li-^ht and my salvation ;
Whom shall I fear ?
Jehovah is the defence of my life ;
Of whom shall I be afraid ?
" V>'hen the wicked come against me,
To eat up my flesh ;
My oppressors and my enemies to me.
They have stumbled and fallen.
" Though a host should encamp against me.
My heart shall not fear ;
Though war should rise up against me,
In spite of it I will be confident."
(Ps. xxvii. 1— oji
" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
And whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah imputeth no guilt.
And in whose spirit is no self-deceiving."
(Ps. xsxii. 1, 2.)
In this examjile the correspondence of thought is
regular — of form alternate. It should be compared
with the verse from Keble's hymn given above.
" The womb that bore them forgets them ;
The worm feeds sweetly upon them.
They are no more remembered ;
They are broken like a tree." (Job xxiv. 20.)
The New Testament contains examples of this
form : —
" Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat ;
Neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat,
And the body is more than raiment."
(Luke sii. 22, 23.)
" If ye keep my commandments,
Te shall abide in my love ;
Even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
And abide in His love." (John xv. 10. )
There is one psalm in which the arrangement in
strophes of four lines is marked by a peculiar device,
adopted principally by the poets of the later age of
Hebrew poetry. Our Enghsh version of the Scriptures
has partially preseiwed it in Ps. cxix., where the para-
graphs marked by the twenty-two Hebrew letters are
familiar to every one. But our translation does not ex-
hibit the most interesting feature. In the original, each
verse of the twenty-two .sections begins with the same
initial letter, so that the poem forms a kind of acrostic'
There are several of these alphabetical poems pre-
served in the Bible, exhibiting many interesting varieties
in the manner of grouping the initial letters, which
' The example is chosen for the true parallelism between the lines
of the couplets, which however is regular, not, like the rhymes,
alternat-e.
* Cf. Ps. cslii. 5—8; xlviii. 4—8.
^ uKpoo-Ti'xioi', a poem in which the initial letters of the verses
formed a word. Said to have been invented by Epicharraus, a
comic poet, fioruit circ. 500 B.C.
50
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
will receive fuller notice iu a subsequent paper. Bishop
Lowtli made the existence of this arrangement the
starting-point of his system of imrallelism. It lends
strong coufu-matiou to the strophe system. Thus the
quatrains in Ps. xxxvii. — some of them examples of
regular, some of alternate parallelism — are plainly
(listingnlshed, since each stanza begins with its own
initial letter.
" Against tbo ungodly frot not thyself,
uoithor bo tliou envious against the evil-doers ;
for thoy shall soon be cut down like grass,
and be withered even as the green herb.
Be doing good, and put thy trust in the Lord ;
dwell iu the land, and verily thou shalt be fed;
delight thou in Jehovah,
and He shall give thee thy heart's desire."
(Ps. xxxvii. 1 — i.)
(3) Another form assumed by the quatrain, or stanza
of four lines, is exactly analogous to the verse which
Tennyson has employed with such effect in his In
Mennoriam, where the two outer and two inner lines
rhyme.
The example given here has been chosen because it
combines something of the nature of parallelism with
its ovra peculiar and beautifnl rhythm.
" Eing out, wild bells, to the wild sky.
The flying cloud, the frosty light.
The year is dying in the night ;
Eing out, wild bells, and let him die.
" Eing out the old, ring in the new ;
Eing happy bells among the suow.
The year is going : let him go ;
Eing out the false, ring in the true."
Jebb has given to these stanzas the name introverted,
illustrating their structure by a phrase drawn from
military diill. The parallelism is arranged iu an order
that looks inward, or from flatiks to centre. The fol-
lowing will servo as examples : —
" Should Abner die as a malefactor dieth ?
Tliy hands were not bound,
Nor thy feet put in fetters;
As a man falletb before wicked men, so fellest thou."
(2 Sam. iii. 33, 34.)
" At the hearing of the seer, they are obedient unto me ;
Even the sous of strangers do me homage ;
Yea, the sous of strangers fade away ;
They come forth trembling from their strongholds."
(Ps. xviii. 45, 46.)
*' Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes. Thou that dwellost iu the
heavens ;
Behold, as the eyes of servants unto the hand of their
masters,
And as the eyes of a m.aiden unto the hand of lier
mistress,
Even so our eyes look unto Jehovah, our God, until He have
mercy upon us." (Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2.)
The last passage is somewhat difBerently arranged both
})y Ewald and Dolitzsch ; but whatever form the stanza
takeSj there is a marked introversion in the rhythm.
" My son, if thine heart be wise.
My heart also shall rejoice ;
Yea, my veins shall rejoice
When thy lips speak right things."
(Prov. Xiiii. 15, IG.)
" I will redeem them from the hand of the gr.ave ;
I will redeem them from death :
O death, I will be thy plagues ;
O grave, I will be thy destruction." (Hos. xiiL 14.)
Here there is a twofold harmony. The lines in each
couplet are constructively parallel, while the first is
si/nonymous with the last — the second with the third.
In one of the lyric pieces of Isaiah, though the measure
is too free and unconstrained to admit of regular dm-
sion into stroj)hes — a thing rarely possible in the im-
passioned prophetic odes — yet the ruling rhythm is
very plainly marked, and is of the introverted kind.
" And it shall come to pass in that day,
Jehovah shall make a gathering of His fruit.
From the flood of the river.
To the stream of Egypt ;
And ye shall be gleaned up one by one, 0 ye sons of Israel.
" And it shall come to pass in that day,
The great trumpet shall be sounded ;
And those shall come who were perishing in the land of
Assyria,
And who were despised in the land of Egypt ;
And they shall bow themselves down before Jehovah,
In the holy mountain in Jerusalem." (Isa. xxvii. 12, 13.)
Examples of this arrangement are found in the
Gospels and Epistles.
" I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance :
But He who cometh after me is mightier than I,
Of whom I am not worthy to carry the shoes :
He will baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
(Matt. iii. 11.)
(4) The rhythm often flows on into three lines,
making triplets of parallels. The pleasing effect of this
arrangement may be measured by the delight which triple
rhj-mes, occurring now and again in English heroic verse,
cause by their variety. Dante boldly interlaced triplets,
throughout his long majestic poem, into what is known
as the terza rima, where, however, the rhymes alternate.
Tennyson has shown, in his Two Voices, with what
a pleasing effect continuous threefold rhymes may be
carried through a long series of stanzas. According
to Delitzsch's arrangement, Ps. liii. is composed entirely
of stanzas of three lines ; but the parallelism is of a free
kind, and not well marked. The rhythm is much more
distinct in Ps. xcvi., which falls into five regular stroiihes,
three of them consisting of two sets of triplets, with the
symmetiy veiy clearly defined. The other two stanzas
are composed of couplets.
" Sing unto Jehovah a new song ;
Sing unto Jehovah, r 1 ' lauds ;
Sing unto Jehovah, bless His name.
" Cheerfully proclaim His salvation from day to day ;
Declare His glory among the heathen,
His wonders among all people.
" For great is Jehovah, and worthy to be praised exceedingly;
Terrible is He above all gods ;
For all the gods of the people are idols.
But Jehovah hath made the heavens.
Brightness and splendour are before Him ;
Might and beauty are in His sanctuary.
" Give unto Jehovah, O ye races of the peoples.
Give unto Jehovah glory and might ;
Give unto Jehovah the honour of His name.
" Take ofFerixgs and come into His courts :
Worship Jehovah in holy attire ;
Tremble before Him all lands.
" Say among the heathen, ' Jehovah is now king,
Therefore the world will stand without tottering ;
He will govern the people with uprightness.'
" The heavens shall rejoice.
And the earth be glad ;
The sea shall roar, and its fulness.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
51
" The field shall esnlt and all that is therein.
Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy
Before Jehovah, for He cometh :
For He cometh to judge the earth.
He shall judge the earth iu righteousness.
And the peoples iu His faithfuluess."
But the most undoubted example is afforded by the
two magnificent elegiac poems wliich form the first part
of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. In these we have
the sure guide of the alphabetical arrangement; and
though each line is itself a complete specimen of the
Hebrew rhythmic form, being divided into two parts,
with a strongly-marked caesura, or pause, Uke a Greek
pentameter verse, yet the presence of the acrostic prin-
ciple, which determines the time close of each strophe,
leaves no doubt that the poem is composed in triplets.
■" Ah, how doth the city sit soli- otherwise f uU of people,
tary I
She is become as a widow, the great one among nations.
The princess among provinces, she is become tributary.
By night she weepeth sore ; and her tears are upon her
cheeks.
There is not one to comfort her ; of all her lovers.
All her friends have betrayed they are become her enemies."
her ; (Lamen. i. 1, 2.)
The Poem of Job is cast in a very simple style of
Terse. Only once or twice in a chapter does the rhythm
vary from the uniform couplet, and take the ti-iple form.
The examples are chiefly of the synonymous and con-
structive kind.
" If the days of man are determined,
If the number of his months are with Thee,
Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass."
(Job V. 5.)
"" Man has moved back the limits of darkness ;
He searches into the furthest deeps,
The stones hidden in the shadow of death.
He digs, far from the beaten road, trenches.
Which the feet of the living know not ;
He suspends himself and swings, far from the abode of men."i
(Job xxviii. 3, 4.)
The grand Temple Hymn (Ps. cxxxvi.) is in great
part composed of triple parallels, with the additional
feature of a refrain introduced after each line.
" 0 give thanks unto Jehovah, for He is good ;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
■ Give thanks unto the God of Gods ;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
Give thanks unto the Lord of Lords ;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him who alone doeth great wonders ;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens ;
For His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him who stretched out the earth above the waters ;
For His mercy endureth for ever."
The New Testament contains many instances where
these connected and correspondent lines are, at least^
•constructively parallel, and form within themselves a
■distinct sentence, or significant part of a sentence.
" The foxes have holes,
And the birds of the air have nesta ;
But the Son of man hath not where to lay His head."
(Matt. viii. 20.)
Woe unto theHi ! for in the way of Cain have they walked.
And in the error of Balaam's reward they have run greedily
on.
And in the gainsaying of Korah they have perished."
(Jude 11.)
' It is a description of the ancient mode of mining.
" Put forth thy sickle and reap.
For the season of reaping is come ;
For the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Put forth thy sharp sickle,
And gather in the clusters of the vine of the earth ;
For its grapes have reached their full growth."
(Rev. siv. 15—18.)
We must not pass from this part of our subject
without mentioning the prevailing rhythm of David's
grand ode, preserved for us in Ps. xviii. and in 1 Sam.
xxii. It is composed of ten strophes, of nearly equal
length and similarity of construction, the measure
flowmg evenly along in couplets tiU the close of the
stanzas, where a triplet (which is sometimes doubled)
is introduced with something of that delightfid sense
of fulness and richness of sound which is given in the
Spenserian metre by the concluding Alexandrine.'
( " For who is God save Jehovah?
( Who is a rock except our God ?
{He is the God that hath girded me with strength.
And cleared my way before me.
f He made my feet like hart's feet,
( And setteth me up upon the high places of the land,
f He traineth mine hands to war,
( So that mine arms should bend even a bow of steel.
C Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation ;
•< ' Thy right hand upholdetli me ;
(. Thy graciousness doth lift me up."
(Ps. xviii. 31—35.)
(5) The preceding forms of verse are known in some
systems by the name equal complex parallelisms,
becatise there is in all of them a certain equivalence
between the members. But there are also forms iu
which this symmetry does not exist. The rhythm, not
exhausted in the couplet, is often completed by a line
which has no con-esponding or parallel verse, as in
the following example from the Song of Moses and
Miriam : —
C" Thy right hand, © Jehovah, is glorious in power ;
-^ Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the
(_ enemy ;
And in the greatness of Thy majesty hast Thou over-
thrown them that rose up against thee."
And in this instance of the synthetic kind :
f " He that putteth not out his money to usury,
\ Nor taketh reward against the innocent ;
He that doeth these things shall never be moved."
(Ps. XV. 5.)
The single line may precede the couplet, as in the
opening of Deborah's magnificent ode.
" Hear, O ye kings ; give ear, O ye princes !
I I to Jehovah, even I, will sing ;
\ Will sound the harp to Jehovah, God of Israel."
- There occurs in Shakespeare's Henry IV. a very perfect and
beautiful specimen of triple parallelism. It occurs in the sick
king's soliloquy : —
(1) " Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoking cribs,
(2) Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
(3) And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumbers,
(1) Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
(2) Under the canopies of costly state,
(3) And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody ? "
The arrangement of the equivalent forms is marked by the figures
— (1) answers to (1) ; (2) to (2) ; (3) to '3). The accidental rhyme
shows how much of the pleasure derived from metre depends on our
anticipation. We look for rhyn^es in Shakespeare at the close of
a speech, and there they are very beautiful and effective ; but the
consonance of state with great in these lines is a blemish. The
parallel rhythm, imcertainand loose as its laws are, compared with
the rules of Greek or Latin prosody, derives its power and beauty
from the fact that the ear naturally looks for it. Hence it has ita
place even in poetry formed on quite different systems of rhythm.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
From this arrangement a stanza of five linos naturally
gi-ows. Its form ^vill vary with the po>^itiou of what we
may call the unrlujmed line.
The shortest of the Psalms is an example with the
single line falling at the end.
" Praise Jehovah, all ye peoples ;
Magnify Him, all ye nations of the earth !
For His merciful kindness is ever towards us,
And the truth of Jehovah endureth for ever.
Praise Jehovah." (Ps. csvii.)
In the following it begins the verse : —
" Yet Thou art holy, sitting enthroned above the princes of
Israel !
In Thee our fathers trusted;
They trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
Unto Thee they cried, and were freed ;
In Thee trusting, they were not put to shame."
This instance from the New Testament exhibits the
iinrhymed line in the middle : —
J " For they who sleep sleep in the night,
I And they who are drunken are drunken in the nijjht;
But let us who are of the day be sober ;
f Putting on the breastplate of faith and love,
\ And for an helmet the hope of salvation."
(6) A stanza of four verses is sometimes formed by
the oecnrreuce of an iinrhymed line before or after
triplets.
( " Give ear unto my words, O Jehovah :
< Consider my meditation.
\ O hearken Thou to the voice of my calling, my King and my God,
For unto Thee will I make my prayer."
Psalm xxix. opens Avith a fine specimen of this verse,
and contains beautiful examples of the different kinds
of five-line stanzas.
" Give unto Jehovah, ye sons of God,
Give unto Jehovah glory and strength !
Give unto Jehovah the honour due unto His name ;
Worship Jehovah in holy apparel.
" Hark ! Jehovah is above the waters ;
The God of glory thundereth,
Jehovah above the water-floods.
Hark ! Jehovah is in power ;
Hark ! Jehovah is in majesty.
" Hark, Jehovah ! He breaketh the cedar- trees ;
How Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon,
And maketh them skii^ like calves ;
Lebanon also and Sirion like young buffaloes.
Hark, Jehevah ! how He flasheth forth flames of fire !
" Hark ! Jehovah shaketh the wilderness ;
Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
Hark ! Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve.
And strippeth the forests of their leaves ;
While in His palace everything ehouteth ' Glout ! '
" Jehovah hath His seat above the mighty flood ;
Tea, Jehovah shall sit as a king for ever !
Jehovah will give strength unto His people ;
Jehovah shall give His people the blessing of peace."
(7) A stanza of six lines is also fonned hv the combi-
nation of two sets of unequal complex verses. Psahn c.
opens Avith an example.
" Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all yc lands.
( Serve Jehovah with gladness ;
( Come before Him with rejoicing.
Know ye that Jehovah is God :
f He hath made us, and His we are ;
( His people and the flock of His pasture."
This is the prevailing rhythm of DaA^id's touching
elegy over his friend Jonathan and King Saul. The
sad and passionate cry, " How are the mighty fallen ! "
which is the key-note of the dirge, the substance
probably of the wail, caught up and prolonged by the
crowd of mourners, I'lms with wayward beauty through
the verses, without interrupting the measure.
" The beauty of the forest, 0 Israel, is slain upon thy heights i
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 uucircumcised triumph !
" Ye mountains of Gilboa, let no dew nor rain come upon yon
and your fields of offerings ;
For there the shield of the mighty is stained,
The bow of Saul not anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty.
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 were not divided :
They were swifter than eagles, and stronger than lionSv
Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet, with delights ;
Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
" How are the miglity fallen in the midst of the battle !
Jonathan slain upon thy heights'.
I am distressed for thee, Jonathan, my brother :
Very pleasant hast thou been to me ;
Thy love to me was wonderful— yea, passing the love of
women.
" How are the niighUj fallen, and the weapons of war perished ! "
It would be useless to attempt to cari-y our classifica-
tion further. The modifications are endless. The
rhythm of the more animated odes obeys no known-
rules. We have analogies in Enghsh metres. In verse
like that of Coleridge's Christabel, the poet follows
no guide but his ear. The length of the line and
position of the rhyme are, apparently, arbitrarily chosen.
In reality, they are subject to a higher law than those of
prosody. They are .swayed by the artist's taste, and
musical feeling, and the natui-e of the inspiration by
which he is moved. So it was with the poets of Israel.
Wliile they seem to be emancipated fromaU law, a just
perception of beauty guides them, even in their most
impassioned moods ; and always, as the storm of feeling
subsides over a calmed sea, the regular wave-beat of
the standard rhythm makes itself heard again, witli its.
powerful, if monotonous, repetitions, its solemn and'
majestic sound, as of " deep calling to deep."
BIBLE WORDS.
53
BY THE REV.
BIBLE WORDS.
EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PR.ECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
5EBIES I. — OBSOLETE WOEDS AND PHRASES.
: HE object of this series of papers is to ex-
plain and illnstrate the obsolete and archaic
words andphrases in the Authorised Version
of the Bible.' For the sake of clearness,
It has been thought desirable to divide these words
ajid phrases into classes, and arrange them under
corresponding heads. It is, therefore, proposed to give
(1) those words and phrases that have dropped out of
use, either absolutely, or in the sense and construction
employed in the Authorised Version ; (2) those words
which have been elevated, and (3) those which have
deteriopated in meaning ; (4) those that have been ex-
tended, and (5) those that have been narrowed in signi-
f^ation; and, finally, those which, without accurately
c6ming under any of the above distinctions, have either
been (6) strengthened, or (7) weakened iu force.
The present series will give, in alphabetical order, the
words and phrases that have become nearly or quite
obsolete.
All to, altogether, entirely. In Judg. ix. 53 we
read of Abimelech when besieging Thebez, " that a
certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abime-
lech's head, and all to brake his scull." Few passages
in the English Bible are more generally misunderstood,
especially by those who only hear it read. Those un-
acquainted with the archaism naturally interpret the
phrase as meaning "for the purpose of breaking,"
"with the full intent to break," thus indicating the
object, not the result of the woman's act. As a proof
of the prevalence of this error, it may be remarked
that in some editions of the English Bible of high
authority, including Bagster's earlier editions of the
Pohjglott and the Treasury Bible, we find the infinitive
" aU to break," instead of the past " all to brake." The
Hebrew word pv simply signifies " brake," or " crushed,"
with no intensive force.
It is not very easy to decide whether our translators
intended to connect to with the preceding or the suc-
ceeding word — i.e., whether they intended that we
should read "all-to brake" or "all to-brake." Both
forms have sufficient authority, though there is little
doubt that to more properly belongs to the verb, as an
intensive prefix. This form has descended from the
Anglo-Saxon, where it is of constant occui-rence — e.g., to-
borsten, to burst asunder ; to-cinan, to cleave asunder ;
to-teran, to tear in pieces ; and is found very frequently
in mediaeval English — e.g., in " Piers the Plowman,"
to-brohe, to-lugged ; and in Wiclif 's Bible " the veil of
the Temple was to -rent " (Matt, xxvii. 51). To this all
was superadded to impart a further increase of strength
' I desire to acknowledge, once for all, my obligations to Mr.
W. Aldis Wright's Bible Word Bool:, from which many of the
examples are borrowed.
—e.g., in the " Mirror for Magistrates," all-to-dasht ;
Grower, *' Confessio Amantis," al-to-tore ; Chaucer,
'■ Knight's Tale," a lis to-hroTcen ; and in Wiclif's Bible,
" lest houndis turned togidre al to breJce you " (Matt,
-siii. 6) ; " Be al to derated the eyes of hem that thei
see not " (Ps. Ixis. 23). In process of time the prefix
to" was separated from the verb or participle and con-
nected with all, in the sense of altogether. This seems
to have been the usage of the Elizabethan writers — e.g.,
Calfhill, A7is%cer to Martial (Parker Soc), "The
blade itself is all to behacked " (p. 3) ; " Serapis and
his priests were all to be crossed '' (p. 91) ; and Latimer,
" Smiling speakers creep into a man's bosom they love,
and all to love him" [Sermons, p. 289) ; "We be fallen
into the dirt, and all be all to dirtied, even up to the
ears" {Remains, p. 397). It is met with frequently
in Spenser : —
" With briars and bashes all to rent and scratched."
(Faery Queen, iv. 7, 8.)
And it is found in Shakespeare, but only in doubtful
and minor works : —
" The very principals (main timbers) did seem to rend.
And oW to topple." (Pericles, iii. 2, 17.)
It is also employed by Milton, but evidently archai-
cally : —
" And wisdom's self
Oft seeks to sweet retired soKtude,
"Where with her best nurse, Contemplation,
She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings
That in the various bustle of resort
"Were all to ruffled and sometimes impaired." (Comus.)
Ancients (subst.), old men, elders. " The Lord will
enter into judgment with the ancients of his people"
(Isa. iii. 14) ; " The Lord shall reign. . . . before his
ancients gloriously" (Isa. xxiv. 23) ; " I understood more
than the ancients" (Ps. cxix. 100) ; also Jer. xix. 1 ; Ezek.
vii. 26 ; "viii. 11 ; xxvii. 9. The word " ancient," though
famDiar enough to us an adjective, has entirely dropped
out of use as a substantive, as which it was employed by
the writers of the sixteenth century. Hooker so uses it,
sometimes as in the Authorised Version, in the plural,
"that for which the ancients so oft and so highly com-
mend the former [invention]" {Eccl. Pol, v. 39, 5),
sometimes as in the Geneva rendering of Ps. cxix. 100,
" I understood more than the ancient," in the singular —
e.g., " scholars and followers of the ancient" {t. 7, 3).
Angle {subst.). This word, which is now used ex-
clusively as a verb, " to angle," is found twice in the
Authorised Version as a noun substantive, in the sense
of a " fish-hook." This must indeed have been its earlier
meaning, its use as a verb being a derived one. For
angle is a pui-e old English substantive, inherited from
our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. The passages in the Au-
thorised Ver.sion where it occurs are Isa. xix. 8, " The
fishers also shall mourn : and all they that cast angle
into the brooks shall lament ; " and Hab. i. 15, "They
54
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in
their net, and gather them in their drag." In both
places " angle " is found in the Geneva Bible. This
use of the word may be illustrated from Shjikespcai-e,
■who employs it both as a verb, as nowadays, and as a
noun : —
" He that hath kill'd my king ....
Popp'd in between the election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life."
(Hamlet, Act v., so. 5.)
It is found as late as Pope, biit probably adopted as an
aichaism : —
" A soldier now he with his sword appears,
A fisher next his trembling angle bears."
(Pope, Vcrtumnus and Pomona.)
Anon (adv.), immediately, soon after. It is a striking
instance of the mutability of language, that this little
word, which was one of the most familiar in the daily
intercourse of our forefathers, should have dropped so
entii'cly out of use as to need intei-pretation. It occurs
only twice in the Authorised Version, Matt. xiii. 20,
" He that received the seed into stony places, the same
is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it ;" and Mark i. 30, " Simon's wife's mother lay sick of
a fever, and anon they tell him of her." In each case
the word is the same usually rendered " immediately."
It comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon on an, in one —
i.e., in one instant. It is of constant occurrence in
Tyndalo's Testament — e.g., Mark i. 20, "And anon hee
called them, and they leeft thoii* father Zebede in the
shippe ; " and the Geneva Bible — e.g., Mark ii. 2, " And
anon many gathered together, insomuch that the places
about the door could not receive any more ; " and is
found abimdantly in Shakespeare. To take one example
out of many :—
" Anon a careless herd,
Full of the pasture, jumps along by him
And never stays to greet him."
(^s You Like It, Act. ii., se. 1.)
Astonied (part.), another form of astonished, used
contemporaneously with it, with no vai-iation of mean-
ing, and no apparent principle to determine the selec-
tion. At the time of the publication of the Authorised
Version, " astonished " was the favourite form, occur-
ring nearly four times as often as the alternative form
"astonied," which wc only find nine times : Ezek. ix. 4,
" I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice ; " Job xvii.
8, " Upright men shall be astonied at this ; " xviii. 20 ;
Isa. lii. 14, " As many were astonied at thee (his visage
was so mari'ed more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men); so shall he sprinkle many
nations;" Jer. xiv. 9; Ezek. iv. 17; Dan. iii. 24; iv.
19 ; V. 9. This form was inherited from Wiclif 's
version, where it is found not unfrequently — e.g., Mark
ix. 14, " And anoon al the puplo seynge Jhesu was as-
tonyed, and thei dredden ; and thei rennynge grettcn
hym;" Acts ii. 7, " AUe was astonyed, and wondriden ;"
and from the Geneva Bible, where it is found ia all the
passages but two in which it appears in the Authorised
Version, and many other besides. The ward appears in
various shapes in early writers. Thus we have asioned
in Chaucer : —
" For which this Emclye astoncd was,
And seide, ' What amouuteth this alias ! ' "
(KnigWs Tale, 1503. >
And in Spenser astownd ; —
" The gyant selfe dismaied with that sownd
In hast came rushing forth from inner bowre
With staring countenance sterne, as one astoKnd."
In the Geneva Bible " astoined :" "And they were
astoined at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that
had authority" (Mark ii. 22). Sackville gives as the
form stoynde, from which, as Mr. Wright remarks {Bible
Word Booh, p. 42), the transition is easy to the form
stxmned, which is etymologically the same. For in-
stance, " Alexander fighting against the Mallians had a
blowo with a dart on his necke, that so astonied him
that he leaned against the wall, looking upon his-
enemies" (North's Pi«torc/i, "Alex.").
In Wiclif we find " stonying " f or "astonishment"
— e.g. : " Thei weren abaischid with, a greet stonying "
Mar. V. 42.
Milton uses "astonied," but probably, as poets arc
wont to do, as an archaism : —
" Adam, soon as he heard
The fatal trespass done by Eve, amaz'd,
Astonied stood, and blank." {Parad. Lost, ix.)
Both astonished and astonied come to us from th&
Norman-French estonnir, to astonish, amaze, derived
from the Latin attonare, attonitus, to thunder at, to
stun. Kindred forms are the Anglo-Saxon stunian, to
stun ; the German erstaunen, to be astonished ; and
the modern Fi-ench etonner.
Avoid [verb int.). The use of this verb in an in-
transitive sense in 1 Sam. xviii. 11, "David avoided
out of his presence twice," is supported by examples
from Shakespeare and other early writers — e.g.,
"Well done; avoid; no more." (Shakespeare, Tempest, iv. 1.)
" Pray you avoid the house . . . Hera's no place for you ; pray
you awid; come." (Coriol., iv. 5.)
" They made proclamation by sound of trumpet that all the
Volsces should avoid out of Rome before sunset," (North, Plv.tarch,
p. 195.)
Bestead {'part.) is found once in the Authorised
Version, Isa. ^^ii. 21, " They shall pass through it,
hardly bestead and hungry," when it represents the
Hebrew nir;??, niqsheh, " hardly dealt with," " mal-
treated." It is formed from the Anglo-Saxon root
stede, place, position, which wo still find in current
speech ui the forms "mstead of," = "in place of," "to
stand in good stead," "homostead," " steady," &c., and
signifies "placed," "situated," either well or ill, but
rather more usually the latter ; its precise sense de-
pending on the qiialifying adverb. We have examples
of its use in Chaucer, in some of which it is used for
distressed, without an adverb : —
" And swiche a colour in his face hath how
Men mighten know him that was so hestad
Amonges all the faces in that route."
(Man 0/ lous' Tale, 5069.)
BIBLE WORDS.
55
It only occurs once in Sliakespeare : —
" I never saw a fellow icorse hested,
Or more afraid to figbt than is the appellant. "
(2 Hen. VI., ii. 3.)
Bewray (verb trans.). This obsolete n'ord, which
is found four times in the English Bible, from the
accidental similarity of sound and sense is often sup-
posed to be another form of " betray." The two, how-
ever, come from entirely different roots; the latter
coming thi'ough the French trahir from the Latin traclo,
while beioray is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ivregan,
or ivreian, to accuse, connected with the German rilgen,
to reprove, censure, blame, and the idea of treachery
belonging to betiny is absent. In aU passages where
it is found in the Authorised Yersion, it merely signifies
to make knoAvn, proclaim, discover. Thus Prov. xxvii.
16, " Whoso hideth her (a contentious woman) hideth
the wind, and the ointment of his right hand which
heivrcnjeth itself ; " xxix. 24, " Whoso is partner with a
thief hateth his own soul ; he heareth cursing : and be-
lorayeth it not;" Isa. xvi. 3, ''Hide the outcasts; bewray
not him that wandereth ; " Matt. xxvi. 73, " Sui*ely thou
(Peter) also art one of them ; for thy speech bewrayeth
thee." In the last passage Wielif's version runs, " thi
speche makith the opyn."
We have the word in Chaucer : —
" O messager, fulfilled of dronkenesse
Strong is thy breth, thy limmes faltren ay
And thou hewreiest allQ secrenesse."
(Mail 0/ loiLs' Talc, 5193.)
" 0 blisful God that art so just and trewe,
Lo ! how that thou hijv:reyest mcrdre alway !
Mordre wil out, that we se day by day."
{Nun's Priest's Tah, 1556.)
It is frequent in Shakespeare : —
" Here comes the queen, whose looks heicray her anger."
(3 Hen. YI., i. 1.)
The uncompounded verb loray, or ivreie, is used by
Chaucer in the same sense : —
" Tet eft I thee beseech, and fully say
That privete go with us in this caas
That is to saine, that thou us never icray."
{Troilus and Cress., iii. 285.)
Boiled (part). Few words in our English Bible are
more generally unintelligible than this, which, as it is
read year by year in the first eveuiug lesson for Pahn
Simday (Exod. ix. 31), probably conveys no definite
meaning to nine-tenths of the congi-egation. The word
signifies " swollen," " podded for seed," and is an archaic
word somewhat unfortunately preserved by our trans-
lators from the earlier version — e.g., that of 1551, and
the Geneva Bible of 1560. Wiclifs vigorously idio-
matic rendering is "the flax buroiwnde coddes"
(burgeoned, shot forth). The word is connected with a
root denoting a swelling roundness, which has many
representatives in our own and the kindi-ed languages —
e.g., in English, bole (of a tree), boil, ball, billotv, boicl,
belly, bolster ; in German belle, a bulb, a ball ; Dutch,
bol, bolle, a head ; Latin, bulla, a bubble. Boll is
defined by Wedgwood as " the roiuid heads or seed-
vessels of flax, poppy (BaUey) or the like," and by
HaUiweU, Provincial Dictionary, as " a bud, a pod
for seed."
The original sense of "swelling" maybe illustrated
abundantly from oiu' early literature, and jjarticularly
from Wiclifs Bible — e.g.. Gen. xxxi. 36, " And Jacob
bohvjde (" was wi'oth," Authorised Yersion) and seide
with strijf, For what cause of me, and for what synne
of me, hast thou come so fersly aftir me ?" Dent. xvii.
13, " AU the pui)le schal here and drede that no man
fro thennus forth bolne with pride" ("do no more
presumptuously," Autharised Yersion); 2 Tim. iii. 4,
"bollun with pronde thonghtis;" Col. ii. 18, "bolnyd
with witt of his fleisch " (" vainly puffed up by his
fleslily iniud," Authorised Yersion).
We have the following illustration from Chaucer :—
" But this welle, that I hereof rehearse.
So holsome was that it would aswage
Bolleu hearts." {Black KrUgM, \. 101.)
And from Surrey : —
" Like to the adder with venimous herbes fed,
When cold winter all bolne hid under ground."
{jEneid, ii. 616.)
Mr. Earle wi-ites of the form boivln, it is "a relic of
a forcible word in Saxon poetry, gebolgcn = ' swollen,'
generally with anger."
Bravery (subst.) is once found in the Authorised
Yersion in the sense of finery, splendid attu'e, Isa. iii.
18, " In that day the Lord wiU take away tlie bravery
of then." tuikling ornaments." A similar meaning is
borne by the French brave, gay, fine, gorgeous in ap-
parel, and the verb brdver, to swagger ui fine clothes ;
the Italian bravare, to flaunt, to vaunt one's person^
connected with French braguer, the Scotch braio, and
our own brag. Bravery in the sense of splendid di'css
is of frequent occurrence down to the end of the seven-
teenth centmy : —
" From royal court I lately came (said he)
"Where all the hraverie that eye may see.
And all the happinesse that heart desire
Is to be found." (Spenser, Mo'Jicr Hubbard's Tale.)
"With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery,"
(Shakespeare, Taming of the Slirew, iv. 3.)
Bray {verb trans.), to pound, or beat to p)'iec£s, es-
pecially used of the action of a pestle and mortal", is
foimd once in the Authorised Yersion, Prov. xxvii. 22,
" Though then shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among
wheat with a pe-stle, yet will not his foohshness depart
from him." It is derived from the French brayer, to
beat small, and in English seems to have been confined
to the use indicated in the passage of Proverbs. Nares,
in his Glossary, gives several instances of this use from
GUI' early dramatists. Richardson also furnishes this
apposite example from Lord Berners' translation or
Fi'oissart, " The Englysshmen were fayne to gather the
thysteUes in the feldes and braye tliem in a moi-tar,
and temper it with water, and make therof a passte,
and so bake it to ete, suche povertie they endui-ed."
56
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
EASTEEX GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
a somow
count ly
THE JORDAN VALLEY AND THE DEAD SEA.
BY MAJOR WILSON, E.E.
rapid course or its descent, so to speak, into the very
bowels of the earth.
The Jordan is formed by the junction of three streams
— the Hasbany, the Leddan, and the Banias ; the first,
issuing from a large fountain near Hasbeya, on the
western slopes of Anti-Lebanon, at an altitude of 1.700
HE peculiar character of the Jordan as
a purely inland river, running, for a large
portion of its course below the level of
the sea, has already lyocu noticed, but
hat fuller description of the river, aud the
through which it flows, seems necessary to
CAVERN AT BANIAS FEOM WHICH THE JORDAN ISfeUE.i.
(From PhotO'jraph taken for the Palestine Exploration Fuiid.)
enable the reader to follow the minuter details which
it is proposed to give in the following paper. !
The Nayne. — According to a tradition at least as old
as St. Jerome (400 a.d.) the Jordan derived its name
from the two streams which rise at Bauias and Tell el
Kady, the former being called Jor, the latter Dan.
This tradition is, however, erroneous, for it would
apiiear from Genesis xiii. 10 that the river was kno^vn \
to Abram as the Jordan long before the Danit<>s
settled at Laish, and " called the name of the city Dan,
after the name of Dan their father." The true deriva-
tion of the name would seem to be from " Tared," to
descend, and, except in two instances, it is always
written in the Bible with the definite article, the Jordan,
that is, " the descender," possibly in allusion to its
feet above the level of the sea, n;ns down the mouutain
glen of Wady et Teim to the plain of El Huleh, cutting
for itself a deep chasm in the rock ; the second flows
from the fountain at Tell el Kady, 701 feet above the
sea ; and the third derives its supply of wat-er from
the springs which weU up at the foot of a mound in
front of the great cavern at Banias, at the base of
Mount Hermon, aud 1,140 feet above the sea. The
three streams run together at the lower end of the
plain El Huleh, and shortly afterwards the Jordau
loses itself in a morass and spreads out into the lake
El Huleh, the "waters of Merom" of the Bible; this
lake is four and a quarter mUes long, two and three-
quarter miles wide, and 373 feet above the sea. For
two miles after leading the lake the river runs with
EASTERN" GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
a siuggisii current, but it tlien
enters a narrow gorge, with
high and somewhat precipitous
hills on either side, and for the
next nine miles is a foaming
torrent descending nearly 900
feet to the level of the Sea of
Gahlee, which Ues 626 feet
below the Mediterranean. The
Sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped
sheet of water, the broad end
being towards the north; the
greatest width is six and three-
quarter miles, and the extreme
length twelve and a q^uarter
miles; the lake is almost sur-
rounded by hills, from 1,000 to
1,500 feet high, that occasionally
recede from the shore, gi^•iug
place to small plains, one of
which is the Plain of Grenne-
sareth. Between the Sea of
Galilee and the Dead Sea, a dis-
tance of 66 miles, the Jordan
vaUey, or, as it is here called,
the " Ghor," is from one to
twelve miles wide; the vaUey
is in some places exceedingly
fertile, in others perfectly bar-
ren; it is bounded on the west
by the mountain system of
Palestine, and towards the sun-
rising by the edge of the great
eastern plateau. The river
descends with innumerabb
windings through a lower valley
of its own, from 40 to 100 feet
Ijelow the level of the Ghor, and
along its margin there is a belt
of tropical jungle, which is fre-
quently alluded to in the Bible
as the " excellency" or " pride "
of Jordan, usually in connection
with the lions that were wont
to dwell in it. So tortuous is
the course of the river, that
though the two seas are only 66
miles apart, its actual length is
about 200, and in this distance
there is a fall of 666 feet. Tlie
Dead Sea, which I'eceives th.i
waters of the Jordan, is 1,292
feet below the Mediterranean,
and is about 46 miles long, its
greatest width being ten and a
haH miles. On the east and
west the lake is shut in by the
barren hiUs which rise abruptly
from its shores, but at its
so'athern end there is a level
58
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
plain — and then the ground rises to the ridge 787 feet
above the sea — wliich separates the waters of tlie Dead
Sea from those of the Red Sea. The shores of the Dead
Sea are generally barren, but there are not wanting
little oases, the luxuriant vegetation of wliich has
frequently called forth the admiration of travellers.
There are two points connected with the Jordan
which may be mentioned here — its overflow and its
importance as a boundary. In Joshua iii. 15, we are
told that Jordan " overfloweth all his banks all the
time of harvest," April and May ; and in 1 Chron.
xii. 15, that Jordan had " overflown all his banks " in
the first month — that is, in the month Nisan, which
commenced with the new moon of March or April.
The water in the Jordan is at its highest level in March,
Aj)ril, and May, after the cessation of the rainy season,
but the physical features of the coimtiy are such that
no sudden rise of the river woidd be likely to cause a
large inundation, the Sea of Galilee acting as a regu-
lator to the flow of water, and the terraced banks of
Jordan preventing the spread of its waters over any
large portion of the valley. A more correct rendering
of the original woiUd be that Jordan " is full up to all
his banks" or runs with fidl banks, and this is true at
the present day, the river rising to the level of its banks
after the rains, and only overflowing them to a short
distance in exceptional places. The great depressed
valley of the Jordan formed a natural di\dsion of the
country, dividing it sharply into two regions, and this
separation was the more strongly marked by the diffi-
culty of crossing the river at certain seasons of the
year, and also of obtaining access to it, the only roads to
the valley being rough paths down a few steep water-
courses. The isolation of the two and a haK tribes on
the east of Jordan was in some measure due to this
feature, and we find the sacred writers, who for the
most part lived on the west, continually alluding to the
eastern districts as " beyond Jordan," or " on the other
side of Jordan."
The Jordan Valley is naturally di\-idcd into three
sections; from the soiu'ces of the river to Lake Huleh,
from Lake Huleh to the Sea of Galilee, and from the
Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and in the remarks that
follow it will be well to consider each of these sections
separately.
I. — FROM THE SOURCES OF THE JORDAN TO LAKE
HULEH.
The remotest perennial source of the Jordan is the
great fountain of Fuarr, in the bed of Wady et Teim,
not far from Hasbeya, which gives birth to the Hasbany
stream. Higher up the A-alley there are several springs
on the slopes of Anti-Lebanon, but their waters do not
form any continuous stream, except perhaps those from
Ain Ala, in the Wady Sefineh ; ' in the rainy season,
however, and during the melting of the snows on
Mount Hermon, a great body of water descends from
the heights above Rasheya. In the pool of Fuarr, at
1 This stream has not been thoroughly examined during the
dry season.
the foot of a bold cliff, the water bubbles up in twenty
different fountains, and almost immediately falls over
a weu* some ten feet high. A little lower the infant
Jordan is spanned by its first bridge, and the river
then bends "Avith all the waywardness of a Highland
trout stream ; thick trees hang over its clear surging
water.s, and reeds fill the bays twenty feet high, while
rocks and a thousand hanging straggling creepers on
them, tangle together over silent pools." - About six
miles below Hasbeya, a large stream comes in from Ain
Seraiyib, at the foot of Mount Hermon, and shortly
afterwards the river issues on the volcanic plain of
Hideh, running in a narrow chasm from fifty to sixty
feet deep ; on its way it receives the waters from the
fountain of Luweizeh, near El Ghujar, and a stream
from the plain of Ijon ; at El Ghujar there is a bridge,
and a mile below this the gorge ends abruptly. At
Hasbeya the custom of cooling the drinking wator with
snow, which seems to be alluded to in Prov. xxv. 13,
still exists, but it is curious that this, the largest branch
of the river, is not mentioned in the Bible or by any
ancient writer as one of the sources of Jordan.
The plain of Huleh, which descends in a sei-ies of
ten'aces to the lake of the same name, is remarkable
for its exuberant fertility, and is the granaiy of the
surroimding coimtry ; the climate is hot and enervating,
and the i^eople live in huts composed of the long babeer
canes that gi-ow in the neighboui'ing swamps to a
height of fifteen feet. It is this district, with its rich
basaltic soil, irrigated by a thousand riUs drawn off
from the som-ces of the Jordan, of which the Danite
spies reported that it was very good, " a place where
there is no want of anything that is in the eai'th," and
in its centre rises the moimd that marks the site of
Laish, where the Danites settled themselves after
driving out the little Phoenician colony from Sidon.
On the Huleh plain, too, the forces of Chedorlaomer
were signally defeated by Abram ; it would appear that
Sodom, GomoiTah, and the other cities of the plain,
after having paid tribute to the King of Elam^ for
twelve years, had revolted and been defeated in the vale
of Siddim by Chedorlaomer, and the kings who had
accompanied him from Mesopotamia. Loaded vrith
booty and prisoners, amongst whom was Lot, the army
on its homeward march halted on the rich j)lain round
the fountain of Dan, and here it was surprised by
Abram, who, on hearing of the capture of Lot, hastily
gathered his sei-vants together, and, advancing north-
wards from Hebron by forced marches, fell upon the
invaders during the night, and " before they could arm
themselves, he slew some of them as they were in their
beds, before they could suspect any harm ; and others
who were not yet gone to sleep, but were so drunk they
could not fight, ran away." ■* After pursuing the
enemy for two days, as far as Hobah, near Damascus,
Abram retmmed laden with spoil, bringing back with
2 " Roh Boy " on the Jordan, p. 202.
3 Elam is that portion of modem Persia which lies immediately
east of Babyloa.
■* Joseph., Antiq., i. 10, 1.
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
59
kirn Lot and the -n^omen and people who had been
earned away.
On the right or western bank of the Hasbauy, near
the foot of the hills, there is a curious isolated hill on
which stands the modern village of Abil ; traces of old
foundations and builduags can still be seen on the
mound, tlie remains of Abel of Beth-Maachah, where
Sheba, the son of Bichri, was besieged by Joab. A
moimd had been cast up against the city, and " it stood
in the trench," when the remarkable scene occiuTed
which is described in 2 Samuel xx. 15, ending in the
murder of Sheba, whose head was cast out of the city
to Joab.
The mound that marks the site of Laish has already
been alluded to as rising in the centre of the Huleh
plaui ; this mound, now called Tell el Kady (the hill of
the judge), an Arabic translation of the old name Dan
(the judge), is the birthplace of the largest source of
Jordan. On this hill the wandering colony of Danites
set up the gi-aveu image which they had stolen from
Micah on their journey northwards, and instituted an
order of priesthood which lasted till the ark was cap-
tured by the Philistines at the battle of Aphek. Of
the nature of this irregular worship we know nothing,
but it was j)robably owiug to its previous sanctity as
a " holy place '' that Dan was selected by Jeroboam as
one of the sites on which to set up the worship of
tlie golden calf ; in the reign of Baasha, Dan was taken
by Ben-Hadad, King of Syria ; and after this we hear
no more of it in the Bible, though it appears to have
existed as a village down to the time of St. Jerome.
The mound is an ii-regular cup -shaped oval, 300 yards
long and 250 yards wide, elevated from twenty-five to
thu-ty feet above the plain ; the entire surface is covered
with ruins, m which the plan of no single buUding can
be traced. There are two springs, the princiiDal one,
risiug at the north-west end of the moimd, forms a
small pool of purest erystal water, and then rushes off,
a full-grown stream, to the lake below; the second
bubbles up in the midst of a tangled thicket in the
centre of the enclosure, and flows past the tomb of
Sheikh Hazraik and a magnificent oak tree, to join the
larger branch. Following down the western bank of
the united stream, we soon come to a little mound which
marks the site of Daphne, a point mentioned by
Josephus as the northern limit of the Lake Sama-
chonitis (Huleh) ; beyond are some curious caverns
excavated in the limestone rock, and lower still the
stream joins with that coming from Banias.
On the eastern side of the Huleh plain, a trian-
gular terrace rises 500 feet above the general level
of the valley, and at its innermost angle, at the foot of
a cliff fifty feet high-=-the root, as it wei-e, of Moimt
Hermon — wells up the fountain of Banias, the most
celebrated and picturesque of the three sources of
Jordan. Josephus describes the water as in his day
issuing from a dark cavern full of still water of un-
fathomable depth, and says that Herod adorned the
place, called Panium, with a beautiful temple of the
whitest stone ; now, however, the water breaks thi-ough
the loose stones and rubbish that have accumulated
in front of the cavern in numberless tiny rUls, which,
almost immediately imitiug, flow off towards' the west.
Some of the water is carried by conduits into the village
of Banias, some is led away for ii-rigation, but the
main stream rushes down through tangled thickets and
park-like scenery to join the Leddan from Tell el Kady —
and lower down the Hasbany from Hasbeya — and forms-
with them the gi-eat river of Palestine, the Jerdan.
By a tradition as old as the fii'st century, the water of
the Banias fountain is said to come through a subter-
ranean passage from Lake Phiala, the modern Bu-ket er
Ram, a circular lake, with no visible outlet, situated in
a mountain bowl about five miles south-east of Banias.
The accoimt given by Josephus is that when Philip was
Tetrarch of Trachonitis he had chaff thrown ruto Phiala,.
and that it was found afterwards at Panium ; a similar
story is stUl told and believed by the Arabs, but na
such commimication can possibly exist, for the fountain
would exhaust the lake in a few days, and the water of
both would be the same, instead of one being bright
and sparkling, the other impure and stagnant; there
is also a deep valley, "Wady Em Keib, which effectually
separates them. Eusebius gives a mai-vellous legend
connected with the fountain, that towards the close of
the third century it was the custom on certain occa-
sions to throw a victim into the water, and that the
body always disappeared spirited away l^y the demon of
the fountain, till one day Astyi-ius, a Roman senator
and Christian, takmg pity on the people, prayed God,,
through Christ, to remove the demon, on which the
victim at once floated, and the fountain was not troubled
again. The cavern, the entrance of which is shown on.
the left side of the illustration on page 56, is now-
half filled with the debris of its own roof, and its
mouth almost closed with the rubbish of centuries ; of
Herod's temple there is no trace, but like the temple
at Ain Fijeh, the gi-eat fountain of the Barada, it may
possibly have stood on the level space at the top of the
cM. On the face of the rock, however, five niches
remain — three of which are shown in the Ulustratiou —
and beneath these are some mutilated inscriptions,
dedicated to Pan, and containing a " pro salute " for the
reigning authorities.
The situation of Banias (Osesarea Philippi) is one of
the most beautiful and charming in all Palestine;
spreading over the level terrace alluded to above, the
town commands an extensive view over the rich district
of Huleh, whilst its elevation above the valley places
it beyond the influence of the fever-breeding swamps
below- ; the oak, terebinth, and fig-tree give a welcome
shade on the hottest summer's day, whilst everywhere
the sound of running water falls pleasantly on the ear,
and the eye is delighted with the park-like verdure, the
open glades, and that combination of rock and grove,
of cavern, fountam, and cascade which has earned for
Banias the name of the Syi-ian Tivoli.
The environs have, however, greater attractions than
those derived from their natm-al beauty ; it was into
the " coasts " or " towns" of Ctesarea Pliilippi that our
60
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Lord came shortly before His last journey to Jerusalem,
and in this neighbourhood occurred the events recorded
in Matt. xvi. 17; the memorable words, "Thou art
Peter, and upon this Tock I wiU build my Church"
were possibly uttered at the foot of Moaut Hermon,
the very type of all that is solid aud enduring, and one
of the many lonely peaks around may have been the
high mountain to which Jesus took Peter, James, aud
John apart, and was transfigured before them.
It was currently believed in the fourth century that
the woman cured of an issue of blood (.Luke viii. 43)
theatre in which Titus celebrated the birthday of his
brother Domitian, by forcing the Jews taken prisoners
at Jerusalem to fight with and kill one another, hj
throwing some to wild beasts, aud by burning others,
but the exact site has yet to be identified.
The authentic history of Banias dates from it.s
mention by Josephus as a place called Panium, at
which Herod the Great erected a temple in honour of
Augustus Caesar. Long before this, however, Panium
must have risen to importance, aud though the name
itself does not occxir in the Old Testament, Dr. Robinson
GROVE OF OAKS NEAR HAZUR (p. 61)
(From a Photograph taken for tlie Palestine Exploration Fund.)
■was a native of Csesarea Philippi ; and Euseblus states
that he had himself seen her house, and that in front
of it were brazen images said to represent our Saviour
and the woman, the former standing, the latter in the
attitude of a suppliant ; these statues, according to
Theophanius, were afterwards destroyed by the Em-
peror Julian.
Many an acre of the terrace is now covered with
ruins, broken shafts and capitals, aud the foundations
of buildings .so completely destroyed, that hardly one
stone remains on another ; the ruins also extend far up
the wooded slope beyond the deep ravine of Wady
Za'arch, and in this direction there is a fine fragment of
the old wall of the Roman city. Some of these shape-
less ruins must have formed part of the great amplii-
has, with some probability, identified it with Baal Gad
under Moimt Hermon, the limit of Joshua's conquests
towards the north. The town was enlarged by Philip,
Tetrarch of Trachonitis, and called by him Caesarea
Philippi, by which name it was known to our Lord and
His disciples ; large additions were also made by King
Agrippa II., wlio, out of compliment to the Emperor
Nero, changed the name to Neronias. Neither of these
names adhered to the place any length of time, for
Eusebius, early in the fourth century, calls it Paneas,
and of this, Arab pronunciation has made the modem
Banias. The town was taken by the Crusaders in 1129
A.D., and given as a fief to Rayner Brus; but during
the stormy period that followed it was taken and re-
taken several times by the contending parties. ,
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
61
The present village consists of some fifty or sixty
houses gathered togetlier on the ruins of the town of
Rayner Brus, which -would seem to have occupied only
the citadel of the Roman city. The houses are built
with fragments of old buQdiugs, and roofed with mud ;
jmd on the flat surface thus formed, bowers or cages of
wicker-work are erected m summer, to afford a retreat
at night from the fleas, scorpions, and other hungi-y
animals that hold high carnival below.
High up on the mountain side above Bauias is the
grand old eastle, known during the period of the Cru-
sades as the Kalat es Subeibeh, and famous at one time
as the residence of the "old man of the mountain,"
one of the chiefs of the Assassins. Larger than the
well-known Castle of Heidelberg, and planned ivith
consummate skill, the castle played an imporfant part
in the struggle between the Crusaders and the Saracens,
and was frequently taken and re-taken by either side.
Protected on three sides by deep ravines, and on the
fourth joined to the main body of Mount Hermon by
a naiTOw shoulder, over ■which it has a command of
near 200 feet, the castle must, before the invention
of fije-arms, have been well-nigh uupregnable, and only
liable to fall into an enemy's liands through famine or
treachery. Some travellers have seen in the castle a
striking monument of Phoenician architecture, but no
Phoenician work can be traced in the building ; all the
details are such as are foimd in the mediaeval castles
of Europe, and though the Romans may have had a
military station here, the castle as it stands apj)ears to
have been built by the Saracens, and probably formed
part of the network of fortified posts with which they
covered the country and kept it in subjection.
A prominent object on the bare mouutarii side beyond
the castle is a clump of fine old oak trees which may in
all probability claim descent from one of those groves
that always accompanied the " high places " of Baal
and Astarte, and sometimes the altars erected to the
true God, as in Gen. xxi. 33, where it is said that
" Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called
there ©n the name of the Lord, the everlasting God ; "
and in 1 Samuel xxii. 6, though in this case it is not
clear whether the grove was connected with true or
false worship.
The trees at one time appear to have formed a com-
plete circle surrounding a mound, kno^vn as Tell Hazur,
and enclosing a temple or altar that stood on the
summit ; of this building there are traces, in some
foundations of well-dressed stones. Amongst the trees
is the tomb of Sheikh Ozman, or Othman el Hazury, a
small whitewashed building, without any pretensions to
beauty.
The reverence with which trees, especially oaks, were
regarded in early times, still lingers amongst the in-
habitants of Palestine ; there is hardly a prominent
tree which does not throw its shade over the tomb of
some Moslem worthy who has chosen his last resting-
place on account of the peculiar sanctity attached to
the spot. Sprites and spirits are believed to hold
undisputed sway midst the thick branches, and hardy
indeed must the Arab peasant be who would dare to
pass one of these lone trees -without adding his mite
to the woollen shreds which hang from its boughs.
This custom of hanging up strips of clothing as a
memento of a visit to any remarkable place was for-
merly very widely spread, and was common in England
and Scotland in the days when pilgi-unages were made
to holy weUs and other places renowned for their
sanctity.
The illustration on page 60 shows this beautiful
grove of oaks in the foreground, with the keep of the
Custle of Banias on the left, and in the distance the
rugged spm's of Mount Hermon.
On a slight elevation near the grove are some in-
considerable rmns, called Hazur, one of the numerous
places of the same name which have been identified
with the Hazor of the Old Testament, over which
Jabiu reigned. This Hazor, however, would appear to
have been in the neighbourhood of Kedesh, on the
right or west bank of the Jordan ; Josephus states
distinctly that it "lay over the Lake Samachouitis"
l^Huleh), and it may possibly be identified -with Tell
Harah, noticed below.
We may now foUow the further course of the Jordan
after the junction of its three main streams at the foot
of a small mound. Tell Sheikh Tusuf, remarking that
the quantity of water which they contribute to the
full-grown river is in the following proportion — Has-
bany 3, Leddan 5, and Banias 10. Mr. Macgregor,.
who, in his canoe, the Rob Roy, was the first to ex-
plore this portion of the Jordan, informs us that the
river at fii-st turns and t-wists exceedingly, running
with a swift current between vertical banks twelve to
twenty feet high ; lower down near the marsh much of
the volume is lost by flooding out into lagoons, and at
last the river forks out into six different channels and
loses itself in a " tangled maze of bushes eight feet
high," through which "no boat or even a reed raft, or
a plank could get through." This barrier extends for
half a mile, and then the Jordan runs for three miles
through a mass of papyrus, the largest in one place ia
the world, to the Lake Huleh, the waters of Merom o£
the Bible, and Lake Samachonitis of Josephus. Mr.
Macgregor's description of the papyrus which he dis-
covered whilst exploring the lake in his canoe, is sa
interesting that no apology is needed for quoting it
here. The entire mass of papyrus floats upon the-
water, and has the remarkable feature of upright waU-
Uke sides, caused by the manner of the plant's gro-wth ;
" there is first a lateral trimk lying on the wa:ter and
half submerged. This is sometimes as thick as a man's-
body, and from its lower side hang innumerable string-
like roots, from three to five feet long, and of a deep
purple colour. On the upper surface of the trunks th-e
stems grow alternately in oblique rows ; their thickness
at the junction is often four inches, and their height
fifteen feet, gracefully tapei-ing until at the top is a
httle round knob, -with long, thin, bro-wn, -wire-like-
hairs eighteen inches long, which rise, and then re-
curving, hang about it in a thyrsus-shaped head. The
62
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
stem, when dead, becomes dark brown in colour, and
when dry it is extremely light ; indeed, for its strength
and texture, it is the lightest substance I know of."
"The papyrus was used for writing upon by the
Egyptians, and was prepared for this purpose by
cutting it into thin slips. These were laid side by side,
and upon them others in a cross direction, and both
were joined by cement and then pressed into a con-
tinuous sheet."
The Huleh lake presents no remarkable features;
the Jordan enters it through the mass of papyrus no-
ticed above, and leaves it at its southern end " between
islets of papyrus and tall canes." On the eastern shore
the hUls rise abruptly from the water's edge, whilst on
the western there is a wide level tract of rich arable
ground between the lake and the foot of the hills. At
the north-west comer of the lake is the spring of Ain
Mellahah, and on the heights above, not far from
Kedesh, is an isolated peak, Tell Harah, covered with
extensive ruins, which may possibly be those of Hazor.
There is no evidence of name or tradition in favour
of the ruins, but their position on high ground over-
looking the lake is so suitable, that we may, at any
rate for the present, identify them with the city of
Jabin. On the plain south of Ain Mellahah several
authorities place the scene of Joshua's great Aactory,
and it certainly fulfils many of the necessary conditions.
We may also with some probability identify the same
plain with the "Plain of Asor" on which, after a hard
struggle, Jonathan defeated the troops of Demetrius.
1
SCEIPTUEE BIOaEAPHIES.
SAMUEL {continued).
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
HE whole of the guilty nation, like Jericho
of old, was placed imder a ban, which in-
cluded eveiy living thing belonging to it.
All that breathed was to be put to the
sword, and the spoil, instead of enriching the captors,
was to be devoted to the Lord. The animals were to
be slain, and, together with the movables, burnt, the
valuables deposited in the sacred treasury (1 Sam. xv. 3).
Saul, as the anointed king of Jehovah's people, was
to be the fulfiUer of Jehovah's ban, and " utterly put
out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven"
(Exod. xvii. 14). Such a commission would bo by no
means unwelcome to Saul's warlike temperament, and
he at once proceeded to execute it, mustering his
forces at Telaim, on the southern frontier. Thence
lie marched into the heart of the enemies' country, and
having first warned the friendly tribe of the Kenites —
the tribe of Hobab, Moses' relative by marriage, and
of Heber, Jael's husband (Judg. i. 16; iv. 11) — to shift
their quarters, lest they should share in Amalek's de-
struction, he commenced the attack. The campaign was
eminently successful ; the roving hordes were dis-
comfited through the length and breadth of their land,
from Havilah in the east to Shur in the west, on the
Egyptian frontier ; and the people, young and old, put
to the sword (1 Sam. xv. 7, 8). But the hour of victory
was the hour of Saul's moral overtl-irow. The same
rash wilfulness which had caused his failure in his first
trial, appeared again in a more marked form. He could
not bend his will to simple obedience. Agag, the King
of the Amalckites, was spared to grace his triumph, in
direct violation of the devotion of all the population to
destruction ; and, while the sentence was executed un-
sparingly upon " everything that was ■vile and refuse,"
the best and choicest of the spoil, especially of the
flocks and herds, was retained, nominally to sacrifice
to the Lord, but really to gratify his own covetousness
and that of his army, by the acquisition of so much
valuable j)roperty.
With these symbols of victory, Saul entered the city
of Carmel, in the mountains of Judah, in triu-mph, and,
after setting up a trophy of his exploits (vcr. 12), pursued
his march to Gilgal, in order that in that consecrated
centre of the kingdom he might dedicate the first-fruits
of the spoil in a grand sacrificial thank-offering to
Jehovah. The disastrous issue of Savd's second trial
was made known to Samuel by God in a dream — " He
is turned back from following Me, and hath not per-
formed My commandments." This intelligence was
exceedingly painful to Samuel — " it grieved Samuel "—
literally, "it burnt him" (ver. 11). Agitated by these
distressing feelings, sleep fled from Samuel's eyes, and
he spent the night in wrestling vrith God in fervent
supplication, doubtless interceding for the offender,
as well as beseeching that the cause of God and His
prophet might be spared the dishonour that would be
the consequence of Saul's deposition — "he cried unto
the Lord all night" (ver. 11). Once again Samuel
proved the calming power of prayer. Strengthened by
communion with God, Samuel rose in the morning, and
with stern composure proceeded to the meeting with
Saul. The voices of the cattle which struck his ear as
he approached the camp disclosed the real nature of
Saul's disobedience, and when the monarch with easy
self-satisfaction advanced to greet the prophet, and an-
nounced that ho had fully executed the task committ-ed
to him, he at once stripped off the mask with which
ho was attempting to hide his gnUt, even from himself.
" What moaneth then," he asked, " this bleating of the
sheep in mine ears, and this lowing of the oxen which
I hear?"
Saul's excuse was ready. It was not he that had done
it : it was the people. The responsibility of sparing the
cattle rested with them, and their motive had been a
SAMUEL.
63
o-ood one, of wMch Samuel himself must approve. " The
people spared the best of the sheej) and of the oxen,
to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God ; and the rest they
have utterly destroyed " (ver. 15). But Samuel sternly
silenced this cowardly transference of the blame from
himself to his partners in guilt. " Stay," " stop your
unavailing excuses " — the word is the same as that in
Ps. xlvi. 10, " Be still, aud know that I am God " —
" and listen to the sentence with which Jehovah charged
me last night " (1 Sam. xv. 16).
Samuel then proceeded to remind Saul of the gi*eat
and unlooked-for elevation he had received from tlio
Lord, "when he was little in his own sight" (cf. ch.
ix. 21), in being " made head of the tribes and anointed
king over Israel," and to upbraid him with the dis-
loyalty and ingratitude he had shown in acting in direct
defiance of the Divine commands. But Saul, not yet
humbled, persisted that he had obeyed : he had "gone
the way the Lord had sent liim;" he had "utterly
destroyed the Amalekites;" as a proof of their utter
defeat he had '-brought Agag," their king. "Why should
he be blamed, when he rather merited commendation ?
And as for the cattle, the fault, if any, rested with the
people, not with him. They, with well-intentioned zeal,
had taken " the firstlings of the ban " to sacrifice to
Jehovah, Samuel's God. The prophet of Jehovah
should be the last to visit with severe censure that
which was intended to do honour to Jehovah.
In addition to the moral offence of disobedience to
the express command of God, a grave error underlay
this apology of Saul's. He overlooked the fact^ that
what was already devoted to the Lord could not be
offered to Him on the altar, because it belonged to Him
already (Lev. xxvii. 28, 29), but must be burnt together
with the city to which it belonged, ^' in the midst of the
street thereof" (Deut. xiii. 16). This base paltering
with truth, this pretext of piety to excuse wilful dis-
obedience, awakened the true prophetic spirit in Samuel's
breast, and, rapt beyond himseK by the inspu'ation of the
Most High, he poured forth in winged words the eternal
truth which lies at the foundation of aU religious service,
the inferior worth of ceremonial to moral obedience, so
far in anticipation of any teaching yet given : —
" Hath Jehovali pleasure in burnt-offerings and sacrifices.
As in obedience to tlie voice of Jeliovah ?
Behold, obedience is bettei- than sacrifice,
And to follow as the fa.t of rams [
Tor disobedience is the sin of heathenism.
Disbelief is idols and devils ;
Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah,
He hath rejected thee also as His king." 2
Twice did the now terrified monarch acknowledge
Ms guilt— "I have sinned" (1 Sam. xv. 24— 30)— but, still
unable to briag himseK to unconditional confession,
continued to attribute his offence to the wishes of the
people, whom he was afraid to irritate by insisting on
the destruction of the spoil ; and, thinking far more of
iimself than of the God he had offended, implored the
* Keil, in loc.
2 The translation adopted is that of Ewald, as rendered by
Mr. Esthn Carpenter.
prophet not to make the fact of their disagreement
patent, lest it shoidd lower him in the eyes of the
chiefs, and weaken his authority with the people, but
condone his transgression by taking pai-t with him in
a public act of worship. Samuel, clearly discerning
the hoUowness of this seeming contrition, refused to
share the worship of one who had rejected the Lord,
and whom the Lord had therefore rejected. In an
agony of terror, as the prophet turned to leave, Saul
seized the skirt of his mantle with such despairing
energy that it rent in his grasp. It was an omen not
to be disregarded. " The kingdom had been rent that
day by the Lord from Saul, and the doom was irrevoc-
able. ' The Strength of Israel ' was not a man, that He
should change His mind — ' lie or repent '" (vs. 27 — 29).
Overcome, however, at last, by the renewed entreaty of
the now thoroughly humbled monarch, and apparently
fearful lest public safety might suffer if the royal au-
thority was prematurely weakened, Samuel consented
to return and support Saiil by his presence while he
performed his acts of worship.
One terrible act of Di^dne retribution had yet to be
carried into effect before the prophet's commission was
fulfilled. The king of Amalek, who, by the ferocity
with which his wars had been conducted, had robbed
of their sons so many mothers in Israel, must atone by
his death for the slaughter of the people of the Lord.
At Samuel's command, Agag was led out before him.
The king, thinking that because Saul had spared him,
all danger to his life was over, presented himself almost
joyously, pi'omising himself that "the bitterness of
death was passed." That hope would be at once dis-
pelled by Samuel's stern greeting, as he stood sword
in hand by the altar in the Holy Place —
" As thy sword hath made women childless.
So shall thy mother be made still morel childless."
The dread sentence was instantly carried out — whether
by Samuel himself, or by the soldiers standing by, is
uncertain^ — and Agag, the devoted one, was " hewed
in pieces before the Lord in GUgal." If the ferocity
of the act shocks us, we must remember how different
was the moral code of the Old Testament from ours,
and that the new law had not yet been promulgated
which inculcated universal love, thi'ough the words,
the life and death of Jesus Chi-ist.
All that Samuel was commissioned to do was now
done. The king and the prophet parted, never to meet
again. Each repaired to his own house — Saul to Gibeah,
Samuel to Ramah, to brood in solitude over the failure
of his once bright hopes. " Samuel came no more to
see Saul until the day of his death : nevertheless Samuel
mourned for Saul " (vs. 34, 35).
1 " Still more childless," because in losing her son she loses also
the king of her people, and her loss is thus greater than that of any
other bereaved mother. (Ewald.)
- Bishop Wordsworth considers that the words denote no more
than that Samuel ordered the act to be done by the public execu-
tioner of justice. W^e may compare "he sent aud beheaded John
in the prison," of Herod (Matt. xiv. 10) ; " when he had scourged
Jesus, " of Pilate (xxvii. 26; cf. John xix. 1). Josephus states that
Samuel ordered Agag to be put to death. (Bk. vi., ch. 7, § 5,)
64
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Outwardly so steru towards tlie offeudiug; monarch.
Lio heart was fuil of teudeniess towards him, and, like
David's towards his banished son, " longed to go forth
unto '' him, in that personal intercourse his misconduct
had rendered impossible (2 Sam. xiii. 39). Busied as
he was with liis judicial functions, which had not ceased
with the accession of Saul, for " he judged Israel all the
Jays of his life ' [1 Sam. vii. 1.5). and with the superin-
tendence of the company of youthful prophets who were
receiving an official training in the college (to adopt a
modern term) probably founded by him at, or just out-
side his city of Ramah (ch. xix. 20 — 24), a craving for
that human affection he had lost kept him restless and
unsatisfied. Samuel's resolution not to be comforted
called forth at last the remonstrance of the Almighty.
" How long," was the word of the Lord to Samuel,
" wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him
from reigning over Israel.''" (ch. x\\. 1). These words
contain a confirmation of the sentence on Saul. " I
have rejected him, and therefore it is vain for thee to
hope for a reversal of the decree. Put an end, there-
fore, to thy mourning, and prepare thyself for the new
commission I am about to entrust to thee."
This commission could hardly have been a very
welcome one ; for it was to anoint a successor to the
virtually deposed monarch, and thus seal his rejection.
This successor, the " neighbour better than he," to
whom the Lord had given the kingdom rent from
Saul, was to be found at Bethlehem, among the sons
of Jesse — the grandson of Boaz and Ruth — an elderly
man of some substance, evidently, like his grandfather
(Ruth iv. 21, 22), one of the chief men of the village.
Samuel's disinclination to the errand was not obscurely
made known. His personal safety, nay, his life would
be compromised by an act which, in the eyes of a
monarch jealous for the stability of his forfeited throne,
would be regarded as little less than one of high trea-
son. " How can I go ?" said the reluctant prophet. " If
Saul hear it, he will kill me " (ch. xvi. 2). The Di^dne
Yoice indicated a way in which Samuel might fulfil his
oiTand without alarming the suspicions of Saul. He
was to take a heifer with him for the purpose of offer-
ing a sacrifice to the Lord, and bid Jesse and his sons
to the sacrificial feast that followed, and then obey the
intimation he received. " I will shew thee what thou
shalt do."
For some unexplained cause — probably from the
supposition that he was come to rebuke and punish
them for some sin of which they were conscious' —
the elders of Bethlehem were much alarmed at his
arrival, and anxiously a.sked if he came with peaceful
intent (ch. xvi. 4). Samuel quieted their apprehensions
by the intimation that he had come to offer sacrifice to
the Lord, and called upon them to sanctify themselves
and take part in the sacrificial feast. Jesse, as a
chief man in the village, and his sons, received a special
invitation. One by one the sous of Jesse came iu to
take their places at the table. As they entered, the
' "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."— Hamlc', iij. 1.
young men passed l^cfcro the prophet, making theix-
obeisiince to the venerated judge. Samuel evidently
had an eye for manly beauty, and the tall and handsome
Eliab, Jesse's firstborn, seemed to him a fit successor
to the choice and goodly Saul. " Surely," he said with-
in himself, " the anointed of Jehovah is before Him."
But an inward Voice warned him sf his mistake in
estimating men by their outward qualifications, instead
of by their spiritual gifts. Tlie Prophet of the Lord
must judge with the Lord's judgment ; not by " the
outward appearance," but by " the heart " (ver. 7).
The rest of Jesse's sons presented themselves to Samuel
with the same result. " Neither hath the Lord chosen
this " is the successive verdict in each case. Seven had
now passed in review without the expected indication
being given, and, in surprise at the silence of the inner
Voice, he asked, " Are these all the lads ? " Jesse re-
plied that " there was indeed one more, the youngest, who
was keeping the sheep." But without this despised one
the feast could not begin. " Send and fetch him," was
Samuel's reply, "for we will not sit down till he come
hither " (ver. 11). To the amazement of Jesse and the
assembled elders, and perhaps the ill-concealed annoy-
amce of the elder brothers, the commencement of the
feast was deferred till the young shepherd had been
summoned and brought hence. As soon as the comely
lad entered, "ruddy" — i.e., with red or auburn hair —
" and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to
look to," the long-delayed intimation was received —
" Arise and anoint him, for this is he." Samuel at once
joyfully obeyed ; the beauty of the lad as he came in,
flushed with haste and expectation, and the promise of
future goodness and greatness that beamed in his fair
countenance and flashed from his sparkling eyes, at
once won the old man's heart, and with glad presage he
took the horn of oil and anointed the shepherd boy as
the coming ruler of the people of Jehovah. It is ex-
pres.sly stated that the anointing took place " in the
midst of his brethren " (ver. 13), but it is very doubtful
whether they or even Jesse himself realised the mean-
ing of the act. No words of Samuel's are recorded as
having accompanied the anointing, so that even the
subject of it may have been left for a time in ignorance
of its purport. Josephus indeed' tells us that Samuel
whispered into the ear of Da^id, whom he had placed by
his side at the feast, and communicated to him privately
both the dignity to which he was called, and the prin-
ciples of action that would ensure the permanence of his
throne and dynasty. But the Je^vish historian is too
much in the habit of making imauthorised additions to
the simple narrative of Scripture for us to place much
dependence upon liis statement ; and we think it more
probable that the precise purpose of his anointing was left
in obscurity at the moment, to be more fully explained
by Samuel hereafter, as the lad's mind opened under the
teaching of the Holy Spirit to a comprehension of the
solemn responsibility which he was chosen to fulfil.
And that Divine teaching was an immediate result of
the anointing. "The Spirit of the Lord came upon
1 Jos., yliif., vi. 8, 1.
SAMUEL.
65
David from that day forward." The holy influenco of
which that anointing oil was the symbol descended into
liis lieart and worked within as a refining, elevating,
strengthening power, fitting him steji by step for the
new tasks whicli lay before him in the dim future. By
degrees, as with the heirs of God's spiritual kingdom,
his high destinies were made known to him, and he was
led to seek that wisdom and that strength by which
alone he could prove himself worthy of them.
"The God of Israel said— The Eock of Israel spake to rue —
He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." '
But Samuel's visit caused no outward change in the
young man's daily fife. "With this new calling, with the
consciousness of tliis novel power, David returned to his
former duties, and by his faithful care of those " few
sheep in the wilderness " ^vith which Eliab taunted him
on the battle-field of Ej)hes-dammim, "jeoparding his
life unto the death " in their protection, trained his soul
for the high work for which the Lord had marked
him out — to " feed Jacob his people, and Israel his
inheritance."
We like to look upon David as the spiritual son of
Samuel ; and we think that we are justified in so re-
garding him. We cannot deem it probable that the
aged prophet would rest satisfied with the mere official
act of anointing, and take no pains to jirepare the lad,
who had gained so powerful a hold over his affec-
tion, for that throne which was so specially his work.
Although Scripture is almost silent as to any further
iutercoui'se between them, we can hardly be wi-ong in
tracing much that gave the character of David its
dignity and its greatness — ^his wisdom as a ruler, his
love for God's Word, his deep spiritual insight, the
warmth of his religious feelings, his unshaken trust in
God — to the instructions received by him from Samuel.
When in after years he fled from the murderous designs
of Saul, David at once betook himself to Samuel's
house in Ramah as a familiar place of shelter, and
to Samuel as his natural counsellor ; and in his com-
pany he resorted to what was perhaps a more secure
refuge, the prophetic college at Naiuth. " And he and
Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth " (1 Sam. xix. 18).
This is the last recorded event in the history of Samuel.
With this our knowledge not only of his intercourse
with David, but of his own life, closes. The next time
we meet with Samuel's name is in the record of his
death, and the funeral honours paid him by the nation.
Set aside, disregarded, thwarted in his lifetime, his
death, as often happens, awakened the whole people to
a sense of his greatness, and of all that he had been and
done for them. It was a national loss they had sus-
tained, and the nation came together to show their sense
of it; "all the Israelites were gathered together, and
lamented him " who through his protracted and stain-
less life had been the common friend and benefactor of
all. N'o greater man had died in Israel since Moses
and Joshua. "They wept for him," writes Jose-
phus,2 "very many days, grieving in common not as
1 2 Sam. xxiii. 3.
53 — VOL. III.
- Jos., Ant., vi. 13, 5.
at the death of a stranger, but as if each had suffered
a personal bereavement. He was by nature a just
and kind man, and on that account specially dear to
God." He was buried, not in any public sepulchre,
but in the midst of " his home at Ramah " — probably
in the courtyard or garden belonging to it — the home
in which he had iu all probability been born, and which
had been the beloved centre to which he returned in
the intervals of his judicial circuits, the tribunal of his
unblemished judgeship, and the sanctuary of his wor-
ship (1 Sam. vii. 17 ; xxv. 1. ; xx\dii. 3).»
Any biographical notice of Samuel would be rightly
felt to be incomplete which omitted to speak of that
mysterious occasion on which his presence is once again
seen in the sacred narrative, in connection with the
closing scene of the ever-deepening tragedy of the reign
of SaiU. The language of Holy Scripture is too express
to allow us to question that it was no demon personating
the prophet, but the spirit of Samuel himself, permitted
by God to reappear on earth, that passed final sentence
on the wilful monarch whom in life he had so often
warned in vain.^ " The Lord is departed from thee and
become thine enemy .... the Lord hath rent
the kingdom out of thine hand, and liath given it
to thy neighbour, even David .... the Lord
will deliver Israel vnth. thee into the hands of the
Philistines ; and to-moiTOW shalt thou and thy sons be
with me " (ch. xx\aii. 16 — 19). " How different," writes
Dean Stanley,^ "from that joyous meeting at the feast
at Ramah, when the prophet told him that on him was
all the desire of Israel, on him and on his father's house!
How different from that ' chosen ' and ' goodly ' youth
to whom ' there was none like among the people,' was
the unhappy king who, when he heard the prophet's
judgment, fell and lay the whole length of his gigantic
stature upon the earth, and was sore afraid, and there
was no strength left in him ! " " All human history,"
strikingly observes Archbishop Trench, " has failed to
record a despair deeper or more tragic than his, who
having forsaken God, and being of God forsaken, is
now seeking to move hell, since Heaven is inexorable to
him ; and, infinitely guilty as he is, assuredly there is
something unutterably pathetic in that yearning of the
^ The body of Samuel, or what was reinited to be such, was trans-
lated by the Emperor Arcadius at the end of the fourth century of
the Christian Era, and brought with great pomp to Constantinople.
* That this was the opinion of the Jewish Church is plain from
the words of Jesus the son of Sirach (Eoclus. xlvi. 20), as well as
from the rendering: of 1 Chron. x. 13 in the Septuagint— " Saul
asked counsel of her that had a familiar spirit to iuquiro of her,
and Samuel made answer to him"— and the testimony of Josephus,
who affirms that it was Samuel who appeared and jirophesied to
Saul (Jos., Ant., vi. 14, 2). All later Jewish expositors also agree
iu this view, which was also held by the chief writers of the early
Christian Church— Justin Martyr, Origen, Ambrose, Augustine,
Basil, Jerome, &c.— up to the Reformation. On so mysterious a
subject it was not unnatural that a diversity of opinion should
prevail, and the opposite hypothesis has been maintained by Ter-
tullian and Cyril Alex, among the fathers, and Luther, Calvin,
Bishops Hall and Patrick, and Matthew Henry among reformed
divines. A catalogue of the authorities on either side will be
found in Bishop Wordsworth's Commentarv, iu the notes to this
passage.
5 Lectures onthc Jewish Chnvch, vol. ii., p. 39,
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
disanoiuted kiug, now in his utter desolation to cliange
words once more mtli the friend and counsellor of his
youth, and if Jie must hoar his doom, to hear it from bo
other lips but his."' With this solemn transaction, so
mysterious in its partial revelations that we may say
in the words of Hooker, " our safest eloquence is our
silence,'' we take our leave of one of the most truly great
of the characters of the Old Testament. " Samuel the
prophet of the Lortl, beloved of his Lord, established a
1 Treuch, Sliipin-ecks of Faith, p. 47.
kingdom, and anointed princes over his people. By the
Law of the Lord he judged the congregation ....
by Ids faithfulness he was found a true prophet, and by
his word he was knoAvn to be faithful in vision
Ho destroyed the riders of the Tyi-ians, and all the
princes of the Philistines. Before his long sleep he
made protestation in the sight of the Lord and his
anointed and no man did accuse him.
And after his death he pi'ophesied and shewed tlie king
his end, and lift up his voice in prophesy to blot out the
wickedness of the people " (Ecclus. xlvi. 13 — 20).
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
MALACHI (continued).
BY THE REV. SAMUEL
FIRST PART.
THE SINS OF THE PRIESTS.
CHAP. I. 6 TO CHAP. II. 9.
;^N the brief preface of this book, the love of
Grod for Israel has been affirmed and de-
monstrated ; in the first section Jehovah
proceeds to demonstrate that His love had
awakened in Israel no vital response of love — no, not
even from the priests, who were devoted to His service
by the vows of their ordination. These vows they had
shamelessly broken. They had suffered the Temple to
fall into disrepair. Most of the priests, Levites, singers,
and porters of the Sanctuary had abandoned the unde-
fended city of Jerusalem, and had to be " sought out "
from the plains and villages in wliich they thought them-
selves less exposed to danger. Those who remained in
the Temple or its vicinity performed their service in a
perfimctoiy spirit, despising the veiy altar at which they
rendered their hireling ministrations. Nay, even the
high priest liimseLf had desecrated the Temple by assign-
ing " a gi-eat chamber " in it to the use of Tobiah the
Ammonite, with whom he had allied liimsclf, although
Moses had decreed that " the Ammonite should not come
into the congi-egation of God for ever." This scene of
disorder, indifference, profanation, is painted from the
outside in the Book of Nehemiah ■} now we are to see it
painted from the inside by Malachi.
In order that he may bring home to the conscience
()f the priests the solemn charge He is about to allege
against them, Jehovah commences His address to them
with a maxim of universal acceptance, a maxim from
which, therefore, they could not Avithhold their assent.
The maxim, or proverb, is,
" A son honourcth liis father,
Aud a servant liis master."
But if this trite maxim of human morality be true, how
are they, priests who have despised the name of Jehovah,
and polluted His alf ar, to esca,pe the charge that they have
not honoured their Father, nor reverenced their Master
1 Neh. xii. 27—29 ; xiii. i, 5.
cox, NOTTINGHAM.
and Lord ? They answer as usual with the sceptical
" but," questioning the fact, since they cannot impugn
either the maxim or the inference : " But wherein have
we despised Thy name ? And wherewith have we
polluted Thee?" And the objection is met with the
argiuuent, that they have presented to God — their
Father as men, as j)riests their Master — offerings which
they would not have dared to carry into the divan oi
Nehemiah ; sour and corrupt bread, instead of the fresh
wholesome loaves they were boimdto bring every week;
beasts wliich, so far from being withoiit spot or blemish,
were blind and lame and diseased (chap. i. 6, 7).
Now the implied reproach of this argument gains
force so soon as we remember that the whole Mosaic
ritirnl was based on the assumption that God dwelt
among His people like an Oriental monarch among his
subjects. Tlie Temide was His palace ; the altar His
table ; the priests were His ministers ; the sacrifices were
the offerings they presented when they entered His pre-
sence, aud the food with wliich His table was supplied.
Aud if an earthly monarch was " the father " and " the
lord" of his subjects, aud was attended with scrupulous
devotion by his courtiers, how much more might the
Di-\-ine King claim to be honoured by His subjects, the
people of Israel, and to be had in reverence by His heri-
ditary courtiers and ministers, the sons of Aaron, who
stood before His throne and ate of His table ? That they
should neglect His service, and bring His authority into
contempt, was treason and base ingratitude. To enter
the presence of a prince with a present of that which was
mean and defective was a gross insult; no Oriental
woidd be guilty of it who did not feel that he was strong
enough to revolt, or that the power of liis prince was
declining aud alx)ut to pass away. But the power of
Jehovah was not on the decline. He was a great King,
and His " name should be great among the nations." It
was He who had roused up the Chaldeans against Judah
and the Persians against the Chaldeans ; He who had
given the Hebrews into captivity and redeemed them
from captivity ; He Avho had inflicted woes so calami-
tous on the Edomites, and would inflict on them woes
still mere calamitous. Already, the very heathen were
MALAOHI.
€7
beginning to recognise Him as " tlie God of lieaven " —
Cyi-us and his Persians to -svit ; and ere long He would
make Himself great " from the rising of the sun to the
setting thereof,'' and " in every jjlace incense should be
burned to His name, and a pure sacrifice be offered "
Him. For His ministers to offend and iusult Him now
would be simply to decree their own misery, .lad to
banish themselves from the wider emjiire He was alrout
to win (vs. 8 — 11).
Thus far — ^viz., to the close of verse 11 — the sense of
the ai-gument nms clear save at one point. The 9th
verse is not only involved and elliptical in expression,
but its very tone is dubious. There is no real difficulty,
however, in ascertaining the sense of the words. What
they mean is this. First, Jehovah, speaking in the name
of the people, bids the priests seek the face of God. " that
He may have pity on us." Then in the next line He
charges them, the priests, with having originated the
insulting practice of presenting worthless sacrifices on
the Divine altar, and of having caused all the disasters
by which that offence was rebuked — " From yoiu* hand
hath come this." And, finally. He demands of them
whether, if theii" governor would not accord them a
gracious reception when they offered him that which
was lame and sick, they can hope that He will give a
gracious reception to those whom they commend to
Him, when both they themselves, and the supi^liants
whose suit they urge, have insulted Him with maimed
and defective rites — " Will he accept persons for your
salce ?"
A few of the commentators read this verse as a grave
and earnest summons to I'epentance and supplication ;
but most of them, and those the ablest, pronounce it an
ironical appeal covering an implied menace. And surely,
if we study the context, we cannot doubt that the tone
of the passage is ironical. There is a threatening tone
of irony in verse 8 — " Offer the lame and the sick to thy
governor ! will he be gracious to thee, and accept thy
person?" and that tone is continued in verse 9 — "Come
now, with your maimed sacrifices to Jehovah, and seek
His favour for the clients you have caused to sin ! will
He be gi-acious to thee, and accept of them for your
sake ? " And the same tone is still maintained in the
opening clauses of verse 10, in which the mercenary
spirit of the priests is held ixp to scorn. While they did
not scniple to offer base and worthless gifts to Jehovah,
they would not offer even" such sacrifices as these, nay,
they would not so much as shut a gate, or kindle a fire,
in the Temple, unless they were paid for it. Their minis-
try was as mercenary in motive as it was careless and
insulting in manner. So at least I read these clauses,
though there is good authority for another reading, viz. :
" 0 that tLerc were one among you who would close the gates.
That ye might not kindle a fire on mine altar to no purpose ! ''
Read thus, the words contain a sigh of weariness and
disgust, a wish that the Temple might be shut against
the hirelings who profaned it, and that its maimed and
defective rites might come to an end. But, however we
read these lines, whether as a satire or as a sigh, there
is no doubt that the tone of the Divine Speaker grows
grave and indignant in the next lines :
" I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of Hosts,
Neither will I accept any offering at your hand."
The charge against the priests is resumed iu verses 12
and 13, in which we have another graphic picture of
their listless and perfunctory miuistiy. As we study it,
we see them lounging about the Temple courts, dese-
crating the name of the Lord by the insolent contempt
with which they bring stolen and lame and sick beasts
for sacrifice, finding the service an intolerable bm-den
which ought to be their honoiu* and pride, snuffing at
the pollutions they themselves have laid on the altar,
despising the sacrifices which they themselves have ren-
dered despicable, and crying as they went about their
ministry, " Wliat a weariness it is ! " Such a j)icturo
gives us a far clearer insight into the moral and religious
condition of the Hebrews of this time than the facts
chi-onieled in the Book of Xehemiah, and helps us to
realise the utter debasement from which that brave and
disinterested governor attempted to raise them.
For it was "like priest, like people." When the
ministers of the altar treated it with supercilious con-
tempt, how should the people honour it ? They did not
honour it. They took the priestly infection only too
readily, and showed their contempt for the altar which
the priests despised by bringing to it illegal offerings
and sacrifices. Malachi gives us two instances of such
contemptuous and fraudulent violations of the law, and
leaves us to infer the rest from these (ver. 14). He
gives, as his first instance, that of the cheat v/ho offers
a female on the false pretence that he has no male in
his tlocks or herds ; and, as his second, that of the liar
who, under stress of danger or desire, vows a pure, and
then, when the pei-il is past or the desire gratified, offers
an impure or blemished beast. Once more Jehovah
affirms that He is no dethroned prince, and rides no
waning empire ; but that He is a gTcat King, with a
growing Name among the nations.
If the people, and above all tlie priests, despise and
dishonour Him whom even the foreigner and the heathen
are beginning to respect, they cannot hope to escajje con-
dign punishment. Nor will they escape it. Jehovah
will repay their contempt for Him by exposing them to
the last extremities of ig-nominy. If they do not repent,
i£ they do not give glory to His Name, He will convert
their priestly benedictions into curses, as indeed He has
done ah'eady; He will "rebuke their arrn" — i.e., He
wiU render them incapable of their official duties, the
ann being the instrument and symbol of active labour.
He will make thevj as the refuse of the festal sacrifices,
and cause them to be swept oni of the Temple mth it.
(Chap. ii. 1—3.)
These verses present no difficulty, and thei-efore we
need not linger over them ; but they probably contain an
historical allusion which, as it has not been pointed out
before, it may be well to indicate. In the Book of Nche-
miah' we read that, on the day on which the priests and
Chap, xiii I, 2b
68
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
people were separated from the "outlandish women"
they had married, they read from the Book of Moses in
the audienee of the people that " the Ammonite and the
Moabite should not come into the Congregation of God
for ever, because they met not the children of Israel
with bread and with water, but liired Balaam against
them that he should curse them ; hoivbcit oxtr God
turned the curse into a blessing." In all likelihood
Malachi was present when these words were read. They
may have made a deep impression on him, as tliey cer-
tainly did on the people at large, even inducing them to
send away " the strange women '' for whose sake they
had divorced their Hebrew wives. And it may be that
we hear an echo of these words in the threatening of
chap, ii., ver. 2. That of old God had turned a cttrse
into a blessing, may have suggested the menace that
He would now turn a blessing into a curse. It is the
more probable because Malachi lingers on the expres-
sion, and repeats it in various forms, as though striNang
t(^ make the allusion clearer.
" I will seud the curse agaiust you
And will curse your Uessings;
Yea, I have cursed them oue by oue."
In any case, the correspondence in thought and word
between the chronicle of Nehemiah and the prophecy of
Malachi is not without interest.
At tliis point in the argument, the Divine iSpeakev
" changes His voice." Incensed by their contempt, Ho
had threatened the priests that He would render them
contemptible, and change their benedictions into a curse ;
but now He passes from threatening to appeal, and
speaks in mercy, not in wrath. He had brought a charge
against them, a charge full of menace ; now Ho shows
the gracious intention of the charge, and endeavours to
shame them into amendment, by placing before them a
picture of the true priest, a picture so pure and lovely
that surely no minister of the altar could, or can, look
upon it without compunction and self-reproach. "Ye
shall know that I have sent this charge to you,'' O in-
solent and faithless priests, in order that — that I may
dismiss you from my service and condemn you to ever-
lasting infamy? no, but — " tliat my covenant with Xicvi
m&y remain" (ver. 4), that you may recover the true
priestly spirit, keep your vows, and continue in my
service.
Tills '• covenant with Levi," like the blcsbing turned
into a curse, carrie.s our thoughts back to the days of
Bakam. For \vheu Balaam saw that Jehovah was
turning His curse into a blessing, ho commanded that
the wanton daughters of Moab should be sent into the
camp of Israel, to wile the men of Israel to " the sacri-
fices of their gods." It wiis when this artifice had suc-
ceeded, and "Israel was joined imto Baal-peor,'' so that
the anger of the Lord was kindled, that the grandson of
Aaron, by a bold act of fidelity, stayed the plague before
which "twenty and four thousand" had already fallen.'
For his zeal, God entered into a solemn covenant with
him, sajTug to Moses, " Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the
' Numb. XXV. 6—15.
son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath
from the children of Israel, by (showing) my zeal among
them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in
my jealousy. Wherefore say —
" Celiold, / give unto him my coi'e(ia7i( of pence,
And he shall have it, nud his seed after hiui,
The coveu.aut of an everlasting priesthood,
Because ho was zealous for his God,
And made an atonement for the cliildreu of Israel."
Tliis, beyond a doul)t, is the ancient Scripture which
Malachi had in his mind when he represented Jehovah
as saying of Levi — Levi standing for the whole priestly
tribe —
" Mij covenant of life and peace was with him.
And I (jave them [i.e., life and peace] to Itim,
For the fear which he showed for me,
And the awe in which he stood of my name."
But though the Proi^het casts this backward look on
the fidelity aud zeal of Phinehas, on which he bases the
priestly covenant, we must not suppose, indeed we can-
not suppose that, in the verses which follow (vs. 6, 7),
he is simply describing Phinehas, or any of his suc-
cessors in the j)riestly office :
" The law of trirth was in his mouth,
Aud no iniquity was found in his lips ;
He walked with me in peace and integrity,
Aud brought back many from guilt.
For the priest's lips should preserve knowledge,
And men seek the law at his mouth,
Because he is the messenger of Jehovah of Hosts."
The liues of character are too Lirge and fair to be
those of mortal man. It is the ideal priest whom the
prophet has in his mind, the archetj^ie to which every
true priest will seek to be conformed, not any single
member of the priesthood — as indeed he himself inti-
mates by using the tribal name "Levi" in verse 4,
instead of the personal name " Phinehas," and by em-
ploying the abstract term " the priest '' in verse 7.
The true priest, then, is one with whom, for his holy
fear and self- devoting zeal, God has made a covenant
of life and pciico — that is, of being and of well-being, for
all the blessings that make up human welfare were
summed up for the Hebrew in one word — peace. " The
law of truth " — the truths wliieli have their root in the
Divine law — is the staple of his instructions ; it is ever in
his mouth ; " and no iniquity'' — i.e., no sinister perver-
sion of truth, inspired by self-interest or class -interest
— is "found in his lips." Ho " itJaZfcs " with Gk)d in a
happy consent and progress ; for " how can two walk
together except they be agreed ? " And to walk is not only
to move, but to move onward and forward. Not only
does he walk with God, he walks with Him " in inte-
grity and peace : " two lines of advance are siiecially
marked out for him — the generous uprightness, which
saves his teaching from sinister perversions, rules his
personal conduct, so that ho is drawn aside by no selfish
or impure motive ; and, moreover, he possesses himself
over more fully of all the blessings which conduce to
peace or well-being. And thus, by his o\ni pure and
happy life, no less tlian by his wholesome and unper-
verted doctrine, he " In-ingsback many from guilt," con-
vincing the sinful of the mistake they have made, and
leading them, ihrough repentance, to that way of life
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
69
and peace in wliich he liimself is advancing. Nor in
all this docs Le do more tlian is required of liim by his
vocation. For whose " lips should -presevve knowledge,"
a knowledge of the Di\Tne "Will as revealed in the law
of truth, if not his at whose mouth, as at its native
home, men seek that laAV, " because he is the angel or
messenger of the Lord of hosts ? "
The priests of Malachi's time not only fell short of
this pm-e and lofty ideal — all have done that, save only
the great High Priest of our Confession — but they openly
and insolently renounced and reversed it. Instead of
keeping the way of integrity in their personal conduct,
they had " departed from the way " (ver. 8). Instead of
shedding light on the path of j)eace by their instructions,
they had cast stumbling-blocks before the feet of those
who were striving to keep it, and turned them a.side,
" making many to stumble at the law " in place of
smoothing the way for them. And thus they had " cor-
rupted the covenant with Levi ; " Jehovah no longer
holds Himself bound by it, since they no longer breathe
the fidelity aud zeal to which it was granted. As they
have forsaken His ways, and have driven others to for-
sake them by their injustice and greed, He will make
them as base aud despicable in the sight of all the people
as His ser%'icc and covenant have become in their sight —
unless, indeed, they should repent and amend, " observe
His ways " and " give glory to His Name" (ver. 9).
Thus ends the section on the priests and their sins.
They are convicted of their guilt. They are menaced
with retribution. They are shown what they ought to
be, and invited to repent and mend. And as the pic-
ture of the ideal priest is the most beautiful passage of
this section, so also it is the most suggestive : and that,
not simply because, since we are all priests unto God by
the grace of Christ, it teaches iis what manner of men
ive ought to be, but also because it iUustrates the high
moral tone of the Hebrew prophets. We conceive of
the Mosaic dispensation as mainly a ritual, " a carnal
♦^■ommandment," a system of outward observances. So
also the Hebrews themselves conceived of it in the
main. But the psalmist and prophets had worthier
conceptions of the law that came by Moses, couocptious
which made it a meet symljol of, and preparation for,
the grace and truth which came in Christ. When theij
speak of the meaning and essence of sacrifice, they do
not represent Jehovah as requirmg bullocks and rams.
The cattle on a thousand hills are His. They represent
Him as speaking Avith a large scorn of the oblations
aud offerings that were laid on His altar. Wliat He
required was an obedient will, a contrite spirit, a thank-
fid heart; that men should do justice, show mercy, and
walk humbly with Him. And when they speak of
the trae priest, it is not his ceremonial exactness in the
service of the altar which they hold up to admiration,
but his truth, his integrity, his wisdom as a teacher,
the moral sweetness of his personal character. And
it really is very fine to observe with what native ease
Malachi rises into this higher region of thought. While
dwelling on the sins of the priests, he moves in the
lower, the ceremonial, element; he insists on the maimed
rites and blemished sacrifices, on the perfunctory and
contemptuous spirit with which they louuged tlirough
the sei'i'ice of the Temple. But no sooner does he at-
tempt to frame a conception of what the true priest
should be, than all that is forgotten ; we hear no more
of altar and sacrifice : his thoughts are riveted on the
moral aspects of the priestly vocation — how holy a man,
how wise a teacher, how careful and friendly a guide,
the priest should be. Wlien we are thinking only to
hear that the sons of Levi are to offer clean and perfect
instead of blemished and polluted sacrifices, to delight
in the ministrations of the Sanctuary instead of despis-
ing them, as much to our surprise as pleasure lie places
before us a lofty spiritual ideal of character and sei'\'ice
well-nigh, if not altogether, beyoud the reach of mortal
powers : he pronounces an eidogium on Levi which we
should hardly dare to inscribe, as an epitaph, on the
tomb of the holiest saint, or even on that of an inspired
apostle —
" The law of truth xcas in his mouth.
And no iniquity xcas found in his lips ;
He loalfced uit?i me in peace uitd integrity.
And brought back many from guilt."
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BY F. R. CONDEB, C.E.
HEBREW MEASURES OF WEIGHT.
^HE question of measures of weight is inti-
mately connected with that of measures
of value, from the fact that the latter,
amongst civilised nations, are nothing else
than definite weights of gold, silver, or copper, of
distinct purity or alloy. We shall speak of coin, with
reference to its stamp and denomination, in a separate
chapter ; but it is impossible to do justice to the subject
of ancient weights without reference to their monetaiy
value.
The unit of weight amongst the Hebrews, which it
is most convenient to consider as regulating the entire
system, is the shekel. This word originally meant
weight; and the verb "to shekel" signifies first to
Aveigh, and then, in a secondary sense, to pay. But in
the course of the histoiy of the Jews, from the time of
Moses down to that of Maimonides, considerable differ-
ences occur in the use of the word shekel. It has one
meaning as a unit of weight, and another as one of
value ; or as a weight and as a coin. It represents
different weights, as well as different values, in gold
and in silver; and it repi-eseuts, after the Captivity,
a unit larger by one sixth than was the case under
tlie First Temple. And yet further, the word, when
70
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
occurricLg on the coiuage, does uot (at all events in some
OAses) douyte definite weight at all, but simply "money."
Extreme obscurity hangs over the subject of the
Hebrew system of weights and of coins. It is, however,
an obscurity which is inexcusable. There is reliable
information to l)e found in Hebrew literature ; and the
coins and weights which are at the present time in the
British Museum are sufficii'ut to allow of the confir-
mation and explanation of the Rabbinical learning.
Under the king.s of the house of David, as we learn
from the work of Maimouidos on the annual tribute,^
the Jewish silver shekel had the weight of 320 average-
sized gKiins of barley, t^iken from the middle of the
r>ar. The barleycorn, which is the natural basis of our
ottTQ, as well as of the Chaldean, system of long measure,
wo thus find to !» taken also as the standard of
weight. We have seen that the measurements of
the foundations of the Temple at Jerusalem 2 prove
tliat the Jewish cubit is symmetrical with the English
foot, or, in other words, that the Ijarleycorn is identical
in the two systems. The same is the case with the
unit of weight. We can verify this statement by
actually weighing such barleycorns as are described.
They will be found identical with the grains of troy
weight. Moreover the Babylonian weights so very nearly
coincide with the statement of Maimonides, when we
come to a very large number of grains, that we are on
safe and firm ground in asserting that the barleycorn
of the Hebrew writers is substantially identical with
(ho troy grain. We have to note a further and a very
beautiful coincidence. The shekel of 320 grains troy
contains exactly 100 carats, diamond weight.
The highest denomination of weight was the talent.
As to this, we obtain the definite information, from the
collation of two verses ^ in the Pentateuch, that it con-
tained 3,000 shekels. This weight is equal to 960,0(X)
grains, or 166f pounds troy. The best preserved
lironze Assyrian talent in the British Museum is stated
by Mr. Madden "• to weigh 959,040 grains troy. So
close an approximation — ^bearing in mind the fact that
the weights recovered are 2,700 years old — is most
remarkable ; and proves the permanence of the system
of troy weight, as well as its derivation from, or close
accordance with, the ancient Chaldean system.
With regard to the denomination of the maneh or
mina, which is intermediiite between the shekel and
the talent, it must be approached with more hesitation,
as several difBerent weights are expressed by thi*; word.
The learned Buxtorif ' states that there were two
manehs ; the one of them being double of the other.
It is probable that the word rather implies in its
original sense a ratio or place in a system than a
definite quantity. In inquiring into a complex and
highly detailed .system such as that of Hebrew weights,
which includes a numljcr of terms, and descends to
' Co)istiUdiones de Siclis, cap. 1, § 2.
- Sec plans Nos. 21 aud 27 of series issued by Palestiue Explora-
tion Fuud.
3 Exod. xxxTiii. 25, 2G.
* Hlxfonj of Jevish Coinage, p. 2G7.
* Lexicon ITchrairitm et Cbalilaiciim, sub voce noo-
minute fractions, of which we have no examples in
this country, sentences must be regarded rather than
indi\-idual words, in order to ascertain the value of a
term. Thus, if we regard a vianeh as consisting of 50
shekels, which is one determination, the half of that
would be a maneh of 50 helcai^, or half shekels. This
is not an imaginary illustration. Maimonides'' states
that when the second or sela coinage was introduced,
although the Temple tax was still the half of the
ordinal'}- silver unit of currency — being raised from
160 to 192 grains of silver — the new shekel was often
called the sela or selang, aud the half sela, or sela beka,
was called a shekel.
There is a passage in Ezekiel 7 which in the Hebrew
is extremely obscure, but which e^adently refers to the
alteration in the weight of the shekel, and to the exist-
ence of more than one maneh.
Besides the vianeh of 50, and that of 25, shekels
as terms of weight, the same word appears to be used,
in case of money told by tale, to mean a hundred. A
comparison of the two accounts given of the golden
spears and targets which were made by King Solomon
for the use of tlie Temple guard,* shows that 100
aurei or gold pieces were called a mina. The word
shekel has been improperly introduced into the transla-
tion of that passage.
The idea has found favour with eminent writers that
different systems of weight existed at the same time,
for different purjioses, but under the same name.
The reasons which have been adduced for applying
this theoiy to the Hebrew weights do not, however,
establish the existence of such an anomaly, with regard
to the expressions used in the Bible. Assuming,
first, that an aureus weighed a shekel, and thus
that the gold mina of King Solomon, before referred
to, was the equivalent of 100 shekels weight of gold ;
and, secondly, that reliance is to be placed on a not
very perspicuous passage of Josephus,'* to the effect
that 100 mince go to the hichares, which the Greeks
call the talent, Mr. Poole '"'has arrived at a gold talent
of the enormous weight of 229 lb. troy, which would
coin eleven thousand sovereigns, and which is between
26 and 27 per cent, heavier than the silver ta,lent. At
the same time, in opposition to the general tendency of
exchange, to denote the more precious metals by smaller
aliquot di^-isions than the ruder minerals, this writer
has propounded a brass talent of only 1,500 shekels, or
the half of the established talent of Hebrew and
Baljylonian weight. This latter determination is cer-
tainly wrong; as the same passage which affords the
data for the weight of the silver talent, shows that the
talent of brass did not contain a smaller number of
shekels than that of silver. The brass collected for the
Tabernacle is stated in the Hebrew at 70 talents and
2,400 shekels, and in the LXX. (in the Alexandrine
Codex) at 370 talents and 2,400 sliekels.
The passages in the Bible which refer to the gold
6 ShelcaUm, v. 6, xi. 4. ' Eatek. x\v. 12.
•* 1 Kings X. 17, cf. 2 Cliron. ix. IG. 9 ^liit., iii. 6, 7.
'" Histon of Jewish Coinage, pp. 28-t, 2S7.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
71
talent are inexplicable by reference to a weiglit so largo
.as that cited by Mr. Madden. The golden lamp
made by Moses for the Tabernacle was probably the
same that is described so minutely by Maimonides, and
tliat was finally destroyed by Antiochus Epiphanes.
At all events, it could not have been any larger, as the
dimensions of the Tabernacle and its instruments were
usually much exceeded by the work of Solomon. This
lamp was 48 inches high, and its branches were
hollow (as they are called reeds), and the whole is
said in the Pentateuch to be made of beaten work.
Tlie weight of 1,000 aurei of the first Jewish system
we shall presently see reason to determine at 18'75 lb.
troy ; which is a weight consistent with the fabrication
of such a piece of goldsmith's work as the golden lamp
is described to have been. It is contrary to aU experi-
ence of that ancient craft to suppose, that nearly two
hundredweight of gold would have been employed for
this object.
Again, of the crown of the King of Ammon it is
said (2 Sam. xii. 30) : " The weight whereof was a talent
of gold, with the precious st-ones." This passage must
be at once rejected by the advocates of the gold talent of
229 lb. Indeed, the weight of 1,000 aurei would have
been far too heavy, even if the crown in question had
been a helmet with a coronal. But this passage is one
of those in which the word shekel implies, in our
opinion, not weight, but value. We are without much
indication of the price of precious stones in the Bible;
but we may well consider that the value of this spoil of
David was estimated at 1,000 aurei, in gold and gems.
Tie fact that the golden unit is occasionally, though
rarely, called a golden shekel,' does not give any certain
indication of its actual weight. There exists a Jewish
silver coin, specimens of which weigh 54 and 57 gi'ains,
which bears on the obverse the words " Shekel Israel ; "
although its value cannot have been more than that of
the garmes, or sixth part of the shekel, which no doubt
it is. A gold coin struck from the same die would be
almost exactly equal to the golden daric, and would
be justly called a golden shekel.
In the Second Book of Kings (chap. v. 5) occurs
the expression 6,000 golden dinars (or denarii). In the
comments of Rabbi Solomon on the treatise Baba
Kama (cap. 4, § 1) it is stated that the gold dinar was
worth 25 silver dinars. This is the exact proportion
1 1 Chron. xxi. 25, " Shekel of gold, by shekel 600." The former
13 not the ordinary phrase.
between the golden and the silver Roman denarius, in
the time of Herod. In the Targum of Jonathan (on
Exodus XXX. 13), this proportion is carried back to the
date of the Exodus.
The increase in the value of the coinage current in
Palestine, after the return from Babylon, is as well-
established a fact as any in ancient history. It is stated
in precise detail by Maimonides, and referred to by the
prophet Ezekiel. It is accepted by Bartenora, Buxtorff,
Surenhuse, and the Mishnic commentators. The in-
crease was a fifth part of the weight of the old shekelj
which of course was a sixth part of that of the new or
sela shekel; or from 320 to 384 troy grains. The
reason of this change has not been indicated by any
author whom we have consulted, but it will become
apparent in the course of our consideration of the
relations between the silver and the gold currency.
The difficulty which exists as to the weight of the gera-
arises probably in consequence of the change of scale.
This denomination, which is the equivalent of the obolus
or maah, is stated in four places in the Bible to be the
twentieth of a shekel, whUe the Talmud makes it the
twenty-fourth. It is obvious that the twentieth of the
shekel of Moses was the twenty- fourth of that of Ezra.
The gold coin mentioned in the Bible after the
Capti^-ity, is called darhonoth and adarJconim, and ia
identified with the gold daric, or money of the kings
of Persia. Mr. M. J. BorreP describes specimens of
the double gold, daric, averaging a little under 256
grains troy. A single daric of 128 grains would weigh
exactly a third of the sela shekel, and would be struck
from a die nearly identical with that of the silver
garmes of that system. We are as yet without speci-
mens of either the gold or the silver coinage of the
first Jewish system. But it is a significant fact that
among the money weights mentioned in the Talmud is
one called the hadres, which is said to be the third part
of a gera, and was thus of the anomalous weight of 5-^-
grains. But this coin, if struck in gsld, would weigh lOf
grains, the former weight being the twentieth, and
the latter the tenth, part of a gold coin, bearmg the
same relation to the first shekel, that the daric bore to
the second. The earrings of Rebecca, of half an aureus
each, would have weighed 53J grains— not an inappro-
priate weight. ^^_^
2 Neither the gera nor the omer are to be found in the 30th
edition of Eadie's Cruden's Concordance— an instance of the utility
of popular books to the real student.
3 History of Jeici'sTi Coinage, p. 273.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BT THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
or rocky.
PARTRIDGE.
UR common English partridge does not
occur in Palestine, but the Greek par-
tridge {Caccabis saxatilis) is very common
in all the hili districts, whether woody
This .species is very similar in plumage to
the red-legged species (P. rufa), having its sides, flanks,
and thighs richly barred transversely with fawn-colour,
white, black, and pearl-grey ; the legs and bill are also
red, but the Greek partridge is a much larger bird than
either the red-legged or the common partridge. Large
coveys are often seen in the autumn, but in the winter
72
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
...... ^
^TlLo/:^
DESERT FABTEiDGE (.4ni-»i.oj3e;-da' Heyii).
GREEK PARTKIDGE {CttCCabis SXXatilin).
they disperse. The riugmg call-note of the bh"d may
be often licard in early mornings " echoing from cliff to
cliff, alike amidst the barrenness of the wilderness of
Judaea, and in the glens of the forest of Carmel. The
male birds Avill stand erect on some boulder, sending
their cheery challenge to some rival aci"oss the wady,
till the moment they perceive themselves detected they
drop down from their throne, and scud up the hill
faster than any dog, screening themselves from sight
by any projecting rock as they run" {Nat. Hist. Bib.,
p. 226). The Greek partridge is especially common in
the wilder parts of Galilee. In Syria what is apparently
a variety of the Greek partridge occurs ; this is a very
fine and large bird, resembling the red-leg of India and
Persia, tlie Cuccabia chukar. The Greek partridge
has a wide geographical range from East to "West, being
found in West Spain, Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, and
Northern India. There is another partridge that occurs
in Arabia Petrea, the basin of the Dead Sea and its
wadys, and in the east of the wilderness of Judasji.
This is the sand or desert partridge {Ammoperdix
Heyii), a small species, with plumage delicately pen-
cilled, and bill and legs of a bright orange colour.
Tristram says it is very plentiful ne^r the Cave of
Adullam, and lays its beautiful cream-coloured eggs in
holes and caves and under the shelter of rock cre^-ices,
and runs Avith wonderful agility up and down the cliffs.
The genus Frnncolinus is represented in the rich low-
land plains of Gennesaret, Acre, and Phoenicia, by the
F. mdgarir., a fine and handsome species, the plumage
of the adult bird being Acry rich. In this bird, says
Mr. Gould, " we trace, or fancy we trace, one of those
unions through which the splendid coloured pheasants
of the East are united to the sober-coloured quails and
partridges of the European continent, its form and
habits connecting it with the latter, while its colouring
manifests a relationship to the beautiful Oriental
genus Tragopan.'" The common fi'ancolin is as large
as a grouse. Tristram speaks of its habit of con-
cealing itself " in the dense herbage and growing
corn of marshy i)lains, where its singular call can
be heard as on Gennesaret, resounding at day-break
from every part of the plain, while not a bird can
be seen.
Several species of the extremely beautiful and in-
teresting genus Pterocles (of the family of Tetraonidce),
sand-grouse, occur in the more arid parts of Palestine,
as the P. arenariiis, in the wilderness of Judaea, the
P. setarius, the pin-tailed sand-gTOuse, the Kata of the
Arabs, which Ti-istram's party saw passing over the
barer parts of the Jordan valley and the Eastern
Desert by thousands at a time. The P. Senegalensifi
and the P. exushis abound in the wilderness of Judaea
and near the Dead Sea. Nothing can exceed the beauty
of the delicately-marked plumage of this latter bird, of
which a very pretty coloured draAving lies before us as
we write.
Probably the bird more specially and generally
denoted by the Hebrew term 'Knv'i is the Greek par-
tridge, though francolins and sand-grouse may also be
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
73
SAND-GROUSE {Pttrocles afeaarius).
included. The partridge is mentioned twice only in
Scripture. David speaks of Saul's persecution of him.
" The King of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as
when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains"
(1 Sam. xxvi. 20). In Jeremiah, we read, " As the
partridge sitteth on eggs and hatchcth them not, so
he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave
them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall
be a fool" (xvii. 11). In the former passage allusion
is made to the mode practised in the East of hunting
down partridges and killing them by throw-sticks,
the zerwattys of the Arabs. The Greek partridge,
perhaps even more than the red-leg, prefers to escape
by running or concealing itself under rocks, &c., seldom
taking to the wing. Thus they are chased from place
to place, and at length killed by a well-directed cast of
the throw-stick.
The passage in Jeremiah is more coiTectly translated
in the margin, " Gathereth young which she hath not
brought forth ;" the Septuagiut and the Vulgate (" Per-
dix fovet quae non peperit ") agree with the marginal
reading; Gesenius, Maurer, Winer (who renders the
pa.ssage, "briite Eier, die ernicht gelegt "), Sharp (" As
the partridge sitteth on egg?, which she hath not laid "),
Benisch ("A pai-tridge hatching what it hath not laid"),
Leeser (foUo^ving Solomon Jarchi [Rashi], "As a
cuckoo that sitteth on eggs which she liath not laid "),
all support this rendering. According to Epiphanius,
Ambrose, Jerome, Chrysostom, and the Arabian natu-
ralist Damii-, there was an old belief that the partridge
took eggs out of other birds' nests, and that when the
young were hatehed, and wei'e old enough, they ran
away from their false parent ; so a man who becomes
rich by unrighteous means loses his riches as the
fictitious partridge her stolen brood. Such a notion
may have been held by the ancient Hebrews, and be
here referred to by the prophet Jeremiah. If we adopt
the rendering of the text of our version, we must
understand it as referring to the loss of the birds" eggs
by man's or other destructive agency.
The verse in Ecclesiasticus (xi. 30), "Like as a par-
tridge taken (aad kept) in a cage, so is the heart of
the proud, and like as a spy watcheth he for tliy fall."
refers to a decoy partridge. The 7rep5i| erjpfvTrjs of tlie
LXX. is the expression used by Aristotle to denote a
decoy partridge, and the context in Ecclus. clearly
shows this is meant. The Hebrew Kore is from a root
meaning " to call ; " with this may be compared the
German jR^ebhuhn, i.e., Bufhuhn, "the calling bird,'*
" the partridge."
74
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
SCRIPTURE BIOaRAPHIES.
ELIJAH.
BY THE REV. HENRY AXLON, D.D.
T is generally admitted that the Books of
the King.s were originally one work,
first divided into two parts by the authors
of the Septiiagint version; and that while
it has a distinct literary unity and independence, it
was very largely compiled by its anonymous author,
apparently in the latter part of the period of the Cap-
tivity, from at least three different sources, all of
these probably pubhc national annals — (1) the Book of
the Acts of Solomon,^ (2) the Book of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Judah,'- (3) the Book of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel.^
The monographs of the two great prophets, Elijah
and Elisha, probably derived from the third of these
sources,'' occupy a very prominent and extended place,
and have very distinct literary characteristics, especially
that of Elijah. The Clironieles of the' Israelitish kings
would almost necessaiily consist of various documents,
and the great character and mission of Elijah abundantly
account for the disproportionate length and minuteness
of the record concerning him, both in the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel, and in the Canonical Book of the
-Kings.
The conception of the latter is the relations to Jehovah
of the different kings. The incidents recorded concern-
ing these, both biographical and historical, are manifestly
selected for the purpose of illustrating the religious
character of their reigns. Hence, at the close of each
monograph, a formal verdict from a religious point of
view is recorded. Harmony with this general character
and purpose of the book, therefore, required that the
reign of Ahal] — in whom the idolatrous apostacy of the
kingdom of Israel culminated — and the mission of
Elijah, who next to Moses was the great prophet of
theocracy, and whose mission it was to restore it, should
be detailed at length.
Oritics have affirmed that, in the use of his materials,
the author of the Book of Kings has exercised a
considerable degree of intellectual freedom, and by
omissions, condensations, and relative prominence, has
moulded them more or less to his own artistic construc-
tion and religious purpose.' Tliis is probable ; but the
very distinctive style and character of the history of
Elijah indicates that original forms of exj)res3ion and
<5onstruction were Lirgely retained.
Ewald, with characteiistic temerity, has carried his
criticism so far as dogmatically to discriminate sections.
The monograph in the Book of the Kings is our only
1 1 Kings xi. 41.
- 1 Kings xir. 29, and fourteen other references.
3 1 Kings xiv. 19, and fifteen other references.
^ No reference to it, however, occurs iu the course of the
monographs.
» Bleek's Tniroduct'ion to the Old Tost., vol. i., p. 410 ; Langs's
Bibclwerl; Schafi's ed,, p. 191.
source of historical information concemiug Elijah. The
Book of Chronicles makes no mention of him, save
that he wi'ote a letter to King Joram (2 Chron. xxi. 12,
et seq.), which is not mentioned in the Book of the
Kings. It has been suggested that as the Book of the
Chronicles is occupied exclusively with the kingdom of
Judah, and EUjah was exclusively a prophet of Israel,
it did not come within the scope of that work to refer
to him. As it is almost certain that the author of the
Book of the Chronicles was acquainted mth the Book
of the Kings, this may be accepted as the probable
explanation. The only other mention of Elijah in the
Old Testament is iu Mai. iv. 5. In the New Testa-
ment he is frequently referred to by our Lord and His
apostles, and in a way which indicates the very im-
portant place in the development of the theocracy which
he occupied. A lyrical passage of high eulogy in Ecclus.
xlviii. 1 — 14 indicates the feeling towards him of the
Jews of the second century befoi'e Christ.
The supernatural character of the histery of Elijah,
in which miraculous incidents are crowded iu a very
remarkable way, has naturally directed upon it the
fiercest hostility of rationalistic critics. Ewald, and
after him Buusen, have summarily pronounced the
narrative imhistorical. The latter, with characteristic
impetuosity and intolerance, says, " Nothing but bound-
less ignorance, or where historical criticism has not
died out, only an hierarchical-dilettanti i-eaction, fool-
hardy hypocrisy, or weak-headed fanaticism, would wish
to demand the faith of the Christiail community in the
historic truth of these miracles, as if they had actually
taken place."" His theory is that the narrative is a
traditional myth, a popular epic poem, like the Iliad ;
the image of Elijah, like that of Hercules, being that of
a fabulous hero, a " wonderful creative repi'esentation," as
Ewald expresses it, " of the sublimest prophetic truths."
The primary question is the validity of the miracidous
element in Old Testament history, which must be
determined upon broader and more general groimds.
AU that can be said here is that, admitting the historic
occurrence of miracles, those recorded in the history of
Elijah are in singular harmony with the general plan
and purpose of miracles, as the outward material sign
' and signal of prophetic character and mission ; as also
with the peculiiir character of the crisis with which
Elijah's mission was connected. The Old Testament
history has naturally and necessarily its crises of
miracle, as iu the two gpreat distinctive missions of
Moses and Elijah. Tliat these should be signalised by
special miracle is only in harmony with the entire con-
ception. All the miracles wrought by Elijah have a
significant religious purpose. They are in harmony
6 Biheluerk fin- dif Gemeindc.Y. 2, s. 540, e( sq., quoted by Lange.
ELIJAH.
75
with their occasions, and they are incorporated in a
history of remarbibie simplicity, directness, and eleva-
tion. If the historic character of the miraculous be
admitted at all, the miracles wroiight by Elijah carry
tlie presumption of singular congruity.'
The character and mission of Elijah cannot be in-
telligently estimated without a general knowledge of
the state of the kingdom of Israel during the reign of
Ahab.
After the division of the kingdom, the larger and
more populous territory, and, notwithstanding the
possession of Jerusalem by the kingdom of Judah, the
greater prestige, remained with the ten tribes, who,
without hesitancy or opposition, assumed the national
designation, Israel — a name always given to it in the
historical books. Some of the later prophets of Judah,
however — Amos, Isaiah, Hosea, and Zechariah — desig-
nated it Ephraim. The possession of Jerusalem by
Judah carried the immense advantage of the Temple
and the theocratic throne. These proved the conser-
vative strength of its patriotism and its piety, while
the lack of them had a most disastrous influence upon
the religious character of Israel. Yainly did Israel
attempt to provide substitutes for these Di-sine institu-
tions by the consecration of sanctuaries at Bethel and
Dan, where " houses of the high places " were erected ;
by the golden calves, which were probably intended as a
coarse, sensuous form of Jehovah- worship; by the altera-
tion of the great national feasts (1 Kings xii. 25 — 33) ;
and by a prohibition against resorting to the Temple at
Jerusalem. These expedients proved successful so far
as that they diverted the worship of the people from
the Temple at Jerusalem ; but they had the disastrous
effect of laying the foundations of the gi-osser idolatry
which became so distinctively characteristic of the Israel-
itish kingdom. No institutions are more perilous or
destructive than theocratic forms destitute of their in-
sj)iring Divinity. Men may work hiiman institutions
designed and adapted for human faculties; for men
to attempt to work institutions demanding the exercise
of Divine powers and prerogatives is simply to court
destruction ; and failure will be so disastrous as gene-
rally to discredit religion itself. While, therefore, the
worship of Jehovah may have been contemplated by
Jeroboam, the forms and institutions which he demised
for it rapidly led the people into the grossest idolatry.
Their idolatry began, as all idolatry begins, with sen-
suous images and symifcols of true spiritual things. The
worldly policy of Jeroboam has often been repeated in
the course of history, and always with disastrous re-
sults. Jeroboam could supply only the mechanism of
theocratic institutions ; the Divine forces indispensable
to^them were wanting. Nothing, again, corrupts the
religious life of men so rapidly as the uuspiritual use
of religions forms. Hence the profound wisdom of the
interdict of the se<?oud commandment. Another cause
of rapid religious deterioration was the large migration
to Jerusalem and Judah of priests and Levites, and
probably of the more pious people, who would not
accept the dangerous religious revolution of Jeroboam.
This compelled Jeroboam to make priests of the lowest
of the people" (1 Kings xii. 31). Deprived of its
religious teachers, and of its most pious and intelligent
citizens, the nation rapidly relapsed into gross idolatry
and semi-barbarism. This deterioration is strikingly
illustrated by the visit of Jerolx)am's wife, in disguise,
to the old prophet Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. 1 — 18), who, just
as Samuel renounced Saul, had probably renounced
Jeroboam, as a protest against his guilt.-
Every successor of Jeroboam walked in his steps.
While Judah had a pious king occasionally, there is no
exception to the monotonous succession of the evil and
idolatrous kings of Israel. Religiously and politically
the condition of the kingdom waxed worse and worse.
As in the Roman empire, military adventurers liko
Baasha and Zimri attained to the throne by treachery
and murder ; popular leaders like Omri were chosen by
the people ; civil war and anarchy became almost the
chronic condition of the nation.
Omri was a very able ruler, although religiously ha
did '• worse than all that were before him;" like Jero-
boam his name became a proverb of evU omen (Micah
\i. 16) ; he was perhaps the greatest of the Israelitish
monarchs, and in many ways has graven his name upon
the memorials of the nation. Ahab his son succeeded
peacefully to his throne ; and, in spite of his incapacity
and his wickedness, he possessed it for twenty-one
years. He was a weak and foolish monarch, easily led
by crafty courtiers, and capable of the peculiar ip-anny
which so often characterises such rulers, and which, in-
deed, is the result of timidity lu-ged to rashness. Utterly
destitute of religious conviction, and of all feeling
of religious responsibility, Ahab sought to establish
his throne by politic alliances, and devoted himself
strenuously to the commercial development of the nation.
Influenced, probably, by the mercantile importance of
Tyi-e and Sidon, he mawied Jezebel, the daughter of the
King of Tyre, an idolatress, who had formerly been a
priestess of Astarte. He was also a great builder of
cities. He rebuilt Jericho, which from the conquest of
Joshua had remained a ruin. He built a palace at
Jezreel, on the western slope of Gilboa, overlooking the
gi-eat plain of Esdraelon. The character of Ahab is
portrayed by the religious historian in very dark
colours. He "did evil in the sight of the Lord above
all that were before him." He became an open idolater,
and " reared up an altar for Baal (the Phoenician suu-
god) in the house of Baal, which he had biult in
Samaria" (1 Kings xvi. 30 — 33). This was a new sin;
it was not only to introduce idolatrous symbols of the
true God, like the golden calves of Jeroboam, a for-
bidden mode of worship ; it was to introduce a new and
' See Keii and Bertlieaa's Comm. on the Bool; of Kings, cli. xvii. ;
Iiange's ditto, p. 191.
2 The Septuagint, followed by Dean Stanley, rep-resents this
iucideut as occurring before the open act of insiiiTectiou against
Kehoboam, while Jeroboam dwelt in his ancestral home; but the
great mourning for the child clearly supposes that Jeroboam had
come to the throne.
76
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
antagonistic deity. The sensual doilies of Phoenicia,
Baal and Ashtaroth — male and female — were set up
to depose Jehovah. This seems to have been owing
chiefly to the influence of his idolatrous and clever Avif e,
who was his " fate," — a Lady Macbeth to her weak and
6upplc husband. Not only was Jezebel a worshipper of
Astarte ; she was a bold, clever, proud, ambitious, in-
triguing, unscrupulous woman, both licentious aud cruel.
Throughout she is represented by the historian as the
evil genius of her husband. She suggested the murder
of Naboth, projected that of Elijah, was the open, un-
compromising patroness of the priests of Baal and of
the groves, and the unweai-ied instigator of idolatry.
The temple of Biial in Samaria was built at her insti-
gation. Its 450 priests, with whom Elijah came into
formal conflict on Carmel, were fed at her table. She
built also at Jezreel the temple of Astarte, the goddess
of the groves, and supi^orted its 400 priests ; aud she so
far influenced her despicable husband that he himself
offered sacrifices in these temples. The religious life
of the people became utterly demoralised ; the struggle
with the schools of the prophets, long and strenuous,
.vhich began wnth the ■withering of Jeroboam's baud
(1 Kings xiii.), seemed about to end in their utter ex-
i inction. Obadiah and a few faithful men had to conceal
their fidelity to Jehovah, and apparently Baal and
Jezebel had triumphed.
In this state of things, Elijah, the greatest of all the
prophets, appeared. His appearance is antecedently
congriious. If ever it was neeessai-y for a prophet of
God to vindicate the honour of Jehovah, it was then.
The effort was made to show that between the cultiis
of Baal and that of Jehovah there was no very great
difference ; the mission of Elijah was to show that the
difference was fundamental, va-st, and iiTeconcilable.
Hence he became the formal, public, and uncompromis-
ing antagonist of the idolatrous king and queen. The
protest of Grod's true prophets, which had begun with
Ahijah's revolt from Jeroboam, and had gradually
become stronger and more radical, culminated in him.
It gathered into a formal and public antagonism —
Jehovah or Baal — Elijah the prophet of God, or Ahab
the votary of idolatry — to the issue of which the eyes
of the entire nation were drawn. In the maintenance
of his cause Elijah elevated the prophetic office to a
position of moral gi-andeur that it had never before
attained. By his personal greatness, and the dramatic
picturcsqueness of this struggle, as well as by the vital
issues involved in it, and the lofty piety and fidelity
with which he maintained the honour of Jehovah, he
threw a lustre upon his age which is surpassed by that
of no period of Israelitish history.
Such outbreaks of religious life and power as the
mission of Elijah marks, are not uncommon in the
history of the Church. Almost every national life has
its great excitements and epochs, when the life which
for generations has flowed quietly and unobserved,
suddenly develops the forces which have been silently
gathering, and elements and forms of power spring,
almost magically, into historic greainess. History is a I
record of gi'cat epochs. An individual, a nation, or a
church is estimated by what it is at its greatest. Wo
judge Greece by the age of Pericles, Rome by the age
of Augustus ; they are not the common acts of a life, or
the commou lives of a nation, but their greatest acts
and lives which determine its place aud power. The
age of Elijah was such an epoch in the history of Isi'ael ;
it was part of a manifold development of which itself
was the crown. His personality is as distinct, as great,
and as influential as that of any character in the history
of Israel, Moses only excepted. His individuality is so
marked and unique that while there is but little in
common between him and Samuel and Da^dd, he claims
equal rank with both, and there is no other to be named
with them. The dramatic character aud conditions of
his api^earance and work make him in some respects a
more remarkable personage than either. By his indivi-
dual prophetic power he arrested the idolatrous course
and revolutionised the religious character of the entire
nation. He found Ahab and Jezebel bent upon the
establishment of idolatry, and the theistic feeling of the
people so utterly decayed that he thought it extinct.
By his single word, lofty, uncompromising, and autho-
ritative, he defeated the strenuous policy of the weak
king and his able, subtle, and unscrupulous wife, and
turned the entu-e tide of national feeling, rec^iUing the
people to sincere repentance, and to the renewed
worship and service of Jehovah. The entire concep-
tion of the man, his gi'andeur of character, his heroic
achievements, his dauntless fidelity, and the dramatic
form and romantic coloiuing of his history, have no
parallel in literature. We have only to recall the
equally detailed histories of Samuel and Elisha, to
realise how much deeper and more vivid the impres-
sion which Elijah makes, how much more heroic and
potent his prophetic force.
His name is a compound of the two roots which
supply the two chief designations of the God of Israel :
El and Jah — God Javeh, " God the Jehovah."
He came probably from Tisbeh in Gilead, a trans-
Jordanic part of Israel, separated from Syria only by
the little kingdom of Bashau. It was therefore a part
of the kingdom «f Israel which suffered severely in the
wars with Syria, especially with Benhadad. It has by
some been inferred from this that Elijah was not of
Israelitish blood ; but inasmuch as Gilead was the poi'-
tion of Reuben and Gad, the supposition is gratuitous ;
there is no reason why he should not have belonged to
one of these tribes, or to the tribe of Le^-i ; the Levites,
who had no inheritance, being scattered through all
the cities of Israel.
His mission to Israel and 'Ahab supposes, throughout
this meridian period of Israelitish hi.story. a state of
things altogether different from that under which the
later prophets, Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, prophesied.
The schools of the prophets were founded by Samuel,
and the chief of them— Gilgal, Bethel, and Ramali—
were in the Israelitish kingdom. Scarcely any of the
prophets appeared in Judali until after the captivity
of the northern kingdom. It was in Israel that pro-
ELIJAH.
phetism liad its chief developmeut aud function. The
religious condition of the kingdom from the time of
Solomon to its fall made special demands upon the
faithful servants of Jehovah. The incident coueerniug
Ahab and the false prophets, mentioned in 1 Kings xxii.,
reveals a company of not less than 400 men, who con-
tinued to exercise the prophetic function, although in a
very demoralised way. One of the great reformations
of Elijali was to revive and restore iha degenerate pro-
phetical office. Not only had the priesthood become
idolatrous, but the great spiritual function of the pro-
phets, which was its natural corrective, had in the time
of Ahab become so corrupt, that both on Carmel and in
the wilderness, Elijah thought himself the last of the
faithful prophets of Jehovah. The few who had re-
mained faitlrfid had been massacred at the instigation
of Jezebel (I Kings xviii.). This had naturally im-
perilled the true faith. Obadiah, however, Ahab's
house-steward, had contrived to conceal in a cave 200
of them ; and Elijah was entirely alone in the open
avowal of himself as tlie servant of Jehovah, and in
confronting the idolatrous tyrant. Strong in the truth
of his cause, in the dauntrless courage of his warfare,
and in the Divine protection of Him whom he served,
the utmost efforts to destroy him of Ahab and Jezebel
were futile. When, bent upon his death, they sought
him through all the laud and through neighbouring
countries, he could not be foitnd. Apparently he was
miraculously delivered from their hands.
Two things indicate the peculiar character and in-
tensity of liis prophetic consciousness : first, the avowal
of a Divine communion, the formula of which is peculiar
to Elijah and Elisha — ^the latter having probably derived
it from his master — "the Lord God before whom I
stand ; " next, the con\'iction of miraculous preserva-
tion clearly possessed l^y the historian, whicli Obadiah
so patlietically expressed, aud which is indicated by
the singular avowal of the sons of the prophets
when they met Elisha (2 Kings ii. 16). When
most urgently sought he was not to be found ;
when tlio least expected he boldly j)resented himself
before Ahab, to denounce his wickedness and defy his
power.
It is worthy of note that this is the first great reli-
gious persecution that history records ; aud of all the
subjects of religioxis persecution Elijah is the most
dramatic and heroic. Such persecution was the neces-
sary condition of proplietic greatness, and Elijah was
great enough to become its hero. Neither Poly carp,
nor Huss, nor Luther, nor any subsequent reformer or
martyr of the Church surpasses Elijah in his holy
fidelity, and in the strenuous courage of his single-
handed conflict with Ahab. The inspiration of this was
clearly his intense religious s]iirit. Elijah was the first
to teach the world the lofty duty of resisting organised
wrong, even at the cost of martyrdom. Ho was the
first of the great roll of confessors who, agaiust kings
and national systems, have witnessed for God and truth.
The three Hebrew youtlis, Daniel, Stephen, the Apostles
of our Lord, the early Christians, Wycliffe, Savonarola,
Huss, Luther, the noble army of the reformei-s aud
faithful witnesses for Christ, down to the Malagasy
martyrs, must recognise him as their illustrious proto-
type. He first vindicated the sacred rights of the
religious conscience against all its persecutor's iu the
world or in the Church.
Like the Baptist in a subsequent age, Elijali was a
prophet of the wilderness. The conditions of his work
necessitated his frequent seclusion iu the desert, iu some
near exile, or in some secui'e hiding-place, whence he
issued forth whenever occasion demanded it to deliver
his lofty protest, and to offer his single-handed defiance
to Ahab. Like the Baptist, too, he wore the primitive
garb of a man of ihe desert — a mantle of skin thrown
loosely over him, aud secured i-ound his waist by a
leathern girdle; his own hair, black, loug, and unkempt,
flowing down his shoulders. He was of little account in an
estimate of physical forces, but among tlie moral forces
of the world he was one of the greatest. His temperament
corresponded. A man of quick fiery impulses, extreme
in his emotional fluctuations ; bold as a lion in the hour
of duty and conflict, and capable of intense excitement,
and then giving way to corresponding depression. He
who so grandly confronted Ahab ou Carmel throws
himself down under the broom, or " juniper " bush, and
" requested for himself that he might die." Spirits capa-
ble of beiug strung to so fine a tension ai*e relaxed to a
IH-oportionate despondency. The tide of nervous sensi-
bility, so magnificent in its flow, is xntiable iu its reces-
sion ; the flood and the ebb are mutually causative.
The distmctive inopiration of Elijah was religious
conviction and sentiment, and not mere patriotism.
Against all the organised powers and social forces of
his age, he stands in the simple might of his religious
convictions. Through all history no inspiration has
been so mighty. The impelling and sustaining force
of patriotism, of natural affection even, gives i)lace to
that of religion. The sense of Diviue supremacy, the
depth aud sanctity of refigious feeling, and the strength
of religious conviction, together with the consciousness
of a Divine commission, and the involuntary reverence
inspired by it, have over and over again made weak
and solitary men revolutionary powers in society.
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel,
Peter, Paul, are among the instances in sacred story ;
Athauasius, Ambrose, Mahomet, Huss, Wycliffe,
Savonarola, Luther — " the solitary monk that shook the
world," Calvin, John Knox, are among those of later
religious history. Among them Elijah, although net
the first, is perhaps the siqireme instance. No man
ever fought the battle of God against greater odds or
under more arduous conditions, or achieved a more
signal and momentous v-ictory. No inspiration that
human experience knows is so noble and strong and
irresistible as religious inspiration, and the purer the
religious faith the greater is its power.
Elijah's one potent word was the supreme claim of
Jehovali against eveiy form of irreligious government,
life, or power. Organised iwwer, especially under con-
ditions of imperfect civilisation, is very imposing, aud
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
soon gathers saQCtion and tradition which overpower
individual convictions. " The divinity that doth hedge
a king" is felt by all nations, if not intelligently, yet
snperstitiously. Israelitish reverence for " the Lord's
anointed " was exceptionally great. And it was Elijah's
great work tu convince the jjeople that no office or
function, however exalted, or sanctioned, or powerful, can
demand obedience in opposition to the claims of God.
If Ahab and his government will resist the Divine order,
in virtue of which he reigned, he must be withstood,
and the nation must be taught and led in true religious
way-s. There is no hint of civil rebellion, although
this would have been justified by the peculiar conditions
of the theocracy. But civil obedience to a ruler by no
means involves religious submission to him, or an
abnegation of the indi\-idual right to profess and pro-
pagate religious convictions. The victory was with
Elijah ; and it was a very signal one, not only in the
public discomfiture of Ahab and the priests of Baal
on Carmel, but in the humiliation of the king, in his
enforced recall of Elijah to solicit his intercession for
the termination of the drouo^ht.
This was the idea and end of Elijah's mission, and
most triumphantly it was achieved. When Saul
revolted from Jehovah, Samuel was commissioned to
depose him from his sovereignty, and to anoint David
king in his stead. Elijah had no such commission.
His ^ras the liigher moral triumph of subduing Ahab to
the rcjpudiation of his ovrn idolatry, and to the repen-
tant acknowledgn^.ent of Jehovah as the true God. It
is difficult to estimate the moral effect upon Israel. It
recalled the nation to a Jehovistic faith and worship
purer than they had realised from the time of Reho-
boam. That this did not ultimately save it, is no de-
traction from the greatness of the achievement. No
moral forces can save a people so corrupt and venal as
the ten tribes had become. In the progress of national
deterioration the very foundations of wtue and reli-
gion may be so destroyed as that whatever the Divine
appeal sftid visitation, and the transient effect which they
produce, the issue is only a question of time. It is
enough for the vindication of Elijah that he gave the
people an opportunity of expelling foreign idolatrous
elements, and of beofiuniujic a new life.
DIFFICULT PASSAGIES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. MATTHEW.
ET THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKPIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD.
" Aud I say also uuto thee. That thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will huild my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And 1 will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven."— Sr. Matthew svi. 18, 19.
.HE difficulties connected with the inter-
pretation of these words are mainly as
follows : —
(1) What is the natui-e and extent of the
personal apphcation of the words to St. Peter ?
(2) What is the rock on which the Church of Cluist
was to be built ?
(3) What is the ti-ue meaning of the power of the
keys, aud wherein does its rightful exercise consist ?
We wiU begin by considering the question of the
application of these words to St. Peter. The argument
employed by Maldonatus in support of the primacy of
St. Peter is substantially this. St. Matthew wrote his
gospel, not in Greek, but in Hebrew, or in the Syro-
Chaldaic dialect, in which, as many think, our Lord
spoke. In the latter case there would probably be no
difference between the two words which are rendered
respectively Peter and rocTc. Both would be represented
by the same word — CepTms ; and, consequently, the
natural import of the passage would be, " Thou art a
rock, and upon this rock (i.e., upon thee) I will build
my Church."
Before proceeding fiu-ther, tlien, in the examination
of the meaning of these words, we may obsei've that,
whether oui- Lord spoke, and whether St. Matthew
originally wrote, in Syro-Chaldaic, or in Greek, we
must take the words as they have been transmitted to
us, if we would avoid the substitution of mere conjec-
ture, both here and elsewhere, in the place of a solid
foundation on which to rest oui* faith. Now, Maldo-
natus is constrained to admit that some ancient inter-
preters imderstood the words, not of Peter, but either
of Peter's confession of faith in Christ, or of Christ
Himself; and it is not without interest and instrac-
tion to observe the manner in which he endeavours
{" reverenter") to explain away the meaning assigned
to these words by some of the most distiuguished of
the ancient fathers, and to reconcile their language
with that later interpretation which has been assigned
to the passage, on the supposition that when those
ancient writers expkined the rock as the faith, or con-
fession of faith, of St. Peter, they meant to express
their belief that the Chm-ch was built upon St. Peter,
on account of his faith and its confession. '
Now whilst the natural interpretation of the words
of our Lord, taken in their obvious import and con-
nection, would lead us to infer that there was some
special personal reference in them to that Apostle to
whom they were addressed ; and whilst the fact that it
was St. Peter who, on the day of Pentecost, opened the
door of Christ's Church to the Jews, and the same
Apostle who, in the house of Cornelius, opened it also
to the Gentiles, would lead to the vsame conclusion, it
1 The words are deserving of quotation. We direct the special
attention of our readers to those which we have printed in italics : —
" Commodusima autem interi^retatio mihi videtur, si dicamus cos
dicerc voluisse super fidem, et coufessionem Petri Ecclesiam ocdifi-
catnm, id est, super Petrum propter fidem et con/cssi'miem quemadmodum
et omnes alii scnserixnt aii:tor€S," (In yfatthceum Comment.,
cap. xvi.)
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
79
must be observ-ed (1), as against the interpretation of
Maldouatns and others, that the words so understood,
so far from involving, as they allege, any special appli-
cation to St. Peter's successors, as such, would seem
rather to exclude it ; and (2) that, however strong may
be the reasons alleged in support of some allusion to
St. Peter's personal ministry, there seem to be conclu-
sive reasons against the interpretation of the rock as
denoting that Apostle personally.
The former of these observations, when considered
in conjxmction with the two facts (1) that, in chapter
xviii. 18, the same promise as to binding and loosing
is given either to the Church collectively, or, at least,
to the Apostles conjointly; and (2) that there is no
proof whatsoever, but rather the contrary, of the exist-
ence of any siiccessors of St. Peter as the first Bishop
of Borne, wUl here demand no proof. The following
considerations are advanced in support of the second : —
(1) The word rock, whilst frequently used figuratively,
in the Old Testament, of Grod, as an emblem of strength
and durabihty, is not applied, thi-oughout the whole of
it, to any particular man, except in a wholly different
signification, as to Abraham, as the founder of the
Jewish race. As instances of its application to
Jehovah, as the Rock of Israel, we may refer to Deut.
xxxii. 4j 15 ; 1 Sam. ii. 2 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 32 ; Isa. xx\d. 4 ;
xliv. 8. Exactly corresponding to this Old Testament
usage is that ©f the New Testament, in which, whenever
the word n^Tpa has a personal signification, it is invari-
ably used of Christ. In addition to those passages, in
which this word is figuratively used by our Lord Him-
self, with reference to the house built upon '' the rock,"
it is used twice by St. Paul, and once by St. Peter with
specific reference to Christ. St. Pavd, in Romans ix.
33, renders Isaiah's '" rock of offence " (Isa. viii. 14) by
the W9rds irerpav aKav5d\ov ; and again, in allusion to
the rock smitten by Moses at Rephidim, he expressly
declares, " and that rock was Chiist " (^ Se TreVpa ^v 6
Xpicrhs). In like manner, and as regards our immediate
subject, yet more significantly, St. Peter makes use of
precisely the same words as St. Paul, and, having first
described aU believers as " living stones " (1 Pet. ii. 6),
he declares, with reference to that " stone," wliich the
Jewish buildei-s rejected, that He had become " the
head of the comer, and a stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offence" [KalTrerpaaKavSd^ov).
And (3), inasmuch as in Old Testament phraseology
we read of "' a stone," ]'^, eben, being laid as a founda-
tion in Zion (Isa. xxviii. 16), for which word nsTpos, in
the compound fonn ■ireTpo06\os is used in the LXX.
in Job xli. 20, it may fairly be asked why, in the passage
in question, if " the rock " denoted Peter, so marked a
change of phraseology should here occur ; and, instead
of saying, as we should have anticipated, had such been
the import of His words, " Thou art Peter {nerpos, i.e.,
a stone), and upon this stone (eVl rot^ijj t^ -n-eTpqi) I will
build my Chui-ch," our Lord, or the Evangelist, in
recording His words, should have avoided the use of
a word which would have made His ^neaning plain, and
employed one which is calculated, by its invariable use
in ether places, to convey a signification altogether
different.
These considerations, especially when taken in con-
nection with the uniform declarations of Holy Scrip-
ture that Christ HimseK is the one and only foundation
(1 Cor. iii. 11), and the " chief corner-stone," once laid
in Zion (1 Pet. ii. 6), appear conclusive on the point that
the rock on which the Church was to be buUt was not
Peter, but either Peter's confession of faith in Christ,
as the Son of the living God, or rather, for the reasons
already assigned, Christ Jesus Himself, compared, in
accordance with that Old Testament phraseology which
the name already assigned to Peter (John i. 42), and
the rocky scenery of the neighbourhood of Csesarea
Philippi would naturally suggest, to the immovable
and imperishable rock, upon which a house, or a city,
securely erected, might defy the assaults of -s-iolence
and the ravages of time.
Some \vi'iters, ha\'ing regard to the gates of an
Eastern city as the seat of council, have interpreted the
promise that the gates of Hades shaU not prevail against
the Chui-ch of Christ, as an assurance that no machina-
tions of her foes shall be successful. Such, however,
seems, at the best, an imperfect interpretation of the
metaphor. The gates of an Eastern city were regarded,
if not as constituting its fortress or stronghold, at least
as the key of it, so that the " gates " of a city might
be reasonably intei-preted as a synonym for its strength.
Wlien thus interpreted, the meaning of the promise
would be that, inasmuch as the keys both of Hades and
of death were given to Chi-ist, the most strenuous
assaults of him who, for a time, had '" the power of
death" should be baffled, when dii-ected against the
people and the kingdom of the Prince of Life. Inas-
much, moreover, as the gates of a city formed its strength
of defence against assault, the promise that the gates
of Hades shall not prevail against the Chm-ch seems to
imply, fui-ther, that the Church of Christ, in her offen-
sive, as well as her defensive warfare, shall be finally
victorious, and that she shall, in the end, vanquish the
strongholds of Satan, and "' possess the gate of her
enemies " (ci. Gen. xxii. 17).
When the Church is viewed as " a city that is compact
together," the gates of the city, with their " tlirones of
judgment," would, in accordance with the important
purposes for which they were used in the East, occupy
a prominent place in the picture. When regarded as
the palace of the Great King, the necessity for the ap-
j)ointment of the various officers would naturally suggest
itself to the mind of the speaker. Amongst these
the post held in the household of Hezekiah by Shebna,^
who was '* over the house," and afterwards by Eliakim,
was one of the most important. To this officer was
committed the custody of the keys ; not as an indefeasible
right, but by way of delegation, and as a trust which,
as in the case of Shebna, he might be required to resign,
into the hands of another. A-ud, just as in regard to
the use of the other figure, though Christ is represented
as the one foundation and the chief corner-stone, the
city is represented as ha-v-ing " twelve foundations, and
80
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb "
(Rev. xxi. 1-4), so though Christ, " as a Son over his
own house," retains to Himself the exclusive right to
'• the key of Da^nid," so that He alone " opeucth, and no
man shuttcth ; and He shutteth, and Ho man opeuoth "
(Rev. iii. 7), nevertheless it is His will to delegate
the power of the keys both to His Church, generally,
and to tiio officers of His Church, specifically, and so
to ratify and confirm their lawful use of them that
"whatsoever tiiey shall bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven ; aud whatsoever they shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven."
Much confusion of tliought and misconception of the
meaniug of these words liave arisen from ignorance or
neglect of the received use amongst the Jews of the
tei'ms " binding" and '"loosing." Thousands of examples
might be adduced to show that to " loose " was commonly
understood hy the Jews as meaning to " allow," and to
" bind," as meaning to forbid. The words used by our
Lord, moreover, both hero and in Matt, xviii. 18, and
■which are translated in both places in the Authorised
Yersiou " whatsoever," are in the neuter gender, '6, aud
OiTa., i.e., whatsoever thing, or things ; not whatsoever
person, or ijersons.
Li like manner, then, as St. Peter on the day of
Pentecost exercised the power of the keys by opening
the door of Christ's Church to the 3,000 Jews who
were on that day baptised into it, and again in the house
of Cornelius, by opening the same door to the Gentiles,
so also l)y teaching that it was no longer uuIaAvf ul for a
Jew to come imto, or eat bread with, those of auotlier
nation, he "loosed" what before was "bound;"' and
the Coimcil of Jerusalem, in like manner, by commanding
to abstain from blood ; aud St. Paul, by forljiddiug tlie
intentional eating of things sacrificed to idols, "bound"
that which, to the Gentile world, had hitherto lieeu
"loosed." As "the power of the keys," rightly under-
stood, pointed to the teaching office of the Church, so
that of "binding" or "loosing" pointed to her " legis-
lative action."''
1 See a sermon by Professor Plumptre, entitled, " Confession and
Absolution," preached before the University of Oxford, Advent Suu-
day, 1873. With an Excursus on the Power of the Keys, p. 48. W.
Isbister f.nd Co.
THE POETRY OF tHE BIBLE.
BT THE REV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALTTH, N.B.
STRUCTUEE OF THE VERSE (continued).
THK STROPHE SYSTEM AND THE KEFRAIN.
HE word strophe, now generally adopted
to designate the di^'isions into which the
Hebrew Psjilms for the most part, and
many of the prophetic odes, fall, is a
term borrowed from the movement of the chorus of
a Greek play. In the centre of the orchestra of a
Grecian theatre there stood an altar round which the
chorus of old men, youug maidens, or soldiers, as the
case might be, were grouped. From time to time, be-
tween the acts, were performed various comphcated
dances, illustrative of the emotions suggested by
the play ; and as they moved, marching or dancing, in
time to the music of their chant, the chorus formed aad
wheeled with the regularity of a regiment. To cor-
respond witli these evolutions, the choral ode was com-
posed in i^arts, called strophe and anti-strophe.'
The name is, for many reasons, appropriate to the
divisions of Hebrew hymns. Like the lyrics of the
Greek drama, they were intended for orchestral per-
formance, with accompaniment both of music and
dancing. Of the nature of these our knowledge is very
slight. Enough, however, is contained in the few
notices left, to show that the chants were many of them
antiphonal, or arranged to be sung alternately by
different choirs or parts of a choir. In very many
instances a burden or refrain, chanted by the whole
orchestra, or perhaps by the assembled congregation of
1 From arptipuf, to tui^n.
worshippers, marks with precise indication the divisions
of the ode.
The natural development of the Hebrew rhythmic
system was ti-aced in the last paper. The i^oet was
guided rather than fettered by the laws which govern
this development; and even when submitted to the
requu'ements of the orchestra, his song was free to
follow where Ip-ic genius and inspiration led. Accord-
ingly the strophe arrangement is generally determmed
by the subject of the poem. It is only in verse com-
jjosed on an artificial system, deliberately assumed, that
we find perfect regularity in the stanzas. The highest
poetic genius of Israel asserts its freedom to A'iolate its
own rules.
It is not, however, impossible to trace the influence,
on the composition of Hebrew odes, of the musica,l
arrangenients which prevailed at religious ceremonies
and x>ublic festivals. The guide for this is afforded
by the \ise of refrain or burden, or, as it is often
called in connection with modern songs, the chorus.'
One of the earliest fragments of song preserved in
the Bible exhibits the custom in its germ. The patri-
archal blessing or curse contained in Genesis ix. 25 —
27 has the l)urden, " And Canaan shall be their slave,"
in whicli the subject and intention of the whole is
summed up and repeated. The " Song of Moses ''
- The use of the refrain was not unknown in classical poetry.
See Catullus, Nuptial Song of PeJeua and T/ieh's.
" Currite, ducentes subtemina, currite fusi."
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
8i
exhibits the musical origin of the practice. We are
told in verse 21 of Exodus xv., that "Miriam answered
ihem " —
" Sing ye to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously ;
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.''
"Whatever be the meaning of this passage — whether it
implies that Miriam took the verse first as a solo, and the
band of maidens repeated it after her, or merely that
the prophetess led off the song, the use of a refrain to
embody the intention of the whole poem is plainly
sho^yn.
Of the ceremonies in which we can see the propriety
of introducing songs so constructed as to allow a great
number of people to combine their voices at marked
interval or as feeling dictated, the first to claim our
notice is the funeral. A marked feature of Oriental
mourning is its studied publicity, and, amid the
varioi\s ways in which this was gained was the em-
ployment of hired mourners, to lament over the corpse
and " go about the streets " (Eccles. xii. 5 ; 2 Chron.
xsxv. 25). Some of the sad burdens have been pre-
served. They may sometimes have been very short,
mere interjections and cries of woe (Amos v. 16).
In such as these the friends or even the passers-by
could join (Job xxvii. 15 ; 1 Kings xir. 13 ; Jer. xxii.
18). How effective must such outbursts of feeling
have been when they were controlled and directed by
poetical genius like that of David ! The burden of the
" Lament over Saul and Jonathan " is woven with
consummate skill into the texture of the poem. Im-
mediately after the opening line, it bursts out as if
with irrepressible feeHng —
■" The beauty of the forest, O Israel, is slain upon thy hei^jhts :
Hoic are the inightij fallen ! "
It is then silent for two short strophes, which speak of
the bmvery and renown of the dead, and appeal to the
daughters of Israel to weep for the monarch whose
favours they had so often received. They respond to
the appeal by raising again their short sad wail, the
poet taking their lament as the st^arting-point of a new
"" lyric cry " — a tribute of affectionate sorrow over the
loved friend and brother Jonathan. Tliis has hardly
died away, when once more the loud lament rises from
the cliorus, and the elegy abruptly ends —
" Hoi.0 are the mighty fallc",
And the weapons of war perished ! "
In the more formal and stately ceremonies of religion,
tlie processional chants, festival hymns, or dedication
odes, a more regiilar employment of the refrain was
practised. These public services were directed by a
leader of the choir, who acted as the coryphaeus, or con-
ductor. The names of several of those who had charge
of the musical performances in David's reign have been
preserved (1 Chron. xxv. 1 — 7).
Without conductoi-s the performance of an ela-
borately constructed dramatic ode like Ps. xxiv. would
have been impossible. In like manner the improvements
of orchestral performances doubtless reacted upon the
poets. It is in the compositions which may without
54- VOL. lu.
doubt be assigned to this period that we see evidence
of a wish to secure a regular arrangement of similar or
equal strophes. The most beautiful of these, con-
structed with a refrain, belong, however, to later times.
In these the burden has assumed its proper place, the
close of the strophe, where the chorus naturally joins
in with its confirmation or repetition of the verses just
sung. In some of the hymns which, by their allusions,
are shown to have been composed for the service of the
Temple, and which would not have been perfect had
not room been made for the voices of all the assembled
worshippers, the prevailing arrangement is into ikres
strophes.^ What determined the preference for this
number does not appear, but the influence of the cus-
tom adopted in the Temple songs is plainly visible
in poetica.1 compositions of another kind." The most
perfect examples are given by Ps. xlvi., xlviii. The
burden in each of these has evidently dropped out
from the close of the first strophe. In the former the
refrain consists of a couplet, in which the parallelism
is of the progressive kind. In the latter, one line,
which is varied in the last recurrence, forms the chorus.
Ps. xlvi. has been arranged by Ewald in strophes of
four couplets each.
I. — God a refuge in storm and tempest.
" Qod is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble ;
Therefore will we not fear though the earth do quake.
Though the mountains totter in the midst of the sea,
Though the waters thereof rage and swell.
And though the mountains shake at the tempest of th?
same.
Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our tower of strength,
II. — As the stream of Siloam, so hath been His presence to the besieged.
" There is a stream the waters whereof make glad the city
of God,
The holy places of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved ;
Grod wUl help her, the morning draweth nigh :
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved ;
At the sound of His thunder the earth melteth.
Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our tower of strength.
III. — His wonders in destroying the Assyrians.
" Come hither and behold the work of Jehovah,
What wonders He hath wrought upon the earth !
He maketh wars to cease in all the world,
He breaketh the bow and kuappeth the spear in sunder,
and burneth the chariots in the fire.
Be still, then, and know that I am God :
I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted
in the earth.
Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our tower of strength."
Ps. xlv. affords an example of another kind. It seems
to be a royal marriage song, composed to celebrate
the entrance of a bridal procession into the palace.
The strophes are of unequal length, and the refraiu,
which varies on every occasion of its recurrence, is in-
troduced by the word therefore. " With the spiritual
insight of the Hebrew poets, who saw the Di^-ine element
underlying aU human joy and woe, the Psalmist cannot
' Cf. Ewald, I>ic?ifcr des A. B., i.
• See, for instance, Isa. ii. 1—8. Ps. xxix. is a beautiful specimen,
but without refrain, and with the addition of a prelude and close.
82
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
look on the king's justice in the judgment-scat, his
pro^vcss in the battle, or even on his personal beauty
and the happiness of the present hour, but as blessings
scut from God, and as proof of the king's union with the
Divine ruler of the world." What an emphasis was
given to this faith by the uplifted voices of the chorus,
chanting in imison —
" Therefore doth God hless ilieefor ever ! "
" Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellou;^."
"Therefore shall the people give praise unto thee, uoiid
without end."
For the longer Temple hymns a standard form of
chorus was used, occupying in tlie old worship much
the same place as that taken by the Gloria Patri in
the services of the Christian Church. It is repeatedly
referred to in the historical books (1 Chrou. x\-i. 34 ;
2 Chron. v. 13 ; A-ii. 3 ; Ezra iii. 11 ; Jer. xxxiii. 11), and
is woven into four psalms (cvi., cvii., cxviii., cxxxvi.).
In Ps. cxxxvi. it is repeated after every verse, an arrange-
ment imitated in the " Song of the Three Children."
In Ps. cvi. and cvii. this form occurs only as a prelude,
being joined in the latter with another coiiplet, which
is introduced in a new and striking manner into each
strophe, so as to complete it, although it does not form
the concluding verse.
From the services of the sanctuary and occasions of
public rejoicing, the refrain passed into general poetic
use to give prominence to the poet's leading feeling or
idea. In compositions of a mournful kind a more plain-
tive tone is given by this arrangement. The refrain
recurs with the same effect as in the elegies for the dead.
Ps. xlix., xlii. — xliii. (these two are evidently one com-
position) are beautiful specimens. The latter is in three
equal strophes, each one closed with the words on which
the Psalmist, evidently an exile, tries to support his
drooping courage by reciting his trust in God.
" ir/iy art thou so heavy, 0 my soul,
And H-hy art thou so disquieted •wiiliiti ine ?
0 put thy trust in God, for I wiU yet give Him thanks,
]Vhich is the help of my countenance and my God.''
Ps. Ivii. offers another good example. It belongsr
idso to the Captivity, and expresses the hope of restora-
tion, which was the only earthly consolation left to the
Israelites at that time. This hope forms the burden at
the end of each of the two strophes into which the
psalm is di\'ided.
" Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavcus,
And Thy glory above all the earth."
lu a still later psalm (kxx.) the refrain, which con-
sists of a pathetic appeal to God for mercy and
restoration —
"Turn \is again. Thou God of Hosts;
Show the light, of Thy countenance, and we shall be whole,"
is beautifully changed at the end of the third strophe,,
and woven into the texture of the i)oem —
"Turn Thee again, Thou God of Hosts ;
Look down from heaven, behold and visit this vine."
Tiie prophets made a striking use of the refrain. It
gave an awful solemnity and force to the woes which
fell from theu* lips, tolled forth like nature's funeral
knell; and it served too the prophetic aim, which was to
create a succession of vivid images, aU bearing on the
same moral truth and pointing* to the same end. The
Book of Isaiah affords some magnificent instances of
the value of the refrain to preserve this unity, and.
bring back the attention to tJie dominant thought. In
chapters ix. and x. there is a fine ode of regular stixjphes,.
with this chorus four times repeated.'
" For all this His anger is not turned aiou.
But His hand is stretclied oiit stUl."
Other instances wUl be found in chapters ii., xlv., li.
> Chap. T. 25 would seem also to have formed part of the same
prophecy.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BY THE BEV. G. F. MACLEAK, D.P., HEAD MASTER OF KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL.
CHAPTER V.
THE RISE OF THE MACCABEES.
,T no period in their history did the
Chosen People, and the holy religion they
professed, appear so neai* to extermination.
But as the darkest hour always pre-
cedes the chi^\Ti, so it was at this crisis in their fortunes
that the Divine Providence intei-posed, and by the
patriotism, valour, and self-devotion of a single family,
raised the nation from its condition of prostrate misery
to a height of power that excelled the days of David and
Solomon. There was li\nug at this time at Modin, a town
situated on an eminence between Jerusalem and Joppa,
a priest of the course of Joarib,' named Mattathias. He
was himseK advanced in years, but his sons were in
1 The first of the twenty-four oonrees, 1 Chron. xxiv. 7.
the prime of life, and were five in number, Johanan^
Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan.
The persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes had already
roused his utmost indig-natiou, when a royal com-
missioner, named ApeUes, came to Modin, and required
the people to offer idolatrous sacrifice. The old man
not only declared his own resolution to live and die in
the faith of his fathers, but when a Jew approached an
altar, which the commissioner had erected, to renounce
his faith, struck him do^^•n, and then, aided by his
sons and the inhabitants of the to^vn, slew ApeUes him-
self, and tore down the altar.- Thus the fii-st blow was
struck for national freedom, and many of his country-
men rallied round the aged priest, who now fled with his;
sons to the mountains of Judsea, B.C. 168.
Here their number rapidly increased, but a large
- 1 Mace. ii. ID— 29.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
83
force Laving been sent against tliem by the Plirygian
Governor of Jerusalem, tliey suffered a serious sliock,
and upwards of a thousand were slain. The attack was
made on the Sabbath-day, and Mattathias saw that the
patriot forces would be rooted " out of the earth,"' if he
did not sanction defensive warfare on that day.
Accordingly thLs relaxation of an over- scrupulous
observance was made, and the war was continued with
sio-ual success. Then* ranks recruited by zealous "ad-
herents of the law, the foi-ces of Mattathias lay hid for
a time in their mountain retreats, and thence poured
down upon the towns, destroying the heathen altars,
and punishing all apostates who fell iuto their hands.
But Mattathias was old and grey-headed. He was
unfitted for the fatigue of active ser\dce, and having
exhorted his followers to constancy and devotion, and
delegated the command of his little army to Judas,
his third son, died B.C. 166, and "was biu-ied in the
sepulchre of his fathei's at Modin.'"-
Though yoimg in years when called to lead the war
of independence, Judas was at once prudent and dis-
creet. He had already distinguished himself as a leader,
and now being called to the chief command, he devoted
himself to the task of uniting for common action all
who were zealous for the national faith. " By night
attacks, by sudden surprises, he taught his people how
to conquer. Alert of foot and quick of brain, yesterday
in the mountains, to-day in the plain ; now marching on
a fort, now storming a castle ; in a few months of
service he changed his rabble of zealots into an army of
solid troops, capable of meeting and repelling the royal
hosts commanded by generals trained in the Macedonian
school of arms."^
He first unfurled the banner of the Maccabees.
The origin of the name is uncertain. Some derive
it from the combination of the initial letters of the
Hebrew sentence. Mi Camo Ca Bahlim, Jehovah, i.e.,
Who is liJce unto Thee aviong the gods, Jehovah ?^
Others would derive it from the banner of the tribe of
Dan, which is said to have been inscribed with the three
last letters of the names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
More probably it was a personal appellation of Judas
himself, meaning the Hammer, just as Charles Martel
derived his name from his favourite weapon.^
Whatever may have been the precise meaning of the
term, the Syrian chiefs soon felt the weight of the
arm of the new general. Apollonius marched against
him, but was signally defeated and slain.^ Seron,
deputy-governor of Coele-Syria, bent on avenging the
disaster, attacked him at Bethhoron with a large force,
but only to be repulsed as disastrously as the Canaanites
before Joshua on the same battle-field." Stung to the
quick by the news of this double defeat, Antiochus
Epiphanes, while himself undertaking an expedition
against Persia in the hope of recruiting his im-
1 1 Mace. ii. 40. 2 Jos., ^ut., xii. 6, 4.
3 Hepworth Dixon's Holy Land, i. 64. •* Exod. xv. IL
' Compare the "filalleus Scotorum " and tlie "Malleus
Haereticorum " of the Middle Ages.
'' 1 Mace. iii. 10—12. 7 1 Mace. iii. 13—24; Josh, x, 10, 11.
poverished exchequer, entrusted the command of the
Palestinian provinces to Lysias, one of his nobles,
■with instructions to destroy utterly and "root out
the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jemsalem."
Eager to carry out his orders, Lysias dispatched up-
wards of 48,000 troops into Judaea, luider the command
of Gorgias and Nic<inor. But Judas was not daunted.
After keeping a solemn fast at Mizpeh,^ and making
a public confession of the national sins, the Je^vash
leader fell upon the Syrians at Emmaus, and attacking
them by night defeated them -with great slaughter. In
the following year Lysias himself marched t© meet
him at the head of 60,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry.
The battle took place at Bethstira or Bethzur,'" and
again, the Maccabsean chief, though at the head of a far
inferior force, gained a decisive advantage."
Mortified and disgi-aced, Lysias now withdrew to
Antioch, and Judas was enabled to enter Jerusalem,
and occuijy the whole of it except '■ the Tower.'"^ A sad
scene of desolation met his eyes when he once more set
foot in the precincts of the Holy Temple. The gates
were destroyed, the priests' chambers were in ruins,
shrubs grew in the courts as in a forest, as on one of
the mountains;" the sanctuary itself was empty and
exposed to the eyes of aU. Judas at once cJeared the
sacred enclosure, removed the altar to Zeus Xenios,which
had replaced the brazen altar of bumt-olfering, restored
the priests, rekindled the sacred flame, and exactly
three years after its profanation by ApoUonius, cele-
brated the re-dedication of the Temple on the 25th of
the winter month Cliisleu, B.C. 165.
CHAPTER VI.
JTJDAS MACCABEUS.
The year succeeding the re-dedication of the Temple
was spent in border wars, and Judas carried his
A^ictorious ai-ms into the territory of the Idumseans and
Ammonites, while his brother Simon fought many
battles in Galilee, chased the Syrians to the gates of
Ptolemais, and recovered many JcAvish captives."
Meantime Joseph and Azarias, who had been left in
Judaea, in direct violation of orders they had received,
had attacked Jamnia, a seaport, but had been signally
defeated by Baccliides, the most skilful of all the
Syrian generals. Judas avenged the defeat, but not
without considerable loss, and, removing all the Jews
beyond the Jordan, confined the boundaries of his
kingdom to the more defensiljle ground cf Judaea.'*
Meanwhile Antiochus Epiphanes, the terrible oppres-
sor of the Jews, had passed away. Struck with an in-
curable disorder, while engaged in an expedition against
the rich temple of Nanea, at Elymais, he died at the
s 1 Mace. iii. 35. 9 1 Mace. iii. 46—53.
10 Bethsura or Betbzur, house of roclc, was a strong position
commanding the road from Benohaba and Hebron (Josh. xv.
5S ; 2 Chron. si. 7).
11 1 Mace. iv. 29, 34. '- 1 Mace vi. 18, 19.
13 1 Mace. iv. 38. i-* 1 Mace. v. 21—23.
I'' Milmnn's Historn of the Jews, ii. 8.
8i
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
villlage of Tabae, near Mount Zagros, on tho road to
Babylon, B.C. 164. Before his deat'li ho had appointed
his foster-brother, Philip, regent of SjTia, and guardian
of his son Antiochus Y. But Lysias, who was himself
of tho blood royal, no sooner heard of his death, than
ho assumed tho reins of government as guardian of
Antiochus Eupator, and tho son of the deceased king.
His first act was to invade Judaea, and, having
captured Bethzur, laid siege to Jerusalem. But the
stronghold of Zion resisted all his efforts. Attack
after attack was made in vain, and Lysias hearing tliat
Philip had been appointed regent, and liad succeeded in
capturing Antioch, hastily concluded a treaty with the
Jews, gfuaranteeing to them the use of their own laws,
and full liberty of worship, and returned to Syria,
while Judas was recognised as governor of Palestine,
B.C. 163.
Shortly afterwards Lysias fell into the hands of
Demetrius, the lineal heir to the throne of Antioch,
who had escaped from Rome, and landed at Tyre.' Tho
accession of the new king brought with it fresh troubles
to the Jews. Lysias had conferred the priesthood on
one Jakin, or Joachin, of the stock of Aaron, but not
of the pontifical family.^ The new high priest assumed
the Grecian name of Alcimus, and proved a zealous
adherent of the Hellenising faction.^
In him Demetrius saw a fitting instrument for sowing
discord amongst the Maccabaean patriots. He confirmed
him in his new dignity, and sent him, accompanied by
Bacchides, to claim his sacerdotal rights. With a large
force the two appeared before Jerusalem, and the
zealots for tho law, attracted by the title of high
priest, admitted Alcimus within the walls. But no
sooner had tlio high priest got his enemies into his
power, than he basely murdered sixty of them, while
Bacchides also resorted to cruel severities. So long as
the Syrian general was by his side, Alcimus was able
to assert his authority. But no sooner had Bacchides
withdrawn his troops, than Judas quickly regained his
old influence, and succeeded in compelling the high
priest to fly to Antioch.
By dint, however, of large bribes, he succeeded in
inducing Demetrius to assist liini in recovering his
authority, and Nicanor was sent with a large army into
Judaea. Taught by past experience to respect his
dreaded adversary, Nicanor at first tried to get the
Maccabaean chief into his power by treachery. Failing
in this, he attacked him first at Caphar-Salama, and
afterwards .at Adasa, about thirty stadia from tlie
glorious field of Bothliorou. In both engagements he
was utterly defeated, and in the last fell himself
amongst the slain, B.C. 161.'« This signal victory
restored peace for a sliort time to tlie Jewish patriots, and
Judas resolved to improve tho interval by concluding a
treaty with the Romans, of whoso fame he had lieard
much. But before the ambassadors ho had sent to tho
great capital of the West could return, the Syrian
' 1 Mace. Tii. 1 — 14.
' 1 Mace. vii. 14; 2 Mace. xiv.
2 Jos. Ant. lii., 9, 5.
* 1 Mace. vii. 40—49.
king had sent Bacchides, with the entire force of his
realm, into Palestine to avenge his recent defeat.
Never was Judas in more perilous circumstancea.
His attempted alliance mth tho Romans had alienated
tho more extreme Jewish party from him. Conse-
quently he was able to bring but a small force into tho
field, and of these a considerable number deserted him
on the eve of battle. With eight hundred men, however,
he ventured to attack the Syrians at Elusa, not far
from Ashdod, and actually succeeded in discomfiting
one wing of the enemy's army. But the odds against
him were desperate, and tho Lion of Judah fell, fighting
bravely, at this Jewish Thermopylae. His body was
recovered by his brother, and buried in tho ancestral
tomb at Modin, B.C. 161. '
CHAPTER Vn.
JONATHAN MACCAB-ffiUS.
The death of Judas was a sad blow to the
aspirations of the Jewish patriots. The Syrians were
everywhere triumphant, Alcimus was reinstated in
the priesthood, and Bacchides wreaked a terrible
vengeance on the followers of the Maccabaean party.®
At length the patriot forces rallied, and offered the
command to Jonathan, surnamed Apphus {the wary),
the youngest of the sons of Mattathias. In \iew of
their present circumstances, the new leader did not
venture on maintaining himself in the open country,
and retired to tho lowlands of the Jordan, and the
wilderness of Tekoa, where the Syrian general in vain
attempted to surprise and capture him. Thence he
crossed tho Jordan, and employed himself in carrying
on a guerilla war, while Bacchides strengthened his
garrison in the Acra at Jerusalem, and the fortifica-
tions of several important towns in Judaea. Before
long, however, Alcimus died B.C. 160, and the Syrian
general, losing the active support of the Hellenising
party, returned to Antiocli.
Thereupon Jonathan quitted his hiding-place, and
reappeared in Judaea, and for two years was left
unmolested by his foes, who had by this time been
forbidden by the Roman senate to molest their new
allies.' But the Hellenising faction opposed the reforms
of the Maccabaean chief, and Bacchides was iuA-ited to
return and crush him. Baccliides came, but was feebly
supported. His successes were insignificant, and at
length, wearying of a campaign which brought him no
glory, ho acceded to terms which Jonathan offered,
and promised to al)stain from invading the land again.
Jonathan was now formally recognised as deputy
governor of Judaea, and establishing himself a<
Michmash, gradually extended his power over th*
country, though Jerusalem and many of tlie strongei'
towns were still held by garrisons of Syrians or apos-
tate Jews."
Before long, however, a revolution took place in
Syria, which produced a marked change in his fortunes.
5 1 Mace. ix. 19—21.
7 Ewald, V. 325.
6 Ewald, History of Jsi-o^I, v. 324.
8 1 Mace. ix. 73,
BETWEEN" THE BOOKS.
85
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Demetrius, haraig given himself up to pleasure,
had become extremely unpopular with his subjects,
and a you'»ig man, named Alexander Balas, was per-
suaded by some of the neighbouiing kings to give
himself out as the son of Autiochus Epiphanes, and
claim the Syrian throne (b.c, 153). Roused from his
lethargy, Demetrius prepared to defend his rights, and
as bo;li princes had an equal interest in securing
the friendship of the Maccabaean chief, they began to
outbid each other in their offers to secure his supjiort.
Demetrius offered to make him commaudor-iu-chiof
over Judaea, and empowered him to raise an army, a
concession which was followed by the evacuation of all
the outposts occupied by the Syrians except Betlizur.
Though thus enabled to extend his power and influence,
Jonathan did not turn a deaf ear to the offers of Baks.
The ktter wrote to him, saluting him as his "brother,"
conferred upon liim the priesthood,' and sent him the
purple robe and the crown of an Ethtiarch, or inde-
pendent prince. Without openly espousing either side,
Jonathan assumed tlie pontifical robes at the Feast of
Tftbemaclo3,2 and the purple insignia, and thus inaugu-
rated the ]-eign of the priest-kings of the Asmouseau
line, B.C. 152.
At first the efforts of Balas, as aspirant to the
Syrian throne, were unsuccessful, but in the end ho
succeeded in defeating the forces of Demetrius, and on
being acknowledged as monarch, B.C. 150, raised the
Maccabaean prince to the rank of Meridarch, and in-
vested him with regal honours.^ Before long, Jona-
than laid his patron under fresh obligations, by com-
pletely defeating ApoUonius, a general of Demetrius
Nicator, and received still more ample rewards. But
the usurper was not destined to retain his power for
long. Defeated in battle, he was forced to give way
to Demetrius II., on whose accession the hopes of the
faction opposed to Jonatlian were again raised.
The Maccabaean chief had gathered his forces, and
laid siege to the Syrian garrison in the Acra."* This
was at once reported to Demetrius, who instantly
summoned the priest-king to meet him at Ptolemais.
Undeterred by the risk he ran, Jonathan left his troops
to press the siege, and set out for the Syrian capital. A
solemn embassy of elders and priests accompanied him
to Ptolemais, and such was the effect with which he
pleaded his cause before Demetrius, that in considera-
tion of an annual present of throe hundred talents, he
was confirmed in well-nigh all the liberties and rights
which had been conceded l)y Demetrius I. six years
before.''
Successful beyond his utmost hopes, Jonathan now
roiiu'ned to Jerusalem, and pushed on resolutely the
siege of the Syrian garrison. But all his efforts were
useless, and, though promised the possession of the
> " What the position of the priesthood was after the death of
Alcimus we do not exactly know. Probably it was left vacant at
the court, as the whole situation was uncertain." — Ewald, Ifisf. of
Israel, v. 327, &c.
2 1 Mace. X. 21. 3 1 Macc. x. 65. * 1 Mace, xi, 20.
* Comp. 1 Macc. xi. 30—37; x. 25—15.
fortress in return for putting down a rebellion in the
Syrian capital, he was deceived by Demetrius as soon
as he was once more secure upon the throne.
But he did not despair of obtaining possession of
the height which commanded Jerusalem, and before
long his hopes were rewarded. Demetrius II. had
made himself iiated at Antioch, and Tryphon, a Syrian
noble, rej)airod to Arabia, to fetch thence a son of Balas,
named Antiochus, who was living there in concealment.
The pretender was crowned at Antioch, and at once
sought to ingratiate himself with Jonathan and his
people. He offered the priest-king new honours,
remitted all arrears of tribute, and named his brother
Simon commander of all Palestine. Jonathan had
every reason to resent the ingratitude and fickleness of
Demetrius, and speedily subdued the whole coimtry,
as far as Damascus, to the power of Antiochus, while
Simon captured the fortress at Bcthzur, and placed
there a garrison of Jewish soldiers.
Strong in the confidence of the new king, Jonathan
now pushed forwai'd his schemes for emancipatmg his
native knd. He strengthened many of the fortresses in
Judsea, built a wall to separate the Acra (still held by
the Syrians) from the city, and renewed the treaty with
Rome, and with Lacedaemon.? But his prosperous
career soon received a serious check. Tryphon, who
had placed Antiochus Theos on the throne, resolved to
usurp the crown himself. The main obstacle to his
success was the fidelity of Jonathan to his Syrian lord.
With pretended offers of peace, he invited Jonathan to
meet him at Beth-shean, on the southera boundary of
Galilee. The priest-king repaired thither at the head of
forty thousand men ; but, persuaded by Tryphon that
he only wished to confirm him in the possession of
Ptolemais, he disbanded his army, and suffered himself
to be allured into that town. Once within the fortress,
the gates were shut, and he was made prisoner, while
his retinue were butchered to a man.^
CHAPTER yni.
SIMON MAOCABiEUS.
This unexpected blow filled the Jews with alarm and
sorrow. The perfidious Tryphon was preparing a large
army to invade their country, and every hope would be
crushed by his success. But in this crisis Simon, the
last remaining brother of the Maccabaean family, placed
himself at the head of the patriot party, and prepared
to lead them against the foe.
Out of his private fortune^ he equipped and paid a
powerful army ; and having finished the walls and fortifi-
cations of Jerusalem, went forth to moot Tryphon, Avho
had moved up from Ptolemais with a large army, and
encamped at Adida, a town situated on an eminence
6 1 Macc. xi. 65, 66.
7 Comp. Ewald, v. .^^2 ; Milmau's Hislory of the Jcirs, ii. 18, &c.
» 1 Macc. xii. 37—52.
» 1 Macc. xiv. 32.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
87
overlooking the low country of Judsea. Perceiving that j
the Maccabsean chief was resolved to oppose him, he
began to negotiate, and offered to j-ield up Jonathan for
one hundred talents of silver and two of his children
as hostages. The money and the hostages were sent,
but his prisoner was not restored.
For some time the two armies watched one another,
^''.nd at length the Syrians, unable to relieve their garri-
son at Jerusalem, retii-ed across the Jordan into the
land of Gilead. Here, at the city of Bascama, he had
the heroic Jonathan executed ; then, hurrying to Syria,
dealt out the same measure of treachery to the toy -king
Antiochus, and seized the supreme power. As soon as
the traitor had retired from the countrj', Simon sent to
Bascama, and recovered the body of his brother, whom
he laid with great pomp in the ancestral tomb at Modin,
and erected over it a magnificent monument.*
His continued cruelties had now alienated the Syrians
from Tryphon, and Simon, openly espousing the cause
of Demetrius II., sent an embassy offering to acknow-
ledge his supremacy. Demetrius received the overtures
with joy, agreed to recognise Simon as high priest and
prince of Judaea, and to renounce all claims for tribute,
custom, and taxes. It was in the year B.C. 143 that
the country thus regained its complete freedom, "under
an hereditary vassal of the King of Asia ;"^ and it was
resolved henceforth to reckon this year as the first year
of " the freedom of Jerusalem.''^
Secure from all immediate danger of foreign inter-
ference, Simon now devoted all his energies to provide
for the internal security of his kingdom. He fortified
Bethzur on the frontiers of Idumsea, and Joppa on the
sea-coast. He then reduced Gazara on the west of
Jerusalem, and at last made himself master of the for-
tress at Jerusalem, which he not merely dismantled,
but so levelled with the hill whereon it stood, that it
no longer commanded the hill of the Temple.^ Simon
was now able to ]>ass several years of tranquillity and
peace,' during which, in spite of his advanced age,
he superintended assiduously the internal affairs of
liis people, and entrusted the guardianship of the fron-
tier to his three sons. Moreover, he encouraged agri-
cultm*e, protected commerce, established a free fort at
' 1 Mace. xiii. 27.
"' 1 Mace. xiii. 41, 42.
1 Mace. xiv. 4.
- Ewald, V. 334.
■* Joa., Ant., xiii. C, 7.
Joppa, and strengthened the alliance with the Romans,
to whom he sent as a costly gift a golden shield of a
thousand pounds weight.?
Thus he at once strengthened his country and made
himself honoured and beloved. On the 18th of Sep-
tember, B.C. 141, a great popular assembly was held in
the fore-court of the Temple, to testify to the general
appreciation of hLs eminent services. He was solemnly
declared commander-in-chief and prince of the nation ."
his person was pronounced iuA-iolable, and he was in-
vested with the right of conferring all offices in the
state, and of supei-intending all sacred functions." The
dignity was made hereditary, and a public record of it
was put up in the sanctuary.
But in the midst of these successes he feU a victim
to domestic treacheiy. Ptolemy, his son-in-law, the
Governor of Jericho, under a secret understanding with
Antiochus Sidetes, King of Syria, aspired to usui*p
the supreme power. Taking advantage of a visit of
Simon to Jericho, during a circuit to investigate the
condition of the country districts, he enticed him with
his two sons into the fortress of Dok, and murdered
him and his elder son at a banquet, B.C. 13o.'
Thus perished, the last survivor of the five great
Maccabaean brothers, the calmest, the most discreet
and prudent of them aU. One of the great proofs of
the internal prosperity of the country duiing his reign
was afforded by the new coinage which he instituted.^
It was natural that the Judsean coins should follow the
Greek type, but they avoided not only the figures of
gods and men, but even the effigy of the prince. They
were stamped sometimes with cups, in allusion to the
libations used in the Temple ; sometimes with three
almond or lily blossoms on one stalk, in allusion to
Aaron's rod ; sometimes with tokens of the fruitfuluess
of Palestine, the vine, the grape cluster, palms, basket .s
of frait.'" Stamped with these figures, the whole, half,
and quarter shekels also bore the names of the '• Priest "
or "Prince of Israel," or " Jerusalem the Holy,'' whilt
the years are dated from "the redemption of Israel,"
or "the deliverance of Sion." This coinage is an im-
portant testimony to the new order of things, which
had grown up under the Asmonsean dynasty.
c 1 Mace. xiv. 24. ? 1 Maec. xiv. 27 — 44,
3 1 Mace. xvi. 14—16. » 1 Maec. sv. C.
10 Ewald's History of Israel, v. 339, 340.
88
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THK KEY. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., P.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
QUAILS.
UAILS are mentioned only in the nan-a-
tives giving the account of the enormous
quantities of these birds which suddenly
appeared on two occasions in the wil-
derness during the wanderings of the Israelites : on
the first oocasion the people were in the desert of Sin
The Hebrew word Seldv undoubtedly denotes a quail,
aud authorities now are agreed on the point, though all
sorts of explanations have at various times been ad-
vanced, as that of LudoK, adopted by Bishop Patrick,
that the Sdlvhn (pi.) were locusts, or that of Rudbeck
that they were flying-fish of the genus Exocetus, or
that of Ehrenberg, wlio, noticing a number of fish of
QUAIL.
(Exod. xvi. 13), when " at even the quails came up, aud
covered the camp ; " on the second they were at the
station, which, in consequence of the judgment which
befell them, received the name of Kibroth-hattaavah,
i.e., "graves of lust," a place which has not yet been
identified (Numb. xi. 31, 34). " And there went forth
a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the
sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's
journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on
the other side, round about the camp, and as it were
two cubits high upon the face of the earth." The
Psalmist (Ixxviii. 27), also refers to the appearance of
countless multitudes of these birds. " He rained flesh
upon them as dust, even feathered fowl as the sand of
the sea." Compai-e also Psalm cv. 40.
the genus Triplet (Okcu) — Dactylopteros of modern
ichthyologists — lying dead on the shore near Elim,
imagined these to be the Biblical Salvhn. Rod geese
{Casarca), rose-colom-ed starlings [Pastor roseas),
white storks {Clconla alba), .sand grouse [Picocles),
have all found advocates.
The Hebrew word is identical with the Arabic Sahod,
" a quail," from the root meaning '• to be fat," the ety-
mology admirably suiting the round plump body of
the bird. The expression " as it were two cubits (high)
upon the face of the earth" does not mean tliat tho
birds were lieaped so deep one upon another, as Bishop
Patrick thought, but refers to the height at which the
quails flew above the ground, as explained by the
Septuagint, tlie Vulgjite, and Josephus. The Scrip-
MALACHI.
89
tm-al account liere is quite accurate, for the quail often
flies close to the ground, especially when fatigued from
a long fliglit. Quails migrate in immense numbers ;
the islands of tlie Ai-chipelago are at certain seasons
covered with them. Yarrell records that such quantities
of these bii-ds used to be taken in Capri, near Naples,
as to have afforded the bishop — hence called " Bishop
of Quails" — quite a revenue. The same writer men-
iions that 160,000 liave in one season been netted on
the small island of Capri. Recently Tristram writes :
" I have myself found the ground in Algeria, in the
month of April, covered with quails for an extent of
many acres at daybreak, where, on the preceding-
afternoon there had not been one. They were so
fatigued that they scarcely moved till almost trodden
upon, and though hundi-eds were slaughtered, for two
days they did not leave the district, tiU the wind
veered, and they then as suddenly ventm-ed northwards
across the sea, leaving scarcely a straggler behind."
The time of year when the quails appeared to the
Israelites was in spring, at whicli period the birds
would naturally be on their spring journey of migration
noi-thwai'ds ; they would perhaps start from Southern
Egypt, cross tlie Red Sea near Ras Mohammed, up
the GuK of Akabah, into the Sinaitic Wilderness.
Quails migrate generally at night; hence wo obsei*ve
that it was " at even" when they appeared to the
Israelites. We are told that the people "spread the
quails round about the camp " (Num. xi. 32) — this was
for the purpose of salting and di-ying them in the sun,
just as Herodotus tells us the Egyptians used to "pre-
pare quails and small birds, salting and eating them
uncooked" (ii. 77).
The flesh of the quail was, by ancient writers, sup-
posed to be very unwholesome, in consequence of the
bird feeding on hellebore and other poisonous plants.
Thus, Lucretius wi'ites —
" Prseterea nobis, veratrum est acre veneuum
At capreis adipes et coturnicibus auget. "
De Rer. Nat., iv. 642.
" To US the white hellebore is an acid poison, but goats
and quails grow fat upon it." The food of the quail
consists of gi-ass and other seeds, herbage, and some-
times insects ; and though its flesh is by some considered
very heating food, the bird does not become poisonous
from eating poisonous plants.
The daily consumption of quails for the space of a
whole mouth, in a hot country, by a people that rarely
tasted animal food, would undoubtedly be productive of
much disease, and cause many deaths ; that tlie people
did eat immoderately, is prebable from their circum-
stances, as well as from the Biblical narrative and the
meaning of the name, Kibroth-hattaavah ("gi-aves of
greediness ") which the place received.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
MALACHI (continued).
BT THE REV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
SECOND PART.
SINS AGAINST THE HEBREW LAW OF MATRIMONY.
CHAP. II. 10 — 16.
HERE is probably no race in Europe of
so pure and unmixed a strain as the Jews
who are scattered through every country
of Europe. With every temptation to
immorality, theyare singularly chaste; with every temp-
tation to ally themselves with the superior races among
whom they sojoiu-u — superior, at least, in social repute
and political power — they regard such alliances vdth
loathing and scorn. Their religion is little more than
a tradition and a form, and yet their domestic life is
exceptionally pure. Aliens and outcasts in every land,
they hold intennaiTiage with the ruling races to be a
contamination of their blood. We may be sure that
a feeling so deeply rooted, and of siicli a force, is the
growth of ceuturies, that it results from a peculiar
training and discipline carried on age after age. And,
indeed, we learn from the Hebrew annals that tliis train-
ing commenced more than three thousand years ago,
that it is coeval with tlie national life.
Before the Exodus the progenitors of the Jews
married women of alien blood unblamed, though even
in the early patriarchal ages there seems to have been
a feeling of dislike, and even of moral disapproval, to
such alliances. Joseph's mairiage with the daughter
of an Egyptian priest, the marriage of Moses with the
daughter of a Midianite sheikh and shepherd, called
forth no censure. But no sooner was the confused
multitude of slaves which went up out of Egypt formed
into a nation than such marriages were denounced as
a snare to Hebrew faith, an inducement to idolatry.
Then, as now, men were largely ruled by their -wives ;
and, lest the Hebrew men should be led away to the
sei-vice of strange gods, they were forbidden to marry
strange women. " Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them : thy daughter thou shalt not give to his son,
nor his daughter shalt thou take to thy son ; for tJiey
will turn away thy children from following me, that
they' may serve other gods : so will the anger of the
Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee sud-
denly."^ The Children of Israel were to be a holy, i.e.,
a separate people, a people marked off and set apart
to Jehovah ; not because He did not love other races,
but because He did love them, and chose one race to be
the channel through which his truth and mercy should
' Dent. vii. 3, 4.
90
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
flow to all niocs. But if this ouo family or tribe was
to be a blessing to .all the families of the earth, it must,
at least for a time, be set apart from aud raised above
them. Hence the laws forbidding interman-iage with
the heathen. Hence, too, the sacred chroniclers are
careful to note how, eren in the most illustrious in-
stances, when these laws were broken, evil came of it :
they show ns Samson befooled and betrayed by the
dangliters of Philistia, David brought to shame by the
wife of Uriah the Hittite, and Solomon perverted and
corrupted by a multitude of strange women. Thus
there grew up that intense abhorrence of intermarriage
Avith non-Hebrew men and women which survives to
this day, and even now surmounts the lures of gain, and
even, at times, the cLaims of natural affection.
From the very beginning, too, the Hebrews were
tavight that the marriage tie was a permanent union ;
and that, save for the gravest cause, those whom God
had joined together should not be put asunder. Even
in the pre-national ages, the times of the patriarchs,
we read of no instance of divorce ; and though, as our
Lord expLung, owing to their "hardness of heart,"
Moses was compelled to write a precept of divorce,'
nevertheless his legislation marked an immense advance
on the common morality of the time. He taught them
that marriage, in place of being a merely natural and
temporary alliance, was a solemn covenant to which
God Himself was witness ; and, instead of permitting
them to break the conjugal bonds on any whim, and
without any legal a<?t, he allowed divorce only in cases
of flagrant infidelity, and enjoined that a formal bUl,
or writing, bo given into the hand of the offending
wife."
It is to this legislation, and to the influence of it age
after age, that we attribute the domestic purity and
the aversion to alien marriages which characterise the
modem Jews. The ioflnence of their code and history
has been about them generation after generartion like
an atmosphere ; they have breathed it imconsciously ; it
has entered into their very blood. But it was long
before they learned tJieir lesson. For many centuries
the ancient Hebrews found it almost as hard to be
content with one wife as it was to be content with one
God, almost as difficult to refrain from the daughters
as from the deities of their neighbours, nay, they found
it harder and more difficult. For during the Captivity
they did learn that there is but one God over all, and
for ever renounced their idoLati-ies ; but long after the
return from the Captivity, Ezra saw, with indignation
and dismay, that both people and priests had taken to
wife the daughters of foreign races, and that thus " the
toly seed had been mingled with the people of strange
lands." When he "heard this thing," Ezra rent his
clothes, 'plucked out the hair of his head and beard,
and sat down, dumb and astonished, till the time of
the evening siu-rifice.-^ Then, all wh© " trembled at the
■words of the God of Israel " having gathered round
' Matt. :rix. 9 ; Mark x. 5.
'•* Ezra ix., x.
Dent. xxiv. 1.
him, ho arose, spread out his bands to God, and poured
out his soul in a passionate and jdmost hopeless con-
fession of the national sin. The people at lai-ge soon
heard of his agony. They came up to the Temple,
and saw him weeping and casting himself down on the
Temple pavement. They caught the infectien of his
grief, and " wept a great weeping." So moved were
they, that they also confessed, their sin, and entered
into a solemn covenant to put away their strange wives.
The separation was effected, the vow performed. And
yet, only twenty years after this impressive and pathetic
scene, Nchcmiah found so many Jews married to wives of
Ashdod and Ammon and Moab, that the children could
not speak Hebrew, but chattered together in the tongues
of their mothers.'' Worse still, in order to ally themselves
with these strange women, many of them had violated
the law, divorcing their Hebrew wives without cause.
Worst of all, the high priest, Eliashib, was allied to
Tobiali the Ammonite, and his grandson was married
to the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; so that
the very men who were most straitly boimd to set an
example of patriotism and devotion were breaking the
commandments and secretly favoming the most bitter
and unscrupulous foes of the Hebrew commonwealth.
For once Nehemiah, the blameless governor, lost all
patience. He "contended" with these sinners — "sin-
ners above all men" — and cursed them, and smote them,
and plucked out their hair, and made them swear by
God that they would keep the law they had broken.
"Did not Solomon," he cried, " King of Israel, sin by
these things ? Tet among many nations was there no
king like him, who was beloved of his God. Neverthe-
less even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
Shall we then hearken to yon to do all this great evil,
to transgress against our God in marrying strange
vrives ? " Once more the land was " cleansed from all
strangers," the Jews being as much terrified by the
strange transport of indignation into which the gentle
Nehemiah was thrown, as they were moved by the
tears of the brave aud resolute Ezra.
But while Nehemiah, carried out of himseK, was storm-
ing and cursing and smiting the sinners, Malachi was
arguing and remonstrating against their sin. The shame-
less and disloyal alliance with aliens, and the shameless
and illegal divorce of the Hebrew wves, were as offen-
sive to him as to Nehemiah. But if a governor may
swear and strike, a prophet miist preach aud rebuke.
Malachi does preach, making his hearers and their sins
his text. And though he adlieres to the somewhat
formal and scholastic method which was habitual with
him, yet in this, as in the pre\-ious Section, ho relieves
it with dramatic and picturesque touches.
He opens the second as he ojjened the first Section of
liis Propliecy with an accepted maxim, a mere truism ;
and here, as there, he infers a rebuke from it. The
maxim is that the Hebrews had one Father, one Creator;
that they were all chosen and loved by one God. They
were all brothers and sisters, therefore ; and they could
* Nebem. xii.i. 23—31.
MALACHI.
91
not sin against each other without also sinning against
theii- common Father, and violating the family compact.
This is Malachi's opening maxim, and the inference he
draws from it. But he makes both maxim and uiference
more emphatic, he puts a certaia tone of indignation
into them — an echo, as it were, of Nehemiah's indig-
nation— by throwing them iuto an interrogative form : —
"Hare we not aU one Father ?
Hath not one God created us ?
Why, then, are we treacherous one to another.
Profaning the covenant of our fathers f"
"The covenant of our fathers " is, of course, the cove-
nant God made with the Hebrew fathers — a covenant of
which, out of many versions, we may select this : God,
speaking to Israel by Moses, says, " Ye have seen what
I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles'
wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore,
if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure imto me above all
people : for all the earth is mine : and ye shall be imto
me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."* The
covenant was that, if they kept the Divine Law, they
should be an elect, a separate, a priestly race, blessed
above all people that they might be a blessing to all
people. And in so far as any Israelite broke the Divine
law, he broke the national league and covenant ; if he
allied himseK with the nations whom Grod had placed
apart from him, he cast away the very privilege of the
covenant, or, in other words, he profaned the covenant
of his fathers. And thus he act«d treachero^isly toward
his brethren, or betrayed them, since their welfare was
bound up in the maintenance of the covenant ; not only
did he step down from his high place of privilege, he
also helped to di-ag them down.
This charge the prophet repeats in verse 11 with
growing uidignation, hiu-ling it in direct terms against
the whole people. Judah, the impersonated type of the
Jewish race, has dealt treacherously. In Israel (the
sacred name of the nation suggesting its sacred voca-
tion), and in Jerusalem (the capital and centre of the
nation, the veiy city and seat of God), an abomination
has been found — a thing so vile and offensive as to
render any place, however holy, hateful aud polluted.
This abomination has profaned, i.e., made common and
unclean, the one thing which was specially holy to
Jehovah, which He loved and treasured as his j)ec?i?Mfw,
as his most sacred and precious possession, \\z., '' the
holy nation, the kingdom of priests," through whom He
designed to manifest his saving goodwill to all men.
Take that from Him, and what has He left ? Profane
that, and you vitiate that which was to sanctify the
world — the very salt of the earth wUl have lost its
savour.
If we ask, What is this terrible abomination, that
Malachi should be so moved by the mere contemplation
of it ? the answer is twofold. The sacred people have
married idolatresses — the strange women of strange
gods — and to do this they have divorced their Hebrew
1 Exodus xiz. 4 — 6.
wives without cause, putting away from them the
daughters of God. "We need feel no surprise that the
Prophet should be deeply moved by these sins ; nor
shall we, if only we remember that the sanctity of the
Hebrew race, its separation from the heathen world,
was essential to the revelation of that Mercy by which
the world was to be saved. That He might speak to
all races, and save them all, God selected one race to be
his priests and ambassadors, and patiently trained them
through long centuries for the high vocation to which
He had called them. If they fell from their privilege,
and lost their sanctity, his purpose would be defeated —
He would have laboured for nought. Hence the im-
mense stress which Malachi, in common with aU the
prophets, lays on the separateness, or holiness, of the
selected nation. And he could hardly have been more
earnest and emphatic than he is, though his earnestness
is a little veiled from us by the proverbial and pictu-
resque forms in which it is clothed.
In dealing with the fio-st sin, that of marrying strange
women, he uses a form of words which in the Hebrew
expresses both a wish that Jehovah may, and a threat-
ening that Jehovah wiU, inflict on the man who is
guilty of it that curse which of all curses the Hebrews
most feared, the curse of childlessness. But this wish
and threatening — this ini-precatio-n — is conveyed in a
proverbial saying that must have come down from the
antique times in which Israel dweit in tents. From
the man guUty of this sin, may Jehovah cut off, Jehovah
will cut off,
" Him that watcheth and 7n'm that answereth out of the tents.
And him that offereth a sacrifice to Jehovah of Hosts."
The commentators are agi-eed that the first of these
lines is a proverb, though they interpret it very differ-
ently. In aU probability the original meaning or
allusion of the phrase was of this kind : — In an Oriental
city to this day the watchers at the mosques " cry " at
certain hours of the night, partly to announce the hour,
and partly to remind men that " it is better to pray than
to sleep." Their shviU. "Allah, il Allah" sounds far
and wide through the stillness, and those who chance
to wake and hear it mutter some sacred invocation
before they turn to sleep again. And so, in the ancient
time, during the camp life of Israel, the sentinels went
their rounds, watching over the safety of the camp,
crying the hours perhaps, and using, as they would be
sure to use, some formula which included the Sacred
Name. To their cry those who were awake within the
tents would respond with some muttered response,
some brief devotional ejaculation. In after generations
this tent custom gave birth to a proverb. " Him that
watcheth and him that answereth " came to mean the
whole people, all the inhabitants of a city or land ; just
as in our poetical moods — the moods of which proverbs
are born — we often take two opposite states or condi-
tions, and make them stand for the whole round of
human life. Sometimes we take the two extremes of
social condition, as " king and peasant," and use them to
include all the social grades that He between them;
sometimes two varieties of condition, a-s '• the sleeping
D2
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and tin) waking," or " tlio busy and tho idle,'" or " rich
and poor," and use them to include tho entire
circle of human conditions. In like manner, " him
that calleth and him that answereth" Avas used to
denote and include tho sum total of persons in a
family, a tribe, a countiy. The Arabs, indeed, have an
exactly similar or identical provoi'b to this day, and
describe a city abandoned of its inhabitants by the
phrase. " There is not in the city one who calls, nor is
there one who responds." On Malachi's lips the full
meaning of this antique and picturesque proverb —
which recalls the camp in tho desert with its watchful
patrols and sleeping myi-iads — is an imprecation and a
menace that God may, and will, cut off the posterity
of the man who violates the marriage law of Israel,
60 that he shall have no representative in the congre-
gation. Nay, more, not only shall the sinner have no
descendant, but also there shall be none who will "offer
a sacrifice " in expiation of his sin.
In dealing Avith the second offence, Malachi sketches
a pathetic little picture from cotemporary life. " Those
who married outlandish women showed so much respect
to the law as to divorce their Hebrew wives. But they
kept the law at one point only to break it at another, for
there was no legal or sufficient reason for these divorces.
By this crying injustice they " covered the altar with
tears, with loeeping, and with sighs " (ver. 13) ; that is,
they drove the wronged and insulted women to the Sanc-
tuary, that they miglit pour out their complaints before
the Defender of the wronged and helpless. The sighs
and tears and pLaints wrung from these miserable but
innocent women rose above the sacrifices and the smoke
of the incense, so that Jehovah, looking down on his
table, no longer saw aught on it that he loved — saw
nothing, as it were, but a canopy woven of the tears
and sighs of the divorced and afflicted wives ; there-
fore Ho no longer regarded tho daily offering, nor
accepted anything, however well-pleasing in itself, at
tho hands of those who had wronged them.
It is long, in this Section, before Malachi arrives at
his sceptical " but " — at the objection which he was sure
would be started — but at last we hear it (ver. 14), " And
ye say, Wherefore?" "Why should God bo so angry
with us as all that ? "
To this objection Malachi replies ; so that in this, as
in the other divisions of his Book, he abides by his usual
methodical arrangement of thesis, objection, and argu-
ment, though he is a little longer than usual in reach-
ing his objection. His reply or argument is, that
Jehovah is moved to a profound anger against the sin
which seemed so venial to them, the sin of divorce,
because He, Jehovah, was present at the marriage, a
Witness between husband and wife ; because to break
the marriage vow wa3 to break a solemn " covenant "
sanctioned and attested by Him. To break that cove-
nant was to " deal treacherously," to betray — and betray
whom ? No one less than tho woman who was " the wife
of thy youth," no less than "tho wife of thy covenant,"
to whom thine heart wont out when its affections were
fresh and pure and strong, and who has been "thy
companion," sharing the blended sorrows and joys of
maturer years.
Having thus, by tho very choice of his language, ap-
liealed to the heart of the Hebrews, and striven to make
them sensible of their baseness, the prophet proceeds
quietly to demolish the one defence behind Avhich they
were sure to take shelter from his reproaches and their
"Andthalno man doclh who hath a remnaatofihe Spirit.
And what did the One !
He sought seed of God.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And deal not treacherously with tho wife of thy youth."
But this 15th verse is, even in the original, so ellipti-
cal, so confused, capable of so many readings, and, as I
cannot but think, so defective and corrupt, that it is
impossible to arrange it in any satisfactory order, or to
decide how its clauses ought to run. Happily, however,
the general sense is tolerably clear, if we remember that
the word " spirit " is used here, as often clscAvhere, to
denote, not the intelligence and understanding, but that
moral faculty which God has breathed into man, in virtue
of which he is capable of moral rectitude and religion.
With that distinction in our minds we may read this diffi-
cult if not corrupt verse thus : — First, the prophet indig-
nantly affirms that no man, or at least no Hebrew man,
who has " any renmaut of the Spirit," any sense of right
and wrong, any conscience, any moral sense, would
divorce his wife without adequate cause. Then, know-
ing that his hearers would remember, if not allegff, the
one solitary ease in their annals whicli seemed to sanc-
tion that sin, he asks, " What did the One ?" — that is,
" What did Abraham, of whom you are all thinking?
He sinned against Sarah, the wife of his youth, in tak-
ing Hagar to wife, and then sinned against Hagar by
sending her away for no legal fault. Was Abraham
without any remnant of tho spirit when he did that ?
Had he no conscience, no moral sense, no power to dis-
criminate right from wi'ong ? " So the people might
speak, hiding their sin, as the manner of men is, under
a great man's cloak. How shall the prophet rebut and
confute them ? He does not, as he might, reply : " But
Abraham lived long before the law was given ; how then
could he be bound by it ? " for he does not seek a mere
logical victory. He looks rather for a lever by which
he may lift his brethren out of their sin. And so, in
effect, he replies : " God had promised Abraham a seed —
a child vAw should be the hope and benediction of the
world in being the father of tho elect race ; mistakenly
foUoAving his wife's counsel instead of God's, he sought
tliat seed by marrying Hagar the Egyptian. He did
not get the seed so ; the promise was fulfilled in God's
way, not in his. But with what show of reason can you
plead this solitary example in your defence ? Have you
any such promise as Abraham had ? And is the hopo
that it may be fulfilled your solo motive in divorcing
your Hebrew wives and marrying strange women ?
Even if it be, that is not the way in which the promise
will be fulfilled, for, as you well know, the God of Israel
hates divorce, and that a man should bespatter himself
ELIJAH.
93
with sin. Take heed, therefore, to your spirit ; bewaro
of defiling your conscience, of confusing your sense
of rio-hfc and wrong, by light thoughts of the sin
God hates, or by seeking to excuse your vileness by
appealing to the faults and errors of great men."
Now Malachi's argument in defence of Abraham may
not carry much force for us ; but neither was it addressed
to us. And to the men to whom it was addressed it
had a very special force. They had simply followed
" the lusts of the eye and of the flesh " in discarding
Hebrew for heathen wives. They knew they were
breaking the Divine law ; and they also knew that to
break a Divine law was not the way to inherit a Di^^ne
promise. They had such a promise. Any one of them
might bo, or thought he might be, in the line of the
Messiah's ancestry. The true Hope and Blessing of
the world was to come of them. But no one of them
thought that the Messiah would bo bom of an outlandish
womau and an idolatress ; and, therefore, they could
not plead even Abraliam's poor excuse for marrying
out of the sacred and elect strain. They were sinning
against their own hope as well as against their own
convictions. And, probably, the argument of Malachi
would be very cogent for them, and would do as much
as the curses and blovs^s of Nehemiah to "cleanse the
land from strangers."
SCEIPTUEE BIOGEAPHIES.
ELIJAH {continued).
BY THE REV. HENRY ALLON, D.D.
>HE pomts in Elijah's history during the
struggle with Ahab that demand special
comment are —
1. His abrupt appearance before Ahab in
the full power of prophetism. The first record of him is a
word which Moses or Samuel might have spoken in the
fulness of their prophetic reputation : " As the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom I stand." Of the growth
of this conscious power we know nothing. Moses in his
cradle among the bulrushes of the Nile, Samuel in the
Temple, David among his sheep at Bethlehem, are de-
picted for us ; not a word is told us about the calling or
antecedents of Elijah, nor how his prophetic conscious-
ness and character had been formed. Like a lightning
flash he blazes for a moment before Ahab, and disappears.
It is the simile of the author of Ecclesiasticus : " Then
stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned
like a lamp." In his burning force and progress he
respected nothing. Ahab the king was simply a rebel
against Jehovah, and was smitten by him as if he had
been the meanest in the land. All that we know about
Elijah is that, amid national and religious apostacy, ex-
tending even to the schools of the prophets, he maintained
his faith and fidelity, and 6uch a consciousness of his
prophetic mission, that he did not fear so to speak to
Ahab, and to challenge siich a test as the withholding of
the rain and the dew. He stood bofore the Lord God
of Israel; and in the consciousness of that presence
to stand before Ahab was as nothing. His word is
abrupt, pithy, terrible — a bolt suddenly and unerringly
shot — and it was the manner of speech of his entire
ministry. Whenever he and Ahab met, they met thus
— like two thunder- clouds — a sudden flash, a crash,
and no more. And it is characteristic of Elijah that he
neither fears nor falters. His word is as bold as it is
momentous.
His well-chosen word affirms the very heart of the
theocratic faith. He stood before the Lord God the
prophet of repentance, the restorer of the covenant ; he
knows no reserves, he admits no compromise. It is
surely one of the most audacious words ever spoken.
No word of Moses to Pharaoh is bolder. With one
stroke he breaks down the bridge behind him. It is one
of those conjunctions of king and prophet, physical
force and moral, armed power and dauntless faith, of
which the religious history of the world records so many
instances — Moses before Pharaoh, Christ before PUate,
the apostles before the Sanhedrim, Paul before Felix,
Luther at Worms. There is no reason to doubt that
this was the absolute beginning of Elijah's public career.
It is in harmony with all the dramatic movements of
his histoiy, and is incompatible with any supposition
of quiet preparation. It was a bold challenge to Ahab,
as of an ambassador sent, not to debate a treaty, but to
deliver an ultimatum.
The punishment declared was that which the Mosaic
law attached to apostacy (Lev. xxvi. ; Deut. xi. ; xx\dii.).
If ever the retribution of \'iolated law was imperative, it
was surely now. The merciful qualification, " but accord-
ing to my word," implies liis prophetic authority, and
his mediation in the event of national repentance ; at
the same time it is clearly a defiance of both the power
of the king and the priests of Baal. He declares both
dependent upon him.
Concerning the miracles that follow wo here remark
only, that the argument with those who deny their
possibility on the ground of the uniformity of natural
law nfust be maintained on the more general ground of
the possibility of the supernatural. Here it must be
assumed. It is enough to point out that these miracles
have a close connection with the times and experiences
under which they occur. They are not niere miracles,
arbitrary puttings forth of power ; they are perfectly
congruous with their occasions.
2. His liiding-place, the traditional Cherith, is a deep
and well-Avooded ravine, flowing eastward from the
central ridge of Palestine into the Jordan. Theuius
and others think that it flowed easterly from the Jordan,
94
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
which would be a miracle indeed. A stream flowing
from the east into the Jordan is possible enough, but
it is difficult to conceive a stream flowing from the
deep bed of the Jordan up the abnost perpendicular
sides of Gilejid. Some tliink Cheritli flowed into the
Jordan from the east a few miles below the ford neai'
Bctlishan. But there is no reason for questioning the
traditional stream flo-wing from the west a few miles
south of Jericho. When the writer crossed it in the
early summer of 1865, it was nearly dried iip, but its
steep terraced wooded banks affsrded abundant provi-
sion for hiding. Whatever the personal reasons for such
a retreat, it seemed fitting that Elijah should disappear
during the interval between his bold announcement to
Ahab and its fulfilment; then he could present himself
again to Ahab with manifest effect. The mu-acle by
which he was sustained while hiding by the brook Chcrith
has been much debated, rejected Avith scorn by foes, and
unwisely extenuated by friends, who have suggested
untenable and gratuitous explanations — as, for example,
that the ravens themselves were Elijah's food ; or
that, instead of ravens, the interpretation should be
"merchants" or "Arabians" — explanations which not
only put a forced construction upon a very obvious
miraculous meaning, but which are embarrassed with
peciiUar difficulties of theu* own.
The removal to Zarephath, on the coast of the Medi-
terranean, in the north-west of Palestine, necessitated
the traversing of the whole breadth of the land — no
veiy formidable distance, however, inasmuch as the
greatest breadth of Israel from the Jordan to the
Mediterranean is not more than forty English miles.
Zarephath was in the Phcenician country of Jezebel,
between Tyre and Sidon.
The picturesque narrative of the straits of the widow
woman, her pious hospitality, the mii-aculous multipli-
cation of her resources, and the restoration of her son,
must again be referred to the general ground of the
supernatural upon which the entire history of the Bible
rests. Elijah recognised her as a pious worshipper of
Jehovah in the land of Baal and Ashtaroth, and she
recognised Elijah as a prophet of Jehovah. Possibly
she was an Israelitish woman who had married a Phoeni-
cian man. Her faith is seen in her impheit obedience
to the injunction of the prophet, to prepare for their
common eating her last laorsel of meal.
It is to be remarked, however, that the original
Hebrew does not explicitly affirm the deatli of her son,
only liis dying condition. He was rescued by Elijah
from the death about to seiae him, rather than recovered
from the death which had seized him. Hence attempts
have been made to chminate the mii-aculous, and to re-
present his restoration as effected by animal magnetism
or mere natural restoratives, i*ather than by Elijah's
faith and prayer ; which is simply to traverse the entire
spirit and significance of the narrative. Manifestly
some conscious sin — perhaps her marriage with the
Phoenician — quickened afresh in her consciousness by
the presence of the "man of God," prompted the
language of peculiar distress with which she invoked
him. The spirit of humble trustfidness in Elijah's
prayer in the chamber with the dyiug boy is to be
noted, as also the natural means for restoring
Avai-mth in a state of syncope, which he besought God
to bless.
The uicident is valuable as exhibiting the element of
deep tenderness which there was iu this stern prophet
of the Restoration, and which is so often found blended
with great severity. It is the principal instance in
which this obverse of Elijah's character is presented.
Obedience, tender sympathy, tennble severity, heroic
courage, deep despondency — what wonderful elements
were blended into this magnificent character !
The duration of the drought is not to be confoimded
Avith the duration of the famine. The first year of the
drought would pass before the famine began to be felt.
According to our Lord (Luke iv. 2-5) and the Apostle
James (v. 17), the tradition of the drought was that it
continued three years and six months. According to
the history (1 Kings x\-iii. 1), Elijah showed himself
to Ahab ui the third year (probably of the famine). To
rest adverse criticism xipen an apparent discrepancy
such as this is worse than childish, for with the Old
Testament history in then- hands, our Lord and the
Apostle James can scarcely be imagined to have con-
tradicted it in ignorance. Under such conditions the
very discrepancy is a presumption of truth.
Ehjah's chai'acter and prediction were doubtless
well known, and would be much commented upon when
the extremity of the fauiine began to be felt. Hence
the familiar knowledge of him which the intercourse
with him of Obadiah evinces.
3. It is to be noted that it is Elijah who svmimons
Ahab to the interview Avhich follows ; and that under
the pressure of terrible necessity, as well as of the aAve
which the prophetic and religious character of Elijah
produced upon him, and urged by Obadiah, he at once
complies. Elijah's lofty message is, " Behold, Elijah is
here." " And Ahab went to meet Elijah."
Again the characters of the two men are presented
in striking and dramatic contrast. No religious cliange
has come over Ahab during this period of manifest
retribution. There is no recognition of God's prophet ;
no acknowledgment of liis sin ; no request for the pro-
phet's intercession, or for Jehovah's mercy. Where
there is shame there is virtue, for there is stUl a liA^ng
conscience. Ahab greets Elijah with a proud, defiant,
"Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Elijah, im-
daunted, uncompromising, and imperious, proffers him
no obeisance, but replies with the counter- chai'ge, " I
have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's
house." He then demands that the 450 priests of
Baal and the 400 priests of Ashtaroth be summoned
to meet him. Ahab obeys, and gathers them together
to Mount Carmel, a long precipitous ridge from 1,500 to
1,800 feet in height, and about twelve miles in length.
Carmel runs from near Jeniu, not far from Gilboa,
upon the slopes of Avliich Jezrcel stood, to the Mediter-
ranean, into which it projects as a bluff promontory,
and divides Samaria from the great plain of Esdraelon.
ELIJAH.
m
Its sides are covered -n-itli slirubs, aud in spring-time
with flowers, which still constitute the " excellency of
Carmel." The traditional site of Elijah's conflict with
Baal's priests is at the eastern end of the ridge — a
shapeless ruin, still called El-Maliai-rakah, " the burning,"
to which the Druses come annually to offer sacrifice,
perpetuates it. Near to this is a weU of water, said to
be perennial, from which the water to fill the trenches
of the altar was probably obtained.^ Next to Sinai it
is one of the most signal scenes of sacred history. The
pui-pose of Elijah in summoning the assembly, and in
making such stipulations for the conflict, was clearly to
bring Israel publicly and formally to decide between
Jehovah and Baal. The answer by fire was a well-
known and ancient tradition. The altars of Abel,
Noah, Abraham, the Tabernacle, and the Temple, had
been so kindled. It is a sufficient indication of the
pass to which things had come, that Jezebel fed these
priests of Baal and Ashtai-oth at her own table, while
she murdered the prophets of Jehovah.
The loneliness of Elijah in this gi-eat conflict — which
implies not that no other prophet of Jehovah existed in
the land, but that all who had not been massacred by
Jezebel were too frightened to avow themselves — brings
out the supreme heroism of his character. Never were
combatants more unequally matched, for although the
400 priests of Ashtai-oth do not appear to have come,
the 450 priests of Baal were there. It would seem,
however, that there wei-e still two parties among the
people ; they had not all gone over to idolatry. Some
were probably faithful in heart to Jehovah, and others
hesitating in opinion.
The act of sacrifice was Elijah's chosen test, not
only as being the best known expression of worship,
but as affording occasion for the most demonstrative
result. The consuming of the flooded victim by fire
from heaven was a miracle that could not be mistaken ;
and inasmuch as Baal was the sun or fii-e-god, the
test was obviously congruous and conclusive. All that
depended upon preference was somewhat scornfully
conceded by Ehjah. The scene described is one of the
most dramatic and magnificent representations of lofty
defiance, withering sarcasm, and tragic result, to be
found in literature. Baal resisted not merely the
entreaties but the blood-invokiug power of his own
priests ; and as their raving was intensified iuto mania,
the scoffing provocation of Elijah was increased, untU
the excitement of the entire scene becomes altogether
unimaginable. The cabn sublime simplicity of the
offering of Elijah which followed must have been in
the highest degree impressive.
The public reconstruction of the ancient altar, and the
soaking of the sacrifice with water, were clearly intended
to demonstrate the impossibility of any imposition, for
the water ran over the altar and filled the trench.
Twelve stones were used, the ideal number of the
tribes of the kingdom. Elijali sacrificed iu the name
of all Israel. And the fire of the Lord fell, and was
1 Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 353.
SO intense that it not only licked up the water, but cal-
cined the stones of the altar and the surface of the
ground.
The slaughter of Baal's priests is to be justified only
on theocratic principles. Thus, Moses more than once
put idolaters to death. Ehjah demanded their death
in the name of the Mosaic law (Exod. xxii. 20 ; Dent,
xiii. 6 — 10; xvii. 1 — 7). They were not merely false
teachers and impostors, but traitoi*s and rebels against
the national government. It was part of Aliab's guilt
that he had net done the same. Probably the excite-
ment of the people would have made it impossible
to save them, even had it been lawful to do so.
It is freely admitted that under any other thaa a
theocratic government such a slaughter of the priests
of a false religion would have been both a crime and a
blunder — according, that is, to our modern notions ;
but then, in fairness to those who have done such things,
it should be remembered that such notions are scarcely
three centm-ies old. Neither Chi*istendom, paganism,
nor infidelity has long learned how much greater and
more effectual moral victories are than physical ex-
termination. The imputation tliat this slaughter of
Baal's priests was mere revenge for the mm-der of
the prophets of Jehovah does not merit refutation,
it is a misrepresentation of the entire feeling of the
history.
Leaving Ahab iu his tent, Elijah goes westward
along the summit of Carmel, to some loftier eminence
commanding a -vdew of the Mediterranean. There takes
place another scene, as picturesque and di'amatic after
its kind as the more tragic scene of the sacrifice. He
prays while his servant watches the fonnation of the
storm-cloud upon the sea — a phenomenon mentioned
by many travellers. Then he returns to Ahab, and
liastens his departure to Jezreel, some sixteen miles
distant on the western slope of Gilboa, the one being
fully visible from the other. Having thus publicly
himiiliated the idolatry of the king, Ehjah thinks it
meet to do him a signal honour. Gu-ding himself after
the fashion of the Syce or fore-runner of the East — as
may be seen in Cairo or any other Oriental city to
this day — Elijah runs before the chariot of Ahab to
Jezreel. The triumphant prophet of God is still the
respectful servant of his king.
This day on Carmel was the culminating jjoiut of
Elijah's career. Baal-worshij) received that day a
fatal blow, and the worship of Jehovah its most signal
triumph. Next to the law-giving at Sinai it is the
most signal epoch iu the histoiy of Jehovah-worship
that the Old Testament records. Two or three remai-ks
upon it may be added.
(1) The struggle was not an argumentative one;
there was neither affii'mation of doctrine nor promise
nor threatening — it was simply a manifestation of
living power. The true God practically revealed him-
self as such. He manifests himself as not bound by
natm-al laws, but supreme over them, " doing wonders."
Moral necessities must, according to any philosophy,
dominate mere physical seq-aences. To bind the
96
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
supremo Deity to uniformity of physical law, whatever
the moral exigeucy, is, on any theory of the universe
that recognises God at all, to subordinate the lower to
the higher, the supreme end to instrumental means.
The test, ''the God that answereth by fire, let him be
God,'' is virtually applicable to all systems ; while it was
a test palpably congruous to one who was ostensibly the
God of fii'e. It is a symbol of the highest tests that
can be applied to any religious system. Tlie supreme
test of any theology is its practical religious power.
That must be the true and supreme religion which
elevates and inspires men the most nobly. The Jeho-
vist ideas in Elijah's time, Christian ideas in our own,
independently of all historical or philosophical eiddence,
may fsirly chiim, on empirical grounds, to be the noblest,
purest, and most inspiring ideas that the world possesses.
(2) As an instance of moral courage and power it is
almost unique in its grandeur. At God's command,
Elijah, the solitary prophet of Jehovah, unhesitatingly
and intrepidly shows himself to Ahab, and challenges
the issue. Before the king, and Jezebel, and the repre-
sentatives of the entire nation, he confronts the army of
Baal's priests, and submits the entire question of the
rival religions to this test of miraculous fire. He sternly
rebukes the people for their indecision, and exasperates
to the utmost the idolatrous priests by his terrible sar-
casm. Moses before Pliaraoh, and Luther at the Diet
of "Worms, are only distant approaches to it.
(3) The place of sarcasm in religious reformation is not
only legitimate, but often of the greatest potency. It is
intensity of religious feeling finding arousing and exciting
expression, with vehemence proportionate to the provo-
cation. Wliile humorous banter is often the best correc-
tive of mere folly, keen ridicule, incisive sarcasm, is often
the most effective weapon for dealing with religious in-
fatuation or self-complacency. Its use is abundantly
justified by Isaiah, our Lord, Paul, Luther, Latimer,
Pascal, and almost all gi'eat religious reformers. Its
object is to quicken the burning power of the man's
garment of thought or ritual,
(4) In its contrast with the greatness and depth of
Elijah's character, the weakness and shallownaess of that
of Ahab here culminates. Throughout the whole trans-
action there is not a single intimation of religious sensi-
bility. He is moved only by impotent necessity. Ho had
weakly yielded to Jezebel his conscience and his king-
dom, and he as weakly submits himself to Elijah, the
solitary helpless prophet, pusillanimously obeying his
bold word to convene the assem1)ly, and then as igno-
miniously accepting the result. All the real antagonism
and revenge are left to his bold bad wife. The robbery
of Naboth's vineyard, the establishment of idolatry, the
slaughter of Jehovah's prophets, the determined ven-
geance with which Elijah is still pursued — all are hers.
Aliab throughout plays the part of a feeble blustering
conscienceless coward.
(5) If the miracle of the answer by fire be denied,
there is absolutely nothing to account for the extra-
ordinary and undeniable effect produced by the day on
Carmel. Clearly the people believed in its occurrence,
as clearly deception was imi)0ssible. The whole
national movement demands its recognition. Either
it really occurred as the history narrates it, or in
some inconceivable way Elijah achieved a supreme im-
Ijosture, which is a psychological as well as a physical
impossibility. The people who had gone over to Baal-
worship were at once recalled to Jehovah-worship.
Elijah preached no sermon, employed no argument or
persuasion. His one indignant question, " How long
halt ye between two opinions ? " is the whole of his
recorded address to the people. And to this there was
no response. Unless, therefore, the whole history be
discredited, the entire result must be attributed to the
answer by fire. Hence, nothing is more cliaracteristic
of the majority of the attempts to explain away the
miracle than their inherent incoherence.
MEASUEES, WEIOHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BY F. R. CONDEK, C.E.
HE earrings worn by the Midianites,' if
we compare the number of 15,000 men
with the weight of 1,700 aurei, would
(A0 J>^.Xi)' %i, have averaged 36 grains per pair, or a
iittle under the weight of a gold fivo-franc piece each,
which is also a very satisfactory approximation.
The cause of the change in the monetary system now
becomes very plainly apparent. During the Captivity,
in which period this change occurred, took pkce also the
capture of Babylon by Darius, and the substitution of a
Persian for a Chaldean empire. That a change in the
money of the state should have been introduced by tho
victors, is consistent with the general course of history.
« Jiid. viii. 10-26.
In China, on more than one occasion, the calendar itself
was altered on a change of dpiasty. Further, while we
have good ground for attributing the first Jewish system
to a Chaldean origin, the second is associated, through
the daric, with the Persian- system. Thus the cause
of the change becomes perfectly intelligible.
We are now able, with a very close approach to certi-
tude, to illustrate the weight of the money of the Bible
by existing coins.
The silver shekel, from the time of Mosos down to the
Captivity, was the exact equivalent of the Spanish or
Neapolitan ducat of the present day. The gold shekel
- Raschi calls it " Sela Tyria." See Esger'a Notes on Constitu-
iions de SicUs, p. IG.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
97
of the same iDeriod was about one-sixth heavier than
the louis d'or, or gold piece of 20 francs.
The silver shekel, from the return from Babylon to
the Roman rule, was the equivalent of the Neaiiolitan
pijistre, or of the French five-franc piece. The gold
shekel or claric was witliin a grain of the weight of the
English guinea of 1734.
The thousand aurei or golden dinars (sometimes, we
are of opinion, called the talent of gold) were thus
-worth nearly £900 in the first period, and £1,066 in the
second. If a talent of gold of the same weight as that
of silver existed, the value in either case would be twelve
and a half times that stated.
The talent of the first system weighed 166'6 pounds
troy, being of the value, at 5s. per ounce, of £500; the
sela talent weighed 200 pounds troy, being thus of the
value of £600.
The large figures which have been attributed to the
gold employed in the Tabernacle and in the Temple,
and to the annual revenue of Solomon, are brought
nearer to the experience of modern times by the fore-
going determination, than as they are usually stated.
Thus, the amount of the ill-omened number of 666
dears of gold, received year by year by the great king^
was hard upon 600,000 sovereigns of our present coinage.
The gold employed to make the spears and targets for
the Temple Guard was of the value of £286,000. The
gold employed in the Tabernacle was equal to a little
more than 26,000 sovereigns. We are not attempting
in this calculation to show the value of this amount, as
money, but to fix its weight, expressed in terms familiar
to every one at the present day. But as we find that a
war-chariot cost £100, and a troop-horse £25, by the
same method of calculatiorii it does not appear that the
purchasing power of the precious metals in the time of
Solomon differed very widely from that which prevailed
in this coimtry early in the present century. These
prices, moreover, have to be increased in the ratio of
sixteen to twelve and a half, if we regard gold, and not
silver, as the standard of secular comparison.
Tables of weight are subjoined, which show the
divisions of the two systems of the shekel and the sela.
The assarion and the ponclion usually occur as copper
coins, but we have here expressed theii' value as sub-
divisions of weight, estimated in silver.
HEBEEW WEIGHTS.
FROM THE EXODUS TO THE CAPTIVITY.
d
o
t<
m
CO
>
d
i
e3
(U
-2
g
Value
o
a
a
o
6
01
1
3
Sterling.
<
3269
Carat
1
_
_
_
£ s. d.
Gera
5
1
2
Garmes
16-6
1
__
_
6!
to
Beka
50
10
1
'
1 8
Shekel
100
20
6
2
1 —
—
3 4
Man eh
5,0C0
1,000
—
100 50 1
—
8 6 8
4233
Cicar
300,000
60,000
18,000
6,000 3,000 60 1
500 0 0
Aureus (in gold) = 33J car.its
55 VOL. III.
17 9i
FBOH EZBA TO MAIHOKIDES.
is
a 2
In Silver.
OS
a
1
ci
2
"3)
1
g
£ s. d.
<£
<
PM
g
N
M
M
o
431-9
Assarion
1
1-25
1
Poudion
2
1
—
—
—
2-5
2
Maah
4
2
1
—
—
5
4
Zuza
24
12
6
1
—
30
1 2 0
Eighia
72
36
18
3
1
90
3 0
5940
Sela Shekel
96
48
24
4
1*
1
120
4 0
Darcon (in gold) or Daric = 40 carats
THE COINS OF THE BIBLE.
(a.) JEWISH MONEY.
The Law of Moses prescribed the annual payment, by
every male Israelite who was not a minor or a slave, of
half a shekel of silver, for the support of the Sanctuary
and its services. The Oral Law has added great pre-
cision to the primaiy injunctions of the Pentateuch;
specifying not only the days of payment, but the specific
character of the coin which it was necessary to employ.
From the comments of the Mishnic doctors, from those
of the Tosaphta, and the later great Jewish wi'iters, and
from the examination of the specimens of Jewish money
in collections and museums, we are thus enabled to
speak with considerable certitude as to the Jewish
money; at least from the establishment of the As-
monean dynasty by Hp-canus the Great.
The Constitutions of Maimonides jjresent, in a sum-
mary and precise form, the outcome of Hebrew learn-
ing on the important question of the tax of the half-
shekel, or, as it is called in the Gospel of St. Matthew,
the didrachma. After the return from the Capti^'ity,
the cited authorities agree, the legal siclus of 320 grains
weight was rej)laced by the sela (or second) shekel of
384 grains. It was decided by the Sanhedrin that the
weight of the sacred beJca, or haK-shekel, should not
fall below either the original weight, or the half of the
current silver money of the day. Thus under the second
Temple, the annual tax was paid in coins weighing 192
graius of barley.
The sela^ shekel was divided into 4 zuzce, 24 main,
48 pondia, or 96 assaria. Of the original shekel of
Moses, as we learn from four references in the Bible ;
the maah, or gera, was the twentieth part. There were
also coins, as we shall presently show, that represented
three-quarters, three-eighths, one-quarter, and one-sixth
part of the shekel.
The question has been mucli discussed, among learned
men, whether the Jews possessed moneta signata
(signed, or coined, money) before the Captivity. The
erudite Reland has opj)osed the view, following the
opinion of Conringius. But Esgers^ shows that Maimo-
nides and Bartenora both explain the Law, oral as well
as written, to denote the existence of coined money from
the date of the Pentateuch itself. In the tract of the
Mishna, De Decimis Sect-mdis, the use of moneta non
1 Const itutioncs de SicUs, i. 3.
- Won, Notes by Johannes Esgers. Editio Lug. Uatav., 1718, p. 16.
98
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
signata for the sacred tax is forbidden. The reference to
tlio silver of the goldsmith,' in the Book of Deuteronomy,
is held to be conclusive on this point. The Hebrew
word employed in the Mishna" is transliterated by
Bai-teuora into &<rrifj.ov, or unsigned money, on which no
Konna, or stamp, was struck. It was forbidden ^ to pay
the half-shekel tax otherwise than in pure silver, and
that coined. But the firstborn, and the sacred ofEoriugs,
were redeemable either in silver or in the value of
silver. The word asemon is of the more interest from
tho fact that one of the words on the Jewish coins,
hitherto unexplained, is sliemo, the substitution of the
sliin for the samech being the only change.
We I1..VC cugiaved and mseited above two copper
coins of undetermined date, which appear to have
formed a portion of the maaser sheni money, or of that
used for tlie Icorban.
The larger coin is an assarion, or quarter gera. So
many varieties of this coin exist, differing only in
minute particulars, tliat it is evident that the type must
have beeu permanently employed, as sacred money, for
a long series of years. The beauty and force of the
treatment of the vine-leaf on the obverse, are remark-
able, and point to a state of art not very far removed
from that of the time of Alexander the Great. The
legend is DbiBi-v mn {Hereth Inisalem), "stamp of Jeru-
salem." On tho reverse, is the seven-branched palm,
with the word i"a\a {shemou), " coin."
The smaller coin is a shemim, which boars the marks
of very remote antiquity. It is extremely rare. Aroimd
the vine-leaf, on tho obverse, is the legend p'^ m^n
{Heruth Ziun), the letter zcdn being used instead of the
ordinary tsaddi, and the letter vau being used as a mater
ledionis, or pronounced vowel, which indicates a period
of history long Ijefore the introduction of the " points."
The use of the word Zion, instead of Jerusalem, is also
rare on tho coins, although it is of frequent occurrence
in the First Book of Maccabees. On the obverse is a
vessel whicli may be identified as the huplui, or covered
vase, in whicli the incense used for the offering was
carried into the Sanctuary by tlie priest. It was made
of gold, and held a tarcah, or three cahi. Only two out
1 Dent. xiv. 25, " turn it into money," A. V.
2 Coder do Dccimis Secimdw, cap. i. mis. 4.
* CoJ.. dc rri'-nogenitis, cap. viii. mis. 7.
of the sacred vessels are said to have been provided
with ope)-cula, or lids. Tho legend ictVtt) too {Hhetieth
SJiclush), " third year," indicates a year of the week on
which the second tithes were given to tho poor, and the
money in which they were paid wa^s not sacred. The
coin in question, therefore, probaJjly was j>art of the
Icorhan, or Temple money.
Witli regard to this shemo money, to which there
are some important references in the Mishnic writers,
one of the most distinguished modern writers on
Jewish money. Professor Levi, of Breslau, has been
betrayed into a palpable anachronism. The work of
Dr. Levi, called Geschichtc dcr Jiidischen Miinzeny
published in 1862, is cited by Mr. Madden, in his.
history of Jewish coinage ; and reliance on its state-
ments— which entirely ignore the valuable iuformatiou
from Maimonides, Barteuora, and other writers, cited
by Esgers, in his notes ou the Constitutiones de Siclis
of Maimonides — has led that excellent English writer
into serious errors. Dr. Levi argues that certain obscm-e
expressions in the Tosapht-a,'^ as to money that was
illegal for sacred dues, denote coins that were struck
during the last two years of the Jewish war, and during
the short-lived revolt of Barcocheba.s. Thus, in spite
of the extreme improbability of the issue of a complicated
coinage by leaders who were little more than bandits,
more than thirty per cent, of the extant coins of Jewish
origin have been ascribed to personages who can only be
termed imaginary coiners, and limited to eight or nine
years, out of a period of more than two centuries.
That the interpretation thus given, which dislocates,
the entire series of Jewish money, is erroneous, is clear
from the consideration, that neither the half-shekel tax,
nor the maaser sheni, or second tithe, were enforced,
except Avhilc the Temple was standing ;■' and while the
annual festivals were observed. It is thus impossible
that coins issued after the inteiTuptiou of the ritmil
can have been spoken of by Rabbi Chija, or the
Amoraim, as illegal for these payments. Maimonides
justly observes" that the Mishna does not speak of
coins that were openly illegal, but of such as wei'e
specially unfit for the sacred tribute, the former being
ijjao fcccto rejected.
Of the coinage of Jewish money before the Captivity,
we have, as yet, neither relic nor reliable description.
In the treatise Baba Kama'' of tho Talmud, wo find it
stated, " The tradition exists. It is asked, What was
the money of Jerusalem ? David and Solomon was
inscribed on one side, but on the other, Hierosolyma."
Tho learned WagenseU, in his commentary on the
tract Sotah of the Talmud, figures two coins^ which
he possessed, and which, ho says, exactly correspond tt>
the description of the Gheinarists. But as (in the
engraving, at least) the letters are in the square Hebrew
character, the coins cannot be accepte<l as genuine.
The earliest known Jewish coins, however, so far
tally with the account of tho Talmud, as fully to ccmfii'm
* Cod. do Decimis Sccundii, cap. i. mis. 5.
* Constitutiones de Sidi", i. B. ^ In Bcraclioth, c. Tii. m. 1.
7 Bala Kama, fol. P7, C. '^ Sotah, cap. iv. mis. 3.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AOT) COmS OF THE BIBLE.
99
its substantia] accuracy. They bear on the obverse
the name of a high priest, and on the reverse a symbol
of the Temple or of the city. The words Jerusalem,
Israel, and Zion, occur on other coins, and on one,
bearing the name of "Eleasar the Priest" on the
obverse, occurs the word " Israel," on the reverse. The
only sovereign pontiff who bore the name of Eleasar,
after the time of the son of Aaron, was the 44th in the
series, who was the brother of Simon the Just, and
the high priest under whose authority the Septuagint
version of the Law was made. Eleasar was not what
the Mishna calls the "Messiah," or anointed priest, but
the "priest clad with many garments," or acting high
pi-iest, during the minority of his nephew, or, more
probably, grand-nephew, Onias 11. This explains why
tke word "high" does not occur on his coins, as it
.does on those of the Asmonean pontiffs. It is impossible
to suppose that either Eleasar, the son of Boethus, or
Eleasar, the son of Annas, who were two of the high
priests so readily made and deposed by the Idumeau
monarchs and the Roman procurators, woul<l have been
allowed to exercise the royal prerogative of stamping
his own name on the coin. Thus there seems no reason
to doubt the age of the coins of Eleasai", the spelling
of which is also of an extremely ancient and obsolete
character.
We figure two coins bearing the name Eleasar. The
upper one is a copper shemun, bearing on the obverse
the seven -branched palm-tree, with the legend ]nDn -n3?':«
(Eleasar the Priest) inscribed in Phoenician, or old
Hebrew letters, but read in the Greek method (from
left to right) on the field. On the reverse is a cluster of
grapes, with the legend, in letters of the same type,
" First Tear of Release, Israel."
The lower coin is a silver half rigliia, or three-eighth
part of a shekel. On the obverse is an cenochoe, one
©f the sacred vessels used for libations, with the legend,
in old Hebrew, " Eleasar the Priest." On the reverse is
the word S'suj, shemo, " coin." The oceuiTence of this
word on an eponymous coin, or piece of money, bearing
the name of a sovereign, is inexplicable according to
the views of those who suppose this ancient word to
mean the name of a man.
There is, indeed, in the British Museum, a Jewish
coin which appears to bear a date only two years pos-
terior to that of the Rosetta stone, an engi'aving of
which piece of money we subjoin.
It is a small copper coin, with the word chalccms
(meaning co^jper money) written in Greek letters on
one side and an anchor-like emblem on the other, with
the Greek letters E. T. P. K. The coin has been
assigned by Cavedoni to Agrippa II. ; but P. K. cer-
tainly stands for 120, and it does not seem possible
to refer such a date to any era but that of the Seleu-
cidaj. The year 120 of that reckoning was the thirty-
third year of Autiochus the Great, who was then
supreme in Syria and Palestrae. Onias II. was then
high priest. Whether this be the actual date of the
coin in question or not, it possesses extreme interest
from the fact of bearing the name of those coins which
St. Mark says that Christ watched the crowd casting
into the treasuiy,' when many wealthy persons cast in
many.
The most ancient name for a piece of money in the
Bible, is so old, that its meauuig had been lost by the
time of Christ. It occurs in the Book of Genesis,^ as
the unit of the price of the land purchased by Jacob of
the childi-en of Hamor ; and also in the Book of Job.^
From the resemblance of the word to one that signifies
lamb, it is conjectured that it indicates a piece of silver
which bore the form of that animal. On a tomb at
Thebes is a representation of the weighing of gold and
silver, in which one of the weights employed has the
form of an animal. In the British Museum are bronze
Babylonian weights in the foi-m of Uons, and others in
that of ducks. Rabbi Akiba says in the Talmud," that
he had heard the name applied to a piece of money in
Africa. It seems to have been the sUver unit used
before the shekel. Another obsolete word, as it is
usually pointed, occurs in the Book of Samuel (ch. ii.
36), under the name of agora. This is probably only
the silver gera.
It is in the 175th year of the Seleucidse (139 B.C.)
that the first positive mention of a Hebrew coinage
occurs. The right to strike money in his own name
was then conceded, or confii-med, to the High Priest,
Simon Maccabteus, by treaty with Autiochus YII.s
The earliest Jewish coins that have been positively
identified are those of John Hyrcanus, who established
the independence of Judaea in the year 199 of the
Seleucidse. Four different coins of this prince are
described by Mr. Madden.« They are all of copper, and
bear a Hebrew inscription, containing the name of " Jo-
hanan, High Priest," coveriug the fiel^J, on the obverse,
1 Mark xji. 41. 2 (*en. xxxjii. 13. 3 Jot xlii. 2.
4 Rosh Hashana, c. iii. fol. 26. ^ 1 Mace. xv. 6.
*» History of Jewish Coinage, pp. 51—61.
100
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and a device wliich has been called a double cornucopia,
on the reverse. Of the successor of Hyrcanus I.,
Aristobulus I., who reigned for a smglo year, there is
a copper coin very similar to that of his father,
bearing the name of " Judas, High Priest." Of
Alexander Jauueus, the brother and successor of
Aristobulus, coins of two kinds exist. Three specimens
closely resemble the foregoing pieces ; they bear tlio
name of " Jonathan, High Priest," and the same device
on the reverse as before. But there are four coins of
a very different type, bearing the words '• Jonathan the
King," in Hebrew, with a flower or a palm, on the
obverse ; and the words " Alexander the King " (in the
genitive case), in Greek letters, with an ornament which
may be intended to represent either a lamp, or an
anchor, on the reverse.
A coin very similar to one of the bilingual pieces of
Alexander I., bears the name of " Alexandra the
Queen," his widow. This coin is extremely rare, ha\'ing
been considered unique, till Canon Tristram obtained
a second in 1872.
Of Hp-canus II., who succeeded his mother Alex-
andra, and reigned, or held the high priesthood, for
five years, and again for a second period of three years,
neither the coins nor the Hebrew name is known ; and
the same remark applies to Aristobidus II., the brother
and successor of this Hyrcanus.
Two copper coins, very similar to those of Alexander
I., are attributed, by Mr. Madden, to Alexander II.,
son of Aristobulus II. The legend on these coins is in
Greek letters.
The last of the Asmonean princes was Antigouus,
brother of Alexander II. Three coins of this priuce
exist. They bear the name " Mattathias, High Priest,"
in Hebrew letters, on the obverse, and " King Anti-
gonus," in Greek letters, on the reverse. None of the
above-named Asmonean coins have been ascertained to
bear any date.
Thus the coinage of the Asmonean dynasty, as far
as it has yet been recovered, consists of eight Hebrew
and ten biUngual coins, struck by six jirinces, during a
period of seventy-seven years.
The specimens which we have of the Asmonean
coinage have the field covered with letters which are too
small and indistinct to be suitable for reproduction in
our pages.
BIBLE WOEDS.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRiEOENTOR OP LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
SERIES I.— OBSOLETE WOEDS AND PHEASES (continued).
;RIGANDINE {siibst). This word occurs
twice in the Authorised Version, both
times in Jeremiah; chap. xlvi. 4, " Stand
forth with your helmets, fui-bish the
spears, and put on the hrigandines ; " and chap. li. 3,
"Against him that bendeth let the archer bend liis
bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his
hrigandine." In each case it is the translation of Vip
{shijdn) " a coat of mail." Brigandine is defined by
Wedgwood and Richardson as a kind of scale armour,
made of many jointed plates, very pliant and easy for
the l)ody. S3 called from being used by the light-armed
foot soldiers known as brigands. It comes to us from the
French, in which language it was in use as a " haber-
geon, or coat of mail." It was not an unfamiliar English
word in the sixteenth century, as is witnessed by the
following passages : "Besides two thousand archers, and
hrigans, so called in those days of an armour which
they wore named hrigandines, used then by footmen "
(Holinshed, ii., N.u. 5, b) ;' "They have theyr hrig-
andyne, theyr soldiers girdle, and to be short al that
complete harnes which that valiaunt warriour Saincte
Poulo describeth unto them in sondry places " (Udal,
St. Marie Pref.) ; " They have also armed horses with
their shoulders and breasts def enced, they have helmets
and hrigandines " (Hakluyt, Voyages, i. 62).
It is also adopted by MUton : —
" Then put on all tby glorious arms, tliy helmet
And hrigandine of brass, thy broad habergeon. "
1 Holinshed is of course in error here. The armour took its
name from the wearers, not the wearers from the armour.
The history of this word is singular. The derivation
of the Italian hrigante is obscure. Mr. Isaac Taylor
thinks that a not impossible origin of the word may bo
found in the tribe of the Brigantas, " who served as
mediaeval mercenaries," "or perhaj)s from Briga, a
town near Nice " {Words and Places, 255, 445). A far
more likely derivation is to be found in the Italian
hriga, and the old French brige, strife, quarrel, conten-
tion, which is found also in Chaucer, "Ye knowen wel
that mine adversaries have begon this debatt and brige
by his outrage" {Tale of Meliheus). But whatever its
origin, that which at first meant no more than a " light-
armed soldier," by that process of deterioration of which
all language fm-nishes so many examples, when dis-
banded troops l)egan to roam the country robbing the
peaceable inhabitants, — that curse of the Middle Ages,
— took the meaning of "a robber, " a brigand" in the
modern sense. Then we find the word transfeiTed from
the land to the sea, hrigante became a pirate, while a
pirate's ship assumed the name of a hrigantine, of
which the modern " brig " is merely an abbre^^ation.
Bruit [suhst.). The French bruit, " noise," " report,"
" rumour,'" naturalised in English down to the middle of
the seventeenth century, lias now dropped out of common
use, though the verb and participle " to bruit abroad,"
" bruited abroad," are still not unfamiliar. Our trans-
lators have given it twice : Jer. x. 22, " Behold, the
noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out"
of the north country ; " and Nahum iii. 19, " All that
hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee."
Bacon (Essay liv., On Vain Glory) quotes the French
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINEI).
101
proverb, Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit, and Englishes
it much bruit, little fruit. The word is of frequent
occurrence in Latimer. " He (the Pope) shall send
forth his thunderbolts on these bruits"' {Sermons, p.
153) ; and is found in Shakespeare : —
" Fearless minds climb soonest unto cro^vns.
Brotlier, we will proclaim you out of hand ;
The hndt thereof will bring you many friends."
(3 Han. VI., iv. 7.)
The obscurity of the word was not unfrequently in-
creased by the omission of the i.
" A rumour roase . . . that peace was . . . concluded ; which
brute, as it was pleasant and mellifluous to the Frenchmen, so it
was to the English nacion bitter, sour, and dolorous." (Hall,
Hen.'VII., anno 6.)
But {conj.). This conjunction, derived from two pre-
positions, be = by, out, correspondingto the Anglo-Saxon
butan, "without," "except," is once used in our Prayer
Book Yersion of the Psalms — taken, as is generally
known, from the old translation of the Bible by
Tyndale and Covcrdale (1535), and Rogers (1537), re-
vised by Cranmer (1539) — in a sense now unfamiliar,
though formerly exceedingly common, and usually
much misunderstood. The passage is Ps. xix. 3,
" There is neither speech nor language, but their voiijes
are heard among them." The ordinary reader naturally
interprets this in a sense most true and beautiful, but
not that contained in the words — viz., that the heavenly
bodies in their silent march through the sky, declare
the eternal power and Godhead of the Most High (cf.
Rom. i. 20) ; and he is confirmed in his mistake by the
exquisite poetry of Addison's Hymn. But the true
meaning is that given more clearly in the Authorised
Version, " There is no speech nor language, where their
voice is not heard ; " the familiar httle word but being
here used in the old sense of except, without, " without
their voices being heard." Of this usage we have an
instance in the proverb, " Touch not the cat, but (with-
out) a glove ; " and in the following passage of Chaucer,
which may be sufficient for our pui-pose : —
" But meat or drinke she dressed her to lie
In a dark corner of the house alone.
And on this wise weeping she made her mone."
{The Testament of Cresseide.)
By {prep.). No j)assage in the Authorised Version is
more open to misconception, and is, we believe, more
generally misunderstood than St. Paul's words, 1 Cor.
iv. 4, " I know nothing bij myself ; yet am I not hereby
justified : but he that judgeth me is the Lord." St.
Paul is often supposed to assei-t the Divine origin of
his knowledge ; that " by," or " of himself " he knows
nothing, the Holy Spirit being his Teacher in all things
pertaining to God. A thoughtful reader perceives that
this sense docs not harmonise with the context, espe-
cially with the words that immediately follow, but ho
can give no other meaning to the first clause of the
verse, and his perplexity is naturally gi-eat. A reference
to the Greek removes the difficulty, by showing that
St. Paul's words may be properly rendered, " I am
conscious to myself of no failing in duty ; yet I am not
justified through that consciousness of rectitude, inas-
much as I am subject to a higher and more searching
judgment, that of God." The word brj, therefore, must
mean in this passage " with reference to," "against," a
sense it formerly bore extensively in our language, and
still, we are told, retains in provincial dialects. Dean
Alf ord in loc. tells us that " I know no harm by him "
is stiU a current expression in the midland counties.
As examples of this force of by we may quote : —
"Al the wikkeduesse that I wote bi any of owre brethren."
(Piers the Plowman, v. 180.)
" I am exceedingly sorry that such faults can be proved biy the
queen." (Cranmer, Let. to Henry VIII.)
" If so be thou hast spoken to or by thy neighbours."
(Latimer, Serm., p. 17.)
" For all the wealth that ever I did see,
I would not have him know so much by me."
(Shakespeare, Love's Labour Lost, iv. 3.)
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINER
THE GOSPELS :— ST. MATTHEW.
BT THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAK OP WINKFIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHEISTCHTTRCH, OXFORD.
" But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not
read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." — St. Matthew
xxii. 31, 32.
)T would caiTy us far beyond our prescribed
limits were we to enter in this place on
the discussion of the general question
to what extent the doctrine of a future
state, as including both the soul's immortality and
the body's iucorruption, formed a part of that reve-
lation which was given of old to the fathers "in
many portions, and in divers manners." Our present
task is restricted to the answer to the single question.
How is the doctrine of the resurrection involved in the
words spoken to Moses out of the burning bush, and
recorded in Exod. iii. 6 ? To this inquiry we shall now
endeavour to reply.
On turning to Exod. iii. we are at once struck by
the numerous indications which that chapter affords
tliat we are reading the record of one of the great
epoclis of Old Testament history. The narrative, which
has hitherto been studiously brief, now enters into
minute details.^ Its unity, notwithstanding the at-
tempts (based on the occurrence throughout it of both
the Divine names), to break it up into fragments, is
' See Canon Cook's note on the chapter, in the Spealter's Com-
mentary.
102
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
apparent. It is indicated by the sectional diN-ision
of the Jews, and it is established by the strougost
internal evidence. Moses, who was " learned in all the
wisdom of the Egjiitiaus," had doubtless acquired all
that they \vere able to teach respecting the soul's im-
mortality, and had considered well the attempts — by
moans of their costly process of embalmment and their
more costly places of seijulturc — to preserve those bodies
the continuance of which they seem to have associated,
in some mysterious manner, with the sustained exist:,uce
af the soul. ' He had thus become prepared for the re-
ception and for the communication, in whatever degree
that commimication might be consistent with the promul-
gation of a law which was to be enforced only by tem-
poral sanctions, of such a revelation of a future state
as can alone form a secure foundation on which to en-
graft any system of legislation. It was under these
circumstances — whilst feeding the flocks of Jethro, on
that pai-t of the Sinaitic range near to Horcb, which is
here designated by anticipation " the mountain of God " —
that the attention of Moses was arrested by the appear-
ance of " the bush," or scnch (probably the thorny
acacia) — that bush which must doubtless have been often
mentioned to the Israelites in after days, burning yet
unconsumed, and thus presenting not only a fitting
tyjjo of the present condition and futiu*e destiny of his
people, but also of the great truth of which he was at
this time to receive a revelation — that the body, though
subject to death, is yet destined to iucorruptiou.
It will be freely admitted that the doctrine of the
resurrection of the dead does not lie upon the surface
of the words spoken to Moses out of the bush, " I am
the God of thy father (a collective plural, apparently),
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob." It is equally true that, upon a closer
examination of their import, that doctrine ^ril\ be found
to be essentially involved in them. Without pausing to
inquire how far the revelation thus communicated was
apprehended by Moses in particular, and by the Old
Testament saints in general, we will now endeavour to
point out how the doctrine of the resurrection is con-
tained in the words spoken out of the bush, premising
only that a deep lesson for the right understanding and
application of Old Testament history is conveyed in the
assurance given by our Lord to the Sadducees that the
words sj^oken by the angel out of the busli to Moses
were spoken by God to them — " Have ye not read that
which was spoken by God to yo2i ? "
In the interpretation, then, of the vvoi-ds spoken to
Moses, we must observe, first, that the assurance given
' Herodotus (ii. 123) saj-s that the Esryptians were the first to
toach the ini mortality of the soul ; aud Diodorus Siculus (i. CO, Gl)
says that whiLst they regarded the dwellings of the living as tem-
porary liahitations, they looked upou the tombs of the dead as
eternal abodes.
to him that God was stiU the God of his fathers, Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, involved in it the assurance that
they were still His people; in other words, inasmuch
as God is " not the God of the dead but of the living,"
that those patriarchs still existed, though their bodies
had been long dead. And, further, the assurance that
God was their God was an assurance that He would
sujiply all theii* wants, and fulfil aU that He had pro-
mised to do for them. It would carry us far beyond our
limits to inquire into the manner in which the promise
given to Abraham personally, as weU as to his seed after
him (Gen. xiii. 15), is yet destined to receive its accom-
plishment. It is manifest, however, on the very surface
of Holy Scripture, that the promise which God gave to
Abraham, and for the fulfilment of which we are' ex-
pressly assured that Abraham looked (Heb. xi. 10), was
not fulfilled dm-ing his earthly history (Acts vii. 5 ; xi. 9).
And, further, we are taught in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, that the reason why God is " not ashamed" to
be called the God of the patriarchs, is because He will
perform His own covenant promises, of which those
patriarchs received in theii* bodies the seal and pledge,
aud that " He hsiih. prepared for them a city."
Inasmuch, then, as the very names given to them —
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — belong to them not as in-
coi'poreal spirits, but as human beings ; - inasmuch,
further, as promises were given to them, as such, which
have not yet received their fulfilment ; inasmuch as
God cannot be unmindful of His own promises, aud,
in the words spoken to Moses He conveyed to him the
assurance that He would still do for the patriarchs that
which He had promised — it follows, of necessity, that
the promises, wliich they saw afar off and embraced,
shall be fulfilled in their experience ; that they shall
inherit, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — i.e., in their
re-auimated bodies — the " country " which on earth
they " sought " but did not receive ; and hence, that
to Avhatever extent the doctrine of a future state of
rewards and punishments was designedly veiled for
ages and generations from the gaze even of those to
Avhom " the oracles of God" were committed, even Moses
did plainly signify {i/j.wv<rey),^ in that section of the
Pentateuch which contains the account of the burning
bush, and which received its designation from it (iirl rris
/3oTou), that the dead are raised, "when he called the
Lord the God of Abraham, aud the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, for he is not a God of the dead but of
the liWng : for aU live unto Him " (Luke xx. 37, 38).
- "For Abraham himself," says Bengel, "the whole man, aud
all that is included under the name Abraham, that is, not only his
soul but also his body, which also received the seal of the promise,
possesses God." {Gnomon on St. Matt. xxii. 32; i. 398. T. auJ
T. Clark.)
3 This word, which occurs only in three other places, is used to
denote not a mere intimation, but a distinct declaration. Cf. St.
John xi. 57 ; Acts xxiii. 30 ; 1 Cor. x. 28.
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
103
EASTEEN aEOaEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
MEDIA AND PEESIA (continued).
BY THE KEV. H. W. PHILLOTT, M.A., RECTOR OF STAUNTON- ON-WYE, AND PRiELECTOR OF HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.
PERSEPOLIS AND SUSA.
, F Persian cities, the only one mentioned
distinctly in canonical Scripture is Slin-
shan or Susa, wkicli is always spoken of
as " Shushan the palace." But there
was anotlier city, probably of later date than Susa,
which is mentioned by name, not in canonical Scriptui-e,
but only in the Book of Maccabees (2 Mace. is. 2.), whose
remains, if not more extensive, are perhaps more re-
markable than those of almost any other Eastern city,
and which serve to illustrate some of the Scripture
descriptions, especially those in the Books of Kings and
Esther; which last contains a history whose events
were, in great probability, contemporaneous with a part,
at least, of its existing structures. This is Persepolis,
situate nearly in long. 53°. lat. 33°., about 35 miles N.E.
of Shii-az, on the road to Ispahan, in the plain of
Merdusht, a little below the confluence of the rivers
Bend-amir (Araxes) and Pidwan (Medus). The word
Bend-amir denotes properly " royal dyke," from a dyke
made by a Pei-sian pi-ince in the sixth century, a.d., but
it is now used as a name for the river itself. Among
the natives the ruins bear the name of Takht-i-Jemsheed,
"Throne of Jemsheed," a Persian prince, of apocryphal
date and legendary exploits. Tlie most important por-
tion of them now remaining is called Chehel Minar, the
" Forty Columns ; " the number forty being, in Oriental
language, as we sometimes see in Scripture, symbolic,
rather than descriptive, of their actual amount. In the
word Minar, " column," we easily recognise the origin of
the word " minaret," our name for the buildings at-
tached to Mohammedan places of worship, which are
used as stations far the criers, muezzin, whose duty
it is to summon the people to prayer.
Of the city in general, as is so commonly the case, no
traces exist. The ruins, which are so well known, and
have been so often described, are those of the palatial
buildings, begun, no doubt, by Cyrus (^lian, H. An.,
i. 59), enlarged during the reigns of successive Persian
kings, and at last destroyed by fire by Alexander the
Great. Diodorus tells us that Cambyses, son and
successor of Cyrus (B.C. 528 — 521), after his conquest
of Egypt, brought as captives many workmen from
that country to build his palaces at Persepolis, Susa,
and other places (Dlod., i. 46). The inscriptions on one
of the platforms contain the name of Darius Hystaspis
(B.C. 521 — 485), and show that this part of the build-
ings was erected by him, as was also, most probably, a
great hall in its immediate neighbourhood. From
similar evidence we learn that other portions are due
to his son Xerxes, probably the Ahasuerus of the Book of
Esther (b.c. 485 — 465). Other portions were perhaps
added by later kings, but no evidence exists to identify
them. The palace is described by Diodorus as sur-
rounded by a triple wall ; and at the distance of 400 feet
on the eastern side he says there is a mountain, called the
"Royal Mountain," in which are the sepulchres of the
Idngs. The rock had been cut away to form chambers,
in which their coffins were deposited ; but the only access
to them was by means of machinery (Diod., x\-ii. 71).
The ruins have been often described, especially by
Pietro della Valle, Sir John Chardin, Niebuhr, and Sii-
R. K. Poi*ter ; but it may, perhaps, be worth while to
transcribe a portion of the description of them given
by Mandelslo, a Danish traveller, who saw them in
1638. " They are," he says, " the ruines of an old
castle . . . and the Pers-ians say that their king
Tzemschid Padsclial, grandfather by the mother's side
to Alexander the Great . . . was the founder of that
castle ; though others say King Solomon built it, and
some would have it done by Darius, the last king of
Persia. The religious men of Schiras told me, that
the learned were clearly of opinion that the ancient
Persepolis had stood thereabouts, and that they were
the ruins of Cyrus' palace. . . The ground-work of it
is twenty-two geometrical feet in height, having at each
of the four corners a pair of stairs of white marble,
consisting of ninety-five steps, which are very flat, and
so broad that twelve horse may go up together abreast.
Upon the square of it, before you come within the
stnicture, may be seen the ruines of a wall, as also what
is left of two great gates, which have carved upon them
each a horse, with harnesse and saddles very antique ;
and in the other two pieces two creatures, whereof the
hinder part hath some resemblance to the body of a
horse, but the head, which is carved, resembles that of
a lyon, and both have wings of each side. On the one
side there aro nineteen pillars of black and white
marble, whereof the least were eight, the biggest ten
ells (37 feet 6 inches) high, without the bases. They
told us that not long before there were forty pillars
standing ; but it cannot be well judg'd whether they
had been design'd for the ornament of some great hall,
or set there in the aire purely for show. . . All is of
marble, so smooth and polish'd, that it might serve for
a looking-glass. On both sides of the doors there are
several figures of men carved, Avhereof some are sitting,
others stand, but much exceeding the natural proportion.
They have aU their hair so long, that it falls down over
their shoulders, great beards, and habits falling down to
their heels, with very wide sleeves, and a girdle about
their garments. They have all round caps' upon their
heads ; which, being much different from the ordinary
habit of the Persians at present, argues a great an-
tiquity." Our traveller proceeds to mention the in-
scriptions which, he thought, "contain some secrets
which time will discover." And then he says, " There
is also a great court, upon the same ground- woi-k, which
Ls ninety paces square, having on each side two gates,
whereof some are six, others but three paces wide, all
104
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
.^^-^'-.m^^
<!^
tDiM^
^^^S?"^^^P
rEESEPOLIS.
built of a very well-polished marble, whereof the several
pieces are eight foot in leugth and three in breadth . . .
'Tis a thousand pities that nobody hath yet had the
curiosity to have a graven ; ' had it been onely out of
this motive, that the barbarous people thereabouts mine
it dayly more and more, and convey away tlie stones
to carry on jn-ivate buildings." (Mandelslo, Trav., transl.
by Davies, pp. 4, 5.) Turning to the accounts given
by Niebuhr and Sir R. K. Porter, but especially the
former, we find thorn informing us that the artificial
plain, on wliich the ruins of this palace stand, is of
irrcgiUar shape, but that it nearly faces the four cardinal
points. The southern face is 802 feet in length, the
northern 926, and the western 1,426. It was evidently
cut down fi'om the slope of the adjacent liill, on the
eastern side, the one which Diodorus calls the " Royal
Mountain," and in many places beyond the platform
the rock protrudes in vast abrupt cliffs, which show
traces of the pickaxe. This spacious artificial plain is
not entirely on one level, but may be said to consist of
ten-aces, whose real height from the ground is now
much diminislied by the accumulation of sand and
rubbish, but whicli may be stated as on the south side
from 18 to 20 feet, on the north at from 16 to 26 feet,
and on tlie west at from 30 to 40 feet. On the east
side the rock has been scarped away to form the
1 The translator no doubt means a " graving," i.e., an cngravinfj.
boundary of tlie platform, but on the other sides the
retaining walls are built of marble blocks of the same
kind as that of which the mountain consists. The
access to tlie platform is obtained by two staircases on
the western side, beginning at a distance of 208 feet
from its northern end. They ascend in a direction
parallel to the western face, but in opposite du'cctions,.
and form a magnificent approach to the stately structures
Avhich once crowned the summit. The lowest pair of
flights have each of them 54 steps. Then comes a
landing-place, and a second flight of 49 steps, which
lands tlie traveller on the floor of the first terrace. The
steps of this veritable " giant's staircase" are each only
three inches and a half in height, and so wide that ten,
(or, as Mandelslo said, twelve) horsemen mi^ht ascend
abreast of each otlier. Sir R. K. Porter remarks that
whenever he visited the ruins, he always rode up and
down without difficulty. On the terrace thus reached
the traveller beholds in front a vast portal guarded on
eacli side by bulls of colossal size, looking west, and
I'aised on pedestals of about five feet in height. Then
two columns ; two more, which existed in Sir Jolm
Chardin's time, having since fallen, and another portal
whose guardian bulls look towards the east. From this
terrace rises from north to south another noble set of
staircases, which, thougli nut so lofty, are even more
magnificent than those described above. There are
four flights of steps, one at each end of the projecting
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
105
face of the wall against which they are built, aud two
in the middle, meeting in a landing-place. Each flight
consists of thirty steps, and the whole face of the wall
and of the staircases is ornamented with elaborately
sculptured figures, in three tiers, while vertical compart-
ments, closing the angles of the staircases at each end,
are covered with cuneiform inscriptions, whose secrets
time has at last been enabled to discover. The sculp-
tured figures represent trees, animals, and men dressed
in the Median and the Persian fashions, and forming a
procession of a festive character. There are also figures
in angular spaces in the middle and at the ends, repre-
senting lions seizing bulls, executed with great spirit and
truthfulness.
On the terrace reached by these staircases are the
remains of tlie great hall of Xerxes, represented by
the celebrated columns which were not, ?.s Mandelslo
thought, intended to stand in air, but which once sup-
ported a roof, witli, perhaps, another storey above it.
The platform on which they stand is 350 feet from
north to south, and 380 from east to west. The columns
themselves were in four groups, one central one of 36, one
on each side of 12 each, and one in front of the same
number, facing the stau-case. There were thus, as the
reader will observe, not 40 but 72 in all ; of which, in
the time of P. della Yalle (1621) 25 were standing ;
in the time of Mandelslo, seventeen years later, only
19, which by the time of Nicbuhr (1765) had diminished
to 17. Sir R. K. Porter (1818) saw 15 still standing
complete, but these are now reduced to 13. They are
60 feet in height ^ and 16 in circumference. Though
scarcely to be called beautiful in themselves, their size
and position, the beauty of their material, and excellence
of the workmanship, render them very remarkable and
impressive. The whole building must have been one of
the largest, and probably one of the most splendid halls
that the world has ever seen ; covering more ground
than any Grecian, Roman, or Egyptian temple, and
more than most Gothic cathedrals. Besides this great
hall, there are four principal blocks of building, orna-
mented in many parts with interesting and well-
preserved sculptures, which formed respectively parts
of the great palatial structure, but whose detads it
would take us too long to describe. We have dwelt
thus long on the subject because Persepolitan buildings,
their columns and grand staircases, and general arrange-
ments compared with those of Nineveh, enable us to
understand (1) the design in general of a Persian or
Assyrian palace-temple, such as is mentioned in the
Book of Esther, as adopted at Shushan, its pavement
of coloured marble, and the hangings suspended between
the pillars (Esth. i. 6 ); (2) the gates of justice in which,
as we so often read in Scripture, the king sat for this
1 The colmnns of the portico of St. Paul's Cathedral are 40 feet
high ; those of the Madeleine Church at Paris 50 feetiu height.
106
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
VIEW OF SUSA (from A SCULPTURE AT NINEVEH).
purpose, au'. (3) some of the descriptions of tlie temple
of Solomon, the " ascent by which he went up to the
house of the Lord " (1 Kings x. 5). the ujiper storey of
his palac« supported on cedar beams, and the " porch of
pillars " which ho attached to it. The upper storey of
the Persepolitan palace, if not consumed at the time
Avhcn
" The king seized a flambeau, with zeal to destroy,"
has long since perished, but enough of the rest remains
to illustrate the construction, aiTangement, and orna-
mentation which appears to have prevailed in Eastern
architecture, of which this was, beyond doubt, one of
the most splendid examples.
The other great Persian city which has been men-
tioned above is " Shushan the palace," or SusA, as it
was called by Greek writers. We all remember its
importance in the history of the Book of Esther, and in
the prophecies of Daniel ; but what place was the true
representative of Shushan was not, until a recent
period, quite certain. Some authorities wished to place
it at Sinister, on the Kdrun river (the Pasitigi'is) ; a few
at Susan, higher up on the same river : but the dis-
coveries of Mr. Lof t'us have proved beyond doubt that
its true site is at Shush, on the little river Shaotw, au
affluent of the Kanin, and between it and also between
the Kherhah 'Choaspes) a little more to the west than
the Shaour and the Eulaeus, called in the Book of Daniel
Ulai (Dan. viii. 2). The same passage tells i;s that
Shushan was in the province of Elam. We hear of
Elam first as a son of Shem, and then in connection
with Chcdorliiomer's invasion of Canaan, and also in
the pi'ophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In
the Book of Ezra, and also in that of the Acts, we read
of a people called Elamites, who in the former of these
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OP THE BIBLE.
107
books are mentioned in close neighbourliood -with the
SusancWtes, the people of Susa (Ezra iv. 9 ; Acts ii. 9).
There is no doubt that by Elam is meant the province
called Elymais, the people of which, the Elymseans, are
mentioned, and also their king, in the Book of Judith.
EljTuais is spoken of as a province in the Book of Tobit,
and as a city in that of Maccabees. It appears at one
time to have been independent of Babylon, if not even
superior to it, but to have come in later times under the
power of Persia (G^n. x. 22, xIa-. 1 ; Isa. xxi. 2 ; Jer.
xlix. 3i; Ezek. xxxii. 24; Judith i. 6; Tobit ii. 10; 1
Mace. vi. 1). This province, which in later times formed
a part of Susiana, was originally occupied by a Cushite
race who gave way before the Elamites, a race of
Semitic origin, who, as Strabo says, thus confirming the
words of Scripture, "were skilfid as archers" (Isa. xxii.
6; Jer. xlis. 35; Strabo, xxi. 744). The so-caUed city,
Elymais, probably means Susa, whose wealth, so well
known, tempted the cupidity of Antiochus (Her., v. 49 ;
Diod., xix. 48). Susa was a place of gi'eat antiquity.
Its name occurs in the Assyrian inscriptions, which
recoi-d the defeat of the Susianian king by the grand-
son of Sennacherib. The monuments also exhibit a
fig^ire of the city placed between two rivers, exactly as
is in fact the case (Layard, Nin. and Bab., 452). In this
representation a remarkable confii'mation is found of
the Scripture narrative, as well as an explanation of a
geographical difficulty as to the river Eulseus. The
prophet Daniel speaks of himself as standing on the
banks of Ulai, and shortly after as hearing a man's
voice "between^ Ulai" (Dan. viii. 2, 16). Pliny says
that the EiUseus, which rises in Media, runs round the
citadel of Susa, and that it divides Susiane from Elymais,
while Strabo, quoting PolycUtus, says that Susa is
situated on the Choaspes, and further, that the Choas-
pes and Eukeus both run into a certain marsh, and
afterwards join the Tigris (Plin., vi. 127 ; Strabo, xv.
728, 729). The only way of imtyiug this geographical
knot is to suppose that the Eulseus and Choaspes are
identical. This is now shown to be the case in the fol-
lowing way. At a distance of some twenty miles above
Shush, the Kherkah (Choaspes) once either broke out
or was artificially conducted into a new channel, though
without abandoning its original course. It thus formed a
branch, now nearly dry, but distinctly traceable, to which
the name Eulseus was given, which, after a time, at a
point below Shush, was combined with the small river
Shapm', and eventually joined the Kdri'oi (Pasitigris),
which last has commonly been identified with the
EiUseus, and which runs into the Shat-el-Arab, a little
below Mohammerah. Thus the Kherkah (Choaspes)
and Ulai (Eulseus) may be said to have been bi-anches
of the same river, so that their names were sometimes
interchanged ; the latter may be said tridy to rise in
Media and to run round Susa. Daniel, standing near
Susa, would truly be standing "l>etween Ulai," i.e.,
between its two streams; and lastly both Choaspes
and Euleeus may be fairly said to have run into the
Tigris, a statement which is literally true of the
1 The words " the banks of " are not in the original.
Choaspes, which loses itseM in a marsh connected with
that river, and not improperly of the Eulaeus, which,
falling first into the Diz (Coprates) and then into
the Karan, must eventually have nm into the Shat-el-
Arab, the estuary of the Tigris (Loftus, Chaldea,
pp. 425—430).
We learn from Pliny, that Darius Hystaspis built a
palace at Susa, and from Xenophon that the Persmu
kings were accustomed to reside there for three months
'in the spring (Plin., vi. 133; Xen., Cyrop., viii. 6, 21).
The researches of Mr. Loftus have discovered the
remains of a great haU which Ijeyond all doubt belonged
to that palace, for inscrij)tions on some of the pedestals
of the portals, engraved in three langiiages, record ad-
ditions made by Ai-taxerxes (Mnemon, B.C. 405 — 359) to
the temple, which he said had been built by his ancestor,
Darius, father of Xerxes, The hall thus discovered is
similar in dimensions to the one at Persepolis, viz., 343 feet
9 inches x 244 feet, and the style of architecture must
have been equally similar. No colimins remain stand-
ing, but the bases were foimd of a number sufficient to
determine the plan of the building, and fragments
enough of shafts and capitals to indicate the style. It
stands on a mound 119 feet above the level of the
Shaour, an elevated site from which the " great king
Ahasuerus," as he sat in his hall of columns, shaded from
the Sim by '■ white, green, and blue hangings, fastened
. . . topdlars of marble," might behold with satisfaction
the fertile plain below, backed in the distance by the snowy
mountains of Liiristan, clothed with the verdure of early
spring, and enriched with the blossoms of the sweet-
scented iris, from whose name (Shushan) the name of
Susa itseK is supposed by some to have been derived.
It was here that he gave his feast of 180 days, and
within these precincts the j)rincij)al scenes of the Book of
Esther were enacted (about 488 B.c). Here also, in the
month Nisan, a mouth during which the king of Persia
would usually be at Susa, Nehemiah received from Ar-
taxerxes Longimanus his pei-mission to rebuild Jeru-
salem, B.C. 444. The extent of ground occupied by ruins
is about thi-ee miles and a half in circumference, and con-
sists of four separate platforms, of which the western
is the loftiest, and probably contained the citadel. The
palace probably stood on the one to the north. On the
low ground near the river Shaour, below the citadel
mound, is a buUding believed by the natives to be the
tomb of Daniel, which is much visited by pilgruns, and
concerning which various legends are recorded. Ben-
jamin of Tudela, in the twe-lfth century, mentions tha
remains of Shushan, " the metropolis and palace of kmg
Ahasuerus. It has 7,000 Jewish inhabitants, with
fourteen synagogues ; in front of one of which is the
sepulchre of Daniel, who rests in peace." Daniel is
said by Josephus to have erected a palace or castle at
Susa, and it is veiy probable that he was buried there ;
but the building now called his tomb is of much later
date than this. (Neh. ii. 1 ; Esth. i. 3, 6 ; Joseph., Ajit,
X. 12, 1. Earhj Trav., p. 105 ; Sir R. Porter, Trav., ii.
412; Loftus, pp. 339—380; Fergusson, Handbooh of
Arch., 187, 198.)
108
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
MALACHI (coniinued).
BY THE KEY. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
THIRD PART.
THE DAY OF THE LORD.
CHAP. II. 17 TO CHAP. IV. 4.
[MONG the Hebrews wlio returned from
the Captivity there soon appeared that
marked division, that fatal rift, which had
^-^ ^_^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^"*^ ^^ Israel from its youtli up.
At first, wo may reasonably suppose that all who were
brought back to the land of their fathers wore of ono
mind and one lieart, that the sacred fires of patriotism
aud of devotion to their Divine Redeemer and King
burned in every breast. But within a single century
after the Retm-n we once more find an Israel after the
flesh and an Israel after the spirit. In the historical
books which bear the names of Ezra and Nehemiah,
the nation is represented in the main as violating the
Divine law, priests and peoj)le growing weary of the
service of the Temple, intermarrying with the heathen,
gi-inding each other down even to bondage with usurious
loans, bujang and selling on the Sabbath ; only recovered
to obedience uuder the pressure of extreme calamity,
backed by the appeals of bravo men in whom patriotism
and devotion rose to enthusiasm ; relapsing into their
old sins the very moment they were left to themselves-
So far from emerging from the Captivity " a band of
puritans," we have to search carefully before we can
find any traces of the faitlif id remnant which clave stead-
fastly to God aud set themselves to do His will. Only
from brief hints thinly scattered do we learn that
Ezra, who had " prei^ared his heart to seek the law of
tlie Lord, and to do it," found a few " that trembled at
the words of the God of Israel " to sustain him in his
quest ;' or that Nehemiali was aided by fellow-labourers
who had " separated themselves unto the law of the
Lord ... to observe and to do all the commandments of
the Lord." ^ On the whole the view presented to us by
the sacred chroniclers is a gloomy one, overcast by many
shadows, pregnant witli many omens of change and dis-
aster. "We see little of tlie true life and strength of the
nation, of its salt and liglit. For tliese wo must go to
the Psalmists of the time. From tlie songs they wrote
we gather that there were at least some in Israel who,
amid all the calamities aud temptations of the age, put
an unwavering trust in God, and would not suffer their
hearts to be driven, Ijy any wind of change, from their
rest in Him. They were sure that God would do good
to them tliat were good, that Ho would destroy, with
the mcked, those who turned aside to crooked ways ;
aud that Ho would not suffer " the rod of ^viekedness to
rest on the lot of the righteous," though it might pass
over it.^ They held fast the conviction that, thougli
they might sow in tears, the just should reap with
' Ezra ix. 4.
2 Neb. X. 28, 29.
3 Ps. cxxv.
songs of joy ;'' while the wicked, green and flourishing
for a moment, shoidd nevertheless be "as the grass
on the housetops, that withereth before it can be
plucked up." •'
We need to remember these facts in our study of
Malachi, and especially the fact that, amid the many
perverse and rebellious offenders, there was yet a com-
pany of faithful men in Israel, steadfast in their fidelity
to Jehovah, and of an approved devotion. For the pro-
phet, like the chroniclers, paints but a gloomy picture
of his age. Already he has shown us, in Part I., the
priests lounging wearily and contemptuously through
the services of the Temple, despising the altar they
served, " snuffing at the sacrifices " they offered, refus-
ing so much as to open a door or to kindlo a fire for
nought. In Part II. he has shown us the people deal-
ing treacherously and bringing an abomination into the
land, by driving their divorced wives to shroud the altar
of Jehovah in their tears and sighs. And, in this Third
Part, we are to be presented with still new forms of the
national infidelity and ungodliness, an infidelity so
rooted as to have given rise to popular adages and well-
worn proverbs. In our haste we might conclude that
all the men of Israel were " sinners," all " fools " who
said in then* hearts, " There is no God," aud wonder
why the prophet should be at the pains to reason with
them and seek to recover them to faith and righteous-
ness. But in thus judging them we should misjudge
them. Even Malachi, dark as his picture is, gives us
one sketcli which reminds iis of the existence of that
company of good men, faithful among the faithless,
Avhich the Psalmists of the time depict more at large
— a company of saints who "feared Jehovah and spake
often one with another " of the things that jiertain to the
kingdom of God." Let us bear this faithful remnant in
mind, then, as we consider the prophet's description of
the faithless many.
The third section of liis prophecy divides itself easily
and naturally into three bi'ief scenes, or acts, in each of
which Malachi pursTies his constant method of statement,
objection, aud refutation.
1. In the first scene (chap. ii. 17 — iii. 5) we hear
the scepticism of the people breaking into murmurs of
distrust. " Yeiceary Jehovah with your loords ;" here
is the statement or charge. " Wherein do we weary
Him ?" here is the sceptical " but " of the people, their
challenge of the statement. " In that ye say, Every one
that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and He
delighteth in them ; or. Where is the God of justice ? "
and hero is the reply, or rather the commencement of
the reply to the objection.
Now the scepticism indicated by the questions Malachi
puts into the people's mouth is as old as time, and as
< Ps.
* Ps. cxxix.
e Mai. iii. 16.
MALACHI.
109
new as to-day. It is common to all ages, and to every
heart. The prosperity of the wicked and the delay of
Providence are roots out of which doubt for ever springs
afresh. In our turn we all ask, " If there be a God, and
He is just and good, why does He permit good to be
overcome of evil ? why does He not come, at once, to
make our life simpler and easier to us — to us who are
trying to do His wiU ? " In our turn we are aU tempted,
since He is long in coming, to doubt whether He will
ever come, or even to doubt whether He is, and is a
Rewarder of them that seek Him. And Malachi does
not throw much light, or much direct light, on this dark,
doubt-breeding, j)ain-breeding problem.
Instead of attacking the general problem — and on that
course few have won honour — he addresses himseK to
the partial aspect of it which was perplexing the Jews
of his own generation. There is no greater mistake in
argument, we are often told, than to lay down larger
propositions than you require, and so to furnish your
opponent with iafinite loopholes of escape. This mis-
take Malachi, like a prudent and thrifty logician, avoids.
The Jews were saying, " For aught that we can see, it
is just as good to be bad as to be good. God does not
care which we are, if there be a God. If there be a
God, and He is good, why does He not come down and
shew Himself to us, and reward us for serving Him,
and punish our enemies— the base plundering Samari-
tans, for example — accordiug to their deserts ?"
" Say you so ? " replies the prophet. " Well, He will
come; He is coming. I, Malachi the Messenger, am
sent before Him to prepare His way, just as the herald
is sent before the great Persian King, to bid cities and
provinces he is about to visit make a smooth wide road
before him. The Lord whom ye seek, of whom ye say,
' Where is He ? ' will be here suddenly and soon. He
will visit this Temple which you have reafed in His
honour. He Himself wiU be the Angel, the Messenger,
the Mediator of a new covenant ^vith you. But are you
ready for Him ? Am IPO, who can stand before Him
unblamed ! Tou doubt and mock because He does not
come to punish your foes and to reward your loyalty
and obedience. But have you been loyal ? have you been
obedient P Can you, dare you, meet His pure and awful
eyes ? Judgment will begin, not on your foes, but on
you ; not in foreign lands, but in the household of God.
Ho will come to thrust you as into a smelting furnace, in
whicli all dross is consumed ; to plunge you as into the
lye of the fuller, in which all stains and filth are sepa-
rated from the fabric and washed away. Nay, He will
come first of all to you, O ye priests, ye unworthy sons
of Levi who say, ' The table of the Lord is despicalile
and polhited,' and offer the blind and the lame and the
sick for sacrifice, and make many to stumble at the law,
and depart from the way of integrity and peace. Only
the true sons of Levi, only the true children of Israel,
will emerge from that awful trial unscathed, that the
offerings of Judah and Jerusalem may once more be
pleasant to Jehovah your King, as in the days of old
and as in the former years. Tou who have allied your-
selves with the heathen and have caught the infection of
their vices, who pollute yourselves with magical arts and
with the lusts of the flesh, and with broken oaths, and
with the dishonesties of the market, pressing down
the wages of the hireliag and the foreigner, the widow
and the orphan, to starvation point, taking advantage of
the necessities of the destitute and the unfriended — the
God whom you do not fear because you think Him so
far off, whom you reproach for His delays, will be with
you or ever you are aware, to bear witness against you,
to judge and punish you. And here I stand — I, the
Messenger — to announce His advent and to summon
you to repentance."
This I take to be the substance of Malachi's first argu-
ment, his reply to those who questioned the rule of God
because He was patient with them and delayed to deal
with them according to their deserts. It was an appeal
to conscience rather than to reason, to that sense of sin,
to that fear of a Divine judgment, which underlay all
their braggart and sceptical talk about the non-existence
or non-interference of the Di^^ne Judge and Ruler of
men. That there is another and a deej)er meaning in
the promise of this passage we shall soon see ; but this
I take to be the first meaning.
2. In his first act, or argument, Malachi had hinted
his doubt whether the mm-murers in Israel were pre-
pared to meet the Di^-ine Judge of whose delays they
complained. In the second (chap. iii. 6 — 12), he shows
them how unprepared they were, how utterly unable
to endure the day of His coming. As in chap. i. 6,
and again in chap. ii. 10, he prefaced his charge with a
general and indisputable maxim, so here, before hurling
another charge at the people, he lays down a general
principle. This principle is but an ancient version of
that enimciated in St. Paul's fine sentence, " The gifts
and calling of God are without repentaiice " — that is, they
are irreversible. Malachi states it in his most impressive
manner :
" Because I, Jehovah, I change not,
Therefore, ye sons of Israel, ye are not consumed."
To US it might seem that the premiss would bear, if
not necessitate, precisely the opposite conclusion. We
might argue, " God has always threatened to destroy
the wicked; the Jews were wicked : and therefore, since
God cannot change, He will destroy the Jews." But
Malachi reaches the opposite conclusion, and reaches it
fairly. God had made a covenant with Israel ; He had
chosen them for the good of the world. His purpose
must stand ; even their faithlessness could not make it
of none effect. And, therefore, in all ages God had
corrected instead of consuming them ; He had de-
stroyed the wicked out of Israel in order that He might
not destroy Israel itself, in order that He might shape
the true Israel to His mind and bend it to His purpose.
It was, therefore, because He did not change, because
He would not forego His purpose of mercy to mankind,
that Israel was not consumed.
Malachi expresses his sense of the immense value of
this principle, this master-key to the history of his race,
not only by the emphatic construction of his sentence,
but also by his selection of names. He so places the
110
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
luime " Jehovah;' aud the ntune "ye sons of Jacob," as
to call attention to their moral significuncc. Now,
" Jehovah '' means " I am that I am ;" it is the name
which conveys the absolute and independent existence
of God, His superiority to change and time. Aud the
title '• ye sons of Jacob " recalls the covenant made by
God vnth the father and prince of Israel, the purpose
of mercy and redemption which He had announced
from the first. So that, in effect, by his choice of names
the Prophet redoubles the force of his sentence : " It is
because I am Jehovah, the changeless, that I change
not ; it is because ye are the sons of Jacob, and are
therefore heirs of my covenant with him, that ye arc not
consumed."
This is why God judges, but does not destroy : Ho
piu'ges out the wicked, and refines the good from their
dross, in order that, in His unchanging compassion. He
may carry out His purpose of redemption aud grace.
Thus " the covenant is equipped at all points and sure;"'
fur if the unfaitlrfulness of man cannot annul it, what
can ? And that man's unfaitlif ulness cannot annul it is
evident; for "from the days of your fathers ye have
departed from my statutes, and have not kept them."
This, too, is why God has delayed His coming. It is
not that He is slack concerning His promises, but that
they will not fulfil the conditions of the promise. Gene-
ration after generation they have shown .themselves to
be a disobedient and gainsaying people. How can He
come to them, while they still depart from Him ? How
can He come bringing salvation, while they do not keep
His statutes ? The blessing of the obedient cannot be
given to the disobedient. Let them return to Him from
whom they have departed, and then see whether He vrill
keep them waiting for Him.
But "wherein shall we return?" they object. lu
what have we departed from Him, that we should re-
trace our steps ? Are not we the chosen race, the holy
nation ?
'• Dare a man defraud God ? " replies Jehovah. " Yet
ye have defrauded me."
"We!" respond the people; "We defraud Thee!
Pray, how?"
" Te have defrauded me," answers Jehovah, "even in
that in which ye pride yourselves as being most exact,
in the least tilings; how much more, then, in the greatest.?
Even the tithes and offerings have not been duly paid,
although your neglect has been rebuked by a curse, the
curse of famine."
That the Jews of this period could flatter themselves
they were punctual even in the outward observances of
their religion almost passes belief , their disregard of them
being so flagrant. More than half a century before
Malachi, the prophet Haggai had to rebuke them for
their indifference to the btiildmg and service of the
Temple ; to tell them that the " blasting and mildew and
bail" which then fell "on all the labour of their hands"
was a Divine judgment on that indifference; to assure
them that from the very day of their amendment God
would bless them in bam and field and orchard.- In
the book of Nehemiah we read ^ that, on his retm-n from
Babylon, the indignant governor "perceived that the
portions of the Levites had not been given them," that
the Levites and singers had been driven, by sheer desti-
tution, to abandon the service of the Temple, and to
'• fleo every one to his o^vu field." And Malachi has
told us how the people brought blind and lame and sick
— nay, even stolen, beasts for .sacrifice ; how they offei-ed
ewes on pretence that they had no rams in their flocks,
and vowed their choicest oxen and sheep, and then, when
the moment of pressure was past, brought '• that which
was corrupt;" how the pi'iests offered " polluted bread "
and " unclean sacrifices," and cried, as they discharged
their function, " What a weariness it is!" Now even
the Hebrews knew that " to obey is better than to sacri-
fice ;" but they also knew that to sacrifice ivas to obey ;
and so often as they neglected the lesser obedience of
sacrifice, they still more neglected the larger obedience
of moral conformity to the Divine WUl. In His mercy
God only puts them to the lesser test. For the present
it shall be enough if they bring " all the tiihe "' into the
store-chambers of the Temple. Let them but do that,
and He wiU open the sluice-gates of heaven, and pour
down on them the blessing of copious rain ; He will re-
buke the devouring locust ; the fruit of the earth shall
no longer be destroyed before it can be gathered in, nor
shall the vine miscarry of its grapes. So happy shall
be their condition, so fertile their land, that all nations
shall call them blessed.
Thus the Lord whom they seek will come to them so
soon as they are ready for Him, so soon as He can come
in benediction. He will come, not only in His Temple,
but also in their barns and homesteads and fields.
3. In the tliird scene or act of this dramatic dia-
logue (chap. iii. 13 — iv. 3), in which the Prophet
is the mouth-piece alternately of Jehovah and of the
people, we once more hear the sceptical murmurs of
distrust. First comes the charge : " Your words do me
^uroji^, saith Jehovah." Then follows the "but," the
objection : " And ye say. What do we speak against
TJiee ?" And tlien comes the rejoinder, which gives us
a sample of the common talk of the day. Wherever men
met for converse they might be heard saying, some, " It
is vain to serve God!"" others, " What profit is it that
we keep His ordinances, and go about with sad faces and
in mourning xveeds as those who lament the national
sins 1 " some, " We see that the proud are blessed
rather than the humble ! " others, " The wicked flourish
rather than the just !" and still others, " TJiose who
tempt God by their presumption and impiety are never-
theless delivered from peril rather than the meek and
the devout!" In short, the general sentiment of the
time was that the veiy blessings promised to the meek,
the huml)le, the soiTOwfiU, were bestowed on the heed-
less, the proud, the .self-confident; aud the genex-al
mistake of the time was that because they, the Jews,
fasted and observed cciiain outward forms, and these
* 2 Sam. xziii. 5.
2 Haggai ii. 13—19.
3 Neh. 3riii. 10—12.
MALACHI.
Ill
not always the forms ordained by Jeliovah, they there-
fore possessed that piety wliicli He Lad prou>ised to
bless and reward.
Now just as in chap. ii. 5 — 7, JehovaJi had rebuked the
false and corrupt priests by placing before tliem a charm-
ing picture of the true priest, the ideal Levi, so here
He rebukes the foolish and profane talk of the midtitude
by contrasting with it the conversation of the faithful
I'emnant, the little commuuity of saints, who feared Him
and thought on His Name. Unhappily, however, their
talk is not reported, at least by Malaehi, though, as we
have seen, that of the ungodly is. All we are told of it
is, that it was full of the fear of Jehovah, and that it
was held to be of such value in heaven that, just as the
Persian monarch kept a book in which the heroic deeds
of any of his servants were recorded,^ so the King of
Heaven '• hearkened and heard " when His servants
.spoke well of Him in evil times, and liad their names
written in a book of remembrance. When we read —
" Then they that feared Jehovah spake often one with another
And Jehovah hearkened and heard,
And a book of remembranco was kept before Him
For thos3 that feared Jehovah,
And that thought on His Name,"
^^e are not only charmed with the stately music of the
lines ; we long that we could stand in that happy com-
pany of saints, if only for a few moments, and hear
what they had to say to each other, and learn what it
was that di-ew them so often and so close together. Is
it altogether impossible to recover the words which
Malaehi has failed to report ? It is by no means impos-
sible. Our -vvish may be fulfilled. We may hear of what
they that feared the Lord spake one to another ; we may
give, on the best authority, some of the very words they
used. While the nommal Israel said. It is vain to serve
God, the true, the elect Israel said, Sappij is every one
thatfeareth Jehovah, that icalketh in Hisivays.^ While
the former said, What jjrofit is it that we serve Him ?
the latter said, They that put ilieir trust in Jehovah are
like Mount Zion, lohich cannot he moved., hut standeth
fast for ever? While the degenerate majority said,
The proud are hlessed. the toicJced flourish, the holdhj
had are saved from all peril! the pious few said, Though
the ploughers pMigh our hack, and draw long fiirroivs,
Uod ivill cut in sunder the traces of the wicked ; though
the proud are green and flourishing for a time, they are
hut as the grass on the village roofs tohereioith the
mower filleth not his hand, nor he that hindeth sheaves
his h^som .* though toe go forth iveeping, sowing a
mere handful of seed with tears, through the mercy of
Jehovah we come hack to the homestead, hearing many
sheaves, with songs of joy. ^ That these words and the
like were used by the faithful few we know, for God
kept a book of remembrance in which they were written,
not only in heaven, but also on earth ; and in the " Pil-
grims' Psalm-book " we may read them to this day,
kno-\ving that they are the veiy words sung by the m-
spu-ed poets of Malachi's time, and familiar on the lips
of as many as feared Jehovah and hated evil.
1 Esth. vi. 1—3.
* Ps. cxxix.
2 Ps. cxxviii. 3 Ps. CS5V.
* Pg. cxxvi.
Those who thus thought on Jehovah should be thought
of by Him, affirms the prophet. In the new day which He
was about to create, the day of His coming, they should
be a peculiar and choice possession to Him ; on that day,
while He punishes the ungodly, who distrust and con-
temn Him, He will spare the faithful even " as a fatJicr
spareth the son who serves him," and has been trae to his
service in dark and perilous times. Then, once more,,
the difference between the i-ighteous and the wicked,
the obedient and the disobedient, shall be made plain,
so plain and obvious that even the ^vieked themselves
shall discern it, and wish that they too had been true to
the ordinances of Heaven.
For that day will be a day of separation and judg-
ment. It will ''burn like a furnace," in which the-
proud and the evil-doers will be as stubble ; thej will be
iitterly destroyed, destroyed "root and branch:" while,
to the righteous, that day will be as a day of which
Righteousness is the Sun ; the pei-fect absolute Right-
eousness will shine down upon them, transforming thenx
into its own likeness, and bringing on its wide-spread
wing-like rays healing for aU their wounds and griefs.
At its summons they will " come forth " from the hid-
ing-places in which they took shelter duiing the hou?
and j>ower of darkness, skij)ping "like stalled calves"
led forth into the pasture — creatures than whom, I
suppose, none are more gay and frolicsome. Yea, the
wicked who tormented them shall lie, and be trodden
down, ''like ashes under the soles of their feet,"' having
first been consumed iu the furnace into which they
were cast.
Like Joel, like Zephaniah, Malaehi foresees " the day
of the Lord." With him. as with them, that day is to
be marked by prodigies of judgment and terror as well
as by Divine wonders of mercy and gi-ace. But, still
like them, even as he predicts the terrors of that day, he
reveals the tender mercy and loving-kindness of the God
in whose Name he speaks. That great " day of the
trumpet and the tnimpet-blast " is not to take even the
sinners at imawarcs. He is sent to announce it to them.
He is the Messenger of the coming King ; and he is
sent to prepare a way for Him, to call even the scoffers
Avho challenge God and the priests who despise Him to
repentance and amendment. The present judgments
wliicli go before that final judgment, and are of one
substance with it, have a most compassionate design ;
they are designed to coiTect, not to destroy. And even
that final judgment itseH is designed only to eliminate
from Israel the incorrigibly wicked, that the offering of
tlie true Israel may be once more pleasant to Jehovah
because " an offering in righteousness :" it is but a night
out of wliich a new happy day is to dawn, a day the Sun.
of which is to be the Righteousness which heals all sor-
rows and redeems fi'om aU pain. In so far as Malaehi
paints the men of his time, his picture is dai'k with the
stains of corruption and the clouds of retributive justice.
But in so far as he handles the Divine purpose andaim^
his picture is beautiful with the tender light of a com-
passion which is ever evolving good from evil, and a
purer happier life from the very eonT.ptions of death.
112
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALYTH, N.B.
STETJCTUEE OP THE VEESE {concluded).
'EFORE we dismiss the subject of Hebrew
versification, there are two points remain-
ing of great, though exceptional, interest
which demand some notice at our hands.
Many readers of the English Bible have learnt the
names of the twenty-two Hebrew letters from their
employment to mark the divisions of the 119th Psalm.
But few, perhaps, are aware that this poem is only
one, the longest and most elaborate, of a considerable
number of works composed on a uniform and peculiar
plan. This is known as the Acrostic or Alphabetical
system. Acrostics, in which the initial letters of the
verses go to compose a name or sentence, are probably
familiar to every one. They form a common amuse-
ment in modern days as they did in ancient Greece and
Rome.' In the Biblical acrostics the arrangement of
the initial letters is invariably alphabetical, and, as will
presently appear, is capable of many varieties. It must
have been of favourite use at one period of Hebrew
literature, since there are extant a considerable number
of examples. There are eight poems composed on this
principle in the Psalter — if we count Psalms ix. and x.
as one. Four out of the five chapters of Lamentations,
and part of the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs,
are alphabetical, and the fact that the concluding chapter
of the Lamentations consists of twenty-two verses, has
led to the probable conjecture that it is but the un-
finished draught of a poem projected on the same i^lan
with the rest of the book.
Many Biblical critics regard this artificial structure
as a mark of inferiority and of the decay of the poetic
spirit. They point to the history of other countries to
prove that when inspiration and genius decline, literary
toys, like anagrams and acrostics, come into fashion.
Such elaborate trifles may demand a great expenditure
of skill and labour, but ai*e inconsistent with the posses-
sion of a genuine poetic faculty.- In like manner the
alphabetical poems of the Bible are referred to " an
age no longer animated with the soul of poetry, but
striving to express its religious thoughts in a poetic
form."
That this is true of some of these compositions may
readily be granted. They are of a didactic or devo-
tional character, and do not attempt to rise to the
1 Epicbarmus, a comic poet, is said to liave beeu tlie inventor
of the Greek acrostic. Cicero mentions Enuius as an acrostic
writer.
2 Ausonius, one of the worst oflfenders, a lato Latin poet,
makes use of the Greek word Technopwgnion to designate this ex-
hibition of the powers of verse-making. This pl.iy at art wasted
ability and skill in various ways. Some of the minor Greek x>L>et8
wrote poems in the form of wings, eggs, &c., a trick copied by the
quaint George Herbert. Perhaps the most absurd were the Lipo-
grammatists or letter-droppers, who contrived to exclude in turn
each letter of the alphabet from a whole book of a poem. Addi-
son has some amusing criticisms on this and other forms of
"false wit," in No. 59 of the Spectator,
height o'f Ip-ic expression. Affording an admirable
aid to the memory, the alphabetical sy.stem is a
vehicle well suited to the conveyance of moral or doc-
trinal teaching. For this reason it was imitated in
early Latin hymns, called from their compositions,
Abecedarian.^ Augustine was the author of a celebrated
work of the kind, intended as a popiUar refutation of
the Douatist heresy. But we need not conclude that
the system is inconsistent Avith the possession of true
poetic gifts. Submission to restraint is not necessarily
the mark of inferiority. Rhyme itself is a fetter, and
our Milton, whea apologising for its omission in the
Paradise Lost, ca,Ued it " the invention of a barbarous
age to set off wretched matter and lame metre." Yet
his own lyrics show with what perfect ease and incom-
parable grace he could wear the chain. Gifted minds
find strength in the discipline of self-imjjosed I'ules,
and poets of the highest order have not unfrequently
preferred meti-es which appear to put a restraint on all
freedom of movement, but which become responsive and
delicate instruments in trained and flexible fingers.
The sonnet, the most intricate and complicated of all
systems of rhyme, has proved a "key to unlock" the
most passionate and sensitive hearts that ever beat, and
what the sonnet was to Milton and Petrarch, the alpha-
betical system actually seems to have been to the tender
spirit of Jei-emiah, breaking with, its unutterable grief
at the desolation of his country, but conti'olled amid his
sorrow by submission to the goodness and wisdom of
Israel's Di^-iue King. Nor need it be concluded
that an artifice which in other languages has been the
amusement of literary triflers, was altogether incon-
sistent with dignity in the sententious style of Hebrew
poetry.
These general considerations will prevent a too hasty
condemnation of the alphabetical poems. But the
merit of each composition must be decided by the im-
pression it produces. Let Ps. xxv., xxxiv., and xxx^•ii.
bo read over in English, and while the reader AviU have
no indication that the authors were trammelled by
any extraordinary restraints, he will hardly fail to find
not only religious but jjoetical inspiration, not only
devotional but imaginative feeling. These, it is true, are
among the earliest of the poems exhibiting this an-ange-
ment. For the most part Psalms composed in this
style are of quite the latest period to which any portion
of the Psalter can be reasonably assigned. But the
Lamentations also fall within what is usually regarded
as a time of i)oetical decline, yet who could be insensible
to their tender and pathetic beauty ? The poems which
■' See Hook's Church Diet., sub voce. Chaucer's "ABC, called
La priere do nostre Dame," was an English coniposition of this
kind, made, it is said, at the request of Blanche, Duchess of Lan-
caster, for her private use.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
113
comprise tliis magnificent elegy may be wanting in the
unity whicli we conAect with the highest ,art, but
their .e£Eect as «xpressious of overwhelming grief is
rather heightened than imjjaired by this want. Eacli
verse is, as it were, a fresh outburst of sorrow, a new
passion of weeping and woe, an elegy in itself; and for
this effect, so desirable if the poems were intended to
be in any sense a "national dirge," the alphabetical
arrano-cment is a Tielp rather than a hindrance. The
following remarks on Ps. cxix., taken from a work
wliich generally reflects the unfavourable opinion of
German critics, give a very truthful representation of
the character of that most elaborate example of the
alphabetical system :-"" If we would fathom the depth
of meaning in the wi*itt«n Law of Israel, if we would
measure the elevation of soul, the hope, the confidence
even before princes and kings, which pious Jews de-
rived from it, we must turn to this Psalm. Here is an
epitome of all true- religion as conceived by the best
spirits of that time. To such a long study and medi-
tation on the Law, the alphabetical an-angement is not
inappropriate, and if the poem be necessarily somewhat
cramped, it is nevertheless pervaded by the glow of
love, and abounds in spiritual life. Thus it will ever
remain a treasured specimen— ^if not of the lyric genius
and inspiration of the Hebrews — at least of the high
feelings and aspirations of the second childhood of the
Eatiout"'' ' . ! >
As the system has not been in any case preserved in
the English translations either of the Authorised Version
or of the Prayer-book, it will be necessary to give some
examples of it- here. It should, however, be borne in
mind that the difficulty of finding the right initial
letter and the consequent sense of restraint, is pro-
bably exaggerated in a translation.
Although only thirteen poems in this style are ex-
tant, there are as many as six variations in the mode of
employing the alphabet.
1. There are two Psalms — cxi. and cxii. — consisting
each of twenty-two lines, each line having its own
initial letter, q,ud, each line consisting in the oi'iginal,
for the most part, of three words. The verses are
couplets till the end, where two verses of three mem-
bers occui;. These f com j)ositions do not rise to a high
order of poetry—
"All my heart shall praise Jehovah,
Before the congregation of the righteous.
Deeds of goodness are the deeds of Jehovah,
Earnestly desired of all them that have pleasure therein :
For His righteousness endureth for ever.
Glorious and honourable is His work."-
2. In the second of the typical forms the verses are
also couplets, but only the first line of each couplet has
its proper letter. The poems are thus composed of
twenty-two verses, each. of. two linos. To this form
belong Ps. xxv.,.xxxiv., oxlv., Prov. xxxi. 10 — 31, and
Lam. iv.'
1 Psalms Chronologically Arranged by Four Friends, § 130.
'•2 These translations are from the worlv' quoted in the last note.
3 Psalms ssv. and ssxiv. want one letter, the sixth of the Hebrew
alphabet. The omission is supplied by the repetition of the 17th
letter at the end. In some others of these poems the arrange-
ment is varied or broken, pi'obably through carelessness,
56 — VOL. III.
" Jehovah is gracious ; O taste and see
How blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ;
Keep the fear of Jehovah, ye that are His saints,
For they that fear Him lack nothing.
Lions do lack and suffer hunger.
But they that seek Jehovah want not anything that is good.'"
(Ps. xxxiv. 8—10.)
3. In Lam. i. and ii. there is a corresponding ar-
rangement of triplets.
"Their heart cried unto Jehovah, ' O wall of the daughter of
SiOD,
Let tears run down like a river day and night :
Give thyself no rest ; let not the apple of thine eye cease.'
TJp ! arise ! cry out in the night : in the beginning of the
watches.
Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord :
Lift up thine hand toward Him for the life of the young
children.
"Vouchsafe, O Jehovah, to consider to whom Thou hast done
this ;
Shall the women eat their fruit and the children to whom
they gave suck ?
Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of
the Lord ?
"Woe for the young and for the old, they lie on the ground in
the streets ;
My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword,
Thou hast slain them in Thine anger. Thou hast killed and
not pitied,
"yea. Thou hast called together as on a solemn day the dwellers
round about
In the day of Thine anger, none escaped or remained ;
Thou that swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy con-
sumed."
4. Ps. XXX vij. is arranged in quatrains or stanzas
of four lines, the first line only of each stanza being
marked by an initial letter. The Psalm contains a
number of quotations from older poems which have
been most artistically woven together by the alpha-
betical arrangement.-*
5. The third chapter of the Lamentations consists
of sixty-six lines, arranged in triplets, each of which
is distinguished by a letter of the alphabet. A verse
or two will make the arrangement clear.
"Dreadful was He to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in
secret places ;
Desolate hath He made me ; He hath led me aside and torn
me in pieces ;
Drawing His bow, He hath set me as a mark for His arrow.
Even into my veins hath He caused to enter the sons of His
quiver ;
Every day was I a derision to all people, and their song all
the day long.
Exceeding bitterness hath filled my soul, yea, He hath made
me drunken with wormwood."
(Lam. iii. 10—15.)
A similar an-angement of the letters to form quatrains
was evidently contemplated by the author of Ps. ix.
and X. which are rightly presented as one poem in the
Septuagint. Each line of the first stanza begins with
Aleph, but in the next stanza only the first line has its
proper letter. The acrostic an-angement is internipted
at the beginning of Ps. x. by the insertion of verses from
another poem, but is resumed again at the end.
6. The twenty-two divisions of the 119th Psalm are
marked in our translations by the Hebrew letters.
Each of these divisions or strophes is composed of eight
couplets, and each couplet begins with its own letter.
Thus there are eight couplets beginning with Aleph,
4 There are other of the Psalms even more composite than this.
The principal are Ix., xis., cviii., xliv., xsviL
114
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
eight with Beth, and so on, through all the twenty-
two letters of the alphabet. The Valeth strophe is
given here as an example.
"Deep in the dust lieth niy soul,
O quicken Thou rue accordiuij to Thy word !
Daily have I ackuowled^eJ Thy ways and Thou heardest rue,
O teach me Thy statutes !
Declare unto me the way of Thy commandments.
And so shall I talk of Thy wondrous works.
Disquieted is luy soul for very heaviness,
O comfort Thou me according to Tliy word.
Do Thou take from me the way of lying,
Aud cause me to make much of Thy law.
Dear uuto me is the way of truth,
Aud Thy judgments have I laid before mc.
Do uot I cleave uuto Thy testimonies ?
O Jehovah confound me not.
Daily will I run in the way of Thy commandmeuts
When Thou hast set my heart at liberty.''
An interest attaches to these poems from the fact
that they furnished Bishop Lowth with a starting-
point for his investigations into the character of the
sacred poetry. Assuming that a contrivance requiring
so much study and labour would not have been adopted
in prose, he concludes that compositions perfectly
alphabetical " consist of verses properly so called, of
verses regulated by some observation of harmony or
cadence of measure, numbers, or rhythm." And
since by the recurrence of the letters the ends of the
verses are infallibly marked, the alphabetical poems
furnish a safe foundation on which to consti-uct a theory
of Hebrew verse. It is at once perceived that rhyme
does not form one of its elements ; the relation of the
line to the grammatical period is ascertained; and the
ear is guided by that harmony between the verse
members which constitutes the charm of Hebrew rhythm,
and which received from Lowth the name of Pai"allelism.
This seems to be the place to call attention to one
point in the versification of the Lamentations of
Jeremiah, which can indeed hardly fail to strike every
reader. The lines throughout the poem run to an un-
usual length, being longer by at least one half than the
ordinary Hebrew line. The length of them is, on an
average, about twelve syllables, seven or eight being the
prevailing number in other verses. In connection with
this peculiarity, Lowth observes, " "We are not to siip-
pose this peculiar form of versification utterly without
design or importance ; on the contrary, I am persuaded
that the prophet adopted this kind of metre as being
more diffuse, more copious, m^re tender in all respects,
better adapted to melancholy subjects. I must add
that in all probability the funeral dirges, which were
sung by the mourners, were commonly composed in
this kind of verse, for whenever in the Prophets, any
funer-al lamentations occur, or any passages formed
upon that plan, the versification is, if I am not mistaken,
of this protracted kind. If this, then, be the case, we
have discovered a true legitimate form of elegy in the
poetiy of the Hebrews.' The same ^vritor in another
place calls attention to a further peculiarity in the
' Lect. xxii. The reader will probably compare with the Bishop's
account f)f Hebrew elegy, the feeling of melancholy which is
conveyed by the metro of the well-known Elegy in a Country
Churchyard, by Gray.
versification of these elegiac poems. In each line, and
generally towards the end, there is a rest or intciwal,
while the cadence is completed by a vciy full aud strong
closing pause to each line. This is apparent in the
translation given by the bishop of Lam. iii. 1 — 6.
" I am the man that hath soeu aiEiction, by the rod of His anger;
He hath led me and made me walk iu darkness, not iu light ;
Even again turned He His hand against me, all the day long.
He hath made old my flesh and my skin. Ho hath broken my
bones ;
He hath built against me, and hath compassed me with gall
aud travail;
He hath made me dwell in dark places, as the dead of old."
There is one group of poems to which allusion has
already been made, in which a metrical experiment of a
new kind was apparently attempted. They are the
exquisite lyrics entitled in the English Bible '• Songs of
Degi'ees," but called by modern scholars, "Pilgrim
Hymns." The name represents a Hebrew title de-
noting, according to Gesenius and Delitzsch, a gradually
step-like progi-essive rhytlim of thought peculiar to
these Psalms. This feature does not, however, appear
in all the poems of the group, aud a more probable
origin has already been suggested for the name. But
there is e^-ident trace of an attempt to develop in a new
direction one powerful element of Hebrew versifica-
tion, or to give it new and increased importance. Any-
one reading the Song of Deborah, or the 93rd Psalm,
will be sensible of the rapid aud impetuous movement
which is given to the verse by the repetition of the verb
or the most important word from a previous line. The
following verse from Isaiah is an example of the sense
of thorough completion which can be obtained by the
same rhythm :
" Trust ye in Jehovah for ever ;
For iu Jehovah is a ncvcr-failiug protection ;
For He hath humbled those that dwell on high :
The lofty city Ho hath hroxight her donn ;
He ha\h hrow^iht her dovni to the ground.
He hath levelled her to the dust."
(Isa. xxvi. 4, 5, cf. xvii. 12, sq.)
The effect of this in a short lyric piece is to carry the
verse onwards by a rapid but gi-adual movement to a
climax, and if the steps of the progressions are suffi-
ciently marked, this arrangement ^vill of itself constitute
a kind of rhythm, though the parallelism be in other
respects imperfect and indistinct. Psalm cxxi. has t\i&
artifice most clearly marked.
" I lift up mine eyes to the hills
From whence cometh mij help.
Mi/ help cometh from the Lord,
The Creator of heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved ;
Thy heepcr ulnmbcrs uot.
Behold neither .slumbers nor sleeps
The keeper of Israel ;
Jehovah is thy keeper,
Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand,
So that the sun shall not burn thee by day
Nor the moon by night,
Jehovah keeps thee from all ill —
Keeps thy soul.
Jehovah keeps thine outgoing and incoming
From henceforth even for ever." -
The labour and time spent by scholars on^a subject
Davidson, Inlroducfion to tlie Old Testiment Psalms.
MALACHI.
115
which, after aU investigation, admits so little certainty,
and remains rather a matter of opinion and taste than
of science, might seem thrown away were it not for the
importance of a close attention to the versification of
Biblical poetry both to the translator and interpreter.
In rendering one language into another, something of
the o-race and charm of the original must always be sacri-
ficed. Tills loss, moreover, is greatest in poetry, where
the expressive power of language comes most forcibly
into j)lay. But it has often been remarked that Hebrew
poetry invites rather than repels translation. The most
characteristic features of other poetry are just those
which it is most difficult to reproduce. The subtle
sweetness of a Greek or Latin line will sometimes elude
the art of the most skilful translator. "We must still
go to the fountain head to taste all the freslmess of the
heathen Muses' spring. But just that which is essen-
tial to the poetry of greatest value to the vforld is most
easily preserved. It was ordained that the Living
Water should flow in a thousand new channels to the
thirsty nations as pure and fresh as when its stream
first "made glad the City ef God." Though written
in the tongue of an insignificant tribe, the Bible is at
home in all lands. So readily does it adapt itself to
new circumstances, that we seem to hear the Spirit
speaking to us, " every man in the tongue wherein we
were born."
This feature is strikingly brought out by Bishop
Lowth, who shoAvs, by contrasting a free and loose
translation of a few passages, with one strictly literal,
how the language of inspiration is adapted, as if to
secure it, under every change of form, from loss of
beauty or force. The reader who has carefuUy studied
the quotations given in the preceding papers, wiU be
sensible how much is gained in appreciation of the
lyrical beauty of Biblical poetry by preserving the
divisions into strophes and fines. "The eye is every-
where the minister of the mind : it is so in more than a
usual degree in the poems of a language Avhich deals
so largely as the Hebrew in curious parallelisms and
nicely wrought balance of structure." i
But this strict attention to the form and stylo of
the Hebrew writings is of even greater importance to
the interpreter of then- meaning. Careful attention
to the parallefism has, in many instances, removed
difficulties, and cleared up obscurities, wliich have
reduced givammariaus to despair. As Herder says, it
comes like the voice of a friend to one who has lost
himself in a desert. One pregnant instance of this,
adduced in Lowth's Dissertation, will sufiico. It is
from Isa. xxviii. 14 — 18.
"Wherefore hear ye the word of the Lord, ye scoffers —
Ye who to this people in Jerusalem utter sententious speeches;
"Who say, We have entered into a covenant with death,
And with the grave we have made a treaty.
But your covenant with death shall be broken,
And your treaty with the grave shall not stand."
Here the meaning of the word Mosliele in the second
line of the first couplet is determined by its parallelism
to " scoffer" in the first. The woi-d translated "treaty"
cannot, since it must balance "covenant,*' possibly mean
anything else — and yet it does not in any other place
in the Scriptures bear this or a similar sense. The
translation " shall be broken," in the last line but one,
proceeds from an emendation of the text suggested by
the corresponding term " shall not stand " at the close.
In Jebb's Sacred Literature many instances are
given of the successful application of the same test of
parallelism to the exegesis of the New Testament.
1 Psalms Chroiwlogicalhj Arranged — Introductioa.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
MALACHI (concluded).
BY THE EEV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
FOURTH PART.
THE FINAL ADMONITION.
CHAP. IV. 4 — 6.
'HE closing verses of Malachi are also the
closing verses of the Old Testament. As
his voice, so also the Yoice of Lispnation,
dies away, and will be heard no more
tor four hundred years. It was but meet that a reve-
lation so noble as that contained in the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures should rise to a high and stately close.
And what close could be more lofty than the passage
before us ? It is a true Mount of Yision on which the
prophet stands ; and as he looks across the valley at iiis
feet, peering into the years to be, there rises before him
the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses, Elijah, and Christ
conferring together on its summit concerning the things
which pertain to the kingdom of God : " Remember the
law of Moses;" "Behold, I send Elijah;" "Jehovah
cometh."
In the previous seciion of his prophecy, Malachi had
predicted the coming of the Lord, of Adonai, the present
and active Ruler of men (chap. iii. 1). The day of His
coming would be a day of blended mercy and judgment,
l)ui-ning like a furnace for the wicked, shining like a
quickening healing sun on the righteous. VvTio could
endure th« day of His coming, or stand when He ap-
peared ? Only those who remembered and kept the law
of God, who were living in the obedience of faith.
Therefore the Prophet exhorts the men of his time, as
they would escape the curse, to bear the law in mind,
and, as they would secure the blessing, to walk in the
statutes and judgments given to Moses in charge for
all Israel on Horeb. The very form of his exhortation
IIG
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
lends new force, for he so frames it as to bring out
the Diraio origin and authority of tlic Law. Moses in-
dited spake the words of this Law ou Mount Horeb ;
but Moses, says Jehovah, was " My servant,'' or ministfr,
and only delivered the statiitcs and judgments which
" I gave him in charge" and gave him in charge "for
all Israel'' — not only for the men who heard his voice,
but for all their succeeding generations. Thus, by a
single stroke, the prophet rcuiinds the men of liis own
time that the Divine law was binding on them no less
than on tlieir fathers, and that it loas Di\'ine : he elimi-
nates from it all that was merely humau and temporary;
Moses was only the channel, God was tlio source from
which the Law came ; Moses uttered, but God gave, the
Law, reveaUug in it His eternal will and goodwill.
But Malachi has little hope that the i^eople will pre-
pare themsehes for the coming of the Lord by obe-
dience to His will. He knows that "even from the days
of their fathers they have dejiai-ted from the statutes " of
Jehovah, " and have not kept them,'' ' and he fears that
they will still travel on that ancient track. Neverthe-
less the imrpose of God shall not be made of none efEect.
If they vnW not prepare themselves by obedience for the
advent of the Lord, the Lord Himself will prepare them.
Before He comes He will send a messenger before His
face " to prepare the way before Him," even that stem
preacher of repentance, ''Elijah the prophet."' In
predicting the coming of tliis " messengei*," or herald,
who is to precede the Kmg, Malachi bases himseK on
that picturesque prophecy of Isaiah's which has given
shape to so many passages in the Scriptures of both the
Old and New Testaments (Isa. xl. 3 — 8). After Isaiah
had foretold the cai^tivity of Israel iu Babylon, he was
charged to speak comfortably to Judah and Jerusalem,
to assure them that their iniquity was pardoned, their
sin put av,'ay, the term of their bondage reached. As
he mused on his new happy commission, wondering how
the captivity of Zion was to bo turned and the exiles
were to be brouglit back iu safety across the desert
and the mountain ranges which lay between Baby-
lon and Jerusalem, the silence of his musing spirit
was broken by a loud authoritative voice. The voice
was that of the herald of the Great King, of the God
of heaven. In curt imperative tones the herald de-
livered his message : " Prepare ye a way for Jehovah
in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a high-
way for our God ; let every valley be raised and every
mountain be levelled ; let the rough places be made
smooth, auil the rock ledges a plain : and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall sec
it." This was the answer to the question in the
prophet's mind. The way of the Return was difficult
a;id hazardous, through the unfriendly desert, over the
inhospitable ranges. But the Divine King would send
a messenger before His face, to order a broad, smooth,
level road to be made ; and then, when the way was
preiiared, He would come, as in a royal procession, re-
vealing His glory and bringing His people with Him.
1 Chap. iii. 7.
Malachi sees that there will be a new f ulfihnent oi that
prophecy." Tlie Hebrews, even from the time of their
fathers, have departed from God. They have been re-
duced to captivity in "the far country" of disobedience.
Jehovah has commissioned him to say to them, " Return
to me, and I wUl return to you ■? but the way of return
to obedience, the way of repentance and amendment, is
hard to erring feet; many a Valley of Humiliation must
be crossed, many a Hill Difficulty must be surmounted.
God will send a messenger " to prepare the way before
Him," to make it safe if not smootli, passable if not
easy ; and, after the messenger. He Himself will come,
to show forth His glor}-, the glory of His redeeming love,
and to lead His people iu the way they sliould go.
And this messenger is to be Elijah tlie prophet. Why
Elijah ? Because Elijah was " the Prophet," the great
pro^jhet, so great that Elisha was made great by re-
ceiving but "a double of his spirit,"'' so great that what
subsequent i^rophets did is more than once attributed
to Elijah long after he had ascended iiito heaven.* Be-
cause he was "the restorer of tlie law." Because, living
in a most corrupt age, he remained faithful to Jehovah,
and compelled the people to return to the worship of
the only true God. Because, on his final rejection by
Israel, the curse of Heaven fell on the land, and the
Chosen Nation was put to the ban. All these facts were
familiar to the Jews of Malachi's time ; and if anything
would rouse them from their vain dream of self-right-
eousness, surely it would be to hear that, iu the sight
of Heaven, they were as corrupt and degraded as the
base and idolati'ous generation of Elijah, and coidd only
be rendered meet to beliold the Lord, for whose coming
they sighed, by a ministry as sharp aud incisive as that
of the greatest of the prophets.
The special mission of this prophetic messenger is
defined iu the words —
"Aud He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons,
Aud the hearts of the sous to the fathers " —
very simple aud liopeful words, especially when we take
them together witli the New Testament gloss on them.
The " fathers " are the pious forefathers such as Abra-
ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Levi, David. Through tho
sins of their descendants, the hearts of these j)ious
fathers and of tlieir ungodly children arc estranged
from each other. The bond of union, viz., a common
love to God, is wanting. The fathers are ashamed of
their children ; the children are ashamed of their fathers.
The great gulf between them is to be bridged by Elijah
tho j)roi)het, by the Messenger who is to come before
the Lord. He will restore the children to God ; aud iu
God, fathers aud children will once more meet and be
at one. The New Testament, in citing, explains the
passage." Speaking of the Messenger who came before
" Observe how St. Mark (chap. i. 2, 3) quotes Mai. iii. 1, and
Isa. xl. 3, as all from Isaiah. Obviously, he regarded Malachi's
words as only au explanatory developmcut of what had been
" written by Isaiah the prophet." •* Chap. iii. 7.
* 2 Kings ii. 9; i.e., the portion of the first-born, twice as much
as that of other sons (Deut. xxi. 17), but still less than half, it
misrht be, of tlio whole inheritance.
i See 2 Chrou. xxi. 12. Comi>. 1 Kings xix. 15, IG with 2 Kings
viii. 13, and is. i—6. '' Luke i. 16, 17.
1
MALACHI.
117
the Lord, it quotes the first phrase, " he shall turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children," in the very words
of Malachi ; but instead of continuing, " And the hearts
of the children to their fathers," it substitutes, "And
the disobedient to the wisdom of the jtist ;" thus affirm-
ing that it was simply the disobedience of the children
which separated them from theii* wise and just fathers,
and that, when once this disobedient heart was changed,
all would be changed, and the fathers and the chUdren
become one.
The Messenger is to come " in the spirit and power
of Elijah," with his stem authoritative spirit, with his
keen incisive power of rebuke : but nevertheless, his
errand is a most gracious one ; for not only does he
come to bind all the generations of Israel into one by
their common love for God, he also comes that Jehovah
may not come " to smite the land ivith the ban ; " that
Jehovah may come to redeem and bless. New this
term " the ban " (cherem) is one of the most terrible in
Scripture. Its ruling idea is that of " forcible dedica-
tion to Jehovah " — as of victims devoted to His seiwice.
It implies that those who obstinately refiase to give
themselves to Him, and so fulfil the purpose of their
creation, will be so sacrificed and destroyed as that,
despite themselves, they shall illustrate the purity and
goodness of His wUl. Thus the ban of God was laid
on the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan; i.e., God
devoted them to destruction ; it became an act of wor-
ship to destroy them. Thus, too, it was ordained that
every Israefitish city which lapsed into idolatry should
be laid under the ban : " thou shalt ban the city and
its spoil entirely to the Lord thy God," destroying its
inhabitants, and its very cattle, with the edge of the
sword, and burning the houses and spoil with fire;
" and it shall remain a heap for ever ; it shall no more
be built again." ^ Such as these blackened spots had
been in the land should the whole land become, if
Jehovah was compelled to utter His ban on it ; such as
the Canaanites were, a doomed race, a race devoted to
perdition, shoixld the Israelites themselves become if
they proved incorrigible, and the Lord, when He came,
found no faith, or good faith, in them.
The Old Testament closes witli a cherem ; and the
omen has been fulfilled. In vain came the Law by
Moses : the Messenger was sent in vain : in vain did
the Lord Himself come to His Temple. Israel would
not hearken, repent, obey. And she was proscribed.
The doom was pronounced, the interdict felt. Her
land was smitten with desolation ; and, to this day, all
her pleasant places lie waste. Her children were driven
forth to wander, smitten and afilicted, through the earth,
aliens in every land ; and, to this day, they stand before
us a monument of the wrath of God against sin. The
Jews are to Christendom what the Cities of the Plain
were to the Jews. The curses with which they drove
their Lord and Christ to the Cross have in very deed
come home to roost; and they who would not accept
the salvation of God have long been "scattered and
1 Numb. xiii. 12-18.
peeled" by His judgments. The fair ofive and stately
palm of Israel have been stabbed, and rent, and scathed
as by stroke after stroke of angi-y lightnings ; all the
bolts of Heaven having fallen on them, hm-ling the
blackened splinters to the very ends of the world, to
bear witness in all lands that there is a God who
judgeth in the earth.
We have reached the end of our Scripture, but not
of our task. Two points closely related to each other
must still bo briefly discussed. The fii-st. What of
Messianic prediction do we gain from Malachi ? and
the second. How, and in what sense, was Malachi's
prediction of "the Messenger" fidfilled in John the
Baptist ?
1. In common with the prophets who were before
him, Malachi saw that the whole stream of human his-
tory tended toward, and demanded, a day of the Lord.
Taught by one and the selfsame Spirit with them, he
saw that this day of the Lord would come ; and that,
as they had foretold, it would be a day of blended
judgment and mercy. Like them, too, and perhaps with
even a more clear and steadfast conviction, he is sure
that the very judg-ments of God hide a purpose of
mercy. He denounces a judgment on the false and
corrapt priests ; but this judgment is to come on them
only that God's covenant of life and peace with Levi
may remain, and that the law of truth may be restored
to their lips. He denounces a judgment on Edom ; but
this judgment is to come that the name of Jehovah may
be great beyond the border of Israel. He denounces a
judgment on the people and land of Judah ; but the
judgment is to come that from the rising to the setting
of the sun His Name may be great among the nations,
and that in every place incense may be burned to Him,
and a pure sacrifice be offered. Nay, more; he lays
the axe to the roots of the trees in order that it may not
be used ; he threatens judgment that fear may inspire
penitence, and penitence may avert judgment. Let the
priests repent, and present an offering to Jehovah in
righteousness, and once more their offerings shall be
pleasant to Him as in the days of old.^ Let the people
repent, and bring the tithe into the storehouse, and
Jehovah will open the sluices of heaven and pour them
out a blessing so ample and copious that they shall very
hardly have room to bestow it.^ Thus Malachi gives
repeated and emphatic expression to the truth, which
neither the theologian nor the expositor can grasp too
firmly or insist on too earnestly, that the anger of God
is a redeeming anger, as His love is a redeeming love.
Nor does he for a moment imagine that, should his
ministry fail and his words fall vain and useless to
the ground, God has no other means and ministries of
mercy at His command, or that He will fail to use them.
Beyond a doubt Malachi held himself to be a "messen-
ger of the Lord," as his very name indicated, and felt
that he was sent "to prepare the way of the Lord."
Beyond a doubt he saw that a day of the Lord was
2 Mai. iii. 3, 4.
'•> Mai. iii. 10.
118
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
close at hand ; for in hid doscriptiou of that day there
arc local allusions and notes of time which show that ho
was thinking of a national and immediate judgment —
a judgment in which the sons of Levi were to bo puri-
iiod, and the sorcerers and adulterers, the perjurers
and tyrants, of Judah were to be punished ; a judgment
that was to usher in a day of mercy, in which copious
rains were to flow tlirough the sluice-gates of heaven,
and the locust w.-;.-; to be destroyed, and the ground was
to yield its fruit.' But, beyond this day, he saw a day
still greater, move terrible and yet of a diviner mercy ;
a Messenger who would coine in the spirit and power of
Elijah; an advent of the Lord (Adonai) which should
be as the rising of the Sun of Righteousness.^ The lines
of prediction which he laid down were too large to be
filled by the events of his own age. Raised hj the
Etcmal Spirit above the limitations of time, he looked
onward, and saw in the distant future a greater Mes-
scTiger than himself, and, behind him, the greatest of
all, the Messenger of the New Covenant, the Mediator
of the better law; and a judgment more gi'eat and
terrible than any he was to witness, a blessing, not
for a single race, but for the world at large.
I'low he reached the con\-ietion that, come when He
would, the Lord must be preceded by a messenger, and
that this messenger must be Elijah the jirophet, we can
partly see. Israel was too corrupt to endure, unpre-
pared, that coming of the Lord of which all the prophets
had spoken. If He were to come to them as they were,
they must be destroyed by the brightness of His coming.
Before His advent. His way must be prepared ; there
must be a radical change, a sweeping reformation. The
Hebrews, degraded by sin, must be raised ; lifted up by
vanity and seK-righteousness, they must be brought low.
And had not the prophet Isaiah spoken of a herald, a
messenger, who should go before the Lord, to j)repare
His way, that God might come, and all flesh behold His
glory ? Whoever that messenger might be, he must be
a man of a strong and ardent spirit, a man such as
Elijah was ; or how could he i-eform a people so corrupt
and raise them to a moral condition in which they might
see Gad and yet not die ? So far the prophet might well
got, as lie pondered in his heart the terrible corruptions
of Ms time, and the gracious words of promise and
warning spoken by the earlier prophets. By tliis patli
the Divine Siiirit may have led him to his conclusion,
and then have assured him that it was true — that the
day of the Lord, so long predicted, would soon come,
but that Elijah must needs first come in order to pre-
pare men for tlie advent.
So that t!io one gain Messianic prediction received
from Malachi was this : he confirms the promise of the
advent of the Lord ; confirms, too, the prediction that a
messenger must go before His face ; but, to all that the
elder prophets had said, he adds that this messenger
must and will be Elijah the prophet.
2. Here, then, we reach our second question : How,
and in what sense, was Malachi's prediction of the
1 ilal. iii. 3,r., 10, 11.
- JIal. iii. 1, 2, and iv. 1— C.
Messenger f ulfillod in John the Baptist ? To this ques-
tion tlie New Testament furnishes a singularly full and
abundant reply. It really seems as though, not only the
mind of the Baptist, but also the minds of all who speak
of him, Avere steeped in the prophecy of Makchi and
satm-ated with it. There is hardly a word said of or])y
him which does not take new meaning and force so soon
as we read it in the light of Malachi's lamp. It is not
necessary, now and here, to go into eveiy minute detail ;
it Avill )je enough if we glance at the leading coire-
spondeuces between the Scripture of Ivlalachi and the
Scriptures which relate to John the Baptist.
There is no doubt that the Jews gathered from Ma-
lachi that the ancient prophet, EUjali the Tishbite, would
come before the Messiah. They have always affirmed J
— in so far as thoy still exj)ect the Messiah, they stiU I
afiirm — that "' the Messiah will be born a man, and that
Elijah 'svill anoint Him when He comes. "' They have
always prayed, thoy still pray, that Elijali may come and
announce the advent of Messiah. Curiously enough,
although Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all predict that,
when the kingdom of God arrives. He will set up one
Shepherd over them, even His sci-vant David,^ the Jews
have never expected that David would return to earth
and time, to be their Christ ; whereas, on the other
hand, though only Malachi speaks of the Tishbite as the
forermmor of the Christ, they have always held that
Elijah would return and once more appear among men.
Of course the writers of the New Testament no more
speak of a litei-al Elijah than of a literal David. To
them, Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and John the
Baptist was Elijah. In what sense John was Elijah
is explained in tlie familiar words of the angel who
announced his birth to the wistful wondering Zacharias ;
" He shall be great in the sight of the Lord ; . . . and
many of the 'children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit
and liotoer of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers
unto the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the just ; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."*
Wherever the Spirit of Christ is, there Christ is; and
iu like manner, wherever the spirit of Elijah is, there
Elijah is. If, because he received the half of his spirit,
Elisha might act and speak in the name of liis master,
much more may we take John, in whom his whole
spu-it and power dwelt, as the predicted Elijah, the
messenger and herald of the Messiali How closely
St. Luke follows Malachi in the description of the
Baptist just quoted is obvious at a glance. Malachi says
the Messenger shall p>repare the way before the Lord;
Luke, that the Baptist shall go before Him to viake ready
aprejjarcd -peojAc : Malachi says tluit "he shall turn the
heart of tlie fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons
to the fathers ,-" Luke says that " he shall turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the jur.t " — the latter phrase being partly a
citation and partly an explanation of the former ; while,
both Malachi and Luke identify him with Elijah.
3 Cf. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 21 ; and xxxrii. 21, 25. ■» Luke i. 15-17.
MALACHI.
119
In St. Matthew's Gospel (oiaap. iii.) we have our f idlest
account of the Baptist's appearance and ministry. We
are there told that his first word, his master-word,
was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ;"
that is, " Take a new view ; Get a new mind ; Think ;
Think back on your habits and ways, and mend them ;
for the King, long promised to your fathers, is about to
appear." This was the veiy mission which Malachi
ascribed to the messenger of the Lord ; he was to turn
back the thoughts and hearts of the disobedient children
to the ways and habits of their godly fathers, and thus
to induce amendment of life.' John's peculiar mode of
life, as described iu this same chapter, tends to the same
conclusion. '" This John, then, had his raiment of
camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and
his food was locusts and wild honey." ^ Elijah, like
John, haunted the wilderness ; like him, he was " a
hairy man " — i.e., he " put a garment of hair upon his
tiesh," and was "girt with a g-ii-dle of leather about his
loins ;" like him, too, " he fasted," living austerely,
abstemiously.^ And, doubtless, John assumed these
outward marks of resemblance to the great Tishbite,
in order to call attention to the inward resemblance
between them, as a sign that he had come in the spuit
and power of Elijah. The same reason for a sad and
austere life existed in both cases. The "jireacherof
repentance " should himseK be a penitent. Elijah and
John, each in his turn, came forth as a personification
of repentance, shoAving the people, in his ovra. conduct,
what their conduct shcmld be. To fast and to wear
a garment of haii', or sackcloth, were the ordinary signs
of repentant grief in the Old Testament times. And
therefore Elijah fasted : and what was John's eating
but a continuous fast — the dry insipid locusts, with a
<lasli of wild honey to moisten them? Hence our
Saviour says of him, " John the Baptist came neither
eating nor drinking." Both these austere voices from
£he wilderness called men to repent, both sought to
" turn the hearts of men back again " to God.
When John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming
to his baptism, he cried, " AVho hath warned you to flee
from the wrath which is at hand ? " •• as one who remem-
bered Malachi's prophecy that the day of the Lord was
a great and terrible day, and that, if his voice were not
hQard, "the ban" might come on the land.-' This was
the wrath which he saw impendiug. The day of the
Xing has come ; and therefore they are not only to flee
from wrath, but to bring forth "fntits worthy of re-
pentance;" for " even now already the axe is laid to the
■roots of the trees, and every tree that bringcth not forth
good fruit win be bumed down and cast into the fire :"
for did not Malachi predict a day that would " burn lil-e
a furnace," and leave neither " root nor branch " to proud
evildoers such as tlie Pharisees ? ^
"I indeed baptize you with water," he continues;
" but Be that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose
1 Mai. iv. 6. 2 -yiatt. iii. 4.
3 2 Kings i. S. Conip. 1 Kin^s xri. 27. ■• Ma.tt. iii. 7—10.
* Mai. iv. 5, C. 6 Mai. iv. 1, 2.
sandals I am not worthy to bear;"'' plainly alluding
to Malachi's prediction of a messenger who should go
before the Great King.« So, in the very next verse,''
when Jolm forewarns the Pharisees that the Coming
One will '• have His winnowing fun in His hand," that
"He will purge His fiooi- from end to end," and that
"He will gather the loheat into His garner, but He will
bum up the chaff with unquenchable fire," he is evi-
dent!;/ only expanding Malachi's image of the stubble
flung into the furnace :
"Behold, the day cometh hurning like a furnace,
And all the proud and all the evildoers shall bo shdthle.
And the day that cometh will bum f?icm up."
So, again, we get new light on the doubt of John if
we remember how strongly he folt himself to be the
Messenger foretold by Malachi, and how deeply his
mind was imbued with the teaching of that prophet.
Wlien Herod had cast him into prison, and slow months
had passed, and still he heard nothing of Jesus,
John's heart failed him, and he sent to ask, " Art Thou
that Coming One, or are we to look for another ? " ^°
Now Malachi had named Ad®nai the Coming One, cry-
ing, " Behold, He cometh ! " and asking, " Who may
abide His coming ?"" Elijah was to come too. Jolin
felt that he had come. And had not Malachi implied
that the coming of the Messenger sliould be immediately
followed by that of the King ? that the Lord should
'■ suddenhj come to His Temple ? " Why, then, this
heai-t-breaking delay? Had he been mistaken all the
while ? Was he, the Baptist, not the true Messenger,
and Jesus not tlie true King ? We cannot wonder that
hopes fed. on Malachi's bright words were obscured
by dark shades of doubt as months passed and the
Messenger still lay in prison, and the King gave no
sign of assuming His throne.
It was on this occasion, so soon as He had answered
John's doubt, that our Lord Himself, speaking of the
greatness of the Baptist, quoted Malachi, saying r " For
this is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my mes-
senger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before
thee ;" and, again, " If yo will receive it, this is Elijah
who was to come."'-
And, Last of aU, on that very Moimt of TransSgura-
tionto which the closing words of Malaclii point, '^ after
Moses and Elijah had vanished from their eyes, the
three favoured apostles, perplexed to find that Elijah
has apx>eared but for a moment, ask, " Wliy tlien say
the Scribes that Elijah must first come ? " '* Tliey were
in a maze. They liad thought that John tho Baptist
was the predicted Messiah. But here liad been Elijah
in propria persona. And, now, he too has gone. Vvliat
are they to think? If Elijah himself were to come,
why did he not stay with them ? And iE John were
the Elijah, why had ho been put to death ? Must not
the Messenger of the King rise to honour when the
King comes? Jesus replies to their question : "The
Scribes say truly that Elijah must first come, and restore
" Matt. iii. 11. 8 Mai. iii. 1. " Matt. iii. 12.
1" Matt. si. 3. 11 Mai. iii. 1. '' Matt. si. 10, 14.
!•' See the Exposition of Mai. iv. 4—6. » Matt. xvii. 10—13.
120
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
all things. He has couio. John was the true Mes-
senger. And the very facts that make you doubt —
his imprisonment and death — jn-ove John to bo he that
was to come. For how should he bo an Elijah, and
yet make no enemies by his austere unsparing fidelity ?
If Elijah had Ahab and Jezebel to seek his life, shall
not John have Herod and Herodias ? If, like Elijah,
he stringently demands repentance, wUl a sinful world
listen to the demand unprovoked? I say unto you,
Elijah has come already, and they Tcnew him not, but
did unto him lohatsoever they listed."
These are by no means all the passages in the New
Testament which take new force or clearness when read
in the light of Malaehi's prophecy. But these will suffice
to show that in John the Baptist wo have at least one,
and that a singularly exact, fulfilment of Malaehi's pre-
diction of the Messenger. At least o'lic ; for there may
have been many others, and there may be still others
yet to come. Whenever there is a true; repentance, a
true revival, a true reformation of; religion, there the
spirit and power of Elijah are present, active, effectual.
And every such appearance of the Messenger is, and
will be, followed by a new advent of the King of men,
a new day of mercy and benediction, Just as Isaiah
heard the herald cry, " Prepare a way," and then saw
"the glory of God revealed;" ju^t as Malachi saw
Adonai following at the heels of the Messenger sent
before His face ; just as the disciples were led by the
Baptist to the Christ : so, in all ages, the effectual
preachuig of repentance is followed Ijy. a new inanifesta-
tion of Divine grace, and once more the Lord ^omes to
His Temple that aU flesli may see His glory.
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
SACRED PLACES (continued). i-t .,, ,.,x:
BT THE REV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICIiiM IN TfiE TJNIVEKSITT OF
ABERDEEN.
AVING considered the Tabernacle as a
whole, we have now to turn our attention
to the articles with which its different
parts were furnished. In doing so, we
shall begin with those of the outer court, passing thence
inward to the holy place, and finally to the Holy of
Holies. This arrangement is evidently suggested by
the circumstances of the case, and is one by which we
shall be better enabled to enter into the gi'adually in-
creasing elevation of thought, which meets us as we
penetrate more deeply into tlie sanctuary, than if we
pursued an opposite direction. In the outer court two
articles of furniture claim our notice, the brazen altar,
and the laver with its foot.
I. The Brazen Altar. Instnictions for the erection
of an altar were given immediately after the promulga-
tion of the Ten Commandments at Sinai ; and, although
it is not said that they apply to the brazen altar, the
description of which was properly to follow that of the
Tabernacle in which it stood, there can be no doubt
that the reference is to it, and to it alone. It was one
of the essential ideas of the monotheistic faith of
Israel that, in contradistinction to the many gods and
many altars of the heathen, it should recognise only
one altar of sacrifice to the one living and true God
(Dent. xii. 13, 14j ; and although prophets like Samuel,
in times when the national covenant had been broken,
and the national law set aside, felt themselves entitled
to sacrifice at other places than the centre of national
unity, this was simply owing to the fact that cxtra-
ordinaiy circumstances are always felt to justify ex-
traordinary acts. One altar was the Divine nile ; and
what is said, tlierefore, of the altar in any one passage
of the Law, must be combined with what is said of it in
other passages, in order that our idea of it may be com-
plete. Besides this, it may not be uliworthy of notice
that the essential conception of the altar is more likely
to be found in a description unconnected thati in one
connected with the Tabernacle. In the latter case,
other things than the expression of the pure idea had to-
be pro^^ded for, such, for example, as the means of trans-
port from place to place, so that it might accompanv
the people in thek wanderings; and it may thus be
sometimes difficult to separate between what was essen-
tial and what was merely incidental to the structure.
There is less danger of such confusion when the altar
is spoken of in itself alone, and for this reason the
earlier description in Exodus is even more valuable
than the later.
In the former, then, it is said, " An altar of earth
thou shalt make imto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep,
and thine oxen ; in all places where I i-ecord my name
I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if
thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not
build it of hewn stone ; for if thou lift up thy tool
upon it thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up
by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not
discovered thereon" (Exod. xx. 24 — 26). Tlie later
description, again, in close connection with that of the
Tabernacle, is much more elaborate, " And thou shalt
make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long and
five cubits broad ; the altar shall be foursquare ; and
the height tliereof shall be three cubits. And thou
shalt make the horns of it upon the fom* corners there-
of; his horns shall be of the same; and thou shalt
overlay it with brass. . . And thou shalt make for it
a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt
thou make four brazen rings in the four comers thereof.
. . . And thou shalt put it under the compass of the
SACRED PLACES.
121
altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst
of the altar. . . HoUow with boards shalt thou make
it, as it was shewed thee in the mount so shalt thou
make it " (Exod. xxvii. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8). Fi-om this descrip-
tion it would app3ar that what met the eye on entering
the court of the Tabernacle was a square box of acacia
or sliittim wood, standing three cubits, or four feet and
a half, from the ground, and five cubits, or seven feet
and a half, in the sides of the square. The " hollow,"
or interior of the box, was filled with earth mingled no
doubt with the rough and unhewn, but probably small,
stones of the desert, and it was without a lid, the sur-
face of the earth vritliin being the top of the altar, on
which fire was kindled and the offerings were laid.
Half way up the sides, and sustained by a grating of
brass going down perpendicularly to the ground, was a
Such was the brazen altar. We have now to speak
of the ideas which both as a whole, and in the pecu-
Harities of its construction, it was intended to express.
On the mere circumstance of its elevation above the
surface of the earth it is hardly necessary to dwell.
Both in heathenism and in Judaism, altars were always
higher than the ground, and that not simply for the
sake of convenience, but becaiise giving them a certain
degree of elevation was natui-ally suggested by their
purpose. The same thing appears in that tendency to
erect them on " high places " which characterised the
original inhabitants of Canaan, and which made these
places such objects of warning to the Israelites (1
Kings xiii. 32; 2 Kings xviii. 4, &c.). By an altar
man would draw near to God, and as it is impossible,
in an early state of religious feeling, to think of God
THE BEAZEN ALTAK.
projecting ledge, called in the last quoted passage " the
compass of the altar beneath." This ledge appears to
have l>een intended for the priests, that they might
minister at the altar more easily than they could have
done had they stood on the level of the gi-ound, and it
is genei-aUy supposed to have been nan-ow, perhaps no
more than a half cubit, or at most a cubit, in breadth.
The four horns Avere upright projections rising from
tlie four corners, and no doubt, from the name, shaped
with a slight curve to make them resemble the horns of
an animal. Of the rings and staves it is imnecessary to
speak. AU the parts of the altar, except the top and
the network, itself brazen, were overlaid with brass.
Finally, to facilitate the ascent of the priests to the
encompassing ledge, and at the same time to obviate
the necessity of making a forbidden step up to it, there
ran fi*om it at one side, most freqxiently believed to
have been the south, a sloping bank of earth reaching
to the level of the soil. The following diagi-am Avill
convey what is probably a correct idea of its appear-
ance, obsei-ving only that the interior of the box ha-s to
be filled with earth.
otherwise than as dwelling in the heavens, the altar is
raised in order that He may be approached more nearly.
The actual height of the altar is, in tlie present case
more worthy of our regard. It was three cubits high,
and three was the number of the God of Israel con-
sidered in the essential nature of His being.
In connection with the height of the altar, the horns
at the four corners demand a moment's notice. It is
often supposed that the pm-pose of these projecting-
points was only to convey an additional idea of height,
without interfering with the use of the altar as a
convenient place of sacrifice. But had this been the
intention, we shoidd have expected the height of the
horns to be mentioned, while it is at the same time
ob-\-ious that, if the priests stood on the siu*rounding
ledge already spoken of, they had before them a sm-face
only a cubit and a half higher than the level of their
feet, and that, without interrupting their operations,
that height might have been considerably increased.
Tlie great objections, however, to this view of the object
of the horns are, partly, that thus the symbolism of the
altar is marred, the height no longer corresponding
122
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to tlio number of God, and, partly, that the rc-
ferencps made to them in Scripture lead to a ditfcront
conclusion. There the horn is always the symbol of
power and strength, of majesty and gloiy. It is tlius
that we read in the prophecies of Daniel tliat the two
horns of the ram seen by the prophet in his vision are
the kings of Media and Persia, while tlie gre.at horn
that is between the eyes of the rough goat is the first
king of Grecia (Dan. yiii. 20, 21) ; and thus that Job de-
clares in his affliction that he has sewed sackcloth upon
his skin, that he has " defiled his honi in the dust; " that
he has lost all his former dignity and honour, and
has been laid prostrate under the attacks of his enemies
(Job xvi. 15). The references to the horn i:i the Psalms
are numerous, and to the same effect ; " All the horns
of the wicked wiU I cut off, but the horns of the
righteous shall be exalted ; " " Thou art the glory of
their strength, and in Thy favour our horn shall be
exalted ; " " There will I make the horn of Da^dd to
bud," or rather to grow; "I have ordained a lamp for
mine anointed;" the last passage being peculiarly
•worthy of our notice, because the horn is spoken of in
close connection with Zion, the habitation of God, the
priests, the saints, and the lamp (Ixxv. 10 ; Ixxxix. 17 ;
cxxxii. 17). The same idea of strength and glory is
again met with in the song of Zacharias : " And hath
raised up an horn of salvation in the house of His
servant David " (Luke i. 69), and in many passages of
the Revelation of St. John. We can have little doubt,
therefore, that the horns of the brazen altar were
symbols rising out of the number 3 belonging to
the height of the altar itself, and that tliey Avere an
expression in the first place of the Divine majesty and
strength, and then of the communication of these to
thi true worshipper. It is in harmony with this in-
terpretation that the blood of the sin offering had to
be sprinkled upon them, and that, as in the cases of
Adouijah and Joab, those who fled from tlie vengeance
of their enemies to the sanctuary, " caught hold on the
homs of the altar " (1 Kings i. 50 ; ii. 28).
Before passing from the outward shape of the brazen
altar it may be well only further to observe, that im-
portance is evidently attached to the fact that it should
be square (Exod. xxvii. 1), a shape by whicli it received
upon it the stamp of the kingdom of God as established
in the world, and that the number 5 in the side of the
square is to be connected with what has been already
said regarding the use of that numlier, as the number
of imperfection, in all the arrangements of "the
court." The altar, in short, in its different dimensions
had reference to the leading ideas of the theocracy at
that particular stage of its development. It was tlie
altar of God, the altar of His kiugdom in the world,
but of that kingdom in an as yet imperfect state.
Two other circumstances connected with the erection
of the altar claim a brief explanation. It was to be
constructed, as we have already seen, of earth, or, if
stones were used, they were to be unhewn (Exod. xx.
24<, 25\ so that the box of shit tiin wood overlaid with
brass was the case or covering of ihe altar rather than
the altar itself. Much curious speculation has been
indulged in regarding the meaning of thus employing
eait.h, as if it were intended to signify eitlier that sinful
man is the creature of tlie dust, and must return to his
dust again,' or tliat the earth made use of representing
the world, the scene upon which tiio theocratic kingdom
was to be set up, was there adapted to that purpose by
being rescued, as it wci-e, from the effects of the Fall,
dedicated anev/ to God.^ Ideas such as these have
little or no foundation iii the text. The mention of
stones, which were not to be touched by the tool of
man, is rather the only hint to help us to a conclusion ;
and, following it, it would seem that the ground of tho
directions given upon the point before us, was to make
it obvious that the altar was wholly of God's, and in no
respect of man's, pro^dding. Man was sinful. He
erected an altar by which to draw near to a holy God.
Therefore must that altar be brought as little as
possible into contact with him and with his doings as a
sinner. It must be simple, natural, as far as might bo
of God's own workmanship. Thus woidd man feel the
more tliat not upon any foundation that he could lay,
but sohlj upon that of the power and grace of God
Himself, could his offerings be made acceptable to a
Being of unspotted purity.
The other circumstance to be noted is the pi'ohibition
of steps lea<ling up to the altar, together with the
ground of the prohibition, "that thy nakedness be
not discovered thereon" (Exod. xx. 26). The principle
appealed to is clear. It is, that modesty and purity of
conduct are demanded of those who minister at the
altat. We advert to the matter rather for the sake of
siiggestiug an explanation of a prohibition which must
appear to most readers to have been umieeded. For,
even when we call to mind the nature of a loose Oriental
robe, it seems diSicuit to conceive that, in ascending
only a cubit and a half, any precaution of the kind
should have been required. We believe that the ex-
planation is to be found in heathen practices, and that
the provision was a warnmg ag-ainst tho slightest
approach to them. Any one who has followed his
Arab guide in ascending the Great Pyi-amid at Ghizeh
at the present day, must have ■witnessed an illustration
of wliat would in all probability be tho case in mount-
ing tlie stops that led up to the "high places" of the
heatlien.
Finally, we have to say a word of tho idea of tho
altar as a whole. Tlie etymology of the name by which
it was known in Hebrew supphes tho key. It was
" for slaughter " or "for sacrifice," and more particularly
for the burat-offering. Again and again, througli-
out much of tho Old Testament, is the brazen altar
described as the altar of burnt-offering, as if this were
its distinguishing name, never as tha'!; of any of tho
other offerings presented there. On it Israel offered
itself to God in self -dedication and in praise. It was
the culminating point of that Court of the Tabemacla
in which a peei>le, already redeemed, but not able to
' Ea'iir, SjmhcV.';, i., p. 433.
2 Keil, Arc'ii<j;olor)'ie, i., p. 103.
SACRED PLACES.
123
realise fully tlie blessings of its redemption, surrendered
itself to Him who had redeemed it. There it went up
in a burnt-offei-ing to Him, and there the Lord smelled
a "sweet savour," and accepted the sacrifice (Lev.
iii. 16 ; comp. Gen. viii. 20, 21). In conformity with
this, it would seem that tlie free-will offerings of tlie
people, when made in a right spirit, were laid upmi the
altar (Matt, xxiii. 18), but that, when not accompanied
bv the feelings which alone could render them pleasing
to God, they were placed only before it until the spirit
of acceptable worship had been gained (Matt. v. 23,
2^). To this purpose of the altar, as an altar of burnt-
offering, we are to trace the fact that the fire upon it was
kept continually burning. " The fire shall ever be burn-
ing upon the altar; it shall never go out " (Lev. vi. 13).
While Israel thus offered itseK to God upon the
altar of burnt-offering. Ho on His part met the people
there, and fed them in the persons of the priests their
representatives. The fat was for Himself, the re-
mainder was for Aaron and his sons to cat, and the
altar thus became the table at which the priests were
feasted.
Therefore in Christ and in His people in Him is
the altar of burnt-offering again " fulfilled," its imper-
fection only done away, its idea perfected for ever.
" Christ hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savour" (Eph. v. 2), and we are "complete in Him"
(Col. ii 10). In Him Christians ascend to their Father
in heaven, a burnt-oft'ering the fire of which is con-
tinually burning, and their heavenly Father meets them
in the sacrifice and feasts them with the abundant
blessings of His house. " They liave an altar whereof
they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle "
(Heb. xiii. 10). That altar, the New Testament altar
of burnt-offering, is Christ Himself, and the Di^'iue
life communica,ted by Him to all the members of His
body, so that, as they offer, they also feast, continually,
jind even the outer Court of the Tabernacle is changed
for them into the house of God and the veiy gate of
heaven.
II. The second article of furuiLure in the Coui-t of
the Tabernacle was the laver, always spoken of in
connection with its foot. It stood beyond the brazen
altar, and between it and the Tabernacle. The direc-
tions for its construction were, " Thou shalt also make
a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass to wash
withal ; and thou shalt put it Isetweeu the Tabernacle
of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put
water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash
their hands and their feet thereat. When they
go into the Tabernacle of the congregation they shall
wash with water, that they die not ; or when they
come near to the altar to minister, to bum offer-
ing made by fire uato the Lord; so they shall wash
their hands and their feet that they die not; and
it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him
and to his seed throughout their generations " (Exod.
XXX. 18 — 21). In these words, and the deficiency is
not elsewhere supplied, no mention is made of the
shape or size of the laver, but they, as well as aU other
passages where it is spoken of, attach such importanco
to the " foot," as to make it probable that the water
with which the feet and hands were washed was con-
tained in a hollow at the base, and that this was
surmounted by the body of the laver containing that
larger supply of pure water from which the lower
receptacle was constantly replenished. The whole was
of brass or bronze ; but it is not possible to speak
with certainty as to its exact shape or size. T^Hien the
construction is related, it is further said that Bczaleel
" made the laver of brass and the foot of it of brass,
of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which
assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congre-
gation" (Exod. xxxviii. 8). These words have been
supposed to mean that the mietallic looking-glasses
referred to were so fastened to the laver after it was
made, that they served their original purpose for the
priests. But this interpretation, improbable in itself,
and hardly tenable even on grammatical groimds, is
now generally abandoned, the passage meaning only
that the laver was constructed of the metal which the
looking-glasses supplied. As was ine-vitable, too, in
the circumstances, the fact thus recorded has been
eagerly spiritualised, but there seems no ground for
attaching to it any special meaning. We have to bear
in mind that all the parts of the Tabernacle and its
furniture were made of the free-^vill offeidngs of the
people (Exod. sxxv. 22), and it is not necessary in the
present instance to go beyond the supposition that
numbers of tlie women who assembled at its door
ha^sing given up their mirrors as their gift, these were
employed in the construction of the laver, as being
every way suited to the purpose. Whether the women
referred to were simply from the general congregation
of Israel, or whether they were such as pex-formed
special ministrations in connection with the Tabernacle,
is more difficult to say. As there is a want of sufficient
evidence that any such order of ministering women
existed in Israel, it is probable that we ought to think
only of the former.
Thus, then, the laver and its foot were constmcted,
and had their places assigned to them in " the Court."
As to their meaning there is no doubt. They were to
enable the priests to obtain that symbolical purity,
withoiit which it was impossible for any one to make a
near approach to a holy God, and which, therefore,
could not but be especially demanded of those priests
who were to enter His sanctuary or to minister at His
altar. It is to be observed only that no more tlian the
hands and feet were to be washed, the part being taken
for the whole, and the bathing of the body being con-
fined to the high priest on that particular day of the
year when he entered not merely into the holy, but into
the most holy, place. This reference to washing the
hands, accordingly, is frequently referred to in the Old
Testament as expressive of that higlier, that moral
purification wliich, as time went on, was more and
more felt to be the true preparation for appearing
before God. " The Lord rewarded me according to my
124
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
riglitcousnoss ; according to the eleannuss of my bauds
hatli He recompensed me." " If I wash myself with
snow water and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt
thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine o^vn clothes shall
abhor me." " Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place ? He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart." '* I mil wash my
hands in' innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O
Lord '■ (1 Sam. ii. 21 ; Job is. 30, 31 : Ps. xxiv. 3, 4 ;
xxvi. 6).
As the meaning oi the laver to Israel is clear, so also
is its " fulfilment " in New Testament times. First of
all, we see it in our Lord Himself, who " did no sin,
and in whose mouth there was found no guile,"
" who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and sepai-atc from
sinners," in wliom tiie Father was always AveU pleased.
Then next, we see it in His Church, for that Church is
" washed, is sanctified, is justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God ; " is cleansed
" with the washing of water by the word, that He may
present it to Himself a glorious Church, not liaving
spot or wriukle, or any such thing, but that it may be
holy and without blemish;" is saved "in the laver of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost " (1 Cor.
\i. 11 ; Eph. A-. 26, 27 ; Titus iii. 5). Her members are
commanded to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and of the spirit, and to perfect holiness in
the fear of the Lord. They are sanctified in Christ
Jesus ; they are " saints " or holy ones ; and, though
not yet attained to perfect conformity with the example
of their Lord, they are continually drawing nearer to
it, imbibing His Spirit, imitating His example, living
His life, and reflecting His gloiy. But this cleansing
on the part of Christ's people needs to be constantly
repeated. Although complete in Him they have ever
and again to renew the washing. While they mingle
in the world, they can hardly escape being so far at
least contaminated by the world. Though " sin has no
dominion over them," they are not yet wholly delivered
from its power. There is a law in their members that
warreth with the law of the mind. " The flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh," and
they have often to cry out, " Oh, wretched men that we
are, who shall deliver us from the body of this death ? "
Therefore do they need continually to apply them-
selves afresh to Him who first washed them from their
sins, and renewed them by His Spirit, that again in
Him they may prevail over all that would separate them
f ;-oni God, or keep them at a distance from the inner-
most sanctuary of His love, that again in Him they
may rise to the experience of the " more grace " that
He bestows, and may exchange the cry of humiliation
for the shout of -snctoiy, " I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord."
It has only further to be observed that these constant
renewals of their covenant, these constantly repeated
acts of their faith, are simpler than they were at the
beginning. When awakened to the thorough feeling
of their need of cleansing, when alive to the fact that
except Christ wash them not, they have no part in ilim.
they may exclaim \vith Peter, as if they could not be
too much washed, " Lord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head." But His reply is, " He that
is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean
every whit" (John xiii. 10). As the priest of Israel
did not require constantly to renew a complete bath,
but was fitted by the washing of his hands and his
feet alone for ministering at the altar and entering
the holy place, so the later exercises of faith are not
so hard to accomplish as the first. The power of evil
was broken, the victory was given, at the beginning,
and the one is more easily overcome, the other more
easily enjoyed, at each successive stage of Christian
progress.
Such, then, is the fulfilment to the followers of Chi-ist,
of the brazen altar, and the laver with its foot of the
Court of the Tabernacle. It may be said that, in
speaking as we have done, we have lost sight of the
distinction between the Coui't and the Sanctuai-y beyond
it, between the people of Israel and their priests. It
is true that we have done so, but the doing so lies in
the very nature of the case. In the kingdom of Christ
all vails are rent, all distinctions are taken away. The
priests are the people, and the people are the priests.
When this is not felt, it is a proof that the most
essential privileges of Chi'ist's kingdom are not per-
ceived, that the fulness of its blessings is not enjoyed.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free,
neither male nor female. Christ is not only " all and
in all " to His Chiu'ch as a whole, but to every member
of His body. Distinctions disappear in that ideal state
into which Christians are called, and if they will again
have a Court beyond which they may not penetrate, and
a priesthood in the possession of pri\'ileges in which
they may not share, it can only be by returning to
those "• elements of the worLl " from which their Lord
would make them free, and by entangling themselves
anew with a yoke of bondage. In their true Christian
standing, they are free of the Holy of Holies itself, as
well as of the Court, and in the Court, not less than in
the Holy of Holies, they are " priests unto God and
unto the Lamb."
In speaking of the furniture of the Court, we have
said nothing of the smaller articles used in connection
with the altar, and enumerated in Exod. xxvii. 3, " And
thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his
shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his
firepans ; all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of
brass." It was not necessai-y to speak of these. They
were evidently subordinate to the altar, intended only
as a provision for carrying out its leading purpose. In
an inquiry like that engaging us at present there is
peculiar need to guard against making everything
spoken of in the old economy a type or a symbol of the
bettor things to come, and so nmning into mere
puerilities and conceits. It is mth the leading ideas of
Israel's religious condition alone that we have to do,
and all that cannot bo expressly shown to have been
regulated with a view to its bearing upon these, it is
better to let alone.
SAUL.
125
SCEIPTUEE BIOGEAPHIES.
SAUL.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM LEE, D.D., KOXBUEGH.
Samuel it has been already said iu these
pages that "his character is, in every
stage of its career, one of the grandest
f[^^^(f^ in the Old Testament" (Yol. II., p. 226).
A very dilferent estimate must be formed of the man
whose life is so closely connected with that of "the
last of the Judges and the first of the Prophets," as
hardly to admit of being separately treated. Tet,
whatever his errors and crimes, Saul was not without
noble qualities, nor unentitled, on some grounds, to
an eminent position in the roU of those whose perilous
distinction it has been, with the same passions as other
men, to play a conspicuous part in the history of
the world. In no man, perhaps, was there found
a more striking contrast of apparently inconsistent
and repugnant characteristics. As the original head
of the tribe from which he traced his descent received
at his birth two names, his mother with her dying
breath having called him " Benoni," or " the son of her
sorrow," and his father, "Benjamin," or "the son of
the right hand," so Saul himself appears to have united
in his own person two natures which, though with far
different results, were, like the " flesh " and the " spirit "
of another " Saul," also " of the tribe of Benjamin," in
continual conflict with one another. (Rom. vii. 15.)
Upon the whole, his life must be pronounced a disas-
trous failure. For the special position assigned to him
in the world, for that position in which to fail was for
him fatal, he proved unworthy. "It repenteth me
that I have set up Saul to be king : for he is turned
back from following me, and hath not performed my
commandments." " Thou hast rejected the word of the
Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king
over Israel" (1 Sam. xv. 11, 26). On the other hand,
it must be admitted that he often, in the course of his
eventful reign, showed " unbroken courage, indomitable
enei^y in pushing his conquests in every direction, a
steadfast desire for the well-being of the nation, zeal
and pertinacity in the execution of his plans, with an
earnest zeal for the maintenance of the provisions of
the law, and tlie promotion of the religious life of the
nation " (Ewald, iii. 43). Nor can it be forgotten in
what terms one who knew him thoroughly, and had
little reason to flatter him, pronounced, after death had
set its seal on his completed career, the final judgment
of his contemporaries, in that touehing elegy in which
he spoke of Saiil and the much-loved Jonathan, the
friend of his youth, in the same breath, as " lovely and
pleasant in their lives, and in death undi^^dod."
" The beauty of Isr.ael is slain upon thy Ligli places,
How are the mighty fallen !
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not iu the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
Lest the daughters of the uncircuracised triumph.
Te mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew.
Neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings.
For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away.
The shield of Saul not anointed with oil.
« * * * #
How are the mighty fallen
And the weapons of war perished ! "
Of the life of Saul up to the time of his selection as
the first king of Israel we know very little. There is
not, indeed, any attempt to give a complete accoimt of
several portions of his history : the narrative, as is com-
mon in the biographies of Scriptm-e generally — not ex-
cepting even that Great Biogi'aphy which has an interest
for every Christian with which no other will bear a
moment's comparison — ha'V'ing many breaches of con-
tinuity, sometimes gaps extending over long and, as
it might appear, not imeventful periods. And of the
fragmentary notices which are thus alone in our hands,
it is sometimes difficult to determine even the clirono-
logical sequence. The essential completeness of the
history is doubtless not in any case impeached, while
the vividness and effectiveness of the impression it pro-
duces on the mind, of the reader are always ob\nously
enhanced, by the boldness and freedom of the historical
style which in this respect characterises here as else-
where the books of Holy Scripture. The most complete
genealogy of Saul is to be found in 1 Chron. viii. 1 ;
(cf . 1 Sam. ix. 1 ; xiv. 49 ; 1 Chrou. is. 35). His father
was a wealthy and powerful cliief of the name of Kish.
The place of his birth is uncertain. It was, most
probably, Gibeah of Benjamin — the same city (see
Robinson's Researches, i. 577, sq.) which, doubtless
from its connection with the histoiy of the subject of
the present paper, is sometimes called Gibeah of Sau!.
Some eminent Biblical scholars, however {e.g., Mr.
Grove, Bid. of Bible, s.v. " Zelah "), give the preference
to the claims of Zelah, which contained " the sepulchre
of Kish his father," and where liis own ashes were
finally laid at rest, to the distinction of being recog-
nised as the birthplace of Saul. His family, as already
noticed, were of the tribe (as both Gibeah and Zelah
were situated in the territory) of Benjamin ; a tribe
inconsiderable in numbers as compared with some
others, but second to none of the tribes of Israel in
its reputation for skill in the use of arms, and for
daring and courage in war. Warfare, indeed, the fierce
and obstinate spirits of the Benjamites seemed to
love for its own sake, and were sometimes ready enough
to welcome without much regard to the ' justice of the
quarrel. A terrible judgment, which almost erased
the name of Benjamin from the roll of the tribes of
Israel, had, in the time of the Judges, been the result
of an internecine war between this tribe and the rest
of the people of Israel. Haring its first origin in a
brutal crime committed by some of the men of that
126
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
same Gibcali in wliich Saul is licre supposed to have
found his birthplace, the unseemly and disastrous con-
flict was exasperated by the indiscreet zeal with which
the Benjamites generally identified themselves with
the guilty city. The tribe is more honourably distin-
guished as ha-aug given to Israel one of the earliest
of her judges, Ehud, whose personal hardihood and
mihtary prowess secured for her rest from her enemies
for no less a period than eighty years. Saul had been
brought up to follow, like his father, the labours of
husbandry. This fact does not, of course, exclude the
presumption tliat ho had also been early trained to arms.
In Israel, every man above twenty years of age was a
soldier (Numb. i. 3) — i.e., was em-oUed in the number
of conscripts available for active service in time of war ;
and in the days of Saul's youth the distm-bed condition
of the country, more especially in the territory of the
Benjamites, must have afrordcd Mm frequent oppor-
tunities for acquiring some military experience.
The history of Saul, as far as we have any particular
accoimt of it in Scripture, may be divided into two
parts, the first embracing the period from his consecra-
tion as the king of Israel, till he was rejected as im-
worthy of that position— and the second, the years of
desertion and calamity which ended only with his life.
I. '• VvHien Samuel was old .... aU the elders of
Israel gathered themselves together, and c^me to
Samuel unto Ramah, and said, . . . Make us a king
to judge us like aU the nations" (1 Sam. viii. 1 — 8).
It had always been contemplated in the Mosaic law
that a king should, as in the case of other nations, be
set over the people of Israel (Dcut. xvii. 14) ; and pro-
\-ision had, from the first, been specially made for the
practical assimilation of their forms of government in
this respect to those of the nations round about them.
The introduction into the commonwealth of a line of
riders bearing the titles, and invested with the state, as
well as exercising the authority of an earthly monarchy,
was, in truth, no more inconsistent with the principle
of the theocracy tlian had been the older provisions for
government and the administration of the law which
were found in the heads of tribes and families, in the
common coimcil of the nation, in the high priesthood,
or in the exceptional functions assigned to Moses,
Joshua, and the Judges. The reigning king might be,
and was in fact always recognised as, no more than a
minister of God, subordinate to, and'appointed to carry
out the will — which ho was bound, by means expressly
provided, to consult — of I'lim who, in the highest sense,
was, under the monarchy no less tlian before its intro-
duction, the true King of Zion. Accordingly, tliough
the request of the people, because inspired by a feeling
of distrust in the p«wcr of God, displeased Jehovah so
that they are said to have sinned in asking for a king
(1 Sam. xii. 9), and God is said to have " given them a
king in His anger " (Hos. xiii. 11), it is not to be sup-
posed tliat the institution of tho monarchy was, in the
case of Israel, otheinviso than a normal development
of tho original polity of the nation. It is true that
it did not prove so great a boon as they themselves
fondly anticipated. The calamities of Israel arose, not
from the nature of their forms of government, under every
change of which the nation alike flourished or alike
decayed, but from tlieir unfaithfulness to God. On God
they were in every event equally dependent. And that
they might bo taught this lesson was, if not the idtimate
reason for which their demand was acceded to, yet a
secondary rosidt, distinctly contemplated by Him, all
whose providential arrangements in regard to Israel
appear to have had in view their own spiritual discipline,
no less than tho accomplishment of His purposes of
mercy for mankind.
The urgent and persistent expression of the national
will, just noticed, as to the change in a government
was, accordingly, given effect to by God. The nevir
king received his authority first of all from the hands
of Samuel, by a private consecration to his office ; and
he was afterwards formally appointed by means of an
appeal to the sacred lot, in the presence of an assembly
of the people called together for that purpose at Mizpeh.
There was a third ceremonial by which, before he actually
assumed, at least as regax'ds the countiy generally,
the functions of the regal office, the kingdom was prac-
tically inaugurated. It would appear that an interval
of several years occurred between these successive steps
in the establishment of the kingdom. At the moment
when, following his father's strayed asses, he first
addressed himself to Samuel in the city of Ramah — and
the apparently fortuitous meeting of these two great
contemporaries proved to be the residt of a providential
arrangement which was destuied to cliange the current
of his whole life, and affect so materially the fortunes of
his country— Saal was yet " a young man " (bachur, an
" unmarried man," Gesenius, Lex., s.v.). In the third
year of liis actual reign, he had already a son who Avas
grown to man's estate (1 Sam. ix. 2 ; xiii. 1, 2).
Saul entered on his office with advantages from which
the best auguries might have been formed. In giving
to Israel their fii-st king, it pleased God to select a man,
who, whatever the ultimate result of the gratification
of their desires, must, according to any standard which
would suggest itself to their own minds, have seemed,
and was acknowledged by themselves to be, the very
ideal of the ruler they asked for, and from whom they
anticipated so much. In the case of the choice of Saul's
successor, even Samuel appears to have been disposed to
look to " the outward appearance " as of itself (1 Sam.
vi. 6) marking out the true king among men. Saul was,
at least as regarded " outward appearance," every inch
a king — " a choice young man and a goodly .... there
was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person
than he : from liis shoulders and upward ho was higher
than any of the people." Accordingly, when, having
been elected by lot at Mizpeh, and having been brought
forward to be presented to tho assembled tribes, Samuel
said of him, " See ye him whom tho Lord hath chosen,
that there is none like him among all the people ? " the
appeal was responded to with enthusiasm. "All the
people shouted, and said, God save tho king ! " (1 Sam.
X. 24), His military prowess afterwards (1 Sam. xi. 12)
SAUL.
127
abundantly confirmed tlieir connuenee in him as one
every way worthy to reign over them. Nor was he left
to trust to the effect of any mere natural endowments.
Consecrated by a symbol tbat had hitherto been confined
to the pi'iests and the sanctuary, he had been solemnly
set apart "to be the vehicle and medium of all the
blessin""3 of grace which the Lord, as the God-kiug,
Avculd confer upon Ms people through the institution of
a ci\'il government" (Keil and Delitzsch, ui loc). Even
thoug'h thus anointed, ho might prove an unfaithful
long, as many priests proved unfaithful in their office ;
but the means for the accomplishment of a nobler des-
tiny were not at least withheld. With the same view
the prophetical inspiration had been conferred on him,
along with other supernatural endowments by which he
is even said to have been "turned into another man."
Then he had the additional privilege of entering on his
work witli evexy assistance to be derived from the ex-
perience of such a man as Samuel, no less than (through
the same channel) with free access — a blessing after-
wards foirfeited — to that Divine guidance and direc-
tion without which it was indeed impossible for a king
of Israel rightly to fulfil the pecidiar duties of his
exalted position.
The first of his great exploits belongs to a period
when, thougli ah-eady designated to it, he had not yet
formally assumed tiie sovereignty. He was in the field
{sadch, "the cultivated ground") near Gibeah of Saiil,
his father's home, ploug'ning with a yoke of oxen, when
messengers arrived from Jabesh-gilead, announcing
tliat that trans-Jordanic city was besieged by the
Midianites, and appealing for succour. The people of
Jabesh-gilead had special claims on the tribe of Ben-
jamin. They had suffered together on an occasion
already referred to, when the latter tribe scarcely es-
caped extermination ; and, on the same occasion, they
had become closely allied to each other by intermar-
riage. The Jabesh-gUeadites appear afterwards in the
history of Saul. It was by men of that city, that, pro-
bably, in requital of the service which he was now to be
the means of rendering them, the dead bodies of Saul
and of his three sons were, after the fatal battle on
Mount Guboa, taken down by night from the walls of
Bcthshan, where they had been exposed as trophies, and
honourably buried. The lamentations of his fellow-
townsmen over the intelligence from Jabesh met the ears
of Saul as he returned in the evening, driving his oxen
before him, and were soon explainetl. The conscious-
ness of the responsibilities of his high office in Israel
suddenly awoke within him. Sending by a significant
token, and without a moment's delay, a summons for
help from far and near, he was enabled in sufficient
time to lead a levy of 330,000 men across the Jordan.
His first great battle was short and decisive. " They
came into the midst of the host in the morning watch,
and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day : and
it came to pass, that they which remained were scat-
tered, so that two of them were not left together"
(1 Sam. xi. 11).
The next enterprise recorded of Saul is his victory
over the Philistines at Michmash, the honours of which
were, however, largely shared by Jonathan.
The victory at Michmash was as remarkable for its
results as for the means by which it was accomphshed.
At the beginning of Saul's reign, the attitude of tlie
warlike peoples of the south-western coast towards Israel
was one which threatened her very existence as a nation.
She iiad already suffered two prolonged " oppressions"
from the Philistines. Twenty years before this time,
the second battle of Ebenezer had, it is ti-ue, shattered
the force of these formidable and inveterate enemies.
But towards the end of the rule of Samuel, they appear
to have gradually regained their former superiority in
arms, and begun to renew their attempts to reduce tlie
Chosen People to the position of a subject race. Tliey
had now in a groat measure succeeded in tlieir ambi-
tious design. The battle of Michmash was, in fact,
one in which nothing less tlian the independence of the
new kingdom was at stake. The PhUistiues, it is tnie,
did not at any time attempt to ©ccupy Palestine. They
were satisfied with subjugating it ; and, for this purpose,
they found it sufficient to maintain within its territories
a few garrisons (1 Sam. x. 5; xiii. 4) ; probably specially
intended to facilitate the collection of tribute ; and to
repress any show of resistance, as well a,s kee^ alive a
salutary di-ead of their arms, by those sudden invasions
of the land, so often refen-ed to (Judg. xv. 9; 1 Sam.
xiii. 17 ; xxiii. 1), from which, after collecting heaps ot
spoil — not excepting, doubtless, multitudes of Hebrew
captives for the home and foreign slave-markets — and
spreading terror and desoktion over wide districts,
they, with the same rapidity, returned in triumph to
their own fastnesses. One singular illustration of the
extent of their power, as well as of the means by which
they maintained it, is found- in the fact that at this
period they were able to practically disarm the subject
people, through an expedient which, at the same time,
must have seriously interfered with its industrial pur-
suits— namely, the capture and deporiation of the
Hebrew smiths (1 Sam. xiii. 20). It is evident, too,
that large numbers of the Israehtes had voluntarily
submitted themselves — or at least were, under whatever
circumstances, in the service of the Philistines (xiv. 21).
The immediate occasion of the battle was an open de-
fiance offered to the PhiHstine supremacy by Jouathan,^
in attacking one of their garrisons (xiii. 3). That people
at once "gathered themselves together to fight with
Israel." Tlie invading force must have seemed in-e-
sistible. The " 30,000 chariots " is probably a corrupt
reading, but the body of the army was "as the sand
which is on the sea-shore for multitude." Having entered
the land, they pitched near Michmash — stiU in Jerome's
day a large village, imder the same name, situated nine
miles north from Jerusalem {Onomasticon, p. 285), and
identified by Robinson {Researches, i. 142) Avith the
modern Mukhmas, in the locality thus indicated. The
Israelites were terror-stricken. " The people did hide
themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and
in high places, and in pits," some of them going over
Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. To the hosts
128
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of the enemy, Saul could only oppose bis trained body-
guard of 3,000 men, and a few disbearteued and un-
armed follower, numbers of whom from day to day
fell away from his standard. God, however, in this
case manifestly interposed on behalf of His people,
showing that, as of old, " there was no restraint to the
Lord to save by many or by few " (xiv. 6). An act of
personal heroism, on the part of Jonatlian, opened the
fight, and may be said to have determined its result.
An advanced guard of the Philistines occupied a height
immediately beyond the valley which separated the
combatants. Accompanied only by his armour-bearer,
Jonathan secretly left-^left without even his father's
knowledge — the encampment of Saul at Migron, and
having crossed the broken ground below, arrived within
view of the outpost. Here, encom-aged by a scornful
invitation from the Pliilistines — which he accepted as a
direction of Providence — to " come up and they would
show him a thing," he proceeded at once to climb,
" upon his hands and upon his feet," the sides of the
precipice on the summit of wliieh they had entrenched
themselves. What followed is explained by our know-
ledge of the great personal strength and acti\aty,
as well as courage, of Saul's eldest son (2 Sam.
i. 23), and the security of the Philistines who had
laughed at what they deemed the idle bravado of two
of "these Hebi-ews come forth oiat of the holes where they
had hid themselves" (1 Sam. xiv. 11). The slaughter of
twenty men of the garrison — they were ploughed down
by the stalwart arm of the hero as half an acre of land
might be by a yoke of oxen (xiA'. 14 ; cf . Ewald) — was
followed by the thght of the rest, the result being a great
commotion in the whole Philistine camp, and among
the bands of marauders in the neighbourhood. The
commotion was turned into a panic, every man's sword
being against his fellow, even before Saul with his little
army, warned of the state of aifairs by his watchmen
on the heights of Gibeah, joined the fray. With their
aid, and that of the Hebrew mercenaries, or slaves, in
the enemy's ranks, who now turned their swords against
their masters, and of scattered bodies of the Israelites,
flocking in from their hiding-places in Mount Ephraim,
the panic became a rout. The battle raged " clean
over the country, from the extreme eastern to the ex-
treme western pass— down the rocky defile of Beth-
horon, down into the valley of Aijalon " (Stanley, ii. 16).
" So the Lord saved Israel that day. , . . Then Saul
went up from following the Philistines : and the Philis-
tines went to their own place " (1 Sam. xiv. 23, 46).
On the occasion of the series of desperate con-
flicts which resulted in this marvellous success, Saul
appears first to have betrayed the fatal defect of his
character. The startling inconsistencies already referred
to, between what may be called the better and the worse
aspects of his strangely mixed nature were, on the same
occasion, strikingly displayed. , As God's vicegerent,
it was his duty to consiilt the will, and strictly to cany
out the instructions of God, as conveyed to him by the
authorised exponents of the Divine will. The j)rophet
Samuel had commanded Saul to go down to Gilgal, and
to wait there for him seven days, undertaking to appear
within the sot time, to offer sacrifices, and to '• shew
him what he should do " (1 Sam. x. 8). Saul was not
indifferent to religious obligations. In the terrible fight
which ensued, ho was sliocked at the ceremonial offence
committed by the famishing soldiers, when, at the close
of an exhausting day, in which th*^ liad been by his
own orders prevented from tasting food, they flew upon
the spoil, and taking sheep and oxen and calves slew
them on the ground, and, contrary to the regulations of
Moses, ate them with the blood. , For an unconscious
offence of a similar nature he was the same day hardly
prevented from putting to death his own son, the son
who had liimself been chiefly instrumental in securing
the victory which had then been so unexpectedly won
(1 Sam. xiv. 44, sq.). Yet — after, too, waiting till the
seven prescribed days had nearly expired — this same
man deliberately set at nought the inspired command
delivered to him by the prophet ; acting on his own judg-
ment in a case in which the will of God, as prcAaously
revealed, left him no choice as to the path of duty.
Another great success was accompanied by a like
transgression. The nation of Amalek was " devoted" to
destruction, and to Saul the execution of the judgment
of God was entrusted. In carry mg out his ib-ead com-
mission, it was the well-knowu duty (Lev. xxvii. 28) of
Saul to save none of the people alive, nor to reserve for
any pui-pose any of the spoil. In the case of Jericho,
simibirly " devoted," both Rahab, with " all that were
with her in the house," and " the silver and gold, and
the vessels of brass and iron," were saved, the latter
being " put into tlie treasury of the house of the Lord "
(Josh. ri. 22, 24). But both were expressly excepted
from the ban pronounced on the city (vi. 17, 19). And
Achau, who had coveted and taken spoil wliicli formed
part of " the accursed thing," paid the penalty of his
disobedience with his life (vi. 24). The conduct of Saul
in sparing Agag, and the best of the herds and the
flocks, was in direct disobedience to a law of God which
he must have thoroughly, understood. His excuses were
wholly beside the purpose. He, in short, preferred to
follow his own will rather than that of the Lord. His
sin was rebellion again,st God, a sin especially aggra-
vated in a man who was raised up to be the chief in-
strument in Israel for carrying out the purposes of
Jehovah. That this was the siu of Saul — the true
ground of the severe, but surely in such a case not
excessive punishment inflicted on him — is left in no
doubt by the words of Samuel. " The Lord sent thee
on a journey, and said. Go and utterly destroy [or,
devote to destruction] the sinners the Amalekites, and
fight against them . till they bo consumed. Wherefore
then didst Uiou not obey the voice of the Lord, but
didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of
the Lord?" And as to the perhaps true plea that the
sheep and oxen wore roserycd to be off^ered in sacrifice
— " Hath the Lord as great deligljt in burnt offerings
and sacrifices, as in obeying ili^ voice of the Lord ?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams " (1 Sam. xv. 18, 22).
SAUL.
129
Of the other wars of Saul at this period we have
only the most general informatiou. " He fought against
aJl his eneu.'ies on every side, against Moab, and against
the children of Ammon" (probably the battle before
referred to), "and against Edom, and against the kings
of Zobah, and against the Philistines; and wliither-
soever he tiu-ned himself he vexed them " (1 Sam.
xiv. 47).
Apart from the history of his wars there are a few
interesting particulars to be gathered from this portion
of the sacred narrative, as to the manner in which Saul
fulfilled his office as the first king of Israel. The
royal palace was in the same Gibeah of Benjamin where
Saul had found his early home. Here he appears to
have lived with some splendour. The state maintained
by neighbouring kings would of course be imitated by
the monarch of a nation who desired their ruler to be
Assimilated to the rulers of "the nations round about
them." " The king himself was distinguished by marks
of royalty not before observed in Israel. His tall spear
was always by his side, in repose, at meals, when sleep-
ing, when in battle. He wore a diadem round his
brazen helmet, and a bracelet on his arm" (Stanley,
Jewish Church, ii. 20). When he went forth in his
chariot, he was surrounded by an escort of cavalry, and
preceded by running footmen (1 Sam. viii. 11). There
was a king's table reserved for himself and his son
Jonathan, the heir to the throne, with afterwards DaAid,
the second officer in the kingdom (1 Sam. xxii. 14 ; cf .
Stanley ii. 19, and Ewald iii. 98), and son-in-law of the
king (1 Sam. xx. 25). Samuel's warning to the Israel-
ites, that the king they wished to reign over them would
" take their daughters to be confectionaries, and cooks,
and bakers " (1 Sam. viii. 13), has, no doubt, an historical
value in relation to the customs introduced by Saul
himself.^ Doeg, the Edomite, probably himself a slave,
was the chief officer over the household slaves and the
slaves in charge of the royal stables (1 Sam. xxi. 7 ;
xxii. 9). There is no special mention of the officers of
state as in the history of Solomon. But that Said had
the wisdom to surround himself with the ablest and
most valiant of his subjects for aU the departments of
liis government is carefully noticed (xiv. 52). Abner,
the son of his imcle Ner, was the captain of the host.
A body of household troops, numbering 3,000 men, the
nucleus of the standing armies of later times, had been
early formed by him, the rest of the forces which he
led into battle being drawn as required from the rolls
of able-bodied Israelites, who, except in time of actual
war, followed, as be himself had once done, the plough,
or worked at the loom, or laboured as artisans or fisher-
men in their various localities (I Sam. xiii. 2). The
armour-bearer of the king appears to have been in the
days of Saul one of the most trusted (xxxi. 5, &c.) of his
personal attendants. For some time the office was
filled byDa\-id himself (xvi. 21).
II. The gi-eat, and for the position he occupied, fatal
1 There appears to be an allusion to public taxes in 1 Sam.
ivii. 25.
57 — VOL. III.
defect in the character of Saul, with the gross trans-
gressions of duty into which it led him, has been
ah'eady mentioned. The punishment was a signal one,
and the history of the later years of his reign is little
more than a record of the bitter results which ensued.
The first warning followed the untimely saci'ifice at
Gilgal, when Saul had reigned over Israel only two
years. " Thy kingdom shall not continue : the Lord
liath sought him a man after His own heart, and the
Lord hath commanded him [a statement here obviously
to be understood prophetically] to be captain over His
people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord
commanded thee" (1 Sam. xiii. 14). But it was on
Saul's return from what seems (cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 47, 48)
to have been the last of his great victories, the victory
over the Amalekites — a victory stained, as we have
found, by an act of deliberate rebellion against God —
that the sentence became final. " Because thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected
thee from being king." All his professions of remorse
and entreaties for forgiveness were now too late. " Saul
said unto Samuel, I have sinned : for I have trans-
gressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words.
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn
again with me, that I may worship the Lord. And
Samuel said imto Saul, I wiU not return with thee : for
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord
hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And
as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon
the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said
imto him. The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel
from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of
thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength
of Israel wiU not lie nor repent : for He is not a man,
that he should repent. . . . And Samuel came no more
to see Saul until the day of his death : nevertheless
Samuel mourned for Saul : and the Lord repented that
He had made Saul king over Israel " (1 Sam. xv. 24, &c.).
The rejection by Jehovah of the ktug whom He
liimseH had given them was not at once made known
to the nation. On the contrary, carefid precautions
were taken (xv. 30 ; xvi. 1) to prevent the intelligence
from getting abroad prematurely. But as regarded its
more important results, it was immediately carried into
effect. Saul was from this time captain of the Lord's
people only in name. Though almost with the same
privacy as when the now virtually discrowned monarch
himself first received that sacrament, the consecrating
oil was poured on the head of the youthful son of
Jesse, at his father's house in Bethlehem; and "the
Spirit of the Lord ca,me upon David from that day
forward." At the same time "the Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul " (xvi. 13, 14).
Nor was the vital change in his relations to God
without direct results on his after history. How far
the morbid depression of mind, or melancholy, occasion-
ally breaking out in paroxysms of furious madness,
to which he now became subject, and for which the
soothing influences of music were, according to a very
ancient prescription for mental derangement (Bochart,
130
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Hieroz. i. 2, § 14, quoted inKeiland Delitzsch), employed
(xvi. 14), not always successfully (^xviii. 10), and how
far a depravation of the spiritual nature must be re-
garded as the immediate cause, it is impossible to deter-
mine. The close connection between mental and moral
insanitij is sometimes foimd in common results. A great
change, however, for the worse, in the character of Saul
on the whole — a change, too, in any event to bo ulti-
mately traced to the withdrawal of the Di\'ine favour —
began to manifest itself. He lo.st all control over a temper
which appears to have been always easily roused (xi. 6 ;
xiv. 24) ; ho grow morose, suspicious of his best friends,
a prey to groundless jealousies, a tyrant in his own
family, tyrannical in the administration of his govern-
ment. He seems even openly to have apostatised from
the faith. Such at least is the natm-al inference frcra
the fact that wliile his eldest son was called Jonathan,
or "Jehovah hath given," his youngest received the
heathen name Eshbaal, " the man of Baal " (cf. New-
man's Hshreio Monarchy, 49). His thrice-repeated
attempts to assassinate David with his own hand at his
own table, are only to be accounted for by personal
jealousy which, as far as it had any rational cause, was
founded on considerations that rendered its indulgence
impious. The rancour with which, afterwards, "that
he might kill him," he pursued this object at once of
his love and of his hatred from one place of refuge
to another, "hunting him like a partridge upon
the mountains " till he had " driven him out from the
inheritance of the Lord," and compelled him to seek
safety for life among the Philistines, can find no justi-
fication in reasons of state. A time came when David
and others were forced into a position of open rebellion ;
but as yet David's followers were few in number and
without influence, and he himself professed, doubtless
sincerely, entire loyalty to the existing government.
The slaughter of Abimelech, the high priest, and the
rest of the priesthood of Nob, eighty-five persons (im-
mediately followed as it was by the destruction of every
living thing in that sacerdotal city), was, especially in
the actual circumstances, an offence so rank that Saul's
native troops refused to become the instruments of
carrying it into effect, and he was compelled to entrust
the execution of the impious sentence to the Edomito
mercenary, Doeg. It is uncertain to what period, but
it is i>robably to some of these later years, that we must
assign another " bloody" deed (incidentally noticed in
2 Sam. xxi. 1), which in the next reign brought a heavy
retribution upon the Iwuse of Saul — the massacre of
the Gibeonites.
It is an instractive fact in the history of this period
of Saul's life that in the midst of all his sins and follies
lie continued at times to show traces of the nobler and
more worthy spirit by which he had been distinguished
in earlier years. The very crime last mentioned is
said to have been committed out of "zeal" for his
country. His love for his son Jonathan, though it did
not always preserve Jonathan from the fierce outbreaks
of his frenzied anger (1 Sam. xiv. 44 ; xx. 30), always
continued unabated (xiv. 39 ; xix. 6 ; xs. 2). At Engedi
(xxiv. 10), and again at Hachilah (xxvi. 17), even his old
fatherly affection for David, for the moment, revived,
not without awakening remorse for his own treatment
of one whom he had used so shamefully. " Saul said,
Is this thy voice, my son David ? And Saul lifted up
his voice and wept. And he said to David, Thou art
more righteous than I : for thou hast rewarded me
good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil." " I have
sinned : return, my son David ; for I will no more do
thee harm, .... because I have played the fool, and
have erred exceedingly." He even after a fashion re-
mained susceiitible to religious impressions. In his youth,
when retm-ning from Ramah, after his consecration to
the monarchy, he met, as he approached Iiis own home
at Gibeah, a company of prophets, as, probably on the
occasion of some religious festival, they came down from
the high place to the city. Tliey were preceded by a
body of acolytes with psaltei-y, and tabret, and pipe, and
harp. The prophetic spirit by Avhich they were at the
moment inspired passed over to Saul, and he prophesied.
His fellow-townsmen were filled with wonder, and said,
" What is this that has come to the son of Kish ? Is
Saul also among the pro^jhets .'^ " (x. 5 — 11). With
still more reason for astonishment the same words
were used in very different times. How little connec-
tion there is between religious excitement, in any of its
forms, and a right state of the heart before God, is a
truth often set before us in the Bible. In the very
midst of Saul's iuseusate persecution of David, his
murderous designs having brought him one day into
the circle of Samuel's Sons of the Prophets at Naioth
in Ramah, he was seized with the holy contagion of
then* ecstatic devotions. " The Spirit of God was upon
him He stripped off his clothes and prophesied,
. . . . and lay down naked all that day and all that
night " (xix. 18, seq.).
Among the results of the change on the character
and conduct of Saul just referred to, it appears that at
length the kingdom showed symptoms of utter disin-
tegration. Wliile David was in the cave of Adullam
a few hundreds of men, discontented with the existing
government, gathered around him (xxii. 2). But during
the year and four months of liis expatriation in the
land of the Philistines, which was contemporaneous
with the close of Saul's reign, we find that the disaffec-
tion of the people had made rapid progress and reached
an alarming height. In 1 Chron. xii. there is a long
list of chief men from almost every tribe in Israel, who,
accompanied often by large numbers of followers, joined
at this time tliQ standard of David at Ziklag, and must
therefore be regarded as having thrown off their alle-
giance to Saul. Those first named were chieftains of
Saul's own tribe of Benjamin. Every day brought fresh
contingents, till the fugitives had become "a great
host, like the host of God " (1 Chron. xii. 22). Already
the tribes east of the .Jordan had virtually asserted their
independence of Saul's authority. And as an indica-
tion that Israel was partially at least suffering the
miseries of actual civil war (Newman, Heb. Man. 59),
it is mentioned incidentally that before joining David.
SAUL.
131
eleven captains of the children o£ the tribe of Gad with
their followers had crossed the Jordan in its flood
season, and ravaged the Jordan valley on both sides of
the river (1 Chrou. xii. 15).
It was from a foreign enemy, however, that the blow
at liist came which must be regarded as the judicial
penalty of Saul's disobedience, no less than the natural
result of tlie follies and cinmes by which he had followed
uT) his "great transgression." Siirrounded by warlike
and powerful peoples, whose hostility was at once en-
couraged and embittered by the varying fortunes of
war in the past, Israel had no hope of maintaining her
independence, except in God, and under God, in the
vigoui" and wisdom of the government, and the loyalty
of the people. With a ruler who had himself forfeited the
Divine favour, who postponed the most urgent affairs of
the state to the indulgence of liis personal resentments,
whose military genius exhausted itseK in wretched cam-
paigns against one of his own subjects surrounded by a
handful of obscui*e followers, and whose great powers
were enfeebled by mental disease, and a bitter con-
sciousness of failure in the high office assigned to him —
with a people, too, no longer united among themselves,
and in great part already didven into a state of open
rebellion — the event of any formidable attack by the
hereditary foes of Israel could hardly be doubtful. The
most warlike, and for some centmnes the most powerful
of these foes, was not slow to take advantage of the
golden opportunity. The Philistines determined to
invade Israel. The armies of the whole of the five con-
federate states of Philistia were gathered together.
Every precaution was taken against failm-e (1 Sam.
xxix. 2, seq.), and the numerous and well-appointed host,
marching under (as in the case of Israel, viii. 12) their
captains of hundi-eds and captains of thousands, and led
by the five Philistine " lords " in person, entered the
land, and advancing through the great plain, pitched at
Shimem, to the north of Jezi-eel, prepared for battle.
The soldier-like qualities of Said, did not fail him in
this extremity. He at once summoned Israel to the
field, and took up a strong position on Mount Gilboa to
the south of, and at a distance of about two houi's' march
from, the encampment of the Philistines. It is noticed,
however, that as Saul here came in sight of the enemy —
for their formidable array was within view from his own
encampment — his coiirage and resolution did not pre-
serve him from terrible forebodings of evil. "When
Saul saw the hosts of the Philistines, he was afi-aid, and
his heart gi-eatly trembled." The evil omen was not
unjustified by the result of the impending battle.
Before the end came an incident occurred which has
an interest for us independently of Saul's personal
history. This is not the place to discuss the many
recondite questions which are suggested by the memo-
rable account of the last interview — if so it may be called
— between the doomed king and the friend and coun-
sellor of his youth, now for long, to all appearance, hope-
lessly separated from him, first by displeasure with his
conduct, and eventually by death. (For the views of
the earlier commentators see Sprenger, Malleus Male-
ficarum, 178, seq.; Lavater, De Spectris, 156, seq.;
and for the more recent hypotheses, KeU and Debtzsch.
On one point the history appears to leave us in no doubt,
namely, that, though not through the incantations of the
wretched enchantress, but to her own unaffected sur-
prise no less than terror, and only by the wiU of God,
Samuel himself, under whatever inexplicable conditions,
delivered the dread message which is put into his Hps.
The importance of that message — its importance in
relation to the whole histoiy of Saul — justified any
means, however extraordinary, which might be required
to invest it with due authoiity and impressiveness.
Nor was the channel through which it was conveyed
otherwise than singularly appropriate. Samuel had
anointed Saul king over Israel. He had warned him of
his danger when the tendencies which afterwards bore
fruit in an act of deliberate rebellion against God on
the occasion of the overthrow of Amalek first mani-
fested themselves. He had pronounced the sentence
of forfeitm*e when Saul's day of grace had passed
away. It was fit that — to make no attempt to explain
away the tlifficulties of an event not altogether unex-
ampled (Matt. xvii. 3) — to him also should be committed
the delivery of the message by which the final judgment
of God on Saul was declared. And there was a special
fitness in the fact that this message reached Saul, in
the cave of Endor, at the moment when the unhappy
monarch — thus caught in flagrante delicto — was in the
veiy act of filling up the measure of the guilt of his
previous rejection of God by having recourse to one of
the professed ministers of Baal.
Apart from its supernatural aspects, and in relation
exclusively to the light it throws on the character
of Saul, the scene in the witch's cave is full of inte-
rest. We have here xmdcr another form set before us
the same rebellious spirit, a spirit refusing to submit
itself unresei'vedly to the will of God, as in the history
of the war against Amalek. That on this occasion
Saul " sought counsel of one that had a familiar spirit,"
is expressly noticed in 1 Chron. x. 13, as, no less than his
former transgression, one of the gi-oimds of the judg-
ment that came upon him. No apology can be found
for -such a sin on his part. It was certainly not done
in ignorance. He had already given expression to his
sense of the impiety involved in the heathen practice of
divination, by proscribing it, on pain of death, through-
out his dominions. Yet even here we liave evidence of
the inconsistencies and repugnancies of his character.
The higher nature and purer piinciples of the man
were not extinct even in this supreme moment of his
apostacy. He betook himself to unlawful means, but
the end which he had in view was one which implied a
latent conviction that it was in God alone that help could
for him be found. In his extremity he sought counsel, if
tliroucjh, not frovi evil spirits or from the gods of the
heathen, but from one whom he had long known as a
faithful prophet of Jehovah. Wnen Samuel interro-
gated him, he said that his grief was only God's deser-
tion of him : " God is departed from me, and answereth
me no more, neither by dreams nor by prophets." And
132
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the final answer, wheu it came, beariug the tidings of
Ms own ruin and tlie overthrow of his house, though
delivered in the name of God, was at once accepted as
of irresistible authority. " Saul made haste, and foil
with the fulness of his stature [margin] on the earth,
because of the words of Samuel, and there was no
strength in him" (1 Sam. xxviii. 20).
And now comes the end. On the fatal morrow, how-
over hopelessly unavailing ho must have felt the struggle
to be, ho was true to the high character for courage in
battle which, under happier auspices, he had earned on
80 many a bloody field. But his doom was inevitable.
Saul himself for a time survived, though sorely wounded,
the defeat of his army, and the death of the throe sous
who were with him in the thick of the fight. There
were diEEerent accounts of the circumsta,nces of his
death.' The next day, however, when the Philistines
came to collect the spoil, they found the dead body of
Saul and his sons among the heaps of slain on Mount
Gilboa. ' How the indignities inflicted on his remains
were compensated by the devotion of the men of Jabesh-
gilead has been already noticed, and it has also been
told with what forgetfulness of his crimes and appre-
ciation of his A-irtues he was commemorated by the man
whom he had so much wronged, and who, as his suc-
^jessor, was destined to more than repair the bitter
misfortunes he had brought on Israel. The lessons
of his life for all the world are too obvious to require
to be enlarged upon.
With Saul also fell his house. Jonathan and
two of his brothers died, as we have seen, like their
father, on Mount Gilboa. The youngest son in the
direct line, Ishbosheth, or Eshbaal (1 Chrou. A-iii. 33),
who seems to have inherited neither the virtues nor
the vices of the head of the family, was enabled,
though only by the support of his kinsman Abner,
Saul's "captain of the host," to maintain, for a few
years, a feeble opposition to David, who, as " the
anomted of the Lord," was now the true king. He
fixed the seat of his self-assumed government in Maha-
naim, on the east of Jordan. Ishbosheth claimed, at one
time or other, sovereignty not over Gilead only, but also
" over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim,
and over Benjamin, and over all Israel " (2 Sam. ii. 0),
while David reigned in Judah. There was continual
warfare at this time between the two houses, but " David
waxed stronger and stronger, while the liouse of Saul
waxed weaker and weaker" (iii. 1). At last, forsaken
by Abnei", who, on some disgust, had deserted to the
rising power at Hebron, and fallen into utter contempt
mth his subjects, Ishbosheth perished miserably by
assassination. The murderers were two soldiers in his
1 "The statement of tho Amalekite is at variance with the
account of the death of Saul in 1 Sam. xxxi. 3, seq.; and even
apart from this it has an air of improbability, or rather untruth,
in it. . . . The only part of his statement which is certainly
true, is that he found the king lying dead upon the field of battle,
and took off the crown and armlet; since be brought these to
Bavid." (Keil and Delitzscb.)
own service, and belonging to his own tribe of Ben-
jamin (iv. 2). Already Abner, who, as we liave seen,
was Saul's cousin, had lieen treacherously slain by
Joab, while engaged iu making his peace with David.
The motive is said to have been personal revenge for
the death of Asahel, Joab's brother, who had fallen by
Abner's hand, in one of the many conflicts between the
rival liouses (ii. 23; iii. 27). David, with his usual
magnanimity, and with the inalienable attachment
Avhich he so often manifested to the family of Saul,
honoured him with a public funeral, himself following
the body to the tomb, and pronounced on his old com-
rade in arms a noble eulogium : " Know ye not that
there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in
Israel?" (iii. 38). Saul's massacre of the Gibeonites
has been already mentioned. The penalty incurred by
liis house through that act of misdirected zeal, which
impeached the national honour, was not exacted till
near the close of the reign of his successor. A demand
was at last made, and, not without a Divine sanction,
was acceded to, for the long-deferred retribution.
There still remained some representatives of the first
king of Israel, and of these seven were given up to
death. A touching incident in the history of the dread
sacrifice, the memory of which lias been preserved by
the sacred historian, reminds us how much indi^-idual
human suffering, affecting the innocent as well as
the guilty, is involved in the results of such crimes
as those of Saul. Two of the victims were sons of
his own, by his secondary wife, Rizpah, the daughter
of Aiah, a Canaanite. With the rest, they appear
to have been either crucified, or, after execution,
hung up in chains as a public spectacle. This
took place at Gibeah, at the Passover season, " in the
beginning of barley har\'est." "And Rizpah, tho
daughter of Aiah, took," we are told, "sackcloth, and
spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning
of harvest until water dropped upon them out of
heaven [i.e., all through the months of the scorching
summer heat, till the fall of the periodical rains in
October], and suffered neither the birds of the air to
rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by
night" v2 Sam. xxi. 10). Mephibosheth, the son of
Jonathan, who had been permanently lamed in both
his feet by the fall of his nurse, as she fled with him,
then a cliild, after the disaster at Gilboa, and who, in
after years, became the guest of David in his royal
palace, and one or two other more remote connections
of Saul's family, appear throughout the history of the
son of Jesse. But the house of Saul, at least as fur-
nishing possible aspirants to the succession of the throne,
was \"irtually extinct. One of tho latest acts of David's
reign was to collect from the gi-ave " under a tree "
at Jabesh, and from " the rock" at Gibeah, the bones
of Saul and his three oldest sons, and the bones of
"them that were hanged," and bury them together in
"tho sepulchre of Kish in the country of Benjamin"
(xxi. 12—14).
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
133
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. MATTHEW.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OP WINKPIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
"For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together."— Matt. xxiv. 28.
I HE first word in this verse (70^, "for") is
emitted in the best editions, in several of
the versions, and by some of the early-
Fathers. This omission removes all neces-
"sity for the restriction of the reference of this verse to
that which immediately i^recedes it, " For as the light-
uino- Cometh out of the east, and shineth e^-en unto the
west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be ; " and,
at the same time, it removes also, as it appears to us,
the only plausible reason wliich has been assigned for
that interpretation of its meaning, in accordance with
which our Lord Himself is represented by "the
c<arcase," and the angels, martyi-s, or saints, by "the
eao-les." The incongruity of the supposition that our
Lord's glorified humanity, when "the Son of man shall
come," as represented in the following chapter (xxv. 31),
"in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him," is
intended by " the carcase," which attracts " the eagles,"
is so ob\dous, that it is strange that any advocates should
have been found, either in early or in later days, for
such an interpretation. Similar, if not equally strong,
objections may be urged against those modifications of
the same interpretation, in accordance with which
reference has been supposed to be made to the attrac-
tive efficacy of our Lord's crucified body, rather than
to that of the body of His glory. In favour of the
former of the two views, it might be urged that the
soaring of the eagles typifies the rapture of the risen
saints to meet their Lord in the air ; but this explana-
tion only makes more apparent the incongruity of the
supposition that " the carcase " typifies the glorified
resurrection body of the Saviour. In favour of the
latter view it might be urged that the application of
the t«rm " carcase " to our Lord's crucified body is not
so utterly incongi-uous — we might say so revolting — as
that which applies it to His glorified body ; but, on the
other hand, whilst the very semblance of any connection
with the context is lost by this interpretation of the verse,
the prima facie argument in ifts favour, derived from the
upward flight of " eagles," is also lost, whilst the incon-
gruity of the comparison of saints and martyrs to iU-
omened birds of prey remains. It may suffice to
observe, with Lightfoot, in reference to these and all
similar interpretations, however slightly modified or
diversified, " I wonder any can understand these words
of pious men flying to Christ, when the discourse here
is quite of a different thing."
Another interpretation of this passage which de-
mands notice, and which has been adopted by many
expositors of deservedly high esteem, is that which
explains " the carcase " as the Jewish nation, and " the
eagles " as the Roman armies. This interpretation is,
in our judgment, coiTect as far as it goes, but too
restricted. It seems to be based on the assumption
that the preceding verses relate exclusively to the
destruction of the city and Temple of Jerusalem, and
that they will receive no further and more comprehen-
sive fulfilment in the second advent of the Son of man,
and in the judgments which shall then fall upon the
world of the ungodly.
If, as we believe, both the type and the antitype are
comprehended in the preceding portion of the dis-
course (verses 15 — 27), it seems to foUow, as a matter
of necessity, that verse 28 should be understood, not in
its partial and restricted, but in its wider and more
universal application, as teaching that throughout the
whole of the Christian, as well as of the Jewish dis-
pensation, iniquity wiU continue to aboxmd, and that
sin will everywhere provoke judgment.
The general ecope and application of this proverbial
saying wUl become more apparent on a reference to the
parallel passage in Luke x\-ii. 37. The subject of dis-
course in that chapter is clearly and unequivocally the
final manifestation of the Son of man, and those judg-
ments which shall attend His second advent, of which the
flood and the destruction of Sodom were the divinely-
selected types. Immediately upon our Lord's solemn
announcement of the final and eternal separation which
shall then be made between those who have been most
closely associated in the affairs of this life, the inquiry
was made by the disciples, " Where, Lord ? " To this
mquiry our Lord, as though He wo»ld leave on record
a solemn warning of the certainty and the universality
of the retribution which He had announced, returned
answer in words almost identical with those under
consideration : " And he said unto them, Wheresoever
the body {rh o-wa'S^ not as in St. Matthew, rh nrwixa) is,
thither will the eagles be gathered together."
It is quite possible, indeed, that as the utter corrup-
tion of the Jewish polity invited the assault of the
Romans with a view to " take away both their place
and nation," and as the sins of priests and people
had incurred those heavy judgments of which the
Roman armies were the di-\-inely-appointed executioners,
so there may have been in these words a designed
allusion to those eagles which, as it is well known, were
the ensigns which the Roman legions bore. But,
whether this allusion be recognised or not, our Lord's
words are of far too comprehensive a character to
warrant their restriction to the destinies of any single
nation, or to the events of any single period. In
answer to the inquuy of His disciples, " Wliere,
J The word T'-'/ia is frequently used of a dead body in the New
Testament as well as in classical Greek. Cf. Matt. sv. 12;
xxvii. 52; xxvii. 58, 59; Luke xxiv. 3, 23; John xii. 31, c8, 40 j
XX. 12 ; Acta ix. 40 ; Jude 9.
134
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Lord ? " His far-ranging eye seems to have ooinpre-
liended in one glance the whole events of that period
which should be comprised within His two advents.
Everywhere He beholds sin in\iting punishment, and
judgment following upon transgression. And His
assurance to His disciples was this : — As certainly as the
vultures^ will detect and fasten upon the prey, however
concealed the position of the carcase, so surely and
inevitably — thougli scntouce against an e%-il work be
not always executed speedily — sin will provoke judg-
ment, and the executioners of the Divine wrath will
avenge the transgression of the Divine laws.
The destruction of the Temple and city of Jerusalem
was one of the most signal manifestations which the
pages of history furnish of this unchanging and eternal
principle of the Divine economy. But it was not in the
destruction of Jerusalem alone that oui- Lord's words
were designed to receive their fulfilment. Wheresoever
the seeds of sin are sown, the harvest of punishment
1 It is generally admitted by the best modern commentators
tbat the word "eiof in this verse (like the Hebrew "103, Micah i. 16)
denotes the carrion-kite or vulture {Yidtur porcnopterus). The
following extract from Thomson's Land and the Book will illustrate
the general character and habits of these " scavengers of the
East :''—" Here we have a confirmation of that proverb of our
lord, ' Wheresoever the carcase is,' &c.
" Are those huge birds eagles ?
" Not all. Those smaller ones, of a duU white and yellow
colour, are a species of vulture ; they are a more gross and a
much tamer bird. The eagles, you observe, have all retired to the
tops of those sand-heaps, while the vultures only hop a Uttle
way up the beach as we approach.
" I did not know there were so many eagles in all this country.
must follow. Wheresoever, in the history of indinduals,
of churches, or of nations, the laws of truth, of purity,
and of godliness are violated, there, sooner or later,
"the eagles "of Di^•ine justice will issue forth for the
execution of Divine vengeance. Sometimes, as with
Judas and Ananias, amongst individuals; as with Sodom
and Gomorrah, and with Jerusalem, amongst cities ; as
with the seven churches of Proconsular Asia, and with
those of Northern Africa, amongst communities of
professing Christians, the doom of the transgressors is
left on record for the warning of those who should come
after them. But, whether the sentence of Di^^ne
judgment be, or be not, manifestly executed during
the continuance of this present imperfect dispensation,
" the carcase " must eventually attract "' the eagles ;"
and though the tares and the wheat may Ije allowed to
'•grow together until the harvest," nevertheless, "in
the time of liarvest" it will be said to the reapers,
" Grather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
buiMles to burn them ; but gather the wheat into my
baru"(Matt. xiii. 30).
They must have gathered together from a great distance. And
what 'carcase' is this that has assembled such a congregation on
the sea-beach ?
" Nothing but an immense turtle which the stoim threw out on
the shore. ... Do you notice that these eagles have no
feathers on the head and upper part of the neck ? This reminds
me of the advice of Micah to the houses of Achzib, back yonder
on this very shore — ' Make thee bald, and jioU thee, for thy
delicate children ; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle." They are a
hideous-looking bird." (Pp. 315, 316.)
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE EEV. W. HOUGHTON, BI.A., F.L.S., BECTOK OP PSESTON, SAIiOP.
DOMESTIC FOWLS.
HERE is no distinct allusion to domestic
fowls in the Old Testament Scriptures,
for although our EngUsh version enume-
rates fatted fowls amongst the dainties
suppHed for King Solomon's table (1 Kings iv. 23),
there is no evidence at all to show that the Hebrew
words {barhurim abusim) denote "fatted fowls," be-
yond the authority of the Vulgate and a few other
versions. Fiirst derives the word barbnr from an
Arabic root meaning " to screech," " to make an angry
noise," and Ls inclined to agree with Kimchi that the
screeching goose is intended. Gresenius also is in
favour of geese ; he derives the word from the Hebrew
bdrar, " to be white." From the New Testament,
however, we learn that domestic poultry were kept by
the Jews in the time of our Lord, who, in familiar words,
o^alled especial attention to the tender care of her off-
spring bestowed by the hen-bird. " How often wovdd
I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth
gather her brood under her wings" (Luke xiii. 3-i;
Matt, xxiii. 37). The cock is mentioned in connection
vdth Peter's denial of Jesus (Matt. sxvi. 34; Mark
xiv. 30).
Tlie habit of the cock in the East of crowing diiring
the night at regular times gave rise to the expression
" cock-crowing " {a\eKTopo<pwv'ia) to indicate a definite
portion of time. " Ye know not when the master of
the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the
cock-crowing, or in the morning " (Mark xiii. 35). Simi-
larly the Romans expressed a period of time (the last
watch of the night, the break of day, about three o'clock
in the morning) by the Latin word gallicinium. The
Hebrews designated the cock-crovring period by the
words kenath haggeber — i.e., " the singing of the cock."
In Greek, as in Latin, the " cock-crovring-time " {a\(K-
Topo(puvia) denoted the third watch of the night. But
though three o'clock a.m. generally represents the
cock-crowing period, midnight also is a season in which
" the bird of dawn" not unfrequently crows. Tliis ex-
plains veiy satisfactorily a seeming contradiction in the
Gospels. St. Matthew states that our Lord said to
Peter, " Before the cockcrow thoushalt deny me thrice "
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
135
(xxvi. 3-i). St. Mark (xiv. 30) says, " Before the cock
crow twice:' The first-named Evaugelist gives the
general sense, andaUudes only to the period customarily
denoted— viz., the three o'clock crowing. Mark is more
definite, and mentions both the midnight and the early
dawn crowing. Cocks not only in the East often crow
at midnight and other hours of the night, but in this
country also, especially about Christmas time, if the
nights are clear and bright. To this Shakespeare
alludes : —
" Some say tliat ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning siugeth all night long:."
Mamlet, i. 1.
There is no representation on the sculptures of Eg-ypt
of any kind of domestic fowl among the farm-yard
stock, though geese often occur, being represented in
the act of being counted in the presence of stewards.
No notice of the domestic fowl ocem's in the writings of
Homer and Hesiod (b.c. 900), but it is mentioned by
Theognis and Aristophanes (b.c. 400 and 500). The
latter poet calls the cock "the Persian bird," the Greeks
probably having obtained it from Persia, in which
country Messrs. Blyth and Crawfurd think it never
existed in a wUd state. Dr. Bircli has translated pas-
sages from a Chinese encyelopgedia compiled from
ancient documents, in which it is said that fowls are
THE JUNGLE FOWL.
The explanation of this is that the crowing is always
tliat of young cocks, which are maturing about Christmas
time, and which doubtless are proud of their newly-
acquired powers, and may mistake bright moonlight
nights for early morn. These cockerel night-crowers
would be about five months old at Christmas ; and some
of them are kept for breeding purposes in the following
spring.
For the original home of domestic fowls we must
look to India, the Indo-Chinese countries, and the
northern parts of the Malay Arcliipelago. The Bankiva
cock {Gallus Banhiva) of Java is the origin of our
Bantams; while the Gallus giganteus of Malaya is
supposed by some to be the parent of our larger breeds.
creatures of the "West, and were introduced into China
in a dynasty 1400 B.C. Figures of the fowl occur on'
Babylonian cylinders between the sixth and seventh
centuries. When and whence the domestic fowl was
introduced uito Palestine, is a question that has not
hitherto received an answer. As no notice of it occurs
before the possession of Judsea by the Romans, it
may have been introduced by these conquerors, who
were very fond of poultry both for fighting purposes
and for the table ; though, as we have seen that the cock
was known in Persia at least 400 or 500 years before
Christ, it might have been received by the Jews from
the Persians, vrith whom, at the time of Cyrus, they
were on very friendly terms. Or Solomon, who we
136
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
know introduced the peacock into Palestine, might at
tho same time have imported tlie domestic fowl from the
same country — viz., India. Whatever may be tho date
of their first mtroduction, fowls are now extremely
common in the Holy Land, the modern Jews keeping
poultry in large numbers for the sjike of chickens and
The other passage occurs in Job xxxix. 13 : " Gavest
thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks ? " which is an
admitted mis-translation ; the verse should be rendered
thus : " Tlie wing of the ostrich moveth joyously ; but
hath she tho pinion and feather of the stork '^ "—i.e., the
ostrich may be prized for the value and beauty of its
'^ V^^'ir'n!;-,,v.i.|'ll;.,illiviii|','ifl
1 ^'"%^',;!^i I'i'.il'i'iSiiiii'i
eggs, not only in their yards, but in their houses at
Jerusalem, where they roost at night over their beds.
PEA.COCKS.
Peacocks are mentioned three times in our English
Bible — viz., in 1 Kings x. 22, and 2 Chron. ix. 21, where
they are enumerated among tho foreign natural products
imported into Judaea from Ophir by King Solomon.
plumes, but she has not the fond disposition of the
stork towards her brood, for she leaveth her eggs in
the dust, and is hardened against her young ones, &c.
The Hebrew word in the passages in Kings and Chro-
nicles already referred to is tukhiyhn, for which the
Septuagint and Vulgate correctly give rawves and pavi.
Gcsenius has traced the Hebrew term talcki to the
Tamil or Malabaric togei, " a peacock." This opinion
FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
137
has been confirmed by Sir E. Tenneut, who says, " It
is very remarkable that the terms by which these
articles [ivory, apes, and peacocks] are designated in
the Hebrew Scriptures are identical with the Tamil
names by which some of them are called in Ceylon to
the present day ; tukeyim may be recognised in tohei,
the modern name of these birds " [Ceylon, ii., p. 102;
and i., p. 20, 3rd edition). On this subject Professor
Max Miiller writes : " The Hebrew names for apes and
ivory are clearly traceable to the Sanskrit ; but though
togei does not appear iu Sanskrit, it has been derived
from the Sanskrit word s'ikhin, meaning ' furnished
with a crest ' " [Science of Language, p. 190). Refer to
our articles on "Apes" and "Elephant."
Tlie common peacock [Pavo cristatus ; compare the
Sanskrit sHkhin) is spread over the north of India and
the Malaysian islands in its wild and natural state ; it is
abundant in the forests of the Ghauts. Large flocks
are to be seen domesticated around the Hindoo temples
in the Deccan and elsewhere. Buffon and Cuvier say
that the peacock was first introduced into Greece by
Alexander tlie Great ; but this bird was certainly well
known to the Greeks many years even before Alexander
was bom. The Greek word raus occurs in The Birds
(102, 269) of Aristophanes, and in The Acharnians of
the same poet. The date of Alexander's birth is B.C.
356, while the play of The Birds was brought out B.C.
419, and The Acharnians earlier still — viz., B.C. 425.
Aristotle also speaks of the peacock as a Avell-known
bird when he says, " Some animals are A^ain and jealous
like the peacock " [Hist. Anim. 1, i., § 15). The Greeks,
no doubt, introduced the peacock from Persia, but when
we cannot say ; and the Persians doubtless brought
these birds from India. From Greece peacocks gra-
dually extended into Rome and other parts of Europe.
Besides the Pavo cristatus there is another species
which has a much longer crest, the feathers of which
are regularly barbed from the base upwards ; this species
is the P. Japonensis, of Aldrovandus — the P. muticus
of Linnaeus, who (as the specific name implies) described
the bird, probal)ly on the authority of Aldrovandus, a»
being devoid of spurs, erroneously however, as the bird
has spurs ; it is found in Java and the Malay countries.
The P. nigripennis, a black-shouldered kind which is
occasionally produced in this country, has been by some
ornithologists supposed to be a new species ; but as at
present no wild species has liitherto been found, and as
this breed has sometimes suddenly appeared in stock of
common pied and white peacocks, there is every reason
to agree with Mr. Darwin that the " whole evidence
seems to preponderate strongly in favour of the black-
shouldered breed being a variation, induced either by
the climate of England or by some unknown cause, such
as reversion to a primordial and extinct condition of the
species" [Anim. and Plants under Domest., i., p. 291).
Our word "peacock," at least the former part of it,
is to be traced to the Latin pavus — that from Towy,
which is onomatopcetic, admirably describing the cat-
like voice of the bird. This idea appears, accorduig-
to Professor Monier Williams, in Sanskrit, under the
name of mdrjdraha, "a peacock," so called from its
cat-like cry [Sanskrit Diet., p. 774).
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
ET THE EEV. CANON KAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROrESSOR OP ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
FIEST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
HE two Books of Chronicles, like those
of Samuel and Kings, were originally
but one,^ and probably even formed a
portion of a stUl larger work, a work
which commenced with 1 Chron. i., and terminated with
Ezra X. The continuity of Ezra with 2 Chron. is indi-
cated by the identity of the passage which now termi-
nates Chronicles (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23) with that
wherewith Ezra commences (Ezra i. 1 — 3). It has been
supposed that this passage properly belongs only to
Ezra, and that its occurrence in Chronicles is owing to
the mistake of a scribe, who, not perceiving that he had
finished the book which he was transcribing (Chronicles"),
went on, and copied two verses and a half of Ezra.-
But it is a fatal objection to this theory, that Ezra does
not foUow Chronicles in the Hebrew copies, in which
Clironicles is the last book of all, while Ezra comes
after Daniel. There would also be an unfitness in
1 Hieronym., Ad Dommon et Rogatian. (Op., torn, iii., fol. 7c.)
" Kennicott, Comment on Chronicles xxxvi. 22 ; Home, Intro-
Auction, vol. iv., p. 58, note (5th edition).
Chronicles terminating two verses sooner than it now
does, since then it would contain no distinct mention of
the return from the Captivity, wliich the whole scope
and purpose of the history require to be noticed, and
which indeed no patriotic Jew, writing after it had
taken place, could fail to put on record. It seems,
therefore, almost certain that the passage, 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 22, 23, is an integral portion of the original
work ; and if so, the conclusion that Ezra was written
as the concluding section of Chronicles can scarcely he
resisted; for Chronicles cannot have terminated in the
middle of a sentence, as it now does;^ and if it ran on,
it would naturally run on with exactly such a narrative
as we find in Ezra. Moreover, there is, as almost all
critics admit,-* the closest possible resemblance of stjde
3 The present termination of Chronicles is abrupt and incom-
plete : " Who is there among you of all his people ? The Lord
hi God be with him, and let him go up " Ezra gives the
natural continuation : " His God be with him, and let him go up to
Jerusalem, which is in Judah," &c.
4 Do Wette, Einleitung, § 196 b ; Movers, Kritisclie Utitersvchvnoen,
§14e; EwalJ, GeschichUdes Volkes Israel, vol. i., pp. 252, 253, &c.
138
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and tone between the two books, so that even if they
contamocl no identical passage, it would bo evident that
they were by the same author.
Is it possible, then, to say who was this author?
Many modern critics assert that it is not. They view
"Ezra" as a compQatiou by an anonymous Avriter, living
about the time of Alexander the Great, or even later.i
who (they say) embodied in his work a monograph
■written by Ezra. The same writer, they allow, com-
piled the Books of Chronicles, to which they assign the
dat« of B.C. 336 — 323, or (for critics of this school
seldom agree together) that of about B.C. 260. But
the criticism which pronounces these judgments bases
itself, according to its o^vn admissions, wholly upon the
internal c-\-idence. Internal evidence, where there is an
abundant literature, where a language can be traced
from stage to stage, and where each stage has been
thorouglily mastered by the critic, is, no doubt, a very
suflScient guide; but where the literature is scanty,
where all its stages are not known, where the critic is
hut half master of the language in any stage, nothing is
more doubtful and imtrustworthy. The conclusions
of German criticism, both upon the positive and upon
the relative age of the various portions of the Hebrew
Bible, are, up to the present time, so dissonant, so dia-
metrically opposite, that the only inference we can
safely draw is that no dependence at aU can be placed
upon them. In cases where such extreme diversity
prevails among those who make internal evidence their
guide, it seems to be justifiable to fall back, tentatively
at any rate, upon the external evidence, and inquire
what historical tradition says on the subject, and what
reasons on the whole there seem to bo for accepting or
rejecting it.
Now the consentient voice of the Jewish commen-
tators on the Hebrew Scriptures declares both "Chro-
nicles " and " Ezra " to have been written by Ezra." It
does not appear that the writers who have delivered this
judgment saw any close resemblance of style between
the " books " in question, or had ever troubled themselves
with any such laborious process as a critical analysis of
the " books," or of their constituent parts ; they appear
simply to have declared the fact as one traditionally
known to them, known to them much in the same way
in which we know that Shakespeare wrote the Venus
and Adonis, and Milton the Are(ypagitica. Now of
course it must be allowed that ascriptions of author-
ship, even when consentient, are not always trustworthy,
and that works which have long passed by the name of
an ancient writer have occasionally been proved to bo
spurious, and to belong even to quite a different age.=
But these cases are, comparatively speaking, rare ; and
' Ewald {GeseVcMe des Volkes Israel, vol. i., pp. 231, 232) assigns
the work to the time of Alexander; Zunz (GoUerdimatl. Vortr. der
J ^de^i, § 31) Buggests the date of b.c.260.
' lia a Bathra, tol. 15. c. 1. Huet says emphatically and truly,
" Esram libros Pnralipomenon lucubrasse Ebrasorum omnium est
fama consen, iens" (De ojurfrat. EvangeUca, iv. 14, p. 341).
3 Ag the Periphis, ascribed to Scylax of Cadyanda, who lived in
the sirth century B.C., which has been proved to have been com-
posed in the fourth.
the consentient testimony of a nation to a work in its
language having proceeded from the pen of a certain
individual is always to be regarded as an evidence of
great weight, and one tliat can only be overpowered if
met and rebutted by counter-evidence still weightier.
Now in tlie present case the counter-evidence adduced
is of the flimsiest kind. The Book of Ezra, it is said,'»
must bo as a whole a compilation by some writer who
is not Ezra, since, when Eara is spoken of in the book,
there is an alternate use of the first and the third
person. But a similar alternation occurs in Daniel,* ia
Thucydides," and in numerous ancient inscriiitions,'
where no one doubts but that the whole proceeds from
a single wi'iter, who speaks of himself sometimes in the
one person, and sometimes in the other. Again, it is
said** that the Book of Chronicles cannot have been
written by Ezra, since the genealogy of the descendants
of David is carried down to the sixth generation after
Zerubbabel (1 Chron. iii. 19 — 24), or to about the time
of Alexander the Great, which is nearly a century later
than the time of Ezra. Biit, in the first place, the
necessary date of the passage in question is not the time
of Alexander the Great, but about seventy-five years
earlier,^ so that Ezra, if he lived to a good old age, may
have written it;'" and, secondly, it is quite possible that
he may have been the real author of Chronicles, although
he did not write this particular passage. Nothing is
more certain than that there have been authorised addi-
tions to books of Scripture, subsequently to their original
composition, by persons other than their authors. The
last chapter of Deuteronomy is such an authorised
addition; and of a similar character are some of the
lists in Nehemiah.ii The fact, then, that one genealogy
in Chronicles descends to a date later than that ordi-
narily assigned to Ezra, is no proof that the remainder
of the work did not proceed from his pen. The last
two verses of 1 Chron. iii. may have been added by
Nehemiah or Malachi to the original work of Ezra, in
order to carry down the descent of the " sons of David"
to the point which it had reached in their day.
When Ezra and Chronicles are critically examined
•1 De Wette, Einleitung in d. AU. Testament, § 196 a, p. 261 ;
Stuart, Old Testament Canon, § 6, p. 148.
* Daniel uses from chap. i. to chap. vii. 1 the third person ; from
chap. vii. 2 to the end of chap. ix. , the first ; in chap. x. 1, the third ;
and the first in the remainder of the work.
6 Thucydides begins his history in the third person (i. 1), bnt
changes to the first after a few chapters (i. 20 — 22). In book iv.
he resumes the third (chaps. 104 — 106) ; while in book v., chap. 26,
he begins in the third, but runs on into the first, which he again
uses in book viii., chap. 97.
7 As that of Tiglath-pileser I., which has tin first person in § 2 ;
the third in § 3 ; the first from § 4 to § 8 ; the third in § 9; the
first from § 10 to § 19 ; the third in § 20 ; the first again from §21
to § 25 ; the third in § 26, &c.
8 De Wette, KMeitung, § 189, p. 212. Compare Ewald, GeschicMe
des Tolhes Israel, vol. i.,pp. 231, 232.
9 See the note on the passag*^ in the Spealcer's Comm.cntar]i (vol.
iii., pp. 186, 187), where it is shown that, 2.t the not improbable
rnte of twenty years to a generation, the genealogy in 1 Chron. iii.
19 — 24 comes down to about B.C. 410.
10 We hav ■ no reason to suppose tliat Ezra was more than thirty
when he received his commission from Artaxei-xes, which was in
B.C. 458. Supposing this to have been his age, he would have been
seventy-eight in b.c. 410.
i> Especially tlw)se in chap. xii. 10, 11, and 22.
FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
139
and analysed, tlie Hebrew tradition as to tlieir author-
ship is very greatly strengthened and confirmed. The
parts of Ezra where the writer uses the first person are
admitted on all hands' to have been the work of the
" ready scribe" (Ezra vii. 6). But the rest of Ezra is
completely homogeneous in style with these parts, and
must almost certainly have proceeded from the same
writer.- And between Ezra and Chronicles there is so
verj' great a resemblance that the critics who care least
for tradition pronounce them the composition of the
same mind.^ The internal evidence thus entirely con-
firms the external testimony ; and Ezra's authorship of
Chronicles may be regarded as not far short of being
an " established fact."
The fact of Ezra's authorship of Chronicles, which
seems to us almost certain, throws much light on the
scope and intention of the work, and on the question
of how it came to be written. Tliere is this peculiarity
in Chronicles, markedly distinguishing it from aU the
other historical books of the Old Testament, that it is
not a continuation of the previous history, but a repe-
tition. The writer does not occupy new ground, but
traverses ground which he knows well to have been
previously trodden by others. He re-writes the events
of Jewish history from the death of Saul to the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, notwithstanding
that they have been already put upon record by the
authors of Samuel and Kings. So far as the Old Tes-
tament is concerned, this is a unique phenomenon ; and
the intelligent student naturally asks for an explana-
tion of it. Why in this single case has the ordinary
economy of Holy Scriptm-e been departed from — what
induced a writer to go over gi-ound already occupied,
and re-write history which an inspired penman had
already written ? Some critics have thought that they
sufficiently answered this question by saying that the
"writer of Chronicles, having found in the archives of
Ms nation many facts of interest which the authors of
Samuel and Kings had omitted to put on record, deter-
mined to re-write the history in order to introduce
them, his work being thus intended, mainly or wholly,
as a " supplement " to Kings and Samuel. This seems
to have been the view of the Alexandrian Jews who
translated Chronicles into Greek for the version known
as the Septuagbit, and entitled their work Paralei-
pomena, or " Things Omitted." But a comparison of
the contents of Chronicles with those of Samuel and
Kings is conclasive against this theory, since to a very
large extent Chronicles is a repetition of those earlier
books, sometimes a repetition of whole chapters, with
only a few verbal differences,* constantly a repetition of
the general narrative with a certain number of fresh
touches. The true character of a supplemental history
1 See De Wette, Emleitung, § 196 n.
- Compare the Speaker's Commcnfar;/, "Introduction to Ezra,"
vol. iii., p 387, note 7.
•* De Wette, 1. s. c. ; Bertheau, Commentar iihev Chronik ; &c.
* Compare 1 Chron. x. 1—12 with 1 Sam. xxxi. ; 1 Chron. xvii.
with 2 Sam. vii. ; 1 Chron. xviii. with 2 Sam. viii. ; xix. with
2 Sam. X. ; xxi. with 2 Sam. xxiv. ; 2 Chron. v. 2— vii. 10 with
1 Kings viii. ; and 2 Chron. xxii. 10— xxiv. 1 mth 2 Kings xi.
may be seen by comparing St. John's \vith the other
Gospels; this character clearly does not attach to
Chronicles, which, while no doubt it supplies a certain
number of facts not previously j)ut on record, is in the
main a re-publication of tiie old facts, or rather of
certain portions of them. We must theu look for some
other motive as that which animated the writer of
Chronicles, and induced him to commence and carry
through an elaborate work, which at first sight has the
appearance of being almost supererogatory.
This motive is to be foimd in the circumstances of
the Jewish nation at the time when Chronicles was
written. The people in their long and toilsome cap-
tivity, scattered among their conquerors, and ground
down by taskwork,^ had forgotten their past, had
become ignorant of their sacred books, and had even
lost the capacity of gi-asping and retaining the long
and complicated account of their former history which
had been familiar to their ancestors. On their
return to Palestine they were a band of emancipated
slaves, ignorant, illiterate, incapable of much thought,
childish, and requiiing, like children, very simple
elementaiy teaching. Again, they were a multitude
rather than a people; in their long-continued oppres-
sion and isolation they had lost the sentiment of
nationality, the very idea of patriotism ; they had for-
gotten their tribal distinctions and relationships ; and
though they had not fallen away from the worship of
Jehovah, they had come to have a very dim and faint
notion of what that worship in reality was, as esta-
blished by the greatest of their monarchs, David and
Solomon. To restore the national life, to re-unite the
present with the past, to re-awaken the slumbering
spirit of pati-iotism, to recall the glories of old times,
and set them before the nation as the standard which
they should aim at reaching in the future, was the hard
but grand task which the leaders of the Jewish people
set themselves at this time, and which none did more
to accomplish than the writer of Chronicles. Instead
of throwing the people back upon their old histories,
written on too large a scale for their present needs,
and in language of a more or less archaic type, he com-
posed for their use a condensed narrative, written in
the idiom of the day, with frequent allusions to recent
events, and brought down to Ms own times, which was
far more calculated to affect them strongly and deeply
than the ancient larger compositions. At the same time,
having to deal with persons in a childish and undeve-
loped state, he adopted a tone not elsewhere found in
the historical Scriptures— a didactic tone of extreme
du-ectness and simplicity — a plan of pointing the moral
in every case, of openly ascribing all the events of the
history to the Divine agency, and referring in the
plainest language every great calamity or deliverance
to the good or evil deeds of the monarch or the nation,
to whom they were sent as rewards or judgments.
5 Polyhistor tells us (Fr. 24) that Nebuchadnezzar employed the
bulk of the captive Jews in this way.
6 See 1 Chron. iv. 10 ; v. 18—20, 25, 26; ix. 1 ; r. 13, 14; xi. 9;
140
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The "Book of Chronicles" is divisible into four
main portions. Tlie first comprises nine chapters,
from 1 Chron. i. to ix. inclusive. The second extends
from 1 Chron. x. to xxix. ; the third from 2 Chron. i.
to ix. ; and the fom-th from 2 Clu-on. x. to xxxvi. The
first, or introductory, section is of a very peculiar cha-
racter. It consists almost \vholly of genealogical lists,
which are either detached or connected together by the
slenderest possible thread of narrative. The genea-
logies are in part taken from the earlier Scriptures, but
are derived also to a large extent from other sources,
either national registers (1 Chron. iv. 31, 41 ; v. 17 ; A-ii.
2), or perhaps in some cases family archives (1 Clu-on.
ii, Q — 9^ &c.). They exlend to all the tribes of Israel,
excepting Zebidon and Dan. Judah is treated of at far
greater length than asy of the others, the account of
his descendants occupying two and a half chapters
(ch. ii. 3 to ch. iv. 231. Benjamin and Le%T fill a con-
siderable space, the former occupying one entire chapter
and portions of two others (ch. ^-ii. 6 — 12 ; ch. viii. ;
and ch. ix. 35 — i4), the latter one entire chajjter (ch.
\i.). The account of the other ti-ibes is very bi-ief.
The chief interest of this portion of the work to the
modern reader consists In certain brief parenthetic
narratives, which are additional to the earlier Scriptures
— e.g., the story of Jabez (ch. iv. 9, 10) ; the account of
the conquests of the Simeonites (ch. iv. 39 — 43) ; the
war of Reuben with the Hagarites (ch. v. 10, 18 — 22) ;
the killing of Ephraim's sons by the men of Gath (ch.
vii. 21); and the defeat of the Gittites by the men of
Aijalon (ch. viii. 13). The genealogies themselves, very
important, no doubt, at the lime, are to the modem
reader cm-ious rather than interesting. One, however,
that of the descendants of David (ch. iii.j, is excep-
tionally valuable. It adds some curious particulars to
the accounts elsewhere given of David's line ; ^ and it
carries the line down to (at least) the twenty-sixth
generation, or six generations beyond the point to
which it is carried in any other part of the Old
Testament .-
The genealogical portion of Chronicles is completed
by a list of the principal families who returned to
the Holy Land after the Capti\-ity, and settled at
Jerusalem. These are declared to have belonged to at
least five tribes — Levi, Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and
Manasseh (ch. ix. 2, 3). No complete account is o'iven
of their number ; but a comparison with Neh. xi. leads
to the conclusion that about 20,000 of the returned
Israelites took up their abode at Jerasalem ; while tlie
remainder, who amounted, perhaps, to about 30,000,
ixi. 7; 2CTiron. x. 15; xii. 2 ; liii. 18; xiv. 11, 12; xvi. 7; xvii.
3—5; iviii. 31; xr. 30; xii. 10; uii. 7; nxiv. 18,24; ixt. 20;
xxvi. 5, 7, 20; xsvii. 6; xxviii. 4— C, 19; xxii. 20, 21; xixii 25;
xxxiii. 10-13, 23, 2-t; xsxri. 16. &c.
' As the assignment to Josinb of a fonrth son, Johnnan, nnd to
Jechouiah of a secon'l son, Zedekiah ; the meution of Fedaiah as
the actvml f:ither of Zerubbabel, &c.
Thesfi six cenprations must reach down to nt lenst B.C. 410. It
18 possible that they may have been placed on record by Ezra, but
it is pprbnps more xircbable that Ezra's genealogy was extended by
some later reviser.
spread themselves over the country districts of Judaea
from Beer-sheba to Bethel.^
Ha\-ing completed his lists, and in this way reminded
his people of tlie place which they occupied among the
nations of the earth, and at the same time recalled to
their recollection their own chief tribal diA'isions, and
the peciUiar position of the Levites among the twelve
tribes (ch. xi. 54—81), the author proceeds (in ch. x.)
to that condensed history of his nation's past to which
he desires especially to draw their attention, with the
object of encoiu'aging them to hope that by perseverance
in weU-doing they may bring God's blessing upon them,
and recover their ancient prosperity. Omitting the
lemoter ages, when they were either subject to Egypt
or engaged in a struggle for life Avith their neighbours
in Palestine, he places before them the glorious reign
of DaA-id, introducing it by an account of the death of
Saul (ch. X.), and extending his history of the reign
tlirough nineteen chaj)ters, seven of wliich set forth
the temporal power and military successes of the great
monarch, while twelve exhibit his zeal for Jehovah
and his efforts in favour of religion. A double object
may be traced throughout — first, the desu'e to connect
David's prosperity with liis religiousness, indicated in
such passages as the following : " So David waxed
gi-eater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with
him " (ch. xi. 9) ; " Peace be to thee, and peace be to thy
helpers, for thy God helpeth thee " (ch. xii. 18) ;
" Da^-id perceived fhat the Lord had confirmed him
king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high "
(ch. xiv. 2) ; " The fame of David went out into all
lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon aU
nations " — and, secondly, the design to exhibit as fully
as possible all that David did for the establishment of the
national worship iu the divinely-appointed place, and
for the institution and maintenance of a gi-and, imposing,
and elaborate ceremonial. DaAnd's share in arranging
the vast and complicated system of the Temple worship
has to be gathered almost entirely from Chronicles,
from which Ave learn both that the entu-e plan of the
Temple and its furniture was communicated by David
to Solomon (ch. xxviii. 11 — 19), and also that from
David proceeded the Avhole arrangement of the courses,
both of the priests and Levites (ch. xxiii. and xxiv.),
the ordering of the choral services (ch. xxv.), and even
the disposition of the porters (ch. xxatI. 1 — 19). It is,
moreover, from Chronicles alone that we learn the
extent of the material preparations for the Temple and
its furniture that Da^ndmade (ch. xxix. 2—9) — prepara-
tions whicli left but little for Solomon to supply, except
the giving shape and form to the rich and abundant
materials that his father had accumulated.
With the close of DaA-id's reign our "First Book of
Chronicles " terminates ; and the Second introduces »s
to the reign of Solomon, which forms the third section
of the work, and occupies the first nine chapters of the
second " Book." Solomon's reign is set forth in its
most glorious aspect. Tlie note ef triumph is struck
3 See Neb. xi. 30, 31.
FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
141
in the opening verse (" Solomon tlie son of Dav-id was
strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God
was with him and magnified him exceedingly"); and
thenceforth from first to last we hear of nothing but
the monarch's greatness and goodness, his favour with
God, his magnificence, his wealth, his grand buildings,
Ms fame among the neighbouring nations and sove-
reigns, his extensive commerce, his wide dominion. No
notice is taken of that miserable fall into sensualism and
idolatry wliicli disgraced the old age of Solomon, and
which forms so grievous a blot upon the character of this
illustrious prince. Nothing is said of the troubles where-
with God chastised his sins. The 11th chapter of the
First Book of Kings has no counterpart in Chronicles,
where we first learn, in the account given of his successor
(2 Chron. x. 2, 4, 15), that all had not gone wholly well
with Solomon and with his kingdom to the very end of
his reign. Not, of course, that the author intends to
deny or even to hush up the fact of Solomon's transgres-
sion. He regards it as known, at any rate, to the better
instructed among his readers, and alludes to it when
occasion arises (ch. x. 15) ; but it does not accord with
the scope of his work to dwell upon it. The reason is,
probably, that the sin of Solomon was not punished
so signally or so severely as to make the case a good
example of that retribution for evil coui'ses which it is
one of the author's chief objects to exhibit.' It was a
sin of complaisance rather than of evil inclination, and
was perhaps repented of,' and was pimished but lightly
in his own lifetime (1 Kings xi. 14 — 26), and only with
any severity after his decease {ib. 12 and 34 — 36).
Our author views — and Avith good reason — the reign of
Solomon as, on the whole, a jieriod of prosperity — in
fact, the period of the greatest prosperity of the nation
— and prefers to use the example as illusti'ating in the
strongest way the other portion of his moral teaching,
the doctrine that virtue is rewarded, that the faithful
worship of Jehovah brings on king and nation the
blessing of God, and therefore all temporal glory and
prosperity. He has to deal vnih a rude people, incapable
of making delicate distinctions or of understanding re-
finements ; he cannot enter with them on a dissection
of the complicated web of human action and character ;
he must paint in strong, bright, positive colours, if he
is to affect their childish minds ; he must not use half-
tones ; he therefore leaves oiit from the picture which
he draws the saddening shade of temporary (?) per-
versity and frailty ; he gives us only one side of the
shield— the bright one ; setting forth f uUy and truly
Solomon's early zeal for God, his piety, his unselfish-
ness,3 his humility," his magnificence in all that con-
cerned the worship of Jehovah,* and describing in
glowing terms the religiousness of the mass of the
' See above, p. 139.
- The question of Solomon's repentance is still an open cue.
It was decided in the affirmative by Irenseus, Hilary, Cyril of
Jerusalem, Ambrose, and Jerome ; in the negative by Tertullian,
Cyprian, and Augustine. (See Calmet, Dicfionnaire, s. v. "Salomon."
3 2 Chron. i. 10—12.
•» Tbid. ii. 6, " Who am I, that I should build Him a house ? "
5 Ibid. ii. 7-16 J iii. 1—17; iv. 1—22; vii. 5, &c.
people at this period, he then paints in the most bril-
liant hues the glorious position to which the nation
attained in consequence. And here he stays his hand.
The " rest of the acts of Solomon " may bo read, ho
says, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the
prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions
of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat
(2 Chron. ix. 29) — those who wish to know them are
referred to these writers. He, the author of Chronicles,
has done — he has used the reign of Solomon to point
his moral teaching in the way that seemed to him
most ai)j)ropriate. He will not risk marring the effect
of what he has written by appending a narrative of
which the moral lesson would be different, while it
would be (comparatively) weak and indeterminate.
The fourth section of the work has now to be con-
sidered. It commences with the tenth chapter of the
Second Book, and terminates with the thirty-sixth
chapter, with which Chronicles, in its present shape,
closes. It contains an account of the kingdom of
Judah from the accession of Rehoboam, the son and
successor of Solomon, to the conquest of Jiidsea and
destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. No
account is given of the kingdom of Israel. When
Israelite affairs are treated of, it is always in their con-
nection with the history of the Jews, and in fact as a
part of that history." We may suppose that the writer
Avished to avoid the complication of a double narrative,
such as is found in Kings, and felt that an account of
their own antecedents would most strongly move and
most effectually admonish his people. At any rate,
he has in fact confined himself to the history of the
Jews, and has thus been able to construct a far more
consecutive and, to simple readers, a more attractive
history than that contained in the parallel portion of
Kings. By limiting himself to the history of the
Jews he is also able, without unduly extending his
narrative, to give a much fuller account of certain
important reigns than is to be found in the earlier
writer.
The interest of this portion of the history is con-
centrated mainly on the four reigns of Asa, Jeho-
shaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. These were the four
best kings of Judah, and their joint reigns occupy a
full half of the section.^ Asa's history is delivered in
three chapters ; Jehoshaphat's in four ; Hezekiah's also
in four ; Josiah's in two of more than the average
length. In every case the narrative of Chronicles adds
considerably to the information which we derive from
Kings. To take a single instance, we learn from
Chronicles alone that Asa had peace in the early
part of his reign, and employed the favourable season
in strengthening and fortifying his cities s (xiv. 6, 7) ;
that his armed force amounted to 580,000 men —
G See 2 Chron. x. 16,17; xi. 1—4; xii. 15; xiii. 2—20; ivi. 1—6;
xviii. 2—34 ; xx. 35—37 ; xxii. S — 9 ; xxv. 6 and 13—24 ; xiviii.
6—15.
7 Thirteen chapters out of twenty-six.
8 The touch in 1 Kings xv. 23 — " the cities which he built " —
becomes iu Chronicles, " He built fenced cities in Judah ; for the
l.ud had rest, and he had no war in those years ; because the Lord
142
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
300,000 Jews and 280,000 Eonjamites (i6. 8); that
he was attacked by Zerah the Ethiopian with an army
of Ethiopians and Liibim amounting to a million
men, but defeated him and entirely destroyed his host
{ib. 9 — 15; compare xvi. 8); that Azariah, the son of
Oded, congratulated him on his victory, and exhorted
him to continue faitliful to Jehovah (xv. 1 — 7) ; that
Asa, in consequence of the exhortation, efPected great
religious reforms (ib. 8), and gathering the people to
Jerusalem, solemnly renewed the covenant {ib. 9 — 15);
that after his war with Baasha, in which he called in
the aid of Benhadad, king of Syria,' he was rebioked
by Hauaui the prophet for his trust in an arm of flesh
(xvi. 7 — 9) ; that, enraged at tliis, he committed the sin
of imprisoning Hauani {ib. 10) ; that at the same time
he oppressed some of the j)eople ; and, finally, that he
was buried with unusual honours and ceremonies, being
" laid in a bed wluch was filled with odours and divers
kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art,"
wliile the people at the same time " made a very great
burning for him" {ib. 14). A similar list of additions
might be draAvn out in the case of the three other
monarchs ; - and students of Scriptm-e cannot be too
strongly recommended to consult Ijoth Chronicles and
Kings, if they wish to obtain anything like a complete
view of the Jewish history of tliis period.
There are two especial points in which this section
of Chronicles is fuller than the corresponding portion
of Kings — viz., militai-y matters and matters of reli-
gious ceremonial. It is from Chronicles alone that we
derive our knowledge of the fortifications of Rehoboam
(2 Chron. xi. 5 — 12) ; the expedition of Zerah ; the inci-
dents of the war between Abijahand Jeroboam (xiii. 3 —
20); the militai-y arrangements of Jehoshaphat (xvii. 12
— 19), and his war with the combined Moabites, Ammon-
ites, and Edomites (xx. 1 — 25) ; the invasion of JudsKi
in the reign of Jehoram by the Philistines and Arabians ;
the capture of Jerusalem, and destruction of all but one
of Jehoram's sons, by them (xxi. 16, 17 ; xxii. 1) ; the
circumstances of Amaziah's great war with Edom (xxv.
5 — 12) ; the reason of his quarrel with Joash of Israel
{ib. 13) ; the successes of Uzziah (Azariah) against the
Philistines, Arabians, and Maonites (xxvi. 6, 7), and
his remarkable military arrangements {ib. 9 — 15) ; the
fortifications of Jotham and his wars with the Ammon-
ites (xxvii. 3 — 5) ; the details of the war of Ahaz vriih.
Pekah (xx^-iii. 6 — 15), and the calamities which he
suffered at the hand of the Edomites and Philistines
{ib. 17, 18) ; the preparations of Hezekiah to resist
the first invasion of Sennacherib (xxxii. 2 — 8 and 30) ;
the AssjT-ian attack upon Manasseh (xxxiii. 11); and
the negotiations of Pharaoh-necho with Josiah (xxxv.
21).
had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us huild
these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and
bars, while the land is yet before us: because wo have sought the
Lord our God ; we have sought him, and he hath given us rest
on every side. So they built and prospered."
1 Belated also in Kings (1 Kings xv. 16—22).
- See especially 2 Chron. xvii. 7— 19 ; xix. 1 — 11 ; xx. 1—30 :
xxix. — xxxi.; xxxii. 1 — 8 and 27 — 30; and xxxv. 1—24.
Among matters of religious ceremonial, related by
the author of Chronicles only, may bo noted the renewal
of the covenant by Asa (xv. 9 — 15) ; the itinerant preach-
ing instituted by Jehoshapliat (xvii. 7 — 9) ; the impor-
tant part taken by the Levitcs in the coronation of
Joash (xxiii. 2 — 11) ; the resistance offered to Uzziah's
invasion of the sacerdotal ofl&ce by the high priest of
his time, Azariah (xxvi. 16 — 21) ; the great religious
reformation of Hezekiah (xxix. — xxxi.) ; the /wi^reforma-
tion of Manasseh (xxxiii. 12 — 17) ; and the circumstances
of the great Passover celebrated by Josiah (xxxv. 1 — 19).
Tlie author has been accused of unduly magnifying the
sacerdotal order, and especially of improperly exalting
the Levites ; ^ and it is undoubtedly true that he brings
out, far more strongly than the writers of Kings and
Samuel, the ecclesiastical character of the Jewish polity ;
but there is no reason to believe that he goes beyond
the truth in his representations, or does more than
fairly supplement the earlier authors, and draw atten-
tion to an aspect of the polity which they had not felt
called upon to bring into prominent notice.
The moral object of the writer of Chronicles, in the
concluding as in the earlier sections, is his main one,
and is throughout most distinctly — almost nakedly —
indicated. He mU show his nation, by the records of
their past, that in almost every instance temporal re-
wards and punishments were dispensed in exact accord-
ance Avith the attitude of the king and people towards
the national religion, signal vengeance following every
neglect of the authorised rites, every insult offered to
the priests, every profanation of the Temple, every
introduction of an alien worship ; while wealth, and
gloiy, and military success, and prosperity of every kind
accompanied the manifestations of a religious spirit.
For three years Rehoboam and his subjects " obeyed
the words of the Lord" (2 Chron. xi. 4), and " walked
in the way of David and Solomon " {ib. 17) ; and for
three years the kingdom of Judah Avas " strengthened,"
and " Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was made strong"
{ibid.). When after this time *' Rehoboam forsook the
law of the Lord, and all Israel with him," then, " in the
fifth year, Shishak king of Egypt came up against
Jerusallem, because they had transgressed against the
Lord " (xii. 1, 2) ; and took the fenced cities, and
entered and plundered Jerusalem. Rehoboam " hum-
bled himself " (ver. 12) ; and then " the wrath of the
Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy
him altogether ; for yet in Judah there were good
things" {ibid.). Abijah and his subjects, in their war
with Israel, " cried unto the Lord, and the priests
sounded with trumpets " (xiii. 14) ; and " it came to
pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah; and the children of Israel fled
before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand"
(ib. 15, 16). Asa " did that which was good and right
in the eyes of the Lord his God " (xiv. 2) ; and " the
land had rest, and he had no war in those years, because
the Lord had given him rest; " and though, after a
3 See De "Wette, EinleHung in d. Alt. Testament, § 190 c.
FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
143
time, ho too, like Rehoboam, was attacked by the great
monarchy of the south,i yg^ }^q^ different was the
issue ! " Asa cried unto the Lord his God " (ver. 11),
and " the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and
before Judah ; and the Ethiopians fled " (ver. 12), and
' ' were ovei-thrown that they could not recover themselves ;
for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his
host " (ver. 13). Jehoshaphat at first " sought to the
Lord God of his father, and walked in his command-
ments " (xvii. 4) ; " therefore the Lord stablished the
kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought to Jeho-
shaphat presents, and he had riches and honour in
abundance" (ver. 5), and "waxed great exceedingly"
(ver. 12). But afterwards, when this king " joined
affinity with Ahab" (xviii. 1), and assisted him in his
Syiian war, then he suffered defeat, and was brought
into great danger (ver. 31), and incuiTcd the rebuke of
Hanani the prophet (xix. 2) : " Shouldest thou help the
imgodly, and love them that hate the Lord ? There-
fore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord." Yic-
torious in liis war Avith Moab and Ammon, because he
"feared and set himself to seek the Lord, and pro-
claimed a fast thi-Qughout all Judah; and Judah
gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord :
even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek
the Lord " (xx. 3, 4) ; he, nevertheless, later in his
reign, "joined himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel,
who did very wickedly" (verse 35), and again the
result was disaster. He " joined himself with Ahaziah
to make ships to go to Tarshish " (ver. 36) ; and once
more he was rebuked and told, "Because thou hast
joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy
works." And the ships were accordingly " broken
[wrecked], that they were not able to go" (ver. 37).
And so through the remainder of the section. Jehoram
" walked in the way of the kings of Israel " (xxi. 6), and
the Edomites revolted from him. and Libnah also,
" because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers "
(ver. 10). Ahaziah " did evU in the sight of the Lord"
(xxii. 4), and " went with Jehoram the son of Ahab "
(ver. 5) ; and his " destruction was of God by coming
to Jehoram" (ver. 7). Joash forsook God after the
death of Jehoiada, and commanded the murder of
Zechariali (xxiv. 21) ; and the Syrians " came up against
him " (ver. 23), and " the Lord delivered a very great
host into their hand, because they had forsaken the
Lord God of their fathers " (ver. 24). Similarly, the
idolatry of Amaziah (xxv. 14) was pimished by his
defeat by Joash {ib. 21 — 24) ; the impiety of TJzziah
brought upon liim the curse of leprosy (xxvi. 20) ; the
apostacy of Ahaz led to the destruction of his host by
Pekah (xxviii. 6) ; the sins of Manasseh caused him to
be carried captive to Babylon (xxxiii. 11) ; the trespasses
J Zerah (rm) is probably Usarken or Osorcho II. of Manetbo's
twenty-second dynasty, an Ethiopian pi-obably by birth, but, like
Shishak, King of Egypt.
of Amon made his servants conspire against hiTn and
slay him [ib. 22 — 24). On the other hand, Jotham
" became mighty because he prepared his ways before
the Lord his God " (^xxvii. 6) ; and Hezekiah was
" saved from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria "
(xxxii. 22), and " magnified in the sight of aU nations "
(ver. 23), and " had exceeding much riches and
honour" (ver. 27), because he, on the whole, "did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord, accord-
ing to aU that David his father had done " (xxix. 2).
Josiah, though in his day the people had become hope-
lessly corrupt, had "forsaken Jehovah" (xxxiv. 2-5),
and " buraed incense unto other gods " {ibid.), yet
because he was individually humble and pious, was
taken away from the evil to come, " gathered to his
grave in peace " (ver. 28), and " buried in the sepul-
chres of his fathers " (xxxa'. 24). At length there was
a succession of four idolatrous kings, of whom no good
coiild be told ; the people had filled up the measure of
their iniquities ; there was no hope of recovery ; and
so the fitnal destruction came. " All the chief of the
priests, and the people, transgi-essed very much after
aU the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the
house of the Lord " — " they mocked the messengers of
God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets,
until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people,
tUl there was no remedy" (xxxvi. 14, 16). " Therefore
he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, . . .
and gave them all iuto liis hand ; . . . and they burnt
the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jeru-
salem, and burnt all the palaces with fire, . . . and
carried away them that escaped the sword to Babylon "
(w. 17—20).
It is thus that the wi-iter of Chronicles draws its
moral lesson from the Jewish histoiy. Thus, at once
for the warning and for the encouragement of his
people, he shows that vice and irpeHgion are punished
by God, that virtue and piety are rewarded. And here,
as Chronicles now stands, he may be said to end. As
the work, however, was originally written, he added to
his fourth a fifth section — he followed down the past
into the present — he related the recovery as he had
related the downfall of his nation ; he placed on record
the retm-n from the Captivity, the rebuilding of the
Temple, the second colonisation under Artaxerxes Lon-
gimanus, and the religious reforms of Ezra. This portion
of his work is, in our present arrangement of the Jewish
Scriptures, separated ofE from the rest, and made into
a distinct work, the Book of Ezra. As such, it will be
in a future number the subject of a special article.
For the present we wish merely to impress upon the
Biblical student the incompleteness of Chronicles as it
stands, and the propriety of reading it in connection
with Ezra, and of viewing it as that history of then-
past which the "ready scribe," writing under Longi-
manus, about B.C. 456, thought best fitted to impress
and improve the Jews of his day.
lU
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE GOSPELS— INTEODUCTOEY.
BY THE BET. E. B. CONDER, M.A.
^^^^^^^I^^HE most wonderful, most beautiful, most
important history iu the world — which
lias exerted, and will never cease to exert,
more power over mankind than all other
histories togetlier — is comprised m four brief tracts;
three of wliieh narrate to a great extent the same things,
in nearly the same words ; each of whicli resembles a
collection of anecdotes, with notes of a few discourses,
rather tlian a complete biography. Events and sayings
belonging to two or three days fill a large proportionate
space, while those of weeks, months, or even years, are
summed up in a sentence, or passed over in sUence.
All seems fragmentary. The writers of these four
memoirs, which we name " The Gospels," must have had
at hand copious materials, of the highest interest, for
bulky volumes. Their sUence is one of the most aston-
ishing features of their work. Almost as wonderful
is the extreme simpHcity, breWty, and quietness with
which they place before us (mth no words of comment
or emotion) the most amazing or most affecting events
and the most profound and sublime sayings. They
wi'ite like men at home where other men would fear to
enter ; to whom the experience of years has made the
supernatural seem natural, and the Di\'ine familiar.
To piece these seemingly fragmentary records to-
gether, so that they shall harmonise in every detail, and
every event and discourse take its exact chronological
place, is a work of consummate difficulty. To shed a
single ray of light on the darkness of their silence, and
supply from other sources what they have left untold,
is impossible. Yet beneath this appearance of frag-
mentary incompleteness and artless simplicity lies a
Divine art so perfect, that these four witnesses combine
in one harmonious testimony. The four Gospels, like
so many mirrors, show us One Li\'ing Figure in dif-
ferent aspects. Scanty as are the materials, the picture
of our Saviour's life, teaching, and character, is so com-
plete and \-i\'id, that it scarcely seems as if volumes of
additional narrative could have brightened — still less
added — a single trait. So far from paining us with a
sense of defect, the Gospels amaze us with their inex-
haustible fulness and undecaying f reslmess. The picture
they unite to furnish, moreover, is so utterly unlike
that of any otlier life (either in histoiy or in fiction),
yet so real; so raised above both human conceptions
and human practice, yet so far excelling all rivalry in
the intensity of love and sympathy it embodies, and
the power with which it attracts human hearts (under
every possible diversity of character and circumstance),
that the trutlif ulness of the portrait speaks for itself : it
could have been painted only from life.
A unity of purpose pervades the four Gospels.
Their aim is single, spiritual, practical. The words of
St. John might stand at the close of each : " Many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His
disciples, which are not written in this book : but these
are wi'itten, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Chi-ist, the Son of God; and that believing ye might
have life through His name."
Around these brief writings a whole library of learned
exposition and controversy has gathered. Every word,
and even letter, has been subjected to microscopic criti-
cism. Questions and doubts wliich one set of scholars
have toiled to raise have been solved with equal labour
by another set — to revive, with immortal pertinacity,
under the pens of their successors. Happily, the solid
results of these labours, so far as they are needfid and
helpful to the intelligent reading of the Evangelists,
admit of being plainly stated in moderate compass.
In the midst of those wildernesses of erudition, the four
Gosj)els remind us, in their calm deep simplicity and
vmwithering fruitfulness, of so many green valleys, em-
braced by granite precipices, glaciers, and snow-peaks,
where the peasant peacefully garners his crop, tliankful
for the clear stream which descends to his fields from
those barren heights.
The reader who is unacquainted with the original
languages of Scripture is stai-tled, for example, to hear
of tens of thousands of "various readings" — i.e.,
differences in the ancient manuscript copies of the
New Testament. But he is reassured when he learns
that the largest proportion of these consist in various
arrangements or spellings of Greek words, making no
perceptible difference in translation ; and that of the
rest, the number is wonderfully small of those which
can be accounted important. So, also, the disquiet
awakened by the mention of '* mistranslations," necessi-
tating a revised vei'sion of the Bible, is tranquillised
when it is found that the most elaborate revision of our
Authorised Version confirms its substantial faithful-
ness, and does but resemble such a careful retouching
of a picture as brightens the colours and renders the
outlines more distinct, without obliterating a single
figure or feature. The fiery ordeal of criticism to which
the Gospels, like the rest of Scripture, have been sub-
jected, serves but to strengthen their claims on our
trust, reverence, and love.
The Gospels differ from the Epistles, as the historical
books of the Old Testament from those of the prophets,
in not containing the names of their authors. The
reason may have been partly (in both cases) the dif-
ferent relation which a simple narrator of well-known
facts bears to his readers from that sustained by a
personal messenger — apostle or prophet — from God.
Partly, modest reverence may have withheld the Evan-
gelists from associating their own names with these
memorials of their Lord and Master. But their works
do follow them. A tradition of that kind which cannot
THE GOSPELS.
145
be fallacious — the public, universal, uncontradicted testi-
mony of those myriads of readers and hearers among
whom these writings circulated from the time of
their publication — assigns them to the writers whose
names they bear. Those passages from early Christian
writers which are adduced in works in which the evi-
dence of the genuineness and authority of the books of
the New Testament is fully treated, are therefore not
to be regarded as constituting that evidence : they are
such specimens and vouchers as a few fossils are of
the stratum from which they are dug. And there is
no contraiy evidence. The consent of the Christian
Church — using that name in its lai'gest sense — is
backed by the silent assent of contemporary foes.'
Every intelligent reader must have remarked the
strong general resemblance pervading the first three
Gospels ; and must have also observed that the fourth
Gospel occupies, nearly throughout, distinct ground.
Careful study, indeed, reveals many important differ-
ences, forbidding the idea that either Evangelist copied
from either of tlie others. St. Matthew and St. Luke
have each considerable portions, both of narrative and
of oiu''Lord's sayings, not recorded by the other. St.
Mark adds little to the main stock of their combined
records ; but he abounds in vi\'id details, evidently
supplied by an eye-witness. Yet the view furnished by
these three writers of our Lord's ministry is so sub-
stantially one (and so distinct from that given by St.
John), that their works are commonly spoken of as
''the synoptic Gospels."
Let us di^•ide the Gospel history into three parts:
the first ending with our Lord's baptism and tempta-
tion ; the second, with His final journey to Jerusalem ;
the third, with His ascension. Then, in the first part,
we find little coiTespondence in the three accoimts. In
the last part, all four Gospels of necessity travel over
the same ground, and their divergences here may be
thought as noticeable as their coincidences. But in the
second part, covering (as can be proved from the Jewish
feasts and from astronomical calculations^ a period of
three years, we find that out of nearly sixty distinct
incidents recorded by St. Matthew, all but six are given
m one or both of the other synoptic Gospels ; two of
the six being miraculous cures, and the other four inci-
dents (two of them miraculous) in which the Apostle
Peter was concerned.
St. Mark, rich in details, contributes two miracles and
one pai-able not found in either of the other Gospels.
For the rest, his Gospel coincides in substance mostly
with St. Matthew's; in a few passages with St. Luke's
only. St. Luke furnishes a large amount of fresh
matter (both incident and parable), and in reports of
our Lord's discourses or sayings closely resembling
those in the first Gospel he assigns different occasions.
Now let the reader place side by side, and carefully
study, the record of some one incident recorded in all
these three Gospels. Take, for instance, the raising of
' See, for example, Paley's Evidences, pt. 1, ch. 9; or Westcott's
The Bible in the Church.
58 VOL. III.
Jau-us' daughter, or the feeding of the five thousand
(where St. John's account also may be compared). Ho
will perceive an amount of minute verbal coincidence,
even more strongly suggestive than the general simi-
larity of contents, of some common soarce.
To these two features of resemblance — agreement in
selection of incidents, out of the vast mass supplied by
our Lord's ministry, and verbal agreement (still more
strongly observable in the records of our Lord's utter-
ances than in narration) — must be added, what is no
less remarkable, agi'eement in omission. These three
Gospels omit all reference to the ministry of Jesus iu
Judaea, to the Jewish feasts, and to any visit to Jeru-
salem prior to the final one.
How are these faets accounted for ? The facts them-
selves must be kept firmly apart from any theory.
Still we cannot help wishing to explain them ; and for
tliis purpose various theories have been de\-ised, some
of which are self -refuted by their over-ingenuity. The
inspiration of the Evangelists does not afford (as was
once thought) any real explanation. For, apart from
any discussion of the nature of inspiration, no reason
can be imagined — and there are no useless miracles —
why inspiration should act in sa apparently arbitrary
and purposeless a way as to produce this singular
mosaic of accordance and diffei'ence; close verbal co-
incidence in half a sentence, or haK-a-dozen verses,
combined with perplextug discrepancies, sometimes not
easy to distinguish from contradictions. Equally irre-
concilable with the facts is the idea that either of the
Evangelists had the writings of the others before him,
and pai'tly coj)ied, partly altered their expressions and
order.
The theory wliich at present finds most favoxu* is
that expounded with great force and clearness by Mr.
Westcott {Introduction to the Study of the Gosjyels) —
ra., that the common soiu'ce from which the wi'itten
Gospels drcvr (and which accoimts for their resemblance)
was the "Oral Gospel ;" that is to say, the narrative
given in the preachiag of the apostles of the life and
ministry of our Saviour. Evidence in support of tliis
view is foimd in the fact that oral teaching was the
main instrument of religious and moral instruction
among the Jews ; the decisions and expositions of their
great rabbins being lianded down, by unwritten tradi-
tion, through successive generations of teachers and
disciples.
A full discussion of the question would require a
careful examination of this last argument, of the refer-
ences to writing or reading in the Gospels, and of the
place which literature held in the Jewish nation.- Tlxe
fundamental fact, however, is unquestionable : the
apostles were in the first instance sent forth not as
- Mr. "Westcott seems to Lave over-estimated the exclusion of
literature in that a^e, among the Jews, by oral teaching. It is
true that the disciples of the rabbins were forbidden to commit to
writing their traditionary interpretations of the Mosaic Law.
But the books of Josephus may afford proof, if proof be needed,
that no such restriction could apply to memoirs of public events
and discourses, and any such restriction would have been at
variance with the whole spirit and purpose of our Lord's ministry.
146
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
writers, but as preacliei'S ; their pioachiug was largely
historical ; and thoy deemed it their spccijil calling to
be witnesses of Christ's resurrection, and to speak of
things they had seen and heard (Acts i. 22; iv. 20).
But there are grave counterbalancing considerations.
(1.) The history of the Lord's ministiy, tlwugh an essen-
tial part, was by no means the whole theme of apostolic
ministry. Their express commission was to teach what-
soever things Christ had commanded (Matt, xxviii. 20) ;
to preaoli repentance and forgiveness in Christ's name
(Luke xxiv. 47) ; and even to teach " many thmgs "
which He had not been able to teach them, but whicli
the Spirit of truth was to reveal (John xvi. 12 — 14).
(2.) That any one preacher should fall into a set strain
of narration in repeating the glorious story of Jesus,
day after day, and year after year, to different hearers,
is natural and probable : that eleven men should have
done so, is unnatural and improbable. Had it been the
case, it would have awakened suspicions of their vera-
city. Each true witness has his own way of telling a
story. If a number of witnesses are found so to have
" shaped " or " moulded " their tale as to repeat it in
nearly the same words, we at once suspect collusion.
(3.) The Apostle John's preaching must have been a
very important part of the "oral gospel" of the Eleven,
yet his written Gospel differs in plan, contents, and
diction from the synoptic Gospels.
Can any further light be shed on this difficult ques-
tion ? If we may trust the earliest tradition about St.
Matthew, he at first wrote his memoirs of our Lord in
Hebrew. If we may trust the earliest tradition about
St. Mark, he embodied in his Gospel the teaching of the
Apostle Peter. That Matthew, accustomed to the use of
the pen, should have written down, in his native tongue,
full notes of many of the Master's discourses (as Baruch
wrote Jeremiah's), is but what we might expect. But
the same man who is an expert reporter may be far
from a good narrator. Peter, the weather-beaten man*
of action, of impulse, of hot and tender feeling, would
1)0 the very preacher to make the incidents of his
Lord's life-work and suffering Ha'c in his hearers' minds
and memories. If the Gospel of Mark, the young
eager listener ("Marcus my son," 1 Peter v. 13), i-e-
produces in its ^dvid traits the preaching of Peter, then
Matthew's naiTative, with its marvellous concenti*ation,
as from long use of the pen, must represent Peter's
" oral gospel " too. St. Luke expressly tells lis (i. 2, 3)
how he gathered his materials ; and we thus have the
explanation, both of his agreement witli the two former
Gospels, and of the precious store of additional matter
with which his Gospel is enriched. The conclusion to
which we are thus led, therefore, is, that the preach-
ing of the Apostle Pet«r — the disciple to whom the
Lord said, " When thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren,'' and whom He specially charged to feed His
flock — the preacher whose words reached three thousand
consciences on the Day of Pentecost, and opened the
Kingdom of Heaven to the Gentiles (Acts x. 34 —
44) — furnished the common element in the first three
Gospels.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS :— ST. MATTHEW.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAB OF WINKFIELD, BERKS ; AND HON. CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
" And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not
lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of
blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's
field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The
field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying. And they took the thirty
pieces of silver, the price of him that was v.alued, whom they of
the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the potter's
field, as the Lord appointed me."— Matt, xxvii. 6 — 10.
^^^^j^HREE difficulties here suofwest themselves —
^, (1) How can the statement that the
f, ^jS\ chief pi'iests Ijought the potter's field be
l^-:^^<l reconciled with Acts i. 18, where it is said
by St. Peter respecting Judas, " Now this man pur-
chased a field with the reward of iniquity ? "
(2) In what manner can we account for the prophecy
contained in Zechariah xi. 13, to which unquestionable
allusion seems to be here made, being ascribed to Jere-
miah ?
And (3) in what sense are we to understand the pro-
phecy of the price weighed as the hire of the shepherd,
as recorded in Zech. xi. 13, as fulfilled in the transaction
recorded in Matt, xxvii. 6 — 10 ?
1. Our first inquiry is as to the consistency of St.
Matthew's statement that it was the chief priests wha
bought the potter's field, with the equally explicit state-
ment made by St. Peter (Acts i. 18), that it was Judas
who " purchased a field with the reward of iniquity." We
pui-posely abstain from any discussion of the question
whether the ascription of the jim-chase to Judas, on the
supposition that he had no jiersonal concern in the trans-
action, can or cannot be satisfactorily explained on the
ground that it was his treachery which led to it, because
we think that whether such an explanation ])e, or be not
tenable, it is not the true interpretation of the passage.
We abstain also from more than a passing allusion to
the supposition that the accounts of St. Matthew and St.
Luke refer to two distinct purchases, and to the early
traditions, wliicli point to two distinct spots, because
we believe such a supposition to bo nothing more tliau
an unsatisfactoiy attempt to remove one difficulty by
the substitution of another and a gi'oater.
In attempting to offer what we believe to be a more
satisfactory explanation of the difficulty, we may ob-
serve in the first instance that, whatever the apparent
diversity between the two statements, it is scarcely
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
l-i.7
possible that either St. Matthew or St. Luke could have
been in doubt about the circumstances oi an event of
such recent occurrence, and of such great notoriety.
Equally improbable is it that St. Peter could have been
in ignorance as to what had actually been done by the
traitor during the short interval between the supper at
Bethany (Matt. xxvi. 14 — 16), after which the covenant
with the chief priests appears to have been made, or the
still shorter interval between the hour at which the
traitor actuaUj^ carried his design into effect (verses 48,
49), and that at which our Lord was condemned as a
blasphemer by Caiaphas, and delivered over to Pontius
Pilate. If the word (eo-TTyo-aj/) used by St. Matthew in
xxvi. 15 be properly rendered as it is in the Authorised
Version, " covenanted," it is reasonable to suppose that
the money was not actually paid to the traitor untU
after the betrayal on the night preceding the cruci-
fixion. If, on the contrary — as seems much more in con-
formity with its use in other places — the word employed
by St. Matthfew, which is identical with that used by
the LXX. for the Hebrew ibpTU'i in Zech. xi. 12, is pro-
perly rendered "they weighed" or paid, we must then
conclude that the thirty pieces of silver were paid at
the time when the agreement was made, either as the
whole, or as a part, of the sum promised or covenanted
by the chief priests, as the transaction is described in
Mark xiv. 11, and in St. Luke xxii. 5. In any case there
was ample time between the supper at Bethany and the
hour in which ova- Lord was delivered over to Pontius
Pilate for an agreement to have been made by Judas
with the owner of the potter's field for its purchase,
which is the utmost that can be inferred as being in-
volved of necessity in the words of St. Peter, " Now
this man purchased [e/cTTjo-aro] a field with the reward of
iniquity."^ Nor does the interpretation thus assigned to
the word iKThcraro — viz., that Judas agreed to purchase
the potter's field — involve by any means an arbitrary
or an improbable supposition.- The apparent and, we
might say, the obvious connection in the mind of the
speaker between the latter clause of Acts i. 18, " And
falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst," with
the former clause of the same verse, " Now this man
pm-chased a field with the reward of iniquity," and more
especially with the statement of verse 19, " Insomuch
as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama,
that is to say. The field of blood," naturally suggests, if
indeed it does not necessarily imply, that the field which
1 It is not unworthy of notice that in the account of the pur-
chase of the field in Anathoth by Jeremiah, we find the same verb
which is found in Acts i. 18, and which is there rendered " pur-
chased," distinguished from that which denotes the actual pay-
ment of the money (the same as is found in Matt. xxvi. 14) : " And
I bought (eKTncraMii') the field of Hanameel, my uncle's son . . .
and weighed (iajy^aa) him the money" (Jer. xxxii. 9).
- We are unable to comprehend the drift of Dean Alford's
remark, that the two accounts cannot " consistently with commoa
honesty" be reconciled, "unless u'e 'knew more of iha facts than u-c
do." It appears to us that here, as elsewhere, in our confessed
ignorance of all the facts, the utmost that can be required of the
Biblical expositor is to show that on one or more suppositions,
which do not bear on their surface the aspect of extreme impro-
bability, the narratives of the different writers admit of recon-
ciliation.
Judas " purchased," or agreed to purchase, became the
scene of his violent death.
If this supposition be admitted, the two statements
contained, the one in St. Matthew's Gospel and the
other in the Acts, whilst obviously independent accounts,
so far from being irreconcilable, seem to afford to each
other, by their undesigned coincidence, mutual corro-
boration. The facts of the case, in accordance with the
tiieory we have proposed, would be, briefly, these.
Judas, having entered into an agreement with the chief
priests for the betrayal of our Lord, and having pro-
bably abeady received from them, whether in part or in
full payment for his treachery, the thirty pieces of silver,
forthwith negotiated the purchase of the potter's field.
Being present with others " to see the end," he watched
the proceedings recorded in St. Matt, xxvi., until he jjer-
ceived, in the delivery of our Lord to Pilate, a manifest
indication that the object proposed by the Jews would
be attained. Being suddenly smitten with remorse, he
casts down in the Temple ^ the thirty pieces of silver
which he had received, and which he had agi'eed to pay
as the price, whether in part or in whole,"* of the potter's
field. No spot more favourable fo:* the execution of his
fatal purpose presenting itself to his mind, ho hurries
to that same field wherein he had probably proposed to
erect a dwelling-place for himseH in life, to find within
it a release f i:om his now insupportable sufferings by a
self-inflicted death. The chief priests take hasty counsel
concerning the disposition of those thirty pieces of silver,
which had thus become, in a twofold sense, " the price of
blood" (Matt, xxvii. 6). The intention of Judas being
either communicated to them at the time by the owner
of the field, or being previously known to them, they
resolve upon the completion of the purchase, and the
appropi-iation of the spot, defiled by the death of the
traitor, to the burial of those whom they woiild not
admit into their own cemeteries. Thus, literally, if our
supposition be correct, did the prediction of the Psalmist,
as quoted by St. Peter (Acts i. 20), receive its accom-
plishment; and the destined "habitation" of the
traitor became "desolate,"* so that no man dwelt in
his tents.
2. Our next inquiry is as to the origin of the ascrip-
3 iv Tip vaif). The use of the word vaos-, which generally denotes the
Temple itself, in this place, instead of icpov, which is commonly used
when one of the Temple courts is intended, creates some difiiculty. It
is possible that, under the influence of overwhelming and uncon-
trollable emotion, Judas may have rushed into the holy place where
the priests were ; or it may be that, whilst himself standing with-
out, he threw the pieces of money within the building. The use
of the preposition ev, in or within, suggests the former of the two
suppositions as the more probable ; and the coincidence with the
phraseology of Zech. xi. 13, "And I took the thirty pieces of
silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord," becomes
more striking.
* The smallness of the price, if not valued at more than thirty
pieces of silver in the first instance, arose, probably, from the fact
that the clay was exhausted. The value may have still further
depreciated by reason of the suicide of Judas iu it. In Jerome s
time the " field of blood" was shown on the south side of Mount
Sion.
5 A cognate form of the word used by the Psalmist (Ps. Ixix,
25), and which is rendered "desolate," occurs in Jer. xliv. 12, in
reference to the Jews who perished in Egypt hs the sword and by
the famine.
148
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tion to Jeremiah of the prophecy coutamed in Zcch.
xi. 12, 13, to which, as it appears to us, uudoubtod rc-
fereuco is made by St. Matthew. Some have supposed
that the wiuse of this ascription is to be found in the
allusion to the potter's field in Jer. xviii. 2, 3, and in
the reference to tiie valley of the son of Hinnom in con-
nection with "the potter's earthen bottle" in Jer. xi.>c.
2; of which prophecy Zechariali is supposed to have
announced a second f ulfibneut. This and similar sup-
positions, amongst which wo may refer to that of
Ghrysostom and Eusebius, which Bishop Wordsworth
revives viz., that the prophecy was in the first instance
dehvered by Jeremiah, and that by its ascription here
to Jeremiah rather than to Zechariah we arc taught to
regard all the ancient prophecies as " springing forth
from the one living Fountain of wisdom and knowledge "
— appear to us either untenable or inadequate. The pro-
phecy, as it is delivered by St. Matthew, agrees sub-
stantially with the words of Zechariak, although it does
not coincide literally with them, and differs still further
from the version of the Seventy. The most probable
origin of the substitution of "Jeremiah" for "Zecha-
riah," as it appears to us, is that wliich has been accepted
by KbiI and others — viz., that it was the error of a very
old copyist, probably of one who was contemporary with
St. Matthew himself, and consequently of a more ancient
date than the earliest of the critical helps which have
boen transmitted to the present time. It is admitted
on all hands that errors of a similar nature have crept
into the text at later periods; and we see no reason why
it should not be admitted that the text has been exposed
to similar corruptions from the first.
3. One more question remains for discussion — viz.,
In what sense did the prophecy contained in Zechariah
respecting the hire of the shepherd receive its fulfil-
ment in the casting of the thu'ty pieces of silver into the
House of the Lord by Judas ? It might at first sight
appear that there was a discrepancy between the pro-
phecy and its alleged fulfilment, in that, in the one case,
the thirty pieces of silver were paid as the wages of the
shepherd, whilst, in the other case, they were paid as
the price of the treachery of Judas. The discrepancy,
however, as it has been pointed out by Keil, is but on
the surface, and when the form of the prophecy is
traced back to the f imdamental idea, the apparent differ-
ence is resolved into real and essential harmony. For,
in the prophecy of Zechariah, the wages paid to the
shepherd are but a symboUcal representation of the
national ingratitude of the Jews, and theii* national re-
jection of their King. The contemptible sum proffered
to the shepherd, but rejected by him with scorn, " the
goodly price " at wliich he was " prized " of them, the
same as that at which a slave was valued (Exod. xxi. 32),
was cast, as Jehovah Himself appointed, "to the potter
in the house of the Lord " (xi. 13). The words of the
Evangelist, " as the Lord appointed me," cori-espond
to the words of the j)roph(^t (verse 13), " And Jehovah
said mito me," and indicate that the disposition of the
money was made in accordance with the Divine purpose.
" As God," says Meyer, " had directed the prophet how
to proceed with the thirty silverlings, so it was with the
antit)i)ical fulfilment of the prophecy by tlie high
priests, and thus was the pui-pose of the Divine wUl
accomplished."
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D.,
PKOFESSOR OF DITINITT AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVEESITY
OF ABERDEEN.
SACRED PLACES (continued).
'E have examined the articles of furniture
in the Court of the Tabernacle, and pro-
ceeding onward we come now to those
of the first di\-ision of the Sanctuary,
the Holy Place. Three objects here demand our atten-
tion, the Altar of Incense, the Golden Candlestick or
Lampstand, and the Table ^vith the Shewbread. The
first of these stood immediately in front of one entering
the apartment, and before the inner or second vail; the
second was on his left hand, on the south side of the
Sanctuary ; the third on his right hand, on the north
side (Exod. xxvi. 3.5). We be^n with the Golden
Candlestick, then take the Table -with the Shewbread,
and lastly the Altar of Incense which stood nearest to
the second vail.
I. TJie Golden Candlestlch.—Thi^^ importance attached
to this article of the furniture of the Holy Place is shown
both by the minuteness of the description given of it.
and by the love with which the sacred writer e^^dently
dwells, in later passages, upon the faithfulness displayed
in carrying out the directions for its construction. The
directions are as follow: "And thou shalt make a
candlestick of pure gold : of beaten work shall the
candlestick be made : his shaft, and liis branches, his
bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
And six branches shall come out of the sides of it ;
three branches of the candlestick out of the one side,
and three branches of the candlestick out of the other
side : three Ijowls made like imto almonds, mtli a kuop
and a flower in one branch ; and three bowls made like
almonds in the other branch, with a k)iop and flower :
so in the six brandies that come out of the candlestick.
And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like
unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And
tliere shall be a kuop under two branches of the same,
and a knop under two branches of the same, and a kuop
under two brandies of the same, according to the six
branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their
SACRED PLACES.
149
knops aud theii- brauclies shall be of the same : all of it
shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou slialt
make the seven lamps thereof : and they shall light
the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against
it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof,
shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall
he make it, with all these vessels. And look that
thou make them after their pattern, which was showed
thee in the mount " (Exod. xxv. 31 — 40). The carrying
plane, thus affording a straight line of light, or whether
they projected from the stem in different planes, thus
presenting the whole body of light in the form of a
globe. The height, too, of the candlestick is not
mentioned, although the conjecture of Bahr is at least
probable, that it was the same as that of the Table for
the Shewbread standing over against it, a cubit and a
half, or n-early two and a half feet. Both these articles
would thus bo half a cubit lower than tho Altar of
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.
out of tliese directions is described in Exod. xxx^di.
17 — 24, and we have again a briefer description of
the work in Numb. viii. 3, 4. Minute, however, as
the instructions are, aud amply sufficient for our present
purpose, they do not leave aU the questions that may
be asked regarding the appearance of the candlestick
completely settled. It is somewhat doubtful what the
"knops" were; doubtful whether the central stem, to
which, from its being itself named the candlestick in
the above description, peculiar importance is obviously
attached, rose only to a level with the summits of the
branches, or to a considerably greater height ; doubtful
whether the stem and six branches were all in one
Incense, and the symmetiy of the whole arrangement
would be preserved. ^ It is also a matter of uncertainty
in what direction the different lamps of the candlestick
stood, supposing them to have presented a continuous
line of light, whether from east to west or from north
to south. But, if we remember that the sanctuary was
only ten cubits in breadth, it seems to us that we need
have little hesitation in deciding for the former. To
one entering the Holy Place, the brilliancy of the lamps
would be quite as great in the one case as in the other.
Josephus gives them an oblique direction {Antiq., iii. 6,7).
1 Eiihr, SjmloUl!, I., p. -110.
150
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Whatever uncertainty may rest upon the points now
mentioned, there are others, and these sufficient for our
present purpose, that are clear. Thixs, it is worthy of
remark that the material was to be of the most costly,
the workmanship of tlie most elaborate, kind. The
whole was to bo formed of pure gold, of beaten work ;
and without eudoavouriug to conceive of the exact shape
of the bowls and knops and tlowers and fruits, or of
the manner in which the lamps wore attached to the
stem, it is e^-ideut from the manner in which they are
described, that they were so designed as to produce an
impression of great richness of effect. Again, the
numbers used cannot fail to arrest oui- attention. Viewed
in connection with the use of numbers in all the other
parts of the Tabernacle, they were olnaously intended
to be symbolical ; seven the ruling number of the whole,
three the ruling number of the branches, four the
ruling number of the stem. Again, importance is
attached to the fact that the branches and the stem were
to be " of tlie same," were to constitute one piece, " one
beaten work of pure gold." It is not, indeed, necessary
to think that all were to be beaten out of one block of
gold. Such a thing would probably have been imprac-
ticable. But, at all events, they were to be so fastened
together that they should in the strictest sense of the
word be one, in a manner similar to that in wliich, in
the Most Holy Place, the Cherubim and the Mercy-seat
were to be one. The wicks also, it deserves to be
noticed, were to be arranged in a way altogether peculiar.
In Exod. XXV. 37, it is said, " And they shall cause its
lamps to ascend and light them to the side thereof"
(not, as in our English version, "that they may give
light over against it"), words from which the inference
is justly drawn, that the wicks of the six lamps of the
branches were to receive such an inclination to the side
fehat their illuminating rays should fall upon the central
stalk.' Finally, it is interesting to observe that the
candlestick was to be fasliioned after the form of a tree,
and that tree the almond. Nor can we imagine that
this particular tree was chosen for the purpose without
special design. It was the blossoms and fruits of the
almond-tree that Aaron's rod brought forth when it
was laid up before the Ark of the Testimony (Numb.
xvii.), and " the rod of an almond-tree " vras the first
vision presented to Jeremiah when the Almighty de-
clared by that prophet that He was about to " hasten
His word to perform it" (Jer. i. 11). The words last
quoted throw light upon the symbol. The almond-tree
is the fir.st tree to awaken from the sleep of winter
and to send forth its leaves and buds in spring, a
circumstance indeed from which it received its name
in Hebrew ; and none, therefore, could be better fitted
to express the ^-igour and activity of that life which
" hastens" to shed abroad the light represented by the
light of the Golden Candlestick.
There is one question connected with this candlestick
to which we must advert, although feeling the difficulty
of coming to a positive decision in regard to it. Did
1 Kaliscb on Exod. xsy. 37.
its lamps burn continually or only by night? That they
burned the whole night through admits of no doubt,
but did they also burn by day ? The following reasons
appear to determine in favour of the latter supposition.
(1.) As the light of day was excluded from the Holy Place
tliere was need of artificial light to enable the priests
to perform their appointed fimctious in it. (2.) Night
was the time when the light of the lamps was least
required. It may be for this reason that attention
is particularly called to the importance of ha^ang them
kept burning then. (3.) The Language of Lev. xxiv. 4,
" He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick
before the Lord continually," although capable of being
referred only to the " from the evening unto the morn-
ing" of the preceding verse, and of thus expressing
simple regularity of lighting, may have a wider appli-
cation, and may mean that their light was to be in the
strictest sense of the word " continual." (4.) Even the
words of Exod. xxx. 8 do not necessarily imply that the
lamps had been extinguished. The " lighteth " of t'hat
verse ought to be translated " causeth to ascend," and
it has reference to that idea of an offering which was
involved in the burning of the lamps. It need not,
therefore, be so connected with "at even" that it shall
be held to express a complete contrast to what was
done in the morning. " Even " was the beginning of
the Jewish day, and the lighting which then took place
may have been intended to bear not only upon the night,
but upon all the twenty-four hours to follow. The
" dresseth " of the previous verse, too, may include not
only cleaning the lamp and replenishing it with oil, but
also trimming the wick and renewing the flame. (5.)
The analogy of the incense which, as we have yet to
see, burned continually upon the altar of incense, and
of the fire burning always upon the brazen altar, would
seem to lead us at least some way towards the same
conclusion. (6.) It was the tradition of the Jews that
some of the lamps of the Golden Candlestick were kept
continually burning (Josephus, Antiq., iii. 8, 3). It
cannot be pretended that the reasons thus given are
conclusive. They are far from being so ; but, in the
absence of clear proof to the contrary, it may be allowed
that they lend considerable probability to the idea that
the light of the Holy Place was never permitted to
go wholly out.
It is only necessary, further, to obser^-e that special
instructions are given with regard to the oil that was to
be used. It was to be " piire olive oil beaten" (Exod.
xx\'ii. 20 ; Lev. xxiv. 2), that is, oil prepared in the way
which yielded it in its whitest, purest form, by beating
the iinripe green olives in a mortar.
Such were the leading particulars connected with the
Golden Candlestick, of which the figure in page 149
wiU eouA'cy a probable representation ; and, looking at
them as a whole, it is impossible to rest in the suppo-
sition that its only purjjose was to give light in an
apartment that would otherwise have been dark. The
multiplicity and minuteness of the directions as to the
way in which it was to be made ; the elaborateness and
splendour of the workmanship ; the symbolical numbers
SACRED PLACES.
151
7, 4, axid 3, wliicli played theii- part in its construction ;
the inclination given to the wicks of the side lamps ; the
keeping of the flame alive by night as well as day ; and,
not least, the general analogy of the Tabernacle as a
whole, and of all the other articles of furniture contained
in it, lead irresistibly to the conclusion that it too was
intended to shadow forth spiritual truths. Nor, if it be
so, can there be doubt as to Avhat these truths were.
Not only in the New Testament, but in the Old, light is
ever the symbol of that Divine knowledge, which entering
into and taking eutu-e possession of the soul, dispels its
natural darkness, and transforms it into a likeness with
itself : " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto
my path ;" " The entrance of thy words giveth light, it
giveth understanding unto the simple ; " " For the com-
mandment is a lamp, and the law is light " (Ps. cxix.
105, 130; Prov. vi. 23). And again, when light has
entered into the heart and has exercised its power, " He
shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy
judgment as the noonday;" "The path of the just is
as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto
the perfect day ; " " Arise, shine, for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee ; and the
Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the bright-
ness of thy rising " (Ps. xxs^-ii. 6 ; Prov. iv. 18 ; Isa.
Ix. 1, 3). The application of the figure thus embodied
in light is, however, rendered still clearer and more
forcible in the case before us when we remember that
the light there spoken of was produced from oil ; for
oil, in its healing, strengthening, and illuminating power,
is always in Scripture the symbol of that Holy Spirit of
God by which men and things are sanctified and set
apart for His service. Thus it was that priests and
kings, that the Tabernacle and all its vessels, were
anointed with oil ; and thus that the prophet Zechariah,
when he saw the theocracy restored in the latter days
by a fresh infusion of the Divine spirit, took advantage
of the very figure of the Golden Candlestick, and
beheld two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side
and the other upon the left, from which its seven lamps
were furnished with abundant and constant supplies of
oil (Zech. iv. 2, 3). "We can have no hesitation, there-
fore, in interpreting the figure of the Golden Candle-
stick. It was the symbol of Israel when, having offered
itself at the brazen altar and cleansed itself in the laver
of the court, it entered as a nation of priests into com-
mxmion with Him who had chosen it for Himself.
Then the lamp of its knowledge and life was kindled
into a bright and continuous flame. The Almighty had
dealt with it as He had dealt with no other nation of the
world, showing " His word unto Jacob, His statutes
and His judgments unto Israel " (Ps. cxl^-ii. 19) ; and
Israel was now in return to reflect His praise, and to
send forth beams of light into the surrounding darkness,
until all darkness should disappear, and the whole earth
be changed into a tabernacle of God.
If the meaning of the Golden Candlestick to Israel
be thus clear, its fulfilment under the Christian Dispen-
sation is not less so. We have, in the first pbce, in the
New Testament a use of the figures of light and oil
exactly similar to that which we have already met with
in the Old. God HimseK is there spoken of as being
"light" and as ha\Tng "in Him no darkness at all"
(1 John i. 5), while the same emblem designates the
saving knowledge communicated to believers, when
" God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shiiied in their hearts, to give the light of tke know-
ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"
(2 Cor. iv. 6). It is not otherwise with oil, as appears in
the parable of the ten virgins (Matt, xxv.), and in the
language of St. John, " But ye have an unction from
the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John ii. 20).
In the second place, we have not only the general tone
of New Testament language to appeal to ; we have the
distinct application of the emblem before us in the
Apocalypse. When St. John in that book turned to
see the voice that spake mth him, " being turned he saw
seven golden candlesticks," and an explanation was
given in the words, " the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches" (Rev. i. 12,20). Again,
in the same book, when he was caught up before the
throne, he saw " seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne, which were the seven spu-its of God" (iv. 5),
that is, the Holy Spu-it in all the fulness alike of what
He is and of what He bestows. Proceeding, then, upon
these hints, we cannot miss the fulfilment of which we
are in search. The Golden Candlestick is fidfilled ia
the Lord Jesus Christ and in His Church.
First, in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He had
always been the light, " In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men ; " " That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world " (John
i. 4, 9) ; and when at length the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He spoke of Himself directly as
the light : " Light is come into the world ;" " I am the
light of the world" (John iii. 19; viii. 12). This, too,
Jesus was, in Anrtue of His being anointed so fully with
the Holy Spirit. He lived in the Spu-it ; He walked iu
the Spirit ; He was baptised with the Spirit ; He was led
of the Spirit to His temptation in the wilderness ; He
returned in the power of the Spu-it into Galilee ; He cried
iu the synagogue at Nazareth, " The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me." It is ia the Spirit given without measm-e
that He is what He is. Therefore is He the true Golden
Candlestick fed with the oil of constant communion
vrith His Father in heaven, unceasingly exhibiting the
light of life.
But, secondly, the emblem before us is also fulfilled
in the members of Christ's body, who are one with Him.
For they, as the Saviour Himself announces to them,
are " the light of the world " (Matt. v. 14) ; or, as His
Apostle says, " Te were sometimes darkness, but now are
ye light in the Lord," " Te are all the children of light "
(Ephes. V. 8 ; 1 Thess. v. 5). And they are this by virtue
of the same Spirit enjoyed by their Head, for they are
branches of Him, the Li^Tug Yine, and the gift of the
Spirit is the very essence of the ministration under
which they live (2 Cor. iii. 8). A knowledge of the
truth enlightens them as they a-re in Christ Jesus, and
from them it shines forth on others.
152
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Ouo thiug more oiily let us nolice. We have siiid
that from the members of Christ's body the light shiues
forth on others. It is not enough to say so. It were
almost better to say simply that it shines. When the
camp of Israel was buried in slumber, and there was no
human eye to see the candlestick, or no human ofl&ce
even of the sanctuary to bo discharged by its light, it
shone. Nay, not only so, but at all times its lamps were
so trimmed as to direct their rays not so much upon
any outward circumference as upon the stem of the
candlestick itself. One lamp was to shine upon another,
and all were to mingle their rays around that central
stalk whose gold, and knops, and flowers were rarely
under any other eye than that of God. Is there not, or
ought there not to be, a fulfilment of this in the Chris-
tian Church ? "Why not sliine for the sake of shining,
and without thought of the world at all '■i Why not
send up songs in the night, although there be no ear of
man to hear ? Why not clothe ourselves in our gannents
of light, although there be no eye of man to see? Why
not lamp shine on lamp, church on church, and Christian
on Christian, as if there were nothing in the world to
think of but themselves, as if they had nothing to do but
to rejoice in each other's beams, to heighten each other's
brilliancy, and to create a larger, purer, sweeter body of
light than there would otherwise have been, for God
alone ^ Such shining would be the veiy opposite of
selfishness, of that selfislmess which is, alas ! often
nowhere more displayed than in the efforts of Christians
to dispel the darkness that surrounds them. Perhaps,
too, the darkness might then flee away faster than it
has as yet done.
II. The Table with the Shewbread. — Directions for
the construction of this table are given us in Exod.
XXV. 23 — 30 : — " Thou shalt also make a table of shittim
wood : two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a
cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the
height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure
gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand-breadth
round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to
the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make
for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four
comers that are on the four feet thereof. Over against
the border shall the rings be for places of the staves
to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of
shittim wood, and ovei-lay them with gold, that the
table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make
the dishes tkereof, and spoons thereof, and covers
thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover [or, as it is in the
margin, 'to pour out'] withal: of pure gold shalt thou
make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shew-
bread before me alway." The Shewbread Table, of
which a representation is given in the following page,
was thus, like all the other furniture beside it, to be
constructed of the most costly materials, and to be
ornamented in a manner befitting the dignity and
sacredness of the apartment in which it stood. Its
position, we have already had occasion to mention, was
on the right hand of one entering the Holy Place, and,
as seems most likely, immediitely over against the
Golden Candlestick. The vessels spoken «f in connec-
tion with it, and which ought probably to be rendered
" dishes, and bowls, and cans, and cups," were to
subserve the pm-poses for which the table was designed.
The " dishes" were for bringing the bread to the table
and carrying it away; the "bowls" for holding the
frankincense that was used, and the " cans and cups"
for the wine which, as we have yet to see, was associated
with the bread.'
It is in the bread itself, however, that avc have the
chief purpose of the table. It is known in our English
version as "tke Shewbread," a name adopted by our
translators from the Gtjrmau of Luther, aud expressing
with a singular degree of felicity the almost untrans-
lateable words employed in the original. This Shew-
bread consisted of twelve loaves or cakes which, according
to the tradition of the Jews, were ten hand-breadths
long, five broad, and one finger thick ; but, as the hand-
breadth cannot be estimated at less than three inches,
it is impossible to find room for twelve such cakes upon
the table without heaping them on one another to an
extent which appears to be at variance with the sacred
text. The tradition, therefore, which may have had
reference to the size of the cakes at a later jieriod of
Je^vish history, is to be rejected. It is not indeed easy
to determine in what exact manner the loaves were
placed ujjon the table. We know that they were to be
in two rows, " And thou shalt set them in two rows,
six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord"
(Lev. xxiv. 6), but it is not said whether the one row
was to be above the other, or whether the two were to
be side by side. The word used in the original for
" rows," closely connected with that denoting the ranks
of an army, though favourable to the latter supposition,
is not inconsistent with the fonner ; but when we
remember that frankincense was to be placed upon each
row (Lev. xxiv. 7), and that the table was too small to
admit of many loaves being laid separately upon it,
unless we diminish their size to an mireasonable extent,
we shall probably not be far wrong if we imderstand
the word "rows" to mean piles, aud that the twelve
loaves were placed in two piles, six in each pile.
Directions for the baking of these loaves aro given
with great particularity : " And thou shalt take fine
flour," it is said, "and bake twelve cakes thereof; two
tenth deals shall be in one cake" (Lev. xxiv. 5). Each
cake was thus to consist of two tenths of an ephah, or
of two homers, a circumstance in all probabiHty indi-
cating that the loaves were to be of a full and generous
size ; for one homer of manna was the measure which
each Israelite was to gather of that food (Exod. xvi. 16).
In addition to this, there can be no doubt that they
were to be unleavened. They took their place in the
class of meat-offorings, and in them leaven was positively
prohibited : " No meat-offering which ye shall bring unto
the Lord shall be made with leaven" (Lev. ii. 11). On
the other hand, they were to be baked with salt : "Every
1 Comp. Kixliscli on Exodus, Intr. to c. xsv.
SACRED PLACES.
153
oblation of tliy mcat-oftering shalt thou season -witli
salt " (Lev. ii. 13).
Thus baked, then, it was the first duty of the priests
upon the Sabbath morning to set these loaves upon theii-
appointed table, where they lay for a week, their place
being taken on the folloAving Sabbath by a fresh supply.
The mode of disposing of the old loaves was, again,
stnctly provided for. " And it shall be Aaron's and
his sous'," is the language of Lev. xsiv. 9 ; " and they
shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy unto
him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire for a
perpetual statute." In other words, the Shewbread was
so holy that it might be eaten by the priests alone, and
by them only in the Holy Place. The first thing done
when the rows of loaves were removed, was to consume
by fire the frankincense to which we have already referred
as placed upon each row. This was wholly burned upon
is that of God, it is impossible to doubt. " Thou shalt
set upon the table facebread before my face alway "
(Exod. XXV. 30); and again, "For there was no bread
there but the facebread that was taken from before
the face of the Lord " (1 Sam. xxi. 6). The " face,"
therefore, spoken of in the term for the Shewbread is
the face of God, and the bread was so named because it
was set immediately before Him in that holy part of the
tabernacle where He dwelt. But with what purpose,
with what meaning was it thus set before Him ? Two
answers have been given to the question : the first, that
of those who imagine it to represent something by which
the face of God is seen, the heavenly food by the eating
of which man attains to the vision of God, and enters
into communion and fellowship with Him ; the second,
that of those who behold in it not something by which
we see God, but something in us for which God looks.
THE SHEWBEEAD TABLE.
the altar of incense. Thereafter, although perhaps not
necessarily at that particular moment, the priests were
to eat the loaves. We have only to observe farther in
connection with this matter, that all inquirers are
agreed in believing that libations of wine accompanied
the burning of the frankincense, and that to this purpose
the cups spoken of were applied. There seems, how-
ever, to be no evidence that the wine stood, along with
the loaves, upon the Shewbread Table.
It remains for us to notice, as briefly as possible, the
meaning and fulfilment of the institution of which we
have been speaking. Of the table we say nothing. Its
importance is derived entirely from that of the bread
placed upon it ; and it has no special meaning of its
own. We pass at once to the loaves, twelve in number,
an offering of the " most holy " kind (Lev. xxiv. 9),
" taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting
covenant" (ver. 8); above all, "the shewbread" loaves,
or as the words literally mean, the bread of the face or
of the presence. That this " face," this " loresence,"
those fruits of righteousness in His people which are
the great object of His desii-e, and, when produced as
they ought to be, of His satisfaction and joy.
The first of these views has much to recommend it,
and is capable of being presented in a light at once
interesting and beautiful. For the Shewbread thus
becomes the symbol of Him who is " the bread of life,"
of that Only Begotten who is in the bosom of the Father,
and who " declares " to us that God whom no man hath
seen at any time. Partaking of Him, His people
" behold God's face in righteousness," and have realised
in their own happy experience, that " in His presence
there is fulness of joy," that " at His right hand there
are pleasures for evermore." They are His priestly
people, on whom all the blessmgs of the covenant are
bestowed, and who, therefore, on the Sabbath, that day
which is peculiarly the sign of the covenant, enter mto
the symbolic heaven, and there eat heavenly food.'
' Comp. Balir, S'jmholil; I,, p. 431.
154
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Much, however, as may be sjiid for this A'iow, it
appears liable to objections "which it is hardly possible
to overcome. For, in the first place, the outer apart-
ment of the Tabernacle is not really that part of it in
which God peculiarly dwells. He is within the vail, and
seeing Him as He is, the sight of Him which is given
in His Son, is reserved for that stage in the progress of
His Israel when the vail is witluli-aAvn, and they enter
into the inmost and most holy shrine. And then, in the
second place, the analogy of the Shewbroad with the
other articles of furniture in the place where it stiinds is
thus destroyed. Both the Golden Candlestick and the
Altar of Incense repi-esent what passes from men to
God rather than what passes from God to men, the
grace indeed coming first from Him, but afterwards so
taking up its abode in them that they shine with sacred
light, and fiU with the odour of sanctity the apartment
in Avliich they dwell.
"We must fall back, then, on the second view men-
tioned, and must see in the Shewbread loaves the symbol
of those fruits of righteousness wliich are produced in
the lives of the true childi'en of the covenant. These
are produced first of all in Christ Himself, whose life
embodied every Christian grace and excellence in its
most perfect form, who in action exclaimed, " My meat
is to do my Father's will and to finish His work," and in
suffering, " The ciip which my Father hath given me to
drink, shall I not drink it ? " whose earthly course was
one continual (-loing good, and His death a returning in
faith and hope to the bosom of His Father, " Father,
into Thy hands I commend my spirit." But, thus pro-
duced in Him, these fruits of righteousness are produced
iUso in the members of His body, for they are " a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people, that they may show forth the praises of Him who
hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous
light" (1 Pet. ii. 9). They do not merely shiue with the
light of Christian knowledge and discernment ; they are
also faitliful in all "good works," and the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to them, teaching
them that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they
'• should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the
present world, looking for the blessed hope and the
glorious appearing of the groat God and their SaA-iour
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for them, to redeem
them from all iniquity, and to purify unto Himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works " (Titus ii. 12 —
14). Should it still seem to any that thus the eating
of the loaves is not sufficiently explained, it has onlj'
to be borne in mind that they were an " offering,"
that is, in the nature of the case, a meat-offering,
and that the same rule, therefore, was applied to
them as to all the other meat-offerings of Israel (Lev.
vi. 16).
SCEIPTUEE BIOaRAPHIES.
ELIJAH (concluded).
BT THE BEV. HENRY ALLON, D.D.
^-— -— -^ HE next scene in Elijah's history is a very
unexpected sequence to such a triumph as
that on Carmel ; in a religio^^s point of
view it is as dramatic and startling as
Garmel was in a material and social point of view.
Immediately following the hour of his greatest exalta-
tion was the hour of his greatest depression ; his moral
strength and weakness ai*e presented in dramatic con-
trast. He who had dared both Ahab and Jezcljol Avlien as
yet Jehovah had wrought no miracle for his public viudi-
<'ation, he who had been so marvellously preserved, who
had just destroyed the four hundred priests of Baal and
had wrf)n the applauding verdict of the nation, suddenly
lost his great courage, and was terrified or disheartened
into flight at the foolish and vaunting threat of a woman.
Jezebel, like Pharaoh, was indomitable in her hardness
of heart ; and when, on his return to Jezreel, Ahab told
her what had occurred on Cannel — ^the test of fire and
the slaughter ©f the prophets (jf her god, with the pre-
diction of the rain that had so plentifully fallen — she
flamed into passionate resentment and revenge, and
uttered one of those tremendous oaths of vengeance,
which are often so terrilile on Oriental lips. AVliellier
or not Elijah had entered .Jezr(!el wi<h Ahab. does not
appear ; at any rate his locality was known, and Jezebel
sent to him a messenger to tell him of the vow which she
had recorded : " The gods do so to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by
to-morrow about this time." Hardly could she. or indeed
would she, have sent such a message Anthout the know-
ledge of her weak and unstable husband. It was, how-
ever, a threat, not a stroke ; probably not even she dared
to touch Elijah, in the existing state of public feeling.
And Elijah might have discerned the impotence which
her threat covered, but his courage utterly dissolved
before it. Possibly his overstrung nervous system
experienced a corresponding reaction ; the refluence of
the wave corresponded to its flow. Perhaps he had
thought the struggle over, that both Ahab and Jezebel,
as well as the people, would be now subdued to the
worship of Jehovah ; and when ho sdw that the proud
heart of Jezebel, the mastor-spirit of the struggle, was
nnquelled, his heart sank within liim, and he fled in
utter despondency, if not in fear. The flight itself is aot
the indication of this ; it was his duty to provide for his
own safety in the absence of any great reason for self-
exposure ; so he fled to Cherith and to Zarephath. It is
the mood which is afterwards so pathetically described,
which indicates to us his real condition. He now flees,
not as before to the north and to a pagan territory, but
ELIJAH.
155
to the soudi and into the kingdom of Judah, which he
enters for the first time. From Jezreel, Bethel, the
boundary of Judah, could easily be reached in a few
hours. He is accompanied in his flight by his faithful
Zidonian servant, said by Jewish tradition to have been
the son of the widow of Zarephath, and afterwards the
prophet Jonah. He does not feel himself safe untU he
has intei-posed between himself and the exasperated
queen the entire breadth of Judah. Passing by Jeru-
salem, therefore, and Bethlehem,' he hastens to Hebron
in the south, and thence to Beer-sheba, on the confines
of the desert, the old patriarchal homestead of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
Leaving there his faithful Zidonian servant, probably
because he could not take him with him fui-ther, Elijah
plunged into the great desert of the wanderings, and
after a day's journey threw himself down in utter
weariness of soul and body, under one of the rithem
shrubs which are found in dried-up water-coiirses, and
which give scant but grateful shade to the traveller.
There his despondency became extreme, "and he re-
quested for himself that he might die; and said, It
is enough ; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am
not better than my fathers ; " and with this despond-
ing, despairing cry upon his lips, exhausted natiire
gave way, and he fell asleep. His spirit was utterly
broken ; he had fled to save his life, and now he wished
for death ; life did not seem worth preserving. It
was more than "the jangling of sweet beUs," it was
the gi^*ing way of a mighty spirit — the mood which,
uncontrolled by religious feeling, often impels men to
suicide — an overwhelming sense of the failure and vanity
of life. But it is not for us to say when " it is enough "
— when we have striven enough — when oui* cup is full
enough, or bitter enough. God in His own time wfll
say this ; not probably to a morbid, passionate, despaiiing
mood of soul like that of Elijah, but when we have been
schooled into patience, and faith, and peace. It would
have been a melancholy end had Elijah died there — a
broken-liearted man, in miserable abandonment, his
friendless corpse, exposed in the desert, the prey of the
vulture or the hyena, his mission ending in ignominy,
himself in despaii* : not thus was Elijah to die ; he was
to asqeud to heaven in a chariot of fire.
Grod answers the cry of His servant, by sending au
angel to strengthen him. It is suggestive, tliat his first
restorative is the physical ministry of sleep and food.
A disordered body is often the cause of a distempered
soul ; the ministiy itself, the sleep, the food, the m-gency
about the journey, aU would tend to re-invigorate both
body and soul. In what way or form God's angel came
to him, we are not told. God has ministering angels for
every desert of life. Elijah awakes, and finds provided
for him Arab cake and water, the ordinaiy fare of the
Bedouin. Again he sleeps, and is again awakened by
his patient and mysterious visitant ; again he takes food.
' A convent now standing between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
bears the prophet's name, and is said to mark the spot upon which
he slept on his way.
which miraculously sustains him for forty days, as Moses
had been sustained before, untU he comes to Horeb, the
mount of God. The direct distance from his sleeping-
place to Sinai through what is now Khan Nhukl is not
more than a himdred and fifty miles — a week's easy
journeying. We must therefore suppose some pui-posed
wandering from the dii*ect route, or some lingering in
the desert before Horeb is reached.
K"o passage in Elijah's history is religiously more
suggestive and comforting than this — this mood of a
prophet whose achievements had been so grand, and
whose apotheosis was to be so triumphant, and his
patient, tender treatment by Jehovah, are alike fuU of
consolation.
What led Elijah across the desert to Horeb, we are
not told. We can, however, imagine the attractiveness
of the sacred scenes of the lawgiving, and especially of
the mountain solitudes where, beaiing similar burdens,
and in a similar mood of disheartenmeut, Moses, his
great prototype, had seen visions of God, and been
comforted and strengthened in his trials ; only, in Elijah
the stern resentment and hard despondency of feeling
takes longer to subdue to tenderness and trust.
Scarcely does the mountain-peak of the lawgiving
itself (Has Siifsafeh), which commands the great plain
Er Rahah, affect the traveller more than the secluded
spot in tl;e heart of the mountain block, of which it is
the precipitous battlement, traditionally associated with
the mystic scene in Elijah's history which follows. A
pathway starting from the Convent of St. Katharine
conducts the traveller to the summit of Jebel Mousa, the
southernmost peak of Sinai, and 7,000 feet in height.
About half-way in the ascent the place is reached. A
few notes, made on the spot, may describe it as it
now is. The second of two archways constructed for
levying toU on pilgiims opens upon a secluded little
plain, forming a singular amphitheatre in the very heart
of Sinai, surrounded by magnificent peaks and walls
of granite, in the centre of which is a little enclosed
garden, with a solitary cypress standing at its entrance,
and near it a spring and a little pool of water. A few
paces from the cypress it; a chapel, said to be bmlt over
the place of the prophet's abode in Horeb, one compart-
ment of which covers the so-called Cave of the Vision.
It is a hole only just large enough to contain the body
of a man, and into which he might creep. Of course
these details of monkish superstition demand no cre-
dence, beyond the strong probability that the Divine
manifestation took place in some such locality of the
mountain ; and there is no other so likely as this. It is
a " temple not made with hands," into which, through a
stupendous gi-anite screen, which shuts out even the
Bedouin world, God's priests may enter to commune
with Him. To this place, in all probability, Joshua
and the elders accompanied Moses when he ascended
Jebel Mousa for his great transfiguration, and God
'"made all his goodness to pass before him."
Here God challenges Elijah, in an abrupt, stem, and
reproachful way, " What doest thou here, Elijah ? " The
solitudes of Horeb were no fitting place for God's prophet
156
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to Israel ; to flee from his work as a witness and worker
for God in the cities of Israel, weakly complaining of
the treatment that he had received and seeking personal
comfort, was not the temper of a prophet. In a very
pathetic way Elijah pours out the sorrow of his bur-
dened heart, and intimates the strong fascination which
had drawn him to Horob for comfort. He is querulous,
reproaeliful, and somewhat self-righteous. The mood
of the rithem bush is not yet dispelled. He sj^eaks as
if he had been more jealous for Jehovah than Jehovah
Avas for himself — as if he had been ill-treated, not only
by Jezebel and the people of Israel, but by Jehovah
himself. Wliy had matters been permitted to come to
such an extremity? why had not more signal judgments
been inflicted, and a more signal triumph given to him ?
The answer comes in wonderfully di-amatie and vivid
symbols, which are not only perfectly congruous with
the character of the entire history, but also full of
resemblance to his own vehement mood ; the wind, the
earthquake, tlie fire, in which God was not, followed by
the stiU small voice in which God was, were manifestly
designed to teach Elijah a gi*eat lesson concerning God's
ways of working. Not by great manifestations of phy-
sical power, not by coercive and destructive means, does
God accomphsh spiritual processes, but by means which
ai-e silent, gentle, and suasive. Spiritual forces are
always such ; such were the characteristics of our Lord's
ministry — " He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his
voice to be heard in the street." So it is of all minis-
tries which achieve the greatest and prof oundest spu-itual
processes ; there are carnal ways even of doing spiritual
work. " The kingdom of God cometli not with observa-
tion." Achievements of miraculous vindication, and of
avenging bloodshed, such as those of Carmel, are not
the true spiritual forces of God's kingdom. God might
sanction them. He might be in them, as in many analo-
gous processes in the after history of His Church, and in
the experiences of individual men; but in a much higher
and more transforming sense He is in agencies and
processes that have the still small voice for their type.
It was a lesson in the true methods of Di-\-ine working
that would not only correct and instruct the prophet,
but would also comfort him. It would rebuke his yearn-
ing for more palpable judgments or miracles ; it would
qualify his estimate of what had really been effected
on Carmel ; and it would encourage him by the sugges-
tion that in thousands of hidden Israelitish hearts quiet,
unrecognised spiritual processes were going on.
The resemblance of this symbolical manifestation of
Jehovah to that which Moses beheld is too striking to be
overlooked ; the preparatoiy forty days in the desert,
sustained by the food eaten under the rithem bush, was
clearly analogous to the forty days' sustentation of Moses,
and wa,s probably intended to teach the same lessons
concerning the reality of the Divine presence, and the
suflBciency of the Divine support. The presence of the
definite article — " He came thither unto the cave and
lodged there " — seems to point to the well-known cleft of
the rock (Exod. xxxiii. 22) in which Moses stood while
the glory of Jehovah passed by. Tlio difference in the
phenomena of the Divine manifestation is sufficiently
accounted for by the difference in the states of feeling
of the two prophets. Moses, though despondent at the
idolatry of the people, simply craved Divine revelation
and assurance ; it was enougli for him that " the Lord
merciful and gracious " should be proclaimed. The
religious feeling of Elijah was much moi'e corrupted by
human passion; he needed correction concerning Divine
ways of working, as weU as rebuke for liis resentment
at God's dciUings with him. To him, too, the revelation
is of the graciousness of God's ways.
It is sufficient indication of the depth of this feeling
that neither the forty days' sustentation, nor the sym-
bolical manifestation of Jehovah, sufficed to correct it.
When, after the latter, the interrogation " What doest
thou here, Elijah ? " is repeated, he bemoans his condi-
tion in precisely the same words. Even this great
parable of DiAnue operations had not dispelled his hy[)0-
chondria ; the feeling of causeless, overpowering de-
pression, which so many great natures so weU know,
that cannot be reasoned with or rebuked, that dings
and disables in spite of all the convictions of the under-
standing, the rebukes of the conscience, or resolutions
of the will, hung about him stdl. It is neither reheved
nor conA-inced. Ehjah cannot think of the issues of
the events on Carmel, of the bitter rage and burning
revenge of Jezebel, when he expected that the glorious
manifestation of Jehovah woiUd have been decisively
acknowledged, without deep desi:)ondeney. His work
had been a failure; he still stood alone, not one true
servant of God by his side. Many a solitary worker,
overwhelmed Avith the burden of his commission, appa-
rently failing in its purposes, and Avithout any one to
share his anxieties, cheer his heart, and help his faith
and his prayers, can sjTiipathise with this feehng. It
is easy to be bold and ardent wlien a great and definite
work has to be done ; it is not so easy Avhen nothing
especially has to be done, and when, amid seeming dis-
comfiture, the worker has to wait, not KnoAving what to
do next. It is here that we see that " Elijah was a man
of like passions to ourselves."
His forbearing, patient God completes the cure of his
despondency, by giA'ing him a commission wliich implied
that He was not so unmindful of necessaiy retributions
as Elijah supposed. Ho is first to go to the AvUdemess
of Damascus, the desert on the north-Avest edge of which
Damascus stood, and to anoint Benhadad's general,
Hazael, king of Syria, in the stead of his master ; he is
next to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, king of Israel,
instead of Ahab ; and lie himself is to be superseded in
his pi-ophetic office by Elisha, the son of Shaphat, Avhom
ho is to anoint as his successor. The instnictiA^eness of
these lies not so much in the incidents themselA'es, nor
in the light wliicli they throAv upon the functions of an
Israelitish proiihet, as in the fact that the con-ective
prescribed for Elijah's desponding solitude in the avU-
derness is an immediate return to ordinary duties. The
gi'eatest passions of the soul are often quietly and effec-
tively corrected by the necessity of attending to the
minor duties of life. It is not enough. Elijah is to
ELIJAH.
157
continue tlie work about wliich lie so desponded. Next,
God would teach him that necessaiy retribution would
be inflicted : these three, Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, were
to be God's instruments of retribution upon Ahab's
guilty house, as is strikingly seen in the after history :
" Him that escajoeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay,
and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall
Elisha slay." Hazael was to chastise the nation for
their idolatry ; Jehu was to extirpate its authors, Ahab
and Jezebel ,- and Elisha was to be the instrument of
various Divine judgments, especially in directing the
retribution of Jehu.
Light is also thrown by the terms of tbis commission
upon the tropical style of many of these records. Elijah
did not personally anoint either Hazael or Jehu ; both
these commissions being left for Elisha to execute.
Elisha was not literally a man of the sword, he did not
slay any spared by Jehu. The general sense thus rheto-
rically expressed clearly is, that through these three
men God would execute judgment. Neither can we
understand the number of the faithful of whom, in
correction of his blind despondency, God assures the
prophet, as being literally seven thousand, which is
simply a round number — the perfect number seven — for
the elect of God. The latter information was a striking-
rebuke of Elijah's morbid estimate of the state of
Israel, in which he took no note even of 0)>adiah and
thp prophets whom Elijah knew him to have hidden.
Leaving Horeb, and again ti-aversing the great desert
of the wandering, Elijah again enters Judah, probably
by Beer-sheba and Hebron ; but, avoiding Jerusalem, he
descends through Engedi into the great Jordan valley ;
ascending it he comes to a field at Abel-meholah in the
noi'th, where he finds Elisha ploughing with twelve yoke
of oxen before him, himself with the tweKtli. Elisha
was the son of the proprietor of the farm, and pre-
sumably, therefore, a well-to-do man. For three years
and a half this was the first spring-time that gave
promise of a harvest, and we may imagine the joyous
toil of the husbandmen. The appearance of Elijah
was sudden and startling. It would lose none of its
weirdness by the visit to Horeb, and the jouniey through
the wilderness; while his name was associated with
stern and awful miracle.
Apparently Avithout speaking a word, Elijah throws his
prophet's mantle over the shoulders of the young farmer
— a weU-understood symbolical act — and passes on.
Wliatever Elisha may have felt, he expresses no sur-
prise, utters no remonstrance either of unwillingness or
modesty ; but leaving his plough, he runs after Elijah,
accepts his calling, and simply requests permission to
bid his family farewell. In laconic speech, strange as
his abrupt action, Elijah bids him go : " Go, and return,
for thou knowest what I have done unto thee." Elisha
turns back for this purpose, and kills the yoke of oxen
with which he had been ploughing, for a farewell feast,
as well perhaps as to indicate his renunciation of his
old calling, and then follows Elijah. And for the next
six years, during which we hear nothing of Elijah's
doings, his solitaiy spirit was to find companionship in
the gentle, soothing ministry of this young prophetic-
Timothy. The chief thought with Elijah would be that
his mission was ended, and his successor appointed —
" Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the
hands of Elijah." It is not easy for a great servant
of God to accept such an intimation, or heartily to wel-
come his successor ; and especially to commit a great
work, of which he has been the especial instrument, into
other and feebler hands. Moses leaves his leadership
to Joshua, Elijah his ])rophetical office to Elisha. It
is a strange succession : Elijah, the rough Bedouin of
Mount Gilead, the prophet of fire — Elisha, the gentle
son of a pastoral home, a herdsman of the valley ; the
one a Boanerges, the other a Barnabas. Yet such is
the succession whereby God carries on His work, and
whereby it is best carried on; these men represent the
two elements that miist enter, perhaps alternately, into
all great spiritual work.
The six years' seclusion of Elijah that now followed
would probably lead Ahab and Jezebel to think that
Elijah had retired from his long struggle with them,
and that he was virtually discomfited.
A plot of gi-ound on the north-eastern slope of GUboa,
just outside the Avails of Jezreel and adjacent to the new
summer palace which Ahab had built, attracted Ahab's
desire, as being conveniently situated for a garden. It
belonged to Naboth of Jezreel, apparently one of Ahab's
nobles. It was his paternal inheritance, which, accord-
ing tp the Mosaic law (Numb, xxxvi. 7 — 9), it was not
lawful to sell. Probably it was part of the portion
assigTied to his family at the settlement of the tribes.
It was not, therefore, a feeling of mere tenacity or obsti-
nacy that prompted Naboth's refusal to sell it, but a
feeling of religious obligation. Even if reduced to the
utmost poverty, no Israelite could sell his inheritance ;
he could sell only the leasehold of it, which at the
year of jubilee reverted to his family. This obviates
all appearance of churlishness on Naboth's part, and
makes prominent the irreligiousness as well as the ini-
quity of Ahab. In a small countiy like Palestine, the
rights of landowners were held very sacred ; no ruler
might invade them. This Ahab tacitly acknowledged ;
but he was gi'eatly angered ; he went home " heavy
and displeased ; " abandoning himself to his vexation, he
threw liimseK upon his bed, and refused to take food —
a very characteristic record, for Ahab was both wicked
and weak, a combination often more mischievous than
wickedness and strength. But if Ahab is imbecile,
Jezebel is daring ; her pride of conscious superiority to
her husband, and the craft with which she ruled him,
come out very strikingly in her remonstrance : she up-
braids him for want of energy, and, confident of his
approval, promises to secure for him the \-ineyard ; she
does not even condescend to inform him ho\r. The con-
trast is true to nature and to history ; so, in the Odyssey,
Homer represents the ascendancy over ^gisthus of
Clytemnestra ; so Shakespeare represents Lady Macbeth
as moulding and ruling the feebler wickedness of her
husband, "chastising it with the valour of her tongue."
While Ahab let "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"
158
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Jczebol tried to "screw his courage to the sticking
point ; " told liim it was " shame to wear a heai-t so
white," ami " laid the daggers for him."
But her craft was equal to her bolduess. Open assas-
sination would have been perilous ; forcible A\Testing of
the sacred inheritance would have roused even the sub-
servient people ; the murder must be cloaked in a
religious garb. An accusation of blasphemy against
God, and of high treason against the king, is to be
brought against Naboth ; a fast is to be proclaimed, as
if his outrage of religious feeling could not otherwise be
assuaged ; false witnesses are to be suborned to give
testimony, and Naboth is to be put to death under forms
of the law. It is a melancholy proof of the corruption
and craven subser^-iency of the magistracy of Jezreel,
that they should lend themselves to such a diabolical
crime. The twofold accusation, its shameless falsehood,
the venal magistracy, the suborned witnesses, the sem-
blance of religious zeal, and the ostentatious ajjpeal to
the popular verdict, are strikingly parallel to the pro-
ceedings in the judgment-hall of Caiaphas, when our
Lord was accused.
Tlie punishment for blasphemy was stoning to death
(Deut. xiii. 10; xvii. 5), which, after a mock trial, was
immediately executed upon Naboth, as also, it would
appear, upon his two sons (2 Kings ix. 26). This,
according to the traditional law, which involves con-
fiscation in the very idea of high treason, enabled Ahab
to confiscate the property of Naboth. Jezebel simply
tells Ahab that the obstacle to his desu-e is removed,
and bids hun go and take possession.
The effect of the crime upon Ahab is not intimated
until a later stage in the narrative. It is in accordance
with his imbecile character to suppose that it was very
startling ; that he felt like the guilty Scottish thane,
his mind " full of scorpions ; " reasoning against his
conscience and his fears, " Thou canst not say I did it,"
and feeling
" better be with the dead
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace.
Than on the torture of the mind to be
In restless ecstacy."
But this was only for the moment. " He arose up
and went down from Samaria, and came to Jezreel to
take possession of the vineyard." From 2 Kings ix. 25
he would seem to have gone in state, attended by two of
the great ofl&cers of his household ; one of whom, Jehu,
the son of Nimshi, bears a name of terrible import to
the house of Omri.
But when Ahab reaches Jezreel, and proceeds to the
vineyard of Naboth — with none, as he thinks now, to
oppose his taking possession — he sees, standing in the
midst thereof, a solitary figure, whose form was bui'nt in
upon his brain, whose words never ceased to reverberate
in his ear. It is no Banquo's ghost, and yet the ghost
of the murdered Naboth could not more have appalled
him. The prophet of Gilead and of Mount Carmel.
sent by Jehovah, stood before him. and warned him off
his unlaAvful acquisition. Elijah is there like a fate —
like Tiresias in the Greek tragedy — thei-e in the very
hour of his triumph, to proclaim the doom of his
house.
Elijah's appearance to Ahab this tliird time is like
the former, very sudden and very startling; no one
knows whence or how he comes, but simply that he is
there. Again Elijah " brake forth as fire, aud his word
burned as a torch."
Elijah's words are as laconic, lofty, and appalling as
ever: " Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?"
Like a thunderbolt from a lofty storm-cloud they must
have fallen upon Ahab and his courtiers. Ahab attempts
a blustering reply, half-defiance, half-whimper, feebly
endeavouring to suggest a persecution of personal en-
mity. Elijah's reply is direct and terrible. It consisted
in one of the most uncompromising aud appalling of
the curses which the Old Testament records ; his pos-
terity was to be utterly cut off ; not so much as a dog
should be left ; his house was to be utterly destroyed,
like those of Jeroboam and Baasha ; his own blood
should be shed, as that of Naboth had been shed ; and
in the very spot where his victims had perished, the
dogs of the city should eat the flesh of Jezebel ; while
those pertaining to him, who died in the field, should be
devoured by the vultures of the air. So tremendous
was the curse that, twenty years afterwards, Jehu, who
heard it, unconscious that he himself was to be the
chief instrument in its fulfilment, reminded his com-
panion, Bidkar, of it. How unconsciously men prepare
the future ! How little Ahab thought that he was taking
■with him, to Naboth's vineyard, the very man who
should fulfil the curse by piercing the heart of Joram,
Ahab's son ; and should command that same Bidkai* to
cast his body in dishonour into the portion of the field
of Naboth, on purpose to fulfil this very curse ! (2 Kings
ix. 16 — 26.) So utterly cowed was the guilty king, that
he humbled himself in what was apparently sincere re-
pentance; he "rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his
flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly ;"
which led to a modification of the curse so far, that the
utter destruction of his house was not to occur during
his life-time ; although his penitence was, no doubt, as
characteristic of his shallow feebleness as his guilt;
and the historian does not forbear the tei-rible summary
of his character which accompanies the record of his
penitence.
It was the last meeting of Ahab and Elijah, and is
every whit as characteristic of both as the first. The
representatives of the two great principles that had
so long struggled with each other in Israel meet again,
in sudden, dramatic, and decisive conflict. One is glad
to tliink that the king's last act before the prophet was
an act of penitence, and that the prophet's last words
to the king were words of mercy.
There is a momentary appearance of Elijah during
the short reign of Ahaziah. tlie son of Ahab. Tlie young
king walked in the ways of his father Ahab, and be-
came a worshipper of Baal. A sickness, brought on by
a fall tlirough a lattice from an upper room of his palace,
in Samaria, caused his death, after a reign of two years.
Duiing his sickness he sent messengers to Ekron, a city
ELIJAH.
159
of Pliilistia, to enquire of Baal-zebub wlietlier he would
recover ; but the oracle is nearer than Ekron. Di^•inely
directed, Elijah suddenly meets the messengers, and
rebukes them for seeking a heathen deity. Where
this meeting occurred is not stated. It could hardly
have been, as Dean Stanley supposes, on the heights of
Carmel, or on "the haunted strand" between the sea
and the moimtain ; for Carmel, especially the j)romon-
tory that juts into the sea, is a long way to the north
of Samaria, while Ekron is as far to tlie south. The
messengers did not know Elijah ; but they were so im-
pressed with his appearance and rebuke, that they at
once returned to deliver his message to Ahaziah. From
the description which they gave of the i3ropliet, Ahaziali
knew that it could be no other than the terrible antago-
nist of Ms father. His wrath is kindled; and, in the
old spirit of his mother, Jezebel, he foolishly thinks to
chastise Elijah for the insult, and to aj)prehend him
by force ; he sends, therefore, one troop after another
for the purpose. He is scornfully accosted as " a man
of God," and commanded to suiTender at the behest of
the king ; the fitting reply is stroke after stroke of
Di^-ine punishment, the precise character of which it is
impossible to pictiire to oui'selves. It was some signal
and terrible judgment, fitly described as consuming fire
from heaven, such as fully ^ondicated his claim to be
really what he was mockingly designated. The third
captain of fifty, fearing for his life, approaches God's
prophet in another spirit, and entreats him to come to
tlie king. Elijah, ha-\Tng vindicated his character and
dignity, complies, and delivers to Ahaziah the word of
the Lord, which he had already transmitted by the
messengers. No attempt to arrest him is made, and he
departs. It is his last recorded intei'view with the
house of Ahab. Ahaziah dies, and Baal-worship in
Israel receives another heavy blow and discouragement.
The conduct of Elijah has been condemned as harsh
and intemperate; but if it had not had the Di^ane
sanction, the fire from heaven would not have fallen.
The incident is to be estimated as part of the great
theocratic conflict waged in Isi'ael with Baal. After all
that had been done on Carmel, after all the judgments
and mercy that God had shown, the court of Israel
seemed more bent upon Baal-worship than ever, and
openly and scornfully defied Jehovah and His prophet.
The incident is of Christian interest, insomuch as, nine
centuries afterwards, it suggested to two ardent disciples
of our Lord, not far from the same place, a similar
retribution upon a village of the Samaritans which re-
fused to receive them. Our Lord rebukes them, not in
condemnation of Elijah, but as forgetful of his own
peculiar mission of salvation.
This was the last act of Elijah's public, career ; the
only mention of him in the Book of Chronicles is of
a letter, which probably about tliis time he sent to
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah ; who,
having married a daughter of Ahab, " began to walk
in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of
Ahab, and to do that which was evil in the sight of
Jehovah ; " " tliere came a wiiting to him from Elijah
the prophet," denouncing his sin, and predicting his
death (2 Chron. xxi 12 — 15). This is the only scrap of
Elijah's wi'iting, and it bears a strong resemblance to
Elijah's spoken words. It is, too, the only recorded com-
munication between Elijah and the southern kingdom.
It is probable that during the eight or ten years of
Elijah's life, after the anointing of Elisha, the two pro-
phets were quietly snd actively ministering in the cities
and A-illages of Israel. Taught by the "stUl small
voice" of Horeb, Elijah would speak to the people
of Jehovah's goodness and mercy, and seek to win them
to spiritual ser\-ice and love. "We read also of sons of
the prophets settled in Bethel, which had been one of
the chief seats of idolatry ; and there are indications
that '■ schools of the prophets " were organised and
established throughout the land, and that to these
ElijaJi devoted some years of assiduous cultm*e, indi-
cating that under his influence true religion made con-
siderable progi'ess in Israel.
At length the time came that Elijah's warfare should
be finished. His wanderings and his hidings, his lone-
liness in the desert and his public triumphs, his con-
flicts with the coiu-t, and his visions of God are now
ended; the God whom he has so greatly served will
signally honour him, wiU spare him the pain and humi-
liation of dying, and will visibly translate him to heaven.
Objections have been taken to tliis part of the narra-
tive, as being an inextricable interweaving of fact and
figiu'e. Xo doubt both are here, and both are to be
recognised. The essential fact is that Elijali was trans-
lated without dying. Not only does the credibility of the
history demand this, but the entire Biblical conception
requires it also. If the Gospels do not accept myths
as veritable history, if the transfigiiratiou of our Lord
be a fact and not a mere vision or legend, if there be
any significance in the representation of Moses and
Elias appearing with Him in glory, we must literally
accept the representation that Elijah was translated
without tasting death.
No doubt, the manner of his translation is figuratively
represented ; all that the description necessarily means
is, that he was caught away as in a fiery storm-cloud —
poetically, God's " chariot and horses of fire ; " "as a
fire" Elijah "brake forth;" in a fiery storm-cloud he
was taken away ; the prophet of fire to the end.
His approaching departure being made known, appa-
rently not to him only, but to Elisha and others, he
resolves to spend his last hours in visiting the schools of
the prophets at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho. His bearing
is calm ; the coming gloiy does not overj)Ower him ; he
makes no reference to the honoiu" which awaits him ; he
is self-possessed, leisurely, quiet. He does not summon
his friends to witness the strange spectacle ; in his great
humility, he sought to disengage himself from his faith-
ful companion, that there might be no hmuan mtness
of his depai-ture.
Elijah and Elislm are at Gilgal— clearly not the
Gilgal of Joshua's first encampment in the Jordan
valley, but a Gilgal from which they could " go down "
to Bethel; probably in the mountains of Ephraim,
160
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and represented by the modern Jiljilia. Looking
npon tlie scenes of his triumphs — Carmel, Jezreel, and
Samaria — for the last time, with a touch of the deep and
delicate tenderness that was iu him, he suggested to
Elisha that he should remain there while he fulfilled a
mission at Bethel. With a foreboding of what is about
to happen, Elisha vehemently protests that ho will not
leave him. When they reach Bethel, they find the sons
of the prophets in a great excitement at Elijah's ap-
proaching departure ; they confer together in earnest
groups, and at length take Elisha aside, and ask him
whether he knows what is about to happen : " Knowcst
thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy
head to-day." " Tea, I know it ; hold your peace." It
is like the f m-tive conversation of friends round a death-
bed. It is not a complaint, nor a rebuke on the part of
Elisha. He simply shrinks from what must be ; there
are sorrows that will not bear to be anticipated in
articulate words — sorrows for which words of consola-
tion are only cruel ; best, therefore, borne in silence ;
wouuds are angered when opened even to dress them.
Again Elijah attempts to escape to Jericho, and again
Elisha refuses to leave him. At Jericho, the sous of the
prophets proffer to Elisha the same information, and are
answered in the same words. With delicate reticence,
no allusion to it is made to Elijali himself. It is for
him to speak of it if he thinks fit, not for them ; they
will silently wait in quiet awe. It is a pious conception
of Elijah's departure, God will " take him."
No record of Elijah's parting intercourse with these
sons of the prophets is given. We are left to imagine
the seriousness, fidelity, and tenderness of his last
words to these pious youths, whom he had gathered
and trained for the religious ministry of the laud. It
is touching and beautiful to think that such should have
been his last earthly occupation, his last counsels and
blessings ; that his last words should have been words
of help to those who were to be God's witnesses ii\
the land. Again Elisha refuses to bo left behind;
and they two leave Jericho, and advance towards the
Jordan.
Jericho stands on the eastern slopes of the centi'al
mountain ridge of Palestine; one mountain spur of
which, the Quarantania, the traditional scene of our
Lord's temptation, almost overhangs tho site of the
old city. Fifty of the sons of the prophets climb one
^0 of the eminences of this mountain, whence a view may be
obtained right across the valley to the river, and beyond
it up the corresponding slopes of Gilead ; thence they
watch the departing footsteps of their father and friend,
as he descends the long, weary, burning ti-act that
leads to the Jordan, some eight or nine miles across the
low levels of the Jordan valley. In that clear atmo-
sphere the eye can travel very far, and they would
not lose sight of the two travellers until they descended
the wooded sides of the terraced ravine, at the bottom
of which the river flows. It was a touching parting ;
like the elders at Miletus, when they bade farewell to
Paul, " they sorrowed most of aU because they would
see his face no more." It is a sufficient indication
of the deep fount of human tenderness that lay beneath
that rough, shaggy exterior, and of the affection and
reverence in which his pupils held him.
Whether it is by Divine direction, or whether it is
the instinct of the old Gileadite to finish his course in
his native mountains, we are not told ; but Elijah and
Elisha are to cross the Jordan. Elijah's life is to end,
as it had been lived, in the fulness of miracle. He un-
girds himseK, rolls his mantle into a staff, and smites
the river, which like an arrow rushes to its mysterious
destiny in the Dead Sea; and "the waters divided
hither and thither, and they two went over on dry
ground." They are now on the slopes of Gilead;
one of the peaks overhanging them is Pisgah, where
Moses had died. Silently they journeyed for a while ;
the sons of the prophets at Jericho probably again,
from their distant observatory, following their steps.
At length Elijah speaks : " What shall 1 do for thee,
before I shall be taken away from thee ? " Elisha's
single-hearted reply is, " I pray thee, let a double
portion of thy spirit be upon me;" not, "Let me be
endowed with twice thy zeal and power;" but, "Let
mine be the double portion of the first-bom," the birth-
right blessiug. He wishes to be endowed as the heir
and successor of his illustrious master, to have a ratio of
two among his brethren. It was a "hard thing." It
rested with Jehovah, not with Elijah ; ho refers it, there-
fore, to the Di\nne decision. Elijah had wished for no
witnesses of his departure, but Elisha had refused to
lea^e him. If, then, God permitted Elisha to see his
miraculous assumption, he might regard it as an indi-
cation that his request would be granted. Still they
went on, and " they talked as they went : " precious
parting words, not preserved to us, but yet to be
imagined by us : solicitudes for the kingdom, for t"he
schools of the prophets, and for Elisha and his jirophetic
mission ; recollections, thanksgivings, and lessons for the
use of Elisha ; with perhaps some anticipation of what
was now to be. They would talk as men on death-beds
and surrounding friends talk to each other, when words
are crowded into precious moments, and more is meant
than can be expressed.
And while they talked, "behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them
asunder, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven ; "
the only embrace possible to Elisha, the only farewell,
the only sign of his reverence and love, being the
tender, piercmg cry, '' My father, my father, the chariot
of Israel and the horsemen thereof." To him, Elijah
had been a father ; to Israel, the simple prophet had
been a defence and a glory, more than armies, more than
chariots and horses. They are not the phenomena ot
death that are so wonderful, they are the character-
istics of tho life that death crowns. So God testified to
his servant, "not that he was unclothed, but clothed
upon — mortality swallowed up of life." So, after the
great conflicts and depressions of his life, this great
servant of God entered into his rest— " an abundant
entrance administered unto him" — the supreme and
typical instance of the glorious end of a good and great
HAGGAI.
161
career. Elislia did see it, and tliis was the assurance
of his sonship; the birthright portion should be his.
But he felt like a bereaved child ; he felt as if Israel
had lost its only chamijion, its best defence. And in
liis bitter grief he '"rent his clothes," catching, however,
the prophet's mantle as it fell from him — the precious
souvenir of his father and teacher, tlie instrument of so
mauy marvellous deeds — the pallium of his own inves-
titure with Elijah's prophetic office and spirit. He
returns to the Jordan, and, with a fine inspiration of
faith, he smites the waters with Elijah's mantle, ex-
claiming. " Where is the Lord God of Elijah ? " and
.again the smitten torrent divided ; a sure and precious
token that the God of Elijah was indeed with him.
Whether the sons of the prophets had beheld the
translation, is not stated ; but they regarded Elisha's
passage of the Jordan as a conclusive sign : " The spirit
of Elijah," they said, " doth rest upon Elisha;" and they
camo across the plain to meet him, and did him homage.
Not unnaturally, however, they doubted about the
reality of Elijah's translation. Ho had been wont sud-
denly to come and suddenly to disappear. Into some
lonely valley, or upon some moiiutain-top, the fierce
whirlwind might have cast him. At any rate his body
might be found. " And they sought him three days, but
found him not." " He was not, for God took him."
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
HAGGAI.
BY THE KEV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
INTEODirCTION.
AGGAI stands next on the prophetic roU
to Zephaniah; but between these two
prophets there is a wide interval of time,
at least a century ; and this interval was
marked ))y events so momentous and tragic as to
change the whole face of the goodly land and to effect
a corresponding change on the character, conditions,
•and prospects of its inhabitants. The Captivity had
intervened, and the Return. The land had been in-
vaded, depopulated, reduced to a jungle haunted by
wild beasts. The cities had been broken down and
l>m*ned with fire ; the very Temple had become a
■charred and blackened heap of ruins. Zephaniah had
foretold tlie judgment which was to sweep through
the Lind, and to sweep away not only man and beast
irom it, but their offences with the sinners, in terms so
sombre and terrible as that they still make our hearts
tremble wlien we read them ;' and his prediction had
been utterly fulfilled. No greater, or apparently more
irreparable, calamity could well have fallen on a nation
than that wliich fell on Judtea. Not only was a large
majority of the men capable of bearing arms cut off ;
not only were the statesmen, priests, farmers, merchants,
and even the skUled artisans, and the able-bodied
peasants and labourers, can-ied away captive, so that
the land was left well-nigh without inhabitant; but its
cxintral and most fertile valley was given to an idola-
trous and half-lmrbarous horde of aliens, who were
imable to recover the soil from the tropical jungle
which had sprung up over it, or so much as to keep the
lions that haunted it at bay.-
Nevertheless the purpose of God stood fast, hi^
purpose to redeem his people, and to restore them to
tlie land of their fathers. During the seventy years of
the Capti\aty he kept their hopes alive by the ministry
I Zeph. i. 14—18.
59 — VOL. III.
- 2 Kings xvii. 24— 2S.
of the great prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel,
assuring them that, if they should confess their sins
and return to Him, He would deliver them from their
bondage, lead them back in triumph to the country and
the city in which He had dwelt among them as a kin^
among his subjects, and raise them to a height of
welfare and privilege such as they had never reached
before. As the term of the Captivity drew to an end,
the voice of prophecy grew more clear and bright ;
and, at last, the promise was fulfilled, or began to be
fulfilled. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire,
the conqueror of Babylon, whom God had chosen to be
his servant and " the shepherd " of his people, issued an
edict, authorising as many as were so minded to return
to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the House of the Lord
God of Israel. Some 50,000 of the captives, led by
Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of David, and by
Joshua, a priest of the house of Aaron, came back to
their abandoned city and ravaged land ; and among
these returning exiles there was probibly a young man
named Haggai, and another named Zechariah, who were
soon to receive the prophetic inspii-ation, as they may
already have received a prophetic training from the
seers of tlie exile.
The first task to which the returned exiles addressed
themselves was that of rebuUdiug the Temple. At
first "they offered freely for the house of God to
set it up in its place," and that not simply because they
had been commissioned to build it by Cyrus and were
aided by imperial gifts and grants, nor simply because
they desired once more to worship God after the
manner of their fathers. Their motives ran deeper
than this. For the Temple stood in the closest relation
to the kingdom of God, and was essential to the
Hebrew form of that kingdom. It was the palace of
the Great King. It was the sign that God dwelt
among his people, receiving their homage, guiding,
ruling, and protecting them in all their ways. And
162
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
how coiild tlieii- King come aud vesicle with them ouce
more, until his palace, the Temple, was rebuilt — until
they had pro\'ided a habitatiou for Him ?
Li the second year of Cyrus, then (B.C. 534), they
laid the foundation of the new Temple, and offered
freely aud largely in order that it might soon be
complete. But they wer'e few, and poor, aud weak.
The conditions of their life were hard, almost intoler-
ably hard. The fields had to be cletu'cd of the jungle,
the land ploughed aud sown and tended. Theu* owu
Louses had to be built and furnished. And there were
many enemies. The barbarous insolent Samaritans
often plundered their fields of the scauty harvest they
had laboriously reared, or rode into theii- unwaUed city
to plunder, and burn, and kill. Within a few months
of tlie Return, many of them would be disappointed,
broken, helpless men. Fired by tlie briglit words and
promises of their seers, they had braved the dangers of
the mountains and the desert, expecting, no doubt, that
when they reached Jerusalem all would go well with
them. Cyrus was their friend. Aud had not the
prophets assured tbem that God Himself would be
their friend, and succour and bless them ? But hei-e
they were, poor and helpless, the prey and scorn of an
insolent foe !
We cannot greatly wonder that they lost heart, that
the work dragged hea\Tly, and soon ceased. We may
forgive men who, in so sore a strait, thought first of
themselves, of how they were to live, rather than of
God, aud how they might serve Him. That their weari-
ness and disappointment was the true cause of their
flagging zeal for the Temple is beyond doubt, I think,
though it lias been commonly attributed to the edict
procured from Smerdis, a successor of Cyi'u.s on the
Persian throne, which forbad them to carry on the work
of building either the city or the Temple ; for this edict
was not published till twelve years after the foundation
of the Temple liad been laid (B.C. 522) ; and had the
Jews retained their early zeal, they would have com-
pleted the Temple before it was issued.'
It was to re-vive this cooling, if not extinct, zeal, that
Haggai and Zechariah were raised up. Tlie proi)]iecy
of Haggai indeed is wholly concerned with the sacred
stnicture. It is simply a series of expostulations and
appeals intended to spur the people on to the work, by
showing them that the calamities under whicli they
groaned were a judgment on their remissness, and
assuring them that, if they would set their heart to the
work, they would soon complete it, and tliat, so soon as
the Temple was complete, God would come and dwell
among them, to load them with His benefits and to give
tliem peace. Tlie zealous projihet was greatly aided in
his task by the fact that the impostor and usui"per
1 There is a curiously exict coincidence between Isaiah's pro-
phecy conceruing Cyrus and its fulfilment. The prediction of
Isaiah was (chap. xHv. 28) that he should say to Jerusalem, " Thou
Shalt be huiU ; and to the Temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."
So, precisely, it came to pass. For during the reigu of Cyrus
the rebuilding of the city went on without any marked interrup-
tion ; but of the Temple, though Cyrus had decreed its restoration,
only the foundation was laid.
Smerdis, who had interdicted the building of the Temple,
had been succeeded on the tlirone of Persia by Darius
Hystaspes (Darius, the son of Hystaspes), a just and
clement prince, who walked in tlio ways of Cyrus.
Darius repealed the edict ; the Jews were free to build ;
and, inspired by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah,
they did build, and build witli such ngour and to such
purpose that, within four years from the time at which
Haggai first spoke, the Temple was formally opQued
and dedicated to the service of Jehovah (B.C. 520 — 516).
Of Haggai himself we know nothing, save that he
was a man and a prophet. Even this much, however, is
an advance upon prenous knowledge : for some four-
teen centuries ago the common behef of the Western
Church was that he was not a man but an angel — a
belief founded on a misapprehension of a phrase in
chap. i. 13, where he is spoken of as " the Lord's
messenger," or " angel.'' But though we know nothing
more of him. it is the received and probable opinion
that Haggai, then a young man, came up to Jerusalem
Avith the first band of exiles who returned from the
Captivity, and that he lived at least long enough to
see, as tlie fruit of his ministiy, a completed Temple
and a restored worship.
The date of Haggai's labours, unlike that of most of
the minor prophets, is fixed beyond all possibility of
doubt. Ezra tcDs us that " the work " of building the
Temple, which had been begun so hopefully twelve
years before, ceased unto the seventh year of Darius,
king of Persia, aud tliat " then the prophets Haggai
aud Zechariah prophesied unto the Jews that were in
Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of
Israel," and that "Zeinibbabel the sou of Sliealtiel, and
Joshua the son of Jozadak, rose up and began to build
the house of God which is at Jenisalem ; and wiih
them ivere the 'prophets of God helping them."'- Nay,
Haggai himsek dates each of his five prophecies in full,
naming not only the year, but the month and the very
day of the montli, on wliich he delivered the DiA-ine
message. They all fell, he tells us, \vithiu the narrow
limits of four months, from the first day of the sixth
month to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,
ill the second year of Darius the kiug, in the year
520 B.C.
In Hsggai's style there is little to commend. If he
is a minor prophet, he is also a minor poet, and even a
very mmor poet. His style does not lack a certain
vivacity indeed, and at times he gives us a graphic
description. But none the less, " he never rises very
far above the level of good prose ;" and though there is
only one place in which good prose is out of place, even
the best prose is out of place ui a poem. One critic
says of liim that his style is "not distinguished by any
peculiar excellence;" and another affirms it to be
" generally tame and prosaic, though at times it rises to
the dignity of severe invective," and accuses him of
remarkable " poverty of expression." Even the English
reader can see tliat he is too fond of foi-muLas, and of
^ Ezra iv. 24— t. 2.
HAGGAI.
163
repeating the same formulas ; and that, in his desii-e to
be emphatic, Haggjii often becomes somewhat mono-
tonous. Like one or two other of the later prophets, he
is for ever repeating the Divine Name, in order to gire
weight to his utterance. In the following passage, for
example, one feels that the constant recurrence of the
same burden, though not without a certain rhythmic
force, like that of a warning bell, or the heavy stroke of
a hammer, is very different from what we find in the
loftier strains of the greater prophets of the Old Testa-
ment:—
" And I will fill this house with glory,
Saitli the Lord of hosts.
Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold,
Saith the Lord of hosts.
The last glory of this house shall be greater than the first,
Saitli the Lord of Iwsts ;
And in this place wiU I give peace,
Saith the Lord ofliosts."
We cannot imagine Habakkuk, or Isaiah, or David
wi-iting in such a style as this ; and though one a Httle
shrinks from criticising the style of any of the men who
were inspired by the Holy Ghost, we should lose nmch
instruction if we were to refrain from criticising it, and
should incur the charge of being uneqiial in our ways.
For if we praise the sweetness of David's song, or the
sublimity of Isaiah's strain, or the abrupt grandeur of
Habakkuk's ode ; if we single these out for admiration,
we imply that other of the Hebrew singers are inferior
to them, and should honestly acknowledge their defects.
Nor, in admitting these defects, do we in any way
detract from the value of their work ; still less do we
depreciate the Word of God. We have the heavenly
treasure in earthen vessels, and when we poiat out
that one of these earthen vessels is less noble and
finished ia form and workmanship than another, we
allege nothing against the excellency or the heaven-
liness of the treasure they contaiu.
And, indeed, the merit of Haggai does not lie in his
style, but in the clear perception he had of the principles
on which God ndes men and their affairs ; on his
conviction that only as men maintain a sincere commu-
nion with Him, and render Him a frank obedience, can
they reach their true blessedness ; and in the zeal with
which he devoted himself to the task of implanting
these convictions in the bi*easts of his fellows. His
value to us hes not in the finished beauty of his verse,
but in the example he has left us, and in the light he
pours on an obscure period of the Hebrew story. We
know little of the life of the exiles for the first twenty
years after their retiu-n to the land of their fathers, of
the thoughts that were habitual to them, of the motives
by wliich they were inspired. Even i£ we read the
first six chapters of the Book of Ezra, which covers the
history of this period, we learn comparatively little of
what was most inward and peculiar to the men of the
time. But as we study Haggai and Zechariah, we see
this very period from the inside rather than from
without, and leam what we most need to know of the
moral conditions of the time, of how the world and
human life shaped themselves to the men of that day,
and how the will of God worked out through their
weak and erring wills to ends of mercy that compre-
hend the weMare of mankind at large. This is Haggai's
" gloiy" — not that he was a great poet, but that he was
emphatically a good man, with a stedfast faith in the
Divine laws when they seemed incredible, a keen sense
of their application to the wants and conditions of his
time, and that he was possessed by a burning zeal for
the House and honour of God.
FIRST PROPHECY.
CHAP. I.
Happily for us, Haggai, unlike most of the Hebrew
prophets, is very accurate and precise in dating his
prophecies. The date of his first prophecy is given in
the followiug terms : — " In the second year of Darius
the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the
month, came the word of the Lord, through Haggai the
prophet, to Zenibhabel the son of Shealtiel, the governor
of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozadah, the high
priest.^' By this precision and fulness he enables us
both to recover the historical facts which gave meaning
and force to his words, and to picture to ourselves the
scene amid which he was impelled to utter them.
Perhaps we shall best recover the sequence of his-
torical facts we need to bear in mind, by glancing at the
history of the two men to whom this and the subse-
quent prophecies of Haggai were addi-essed.
When Cyrus conquered Babylon, then (B.C. 535),
Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was the recognised
" prince " of the Jews who were captives in that city
and empire ; and Joshua, who had been born during the
Captivity, was their recognised priest, or high priest.
So soon as Cyras issued the decree which liberated the
captive Jews and encouraged them to return to the city
of their fathers, Zerubabbel the prince and Joshua the
priest put themselves at the head of those " whose spirit
God had roused to go up and buUd the house of the
Lord at Jerusalem." Probably Zerubbabel had long
been in the service of the king of Babylon, siuce like
Daniel and "the three children," he had received a
Chaldee name, Sheshhazzar. Certainly he was now
taken into the service of Cyrus, for he was appointed
pechdh, that is, pasha,"^ or governor of the province
of Judah. It was a happy choice; hoth because the
governor appoiuted by Cp-us was abeady reverenced
by the Jews as a prince of the house of Da^ad, and
because he was a man of siuguhir piety and courage.
Led by Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, some
50,000 of the released captives set forth on their home-
ward march, bearing with them the sacred vessels of thts
Temple, and large presents from Cyrus of gold and silver
and goods. When they arrived, they at once built up
the altar on its old site, and restored the daily sacrifice.
Then, in accordance with the decree of Cyrus, they set
themselves to the great work of rebuilding the Temple.
Cyrus had made them a grant of timber and stone for
1 Not that the two words •pechdh and pasha have any real con-
nection, but that the two offices were similar.
Ifi4
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
buildiufj ; and now they applied themselves to getting
cedars from Lebanon, and stone from the quarries, and
gathering together masons and carpenters. By the
opening of the new year their preparations were com-
pleted i^B.c. 534), and on the second month of the year
the foundation was laid with all the pomp and circum-
stance they could command : the priests decked in
their sacred vestments, blew the silver trumpets ; the
choir, led by the sons of Asaph, sang tlie veiy same
psalm of praise to Him " whose mercy endureth for
ever" which was sung when Solomon dedicated his
Temple ; and the people responded with a great shout
of joy, " because the foimdation of the house of the
Lord was laid."
But the zeal of the Jews soon flagged. The work
was very great. The city lay waste ; the land was
overrun with weeds and thorns ; there were many
enemies. The heathen colonists of Samaria fii'st claimed
to take part in the work, and, when the claim was re-
fused, they hindered the building, intercepting the
supplies of stone and timber probably, riding into the
undefended city and cutting doAvn the workmen, jeering
at these feeble Jews and their mad enterprise, calum-
niating them at the Persian court. Daunted and dis-
heartened, the Jews gradually ceased from the work,
and gave themselves up to their private and selfish
pursuits. For fourteen years the task was suspended.
Nor do Zerubbabel and Joshua seem to have been alto-
gether blameless. For Cyi'us was their friend, and
would soon have put an end to the Samaritan outrages,
had an appeal been made to him during the seven years
he still Hved and reigned. Nor does Cambyses, his
successor, seem to have been inunical to the Jews,
though his constant wars may have prevented him from
interposing on their behalf. It was not till Smerdis,
the usurper, sat for a few months on the Persian throne
— not, that is, till twelve years after the Temple founda-
tions were laid — -that any formal decree was passed
forbidding the Jews to continue the work they had
commenced. And even this decree had so little real
force that, when their zeal for the Temple was rekindled,
they paid no heed to it, but took up the abandoned task
even before the new king, Darius, issued an edict in their
favour. All tlie old hindrances were still in their way.
Their old enemies stirred up the royal officials to come
upon them, and demand by what authority they had
resumed building, and to take down the names of those
Avlio were responsible for the act, that they might be
reported to the Persian Court. But still Zerubbabel
and Joshua, with the elders of the Jews, feeling that
the eye of God was upon them, refused to cease from
the work; nay, prosecuted it with zealous industry, till
the edict of Darius arrived, commanding the royal
officials to discharge the expense of the building out of
the imperial revenue, and to " give them day by day
■without fail," bullocks, lambs, rams, wheat, salt, wine,
oil ; in short, whatever they required for the completion
of the Sanctuary and the maintenance of daily worship.
When the Jews resumed the work, then, the circum-
•stances of the time were no Avliit more favourable to
them than they had been for the previous fourteen years.
And if we ask. What was it that, in spite of the most
formidable difficidties, induced them to take up and
complete the work they had so long neglected F — the
answer must be that the spirit of prophecy suddenly
blazed up among them with a keen brilliance in which
they saw their national duty and pri^^lege as they had
not seen it before. The word of the Lord " burned " in
the breasts of Haggai and Zechariah, so that they were
weary with forbearing and could not stay.
Haggai, moved by God, was the first to speak, and
chose his occasion very wisely. The first day of the
sixth month in the Hebrew calendar — and it was by the
Hebrew calendar that he took note of time, though he
gives the year of Darius — was the Feast of the New
Moon. Now, on this day, according to the Hebrew
ritual, not only was a sacrifice laid on the altar and a
feast eaten in the sacred precinct ; but there was also a
religious service in the Sanctuary, and a service at which
it was the wont of the prophets to deliver an exhorta-
tion to the people.' What more likely occasion could
Haggai find than this ? Here were the people gathered
within the foundations of the unfinished Temple, amid
the stones and beams which had been left unused for
years, the House of the Lord, as it were, dumbly pleading
with them and rebuking them for their neglect ! When
Haggai spoke, the Jews, softened by worship, must have
felt as though the veiy Temple itself had found a voice,
as though the very beams and stones were crying out
against them, charging them with their sin, and warning
them that aU the miseries wliich oppressed them in
their daily course were the Divine chastisement of their
sin.
The simple truth was that they had not much cared
to have God dwelling among them as their King, or
they would not have been so dilatory- in providing a
dwelling-place for Him. Tliey had not felt their need
of Him, theu' dependence on Him. They attributed
the miseries they suffered to their own lack of power,
or to the might and insolence of their enemies, or to the
ordinary course of natural laws. They did not see that
God sat behind and above Nature, administering its
laws, and that He ruled the wills of men, and restramcd
or enlarged their scope. It was to bring Himself home
to their thoughts and their duty to Hiiu, that the Lord
now spake to them " through Haggai," his messenger
and prophet, and stripped theii* impiety of the disguises
under which they strove to hide it from themselves.
Tliey had said, " The time is not come, the time
that the Lord's house should be built :" i.e., they
had tried to cloko their indifference to the Di^-ine
Presence under the excuse that, while they were so few,
and poor, and weak, it was impossible for them to under-
take so great and costly a work. Let them once esta-
blish themselves, give them a little time to make them-
selves prosperous and secure, and then they would
acknowledge that it was time for them to build a palace
for their King. But how could they do that while they
1 Cf. 2 Kings iv. 23.
HAGGAI.
165
were so poverty-strickeu aud insecure ? Something
may be said iu belialf of tliis paltry excuse. From the
fourth year of Jehoiakim, which coiacid«s with the
first year of Nebuchadnezzar {i.e. the year of the first
deportiu-e to Babylon) to the fii-st year of Cyi-us (i.e. the
date of the fii-st retuni) there is a period of exactly
seventy years. But a second period of seventy years
elapsed between the destruction of the first Temple,
which occm-red eighteen years after the Captivity com-
menced, and the completion of the second Temple,
which was delayed and obstructed for eighteen years
after the Return, viz., from the first year of Cyrus to
the sixth of Darius. StUl, curious as the pai-allel is,
the voice of prophecy is dumb on this second peiiod ;
whereas Jeremiah's prophecy of the first period, that of
the Return, is definite and absolute: "After seventy
years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and
pei-fonn my good word toward you iu causiug you to
return to this place " (Jer. xxix. 10).
To tliis excuse Haggai, hi the name of the Lord, gives
a double reply. First he says (verse 4) —
" Is it time for ye yourselves
To dwell iu your wainscoted houses,
"While this house lieth waste ?"
a reply which, as they listened to it, must have made
them feel that they were not only hypocrites, but
clumsy and detected hypocrites. Their plea of poverty
was a false plea. If they were rich enough to buUd
themselves houses, were they not rich enough to build a
house for God, their King ? And the houses they had
built for themselves were sumptuous structures. The
Hebrew word I have translated "wainscoted" really
means that the walls were covered or inlaid with costly
woods — even with, as the word in most cases implies,
cedar. So that it is by no means improbable that
many of the cedars brought at so great cost and pains
from distant Lebanon, instead of being employed in the
building of the Temple, were used to adorn the houses
of Zerubbabel and his leading functionaries. By this
single ii-onical question, therefore, the prophet cuts away
from them the ground on which they stood. They
could not honestly plead that the times were too hard
to allow them to bmld a house for God while they were
erecting sumptuous houses, inlaid with cedar, for them-
selves. Had they had the spirit of David, to whom it
was a pain to dwell in " a house of cedar " while "the
ark of God dwelt within curtains," and who resolved,
"I will not go uj) into my house," nor " give sleep to
mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find a
place for Jehovah, a dwelling for the Mighty One of
Jacob," they would long since have completed a habi-
tation for the Most High.
And yet, as the prophet proceeds to admit, the times
loere hard. Not only were the streets still cumbered by
ruins, and the city undefended by walls ; not only were
they surrounded by enemies whom they were not able to
resist ; but even Nature herseK, ordinarily so bovmtiful,
seemed to have turned a niggard against them. Their
lives were harassed by a constant fear of want and e-val.
The land, smitten l^y drought, yielded but a scanty
harvest to their toUs, or i£ their fields were laden with a
wealth of com, the Samaritans rade up and plundered
field and homestead ; and they, depressed by care and
fear, had no true enjoyment even of such things as they
had. All these disappointments and miseries they had
set down to ill-fortune, to bad seasons, to the implacable
hostility of their freebootiug neighbours. TiU more
prosperous days came, they had no heart to arise and
build. The prophet now teaches them that the cala-
mities under which they groaned were Divine judgments
— not the results whether of the niggardliness of
Natui'e or the hostility of man ; teaches them, too, that
they can make no more fatal niistake than to wait for
more pi'osperous times before they build, since they
will never rise to prosperity vmtil they have built a
house for God, in which He may dwell among them.
Starting with his favoiu-ite formula, " Set yom* heart
upon yom* ways " — a formula which indicates a certain
habitual thoughtfulness on the part of the prophet,
and a thoughtfulness mainly bent on the laws of human
li£e and conduct — he graphically depicts the misery
of the time, its unsatisfied longings, its habitual de-
jection (verse 6) :
"Ye have sown much, and brought in little ;
Te have eaten, but have not had enough ;
Ye have drunk, but have not been full ;
Ye have clothed you, but have not been warm ;
And he that worked for wages worked for wages
To put them in a bag pierced with holes."
It would be hard to find words that more grapliically
set forih a time in which men got little by their toUs,
and had no heart to enjoy what little they got. In such
a time they might well fling up their hands in despair,
and cry, " AU is vanity and vexation of spirit ! " In-
stead of inciting them to despair, however, Haggai
discloses the meaning and secret of their misery, and
shows them the true remedy for it. Repeating his
favourite formula, he once more summons them to a
thoughtful review of theii- ways. As they review them
he is sure they will discover that it is God who has
visited them, who has called a di-ought upon the land
and upon all the labom- of theu- hands ; that it is He
who has caused them to gather little when they looked
for much, and blown away even that little when they
had brought it home ; that it is He who has bidden the
heaven withhold from them its dew, and the earth its
fruit. Nay, if they ponder aU these things in their
heart, they wiU discover tvhy He has thus \'isited them ;
that it is because, while they could run with cheerful
alacrity to get then- o^vn houses built or adorned, they
had been content to let His house lie waste. If they
have any doubt that this is the true cause of their
broken and defeated hopes, let them put it to the proof.
Let them prepare to bmld. Let them go up to the
moimtain— i.e., Lebanon, with its cedars— and fetch
wood, since they have used much that they have abeady
fetched in wainscoting their own houses. Let them
complete the Temple, and then see whether God wiU
not take pleasure in dwellmg in it, and glorify Himself
in their midst (verses 7 — 11).
Thus, at one stroke, the prophet Haggai proves to the.
166
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Jews that their couclitious were uot, as they alleged,
so hard but that they might build the Temple ; assui'es
them tliat they could hope for no happier conditions
until they did build it ; and promises them that, if they
do build, God will both protect them from their foes
and bless them in all the labour of theii- liands. As
they sat on the Temple hill, amid the piles of stone and
stacks of timber which had now been exposed for
fourteen years to rain and wild weather, and felt as
though the place wdth all its sacred memories were
enforcing the prophetic appeal, what wonder that " they
hearkened unto the voice of the Lord their God, and
did according to the words of Haggai the prophet, since
their God had sent him ? " A holy fear fell on them
(verse 12) ; they saw that it was their forgetfulness of
God their King from which all their miseries had
sprung, and they di-eaded to remain forgetful of Him,
lest worse miseries should ovei-Tvhelm them. They seem
at once to have set about theii- preparations for the
work. And on the tweuty-foui*th day of the sixth
month, only twenty -three days after Haggai had uttered
his rebuke and cluiUeuge, they made an actual com-
mencement of the work. And as they began, the
prophet brought them a new message from Jehovah,
a message all the more impressive for its brevity
(verse 13) :
" I am with 5,011, sr.itli the Lord.'
According to the Hebrew conception, God was only
with them when they had erected a palace for Him ;
but, for their encoui-agemont, and that the joy of the
Lord may be their strength. He announces Himself as
already present, though some four years umst elapse
before His habitation ^vill be complete. He will be with
them while thoy build, that they may not fear Avhat men
can do against them — with them, to bless them when
they labour for themselves as well as when they build
for Him ; so that the heaven shall no longer withhold
its dew, nor the earth its fruit ; but when they look for
little, they shall behold much, and, instead of creeping
about with dejected and hopeless htarts, they shall
eat their bread with gladness, praising their God and
King.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. MARK.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAK OF WINKFIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
" For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice
shall be salted with salt. Salt is good i but if the salt have lost
his saltuess, wherewith will ye season it ? Have salt in your-
selves, and have peace one with another." — St. Mark ix. 49, 50.
EW i)assages present greater difficulties to
the Biblical expositor than this, and few
have been more differently or more un-
satisfactorily interpreted. The chief diffi-
culty of the passage consists in determining the true
sense in which the words " salt " and " fire " are em-
ployed in it, and the pui-poses for which they are
represented as being employed.
It has been assumed by some that the 49th verse
of this chapter must be taken in exclusive connection
with the 44th, as repeated in the 46th and 48th verses,
and, consequently, that it must bo interpreted only in a
retributive or punitive sense.' It seems to have been
overlooked that '" salt" and " fire," like leaven, are sym-
bolically used in Holy Scripture in a double significa-
tion ; that they have reference in some passages to the
righteous, and in other passages to the wicked ; and,
consequently, that they must uot only be interpreted in
a different manner in different passages, according to
the connection in which they are found, but that they
may also admit of a twofold intei-pretation in the two-
fold application of the same passage.
The imijort of the first clause of the 49th verse, if
under.stood, as it is by many expositors, with exclusive
• It is altogether foreign from our present subject to inquire
into the genuineness or spuriousness of verses 44 and 46, The
genuineness of verse 48 is not called in question.
reference to the fire spoken of in the preceding verse,
amounts to little more than the simple truism that eveiy
one who shall be finally consigned to the " fire " of
which that verse speaks, sliall be salted, as in the case
of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomon-ah and the
other Cities of the Plain, with tluit enduring fire of which
theirs is set forth as an example. There are other ob-
jections to this interpretation, and, as it seems to us,
objections yet more insupei-able. For (1) the terms of
the proposition, iras yap -Kvpl aKia-d-qaerai, " for eve)'7j one
shaU be salted vdih fire," seem to demand a general and
not a restrictive interpretation ; (2) the symbolism of
Holy Scripture suggests, if it does not require, a dif-
ferent interpretation of the words " fire " and " salt," as
regards their primary signification in this verse ; and
(3) w'hilst the interpretation above mentioned may seem
at first sight to explain the connection with the pre-
ceding verse which the particle yap, " for," suggests, it
destroys the connection with the genei-al subject of dis-
course as contained in the verses which precede, and in
that which follows ; and it seems absolutely inconsistent
with that symbolical use of the word " salt " which is
found uot only in verse 50, but also in the two parallel
passages of St. Matthew and St. Luke (Matt. v. 13 ;
Luke xiv. 34), with which the whole of this passage must
be compared.
When taken iu its plain and obvious signification,
and in that which the context (verses 43 — 48) appears
imperatively to require, the first clause of verse 49
asserts the necessity of trial in the case of all Christ's
disciples. Numerous passages of a similar character
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
167
might be adduced. The foUowiug- will sulfice, iu one
or more of whicli it seems probable that allusion is made
to the verse under consideration. In 1 Cor. iii. 13, St.
Paul writes thus : " Each man's work shall be made
manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by [or in] fire ; and the fire itself shall i^rove
each man's work, of what sort it is." And St. Peter,
assuming the necessity of the same fiery ordeal, irvpoxns,
not as some strange thing (1 Pet. iv. 12), but as a part
of the Christian's appointed course of discipline, en-
courages and consoles those Avhom he addresses by the
assm-ance that the designed end of the trial of theii-
faith, which is " much more j)recious than of gold that
perisheth, and yet is tried by fire," Sia irvphs Se
SoKtixa^oufvov, is that " it might be found unto praise
and honour and gloiy at the appearing of Jesus Christ "
(1 Pet. i. 7).
If any further illustration were required of the sym-
bolical use of " fire " for the purpose of purification in
the case of the righteous, as well as of punishment in
the case of the wicked, it may suffice to refer to Matt,
iii. 11, 12, where John the Baptist declares concerning
our Lord (1) that He would baptise His own disciples
" with the Holy Ghost, and with fii-e ; " and (2) that He
woidd burn up the chaff " with fire unquenchable."
Salt is symbolically used in Holy Scripture in the
same double signification. As symbolising the enduring-
character of the j)unishment of the wicked, it wiU suffice
to refer to the case of Lot's wife, who became " a pillar
of salt," " a monument," as the Book of Wisdom ex-
presses it, " of an unbelieving soul ; " i and, again, to
the threatened curse pronounced on the land of Israel,
that it should become " brimstone, and salt, and burn-
ing " (Deut. xxix. 23).
Elsewhere, however, salt is employed in Scripture to
denote purification, perpetuity, or exemption from cor-
ruption. We may refer here to the healing of the
waters of Jericho by the infusion of salt, as recorded in
2 Kings ii. 19 — 22. Again, in the fundamental passage
to which allusion is made by our Lord, viz.. Lev. ii. 13,
we find the xmiversal law laid down, first and particularly
with regard to the minchali, or offering of flour and oil,
and then with regard to every horban or offering of
every kind, whether vegetable or animal, that it should
be " seasoned," or rather " salted with salt." The words
may be literally rendered thus : " And every oblation
[or horban'] of thy vegetable offering [or ininchali] shalt
thou salt with salt; and thou shalt not suffer the salt
of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy vege-
table offeiiug; with all thine offerings [or with every
horban of thine] thou shalt offer salt." "The con-
cluding words of the command," says Kalisch, "are
too distinct to allow us to doubt that salt was meant to
be an ingredient not of bloodless only, but of animal
sacrifices also, so that the application of salt with the
latter class of offering (Ezek. xliii. 24 ; Mark ix. 49) was
no de^oation from the ancient laws."^
1 Eook of Wisdom x. 7.
- Comraentary on Leviticus, p. 4S6 (1867).
With the passage just quoted from Leviticus, pre-
scribing the use of salt with every offering, we must
combine another to which our Lord (especially in the
word "their") appears to make direct reference in
verse 48, viz., Isa. Ixvi. 24 : " For their worm shall not
die, neither shall their fire be quenched." Now in the
20th verso of the same chapter the following pre-
diction is found in connection with other prophecies of
the Church of the latter days : " And they shall bring-
all your brethren for an offering [literally, a minchah']
unto the Lord out of all nations." As, then, every
legal sacrifice was to be salted with salt as a symbol of
incorruption, and as a type of the perpetuity of the cove-
nant between God and His people, described in this
respect as " a covenant of salt " (Numb, xviii. 19), so
Christ's disciples must, in like manner, be salted with
the salt of the sanctuary ; " cleansed from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit," and thus presented as " a living sacri-
fice, holy and acceptable unto God."
It is thought by some commentators that the Koi,
" and," of verse 49 (as the corresponding Hebrew
copula, 1 ^) may properly be rendered by as or even as.
" For every one shaU be salted with fire, even as every
sacrifice shall be salted with salt." In addition, how-
ever, to the difficulty which, in this case, arises out of
the use of the future tense iu the latter as well as in the
former clause, and the doubt whether the copula /col is
used in the sense of as in the New Testament,* this
proposed rendering seems rather to weaken than to
strengthen the meaning which the verse, when taken iu
connection with its context, clearly demands.
Our Lord, in the preceding verses, 43 — 48, teaches
the absolute necessity of surmounting all obstacles, and
of removing all stumbling-blocks, which would impede
His followers in their efforts to " enter into life." He
then proceeds, as it would seem, to assert here, as else-
where, the necessity of trial as a course of preparation
for gloi-y. He who would escape the fire that " is not
quenched" must be content to endui-e the purifying
fire to which the great Refiner subjects those whom He
designs to reflect more clearly His own image. As,
under the Levitical law, every sacrifice was salted with
salt, so every one who would now offer and present
himself, his body, soul, and spirit, as " a reasonable,
holy, and lively sacrifice " unto God, and thus escape
the final and enduring doom of " barrenness " (literally
saltness, Ps. cvii. 34), typically represented in the salt
of Shechem ( Judg. ix. 45), and of unbelief, typically re-
presented in the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was
changed, must himself be seasoned with the salt of the
sanctuary, and must seek to become, as in the parallel
passage of St. Matthew's Gospel it is predicated of
Christ's true disciples, " the salt of the earth," by means
of which the surrounding mass of ungodliness is to be
pervaded and leavened, and by which, iustrumentaUy,
the whole lump is to be rescued from destruction.
3 Cf. Job V. 7,: " Man is born unto trouble, as [lit. and] the
sparks fly upward."
■i The alleged parallel in Luke si. 4, as compared with I.Iatt. vi.
12, is one which is not conclusive.
163
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, E. E.
II.— THE JORDAN FROM LAKE HULEH TO THE
SEA OF GALILEE.
[FTER leading Lake Huleh the Jordan
flows onward with a gentle current to the
bridge of '• Jacob's daughters," Jisr Benat
Jakub, two mUes from the end of the lake :
hereThowtn-er, its character changes to that of a moun-
tain torrent. There are no falls or cascades, but the
river " makes a sweep or two to right and left, as if
with a struggle to get free," and then " a white-foamed
bursting rush of water liurries between rocks thick set
with oleanders, which often meet across the stream,
not a dozen feet in width." ^ Seven miles below the
bridge the Jordan issues from its confined Ised on to the
plain of Butciha, aud two miles beyond, after many
\viudings, it pours its waters into the Sea of Galilee.
Between Lake Huleh aud the bridge the Jordan flows
thi'oiigh a narrow tract of cultivated plain, but beyond
this the country becomes exceedingly wild and rugged ;
the river forces its way between steep banks of limestone
and basalt, whilst the only road through the gorge is a
narrow jiath over the heights on the west bank, often
winding along the edges of steep precipices where the
footing is not always of the best ; at one point in the
pass there is a hill from which an interesting view is
obtained of the exit of the Jordan from Lake Huleh,
and its point of entrance into the Sea of Galilee. On
lea^^ug the hills the current is sluggish, and the stream,
fordable in several places at certain times of year, flows
along the western part of the i>lain of Buteiha. The
only point of interest between the two lakes is the Jisr
Benat Jakub, by means of which one of the great lines of
communication between Damascus aud Palestine crossed
the Jordan. The liridge has three arches, and is sixty
feet long, but it does not appear to be older than the
fifteenth century, as William of Tyre and otlier writers
speak of the place as Jacob's ford ; on the east bank of the
Jordan arc the ruins of a large khan, at which caravans
halted on their way to or from Damascus, and at the
west end of the bridge is a round tower, probably tlie
custom-house, at which toll was levied on all passing
over the road. On the west bank, a mile below the
bridge, are the remains of the castle built by Bakhnn
in 1178 A.D., to keep the Saracens in check, and com-
inand the Damascus road. The route over the bridge
must always have been the principal line of communi-
cation between Damascus, the Sea of Galilee, and the
port of Acre, on the Metlitcrranean ; in the Middle
Ages it was called the via viaris, and it is the " way of
the sea" alluded to in Matt. iv. 15, but whether the
name was derived from the Sea of Galilee or the Medi-
terranean is not quite clear. Tlio remains of the old
' Rob Roy on J&rdan, 307.
Roman road which followed this line can be clearly
traced as it passes Khan Jubb Yusiif ; and between tlio
Jordan and Damascus there arc large portions of it in
perfect repair. The Jisr Benat Jakub is connected by
tradition with Jacob's flight from Harau, as the place at
which he crossed over Jordan, l)ut wc know from the
Bible that Jacob's route lay through GUead, aud that
he passed over the ford of Jabbok, the Zerka, a tribu-
taiy of the Jordan much f m-ther to the south, and theuce
journeyed by Siiccoth to Sheehem, the modern Kablus.
There is more reason for the belief that it was at this-
point our Lord crossed the Jordan on his way to
Csesarea PhUippi, and that Saul followed the Roman
road, mentioned above, on his way to Damascus (Acts
ix. 2, 3).
THE SEA OF GALILEE.
This lake is called in the Old Testament the Sea of
Chinnereth (Numb, xxxiv. 11), apparently from a town
of that name on or near its shore, which has sometimes
been identified with the modern Tiberias, but there are
several diffieidties connected with this identification which
will be noticed hereafter. In the New Testament the
lake is known under the more familiar titles of " Sea of-
Gennesaret," a name of lancertaiu origin, also applied
to a portion of the coast, " the land of Gennesaret ; " the
" Sea of Galilee," derived from the district of Galilee on
its western shores ; and at a later period, when Tiloerias
became the chief town of GaUlee, the "Sea of Tiberias"
(John xxi. 1). The lake is pear-shaped, the broad end
being towards the north ; its length from north to south
is twelve mUes and a quarter, aud its greatest breadth
from Mejdel to Khersa six mUes and three-quarters;
the level of its surface has ncA^er been accurately ascer-
tained, and the estimates of various travellers differ
greatly; jierhaps 626 feet below the level of the Medi-
teri'anean is as close an approximation to the truth as
we can make at present. The lake was at onetime sup-
posed to be of great depth, but Lieut. Molpieux, R.N.,
who examined it by means of a boat in 1847, found its
greatest depth to be 156 feet, and this result lias been
confirmed by more recent obsen'ations. At the time of
our Saviour there appear to have been numerous boats
on the Sea of Galilee, and Josephus describes a naval
engagement wliich took place on its waters between the
Jews and the soldiers of Yespasian ; now, a sail is rarely
seen on its surface, and in 1866, when the writer \'isitedth&
lake, there was only one boat belonging to some fisher-
men at Tiberias. Tlie water of the lake is bright, clear,,
and limpid ; it is well stocked with fish, and at certain
seasons of the year krge shoals may be seen near the
shore darkening the water, as they may have done when
the disciples let do^\^l their nets into the sea and " in-
closed a great multitude of fishes, and their net brake."
The scenei7 of the lake presents no striking features,
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
169
MAP OF THE SEA OF GALILEE (OR LAKE OF GENNESAEEX) AND SURROUNDIXG DISTRICT.
(From Sui-ve-js made for the Palestine Enloration Fund.) Scale, 2 miles to 1 inch.
but it lias, nevertlieless, a iiatiiral beauty of its own, trees, tlie whole country must have presented a very
liai-ticularly in the sjft-iug mouths wheu all is gi-eeu different aspect, and fully merited the ijraise which
and the surrounding hills glow under the rich tints of Josephus liestows upon it. " The hills except at Khan
sunset and sunrise. In the time of our Saviour, when llinyeh, where there is a small cliff, are recessed from
Art aided Nature, making its shores one of the gardens ' the shore of the lake or rise gradually from it; they arc
of the world, and when the hdl-sides were clothed with ! of no gi*eat elevation, and their outline, especially on thr
170
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
eastern side, is uot brokeu by any pi'ominent peak ; but
cveiywliero from the southern end the snow-capped
l)oak of Hermou is visible, standing out so sharp and
elear in the bright sky that it appears almost within
reach ; and towards the north, the western ridge is cut
tlirough by a Avild gorge, ' the Valley of Doves,' over
which rise the tAvin peaks or horns of Hattin."^ The
climate during the winter months is very enjoyable, and
even in sximmer the heat is tempered by a mornuig and
evening breeze, but occasionally, when the south wind
blows, the heat is excessive, and fevers, possibly of the
same type as that with which Peter's wife was afflicted,
are very prevalent. There is little cultivation now, but
Josephus tells us that in his day all the forest trees
throve there, and that walnuts, figs, olives and palms
grew in profusion ; the date-palm, pomegranate, indigo,
rice-plant, and sugar-cane are still found; and the
district seems peculiarly suitable for the gi-owth of both
trojpieal and temperate productions. There does not
appear to be anythmg Axlcanic in the origin of the lake,
which is simply part of the great Jordan depression.
The hills on either side are limestone, capped in places
with basalt, which has three distinct sources ; one at
Kurn Hattiu, or in its neighbourhood; another near
Khan Jubb Yusuf , north of the lake ; and a third in
the Jaulan district. Earthquakes are frequent, and
sometimes of great Adolence, as that of 1837, when
nearly one-third of the inhabitants of Tiberias perished,
and the town was left little more than a heap of ruins.
There are several hot springs in the vicinity of the lake,
the principal ones being those of Tiberias, which are
said to have been sensibly affected by the earthquake
of 1837 : not only was the temperature higher, bu i
the body of water poured into the lake was much
greater than at any previoiis i)eriod within the memory
of man.
We may now pass to a fuller examination of the district
bordering on the lake which is so intimately connected
with the history of the last three years of our Lord's
life on earth, and in which so many of his miglity works
were performed, and commencing with the i^oint at
which the Jordan enters the lake, make a complete
circuit of its shores. The Jordan, as mentioned above,
for the last two miles of its course, flows with a sluggish
current along the western end of the plain of Buteiha,
and in winter after heavy rains, or ui spring on the
melting of the snow, overflows its banks, forming a large
tract of marshy ground near its mouth. It was here
that the skirmishes took place between Josephus and
the Romans under Sylla, in the first of which Josephus
was injured by the fall of his horse in one of the
marshy places, and had to be carried to Capernaum.
On the western bank at the mouth of the river ai-e a
few small mounds which Dr. Thomson, the well-known
author of The Land and the Booh, considers to be
the site of Bethsaida of Galilee, and not far from the
eastern bank, beneath tlio shade of some palm-trees,
are old foundations, heaps of rubbish, Arab tombs and
' Recovery of Jerusalem, 338.
fragments of basjvltic columns, which he identifies with
Both-siiida Juliiis, the burial-place of Philip the Tetrarch.
The question of the position of Bethsaida has always
been a difficult one : in the account of the feeding of the
5,000 in the New Testament, St. Luke states (ix. 10) that
it took place in a desert place "belonging to the city
called Bethsaida;" whilst St. Mark tells us (vi. 45), that
after the miracle Jesus dh-ected the disciples " to go to
the other side before unto Bethsaida ; " and in order to
reconcile these statements, many commentators have
adopted the theory that there were two Bethsaidas. If,
however, we accept the readings of the ancient MS. of the
Bible which have recently been brought to light, there
appears to be no necessity for the creation of a second
Bethsaida; in the Sinaitic version, and in the ancient
Sp-iac recension, published by Mr. Cureton, the words
"belonging to a city called Bethsaida," in Luke ix. 10,
are omitted, and the reading of John \j. 22 in the
Sinaitic version places, as we shall see further on, the
scene of the feeding of the 5,000 near Tiberias. From
the Bible we gather that Bethsaida was a town of
Galilee (John xii. 21), and the native place of Aiidi-ew,
Peter, and Philip ; that it was not far from Caper-
naum and Chorazin ; and that, from the place at which
the 5,000 were fed, near Tiberias, according to the
Sinaitic version, it was spoken of as being on " ihe
other side" of the lake (Mark -vi. 45). The name
would seem to imply that it was near the water's edge.
Josephus inf onns us that Bethsaida was a village raised
to the dignity of a toAvn by Philip, who changed its
name to Julias, and built himself a tomb there in which
he was afterwards buried with great pomp. He also
states that it was a town of Lower Gaulouitis [B. J. ii. 9,
1), that the Jordan passed by it (B. J. iii. 10, 7), and
that it was situate at the Lake Gennesaret {Antiq.
xA-iii. 2, 1). With tliis also agrees the account of the
Imttle -with the Romans {Vit. 70 — 72), which requires
that Julias should be close to the Jordan, and not far
from its mouth. Euscbius and Jerome mention that
Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida lay on the shore
of the lake, and St. Willibald, a.d. 722, after \isiting
Caperaaum, proceeds to Bethsaida, whore he passes tho
night, and then goes on to Chorazin and the sources of
the Jordan ; he also informs us that there was a church
on the site of tlic house of Andrew and Peter. These
indications arc all satisfied by identifying Bethsaida with
the ruins on the east bank of the Jordan, and there is
a curious topographical feature which may explain the
difference between the Bible and Josephus, as to the
district in which the town was situated. East of the
ruins marked B, in tho map on page 169, there is a
deep inlet from the lake, marked F, which may possibly
have been an old channel of the Jordan, or an artificial
excavation made for the protection of the town of
Bethsaida ; the town of Tarichea), at the point at which
the Jordan leaves the lake, was, as we shall see
presently, protected in a similar manner ; and it is
not unlikely that a town so situated may at one time
have formed part of Galilee, and at another part of
Gaulonitis,
BIBLICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
171
BIBLICAL PSYCHOLOaY,
THE SCRIPTURAL CONTRAST OF PSYCHE AND PNEUMA.
BY THE KEV. J. B. HEARD, M.A., CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
[Ntlie liistoiy of tlie iuductivo sciences dis-
covery is at times brought to a stand-
still, and the path of progress arrested,
because there is some link missing in the
cliaiu of evidence. A fact, it may bo a little one, lies
in shadow, a principle apparently unimportant is over-
looked, and so the most magnificent generalisation
remains useless for a time because it wants complete
verification in all its parts. The stand-still in Newton's
discoveiy of gravity till the apparent perturbations in
the moon's movements were accounted for, is a case in
point, and every science has had to pass through the
same stage of delay before it has attained that complete
verification which we may describe as the positive stage.
The study of Di\'ine things is no exception to this
law that one truth waits upon another, and that the
chain is not complete until the one missing link is
picked up and riveted. It is a great mistake to speak
of science as inductive and tlieology as deductive.
On the one hand, no science is verified tiU we can
reason deductively from an inductive discovery. We
have no right to call it a law till we can rigorously
apply it, and account for its apparent exceptions. In
the same way theology is only the deductive applica-
tion of certain inductive discoveries in the open page
of God's "Word. The mistake of theology has been
the same as that of science — we have taken account
of some of the facts, not of all — our induction has been
hasty, and our deduction arbiti-ary. It is the neglect
of certain psychological truths which meet us in God's
Word that accounts for the difficulties and contradic-
tions into wliich systematic divinity has fallen. As
Delitzsch well remarks, " Much which is only inciden-
tally dealt with in dogmatics is in psychology — which
herein is subsidiary to it — a main feature : for example,
the relation of the soul to the blood as essential to
the doctrine of the atonement ; and the question as im-
portant to the doctrine of original sin whether the soul
is propagated per traducem or not, as, on the other
hand, the Scriptural doctrine of the Tri-unity of God —
of the good and evil angels — of the Divine-human per-
sonality of Christ, which in dogmatics are principal
matters, are only so far treated of in psychology as they
are connected with the formation of the Divine image
iu man, with the good and e^-il influences of the spu-itual
world upon him, and with the restoration of the true
human nature. The new relation of God to humanity
in Chi-ist, which is the real centre of theology, is also
the centre of psvchology as well as dogmatics."
But, from inattention to Biblical psychology, many
precious truths have been overlooked by systematic
divines. Our right course, then, should be not to discard
systematic theology in toto, but to revise our systems,
to look out for the missing links— if any — and to sound
for these, as they do who pick up our Atlantic cables
and mend them after sending shocks through the wire,
measuring where the fault is by testing the point where
the current runs to earth. This is a delicate task,
and calls for patience and perseverance, yet it is need-
less to add that it not only repays our test, but is also
a greater triumph of skill than the relaying of a fresh
cable, which may be open to the same faults as the old.
This leads us to remark what the missing link is in
theology, and where we are to sound first and expect
to find a fault. Christianity being a redemptive system,
and as such adapted to the nature of man, it should
thei'ef ore take account of, and fit into their right place
in the regenei'ate nature, all those faculties and powers
which lie confused or inactive in the unregenerate man.
Not only should it bring cosmos out of chaos, it should
also see that nothing is lost ; as it extends to the whole
race, so it must reclaim the whole nature of each iLidi-
vidual of that race — the redemption whicli is universal
must also be entire. It should not represent regeneration
as a mere soul-saving process, the redemption of one
part of man's nature at the expense of the rest. Too
often it has been taught in this way. The nature of
original sin, the ti'ue doctrine of regeneration, the in-
termediate state after death, and the final resurrection of
the body, are four truths, the cardinal points, as we may
describe them, of theology. Their misunderstanding
by some has led to their rejection by others. Infidelity
has thus triumphed against the truth, because the
truth, like an army unskilfully led, has only wasted its
strength in useless attacks, in caiTyiug positions which
were not worth assailing, and surrendering others which
were the key to the whole position. The difference
between doctrine and dogma may be seen in this. True
. scriptural theology contains a doctrine which is simple,
and to some extent self-evident. Scholastic theology, on
the other hand, contains a dogma, which it fences up and
protects by outworks of authority, as if haK confident of
its own ability to hold the position. It is against these
irrational outworks thrown out as the buttresses and
abutments of an ill-buUt bridge, that the current of
Rationalism rages. The more stone thrown in the river,
the less likely the arch above the river is to withstand
its current long. When divines come to see this they
will give lip scholastic dogma for Biblical doctrine ; in
other words, they will seek to harmonise reason and
revelation, the laws of human nature with the prin-
ciples of the Book, and then Rationalism wiU disappear
with the main cause of offence. In the language of the
poet, religion will be as a river —
" The current that with gentle motion glides.
Thou knowest, being stopped impatiently doth chafe,
But when its sweet course is not hindered,
Making sweet music with enamelled stones."
But before dogma can be thus replaced by doctrine,
theology must so far retrace its steps as to pick up the
172
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
missing liuk wo have referred to. As is uftou tlie case,
the lost tnitli lies iu our p.itli, if vre will ouly patieutly
look out for it. Let us take such a passage as this, wliicli
will suggest to us what the missiug liuk really is : " But
the psychical man receiveth not the thiugsof the Spirit
of God. for they are foohshuess uuto him, neither cau he
know them, because they ai'e pueumatically discerned;
but ho that is pueumatical judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the
mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him ? But we
have the miud of Christ " (1 Cor. ii. 1-i — IG). In these
verses two characters are contrasted, the psychical and
the pueumatical — the one acting according to one set of
impulses, those of the psyche, the other acting under a
different inspiration, that of the pneuma. The characters
are contrasted — on that point there cannot be a second
opinion. Christian experience in all schools and ages
of the Church uuiformly attests to this truth. But
what is the root of this difference ? Why should one
man possess the Spirit which " searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God," and another not ? Is the differ-
ence between the psychical and the pueumatical character
an intellectual or a moral difference, or something
higher than either, and not accountable by ordinary
considerations of the right use of moral and intellectual
helps ? Are there any aids to reflection by which we
may rise as on a kind of natural ladder from the pru-
dential to the moral, from the moral to the spiritual, as
Coleridge seemed to think ? The dogmatic divine settles
these perplexities offhand by reference to one of the
old antinomies of fate and freo-A^-ill. Either he is an
Augustinian, and he decides that all things are decreed
of God, and that the differences of character between
the psychical and pneumatical are part of God's eternal
councils ; or he leans to Pelagianism, and then the
responsibility hes Avith man — the right use of moral
and religious helps raises a man up from the psychic
or carnal condition into the higher state of knowing
and serving God.
But there is a pretty general agreement now among
most thoughtful minds that these explanations leave
us exactly where they find us — they do not really
advance the question, or account for the difference.
They only tell us that one man is spuitual becaiise it
is the wiU of God that he should be so, or because he
has used the right means to that end ; which is only
saying, in other words, that whatever is, is. What we
want to know is how it is so, and why it is so, and
sterile references to fate and free-will do not advance
the question, but leave us where we were before. It is
at this point that psychology may be made to throw
light on theology, and by using this Scriptural contrast
between psyche and pneuma we may recover the missing
link in systematic theology, the want of Avhich has
turned so much wholesome doctrine into sterile dogma.
According to Aristotle, the psyche is the life or highest
function which distinguishes each creature, and gives it
its place in the scale of creation. As every organ has
its proper function, so the sum total of these organs is
the living creature, and the sum total of these functions
is its psyche or soul. Every jjlant as a wiiolo lias its
own psyche ; it has life iu which there is sensation
wholly devoid of perception, and therefore of volition,
which is a kind of transformed pei'ception, as a percep-
tion is a transformed sensation. The passive sensation
becomes active as a perception, and that results in a
still higher stage of activity that we call volition. The
psyche of the plant is sensitive only, that of the animal
is perceptive as well, and as we rise in the scale volition
begins to dawn, from the fish to the bird, from the bird
to the mammal. " Thus Nature through five stages ran,
and iu the sixth she moulded man." In man tlie psyclie,
or centre of life — located, as we now know, in the brain,
not in the heart as the ancients conceived it to be — •
is not only sensitive and perceptive iu a much higher
degree than in any other mammal ; he has also two other
faculties, one that we loosely call reason, and another
that we call will. By reason we mean the power of
generalising on experiences. The mind is not a passive
centre of sensation from without, as is the case with
animals; man has three faculties — attention, abstrac-
tion, and consciousness, which distinguish reason from
instinct. Man has attention, by which he chooses which
class of sensations it will admit into the sensorium of
the brain, opening, as it were, one of the five gateways
of knowledge, and closing for a time the others. Iu
proijortion as men have this power of concentration are
they superior to the animals. In the child or the savage
it is almost wanting. In an intellect of the highest
order, such as Newton's, it is there in an eminent degree.
He described himself with appai'ont modesty as excel-
ling other men in no other faculty but this of attention.
And yet, rightly considered, genius is nothing else than
attention intensified : the power of turning the thoughts
in on themselves, and holding the mind fastened on
itself.
The next characteristic of man's psyche from that of
animals is abstraction. The elementary properties of
number are probably possessed by animals as well as
men. A sheep-dog can tell his tale of sheep almost
as well as his master. He has a rough-and-ready senset
of addition and subtraction. But the principle of the
square, much more the cube, applied to numbers, is
wholly beyond his conception. Abstraction lies at the
root, not only of mathematics, but also of all the higher
branches of thought. If attention is somewliat the
result of the will, being only another form of intention,
abstraction is different. It is a purely intellectual
faculty. It is the power of thinking out our thoughts,
choosing some and refusing others, as attention is the
power of choosing among our sensations, rejecting some
and retaining others. By abstraction we rise from one
generalisation to another until, when thought is subli-
mated to the last degree, we fail for want of a foothold
for thought.
" Upon the last and ahnii>est height,
Before the spirits fade away,
Some landing-place to clasp and say
Farewell ! we lose ourselves in light."
Abstraction is the power of fitting facts and ideas
BIBLICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
173
rightly together. As Kant observes, "Facts vrithout
ideas are blind, and ideas without facts are empty."
He is the best thinker who geuerahses on sonud data,
and who will not generalise at all until all the facts
of the case are before him, and they are marshalled in
their right order. As in a building neither the bricks
by themselves nor the architect's design by itself is of
much use, all depends on the right collocation of the
two ; so it is in thinking. Abstraction is the power of
generalising aright. As in speaking we must master
language or language wiU master us, it is the same
mth thinking. A good deal of what passes for thought
— in Germany, for instance, since Hegel — is no more
thought than Italian improvising is poetry, or Irish
oratory eloquence. It is only castle-building in the air,
the art of piling up epithets or abstractions, which
come down with a touch like a house of cards.
The last and highest faculty which distinguishes the
psyche in man from that of animals is consciousness.
As attention is more of the will, and abstraction of the
intellect, so consciousness is something deeper than
either ; it is the moral faculty properly so called. It is
the power which man has of turning in on liimseK. He
can not only open and shut the gateway of the senses,
and also generalise on these sense-perceptions in the
higher world of ideas, but he has also the almost divine
faculty of looking in on himself, passing the whole
of his conduct in review, and thus without the law
becoming a law to himself. Self-consciousness is more
than thought-consciousness or abstraction — that is a
condition of the case, as attention also is, but it is not
its cause. Self-consciousness is the power of thinking
on self as a whole, of revie^ving chai-acter and conduct.
A man without self-consciousness — in other words,
moral reflectiveness — must be something more or less
than man. What is meant by the beatific vision is
when a saint loses this self-consciousuess, and is ab-
sorbed in the one overwlielmiug thought of the glory
of God. But this experience is exceptional, and is not
to be tasted more than momentarily on this side of
eternity. Those who have been so favoiu-ed — as Isaiah,
when he beheld the Lord in his temple, sitting between
the cherubim — are recalled to self -consciousness a mo-
ment after : " Ah, woe is me ! for I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell among a people of imcleau lips."
Self-consciousness is a painful more often than a
pleasurable faculty. Much as Pascal excelled us in liis
powers of attention and abstraction, it was in this gift
that he was transceudeutly gi-eat. His Pensees is set
to this one key, the grandeur and misery of man, this
thinking reed — this pendulum between a smile and tear
^this worm and angel— this discrowned kinsf. He ex-
hausts language in describing the sacred sorrows of seK-
consciousuess. There is much that is morbid in Pascal,
we must admit, partly owing to disease, and partly to
distorted news of religion which made him an ascetic.
But making allowance for all this, there remains some-
thing which can only be set down to the workings of
self- consciousness in its purest and most elevated form.
This faculty, which is moral rather than intellectual.
enables us to draw in on ourselves, and to make
a comparison between the whole of our life, its aims
and intents, as well as to judge of each particular
case of conduct. It is by using this faculty that we
are led to take long views of life and our true interests,
to decline the mess of j)ottage and to choose the birth-
right. It is not, as we may judge from the case of Jacob,
a distinctly spiritual principle ; on the contrary, it has
its i-oots in self-interest, and is only another form of
enlightened self-love. The pradential, the moral, and
the spii-itual, as Coleridge has pointed out in the Aids
to Reflection, are a kind of scale by which we may
measui-e our religious growth. We begin with motives
of self-interest, which, as we advance in the knowledge
of God's divine things, are replaced by others less and
less self-interested, imtil at last perfect love — the love
which is perfected in true holiness — drives oiit fear.
This is a slow process — the tense of continued action
(elct) pdWei, 1 John iv. 18) marks this act. Not all at once,
but as the Canaanites, little by little, the self-regarding
piinciple of the psychical life is replaced by the unselfish
motive of love. The two are antagonistic; he that
feareth is not made perfect in love. Still, though
opposed, they are made to work together for the same
end, and the Author of our being, He who knoweth our
frame and remembereth that we are but dust, does not
disdain to use the inferior motive of fear as well as the
superior motive of love. The first impulse felt in
religion is what we may call the soul- saving principle.
Charity in that sense begins at home, though it certainly
does not end there. Like Noah, moved with fear, we
prejiare an ark for the sa^dng of our house ; like Lot, we
flee out of Sodom; with Bunyan's Pilgrim we escape
from the City of Destruction. But no sooner are we
thus roused to take the first step under a class of motives
which are little else than selfish, than a change occurs —
our heart is imrified by faith. Acquaintance with God,
and the sublime self- surrender of the cross of Christ,
transmutes our motives — the dross of self is burned
away, and only the j)ure silver of sm-render to do the
will of God is left in its place.
Rightly to divide the Word of Truth is a delicate and
difiicult task, especially to divide rightly between the
psychical and pneumatical faculties in man. Hard and
fast lines on such a subject only mark a shallow and
superficial knowledge of the question itself. The pro-
blems of life and character are far too complex to be
solved by a short and easy method, such as that which
divides mankind into the converted and imconvertcd,
those who have and those who have not the pneuma.
As a matter of fact, this moral seK- consciousness is on
the di\'iding line between the psychical and the pneu-
matical. It is clearly not " flesh " in the sense that it
is part of oui* animal natm-e ; clearly, again, it is not
spii-it, that divine and unselfish principle of love in
which self is forgotten in the good of others. It is
introspective, anxious, self -regarding ; in this respect it
is psychical. On the other hand, if it turns inward to
self, it also turns iipward to God for light and direction,
and so it is pneumatical. Tliere is a correlation of
174
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
forces iu the soul by wliich tliiugs humau pass into
tilings di\-ine, aud tilings divTiio iu tbeir turn pa.ss back
into human. The philosophic Emperor Marcus An-
toninus seized this thought : " Wiuitsoever' comes before
thee, deal with it in constant remembrance of the close
conuectiou wliieh exists between these two; for never
wilt thou do anything well iii humau matters without
reference to di^-iue ones, nor iii divine matters Avithout
reference to human ones." Beginning thus with things
humau, we may rise thence to things divine, and end
with the connection between the two. And thus we
accomplish what St. Bernard prayed for : " May I gather
myseK in from things outward to things inward, and
then ascend from thuigs inward to things upward."
In moral consciousness we have reached the dividing
line between psyche and pneuma. It is reason turned
iu on itself, our thoughts one with another (fj-fra^h
aW-fiKuy, Rom. ii. 1.5) accusing or else excusing. Thought
iu itself is discursive and goes out of self ; but there is
this peculiarity in moral consciousness, that thought
there turns inwards and arraigns us before a bar iu
which self is at once the prisoner, the accuser, the
advocate, and the judge. No one can read the 7th of
Romans thoughtfully without feeling that here is a
striking jjicture of the workings of conscience, inten-
sified, it is true, under the remarkable stri%"iugs of the
Holy Spirit with a cliaracter of such force aud origi-
nality as that of Saul of Tarsus, but still not different
in essence from the action of conscience iu eveiy-day
characters. One feature in this picture is common to
all — the double personality, the feeling that there are
two selfs, a better and a worse. Looked at psycho-
logically, this phenomenon of double consciou.«iness is a
form of mental disease, it is incipient madness ; but
regarded ethically it is the first stage towards a re-
coveiy of mental soundness. As in theological pin-ase
we must be lost before we cau be saved, Clu-ist ha\*ing
come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,
so the psychological equivalent for this truth is the
discovery of two selves, a depraved and a didne self.
" So then with the mind I myseK serve the law of God.
but with the flesh the law of sin." To settle down con-
tented in this state of moral dualism is impossible. A
man with aspirations after good and desires which draw
liim away towards e\-il is in a state of mental niisei-y
little short of that of the demoniac, at once casting him-
self at the feet of Christ, and then entreating Him to
torment him not. There must be some issue and settle-
ment of such a conflict as this. Either the carnal
must choke the spu-itual, or the spiritual must subdue
the camal. No man cau contentedly settle dowu into
a state of moral dualism such a-s is expressed in the
law, tlmt " when 1 would do good, evil is present with
me." The crisis must end in one direction or the other
— either the man becomes carnal, sold under sin, or
he rises up to the great conflict. He learns that Christ
has condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
or right principle of the law may be fulfilled in us who
' Antonini Comment., iii. 13.
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The man
who walks in the Spirit — who, ih other words, is imder
divine impulses, and who sets God always before him,
he has iu him the righteous principle of the law, that
obedience of faith wliich is tlie essence of all love. Tliis
is conversion, when the soul is brought where two ways
meet, and where the two tendencies of the flesh and the
Spirit come to a final conflict. Salvation depends on
the issue. If the man declines the conflict, and falls back
under the dominion of the flesh, under either of its
three lusts of the flesh, the eye, and the pride of life,
then he becomes carnal, sold under sin. If, on the
other hand, he is led of the Spirit, then he is no longer
under the law, or consequently in the flesh. Law and
flesh are joined to each other and inseparable as man
aud wife, tUl death do them part. The man who is
nuder the Spirit is above law, not as without law, only
as under law to Christ. He is equally above the flesh,
not as out of the flesh or superior to its temptations, but
as given an antidote to its desires, so that he is in a sense
poison-proof — he is under a counter-attraction, so that
temptations have not the same strength which they
once had. The spiritual man is thus the same as before,
but changed. He is conscious of the same frailties aud
infirmities as ever, but he is also conscious of higher
desires and aspii-ations. It is in virtue of this that he
feels that old things are passed away, '• Behold, all things
are become new." The desires of the flesh are sub-
dued to those of the Spirit, so that while he is not as
yet all he ought to be, he can at least say that he is not
what he once was. His present stand-point as a spiritual
man, with the psychical or carnal nature broken but
not destroyed, is best expressed in the words of the
Apostle : '• By the grace of God I am what I am."
These are some of the contrasts between psyche aud
linemna. To carry them out into detail would be to
^\"i-ite a treatise, not on Biblical psychology, but on
expei'imental religion. The point, however, for the
psychologist to determine is the dividing line between
soul aud spirit. That, as we have seen, is to be sought
at the point where our intellectual and moral faculties
meet, Avhere consciousness rises into self-consciousness.
Our intellectual powers are. as we have seen, to be
traced iu the following ascending scale : — (1) Attention ;
(2) abstraction; (3) gcneraHsatiou. It is in vu-tue of the
croAvniug facidty of generalisation that man is able to
take iu his own conduct as a whole, to become a judge,
not only of each detail of duty as it rises before him,
but also of character as a whole. He thus becomes a
law unto himself, sees into his own motives, can dis-
tinguish between occasional slips when a man is over-
taken in a fault, aud that general bias towards evil
which is the ground of his despair as to any real and
lasting work of self-reformation. Self-consciousness
thus leads on to God-consciousness. The man who
finds out aud feels his own radical imperfection, must
look up and cry out for help : " O Israel, thou hast
destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help." The one
clause is the last word of true self -consciousness ; the
other the answer of God to that cry for help. Where
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
175
these two thouglits meet, there we may trace the dividiug
line between soul and spirit. The man who is only
psychical ("having not the Spu-it," Jude 19) under-
stands not these things; he feels no interest in them.
To the spiritual natm-e, on the other hand, they are a
joy and dehght. When we ask ourselves what is the
difference between the two, we have no answer but that
of the Apostle : " I exercise myseK to have a conscience
void of offence towards God and towards men." "V^Tiere
this discipline is attended to, resulting in happy,
holy communion with God, and diligent endeavour for
the good of oui- feUow-meu, there we may affirm that
the pneumatical or spu-itual nature is alive and active ;
where not, we may predicate the reverse. In that case,
however outwardly moral the life, the man is un-
awakened ; he is conformed to the course of this world.
He has not entered as yet into the higher sphere of
being. He is only of the generation of the fii-st Adam,
of the earth earthy; not of the Second Adam, who
as the Lord from heaven, and as a life-giving Spirit,
has come to give spii-itual life to aU who are grafted
into livinfir union with Him.
MEASUEES, "WEiaHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BY, F. R. CONDER, C.E.
^OINS are known of seven princes of the
Idumean dynasty. Mr. Madden ^ de-
scribes nineteen coins of Herod the
Great. Eight of these bear on the reverse
the symbol which has been called the double cornucopia,
and the others bear
either vessels of the
Temple, or fruit, ref er-
i-rng to the offerings at
the festival. On the
obverse occurs either a
helmet, a caduceus, or
the emblem called an
anchor, but which some-
times more closely re-
sembles a suspensory
lamp, with the name of
'■ Herod the King " in
Greek. Some of these
coins are dated, appa-
rently, by the regnal
year of Herod, the
latest being either the tenth or the fifteenth year
Of Arclielaus, ten coins, veiy similar to those
father, bear the name " Herod Ethnarcli."
are seven coins of Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee,
bearing a palm, with "' Herod Tetrarch," on the obverse ;
and either the word Tiberias, or the name Cains Caesar,
on the reverse. The nimibers 33, 31, 37, and 43 have
been remai-ked on some of these coins, dating, appa-
rently, from the death of Herod the Great. Three
coins of Herod Philip, Tetrarch of Trachonitis, are
known ; they are of pagan character, bearing the name
of Tiberias on the obverse, and a tetrastyle Temj)le,
with the name " Philip, Tetrarch," on the reverse. The
dates 19, 33, and 37 occur on the field.
Of Herod Agrippa I., gi-andson of Herod the Great,
who is the " Herod the King " mentioned in Acts xii.
1, two classes of coins exist. The first are properly
Jewish, l)earing the tabernaculum, a figure resembling
an iimbrella, on the obverse, and three ears of
barley on the reverse. The latter evidently refer to
1 History of Jewish Coinage, pp. SI, 91.
probably refers to
dates Anno 6 and
of his
There
the three ears of barley, from the three provinces
of Judaea, the ripening of which was requisite for
the declaration of the paschal moon. The former
the Feast of Tabernacles. The
Anno 7 occur on coins of this
type. The regnal
years of the kings
of Judaea were regu-
lated by the first day
of the month Nisan,
which commenced the
year. If a king had
acceded on tliat day,
and reigned for that
day alone, the whole
year would have been
called his first year. If
he had reigned for
twelve months, from
2 Nisan to 30 Adar,
the year in question,
would not have been
reckoned as his regnal year at all. Thus Anno 8 was
the last year of the life of Agi-ij)X)a.
Eight of the coins of this prince are of pagan type ;
one bearing, it has been thought, his own profile, and
others that of Caius, or of Claudius, with human figures
on the reverse. It is probable that these coins were
struck for circulation in the dominions of Agrippa
beyond the Hmits of Judaea.
As many as twenty-eight extant coins are attributed
to Agrippa II. The greater number of them are pagan
coins, bearing the heads of Nero, Vespasian, Titus, or
Domitian ; and coming down to the last year but one
of the latter emperor, viz., a.d. 95. One coin, which
has the anchor-like emblem on the reverse, with the
date 10, bears a profile on the obverse which has been
supposed to be that of Agrippa himself.
Thus, under the Idumean dynasty, seven princes,
reigning in Judsea and other parts of Sp-ia diu-iug 135
years, are represented by seventy-nine coins ; of which
thirty-eight only are of lawful Jewish type; one of
Agi-i];)pa I., and one of Agrippa II.. bearmg the pro-
files of kings, and the remaining tbii-ty-nine bearing
176
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
idolatrous or pagan emblems. Under this liead tlio
Decalogue, as explained in tlic Oral Law, included all
representations of the human figure; as far, at least,
as they were produced by Jewish artificers.
We have engraved three coins of the Idumeau series,
which arc printed above.
The first of these is a lianitz of Herod the Great.
The object represented on the reverse is not deter-
mined ; but it is possible that it represents a musical
instrument of percussion. On the obverse is a tripod,
very similar to figures found on the coins of Crotoua,
with the legend HPnAOT BA2lAEn2 (of King Herod) in
Greek letters, and the date A. r., or year 3. The weight
of the specimen is 97 grains troy.
To the left is a shemiin of Archelaus. On the
obverse is a cluster of grapes, with the legend
HPXIAOT. On the reverse is a plumed helmet, with
the legend E0NAPXOT (of Herod the Ethnarch). The
weight of the specimen is 39 grains troy.
The third coin is a shemun of Agrippa I., the
■"Herod the King" of Acts xii. 1. On the obverse is
the object called the tabernaculuvi, with the legend
BASIAEnS AFPinnA (of King Agrippa). On the reverse
are three ears of corn, with the date L. 6, being the
year of the imprisonment of the Apostle Peter. These
coins are all of copper, which is denoted by the mark
^, and are drawn of the actual size.
A gi'oup of coins yet remains to be described, which
includes all the known specimens of Jemsh silver money,
consisting of twenty-eight types, together with seventeen
in copper. With two exceptions, above refeiTed to,
these coins bear no name of high priest or king. Many
of them bear numbers which have been taken for dates,
but none of which are higher than four.
Four words occur as legend, or inscription, on these
coins. The most frequent is one which is written as
Shemo, and also as Shemonu, with the three last letters
variously arranged. Of these Shemo coins twenty-four
are known. They have lioen ascribed to Simon Mac-
cabeus, and to two other Simons, Aiz., the sou of Gioras,
the bandit, and the son of Gamaliel, who was pi*esi-
dent of the Sauhedrin at the time of the destruction of
the Temple. They have been also attributed to Bar-
cochebas, who has been for that purpose accommodated
vnih the name of Simon, by a gratuitous hypothesis.
Thus, in a coinage numbering 143 types, and ranging
over 208 years, no fewer than forty-five distinct
mintages are attributed to, at most, eight or nine
years, which were either the earliest, or the latest and
most troubled, of the entire period.
Tlie reason of this anomaly is, that the numismatists
have taken the word Shemo, which tlic Tosaphta explains
to mean coin, as a proper name.
The word, or its derivations, occurs repeatedly in the
Pentateuch and in the Prophets, and is explained as
referring to money in several places. It is first used
in the history of Abraham.' Avhero it is translated " I
have heard " by the LXX., and " hearken unto mo "
' Geu. xxiii. 15.
by St. Jerome, and, consequently, by the Authorised
Version. With this interpretation it becomes necessary
to supply a word (in italics) to make sense, while the
sentence contains an imnecessary phrase. But the
sense of the word Shemo, attributed to it by the
custodians of the law, makes a simple sentence : " My
lord, the laud is worth to me 400 shekels of silver."
The Hebrew words that occur on the particular kind
of coins in question seem, indeed, to have all been mis-
translated by numismatologists. On some are found
tlie words " Shekel Isral." This has been taken to
mean that the piece was a shekel. But this legend is
also found on small silver coins of about sixty grains'
weight, corresponding to the garmes, or sixth part of
a shekel, of the Talmud; so that it cannot be taken
to be an actual statement of value.
Leheruth, another of these words, has been translated
'• redemption." There are no points on the coins. We
are thus reduced to consider the letters alone. The
word heruth occurs in Exod. xxxii. 16, where it is
translated "insculpta." Thus, we have three names
for money, each conveying a distinct idea — shemo,
signum, that of its legality or authorisation ; shekel,
that of its weight ; and heruth, that of its stamp.
Finally, the word ligullath has been also translated
"redemption;" and this is one reason for the attribution
of the coins in question to periods of revolt. The word,
when it occurs in the Pentateuch,^ relates to the retui-n
of alienated property to the owners on the seventh
year. An almost identical word, in the Second Book
of Kings and in the Book of Jeremiah, is translated
"captivity." The idea common to the two passages is
that which is also etymologically coi*rect — namely, cycle,
It is on these ligullath coins that dates are found
invariably, hitherto, under the number seven. It is our
conclusion that the reference is to the cycle of the weeks
of years ; whether to the year of the week, or to the
week of the jubilee, or to the jubHee period itself, in
which the coin was struck. When we remember the
extremely simple sign by means of which we can
identify the year in which any piece of English plate
has been "hall-marked," it seems more than probable
that the date of the ligullath coins was no less intel-
ligible to the Jewish silversmith than our own stamps
are to his successor of the present day.
We thus consider this large and interesting group
of coins to bo no other than the " Jerusalem money "
of the Talmud; couiage issued at Jerusalem for the
requii-ements of the poll-tax and the second tithe;
bearing, in one instance, the name of the high priest,
Eleazar; in others, the authorisation of the nasi, or
president of the Senate ; but all marked with the name
of either the city or the people, and issued, at dates
not yet determined, contemporaneously with the civil
coinage of foreign monarchs, and, possibly, with that
of Asmonean and Idumoan princes. They accord with
the descriptions given by Maimonides, Abarbanel, and
other wi-iters, of the ichhai.n, or sacred half-shekels,
- Lev. xsv. 21, 32.
lyiEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
177
■which are described as bearing an urn, mth the inscrip-
tion, " Shekel Israel," and the flowering rod of Aaron,
with the legend, " Jerusalem the Holy." Both emblems
and both inscriptions occur on existing specimens of
this very interesting group of coins.
The smaller coin %ured below is a specimen of the
Ihumen, or eighth part of a shekel. On the obverse is
the hinnur, or cithara, one of the five kinds of musical
instraments employed in the daily ser-s-ice of the
Temple. The legend (when complete) was "Stamp
of Jerusalem." On the obverse is the word Shemnou,
in a wreath. The specimen weighs 40 grains troy.
The larger coin is a righia, or three-quarter shekel.
This coin was legalised, towards the close of the Jewish
polity, as the Temple shekel, the annual payment of
each Israelite being reduced, after long dispute, to a
liaK righia. On the obverse is a three-flowered rod,
with the legend " Jerusalem the Holy." On the re-
verse is the " Cos," or goblet, one
of the vessels employed in the daily
service of the Temple, with the
legend " Shekel Isral," and the
mark 3© (year 3). The boldness
of the letters is such as to resem-
ble the later rather than the earlier
examples of the dated series of
royal coins. The specimen weighs
228 grains troy. Both these coins
are silver.
So much importance was at-
tached, by the Oral Law, to the
duty of can-ying to Jerusalem not
merely the equivalent of the maaser
sheni money, but the actual coin
taken as its valuation, that some
method of distinguishing these coins from other money
would seem to have been quite necessary. No method
could be simpler than to mark on cei-tain types the num-
ber of a year. For tliis purpose four numbers would be
enough. The fifth year of the week resembled, in aU
its legal arrangements, the first and second. The sixth
resembled the third, as in these years the second tithe
was paid to the poor. The fourth, with regard to a
portion of the crop, came imder the provisions of the
seventh, or year in which cultivation was forbidden.
Thus the numbers one, two, three, and foiir, which are
actually found on the Jerusalem money, would have
afforded ample and adequate security against even a
casual breach of the prescriptions which regarded
its use.
Forgery of Jewish money is extremely common.
De Saidcy mentions some pieces that are issued in fac-
simile, even to the hole which had been bored through
the original. The practice of counterfeiting these cohis
is of great antiquity. Much attention has been directed
to the fact that certain pieces of money are not very
Tare in which the Jerusalem type has been struck on
denarii of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, or Ti-ajan. The
explanation given is, that these coins represent a re-
issue of Roman money, under Jewish auspices, during
60 — VOL. III.
the struggle with the Roman power. This is far from
impossible. At the same time it is to be borne in mind
that, while the earliest possible date of these coins is
fixed by that of the Roman coinage, there is nothing
whatever to denote the latest possible date of the re-
stamping. This might have taken place at any time
from the second to the nineteenth century. All that
these re-struck denarii can therefore be considered to
show, is the wonderfid permanence of the tj^ie of the
Jewish coins, a permanence whicli is as remarkable as
that of the Phoenician or old Hebrew letters which
form these legends. These letters have but little varied
during a period of more than a thousand years. Some
of the bolder types resemble the Greek letters in which
the Sinaitic Codex is -written, and it is possible that
dates may be hereafter fixed by the shght variation in
form. But it is curious to remark that these round and
Greek-like letters occur on coins which, although we
are disposed to rank them very late
on the series, are attributed ])y M.
de Saulcy to the High Priest
Jaddiia, and by Mr. Madden to
Simon Maccabeus. As yet, there-
fore, we can only describe that por-
tion of the Jewish coinage which
is anonymous, or bearing no name
of king or sovereign pontiff, as of
undetermined date.
(B.) money not JEWISH.
The references which occur in the
various books of the Bible to the
coins and moneys of the countries
surrounding Jerusalem are nume-
rous, although frequently they are
but slight. In the time of Abraham we find the silver
shekel, and a gold j)iece, which probably bore the
same relation to that piece of silver which we shall
afterwards find established, to be current. From the
coincidence between the weight, which, as we learn from
Maimonides, was that of the first Jewish shekel,' and
the Babylonian system of weights, it is probable that
that great commercial emporimn regulated the cuiTency
throughout the East from a very early date. The term
used to describe the silver paid by Abraham for the
field of Machpelali, appears to denote a kno-wn mercantile
currency. The silver which Abimelech gave to Abraham
is mentioned by tale, not by weight. The silver and
gold which Eliezer brought with him to BethueP is
described by a word which is there translated " jewels."
The LXX. translate it " vessels ;" and it is well known
to be employed frequently in that sense, one of the tracts
of the Talmud bearing the name, viz., Kelim. But the
word has a wider signification than that of vases or
drinking vessels, which is inapplicable in some places
where it occurs. In the Book of Genesis^ it is used to
signify sacks. In the description of the Tabernacle* it is
ConstituHones de Sicll
Gea. slii. 25.
- Gen. xxiv. 53.
■* Exod. xxxix. 3i
178
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
transliitod " furniture." In the passuge wliicli describes
the spoil taken from the Midiauites, ' in that which
narrates the " sijoiling of the Egyptians " on the night
of the Exodus,- and in the account of the presents
to Rebekah,'* it is translated "jewels of gold." It is
extremely improbable that gold cups, whicli exemplify
the rarest mode of employing tliis metal, with the
one gi'cat exception of tlie service of the Temple of
Solomon, were carried by Eleazar, or sought as con-
venient in their flight by the Israelites. And the
weight (17,000 aiirei) of the gold taken from the
Midianites, as well as the absence of any other refer-
ence to money in these passages, lead to the inference
that Icclim here means coin. In 2 Chrou. v. 21, a cognate
word is translated "perfections."^ A comparison of
the amount of the tribute sent to King David by the
king of Hamath, with the kno\vu provisions of the
law of Moses, leads us to arrive at something like critical
certainty as to the use of the word Icelim for coin.''
Kelt of gold, Jceli of silver, and Iceli of bi-ass were
brought by Joi'am to David, and dedicated by that
king to the Lord. It was illegal to dedicate to the
Divine service any vessels that had not been expressly
made for that service." Money might be dedicated
at any time. The word, moi-eover, in this case (and
it is extraordinaiy that Buxtorf should have omitted
to notice the fact) is in the singular, though ti-ans-
latcd both by Jerome and by the LXX. in the plural,
in which form it must have been wi-itteu if it meant
ffKfvri, vasa, or vessels.-" That it should occur in the
singular, as meaning money, is intelligible. Standard
gold, or gold coin melted down, is a very possible
rendering.
In the above instances we find references to the
ciin-ent medium of the merchant, to tliat in use in
Egypt, and to that possessed by the Phoenician in-
habitants of Palestine. Exchange Ijetween Palestine
and Egyi^t was carried on by a silver currency, in the
tkne of Solomon,^ reckoned by tale. Indian gold was
brought to Jerusalem by the Queen of Sheba, and
by the maiitime expeditions of Solomon, of which the
Talmud s^^eaks as gold dust. The lason or ingot of
gold secreted by Aclian is mentioned in company mth
a Babylonian garment, and was an aliquot pai-t of
the Babylonian talent. After the capture of Babylon
by Cyi'us, we have seen that a change occurred in the
weight of the shekel, according to the distinct statement
of Maimonides, and we have thus a strong reason for
concluding that the darlconoth, adarhonim, or draclmis
of gold, which are mentioned in the Books of Ezra and
Nehemiah, are none other than the Persian daric. Tliat
coin lias been taken to owe its name to the victorious
monarch, as in the case of the Louis d'or. Dr. Levy
' Numb. xxxi. 50.
- Exod. xii. 35.
^ Gen. xxiv. 53.
"• Coiistilutiones lU Siclis, i. 2.
» 2 Sam. viii. 10.
•"' Maimonides, De Domo Selecta, i. 20.
7 Codex de Sacris Solemnibas, iii. 2.
® 1 Kings X. 29.
gives good reasons for thinking it means the " archer,"
from the representation of a crowned archer on the
obverse. The derivation of Gesenius, from the word
dara, " king," would describe this ancient coin by
a name eqixivalent to om* own sovereign, which it
exceeded in weight by only five grains.
Under the empu-e of Alexander the Great, no doubt
can bo entertjiined that his coins were current in
Palestine. The money of Alexander was succeeded
by the coinage of the Ptolemies and of the Greek
kings of Asia. We thus come down to the time at
which we are told by the Book of Maccabees, that
Simon Maccabeus, the high priest, was permitted by
King Antiochus to coin money bearing his own homma,
or stamp.
The coins of the Asmonean kings and princes, and
those of the Idumean dynasty, we have described as
Jewish coins. At the Advent, the current money in
Palestine was that of Herod the Great, to wliich suc-
ceeded, in Judaea alone, the coinage of Archelaus, bearing
the name of that prince, not as king, but as ethnarch.
On the banishment of Ai-chelaus, A.D. 6, commenced the
issue of a series of coins by the Roman procurators.
Specimens of these coins are stUl extant, bearing the
names of Augustus, of Tibei'ius, of Claudius, and of
Nero, always in Greek letters. No coins of Caligula
have been yet found in Judaea. The devices on these
coins are the seven-branched palm-tree, the emblem of
Judaea ; the cluster of gi-apes ; the vine-leaf, which was
a device on the coins of Herod; one or three ears of
barley, or wheat ; a triple lily ; or one of the vessels of
the Temple. Coins are also found, bearing the name
of Julia, cither the mother or the wife of Tiberius, and
of Agrippina, the wife of Claudius.
We thus find no fewer than seven distinct systems
of non- Jewish money referred to in the Bible. In the
time of Abi'aham Ave hear of the current money of
Phenicia, and of both gold and silver pieces. Jacob
paid a liundi*ed keshita for his field at Shechem. Joseph
was sold for twenty units of silver. The money of
Egypt, possibly the curious ring money represented in
the tombs, must have been at least comprehended in
the kelini of which the Israelites, at the Exodus, spoiled
the Egyptians. The lason of gold, of fifty shekels'
weight, secreted by Achan, was a definite unit of the-
Babylonian system, being the maneh, or sixtieth part of
a talent of that cun-ency. This noble piece of gold,
which would have .coined into 125 sovereigns, recalls by
its name the oblong rounded money of Japan, in which
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
179
form the heaviest gold coius in the world now exist.
The Persian daric, and a silver currency framed in
accordance with its value, superseded the use of the
shekel that had been employed in Jerusalem from the
time of David to that of Zedekiah. The presence of
Alexander the Great, in Palestine, must have led to
the introduction of the noblest silver coins of all time,
those bearing the profile of the Macedonian conqueror,'
represented on the preceding page. The money of the
Ptolemies must have been exchanged, under the rule
of the Sanhedrin in Judeea, with that of the Greek
kings of Asia. And thus, through the link of the
Asmonean and Idumean money, we come down to the
denarii of Tiberius, and the copper coinage of the
Roman procurators.
The money mentioned in the Gospels is either Roman
or Jewish. The use of the names of Greek coins, as
equivalents for Jewish money, is as old, at least, as
the LXX. At one time the Eginetan drachma was
the exact equivalent of the Jewish ztiza, making, as
Josephus writes, the shekel equal to the tetradrackm.
In Acts iv. 3, the Greek word xP^/"«) ''"es, is employed
as synonymous with apyipiov (silver), for money. The
silver pieces of the pai-able would naturally suggest
to the hearers the Jewish ziiza. The modest amount
of the offering made to the treasury is denoted by the
word " coppers." The example whick we have above
figured, from the British Museum, of a coin bearing
that name on its field, possesses a value, as a weight
of copper, considerably below that of our present
farthing. It was this xaA.f^s that the apostles were
forbidden to bear in their belt-purse when sent foi-th
on their errand.
The copper coins, indeed, of Palestine are so minute,
and so irregular in their weight, that we must conclude
that their value, like that of the English copper coinage
of the present day, was chiefly legal, or conventional, and
did not represent the relative A^alue of the two metals —
silver and copper. We are thus on certain gi'ound
only where we can refer anything to a silver price, and
when again we compare the relative values of silver
and of gold.
We are brought face to face, not only with a definite
coin, but almost with the very species of that coin, in
the passages of the Gospel which speak of the denarius
shown to Christ. The three Evangelists use the same
word, and agree in the statement that the coin bore the
likeness and name of Csesar. Tiberius had then been
emperor for seventeen or eighteen years ; and we, there-
fore, have good reason for belie^nng that the coin in
question was a denarius of that prince. We must
revert to the Hebrew literature in order to understand
the full force of the simple rebuke of Christ. A
passage in the Talmud speaks of Abigail as refusing
to acknowledge the title of David to the throne, so
long as the coin of Saul was current. It may well
' The tetradrachm figured in the preceding page bears the name
of Lysimachus, but the type and profile are those of Alexander
the Great. The specimen ie in the British Museum, and weighs
236 grains troy.
be remarked that this anecdote pertains rather to the
Agada, or poetical part of the Ghemara, than to the
historic record. But it is important as one among
numerous passages that show the great importance
which attached, in the minds of the Jewish teachei*s,
to the exercise of the royal right of coinage. The
production of the Roman coin, at the call of Christ,
was a mute but irrefragable testimony to the de facto
rule of Csesar, and thus to his right to impose and
enforce tribute. No reply could have been at once
more simple and more incisive. The cavils of Strauss,
and the defences of Christian writers, have been equally
wide of the true import of this dignified protest on the
part of the heir of David.
During the existence of the Roman procuratorship,
it is clear, from the e^-ideuce of Maimonides and the
Mishnic writers on the one hand, and from .that of the
coins themselves on the other, that the Jewish and
Roman currency must have been mingled in Palestine.
It is most probable that the former was gradually dis-
placed by the latter, and confined to those purposes of
sacred tribute for which it was illegal to employ any
other. At the same time the debasement of the Roman
coinage was going on — the detmrii being struck, fi*om
time to time, of a lighter weight. We must not, there-
fore, attach too much weight to the use of terms, by
Josephus or by the Evangelists, as equivalent, which
are not precisely exact. The zuza at one time was of
the exact weight of the deiuirius ; but the denarius
grew smaller and smaller, while the zuza, at least, as
far as the services of the Temple were concerned, was
maintained at its true weight.
The coin which is translated " a farthing," in that
touching reference to the remembrance of the sparrows
before God which has lightened so many a day of care,
is called, in each account, by the Hebrew namo of
assarion ; and was thus equal to a little more than lialf a
silver penny of the present day, being the twenty- fourth
part of the day's wages of a labourer. The coin called
the mite, in our translation, of which the poor widow
threw two into the treasury, is called by the Greek name
\e-n-rov (lepton) both by St. Mark and St. Luke, and is
said by the former to be equal to half a quadrans, a
Roman coin. The quadrans was, as matter of account,
the fourth part of the assarion, and, originally, the
fortieth part of the denarius. The denarius, at the
time referred to, did not contain more than sixty
troy grains of silver, so that the value in amoiuit of
the quadrans was a little less than the fifth of an
English penny. But the copper coins, as before re-
marked, were at this time mere counters, and did not
contain a weight of copper coinciding with the nominal
value. Small Roman coins exist, weighing as little as
fifteen grains. Small Jewish coins run as low as
thirty-five grains. The x"^''"' O'* coppers, which
the crowd cast into the treasuiy, may have compre-
hended numerous varieties of these aiinute coins,
as well as that which bore on its obverse the Wrd
XsAk^s.
The Icolhun or halbon, the meaning of which it is
180
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
necessary to know iu order to uuderstnud tlie woi"d,
used by St. Matthew (xxi. 12) and St. Mark (xi. 15),
which is translated " money-changers " in our version,
was not a coin, but an agio, or small payment for
exchange, which was imposed by the Oral Law on those
who were unproWdcd with the proper silver helca or
tehlia, required for the Temple tax.i No other coin was
acceptable for this saci-cd tribute. It was, therefore,
necessary to provide these coins for those persons who
had not procured them. On the 15tli day of Adar,
the last month of the Jewish year, the tables of the
collectors were set in the provinces, and on the 25th
day of the same month in the courts of the Temple,
that no hindrance might occur to the obligatory pay-
ment of the heha on the 1st of Nisan. Under the
second Temple, the smallest coin payable as a kalbon
was a pondion, the equivalent of oiu* silver penny.
It only remains to inquire into the coin which was
taken by the Apostle Peter, at the command of his
^Master, from the fish that he was sent to catch. The
collectors, in this case, were those of the dklrachma,
which was the Greek expression for the haK-shekel, or
beka, that is to say, the Temple tax.- The denarius,
before referred to, was the Roman tribute, ktjvo-os,
census, or poll tax. On the occasion of the application
for the beka (which is thus fixed for the 15th of Adar),
Christ at once asserted His royal claim not to be sub-
jected to the payment. At the same time, as it was a
sacred tribute, he directed his follower how to provide
for the discharge of this claim. It is thus certain
that the stater found iu the mouth of the fish must
have l^eeu the silver righia, which was then the
lawful Temple money; and tliat, for paying this, in
one coin, for two persons, instead of paying two half-
shekels, the apostle must have added the small fine of
the kalbon.
TABLES OF COINAGE.
1. HEBREW MONEY.
Note. — All coins bearing square Hebrew letters are considered to
be forgeries.
Legend.
no
3766
Under Senate ....
Unknown.
4233
Under Kings of Lino of Judah
Unknown.
4696
Under Senate ....
Old Hebrew letters.
4773
Under Asmonean Princes
Hebrew, or Bilingual.
4815
Under Idumean Princes
Greek letters.
4879
Under Procurators
Greek letters.
Coins without name of Prince, bear-
ing emblems of Temple service .
Old Hebrew letters.
1 Esger thinks that the word p2|:p (}:0lbijii) is derived from the
Greek KoWvfto^, which Aristophanes uses to denote a small coin,
80 called because an ox was stamped upon it. Such a derivation
for the name of a Jewish institution may well be thought incre-
dible. Where no true equivalent for a Hebrew word exists in the
Greek language, the word employed in its place is often a very
loose translation. There is a Chaldean word Nabp (pitch), from
■which the term may naturally come, as something attached, or
4idhering, to the half-shekel. In the Pentateuch we have a very
similar instance. The word nsis is translated "pitch" in Gen. vi.
14, and rcdemplionis pretium, in Exod. xxi. 30.
- Tract Skekalim, ch. i. 3.
2. LIST OF KNOWN JEWISH
COINS.
oo
Dynasty.
J.
9-
Letters.
</3
CQ
6
Asmonean.
4696
(1) Johanan.high priest (Hj-rcanusL)
—
4
Hebrew.
4705
(2) Judah, high priest (Aristobulus I.)
1
Hebrew.
4706
(3) Jonathan,highpriest( Alexander I.)
3
4
Hebrew.
Bilingual.
4722
(4) Alexandra, Queen
—
1
Bilingual.
(5) Alexander II., King .
—
2
BiUngual.
4770
(6) Mattathiah,high priest( Antigonns)
Idumean.
3
Bilingual.
4773
(1) Herod, King ....
_
19
Greek.
4806
(2) Archelaus, Ethnarch .
—
10
Greek.
4815
(3) Herod, Tetrarch . . Pagan
—
7
Greek.
(6) Herod, Philip ... 3
—
—
Greek.
4846
(4) Herod (Agrippa I.) . .8
—
2
Greek.
4857
(5) Agrippa II., 4904 . . 28
—
—
Greek.
(7) Herod, King of Chalcis . 2
—
Greek.
~~
Jerusalem, Zion, or Israel, dates not
understood
28
17
Hebrew.
3. MONEY USED IN PALESTINE, NOT OF HEBREW COINAGE.
An. Sac.
j
2888
Phoenician
Mercantile currency shekel.
3269
Egyptian
Possibly ring money, afterwards that of
18th, 22nd, and 25th dynasties.
3309
Babylonian.
Gold lason, or ingot.
3771
Hamath
Gold, silver, and copper money.
4272
Persian
Daric, and Sela shekel.
4478
Macedonian
Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, and
its ahquot parts.
4497
Asian
Coinage of the Seleucidse.
4815
Boman
Coinage of the Emperors and Procurators.
JEWISH CURRENCY DOWN TO CLOSE OF THE MONARCHY
OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID.
Name.
Value.
Weight.
Gold.
Cira*u8 Troy.
Aureus
Estimated at
106§
Silver.
Shekel
Unit of account .
320
Beka .
Or Half Shekel .
160
Garmes
Or One-sixth of Shekel .
531
Eebah
Or Quarter Shekel
80
Copper.
Gera .
Estimated at
560
Half Gera .
Estimated at
280
Quarter Gera
Estimated at
149
5. JEWISH CURRENCY FROM EZRA TO AGRIPPA II.
Name.
Value.
Weight.
Gold.
Grains Tr<v.
Darcon
Estimated at
128
Tresith
Or one-third of Darcon.
42f
Silver.
Sela .
Unit of account .
384
Ri?hia or Stater.
Three-quarter Sela
288
Tebha
Half Sela .
192
Half Stater
Three-eighths of Sela .
144
Zuza .
Quarter Sela
96
Garmes
One-sixth part of Sela .
64
Octave
One-eighth of Sela
48
Copper.
Asper
Estimated at
660
Pondion
Or Half Asper .
330
Assarion .
Or quarter .
165
Musmes
Or eighth part
82
Kontrinek .
Or sixteenth part
41
Prutha
Or thirty-second part .
20
Hadres
Or third
220
Hanitz
Or sixth
110
Shemun
Or twelfth .
55
Dauca
Or twenty-fourth.
27
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
181
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE KEV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT GF ST. NINIAN'S, AiTTH, N.B.
FIGUEATIVE LANGUAGE.
HE poetical complexion of the Hebrew
tongue has been akeady noticed. Sen-
suous, teeming with words descriptive
of natural beauty, it was of necessity
intensely metaphorical. The ordinaiy speech of an
Israelite was figurative ; the images of his poetry
must therefore of necessity be abundant and rich. It
is sown with images, as the midnight Eastern sky with
stars, and of their own orient brilliance.
To attempt to reduce the employment of these to an
ai't, with definite rules and precise names, would be
absui'd. As well think that the bard himself, with his
heart rapt into a passion of melody, would pause to
consider how liis figures shall be introduced, from what
objects drawn, and how managed to produce the
gi-andest effect. Such iides are the invention of
degenerate ages, when the fii'e of inspiration lias died
out. The poet goes to make way for the rhetorician,
who, with a rare faculty for inventing names with
which to label the component parts of a poem, rai-ely
has the insight into its spu-it. When the flower lies
crushed and dead in the botanist's case its grace and
chai'm are gone.
The grammarian's skill will not therefore admit us to
the awful sanctuaries of Hebrew song. But for our
guidance in so rich and boundless a field as that of
Hebrew imagery some simple principles are plainly
necessary. The present paper will be devoted to a
statement of the primary forms assumed by figura-
tive language.
The poet's office is to see, and to speak what he sees,
so that men of weaker vision may not remain altogether
blind to the beauty and inner worth of things. To
this end he is the guardian of the vast treasury of
language. With words he weaves, and builds, and
paints till the edifice of his thoughts stands forth in
its perfect and shining beauty.
Now the poet may produce his impression by the
sheer force of \-ivid description. Coleridge has
remarked in a lecture on Dante, that there is percep-
tible in that poet a passion and miracle of words which
gives to language a rirtuous quality and power inde-
pendently of the thouglits or images it conveys. The
gi-eat Florentine does certainly know how, with a few
intense and \vnd expressions, to make a thing visible
for ever. Such passages give a sense of strength,
because they come of restramt. The passion of the
poet, the kindled emotion, is held in check by an
mtense earnestness. Something has to be said quick
keen, decisive, for ever.
Such a will reigned over the heart and hand of him
who wote the story of Creation. " Let there be light :
and there was light." The poetry of that lies in its
bi'ief simpUcity. We feel the gi-andeur of this divine
command, and the quick obedience of Nature to her
God. The great lyrical prophet too, who is so potent a
master of imagery, knows how to make a scene vivid
without one metaphor. How intense in its visuality is
the following description of a scene from the workshop
of an idol-maker : —
' ' The sinitli melteth off a portion of iron ;
He worketh it in the coals, and with hammers he fashioneth it, .
And he worketh it with the force of his arm :
Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth him j
He drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out his rule ;
He marketh it out with a line ;
He worketh it with the sharp tool ;
He figureth it with the compass ;
He maketh it after the figure of man ;
According to the beauty of the human form, that it may dwell
in a temple :
He heweth him down cedars,
And taketh the cypress and the oak,
And layeth in good store of the trees of the forest.
He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it j
Then it is of use to men to burn ;
Yea, he taketh thereof and warmeth himself ;
Yea, he kindleth it and baketh bread ;
And out of it too he maketh a god and worshippeth it,
He maketh of it a graven image, and faileth down thereto;
Part of it he bumeth in the fire ;
And with part thereof he eateth flesh ;
He roasteth roast, and is satisfied ;
He warmeth himself, and saith.
Aha ! I am warm, I see the fire ;
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even a graven image •
He faileth down unto it and worshippeth it.
And he prayeth unto it, and saith,
' Deliver me, for thou art my god.' " (Isa. xliv. 12 — 17. )l
It is not the sententious fonn which redeems this
passage from being mere prose, but the concentrated
energy of expression and the keenness of its irony.
But the poet has fulfilled but half his task when he
has roused our faculty to see. His thought comes
glowing from the inventive fire of his own feeling,
and must kindle an answering flame. The bond of
sympathy which unites him to the world of Natm-e and
the infinite foi-ms of Iraman life must be attached to
other hearts. Such is the spell of mighty verse. It
has a magic power, and draws all hearts within its own
charmed circle.
To set our imagination to work, the poet addresses
our faculty of association. This is the basis of all
poetic images. The poet is our mediator between
matter and spirit, and sends forth Ms winged words a*
angels to invite us upward. But to this end his
messengers must make themselves understood. The
imagery which is to suggest the form of the artist's
thought, or express what is hidden or strange, must
be taken from obvious and intelligible Nature.
1 This is taken from the English version compared with those
of Lowth and Ewald.
182
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Mureover, it must be alivo with commou liumau
iustiucts, and touch chords of foeliug that vibrate iu
OTery heart. Iu this way a scuse of compauiouship iu
the poet's iinagiuatiou is created. Associations are
stai'ted which are of perniancut possession, a distinct
and visible image is fi'Jiuied wliich tlie mtud can
api^reciate and store ui) for future use. Perhaps the
following instance from Dante's Purgatory exhibits the
consciuus purpose of the poet as well as any simile : —
" Remember, reader, if e'er in tlie Alps
A mist o'ertook thee, through which thou couldst see
Not otherwise than tlirough its membrane mole.
How, when ths vapours humid and condensed
Begin to dissipate themselves, the sphere
Of the sju feebly enters iu among them.
And thy imagination u-ill he swift
In coming to iicrceive how I re-saw
The sun at first, that was already setting."
(Canto xvii., Longfellow's Trans.)
Great thoughts unconsciously clothe themselves in
metajjhor. Nature seems to recognise whatever is
worth .saying by lending from her store some rich
dress in which it may clothe itself. Coleridge has
said that melody and rhythm iu words indicate some-
thing deep and true iu their meaning. In the same
way thought, which readily translates into sensuous
or figured expression, asserts thereby its qualitj- and
power. " Many thoughts find, after beating about for
them, natural analogies — they strain a tribute." The
thought of genius precedes its image only as the flash
of tlie lightning the roar of the near thunder ; naj',
they often seem identical. Now the images of Scrip-
ture are peculiarly of this description.'
1/ Images enter into poetry in one of two principal
way.s.
(1.) The similitude proper, or simile, where the illus-
tration is introduced by some sign of comparison : — •
" As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
So panteth my soul after Thee, O Lord."
(Ps. xlii. 1.)
" As cold waters to a thirsty soul.
So is good news from a far country."
(Prov. XXV. 25.)
(2.) Th'i vhetai^lior, in which uo mark of comparison
appears, but the image is substituted for the object that
needs illustration ; —
" My soul ViiirstelU for God, for the living God."
(Ps. xlii. 2.)
" Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
And a ligUt unto my path." (Ps. cxix. 105.)
" Thou hast given me the shield, of Thy salvation."
(Ps. xviii. 35.)
The following examples of an imago, used both in the
way of simile and metaplior, show how the figures
differ:—
" Who whet their touarue Vi):c a sword,
And make ready their armour, even bitter words."
(Ps. Ixiv. 3.)
" Whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword." (Ps. Ivii. 4.)
" Swords are in their lips.'' (Ps. lis. 7.)
Or compare the words of our Lord—
1 See GilfiUan, Eardj of the BlbU, p. 19.
" 0 Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered
Thy children togethur, as a hen doth gather her brood
Under her wings, and ye would not !" (Luke siii. 34.)
with the Psalmist's expression of trust —
" And tlie children of men shall flee under the shadow of Thy
wings." (Ps. xxxvi. 7.)
Uuder one or other of these fall the other figures of
constant occurrence, fable, allegory, personification.
Similitudes are properly at home in epic or narrative
poetry. There they are frequently extended to a great
length, and elaborated into a complete picture b}' the
introduction of numerous details, which iu themselves
have no direct bearing ou the subject which the poet
wishes to illustrate. The following well-known beauti-
ful passage from the fii'st book of the Paradise Lost
will serve as an instance. To render his picture the
more distinct, the poet has followed one simile by
another, wliich, whUe it reflects the impression of the
first, adds to it a new and wonderfully vivid touch : —
" Nathless he so endured, till on the beach
Of that enflamed sea he stood, and called
His legions, angel forms, who lay entranced
Thick '■s autdmnal leaves that strorc the brooks
In ^ ., Jambrosa, where the Etrurian shades.
High overarch' d embower; or scattered sedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds-Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Ked Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry.
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating carcases
And broken chariot-wheels : sd thick bestrewu.
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change."
Of similes so elaborate and extended the Bible
aft'ords but few examples. Didiictic poetry offered the
most natui'al occasions for its use, and the prophets
employed it in their grand utterance of Jehovah's word.
The following, from Isa. Iv., is one of the longest
similes in the whole Bible : —
" For as the rain cometh down.
And the snow, from the heavens ;
And thither it doth not return;
But watereth the earth.
And maketh it bring forth and bud.
That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the e.iter ;
So shall the word be that goctli forth out of my mouth:
It shall not i-eturn unto me void,
But it shall accomiilish that which I jjlease.
And it shall prosper whereto I have sent it."
(Isa. Iv. 10, 11.)
Ps. cxxix. contains a somewhat more elaborate
example of simile than is usual iu short lyric pieces.
It depicts the exultation of an Oriental mind over a
defeated foe bj" an image drawn straight from
Oriental experience : —
" Let them be coufouuded and turn backward,
As many as have evil will at Siou ;
Let them bu even as the grass upou the housetops.
Which withereth afore it be grown ui) ;
Whereof the mower fiUeth not his hand.
Neither he that biudeth up the sheaves his bosom,
So that thej" who go by say not so much as,
' Jehovah prosper you ;
We wish you good luck in the name of Jehovah." "
But there is not in the whole range of literature an
image which for viA^d truth of representation and
power of illustration surjiasses a simile in the mouth of
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
183
Job. It is a life-like picture from the desert country
in wliicli the scene of the poem is laid, that land " ever
in extremes — now dried up as in a furnace, now swarm-
ing- with loud waters " — where man is a bondman to the
caprice of Nature, and knows not at any moment if a
blessing or a curse will fall upon him from the skies —
where the violence of hope is only equalled by the
intensity of disappointment and despair. Job is
hurling on the hollow friends, whose tender mercies
proved so cruel, all tlie fierceness of his wrath and con-
tempt, and thus he paints his sense of then- pretended
consolation : —
" To liim tliat is afflicted pity is due from his friends.
Even if he has abandoned the fear of the Almighty ;
My brethren have been deceitful as a torrent.
As the stream of a brook that passeth away;
Which is fierce and black with snow.
And choked with floating ice.
In the dry season it vanishes away.
And the first hot weather it has gone from sight.
To seek it the caravans turn aside from their jjath.
Enter the empty desert, and there die.
The trooijs of Tema were counting on it,
The companies of Seba placed their hopes on it ;
They were deceived in their hope,
They came thither and were confounded.
Thus you have deceived me — ■
At the sight of misfortune you have fled."
(Job vi. 14—21.)
But the most effective illustrations are generally
those which are conveyed by an image condensed into a
few quick words. They are like lightning-flashes which
light up the night with a momentary but vivid splen-
dour. Hebrew poetry abounds in these. They suit the
character of its verse, and the rapid movement of its
lyric dance. Often they foUow one another in quick
succession, brightening the crest of each new wave of
song with a new image. Such is the opening of
Moses' great song (Deut. xxxii. 1). The Psalmist's
appeal to Jehovah against his enemies is impetuous
with this rusli of images : —
" O my God, make them like unto the chafi',
And as the stubble before the wind,
Like as the fii-e that burnetii up the wood.
And as the flame that cousumeth the mountains.
Persecute them even with Thy tempest.
And make them afraid with Thy storm."
(Ps. Ixxsiii. 13 — 15.)
The following passage from Isaiah exhibits the rich<
ness and impetuosity of Hebrew poetry in its use of
the simile, aud ends with an instance of one finished
and complete : —
" Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of their glorious beauty !
To those that are at the head of the rich valley, that ars
stupefied with wine !
Behold the mighty one, the exceeding strong one !
Like a stormy hail, hke a destructive tempest ;
Like a rapid flood of mighty waters pouring down !
He shall dash thee to the ground with His hand.
They shall be trodden under foot.
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And the fading flower of their glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the rich valley.
Shall be as the early fruit before the summer,
Which whceo seeth he plucketh it immediately.
And it is no sooner in his hand than he swalloweth it."
(Isa. xxviii. 1—4, Lowth's Trans.)
The Hebrew poets employed metaphors even more
lavishly than simile. Their verse resembles towers of
precious stones, each gem an image. " The figures hurry
forth thick and intertangled, like sparks from the
furnace." In one breath David calls Jehovah his Rock,
Defence, Saviour, Redeemer, Shield, Horn, Fortress,
Refuge, and stiU unsatisfied, repeats the image, made
so real and living to him in his escapes among the
mountains — "Thou art my God and rock in whom I
trust." It seems as if, to quote an author already referred
to,i the thought of the Hebrew bard having come from
heaven, must incarnate itself in earthly similitudes, or
remain unuttered. Figures, in some cases a luxury, were
here a necessaiy of speech. And it will be seen, when
we examine the soui-ces from which Hebrew imagery was
derived, how the whole realm of Nature put itself in
subjection to the poet, so that he enriches Ms verse as
much by the variety of the images he employed as by
their profusion and number. But it remains fii-st to
speak of the more complex forms of conipai-ison into
which simile or metai^hor, or the union of both, grew,
afud which enter so largely into tiie poetic literaturt-
of the Hebrews.
1 Gilfillan.
aEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, E.E.
PALESTINE.
II.— THE JORDAN DISTEICT (continued).
iiOCEEDING westwards from the mouth
of the Jordan, we pass two small springs,
Ain Zany and Ain Aysheh, and after two
miles reach the ruins of Tell Hum
{Capernavm), pleasantly situated on the shores of the
lake. The most remarkable ruin is that of a Jewish
synagogue, aud round this, aud stretching up the gentle
slope behind it, are the remains of the ancient town,
covering a space of ground half a mile long, and one
quarter vsdde. The walls of many of the private houses
can be traced, and amongst them what appears to hav£
been a main street, leading towards Chorazin. The
synagogue, the walls of which are nearly level with tl- .
surface of thi^ ground, was built of hard white limestone,
almost mai-blii, and when perfect, its glittering walls,
standing out in sharp contrast to the black basaltic
rocks on which they were built, must liave been one of
the most conspicuous objects on the margin of the lake.
184
THE BrBLE EDUCATOR.
The original biiildiug, or synagogue proper, is seveuty-
four feet nine inches long, and fifty-six feet nine inches
wide, the longest dimension Ijeing north and south ; and
at the southern end there are three entrances. Exca-
vations made in the interior, for the Palestine Explora-
tion Fund, disclosed many of the pedestals of the
columns in their original position ; sevei*al capitals of
the Corinthian order were uncovered, and blocks of
stone, which had evidently rested on the columns and
supported wooden rafters. Outside the synagogue,
but connected with it, the walls of a later building were
brought to light, possibly those of the church which
Epiphauius says was built at Capernaum, and which
was described by Antoninus, 600 a.d., as a basilica
enclosing the house of Peter. If Tell Hiuu be, as we
believe, Capernaum, this is undoubtedly the synagogue
built by the Roman centurion (Luke vii. 4, 5), and one
of the most sacred places on earth. It was at Caper-
naum, His own city, that our Lord healed the centu-
rion's servant (Matt. \vi. 5) ; the mother of Peter's
wife (Mark i. 31), and the man sick of the palsy (Mark
ii. 3) ; and it was at the gate of the town that he
" healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and
cast out many devils" (Mark i. 34), in the presence "of
aU the city," who, as the sun was sinking below the
western hills, had " gathered together at the door," as
the people do stiU in many of the \Tllages of Palestine,
when the day's laboxir is over, to talk over the events of
the day and speculate on the morrow. At Caiiernaum
Matthew was called whilst sitting at the receipt of
custom (Matt. ix. 9), and Peter and Andrew had their
home ; in the synagogue itself our Lord pronounced
the well-known discourse in John vi.; and it is not
unworthy of notice that on the lintel of one of the
doors a representation of the pot of manna was found,
recalling the words, '" I am that bread of life. Tom*
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead."
The illustration (p. 185) represents a portion of the ruins
of the synagogue after the excavations ; on the nght
is all that is left of one of the side walls of the building,
and in the lower left-hand corner is the base of a
column, in situ, with a curious fragment resting upon
it, giving apparently a representation of the front of a
synagogue ; in the distance are some of the ruins of the
town, with a few trees scattered over the gently rising
grsund beyond. It may be of interest liere to give
some account of the general character of the Jewish
synagogues in Galilee, derived from an examination
of the existing remains. The buildings are always
rectangular, having the longest dimension in a nearly
north and south direction, and the interiors, Avith one
exception, are divided into five aisles by four rows of
columns. The Avails arc well and solidly built of native
limestone, no mortar being used in their construction ;
the exterior faces of the stones are well dressed, but
the backs are left rough, and were fonnerly covered
with plaster. The entrances are three in number, one
large doorway opening into the centime aisle, and a
smaller one on either side ; these doorways, except in
the synagogue at Irbid, are at the southern end, au
arrangement which oblige<l every Jew on entering to
turn liis back upon Jerusalem, contrary to the generally
received opinion that the worshippers as they entered,
and as they prayed, looked towards the holy city. The
entrances Avere closed by folding doors Avith socket
hinges, and in the synagogue at Kefr Birim, used as an
Arab house, the modem doors are hung In the old fittings.
s a
n Q
PLAN OF STNAGOGTTE AT TELL HUM (CAPERNAUM).
{From Quarterhj Statement of Palestine Exploration Fund.)
On the lintels OA^er the doors there is much variety of
ornament; in one case a representation of the seven-
branched candlestick was found, in another two lambs,
in others the pot of manna, vine-leaves Avith bunches
of grapes, &c., .and at two places there Avere inscriptions
in Hebrew. One synagogue, at Kefr Birim, has a porch
Avith a sunk court in front of the entrance, but this
arrangement appears to be unusual. The floors of the
synagogues are paved Avith slabs of white limestone ;
the columns are placed veiy close to each other, but it
is not easy to .say whether this arose from Avant of con-
structive skill, or from a desire to assimilate the build-
ings to something of the same kind in the Temple at
Jerusalem. There is one striking peculiarity found in
all the synagogues, and tliat is the form of the two
corner columns at the northern end, which always have
the two exterior faces square like pillars, and the tAvo
interior ones half-engaged columns. The style of archi-
tecture varies, some of the synagogues haA'C Corinthian,
some Ionic capitals, whilst others liaA"e a capital which
seeu'S to be of pure JcAvish growth. The columns
carried heavy blocks of stone Avhich received the rafters
of the roof; these latter were of large dimensions,
apparently for the purpose of supporting a flat roof
covered Avitli earth, the best possible protection against
the intense heat of the sun. Tlie sjTiagogue at Tell
Hum. of Avhich a plan is given, was better finished
than the others, and its ornamentation more jn'ofuse ;
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
185
EUIXS OF THE SYNAGOGUE AT TELL HUM (CAPEENAUM).
{From a Photograph taken for the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
on tlie exterior were pilasters, over whicli a heavy
cornice ran of wliich several fragments were found,
and the capitals were CoiTnthiau. Unfoi-timately, the
excavations gave no clue to the interior arrangements
of the iDuilding, the position of the ark, pulpit, women's
partition, &c.
Not far from the synagogue at Tell Hum is a build-
ing that forms rather a prominent object in the land-
scape, and which has been described by some travellers
as of ancient date ; it is. however, almost entirely built
with fragments of the older synagogue. North of the
town are two remarkable tombs, one below the surfacs
of the ground constructed with limestone blocks
brought from a distance, a work of great labour, as the
hard basaltic rock liad in the first instance to be cut
away ; the other, a large rectangular building above
gi'ound, intended for the reception of a number of
bodies; this tomb was whitewashed within and without,
and may be of the same class as that referred to by our
Lord in Matt, xxiii. 27, where he compares the Scribes
and Pharisees to " whited sepulchres," beautiful in out-
ward appearance, but mthiu " full of dead men's
186
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
boues : " a similar tomb may possibly have been tlie
homo of the demoniacs at Gergesa. The coast-line Avas
searched without success for any remains of an arti-
ficial harboui-, but Mr. Macgregor, in his canoe, was
more fortunate, finding clear indications of a pier at
one point, and at another a " line of big stones, forming
a sort of wall, twenty feet long and ten feet broad,"
possibly the remnants of an ancient quay ; along the
shore are several fish-traps made by tlie Bedawin,
consisting of enclosm*es, made with large stones, in
the shallow water, an opening being left for the fish
to enter; a few fish are caught each night in this
manner. Whilst at Tell Hum we had an opportunity
of watching the Bedawin fishing, and as their i^iets
are probably similar to those in use at the time of
the apostles, a description of them may be of some
interest : the first is the " casting net," somewhat in
the shape of a tent with a long cord, which is tied to
the arm of the fisherman, fastened to the top, and
pieces of lead round the bottom to make the net sink.
The fisherman, with nothing but a cloth wrapped round
his loins, wades into the water, and dii-ectly he sees a
fish casts his net so as to fall directly over it ; the cord
is then gently draAvn, enclosing the fi^h in the meshes
of the net. Another is the drag net or " wade,"
which is let down into the water and drawn to the
shore in a simihir manner to that prevailing on the
coasts of England; whilst a third is the "bag net,"
thrown out in deep water and drawn up into the fisher-
men's boats.
We may now give some of the reasons that induce
us to identify Tell Hum with Capernaum; the chief
authorities are Josephus, the Bible, and the accounts
of travellers who visited the country before the Cru-
sades. Josephus tells us that having been hurt by a
fall from his horse in a skirmish near the mouth of the
Jordan, he was carried to the village of Capharnome,
whence he was removed by boat to Taricheae, and it
seems natural to suppose that he would be taken to the
nearest town to the scene of the combat ; this, except-
ing Julias, whicli there may have been many reasons
for his avoiding, would be Tell Hum. Josephus also
mentions a fountain called Capharuaum, which irrigated
the plain of Gennesaret, and this we may almost
certainly identify, as will appear hereafter, with the
spi-ing at Et Tabigah, a mile and a half west of Tell
Hum. The passages in the Bible Ijeaiing on the
position of Capernaum do not throw much light on the
question ; in Matt. iv. 13, the town is said to be " on
the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabuloii and Neptha-
lim," but this does not help us. as the i)osition of the
boundary between tlie two tribes is not known, and the
word transkted "borders" would be better rendered
by " district ; " so, too, the expression " the way of the
sea" in Matt. iv. 15 appears to be used in a general
sense to indicate the district m which our Lord passed
a great portion of the last three years of liis life. We
also gather that Capernaum was in or near the district
of Gennesaret; that it had a synagogue l)uilt by a
Roman centurion, who probably had troops under him,
and that there was a customs' station at which dues
were collected. Some wiiters have inferred from Matt,
xi. 23, " And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto
heaven," that the town was built on a hill ; but the two
oldest known MSS. of the New Testament do not
support this view, as they both, give the following
reading : " And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exiilted
unto heaven? thou shalt be brought down to hell.'' In
the accounts given in the four Gospels of the feeding
of the 5,000, there arc several rudications which woidd
be of assistance if we coidd only determine the exact
scone of the miracle. It has generally been assumed
that the desert or unfrequented place was on the eastern
shore of the lake, but there seem good gi'ounds for
supposing that it was really near Ain Barideh, not far
from Tiberias; adopting this view, an examination of
the map will show that the du-ections given by our Lord
to his disciples as recorded by the three Evangelists — in
Matthew, to go before "to the other side ; " Mark, " to
go to the other side before unto Bethsaida ; " and in
John, to go " over the sea toward Capernaum " — ^present
no essential points of difference, for the expressions
might all faix-ly be applied to the course of a boat
from Ain Barideh to the mouth of the Jordan. St.
John tells us that a storm overtook the boat after they
had rowed twenty- five or thirty furlongs, or, according
to the other Gospels, in the midst of the sea; after the
storm Matthew and Mark state that they came " into
the land of Gennesaret ; " John, that " immediately
the ship was at the laud whither they went : " these
accounts may be reconciled by supposing that the force
of the storm, perhaps a northerly gale blowing down the
valley of the Jordan, turned the boat out of its course
and compelled them to land in the sheltered harbour at
Et Tabigah. Amongst the early travellers, Eusebius
and Jerome mention that tlie three cities were on the
shore of the lake, and Jerome adds that Chorazin was two
miles from Capernaum, which agrees with the respective
positions of the ruins at Tell Hum and Kerazch. Epi-
phanius states that a church was built at Capernaum,
and this was seen by Antoninus when he ^-isited the
place at the close of the sixth century. Arculf , a French
bisliop, who visited Palestine towards the end of the
seventh century, describes Capernaum as having no
walls, and lying on a narrow piece of gi'diiud between
the mountain and the lake ; and he adds, " On the shore
towards the east it extends a long way. having the
mountain on the north, and the water on the south,"
Avhich agrees with the position of Tell Hum. In con-
cluding these remarks, we may point out that the ruins
at Tell Hum are the most extensive and important on
the northern shores of the lake, and that if they be not
those of Caperaaum it is difficidt to say what they are ;
so also the remains of the synagogue, and of the later
building attached to it, are the only ones wliich answer
to what we miglit expect to find left of the synagogue
of Capernaum and the church mentioned Viy Epiphanius
and Antoninus. The argument that Tell Hum cannot
be Capernaum because there is no harbour there, has
no force when we take into consideration the fact that
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
187
there are at Tell Hum the ruins of a large town on the
shore of the lake without any trace of a regular harbour.
About two and a half miles north of Tell Hum, aucl
on the eastern side of a A-alley which falls into the lake
near it, are the ruins of Kerazeh (Chorazin). The
ruins, from the peculiar character of the masonry, can
barely be distinguished, at a distance of only one hun-
dred yards, from the black basaltic rock on which they
He ; they cover an area as large as those of Capernaum,
and are situated partly ui a shallow valley, partly on a
rocky spur formed by a sharp bend in the valley, which
at this point presents the featui-es of a ra^^ne eighty
feet deep. On this spur are the ruins of a synagogue,
which, though not so striking in ap^jearauce as that at
Tell Hum, must, from the laboui- expended upon it, have
been of considerable importance; the whole bmldiug
was of an extremely hard black basalt, yet the details of
the Coriuthian capitals, the lintels, and other ornament,
were rendered with great delicacy and beauty of finish.
From this poiat there is one of the most lovely and
extensive yiaws of the Sea of GalUee that can be obtained,
embracing its southern extremity, and the deep chasm
of the Jordan valley beyond. In the centre of the
town, which spreads over the shallow valley mentioned
above, is a fine tree that overshadows the tombs of
two Bedawi sheikhs and a spring of cool sweet water.
Towards the north are traces of the paved road that con-
nected Chorazin with the gi-eat route to Damascus which
crossed the Jordan at Jisr Benat Jakub, " the bridge of
Jacob's daughters." Amongst the most interestiag
remains at Kerazeh are those of the private dwelling-
houses, the walls of which are in some cases still six
feet high ; the houses are generally square, but vary
greatly in size, the largest examined beiug thirty feet
square ; the waUs are about two feet thick, sometimes
of masonry, sometimes of loose blocks of basalt ; on one
side there is a low doonray, and each house has windows
twelve inches high and six and a half inches wide. In
the interior are one or two columns to support the roof,
which, like those of the modern Arab houses, appears
to have been flat ; a few of the houses are di^"ided into
four separate chambers. The house in which our
Saviour dwelt at Capernaum may have been of this
description, as also the house in which the man sick of
the palsy was cured (Mark ii. 1 — 12) ; we read here
that not being able to reach Jesus, the bearers of the
sick man " uncovered the roof, and when they had
broken it up let down the bed wherein the sick of the
palsy lay," and this they would find no difficulty in doing
if the roofs were constructed in the same manner as
at present. The roof being not more than six or
seven feet above the ground, the bearers, by holding the
corners of the bed and stooping down, could easily lower
it to the floor, and the breaking up of the roof may be
explained by a short description of its probable con-
struction. In the modern houses beams of wood about
three feet apart stretch from wall to wall, and across
these poles or sticks are laid close together, over which
is spread a covering of earth, forming a good protec-
tion against the heat of the sun. In some cases the
woodwork of the roof is covered only by thick matting,
and in others, as in the so-called '" cities of Bashau,"
stone slabs are used. Either of these classes of roof
could be easily broken up, and this is, in fact, frequently
done at the present day, when the Arabs wish to let
grain or other articles down into their houses.
The notices bearing on the site of Chorazin are ex-
ceedingly slight : from the Bible we gather that it was
near Capernaum and Bethsaida; Jerome says that it
was two miles from Capemaiim, but adds that it was
on the shore of the lake. He does not, however, apj)ear
to have visited the place, and the expression need not
imply that it was at the water's edge; the distance
agrees with that of Kerazeh from Tell Hum, and the
ruins are visible from the lake. Willibald, a.d. 722,
tells us that after visiting Capernaum he went to
Bethsaida,' where he passed the night, and that on the
next morning he proceeded to Chorazin, where there was
'"a church of the Christians," whence he passed north-
wards to the sources of the Jordan. If Capernaum,
Bethsaida, and Chorazin were respectively at Tell
Hum, the mouth of the Jordan, and Kerazeh, he would
naturally visit them in the order mentioned, and then
continue his journey by the Roman road to the crossing
of the Jordan, there being no road up the valley of the
Jordan from its mouth. The principal evidence in
favoiu* of Kerazeh is, however, its name, which is iden-
tical with Chorazin, and the existence at that place of
extensive ruins, including those of an undoubted Jewish
synagogue. In conclusion, we may add that in no
passage of the Bible is it directly stated that either of
the three cities were in the land of Gennesaret, though
many commentators have assumed this to have been
the case.
188
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE MINEEALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. G. DEANE, D.SC, F.G.S., PKOFESSOB OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE, SPRING
HILL COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
II. METALS, MINING, AND METALLURGY.
sN a siugiilar and stvikiiig' passage of tlie
Peutateucli all the metals of the Bible,
\yith one exception, are named together.
The 31st chapter of Numbers gives an
account of the war of vengeance against the Midianites,
in which the Israelites destroyed great numbers of their
enemies and captured large quantities of spoil. Con-
cerning the spoil we read : " This is the ordinance of
the law which the Lord commanded Moses : Only the
gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the
lead, every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make
it go through the fire, and it shall be clean : neverthe-
less it shall be purified with the water of separation :
and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go
through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes
on the seventh day, and afterward ye shall come into
the camp " (vs. 21 — 24). With the single exception of
antimony, this passage gives the common names of all
the varieties of metals referred to in the Bible. It has
been thought by some that " the water of separation "
here named is really quicksilver or mercuiy, which is
used for the purification of the precious metals. But
this hypothesis is more ingenious than sound. There
is no e\'idence that the Oriental nations knew anything
of quicksilver. The Romans of Pliny's time imported
it from Spain, and also obtained it artificially from the
native sulphide, which likewise came from Spain ; but
there is not a trace of it in connection with the early
Egyptians, Assyrians, Arabians, or Persians. More-
over, the hypothesis that " the water of separation "
liere means quicksilver is entirely out of harmony with
the context. In consequence of yielding to the evil
counsels of Balaam, the Israelites had been smitten by
a loathsome disease through contact with the ueigh-
boiu'ing Moabites and Midianites. The plague was
stayed ; but the command went forth from Jehovah to
Moses, " Yex the Midianites and smite them" (xxv. 17).
The Midianites were vexed and smitten, and the spoils
of their camp were taken ; and then, lest the pestilence
should break out once more, " the Lord commanded
Moses " to take stringent and effective sanitary measures
to destroy the possibility of infection. Whatever can be
pm*ified by fire, let it be purified by fire ; whatever will
not stand the fire, let it pass through " the Avater of
separation." The 19th chapter gives a fuU account of
the prepai-ation of this " water of separation;" and the
reference in our passage undoubtedly is to sanitary
precautions, and not to metallic purity. The provisions
of the law of Moses made sanitary science a religious
duty; and this is only one instance out of many in
which the utmost care was taken against the dangers
of malignant disease. To explain this "water of separa-
tion" as the quicksilver which is used to sejiarate gold
and silver from mechanical impurities is absurd.
This jxassage is noticeable chicily as bringing together
all the metals in use at the time. The Midianites were
in all probability those enterprising Arabs who either
conducted the commerce between Phcenicia and the
lauds of the East, or on the other hand preyed as
robbers on the mercantile caravans ; and in either
case they might be expected to possess all the common
and well-known metals. The omission of antimony, as
a metal, from the list is easy to understand, because it
was not used by the ancients as a metal, but as a paint,
and as a means of personal adornment. The Hebrew
name is p uch, a word which denoted some sort of dye or
j)aint used in decorating the eyes and eyelids. Jezebel,
immediately before meeting her death at the command
of Jehu, is represented (2 Kings ix. 30) as putting " her
eyes in painting" (piich). So also Jeremiah (iv. 30) and
Ezckiel (xxiii. 40) use the word as a feminine adornment.
There is nothing in the mere text of the Hebrew to indi-
cate from what material this paint was made, but the
Septuagint, Syriac, and other versions agree in tracing
it to antimony or stibium. There is distinct evidence
both from Egj^t and from Assyria that the practice of
painting the eyelids, &c., was common in ancient times.
The practice is retained in the East to the present day.
Antimony, black oxide of manganese, preparations of
lead, and lampblack or soot are employed for the pur-
pose. Mr. Lane, in his Modern Efjyptlans, gives a
graphic account of the method of adornment, showing
that a small tapei-ing probe of wood, ivory, or silver,
smeared vdih. the paint, is squeezed between the eyelids
so as to tinge their edges. The result is to add much to
the brilliancy of the eye, and to increase the beauty of
the long black eyelashes, of which the Eastern ladies
appear to be proud. Sir J. G. Wilkinson states {Anc.
E(j7jpt. iii. 382) that many of the bottles or pots in
which this cosmetic Avas kept, together with the l)odkiu
used in its application, have been found in the Egy^itian
tombs ; and that figures with painted eyes appear on
the monuments. The third daughter of Job seems
to have received her name from one of these vessels,
Keren-haijpuch meaning literally "paint-horn" or "paint-
pot " — a curious name for a young lady, but one, we
are told, in strict accordance with the custom of the
Orientals, who force into prominence the materials of
personal adornment. May not the name rather mean
that she was so beautiful naturally as to be able to
dispense with these artificial aids, that her eye-lashes
and eye-brows were so exquisite that the paint-pot was
imnecessary ?
This use of antimony or piicli will serve to explain
two other passages in which the word occurs. Among
the treasures prepared hy DaA-id for the Temple, and
transmitted by him to his son Solomon, are " stones of
pikh," translated m our English version " glistering
THE MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
189
stones" (1 Chi'on. xxix. 2). And in Isaiah's grand
prophecy of the Church of the GentUes we find, " I
wiU lay thy stones with jyuch" (Isa. liv. 11) — in our
version, " with fair colours." The reference in both
these passages appears to be to some kind of ornamental
stone which, when set in its appropriate cement or
matrix, would present an appearance resembling the
brilliant eye surroimded by the lustrous eye-lash.
Passing now from this metallic cosmetic, we shall
proceed to consider in detail the metals above named,
and shall begin with the noblest of all.
GOLD.
Grold is refen-ed to in the Old Testament under six
different names, and four of these occur in Job xxviii.
15 — 17. To go fully into the etymology of these terms
would be unprofitable for the general reader, but their
diversity is interesting as showing the universal atten-
tion which gold must have received from the veiy
earliest times. Its yellow colom", its brilliant lustre,
imdimmed by moisture or rast, its weight, its many
useful properties, have caused it to be valued from the
most remote antiquity. Unlike most other metals, it
occurs in nature only in metallic foi-m ; and whilst this
fact forced it early into notice, its valuable qualities
made it highly prized. Its earliest and most common
name, zdhdb, is derived from its yellow colour ; pdz is
native gold as found naturally in the metalhc state ;
betser is the term applied to fragments of ore or the dust
of gold ; chdrutz, a name found generally in association
with silver, is regarded by RosenmiiEer and some He-
braists as indicating lustre or biilliancy, and by others
(perhaps with more probability) as implying "dug out; "
and the other two names, sdgur (treasm'ed) and Icethem
(concealed), have reference to the careful and jealous
guard with which precious substances are preserved.
Gold is named in Gen. ii. 11 as foimd in the land of
Havilah. In Palestine itself tliere is no indication
either of streams or valley deposits in which alluidal
gold might be found, nor of mines from which it
might be obtained in its original rocky matrix. The
Israelites must have obtained it by commerce. Sir J.
G. WUkinson, on the authority of Agatharchides and
other writers, maintains the existence of gold mines in
Egypt, and states that they have been discovex-ed by
M. Linant and Mr. Bonomi some distance to the south-
east of Assouan {Anc. Egypt, iii. 227). He also states
that " so diligent a search did the Egyptians establish
throughout the whole of the deserts east of the Nile,
that he never remembers to have seen a veiu of quartz
in any of the primitive ranges there which has not been
carefully examined by miners." The countries named
in the Bible ui connection with gold are Opliir (1 Kings
ix. 27, 28; X. 11; xxii. 48; 1 Chron. xxix. 4 ; Job xxii.
24 ; xxviii. 16 ; Ps. xlv. 9 ; Isa. xiii. 12) ; Sheba (1 Kings
X. 2, 10 ; Ps. Ixxii. 15 ; Isa. Ix. 6 ; Ezek. xx^-ii. 22) ;
Uphaz ( Jer. x. 9 ; Dan. x. 5) ; Parvaim (2 Chron. iii. 6) ;
and Raamah (Ezek. xxvii. 22). Into the almost num-
berless conjectures as to these localities we do not feel
it necessary to enter; but it may be stated in brief
that Ui^haz is believed to be another form of the name
Opliir, Raamah was most probably a town on the
Persian Gulf, and the locality of Parvaim is indeter-
minate. There can be little doubt that Sheba was a
district of Arabia, although some prefer to locate it in
Ethiopia or Abyssinia. Ophir has given rise to much
discussion, some placing it in Ai-abia, others in India,
and others again on the east coast of Africa. In this
controversy much stress has been laid upon the alleged
absence of gold or of any sign of gold mines in Arabia.
If, however, this fact were conclusive in excluding
Ophir from Arabia, by parity of reasoning it would
exclude Sheba likewise; but there is overwhelmingly
strong evidence that Sheba was in Arabia. There is,
moreover, evidence in writers of antiquity that iu
ancient times Arabia did yield gold ; and, whether its
own soil supplied it or not, there is distinct and con-
clusive proof that its inhabitants possessed it in abun-
dance. The commerce of the Hebrews, then, Ijrought
from the shores of the Red Sea and the Persian GuK
quantities of gold. Whether the so-called " ships of
Tarshish" — which appears to have been a title allied to
our terms " man-of-war," " Indiaman," &c., denoting a
particular description of ship — also journeyed to the
remoter districts of India and Eastern Africa, is com-
paratively unimportant to our present subject.
In the times of David and Solomon gold existed ia
enormous quantities among the Hebrews. The figures
given in the Old Testament appear almost fabulous.
From 1 Chron. xxii. 14 we learn that David had collected
together for the pui-pose of the Temple building a
hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand
thousand talents of silver; and from 1 Chron. xxix. 3
we learn that, over and above this enormous amount, he
contributed from his own possessions three thousand
talents of gold and seven thousand talents of silver;
whilst the people in addition offered, " for the service of
the house of God, five thousand talents and ten thou-
sand di-ams of gold, and of silver ten thousand talents "
(1 Chron. xxix. 7). From these data the total value of
the gold and silver has been calculated at nearly one
thousand mUfions sterling, a sum greater than our
national debt, and larger than the combined annual
expenditui-es of aU the Governments of Europe. How
far these numbers may pai'take of the uncertainty Avhich
hangs over many Hebrew numbers we have no means
of knowing ; but it is rather significant that Josephus,
who was not wont to undervalue anything pertaining
to the Hebrews, gives only ten thousand talents of gold
and a hundred thousand talents of silver {Ant. vii.,
c. 14, § 2). Even these numbers are enormous, and
lead one to wonder whence such vast quantities of gold
could have been obtained. David had conquered all
the tribes and kingdoms that were immediately around
Canaan — Sp-ians, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and
Amalekites. The spoils of these conquered nations
must have been large. Even in the time of Moses the
spoils taken from the Midiauites (to wliich reference
has before been made) enabled the officers and captains
of the people to bring to the Tabernacle, as a thank-
i9(r
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
offering to Jehovah, 16,750 shekels of gold (Xnmb. xxxi.
52). Gideon also obtained large spoils in gold from the
Midiauites ( Jiidg. Aaii, 26). And there can be little doubt
that vast booty fell to the armies of Da\-id in the various
campaigns. From Hadadezer, king of Zobab, golden
shields were captured (2 Sam. viii. 7) ; and the royal
cro^vn of the Ammonites of R;ibbah is described as
weighing a talent of gold (2 Sam. xii. 30), "spoU of
the city in great abundance" being also mentioned.
After the conquest of Hadadezer, Toi, king of Hamatli,
sent as presents to David vessels of silver, gold, and
brass (2 Sam. Aaii. 10). And thus, partly by conquest
and partly by tributary gifts, David amassed his trea-
sures. The reign of Solomon is full of evidence of
wealth in gold : Hiram, King of Tyi-e, sent him 120
talents ^1 Kings ix. 14), and the Queen of Sheba
presented a like amount (1 Kings x. 10 ; 2 Chron. ix. 9).
All these facts conclusively show the abundance of
gold at that time, so much that Solomon is stated to
have made silver and gold at Jerusalem as stones
(2 Chron. i. 15), and all his drinking vessels and vessels
of his house were of gold, for " silver was nothing
accoimted of in the days of Solomon " (1 Kings x. 21).
This golden magnificence of the times of building the
Temple dwai'fs the previous narrative of the Tabernacle
woi'k, and renders insignificant the splendour of the
second Temple, that of Zerubbabel. The glory was
departed. And yet said Jehovah, " The silver is mine,
and the gold is mine. The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than of the foi-mer : in tliis. place ^vill
I give peace" (Haggai ii. 8, 9). The splendours of
Herod's Temple are attested by contemporaiy wiiters,
but even its magnificence did not fulfil this prophecy
until the Lord of aU gloiy made known in the Temple
courts His gospel of " peace on earth, good-will to
men."
Gold appears to have been used chiefly for personal
ornaments, and for furuitiu*e and decorations. Chains,
bracelets, earrings, rings, nose-rings, and necklaces are
all mentioned (Exod. xxxv. 22 ; Numb. xxxi. 50 ; Gen.
xxiv. 22 ; xli. 42, &c.). It was extensively used for
purposes of architectural decoration, and for household
ornaments and vessels (1 Kings vi. 22 ; x. 21 ; Esth. i. 7 ;
Dan. V. 2, 3, &c.). It rendered brilliant the tlu*one of
Solomon and his marriage palanquin (1 Kiuo-s x. 18 ;
Cant. iii. 10), and the beds or couches of the Persian
king (Esth. i. 6). For images of idolatrous worship also
was it used : the golden calf of Aaron and the Israelites,
the two calves of Jeroboam, and the gigantic image of
Nebuchadnezzar (Exod. xxxii 4; 1 Kings xii. 28;
Dan. iii. 1).
Although so higlily valued for these several purposes,
gold did not form the common medium of exchange and
commerce. The first Bibli«il reference to it for this
purpose is in the purchase by David of the threshing-
floor of Oman the Jebusite (1 Chron. x.xi. 25); Sir J.
G. Wilkinson states that the money of the Egyptians
was in rings of gold and silver, which were carefully
weighed in matters of purchase. Tlie practice of the
Israelites was doubtless similar, as we find constant
references to the loeighing of money. The same prac-
tice obtains in many scmi-ci\'ilised nations now-a-days,
and in large money transactions also in ci\alised lands.
In the island of Madagascar the Spanish dollar is cut iip
into pieces, and these fragments weighed out in a small
pair of scales which the dealers cany vrith them. The
payment of the first instalment of the indemnity by the
Ashantee king affords a striking illustration of these
primitive customs — the siioils of warfare on the one
hand, and the weighing of the medium of exchange on
the other. The graphic account of the Daily News
correspondent throws us back into the times of the
" spoiling " of the Midiauites and the purchases of
Da\-id : —
" It was in a tnily picturesque situation, under the
shade of a mess-hut and adjoining one which is the
General's, that the gold, which was the sign patent to
all men of the submission of the Ashantee king, was
paid over and weighed. The Government gold-taker
had been brought up from Cape Coast to be ready for
any emergency of the kind. He sat on one side re-
ceiving the precious metal ; on the opposite sat some
six or seven of the Ashantees, round a large white
cloth of native manufactm-e, filled with gold plates and
figures, nuggets, bracelets, knobs, masks, bells, jaw-
bones and fragments of skulls, plaques, bosses — all of
the metal as pure as it can be, and of an endless variety
of shape and size. All, or almost all, of these have
thi-ough them a fine hole for threading to form neck-
laces or armlets. Besides these, door ornaments and
golden nails were tllro^v^l in, and a number of odds and
ends that must have been wrenched off in the hurry of
escape from the palace, and which now added quaint-
ness to the rich handfuls that were poured into the
balance. A few officers were standing round under the
mess-roof watching the process."
SILVER.
Silver is not mentioned earlier than Gen. xiii. 2,
where it is said that " Abram was very rich in cattle, in
silver, and in gold." Like gold it became exceedingly
abundant in the times of David and Solomon. The
sources whence it came were Ai-abia and Tarshish
(2 Chrou. ix. 14, 21 ; 1 Kings x. 22 ; Jer. x. 9 ; Ezek.
xxA-ii. 12). Strabo states that silver mines occurred
in Spain, and that Tartessus was the name of a river
near them, and also of the town built at its mouth.
The Romans obtained large quantities of silver from
Spain, and within the last fifty years the silver pro-
duce of that country has rovi\-ed again. Tlie uses to
which silver was put were similar to those of gold. It
formed the material of ornaments, dishes, basins, camUe-
sticks, and other domestic vessels and implements,
architectural decorations, and images for idolatrous
worship. Demetrius, the craftsman of Ephesus, was a
maker of silver shrines for Diana (Acts xix. 24), when,
fearing the failure of his trade through the success of
the Gospel preaching, he roused up the superstition of
his fellow- citizens to oppose and injiire the Apostle
Paul. In Prov. xxv. 11 is a reference to gold and silver
THE MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
191
which iu our English version appears meaningless : " A
word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of
silver." Some pi'opose to give this phrase a meaning
to us by rendering " like pictures of gold in frames of
silver ; " and others regard it as referring to a golden
ornament edged or '' picked out " with silver work.
The Hebrew word rendered " apple " (tappfiach) is
derived from a root implying odom* or fragrance, and
is applied to the apple, citron, and other fragrant fruits ;
the word rendered '' picture " {masklth) is connected
by some with a root meaning " to look at," " to behold,"
and by others with another root meaning "to plait," "to
weave." The former leads to the meaning " pictui*e,"
"a thing looked at;" the latter to the meaning "basket"
or " vessel," " a thing pla,ited or woven." There is
great absence of e^ddence as to whether the Orientals
were as fond of pictures of fruit as some of our modern
painters ; but it is tolerably clear that they were ex-
tremely fond of well-trimmed proverbs and well-set
sayings, and words spoken at suitable times. The
grace of fitly-spoken speech equals the elegance of tlie
golden fruit in the silver basket. A word suitably
spoken at a fitting time combines the fragi-ance and
rich colour of the fruit with the preciousness and
elegance of its setting.
Silver appears to have been the usual medium of
exchange. The only reference to gold for this purpose
is the transaction of Daidd before mentioned. Even
so late as Jeremiah (ch. xxxii. 9, 10) there was no coined
money, and the silver was weighed. After the return
from Babylon we find Ezra (ch. viii. 24 — 28) weighing
out the precious metals. (See also Neli. vii. 70.) In
these passages, however, the words adarhun, darkemon,
rendered in our version " di*am," are regarded as equiva-
lent to the daric, a Persian gold coin, with which
the Jews had become acquainted dui'ing their captivity.
In later years Antiochus, king of Syria, gave permis-
sion to Simon Maccabseus to "coin money for his
country with his own stamp" (1 Mace. xv. 6); and
coins of the Maccabeean period are still extant. Pliny
states that the Romans had only copper money imtil
the third century before Christ {Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 3, 13).
The Egyptians, as we have seen, used gold and silver
rings by weight as money ; and iu the investigation at
Nineveh and Babylon no coins have been found, but on
the other hand distinct evidence of money by weight.
The Hebrew word for silver, keseph, is the word com-
monly used for money; indicating clearly that, as in
many modern Oriental nations, silver was the criterion
of value and the medium of exchange.
COPPER, BRASS, BRONZE, TIN.
It will be convenient to consider these together.
Copper and tin, as is well known, are distinct metals ;
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and bronze an
alloy of copper and tin.
The nations of antiqiiity appear to have been ignorant
of zinc as a distinct metal. Until the time of Para-
celsus (sixteenth century, A.D.) it was not known in a
metallic fonn. There is indeed a passage of Strabo
which indicates differently, and to this we shall refer
below. The chief ores of zinc are calamine, or the
carbonate, and blende, or the sulphide, from which it
is obtained by a somewhat complicated metallurgic
process. Whether the alloy of zinc and copper, which
we call brass, was known in ancient times is also
doubtful. Bronze vessels and implements in abund-
ance have been found amidst the ruins and debris of
ancient cities, and in the tombs and places of bmnal
of ancient times ; but brass is wanting, and the pre-
sumption therefore is that brass was unknown. It is,
of course, quite possible, as Beckmann maintains {Hist,
of Inventions, vol. ii., p. 33, Bohn's translation), that
brass was accidentaUy discovered by the fusing of cala,-
mine in connection with copper ores. One of the
modern methods of its manufactui-e is to fuse copper
under a mixture of calamine and charcoal. The account
given by Pliny of what he calls cadinia renders it
highly probable that one variety of the substance so
called was certainly calamine. And it is not by any
means impossible that the ancient smelter may have
accidentaUy fabricated a sort of brass from the presence
of zinc ore in his materials. If this did happen, the
resulting alloy would differ from bronze in having a
yellower colour and a higher lustre ; and would doubt-
less be more highly prized, partly for these qualities
and partly for its rarity. This contingency or possi-
bility deserves notice in connection with the Biblical
tnetals, on account of the statements in Ezra viii. 27 ;
Ezek. i. 4, 7, 27 ; viii. 2 ; and Rev. i. 15 ; ii. 18. Ezra
speaks of two vessels of " fine copper precious as gold,"
or as Rosenmilller renders, "of copper shining like gold,
and precious as gold." " Bright brass " also is mentioned
in 1 Kings vii. 45, and " polished brass " in Dan. x. 6.
These terms manifestly imply some difference from the
metal usually styled nechosheth, and it has been sug-
gested that they refer to the metal called by the Romans
orichahum or aurichalciim. Of this Pliny states there
were two kinds — natural and artificial. The former
was extinct in Pliny's time ; Servius describes it as
having the lustre of gold and the hardness of copper.
Rosemuiiller quotes from Aristotle that a metal of this
description was found in India, and that among the
treasures of Darius were vessels made thereof, distin-
guishable from gold only by the smell which is peculiar
to brass. And he proceeds to identify this metal with
one referred to by Chardin as found in Sumatra and
the Macassar Islands, having a pale rose-red colour
betwixt copper and gold, of a fine grain, and susceptible
of a beautiful polish. The pale rose-red colour and
metallic lustre here lead a mineralogist to think of the
so-called copper nickel — a mixture of nickel and arsenic
— but the other characters are not fully in accord with
this idea.
The artificial orichalcum of the Romans has given
rise to much discussion. The term evidently included
a number of different alloys. The so-called Corinthian
brass is stated by Pliny to have been made out of gold,
silver, and copper, differing iu colour according to the
proportions of the different metals ; and other alloys
192
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
named by him are clearly brouzo. It is, however, pro-
bable, as maintained by Roseumiiller and Beekmann,
that some of these alloys were really brass. The
passage in Strabo to which reference has been made is
very striking (xiii., p. 610) : " There is a certain stone
which becomes iron when burnt ; being then melted
with a certain earth it distils false-silver {\l/evSdpyvpos),
and this with copper becomes an alloy (/cpSyua), which
some call opet'xaA/cor." If this is not a reference to zinc
and brass, it is difficult to see what is meant.
Tlie chashmal of Ezekiel (i. 4, 27 ; viii. 2) evidently
con'esponds to the x°^''''A.tj3ai'oi/ of the Apocalypse
(ch. i. 15 ; ii. 18). The writer of the latter had in
mind the imagery of the former. The word is trans-
lated in om* version " amber," which is obviously incor-
rect. Some have identified it with the electrum of the
classical nations, an alloy consisting of four parts gold
and one silver. The gold of Lydia, which was pale
because alloyed with silver, is called by Sophocles
[Antiq. 1038) vAeKTpov. And much of the Egyjitian
gold in like manner was pale on account of the presence
of silver, and the inability of the ancient metal-workers
to remove it. The description of Ezekiel, however,
demands not a pa?e-coloured gold alloy, but a I'ich, deep,
fiery colour. Bochart has suggested that the etymo-
logy of the Hebrew name implies the union of copper
and gold; and although this derivation is rather fanciful,
such an alloy would accord Ijetter with the poetic
imagery of the passage than the paler-coloured electrum.
Gesenius makes the word chashmal equivalent to the
" smooth or polished brass " {nechusheth kdldl) of Ezek.
i. 7 ; Dan. x. 6. There may, of course, in the same
passage be two different words applied to the same
thing, just as in the passage of Job before alluded to
we find gold mentioned under four different names.
It must, we think, ])c left indeterminate whether or
not two distinct metallic alloys are here referred to.
If there are two, one would be allied to the fyropus
of the Romans, and the other in all probability a kind
of brass. For, notwithstanding the absence of relics
from antiquity containing zinc, it seems most likely that
an accidental admixture of calamine with the materials
of ancient metallurgy led to the production of a metal
allied to brass, which was highly prized on account of
its rarity, brilliance, and lustre, and that this metal is
referred to in the passages of the Bible above named.
Turning now from these somewhat speculative and
indeterminate questions, there can be no doubt that
copper and tin were known to the Israelites, and that
in the great majority of the passages where the word
nechusheth occurs (translated in our version " brass ")
the metal referred to is bronze. Like the corresponding
words in Greek and Latin, the Hebrew term appears to
have been applied indifferently to native or pure copper,
and also to its alloys. It is evident from Dent. A-iii. 9,
and Job xxviii. 2, that copper was a native product of
Palestine. The island of Cypras also yielded it in
abundance. For purposes of the arts and manufactures
it was, in almost all cases, alloyed with tin. This alloy,
Ijronzc, possesses properties of special value for such
purposes. It is much harder and much more fusible
than copper alone ; and besides this, according to the
method of cooling employed, it can be made hard and
elastic, or softer and malleable. Mr. Layard in his
Srccond volume gives, on the authority of Dr. Percy,
analyses of ancient lironze from Assyria, showing the
proportion of tin to bo from ten to fourteen per cent. ;
and other analyses of ancietit bronzes present a like
composition.
A question of much interest arises as to whence camo
the tin used for this pui-pose in ancient times. The
only modern localities are Cornwall and Brittany;
Bohemia, Saxony, and Silesia; Spain, Portugal, and
the South of France ; Russia and Sweden ; North and
South America ; Australia, and some districts bordering
on the now notorious Straits of Malacca. Taking into
account on the one hand the abundance or scarcity in
which it occurs in these several districts, and on the
other the probabilities of ancient mercantile enterprise,
there can be little doubt that the tin of antiquity must
have come either from Spain, or Cornwall, or the Straits
of Malacca. And one instinctively turns to the com-
merce of Phoenicia and to the ever-recurring Tarshish
(Ezek. xxvii. 12) as the medium of tin supply in ancient
times. Some have maintained that the supply of tin
to Egypt came from the East ; but the great probability
is not that the East supplied Egypt, but that Egypt
supplied the East, and that the chief source of this
metal in antiquity was through Phoenician commerce,
from Spain, and from a disti-ict beyond Spain. The
testimony of Strabo and Diodorus Siculus shows that
this last-named district was Britain, and therefore it is
highly ])robable that the tin contained in the bronzes now
in the British Museum left these .shores centuries ago.
A metal scrriceable for so many purposes as bronze
found abundant use in armour and weapons, for vessels
of the Temple, and for various domestic purposes, for
chains and fetters, for pillars, and for ornaments. The
" bow of steel," in Job xx. 24 ; Ps. xviii. 34, should be
rendered "bow of copj)er" (or bronze), and doubtless
refers to some suitable alloy of copper combining flexi-
bility with strength. Tlie cutting implements of Egypt
were for the most part of bi-onze, as Sir J. G. Wilkinson
(iii., p. 2.50, &.C.) has shown. The use of emery powder
would render sucli implements effective even in sculp-
turing hard rocks ; just as in our own day, by the use
of fine sand, veiT hard rocks may be ssivru by means of
a comparatively soft saw ; or as, by the aid of diamond
dust or emery, extremely hard minerals may he cut
and polished by the lapidary's wheel. The principle
in all these cases is the same : the minute fragments of
the very hard material become imbedded in the metal
edge of the weapon, and give it a cutting power which
would otherwise l)e unattainable.
In addition to these uses, we learn from Exod. xxxviii.
8 (see also Job xxxvii. 18) that the })ronzo laver of the
Tabernacle and its base were made out of the mirrors
of the women of the Israelites. Michaelis ' and Biihr
1 Michaelis, in his later works, retracted this opinion.
ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MARK.
193
explain this passage as signifying that the mirrors were
fixed on the laver to remind the priests before entering
the Tabernacle of the duty of self-examination. Can
this be the reason why some persons now-a-days, on
taking their seats in a place of worship, are very
assiduous in consulting the crowns of their hats and
other places where minute mirrors are curiously ar-
ranged ? It certainly is curious that Moses should
have employed the mirrors of the ladies in order to
manufacture the bronze laver of the Tabernacle. Sir
J. Gr. Wilkinson says that the ancient bronze mirrors
of the Egyptians were susceptible of a high lustre.
Indeed, the metal used for the mirrors of telescopes is
simply a bronze containing a high per-centage of tin.
Bronze also was most probably the material of the
brazen serpent of Moses (Numb. xxi. 9), which was
preserved till the days of Hezekiah, and was then
destroyed because it had become the object of idolatrous
worship (2 Kings xviii. 4). In Nebuchadnezzar's vision,
related in Dan. ii. 32, the warlike character of the
Macedonian empire is represented by the portion of the
imago made of bronze, whilst the next part, made of
iron, typified the Roman empire. It is a singular com-
mentary on this vision that the Macedonian age was an
age of bronze weapons, but that with the Roman power
came a more general use of iron for warlike purposes.
The Hebrew word nechusheth is also used in some
passages of the Old Testament (Lev. xxvi. 19 ; Deut.
xxviii. 23 ; Job vi. 12 ; Jer. vi. 28 ; xv. 20 ; Isa. xlviii. 4 ;
Ezek. xxii. 18, &c.) in a metaphorical sense as indicating
either strength, or obstinacy, or insensibility, or base-
ness, or fixedness. Perhaps Alexander, the coj)per-
smith of Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 14), had gained either
from the reflex influence of his handicraft, or from
a study of these metaphorical passages, those qualities
which he manifested in his opposition to St. Paul.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
BY THE REV. EUSTACE R. CONDER, M.A.
THE GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MAEK.
F the writer of the first Gospel nothing
is known beyond the brief notices in
his own narrative and the parallel pas-
sages, with the mention (Acts i. 13) of
his presence in the company of apostles and believers
after the Ascension. If tradition adds anything, it is
in the slender hints preserved by Eusebius {Eccl. Hist.
V. 18 ; iii. 24), that all the apostles continued at Jeru-
salem for twelve years, and that Matthew wrote his
Gospel when about to leave Palestine for missionary
work elsewhere. No great weight attaches to these
statements, and none at all to the fuller traditions of
later times. The same, or nearly the same, is the case
with the other New Testament ^Vl•iters, as though God
designed the Scriptures to shine by their own light, not
ynth lustre reflected from the lives of their authors.^
This remarkable fact in no way diminishes the force of
that iiniversal uncontradicted testimony on which we
receive the New Testament books as the genuine work
of the writers whose names they bear. (See p. 145.)
Levi, or Matthew, was a Galilsean Jew, of Capernaum.
His first name may suggest that he was by birth a
Levite. He held the unpopular office of a toll-collector,
and was busy in his vocation (probably receiving toUs
or dues at one of the lauding places from the Lake),
when one gentle but mighty word of Christ severed
hmi for ever from his old life, and called him to an
employment whose results were to endure through all
time.
" At once lie rose, and left bis gold ;
His treasure and his heart transferred."
We need not, however, imagine the call to have been
1 " When the sacred narrative terminates, we find ourselves
without an historical guide— like a traveller who, on passing out
of a walled city, enters upon a desolate and pathless waste."
(Lit. Hist, of New Testament, by Josiah Conder.) The chief excep-
tion is in the case of James the Just.
61 VOL. IIT.
as sudden in reality as in appearance. We may well
question whether He who " knew what was in man "
would have addressed such a call to one in whose heart
and history He discerned no preparation. The first
disciples of Jesus, fishermen of the Lake and natives
of the neighbouring town of Bethsaida, could scarcely
have been unknown to the Capernaum toll- gatherer.
Capernaum was the home, at this time, so far as He
could be said to have one, of the Lord Jesus (Matt. iv.
13) ; doubtless the abode of his mother. From it He
went forth to preach and teach in the adjacent towns
and villages, and to it, from time to time, He returned.
His ministry had now lasted, it is probable, nearly a
year; and the whole country was ringing with the
fame of His doctrine and of His miracles. Matthew
must therefore be supposed to have often seen and
heard Jesus. Not improbably he may have been one
of the multitude in whose hearing the Sermon on the
Mount was delivered ; and, accustomed as He was to
the use of the pen, he may even have committed what
he heard to writing — the germ of his Gospel.
The Latin term " publican " (with the corresponding
Greek term), in strict propriety signified a contractor
or farmer- general of the revenue, who undertook the
collection of the public taxes; but it was popularly
transferred to the underlings who were engaged in the
actual work of receiving the money. The detestation
with which this class of persons was regarded is not
to be laid at the door of the Roman government. It
was the growth of centuries. Corrupt and tyrannical
as some of the Roman provincial governors were, their
rule may be called just and mild compared with the
ruthless violence and extortion to which the Jews had
been subject under the kings of Syria and Egypt, and
under Herod the Great. Hence, the delegates sent to
Rome to denounce Archelaus, petitioned that all kingly
194
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
rule might be abolished, and tlieir coiiutry placed under
Roman administration. Matthew must have been in
the ser\'ico not of the Empire, bnt of Herod Antipas,
tetrarch of Galilee.
Unnecessavj' difficulty lias been found in the double
name of this evangelist. It is not a case like that of
John Mark, or " Saul who also is called Paul;" where
one name is Jewish, the other Gentile ; nor yet of a
special surname, like Cephas or Barnabas. Matthew
(in Greek Matthaios, Latin Mnttlimus) is a Hebrew
name, as well as Le^-i, standing for Matthai, an abbre-
viation of Mafthaniah, which (like Theodore) means
" God's gift." The case is exactly like that of another
apostle, Judas (Jude), who had two other Hebrew
names, Thaddseus and Lebbaeus. . The conjecture that
Levi adopted the name Matthew on becoming a disciple
of Christ, seems to contradict his own account (chap,
ix. 9). There is no reason for identifying his father
with AlpliEeus the father of James the Less.
Converted profligates have sometimes become great
lights in the Church; but this is the exception,
not the rule. We are not justified in inferring that
Matthew was an example from his woi'ldly occuj)ation.
It was a lawful and useful business, though in iU
repute. Men carefid of tlieir reputation, or sensitive to
the good- will of theii" neighbours, would as a rule avoid
it ; men who had no character to lose would be attracted
by it. It had become a proverb of contempt, at least
on the lips of Pharisees. But, as all Pharisees were
not hypocrites (far from it), so all publicans may not
have been " sinners," i.e., immoral and ungodly. Vir-
tuous and even godly men may have been among their
number ; and to such a one unspeakably welcome would
be the call which bade him drop his sordid (though
perhaps gainful) toil, and follow Jesus whithersoerer
He went.
A venerable but perplexing tradition records that St.
Matthew's Gospel was originally written not in Greek,
but in Hebrew : that is to say, not the ancient Hebrew
of the Old Testament Scriptures, but the vernacular
language of the Jews of Palestine in our Lord's time,
in which we find the Apostle Paul addressing the angiy
mob in the Temple (Actsxxi. 40; xxii. 2); and in which
it is likely that our Saviour's public discourses were
princiiially, if not exclusively, delivered. The earliest
and most important Avituess fen* this fact is Papias,
bishop of the Church at Hierapolis, in Phrygia, in
the early part of the second century ; a man of no
eminent ability, but who had made it his business to
collect whiit fragments of knowledge he could from
those who had conversed with the apostles or other
disciples of the Lord. " Matthew (he says) composed
the oracles " — by which he seems plainly to mean " his
Gospel " — " in the Hebrew language ; and each person in-
terpreted as best he could." Eusebius, who has preserved
this testimony, agrees with other early Christian writers
in referring to this as the generally accepted belief.'
1 Hist. Ecd. iii. 39. All the important passages of early writers
ou this point are fully piven in Dr. Davidson's Initoil. (o Xex
Tcdanient. The Hebrew Gospel which Jerome found aud traus-
On the other hand, the Greek Gospel of Matthew, as
we have it, bears no inward token of l^eing a transla-
tion, but the contraiy; and was universally diffused
and accepted as the apostle's composition among the
primitive Christian Ohurches. Perhaps, as in many
other cases, learned controversy has created the difficulty
which it has vainly toiled to solve. The simplest expla-
nation may be the best. The spoken language of
Judsea and Galilee — spoken at Jerusalem with exact
culture, in Galilee with many provincial mispronun-
ciations (Mark xiv. 70) — was Chaldee, a language in
substance one with the ancient Hebrew, which since
the Captivity it had gradually supplanted. Parts of
the books of Daniel aud Ezra are in this tongue. As
spoken in Palestine, it is often called " Syi'o-Chaldee,"
and likewise "Aramaean," a term including lioth Chaldee
and Syriac. Ingenious attempts have been made to
Ijrove that our Lord's discourses were spoken in Greek,
at that time a sort of universal language in the Levant
and neighbouring countries. That He may have em-
ployed the Greek language among the Greek- speaking
population beyond Jordan, is possible enough ; but that
He would speak to his fellow-countrymen of Judsea and
Galilee in their native tongue is as certain as that a
Welsh pi-eacher would preach in Welsh to a Welsh-
speaking audience, even though he and they might have
learned English. If, therefore, Matthew made notes of
our Lord's discourses as he heard them, or during those
early years in which the Christian Church was composed
of Jewish believers, these notes would naturally be " in
the Hebrew tongue." Copies of such notes, combined
with memoranda from other sources in the same lan-
guage, would account for all that we read about " the
Gospel according to the Hebrews." Equally natiu-al
was it, that when the Evangelist set himself to com-
pose a narrative for wider cu-culatiou and more perma-
nent use. he should adopt, like the other New Testament
writers, the Greek language. Josephus did precisely
the same thing with his book of the Wars of the Jevjs.
The distinctive character of the fii-st Gospel is strongly
marked. It is, in the best sense, intensely Jewish. It
is the portrait of the Messiah, mirrored in the mmd of
one who was none the less a true Israelite because he
was traiued in no Rabbinical college, but taken from the
common people and from a despised calling. It bears
on every page the impress of the command to preach
Christ, '■ beginning at Jenisalem " — " to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. " It has been called. " emphati-
cally, the Gospel of the kingdom;"- perhaps wo may
yet more fitly say, " the Gospel of the King." From
the royal genealogy, and the account of how Jerusalem
was moved and the usurper made to tremble on his
throne by the announcement of One " bom king of the
late:l fabout a.d. 400), and that spoken of as existing among the
sects of the Nazarenes aud Ebionites, were evidently so untrust-
worthy that they prove no more thiiu this, that a Hebrew Gospel,
sui^posfd by many to be St. Matthew's, existed fi-om a very
early date. Eminent scholars have given their opinions very
decidedly on both sides.
- In the admirable article on this Gospel in the Cyclop, of Bibl.
Lilerature, vol. iii., by the Rev. E. Venables.
ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MARK.
195
Jews ; " to tlie pages wliicli tell Low it was said to Sion,
•■ Behold, thy Kiug cometh," how Jesus spoke of him-
self in the Temiile, as " the King" who shall " sit iTpon
the throne of His glory," and how the very title on
the cross announced " Jesus, the King of the Jews;"
tlie regal character and authority of Jesus, as the long-
expected Messiah, are ever present to the thought
of the Evangelist. His mind teems with the words of
Old Testament Scrij)ture, wliose pages gi-ow luminous
as they reflect the glory of Jesus. He quotes the
Scripture above forty times ; or, coimting indirect
citations, above fifty times. Yet we find in aU this no
tinge of Jewish narrowness and contempt for the
Gentile world. Gentile strangers from the far East
announce to the Jewish Sanhedrim the birth of their
King. A Roman soldier and a Canaauitish woman win
the highest praise for faith not found in Israel. " All
nations " are seen gathered before the King for judg-
ment, no place being reserved for the favoiu'ed people ;
and the declaration that '-all power in heaven and
earth " is in the hands of Jesus, is coupled with tlie
command to " make disciples of all nations."
This Gospel is also remarkable for its full revelation
of the fatherly character of God. " In St. Mark we
find our Lord speaking of or to God as His Father
three times, in St. Luke twelve times, in St. Matthew
twenty-two times ; as the Father of His people, in St.
Mark twice, in St. Luke five times, in St. Matthew
twenty-two times."
St. Matthew's narrative is auiaziugly condensed,
carrying to the highest pitch that grandeur of sim-
plicity and brevity which is among the most wonderfid
cliaracteristics of the Gospels — indeed, of the Bible.
He does not aim at chronological order, except in the
main outline ; but presents events in gi-oups or masses,
linked by an inner unity of pui-pose, and gathering
themselves around the discoiirses of Christ. He is
(as has been before noted) more the reporter than the
narrator, and often gives our Saviour's words more
fuUy than parallel passag-es in the other Gospels. The
discourses of Christ are to the narrative what the
mountain- chains of a couutiy are to its basins and
shores. St. Matthew realises our Lord's description
(chap. xiii. 52) of " a scribe instructed imto the king-
dom of heaven."^
If the conjecture suggested in treating of the
Gospels generally (j)age 145) be valid, the first and
second Gospels are as closely connected in reality as
they undoubtedly are in appearance. We have no reason
to doubt (though we are not able positively to prove)
the correctness of the general belief which identifies
Mark the Evangelist witli John surnamed Mark,
nephew to Barnabas, repeatedly referred to in the Acts
and Epistles. Early tradition — of which Papias is again
the mouthpiece for us — very decidedly connects his
Gospel with the preaching of the Apostle Peter. The
words of Paj)ias (who is recording what he had heard
from John the Presbjrter) are these : — " Mark, acting
' For an instructive parallel between St. Matthew and St.
Jumes, see Vol. I. of this work, p. 325.
as Peter's interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in
set order, all that he remembered of the sayings and
doings of Christ. For he was not an actual hearer or
follower of the Lord; but subsequently, as I said, of
Peter, who was wont to make his teaching suit the
occasion, not as furnishing a regular narrative of the
Lord's sayings. Mark, therefore, committed no error
in writing such particulars as he rememliered. For he
made it his one object to omit nothing of what he
heard, and to misstate nothing. "-
Irenajus (^Bishop of the Clim-ch at Lyons, about a.d.
180) adds this statement : — " Matthew published his
written Gospel while Peter and Paul were in Rome,
preaching the Gospel and founding the Chm-ch. After
their decease, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of
Peter, himself likewise delivered to us in writing
what Peter was wont to preach." The A'alue of this
testimony is somewhat damaged by the fact that, as far
as we can learn from the New Testament, when Mark
was with Peter he was not at Rome, and when lie was
at Rome he was not with Peter, but with Paul; and
further, that whether the Apostle Peter ever visited
Rome or not, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans plaiuly
proves that the Church at Rome was not founded by
either of those great apostles. The enlargements of
this tradition, found in Eusebius and other later writers,
savour rather strongly of those embellishments of fancy
which seldom fail to accumulate with the lapse of
years round a slender nucleus of traditional fact.
Nevertheless, they confirm the authority of the tra-
dition as a generally accepted belief.
How far the internal evidence of St. Mark's Gospel
confirms this theory of its origin, is a question on which
adverse opiaions are strongly stated by critics of equal
scholarshij). Both omissions and insertions seem to
point to some special relation of this Gospel to Peter.
With regard to omissions, it has been already noted
(p. 145) that of six iucidents peculiar to St. Matthew's
Gospel, four refer to Peter — his walking on the sea, his
catching the fish with money in its mouth, his question
about forgiveness (Matt, xviii. 21), and the Lord's em-
phatic approval of him and promise to him (Matt. xvi.
17 — 19). Now, we may very uatui-aUy suppose that
these were among the matters on which Peter's preach-
ing would be silent, lest he should seem to be glori-
fying himself. Mark's omission of them is thus ac-
counted for. On the other hand, Christ's stern rebuke
of Peter's well-meant but presumptuous remonstrance
(omitted by St. Luke) is faithfully recorded (Mark viii.
33). In the narrative of Peter's denial of his Master,
where the other two Gospels say '• he wopf bitterl3%''
Mark simply says " he wept," but adds the aggravating
circumstance of the cock crowing " the second time."
On the other hand, we find the name of Peter
repeatedly introduced in a manner which strongly
favours the idea of his haviug been the wi-iter's autho-
rity. Examples are chap. i. 36 ; v. 37 ; xi. 21 ; xiii. 3.
2 Quoted by Eiisebius. Eccl. Hist. iii. 39. The text of this and
of other testimonies of ancient writers is given by Davidson,
Introd. to New Testament, vol. i.
196
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
One tliiug is abuudautly evident. The minute
tonelies and additional details wMch give to St. Mark's
narrative its special life and interest, must have been
taken from the lips of an eye-witness, and that eye-
witness one of the Twelve. Two examples may suffice
here : let the reader enlarge the list by his o^vn study.
In the account of the feeding of the five thousand, St.
Mark tolls us that the people sat down " by companies
on the green gi-ass " (indicating the spiing-time), "in
ranks, by lumdreds and by fifties " (.fifty ranks of
one hundred; indicating how the total number was
known). Again, in the account of the storm on the
Lake, where the other two Gospels merely state that
Jesus was asleep, Mark tells us that " he was in the
stem, sleeping on the cushion." Now, connecting
with these indications the fact that when Peter was
released from prison he went to the house of Mark's
mother (sister to Barnabas — Acts xii. 12 ; Col. iv. 10),
and the reference to Mark in 1 Peter v. 13, we certainly
seem strongly led to the conclusion that the eye-witness
on whose authority Mark wrote, and of whose vi\'id
nari-ation he has handed down to us the clearest image,
was none other than the Apostle Peter.
Notwithstanding this close connection with the
"Apostle of the Circumcision," St. Mark's Gospel is
plainly designed, not (like St. Matthew's) for Jewish,
but for Gentile readers. Such a work was needed for
the instruction of those vast multitudes of Gentile
Christians, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, to whom the
land of Judah was an unknown region, and the Jewish
Scriptures a sealed volume, and whose belief that Jesus
was the Messiah foretold by the prophets was the
result, not the cause, of their faith in Him as the Son
of God and Sa\-iour of the world. What special
qualifications ''the disciple and interpreter of Peter"
had for this work we know not. Perhaps his Roman
name may indicate that, although his mother was a
Jewess, his father (like Timothy's) was a Gentile ; or
it may point to other ties of kiudi'ed and friendship
outside the sacred pale. With such readers in %'iew,
St. Mark naturally omits much which St. Matthew is
careful to insert. He makes no reference to the law
of Moses. He adduces the testimony of the Old
Testament prophets once for all, in the two great
quotations with which he opens his Gospel ; all the
other citations from Scripture which he gives (except
XV. 28, not found in the most ancient copies) occurring
in his report of the words of our Lord or of His
hearers. He gives but brief accounts of Christ's
discourses, omitting the "Sermon on the Mount;"
condensing into three vei'ses (xii. 38 — 40) those tre-
mendous denunciations of the hj'pocrisy and vice of
the Pharisees and riders, with which Jesus closed
His public ministry ;i and inserts but five of the
parables, one of them peculiar to his Gospel (iv.
26 — 29 ; to which wo may add, in its distinct foi-m a.s
a parable, xiii. 34). On the other hand, he narrates
1 St. Luke is equally brief in the parallel place (x
gives similar doimnciatl >ris iu chip. xi. 30— ?2.
45-47), but
a large number of our Lord's miracles, inserting
fifteen out of twenty-one recorded by St. Matthew
(or twenty-two, if we count as a distinct miracle
Peter's walking on the sea); one given by St. Luke;
and two not given in either of the other Gospels.
Thus the compact brevity of St. Mai-k's Gospel
results not from greater conciseness in naiTation than
the other evangelists — his narrative abounding, as we
have seen, in additional details — but from large omis-
sions, made in harmony with the spechil puiijose iu
view. He passes over all those preparatory events
which occupy so important a place in the first and
third Gospels. After as brief an account of John's
ministry as would intelligibly introduce the main narra-
tive, and of the baptism and temptation of Jesus (yet
in the single verse which records the latter adding
one graphic and pathetic touch), he begins the story
of the world-wide glad tidings, just as Peter began to
preach it to the first Gentile converts (Acts x. 36 — 43).
The opening sentence, which also forms the title, sup-
plies the key-note of his book — '" The Beginning of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." It is an
account of the origin, and a demonstration of the
Di\4ne authority, of the Christian faith. The Son of
God is portrayed before us less by His words of
wisdom and tmitli — the prevailing element in the other
three Gospels — than by His works of power and of
mercy. The minute traits which picture them vividly
to our imagination, also attest the faithfulness of the
record. We do not so much sit at the feet of the
Di^'ine Teacher, as follow the footsteps of the Saviour.
We behold His glory, and yet we see, too, how truly
the Son of God was also the Son of man — " the car-
penter, the son of Mary." " Nowhere else are we per-
mitted so clearly to behold His very gesture and look,
see His very position, to read His feelings, and to hear
His very words " (v. 41 ; vii. 34 ; xiv. 36).
The last twelve verses of St. Mark's Gospel (xvi.
9 — 20) are wanting in the two most ancient known
MSS., the Sinaitic and Vatican, though foimd in all
other Greek copies ; and are referred to by Eusebius,
Jerome, and others, as lacking in the most correct
copies. Tet there is e\T[dence, both of quotations and
of the most ancient versions, to show that they were
very early read as a part of the Gospel. The style even
the English reader may perceive to differ strikingly,
in its summary breA'ity, from St. Mark's ; and in
the Greek a number of words occur not elsewhere
used by him. It is conjectured, therefore, either that
this brief conclusion was added by St. Mark at a later
period to what he had from some cause been previously
compelled to leave unfinished ; or, that it was added at
an early date by another hand, from apostolic tra-
dition. In its spirit, and in its terse simplicity, it
forms a majestic and harmonious conclusion.
Some traditions represent this Gospel as written
during the Apostle Peter's life-time, others after his
death, which there is good reason to believe took place
at Rome, under Nero, in or about a.d. 64. But this is a
matter too purely conjectural to claim discussinn hero.
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
197
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE :-(3) RACES IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
BY THE KEY. WILLIAM LEE, D.D., ItOXBUEGH.
Turing the loug series of years with
which we have now to deal, the children
of Israel, if they did not always form the
dominant race — for to say nothing of
the " oppressions " in the times of the Judges, even in
later times they were, for centimes, under vassalag-e to
a succession of foreign masters — Assyi-ian, Egyptian,
Chaldean, Persian, Greek-Syrian, and Roman— consti-
tuted (except perhaps in the days of the exile) the bulk
of the inhabitants of Palestine. They were not, how-
ever, at any time, the exclusive occupants of that terri-
tory. And in these concluduig papers on Palestinian
Ethnology it is proposed to attempt to indicate, with
special relation to some of the more remarkable of the
epochs of Israel's history from the conquest downwards,
to wliat extent, and under what forms, a foreign element
maintaiaed itself in the population side by side with
that which was purely Israelite.
§ 1. — TIME OF JOSHUA.
The promise made to the Chosen Seed, before they
crossed the Jordan, was to the effect that God would
" drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite
from before them," and give them possession of the
whole counti-y thus emptied of its iuhabitants (Exod.
xxiii. 28 — 31). In strict correspondence with this
promise were the instructions the Israelites received
as to their own duty under the covenant into which
Jehovah had been pleased to enter with them and with
then* fathers. " When ye are passed over Jordan into
the land of Canaan, then ye shall drive out all the
inhabitants of the land from before you .... and ye
shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell
therein : for I have given you the land to possess it"
(Numb, xxxiii. 51 — 53). It was not, however, contem-
plated that, under any circumstances, the ' ' dispossession "
would be completed, iu the fullest extent of the terms
of the promise, otherwise than by persevering efforts to
be earned on for some considerable space of time. " I
wiQ not drive them out from before thee in one year.
.... By little and little I wiU drive them out from
before thee, until thou be increased, and inhabit the
land" (Exod. xxiii. 29, 30). And even as thus limited,
the fulfilment of tlie promise was made conditional on
the zeal and fidelity of the Israelites themselves in per-
forming the work assigned to them as the instruments
employed to carry into effect the Divine purpose (Numb.
xxxiii. 55 ; Josh, xxiii. 13).
Up to the time of the death of Joshua nothing
appears to have occurred to discourage the hope that, in
due tune, that pui-pose would be fully accomplished.
En-ors were fallen into. Achan was not the only
" troubler of Israel " in those days. There is not wanting
evidence that idolatry had already to some extent
regained, if it had ever wholly lost, its hold on many of
the people (Josh. xxiv. 1.5 — 23). Upon the whole, how-
ever, Israel stUl " clave unto the Lord their God; " and if
there were even then temporaiy checks to their onward
progress wliich might have been avoided, the work given
them to do was, upon the whole, done, before then* gi-eat
leader, now " old and stricken in age," was gathered to
his fathers. It would be out of place here to enter into
a history of the seven years' war (Josh, xviii. 10 ; cf. KeU,
in loc; Milman, i. 225), and of the steps afterwards
taken by Joshua to reap the fruits of his victories. Of
the result we are left in no doubt. " Joshua took the
whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto
Moses ; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto
Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. And
the land rested from war .... There failed not ought
of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the
house of Israel ; all came to pass" (Josh. xi. 23 ; xxi. 45).
Although in the broad and general sense in which,
Avith a due regard to the context, these words can alone
be understood, the conquest must be regarded as before
the death of Joshua \'ii-tually accomplished, it is not
to be supposed that, at any moment, every part of the
country, with every one of its cities and strongholds, was
in the actual j)ossession of the Israelites. Ewald thinks
it " yevj probable that, in the fii'st terror of surprise,
even the PhHistuies, and also the men of Sidou and the
rest of the Phoenicians, may have paid homage " [Hist.
ii. 30). But the Phoenician coast was never, even in
Joshua's time, more than nominally Israelite territory
(cf . Josh. xiii. 6 ; Judg. iii. 3) ; and as to PhUistia, " all
the borders of the Philistines" are, in the old age of
Joshua, described as, no less than the coasts of Sidou,
" land that yet remaineth to be possessed " (Josh. xiii.
2, seq.). Indeed, though three of its capital cities and
their " coasts " were after Joshua's deatli taken and,
for a short time, held by Judah (Judg. i. 18; cf. iii
1 — 3), Philistia was not completely subjugated till the
reign of David (2 Sam. viii. 1 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 1). Other
less considerable, but important, border lands were in
very much the same position (Josh. xiii. 6). Everywhere,
too, isolated strongholds, especially in the valleys, where
their formidable war-chariots gave tlie aborigines a
decided advantage over Israel (Josh. x\'ii. 16 ; Judg.
i. 19 ; iv. 3), remained to the enemy (Judg. i. 1, seq.) r
either ha^ang held out from the first, or as in the case of
Jebus (better known in after times as Jerus<ilem), having
been very soon re-occupied by them. All that is indeed-
necessarily implied in the history of Joshua's ^-ictories^
is " simply that the power of the Canaanites was broken,
their dominion overthrown, and their territory so
thoroughly given into the hands of the Israelites . . .
that they could neither offer any further opposition to
their invaders, nor dispute the possession of the laud
with them" (Keil, Com. on Josh.).
If the land was not everywhere occupied; much less
198
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
were the whole of its former iuhabitants extirpated. A
very large proportion of them must, it is true, have dis-
appeared before the eud of the war. The loss of life
alone was frightful. This is not the place to attempt
to justify the ways of God to man, in relation to the
terrible judgments iniiieted on the Cauaanites. It is
with the faets only that wo have to deal. The Israelites
were required to "smite," and " destroy utterly," "show-
ing uo mercy" (Deut. xu. 2). And in many instances
these ministers of the Divine justice wei'e not slack in
carrying out to the letter their appointed, if dreadful,
mission. Many fell in battle ; many more, probably,
perished in the sack of populous cities like Jericho, in
whoso fate an aAvful warning was given, at the very
commencement of the campaign, as to the true nature of
the coming struggle. In Ai, where the inhabitants were
comparatively "few" (Josh. vii. 3), 12,000 persons were
put to the sword. Nov were Jericho and Ai the only
cities which suffered so terrible a doom. In the history
alike of the l)attle of Bethhorou, which gave the southern
half of Palestine into the hands of Joshua, and of the
battle of Merom, fought against a confederacy of the
northern tribes, we find that the victory in the field
was followed up by the I'avage of the whole territories
of the confederate kings, and the capture of their chief
towns, Avith whose inhabitants Joshua dealt as he had
done with the inhabitants of Jericho and Ai (Josh. x.,xi.).
Then, great numbers, doul)tless, were literally, " driven
forth out of the laud." Aftej- the Oanaanite defeat at
Merom, just referred to, the survivors of the fight and
the pursuit fled in the first instance " to great Sidou and
to Misrephoth-maim, and to the valley of Mizpeh east-
ward" at the foot of Hermon (xi. 8 ; cf. ver. 3). Of these
some must have returned to their former settlements
in the time of the Judges. Many, however, probably
remained in or near the territories, on the north-western
and north-eastern borders of Palestine, in which they
had thus sought refuge from the enemy. In the "valley"
or "laud of Mizpeh," a Hivite colony was indeed already
settled before this time, and had taken part mth the
confederate khigs under Jabiu, in the battle (xi. 3) ; and
down to the days of Solomon we find tribes of Hittites,
under their own kings, with settlements in the same
direction (1 Kings x. 29). In like manner remnants of
the Rephaim, or Anakim, had fled to the cities of the
Philistines, when that giant race was by Joshua "cut
off from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all
the mouutains of Judah, and from all the mountains of
Israel" (Josh. xi. 21, 22; 1 Sam. xvii. 4; 2 Sam. xxi.
19). But we are not without reasons for belieraig that
sooner or later there were also migrations to much more
remote regions. Procopius, the historian (born c. 600
A.D.), himself a native of Csesarea, in Palestine, and
therefore the more likely to be interested in any facts
connected A^-ith the early history of that country, was
shown two marble pillars near a great well in the fortress
of Tigisis in Numidia, bearing an inscription' in the
Phoenician tongue, to this effect : " We are those who
1 See Vol. I., p. 105.
fled from before the face of the robber Joshua, the son
of Nun " (Procopius, Bell. Vand. ii. 10). The antiquity
of the monument has been disputed, on internal evidence
(Ewald, Hist. ii. 2, note ; Kenrick, Phoenicia, 66). But
as Dean Stanley remarks [Jewish Church, i. 275), its
existence, even so late as the sixth century, shows at
least the belief which lingered among the remnant of
the Phoenician colonies on the coast of Africa. Nor is
there wanting other evidence of less doubtful authen-
ticity as to such distant migrations of some of the
fugitives." At the same time, though many Cauaanites
either perished, or were compelled to flee the country,
during the wars of Joshua, many also remained.
It is impossible to estimate the exact numbers. But
that these were very considerable is j)laiu enough. To
say nothing of the Cauaanites of Sidonia — whose terri-
tory, though assigned to her, and allotted to one of her
tribes, never (as we have found) appertained, de facto,
to Israel — the Philistiues remained not only unsubdued,
but, as would appear, intact, in their own settlements
on the south-western coast ; and the Philistines, if less
formidable iu numbers than they became in the latei-
years of the Judges, were already (Exod. xiii. 17) a
powerful people. We know little of the numerical
strength of the other nations in " the south " and in
" aU Lebanon " — Avites, Giblites, and Cauaanites — which
also still remained in uudistiu'bed possession of their
lands (Josh. xiii. 3; Judg. iii. 3). Of the Hi^-ites of
Gibeon we have more information. This people, who
had been for long settled iu the very heart of the laud,
and by well-known means had contrived to secure
for themselves immunity from the fate of their
brethren, occupied, we find, no fewer than four cities, of
which the capital is described as " a great city, larger
than Ai," and one of the royal cities in pre-Israelite
times (Josh. x. 2). According to Robinson (i2ese«rc/ies,
i. 455), its existing ruins attest its former greatness.
" One large tower," he says, " still remains, perhaps a
former castle, or tower of strength. The lower rooms
are vaulted with round arches of hewn stones fitted
together with great exactness. The stones outside are
lai'ge, and the whole appearance is that of antiquity."
Many of the separate towns, or strongholds, in posses-
sion of others of the primitive inhabitants at the time of
Joshua's death, were also consideral)le places. Several
of them are named in the first chapter of Judges. They
include Bezok, where 10,000 Cauaanites and Periz-
zltes fell when the city was afterwards taken by the
tribes ; Jebus, in which the Cauaanites were able to
continue to hold their ground till the time of David ;
Hebron ; Kirjath-sephir ; Bethel ; Bethshau, under the
name of Scythopolis, still a heathen city iu the time of
our Lord (Lightfoot, Worhs, x. 240) ; and Endor, which,
in the witch's cave there, bore traces of the Cauaauito
element in its population at the close of the reign of
Saul. Many other cities, with their dependent villages,
2 Ewald {Hist, ii. 2, note) refers to the brief statement in
Eusobius, Chron. Gr., ed. Scaliger, p. 11, tbat Tripolis, iu Africa,
was founded by Cauaanites wlio fled before Joshua ; and to a
notice, in Moses Chorensis, i. 19, of a noble race ia Armenia who
claimed a similar origin.
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
199
are enumerate*! in the same place as being jet in the
possession of the enemy after the death of Joshua ; and
Canaauites are said to have been found at that time
alike •' in the mountain, and in the south [Negeb], and
in the valley {Shephela) " ( Judg. i. 9).
It must be repeated, however, that at the time of
Joshua's death the people of Israel were, to all intents
and purposes, the peox>le of the land, and that as a
rule the land was already occupied by them. So
thorougldy was their predominance established that
Joshua had been enabled to disband his army, every
man betaking himself to his own iulieritance. Even
the levy of 40,000 soldiers from the trans-Jordanic
tribes (Josh. i. 12 ; iv. 13), who, their own territories
being already secured, had agreed to accompany their
brethren throughout the war against Canaan, " until the
Lord hatli given your bi'ethren rest, as he hath given
you," were released from their long service, and per-
mitted to re-cross tlie Jordan, and rejoin their wives
and families in Gilead and Bashan (xxii. 1).
§ 2. — TIME OF THE JUDGES.
In the period of between three hundred and four
hundi'cd years which, commencing not very long after
the events just noticed, and extending to the reign of
Saul, is known as tlie time of the Judges, Palestine
may almost be said to have hardly escaped falling again
into the possession of the races from which it had been
wrested so recently, and after so terrible a conflict.
For some time after the death of Joshua the several
tribes to whom, in their different localities the work
had been entrusted, persevered, not without zeal, though
with varying success, in the attempt to dispossess the
remnants of the conquered peoples from the strongholds
which we have found they had continued to retain after
the conquest. A new generation, however, now sprung
up — a generation Avith less faith than their fathers, and
oaring more for their own ease and enjoyment than for
the realisation of the purposes of the Theocracy. The
fii'st step in the downward course was taken when they
began to enter into leagues with the enemy ; a course
equally opposed to the command of God, whether, as a
condition of peace, they received, or — as seems to have
been the case with the tribe of Asher, on the Phoenician
borders (cf. Judg. i. 32) — themselves rendered homage.
To such perilous compromises were added still more
fatal departures from the j)ath of duty expressly pre-
scribed by God. If any doubts could have been felt
that the command utterly to drive out the Cauaanite,
though apparently harsh, was right in itself, the events
which now ensued alone suffice to remove them. Again,
as before the flood, the seed of the wicked were iilter-
miugled with the heirs of the promise, and with like
results. "The children of Israel J welt among the
Canajinites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and
Hivites; and they took their daughters to be their
wives, and gave their daughters to then- sons, and
served their gods." " And the anger of the Lord was
hot against Israel .... so that they could no longer
stand against their enemies" (Judg. iii. 6 — 8; ii. 14). It
was an inevitable consequence of the calamitous circum-
stances under which Israel was thus brought, that there
ere long occurred an alarming change in the relative
proj)ortiou of Israelites and non-Israehtes in the land.
The Cauaanites — using this general term to designate
all the older races of Canaan — not only maintained their
position, but rapidly increased in numbers and in power.
In some localities they even for a time fully recovered
the supremacy which they had enjoyed before the
conquest. Allusion has been already made to the battle
of Merom, one of the two great battles by which Joshua
first secured possession of the land. That battle had
been fought against a confederacy of northern Canaanites
under Jabin, king of Hazor. The issue was a complete
victory over the confederate army, followed, after long
warfare, by the capture of all their towns (Hazor itseK
Ijciiig burned with fire), and the slaughter or dispersion
of the whole Canaanite population of the district ( Joslu
xi. 1). Yet, about a hundred and fifty years later,
Hazor is found again as a great Canaanite city, with
another king of the same name as in the days of Joshua,
with — as in those times — powerful allies among neigh-
bouring Cauaaiiite kings, and with a numerous army
so well equipped that it had no fewer than nine hundred
war-chariots (Judg. iv. 3). They were again defeated, it
is true, by a combination of some of the principal tribes ;
but not until after they had been permitted to show
their power by a rule of twenty years, during which
time "they mightily oppressed the children of Israel"
(Judg. iv. 3). " The highways were unoccupied, and
the travellers walked by liyways. The inhabitants of
the villages ceased" (v. 6). So thoroughly indeed had
they been able to break the spirit of the race which had
once conquered and were destined to conquer them
again, that, in their forays — forays from which their
wives at home were used to expect to see them return
with many a Hebrew captive for the neighbouring slave-
markets (v. 30) — they pursued the terror-stricken
Israelites even to the gates of their cities, and seem to
have met with little if any resistance (v. 8).
A remarkable increase of the PhUistiue power also
took place in the course of these centu.ries. To what
cause it is to be attributed is a question as to which
Biblical students differ in opinion. Knobel, Movers,
Ewald, and also, as formerly mentioned, Pusey, find
the reason in an influx — or more than one influx—
of fresh immigrants into Philistia which, as they
suppose, miist have taken place before the time of the
later Judges. Other writers, on the contrary, hold
that the hypothesis of new immigrations,- whether
from Crete or elsewhere, is without any real basis,
and is not required to account for the facts in ques-
tion ; the geographical position of the country, which
aifords peculiar facilities for commercial pursuits ; the
remarkable fertility of the soil, with the character of
tlie people themselves — a people full of energy, ambi-
tious, enterprising, and no less proficient in the arts
of peace than skilful and courageous in war — alone
affording an adequate explanation. Of the fact itself
there can be no doubt. That the Philistines had now
200
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
become II much more importimt ijeoplc than they wero
at the cou quest will not be disputed when it is con-
sidered that, to use the words of Dr. Pusey, " whereas
heretofore those whom God employed to chasten Israel
in tlieir idolatries wero kings of Mesopotamia, Moab,
Hazor, Midian, Amalck, and tho children of the East
(Judg. iii., &c.) ; and Philistia had, at the beginning of
tho period of tho Judges, lost Gaza, Askelon, and
Ekron (i. 18) to Israel, and was repulsed by Shamgar ;
thenceforth, to the time of David, they became the great
scourge of Israel on the west of Jordan, as Ammon was
on the east" [Minor Proph., 221).
Nor is this all. While in Palestine the enemies of
Israel were thus recovering or (as in the case of the
Philistines) augmenting their numbers, the Hebrew
population was suffei-ing a corresponding decrease.
This fact, it is true, is nowhere expressly stated; but
it may confidently be inferred, if only from a com-
parison of the numbers Israel could bring into the field,
even when she fought for her national independence,
almost her very existence as a nation, in the times of the
Judges, \\\i\\ the great armies which Joshua led across
the Jordan.
How could the case have been otherwise ? We must
lie on our guard against forming an exaggerated idea
of the wretched state of the country in those days when
" there was no king in Israel." Many of the general
statements on this subject to be found in the Book of
Judges might mislead us if wo were not careful to
attend to qualifying details which are supplied to us on
the same authority. Neither the sins nor the suflerings
of Israel in the centuries now referred to were iminter-
juittent ; nor were either of them at any time universally
prevalent. In the worst days of this dark period of the
ancient Church's history, the institutions of Moses never
lost their hold on at least a remnant of the favoured
people. AU through those days of -wide-spread spiritual
declension the tabernacle at Shilohi was the centre of
religious worship ; the services of the sanctuaiy were
regularly celebrated by consecrated priests of Jehovah,
in accordance with the Mosaic ritual, and were fre-
quented by devout congregations of the faithful ; and
above all there were parts of the country, and probably
homes everywhere — ^like those of Manoah, Elimelech,
Boaz, and Elkanah — in which were exemplified every
social and domestic virtue, with a genuine piety unsur-
passed in any age of the Church. Nor did the judg-
ments which wero \'isited on the nation for abounding
iniquity, and which, like all national judgments, often
])rought suffering on the innocent as well as the guilty,
fail, at least with cqiuil severity, on every district of
the land. The not more bcaxitiful and touching, than,
from an historical point of view, important history
of Ruth, affords, as does also the Song of Deborah,
abundant evidence in support of both these statements.
1 After the first battle of Ebenezor, when the ark brought from
Shiloh iuto the camp of Israel was taken by the Philistines, and
the earliest of the Hebrew sanctuaries ajjpears to have been
abauJonod, tho services wore still continued elsewhere, ns in
Samuel's time, at Mizpeh (1 Sam. vii. 5), at Ramah (vii. 17), and
at Gilgal (x. 8; xi. 15).
At the same time, there can be no doubt that the state
of the country was, upon the whole, deplorable.
It was more than deplorable : it was such as to
imperil the national existence. A single fact will
suffice to show how narrowly Israel in the time of the
Judges must have escaped utter extinction as a nation.
Lea\'ing out of ^-iew the losses incurred in their frequent
and desperate battles against their foreign invaders,
and in their bloody internecine wars, when again and
again (Judg. viii. 1 — 3; xii. 1 ; xx. 1) the tribes turned
their swords against each other — with, in a familar
instance, the result that one of their number, the tribe
of Benjamin, was all but totally exterminated (xxi. 6) ;
and the general weakening effects on the population of
the anarchy and insecm-ity which prevailed — Israel wa&
for long periods, in one case for forty successive years,
helplessly at the feet of " oppressors " like the Mesopo-
tamians, Moab, Ammon, Midian, Hazor, and the Philis-
tines, nations which made war chiefly that they might
make captives to be carried away into slavery. That
thousands and tens of thousands of the choicest young
men and maidens of Israel were dui-ing each of the six
"oppressions" removed from the land to be sold as
slaves in foreign slave-markets is a fact of wliich no
one acquainted with the usages of the times can have
any reasonable doubt.^
2 One of these " oppi-essions " is expressly called a time of " the
captivity of the laud " (Judg. xviii. 30 ; cf. ver. 31 ; 1 Sam. iv.
2, seq. ; Ps. Ixxviii. 60, 61) ; and a " captivity " implies a removal of
the inhabitants, " uot merely a subdual, whereby the inhabitants
would remain tributary, or even enslaved, yet still remain "
(Pusey, on Joel iii. 6). The "damsel or two" which each of the
soldiers of Jabin's army was expected to bring back from the
battle under Sisera, when Israel was lying under the oppression
cf the Canaanites of Hazor (Judg. v. 30), were of course intended
for the slave-market. To what extent similar oppressions in the
after history of Israel were accompanied by the removal of caj)-
tives out of the laud, and their sale as slaves in foreign countries,
we have abundant evidence. In Joel (c. &X) B.C.) we find God
represented as " pleading " with certaiu nations, " for my people
and my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations .... having cast lots for my people ; and having
given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine that they might
drink" (iii. 2). The Phcenicians and the Philistines are especially
mentioned, and their sin is thus described : " Ye have taken my
silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my
pleasant things : the children also of Judah and the children of
Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove
them far from their border" (verses 5, 6). Amos (c. 737 B.C.),.
in like manner, pronounces judgments both on the Philistines
and on the Phoenicians for carrying away Israelites " with au
entire captivity," and delivering them up to Edom — the sin of the
latter being aggravated, inasmuch as it involved a breach of " the
brotherly covenant " which, as we know otherwise, had been
formed between Tyre and Israel in the days of David and Solo-
mon (Amos i. 6, 9). "The Philistines are here the robbers of
men ; the Phcenicians are the receivers and the sellers " (Pusey,
in loc. Cf. Amos i. 9; 2 Mace. viii. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 13). In the
reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 120,000 Jews were found in Egypt
as slaves, most of them, as the king just named declared in the
decree by which they were ordered to be redeemed, having been
taken captive and brought iuto Egypt, and there sold, when his
father overran Syria and laid waste Judea (Jos. Aniiq. xii. 2,
§ 1 — 4). In the Koman war, which resulted in the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus (70 a.d. ), 97,000 Jews were carried away into
captivity, all those under seventeen years of age being sold ns
slaves (Jos. B. J. vi. 9, § 3). In the history of the wars of the
Maccabees there is a curious illustration of the customs above
referred to. After the revolt of the Jews under Judas Maccabeus
began to look threatening, Nicanor was sent, with 20,000 men, to
root them out from the whole country ; and tlioush his expedition
failed, we find that he expected to make as much by the sale of
captives as would pay a tribute of 2,000 talents, thou due by
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
201
THE OSTBICH {StrutMo camelus).
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
version.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, JI.A.,
OSTRICH.
HERE are two or three Hebrew words
which denote the ostrich — namely, bath
haya'andh, ycVen, and rdndn — but they
are not always correctly translated in our
The bath haya'andh is mentioned in the list
Antiochus Epiplianes to the Romans. At the price lie calculated
on receiving for each, he must have sold 180,000 slaves to make up
the total sum. lu anticipation of a success, vpith which he did
not meet, " he sent to the cities upon the sea-coast, proclaiming a
sale of the captive Jews ; " and when he pitched at Emmans, his
camp contained a thousand merchants, who had come with
" silver and gold very much," and " fetters," "to huy the children
of Israel for slaves" (1 Mace. iii. ; 2 Mace. viii.).
F.L.S., EECTOK OF PEESTON, SALOP.
of unclean birds (Lev. xi. 16; Deut. xiv. 15), where,
however, our translators read "owl;" and in Job xxx.
29 ; Isa. xxxiv. 13 ; xliii. 20, where " owl " is again given in
the text, but " ostrich," correctly, in the margin. Some
authorities derive the Hebrew word ya'andh from a root
meaning to "cry out," "to make a loud noise." The
literal meaning with bath is " daughter of loud cryiug. '
Others derive the word from a root meaning '" to be
greedy;" hence "daughter of gi-eediness." Either
definition would suit the ostrich, though the more
probable etymology is that which refers to the loud
crying these birds utter in their natural haunts. The
noise of the ostrich has been compared to that of the
202
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
lion, for which it has been mistaken by tlie Hottentots
in Africa ; but Tristram says it sounds more like the
hoarse lowing of an ox in pain : it is loud and dolorous,
and in the stillness of the desert pkins can be lieard at
a great distance. To this dismal ciy reference is made
in the Book of Job (xxx. 28, 29) : " I went mourning
without the sun : I stood up and cried in the congre-
gation. I am a brother to jackals ('dragons,' A. V.),
and a comixanion to ostriches {' owls,' A. V.)." The
same simUc occurs in Micali i. 8.
The word ycVen occurs only in the plural number,
ye'enivi, in Lam. iv. 3 : " The daughter of my peoj^le
is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness."
Tlie word is merely the masculine gender of ya'anah
without the addition of bath, " daughter.'' Bclndn, or
renen, which latter term is still used in modern Hebrew,
occm-s only in Job xxxix. 13, where our translators very
incorrectly render reiidnlm by "peacocks," and the
Hebrew word for stork by " ostrich." The verse should
be thus rendered : " The mug of the ostrich moveth
joyoiisly, but has she tlie pkime and feather of the
stork ? " This latter bird is proverbially noted for its
affection to its young. How \mlike to the cruel ostrich,
which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and is hardened
against her young ones. The word has the same
meaning as the other Hebrew one for ostrich, rcincln,
viz., to " howl and utter loud cries." Stupidity and
want of affection to her offspring have long been
attributed to the ostrich by tlie Orientals. The Arabs
have a proverb, " Stupid as an ostiich," and they give
several reasons for their belief, as — (1.) That the ostrich
will swallow iron and stones. (2.) When it is himted
it thrusts its head into a bush, and thinks the hunter
does not see it. (3.) It neglects its eggs. (4.) It has
a small head and few brains. It is well known that
tlie ostrich swallows stones and other hard substances
to aid its digestion. Shaw saw one swallow several
leaden bullets scorching hot from the mould. Hair,
wood, cordage, and almost any mineral substance, the
ostrich will swallow with indiscriminate voracity.
Date-stones are a favourite food, and the necessity of
swallowing stones may be seen when we consider tliat
date-stones are aliout the hardest of vegetable sub-
stances.
The ostrich is polygamous. The hens lay their eggs
promiscuously in one nest, which is a hole scratched in
the sand; they are then covered over about one foot
deep, and left for the greater part of the day to the
heat of the sun. The parent birds take their turns at
incubation during the night. But this is the case only
in those comitries wliich have a tropical smi. The
ostriches with which the Jews would be acquainted
Avould be those of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa,
where the ostriches frequently incubate during the day ;
so that it may be asked, how it can be said that " she for-
getteth that the foot may crush " the eggs when they
are covered a foot or more deep in the sand ? The
ostrich lays an immense number of cgg!^, and some she
places, not in the nest, but round about it, to all
appearance forsaken ; and these doubtless are the eggs
which a foot may crush to which reference is made in
the passage in Job. These eggs, according to some
naturalists, are designed for the nourishment of the
newly-hatched young ones, which could not otherwise,
perhaps, obtain food in parched and barren regions ;
and this opinion is strengthened by the statement of
natives. Dr. Tristram once was fortunate enough to
find an ostrich's nest. He saw the old birds standing
for some time in one spot, and rode up to it. The
Arabs dismounted, and, digging Avith tiieii' hands, soon
brought up four fine fresh eggs from the depth of
about a foot under the warm sand. The eggs were
excellent — like those of poultry. On the surface-laid
eggs Dr. Tristram says, " Though I did not myself see
the eggs scattered on the siu-face, yet all my Arab
friends have assured me that it is the invariable habit
of the bird so to place many of them, and that far more
are laid than are ever incubated. It is from this habit
most probably that the want of parental instinct is laid
to the charge of the ostrich. At the same time, when
surprised by man with the young, before they are able
to run, the parent bird scuds off alone, and leaves its
offspring to its fate. To do otherwise would be a self-
sacrifice, as it is aware of its inability to defend itself
or its poults ; and on the open desert it cannot, like
other cursorial birds, mislead the pursuer, and conceal
its brood in herbage " {Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 238). The
captm'e of the ostrich, the largest of all birds, and
perhaps the swiftest of all cursorial animals, is the
greatest feat of hunting to which the Arab sportsman
aspires. The bird is very shy and waiy ; the wide,
sandy plains afford no means of ambuscade, and
" dogged perseverance is the only mode of pursuit."
The horses are subjected to a long and painful training,
but little wat«r being allowed, and the diet consibtmg
chiefly of dried dates, to strengthen their wind. " The
hunters set forth with small skins of water strapped
under their horses' bellies, and a scanty allowance of
food for four or five days distributed judiciously about
their saddles. The ostrich generally lives in companies
of from four to six individuals, which do not appear
to be in the habit, under ordinary circumstances, of
wandering more than twenty or thirt)'' miles from their
head-quarters. When descried, two or three of the
hunters follow the herd at a gentle gallop, endeavouring
merely to keej) the birds in sight, without alarming
them, or driAing them at f uU speed, when they would
soon be lost to view. The rest of the pursuers leisurely
proceed in a dii'cction at right angles to the course
which the ostriches have taken, knowing by experience
their habit of running in a circle. Posted on the best
look-out they can find, they await for hours the antici-
j)ated route of tlic game, calculating upon intersecting
their patli. If fortunate enougli to detect them, the
relay sets upon the now fatigued flock, and frequently
succeeds in running one or two down, though a horse or
two generally falls exhausted in the iiursuit" (p. 236-7).
The flesh of the ostrich is good and sweet. By the
ancient Romans tliis bird's brains w^ere highly prized
as a dish for supper. Tlie egg-shells are used for
HAGGAI.
203
various purposes by the natives, who make drinking
cups and boxes out of them, but especially for the
embellishing of the mosques, "where they are sTisj)ended
in long rows, and for the decoration of graves, the
eggs being embedded iu mortar at the head and foot
of each grave, or built for a great man into a sort of
pyramid."
The ancient Egyptians used to hunt the ostrich,
whose plumes were in great request for ornamental
purposes. An ostrich feather was a symbol of the
Goddess of Truth or Justice. It belonged also to the
head-dress of Ao and other deities, and was worn by
the soldiery and priests on certain religious festivals.
(Wilkinson, Anc. Egyi^t., v., p. 216.)
Ostrich-plumes for head-dresses are almost wholly
imported from Africa. Those of the male bu'd are the
whitest and most beautiful. The plumes of the wings
are more valuable than the tail-feathers. The ostrich
[Struthio camelus) is seldom seen iu Palestine. Dr.
Tristram obtained a skin of one of these birds, which
was killed on the Belka Plains, close behind the liills
of Moab.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
HAGGAI {concluded).
BY THE EEV. SAMUEL COX, NOTTINGHAM.
SECOND PEOPHECY.
CHAP. II. 1 — 9.
!^^;^T is to be feared that the zeal with which,
"^(^ for the second time, the Jews commenced
to biiild the Temple soon declined, de-
clined dangerously even within a month ;
for it was on the twenty-f om-th day of the sixth mouth,
in the second year of Darius, that they were stirred
up by the word of the Lord to resume the work,
and by the twenty-first day of the next month Haggai
has once more to rouse and kindle their drooping hearts.
And here again we are thankfid to Haggai for the pre-
cision with which he dates his prophecies; for this
precision helps us to enter into the feelings of the
returned exiles, and to understand why their hearts
were disquieted and despondent within them. The
twenty-first day of the seventh month was the seventh
day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And this feast was
ordinarily one of the most merry and joyful in the
Hebrew calendar. For eight days — i.e., from a Sabbath
to a Sabbath, inclusive — the Jews dwelt in booths made
of '■ the boughs of goodly trees," to commemorate the
journeyings of their fathers in the wilderness of Sinai,
and the goodness of the Lord iu guiding and feeding
them as they travelled to the promised land. At this
feast, moreover, they celebrated the ingathering of the
fruits of the earth, especially the fruits of the orchard
and the vineyard. In all wine-growing countries the
vintage is a season of hilaiity and joy ; and among the
Hebrews, who beHeved that God gave them wine to
gladden their hearts, it was a time not only of joy, but
of joy in the Lord.
But the harvest and vintage of this year had been,
as we learn from Haggai, miserably scanty and disap-
pointing. They had " sown much, and brought in little ; "
they had " eaten, but had not had enough ; " they had
" drunk, but had not been fidl." A blight seemed to
have fallen on the gi-ain and the vines, upon " all that
the groimd Ijringeth forth " and upon "all the labour of
their hands " (chap. i. 6, 10, 11). What wonder, then,
that as they gathered on the Temple-hill to keej) the
feast, to hold a solemn convocation, to eat and drink
and praise the Lord, they brooded with anxious care
over their scanty crops, and felt that, while the times
were so hard, they could not hope to complete the great
enterprise which they had commenced ? What wonder
if, as they ate of the scanty fare and drank the poor
wine of the yeai', they mournfully recalled the rich abun-
dance which their fathers had enjoyed, and concluded
that God had forgotten to be gracious to them ? What
wonder if, as they recalled the former spacious Temple
with its splendid magnificence, and looked round on
the contracted lines of the House they were now
rearing, this House seemed as little in their eyes
as compared with Solomon's as their political status
and condition when compared with that of then-
fathers' ?
It was to rouse them from this brooding despondency
that the word of the Lord once more came through
Haggai the prophet. On the day before that on which
the Feast ended — the Friday of the third week in the
seventh month of the year, B.C. 520 — he came to them
and said (verses 3 — 5) :
" Who is left among you that saw this house in its first glory ?
And how do ye see it now ?
Is it not as nothing in your eyes ?
But now be comforted, O Zerubb.abel, saith the Lord;
And be comforted, 0 Joshua, son of Jozadak, thou high priest ;
And be comforted, all ye people of the laud,
Saith the Lord of Hosts, and work :
For I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts.
The covenant I made with you when ye came out of Egypt,
And my Spirit, remain with you ;
Tear ye not."
Just as, when the foundations of the Temple were
laid, it was " the ancient men, who had seen the first
house," that wept; so now, when the building was
resumed, it was the old men, to whom the former times
were so much better than these, who discouraged the
builders by aifirmmg that this House was as nothing to
that ; that it was no use going on with it ; tliat it would
never be fit to be seen. There might be many men m
the congregation who had seen the House that Solomon
built, for it was not more than sixty-eight years since
204
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
it was destroyed ; aud the Jews were a long-lived race.
Possibly, too, iunong these ancient men there were some
Avho, when iu Babylon, had heard Daniel prophesy that
" seventy days " or years must elapse before the Resto-
ration, and who therefore agreed that " the time was
not come, the time that the Lord's house should be
built;" that at least two years mxist elapse before the
fidl time would come. They may have deemed that
these young men, Haggai aud Zechariah, who thought
so little of the comforts due to age and so much of the
necessity of labour and sacrifice, were not to be compared
with the great prophets of their youthful days — Jere-
miah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. They may have given a
religious colour to the promptings of timidity, and indo-
lence aud seltishness, and have dwelt on the impiety of
building before the due time, as well as on the impru-
dence of building while the times were so hard. I
confess I vehemently suspect these " ancient men " of
being at the bottom of the mischief, and of throwing
cold water on the zeal of Zerubbabel and Joshua, aud of
all who were ready to leave off running for their own
houses in order that the Lord's House might no longer
lie waste.
Obviously they, or their maundering intei-pvetations
of the facts of the time, had damped the zeal of the
Governor and the high priest ; for Haggai bids Zerub-
babel and Joshua, and all the people of the land, be
comforted ; i.e., be inwardly strong, not to yield to the
querulous .spirit of those who had seen the Temple in
its first glory, and who depreciated and despised as
" nothing " the House that was now rising from the
ground. To strengthen them against this evil and
depressing influence, to insjjirit them to " work " on iu
faith and hope, he repeats the Divine Jissurance with
which the previous chapter closes, "For I am with you,
saith the Lord of Hosts ; " i.e., " I am for you, although
the Persians, and the Samaritans, and even the ancient
men of Ismel may be against you."
But the prophet is not content with simply repeating
the assurance. He confirms it with an argument, and
an argument which they could bring to the test of
experience. The word, or " covenant " of God, and the
"Spirit" of God remained with them. This word or
covenant made with the Hebrews when they came up
out of Egypt was, of course, the compact God had
sealed with them, that, if they would be his people, He
would be their God ; that, if they kept his command-
ments, they should be his peculiar treasure among all
the nations of the earth. They might suppose that this
covenant had ceased and determined when they had so
flagrantly violated it, as that God had given them a prey
to their enemies and suffered them to be carried away
captive to Babylon ; but it had not ceased despite their
sins : it still .stood. God would be even better to them
than his word : and here was a proof patent to them all
—tlie Spirit, which alone gives life to the word, was
still with them, and manifestly with them. That Spirit
was working in the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah,
who brought them messages from Heaven ; nay, it was
working in their own hearts, and compelling them to
act on the inspiration of the prophets ; for had not the
Lord, barely a month since, " stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel, and the spirit of Joshua, and the spirit of
the whole remnant of the people," so that they had
"hearkened unto the voice of the Lord their God, and
did according to the words of Haggai the prophet, since
God had sent him " (chap. i. 12 — 14) ? Here, then,
was the proof that God was with them. Here was the
proof that his word, or covenant, with them still held
good; for the presence and activity of iiis Spirit in
their midst was the surest of all signs that both God
and his word remained with them, and had not been
alienated or withdi-awn. Why, then, shotdd they fear,
let the old men say what they would ? Grant that this
House was as " nothing " to the former. Was not a
li^-ing and active spiritual Presence more and better
than any house ? What did it matter tliat the Temple
was small if God dwelt in it, and dwelt in it not simply
as a fire involved in clouds, but as a benignant and
quickening Power ?
In all tliis there was much to rouse and cheer their
hearts, and to make the feast end more blithely than it
began. But Haggai has far greater things than these
to utter. Like all the prophets, he has his brief apoca-
lypse. His quick and forward-hasting spii-it is borne on
into the future ; and he, too, sees, or foresees, the coming
of the kingdom that cannot be moved. This apocalyptic
vision occupies only four verses (6 — 9) ; but these verses
are very full. They are also pei-plexing : for, like aU the
prophets when they rise to their highest point of vision
and pre-vision, Haggai blends and entangles the future
with the present : the future events which he foresees
cast their shadows before, but the form of these
shadows is determined by the historic facts of the
moment, and often it is hard to distinguish the pre-
dictive element of his words from the historic. Let us
read them, and see what we cau make of them : —
" For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Once more, and that soon,
I will shake the heavens and the earth,
The sea aud the dry laud ;
Yea, I will shake all the nations,
And the good things desired hy all the nations shall come;
And I will fill this house with glory,
Saith the Lord of hosts.
Mine is the silver, aud mine is the gold,
Saith the Lord of hosts.
The last glory of this house shall be greater than the first,
Saith the Lord of hosts :
And in this place will I give peace,
Saith the Lord of hosts."
Now the plain historic sense of the words, the sense
in which the Jews to whom Haggai spoke would take
them, I suppose to be this. They would under.stiind
that a great convulsion was at hand, iu which the
nations and empires that now oppressed them would be
ovei-thrown, and compelled to recognise the power of
Him who had chosen the Hebrew race to be his people ;
that they themselves would be emancipated from their
subjection to Persia, and raised to a height of freedom
and strength which would set them above the reach of
their adversaries ; that they need have no fear about
the completion of the Temple, or that it would lack
HAGGAI.
205
splendour, since He was with them to whom the silver
and the gold belonged ; and that, when the Temple was
complete, God would grant them a settled peace, and so
manifest his power among them as that the last glory
of his house and kingdom should surpass the first.
If this was, as probably it was, the sense in which the
Jews took the words of Haggai, we can well believe
that, as they listened to them, their hearts would be
filled with new courage and hope, and that the last day
of the Feast of Tabernacles would in very deed be the
great day of the feast, a day full of jay and gladness.
But as the years passed, and they found Darius on
their side, reversing the policy of his predecessor, and
granting them gold and silver, bullocks and lambs,
wheat and salt, wine and oil, for the service of the
Sanctuary, until, in four years, the Temple was finished,
they surely would suspect that even these most welcome
changes were but a poor fulfilment of Haggai's large
and glowing words. Did the shaking of the heavens
and the earth, and the coming of that which all nations
desired, and the more excellent glory of the latter
House, and the supreme gift of " peace " mean no more
than this ? This surely could not exhaust the meaning
of the prophecy I It did not. God was his own inter-
preter. Time and He that shapes it to a perfect end
soon brought out a larger meaning. Under Darius the
Persian empire culminated ; but even under the reign
of his immediate successor, Xerxes, it began to be
shaken. In his war with Greece, it was so tei'ribly
shaken as that it never regained its old power. So
again the empire of Greece, raised to its height by the
conquests of Alexander, the adversary of Xerxes, was
shaken into hostile fragments at his death. The two
largest fragments, the Syrian and Egyptian kingdoms,
destroyed each other; and thus the whole Eastern world
became the easy prey of Rome. Under all these wars,
commotions, changes, extending through five centuries,
the Jews throve and grew : the silver and the gold
flowed into the House of the Lord, so that the second
Temple grew to be larger, if not more magnificent,
than the first. And then, when the Roman empire
was at its height of power. He came in whom the desires
of all nations were centred and were accomplished.
For what the nations most deeply desired, yet what
by the lips of their wisest sages they confessed they
could not find, was an authentic disclosure of God and
of the \vill of God, an authoritative proclamation of
the law by which human life should be ruled, the
outshining of a clear steadfast light on the lot and
destiny of man.
These desires were fulfilled in Christ, who came to
show them the Father, to declare his wiU, to illustrate
the true law of human conduct, to bring life and
immortality to light. And when He came to be the
Light of the Gentiles, He also came to be " the Con-
solation of Israel." Whatever the splendour of the
second Temple, it lacked the pride and glory of the first
— the Urim and Thummim, the sacred ark, the goldea
pot of mauua, the law written "by the hand of Moses,"
the Shekina!) with its fire involved in clouds. Bu^
in Christ, who sat daily teaching in this Temple, there
came the Divine Substance of which all these were
but fleetmg shadows, the sacred and ^-ital Oracle of all
truth, the Ark of Salvation, the Bread of Life, the Law
incarnated in the loveliness of perfect deeds, the very
Brightness of the Father's gloiy. He who, as He
walked in the sacred precinct, could say, " In this place
is One greater than the Temple" — of Him we may
surely affirm that He caused the last glory of that
House to be greater than the first ; while of Him in
whom " God was reconciling the world unto Himself,"
we may as surely say that in that place He gave
peace.
That, besides their first historical meaning, Haggai's
words had this larger predictive and Messianic mean-
ing, the words themselves bear mtness. They are of
too wide and lofty a sweeji to be exhausted by the first
fulfilment. And though perhaps Haggai himself never
saw, or never clearly saw, what and what manner of
thing the Spirit of God that was in him did signify,
nevertheless we, with whom his words remain, and the
Spirit which can alone quicken the Word to life, may
well believe that he testified beforehand, if not of the
sufferings of Christ, yet " of the glory that should
follow."
THIED PEOPHECY.
CHAP. II. 10—23.
The ninth month of the Jewish year answers to the
period between the middle of November and the middle
of December. At this period, in Palestine, the winter
crops have been sown, and the early or autumnal rain
has set in. It was on the twenty-fourth day of this
month, when, as we may suppose, the rains were well
on, that the word of the Lord came once more to
Haggai the prophet. On the very day he spoke it was
exactly three mouths after the building of the Temple
had been resumed, and about two months after he had
been moved to relieve the depression of the builders by
the glowing hopes and promises of his second prophecy.
It will be remembered that, within a few weeks after
they had recommenced the work, the Jews lost heart,
and that mainly because the harvest and vintage of the
year, like those of many previous years, had disappointed
theu' hopes. As they kept the Feast of Tabernacles,
instead of rising into the joy of harvest and vintage,
they saddened as they remembered how much they had
sowed and how little they had gathered in, and saddened
into a still deeper depression as the old men recalled
the glories of the former Temple, and declared that the
new House would be as " nothing" compared with that.
To relieve their depression, to infuse into their labours
the strength and animation of hope, Haggai had been
commissioned to assiu-e them that the last glory of this
House should surpass its first glory ; that God Himself
would come and dwell in it, and give them peace. And
now for two months, in one of the busiest seasons of the
year, when the seed had. to be sown and the yoimg vines
planted, they had woi-ked faithfully and vigorously at
20G
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the groAviug structure, strong in the hope which the
words of Haggai had kindled. They had thus fitted
themselves to receive a fresh assurance that, if they
were true to God, He Avould be true to them. Possi])ly
they were once more dei)ressed in heart, or liable to
depression. For, now that the seed was sowai, there was
no more corn in tlieir granaries ; and of course, it being
early winter, none of the trees — such as the viue, the fig.
the olive — would yield their fruit for mouths to come
(verse 19). Hungry times were upon them and before
them ; and hungry men are likely to be hopeless, if not
desperate, men. How could they tell but that the next
harvest woidd be as scanty and insufficient as the
harvests of recent years ? Once more, perhaps, they
might toil and wait in vain, although as they waited
they were obeying the command of the j)rophet and
building a House for God.
To tliese spoken or unspoken fears, Haggai replies.
'• No ; your deficient harvests were simply a punish-
ment on your neglect of God and his House ; and now
that the sin is at an end, you may be sure the pimish-
ment is at an end too." In order to make it clear to
them that tlieir sin against God was the sole cause of the
failure of their harvests, he sets them to stiidy a pax-able.
They are to go to the priests and ask two questions
about ceremonial purity and imiiurity. Tliey are to ask,
first, whether if a mau should carry sacred flesh — i.e.,
the flesh of animals offered in sacrifice — in the skirt of
his garment, and should touch bread ■with his skirt, or
pottage, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, it would
thereby be sanctified.^ They ask the question, and, in
accordance with the Mosaic law (Lev. vi. 27), the
priests answer, " No ; the skirt of the garment in which
the sacred flesh is carried is itself holy, but it cannot
communicate this holiness, let it touch what it will."
They are then to ask a second question, viz. : whether
a mau. who has himself become unclean through
touching a dead body, defiles any and eveiy kind of food
that he touches ? And to this question the priests, still
in full accordance with the law of Moses (Numb. xix.
22), reply, " Tes ; whatever he touches for seven days
after his personal defilement becomes unclean" (verses
11 — 14). Now if we conceive of the people as being-
sent to the priests on these two errands, and as bringing
back the priestly repfies to Haggai, wo shall understand
that tliey would have them well impressed on their
minds, and that tliey would be very curious to learn wluit
use he would make of them. Doubtless they would
discuss the questions, and the true answers to them, as
they went to the pi-iests ; and, as they came ])ack, we may
be sure they would speculate on the motive of the in-ophet
in sending them to the priests, and wonder in what Avay
he would turn their replies to purpose. The use ho made
i)i them was so simple and obvious that I dare say the
people failed to anticipate it. It was this. The Jews
themselves, in their relation to God, resembled, on tlie
one hand, a man who carried sacred flesh in tlie skirt of
Ids gai-ment; and, on the other hand, a man who had
defiled himself by touching a corpse. They were the
chosen people. Tliey carried -with them a blessing for
the whole world. And in this sense they were holy,
they bore in their garment that which was sacred.
And they had thought that tliis jmrpose and election of
God would give a sacred immunity from harm to aU
tliey touched ; that, because to them pertained tho
adoption and the covenant, the seed they sowed and the
trees they planted would thrive, and that they would
gather in abundant harvests of corn and wine and oil.
By comparing them to the man who carried sacred
flesh in the skirt of liis garment, but did not therefore
sanctify the bread his garment brushed, or the pottage,
or the wine, or the oil, Haggai taught them that the
election of God was of itself no guarantee of prosperity,
that it did not necessarily involve a blessing on aU the
labour of their hands. Tliey must be true to that
election. They must serve the God Avho had chosen
them, and keep his law, before they could look for his
blessing on their toils. And they had not been true to
Him or to his law. They had lost their sanctity by
their sins, just as the " cleanest " Hebrew lost his purity
the moment he touched a corjjse. They had forgotten
God, and let his House lie waste while they built
sumptuous houses for themselves. They had shown
that they did not care for his presence or his law.
And it was this moral uncleanness which had worked
like an infection through the land, and which took
■s-isible form in the lilight and the mildew which had
destroyed their gi-owiug crops. Themselves unclean,
everything they touched became unclean — all kinds of
food, "aU the work of tlieir hands," and even "that
wliicli they had offered there " — that is, on the altar of
sacrifice, which they had long since set up on its ancient
base (Ezra iii. 3).
In fine, the sole cause of tlieir deficient harvests was
their forgetfuliiess of God, and the sins which that
forgetfulness had induced.
While the people are pondering this siiuple yet
startling application of Haggai's parable, he once more
employs and repeats his favourite formula, " Set your
heart," and bids them ponder the history of the last
fom-teen years. How had it fared with them before
they resumed the building of the Temple, " laying stone
to stone ? " Was it not true that up to that time, do
what they would, they did uotliiiig to purpose ? If one
of them went to a heap of sheaves from which he calcu-
lated on getting twenty measures of corn, it yielded,
when threshed, no more than ten. Or if one of them
went to the wane-vat, thinking the graphs crushed in
it would yield at least fifty jji7i-a,'is — a measure of
unknown quantity — he obtained but twenty. And why
were their just hopes thus miserably disappointed ?
Simply because God was against them, because He was
punishing their neglect of Him. It was He who had
sent the blight and tlie mildew to prey upon theii- corn ;
it was He Avho had smitten the budding vines with hail.
And jvt no one d them had had the Avit to see whence
their miseries caim-. or tlie grace to turn in penitence
and amendment to Him who chastened them ! Now
at last, let them consider more wisely the years which
lay between to-d;iy and the day full fourteen years ago.
HAGGAI.
207
wheu the foundation of the Lord's Temple was laid ;
and they would see that it was their nncleanness
which had defiled everything they touched, and made
it abominable to God, so that all the labour of their
hands miscarried (verses 15 — 17).
Nay, let them consider the present, and forecast the
future, as well as ponder the past. What wei'e their
present prospects ? Miserable enough, alas ! There
was no com in the granaries, now that the seed-corn
was sown, so poor and linuted had been the produce of
the pre\4ous year. Where, then, were they to look for
bread, or for that which they might substitute or
exchange for bread ? The vine and the fig-tree, the
pomegranate and the olive, had not borne so plentifiiUy
as to leave any yield on their hands. They were desti-
tute and afflicted ; they might be able, if Darius were
clement and listened to their appeal with favour, to tide
over another winter and spring ; but should the harvest
once more fail them, what would become of them then ?
The harvest will not and shall not fail them, rej)lies
the proijliet. From this day forward God will bless
them. The fields .shall Toe covered with corn ; the
terraced hills stall be loaded with the purple grapes.
Now that they have returned to Him, G od will return
to them. The heaven shall no more withhold its dew,
nor the earth its fruit (A-erses 18, 19).
Tliis was Haggai's first word on the twentj'-foui-th
day of the ninth month, a word full of promise. But
to this first word a second was added, of still di^auer
promise. On the very day on which he prophesied of
the returnmg favour of Heaven to the people, Haggai
also animated the heart of their prince by disclosing
God's purpose to fulfil His covenant with David through
the line of Zerubbabel. Jiist as Judah had been diosen
from among the sons of Jacob, and Da\-id from among
the sons of Jesse, and Solomon from among the sous of
David, so now Zerubbabel is chosen from among all the
descendants of the royal house, to be the heir of the
promise. Of hira, concerning the flesh, the Messiah was
to come, and did come.
In studying the prophecy of verses 6 — 9, we found
in it a Messianic prediction, and that mainly because
its words were too wide and deep to be exhausted by
the historic fulfilment; and the most cursory com-
pari-jon of verses 21 — 23 with verses 6 — 9 will show
that Haggai is here falling back on that earlier pre-
diction. Then, he had represented God as saying, '' I
will shaJce the heaven and the earth, and the sea and
the dry land ; yea, I ivill sluike all the nations, and the
good things desired hy all the nations shall come, and
I will fill this house \vitli glory : and the last glory of
this house shall be greater than the first." Now he
represents God as saying —
"I will shal;e the heavens and the earth,
And I will overthrow the throne of the Idn^doms,
And I Kill destroij the might of the hiiitjdoms of the nations,
And overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them :
And the horses and their riders shall fall
Each by the sv;ord of the other."
Ob^-iously the prophet has tlie same gi-eat convul-
sion in his mind on botli occasions — a convulsion far
greater than any wliich occurred during the compara-
tively peaceful reign of Darius. As we saw when we
studied his former prediction, he was looking forward
to the disruption of the Persian, Greek-SjTian, and
Egyptian empires, and forecasting the advent of the
Messiah's kingdom, wheu these great empires of the
East should have passed away. Possibly he was
even looking through the cou\iilsions that were to
issue in the coming of Christ's kingdom, to the final
catastrophe of the world's history, and to the establish-
ment of that heavenly kingdom which shall embrace all
generations and races of men. And ob^-iously, when
he goes on to sj)eak, in verse 23, of the future of Zerub-
babel, we must admit that once more the words are too
large for an exhaustive fulfihnent within the narrow
lines of that prince's personal history. No doubt Zerub-
babel inferred from these words, and was entitled to
infer, that in the troublous years before him God would
defend and cherish him, and delight in him, as an
Eastern merchant or magnate cherished his signet ring,
which was to him what a signature is to us, a symbol of
authority, a key to all his ijossessions. And no doubt
this promise of the words was fulfilled. But the
heavens and the earth were not shaken in his time, nor
was the might of the great heathen empires destroyed,
nor did the lieutenants of Alexander all fall '' each by
the sword of the other." And therefore we are compelled
to look for a larger meaning — to take Zerubbabel as a
symbol and representative of the Davidic monarchy.
To Da-^dd God had granted aji everlasting covenant,
assuring him that there should never lack a man of his
house to sit ui)on the throne. Zerubbabel is now taken
into that covenant ; and just as that covenant was
finally fulfilled in Him who was Son of David and yet
Son of God, so also the promise made to Zerubbabel
was finally fulfilled in Christ — the promise, namely, that,
in the day that the heathen empires of the East were
destroyed, God would take him, his servant, and make
him as a signet, because He had chosen him. For it
was not till Jesus, the gi-eat descendant of Zerubbabel
and Da™l, came and dwelt among us, that the empires
of the East were destroyed by the conquering armies of
Rome ; it was not till then that the great spiritual
empire which cannot be moved was set uj). And of
Him all the tender images connected with the signet
ring are emphatically triie. To an Oriental prince the
signet ring, which was made of some precious metal,
or still more precious gem, carved with the most ex-
quisite art of the time, was an inseparable and valued
adjunct. As it was the symbol of his authority, and gave
unlimited power to its bearer, it was never parted with
save at some extraordinary coiijimcture. Worn com-
monly on one of the fingers of the right hand, or sus-
pended round the' neck by a costly chain, it was loved
for its familiar beauty as well as prized for its worth.
Aud tliis image of the signet is used in some of the
most impassioned passages of Scriptiire; as, for example,
in the Song of Solomon {vm. 6) —
" Lay me as a .signet ring upon, thy breast,
As a signet ring between thine arms ; "
208
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
or, again, in Jeremiah (xxii. 24), " Though Coniah, the
son of Jehoiakim, were even a signet ring upon my
right hand''' — though, that is, he were as that from
which it would be well-nigh impossible to separate —
" yet would I tear thee away thence." So that the
image, as applied to Christ, suggests that of all the
Divine possessions He is the dearcat, that which most
authoritatively symbolises the majesty of God, and
which He most tenderly cherishes and esteems.
Here, then, while his prophetic soul is, not sim^ily
dreaming of things to come, biit seeing in Him who
was to come the Darling of Jehovah and the Desire of
all nations, we part with the prophet Haggai. Three
times we liave heard him speak — at the Feast of the
New Moon, at the Feast of Tabernacles, and during
the early autumnal rain. And though his theme be
narrower than that of most of the prophets, and cover
no wider space than the limits of the Temple area, yet
even in Haggai we find an emphatic enunciation of the
moral trutlis we hear from every other member of the
goodly fellowship, and see that, like them, ho caugTit
glimpses of tho Messianic hope. Like them all, he
teaches that sin brings judgment ; that judgment means
mercy, and is designed for correction ; that repentance
secures the forgiveness of sin, and that amendment of
life has power to turn the veiy cui-se of God into a
benediction. And, like his brethren, he is made strong
for teaching these truths in an evil age, by his assured
conviction that good will yet triumph over evil ; that,
sooner or later, the Christ of God will bring in a
kingdom, wide as the earth, in which truth shall reign,
and righteousness, and peace.
DIFFICULT PASSAGfES EXPLAINED.
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
BY THE EEV. H. D. M. SPENCE, M.A., EECTOR OF ST. MART DE CRYPT, GLOUCESTER, AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN
TO THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL.
EN have usually given the Miracle of
Pentecost — the Gift of Tongues — a signi-
fication which neither the New Testament
allusions to this gift, or the early history
of the Church, in any way support.
The supposition that the power of speaking in
various languages was bestowed on a number of the
fii-st believers for their after-use in preaching the
Gospel ' — a supposition at variance with all early record
— has raised uj) a host of hostile critics, who characterise
the event related in Acts ii. 1 — 13 as a baseless tradi-
tion— ^as quite contradicting the Pauline description of
tke gift of tongues (1 Cor. xii. 10 and 1 Cor. xiv.).
The genuineness of the section has never been doubted.
It is insei)arable from the Book of Acts, a book
reverently received as undoubtedly inspired from the
earliest days of the Church. The ablest of the hostile
critics, while maintaining the legendary character of the
whole of the episode, now decline to contest the ancient
interpretation of the words which tell us of this first
gift of the Holy Ghost to the Church of Christ. It
then generally is allowed on all sides that those wor-
shippers who " were all with one accord in one place "
waiting for tho coming of power from on high, were
endowed at the time with the gift of uttering the
praises of God in languages different from their own.
(1.) Wliat now was this strange gift ? (2.) Did it
differ in any way from the gift of tongues described at
length subsequently by St. Paul ?
(1.) The gift of tongues, promised by the risen Lord
(St. Mark x^-i. 17), and first bestowed by tho Holy
Ghost on the 120 disciples assembled together on that
1 Cf. Wordsworth's Comm. on Acta ii. ; Milton's Paradise Lost,
xii. 497 — 50-i ; aud apparently the proper preface for Whit-Sun'lay
and six days after, in the order of the administration of the Lord's
Sapper.
Pentecost which succeeded the Ascension, was one of
the special miraculous powers peculiar to the apostolic
age, and seems to have been an ecstatic expression of
thanks and of praise to God, never apparently an instru-
ment of teaching.
The speaker i-apt, though not losing aU command of
himself, not always fuUy conscious of what he was
uttering, poured out his ecstatic stream of praise;
thanking God for his glorious, mighty warks, in words,
in a language not usually comprehended by the by-
stander. These utterances needed an interpreter; at
times the speaker became his own expositor; more
generally the gift of explaining the strange, beautiful
utterances was bestowed on another — one spoke, and
another interpreted.
(2.) Tlie miracle of Pentecost only differed very
slightly from those manifestations of the Spirit described
by St. Paid in his Corinthian Letter. The " tongues "
Ave read of in the Church of Corinth needed an inter-
preter, either the speaker or some other inspired person,
as the utterances were in a language not comprehended
by the bystanders. In the Pentecost miracle, though,
no interpreter was needed. The inspired ones spoke
then, as the Spirit gave them utterance, in new languages
certainly ; but on that memorable oci-asion each new
language was addi-essed to groups familiar with the
sounds.
The Greek-.spoaking Jew and proselyte heard one in-
spired man proclaiming tlie glorious deeds of God in his
own Greek. The strangers of Rome and Italy listened
to another uttering the same praises in their familiar
Latin. The Eastern jiilgrims caught the same strange,
beautiful words of praise and thanksgiving spoken by
others of the inspired company in the various Oriental
dialects thoy knew so well.
In this particular only differs the great Pentecost
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
209
miracle from the gift of tongues spoken of at such
length by St. Paul in the Corinthian Epistle. The fii-st
striking instance of this new and marvellous power
needed no subsequent intei-pretation ; the new language
in which each utterance was conveyed, on this occa-
sion, was comprehended by each group of listeners at
once.
Neither in the Acts or the Epistles, or in early
ecclesiastical history, is any intimation given that the
•• twelve," or " the hundred and twenty," or any of the
converts to Christianity during the first hundred years
after the Resurrection, were supematurally endowed
with power to preach the Gospel in different languages
which they had never learned. On the contrary, the
currently received interpretation of Acts xiv. 11 points
to St. Paul, " who spake with tongues more than all," not
understanding the dialect of Lycaonia. St. Jerome,' too,
tells us St. Paul was accompanied by Titus as an inter-
preter; and Papias- writes of Peter attended by Mark,
who acted in the same capacity in the missionary
journeys of the great Jewish Apostle. One solitary
passage alone, from Irenseus,^ of doubtful meaning, is
urged in support of the hypothesis concerning the pre-
sumed miraculous power of preaching in new tongues.
He is speaking of those who had prophetical gifts, who,
he says, " spoke through the Spirit in all kinds of lan-
guages iiravToSaTrais \a\owTciiv Sio rod TlvevfiaTos "yKuxraais).
But, as we have observed, there is an almost total
silence in the early Fathers on the subject of the gift
of tongues. To them evidently it was no mere power
of speaking in various languages ; it was something
quite different, something they could not understand or
explain, and which had e\4dently ceased when the first
generation of believers had passed away. Again, the
elaborate notice of the gift of tongues in the 1st Epistle
to the Corinthians forbids any notion of this power
being used for teaching purposes in their own Corin-
thian congregation at home, and totally excludes all
idea of the " tongues" as an instrument for missionary
work among strange peoples abroad ; for its chief
characteristic is that it is unintelligible — the man speaks
mysteries, prays, blesses, gives thanks in the Spii'it, but
no one understands him.
Prayerfid examination of the various passages in the
writings of the New Testament where these miraculous
1 St. Jerome quoted by Estius on 2 Cor. xi.
* Papias, referred to by Ensebius, H. E. iii. 39.
3 Cf. Irenseus, Contra Hereses, liber v., c. Ti
powers are alluded to, supplemented by a study of the
documents, some fragmentary, some tolerably perfect,
which have been left us by eminent men in the early
Church, leads to the conclusion that the miraculous gifts
of the first days bestowed on the Church for a definite
purpose, when the apostles and those who had learned
Christ from their lips had fallen asleep, were gradually
but quickly withdi'awu from men. Among these super-
natural powers we can well believe that the earliest
mthdi'awn were those new tongues first heard in their
strange sweetness, needing then no interpreter, on that
Pentecost morning; those tongues which during the
birth-throes of Christianity gave utterance to the rap-
turous joy and thankfulness of the first believers.
They were a power, however, which if misused might
lead men — as history has subsequently shown— to con-
fusion, to feverish dreamings, to morbid imaginings —
to a condition of thought which would utterly unfit men
and women for the stern and earnest duties of their
several callings ; in a word, would lead to a life unreal
and unhealthy. And so that chapter of sacred history
which tells of these communings of men with the
unseen, which speaks of those thrilling moments of rapt
joy, of those sweet unearthly utterances which now and
again beautified with a beauty not of earth the fives of
those brave witnesses who first set the bright example
of giving up aU for the love of Chiist — that chapter
was closed for ever when the " tongues " had done their
work.
On the Variotis Schools op Interpretation of the Gift op
Tongues. — The interpretations of the " Miracle of Pentecost " and
the " Gift of Tongues " may be roughly massed under three heads:
— 1 and, 2 accept the miracle related in Acts ii. 1—13 in its strictly
literal sense. (1), however, considers the miraculous powers of
tougues conferred at Pentecost as a j^ermanent gift, and used
generally by the Apostles and certain of their followers for the
purpose of preaching the Gospel to the various peoples of the
world speaking different languages. Bishop Wordsworth's learned
and interesting comment on this passage of the Acts may be taken
as a fair exponent of this school of exposition. (2) also accepts
the miracle in its strictly literal sense, but sees no proof that
the gift of tongues was ever used for teaching purposes at home,
or for missionary •bjects abroad ; it considers it to have been a
power bestowed rather for individual solace and refreshment than
for public ministration ; it looks on it aa a special instrument
for ecstatic praise, and not as intended for systematic teaching.
Professor Plumptre, while powerfully advocating such an inter-
pretation, discusses with more or less fulness, from various stand-
points, the conditions and teaching of this famous episode in
apostolic history. (3) considers the whole story of the Pentecost
miracle as purely mythic, not only improbable, but even prepos-
terous. For a summary of the views of this unhappy school, and
the necessarily cheerless deductions, the elaborate Excursus of
De Wette on this passage (A-postelgeschichte, pp. 23 — 36, Ed. lS7u)
is perhaps the clearest and most exhaustive.
€2— VOL. rii
210
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCEIPTUEE.
THE LOCAL COLOURING OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.— THE EPISTLE OF THE FIRST IIVIPRISONMENT.
BY THE EDITOK.
SHALL :i,ssiimo in this paper that four
Epistles — those to the PhiUppians, tlie
Ephesiaiis,the Colossians, and to Philemon
— were wi-itteu at this period, and tliat they
. were wi-itten in the order in which I have thus placed
them. The chief data for that order are found m the
facts, (1) that when St. Paid wrote the last-named of
the four Epistles he was clearly expecting to be released,
and to retuiTi to Asia, so that he entreated Philemon
(ver. 22) to prepare for him a lodging; (2) tliat the
Epistle to the Colossians was. lieyond doubt, written at
the same time as that to Philemon, when the same
persons, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and Lucas (Col.
iv. 10, 14 ; Philem. 24), were with him, and was sent
by the same disciple, Onesimus ; (3) that the Epistle to
the Ephesians, probably a circidar letter (as has been
inferred from the absence of the words "in Ephesus"
from many of the most aacient MSS.) to the Asiatic
Churches, contains so large a portion of matter common
to it and the Epistle to the Colossians, that it is aU
but impossible not to suppose that they were wi'itten
at or about the same time ; and (4) that Tychicus, who
was the bearer of the one Epistle, commissioned to fill
np by his personal communications the deficiency of
its intelligence (Eph. vi. 21), was also, together with
Onesimus, the bearer of the other (Col. iv. 7, 9). The
Epistle to the Phihppians then takes its place as the
fii-st of the letters wi-itten after that arrival of St. Paul
at Rome of which we read in Acts xxviii. 16 — 31. He
had come as a prisoner who had appealed, as a Roman
citizen, to the Emperor, and was waiting for his trial.
In the meantime (and the int«i*val was upwards of two
years) he was under a restraint, which, though com-
paratively mild — known, indeed, technically, as a cus-
todia libera — was yet sufficiently irksome. He was
allowed to live in his own " hired house " or apartment
(Acts xxviii. 30), but he was still "in bonds," a " pri-
soner," fastened l)y a chain to a soldier, who never
left him night or day. It was natural, under such cir-
cumstances, that his lodgings should be in a situation
where it would be easy for his guards, as they relieved
each other, to go to and fro between the Praetorian
camp, in which they were quartered, and the residence
of their prisoner. The circumstances of the soldier's
life, the armour in which he was equipped, would be
continually before his eyes, suggesting to his mind, so
quick to discover parables in all things, their mani-
fold analogies to the panoply of the Christian com-
batant in his warfare with the world. The succession
of soldiers who were thus in turn placed over him, and
each of whom would cany back to the camp some
report of the character and, it may be, the teaching of
the strange prisoner, so unlike all other prisoners,
whom he had been set to guard, would make him and
the witness which he bore a common topic of conversa-
tion. Rumours would spread among centurions and
other officers that the conspicuous representative of
the new sect of the Christians was in the midst of
them.
The Epistles which are now before us abound, I
need hardly say, in references of this nature. The
writer speak? of himself once and again as the " prisoner
of Jesus Christ," " the pi-isoner of the Lord " (Eph.
iii. 1 ; iv. 1). He has come on an embassy from the
King of kings, and yet the sanctity which attached
to that office in the common intercourse of nations is
denied to liim, and he is "an ambassador in bonds"
(Eph. vi. 20). For the hope of Israel he is bound with
the chain to which he points with something of the
same feeling of enthusiasm as that which led him, when
he stood before Festus and Agi-ippa, to utter the wish
that those who have heard lum might be " almost and
altogether " such as he was, " except these bonds "
(Acts xxviii. 20; xxvi. 29). Yet all this he was enabled
to rejoice in as working " for the furthering of the
Gospel." His bonds in Christ had become manifest in
all the prcetorium {i.e., according to the best interpre-
tation, through all the Praetorian guard who hved in
the adjacent Ijarracks). The fame which thus spread
of his undaunted courage, of the freedom with which
he preached the Gospel even under all these seeming
hindrances, made others of the brethren " more bold
than they had been to speak the word without fear "
(Phil. i. 13, 14). So far as we can judge by the tone of
these Epistles, thei'e was no period so little disturbed
by agitation and annoyance, so full of a bright, cheer-
ful serenity of spirit, as this of the first imprisonment.
Even delays which came between him and the trial
which he hoped would attest his innocence of the
charge laid against him, and set him free to work more
widely, did not discourage him. When he wrote to
the Philippians ho was " hoping " to " come to them
shortly" (ii. 24). Months passed by, and yet when he
wrote to Philemon he was still only " trusting " to be
released, in answer to the prayers of his friends and
fellow-disciples (ver. 22). In the meantime, his work
went on, the circle of followers and inquirers expanded
day by day. The many distinct churches or congre-
gations of which we read in Rom. xvi. — and which the
renewed activity of Aquila and Priscilla when they
returned to Rome after the death of Claudius, and the
consequent repeal of the decree of banishment, must
have done much to foster — grew and multiplied. Even
in " Caesar's housclioll,'' among the f reedmon and slaves,
who, as artisins, domestic ser\^ant3, or, it might be, as
physicians, scribes, secretaries, were attached to the
establishment of the Emperor Xero, there were those
who, having had friendly relations with the Roman
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
211
citizens settled in the "colony" of Pliilippi, joined
with the Apostle in his salutations to that Church.
And it is in one of the Epistles of this period that we
find, as might have been expected, the fullest expansion
of that j)arable of the " whole armoui-," the " panoply "
of God, wliich the circumstances of St. Paul's life so
emphatically presented to him. He and the soldier that
kept him, awoke, each of them, morning by morning, to
a soldier's work, each needing to be equipped for it. Tlie
.symljolism on which the Apostle dwelt was determined
partly by the nature of the case, partly, perhaps, by
the employment of like similitudes wliich had become
familiar to him through the writings of the prophets.
In his warfare " against the wiles of the devil," against
'■ the principalities and powers," in whom he recognised
the hosts that were under the commands of the great
adversaiy, he could not spare one part of that full
equipment. Tliere must be the " girdle of truth,"
truth in the inward parts, as that without which tliere
would be no consciousness of strength ; and the breast-
plate of righteousness, of just dealing as between man
and man, of right conduct as in the sight of God. As
the soldier put the sandals on his feet that he might
be ready to do the errand on which he might be sent
by his commanding officer, so the Christian was to
have his feet shod with "the preparation," better, per-
haps, with the "preparedness," the "readiness," which
belonged to those who " preached the gospel of peace "
(Rom. X. 15 ; Isa. lii. 7). These formed, so to speak,
the actual body armour which made the man strong to
act. Over this there was to be the shield of faith, not
the small round buckler which protected hardly more
than arm and breast, but the large wicker shield,
covered with thick hides, upon wliich the fire-tipped
arms of the adversary (St. Paul borrows his imagery
from one of the modes of barbaric warfare which the
Romans h;id actually encountered, and of which he
may well have heard from some of his soldier -guards)
might fall and do no harm. Faith, the broad, aU-
tmbracing trust that God would make all things work
together to those that love Him, would be enough to
" quench " aU the doubts and fears which were the
most deadly weapons of the cruel and wily foe. Two
portions of the panoply yet remamed. There was the
helmet, the form and fashion of which, the crest of
horse-hair or the like, indicated the cohort or the legion
to which the soldier belonged; and this the Apostle
speaks of as "the helmet of salvation," that which bore
witness that aU were in the legion of the " saved,"
acknowledging Christ the Sa\aour as their head and
captain. And, lastly, there was the one aggressive
weapon which the Christian combatant was allowed to
use, as contrasted with the " carnal weapons " of an
eai-tlily warfare, the " sword of the Spu-it, which was
the word of God."' The wi-itten word which was so
often treated as a dead and lifeless thing became living
and mighty. when quickened by the Eternal Spirit.
And it was not the written word only or chiefly of
which St. Paul thought, but that which was given to
men. putting thoughts into their lieads, and words into
then- lips, which they could not otherwise have acquired,
enabling them to speak so as to probe the conscience,
and to pierce, as they themselves had been pierced,
'' even to the dividing asimder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow," and showing itself, in so
doing, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. It was not strange that one Avho had felt its
power should speak of that " word of God " as '"quick,
and powerful, ami sharper than any two-edged sword "
(Heb. iv. 12).
Of special coincidences connected with one of the
Churches to which these Epistles were addressed, that
at Philippi, I have already spoken (Bible Edttcator,
I., pp. 148 — 150). Some others remain to be noticed.
1. The disciple who is prominent as the messenger
of the Philippian Church, who had sought St. Paul out,
and ministered to him, and who, kid low by some sharp
attack of sickness, had nearly lost his life, boi'e the
name of Epaphroditiis (Phil. ii. 25). That name, it
may be noticed, had become common in consequence of
its ha^ving been assumed by the dictator Sylla, as the
Greek equivalent of the Latin Felix, which marked
him out as li^Tug under the smiles of Aphrodite, the
favoimte of fortune, and was borne, like the name
Cornelius, which belonged to his gens, by many of
his freedmen and followers. In the Ej)istle to the
Colossiaus, the messenger of the Church, who brought
tidings of its welfare and of its danger, is named as
Epaphras (i. 7; Pliilem. 23). This was but a shortened
form of the name Epapliroclitus, just as ApoUos was of
Apollonius, and hence some writers have been led to
identify the two who are just named as one and the
same man, travelling to and fro as the messenger of both
churches. The circumstances of the case, however, the
close and intimate relations of each with the church
with which he is specially connected, make this in the
highest degi-ee improbable ; and it seems far more pro-
bable that, the two being .with St. Paul and the Roman
disciples at or about the same time, the longer and the
shorter forms of names were deliberately used in order
to distinguish them, and so to avoid confusion.
2. The history of the runaway slave Onesimus, who
was one of the bearers of the Ex^istle to the Colossiaus,
and who is there mentioned, without any reference to
his former servile state, simply " as a faithful and beloved
brother,'' belongs to the introduction to the Epistle to
Philemon. But it may be noticed here, as connecting
his name and life with the teaching of both the Epistles
to the Ephe-sians and Colossiaus, that it was precisely
what we should expect in one of St. Raid's keen insight
and ready symj)athy, that the arrival of such an one,
his tale of wi-ongs suffered, and harsh threats met by
insolent defiance, should turn his thoughts to the ever-
pressing dangers connected with the wide-spread insti-
tution of slavery, which St. Paul did not feel himself
called to denounce or uproot, which he hoped the truth
that aU men are equally free, equally servants in the
sight of God, and that with Him there is no respect of
persons, would do much to miigigate, but which, so long
as it lasted, was the som-ce of constantly recurring evils.
212
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to which oven tho consciousness of Christian freedom
might give a fresh power. And it is accordingly in
the two Epistles written after tho arrival of Oncsimiis
that wo find tho fullest exposition of the relative duties
of tho master and sLive, the most earnest entreaties to
guard against the besetting dangers of their position.
Tho anxious watclifuluess in this respect of which we
find here the first traco seems never to have left the
Apo.stle. He recurs to it again in 1 Tim. vi. 1. St.
Peter, we may note, in writing to the same Asiatic
Churches, was urgent in counsels and warnings of the
same character (1 Peter ii. 18 — 25).
3. In no one Epistle does St. Paul dwell with greater
fulness on the thought that the whole company of the
faithful made up the temple of the living God, of which
Christ was the chief corner-stone, and the foundation
that which had been laid by apostles and prophets,
than in that to the Ephesians. We cannot forget that
those who would receive the letter had, in the days of
their ignorance, exulted in the possession of that great
Temple of Artemis, the " Diana of the Ephesians,"
whom all Asia and the world worshipped ; and though
it might bo too much to say that this directly suggested
the imagery to the Apostle's mind, it yet remains true
that, like the architectural allusions referred to in the
First Epistle to the Corinthians, it must have come to
them with special force, through those old associations.
4. When St. Paul had made his last journey to Jeru-
salem, in the vain hope of at least bridging over the
gulf between the widening chasm between the Jewish
and the Grentile Churches, the immediate occasion of the
tumult which defeated his purpose was the rumour
spread by Jews of the proconsular proAdnce of Asia,
that he had brought Greeks into the Temple, and had
polluted the holy place (Acts xxi. 28, 29). They had
seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city,
and had assumed that he had taken him beyond the
low stone wall which di^aded the outer court of the
Gentiles from that of the Israelite worshippers, and
which no xmcircumcised alien was allowed to pass under
pain of death. If these facts were present in his
memory — and surely they could hardly have faded from
it — we may see in the stress which he lays, in writing to
the Ephesian Church, on tho truth that in the true
spiritual temple in which they were called to worship
Chriiut had "broken down the middle wall of partition"
between Jew and Gentile, a tlistinct allusive reference
to the incident recorded in the Acts.
5. The question as to the special nature of the errors
propagated by the false teachers at Colossaj will be
treated of, in due course, in the series on the " Books of
the Bible." It will be sufficient to note here, as an
instance of "local colouring," that one of the most pro-
minent of these errors was "the worshipping of angels "
(Col. ii. 18). It was apparently an offshoot from one
of the Essene communities, among whom, we learn
from Josephus {Wars, ii. 8, § 7), the names of the angels
(probably of those who were looked upon as speciallj-
guardiai angels) were communicated with special
solemnity to the initiated, and were treasured with the
greatest reverence. To the excitable temperament of the
Phrygian that cultus offered naturally great attraction.
And it is a singular instance of the tenacity of the false
worship thus condemned in the same locality, that even
as late as the fourth and fifth centuries oratories dedi-
cated to Michael the Archangel were found widely
scattered throughout Phrygia and Pisidia, and that
the Council of Laodicea (a.d. 360) — (Col. iv. 16 shows
the close connection between the two cities) — found it
necessary to restrain the practices of those who left the
Church of God to go to forbidden gatherings and call
upon the names of angels, and to pronoimc* a solemn
anathema on those who thus yielded to what was rightly
stigmatised as a " hidden idolatry."
ILLUSTRATIONS FEOM EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
EAELY ATTENDANCE AT THE SANCTUARY (continued).
BY THE REV. C. D. GINSBURG, LL.D.
jT has akeady been remarked that these
" ten men of leisure " had the adminis-
tration of both the ecclesiastical and civil
aft'airs of the respective communities
over which they were selected to be the shepherds.
How faithfully this synagogual organisation has l)cen
preserved may be seen from the description which
Benjamin of Tudela, the celebrated traveller of the
Middle Ages, gives of the Jewish community at Bag-
dad. Tlic Jewish population of the city, which at that
time consisted of about a thousand, were divided into
ten congregations or colleges. These ten assemblies
were presided over by ten shepherds called " batlanim,
or men of leisure, because their sole occupation consists
in the discharge of public business. During every
day of the week they dispense justice to all the Jcwisli
inhabitants of the country, except on Monday, which is
set aside for assemblies under the presidency of Rabbi
Samuel, who is the chief of the college called ' Geon
Jacob' ('the pride of Jacob,' who on that day dispenses
justice to every applicant, and is assisted therein by the
ten batlanim, the rulers of the respective assemblies." '
Three other functionaries connected with the con-
stitution of th(! sjTiagogue must here be mentioned,
inasmuch as they explain certain allusions in the New
Testament. The first of thorn is —
(1) The Lccfate or the Apostle of the Congregation
(-112!? n'bo — Wherever the minimum legal number
required for public worship assembled themselves
1 Comp. The Jliiierori/ of Benjamin of Tudela, i. 100, 101. Ed.
AsLer, Londoi], 1840.
rLLUSTRATIOITS FROM EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
213
together — that is, the minyan (1"'^). or ten male persons,
from the age of tliirteen and upwards — there the eeclesia
was constituted. The cliief — that is the pcwnas, i.e.,
shepherd or presbyter — then delegated one of the lay
memljers of the assembly, who was most fit for the
office, to ascend the steps of the ark, and conduct the
Divine worship before the shnne of the Di^-ine revela-
tion. Tlie office of leader ui public worship was not
permanently vested in any individual. Any layman
who was not under thii-teen years of age, and " whose
garments were not in rags, could officiate before the
ark " {Mlshna Megilla, iv. 6). " If one is before the
ark" (i.e. ministers for the congi-egation), says the
canon law, "and makes a mistake in the prayer, another
one is to minister in his stead, and he must not decline
to do it on such an occasion " {Mishna Berachoth, v. 3).
All that was required was not to be too greedy for the
honour, but to manifest becoming modesty when invited
to 1)0 the officiating apostle for the occasion. Accord-
ingly " the sages have laid it down that he who is asked
to conduct public worship is to hesitate a little at first,
saying that he is unwoi-thy of it ; if he does not hesitate,
he is like unto a dish wliich has been spoiled by the
^alt. How is he to act ? The fii'st time he is asked he
-hould decline, the second time he is to stir, and the
third time he is to move his legs and ascend before the
ark" {Berachoth, 34).
For the time being the legate, angel, or apostle of the
congregation became not only the mouthpiece of those
who were present, but was the suiTogate of those who,
by accident or othei-wise, were precluded from attending
the place of worship {Bosh Ha-SJmnah, 35). This
angel of the synagogue recited the most sacred portions
of the liturgy, which could not be repeated in private
prayer, and wliich could only be offered up in the
presence of the canonically constituted eeclesia. This
circumstance, that all the brethren present were alike
considered holy, and that they could appoint the fittest
of their number to be their apostle and intercessor,
explains the plu-aseology used in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, " Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest
of our profession, Christ Jesus " (iii. 1).
The primitive custom of inviting any member present
to act as the minister, which of necessity obtained in
nllage congi-egations, was modified in lai-ge towns.
Wliere a large number of able men existed, the elders
or rulers could be more particular in their choice.
Hence it was deemed most desirable that he who acts as
the mouthpiece of the people should be able to sympa-
thise with the wants of the people, and should possess
those moral and mental qualifications wliich become so
holy a mission. The canon law, therefore, laid it down
tiiat "even if an elder Cp = irpeap^Tipos) or sage is
present in the cougi-egation, he is not to be asked to
officiate before the ark; but that man is to lie delegated
to officiate who has children, whose family are free
from vice, who has a proper beard, whose garments are
decent, who is acceptable to the people, and who has
a good and amiable voice, who understands to read
properly the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagicgrapha,
and who knows all the benedictions of the seiwice"
{Mishna Taanith, ii. 2). How strikingly this illustrates
the apostolic injunction, "A bishop must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigUant, sober, of good be-
ha^nour, and modest, ... one that ruleth well his own
house, having his children in subjection with all gravity,
. . . not a novice, ... he must have a good report of
them that are without" (1 Tim. iii. 1 — 7, with Titus
i. 1—9).
(2) The Chazan (nE:Drt ]-in).— In attempting to define
the character of this official, great care must be taken to
distinguish between the duties which he had to perform
before and at the time of Christ, and the functions
which devolved upon him after the Christian era. The
chazan of the Temple Synagogue, we are told, had
to imrobe the priests of their sacerdotal vestments
[Mishna Taanith, v. 3) ; he had to blow the shophar, or
trumpet, which at that time was used to make public
announcements ; he acted as the messenger to the ralers
of the synagogue when they chspeused justice; and he
had to administer the forty stripes, save one, to those
who were sentenced to be beaten {Sabbath, 35 b ; 56 a;
Sanhedrin, 17 b). He had to call out the names of such
persons as were selected by the ruler of the synagogue
to read the section from the Law and the Prophets, and
to hand the scroll of the Law to those who came up to
the platform to read the hebdomadal lesson. He had to
stand by and point out to the reader the place where the
portion of the lesson began ; he had to give the copy of
the Law to the ruler of the synagogue, when it had to be
given to the high priest. On this occasion, we are told,
" Wjien the high priest came to read the Law, and was
aiTayed either in the garments of byssus, or in his own
white upper garment, the chazan of the synagogue took
out the Law, and gave it to the ruler of the synagogue ;
the ruler of the synagogue again gave it to the chief
priest, and he again handed it to the high priest,
who received it standing." He had to take care of
the ftimiture, and clean the synagogue [Mishna Yoma,
vii. 1; Sota vii. 1). It was the chazan who " dehvered
unto Christ the book of the prophet Esaias," and it
was to liim that Christ gave it again after He had closed
it (Luke iv. 17 — 20). To tliis chazan our Lord alludes
in the admonition, " Agree with thine adversary quickly,
whUes thou art in the way mth him ; lest at any time
the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison "
(Matt. V. 25). It was with these chazanim, or sei*vants,
that Peter sat in the palace of the high priest, and
warmed liimseK at the fire, when he followed Christ
afar off (Mark xiv. 54); and these were the servants
of the synagogue who struck Christ with the palms of
their hands {ibid. ver. 65). The chazan, therefore, was
like the sexton or beadle, in modem churches, and
the apparitor combined in one. It wiU thus be seen
that just as the synagogue was the ecclesiastical and
ci\'il tribunal, and as the rulers of the synagogue were
the administrators of both tlie ecclesiastical and civil
laws, so the chazanim, or servants of the synagogue.
214
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
were both the beadles or soxtous in our church in so
far as thoy atteuded to the service of the synagogue, and
tho apparitors in so far as they waited upon the rulcr:^
of the synagogue wlion dig^jonsiiig the civil law. Bear-
ing in mind tliis twofold capacity of these servants, and
that tlie cliazan of the synagogue is the liypereU':^
{viri]peT7)s) of the Now Testament, wo shall bo able to
understand the fuU import of this term when used
by Christ and tho Apostles. Syperetes, as the equi-
valent of chazan, occurs twenty times in tlio New Tes-
tament, and is rendered by three different expressions
in the Authorised Version. It is translated (1) " officer "
in eleven passages (Matt. v. 25 ; John vii. 32, 45, 4G ;
xviii. 3, 12, 18, 22; xix. 6; Acts v. 22, 26); (2)
" servant " in four passages (Matt. xxvi. 58 ; Mark xiv.
54, 65 ; John xviii. 36) ; (3) " minister " in five passages
(Luke i. 2 ; iv. 20 ; Acts xiii. 5 ; xxvi. 16 ; 1 Cor. iv. 1).
This diversity of rendering is greatly to be regretted,
since servant suits all the passages, whilst officer and
minister are misleading. Thex'e can be no doubt that
in Luke iv. 20 tho chazan is meant in the sense of
beadle; whilst in all the other passages, with the
exception of Acts xiii. 5 ; xxvi. 16 ; 1 Cor. iv. 1, he is
refen-ed to as the apparitor of the tribunal.
After the time of Christ, when the knowledge of
Hebrew disappeared from among the people at large,
and when considerable additions were made to the
liturgy, which had to be recited with peculiar cantUla-
tion and intonation, it became absolutely necessary
that there should be a permanent reader of the prayers,
who both understood Hebrew, and had a good voice
for singing certain liturgical portions. Hence it was
deteiTQined that this chazan, this beadle and aj^paritor,
who was generally tlie sclioolmaster of tlie infant school,
should also act as tlie official reciter of the liturgy. In
the latter capacity tlie chazan continues in the syna-
gogue to this day.' Tlic chazan of the synagogue
exactly corresponds to the Imam of the mosque ; and,
indeed, if the word chazan is substituted for imam, the
foUowing description which Lane gives of this Moham-
medan official may be taken literally as describing the
Jewish chazan : — " Ho preaches and pi-ays before the
congregation on tlie Friday ; he recites tlie five prayers
of every day in the mosque, at the head of those
persons who may be there at the exact times of those
prayers. The condition of the Imams is very different,
in most respects, from tliat of Christian priests. They
have no authority above other persons, and do not enjoy
any respect but what their reputed piety or learning
may obtain for them ; nor are tliey a distinct order of
men set apart for religious offices, like our clergy, and
composing an indissoluble frateniity. for a man who has
acted as the Imam of a mosque may bo displaced by the
warden of that mosque, and, with his employment and
salary, loses the title of Imam, and lias no better chance
of being again chosen for a religious minister than any
otJier person competent to perform the office. Tlie
1 Coinp. Graetz, OescTitc/ifa Aer Juden, vol. v., p. 17, second
edition. Leipzig, 1871.
Imams obtain their livelihood chiefly by other means
than tho service of the mosque, as their salaries are voiy
small." ^ This is so faithful a picture of the Jewish
chazan, that we have no doubt tliat, like most of their
ritual and institutions, the Mohammedans introduced
this official from the Jewish s}Tiagogue.
(3.) The Meturgeman, or Interpreter. — "We have now
come to the last functionary in the constitution of the
synagogue. As this official is also spoken of in the
New Testament, it is desirable to ascertain more
minutely the nature of his office, and the duties which
devolved upon him.
The interpreter, as a part of the synagogue organisa-
tion, came into existence after the Babylonish captivity.
To understand his functions, as well as the important
versions of the Biljle to which this practice gave rise, it
is necessary to bear in mind the condition of the Jews
before and at the time of Christ. By far the greater
portion of those who had returned from exile had for-
gotten the Hebrew language, and though settled again
on their sacred soil, they no more spoke Hebrew, but
Aramaic. Besides, large numbers of Jews had at this
time emigrated into different parts of Afi'iea, Asia, and
Europe, and, with the exception of the learned, these
adopted the vernacular of their respective countries.
And though they formed themselves into religious
communities, and built places of worship wherever
they sojourned, yet they looked upon Jerusalem as
their sacred metroi^olis, and regarded the Temple as
their central point of unity. They not only constructed
their synagogues in every part of the world in such a
manner as to enable the worshippers to stand whilst
praying with their faces to Jerusalem, but went up to
the Holy City on the tliree great pilgrimage festivals,
and on many other oecasions. As the Temple could
only hold a hmited number, these Jews who came from
the different countries were simply represented at tho
Temple serAace, whilst the non-Palestine people them-
selves offered up their prayers at the same time in syna-
gogues which they built in Jerusalem for this purpose.
This circumstance explains the statement in the New
Testament that "the Libertines, Cyreuians, Alexan-
drians, and them of Cilicia and Asia" had synagogues
at Jerusalem (Acts vi. 9, with Toseplda Megilla, cap. ii. ;
Jerusalem Me.gilla, iii. 1 ; Babylon Megilla, 26 a). The
Palestinian and extra-Palestinian Jews at the time of
Clirist had no less than four hundred and eighty syna-
gogues at Jerusalem (compare Jerusalem Megilla, iii.
1 ; Jerusalem Kethuboth, xiii. ; Midrash on Lamenta-
tions, 52 b ; 70 d), which were by no means too many,
wlien it is borne in mind that, according to the testi-
mony of an eye-witness, two millions and a half of
Jews from all countries came sometimes to Jerusalem
for the Feast of Passover (Josephus, Wars, vi. 9, §3;
PesacMm,64!b).
Not only were certain portions of tlie seiwice recited
in the language of tlie different countries which these
2 Comp. Lane, Manners and Ottstoms of the Modo'n Egyi^tians, vol.
i., pp. 102, 103, fifth edition, 1871.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
2^^
synagogues represented, but the hebdomadal lessons
from the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiogi-apha,
which were read in the original Hebrew, had to be
interpreted in the several congregations into the respec-
tive vernaculars, for the benefit of the common people
who did not understand the sacred tongue. Like that
of conducting public worship, the office of interpreter
was originally not vested permanently in any single
individual. Any one who possessed the gift of tongues
volunteered his services. Even a minor — i.e., one under
thii-teeu years of age — or one whose garments were in
such a ragged condition that he was disqualified to act
as the delegate of the congregaiion, or a blind man,
says the canonical Law, could be asked to go up to the
reading-desk to interpret the lesson [Mishna Merjilla,
iv. 6). The interpreter, however, had to observe certain
rules and regulations. He was not allowed to look into
the codex of the Law whilst interpreting, lest it should
be thought that what he gave forth was actually in the
Law, and the Scriptures be held responsible for the free
rendering of the meturgeman. He was obliged to inter-
pret every verse of the Law separately, when the reader
had to pause, and was not allowed to begin the next
verse in the original until the meturgeman had para-
phrased it. In the lesson from the Prophets, however,
greater licence was given, and three verses were read
and interpreted at a time. The interpreter was obliged
to deliver his paraphrase in the same tone of voice
and not louder than the reader of the original Hebrew
{Berachoth, 45 a).
To prevent extravagant and misleading exegesis, and
to secure authority for the interpretation, the learned
were asked to undertake the office. Hence a guild of
meturgemanim obtained in the course of time, and
it is from this title oneturgeman, or turgem^an, that
French and English derived the names trucliement
and dragoman. A rule was then made that no one
under fifty years of age is to act as interpreter. The
paraphrases which this guHd of interpreters delivered
of the hebdomadal lessons are the basis of the Chaldee,
the Septuagint, the Syiiac, and other ancient versions.
Indeed, the Chaldee paraphrases are called Targum —
i.e., interpretation — Avhich is derived from the same ro®t
as turgevian — i.e., interpreter. It is to this guild of
interpreters, some of whom became followers of Christ,
that the Apostle refers when he says, " If any speak
in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the
most by thi'ee, and that by course ; and let one inter-
pret. But if there bo no interpreter, let him keep
silence in the church ; and let him speak to himself,
and to God" (1 Cor. xiv. 27, 28). Again the same
Apostle, when referring to the different offices and
gifts in the Church, asks "Are all apostles? are aU
prophets ? are all teachers ? are all workers of miracles ?
have all the gifts of healing ? do all speak with
tongues ? do all interpret ? " (1 Cor. xii. 29, 30).
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
BY WILLIAM CAEKUTHEES, F.K.S., KEEPEE OF THE BOTANICAL DEPAETMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
GEEANIACE^, ZYGOPHYLLACE^, EUTACE^, AND ATJEANTIACEiE.
ORDERS XXII. — XXV
^^^^^j^HE Geraniums {Geraniacece) are a group
of strong-scented herbs, easily distin-
guished by the long beak rising through
the centre of their fruits, to which the
seed-capsules are attached by a long arm. This
character suggested the name Geranium to the Greeks,
because of its supposed resemblance to the bUl of a
crane (yepavos), and the same notion is retained in our
popular English name, Crane's-bill.
The plants of this order are found all over the world.
Our British Flora contains fifteen species belonging to
the two genera Geranium and Erodium. The rose,
pui-ple, or red flowers of the twelve species of Geranium
chiefly adorn our hedge-rows and waste places, a few
being found in meadows, pastures, or woods. The
three species of Erodium occur on waste places, near
the sea.
Twenty species of the order have been observed in
Palestine. One of these {Biebersteinia muUifida, De C.)
belongs to a small anomalous group which has no beak
to the fruit; it is found on the Lebanon mountains.
A single species of the African Monsonia reaches the
Wady el-Arish, in the vaUey of the River of Egypt.
The other plants belong to the two British genera, and
several of them are identical with the species found in
Britain. The shining bright red Geranium lucidum,
Linn., found on old walls and in hedge-rows all over
England and Scotland, grows at Nablus and on the
Lebanon mountains ; while the yet more familiar
species G. tnolle, Linn., and G. dissedum, Linn., are
found in the higher lands of Palestine. Two of the
British storks-bills {Erodium- cicutarium, Linn., and
E. moschatum, Linn.) grow in the cultivated fields of
the Holy Land.
The Bean-capers {Zygophyllacece) are shrabs or herbs
with jointed, and generally spiny spreading branches,
found in the warmer regions of the globe, especially
of the Northern Hemisphere. Many are desert plants ;
they form one of the most striking features of the
vegetation of the desei-t region between Egypt and
Palestine; a few axe found in the depi-essed sub-
tropical region of the Lower Jordan, and four species
are frequent throughout Palestine. Caltrops {Tribulus
terrestris, Linn.), the most common of these, is a
spreading spiny plant, producing a dry fruit, also
covered with spines ; it grows in di-y and barren places,
and is very annoying both to man and beast. The
Greek name for this plant, rplpoXos, is used in two
places in the New Testament. When our Lord war;ied
the multitude against false prophets, He said, " Ye shall
216
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
rriJ/uhis terrcstris, Linn. Natural size. Thistles (Mutt. vii. 16). Briars (Heb. vi. 8).
know them by their fralts. Do men gather grai)es of
thorns, or figs of thistles T' (Matt. vii. 16.) A more
appropriate ilhistration couhl not be found among the
fruits of Palestine, as there does not exist a more
remarkable contrast than that between the dry, shelly
and spinous capsule of the caltrops, and the fleshy,
Tclvety compound fruit of the fig. The writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, in a passage which has been
the subject of much controversy, says " that (land)
wliich beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is
iiigli unto cursing ; whose end is to be burned " (Heb.
vi. 8). The presence of caltrops is a certain indication
of a poor and barren soil, unfit for the labour of the
agriculturist.
Tpi0o\os is employed in the Septuagint as the Greek
representative of the Hebrew dardar (iT?'!)), which is
used twice in the Old Testament. Tlie doubtful deriva-
tion of this Hebi'ew word throws no light on the kind
of plant to which it was applied, neither does the con-
text of the passages supply any information ; there is
no reason why the interpretation of the LXX. should
not be adopted, if the word is to be limited to a par-
ticular plant. Tlie word occurs in the sentence which
God pronounced on Adam in Eden : " Tliorns also and
thistles shall it bring forth" (Gen. iii. 18); and again
in Hosea's warning to Israel, when he foretells the
destruction and desolation of the altars when the
idolatrous sacrifices were offered, by declaring that
" the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their
altars " (Hos. x. 8).
The Rue family {Rutaceoe) comprises a large nnirjer
of plants of very different external form — trees, surubs,
herbs — but all distinguished by ha\-ing pellucid dots
on their leaves. The dots are glands filled with a pun-
gent, bitter, aromatic, volatile oil. The plants of the
order are distributed over the world, except in cold
regions. We have no representative among our wild
flowers; but the common rue [Ruta graveolens, Linn.),
though a native of the south of Europe, is a familiar
plant, being cultivated in our gardens. It is a small
shrub, with much divided bluish-green leaves and yel-
lov.'ish flowers. The volatile oil in the leaA'es give it a
powerful fetid odour and an acrid juice. Five species
of rue are native to the Holy Land ; and the common
rue is cultivated there, as with us, on accoimt of its
odoriferous qualities. The indigenous rues of Pales-
tine are found chiefly in the loAver valley of the Jordan'
and on the desert to the south of Judsea ; they are the
outliers of a tropical flora, reaching its uoi-theni limit in
this region. The rue was highly prized by the ancients,
because of its sxipposed medicinal properties; it was
long supposed to be efficacious in warding off contagion.
Shakespeare calls it "the herb of grace," and it is
stated to have been used by the priests in the Middle
Ages for sprinkling holy water on the people. Rue is
only once mentioned in the Bible, on the occasion when
THE PLAls^TS OP THE BIBLE.
217
our Lord upbraided the Pharisees for their punctilious
observance of trifling matters, while they neglected the
primary duties of morality and religion. Rigidly inter-
preting the law concerning tithes, which declared that
" all the tithe of ^-^
I
I
the land, whe-
ther of the seed
of the land or
of the fruit of
the tree, is the
Lord's " (Lev.
xxvii. 30), they
scrupulously
tithe "mint and
rue, and all man-
ner of herbs, and
pass over judg-
ment and the
love of God"
(Luke xi. 42).
No represen-
tative of the
Orange tribe
(Aurantiacece) is
found among the
plants indige-
nous to Pales-
tine, but some
species are now,
and have long
been, cultivated
there, because of
their refreshing
fruits, and of
the fragrance
and beauty of
their flowers.
That the majo-
rity of wi-iters
have held the
citron to be the
apple of Scrip-
ture, requires
that we shoidd
include it in our
notice of the
plants of the
Bible.
The allusions
to the apple
{meri, tappuach)
in the Song of
Solomon imply
that the fruit was
yellow, fragrant, and sweet, and that the tree bearing it
afforded a grateful shade. It is mentioned by Joel (i. 12)
as a fruit-tree, sufficiently familiar and important to
be reckoned with the vine, fig, pomegranate, and date.
Tliat it was indigenous to Palestine is implied in the
fact that several places were named after it in the time
Ruta Qvaveohns, Linn. Natural size. Rue (Luke ix. 42).
of Joshua — a city near Hebron (Josh. xv. 53), a second
city in Judah (ver. 34), and a district between Ephraim
and Mcinasseh (xAii. 8) ; the king of one of these places
was vanquished by Joshua when he took possession
of the Promised
Land (xii. 17).
Dr. Royle
gives the follow-
ing reasons for
considering that
the citron has
the best ckim to
be the ajiplo cf
Scripture : — " It
was esteemed by
the ancients, and
kucvm to tho
Hebrews, and
conspicuously
different, botli
as a fruit and a
tree, from the
ordinary vegeta-
tion of Syi'ia, and
was the only one
cf the Orange
tribe known to
the ancients.
That it was well
known to the
Hebrews we
have the assur-
ance in the fact
mentioned by
Josephus. that at
the Feast of Ta-
bernacles King
Alexander Jan-
nseus was pelted
with this fruit,
which the sedi-
tious Jews had
in their hands;
for, as he says,
'the law re-
quired that at
that feast every
one should have
branches of the
palm - tree and
the citron- tree.' "
This incident
implies that the
citron had, a cen-
'fuiy before the Christian era. in the days of Alexander,
become so common a tree as to be easily obtainable in
quantity by the Jewish multitude, and that it answered
the requirements of the Mosaic law, which enjoined that
" Te shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly
trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick
218
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
trees, aud willows of the brook " (Lev. xxiii. 40). Some,
however, consider that the olive was intended by tlie
" goodly tree," because the etz hadar ("goodly tree ")
of Leviticns is replaced by the olive in Neliemiah's
proclamation to the people to celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles (Neh. viii. 15). But no reasons have been
adduced for limiting the goodly tree to a particular
plant, and one may believe that, in the time of Alex-
ander, the branches of olive, sycamore, or oak were
employed, as well as those of the citron, in the celebra-
tion of the feasts. It is scarcely passible that the
citron was referred to by Moses in the original iustrvic-
tioas relating to the feasts, for the native locality of this
tree is the forests of tropical India, where it was dis-
covered by Dr. Royle ; and it is most probable that the
Jews became acquainted Avith it during the captivity,
and brought it with them on their return to their own
land. At all events it may be considered certain that
the citron was not introduced into Palestine during the
patriarchal period ; and it is improbable that it was so
familiar to the Jews in the days »f Joel, a century
before the captivity, as to be the tree referred to in
his prophecy.
The generally entertained opinion, that the famous
apples which grew in the garden of the Hesperides
were either citrons or oranges, has been made unten-
able by the investigations of geographical botany, for
none of the species of Citrus is indigenous to the
Mediterranean basin, or indeed to any district west of
Persia, or perhaps of the more limited area of tropical
India. The citron was known to the Greeks aud
Romans as a Median fruit, but the tree is believed to
have been brouglit to Europe in the third or foui-th
century. The l)itter orange was introduced by the
crusaders, and the sweet orange was unknown in
EuroiMi till the Portuguese brought it from India in
the end of the fifteenth century.
But not only is the geograj)hical distribution of the
citron opposed to its being the apple of the Old Testa-
ment, the tree itself does not accord with the Scripture
references. Its evergreen foliage might supjjly a dense
shade ; but when the plant (it can scarcely ho called a
tree) grows to a height of only eight or ten feet, Ave
woidd not expect it to be referred to in these tonus :
" As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is
my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his
shadow with great delight " (Cant. ii. 3). Eqixally
nnsuited to the remaining clause of the passage, " and
liis fruit was sweet to my taste," is the hard and indi-
gestible fruit of the citron, which cannot be eaten
except when prepared with sugar or honey.
Setting aside the different kinds of oranges, we must
look among the indigenous fruit-trees of Palestine for
the "apple" of Scripture. Lady Calcott and others
maintain the accuracy of the Authorised Version. Dr.
Thomson, in ai'guing for this view, apparently esta-
blishes the truth of his position, for he says, " The
whole area aroimd Askelon is planted over with
orchards of A^arious kinds of fruit which flourisli on
this coast. It is especially celebrated for its apples,
Avhich are the largest and best I have ever seen in this
country. When I was here in June, quite a caraAau
started for Jerusalem, loaded Avith them, and they
Avould not have disgraced even an American orchard "
{The Land and the Book, p. 545). He, however, mistook
the quince for the apple. Besides, it is certain that the
cHmate of Palestine is unfitted to the cultiA-ation of the
apple ; indeed, the foAV trees that exist are found in the
higlilands of the north, betAveen Sidon and Damascus,
and these yield but a poor fruit.
Celsius argues in favour of the quince, which is a
native of the Mediten*auean basin, and extends to
India. Its ripe frvdt has a fine golden yelloAV colour,
and Avhen the tree is laden Avith it, it forms a striking
and ornamental object. But the fruit itself is astrin-
gent and unpleasant to the taste till it is cooked. It
was a favourite in Rome, but before being used it Avas
boiled in houey or new Avine. It is consequently un-
suited to the requirements of the Bible nan-ative.
Canon Tristram has suggested another fruit Avell
known in the Holy Laud, and the arguments he ad-
duces in faA'our of liis view establish that if the apricot
is not the true apple of the Hebrews, it has better
claims than any other that has been proposed. He
says, " EA'eryAvhere the apricot is common. Perhaps it
is, with the single exception of the fig, the most abun-
dant fruit of the country. In highlands and lowlands
alike, by the shores of the Mediterranean, and on the
})anks of the Jordan, in the nooks of Judsea, under tlio
heights of Lcbauon, in the recesses of Galilee, and in
the glades of Gilead, the apricot flourishes, and yields
a crop of prodigious abimdance. Many times have wo
intched our tents in its shade, and spread our carpets
secure from the rays of the sun : ' I sat under his
shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to
my taste.' ' The smell of thy nose (shall be) like
tapiniuch.' There can scarcely be a more deliciously-
perfumed fruit than the apricot ; and what fruit can
l3etter fit the epithet of Solomou, 'Apples of gold in
pictures of silver,' tliau this golden fruit, as its branches
bend under the weight in their setting of bright yet
pale foliage?" {Natural History of the Bible, p. 335.)
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
210
THE POETEY OF TPIE BIBLE.
BT THE KEV. A. S. AGLEK, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALYTH, N.B.
FIGUEATIVE LANGUAGE
METAPHOR may exhaust itself in a
single image. One vivid word is enough
to paint a picture. With so slight a
spell the magic of imagination works.
The ^tural style of Hebrew poesy was favourable
for such short brilliant metaphors ; hence its images
are often strung together like pearls on a string, and as
line treads on line iu the rapid parallel dance, each
movement displays the splendour of a new gem.
But, on the other hand, there is in figured speech
room for almost unlimited extension and digression.
A metaphor may, like a simUe, grow in the fertile fancy
of the poet. The truth awaiting symbolic utterance may
be too complex for one image or a succession of dis-
tinct images. An extended illustration may be necessary
to bi-ing into rehef the more important points of a
subject ; or an artist's delight in the sense of his own
creative power may lead the poet on to longer exercise
^bf it, when the immediate purpose of an image has been
served.
These extended metaphors bear the names of allegory,
fable, parable, according to the form they take. They
may all be conveniently grouped under tlie name sym-
holical, which includes every expression of a higher
truth by an inferior sign, and allows us to class with
the fable and parable that acted allegory which entered
so largely, and with such poetic effect, into the teach-
ing of the prophets in the later days of the Jewish
monarchy. Moreover, a perception of the symbolic
force of metaphor fixes by contrast the true rank of
persowfication in the poetic art.
Symbolism is easily debased. A perfect symbol will
contain its own inteiiiretation. Between the sign and
tlie thing signified there must be a real analogy.
Thought must be at home ia its figurative dress.
Sj)enser's Una, with her maiden innocence and simple
beauty, " making a simshine in the shady place," is a
perfect emblem of Truth, which Milton says " can no
more be soiled by any outward touch than tlie sun-
beam." The use which mediaeval painters made of
colours to express the religious emotions and virtues
was noble and right, because colour has a sanctity of
its own, and is necessarily connected with pure and
deep feeling. 1 Water for its cleansing office, bread and
wine for then- power to nourish man's body, are con-
secrated to the most solemn mysteries of the Christian
life. But symbols which have but an accidental or
conventional relation to the truths for whose illustration
they are employed, have nothing noble or elevating in
them. The attempt to present a metaphysical doctrine
by a set of arbitrary gestui-es, or by the cut of a garment,
1 " God has employed colour iu His creation as the unvai-j-ing
accompaniment of all that is purest, most innocent, and most
predous." (Ruskin, Mod. Painters, vol. ir., v. iii.)
{continued).
carries no moral impulse with it. Such symbolism is
apt to degenerate into a meaningless and wearisome
form.
Allegory will be found to depend, for its beauty and
power over the imagination, chiefly on the observance
of this law. This might be shown by a comparison of
the greatest examples of it in modern literature with
their inferior copies. It will prove itself in aU the
instances of Biblical allegory.
Before proceeding to quote any of these, it must be
remarked that the Hebrew poets were as free and un-
trammelled by rules in their use of symbolism as in
their employment of metrical verse. There is a luxuri-
ance, an abundance and variety in their imagery, which
often defies the attempt to reduce it to any fixed laws
of composition. Metaphor and simile are intertwined ;
the allegorical and the real are blended together ; the
literal and figurative are confused. Rapt in his pro-
phetic theme, the seer does not stay to distinguish
between the actual and the imaginary, but weaves the
rich colours of his fancy across the sober threads of real
life without thought of method or conformity to rule.
If the pictures thus produced acquire a certain confu-
sion, they gain from this free treatment the utmost
boldness and life.
The patriarchal blessing (Geu. xlix.), in which the
fortunes of tlie twelve ti-ibes of Israel are delineated
in a series of A'ivid and powerful sketches, offers a raie
instance of the rapid interchange of metaj)]ior and
simile : —
" Judah is a lion's whelp :
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up :
He stoopeth down, he couclieth as a lion,
And as a liouess; who shuli rouse him up ?"
Psakn Ixxx. contains a fine example oi the mixed style,
where the transition from plain to figui-ative language
is pectdiarlj'^ easy and graceful : —
"Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt:
Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
Thou madest room for it,
And when it had taken root, it filled the laud ;
The hills were covered with the shadow of it,
And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees.
She stretched out her brauches unto the sea.
And her boughs unto the river.
"Why hast thou then broken down her hedge.
And all they that go by pluck off her grapes ?
The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up,
And the wild beasts of the field devour it.
Turn Thee again, thou God of Hosts :
Look down from heaven, behold
And visit this vine !
Forasmuch as the vine that Thy right hand hath planted.
And the branch that thou n^.adest so strong for Thyself,
Is biu-nt with fire and cat down."
(Ps. Ixxx. 8— 16.}2
Allegory is a figure which under the literal sense
2 For another noble instance see Ezek. xxxi.
220
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
conceals a foreign or distant meaning. This moaning
is, however, as we have seen, not seldom directly ex-
pressed side by side with its representative symbols.
The latent truth obtrudes on the notice Uke the gold in
lliL' fairy castle iu Spenser's poem : —
" Round about the walls yclothed were
With goodly arras of great majesty,
"VVoveu with gold aud silk so close and near,
That the rich metal lurked privily.
Yet here a id there and cverijwhcre unwares
II shelved itself, and shone v.nwiltinglj ;
Like a discoloured snake, whose hidden snares
Through the green grass, her long bright burnish' t back
declares." {Fae.'j Queen, iii., ii. 28.)
The true fable or parable is allegory without this
mixture of the real. A comparison of the passage given
above from Ps. Ixxx. with Isaiah's treatment of the
same image (v. 1 — 7), employed for the same purpose,
makes the distinction clear. In the prophet's fable
there is no confusion of plain with figurative language.
Every word is figurative ; the whole mass of colouring
is taken from the same palette. Thus, what in the
former quotation is expressed in undisguised language
—namely, the casting out of the nations, the preparation
of the place, and its destruction from the rebuke of the
Lord— is by Isaiah expressed wholly in a figurative
manner : " The Lord gathered out the stones from His
vineyard and cleared it ; but when it deceived Him,
He threw down its hedge and made it waste, and com-
manded the clouds that they should rain no rain
upon it." '
Isaiah calls his fable or parable a song. There are
other examples very similar to it in the Old Testament
which are not written in a poetical form, and have only
the same claim to be i-anked with poetry which all
allegory possesses. It has been said with truth that we
should properly regard such fables as that of Nathan or
Jotham'- rather as the "rudiments of popular oratory,"
than as specimens of poetry. This mode of imparting
their wisdom has always been a favourite one with
Oriental sages. Our Lord himself adopted it, and in
His parables we see its almost unlimited power as a
vehicle for the very deepest moral and spiritual lessons.
They are the oratory of the lips which spake as never
man spake, and an oratory so coloured by the truest
s}Tnpatky with nature and with human life, that each
of them becomes a poem, more perfect than any out-
ward form could make it.
Mr. Ruskiu has remarked o£ symbolism that " it is
almost always employed by men in their most serious
moods of faith, rarely in recreation. Men who use
symbolism forcibly are almost always true believers in
what they symbolise." ^ But personification, or the
bestowing of a human or living form on an abstract
idea, the same writer considers to be in most cases
a mere recreation of the fancy, and to be apt to
disturb the belief in the reality of the thing personified.
There is abundant e\'idence of this tendency in the
history of religious art, the deterioration of faith being
' Lowth, Lect. X.
' 2 Sara. xii. 1 — 4 ; Judg. ix. 7 — 15.
3 Stones of Venice.
exactly marked by the abimdonment of its symbolism
and the profuse employment of personification."*
There are in our own literature enough of feeble odes
addressed to personified lady-virtues to prove the justice
of this remark. No strength of heart or wiU comes of
these languid invocations. And the artist too often
seems to weary of the effort to admire the abstract
qualities which he has dressed up like so many Jay
figures to resemble living beings. But the greatest
poets put their hearts into personification, as into every
other turn of their ai-t. There is a true ring of earnest-
ness about Wordsworth's Ode to Duty. Milton has con-
densed the faith and passion of a rehgious and ardent
youth into his sonorous line —
" Triumphant o'er Death and Chance, and thee, O Time."
The Bibhcal writers translate their most vehement
moods into this figure. Habakkidc, in his fiery ode,
describes the march of God heralded by pestilence and
attended by plagues of fire, which follow the foot-
steps of the Most High to finish the tremendous work
of slaughter and destruction (Hab. iii. 5). The prophet
Isaiah, who excels in the use of this as of every other
element of poetry, in a " tremendous image sees Hades
extending her throat and opening her insatiable and
immeasm'able jaws" —
" And down go her nobility and her populace ;
And her busy throng, and all that exult in her."
(Isa. V. 14.)
Personrficatien is most natural and powerfid when it
is employed on qualities which enter into the character
or nature of man. Virtues and vices, passions and states
of feeling, readily tjike an objective form. The "stiU
small voice," which makes itself heard above the noise
of outward things, may seem to come from Law or
Duty, at whose desecrated shrine we bow iu shame and
repentance. In every youthful breast a fateful choice
must be made between good and evil, between God and
the world. The poet of the Bible represents this crisis
in an allegory. Wisdom and Folly, rival maidens for
the young man's love, unfold their treasures and displiiy
their charms. So the Greek fable of the " Choice of
Hercules " personified Pleasure and Virtue.
An additional force and sublimity is lent to the
Hebrew's use of this figure, from his vivid and abiding
conviction of the nearness and life of God. Accustomed
as he was to refer all power to one Divine source, and
especially to regard goodness as an immediate inspira-
tion from above, the investment of moral virtues with
human form and speech transformed them into messen-
gers from heaven, or even into assessors of the Most
High, Godlike presences dwelhng near the throne of
God. Thus Wisdom is represented in the Book of
Proverbs (viii. 27 — 31) as presiding at the creation,
watching over the primeval world, herself the co-mate
and offspring of the Divine Creator.
In the Book of Job there is an incomparable descrip-
tion of the greatness of the same quality.
* In some of the later Litanies, SS. F.iith, Hope, and Charity
are invoked immediately after SS. Clara and Bridget.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
221
" V/here shall wisdom be found ?
And where is the place of understanding ? "
cries tlie poet. And then with intense dramatic power
he sketches the universal defeat wliich succeeds to the
effort to find her Man first confesses his inability — ■
"Man knoweth not the price thereof.
Neither is it found in the land of the living."
Then the ocean declares that even his vast domain does
not hide her —
" The depth saith, It is not in me ;
And the sea saith, It is not in me."
Profound mines are searched in vain ; the womb ci the
earth has produced notliing tliat will buy wasdom —
" No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls.
For the price of wisdom is above rubies ;
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
Neither shall it be valued with pure gold."
And the wistful question is asked once more —
"Whence, then, cometh wisdom?
And where is the place of understanding ?''
And then, when man and all sensible things have given
up the quest, as if imagination could in no way else
■conceive of the remoteness and unapproachable value
of this Divine thing, a hollow voice comes from the
under- world, a whisper from the shadowy land beyond
the bounds of sense —
" Destruction and death saj',
We have heard the fame thereof with our ears." 1
Death has always been a favourite object of personifi-
cation. The Latin poet describes him as the universal
leveller, stamping down impartially the cottage of the
poor and the castle of the great. So in an English
poem, "Death lays his icy hand on kings." The
Biblical poets, both of the Old and the New Testament,
have drawn powerful images of the monster. Hosea's
exultant challenge has been adopted by St. Paul —
" O Death, where is thy sting ?
O Grave, where is thy victory p " 2
To match these bold figures we must go to the creations
of the very greatest masters of song : the tortured Titan
invoking the deaf and pitiless elements to sympathise
with his paiu; "poor distressed Lear" raging against
the raging storm, bidding the " winds crack their
cheeks ;" or Hamlet in his passionate cry —
" O all you host of heaven ! O earth !
And shall I couple hell ? "
What else?
The power of man's sympathy leads him to invest
the moving forms and forces of nature with human
passion and sentiment. To dress them in human form,
and endow them vdth human speech, is a natural step
^ Job xxviii. 12—22.
- 1 Cor. sv. 55. I have given the familiar English version. The
best MSS. repeat " Death " in the second line. In Hosea the verse
runs —
"O Death, I will be thj- plague;
O Grave, I will be thy destruction."
The Apostle quotes from the LXX., and with the freedom usual
to him.
from this. The Hebrew was led by another path to
ascribe life to inanimate things. Nature had no mean-
ing to him apart from his sense of the nearness of God.
The Greek peopled the world with his divinities. He
hid a naiad in every tree, and crowned every rock with
an oread.^
But the Hebrew's conception was of " a great One
Spirit, feeding by His perpetual presence the lamp of
the universe, speaking in all its voices, listening in all
its silence, storming m its rage, reposing in its valour,
its light the shadows of His greatness, its gloom the
hiding-place of His power, its verdure the trace of
His step, its fire the breath of His nostrils, its motion
the circulation of His untiring energies, its warmth
the effluence of His love, its mountains the altars of
His worship, and its oceans the mirrors where He
beholds His form ' glassed in tempests.' "
Since thus only through God nature became living
and intelligible to the Hebrew poet, his personifi-
cation of natural objects took a bolder tone than is
possible even with the modern spirit, which has pene-
trated so many sources of tenderness and feeling
hidden to the ancients. The poet of Israel was not
satisfied with a silent communion. He called on hill
and forest and sea to take human shape, and speak
with human mouth the praise of God. The veiy
water shouted, the waves clapped their hands, the hills
"rejoiced together before the Lord." One Eternal
Presence spread animation and joy thi'oughout the
world, and gave all nature a living voice.
There is another class of objects occasionally personi-
fied, which do not at first seem to admit of the employ-
ment of this figure with equal propriety. The works
of man's own hand do not offer, it would seem, room
for such treatment even in poetry. But there is one
circumstance which is powerful enough to invest even
these with a human character. Whatever is serviceable
to us becomes our friend. An attachment grows up
even for the tool which we use, the instrument on
which we play. And this tie has been acknowledged
in poetry by the use which has been made of personifi-
cation. It is thus that the bard himself apostrophises
his harp, or dispatches his book into the world with
prayers for its safe and prosperous journey.
But no poets have ventured on such bold flights in
this direction as some of the poets of the Bible. Take
for example the animated dialogue in Jeremiah —
" Ho ! sword of Jehovah,
• How long wilt thou not be at rest ?
Eeturn unto thy scabbard ;
Eetum and be stilL
How can it be at rest.
Since Jehovah hath given it a charge ?
Against Askelon, and against the sea-coast,
There hath He appointed it." (Jer. xlvii. 6, 7.)
As a very similar use, compare Isaiah's grand invoca-
tion of Jehovah's aid —
" Av^ake, awake, clothe thyself with strength, O arm of Jehovah !"
(Isa. li. 9.)
3 Cf. GilfllJau, J7aicJs of the BihU, p. 6,
222
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
There is one iigiiro originating in a Hebrew idiom,
and partaking of the nature of personification, wliich
gives great animation to the Biblical poetry. To regard
the result or effort of any object as its offspring is
common to all people. The Hebrews gave a very
lively turn to the idea by the use of the words " son "
or " daughter." Thus an arrow is the " daughter of the
bow ■' (Job xli. 28), or the ''sou of the quiver'' (Lam.
iii. 13) ; sparks are " sons of the burning coal " (Job v.
7, margin).' In like manner a city or a nation is not
seldom personified under the character of a maiden, as
in the following passage from Isaiah : —
" Descend and sit iu tbo dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon !
Sit ou the bare ground without a throne, O daugliter of the
Cliuldteaus !" (Isa. xlvii. 1. Lowth.)
• Gesenius and Rcuau explain
than the lightning.
• birds of prey " who fly faster
MEASUEES, WEiaHTS, AND COINS OE THE BIBLE.
BY F. E. CONDEE, C.E.
THE VALUE OP LAND, LABOUR, CORN, SILVER, AND GOLD, DURING THE COURSE OF THE HISTORY
RECORDED IN THE BIBLE.
^^^"^ V HE practical measure of value is the
return that is earned by human labour.
(\Jjt r^3^ From year to year this relation is most
(iJ^O^Jj'^ conveniently expressed by reference to
definite weights of silver or of gold, which is money
value. From century to century it is more correctly
measured by bushels of corn. The amount of food
necessary for the support of human life, iu the same
country, being unchanged from age to age, the expres-
sion of the daily earnings of a labourer or craftsman,
in pints of corn, shows what margin is left him for the
luxuries, after providing for the comforts, of life.
During the existence of the Roman Empire, a marked
and rapid change occurred in the value of money, that
is to say, in its purchasing power, as compared with
other commodities, owing to what we call the debase-
ment of the currency. Emperor after emperor struck
lighter and lighter coins, of the same nominal value,
with the momentary advantage of em-iching the state
by the plunder. But the purchasing value of coin is
never permanently fixed by the name by which it is
called. It depends on tlie actual weight. From the
fall of the empire, the same kind of debasement has been
continuously effected. The denarius, or piece of ten
asses, units, or ounces, was (under the Second Temple)
equiponderous with the Persian dinar of ninety-six
grains troy. When the division of our present scale of
troy weight was made, the weight of the denarius had
sunk to twenty-four grains. The Enghsh silver penny
of 1795 weighs eight gi-ains. The present silver penny
weighs only about 7*2 grains, as a pound of silver is
coined into sixty-six shilliugs, instead of sixty, in order
to prevent the absor^jtion of the currency by the silver-
smiths, if the price of silver, stated in gold, should rise
much above five shillings per ounce.
During the 96i' years t!iat elapsed from the Exodus
to the Captivity, that dread of innovation which was a
permanent feature of the Jewish character, and a main
result of the Jewish law, protected the steady perma-
nence of value. The tax for the support of the Temple
was the same per head in the days of Zed(!kiah that it
was in those of David ; the same iu the da.ys of David
that it was in those of Moses. Thus in those indications
which we obtain in the Bible of ancient rates of value,
we have not to make that constant correction for steady
depreciation of currency that is necessary in modem
history.
We have three instances of the purchase of land, by
Abraham, by Jacob, and by David. The price is men-
tioned in each case. But as the area of land is not
stated, we attain no positive indication of value from
the record of these early transfers.
The first definite valuation wliich we are able fully to
grasp is that of the value, in silver, of the ordiuaiy
retiu-ns of a given acreage of barley in Palestine, at the
time of the Exodus. In the Liw relative to the redemp-
tion of vows this is estimated, by Moses himself, at fifty
shekels to the corns or hor of laud. This amounts to
about £2 14s. per acre in silver. But silver at that
time bore the relation to gold of ten, or more probably
j nine, to one, instead of its present relation of sixteen to
! one, making the value of the crops, stated in gold, from
; £4 8s. to £4 18s. per acre ; the present value in this
! country being from £5 per acre for poor land to £10
per acre for good soil, under oats and barley.
Eight hundred years later we obtain some indication
of the value of land cultivated as vineyard. In speaking
of the desolation caused by the Assyrian invasion, the
prophet Isaiah rates a thousand vines at a thousand
pieces of silver.' It is veiy probable, from the existence
and import of similar Chaldaic words, that the word here
translated " place " is a definite measure of Land. Until
further research shall make this clear, it may bo remarked
I that the quarfarius, or 720 th part of a hor of land, was
i the smallest space that it was laivf ul to allot to a plant,
I such as a vine, when growing among other vegetables,
[ by the law of hilaim, or intermixture. Wlien vines
grew alone, there was no limit but tliat of convenience
to their thickness of planting. And if the prophet were
I speaking of standard vines, cultivated, as they are now
' in the Bordeaux districts, on echalards or poles (like
: our hop-bines, only much smaller), it does not seem
1 Isa. vii. 23.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND OOINS OF THE BIBLE.
223
improbable that 1,000 might be planted to the hor. lu
that case the returns would be equal to nearly £55 per
acre, or to £40 per acre if we suppose a vine to be
planted on each quartarius. The proportionate value
is hio-her than that before obtained for barley; but the
cereals prosper best beyond the chniate proper to the
vine and the ohve.
For about a.d. 80 we obtain from the Talmud a de-
iinite corn price. A shekel is mentioned as an average
price for four sata of wheat. ^ This is at the rate of
4s. a bushel, paid in silver. The golden denarius was
then worth twenty-five silver denarii, giving the rela-
tion of twelve and a-half to one between silver and gold.
The price in gold, according to the present relation
between the metals, would thus be equal to a httle more
than 5s. per bushel. This is a valuable and instructive
fact.
The denarius, wliicli was the Roman equivalent for
the zziza or quarter- shekel, was the day's pay of the
Roman soldier. Tliis is in exact accordance with the
price, mentioned in the parable of the laboiu'ers in the
vineyard, of a penny a day. The fact, which is recorded
by Josephus, that the labom-ers in the repairs of the
Temjile received a day's pay, even if they only wrought
for a single hour, is illustrated by this parable. We
thus arrive at the conclusion that the hire of a laboui'er
or of a workman, about the time of the Christian era in
Palestine, was equivalent to the price of a quarter of a
bushel of wheat. If we take 56 s. a quarter as an average
wheat price, we have a day's wage of Is. 9d., which is
rather higher than the ordinaiy rate in Wales, and other
parts of the island remote from the metropolis, before
the introduction of railways. It is as high as the rate
still prevailing for the agricultural labourer in some
country districts at the present day.
We have another indication of the relative wealth or
poverty of the industrial classes in Palestine, at the time
of Christ, and in Europe at the present day, from the
jirovisions as to the distribution of alms. The limit
between the proper subject for alms, for the purpose
of support, and the independent man, was fixed by the
Oral Law at the receipt of 200 zuzas per annum. As
the year was lunar, this approaches, as closely as it is
needful to reckon, to four zitzce, that is to say, to one
shekel, per week, or two-thirds of the income of a
labourer. On the calculations above given, it is the
equivalent of 7s. per week. This was considered, by
the law of Moses, to be the lowest rate at which life
was to be supported. In England, iu 1873, the main-
tenance of an adult pauper in Kensington Workhouse
cost 6s. lid. per week.- Tlie balance is veiy gi-eatly
in favour of the poor Jew, from the fact that, "in the
climate of Palestine, so much less food and clothing are
requisite, during the greater part of the year, than in
om- colder and damper atmosphere.
Indeed, if we compare the income of the poor Jew,
thus distinctly ascertained, with that of the fishermen
1 Tract Be Commtssionibixs, viii.
2 Builder, No. 1604, p. S59.
and peasants of the south of Italy (which is a far more
appropriate comparison than can be made with the
English peasant], we shall be led to the conclusion that
the law of Moses not only was designed to secure, but
absolutely did ensure, to the entire nation of Israel, a
degree of material comfort and frugal wealth, to which,
as regardmg the case of the poorest of the population,
rather than tlie extreme wealth of the richest, or the
ordinary average income of the masses of society, the
world, in the course of history, can afford no parallel.
It is impossible to give careful study to the ancient
systems of metrology, without becoming aware of the
permanent influence which Chaldean science has exer-
cised on Em-opean thought. The Chaldean notation,
whether as we find it indicated in the Almagest, or as
we are enabled to recover it from the inscribed weights
at the British Museum, has affected every scale of
measurement with which we are acquainted, with the
sole exception of the metrical system which was the
offspring of the French Revolution.
It is true that we continually find the gradation of
the sextile scale broken and modified by the use of
multiples taken from other than Chaldean sources. Thus
in the Jewish coinage there is a constant subdivision by
two, by four, and so on. In the Phcenician system of
weights, according to Mr. Madden, the number seven
is continually present. Of this it is probable that the
'"quarter," in our avoirdupois weight, bears trace.
In the Jewish weeks, of days, of years, and of sevens
of years, the same radix is used. But the divisions by
four, or by seven, seem to have been engrafted on the
original scale of the soss, the ner, and the sar, or 600,
3,600.
The origin of this mode of division aj^pears to have
been purely geometrical. The modern science of trigo-
nometry still employs (in most cases) the notation
invented by the Chaldean Magi. The fact that the
circumference of the circle is geometrically di\-isible
by four, by five, and by six, appears to have suggested
the law of the scale employed ; and the fact that the
number _ of days in the year so closely approaches to six
times sixty, gives an appropriateness to the use of the
sextant, and the decade, iu division, which no other
system could acquire. Thus the division of the circle
into 360 degrees almost assumed the form of a natural
law ; and the division of the degi-ees into minutes, and
of the minutes into seconds, was a consistent sequel.
The weights of the Jewish coinage, under both the
first and second systems, held closely to the Chaldean
scale. Not only so, but the relations between the two
systems are the relations between the highest, and the
highest but one, denominations of the sextile scale. It
is a most striking and satisfactory proof of the exacti-
tude of our own determination, that the weights of the
Chaldean lions and ducks in the British Museum give
a talent, which is within one per milJe of the weight of
the shekel defined by Maimonides, multiplied by the
number which the Book of Exodus affords as that of '
shekels in tlio talent.
WhUe the bavleycorn, which is the natural standard
224
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of Hebrew weight, is thus proved to be identical with
the troy grain, it does not follow that tliis weight was
an actual unit of the Chaldean scale. That it was
exactly coiauiensuratc with it, is all tliat wo liave yet
proved.
There exists a special unit of weight, vt-hich at present
appears to be totally isolated from all other metrical
systems. It is that by which the most precious of all
incrchandise is sold — namely, the diamond carat, which
contains o"2 troy grains. This fractional weight, how-
ever, is the hundredth part of the first Jewish shekel.
It is thus precisely the three-hundred-thousaudth part
of the Chaldean talent, of which it was therefore pro-
bably the actual unit.
The British Museum weights indicate the existence
of a Babylonian shekel of somewhere about 288 troy
grains, corresponding to three Persian sigli, and to the
Jewish righia or three-quarter shekel. The weight
•of the vianeh on those lions of bronze is equal to fifty
Jewish shekels of 100 carats. This is the exact weight
of the lason or tongue of gold secreted by Achau,
together with a Babylonish garment, on the invasion
of Palestine by Joshua. We here again come face to
face with a detinite unit of the Chaldean scale.
There remains another instance of the close relation-
ship between measurements of length, of capacity, and
of weight, on the Chaldean scale, which none but the
very sceptical can ascribe to chance. We have seen
that the log, a small Jewish liquid measm-e, of which
we determine the capacity at twenty-four cubic inches,
holds a quantity of water that tvcighs 6,060 grains at a
temperature of 62° Fahr. If we could rely on the tem-
perature being that which was observed by the" ancient
metrologists, we should come to the conclusion that
there was an error or misfit to the amount of one per
cent, in capacity, and thus of "01 per cent, in linear
measure ; but at a temperature of 113° Fahr, which is
nearly equidistant between freezing and boiling tem-
peratures, the log of twenty-four inches contains exactly
6,000 grains of water, or minims of the apothecary's
fluid measure. The temperature produced by a mixture
of equal weights of boiling and freezing water is 122°.
Fahr. ; a mixture of equal bulks gives a result of 111°.
In the absence of any accurate thermometer, so close
an approach to a natural mean water temperature, at
which weight and bulk so nearly accord with the state-
ments of ancient literature, is wonderfully exact.
TABLE OF VALUES AND EQUIVALENTS OF VALUE.
Value
takina
Silver
Auno
Sacro.
at 5s. per ounce, and
Goldat2d.pergi-ain.
i;
s.
d.
3269
Crop of an Acre of Barley . .
4
18
0
37SS 1
Price of a Yoke of Oxeu and
Implements
1
13
6
8
3829
Price of a Cbarger
40
0
0
4009
Return of 1,000 Vines . . .
166
13
4
r
Price of a Busliel of Wheat .
0
5
0
4S89<^
Day's pay, Soldier or Labourer
0
1
0
Year's Income, the receiver of
}
10
0
0
I
which had no right to Alms
BIBLE WOEDS.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PEiECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
ARRIA6E (substantive). — We have here
another word which has become so fami-
liar to us in a sense which it never bears in
the English Bible, that it cannot fail to
>-ive an erroneous meaning to the ordinary reader. We
cannot but .share in the " misgivings " expressed by Dr.
Lightfoot,' whether St. Luke's statement, the apostles'
<?ompauy '" took up their carriages, and wont up to Jeru-
salem" (Acts xxi. 15). is universally understood; while
there is hardly any child, or uneducated person, who on
hearing that " David left his carriage in the hands of the
keeper of the carriage " (1 Sam. xvii. 22), will not have
pictured to himself the young son of Jesse driving his
wheeled vehicle to the edge of the camp, and on hearing
the battle-cry, throwing down the rems, jumping to the
ground, leaving the horse and carriage (in the modern
sense) in the care of the groom, and rushing into the
fray. Such an entire misconception of the whole scene
woidd be rendered impossible by the removal of this
archaism, and the substitution of the word "baggage"
• SivUion. of Xevi Test., p. 174.
for " carriage," which would also render intelligible the
passage of the Acts quoted above, and make cleai the
other pLices where this word occurs in the A. Y.^ These
are : — " They," the Danites, " turned and departed, and
put the little ones, and the cattle, and the carriage
before them " (Judg. xviii. 21). " At Michmash, he," the
Assyrian invader, " Imth laid up his carriages," i.e., left
the hea-v^ baggage of his army — impedimenta (Isa. x. 28).
" Your carriages were heavy loaden, they ai"e a burden
to the weary beast;" i,e., your ponderous idols, Bel,
Nebo, and the rest of tliein. are lifted up as loads to bo
carried away by beasts of burden (Isa. xh-i. 1). The
truth is that the use of carriage as a vehicle for carrying
is comparatively modern, and represents a different word
from the old Bible word signifying baggage. The
modern carriage as a vehicle is a corruption of the old
- Carriaoe is the rendering of no less than three (oar, if we take
the margin into account, five) perfectly distinct Hebrew words,
C'b? (w«Zim), "vessels" (I Sam. xvii. 22; Isa. x. 26); rn^33
(fc'J)Uc[a;i)," a burden" (Juds?. xviii. 21); riOTCr? (iv'sua/i), "something
borue " (Isa. xlvi. 1) ; "jjirp (ma'aal). "a circular rampart" (1 Sam.
xxvi. 5, uiarg.); NiffO (masa), "a burden (1 Chron. xv, 22, mavg.).
BIBLE WORDS.
22S
English caroche, caroacJi, now abbre\dated into coach, of
constant occurrence in om* earlier -ivriters : e.g., " Dm-iug
all the time of his empire he neither took up any man to
sit with him ia his carroch, nor admitted any private
l)erson to be his companion " (Holland, Ammian. Mar-
cellin., 1609). This comes to us from the Italian car-
roccio, an augmentative of carro, " a car." Carriage, in
the old sense of "things to be carried," is dei-ived from
the verb "to cany," just as "marriage" is from "to
many," and belongs to an abundant class, e.g., herbage,
baggage, luggage, &c. "It is chiefly remarkable," says
Mr. Earle,^ "as one of the very few instances hi which
an epliemeral expression got into the re^^sion of 1611,
tlisplaciug more permanent words." As to the displace-
ment iVL-. Earle is con'ect, for we do not find carriage
in any of the places where it now occiu's in any of the
older versions, except in one instance (1 Sam. xvii. 22) in
the Geneva version. This last-named version, in Acts
xxi. 15, has the quaintly idiomatic rendering, " we
tmssed up our fardels," which also appears iu WicUf
(1 Sam. xvii. 22), " David lefte the vessels which he
hadde brought undur the hand of a kepere at the
fardels,"- though iu tlie Acts Wiclif simply renders it
"we were maad redi," as Coverdale does, "we were
ready." But it is difficult to see how Mr. Earle can
call that "an ephemeral expression," which appears
continually in our best wi-iters of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. We may instance Bacon's
Advaiicement of Learning (Bk. ii. § 9) : " Tou must
observe David's military law, that those which staid
mth the carriage should have equal part \vith those
which were in the action, else ■will the carriages be ill
attended ;" and North, Plutarch, page 470 — " Spartacus
charged his lieutenants .... gaA-e them battle, and
ovei-threw them, and took all their carriage.''' An
earlier example is given by Mr. Aldis Wright from
TJdal's -E7>-asmMs, Luke, f. 69 r. : "Uptheygotte thep-
lieavie carriage to the house roufe in the outsyde, and
the tylyng pulled away, they let doAvn the sicke man
with chordes."
Chambering (stibst.) occurs once in the A. V.,
signifying acts of unchastity (Rom. xiii. 13), "Let us
walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not hi chavibering and wantonness,"
where WicHf's version lias "beddis and imchastities."
Our version uiherits 'he word from earlier transla-
tions, e.g., Becke's Bible, 1519, and that of 1551,
where it appears as chaviburyng, and the Geneva
Bible. Latimer in his " Sermons preached in Lincoln-
shu-e," when expounding the Epistle for the First
Sunday in Advent, thus ^vrites : " Beware, therefore, of
' chambering.' What is tliis ? Many, he understandeth
by the word ' chambering,' aU manner of wantonness
.... for when folkes wiU be wanton they get them
in comers : but for aU that God He seeth them, He
will fiud them wit one day " {Remains, p. 18).
PWloIoji/ 0/ JBn^lisTi Tongue, p. 284.
Fardel = Fr. farika-i, Ital. farixXlo, a bale oc bundle.
63— VOL. III.
Chapiter {subst.). — The ornamental headpiece of a
column, between the shaft and the entablature, now
known as "the capital." It occui's iu the A. Y. as
an architectui-al term ui the description of the Taber-
nacle aud Temple — e.g., Exod. xxxviii. 17, " The sockets
for the pillars were of brass .... and the overlay-
ing of their chapiters of sQver;" 1 Kiugs vii. 16,
" And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set
upon the tops of the pillars." This is the genuine old
English word, for which " capital " is a modern sub-
stitute, aud comes to us through the French chapiteau,
as "capital" is derived fi-cm the Italian capitello.
Y/e may compare the analogous instances of chant
ajid cant from canto; chariot and car from carnis;
chandler and candle from candela.
Chapman (subst.) only occurs once in the A. Y.
(2 Clirou. ix. 14), where the chronicler states the weight
of gold annually received by Solomon, "besides that
which chapmen and merchants brought." " Chapman"
represents the Anglo-Saxon ceapmann, and the German
Icavfmann, and signifies a man engaged in clwffare, or
merchandise. The A.S. root cedp, which is foimd in
a slightly altered form in " Cheapside," " Cheap Street"
(in Bath and Sherborne), " Chippiug Wycombe," " Chip-
penham," iudicating the locahties where markets are
held, originally meant to "barter," or give and take ia
exchange (cf. the schoolboy word " to chop," a " horse-
couper," "to recoup"), without the necessary passing
of money. We may illustrate its use from Chaucer —
" In Surrie (Syria) whilom dwelt a compagnie
Of chapmen rich and therto sad and trewe.
That wide were senten hir spicerie.
Clothes of gold, aud satins riche of hewe "
{Man of Laic's Tale, 4535)
and from Shakespeare —
" Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye,
Not uttered by base sale of chapmen's tongues."
(Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1.)
Charger {s^lbst.), used in the sense of a large dish,
or platter, in the account of the beheading of St. John
the Baptist (Matt. xiv. 8 ; Mark vi. 25, 2S) : " (He)
brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the
damsel." We read also that at the dedication of the
Tabernacle, each of the twelve princes of the tribes
presented among other offerings " one silver charger,"
filled with fine flour and oil (Numb. vii. 13, &c.). The
" thirty chargers of gold, and thousand chargers of
silver," sent back by Cp'us from Babylon (Ezra i. 9),
represent a different Hebrew word, the meauibg of
which is doubtfid. " Charger " in this sense is a
genuine old Enghsh word of frequent occurrence in
ordinary speech — e.g., " Lay two halfes in a fair charger
.... and set it again on the table " (J. new Book of
Carving and Sewing, 1650). "In this one charger he
served up at the table all kina of birds that either
could sing, or say after a man" (Holland's Pliny, x.
51). It comes to us through the French charger,
to load, to lay a weight, or burden on, from the Low
Latin caricare, a derivative from carrus, a eart ; still
226
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
preserved in the Italian verb caricare, and the sub-
stantive carico, which wo have in the form cargo. A
charger, therefore, is anything fitted to bear a heavy
load, whether, as here, a dish, or, as in military language,
a war-horse.
Clout {suhst.), Clouted (part.). The worn-out
clothes let down to Jeremiah to put under the ropes
that they might not cut liis skin, when he was drawn
up out of the j)it, are described as " old cast clouts and
rotten rags" (Jer. xxxviii. 11, 12), where Wiclif has
simply "olde clothis." "Clout" is a word which,
according to Mr. Earle, has " a fair Keltic reputation,"
and is found in A.S. as cliit, for " a patch." The
primary sense seems to have been a blow, as when we
speak now of " a clout on the head." It was then
applied to a bit of material clapped on, or hastily
applied to mend a breach, " a patch." Thus we find
in Wiclif, "No man i^utteth a clout of buystous clothe
into an elde clothing " (Matt. ix. 16) ; and in the A. V.
the patched shoes of the Gibeouite ambassadors are
described as "old and clouted" (Josh. is. 5), just as
Shakespeare speaks of " clouted shoon " (2 Hen. VI.,
iv. 2) and "clouted brogues" {Cymb. iv. 2). It then
came to mean any rag, or fragment of cloth or Itaen,
— e.g., Chaucer: —
" Then shew I forth my lougo cristal stones,
Tcrammed ful of clonics and of bones
Eelikes they bin." {Pardoner's Tale, 12,282.)
And Shakespeare —
" He looks as pale as any clout." (Rom. and Jul., ii. 4.)
That modern denizen of the nursery, a rag-doll, was
styled " a babe of clouts " — e.g., Shakespeare's Con-
stance says —
" If I were mad I should forget my son,
Or madly think a habe of clouts was he."
(K. John iii. i).
And Richardson gives the following quotation from
Strype : —
" ' Item,' he said, ' we have a lyvyng Christ, and not a Christ
of clouts.' This I said, say, and will say : My Lord Jesu Christ is
risen from the dead, aud lyveth, and reigueth. Lord and King in
the glory of His Father, world without end. '
(E. Wisdome, Vindication, No. 115.)
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
SACKED PLACES (continued).
BY THE REV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE TJNIVEESITT OF
ABERDEEN.
ROM the Golden Candlestick and the Table
with its Shewbread in the Holy Place, we
have now to turn to the Altar of Incense,
standing between the two, at the ex-
tremity of the apartment most distant from the
entrance, and immediately in front of the vail wliich
separated this portion of the Sanctuai-y from the Holy
of Holies. The directions for its construction are given
in the following terms : " And thou shalt make an altar
to burn incense upou : of shittim wood shalt thou make
it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the
bi'eadth thereof ; foursquare shall it be : aud two cubits
shall be the height tliereof : the horns thereof shall be
of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,
the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and
the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown
of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou
make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners
thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it ;
and they sluall ])e for places for the staves to boar it
withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim
wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt
put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony,
before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where
I will meet with thee " (Exod. xxx. 1 — 6). From this de-
scription it appears that the Altar of Incense — a correct
idea of which may be gathered from the illustration in
page 229 — was one cubit in length, one in breadth,
and two cubits high, being thus lialf a cubit higher than
the Shewbread Table, and, in all probability, than the
Golden Candlestick ; that, like the altar of burnt- offering
in the court, it was square and furnished mth horns ;
but that, in these respects differing from it, it was sur-
rounded by a ivi'eath instead of a simple border, that it
had a top not of earth but of materials similar to those
used for all its other parts, aud that it was constructed
not of brass or bronze, but of acacia wood overlaid with
gold. The object of the altar was to burn incense on,
and its use for any other purpose, such as burnt sacrifice,
or ineat-ofEering, or drink-offering, was expressly pro-
hibited (Exod. xxx. 9). The incense, placed in all pro-
bability in a pot or idal for the purpose, was replenished
every morning and evening, so that it might consume
away with a gentle and slow, but continuous burning,
filling always the apartment with its fragrant odour ;
aud the moments chosen for replenishing it were those
when the lamps of the golden candlestick had their
Aricks dressed and their flame renewed : " And Aaron
shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning : when
he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
And when Aaron causcth the lamps to ascend at even,
he sliall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before
the Lord throughout your generations " (Exod. xxx. 7,
8). The fire with which the incense was kindled was
to be taken from that kept constantly burning upon the
brazen altar in the court (Lev. x\'i. 12), aud any other
was " strange fire," the use of which, as in the case of
Nadab and Abihu, was punished with death (Lev, x.
1,2).
The nature of the incense to be used is carefully pre-
SACRED PLACES.
227
scribed. " And tlie Lord said unte Moses, Take unto
tliee sweet spices, stacte, and onyclia, and galljauum ;
these sweet s^nces with i:)urc frankincense : of each shall
there be a like weight : and thou shalt make it a perfume,
a confection after the art of the apothecary, salted
together, pure and holy : and thou shalt beat some of
it veiy small, and put of it before the testimony in the
tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet mth
thee : it shall be unto you most holy " (Exod. xxx. 34 —
36). It is of no moment to our present purpose whether
we can identify the spices thus named or not ; ^ for, what-
ever they were, we cannot doubt that they were selected
as the richest and most valuable of then- kind. It is of
more consequence to observe that not only might no
other incense than that now mentioned be employed at
the altar of which we speak, but that every imitation of
it for pi'ivate purposes was forbidden, under the penalty
of beiug cut ofE from among the people (Exod. xxx. 38).
In connection vdth the structure of the Altar of Incense,
it is only further necessary to bear in mind that it stood
in a much closer relation to the Holy of Holies than
either the Golden Candlestick or the Table with the
Shewbread. It not only occupied a position imme-
diately in front of the second vaU, which they did not,
but its connection with the ianer sanctuary is described
in language altogether peculiar to itseK. It is to be put
" before the vaU that is by the ark of the testimony,
l>efore the mercy-seat that is OA^er the testimony " (Exod.
xxx. 6 ; comp. xl. 5, 26 ; Lev. iv. 7, 18), language not
used in regard to any other part of the furniture of the
Holy Place ; wlule in 1 Kiugs vi. 22, the corresponding
altar raised by Solomon is spoken of as " the altar that
was by the oracle ;" and, both in the Adsions of Isaiah
in the Old Testament and of St. John in the New, an
altar which can hardly be any other than the Altar of
Incense — which in St. John iadeed certainly is so — has
its place assigned to it in heaven, " before the throne,"
and " before God " (Isa. vi. 6 ; Rev. A-iii. 3 ; ix. 13).
Although, therefore, the Altar of Incense stood outside
the second vail, it is iu thought at least fully as much
within it as without it. We turn to its import for
Israel, and to its fulfilment for ourselves.
The determination of the first of these two points
depends greatly on the meaning we attach to the incense
of the Old Testament worship, for the chief object of
the altar that we are now considering was to sustabi the
pot of incense there kept continually bui'uing. Iu its
first and simplest meaning, then, incense appears in the
Old Testament as the symbol of prayer. " Let my
prayer," says the Psalmist, " be set before thee as in-
cense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening
sacrifice " (Ps. cxli. 2) ; and, again, we read in the pro-
phecies of Isaiah, "They shall bring gold and incense,
and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord"
(Ix. 6), where, though the word in the original denotes
frankincense — one of th^ leading constituents of incense
— rather than the compounded incense itself, it is hardly
possible to separate the thought of the latter from that
1 See Bible Educatob, Vol. II., p. 151.
of the former. We meet with the same idea in the New
Testament. Of the four living creatures and of the
f our-and-twenty elders it is said that " they fell down
before the Lord, having every one of them harps and
golden vials full of odom's, which are the prayers of
saints " (Rev. v. 8) ; and, again, in the same book we
are told of the angel whose appearance immediately pre-
ceded the sounding of the first of the seven trumpets,
that " another angel came and stood at the altar, liaAiug
a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much
incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the
prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the
angel's hand " (Aiii. 3, 4). These passages are sufficient
to show how closely as well as easUy the thought of
prayer and praise associated itself mth the spectacle
of the smoke of incense as it went up into the air. In
conformity with this, too, we cann®t forget that when
Zacharias went into the Temple of the Lord to bimi
incense " the whole multitude of the people were praying
without " (Luke i. 9, 10), giving answer by their action
to what they knew to be passing within the Sanctuary.
Yet it can hardly be allowed that prayer alone, iu the
sense in which the word is commonly understood, is the
antitype of which incense is the type. In the first
place, it is not unworthy of notice that in the first of the
passages just quoted from the Apocalypse (v. 8), it is
not the materials for the incense that are dii'ectly said
to be " the prayers of saints," but, as appears iu the
original, the vials iu which these were kept, so that the
words would rather lead us to think of prayer as that by
which the real materials of incense were guarded and
preserved. StUl further, to regard incense as the symbol
of prayer alone is to give undue prominence to that ascent
of the smoke which is entirely subordinate iu the symbol.
It is the diffusion of sweet odours, not the ascent of smoke
— of which there would probably be little from a slowly
consuming fire — that is characteristic of incense ; and
when it was buraed upon the Golden Altar the object
was not to send up its smoke towards the roof, but to
fill the whole apartment with its fragrance. Above all,
Biihr has shown, by an examination of the words used
to signify a savour, that they all connect themselves
with the idea of breath or spirit, and that among
Oriental nations the leading conception of a sweet smell
is the breathing forth of the inmost soul or life of that
by which it is produced. " He has thus, indeed, been led
to regard incense as a symbol of the Sj)irit of God, or
rather of that name of God in whicli His Sj)irit finds
expression, and the act of burning the incense as sym-
bolical of spreading abroad His name. Wo need not
follow him thus far ; but, proceeding on the hint which
he has given, we shall be guided to a larger, and what
seems a juster, view of the symbolism of incense than
that Avhich limits it to prayer. It is not prayer alone
that is expressed by it. Prayer is only one of those
manifestations of a devout life which are required by
2 Si]i'wA>o\i)i, i., p. 458.
228
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Almighty of His creatures, which are pleasing in
His sight, and which liave been already symbolically
exhibited in the shewbread loaves. Wliat we have now
before us is something more : it is the breathing forth
of the life of the true Israelite, taken as a wliulc — that
breathing forth of it which diffuses fragrance on every
side, which passes even towards the vail and the im-
mediate presence of God, and which is grateful to Him
of whose enlightening and quickening Spirit it is the
fruit. That this thought of fragrance was connected
in the mind of Israel witli the thought of the life yielded
up to God is shown by different passages of the Old
Testament to which Balir has himself referred, where
the impression made by the whole personality of those
spoken of is described under the figure of their savour.
Thus, when the officers of the children of Israel during
the captivity in Egypt complained to Moses and Aaron
of the additional hardships they had been the means
of bringing on them, they said, '' The Lord look upon
you, and judge ; because ye have made our savour to
stink in the eyes of Pharaoh " (Exod. v. 21) ; and when
Jonathan smote a garrison of the Philistines, and roused
that people to the thought of war, we' are told that
" aU Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison
of the Philistines, and tliat Israel did stink with the
Philistines " (1 Sam. xiii. 4). In like manner, when the
prophet Malachi describes the extension of the Church
among the Gentiles, the Lord exclaims by him, " From
the rising of the sun even imto the going down of tlie
same my name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and
in every place incense shall be offered unto my name,
and a pure offering" (i. 11); while the exhortation of
the sen of Sirach to his people is couched in the words,
" Hearken unto me, ye holy chUdi-en, and bud forth as
a rose budding by the rivers of water ; and give ye a
sweet savour as frankiucense, and flourish as a lily ; send
forth a smell, and sing a song of praise ; bless the Loi-d
in all His works" (Ecclus. xxxix. 13, 14). Passages such
as these are amjily sufficient to establish the point now
before us. A good or eidl savour was to Israel the
symbol of a good or a godless life ; and wlien, there-
fore, the sanctuary of God was kept continually filled
with fragi'ance, they beheld in this the sweet savour
not of prayer alone, but of that life to which as a
priestly nation they were called.
The conclusion to which we have now come will be
confirmed if we consider the names by which the Golden
Altar and the presentation of the incense upon it were
designated in Hebrew. The former Avas not merely an
altar in the sense of being an elevated place ; it was "a
place for sacrifice," and that although no animal was
permitted to be slain in the apartment in which it stood,
or to be laid upon it to be burned. The latter again is
distinctly spoken of as an " offering " (Exod. xxx. 9).
Hence, also, the former had its horns, tliose sjjccial
symbols, as we have seen, of the power and majesty of
God, which were to be smeared with the blood of the
sin-offering ; while the latter was to be marked by the
''liaracteristics of being '" salted pure and holy" (Exod.
xxx. 35). The two- last-named qualities belonged to the
" offering," in the very nature of the case ; the former
was expressly enjoined in the Law (Lev. ii. 13). But
if thus an " offering," it is hardly possible to limit the
symbolism of the incense to the mere thought of prayer.
It i« not prayer that is our offering to God, it is our-
selves. That is the fundamental idea which found
expression in the " offering ;" and, if so, it must be the
fragrance of a devout spirit, its pleasinguess in itself
and in the sight of God, when regulated according to
the requirements of His law, that meets us in the burn-
ing of incense upon the golden altar. Tliere is no doubt
a sense in which all this may justly be spoken of as
prayer ; only it is not what we generally understand by
the word. It is rather that constant sending up of
prayer and praise alluded to by the Apostle when he
says, " Pray without ceasing. In everjiliing give
thanks"(lThess. v. 17, 18).
We are thus, however, brought to the fulfilment of
the symbol in New Testament times. Like that of the
Golden Candlestick and of the Table with the Shew-
bread, it is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ and in
His Church.
First, in the Lord Jesus Christ himself, on whom
not only was the Spirit of God poured out without
measure, by whom not only were fruits of the Spirit
produced in all their perfection and completeness, but
who exliibited these in such a manner as to be a constant
object of delight to His Father in heaven, and to all who
were taught to understand Him upon earth. Even in
His early years it was said of Him, that " the grace of
God was upon Him " (Luke ii. 40) — that grace which is
not merely power, but beaiity; and when He passed
into the years of boyhood and youth, he increased, not
only in wisdom and stature, but " in favour with God
and man " (Luke ii. 52). Again and again was it pro-
claimed of Him by the voice from heaven, " This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" and He him-
self said, referring to the Father, "I do always those
things that please Him ;" "I come to do thy wiU, O
God" (John viii. 29; Heb. x. 9). It was not otherwise
with man. The multitude exclaimed, " He hath done
all things well ;" and throughout all the ages of her
history the Church has felt Him to bo " fairer than the
children of men," to be " altogether lovely." In short,
it was not only holiness, but the " beauties of holiness,"
that the Sa\nour constantly exhibited on earth. His
whole life was a breathing forth of devotion to His
Father and of love to man. His name was like " oint-
ment poured forth," and the house was filled with the
odour of the ointment.
But, secondly, the burning of incense upon the Golden
Altar is to Ix; fulfilled also in Christ's people ; and it
is so only when they walk with God and dift'use every-
where around them the pleasant savour of their walk.
It was so at the first, when they not only " praised
God," but had "favour with all the people " (Acts ii.
47) ; and it ought to be so still. Not in stem faithful-
ness alone do tlijcy fulfil their high commission, but in
the manifestation of all that is sweet and lovable in
character. Whoa St. Paul, giving his final exliortation
SACRED PLACES.
229
lo tlie Pliiliijpiaus, enumerates those things which they
vrere to think of and to do, he speaks not only of " what-
boever things are true and honest, and just and pure,"
but also of whatsoever are " lovely and of good report,"
of all such as have in them not only " any virtue," but
'• any praise " (Phil. iv. 8) ; and the Christian graces
commended in the New Testament are not less beauti-
ful m themselves than beneficial to men. " Thy people,"
the Psalmist had said, addressing the Messiali to come,
•• shall be wilhug in the day of Thy power ; in the
beauties of holiness from
tlie
womb of the morn-
ing " (Psalm ex. 3) ; and
it is the constant lesson
of the Scriptures that
Christians are "to adorn"
tlie doctrine of God their
Saviour in all things.
Grace is their distinguish-
ing characteristic ; and
grace, if di\'ine in its
power, is not less so in its
loveliness.
May we not say, before
bringing these remarks on
the Golden Altar to a
close, that this fulfilment
of it and of its incense,
ought, as in the case of the
Golden Candlestick, to be
made by them even when
they have no thought of
the world at all ? As it
was enough for the candle-
stick to shine, so ought
they to feel that, though
tliere were none for whom
to scent the air but God
and themselves, they ought
still to scent it. It may
be well for them to think
of leading others to glo-
rify God by observing
what they are ; but the
true spring of a fair Chris-
tian life lies deeper than
the thought of man at all. It lies in the thought of
God ; and in pelding up the soul to Him, and breath-
ing out towards Him their inmost life. Christians send
abroad their sweetest savour, not because they strive to
do so, but because in the kingdom of God that is always
sweetest which has least thouglit of self, and which both
loses and finds itself in God alone.
Before passing from the Aliav of Incense, it may be
well for us to devote a few sentences to the considera-
iion of the great difficulty connected with it arising out
of the language of the writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, when he says, refen-ing to the Tabernacle and
its furniture, that there was " after the second vail, the
THE ALTAR OF INCENQE.
Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all, which had
the golden censer," &c. (Heb. i^. 3, 4). Even if we
accept the translation of the original by the word
" censer " here, the difficulty thus occasioned is by no
means slight, for no mention is made of any such golden
censer in the Law of Moses ; and it is with the fulfilment
of God's arrangements, as set forth in it, and not in
either the traditions or later practices of the Jews, that
the writer of the Epistle has to do. Besides this, the
golden censer used in the later history of Israel was
kept not in the Holy of
^ Holies, but along with the
^"""i other sacred vessels in a
chamber for the purpose.
And, finally, it coidd not
have been kept — if in ex-
_ ^ istence while the Taberna-
^ ^^^ cle stood— in its innermost
- ^^^ and most sacred apart-
ment, for the ritual of the
great Day of Atonement —
the only day of the year
when the high priest might
enter that apartment — re-
quired that he should do
so, under the penalty of
death if he did not, with
the censer in his hand.
The difficulties, therefore,
that meet us upon this
supposition are hardly less
great than those which we
have to contend with on
the other, that the author
of the Epistle to the He-
brews is speaking not of
the golden censer, but of
the golden altar, and that
the verse before us should
run, "After the second
vail the Tabernacle which
is called the holiest of
all, which had the golden
altar," &c. That this is the
true meaning of what he
says may appear from the
following considerations :— (1.) The word employed by
him is that commonly used in the later period of Israel's
history to denote the golden altar, and to distinguish
it from the brazen altar in the " court." ^ (2.) It is in a
high degree improbable that, in enumerating the articles
of sacred furniture both in the outer and in the inner
division of the Tabernacle, he should omit that one
which was not only much more important in itself than
cither the Candlestick or the Table with the Shewbread,
but whose importance in comparison with theirs was
immeasurably increased on that great Day of Atone-
ment, the sei-\-ices of which are the theme of the whole
^f^z/C
1 See Delitzseh on Heb. ix. 4.
230
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
chapter iu ^yllich the words under consideration are
found (comp. Lev. iv. 7, 18; x%'i. 12, 18). (3.) This
improbability is greatly increased when we notice tliat
it seems a part of the author's aim to toll us of three
sacred objects as connected mth each of the two divisions
of the Tabernacle. He might easily have had tlii'oe at
command for the outer di\'ision. There were three
there — the candlestick, the table with its contents, and
the golden altar. Had these, however, been reckoned
to it, there would have remained only two for the inner
diHsion — the ark and the cherubim. How, then, does
he meet this difficulty ? He di^ddes, it would seem, the
table Avith tli3 shewbread, which was really one object,
into two, and then the golden altar is free to be trans-
ferred to another connection, if not another place.
Accepting, then, the translation "golden altar," and
not " golden censer," in Heb. ix. 3, are we to suppose
that the author was mistaken as to the facts of the case ?
Let us remember the stress he lays upon the circum-
stance that the Holy of Holies was closed to every one
but the high priest, and even to him on all days of the
year but one (ix. 7) ; let us give due weight to the
knowledge which he must have possessed that incense
was offered by the ordmary priests every morning and
evening upon the altar of incense; and, lastly, let us
keep iu A-iew the intimacy of acquaintance with the
rites of Judaism displayed l)y him throughout the
whole of his Epistle ; and, doing all this, wo shall find
it impossible to think that he has laid himself open to
the charge either of ignorant or careless statement.
What then is tlio explanation ? We answer, that it is
to be found in this, that he sees the Tabernacle with its
inner vail withdrawn. It is on the great Day of Atone-
ment that he sees it, with his mind full of the thoughts
suggested by that day, and it is not the same then as on
other days. We must ask our readers to present the
events of that day to themselves in a form slightly
different from that in which they are generally regarded.
Tlie common svii^position is, that the high priest drew
aside the vail only at the moment when he approached
it with the censer and the incense in his hands; that
having mthdraAvn it, and entered the Holy of Holies,
the vail fell back into its usual position, and that this
operation was repeated by him each time he returned
into the Most Holy Place in discharge of the special func-
tions of the time. Is this a probable supposition? How
could the act thus attributed to the high priest be per-
formed? His kinds were full. In one he held the
censer " full of burning coals of fire from off the altar
of the Lord ;" in the other as much " sweet incense
beaten small " as it could contain (Lev. xvi. 12). He
could not, therefore, have drawn aside the thick and
heavy curtain forming the vail in the manner supposed.
It is surely much more probable that he would withdraw
the vail, without entering or even j)erhaps looking into
the shrine, before he began what he had to do, and
that it remained withdravv'u until he had finished. Tliat
this would be the case is rendered likely not only by the
general spirit of the symbolism of the day, which was to
extinguish for the time any distinction between the Holy
and the Most Holy Place, but by a circumstance to
which, so far as we have observed, sufficient importance
has not been attached, that it was an express injunction
of the Law that no one should bo in the Tabernacle of the
congregation until all that the high priest had to per-
form within it was completed (Lev. xvi. 17). The best
explanation of this fact is surely that, had any one been
within, the whole of the sanctuary to its inmost recesses
woidd have been open to his eye. We seem justified,
therefore, in concluding that on the great Day of Atone-
ment, and for a time at least, the two apartments of the
Tabernacle were really tlirown into one. It is at this
moment that the xoriter of the Epistle to the Hebrews
sees them. The second vail is drawn aside ; the one
long apartment is bofoi'o his view. He counts the arti-
cles of furniture it contains, and it seems to him that he
can easily liave three for each of its divisions, while at
the same time, by so dividing, he will assign the golden
altar to that division to which, both by its position and
by the language of the Law, it ob\dously belongs. This,
then, is what he does. Beginning with the outer one, he
sees in it the candlestick, the table, and the shewbread ;
and there remain for the inner one the golden altar, the
ark, and the cherubim of glory overshadoAving the mercy-
seat. Thus the golden altar has assigned to it the
position which was, as we have seen, always in thought
its true one, and which on the great Day of Atonement
may be said to have even locally belonged to it.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. LUKE.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRISTCHURCn, OXFORD.
" And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of tlic mnmrnon
of uuiiKliteousness ; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations." — Luke xvi. 9.
HE pai-able of the unjust steward has re-
rfr coived many and widely difforont inforpro-
^ tations. The plain and obvious drift of
the parable, which was addressed, pri-
marily, at least, to om* Lord's disciples, seems to be
this : — The worldly prudence of a steward, wlio, in the
prospect of losing his stcAvardship, made proAdsion for
his reception into the houses of his master's creditors
by a fraudulent remission of a ]")ortion of their debts,
is employed as the occasion of enforcing a deep spiritual
lesson. The master of the steward commended the
sagacity, not the dishonesty, of his agent ; and our
Lord, regarding the conduct of this unjust steward
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
231
as a fail" specimen of that of men actuated only
by earthly motives, observes to His clis-ciples that in
• their dealings (not " in their generation," as the Autho-
rised Yersion has it, but) "towards [or in respect
to] their own generation," as exemplified in those of
the steward towards his lord's debtors, the men of
this world show more prudence and sagacity than
the childi-en of light in their intercoiu-se one witli
another.
In the 9th verse oxu" Lord follows uj) the same
train of thought, and in the form of a direct exhorta-
tion to His disciples, applies to them the lesson which
this parable is designed to teach. Some degree of
ambiguity appears to exist as to the precise sense in
which this world's wealth is described by our Lord
as " the mammon of unrighteousness." It is quite
possible that allusion may be made in the word ren-
dered in the Authorised Version " unrigliteousness,"
to the original^ acquisition of wealth by means which,
whether la^vful or uulawfid, according to tlie code of
this world, ^vill noj; bear the test of a higher and
severer scrutiny. But it seems more probable that
.the primaiy allusion, in the adoption by our Lord
of the word aSiKia in reference to wealth, was not so
much to the mode of its acquisition as to the root of
selfishness out of which the necessity of the laws of
j)roperty has arisen, and to the essentially ensnaring
influences of money, the "love" of which has proved
itself in all ages " the root of all evil." Nor is it im-
probable that here, as throughout the Septuagint, the
idea oi falseness is closely connected with the use of the
word aSiKia and its cognate form ; and that there is
allusion made in the designation of this world's wealth
as "the mammon of unrighteousness" to "the deceit-
fulness of riches," and to their tendency to betray
the confidence and to disappoint the expectations of
their possessors.
The general meaning of the injimction, as addressed
to Christ's disciples, to make to themselves friends out
of the mammon of um'ighteousness, is too plain to re-
quii'e exposition. The allusion to the conduct of the
cliildren of this world towards " their own generation"
seems to imply that the primary reference of our Lord
is to works of kindness and of Christian charity towards
those who are "of the household of faith." If, with
the received text, we read e/cAiTTTjTe or iKXei-n-nre, "when
ye fail," we must understand the allusion to be, in
accordance with the use of the verb e'/cAeiTrco in the
Septuagint, to the period of the deatli of tho,^e who
have made a faithful use of their stewardship. If,
with some of the best MSS., we read {kxIttti or eKKei-rrri,
" when it fails," the primary allusion will still be to the
expiration of the period of the earthly stewardship, and
the day of solemn account.
It has seemed to some too much to ascribe to the
1 "We use the word " original " advisedly, inasmuch as in regard
to those cases of ill-gotten wealth in which restitution is practi-
cable, it would be altogether contrary to the whole tenor of the
morality of the Gospel to suppose that any other course should
receive the Divine approval.
intercessions of men such efiicacy that the words, " they
may receive you into everlasting habitations," should be
understood as referring to those friends who have been
made by a rightful use of " the mammon of unrighteous-
ness." It is quite possible, indeed, to understand the
plural form as being here, as elsewhere by the same
Evangelist (cf. Luke xii. 11, 20 ; xxiii. 31), used im-
personally, so as to denote nothing more than " ye shall
be i-eceived." Such an interpretation, howevei*, does
not appear necessary ; and the obvious reference to
the words of the parable, "they may receive me into
their houses" (ver. 4), seems to demand a different
intei-pretation of the corresponding portion of its appli-
cation, and to require that the " friends " made by a
rightful use of this world's wealth should be regarded,
instrumentally, as one of the contributing causes of the
reception of their benefactors into " everlasting habita-
tions." Moreover, the caiTying of Lazarus " by the
angels into Abraham's bosom," as recorded in the same
chapter, may serve as an illustration of the close and
intimate connection which has been ordaiued by God
between the now divided portions of the earthly and
the heavenly "family" (Ephes. iii. 15), and of the joy
experienced by both, as represented in the preceding
chapter of this Gospel (w. 7, 10), in accessions to
theii' number, corresponding to the misery anticipated
by the rich man in the prospect of his fiA^e brethi'en
coming into that place of torment to which he himseK
had been consigned. But it must not be overlooked
that the righteous are represented both in the Old
and in the New Testament as the " friends " of God
and of Christ; that acts of kindnfess done to the
poor, the sick, and the siiffering, are represented by
our Lord as done to Himself (Matt. xxv. 45); and,
consequently, inasmuch as "friends" is a term which
implies a reciprocal relationship, that we may, con-
sistently with the analogy of Scripture, consider as
denoted by the " friends " who shall receive the
faithful stewards of the unrighteous mammon into
everlasting habitations, not only " the spirits of just
men made perfect," but "God the Judge of all"
and " Jesus the Mediator of the new " and better
" covenant."
The word rendered "habitations" is not, as we
might have anticipated, from the epithet here ascribed
to it, the same as, or a word similar to, that employed
in St. John xiv. 2, yuocal, i.e., " mansions," or enduring
abodes ; but aKi)vai, " tents " or tabernacles, the same
word wliich is used in the Greek version of the Old
Testament to denote the wilderness-habitations of the
Israelites, and (in the singular number) the tabernacle
which accompanied them in their wanderings, which
was so constructed as to admit of easy removal (Exod.
xxxiii. 10) ; which word is used also in the New
Testameht as denoting the migratory life of the patri-
archs in the land of Canaan, whilst looking for the
city which had " the foundations " (Heb. xi. 9). The
difference, however, between the temj)orary character
of tlie tent or tabernacle, so familiar to the ancient
Israelites, and the endm-ing character of the future
232
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
abodes of the rigiileous, is brought into full promi-
nence by the combination of two words, which are
appavently antithetical. Nor is it unworthy of notice
that the same woi'd is employed in the Epistle to the
Hebrews (%-iii. 2), with the addition of another epithet,
aATjeij/jj, true or veritable, to denote the divine sanctuary,
in contradistinction from the eartlily tabernacle, which
was made after the archctyiial pattern shown to Moses
in the mount ; and that both the noun a-K-nvr],^ " taber-
1 Tbe word ckhk'; is "sed in tlie LXX. to denots both the
wooden erection or m'shlM.i, and also 'the tent or covering, ohel,
which enveloped it. It occurs as the equivalent of mishkan in
nacle," and the cognate verb ff/cTjt/ooi occur several times
in the Apocalypse as presenting the realisation of the
idea designed to be conveyed in the construction of the
Jewish tabernacle, and in reference to that higher and
more glorious manifestation of Deity which is reserved
for that day when the new heavens and the new earth
shall have taken the place of the heavens and the earth
which now are, and when He who sitteth upon the
throne shall say, "Behold, I make all things new"
(Rev. xxi. 1 — 5).
Exod. xl. 19, and Numb. ix. 18 ; and as the equivalent of ohel in
Exod. xxxiii. 10, and Numb. ix. 17.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BT THE EEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
CRANE.
^p;^^^^F the Gndlatores, or wading birds, the
crane, heron, bittern, and stork are men-
tioned in our English Bible, though there
is some doubt as to tlie real meaning of
tlTe^ebrev.' words translated "heron" and "bittern."
Tlio following are some of the principal grallatorial
birds occurring in Palestine : —
The Common Heron {Ardea
cinerea), the Buff -backed Heron
(Buphus russatns), the Pui-ple
Heron {Ardea purpvrea), the
Squacco Heron {Buj'ihits ral-
loides), the Bittern (Botaunts
siellans), the White and the
Black Storks {Ciconia alba and
C. nigra], the Purple Gallinule
{Porphyrio antiqnoriim), and
the Egrets {Egretta alba and
E. garzetta).
The crane, there can be no
doubt, is the correct trausla
tion of the Hebrev/ dgnr which
occurs in Isa. xxx^i. 14, "Like
a crane or a swallow so did I
chatter;" and in Jer. viii. 7,
" The turtle and the crane and
the swallow observe the time
of their coming." Our transla-
tors have in the first passage
(Hezekiali's lament in his illness) rendered lig'n- by
"swallow" and sns by "crane;" this has boon noticed
under " Swallow." The civane utters a loud trumpeting
noise which could not propei-ly be described as " chatter-
ing" or "twittering;" but the words of the complaint
may be elliptical, as, "I did utter a loud noise as a
crane, I did t^vitter as a swallow." Jeremiah refers
to the migratory habits of the crane, which visits
the cultivated region of Palestine at the time of its
spring migration northwards. It is a beautiful bird,
COMMON CRANE {Qms cinereo).
and next to the ostrich the largest in the Holy Land,
It is a rare A-isitor to this country now, but formerly
it was frequently seen in the winter. The bill of fare at
the feast of Archbishop NcAnlle included two hundred
and four cranes ! Dr. Tristram mentions that these
birds resort in immense flocks to their favourite roosting
places in the mlderness south of Beer-sheba. during the
winter; and Gould says that
flocks of cranes are seen at
stated times in France and
Grermany, passing northwards
and southwards according to
the season, in marshalled order,
high in the air, their sonorous
voices distinctly heard even
from their elevated course.
Occasionally they descend, at-
tracted by newly-sown fields,
or the prospect of finding food
in mai"shes, on the borders of
rivers, or even the shores of the
sea, but generally they con-
tinue their flight unchecked
towards their destined resting-
places. The high-flpng habits
of the crane are expressed
in Virgil's "aerise grues," and
the same poet refers to the
loud noise these birds make on
the wing —
" StrymonisE dant si^a prues, atque sethera tranant
Cum sonitu, fngiuntque notos clamore secundo." {^n. x. 265.)
Tlie structure of the ci-ane's windpipe is singular, for
the organ, after leaving the neck of the bird, passes
downwards and backwards between the branches of the
merrythought towards the sternum or breastbone, where
it makes several convolutions before it passes to the
lungs.
The Hebrew word agnr is probably derived from an
unused root agar, "to cry," "to make a noise;" the
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
233
Arabic hirJcz may also be onomatopoetic. Our Englisli
crane, A.S. hran, Germ. Kranich, Fr. griie, Greek
yepavos, Lat. grus, are all from the Sanskrit grt, " to
utter a sound," " to call out ;" compare the Greek yripiw,.
" to speak," " to cry," the Latin garrire, and the English.
" to cry."
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE :— (3) EACES IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
BY THE EEV. W. LEE, D.D., EOSBUKGH.
§ 3. — TIME OF SOLOMON.
HEN we turn from the period of the Judges
to that in which it is proposed next to
trace the different elements of the pojiu-
lation of Palestine, we find ourselves in
what may be truly described as, from every point of
view, a new world. The clioseu race had not only
subdued all their enemies within their own borders, but
greatly extended their dominions on every side. The
kingdom over which Solomon from the moment that he
ascended the throne exercised undisputed sovereignty
extended from Lebanon to the frontiers of Egypt, from
the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. If the coasts of
Tyre still retained their ancient independence, that
234
THE j5iBLE EDUCATOR.
territory liad loug ceased to be claimed by Israel ; and
with its enterprising and ingenious, but imwarlike
people, wliose chief ambition was the development of
then- own trade and manufactures, both Solomon and
his father liad entered into friendly alliance, establish-
ing with them indeed, intimate relations which greatly
promoted, at least, tliQ material advancement of botli
kingdoms. The disunion, anarchy, insecurity, and dis-
tress of the people of Israel in the former period, their
continual warfare, theu- terrible periods of subjection to
foreign oppressors, had now passed away. " Judah and
Israel were many, as the saud which is by the sea in
multitude, eating and drinking and making merry."
" Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his
vine and fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the
days of Solomon" (1 Kings iv. 20, 25). Nor was there
merely peace in those days. The nation had risen to a
position of worldly power, prosjjerity, and even glory,
undreamt of in former times. No longer satisfied with
tilling their fields and tending their flocks and herds,
for the supply of their own simple wants, they had
become a great commercial people, with a foreign trade
which opened up to them markets for their native pro-
duce in all parts of the world, and brought the riches
of all other lands to their doors ; and while it thus
immensely increased their resources, at the same time
introduced a new life and movement among all classes
of the commimity. "With wealth, too, had come luxury.
The magnificence of the court of Solomon himself is
proverbial ; and the cedar palaces of the king (1 Kings
vii. 2), his royal gardens and orchards, in which were
planted trees of aU kiuds of fruits (Eccles. ii. 5), and
the splendour of his retinue (1 Kings x. 5) were doubt-
less, emulated, in their degree, by his subjects. Then,
many of the older cities had been rebuilt, and new cities
founded throughout the Land ; but above all, after seven
years' labour, the Temple — a structure less imposing in
its dimeiisions than rich and ornate in its embellish-
ments, but by all accounts (Isa. Ixiv. 11 ; Hagg. ii. 3)
surpassingly beautiful — liad taken the place of the
homely Tabernacle ; and ivithin its walls of carved
cedar and polished stone, resplendent with costly deco-
rations of gold and jewels, the worship of God was
celebrated with a ceremonial pomp and a lavish expen-
diture which, whatever inference may bo drawn from
them as to the state of religion in Palestine, in the
time of Solomon, wei'e, at all events, no more, doubtless,
than in correspondence to the material wealth and pros-
perity of the nation.
The data furnished in the Bible as to the ethnology
of Palestine at this period are full of interest. The
population, as a whole, had greatly increased. The f uU-
gro>vn men, or those fit for military ser\ice, in all the
tribes, except Le\-i and Benjamin — Levi and also, for
some reason (cf. 1 Chron. xxi. 6 ; xxvii. 24), Benjamin
being omitted in the enumeration — was by the census
taken by Da^-id, near the close of his reign, 1,300,000
(2 Sam. xxiv. 9), according to 1 Chron. xxi. 5, 1,570,000 ;
or, at the lowest computation, more than twice as many
as at the Exodus. The numbers imply a total population
of not less than between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 souls.
No information is given as to the relative proportion
of Israelites and non-Israelites, which last class seems
(2 Sam. xxiv. 7) to have been included in the census. It
is vei'y evident that the bulk of the inhabitants of the
country at this time belonged to the seed of Abraham.
But that non-Israelites, comprehending under that
term not only Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites,
Jebusites (1 Kings is. 20), and Philistines (ii. 39), but
Egyptians (x. 28), Phoenicians (\'ii. 14), Ammonites,
Edomites (xi. 1), and probably many other peoples, were
largely represented, we have ample means of knowing.
(1.) Of one class indeed of the foreign subjects of
Solomon there is, in 2 Chron. ii. 17, a separate enumera-
tion, founded on a special census which was taken by
direction of that monarch himself. The class now
referred to consisted of the remnants of the ancient
Canaanites, or the descendants — as far as they were stiU
to be found in the land — of those of the Canaanites
" whom the chilcb*en of Israel had not been able utterly
to destroy" at, or after, the conquest. It is a remarkable
proof of the tenacity with which these races clung to
the home of their ancestors, that after the lapse, accoi'd-
ing to the chronological statement in 1 Kings vi. 1, of
between 400 and 500 years, since the time of Joshua,
their numbers should have been so great as appears
from the passage now referred to. From a comparison
of the various allusions to them, occurring in Kings and
Chronicles, we may form a very distinct idea of the
position Avhich they at this time held in Palestine. They
appear to have been distributed, probably in separate
towns and villages, throughout the whole land, or over
" all Israel" (1 Kings v. 13), enjoying, too, such a measure
of social freedom as is implied in their possession of
" homes" of their own^ (verse 14). At the same time
they wei'e not now, whatever may have been the case in
earlier times, in the same position with free citizens.
Since the later years of David's reign (cf. 2 Sam. xx.
24, with 2 Sam. viii. 15, sq.) they had been placed imder
" tribute of bond-service" to the state, that is, had been
made hable, like the Israelites themselves in Egypt,
to furnish able-bodied labourers, when so required, for
employment in public works undertaken by the state.
Their •' bondage" appears not to have been of the same
oppressive character, nor to have been imposed with
the same object, as the Egyi^tian bondage (Exod. i. 10,
sq.); but in principle it was very much the same, and
doubtless must have involved the endurance on theu*
part of very severe hardships. The great public works
in the form of splendid palaces, and fortifications, and
new cities, which Solomon left behind liim as monu-
ments of his glory, were not completed without cost, at
once in money and in human suffering, auy more than
the pjTamids of Egypt or " Pharaoh's treasure cities,
Pithom and Raamses" (Exod. i. 11). The works of
1 In some cases at least the original inhabitauts retained their
paternal iuheiitance. Fi-om Araunab, the Jebusite, David bought
the threshing-floor on Mount Moriali, as a site for au altar to
Jehovah. It was evidently at Arauuah's absolute disposal (2 Sam,
X.UT. 18).
ETHNOLOGY OV THE BIBLE.
235
this kind undertaken by that monarcli are described in
1 Kings ix. 15, and included the building of " the house
of the Lord," of Solomon's palace, " and MiUo, and the
wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer,
and Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, and all
the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his
chariots, and cities for his horsemen," with other under-
takings of a similar description " in Jerusalem, and in
Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion." In all
of these extensive undertakings, some of which cost
many years' labour, the bond-service of the remnant
of the Cauaanite races was called into requisition (vy. 15
— 20). The nature of the labom* requu'ed from them is
clearly enough indicated in the account of the building
of the Temple, from which it apj)ears that different tasks
were apportioned to different classes of the tributaries.
Some were employed at Lebanon, in cutting down cedar-
trees and quarrying stones. Others were set apart to
transport the materials thus prepared to Jerusalem ;
and a smaller number were constituted overseers " to
set the people a work" (2 Cliron. ii. 18 ; cf. Exod. i. 11 ;
T. 6). The whole numbers '* told out" for these distinct
labours were not, however, at any moment in actual
service. The only levy, the extent of which is sjiccified,
embraced less than a fifth of the persons liable to be
called upon (cf. 1 Kings t. 13; 2 Chron. ii. 17); and
even from them continuous labour was not exacted,
arrangements being made by wliicli, after every month
spent in state-labour, the workman was allowed to
return home for two months to attend to his private
affairs (1 Kings v. 14). It has been said that this class
of the foreign population was considerable in point of
numbers. The census only embraced the able-bodied
men; it, of course, also excluded those individuals of
the ancient races who had become naturalised by
" transferring themselves to the religion and nationality
of Israel" (Ewald, Hist, iii. 230) ; and the number upon
the whole is stated at 153,000. Allowing for women and
children, the class of " strangers" now referred to must,
by the usual mode of computation, have amounted to
a total of not less than between 600,000 and 700,000
souls.
(2.) Amongst the non-Israelite population of which
we have notices in connection with this period, another
class consisted, in part at least, of men of the same origin,
and occupied a somewhat similar, though a less servile
a:id more honourable position than that just mentioned.
The "Nethiuim" were servi piMici attached to the
Temple, and, under the Levitcs, employed in the more
menial duties connected with the Temple services. Unless
we find an earlier trace of them in the Midianite captives
given by Moses to the Levites in the wilderness (Numb.
xxxi. 47; see Michaelis, Lcnvs of Moses, ii. 169). the first
" Nethinim " consisted of the protected Hivites of Gibeon
and its allied to^vns. Having by craft secured a treaty
with Joshua, by which their lives were spared, l3ut on
condition of bond-service, the families of this Cauaanite
tribe were set apart to be " hewers of wood and drawers
of water for the congregation and for the altar of the
Lord" (Josh. ix. 27). How far the attempt made by
Saul, in one of his fits of misdirected zeal, to extenninate
the Gibeonites (2 Sam. xxi. 2) had been successful, is
not known. Apart from any serious diminution of their
original numbers due to the incident now referred to,
the introduction of a more stately ceremonial in the
public services of religion when the sanctuary was
transferred to Jerusalem, may have required that
additions should be made to the " Nethinim." It
appears, however, that for one reason or another that
body received in David's reign important accessions,
probably from the cai)tives taken in some of David's
wars (Ezra viii. 20). That the new " Nethinim" were,
like the Gibeonites, of non-Israelite birth, is in itself
probable, and derives confirmation from the fact that
in the roll of some of their families which has been
preserved by Ezra, the names are unmistakably foreign.
Whether Solomon made further additions to the number
is not certain ; but there is a presumption in favour of
this view from the fact that an order of men called
" Solomon's seiwants" is referred to in the passage just
cited in immediate connection with Da^dd's " Nethinim,"
and included imder a common numeration with that
body (Ezra ii. 55, 58). What their numbers were in
the times with which we are at present dealing, is a
point as to which there is no direct information acces-
sible to us. At the return from the Capti^^ty the
Nethinim (including " Solomon's servants ") were con-
siderably in excess of the Levites. While only 379
Levites returned with Zerubbabel and Ezra, the sum
of the subordinate members of tlic sanctuary of whom
we now speak reached 518 (Ezra ii. 58 ; viii. 20) ; both
doiibtless mere fractions of the numbers in those days
when the country had reached the culminating point of
its glory and prosperity, and all dex^artments of the
public service were maintained in a state of the utmosfc
splendour and efficiency. It must be added that the
Nethinim were proselytes to the Jewisli faith and
worship. In Nehemiah (x. 28) we find them included
among those who after the Capti\'ity took part in the
solemn covenant by wliich the restored people renewed
their national engagements to Jehovah, entering into
an oath to " walk in God's law, which was given by
Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all
the commandments of the Lord their God, and His
judgments and His statutes."
(3.) The domestic skives of the Jews at this period
were probably very numerous, and must specially be
taken into account in any attempt to form an estimate
of the numbers and character of the foreign population of
the country. It need hardly be said that slavery had
always existed among the Hebrews from the earliest times ;
and with other usages which have gradually disappeared
under the influence of Cliristian principles, was, owing to
'• the hardness of their hearts " and their unripeness for
higher instruction, to some extent tolerated by the Mosaic
law (cf. Matt. xix. 8), the pro\-isions of which, on the sub-
ject of slavery, appear to have had chiefly in view the
amelioration of an evU for whose entire suppression the
time had not yet arrived. It probably continued to exist
among the Jews as long as they were a nation. By
236
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
slaves are here, of course, to be nuderstood non-Israelite
slaves. There were native servants in Israel : not only
hired servants, but servants who either ])y their own
consent, or as a judicial punishment of certain offences,
e.g., theft (Exod. xxii. 3), liad become bound, for a period
strictly limited by statute, to a servitude which, while it
lasted, was in some respects very much the same as that
of persons reduced to slavery. Doubtless there were
always m the land Hebrew bond-servants of the class
last described. Their condition, however, was essentially
different from that of slaves. That they were in every
case free to leave their service at the end of six years,
or earlier if the year of Jubilee intervened (Exod. xxi. 2 ;
Lev. XXV. 10; Dent. xv. 12), formed of itself a vital dis-
tinction ; but on every groimd it would be an abuse of
language to call any servitude legally imposed on the
Hebrews by their own countrymen slaveiy (see Michaelis,
Laws of Moses, ii. 149, sq.). In addition, however, to
native servants of the descrij)tions now mentioned, there
were in the service of Israelite families numbers of
slaves in the ordinary sense of the term ; and these last
appear to have been invariably non-Israelites.^ Some of
them were captives taken in Israel's own wars, and
rediiced to slavery by that people themselves (Numb.
xxxi. 26) ; others, slaves purchased for money, in which
case it may be assumed that they were " bought of the
heathen''' (Lev. xxv. 44), slave -markets being prohibited
within the temtory of Israel (Exod. xxi. 16). A gi-eat
proj)ortion, doubtless, were always slaves " bom in the
house," the offsiJZ-iug of enslaved parents. The only
basis furnished in tlie Bible itself for a calculation of
their probable numbers at this period is found in an
account in the Book of Ezra of the relative lumibers of
slaves and freedmen who returned from the Babylonish
Capti^-ity under Zerubbabel. Of that miserable rem-
nant of the former population of the land there were
42,370 Israelites, members of "the congregation of the
Lord ;" and their " sei-^'ants and maids," who are enume-
rated separately, and not included in "the congrega-
tion," numbered 7,337, or stood in the proportion of 1 to
6 (Ezi'a ii. 64, 65). How much greater the proportion
must have been in the days of Solomon need not be
said. Doubtless among the Jews, as among other ancient
peoples, the number of then- slaves kejit pace with the
growth or decline of tlieir prosperity (cf. Strabo xiv. 5,
§ 2). Solomon himself in the number of his " servants
and maidens," including those born to servitude in his
house, no less than in his riches in other respects,
" increased more than all that wei-e before him in Jeru-
salem" (Eccles. ii. 9). Among the Athenians it is
tolerably certain that in the times of tlieir greatest
splendour the slave population was much larger than
the free (Smith, Diet. Antiq.,].c. "Servus"). In the
time of Cecrops, the proportion is even said {Deipnos.,
1. vi., quoted by Potter, Arch. Grcec. i. 5) to have been
1 Lev, xxv. 3D ; 1 Kings ix. 22. It spems, however, that at
some periods, tlie provi-ions of the Mosaic law as to the release of
Hebrew scrvuuts at the end of six years were, like others of the
provisions of that hiw, openly transgressed by many of the people.
(See Jer. xxxiv. 8, sq. ; Noh. v. 1, sq.)
20 to 1. there being 400,000 foreign slaves to 20,000
Athenian citizens. In Delos as many as 10,000 slaves
were sometimes sold in a single day (Strabo, 1. c).
Athens, -iEgina, and Corinth alone had in the days
of their prosperity, 1,330,000 slaves (Pusey, Minor
Prophets, 135, with authorities there cited). Juvenal
{Sat. iii. 140) speaks of the possession of crowds of
slaves as one form of ostentation common in Rome in
his day. Throughout Italy — to omit exceptional cases,
in which the numbers are .so great as to appear fabulous
— it seems that 200 slaves was not an uncommon pro-
portion for a j)rivate family (Hor. Sat. i. 3, 11). Two
cases are incidentally mentioned (Tac. Ann. xiv. 43 ;
Apulseus, in Apolog., 548), where such a family had 400
slaves; and a freedmau in the reign of Augustus,
referred to by Pliny {Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 10, § 47), after
great losses in the civil wars, left at his death 4,116
slaves. (See further details in Diet, of Antiq., 1. c. ;
Gibbon, Rome, c. ii. ; Hume, Essays, i. 397, sq. ; Movers,
Die Phunizier, ii. 370, sq.).
The nationalities of the private slaves of the Israelites
can only be guessed at. We read both in earlier and
later times of Midiauite, Edomite, and other Arabian
races being represented among the number. Some of
them were Egyptians. Many probably were Africans ;
at least the slave-dealers of Phoenicia, to whom the Jews
would naturally chiefly look for keeping up the supply,
whether for the palaces of the rich, or for the homes,
the fields, and the workshops of the middle classes,
obtained the greater part of their slaves from Ethiopia
(Heeren, Hist. Besearehes, iv. 179, sq.), the chief nursery
of slaves for all the world from the earliest to the latest
times.
(4.) In those countries which were in more imme-
diate proximity to Palestine, it was not uncommon to
find foreigners admitted to the king's court, and
employed even in high office about the person of the
sovereign (1 Kings xi. 19; Gen. xli. 40; Dan. ii. 48).
The usage had not been unknown in Israel itself, either
before or after the time of Solomon (cf. 1 Sam. xxii.
9 ; Jer. xxxA-iii. 7). In David's reign, even the royal
body-guard (2 Sam. viii. 18 ; xx. 23 ; xxiii. 23) was a
troop of foreign mercenaries, knoANTi as the Cherethites
and Pelethites ("Cretans" and " Pliilistines," Ewald.
Hist. i. 346) : and among the officers in high command
in the royal army were Ittai the Gittite, probably
a native of Gath, and therefore a Philistine, but at
all events "a stranger, and also an exile." as David
exjiressly calls him (2 Sam. xv. 19) ; Zelek the Am-
monite (xxiii. 37) ; and Uriah the Hitlite (xxiii. 39). To
what extent the practice was adojited by Solomon is a
question for the determination of which we are left
simply to inference from the general facts of the history
of that monarch. Judging from these facts it may be
assumed to be much more probable that in this respect
Solomon improved upon, tliau that he departed from,
the example set before him by his father. The fact
that he had early in life married the daiighter of the
reigiung king of Egypt, and afterwards, unhappily
for himself and his co\inti*y, formed unions with a
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
237
multitude of other foreign women — " womeu of the
Moabites, Ammonites, Zidouians, and Hittites " (1 Kings
xi. 1) — demands notice here on its own account. But
the natural tendency of these connections to intro-
duce foreigners into the court of the sovereign, and
to gain for them admission to important and lucrative
offices about liis j)ersou, must especially be kept in
■view. Solomon was not by any means proof against the
influences to which he was thus exposed, even when
those mfluences were exerted in favour of innovations
wliich affected the most fundamental principles of the
Theocracy. Although, however, it is every way most
probable that the coiirt of this monarch swarmed with
foreigners, we have, as already said, no du-ect informa-
tion on the subject.
(5.) It appears incidentally that the commercial
relations which had at this period been established
between Palestine and other lands introduced many
foreigners into the country, not only as temporary, but
also as permanent residents there. From the extent
and also the nature of these relations, such a result
was inevitable. During the reign of Solomon " almost
the whole commerce of the world passed into his terri-
toi-ies" (Milman, i. 321). With Phcenicia he had
established so strict a confederacy that, to use again the
words of the historian just quoted, " Tyi-e might be
considered the port of Palestine, Palestine the granaiy
of Tyre " {ih.). Nor had he only thus been admitted to
a participation in the extensive commerce of the greatest
mercantile and manufacturing people of the ancient
world, with — to say nothing of their inland traffic — a
mercantile navy whose flag was found in every port,
and colonies and factories of their own already esta
blished in all the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean
"With the co-operation of the same people, he opened
up for himself, no less than for them, new spheres of
commercial activity. The conquests of his father Da"\ad
had made hiiu master of important hai'bours on the
Red Sea ; and aided by the skill and experience of the
Phoenicians, lie extended his maritime trade to Southern
Arabia, the coasts of the Persian Gulf, and some parts
of India (Milman, ii. 323). Then he had likewise
commercial relations with the coimti-ies beyond the
Euphrates ,• with Egypt — a trade carried on entirely
through the Jews; and above all with the inland
countries of the vast Arabian peninsida (Heeren, Hist.
Researches, ii. 112). So active and wide-spread a trade
with foreign lands could not fall to ha^-e an important
influence in many ways on the condition of the Holy
Land (cf. Wilkins, Phcenicia and Israel, c. iii.) ; and
one c.f its first results must have been to introduce into
that land, at every moment, a medley of representatives
of many alien races — most of them forming, doubtless,
no more than a floating population, but numbers also
finding occasion to settle there permanently. The fact
that Palestine was the highway through which much of
the merchandise intended for other countries now found
transit, must be taken into account, as well as the
extent of her o^vn trade. Above all we must keep in
■view the mode in wliich in these times all inland traffic
was necessarily carried on. Especially when, as in the
case of the western continent of Asia, the routes lay
through countries intersected by deserts, and infested
by lawless hordes, merchandise could only be trans-
ported from place to place with safety by caravans, or
companies of men associated in sufficient numbers to
be able to defend themselves against hostile attack (cf.
Heeren, i. Introd., Ixxxix.). Then the retail trade was,
in great part, in the hands of Phceuician packmen or
pedlars. In these circumstances it was inevitable
that at this jjeriod crowds of foreigners — Phoenicians,
Egyptians, Arabians, Babylonians, Ethiopians, and
even East Indians, and from the European con-
tinent, men of Spain, and stUl more distant countries
— shipmasters, mariners, merchants, dealers, carriers,
with their " multitudes " of camels and dromedaries
(Isa. Ix. 6) and attendants — should be found at all times
on the gi-eat roads through Palestine ; or encamping at
the outskirts of the cities; or bargaining with the native
biiyers and sellers at the great fairs ; or cariying their
packs of Egyi^tian linen yai-n, or Tyrian purple cloth,
and trinkets, and jewellery, from house to house in the
thriving to^mis and A-illages. Nor are we without many
incidental traces of the existence of such a popula-
tion. Too obvious indications of one of the corrupting
influences which foreign settlers brought to bear on
the youth of Israel, occur in the repeated allusions iu
Proverbs to the " strange " women, against whose entice-
ments the royal Preacher found it necessary again and
again to warn the young men among his subjects ; and
in one of the passages now referred to, the temptress
is described as the wife of a foreign merchant who,
■with his famUy, had taken up his residence in Jerusalem,
from whence he made journeys in pursuit of his trade
to distant markets (Prov. vii. 9). Again, we read
(1 Kings X. 11) of the arrival in the ports on the south-
eastern frontier of Hiram's fehips with gold, algum-
trees, and precious stones from Ophir ; and of the
anival, once iji three years, on the Mediterranean coast
of Solomon's own ships of Tharshish, bringing gold,
and silver, ivory, and apes, and i^eacocks (x. 22) — both
arrivals iuvol^ving a laud carriage through Palestine,
in which many foreigners must have been employed ;
of the troops of horses, and bales of linen yarn, brought
up from Egypt, with the prices which were paid to the
Egyptian carriers for transit money (vv. 28, 29) ; and
of the spice merchants of Arabia who brought from
year to year to Solomon's court the native products in
which they trafficked (w. 15, 25). Then as the mer-
chants of Israel traded in the markets of Tp-e (Ezek.
xx\'ii. 17), there were, so late as the times of Nehemiah,
traders from Tyre dwelling in Judah, and bringing
their wares into Jerusalem for public sale (Neli. xiii. 16).
It is a curious indication of the manners of the times,
that the " virtuous woman " of Prov. xxx. is described
as making "fine linen" and "gu-dles" for sale or
barter to the Phoenician merchants (ver. 24) — the same
merchants, doubtless, from whom she purchased her
"coverings of tapestry" and the "scarlet cloth" for
her household.
•SdS
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BY F. E. CONDEE, C.E.
MEASURES OF TIME.
I, SMALLER DIVISIONS: — DIVISION OF DAY (TWENTY-FOUR HOTJRS).
i'oniior na •
seveutecntli
Chronotaxis
X. nOROLOGT: — SMALLER DIVISIONS OF TIME.
HE measurement of time has two distinct
objects and. methods; the first being
ai)plicablc to minute portions, and the
second to cycles and terms of years. The
I'alled, by tlic gi-«it Latin writers of the
eentm-y, Chronomeiry, and the second
Chronology is now generally the word
employed for the second division of the subject.
The chief, if not the only, distinct reference to any
artificial measurement of small portions of time, that
occurs in the Bible, is that made to ten degrees of the dial
of Aliaz. These steps, or degrees, were probably those
of the Chaldean scale, Avhich is used by Ptolemy, in the
Almagest,^ for his aceoimt of the lunar eclipses observed
at Babylon. These degi-ecs were 60, in the course of
a diurnal revolution of the earth ; and thus each one
contained 24 of our minutes. A degree Avas divided into
80 scrupules, of 18 seconds. There can be little doubt
that our ordinary didsion of the day into 24 hours, and
of the hour, and of the minute, by 60, is also Chaldean.
The face of a clock or watch is still divided into 60
degrees, every fifth of which is indicated by a number.
But the astronomical notation which we have described
is that in which the early eclipses are recorded ; and it
is refciTcd to Ij}- Scaliger in his gi-eat work, De Enven-
datione Temporum.
We cannot find that any accurate system of the
minor diWsions of time was known to the Jews. Before
the discovery of the pendulum, accurate measurement of
mean time was impossible. In the time of Charlemagne
a clepsydra, or watov-chck, was sent to that Emperor by
the CaUph Haroun al Raschid. Our own King Alfred
is said to have invented the use of gi-aduated candles
to measure the hours of the night. The Chaldean sim-
dial appears to have been introduced into Palestine by
Ahaz; although the determination of the moment of
noon, by the absence of shadow cast from a wall built
north and south, was well kno\vn to all Eastern people,
and appears to have been introduced into the stnicture
of the Court of Israel l)y King Solomon. The di\-ision
of the sun-dial of Aliaz was probably the Chaldean
division into sixty degrees, each degree containing eighty
scnipules of time.
The hours of the night must have been measured by
the Chaldeans by the motions of the stars. Amongst
the Jews we find no mention of any indication of tlieir
flight, except the crowing of the cock. The legends
of the Rabbis, as to the hai-p suspended by David over
his bed, which soimded at midnight of its own accord,
and woke the king to prayer," form strong negative
^ Almagest, lib. vi., cap. 1.
- ie Talmnde de Babi.ilon, traduil par I'Ahhe Chiarbii, vol. i., p. 262.
I evidence as to the want of any chronometric division of
I the night. There is a very old dispute as to how many
; watches fonned the most proper dinsion of the time
I of darkness ; but the Halacha, or decision, establishes
tliree.^ The A-igils of the guard of the Temple were
I visited by the prefect of the guard, but the u-regiUai-ity
I with which that officer made his rounds is matter of
dii'ect tradition.
The point of noon was fixed, by daily observations,
■with sufficient accuracy. The rising of the first ray of
the sun, or, as it is called, the column of the dawn, was
watched for from an elevated place in the Temple ; and
ajyi'reco, or officer appointed to ciy the hour, auuouueed
the illumination of the mountain-range to the south of
Jerusalem. Sunset, on the sixth day of the week, was
announced by six blasts of the trimipet.'*
The diA'ision, into the great and the small vesjDer,
of the whole time of the descent of the sun from the
zenith, appears to liave sepai-ated the afternoon into
two equal portions. The most natural explanation of
all the information which is contained on the subject of
the diAdsion of the daj', in the Bible and the Talmud, is,
that from sunrise to sunset was counted as twelve hours,
and that the length of the houi* A'aried with the season
of the year ; no indications being recognised except
such as were taken from Natui-e ; as by the falling of
the shadow, or the movements or voices of animals.
A remarkable proof of the want of any means, how-
ever rude, of artificially testing the flight of time, is
found in the account given in the tract Tamicl of an
error in the morning sacrifice. The light of the moon,
on one occasion, was so strong, that it was mistaken by
the priests for the sunrise, and the morning victim was
accordingly slaughtered. When the actual sunrise
followed, and showed the eiTor, a second lamb had to
be slain, as no burnt-ofi:ering could bo legally per-
formed by a nocturnal rite.
The brief twilight of Palestine lasted from the actual
setting of the sun until the stars were visible, and from
the U2)casting of the first rays of the sun imtil the ap-
pearance of the great light. The morning prayer, or
Shenia, might be said at any time, from dawn to the
third hour of the day, or, as some held, from dawn
until noon. The offering of the daily sacrifice was to
take place as soon as the morning rays of the sun
illuminated the mountains south of Jerusalem. The
opening of the seven gates of the sanctuary, which were
all uidocked and opened by signal at the same moment,
was announced ]jy three blasts of the trumpet.
Thus the divisions of the Hebrew day, as far as they
are mentioned m tlie Bible or the Talmud, are exclusively
natural and unartificial. The only need of exactitude
3 Berachoth, i. 1, Ghemara. "i Codex Siiccoth, v. 5,
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
239
WHS that wliich arose from the iujuuctious as to moriiiug
and evening prayer, and as to the services of the Temple.
The moment of the commencement of the Sabbath, on
the close of the sixth day of the week, was another
point of importance. It was announced to Jerusalem
by six blasts from the trumpets of the Temple. But so
careful were the provisions with which the observance of
the Day of Rest was hedged, that any occupations likely
to consume a lengthened time were prohibited after
}ioon on the day of preparation, or eve of the Sabbath.
The chronometry, as well as the larger di\T.sions of
time, contemplated by the Law, was that afforded by the
visible movements of the heavenly bodies, or indicated
by those divinely -implanted instincts of animals which
the appliances of modern civilisation have led us to dis-
regard. Throughout the Holy Laud, under the rule
of the Divine law, man responded to every utterance
of Nature by a blessing on tho name of the Creator.
When the crow of the cock fell on the ear the Oral Law
taught the pious Jew to respond, " Blessed is he who
hath given wisdom to the bird." •
The subjoined tables indicate the early Chaldean
division of time, and the Jewish division of the day,
according to natural phenomena and religious obser-
vances. Tlie Arabic divisions now used in Palestine
live added.
ARTIFICIAL HOROLOGY.
Chaldean (used in Almagest).
Dimension.
Sec.
1
18
1,440
86,400
Scru.
Deg.
Dies.
Second ....
Scrupule ....
Degree ....
Day
1
80
4,800
1
60
1
NATURAL HOROLOGY.
Italian Hoiu'.
Eng-
lish.
Jewish.
Named in Talmud.
AuGELUS (Itali') 0
6
Sunset.
Twilight. {'Ahra, Arab. )
h
G.20
Stars appear.
Evening Shema, or
prayer.
CUKFEW (Eng.) 2
8
4
10
1st watch ends.
The ass brays.
6
12
Midnight.
8
2
2nd watch ends.
The dog harks.
9
3
Cock-crow.
lOi
ih
2nd cock-crow.
LAKrM(Bolgium)ll|
5.40
Column of dawn.
Twilight. (Subah, Arab.)
12
6
Sunrise.
Three blasts of trumpet
Shema, or prayer.
Morning sacrifice, at
N.W. of ALTAn.
Nine blasts of trumpet.
Tocco (Italy) 18
12
Noon.
(Doher, Arabic.)
Since 1456.
10 h
11
Great vesper.
First Minoha.
2i;
Small vesper.
Second IWincha. ('Aser,
Arab. )
(Mogoreb, Arabic, be-
fore sunset.)
231
5.40
Evening saceifice, at
N.E. of ALTAR.
Niue blasts of trumpet.
24
6
Sunset.
Six blasts of trumpet,
on eve of Sabbath.
1 Codex Beracoth, cap. is.., mis. 6, Ghemara, page 327.
II. THE SUBSTITUTE FOR A CALENDAR, IN DIVISION OF
THE YEAR.
The accuracy in the determination of time, which the
Law of Moses made incumbent on the Hebrew jjeople,
was of a different character fi-om that which, for astro-
logical purposes, had been attained by the Chaldee
astronomers, at least as early as the days of Abraham.
When Alexander the Great took Babylon, it is said
that he found records of eclipses as far back as a date
which fell almost on the very year of the dei^arture of
Abraham from Mesopotamia ; the two events, probably,
coinciding with a revolution, or change of dynasty at
Babylon, where the accession of the second dynasty,
consisting of Median kings, is attributed to that date.
The records of these eclipses must have perished in the
destruction of the famous library at Alexandria, by the
Caliph Omar, in A.D. 640. The great mathematician,
geographer, and astronomer, Ptolemy, had access to
a series of Babylonian observations, the earliest of
which, that he cites in the Almagest, was an eclipse of
the moon, which occurred in the first year of Mardo-
cempadus, B.C. 721.-
The great object of ancient astronomy and chrouo-
metiy was astrological prediction. This was expressly
forbidden to the Jews by the Pentateuch. We find, in
consequence, that so far from their attempting, like the
Greek philosophers, to foretell eclipses, or even to make
use of the saros, or eclij)se table, the Hebrew wiiters
ascribed to all such phenomena the character of x)ortents,
or "signs from heaven." We can recognise contem-
porary references, in the Hebrew prophets, to certain
famous ancient eclipses, under this description.
It may have been with a view to render astrology
impossible, that the Jews were forbidden to keep a
calendar in the Holy Land. Their years, like those of
the Greeks, were lunar. The importance of securing
the light of the moon for all great gatherings of people,
invohdng distant journeys, was no doubt one principal
reason why the Jewish, like the Grecian, festivals were
fixed at full moon. With the Greeks the value of a
calendar was so higlily prized, that the discovery by
Meton, in the 86th Olympiad, of that relation between
the movements of the great planets, which gives a cycle
of nineteen years, was regarded as a national benefit,
and was commemorated under the name of the "golden
number." With the Jews the first day of each month
Avas sacred. But these days were determined, according
to the Oral Law, not by a calendar, but by direct obser-
vation of the new moon.
It is well known that the actual conjunctiou of the
sun and moon, when these planets are in the same degree
of longitude, is invisible to the naked eye, excej)t on
the comparatively rare occurrence of an eclipse of the
sun. Forty-three times in eighteen years occurs an
eclipse of the moon, partial or total ; but the numljer
of eclipses of the sun in the same time is only twenty-
nine ; and many of them are only partial, and visible
near the poles, or in widely differing regions of the
" Almagest, lib. vi. c. 5 ; lib. x. c. 5, 8.
240
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ttu-tli. Ou most occasious the uew moon is iuvisible
for two or three days after the actual cliange.
As the leugth of the luuatiou, or luuar month, is,
roughly speaking, twenty-nine days and a half, it is
easy to know, from mouth to month, when to expect
tlie crescent to become visible. Six times in tlie year
the beginning of the month was decided by observation
of the new moon. These were : in Nisan, or the first
mouth, on account of the Passover; Ab, the fifth
mouth, ou account of the Fast ; Elul, for the beginning
of the ci^-il year, that is i(t say, for anticipating what
Avould probably be the first day of the following month ;
Tisri, or Ethanim, the seventh mouth of the sacred, biit
the first of the civil year, for the Day of Atonement ;
Cisleu, the uinth month, for the Feast of Lights ; and
Adar, for the Feast of Purim. Ou these occasious, and,
during the time of the monarchy, on the fii-st of Ijar, the
second mouth, ou account of the second passover (for
any who had missed the proper day of the first mouth),
the pei'sons who observed the new moon hastened to
the Beth-din, or council, to give evidence to that eii'ect.
On two months of the year the determination of the
new moon was of such importance, that the witnesses
who observed the crescent were autlioi-ised to profane
the Sabbath, by travelling to give information at Jeru-
salem. These occasions were the months Nisau and
Tisri, in which occurred the Passover and the Day of
Expiation. The !Mishna records that ou one occasion as
many as forty pairs of witnesses thus arrived ou the
Sabbath at Lydda. Rabbi Akiba detained them, but
was reproved for so doing by Rabbi Gamaliel. The
witnesses were examined by the Beth-din, as to the form
and exact position of the crescent. If they had seen it
through the clouds, through glass, or reflected in water,
the e\ndence was not accepted. "When the evidence
was satisfactory, the judges declared the mouth to be
commenced ; and a beacon was lighted ou Moimt Olivet,
from which the signal was repeated ou mountain after
moimtain, until the whole country was aglow with
their fii-es.
For special purposes, such as the tithing of cattle
aud the plantation of trees, the Jewish year began at
distinct times. Tlie regnal year began with Nisan.
The first year of each king's reign began ou the first
day of Nisau after his accession, the preceding days
being counted to his predecessor. This accounts for
the precise specification of the time of thi-ee months, as
exceptional, in the case of tlie reigns of Jehoahaz
and Jecouiah. The year of Jubilee, which occurred
every forty-nine years, commenced on the Day of
Expiation. An ecclesiastical year, as in the case of
the Advent of the Cathohc Church, commenced a
montli before tlie ordinary year. Thus the "first
Sabbath"' was the first Sabbath of the mouth Adar,
on which day the section of the Pentateuch prescribing
the annual payment of the half-shekel Wiis read in the
s}^lagogue. This fact explains the often discussed
difficulty of the "first-second" Sabbath, mentioned
1 lieghilla, iii, 4,
by St. Luke, which was the first Sabbath in the mouth
of Nisau. It fell, in the year 7S2 A.u.c, ou what wo
should now call the 5th of April.-
On t^je fifteenth day of Adar the sepulchres were
whitewashed, 3 and on the twenty-fifth the tables were
placed in the courts of the Temple to receive the annual
tribute of the sacred half -shekel. Those who had n;)t
the legal money, aud required change in order to ij;'.y
it, had to pay the addition called the Icalbon, Avliieli,
according to Rabbi Meir,^ was a silver oboliis, although
the sages allowed half this coin to be thus given.
ERAS.
iEra.
Anno.
1
Mundane
0
Cestored Sacred Beckoniug.
2
Julian ....
96
1 Jan,
3
Meues founds Memphis
355
■i
China ....
2053
First cycle of 60 years com-
mences 6, 5th April.
5
China ....
2173
First historic cycle. Full
moou, Kia zing.
6
Babylon
2675
Second dynasty. Median
Kings commence.
7
Second Egyptian Mon-
3104
ISth dynasty accedes in
archy
Egypt.
8
Exodus
3269
15 Abib, falling on 28 Phar-
mouthi.
9
Olympiads . ,
4033
01. A. a. begins full moon
S, 4034.
10
A.U.C.
4056
Eome founded Kal. Maii,
4057.
11
Nabonassar .
4062
1 Thoth, 18 Feb. 4063.
12
Metonic
4375
New moon of Sltirropho-
reon, 21 June, 4370.
13
Callippic Period .
4479
2-t Gemini fell 13 June,4i80.
14
Seleucus
4497
1 Thoth, 3 November, 4196.
15
Actiac
4779
28 Aug., Battle of Actium.
16
Christian .
4809
A.D. 1. 1 April, 4810.
17
Diocletian .
5092
17 Feb. Era of Martyrs,
29 Aug. 5093.
18
Pontifical Indiction
5120
1 Jan. 5121.
19
Hegira
5430
New moon, Thursday, IS
July, 5431.
20
Papacy
5414
29 June, 5415. Pope styled
Universal Bishop.
CYCLES,
COINCIDENCES BETWEEN WHICH AKE DETERMINATIVE AS
TO DATE.
Term.
Length' Correction.
Years, 1
1
Septennial Cycle
49 1 None.
2
Dominical Cycle
400 1 One day omitted in 4000 j'ears.
3
Lunar Cycle .
19 1 One day added every 228 yrs.
4
Bissextile Cycle
400 j As Dominican Cycle.
5
Eclipse Cvcle .
54 1 Gradual transformation, by
about 52' 3" in each cvcle.
6
Vague Egyptian year
1504
Year travels round to given
point.
7
Sothiac Cycle .
1460
The same, in terms of Julian
time.
8
Olympiads
4
Commenced on full moon in
Cancer.
9
Chaldean Great year
360 { Used in prophetic books.
10
CalUppic Period
76
As Lunar Cycle.
11
Cycle of 24 orders .
23
Determined in accordance
with Dominical Cycle.
12
Year of Hegira
1
Contains 12 lunations.
13
Cycle of Indiction .
15 1 Julian or Gregorian.
14
Julian Period .
7980 1 Reckoned by Julian time.
- This is not Julian time, but Gregorian, carrying back the
existing relation of the 1st of April to the present position of tha
equinox.
8 De Siclis, i. 1. 4 D» Siclis, i. 7,
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COIN'S OF THE BIBLE.
241
III. CYCLES — THE WEEK THE COURSES OF THE PniESTS
THE JUBILEE.
The computation of time amongst the Jews is remark-
able for the co-existence of a number of distinct methods
of reckoning, invented for different purposes, and each
folloAviug its own law. The coincidence of two or more
of these different systems in any particular point
thus yields a certitude as to date which it is hard to
find rivalled elsewhere ; almost the only corresponding
examj)les being found in the revolution of the vague
Egj^jtian year, and in that of the Chinese cycle of
sixty years.
The first and simplest of these systems is that of the
week. One of the main distinguishing features of the
Jewish law was the command to do no manner of work
on the seventh day, or Sabbath. The existence of this
division of time is, however, much more ancient than
the Exodus. It is referred to in the Book of Genesis,
as known in the time of Jacob, and, still earlier, in
that of Noah. It is said to have existed among the
Phoenicians. In China it is mentioned under the third
dynasty, wliich acceded B.C. 1122. The attaching to
the days of the week of the names of the seven astro-
logical planets is fii-st mentioned by Dion Cassius, by
whom the day on which the city of Jerusalem was
taken is thus spoken of as Dies Saturni. As far as
we can detect, the existence of a sevenfold division
has everywhere an astrological origin. Astronomy,
in ancient times, was only the rudimentaiy part of
•astrology ; and the use of astrological inquii-y was so
directly forbidden in the Law, that it is easy to under-
stand the disinclination shown by the Jewish teachers
towards any approach to artificial chronometry.
The lunar months were brought into co-relation with
the course of the seasons, or solar year, by the simple
method of observing the ripening of corn. Three ears
of barley, coming from at least two out of the three
provinces of Judea, were required for the celebration
of the Passover, and thus for the determination of the
first month of the year. Mairaonides gives- an astro-
nomical rule from wliich it would result that the new
moon of Nisan (or Abib, the month of green ears) could
never fall earlier than the fifth day of our present
month of March. This rule may possibly be compara-
tively modem, but it closely accords with the provision
as to the ripenmg of the corn.
The division of years, appointed by the Law, was
septennial. Questions have been raised by persons to
whom Hebrew literature is unfamiliar, as to this point.
The Church of Rome, adhering to the Roman decimal
chronology, has made her year of Jubilee fall on the
fiftieth, not on the forty-ninth year, and many critics
iave supposed that the Sabbath years were neglected
or even disused.
There is, however, no doubt on this subject possible
to those who will go to the true sources of information.
The revolution of the week of years was as fixed and
regular, amongst the Jews, as that of the week of days.
In the fourth year of each soptennate the fruit of all
planted trees was hallowed, in obedience to the precept
64 — VOL. III.
in Ijcv. xix. 24. On the seventh year it was forbidden
to plough, to reap, or to inime, and the self -sprung
fruits of the earth were alone to be gathered in. In
this year, also, all money debts outstanding between
Israehtes were to be forgiven. The fiftieth year was
not conterminous with the other years of the cycle.
It began and ended on the day of expiation, and thus
included a portion of the seventh and a portion of
the first year of the week {Bosh Ha-Shana, i. 1).
In this year land which had been alienated returned
to the family to which it hereditarily belonged. The
Hebrew slave, male or female, who had refused his
or her offered liberty on a preceding Sabbatic year,
was freed in the year of Jubilee. The instances in
which the Sabbatic years can l3e identified as falling
on known regnal years, during the course of Jewish
history, are too numerous to allow of the slightest doubt
as to the regvdar observance of the order of annual
reckoning prescribed by Moses, and referred to by the
prophets.
Independent of either the lunar or the Sabbatic cycle,
was a cycle of twenty-four weeks, in which the twenty-
four courses of the priests went through theii- successive
terms of ser^^ce in the Temple. This division into
mishmaroth, or courses, was not confined to the tribe
of Levi. The whole people were divided in a like
manner. The men of the course that coincided with
the acting course of the priests, sent up deputies to
Jerusalem to represent the congi'egation of Israel in
the sacrifice, and the other members of the same course
met daily, through their week of service, in the syna-
gogue, to read certain prescribed lessons of the Law.
In twenty-three solar years the order of the priests
made exactly fifty revolutions, gaining a single day.
This order of courses thus embraced the whole people,
and its coincidence with the destruction of the Temple,
and with the appearance of the angel to Zacharias, forms
a very decisive check as to the chronology of these two
remarkable events.
Thus the principles of the measurement of time, con-
templated by the Law of Moses, were, like the entire
metrical system of the Jews, directly referable to a
natural standard. The limits of error were thus small,
and readily to be ascertained. The Day of Atonement,
that of the Passover, the day of Pentecost, the first day
of the Feast of Tabernacles, the day of the Feast of the
Dedication, or that of Purim, may be recovered, on any
year dm-ing the long historic period, to a single day.
It can only be more closely fixed when any reference
occiu-s to the day of the week. But when we have a
coincidence noted between the day of the month and
that of the week, we have an absolute astronomical
determination of time.
Errors may occur in ancient records when a decimal
notation is employed. They may, of course, occur in
any mode of reckoning. But if we find a date that is
fixed by regnal years, or by decennial notation, to coincide
with a specified year of the septennial reckoning, we
have an absolute determination. More than twenty
coincidences of this nature are to be traced in the Old
242
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Antiquities and
Wars of Josephus.
To enter into the very numerous instances of chrono-
logical coincidence between the cycle of the week and
the courses of the moon, and between the decennial
and septennial reckoning, is beyond the pro^^nce of
the present inquiry. It is the basis of the restored
chronology of the Bible, and it is intimately connected
^\dtli the import of that prophetic cycle of 1,200 years
which is not a mere casual definition of certain specified
sequences of time, but a primary law of histoi-ic chro-
nology.
From the records of Egypt, of Babylon, of Nineveh,
of Tyre, of Grecian history, from observations of
eclipses in Assyria and in China, and from coincidences
of the decennial reckoning of the Bible with the cycles
of the week, the Sabbatic year, the courses of the priests,
and the monthly phases of the moon, a series of mathe-
matical checks on the restoration of the actual chronology
of the Bible, such as no other hi>itory can show, is
obtainable, and has been obtained. From these mathe-
matical determinations we are able to fix the chief
dates of the Bible history with a precision hitherto
imattained.
ILLUSTEATIONS OF HOLY SCEIPTUEE FROM COINS,
MEDALS, AND INSCEIPTIONS.
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
BY THB EDITOR.
'OMING, as the preachers of the Gospel
did, into the midst of a comj)licated im-
perial system, and confining themselves
to their woi'k as preachers, attempting no
revolutions political or social, and for many years
scarcely even suspected of attempting any, we cannot
be sui'prised at the comparative absence of any direct
reference to them in the contemporary monumental
records of the Apostolic age. We can understand,
though we cannot excuse, the temper which, impatient
of the absence of that direct testimony, sought to fill
up the gap by documents, such as the spurious Acta
Pilati, to which even Tertullian referred as authentic ;
the letter of Tiberius to the Roman Senate, asking
them to place the name of Christ in the catalogue of the
gods whom the State recognised; the alleged corre-
spondence (said by Eusebius to have been extant in his
own time in the archives of Edessa) between our Lord
and Abgarus, the prince of that city; the inscription,
said to have been found in Spain, commemorating Nero's
extirpation of the Christians. These spurious records
have shared the fate which sooner or later falls on
all pious frauds, and are now relegated by the accordant
consent of critics to the region of the apocryphal.
On the other hand, the records of the work of the
Apostles and their immediate followers, narrated by a
writer like the author of the Acts, who professes to
have been largely a sharer in the events which he
chronicles, bring us at every step into contact with the
detaUs, not only of social customs and religious feeling,
but of political and official life. Serious inaccuracies
in statement or even in phraseology, affecting those
details, would lead us to judge unfavourably of the
trustworthiness of the book in which we found them.
Here, we might justly say, is proof that we are dealing
with what are not even "cunningly devised fables,"
but with documents in which blunders and anachron-
isms betray at every turn the hand of the impostor.
If we find so much that is fatal to all claim on our
belief in that which professedly deals only with what
is on the level of ordinary history, how can we trust
the nai'rative when it rises into tlie region of the extra-
ordinary and the supernatural ?
Objections of this kind, if not absolutely fatal, woiJd,
it will be admitted on all sides, seriously affect the im-
pression left by the New Testament records on the
minds of competent inquirers. And, therefore, in pro-
portion to the discrediting weight which they would
have must be the interest attaching to any series of
testimonies tending in the opposite direction, to coin-
cidences and illustrations from contemporary records,
showing that the historian is true and faithful where,
if not faithful, he would have been most likely to
betray himself; that he is accui'ate where he deals
with common facts ; that he thus establishes a character
for veracity which ought to tell in his favour when he
deals with those which are uncommon. Some of these
illustrations I now proceed to notice.
I. It will be recollected that St. Luke in his accoimt
of St. Paul's visit to Cyprus speaks of that island as
being under the government of Sergius Paulus, "the
cleioutrj " (Acts xiii. 7). The word thus used was applied
in the time of Elizabeth and James I. to the officer
whom we now know as the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
and it was, therefore, a natural one for the translators
of the Bible to use of the proconsul of a Roman pro-
vince. Here, however, a difficulty meets us. When
Augustus became the sole ruler of what had been the
Roman republic, xmder the title of Imperator, or Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Roman legions, ho divided the
subject provinces into classes, (1) those that were sup-
posed to be tranquil and capable of being governed by
the Senate, as being theoretically the sujirome executive
body of the State ; aud those which, as needing more
direct military control, were placed under the care of
the Imperator. Now in the division which was thus
made by Augustus, Cy^irus was placed in the latter
class. It is mentioned by Strabo in his Geography
(xiv. ad fin.) as being governed by a-Tparriyol, or praetors,
as the representative of the emperor. Assuming this
ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE FROM COINS, MEDALS, ETC.
243
btate of tlaiugs to have continued, it would have been a
blunder to use, as St. Luke uses, the term ayOviraros, or
pro-consul, of the Roman ruler. This had accordingly
been a matter of perplexity to scholars. Beza, in one
of his editions of the New Testament, had even sug-
gested an emendation of the text in order to bring it
into agreement with the supposed facts. Here, how-
ever, later researches have thrown light on what was
before obscure. Cyprian coins of the time of the
Emperor Claudius — i.e., of nearly the same date as
St. Paul's visit — have been found with the legend Em
KOMINIOT ANernATOT ('• imder the pro-consulshiji of
Cominius "), and have thus given indisputable proof that
pro-consul was, at the date of which St. Luke writes,
the proper term to use. It would appear, from other
evidence, that Augustus had about B.C. 27, when he
had succeeded in reducing the island to something like
tranquillity, transfen-ed it from the provinces under
the military to those under the cI^tI rule, and had
placed it once more under the du-ect government of the
Senate.
II. When St. Paul is aeer.ied by the turbulent mob
of Thessalonica of doing contraiy to the decrees of
Caesar, and is brought before the magistrates of the
city, the term which is used in the Acts (xvii. 5) to
describe those offices is a very peculiar one. They are
caEed " politarchs." The term is not foimd elsewhere
in the New Testament, is not named even by wi-iters
who discuss with gi-eat fulness the miinieipal institutions
of Greek cities. But thoixgh not found in books, it is
found in inscriptions, and the inscription in this case is
on a triimiphal arch, still standing' in the town of
Saloniki (the ancient Thessalonica\ the architecture of
which belongs to the first period of the empire, and
is believed to have been erected after the battle of
PhUippi in honoiu' of OctaA-ius, afterwards the Emperor
Augustus, and Antony. The inscrijition runs thus : —
nOAEITAPXOTNTflN SnSinATPOT 'TOT KAEO
nATPAS KAI AOTKIOT nONTIOT 2EK0TNA0T
nOTBAIOT *AABIOT SABEINOT AH^MHTPIOT
TOT <l>AT2TOT AHMHTPIOT TOT NlKOnOAEHS
ZniAOT TOT nAPMENinNOS TOT KAI MENI2KOT
TAIOT AriAAEIOT nOTEITOI'
Translation.
THE POLITARCHS BEING SOSIPATEll THE
SON OF CLEOPATRA, AND LTJCItVs
PONTIUS SECITNDUS, PUBLIUS FLA^aiTS
SABINTJS, DEMETRIUS THE SON OF' ' '^
FAUSTUS, DEMETRIUS THE SON OF
NICOPOLIS, ZOILUS THE SON OP PAR-
MENION THE SON OF MENISCOS, GAIUS
AGILLEIUS POTITOS.
Here, then, we have distinct evidence that the name
whi-ch St. Luke uses for the magistrates of Thessalonica
was absolutely appropriate there and nowhere else. As
compared with Philippi, the city had been favourably
treated by the Emperor Augustus. While the former,
as having supported Brutus and Cassius in their struggle
for a republic, became a Roman " colony "' — i.e., was
occupied by a Roman garrison, and brought imder the
dii-ect control of Roman law — Thessalonica, which had
supported Augustus, was allowed to remain as an urbs
libera, and, as part of its freedom, to frame political
institutions for itself, or to retain those which it for-
merly possessed. Under which head the title of poZt-
taixh came, the entire absence of any record but this
hinders us from determining. It is worthy of notice,
that three out of the seven names thus given are identical
with those of three persons mentioned in the Acts as
belonging to the converts of this region — Sopater (or
Sosipater) of Beroea (xx. 4), Gains the Macedonian (xix,
29), Secundus of Thessalonica (xx. 4) ; so that here
again we have a coincidence which woiUd imply eithei
a highly elaborated fraud, or a narrative whose genuine,
ness is shown by these touches of undesigned accuracy.
III. Scarcely less striking is the case of " Lydia, the
pm-ple-seller of Thyatira," who is named as the first
of the European converts of St. Paul, on his preaching
at Pliilippi (^Acts xvi. 14). Here, too, there is direct
monumental e^ddence that the Asiatic city thus named,
one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse, was at
this very time conspicuous for the manufacture thus
described. Three votive inscriptions have been found
in its ruins, of no other special interest, but all piu--
porting to have come from the guild of dyers {fia(pe7s),
who must therefore, we may presume, have occupied
an important position in the town. A second coinci-
dence is equally interesting. VThj, we might ask,
should a " purple-seUer of Thyatira " have estabhshed
herself in a Macedonian city ? It is obvious that, had
we been obliged to leave that question without an
answer, it would not have affected in the slightest
degree the credibility of the histoi'y. But it adds
something to its credibility, or, at all events, to its
interest, when we learn that of the towns in Asia Minor
which, like Miletiis and Laodicea, were more or less
famous for their purple dyes, Thyatira alone was
originally a Macedonian colony (Strabo xiii. 4). The
connection between the city from wliich Lydia came
and that in which she had settled, made it, therefore,
natm-al that she should have establishments in both.
It may be noted, further, that at the time of St. Paul's
preaching she was already one that " worshipped God "
(Acts xvi. 14), i.e., a proselyte to Judaism. In Philippi
itseK there was, however, no synagogue, apparently no
Jewish teacher, and the women who, with Lydia, went
out to pray, or to a proseucha, or place of prayer, were
without a Rabbi to lead their devotions. She must,
therefore, we may infer, have learned to worship the
God of Israel before she came there — must, in her own
city or on her travels, have come under the influence of
( the Jews, who were found so widely spread in all the
(titles of Asia.
IV. No illustration of the details given by St. Luke
is more striking than that supplied by the discovery, in
tho course of the excavations of the Palestine Explora-
tion Society, of a stone near the site of the old Temple,
the one stone with an inscription of which we can say
244
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
that it is certaiulj a relic of the Touiple. It runs
thus : —
MH0ENA A^VAOrENH ENT02 TOY REPI TO lEPON
TPT*AKTOT KAI nEPIBOAOT. 02 A'EAN AHq>0HI
EATTOI AITI02 E5TAI AIA TO EEAKOAOT0EIN
0ANATON.
Translation.
NO MAN OF ALIEN RACE IS TO ENTER WITHIN
THE BALUSTRADE AND FENCE THAT GOES ROUND
THE TEMPLE. AND WHOSOEVER IS DETECTED WILL
HAVE TO ANSWER TO HIMSELF FOR THE PENALTY
OF DEATH THAT FOLLOWS.
Here, then, we have, as it were, the einbodimeut in
ATords, Avhieh may liave met the Apostle's eye as he
went up to worsliip in the Temple, of that spirit of
ferocious zeal of which he was so nearly the victim.
The fact that he had been seen in the streets of Jeru-
salem, at tlie veiy time when he had upon him all the
outward tokens of his Nazarite vow, witli Troj)himus
the Ephesian, gave occasion to the false report that he
had brought Greeks into the Temple, and so had polluted
the holy place (Acts xxi. 29), and thus thi-ew the whole
city " into an uproar." The multitude were about to
kill him. It was with difficulty that the centurion
and his soldiers rescued him from their violence. The
fact of such a prohibition was, it is true, known before.
Josephus {Antiq. xv. 11, § 5) describes the stone wall
which seiwed as a partition between the Coui-t of the
■Gentiles and the sacred precincts. Rabbinic AVi-it«rs
speak of the Le\ntes who kept guard under the captain
of the Temple, going their roimds with their clubs in
their hands ready to dash out the brains of any profane
intruder. But it was reserved for the researches of the
last few years to bring to light an actual fragment of
that "middle wall of pariition," with all its terrible
accessories, which divided the Gentile from the Jew in
the visible Temple of Jerusalem, and wliich was the
visible symbol of tlie barrier by which they had been
separated for ages, but which was now, chiefly through
St. Paul's instrumentality, broken down by Clirist.
V. An inscription, the significance of which has
remained unnoticed by commentators, is found in the
collection of Orelli, No. 720 (i., p. 177). It runs thus : —
D. M.
CLAUDIAE
DICAEOSYNAE
TIB. CLAUDIUS NARCISSUS
LIB. EID. COIU.
PIENTISSIMAE
ET FRUGALISSIMAE
B. M.
Translation.
TO THE MANES
OF
CLAUDIA DICiEOSYNA,
TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NARCISSUS,
A FREEDMAN, TO HIS WIFE
MOST PIOUS AND MOST FRUGAL, <■
WELL DESERVING.
I have ventured on the suggestion that this may
connect itself with the Christian members of " the house-
hold of Narcissus," to whom St. Paul sends a salutation
(Rom. xvi. 11). Narcissus was, it mil be remembered,
the name of the freedman wlio, under Claudius, became
an imperial favourite and exercised great influence. His
own slaves and freedmon naturally took his name, and
the inscription now before us may have como from one
of those. The two names prefixed, Tiberius Claudiu.s,
imply that the man had been bom while one or other
of the two emperors of the Claudian house were reigning.
This alone, however, would go but a little way towards
establishing any connection between the monument and
St. Paul's salutation, and would possess but little inte-
rest. What we note, as more suggestive, is the name
and character of the wife, Dicseosyna, " righteousness."
With one solitary exception, and tJiat, probably, of the
same period, it occurs nowhere in the vast multitude
of records of the Greek and Roman world which the
researches of archseologists have brought to light. Is
it too much to conjectu:x;thatit occupies a conspicuous,
almost the foremost, position in the long list of personal
names in wliich the influence of the new life of Christen-
dom may be distinctly traced ? Among these, within
the first three centuries of the Church's life, we may
note Sophia {Wisdom), Irene (Peace), Agape {Love),
Elpis {Hope), Adeodatus {Given hij God), Deiisdedit
{God has given), Deogratias {Thanhs he to God), Theo-
doret and Theodosi^s [God ^ii;e>i), Anastasius {One who
hopes for the resurmction), Athanasius {One who hopes
in immortality), G/regorius {One who loatches), Ceeles-
tinus {One who loviis the heavenly life), Refrigerius {One
tvho seeks the time of refreshing), Redemptus {He that
is redeemed). In the new name of Dicseosyna we may,
I believe, trace a like significance. And, remembering
how prominent that word was in all the teaching of
St. Paul, how it forms the ever-recumng theme of the
great argument of the Epistle to the Romans, it is
surely every way interesting to find it in a household.
the head of which bore the same name as one to whom
in that Epistle he sends a Christian greeting. The
formula of tho inscription, "to the manes" of the
wife, implies, i^c is true, that the husband still used the
old formula of heathenism ; but the character which he
ascribes to hey " as most pious, most frugal," so opposed
to the prevalj^nt tone of female society in Rome under
the early crnperors, implies the working in her of a
leaven like/ that of Christianity. She aspired after
righteowr^iiess, and proved herself not unworthy of the
naijae which bore witness that she did so. We may
sp-e in her, on this assumption, an early instance of that
Ariie influence for good which St. Peter had in view
when he urged tliat Christian women should so live iu
chastity, so adorn themselves with the ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit, that even those husbands wlio
obeyed not the word might "mthout the word be won
by the conversation of their wives" (1 Peter iii. 1).
VI. A A'otive tablet was found, A.D. 1723, at Chi-
chester, -with the following inscription. The letters
enclosed in brackets indicate a conaectural restoratiou
ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE FROM COINS, MEDALS, ETC.
245
of paits of tlie inscription lost with the portion of the
stone bi-okeu ofE: —
[nJePTUNO ET MINERVA
TEMPLtnvr
[PR]0 salute DOMUS DIVINiE
AUCTOKITATE TIB. CLAUD.
[coJgIDUBNI KEGIS LEGATI AUGUSTI in BRIT.
[C0LLE]gIUM FABRORUM ET QUI IN EO
[a sacris sunt] DE SUO DEDICAVERUNT donaiite
AREAM
[pudJente pudentini filio.
Translation.
to NEPTUNE AND MINERVA
this temple
for the welfare of the divine (i.e., the
imperial) family,
by the authority of
tiberius claudius cogidubnus,
legate of augustus in britain,
the guild of smiths and those in it
who minister in sacred things, have at their
own cost dedicated,
a site being given by
pudens the son of pudentinus.
The chain of evidence which connects this insci-ip-
tion with the writings of the New Testament is a some-
what long one, but it will be found, if I mistake not,
that at every step we come across some fact of interest,
and that the result to which we are led, through the
long series of converging evidence, is both cohex'ent and
satisfactory in itseK, and throws light on the state of
society in the midst of which St. Paul lived and worked
at Rome, and on the progress which the new faith was
making, then and after his decease, among the higher
classes of that society. It will be convenient to take
each step separately, and to weigh, as we go on, the
results which we have reached.
(1.) In the closing salutations of the last epistle
wi'itten by St. Paul before his martyi'dom, we find
"Eubulus, Pudeus, Linus, and Claudia" sending a
special greeting to Timotheus as one whom they had
known and loved (2 Tim. iv. 21). AU that we could
infer from this is that Eubulus, from his Greek name,
was probably a slave ; that Claudia was in some way
connected with the imperial family then on the tliroue,
and was the daughter of some one entitled, if only
by adoption, or as a freedman, to bear the name of
Claudius. The name of Mtevius Pudens appears a
little later than this among the officers of Otho's army,
and as having been connected with Tigellinus, the ruling
favourite of Nero's later years. A ceutuiy later, a.d.
165, 166, we find two persons of the name in the list of
consuls. We might faii-ly infer that it belonged to one
of the upper class of families.
The Epigi-ams of Martial bring into closest juxtapo-
sition the two names of Claudia and Pudeus which are
thus brought together by St. Paul. From these we
learn (the epigrams are not always such as to bear trans-
lation) that Aulus Pudens was a centurion, that he was
looking for promotion to a higher rank, that of com-
mander of the fii'st division of the triarii ; that he had
a favourite slave, Eucolpus, who, as a votive offering,
had consecrated his flowing locks to Apollo, should his
master gain that promotion ; that the vow thus made
was fulfilled, Pudens giving a reluctant assent to it
(i. 32 ; V. 48). Something there was in the centurion's
character which endeared him to the writer of the epi-
grams, and won from his pen, which was for the most
part fruitful only in foulness, the tribute of a respectful
homage. Pudeus had been in the far north, and during
his absence Martial had been ill, nigh unto death.
" Tea, all but suatched wliere flows the gloomy stream,
I saw the clouds that shroud the Elysian plain.
Still for thy face I yearned in wearied dream.
And cold lips ' Pudens, Pudens," cried in vain."
"We may fairly see, I believe, in this at least a gleam
of a better nature breaking through the crust of a life
all but hardened in vice. A man does not turn in hours
of pain and sickness to one who has been his companion
in evil. What he craves for is the sympathy and sup-
port of one whose presence is bright and gladdening,
in whom the sufferer finds a purity which he himself
has lost, while yet he hopes and beheves that he is not
altogether shut out from pity and from fellowship.
But the information which we get from Martial goes
far beyond this. He wi-ites an epigram addressed to
Rufus, which is, in fact, an epithalamium on the
man-iage of Pudens and Claudia. Considering the
man and the subject, there is a singular absence of the
allusive references, more or less prominent, which are
found in most classical poems of the same kind. We
can translate it without the omission of a word save
that which may be forced upon us by the hard neces-
sities of rhyme : —
" Claudia, the fair one from a foreign shore,
Is with my Pudens joined in wedlock's hand,
On them, O Hymen, all thy blessings pour,
And let thy torches wave in either hand ;
Thus Attic honey blends with Massic wine,
Thus cinnamon and nard their fragrance blend.
Not more the lotos streams, nor elm the vine,
Nor myrtle loves the shore than they, my friend,
O Concord, bless their couch for evermore,
Be with them in thy snow-white purity,
Let Venus grant from out her choicest store
All gifts that suit that even-balanced tie.
When he is old, may she be fond and true,
And she in age the charms of youth renew." (iv. 13.)
Lastly, we have an epigram which carries us one
step further in the history of the marriage which began
so happily : —
" Our Claudia, named Rufina, sprang, we know.
From blue-eyed Britons, yet behold she vies
In grace with all that Greece or Rome can show.
As born and bred beneath their glowing skies.
Grant, 0 ye gods, that she may ever prove
The bKss of mother over girl and boy.
Still gladdened by her pious husband's love.
And in her children find perpetual joy." (xi. 53).
The pictme of such a home life as that thus drawn
is rare indeed in the pages of Martial, and was, we may
well believe, vei-y rare indeed in the society in which he
lived. The fact brought before us in the last epigram
246
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
brings us, it will be seen, in close contact witli the
CLichestor inscription. The Claudia who was a foreigner
had been bom among the blue-eyed Britons. If the
king, Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, had had a daughter,
her name would have been Claudia. And in close and
friendly relations with that chieftain we find the name
of Pudens as the giver of a site (the gift implies pro-
perty in the king's territory) on which a temple is
erected. Were we concerned only -with Martial and the
inscription, we might trace in this the commencement
of the affection which began while Pudens was on his
service in the Xorth, and issued in the marriage of
which he speaks so warmly. But we can go further.
Cogidubnus was, we learn from Tacitus (Ayricola,
c. xiv.), the faithful ally of Rome in the reign of
Claudius, when Aulus Plautius was governor of
Britain (a.d. 43 — 52). The right to use the imperial
name, as by a kind of adoption, was, in all likelihood,
the reward of his fidelity. That his daughter should
be sent over to Rome as a secui'ity for its continuance
was entirely in accord with Roman policy. And if so,
there was no one under whose care she was so likely to
be placed as the wife of the general who was com-
manding in the territory of Cogidubnus.
And here we come across a fresh link in the chain.
A strange, sad history attaches to that wife of Aulus
Plautius. He returned to Rome in the full blaze of
triumph, and then in four short years (a.d. 57) was
called upon, according to Roman law, to sit as judge
ill foro domestico, his wife, Pomponia Grsecina, being
the accused. The crime alleged against her was that of
having adopted a foreign superstition. No other guilt
was laid to her charge. Her husband pronounced a
formal acquittal, and no punishment was inflicted, but
her life for forty years from that date was one of con-
tinual sorrow. Her mode of life, iu its simplicity and
sadness, presented a strange contrast to the luxury and
splendour of other Roman matrons. She went through
the remfiinder of her life as one dead to the world and
its allurements. "We are now advancing to a hypothesis
which, at least, includes and explains all the phenomena
of the case. Assume what has been shown to be highly
proliable, that Claudia was at Rome under Pomponia's
care, that from hei-, as connected ynth. the Rufi,^ she
took the name of Rufina, and the whole story is co-
herent. The "foreign superstition," the austere and
gloomy life, what was this but the aspect which a
conversion to the faith and life of Christians would
present to the outer woi-ld? Claudia would be exposed,
directly and indirectly, to the same influences. Pudens,
who had known her father, and served under Pomponia's
husband, would be naturally drawn within the sphere
of the same attraction, would liear their t-eachers, come
to love one in whom he found a puiity and sweetness
so rare at Rome, be joined with her first in affection
and afterwards in Avedlock. That he may have been
^ Some such connection is implied in Martial's epitbalamium
being addressed to one of that family.
before his conversion among tfiose whom Martial knew
and jested ^vith was, of course, natural enough. It
did not follow that that conversion should lead to an
abrupt termination of his friendship, great as must
have been the gap made l)y it. On this hypothesis
even the epigrams which speak of heathen vows made
by an attached young slave, and which were meant to
suggest, it must be owned, an impure attachment, may
have been only the satirist's foul-mouthed jest on a
vow like that of a Nazarite, taken in the ardour of
youthful enthusiasm, after the manner of devout Jews,
and, probably (remembering Timothy's abstinence from
Avine), after the example of St. Paul's favourite disciple
as well as of the Apostle himself. The epithet which
he sportively but not scornfully applies to Pudens,
" sanctus maritus," may have been at once a tribute to
his faithfulness as a husband, and to his having become
one of those who spoke of each other as having joined
the company of the saints. Traces of the growing
repugnance which Pudens felt for the " jesting which
was not convenient " may be found in Martial's half -
bantering complaint that his friend grew weary of his
epigrams, and wanted him to correct them (iv. 29;
vii. 11).
Two more strange coincidences have to be added, and
this singular romance of early Christian life reaches its
completion. Among those who were named in mediaeval
tradition as having taken part in the followiiig genera-
tion in the conversion of the Britons we find the name
of Timotheiis the son of Pudens,- and among the most
ancient Churches of Rome is one dedicated to St.
Pudentiana, who is said to have been the daughter of
Pudens, a Roman senator, converted by the preaching
of St. Paid. Uncertain as may be the histox'ical evi-
dence to these facts, it is at least probable that a noble
Roman convert should have had an eminent Clu-istian
daughter, and that if Pudens owed his higher life to
Timothy, he should name one of his sons after him ; and
that a son of his should go to his mother's native land,
and become a preacher of the faith in which she and
those dearest to her had found peace and blessedness.
It may be enough to state, in conclusion, that the
view here taken is adopted in its main features by
Collier in his Church History (i. 15), by Dean Alford,
Dean Howson, Archdeacon Williams, and many others.
It is questioned by Canon Lightfoot on the ground
that the Epigrams of Martial lieloug for the most part
to a later date (a.d. QQ — 100) than the Pastoral Epistles,
and that they imply heathen practices and v.ces. It
may, however, be answered (1) that individual epigrams
in the collection may have been of an earlier date ; and
(2) that the jesting, bantering tone of Martial, while it
adds to the weight of any admission of a liigher life
than his own as belonging to his friends, diminishes
that of mere playful insinuations which were flung
broadcast in the very wantonness of sport.
" - See Conybeare and Howson's Life and Einstles of St. Paul, on
2 Tim. iv. 21.
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
247
EASTEEN aEOaEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. H. W. PHILLOTT, M.A., KECTOK OF STATINTON-ON-WTE, AND PE.ELECTOE OF HEBEFOED CATHEDRAL.
'he remaining names belonging to Eastern
Geogi-apliy of the Bible will, perhaps, be
best taken alphabetically.
Ahava (Ezra viii. 15). — " The river that
rmmetli to Ahava " is either the Euphrates, or, more
probably, a wady which enters that river from the
west a short distance above Hit ; and Ahava, from its
mention in later times in connection with bitumen, is
probably Hit, a place about 170 miles by the river
above Babylon, where bitumen still abounds, and is
used for covei-ing boats, and making them impervious
to water. (Aiusworth, Res., p. 85 ; Chesney, i. 54 ;
Rawliuson, Herod, i. 316.)
Aram. — This word is used, except in two instances
of mere proper names, only twice in our version : (1) in
Gen. X. 22, where it denotes a son of Shem, i.e., a people
of Semitic oi-igin ; (2) a word of place near to or iden-
tical with the " mountains of the East," from which
Balaam came (Numb, xxiii. 7). The original word is
almost always rendered " Syria," and its derivative
'• Syi'ian." It means " to be high," and appears to
denote the country lying to the north-east of Pales-
tine, which extended as far east as the upper part of
Mesopotamia. Strabo informs us that the people of
this region called themselves Aramaeans, but that the
Greeks and Romans called them Syrians (Strabo, i. 42).
If we knew the exact position of Pethor, from which
Balaam came, we might determine more exactly the
situation of Aram, which it is not quite possible to do, '
though from the subsequent combination of the word
mth Naharaim, " Aram of two rivers," rendered in our '
vei'sion " Mesopotamia," and generally taken to repre-
sent its upper part, we may infer that the Aram from |
which Balaam came was near or between two rivers, I
and that these rivers were probably the Tigris and ,
Euphrates. (See Padan-Aeam, Zobah.) '
AsHKENAZ. — Mentioned as son of Gomer, and grand-
son of Japheth (Gen. x. 3), and as a kingdom in connec-
tion with Minni and Ararat, i.e., in Upper Armenia
(Jer. H. 27). (See Bible Editcator, 1. 233.) The name
has been thought to be recognised in the name Ascannis,
on the north coast of Asia Minor. Some have connected
it with the old name of the Euxine Sea, and some have
traced it in the name Scandinavia. Modern Jews give
the name to the German nation. If so, the races origi-
nally seated in the part of Asia near Mount Ararat liave,
as is very probable, migrated westwards, and given
their name, wholly or in part, to districts or nations
of Europe. (Clark, Bible Atlas, p. 2.)
AvA. — -One of the places from which settlers were
sent to re-people Israel (2 Kings xvii. 24). It is, per-
haps, the same place as Ivah (2 Kings x\Tiii. 34), but has
also been identified ^vith Ahava. (See Ivah.)
Canneh is, perhaps, tlie same as Calneh, wliich read-
ing is found in one MS. If so, it is represented by
Nifar (Bible Educator, I. 266), but its mention in
' connection with Haran and Eden (Ezek. xxvii. 23)
I seems to point to a more northerly position. (See the
next article.)
j Carchemish, or Charchemish (2 Chrou. xxxv.
20) is mentioned as the place on the Euphrates at
which Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh-necho, king of
Egypt, in the foui-th year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah
(2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. xlvi. 2), B.C. 605. It had been
taken by Necho in the campaign in which he defeated
Josiah at Megiddo (Magdolus), B.C. 608. Carchemish
I was formerly identified with the town whose Greek
name was Circesium, and its Latin Cercusium, or Cir-
\ cessus, situated in the fork of the confluence of the
: Abora (Khabour) with the Euphrates on the west side
of the former river. It was a position of great import-
ance, and was strongly fortified by Diocletian. A town
called Karkisia, whose ^tuation answers fairly to this,
was visited by Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelfth
century A.D., and the ruins of a town called Kerhisiyah
still exist, connected by a bridge with those of another
town, which has been supposed to represent Calneh, or
Cabio (Gen. x. 10; Isa. x. 9) ; but this is now usually re-
garded as represented by Niffar (Bible Educator, I.
266), nor is there any reason for placing the two cities
near each other. (Amm. Marc, xxiii. 5 ; Zosimus, iii. 12 ;
Eutrop. ix. 2 ; Early Trav., p. 94 ; Chesney, Exp., i. 52 ;
Layard, Nin. and Bab., p. 284.) The name Carchemish
probably means " citadel of Chemosh " (Ges., Com. on
Isa. X. 9), and its site has of late been placed much higher
up on the west side of the river Euphrates, not far from
the much-used feriy at the modem town of Bir, at the
ruins of the town Hierapolis, or Mabog, where Julian
assembled his forces before his advance into Assyi-ia,
and which Assyrian inscriptions show to have been a
town of the Hittites, or Syrians, whose dominion ex-
tended as far as Bir (Layard, Nin. and Bab., pp. 142,
354). This opinion is recommended (1) by the fact
that the approach to Circesium would lead an invading
army by the almost impassable route of the desert ; (2)
by the Assyrian inscriptions, which place Carchemish
much more to the north than Kerkisiyah, and (3) give
to that place the name Sirhi, with which Carchemish-
has no connection. (Rawlinson, H&rod. i. 251 ; Anc.
Mon. ii. 67.)
Casiphia. — Only mentioned in Ezra viii. 17, a place
on the road from the Euphrates to Jerusalem. If
Ahava be the same as Hit, it wotdd probably be on the
south-west of that place ; but its situation is not known
certainly, though some have connected its name with
that of the Caspian Sea, which is quite out of the road
to Jerusalem.
Chebar (River or). — Mentioned by Ezekiel as a
station of the Jewish captives (Ezek. i. 1; iii. 15).
thought by some to be the river Khabour, which flows
into the Euphrates from the east at Kerkisiyah ; but
as Chaldsea, in which it is placed by Ezekiel, scarcely
248
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
reached so far to the uortli as this point, it is thought
by others, from the meaning of its name, "■ great," to bo
the Nahr-malcha, or royal canal joining the Tigris and
Euphrates about thirty miles above Babylon, and said to
be the work of Nebuchadnezzar (Euseb., Pr. Evang. x.
41 ; Plin. vi. 120 ; Stnibo, xvi. 747). The name Chebar
has also been identified Avith Habor, a river or place
near which some of the captives from Israel were placed
by Sargon, king of Assyi-ia (2 Kings xviii. 11 ; Bible
Educatoe, II. 331) ; but this would seem to be farther
to the north than the place of Ezckiel's captivity, and,
besides this, it may be mentioned, that Ezekiel has been
long believed to be buried at a place called Keffil, about
twelve miles south of Hillah, where a building exists
6aid to contain his tomb, a tradition which there seems
no good reason to doubt. {Early Trav., p. 101 ; Rich,
Memoir, p. 11 ; Loftus, p. 35.)
Charran. — See Haran.
Chilmad. — A name mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 23,
and rendered in the Septuagint version Charman, which
gives some support to the opinion that it denotes a place
named by Xenophon Charmaride, which must have been
on the west side of the Euphrates, not far from the
Babylonian frontier. It is also identified with Kal-
wadha, a place very near Bagdad, but its exact position
is not known. (Xen., Anab., i. 5, 10 ; Rawlinsou, A}ic.
Mon., i. 21.)
CusHAN, if it be not the name of a person, which
seems unlikely to be the case, is probably the name of
the same countiy as that which is described by Cush,
i.e., a region either of Southern Arabia, or of the eastern
side of the Persian Gulf. (Hab. iii. 7 ; Bible Educa-
tor, I. 152.)
Cttth, or CiTTHAH. — The name of a place, or district,
from which settlers were brought by the king of
Assyria, either Sargon or Esarhaddon, but probably
the former, to dwell in Samaria, after the conquest by
Sargon (2 Kings XA-ii. 24, 30). It is said by Josephus
to have been in the interior of Media and Persia, and that
there was a river there named Cuthus, but he gives no
further clue to its locality. A warlike mountain tribe,
called Cossaei, are mentioned by Arrian and Strabo as
having been subdued by Alexander, and these have been
thought, from their name, to answer to the Cutheans.
Possibly the Assyi'ian monarch may have gained some
advantage over these troublesome mountaineers, and
have found it convenient to transplant some of them to
the distant region of Samaria; but there is no direct
evidence to support this opinion (Ait., Exi)., vii. ;
Strabo, xi. 524; xvi. 744). But the name Cutha is
mentioned by Arabian writers as being in the neigh-
bourhood of Babylon, at which Abraham is said in the
Talmud to have been imprisoned by Nimrod ; and bricks
inscribed with the name Cutha have been found at
Toweibah, or Tiggaba, a j)lace about fifteen miles north-
east of Babylon. Moreover, Assyrian inscriptions show
that the special deity of the Cutheans was Nergal, the
one whom the men of Cuth are said in the Book of
Kings to have introduced into Samaria, a circumstance
which seems to fix the true locality of Cutha. (2 Kings
xvii. 30; Ainsworth, Researches, ji. 166; Sale, Koran,
e. xxi., p. 269 ; Rawlinson, Herod., L 632 ; Anc. Mon.
i. 13G.)
DEDA>f. — A name belonging to two distinct tribes,
(1) the one mentioned as sous of Raamah, son of Cush
(Gen. X. 7); (2) the other as sons of Jokshan, sou of
Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 3). The former is
associated with Sheba, a descendant of Ham (x. 7),
while farther on Sheba is mentioned as a descendant of
Shem (ver. 28). Thus there was a Cushite Dedau, and a
Semitic Dedan, as well as a Cushite and a Semitic Sheba.
The settlements of the two Dedanim were not very
distant from each other, but their occupations were very
different. One of them, perhaps the Semitic Dedanim^
were neighbours of tlie Idumeans ( Jer. xlix. 8), and were
IJrobably a pastoral people, for we find Dedan mentioned
as supplying Tyre with chariot clothes, no doubt a
woollen manufacture (Ezek. xxvii. 20) ; while another
Dedan, perhaps the Cushite race, traded with the
Syrians in foreign productions, ivory and ebony, the
produce not of Arabia, but of India and Ceylon ; and
thus they were clearly a commercial people (Ezek. xxvii.
15), inhabiting, probably, the western shores of the
Persian Gulf.
Dura, Plain of, in the province of Babylon, in
which Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image (Dan.
iii. 1), formerly thought to be represented by a place
called Imam Dour, situate in a plain on the left (east)
bank of the Tigris, about fifteen miles below Tekrit, but
believed by M. Oppert with gi-eater probability, as being
more distinctly within the province of Babylon, to be on
the western bank of the Euphrates, about six miles
S.S.E. from Hillah. The pedestal of a statue exists
there, which may, perhaps, be thought to represent the
site of the image. (Rich, Bes., ii. 148 ; Layard, Nin. and
Bab., p. 469 ; Oppert, Exji., pp. 85, 239.)
Eden, mentioned in connection with Haran and
Rezeph (2 Kings xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxvii. 12). It is said
there to have been the abode of a ti-ibe, the " sons of
Eden," who " (were) in Thelasar," and who had been,
subdued by the Assyrians. Ezekiel mentions Eden in
connection with Haran, Canneh, Asshur, and Chilmad.
as trading with Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 23). A city called
Beth-Adiua, inhabited by a tribe of this name, appears
from inscriptions to have been captured by the Assyrians
in the ninth century B.C. The same authority states
that the conqueror buUt in the neighbourhood a town,
which he named after the god Asshur ; thus Thelasar,
or Tel- Assur, probably means "hill of Asshur." (Rawlin-
son, A^ic. 3Ion., ii. 88.)
Ephah, mentioned in Gen. xxv. 4 as a son of Midian,
and in Isa. Ix. 6 as a name either of jxirson or place
sending gold, probalily from Arabia, as an offering to
the City of God.
Gog. — See Magog.
GozAN. — The name of a district conquered by the
Assyrians, and subsequently made the abode of the
captive Israelites after the captui-eof Samaria by Sargon
(2 Kings xvii. 6 ; xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxA-ii. 12 ; 1 Chrou. v. 26).
In this last passage our version has " the river Gozau, '
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
249
as if there were a river of this name ; but the ovi2:inal
conveys the same meaning as the passage in 2 Kings
xvii. 6, and, Hke that, is properly rendered " river of
Gozan." This river is the Khabour, to be described
presently. Gozan is the same as the district called by
Ptolemy Gauzaniiis, which he describes as watered by
250
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Chaboras. It lay between lat. Bo'^ and 37° in the
north of Mesopotamia. In verification of its implied
subjection to AssjTiau dominion, Assyrian remains were
found by Mr. Layard at Arban, a town on the Khabour.
(Ptol., V. IS, 3; Layard, Nin. and Bab., pp. 275, 283.
See also above under Ecbatana.)
Habor. — As seen in the preceding article, this name
denotes (1) the river Chaboras, called by Strabo Aborras,
of wliich the true source is at Bas el-Ain (^liead of the
spring), in lat. 36° 35', long. 40*^ 9', and which, having
run in a somewhat circular course for about one himdred
<ind forty miles, enters the Euphrates near Kerkisiyah ;
(2) also a town called Chabora, mentioned by the same
geogi-apher as being in Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates.
Benjamin of Tudela mentions the Khabour as identical
mth Habor of the Book of Kings, but he is incorrect in
his descrijition of its course. In 2 Kings xvii. 6, and
xviii. 11, our translation has "Habor by the river of
Gozan." The word " by " should be omitted, and the
name Habor would then denote propei'ly the principal
river of Gozan, on whose banks the captive Israelites
were placed by their conquerors. The name of the town
mentioned by Ptolemy may, perhaps, indicate a district
adjoining the river, and called by its name. The beauty
and fei-tility of the country on the banks of the Khabour
are spoken of in high terms by Mr. Layard. There is
iilso another Khabour river, which runs into the Tigris
on its eastern bank, but the one described above is no
doubt the true Habor. (Ptol. v. 18, 6 ; Strabo, xvi. 747 ;
Layard, Nin. and Bab., pp. 235, 275, 308; Nieb., Voy.,
ii. 316.)
HaIiAH, mentioned above in connection with Habor
and Gozan as one of the settlements of the captive
Isx-aelites. The name, spelt in Hebrew Chalach, seems
to agree with that of a district named by Ptolemy
Chalcitis, and placed by him north-west of Gatizanitis,
described above. He also mentions a town of Mesopo-
tamia called Eleia, though without specifying its position ;
but the name given in the Septuagint version of 2 Kings
x\'ii. 6, and xviii. 11, Elae or Alae, agrees fairly with
this in sound, as well as with the general position which
his list of towns, containing among others, Carrhse,
Nisibis, and Edessa, seems to assign to it. Mr. Layard
also mentions, in the neighbourhood of the Khabour, a
remarkable mound, called Gla or Kalah (castle), which,
no doubt, covers the site of an ancient town or fortress.
It must be noticed, however, that the Septuagint version
of both these Scripture passages, and the Latin (Vulgate)
of the latter one, appear to regard Halah as the name of
n river. They say, " Halah and Habor, rivers of Gozan."
Now in the east part of Gauzanitis. or rather in Myg-
donia, is a river, anciently called Mygdonius, but now
Nahr al Huali, which runs into the Khabour. Thus
Halah, like Habor, may be the name both of a river and
a place, which may be said with certainty to be in the
upper part of Mesopotamia, but whetlier on the eastern
or western side of it is not quite certain. (Ptol. v. 18, 4,
and 12 ; Layard, Nin. and Bab., p. 312 ; Did. ofGeog.,
" Nisibis.")
Haban. — The name of the place to which Abram
removed with his father and family when he left Ur of
the Chaldeos, where Tcrah died, and where his brother
Nahor remained after Abram's second removal into
the land of Canaan. It. is said to have been in the
land of Padan-aram, in Mesopotamia, i.e., in the "culti-
vated tlistrict of Aram, between the two rivei-s." (Gen.
xi. 31, 32 ; xxiv. 10 ; xx^-iii. 2, 5 ; xxix. 4 ; Stanley, Sinai
and Pal., p. 129; Pusey, On Amos, i. 5.) In the
Septuagint version, and in the Acts of the Apostles, it is
called *• Charran," which agi'ees with the orthography of
the original word (Charan) better than our rendering,
Haran. The mention of a place of this name in connec-
tion with Gozan, lately described, as having been overi'un
by the Assyi-ians, and also its name, which is said to
mean " road," i.e., a highway of intercourse, seem to
place it in that neighbourhood; and a very early and
uniform tradition has connected the city of Nahor
with a town now much decayed, called Harrdn, on
the river Belilk, the ancient Bilichus, which faUs into
the Euphrates near Bakka. It is situated in long.
39°, lat. 36° 39', and answers, no doubt, to the town
of Carrhce, near which Crassus was defeated by the
Parthians, B.C. 53. Benjamin of Tudela describes it
as " the ancient place of Haran," containing twenty
Jewish inhabitants, and a synagogue built by Ezra.
" Nobody," he says, " is allowed to construct any building
on the spot where the house of our father Abraham was
situated; even the Mohammedans pay respect to the
place, and resort thither to pray." Niebuhr and other
travellers have also described the place, and the former
mentions particularly the wells, which connect the local
features of the neighbouring district, if not of the place
itself, with the history of Jacob's sojourn therein. (Gen.
xxix. 2 — 4 ; 2 Kings xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxvii. 12 ; Dio Cass.
xl. 25, 27 ; Strabo, xvi. 747 ; Ptol. v. 18, 12 ; Plin.
V. 86; Early Trav., p. 93; Nieb. ii. 333; Ainsworth,
Bes., p. 153.)
But within the last few years a suggestion has been
made that the ti'ue site of Haran is to be found at a
village about sixteen miles south-east of Damascus,
called Harrdn el-Awdmid, so called from three Ionic
columns standing there, of whose history nothing what-
ever is known. This ^iew is recommended chiefly by
the following considerations : — (1) That Abraham in his
fii'st removal is said to have come out of the land of the
Chaldeans to dwell in Charran (Gen. xi. 31 ; Acts vii. 4),
implying, it would seem, a more entire departure from
Chaldean territory than migi*ation to the Mesopotamian
Haran ; (2) Haran, to which Jacol) went in his exile, was
in the land of the " sons of the East," whose haunts were
chiefly, not on the eastern, l)ut on the western side of
the Euphrates (Gen. xxix. 1; Judg. vii. 12; viii. 10);
(3) the journey of Jacob from Haran, or its neighbour-
hood, to Mount Gilead, where he was overtaken liy Laban,
over a distance of more than three hundred miles, could
not have been effected by him in a space of time so short
as ten days, encumbered as he was by many cattle of
A'arious kinds, and scarcely even by Laban in seven days
(Gon.xxxi. 21 — 23; xxxii. 5; xxxiii. 13) ; (4) the position
of the Syriaji. Harrdn agrees well with the hitherto uuex-
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
251
plaiued connectiou of Abraliam witli Damascus, noticed
brieflj in Scripture, aud more definitely, though not on
veiy solid authority, by Josephus (Gen. xv. 2 ; Joseph.,
^»i!. i. 7, §2).
On the other hand, in order to support this theoiy, (1)
it is necessary to assume that the terms Armn-Naharaim,
"Aram, highland of (the) two rivers," and also Paclcm-
Amm, "arable ground of Ai-am," are not only appli-
cal)le in theoiy, but have been, in fact, historically applied
to the district watered by the two rivers of Damascus,
the Abana and Pharpar, a statement to which history
lends no support, however possible, and even probable,
it might be in theory. (2.) Josephus says, that after
leaving his original home, Abraham halted first at
" Charran, in Mesopotamia." If this may be understood
to mean Harrdn of Damascus, we must suppose either
that Josephus knew no more than we know about the
meaning of Arcnn-Naharaim and Padan-Arcnn ; or that
in his view the Greek term Mesopotamia was equally
applicable to the land on the east of the Euphrates, and
to that on the west of it watered by the two streams of
Damascus; and also that Cluirran of which he spoke
might be within this latter region, a supposition which
certainly cannot be gathered from his language (Joseph.,
Ant. i. 6, § 5). (3.) After leaving Laban, Jacob is said to
have crossed " the river," a term usually understood of
the Euphrates, but certainly not of either of the rivers of
Damascus (Gen. xxxi. 21). (4.) If the distance between
the Euphrates and Mount Gilead be too great for the
time occupied by Jacob in his flight, that between
Harrdn of Damascus and this latter place seems too
small. It can scarcely be more than seventy miles, a
distance which Jacob would hardly have required so
much as ten days, stiU less Laban, in his haste, so
much as seven, to traverse. In whatever way, there-
fore, the difficulty as to the numbers and the distance
is to be explained, it can hardly at present outweigh
the consistent tradition, supported as it is by collateral
evidence, in favour of the original site of Haran on the
eastern side of the Euphrates. (Porter, DainasGus, i.
251, 376 ; Stanley, Hist, of Jews, i., p. 481 ; Rawlin-
son, Atw. Mon., ii. 68.)
IvAH. — Probably the same as Ava, and also Ahava
(2 Kings xvii. 24 ; xviii. 34 ; xix. 13). (See Ava.)
KiE. — Mentioned as the place from which the Syrians
originally came (Amos ix. 7), and to which they were
carried captive from Damascus by the Assyi-ian con-
queror (Amos i. 5 ; 2 Kings xvi. 9). It is mentioned in
connection with Elam (Isa. xxii. 6), so that its situation
may have been in the region called Elymais, described
above ; but it has also been thought to be represented by
Kurdistan, and again to have been in the neighbourhood
of the river Kur (Cyrus). (Gesenius, 107 ; Pusey, Com.
on Amos, i. 5.)
KoA. — A name mentioned in connection with the
Assyrians (Ezek. xxiii. 23), but whether denoting a
place is uncertain.
Magog. — A name understood to denote the Scythian
races, mentioned in connection with Meshech and Tubal,
whose dwelling-place was in early times between the
Caspian and Euxine Seas (Ezek. xxxviii. 2 ; xxxix. 6). A
trace of their possession, aud of the name Gog, seems to
be found in the name Gogarene, a district of Armenia,
west of the Caspian. (Strabo, xi. 528.)
Merathaim (Jer. 1. 21). — Probably a name for
Babylon. (See Ezek. xxiii. 23.)
Mesech, or Meshech. — The name of a son of
Japheth (Gen. x. 2), associated as the name of a race
with Gog and Tubal (Ezek. xxxrai. 2; xxxix. 1), and
mentioned as dealing in slaves with Tyre (xxvii. 13).
The people are generally identified with the Moschi, a
race inhabiting part of the country between the Euxine
and Caspian Seas, and who were subdued by Tiglath-
pileser I. They were neighboiu-s to Tubal, a race deal-
ing in iron, a branch of trade for which the south-east
coast of the Euxine was early famous. The name Mus-
covy is thought with fair probability to be derived from
Meshech. (Rawlinson, Anc. Mon. ii. 65.)
Mesha. — The western limit of the Joktanites (Gen.
X. 30), probably on the south-eastern coast of Arabia,
but of uncertain situation. (See Ophir.)
MiDiAN. — This name appears fii-st as that of a son of
Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2), but in after times as
the name of a tribe of large numbers and unsettled abode,
ranging from the Peninsula of Sinai to the desert, and
the banks of the Euplu*ates; "children of the East,"
whose hand was at one time against Moab (Gen. xxxvi.
35), at another on the side of Moab against Israel (Numb,
xxii., XXV., xxxi.), and at last, in combination Avith the
Amalekites, invading and overrunning Northern Pales-
tine with that vast host which was defeated with so
great loss by the "three hundred men that lapped,"
which formed the army of Gideon (Judg. vii.).
MiNNi. — See Bible Educator, I. 233.
Ophir. — "We hear first of Ophir as the name of a
son of Joktan, a descendant of Shem, whose dwelling
was between Mesha and " Sephar, a mount of the East "
(Gen. X. 29, 30). It occurs next and ever afterwards as
that of the famous gold region, also known by the name
of JJphaz, the El Dorado of Biblical geogi'aphy, so weU
known to fame, so imperfectly ascertained in fact. Its
position has been variously assigned to the southern
part of the Arabian Peninsula, the north-western coast
of India, the island of Ceylon, Malacca in the Malay
Peninsula, and the eastern coast of Africa, but, except
for one circumstance, the description given above seems
sufficient to identify its position. We find that Ptolemy,
in his description of Arabia Felix, mentions at the south
of the mountain range called Climax a tribe called the
Masonitoe, another called Sapharitce, and a town,
though without special definition of locality, called
Sappliara (called by Pliny Saphar). Of the town
Sapphara, or Saphar, the modern representative is
usually considered to be Dofar, or Zofar, now a poor
village, situated beneath a lofty mountain near the sea-
coast, in a well-cnltivated country, in long. 54° 40', lat.
IQ^ 59'. If this be true, the position of Ophir would
be, speaking generally, the sea- coast in the neigh-
bourhood of Dofar, while Mesha, perhaps denoted by
the MasonitcB of Ptolemy, but hardly so far west as
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Muza on the Red Sea, to wliicli it has been thought to
correspond, would be the western boundary of the
district. (Ptol. vi. 7, 25, 41 ; Niebuhr. Descr. cle VArab.,
p. 251; Plin. vi. 104; Ibn Batuta, p. 58; Wellsted,
Trav., ii. 453.)
In support of this view we find («) that the fleets of
Solomon and of Hiram brought from Ophir gold, silver,
precious stones, and algum-tree wood ; and also (though
Opliir is not named as the place from which they came
oiiginally) ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kings Lx. 28 ; x.
11, 22) ; (b) that Solomon received gold from Arabia,
and that Tyrian merchants traded in gold, as well as in
spices and precious stones, Avith Sheba (1 Kings x. 15 ;
2 Chron. ix. 14 ; Ezek. xxvii. 22). (c) We learn from
Diodorus, whose description is very precise, that Arabia
and peacocks came, no doubt, from India and Ceylon,
for the Hebrew word for peacock answers to the Tamil
for the same, whUe the ivory may have come either from
the same quarter, or possibly from the coast of Africa.
On the whole, while the gold, and even, perhaps, the
almug-wood, may liave been found in Arabiii, as well as
passed on therefrom in the way of commerce, the fact
that the other objects mentioned were carried by the
ships of Hiram and Solomon to Palestme does nothing
to destroy the probability that the site of Ophir is to be
placed on the sea-coast of that country, as they may
have been brought there by sea, and embarked on board
the ships, of which the chief freight consisted in its
natural productions ; nor does the statement that the
"navy of Tarshish came once in three years" require us
GENERAL OUTLINE MAP OF EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
formerly abounded in gold, though the supply appears
now to be exhausted; from Pliny that the Sabseans
were very rich in sweet-smelling woods, and in gold ;
and from modern travellers that silver is still found
there (Diod. ii. 50 ; iii. 45 ; "Plin. y\. 161 ; Wellsted, i.
315). Assuming that Sheba answers to the south-eastern
part of the gi-eat Arabian Peninsula, it is clear thus far
that wo need not go beyond Aral)ia for the site of Oi^hir.
But what shall be said of the algum-trecs, and the ivory,
apes, and peacocks ? Algum-wood appears to answer,
both in its Sanskrit name and in its use, to the red
sandal-wood so familiar to us in Indian woodwork,
wliich is now found almost exclusively on the Malabar
coast. Pliny, however, tells us that Slieba formerly
abounded in odoriferous trees. If these may be thought
to have included the almug-trees, which are now extinct
there, perhaps the almug-wood might have been not only
an article of commerce, but an indigenous production.
Of the remaining objects brought by the fleets, the apes
to believe that the voyage from Ezion-geber, Solomon's
port on the Red Sea, to India occupied all that time
(1 Kings ix. 26; x. 22). Herodotus, indeed, tells us
that the fleet of discovery sent by Necho from the Red
Sea occupied two years in sailing roimd Africa, but that
the crews tarried on their voyage long enough in each
year to sow the land and reap the crop. It is not likely
that the trading voyage of Solomon's fleet, starting from
nearly tlie same point, and bound to India, even if con-
ducted on the most dilatory principle, could have occu-
pied a M'liole year longer tlian the much longer one of
Necho's scientific expedition. We may therefore receive
the statement of the Book of Kings in its simply natural
sense, viz., that, without inquiring into the length of
each voyage, the fleets made their voyage to Ophir once
in three years ; probably they sailed farther than to Ophir,
perhaps even as far as Iu(Jia or Ceylon ; but the voyage
derived its title from the place which was its principal
station, Ophir, on the south-eastern coast of the Arabian
EASTERN GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
253
Peninsula. (Herod, iv. 42 ; Volney, Trav., ii. 292 ; Max
Miiller, Led. on Language, i. 202 ; Chesney, Exp. ii. 107 ;
Bible Educator, II. 199 ; Clark, Bible Atlas, pp. 35, 40.)
Padan-Akam. — Literally, the " ploughed or culti-
vated laud of Aram," i.e., probably the lower ground
at the foot of the high lands of the Upper Euphrates,
in which Haran was situated. (See Haran.)
Pekod. — Either the name of a place in Chaldsea, or,
which seems more likely, that of a Chaldsean tribe ( Jer.
1. 21 ; Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., ii. 157 ; Ezek. xxiii. 23).
Pethor. — The name of the abode of Balaam, said to
be, in Numb. xxii. 5, " by the river of the land of the
children of his people;" and in Deut. xxiii. 4 as of
Mesopotamia, i.e., Aram-Naharaim. It has been sup-
posed to be represented by Balis, on the Euphrates,
where, as Benjamin of Tudela tells us, may be found
remains of " the tower of Balaam, son of Beor (may
the name of the wicked rot !), which he built in accord-
ance with the hours of the day.'' But we have as yet
no trustworthy evidence on the point. {Early Trav., p.
92 ; Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., ii. 80.)
Raamah. — Mentioned as the son of Gush, and father
of Sheba and Dedan (Gen. x. 7), and in connection with
Sheba as a place carrying on trade with Tp-e (Ezek.
xxvii. 22). A town called Begma, by which name the
word is I'endered in the Septuagint version, is men-
tioned by Ptolemy on the shore of the Persian Gulf,
which may, perha^js, be taken as fixing the general
position of the district on its western side (Ptol. vi. 7, 14).
Rehoboth-Ir. — See Bible Educator, II. 332.
Rehoboth by the River. — Mentioned as the
original home of Said, a prince who ruled in Edom,
but probably not of Edomite origin. Its name is repre-
sented by Bahabdh, a name belonging to two places on
the Euphrates, not far distant from each other, one
about three miles from the western bank, about twenty-
eight mUes below the junction of the Khabour; the
other lower down, on the eastern side. The former is,
perhaps, the triie site. (Gen. xxxvi. 37 ; Ainsworth, Bes.,
pp. 74, 100 ; Chesney, Exp., i. 52.)
Resen. — See Bible Educator, II. 332.
Rezeph. — A place mentioned with Gozan and Haran
as overrun by the Assyrians (2 Kings xix. 12 ; Isa. xxxra.
12). The inscriptions mention a place called Razappa,
but without gi^nng any clue as to its site, which may,
perhaps, be assumed to be near the places above-named.
(Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., i. 205.)
Sepharad. — Mentioned once only in Scripture, as
an abode of Jewish c<aptives (Obad. 20). It has been
thought to answer to Sippara, but to this another more
likely equivalent is found in Sepharvaim. The only
other suggested is Sardis, which lies beyond our limits.
Sepharvaim. — The SepharAntes are mentioned
among those heathen people who were sent as settlers
to Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 24, 29, 31), and again their
city is named as one of those overrun by Assyrian con-
querors (xviii. 34 ; Isa. xxxvii. 13). Its name shows it to
be represented by Sipphara, about twenty miles above
Babylon, and the dual form of the Hebrew word shows
that there were two cities of the same name, or two por-
tions of the same city, one on each side of the Euphrates.
(Ptol., V. 18, 7 ; Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., i. 15, 21 ; ii. 77.)
Sheba. — A name mentioned (1) as that of a son of
Raamah, son of Cush (Gen. x. 7) ; (2) a son of Joktan,
son of Shem (ver. 28) ; (3) a son of Jokshan, son of Abra-
ham by Keturah (xxv. 3). The abode of the Cushite Sheba
may be placed on the western shore of the Persian Gidf .
on one of whose islands are the remains of an ancient
city called Seba. The people of this Sheba, as mentioned
above, carried on a trade Avith Tyre in spices, precious
stones, and gold (Ezek. xxvii. 22, 23), and may, per-
haps, have been associated in this with the tribe of the
same name, descended from Abraham, who dwelt more
to the north-west, and are sometimes called Sabeans
(Job i. 15 ; Ezek. xxiii. 42).
The Joktanite tribe and kingdom occupied the
greater part of the region called Arabia Felix, i.e., the
whole western and southern sea-coast of the peninsula.
They, too, carried on a trade with Palestine, and it is
difficult always to distinguish them in this respect from
the Cushite tribe (see Isa. Ix. 6 ; Jer. vi. 20). It seems
likely that it was of this country that the " queen of
Sheba " was the sovereign, and from which she brought
as a present to Solomon " spices, gold, and precious
stones," the produce or the imported luxuries of lier own
country (1 Kings x. 1 — 10).
Shoa (Ezek. xxiii. 23). — Whether the name of aj)lace
or a title is uncertain.
SiNiM (Isa. xlix. 12). — There seems no reason why
the people thus named should not be identified with
the Chinese, the position of whose territory is vaguely,
but not incorrectly, described by Ptolemy under the
name of Since, and who had commercial dealings with
the west at a very early period. (Ptol. vii. 3 ; Lardner,
Maritime Discovery, vol. i., p. 120.)
Tadmor. — The name of a city built, or perhaps forti-
fied, "in the wilderness" by Solomon, no doubt as a
station for the caravans carrying merchandise from
Arabia, Chaldsea, and the East (1 Kings ix. 18 ; 2 Chron.
viii. 4). Its name, which appears to be derived from a
word signifying "palm," connects it with the city of
Palmyra, so famous in later histoiy, and whose situation
agrees so well with the description given above, and
Avith that of Pliny. It is placed at the foot of a
range of limestone hills, in long. 38^^ 30', lat. 33° 58',
120 miles north-east of Damascus, and sixty from the
Euphrates. Josephus mentions it as bearing both
names ; St. Jerome calls it simply Palmyra ; and lastly,
the name Tadmor has been found in inscriptions at
Palmyra itself (Joseph., Ant. \ra. 6, §1 ; Hieron., Com.
on 2 Chron. ; Plin. v. 88, 89). "We hear nothing more
of Tadmor in Scripture than its name, and that of its
builder ; but the history of Palmyra became famous in
the later Roman history for the extensive dominion
obtained (a.d. 260) by Odenathus, in which, after his
assassination, he was succeeded by his wife Zenobia.
She was subdued by the Roman Emperor Aurelian, and
led in triumph through the streets of Rome by the con-
queror, who budt a temple with the spoils of the city,
A.D. 274. (Aug. Hist., ii., pp. 183— 221,489; Eutrop.ix.
254
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
13 ; Zosimus, i. 54, 59, 61.) Pahnyi-a was repaired by
Justiuian iu the sixth century A.D., but though mcn-
tioued under the name of Tadmor by Benjamin of
Tudela, and said by him to contain 2,000 Jews, it appears
to have fallen into oblivion till the latter part of
the seventeenth ceutiiry, when it was visited by some
English mercliiints from Aleppo in 1691, and again iu
1751 by Messrs. Wood and Dawkhis, avIio published
veiy complete ■views of the magnificent remains of
the buildings, which are entirely of the Roman period,
and recall no trace of the work of Solomon, unless this
be found in the noble aqueducts, whoso construction
popular tradition ascribes to the woi'k of genii, under the
sway of that mighty magician. However this may be,
the situation of the city, and the existence of these ines-
timable water-courses bear witness to the discernment
of the great founder of Tadmor, and still afford a
resting-place and refreshment to travellers between
Baghdad and Damascus. {Earlij Trav., p. 91 ; Wood,
Palmyra, pp. 13, 17; Yolney, Trav., ii. 233, 297;
Porter, Damascus, i. 149, 248.)
Tel-abib. — A place of abode for. Jewish captives,
near the river Chebar (Ezek. iii. 15). The word tel,
" mound, or hill,'' is used by the Arabs to describe any
mound covermg ruins, and the word Tel-abib may be
rendered as the Latin Vu.lgate renders it, " hill of new
shoots," i.e., of sprouting plants ; but the reason of the
name, as well as the exact position of the place, is at
present unknown. (See Chebar.)
Telassar, or Thelasar. — See Eden.
TiPHSAH. — A place on the Euphrates, mentioned
twice in Scrijjture, (a) as the eastern limit of Solomon's
dominion (1 Kings iv. 24) ; (&) as the limit of Mena-
hem's predatory expedition (2 Kings xv. 16). The
name is probably connected with the Hebrew verb
signifying to "pass orer," which is rejireseuted in
Greek and Latin by Thapsacus, a town situated at
one of the most fi-equented passages of the Euphrates,
which river the army of Cyras the Younger crossed
by fording in B.C. 401, as the bridge of boats, by which
the passjigo was usually made, had been destroyed by
the enemy. The city was large and flourishing, being a
great cnporium of trade between Assyina and the West,
and in a direct lino from Tadmor. Its modern name is
Hammdni, 181 miles, by the river, higher up than Deir,
which was formerly thought to be its true position, but
where the river is not f ordable. (Xen., Exp., i. 4 ; ii. 17 ;
Strabo, xvi. 747.)
ToGARMAH. — See Bible Educator, I. 235.
Tubal. — The name of a son of Japheth, generally
thought to denote the race called by Greek writers Tiha-
reni, neighbom-s of the Moschi, who dwelt at the south-
east of the Euxine Sea, with, whom also they are associated
iu Assyrian inscriptions. Some of both these nations
served in the army of Xerxes. (Gen. x. 2 ; Isa. Ix^-i. 19 ;
Ezek. xxvii. 13 ; xxxii. 26 ; xxxviii. 2, 3 ; xxxix. 1 ; Herod,
iii. 92; vii. 78; Rawliuson, J.Jic. Jfon., ii., iii.) (See
Meshech.)
ZoBAH. — The country of a powerful nation dwelling
between the north-east of Palestine and the Euphrates,
whose kings were frequently at war with Israel, (1) in
the time of Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 47) ; (2) in the reign of
David, who defeated Hadadezer, as well as the Syrians
who came to liis assistance, with great loss (2 Sam.
viii. 3—8, 12; 1 Chron. xviii. 3—8; Ps. Ix. title); (3)
again in Da^ad's time, Avhen they joined the Ammonites,
but were defeated by Joab, as were also the " Syrians
beyond the river," who came to their assistance (2 Sam.
X. 6, 16 ; 1 Chron. xix. 6). The nation, though severely
punished, was not annihilated, for we read of a king
of Zobah in the reign of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 23),
and Solomon himself appears to have taken a town of
Zobah, called Hamath (2 Chron. \nii. 3). Other towns
of Zobah are mentioned, Betah, Berothai, and perhaps
Helam, but their situation is not certainly known (2 Sam.
viii. 8; X. 16).
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BY THE REV. G. F. MACLEAB, D.D., HEAD MASTER OP KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL.
CHAPTER IX.
JOHN HYRCANUS.
^^OHANAN, or John, surnamod Hyrcanus,
escaped the sword of the murderer of
Simon, and proved a worthy successor to
his father, both in military capacity and
resolutf! patriotism. Having secured both the city and
the Temple,' and assumed the government, B.C. 135,
he at first found himself in a position of much diflBculty,
and saw his kingdom overnm by the forces of Antiochus
Sidetes, who laid siege to Jerusalem, and reduced him
to the gp*eatest extremities.
I Jos, Ant. siii. 7, § 4.
For a long time the steadfastness of the besieged
resisted all the efforts of the Syrian troops, who had
invested the city closely with a double line of intrench-
ments, and erected a Inmcbed siege-towers on the north
side.- At length the Festival of Tabernacles drew
near, and Hyrcanus requested a respite of a week for
the celebi-ation of the feast. Antiochus, the best and
bravest of the later Syi-ian monarchs, not only with
rare generosity granted his request, but undertook to
supply victims for the sacrifices, and gold and silver
vases for the Temple ser\aces. Such kindness induced
Hyrcanus to offer terms of peace, and his adversaiy
agreed to a suspension of hostilities, on condition that
Jos. .4rit. sdii. 8, §
BET^^EN THE BOOKS.
255
the fortifications of Jerusalem were dismantled, and he
himself received a sum of money as tribute for the
fortresses held out of Judaea.'
Relieved from pressing danger by this unexpected
forbearance on the part of his adversary, Hyrcauus at
fii'st accompanied the Syrian king, as his vassal, in
an expedition against the Parthians. Fortunately for
himself he returned to Jerusalem before its disastrous
defeat, and he now resolved to throw off the Sp'iau
yoke altogether. He had already surrounded himself
Avith a body of foreign mercenaries, and with their
assistance he proceeded to extend the frontiers of his
OAvn kingdom. After reducing, therefore, various for-
tresses on the further side of the Jordan, he invaded
the pro■^^nce of Samaria, captured Sychem, and de-
stroyed the temple on Moimt Gerizim, long a standing
eyesore to his subjects.
Then, B.C. 129, he turned his arms against the
Idumseans,- who had made themselves masters of the
southern portion of Judasa. Vanquishing them in
battle, and reducing their fortresses, he offered them
the choice of leaving the country or submitting to
circumcision. Unable to withstand the forces of the
valiant. Asmonean, the wild and warlike descendants
of Esau chose the latter alternative, and henceforth
became completely identified with their conquerors,
and submitted to the government of Jewish prefects.^
Before long, as we shall see, an Idumean family
avenged on the Asmonean dynasty this conversion of
his countrymen by the sword. But for the present
Hyrcanus was supreme, and dui'Lug the next twenty
years maintained his authority, availing himself of the
disputes and wars of the Seleucidae to attain stUl greater
independence, while at the same time by a solemn
embassy to Rome he secured the recognition of his con-
quests.^ The only people that would not silently admit
his superiority were the Samaritans, who often made
alliances in secret with the Syrian kings, and in other
ways displayed their bitter hostility to the Jews. Upon
this Hyi'canus resolved to inflict the severest punish-
ment on these implacable foes. Too old himscK to con-
duct a tedious siege, he entrusted the command to his
two sous Aristobulus and Antigonus, who surrounded
Samaria with a trench and double wall, and reduced the
inhabitants to the greatest straits.* Twice they applied
for aid to Antiochus Cyzicenus, prince of Damascus,
' Jos. Ant. xiii. 8, § 3. The money for this subsidy was obtained
by Hyroaniis from the sepulchre of David, the ante-chamber of
.vhicV he opened, and took thence 3,000 talents of the treasure
burieJ there (Jos. .-Inf. xiii. S, § 4 ; B. J. i. 2, §5).
- After the conquest of Judaaa by the Babylonians, the Edomites,
probably in reward for their services, had been allowed to settle
in Southern Palestine, and occupied the whole plateau between it
and Egypt ; but about the same time they were driven from
Edom proper by the Nabatheans, an Arabian tribe descended
from Nebaioth, the eldest son of Ishmael, and brother-in-law
of Esau (Gen. xxv. 13; 1 Chron. i. 29). This powerful people
took Petra, and formed the kingdom of Arabia Petrtea, which
covered nearly the same area as the ancient Edwm. (See Smith's
Bihl. Diet., Art. "Edom, Edomites;" Ewald's History of Israel, v.
350,351.)
3 Jos. Ant. xii. 8, § 6 ; xiii. 9, § 1 ; 1 Mace. v. 65, 68,
* Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, § 2 ; comp. Justin, xxxvi. 1.
5 Joa. B. J. i. 2, § 7.
but the sons of Hyrcanus defeated him, as also the
commander of the forces sent by Ptolemy Lathyrus
to relieve the city. At length after a siege of a year
Samaria feU,^ and with Scythopolis and other towns
passed into the hands of the Asmonean priest-king.
The power and dignity now enjoyed by the Jews were
greater than any to which they had attained since the
return from the Captivity; and though he was much
troubled by two great religious and political factions,
the Pharisees'" and Sadducees, which now for the first
time appear j)rominently in Jewish history, Hyrcanus
escaped the fate of all the older members of his family,
and descended to the tomb in peace, B.C. 109.
CHAPTER X.
ALEXANDER JANN^US.
At his death Hyrcanus had bequeathed his kingdom to
his wife,* f oi-eseeing the unfitness of his five sons for the
supreme power. But only a man could be high priest.
His eldest son, therefore, whose real name was Judas,
but who had taken the Greek name of Aristobulus,^
assumed the high-priesthood, and ere long the title of
king. He was hardly seated on the tlu'one before he
flung his mother into prison, and starved her to death.
He also imprisoned his thi*ee yoimgest brothers, allowing
only Antigonus, the next in age to himself, and his old
companion in arms, to remain at liberty. He then
led his forces against the unruly Itureaus,'" an Arab
tribe who inhabited the district south of Anti-Libanus,
and so completely vanquished them that they were
forced to adopt circumcision.^'
But his career of conquest was destined to be very
brief. Forced to return to Jerusalem during the
campaign against the Itureans, owing to a dangerous
iUness, he left the subjugation of the country to his
brother Antigonus. The Feast of Tabernacles was
approaching, when Aaitigonus came back victorious
from the war, and hastened with his body-guard to the
Temple to pray for his brother's recovery. This act
was represented to Aristobulus by his queen Salome
and some of his com'tiers, as covering a seditious design
against his life. Resolved to make trial of his fidelity,
the priest-king desii-ed his brother to attend him
unarmed in the Baris, a tower on the north side of
8 Hyrcanus is said to have sapjjed the foundation of the city,
and to have flooded the whole site and made it a pool of water.
' As a Maccabee, Hyrcanus at first belonged to the, Pharisees,
but tow.ards the end of his reign he deserted them and joined their
rivals. (Jos. Ant. xiii. 10, § 5 ; see Milman's History of the JeiL-s,
ii. 33.)
8 In those days, both in Egypt and Syria, queens often governed
better than kings. (Ewald, v. 385.)
9 Jos. Ant. XX. 10, § 1. The adoption of Greek names by the
Maccabffian family, originally the great opponents of everything
Gi-eek, shows how much the Jews were departing from their
ancient standards.
1" Descendants of Jetur, a son of Ishmael. (Gen. xxv. 15;
1 Chron. v. 19—22.)
'1 Jos. -Int. xiii. 11, § 3. While, however, some submitted, many
fled to their own rocky fastnesses and the defiles of Hermon, where
they became skilful archers and daring plunderers (Cic. Phil. ii. 24;
Yirg. Georg. ii. 448).
\
256
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Temple. A dai-k imdergronnd passage' led from
the Temple to the tower. Misled by liis enemies, Auti-
gonus appeared clad in armour, and was instantly
assassinated by a company of soldiers placed there with
the queen's connivance. What had occurred was at
once reported to Aristobulus, and lirought on a sudden
paroxysm of his malady, followed l)y excessive haemor-
rhage, and the thought that he had been the murderer
of his mother and his brother produced such fearful
anguish that he died, after occupying the throne little
more than a year.-
Salome, his queen, left childless, man-ied Jonathan,
the eldest of the three surviving brothers, and trans-
ferred to him the sovereignty. Jonathan, who was
more generally knoAvn by the shortened iovm of his
name, Janntii, or Jannseus.^ preferred the Greek ajjpel-
lation of Alexander. Taking advantage of the dis-
ordered condition of the Syrian kingdom, he conceived
the idea of conquering the outlying fragments of the
ancient kingdom of Da^dd, and attacked the fortresses
of Dora, the tower of Stato, Ptolemais, and Gaza. The
sole quarter whence the inhabitants could look for aid
■was the island of Cyprus, where Ptolemy Lathyi-us, who
had been driven out of Egj'pt, had taken up his abode.
The Egyiitian prince marched into Judaea, and ha^-ing
defeated Alexander with great loss, laid waste the
country towards the south and practised great cruelties.
The kingdom of the Asraonean woidd have been totally
lost, had it not been for the intervention of an
Egyptian army led by two Judsean generals, who drove
Lathyrus into Coelesyria, and restored to Alexander the
sovereignty of the coimtry.'*
Released from this imminent peril, Jannseus em-
barked on fresh expeditions, attacked and reduced
Gadara, a rising and wealthy city south-east of the
Lake of Galilee, and shortly afterwards Raphia, on the
borders of Egy^jt, Anthedon, and Gaza. These
campaigns, carried on with varied foi'time, occupied
nine years of the reign of Jannseus. He succeeded,
indeed, in extending the frontier of his kingdom, but
his most dangerous enemies were at home. Tlie dis-
cords between the Pharisees and Sadducees, which had
distracted the reign of Hyrcanus, broke out Arith ten-
fold Anolence in that of Jannseus. Detesting the tur-
bulence and pride of the Pharisees, the Asmoncan
priest-king had espoused the Sadducaic party, and
brought down upon his head the -concentrated hatred
of their rivals. But the Pharisees had the populace at
their command, and at their instigation, on the occasion
of the Feast of Tabernacles, the mob pelted him with
citrons,'' and denied his right to the priesthood. In
revenge for this insult he ordered his troops to fall
upon the unarmed midtitude, and slew upwards of six
thousand. Moreover, to prevent a recurrence of such
insults, he raised a wooden partition between the court
of the priests and tliat of the people, and siUTOunded
himself with Pisidian and Cilician mercenaries.
At the head of these forces he again invaded the
country east of the Jordan, but after various successes
sustained a sei-ious defeat. This was the signal for a
general rebellion of his subjects, and a civil war broke
out, which was marked by shocking barbarities on both
sides. For six years the priest-king and his people
carried on the unnatural strife. At length he was
A'ictorious, and returning in triumph to Jerusalem,
crucified eight hundred of his enemies in one day, and
seated at a banquet with his concubines, glutted his
vengeance with the spectacle of their dying agonies.^
This brutal conduct wou for him the name of "' the
Thracian," and is of itself a proof how terribly the
dynasty of the Asmoneans had degenerated. Under
his iron sway the whole country maintained the tran-
quillity of awed submission. Externally it was pros-
perous. The priest-king had extended the boundaries
of his realm from Rhinocolura on the confines of Egj-pt
to Carmel, and had included iu it Idumea, Samaria,
and much territory to the east of Jordan. Thus he
well-nigh re-established the whole of the ancient king-
dom of David. But before long he was attacked with
a quartan fever. For three years, in spite of an en-
feebled frame, he still carried on hostilities in remote
districts beyond the Jordan, and was besieging Ragaba,
in the region of Gerasa, when he felt death was ap-
px-oaching.'' His last advice to his queen Alexandi-a
was to espouse the cause of the Pharisaic faction, who
were at once numerous and turbuleut, and had the
people entirely under their direction. Then, at the age
of forty-nine, after a troubled reign of twenty-seven
years, he died, B.C. 79.^
1 See Trail's Josephus, p. 96.
3 Ewald; History of Israel, v. 386.
2 Jos. B. J.i. 3, §§ 4—6.
■• Jos. ^nf. xiii. 12, § 2.
5 Wbicli they carried at the feast (Jos. Ant. xiii. 13, §5).
6 Jos. Ant. xiii. 14, § 2.
" Jos. Ant. xiii. 15, §5.
** Ewald well remarks that Januteus iBi^ht have achieved as a
conqueror a jjrander position than Herod the Great, had he been
equally ciiuuiug, and had not the first outburst of fury between
the two schools of the Pliarisees and Sadducees taken place in his
days (Histor'j of Israel, v. 392).
RUTH.
257
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE BOOK OF RUTH.
BT THE EDITOR.
JHE position whieli this book occupies in the
canon of the Old Testament brings it
before us as a refreshing contrast to the
dark pictiu-e of crime and cruelty which
shocks and saddens us in the later chapters of the
Book of Judges. We are reminded that each village
and each household has a history of its own, which,
though affected by the drift and current of events that
have a national importance, is yet also in part indepen-
dent of those events, and may present very different
characteristics. While lust and ferocity were doing
their work for exH, there was this episode of real life,
which, if it had belonged to the literature of fiction,
would have taken a high place, in the vividness of its
pictures and the tenderness of its pathos, as an idyllic
romance, bringing vi%'idly before our eyes the simple
sorrows, the quaint forms of legal procedure, the devout
customs of the tiUers of the soil, in a region which had
passed beyond the wildness of nomadic life, and had
not as yet become tainted with the vices of the life of
cities.
The history of the book presents some curious fea-
tures, as indicating a difference in the view taken of it
at different periods by those who took upon themselves
the task of classifying the writings of the Old Testa-
ment. In the present arrangement of the Hebrew
divisions, it forms one of a sub-division of the Chethu-
bim or Hagiographa {Sacred Writings), known as the
" five Megilloth " or rolls, from their being written on
separate rolls of parchment for use in synagogue wor-
ship ; the other four being Ijamentations, the Song of
Solomon, Esther, and Ecclesiastes. It is obvious that
these books have no points of affinity to justify this
grouping, and the only inference tliat can be drawn from
it is tliat the later Jewish critics did not see their way
to any other combination than that of treating each
one of the five as standing in a position of isola-
tion, and therefore so far on the same footing. The
fact that the Septuagint translation (circ. B.C. 270)
places it in the same position as that which it occupies
in our English Bibles, shows that this was an innova-
tion, more or less arbitrary, on an older arrangement ;
and Jerome, who adopts the same order in the Latin
translation known as the Yulgate, distinctly states that
it was so. It is ob^-ious, as far as the contents go, tliat
this is its natural and fitting place. It belongs to the
period of the Judges. It prepares the way for the
history of the house of David. It shows under what
inherited influences of devotion and purity the youth of
the shepherd-king was likely to have been passed.
Of the authorship of the Ijook we have comparatively
few materials for conjecture. Like almost all the his-
torical books of the Old Testament, it comes before us
as absohitely anonymous. Unlike the Books «f Kings
6'5 — VOL. III.
and Chronicles, however, it contains no reference to
other writings as the sources from which it was derived,
but appears, as the nature of the narrative would lead
us to infer, as standing by itself, based only upon the
traditions of Bethlehem and the family records of
that section of the tribe of Judah which boasted of its
descent from the house of Pharez (iv. 12, 18), and felt
that its glory had received a new lustre in the person
of the son of Jesse. We can, however, within certain
limits, define the approximate date of the book. It
was written at a time when men had begun to contrast
''the days when the judges ruled," as a period long
past, with the different form of government that had
succeeded (i. 1) ; when the fact that Obed was " the
father of Jesse, the father of David," gave a special
interest to the narrative of his birth; when the old
custom in Israel "concerning redeeming, and concern-
ing changing, for to confirm all things," was regarded
as " the manner in former time " — as an institution, i.e.,
all but obsolete, and needing an explanation (iv. 7). A
closer examination shows a remarkable coincidence in
certain peculiar phrases with the Books of Samuel and
Kings, which may lead to the conclusion that it wa.s
written at the same period, if not by the same com-
piler, as either or both of those sets of books— in the
case of the latter, at all events, after the close of the
monarchy of Judah. Thus we have " such a one,"
where the writer desires to conceal a name which yet
he knows (Ruth iv. 1; 1 Sam. xxi. 2; 2 Kings vi.
8) ; the solemn adjuration, " The Lord do so to me,
and more also " (Ruth i. 17 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 44 ; xx. 13 ;
2 Sam. iii. 9, 35 ; 1 Kings ii. 23 ; 2 Kings vi. 31) ;
the "beginning of barley harvest," as a note of time
(Ruth i. 22; 2 Sam. xxi. 9); "they lifted up their
voice and wept " (Ruth i. 9, 14 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; xxx.
4); and "Blessed be he of the Lord" (Ruth ii. 20;
2 Sam. ii. 5). The presence of a certain niunber of
Chaldee forms in the speeches of the actors of the
narrative, though not in the language of the narrator,
does not decide the question either way, as they may be
explained either on the hypothesis of the later Chaldee
influence acting on the language towards the close of
the monarchy, or during the Captivity, or of the earlier
as still lingering in the villages of Judah in the time
of Boaz, though they became archaic under the widei'
culture of Solomon and his successors. It may be
noticed, over and above the special interest of the
narrative, that it explains some remarkable features in
the history of David by a coincidence manifestly un-
designed. Wlien the fierce relentless hate of Saul
endangered not only his own life, but the lives of those
dearest to him, we read in 1 Sam. xxii. 3 that David
went to the king of Moab, and placed his father and
mother under his protection tiU he should know what
258
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Goil woukl do for liim. and that tlio king accei^ted the
trust and kept tlieiu all the time that Dav-id was iu the
hold of the cave AduUani (1 Sam. xxii. 4). The lan-
guage and the act both imply established relations of
alliance and friendship. And of this the fact tliat the
grandfather of David had been the sou of a Moabitess
is at ouce the most natural and an amply siifl&cient ex-
planation. The fact, not mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment, but preserved in the traditional genealogies of
the house of David, that Boaz was liimseK the sou of
Rahab, of one who by the law suffered under a two-
fold taint as an alien and a harlot (Matt. i. 5), may in
like mauner explain the absence of any reluctance oa
his j^art to contract marriage with one who, though a
prosel}'te iu faith (Ruth i. 1(3), was yet an alien in blood,
belonging to the races which, though not formally
prohibited by the Law of Moses, were considered by
the stricter Judaism of later times to be among those
between whom and Israel there was to be neither gi%"ing
nor taking iu marriage. If we believe the book to have
been written at a time when that aversion was gaining
strength, we may even assume that the writer wrote
with a conscious purpose as desiring to teach what at
all events he taught unconscioxisly, that the favour of
God flows out beyond the visible limits within which it
is more conspicuously manifested. Even then, in the
midst of so much that seemed and actually was narrow
and exclusive, there was a witness borne that " God is
no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he
that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted
with Him."
It Avould be profitless to reproduce here in modernised
paraplirase the tale which is told in the Book of Ruth
with such a tender and beautiful simplicity. But there
are some passages which both receive light and impart
it on comparison with other portions of Scripture, and
to these coincidences I proceed to call attention.
(1.) The whole story turns, as we see at a glance, on
what is known as the Levirate law, the obligation laid
upon the Ijrother of one who died maiTied but childless,
to take the mdow of the deceased aud to raise up seed
unto his brother. Failing a brotlier, the duty passed
on to the next of kin. It might involve a burdensome
addition to the kinsman's household. It might bring,
as a compensation, the right of j)urchasing, or, in the
technical language of the Law, '• redeeming," the inheri-
tance which the widow might otherwise be compelled
to sell for what she could get to a stranger. From
the Hebrew verb which expressed the latter act, the
kinsman so acting was called the goel, or "redeemer,"
and the term came by a natural association to be used
for the kinsman upon whom the duty aud the right
devolved. To him, too, belonged the office of the avenger
of blood iu cases of manslaughter or murder. Such was
the " Redeemer," the Friend closer than a brother, in
whom Job believed (Job xix. 25) as " living " though not
yet manifested, who should one day appear to avenge his
cause aud vindicate his righteousness. The law of pro-
perty (i. 9) recognised in the narrative is that of the
Books of Leviticus (xxv. 25) aaid Deuteronomy (xxv. 7).
There is, however, a difference. As the law stood, the
wife whom the god or next of kin refused to take was
to loose his shoe, aud spit in his face, as a mark of
scorn. What we find in the history of Ruth is a milder
form of the same usage, the sharper edge liaving been
worn off, as it were, by the feeling of a more settled
civilisation. So far, therefore, we have a presumptive
evidence that the law was known in the i^eriod of the
Judges, and had had time to be thus modified ; and,
therefore, that the book which contains the law was of
a higher antiquity than the period in question.
(2.) The other usages described in the Book of Ruth
are in the manner such as we should expect to find iu
a people living under a law like that which we find iu
the books ascribed to Moses. The Lord, Jdhovah, is the
name by which men speak of God as their Protector
(i. 9 ; ii. 12). The traditions of the tribe of Judah include
even the darker, less pi'ominent histories of the Book of
Genesis, such as that of Tamar and Pharez (iv. 12 ;
Gen. xxxviii.). The law which allowed the liglit of tlie
gleaner in the time of harvest is assumed aud acted on
(Deut. xxiv. 19 ; Lev. xix. 9, 10). The state of society
depicted is one in which labourers aud landowners
are not yet di\'ided as they were, judging by the com-
plaint of Nabal (1 Sam. xxv. 10), at a later ckte, but
hved iu friendly intimacy, gi'eeting one another with
devout benedictions (ii. 4). It is not the least value
of the book that it brings before us the ideal of village
life contemplated by the law as at least appi'oximately
attained.
(3.) Tlie chai'acter of Ruth presents itself as the pat-
tern of true womanly excellence, and this as found not
in Israel, but among a i^eople who, though speaking the
same language (as is shown by the inscription of the
Moaljite stone), and descended from the same ancestors,
had fallen away from the purity of the patriarchal
faith. The memory of the husband she has lost ; her
reverence for her husband's mother; the recognition,
connected ^vith each feeUug, of a higher faith as com-
mitted to the keeinng of Israel — all this .shows itself
with a touching aud beautiful simplicity, iu the words iu
which she declares her purpose to cast in her lot with
the widowed Naomi. " Oi-pah kissed her mother-iu-
law " with the kiss of a i^arting salutation, and went
back to her people and her gods ; " but Rutli clave nnto
her " for life aud death. " Intreat me not to leave thee,
or to return from following after thee; for whither
thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will
lodge : thy people sliall be my people, and tliy God my
God." No words are lavished by the writer iu her
praise ; her character is not described, lint it is painted.
She moves in her meekness and purity, and gains the
respect and reverence of all who see her. She has
come unto a peoj^le which she knew not heretofore (ii.
10 — 13), aud wins the love of rich and poor, and utters
her modest gratitude in words of striking humility,
and as one who has " foimd favour " aud been "com-
forted " beyond all that she liad looked for. The manner
in which, at Naomi's prompting, slic presents herself to
Boaz as one whom, as the goel or next of kin, he ought to
SACRED PLACES.
259
take as a wife, is of course very difforeut from the cou-
ventioual standard by wliieli, in other countries or times,
such an arrangement is brought about — very different
eA^en, it must be allowed, from the ordinary customs of
the East, where the betrothal or the marriage was that
of a virgin bride. But the conditions of the case were
exceptional. Naomi knew the character and tempera-
ment of her kinsman, and Ruth acted in the spu-it of
simple unhesitating obedience to what her mother-in-
law suggested. And some such action was rendered
at once necessary and safe by what had already passed.
Boaz had looked on the young widow who had come
from Moab with the kindly, fatherly glance of one who
watches over the welfare of one much younger than
himself; had protected her from wi'ong, bade her
company with his own maidens, addressed her always
as " my daughter." Left to himself, the thought of
mai'riage would not have entered his mind, or would
have been rejected as unsuitable. How could he trust
that an old man's fondness would be met by the true
devotion of a wife ? And so the ice had to be broken,
as we say, on the other side. Ruth was to avow that
she loved, and trusted where she loved, with the most
entire confidence. She claimed the right to be his
handmaid and to watch over liim ; she reminded him
that she had the claim of a childless widow on the next
of kin. What might have seemed at variance with a
customary standard of self -reverence was transformed
by that claim, by the sanction which the law gave to
it, into the truest modesty, conscious of its own free-
dom from baseness, and trusting that he who was thus
beloved was also free from it. As we close the book
we may well feel that here there was one who was
"virtuous" (iii. 11) in that old sense both of the Hebrew
and of the English word, in which virtue implied not
only innocence, but strength (comp. Prov. xii. 4; xxxi.
10), the power to order and govern a household. Well
might Naomi feel, when the goal was reached, and the
husband and the children whom she had lost had at last
a living heir to represent them, that Ruth had been the
" restorer of her life and the uourisher of her old age,"
and "had been better unto her than seven sons" (iv. 15).
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
BY THE EEV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OP
ABERDEEN.
SACEED PLACES {continued).
AYINGr considered the articles of furniture
contained in that part of the Tabernacle
known as the Holy Place, we have now
^^C^s5 ^^ enter for the same purpose the inner-
most sanctuary, or the Holy of Holies. The fii'st object
that meets us here is the Ark of the Covenant, which we
must consider apart from the plate of solid gold laid
upon the top of it, and known as the ccqjporeth, or
mercy-seat. This capporetli was not, strictly speaking,
' a part of the Ark, and is to be carefully distinguished
from it, however close the connection between them may
have been.
I. The Ark was the first part of the furnitui'e of the
Tabernacle directed to be made. " And they shall make
an ark," it is said, "of shittim wood; two cubits and a
half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half
the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height
thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with jmre gold,
^within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make
upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt
cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four
corners thereof (or rather, thou shalt put them in the
four feet thereof) ; and two rings shall be in the one side
of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou
shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them
with gold. And thou shalt put the staA^es into the
rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne
with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark :
they shall not be taken from it. And thou slialt put
into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee "
(Exod. XXV. 10 — 16). It appears from this description
that the Ark was simply a box of acacia wood about f our
feet in length by two in breadth and depth, that both
within and without it was overlaid with gold, and that
it was surrounded with a crown or wreath of gold
towards the top. It stood on four feet, and was borne,
when moved from place to place, by staves pushed
through rings fastened in such a way to the feet that,
as is generally inferred from 1 Kings \i\\. 8, the staves
stretched along the shorter and not the longer sides.
From these rings the staves were never to be with-
drawn, a prohibition, no doubt, connected with the
peculiar sacredness of the Ark, and that it might be
more easily kept from being touched by the hand of
man. It may at first sight strike us with surprise that
the rings spoken of should be fastened to the feet, but
the explanation is probably to be sought in this, that
the Ark was the leading standard of Israel ; that, borne
up by the Levites who were entrusted with the duty, it
marched at all times in front of the host (Numb. x. 33) ;
and that it thus received an elevation above the heads
of the people corresponding to this important purpose.^
When thus carried about, it was covered with the great
curtain constituting the Tabernacle, over which the
covering of badgers' skins was thrown, and finally
"a cloth wholly of blue "(Numb. iv. 7). This use of
the Ark ?s the standard of the host lends additional
interest to the pathetic lamentation of Eli's daughter- in-
1 Comp. r/te Tahcrnade, by William Brown, p. 88.
260
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
law when tlio sad news reached her of its capture by tlie
Philistines, and of the death of her husband and his
father, " The glory is departed from Israel ; for tlie ark
of God is taken " (I Sam. iv. 22). In couueetion with
the employment of the Ark now mentioned, it may lie
added that it was by the going up from it of the pillar
of cloud or of fire that the signal was given to Israel at
any time to resume, by the settling of the pillar upon it,
to close, its journeys. " And it came to pass, when the
ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let
thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Tliee
flee before Thee. And when it rested, he said, Return,
0 Lord, imto the many tliousands of Israel " (Numb.
X. 35, 36).
The main purpose of the Ark was to preserve within
it the two tables of stone on which the Almighty had
Himself ^vi-itten the ten commandments of the Law. and
from this purpose it received both its names and its
significance. It was styled " the ark of the testimony"
(Exod. XXV. 22, &c.), and "the ark of the covenant"
(Numb. X. 33), not from anything in itself, but because
it contained the tables known as " the testimony," " the
words of the covenant," "the tables of the covenant,"
" the covenant " (Exod. xxv. 21 ; xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9;
1 Kings ^-iii. 21). In addition to these tables of the Law,
it would seem, however, that a pot of manna and Aaron's
rod which budded were also preserved within the Ark.
The words of the Law, indeed, do not expressly enjoin
that it shoidd be so, for of the one it is only said that it
was to be " laid up before the Lord " (Exod. xvi. 33),
and of the other that it was to be brouglit again " before
the testimony " (Numb. xvii. 10) ; but we know from
Jewish traditions that these expressions were understood
to mean within the Ark, and the writer of the Epistle to
the Hebrews distinctly says of it, "wherein was the
golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that
budded, and the tables of the covenant" (ix. 4). It is
no good objection to tlie accuracy of this statement
that, in the time of Solomon, we are informed that
" there was nothing in the ark save tlie two tables of
stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, wlien the Lord
made a covenant with the cliildren of Israel " (1 Kings
viii. 9). The probability is, that before the erection of
the Temple these objects had disappeared. Even, how-
ever, while they were there, it cannot be said that the
Ark derived any significance from them. Its jmrpose
and meaning are to be learned only from its relation to
the two tables of stone.
These tables, then, wore " the testimony," " the
covenant " of God with Israel. They were " the germ
and quintesseuco of all revelation, the most precious
treasure of the holy people, the representative of the
entire Law, the basis of Israel's whole existence."^
They expressed the character of that God with whom
Israel had to do, the nature, though in a negative form,
of that morality or righteousness which Israel was to
display, and the conditions on which, if observed in the
willing spirit exhibited at their fir.st promulgation —
1 Kalisch on Exodus, p. 378.
" And all the people answered together and said, All
that the Lord hath spoken we will do " (Exod. xix. 8)
— Israel would be seciired in the continued care and
blessing of Him who had betrothed His people to
Himself in a peii)etual covenant. Thus it was that
they were a "testimony," not so much against Israel
as to Israel, of what God was; and thus also they
might fittingly be named "the covenant," because they
embodied a statement of what God required, if Israel
■was to have all the promises of the covenant fulfilled to
it. It was not in auger, but in mercy, that they were
given. Wlien Moses went up into Mount Sinai, and the
Almighty "called unto him out of the mountain," it
was with the words, " Thus shalt thou say to the house
of Jacob, and tell the cliildren of Israel : Ye have seen
what I did imto the Egyptians, and how I bai'e you on
eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now,
therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure imto me
above all people ; for all the earth is mine ; and ye shaD
be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation "
(Exod. xix. 3 — 6) ; and the very preface to the com-
mandments themselves bears witness to the same great
truth, " I am the Lord thy God, which have brought
thee out of the land of Egyjit, out of the house of
bondage" (Exod. xx. 2). God was then dealing with
Israel not as an enemy but as a child, as a child indeed
not come to years, yet the object of its father's love in
infancy as w^ell as in manhood, and only needing at the
former stage more external wisdom to direct and autho-
rity to command it than at the latter. Love, therefore,
was at the bottom of the Law, and it was enjoined by
the Almighty in the character of a Redeemer quite as
much as in that of a Governor and Judge. Tlie spiritu-
ally-minded in Israel always felt it to be so. The Old
Testament, especially in the Psalms, is full of expressions
of admiration for the Law, of delight in it, and of grati-
tude for it ; and Moses, after lia^ang delivered all those
statutes and judgments which are so often, but so
falsely, associated only with the idea of tyrannical
restraint, did no more than give utterance to the feelings
of the pious Jew at the contemplation of them, when
he exclaimed, " Happy art thou, O Israel ; who is like
unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency ! " (Deut.
xxxiii. 29.)
It may seem, indeed, at first sight, as if what has now
been said were inconsistent with such statements of the
New Testament as those in which the Apostle tells us
that " the law worketh wi-atli," or that " it was added
because of transgressions " (Rom. iv. 15 ; Gal. iii. 19).
But the two things are in reality perfectly hai-monious.
We have only to remember the character of the people
and the stage of spiritual development at which they
and the world stood, in order to see that, stern and
conuuanding as the " testimony " was, it was yet at the
same time " the words " or " tables of the covenant " of
love. The spiritual heart nright at any time break
through the sternness, mioht at nuy time substitute the
spirit for the letter, while the primary object of all was
SACRED PLACES.
261
to prepare for the coming of tliat " seed '' who should
make the spirit general, and the dominion of the letter
not a step from which to rise to higher, hut a wilful
declension to lower things.
Such, then, was the Ark to Israel; and containing as it
did this expression of the nature of a covenant-keeping
God, and of what was needfid to preserve His people
within that covenant with which all their happiness and
glory, whether as individuals or as a nation, were con-
nected, we can the less wonder that its sacredness was so
great that death was the threatened, at Beth-shemesh the
inflicted, penalty for touching it (Numb. iv. 15 ; 1 Sam.
vi. 19).
If now we ask. What is the fidfilmeut to us of this
part of the furniture of the Holy of Holies ? we can only
answer as before, that it is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ and in His Church.
In the Lord Jesus Christ ; for in Him there is not
only peace but i-ighteousness. Nay, righteousness is
the very foundation of what He is and does. Why is He
King of kings, higher than all the kings of the earth ?
Let the saci'ed writer answer, '• Thou hast loved
righteousness, and Jiated iniquity ; therefore God, even
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows" (Heb. i. 9). When the projahet
Isaiah describes the rod that was to arise out of the
stem of Jesse, he exclaims that " righteousness shall be
the girdle of his loins, and faitlifulness the girdle of
his reins " (Isa. xi. 5) ; and when the psahuist invokes
a blessing on the theocratic king whose universal
dominion he anticipates with so much enthusiasm, he
begins his invocation with the words, " Give the king
thy judgments, O Lord, and thy righteousness unto the
king's son " (Ps. Ixxii. 1). It was not otherwise
when Christ aj)peared. He did not destroy the Law.
" I am not come," He said, " to destroy, but to fulfil "
(Matt. v. 17). What was the gi-eat result He laboured
to achieve but a perfect righteousness, a righteousness
exceeding that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt. v.
20) ? He was not only a Saviour, but also a Judge.
What are His discourses in the Gospel of St. John to
those who were putting themselves beyond the pale of
mercy but so many sentences of eternal judgment,
and what is the cursing of tlie barren fig-tree but a
typical representation of the fate with which He will
punish all who with the leaves of profession have not
the fruits of godliness ? Does not St. John speak of
" the wrath of the Lamb ? " and what is the wliole Book
of Revelation but the war-cry of battle, and the shout
of victory over the faU of the enemies of the Church ?
" Do we make void the law thi'ough faith ? God forbid.
Yea, we establish the law."
Thus fulfilled in Christ, the idea of " the Ark of the
testimony" is also to be fulfilled in Christians. If
they are to uphold grace, they are not less to uphold
law, in its majesty, its strictness, its uncompromisuig
oj)position to wi-ong- doing of every kind ; and unless
they do the latter they cannot do the former. Without
the one the other has neitlier existence nor meaning.
Without sternness to the sin there can be no love to
the sinner, just as it may be said that without love to
the sinner there can be no real sternness to tho sin.
Christians also judge. They must judge; and they
ought to judge far more than they do, not in the spirit
of that censorious judgment condemned in the Sermon
on the Mount, but in that spirit of enlightened, impartial,
lofty judgment demanded by the Apostle in the sixth
chapiter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians. Why
should they who are to jiidge angels not judge men ? Is
there no difference between wisdom and foUy, between
right and wrong ? They ought to know tlie difference,
and to let their voice be lieard upon it always and every-
where. How also, if they do not judge now, shall they
be prepared for the fulfilment of the promise, " And he
that overeometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to
him Avill I give power over the nations : and he shall
rule them with a rod of ii'on ; as the vessels of a j)otter
shall they be broken to shivers ; even as I received of
my Father" (Rev. ii. 26, 27)? The elements of law
and judgment, then, are both in Christ and in His people,
and the Ark which carries them %vit]un it is the standard
with which they march to the Ijattle against all deter-
mined enemies of truth.
II. From the Ark we turn to what seems at first
sight to be its covering, what we shall speak of not by
its Hebrew term, the capporeth, but as it is rendered in
our English translation, " the mercy-seat." Directions
for its construction are given along with those for the
construction of the Ark, " And thou shalt make a mercy-
seat of pure gold : two cubits and a half shall be the
length thereof , and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof ;
and thou shalt put the mercy- seat above upon the ark "
(Exod. XXV. 17, 21). This mercy-seat was laid upon
the top of the Ark, but was not, strictly speaking, its lid.
The Ark had a lid or cover of its own. The mercy-
seat, though it rested upon the Ark, was an independent
article of furniture. It will be observed that it was
made of pure gold, not, like the Ai-k, of acacia wood
overlaid with gold, a circumstance at once revealing to
us its great importance. In what did that import-
ance lie ?
The mercy-seat was the very throne of God, as He
condescended to take up His abode with man. He
dwelt in the Tabernacle, but He was enthroned upon the
mercy-seat. From it He had promised to make His
communications to such as were permitted to draw near
Him : " There I will meet with thee, and I will commune
with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the
two'cherubims which arc iipouthe ark of the testimony "
(Exod. XXV. 22V There, too, they were actually made :
" And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of tlie
cougi-egatiou to speak with Him, then he heard the voice
of one sj)eaking unto him from off tlie mercy-seat that
was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the
two cherubims ; and He spake unto him " (Numb. vii.
89). A spot so sacred as this, and undoubtedly refen-ed
to in the New Testament, it is evidently of moment,
if jiossible, to understand.
The name by wliich it is designated is derived from
a verb signifying to cover, and the almost invariable use
262
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of this verb iu the Old Testament distinctly couuects
it with the idea of covei-iug siu : '• Aud therefore I have
sworu uuto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's
house shall not be purged (shall not be covered) with
sacrifice nor offering for ever ; " " But He, being full of
compassion, forgave their iniqiuty, and destroyed them
not ' ' (or rather, " covereth iniquity, and dcstroyeth not ") ;
" Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy
name ; and deliver us, and purge away (and cover) our
sius, for Thy name's sake " (1 Sam. iii. 14 ; Ps. Ixxviii.
38 ; Ixxix. 9). The mercy-seat is thus the place where
siu is covered or forgiven, the place on which atonement
is made for it, so that it shall l)c no longer remembered
against the sinner. In conformity with this, accord-
ingly, it was, on the great Day of Atonement, that
day wliich concentrated in itself all the atonements of
the year iu their highest potency, the mercy-seat,
though the very throne of God, was sprinkled with the
blood of the sin-offering then presented on behalf of
the whole nation, both priests and paoiile. It especially
reminded Israel, therefore, that the God with whom it
had to do was One who pardoned iniquity, who had no
pleasure iu the death of the sinner, who so abounded in
mercy that it was the distinguishing attribute of His
character, the essential characteristic of His throne.
But in doing this, the mercy-seat rested on the Ark
containing the two tables of the Law. It did not cover
these, in the sense of concealing them, as has been often
most eiToneously supposed. It did not silence or hush
them, either as they commanded or condemned. These
tables wei'e still the most precious possession of the
people, and were preserved in the Ark with the sacred
care to wliich they were entitled. They were the centre
of the theocracy. Tlioy could not be silenced ; and to
have put them out of view in any respect whatever
would have been to destroy the reverence with which they
were regarded — would have been to take from Israel the
very foundation of its existence and the very pledge of
its covenant. Nor will it do to say that, while the
commanding aspect of the Law was left, its condemning
aspect alono was covered. The two aspects cannot be
separated from one another. It is because the Law
commands that, in the case of the sinner, it condemns ;
and if the sinner's conscience docs not tell him that it
condemns with an equally living and powerful authority',
he wUl soon cease to feel that it commands. So far,
therefore, from hushing the voice of the Law, the mercy-
seat rested upon the LaAv. Tlie holiness embodied in
the Law, and that both in its demands and in its threat-
euings, was the very foundation upon which it was
raised. What it did was to utter an independent A'oicc ;
to proclaim that, notwithstanding the Law's accusing
and condemning power, there was mercy with God that
He miglit bo feared, and plenteous redemption; that,
holy Himself and requiring holiness of those who would
be in covenant with Him, He yet was both able and
wUling to redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The
Ark and the mercy-seat, iu short, were an utterance
of the Psalmist's words, '•' Justice and judgment are
the habitation (rather, the foundation) of Thy throne ;
mercy and truth go before Thy face'' (Ps. Ixxxix.
14).
Such being the meaning of the mercy-seat to Israel,
we ought to have little difficulty in determining its
fulfilment for ourselves. But we have the distinct
statement of the New Testament to appeal to. The
word by whicli the Hebrew term is translated iu the
Greek version of the Old Testament occurs twice in the
New (Heb. ix. 5 ; Rom. iii. 25). In the fii'st of these
two passages, there can be no doubt that it is correctly
rendered " mercy-seat " in our English version, and that
it is the object itself that is referred to. In the latter,
the rendering may be considered more doubtful, and
able commentators are found to defend that given by
our translators, " Whom God hath set forth to be a i)vo-
pitiation through faith in His blood, to declai-e His right-
eousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God." ^ Yet the ti'anslation " mercy-
seat," or proj)itiatory, seems to have much more to
commend it to our regard. For, in the fii'st place, we
thus retain the usual signification of the word, Avhich
has that of " propitiation " or " propitiatory sacrifice " in
no passage either of the Old Testament or of the New.
It is doubtless true that, looked at only iu itself, it
might mean that which propitiates, and hence also
propitiatory sacrifice; but when we find it constantly
employed in one definite sense, when that sense is a
technical one, and when, the readers being perfectly
familiar with it, it could hardly fad to suggest itself to
their minds, it seems contrary to all rules of sound
uiterpretation to depart from it, imless we are compelled
to do so. Again, there is reason to think that throughout
aU this passage the Apostle has the Holy of Holies in
his eye. This appears particulai'ly in the language of
verse 23, " for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God," by which we are not to understand
coming short either, on the one hand, of promoting, or
on the other hand, of receiving, His praise, but coming
short of that partaking of, that sharing in, His glory
wliich is at once the goal and the reward of Christian
faithfulness. It is the glory for which we wait, partly
indeed bestowed upon us even now, but then only to be
enjoyed in fulness when the prayer of the Redeemer
is fulfilled, " Father, I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may
behold my glory which Thou hast given me "' (John xvii.
24).2 But this is the very glory which was cxliibited
tj'jncally in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle,
al)ove the mercy-scat. When, therefore, we have two
references in the same passage which find their best
explanation in the objects contained in that place, and
when we know that it was one so familiar to the
Jewish mind, it seems a just conclusion that these
references throw light upon one another, and that the
Apostle had the place itself and its objects in his mind.
If so, the words before us ought to run, not " whom
• Meyer, jii loc. ; Schmici, Bill. Theologie, ii., p. 311.
- See this meaning of the words fully brought out and defended,
iu liis valuable commentary on the Bomans, bv Professor Forbes,
p. 170.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
263
God hatli set forth to be a propitiatiou," but " whom
God set forth to be a inercy-seat," whom God hath
revealed to us as the person iu whom, as the place in
which, He effects our recouciliatiou with HimseK, and
bestows upon us redemption, even the forgiveness of
sins.
It appears, then, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
real fulfilment of the mercy-seat. In Him God recon-
ciles the world unto Himself, not imputing unto men
their trespasses. His blood sprinkled there — for just
as He is at once high priest and victim. He is at once
mercy-seat and victim — procures the free and full
pardon of all sin ; in His offering made once for all we are
complete; the throne of judgment becomes a throne of
grace ; and no longer kept at a distance from Him who
occupies it, we are admitted to a divine communion with
Him, and He speaks with us " as a man speaketh unto
his friend" (Exod. xxxiii. 11). All this, too, takes place
wliile the Law is neither concealed nor modified. It is,
on the contrary, magnified and made honoui'able. But
for the imperative nature of its demands, no mercy-seat
would have been necessary; and that mercy-seat, not
covering the Law, but resting upon it, tells us with a
voice not less powerful than its own that no jot or tittle
•of it shall j)ass away until all be fulfilled.
Thus fulfilled in Christ, may we not add in conclusion
that there is a sense in which the mercy-seat is fulfilled
in Christiana ? When speaking of the Ark and the
testimony within it, we had to describe Christians as
judging the world, as making known to it God's law
and judgments. But their great commission is to
reveal God's love, and to do this not by proclaiming
it in words only, but by suffering in the spirit of it for
the world's sake. That Apostle who " went everywhere
preaching the Gos^)©!," said also of himself in wi-iting
to the Colossians, "Who now rejoice in my sufferings
for you, and fill iip what is behind of the afflictions of
Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the
Church " (i. 24). There is deeper truth in that saying
of St. Paul than our churches have yet been able to
fathom. In the meantime it may be enough to say, that
the self-denials and sacrifices of the followers of Jesus,
and the deaths which they endure in His service — for
they " die daily " when their service is a true one — are
not the least powerful influence which they exercise
in telling men that there is goodness, and, mth good-
ness, loveliness in the world, and in thus lifting them
up in hope and confidence to Him who is goodness
without a trace of selfishness, and loveliness without
a flaw.
THE HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
P.T THE REV. W. F. MOULTON, M.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN.,
IE next stage of our history is widely
different from that which preceded it. Our
interest has been concentrated on Tyn-
dale, and hence it is rather the Continent
than England which has occupied our thoughts. We
have followed from labour to laboiu- the zealous trans-
lator who, almost alone, with little help or encourage-
ment, strove unremittingly to fulfil his appointed task
until martyrdom stayed his unfinished work. The scene
now changes to English gi-ound : the chief actor is one
who afterwards became a bishop of the English Church.
Of the eai-ly life of Miles Coveixlale very little is
tnown, nor indeed have we more than scanty informa-
tion respecting many of his later years. It has been
supposed that Coverdale's name points to his birth-
place, and that, like Wycliffe, he was a native of North
Yorkshire. The year of his birth was 1488.
The first notice which we possess connects him with
the monastery of the Augustine Friars at Cambridge,
at the head of which was Dr. Robert Barnes, well known
in the early records of the Reformation. In 1526, when
Barnes was required on pain of death to abjure the
errors laid to his charge, Coverdale stood by his side.
His earliest extant writing is a letter which (prol)ably
in 1527) he wi-ites to Thomas Cromwell, then one of
Wolsey's dependents, afterwai-ds his successor as Lord
High Chancellor. In this letter Coverdale refers to
the "godly communication " which Cromwell had had
with him in the house of " Master Moore" (Sir Thomas
PEOFESSOE OF CLASSICS, WESLETAN COLLEGE, EICHMOND.
More), and earnestly solicits assistance in the j)rose-
cution of sacred studies. " Now," he says, " I begin to
taste of holy scripttxres ; now, honour be to God ! I am
set to the most sweet smell of holy letters, with the
godly savour of holy and ancient doctors, unto whose
knowledge I cannot attain without diversity of books,
as is not . unkno\ATi to your most excellent wisdom.
Nothing in the world I desire but books, as concern-
ing my learning ; they once had, I do not doubt but
Almighty God shall perfoi-m that in me which He of
His most plentiful favour and gi-ace hath begun." ^
If we pass over some incidental notices of his preach-
ing, very interesting as showing the distinct opposition
which he offered to the errors of the Romish Church,
the next reference to Coverdale is presented in Foxe's
statement (quoted above, Yol. II., p. 124), that in 1529
he assisted Tyndale in translating the Pentateuch. It
is impossible to say what reliance is to be placed on
the details of this isolated statement ; but the passage
has the look of truth, and some of the minor parti-
culars have recently been proved accurate.- We cannot
indeed regard Tyndale and Coverdale as co-transla-
tors, working on common principles : as will be shown
hereafter, the work of each differs essentially from
that of the other. Still Tyndale would certainly
1 Coverdale's Remains, p. 490. (Parker Society.)
- Demaus, Life of Tijndale, p. 229. The deatli of Mr. Demaus,
at a comparatively early age, will be deplored by all who are
interested in the history of the Eeformatiou in England.
264
I-HE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
welcome, and would receive valuable assistance from,
such a companion as Coverdale, whose zeal in the good
work was only equalled by his retiring modesty. After
this Coverdale passes away from view until the appear-
ance of the fir.st English Bible, in 1535.
How eventful were the intervening years in England
is known to every reader. In 1529 Wolsey is dismissed
from office; the great seal is committed to More;
Craumer receives his fii-st public employment. In
1531 Henry is declared supreme head of the Church of
England. In 1533 the King marries Anne Boleyn, not-
withstanding the threats of the Pope ; and shortly after
the papal authority in England is formally annulled.
Fisher and More pay the penalty of their hves for
their denial of the king's supremacy (1535). The rapid
changes which the scantiest historical summary reveals
could not but be attended with alternations in the for-
tunes of the English Bible. In 1526 Tyudale's New
Testament was formally proscribed by Tunstall, Bishop
of Loudon, and Warham, Archbishop of Cauterbuiy.
Three years later the king issued a proclamation against
heretical books, and amongst these Tyndale's writings
(including his New Testament) were expressly speciiied.
In 1530 the condemnation of these books by an assembly
of learned men (after a conference of twelve days) was
succeeded by another royal proclamation "against great
errors and i)estilent heresies, ^vitll all the books con-
taining the same, with the translation also of Scrijjture
corrupted by William Tyndale, as well in the Old
Testament as in the New, and all other books in Eng-
lish containing such errors." In a " Bill in Enghsh to
be published by the preachers," we read : —
"Finally it appeared that ha\'ing of the whole Scrip-
ture is not necessary to Christian men ; and like as the
having of the Scripture in the vulgar tongue and in
the common people's hands hath been by the holy
Fathers of the Church in some times thought meet and
convenient, so at another time it hath been thought not
expedient to be communicato amongst them. Wherein,
forasmuch as the King's Highness, by the advice and
deliberation of his council, and the agreement of great
learned men, thinketh in his conscience that the divulg-
ing of this Scripture at this time in the English
tongue, to be committed to the people, should rather
be to the farther confusion and destruction than the
edification of their souls. And it was thought there in
that assembly, to all and singular in that congi-egation,
that the King's Highness and the Prelates in so doing,
not suffering the Scripture to be divulged and com-
mimicate to the people in the English tongue at this
time, doth well. ' And I also think ' (was the preacher
to say) ' and judge the same ; exliortiug and moving you,
that in consideration his Highness did there openly say
and protest that he would cause the New Testament to
be by learned men faithfidly and purely translated into
the English tongue, to the intent he might have it in
his hands ready to be given to liis people, as he might
see their manners and behaviour meet, apt, and con-
venient to receive the same.' " '
' Anderson, Annals of the English Bible, vol. )., pp. 2-57, 258.
In a noble letter written to the king in December,
1530, Hugh Latimer boldly reminded Heni-y of his
promise ; and as the faithful monitor was soon after-
wards made a royal chaplain, we can hardly doxibt that
this promise faithfully expressed the intentions of the
king.-^
In 1533 Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canter-
bury ; and the Convocation ovci- which he presided in
1534 made petition to the king tliat "' his Majesty would
vouchsafe to decree that the Scriptures should be trans-
lated into the vulgar tongue by some honest and learned
men, to be nominated by the king, and to be delivered
to the people accoi'ding to their leaniiug."^ In this
year Coverdale committed his Bible to the press, and
the printing was finished on the 4th of October, 1535.
The place of publication is still a matter of dispute,
but the probability is that the volume was printed
by Froschover, of Zurich. Though issued imder the
patronage of Cromwell, and dedicated to Henry VIII.,
the book appeared without express licence. In 1536
Convocation petitioned the king "that he would
graciously indulge unto his subjects of the laity the
reading of the Bible in the English tongue, and that a
new translation of it might be forthwith made for that
end and pui*pose."^
The following year a second and a third edition of
Coverdale's Bible were published by Nycolsou, of
Southwark ; and here at last we read at the foot of the
title-page, "Sett forth with the Kyuges most gracious
license."
We next find Coverdale in Paris, engaged, under
Cromwell's direction and patronage, on Biblical work,
the nature of which will presently appear. In the
same year were published three editions of a Latin-
English Testament, containing the ordinary Latin text
of the New Testament (the A^ulgate), with an English
rendering by Coverdale. All these labours on the
translation of Scripture will i)resently be noticed in detail.
As long as Cromwell lived, Coverdale seems to have
retained his close connection with, his patron. His last
letters to Cromwell are dated from Newbury, where
he is employed in proceedings against Romish usages
and books. In July, 1540, Cromwell died on the scaf-
fold. Coverdale appeai-s to have left England for
Germany in the same year, for in a letter to John
Calvin, Avritton from Frankfort in 1548, he speaks of
his aijproaching return to England, "after an exile of
eight yeai's." During this exile he was occupied with
the instniction of pupils, and with the care of a church
at Bergzabeni, not far from Strasburg. On the acces-
sion of Edward VI. he was made one of the king's
chaplains. His appointment on the commission against
Anabaj)tists (1550) is another proof of tlie high estima-
tion in which he now was held. In 1551 he was pro-
moted to the bishopric of Exeter, a preferment which
he retained for two years only, being deprived of his
see on the accession of Queen Mary. For some months
- Demaus, Life of Latiiner, p. 103.
■' Anderson, Jnnab, vol. i., p. 41-t.
* Anderson, vol. i., p. 5C2.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
265
MILES COYERDAiE.
Covertlale remained in a position of considerable peril ;
many a less active opponent of tlie party now in power
atoned for his zeal by tlie saciifice of liis life. Cover-
dale owed his release to the intercession of the King
of Denmark. After a second exile of about three
years, towards the close of which period we find him
at Geneva, he returned to England in 1558. In 1564
he was appointed to the living of St. Magnus the
Martyr, London Bridge ; but either through the pres-
sure of age and infirmity, or in consequence of his
adhesion to the views of the Puritan party in the
matter of vestments, &c., he retained his benefice only
two years. He died in February, 1569. His character
is faithfully reflected in liis writings, especially in the
work which will immediately come under review. The
brief sketch which we have given is sufficient to show
how zealous, consistent, and devoted was the life of
the second labourer in the field which we are here
surveying.
The Biblical labours of Coverdale may be di-vided into
two classes, distinguished by a very simple criterion.
Some translations bear his name ; his connection with
others is only matter of inference. "We are now con-
cerned with the former class, in which are included
the Bible of 1535 (1537, 1550, 1553) and the Latin-
English Testaments of 1538. It is somewhat sui-prising
that the character of Coverdale's Bible should have been
greatly misunderstood. Had the translator left his
work to make its own impression, the misunderstanding
might have been natural ; but nothing can be clearer
than the language which he uses in his Prologue " unto
the Christian Reader." "Considering how excellent
knowledge and learning an interpreter of Scripture
ought to have in the tongues, and pondering also mine
own insufficiency therein, and how weak I am to perform
the office of a translator, I was the more loath to meddle
with this work. Notwithstanding, when I considered
how gi-eat pity it was that we should want it so long, and
called to my remembrance the adversity of them which
were not only of ripe knowledge, but would also with all
266
THE BIBLE EDUCAffOR.
their hearts have performed that they begau, if they
had not had impediment; considering, I say, that by
reason of theii- adversity it coiild not so soon have been
brought to an end as our most prosperous nation would
fain have had it; these and other reasonable caiises
considered, I was the more bold to take it in hand.
And to help me herein, I have had sundry transla-
tions,' not only in Latin, biit also of the Dutch inter-
preters, whom (because of their singular gifts and
special diligence in the Bible) I have been the more
glad to follow for the most part, according as I was
requu-ed. But, to say the truth before God, it was
neither my labour nor desire to have this work put in
my hand ; nevertheless it grieved me that other nations
should he more plenteously provided for with the
Scripture in their mother tongue than we; thei-efore,
Avlien I was instantly required, though I could not do
so well as I would, I thought it yet my duty to do my
best, and that Avith a good AvUl. Wliereas some men
think now that many translations make division in the
faith and in the people of God, that is not so ; for it
was never better with the congregation of God than
when every Church almost had the Bible of a sundry
translation Now whereas the most famous
interpreters of all give sundry judgments of the text
(so far as it is done by the spirit of knowledge in the
Holy Ghost), methink no man should be offended
thereat, for they refer their doings in meekness to the
spirit of tnith in the congregation of God ; and sure I
am that there cometh more knowledge and understand-
ing of the Scripture by then- sundry translations, than
by all the glosses of our sophistical doctors. For that
one interpreteth something obscurely in one place, the
same trauslatetli anotlier (or else he himself) more mani-
festly by a more plain A^ocable of the same moaning in
another place. Be not tlioii oif ended therefore, good
reader, though one call a scribe that another calleth a
lawyer; or elders that another calleth father and
mother ; or repentance that another calleth penance or
amendment. For if thou be not deceived by men's
traditions, thou shalt find no more diversity between
these terms than between fourpence and a groat. And
this manner have I used iu my translation, calling it in
some place penance, that in another I call repentatice ;
and that not only because the interpreters liave done so
before me, but that the adversaries of the truth may
see how that we abhor not this word penance, as they
untruly report of us, no more than the interpreters of
Latin abhor poenitere, when they read resipiscere."
Tln-eo things are clear from this quotation. First,
Coverdalo did not seek the work of translation. Thougli
full of zeal in sacred study, he was not the man who
would aspire to speak with the authoritative voice of a
translator. The commission was pressed on him by
others, who urged the claims of duty and prevailed.
1 In Lis dedication to the king, Coverdale speaks of liimself as
having " with a clear conscience purely and faithfully translated
out ol five sundry interpreters."
Secondly, as a translator Coverdale instinctively adopted
a policy of mediation. Tyndsile woidd discard words
which had been misunderstood, though his strictness
might isolate him from all ecclesiastical writings.
Coverdale now accepts the cm-rent term, now adopts
the explanation, that ho may show the equivalence of
the two, if rightly \mderstood. But the most important
point is this. Coverdale expressly disclaims the honour
of direct translation. Not the original tongues, but
sundry interpreters, German and Latin, are the sources
of liis work. Before entering on the various questions
which have been raised iu connection Avith this subject,
we will give some specimens of the translation itself.
The passages selected are those which have already
been given iu Tyndale's version (Vol. II., pp. 302, 306,
262), \\z., Numb. xxiv. 15 — 19 ; Isa. xii. ; Col. i. 9 — 17.
NUMBERS XXIV. 15 24.
And he toke vp his ixirable, and sayde : Thus sayeth Balaam the
Sonne of Beor : Tlius sayeth the man whose eyes are opened : Thus
sayeth he which heareth the wordes of God, & that hath the know-
lege of the hyest, eueu he that sawe the vision of the Allmightie,
& fell dowuc, and his eyes were opened : I shal se him, but not
now : I shal heliolde him, but not nie at hande. There shal a
starre come out of Jacob, & a cepter shall come vp out of Israel,
and shal smyte the rulers of the Moabites, and ouercome all the
children of Seth.
Edom shalbe his possession, and Seir shalbe his enemies posses-
sion, but Israel shal do manfully. Out of Jacob shal come he that
hath dominion, and shall destroye the remnaunt of the cities.
And whan he sawe the Amalechites, he toke vp his parable, &
sayde : Amalec the first amonge the Heitheu, but at the last thou
shalt perishe vtterly. And whan he sawe the Kenites, he toke vp
his parable, & sayde : Stronge is thy dwelhnge, and on a rocke
hast thou put thy nest, neuertheles thou shalt be a buminge vnto
Kain, tyll Assur take the presoner.
And he toke vp his parable agayne, & sayde : Alas, who shal
lyue, whan God doth this ? And shippes out of Citim shall subdue
Assur and Eber. He himself also shal pei'ishe vtterly.
ISAIAH XII.
So that then thou shalt saye : O Lorde, I thanke the, for thou
wast disjileased at me, but thou hast refrayned thy wrath, and
hast mercy upon me. Beholde, God is ray health, in whom I trust,
and am not afrayde. For the Lorde God is my strength, and my
prayse, he also shalbe my refuge. Therefore with ioye shal ye
drawe water out of the welles of the Sauiouro, and then shal ye
saye : Let us geue thankes unto the Lorde, and call vpou his
name, and declare his couuccls amonge the people, and kei)e them
iu remcmbrauuce, for his name is excellent. O syngc praisss vnto
the Lorde, for he doth greate things, as it is knowne in all the
worlde. Crie out, and be glad, thou that dwellest in Siou, for
greate is thy prince : the holy one of Israel.
COLOSSIANS I. 9 — 17.
For this cause we also, sence the dayo that we herde of it,
ceasse not to praye for you, & desyrc that yc mightc be fulfylled
with the knowlege of his will, in all wyszdome and spirituall
vudorstondiuge, that ye mighte walke worthy off the Lorde, to
lileaso him in all thiuges, and to be frutcfull iu all good workes,
and growe in the knowlege of God : & to be streugthed with all
power acordinge to the mighte of his glory, to all pacience and
lougsufferynge with ioyfulues, and geue thankes vnto the father,
which hath made vs mete for the euheritaunce of sayutes iu
lighte.
Which hath delyuered vs from the power of darkuesse, & trans-
lated vs iu to the kyngdome of his deare souue (in whom we haue
redcmpcion thorow his blou lo, namely, the forgeueues of synnes).
Which is the ymage of the inuisyble God, first begotten before all
creatures. For by him were all thiuges created, that are in heaueu
and earth, thiuges vysible and thiuges inuysible, whether they be
maiesties or lordshijjpes, ether rules or powers .- All thinses are .
created by him and in him, and he is before all thiuges, and in him
all thiiiges haue their beynge. ,,
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
COMMUNITY OF GOODS IN THE EAELY CHUECH.
BT THE KEV. H. T>. M.
SPENCE, M.A., RECTOK OF ST. MARY DE CRYPT, GLOUCESTER, AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO
THE LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL.
ACTS II. 44, 45; IV. 32 — 35.
'he earliest picture we possess of the Cliiircli
of Christ at Jerusalem represents at first
sight a little commuuity knit together
by one great memory, insiiired by one
glorious hope. Prompted, perhaps, by deep loving
reverence for the great memory, still more by an expecta-
tion of an almost immediate realisation of the glorious
hope, the several members of the commuuity sold their
pQssessions and goods, and parted them to all as every
man had need, and being "of one heart aud of one soul,
did not say any of them that ought of the things which
he possessed was his own, but they had all things
common." What conclusions now are we to draw from
this primitive state of things ? Is a society in which
a community of goods exists, placed before Christ's
followers as the pattern to be aimed at as the model
for all Christian society? This question can best be
answered by shortly considering —
1. To what extent this community of goods existed
in the Church of Jerusalem.
2. How did this practice aj'ise, and for what length
of time did it probably continue ?
3. Do we possess any direct or indirect inspired
teaching on the subject of the various relations of
society ?
(1.) Notwithstanding the apparent comprehensive
statement of Acts ii. 4i, 45, and Acts iv. 32 — 35, this
commimity of goods could not have been general, even in
the little Jerusalem congregation, for (a) the story of the
death of Ananias and Sapphira — an episode in the eai-ly
Church which must have happened very soon after the
Pentecost miracle — shows most cleai-ly that this gi"\Tng
up of possessions into a common stock was no necessary
condition of Christian membership : no rule of this
nature existed in the early Church; no such apostolic
injunction was ever hinted at. " WliUst thy possession
remained," said St. Peter to Ananias, " was it not thine
own, aud after it was sold was it not in thine own power .f^"
Ananias might have retained any part of it he wished,
and stUl have remained a member of the Jerusalem
congi'egation. His sin, for which he was so terribly
punished, consisted in his pretending to give more than
he really had done, (fo) Some fourteen years later (Acts
xii. 12) we find Mary, the mother of John Mark,
evidently a person of consideration and autliority in the
Church, possessing a house of her oivn in the city.
(2.) It was no attempt to engraft on the new society
any rigid ascetic ru.le of life, such as was practised by
the Essene sect among the Jews. It was simply a
loving, longing wish to continue with as little difference
as possible the simple, self-denying, unworldly life
which Jesus led with his disciples while on earth. It
was an eai-nest striving to carry out to the letter such
commands as we find in St. Luke xii. 33, of which
commands the inspired wisdom of the apostles soon
saw the necessity of teaching an enlarged interpretation.
The community of goods among the early Christians,
exclusively confined to Jerusalem, was not universal
even there, aud with the fall and destruction of the
city, A.D. 70, if not before, ceased to be a practice of
any portion of the Christian Church.
(3.) The teaching of the apostles on the siibject of
the relations of society allows no possible doubt to be
entertained respecting their view of the question ; Paul,
the leader of the mde-spread Gentile churches — James,
the guide and teacher of the Christian Jews of Palestine
and the scattered congregations of Israel who held
" the faith " in foreign lands — speak here with one
voice ; while solemnly urging everywhere, on all orders
and degi-ees of men, on Gentile as woll as Jew, the
severe high view of life instead of the low and self-
indulgent one ; yet they everywhere acknowledge and
accept these orders and these degrees among men as
the wise arrangements of Almighty God. Paul even
declines to interfere with the relation of master and
slave (Ep. to Philemon), preferring to leave the correc-
tion of this terrible exaggeration of class "privilege to
the inevitable action of the religion of Jesus on the
hearts of men.
Whether Paul addresses one particular church (1 Cor.
xvi. 2; 2 Cor. ix. 5 — 7), or a gTOup of churches (Gal. ii.
10), or a prominent disciple (I Tun. yi. 17 ; Philemon),
his teaching ever proceeds from the assumption that
rich and poor, high-born and low-born, in their several
positions, were reckoned among the congregations who
believed in Jesus. Even the austere and ascetic James,
who certainly witnessed and most probably shared in
the primitive commuuity of goods in the Jerusalem
Church, repeatedly rebukes the rich and powerful, not
for possessing, but for misusing wealth and position
(St. James ii. 1—9 ; iv. 13—17 ; v. 1—5).
It is no baseless theory which sees as the result of
this community of goods, which existed so generally iu
the Jerusalem Church, the extreme distress which, as
early as the year A.D. 48, prevailed among the Jerusalem
Christians. In spite of the most generous exertions of
" the brethren " in Rome, in Greece, in Asia Minor, in
Syria, this deep poverty seems to have continued to the
last (that is, till A.D. 70, when the city was destroyed) in
the Mother Church of Christendom. Constant refer-
ence to it occurs in the busy life of St. Paul (see Acts
xi. 29 ; xxiv. 17 ; Gal. ii. 10 ; Rom. xv. 26 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1 ;
2 Cor. A-iii. 4, 14 ; ix. 1, 12). Nor is it improbable that
the first great missionary leaders— men like Paul, and
Barnabas, and Luke, guided as they were by the Holy
268
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Ghost — were deterred by tlie spectacle of helpless
poverty presented by the Church of Jorusjilein from
sanctioiiing in other cities an enthusiasm which led men,
through a desire of caiTyiug out to the letter the self-
denying commands of their Master, to throw up those
gi-ave and weighty responsibilities which accompany
wealth and j)osition, and thus to reduce themselves to
a state of helpless dependence ; for they saw m such a
community all manly self-reliance, all generous effort
would, on the part of the individual, gi-adually cease to
exist. A deadly torpor, such as seems to have crept
over and paralysed' the Jerusalem Christians, woidd
' In the early records of Cliristianity from the yeax 30 to the
year 70 we hear little or nothing of the Church of Jerusalem,
it occupied its own peculiar place in the miuds and hearts of
b-'Iievers as being the scene of so many of the Master's works
and sufferings. Owing to its memories, during the first years it
remained the metropolis of Christendom, but it exercised no
influence on the policy of the rapidly-growing Church. It was in
centres such as Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome that mis-
sionary enterprise was organised and Christianity developed, and
in the Churches which grew up in these great cities conununity of
yoods among the bretlu-eu was a thing unheard of. (See on this
by degrees have destroyed the energy of eveiy Church
whose members, by voluntarily renouncing home and
wealth, sought literally to fulfil their Lord's commands
by having all things common.
Each age has Avituessed an attempt to revive the
Jerusalem dream of a life where should exist no distinc-
tions of "order" and class, and Avlicrc literally all
things should be possessed in common ; but every such
attempt has failed ; sometimes ending in wild disorder,
sometimes producing a society whose life and aims
seemed utterly at variance with the teaching and the
mind of Christ. The estimate of Paul and his brother
Apostles was the true one : they judged rightly when
they declined t© interfere with the established order of
things among civihsed peoples, or to recognise in any
way a state of society which, however beautiful in theory,
in practice would effectually bar all progress, and which
woidd only x-esult in confusion and in misery.
subject generally Dean Church's University Sermons ; Meyer and
Alford, and Dr. Gloag's Commentaries 0)1 the Acts ; and Keuau, Les
Apolrcs.)
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
BY THE REV. F. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
I. PRELIMINARY.
HE Ejnstles of St. Paul contained in the
New Testament Canon were all written
during the last fifteen or .sixteen years
of his life. No literary records remain,
excepting in the narrative of St. Luke, of the former
part of his apostolic career, extending also to aboiit
fifteen years. Paul had reached the age of fifty,
had completed his first great missionary journey, and,
in the course of his second, had reached the continent
of Euroi^e, when he wrote his earliest extant letters —
those to the Church in Thessaloniea.
1. Chronologically, these are i^robably the first
\n"itings of the New Testament. The very biogi-aphies
of our Lord, in their present form, belong to a later day.
No doubt there were "memoii's" of Jesus Christ already
current in the churches; yet it is not a little significant
that the earliest inspired books of the new dispensation
should have been written by one who received the truth
from the ascended Saviour, and whose first fellowship
with Christ was undisturbed by the associations of the
earthly life. So completely, within twenty years of the
Ascension, had the theology of the Church passed beyond
the knowing Christ " after the flesh." *
2. The question has been often asked, whether in
the thirteen or fourteen extant Ej)istles of St. Paul we
have the whole of his writings. Some have contended
that no inspu-ed work could possibly be lost ; but why
not inspired writing as well as inspired speech ? A
1 2 Cor. V. 16.
thousand discourses, in which Apostles spoke by the
Spirit of God, have passed from memory ; why not
apostolic Epistles also ? Is it unsupposable that a letter
wi'itten by inspiration might be intended to answer a
temporary purpose, which being accomplished, the docu-
ment needed no longer to be presei"ved? The "care
of all the churches" laid upon St. Paid woidd, even in
those days, naturally involve a large correspondence.
Written communication would often be desiral^le where
personal visits were impossible. True, there is little
direct evidence for the existence of such letters, the
utmost research liaAang failed to discover in the early
wi-iters of the Church any epistolary fragments stamped
^vith the Paidine mark. Yet in the Apostle's own
writings there are scattered hints and allusions pointing
in this direction ; none of them, perhaps, conclusive
taken singly, but concurrently of no small weight.
Thus, in the second of his extant letters, he writes : ^
" The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is
the token in eveiy epistle " — a phrase which it seems
more natm-al to understand of a habit already esta-
blished, than simply of a precaution announced for the
future. Again, in his fourth Epistle,^ his detractors are
represented as sapug : " His letters are weighty and
powerful, but his Ijodily presence is weak," suggesting
that by this time his Epistles had become recognised and
familiar. In two or three instances, he .speaks of com-
munications which would naturally be made by letter;
once to letters as accrediting messengers from him-
2 2 Thess. iii. 17.
3 2 Cor. s. 10.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
269
self.' Once, if not twice, he apparently refers to letters
now lost.- On the whole, we have reason to conclude
that the canonical Epistles are a selection from a wider
correspondence, guided, no doubt, by the Di^-ine Spirit,
so that all which was needful might be reserved for the
permanent service of the Churches of Christ.
3. The authenticity of the Pauline Epistles will bo
considered, where necessary, in the several Introduc-
tions. It will be sufficient here to say that until modern
times the consensus of the churches on the subject has
been universal,* excepting with regard to the Epistle
to the Hebrews, the aiithorship of which has been
variously assigned. The thirteen Epistles are contained
in the most ancient catalogues,"* are translated in all the
early versions, and are quoted continually by the Fathers
of the Church. It has been reserved for critics of later
generations to attack the credit of these writings, chiefly
on subjective grounds. But even these assailants have
exempted certain of the Epistles from theu" destruc-
tive criticism. Thus Baur, perhaps the ablest and
the boldest, says of the Epistle to the Galatians, the
two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to
the Romans, that "there has never been the slightest
suspicion of authenticity cast upon these four Epistles ;
on the contraiy, they bear in themselves so incon-
testably the chai-acter of Pauline originality, that it
is not possible for critical doubt to be exercised upon
them with any show of reason."^ The remainder he
doubts, excepting the Epistles to Timothy and Titus,
which he rejects. In like manner, M. Reuan classifies
the Epistles in five divisions : " (1) Epistles of un-
questioned and unquestionable authenticity : Galatians,
1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans. (2) Epistles certainly
authentic, though questioned by some : 1 and 2 Tlies-
salonians, Philippians. (3) Epistles probably authentic,
though strong objections have been advanced against
them : Colossians, Philemon. (4) Doubtful : Ephesians.
(5) Spurious: land 2 Timothy, Titus." « Dr. David-
sou, in his later Introduction,' maintains substantially
the same view, though he decides against the Epistle to
the Ephesians. The objections to the several Epistles
ai-e best met in detail : we, therefore, reserve all exami-
nation of them ; only avowing that the grounds either
of doubt or of rejection appear to us entirely futile, and
that we unhesitatingly maintain the authenticity of the
whole of the thirteen Epistles ; believing also that the
1 See Col. iv. 10 ; and especially 1 Cor. xvi. 3, where Dean Alford
gives the right translation : " Whomsoever ye shall approve, them
will I send with letters to carry your liberality unto Jerusalem."
- See 1 Cor. v. 9, and hereafter in our Introduction to this
Epistle ; also Col. iv. 16, and Introduction to the Epistle to the
Ephesians.
3 Certain early heretical sects rejected some or all of the Epistles,
partly on dogmatic grounds, because the Epistles contradicted
their opinions.
■• The "Canon of Muratori" (middle of the second century);
Cains the Presbyter (end of second century) ; Origen (a.b. 230) ;
Eusebius (a.d. 315); Council of Laodicea (a.d. 363). These are
but specimens. For further details see treatises on the Gejiuiueness
and Auth.'nticity of Scripture (Lardner's Works, vol. iv. 100, 182;
Kirchhofer's QtieUenitainmlung, p. 171, seq.).
•5 Der Aptisiel Paiiliis— " Paul the Apostle," vol. i., p. 256, Eng. Tr.
* St. Panl, Introduction, pp. v., vi.
<■ I)ifrodi(c(i'o)i to the Study of the Nev: Testament. Longmans, 1868.
Epistle to the Hebrews belongs to the Pauline cycle,
although it probably bears also the impress of another
mind and hand. For the clear and masterly exhibition
of the internal evidence which the history in the "Acts "
and the Epistles afford to each other, turning difficulties
and apparent discrepancies into confirmations of the
truthfulness of both, nothing has superseded or is likely
to supersede Paley's Horoe Pmilincc.
4. The order of the Epistles in the Received Text,
which our own version follows, appears to have been
determined jjartly by their length and supposed im-
portance, partly l)y the importance of the places to
which they Avere addressed. The notes of place ap-
pended in our version to each Epistle are of no authority,
being no part of the original text, although in several
instances they are correct. They were affixed by
Euthalius, Deacon of Alexandria, a.d. 458. The un-
critical gi'ounds on which they rest may be illustrated by
his specifying Athens as the place whence the Epistles
to the Thessalonians were written, evidently through a
misunderstanding of 1 Thess. iii. 1.
The follomng table presents the best- supported
conclusions a« to the order, place, and time of the
several Ej)istles, mth references to their position in the
history of the Acts. It will be seen that they fall
into four gi-oups, separated resiiectively by intervals of
three or four years. The two former groups connect
themselves with tlie main activities of the Apostle's
career ; the two latter, with his Roman imprisonments
and the intervening journey.
Group I. — Second Missionary Journey.
1. 1 Thessalonians Corinth a.d. 52—3. Acts xviii. 11.
2. 2 Thessalonians Corinth
53-4.
Group II.— Third Missionary Journey.
3. 1 Corinthians Ephesus a.d. 57. Acts xix. 10.
4. 2 Corinthians Macedonia „ 57. xx. 2.
5. Galatians Macedonia. „ 57. „
6. Eomans Corinth „ 58. xx. 3.
Group III. — PiKST EoMAN Imprisonment.
7. Colossians Rome a.d. 62—3. Acts xxviii. 30.
8. Philemon Rome ,, 62 — 3.
9. Ephesians Rome „ 62—3.
10. Philippians Rome „ 63.
Group IV.— Last Journey ^ and Final Imprisonment.
11. 1 Ti^lothy
12. Titus
13. 2 Timothy
14. Hebrews houbifid
Macedonia a.d. 66 — 7.
Macedonia „ 60 — 7.
Rome ,, 68.
(See Special Introduction.)
5. The method of the Epistles presents some striking
features in common. The salutation at the beginning
and the benediction at the close are invariable. It is
worth noting also that the former is generally two-fold
— " Grace and peace '' — the Eastern and the Western
form of salutation ; '"' Grace " (x"/"s) answering to the
Greok x°'^p^< ^^<^ '' Peace " (elprivrj) the equivalent of the
Hebrew oSh-p [Shalom) ; thus addressing in their own
familiar forms of greeting the Gentile and the Jew;
while both words convey the higher significance which
8 For evidence of this journey see Introduction to 1 Timothy.
270
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tlie Gospel of Cbrist has put iuto them, as the highest
grace aucl the only j)eace.i
It e\'icleutly wasjthe habit of the Apostle to employ an
amanuensis fox* his letters; for what reason we cannot
tell ; althongh it has been conjectured with some show
of probability that ho laboured imder an affection of
the eyes that made writing painful to him. Thus, when
ho himself took the pen in hand, he made an allusion
to the size arid character of the wiiting, as though there
were something imusual about it : " Sec in how large
letters I have wi-ittcn imto you with mine own hand." -
Once, at least, the amanuensis himself is seen at work :
" I. Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the
Lord." ^ Luke, Silas, Timotheus, were no doubt simi-
Lirly employed by tiu-ns, and so are associated with
Paul himself in greeting to the churches. But the
Epistles were invariably signed by the Apostle as an
authentication.^ Occasionally, in addition to this signa-
ture followed by some tender benediction, he would
thi'ow in a stirring sentence, condensing into one fervent
utterance the whole energy of his soul. •' The saluta-
tion of me, Paul, with mine own hand. If any man
loveth not the Lord, let him be Anathema [adding then
in Hebrew] The Lord cometh." ^ Or, passing down
from this fervid exaltation to a note of deepest pathos,
we have the appeal of Paid the prisoner : " The saluta-
tion by the hand of me Paul : — Rememljer my bonds."
It may be added as another point of striking similarity
between the Epistles to the churches, that with one ex-
ceiition,'' they all begin with cougi-atulation and praise.
Thus, the faith of the Romans " is published throughout
all the world;" the Corinthians "come not behind in
any gift ; "' the Colossiaus and Ephesians are fidl of
" faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints;" of
the Thessalouians the "' faith increaseth exceedingly, and
the love of every one toward the other aboundeth."'
This tone is so much the more remarkable, since in some
cases, as in the Epistles to the Corinthians, it has imme-
diately to be followed by that of remonstrance, even of
sharp reproof. With the most refined courtesy the
Apostle will single out, even in the erring, all com-
mendable features of character, and wUl not blame
until he has first dwelt on what is worthy to be praised.
6. In tlie interpretation of the apostolic writings,
the gi-eat thing to bo remembered is that they are
letters — not essays, treatises, or discourses. They are
prompted by the circumstances of the hour, answer
special questions, are adapted to particular needs ; while
a personal clement, both in regard to the writer and the
readers, is most winniugly intermingled. On the one
hand, this no doubt iuci'casos the interpreter's difficidty.
1 To Timothy (1 aud 2 Epp.) tlie salutatiou is "Grace, mercy,
peace ; " in the Epistle to the Hebrews the s.ihitatiou is omitted.
(See Special Introduction.)
* Gal.vi. 11. The precise meaning of the words will be here-
after discussed ; the only point to be noted now is that Paul
evidently refers to the handieriting (not as in the English version,
" how large a letter ").
3 Rom. xvi. 22.
* 2 Thess. iii. 17.
5 1 Cor. xvi. 22.
" Galatians.
" Rom. i. 8 ; 1 Cor. i. 7 ; Eph. i. 15 ; Col. i. 4 ; 2 Thess. i. 3, &c.
as a letter can be but imperfectly understood without a
knowledge of the occasion that called it forth, aud of
the writer's design and mood. But, on the other hand,
the same fact immeasurably increases the living power
of the Epistles. Great principles are ever best set
forth in individual illustrations ; the unconscious auto-
biographical revelations made in the letters of a great
and true man unveil, more than aught beside, the secrets
of human motive and wiU, affection, wccakness, and
strength ; no theological discussion concerning the prin-
ciples of the Christian life could be half so eifectual as
the seK-deliueation of one who coidd say, " To me to
live is Christ." The occasional obscurities, therefore,
arising from the very conditions of epistolai*y writing,
are far more than compensated by the \dtality and
interest of these unique compositions. It is true that
they have to do for the most part with special cases,
but these are in all instances referred to the highest and
broadest principles ; and there is, perhaps, no question
iu Christian casuistry on which some light may not l)e
gaiued from the utterances of St. Paul. It is only
necessary that the reader shoidd stx-ive, as far as pos-
sible, to place himself in the position of those who iirst
received the letter. From what it said to them, we shall
best learn what it has to say to us. The attempt will
often be found by no means easy. It requires a sti'ong
mental effort to place ourselves in the position of a
Pharisee, compelled by irresistible e\'idence to own the
Messiahship of Jesus, yet assured by the same authority
that the religious supi-emacy of Israel had for ever
passed away ; or of a learned Greek, taught that the
secret of heavenly wisdom had been disclosed to the
world through the despised Jewish race, aud by One
who had died the death of a slave. The Apostle has to
speak to both classes in their own language, to employ
allusions with which they were familiar, and to lead
them from their own recognised principles of belief,
up to the higher truth. It is among the greatest tasks
of the expositor so to reproduce ancient forms of life
and thought that the hearer or reader may become
for the time, iu listening to the Apostle's words, as a
Hebrew sojourner in Rome, or an inquiring Gentile
at Colossse.
7. The style of the Apostle Paul is the reflex of his
character. The intellectual and the emotional were
combined in him to a degi-ee perhaps unequalled among
men. The intenscst fervour and the most sober calcu-
lation went together, and were united iu one aim and
end. "The love of Christ constraineth us; because
we thus judr/e." ^ He reasons, but his argitments are
" wrought iu fii'e."^ He can be the most sententious
of writers, conden.sing lessons of heavenly wisdom iuto
aphorisms for all time ; while, again, his affluent nature
pours forth long rolling paragraphs, parenthesis within
parenthesis, charged in every clause with power, so that,
as a great Latin Father wi-ites : " Whensoever I read
Paid, methinks I hear not words but peals of thunder.
s 2 Cor. V. 14
9 " Argument may be worted in fire as well as in frost." (Foster,
Essay on HuU as a Preacher.\
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
271
. . . Wliitliersoever yoii look tliey are thunderbolts."!
By turns lie is vcliement, strong-, and tender ; he glows
with manly indignation, launches sarcasms terrific in
their sudden power, yet as suddenly melts into tears.
He speaks often in bold aud startling metaphor ; the
figure of the Ohi-istian life as a death and resurrection
especially j)ervades his wi-itings. - His very words are
ofttimes instinct with the samo vividness and energy.
He abounds in characteristic phrases : " What shall we
say then?" "I would not have you to be ignorant;"
" Do you not know ? " " God forbid ! "^ He is fond of
antithesis, of chmax, even of paronomasia. He con-
tinually argues a fortiori. " The frequently recurring
'not only so, hut inuch 'more' is like the swelling of
successive waves." ■* Nor does he hesitate to coin new
combinations of words, many of which are found only
in his wi-itings. Especially does he employ compounds
of iiirep — over or above. His phrase KaO' inrepl3o\7]v els
inrep^ox^v, ■' " far more exceedingly," shows the intensity
and elevation of his thought in the contemplation of
eternal realities. He has em-iched Chi-istian termino-
logy by many words either absolutely new, or with a
new mcauiug enstamped upon them. The Pauline use
of tei'ms like jitstification, adoption, reconciliation, i\\e
old and new man ; the contrast between law and faith,
law and grace, letter and spirit, flesh and spirit, with
many similar turns of phi'ase, expressively mark the
great transition period from the old to the new, from
the shadowy j)romises of the covenant made with Israel
to the full revelation of a world-wide Gospel.
8. It has been weU said that " Judaism was the
cradle of Christianity, aud Judaism very nearly became
its grave. . . . From this peril one man saved
Christianity, and this at a time when the words and
acts of Christ had ])een recorded in no wi-itten Gospel.
The career of no man has ever produced such lasting
effects in the world's history as that of St. Paul.'"" It
must, however, not be forgotten — for it is the key to
much in the Aj)ostle's character and writings — that he
1 Jerome, Apologia. " Quein quotiescunqiie lego, videor milii non
verba audire sed touitraa Quocunque respexeris
f ulEQina sunt."
2 See 2 Cor. V. 15 (not "they were all dead," but "they all
tiled " — i.e., in the death of Christ) ; Eom. vi. 2—4 ; Gal. ii. 20 ;
Eph. ii. 1, 5; Col. iii. 1—3, &c.
3 It would be hard to find a better equivalent for the Apostle's
ixt] -jivoiTo. "Assuredly not," "By no means," "Let it not be,"
" Never ! '' are all poor equivalents (Rom. iii. 4, 6 ; vi. 2, 15 ; vii. 7,
13; ix. 14; xi. 1, 11; 1 Cor. vi. 15; Gal. ii. 17; iii. 21).
■» Tholuck, Life and Cliaraeter of St. Paul. Eug. Trans. {BiU'ca.1
Cabinet), p. .31.
5 2 Cor. iv. 17.
$ Paul 0/ rarsiis. By a Graduate. Macmillan, 1872.
was, in intellectual habit, as well as in nationality and
training, a true sou of Israel. It was because he so
profoundly understood the Law that he became chief
teacher of the Gospel. His choicest lore was that of
the Old Testament, which he quotes incessantly ; his
logic was acquired, not in the school of Aristotle, hnt
in the school of HUlel ; and the philosophers of Athens,
when he stood among them, recognised in his manner of
speech nothing kindi-ed with their own.' Too much,
perhaps, has been made of the Apostle's Hellenic
training. His casual quotations from Greek poets s
scarcely prove an extended acquaintance with Greek
literatiu'e, of familiarity with which there are no other
signs. His style, like his thought, is essentially Hebraic,
with only the Hellenistic form and tone common to the
Jews of " the Dispersion." His Bible seems to be by
turns the Hebrew original and the Septuagint, as may
best suit his argument or occm* to his remembrance.
The Gentile world had done for him little besides giving
him a birthplace, with a heritage of political freedom
that often assured him protection in his travels through
the far-reaching Roman Empire. Even his noble uni-
versality was the result rather of deep insight into law
and prophecy, than of sympathies awakened amid the
early associations of his home at Tarsus. We are too apt
to attribute to the Apostle the thoughts and emotions
with which educated moderns might pass through
classic scenes. It may indeed be too much to say.
on the contrai*y, that " in the vicinity of Salamis and
Marathon, he would probably read the past no more
than a Brahmin would in travelling over Edge Hill or
Marston Moor ; " ^ but we may at least he siu-e that his
prevaUiug mood, even amidst the proudest memorials
of heathendom, would be the " stirring of spirit " with
which he would behold the tokens of a foul idolatry.
To him, the helmed virgin goddess of the Parthenon
would be only the symbol of a " demon " ^^ who had
perverted the minds of men by false reasonings to a
vain philosophy. The beauty and greatness of " the
world" were nothing to him, in comparison with its
deep moral degradation. To him there was no loveli-
ness but in the Truth, no j)ower but in the Cross of
Christ.
7 Acts xvii. 18, 19. The words express not only contempt, but
absolute bewilderment.
s Acts xvii. 28, from Aratus, a native of Tarsns, B.C. 270 (or
Cleanthes of Troas, B.C. 300) ; 1 Cor. xv. 33, from Menander, Athe-
nian comic poet, B.C. 320; Titus i. 12, from Epimenides of Crete,
B.C. 300.
9 National Review, 1855, ai-t. " St. Paul," p. 440.
10 1 Cor. X. 20.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BY THE EEV. G. F. MACLEAR, D.D., HEAD MASTER OF KINa S COLLEGE SCHOOL.
CHAPTER XI.
THE LAST ASMONEANS. — THE VICTORIES OF
POMPEIUS.
vHE widow of J<ann3eiis, a womau of aoiite-
uess and determination, carried out liis
last instructions in all their integrity.
Proceeding with his body from Ragaba
to Jerusulcm, she convened the most eminent of the
Pharisees, and entrusted to them the entire manage-
ment of affairs. Upon this their whole demeanour was
changed. They decreed their late foe a magnificent
burial, and pronoxmced on him an elaborate funeral
panegyric. The queen Alexandra had two sons,
Hyi-canus and Aristobulus. The former, an indolent
and weak-minded man, was made high priest,^ the
latter remained in private life.
Thus she reigned for nine years, B.C. 79^70, with
considerable prosperity, maintaining the conquests won
by Jannfeus, and establishing friendly relations with
neighbouring princes. But the turbulence of the
Pharisaic faction caused her no little trouble and
anxiety. Not only did they insist on recalling those
of their partisans who had been banished during the
last reign, but they carried on a systematic persecution
of the adherents of Jannseus. These in their turn
gathered round Aristobulus, a man of ardent and im-
petuous temper, who chafed at the private station in
which he had been left, and was anxiously seeking an
opportunity of usurping tho kingdom.
Ho was not left long to lament his degradation. Im-
portuned to relax tho i-igour of the persecution du*ected
against them, the queen at length consented to allow
the leaders of the Sadducaic party to occupy tho frontier
fortresses of the kingdom, and thus they commanded
the castles of Hyrcania, Alexandrium, and Machaerus,
indeed all the chief forts except Jerusalem.
Aristobulus himself, returning from an expedition
against Damascus, took up his abode in the capital.
Hence, when his mother fell ill, he hurried to the
fortress of Gabatha," in Galilee, south of Nazareth,
and ha-s-ing won over all the castles of the north, found
himself at the queen's death in command of a large
army ready to do his AviU. As soon as the queen ex-
pired, the Pharisees j^laced Hyrcanus II. on the throne.
This was regarded by Aristobulus as the signal for
active measures, and he marched towards Jerusalem
at the head of liis adherents, while his brother took
refuge in the fortifications of the Temple. After a
while pro'visions failed Hyrcanus, and he was compelled
to yield to his more energetic and determined I'ival,
and to retire into private lif«, after a brief reign of
three mouths.''
> Jos. B. J. i. 5, § 1.
- See Ewald, v. 394.
5 Jos. Ant. XV. G, § 4; xx. 10, § 4.
But now appeared upon the scene a very different
actor, who was fated to prove a far moi*e formidable
enemy to the Asmoncan dynasty, and whose house for
upwards of a century moulded the destinies of the
Jewish kingdom. During the reign of Alexander
Jauna3us, an Idumeau named Antipater had been ap-
pointed governor of that country. His sou, who was
called b)- the same name, had been brought up at tho
court of the Asmoncan prince and of his wife Alex-
andra. A man of great courage, activity, and persua-
siveness, he had acquired a complete mastery over the
feeble Hyrcanus, and repeatedly urged him to attempt
the recovery of his throne. At length he represented to
him that his life was in danger, and induced him to flt>e
by night from Jerusalem to the Arabian king Aretas,
at Petra,"* whom he induced to espouse his eaxise.
Aretas marched into Judyea ai i'a'2 head of fifty thou-
sand men, and defeating Aristobulus in battle, forced
him to take refuge in the Temple fortress at Jerusalem.
The capital was now besieged by a mingled force of
Arabs and Jews, and such was the fuiy of the rivals
for supreme power that tho besiegers would not allow
the besieged to have the sacrificial ^"ictims for the Feast
of the Passover, which even heathen generals had been
wont to concede.
At this time, B.C. 65, the great Republic of the West
was busily engaged in those wars which ultimately laid
the old Asiatic monarchies prostrate at her feet. Pom-
peius was carrj-ing on his campaign against Mith-
ridates and Tigranes, and his general Scaurus occupied
Damascus, which had just been taken by Lollius and
Metellus.*
News of the presence of a Roman force in Damascus
reached the contending brothers at Jei-usalem, and
emissaries from both soon appeared in tho SjTian
capital to gain the support of this victorious power.
Scaurus decided to espouse the cause of Aristolmlus,
and forced HjTcanus and Antipater to raise the siege.
Thereupon the Arabian army reluctantly withdi-ew, and
Aristobulus sallying forth attacked and defeated them
with considerable loss.
But in the following year, B.C. 04, Pompeius himself
arrived at Damascus, and both the brothers appeared
before him in person to plead their cause. The Roman
conqueror listened wnth attention to the arguments of
each, and then declared his resolve to settle the matter
at Jerusalem itself. Forecasting a decision adverse to
his own interests, Aristobulus retired from Damascus
and shut himself up in the fortress of Alexandrium,
north-west of Jerusalem." Pompeius advanced against
him through Peraja and Scythopolis, forced him to sur-
render tho fortress, and then pursued him through
Jericho to Jerusalem.
< Jos. Ant. mv. 1, §§ 3, 4; B. J. i. 6, §2.
5 Jos. Ant. xiv. 2, § 3 ; B. J. i. 6, § 3.
<' Jos. Ant. xir. 3, §|j .3, 4; B. J. i. 6, § 5.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
273
Thus for tlie first time, B.C. 63, the capital of Judtea
■was confronted with the crushing power of Rome, and
beheld the terrible Roman legions gathered before its
gates. Despairing of offering any effectual resistance,
owing to the divided state of the city, Aristobulus met
Pompeius and offered him a large sum of money and
the surrender of the capital. Thereupon Gabinius was
sent forward to take possession, but he found the gates
closed against him, and the walls manned. Angry at
this seeming treachery, Pompeius threw the king into
chains, and about midsummer marched towards Jeru-
salem.' Hyrcanus was in possession of the city, and
received the invader Avith open arms. The i^arty of
Aristobulus, which included the priests, retired to the
Temple fortress, cut off the bridges and causeways con-
necting it with the town on the west and north, and reso-
lutely refused to surrender. On this Pompeius sent to
Tyre for his military engines, and when the banks were
sufficiently raised, threw stones over the wall into the
crowded courts of the Temple. But the walls were
thronged with slingers, and the progress of the Romans
was seriously impeded. For three months the siege
was protracted. At length the Romans observed that
the besieged did nothing more than defend themselves
■on the Sabbath-day, and they availed themselves of this
opportunity of drawing their engines nearer the wall,
and filling up the trenches.- At the end of three
months the largest of the towers was thrown down by one
of the battering engines, and Cornelius Faustus, a son
of Sylla, mounted the breach, and the city was won.^
During the assault the priests, remained calm and un-
moved at the altars, poiu-ing out their diink-off erings and
burning their incense, till they wex'e themselves stricken
down. The loss of life in consequence of the fury of
the victors was very great, but "the conduct of the
Roman general excited at once the horror and the admi-
ration of the Jews." ^ He entered the Temple, and ex-
plored the total darkness of the Holy of Holies, finding
to his utter amazement neither statues, nor symbols,
nor any representation of any deity .^ He surveyed
with curiosity the sacred vessels of vast value, the
golden altar of incense, the golden candlesticks, the
store of precious frankincense, and the treasure of
2,000 talents. But he carried none of them away,®
and ordered the sacred enclosure to be cleansed and
purified from the bodies of the slain, and the daily
worship to be renewed. He then designated Hyi'canus
high priest and ethnarch or piince of the nation, but
without the title of king ; and ha'V'ing demolished the
walls of the city, and confined the limits of his authority
1 Jos. Ant. xiv. ; B. J. i. 7, § 2 ; Milmau's Ristor'j of the Jews, ii.
46 ; Ewald, v. 400.
- Jos. Ant. xiv. 4, § 3.
•5 " Cn. Pompeius Judaeos subegit ; fanum eorum in Hierosolyma,
inviolatum ad id tempus capit." (Livy, Epit. cii.)
* Miltnau, ii. 47.
" This is the cue fact regarding the Temple which the historian
thought worthy of preservation. " Nulla intus deum eiBgie vacuaui
sedem et inania arcana" (Tacitus, Hist. v. 9).
^ This is commended by Cicero, Pro Flacco, sxviii., as an in-
stance of extraordinary magnanimity.
66 — VOL. III.
to the province of Judaea,'' set out for Rome, taking
with him the captive prince Aristobulus, his two sons,
Alexander and Antigonus, and his two daughters, to
grace the triumph which he celebrated for his Asiatic
A-ictories, B.C. 61.
CHAPTER XII.
ANTIPATER THE IDTTM^AN.
By the disasters which thus befell the Asmonean house,
one person was no inconsiderable gainer. This was the
Idumaean Antipater, who managed to ingratiate himself
still more with the Romans, during the campaign of
Scaurus against Petra and its Arabian king Aretas, and
laid the foundations of the future ascendancy of his
family in Jewish affairs.
The active support of the conquerors of the West was
sooner needed than perhaps he expected. On the way
to Rome,^ Alexander, the eldest son of the captive king,
managed to escape, and returning to Judsea, rallied
round h\m the partisans of his father, and seized the
strongholds of Alexandreum, Hyrcania, and Machserus.
Alarmed at the progress of the invader, Antipater
and Hyrcanus called in the aid of the Romans; and
Gabinius, who had been appointed prefect of Syria,
B.C. 57, advanced against him with a large army, and
having shut him up in the fortress of Alexandreum,
forced him to surrender at discretion.
The pro-consul of Syria now j)roceeded to re-organise
the government of the country on a different plan. His
purely spiritual ofiice as high priest was alone reserved
to Hyrcanus, while the real power was placed in the
hands of the aristocracy, and five independent Sanhedrim
were established, at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, Ama^
thus, and Sepphoris, while no one could carry his cause
from either of the other four courts to the capital.''
Soon afterwards Aristobulus himself escaped from
Rome, with his other son Antigonus.'" But he was
soon obliged to surrender to Gabinius, and was sent
back in bonds to Rome. The prefect of Syria now pro-
ceeded with Marcus Antonius. his master of the horse,
to Egypt, to place Ptolemy Auletes on the throne of
that country.ii Antipater did not fail to improve the
opportunity, and by sending supplies of provisions to
' The Maccabsean conquests were thus lost at one blow. Many
of the northern districts, especially Galilee, were placed under the
Eoman governor of Syria. Samaria became once more free, and
began to recover from its recent disasters. (Jos. Ant. xiii. 10, §3;
XV. 4; Ewald, v. 401.)
8 Ewald notices that the brilliant triumph of Pompeius afforded
the Ptomaus for the first time a nearer view of the wealth of Judsea;
while the Jewish captives, who, as at Nineveh in the Assyrian
age, were led in the procession, and were afterwards obliged, even
when set at liberty, to remain in Rome, formed the basis of that
considerable Judasan community which was speedily destined to
acquire so much significance, even for the Roman Empire itself.
The Eoman poets and orators, Horace and others, were soon full of
Judaean topics, which were thus brought close within their notice,
{History of Israel, v. 402.)
3 Jos. Ant. xiv. 5, §§ 2— i ; B. J. i. 8, § 5.
10 " We may be tempted to suspect connivance on the part of the
Roman government, which could afford to buy an excuse for armed
interference as the price of a revolt in Palestine." (Merivale's
Bomaiis indcr the Empire, iii. 375.)
11 Jos. Ant. xiv. 6, § 2 ; B. J. i. 8, § 7.
274
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
die Romau gouorals, auil securing fur thorn the aid of
the Jews of Egj^it, iugratiatccVliimself still more with
the representatives of the great Power of the West.
In the year B.C. 5-1-, Gabinius was i-ecalled to Rome,
and Marcus Crassus succeeded to the prefecture of
SjTia. Bent on undertaking his disastrous expedition
to Pai'thia, the new prefect A'isitcd Jerusalein on his
way, and plundered it not only of the money wliich
Pompeius had spared, but also of the vast treasure
accumulated during a hundi'od years from well-nigh
every quarter of the world, and amounting to 10,000
talents, or about £2,000,000 sterling. His rapacity was
aggravated by the fact that he had first received a huge
ingot of gold, weighing nearly a thousand pounds, which
the priest in charge of the trcasiu'e had given him, on
the express condition that everything else shoidd be
spared.^
It has been observed that misfortune seemed to follow
in the footsteps of every Roman general that inter-
fered in the affairs of Judsea. Gabinius on his recall
from Syria was sent into ignominious exile. Crassus
perished at the disastrous battle of Carrhi3e, B.C. 53.
The fatal issue of the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 48,
drove Pompeius to the shores of Egypt, there to perish
by the hand of an assassin.
A new actor now appeared upon the stage. Julius
Caesar, having triiunphed at Pharsalia, pursued Ms
rival to Egypt, and a few days after his death arrived
at Alexandria. According to his practice of revoking
the decrees of Pompeius in Asia, he had already released
Aristobxilus, and intended to send him with two legions
to overcome Syiia. But the pai'tisans of Pompeius
managed to poison hiui on the way, and Scipio, who
held the command in Syria, publicly executed his son
Alexander at Antioch.
Thus the supremacy in Judrea was left in the hands
of Hyrcanus, or rather of his minister Antipater. This
1 Jos. Ant. xiv. 7, § 1 ; B. J. i. 8, §9.
revolution of affairs might have been a death-blow to
the •wily Idumasau. But he was equal to the emergency.
"With prudent alacrity he at once changed his tactics,
and did everything in his power for the cause of Caesar.
He hastened to his aid in the Egjrptian war with a
picked body of troops ; induced the Jews in Egy^it to
side with the new ruler of the Republic ; and received
wounds in well-nigh every part of his body, while fight-
ing in his behalf .-
Ha\iug concluded the Egyptian war, B.C. 47, Caesar
was not slow to declare his gratitude for such signal
services. He bestowed upon him the j)ri\-ilege of
Roman citizenship, and confirmed Hyrcanus in the high-
priesthood. In vain Antigonus, the surWving son of
Aristobulus, implored the conqueror of Pompeius to
reverse his policy, and accused Antipater of cruelty
and oppression. Caesar dismissed his jjetition, and
appointed his rival jirocurator of Judaea, with power
to restore the ruined fortifications of Jerusalem.^ Thus
while the titidar power belonged to Hp-canus, the real
supremacy was in the hands of the crafty Idumaean, and
he availed himself of the friendship of the great Roman
to obtain for the Jews many advantages. Successive
decrees released the H0I3- Land from all military
burdens ; restored Galilee, Lydda, and other places to
Judaea; obtained for the Jews throughout the whole
Roman dominions permission to live according to their
own special laws ; exempted them from military ser-vice,
and secured to them other similar privileges.^
By concessions such as these Antipater established
tl»e tranquillity of the country, and being in fact king,
acted ^vith hardly a px-etence of regard towards his
titidar sovereign. He appointed his eldest son Phasael
governor of Juda?a, and conferred the tetrarchy of
Galilee on his younger son Herod."
2 Jos. Ant. xiv. 8, § 1 ; B. J. i. 9, §5.
3 Jos. B. J. i. 10, §§ 2, 3.
4 Jos. Ant. sdv. 10, g§ 1, 6, 8, 11—21.
5 Jos. Ant. xiv. 9. g 2 ; B. J. i. 10, § 4.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PROPHETS:— HOSEA.
BY THE VERT EEV. E. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF CANTERBURY.
^j^^'^nOM very early times the wi-itings of the
Y^ i^l \C^ twelve minor prophets liave been arranged
in one book.
anged
St. Augustine even tells us
y^^^^Ji^Qj that this was the work of Ncheniiah, by
whose care the "Prophets," including both what we
call the historical books of the Old Testament, and also
the prophetic wi-itings themselves, were formed into
one volume as a companion to, and authoritative exposi-
tion of, the Pentateuch. For in the Jewish synagogues
it was usual to read first a section of the Pentateuch,
and then a section of the Prophets, both being divided
into portions of a proper length for this purpose, and
much care taken in making the passage from the latter
explain and elucidate that taken from the Law. I
need scarcely say that it was not left to the reader to
choose the passage from the Prophets, but the arrange-
ment was the authoritative work of the Great Syna-
gogue.
Now it is well-nigh certain that this arrangement
of the twelve prophets had reference simply to their
length. In times when the parchment on which a book
was written cost more than the coppng itself, many
expedients were used for lessening the expense. And
thus, as the writings of the twelve combined do not
form a volume so large as Isaiah's one book, they were
all imited together; and the Rabbins even speak of
HOSEA.
275
the later propliets as four in uumber, meauing thereby
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and tlie Twelve, Daniel being
arranged by them among the "Sacred Writings." Now
tliis had no evil effects at the time. Each volume Avas a
distinct and separate work, and the Bible was a library,
bibliotheca, and not a single book. But now that it is
all printed in one volume, the minor prophets are often
treated as if by minor was meant that they were of less
importance, wliereas it really means that their wi'itiugs
are of smaller bulk.
We scarcely realise that five of these prophets were
the predecessors of Isaiah, and that they lead up to
.him in a very remarkable way. We note, but perhaps
only to wonder at, the fact that they are more frequently
quoted by the Apostles in the Acts, when speaking to
the Jews, than the greater ]Drophets. The text of the
fii'st Christian sermon is taken by St. Peter from Joel
(chap. ii. 17 — 21) ; St. Stephen gives emphasis to his
argument by a quotation from Amos (chap. Aai. 42, 43) ;
and by a quotation from the same prophet St. James
decides the question discussed at the first Christian
council (chap. xv. 16, 17). So, too, if we look at the
doctrines first revealed by their instrumentality, we
shall find that they hold a very foremost place in ovir
belief. It is Joel who teaches us the momentous facts
of a future resurrection and a general judgment, and
of -that outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, withoiit
which these doctrines would be a terror to us. It is
Micali who reveals to men the place of our Lord's birth,
Zechariah his crucifixion, Jonah his resurrection, though
veiled beneath a sign. And as they were the earliest
of the prophets wlio left written memorials of their
work, so were they the last. The Old Testament closes
Avith the trumpet-sounds of Malachi, telling us of the
near approach of the Forerunnei-, of the separation of
the Jewish nation into those who accepted Christ and
those who rejected Him, and of the coming of days
when, from the rising of the sun even unto the going
down of the same, no victim should bleed upon an altar,
but the meat-offering, the type of Christian worship,
be offered everywhere unto Jehovah's name.
At the head of this goodly twelve stands Hosea, not
because he was foremost in order of time, but because
his writings are the longest of those who lived in the
Assyrian period. Really the twelve prophets are
arranged in three series — those of the Assyrian period,
Hosea to Nahum, first; those of the Chaldaean age,
Habakkuk and Zephaniah, next; and those who lived
after the exile last. The chronological order of the
first series is probably Jonah, Obadiah, Joel, Hosea,
Amos, Nahum. Of all these, however, it was Hosea
who held the prophetic office for the longest time,
and this may probably have also had its weight in
causing him to be placed at the head, especially as the
title runs parallel with that of Isaiah, the foremost of
the greater prophets. As regards the rest, Delitzsch
has shown with much beauty that they are arranged
with a view to the grouping of the ideas which they
present in common. " Because Hosea, at the end of
Lis prophetic writings (chap, xiv.), foretold to penitent
Israel, watered with the dew of Divine grace, a rich
harvest of corn, and a fresh verdure and blossoming
like the rose, the olive, and the vine ; while Joel begins
his prophetic writings (chap, i.) at a time when harvest
and vintage had failed, and therefore calls the people
to repentance — on this account the collector has joined
the two prophets together. With fine taste, again, he
has made Amos follow Joel, because Amos begins his
predictions with the striking words found near the end
of the writings of Joel (chap. iii. 16), ' The Lord shall
roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem.'
Upon Amos follow Obadiah, because his whole pro-
j)hecy seems, as it were, an unfokling of the remarkable
prediction of Amos (chap. ix. 12), ' that they may possess
the remnant of Edom.' But why does Jonah come
after Obadiah ? Because Obadiah says, 'We have
heard a rumour from Jehovah, and an ambassador is
sent among the heathen' (Obad. 1), and such an
ambassador Jonah seemed to be. Next in this group
comes In ahum, not merely because he belongs to the
Assyi-ian period, but because he has a common interest
with Jonah and Micah in that celebrated utterance of
the law (Exod. x:cxiv. 6, 7), that God is merciful and
gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth." (Comp. Jonah iv. 2 ; Micah vii. 18 ; Nahum i. 3 ;
and Keil's Introduction, i. 865.)
Of the person of the prophet we know nothing more
than that he was the son of Beeri, of the tribe of
Ephraim. Thus, he is one of the two — Jonah being the
other — who alone of all the prophets certainly belonged
to the ten tribes. Tet these tribes had produced Elijah
and Elislia, and under the latter the schools of the pro-
phets had flourished to an unprecedented extent. With
Jonah written prophecy had also its first commence-
ment in the northern kingdom, but it was in Judali that
it attained to its full m.ajesty and strength.
Hosea could not have been long subsequent to Jonah,
for both flourished in the palmy days of Jeroboam II.,
Israel's last great king, who reigned forty and one
years, and by whose hand God saved the people, as
Jonah had foretold in a prophecy no longer extant,
but referred to in 2 Kings xiv. 25. Jehu's had been a
Avai'like line, and Jehoash, Jeroboam's father, the con-
queror of Jerusalem (2 Kings xiv. 13), had probably
laid the foundation of Jeroboam's conquests, which ex-
tended from Hamath, on the northern border of Syria,
to the Dead Sea. This period of empire, under the
strong hand of a powerfirl sovereign, was Israel's final
opportunity for a national repentance. And before it
passed away God sent the people a prophet, powerful
in deed and word, to press upon them this their last
hope. They refused ; and Hosea lived to see Samaria's
fall. In the fourth year of Hezekiah, B.C. 721, Shal-
maneser, king of Assyria, took Samaria, and carried
the ten tribes away captive, and placed them in scattered
colonies throughout his vast realm.
It was probably, however, only towards the close of
Jeroboam's reig-n that Hosea entered upon his office ;
for we read that he prophesied also during the reigns
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
276
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Judab, the Scriptures uot deiguiug to count by tlie
reigns of Zocliariali the degeucrato sou of Jeroboam, nor
of tlic militaiy adventurers who succeeded him. Now,
as Uzziah lived twenty-six years after the death of
Jeroboam, and Jotham and Ahaz reigned each sixteen
years, we have already a total of fifty-eight years, to
tvhich if we add only four years of Hczekiah's reign,
to bring the prophet's life down to the year of the
c<apture of Samaria, there is a sum of sixty-two ycai's as
the duration of Hosea's ministry, without allowing any-
thing for the time during which ho propliesied under
Jeroboam. But as prophets were called at a Aery
early age to tlieir office, there is no tlifficulty in this
respect. For we may well suppose that Hosea was,
as it were, in training during the prosperous years of
Jeroboam, that so he might be ready to speak with
authority and power during the evil days of men so
worthless as Zachariah and his successors. So, during
the days of Uzziah and Jotham Isaiah was in training
for the grand outpourings of prophetic might in the
reigns of Abaz and Hezekiah.
Wo must not expect in the Book of Hosea a regular
record of tliis long period of proplietic activity. We
may conclude that he was as constant and earnest in
his exhortations as Jeremiah during the corresponding
period of Jerusalem's history ; but the chief part of
his exhortations would belong to that generation only,
while what is written was for the edification of the
faithful throughout all time. But it is remarkable that
the book does cover the whole of the sixty-two years
and more, which we have seen was the duration of
Hosea's ministry. In chap. i. 4 he foretells the speedy
ruin of Jehu's race. Now, of all the kings of Israel
after Jeroboam, Jehu was the only one who had a
right to the throne. AU the rest were successful
soldiers ; but Jehu was called by God's prophet. Yet
he almost immediately proved unworthy of the trust,
and while ho extii-pated with unrelenting cruelty the
family of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal as being
certain enemies to his own dynasty, he regarded with
indifference the worship of the golden calves. But tliis
cruelty was looked uj)on by God with abhoiTeuce, and
Hosea predicts that "yet a little while, and Jehovah
will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house
of Lsrael." Now Jeroboam's death was followed by an
anarchy of eleven years, and then his son Zachariah
reigned for six months ; at the end of which time he
was murdered by Shallmn. Hosea thus began to pro-
phesy before the limited reward given to Jehu for
partial services was completed ; at the end of chap. xiii.
Samaria's fall is close at hand. The Assp-ian armies
are closing upon her, and the horrible cnielties which
those inhuman conquerors used to inflict upon the cities
which fell into their hands are clearly set forth.
It is plain tliat ihis prediction of Samaria's fate was
written in Hoshea's reign, because in an earlier chapter
i,x. 14) the prophet gives us some particulars of the
first invasion of Shalmaneser, referred to in 2 Kings
xvii. 3. We gather from the prophet's words that a I
battle was fought at Beth-arbel, a place apparently
situated in the valley of Jezreel, that Hoshea was de-
feated, and that the liapless people had a foretaste of
AssjTian cruelty ; for " the mother was dashed to pieces
upon her children." Probably, then, later in his reign,
when the ill-adA^sed king was conspiring with So, king
of Egypt, for a combined resistance to the Assyrian
supremacy, or even when the armies of Assyria were
gathering roimd the doomed city, the prophet, convinced
that Israel's sin must also bo her ruin, wrote the words
that told of Samaria's coming desolation, and that her
citizens Avould suffer barbai-ities as great as had befallen
the inhabitants of the fort of Beth-arbel. Shoi"t, then,
as are the litei*ary remains of Hosea, they begin with
the dynasty of Jehu on the throne, and close with
Hoshea, the fourth of the usurpers who seized upon
Zachariah's sceptre, at a time when that sceptre was
dropping from his hand.
What, then, is the exact nature of the Book of Hosea ?
Is it a collection of fragments, embodying the salient
portions of his teaching during liis long ministry, or is
it an organic whole ? We answer, the latter. It is a
poem written at one time, and that near the close of
Hosea's life, not formed of scraps of numerous dis-
courses, but composed upon a settled plan, and arranged
in clearly-defined and distinct strophes. It begins
with the reign of Jeroboam II., because Israel's defec-
tion from Jehovah was then complete; and first it
clearly sets forth the nation's sin, and then bewails the '
impending retribution.
It is divided, therefore, into two sections, of which
the first, consisting of three cliapters in prose, describes
Israel as guilty of national apostacy. And this apostacy
is represented as accomplished while the dynasty of Jehu
was still sitting upon the throne. But this representation
is made in a liighly symbolical form. Hosea is looking
back upon his youthful work from a distance of half a
century, and he describes himself as commanded to
marry a wife who had again and again been guilty of
unchastity, and chUcb-en who had inherited her shame.
He takes Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, the first
name signifying completeness, or utterness, the second
a double Imnp of figs, an ordinary figure among the
Jews for sweetness ; the two thus hinting at the utter-
ness of the ruin, it may be, or of the apostacy from
God, caused by indulging in the sweetness of sin. And
by her he has a son, to whom is given the name of
Jezreel, God's scattering, because God would avenge
on Jehu's line the ruthless cruelty by which he had
secured to himself the crown.
And next a daughter is born, Lo-ruhamah, nnpitied
(comp. Rom. ix. 25 ; I Peter ii. 10) ; for while there
was to be mercy for Judah, a far feebler power at that
time than Israel under its warrior king, for Samaria
there was to be none. And this is still more forcibly
taught by the name of the third child Lo-ammi, not-
my -people, because the covenant was broken, and
Israel had ceased to be Jehovah's Church. And yet all
this has another side. The casting off of God's ancient
people is the riches of the Gentiles, and so a spiritual
HOSEA.
277
Israel, niunerous as the sands of the sea, takes the
place of Lo-ainmi, and bears the name of Sons of the
living God (chap. i. 10); with Judah tliey form one
Church, having Christ for their common head; and
" great is the day of Jezreel," that is, of God's solving,
the word having a double meaning, God's sotving for
good, God's scattering for evil. Great, then, is the day
of Jezreel, the day when God goes forth in Christ to
sow the seed of the Word of the Gospel.
And this Church, composed of the believing remnant
(Rom. xi. 5), and of the Gentiles, and called Ammi,
My people, and Ruhamah, The pitied one, is to plead
with God's ancient people. Well does St. Jerome put
this : " Te who believe in Christ, and are of both Jews
and Gentiles, say ye to the broken branches, and to
the former people which is cast' off, My people, for it
is your brother ; and Beloved, for it is your sister. For
when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then
shall all Israel be saved." St. Paid, in the eleventh
chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, does not sketch
more clearly God's dealings with the Jews as cast ofB
for a time, but finally to be again ingathered, than
Hosea in this chapter. What has blinded men's eyes
has been, that in spite of the headings in the Authorised
Version, commentators have imagined that instead of a
parable written in Hosea's old age, and symbolising
God's dealings with Jew and Gentile throughout the
whole period of their histoiy past and yet to come, they
had a literal record of facts," concerning which the most
interesting point was, How far it was morally right for
a prophet to marry a woman of bad character ! The
parable really shows God's intimate love and covenant,
as of marriage, with a sinful world.
This teaching is completed by a second parable, in
which Israel is no longer compared to a woman who had
been from the first an adulteress. On the contrary, now
it is one whose husband (literally friend, comp. Cant.
V. 16, but actually translated " husband " in Jer. iii. 20)
still loves her, remembering, in the beautifiil words of
Jeremiah, " the kindness of her youth, and the love of
her espousals " (Jer. ii. 2). Yet she has fallen so low,
that whUe a sum of thirty pieces of silver was the
estimated value of a common slave (Exod. xxi. 32), she
is redeemed with fifteen shekels, and has an allowance
o£ forty-five bushels of barley, the commonest fare,
made her, for her sustenance apparently for ten or
twelve months, the allowance to a Roman slave being
four bushels a month. Duiing this long time she is
not to abide, but to sit apart in the women's chambers,
withdrawn from the public gaze, and without being
restored to her conjugal rights, the word " another " in
Hosea iii. 3 beiug an utterly unauthorised addition and
corruption of the text. God does not take Israel
back into covenant with him for a lengthened period,
during which it must remain a separate people de-
filed no longer by idolatry, but not as yet restored to
its former privileges.
And Israel is so sitting now in widoAvhood, seques-
trated aiid apart, still eating its bavley-meal, as the
following words, to my mind one of the most extra-
ordinary predictions of the whole of the Bible, declare :
" For the childi-en of Israel shall sit without a king, and
without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without
an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim :
afterward shall the children of Israel retxirn, and seek
Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall
fear Jehovah and his goodness iu the latter days "
(chap. iii. 4, 5).
Now up to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus,
they had a polity and governor, a prince, whatever
might be his title. They have long had none. They
offer no sacrifice. They worship no images — the word
literally signifies a statue — being now of all people the
most opposed to idolatry. They have no ephod — by
wliich, I suppose, is meant no established priesthood —
for the ephod was the holy garment worn by tlie high
priest over the tunic and robe (Exod. xxix. 5). Neither
have they teraphim — a sort of household gods, used
especially for purposes of divination (corap. Ezek. xxi. 21,
where it is translated " images ;" and Zech. x. 2, where
oiu' version has "idols"). Now the appointed means for
inquiring of God was by the Urim and Thummim
(1 Sam. xxviii. 6), a sort of breastplate worn over the
ephod (Exod. xxviii. 30), and thus the ephod itself is
often used as equivalent to the Urim (1 Sam. xxiii. 9).
It means, therefore, that though the Jews have lost the
true means of approaching God to know His wUl, yet
that they do not try to discover that will by any false
and superstitious means. No more exact descrij)tiou
could possibly be given of the present state of the Jews
everywhere. And in this state they are to remain tiQ
they accept Christ. When Hosea wrote, he was living
under the rule of the last probably of those military
usurpers who so often had made the crown of Israel
their prize; but the king whom the nation must
acknowledge when they return to Jehovah is David —
not personally, for he had long been gathered to his
fathers, but David as the symbol of the Messiah,
David's Son. And so the Tai-gum (of Jonathan) explains
it : " They shall obey Messiah, the Son of Da\id, theJ-
King."
The rest of the prophecy (chaps, iv. — xiv.) is a sort
of dirge, consisting of mingled wailings, entreaties,
exhortations, threatenings, and j)romises, and summing
up the whole of Hosea's long teaching after Jeroboam's
days. It was written at the same time as, and is the
necessary consequence of, the first three chapters : for
they in two brief but telling allegories set plainly forth
the sins, especially of idolatry, by which Israel had
violated God's marriage -covenant, and been repudiated
by Him, with mercy, nevertheless, for her m store, but
only after long days of widowhood. Those allegories
state his whole case ; the poem that follows is his lamen-
tation. In it he urges upon the people the consequences
of their national sin, first showing them their guilt,
both generally, and also class by class ; next, iu severe
and gloomy terms, he sets before them their punish-
ment ; and then gradually, though in-egularly, he ad-
vances to those better hopes and promises with which,
too, his parables had ended. And most beautifully aro
278
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
these hopes expressed. Jehovah promises to heal Israel's
backsliiliugs, and love theiu freely ; to be iiuto them as
the dew, to make them put forth blossoms as the lily,
and strike their roots far and wide like the cedars of
Lebanon. Young plants springing from their stock are
to spread around tliem, and their beauty is to be as the
olive-tree, and their fragrance like Lebanon.
It should be read tlieu as a poem, written by one on
whose sight the impending downfall of his nation was
darkening, filling his heart with anguish too great to
bear. How can he avert so terrible a fate ? If he
turn to the kings, they are mere upstarts, whom the
sword has placed upon the throne (chap. viii. 4) ; and
who in the hoiir of theii" success give themselves to
di-unkeu revelry (vii. 5). If he look to the j)riests,
*' as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company
of the priests murder on the way to Shechem " (vi. 9),
a city of refuge, tenanted by priests and Levites, but
Avhich was also upon the route from the north to Jeru-
salem ; and it was probablj'- men going up to the solemn
feasts there, who near this city of priests were waylaid
and slain. Gilead, that is, Ramoth-gilead, another city
of refuge, had become, like the sanctuaries in the Middle
Ages, a haunt of miu-derers (vi. 8). And, " like i)eople
like priest "' (iv. 9), their religion was idolatry, and their
conduct the grossest licentiousness (iv. 13).
Such was the people over whom Hosea mourued.
With rapid transitions — for tlie outpouring of grief is
never regular — at one time he accuses, upbraids, de-
nounces them ; at another he melts with tenderness,
and speaks from a heart bleeding at their cruel fate.
It was a tragedy in wJiich he was taking part — the
tragedy of a nation's fall — and the end of the tragedy
was near. But the nation fell not without a poet to
bewail its ruin, and to set before the remnant tho
certainty of a better life as citizens of a still nobler
community. " I will ransom them, saith Jehovah, from
the power of the grave : I Avill redeem them from death.
O death, I Avill be tliy plagues ! O grave, I will be thy
destruction ! " (xiii. 14.)
No serious attempt has ever been made to throw
doubt upon the genuineness and integrity of the Book
of Hosea. It remains only to add that owing to the
prophets of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel
forming one closely-connected body, Hosea's writings
were soon well known in Judah, and are often referred
to by Jeremiah. We also gather from his many alla-
sious to things prescribed by the Levitical law, and
which were evidently still in use in Israel, coupled with
similar iucid«ntal references in Amos, that Jeroboam I.
had retained the main features of the Mosaical institu-
tions, while engrafting upon them for political pmi)oses
a debased symbolism wliich degraded and corrupted
the whole.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. LUKE.
BY THE EEV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BEEKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRISTCHUECH, OXFOED.
" I am come (rather, I came) to send fire on the earth ; anj
what will I, if it be already kindled ? But I have a baptism to be
baptized with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ! "
— LvKi: xii. tO, 50.
^hTI rUjvHE Authorised English Version suggests
/o4=> i\^, the idea that the fire of which our Lord
speaks had abeady been kindled by others.
But the rendering, " What will I ?
Would that it were already kindled ! " appears equally
admissible vrith. that adopted by King James's trans-
lators ; and the general drift of the passage then becomes
more obvious, and more in harmony with the prediction
of John the Baptist, " He shall baiitize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire."
The object contemplated in our Lord's mission was
an object of unniLxed good to mankind. Tlie fire which
He came to kintUe is that fire of holiness which, whilst
it consumes sin, pm-ifies the hearts and lives of those
who are the subjects of its influence. Oiu* Lord was
intently bent upon the accomplishment of this, as tho
great end of His Incarnation, and as the hours of the
day drew nearer to their close, we seem to meet with
plainer and stronger indications, on the one hand, of
the intensity of His desire to accomplish the work which
it had been given Him to do,^ and, on the other hand,
of the natural shrinking of the flesh from that fiery
ordeal through which alone it could be accomplished.
Tlu-ee distinct elements of tliought appear to be closely
interwoven in the remarkable words under considera-
tion : (1) The end and object of our Lord's mission, viz.,
to diffuse upon earth that sacred fire by which, as the
Great Refiner, He woidd at once consume the dross of
sin, and purify the chosen vessels ; (2) the bitter
course of suffering through which Ho must Himself
pass, in order to bring many sons unto glory; and
(3) the many strifes and divisions which Avould bo tho
inevitable result of that conflict between .the powers of
light and darkness whicli must everywhere attend the
introduction of the Gospel. Ha^-ing first enmiciated,
1 The meaning of the word cw^xofia', which is well rendered
iu the Authorised Version " I am straitened," may be illustrated
by a reference to Phil. i. 23, where St. Paul emjiloys the same
word to denote the struggle which was waging in his own soul
between the conflicting desires, on the one hand, to continue in
the flesh, that he might do Christ's work on earth, and, on tho
other hand, to depart out of this life, that he might be with Christ
for ever. It is tliero rcndsrei in the Authorised Version, " I am
in a strait,"
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
279
according to this view of His words, in verse 49, the
object which was proposed in His advent, and, in verse
50, the means by which this object was to be accom-
plished, our Lord proceeds, in verses 52, 53, to declare,
not the object, biit some of the necessary results of the
prockmation of the Gospel. Though He came " preach-
ing peace ; " though " j)eace " was His last and choicest
legacy to His Chui'ch ; yea, though He is Himself the
"j)eace" of His beheving people, nevertheless He
foresaw that the proclamation of a religion which
admitted no rival, and which accepted no compromise,
must inevitably be productive of di\'ision.i The whole
1 The word used is 5iayuepi<rn6i. It seems wortliy of notice that
the parable which led to St. Peter's inquiry, as recorded in verse
41, and, consequently, to the whole of the following discourse,
was called forth by one who applied to our Lord on the subject
of " dividing" (Mtpicrao-dai) an inheritance, and that our Lord in
history of Cliristianity, and more especially the history
of its reception by individual members of Je\vish families,
and in coimtries such as India, teems with illustrations
of the literal fulfilment of our Lord's prediction.
The other view of these words which directly
connects the fire with the division, and which regai'ds
the fij'e as being already kindled by others — i.e., by the
malice of Satan and of man — appears to be incongruous
with the order of verses 49, 50 ; with the use of the same
or similar figiu-es in combination (as water and blood),
in other places ; and, also, with the general harmony
and connection of the entii*e passage.
verse 14 disclaims the oifice of a " divider " {nepKr-iji). It deserves
notice, further, that when the fulfilment of John the Baptist's
prediction respecting the baptism with fire is recorded in Acts ii.,
the tongiies which rested on the heads of the discix^les are described
as "divided" (dia/nepifu/iei/ui).
GEOaEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOE WILSON, E.E.
n.— THU JORDAN DISTKICT (continued).
^EOCEEDING westrvards along the shore
of the lake, we reach, a mile and a half
fi'om Tell Hum, the charming bay of
Et Tabigah, with its mottled beach of
black and white pebbles, behind which lies a small plain
cultivated by the Bedawin. At the south-east comer of
this plain a fine fountain, more than half as large as that
of Banias, bursts thi-ough a mass of rubble masonry at
the foot of an octagonal reservoir several feet above the
level of the lake, and poiu's its waters into a small pool,
whence they are carried off by an aqueduct to a mill,
worked by an Arab. Thip mill, as well as five others,
of which there are rums, is said to have been built by
the celebrated Dhaher el Omar, and some skill has been
sho\vn in their construction. The water was cai-ried by
aqueducts to the tops of small towers, each containing
two ch-cular shafts, through which the water fell, to
turn the stones in a chamber below. Most of the water
now runs to waste, giving birth to a luximant vegeta-
tion, which, considering the scanty nature of the soil, is
perfectly sui-prising. The octagonal reservoir mentioned
above is of ancient date, and was constructed for the
purpose of raising the water of the fountain to a height
of twenty feet, after which the whole body of water was
carried ofB by a large aqueduct to the plain of GTiuweir,
Gennesareth, on the west, for pui-poses of uTigation.
The aqueduct can still be traced running round the
plain of Tabigah, and at its western end, some fifty
or sixty yards of the retaining wall, with the channel,
4 feet 2 inches wide, is in good jireseiwation : a few
yards beyond this a spiu' from the hiUs runs down
to the lake, terminating in an abruj)t cliff about forty
feet high, and here, for some distance, a channel has
been cut in the rock, with much labour, to convey the
water into Gennesareth at such a level that it could
be used for irrigating the greater portion of the plain,
and especially the eastern section, where there is no
natiu-al supply of water. The whole work is a remark-
able piece of engineering, and we may almost with
certainty connect it with the fountain of Cai)hamaum,
a most fertilising fountain, which, Josephus informs
lis, watered the whole plain of Gennesareth, and was
considered by some to be a vein of the Nile, as a fish
called coracinus was found in it, as well as in a lake at
Alexandria. The position of the foimtain of Capliar-
naum has been the subject of much dispute ; many
travellers have identified it with either Ain et Tin, or
A in Mudawarah, the " Round Foimtain," in the Ghuweir.
but neither of these fountains supplies a sufficient body of
water for extensive u'rigation, and the closest examina-
tion has failed to discover the remains of those aqueducts
which would have been necessary to convey their water
over the plain. They may in some degree have assisted
in the general scheme for the irrigation of Gennesareth,
but could never have been of much importance. The
coracinus was found by Dr. Tristram in the Roimd
Fountain, which he identifies with the fountain of
Caphamaum ; and he also obtained one specimen from
the lake near Tiberias. It is quite certain that the fish
lives in the lake, for Mr. Macgregor saw one darting out
of the shallows of the warm sand at Et Tabigah, and the
fishermen told him that in summer-time it ascended to
Ain et Tin and the Round Fountain from the lake where
it was always found, thougli in the colder months only
beside the springs of Et Tabigah. There can, therefore,
be no reason why the fish should not have lived in
those springs also before the erection of the mills, &<?.,
had cut off all communication with the lake, and we
may feel pretty certain that they were the fountains
of Capharnaum, whether the town was at Tell Hum
or elsewhere.
280
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
QENNESAEETH, FROM KHAN MINTEH.
(From a Photograph takin for the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
Immediately beyond the cliff noticed above is Ain et
Tin, the "Fountain of the Fig-tree," and away to the
south stretches the rich plain of Gennesareth. This
plain is now covered with thick thorny brushwood,
through which it is difficult to j)euetrate, and but a
small poi-tion is cultivated by the Bedawin, who depend
entirely ou the winter rains for raising their crops.
Formerly the whole plain was perfectly in-igated, and
from the gi-eat richness of the soil it must have been
extremely productive, rivalling in fertility the well-
known plain of Damascias. Josephus's description of the
district when under cultivation is couched in glowing
t3rms ; he tells us that " its nature is wonderful as well
as its beauty ; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees
can gi-ow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant
all sorts of trees there, for the temper of the au' is so
well mixed that it agi-ees very well with these several
sorts, pai-ticularly wahuats, which require the coldest air,
flourish there in vast plenty. There are palm-trees also,
wliich gi-ow best in hot air ; fig-trees, also, and olives
grow near them, which yet require an air that is more
temperate. One may call this place the ambition of
Nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally
enemies to one another to agree together ; it is a happy
contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid
claim to this country ; for it not only nourishes different
sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation, but
preserves them a great while ; it supplies man with the
principal f iiiits, with gravies and figs continually during
ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits as
they become ripe together tlu'ough the whole year ; for,
besides the good temperature, it is also watered fi'om a
most fertile fountain." (Josephus, B. J. iii. 10, § 8.)
Perhaps the most striking feature of the plain is its
shore-line fringed with oleanders, and broken into bays
of exquisite beauty, each a perfect picture in itself, with
the placid water la\'ing a beach of pearly whiteness,
where myriads of minute shells are mingled with the fine
sand and gravel. Here the water deepens more rapidly
than towards the east, and it is pleasant to think tliat on
the shore of one of these lovely bays the disciples, after
their return to Galilee, may have seen Jesus standing
in the early morning light, and the solemn events have
occurred w^hich are descrilied in John xxi. 1 — 23. In
this neighbourhood, one of the favourite resorts of the
fish of the lake, the disciples may have let down their
net into the sea ou that occasion when it " enclosed a
great multitude of fishes, and tlieir net brake;" and
here, too, our Lord on more than one occasion may have
entered into a ship, aud taught the people as they stood
GEOC^RAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
281
WADT HAM AM AND CAVES OF ARBELA GENNESAEETH AND SEA OF GALILEE IN THE DISTANCE.
{From a Photograph taken for the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
on the shore. Our illustration (page 281) represents a
portion of the plain as seen from a point near Ain et Tin.
In the clisiance is Wady Hamain, the " Valley of Doves,"
about which we sliall have something to say presently,
and tlie curious flat-topped hill at its head is Kurn
Hattin, the " Horns of Hattin," the traditional Mount of
Beatitudes, on which the Sermon on the Mount is sup-
posed to have been delivered, and the point at which
the Crusaders made their last rally at the fatal battle of
Hattin. Beneath the hills on the left, not far from the
shore, lies Mejdel, the modern representative of Mag-
dala, once the home of Mary Magdalene.
The fountain of Ain et Tin is but a small one, and at
such a slight height above the level of the lake that the
water of the latter sometimes rises into it. West of
the spring are several mounds of rubbish, which Dr.
Robinson, the learned American traveller, identifies with
Capernaum ; but they are not of any great extent, and
contain the remains of no important building, such as a
church or synagogue. North of Ain et Tin is Khan
Minyeh, an old building, probably erected during the
period of the Crusades for the convenience of travellers
proceeding along the great highway from the coast to
Damascus. A few Arabs live in the khan, and on its
roof, as the sun goes down, the women may frec^ueutly
be seen enjoying tlieii* favourite amusement, the native
dance. The dance consists in swaying the body to and
fro, with an occasional changement of place, to a pretty
though monotonous air chanted by the spectators, and
all the movements of the dancers are full of grace.
Tln-ee valleys break through the hills that border the
plain — Wadies Amud, Rubudiyeh, and Hamam — each
bringing down in winter-time streams of water, which
fonnerly, as the remains of ancient aqueducts attest,
contributed to the irrigation of Gennesareth. Between
the two latter is Ain Mudawarah, the " Round Fomi-
tain," a spring of sweet water, that Dr. Tristram,
M. de Saulcy, and a few other travellers identify
with the fountain of Capharnaum, and in its vicinity
they place Capernaum. No ruins of any consequence
have been discovered in its neighbourhood, and, as we
have already mentioned, the fountain could not have
ui-igated much of the plain. At Mejdel, near the
southern end of the plain, a few small heaps of rubbish
are all that is left to mark the site of Magdala ; and
along the margin of tlie lake, between Ain et Tin and
Mejdel, are several mounds, perhaps the remains of
those towns and villages in which our Lord laboured
dm'ing His earthly ministiy. We may add that
Josephus describes the land of Gennesareth as extend-
282
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ing along the border of the lake for thirty furlongs, and
this agrees well with the distance from Mejdel to Et
Tabigah.
On the heights above Mejdel are the ruins of Irbid,
the ancient Arbela, a place mentioned by Josoijhus i^
his account of the war in Galilee. Part of the old city
wall is still standing, and within it, amongst the remains
of private houses, may be seen two iJools, and a number
of cisterns for the collection of rain-water on which the
inliabitants had to depend for their daily wants. The
most interesting ruin, however, is that of a Jewish
synagogue, which differs in many respects from other
buildings of the same class, and has the distinction of
being the only spiagogue that was converted into a
mosque after the Moslem conquest. Immediately north
of the to^vn is the gorge of Wady Hamam, with its
grand clifBs rising almost perj)endicularly to a height of
one thousand feet above the little stream which flows
down through it to Gennesareth. In the face of these
cliffs are the caverns formerly inhabited by the robbers
whose defeat and destruction added so much to the
military reputation of Herod the Great, and a more
perfect robbers' nest could hardly be found anywhere.
There are four tiers of caverns, one over the other, each
consisting of a large number of chambers, connected by
passages cut in the face of the rock ; the two lower tiers
are reached from the valley below by a single flight of
rude stone stojis, the two ujiper by rock-hewn steps fi-om
the heights above. The robbers appear to have been
the terror of the country round, and so numerous, that
when Herod marched against them they boldly left their
homes, and met him iu the open field ; but after a sharp
action under the walls of Arbela they were defeated,
and obliged to retire. The fight which now ensued is
unique in military annals. Finding that the caverns
could not be reached from above or below, Herod
caused large boxes, bound with chains to give additional
strength, to be constructed, and iu these soldiers were
lowered to the level of the caverns, armed with long
hooks, to puU out such of the robbers as they could
reach. Swinging thus in mid-air, the soldiers com-
menced their attack by a shower of darts, and after-
wards landing at the mouths of the caves, set fij-e to
the coinbustible matter within them. By the end of
the second day the robber stronghold was completely
subdued, but not before an extraordinai-y scene had
occurred, which Josephus graphically describes in the
foUoAving terms : — " Now there was one old man, who
was caught ^vithin one of these caves, with seven
cliildren and a wife; these prayed him to give them
leave to go out, and yield themselves up to the enemy :
but he stood at the cave's mouth, and always slew that
child of his who went out, till ho had destroyed them
every one, and after that he slew his wife, and cast their
dead bodies down the precipice, and himself after them,
and so underwent death rather than skveiy." The
illustration (page 281) represents the cliffs iu which
these remarkable caverns are excavated, and in the
distance are seen the plain of Gennesareth, and a por-
tion of the Sea of GaUlee.
Proceeding southwards along the lake from Mojdcl,
we soon come to Ain Barideh, three springs of sweet
water within a few yards of the lake, behind wluch is a
small i)lain, now covered with brushwood, but once,
perhaps, the " level grassy spot " on which the five
thousand were fed. Current tradition places the scene
of this event on the heights Ijctwcon Hattiu and Tibe-
rias ; but Arcuif , towards the end of the seventh centm'y,
tells us that it was at Ain Barideh that the multitudes
" drank after they had eaten their fill." This agrees
with the Sinaitic version of John vi. 23 — " When there-
fore the boats came from Tiberias, which was nigh unto
where they did also eat bread," which necessitates a site
near Tiberias ; and as Arcuif visited the country only
fifty years after the Muhammedan invasion, when there
was no reason for the transference of sacred sites from
the eastern to the western shores of the lake, it is not
improbable that the tradition attached at that time to a
place of such interest was the coiTCct one. The adop-
tion of this view, as we have previously shown, obAdates
the necessity of two Bethsaidas ; and the accounts given
by the Evangelists of the return of the disciples after
the miracle contain nothing that cannot be recoupilpd
with the supposition that the boat in which they sailed
started from Ain Barideh.
The next place of interest on the shore of the lake is
Tiberias, the modern Tubariyeh (page 285). The to-^vn,
as seen from a distance, is extremely picturesc|ue, with
its mediteval walls, its minaret, and its i)alm- trees; but a
closer acquaintance discloses a state of filth which, even
in the East, can scarcely be paralleled. Shut off from
the cool breezes of the Mediterranean by the high cliffs
on the west, the heat in summer is excessive, and at
this time of year the town is barely habitable from the
number and acti^^ty of the vermin, who are so rapacious
that even the Ai-abs have a saying that " the king of
fleas holds his court at Tiberias." The principal build-
ings in the town are a mosque, and tlie church erected,
as it is said, on the site of St. Peter's house. In the
walls of the houses may be seen a few sculptured stones
from earlier buildings, and there are besides a slab of
basalt, on which a Inmting scene is rudely carved, and a
fine basin of polished granite, 6 feet 4 inches in circum-
ference, cut out of one block of stone, that must liaA'C
been brought from the distant quarries iu Upper Egyjjt.
The old town wall, with its flanking towers, is now in a
very ruinous state. No hand has touched it since it
was shaken to its very foundations by the earthquake
of 1837 ; great rents appear in the masonry, and the
present entrance to the town is over a mass of ruin that
encumbers a wide breach m the wall. On the side of
the lake the ground appears at the same time to have
sunk, for one of the towers has been thrown violently
forward, and when the water is low the remains of a
sea-wall can still be seen beneath the water. The
ancient city extended far south of the modem walls;
over a considerable area the ground is covered ^vitll
ruins, amongst which are seen many broken shafts of
columns and capitals, and there are not wanting ti'aces
of the foundations of more important edifices, i5erhai)3
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
283
temples Ox- cliurelies. Tke town, called Tiberias in
honour of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, was founded
by Herod Autipas, Trho had j^assed much of his life in
" Italy, and brought with him to the East the Roman tasto
for magTiifieent buildings. A palace was erected, which,
contrary to Jewish law, was adorned with the figures of
liA'ing creatures, and round this were gathered an amphi-
theatre, bath-houses, temples, and costly works of art.
These have long disai^ix-ared, but the remains of an
aqueduct nine miles long, that brought a supply of clear
spring water for the use of the inhabitants, still serve to
remind the traveller of the fonner glories of Roman
Tiberias. Josephus tells us that in clearing the ground
for the town many graves had to be removed, and that,
in consequence, no Jew could live in it without becoming
unclean for seven days ; Herod was therefore obliged to
fill his city with Gentiles and Galileans, many of whom,
persons of condition, were compelled by force to become
residents, whUst others of the poorer class were induced
to become settlers by being made freemen, as well as by
grants of laud and gifts of houses. Tiberias played a
prominent part in the war between tho Jews and the
Romans, and was fortified by Josephus. After the
destruction of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrim settled in the
town, and for several centuries it was one of the most
celebrated seats of Jewish learning. There are no
schools now, but it is still one of the four holy cities of
Palestine, and a large proportion of the inhabitants are
Jews of the poorer class, who live, iu great measure, on
ahns sent by their wealthier co-religionists in the West.
The existence of a large number of graves, which had to
be cleared away by the workmen of Herod Autipas in
buUding his new city, proves that there must have been
before that time a place of some importance iu their
immediate vicinity. St. Jerome, and others following
him, have identified this old town with Chinnereth ; but
the inference to be drawn from the Bible is rather to the
effect that Chinnereth was more to the north, for it lay
in the territory of Naphtali (Josh. six. 35, and also in
1 Kings XV. 20, where Chinnereth is classed with Ijon,
Dan, Abel-beth-maachah, and all the laud of Naphtali).
The writers of the Talmud maintain that the old town
was Hammath, and considering the proximity of the
warm springs, this woidd appear to be a probable
identification. The name Tiberias occurs but three
times in the Bible, tmce in connection with the lake ;
and it is worthy of notice that St. John, whose Gospel
is supposed to have been written towards the close of
the first century, after Tiberias had become the chief
town of Galilee, is the only Evangelist who uses the
name. This probably arose from its being more familiar
to non-residents in Palestine than the older names —
Sea of Galilee, Sea of Gennesareth, used by the other
Evangelists who wrote before the Jewish war. The
view of Tiberias (page 285) is taken from the foot of
the hUls, behind the town ; beyond the lake are Gamala,
to the right, and Khersa, Gergesa, to the left.
South of Tibeinas are the well-known warm springs,
perhaps mentioned in the Bible under the name Ham-
math. There are several springs, varying in tempera-
ture from 132° to 112^. The principal one, IS?"^', was
covered in by Ibrahim Pacha, and here the water, after
passing through a small orifice, is received into a cii-cular
basin paved with marble, and about three feet deep;
the steam, rising up, fills the whole buUding, and con-
verts it into a vapour bath, in which the gaimt naked
figures of the lame, the halt, aud the leprous can bo
dimly distinguished as they move over the marble
floor; a strong sulphurous smeU pervades the atmo-
sphere, and it is altogether not a place to linger
long in. The springs have a high reputation for
theit- medicinal properties, and are generally crowded
Avith invalids ; but on Friday they are taken possession
of by the Joavs, who consider an horn- or two in the
bath a very necessary part of the preparation for the
Sabbath.
Between five and six miles south of Tiberias wo
reach the point at which the Jordan leaves the lake ;
and here, on the right bank, are the ruins of Kerak, the
ancient Taricheae. Little now remains but a maSs of
rublsish, with fragments of masonry, covering the
surface of a triangular mound, or bank, some thiriy feet
above the lake. The peculiar position of T;irichea3,
commanding the main road up the western shore of the
lake, and the passage of the Jordan by the three bridges
and ford in its immediate vicinity, made it a poiut of
the highest importance in military operations, and we
consequently find that every endeavour was made to
strengthen the place by artificial means, and that it
played an important i^art in the Jewish war. The town
was uatui'ally protected on one side by the lake, and on
the second by the Jordan, whilst on the third side a broad
ditch was cut, connecting the lake with the river, and
entirely isolating the moimd on which the fortress was
built. Communication with the country was kept up by
a causeway across the ditch, which is still in fair repau*.
It was well provided with culverts, to allow the escape
of flood-water, and aj)parently protected by a tower at
its further end. The similarity between Tarichea3 and
the position at the entrance of the Jordan, which has
been assigned above to Bethsaida Julias, is very striking,
both as regards their natm-al aud artificial protection by
the lake and river, and the iuiportauce of then.' positions,
one commanding the passages of the Jordan north of
the lake, the other those at the south. Josephus informs
us (B. J. iii. 10, § 1 ) that Tarichege was taken by the
Romans under Titus immediately after an important
engagement in the vicinity, in which the Jews were
defeated and driven back into the town with great loss.
Many of the sm'vivors embarked on board the ships and
boats belonging to the j)lace, and Vespasian, in order to
attack them, caused a number of ships to be fitted up for
the reception of his soldiers. A curious naval engage-
ment followed, in which nearly all the Jews perished.
Josephus gives the number as 6,500, and states that the
an- was tainted by the number of dead bodies on the
shore of the lake.
Crossing the Jordan, and follo-\ving the southern end
of the lake, we soou reach tlie village of Semakh, a
collection of mud huts, tenanted by a few wretched
284
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
families; and beyond this Tell Sumi*ah, which has
generally been identified ^vith Hippos, a town men-
tioned by Josephus. From the latter place there is a
fine view northwards, over the lake, with Hermon and
the snow-clad peaks of Anti-Lebanon in the distance ;
and southwards, down the JorcLau valley, over a bright
jrreen carpet of turf, which extends to the foot of the
hiUs, on either side.
On the eastern side of the lake, Avith one exception,
which will be noticed below, there is a narrow tract of
level or gently- sloping gi-ouud between the shore and
the foot of the hills, which rise abniptly to the level of
the Jaulan pLateau, presenting to the eye of a spectator
on the western side the appearance of a long even wall.
The barrier is, however, broken by tAvo valleys or
gorges, the Wadies Fik and Semakh, which drain a
krge portion of the plateau, and in winter bring down
no inconsiderable quantity of watc^- to the lake. Near
the mouth of Wady Fik, almost opposite Tiberias, is
Kalat el Husu, the ancient fortress of Gamala, in Avhieh
the Jews of Northern Palestine made their last stand
ao-ainst the Romans. The position of Gamala is one of
great strength, the only approach being along a narroAV
neck of land, which connects it with tlie plateau beliiud.
On all other sides the ground falls abruptly, almost
precipitously, for several hundred feet, to the beds of the
ravines below, and, to afford additional protection, the
rock was cut away, or scarped, making the sides inac-
cessible. The place is not imlike in shape tlie camel's
hump, to which Josephus compares it. The hump is
higher than the neck, and was sun-ounded by a high
wall, of which many fragments are left. The ruins are
little more than a confused heap of rubbish, amongst
which, however, the main street can be traced, running
from the neck down the centre of the hump, to its
western extremity, and the foundations of some im-
portant buildings — churches, temples, or synagogues :
there are also numbers of cohimns and capitals, as well
as several fine cisterns. The description of the siege
and capture of Gamala given by Josephus, who was an
eye-witness, is extremely interesting and gi'aphic. The
town was stoutly defended by the Jews, who fought
with the courage of despair ; and on one occasion the
Romans were obliged to retreat with heavy loss, after
having nearly gained possession of the town. The final
assault was made by Titus himself at the head of
his best troops, and the caraage which ensued was
only equalled by that at Jerusalem three years after-
wards. Of the entire population only two are said
to have escaped, and numbers threw themselves from
the walls rather than fall into the hands of the
Romans.
Whilst at Gamala, the writer and his comiianions
were caught in one of those sudden storms which so
frequently visit the lake district. On leaving the lake
early in the morning the sky was cloudless, and a hot
sirocco wind was blowing from the east, but about half-
past eleven a siiddcn clap of thunder drew our attention
to the western hills, where heavy clouds wcro gathering.
Xu a few moments the clouds began to spread, veiling
Tabor and Hattin, and falling like a pall over Tiberias
and the western shore. At this moment the easterly
breeze died away, and there were a few minutes of
perfect calm, during which the heat of the sun was most
oppressive, and the surface of the lake was smoot>., and
glowing like a burnished mirror, Tiberias, the baths,
Mejdel, and Semakh standing out in sharp relief from
the gloom behind. They were soon obscured, as the
thunder-gust swept past them, and, rapidly advancing
across the lake, lifted its placid water into a bright sheet
of foam ; in another moment it reached the ruins, com-
pelling us to take shelter in a large cistern, where for
nearly an hour we were confined, listening to the peals
of thimdcr and toiTcnts of rain which followed. The
effect of half the lake in perfect rest, wliilst the other
haK was one wild sea of foam, was very grand. It
would have fared badly for any light craft caught in
mid-lake by such a storm ; and we could not help think-
ing of that memorable occasion on which the storm is so
graphically described as " coming down upon the lake "
(Luke viii. 23) ; nor was it without interest to turn
afterwards to the pages of Josephus, and read how, at
the final assault of the stubborn fortress of Gamala,
" there arose such a Divine storm against them as was
instrumental to then- destruction. This earned the
Roman daris upon them, and made those which they
threw return back, and drove them obliquely away
from them ; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon
their precipices, by reason of the violence of the wind,
having nothing that was stable to stand upon, nor
could they see those that were ascending up to them ;
so the Romans got up and surrounded them." {B. J.
iv. 1, § 10.)
Between "Wady Fik and Wady Semakli the hills,
which everywhere else on the eastern side of the lake
are from a half to three -qiiai'ters of a mile distant from
the shore, approach within forty yai'ds of it. There is
no cliff, and the hills do not terminate abruptly, but
there is a steep, even slope, that is not improbably the
"steep place" down which the herd of swine (Matt,
viii. 32) ran violently, to perish in the waters of the
lake. A mile to the north, at the mouth of Wady
Semakh, are tlie ruins of an old town, enclosed by a
wall, to which the Bedawiu give the name of Khersa ;
and this may with some certainty be identified with
Gergesa, a place mentioned iu connection with the
healing of the demoniacs. The cliff at Khan Minyeh is
now pointed out as the scene of the miracle, but it is
quite certain, from Matt. ix. 1 and Luke viii. 26, that it
was on the eastern shoi-e of the lake ; and, in addition
to this, the swine are described as running down a steep
place into the sea, not as falling over a cliff". The steep
place between Wadies Fik and Semakh is the only one
on the eastern side of the lake, which is so near the
shore as to make it certain that a herd of swine running
■\aolently down would be caiTied into the waters by the
impetus acquired in then descent. This is also the
opinion of Mr. Macgregor, who carefully examined this
part of the coast in his canoe, and gives tlie following
interesting account of it : — " Here, for a full half mile.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
285
Wacly Semalib, Gergesa.
TIBERIAS.
{From a Photograph taken for the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
"Wady Fik, Gamala.
the beach is of a form diffiereut from any other round
the lake, and from any I have noticed in any kke or sea
before ; it is flat until close to the edge. There a hedge
of oleanders fringes the end of the plain, and imme-
diately below there is a gi-avel beach, inclined so steej),
that when my boat was at the shore I could not see over
the top, even by standing up ; whUe the water along-
side is so deep that it covered my paddle (seven feet
long) when dipped in vertically, a few feet from the
shore." ^ Some wi'iters have placed the scene of the
mu'acle at Gadara, the modern Um Keis, on the hills
south-east of tlie lake, whence the swine would have
had a hard gallop of two hours over a level plain before
reaching the water. Not far from the shore at Wady
Semakli, and almost concealed by the thick bush, are
tracings of buildings which may possibly have been
tombs of masonry similar to those at Tell Hum, and
perhaps those in which the demoniacs resided. There
are said to be rock-hewn tombs in the face of the
liills above the lake, but they would be rather too
far distant to meet the requirements of the Bible
narrative. There has always been some difficulty in
reconciling the different reading of the name in
1 fiob Roy on the Jordan, p. 421.
the account of the mii-acle given by the Evangelists.
In Matt. viii. 28 our Lord is said to have come into
the country of the Gergesenes, corrected in the Sinai
MS. to " Gazarenes," and in the Yatican MS. to
"Gadarenes." In Mark v. 1, "Gadarenes;" the Sinai
and Vatican MSS. here read " Gerasenes," Ijut in the
former this is corrected to " Gergesenes ; " and in Luke
viii. 26 the reading is " Gadarenes," corrected in the
Sinai MS. to " Gergesenes," and in the Vatican MS.
to " Gerasenes." The Vulgate and Arabic texts read
"Gergesenes in all the Evangelists, and Origen, who
lived at Cassarea, says that there was in his day a village
called Gergesa on the shoi'e of the lake. The similarity
of the name Khersa to Gergesa is a strong reason for
believing that the reading of Matthew is correct, and
St. Matthew, being a native of the lake district, would
j)robably be more accurate in his definition of the
locality than Mark or Luke. It is not impossible that
Gergesa was in the jurisdiction of Gadara, and that the
two latter Evangelists made use of the name of the
larger and better known tovru, to express generally the
district in which the miracle took pkce ; at any rate, we
have in Khersa and the ground near it a place and
topographical features which meet all the required con-
ditions. It only remains for us to notice the plaia
286
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of Buteiha, at tlio novtli-west end of the lake, which
extends from the eastern hills to the Jordan. Tliis
plain is somewhat larger than that of Gennesareth, and
is well watered by streams coming down from the hills.
It is, however, swampy and rocky, and must always have
been so; but the soil, where there is any, is rich and
productive. The coast-line is not so beautiful as that of
the western plain ; the bays are larger, and not so deep,
and there is an absence of that pearly-white beach and
fringe of oleanders which gives such a chann to the
latter. There are several ruins of inconsiderable pkces
on the margin of the lake, and on the jjlain itself, l)ut the
most important site is Et Tell, on the slope of the hills
near the Jordan, and some distance from the lake,
where there is a modern Beds.win village, and a
number of rude remains. This place is identified by
Dr. Robinson with Bethsaida Julias, but there is no
trace of any impoi-tant building, and, as we have pre-
viously noticed, the town built by Philip must have
been in close proximity to the mouth of the Jordan.
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
SOURCES OF BIBLICAL IMAGERY.— THE NATIONAL HISTORY.
BY THE REV. A. S. AGLEN, II.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN'S, ALTTH, N.B.
)T has been remarked in a former paper
that the materials for poetry are inex-
haustible. The imaginative faculty is lord
of a boundless domain. There is nothing-
wliicii comes within the range of human observation or
experience which may not be made the subject of poetic
treatment.
But in this wide field the artist is not altogether
free. He is bounded in his choice by the conditions of
time and place under which he lives. " The poet is the
heart of his age, and his verse ^ixpresses his age." He
is a creator, but he is also the creature of circumstances,
which he can interpret but not control.
The Biblical wi-iters must not be treated as exceptions
to this principle. It is truo, as has been more than once
remarked, that they write like men conscious of a con-
trolling authority above them. The poetic genius of
Israel was undoubtedly subordinated to a moral jjui-pose
and a religious inspiration, and we should miss, not only
the inner purport of its message, but also the proper
music of the strains in which it flowed, if we forgot
for a moment the shrine at which the gift was offered
and consecrated. In this regard the spirit of Hebrew
poetry, that which determines its character, constitutes
its unity, and secures for it for ever its supreme place
in literature, may be treated as independent of the place
and time of its production. But this fixedness of moral
purpose was perhaps a cause that the poetry of Israel
was modified and coloured not less, but more, than that
of other nations by outward influence. For recognising
so consciously its office as handmaid to proidiecy, exist-
ing to interpret the visions of the seers, it became a
mirror in which the actions of men, and tlie passions
which inspire action, were clearly and powerfully rc-
floctcfl. The prophet was never a recluse. He took a
large and active share in public life. When he poured
out, therefore, in song the feelmgs which burnt for
utterance in his breast, his imagination moved among
the objects that interested him most, and he fiUed his
verse "with iUustratious drawn from the past history or
the li^'ing present of his race. Hebrew poetry was
indeed a garland placed on the altar of Jehovah, but it
was a garland gathered in the fields and gardens of
Palestine.
Before, therefore, proceeding to the common soui'ces
of Biblical imagery, we must pause a moment on the
great theological truths which not only lent devotion
and purity to the strong religious sense of the Jewish
people, but so powerfully influenced their song. In
this Helsrew poetry stands solemnly apart from that
of other ancient nations. We meet in the poems
of Homer, and in the great tragedians of Greece, ex-
pressions of simple piety, recognitions of pro\adence,
of the relation of man to God, of the eternal laws
by which the world is governed, which are not sur-
passed for earnestness and simple faith in the Psalms
of David or the lyrics of Isaiah. But this natural
piety is separated by a wide interval fi'om the mytho-
logies which gave form to the religious of the old
world. These are degraded by impurities and false-
hoods, amid which wo look in vain for the real beliefs
of antirpiity. It is otherwise with the creed of Israel.
Though even in this there were, of course, elements of
imperfection, and statements of truth suited to an early
stage of a progressive religious belief, the conceptions
on which the national existence was founded were true,
and had a necessary and real place in the development
of truth. The fuUer revelation did not contradict the
intiiitious of ancient Israel. It only disjilaced in order
to pei-fect and fulfil them. The polytheism of Greece,
which left such an enduring mark on the poetic and
artistic production of the nation, has taken its place
amid the vain and false fancies of ei-ring humanity.
The monotheism of the Hebrews, expanded and uitcr-
preted by Christianity, is the religion of tliG jiresent
and the future. When it is confessed, as it is confessed
by those who look with little favour on the doctrines
of Christian churches, that the nioral earnestness of
Hebrew poetry makes it the invahiable possession of
all time, a recognition is implied of the existence of one
everlasting and invisible God, who has implanted in
the human breast a sense of right and wrong, and
keeps that consciousness alive by perpetual pro^-idence,
since it is impossible in the Scriptures to separate the
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
287
love of rigiireousness from ilie love of its uuseen and
eternal Source.
Of the doctrines peculiar to the Jews, and inspiring
then- genius, vre may select as most significant the
unity of the Divine nature, the omnipresence of God,
the conviction of an intimate relation of Israel to this
Invisible Being as a chosen race, the j)erpetual redeem-
ing and sustaining purpose towards it, and the untiring
expectation of an anointed king who shoiild fulfil all
the ardent hopes of the race, and complete the imful-
filled purpose for which it had been called, and now
existed. To these, as time went on and the vision of
spiritual things became clearer, was added the dream of
an immortal future, at first vague and uncertain, but
gradually gi-owing more distinct and real, until in the
New Testament heaven becomes the very centre of
light and beauty, roimd which all the poetic feeling
gathers, and on which aU the powers of the imagination
are displayed.
The influence of these gi'eat truths on the form as
well as the spirit of Biblical poetry was too great and
sustained to need more than a passing allusion. They
assert their own power and presence at eveiy step.
Wliatever of beauty the Hebrew poet sees in nature,
whatever of tragic power he feels in the memories of
the past, whatever bright visions he paints of future
happiness and peace, it is all reflected from a soul
already filled with an abiding sense of an Omnipotent
Presence, and with a consciousness of a living connec-
tion of man with God. So it happens that amid this
people, chosen to give religion to the world, poesy is
hallowed, its lays become psalms and its songs of
Natm*e rise into hymns of praise.^
Passing on from these essential conditions under
which the Hebrew poet worked, to the secondary in-
fluences which modified his poetry, we shall find that
the fire of his genius was fed principally at three
sources — thfe natural scenery of his countiy, the forms
of his worship, and the memories of the past. To
these, which are the most common resort for images and
illustrations, must be added the manners, acts, and em-
ployments of common life, both domestic and public,
which are introduced so 'familiarly and with such a
homely effect in the sacred poetry.
Beginning Avith the facts of history, which are em-
ployed by the poets of Israel in a manner almost
unique to supply illustrations of passing events, or to
give intensity and reality to prophetic visions, we find
the first of all recorded things introduced \nth great
frequency, and always with wonderful j)ower.
Told with such austere simplicity, but with such
dramatic effect, in the first pages of the Bible, the
story of Creation gave a grand impiilse to the imagi-
nation of the Jews.- The author of Ps. civ. finds in it
his subject and his inspiration, and follows exactly the
order in which the successive stages of development are
described in the fii-st chapter of Genesis.
' Cf. Psalms Clironologicalhj Arranged, p. 20,
2 See GUfillan's Bards of the Bible, p. 2.
Of other scenes of the primitive liistory the poets of
Israel make abundant use ; but there was one event
especially which, both as a subject of national thank-
fulness, and as a source of poetic imagery, was inex-
haustible. The history of Israel commenced with the
deliverance from Egypt, and the influence of that
important crisis on the national imagination is con-
spicuous in every page of the Bible. Long after the
Babylonian captiA-ity and the troubles which surrounded
the attempt to restore the fortunes of the nation, poets
consoled themselves and the people by chanting the
history of the maiweUous works of God when —
" Israel came out of Egypt,
And the bouse of Jacob from among a strange people."
Thus the Exodus, apart from the interest of the won-
derful circumstances attending it, proved one chief
soiu-ce of the poetic inspu-ation of the Hebrews. It
kindles the imagination even now to think of the
sudden leap into freedom of a tribe of slaves. Poesy
was ever dedicate to Freedom. Liberty has insj)ired
the noblest strains, the music that will live and thrill
human hearts in time to come.
But a further and most important influence on
Hebrew poetry may be traced to the mode in which the
gi'eat deliverance was effected, and the circumstances
which attended and followed it. The general com-
plexion of a poetry depends chiefly on the climate and
scenery of the laud which produces it. This is the case
with Israelite poetiy. Its sterner and its gentler fea-
tures reflect the varied physical condition of Palestine.
But the impressions of the Exodus, the midnight start
of the host, the passage of the Red Sea, the granite
peaks and wild valleys of Sinai, the thunderings and
lightnings of the awful mount, were not likely to be
erased from a literature which actually had its Ijirth
among them. We accordingly find that in its dark
and wiTiliful moods, as well as in its sublimer flights,
Hebrew song recalls the wild and terrible imagery of
the deliverance from Egypt.
Even in the prose narrative of the Book of Exodus,
we feel we have something more than the materials for
future poetry. The story brings the scene so .vi\-idly
before xis, with such a dramatic sense of the situation,
and such lifelike touches, that it becomes a poem in
itself. The sudden order to turn towards tlie sea, the
night encampment, the alarm and panic at daybreak,
tlie cry to Jehovah, the calm counlge of Moses, the
wonderful way opened through the waters — all these
we see as in a moving, picture. And then the waters
roll together over Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen,
and the song bursts irresistibly foi-th, the song of
emancipation, of freedom, of victory — .
" Sing unto Jebovab, for He bath triumphed gloriously ;
The horse and bis rider bath He thrown into the sea. '
Let US inquire what featm*es of the mighty event
fastened with strongest hold on the national inemory,
and f otind place in poetiy ?
Here is a poet who in a dialogue with himself, a con-
tention between "the two voices" of hope and despair,
283
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
urges ill support of the better luiud, the love and pro-
tection of Jeliov.ah, as shown in the ancient deliverance.
It was perhaps the tempest in his soul, seeking sym-
pathy with troubled nature, which caused him to bring
into such A'ivid prominence the hurricane and thujidcr-
storm which, wo learn fii-st from this Psalm, accom-
panied the passage of the Red Sea : —
"The waters saw Thee, 0 God; the waters saw Thee, and were
afraid ;
The depths also were troubled ;
The clouds poured out water, the air thundered.
And Thine arrows went abroad ;
The voice of Thy thunders was heard in the whirlwind, lightnings
shone upon the world ;
The earth was moved and shook withal."
The advent of peace to the anxious breast — peace like
the morrow's calm, when Israel stood safe on the
further shore — is marked by a change in rhythm and
feeling : —
" Thy way was in the sea.
And Thy paths in the great waters ;
And Thy footsteps were not known ;
Thou leddest Thy people like sheep
By the hand of Moses and Aaron."
(Ps. Isxvii. 16—20.)
The prophet whose strains inspired the captives in
Babylon with new hope finds a constant but ever-fresh
source of imagoi-y in the same events : — •
*' Thus saith Jehovah :
Who made a way in the sea.
And a path in the mighty waters ?
Who brought forth the rider and the horse, the army and the
warrior ?
Together they lay down, they rose no more ;
They were extinguished, they were quenched like tow.''
But suddenly, when ho has recalled these olden
memories and kindled a patriotic feeling from which
hopefulness may spring, he gives an unexpected turn
and a new vigour to his thought. " Forget," he says,
" all these wonders." Leave the past and its memories.
Por Jehovah is not only alive who wrought them, but
able and willing to perform greater, more wonderful
things : —
" Eemember not the former things,
And the things of ancient times regard not ;
Behold, I make a new thing ;
Even now shall it spring forth ; will ye not regard it ?
Tea, I will make in the wilderness a way.
In the desert streams of water." (Isa. xhii. 16 — 19.)
The passage in the 63rd chapter of the same prophet
is one of the greatest lyric triumphs of Hebrew song : —
" But they rebelled, and vexed His holy Spirit;
Therefore He was turned to be their enemy,
And He fought against them.
Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and his people :
Where is He that brought them up out of the sea, with the
shepherd of His flock ?
Where is He that put His holy Spirit within him ?
That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious
arm.
Dividing the water before them,
To make Himself an everlasting name ?
That led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble ?
As a beast goeth down to the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah
causeth him to rest :
So didst Thou lead Thy people.
To make Thyself a glorious name." (Isa. Ixiii. 10—11.)
And here we are conscious tliat the poet strikes a
deeper chord than that which vibrates only with hope
of coming temporal prosperity. The poetic image has
become a symbol of a spiritual truth. The passage of
the Rod Sea is the likeness of the moral deliverance of
the human soul from sin and death. The words " re-
deemer," " redemption," took their prominent place in
Biblical poetry iu connection with the deliverance from
Egypt, and that other deliverance which always recalled
it — the Return from the Capti\'ity. But they claimed
a holier purpose and assumed a loftier meaning. The
poets of the Old Testament were but guardians of these
fair and powerful symbols till the time for their better
use should come. In the Apocalypse we meet them in
their new beauty and their fullest meaning, in the idsiou
of those who stand redeemed and \-ictorious on the
shores of the glassy sea, mingled with fire,' and " sing
the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of
the Lamb." 2
Even at the risk of repeating what has been urged
before in these papers, it must be remarked that the
delight with which Israel thus lingered over the stories
of ancient days had its roots in a deep religious belief.
Hebrew patriotism took the form of gratitude to Him
who had made His people great. The indelible impres-
sion made by these early events is expkiined by the
phrase, so common on the lips of prophets and poets,
" The Lord liveth who hath brought us ujj out of the
house of bondage." "Jehovah hath triumphed glo-
riously," was the song of lictory on the Red Sea, and
wherever else Israel was victorious, and it was the only
song of A-ictory. Acknowledging their direct depen-
dence on the one supreme Judge and Huler of the world,
the people of Israel did not, like other nations, assume
glory to themselves. " Greece and Rome could look
back with triumph to the glorious days when they had
repulsed their invaders, had risen on their tyrants, had
driven out their kings. But the birthday of Israel — ^the
birthday of the religion, of the liberty of the nation of
Israel — was the passage of the Red Sea ; the likeness
in this as in so many other respects of the yet greater
events in the beginning of the Christian Church, of
which it has been long considered the anticipation and
the emblem. It was the commemoration, not of what
man has wrought for God, but of what God has
wrought for mau."^ Nowhere is the enduring strength
of this conation more finely exhibited than in Ps. cxiv.,
which may be quoted here, moreover, as one of the
most perfect examples of the singularly vi^-id imagina-
tion with which the later poets seized on the national
annals, and in a few powerful lines concentrated all the
most striking features of a whole history. The poem
will derive an additional charm to those acquainted with
Dante, from the beautiful picture in the Piirgatorio,
in which the spirits emancipated from earth and wafted
OA'cr the dividing sea to the mountain of purification by
the radiant wings of the pilot angel, chanted altogether
with one voice, " In exitu Israel de Egypto.'" The
' Cf. Stanley, Jewish ChuYch, i. 157.
2 Rev. xiv. 3.
3 Stanley, Jensh Clii'vch, p. 129.
THE POETRY OP THE BIBLE.
289
artistic structure of the psalin also deserves atten-
tion. The name of the Supreme Being is purposely
withheld till the end, that the feelings of wonder and
awe may be excited to the utmost, and sustained while
earth and sea are questioned as to the reason of their
alarm. It is precisely an opposite effect to that pro-
duced by the severely simple announcement, " God
spake, and it was done."
In keeping with these signs of artistic purpose
is the regidar parallelism and the arrangement in
quatrains : —
"When Israel came out of Egypt,
And the house of Jacob from among the strange people,
Judah was His sanctuary.
And Israel His dominion.
The sea saw that and fled,
Jordan was driven back ;
The mountaics skipped like rams,
And the little hills hke youug sheep.
What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest.
And thou, Jordan, that thou wast driven back ?
Te mountains, that ye skipped like rams.
And ye little hiUs like young sheep ?
Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
Who turned the hard rock into a standing water.
And the flint stone into a springing well."
(Ps. cxiv. The arrangement is after DeUtzsch and Perowue.)
It would take too much space to show how deeply
Jewish poetry was affected by the desert wanderings.
Tlie influence of this period has extended far beyond
Hebrew literature. The rocky paths trod by Israel,
the dangers, the sufferings, the deliverance from
their long wanderings have, as has been truly said,
supplied ■' materials out of which the imagination of
all ages has constructed its idea of the journey of
life."i
The interest of this period cidminates at Sinai. It
is not easy, however, to connect the poetic imagery of
the sacred volume with the scenes which constitute its
interest. Those scenes were in themselves calcidated
not only to produce a religious awe too strong for time
to wear away, but also to create for the national imagi-
nation an inexliaustible store of grand and terrible
figures. The long and steep ascent, each tui-u in the
rocky stair leading further from the haunts of men into
deeper and more secluded solitude ; the granite peaks,
unclothed with verdure, rising in every wUd fantastic
shape into the deep blue Eastern sky, the desolation,
the silence, the mystery — these alone were such as to
produce ineffaceable impressions. And then the solemn
dawn of the awful day when the event of these long
preparations was to be seen — "And there were thun-
deriugs and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet
exceeding loud, so that all the people in the camp
trembled." But on the mount itself there was a thick
cloud. " And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in fire ; and the
gmoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and
the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice
' Stanley, Jewish Chwch, p. 136.
67— VOL. Ill,
of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and
louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice "
(Exod. xix. 18, 19).
Amid many plain instances of the enduring in-
fluence of the great event one deserves notice, since
it is one of the passages where a New Testament
writer, in an epistle which is indeed deeply coloured
with j)oetry, rises into almost lyric fire. The contrast
between the Old and New Covenant was drawn out
in many ways in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but
in none with more distinctness and power than in
chapter xiii., " For ye are not come unto (the mount ")
that was touched,'^ and that burned with fii-e, nor unto
blackness, and dai'kness, and tempest, and the soimd
of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they who
heard iutreated that word might be spoken to them no
more. . . . But ye are come unto mount Zion, and to
the city of the liHng God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to
myriads, the festal host of angels, and the assembly of
the firstborn that are written in heaven, and to God the
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to
the blood of sprinkling, speaking more powerfully than
Abel."
It falls in with a notice of the poetic use made of
this part of the history of Israel, to refer to the influ-
ence which the peculiar religious economy had on the
national imagination. It has been already seen tliat
Jewish song is in fact the creation of the religion, and
chiefly existed to minister to the beauty and solemnity
of public worship. The form in which it expi-essed
itself would, therefore, naturally be affected by the
numerous religious rites to whose service it was dedi-
cated. It would be long to trace this influence in detail.
It is e\'ident throughout the sacred poetry from the
first chant which rose from the priests in the wilderness,
as the encampment broke up and be^an the day's march,*
to the sublime vision which the latest of Israel's seers
saw, when the Holy City came down from heaven like
a bride adorned for her hiisband, and a great voice pro-
claimed, " Behold, the taLernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell witli them, and they shall be His
people." Two out of many instances alone will sufiice,
which we may choose not only for their intrinsic
beauty, but because they have passed from Hebrew into
Christian poetry.
There appears, several times repeated, in the sacred
poetry a tender and exquisite image of God's protecting
care, to which, it has been rightly said, " there is no
parallel in heathen litei-ature." ^ It is the figure with
which every English child is familiar, of the out-
stretched brooding wings of God, and under them
shelter and rest for man. No doubt the birds, so dear
to all poets, in some cases suggested the image.® But
- This word is of doubtful authority.
3 As contrasted with the spiritual moimtains which could not be
touched.
* Numb. X. 35. Cf. Ps. Ixviii. 1.
^ Perowne.
6 Cf. Deut. sssii. 11, 12, and Matt, ssiii. 37.
^90
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tliere is one verse iu Ps. Ixi. which ))y its paralleHsm
directs iis to another source for it :
" 0 that I might dwell in Tliy tubernaclo for ever,
Aud flee under the covert of Thy wings."
It was in the inmost recess of the Holy of Holies,
and under the shadow of the cherub wings whieli met
above the mercy-seat, that the poet prayed that he miglit
find refuge. So another psalmist, in the dread hour of
pestilence, when thousands were falling around, pro-
claims the security of those who trust in God under
the same image, evidently, as the context shows, dra^vu
from the same soui-ce :
" He shall defend thee under His wings,
Aud thou shalt be safe under His feathers." '
Tlie other instance is worthy of notice because it
marks the difference between true and false sjTubolism,
> Cf. Ps. xxxvi. 7; Ivii. 1 ; Ixiii. 8.
between poetry, which casts a light and glory round a
common act or object by revealing the spiritual tratli
which it conceals, aud superstition, which invests the
outward sign with magical power and mysterious %-irtue.
Amid all the nmltitudiuous symbolism of the Mosaic
ritual there was none more calculated to impress the
imagination and elevate the feelings of the worshipper
than the incense cloud which rose into the "gloom and
glory " of the Tem^ile as the priests' hands were lifted
up iu prayer towards the holy place. But the danger
of the freciueut repetition of such expressive actions
is evident. The i^oets of Israel helped to vindicate for
this as for sacrifice its spiritual against a material use.
Thus the Psalmist sings —
" Jehovah, I call upon Thee, haste Thee unto me !
Consider my voice when I cry unto Thee ;
Let my prayer he set forth in Thy sight as the inoense.
And the lifting xq) of my hands as ayi evciiing sacrifice."
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
BY THE KEV, WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF ABERDEEN.
SACRED PLACES (continued).
' E have still to linger for a little iu the Holy
of Holies, or the most holy place of the
Tabernacle; and, doing so, our attention
must be turned to a third article of the
furniture placed iu it, the Cherubim.
III. Directions for the making of these figures are
given in the following words — " And thou shalt make
two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make
them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. Aud make
one cherub on the one end, and the other chenib on
the other end ; even of the mercy-seat [margin, of the
'iiudter of the mercy-seat] shall ye make the cherubims
on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall
stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-
seat with their wings, and their faces shjill look one to
another ; toward the mercy- seat shall the faces of the
cherubims be" (Exod. xxv. 18 — 20). The expression
here used that they were to be made " of " or " frtfm "
the mercy- seat, does not necessarily imply that they
were to be beaten out of the same piece of gold ; for it
is hardly possible to think, considering the size of that
article of furniture, that any one block of gold could
have been cast so large as to admit of both mercy-seat
and cherubim being wrought from it ; but it can hardly
imply less than this, that these two objects were to be
inseparably connected with each other, that like the
altar and its horns (comp. Exod. xx^ii. 2) they were to
constitute cne whole.*
The description thus given obviously leaves us in
complete uncertainty with regard to various particulars
respecting the cherubim, on which we would fain have
f uUer information than we possess ; and it is difficult
1 See Kalisch in loc.
to say whether this silence may have arisen from the
fact that their figures were familiar to the Israelites, or
whether it constitutes a part of a designed indefinitcness.
The former explanation is, to say the least of it, impro-
bable. Very specific directions are given with regard
to the construction of other objects mth which the
people must have been much more familiar than they
were with these ; and even supposing that they knew
exactly what was meant hj the cherubim of Gen. iii. 24,
we cannot imagine that the size of those in the Taber-
nacle would be the same, however great may liave been
the correspondence in the outline of their forms. "We
must, therefore, adopt the latter of the two suppositions
that have been mentioned. It was intended that a
certain degi-ee of indistinctness should liaug over the
shaj)e and appearance of these mysterious forms, yet not
so much for the purpose of increasing the mystery con-
nected mth them, as with the view of leaving greater
scope for the expression of the ideas which they sjnu-
bolised, when these ideas should have gained, \vith the
progi-ess of time, larger measures of purity aud strength.
Notwithstaiuling this indefiniteuess, however, informa-
tion is given us in the later books of Scripture upon
what must have been considered essential points in the
construction of the cherubim ; and we are entitled, if not
even called upon, to add it to what is said of them in
the earlier books. It is not to be thought tliat. what-
ever subordinate alterations were made in the conception
of them, their structure would bo materially changed.
We know, at least, that those beheld in the visions of
the Apocalypse are in essential correspondence with
those of Ezekiel. We may justly infer that those seen
by Ezekiel were, like all the other parts of his vision
of the Temple, taken from the Temple of Solomon:
SACRED PLACES.
291
" And I knew," says tke prophet, '• that they were the
oherubims " (Ezek. x. 20). Aud, finally, we can hardly
donbt that the choriil)im of Solomon wonld be moiLlded
after the fashion long consecrated in tlie Tabernacle. A
line of similarity thus runs throughout the whole Bible
witli regard to them, and what is said in one place must be
understood to throw light upon particulars not distinctly
mentioned in another. Slight modifications in their
structure were due simply to the fact that the idea
intended to be expressed had become clearer as time ran
on. We have seen something of this kind already in the
reference made to the golden candlestick in the Aj)oca-
lypse.for that candlestick which was single in the Taber-
nacle becomes " seven " to the view of the Apocalyptic
seer (Rev. i. 12). No one will doubt, however, that the
essential idea is preserved. It is the same in the case
before us. Changes in the figiu-es of the cherubim
there might be, but we cannot imagine that these would
be introduced to the extent of destroying or CA-en ob-
scuring their identity. Availing ourselves, then, of this
principle, we turn in the first place to the cherubim of
Solomon, in connection witli which we learn the im-
portant particulars that they ''stood upon then* feet,"
and that their wings reached twenty cubits, each wing
being five cubits, from the one wall of the Holy of
Holies to the other (2 Chrou. iii. 11—13). The wings,
however, cannot have stretched across the "inner house "
in a horizontal line, for the whole breadth of the house
was only twenty cubits, and no space would th?n have
been left for their bodies. They must have stretched
upwards at an angle, a circumstance at once corre-
sponding with, and throwing light upon, what is said
of the cherubim of the Tabernacle, that " they shall
stretch forth then." wings on high " (Exod. xxv. 20).
We are not, therefore, to think of them in the latter
place as sending theii* wings directly upward from
their bodies in a perpendicular line, but as giA'ing
them some degree of inclination to the walls, and thus
reaching forth towards that complete possession of
the sacred spot which they afterwards attained. The
other circumstance mentioned in connection with the
cheruliim of Solomon is even more important. They
•■•stood upon their feet" — that is, not only was theii-
position an upright one, biit it leads us to think of a
human aud not a bestial form.
This latter particular is confii-med when we turn to
Ezekiel. The " living creatures " spoken of in the first
and tenth chapters of that prophet are undoubtedly the
cherubim, and we are expressly told of them, " This was
their appearance, they had the likeness of a man " (i. 5) ;
and again, " There appeared in the cherubims the form
of a man's hand under their wings " (x. 8) — that is, the
symbol of human agency and activity appeared under
those very parts of then- bodies by which they were
enabled to fulfil the functions here ascribed to them as
the swift messengers of the Almighty's wrath, and the
sound of whose rapid movement was heard " even to the
outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He
speaketh " (ver, 5). It is the same when we turn to
the Apocalypse; the composite faces of each of the
cherubim in Ezekiel are there resolved into the sepa-
rate elements of their composition. Of the fom* Hving
creatm-es it is said that '• the fii-st lining creature was
like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf,
and the third li^dng creature had a face as a man, aud the
fourth li\4ug creature was like a flying eagle " (iv. 7) — a
statement in which the change of expression employed
in the case of the third li^-iug creatm-e is justly regarded
as implying that the human figure was characteristic
of them all, but that it, in addition to the figure, had
also the human face. Whatever else, therefore, may
haA'e been associated with them, this much is clear, that
the human element was predominant in then- form.
The view now taken receives at least confii-mation even
from the statement of Gen. iii. 2i, "And he made to
dwell in the garden of Eden eastward cherubims
. . , . to keep the way of the tree of life," where
Biihr — whose whole dissertation upon the cherubim has
formed, and vnU probably always form, the main source
of iuformation on the point — has demonstrated in the
most conclusive manner that they were placed in Eden
for the purpose of "keeping" what had been first
entrusted to man to " keej) " (ii. 15), and that they are
not to be regarded as mere guardians of the tree of life,
but as " keepers " of the garden in which it gi*ew.* If
so, however, we are again natui-ally giuded to the
thought, not of a bestial, but of a human form.
Although, however, the human form was thus pre-
dominant in the cherubim, they were also marked by
characteristics taken from other spheres of creaturely
existence. Thus alike in the Tabernacle, in the Temple,
and in the visions of Ezekiel and St. John they had
wings. In Ezekiel and St. Jolm, again, mention is made
of their having not only the face of a man, but the faces
of a lion, an ox, and an eagle. The fii-st-named prophet,
indeed, speaks of each of them as in possession of all the
four faces (Ezek. i. 6 — 10) ; the latter apportions one
only of the four to each (Rev. iv. 7) ; while in the case
of the cherubim both of the Temple and the Tabei-nacle,
no indication is given in the text that they possessed
more than one face, in all probability the human. If,
however, this latter inference be con-ect — and we are
unable, although not satisfied of its con-ectness, to esta-
blish anything to the contrai'y — it will be necessary to
suppose that, in some way or another, the conception of
these animal faces was latent in the cherubim of the
Tabernacle, aud capable of develoj)ment. It is not an
accidental but an essential feature of their structure,
and it is hardly possible to think that, had no hint been
given of it in their original condition, it would have
been simply added either by Ezekiel or St. John. It is
otherwise with the other characteristics mentioned by
these two prophets, and not spoken cf in the Law, such
as their wheels and eyes, for the first of these seem
simply to spring from the fact that they are represented,
not in a stationary position as in the Tabernacle, but as
moving everywhere with the swiftness of lightning to
execute the Almighty's vengeance, while the latter is the
1 Bahr, Syniboli):, i., p. 351.
292
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
expression of their supernatural powers of vision for
the same purpose.
An important quo.stion relative to the cherubim has
reference to their position as regards the thi'one of God.
Are thoy, properly speaking, the bearers of that throne,
or are thoy simply near it ? From vaiious expressions
of the Old Testament it has been often inferred that
they were the former. Thus we read, '' Thou that
sittest above the cherubim, shine foi-th ; " and again,
" Jehovah is King, the people tremble ; He sitteth
throned upon the cherubim, the earth is moved " (Ps.
Ixxx. 1 ; xcix. 1). In the magnificent description of the
eighteenth Psalm it is said of the Almighty, " He rode
upon a cherub and did fly ; yea, He did fly upon the
wings of the wind " (ver. 10) ; and still more, when
Ezekiel sees the glory of God going up from the midst
of the city, he describes the movement in the words,
" Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the
wheels beside them ; and the glory of the God of Israel
was over them above " (xi. 22). This idea, however, is
inconsistent with what we find both in the books of
Moses and in the Apocalypse. In the former it is the
mercy-seat that is God's throne : " And the Lord said
unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come
not at all times into the holy place within the vail
before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark, that he
die not, for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-
seat." " And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle
of the congregation to speak with Him, then he heard
the voice of One speaking unto him from off the mercy-
seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between
the two clierubims : and He spake unto him" (Lev. xvi.
2 ; Numl). vii. 89). In conformity with this, the original
promise of God was that He would commune with
the people " from above the mercy-seat, from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testi-
mony " (Exod. XXV. 22) ; and He is again and again
spoken of as the Lord of Hosts that dwelleth between
the cherubims (1 Sam. iv. 4 ; 2 Sam. vi. 2), where the
word " between," though not exactly expressed in the
Hebrew, gives a fair representation of the sense. What
is thus set before us in the Old Testament finds con-
firmation in the New, for when St. John describes their
position it is in the words, that they are " in the midst
of the throne and round about the throne " (Rev. iv. G).
Let us look at these last words a little more particularly,
for it seems to us that they have not been thoroughly
appreciated by previous inquirers. A comparison of
Rev. iv. 4 — 6 and vii. 11 mil show that KVK\cf> expresses
not a nearer but rather a more remote relation to the
object spoken of than KVK\69ei>, and that we have to
conceive of the throne and the adoring hosts around it
as a series of concentric circles — in the centre the
throne, the first circle and nearest to the centre the
four-and-twcnty elders, the second the four li^-ing
creatures, the third the great company of angels.
What then is the meaning of " in the midst of the
throne, and round about the throne," two clauses appa-
rently contradictory of each other, especially if we are
right in affirming that "round about" hero {kvk\o>)
indicates not so much a near as a somewhat distant
proximity ? Wo believe that these words are suggested
by nothing else tlian the arrangements of the Most Holy
Place, " in the midst of the throne " by the thought of
the two cherubim standing upon the ark ; " round
about the throne " by the thought of the cherul)im
wrought into the texture of the covering which formed
the -roof and sides of the apartment. If so, any idea
that the cherubim were the suppoi'ters or bearers up
of God's throne must be at once tlismissed. They
are near it, they are round about it. He who sits upon
the throne speaks from their midst; but He is not
borne up by them, nor does He ride upon them as in
a chariot.
It seems only necessary to add, upon this part of the
subject, that the eyes of the cherubim in the Tabernacle
are directed downwards towards the mercy-seat (Exod.
XXV. 20), and that the curtain and vail which formed
the sides of the Most Holy Place were all wrought with
cherubim of cunning work (Exod. xxvi. 1).
From the stnicture and form of the cherul^im we
turn to their meaning for Israel, and, connected with
this, to their fulfilment for ourselves. On the first of
these two points very different opinions have been
entertained, which our space does not permit us to
examine. We can do little more than allude in passing
to three of these which it is necessary to set aside. It
is first of all evident that they do not represent attri-
butes of the Almighty. The argument of the Rev. Prin-
cipal Fairbairn, in his able article on the " Cherubim "
in the Imperial Dictionary of the Bible, is, it appears
to us, conclusive upon this point. They serve, they
worship, they adore. " Creaturely position and minis-
terial character " obviously belong to them. They are
certainly not emblems of the Divine. In the second
place, they are not angelic existences. The human form
is too predominant a characteristic of their structure to
permit such an idea to be entertained, and in the Reve-
lation of St. John they are clearly distinguished from
angels. In the third place, they are not an independent
order of creatures, possessing a distinct and separate
existence. Apart from all other considerations leading
to the rejection of such a \'iew, it is enough to
observe that the changes in the descriptions given in
different pai-ts of the Bible of their forms prevent the
possiljility of entertaining it. They are symbolical
figures, ideal conceptions, and have no coiTcsponduig
representatives among actual li^-ing things.
The important cjuestion then is, Wluit do they repi'e-
sent ? The human element in them is at once intelli-
gible. It can be nothing but man. But what of the
animal faces associated with it ? Do these indicate an
advance of humanity to higher powers tlian it at present
possesses, to attributes " more strikingly represented in
the inferior creation than in him who is its proper lord
and its head ; " or do they lead us to the thought of
other departments of nature brought along with man
near to the Almighty, and made partakers of man's
privileges? Notwitlistauding the weight of authority
on the other side, we must ndopt the latter idea. For,
SACRED PLACES.
293
iu the first place, there is more than these animal faces
to be aecoiint-?d for and explained. The chembim had
wings, and these ob^-iously not the wings of birds whose
added powers, if we are to take sn^h a view of the
matter, are concentrated in the eagle's face, but the
mngs of God's messenger, the wind. This characteristic
of the chembim has been strangely neglected by in-
quirers into the symbolism before ns, but it is not less
entitled to consideration than the others. We shall
return to it again. In the meantime it is enough to
say that it demands explanation, and that upon the
view we are controverting it does not obtaia it. In
the second place, when one or more parts of a composite
and ideal figiu'e have a distinct meaning of their own,
it is natural to think that this ynll be the case with all
the parts. The human face and the wings of the
cherub have such a meaning. It is at least probable
that the animal faces have an equally independent force.
In the third place, the whole analogy of the Holy of
Holies makes it necessary to suppose that, in so far as
man is here referred to, it is as redeemed, (and brought
to the highest point of spiritual development. There
is something incongmous in the idea of mixing up with
this the thought of increased powers best represented
in a part of creation so much beneath him. Lastly, we
shall have to show immediately that the qualities of the
lower animals thus fixed on, " royal majesty and fearful
strength, patient and productive industry, soai-ing energy
and angelic nimbleness of action," are not the qualities
represented by the lion, the ox, and the eagle, and that
what these animals do symbolise does not supply
suitable material for the thought of powers added to
man.
It is not, therefore, in this line of thought that we are
to find the explanation of those parts of the cherubim
wliich are additional to the human. We must adopt
rather the second alternative spoken of, and see in them
the symbols of other departments of natiu'e now asso-
ciated with man in the enjoyment of his completed
I)nvileges.
Thus the wings of the cherubim are the symbol of
the wind, a part of the material creation generally.
There does not appear to be a single passage of the
Old Testament where wings are spoken of as if they
])elonged to angels. They belong to the wind (Ps.
xviii. 10; civ. 3) ; and if we are asked why this part of
c:'eation should be selected rather than any other as the
representative of the whole, the answer wUl be found
in an aspect of the cherubim that we have yet to speak
of, and leading directly to such a choice. In the
meanwhile, it is enough to say that the wings of the
cherubim are not the wings of angels, that they carry
us to the thought of the wind, and through the wind to
the thought of all inanimate creation. Wlieu we turn
to the animal faces, there can be, of course, no doubt
that we have in them the representatives of creation iu
its animated sphere — ^the lion the monarch of the forest,
the " ox " associated with domestic life, the eagle better
fitted than any other bird to symbolise the dominion
of the air. Combining, therefore, these different con-
siderations, we see iu the composite and ideal figures
of the cherubim first of all man predominant, and then
both animate and inanimate nature connected with
liim in his admission to the Divine presence, and to
the exalted privileges of the Tabernacle's most holy
place.
The view now taken will receive confii-mation if what
we have yet to say of the meaning of these animal
faces shall be acknowledged to be correct. That
meaning, it seems to us, is to be sought in a direction
entu-ely different from that in which it is generally,
if not always, looked for — not in the nobler, but in
the fiercer and more ten-ible qualities of the animals
selected. It is probably the mention of the " ox " that
has led to what we cannot help regarding as a com-
plete misconception of the figure. The ox may indeed
well he the emblem of patient industry, but is it in the
least degree likely that the ox is the animal refen-ed
to? Could a mutilated animal have been used in such
symbolism as we have now before us (comp. Lev. xxi.
16—24) ? It is not the face of the ox but of the bull
that is employed, just as in Rev. iv. 7 it is the face of
a bull-calf ; and the bull is the emblem not of patient
industry, but of strong and fierce rage. "Because
ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of
mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at
gi-ass, and bellow as bulls." " Be not far from me, for
trouble is near ; for there is none to help. Many buUs
have compassed me ; strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round." " Rebuke the company of spearmen, the
multitude of the bulls ; . . . scatter thou the people
that delight in war" (Jer. 1. 11 ; Ps. xxii. 11, 12 ; Lxviii.
30). If this be the symbolism of the buU-face, there
will be less difficulty in allowing that that of the lion
is intended to denote not the majesty but the terror of
royalty, and to bring before us the thought of an animal
tearing liis prey, rending it to pieces, while there is none
to deliver, and roaring iu such a manner as to alarm
all who hear (Ps. vii. 2 ; xxii. 13 ; Hosea xi. 10). A
similar remark applies to the face of the eagle, for the
rapidity of the eagle's flight is spoken of in Scriptm-e
not so much as the emblem of speed alone, but to
mark the swiftness with which judgments overtake the
enemies of God. He is " the eagle that hasteth to the
prey " (Job ix. 26). The destroyer of Jerusalem shall
" come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirl-
wind ; his horses are swifter than eagles; " and in similar
strains the destroyer of Edom is described — " Behold, he
shall come up and fly as the eagle, and at that day shall
the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of
a woman in her pangs " (Jer. iv. 13 ; xlix. 22). Nor is it
othei-wise in the New Testament, for our Lord himself
quotes the saying, "Wheresoever the carc<ase is, there will
the eagles be gathered together " (Matt. xxiv. 28) ; and
when St. John in the Apocalypse hears " Woe, woe, woe
to the inliabiters of the earth by reason of the other
voices of the trumpet of the thi-ee angels which are yet
to sound," the words are from the voice of " an eagle
flying through the midst of heaven" (Rev. viii. 13,
amended reading). These then are the qualities that
29-4
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
are symbolised in the animal faces of the cherubim, not
" majesty and peerless strength," " patient labour and
productive energy," ''angelic uimbleness of action,"'
but rather qualities that strike terror into the hearts of
men, and suggest the idea of a dedtructivo force that
nothing is able to withstand.
It Avili be at once observed ho->r completely it is in
harmony with the representation now given, that wings
are attached to the cherubim as syml)ols of inanimate
creation. These wings arc " the wings of the wind,"
and it is upon them that the Almighty rides when
He comes, to judgment. " Then the earth shook and
trembled ; the foundations also of the hills moved and
were shaken, because He was wi-oth. There went up a
smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth
devoured ; coals were kindled by it. And He rode upon
a cherub, and did fly ; yea, He did fly upon the wings
of the wind " (Ps. xnii. 7, 8, 10).
The aspect under which the Almighty is presented
to us in Scripture when the cherubim are associated
Avith Him leads us to the same conclusion. They are
not then simply partakers of His favoui-. They are
instruments in the execution of His wrath. That it
is so in Ezekiel no one will dispute, and we may be
spared the proof. It is not less so in the Apocalypse.
The opening of each of the fir.st four seals, the four
which deal with judgments upon earth, is immediately
followed by a voice, " as it were the noise of thunder,''
from one of the four living creatures, saying, " Come
and see " (Rev. vi. 1, 3, 5, 7). It is one of them that
gives to the seven angels " seven golden Aials full of
the wrath of God " (Rev. xv. 7) ; and after the destruc-
tion of Babylon, when her smoke is ascending up for
ever and ever, and the voice of much people in heaven
calls for praise to Him who hath avenged the blood of
His servants at her hand, they fall down and worsliip
" God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen ; Alleluia "
(Rev. xix. 1—4).
Thus, therefore, we reach the meaning and purport
of the cherabim. They are an emblem of man asso-
ciated on the one hand with the inanimate, on the other
with animated creation, all brought into the immediate
presence of God, all placed close around His throne,
and either filling or stretching forth to fill the Holy of
Holies with their presence. They are there, sharers in
the Almighty's holiness, and of that holiness in its more
aAvful forms, as a holine.ss that cannot look npon sin
but Avith abhorrence. They are the vicegerents of His
kingdom. They are assessors by His side. Their
aspect is not that of the sweetness generally connected
by us with the word cherul), but that of stenmess, in-
dignant power, and judgment. Thus also it is that they
look downwards towards the mercy-seat. It is by what
they see there that they are restrained from executing
wrath upon the guilty. That mercy-seat, sprinkled with
the blood of atonement, tells of pai-don for th.e sinner ;
their sternness is softened, mercy rejoices over judg-
meni, and the storm- wind sinks into a calm.
'Pairbairn, Tiipolojn, i., p. 263.
We have already occupied so much space with the
subject before us that little is left for the considera-
tion of our last point, the fulfilment of the cherubim.
The key to that fulfilment is the thought of glorified
humanity; for we have already seen that the huiuan
element is predominant iu them, the others being only
associated with and subordinate to it ; while their place
is in the Holy of Holies, immediately beside the throno
of God ; and their designation, in the language of the
sacred ^\T.-iter, is " the cherubims of gloi-y " (Heb. ix. 5).
Glorified humanity, then, is what they primarily repre-
sent to us, and that in the first place iu the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. As man He has ascended to " His
Father and our Father, to His God and our God ; "
" We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, cro\vned with gloiy
and honour ;" and " the Lamb that was slain" is '"iu
the midst of the throne." But, again, the fulfilment of
the cherubim is not iu Christ alone individually and
personally. It is also in that Church of which He is
Head, iu all in which the redemption wi'ought out by
Him takes effect, in all that through Him is brought
into nearness to the High and Holy One who dwelleth
in the high and holy place. Here indeed humanity is
first. Not unto angels hath God '• put in subjection
the world to come," but unto man ; and, though we do
not yet see all things put under him, we sec Jesus, his
great Rej)resentative and Foreriumer, ah-eady set down
at the right hand of the throne of God; the " name given
Him above every name; " "angels, authorities, and powers
being made subject unto Him ; " and we know that His
Church shall in duo time share His exaltation, and
follow Him whithersoever He goetli. Man then first,
but not man alone. Along with him, there is a sense
in which Nature, in both her departments, animate and
inanimate, shall also be partaker of redemption ; for "the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope,
because the creature itself also shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the sons of God " (Rom. -vdii. 20, 21). This is the great
result spoken of l^y the Apostle when he tells us that
" it pleased the Father that in His dear Son should
all fulness dwell ; and, having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself ; by Him, whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven" (Col. i. 19, 20). It is the "new
heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteous-
ness" (2 Pet. iii. 13). It is the "eveiy creature which
is in heaven, and on the earth, and "under the earth, and
such as are in the sea, and all that ai*e in them," heard
by the Apocalyptic seer " s.aying. Blessing, and honour,
and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever " (Rev. v.
13). Tliese are all to be associated Avith man in his song
of prstise. In his elevation they shall all be elevated;
nay, with him they are elevated now. The light that
transfigures him upon the Holy Mount also transfigures
them; and the more he is glorified by faith, the more
does a glory shine to him through their apparent garb
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
295
of "vanity,'' and change, and deatli. God, in sliort, is in
the midst of His people and of tlic oartli, and man and
natiu'e alike lift np to Him their song of praise. '• They |
rest not day or night," like the living creatures, the !
cherubim by which they are symbolised, "saying. Holy, '
holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and \
is to come " (Rev. iv. 8). Finally, if we arc asked, {
Where is the element of judgment spoken of ? we i
reply, All holiness in the very necessity of the case is ;
judgment ; but, further, it is in the promise that the !
saints shall judge the world when they are '■ set down '
with Christ upon His tlu'oue, even as He is set down
with the Fatlier upon His tlirone." And thus they shall
continue to judge until all Clu-ist's enemies are made
His footstool. Then there will be no longer need for
judgment, and it will only remain for them to keep
their eyes fixed upon the mercy-seat, upon the Lamb
" as it had been sLain," and to sing "the new song " to
Him who hath redeemed them to God by His blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and hath made them unto their God kings and priests
(Rev. V. 9).
THE MINEEALS OF THE BIBLE.
BT THE REV. G. DEANE, D.SC, F.G.S., PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE, SPRING-
HILL COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
II. METALS, MINING, AND METALLURGY {contliiucd).
IRON AND STEEL.
'HE descendants of Cain are represented
in the Book of Genesis (chap, iv.) as the
great inventors and discoverers of remote
antiquity. Lamech was the father of the
first musician, and the first metal artificer; Jubal
discovered the charms of music, and Tubal-cain in-
Tented the first processes of metallurgy. It has
been suggested that the hard and dangerous life led
by the exiled Cainites forced them, as a means of
self-defence, to metal weapons, and, as a means of
subsistence, to metal tools. The reader may be re-
ferred to the veiy beautiful poem of Jubal, by George
Uniott, as giving an imaginative and yet highly pro-
bable account of the discovery of musical instruments,
and the development of the art which thus sprang
into existence. The suggestion as to the close union
between the two uses of metal is wortliy of notice,
because now, as in ancient times, the path of human
progi'ess lies not amidst luxury and personal enjoy-
ment, but often in hardness and severity of living;
or, in the words of the trite and well-worn proverb,
"Necessity is the mother of invention." Nor need
hardness and severity of life be destitute of refinement
and culture ; for whilst one brother becomes the black-
ened and begrimed metal-worker, the other lends to
bis labour the charms of music and harmony. Tubal-
cain worked in bronze and iron amidst the melodies of
Jubal's lyre.
The mention of iron so early in traditional history
has given rise to much discussion and speculation. All
archaeologists are agreed that in Europe, at all events,
the use of bronze preceded that of iron ; and there can
be little doubt that this was the case generally. Iron
docs not obtrude itself upon notice like some other
metals. Its workable ores, with some exceptions to be
named below, are dull and earthy in appearance, and
the metal is obtained from them with difficulty. In the
earlier ages, though iron might be known, the difficulty
of working it would restrict its use, and bronze would
be much more extensively employed. This must neces-
sarily be conceded. But wlien it is stated that iron
co2(,ld not have been kuo\\'n at so early an age, and that
the references to it in the early books prove that they
were produced subsequently, we must enter an emphatic
protest. The historical proof is conclusive as to the
early employment of iron ; and where history fades into
the dim tradition of the past, the probability is most
strong that iron must have l^een known, even if not
employed so extensively as bronze. The discoveries of
Mr. Layard in Assyria show that iron abounded in that
ancient empire, and that it was sent by the Assyrians
as tribute to the Egyptians {Second Discovery in
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 415). Concerning its use iu
Egypt, the absence of iron in the relics discovered was,
at first deemed conclusive that it was unknown. But
Sir J. G. Wilkinson (iii. 247) shows the fallacy of this
conclusion. He says: "In the sepulchres of Thebes
I have had occasion to remark butchers represented
I shai'pening their knives on a round bar of metal
' attached to their apron ; and the blue colour of the
1 blades, and the distinction maintained between the
i bronze and steel weapons in the tomb of Rameses III.,
I one being painted red and the other blue, leave little
j doubt that the Egyptians of an early Pharaouic age
I were acquainted with the use of iron." The absence
j of iron relies from Egypt is due probably to their
! decomposition. Mr. Layard sent some to the British
Museum from Nineveh ; but, so far as we are aware,
none have been brought from Egypt. As iron readily
rusts, and a nitrous soil such as that of Egypt would
promote the decomposition, it is easy to understand
the disappearance of iron relics.
Turning now to the dawn of early tradition, apart
from direct historical testimony or archteological proof,
there is very strong probability that iron must have
been known; though undoubtedly bronze, for reasons
already stated, was in much more general use. The
more common ores of iron, which, though so refractory
in working, have aided so much the gro-wth of civilisa-
296
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tiou, and added so much to tlio dignity and glory of
oiu' own eounti'y, are not likely to have attracted the
attention of the early dwellers on tlie earth. But there
are other ores of iron which must have been noticed.
The most prominent, perhaps, is iron pyi'ites, with its
brilliant lustre and golden aspect. This, however, could
not have been used for the production of the metal ;
it is not so used even now. Next comes the magnetic
oxide of ii'ou, or natural lodestoue, the starting-point
of all the wonderful magnetic discoveries; and the
anhydrous sesquioxide, called red hiematite or specular
iron, an ore of like composition to that now worked at
Barrow-in-Furness. Pliny's account of these is some-
what interesting. Speaking of the former, he says: " It
received its name, magnes, from the person who was the
first to discover it, upon Ida. Magnes, it is said, made
by Mr. Burton. Further, the recent Ordnance Survey
of the peninsida of Sinai (pubhshed in 1869) shows
not only that the so-called Nubian Sandstone, which is
of the Carboniferous age. contains the brown hydrated
hajmatite, which has been extensively worked at Wady
Nasb and other places, but also that the iron mountain.
Jebel Hadid, to the south of Jebel Musa, consists of
specular iron ore, aud that the same ore occurs in other
localities. Now, remembering these historical refer-
ences and proofs, we maintain that, going back to the
dawn of early tradition, there is strong j)robability that
these ores raust, by their peculiar character aud appear-
ance, have early attracted notice, and in all probability
have yielded, even to the crude methods then known,
the reduced metal.
Another consideration will render the probability of
ANCIENT KNIVES AND METAL ARMOUR, (ASSYRIAN.)
this discovery when, taking his herds to pasture, he
found that the nails of his shoes aud the ii'ou fen'ule
of his statt" adhered to the ground." He then describes
diii'ereiit kinds of magnets aud their localities, and pro-
coeds : '■ The leading distinction in magnets is the
sex, male aud female, and the next great difference in
them is the colour The kind that is found in
Troas is black, of the female sex, and consequently
destitute of attractive power." This is interesting as
referring probably to the opposite effects of north and
f^outh magnetic poles, and highly amusing in its refer-
ence to tlie magnetic attractive power of the female
i-ex, especially when of a black colour. Then, after
describing haematite as not possessing the property of
attracting iron Avhich tlie ordinary magnet has, Pliny
proceeds thus : " The Ethiopian magnet is recognised
by this peculiarity, that it has the propeiiy also of
attracting other magnets to it." [Hist. Nat. xxxvi.,
c. 25 (16).] Tlie magnetic iron ore is in this passage
di.stinctly located in Ethiopia ; and as Sir J. G. Wilkin-
son shows, at Hammami, between the Nile and the Red
Sea, a mine of specular ore or haematite was discovered
the early discovery of iron still stronger. Whilst there
is no proof of the existence of native metallic iron in
the countries bordering on the traditional centre of om-
race, there is distinct historic proof of the fall of
meteoric stones in ancieut times. Plutarch relates
circumstantially the fall of a meteorite at -^gos
Potamos, 465 B.C. [Life of Lysander) ; and, moreover,
he gives a A'ery shrewd guess as to the origin of such
stones, in words which may be i-endered thus : " Some
philosophers maintain an opinion more likely and
credible than that of Anaxagoras. They hold that
the stars which are seen to fall are not emanations or
detached parts of the elementary fire, but that they
really are some of those heavenly ])odies which, from
some lessening of the rapidity of their motion, or by
some irregidar concussion, get loosened and fall ; not so
much upon places that are inhabited as into the ocean,
which is the reason why tliej^ are so seldom seen."
Pliny (ii. 58) refers to this stone, and says that it was
still to bo seen in his time. Tlie fall is also recorded
in the chronicle of the Arundelian or Parian Marbles,
and Diogenes of A.pollonia speaks of " the stony star
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
297
which fell burning at ^gos Potamos." Besides this,
which is perhaps the most authentic account of any
meteoric fall in ancient times, there are other allusions to
such metallic stones, dating back as far as the fifteenth
century B.C. (e.g. Herodotus, iv. 5 and 7, and others).
And making all allowance for the superstitions of early
times, there can be little doubt, in the light of modern
scientific knowledge, that these records are substantially
correct, and that meteoric masses have at various times
fallen on the earth. During tlie present century such
stones have been observed to fall, and have been analysed
by competent chemists.
In the British Museum, and iu the museums of
Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and other places, are numerous
specimens of such meteorites from different parts of
the world. Analysis shows that many of these masses
whose stones are iron." Some distinguished modem
geologists, notably Professor Ramsay, maintain that
these iron meteorites are not of exti-a-terrestrial oriTiu,
but that they are masses of native iron brought to the
STirface of the earth from its interior by eruptive a'oI-
canic agencies. On November 8th, 1871, a letter from
the Britisli Embassy at Copenhagen, transmitted by
Earl Granville, our then Foreign Minister, to the
Geological Society of London, was read and discussed
at its ordinaiy meeting. This letter concerned a
number of masses of meteoric iron which had recently
been found in Greenland, tlie largest of which weighed
no less than twenty-five tons. Cliemical analysis
showed that the proportion of iron was very great
indeed. On December 20th, iu the same year, the
subject was resumed in a paper by Professor Norden-
ANCIENT CHARIOT. (ASSYRIAN j
consist of metallic iron iu combination with very small
quantities of nickel and cobalt. Wherever in ancient
times such stones occurred, they must liave attracted
attention, and there can be little doubt that the metal
was speedily utilised for weapons and tools. The
Esquimaux now make knives from meteoric iron. The
metal would necessarily be rare in the infancy of metal-
Im-gy, and the superior facilities of bronze would for a
lengthened time overshadow it, until the metal-workers
were able to obtain it from its more common ores.
But, in \'iew of the facts and testimonies aboA^e-men-
tioned, we see no reason whatever for doubting that
very early in the liistory of our race iron was known ;
thougli for a considerable period the comparative
rarity of its ricliest ores, and the difficulty of working
them, kept it subordinate in general use to copper and
bronze.
"We must venture, at the risk of seeming tedious, to
pursue this subject a little further. The facts stated
are no mere fables. They are some of the " fairy tales
of science ; " and^ they throw a flood of light on the
description of Palestine in Dent. viii. 9, as "a land
skiold of Stockholm, who gave reasons for the meteoric
origin of these enormous masses. The discussion was
continued in the Comptes Rendus de VAcadihnie des
Sciences (tomes Ixxiv. and Ixxv.) and other foreign
imblications. The Swedish metallurgists maintained
the extra-terrestrial origin of these metallic stones, and
this view was supported by M. Wohlcr [Nachr. K'On.
Gesellch. Gottingen, May 11th, 1872), whilst the
opinion was freely expressed iu England and France
tliat they might be of eruptive origin. The distin-
guished Freucli metallurgist, M. Daul^rce, than whom
no man perhaps is better able to give a competent
opinion, after a most careful examination of specimens,
and a most candid investigation of reasons pro and con.,
came to the conclusion that, though in many resi^ects
these stones resemble those which can definitely be
traced to meteoric falls which have taken place during
the present century, yet they are most probably erup-
tive, and seem to elucidate the nature of the deeper-
seated parts of our globe. (See Qnar. Jour. Geoh Soc,
cix., pp. 1 and 44 ; cxii. Appendix, pp. 6, 7.)
Now let us look at the statement of Dent, viii. 9, in
29S
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the liglit of these facts and disciissious. Palestine was
"a laud whose stones are iron." Winer and others
liave understood this to mean basalt. Otliei-s, again,
have explained it as a mei-ely poetical figure. Rus-
segger, Burckhardt. Seetseu, and Ritter have shown
that strata containing iron occur in that district. Tlic
limestone of Palestine belongs to the Jurassic or Oolitic
formation, which yields hydrous iron oxide in the Cleve-
land district of Yorkshh-e, in Northamptonshire, and in
some i^arts of Europe. But the traces of iron opera-
tions of this kind in Palestine are exceedingly unim-
portiint, and would by no means justify the expression
■" whose stones are iron." '
It is clear from Josh. xvii. 16; Judg. i. 19; iv. 3,
13, that at the time of the Israelite invasion Canaan
abounded in iron. Wlicucc came this iron? If in
Greenland it can be shown that the basalts of that
district include masses of metallic substance containing
ninety per cent, of pure iron, it is not incredible that the
basaltic rocks which abound in some parts of Palestine
may likewise have contained, in early times, masses of
metallic iron, which the ancient metal-workei's used for
their A^arious purposes. Both east and west of the
gorge of the Jordan, and the Dead Sea and Lake of
Tiberias, are signs of veiy pecidiar volcanic actiA-ity in
past ages ; and the basalts there may, as in Greenland,
have been associated with metallic iron. The hypothesis
of Professor Ramsay and M. Daiibree, if true, fully
explains the references to iron in connection \vith the
early histoi-y of Canaan. And this explanation, per-
haps, is rendered the more probable from the fact that
the territories of Og, king of Bashau, who had a huge
bedstead of iron (Dent. iii. 11), consisted in very great
part of basaltic rock. Even if the hypothesis in ques-
tion should be exploded by further discovery and
research, it is not by any means improbable that the
iron of Canaan in remote times was derived from
meteoric stones; and this would justify the exj^ression
that it was "a land whose stones were iron."
In later times (Ezek. xxvii. 19) the market of Tyre
is represented as being supplied with bright iron by the
merchants of Dan and Javan. This statement is most
suggestive, because it indicates that the original source
of supply in Palestine itself had failed. In the times
of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges, there is distinct
evidence of abundance of iron, so much so that Moses
describes the land as one whose stones are iron. If
this iron were derived, as we have suggested, either
from occasional and isolated masses of native iron in
the basaltic rock of the volcanic districts, or from
meteoric stones, the supply would necessarily be soon
exhausted ; and wc should naturally expect to find
centuries later that iron was imported from a distance.
But if, on the other hand, the iron of Canaan in early
times were obtained from the smelting of the iron ores
of Lebanon, Moab, and other districts, wo should find
1 Josephns (Bell. Jiid. iv. 8, §2) mentions an iron mountain iu
Northern Gilend, txud there are traces of aucient workings in tliis
and other districts.
that the supply, instead of diminishing, would largely
increase as the arts of metallurgy were improved ; and
that Palestine and Tyre would be much more likely to
be exporters than importers of that metal. Add to
this, that there are but very few and unimportant
indications of cither iron-mining or iron-smelting in
Palestine, and it must be admitted that all the facts
seem to point conclusively to the hypothesis above
suggested.
Iron was used for tools of various kinds (Deut. xix.
5 ; xxvii. 5 ; 1 Kings Ai. 7 ; 2 Kings vi. 5, 6 ; Isa. x.
34 ; 2 Sam. xii. 31 ; 1 Ckron. xx. 3) ; for weapons and
Implements both for war and for hunting (Job xli. 7 ;
xs, 24; 1 Sam. x\ai. 7; 2 Sam. xxiii. 7); for war
chariots (Josh. x™. 16, 18; Judg. i. 19; iv. 3, 13);
for nails and fastenings of the Temple [1 Chron. xxii.
3 ; Josephus, Ant. xv. 11, § 3) ; for bars and fetters
(Ps. cv. 18 ; cvii. 16 ; Isa. xlv. 2) ; and for a variety of
similar uses. King Og's gigantic bedstead has ali-eady
been mentioned ; and in the New Testament we find an
iron gate (Acts xii. 10), a surgical implement (1 Tinu
iv. 2), and iron breastplates (Rev. ix. 9\ Tlie word
also occurs in a variety of metaphorical meanings, im-
plying hard bondage (Deixt. iv. 20; xx.viii. 48; 1 Kings
viii. 51); severity of government (Ps. ii. 9); fortitude
and strength (Job xl. 18; Jer. i. 18; Dan. ii. 33);
destructive power and cruel oppression (Dan. vii. 7 ;
Amos i. 3) ; and many others.
The word steel occurs in our English version in four
places (2 Sam. xxii. 35 ; Job xx. 24 ; Ps. xriii. 34 ; Jer.
XV. 12) as the rendering of Hebrew words which in
all other passages xmquestionably mean " bronze " or
" copper." It is veiy doubtful whether the ancient
nations were acquainted either Avith cast-iron or with
steel. These, as is well kuoAvn, differ from wrought or
malleable iron in having a proportion of carbon in com-
bination, which renders them more fusible and harder.
Cast-iron has the most carbon ; but steel, from its pecu-
liar qualities of hardness and elasticity, according to
the tempering, is the most useful in matters of cutlery
and so forth. The question as relating to cast-iron is
purely specidativc, and does not affect any passages of
Scripture. But as regards steel there are two jjassages
which must be noticed. Jeremiah xv. 12 reads, " Shall
iron [barzeT] break [or crush] iron from the north and
copper [or bronze].^" Here manifestly " iron fi'om the
north" and bronze or copper are rejjresented as having
greater tenacity or hardness than ordinary iron. Ac-
cording to Pliny {Hist. Nat. xxxiv., c. 41), iron was
hardened by being plunged red-hot into water ; and he
mentions different kmds of iron of varying excellence,
according to the quality of the water in which it had
been tempered. The excellence of the iron depended, of
course, not upon the quality of the water, but upon tho
quality of tho ore, and the method of nianufactmt).
But there can be no doubt that some districts produced
iron of a very superior quality to that of others. One
of these favoured districts was near the southern shores
of the Black Sea, where a people called the Chalybes
dwelt (Canon Rawlinsou's Herodotus, vol. i., p. 323).
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
299
Beckmaim {Hist. Inv. ii., p. 327 ; Bohn) shows that the
method employed by these, as described by Aristotle,
resulted iu the mauiifacture of a steel similar to that
ijrepared in modern times by the method of fusion.
As this district lay to the north of Palestine, it is
most probable that the " northern iron " of Jer. xv. 12
is this steel of tlie Chalybes. This and the neighbour-
ing districts retained their celebrity for a lengthened
period, and tlu'oughout tlie Middle Ages the steel of
Damascus had a wide repixtatiou.
In JSTahum ii. 3 occurs a word {ijolddh) which in
both Arabic and Syriac means " steel," but in our
English version is translated " torches." Michaelis,
Ewald, Henderson, and othei's have suggested that
the reference hei-e is to the addition of sharp scythes
to the wheels of war-chariots, so that as the wheels
revolved the scythes would prove formidable weapons of
destruction. Delitzsch, however, suggests that sucli
chariots were first introduced by Cyi'us, and were un-
known to the Medes, the Syrians, the Arabians, and the
EgjT^tians ;^ and he explains the term as referring to the
steel cov^ering of the Assyrian chariots, which are repre-
sented on the monuments as adorned with ornaments
of metal. (See Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, ii.,
p. 318.)
LEAD.
This metal, most ^videly used uow-a-days, does not
appear to have been extensively employed in olden
times. It was found in the rocks of the Sinai desert,
■was known iii Egyjjt, and common in Palestine. The
first Biblical reference to it is iu Exod. xv. 10, where
it is said that the Egyptians " sank like lead " in the
sea. It is named amongst the spoils of the Midianites
(Numb. xxxi. 22), and amongst the merchandise of
Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 12). It was used for weights and
plummets (Zech. v. 7 ; Amos vii. 7, 8 ; Acts xxvii. 28).
Tliei-e is no evidence iu ancient times of the use of
lead for the multitude of household and architectural
purposes which now render it so useful a metal. There
are, however, indications of three uses to which it is still
put. It was employed for purifying silver ; and to this
we shall return below in treating of metallurgy. Solder
also appears to have been known and used. Pliny makes
distinct reference to the use of lead for this purpose.
He says: " Pieces of black lead [i.e., our lead] cannot be
soldered without the intei-vention of white lead [i.e.,
our tin], nor can this be done without employing oil ;
nor can white lead, on tlie other hand, be united without
the aid of black lead " {Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 47). This
passage renders it clear that, in Pliny's time as
now, a mixture of lead and tin was employed for
soldering. There is e\adence also, from the earthenware
of Nineveh and Egyj^t, that oxide of lead was employed
for glazing, probably after a similar method to that of
modem days.
In Job xix. 23, 24, a wish is expressed that Avords
might be "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock
1 Xenophon {Cijropa-dia, vi. 1, 27, 30) states that Cyrus, intro-
duced these soythe-chariots.
for ever." Some have regarded this as implying the
use of an iron style on a leaden tablet. Both Pliny
and Pausanias refer to this method of engraving or
writing (Pans., bk. ix., c. 31; Pliny, Hist. Nat. xiii.,
c. 11). But it is more in accordance with the passao-e
to suppose that the letters were cut in rock, and the
cavities so cut were t!ien filled up with molten lead.
The English translator of " RoseumiiUer's Mineralogy
of the Bible " {Bib. Cab., vol. xx\-ii., p. 64), paraphras'es
the passage thus : " May the pen be of iron, and the ink
of lead, with which they arc written on an everlasting
rock." ^
MINING AND METALLURGY.
We have already noticed incidentally several matters
connected with these subjects; but there are some
things which, in consequence of their intrinsic import-
ance or of special mention in the Bi):)le, demand a few
words more of separate treatment.
The first of these is the wonderfully graphic account
given in Job xxviii. of ancient mining operations. The
late Sir R.. Murcliison, referring to this passage, con-
trasts the facts that gold occurs generally in allu\nal
gravels, and that where it occurs in veins those veins
are for the most part thicker at the surface than at
greater depths, with the fact that silver, and especially
silver-bearing lead ore, occur for the most part in veins
which increase and expand as they go deeper. On this
contrast he bases the observation that the yield of gold
is not likely to increase more than that of silver ; and,
therefore, there is no fear that gold may be greatly
depreciated in value relatively to silver. And he con-
cludes, " as a geologist, that Providence seems to have
adjusted the relative value of these two precious metals
for the use of man; and that their relations, having
remained the same for ages, will long survive aU
theories. Modem science, in short, instead of con-
tradicting, only confirms the truth of the aphorism
of the patriarch Job, which thus shadowed forth the
downward persistence of the one and the superficial
distribution of the other : ' Surely there is a vein for
the silver, .... the earth hath dust of gold ' " {Siluria,
p. 475). These remarks of our distinguished geologist
are interesting and ingenious, but they import into
the Hebi-ew text a meaning which it does not naturally
and grammatically contain. The facts concerning the
distribution and relative cpiantities of silver and gold
are doubtless as Sir Roderick puts them; but many
would hesitate to adopt the form of teleological argu-
ment which he bases upon them. Moreover, the
" aphorism of the patriarch Job " does not exist in
the form in which it is given. The " gold which they
fine " is clearly to be distinguished from alluvial gold,
and is represented, equally with the silver, as being
mined for. The Hebrew words grammatically must
mean either that the saj)phire has dus-^ of gold {i.e.,
golden dust, referring poetically to the crystalline
particles of iron pyrites which, as we have seen, ai*e
interspersed throughout lapis lazuli, the ancient sap-
phire) ; or, more probably, that the place or matrix of
the sapphire contained spangles, or nuggets, or dust
300
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of gold, which had to bo refined by crnshing and sepa-
ration from the rock in which it was enveloped.
Wliilst Ave gladly welcome this testimony of a highly
distinguished man of science to his belief in an over-
ruling and far-seeing "Providence," we cannot help
the feeling that Science renders Theology a questionable
benefit when she bases a doubtful theory iipon a forced
exegesis, and impairs the power of a grand argument
by presenting it in an incongruoiis form.
The passage in tlie Book of Job is a striking descrip-
tion of mining operations in olden times. " Surely
there is a source for the silver, and a place for the gold
which they fine. Iron is taken out of tlie earth, and he
[i.e., the miner or woi-kman] poiireth forth stone as
copper. He liath made an end of dai-kness, and he
searcheth to every extremity [i.e., to great depths and
with diligent care] for the stone of darkness and of the
.shadow of death. He breaketh through a shaft away
from those who tarry above ; there, forgotten of every
foot, they hang and swing far from men. The earth —
from it cometh forth bread, and beneath it is upturned
like fire : its stones are the place of the sapphire, wliich
also hath dust of gold. A way that no bird of prey
knoweth, and the eye of the hawk hath not seen it;
which the proud beasts of i^rey have not trodden, nor
tlie lion passed along. He layeth his hand upon the
stone, he turneth up mountains from the root. He
cutteth channels in the rocks, and his eye seeth all rare
things. He bindeth fast the rivers that they leak not,
and that which is hidden he bringeth to light" (Job
xxviii. 1 — 11).
There are, as we have already seen, traces of ancient
mining in Egypt, in the desert of Sinai, in Palestine,
and the adjoining lands ; and this poetic description
must be held as ajiplying to some of these operations.
The writer sketches the vast labour and dangerous
enterprise which men will undertake in order to win
from the earth its treasures ; and then passes on to the
qxiestion, " Where shall wisdom be found, and where is
the place of understanding?" Tliese shall baffle the
.skill of the miner, and are moi-o difficult of attainment
than the precious treasures of the earth. For " the
fear of the Lord that is wisdom ; and to depart from
evil is understanding " (verses 12, 28).
This passage, which is not exempt from serious diffi-
culties of accurate translation, is nevertheless clearly a
description of ancient mining. The treasures of the
earth — gold, silver, iron, and copper — are sought by
men in darkness and with labour. Tlie miner's enter-
pri.se sinks the shaft, and they who dig hang suspended
far from the dwellers on the surface. Tlie corn-fields
of the earth are overwhelmed, because the parts beneath
are upturned as by fire. The miner's path is unseen
by the hawk's keen eye, unknown to the beasts of prey.
Man hews his way through every obstacle, dams back
tlie streams that thi-eaten to drown his labour, and brings
triumphantly to the surface the precious treasures of
the earth.
It may be well here briefly to summarise what is
tnown concerning the mines of Biblical antiquity.
Clearly gold, silver, and tin were brought to the lands
of the Bible mainly by commerce; though there are
traces or records of gold-Avorkiiig in Egypt, and of
both gold and silver m Arabia and Edom. Copper and
iron were both native product* of Palestine, and were
worked also in the island of Meroe, at the mouth of the
Nile, and in the peninsula of Sinai. The island of
Cyprus is also mentioned as a source of copper ; and
there is every probability that both iron and copper
were worked in other districts likewise, though there is
no distinct and explicit proof. The allusion of Jeremiah
to the " northern iron " of the Chalybes has been ex-
plained above. There were lead mines in Egypt, near
the coast of the Red Sea, and also near Sinai ; and it is
not improbable that these lead mines may have yielded
small quantities of silver also.
Diodorus Siculus (iii. 11, &c.) gives a minute descrip-
tion of the method of mining and refining gold. Shafts
were sunk into what Diodorus calls veins of marble of
excessive whiteness (evidently quartz rock), from which
day and night relays of convicts extracted the aiu'iferous
quartz. This was then broken up with picks and
chisels, and further reduced by iron pestles in stone
mortars to small fi'ag^ents. Then it was gi-ound
to powder, spread upon a broad inclined table, and
washed with water and fine sponges, until the gold
beciime pure from earthy matter. Finally, it was put
Avith a little lead, tin, salt, and bran, into earthen
crucibles closed with clay, and subjected for five days
and nights to the fire of a furnace. From this descrip-
tion (of which a full translation may be read in Sir J.
G. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii., p. 2-31, seq.), it
may be seen that gold mining in these ancient times did
not radically difEer from that of one hundred years ago.
Concerning the arts of metallurgy in ancient times,
we are left in much ignorance. These arts must have
existed in considerable excellence amongst the Egyptians
and Assyrians ; and the accounts given in the Bible of
the buildings of David and Solomon show that the
Israelites, and especially the Phoenicians, were accom-
plished metal-woi'kers. Situated between the great
ancient empires of the East and West, Palestine was
alternately the prey of each ; and the carrying away of
metal-workers into captivity shows the esteem in which
they were then held. (See 1 Sam. xiii. 19; 2 Kings
xxiv. 14, 1.5 ; Jer. xxiv. 1 ; xxix. 2.) The Book of Eccle-
siasticus (chap, xxxviii. 27, 28), in the Apocrypha, gives
an account of a smith's workshoj) which those who are
used to the factories of Birmingham or Yorkshire
will fully appreciate. " So every caii^enter and work-
master, that laboureth night and day : and they that cut
and grave seals, and are diligent to make great variety,
and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and watch
to finish a work : the smith also sitting by the anvil,
and considering the iron work, the vapour of the fire
wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth with the heat of the
furnace ; the noise of the hammer and the anvil is ever
in his ears, and his eyes look still upon the pattern of
the thing that he maketh ; he settcth his mind to finish
his work, and watcheth to polish it perfectly."
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
301
In the Bible are references to casting (Exod. xxv.
12; xxvi. 37; 2 Chron. iv. 17; Isa. xl. 19); solder-
ing and welding (Isa. xli. 7) ; hammering into sheets
(Numb. \y\. 38 ; Isa. xliv. 12 ; Jer. x. 4, 9) ; gilding and
overlaying with metal (Exod. xxv. 11 — 24; xxvi. 37;
1 Kings vi. 20 ; 2 Chron. iii. 5 ; Isa. xl. 19 ; Zech. xiii.
9). But, perhaps, the most interesting of all such allu-
sions are those to the melting, and separation, and re-
fining of metals (Ps. xii. 6 ; Prov. xvii. 3, &c. ; Isa. i.
25 ; Jer. vi. 29 ; Ezek. xxii. 18—20). Malachi (iii. 2,
3) makes use of a striking metaphor derived from the
metallurgy of silver. Before the discovery of quick-
silver, lead was used for the purification of the precious
metals. How far the ancients were acquainted with
what is now known as " Pattinson's method" of obtain-
ing silver from argentiferous lead ore is uncertain ; but
Pliny apparently hints at something of the kind in
these words — " When submitted to the action of fire,
part of the ore precipitates itself in the form of lead,
while the silver is left floating on the surface." \_Hist.
Nat. xxxiii. 31 (6).]
Clearly, however, the passage from Malachi above-
named refers to the process of " cupeUation." " He
[the Messiah] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver ; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness." This passage
derives an additional beauty from the phenomena
which occur in this method of purifying silver. "A
very beautiful phenomenon, known as the fulguratiou
of the metal, attends the removal of the last portions of
lead from the silver. During the earlier stages of the
process the film of oxide of lead, which is constantly
forming over the surface of the melted mass, is renewed
as rapidly as it is removed; but when the lead has
all been oxidised, the film of litharge upon the silver
becomes thinner and thinner as it flows off ; it then
exhibits a succession of the beautiful iridescent tints
of Newton's rings ; and at length the film of oxide sud-
denly disappears, and reveals the brilliant surface of
the metallic silver beneath " (Miller's Chemistry, pt. ii.,
p. 741). The brilliant tints of the film of oxide in its
later stages, and the sudden flashing forth of the metal
in its full pure glory, form a stiiking illustration of the
offering of righteousness which the refining and purify-
ing influence of the Christian faith produces.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
BY THE KEV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
INTRODUCTION TO ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.
II. FIKST EPISTLE TO THE THES3AL0NIANS.
^HE town of Thermae (a name similar in
meaning to our Bath or Hotwells), situated
on the north-eastern angle of the gulf
to which it gives its name,^ was a place
01 note in early Grecian times.- Its chief importance,
however, dates from the era of Macedonian supremacy ;
Cassander, general of Alexander the Great, no doubt
from regard to the commercial capabilities of the place,
having made it into a stately city, and re-named it after
his own wife, Alexander's sister, Thessalonica. It
soon became a great centre of traffic, both by land and
sea, and on the Roman occupation of Macedonia was
selected as the metropolis of the second of the four
divisions of the province (B.C. 168). Though shorn o£
its former glories, it is still one of the chief cities of the
Turkish empire, with a population of about 60,000 in-
habitants, and retains its name in the abbreviated form
of Saloniki.
I. The honour of being the cradle of European
Christianity may fairly be shared between Philippi and
Thessalonica. In the former city the Gospel was first
preached ; in the latter, as it would appear, the first
organised church was constituted. The Apostle, in the
course of his second great missionary journey, had
been simimoned to Europe by the vision of one who
' Sinus Tliermaicus. The town was also called Halia and
Emathia.
- Herodotus vii. 128; Tliucydides i. 61.
said, " Come over into Macedonia and help us." » Sil-
vanus (or Silas), Timothy, and the Evangelist Lukc,^
were among his travelling companions. The outbreak
of popular fury which led to St. Paul's departure from
Philippi is to be noted as the first recorded instance
of purely Oentile opposition to the Gospel. Between
Philippi and Thessalonica, a distance of between eighty
and ninety miles, there seems to have Ijeen no pause.
The Apostle would naturally make for the latter city,
on account both of its importance and of the multitude
of Jews who resided there.* To these, according to
his wont, he first appealed, and then, on their reject-
ing the evangelic message, as before at the Pisidian
Antioch, and afterwards at Corinth, he " turned to the
GentUes."«
II. It is remarkable that the history in the " Acts "
3 Acts xvi. 9. The preliminaries of the vision were equally
strikiuw. See verses 6, 7 for a description of the way in which
the missionaries were hurried hy Divine impulse past large and
inviting fields of labour in Asia Minor, " down to Troas," in the
vei-y corner of the land ; nothing left before them but the watei'S
of the Mediterranean. Then came the call to another continent
and race.
4 The li-e of Luke begins (Acts xvi. 10) as though the Evangelist
had joined the apostolic company at Troas. He appears to have
been left behind in Philippi (the third person being resumed, chap,
xvii. 1), at which place he rejoins the Apostle (chap. xs. 6).
5 " The synagogue " of the district was at Thessalonica. See
Bible Educator, Vol. II., p. 271. It should, however, be added
that the definite article is by most modern editors omitted from
the received text cf Acts xvii. 1.
6 Acts xiii. 46; xviii. 6.
30-:
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
coutaius little or no recurtl' of St. PjiuI's labours among'
the Goutile population of Thossalonica. We read only
of tbree Avceks' preaching- in the synagogue, followed
by the conversion of many Jews, "devout Greeks," and
"cliief Avomen." Upon this the «nl)elicviug' Jews — en-
listing (as we should say) the '" roughs" of Thessalonica
— created a riot which led to the departure of Paul and
Silas by night.
It is evident, however, from the Epistle, that the
Apostle's work in the city was both more extensive
and of longer duration than the history of itself would
intimate^ For (1) the bulk of the Thessaloniau church
consisted of converts from idolatry. " Ye tm-ued to
God /ro))i idols, to serve the living and true God."-
This not only points to labours outside the synagogue,
but shows that the chief and most lasting successes of
the Apostle in Thessalonica were thus achieved. (2)
There was already an organised Chi-istian commimity
when St. Paul wx-ote the Epistle, " Know them . . .
which are over you in the Lord,''^ the general — almost
technical — term for the appointed presidents or rulers
of the Church. It was customary with the Apostles to
appoint these on a second visit, where they had at first
iweached the Gospel.^ If, as the reference seems to
show, the ordination was effected during this first resi-
dence of Paul in Thessalonica, his stay must have been
much longer than three weeks. (3) The Apostle gives
a detailed description of his life in the city, which can
scarcely be supposed to apply to so brief a sojourn.
It is indeed impossible to read the account in 1 Thess.
ii. 5-12 — especially verse 5, "Neither at any time
used we flattering words ; " verse 9, " Labouring night
and day ; " verse II, " We exhorted and comforted
and charged every one of you "— ^vithout feeling that
the history, not of weeks, but of months, is before us.
(4) The same conclusion is strikingly corroborated by
a casual reference in the Epistle to the Philii^pians,*
"Even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto
my necessity." The Christians of Philii^pi must then
have heard of the straits of the Apostle in the great
city eighty miles away, of his determination not to be
indebted for support to those among whom he was
labouring; must accordingly have sent him supplies,
and, after an interval, must have repeated the kindness.
The " three Sabbath days " of the Acts, it is clear, do
not furnish space for all this. Nor need we hesitate
to accept the inevitable conclusion, especially when we
remember (a) that Sfc. Luke has necessarily omitted
many things in the Apostle's history, (t) that nothing
in tlie naiTativo forbids the interposition of a consider^
able space between the three weeks' ministry in the
The only indication of a ministry among the Gentiles is found
ma varied readiu^ of Acts xvii. -l, which Lachmauu prefers and
I'lschendorf admits into the margin, "of the devout, and of the
Greeks a great multitude."
- 1 Thess. i. 9.
•' 1 Thess. V. 12 ; npoicnafitvovr.
■* Acts xiv. 21—23.
* Phil. iv. 15, 16. The words, " in the becinuing of the Gospel,"
plainly show that St. Paul is here speakiu<r of this visit, when the
Gospel was first proar.he.l in Macedonia, .and not of any subsequent
one, as has been sometimes supposed.
synagogue and the assault upon the house of Jason ;
and (c) that the " turning to the Gentiles " was so habi-
tual with the Apostle, that the history of his work in
any city would be almost incomplete without it.
III. The interests of tliis church, so gathered, were
naturally very near to the A^iostle's heart. He longed
to remain with them, to carry on the work so happily
begun. The sudden and painful departure, compelled
by the violence of liis enemies, was to him an exquisite
trial. He comforted himself that it was " but for
a season " — a brief hour's space.'' Wlien he had
reached Bercea — the next stage of his journey — and
even after he had arrived in Athens, his longing was
still to return to Thessalonica. " Once and again "
would Paul have come to them, "but Satan hin-
dered." ' The utmost that he could do was to send
Timothy to convey his affectionate messages, and to
I'eport to him concerning the state of the church. In
the history we read that when St. Paul left Bercea by
sea for Athens, he left dii-ections for " Silas and
Timothy to follow him with all speed ; " and, further,
that the Apostle "waited for" these two brethren " at
Athens." We do not, however, read of their having
rejoined him in that city, it having been at Corinth
that " Silas and Timothy came " to Paul " from Mace-
donia." Are we then to conclude that they had dis-
regarded his injunction to follow him "with all speed?"
The Epistle answers the question. " We thought it
good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timothy "
back to Thessalonica, either as soon as he had i-ejoiued
the Apostle according to the dii-ection, or by counter-
manding that direction while he was yet on the way^
and requesting him to go back to Thessalonica instead
of coming on to Athens. Either explanation consists
with the Apostle's words, although the former seems
the more natui-al.'^ With little hesitation, then, wo
adopt the supposition that Timothy came to Paul at
Athens, and that the Apostle, finding it impossible, as
he wished, to retrace liis own way to Thessalonica, sent
his younger companion to rejiresent him. Silas, for
some reason, still remained in Bei'cea, the consequence
being that Paul was for a time in Athens alone. After
visiting Thessalonica, Timothy rejoined Silas, and both
together proceeded to Corhith, whither Paul had by
this time made his way.
IV. The mission of Timothy, as appears from the
Epistle, was twofold. The newly-formed Tliessalouian
'' 1 Thess. ii. 17, wpo? Kmpov iVipat.
" Cliaf(. ii. 18 : observe the emphasis, " I Paul," as much as to
s.iy, " I did send Timothy, as it was, but was most anxious to
come myself." On the nature of the hindrance by " Satan,"
whether persecution, bodily infirmity, or want of opportunity, it
is unnecessary to speculate. (See Bible Educatoh, Vol. II., p. 298.)
The Apostle seems to have been unable to carry ouMiis cherished
purpose of re-visiting the Thessaloiiians until his last journey to
Jerusalem (Acts xx. 1, 4). Aristarchus is there prominently
mentioned as a Thessaloniau (apparently of standing in the church,
xix. 29 ; xxvii. 2 ; Col. iv. 10). It is interesting to have the name
of but one who may have bad the happiness of receiving St. Paul's
first Epistle. Whether Demas was of Thessalonica, we cannot
tell. When he deserted the Apostle for love of the world, he went
thither (2 Tim. iv. 10), probably to trade.
8 Compare Acts xvii. 1-t, 15; xviii. 5; 1 Thess. iii. 1,2; and
Paley's Horce PaulincB, on the last-mentioned passage.
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIAXS.
303
church had been abeady attacked by x^ersecutiou, iu
Avhich, though Jews may still have beeu the iustigators,
the heatheu population of the city were the chief instru-
ments.' Anxious lest the constancy of the church
should fail, the Apostle commissioned Timothy to
"establish" and "comfort them," bidding him also
to inquire into theii- spiritual state, and to briug word
concerning then* "faith." The tidings, reaching St.
Paul at Corinth, filled hiin with grateful joy. Dimly
but expressively the history speaks of the excitement
which at the time possessed the Apostle's mind. " He
was pi-essed, or urged by the word."- At this time,
and in this mood of mind, there can be no reasonable
doubt, he dictated this Fu-st Ej)istle.
On a point so little disputed as the genuineness of
this Epistle, little need here be said.^ The arguments
to the contrary which have been di'awn from internal
dilficidties, and especially from supposed discrepancy
vrith. the history, have already been answered by antici-
pation in the present paper. Somewhat singularly,
Grotius regards the commonly received Second Epistle
as having been really the First, Ewald and Davidson,
in more modern times, holding the same opinion. The
very inconclusive grounds alleged for this view will be
briefly examined in the introduction to the Second
Epistle.
V. The order of topics in the letter, so far as an
arrangement can be traced amid the freedom of the
epistolary style, may be set down as follows : —
1. After the introductory greeting, iu which Silas
and Timothy are joined with St. Paid, the Apostle
congratulates the Thessalonians on the fii-muess with
which they had received the faith, and the conspicuous
excellence of their piety (chap. i.). If the statement in
verses 7, 8, that their faith was " spread abroad in every
place," seems at all inconsistent with the recent date of
their conversion, the central position of Thessalonica
should be remembered. Merchants and travellers were
daily passing through the city. Every ship which
sailed down the Thermaic gulf woidd carry some
tidings of the new doctrine, the moral transformation.'*
Converts travelling from place to place would them-
selves become missionaries. Commerce would thus
become the handmaid of the faith.
2. The Apostle next dwells on his own miuistiy in
Tliessalonica — its spirit and course. Reading here
" between the lines," we are tempted to ask. Was there
any spirit of insubordination, any germ of disaffection,
as af terwai-ds in Corinth ? Great earnestness in the
faith is sometimes assailed by the temptation to a false
' Compare chap. ii. 14, " your own countrymen," with iii. 2 — 5.
- Actsxviii. 5, where the received text has, "pressed in the spirit;''
the chief MSS. and editors reading " tii (or by) the v:ord." It was
a crisis in St. Paul's labours at Corinth, marked not only by the
earnestness of his ministry, but by his decision to turn to the
Gentiles. Some have suggested that "the word'' iu this text
may refer to the intelligence brought from Thessalonica.
3 The reader who may wish to pursue this topic, with the view
of meeting all possible objections, is referred to Professor Jowett's
subtle and exhaustive essay, Thessalonians, &c., vol.i., p. 18.
■* See further, Bible Educator, Vol. II., p. 271, on " the Local
Colouring of St. Paul's Epistles."
independence. The A])ostle with a noble ingenuous-
ness describes his work, in its feai'lessuess (ii. 1, 2), its
pure trustfulness (vv. 3 — 5), its self-sacrificing affec-
tiouateness [w. 6 — 8), shown in imcomplaiuing toil
for needful subsistence (ver. 9), and unceasing effort
for the spiritual good of every indi^'idual {xv. 10 — 12).
The whole paragraph presents a portrait, perhaps im-
equalled in the same compass, of a true-hearted, devoted
ministry. To the end of the third chapter the same
toj)ic of St. Paul's personal relation to the church is
continued, his earnest desire to re\"isit them being
especially prominent. It is difficult to resist the con-
clusion tliat some in Thessalonica had misinterjireted
the Apostle's failure to retm-n to them, as he had
evidently intended to do when he left the city.
3. The remainder of the letter is occupied by such
practical topics as the report of Timothy concerning
the state of the church had plaiidy suggested. These
may be classed as follows : —
(a) Introduction, and exliortation to pm-ity (iv. 1 — 8).
Temptation to sensual indulgence was the besetting e\\l
of heathen cities.* Most needful to be enforced, there-
fore, was the duty of possessing the "vessel," i.e.,
the body or instrument "^ of the soul, in purity, and of
acting "in this matter" (iv. 6) with perfect honour
one towards another.
(h) Fraternity (ii. 9 — 12\ The special way in which
consideration for the brethren is to be displayed is by
industry, presented here as a true form of brotherly
love. So it was in the Apostle's own conduct (ii. 9).
Idleness is selfislmess. Beautifidly is this suggested,
in the Apostle's own way, as a point almost needless to
mention to these Thessalonians, to whom the secret of
self-sacrificLQg love was ah-eady " taught of God."
(c) State of the pious dead (iv. 13 — 18). Timothy
had brought tidings from the church of sad bereave-
ment— perhaps by martyrdom. The chief son-ow of
sur^-ivors was that the departed ones woidd lose the joy
of Christ's appearing and kingdom upon earth. This
era of blessedness was expected very soon to dawn,
and not even to apostles was it given " to know the
times and seasons." It was therefore needful for St.
Paul to console the mourners by assuring them that,
whenever Christ should come, the living would have no
precedence over the dead (ver. 15) ; nay, that the dead
should ^rs^ arise,'' and come " with Him " to meet their
brethren, who would "be alive and remain" on earth
uutn that day.
(d) The Second Advent (v. 1—11). Tho preceding
topic, so rich in consolation, suggests that in the same
event there is material also for solemn warning. If in
prospect of it the Apostle could say to those who
5 See as above, Bible Educator, Vol. II., p. 272.
6 See paper on " Difficult Passages Explained," Bible Educatoe,
II., p. 298.
7 "The dead in Chrisi shall rise first." Nothing can show
more strikingly the unintelligent way in which Scripture is often
read than the fact that this passage is often quoted to prove that
believers will arise before the iL-icl:cd. It is clear that the com-
parison is between departed and living Christians, at the time of
the Second Advent.
304
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
mouruecl departed friends, '" Be comforted," not loss
impressively does he now say to all, '" Be watchful."
(e) Relation to their pastors (v. 12, 13). What
special circumstances may have made this coiinsel
applicable, we know not. It has been noticed above as
indicating- some settled order already existent in the
church at Thessalonica. The concluding words of verse
13, " Be at peace among yourselves," strikingly show
liow to the Apostle the spirit of brothei-hood was ever
associated with the Liw of order.
(/) General exhortations, and Conclusion (v. 14 — 28).
The Apostle, having finished those counsels which
Timothy's report had rendered necessary, now i)ours
out file fulness of his soul in brief hortatory sentences,
encouraging and warning by turns, speaking to intellect,
and heart, and conduct. The benediction, doubtless by
his "own hand," crowns the whole; but not before he
had iu this, his First Epistle destined to preservation in
the churches, solemnly claimed canonical authority on
its behalf. ' ' I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle
be read unto all the holy brethren." This means mxicli
more than a friendly circulation fi'om hand to hand, or
the reading aloud, as of a beloved pastor's letter, at a
social meeting. The manner of the command bespeaks
the authority of conscious inspiration, and places the
letter on the level of those writings of Moses and the
prophets which were "read in the synagogues every
sabbath day." '
YI. The theology of this First Epistle is very simple,
and, as we should say, elementary, the contents being
mainly practical. With wonderful perversity, this fact
has been employed as indicatiug an advance, and even
change, of view in St. Paul himself, as though his creed
when he addressed the Christians of Thessalonica were
of a far simpler kind than when he addressed the church
in Rome. Rightly estimated, this very abstinence from
the profounder topics of the Christian faith aids in
establishing, albeit indirectly, the genuineness of the
Epistle. The church was young — almost in the infancy
of its faith. The controversies which would hereafter
lead to the scientific statement and argumentative xm-
folding of Clu-istian doctrine had not as yet troubled the
minds of Geutilo believers. The churches needed "milk "
rather than " strong meat." To the Thessalonians, as
yet, the Gospel was mainly a call to " turn from idols "
to serve the Father, " the living and true God ; " to
trust the great Redeemer " Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come ; " and to honour both by faith,
hope, and charity (i. 3). Such to them was the teachhig
which came " in word, in power, and in the Holy
Ghost" (i. 5). And "the present truth," the means
of uplifting from the world, and of bringing invisible
realities near, was the prophecy of Christ's second
appearing, the call to await " the Son from heaven."
These primary truths, in their breadth and fulness of
ethical application, are the staple of this Epistle, as they
were the strength of the earlier churches. The con-
tents of the letter thus precisely accord ^vith its place
in the series.
It is interesting also to trace secret luiks of corre-
spondence between hints and phrases of this Epistle,
and the more detailed teaching of the Apostle's later
productions. In the letters to the Corinthians espe-
cially, St. Paul follows out, in more extended form,
many a sxiggestion which we have iu these words of his
written at Corinth. Reference has already been made
to his imion of "faith, hope, and love " in chap. i. 3. A
similar association of the three Christian graces is
found in chap. v. 8. The Apostle had e\-idently in his
mind the thoughts so nobly and beautifully wrought
out in 1 Cor. xiii. Compare again 1 Thess. i. 5 with
1 Cor. ii. 4 ; 1 Thess. i. 6 Avith 1 Cor. xi. 1 ; 1 Thess. ii.
4 with 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4.- The anxiety to revisit the
Thessalonians has its counterpart iu the Apostle's
earnest desire to see the Corinthians again (1 Thess.
ii. 17 ; 2 Cor. i. 15 ; 1 Cor. v. 3) ; and the ari'ival of
Timothy with good news from Thessalonica (1 Thess.
iii. 6) is paralleled by the " coming of Titus " (2 Cor.
vii. 6). On the whole, it is the same man who writes
to Corinth and from Corinth, in no sense repeating
himself, but revealing the character of his miud and
heart by his very turns of phrase, while his soul is ever
filled with most earnest, tender, and almost jealous
affection for those whom he has boon the means of
leading to Christ.
• Acts XV. 21 ; xiii. 27,
I - Other striking similarities are noticed by Professor Jowett,
I vol. i., p. 23.
SCEIPTUEE BIOaEAPHIES.
JEHU.
BT THE EEV. W. BENHAM, B.D., VICAR OF MARGATE.
[Places where mentioned :— 1 Kings six. 16, 17; 2 Kings ix. and x.
passim; xii. 1 ; xiii. 1 ; xiv. 8; XV. 12 ; 2 Chron. xxii. 7—9; xxv.
17; Hosea i. 4.]
|EHU, the tenth king of Israel, was the
son of Jehoshaphat (2 Knigs ix. 2), the
son of Nimshi. The fact that he is com-
monly called simply " the son of Nimshi "
would seem to imply that the latter was a man of some
mark, but tliore is notliing further told us about him.
The age of Jehu is nowhere mentioned, but ho was
plainly a soldier from his youth. On the day, so
black-omened for the house of Ahab, when the ungodly
king Avent down from Samaria to Jozreel to take i)os-
session of Naboth's vineyard, Jehu and Bidkar, two of
his body-guard, rode behind him in his chariot. At the
entrance to the vineyard Ahab was terror-stricken to
JEHU.
305
behold waiting foi* liim the stern figure of Elijah
the Tishbite. His bitter question, " Hast thou found
me, O mine enemy?" betrayed the secret agony
which remorse and terror had been working within
him, despite the hardy assurances of his wife. The
prophet's terrible answer echoed in the memory of the
two attendant soldiers for years to come (2 Kings
ix. 25, 26), and one may not uni'easonably suppose
that from that hour an ambition to acquire the crown
now declared forfeit took possession of Jehu's soul.
Ah-eady, though he knew it not, Elijah had received
directions to anoint him king (1 Kings xix. 16, 17),
but tliis duty was in the end reserved for Elisha,
probably because Ahab's repentance caused the judg-
ment upon him to be deferred.
The latter portion of the reign of Ahab was marked,
with a few intervals of truco, by a fierce war with Syria.
The latter countiy had been making strenuous efforts to
push its frontier to the Jordan, but hitherto had not
succeeded. An endeavour, however, to di'ive the Syrians
out of Ramoth-gUead, which they had captm-ed, brought
Ahab to his dishonoured gi-ave, and the dogs licked up
his blood in the pool of Samaria. His sons, first Aliaziah,
then Joram, succeeded him, and thirteen years after his
death, in the 93rd year of the monarchy, and 884th year
before Christ, the war was again ragiug on the fatal
field of Ramoth-gilead. The city, still in possession of
the Syi'ians, was being besieged by Joram's army. He
himself had been wounded, and had returned to Samaria,
and the command of this army had devolved upon
Jehu, whose name has not occurred in the history siace
Elijah's commission to anoiat him king. The moment
when he fiirst appears is brought very strikingly
before us. A council of war was being held by the
officers, when one of the disciples of the proj)hets,
known as such by his garb, and declared by an old
tradition to have been the future prophet Jonah, rushed
hiuTiedly and excitedly in, and called Jehu forth, declar-
ing that he had a message for him. The two retired
into an inner room, when the young prophet produced
a box of oil, and said, " Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the
Lord, even over Isi'ael." Then, having further declared
that God's judgment was now ready to fall on the
■devoted house of Aliab, and that Jehu was its appointed
executor, the messenger rushed forth as hurriedly as
he had entered, and disappeared. He had been com-
missioned by Elisha to do this, in accordance with the
■command of the Lord to Elijah. It is noteworthy that,
so far as we can gather, Elisha and Jehu never met.
The prophet's name occurs no more from the day that
he commissioned his disciple to anoint Jehu until he
is visited on his death-bed, more than forty years after-
wards, by Jehu's grandson, Joash (2 Kings xiii. 14).
When Jehu returned to the council from the momen-
touc iutervie^T with the young prophet, he was eagerly
questioned as to the purport of it. He was evidently
divided between the ambition which was ready to
devour him, and the fear of plucking unripe fruit.
But his answer showed a growing confidence, a desire
68 — VOL. III.
to tell, and to receive tlieir approval — '• Te know the
man and his coumiunication." The answer moved them
to greater eagerness; probably they came near to a
right guess, and he, reading in their faces that he was
safe, then answered explicitly, " He spake unto me,
saying. Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king
over Israel." Their enthusiasm immediately burst
forth ; they hasted, threw down theii- cloaks under his
feet as a carpet of state, placed him on the outer stau-s
of the house, as the highest point within their reach,
and there, as he sat conspicuously above them all, they
blew a royal salute with trumpets, and cried, saying,
" Jehu is king ! "
Tlie first step was thus gained. The army in the
field had imanimously acknowledged him. He was
not the man to lose time as regarded the formidable
obstacles which lay before him. He would face them
at once. He bade his newly-gotten subjects stoj) all
communication with Jezreel, and stai'ted forth to carry
the news himself to the family of Ahab that he had
risen up against them to destroy them.
Tlie watchman on the j)alace tower of Jezreel was
gazing across the j)lain towards the Jordan valley,
doubtless looking for news from the seat of war. He
saw on the horizon a cloud of dust^ raised by an
advancing company, and gave notice of it. A messenger
was dispatched by Joram to inquire, "Is it peace ? "
but he was not suffered to take an answer back, and
Jehu continued his swift advance. Another messenger
was sent, with the same result ; but as the company
drew nearer, the watchman recognised Jehu by his
furious driving, and upon this Joram himself went
forth. He was accompanied by his nephew Aliaziah,
kiug of Judah, who had come to Samaria on a visit to
him. They were not long left in doubt as to the iJur-
pose of Jehu. The fierce reply which Joram received
to his question, " Is it peace, Jehu ? " at once showed
him the state of the case, and with the cry, " There is
treachery, O Ahaziah ! " he turned to flee. But it was
too late. Without a moment's faltering Jehu drew a
bow with his full strength ; the aiTow entered between
the king's shoulders, and pierced his heart. Jehu, as he
passed, had the body thrown out into Naboth's vineyard,
declaring as he did so that he was but executing the
righteous judgment of God.
Ahaziah meanwhile attempted to make good liis
escape by the way of Beth-gan [A. Y., "the garden
house "]. But the remorseless invader followed hard
after him, and he too was smitten at Gur, whether to
death or not is not clear. The divergence of the two
narratives of 2 Kings is. 27 — 29, and 2 Chron. xxii. 7 — 9,
i-enders the exact circumstances of his end uncertain;
but Bishoj) Wordsworth's conjecture is ingenious and by
no means improbable. It is as follows : Ahaziah escaped
to Samaria, and there, for a wliUe, lay hidden while liis
wounds healed. He then endeavoured to escape to his
own capital, Jerusalem ; but finding that Jehu's scouts
were keeping a strict look-out for him on that side, he
1 2 Kings ix. 17 (LXX.).
306
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
made for a uortlicru port, Tyre or Acre, witli a view of
reaching Joppa by sea, where he would be safe. With
this purpose he started across the plaiu of Esdraelou,
but was discovered at Megiddo, and there slaiu.
But we must follow Jehu ou his way to Jezreel. The
aged queeu-mother tired her head aud paiutod her
eyelashes, and looked out to meet him. With what
motive ? Was it in the hard dauntless spirit which had
said to Aliab, "Dost thou now govern tlie kingdom of
Israel ? Arise and eat ; I will give thee the field of
Naboth." If so, her actions implied that she resolved
to confront the invader without flinching, aud so to
awe him into submission as meu sometimes do savage
beasts ; or failing this, she would defy him to his worst,
die, and make no sign of fear. Or was it, as some
think, that she was willing to bid for him, to offer her-
self as his concubine after Oriental custom, and thus,
as she would think, give him confidence of success?
On the answer to this question the right rendering of
her words to him must depend. If our version is correct,
we miist adopt the first hypothesis, she was hoping to
terrify him. Those who adoj)t the second, translate it,
" Hail to Ziiuri who hath slain his master !" making
her applaud the deed. I mthout hesitation adopt the
former view; it is entirely in accordance vsdth what
we know of Jezebel. Assuredly she reckoned madly
if she hoped to concUiato Jehu. Whatever doubts or
delusions mingled themselves with his religious belief,
one conviction there was which possessed him without
any doubt at all. It was that the house of Ahab Avas to
perish by his hand, that it was a wicked house, aud its
religion homble altogether. Without any misgivings
at all, he beheved himself to be a scourge of God, aud
he rejoiced in the office, and took advantage of it, so to
speak, to gratify his owu bloody instincts. He stayed
not for a moment to pai'ley. " Who is on my side ?
. . , . Throw her down !" The eunuchs who looked
out at his summons obeyed him, and her blood be-
spattered the wall aud the horses as he drove his
chaiiot over her and entered the city. With charac-
teristic cold-bloodedness he immediately proceeded to
eat and drink, then ordered tliat she should be buried.
But the dogs who prowled about the walls, as they do
in aU Eastern cities, and as Dr. Stanley saw them ou
this very spot, had already devoured her corpse save
her skull and her feet and the palms of her hands.
These portions they had rejected, as it is said all wild
beasts do still. The remains pi'oved what her horrible
end had been; and when the ncAvs was brought to
Jehu it apparently moved him to a ghastly joy, as
being another manifestation of God's wrath.
Thus ho had now gained not only the army, but the
royal city of Jezreel. He next proceeded to secure the
capital, and to exterminate the fallen dynasty. There
were seventy members of it in Samaria, and it remained
to be seen whether the city would support them or give
its adhesion to the revolution. Accordingly, he wrote
secret letters to the rulers of the city,' aud to those
' Our version, following the Hebrew, has " to the rulers of
Jezreel" (x. 1) ; the LXX. reads " to the rulers of Samaria," which '
who had charge of tlio royal family, bidduig them pro-
pare to fight for their master's house. Terror-stricken,
as they remembered that two kings had already fallen
before him, their reply was that tliey would submit to
him ou his own terms. And they carried out their
promise, and on the next day sent, at his summons,
the heads of the seventy princes in baskets to Jezreel.
At this point he shows that he can be crafty as well
as bold. Ordering the heads to Ijo laid in two heaps
by the gate during the uight, he came forward next
morning aud addressed the people in a strain of mingled
surprise and admiration of their zoal, as if it had been
they who had killed the princes, and thereby contrasted
favourably with himself. This was righteousness in-
deed, he said ; he had conspired against his master and
slain him, certainly ; but they had gone very far beyond
him in fiilfUling the Diviue will.
He then started for Samaria. Two remarkable in-
cidents occurred on the way. First he met a body of
forty-two persons who, on being questioned, called
themselves " the brethren of Ahaziah." The exjiressioQ
probably means nephews, as is not uncommon in Scrip-
ture. Ahaziah's brothers had all been slain by the
Arabians (2 Chron. xxi. 17). If they were his uej)hews
they were of the family of Ahab, and would therefore
fall imder Jehu's commission. " Take them alive," he
said, and they were dragged away to a pit, and slain to
a man.- Immediately afterwards Jehu met .Jehonadab,
the son of Rocliab, the founder, or second foimdor, of
the sect of the Rechabites. We know him as ha^ang
enjoined ou his tribe a pei-petual nomadic life and total
abstinence from wine. He must have been a man of
high religious character, aud very great in xiopular esti-
mation, aud from the expression that he came to meet
Jehu it seems not unlikely that the people of Samaria
had dispatched him to secure good terms for them.
The meeting was thoroughly cordial ou both sides : the
one was evidently glad to have the support of a man of
such great influence, the other was eager to engage
Jehu on the side of the true religion. So they rode to
Samaria in Jehu's chariot, " the warrior in his coat of
mail, the ascetic in his hair-cloth."
The extermination of the house of Ahab was relent-
lessly completed in Samaria, but was followed by a yet
more sweeping act of destruction. Hithei-fo he stood
openly committed only to destroy the family of Ahab ;
now \vith deep dissimulation he announced that he
was about to carry ou the worship of Baal in a far
more imposing manner than Ahab had done. " Ahab
sei'ved Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much."
Ho invited the whole body of Baal-worshippers to a
great religious festival, to the intent that he might
devote them at one stroke to the sword. There was
no thought of destroying the place and forbidding the
seems more correct. Other ancient versions read " to the rulers
of the city."
- There is somo obscurity in the meaning of the word translated
" shearing'-house." The literal meaning is given in the margin,
" the house of the binding of the shepherds," and the probable
explanation is that this was the rendezvous of the nomad Kenites
with their flocks of sheep.
JEHU.
307
idolatry, no ofEeriug of auy opportunity of repentance,
no ijity at all. Only Jehonadab was in his secret, and
evidently sanctioned liis duplicity. Tlie whole heathen
population was summoned, and it would seem that the
work of Elij'ali had already borne much fruit in dis-
crediting the abomination ; for whereas formerly it had
seemed as if Elijah alone was left of the worshippers
of the Lord, the devotees of Baal now are all enclosed
in one great temple. Jehu and Jehonadab entered the
temple. " In the interior was a kind of inner fastness
or adytum, in which were seated or raised on pillars,
the figures, cai'ved in wood,' of the Phceuician deities
as they were seen in vision centuries later by Jezebel's
fellow-countrymen, Hannibal, in the sanctuaiy of Gades.^
In the centre was Baal, the sun-god ; around him were
the inferior divinities. In front of the temple stood,
on a stone pillar, the figiu-e of Baal alone." ^ The
priests appeared clothed m their sacred vestments,
and the king offered the first sacrifice (2 Kings x.
24, LXX.). Having done so, he left the temple.
But he had appointed eighty men to wait without,
who at a given signal rushed in, and massacred the
wi*etched worshippers to a man. When this horrible
work was done, the wooden images were burnt, the
great statue was shattered, the temple was levelled
with the ground, and turned into a depository of all
the filth of the town. This was the end of the worship
of Baal in the kingdom of Israel. It lasted a few
years longer in Judah, but there, too, it was at length
abolished.
These acts of destruction comprise nearly the whole
of the record of Jehu's reign. There is no sign of his
ability or will to take any other part than that of de-
sti'oyer, though he reigned for twenty-eight years (b.c.
884 to 856). But there are a few points which still
demand attention.
First, though he had ruthlepsly destroyed the worship
of Baal, he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam,
but worshipped the golden calves.
A second point involves an apparent contradiction.
It is this : — He first receives praise for the work which
he has done, and afterwards is denounced (in his jjos-
terity at least) for the same action. " The Lord said
unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing
that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto
the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine
heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit
on the throne of Israel." So says the narrative in the
Kings. But in the jirophet Hosea it is wi-itten : " And
I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu, and I wiU cause to cease the kingdom of the
house of Israel" (Hos. i. 4). The first of these two
points throws much light on the second. The defection
of Jehu showed that he had other ends in view than
1 2 Kings X. 26. " Livy, xsi. 22.
2 Stanley's Jcmsh Church, p. 288.
the pleasing of God. Personal ambition had been at
the bottom of his heart, and he had destroyed that
form of idolatry which was identified with the house of
Ahab. But having achieved his end, he took no heed
to walk in the law of the Lord. The vengeance which
had fallen upon Aliab's house had been the righteous
retribution upon Ahab's sins, but the executioner
gloated over and rejoiced in his work. He had his
reward in the establishment of his djiiasty for four
generations. What was righteous in his spirit — his
steadiness of purpose and hatred of injustice — all this
God blessed. But the brutal ferocity, the remorseless
indifference to agony and bloodshed, these evil elements
prevailed over the better, and when the fire against
Baal had burnt itself out for want of fuel, nought was
left but dull ashes. His zeal for righteousness did not
turn inwards and burn up his own sins. When there
was nothing loft to destroy, his occupation was gone.
The same thirst for blood wMch had marked him,
passed down, a ghastly bequeathment, to his children,
and brought the Divine curse upon them.
The reign of Jehu closed in disaster. The Syrian
invasion, from combating which he had hastened on
becoming king, had been vigorously pushed forward by
Hazael, and was now successful. The whole country
east of Jordan, comprising half of the kingdom of
Israel, was wrested away. And this had been done
with the accompaniment of horrible cruelty on the part
of Hazael (see 2 Kings viii. 12, 13). The reign of
Jehu, therefore, was one of misery and calamity. He
is the first Israelite king, too, who is recorded to have
paid tribute to the king of Assyria. The fact is stated,
not in Scripture, but on the " black obelisk " discovered
by Mr. Layard, and now in the British Museum. The
names both of Jehu and of his foe Hazael were deci-
j)hered by Dr. Hincks and Colonel Rawlinson, among
the tributaries of the "great king."^ But one feature
of the reign of Jehu we must not forget. Whilst he
stands before us the one figure in the picture, red-
hauded and remorseless, we might at fii'st sight take
him as the embodiment of the whole monarchy and
people. But he is not so. There was another emissary
of God at work in the kingdom, though, as we have
said, his name does not appear, his hand doubtless
busy with healing and binding up the broken places.
Elisha the son of Shaphan was he. Many years after-
wards ho lay dying, and Jehu's grandson came to bid
him farewell. '"My father," cried the king, "the
chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof," that is,
"the defence and j)rotection of the kingdom art thou,
and thou art passing away." Joash was hereby con-
fessing the truth that deeds of violence and oppression
like Jehu's have no power and leave no advantage, but
that the Lord's delight is in them that fear Him and
put their trust in His mercy.
4 See Layard's Second Visit to Nineveh and Babylon, pp. Cl-i— 616.
308
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE OLD TESTAMENT FULFILLED IN THE NEW.
SACKED PLACES (concluded).
EY THE REV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
ABERDEEN.
;E liavo spoken both of the Tabeniaclo as
a •w'liolo, and of fho diifercnt articles of
furniture with which its various parts
were provided; but, before briugins^ our
remarks on it to a close, it may be well to look for a
moment at the relation of these parts to one another,
and to make some general observations upon them for
which it was liardly iiossible to find an appropriate place
while treating of them in detail.
I. In the first place, our attention is naturally
directed to certain fundamental ideas which all the
parts and utensils of the Tabernacle have in common.
(1.) They are all not only holy, but "most holy," and
with this object in view are all of them anointed with
the holy anointing oil. " Moreover the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying. Take thou also unto thee j)riucipal
spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of
sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and
fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and
fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after
the .shokel of the sanctuaiy, and of oil olive an hin :
and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment com-
pound after the art of the apothecary : it shall be an
holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the taber-
nacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of
the testimony, and the table and all his vessels, and the
candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense,
and the altar of burnt-ofPering with all his vessels,
and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify
tlu^n, that they may be most holy : whatsoever toucheth
them shall bo holy " (Exod. xxx. 22 — 29). The general
instructions thus given are repeated on difEerent occa-
sions with regard to several of the particular objects
mentioned, such as the brazen altar (Exod. xl. 10), and
the altar of incense (Exod. xxx. 10) ; while the same
attribute of " most holy " is assigned to other things
immediately connected ^vith them, though not included
in this enumeration, the incense (Exod. xxx. 36), and
the shewbread loaves (Lev. xxiv. 9). All were pecu-
liarly sanctified and set apart for God. The sacredness
of the objects thus anointed with oil was further brought
out l)y the fact that the oil used for the purpose was
mixed with four ingredients, a circumstance which,
when we call to mind that a similar number was used
in the composition of the incense, it is impossible to
regard as accidental. It was designed to express the
Divine perfection and completeness of the compound,
four being the number of God as He reveals Himself
to and takes up His abode with man. The same
exalted holmess of the oil is also indicated by its being
the oil employed in the consecration of the high priest
(Exod. xxx. 30), and by the express j)rovision of the
law, " Whosoever compoimdeth any like it, or whoso-
ever putteth any of ii^ upon a stranger, shall even l)e
cut off from his people " (Exod. xxx. 33). With this
oil, then, the Tabernacle and every one of its articles
of furniture was anointed. Each was devoted to the
Holy One of Israel. He claimed each as His. They
were all " most holy."
The fact now mentioned is important as tending to
show, what it is i^eculiaidy necessary to bear in mind
when wo would understand the ofEeruigs of Israel, that
the whole Tabernacle Avas in a certain sense the dwel-
ling of God with man, His dwelling in the midst of
those whom He had chosen from among the nations
of the world to be a " purchased jiossession " to Him-
self. He dwelt more peculiarly, it is true, in the holy
of holies, but He dwelt also in the holy place ; nay,
further, He met His people at the "tent of meeting,"
which, being outside both the cherubim covering and
the boards overlaid with gold by which it was sustained,
occupied in reality a portion of the outer court. No
j)art, in short, of the Tabernacle was common. All
the ground upon which it stood, everything connected
with it, was holy. Throughout it all God was in
covenant with Israel. Each part of it, and whatever
touched any of its parts, was His.
(2.) In strict corresj)ondence with this it is to be ob-
served that in all the tliree parts of the Tabernacle Israel
was a holy people, called at least to be so, and admitted
to the enjoyment of its privileges in order "that this
object of its existence might be realised. There was no
court of the Gentiles in the Tabernacle, and we are not
to imagine that in the outer court the people were out of
covenant with God until the time when their offering
was presented at the brazen altar. Such an idea would
be inconsistent, not only with the whole language of
the Old Testament with regard to Israel, but with the
true conception of "the altar of burnt-oft'eriug " and
its fundamental purpose. From its first entrance into
the court Israel was redeemed. The people offered as
redeemed. God met with them, and they with God, in
that character. The sense of redemption, the walking up
to what is implied in it, the experience of what it brings,
was no doubt realised in different parts of the Tabernacle
in different degrees, a point which will immediately be
considered. In the meantime it is enough to say that
as all the apai-tments and all the furniture, and all the
vessels of God's dwelling-place were holy, so those who
entered and used them were also holy. Tlie Tabernacle
had indeed also a reference, though a distant one,
to the Gentile nations of the earth. Four is not tlio
number of God as Ho reveals Himself to Israel, but as
He reveals Himself to man. It has a relation to tho
world at large, to the Icosmos, to that theatre of the
Almighty's manifestation of Himself which is conter-
minous only with the four quarters of the globe : and
when, therefore, we find that so much importance is
SACRED PLACES.
S09
attached, as we liave ali'eady seeu, to the squareuess of
the brazeu altar and of the altar of inceuse ; when the
four cardinal points find such special mention as they
do in the directions given for the erection of the struc-
ture ; and when, in the fulfilment, stress is evidently laid
upon the fact that the New Jerusalem " lietli foursquare "
(Rev. xxi. 16), we are consti-ained to see in this a silent
prophecy of the time when " many shall come from the
east, and from the west, and from the north, and from
the south, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. ^-iii. 11,
and Luke xiii. 29). That time, however, was not yet
arrived. Israel alone had been selected from among
all the nations of the earth to be the Almighty's pecu-
liar people, and as such it came to worship Him and
to meet Him at His Tabernacle.
(3.) In aU three parts of the Tabernacle we have an
altar, and that, too, one connected not only with the un-
bloody but with the bloody saciifices. That this was the
character of the brazen altar in the outer court it is of
coiu'se impossible to dispute. It is equally impossible
to doubt that it was so with the mercy-seat in the holy
of holies, for on the great day of atonement — the day
which concentrated the whole sacrificial system into its
most direct and powerful expression — the high priest
sprinkled the mercy-seat witli the blood both of the
bullock and of the ram slain as sin-offerings, the one
for the priesthood, the other for the people. It might
seem to be more doubtful whether this was also the
case with the altar of incense, and distinguished in-
quirers have thought that it was not, but that the
bloody'saerifice was left behind when the holy place
was entered, and that the people, reconciled to God by
the sacrifice in the outer coui-t, presented through the
priests in the first apartment of the inner house only
the offering of praise, and prayer, and holy deeds. We
have already, however, in speaking of this altar, had
occasion to notice its name, a place of slaughter, which
we can hardly suppose it would have received had it
not been associated with animal sacrifice. In addition
to this, it has to be remembered that it was an express
injunction, that the blood of the sin-offering of the
congregation should be smeared upon its horns (Lev.
iv. 7, &c.), and that on the great day of atonement
it was sprinkled, in the same manner as the mercy-
seat, first with the blood of the bullock, and then with
the blood of the he-goat slain upon that day. The idea
of an altar upon which atonement was made for sin
belonged, therefore, to each of the three di\'isions of the
Tabernacle, and not to one or to two alone.
(4.) While there was thus an altar in each, there was
also an offering in each, and that too an offering so
similar in the one to what it was in the others that the
terms by which it is specially described in each are
interchangeable. Of the offering of the outer court
it is unnecessary to speak. The very name of the
altar there, that of bumt-offering, sufficiently shows the
character of the service, and the meaning of the ritual
connected with it. But there was an offering also in
the holy place, and that too in the case of each of the
three articles of furniture whicli it coutaiued. That it
was so in the case of the golden candlestick is shown
by the very peculiar word employed to describe the
lighting of its lamps at evening, that is, at the begiu-
ning of the twenty-four hours, and when, therefore, the
offei-ing maybe held to have been daily renewed: '"Thou
shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shaU
cause to ascend " — that is, they shall cause to ascend as
a burnt-offering — " the lamps thereof, that they may give
light " (Exod. XXV. 37). It was so also in the case of
the shewbread loaves, or at all events of that frankin-
cense which was so closely associated with them as to
be a i)art of the expression of what they were. The
loaves themselves were not indeed burned, because they
were to be eaten by the priests, but the frankincense
set upon them was, and it is expressly designated an
offering : " Thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each
row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even
an offering made by fii-e unto the Lord " (Lev. xxiv. 7).
It corresponded, indeed, in this respect exactly to the
frankincense of the ordinaiy meat-offeriug, the only
difference being that in the latter a handfiil of the
flour of which it was mainly composed was also cast
into the fii'e (Lev. vi. 14", 15). EinaUy, the incense of
the altar of incense is also distinctly brought before us as
an offering, when it is said, "Aaron shall burn" — that
is, shall burn as an offering — " thereon sweet inceuse
every morning ; and when Aaron causeth to ascend the
lamps at even, he shall Idiuti incense upon it, a perpetual
incense before the Lord throughout your generations "
(Exod. XXX. 7, 8). WhUe the idea of " offering " thus
belonged to all the furniture of the holy place, it be-
longed also to the ritual of the holy of holies. For
that cloud of incense raised by the high priest when he
entered it on the one day of the year on which he was
commissioned to do so, is not to be regarded by us
merely as a cloud in which he was to envelope himself
that he might not see the glory of God and die. The
language employed in regard to it, and particularly the
instruction to "take a censer full of bm-uLng coals of
fii-e from off the altar before the Lord " (Lev. xvi. 12),
sufficiently indicates that this incense cloud was, like
the burning of all other incense, an offering. At the
same time, the idea of offering in the holy of holies
was also broiight out by that sprinkling of blood upon
the mercy-seat of which we have already spoken. Thus,
then, the idea of " offering" belonged not only to one
part of the Tabernacle, but to all its parts ; and that,
too, of offering in which, while Israel presented itself
as a living sacrifice to God, it sought pardon through
the blood of atonement for its sins and shortcomings.
(5.) We notice only further, in connection with the
main point now before us, that some parts of the ritual
of the Tabernacle appear expressly designed to show us
that, whatever distinctions there may have been between
its parts, they were all bound together in unity. They
were not entirely distinct from each other. There might
be a progress, but, if so, it was that of one organic
whole. Illustration of this connection between the
holy of holies and the holy place is to be seen in tJie
310
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
circumstauco formerly adverted to, that tlio furuiture of
the latter is brought into a peculiarly close rektiou to
the former, tlms showing that, however it may have
belonged to its owu apartment, it belonged also to the
still more sacred one beyond. But a connection was
further established between the holy of holies and the
outer court when, upon the great day of atonement,
tlie high priest was to kimlle the incense with which he
entered into the former by means of coals of fire taken
" from off the altar before the Lord " (Lev. xvi. 12),
language by which wo can only understand the fire of
the brazen altar to l)e meant. Any other fire would
have been aceoimted "strange fii-e," and the use of it
would have involved the judgment of God.
Thus it appears that the same fundamental ideas
marked aU the three parts of the Tabernacle. All
were '" most holy." All had an altar and an offering.
The presence of God was to be found in each, and in
each Israel was a redeemed people. While this, how-
ever, was the case, we have now to remark —
11. That there was an evident progress in the three
parts, and that whether we look at them from a Divine
or from a human starting-point, from that involved in
God's i-evelatiou of Himself to Israel, or in Israel's
approach to God.
If for a moment we take first the former iwint of
view, we find this idea of ^irogress indicated by the
difference in the structure of all the parts, which bear
the marks of an increasing sanctity as we pass from
without inwards. Thus, the numerical scale of the outer
court was grounded upon the number five, an incom-
plete and broken number, the half of ten. The root-
number of the holy place was indeed ten, corresponding
to the fact that it was a part of the sanctuary in which
God dwelt, and that the same hangings wliich were
extended over the holy of holies covered it. Still, ten
did not rule all its proportions, and it is only when we
enter the most holy place that we find ourselves in an
apartment which is a perfect cube of that number of
perfection. The same thing appears in the materials
made use of for the construction of the three altars,
the leadiag parts of the furniture with, which each of
the thi-ee spaces was pro\-ided. In the outer court the
altar was of brass, or rather bronze. In the holy place
it was acacia-wood overlaid with gold. In the holy of
holies the gold was solid. Perhaps also the increasing
immediateness of God's presence, as we penetrate into
the interior of the sanctuaiy, may have been designed
to appear in the horns of the altars. We have no
information, indeed, that there was any difference of
shape between those of the brazen altar and of the altar
of incense. But the Latter were evidently more sacred
than the former, for they seem to have been smeared
only with the blood of the sin-offering of the priest and
of the congregation as a whole, not with that of the sin-
offerings of individuals. On the mercy-seat, araiu, there
were no horns ; and the explanation must be sought in
this, that it was the very throne of God. There could,
therefore, be there no symbol of majesty and power
more exalted than that the thought of which Avas
suggested by the altar itself. The immediate presence
of God included at once the whole and the perfect
glory of His being. In notldng, however, did the
gradation of which we are now speaking appear more
manifest than in the amount of light possessed by each
of the three parts of the Tabernacle. In the outer
com't there was the full light of day, the light of the
sun, the ordinary light given to the world by Him who
causeth the sun to shine l)oth on the evU. and the good.
In the first apartment of the sanctuary this light was not
enjoyed. It is, indeed, tUificult to say what the exact
amoimt of darkness, so far at least as want of sunlight
was concerned, in this apartment may have been. There
were no Avindows in it, but it is possible that the vail
before the entrance may not have entirely prevented
the penetrating of some rays of light. Tet we know
nothing in the words of Scripture upon which to ground
such a supposition, and the probability is that the only
light which shone in it was that of the golden candle-
stick, not a common but a covenant light, a light pro-
ceeding from the sacred oil prepared according to
special directions for the purpose, and although un-
questionably dim compared with that of the sun without,
fitted by that veiy fact to prepare the mind for the
darkness of the inmost sauctuaiy of all, for the holy of
holies was in total dai'kness. There were, again, no win-
dows in it. The entrance, closed by the second vail, was
at the end of an apartment aheady nearly, if not wholly,
deprived of simhght, and the hangings and coverings
were certainly sulficiently thick and close to obstruct
all rays of light from without. Nor was there any arti-
ficial light within, except when the bright cloud of the
Shechiuah was there. But, as far as concerned man, that
cloud was darkness. The light in which God dwells is
inaccessible and fidl of glory. The splendour of His
presence is too much for mortal gaze ; hence it is that
in Scriptui-e He is said at one time to dwell in light, at
another in darkness. His " brightness is as the light;"
■' He covereth Himself with light as with a garment;"
" He dwelleth in light that no man can approach unto ; "
" He is light, and with Him there is no darkness at
all " (Hab. iii. 4 ; Ps. civ. 2 ; 1 Tim. vi. 16 ; 1 John i. 5).
On the other hand, when Moses drew near God to re-
ceive the revelation of His -svill at Sinai, he is described
as " drawing near unto the thick darkness where God
was " (Exod. XX. 21). The Psalmist sees Him making
" darkness His secret place. His pavilion round about
Him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies," whUo
again " clouds and darkness are round about Him "
(Ps. xviii. 11 ; xcvii. 2). The two things indeed arc
interchangeable, " The darkness and the light are both
alike to Him " (Ps. cxxxix. 12) ; and the only thing
perhaps that has to be said as to a distinction is, that
the emblem of darkness rather than light appears to be
employed when the judgment aspect of the Almighty
is brought prominently into view. If this last obser-
vation be con-ect, we have another illustration besides
that afforded by the cherubim, that this aspect of God
was the fundamental one by which He revealed Him-
self to Israel, in v>hich He made Himself known in
SACRED PLACES.
311
liis Tabernacle. The nearer, therefore,, that Israel
approached the darkness, the nearer it ^as to the Lord
of Sabaoth, to the Lord of Hosts who dwelt between
the cherubim. There was, in short, a gi-adation in
regard to the nearness of God's presence in the different
parts of the Tabernacle.
This idea of progress, however, belongs eqxially to
the Tabernacle when we look at it from the human
point of \aew, when we consider the condition of Israel
in its different parts. "We have already seen that in all
of them Israel was redeemed, but it did not in aU of
them equally appropriate the blessings of redemption.
Hence it was that the people might not penetrate
beyond the outer court. Though caUed to be a nation
of priests, they had not sufficiently felt that they were so.
The priests alone, in whom the priestly character of the
nation as an appropriated fact was realised, rej)i'esented
it in the holy jilace. They alone were permitted to
enter it, but with the prospect implied in their doing
so that when the people rose to the consciousness of
the dignity of their calling, the like privilege would
no longer be witlilield from them. A similar remark
applies to the holy of holies. The high priest alone, and
that too only on a single day of the year, might draw
-aside the vail separating it from the holy place, and
approach into the closest proximity to the throne of
God. But the high priest, concentrating in himself aU
that belonged to the priestly character of the priests,
represented in its highest potency the priestly character
of the nation ; and in his priiilege, therefore, was con-
tained the promise that, when the priestliness of Israel
was fully realised by it, it too should have access to the
innermost sanctuary of the Almighty. Three stages of
privilege, not three conditions of life, are thixs set before
lis in the thi-ee parts of the Tabernacle. The root of life
is the same in each, but that root has put forth more of
the branches and fruits which naturally spring from it
in the second than in the first, and stiU more in the
third than iu the second.
With the progress thus indicated there further corre-
sponded a progress iu the character of the offerings
presented at each of what we have spoken of as the
thi'ee altars of the Tabernacle. We have already seen
that the fundamental idea of these is the same, and
that in respect of the bloody as well of the unbloody
sacrifice. But with this sameness there was also a dif-
ference. At the brazen altar of the court the offerer
presented liimself as a burnt-offering to the Lord, and
declared that he was not his own, but that he acknow-
ledged the claims of Him by whom he had l^een redeemed
out of his house of bondage. There also he offered all
the other sacrifices reqiiired of him by the law. It is
a multitude of individuals that we witness iu the outer
court, \vith their varied offerings, with their varied sius
and shortcomings, each declaring that he yields himself
up to God, and each seeking through the blood of atone-
ment accej)tance with Him. Wlieu we pass into the
holy place it seems to us that the individuality disap-
pears, is swallowed up in the thought of national and
religious unity. The horns of the altar of incense there
may not l)c sprinkled or smeared with the blood of the
offering made by any single lay memljer of the con-
gregation, but only with that of an offering made on
l^ehalf of a priest, a representative of the people, or of
the congregation as a whole (Lev. iv. 3 — 7, 13 — 18). It
is stUl the blood of atonement, however ; and we cannot
join with those who imagine that, when the offeiing
is made in the holy place, we have represented '• that
stage iu the history of salvation in which the great
fact of A-icarious suffering for the sins of the world lies in
the past, and all that is needed is the personal appro-
priation of the atoning ^-irtue of the blood that has been
shed."' No such distinction is drawn in Scripture,
and it is impossilile to reconcile it with the fact that,
on the great day of atonement, whatever " vicarious
suffering " there was in the outer court was exhibited
in its highest potency, not only in the holy, but in the
most holy place. That idea of progress, therefore,
which attached itseK to the offerings of the different
parts of the Tabernacle is not to be sought in laying
aside the idea of vicarious suffering as we advance from
its more outward to its more inward parts. It is to be
souglit i-ather in the distinction between the offerings of
individuals as such and of individuals as constituting an
organic whole. In this last form Israel has its offering
taken into the holy i^lace ; and, inasmuch as an organic
whole is higher than the sum of all its parts enume-
rated separately, the offering of the holy place is higher
than that of the court. Hence also the fruits produced
attain a higher expression in the former than in the
latter. Even the individual is to give light, is to be
fruitful in good works, is to send abroad the savoiu" of
a godly life. But he cannot do this to the extent or
with the power of the " great congregation." There one
checks another's faults, supplies another's deficiencies,
makes up for another's shortcomings, while all com-
bined send forth a lai-ger body of light, a more abun-
dant harvest, a sweeter fragrance, than even the most
perfect of them can send forth separately. It was
fitting, therefore, that a much more definite expression
should be given to this when that stage of progress was
reached, and that to effect it the candlestick, the shew-
Ijread, and the altar of incense should be placed where
they were. The same view of the matter may he taken
by us when we enter the holy of holies. The sprink-
ling of blood upon the mercy-seat shows that the idea
of "vicarious suffering" is not left behind even in it;
while the cloud of incense raised from the large quan-
tity of incense then taken by the high priest (Lev. xvi.
12) is an evident advance upon the incense kindled in
the holy place. It is true that we have no represen-
tation either of the increase of light or of good works ;
but the reason of that may well be that on the great
day of atonement the vail separating tlie holy i^laco
from the holy of holies was drawn aside while the
high priest ministered within, and that their symbolical
representation in the one part of the double structure
1 Kurz, Sacrificial Worship of the Old Tatament, p. 315, Clark's
translation.
312
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
belonged for the time at least equally to the other.
It was euough that the inceuso should be increased.
It could easily be so, and it was besides this the
culminating point of the three, not light or good
works alone, but the fragrance Avhich they give forth
when produced according to the prescriptions of the
sanctuaiy.
Hence also, from all that has been said, the necessity
of finding the fulfilment of the whole Tabernacle in the
condition and pri\nleges of the Church of Christ in her
preseut state, and not merely when she has actually
reached her perfection in that city of God which St.
John beheld descending from heaven as the New Jeru-
salem. Both the unity and the progress of the ideas
symbolised iu its different parts are chara<?teristic of
Christians, hero as well as hereafter. Their cleansing
and offering of themselves; the light which they shed
abroad, the fruits of holiness which they j)roduce, and
both going up as a sweet savour before God ; their
approach to the very throne of the Most High; their
linng '• iu the midst" of it and " round about " it ; then."
taking part in the judgment of the Avorld and of sin ; —
all these things belong to them even now. Even now
they have " boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus ; " they are seated in " the heavenly
places " with their Lord ; they see God ; and they wait
not for the withdrawal of any vail that still hides glory
from their view, but oidy for confirmation in what they
have, and for final deliverance from all temptation and
fear of fall.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
ET THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
THB BITTERN.
)T caunot be determined with certainty
what the Hebrew word Mppud, occurring
three times in the Old Testament, aud
translated in our version by " bittern,"
really denotes. The animal is mentioned in company
with the cormorant (Isa. xxxiv. 11) in the prophet's
picture of the desolation of Edom. " The cormorant
(Icadth, ' pelican ') and the bittern shall possess it ; the
owl also and the raven sliall d^vell in it : and he shall
stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones
of emptiness." The same prophet (xiv. 23), speaking of
the desolation of Babylon, says, "I will make it a posses-
sion for the bittern, and pools of water." Zephauiah (ii.
13, 1-1), telling of the judgments that were to come upon
Assyria, says that Jehovah " will destroy Assyria, and
Avill make Xineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilder-
ness, aud packs^ shall lie down in the midst of her, all
the wild beasts of a multitude [such as jackals, which
hunt in crowds] ; the pelican and the bittern also shall
lodge in the chapiters thereof ; a voice shall sing in the
windows."
The derivation of the Hebrew word {hippod), and its
relationship with the Arabic hunfod, point rather to the
hedgehog than to the bittern. According to Gescnius,
hippod is derived from a root meaning " to shrink from
leav," which is characteristic of a hedgeliog, but not of
a bittern. The Septuagint and the Yulgate support the
rendering of " hedgehog," as also do most commentators,
such as Rosenmiiller, Maurer, Delitzsch and Keil,
Eiirst, Benisch, Sharjw, Leeser, &c., but the require-
ments of the Bible texts ai-e much better met by inter-
preting hippod to mean some marsh-loving bird as
"the bittern." From the expression of Babylon being
" a possession for the bittern and pools of water," one
1 The A.V. reading "flocks "is inappropriate when used for wild
beasts, such as jackals, which are evidently intended.
would naturally infer that some marsh-loving bird was
associated in the prophet's mind with desolate pools of
water. Hedgehogs do not inhabit marshy, but dry places.
Moreover, it is said that "the pelican and the bittern
shall lodge on the knobs or chapiters of the piUars."
Keil and Delitzsch {Comment, on Zeph. ii. 14) interpret
" upon the knobs of the pillars left standing when the
palaces were destroyed." A bittern or a pelican perched
on the top of a column left standing among the ruins
is a true picture of desolation ; but not a hedgehog, even
supposing the animal could ever get there. Of course,
we may allow that the knobs were thi'OAvn down, but
even then a hedgehog would be a very unlikely animal
to perch himself thereon ; for be it remembered the
Hebrew verb yalinu seems to imply, not an accidental
and temporary perching on the knobs of the columns,
but a habit of lodging, or "passing the night" thereon,
according to the probable derivation of the Hebrew
word.
Notwithstanding, then, the authorities which favour
the translation of hedgehog or porcupine as the repre-
sentative of the original word, we can come to no other
conclusion than that some marsh-loving bird, such as
the bittern, is denoted. It has been questioned whether
the bittern is ever found in the Mesopotamian plains,
but Tristram says, "As a matter of fact the bittern is
veiy abundant in these swamps of the Tigris, and in all
the marshy groimds of Syria ; and its strange booming
note, disturbing the stillness of the night, gives an idea
of desolation which nothing but the wail of the hyena
can equal."
Formerly, when extensive marshes were common, the
bittern {Botaurus stellaris) was plentifully distributed
over this coimtiy, but now drainage and cultivation
have made it, comparatively speaking, rather a rare
bird. It was once in some estimation as an article of
food. According to Sir Thomas Browne, young bitterns
were considered a better dish than young herons. The
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
3U
THE COKMORANT (Plialacrocovax carlo).
word " bittern " is a corruption of tlie Latin Botaurus,
as is shown by the ohl word bittour, hytoure, bitore,
used by Chaucer and Dryden —
" And as a hittore humhleth in the mire,
Slie laid hir mouth unto the water down."
Wife of Bath's Talc, line 116.
" Then to the water's brink she laid her head,
And as a hittour humps within a reed,
To thee alone, O Lake,' she said, ' I tell.' " — Dktden, ihkl.
Butter-bump is still used in the North to denote a
bittern. Compare Tennyson's Northern Farmer —
" Theer wur a boggle in it, I often 'eerd un mysen ;
Moast loike a butter-bump."
Miredrtim, bog-bumper, bumpie, are also provincial
words having reference to the peculiar bellowing sound
the bird produces, chiefly in the spring and summer ;
hence probably the Latin term, Botaurus, i.e., Bos-
taurus. Pliny says there is a bird called a taurus, from
the sound it produces ; but as he calls it a small bird, it
cannot be the bittern, which is about two and a-half
feet in length. The bittern was one of the few birds
which Goldsmith descanted on from personal observa-
tion in his native country. " Those who have walked
on a summer's evening," he writes, " by the sedgy sides
of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of
notes from different water-fowl, the loud scream of the
wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of
the lapmng, and the tremulous neighing of the jack
snipe [ ? common snipe] . But of all these sounds there is
none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern.
It is impossible for words to give those who have not
heard this evening call an adequate idea of its solemnity.
314
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
It is like the iutL^rrupted bellowing of a bull, but
liollowei- and louder, aud is heard at a mile's distance,
as if issuing from some formidable being that resided
at the bottom of the waters."
Willoughby, from the bellowing uoiso uttered in the
breeding season, identifies the bittern with the night-
raven, at whose deadly voice the superstitious wayfarer
of the night turned pale aud trembled. " This, without
doubt," ho says, '• is that bird our common people call
the night-raven, and have such a dread of, imagining
its cry portends no less than their death, or the death
of some of their near relations." It was a common
opinion that the bittern produced that bumping or
"mugient noise," as Sir Thomas Browne calls it, by
putting its bill into a reed, or into mud and water, aud
there blowing violently ; hence the allusions in Chaucer
and Dryden quoted above.
Goldsmith also tells us of tlie superstitious notions
held by the common people in his day with respect to
the bittern ; its hollow booms presaging some diro
calamity. As the imcducated in various coimtries have
had such superstitious fancies, it is very probable that
such were also held by the Orientals of old ; and the
graphic description of desolate Nineveh or Babylon, by
the Heljrew prophets, receives especial force from the
liresence of the bittern booming" dismally from its con-
cealment amongst the reeds and rushes of the marshy
pools, or lodging, spectre-like, on the top of some lofty
column of a ruinous city. We may appropriately
cnoiigh refer to Goldsmith's charming poem. The
Deserted Village, where this same bird appears amid
the " desolation " that saddens all the green : —
" Along thy glades, a solitary guest,
The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest."
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PSALMS.
BY THE REV. H. DElNE, M.A., FELLOW OF ST
! rlE Psalms form a book of which the inte-
rest grows upon us as we ourselves grow
in years. The depth of spiritual teaching
which they contain makes it impossible
for them to bo fully realised except by those who have
themselves advanced some way in spiritual life. But
these find, as others have found before them, that there
is no religious feeling or holy desire of their own which
has not been anticipated by the Psalmist. We look
upon the Psalter, therefore, as a complete treasury of
devotion, as a little manual of faith aud piety unequalled
in depth of feeling and loftiness of aspirations.
We speak thus of the Psalms, because we feel that
ihey speak of us and to us. We have felt the truth of
the words of an ancient writer who says of a psalm
that it gives " a calm to tempest-tost souls," that " it
soothes the thoughts when they are stormy and
tumultuous." To read a psalm is the shortest jjath
to comfort for one who is sick or afflicted ; to sing a
psalm is the best sacrifice of iiraise that can be offered.
Nor is this value of the Psalms appreciated in our
days only. So far as we know, they have always been
used iu private and public worship as we use them.
Let it bo enough to remind the reader of Christ's use
of the Psalms as an act of praise after the Last Supper,
aud that thrice while upon the cross He used them.
His spirit departing from Him as He uttered a part
of a psalm. And His Church, whether Jewish or
Christian, has always used the Psalms imder all sorts
of cii'cumstances. Jonah in his danger, Jeremiah in
his persecutions, Ezra and Nehemiah in their joy,
Jehoshaphat in the flush of victory, found alike that
the Psalms were the best expression of their devotion
to God.
The Psalter is known to the Jews as the Book
JOHN S COLLEGE, AND VIOAK OF ST. GILES , OXFORD.
Tehillim, or more shortly Tillim. Certain individual
parts of the collection are known by other names, as we
shall see when we come to discuss the titles ; but the
name given above would designate it as the '•' Song
Book," the different titles, such as '' Maschil," "Prayer,"
and the like, indicating what the sort of song is, whether
didactic or supplicatory in its tone.
Perhaps this name, " The Song Book," gives us a hint
as to the origin of this wonderful collection. It would
imply that it grew up gradually as songs were required
for liturgical use ; aud that they were thus compiled
lest by remaining as scattered fragments any of them
should be lost. That the Psalter should have been
gradually formed is exactly what we should have
expected, for, as it forms in itself a miniature of the
Bible, so we should think it beforehand to be highly
probable that the history of its formation would be a
miniature of the history of the formation of the wliole
Bible. We have, in the titles to the Psalms, much
which favours this theory of the gradual composition
of the Psalter, aud much from the internal evidence of
the indi^-idual jisalms which bears it out, so that we
think there is little doubt as to the origin of the col-
lection, though the names of the authors may bo
uncertain.
We A'enture hero to anticipate a remark which would
be more appropriate at a later i^art of the paper, but as
it will be necessary to refer to the titles while wo are
discussing the origin of the collection, it may be as well
to state here a canon which wiU be of great use in
estimating the eridential value g2 clie titles. It appears
to be a very safe rule, that in all cases, unless the con-
tents of a psalm are at variance with the title, the title
is as probable an accoimt of the origin and occasion of
the psalm as any that can be given.
THE PSALMS.
315
Bearing this rule iu miud, aud it is uot destitute o£
authority, we find that i^saluis are ascribed to different
authors in far different ages, ranging from Moses, the
traditional author of Ps. xc, down to the author of
the hymn to be sung at the dedication of the Temple,
or the psalms which speak of the captivity as ended.
Of coiu-so wo do not pledge ourselves to the fact that
Moses wrote this psalm, or that tlic dedication of the
Temple is the same as that mentioned by St. John
(John X. 22). We simply state the limits between
which, according to the tradition handed down in the
titles, the collection arose.
But we have, besides these titles, another very im-
portant tradition to aid us in our inqu.u'y. There is
extant a very ancient Greek translation of the Bible
commonly known as the Alexandrine or Septuagint
version. This translation of the Psalms gives us iu the
titles a different tradition from that of the Hebrew
titles. It gives us the tradition preserved by the Jews
of Alexandria, as distinguished from the Palestinian
Jews. The variations aro slight. The fact that most
psalms which aro not ascribed to any writer iu the
Hebrew text, remain anonymous iu the Greek, shows
that the translators were anxious not to introduce any
unauthenticated tradition. The addition of the names
of authors — namely, Jeremiah, Haggai, and Zechariah
— have nothing improbable in them. We therefore
regard the Alexandrine tradition with a reverence only
second to that \dth. which we regard the Palestinian.
We do not enter into the titles contained l^y the later
Eastern versions, as they are all due to Christian trans-
lators. In fact, they have very little interest, as they
do little more than mention the spiritual interpretation
of the psalm, and record the number of verses that it
contains.
But we have another tradition preserved to us, which
cannot be passed over, and this is the one which the
Jews themselves have handed down. We shall cite
this as it is recorded in the preface to the Psalms
written by Rabbi David Kimclii. He says, " Our
Rabbis, of blessed memory, have stated that David,
King of Israel, wi'ote his book by means of {i.e.,
through the instrumentality of) ten elders, namely,
Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Asaph, Heman, Jedu-
thun, Moses, and the three sons of Korah — Aser,
Elkanah, and Abiasaph. That is to say, that these ten
uttered the psalms which are written in their names.
And they say that Adam uttered the psalm entitled a
song for the Sabbath day (^'.e., Ps. xcii.) after being
created on the eve of the Sabbath day. And our
Rabbis have declared that Ethan the Ezrahite is the
same as Abraham our father ; and they say that
Melchizedek composed Ps. ex., 'The Lord said unto
my Lord.' Tlie rest are explained under their several
names" {i.e., by their titles).
We have mentioned this tradition, because it is con-
tained in the writings of one of the ablest of the
medi£3val Jewish writers. It states what was the
traditional belief of the Jews iu his day, but whether
ho believed it himself or not he does not ptate. It
bears upon the face of it the marks of tlie greatest
improbability.
We see, tlien, that in accordance with these three
streams of tradition, the longest period during which
the collection was in course of formation, is that
ascribed by the Septuagint, the shortest that by the
Hebrew titles, while Jewish tradition attempts to ascribe
aU the Psalms to David and his ten elders.
Closely beajring upon the history of the Psalter is
the fact that it stands at the head of that part of the
Hebrew Scriptures which was known to the Jews as
the K'thubivi, i.e., the Writings, or the Hagiographa,
as they are often called now. The Psalms were thus
distinguished from the Law, aud from the former and
the latter Prophets. They immediately preceded, in
the Hebrew Scriptures, as in our own, the Book of
Proverbs, and may not this be a sort of indication that
they were admitted into the Canon earlier than the
Proverbs ? Whatever subsequent discussions may have
been as to the relative positions of the Psalms and
Proverbs, there can be no doubt that in our Sa\'iour's
time the Psalms stood at the head of the ICthubim.
We read (Luke xxiv. 44) that He refers to the threefold
division of the Scriptures, mentioning the Psalms as
the third division, " The Law, the Prophets, and the
Psalms," indicating most distinctly how the Scriptures
were then arranged.
It apx^ears to be probable, thus far, that the " Book
of Songs" had began to be formed at an early period.
We may now notice a fact that throws some light upon
the reason why the collection was made. The Psalter
is far from containing all the Hebrew hymns that are
known. We have hymns written by David himself
which aro not admitted as psalms. It is difficult to
see why the hymn composed on the death of Saul and
Jonathan should not have api)eared iu the Psalter.
The fact that it is personal does not stand in the Avay,
for a psalm relative to Doeg {i.e., Ps. lii.) is admitted.
It is also strange that the '"last words of Da-sdd''
(2 Sam. xxiii. 1 — 7) should be found only in the Pro-
phetical Books, when we find hymns referring to David's
early life (Ps. viii., xxiii.) reckoned as Psalms. We do
find, however, in two instances, a hymn appearing both
iu the Prophetical Books and among the Psalms, for Ps.
xviii. appears, in only a slightly different form, in 2 Sam.
xxii. 2—51. Of course we might note in the same way
the absence of the songs of Moses, and of Deborah, which
would seem to be as worthy of holding a place among
the Psalms as Ps. Ixviii. To these might be added the
canticle of Hezekiah, as noble and pathetic a specimen
of Hebrew poetry as can be found, yet excluded from
the Psalter, while Ps. xxxix. and xc. are admitted.
These omissions point to the probable origin of th(
Psalter. Such hymns as were used for liturgica:
purposes were admitted, those which were merely read
as records of the past history of the nation were
excluded.
Another fact bears out the same theory. We find
certain psalms existing in a double form. For instance,
Ps. xiv. is iilmost identical with Ps. liii. The difference
316
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
between them is cluotty that Ps. xiv. speaks o£ tl;c
LoKD, that is, of Jeliovah, -where Ps. liii. speaks of God.
(This is frequently expressed otherwise by stating that
Ps. liii. is an Elohistic version of Ps. xiv.) That one
psalm is borrowed from the other cannot be doubted,
and that the variation is duo to liturgical purposes is
liighly pi'obable.
Again, we find an instance of 'part of one psalm being
cut off to form another psalm. For instance, Ps. Ixx.
consists ahnost word for word of the last five verses
of Ps. xl. It is hard to account for this, except upon
the liturgical hypothesis.
One psalm appears to be a compound of certain others.
This is a phenomenon bearing out the truth of what
we have supposed to bo the case. Ps. cviii. is made up
of Ps. Ivii. 7 — 11 and Ix. 5 — 12, the diiferences being
very slight. There can be no doubt that this is due
to an occasion being found to which neither Ps. Ivii. nor
Ix. wei'e suitable while complete, but that the separate
parts would, when combined, be an exact expression of
the devotional feelings of those who used them. Still,
however, tliis compound psalm was not rejected from
the Psalter (as was another of the same nature which
appears in 1 Chron. xvi. 7 — 36, which is composed of
cv. 1 — 16 ; xcvi. 2 — 7, 11 — 13), but was preserved as
one of the " Songs." Thus we may well suppose that,
as hymn after hymn was composed for divine service
by the Psalmist, or as it was adapted from existing
hymns to suit a special occasion, it was added to the
existing collection, occasionally with the musical direc-
tions remaining which indicated what instruments were
to accompany the hymn, who Avas to sing it, and what
the tune was to be. We shall notice under the heading
of the Titles an important fact bearing tliis out.
We have already referred to the Psalter as being
a Bible in miniature, and as forming in itself a complete
work. To the Jew it appeared to be framed upon the
model of the Law, being divided, as the Law was, into
five books. The antiquity of these divisions must be
very great, though it cannot be ascertained. We can
trace them in the English version by the benediction
with which each book closes, and in one place, by a re-
markable notice in the text, we can distinguish traces
of a far earlier edition of the Psalter than that which
we have at present. The first book ends with Ps. xli.,
the benediction being, "Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel from everlasting and everlasting, Amen and
Amen." The second book ends with Ps. Ixxii., the
Ijenediction (vv. 18, 19) being partly taken from the
words of the Lord recorded in Numb. xiv. 21. To this
is added the " Amen, Amen," as at the close of each
of the three first books. On this follows the remark-
able notice which informs the reader that " The prayers
of David the son of Jesse are ended." These words,
it is clear, suggest to us that at some early time
the collection of psalms ended here ; for they are
inconsistent with tlie appearance of many psalms
directly ascribed to David in the other books, unless
we suppose those other Davidic psalms to have been
added to the collection at a later date. Just as in an
old building we find occasionally an ancient piece of
moulding in some position whei'e it is not needed,
which was left there by an architect who altered the
character of the biiilding at an early date, that we
might sec what the form of it was before he touched
it, so does this verse appear to have been left in the
text to show us how the saci-ed book has i7icreased in
its contents from time to time, and with what pains the
compilers of it fidfilled their tasks. The third book
concludes with Ps. Ixxxix., the benediction being almost
similar to that in Book I. The fourth book concludes
with Ps. cvi., and the benediction differs from that of
Book I. by the addition of the word " Hallelujah," or
" Praise ye the Lord." We luay regard the last five
psalms, or at least Ps. cL, as the benediction of the last
book. The words, " Let cvei*y thing that hath breath
praise the Lokd, Hallelujah," are a worthy termination
of so glorious a book.
Such, then, are the divisions of the Psalter indicated
not only by the inscriptions which are found in the
Hebrew text, but also by the benedictions. It remains
for us to examine the principles upon which these
di\asions were made. We approach this difficult inquiry
with only two principles to guide us, (1) How far do the
contents of the several psalms and their subject-matter
aid us in forming an adequate and consistent theory of
accounting for the division ? (2) How far are the titles
of any service in om- inquuy ?
(1.) As far as the subject-matter is concerned, it
would appear as if it had been the intention of the
compilers to place the earliest psalms at the beginning
of the collection, and those by later authors in the
subsequent books. But here a reader might ask with
great reason, " How can it be known, apart from the
title, whether a psalm is early or late ? " We can
discover the date of a psalm, partly from historical
references, partly from the style. Thus many psalms
speak of one who is hotly pursued by enemies (xxii. 12 —
16; xxvii. 10 — 12), sleej)ing in the wilderness imder-
neatli the open air (Ivii.), and betrayed by one in whom
he had placed all his trust (Ixix.). There can be little
doubt from the historical references that such Psalms
refer to David. Or, to take another instance, Ps. xiv.
speaks of one who is fair (ver. 2), brave (ver. 3), pros-
perous (ver. 4), powerful (ver. 6), just (ver. 6), magnifi-
cent (ver. 7). No historical character mentioned in the
Old Testament, excejit Solomon, falls under such a
description ; consequently by the historical references
we should infer that such a psalm was composed by
one who lived in the days of Solomon.
But (2) the style is also a great indication of date,
though for the English reader it is not so easy to
discern variations of style, as it is for one who is
acquainted with a little Hebrew. A safe rule to follow
with rega,rd to style as an indication of the date of
the composition of any psalm is that laid down by
De Wette {Commentary on the Psalms, 5th Edit.,
pp. 15, 16), " The more difficult and awkward that the
language is, the more terse and concise the mode in
which the thoughts are expressed, the earlier is the date
THE PSALMS.
317
of the psalm ; aud ou the coutvary, as the language is
the more easy and the more flowing, as the thoughts
appear to be set down upon some definite jjlan, the
later is the date of any psalm." This is precisely Avhat
-we find in many psalms of the two first books — Ps. ix.
and X. ai-e to an English reader most obscure; the
difficulties which a Hebrew scholar finds in them are
immense, both as to language and thought — consequently
it is nearly cei-tain that they are of an earlier date than
a psalm such as Ixxviii., where a clear and definite plan
can be traced throughout the wliole. The reader cannot
be too careful, however, in forming any estimate of the
style of an author. Style varies in tlie same author
so much, according as his own circumstances or his
feelings move him, that we are very liable to make
mistakes. If of two great Hebrew scholars one affirms
that a psalm is written in David's time, and the other
that the same psalm was written some six or seven
hundred years later, and each bases his ai'guments for
the date upon the style of the psalm, into what errors
may not those fall who, with little knowledge of Hebrew,
and with only a superficial knowledge of Jewish history,
venture to assign each psalm to its date ?
Roughly speaking, then, we may state that the first
two books, so far as style is any e^^idence, contain the
earliest psalms. We may now examine how far the
titles bear out this. We may notice in the first place
that anonymous psalms, which are rare in the first two
books, are not once met with in the tim-d book, but are
very frequent in the last two books, ten out of the
seventeen psalms comjDOsiug the fourth book, and
eighteen out of the forty-four which form the last
book being without any author's name mentioned in
the title.
Again, in the first book, all the psalms which are not
anonymous (the anonymous psalms are i., ii., x., and
xxxiii., and it is highly probable that Ps. ix. and x. were
originally one psalm) are ascribed to David. Thirteen
psalms in the second book, one in the third, two in
the fourth, and fifteen in the fifth, are also stated by
the titles to have been written by him. Again, in the
first book nineteen psalms are inscribed to the chief
musician, twenty -five in the second book, eight in the
third, none in the fourth, and only three in the fifth.
This would seem to indicate that the office of chief
musician had ceased to be of such importance when the
three last books were added as it was when tlie two
first books were arranged, aud would point to a later
date.
Ou the other hand, we find the name of Asaph pre-
fixed to one psalm only in the first book, to eleven in
the second, and to no others. The sons of Korah are
mentioned in the titles of seven psalms in the second
book, and of four in the third, but nowhere else. The
name " MaschU " appears once only in the first and
fifth books, never in the fourth book, seven times in
the second book, and four times in the third. The
much perplexmg name Miehtam appears once in the
first book, five times iu the second, and nowhei'e else.
Psalms of Degrees, in which there are many references
to late events in Jewish history, are found in the fifth
book only.
With these facts before us, it would appear that what
we inferred from the subject-matter and historical
contents of the Psalms is fully borne out by the titles.
The Psalms of DaA-id occupy the chief part of the first
book ; those of the sons of Korah and anonymous
psalms form the basis of the second ; Psalms of Asaph
a large proportion of the third book ; the fourth book
consists chiefly of anonymous psalms ; the fifth is a
miscellaneous collection.
A further distinction has been supposed to exist
between the books, and to account for the ^iresent
arrangement ; this is the difference between the names
which are used by the psalmists when they would speak
of God. It will be observed that in some psalms
" God " is only spoken of, in others " the Lord." Thus
it has been observed that iu Book I. " God " is used
43 times, "the Lord" 272 times; in Book II. "God"
is used 164 times, " the Lord " 30 times; in Book III.
" God " is used 43 times, " the Lord " 44 times. Now,
whatever these facts may imply, we cannot believe that
the compilers of the Psalter counted diligently how
often these names were used in the different psalms,
and then ai-ranged them in books accordingly. It is
quite as hard to maintain an early origin as a late from
such data. All that we can do is to state the fact and
leave it unexplained. It is a fact as certainly as it is
a fact that the name " God " is used more than twice
as often as the name " Lord " in the coUects from
Advent to Trinity Sunday, but that in the twenty-five
Sundays after Trinity the name " Lord " is used half
as often again as the name " God." The cases are
certainly parallel, and if no inference can be di-awn in
the one case, why should it be drawn iu the other ?
We would gladly classify these five books according
to their subject-matter, but such a task has hitherto
proved impracticable. We give the best scheme that
has been given, but that is unsatisfactorj^. According
to this scheme, Book I. consists of j)rayers suitable
for any day, and for any time or condition of life;
Book II., of psalms for holy days and public worship
iu general; Book III., of lamentations on account of
national disasters ; Book IV., psalms of joy and hope ;
Book v., general Temple hymns.
It remains for lis now to examine the various classes
of hymns that we meet with in the Psalter viewed as
one book, and to attempt to classify them, so far as we
can, under their separate heads. Though it is impos-
sible to make the line of demarcation between them as
clear and as distinct as we could wish, they may be
roughly divided as follows : —
1. Hymns of Praise, such as viii., xix., xxix., xxxiii.,
Ixv., xciii., civ., cxlv., &c.
2. Historical Hymns, in which the mind of the
spiritual reader is elevated to God by the repeated
mention of His mercies to Israel, which afford hope of
further mercies, such as Ixxviii., cv., cvi., cxiv.
3. Others refer to the Tabernacle, or the Temple,
regarded as the place where God's presence was espe-
318
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
cially to be sought by tao pious Jew, such as Va. \v.,
xxiv., Ixviii., Ixxi., Ixxvii., cxxxii., cxxxiv., cxxxv.
4. Othoi'S speak especially of a King of tlio house
of DaAud whose reign is to bo glorious, and uuliuiited
both iu diu'atiou and extent, such as Ps. ii., xx., xxi., xlv.,
Ixxii., ex. These are psalms which we find frequently
applied to Christ in the New Testament. On account
of this, and also on account of the early belief of the
Jews that certain of these psalms applied to the Messiah,
they arc called the Messianic Psalms.
Others again describe the siifferiugs of one who is
in great distress, all, excei^t Ps. Ixxxviii., brightening
up towards the end with the hope of deliverance, which
culminate into a hymn of praise — e.g., Ps. vii., x., xi., xii.,
xiv., xxii., Iv., Iri., Ixxxviii., cix., cxxx\ai. The suffering
described is occasionally mental, occasionally physical.
Some of these — Ps. vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx.,
cxliii. — are used by the Church as penitential psalms.
Some of the Psalms are of an entirely different
description, being didactic in their style, or hymns of
instruction rather than prayers, or hymns of praise and
thanksgiving. Among these may be mentioned Ps.
xxxvii., xlix., Ixxiii.
Another class consists of purely spiritual hymns and
songs, such as Ps. i., sxiii., xlii., xliii., ci., cxxi., cxxvii.,
cxxviii., cxxxiii., cxxxix.
But, as wo observed, an accurate classification is
impossible. A psalm expi'cssive of the deepest sorrow,
such as Ps. xxii., terminates in the brightest expression
of thankfulness ; a psalm of praise, such as Ps. xxxiv.
is at the beginning, becomes iu the end didactic; Ps.
ciii., which is a burst of praise in the beginning and
iu the end, becomes didactic in the middle part.
However, before we take leave of this di^-ision of our
subject, we must notice two classes of psalms, which
are remai-kable, the fii'st from theii* form, the second
from their title : these are known as (1) the Alphabetical
Psalms, (2) the Songs of Degi-ees.
(1.) The first class consists of eight psabus, i.e., ix.,
X., (which we view as one\ xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi.,
cxii., cxix., cxlv. The peculiarity of this class of psalms
consists in a certain alphabetical or acrostic an-ange-
ment of the verses, by which each initial letter of each
verse follows the preceding as one letter in the alphabet
follows another. The English reader will understand
this arrangement most easily by referring to the Bible
version of Ps. cxix. The names of the twenty-two
Hebrew letters will be observed at the head of each
of the twenty-two subdivisions of the psalm. This is
the most perfect specimen of aljihabetical writing that
is to be foimd in the Scriptures, as each of the eight
verses that forms a subdivision of the psalm begins
with the same letter. However, the alphabetical arrange-
ment is not always carried out so systematically as in
this psalm. In Ps. ix., x., we find a very interesting
specimen of this style. With the exception of the letter
daleth, all the letters as far as caph are found at the
beginning of verses in Ps. ix. Ps. x. begins v*ith lamed.
There then follows a bi'eak in the alphabetical arrange-
ment till the end of verse 11. Verses 12, 14, 15, and
17 begin with the last fourkttcrsui the alphabet. The
whole style of the psalm, as is frequently the case when
the wicked are the sulgect, is very rugged, and the
alphabetical arrangement accords with the style. Ps.
xxv. is more complete. The first letter of the alphabet
begins each of tho two first verses, but by the trans-
position of the two first words of the second Averse it
may be made to begin with bcfh. The letters vau and
Jco2}h are missing, rcsJi beginning both verse 18 and verso
19. The last verse, which bears the marks of a later
liturgical addition, begins with jjc. To this Ps. xxxiv.
is somewhat similar in arrangement, the letter vau being
absent, and the last Averse beginniug withpe. Ps. xxxvii.
is more complete, most of the pairs of verses Ijeginning
vrith the corresponding letter of the alphabet. Tho
letter ayin is missing, and the last two verses begin
with vau, the second letters of each word, however,
beginning with the last letter of the alphabet. The
variations from the couplet arrangement are found iu
the verses beginniug with van, cajph, shin, tsaddi, Tcoph ;
samech having three verses, the other letters only one.
Ps. cxi. aud cxii. form a pair in which the first eight
verses are so written that the aliDhabetieal arrangement
applies to each half of every verse, while the last six
letters of the ali>habet are employed in the three sub-
divisions of the two last verses. The arrangement iu
these psalms may be said to be symmetrical, though
irregular. Of Ps. cxix., the only one which is regular
aud symmetrical in its arrangement, we have spoken
already. Tho series closes with Ps. cxlv., which is
deficient in the letter mm.
What was the object of such an arraugenient it is
not easy to say. It may have been intended to assist
the memory. But with far greater probability it was
intended to be a poetical ornament, eon'esponding to
the alliterative style wliicli is found in some early
English poems. There is nothing in this style which
indicates an author lidng at a late period. On the
contrary, it would rather betoken an early state of
literature. It may be a germ of that great ornainent
of assonance, which is used so freely and with such
beauty by the prophet Isaiah.
(2.) The Songs of Degi-ees are fifteen in number,
reaching from Ps. cxx. to Ps. cxxxiv. The word trans-
lated " degTces " in our English version means " steps"
in the Hebrew, whence it has been supposed by some
that these "Gradual Psalms" were sung on fifteen
steps which led into the Court of Israel. Tliis account,
however, looks doi;btful ; it has very little authority to
support it, the internal evidence in some verses being
against it. Others have supposed that they were sung
by the Jews as they returned from the Captivity, but
there is too little mention made of the deliverance from
Babylon to make this probable ; besides, tho passages
where the Captivity is mentioned, speak of it as an old
event. With more probability they may bo looked upon
as pilgrim songs, which were chanted by the people as
they went up to the Holy City. We can almost trace
the progress of their pilgrimage from these songs. In
Ps. cxx. we see them in some distress upon the road.
BETWEEN THE BOOKt
319
In Ps. cxxi. tliey pitch tlieir tents witliiu sight of
the mouutains that stand round about Jerusalem. In
Ps. cs::ii. the city with its •walls and palaces bursts
upon then' gaze. The songs continue to describe the
feelings of the pilgrims as they approach nearer and
nearer to the end of their journey. In Ps. oxxx. we
have their penitential psalm, in Ps. cxxxi. the prayer
of humble access, reminding us of the conditions laid
down in Ps. xv. and xxiv., by observing which only
might man ventiu'e to dwell in God's tabernacle. But
not till the end of the series, i.e., Ps. cxxxiv., does the
happy band find itself safe within the walls of the
sanctuary, and there lift up the hands to bless the Lord.
One other explanation of the name must be mentioned.
From a peculiar way in which the thoughts are arranged
in many of the psalms, an idea which is prominent at
the end of one verse being made to begin the succeedino-
verse, the notion of " steps " has been supposed to have
arisen. A good instance of the " step " style is foimd
in Ps. cxxi. —
" I will lift up miue eyes unto the bills
From whence cometh m'j help ;
Mil lu!p comelh from the Lord
Which made heaven and earth." —
where the words in italic characters exemplify what wo
speak of. Tliis style is not peculiar to the Psalms.
We give a remarkable instance of it from Isa. xx-vi.,
where a hymn occurs which reminds us of many
passages in the Psalms. The words which illustrate
the " step " arrangement are printed in italic type : —
" 3. Thou wilt keep him in i^erfect peace
Whose mind is stayed on Thee,
Because He trusteth in Thee.
4. Tru^t ye in the Lord for ever,
For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
5. For He bringeth down them that dwell on high j
The lofty city, He layeth U low ;
He layeth it low, even to the ground.
He bringeth it even to the dust.
6. The foot shall tread it down.
Even the foot of the poor.
And the steps of the needy.
7. The v:ay of the just is uprightness :
Thou, most upright,
Dost weigh the jwf/t of the just.
8. Tea, in the way of thy judgments, 0 Lord," &c.
(Isa. xxvi.)
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BT THE KEV. G. F. MACLEAE, D.D., HEAD MASTER OF KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL,
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SONS OF ANTIPATER.
[F the two sons thus appointed to promi-
nent positions, the younger, Herod,' soon
_ began to display uncommon abilities, and
(fj^^a^MB) the most unbounded ambition. Though
only twenty-five- years of age, the new governor of
Galilee turned his energies at once to the efficient
management of his province. Numerous robber bands
which infested the confines of Syria, were resolutely
attacked; their chief, Hezekias, was i^ut to death, and
security was restored.
Such decision won the praises of multitudes in the
towns and cities of Syria, and especially of Sextus Csesar,
the new president of the province. But the Sanhedrui
at Jerusalem had not been consiilted, and Hyrcanus felt
that Antipater and his sons were everything, while he
was of no account. Accordingly Herod was summoned
before the Sanhedrin to answer for his conduct, and
appeared, not in the garb of a suppliant, but clothed in
purple,^ accompanied by a strong body-guard, and "i^-ith
a letter from Sextus Csesar demanding his acquittal.
Such insolent dictation provoked the anger of the
couucU, but they would have been too terrified to proceed
to -judgment had it not been for Sameas, or Shammai,
-His mother was Cypros, an Arabian of noble descent (Jos. Ant.
xiv^. 7, §3).
- Josephus says fifteen, but for irevTCKaiSeKa we ought apparently
to read TreixeKaiEiKoo-i (Jos. ^nt. siv. 9, § 2 j B.J. i. 10, § 4.
3 Jos. A7it. xiv. 9, § 4,
I one of the most learned of the Rabbis, and a strict ob-
server of the Law. He sternly rebuked the culprit, and
I urged his fellow- judges to pronounce sentence of death.
I They would have acted on his advice,, but tlie timid
j Hyrcanus secretly urged the criminal to flee from the
I city. Herod took the hint, and flying to Damascus
I threw himseK at the feet of Sextus Csesar, who appointed
: him governor of Coele-Syi-ia and. Samaria.'* Filled with
rage, he soon gathered an army, and, marching against
Jerusalem, would have avenged the affront he had re-
ceived, had it not been for the intervention of his father
and brother, who urged hira to be satisfied with his
acquittal, and to di-aw off his troops.^
This was ui B.C. 46. Two years later, B.C. 44, Csesar
was assassinated at Rome, and Antipater addressed
himself to the task of meeting the new situation, imex-
pected even by his sagacity. Cassius, the chief con-
spirator in the murder of Oassar, became pro-consul of
Syria, and arriving in Judeea, enforced upon the country
the enormous tribute of seven hundi*ed talents of silver.
Antipater commissioned Herod to collect the quota from
Galilee, wliile Maliehus, a powerful Jew, and an adherent
of Hyi'caJius, was directed to obtain the rest. Herod,
with characteristic energy, employed himself in raising-
two hundred talents for Galilee, and so gained the favour
of Cassius, while the people of Lydda, Gophna, and
Emmaus, being backward in their contributions, were
sold into slavery ; but so incensed was the pro-consul at
* Jos. Ant. siv. 9, § 5 ; B. J. i. 10, § 8.
^ See Merivale's Romans under the Empire, iii. 379.
320
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Maliclius for his dilatoriuess, that ho would have put
him to death, liad it not been for the iutorveutiou of
Antipater, who advanced one hundred talents on his
account.' Herod was now confirmed in the government
of Coele-Syria, and Cassius even promised him the king-
dom of Judea, if the arms of tlie Republic pi'OAcd
triumphant. Soon afterwards Antipater perished by
poison, administered with the connivance of Maliclius,
who had ineffectually made an open attempt upon
his life. Herod would have taken instant vengeance
upon the murderer, but was dissuaded by Phasael.
Eventually he got him into his power, and caused
him to be put to death.^
It was now obvious that the virtual supremacy lay
more tlian ever in the hands of the sons of Antipater.
The party of Hyrcanus sa-uggled in vain against their
ascendancy. But it was not the policy of Herod openly
to break with the high priest ; and to conciliate the Jews
who clung to the Asmouean family, he was betrothed,^
with the consent of Hyrcanus, to his beautiful and ac-
complished grand-daughter, Mariamne,* who was as yet
a child.
Meanwhile, the forces of Brutus and Cassius had mot
their opi>onents Antonius and Octavius on the disas-
trous field of Philippi, B.C. 42. The conquerors sepa-
rated. Octavius hurried to Italy, Antonius to Asia.
No sooner had the latter arrived in Bithynia, than a
number of influential Jews waited upon liim to urge
heavy complaints against Herod and Phasael. But
Herod plied him with such heavy bribes, that the com-
plainants could not obtain a hearing.* In the following
year, b.c. 41, another deputation met him at Daphne
near Antioch, and on this occasion they were accom-
panied by Hyrcanus himself. The Roman heard what
tliey had to say, and then turning to the high priest
asked whom he deemed best fitted to rnle the country.
Remembering the projected alliance between Herod
and his granddaughter, Hp-cauus named the sons of
Antipater, and Antonius readily consenting, they were
named tetrarchs of Judea ; nor conld another deputa-
tion of one thousand Jews, who waited upon him at
TjTC, alter his decision."
But now an unexpected power appeared in the
country, and Judea became the ^actim of the strife for
empire between Rome and PartJiia. While Antonius
was wasting his time in the society of Cleopatra, Queen
of Egypt, the Parthians, under Pacorus, having been
bribed 7 by Antigonus,^ advanced through Syria, and
made themselves masters of Sidon, Ptolemais, and all
1 Jos. B. J. i. 11, § 2.
2 Jo3. B. J. i. 11, § 8 ; Ewaia, V. 403.
3 He had already married Doris, a native of Judea, of liigh family,
by whom he became the father of a son, Antipater (Jos. B. J. i.
12, §3).
4 Jos. B. J. i. 12, §3.
5 Jo.s. Ant. xiv. 12, § 2; B. J. i. 12, § 4; Milman's History of the
Jews, ii. 54.
6 Jos. B. J. i. 12, §§ 5, 6.
'' Jos. B. J. i. 1.3, § 1, tells us that Antigonus promised him one
thousand talents and five hundred women of Judsea.
" The son of Aristobulus II., who had been put to death by the
army of Pompeius, He was the last of the Maccabees who sat on
the throne.
tlio coast except Tyre.^ Hence a division of tlie
Parthian forces marched against Jerusalem, and their
leader, admitted within the walls, proposed to act as
umpire between the rival claimants for the throne of
Judiea.
Phasael assented, and in an enl hour, accompanied
by Hyrcanus, repaired to the Parthian governor in
Galilee, who threw them both into chains. Herod, sus-
pecting treachery, preferred to stay behind in the Baris^"
at Jerusalem, where he had taken refuge, and thence
fled by night to Masada," a strong fortress at the
southern end of the Dead Sea, where he left his \vi£e
and followers in the care of his brother Joseph. Thence
he hastened towards Petra, to seek the aid of Malchus,
the successor of Aretas. But met by envoys prohibiting
his api^roach, he made his way to Pelusium, and thence
to Alexandria, where Cleopatra tried in vain to induce
him to take the command of an expedition. With true
insight he saw that in the cai)ital of the West his
fortunes were to be made, and though it was the depth
of winter,^^ took ship and sailed for Rome, B.C. 40.
CHAPTER XIV.
HEROD KING OF JUD.EA.
Meanwhile the Parthians had obtained possession of
Jerusalem. Antigonus was made king, and Hyrcanus
and Phasael were delivered into his power. The latter,
knowing his death was certain, beat out liis brains
against the walls of his prison. As for Hyi-canus, while
ho knelt in the posture of a suppliant before Antigonus,
the new king, resolved that he should never hold the
office of high priest again, bit off his ears,^-^ and then
sent him to be led prisoner to Seleucia by the Parthians.
Thus Jerusalem was left in the hands of a foreign
army, who committed the greatest excesses.
Herod in the meantime had not been idle. On arriving
at Rome, he found Antonius at the summit of power.
The triumvir received him with the utmost distinction,
and introduced him to Octavius, wlio at once recalled the
services which the Idumean had rendered to the great
Julius. A Parthian campaign was at this time being
diligently ])lanned by Antonius, and he found in Herod a
useful ally. Within seven days, therefore, he procured
a decree of the senate, nominating him king of Judaea,
and Herod, successful beyond his most sanguine hopes,
walked in procession between Octavius and Antonius,
pi'eceded by the consuls and other magistrates, to the
Capitol, where the usual sacrifices T^ere offered, and
9 Jos. B. J. i. 13, § 1 ; Ant. xiv. 13, § 3 ; Dion, xlviii. 26.
'<' Afterwards known as the Tower of Antonia, when restored and
enlarged by Herod.
1' This fortress, now called Schheh, was situated at the S.W. end
of the Dead Sea, on a rock rising to a height of 1,500 feet, and
separated from the neighbourinar mountain-range by deep ravines.
It was first built by Jonathan Maccabocus. (See Traill's Josep/itw ;
Robinson's Bihlicnl Researches, i. 525.)
12 M»;t£ Ti/i' uKu'tjv 70V x^'h'^^"'' I'ToAeicrar (Jos. B. J. i. 14, § 2)/
Xei/tcui/o9 re oVior {Ant. xiv. 14, § 2).
13 Jos. B. J. i. 13, § 9.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
321
the decree investing him with royal power was en-
roUed.i
Herod did not remain long at Rome. Everything
depended on the celerity of liis movements. The close
of the week, therefore, saw him appointed king, and
hurrying to Brundnsium. Thence ho took ship for
Pfcolemais, and arrived there after an absence of barely
three mouths. Collecting a body of troops, he speedily
won over aU GalUee, where the recollection of his energy
as o-ovemor was stiU fresh. Then he set out to attack
Antigonus, who had unsuccessfully laid siege to Masada,
in the hope of obtaining possession of Mariamne."'^
Jopjia next fell into his hands ; and having raised the
siege of Masada, and liberated his relatives, he pro-
ceeded, in conjunction with the Roman general SUo,
to lay siege to Jerusalem. He pitched his camp on the
north side of the city, but, though aided by the Roman
troops, his progress was very slow. The Jews within
the city were strongly attached to Antigonus, the last
representative of the Asmonean line, and held out with
great pertinacity. The jealousy and corruption of the
Roman generals perpetually hampered Herod's plans,
but nothing daunted his energy or activity. He sent
his brother Joseph to Idumea to prevent any risings in
that quarter ; placed liis wives in security at Samaria ;
re-conquered GaUlee, wliich had gone over to Antigonus ;
hastened to the aid of his patron Antonius at Samosata,
and obtained from him the assistance of two more legions
under Sosius. Thence, furious at the death of his brother
Joseph, who had been slain at Jericho, he hurried, B.C.
37, to Jerusalem, and re-commenced the siege, aided by
Sosius, at the head of 50,000 troops.^
But his progress was still slow.* Forty days were
spent in taking the first wall, fifteen in taking the second.
Then the outer court of the Temple and the lower city
were reduced. At last the signal for the assault was
given, and an indiscriminate massacre ensued. Multi-
tudes were cut down in the narrow streets, many more
while crowded together in their houses. The fuiy
of the legions was roused, and the massacre was only
stayed by the repeated solicitations of Herod, who stood
witli a drawn sword before the entrance of the Holy of
Holies, and threatened to cut down any one of the Roman
soldiers who attempted to enter. Despaiiing of success,
Antigonus descended from the Baris, where he had taken
refuge, and in an abject manner implored Sosius to
spare his life. It was granted him, but only to be
taken from him shortly afterwards at Antioch by order
of Antonius, who had him tried and condemned, and
after he had been scourged by the Roman lictors, struck
off his head.*
Thus ignominiously passed away the last priest-king
of the Asmonean line, 126 years after Judas Maccabseus
had obtained the government of Judaea, and Herod re-
mained supreme on the ruins of the Asmoneans.
1 Jos. ^nt. xiv. 14, §5; B. J. i. 14, § 4; MQman's History of the
Jews, ii. 57.
' Milman'a History of the Jews, ii. 57.
3 Jos. Ant. xiv. 16, § 1.
4 Jerusalem lield out more than six months. It was a sabba-
tical year, and the people were bard pressed by famine.
5 Jos. B. J. i. 18, § 3 ; Plut. Anton. 36 ; Liv. Epist. 128. " Antonius
was the first of tbo Romans who consented to smite a kiu? with
the axe. Perhaps this ignominious punishment was intended to
brand the sufferer as a rebel and an usurper. Perhaps it was
69 — VOL. III.
CHAPTER XV.
HEROD AND OCTAVIUS.
Herod had now attained the highest object of his
ambition. By Roman aid, and under the influence of
Roman supremacy, he had become sole ruler of Pales-
tine, and he maintained his po.ver unchallenged until
his death.
He had already committed many and terrible crimes
against the Asmonean dynasty, but " he had learnt in
the school of the Roman proscriptions the two concur-
rent objects for which the tyrant selects his victims,
the satisfaction of his vengeance and the replenishment
of his coffers."^ One of his first measures, therefore,
after the capture of Jerusalem, was to execute forty-five
of the most prominent partisans of Antigonus. These
were aU slaughtered in one day. He next proceeded
to sentence the entire Sanhedrin to death, with the
exception of two only, Pollio and Sameas, who alone
during the last siege had counselled theii* countrymen
to surrender the city. With these two exceptions, aU
the rest were executed.
The grandfather of his bride Mariamne and his own
great benefactor, the aged Hyrcanus, had been for three
years in the hands of the Parthians in Babylonia. There
he had been held in high respect for his age and lofty
office, and now suffered himself to be persuaded by Herod
to retiu-n to Jerusalem, where, though ke still received
the respect due to him, he could not again discharge his
sacerdotal fnnctions.'^
The appointment of a successor to his sacred office
became a matter of great solicitude to the Idumean
monarch. He knew he could not treat the services
of the Temple with neglect, for they were the very
centre of the national life. To prevent any rival,
therefore, to his own supremacy, he appointed an
obscure priest of the line of Aaron, who had returned
from Babylonia, and was devoted to his interests, to
this high office.^ But this appointment provoked the
resentment not only of the aged Hyrcanus, but of the
people generally, and of the whole body of the priests.
There was still a scion of the Asmonean house in the
person of Aristobidus, a brother of his queen Mariamne,
and a grandson of Hyrcanus. He had a rightfid claim
to the office, and his mother Alexandra eagerly coveted
the honour for him. Though he had already appointed
adopted in ostentatious disregard of the prescriptions of Roman
policy, in token that the triuinvir claimed to rule in Asia as an
Oriental despot rather than the agent of an European republic "
(Merivale's Romans under the Empire, iii. 3S1 ; Milman's History of
the Jews, ii. 59). Ewald inclines to think it was done " because it
seemed to be absolutely necessary on Herod's account for teiri-
fying the Jews" {History of Israel, v. 416 n.).
6 Merivale's Romans under tlie Empire, iii, 382.
7 See above, p. 320.
^ Jos, Ant, sv, 2, §4.
322
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Ananel, Herod now suddenly conferred the position
on Aristobulus, who was only seventeen years of age,
thus showing that ho considered the high priesthood
dependent entirely on his own wUl and pleasure. The
sight of the handsome youth, arrayed in his gorgeous
robes and performing his holy functions at the Feast
of Tabernacles, filled the people with delight, and they
rent the air with their shouts of applause. These shouts
sealed the doom of the unfortunate young man. Herod's
jealousy instantly took firo, and he had him drowned in
the fishponds at Jericho.
With his death the last hope of the Asmoneans
seemed to be taken away, and neitlier Herod's vain
pretence of sorrow, nor the magnificent funeral which
he celebrated in his honour, could deceive the people or
the bereaved mother. The grief of Alexandra was
unbounded, and she wrote a full account of all that had
occurred to Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Even her heart
was touched with sympathy for the unhappy mother,
and she could not rest till she had persuaded Antonius
to call the tyrant to account. Accordingly tho triumvir
summoned him to his presence.^ How critical Herod
deemed affairs was made plain by his orders to his brother
Joseph to slay Mariamne, in the event of his not return-
ing, rather than allow her to fall into tho hands of
Antonius. Having made these provisions, he set out
for Egypt, and presented himseK before his Roman
patron, and by boldly denjdng the charge, and still
more by la^dsh bribes, so won upon him, that not only
were the accusations against himself dismissed, but the
triumw placed him by his side on the judicial throne,
and bestowed iipon him evei-y mark of distinction.^
Ha^-ing escorted his patron on his way to Armenia,
Herod returned to Jerusalem to find that very different
events had occurred there. Duriug his absence news
reached Jerusalem that ho had failed in his mission,
and that Antonius had put him to death. Thereupon
Alexandra thovight that the Idumean usurpation was at
an end, and that Judsea might recover her freedom under
her native princes. But while she and Mariamne were
taking measures for seizing the supreme power, suddenly
Herod returned. His sister Salome whispered charges
against his wife, and he discovered that his secret in-
structions to Joseph had been divulged. Thereupon
Alexandra was thrown into prison; Joseph was executed ;
and Mariamne all but shared the same fate, owing her
escape only to the charm of her own loveliness.^
But though reinstated in his supreme power by
Antonius, Hei*od was tortured with apprehensions
owing to the unbounded influence of Cleopatra, who
was daUy recci\-ing from her lover new tokens of his
devotion, and had cast longing eyes on the throne of
Judaea. The queen of Egyjjt accompanied her paramour
to the banks of the Euphrates, and received from him
at parting certain territories bordering on the Jewish
kingdom, and the balsam-gardens near Jericho. On
' Jos. Ant. XT. 3, §5; Jahn's Hcbreio CommonweaWi, p. 320.
- Joa. Ant. sv. 3, § 5. Cleopatra had coveted the dominions of
Herod, but Antonius consoled her with the gift of Coele-Syria.
3 Jos. Ani. XT. 3, §9.
her return she passed through Herod's dominions, and
sojourned for some time in his capital ; and she is said
to have made overtures to him, which would secure for
herself a devoted friend, in the event of the defeat of
her Roman lover.^
For now the eventful year, B.C. 31, was drawing on.
Tho rival potentates of Juda)a and Egypt had long
been watching and fencing with each other, when tho
battle of Actium ended all their intrigues, and both
found themselves obliged to petition for existence from
tho conqueror. Herod had raised a body of troops to
assist Antonius, but the designs of Cleopatra had in-
volved him in a war with Malchus, an Arabian prince.
In the first campaign ho had been signally defeated,
owing to the unwillingness of tho Jews to undertake a
war against a nation with whom they had no quarrel.
But in the spring of B.C. 31, a sudden earthquake con-
vulsed the cities of southern Palestine, and the Arabs,
taking advantage of the consternation, slew the Jewish
ambassadors who had come to treat for peace. The
news of their barbarity roused the whole people, and
enabled Herod to win a decisive victory over his foes
at Philadelphia,^ and to gain something like popular
favour from his subjects.
Though by undertaking this war tho dexterous
politician had avoided being involved in the great war
between the Eastern and Western world, the issue of
the battle of Actium seemed again to make Herod's
fortunes tremble in the balance. But he resolved to
confront the conqueror with the same resolute bearing
which had availed before Antonius and Cleopatra.
Having, therefore, caused Hyrcanus, who might be a
centre of disaffection in his absence, to be put to death
by tho Sanhedrin, on a charge of treasonable corre-
spondence with the Arabian king, he handed over the
administration of the kingdom to his brother Pheroras.
He next secured Mariamne with her brother in the
fortress of Alexandriiim, in charge of Soemus the
Iturean, with the same instructions as before, if he
did not return ; and then set out for Rhodes, where
Octavius had arrived on his way to Egjrpt.'^
Without reserve he threw himself on the clemency
of the conqueror, owned that he had been the friend of
tho late triumvir, and promised the same fidelity to his
new patron, if he woiild honour him with his confidence.
Won over by his frankness, the arbiter of the world
commanded him to resume the diadem, and permitted
him to accompany him to Antioch, Ptolcanais, and
Egypt, where, on the death of Antonius, he restored
to him the territory round Jericho which Cleopatra
had wrung from her paramour, together Avith Gadara,
Hipjx)s, Samaria, the maritime towns of Gaza, Joppa,
and Anthedon, as also the Tower of Strato.7 Thus,
successful beyond all his expectations, Herod returned
to Jerusalem with greater power secured to him than
he had ever enjoyed before.
•1 Merivale's Romans under il\e Empire, iii. 383.
* Jos. B. J. i. 19, § 3.
<5 Jos. Ant. XV. 6, 6 ; B. J. i. 20, § 1.
' Jos. B. J. i. 20, § 3j Merivale's Romans, iii. 356.
THE PSALMS.
8-23
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PSALMS (concluded).
BY THE REV. H. DEANE, M.A., FELLOW OF ST. JOHN's COLLEGE, AND VICAR OF ST. GILES', OXFORD.
E now proceed to examine the names of
the diit'ereut authors to whom the Psalms
are ascribed by the titles, bearing in
mind the rule which we gave above, that
unless the contents of a psalm contradict the title, the
title is probably as correct a history of the psalm as
can be given.
1. The earliest writer to whom any psalm is ascribed
by the titles is " Moses, the man of God." He is said
to' have been the author of Ps. xc. As the psalm
is didactic, it is not easy to discover anything in
the contents which bears in any way upon the title.
Certainly, if obscui-ity of style and difficulty of ex-
pression is a test of antiquity, there is much in the
contents of the psalm which makes the Mosaic author-
ship not improbable.
2. David is the next author, to whom are ascribed
by the titles Ps. iii. — xxxii., xxxiv. — xli., li. — Ixv., Ixviii.
— Ixx., Ixxxvi., ci., ciii., cviii. — ex., cxxii., cxxiv., cxxxi.,
cxxxiii., cxxxviii. — exlv. We have here reckoned, as
before, Ps. ix. and x. as only one psalm. If Ps. x. is
not ascribed to Da-vad, it must be added to the list of
anonymous psalms.
Let us now examine how far the truth of these
titles is supported by the contents of the psalms. The
earliest psalm in which we find any dLfiiculty is the
5th, where in the 7th verse we have a reference to the
Temple. The Hebrew word heylcal, however, ui tliis
passage is the same as that employed in 1 Sam. i. 9 ;
iii. 3, to mean the Tabernacle. Consequently we find
nothing to oppose the Da^-idic authorship. In Ps. xiv.
7, there is an apparent reference to the Captivity,
which contradicts the title. We find similar references
to the Captivity in Ps. xxv. 22 ; li. 18, 19 ; liii. 6. But,
considering the liturgical use which was made of the
Psalter, there is nothing to surprise us in this. It is
perfectly possible that these verses were added to the
Psalms at some later time, so as to meet the urgencies
of the case. It has been objected that the mention of
David's name (xviii. 50j is an argument against the
Davidic origin of that psalm. But surely the fact that
St. Paul mentions his own name in an epistle does not
prove that the epistle was not written by him. Why
then should the mention of David's name in a psalm
be an argument against the authenticity of the psalm ?
We may examine all the other psalms ascribed to
David by the titles, and if we do so with care, we shall
come to the conclusion that we have not sufficient
eridence to infer that" without doubt " the gi-eater part
of these seventy-three psalms ascribed to David were
written at a far later date. We add a word of caution
with regard to arguments drawn from style. The style
of an author constantly varies as different ideas present
themselves to his mind. If we would then be able to
discern an author by his style, we should study his
writings in extenso, so as to become familiar with it.
But the very limited range of ancient Hebrew literature •
that remains precludes a sufficient study to enable us
to speak with certainty upon this point ; consequently
we look with suspicion upon all arguments drawn from
style, unless they are based upon an induction dravrn
from a very lai-ge number of instances.
3. Solomon is the next traditional author in chrono-
logical order. To him, by the titles, are ascribed Ps.
Ixxii. and cxsvii. To prevent any misconception on the
part of the English reader with regard to the meaning
of the title, it is worth while to remark that the preposi-
tion which in the title to this psabn is translated '• for "
(it consists of one letter, the letter Z), is the same as
that which, n» the preceding psalm and in many others,
is translated " of." So far as the title goes, there is
nothing there which opposes the Salomonic origin of
these psalms. Of com-se we know Httle of Solomon's
style, for of his voluminous works only a very few have
come down to us. Yet there are some remarkable
coincidences in style between Ps. Ixxii. and the Book of
Proverbs, which has, for the most part, been accredited
to Solomon. There is an apparent reference to Solomon
in Ps. cxxvdi., for a name by which Solomon was known
was Jedidiah, or the '• Beloved of the Loed." This may
be traced in the words " He giveth His Beloved sleep."
If, indeed, we were forced to reply to the question,
" Why Solomon should not be the author of Ps. Ixxii.
and cxxvii. ? " we should find ourselves in a position of
greater difficulty than those who undertake to prove
that Solomon was the author.
Asaph is recorded in the titles as the author of Ps.
Ixxiii. — Ixxxiii. Of his liistory nothing more is known
than that he was one of David's chief musicians
(1 Chron. vi. 39 ; xv. 17 ; xvi. 5). Among the most
prominent thoughts in the psalms ascribed to him is an
invasion, which is characterised by the most frightfid
ravages. In these psalms also there appears an accoimt
of certain confederations of hostile tribes against the
country of the writer ; and besides this, the enemy is
described as having been destroyed in some wonderful
and unexpected manner. Apparently the reference is in
many cases to the Assyrian invasion. Many of Asaph's
psalms, however, refer to early historical events. We
are therefore, of course, unable to assign any date to
the composition of many of Asaph's psalms.
Heman the Ezrahite is mentioned in the titles as the
author of Ps. Ixxxviii., to which we have abeady referred
as unique for the deep desponding spirit that runs
throughout it. It reads like a psalm written by one who
was in a world where all dwelt in solitude, apart from
those whom they loved, with a remembrance of a life that
had already passed away, with a hope of another life
324
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
that was to come, looking for somo great wonder which
should bring the dead again unto life, and enable them
to praise God once more as thoy had in former times.
It is a psalm which seems almost to introduce us to the
realms of the departed. He that speaks in it is at rest,
because he is " free among the dead," but yet there is a
gloom cast over the whole psalm which gives a strange
and unearthly effect as wo read it, and try to realise the
meaning of it. The author is unknown. Ho must
have suffered much to liave been able to dictate so sad
a psalm. The titukr author, Heman tho Ezrahito, is
mentioned in 1 Chron. xv. 17, 19 (marg., 1 Chron. ii. 6) ;
1 Kings iv. 31. He is there described as a contem-
porary of Solomon, and as remarkable for his wisdom.
In default of a more probable author, wo accept the
tradition furnished by the title, ascribing it to Heman.
We will just mention the Jewish tradition ■with
regard to Ethan the Ezrahite. That tradition is, of
course, entirely without value. Ethan was probably
one of David's choir. The invasion to which reference
is made in Ps. Ixxxix., the only one ascribed to Ethan,
is probably the Egyptian invasion under Shishak, in
the days of Rehoboam. There is certainly nothing in
the contents of the psalm which precludes the early
origin which the title claims.
The sons of Korah are mentioned in the titles of
eleven psalms, that is, xlii., xliv. — xlix., Ixxxiv., Ixxxv.,
Ixxxvii., Ixxxviii., to which, probably, Ps. xliii. should be
added ; but whether the title designates them as the
authors, or as the persons to whom these psalms are
dedicated, is not clear. We may also remark that all
the psalms are remarkable for tho rarity of the use of
the name Lord, as compared with that of God.
So much may be said with regard to tho authors of
the psalms who are mentioned in the titles. The most
striking fact is that in the whole collection not a single
psalm is attributed to one of tho prophets. Erom
Avhat wo know of the works of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Habakkuk, we should have expected to have found
some of their songs included in the great Book of Songs.
But Palestinian tradition would not admit them. The
Alexandrine tradition admitted, as we shall see further
on, that the prophets Jeremiah, Haggai, and Zechariah
were authors of cert<ain psalms, but these are the latest
Authors to whom any psalms are ascribed by ancient
tradition.
It has been suspected, however, upon various grounds,
that some of the psalms may have been produced by
writers who lived not only after the return from
ihe Capti^Tity, but far down into the Maccabee period.
Gradually these suspicions have grown into assertions,
and the assertions have come to be regarded as axioms,
so that it has been maintained not only that the majority
of the psalms are of a far later date than that which has
been traditionally allowed to them, but that many of
them were written in the second century before Christ.
Among those which have been confidently asserted to
be Maccabee psalms may be mentioned Ps. xliv., Ix.,
Ixxiv., Ixxix., Ixxx., Ixxxiii.
We may notice briefly the character of these psalms,
and see how far tho subject-matter of them requires
the ordinary traditional view of their origin to give way
to the Maccabee hypothesis. In Ps. xliv. the Psalmist
recounts the ancient mercies of God, comx^lains of a
great defeat that his nation has sustained, and prays
for redemption. In Ps. Ix. there is the same complaint
of a national defeat, but also a prayer for redemption,
based upon the ground of some national victory that
has already been granted. In Ps. Ixxiv. a horde of
invaders has gone through the land, devastating all
that they have met. Tho most perplexing reference
in this psalm is that to the " synagogues " (ver. 8), or
the "houses of God," as tho word is translated in tho
Prayer-book version. Now, if this word really meant
" synagogues," there would be no doubt that tho
psalm was written at some considerable period after
the Captivity. But the word means nothing more than
"places of meeting." Such might be tho college of
prophets at Jericho or at Bethel, of which we read in
2 Kings ii. 3, 5. That there were certain holy places
in the land before the Captivity, appears plain from
the Rabshakeh's^ words to the men of Judah, " If
thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God : is
it not He whose high places and whoso altars Hezekiah
hath taken away" (2 Kings xviii. 22) .P With the
natural liability of a foreigner to make mistakes, the
Rabshakeh confounded the idolatrous high places which
Hezekiah had so carefully removed, with these other
sacred places, to which we find references elsewhere,
e.g.. Josh. xxii. 34, and Isa. xix. 19 (where, however,
the land spoken of is Egypt ; but the fact of the erec-
tion of this pillar in Egypt being spoken of by the
prophet as a sign of reverence to the Lord, makes it
not improbable that some such custom was prevalent
among the Jews of his day) .2 But to return to our
psalm. After the description of the devastation, comes
the appeal to past mercies, and, last of all, the prayer
for deliverance. Ps. Ixxix., whicli, like Ps. Ixxiv., is
ascribed to Asaph, complains of the ruin of Jerusalem,
praying for deliverance, and vowing sacrifices of praise.
And it is interesting to remark that this psalm is espe-
cially cited in 1 Mace. yix. 16, as being already known
among the holy books of the Jews. Ps. Ixxx. is cast
in almost the same mould. It differs from the others
iu being constructed like a litany with a refrain
frequently recurring, " Turn us again, O Lord God of
Hosts, cause thy face to shine." Ps. Ixxxiii. is very
similar to the others, consisting of a complaint to God
of tho confederations of certain neighbom-ing tribes,
and of a prayer for deliverance from tho oppressors.
Now we may observe in all these psalms that mention
is made of great troubles then existing in the Holy
Land, but that there is no reference whatever to any
domestic disorders, nor to any of the idolatrous and
heathenish rites so frequent in the Holy Land at tho
1 The uame is probably a title, " the cliief cup-bearer."
• The Moabite inscription supports this view. Mcsha speaks
of taking certain " vessels belonging to Jehovah." How could he
have done this if some smaller sanctuaries had not been existing
east of Jordaa 1
THE PSALMS.
325
Maccabee period, and to wliicli the Maccabee books
refer. There is no mention made of the jirohibition to
read the Law, or of the people being forced to eat un-
clean food, which were such striking characteristics of
the Maccabee troubles. What De Wette says of one
of the so-called Maccabee Psalms applies to all of those
wliich we have cited ; they have too little to say about
the Miiccabee times to enable us to affirm so late an
authorship for them. Such circumstances as are
described in them can easily be explained out of the
history wliich preceded the captivity. A land which
had seen so many invasions, from the time of Shishak
down to Nebuchadnezzar, had many a wof ul tale to tell
of fire, plunder, and the sword. We may conclude
that till stronger arguments are alleged in ftivour of
the Maccabee authorship, Ave have every reason to
maintain our ordinary belief, namely, tliat by far the
greater number of the Psalms were composed by authors
who lived before the Captivity, and that the remainder
of the authors did not live so very long after the Cap-
tivity, as they refer to it as an event of recent occurrence.
If there were any consensics among critics, we might
be inclined to think differently ; but when we find two
Psalms positively ascribed to David by one of the
greatest scholars in Europe, which another declares to
be of Maccabee origin, we begin to see that critical
acumen alone cannot much aid us in settling the
question.
We touch, before concluding, upon the interesting
question of the titles o£ the Psalms. That they are of
considerable antiquity cannot be doubted, as we find an
ancient title, which has now lost its meaning, appended
to Ps. Ixxii., and as in many cases we find double titles,
which indicate that the Psalm to which they are pre-
fixed had been applied to different purposes, or that
it had passed under the care of more than one editor.
Such psalms are xlv., Ixv., lxx\a.. Ixxxviii., cxlii.
Prom the mere fact that many of the psalms remain
anonymous, we see with what reverence the existing
titles must have been regarded at a very early period,
the editors being unwilling to introduce any tradition
beyond that which they had before them.
The reference of the titles is twofold, either to the
nature of the composition and the liturgical performance
of it, or to historical matters. We deal with the former
only in this section, as the meaning of the historical
titles is far easier for the ordinary reader to discover.
We have arranged the titles in the same order as that
in which they occur in the psalms to which they respec-
tively belong.
1. Neginoth, i.e., music of stringed instruments, with
wliich the Psalm was to be accompanied. It appears
in the titles to Ps. iv., vi., liv., Iv., Ixvii., Ixxvi. It occurs
once in the prophetical writings, Hab. iii. 19, where it
is distinctly translated, "on my stringed instruments."
The Selah, which occurs twice in Ps. iv., is most
probably a direction to the instruments to play loud
music. The meaning of Selah, however, is much dis-
puted. The word Neginoth is translated " hymns " by
the LXX.
2. Nehiloth, only in the title of Ps. v., probably
means " flutes." The LXX. connected it with the
word Naclmlah, which means " an inheritance." Wliat
they intended to mean cannot be ascertained.
3. Shiggaion occurs only in the title to Ps. vii. It is
found in the plural in " Shiggionoth" (Hab. iii. 1). The
LXX. translate it " psalms." It is probably derived
from a Hebrew word meaning to wander, and describes
a hymn composed in an irregular metre.
4. Glttith occurs in title to Ps. viii. , Ixxxi., Ixxxiv., and
is apparently a musical instrument. It has been sup-
posed to mean "' in the Gittite-way," that is, that the
hymn is to be sung in the same way as the people of
Gath used to sing their hymns. The LXX. pointed
the word Avith different vowels, and connected it with a
word meaning a " wine-press."
5. Muth-Labben, " Death to the Son," the name
of some well-known tune to which Ps. ix. was to be
sung.
6. Sheminith, literally, "the eightli," and so trans-
lated by the LXX. It occurs only in the titles of
Ps. vi. and xii. If the musical scale of the Hebrews
was the same as ours, it may mean " on the octave,"
that is, to be sung by a bass voice. Many persons
understand it to mean " an instrument of eight strings,"
on which the accompaniment was to be played.
7. Michtam, prefixed to Ps. xvi., Ivi., Ivii., Iviii., lix.,
Ix., explained in the margin of our Bible to mean " a
golden iJsalm." It has been conjectured that the word
should be written Michtab, which would mean, as in
Isa. xxxviii. 9, " a writing." The LXX. translate it
"writing on a pillar," ar-nXoypacpLa.
8. Aijeleth-Shahar occurs in the title to Ps. xxii.,
and is rightly translated in our margin, " The hind of
the morning." This would apparently be the name of
a tune which was probably chosen on account of David
comparing himself when persecuted to a hunted stag.
Such comparisons were not contrary to the general
character of Da^dd's mind, as any one can see by look-
ing at 1 Sam. xxiv. 14. The LXX. translate the phrase
by the words " The help in the morning." This trans-
lation is based upon the 19th verse of the psalm, where
the word eijeluth, which in our version is translated
" strength," is not in sound unlike " Aijeleth."
9. Maschil. This occurs in the titles to Ps. xxxii., xlii.,
xliv., xlv., Iii. — Iv., Ixxiv., Ixxviii., Ixxxviii., Ixxxix., cxlii.
It is explained in the margin of our Bibles, " A Psalm
giving instruction." This translation is perfectly
possible. Or the word might mean " meditation," a
sense which is occasionally given to it. The LXX.
translate it, " of understanding."
10. Shoshannim appears in the title of Ps. xlv. and
Ixix. only. The word literally means " lilies." It occurs
in the title to Ps. be., Shushan-eduth, or "the Hly
of the testimony." Whether this was the name of an
instiTiment or of a tune is quite uncertain. The LXX.
title is obscure in meaning, though its derivation is clear.
We do not venture to do more than give the Greek of
the title, inrfp twv a\\oia)07j<TOij.eyci>v,
11. Alamoth, an obscui'e word occurring in the title
326
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to Ps. xlv-i. It is supposed by some to be the name of
an instnimcnt, by others to moan that the Psalm was
to bo Sling by female voices (for the word eJein is
used in the Bible to moan a yonng lad, and its feminine
alniah to mean a female not married, but at an age fit
for marriage). Tliis, then, would mean, if the Heln-ew
system of singing was in any way similar to our own,
" to bo sang an octave above," ie ,ia the treble, and not
in the bass. From tho custom mentioned in Ps. lx\aii.
25, of " damsels " joining in the songs of i^ublic worship,
this last interin-ctation appears to have something in
its favour. The title is mentioned liy name in 1 Chron.
XV. 20, " on Alamoth." The LXX. refer to tho deriva-
tion of the word from a verb meaning " to conceal,"
and translate it " for the hidden."
12. Mahalath introduces Ps. liii. and Ixxxviii. ; like
Nehiloth, it has been supjjosed to be the name of
a flute. It is derived from a verb which means " to
pierce," whence also comes another word meaning
" sickness." From this last sense of the word chalal,
the word Mahalath has been supposed to be the name
of a tune to which some song was sung beginning with
the word " sickness." The LXX. looked upon it in
each psalm as a proper name, or possibly, from being
unable to exiilain the word, left it in its Hebrew form
clothed in Greek letters. In Ps. Ixxxviii. the word
Leannoth is added, which means "for humbling."
The LXX. translate the word " to answer," a meaning
which is not improbable.
Al-taschith is common to four Psalms (hai., Iviii.,
lix., Ixxv.). It is rightly translated in the margin of
our Bibles and in the LXX., "Destroy not." A
reference has been traced to the words of David (1 Sam.
xxvi. 9).
Neginali, occurring in Ps. Ixi., is simply the singular
of Neginoth, of which we have spoken above.
In conclusion we have to notice briefly the variations
of the titles that are met with in tho LXX.
These variations in the titles are due to the omission
and to the addition of certain words. Tho omissions
are very slight, and do not amount to more than the
following : the word Shiggaion (Ps. -s-ii.), for which tho
translators seem to have read the usual word which wo
translate " To the chief musician." Again, tho name
of David is omitted in the titles to Ps. cxxii., cxxiv.,
cxxxi., cxxxiii., and that of Solomon in title to Ps. cxxvii.
Beyond those, there are no omissions.
The additions, however, are very extensive. Though
certain psabns, which iu the Hebrew were ascribed to
Da^-id. have not the same tradition in the LXX., yet we
find that the Alexandrine tradition ascribed psalms to
Da\'id which the Palestinian tradition did not. These
are the follo^ving: Ps. xxxiii., xliii., Ixxi., xci., xciii.,
xciv., xcv., xc\-i., xcvii., xcix., civ., cxxx^di. Other additions
to the titles worthy of notice are Ps. xxiv., " for the
first day of the week ;" xx^-ii., " before he was anointed;"
xxix., i^oSiov cTK-ftvr]?, meaning apparently, " depai'ture
from the tabernacle*' when service was over ; xxxi.,
iKo-Taa-eajs, i.e., " of despair," a word added to the title
from the LXX. of verse 23; xxx^-iii., " concerning the
Sabbath day ;" xlviii., " on the second day of the week;"
Ixvi., "an ode of a psalm of resurrection," the last
word being taken from the LXX. version of verse 12 ;
Ixx., to the [tune ?] " Save me, O Lord ;" Ixxi., " A
Psalm of David, when the sons of Jonadab and the
first were taken captive;" Ixxvi., "a psalm referring to
the Assp'ian;" Ixxx., "testimony for Asaph, psalm for
the Assp-ian ;" xciii., " for the day before the Sabbath
when the earth was peopled ;" xciv., " Psalm of DaAad for
the fourth day of the week ; " xcvi., " when the house
was built after tho Captivity," ode of David; xcvii.,
" David's, when his territory was settled." To Ps.
cv. — cvii., cxiv., cxvi. — cxix., cxxx^n., Halleluia is added.
To cxliii. the historical notice, " when his son persecuted
him," is added ; and to Ps. cxliv., " with reference to
Goliath." The name of Jeremiah is prefixed to Ps.
cxxxrii., and that of Haggai and Zechariah to Ps.
cxxxATiii., cxlvi. — cxlviii.
DIFFICULT PASSAQES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS:— ST. LUKE.
BT THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAK OF WINKFIELD, BERKS ; AND HON. CANON OF CHKISTCHURCH, OXFORD.
"And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is
written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is
become the head of the corner ? Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will
grind him to powder." — Luke xx. 17, 18.
'he discourse in which these words occur
is recorded at considerable length by the
three synoptic Evangelists, all of whom
refer to the place in which it was delivered
—viz., "in tho Temple" (eV rflfpu)). i.e., in that court
of the Temple in which our Lord commonly taught.
This circumstance, Anewed in connection with the
massive character of the stones of which the walls of the
Temple were built,' imparts a peculiar force and interest
1 Mr. Bobiuson tells us that at the south-west corner, "the
to the allusion made in these words to that Stone
which, though rejected by the master-builders, became,
as tho work of Jehovah Himself, the Head of the
Corner.
In order to the clearer understanding of the whole
passage, it is necessary to refer not only to tho 118th
Psalm, from which the quotation which is h«ro found
is taken, but also to other passages in tho Old Testa-
ment to which reference seems to be made. Now it
appears from a comparison of Isa. xxviii. 16 — " Behold,
comer-stone on the west side, now next above the surface of the
ground, measures 30 feet 10 inches in length by 6j feet broad, and
several others vary from 20^ to 24i feet Ion? hy 5 feet in thick-
ness." (Biblical Researches, i. p. 423, Boston, 1811.)
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
327
I lay in Ziou for a foundatiou a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner-stone, a sure foundation " — with Jer-
li. 26, where " a stone for a corner " is distinguished
from "a stone for foundations," that corner-stones
were phiced in diffei-ent positions as regards elevation ;
whilst a reference to Ps. cx™i. 22, where a stone
refused by the builders is described as having become
"the head of the corner;" and to Zech. iv. 7, where a
stone of the same description appears to be denoted
under the designation of the " head-stone," seems to
warrant the conclusion that the "corner-stone" is a
term equally applicable to the chief stone at the top as
to that j)laced at the foundatiou of a building, or to
those inserted at any of the angles in order to bind the
walls together.
The train of thought to whicli the quotation from the
llStli Psalm may be traced seems to be as follows : — A
stone, conspicuous for size and adaptation as the founda-
tion-stone of a building, is, by the caprice of the builders,
rejected, until, the work being almost completed, the
same stone which was deemed unworthy of a place in
the lower and less conspicuous portion of the Ijuilding,
is found to be the only stone which will serve the pur-
pose of the builders as the head or crowning-stone of
the corner.
The insertion, then, of a comer- stone both at the
foundation and also at the head of the building seems
to afford us the key to the interpretation of the whole
passage. Those who stumble at the foundation-stone
once laid in Zion — i.e., those to whom the person and
work of Christ prove, in the words of Isaiah, quoted
by St. Peter (1 Pet. ii. 8), " a stone of stumbling and a
rock of offence" — "shall be broken," or, as the word
may be rendered, completely bruised. Such stumbling,
however, is not of necessity final and fatal. In every
case there must be a bringing down before there is a
lifting up ; and even those who stumble most griev-
ously at the requirements of Christ's Gospel may be
led as penitents to Him who was sent " to heal the
broken-hearted," and who was " set " not only for
" the fall," but also for " the rising again of many in
Israel." Far different, however, must be the doom of
those who obstinately and persistently reject a cruci-
fied Sa\dour, and who expose themselves to the righteous
indignation of an offended Judge. On such the stone
"cut out without hands," rejected by the master-
builders of this world, but exalted as the Head of the
Corner by Jehovah Himself, must fall hereafter with
resistless force, crushing to powder those on whom it
descends, " breaking them in pieces together," and
causing them to " become like the chaff of the summer
threshing-floors," which "the Avind carries away," and
for which " no place is found " ^ (Dan. ii. 34, 35).
1 The word XiK/niVei appears to be used iu a pregnant sense, and
in direct reference to the proiihet Daniel's interpretation of Xing'
Nebuchadnezzar's dream. This word is not inaptly- rendered iu
the A. V. "grind to powder;" but the literal rendering is "it
will winnow him," and the allusion appears to be to the use of the
fan, or the action of the wind, iu purging the wheat from the chaff,
as described iu the passage to which allusion is made above. The
word is used in the LXX. iu Dan. ii. 44, where it answers to the
word rendered iu the A.V. " consume."
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
THE HERON.
^HE Hebrew word andphah, the represen-
tative of the heron, occurs only in the
list of imclean birds in Lev. xi. 19 ; Deut.
xiv. 18. The LXX. read x«P"5piJs, which
seems to denote some wading-bird of the plover or rail
family of birds. The ancient Greeks believed the
charadrius to be a very greedy bird, hence the proverb,
"to live the life of a charadrius" was applied to a
glutton, ^liau {Nat. Hist. xvii. 13) says that the sight
of it was a cure for the jaundice.
Etymologically, x«/"»5pi($s points to some bird inha-
biting the holes in river-banks. The Hebrew term is
derived by Gesenius from a root meaning " to breathe
angrily;" Fiirst thinks ancqohah, from dna}jh {ndph),
" to run," also possible, but erroneously identifies the
word with " a parrot," unknown in the countries of the
Mediterranean before the time of Alexander the Great.
Mr. A. H. Sayce, in his Assyrian Grammar (p. 185),
has compared the name of a bird which occurs in the
cuneiform inscriptions {W. A. I. ii. 37, 55), viz., ap-jju-
un-iiu {cqipunmt,), with the Hebrew andphah, which
the Targum of Jerusalem renders abnithd. Other
names for the appunnu were a-ta-an and cu-mii-xi. That
the ataan was a river or fresh-water bird is definitely
stated by the determinative affix. The Accadian name,
according to Mr. Sayce, seems to mean " blue rump."
It is not improbable that the purple gallinule {Porphyria
antiquorum) may rej)resent the Accadian word; it is
a very striking-looking bird, with a rich blue and dark
indigo colour on its back, a red bill, and pink feet.
This bird is common in Egypt, and would be familiar
to the Israelites when in that country. The purple
gallinule belongs to the same family as our common
coot and moor-hen.
Herons of various species are found in Palestine and
Egypt, of which the most common is the buff-backed
heron {Buphus russatiis), often called erroneously the
wliite ibis, immense flocks of which live and breed in
the impenetrable swamps of the Huleh, the ancient
Merom, as Dr. Tristram informs us. The common
heron of this country (Ardea cinerea) is frequent in the
marshy grounds and by the river-banks in Palestine.
From the carnivorous habits of the herons, whose food
consists of fish, frogs, and sometimes even rats, they
would natm-ally be regarded as unclean birds and unfit
32S
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
for food. The food of the purple gallinulcs consists of
various kinds of seeds, which tliey readily crack with
tiieir formidable bill, using their feet to convey their
food to the mouth ; but, according to Mr. Gould, they
will also eat snails, frogs, aud other aquatic animals.
The purple gallinulo has a wide extent of range, being
found over a great portion of Africa to the south, aud
as far as the mountains of the Himalaya to the east. In
Europe it is common in the Grecian archipelago, the
Levant, and the Ionian Islands. Its figure, or what
we take to be its figure, occurs on the Egyptian monu-
Hebrew word tinshemeth occurs also as some kind of
lizard in Lev. xi. 30, where our translators give "mole."
In that passage the word probably means " a chame-
leon." The LXX., in Lev. xi. 18, and Dent. xiv. 16, read
TTopcpvplojv and i/Sis. The porphyria has been noticed in the
preceding article. The ibis (Ibis religiosa), so celebrated
in its connection with the idolatry of the Egj-ptians, is
a bird likely to be noticed in the laws relating to diet.
It is frequently depicted on the Egyptian monuments,
and was sacred to Thoth, who was fabulously reported
to have eluded the pursuit of Typlio under the form of
THE PURPLE QALLINULE (PoTphyrio Antiquorum) .
ments (see Wilkinson's Aiic. E(jypt., iii., No. 339, Fig.
11). Although the herons and the porphijrio would
doubtless bo regarded as unfit for food, it is not possible
to say definitely what family of birds is denoted by the
andphah " after its kind."
THE SWAN.
It is not very probable tliat the swan, purely vege-
tarian in its food, should be included in the Levitical
law (Lev. xi. 18; Deut. xiv. 16), amongst the birds
counted unclean and to be held in abomination.
Neither, again, would the swan have been sufficiently
familiar to the Israelites to have obtained a place in
the list. At present swans are almost unknown in
Palestine, aud only occasionally found in Egypt. The
this bird. It was greatly revered in every part of Egypt,
and was evorysvhere embalmed. Many of these ibis
mummies may bo seen in the British Museum, and
living birds in the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens.
The bird is extinct on the Lower Nile, but may be seen
by travellers in Abyssinia. It is carnivorous in its
habits, feeding on molluscs. Herodotus attributes the
veneration of the Egyptians for the ibis to the services
it was supposed to render them by feeding on winged
sei-pents, but the structure of the bill, which is long,
curved, and slender, would not enable it to kill serpents,
but is well adapted to dabble in soft marshy ground.
Cuvier, however, is said to have found remains of ser-
pents' skins in ibis mummies ; but the careful examina-
tion of a great number of individuals by Savigny, who
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
:23
THE SACRED iB'is [Ihis religiosa).
accompanied the French expedition into Egypt, and
found in the stomachs of the birds land and fresh-
water shells only, would show that their normal natural
food was not serpents. The Egyptians call the ibis
Abou-Menjel, i.e., " Father Sickle-bill ; " the Ethiopian
name of Abou-Hannes, i.e., " Father John," was given
to it because the birds arrive about St. John's Day.
The Tantalus Ibis of Linna3us, a larger bird, was long
regarded as the true ibis of ancient Egypt ; but a com-
parison of the ibis mummies in the British Museum
with living specimens in the Zoological Gardens will
satisfy any observer of their identity.
330
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
LARGER MEASURES OF TIME.
THE SEPTENNATE AND THE JUBILEE :— FROM THE EXODUS TO THE FALL OF BETHEE.
BY F. K. CONDER, C.E.
^HE investigation in which we have engaged,
as to the smaller measures of time among
the Jews, enables us to umlerstaud the
occurrence of an apparent anomaly that
exists as to the secular periods of their history, and
their methods of chronological record. On the one
hand, the prohibition, by the Oral Law, of the construc-
tion of a caleudar,is likely to have prevented them from
makmg such determinate records, either of political
events or of astronomical occurrences, as other ancient
nations have done. In China, in Egypt, and in Assyria,
we find monumental or literary records of remote an-
tiquity, and of positive astronomical accuracy. We
have nothing of this kind ui Hebrew literature. The
references, rarely occurring, to physical j)henomena (as
to the earthquake in the time of Uzziah, and to certain
eclipses, which the prophets mention as signs and j)or-
tents), are so vague as to be of scarcely any value to the
clironologist. On the other baud, the accuracy of a
purely natural calendar is so great, and the value of the
coincidences between the different cycles emj)loyedis so
high, that the possibility of recoA'eriug long-lost dates
is not, on the face of the question, to be denied. The
various modes of reckoning — by regnal years, counted
decennially ; by the septennates, or weeks of years, and
jubilees, or weeks of septennates ; by the revolution of
twenty-four weeks, according to which the order of
daily service was distributed, not only among the priests,
bxit through the entire nation ; the occurrence of em-
bolismic years, or those containing thirteen moons ; and
the coincidence between the days of the week and those
of the month — form such a net-work of comparative
determinations, that care and patience may be expected
to recover much which, if sought for withoixt a clear
knowledge of this complicated system, would be alto-
gether out of reach.
It is true that to those modem scholars who are
so actively engaged in the destructive analysis of the
entire fabric of the Old Testament, some of the results
tliat will presently be brought forward may be highly
unacceptable. But the real question is, not whether
determinations are coincident with, or opposed to, the
fashionable views of the diiy, but whether they are
reliable and sound. It is not as matters of theory or
opinion that any question of date should be treated. The
ground for every calculation must be distinctly stated.
"Without presuming to claim an immunity from that
imperfection which is an attribute of all human work,
it is yet possible so to follow exact and truthful methods
as to arrive, in some cases, at results which are beyond
the region of uitelhgent doubt.
Yery sUght reflection is enough to show that there
exists both ample room and pressing need for an
accurate scientific determination of the dates of tho
Bible. In no branch of study can a wider divergence
be pointed out, than iu the numerous conflicting esti-
mates of the date of what is called the Mundiine Era.
We shall use this expression in its chi'onological sense
alone, as meaning that era of the Pentateuch from
which the tlirough reckoning of the sacred books com-
mences. Geological and historical knowledge alike
forbid any other apphcatiou of the term. The educated
Jews approached the study of their sacred books with
a reverence which it is well to emulate. So far from
assuming that every reader could understand the ma-
jestic chapter which commences the Book of Genesis,
the Oral Law prohibited its study, except under certaia
restrictions. The undiscriminatiug, literal explanation
of the Pentateuch is an offspiing of modern ignorance
and presumption.
The dates which are occasionally printed in tho
margin of the English Bible place the Christian Era —
which, Avhen in the seventh century it was first adopted,
was thought to be the date of the Advent — in the -iuO ith
year of the Mundane Era. This is according to tho
chronology of Archbishop Usher. Upwards of fifty
learned writers have attempted the determination of
the Mundane Era, with as many different results. The
learned Scaliger, one not only of the most patient, but
also of the most erudite of students, gave the date
3948. Mr. Clinton, one of the most reliable of modern
scholars, makes it 4138. Canon Browne, in his Ordo
Sceclorum, arrives at 4201. But these discrepancies
almost vanish, by comparison, as we advance toward
the extremes of the list. The modem Jewish chrono-
logy diminishes the period between the Mundane and
the Christian Eras to 3760 years. The reckoning of
Panvinius extends it to 6310; and that of the Alfonsino
Tables to 6984.
It is not uninteresting to observe that the determina-
tion which we are about to bring forward, and which
lies nearly midway between those extreme points, is
almost identical with that at which Origcn arrived,
from an entirely different order of considerations.!
Origen was of opinion that the task of disentangling
the web which, even in his day. had been woven as to
dates, was beyond his power. But he argued, from his
interpretation of the Book of Daniel, that tlie Advent
must have occurred Anno Mundi 4830. Had Origen
read the passages on which his opinion was l)ased with
more care, he would have seen tliat not tho Advent, but
the Crucifixion, was the event of which he should havo
reckoned the prophetic date. With this correction, his
deduction led him to the very decade in which the
1 See Moreri's great Dictionary, art. " Monde."
CHROXOLOGT OF THE BIBLE.
331
crucifixion actually occurred, from purely clironological
indications.
It may be asked whether the dates Tvhich the here-
ditary historians of the Sacred Books, the Jews, ascribed
to their own national history, shovdd not be entitled,
prima facie, to acceptance. The reply is, that -within a
well-known historic period — namely, between the date
of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Era of
Alexander the Great — the modem Jewish reckoning
differs widely from historic truth. Going back only as
far as the date of the captm*e of Babylon by Cyrus,
there is a diminution of 184 years from the true
chronology. This is a point as to which there can be
no dispiite, and the result is to invalidate the entire
modern Jewish system of reckoning.
It is the opinion of Professor Ewald,^ that the Jews
used the Mundane Era before the time of Herod ; and
certain epitaphs lately discovered in the Crimea are
cited to support this view. To a certain extent this
use may be said to be a well-known fact ; as in the
works of Josephus,"- in several distinct j)assages, occur
calculations from the Mundane Era. Unfortunately,
these passages disagree. This may, very possibly, be
due to corruption of the original text. With regard to
the more serious discrepancies, which amount to sis or
eight hundred years, we are aware of the reason of their
origin, and shall have to investigate the arguments in
supj)ort of the diverging views. But the fact exists ; and,
such being the case, it is impossible to say what was the
date originally given by Josephus. Thus the numerous
chronological statements of that great writer are to a
great extent useless for the purpose of construction.
It will be seen, however, that they retain a very im-
portant value for the purpose of verification. "When
the actual course of the reckoning is traced, it is found
that many distinct statemen\ts of Josephus exactly
accord with it. These passages are just those which,
as only having what may be called a latent chronological
import, might best have been expected to escape the
mischievous diligence of transcribers, anxious to correct,
as they thought, the statements of the historians, by
their own superior knowledge.
The ordinary mode of reckoning upwards and down-
wards, from an arbitrary era, tends to obscure the true
relation of chronological facts. Those who are accus-
tomed rapidly to reckon a.d. and B.C. are but little
conscious how it confuses ordinary readers thus to
reverse the process of thought. The actual lapse of
time that separates any two events, one of which
occurred before, and the other after, the Christian
Era, is never presented to the eye at a glance. A small
sum in addition has to be mentally wrought in every
such case. Our grasp of the unity of history is thus
enfeebled. To obviate this difficulty, Scaliger, one of
the men to whom we are chiefly indebted for our
rudiments of chronological knowledge, devised the only
method of reckoning which can be called entirely indis-
putable, because it is entirely artificial. He took for
1 See History of Israel, vol. v., p. 497.
2 Ant. viii. 3, § 1 ; Ant. x. 8, § 5 ; Preface, § 3.
the basis of his system, which is called that of the
Julian Period, three cycles or numbers of years, each of
which has a distinct chi-onological value. Of these the
first is what is called the Golden JSTumber, being the
Metonic cycle of nineteen years, at the end of which the
new moon returns to the same solar date as that on
which her conjunction oceun-ed at the commencement.
The second cycle is that of the Indiction, of fifteen years,
by which the Roman taxation was at one time regiiiited.
This mode of date is adopted in certain Papal docu-
ments. The third was the Dominical Cycle, of twenty-
eight years, at the expiration of which the 1st of Januaiy
falls on the same day of the week as at the commence-
ment, and the leap years follow a similar order.
The value of the Julian Period is high ; as it is an
absolute method of refening all dates to a common Era,
without reference to any chronological theoiy. The
multiplication together of the numbers 19, 15, and 28,
gives a product of 7980. During that term of years, the
same combination of the three numbers can only occur
once. Thus if the j)osition of any year in the Metonic
Cycle, the Cycle of Indiction, and that of the Dominical
Letter, is known, its periodic number or place in the
dead reckoning is at once fixed. "What we call a.d. 1
(which is A.TJ.C. 754, or the 754th year of the City of
Rome) is the year 4714 of the Julian Period.
For Jewish dates, the Julian Period does not possess
the same value that it has with regard to mediaeval
history. The Jewish cycles of seven years and foriy-
nine years are not referred to this mode of reckoning ;
nor are the com-ses of the priests, which formed another
mode of checking the records of time. But the most
formidable objection is, that the reformation of the
calendar by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, followed
by the English Parliament in 1752, has destroyed the
applicability of Scaliger's period for present use. The
Dominical Cycle of twenty-eight years was disarranged
by that change, as three out of every 400 years now
have no bissextile day. The true Dominical Cycle is
therefore one, not of twenty-eight, but of 400 years.
There is thus great need of some well-considered
system of through reckoning, which shall furnish the
chronologist with a definite system of scientific nota-
tion, possessing advantages similar to those of the
Julian Period, while avoiding the defects of that method
of calculation. If the system employed by the sacred
writers can be recovered, it may be expected to prove
the best fitted for this purpose.
I. — MODES OF RECKONIXa USED IN THE BIBLE.
The various chronological systems or modes of reckon-
ing, which it is necessary to understand in order to
comprehend the references to dates that occur in the
Bible, the Apocryphal Books, and the Wars and An-
tiquities of Josephus, are as follow : —
Fii'st to be considered, though latest in the order of
time, is the chronology of Rome. To this are referred
aU the events that took place duiing the existence of the
Idumean dynasty in Palestine. The years of Rome,
from the commencement of the Republic, were denoted
332
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
by the names of the Consuls for the year. After the
establishment of the Empire (iilthough the use of the
Consular date was continued down to the reign of
Justinian, in A.D. 541), the dates were ordinanly given
by the regnal year of the emperor, as we find in St.
Luke's Gospel. Both Consular and Imperial dates,
however, are referred to a through reckoning from
the assumed date of the foundation of the City of
Rome, in the year 3960 of the Julian Period, or 754
years before the Christian Era. To this notation all
the^cvents narrated in the New Testament, or in the
history of Palestine up to tlio accession of Herod the
Great, are more or less directly referable.
Tlie reckoning of the First Book of Maccabees, which
gives the history of Jerusalem from the time of the rise
of that great priestly family to power, as well as the
reckoning of those portions of the history of Josephus
which cover the whole period of this dynasty, is that of
the Greek kings of Asia. The era of that reckoning is
called the Era of the Seleucidse. It dates from the
capture of Babylon by Seleucus I., called Nicator,
eleven years after the death of Alexander the Great,
in the year 4101 of the Julian Period ; and it was used
for 244 years, down to the fall of the dynasty.
A Jewish Era was established in the 170th year of
the Seleucidse, under the title of the First Tear of the
reign of Simon Maecaljeus, High Priest and Ethnarch
of the Jews. Very little reference of events to this
date is now found. The regnal years of the Maccabean
princes are approximately known ; but tlie Greek reckon-
ing, as before stated, is generally used for that portion
of Jewish history.
The visit of Alexander the Great to Jerusalem, in
the high priesthood of Jaddua, the 41st high priest,
is narrated by Josephus. But neither the brief yeai's
of that great conqueror, nor those of the Philippine Era,
established at his death, are cited in Jewish history.'
The most important chronological reckoning, imme-
diately before the time of Alexander the Great, is that
of the Era of Nabonassar, the epoch of which is 424
years before that of the Philippine Era. This mode of
reckoning is nowhere referred to in Hebrew literature.
But the regnal years of the kings of Babylon and of
Persia arc mentioned, as dating the return of the Jews
from the captivity, and the subsequent events dovra to
the close of the Old Testament. These dates are most
exactly known to us as referred to the Era of Nabo-
nassar, and thus as forming a portion of the general
chronology of history.
From the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, in the 209th
year of the Era of Nabonassar, back to the capture and
destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, the dates of the Old Testament are determined
by distinct statements. They are also referred to the
regnal years of the kings of Babylon. It is with refer-
ence to the dates during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
that the first conflict of opinion as to date, going back
' Josephus refers to the death of Alexander without date (.Int.
xi. ?, § 6 ; ^n(. xii. 1, § 1) ; he gives twelve years to his reign
(Ant. xii. 2, § 1).
from the final overthrow of Judaea, occurs. We shall
refer to it in its proper place.
From the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar,
back to the accession of Da\ad, the events of Jewish
history are referred to the regnal years of the kings of
JudaBa. For a portion of this time, the regnal years of
the kings of Israel arc also cited. References to the
Septennial Cj'cle are also to bo found during this time.
During the Asmonean period references of this kind
are more numerous. Thoy will be found hereafter to
constitute a most important series of dates, absolutely
verifying those anived at by other modes of reckoning.
The regnal years of the kings of Babylon and of
Jerusalem were not reckoned from the day of the
accession of each sovereign, as is the case in Great
Britain. The Jewish year began at difi'erent seasons,
for different purposes, and was differently calculated
accordingly. For regnal reckoning, the year began on
the first day of Nisan, or Abib, tlio lunar month in
which fell the Paschal moon. For the kings of Babylon
the regnal date was the first day of Thoth, the first
month of the vague Egyptian year.^ This year was so
called because it consisted of 365 days, without any
intercalation. As the actual length of the solar year is
nearly 365^ days, the Egyptian year was, astronomically
speaking, too short. In every 400 years it lost ninety-
seven days. Thus in the period of 1,504 equinoctial
years, an entire solar year was gained by the Egyptian
reckoning ; and the first of Thoth occurred on each
of the 365 days of the solar year in turn. Tliis great
peculiiirity of the vague Egyptian year gives a special
value to all dates that are expressed in its terms, as
are many of those in the Almagest. As they were but
little understood, they presented little temptation to a
transcriber to alter. They are, moreover, recorded in
monuments, and rank among the most certain and
valuable of historic dates.
If a king reigned on the first day of Nisan, or on the
first of Thoth, even if he died or was deposed on the
following day, the whole of the year in question was
called his regnal year. Very great accuracy is thus
attained, as no fractions of reigns have to be regarded,
except in the very exceptional cases in which they are
distinctly recorded.
Before the accession of David, the years of the Old
Testament history are denoted by the periods of rule
of the Presidents, Judges, or High Priests, who from
time to time bore sway. There is not, in this ancient
portion of history, quite so definite a chronological
chain as we have thus far found to exist. But in com-
pensation for any obscurity, we find certain through
reckonings, or long periods of time, to be occasionally
mentioned. By comparing those controlling periods
with the minor dates, and with the indications of the
Septennial Cycle, wo trace our way, without any
reasonable cause of doubt as to the accuracy of the
results, back to the date of the Exodus.
2 The first of Thoth, which commenced the first year of Nabo-
polassar, 122 Nabonassar, fell on the day correspondiug- to our
present 9th of January.
AHAB.
333
SCEIPTUEE BIOaEAPHIES.
AHAB.
BY THE KET. EDMUND VENABLE3, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIAKT AND PE^CENTOB OF LINCOLN CATHEDEAL.
^^HAB, son of Omri, the seventli king of
the separate kingdom of Israel, stands in
bad pre-eminence among its sovereigns.
Wicked as his predecessors without ex-
ception had been, Ahab surpassed them all in wicked-
ness. His name is recorded by the sacred writers
in terms of peculiar abhorrence. He "did more to
provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel that were before him." " There
was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himseK to
work wickedness in the sight of the Lord" (1 Kings
xvi. 33; xxi. 25). His name calls up memories of
cruelty, rapacity, and bloodshed. And yet we should
be losing the chief lesson which the history of Ahab
teaches, if we were to suppose that he was naturally a
peculiarly wicked and cruel man. There are not wanting
traits of gentleness and amiability, and even of no-
bility of character, which warrant the belief tliat under
other circumstances Ahab would have been a very dif-
ferent man. But Ahab's ruin lay just in this, that he
was the creature of circumstances. Moral weakness
was his bane ; and we see in him a terrible and instruc-
tive proof of the depths of degradation into which, in
spite of much liking for good and aversion to evil, a weak
man may sink and drag others with him, when he falls
under the dominion of a stronger nature than his own,
and that an evil one. Jezebel was the evil genius of
Ahab. By her he was " stirred up to work wickedness"
(1 Kings xxi. 25), and to his weak submission to her
imperious and unscrupidous will, his moral ruin and
the overthrow of his house were due. In the words
of Dean Stanley, who refers to the parallel cases of
jEgisthus and Clytemnestra, of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth, •' the feebler resolution of the man was urged
to crime by the bolder and more relentless spuit of the
woman."'
Ahab would seem to have been a man of culture and
refinement. He had a passion for building, which he
gratified in the erection of a palace for his wife Jezebel,
with extensive gardens, on the charming eminence of
Jezreel, overlooking the valley of the Jordan — the
Windsor Castle of the capital of Samaria. The "ivory
Louse" — i.e., one chiefly mlaid with that material (cf.
Amos iii. 15 ; vi. 4 ; Ps. xlv. 8) — " which he made, and
the cities that he buUt," are celebrated by the chronicler
of his reign (1 Kings xxii. 39). The rebuilding of
Jericho in his days (chap. xvi. 34) cannot be properly
ascribed to him. It seems to be mentioned simply as
an evidence of the genei-al impiety of Ahab's days, and
the contempt into which the threatenings of God had
fallen.
JTor were there wanting nobler qualities in Ahab.
Stanley, Jewish Church, ii., p. 312.
When moved by imminent danger he was not unwarlike.
His campaigns against the Syrians were not unsuc-
cessful ; and he ended his life with becoming dignity on
the field of battle, refusing to retire, though wounded to
death, lest his forces should be disheartened.
Ahab was the son of Omri, who had been proclaimed
king by the army of Israel, of which he was commander-
in-chief, on the murder of Elah, the son of Baasha, by
his officer Zimii, B.C. 935. Indignant at Zimri's treason
and usurpation, the army, with their new sovereign at
their head, hastened to Tirzah, the capital, which imme-
diately fell into their hands. Zimri retired to the inner-
most part of the palace — probably the harem — which,
Sardanapalus-Hke, after a reign of a week, he fii-ed over
his head, and perished in the conflagration (1 Kings
xvi. 16 — 18). Omri did not at once obtain undisputed
possession of the throne. Another claimant, Tibni the
son of Ginath, secured the adherence of half the tribes.
A civU war ensued, ending, after four years, in the
defeat of Tibni's forces, and his capture and death,
B.C. 931 (1 Kings xvi. 21, 22). The vigour and wisdom
of Omri's rule firmly established his family on the
throne, to which it gave four occupants, covering more
than half a century. But however successful as a
monarch, his worldly and irreligious policy involved a
more thorough departure from the true God than the
reigns of any of his predecessors. Under him the
calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam seems to have
been reduced to a formal system and established by
enactments, denounced by Micah, at the veiy close of
the nation's history, as " the statutes of Omri " (Micah
vi. 16). The most fatal step, however, both for his
family and his people, taken by Omri, was the marriage
of his young son Ahab, soon after his accession to the
throne, to Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the
Sidonians. Ethbaal, priest of Ashteroth, had obtained
the throne by the murder of the former king, and his
daughter inherited aU the fierce traditions of her race,
together with a fanatical attachment to her father's
cruel and obscene religion. The dynastic strength
secui'ed by this Phoenician alliance was dearly pur-
chased by the moral and religious corruption it intro-
duced. The most lasting monument of Omri's reign
was the transference of the capital of Israel from
Tirzah to the hill of Samaria, which ho had bought
of its owner Shemer, and called by his name. The
wisdom of his choice is confirmed by the permanence
of his foundation. Its position " combines, in a union
not elsewhere found iu Palestine, strength, beauty, and
fertiHty."2
Ahaia peacefully succeeded his father B.C. 919. But
2 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 244. "As Constantine's sagacity
is fixed by his choice of Constantinople, so ia that of Omri by his
choice of Samaria" (Jewish Church, p. 284).
33i
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
bis acccssiou to power was little more tliau uomiual,
tlie real authority being exercised throughout his reign
by the imperious Jezebel, who used her weak and
yielding husband as a tool for carrying out her relent-
less and bigoted policy. She was not the only wife of
Ahab. The insulting demand of Ben-hadad (1 Kings
XX. 5), and tlie mention of " seventy sons brought up in
Samaria " (2 Kings x. 1), point to an extensive harem.
But Jezebel is the only wife known to history ; the only
one, probably, who exercised any lasting influence over
the fatally pliable Ahab, and whose " spirit," it has been
remarked, " even after his death, through the reigns of
his sons, was the oxH genius of his dynasty."^ The
influence of Jezebel was ruinously e^ddenced, both for
monarch and people, immediately upon Ahab's accession,
by the establishment of the worship of the Phoinician
deities, Baal and Ashteroth, accompanied by the savage
and licentious rites which were its inseparable adjuncts,
in the capital itself and within the precincts of the
royal psdaee. " Stirred up " by her fanatical devotion,
and borne along by her impetuous will, Ahab entirely
apostatised from the worship of Jehovah, even in the
corrupted form of the calf -worship of Bethel, and gave
himself up to the strange and foul gods of Phoenicia.
A temple, " the house of Baal," of vast size, was built
by him in his father's new city of Samaria. This
contained an altar, and a cliief image or pillar of Baal,
with other inferior images around. It was served by a
band of 450 priests, for whose ministration there was a
store of gorgeous vestments (1 Kings xvi. 32 ; xviii. 19 ;
2 Kings X. 21, 22, 26, 27). The temple of the female
deity Ashteroth, built by Jezebel, was an appendage to
her palace at Jezreel, and the 400 priests who served
at its altar had their daily provision from her royal
table (1 Kings x\-i. 33 ; x\dii. 19). The false worship
introduced imder such high sanction spread \vith deadly
rai)idity through a people who had been prepared for
its reception by the modified idolatry established by
Jeroboam, though the mass of the peoj)le, unable to
divest themselves entirely of their ancient creed, were
" halting between two opinions," and sought to com-
bine the religion of Jehovah with that of Baal and
Ashteroth.
To the fierce zeal of Jezebel, unscrupuloiisly employ-
ing her husband's authority for her o^vn ends, we must
attribute the first organised persecution of the true
faith bj- the civil power on record. Everywhere through-
out the kingdom of Israel the altars of Jehovah were
thrown doAvn, the prophets massacred, and the servants
of the true God driven to wander " in deserts and
mountains," and take refuge "in dens and caves of
the earth," Avhere tlioy were sustained by the faithful
Avho, like Obadiah, dared to brave the royal wrath—
"the iirecursors of the history of the catacombs and
the Covenanters." 2 It was "the martyr age of the
prophets in Israel." ^ Those that escaj)ed the sword of
1 Stanley, Jewish Church, ii., p. 237.
- Stanley, Jeicish Church, 289.
3 Newmaa, Hebrew Monarch]!, 162.
the relentless Jezebel were hunted down and "perse-
cuted even unto strange cities." It seemed as if the
religion of Jehovah was to be swept clean out of tho
land by a torrent of licentiousness and blood.
And then the despised and insulted Ruler put forth
His might on the breakers of His covenant. Suddenly
issuing from his native mountains of Gilead, the wild
Bedouiu-like prophet Elijah confronted the guUty king
with the startling annoimcement that the Most High
had put the key of the heavens into his hand, and
that for the sins of the land neither dew nor rain
shoidd moisten its parched surface till he uttered the
word. As suddenly as he had appeared did the
messenger of Jehovah disappear from the jjresence of
the exaspei-ated Ahab, to a divinely-indicated place of
concealment, among the thickets of the torrent-bed of
Cherith, where he remained safe — " for tho Lord hid
him " — from a search which ransacked Israel, and ex-
tended to neighbouring kingdoms (1 Kings x^dii. 10).
Tkree years and a half of ever deepening misery
from drought verified this prophetic denunciation.
The land was dried up, and the cattle were everywhere
dying for want of fodder ; even the royal herds and
stables were thinned. Tlie extremity of the distress is
indicated by the means adopted by Ahab to save some
at least of his stock. He would not entrust the com-
mission of finding pasture to any ordinary official, but
dividing the land with his chief minister Obadiah —
whom, notwithstanding his adherence to the true faith,
he maintained in his office as governor of his household
— he instituted a personal visitation of the land, in the
hope of discovering some moist places by perennial
sjirings, where a little grass might still remain. As he
went on his way Obaduih was startled by the sudden
apparition of Elijah, with the unwelcome command
that he should make known his presence to his master.
Obadiah's remonstrance silenced and Elijah's message
delivered, Ahab proceeded to meet the " troubler of
Israel." The monarch's charge was retorted on him-
self. It was he, and his father's house, not Elijah,
who had brought this trouble uj)on the land by
forsaking Jehovah and following Baalim. Ahab's
wrath, fierce as it had been, sank down in a moment
before the stern sentence of the messenger of Jehovah.
Conscience told him that the charge brought was true,
and he dared not deny it ; still less coxdd he ventm-e
to lay Aaolent hands on one whose influence had proved
so mighty with God, and on whose good-will so much
was at issue. None but the prophet whose word had
locked up tho heavens could unlock them again. The
relief of his suffering land was the fu-st object, to
which the gratification of personal vengeance, however
deep, must yield. So, without demur, Ahab proceeded
at once to execute Elijah's behest, summoning the
prophets of Baal and Ashteroth to a trial of sjiiritual
strength on Mount Cannel, and convoking the people
of Israel as witnesses of its issue.
It is somewhat surpinsiug that Jezebel does not
once appear in a transaction which involved the perma-
nence of the worship she had introduced and the life of
AHAB.
335
its priests. But great as her influence over her husband
was, it had its limits, and she knew them. Ahab, like
most weak men, was probably an obstinate one, and
when once his mind was resolved on a certain line of
action, not even Jezebel's power could divert him from
it. Jezebel would see when resistance was vaui, and
would prudently yield rather than shatter her sway on
the rock of his obstinacy. If on this occasion, terrified
by the distress of his nation, Ahab had consented to the
demand of the imperious jjrophet, and his decision could
not be altered, Jezebel must give way, and consult her
own dignity by refusing to be a spectator of the combat,
the issue of which she would proudly await in her palace
at Jezreel.
Into the circumstances of that wondrous trial of
strength between the solitary prophet of Jehovah and
the 450x3rophets of Baal, of which the heiglits of Cannel
were the scene and the monarch and nation of Israel"
the spectators, we must not enter here. We can well
conceive the feverish anxiety Avith which Ahab must
have watched the progress of the struggle through the
day of fierce excitement, and how, when the fire of
Jeho-^ah fell from heaven at the prayer of Elijah, and
consumed not the sacrifice alone, but the very stones of
the altar and the dust of the trench and the water that
filled it, liis impressionable nature would be carried away
with the tide of popular enthusiasm. If his voice did
not swell the cry that thundered from the assembled
thousands, his heart acknowledged its truth, and con-
fessed that '■ Jehovah He is the God." Mastered for the
moment by this conviction, Ahab makes no attempt to
stay the execution of the priests of his own sanctuary.
Ifay, he descends with Ehjah to the torrent-bed of
Kishon,and witnesses that terrible act of justice on those
seducers of God's j)eople. The slaughter over, at
Elijah's bidding, the monarch leaves unmoved the scene
of carnage, and hurriedly cHmbs the mountain- side to
partake of the saciincial banquet. If he can eat, no
time is to be lost, for the long-desired blessing is at hand,
" there is a soimd of abundance of rain " (1 Kings xviii.
41). "While, with the brutal apathy of a thorough-paced
sensualist, Ahab is feasting, Elijah is praying. His
" effectual fervent jirayer " avaUs to bring the blessing.
The " little cloud like a man's hand," rising from the
sea on the western horizon, portends the coming tempest.
If Ahab is to reach his palace that night he must start
without delay, or he will be stopped by the swollen
torrents. So the chariot is made ready, wliile the brazen
sky becomes " black with clouds and wind," and the
blessed rain begins to pour down iu copious streams.
The monarch, untouched by the massacre of his priests
provided his own safety is secured, mounts his chariot
at the foot of the hill ; the steeds are lashed, and scour
over the plam of Esdraelon to Jezreel; but, still
kindled by the wild excitement of the day, Elijah
dashes on before the chariot through the gathering
storm, fuU sixteen miles, to the gates of Jezreel, where,
with true Arab caution, he halts, awaiting the effect
on Jezebel of the terrible tidings brought by Ahab.
The message of the infuriated queen, sent, it would
seem, that very night, threatening Elijah under a
fearfid oath with immediate death, proved how com-
pletely she had regained her ascendancy, and that the
king was once more subject to her sway, so that the
prophet's only safety lay in instant flight (1 Kings
xix. 1 — 3).
Once again, how long after wo know not, Ahab was
confronted with Elijah, and received the awful sentence
of extermination for himself and hLs house from his
mouth.'
The king's favom-ite residence was the palace he
had built for Jezebel on the eastern slopes of Jezreel,
looking down the valley of the Jordan. The sjTumetiy
of the pleasure-grounds attached to the palace was
broken by the vineyard of a private citizen named
Naboth. The king applied to Naboth for the
exchange or purchase of his property. But Naboth,
a worshipper of Jehovah, felt himself precluded by
the injunctions of the Mosaic law from aheuating
the property which had long l^een in his family,
perhaps from the first partition of the land (Lev. xxv.
23 — 28 ; Numb, xxxvi. 7). His answer to the king is
based on religious obligation, and displays an absence of
aU that could soften the refusal. " Jehovah forljid it me
that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto
thee" (1 Kings xxi. 3). Unaccustomed to any oppo-
sition to his wishes, Ahab returned to his palace " sullen
and angry" (ver. 4), and with a want of all self-restraint
displayed his ill-temper to all his coui-t — flinging him-
self on his couch like a wayward chUd whose will is
crossed, stJlenly turning his face to the wall, and re-
fusing to partake of the banquet set before him. In-
telligence of the king's outburst of temper penetrated
the women's apartments, and reached Jezebel, who came
to expostulate with him and inquire its cause. Very
different was the effect of Naboth's refusal upon her.
His spirit was utterly cowed, her's roused to decisive
action. With proud scorn of the feebleness which let
" I dare not wait upon I would," and weakly shrank from
a deed of blood which could so promptly give him what
he coveted, she taunted the more cowardly sinner —
" Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel ? Aiise,
and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry : I will
give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite " (ver. 7).
How she would give it him she did not indicate. Nor
was Ahab careful to inquire, lest he should be forced
either to sanction what his conscience condemned, or to
forbid what he would fain see done with no open com-
plicity on his part. It presents a frightfid picture of
the demoralisation of the people of Jezreel, caused by the
residence of the idolatrous and wicked com-t, that her
horrible plot was so readily carried into effect. Jezebel
evidently aj)prehended no opposition from those whose
prosperity was so dependent on royal favour, nor did
1 The unity of the narrative is better consulted by the
arrangement of the LXX., which is followed here. They transpose
the 20th and 21st chapter of 1 Kings, thus making the story of
Naboth and the final interview between Ahab and Elijah como
immediately after the prophet's commission to anoint Jehu as
the executor of God's vengeance on the guilty king and his house,
and bringing the Syrian wars of Ahab into a continuous history.
336
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
she find any. In obcilienco to the letters, authenticated
with th3 royal signet, a charge of high treason and
blasphemy was brought against Naboth ])y two vilo
wretches, " sons of Belial," suborned for the purpose.
He was instantly condemned, dragged outside tiio city,
and executed by the punishment for theocratic crimes,
stoning (Lev. xxiv. 16), his innocent sons suffering witli
hira (2 Kings ix. 26). The property of the convicted
traitor was escheated to the crown, and Ahab was bidden
by JezA'bel, not without coutomjit at the weakness which
made so much of so small a matter, to go and make it
his own. " Arise, take possession of the vineyard of
Naboth, which he refused to give thee : for Naboth is
not alive, but dead " (ver. 15). How he had died Ahab
dared not ask. The vineyard was his, that was enough-
So he mounted his chariot, with two of his chief
officers behind him — Bidkar, and he who was destmed
to be God's instrument in avenging the foul murder
on Jezebel and her children, Jehu the son of Nimshi
(2 Kings ix. 25, 26) — and came down to feast his eyes on
the coveted plot. But an unwelcome intruder met him
there, to convict him of his sin, and denounce the Divine
vengeance on him and his house. The very last man
in the world he Avould have wished to see there suddenly
presented himself. His " enemy," Elijah, " found him
out." Others he might elude or hoodwink ; the stern un-
compromising prophet he could not. Elijah knew all ;
had seen all ; no disguise could hide Ahab's guilt from
him. Ahab must stand still, and, in the presence of his
courtiers, hear himseK denounced as the jierpetrator of
the vilest crimes, and listen to the tremendous sentence
of Jehovah. " Thus saith the Lord, In the place where
dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy
blood, even thine " (ver. 19). Once more the feeble
impressionable nature of Ahab declared itself. The
prophet's denunciation terrified him utterly. He sank
in abject humiliation, and assumed the outward marks
of the deepest penitence. " He rent his clothes, and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sack-
cloth, and went softly " (ver. 27). And his humiliation,
imperfect as it was, was accepted by Him who is ever
ready to receive the sinner who turns to Him. The
judgment in its most terrible form was deferred from
his own to his son's days. " In the heart of Ahab
there was a sense of better things, and that sense is
recognised and blessed.'
We come now to Ahab's Syrian wars. Wo have a
somewhat detailed account of three campaigns, under-
taken by him against Benhadad II. ; two defensive, and
one offensive, in the last of which he met his end.
The narrative of the first campaign opens somewhat
abruptly with the siege of Samaria (1 Kings xx. 1).
The reigning monarch, probably the son of the former
Benhadad under whom Damascus attained its greatest
power (1 Kings xv. 18), resolving to crush the rising
kingdom of Israel, gathered an immense force of horses,
chariots, and men, and, supported by two-and-thirty
tributary kings, each with his contingent, marched
1 Stanley, Jexish Church, ii. 315.
straight for the capital. No effectual opposition was
offered to his progress, and the beleaguered city was
speedily reduced to the utmost extremity. In the inso-
lence of assured victory Benhadad proposed the most
degrading terms of surrender. The whole of the royal
treasure, "the silver and the gold," was to be put into
his hands, and the inmates of the royal harem, Ahab's
" wives and children," were to bo at his disposal. Con-
ditions so monstrous were probably proposed by Ben-
hadad with the assurance of their being rejected, in
order to afford an excuse for the sack and plmider of the
city. On their unlooked-for acceptance by the craven
Ahab, his demands rose still higher. His officers were
to be at liberty, after the surrender of all that he had
first required, to enter the city, search the palace and
other houses, and carry off whatever they pleased.
Ahab's eyes were now opened to the real object of these
overweening demands. " This man," he said, " seeketh
mischief;" and, strengthened by the advice of the council
of elders, he returned a timid refusal. " This thing" —
not " I will not," but — " I may not do." Benhadad's
end was now attained. His reply was one of fearful
import. The threat it contained was confirmed by an
oath : " Samaria should be stormed and plundered, and
its houses reduced to a heap of ruins, the dust of which
should not supply handfuls for his countless hosts " (ver.
10). But a nobler spirit had been awakened in Ahab,
and his reply, which assumed a proverbial form, was
worthy of a better man, '"Let not him that girdeth on
his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off " (ver.
11). His resolve to resist at once received the Divine
sanction, and a promise of success from the mouth of a
prophet. It would even be needless for him to put the
whole army in array against the Syrians. "The young
men of the princes of the provinces" — i.e., the youtliful
attendants or squires of the provincial governors who
had taken refuge in Samaria, numbering 232 — would
be enough to secure the victory over that innumerable
multitude. In obedience to tho prophet's order, the
gallant little baud sallied forth at noon, the army of
Israel, amounting to no more than 7,000 in all, following
in the rear. Benhadad and his tributaiy kings were
carousing in contemptuous carelessness, when the news
of a small body of cavaliy having issued from the long-
closed gates of Samaria reached him. Without inter-
rupting the debauch, he ordered that a detacliment should
at once go out, and, whatever their object, poiiccfiU or
warlike, make them prisoners. But the Syrian soldiers
met with an unlooked-for resistance. Tho youthful
warriors slew eveiy one his man, a panic seized them,
which quickly spread through the unwieldy host, that
fled in a disorderly tumxUt before the Israelitish army,
as it came up, with Ahab uc its head, to take advantage
of the fii'st success. The ,->yrian army was routed with
great loss, leaving their tents and baggage and spoil
to the victors. Benhadad himself only saved his life
by mounting a fleet charger, and riding off with a small
band of cavalry (w. 16 — 21).
Ahab was well aware of the enemy he had to deal
with, and knew tliat a foe once beaten is not a foo
AHAB.
337
finally conquered. In the certain anticipation that
with the retiim of the season for military operations
Benhadad would renew his attack, and in obedience to
the injunction of his prophetical counsellor, he wisely
spent the in'.ervening months in increasing his military
strength and preparing for a stiU more vigorous
campaign.
Nor were the Syrians idle. The disastrous issue
of the recent campaign taught them the necessity of
changing their plan of operations. Provincial gover-
nors, who would be more directly amenable to the royal
authority, were substituted for the thirty-two tributary
kings, and thus greater unity of action secured. The
hilly ground also which had been the scene of their
defeat was abandoned for the plain. There the war-
chariots, in which their chief strengtli lay, would prove
of real service, while the change would, they fancied,
secure for them the effectual co-operation of their native
deities — " gods of the plain " — who would prove as
much stronger on their own groimd as those of Israel —
" gods of the hills ' ' — had done among the mountains.
This blasphemous limitation of the presence and power
of Jehovah sealed Benhadad's overthrow. He levied
an enormous army, carefully equalised to that he had
lost, and at the return of the year marched to Aphek,
in the plains to the east of Jordan. The army of
Israel was " like two little flocks of kids before them"
(ver. 27). Ahab may well have been appalled at the
contrast. But he was forbidden to fear. With the
Syi'ian was earthly might, but Jehovah was with Israel,
pledged to assert His supremacy over the gods of the
heathen. " Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is
God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,
therefore wiU I deliver all this great multitude into thy
hands, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah " (ver.
28). Seven days the armies encamped opposite one
another. At last the battle was joined, and the offended
honour of Jehovah was indicated by the complete rout
of Benhadad's army with immense slaughter. The
remnants of the army took refuge in the fertifications
of Aphek,^ but there the wrath of Jehovah pursued
them. The city walls were thrown down, probably by
an earthquake, and the defenders were buried in the
ruins. Benhadad, with a few attendants, fled to some
place of concealment in the innermost part of the city.
Fearing to be discovered or betrayed, he acquiesced in
the proposal of his servants that they should throw them-
selves as suppliants on the known clemency of the kings
of Israel.
With sackcloth on their loins and halters round their
necks, they presented themselves to Ahab with words
of humblest entreaty. " Thy servant Benliadad saith,
I pray thee let me live." Life was all he asked, and
more than he expected. But generous feelings were
not wanting in Ahab, and his heart was touched by Ben-
1 This Aphek is identified hy Mr. Grove with the village of Fik
at the head of the IVadij Fik, on the level down country to the
east of the Jordan, on the great road between Damascus and
Jerusalem, six miles east of the Sea of Galilee.
70 — VOL. III.
hadad's unexpected fall. Besides, his vanity was grati-
fied at having so powerful a monarch a suitor for his life
at his hands. The feeling of brotherhood was even then
existing among crowned heads, and on hearing that the
king of Syria had escaped the destruction of his army,
he thoughtlessly recognised the tie as still existing
between them. " Is he yet alive ? He is my brother."
Benhadad's servants were eagerly watching what Ahab
would say, and quickly caught up this re-assui-ing word,
repeating it — " thy brother Benhadad " — and fastening
him to this implied recognition of amity. The Oriental
laws of honour forbad the retractation of the pledge.2
So, having acknowledged him as his brother, he pro-
ceeded to ti'eat him as such, and took him up to ride
by his side in his royal chariot. Benhadad, full of
gratitude at this wholly unexpected leniency, suggested
the terms he was willing to offer as the price of his
freedom. He would restore the frontier towns taken
from Omri by his father Benhadad I., thus disabling
himself from future invasion by the same route,^ and
would grant Ahab the privilege his father had enjoyed
in Samaria, of building streets and squares in his capital
of Damascus, for his commercial and political conve-
nience (vv. 33, 34). Ahab, elated by this unlooked-for
change of fortune, rashly accepted the terms, and per-
mitted the departui-e of his royal prisoner without
requiring any pledge of the fulfilment of his engage-
ment. Such an act was a gross political blunder no less
than a heinous theocratical offence. The enemy of
Jehovah had been delivered into his hand under His
curse (ver. 42). To let him go was to be unfaithful to
the commission imder which he reigned. Space forbids
us to dwell upon the remarkable symbolical acts of the
prophets, by which he was taught his error. " Heavy
and displeased " — not repentant, but " sullen and angry"
— he once again returned to his palace to receive the
sentence passed upon him and his nation. "Because
thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I
appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life
shall go for his life, and thy people for his people"
(ver. 42).
The closing chapter in Aliab's history shows in strong
colours the culpable carelessness he had been guilty of
in allowing Benhadad to escape without any guarantee
for the execution of his promises. Three years had
elapsed, and still one of the most important frontier
2 The conduct of Benhadad's attendants is explained by the
Oriental laws of dakheel, still in force. By this "anyone is at
any time entitled to put himself under the protection of another,
be that other his friend or his greatest enemy ; and if tte man
applied to does not at once reject him, if the slightest form of
friendly speech pass between the two, the bond is complete and
must not be broken. If two enemies meet and exchange the
salem aleikum, even by mistake, there is peace between them, and
they will not fight If a man be pursued by an enemy,
or even be on the ground, he can save his life by calling out
dakheel" {'La.ya.rA, Nineveh and Babylon, -pp. 317—319). Benhadad's
friends were on the watch to obtain for him dakheel, and the single
phrase " he is my brother," though perhaps thoughtlessly uttered,
having been accepted by them on his part, was sufficient to
complete the bond, and secure the life of the captive (Prof.
Sawlinson, Speaker's Commentary, in loc),
3 Newman, Hubreiv Monarchy, p, 168.
338
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
towns, the great traus-Jordanic fastness of Ramotli in
Gilead, remained uusurreudered. Tlio safety of his
kingdom, no less than his own honour, was compromised
by allowing so important a position, the key of the
wliole district, to remain in his enemy's hands. Not
feeling liimself strong enough to attempt to wi-est it
from Syria unaided, Ahab took the opportunity of a
visit from the powerful and prosperous king of Judali,
Johoshaphat — to whose eldest sou, Jehoram, he had
given his daughter Athaliah to wife — to propose a
joint expedition for its recovery. Too readily did the
godly Jehoshaphat, flattered by the magnificence of his
reception (2 Chron. xviii. 21, consent to place his whole
forces at Ahab's disposal, and go up with him at their
head (1 Kings xxii. 1 — i). Before the expedition
moved, however, Jehoshaphat requested that the vdW
of Jehovah should be consulted, and that without any
delay. " Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord,
to-day " (ver. 5). A crowd of claimants to Divine powers,
400 in number, prophets probably attached to the calf-
worship in Bethel, were summoned before the kings, who,
the banquet over, were sitting, clad in their royal robes,
each on his throne, in an open space in front of the city
gate, the ordinary place for the administration of
justice. They all with one mouth predicted the complete
success of the exj)edition. To the discerning eye of
Jehoshaphat this unanimity was suspicious. " He was
not sure of their good faith. He woiJd be glad if a
prophet were consulted on whom he could more fully
rely. "Were there any such ?" One there was whose
faithfulness had rendered him odious to one who, in his
weakness, desired not to hear what was true but what
was pleasant, the hated Micaiah, the prophet of evil.
To gi-atify one whom Ahab dared not offend, he was
brought from the prison to which his true speaking had
consigned him, and after an ii'onical confirmation of the
words of the other prophets, he proceeded to predict the
disastrous issue of the expedition, and the dispersion
of the masterless host (ver. 17). "We must hasten over
the sublime imagery under which Micaiah declared the
eternal truth that they who will be deceived shall be
deceived, entangled in a network of lies, to their ruin.
The pre-doomed monarch, "given up to strong delu-
sion," perseveres in the expedition, accompanied, though
doubtless not without many misgivings, by Jehoshaphat.
Arrived at Ramoth-gilead, Ahab enters the battle in dis-
guise, to escape the attacks of Benhadad's officers, who,
he heard, had received orders to make him their chief
object of assault. But vain are all man's precautions to
elude the vengeance of the Almighty. A random arrow,
shot at a venture, as was afterwards reported, by Naaman
the Sji'ian, pierced the joints of Ahab's armour, and
infficted a deadly wound. Borne out of the host, that
his wound might be bound up, he returned to the field
of battle, and though his increasing weakness compelled
him to be supported by his attendants, he held on with
right royal courage tkrough the day, that the absence of
their leader might not dispirit his troops. His life,
blood slowly ebbed away as the tide of battle rose,
forming a pool in the bottom of the chariot. At last,
towards sunset, the king sank down dead. The fatal
event could no longer be concealed. It at once broke
up the army, and put an end to the expedition. The
proclamation went forth as the sun went down, "Every
man to his city, and every man to his own country "
(ver. 36), and as the shades of evening deepened the
forces were "scattered upon the hills" of Israel, as
they had been seen by Micaiah in ^-ision, " as sheep that
have not a shepherd."
Another prophetic word was still to be accom-
plished. Ahab's body was brought to Samaria, and
buried with the honours due to a monarch who had
fallen at the head of his army. But the blood-stained
chai-iot and armour were washed in a tank outside the
waUs of the city, and the thirsty dogs, lapping the gory
water, fidfiUed the awful threat of Elijah, as " dogs
licked the blood of ISTaboth shall dogs lick thy blood,
oven thine." It was to receive a still more exact ful-
filment hereafter, when the body of his sou Joram was
tlung, at Jehu's bidding, "in the portion of the field of
■STaboth the Jezreelite," to be devom'ed by packs of
dogs, the foiU scavengers of the East (2 Kings ix. 25,
26). "The miU of God grinds slowly, but it grinds to
powder."
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
m. THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
BY THE REV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
>HE Apostle Paul remained in Corinth for
"a year and six months;"' and it was un-
doubtedly during the latter part of this
time that he addressed to the Thessa-
louians his Second Epistle. Silas and Timothy were
still in his company (chap. i. 1) ; the former for
the last time, as we may conclude from the silence
_
1 Acts xviii. 11.
of the histoiy. Communications would natm-aUy have
passed meanwhile between himself and the Church in
Thessalonica. He would have heard concerning the
reception of his former Epistle — how far it had pro-
duced its effect, where it had been misconstrued, and
where it had failed. The effect of such tidings is very
apparent in this second letter, although possibly- no
2 See below, § 2. There is perhaps such a reference in chap. ii. 15.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALOXIANS.
339
exi^licit reference is made in it to the first. From this
lack of allusion, iQcleecl, as well as from the fact that
the Apostle speaks of his life in Thessalonica as recent
and familiar/ it has been maintained that this " Second
Epistle " really preceded the other."- The arguments
alleged certainly do not support this conclusion ; while
the references in the First Epistle to the conversion of
the Thessalonians, and to St. Paul's intercourse with
them, make it impossible to suppose that a letter had
ah-eady intervened.
2. The Epistle, plainly, was written with a twofold
intent. In the first place, the anticipation of the Lord's
second Advent, aroused by the teaching and former
letter of the Apostle, had been stimulated to an un-
healthy activity by fanatical or designing teachers, who
had even forged a letter in the name of St. Paul, and
had filled the church with anxiety and ahirm. This
state of feeling has indeed been supposed by some
critics, Paley among them, to have been occasioned simply
by the misunderstanding of the Apostle's former letter.
Not to speak, however, of the unlikelihood that the
calm prophetic words in which he had enjoined " the
patience of hope" in reference to this gi-eat event,
should so have been perverted, his own language (chap,
ii. 2) seems to show decisively that he refers to a suppo-
sititious letter. "Neither by spirit, nor by word, nor
by letter — as by us." The thi-ee things are distinctly
j)arallel. SpirU refers to a pretended prophecy; word,
to a pretended saying on inspired authority ; lettei-,
therefore, would similarly mean a pretended epistle.
Moreover, the word as, in the phrase " as by us," would
scarcely have been used by the writer, had he intended
to indicate his own letter. "We therefore conclude that
an imposture had been practised on the Thessalonians,
advantage, no doubt, having been taken of what the
Apostle had actually said and written. To prevent
such imposition for the future, he now expressly states
that his own signature and "salutation" would hence-
forth authenticate all his Epistles."^
The second circumst-ance which occasioned the wi-iting
of this letter, was the disregard of one most important
injunction of the former Epistle — there laid down
briefly, almost with an apology, as though a hint, in a
matter so obvious, would be sufficient : " That ye study
to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work
with yoiu" own hands."'* But this gentle suggestion of
Chi'istian duty had proved inadequate. In the Thessa-
lonian church there were some who — influenced, perhaps,
by the anticipation of an immediate catastrophe in the
world's affairs, neglected the ordinary duties of life —
" working at no business, but being busybodies." ^ Thus
early did religious fanaticism produce its natural fruit
1 Chap. iii. 7—10.
- Grotius, Ewald, Dr. Davidson {Introduction of 1868). The
theory of Grotius is influenced by his belief that the " Man of Sin "
was Caligula, who attempted to have his statue set up in the
Temple at Jerusalem, a.d. 40 ; a singular anachronism.
^ 2 Cliap. iii. 17. See introductory paper, p. 268.
'• 1 Thess. iv. 11.
5 Chap. iii. 11. Alford's translation, which preserves so far
as possible the alliteration of the original, firii^i/ epyafo/utVout uWd
ffrepiep^a^o/iei'ou?.
in selfish indolence ; and the loftiest hopes of the
Church were perverted into a plea for the most ignoble
mendicancy.^ For such offences the fitting remedy,
sharp and stern, was excommunication ; while yet, as if
to acknowledge the nobleness of the truth which had been
so misread and degraded, the offender is to be dealt with
tenderly, in the hope that he might learn to ai)prehend it
aright. " Have no company with him .... yet
admonish him as a brother."
3. The two points alcove stated form the main division
of the Epistle, which is, after the Apostle's wont, pre-
faced (I.) by an Litroduction (chap, i.) in which he stUl
congratulates the Thessalonians on their faith and love,
and expresses his holiest wishes on thcu* behalf.
II. Passing thence to his first and main topic, he
warns them (chap. ii. 1 — 12) against the delusion wliich
had been practised upon them, in the declaration, as by
apostolic authority, that "' the day of the Lord " had
ah-eady dawned upon the world. ' To remove this
notion, he delivers a momentous prophecy of what shall
be before that consummation.
It is not possible, within the compass of the present
Introduction, to do more than to indicate in the briefest
possible manner the outline of this great prophecy, its
connection with other parts of Scripture, and the
various schemes of interpretation proposed. The main
declaration is clear : that before the final victorious
manifestation of the Son of God there wiU be a reve-
lation of the spirit of Evil, in some form of power and
fascination which only He can overcome. The " Man
of Sin," " the mystery of lawlessness," of this Epistle
is evidently the Antichrist of St. John :^ although not
probably to be identified with either "Beast" of the
ApocaljTDse.^ Many features of the description corre-
spond with that of Autiochus Epiphanes in Dan. xi.
36. The varying forms of impiety have a common
kindredship.
- (a) His manifestation is " the Apostacy " (ii. 3) — not
simply, as in E. Y., " a falling away," but the weU-
known clearly defined event so denominated. The rise
of the evil is therefore from within the Church of
Christ, not from without— the result of perversion
rather than of mere antagonism.
(b) A place is claimed by the Antichrist "in the
temple of God " (ii. 4). This must either be t<aken
literally for the Temple in Jerusalem, or symbolically
for the Chiu-ch. The student of the Apostle's vn-itings
will scarcely doubt which is the preferable interpre-
tation. Together with this place in the Temple, divine
prerogatives are asserted, with a lordly repudiation of
every so-called deity, or object of worship {aefiafff^a).
The assumption is supported by the claim to miraculous
power (ver. 9) ; but the miracles are false— " power and
signs and wonders of falsehood " (ver. 9).
G See Bible Educator, Vol. II., p. 272, "Local Coloxiring of St.
Paul's Epistles." j 4. e,
7 So Alford. Ellicott. The verb ^w<7TnM' elsewhere always denotes
the present in distinction from the future (Eom. vm. 38 j 1 Oor.
iii. 22 ; vii. 26 ; Gal. i. 4 j 2 Tim. fii. 1 ; Heb. ix. 9).
S 1 John ii. 18. ^ Eev. siii.
3^t0
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
(c) The power of this enemy to God was already
secretly at work in the Apostle's time (ver. 7). The
statement here is parallel with that of St. John, " As
ye have hoard that antichrist shall come, even now are
there many antichrists." Sncli representations lead to
the inference that the oxil power is rather a succession
than an indi\'idual — perhaps a principle that may be
embodied in many forms.
{d) The full development of this principle, or, in
other words, the manifestation of Antichrist, was hin-
dered, in the Apostle's time, by a power, clearly defined,
well known to St. Paul himself and to the Thessalo-
nians ; and yet, for some reason or other, not to be
expressly mentioned in writing. " Te know what
restrainoth'' — here the power or influence is spoken of
In the neuter gender ; " He who now restraineth will
restrain " — here it is masculine. This alternation of the
personal with the impersonal seems again to point to a
succession rather than to any one being.
(e) The outline of the prophecy is then as follows : —
An evil j)rinciple already at work in the Church is at
present kept back by a restraining influence ; this
influence will bo removed, the evil will then attain full
form and shape, and, having risen to commanding power,
will be destroyed by the Lord " with the spu-it of His
mouth, and the brightness of His coming."
The first question for the interpreter, therefore,
relates to the event described as the " coming of the
Lord." This must be understood either of the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem and the passing away of the Jewish
economy, or of that consummation, still future, which
shall crown the Redeemei-'s work and fulfil the hopes of
the Church.
(1) Those who adopt the former (or " preeterist ")
view regard the " man of sin " as either Judaic or
Heathen. In the first case " the apostacy " denotes the
revolt of the Jews from the Romans, or from the/ai//i ;
and the restraining influence must be either secular
(as the policy of the Emperor Claudius) or divine (the
apostolic preaching, the character of the Christian Jews,
or, generally, the purpose of God). According to the
second supposition, the man of sin was either Caligula,
restrained by Vitellius, pro-consul of Syria, in his
purpose of placing his statue in the Temple (an obvious
anachronism, as before pointed out) ; or Simon Magus,
the spread of whose false doctrines wa.s restrained by
apostolic teaching ; or Titus, restrained by Nero, inas-
much as Vespasian, father of Titus, could not reign
until after Nero's death."
(2) The intoi-pretations of the prophecy as future
may again be classed under two heads : —
o. Wholly future. Antichrist, according to this view,
will be a person, combining in himself the above-noted
characters of evil ; and the restraining influence is
either the force of social order, the power of the
Christian Church, or the purpose of God.'
1 Those who are desirous of pursuing these unprofitable specu-
lations further may consult Newton On the Prophecies, Diss, xxii.,
or Gloag's Introduction to the Pauline Epistles, p. 128.
' The chief advocate of thia view is Olshausen, who is followed
j8. Present, but with a future consummation. In this
view " the Apostacy " is a succession of antichristian
influences, woi-kiug deadly peril to the Church : the
prediction being fulfilled either in the whole chain of
such influences, including Judaism, Gnosticism, with
every subsequent departure from the truth to the end ;
or else in some particular form of error and spiri-
tual despotism ; according to the Reformers and many
Protestant interpreters, in the Papal Church. To
support this general interpretation, it is urged with
great force that, by the almost unanimous consent of the
Fathers, the restraining influence is the Roman Empire.
According to this view, the reason of the Apostle's
reserve concerning '" the hindrance " is fully seen. It
would not be discreet or safe to speak openly of the
downfall of the Empu-e while its j)ower yet remained.
But the Thessalonians would understand what was
meant, and tradition would hand down the explanation.
The vanishing of power from the Roman Empire, it is
obvious to remark, was gradual : on its I'uins a spiritual
despotism arose, which had its commencement and pre-
figuration in apostolic times, and it may be that this
shall develop into yet more portentous forms of evil
before the final triumphs of righteousness and love.^
Of what precise nature that triumph may be it is not
for us to conjecture. We know at least that " the spirit
of Christ's moutli " is felt wlierever the Gospel is pro-
claimed, and where there is the revelation of His truth
" the brightness of His coming " is beheld. These forces
may work silently untU they have destroyed every
adverse influence, or may be gathered up at last into
some sudden glorious display. Wo cannot teU, but
only know that before the Chbist of God, aU Antichrists
will disappear.''
III. St. Paul's second main topic of exhortation has
respect to the duty of industry and soberness. Here
the Apostle repeats with a more impressive earnestness,
as well as in greater detail, the injunctions of his former
Epistle ; appealing again to his own course of life in
Thessalonica — a course which he was most probably
still pursuing in Corinth while he wrote (Acts xviii. 3 ;
compare especially chap. iii. 7 — 10 with 1 Tliess. ii.
among English expositors by Dean Alford and Bishop Ellicott.
The restraining influence, according to Ohhausen, is "the whole
rightly-ordered political system;" according to Afford, "the fabric
of human polity, and those who rule that polity ; " according
to EUicoH, " the power of well-ordered human rule, the priuciple
of legality as opposed to uvo/iia, of which the Roman Empire wa.<j
the then embodiment and manifestation." See further some re-
markable lectures by Dr. Newman on " The Patristical Idea of
Antichrist;'' Discussions and Arfiumenti, pp. 44—108.
3 The temptiition to find "the mystery of lawlessness" in rival
churches or religious is undoubtedly great, and should make an
expositor pause before giving a specific application to the prophecy.
Thus while Eeformers see in it a delineation of the Papacy, the
Greek Church interprets it of Mohammedanism ; some Roman
Catholic interpreters, again, api)ly it to Luther and the Reformers ;
and Dr. Newman discerns in it a descriptiou of modern Rational-
ism. For a powerful presentation of the Reformers' view, see
Wordsworth's Greek Testament, in loc.
■» Canon Lightfoot powerfully argues that the Antichrist of St.
Paul's own day was unbelieving Judaism, against which he more
than once had to invoke the protection of the Roman power.
But this would not exclude other and successive forms of evil,
in which the same spirit would be manifest.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
341
9). The reference to church discipline against offenders
is peculiar to the present epistle (chap. iii. 6, 14, where
the reading in the margin is not to be preferred).
IV. The Epistle ends with a special attestation, and
the usual benediction, thrice repeated. It is very ob-
servable how every part of this letter is closed with a
prayer. The introduction (chap. i. 11, 12) ; the 'prophecy
(chap. ii. 16, 17 ; iii. 5) ; and now the final exhortation,
with a blessing which is itself a prayer. Between the
prophecy and the exhortation also, the Apostle makes an
earnest appeal to the Thessalonians to pray for him
(chap. iii. 1, 2). Surrounded in Corinth by enemies of the
truth, by those to whom Christ crucified was " a stum-
bling-block," and those to whom He was " foolislmess "
(1 Cor. i. 23), he threw himseK upon the sympathy of
those who had received the Gospel so simply as " the
word of God" (1 Thess. ii. 13). Sorrowfully he exclaims,
"All men have not the faith," and contrasts his difii-
culties among the Corinthians with the ready access he
had found to the unsophisticated men of Macedonia;
longing for a repetition of those old days when the
word of the Lord so " swiftly spread, and was glorified,"
The phrase of St. Paul in chap. iii. 1, " even as it is " —
more strictly " as it was with you " — gives us a glimpse
into his heart, and explains the tone of sadness which
mingles wdth the energy and intensity of this Epistle.
We understand it all tlie better when we think of it as
written fi-om among the men of Corinth to the men of
Thessalonica.^
1 See further on this point, Bible Educator, Vol. II., p. 273,
" Local Colouring of St. Paul's Epistles."
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS -.—ST. LUKE.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BERKS, AND HON. CANON OF CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD.
" This cup [is] the new testament [or covenant] in my blood,
"which is shed for you." — Luke xxii. 20.
)N the corresponding passage in the Gos-
pel of St. Matthew (xxvi. 28) the word
" new " is wanting, both in the Vatican
and Sinaitic manuscripts, and it would
seem to be more difficult to account for its omission
than for its insertion in that place. The balance of
authority is also against the genuineness of the same
word in the parallel passage of St. Mark's Gospel (xiv.
24). In the passage under consideration, however, there
can be little or no doubt of its genuineness, as also in
the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper in
1 Cor. xi. 23 — 27, which, as it has often been observed,
agrees, in a very remarkable manner, with that con-
tained in the Gospel of St. Luke, and, in regard to the
former clause of this passage, corresponds with it ver-
batim, with the exception of the insertion by St. Paul cf
the substantive verb " is " {iarlv), which is not found in
this place in the Gospel. A comparison of these words
with Jer. xxxi. 31 — 35, and also with Heb. viii. 8 — 12,
and X. 16, 17, where the prophecy of Jeremiah is quoted,
will suffice, we think, to establish the identity of the
" covenant " or " testament " spoken of in these three
places — a covenant which is described in the Greek
version of Jer. xxxi. 31 as "a new covenant" (5(o0'^Krj
Kaiv-fi), and in St. Luke, no longer, indeed, indefinitely,
but in express reference, as it should seem, to the
prophecy of Jeremiah, as " the new covenant " {v Katyri
hiaerjKr)), viz., that which had been foretold by the mouth
of the prophet.
The two points which caU for explanation in this
passage are — (1) In what sense are we to understand
the word which is rendered " covenant " in the prophecy
of Jeremiah, and in the quotations in Heb. viii. and x.,
and which is rendered " testament " in the account of
the institution of the Lord's Supper in the Gospels, and
in 1 Cor. xi., and also in other passages in the New Tes-
tament,* more especially in Heb. ix. ; and (2) in what
sense are we to understand the " cup " given by our
Lord to His disciples as being this new " covenant" or
" testament " in His blood ?
I. We must observe that the word Sioflij/c'? in the
LXX.,2 and in the quotations found in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, is a translation of the Hebrew word, nna
{berith), which is rendered in the Old Testament " cove-
nant." This word is supposed to be derived from a
verb (not used in Hebrew in that signification) which
means to cut; hence the phrase commonly used in the
Old Testament to denote the making a covenant is,
literally, to cut a covenant, in allusion to the custom
of sacrificing victims on such occasions ; and W3 find
corresponding phrases in other languages, as, e.g., opKia
iriffTo. TOiJLeiv [to conclude (lit. cut) a binding treaty],
fcedus ferire, icisse fcedus, " to strike a bargain." The
meaning commonly assigned to the word " covenant"
is an agi-eement made between two or more parties.
Such, however, is not the sense in which the word is
used in many places in the Old Testament. There is,
undoubtedly, a relationship, but not always a mutual
relationship, in the sense of engagement, implied in the
word berith. Thus, in the first place in which it occui's,
viz., Gen. vi. 18, and again in Gen. ix. 11, in reference to
God's " covenant '' with Noah, although it may be said
that that " covenant " was confii*med by the saciifice
mentioned in Gen. viii. 20, nevertheless, the word
1 Meyer holds that in all Pauline passages the word iiaOnKn hears
the sense of covenant, not of testament. Professor Eadie, as well aa
the late Professor Scholefield, holds that Heb. is.. 15, 17 forms no
exception to the " constant meaning '' of this word in the Septua-
gint, and to its "uniform use" in the New Testament.
2 The LXX. occasionally, hut very rarely, render heriih by somo
other word, as in Deut. ix. 15 and 1 Kings xi. 11.
342
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
clearly denotes ratlier a solemn promise or eugagemeut
made on the part of God to Noah and his descendants,
than a *' covenant," in the ordinary sense of the term,
made between God and Noah. More particularly the
word berith is used to denote a solemn vow or promise,
confirmed in some oases by an oath, as, e.g., Deut. iv.
31 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 31 ; Jer. xi. 3, compared with ver. 5 ;
&r ordinance, which may be forsaken or broken, as Jer.
xi. 4 ; xxii. 9. No passage, however, of the Old Testa-
ment can be adduced in proof that the word berith ever
has the sense of testament, in the sense of a disposition
of a man's possessions, which is to take effect after his
death; an idea which, however familiar to Western
nations, was alien from the conceptions of a Jew.
Throughout the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,
and generally in the Epistles — whether in Heb. ix.
15, 17, the word be properly rendered "testament" or
not — wherever the word 5iadr}Kri occurs it appears to be
used in the sense in which berith is used in the Old
Testament. As the Mosaic covenant was ratified, at its
first institution, by the blood of slain oxen (Exod. xxiv.
5 — 8), and, year by year, with the blood of calves and
goats (Lev. xvi. 5, 6; Heb. ix. 19), so the blood of the
new and better covenant needed to be ratified, not " by
the blood of goats and calves," but by the better blood
of Him " who, through the Eternal Spirit, offei'ed Him-
self without spot to God." It was thus that Christ,
" by the one oblation of Himself once offered," became
the Mediator of that " new covenant " which Jehovah,
by His prophet Jeremiah, had declared that He would
hereafter make vnth His peoj)le, saying, "I will put
my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I
write them ; and their sins and theii* iniquities will I
remember no more."
II. In order to obtain a reply to the second inquiry
proposed for consideration — A^iz., in what sense the cup
which our Lord gave to His disciples is said to be " the
new covenant " — we must refer to the manner in which
other signs and pledges of God's covenants are sjjoken
of in Holy Scripture.
In the first recorded instance — viz., that of the cove-
nant made with Noah — the bow " set in the cloud " is
distinctly and repeatedly declared to be the "token," or
sign, of the covenant (Gen. ix. 12, 13, 17). The relation
between the bow, thus set in the clouds, to the promise
of which it was thenceforth to be a pledge and assur-
ance, having been thus clearly expressed, the language
employed in other cases is less distinct. Thus, in
regard to circumcision, which was made the sign or
pledge of the Abrahamic covenant, it is said, " This is
my covenant [i.e., a sign of the covenant], . . . Every
man child among you shall be circumcised " (Gen. xvii.
10) ; aud, again, " My covenant [i.e., the sign and
pledge of my covenant] shall be in your flesh for an
everlasting covenant " (Gen. xvii. 13). Again, the sab-
bath, which was given to the Jews as the sign or pledge
of the Mosaic covenant, is described in Exod. xxxi. 16
as the covenant itself : " Wherefore the children of
Israel shaU keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath
throughout their generations, /or a perpetual covenant"
[literally, a i:>erpetual covenanf] ; whereas the sabbath
was not itself the covenant, but, as we read in
Ezek. XX. 12, 20, "a sign" between God and the
people.
In the New Testament, in like manner, the same or
similar phraseology is employed; and the substantive
verb, whether expressed or understood, is constantly
used as the copula of symbolical relationship. Thus,
in His parabolical teaching, om- Lord represents Him-
self as the '• door," and the "vine;" the "good seed"
as the " children of the kingdom," and the " tares " as
the " children of the wicked one." And so, in the insti-
tution of the Last Supper, not only is the bread symboli-
cally represented as the body of the Lord, but — as if to
siipply a key to the meaning of His words which could
not be misimderstood — while the cup, or that which it
contained, is described in the Gospels of St. Matthew
and St. Mark as the blood of the Lord, the same cup is
described in the records of St. Luke and St. Paul as
1)eing — i.e., as representing, or as the token and pledge
of — the new covenant in the blood of Him by whom
that covenant was ratified : " This cup [is] the New
Testament [or covenant] in my blood, which is shed
for you."
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, R.E.
III.-THE JORDAN VALLEY FROM THE SEA OF
GALILEE TO THE DEAD SEA.
^N the Authorised Version of the Bible,
the Hebrew name, Arahnh, of the Jordan
valley is translated "plain," but in the
— .^-^ ^^ original the word is always accompanied
by the article, and the plain called the Arabah, that is,
'• the desert." In Josh. xi. 2; xii. 3; and Dout. iii. 17,
the Arabah is mentioned in connection with tlie Sea of
Galilee, and in Deut. i. 1 ; ii. 8, with the Red Sea and
Elathj so that the term would appear to have been
applied to the whole depression between the Sea of
Galilee and the Red Sea, though at the present day the
southern portion alone is known under its ancient name
as Wady el-Arabah. To the Greeks and Romans the
valley was known as the Anion, and it is now called by
the Arabs el-Ghor, i.e., "a long valley between moun-
tains." a name which it will bo convenient to adopt in
the following remarks. Other names are apjilied in tho
Bible to particular portions of the Jordan valley, such
as the ciccars or "circuits" of Jordan, near Jericho
(Gen. xiii. 12), and between Succoth and Zeredathah
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
343
(2 Chron. iv. 17) ; the emeks or plains of Succoth (Ps.
Ix. 6 ; cviii. 7) and Keziz (Josh, xviii. 21) ; the bikah
of Jericho (Deut. sxxiv. 3) ; and the abel or meadow
of Shittim (Nvimb. xxxiii. 49).
From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea there is
one deep depression, filled up to a certain level with
allu^^al deposit, forming what is often called the " upper
plain " of the Jordan valley ; and in this the river has
hollowed out for itself, during the course of long ages,
a " lower plain," varying in width from a quarter of a
mile to a mUe, and from 50 to 100 feet below the
general level of the valley. The banks of the " upper
plain " are ragged and irregular, and wherever tribu-
taries join the Jordan, they present a most curious
appearance ; this is especially the case in the lower por-
tion of the valley, where streams not six feet wide have
washed out for themselves beds nearly a mile in width,
and left in their irregular course quauit isolated hills
to mark the existence and level of the origuial plain.
There are thus two distinct and well-defined plains in
the Jordan valley : the " upper," generally sterile and
only capable of cultivation in those places where springs
or perennial streams afford the means of copious irriga-
tion ; and the "lower," through which the river pursues
its tortuous course, keeping by its occasional overflows
certain small tracts under cultivation.
In January, February, and March there are frequently
heavy f;ills of rain, and then for a brief period the plain
is clothed in scarlet and green, and is covered with a
profusion of wild flowers only equalled on the gi-eat
prairies of America; soon, however, the hot breath of
the south wind passes over it, scorching and withering
aU vegetation, and leaving nothing but a barren waste
behind. The temperature of the valley varies with
the dii-ection of the wind ; during the winter months
the north wind often brings intense cold, and there is
a great difference between the night and day tempera-
tiu'e ; whilst with a south vrind the heat becomes almost
insupportable, and the sun's rays strike down into the
deep chasm -with a force and power hardly equalled in
any part of the world.
On either side of the Jordan are a number of artificial
mounds or "tells," oval in shape, from 100 to 150 feet
long, 50 to 100 feet broad, and about 50 feet high, which
have frequently attracted the notice of travellers. The
mounds are for the most part isolated, and, if we may
judge from their position, at the foot of mountain passes,
were erected for purposes of defence. Some of the
mounds near Jericho were excavated for the Palestine
Exploration Fund by Captain Warren, R.E., but the
results he obtained did not give any clear indication of
the object for which they were made.
Before proceeding to a detailed account of the Jordan
valley, we must briefly notice three remarkable attempts
during the present century to explore the river between
the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The first was in
1835, by Mr. Costigan, who succeeded in descending
the Jordan in a small boat, and in reaching the southern
end of the Dead Sea, but who died soon afterwards at
Jerusalem J the second was in 1847, by Lieutenant
Molyneux, R.N., who was also successful in accomplish-
ing his object, but died soon after his retm-n to his
ship ; the third was in 1848, ])y the American Govern-
ment expedition, under Lieutenant Lynch, U.S.N.,
who descended the river with two boats, and spent
some time ui making a survey of the Dead Sea. To
the last expedition we owed, till quite recently, most
of our knowledge of the Jordan valley ; but in 1868,
Captain Warren, R.E., made an important journey
up the western bank of the Jordan, which produced
valuable results ; and during the winter of 1873-74 a
complete survey of this part of the countiy has been
made by Lieutenant Conder, R.E., for the Palestine
Exploration Fund.
The right or western bank of Jordan. — The Jordan
commences its course like no ordinary river, for on
leaving the lake it runs in an opposite direction to that
which it has idtimately to follow ; this is partially
caused by the silting up of the stream under the old
Roman bridge at Tarichese, which throws the river so
much to the south as to leave the greater portion of the
bridge high and dry. A little lower down are the re-
mains of a second and third bridge, and nearly opposite
the latter is the mouth of the valley that drains the
plain Ard el-Huma, behind Tiberias. About six miles
below the Sea of Galilee is the Jisr Mejanua, a bridge
with one large pointed arch and three smaller ones,
in good preservation, over which ran the great road
from Bethshan through Gadara to Damascus. A little
south of the bridge, the Wady Bireh, which drains the
country south and east of Mount Tabor, descends mto
the Jordan valley, and on the brow of the hiUs above,
commanding a magnificent view for many mUes in every
direction, are the ruins of the old Crusading fortress
of Belvoir or Belvedere, now called Kaukab el-Hawa,
which was captured by Saladin in 1188 A.D. From the
lake to Jisr Mejamia the Jordan valley presents tlie
appearance of a broad open plain, and from thence to
Beisan, the next point of interest, about eight miles,
the vaUey is some three mUes wide. Beisan, the Beth-
shan of the Bible, was one of those towns from which
the Canaanites were never driven out, and after the
fatal battle of Mount Gilboa, the corpses of Saul and
his sons were fastened to its walls, whence they were
stolen by the " valiant men " of Jabesh. Under the
Greek dominion, after the Captivity, the place was
called Scythopolis, a name perhaps derived from the
incTirsions of the Scythians or nomads of the north in
the reign of King Josiali. Beisan is prettUy situated on
the brow of the descent by which the beautiful meadow-
like plain of the valley of Jezreel falls to the lower level
of the Ghor, and the town itself, well watered by springs
and the streams from Ain Jalud and its tributaries,
and intersected by deep ravines, must have been ex-
tremely pictm-esque. The ruins cover a large area,
but they are not of much importance ; the principal
are those of two theatres, one with vomitories and pas-
sages in a perfect state, a temple, a city gateway, several
bridges over the stream, fragments of the city wall, and
the acropolis which rises in the centre and forms a con-
344
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
»~)icuous object iu
tiie laudscape. Tlie
road from Gadai*a
passed through the
middle of the town,
and as at Samaria,
Gadai-a, Grerasa,
and other towns, it
was bordered on
either side by h)fty
columns which now
lie prostrate and
almost concealed by
the tangled mass of
vegetation that has
grown over them.
Proceeding south-
wards from Beisan,
the Ghor is from
eight to nine miles
wide until we reach
Tell Sakiit, a dis-
tance of about eight
miles, where it be-
gins to contract.
This section of the
valley is abundantly
watered by springs
and by streams run-
ning down from the
mountains ; but they
are nearly all slight-
ly brackish, and in
places spread out
so as to form large
tracts of marshy
ground. Tell Sakiit,
an artificial mound
about three-quarters
of a mile from the
Jordan, has been
supposed by some
writers to be the
Succoth mentioned
in the account of
Jacob's return from
Haran to Shechem,
but it is somewhat
out of the direct
road from the Zerka
(Jabbok) to Nablus
(Shechem), and the
position answers
better to that of the
Succoth mentioned
in connection with
Gideon's pursuit of
Zebah and Zal-
munna (Judg. viii.
6—17). Onthesur-
MAI' OF THE JORDiLN VALLEY.
face of the mound
are a few rude f oim-
dations, and at ita
foot a fine spring.
South of TeU Sakut,
the Wady Malih,
which rises in the
n e i g hbourhood of
Tcyasir south of
Mount Gilboa,
reaches the Jordan^
and hero the long
fertile plain of the
upper Ghor termi-
nates ; the moun-
tains throw out
spurs towards the
river, and for six
miles the Jordan
passes through a
gorge hardly a mile
wide. Below this
the valley again
opens out in the
rich luxuriant tract
at tho mouth of
Wady Faria, which
extends to Kurn
Surtabeh with a
width of about ten
miles. The Wady
Faria drains the
plain of Mukhna,
near Nablus, as well
as that of Tubez or
Thebez to the north,
and is exceedingly
rich and beautiful,
well watered by a
fine stream fringed
with oleanders, and
partially cultivated.
Down the valley ran
the road connecting
Nablus with Gilead
and Bashan, and
several of the arches
of the old Roman
bridge by which it
crossed the Jordan
still remain, and are
called Jisr Damieh;
at the present day
the road from Na-
blus to Es Salt
crosses the Jordan
at a ford near the
bridge, where a ferry
has been established
for use when the
C-EOGRAPHY OF TIIE BIBLE.
water is high. At
Kuru Surtabeh, a
peculiarly shaped
mountaiu, stretching
out into the Ghor, the
valley is contracted to
seven miles, but thence
to the Dead Sea its
average width is about
twelve miles. There
are a few ruins on the
summit of Kum Sur-
tabeh, and it is men-
tioned iQ the Talmud
as one of the stations
where signal torches
were lighted and
waved to announce the
appearance of the new
moon. South of this
mountain the plain be-
comes a parched de-
sert, except where it is
watered by the copious
springs at the foot of
the mountains : the
first of these is Ain
Fusail in the Wady
Fusail, which proba-
bly derived its name
from the city of Pha-
saelus near its mouth,
of which there are
traces in the ruins of
Khirbet Fusail. Pha-
saelus was built by
Herod the Great, and
given by him to his
sister Salome, who
afterwards conveyed
it to Livia, the wife
of the Emperor Au-
gustus. The imme-
diate district around
appears to have been
richly cultivated, for
the palm-gardens of
Phasaelus are specially
mentioned in Salome's
will. Below Fusail
the deep gorge of
Wady el-Aujeh enters
the Ghor; and south
of this are the ruins
of Es-Sumrab, which
have been identified
with Shamor on
Mount Zemaraim,
whence Abijah sum-
moned his armies to
345
meet Jeroboam. A
little further to the
south the Wady ISTa-
waimeh descends from
the heights above
Beitiu (Bethel), and
affords a ready means
of access to the moun-
taiu district; it was
up this valley that
Joshua passed to at-
tack and capture Ai,
and again, on another
memorable occasion,
when he "went up
from Gilgal all night"
to lend his powerful
aid to the men of
Gibeon. On the south
bank of Wady Na-
waimeh, within a mile
of the point at which
it issues from the
mountains, are the
fountains of Ain Duk;
the largest source
springs up at the foot
of a fine Dom ti*ee,
and its waters are led
off by an aqueduct
to irrigate portions of
the plain on the south,
whilst the waters of
the remaining springs
foUow their natural
course down the val-
ley. The position o:^
Ain Duk at the foot
of the pass to Bethel,
with its abundant sup-
ply of water, was too
important to be over-
looked during the
stormy history of Pa-
lestine, and Ave accor-
dingly find tliat from
an eai-ly period it was
chosen as a suitable
site for a castle or for-
tress. In the castle of
Doch or Docus, Ptole-
meus treacherously
murdered his father-
in-law, Simon Macca-
bseus, with his two
sons, after entertain-
ing them at a ban-
quet; and under its
present name of Duk
it is mentioned as a
346
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
fortress of the Knights Templars between Jericho
and Bethel. South of A in Diik the great plain of
Jericho extends to the margin of the Dead Sea; but
before examining the many interesting questions con-
nected with it. we must briefly notice the remaining
valley on the western side of the Jordan ; this is the
wild glen of Wady Kelt, which by its many branches,
including Wadies Suweiuit and Farah, drains a lai'go
tract of country east and north of Jerusalem. The
stream in Wady Kelt is without doubt the " river "
mentioned in the Bible in connection with the boundary
line between Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xvi. 1), and Dr.
Robinson has identified it with the brook Cherith, on
the banks of which Elijah hid himseK during part of
the three years' famine, and was fed by ravens (1 Kings
xvii. 3 — 5). As, however, the Bible gives no clue to
the position of Cherith, except that it was eastward of
Saniarm and faced the Jordan, we can hardly accept
the identification. Eusebius and Jerome place Cherith
east of the Jordan, and this would seem the more pro-
bable situation, for Elijah would then have been in a
manner in his o^Tn country, and more out of the way
of Ahab. Along the southern side of the valley runs
for some distance the road from Jericho to Jerusalem,
and near the ruins of Khan Hudhur we have little diffi-
culty in recognising the ascent of Adummim. At the
foot of a mound on the northern side of Wady Kelt,
about a mile from the base of the mountains, a fiue
fountain of clear sweet water bursts forth, which there
is every reason to believe is the scene of Elisha's
miracle (2 Kings ii. 19 — 22) and the site of ancient
Jericho. Except in the immediate neighbourhood,
there are no other springs, and it is the only natural
site for a city in the surrounding country. The spring
seems once to have been enclosed by a sort of reservoir
of hewn stones, but this is now broken, and the water
finds its way at raudom over the plain, covered here
with a dense thicket of Zahkuni and Spina Christi.
The ruin at the spring appears to be that of a small
Roman temple ; but there are other ruins to the north,
and in the thorny copse below are many foundations,
low mounds, &c., wliich may have been connected Avith
the ancient city. There are a large number of mounds
in the neighbourhood, especially towards the south,
the most important of which were opened by Captain
Warren, R.E., without, however, giviug any definite
results. Rude foundations of stone and brick and
pottery were found in all, but no clue was obtained to
the object for which they were erected. Two, one on
either side of Wady Kelt, near the mouth of the pass
from Beit Jabr, may represent the forts of Thrax
and Taurus, mentioned by Strabo as standing at the
entrance to Jericho; and one. Tell el-Matlab, is said
by the natives of Er Riha to mark the site of ancient
Jericho, a distorted legend of the caijture of the city
being attached to it.
The site of Ain es-Sultan, in close proximity to
Jebel Kuruntul (Quarantania), where the spies may
have taken refuge, meets all the requirements of the
Biblical Jericho, and we can only account for the dis-
placement of the city by the perpetual curse laid upon
him who should attempt to rebuild its walls. On the
southern side of Wady Kelt stood the Roman city of
Jericho, but it has entirely disappeared with the excep-
tion of a few mounds, and the fine reservoir, Birket
Musa, 190 yards long and 100 wide, which was fed by
aqueducts from the neighbouring mountain-springs.
Nothing is more extraordinary than the total disappear-
ance of Jericho, which in the time of Herod was an
important city, containing an amphitheatre in wliich
Herod shut up the principal men of the Jews with the
xiew of ha^dug them killed at his death, and so ensuring
a general mourniug of the nation ; in the same place
also Salome, after dismissing those who were shut up,
announced Herod's death to the assembled soldiers and
people, and exhorted them to receive Archelaus as king.
It was at the Jericho of Herod that our Lord accepted
the hospitality of Zaccheus the publican ; and it was in
its vicinity that He restored sight to the blind (Matt.
xs. 30; Mark x. 46; Luke xviii. 35). At the ford
across the river in front tradition places the scene of
our Lord's baptism, and in the mountain behind that
of His temptation ; whilst Khan Hudhur, on the road
from Jericho to Jerusalem, is pointed out as the scene
of the story of the good Samaritan. The fertility of
the plain round Jei'icho was unexampled ; pahns of
various kinds, as weU as opobalsamum, myrobalsamum,
and other valuable trees and shrubs throve there, pro-
ducing large revenues, wliich were rented by Herod
from Cleopatra, to whom Antony had given them.
Even during the existence of the Latin kingdom of
Jerusalem, the plain was extensively cultivated and laid
out in vineyards and gardens ; now all is desolate, and,
with one solitary exception near Er Riha, the palms
which once gave Jericho its title, " the City of Palms,"
have long since disappeared. The remains, however,
of the network of aqueducts which distributed the
waters of six large fountains, including Ain Aujeh,
six miles to the north, over the plain, show the care
once bestowed on its cultivation, and the series of arches
by which they cross Wady Kelt form not the least pic-
turesque and interesting of the ruins round Jericho.
The A-illage of Er Riha, the modem representative of
Jericho, consists only of a number of wi'ctched mud
huts gathered round a castle built by the Crusaders,
which is now pointed out as the house in which Zaccheus
entertained our Lord. A Chi-istian settlement appears
to have taken root at Jericho and in its vicinity at a
veiy early date; under Constautine, baptism in the
Jordan became the fashion of the day ; and soon after-
wards colonies of anchorites installed themselves in the
caves of Kuruntul, the traditional Mount of Temptation
(Mous Quarantania), and monastic buildings commenced
to rise on the plain. In the precipitous rocky face
of Kuruntul is a labyrinth of rock-he\vn caverns and
chapels, connected by galleries or staircases, and some-
times ornamented with quaint rude frescoes ; on the
summit of the mountain are the ruins of a small chapel
and fortress. Of the numerous monasteries there are
many remains ; at Kasr el- Jahud, on the banks of the
CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
347
Jordan, are the ruins of iliat of St. John the Baptist,
erected by Justinian, with a great cistern, once fed by
an aqueduct from Ain es-Sultan, and the apse of the
church mentioned by Arculf ; at Kasr Hajla, the ancient
Beth-Hogla, those of a large monastery with a chapel
and defaced frescoes; and there are others near Er
Riha and in Wady Kelt, the buildings of the latter
monastery clinging to the precipitous sides of the rapine
like those of the great convent of Mar Saba in the lower
part of the Kedron valley.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
BY F. R. CONDER, C.E.
LARGER MEASURES
rr. COINCIDENT MODES OF BECKONING.
liEFORE speaking of any reckoning anterior ,
to the Exodus, it is desirable to refer
to those various lines of contemporary ,
history which are more or less distinctly
connected with the history of the Bible. "We have :
given an account of the materials for constructing the j
sacred chronology: it is important to glance at those ;
which are of value for its control and verification. i
These subsidiary modes of reckoning are of two j
kinds : they are either astronomical or historical. i
We have already referred to the years of the City of j
Rome, to the years of the Seleucidse, and to those of
the Persian and Babylonian kings. A long-lost source
of perfectly accurate information has lately been dis-
covered in the bumt-clay records of Assyria.
Sir Henry Rawlinson, and the scholars to whose
labours this important discovery has given a stimulus,
have deciphered the records of nearly three centuries
of Assj'rian history. The dates of the accession of
fifteen kings, and references to the principal events of
their reigns, are contained in the clay tablets now in the
British Museum; and the whole series is accurately
referred to historic time by the account of an eclipse
of the sun which occurred in the eighth year of King
Ashur-dan, which coincided vnth. the thirty-eighth year
of Uzziali, king of Judah. The exact coincidence of
the thii'd year of Sennacherib with the fourteenth year
of Hezekiah, and of this doubly ascertained date with
the sixth year of the septennate, may be taken as an
absolute determination of date.
To some of the ancient manuscripts of the Almagest
of Ptolemy is appended a chronological list of the
kings of the Assyrians, of the kings of Persia, and of
the Roman emperors after Augustus. It is known by
the name of the Regal Canon, and comes down to the
death, a.d. 160, of Antoninus, during whose reign the
gi'eat astronomer and geographer, Claudius Ptolemy,
flourished. The accuracy of this list is verified by the
dates of numerous eclipses of the moon, which are
described and referred to this system of reckoning in
the Almagest. f
The fifth year of Nabopolassar, the father of ISTebu-
chadnezzar, is one of those fixed by an eclipse. The
length of this king's reign is stated at twenty- one years
in the Canon, and at twenty-nine years by Berosus, the
Chaldean historian.^ ISTebuchadnezzar, or Nabokollasar,
1 El. Josephus Contra A-^ion, i. 19.
OF TIME {continued).
reigned for forty-three years. But it is from the second
era, or that determined by Berosus for the death of
Nabopolassar, that the years of Nebuchadnezzar cited by
the j)rophet Jeremiah date. To refer this to the earlier
epoch disturbs aU the exact coincidences of Jewish,
Assyi-ian, and Egyptian history. It is stated by
Berosus that Nebuchadnezzar was in command of the
Assyrian army during liis father's lifetime ; and this
may explain the attribution of the eight years in ques-
tion to the two kings. The year 151 of the Canon,
being the twenty-ninth from the accession of Nabopo-
lassar, was, at all events, the fii'st year of Nebuchad-
nezzar in Palestine ; 2 and this was the fourth year of
Jehoiakim. This date is independently fixed by
Egyptian chronology, and by the death of Necho II.
There is a difference of a year, in the computation of
the years of Nebuchadnezzar, between the Second Book
of Kings and the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, which
probably arises from the different days on which the
Chaldean and the Jewish regnal year began. The fii'st
year of E^ol-merodach, the Ilvarodamus of the Regal
Canon, dated from January 4 (of oui- present reckoning),
186 Nabouassar. In that same year, the 25th day of
Adar fell on February 22, and the first day of the
Nisan following fell on March 21. Thus the two modes
of reckoning only coincide during a part of the year.
Thirty-seven years, counting back from this date, fall
on the year of the death of King Josiah, which was
the actual fall of the Jewish monarchy, from which the
prophet appears, in this place, to reckon.
The seventy prophetic years of servitude are deter-
mined, by the distinct references made by the prophets
Jeremiah and Zechariah, to extend from the eighth year
of Jehoiakim, which was four years after the defeat of
Necho at Carcliemish, in 157 Nab., to the second year
of Darius, or 227 Nabonassar. The sacred writer of the
Book of Kings passes hastily over this mom-nful period,
but indicates three years of tribute before the assertion
of independence, or rebelhon, of the king of Judah.
The succeeding year was thus the eighth of Jehoiakim,
in which the yoke of the king of Babylon, who made
three several deportations of the Jews, in the eighth,
nineteenth, and tweuty-foui-th years of his power in
Palestine, was finally imposed upon Jerusalem.^
Equal, if not superior, in their monumental import-
ance, to the Assyrian and Babylonian records, are those
of Egypt. Coincidences between the history of Palestme
" Jer. XX7. 1. 3 Jer. sxv. 11, 12; xxis. 10; Zech. i, 1, 12.
3i8
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and that of Egypt occur at distinct epochs, and the
chronological value of the synchronism, or identity of
dato, thus arrived at is of the first order. For Egyptian
dates the chronology of Brugsch has been followed
■with much confidence. The reckonings of Lepsius
and of Bunsen are not very difPerent from those of
Brugsch ; but the difference that exists is attributable
to the superior care and accuracy of the latter scholar.
Hail the same patient study been applied to Hebrew
that has been given to Egyptian chronology, we should
not witness the extraordinary anachronisms that are
now brought before the world.
It is true that a system which, though vague and Tin-
determined, is some 150 years shorter than that of
Brugsch (if wo go back only as far as the eighteenth
Theban Dynasty in Egypt), has found favour in this
country. The only argument which one of our most
accomplished Egyptian scholars has assigned for the
anomaly of the relations which thus are indicated be-
tween the two chronologies, is one to the effect that the
treasure city, Raamses (to which the LXX. adds, " and
On, which is Heliopolis "), would not have been built,
under that name, before the accession of the nineteenth,
or Ramesid, dynasty. It is a conclusive reply to this
argument that the land of Rameses is mentioned, 430
years before the date of the Exodus, in the Book of
Genesis.^
In each instance where the same events are dated
in the Hebrew Sacred Books, and in the Egyptian
records, the accordance between the two perfectly inde-
pendent systems, that which we are explaining and
that of Brugsch, is absolute.
The Talmud does not supply that direct information,
as to dates, which has proved so valuable as to other
parts of metrology. But its testimony is, neverthe-
less, of great value on the subject. An approximate
chronology is to be derived from the succession of the
series of heads of the Sanhedrin and other doctors of
the Mishna, by which the progress of legislative decision
on certain points in controversy is made clear. A few
comparative dates are given by the Ghemarists; and
these have the more value from the fact that the striking
coincidences with other modes of reckoning which they
present have not hitherto been pointed out. Above all,
the study of the Oral Law has a positive chronological
value, as showing how impossible it was for the course
of the septennial calculation at any time to have been
broken or lost ; as well as by proving that the year of
Jubilee, which commenced neither on the first day of
the sacred, nor on that of the civil year, but on a date
peculiar to itself, could never have caused any disturb-
ance of the regular septennial order. The Romish
attempt to introduce a fiftieth year, so as to bring the
cycle to a decennial, instead of a septennial, reckoning,
is like an argument that the days of the week should be
shifted annually, because the day of Pentecost was on
a fiftieth day.
The verification to be derived from Josej^us is not
1 Gen. xlvii. 11.
to bo sought in those passages in which ho gives tho
most distinct determination of historical cycles. There
is every reason to suppose that these passages have
been corrupted by transcribers. As they stand, no
two of them agree ; a discrejvancy which we can hardly
imagine that a great writer would have allowed to exist.
But there are numerous periods cited, to which we shall
refer, the application of which to the through reckoning
could hardly have been within tho comprehension of
the transcribers. Tliere would, therefore, have been
no conceivable inducement to make supposed correc-
tions. These passages exactly concur with the restora-
tion of the sacred reckoning now brought forward.
The asti'onomical coincidences which have a dii'ect
bearing upon the chronology of the Bible are of the
highest importance. First, there is the vague Egyptian
year. The slow change, in the relation of this year to
the equinox, gives extreme value to any determination
which can be referred to a day of an Egyptian month.
Josephus^ states that the Exodus, which took place in
the month called Abib by the Hebrews, and Xanthicus
by the Greeks, occurred in the Egyptian month Phar-
muthi. This coincidence existed in the year B.C. 151;1,
in which the restored sacred reckoning places the
Exodus. In that year the 1st of Nisan fell on the 14th
of Pharmuthi.
The relations of the lunar month to the equinoctial
year on the one hand, and to the days of the week on
the other, give a number of coincidences which require
a special series of tables for immediate verification.
The great point here to bear in mind is, that the institu-
tions of the Law were such as to prevent the possibility
of any accumulating error in lunar dates. On any
month, indeed, according to the regulations De novos
Lunce initiando, a question might arise whether the
first or the second day after the conjunction was
hallowed as the first of the month. Once every three
or four years, a doubt might occur as to the intercalation
of the thirteenth month, and the consequent date of
the ensuing Passover. But with these limits, which
cease to pei*plex when they are perfectly understood,
accuracy is absolute.
A remarkable instance of this astronomical coinci-
dence oceurs in the Book of Ezekiel.^ The dates of that
book run from 159 Nabonassar, as is evident from the
statement that the overthrow of the city was in the
twelfth year. The year in which the first chapter of
the book is dated,"* thirty years from the great Passover,
is therefore 164 Nabonassar. Tliat year is one of those
as to which a doubt is possible whether it contained
twelve or thirteen months, as the first day of the moon
of the vernal equinox fell at the earliest limit prescribed
by the rules of the Law. From the tweKth day of
Tammuz, the fourth month, Ezekiel was under a pro-
phetic sequestration for 430 days. On the fifth day of
' Ant. ii. 14, § 6 ; 15, § 2. The British Museum chronology will
hring the Exodus into the month Mecheir, in contradiction to
Josephus.
3 Ezek. xxxiii. 21.
■• The eighth year of Nehuchadnezzar in Palestine, thirty years
from the great Passover of King Josiah.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
349
Elul, the sixtli montli, iu the following year, another
vision is dated. If the year in question had contabied
only twelve months, the second vision would have fallen
three weeks within the period of 430 days denoted for
the term of retirement. We thus liave the indication
of the proper iutercalation of the embolismic, or
thirteenth mouth.
Of the coincidence of days of the moon and days of
the week the instances are numerous; the most com-
j)leto being found in the Book of Ezra,' where six days
of the week, necessarily excluding the Sabbath, can be
correctly identified by the calendar. The value of this
mode of verifying dates, and of thus ascertaining the
original authenticity of the records wliich involve dates
that thoy do not distinctly express, is capital.
Another instance of the value of astronomical coinci-
dence may be cited. Dean Stanley- quotes a tradition
that the high priest Zechariah was murdered on the
Day of Atonement, which fell, on that occasion, on the
Sabbath. The chronology of the Book of Chronicles'
places the murder in the thirty-ninth year of the reign
of Joash. In this year such a coincidence of dates
actually occurred. Not only so, but a like coincidence
occurred forty years pre^^'iously, on the occasion of the
murder of Athaliah by the high priest Jehoiada, the
father of Zechariah.
"We have explained the pi-inciples on which the
original chronology of the Sacred Books is to be re-
covered from their dii-ect testimony. "We have enu-
merated some of those monumental records which,
while not adequate by themselves to allow of the recon-
struction of the sacred reckoning from their dates, are
definite and positive as means of verification. These
are, the astronomically determined Canon of Ptolemy,
the clay tablets of Nineveh, the monuments and papyri
of Egypt, the latent references in Josephus, the course
of the septennial reckoning, that of the vague Egyjitian
year, that of the moon, that of the week, and that of the
courees of the priests. To these has to be added, that
of the prophetic reckoniug, which Origen regarded as
sufficiently definite to be constructive. Before enter-
ing, however, on this inquiry, we must see how far the
systematic chronology of the Pentateuch can be carried
back through the period preceding the Exodus, and
examine the definite account of the estabhshment of the
septennial reckoning.
III. — THE THROUGH RECKONING OF THE BOOK OF
GENESIS.
All ancient s)-stems of chronology commence with a
divine or mythical period ; the rule of the gods, or the
reigns and long lives of the heroes. The history of the
Jewish people, strictly so called, begins with the de-
parture of their forefather Abraham from Mesoj>otamia.
The records of the Chaldean astronomers, which perished
in the conflagration of the great library at Alexandria,
but which were accessible to, and fully quoted by, the
gi-eat philosopher, Claudius Ptolemy, in the second
1 Ezra vii. 8, 9 ; viii. 31, 32, 33 ; x. 9, 16.
2 Lectures, part ii., p. 402. 3 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 23.
centui-y A.D., reached back to tho very year of this de-
parture, which is thus shown to bo not unconnected
with political revolution iu Babylon. But before this
date we find a number of periods, amounting in all
to 2624 years, cited in the Book of Genesis.
We have no intention to treat that most venerablo
record with less reverence than was prescribed by the
doctors of the Law. As to the character of these early
chapters, whether allegorical, prophetical, or monu-
mental of the outlines of certain events of which the
body has been altogether lost, we shall not now inquire.
The point of view from which we have exclusively to
regard them, is that of their relation to chronology.
Wliatever be the explanation of the terms of life
allotted to the earHest names in the Book of Genesis,
this much is sure. They form elements in a dead
reckoning from a given point ; in fact, from the Mun-
dane Era of the Jews. It is necessary to see whether
the period, which is thus j)refixed to the detailed histoiy,
gives such a form to the entire system as to render it
desirable to commence our notation from that point.
In order to do that, we must examine the diif ereut read-
ings that occur in the various versions of the Book of
Genesis.
The length of time which the Hebrew text, in its
existing state, reckons from the Mundane Era to the
birth of Arphaxad, is 1658 years. In the Septuagint
the term is 600 years longer, and there is a regularity
in the sequence of the several periods, which is curiously
interrupted in the Hebrew. In the Samaritan copies of
the Pentateuch'' the period is 349 years less than the
Hebrew. By Josephus the reckoning of the LXX.
apj)ears to have been adopted, although the various pas-
sages are sadly corrupted. The elements of the calcula-
tion, the individual terms, amount to 1658. The sum is
set down at 2658, which looks like a correction followed
by a re-correction. The epigraph of the first book of the
Antiquities gives an interval of 3833 years from the
Creation to the bu'th of Isaac. Taking one thousand
years as a clerical eiTor, the determination is within four
years of that we have to show. But the passage wliich
may be taken as most conclusive as to the original
chronology occurs in the preface, in which Josephus
says that the sacred books contain the history of 5000
years. This statement, which is reiterated in the first
book against Apion, is altogether inconsistent with the
removal of the 600 years in debate.
The same kind of confusion attends the determination
of the period between the birth of Arphaxad and that
of Abraham. Josephus ^ is in exact accordance with the
Hebrew text in stating the time as 290 years. But the
details of the lives, in the existing copies of the Anti-
quities, amount to some 600 years more ; the period
abstracted from the previous period by one corrector
having been apparently here inserted by another. The
details of the LXX. agree with those of Josephus,
vrith the insertion of an additional name, and i^eriod
of 130 years. But the regularity of period, and
* The Chrono-Astroldhe, p. 145.
8 Ant. i. 6, § 5,
350
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
proportiou between the tunes of bii-th and length of
life in each inst;xnce, which are in favour of the
Greek text in the first phice, are in favour of the
Hebrew in the second. As to this, however, the 17th
Terse of the 17th chapter may be taken as conchisive.
The bu-th of a son to Abraham at 100 years of age,
could not have appeared matter of wonder to a man
boi-n when his own father Avas 170, and whose seven
preceding ancestors each had issue at about 130.
It is unnecessary for our present purpose to say any
more on this question of coutlictiug versions. The only
aim with wliich we have undertaken the inquiry is to
see whether, by any simjjle reading of either authority,
wo can obtain the dead reckoning for the migration of
Abraluim, which was subsequently employed either by
historical or by prophetical writers. We find that, by
taking the original dates, without omitting the 60U
years that appear to have been dealt with by conflicting
transcribers in different modes, we not only come most
closely to the time of 5000 years mentioned in the pre-
face to the Antiquities, but find ourselves in the presence
of a dead reckoning -which possesses a remai-kable
combination of chronometric advantages.
From the birth of Abraham to the descent of Jacob
and his family into Egypt, no hesitation arises as to
reckoning. As to the period of 430 years between this
date and the Exodus, the insertion of the words, " and
in the land of Canaan," in the LXX. version,^ has led
some writers to reduce the period of the sojourn in
Egypt to about half its real length. Two considera-
tions, however, appear to be fully adequate to support
the authority of the Hebrew text. The arrival in
Egj"pt was on a definite date. But none such can be
attached to the an-ival of Abraham in Palestine, as no
locality is mentioned. And it is a remarkable coinci-
dence, that the 15th of Abib, on each of the years
we have determined, fell on the same day of the week,
in accordance with the expression, " the self -same day."-
The second proof is the fact that the Bible contains
the genealogies of Kohath, of Gershom, of Pharez, of
Ephraim, and of Bela, the son of Benjamin, in each of
which fourteen generations occur from Abraham to the
time of Moses. This allows forty years for a genera-
tion, a period that is fully coincident with genealogical
requirements. The Greek reckoning woidd reduce the
length of Me to that which obtained at a much later
period of history.
From the Era of the Exiodus, when the first year
of the septennial reckoning coincided with the first year
of the migration, down to the fourth year of the reign
of Solomon, the only question that arises is as to the
exact year on which the tsath, or migration, was held
to have concluded. This the Book of Joshua appears
to determine as the fifty-fifth year from leavmg Egj'pt,
which was the first Rest, or Sabbatic year, after the
settlement of Canaan.^ Only from this time could the
observance of the special duties of the third and sixth
' Esod. xii. 40. - Exod. sii. 41.
3 Josh, xxi. 44 ; xxii. 6.
years, in which the second tithe was given to the poor,
and of the fourth and seventh yeai-s, in wliich a portion,
or the whole, of the product of the soil was sacred or
untilled, have been regularly maintained. The date of
the war with the king of Ammon, 300 years after the
conquest of Basan, suppHes the key for the further
division of this period, in which the only remainuig
difficidty is as to the substitution of eighty years for
eight after the death of Eglon.'' The longer period
is inconsistent with the remark of Josephus as to the
brief time that elapsed before the conquest by Jabiu,^
and the correction is verified by the insertion of the
longer period, in the time of Jephthah.
From the reign of Solomon to that of Zedekiah, the
reckoning of the regnal years is plain. The accordance
of the Jewish dates with those of profane history is
fixed by the eclij)se of the sun in the eighth year of
Ashur-dan, and by the coincidence of the third year of
Sennacherib with the fourteenth year of Hezekiah.
A double reckoning of the dates of Nebuchadnezzar
may be traced in the Bible, as well as in Josephus.
The dates of the Book of Ezekiel are referred, fijst
to the great Passover in the reign of Josiah, and
then to the years of the Galuth, or exile. These are
checked by the reference to the destruction of the city,
in the tweKtli year.'' But on one occasion,' in a pre-
diction referring to Nebuchadnezzar, the twenty- seventh
year is given as the date. The twenty-seventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar, according to Ptolemy, coincided with
the tenth year of Ezekiel's reckoning, excepting that
the Babylonian year begun, at that time, on the 8th
of January, Gregorian time (2 Jan., Julian time), and
the Jewish year began with the lunar month of the
vernal equinox.
The date of the accession of EAal-merodach is known
by the Regal Canon. It is mentioned by the prophet
Jeremiah (and also in the Book of Kings) as occurring
in the thirty- seventh year of the Galuth. This exactly
corresponds with the dates of Ezekiel, and dates from
the year folloAving the battle of Megiddo, and the
vii'tual extinction of the Je^vish monarchy, five years
before the death of Necho II., in the sixth year after the
fall of Nineveh.
Perfect accord thus exists between the monumental
canons of Nineveh and of Babylon, and the chronology
of the sacred writers. It is necessary further to
remark the existence of two sei^arato methods of
reckoning, which start from different dates, although,
when these dates are duly noted, perfect harmony is
the result.
The first of these comprises the dates given in terms
of the years of Nebuchadnezzar. It is clear, from the
several passages, that the reign of this monarch in
Palestine is dated from the overthrow of Necho H. at
the battle of Carcheraish. That event took place in the
foui-th year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah,^
which was called in Palestine the first year of Nebu-
•* Judg. iii. 30. 5 Ant. v. 4, § 3. See note by Whiston.
6 Ezek. xxxiii. 21. ' Ezek. xxix. 17. ^ Jer. xlvi. 2.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
351
cliaduezzar.i Tlie captm-e of Jecouiali, that of Zedekiali,
and that of 745 persons, are dated in the seventh,
eighteenth, and twenty-third years from that date,^ or
in the eighth, nineteenth,^ and twenty-fourth years of
Nebuchadnezzar in Palestine. This notation is con-
sistent with that which ascribes the same events to the
eighteenth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-foui-th years from
the capture of Xineveh, from which date the forty-third
year of Nebuchadnezzar, corresponding with the thii-ty-
seventh year of the Galidh, is dated.
The second calculation referred to is that of the
seventy years of desolation, which terminated in the
second year of Darius,-* which were predicted in the
fom-th year of Jehoiakim,^ and which commenced in
the eighth year of that king.*' The fom-th year of this
affliction fell, accordingly, on the first year of Zedekiah,
as referred to by the prophet Jeremiah./ These
passages, which have hitherto been regai'ded as unin-
telligible or contradictory, thus prove to be in exact
chronological harmony, at the same time that they indi-
cate the four different eras — of the accession of Nebu-
chadnezzar to the throne ; of his victory over Neeho ;
of the overthrow^ of the Hebrew monarchy ; and of the
commencement of the Chaldean oj)pression, after the
revolt of Jehoiakim. The whole series of events is
thus bound together according to astronomical time, and
in consistency with the course of the septennate.
For such further chronological indications as space
■will allow us to give, the reader is referred to the
tables wliich follow. These, although only extracts
from a complete set of chronological and astronomical
tables, will enable the reader of the Bible, for the first
time, to ascertain with accuracy the date to which any
event recorded in Scripture is referred by the sacred
writers.
We must regard the tables thus presented as con-
taining a system of through reckoning as well as denot-
ing the dates of special events.
In the first place, it will be seen that the chronology
exactly corresponds to the prophetic reckoning of the
Book of Daniel, by placing the Crucifixion at 490 years,
or seven weeks, from the Edict of the sixth year of
Artaxerxes, which was issued at the close of the sixty-
second week, miyio 4349 of the sacred reckoning. To
base a system upon such a coincidence, as Origen did,
is not the part of a chronologist. But the import of
such a coincidence can hardly be mistaken.
Next, it will be found that the through reckoning
now determined has nearly all the advantages of the
Julian Period, together with some peculiar to itself.
It should be observed that the fijst year of the tables
is the year 0, so that each decade, and each centiuy, ends
with the number 9. As matter of notation, this method
of arrangement afEords important advantages over tables
that commence with 1 and terminate with 10. The
sacred year commences with the vernal equinox ; not at
the solstice.
} Jer. xsT. 1 ; cf. sxxii. 1. - Jer. lii. 28, 29, 30.
3 2 Kings xxv. 8. 4 Zech. 1. 1, 12 ; cf. Jer. xxv. 1.
5 Jer. xxv. 1, 11. <■ 2 Kings xxiv. 12. 7 Jer. xxviii. 1.
The cliief cycles referred to in history are of this
mode of reckoning, as follows : —
Every number exactly divisible by 7 is the first year
of a septennate.
Every number exactly divisible by 4 is a bissextile
year, with the exception of three years in each four
centuries (except anno 2408), as arranged in the Gre-
gorian calendar. A single table of 400 years will thus
give tlie day of the week on which March 25 falls, from
the very commencement of the Mundane Era.
Every number exactly divisible by 19 is a year
corresponding to our present Golden Number 18. In a
period of twelve Metonie cycles, or 228 years, the coui-se
of the moon has gained a day on that of the sun. By
reckoning back from Anno Domini 1804, allowing a day
to be thus gained in eveiy 228 years, the first of Nisan
for any year may be ascertained, with an accuracy quite
equal to that of its actual " consecration " by view of the
moon. The years of various eras, the Olympiads, the
Chinese Cycle of sixty years, and the Prophetic Periods
of 360, 1260, and 2300 years, are all easily referable to
the through tabulation.
Lastly, this investigation renders it probable that, as
is supposed by the modern Jews, the septennial reckon-
ing has been used by the sacred writers, not only from
the Exodus, but from the commencement of the Mun-
dane Era. The seven years of Jacob's servitude termi-
nate in the year 2792. The year 2793 is divisible by
7, and wou.ld therefore have been the first year of a
week, if that system were then in use. Again, the
expression "' after two years of days," which occurs in
Gen. xli. 1, is that ordinarily used to denote the second
year of the sej)tennate. The year in question, anno
2829 of the sacred reckoning, is actually the second
year of seven, defined as before. Some twenty other
references to the septennial reckoning occm* in the
Sacred Books, and in the writings of Josephus, all of
which accurately correspond with the decennial reckon-
in o-. The coinage of the Temple money appears to be
referred, in many distinct types, to the same system of
measurement of time.
We subjoin a table showing the chief links in the
chain of sacred reckoning, corresponding to the seventy
weeks of the Book of Daniel.
CHAIN OF SACRED EECKONING.
Reference.
A.S.
Eyxnts.
Gen. xi. 10 ...
2259
Birth of Arphaxad.
Gen. xsi. 5 ...
2649
Birth of Isaac.
Gen. xlvii. 9 .
2839
Descent into Egypt. Abib 15 fell on 6tli
day of week.
Exod. xii. 41 ,
3269
Exodus. Abib 15 fell on Pharmouthi 28,
and on Friday, April 9, of our present
reckoning.
Josh. xxi. 43 .
3324
Rest. Sabbatic year after division of land.
1 Kings vi. 1...
3803
An. 4, Solomon. Commencement of
Temple, 480 years from an. 25 Joshua.
^nf. X. 6, § 1 .
4219
Invasion. An. 8 Jehoiakim (Jer. sxix. 6,
10). Seventy years begin.
Zech. i. 12 ...
4289
■An. 2 Darius (Ezra iv. 24). End of
seventy years' affliction.
Ezra vii. 9 ...
4349
Ezra made Governor. An. 6 Artaxerxes,
Dan. is. 26 ...
4839
Messiah cut off. An. 17 Tibenns.
4909
Vision sealed, ^n. 3 Trajan.
6699
Seventy great Weeks, a.d. 1890,
352
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BT THE REV. O. F. MACLEAR, D.D., HEAD MASTER OF KINO S COLLEGE SCHOOL.
CHAPTER XVI.
CRUELTIES OF HEBOD.
EROD'S return to his capital was the
signal for fresh cruelties. The secret
orders entrusted to the guardian of Mari-
amne had been a second time di^al]gcd;
she persisted in refusing the monarch's affection, and
reproached him bitterly with his cruelty towards her
family. His sister Salome, and his mother Cypres,
were not behindhand in fanning the flame of mutual
irritation. At length, caj-ried away by rage and jealousy,
Herod executed^ not only Mariamne's guardian Soemus,
but his queen herself. Mariamne submitted to the axe
of the executioner with calmness and intrepidity, B.C.
29, and showed herseK in death worthy of the noble
race of which she came."
But the death of the beautiful princess of the Asmo-
nean house was the occasion of a terrible reaction. The
tyrant had no sooner completed the murder than ho
became the victim of the most fearful anguish and
remorse.^ The horrible reality of the deed, and a sense
of his own loss, wrung his spirit to madness. Do what
he would, go where he might, the image of the murdered
queen followed him. His cries re-echoed through his
palace. He sought, it was said, by resorting to magical
incantations, to recall her spirit from the shades. No
diversion he could try — banquets, revels, or the excite-
ments of the chase — availed to restore tranquillity to his
mind. It was long before he recovered fully from the
mental derangement which now came on. But no
sooner did he hear that Alexandra was scheming to
secure the succession for the sous of the daughter he
had put to death, than the " tiger in him awoke from
its deadly sleep. Hastily collecting his strength, as
though the inward ease he had hoped for had brought
back all his energy, he executed not only his mother-in-
law, but along with her other distinguished persons,''
on whom the slightest suspicion rested."*
At last he was enabled to appear in public again.
Ever since the day that Octavaus had placed the diadem
upon his brow, and bade him reign over his Jewish
kingdom, he had sought by every possible compliance
to win his favour and seciu'e his regard.
An opportunity of again displaying this was now
afforded him. Tlie senate of Rome had conferred upon
Ms patron the title of "Augustus."^ Though never
given to man, the title had ever been applied to things
most noble, most venerable, most divine. " The rites
of the gods were called august, the temples were august.
1 " After a trial before a tribunal of judges who were too much
in dread of his power not to pass sentence of death." {Milman, ii.
69 ; Jahn's Hehrexa Commonwealth, p. 329. )
2 Jos. Ant. XV. 7, § 5. 3 Jos. Ant. xv. 7, §7 ; Milman, ii. 70.
"• Amongst these were Costobarus, an Idumean, the husband of
lis sister Salome.
* Ewald, T. 629. « Livy, Epist. cxxxiv. ; Ovid, Fasti, i. 587.
The word itself was derived from the holy auguries, by
which the divine will was revealed ; it was connected
with the favour and authority oi Jove himself."^ This
adjunct was now applied to the Emperor, and temples
began to arise in every part of the empire in honour of
his divinity. Herod determined not to be behindhand
in paying homage to his patron. By the tribute he
paid to Rome year by year he acknowledged the tenure
on which he held his power. Ho filled Jerusalem with
edifices built in the Greek taste. He inaugurated
public exhibitions, and spectacles of all kinds. A
theatre rose within, an amphitheatre without, the walls
of Jerusalem. Quinquennial games were celebrated on
a scale of the utmost magnificence. Shows of gladia-
tors and combats of wild beasts were exhibited within
the City of Da\id itself.
The stricter Jews regarded all these innovations with
horror. A century and a half before, things infinitely
less had sufficed to kindle the great Maccabean war.
On the present occasion, ten men* formed a conspiracy
to assassinate the king as he entered the theatre. The
plot was discovered, and the ten patriots were put to
death with the most cruel tortures.^ Sjnnpathising
with their sufferings, the people seized the informer, and
tearing him to pieces, flung his flesh to the dogs. The
king was now resolved to retaliate in his turn, and
seizing the ringleaders, he put them to death, together
with their families.
But these domestic calamities did not in any degree
affect the splendour, either external or internal, of his
administration. While cultivating the friendship of
Octavius and his great minister Agrippa, and always
rendering the very services they might require, he gave
his attention to many measures calculated to advance
the strength of his own kingdom. He had already
built two castles in the southern part of Jerusalem,
erected a palace on the impregnable hUl of Sion,
restored and enlarged the Baris, and called it Antonia,
in memory of his former patron. He now converted
other places into strong fortresses. South-western
Galilee needed a defence against Phoenicia, and his
kingdom required a naval harbour and a maritime city.
Thirty miles south of Mount Carmel a convenient point
offered itself for the latter purpose, at a spot called
Strato's Tower. This ho convei*ted into a magnificent
city, called Csesarea,^" with a harbour equal in size to
7 Merivale's JBomans, iii. 416.
^ Compare the banding together of more than forty men to take
the life of St. Paul (Acts xsiii. 12, 13).
9 Jos. Ant. XV. 8, §§3, 4.
1" Built on the Greek model, with a forum and an amphitheatre.
Upwards of twelve years (b.c. 21 — 12) were spent in its erection.
For its importance afterwards, compare Acts viii. 40; ix. 30;
X. 1, 24 ; xi. 11 ; xii. 19 ; xviii. 22 ; xxi. 8, 16 ; xxiii. 23, 33 ; ixv.
1, 4, 6, 13. Tacitus called it " Judoe® caput" (Hist. ii. 79). Its full
name was Kaiadpcici Sc/3a<TT^ (Jos. Ant. xvi. 5, § 1). It became the
official residence of the Herodian kings, as also of Festus, Felix,
and other Bomau procurators.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
the Piraeus at Athens. "West of Mount Tabor he built
Gabatha; east of the Jordan he fortified the ancient
Heshbon ; while Samaria, which had been destroyed by
John Hp-canus, rose once more from its ruins, not
only considerably increased, but also adorned with a
new and magnificent temple, and called Sebasie or
Augusta, in honour of the Roman Emjieror.*
While thus rebuilding the ruined cities of his king-
dom, Herod repeatedly endeavoiu-ed, by acts of munifi-
cence and liberality, to conciliate the goodwill of his
subjects. Thus, when in B.C. 24, the crops in Palestine
failed for the second time, he not only opened his own
private stores, but sent to Petronius, the Roman governor
of Egypt, a personal friend, and obtained permission to
export com from that country, with which he not only
supplied tlie wants of his own people, but was even
able to send seed into Syria." In this way, and by
remitting more than once a great part of the heavy
taxation, he earned for himself general gratitude, both
from his heathen and Jewish subjects.^
CHAPTER XYII.
HEROD REBUILDS THE TEMPLE.
" Thtt-s, terrible to his adversaries, and bounteous in
time of necessity to his own people," the Idumean
monarch, instead of being the head of a Hebrew reli-
gious republic, became more and more on a level with
the other vassal kings of Rome.^ It was a saying that
Augustus assigned to him the next place in his favour
after Agrippa, while Agi-ippa esteemed him higher
tlian any of his friends, except Augustus.^ Neither the
Emperor nor his minister ever \'isited the East without
fijiding Herod the first to pay them his homage. Thus
he sailed to Mytilene'' to see Agrippa, and entertained
Augustus himself in Syi'ia.
These attentions were not lost upon his great patrons.
When Herod sent his two sons by Mariamne to Rome
to receive their education, they were admitted into the
palace and treated with the utmost attention. More-
over, his dominions were considerably enlarged. Besides
the large additions he had already received, he now
received the district east of the Sea of Galilee and
called Trachonitis, with Batansea and Auranitis." A
tetrarchy was also conferred on his brother Pheroras,
and he himseK was appointed procurator of Syria, with
such plenary powers that his colleague could take
no single step without his concurrence.^ In memory
of these concessions, the Idumean king erected at
Panium,^ near the southern base of Mount Hermon and
1 " It was colonised by 6,000 veterans and others, for whose
support a most beautiful and rich district surrounding the city was
appropriated." (Jos. Ant. sv. 8, § 5 ; 9, § 4. See Smith's JBib.
Die, Art. " Samaria.")
2 Jos. Ant. XV. 9, g 2 ; Jahn's Hebrew) Commonwealth, p. 330.
3 Milman, ii. 73 ; Ewald, v. 432. 4 Milman, ii. 75.
5 Jos. B. J. i. 20, § 4. 6 jo3_ j^nt. xv. 10, § 2.
7 Jos. Ant. XV. 10, § 2 ; B. J. i. 20, § 4.
8 Jos. B. J. i. 20, § 4.
9 So called from a remarkable natural grotto dedicated to the
god Pan. See Robinson's Bib. Res. iii. 404.
71 VOL. III.
the sources of the Jordan, a magnificent temple, and
dedicated it to his benefactor.''*
But the higher he rose in the esteem of his Roman
patrons, the lower he sank in that of his Jewish sub-
jects. They could not rid themselves of the suspicion
that he had a fixed design of heathenising the national
character. They saw him observing the feasts of Purim
and the Passover, and yet at Se baste and Csesarea
going up to the temples of Zeus and Artemis. ''The
people knew all his ways. They told each other in the
gateway, that the prince whom many Jews called their
Messiah, had raised a shrine to Apollo in the isle of
Rhodes, and in the city of Antioch had revived the
Olympic games ; and they learned to curse him in their
hearts, as a man who put strangers on a level with the
holy race."''
At length he resolved to take a step which should
ingratiate himself with all classes. He determined to
rival Solomon, and rebuild the Temple. Since the
restoration of the second Temple by Zorobabel, that
structure had fallen in many places into ruin, and had
suffered much during the recent wars. He announced
his intention, about the year B.C. 20, on the occasion of
the Feast of the Passover. But his proposition roused
the greatest mistrust, and he foimd himself obliged to
proceed with the utmost caution,'- and to use eveiy
means to allay suspicion. Two years were spent in
bringing together the materials, and vast prepai-ations
were made before a single stone of the old building was
touched. At last, in the year B.C. 18, the foundations
of the Temple of Zorobabel were removed, and on those
laid centuries before by Solomon, the new i^ile arose*
built of hard white stones of enormous size. Eighteen
mouths were spent, in building the Porch, the Holy
Place, and the Holy of Holies.'-^ Eight years more
elapsed before the courts and cloisters and other exten-
sive and splendid buildings round the sacred structure
were completed.'^
As the Temple of Zorobabel had been a copy of that
of Solomon, so was the Temple of Herod a copy of that
of Zorobabel, except that it was larger in size, of nobler
material, and higher art, wrought by tlie hands of the
masons of Athens and Antioch.
On the highest level of the rocky platform of Moriah
rose the Naos, or Temple proper, erected solely by
•priestly hands, '^ divided, as in the days of Solomon, into
a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies by a veil or curtain
of the finest work. "No figures, no sculpture, as
in Persian and Egyptian temples, adorned the front.
10 The place was afterwards called Caesarea Philippi (Matt. xvi.
13 ; Mark viii. 27) by Herod Philip, who enlarged and embeUished it.
11 Hepworth Dixon's Holy Land, i. 20, 3.
12 Jos. Ant. XV. 11, § 2.
13 Jos. Ant. XV. 11, § 6.
I'l The whole structure was not finally completed tUl a. d. 65. The
building had been going on for forty-six years when our Lord was
present at Jerusalem at the Passover, a.d. 29 (John ii. 20). "The
expression that it had been in building forty-six years, may mean
forty-six years plus or minus by a few months ; and if so, the
statement would be correct, even if the period be dated, not from
the actual commencement of the fabric, but from the preparationa
for it." (Lewin's Fasti Sacri, p. 95.)
'5 Jos. Ant. XV. 11, § 5.
3Si
TnE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Golden vines and clusters of grapes, the typical i)lant
and fruit of Israel, ran along the wall ; and the greater
and lesser lights of lieavea were wrought into the
texture of the veil. The whole f a<^ade was covered mth
plates of gold, which, when the sun shone upon them
in the early day, sent back his rays with an added glory,
so great that gazers standing on Olivet liad to shade
their eyes when turning towards the Temple mount." ^
Twelve steps helow from this jilatform was a second
level, occupied by the Court of the Priests, with the
gi-eat laver, and the altar of burnt-offering. Tln-ee
flights of stairs led down to a third platform, on which
was the Court of the Israelites, or, as it was sometimes
called, the Sanctuary, with the houses of the priests,
the Lishcath-ha-Gezitu, or Hall of the Sanhedrin, and
the various offices.
Not being of the priestly order, the Idumean monarch
could not enter any of these enclosures ; neither the
Temjile, nor the Court of the Priests, nor the Court of
the Israelites. A third flight of fourteen steps, there-
fore, led down to another court, the Court of the
Gentiles, which was hardly regarded as a portion of
the Temple, was open to men of all nations, and was
held as a kind of exchange or market-place. Here
the Jew from Northern or Eastern Palestine could
exchange his drachma or stater for the sacred shekel ;
here those who could not offer a lamb or kid, could pur-
chase a "pair of turtle-doves or two young i)igeous ;"
here the seller of sheep and oxen for the sacrifices had
his stalls and pens.-
The erection of the Sanctuary had been left to the
priests. On the Court of the Gentiles, the meeting-
place of all nations and languages, Herod lavished all
the riches of his taste. Cloisters sustained on doulDle
rows of Corintliian columns, exquisitely wrought, "ran
round the wall on the inner side, the capitals being
ornamented with the acanthus and water-leaf, as in
the famous Tower of the Wind. "West, north, and east,
these columns were in three rows ; on the south they
were in four. The floor made a shaded walk, like the
colonnade in Yenice, and the roof an open walk like
the gallery of Genoa. The pavement was inlaid with
marble of many colours." ^ The most beautiful gateways
led into this court, of great height, and ornamented
with the utmost skill. One of these, on the eastern
side, looking towards the Mount of Olives, was known
as " Solomon's Porch ;" close by it was another, the
pride of the Temple area, as one writer says, " more like
the gopura of an Indian temple than anytliing we are
acquainted with in architecture." This, in all pi'obability,
was the one called the "Beautiful Gate" in the New
Testament.*
The Sanctuary was completed in the year 13. c. 16, the
anniversary of Herod's inauguration, and was celebrated
with a magnificent feast and the most lavisli sacrifices.
Immediately afterwards, Herod undertook a journey to
Rome to fetcli homo his two sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus. He Avas received with cvciy mark of
attention by Augustus,^ and returned to his capital
about the spiring of B.C. 15. Agi-ippa was now on a
visit to Asia, to inspect tliese provinces of the empire
for his master. Herod thereupon invited him to visit
Judaea. Agrippa consented, and escorted by Herod,
passed through his new cities of Sebaste and Ceesarea,
visited liis forts at Alexaudrium, Herodium, and
Hyrcania, and haA-ing been received in state by the
people at Jerusalem, offered a sacrifice of a hundred
oxen in the Temple,* and feasted the subjects of his
entertainer at a splendid entertainment.
1 Hepworth Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 45.
- See Farrar's Life of Christ, i. 186.
3 Hepworth Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 43 } Eapliael's Histonj of the
Jews, ii. 335, 337. •• Acts iii. 2.
CHAPTER XYIII.
HEROD AND THE SONS OF MARIAMNE.
On the ajJin-oach of winter Agrippa sailed to Ephesus,
and thence, B.C. 14, set out to settle the affairs of the
kingdom of the Bosphorus. Herod followed him to
the Euxine, and overtook him near Sinope," bringing
l)owerful reinforcements to the aid of his patron. On
the submission of the Bosphorus he returned through
the states of Asia Minor, still accompanied by Herod,
who jirevailed upon him to confirm the Jews of Asia in
their various priAaleges,* and especially in their exemp-
tion from sonice in the legions.''
Returning from Asia Minor, Herod lauded at his
new port of Caesarea, and proceeding to Jerusalem,
recounted the pri-^-ileges he had secured for the nation,
and remitted a fourth of the year's tribute.^" It might
have been hoped that the close of his reign would make
some atonement for the atrocities of earlier years ; but
a scene of bloodshed was now to be enacted far more
awful tlian any which had darkened his reign, as if to
show that the " spirit of the injured Mariamne hovered
over Herod's devoted house, and, involving the innocent
as well as the guilty in the common ruin, designated the
dwelling of her mm-derous husband as the perpetual
scene of miseiy and bloodshed." "
On the return of the young princes, Alexander and
Aristobulus, whom Herod had 1)rought back from Rome,
they were received by the poiiulace with the utmost
enthusiasm, in spite of their ediication in a f oi'eign laud.
Their grace and beauty, their engaging manners, above
all their descent from the ancient Asmonean line, made
them objects of hope and joy on the part of the nation.
But the keenest hatred of Plieroras and Salome was
now aroused, and they began to wliisper into Herod's
ear that the yoimg men were bent on avenging their
5 Jos. Ani. xvi. 1, § 2 ; B. J. i. 23, § 1- _ ,
•■ Jos. Ant. xii. 2, 1, 'ATpi'irsrcir it T<p Ge^ fiiv iKinofifitiv Kartd'O-ci',
eloTi'a At TOK itifiov, ouAeroy Tu>v /le-jiiTTUV nXijOci Xt-noiicvov. (See Meri-
vale's Romans, iv. 225.)
" Jos. -inf. xvi. 2, § 2. S Jahn's Hclreic CommonKcalth, p. 338.
8 " A privilege conceded to a few only of the most fortunate
communities, and to no other entire nation except the Jews. So
early did this people manifest their avei'sion to the use of arms,
which has been disregarded even in our own times only by the most
despotic of rulers." (Merivale, iv. 226.)
i« Jos. Ant. xvi. 2, § 4. n Jlilman, ii. 78.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
355
mother's death. The king had given them in mar-
riage, Alexander to Glaiihyi-a, the daughter of Arche-
laus, king of Cappadocia ; Aristobidus to Mariamue, a
daughter of Salome. Proud of the popularity his sous
had acquired, Herod for some time refused to attach
any credence to these vile insinuations. At length he
adopted an expedient which led to the most disastrous
resiilts. By an earlier wife, named Doris, he had a
son, Antipater. After his alliance witli the Asmoneau
princess he had put Doris away. Now he recalled her
and her sou, and made the young man a sort of spy
over his two step-brothers. Cunning, ambitious, and
unscrupulous, Antijiater thi-ew liimself heart and soul
into all the plots of Pheroras and Salome, and con-
tinued to make the two princes objects of more and more
suspicion to their father. Herod introduced Antipater
to Agrippa, and sent him in his suite to Rome. Even
there the Idumean, a match for his own father iu craft
and subtlety, managed to carry on his designs, and in
every letter let fall something to the discredit of the
sons of Mariamue, concealing his real intentions under
a veil of anxiety for Herod's security.
In this way he at length succeeded in inflaming
the jealousy of the king to such a pitch, that Herod
resolved to aiTaign both his sons before the tribunal
of the emperor. Accordingly he set out for Rome,
and Aug-ustus having heard the case, and perceiving
that it only rested on hearsay and suspicion, advised a
reconciliation, and succeeded in persuading the father
to lay aside his apprehensions of any designs upon his
life ; and the three, together with Antipater, retui-ned
to Judsea by way of Cilicia.' On reaching Jemsalem
Herod convened an assembly of the people, introduced
to them his three sons, and formally announced his
intention that they should succeed him in the order of
their age.
But no sooner had the king thus placed Antipater
over the heads of the two sons of Mariamue, than
the quarrels iu the royal household broke out afresh
with redoubled violence.'^ Alexander and Aristobulus,
unable to restrain their aversion to Antipater, indulged
in the most intemperate language, which that artful
designer did not fail to exaggerate and misrepresent to
Herod. Filled with suspicion, Herod at last directed
that some of the confidential slaves of the young princes
should be examined by torture. From the effect of
these agonies they made revelations implicating Alex-
ander, and that unfortimate prince was straightway
flimg into chains.
In the solitude of his confinement the young man had
recourse to a strange expedient. He sent four papers
to his father, wherein he accused himself of all kinds
J Jos. Ant. xvi. -1, §§ 4 — 6.
2 At this time, B.C. 10, Coesarea was comi)leted, and the occa-
sion was celebrated with shows, games, exhibitions of gladiators,
and magnificent entertainments (Jos. Ant. xvi. 5, § 1).
of treasonable projects, but declared that Pheroras,
Salome, and others of the court, were his accomplices.
Not knowing what to l^elieve, or whom to trust, Herod
attacked all persons and all grades. Some he appre-
hended, others he executed, others he tortvured to force
them to confess.
The arrival at Jerusalem of Archelaus, king of
Cappadocia, and father-in-law of Alexander, caused
a temporary lull. This monarch succeeded iu rein-
stating the young prince in his father's favour ;3 but
the reconciliation was only on the surface. His brother
Pheroras, Salome, and, worst of all, Antipater, again
filled Herod's mind with apprehensions and suspicious,
and he determined once more to seek the ad^-ice of
Augustus. Accordingly he set out for Rome in B.C. 8,
and preferred his complaints against his sons before the
emperor. Augustus advised tlrnt he should hold a
court of arbitration, and recommended Berytus, in
Phoenicia, as the place of meeting. There one hundred
and fifty princes therefore assembled together, with
Satui-ninus and Yolumuius, the prefects of Syi"ia.
Before this tribunal Herod laid his complaints, pleaded
his cause, and publicly accused his sons. After heaving
the charge Saturninus advised that mercy should be
extended towards the young men ; Volumnius and the
majority urged their condemnation, and eventually they
were strangled at Samaria, at the very same place
where their father had celebrated his marriage with
their mother.''
But the execution of these unfortunate princes did
but little towards removing the elements of discord in
Herod's household. Repeated dissensions had arisen
between him and his brother Pheroras, who was at
length ordered to retire to his own tetrarchy of Perasa.
There he sickened and died, and his widow was accused
of having poisoned him. The investigation that ensued
revealed a new and still more formidable conspu-acy,
wliicli Autipater and Pheroras had formed against
Herod's life. Autipater was absent at Rome, but he
was allowed to retm-n to Csesarea, and on reaching
Jerusalem was instantly seized, and brought to trial
before the Roman governor of Syria, Quintilius Yarus.
The charge was proved, and he was condemned to
death, but his execution was respited till the will of
the emperor could be ascex'tained.^
Herod was now upwards of seventy years of age, and
already felt the approach of his last mortal malady.
Remo^-ing for change of air to Jericho, he resolved to
make the final alterations in his will. Passing over
Archelaus and Philip, whom Antipater had accused of
treachery, he nominated Antipas, a son by Malthace, a
Samaritan, liis successor in the kingdom ; and left mag-
nificent bequests to Caesar, to Csesar's wife Julia, to her
sons, and to the members of his own family.
=' Jos. B. J. i. 25. ■* Ewald, v. 4U.
5 Jos. Ant. xvii, 5 ; Ewald, v. ii7 ; Milmau, ii. 87.
356
THE BIBLE EDUCATOH.
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
IMAGERY FROM NATURE.
BY THE REV. A. S. AOLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALYTH, N.B.
HE close and necessary relation of poetry
to the beautiful and the sublime in the
A-isiblo univei-se is too ob\'ious to need
either statement or proof. Great Nature
is the poet's treasury, where he keeps an inexhaustible
store of material symbols ready to clothe his emotion
or express his thought.
But countries are not all alike furnished with the
conditions favourable to poetic excellence. That the
imaginative range of a nation's literature may be ex-
tensive, it is necessary that the land of its birth and
growth be rich in various types of beaxity. The climate,
the soil, the prevailing forms of animal and vegetable
life, the configuration of the land, all have an important
influence on the imagination. Where these are tame
and featureless, poetry of a high kind has never ap-
peared. Even amid scenes of grandeur and sublimity,
but where the landscape is too vast or uniform to allow
of the sense of variety and contrast, poetry has not
flourished. Its chosen homes have been in lands rich in
various symbols for the infinite play of human feeling,
and where the changing aspects of earth and sky are in
sympathy with the blended light and shade of human
life. Such pre-eminently was the land of David and
Isaiah. But it has changed. It is no longer " a good
kind," "a laud flowing with milk and honey;" thoiigli
the astonishing and rapid results, achieved wherever
"Western industry obtains a footing on the soil, pro-
claim it still to be a " Land of Promise." In every
endeavour, therefore, to connect the outward appearance
of the Holy Laud with the poetry it nui'tured, when the
one race found worthy to possess it held it in careful and
industrious sway, we must bear in mind the melancholy
change which has arrived to fulfil some of the saddest
but wisest anticipations of that prophetic song. To
appreciate that song, to understand the bearing and
tone of Biblical imagery, we must try to ti'ansport our-
selves from the present depressed and desolate country,
to what it was three thousand years ago, when its fields
were " thick with corn," and in every valley there was
plenty and on every momitaiu peace.
Let us, then, in imagination, take our stand upon one
of the many commanding eminences of Palestine from
which the wide prospect, so famous in the sacred
history, may be obtained, and try to look upon it with
the feeling, and in the spirit of the old Eastern poetry ;
not, however, unaccompanied by the different associa-
tions created by our poets of the West.
But while we are waiting for the sun to flare up from
behind the mountain-wall of Moab, and show us the
world at our feet, we must notice one characteristic dif-
ference between Eastern and Western poetry. We are
familiar with lyrics as lo\'ingly and minutely desci-iptive
of natural scenes as our national landscape painting.
With one or two exceptions, Hebrew poetry is wanting
in these finished pictures. And yet, as has already been
said, Palestine abounded in aspects of Nature that
might well tempt descrii)tiou, and had many i^oints of
scenic effect. Why is it that no poet of Israel has
painted the Jordan as Byron has painted the Rhine, or
filled us with the local influences of the Judaean hUls, as
Shakespeare with the scent of the sweet Warwickshire
meadows, or Tennyson with the hazy stillness of a high
Lincolnshire wold ? Many answers might be suggested.
The Hebrew mind was wanting in that analytical
tendency conspicuous in modem intellectual work, and
carried into the observation of natural beauty no less
than into the poetry of passion and sentiment. But the
principal reason must be sought in the contrast between
the Hebrew attitude towards the material universe and
the Hellenic spirit which has cultivated the love of
beauty for its own sake. The sacred imagery shows
a feeling for the beautiful as quick and intense as that
of any modern poesy, but its display is brief and
momentary. Nature's God, not Nature, is the object of
the strength and passion of the poet's worship and love.
He apprehends and paints beauty as full of God and
revealing God to him in every motion, and it is only
through God that it becomes living and intelligible.
Hence, as has been truly said,^ the lyric poetry of Israel,
whUe yielding to none in the brilliancy of its pictures
and fire of its Language, rises to the height of inspira-
tion, and takes its place in the holy writings from the
fulness and reality of its belief in the Divine presence.
The one great exception is the " Song of Solomon,"
which contains many complete and exquisite paintings
of life and nature in the garden glades of Lebanon.
But this poem stands alone as an instance of what
Hebrew poetic genius could do when released from the
strict religious purpose which usually controlled it.
But the moment of dawn is at hand. The stars are
still burning with their full and brilliant fires ; for there
is no gradual autieipation of the morning, and they
wiU not " faint and die " slowly, as in our northern
skies, but wiU " withdraw their shining " hastily at the
victorious appearance of the lord of day. This want
of twilight, the absence of silent preparation for the
supreme moment, distinguishes Eastern songs of sun-
rise from the poetry of the West. There are no
musterings " of mute companies of changeful clouds,"
no avant-coureurs of the light, "no grey lines fretting
the clouds as messengers of day," no gold and purple
curtains himg above the "gateways of the moi'n" to
make a splendid mystery of the monarch's approach
and hide him from the eager gaze of men.
Greece personified the dawn as Aurora taking reluc-
1 Seo Psalnvs Chronologieallj Arranged, p. 20.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
367
tent leave each morning of her husband Tithonus, and
drav?ing back the veil from heaven till Phoebus " strides
*11 harnessed for the fiery march." The Eastern imagi-
nation also introduced the figure of the curtains or tent
and of a hidden spouse awaiting the declining sun,
" where he hath a tabernacle to take his rest." But the
Oriental image is of the young bridegroom with the
joy of the wedding day still on his countenance, ^ the
hero leaping forth to his day of conquest and glory.
"And he steppeth like a bridegroom from his chamber,
And boundeth like a giant to run his course."
How different is the suggested feeling of this, from
the wistful tenderness of Milton's dawn coming forth,
" With pilgrim steps in amice grey,"
or Shakespeare's "Mom in russet mantle clad," that
"Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill,"
or the same poet's image of moi'uiug stealing upon the
night and melting the darkness, as in the moral world
reason overcomes superstition and error. This sudden-
ness of Eastern simrise made it a powerful symbol to
the Jew." As he watched the mighty luminary flame
over the massive limestone range wliich bounded his
prospect on the east, he connected with the advent of day
none of that mystery mingled of light and dark, glory
and gloom, wliich is made by our lumiid atmosphere. It
was for him a sharp and sudden division of day from
night, distinct and decisive as the separation between
joy and sorrow, truth and falsehood, righteousness and
sin. And th\is the physical light and darkness between
which there was no fellowship, became powerful em-
blems of that side of eternal truth which pronounces
the absolute antagonism of good and evil principles.
Twilight, that
" Morning's war,
When dying clouds contend with growing light,"
that border-land 'twixt nigh^^ and day, has lent equally
impressive metaphors to the modem intellectual temper
which recognises in the complicated world of human
action a "twilight of the virtues," " a dusky, debateable
land wherein zeal becomes severity, and justice becomes
cruelty, and faith superstition, and each and all vanish
into gloom." In the same way the hopefulness of the
Hebrew, which always anticipated a near and sudden
dawn of prosperity, delighted in the figures furnished
by his own sunrise.
" Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.
And thine health shall spring forth speedily." (Isa. Iviii. 8.)
As we look down on the Land of Promise suddenly
revealed to our sight, the first feature in it which
strikes us is its narrowness. We are standing on a
peak of a moimtain ridge fringed with a verdant strip
1 See Perowne, Ps. xix.
- The suddenness of the Oriental sunrise made it an apt image
of a maiden who draws aside her veil and beams out in all her
beauty upon her lover (Cant. vi. 10). Cf. Shakespeai-e's JJomeo
and Juliet —
" But soft ! What light through yonder window breaks ?
It is the light, and Juliet is the sun.''
The figure was especially striking in a Language which spoke of
"The eyelids of the morn " (Job iii. 9; sli. IS).
of plain or valley at its extreme edges, and shut in by
the shining sea on one side and the mysterious moun-
tain masses of the trans-Jordanic district on the other.
We can literally see the whole breadth of the country.
Whatever may be the poverty or insignificance of the
landscape, it is at once relieved by a glimpse of either
of the two boundaries.
" ' Two voices are there — one is of the sea,
One of the mountains.
And the close proximity of each — the deep purple shade
of the one, and tlie glittering waters of the other —
makes it always possible for one of their two voices to
be heard now, as they were by the Psalmist of old:
" The strength of the mountains is His also ; the sea is
His, and He made it." '
Of these two most striking features of natural scenery,
which have so deeply influenced the imagination of
man in all ages, mountains play by far the largest part
in the poetic literature of Israel. It could not be
otherwise with a people inhabiting a land which is
" not only mountainous, but a heap of mountains." It
is a direct result from these conditions that the Holy
Land is almost universally in sacred literature called
" Jehovah's moimtain " * — that throughout the poetry
of the Bible the hills in their lifted majesty are
a continual tyjie of God's righteousness, and in their
planted fii'muess of His eternal might — that in times
of calamity the people saw in their faithful ramparts
assurance of shelter and help, and in times of gladness
heard, as the breezes swept over the distant siuumits,
the eager footsteps of the hastening heralds of peace.
And if in modern days awakened interest in moimtain
scenery has multiplied a thousantlfold its means of
delighting and sanctifying the heart of man, it was
from the inspired poets of Israel that the first impulse
came. Coleridge's magnificent Hymn before Sunrise in
the Vale of Chamouni, and Wordsworth's rapt visions
among his loved Westmoreland hills owe their streng-th
and purifying power to the influence of these Syrian
heights of which the Psalmist sang —
" The mountains also shall bring blessing to the people.
And the little hills through righteousness."
(Ps. Isxii. 3.)
One wide and deep influence of mountains on human
imagination found in Hebrew poetry an expression ex-
ceeding in grandeur and true sublimity anything which
other literatures contain. In their solid strength, un-
touched by \-isible decay, in their enthroned majesty,
defiant of the turbulence and confusion of the world at
their feet, mountains have been in all times invoked as
the calm and untempted arbiters of right and wrong.
The victims of oppression and cruelty have called to
them as to some righteous judge, or impartial friend,
to hear theu' cause and do them ris-ht.^ But Hebrew
3 Sinai and Palestine, p. 114.
•* Isa. xiv. 25 ; xi. 9. •
5 Cf. Shelley's Mont Blanc —
" Thou hast a voice, great mountain, to repeal
Large codes of fi-aud and woe ; not understood
By all, but which the wise niul great and good
Interpret or make felt or deeply feel."
858
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
poetry possessed, in the religious veneration in which
the sacred heights were held, an element capable of
elevating this image to a height of lofty beauty to
which uo other poetry has been able to attain. Before
the spectacle of the jirophet Ezokiel (xxxvi. 1, 4, 6)
calling to the mountains of Israel to hear the word of
the Lord, and bo mtnesses of his indignation against
the heathen, or the "vision of judgment" which Micah
saw when the mountains sat as God's assessors (ii. 1,
2), all other poetical invocations of the kind sink into
insigniiicance.
The bouudaiy of Israel's western prospect, the blue
waters of the Mediterranean Sea, exercised an influence
over the national poetry singularly in contrast with the
feelings created in Western minds by the sight and
proximity of the ocean. It was of course, as it must
always be, in its infinite space and depth, the emblem
of eternal strength and wisdom. Isor were the few
who made acquaintance vrith it insensible to the charm
which sea-girt people have always experienced from the
" music in its roar." Its voice was heard mingling in the
great anthem which went up in ceaseless praise to God
from wind, and river, and sounding wood.' The im-
pressions, too, of a storm at sea have been recorded in a
description which for life-like and graphic touch is not
surpassed by any sea-piece in ancient or modern litera-
tui-e." But the most lasting feeling awakened in Hebrew
minds by the watery limit to their narrow home was
one of truly Oriental horror and dread. Its presence
was not like that of the mountains, a source of security.
Over the treacherous waters shi^js might bring un-
erpected foes. All great Hebrew cities were inland.
" To have planted the centres of national and religious
life on the sea-shore was a thought which never seems
to have entered even into the imperial mind of Solomon."
Isaiah, in describing the capital as a home of prosperity
and security, speaks of it as a i^lace
" Where shall go no galley with oara,
Neither shall gallant ship pass by." (Isa, xxxiii. 21.)
1 Ps. Isix. 34. •
2 Ps. cvii. 23—32. Addison remarks that he prefers this descrip-
tion of a ship in a storm before any others he had ever met with, and
for the same reason for which " Longinus recommends one iu
Homer, because the poet has not amused himself with little fancies,
but has gathered together there circumstances which are the moat
apt to vivify the imagination, and which really happened in the
raging of a tempest." (Spectator, No. 489, quoted by Perowne, ii.
240.)
The new heavens and new earth of the victorious vision
which concludes the Apocalj-pse are made complete in
those elements of happiness and safety which satisfied
the Hebrew conception, by the total annihilation of the
sea.^
The second point that will strike us in our observa-
tion is the vast and wonderful variety of the scenery
included within the narrow limits of this land. Even
in the general aspect assumed by our distant \iew, tbis
variety is obvious. We can see far to the north the
snows which gleam on the lofty head of Hebron. That
long soft streak across the southern horizon — the only
stain upon the utter clearness of this Eastern sky —
is the haze above the Dead Sea, whose exhalations go
up "like a smoke for ever and ever."'* Within this
narrow range are exhibited more contrasts of surface,
of aspect, of produce, of temperature, than in any other
of ten times its area. No matter from what point of
the globe a traveller come, he will find something in the
natural scenery, in the aspect of the land and the life
upon it to remind him of liis own. Thus the native
poetry of the land found its materials in profusion
close at hand ; and it has often been remarked, that
a literature destined for an endless existence, and for
the delight and support of the human mind and the
human soul in all regions of the world, could have
had its birth only in a district so prepared as to em-
brace within its range the natural features of every
country. Wherever the Bible travels it finds itself at
home. Whatever is unintelligible in it, its poetical
allusions to nature find a response in the feelings and
imagination of eveiy race.* And these allusions and
images are not only countless in number, but attest
their fidelity to sacred truth by the sense of fresh and
vivid life with which they animate every page of the
sacred volume.
3 Rev. xxi. 1. The connection of the ocean with the fleets ami
troops of Kome may have had some influence on the poet's mind.
Perhaps too the sea was an emblem of separation, as well as
terror. There was no sea in Eden. (See Kenan's note, L'Ait.ta-
christ, p. 449.)
■• Isa. xxxiv. 10 ; Eev. xiv. 11. " A deep haze veils its sonthsru
extremity, and almost gives it the dim horizon of a real sea."
^ See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 126, 127. "The venerable poet
of our own mountain regions used to dwell with genuine emotion
on the pleasure he felt in the reflection that the psalmists end
prophets dwelt in a mountainous country, and enjoyed its beanty
as much as himself."
GEOaEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, R.E.
lU.-THE JORDAN VAL-LET (confimicd).
X the north side of Wady Kelt, about one
and a quarter miles east of Er Riha, are
a small reservoir called Birket Jiljuliyeh,
_ ^^ ^ a few ruins, and a mound or rather
group of small mounds called Tell Jiljul or Tellayat
Jiljuliyeh, which have been identified with Gilgal by
Herr Zchokke, the chaplain of the Austrian consulate
at Jerusalem, who visited them in 1865, and by Lieu-
tenant Condor, R.E., who carefully examined them last
winter. The similarity of the name, identical with that
given by the Arabs to the Gilgal on the maritime
plain, and the position of the ruins, agreeing fairly with
that assigned to the place by Josephus, leave little room
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
359
for doubt that we have here the site of the great camp
of the Israelites at Gilgal, where the twelve stones
taken from the bed of Jordan were set up, where the
first passover after entering the Promised Land was
kept, and where for a long period the chief sanctuary of
the Jewish nation was established.
Perhaps the most interesting question connected with
this portion of the Jordan valley is that of the site of
the " Cities of the Plain," whose terrible fate has made
them through long ages " an ensample unto those that
after should live ungodly " (2 Pet. ii. 6). There is a
very general belief that the cities were submerged, and
that they now lie beneath the waters of the Dead Sea,
but there is absolutely no ground for this supposition.
Recent research has shown that in historic times there
has been no great change in the Jordan valley, and
that the waters of the Dead Sea formerly covered a
much larger area than they do at present ; and though
the exact nature of the catastrophe which overwhelmed
the cities wiU perhaps never be known, we are expressly
told in the Bible that their destruction was effected not
by water, but by fii'e and brimstone rained on them
from heaven (Gen. xix. 24 ; Deut. xxix. 23 ; 2 Pet. ii.
6; Jude 7). Josephus, Jerome, and the mediaeval
historians and pilgrims believed that the cities were
situated at the southern end of the Dead Sea, and this
theory has been adopted by most modern travellers,
even Dr. Robinson giving it the sanction of his high
authority. There are some grounds for tliis belief,
such as the supposed similarity of the modern names
of certain ruins, the existence of the salt moimtain at
Jebel Usdum, the position assigned to Zoar by Jerome
as the " key of Moab," &c. ; but these should not lead
us to disregard the distinct statements of the Bible
narrative, which most certainly indicate a position north
of the Lake. In Gen. xiii. 1 — 12, there is an interest-
ing account of the parting of Abraham and Lot at the
camp of the f oi-mer between Bethel and Hai, now repre-
sented by Beitin and a mass of niins called Et Tell, and
in close proximity to these two places there is a hill
from which a commanding view of the plain north of
the Dead Sea is obtained, and on which are the founda-
tions of a very old church, possibly marking the site of
Abraham's altar. The position of Abraham's camp
must, at any rate, have been in the immediate neigh-
bourhood ; and as it is hardly possible for any one to
read the account in Gen. xiii. 10 without feeling that
Abraham and Lot were actually looking down on Sodom
and Gomorrah when " Lot lifted up his eyes and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered
everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah," it follows that those cities must have been
situated on some part of the plain north of the Dead
Sea, and visible from the heights east of Bethel. In
support of this view we may draw attention to the
mention, in verse 10, of " the plain of Jordan," which
could not have extended below the point at which the
river entered the Dead Sea, and the direct testimony,
in verse 11, that Lot journeyed east, a course which
would have led him far away from the southern end of
the Dead Sea. It has been urged that Abraham would
not have been able to see the destruction of the cities
from any point near his camp at Mamre, if they had
been north of the Dead Sea ; but Gen. xix. 28 does not
tell us that Sodom and Gomorrah were in sight, only
that Abraham looked toward them and " toward all the
land of the plain," and saw the "smoke of the country"
going up "as the smoke of a furnace," which is a vei-y
different matter. Though the plain of Jordan is not
visible from the hUls east of Hebi-ou, it is quite as near
to them as the southern end of the sea, and any smoke
rising from the valley would be clearly visible. All
traces of the " Cities of the Plain " have long since
disappeared, possibly under the debris of the western
hUls, which has been washed down by the winter tor-
rents gradually raising the level of the lower j)lain,
and forming what has been aptly called " a flat expanse
of consolidated mud."
The left or western hank of Jordan. — About five
miles south of the Sea of Galilee the Tarmuk or
Hieromax discharges its waters into the Jordan, drain-
ing by its numerous arms the great plain of the Hauran,
and issuing fi'om the mountains through a deep gorge
where the bright gi*een vegetation along the stream is
in striking but not uupleasing contrast to the brilliant
white cliffs of chalk and the sombre basalt which caps
them. A short distance up the gorge and on the north
bank of the river, are the warm springs of Gadara, the
most important bubbling up at a temperature of 110*^
in a large basin partly natural, partly artificial; the
taste and smell of the water are equally disagreeable,
and a strong sulphurous odour pervades the place.
Round the springs are ruins of baths, houses, &c.,
which may once have been a favourite winter resort of
the inhabitants of Gadara when the dri\dng wind and
rain made the plateau an uncomfortable place of resi-
dence. The springs were held in high esteem by the
Romans, and they are not less valued by the Bedawin
who flock to them from all parts of the country. The
ruins of Gadara itself, now Umm Keis, are on the
plateau to the south of the Jarmuk and immediately
above the springs ; they are very extensive, and partly
in good preservation. The most interesting remains
are those of the two theatres, one so perfect that if it
were not for a little rubbish on the floor, and a few dis-
lodged stones, we might easUy believe it to have been
in use the night before ; the main street, with its basalt
paving, still bearing the marks of chariot-wheels, and
its grand colonnade lying prostrate on the groimd ; the
quaintly ornamented sarcophagi of black basalt ranged
along either side of the road leading from the eastern
gate ; and the rock-hewn tombs with their entrances
closed by heavy stone doors, which still swing on their
original socket-hinges. Gadara is not mentioned in the
Bible, but it was evidently the chief town of the " coxmtry
of the Gadarenes " (Mark v. 1 ; Luke viii. 26). Of the
extent of this country or district, one of the five into
which Gabiuius divided Palestine, we know nothing,
but it probably included a large portion of the eastern
shore of the Sea of Galilee. Proceeding southwards
3C0
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR,
CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
361
down the J ordau valley we come to Tubukat Fahil or
" Terrace of Fahil," standing out in front of the hills,
and several hundi*ed feet above the plain below ; here,
on a mound affording a level area of four or five acres,
are considerable niins, which in all probability mark the
site of the ancient city of Pella, to which, as Eusebius
informs us, the Christians withdrew, in consequence of
a Divine admonition, before the siege and destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus. A fine fountain bursts forth at
the foot of the mound, and much of the ground is cul-
tivated by the Bedawin. About three mUes south of
Fahil, the Wady Tabis, still bearing the name of the
ancient Jabesh-gilead, that stood on its banks, de-
scends to the plain, and below this is the ravine of
Wady Ajlun, containing many fine fountains, which
Dr. Robinson considers to be Bithron, through which
Abner ascended to reach Mahanaim (2 Sam. ii. 29).
Still further south, and almost midway between the Sea
of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the Nahr Zerka, called in
the Bible the " brook " Jabbok, and once the river of
Gad (2 Sam. xxiv. 5), breaks through the mountains by
a deep wild chasm, and flows off to join the Jordan
near the ford of Damieh. The Zerka separates Jebel
Ajlun (Mount Gilead) from the Belka, and drains a
large portion of the eastern plateau ; it receives several
tributaries, of which the principal one runs down from
the springs at Amman (Rabbath Ammon), and the
stream is perennial, swelling so much in winter that it
becomes impassable in the lower portion of its course.
The earliest mention of the river is when Jacob
"passed over the ford Jabbok" (Gen. xxxii. 22), and
after wrestling all night with the angel, received the
name of Israel ; the Jabbok is also mentioned as the
border of the children of Ammon, and afterwards as
the boundary between the kingdoms of Og and Bashan,
as also between the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh. Lower down the Jordan
valley the Wady Shueib falls in, and below this is the
mound of Nimrin, the Nimrah or Beth-nimrah of the
Bible. Still further to the south the Wady Hesban
brings down the drainage of the country round Heshbon,
and immediately beyond rises Jebel Nebbeh, the ancient
Mount Nebo, whence Moses before his death gazed on
the Promised Land which he was forbidden to enter.
On the slopes of Jebel Nebbeh Dr. Tristram believes
that he has found the site of Zoar in some ruins called
Ziara, but these remains, situated 3,000 feet above the
valley, can scarcely represent the Zoar to which Lot
escaped, as that town was one of the Cities of the Plain,
not far from Sodom, and originally intended to share
its fate, being only sj)ared on Lot's intercession. On
the plain at the foot of Jebel Nebbeh the Israelites
camped before passing over Jordan, their tents stretch-
ing over the Seisaban and in front of Jericho from Abel-
shittim to Beth-jeshimoth ; and it was from the heights
above that Balaam looked down on the vast encamp-
ment, and blessed those whom he had been asked to
curse ; and there, too, before the " true prophetic light
flashed o'er him," he may have
" Watched till morning's ray
On lake and meadow lay,
And willow-shaded streams, that silent sleep
Around the banner' d hnes,
"Where by their several signs
The desert- wearied tribes insight of Canaan sleep."
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
LARGER MEASURES OF TIME {continued).
THE SEPTENNATE AND THE JUBILEE.
BT F. B. CONDEB, C.E.
; N order to f lU'nish the student of the Scrip-
tures with the most convenient method
* of determining the date of any event
recorded by the sacred writers, a table
has been prepared, on the data mentioned in the pre-
ceding article on the subject. It has been the aim
of the author to insert in this table every important
event mentioned in the Bible, the Talmud, and the
Wars and Antiquities of Josephus, of which the date
is indicated vrith exactitude. A few leading dates
in Egyptian history, which illustrate that of the Old
Testament, are added, on the authority of Bnigscli.
Tlie regnal years of the kings of Babylon have been
inserted from the Regal Canon, which also has been
relied on for the Persian and Roman dates. The
Assyrian dates are those which are contained in the
terra-cotta records of the British Museum, and which
have been determined, by Sir H. Rawlinson. by an
eclipse of the sun, B.C. 763. The Regal Canon has
been verified by comparison with the dates of eclipses
given in the Almagest.
The first column of the table contains the year of
the sacred reckoning from the beginning of the Book
of Genesis. The second refers to the system of sep-
tennates, or weeks of years, and of jubiles, or weeks
of such weeks, which was instituted by the Law. The
third contains the name of the king or political head
of the Jewish nation. During the existence of the
kingdom of Israel, in order to economise space, the
names of the kings of Judah are printed in small
capitals, and those of the kings of Israel in italics.
It will be observed that from the time of Nehemiah,
who was the Tirshatha, or Pasha, appointed by the
Great King, as the king of Persia was styled, no
prince of Judah or of Israel is named in history until
the time of the Maccabees. It will also be noticed that
the list of high priests terminates vrith Aristobulus,
the last hereditary Pontiff.
362
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
OUTLINE OP THIllTY-FOUR SEVENS OF SEPTENNATES, CALLED JUBILEES, FROM THE EXODUS, 1541 B.C.,
TO THE FALL OP BETHER.
Yenp
of
R:ic.
i
"1
Prince.
High
Priest.
B.C. Events.
Kjc.
= ^f.
3261
.Accession of Anieu-
hotep III., eighth
King of Eighteenth
Dynasty, at Thobos.
3209
0 0
}
iloSi^S
\ai-on
1511
Sxodus ; on 15th day
of month Xauthicus
= 26th Pharmouthi.
3309
0 5
6
Joshua
1501 Crosses Jordan, 10th
■
Nisan, after 100
,
years' affliction (.In*.
ii. 9, § 1), from death
of Joseph.
3317
0 6
7
Eleazar I.
1493 First Sabbatic year in
1
Palestine (Josh. xiv.
!
15).
3321
1 0
7i
1
1486
Second Sabbatic year,
"Rest" (Josh.xxi.ll).
3333
1 1
2]d,. Joshua
Phiuehas I.
1177 .lilt. V. 1, § 29.
3109
2 6
1 d. Othniel
1
Abishua
1 101 Second Servitude.
Eglou (Judg. iii. 11).
3127
3 1
4 d. Eglon
i
1333 Rest for eight years
(^iit. V. 4, §3; Note
by Whistou).
3135
3 4
6 d. Ehud
1
Bukki
1375 Third Servitude.
i Jabin (Judg. iv. 2).
3155
3 5
5
1365 Death of Sisera.
3195
•1 4
1
Uzzi
1315 Fourth Servitude
! (Judg. vi. 1).
a502
•1 5
3 Gideon
1308iRest for forty years
(Jndg.viii. 28).
3512
5 2
1 d. Gideon
Zerahiah
126S Judg. viii. 32.
3515
5 4
3 d. Abimelech
1205 Judg. is. 22.
3568
6 0
6 d. Tola
Jotham
1242 Judg. X. 2.
3590
6 3
7 d. Jair
1220 Fifth Servitude, 18 an.
1
(Judg. X. 8).
3608
66
4 Jeplithab
i
Meraioth
1202
300 years from con-
quest of Bashan, in
3308 (Judg. xi. 26).
3614
7 0
2 d. JephthaL
1196 'Judg. sii. 7.
3621
7 1
2d. Ibzan
1189 i Judg. xii,9.
3631
7 2
6 d. Elon
1179 Judg. xii. 11.
3639
7 3
7 d. Abdon
i
1171 Sixth Servitude, 40 an.
(Judg. xiii. 1).
3659
7 6
6 Samson
i
1151 1 Judge " in the days of
1 the PhiUstines," 20
: an. (Judg. xy. 20).
3679
8 2
5 d. Samson
Eli
1131
3700
8 5
2
1110
Twenty-first Dynasty
3719: 9
3730' 9
1 2d. EH
4 2 Simuel
d. PliiuehasII.
^Ahitub I.
374) 1 9 5 lAo. Saul Ahiah
3756 9
3759 10
6 5 d. Samuel
Old. Saul
I Abiathar
3766 10 1 1 David
3775 10
3799 10
3803 10
I
2 3 (/. Solomon {
5 6 d. David
6 3 Zadok I.
3330 11 2 2
3339 ill 3 4d. Solomon
3310 11 3 4 Ac. Jero-
i hoarti
11 4 2 Ahlmaaz
3314
3356
1091
1 1071
!l065
1C54
1051
1041
1035
jlOll
1007
9S0
1971
;970
in Egypt — Tanite,
[ISam.iv. 18. Ark taken.
1 Sam. vii. 2. Ark iu
Kirjath-jearim.
1 Sam. xiii. 1. Filitts
I unius anni erat Said.
I Sam. XXV. 1.
' A. Sab. 450 years in Pa-
lestine (Acts xiii. 20).
Takes Salem (2 Sam.
1 ii. 11).
2 Sam. xii. 25.
i
Anno 4 S o 1 o m on,
; Temple founded,
I 480th year from an.
i 3321 (1 Kings vi. 1).
Ac. Sasank. Twentieth
i Dynasty in Egypt —
i Buba^tite.
1 Kings xi. 43.
1 Kings xii. 20.
11 6 7 d. E i: H 0- Azariah I.
( boau '
! 066 Sesonkliosis or Shi-
j ; shak takes Jerusalem
; (1 Kings xiv. 25).
954 /I lino Salihatico (1
I Kings XV. 1).
Year
0) .
Sac- .^
a
g 1 Prince.
Kec
3^H|
3859
12
0
!
3d. Abijah
3S60
12
0
4 d. Jci-oboaiiv
3861
12
0
5 d. Kadah
3885
12
4
1 d. Baasha
3886
12
4
2d. Elah
'd. Zimn
3887 12
5
Od. Oinri
3900
12
6
2 d. Asa
3901
12
6
3:
1
3918
13
1
e'd. Ahah
3919
13
1
7 d. Ahaz'utli
3921
13
2
ZJehorarii
3921
13
2
5
3925
13
2
G d. Jehosha-
■ phat
3933
13
3
7 d. Jehor.vm
d. Je?ioi-ai)i
3934
13
4
Id. Ahaziah
!Jc7iu
3940
13
4
7
d. Athaliah
3952
13
6
4
3959
14
0
5
High
Priest.
Johanau I.
Azariah II.
Amariah
Ahitub II.
B.C.
Exeuts.
Jehoiada I.
3963 :14 1 2!d. Jehu
3967 14 1 dJehoaliaz
3969 14 2 li
3978 :14 3 3:d. Jelwahnz |Zechariah I.
3980 |14 3 5jd. Joash |
3982 14 3 7l iZadok II.
3987114 4 5
3994 |14 5 5!d. JehoasU
4000 i 14 6 4]Jerohoaiii
i t
i i
4009 1 15 0 6d. Amaziah
4015115 1 5j
i 1
4029:15 3 If
4033 15 4 21
! [num
4035 Il5 4 4!lnterreg-
4038 115 5 7;
4039 15 6 II
4015 15 6 7|
4016115 7 lAc. Zacha-
j I ri'a7i
4047 :15 7 2 Ac. Shanwn
jAc. Mcna-
I I hem
4055 16 0 3;
Zechariah II
4056
4057
4058
'Azari.ih III.
16 0 4
16 0 5
16 0 6;Ac. Peha-
I I hiah
4061 116 1 2d. UzziAH
I Ac. Pelah
4062 116 1 a!
4065 16 1 6
951 1 Kings xv. 2.
950 1 Kings xiv. 20.
949 1 Kings xv. 25.
925 1 Kings xv. 33.
924 1 Kings xvi. 8, 15.
923 !l Kings xvi. 28.
910;
909 ! Assyrian Canon com-
i meuces. Bil. Auir H.
892 il Kings xvi. 29.
891 A.S. (1 Kings xxii. 51),
889 JAc. Tiglath Bar.
883 jAc. Ashur Izir-pal.
SS5 il Kings xxi. 42.
877
876
870
858
851
801
795
iii. 1 : viii.
27.
1 2 Kings
i 17.
j2 Kings ix
I
An. Sab. Day of
1 Atonement fell on
I Sabb.ath (2 Kings xi.
Ac. Shalmaneser II.
I (Black Obelisk.)
Defeat of forces of
I Syria, Egypt, Arabia,
and Palestine, at
Aroer. Sasank III.
1 King of Egypt.
2 Kings X. 30.
d. Beuhadad.
War with Hazael, King
1 of Syria.
2 Kings xiii. 1.
2 Kings xii. 1.
Cycle II. of Assyrian
: Eponymes.
Ac. Shamsi Bil.
2 Kings xiii. 13.
'Ac. Bil Anir III. Ac
! Twenty-third Dynas-
i ty iu Egypt — Tanite.
i2 Kings xiv. 2.
! Assyrians in Syria and
[ N. P.alestiue.
Ac. Shalmaneser IIL
Era or Olympiads.
I Full moon in Cancer.
j 4031 on 01. a. a.
:2 Kings xiv. 23.
Assyrians in Hamath
\ and Arpad.
1 Ac. Ashur Dan.
j Assyrians in Hadrach.
2 Kings XV. 8.
763 jEclipse of sun, June
I 15, Assyrian records.
755 [Assyrians in Hamath
I and Arpad.
7.54 A. U.C. Era OF Rome.
! City founded, 11th
i Kal. Maii, 4057.
753 Ac. Ashur Anir.
752 2 Kings xv. 23.
I
749 |2 Zings xv. 27.
748 :Era of Nabonassar,
I Thoth fell on 17th
I Feb. anno excunte.
745 Ac. Tiglath Pileser IL
' in Nineveh,
CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
363
Year
of
Sac-
Bee.
1
Jubilee.
"Week.
Year.
Prince.
High
Priest.
B.C.
742
Events.
1
4068'
16 2 1
Campaign in Syria (2
i
Kings XV. 29).
4076
16 3 3
734
Ac. Nadius, Babylon.
4077
15 3 4
d. JOTHAM
733
2 Kings xvi. 1.
4078
1
16 3 5
Urijah
732
Ac.ChozirusandPorus
in Babylon. Camiwign
in Philistia.
4083
16 4 3
727
Ac. Shalmanezer I'V.,
Nineveh. Acllulseus,
Babylon.
4088 16 5 1
722
Ac. Mardocempadus,
Babylon. Ac.Sargon,
Nineveh.
4089
16 5 2
Ac. Hosliea
721
2 Kings xvii. 1. Two
eclipses of moon
mentioned in Alma-
gest.
4093
16 5 C
d. Ahaz
717
2 Kings xvi. 2.
4095
16 C 1
Azariah IV.
715
Ac. Twenty-fifth Dy-
nasty in Egypt (2
Kings xvii. 4, N1D,
"So, King of Egypt" ).
4099
16 6 5
711
Fall or Samaria, 300
years' dynasty (2
Kings xviii. 10).
4100
16 6 6
710
Ac. Arkian, Babylon.
4103
17 0 2
707
Ac. Sethos, Egypt.
4105
17 0 4
705
Intei-reguum, Baby-
lon; Ac. Sennacherib,
Nineveh.
4107
17 0 6
14 H E Z E-
KIAH
703
3 Sennacherib. Croji
not sown for fear of
invasion (2 Kings six.
29).
4108
17 0 7
702
A.S.Ac.BelibusorBala-
dan.at Babylon. Date
of Bellini Cylinder.
4117
17 2 2
692
Ac. Tarkos or Tirhakah
in Egypt, d. 4145.
4122
17 3 1
d.HEZEKIAB
688
2 Kings xviii. 2.
4129
17 4 1
681
Ac. Esarhaddon at Ni-
neveh, and same year
at Babylon (Canon).
4140
17 5 4
Odeas {Ani. x.
8. §6)
670
Manasseh sends to
Nineveh (Assyrian
record).
4142
17 5 6
668
Ac. Saosduchin, Baby-
lon.
4146
17 C 3
664
Ac. Ashur-bani-pal ; a
king of Judea tribu-
tary (cf. 2 Chron.
xxxiii. 11).
4163
18 1 6
647
Ac. Kiniladan at Baby-
lon.
4170
18 2 6
640
Ac. Ashur Ebil-ili, in
Nineveh.
4177
18 3 6
d.MANASSS.H
633
2 Kings xxi. 1.
4179
18 4 1
d. Amok
3bpJlum
631
2 Kings xxi. 19.
4184
18 4 6
626
1 Nabopolassar
(Canon).
4196
18 6 4
614
Great Passover.
4199
18 6 7
611
A. S. and A. Jub. 19.
INechoII., fifth king
of Twenty-sixth Dy-
nasty.
4205
19 0 6
605
1 Nebuchadnezzar, in
Assyria. (Canon.)
4210
19 1 4
d. JOSIAH
Jehoahaz,
3 months
600
Battle of Megiddo (2
Kings xxiii. 29).
Era of Galuth, used by
Jeremiah andEzekiel.
4211
19 1 5
1 Jehoia-
KI3I
Azatiali I'V,
599
Siege of Tyre com-
menced (Cont. Aiiion,
1, 21).
4214
19 2 1
596
Battle of Carchemish
(Jer. xlvi. 2).
4215
19 2 2
5^5
1 Nebuchadnezzar in
Palestine. Death of
Necho (Brugsch).
! Yeir
: of
Sac
Eec
5 S g Prince.
High
Priest.
B.C.
591
Events.
4219
19 2 6
Era of Sevkkty
Years' Afflictiok.
" Nebuchadnezzar
sends bands" (Jer.
XXV. 11 ; 2 Kings
xxiv. 2).
4221
19 3 1
d. Jehoia-
KIM
689
Captivity of Jeconiah,
after three months'
reign.
4222
i
19 3 2
1 Zedekiah
586
First deportation (2
Kings xxiv. 16).
4227
19 3 7
583
A.S. (Jer. xxxiv. 8).
4231
19 4 4
579
11th year of Galuth,
and 27tli of Nebuchad-
nezzar at Babylon.
(Ezek. xxix. 17 ; sxx.
20.)
Fall of Jerusalem
4233
19 4 6
Capture of
Seraiah
577
!
Zedekiah
(2 Kings XXV. S).
4233
19 5 4
572
Third deportation(Jer.
Hi. 30).
4217 19 6 6
1 ■
£63
Death of Nebuchad-
nezzar ; Jeconiah set
free (Jer. lii. 31).
4248 19 6 7
562
A. S. and A. Jub. 21.
1 Evil Merodach.
(Canon.)
4250 20 0 2
i
Josedech
£60
1 Nerikassolassar
(Canon. )
4254 20 0 6
556
1 Nabonadius. (Canon.)
4271 20 3 2lSheshbaz-
609
Cyrus takes Babylon.
1 1 zar
(Canon.)
4273 20 3 4
i
Jeshua
537
Tem ple Eecommenced
(Ezra iii. 8).
i 4279 20 4 3
Zerobabel
531
IKambatt (Cambyses,
or Ahasuerus of Ezra
iv. 6).
' 4284 20 5 1
' 1
520
Ac. Persian dynasty
(27th) in Egypt.
4288 20 5 5
622
Ac. Darius, sou of
Hystaspes.
4289 20 5 6
521
End of Sevektt
i
Years' Affliction
i
(Zech. i. 12). 182^
■
years from 14 Heze-
h
kiah (Ant. x., Epi-
graph).
4293
20 6 3
517
Temple finished. 3
Adar (Ezra vi. 15).
4324
21 3 6
486
Ac. Xerxes (Canon).
(Ahasuerus of Book
i 'i
of Esther).
4335,21 5 ll
475
Feast of Purim esta-
blished.
4344
21 6 5
466
Ac. Artaxerxes Longi-
manus. (Canon).
4350
22 0 4
Ezra
460
Ezra made Governor,
1 Ab (Ezra vii. 1, 9).
4363
22 2 3
Nehemiah
Elinshib
447
Tirshatha (Neh. ii. 1).
4375
22 3 1
435
End of Book of Nehe-
miah.
4376
22 3 2
434
Era of MftonicCtci.e
1
New moon of Skirro
1
phoreon fell on 1st
degree ofCancer,4376.
4386
22 4 3
Joiada II.
424
Ac. Darius II. (Canon.)
4405
23 1 3
405
Ac. Artaxerxes 11.
(Canon.)
4451
24 0 6
359
Ac. Ochusl. (Canon.)
4472
24 3 6
Jonathan I.
338
Ac. ArogusI.(Canon.)
4474
24 4 1
334
Ac.DariusIII. (Canon.)
j 4477
1
24 4 4
Jaddua
333
Alexander visits Jeru-
salem.
4486
!
24 5 6
324
Death of Alexander.
PhilippineEka,471)io
424 Nabonassar, 253
yrs. 5 mths, from de-
struction of Tem^'le
(Ant. xi., E-pigra'pli).
364
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
High
Priest.
4497 j25 0 4
4500 25 0 7
4505.25 1 5
4508 J25 2 1
i
4525125 4 4
I
4533 ,25 5 5
4534 26 5 6
4547 .26 0 5
4560 26 2 4
4562 26 2 6
4563 26 2 7
4582 26 5 5
4585 26 6 1
4588
4591
4605
26 6 3
26 6 6
27 1
4611 27 2 5'
4629 27 5 3
4634 27 6 1
4636
4638
4640
4642
27 6 3
27 6 5
27 6 7
27 0 2
4645 '27 0 5
4646 28 0 6
4647 28 0 7
t
4348 28 1 1
4650 28 1 3
1
4657128 2 3
4664 28 3 3
4667^28 3 5
I
4671 28 4 3
4672 :28 4 4 J. Hyrca-
nus
4674 '28 4 6
4679 ,28 5 4
Simon tbejust
Eleasar II.
ManassGh,
Ouias II.
Simon II.
Oniss III.
Jason
MenelnuB
B.C.
31
4682 28 5 7
468i 28 6 2
d. Alcimos
Jonathan II.
1 Simou III.
Johanan II. or
John Hyr
canus
Era OP Seleucid^:.
Ac. Seleucus Nicator.
310 I A. S.
305 I Ac. Ptolemy I., son
of Lagus.
302 Ac. Autiochus (I.)
Soter.
:85 Ac. Ptolemy(II.)Phil-
adelphus. Coins of
Eleasar extant.
277 LXX. Version of the
Law.
276
263 jAc. Antiocbus (II.)
Theos.
250 Antigouus of Soccho
Presid. of Sanhedrin.
248 Ac. Seleucus (Il.)Cal-
I linicus.
247 JAc. Ptolemy (III.)
Evergetes.
228 Ac. Seleucus (III.)
Ceraunus.
225 jAc. Autiochus (III.)
Magnus. Earthquake
222! Ac. Ptolemy (IV.)
Philopater.
219 Ac. Ptolemy (V.)
j Epiphanes.
205 Joseph farms taxes
j (.Inf. xii. 4, § 10).
199 iJose Ben Joasar,
i Pres. Sanledrin.
181 [Ac. Ptolemy (VI.)
I Pbilometor.
176 j Invasion by Autiochus
I (IV.) Epiphanes. 1
174 Eclipse of moon, Alma' \
gest, 7 Pbilometor. [
172 I
170 A.S. Antiocbus takes
Jerusalem without :
fighting (Ant. xii. 5,
§3). I
168 Desecration of Temple
post ii. annos dierum. I
(1 Mace. i. 30.) |
165 Restoration of Temple. 1
Feast of Lights {Ant. j
xii. 7, § 7). I
164 Ac. Antiocbus (V.)
i Eupator. ,
163 !a.S. Antiocbus Eupa- '
I tor takesJerusalem by
' fraud, 414 years after
I capture by Nebuchad-
nezzar(jlnt. xx. 10,§ 1) .
162 Ac. Demetrius, Seleuci
filius.
160 Joshua Ben Pherdkee,
Presid. of Sanhedrin.
153 Ac. Alexander Beles
fd. Antiochi Epipli.
146 Ac. Ptolemy VIL,
Evergetes II.
143 Ethuarch of the Jews
(Ant. xiii. 6, i; 7).
139 Akra, the Millo of Solo-
mon, taken by Simon.
138 Ac. Autiochus Sidetes.
Coins of Hyrcanus
extant.
136 EndoflstBookofMacc.
131 Demetrius Nicator re-
stored. JudahTabbei,
Pres. San.
128 Ac. Alexander Zebina.
126 Ac. Antiocbus Gry-
I phus.
4699
Year
or
Sao.
Rec
Jubilee
Week.
Year.
4693
4696
29 0 4
29 0 7
29 1 3
4705 j29 2 2|d. John Hyr-
i canus
4706 29 2 s'Ac. Alexan-
der I.
4732 29 6 1
4741130 0 2
Ac. Alexan-
dra
Ac Hyrca
I I nus II.
4745 '30 0 6; Ac. Alexan
i • I der II.
4747 '30 0 7:
4770] 30 4 3; Ac. Antigo
I nus j
4773 iso 4 6 Ac. Herodl
i the Great
High
Priest.
Aristobulus
Hyrcanus II.
B.C.
Events.
4775130 5 l|
\
4779 30 5 5
4799
4806
4809
4815
4823
4839
31 1 5
31 2 5
31 3 1
31 3 7
31 4 6
32 0 3
(1. Herod
il. Aristobulus
Archelaus
deposed
484G 32 1 3 Agrippa I
4849 32 1 6
48D2 32 2 2
4857 32 2 7
d.Agrippal.
Ac. Agrippa
II.
32 3 6
32 4 4
32 5 4
32 5 6
111
105
104
4863
4868
4875
4877
4879 J32 6 1
4904 133 2 5
4909133 3 3
4931 33 6 4
4941 31 1 3
d. Agrippai
II. I
117 lAc. Ptolemy Soter.
114 AS. Hyrcanus esta-
blishes independence.
Sadducees obtain su-
preme power. Tal-
raui date. Blank in
Mishna for 3G years.
Aristobulus Prince and
High Priest (Jos,
jBelt.i. ll,§l),471yrs.
13 mths. from Cap-
tivity. Coins extant.
Prince and High
Priest. Coinsextant.
78 I Pharisees recalled to
power. Coinsextant.
69 Fall of Seleucid.e
I an. 244 Seleucid.
65 IShemaiah, Pres. San-
I bedrin.
A. S. Pompey takes
Jerusalem, 26 Sivan,
6th day of week.
Herod made king by
Senate. Coins of
Antigonus extant.
Herod takes Jerusa-
lem. Coins of Herod
extant.
Last hereditary High
Priest.
Battle of Actium.
Augustus Emperor.
Hillel Presid. Sanhe-
drin, oifice then here-
ditary for 400 years.
Temple finished.
Ordinary date of Ad-
vent, Spring 4805.
4806, Herod died, 7
Cisleu.
1 [Christian Era.
A S. Banishment of
Archelaus the Eth-
narch. Coins extant.
Ac. Tiberius. Simeon
Ben Hillel President
of Sanhedrin.
Crucifixion, Friday,
15 Nisan. Sanhedrin
lose power of life and
death. (Talmud date.)
34 id. Tiberius. Ac. Caius.
(Canon). Coins of
Agrippa I. extant.
40 lAc. Claudius. (Canon.)
43 'Gamaliel the Elder
! Pres. of Sanhedrin.
48 ^Council of Jerusalem
(Acts XV. 6). Coins of
I Agrippa II. extant.
52 Death of Claudius.
59 Close of Acts of
j Apostles.
66 ijewish war begins, 12
I Nero.
68 'Ac. Vespasian. (Canon)
70 'Destruction of Jeru-
I salem.
93 Latest coin of Agrippa
I II.
100 Traditional date of
death of Apostle
I John, 3 Trajan.
122 Destruction of Bether,
I Talmud date ; the
orJiuary date is 13
135 I years larter, in 19
I Hadrian.
63
40
37
35
31
A.D
14
30
JOB.
365
As some of the determinations of date, given in the
preceding tables, differ from those ordinarily cited, it
may be desirable to recall the fact, that certain fixed and
l^ositive cycles run back through aU ancient history;
and that no date is reliable as to which any discrepancy
with either of these cycles can be shown to exist. On
the contrary, the coincidence of different cycles gives
either an approximate or a mathematical proof of
correct determination.
The days of the week, the years of the Septennate,
the course of the moon, and the course of the Egyptian
year, are four definite and positive cycles. If any
event, wliich is historically referred to either of them,
does not accord with this order, it must be wrong.
Thus one date given for the Exodus is B.C. 1652, while
another is B.C. 1322. A reference to our tables wiU
show that it is mathematically impossible that either of
these dates is correct, as neither of them falls on the
first year of a week. Again, the 14th of Nisan, B.C.
1652, fell in the Egyptian month Mecheir, and in B.C.
1322 it fell in the Egyptian month Pachion. Josephus
says that it fell in the Egyptian month Pharmouthi.
In B.C. 1541 the week of years begins, and the 14th
Nisan falls on 28th Pharmouthi.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
JOB.
BY THE REV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALTTH, N.B.
HE Poem of Job stands in om* Bible at
the head of the five poetical books. This
position is the one assigned to it by the
LXX. The Jews themselves were unde-
cided whether to place the book among the Prophets
or to include it in the collection called the " Sacred
Writings. " Indeed, its reception into the Canon at all
appears to have been a matter of hesitation and doubt.
It shared at first the fate of so many of the noblest
works of human genius which have been held in little
esteem by the age which produced them. Un-Jewish
in form, and fiercely hostile to the orthodox beliefs, it
was likely rather to shock the pious sentiment of
Hebrews than to exert much influence over them.
Of unknown authorship and date, it came recom-
mended by no gi'eat prophetic name. It is never
alluded to iu the Scriptures,^ and very rarely quoted.
It is, therefore, by the greatness of its own inspu-a-
tion alone that the wonderful work has lived. Its
own internal majesty has compelled not only acknow-
ledgment, but a bi-eathless and astonished reverence.
Before this mysterious monument of the genius of an
unknown and unnamed Eastern sage, even when they
recognised no di\'iner flame than that of genius, the
greatest intellects of the modern world have bowed in
speechless admiration, not unmixed with awe. It is
without exaggeration that one in our own time has
written of this extraordinary book as "a book of which
it is to say too little to say it is unequalled of its kind,
and which will one day, perhaps, when it is allowed to
stand upon its own merits, be seen towering up alone
far away above all the poetry of the world."
By whom was this marvellous book wi'itten ? What
age produced it ? In what part of the Eastern world
did its author live ? These are the questions which
meet at the threshold of his inquiry the student who
desires to master the difficulties of the work, and under-
' M. Benan mentions two allusions in the Apocryphal books :
one conjectural (Ecclus. xlix. 9), the other in the Latin text of
Tobit ii. 12, 15. Of the echoes of the Book in other O. T. writings,
the chief, besides the passages from Proverbs referred to below,
are Isa. xix. 5 (cf. Job xiy. 11); Jer. xx. 14—18 (cf. Job iii.).
stand its relation to the rest of Holy Scripture. But
the answers that can be given amount to little more
than conjectures, and of them so many and so various
have been started that they show of themselves on how
slight a foundation the best of them rests. Happily,
the contents of the book are independent of inquiries
into its date and authorship. It would be interesting to
know them. We long to know something of one whose
sublime conceptions lift him to such a height above the
most gifted mortals. His habitation, name, appearance,
would interest us deeply. " The very spot where his
ashes rest, though marked by no monument, we long
to gaze upon.2 But in vain. The gi*eat poem itself is
all we have. And it is enough." Its author lives in
the imperishable monument of his genius. '' With his
unsullied name," says Herder, "he has consigned to
oblivion all that was earthly ; and lea\'ing his book for
a memorial below, is engaged in a yet nobler song in
that world where the voice of sorrow and mom-ning is
unheard, and where the morning stars sing together." ^
There is also an advantage gained when we can refer a
work of this supreme excellence to the period which
gave it bU'th, and study it by the light throAvn by con-
temporary persons and events.* But a certain fitness
2 There are as many as six different traditional tombs of Job.
3 The guesses at the authorship of the book have rested on
(1) Job himself. Dr. Lee supposes an ancient work from Job's
pen to have been brought to the notice of Moses by Jethro, and by
him put into the shape in which we have the book. (2) Moses.
This is the view of the Talmud, and of many rabbins ; in modern
times of Michaelis and others. (3) Elihu. (4) Baruch. This is
the conjecture of Bunsen. Delitzsch suggests Heman, the reputed
author of Ps. Ixxxviii.
■* It is out of the scope of this paper to enter closely into the
question of the date of this poem, but it may be well to state
in a note the reasons which incline the best modern scholars to
refer it to a period not preceding the age of Solomon. Those
who wish to see the patriarchal date ably maintained should
consult Dr. Lee's Introduction to his Translation of the Book of
Job, and Canon Cook's article " Job," in Smith's Bib. Diet. The
whole question is stated at length in Davidson's Introduction.
Keil, Hiivernick, Hahn, Delitzsch, and others, refer the poem to
the reign of Solomon. Eenan prefers the first half of the eighth
century ; Ewald brings it down to the beginning of the seventh
century. The following arguments are adduced in common by all
these scholars : —
(1.) The scenes amid which the poem is placed, so remote from
366
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
in the obscurity surrouutliug this mysterious poem
more thau compensates for the fruitless expenditure of
all the research that has been brought to the question.
That criticism should bo unable to coufiue the possible
production of the work within narrower limits than the
patriarchal ago at one extreme, and the post-exile times
at the other, is a result entirely suitable to its character
and subject. For it presents man in a situation at
once the most profoimdly and most universally poetic.
The struggle which the hmuan soul, conscious of the
nobility and happiness of righteous conduct, maintains
against unseen powers which every day, whether for
good or ill, seem to contradict his conviction, and give
the lie to his highest aspiration, has at all times pro-
foundly interested thoughtful minds, and has been the
fruitful mother of all noble philosophy and all noble
song. One noble utterance for this sublime protest of
the moral sense of man was found in Greek tragedy,
which depicts freedom in battle with necessity. But the
poem of Job contains its sublimest expi-ession. It is an
appeal to God against the contradictious which man tlis-
covers amid the works of God. It is the most magni-
ficent protest ever uttered against the shallow interpreta-
tion of these conti-adictions, which make of God's absence
condemnation and of His silence a reproof. That Job
did not succeed in soh-iug the in-oblems presented by
the spectacle of suffering goodness does not diminish
either the interest or the value of the poem. Their
very statement shows how the world was bemg guided
on to the revelation of the Cross, where the darkness
and perplexity were only not removed, because it is so
much more noble and di\'ine and beautiful, that man
should live amid them bravely, doubt with sincerity, and
believe with strength. And this statement, imder such
a mystery, by an unknown author, and at a time and
Jewish thought and custom, could not have been presented to a
Hebrew mind before the wide contact with the Gentile world which
Solomou's reign opened up.
(2.) TUe work belongs to the school of literature that arose in
Solomon's court, and was patronised by him ; the school which
produced the Book of Proverbs. (Cf. Prov. i. — ix. with many
parts of Job, especially the description of wisdom, Prov. viii. 25, sq. ;
Job xsviii. 12, sq. Cf. also the Book of Job with the " Words
of Agnr.")
(3.) Job is represented as "greatestof the Beni-kedem, 'children
of the East,' " with whose wisdom that of Solomon is expressly
compared (1 Kings iv. 30). The Idumsean tribe Teman, to which
Eliphaz belonged, was especially celebrated for this " wisdom ''
(Jer. xlix. 7, &c.).
(4.) Many of the natural descriptions of the book imply a
familiarity with other countries and their products, such as was
created by the commercial dealings of the Solomonic period.
Such are the descriptions of the horse, crocodile, peacock, the
allusions to "the gold of Ophir," pearls, &c., and the general
acquaintance with Egypt and Arabia.
(5. ) The mention of the Chaldseans as a plundering tribe.
(6.) The questions discussed in the poem are such as show
themselves in the " Psalms of Asaph," and other writings of
Solomon's or a Liter time, but not before.
(7.) The general style and structure of the poem are too artistic
and refined for an earlier age. Notice especially the regular
parallelisms and the arrangement in strophes.
(8.) The language is such as to induce the foremost scholars to
bring down the work to an age as late at least as Solomon.
The absence of all reference to the Mosaic law or ritual, as well
as to the history of Israel, the argument on which a patriarchal
date is chiefly founded, is not more remarkable than tlic same
Bikuce in Proverbs and several of the later Psalms.
place which must for ever remain matter of conjecture,
is in correspondence with the permanent nature of tho
problems. Out of the darkness from that ancient land
we hear man calling to the invisible God —
" Oh that I knew where to find Him,
That I could come even unto His throne.
I would unfold my cause before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
• • * • •
But I go to the east, and He is not there ;
And to the west, but I cannot perceive Him.
Doth He travail in the north ? I see Him not.
Doth He hide in the south ? I perceive him not."
And to-day one of om* greatest modern poets, feeling
heavy upon his soul the weight of the modern phase
of the same mystery which tortured the ancient patri-
arch, thus describes Ms faith in doubt : —
" I fidter where I iirmly trod.
And falhug with my weight of caves
Upon the great world's altar-stairs.
That slope through darkness up to God,
" I stretch lame hands of faith and grope.
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope."
Surely when the ages are thus bridged over by
feelings at once so profoimd and so permanent, we may
rather rejoice that the book in the Bible which gives its
fullest and finest expressions to these feelings should
be surrounded by a mystery ; that the grandest of all
attempts to solve the insoluble problem, and justify tho
ways of God to man, should have been left as if in
profound obscm-ity, "to teach us that it is no story of
a single thing which happened once, but that it belongs
to humanity itself, and is the di-ama of the trial of
man, with Almighty God and the angels as spectators
of it."
It has been disputed whether tho author of the
Book of Job was a Hebrew or a native of the locality
in which the scene of the poem is laid. But this
locality itseK has been the subject of interminable con-
troversy. The land of Uz was very probably on the
confines of IduuiEea. The traces which connect the
poem with Edom are too numerous to be accidental. '
But it does not follow that, as some suppose, tho
author was an Idumsean. It is certain, however,
that to understand the poem we must extend our
view beyond the confines of Hebrew life and thought.
There is nothing in it to recall the chosen people,
with their exclusive religion, laws, and customs. Tho
work is Semitic, not Hebrew. The life it breathes
is that of the patriarclial chief. It moves among
tents and flocks and herds, and the occupations and
interests of free nomad existence. It has nothing
1 The appendix to the LXX. describes Uz (Aiffrnt) as on the
borders of Idumsea and Arabia. With this agree the names
Eliphaz, Teman, and perhaps Job, which have certainly an eth-
nological if not a geographical connection with Edom (cf. Gen;
xxxvi. 10, U, with Job ii. 11). Uz is mentioned in Jer. xxv. 20;
Lam. iv. 21. J. G. Wetstein, in a valuable appendix to Delitzsch's
commentary on Job, gives some strong reasons for preferring the
traditional country of Job, tho western corner of the Hauran,
immediately east of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.
JOB.
367
in common with the domestic life of the Jews. We
are taken away from the people, and the thoughts
among which the other Scriptures move, to the wild
freedom of these " Childi'en of the East," who wander
to-day, as they have done for six thousand years, over
the vast tracts of desert that hem in on three sides the
narrow Land of Promise. " Tiie poem of Job," says
M. Renan, " may be regarded as the ideal of a Semitic
poem."
We could hardly have come to the consideration
of the Book of Job without some notice of tliese
preliminary inquiries. But there is another question
more intimately connected with the poetical aspect of
the book, which has given rise to discussion. It con-
cerns the structm-e of tlie composition, about which
there exists considerable variety of opinion. Some
have called it an epic. There are certainly in it the
elements which we connect with heroic poetry. There
is a grandeur in the situations and in the passions
brought into play, there is the loftiness of sentiment
and language that belongs to the high themes of epic
song. But the same elements enter into tragedy, and
the form of the poem is so decidedly dramatic that we
can hardly fail at first sight to arrange it in that class
of works. There is a prologue in prose, which makes
the reader acquainted with the situation in which the
hero is placed, and introduces the persons who take the
chief part in the stoiy. The action, which is twofold,
then begins with a monologue of the hero, which is
followed by the controversy with the three friends.
Each of these speaks three times ^ and receives three
answers from Job, so that the dialogue arranges itself
into three acts. Another long monologue from the
chief personage seems to conclude the regular action.
A new comer, not mentioned in the prologue nor other-
wise introduced, then enters, and, like the chorus in a
Greek play, exposes the errors and follies of the other
speakers.^ Finally, God Himself appears as Judge of
the combat to pronounce His decision ; and with an
epilogue in prose, giving the issue or catastrophe of the
whole, the poem ends.^
Such is the form. The internal development is
equally dramatic. There is not, indeed, a regular plot,
and the dialogue proceeds without outward action or
change of scene, like that in Greek drama. But Hebrew
art has nothing to do with forms created by a people
of different genius and later age. The long, sustained
speeches, and the manner in which they are delivered,
is as truly Oriental as the protracted signs of passionate
grief witli which the actors introduce themselves, and
in a drama developed on Eastern soil might be as much
expected. Xor does it detract from the dramatic
character to say that the subject under discussion is
philosophical in its nature, but does not advance with
the poem. The action does not lie in the argument so
much as in the feelings. The tragic interest is profound
1 With the exception of Zoph^ir, who is silent when it is his turn
to speak for the last time.
2 Cf. Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, second series, p. 213.
3 See Dayidson's Introduction, ii. 178.
and real throughout, but deepens as the dialogue pro-
ceeds. It adds to the dramatic feeling that this progress
is unexpected, since the hero has already, before a word
is spoken, been plunged into the lowest depth of suffer-
ing. The tragedy came with the rapid reverses which
one after another, in quick succession, unexpected and
undeserved, have prostrated him from the height of
prosperity and happiness into the dust. A human soul
under such conditions offers a subject worthy of the
highest epic or dramatic genius. But a fresh and more
cruel trial is prepared for Job. The three old friends
who meant to console, become unconsciously his perse-
cutors ; and as the sufferer meets their accusations, now
with indignant denial, now with eloquent appeal to
God, now with a pathetic story of liis own upright and
innocent life, we feel that new elements of a profounder
interest and keener tragic power are introduced.
Job's friends, in deep alarm for him, connect his
sufferings with a secret guilt. We know that his con-
dition is due neither to his own guilt nor to that of
those connected with him, but is a trial from which his
character is to come forth bright and pure. They,
however, are j)ersuaded that he has sinned. The popular
theory connects suffering with sin, and they feel con-
strained to uphold the orthodox belief. This brings a
new trial on the sufferer by which fresh passions come
into play, and fresh complications arise, and it is on
Job's beha^-iour amid these that the chief interest tiuns.
It is no abstract question which is debated, but one
which involves the character and haj)piness of the chief
actor, and the faith of all. At eveiy turn we see
personal feeling come into play. As the dialogue pro-
ceeds the entanglement becomes deeper, these feelings
growing hotter and stronger. AU is hastening to one
end. Will the hero come out of all as from the fire of
purification, upright as ever, but humbled and chastened
even by the factory wliich he wins ?
A careful study even discloses signs of genuine action
corresponding to the feelings excited. The men who
had sat for seven long days, exhibiting their sympathy
by the mute eloquence of Oriental grief, more than
once make a show of leaving the patriarch during the
dialogues, or actually do move away, exasperated b^' his
violent outbursts of indignation or scorn. See, for
example, chap. vi. 29, where Job exclaims —
"Come back, I pray you— no more unjust accusations!
Come back, and my innocence will appear." ■*
So also the sufferer himself turns away, with undis-
guised expressions of impatience, from the weU-meant
but exasperating sermons of the friends. Is thero
not sensible action in the passion with which, in the
boldness of conscious innocence, this much-tried man
dares to accuse the awful silence of God, and himself
■* Cf. xiii. 13 ; XV. 12 ; xvi. 4, &c. Ewald thinks that the action
is intended to cover several days. It would appear from the " Song
of Songs " that what in modem drama would he stage directions,
introduced to explain the action or situation, are put into the
mouth of one of the persons of the poem. See Cant. i. 4, " The
king hath brought me into his apartments."
36S
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
demand the trial which he is confident will approve
his righteousness even before Him 'i
" Ob that one would hear me,
Behold Diy signature ; let the Almighty reply.
Let my adversary also write his iudictmeut.
I would wear it upou my shoulder,
I would crown my forehead with it,
I would render account of the number of my steps ;
I would go near him like a prince." '
The concluding scene, when Jehovah, sending His
awful voice from the darkness of the thunder-cloud,
arraigns Job before Him —
1 Job xxxi. 35 — 37. The allusion is to written law cases, which
existed at an early time in Egypt. Job is ready to put his signa-
ture to his case, to all the words in which he has defended his
innocence against his friends, and even against God, and wishes
God to do the same. He would not be ashamed of it, but would
display it everywhere with pride. (See Delitzscb and Kenan in loc. ).
" Gird up thy reins like a man,
I will ask thee, and answer thou me " —
(Chap, xxxviii. 3)
and the last broken speech of the hero, when, humbled
and confused by the majesty of the utterances of the
Most High, he can only repeat to himself the searching
questions and solemn rebukes which he has heard, is
full to overflowing with dramatic feeling and interest.
Altogether, though the suggestion made by the great
scholar Ewald, that the work was actually intended for
theatrical representation, a^jpears unnecessarily bold,
there is every reason to class this wonderful work amid
true dramatic poetry. It has passages which deserve
the name of lyric, and its intention was doubtless
didactic. But its true character is that of the Divine
drama of the Hebrews.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
BY THE REV. G. F. MACLEAR, D.D., HEAD MASTER OF KING's COLLEGE SCHOOL.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DEATH OF HEROD.
>ND now our chapters can no longer be
said to relate so strictly to the period
" Between the Books " of the Old and New
Testament. We have already stepped
across the threshold of the era of the latter.
Ajiparently just before Herod left for Jericho,
and while he was still residing in the magnificent
palace he had built on Zion, his fears and suspicious
were still further increased by the visit to his capital
of certain magi from the East, bearing the strange
intelligence that they had seen in the East the star of a
new-born King of the Jews, and had come to worship
Him.'
The inquiry respecting an hereditary King of the
Jews roused the aLarm of the Idumean tyrant, and,
hastUy convening an assembly of the chief priests and
scribes, he inquired where, according to their prophetical
books, the long-expected Messiah was to Ije bom.
"Without any hesitation they pointed to the words of
the prophet Micah," Avhich declared that Bethlehem, in
Judaea, was the favoured spot. Concealing his wicked
intentions, the monarch therefore bade the magi repair
to Betlilehem, bidding them let him know as soon as
they had found the young Child, that he, too, might
come and do Him reverence.
Thus advised, the magi set out. and at Bethlehem
they found " the young Child, and Mary His mother,
and they fell down and worshipped Him."^
For true it was that while Herod's blood-stained
reign* was drawing near its close, and when, after a
1 Matt. ii. 1—3.
- Micah V. 2 ; comp. John vii, 42.
3 Matt. ii. 11.
■• Our Lord's birth took place about a.c.c. 750 or 749 at the
earliest. Clinton places it in 749, or b.c. 5 ; Wieseler puts it in 750,
or B.C. 4. See Clinton's Fasti Hell. iii. 254; Wieseler, Chron, Syn.,
p, 57 ; Merivale's Romans under the Empire, iv, 428.
life of tyranny and usurpation, he was sinking "into
the jealous decrepitude of his savage old age,"* a lowly
"Virgin had at Bethlehem brought " forth her first-boru
Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid
Him in a manger.'"' The advent of this true King of
kings, " iu great humility," had moved all heaven to its
centre ; and while Herod's palaces were the scenes of
jealousies, suspicion, and murders, and his subjects
were groaning under the yoke of his iron rule, the
heavenly song had floated over the hills of Bethlehem,
and shepherds keeping watch over then- flocks had
heard the words, breaking the stillness of the night,
" Glory to God iu the highest, and on earth peace
among men of good will."'
After they had offered their homage and their gifts
to the heavenly Child, the magi would naturally have
returned to Herod ; but warned of God in a dream of
peril awaiting them if they did so, they returned to
their own land another way. Thus foiled, the jealousy
of Herod assumed a more malignant aspect, and, tmable
to identify the royal Infant of the seed of David, he
issued an edict that all the children of Bethlehem and
its neighbourhood, from two years old and under, should
be slain.^ His ruthless orders were carried out, and a
wild wail of anguish arose from many a mother thus
cruelly bereaved of her little ones.
The murder of these innocents, which doubtless
s Farrar's Life of Christ, i. 24.
6 Luke ii. 6, 7.
7 Luke ii. 14, «" ^vOpwnoii fuAox/ur, the reading of the best MSS.
and the best versions.
8 Matt. ii. 16—18. Macrobius, Satumal. ii. 4, says, " Augustus
cum audisset, inter pueros, quos in Syria Herodes infra bimatum
interfici jussit, filium quoque ejus occisum, ait. Melius est Herodis
porcum (''i')e83e quam puerum {vlhv)." Though Macrobius is a late
writer, about a.d. 400, and makes the mistake of supposing that
the Massacre of the Innocents included that of an infant son of
Herod, he used early materials, and " it is clear that the form
in which he relates the bon mot of Augustus points to some dim
reminiscence of this cruel slaughter. " (Farrar's Life of Christ, i. 44 ;
Bawlinsou's Bampton Lectures, vii., n. 82.)
BETWEEN THE BOOKS.
369
was accomplislied secretly, aucl uudov cover of uiglit, is
passed over iu silence by Josephus. That it sliould
have beeu so is not surprising. Compared with other
deeds which Herod carried out or designed, the massacre
of a few ' children in an unimportant village was almost
insignificant. " Herod's whole career was red with the
blood of murder. He had massacred priests and nobles ;
he had decimated the Sanhedrin; he had caused the
high priest, his brother-in-law, the young and noble Ai'is-
tobulus, to be drowned in pretended sport before his
eyes ; he had ordered the strangulation of his favoimte
wife, the beautiful Asmoneau princess Mariamne, though
she seems to have been the only human being whom he
passionately loved. His sons Alexander, Aristobulus,
and Antipater ; his uncle Joseph ; Antigonus and Alex-
ander, the uncle and father of his wife ; his mother-in-
law Alexandra; his kinsman Cortobanus; his friends
Dositheus and Gadias were but a few of the multi-
tudes who fell victims to his sanguinary, suspicious,
and guilty terrors. His brother Pheroras and his son
Archelaus barely and narrowly escaped execution by
his orders. Neither the blooming youth of the prince
Aristobulus, nor the white hairs of the king Hyi'canus,
had protected them from his fawning and treacherous
fury. Deaths by strangulation, deaths by burning,
deaths by being cleft asunder, deaths by secret assassi-
nation, confessions forced by unutterable torture, acts
of insolent and inhuman lust, mark the annals of a
reign which was so cruel that, in the energetic language
of the Jewish ambassadors to the Emperor Augustus,
'the survivors during his lifetime were even more
miserable than the sufferers.' "-
"What was the massacre of these innocents among so
many instances of the tyrant's cruelty and treachery ?
But though Josephus does not mention the event, he
tells us of incidents which took j)lace in this very year,
B.C. 4, which prove how exactly in keeping the massacre
was with the tyrant's character.
While he was at Jericho, whither he would seem to
have removed a few days after the massacre at Beth-
lehem, fresh symptoms of disaffection appeared amongst
his subjects. Notliing he had done had irritated the
stricter Jews more than the placing of a large golden
eagle — the symbol of the power of Rome'* — over the
principal gate of the Temple. Two of the most eloquent
of the expounders of the Law, Jutlas^ and Matthias,
resolved to have it removed. Accordingly, emboldened
by a sudden rumour that Herod was at the point of
death, they instigated some daring youths to lower
themselves from the roof, and cut down the offensive
symbol with hatchets.
1 The number thus murdered could not have been very large
under any circumstances.
2 Jos. ^nt. xvii. 11, § 2 ; Parrar's Life of Christ, i. 42, 43.
3 It has beeu conjectured that the insurrection which now
broke out may have taken its rise from the recent census in Judeea.
(Luke ii. 1 ; Wieseler, Chi on. Sijn. 84, 85 ; Lewin's Fasti Sacri, p. 124.)
4 Some would identify this Judaa with the Theudas referred to
by Gamaliel (Acts v. 36). Wieseler would identify Matthias with
the Theudas of GamaUel, suggesting that Matthias iu Hebrew is
equivalent to Theudas or Theodotus iu Greek (Chronol. Svnov., P.
91, E. T.).
72 — VOL. III.
This bold defiance of Herod's authority was carried
out iu the full light of noonday,^ while many were in
the Temple, and was quickly announced to the officer
in command at Jerusalem, who captured forty of the
insurgents, and instantly made a report to Herod.
Herod ordered the prisoners, with Judas and Matthias,
to be brought before him at Jericho. Thither he also
summoned the chiefs of the nation, and, addressing
them from his couch, reproached them bitterly for their
ingratitude, and directed that Judas and Matthias,
as instigators of the deed, should be burned alive at
Jericho.
The execution took place on the night of March 12,
B.C. 4.® A very few days afterwards Herod's disorder
increased with the utmost violence. A slow fire seemed
to consume his vitals ; his appetite became ravenous,
but he dared not gratify it, on account of dreadful
pains and internal ulcers, which preyed on the lower
parts of his body. Moreover, his difficulty of breathing
increased, and violent spasms convulsed his frame,
and imparted to his limbs a degree of supernatural
strength." Thus he lay in the magnificent j)alace
which he had built for himseM under the palm-trees of
Jericho, racked with pain, and tormented with thii-st.
StiU cherishing hopes of recovery, he now caused him-
seK to be conveyed across the Jordan to Callirrhoe,
not far from the Dead Sea, hojDing to obtain relief
from its warm bituminous springs.^ But the use of
the waters produced no effect, and by the advice of
his physicians he was lowered into a vessel filled
with oil, which almost killed him, and he despaired
of life.
He was now conveyed back to Jericho, and knowing
that when he was gone none would shed a tear for him,
he resolved that they should shed many for themselves.
He ordered the chiefs of the nation, under pain of
death, to assemble at Jericho. As they arrived they
were shut up in the Hippodrome, and Herod charged
Salome and Alexas, immediately upon his decease, to
put them to death. Scarcely had he given these orders
when a dispatch arrived from Rome, announcing the
ratification by the emperor of the sentence i)ronounced
upon Antipater. Thereupon the tyrant's desire for life
instantly returned, but a paroxysm of racking pain
coming on, he called for an apple and a knife, and in
an unguarded moment tried to stab himself.^ His
cousin Achiab stayed his hand, and Antipater, hearing
the clamour from a neighbouring apartment, and think-
ing his father was dead, made a determined effort to
escape by bribing his guards. No sooner did Herod
hear of this, than, though almost insensible, he raised
5 MfcVnc >i;iepac . , . noWwv ^v tw i£p^ diarpt /Sovtmv (Jos. Ant^
xvii. 6, § 3).
'' The same night there was an eclipse of the moon, xai h <Te\ijiiri
Se T|7 avTTi vvKTt e^iXineii (Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, §4). It has been calculated
by Kepler and Petavius ; see Wieseler, Chron. Spi. i. 2, p. 56.
7 See the descrii)tion (Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, §5).
^ The stream flows into the Dead Sea (Jos. Anf. xvii. 6, § 5 ; B.J.
i. 33, §5). Pliny describes it as " caUdus fous medicm salubritatis,"
For a full description see Tristram's land of Moab, pp. 285, 288.
^ Jo3. Ant, xvii. 7.
370
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
himself on Lis elbow,' and ordered one of tlio spear-
men to dispatch his son on the spot.
Thus Autipater paid tho penalty of Ids life of
treachery and hj-pocrisy. Herod now once more
amended his will,"- nominating his eldest son Arche-
laus as his successor on tho throne, and appointing
Herod Antipas totrareh of Galilee and Persea ; Herod
Philip tetrarch of Aurauitis, Trachonitis, and Batauoea ;
and Salome mistress of Jamuia, Azotus, and some other
towns.
Five days more of excruciating agony remained for the
miserable monai'ch, and then, " choking as it Avere with
blood, doA-ising massacres in its very delirium, the soul
of Herod passed forth into the night." ^ Ai'chelaus
at once assumed the direction of affairs at Jerusalem,
and proceeded to give his father a magnificent funeral.
First, clad in armour, advanced a numerous force of
troops, with then' generals and officers; then followed
five hundred of Herod's domestics and f reedmen, bear-
1 *Ai€y36ij<r€ TC avaTV^dfievai ^^IV KC^aXi/v, Kaiirep tf T(^ ucttutuj o'h',
Ka'i iiri TOM U-jKutvit irtpiapai eauTOV (JoS. Allt. xvii. 7),
- Jos. Ant. xvii. 8, § 1.
3 Farrar'6 Life of Christ, i. 48.
ing aromatic spices. Next came the body, covered with
l)urple, with a diadem on tho head, and a sceptre in tho
right haiul, and lying on a bier of gold studded with
precious stones. After the bier, which was surrounded
by Herod's sons and relatives, came his body-guard;
then his foreign mercenaries, men from Thrace, Ger-
many, and Gaul, " whose stalwart and ruddy persons
wei'o at this time familiar in Jerusalem." ^ In this
order the procession advanced slowly from Jericho to
Herodium, not far from Tekoa, a distance of about
twenty- five miles, where the late monarch had erected
a fortress.'^ Here, in the tower-crowned citadel to
which he had given his name, and not far from the
spot where He was born whom the Idumaean king had-
sought to cut off with the innocents of Betldehem,.
Herod was laid to rest.
•4 Drew's Scripture Lands, p. 278. Comp. Jos. Ant. xvii. 8, §3;
i?. J. i. 33, § 9.
5 For a description of Herodium see Traill's Josephiis, Ixv. — Ixix.
This square-shaped iiiountaiu east of Bethlehem was known in the
Middle Af^es hy the name of the " Frank Mountain,'' from the
baseless but not unnatural story that it was the last refuge of the
Crusaders. (Stanley's Sinai and PaUstine, p. 13.)
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PROPHETS:— AMOS.
BY THE VERY REV. E. PAYNE SMITH, D.D. DEAN OF CANTERBURY.
IHE propliet Amos is generally by the
Fathers identified with the Amoz from
whom Isiiiah was descended, the difference
of the spelling in the Hebrew, which is
carefully preserved in our version, liaA^ing Ix^en neglected
in the Greek. Really, the rank and social position of
Amos was quite different from that of Isaiah, and
nothing can bo more instructive than tho contrast in
external matters between these two men, equally com-
missioned to be the bearers of a Di^nne message.
Isaiah was evidently a man of high training, a
member of a literaiy caste, and regularly educated in all
the learning of his time. Blessed, therefore, Avitheveiy
"worldly advantage, his great abilities were fostered to
the utmost, and at an early age had so developed that
he was made the royal chronicler, and as such wrote
"the acts of Uzziah, first and last." He was also
almost in his boyhood appointed to the office of prophet
by a vision of surpassing magnificence, and everything
served to foreshow the coming greatness of the seer,
in whom Hebrew prophecy reached its culmination.
Amos, on the contrary, was but a herdsman, and in so
luunble a position that he was glad to increase his
scanty means by scratching or puncturing the fruit of
the sycomorc-trees, which grow wild in the Tekoan
desert. Without artificial irritation the sycomore fig is
said not to ripen properly. Canon Tristram tells us
in his Natural History of the Bible, p. 399, that this
operation is performed just before the fruit is ripe,
and that the object of it is to discharge the acrid juice,
which, if not got rid of, renders the figs impalatable.
Such were, probably, " the very naughty figs which
could not be eaten, they Avere so bad," to which Jere-
miah (chap. xxiv. 2) compares Zedekiah and the people
of Jerusalem. Dr. Tristram adds that the position of
one who got his liraig by such means must have been
A'ery humble ; but probably Amos only filled up his
spare time in this way. In our version the prophet is
wrongly described as " a gatherei' of sycomore fruit "
(Amos \i\. 14).
He further distinctly denies that he had been regu-
larly educated for the prophetic office. "I was," he
says, "no prophet, neither was I a prophet's sou" {ibid.).
Now to understand these words we must remember
that the prophets formed an order, consisting mainly of
men trained in schools regulai-ly instituted fo.r this
purpose. When we read of prophets by fifties and
hundreds, we are not to think of inspired men, on
whom the Spirit of God rested in extraordinary measure.
Rather, they wore an irregular clergy, who formed no
I)art of the Levitical institutions, to the letter of which
they were constantly opposed, while eiuleavouring to
raise the people to a higher degree of spirituality.
Their existence was indeed assumed in tho Law (Numb,
xii. 6), but with the caution that the claim to be a
prophet was not lightly to be conceded (Deut. xiii. 1 ;
xviii. 22). But it was the prophet Samuel who intro-
duced order and method into what hatl previoiisly
been confused and in-egular. Ho added training
and knowledge to the Divine impulse, and as the
AMOS.
371
natural result the prophets at once became a power-
ful class, rivalling or even exceeding the priesthood
in influence. But it was not all gain. We find in
the Scriptures the history of their decay. As they
grew in power men sought admission among them
for worldly reasons — for ambition or lust of wealth;
and so the prophets of Jerusalem became " light and
treacherous persons" (Zeph. iii. 4), and while the pi-iests
taiight for hire, "the prophets di^dned for money"
(Micah iii. 11).
Now, though as a rule those prophets whom God did
specially inspire to speak in His name belonged to the
prophetical order, yet He never limited his gifts to them.
The grace of God is of all things most free, and is tied
dovni to no institutions whatever. These institutions
may be most precious and iuvalimble, and may even be
the usual and appointed channels of God's mercies ;
but his grace transcends their bounds, and works often
in strange and unwonted methods. And so, wise and
useful as were Samuel's schools, and while generally
the inspired prophets were trained in them, yet they
had no exclusive possession of God's gifts. Amos
was no prophet, was not a member of the prophetic
order ; neither was he a prophet's son, that is, a
disciple of the prophets, and instructed in their schools.
For the men trained in the colleges under pro-
I)hetic superintendence were called '• the sons of the
prophets.''
But though only a simple herdsman, Amos was well
educated. Vfe gather from his book a high idea of
the state of literatm-e in Judsea when a man following
so humble a calling could wi'ite so clearly, and in such
j)m-e and rhythmical language. Tekoa, indeed, where
he lived, was but twelve miles south of Jerusalem, but
was only a small to^vn, the laud being poor, and imme-
diately beyond it stretched a sterile desert. It is true
that the Ai-abs of the desert speak their language more
purely than those of the towns, but Amos had e'vidently
read much, and was familiar with the writings of other
prophets. Yet he has peculiarities of his own, and
his spelling is unclassical, for which reason Jei-ome
described him as "imskUled in language, though not
in knowledge." On the other hand, the images which
he uses are eminently fresh and original. Drawn
from coimtry life, and the prophet's ordinary avoca-
tions, they give a sweetness and liveliness to liis
discourse such a.s we meet with in no other book of
the Bible.
Tlie title of the prophecy, " The Words of Amos,"
suggests very different ideas to us than it did to the
Jews. To them a word was a thing, and the title there-
fore ineliided the doings of Amos, aud was never given
to any work which did not contain a narrative of facts
(see 2 Chron. ix. 29 ; xii. 15 ; xx. 34, in the margin).
And so then, here, the words of Amos are really a
narrative of a missionary expedition undertaken by him
for the pui-pose of warning the peojile of tlie ten tribes
of the cert^iin consequences of their sins. The date of
the journey was " two yoars before the earthquake," in
King Uzziah's reign; a visitation which struck such
terror tuto the hearts of the jjeoplo that Zechai'iiih (chap.
xiv. 5) still dwells upon it even after the retiuni from
Babylon. But well known as it was then, there is
nothing to settle its date now. All we know is that it
happened while Jeroboam II. was stUl ahve, and at the
height of his glory, and probably, therefore, during the
fii'st twenty years of Uzziah's reign. How long Amos
remained in Israel we have no means of knowing. It
may have been months ; it may have been two or
tlu-ee years. But on his safe return, restored to
his usual occupations, he penned this memoir of his
jom-ney for the permanent edification of the Chm-ch of
Christ.
We may suppose the prophet then at Tekoa tending
his sheep — for the word noTced, rendered " herdman " in
chap. i. 1, is more correctly translated '' sheepmaster " in
2 Kings iii. 4 — when news reached him of some great
pubhc festi\-ity at Bethel, in honour, perhaps, of some
glorious \actory of the warrior-king. Yague rumours,
perhaps, came fii'st of battle and triumph, and then
exacter tales of the king's prowess, and of public entry
into Bethel in solemn pomp, and of sacrifices offered
to the golden calf. Aud with his whole soul moved
with indignation at the dishonour done to the true God
of Israel, Jehovah of Hosts, Amos passed, it may be,
many a night distressed and restless amid the flocks
bleating in the fold. Was he to remain indignant
there, or brave derision and danger to utter his protest
before the very face of the king liimself ? Another
man of God from Judah had rebuked Jeroboam I.
when dedicating that very altar : was he to be silent ?
Gradually the conviction gi'ew upon him that he Avas
called of God to undertake a similar errand ; and
leaving his own country, he entered the kingdom of
the ten tribes.
The whole journey from Tekoa to Bethel was but
twenty-four miles, and thus a single day's walk woidd
suffice to bring the prophet face to face with the rival
worship celelsrated there. But short as was the distance,,
how unlike was all he saw to the pm-e simple desert
life he had erewhUe led ! The height of luxuiy reached
at the capital is marvellous even to ourselves. Amos
tells us of houses of ivory (chap. iii. 15), houses of which
the rooms were panelled with that precious substance,
brought, no doubt, from Africa to the port of Elath.
It had been deemed a gi-eat matter, worthy of being
entered in the records of the kingdom, when Ahab built
one such house. But now every wealthy man must
have his ivoiy chamber. The ladies of Samaria, stout
and portly like the kine of Bashau, oppress the poor
and crush the needy, and, forgetting the sobriety of
their sex, invite their lords {i.e., their husbands) to di-ink
wine with them (chap. iv. 1). And at these drinking
bouts they recline uj)on couches of ivory, stretching
themselves listlessly at full length as they feast upon
rich viands, and listen to music of an effeminate kind,
unlike the solemn melodies which David had composed
for the songs of Zion. And most graphically does
the prophet descrilje their drunkenness. " They drink
in bowls of wine" (chap. vi. 4 — 6), dipping their heads
372
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
iuto their c\i])s ; aud these cups arc the largo spriukliug
vessels used in the wilderness for sacrificial purposes.
Not that we are to iuf er that they added impiety to sen-
suality by using consecrated bowls, but more probably
the word expresses the large size of the vessels employed,
as those offered by the princes in the wilderness weiglied
no less than seventy shekels (Numb. vii. 13, 19, &c.),
aud in fact were intended to contain each the blood of a
victim. Nor was luxury their worst sin. Along with
it went the most shameless immoivality (chap. ii. 7), the
perversion of justice (chap. v. 12), false measures (chap,
viii. 5), aud oppression of the poor (chap. ii. 8 ; viii. 6,
&c.). As we read the graphic description of the vices
of Samaria, we feel that the justice of God did not
overtake her till she was ripe for destruction by internal
decay.
Yet even to this degraded people Amos did not speak
in vain. Though dwelling in ease and security — for
Amos' mission was after Jeroboam had pushed his
conquests as far as Hamath (chap. vi. 14) — ^yet his
earnest appeals and j)redictions of coming punishment
stirred their consciences. " The land," says Amaziah,
" is not able to bear aU Ids words " (chap. vii. 10).
Evidently he had not confined liimself to Bethel and
Samaria, but had gone up aud down the laud as Jehovah's
messenger, and tlie people were in a state of general
ferment, so that the high priest began to " doubt where-
unto tills thing would grow." As it had been Jero-
boam's policy to imitate at Bethel the established order
of things at Jerusalem, Amaziah held, no doubt, a
position of high rank and power similar to that held by
the high priest in Judah. But he does not dare to
resort to open force. A strong hand like that of Jero-
boam II. restrained all \aolent dealings, aud besides the
person of a prophet was sacred, and it was regarded as
a fearful crime when Jehoiakim, for instance, put
Urijah to death (Jer. xxvi. 23). Amaziah, therefore,
misrepresents the j)redictions of Amos. " Amos hath
conspired against thee in the midst of the house of
Israel ; . . . for he saitli, Jeroboam shall die by the
sword, and Israel .shall surely be led away captive out
of their own land " (chap. vii. 10, 11). Now what the
proi)liet really had said was, " I wiU rise against the
house of Jeroljoam with the sword." Even this was
quite enougli to raise the auger of a despotic king,
but for some reason or other the representations of
Amaziah seem to have had no influence upon Jeroboam's
mind, and he had to resort to other measures.
Ho tries, tlierefore, at all events, to prevail upon
Amos to leave Bethel, giving as his reason that it was
the king's sanctuary, the place where the king wor-
shipped, and also his royal dwelling ; for, apparently,
Jeroboam had a summer pakco there. It was thus a
sort of insult to the king to proclaim at Bethel the
superiority of the institutions at Jerusalem. In Judasa
such preacliing would be right, and there he might eat
bread aud proi)hesy as he liked. But Amos refuses
any sucli compromise with duty, and denounces upon
Amaziah that he shall suffer to tho uttermost all those
miseries which are the lot of tho A-auquished.
Subsequently, however, Amos returned home, and
there wrote this record of his mission. He tells us
himself in his preface that the words or things which
he now recorded he saw two years befoi'e tho earth-
quake. How long it was after that terrible event that
he penned this memoir is matter of mere conjecture.
But his book is a model ©f careful writing, and pro-
bably much time was occupied in its composition : and
tliough, as we have seen, his spelling is peculiar, yet
Bishop Lowtli, in his Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews,
ventures to say that " our herdman, in the elevation of
his ideas, and the grandeur of his spii-it, is well nigh
equal to the foremost of the prophets ; while in tho
splendour of his diction, aud the elegance of his com-
position, he is scarcely inferior to any."
He begins with a quotation from Joel, who had de-
scribed the Eternal as *' I'oaring out of Ziou." In
Hebrew the thunder is represented as the voice of the
Almighty, but in Amos this roariug becomes the articu-
late expression of judgment about to be executed on
Damascus, on Gaza, and other strongholds of the
Philistines, on Tyre, on Edom, on Ammon, on Moab,
aud on Judah. Seven nations, the sacred number being
probably used to indicate the completeness of God's
visitations, aud among them God's covenant people
Judah, to show that no privileges can save men from
the punishment due to their sins — seven nations aro
thus enumerated, each doomed to bear the measm'e of
its own Iniquities, and then the thunder-storm bursts
in its utmost fuiy upon Israel. For the rest there
was punishment ; for Israel the final removal from
its land, aud the extinction of its national Ufe.
And the severity of this sentence is justified by the
general immorality prevalent in Israel (chap. ii. 6 — 16).
God had given them a fertile land, from which He had
driven out the Amorite from before them. He had given
them the means of grace, " raising up of then- sous for
prophets, and of their young men for Nazarites ; but
they had given the Nazarites wine, and commanded the
prophets, saying. Prophesy not." And with the means
of grace thus silenced or corrupted crime had stalked
openly abroad in the land, tiU God's holy name had
lieen profaned, and the time liad come when justice,
which ever follows upon the track of Aace, must over-
take it. Yet not because the Almighty loves punish-
ment. How forcibly, by one of his rural metaphors,
does Amos express the truth of God's long suffering,
who vrilleth not the death of a sinner. He represents
Him as pressed under tlieso sinners, and wearied with
bearing them, as the loaded wain in the fields groans
beneath the sheaves.
And then iu tliree connected discoxirses, each begin-
ning with the same solemn appeal, "Hear this word,"
Amos sets before the proud revellers in Samaria the
coming ruiu of their nation (chaps, iii. — vi.). But
though he again and again predicts that they shall go
into captivity, he is not commissioned altogether to
raise the curtain which conceals the future, and declare
what was the nation by whose means chastisement was
to overtake them. Even what ho did declare must
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
373
have been startling enough, that Jeroboam's conquests
were but the precursors of utter defeat and ruin ; and
that the place of their captivity was to be "beyond
Damascus," and so in realms beyond the usual limits
of their wars.
At the seventh chapter a series of visions begins,
declaring the certainty of Israel's punisliment in even
more threatening language. This series is interrupted
by the episode of Amaziah, which supplies so much
interesting matter respecting Amos himself. But in
chap. viii. it is resumed with no break, the refrain,
" I will not again pass by them any more," of chap,
vii. 8, being repeated in chap. viii. 2. Finally, in chap.
ix., the prophet reaches the utmost height of sublimity.
Jehovah, standing upon the altar at Bethel, smites
down with terrible blows the sanctuary there of Jero-
boam's caK. In vain do the worshippers flee away;
neither hell nor heaven can screen them from the
Almighty. In vain do they hide in the multitudinous
caves and thick forests of Carmel : God's hand searches
them out, and in the very deptlis of the sea He com-
mands serpents to bite them. And by tins Adsitation of
the Eternal Israel is to be sifted " like as corn is sifted
in a sieve." Tossed ceaselessly to and fro, ever in
motion, finding on eai-th no nation where it may make
its home, Israel is to be scattered throughout all lands.
But it is not forsaken of God. Not the least grain is
to fall to the ground. Only the chaff perishes. Fierce
as may be the tossing within the sieve, the providence of
God guards and keeps within its circle all that is good.
And, finally, there is a restoration for Israel, but it
is to be wi'ought through Judah. When Amos wrote
Uzziah was reigning in tlie plenitude of his power.
Yet he describes the hoiise of David as a mere booth
(in our version tabernacle), a palace no longer, but a hut
of boughs, such as Jonah erected to hide his head. And
such the royal dynasty liad become when its representa-
tive was a Galilean carpenter. But God would "close
up its breaches, and raise its ruins, and build it as in
the days of old" (chap. ix. 11). And upon this was to
follow an era of peace and happiness, and Israel was
to be no more uprooted out of its land. From the liut
of Nazareth was to commence a new Church, in which
all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, and
among them Israel itself. For " I will bring again the
captivity of my people of Israel, . . . and I will plant
them upon their land, and tliey shall no more be pulled
up out of their land which I have given them, saith ihe
Lord thy God " (chap. ix. 14, 15). When we remember
that Amos, though of Judah, was a prophet sent to
Israel, we cannot but be struck with the reappearance
of the same phenomenon which we noticed in speaking
of the prophet Hosea — namely, that the blessedness of
the latter days is consistently by all the prophets asso-
ciated with the family and lineage of David.
The story told by the pseudo-Epiphanius and others,
of Amos being struck upon the temples with a club by
a son of the higli-pinest Amaziah, and so miardered, is
a mere legend. Really wo know nothing of his history
after his return to his native town.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
THE GOSPELS :— ST. JOHN.
BY THE REV. C. J. ELLIOTT, M. A. , VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BERKS, AMD HON. CANON OF CHRTSTCHTTRCH, OXFORD.
" And he saitli unto him, Verily, verily, I say imto you, Here-
after ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of man," — John i. 51.
iN these words, addressed primarily to
Nathanael, but, as is indicated ia the
change of number (" I say unto yott," "Ye
shall see "), through him to the disciples of
Christ generally, we have the first instance of that em-
phatic repetition of the word " verily" (literally, Amen),
which is peculiar (1) to the discourses of our Lord
Himself, and (2) to the records of those discourses as
contained in the Gospel of St. John, in which it occurs
twenty-five times.'
In commendation, as it should seem, of the faith of
Nathanael, the Lord tells him that he, in common with
His other followers, should hereafter receive stronger
proofs of the reality of their Lord's claim to be the Son
of God and the King of Israel than that afforded to
1 It is worthy of observation that the nearest approximation to
the emphatic " Amen, amen " of the Gospel of St. John is found
in the Apocalypse, where, according to some of the best MSS.,
the " Amen " at the beginning of the verse is repeated at the end.
In the same Book our Lord is represented as "the Amen" (iii. \i).
himself by the fact that, when hidden from human
observation, he had been seen by Christ. In obvious
allusion to the vision at Bethel, and to the ladder seen
by Jacob, resting upon earth, but reaching up to
heaven, our Lord declares Himself to be the mystic
ladder, by which alone that communication between
heaven and earth which was suspended at the fall liad
subsequently been renewed, and Avas destined to be
thencefoi-th more clearly and more gloriously per-
petuated.
The "opening of heaven" is a form of expression
which occurs both in the Old and New Testament in
connection with some remarkable manifestation or
communication between heaven and earth, as, e.g., in
the case of the visions of God given to Ezekiel by the
river of Chebar (Ezek. i. 1), and at the baptism of our
Lord by John in the river Jordan (Matt. iii. 16), which
had shortly preceded the call of Nathanael.
The two Greek words, a-n-' &pTi, rendered in the Autho-
rised Version "hereafter," are of doubtful authority,
and are now omitted in the best critical editions of the
text. If retained, they should probably be rendered
"henceforth," or "from this time," rather than "here-
0/4
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
afior,' ill accordauco witli their meaning in John xiii.
19 and xiv. 7.
The reference of our Lord's words docs not appear
to bo primarily, if at all, to those manifestations of
angels which aro recorded in the Gospels in con-
nection with the Transfiguration, the Agony in tlic
Garden, and the Resurrection, but rather to the dawn
of tliat more glorious disiiensatiou in which tho eora-
munieations between lioavou and earth were to bo main-
tained in a liighor .iiul moro contiiuious manner than
of old, through Him who is Himself the new and
living way of access to God, and who, through His
death, resurrection, and ascension, has, as the Fiire-
ninner, opened the gates of heaven to His people. At
tJie same time, we can scarcely exclude from these words
that future advent of the Sou of Man, so emphatically
predicted by Himself — l)y tho angels wlio were present
at His ascension, and by His apostles— when Ho shall
come in His glory, and " all the angels with lum " (Matt.
XXV. 31). For then. He, who is now in-visible to mortal
eye, being exalted above " angels and authorities, and
powers," shall i-eceive the open adoration of those in
regard to whom wo aro told tliat at His first coming
into the world Ho condescended to be " made a little
lower than the angels'' (Heb. ii. 7) ; and then, when, as
"the First-begotten," He shall again be brought int«)
the world, the proclamation shall go forth, " And let
all the angels of God worship Him" (Heb. i. 6).
In this, the first of all the promises Avhicli Christ gave
to His disciples, wo trace the germ of those great truths,
Avhich aro unfolded at length in the Epistle to tho
Ephesians, concerning "the raising np" of the faithful
together wAth Christ, and tho making them already to
" sit together with Him in the heavenly places " (ii. 6).
In those words wo trace a pledge and assurance that,
as the result of tho reeonciliation of all things to Him-
self, through tho blood of His cross — whether in earth
or in heaven — not only the first believers in Christ, Ijut
all His followers, in all after ages, were to be brought
near through Him, as the Mediator of the New Cove-
nant, not only to God the Judge of all, but also "to
the general assembly and church of the first-born," to
"the spirits of just men made perfect," and to "an
innumerable company of angels."
MUSIC OF THE BIBLE.
VOCAL MUSIC OF THE HEBREWS.
BY ,T0UN STAINEB. M.A. , MTJS. D., MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD; ORGANIST OF ST. PATJL'S CATHEDRAL.
= HE absence of msonumental records of
Hel)rew music, some of which, liowerer,
may yet lie found by the zealous explorers
now at work in Palestine, renders tho
subject of the vocal music of the Jews no less involved
in difficulties and mystery than that of their musical
instruments. And in offering a few remarks upon it,
tho course already pursued seems to be tho only one
open to lis — namely, to attempt to give some general
idea of what ancient vocal music Avas, and leave it to tho
reader to judge how far the Hebrews caught the artistic
spirit of their age, or were led by an unusual share of
musical ability to excel their neighbours or contempo-
raries in the practice of this art. If a set of flutes could
be found, in good preservation, in each of tho centres
of ancient civilisation, an approximation might be made
to tho scales commonly in use ; but, alas ! when tlio
trcasuros of European museums have been ransacked,
and some of the envied specimens shown, it is found
that they are too old and crumbling to boar handling,
or, if they may bo freely handled, resolutely decline to
emit a sound of any kind. So their secrets remain for
ever locked up. But, as has been hinted in a previous
article, the method of blowing into a flute, or of closing
more or less the apertures, lias all to do with the repro-
duction of its scale ; so that even if an ancient flute
Avere actually placed in the hands of one of our most
expert players, he could produce notes of many different
pitches from each position of the hand, and could pro-
bably give more valualile information by saying what
sounds the instrument was not capable of producing
than by attemj^tting to catalogue its capabilities. From
ancient instruments of the harp or guitar class which
have survived still less information can bo gleaned. It
is hardly necessary to say that, at the most, only frag-
ments of the strings remain attached to their frame ;
nor would an intact set tell any tale, as stringed in-
struments are not in the habit of remaining in tune
for scA'^ral thousands of years !
Of course tvritten music, or the use of signs to
represent sounds, must have been, in point of time,
far posterior to the use of both vocal and instrumental
music. If music had never had a definite scientific
growth, it could not have failed to creep into use from
a common observance of tho different effects produced
by altering the pitch of the voice, especially wlien
speaking poetry. "Whilst reciting the gi-cit deeds of
ancestors, or traditional hymns on the greatness of the
unseen Maker of the universe (His love was only to lie
fully knoAni by us Christians), tho modulation of tho
voice must ha\'0 been a most important element of the
poet's or minstrel's training. Bearing this fact in
R^ind, it is easy to imagine how, first of all, a solemn
monotone, next occasional changes of pitch, and, lastly,
ornaments and graces came to be part of tlie reciter's art,
or, in other words, the poet's vmsic. How to write these
down was quite another question. And here we find
that ancient musical notation seems to have naturally
grown into two branches, tho difference between them
depending upon the taste or aptitude of different nations
MUSIC OF THE BIBLE.
375
for incorporating into their music sounds of fixed pitch,
or ornameuis and graces whicli coukl bo used in any
2)itch according to the reciter's wisli or requirements.
The fact suggests itself at once to us that flutes or wind
instruments would have a tendency to fix definite pitch,
while harjis and guitars, owing to the ease with wliich
their accorclatum or system of tuning can be altered,
would be available for a constantly changing normal
jiitch, or diapason as we somewhat improperly term it.
Not forgetting this, it is most interesting to find
that the tendency of Europeans, from the earliest time,
has been in notation to graduate sounds from a known
generator, and so to fix pitch ; while, on the other liand,
the taste for ornament has led Asiatic nations to devise
means rather for expressing these ornaments than for
securing their immutability in a scale series.
To this day an Asiatic song generally consists of a
slight melodic framework, almost hidden beneath a
load of extraneous gi-aces. Tlie following fragment of
an Arabian tune would puzzle the most devoted lover
of Jioritura. The notes marked x are not doubly
shai'pened, as would he implied ])y our modern nota-
tion, but are small intervals lying between the notes of
our scale which we have no means of expressing.
t^:S!^
-.J?
?^!gPg^£^g^^=^^^-^
^^&c.
It must not for one moment be supposed that all
Asiatic melodies abound in graces, or that all ancient
European tunes lack them ; quite the contraiy. All
that is meant is that the tendfucy of these two branches
of music is in tlie one case to include them, and in the
other to exclude them.
Hence we find that the oldest form of known Euro-
pean notation has for its object the giving of a sign
for a fixed note ; the oldest, or presumably the oldest, of
Eastern systems the giving of a sign for the tnovement
of the voice for a certain interval, or tliis same move-
ment with the addition of an embellishment. The
former is exemplified in the Greek notation, as given in
ancient treatises ; the latter in the so-called accents of
the Hebrews, of which more must be said soon.
Hence, ancient notations are of two kinds : those
founded on the use of the letters of the alphabet ; and
those in which conventional signs described conventional
ornaments. These two, however, though distinct in
principle, often overlap each other. For instance, the
ancient notation of the Eastern Church, which was
tabulated by St. John of Damascus, who was to the
Eastern Church, musically, what Gregory was to the
"Western, consisted of signs wliich Fetis believes to be
almost identical with certain of the demotic characters
of Egypt. But other authors consider them as indica-
tions of the form of the movement of the musical-
director's hand. Much can be said in favour of this
theory, as a system of cldronomy has been associated
with music from the earliest times. A few are here
given : —
^ . . . . . . Isou.
O'igou,
Oseia,
Ut-
(LT
iroupLisma.
Patastlic.
Pdastlaon.
Ison is the key-note or tonic, a viovahle do. The other
signs represent the vocalisation of A'arious intervals
above and below the ison.
If such distinctive signs as these were used only
for the expression of definite intervals, the trans-
lation of such music into modern notes would be
comparatively easy ; but, unfortunately, the Hebrevj
accents were intended in all probability to describe often
not only an interval, but a succession of notes and an
embellishment. Those accents are signs found in
ancient copies of the Pentateuch, Book of Job, and
Psalms, Some are placed over words, some under ;
some over the last letter of a word, last but one, or iu
other positions, the musical value varying accordingly.
Authors are found who entirely dissociate them from the
art of music ; but on the whole, the balance of opinion
is in favour of their musical origin. The following is a
list of them as given by Fetis : —
Vi' Pasclita.
1^ Muualili.
€\^ Zarka.
• Segoal.
««vV\l Scbalsclieletb.
fj Thalsba.
v,^ Darglia.
\)J Thebbir.
.J Azla.
f^ Gberesb.
»■>- Scbene Gberiscbaim.
Q Mercba.
A Jethib.
\f
Eadma.
\>
Tbehsba gbedola.
Kama pbarali.
*^
Pbazer, or Pazer katon-
vy.-^
Zakef katon.
vv.
Zakef gbadol.
<
Eabia.
>
Atbnabb.
Vo
Sopb pasouk.
y^
liii^orirA.
<
Ji'racb Ben iomo.
/.
Mapbacr.
376
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The form of several of tlie above will be found to
differ from that given to them in other works. They
have probably varied slightly from time to time. Old
Kirchor (in his Musiirgia) exhibits their position above
or below a word by using a short line as an imaginary
word. Some of the vowel-accents of Hebrew become
tonal-accents if placed in a particular place with regard
to the letters forming the word. This adds to the
difficulties of this already difficult subject. The follow-
ing are some of Kircher's explanations of the accents : —
Paser katon. Zarka. Dargha.
A careful examination of Kircher's complete list will,
however, raise some doubts as to his trustworthiness.
Exactly similar musical phrases are in more than one
instance given for two different accents, and the ex-
lilanation of some of them resolves itself into the
repetition of a siugle note.
The questions which arise as to the meaning of these
signs would pass from the consideration of the musician
to that of the scholar, were it not for the fact that com-
plete musical transcriptions of them, such as those above,
have been given by several authors. On comparing
these, however, their difference is found to be so great,
that the conclusion is unwillingly forced upon us that
practically the musical rendering of the accents varies
in character according to the nature of music in use in
whatever country the Jews have settled down. Thus,
Eastern Jews give them in music which bears a close
likeness to that of modern Asiatics. Their interpreta-
tion in Spain is palpably Moorish ; in Germany different
to both of these, and so on. The few following examples
will point out the discrepancies which exist in their
explanation.
Schalscheleth, which has already been quoted from
Kircher, is traditionally rendered in the Egyptian
synagogues
by the English Jews, according to Nathan {Essay on
History of Music),
by the Spanish Jews, according to Bartolocci {Biblio-
theca Magna Babbinica),
m
^:f=fr.
Any translations more divergent in character than
these can scarcely be conceived. In comparing tradi-
tional tunes, it is generally or at least often found that
the different versions begin and end in the same key-
tonality; but in comparing the above four traditional
explanations of schalscheleth not even this similarity of
construction is observable.
It should be remarked that the musical renderings
of the accents, as given by Egj'ptian and Syrian
Jews, bear a striking resemblance to each other. For
instance, thalsha is thus sung by the Egyptian Jews
(according to Fetis) : —
^^^i^i^S^
The Syrian use is practically identical : —
^^
It has also been found that two sects of Jews in
Egypt, though opposed to each other in ceremonial and
doctrine, have a very similar system of singing the
accents.
As the primary use of accents is to point out the
usual elevation of the voice, as shown by the Greek
accents, which were a comparatively late addition to their
written language, for the benefit of foreign students ; so
also it is quite possible that these complicated Hebrew
accents gradually grew out of what were originally
simple signs directing a slight elevation of the voice
when reading or perhaps monotoning. That monotone,
when used from century to century in the mouth of
devout readers, will grow into a cantillation, or rude
sort of chant, can be proved by the history of our
early Church plain-song. Why shoidd not the Hebrews
have passed in their days through the same phase of
musical development Avhich other nations have done '^
If thei'e is any truth in this thought, it would be
futile to attempt to stereotype, as it were, the actual
meanings of their tonal accents. In the most primitive
times, what would now strike us as a most simple
cadence of the voice, must have added dignity to the
solemn recitation of the revered words of the treasured
roUs. As art grew around, these improvised ornaments
would naturally grow more comphcated, until, as we
actually find to be the case, they would rival the most
ambitious modern roulade. In the authors already
quoted the reader who is specially interested in this
subject will find much information. A quotation (from
Naumbourg) of a fragment of Genesis xxii., will show
the result of strictly applying the meaning of the accents
attached to the text of the Pentateuch, as interpreted
or taken down from tradition by him.
^=J===|:=«^
&o.
a - vro - bom va - to - mer bin - ne - ni
MUSIC OF THE BIBLE.
377
The final close of the passage of which the above is
pai-t, is on the note F.
It is curious that one of the earliest attempts at
musical notation among Western Christians should
have consisted of signs, such as the following, placed
over words : —
close together, now spreading them out until the ear
is taxed to gather in high and deep tones ; and still
further, while thus interweaving the several threads,
is spreading to the ear at each combination, whether
the parts move coneordantly or are discordantly jostling
one another, chords which are in themselves complete
The above, which comes from a work of the eleventh
century, has been copied from Coussemaker's admirable
History of Music in the Middle Ages. As a class,
these signs were called neumas, but sometimes also
accents. They laboured under precisely the same dis-
advantages as their prototypes among the Hebrews,
namely, the probability of a diversity of translation.
Modem musicians do not perhaps know how grateful
they ought to be to those who first iised lines, or a
staff of lines, to represent the exact inteiwal between
ascending and descending sounds. Attempts were
probably made to introduce them about the same date
ascribed to the above signs, after which their use rapidly
spread. Until such a system came into existence, music
as an art was chained up within the narrowest limits.
By enabling composers to express in a simple form the
relation or position of two or more parts placed over
one another, it doubtless paved the way for that won-
derful expansion of harmony into a separate branch of
the arti, which has achieved such wonders in our own
day. For although early composers of part-music, it is
presumed, in accordance with fashion, rarely published
scores of their works, it cannot be doubted that in the
quietude of their study they took the simple course of
sketching a score before copying out separate parts.
This growth of harmony must be looked upon as the
distinctive feature of modern music. By "harmony"
must of course be understood that independence of
movement in the component parts of music, which
makes some of our finest music, practically, into a
number of beautiful melodies heard simultaneously-
This, it is almost a certainty, was unknown to all
ancient nations. In the more limited sense of the
word — " a combmation of consonant, or properly regu-
lated dissonant sounds," or, in short, chords — the
ancients, no doubt, may be said to have had harmony,
that is to say, certain notes of their scales were very
probably accompanied by chords, according to certain
rules. But yet they had only one melody at a time,
whereas we can and do listen to many conjointly.
And who can describe the pleasure which accrues to
a trained musician when he grasps in his mind many
threads of delicious melody, and traces how the com-
poser's genius is interlacing them ; now drawing them
and beautiful sets of sweet sounds. Such hannony — to
be found in the works of a Bach, Handel, Mozart,
Beethoven, and Mendelssohn — did not exist for the
Hebrews, Egyptians, or even Greeks. It places modern
music on a pinnacle of glory. Chords, and a regulated
use of chords, the Hebrews vei-y probably used ; but
they did not possess the full gift which we term har-
mony. As regards the form of early Hebrew melodies,
it is probable that they are reflected in modern Asiatic
music, and would, if we could hear them now, strike us
as being in a sort of minor mode. It is possible that
they might at one time have had an enharmonic scale
(that is, a scale having intervals less than a semi-tone),
and that this was in time superseded by a simpler
form ; but there are some grounds for supposing that
"they used some form of scale consisting of tones and
semi-tones. From some of the music now sung by
Egyptian Jews such scales as the following might be
formed : —
$
r^tcrs^
m
it^^-^
In all attempts to construct scales from traditional
songs, the gi-eat difficulty which presents itself is to
discover what was the key-note or starting-point of the
scale. If ancient melodies began or ended on the key-
note or tonic, the knot could be at once unravelled ; but
this no one can venture to assume. The key-note of
the Greeks was at first, unquestionably, in the middle of
their scale. The reader must bear in mind that the
question is not of what sounds any tune is made up, but
in what order did these sounds occur to form a scale.
Engel has shown his appreciation of this difficulty when
discussing the pentatonic scale, to which he justly attri-
butes great antiquity. It consists of what we should
call the first, second, foiu-th, fifth, and sixth degrees
o/b
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of oi;r luoileru scale, e.c/., ^ ^^^'^^ ~ij
lu sumo of tlie oldest known tunes made up of tliese
notes, tlio lowest note is not tlio tonic. But if it bo
written thus,
— - — ^^£^=1—^-3 it pre-
sents a very diiferent a^jpeavance to the eye, and pro-
duces a very different elf ect on the ear. Yet, without
doubt, any musical instrument tuned to a series of notes
corresponding to the above might with justice be de-
scribed as possessing a pentatonic scale. The minor
tonality of Eastern melodies has before been alluded to.
The following beautiful tune is Syrian. Simple har-
monies have been added to it for the assistance of those
wlio cannot harmonise it for themselves.
mmmmm^^mM
Tlio rhythm of this tune is so symmetrical tliat it
might well be used as a hymn tune. In this respect it
is perhaps different to many of its class. It will bo
noticed that its compass is a minor sixth, a compass
Avithin which old melodies are often contained, and
which had been remarked by Yillot<^au as a feature in
some of the Egyptian-Jewish music.
The following melody was sent to M. Fetis, whose
ftccemit of the vocal music of the Jews is perhaps the
most interesting and reliable portion of his Histoire
r/rm'rale de la 3lHsiqiie (and to whom we are indebted
for much of the music that has been given), by a resi-
dent of Egj-pt, as Ijeing traditional in the synagogue of
Alexandria : — ■
^S^^^l^lg
li^p^^3i3
Tho quaint and wild l)oauty of this tune will be appre-
ciated by tho most unmusical reader. As an example
of supposed ancient Hebrew music, the tunc which
follows is given with a simple pianoforte accompani-
ment. It is given by the leanied Carl Engel from a
rare work l)y De Sola. It is said to 1)0 the veritable
song of Moses, but, unfortunately, its modern tonality
gives a denial to this tradition. Its sweet tunefulness
and graceful form will, however, be a sufficient recom-
mendation of it.
Here, is t'lie lone waste. Her song let Isr.-iel raise, Un-to
■1 — ri
;-s:
zSrzS^
iiggi^^^^siiiS
God in the cloud of glo - ry, That guideth her al - way ; A-do-
'■^■
m^^^^^^^^^^
nai, Abraham's God, A-do - nai we praise. For Thy
an -gel ev-er is near, In the cloud to shield by day. In the
|=g=ii5jEE^ESEl%gE=S±si
=r- — r— (gz^zzp:
=^ -_-v^";^=?i
-f^ — r:
m
t5=^
lg=m:e:
^^^^^
^fe:
£3:"E
fire by night to cheer. Pointing still our homeward way.
Verses 2 & 3 {fo smiie accomfiaHiirteitt).
i^Jii
2. Still, still wandVing on, A trusting, timorousband, Fed with the
3. Sing high to the Lord The strains that Moses sang. When Miriam
— '■•- «-: 1 — =s 1-
man - - na from Heaven, We seek our Father's land. Ado-
took up the sto - ry. With tunefui timbrel's clang." A-do-
here is
r Thine
none, O Lord, like to Thcc.That wond'ro\is works hast wrought,Thro' the
arm mighty is, O Lord, Who triiunphs glo- rious- ly, Scatt'rlngour
nai, mighty in war, Hold us in "^ Thy right hand. There is
nai, ho-ly and strong," Was the shout from hosts that rang. For Thine
piled upw.allsof sea Safe Thy people Thou hast brought.
foes with His word,... And ourstrengthandsongis He.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
379
In cantillation, wliich has above been described as a
rude kind of chant, all the defects which are attached
to irregularity and uncertainty showed themselves. Its
character varied from time to time and in different
places. But the very irregularity of this sort of chant
renders it singularly appropriate for use to poems of
a complicated or constantly changing rhythm, such as
the Psalms. The rigidity of the form of the single or
double chants to which we sing the beautiful Prayer-
book translation of the Psalms is really their great fault,
for although it gives a congi-egation of hearers every
opportunity of quickly learning its unvarying tune, yet
it must remain exactly of the same length and cadence,
whether the verses be short or long, or whether the
parallelisms of the poetry run in half verses, whole
verses, or in sets of two verses. The unequal length of
the mediations and endings of Gregorian tones has been
m-ged in their behalf, as giving greater elasticity to the
musical recitation of the Psalms. It must be allowed
that this is true, but on the other hand this advantage
is often thrown away by using one particular tone for
a whole psalm, or, what is still worse, for several con-
secutrve psalms at one service. We moderns, it must
be confessed, stand greatly in need of some easy form
of cautillatiou for psalm-singing, which shall, owing to
its clastic character, be capable of being moulded to
suit irregularly-constructed poems. The follomng
chant is used to the 18th Psalm by the Spanish Jews.
As will be seen, it has lost much of the rhj-thmical
irregularity of cantillation, but yet is not tied up in a
strait-jacket like a modern chant.
It will not be difficult to form an opinion of the
general effect of Temple music on solemn occasions, if
we know the grand musical results of harps, trumpets,
cymbals; and other simple instruments, when used in
large numbers simultaneously or in alt-omating masses.
It is easy to describe it in an offhand way as barbarous.
Barbarous in one sense, no doubt, it was ; so, too, was
the frequent gash of the uplift sacrificial knife in the
throat of helpless victims on reeking altars. Yet the
great Jehovah himself condescended to consecrate l)y His
visible presence ceremonials of such sort, and why may
we not believe that the sacred fire touched the singers'
lips and urged on the cunning fingers of harpists, when
songs of pi-aise, mixing with the wreathing smoke of
inconso, found their way to His throne, the outpour-
ings of triie reverence and holy joy ? If one of us could
now be transported into the midst of such a scene, an
overpowering sense of awe and sublimity woidd bo in-
e\-itable. But how much more must the devout Israelites
themselves have been affected, who felt that their little
band — a mere handful in the midst of mighty heathen
nations — was, as it were, the very casket permitted to
hold the revelation of God to man, of Creator to His
creatures; and coiild sing in Psalmist's words which
now stir the heart and draw forth the song, how from
time to time His mighty hand had sti'engthened and His
loving arm had fenced them ? Let us try aud enter into
their inmost feelings, when the softest music of their
harps wafted the story of His kiudness and guidance
from side to side of their noble Temple, or a burst of
trumpet-sound heralded the recital of His crushing
defeat of their enemies, soon again to give place to the
chorus leaping from every heart, " Give thanks unto
the Lord, his mercy endureth for ever."
When next, in time to come, such sounds wake the
desolation of the now ruined and half -buried Holy City,
the ancient music will have passed for ever away with
the ancient hardness of heart and disbelief, aud nothing
in Art shall be too new for those who will then imder-
stand how old and new dispensations have been bound
together in one by Him who has brought His erring
children once more into His fold, from the east and from
the west. What a new, what an unfathomable depth
of meaning will then be found in their oft-repeated song,
" His mercy endureth for ever ! "
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
IMAGEEY FKOM NATURE (conchuled).
BY THE EEV. A. S. AGLEN, M. A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN'S, ALTTH, N.B.
F all the works of creation, next to man
himself, " the herb yielding seed after his
kind" has exercised the greatest a^id
most varied iniliieuce on the human mind
Wonderful in its universal adaptation to
the conditions of hfe, so that aU necessary comforts and
pleasures may be gathered from it, vegetation is no less
richly gifted with lessons for the soiJ. In causing
" grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service
and heart.
of man," God has linked to its lower uses all kinds of
grace and precious teaching, so that it springs no less
for our discipline than our delight. There is not a
virtue within the widest range of human conduct, not a
grace set on high for man's aspiration, which has not
its fitting emblem in vegetable life. The grasses which
are spread beneath his feet teach him with a simple
eloquence to be humble and serviceable, and he may
read his way to heaven in the flowers that grow by his
380
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
eartlily patli.' Vegetatiou becomes thus, it has been
beautifully said, to the earth an imperfect soul given to
meet the soul of man. Nor is any effort necessaiy to
ei-eate tlio sympathetic touch. It wants no imaginative
enei-gy to endow tiowers and trees with human feeling.
It is in them. They themselves " teach us, by most
persTiasive reasons, how near akin they are to human
things." Sharing with humanity the great mysteries of
growth and decay, and for ever repeating "with solemn
emphasis the same great lessons as the seasons come
and go, they are always in close sympathy Avith our
saddest and with our most hopeful thoughts. The gi'ass
that withereth and the flower that fadeth have afforded
universal emblems of decay and death, while Divine
lips have given sacred authority to the poetic thought
which sees in the " hai'vest hidden in the seed " the
assurance of immortality and life.^
Passing from these universal experiences which
abound in Hebrew as in every other literature, let us
examine more particularly into the influence exerted
by the vegetation of the Holy Land on the geniiis of
the people who dwelt thei-e.
No coimtry that has produced great poets has had
its trees neglected by them. Homer has a large and
reverential love for deep wooded glades and quiet shady
gi-oves. Yirgil's richest ver.se is melodious with the
sounds of swaying branches and leafy boughs. Dante,
it is true, reflects the southern mediaeval dread of the
dark and pathless forest,^
" Which in the very thought renews the fear,
So bitter is it, death is little more."
But Chaucer delights in trees, and shows a woodman's
knowledge of their growth and use.^ Spenser has imi-
tated and improved on the older poet,* in his beautiful
and accurate description of all the varieties of timber
common on English soil. Shakespeare, who finds
"tongues in trees," brings his gentlest and happiest
people together under the "greenwood tree;" and if
we come to our more modern poets, the works of
Tennyson alone, were England denuded to-morrow of
all her woods, would servo to preserve for posterity a
sense of what is most beautiful and peculiar in our
chief forest trees.^
The poets of Palestine display, in the same Avay, an
accurate appreciation of, and constant love for, the
trees of their countiy. At the present day the relics
of the once proud forests of Palestine serve rather to
set off the general barrenness and poverty of the
country, than to prove the former riches of the soil.
' See Ruskin'a Mod. Painters, v., pt. vi., ch. i. Cf. Schiller, "If
thou wouldest attain to thy highest, go look upon a flower;
what that does unconsciously that do thou willingly."
- Ps. xxxvii. 2 ; Ixxii. 6 ; xc. 5, &c. ; Isa. xl. 6, &c. ; James i. 10 ;
John xii. 24; 1 Cor. xv. 36.
•* See Ruskin's Modo-n Painters, iii. pt. iv.
^ " Assembly of Foules."
^ Faery Quecne, i. 1.
•"' Recall of the more memorable instances of the subtle observa-
tion of this poet,
" Blasts that blow the poplar white,"
"Blacker than ashbuds iu the front of March,"
and see " the Talking Oak " and " Amphion."
" Once it was a land of dense timber growths, and of
freqiient graceful clusters of smaller trees, and of
orchards and of Aaneyards : " " the cedar, the palm, the
ilex, the terebinth, the olive, the acacia, the vine, the
fig-tree, the myrtle " — thus we learn from the verses of
the poets — once clothed the moimtain sides or clustered
in the valleys.
A powerful emblem of kingly might or of the nobler
grandeur of virtuous souls was supplied by the cedar —
au object of almost religious reverence from the tower-
ing pride of its height, and majestic sweep of its
branches, as well as from the remoteness of its chosen
home on the slopes of Lebanon — an object too of poetic
love at all times, from the manifold associations which
this patriarch of trees gathers round it in its venerable
continuance through centuries of life. The allusions to
it in Scripture are very frequent. " Tlie trees of Jehovah,"
" the cedars which God hath planted," " the tall cedars,"
are the usual designations. And when the Psalmist
wishes to describe a life of continued jiiety and benevo-
lence protracted through long years of that safety and
prosperity Avliich the Hebrew mind usually associated
■with godliness, he can find no apter emblem than a rich
and full-gi"own cedar, which flourishes not in its own
distant mountain home, but in the covirts of Jehovah's
house, where it stands stately and revered, spreading
abroad for the delight and retreshment of all pious
Jews its odorous and magnificent wealth of branches.^
The cedar was a stranger. As such it became a
striking symbol of those liaughty powers which from
time to time descended from the north and east upon
the Jewish monarchy. Thus Ezekiel compares the
Assyrian to " a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches,
and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature ;
and his top was among the thick boughs." But there
was a tree natural to Palestine, which must always
have presented a striking object in the view wherever
it appeared. The word " oak " is used in our version
to translate four different words, all, however, derived
from a common root, el, "to be strong;" which appears
also in two cognate terms ^ that might with eqvtal cor-
rectness be rendered " oak." Two existing representa-
tives specially claim, from their size and importance,
the torm strong or inighty tree, the Turkish oak {el or
elah), and the turpentine or terebinth which the Arabs
call hiitm. Tlie trees are different in kind, but in
general appearance are very similar. " They are both
tiiU and spreading trees with dark evergreen foliage ;
and by far the largest in height and breadth of any iu
Palestine." So much prominence is given to solitary
trees of this class, famous from their associations and
invested with a kind of sacred character, as to make
it probable that they were always rare and scattei*ed.
Stanley says, " They were no unfitting image of the
remnant of the ancient giant race which had been
'destroyed from before Israel' — 'the Amorite whose
height was like the height of the cedars, and he was
7 Ps. xcii. 1.3.
8 laion (Gen. xii.G), &c., translated "plain;" and iiaii(D.au. iv. 10),
" tree." See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, pp. 519 and 1-il.
THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.
3S1
strong as tlie oaks.' " " But in the table-knd of Gilead
are the thick oak-woods of Bashan, often alluded to
by the prophets, as presenting the most familiar image
of forest scenery." Isaiah connects these well-known
symbols of pride and strength with the cedars of
Lebanon in the mighty lyric burst of song which cele-
brates the weakness and worthlessuess of human power
before the march of the majesty of the Most High.^
The sjonbolical treatment of other trees of Palestine
by its poets it is only necessary to touch upon. The
palm, which now so rarely is seen to break the monotony
of the Syrian landscape, must at one period have been
a common tree in the gardens of the rich, and on the
banks of rivers.- Its taU and weU-proportioned beauty
made it a suitable emblem not only for loveliness of
form,' but for truth and rectitude of conduct. So, too,
the fatness of the oli"\'e^ represented the flourishing
condition of tlie pious, whUe the wicked were compared
to thorns and briars, or to noxious weeds.'^ The reed
or rush growing by the river-side is used by the author
of the Book of Job, whose eye for nature was so quick,
and his feeling so true, as an image of the insecui-ity
of evil-doers : —
" Can tlie papyrus grow up without mire !
Can the reed live without water .'
While yet green, is it not cut down ?
And before other grasses it is dry.
Such is the lot of those that forget God :
The hope of the wicked shall perish." ^
But the same plant is to Isaiah a type of humility"
and lowly worth : —
" The bruised reed He shall not break,
The smoking flax He shall not quench.
(Isa. xliL 3.)
These allusions are sufficient to indicate the impres-
sions produced on a mind gifted with poetic sensibility,
by the larger vegetation of Palestine. But to appre-
ciate fully the close and affectionate observation with
which the poets of that time and country, as poets have
always and eveiywhere done, studied the habits and
forms of various trees, a careful study of the lx»tany of
the Bible, in connection with its poetry, is necessary.
Let us take as an instance the oUve — one of the most
abundant and also one of the most cherished fruit-trees
of Palestine. It is hardly exaggerating to say that a
whole history of the growth and uses of this tree might
be gleaned from the pages of Scripture, which show
by many delicate touches how close was the observa-
tion of these poets, who were themselves often by their
1 Isa. ii. 13.
2 Of the imr;9nse palm-grove seven miles long which once sur-
rounded Jericho, not a vestige remains. (Stanley, p. 141.)
3 Cant. vii. 7 ; Ps. xcii. 12.
4 Hos. siv. 6 ; Ps. lii. 8 ; cssviii. 3.
5 Isa. ix. 18. Cf. Matt. vii. 16; xiii. 25.
6 Job vui. 11—13.
7 Cf. Dante Purijatorio, i. 93 :
" Go then and see thou gird this one about
With a smooth rush.
No other plant that putteth forth the leaf
Or that doth indurate can there have life.
Because it yieldeth not unto the shocks."
And see £uskin on this passage. Mod. Painters, iii. 232. '
calling, as well as by their love for natui-e, di-awn into
the fields, or gardens, or woods.*
Passing from trees to the smaller vegetation, we
might not, perhaps, from the poetry of the Hebrews
learn that theu* country was every spring made o^y
with such an embroidery of flowers as only Asia Minor
besides can show. Travellers tell us of the delighted
wonder awakened by the valleys and hUl-sides, where
scarlet anemones, tulips, and poppies blend their rich
hues into a blaze of colour wliicli is relieved here and
there by the sober face of a daisy, or the shining white
of the little flower called "the star of Bethlehem." ^
Botanists describe the flora of the Holy Land to be
in this respect exceedingly varied and interesting, and
seek mth anxious reverence to identify their discoveries
with the plants mentioned in Scripture. Hitherto the
endeavour in the case of the wild flowers has ended
only in uncertainty. Tlie few varieties to which allu-
sion is made are mentioned too generally to distinguish
their form or qualities. Nor did the poetic feeHug for
the beauty " of these witnesses for God," which we can
hardly doubt was kindled in the hearts of these " seers "
who lived so much in the fields, and were so conversant
with. Nature in all her aspects, find more than the most
scanty expression in their songs. In this, however,
Hebrew poetry was true to its religious aim. It has
been said indeed of flowers, that " to the men of supreme
power and thoughtfulness they are precious only at •
times, and that only symbolically and pathetically, not
for their own sake." With one exception, no poet of
Israel, that we know, looked on these gems of earth
except for this emblematical purpose.
When spring appeared on the bare and monotonous
lulls, attired more riclily than monarchs in their pride,
the hopeful Hebrew imagination saw in the sudden
change an emblem and a x^romise of that future glory
which in Jehovah's purpose for His people was surer
than the seasons and brighter than any scene of earth.
" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them.
And the desert shall blossom as the roee." (Isa. xxxv. 1.)
And when, after the brief term of life allowed by the
Eastern clime, as the moisture dried up in the valleys,
and the verdure shrank from the hills, and the dew
could no longer keep them from drooping, the flowers
^vithered and died, the poets drew from their fadings
dix-ine lessens both of consolation and of warning. But
in the exquisite pastoral pictures of the Canticles flowers
take their proper place. They are loved for their own
sake. It is with something akin to the modem poetic
sense that the author of this charming poem delights
in the flowers which herald in the spring : —
" Lo ! the winter is past,
The rain is over, is gone.
The flowers appear upon the fields.
The time of singing is come,
The cooing of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.
^ In Job XV. 33 we read, " He shall cast oflF his flower like the
olive.'' How powerfully this touch portrays the disappointment
which Eliphaz prophesies for the wicked. The flowering of the
olive was anxiously watched, and winds were dreaded, since the
least rufifiing of the breeze is apt to make the flowers fall.
* Sinai and Palestine, p. 139.
382
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The fig-tree sweeteus her greeu fiijs,
The vines blossom,
They diifuse fragrance ;
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come."
Indeed, it is scarcely fauciful to tliiuk wo cau detect
a special aifectiou for one flower, such as Chancer shows
for the daisy, or Tennyson for the daifodil. The hly, if
that is the trne translation of the word shosJian, is men-
tioned eight times in the short compass of these tender
lyrics. It is the image imder which passionate love
paints the object of its desire. In the absence of her
beloved, the maiden heroine of the piece loves to fancy
him in his garden " gathering lilies," or leading his
flocks to meadows where they grow. Thongh we are
not sho\\Ti the colour or form of the flower, we are told
that it grows in the woodlaiid scenery " among thorns,"
and makes the pasture-grounds amid the glades of
Lebanon odorous with its scent.'
Climate exercises a powerful influence on poetry.
" Bring together from the stores of our modern English
poetry those passages which borrow their rich colouring
from our fitful atmosphere and its humidity : the soft
and golden glozings of sunrise and sunset, and the
pearly distances at noon, and the outbursts of sunbeam,
and the sudden overshadowings and the blendings of
tints upon all distances of two or three miles;" and it
will bo found that all that is most distinctive of our
national song is included. To our humid skies is due
the sombre tone of feeling that pervades our imaginative
literature, no less than the richness of its colouring.
The climate of Palestine was probably far more
variable in David's time than it is now. The frequent
mention of clouds and the effect of cloudy skies, and
the familiarity of the writers with snow and frost, would
lead to the conclusion that considerable atmospheric
changes had taken place. Travellers in modern days are
invariably struck with the sharp and unpictorial aspect
of the landscape produced by the utterly clear air. Seen
through this medium, so unfavourable for those charming
aerial illusions common in northern skies, the hill-tops
and rocky surfaces wear a look of hardness and poverty,
which is heightened by the general absence of verdure.
The result of this is a general look of monotony and
sameness, under which only close observation cau
discover the beauty and variety of scenery Avhich really
exist in the Holy Laud. Still, even now, the tempera-
ture of Syi'ia is liable to variations which recall the
experiences of the climate of more uortbern latitudes,
rather than those of the East. Snow falls occasionally
to the depth of a foot or more, and frost at nights is
not unknown. The general aspect of the year is that
so often mentioned, in Scripture, the two sharply- marked
periods "summer and ^vinter," "cold and heat," " seed-
time and harvest."'^
In warm climates, and in no country is it more so
than in SyrLi, tho moisture which has Ixjen held aloft
by the heat of the day descends at night in a copious
dew, which falls like a mighty yet noiseless deluge, and
1 Cant. vi. 2, 3.
- See Taylor's Sjn'rif of Hehrcxi: Poelrij.
supplies for many months the place of rain. Many
magnificent images in sacred poetry are duo to this
natural phenomenon. Wliat incompai-able force and
beauty in the sublime opening of Moses' song, when
the earth is adjured to wait for the prophet's doctrine,
as after the jiarching heat of day it waits for the dew
of heaven! What a sense of tho blessings sjiread
throughout an entire peoijlo by a cordial spirit of
patriotic agreement in all great questions, is conveyed
by the striking image of Ps. cxxxiii., where national
unity is figured by the dew of heaven which descends
like a gracious shower on Sion! Or what could be
more expressive of the issue of mere impulsive goodness,
or of hypocrisy, than tho suddenness with which the
dew dries up under the Eastern morning sun ? —
" 0 Ephraim ! what shall I do unto thee ?
O Judah ! what shall I do uuto thee ?
For your goodness is as a morning cloud,
And as an early dew it goeth awaj-."
(Hos. vi. 4 ; of. xiii. 3.)
But it is time for us to descend from our station.
Let us wait only till the sun has gone down beneath
the shining waters waiting for him in the west. But
" no cloudy sku-ts, Avith brede ethereal wove," o'erhang
that " western tent." We must look for no " golden
lightning of the sunken suu," no rippling waves of
crimson and purple and scarlet and gold ; no beating-s
and throbbiugs as of a fiery heart sad at leave-taking.
The eve of Syria is not " crimson coloured," and
Hebi-ew j)oetry is wanting in allusions to sunset. Two
feelings connect themselves with evening in the East —
the sense of refreshing coolness, and the growth of
the shadows as the sun declines. Both are combined
in Cant. ii. 17 —
" When the day cools,-*
And the shadows fiee away ;"
and Isaiah has a A-ivid picture of frustrated hopes —
"The evening breeze for which I Icuged hath He turned into
horror" (xxi. 4).
But the absence of the spectacle with Avhich in our
latitudes of mist the luminary of day surrounds his
departure is amply compensated by the magnificence of
night. The starry heavens open upon the mountains of
Israel a scene incomparably more sublime than we are
wont to witness. " There — it seems so — bearmg down
upon our heads with power, are the stedfast splendours
of that midnight sky." " The planets and slars upon
which the shepherds of Palestine were used to gaze, and
which to them were guiding lights, do not seem as if
they were fain to go out from moment to moment ; but
each burns in its socket as a lamp that is well furnished
with oil." Thousands of distant fires which we cannot
see at all, or see only as luminous nebula), were distinct
and clear in these serene heavens. No wonder they
became the symbol of infinite number. No wonder the
midnight watchers shaped out of these clusters monsters
of huge and wondrous power, giant huntsmen and
3 Translated in A. V., " when the day breaks," but ncphcsh is
more probably the cool breeze which springs up in Eastern climates
as the night falls.
BIBLE WORDS.
5S3
warriors, heroes of celestial romance.^ Nor any wonder
that in the pious thought of the Isradite the stars
should seem to chant incessantly the praises of their
1 J©b s^viii. 31.
Almighty Cremator, and l^y their pure shining at once
humble and exalt the late-born but nobler creature
3 See Vol. I., p- 2 87.
BIBLE WORDS.
EY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A. , CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRiECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
^OTES (s'dhst.) is found once in the Autho-
rised Version (2 Chron. xxxii. 28), " Heze-
kiah made himself .... stalls for all
manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks."
Tliis vford, which is identical with the Anglo-Saxon
cote, a cottage or cot, connected "with the Dutch hot,
any hollow place, and the Welsh civt, a hovel or sty,
has dropped out of ordiuaiy use in its simple form,
though very familiar as a compound signifying a hutch
or cage for some of the smaller animals — e.g., sheepcote,
dovecote, hencote, &c. It is found as a human dwelling-
place ill Wiclif, " Wei thei made bi desertis that ben
not dwelled in : and in desert places thei made litil
cotes" (Wisd. xi. 2); where the Authorised Version
has, " They pitched tents in places where there lay no
way;" and in Piers the Ploughman, "Botlie princes
paleis, and poure meime cotes " (p. 166). In the Bible
sense Shakespeare has —
" His cote, liis flocks, aud bounds of feed
Are now on sale." {As Ton Like It, ii. 4.)
And Spenser —
" And learned of lighter timber cotes to frame,
Sucli as might save my sheepe and me fro' sliame."
{Shepherd's Calendar, Dec. 7.)
Cruse (siibst.), an earthen or stone pot or pitcher
for holding water (1 Sam. xxvi. 11, 12, 16; 1 Kings
xix. 6; 2 Kings ii. 20), and oil (1 Kings xvii. 12, 14, 16),
or honey (1 Kings xiv. 3), allied to the French cruche,
and the German hrug, of which crucible is a diminutive.
Richardson quotes the following passage : —
" You think it to be one of the cliiefeste pointes of godlines to
■wash your haades, your cuppes, your cruces, aud to observe manye
other lyke thynges." (Udal, S. Marl:, c. 7.)
" No brawler in his familie, nor angry for a crevse.
Breaking, no crafte of man, or place could him in ought abuse."
(Drant, Horace.)
We may add this from Quarles —
" Siuk'st thou in want, and is thy small cruse spent ?
See Him in want ; enjoy Him in content."
Cumber {verb act.), Cumbi'anee (subst.). The
verb is twice used in the New Testament. Martha is
described as " cumbered with much serving," in her
anxious desire to provide our Lord with fitting enter-
tainment (Luke X. 40) : of the barren fig-tree it is
asked, " Why cumbereth it the ground ? " (Luke xiii. 7).
In both the sense is the same of oppressing with an
unnecessary load. The substantive is found in Deut.
i. 12, where Moses asks, " How can I myself alone bear
your cumbrance, and your burden, aud your strife?"
while the Hebrew word is translated " trouble " in Isa. i.
14. The word cumber is allied to the German Kum-
mern, and the Dutch Komberen. It survives in our
ordinary language in the compound " encumber,"
though it has become obsolete in the simple form
which was once very common — e.g., Piers Ploughman's
Creecle, "By his craft thei comen in to combren the
chirche." In Shakespeare, Timou says, " Let it not
cumber your better remembrance" {Tim. of Ath. iii. 6);
and Antony predicts that on the death of Julius
Csesai" —
"Domestic fury aud fierce civil strife
Shall cumlicr all the parts of Italy."
(Jultits Civsar, iii. 1.)
Latimer describes the children of this world "which
as Nimrods, aud such sturdy and stout hunters ....
deceive the children of light and cumber them easily "
(Serm., p. 47). Bacon [Adv. of Learning, xxiii. 45)
quotes the "evil and corrupt position" of Machiavel,
" that a man seek not to attain virtue itself, but the
appearance thereof ; because the credit of \'irtue is a
help, but the use of it is cumber." As an example of
" cumbrance," we have this from Grafton {Hen. II.
an. 33), " There is no facilitie or wealth in this mortal
world so perfite, which is not darkened with some
cloude of cuvibrance and adversitie."
Daysman is found once for an " arbiter " in the
Authorised Version (Job ix. 33), " Neither is there any
daysman betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us
both ; " where the Geneva Bible has the less idiomatic
but more intelligible umpire. This word, though now
quite obsolete and needing explanation, was in familiar
use in the sixteenth century, e.g. —
" If neighbours were at variance they ran not stroight to law,
Dalesmen took up the matter, aud cost them not a straw."
{New Castome, i. 20, Nares.)
" In Switzerland (as we are informed by Simlerus) they had
some common arbitrators or dayesnien in every towue, that made
a friendly composition betwixt man aud man."
(Burton's .fliiaf. of iletanch., Nares.)
" To whom Cymochles said, ' For what art thou
That makest thyself his dayesman to prolong
The vengeance prest ?"
(Spenser, Faery Qiioene, ii. 8, 28.)
"If one man synne agaynst another, dayscmen may make hys
peace; but yf a man sinue agaynst the Lord, who can be hys
dayseman ?" (1 Sam. ii. 25 [1551], Aldis Wright. )
The use of "daysman" as an "arbiter" is to bo
traced to the employment of the word " day " simply
for the time when a cause was to bo heard and judg-
ment given, aud then for "judgment" itself. This
use is common to many languages. In Greek we may
38-i
THE BIBLE EDUCATOfl.
instauco 1 Cor. iv. 3, wliere '• man's judgment," as wc
reuder it, is rcjilly " mau's day.'" In Latin diem dicere
is to " ".mplead." In Greriuan, eiiie sache tagen is to
"institute a lawsuit." In the preface to Jewell's
Defence of the Apology (Parker Soc, vol. iii., p. 121)
wo find the phrase " to j)iit in daying" for to "caU iu
question." " Our doctrine hath been too long ajpproved
to be put in daying in these days."
Deal (suhst.). "A tenth deal'" is found twenty-
seven times in the Levitical j)ortiou of the Pentateuch,
either iu the singular or plural, as a measure for grain
or meal, corresponding to a tithe or tenth part of an
ephah, sometimes called an omer (Exod. xvi. 36). We
may instance Exod. xxix. 40 ; Lev. xiv. 10, 21 ; Numb.
XV. 4, 6, 9, &c. &c. It is a translation of the Hebrew
\\y^'S, a tenth part, from itoy, ten. The English word
deal, answering to the Sanskrit dala. Old Norse deila,
Anglo-Saxon dael, German theil, "a part," "a portion,"
has passed out of common use, except in the phrase " a
great deal" (which is also found iu the A. Y., Mark
vii. 36 ; X. 48), the adjective being sometimes omitted
and implied, as in Shakespeare —
" Every tedious stride I make
Will but remember me what a deal of world
I wander from the jewels that I love."
(Rich. II., i. 3.)
In our earlier language we find " some deal," " every
deal," '• a small deal," •' a half deal."
"Be so that be the halve dele
Seem graunt."
(Gower, Conf. Am., Eichardson.)
A dole is an allied word, signifying a portion divided
and dealt out.
Draught — Draught-house. On the forcible
putting down of the worship of Baal by Jehu, we read
that the temple of Baal was converted by him into " a
draught-house " (2 Kings x. 27). The expression has
so completely fallen out of use that the meaning is
probably usually missed. The Geneva Bible is much
plainer, " Made a jalces of it unto this day ; " Wiclif
plainer still, " he maden priuyes for it imto this dai."
The Hebrew word it represents is a derivative of a verb
signifying to purge, and denotes a depository for filth,
either " a public necessary " or " a lay stall." That om'
trauslators took it in the former sense is seen by their
use of the word draught (Matt. xv. 17 ; Mark vii. 19).
Shakespeare uses "draught" for a drain or common
sewer.
" Hang them, or stab them, drown them in a draught."
(Tim. of Aih., v. 1.)
"Sweet AraugU: sweet quoth'a! sweet sink, sweet sewer."
(Tr. and, Crea., v. 1.)
Allied words are draff, which is still in local use for
hogs'-wash, brau, and refuse of auy kind ; Anglo-Saxon
drahhe, " dregs ; " Iceland, draf; Gaelic, drabhag,
"refuse."
Dure. This is another instance, as in the case of
" cumber " aud " encumber," "compass" and "encom-
pass," " camp " and '' eucamp," of the simple verb
falling out of use while the compouud remains. It is
found once in the A. V. iu the parable of the sower and
the seed sown iu stony ground, which " hath not root
in himself, but dureth for a while " (Matt. xiii. 21).
Chaucer uses it, e.g., Arcite says, when mortally
wounded,
" Syn that my lyf ne may no longer dure "
(Knigiifs Tale, 2772);
of Dorigene, when parted from Arviragus,
"... Hire grete sorve gau assuage.
She may not alway duren in swiche rage."
{Franklein's Tale, 11,148.)
It is found in the Bible of 1551 : " And so from that
day forwarde was that made a lawe and a custom in
Israel, and dureth to thys day " (1 Sam. xxx. 25) ; in
Tyndall, " Paule made a sermon dui-yng to mydnight"
{WorTces, p. 49) ; and iu Stow, " This batteU dured three
parts of the night." The familiar word during, as
" dm-ing my life," " during liis reign," is no more than
the participle of the verb dure.
Ear {vei-b act.). Few words in our present version
are so generally misunderstood as this verb and its
cognate substantive, earing, iu the passages in which
they occur (Gen. xlv. 6 ; Exod. xxxiv. 21 ; Deut. xxi.
4 ; 1 Sam. viii. 12 ; Isa. xxx. 24). Although in a couple
of these passages the two are expressly distinguished,
" neither earing nor harvest " (Gen. xlv. 6), " to ear his
ground and to reap his harvest " (1 Sam. viii. 12), a
fancied connection with ears of coi-n leads many to
suppose that to " ear " is the same as to "reap," instead
of being, as it really is, a later form of the Anglo-Saxon
earian, " to plough," allied to the Latin arare. " The
oxen that ear the ground " (Isa. xxx. 24) are " the oxen
that plough the ground ; " "a rough valley that is
neither eared nor sown " (Deut. xxi. 4) is an unploughed
piece of ground left in the state of nature. It occurs
repeatedly iu Wiclrf's version, e.g., " he that erith owith
to ere in hoj)e " (1 Cor. ix. 10), and is constantly met
with in our earlier writers.
" And bad hym holde at home, and eryan his leyes,
And alle that balpe hym to crie, to sette, or to sowe.
Pardon with Pieres Plowman treuthe hath ygraunted.'*
(Piers Plowman, vii. 5 — 8.)
" I have, God wot, a large field to ere,
And wayke (weak) ben the oxen in my plough."
(Chaucer, Knight's Talc, 28.)
" I shall . . . never after car so barren a land, for fear it yield
mo still so bad a harvest."
(Shakespeare, T'eiiiis and .Adonis, Dedication.)
" Ho maketh many mysteries of the crop, as the hoised sail, the
earring plough, the blowing winds from each qimrter of the earth."
(Calfhill, ^nsuer to MaHial, p. 177.)
The modem " arable " was formerly written " ear-
able." "Of curable ground, tillage, and pasturage"
(Nares). " Meddoure, pasture, earatZe " (Richardson).
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS OF VOL. IV.
PAGE
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE, THE.
Stork ,7
Cormorant ........ 8
Pelican . . . . . . . , 8
Reptiles . . . , • , • • .54
Ophidia 102
Amphibia ........ 145
Fish 166
Mollusks 216
Anthropoda ....... 292
Insecta 290
Coleoptera . . . . . . . .290
Orthoptera 290
Homoptera ....... 313
Hymenoptera ....... 313
Hornet 349
Bees 350
Lepidoptera 350
Diptera ... ..... 351
Arachnida ........ 351
Spider 352
Leeches and Worms ...... 352
Anthozoa ........ 353
APOCRYPHA, BOOKS OF THE
345
BIBLE WORDS
68, 111, 127, 148, 208, 271
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
St. Luke, The Gospel of
Corinthians, First Epistle to the
„ Second „
Galatians, Epistle to the
Romans „
St. James, Epistle of .
St. Peter, The First Epistle of
„ ,, Second „
St. Jude, The Epistle of
St. John, The Epistles of .
Colossians, The Epistle to the
St. John, The Gospel of
Philippians, The Epistle to the
Ephesians, The Epistle to the
Timothy, The First Epistle to
„ The Second Epistle to
1
29
46
79
113
123
129
133
135
146
157
163
189
202
241
383
PAGE
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (continued).
Titus, The Epistle to 259
Revelation, The Book of 298
Philemon, The Epistle to 301
Acts of the Apostles, The 333
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Job (continued from YoL. m.) . . . 19,60
Ezra, The Book of 42
Nehemiah, The Book of 94
Obadiah 106
Jonah 177
Proverbs, The Book of 213
Ecclesiastes ; or, the Preacher .... 228
Esther, The Book of 254
Micah 295
Canticles ; or, Song of Solomon . . . 321, 353
Nahum 340
Zechariah 368
CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE
APOCRYPHA 317
COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
The Local Colouring of St. Paul's Epistles . 49
CONTRASTS OF SCRIPTURE . . . .161
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians 10, 52, 91, 116,
126, 206
Corinthians, The First Epistle to the . . 274, 291
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
Leprosy 76, 174
Disease of Job ....... 275
The Disease of Saul 276
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE, THE . . 108, 142
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
Palestine (continued)
The Dead Sea 23, 38
Galilee 71, 87
Samaria ...... 118, 136
Sinai 150, 18
Judffia 196
Phoenicia, Philistia, and the Maritime Plain 230
CONTENTS.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE (continued).
Bashan 247
Gilead 250
Moab ......... 253
Jerusalem 276
Syria 302
Egypt ......... 363
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, THE.
Miles Coverdalc {continued)
Matthew's Bible .
The Great Bible .
The Genevan Bible
The Bishop's Bible
The Douai and Rhemish Bible
The Authorised Version
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM EASTERN MANNERS
AND CUSTOMS.
Prayer : Public and Private
Morning and Evening Prayer
Recitation of the Shema
Prayers after the Shema
Marriage among the Ancient Hebrews
Sickness, Death, Burial, and Mourning
G5
83
262
326
336
361
375
218
223
239
239
267
330
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE, THE
PAGE
13
PLANTS OP THE BIBLE, THE
Order XXVI. Simarubea3
„ XXVII.
„ XXVIII.
„ XXIX.
XXX.
„ XXXI.
„ xxxn.
MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE
BIBLE 27, 180
Sapindaceffi
Meliacese .
Vitaceae
Anacardiaceae
Rhamneas .
Leguminosse
Orders from Rosacese to Cucurbitacese
„ CrassulaceEB and Umbelliferse .
,, of Monopetalous Plants ....
„ of Apetalous Plants, Chenopodiacese to
Euphorbiaceae . . . . .
,, of Apetalous Plants, Salicineae to Cnpu-
liferae and Coniferae . . . .
,, of Monocotyledonous Plants .
POETRY OF THE BIBLE, THE (concluded)
131
131
131
131
193
193
193
245
310
310
342
356
372
4
SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHIES.
Hezekiah 97
Jehoshtfphat . . . . . . .139
David 223, 287
Josiah . . ... . . . . 314
URIM AND THE THUMMIM, THE
34
D.V.2.
THE
BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE.
BY THE EEV. EUSTACE R. CONDEB, M.A., LEEDS.
THE writer o£ the tliird Gospel emj)loys the
first person singular, both in the preface to
the Gospel and in the preface to the Acts
(in which he refers to the Gospel as " the
former treatise ") ; and by the repeated use of the
first person plural in his narrative of the travels and
labours of the Apostle Paul, he implies that he was
a companion in both travel and toil. Yet, like the
other Evangelists, he has abstained from appending his
name to his work. And although the name of Luke, as
one of St. Paul's companions, repeatedly occurs in the
Epistles, it is only on the authority of tradition that
we assign this name to the author of this Gospel. But
it is a tradition of that entirely trustworthy sort to
which we have before referred (in preceding articles
on the Gospels) ; not the dictum of authority, but the
testimony of universal belief amongst those whose belief
implied knowledge.
The name " Luke " is our English contraction of
Lucas, itself an abbreviation of Lucauus (the same with
the name of the j)oet Lucan). Like Silvanus, Marcus,
Paulus, it is a Latin name; and as we have no hint
of the Evangelist having borne any Jewish name, Ave
may presume that he was a Gentile; though it would
be going too far to infer that he was, like Paul and
Silvanus, a Roman citizen. It is commonly assumed
that he is the same with " Luke, the beloved physician,"
referred to in Col. iv. 14 ; an assumption resting simply
on the improbability that there was among St. Paul's
companions another of the same name.
The narrative in the Book of Acts implies the
writer's presence first in chapter xvi., on occasion of
Paul's vision at Ti'oas, where the remarkable expression
" gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the
gospel," seems to indicate that he was an active and
even prominent member of the little missionary band.
Compare verses 13, 15, 17.' The remark previously
made concerning Matthew and Peter wiU, however,
1 The natural inference from these passages, if they stood alone,
would be that the writer was either Silas or Timothy. The former
hypothesis (propounded in the Literary Hislory 0/ the Kew Testa,
nient) has been examined carefully and keenly by Dean Alford, who
considers it untenable. Some of his arguments do not appear
conclusive; but the strongest (and perhaps decisive) is the im-
probability that St. Paul should in some of his Epistles speak of
73 — VOL, IV.
also apply here ; the gifts of the histoiiau and of the
preacher are not often united. It seems (in Dean
Alford's words) "probable that the men of tcord and
action, in those times of the liAang energy of the Spirit,
would take the highest place ; and that the work of
securing to future generations the word of God would
not be fully honoured tUl, from necessity, it became
duly valued."
Of St. Luke's life and labours, after the " two years "
at Rome referred to in the last sentence we have from
his pen, we possess no trace. Early ti*adition and
modern criticism have toiled to spra a web of conjecture
(of the slenderest tissue) across the void. Thus, Euse-
bius and Jerome make him to have been a native of the
famous city of Antioch, which Dean Alford ingeniously
conjectures to be a mistake for Antioch in Pisidia.
From the fact that slaves were often called by shortened
names, like Lucas, it has been conjectured that he was
a freedman ; as if we were to draw an inference as
to any English writer's social standing from his being
known as " Tom " or " Sam " among his friends.^ That
he was one of the Seventy referred to in his Gospel
(chap. X. 1) — which would contradict his disclaimer of
having been an " eye-witness " (chap. i. 2) — and that he
was a painter, are idle traditions, requiring no attention.
That he was a man of good education and culture is
plain from his wi-itings, but especLally from the style
of his preface (i. 1 — 4), which diifers so notably from
the body of his narrative as to show that he would have
written in more classical and elegant Greek, had he not
been restrained by faithful adherence to the original
narratives (oral or written), the substance of which it
was his object to recoi-d.
St. Luke's own idea of his work is indicated in his
preface ; and more tersely still in the opening words of
his second treatise, commonly known by the not very
appropriate title of '•' Acts of the Apostles." It is a
record "of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until
Silvanus and in others of Lucas, with no apparent reason for
such variation (both being Roman names), had they been the same
person. The idea that Timothy was the narrator is contradicted
by Acts XX. 4, 5.
- Not to mention that, if such an abbreviation were peculiar to
slaves, courtesy would require its being dropped when a man
attained his freedom.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the clay iu vrakh He was takeu up " to lieaveu. The
60-called Book of Acts is the sequel of the Gospel, and
might more truly bo named the " Acts of the Ascended
Lord;" cari-jnug on the story of what Jesus continued
"both to do and teach," both through His Apostles
and through the whole body of His disciples, from that
memorable day of Pentecost when He fulfilled His
promise by the shedding forth (Acts ii. 33) of the Holy
Spirit, until in Rome itself His Cross was preached
"unhindered;"' and though "the servant of Jesus
Christ*' was " an ambassador in bonds," yet "the word
of God was not bound."
The " most excellent Thcophilus," to whom both works
are formally inscribed, may be regarded as representing
the class of readers especially had in view by the Evan-
gelist. His name is Greek, his rank suggests educatiou
and intelligence, and he had been already instructed iu
the truths of the Gospel. The Evangelist's design was
to furnish so faithful an outline (for it could be no more)
of the things certainly believed throtighout the Christian
Church on the testimony of the original eye-witnesses
of the facts, that Theophilus might know the certainty
of what he had been taught. Many attempts thus to
record the oral teaching of the Apostles (whether in
Hebrew or in Greek) had already been made. This
was natural, one may say ine\atablo. St. Luke neither
censures nor praises those already published memoirs.
The only claim which he modestly makes to a special
fitness for this great work, is that of thorough informa-
tion and diligent industiy ; " ha^ong closely followed
from the beginning all things accurately " (i. 3).
The assumption, sometimes hastily made, that these
words imply a disclaimer of inspiration, betrays a very
shallow ^'^ew of its nature. Scripture undoubtedly
records instances of inspiration acting Avith an over-
mastering power, independently of thought and volition,
as in the ca^es of Balaam and Saul. But in its highest
form inspiration does not supersede, but pervades,
guides, and stimulates to the utmost the exercise of the
natural faculties; so that the Avork produced bears the
full impress of the individual character and manner of
its human author, while the stamp of Divine author-
ship is no less clearly legible iu the j)erfect and inimit-
able quality of the work, its freedom from eiTor, its
tone of authority, and innate spiritual power, to which
human nature under all conditions pays homage ; and
its permanent adaj)tation to its purpose, defying the
Avasting touch of time.
The Gospel history is the true battle-ground of the
gi-eat conflict between Christian faith and scepticism.
Into this conflict the question of inspiration need uot
enter. If the four Gospels (or even any one of them)
present in substance and main outline a trutlif ul account
of the character, teaching, miracles, death, and resurrec-
tion of Jesus, the tnith and Divine authority of
Christianity are established. For the essence — the soul
1 'AkwXi'to)!;, the word with which the Book of Acts closes. See
Baumgarten's History of the Church in the Apostolic Age; Morrison's
Translation, in Clark's Library,
— of Christianity is not any system either of doctrines
or of ethics. The essence of Christianity is Christ.
Christianity has, indeed, other evidence besides the
historical — e^^dence of a nature which, to many minds,
is more imi^ressive and satisfying ; but its root is in
historic fact, for the certainty of which the testimony
of eye-witnesses is of prime importance. It is, there-
fore, most instructive to observe with what clear definite-
ness St. Luke sets forth in his opening sentence this
fundamental certainty. His Gospel was wiitten, at
latest, within about thirty years after the Ascension, for
it was finished before the Book of Acts was commenced ;
the last sentence of which brings us to the year 63,
or thereabouts. It viay have been written several years
earlior.'-
lu St. Luke's pages, therefore (inspiration apart), we
have the substance honestly, carefully, and intelligently
recorded, of the testimony of eye-witnesses to facts of
the greatest jmblicity — the most extraordinary iu the
whole compass of human experience — while the memory
of them was still fresh iu tens of thousands of minds.
And we have no contemporary contradiction of these
statements, unless it be the lame story invented by the
Jews to explain the resurrection of Jesus (Matt, xxviii.
13), that His friends had stolen His corpse from the
tomb.
In default of any narrower distinction, the charac-
teristic of the third Gospel has been said to be iiniver-
sality — broad human interest and sympathy. Not a
few passages might be selected in illustration of this
view. At the same time we must be on our guard, in
any general statements of this sort, against mistaking
antithesis for insight, and epigrammatic point for truth.
Thus we have seen that, notwithstanding the strongly-
marked Jewish features of St. Matthew's Gospel, it is
he who has recorded the homage of the Eastern Magi
to the new-born King ; the faith of Gentiles rebuking
the unbelief and otitstripijing the faith of Israel ; the
parables in which the world-wide scope of Christ's
kingdom and tribunal arc most strongly set forth ; and
the command to make disciples of all nations. On the
other hand, it was reserved for St. Luke to be the pen-
man of those august naiTatives and inspired hymns
contained in the first two chapters of his Gospel, which
may almost be called a postscript to the Old Testament
Scriptures.
These initial chapters, including the only accotmt of
our Saviour's childliood — a brief but inestimable frag-
ment— which it has pleased God to allow to be placed
on record, are broadly marked off from the remainder
of St. Luke's Gospel. In two passages his narrative
records facts which could not be derived from reports
of eye-Avitnesses, but must have been, iu the first
instance, supjilied either by our Lord's OAvn statements
(which seems not veiy probable), or by direct rcA^ela-
tion; namely, the account of the Temptation in the
- Dean Alford's assumption that no Gospel couJd hare been
written before a.d. 50— that for twenty years no one attempted to
write any accouut of the words and works of Jesus —is entirely
void of proof.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE.
wilderness, and tlie account of tlie Agony in Getli-
semane. The first is common to liim witli St. Mattliew.
So is the second in part, but St. Luke adds the circum-
stances of the " sweat as it were gi-eat drops of blood,"
and of the angel sent to strengthen the Sufferer.
As to the main body of this Gospel, a moderately
attentive reader will not have failed to observe that it
consists of three portions. From chap. iii. to chap. ix.
50, it is in substantial accordance with the Gospels of
Matthew and Mark; supplying, however, even here,
much important new matter — a different genealogy
from that in the fii-st Gospel, vrith the accounts of the
visit to Nazareth, the miraculous draught of fishes, the
raising of the widow's sou, and the penitent who anointed
our Saviour's feet. Again, from chap, xviii. 15 to the
end, this Gospel is in substantial accordance with those
of Matthew and Mark, with a similar margin of variation
and addition : as in the account of Zacchaeus ; in the
parable of the pounds (different, both in occasion and
details, from that of the talents. Matt, xxv.) ; in the
remarkable instance of the Lord turning and looking
on Peter (xxii. 61) ; and in the account of the events
following the resurrection. Between these two portions
thus broadly agi-eeiug with the other so-called synoptic
Gospels — that is to say, from chap. ix. 51 to chap, xviii.
14 — we find a large amount of matter peculiar to this
Gospel. Of fifteen parables recorded only by St. Luke,
thirteen are in this section. It contains ten incidents
not mentioned elsewhere, three of wliich are miracles ;
of the other seven, the mission of the Seventy, and the
story of Martha and Mary, are the chief. The rest of
the section is made up of discourses or sayings, closely
parallel in the maiu with portions of St. Matthew's
Gospel, but differing in detail, and in the connection
of time, place, and circumstances. This section has
occasioned much perplexity to harmonists, in the en-
deavour to arrange each incident and discoiu'se in true
chronological order. Chronological arrangement is not
that " order " of which St. Luke speaks in his preface,
except in those broad general outhnes which are common
to all the four Gospels. Harmonists, in straining after
an impossible accui-acy, often involve in obscurity what
is comparatively plain. Exaggerated significance is
often attached to such indications of time as here and
there occur. Thus, for example, the note of time in
chap. ix. 51, which refers simply to the incident there
narrated, has been taken as a key to the chronology of
the whole section. With these cautions, however, we
shall scarcely be wrong in referring the c©ntents of
this section of St. Luke's Gospel, in the main, to the
last six months of our Lord's miuistry, and especially
to that portion which He sj)ent iv Pertea.
An ancient tradition, siipported by the venerable
names of Irenseus, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, and
Jerome, represents St. Luke's Gospel as embodying the
substance of the Apostle Paul's teaching, or perhajps
even dictated by St. Paul. The only value of this
tradition lies in the proof and warning it affords of the
necessity of rigorously distinguishing between the facts
attested by tradition,, and the inferences and opinions
of those through whom the tradition reaches us. In
plaia words, when these early Christian fathers tell us
what lay ■VArithin their own knowledge, their testimony
is of the utmost weight : when they give us their infer-
ences and guesses, we are often better judges than
they, because they were entirely iintrained in that keen
and accurate criticism which has become habitual with
modera scholars. Regarding this special tradition,
" there is little or nothing in the Gospel itself to favour
such an hy[)othesis, and very much to contradict it." i
The only striking coincidence between St. Luke and St.
Paul is found in the account given by the latter of the
institution of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. xi. 23 — 25 ;
Luke xxii. 19, 20).= To this we may add, if St. Paul be
the wi-iter of the Epistle to the Hebrews (or if, as some
have conjectured, St. Luke wrote it from oral discourses
of St. Paul), that the key to Heb. v. 7 is supplied by
Luke xxii. 43, 44.
How and wherefore St. Luke wrote his Gospel, he
has distinctly informed us in his preface. His object
was the instruction of Christians in the fundamental
facts of their faith. Accuracy and certainty were the
points he especially aimed at. Long familiarity with
his theme, and diligent inquiry, qualified him to write
with authority. He had taken nothing at second hand,
but had derived his information directly from those
eye-vritnesses of the facts to whom the great work of
telling the Gospel story was first entiiisted. The first
two chapters, manifestly transcripts from Hebrew origi-
nals, give us (I cannot doubt) the testimony of Zacharias,
Elisabeth, and Maiy. The slumbeiiug voice of ancient
prophecy wakes again in them, forming a living link
between the Scriptures of the Old Covenant and those
of the New, of which they were the first- written pages ;
reminding us that '• the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy."
If the suggestion I have offered be accepted, that the
" oral gospel " forming the basis of both St. Matthew's
and St. Mark's narrative was the preaching of the
Apostle Peter, the same origin must be ascribed to
those portions of St. Luke's narrative which are in sub-
stance one with theii's. The remaining portions must
have been supplied either by the preaching, or by
private statements or notes of other eye-witnesses.
1 Cijcl. of Bih. Lit. lu the same admirably comprehensive and
instructive article, Mr. Venables quotes the remai-k that " St.
Luke's is the Gospel of contrasts," instancing Zacharias' unbelief
and Mary's faith ; Simon and the penitent woman ; Martha and
Mary; one thankful and nine thankless lepers; "the tears and
hosannas on the brow of Olivet ;" woes opposed to blessings (chap.
vi. 2-1—26) ; the Pharisee and publican ; the good Samaritan ; the
blaspheming and repentant malefactors.
- The view adopted by Westcott (following Winer, with others),
rightly rejected by Dean Alford, that St. Paul here claims no
direct revelation, but only to have heard from others what came
originally from the Lord, rests on an overstrained grammatical
nicety— the employment of the preposition uto, instead of 7rap«.
Bat (1) the fact that the Lord was the original authority is by no
means inconsistent with His having personally communicated both
the facts and the command to the Apostle ; (2) there would be no
meaning in saying that an account of what Jesus did came originally
from Himself ; (3) St. Paul uses hoth prepositions in deuyiug that
he received his Gospel from men (Gal. i. 1, 12), and nses 7rap« of
the original source of a thing as well as of the medium (Phil,
iv. 18).
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE POETEY OF THE BIBLE.
IMAGERY FROM OBJECTS OF COMMON LIFE.
BY TUE REV. A.
AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN S, ALYTH, N.B.
,F the fidelity with which the Bible reflects
the natural features of a land so diversi-
fied aa Palestine has been serviceable in
its wide-spread mission over the earth, its
^ivid"r. 'presentation of every form of healthy human
life lias had no les.s influence in secunng for its doctrines
a welcome among tho different conditions and ranks of
men. Tho Je>vish Scriptures differ from the religious
books of other countries in the wide range of their
sympathies. They do not appeal to the experience of a
select or initiated few. They address all who have ears
to hear, and speak to the representatives of every class
with tho authority which can only be secured by interest
in its welfare, and familiarity with its needs.
In claimmg this large sympathy for Hebrew poetry,
we do no more than describe the office of poetry in
general. But it is e%-ideut that the social arrangements
of the Israelites during the best pei-iods of their history
•were eminently favourable to the preservation, in the
national literature, of this element of impartial truth-
fulness. As in the Greece of the Homeric poems, the
whole course of domestic and common life among the
Hebrews was simple and uniform in the highest degree.
To estimate, therefore, the pkce which rural and
domestic images occupy in Biblical poetry, and the
boldness with which they are introduced, we may
conveniently compare it Avith the great epics of Greece.
These reflect a state of society in its primitive sim-
plicity, shnilar to the best phases of Hebrew life.
There was the same respect for honest labour, the
same freedom from disdain of manual toil. Tlie wise
Ulysses built his own house, and carved his own
bed. Princes did the work of cooks. Tlie princess
of Pha3acia, one of the most graceful and lovely of
all poetic creation.s, took her part with the maidens of
her court in washing the household linen. It is in ac-
cordance with these manners which he represents, that
Homer takes a serene and sunny enjojnnent in rural
scenes of every kind. But while he makes homely work
beautiful, he docs not, as the Hebrew poets do, sm'rouud
it -with associations of grandeur and sublimity. Similes
from the farmyard and the field the Grecian bard keeps
for his less lieroie and important incidents. The poet
of Israel connects by his metapliors the highest with
the lowest things. The actions, not only of warriors
and kings, but of tlie Supreme Being himself, ai-e often
illustrated from the meanest and commonest sources.
And this is done so naturally that we are conscious of
no incongruity. Heaven, so united to earth, loses no
dignity, but confers it. The event described does not
suffer in power or grandeur from the illu.sti'ation em-
ployed; while the image, so familiar in its homeliness,
lends a life-like reality to thoughts wliich might else be
too sublime for ordinary minds.
This feature of Biblical poetry cannot be better illus-
trated than by the instance selected by Bishop Lowth.
The ancient modes of thi-eshing and winnowing corn
were in themselves picturesque, and afforded many
situations favom-able for the exorcise of poetic imagi-
nation. The floor, which was not seldom selected for
the performance of rehgious rites, and held in sacred
estimation, was generally in a lofty and exposed situa-
tion, whei'e the wind served as a natural fan, to blow
away the chaff as the oxen trod the sheaves.*
An instrument constructed of largo planks furnished
^vith sharp teeth, or a kind of cart on indented wheels,
was sometimes substituted for the cattle. The prophet
Isaiah borrows a grand image from this custom : —
" Behold, I have made thee a threshing wain ;
A new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth.
Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small,
Aiid reduce the hills to chaff.
Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall bear them away ;
And the tempest shall scatter them abroad."
(Isa. xli. 15, 16.)
Here the comparison of the chosen people to an
instrument for executing Jehovah's vengeance on the
heathen is remarkably fine, and exhibits the secret of
the sublimity of such images in Hebrew poetry, which
produces its effect by a boldness surpassing anything
in Homer. In the following employment of the same
simile in the Iliad, the comparison of the hero's horses
to the oxen, grand as it is, is more obvious and clear ;
and, leaving less to the imagination of the reader, does
not impress him to the same degree : —
"As with autumnal harvests covered o'er
And thick bestrewn lies Ceres' sacred floor,
When round and round with never-wearied pain
The trampling steers beat out the unnumbered grain;
So the fierce coursers, as the chariot rolls,
Tread down whole ranks and crush out heroes' souls."
(Pope's Iliad, xx. 577.)
In other passages of the Scriptm-es, God himself is
represented as the One who threshes out the heathen,
tramples them under His feet, and disperses them ; while
the comparison of the wicked to " chaff which is driven
by the wind" is so frequent as almost to become a
poetical commonplace." But tlie image was revived
with all the power of freshness and originality when,
after tho long prophetic silence, a voice was heard in
the wilderness proclaiming the coming of an Anointed
One, in whose hand should be a winnowing fan that
would " throughly purge His floor," and sift, with keen
discrimination, genuine and substantial worth from the
chaff fit only for the burning.
It would be useless to accumulate allusions of a
similar kind. Images from ploughing, sowing, and
' 2 Sam. xxiv. 18; Hos. ix. 1.
3 Hab. iii. 12 ; Joel iii. 14 ; Jer. U. 33 ; Isa. xxi. 10.
THE POETRY OF THE BIELE.
reaping, and all the details of Eastern agricultui-al life,
will occur to every one. The magnificent picture of the
wine-press of the vengeance of Almighty God, in the
sixty-third chapter of Isaiah, has been abeady quoted.
The same image floated before the imagination of the
seer of Patmos, and mingled its fierce colours with the
awful visions which were unrolled in his sight.'
Among the ai'ts and manufactures of Palestine, that
of the potter often attracted the notice of the prophets,
who borrowed some of their most striking and forcible
symbols from it. The material in which the potter works,
liis absolute command over it, and its obedience to the
skilful hand which makes it take what shape or im-
pression the artist likes, commended that art to I'eligious
poets in search of expressive emblems of God's creative
power; while the ease -with which, in a moment, the
vessel of clay could be shattered, suggested the irresis-
tible might of Him " who dasheth in pieces the nations."
Among the Old Test<ament writers Jeremiah is especially
fond of this image, and it passed both into the poetry
and the theological reasoning of the New Testament.
In our own day an eminent English poet has shown
tliat the ancient writers did not by any means exhaust
this fertile figure."
The mention of this figure of the potter's vessel
suggests one cause which redeems the imagery with
which we have been dealing from the charge of mean-
ness or impropriety when employed in serious and lofty
subjects. In the symbolism employed by the prophets,
which may be described as acted poetry, the commonest
household utensils and furniture offered the readiest as
well as the most striking emblems. The prophetic
warnings had reference to the people and their lives, and
were often brought home to them by some emblematic
allusion to domestic life. Tlius Jeremiah breaks a vase
to show the utter and irrevocable doom about to fall on
sinful Jerusalem.^ From the signs adopted by Ezekiel
to announce or explain the DiA-ine judgment, we can
almost gather a complete picture of Oriental daily life.
At one time he is directed to bake a sujiply of bread ;
at another to superintend the boiling of flesh in a large
caldron ; at another to move the furniture from his
house, as if about to change his residence. Watcliing
such representations, not as part of a drama intended
only to amuse, but as signs of an inspired mission
brouglit before them at the times when the deepest
feelings of their nature were stu-red, the Israelites
came to connect the homeliest actions with the most
serious and lofty subjects. Thus a taste was fonned
free from the fastidiousness which modern literature
encourages, and Hebrew poetiy dares to handle subjects
1 Rev. xiv. 19; sis. 15.
2 K. Browning's Rabhi Ben Ezra. Especially—
"Ay, note that potter's wheel,
That metaphor ! and feel
Why time spins fast, why passive lies our clay.
Thou, to whom fools propound
When the wine nialces its rouud^
' Since life fleets, all is change ; the past gone, seize to-day' "
and succeeding stanzas.
3 Jer. xix. 10.
of the meanest kind with a boldness to which the
greatest of other countries hardly approach.^ Common
as is the figure of Time ploughing the aged face into
wrinkles, what lyi-ical poet would now venture to de-
scribe excessive misfortune in the Psalmist's way ? —
" The ploughers have ploughed upon my hack.
And made long furrows." (Ps. cxxis. 3.)
Or in what other literature could a comparison be
found, combining at once the utmost meanness iu the
ilhistration and the supreme of sublimity in its appli-
cation ? —
"And I will wipe Jerusalem,
As a man wipeth a dish ;
He wipeth it and turneth it upside down."
(2 Kings xxi. 13. See Lowth, Lect. vii.)
This series of papers would be incomplete without
a few remarks on the skUl and power exhibited
by the poets of Israel in depicting human passions.
Poetry has been defined as the spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings, and in endeavouring to form an
estimate of the excellence of a poem, we test it by
its power to communicate to ourselves the passions
which it paints. His skill is great who succeeds in
charming us into sympathy with himself, or convinces
us of the truth with which he paints emotions to which
om* own hearts have been strangers.
But there are certain conditions peculiar to Hebrew
song which must be borne in mind. It is for the most
part lyi'ical, and therefore reflects only single and
isolated states of feeling. Of the infinite complexity
of human motive and character, a short psalm or rapid
ode cannot take account. But hardly any poetry is so
completely spontaneous as that of the Jews. The poet
usually sings from the force of remembered emotion,
or more properly from feelings which, having once pos-
sessed him, do not die away like the passions of less
gifted individuals, but live on as a jiermanent part of
his being. Hence he is distinguislied from other men,
not only by a greater quickness of thought and feeling
under immediate external excitement, but by a power
of expressiug liis sensations after the exciting cause has
IJassed away. These he will sometimes depict in lan-
guage little short in liveliness and truth of that wliich
is uttered by men in real life under the actual pressure
of excited passion. This is, doiibtless, the character
of many of the Hebrew odes. But, on the other hand,
numbers of the Psalms, as well as passages in the pro-
phetical books, seem to have sprang from the first
vehemence of feeling of which they are the inspired
utterance. The fifty-ninth Psalm offers a good instance.
It appears to be the composition of a king beleaguered
in Jerusalem by a foreign foe. In his cry for help,
his mind, it is true, recurs to old deliverances wi-ought
by Jehovah for His Holy City ; but the tone of scorn
^ Dante, of moderns, comes perhaps the nearest to the Hebrews
in this daring, e.g.—
" The moon belated almost into midnight
Now made the stars appear to us more rare.
Formed !t/;6 a buctet that is all ablaze."
{Purg. sviii.)
Shakespeare, too, can combine homeliness and sublimity, e.g. —
" Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks." (Jiing Lear.)
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
is so fierce, aud the imprecations are so real, that
it is impossible not to feel that wo have here words
actually uttered while some barbariau horde, probably
the Scytliiaus, were ragiug round the walls.' But
whether this be a correct explanation of the origin of
such poems or not, it is clear that a religious poet
singing or writing under the influence of a mighty con-
viction, was within the same circle of feeling whether he
recalled the past or described the present. Whenever
the presence of a Spiritual Being is realised the reli-
gious emotions will be excited, and the greater part of
Hebrew lyi-ic poetry appears to have been composed in
the spirit which foimd utterance in the cry —
*' Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit ?
Or whither shall I go from Thy presence ? "
Wlule, therefore, its almost exclusive occupation mth
the religious side of life limits its range to one set of
feelings, the language in which these are exhibited is
remarkable for its liveliness and truth. Indeed, it has
often been remarked that there is danger in the general
adoption of this i)a3sionate Eastern religious language
by the less emotional Western races. The burning
words in which men under the influence of deep emo-
tion have expressed their com-ictions are usefiU, if they
help us to give to otherwise vague and fitful feelings
the definiteuess necessary to make them starting-points
for immediate action. But nothing is more likely to
dull the reality of spiritual perception than the con-
stant strain after ecstaeios of emotion which were real
to other minds, but need an effort to create them in our
own ; while, on the other liaud, there is nothing so
likely to impair the sincerity of the soul as the habitual
repetition of words pitched in a key so far above the
range of ordinary feeling. It is for this reason that
the custom of chanting the Psalms has a propriety
beyond the retention of their decided musical purpose.
Not only does the additional impulse of music come
in to aid the emotional faculties, but we are reminded
that we are using the words of men inspired with the
passionate feelings of poets, as well as with the religious
feelings of .saints.
The proper place to notice the treatment of the great
human passions by the poets of Israel, will bo found in
the detailed notices of separate books. But this paper
may fitly close Avith an example of that power of ex-
pressing intense and passionate religious desire, which
1 See lutroducticn to this Psalm in Psalms ClironologicaUy
Arranged.
in diiierent degrees was possessed by all the inspired
line. The occasion of the exquisitely plaintive song
of which Ps. xlii. forms part has been already noticed
(Vol. II., p. 161). The accompanying hymn probably
had its origin in the same experiences, and is from the
pen of the same nameless royal author. A special
interest attaches to it from the fact that it contributed
to religion and literature a permanent symbol of life.
The " vale ©f miseiy," or " vale of tears," in verse G,
has been identified with the last caravan station on the
road to Jerusalem from the north. '• Ain el-Haramie,
the last halting-place, is a melancholy and charming
spot, and few impressions equal that which is expe-
rienced on resting there for the evening encampment.
The valley is narrow and gloomy ; a stream of black
water issues from the rocks which form its walls, and
which are hollowed into sepulchres. That, I believe, is
the ' Vale of Tears,' or of trickling waters, sung of as
one of the stations of the journey in the delightful
eighty-fourth Psalm, and become, in the sad aud
tender mysticism of the Middle Ages, the emblem
of life." 2
" O, how lovely are thy dwellings,
Jehovah, Thou God of Hosts !
My soul hath a desire and longing for the courts of Jehovah :
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Yea, the sjiarrow hath found her an house aud the swallow a uesfc,
"Where she may lay her young;
Even Thy altars, O Jehovah, God of Hosts,
My King and my God !
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house :
They shall yet live to praise Thee !
Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee,
Who loveth to think on journeying to Thy House ;
Who going through the vale of misery, 3 make it a well,
Yea, an early rain falleth aud covereth it with blessiug !
They go from strength to strength, ^
Aud so they appear before God in Zion.
" Jehovah, God of Hosts, hear Thou my prayer !
Hearken, O God of Jacob !
Behold, O God our Defender,
Aud look upon the face of Thine Anointed !
For one day in Thy courts is better thau a thousand ;
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God
Than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.
For Jehovah our God is a light and defence !
Jehovah will give grace aud glory,
Aud no good thing shall be withheld from them that live a
godly life. '
O Jehovah, God of Hosts,
Blessed is the man that putfceth his trust in Thee."
^ Konau, Vie dc Jisus, ^. 69.
^ Valley of Baca, as in A. V. In 2 Sam. v. 21, the word is trans-
lated " mulberry-tree," and Ewald renders here by " balsam." But
the ancient versions all render " weeping.'' See Perowue in Ice.
•• Id est, they surmounted every fresh obstacle.
AXIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
SY THE BEV. -W. HOUGHTON, II.A., F.L.S., EECTOE OF PRESTOX, SALOP,
iHERE is uo doubt about the correctness
of our Tcrsion iu the rendering of the
Hebrew word khasiddh, which literally
signifies " the pious bird," from a root " to
desire or love strongly." The stork has long been justly
celebrated for its strong attachment to its young : the
writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans contain
fi'eqnent allusions to its affection. Aristotle and Pliny
mention a belief tliat the young repay the care of the
parents by suj)portiug them when old, an idea more
pleasing than accurate. Tlie Latins, like the Hebrews,
called the stork(Cico?wa alba) "the pious bird,"«i'ispf«.
PKny also tells us that this bird was so highly prized
for its utility in destroying sei-pents, that in Thessaly
it was a capital crime for any one to kill it ; the laws
awarding the same penalty for the offence as for homi-
cide. The stork's affection for its young was shown iu
a most remarkable manner at tlie biu-ning of DeKr, in
the south of Holland, when a female bird, after many
unsuccessful attempts to carry off her young, chose
rather to perish with them in the general ruin than to
desert them.
The stork, from its carnivorous habits and the unclean
natm-e of its food, Avas not allowed as food (see Lev. xi.
19; Dent. xiv. 18). The Psalmist alludes to these birds
often frequenting fir-trees : " As for the stork, the fir-
trees are her house" (Ps. civ. 17). Jeremiah notices
their migratory habits : " Tea, the stork iu the heaven
knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the
crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming ;
but my people know not the judgment of the Lord "
(viii. 7). Zechariah seems to refer to the power of the
stork's wings in chap. v. 9. The stork is mentioned
once more, \iz., in the margin of Job xxxix. 13, wliere
the rendering of tlie English version is izcorrect ; it
should be translated as foUows :
" The wing of the ostrich moveth joyously,
But has she the wings and plumes of the stork ? "
(i.e., the ostrich lias beautifid wings, but she has not
the affectionate disposition of tlie stork, for she leaveth
her eggs in the dust, and is hardened against her
yoimg ones, &c.)
The utility of the stork to man in destroying serpents
and reptiles, and in clearing away noxious substances,
has secured for itself protection. In Holland and
Germany especially the stork is treated as a welcome
guest, and annually returns to the nest on a steeple or
turret, or on the false cliimney erected by the Hollander,
or the platform placed by the Gei^man for its use, where
the young for many generations have been cradled. In
some Continental towns the young storks are taken
from the nests and domesticated, and may be seen
near the markets, where they are usefid as scavengers
ia clearing away entrails of fish and other offal.
Storks migrate sometimes in enormous numbers ;
Shaw noticed several flocks, half a mile in breadth, whUe
he was journeying over Mount Carmel. These flocks
were from Egj-pt, and each one occupied three hours in
passing over. Dr. Tristram aptly calls attention to the
expression " stork in the heaven" as of peculiar force;
this bird, unhke most emigTants, voyages by day at a
gi-eat height in the air and in vast flocks. He also speaks
of the suddenness with which these birds distribute
themselves over the whole country of Palestine as " truly
startling." In winter not one is to be seen. " On the
I 24th of March, 1864, vast flocks suddenly appeared,
j steadily travelling northward, and leaving large detach-
ments on every plain and hill. From that iJerioal till
! about the 4th of May they kept possession of the whole
; land, except where the gi-ound was utterly barren,
! abounding especially in any marsliy plains. They did
not congregate like rooks, but like sheeji or cattle scat-
tered over a wide pasture, they systematically quartered
every acre of the country, probably until they had
cleared it of all the snakes, lizards, and frogs they could
find, when either scarcity, or the increasing heat of
summer, reminded them of tlieir northern homes, and
they proceeded as suddenly as they had arrived, leaving
behind them only a pair here and there at the established
resting-places. They were equally abundant on both
sides of Jordan. On Mount Nebo, tliey so covered the
range that at first, and until we had examined them
through our telescopes, we took them for vast flocks of
Moabite sheep j)asturrng."
Storks build their nests on house-tops, old towers,
&c., and sometimes on the summits of very lofty trees;
the nest is formed of a mass of sticks, reeds, and other
coarse materials, lieaped together with a slight de-
pression in the centre for the eggs, which are three or
four iu number, white tinged with a faint buff colour.
The old birds are said to feed their young by "inserting
their own beak within the mandibles of the young bird,
and passing from their oavh stomach the half-digested
remains of their last meal " (see Tan-ell, ii. 557).
The black stork {Clconia nigra) is also to be seen
in Palestine, in some parts of which it is common. This
is a smaller species than the white stork; the upper
part of the body being of a glossy bluish-black ; its
nnder-surface white. Unlike the white stork, this one
shuns the abodes of man, dwelling in secluded spots, and
nesting on the tops of the loftiest pines. It appears
to prefer fish to other kind of food, but when hungry
will eat any sort of offal. A black stork which Colonel
Montague captured by means of a slight shot -wound in
tlie wing, and domesticated, lived with him for more
than a year, and afforded him opijortimities of noticing
its habits. The bird was of a mild disposition, and
would follow its feeder about ; it would never make use
of its powerful bill offensively against other bu'ds, and
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
was a wonderful adept in seizing and I'ctaining hold of a
slippery eel. The black stork is niigratoiy, and passes
the winter in the southern parts of Europe. It was
observed by Tristram standing jjatiently in the shallows
of the Dead Sea, where fish are brought down by the
streams.
Neither the white nor black storks have any voice ;
they make, however, a snapping noise with their bills.
The absence of a voice may have given rise to the
behef mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. x. 31) that tlie
stork had no tongue. The Hebrew term Jchastddh
doubtless would include both the white and black
species. Both the white
and black stork have
occasionally been seen in
this country, but they
never, we believe, pay us
a Ansit now. In Holland
lie who has a stork's nest
on his house is con-
sidered a fortimate man.
" In England, on the
other hand," to quote the
words of MacgilliATay,
" the possession of all the
■virtues imaginable would
not suffice to protect the
bu-d from the prowling
game-keeper and bird-
stuff er." The storks
belong to the Ardeidce, or
Heron family of birds.
COEMOEANT,
Til ere are two Hebrew
words for which the
English version gives
" cormorant," viz., Jcdath
and shdldk ; the former
word is with much reason
assigned to the pelican;
doubts have been expressed as to what bird the shdldlc
denotes. The word occurs in the list of unclean or
abominable birds (Lev. xi. 17 ; Dent. xiv. 17), and is
mentioned nowhere else. The LXX. interpret shdldlc
by KaTopaKTris. The ancient Greeks, as Aristotle and the
author of tlio Ixeutic.=y (Oppian. ii. 2), understood some
diving bird, apparently, from the description given by
the latter, the Solan goose or ganiiet [Sula bassana).
Etymologically speaking, the Hebrew term points to
some plunging bird ; shdldk means " to throw " or
" cast down ; " hence a bird which plunges dovm from
high rocks into the water.
The Solan goose is not common on the shores of
Palestine, and may not have been sufficiently known to
the ancient Hebrews to obtain a place amongst the for-
bidden birds; but the connorant {Phalacrocorax carbo),
which answers very well to the requirements of the
Hebrew root, is commou on the coast, comes up the
river Kishon, and visits the Galilean lake ; it is also
THE WHITE STOKK.
abundant on the Jordan. Another species, called, from
its small size, the pigmy cormorant (P. pyg7nens), was
noticed by Tristram and his party on the Kishon and
the Litany. There is no other bird that has an equal
claim to represent the shdldlc of the Hebrew Scrip-
tures, and we may conclude that the cormorant is the
bird iirobably intended.
PELICAN.
The word kdath, there can be but little doubt, if any,
is rightly translated by " the pelican." It occurs in the
list of unclean birds (Lev. xi. 18 ; Deut. xiv. 17) ; in Ps.
cii. 6, where the suppliant exclaims, "I am like a pelican
of the wUdemess, an owl
of ruined places ;" in Isa.
xxxiv. 11, where it is said
of desolate Edom, "the
Tcdcdli and the bittern
shall possess it;" and in
Zeph. ii. 14, where the
same is said of Nineveh.
The Hebrew word is de-
rived from a root mean-
ing "to vomit," in allu-
sion to the habit the
pelican has of pressing its
under-mandibles against
its breast, and then dis-
gorging the contents of
its pouch to feed its
young. It has been ob-
jected that the pelican is
a water-bird, and cannot,
therefore, be the hdath
of the Scriptures — "the
pelican of the wUderaess "
— as it must of necessity
starve in the desert; but
the inidhar (wilderness)
is often used to denote a
wide, open space, culti-
vated or uncultivated,
and is not to be restricted to barren spots destitute of
water ; moreover, as a matter of fact, the pelican, after
having filled its capacious pouch with fish, mollusks,
&c., often does retire to places far inland, where it con-
sumes what it has captured. Thus, too, it breeds in
the great sandy wastes near the mouths of the Danube.
The expression "pelican in the wilderness," in the
Psalmist's pitialjle complaint, is a true picture of the
bird as it sits in apparent melancholy mood with its
bill resting on its breast.
Two species of pelican are found on the coasts of
Syria — the white pelican (P. onocrotalus) and the Dal-
matian pelican (P. crispiis); neither species was seen
in Palestine by Tristram's party, but Dr. Thomson
obtained a specimen by the waters of Mcrom, and saw
one near tlie Galilean lake. The mode of feeding its
young with the contents of its pouch — the red tip being
pressed against its breast^ — is by some supposed to be
the origin of the fable about the pelican feeding its
AISIMALS OF IHS EEBLE.
THE COMMON PELICAN.
young with its own blood. The fable is generally sup-
posed to be a classical one, but this is not tlie case. In
an old book of emblems entitled A Choice of Emhlemes
and other Devices, by Geffery Whitney, 1586, there is
a woodcut of an eagle piercing her breast witli her
hooked beak, in a nest sui-rounded with her young ones,
whose mouths are opened to receive the blood which
issues from the parent's body; underneath the cut are
the following lines : —
"The pellicau, for to revive her younge,
Doth pierce her breast, and geve them of her blood.
Then searche your breste, and as you have with tonge
With penne proceede to doe our c Duutrie good :
Your zeal is great, your learning is profounde ;
Then help cur wantes, with that you doe abounde. '
Tliis is curious, and bears on what we have already
stated,^ that the original idea of a bird feeding its
young with its blood is of Egyptian birth, and was
held concerning the vulture or eagle ; that in course
of time the fable was transferred to tlie pelican, and
appears fii-st in the wi-itiugs of the ecclesiastical fathers
and tlieir annotations on the Scriptures. The Greek
writers employ the word ire\€Kav or ireXawr^s to express
both some species of woodpecker and the pelican.
1 Bible Educatoe, Vol. II., p. 248.
10
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Etymologically (from ireXeKau, '' to hew witli au axe"),
the word shows that it originally denoted a woodpecker.
Whether the word "pelican" was by early English
writers over used to denote the eagle or any other
bird except the pelican, we cannot say; but it seems
clear that in architectural ornaments and in old books
of emblems the pelican is always depicted as an eagle.
This Sir Thomas Browne has pointed out in the chapter
on the picture of the pelican. "In every i)lace," he
says, "wo meet -with the picture of the pelican opening
her breast with her bill, and feeding her young ones with
the blood distilled from her. Thus it is set forth, not
only in common signs, but in the crests and scutcheons
of many noble families." ^ He then shows that the pic-
tures "contain many improi^rieties, disagreeing almost
in all things from the true and proper description." The
pelican inclines to white, the bird of the pictures is
^ecn or yellow ; the pelican exceeds the magnitude of
a swan, the bird of the pictures '• is described in the
big'ness of a hen ;" it is commonly painted with a short
bill, the j)elican has one two spans long; it is described
as having divided claws, those of the pelican are fin-
footed. " Lastly, there is one pai*t omitted more re-
markable thau any other ; that is the chowle or crop
adhering unto the lower side of the bill, and so descend-
ing by the throat; a bag or sachel very observable,
and of a capacity almost beyond credit." Notwith-
standing "the many improprieties" of the pictures,
if supposed to refer to a pelican, it is certain that
this bird was supposed by some to be the bird in
question. Did the word "pelican'' ever stand for an
eagle, as the pictures seem to show ? It is not certain
what bird Shakespeare had in view when he makes
Laertes say —
" To his good friends thus wide I'll ope ray arms,
Aud like the kind life-rsuderiug' pelican,
Eepast thsm with my blood " {Kamlet, iv. 5) ;i
or King Lear to exclaim —
" 'Twas this flash begot
Those pelican daughters " (iii. 4) ;
1 In the folio (reprint) edition of 1623 (the first collection of
SLakesi)eare's works), the words "life-rendering politician" occur.
or Gaunt to say —
" That blood already, like the pelican,
Hast thou tapp'd out, aud druukeuly caroused."
(K.Rich, ir. ii. 1.)
If Shakespeare ever looked into the old book of
emblems mentioned above, as is thought probable in the
note in Knight's Shalcespeare, then his pelican must
have stood for au eagle. But there is no mistake as to
the bird intended by Hackluyt, who says, " Of the sea-
fowle aboue aU other not common in England, I noted
the pellicane, which is fained to be the louingst bird that
is, which rather than her young should want, will spare
her heart blood out of her belly " (Voyages, iii., p. 520).
Mr. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Zoological
Society's Gardens, in a letter to a London newsi^aper,
has given an ingenious explanation of this old fable.
He noticed that the flamingoes in the gardens, wlien
showing signs of breeding — but with no residt —
exhibited a most extraordinary beha\aour to a pair of
cariamas in the same a^daiy. " These bu*ds have a
habit of bending back their heads, and with open gaping
mouths uttering loud and somewhat distressing sounds.
This habit at once attracts the flamingoes, and very
frequently one or more of them advance towards the
cai'iamas, and standing erect over the bu-d, by a slight
up and down movement of the head, raise up into its
mouth a considerable quantity of red-coloured fluid.
As soon as the upper part of the throat aud mouth
becomes filled, it will di-op or run down from the
corners of the flamingo's mouth ; the flamingo then
bends its long neck over the gaping cariama, and pours
the fluid into the mouth, and as frequently on the back
of the cariama." On examination of this red fluid, it
was found to be principally blood, the red coi-pusclcs
showing themselves abundantly under the microscope.
Mr. Bartlett, therefore, thinks that this habit was noticed
in ancient Egypt, and that the iLamingo is the bird of
the fable. From what has been said, however, it will
appear that the "vulture or eagle is really the bird of the
fable, that the fable originated in Egypt, and tliat this
is abundantly confirmed by the figures in architectural
ornaments and in old books of emblems and fables.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY C. J. VAUaHAN, D.D., MASTER OF THE TEMPLE.
" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the
saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus."
— Ep3-:es. i. 1.
^'vTl rrrClHE words "at Ephesus" are wanting in
the original text of the Yatican and Siuaitic
manuscripts. Origen (a. D. 186 — 253)
comments upon the remarkable phrase
(as it would stand without them), the saints which are ;
referring to the revelation in Exodus of the I AM, and
suggesting that St. Paul here ascribes to Christians a
participation in that Divine reality of being. Basil
(a.d. 321' — 379) expressly saj's that the reading handed
down by those before him, and actually found by him
in the ancient copies, was, " the saints which are, and
faitliful," &c. The intolerable harshness of such an
expression, and the utter inappropriateness of so
abstruse a doctrine to the particular passage, as weE as
St. Paul's reijeated use of the same "which are," or
"which is," toith a local designation, in the opening of
other Epistles (1 Cor. i. 2, 2 Cor. i. 1, " which is at
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLATNIED.
11
Corinth;" Phil. i. 1, '-which are at Philippi"), will
satisfy us that the words '* which are " cannot have been
intended to stand without any addition in the place
before us. The phenomenon of the omission in the
authorities above quoted may most readily be explaiued
by supposing this Epistle to have been designed for a
circuit of Churches, so that the words " at Ephesus,"
though originally St. Paul's, may have been omitted in
copies made for transmission to other congregations,
and either a blank left, or other words, " at Laodicea,"
&c., as occasion required, substituted in their place.
According to this hj-pothesis, " the Ej)istle from Lao-
dicea," mentioned ia the contemporary Epistle to the
Colossians (iv. 16), may have been this very Epistle to
the Ephesians, which might naturally reach Colossce in
its circuit from that neighbouring city.
It should be remembered that the original destination
of the Epistle does not wholly depend upon the pre-
sence of the words " at Ej^hesus " in the verse before
us. Even the Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts have
" To the Ephesians " as its title. Origen and Basil
quote it as the Epistle to the Ephesians. Tertullian
(about A.D. 160 — 240) makes it a charge against
Marcion that he speaks of it as addressed to the Lao-
diceans. Nor can any stress justly be laid upon the
total absence of salutations or personal references, as
inconsistent with the character of an Epistle to a com-
munity amongst which St. Paul had long lived and
laboured. The argument, however plausible, might
almost be inverted. St. Paul had never ■visited Rome
when he wrote to the Roman Church : that great
Epistle has a whole chapter of greetings. St. Paul had
spent eighteen months continuously at Corinth : liis
two Epistles to the Corinthians have but one personal
greeting between them. The same contradiction of
expectation occui-s in the case of the Epistles to the
Galatians and Thessalonians It is a salutary example
of the iUusiveness of a priori reasoning, in reference
alike to Scripture and science. In the instance before
us, Tychicus, the bearer of the letter, may have been
charged also with many personal messages ; and the
veiy depth and catholicity of the doctrinal subjects of
the Epistle, if not its intentionally encyclical character,
may sufficiently account for the exclusion of all local
and personal references.
We have then before us an Epistle from St. Paul,
now a prisoner at Rome, to that specially privileged
Church of Ephesus, which had had St. Paul as its evan-
gelist, St. Paul for three years as its resident bishop
and pastor, and which was to enjoy in later days the
continuous ministry of St. John watching over the great
and perilous transition from an age of supernatural
powers and apostolical gifts to an age of ordinary
ministries and level experiences. Let us read, as our best
introduction to the study of this great Epistle, all that
Scripture teUs of the history of the Church of Ephesus,
from St. Paul's first brief visit, on his way from Corinth
to Jerusalem, in Acts x-\iii. ; through the interesting
episode of Apollos, matured there, under the personal
influence of two private Christians, into a devoted and
powerful minister of the Gospel ; to that three years'
residence of St. Paul himself, which began with the in-
struction and re-baptism of the twelve half-disciples,
and the exciting scenes of exorcism and incantation,
and closed with that tumult in the theatre, which bore
so powerful a testimony to the Apostle's work and the
Gospel's progress (Acts xix.). Then let us j)onder that
affecting charge of St. Paul to the presbyters of Ephesus
summoned to meet him at Miletus, in which, on his
way from Corinth and Philippi and Ti-oas towards hia
captivity at Jerusalem, at Caesarea, and F^ome, he calls
to their remembrance the life he had led among them
as their first pastor, and solemnly commits to them the
oversight of a flock which he then believed he should
see no more in the body (Acts xx.). After this, leaving
space meanwhile for the writing of this Epistle from
Rome, we shall gather the few scattered hints which
remain to us, in the Epistles to Timothy, of a later visit
paid by St. Paul to Ei^hesus in the interval between
his two imprisonments in the great metropolis ; of the
commission given to his loved disciple to exercise at
Ephesus in his stead the episcopal offices of ordination,
discipline, correction of error, and general administra-
tion; and of that gradual yet definite growth of corrupt
and corrupting doctrine of which the first warning had
been given at Miletus, and of which the Epistle to
the Colossians marks to us something of the natiux- and
the direction. Finally, when St. Paul himself is with-
drawn from the scene by that mart}Tdom on the
eve of which he writes his second letter to Timothy,
summoning him from his charge, we have still Scrip-
ture glimpses left to us of the anxious and wavering
fortunes of the Church of Ephesus, in that last Book of
the Bible, the Revelation of St. John, which contains an
Epistle to Ephesus, not from earth, but from heaven,
telling of toil and patience and general fidelity, but
withal of a loss of the " first love," and of the need of
repentance and watchfulness lest the candlestick be
removed finally out of its place (Rev. ii. 1 — 7).
" Blessed be tlie God and Father of oar Lord Jesus Clirist."—
Ephes. i. 3.
The very same words open the first Epistle of St.
Peter (1 Pet. i. 3). It is interesting to notice the
coincidences — and they are many — between the wi'itiugs
of these two great Apostles. In 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16, we
have an express testimony to the general knowledge
and acceptance of St. Paul's Epistles in the Churches,
and to their distinctive character as recognised portions
of the written Word of God. " Even as our beloA'cd
brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto
him, hath written unto you ; as also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things ; in which " epistles
(according to the reading of the best manuscripts, Avhich
have ah, not dls) " are some things hard to be under-
stood, which they that are unlearned and tmstable
wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, imto their
own destruction."
That which is thus emphatically asserted in the
second Epistle is clearly to be inferred from the first.
12
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Of tho genuineness of the first Epistle there lias never
been any doubt in tho Chureh. It may form an argu-
ment not wholly valueless for the genuineness of the
second, if we see that the testimony borne in it to
certain Apostolical writings is but the gathering into
shape and form of several scattered and incidental
testimonies fairly deducible from the first.
It is scarcely too much to say that St. Peter's lan-
guage in his first Epistle is imbued and satiu-atcd
with the phraseology of St. Paul. We have taken one
example from the opening words. The very frame-
work and setting of the first Epistle of St. Peter is
that of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. We will
adduce two or three other examples, to which many
further additions might doubtless be made.
(1.) Compare 1 Pet. ii. 6—8 with Rom. ix. 33. Both
the Apostles are quoting from the prophet Isaiah.
Both bring together two passages, ■wide apart in place,
and with no ob\-ious connection of import. Tlie one is
Isa. xx^-iii. 16; the other is Isa. "vnii. 14. The varia-
tions from the Septiiagiut are important in both
Epistles, and it is surely remarkable that the varia-
tions are the same. The Septuagint has, in the one
passage, " Behold, I cast in for the foundations of
Sion : " St. Paul and St. Peter (foUowing the Hebrew)
both read, " Behold, I lay [set, or place] in Sion." The
Septuagint (with the Hebrew) has, "He that believeth ; "
St. Paul and St. Peter both read. " He that believeth
on him " (or "it"). The Septuagint has, in the other
passage, \i6ov ■np6aK0ij.fj.a and -jrerpas irTiofia : St. Paul
and St. Peter both read, xidos irpoffK6fj.iJ.aTos and ■n-eVpa
ffKavSaXov. It is easier to imagine that the one Apostle
has the quotation of the other before him, than that
both, in passages of the Old Testament neither pix)mi-
nent nor obviously connected, adopted a form of quota-
tion popularly current in the Churches.
(2.) Compare 1 Pet. iii. 3—5 with 1 Tim. ii. 9.
Both the Apostles are giving rules for the dress of
Christian women. The one says, " Whose adorning
(KSfffjos) let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
(eVTrXo/c^j) the hair, and of wearing of gold (xp^ffifv),
or of putting on of apparel (liJ.aTioov) ; but let it be the
hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corrui^tible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet (ricrvxiov) sjiirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price {noXuTeKh).
For after this manner in the old time the holy women
also, who trusted in God. adorned themselves {iKoatxaw
eouTos), being in subjection {v-troTa(rff6fj.evai) unto their
own husbands." The other, " In like manner also
that women adorn themselves {Koaixtlf eavrds) in modest
apparel, not with broidered hair (irAeyfjafftv), or [and]
gold (xpvffv), or pearls, or costly array {lfj.arifffj.(fi ttoKv-
TfAe?) ; but [which bocometh women professing godli-
ness] with good works. Let the woman learn in silence
{7](Tvxla.\ with all subjection (tr7roT07^)." The identity of
thought is apparent. The resemblance of phraseology
is remarkable. The idea of the true and the false
K6fffj.os is the same in both, though the one Epistle
contrasts the dress with the "spirit," and the other
with the conduct (" good works "), The very change
from "and" to "or" in the enumeration of parti-
culars of apparel is made (according to the best manu-
scripts) at the same jjoint. The rare word iroAvreX'^js
(" costly," " of great price "), though differently applied,
occurs in both. On the whole, we have in this jiassage an
admirable example of the use, at once free and original,
of Scripture by Scripture, of St. Paul by St. Peter.
(3.) Compare 1 Pet. iv. 1 with Rom. vi. 6, 7, 10,
11. St. Peter says, " Forasmuch then as Christ [hath]
suffered [for us] in [the] flesh, arm yourselves likewise
with the same mind [thought, or idea] ; for he that hath
suffered in [the] flesh hath ceased [hath been made to
cease] from sin." St. Paul, " Knowing this, that our
old man is [was] crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
siii : for he that is dead [hath died] is freed [hath been
justified, rid as by a judicial sentence] from sin. . .
For in that Ho [Christ] died, He died unto sin once :
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to bo dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through [in] Jesus Christ our Lord."
St. Peter's argument is, " Christ having died, regard
yourselves as having died in and with Him. A dead
man cannot sin ; the very instruments and implements
of sinning are his no more. Let the thought that
you are dead men, dating that death from Christ's
death, be your protection, yoiu' safeguard, your armour
{6Tr\lffaff6e), against sinning."' The foundation of the
argument is St. Paul's, once, twice, and thrice over.
See, for example, 2 Cor. v. 14, " Because Ave thus judge,
that if One died for all, then were all dead [then all
died] : " Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified with Christ : never-
theless I live ; yet not I [and it is no longer I that live],
but Christ liveth in me : " Ephes. ii. 5, " Hath quick-
ened us together with Christ : " Col. iii. 3, " For ye are
dead [ye died], and your life is hid with Christ in God : "
2 Tim. ii. 11, " For if we be dead [if we died] with
Him, we shall also live with Him." But in the -two
passages set side by side above, we have not only the
same doctrine, but the same illustration. St. Peter
says, " For he that hath [once] suffered in flesh [died]
hath been made to cease from sin." St. Paul, '' For he
that hath [once] died hath been freed [as by a judicial
sentence] from sin." Both use the compulsory sinless-
uoss of the dead man as an argument for the Christian
man's freedom from the power of sin. The Christian
is a dead man, because he died in Christ, and now lives,
in Christ, the resurrection life of heaven. It is scarcely
possible to conceive the argument, however we might
conceive the doctrine, of the later of the two writers to
have been independent of the earlier. The very expres-
sion " arm yourselves " in St. Peter suggests a remi-
niscence of St. Paul, to whom (with this exception) the
figure is peculiar in the New Testament. See Rom.
vi. 13 (SirAa StKaioffvviqs); xiii. 12 {4vSvaaff6f ra oirXa rov
<^a)T(5s); 2 Cor. A-i. 7; x. 4; Ephes. vi. 11 — 17; 1 Tliess.
V. 8.
(4.) One other instance of a reference in the Catholic
Epi.stles to St. Paul's writings shall be taken from St.
James iv. 5. We are aware that the statement is open
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
13
to question ; but to us uo explanation of the (liificult
verse, " Do ye tliink that the Scripture saith in vain.
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to [against]
envy?" is so satisfactory as that which sees in it an
allusion to Gal. v. 17 — 21, where St. Paul, speaking of
the antagonism between flesh and spirit, describes it
as an adverse "lusting" ("the spirit lusteth against the
flesh"), and then places " em-y'' amongst those "works
of the flesh " against which the lusting of the spirit is
du-ected. Thus St. James, ha-v-ing spoken of selfish
and sensual desires as the cause of "wars and fight-
ings," asks, in the verse before us, " Think ye that the
Scripture saying is false or unmeaning. The Spirit
which took up His abode [or, according to the truer
reading, 'which He implanted'] in us [when we became
Christians] lusteth against envy," against that parti-
cular "work of the flesh" which has to do mth the
discords and dissensions so rife amongst us in the
world ? We have seen above that St. Peter recog-
nises St. Paul's Epistles as " Scripture " (2 Pet. iii.
16). The word eViirofle? Ln St. James's quotation is a
fair equivalent to the i-n-ievixsl of St. Paul. The pre-
position Trp6s, in the sense of " against," '• in opposition
to," is sufficiently supported by 1 Cor. vi. 1 (" having a
matter against another "), Ephes. vi. 12 (" we wrestle
not against flesh and blood," (tc). Col. iii. 13, 19 (" if
any man have a quarrel against any ... be not
bitter against them"), and still more exactly by Col.
ii. 23, when rightly rendered, "not in any honom*
[or value] against [to resist] the satisfying of the
flesh."
The interest of these references to St. Paul in St.
James and St. Peter is great in itself, greater in the
help it affords towards the conception of the gi-adual
formation of the volume of the New Testament. "VVe
see how, imder God's providence, one "' writing " after
another won its way from the circle of readers to which
it was addressed, into the wider, at last into the world-
wide, community of the Christian Church. St. Paid's
du-ections for the recognition of his own letters (2 Thess.
iii. 17), for their public reading in the congregation
(1 Thess. V. 27), and for their interchange between
neighbouring Churches (Col. iv. 16), are so many pre-
parations for that kind and degi-ee of homage which St.
Peter at last claims for them, in their multiplied if not
yet collected form, when he says, " As also in all liis
Epistles," and goes on to associate them Avith "the other
Scriptures."
THE MINEEALS OF THE BIBLE
III. MISCELLANEOUS MINERAL SUBSTANCES.
BY THE REV. G. DEANE, D.SC, F.G.S.
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND OF NATURAL SCIENCE, SPRING
HILL COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
jN dealing with those minerals which are not
connected with either metals or precious
stones, we have to consider the Rocks and
SoUs, and then the mineral substances
which are found along the shores of the Dead Sea.
We shall include some reference to what is known of
the geology of Palestine, and to the physical agencies
wliich have produced the extraordinary valley that
.extends from the slopes of Lebanon to the northern
part of the Red Sea.
ROCKS AND SOILS.
It is much to be regretted that, until recently, no
systematic and organised effort has been made from
England geologically to survey the Lands of the Bible.
The observations of private travellers, valuable though
they are, cannot supply the place of an authoritative
survey by specially trained observers. The report of
Dr. Anderson, the geologist of the American expedi-
tion of 1848, and the published works of Seetzen,
Russegger, Ritter, Lartet, Tristram, Grove, Stanley,
and others, have furnished a quantity of most valuable
iufoi-mation concerning the i>hysical structure of Pales-
tine ; but problems of great interest are still left un-
settled, and there is a great lack of accurate geological
maps and definite information. This want' is now to
some extent being met. The Ordnance Survey of the
Peuinsida of Sinai, published in 1869, has led the
way to the more important enterprise of the promoters
of the Palestine Exploration Fund, in undertaking an
accurate and comprehensive survey of Palestine both
topographical and geological. The brief reports of
Lieutenant Conder, jjublished in the Quarterly State-
ments of the Society, give promise of the successful
termination of this work; and we look forward with
high interest to the publication of the full results, as
likely to explain many things wliich at present are
obscure and imperfectly known. Meanwhile, we must
be content with the knowledge that has already been
gained ; and propose in this article to give a brief and
general resume of the chief matters of interest that
throw light on the sacred narrative.
The term Earth, in our English Bible, is the trans-
lation of two totally different Hebrew words. One of
these (erets) is used to denote " the world " as opjDOsed
to "the heavens," or "the land " as opposed to "the
sea," and in some other derived significations. The
other {addmdh) is used to express the material or soil
of which the earth is composed — the inorganic sub-
stance which lies at the base of all organic life, and
into which, on dying, organic life becomes again
resolved. The term dphdr addmdh, " dust of the
ground," is often used in this sense (Gen. ii. 7; iii.
19, &c.), as ind'caHng that man's body, originally
formed of earth, woiill return to earth again. A
14
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
curious characteristic of all forms of ancient worship
appears in connection with this term. When Naaman
was cured by Elisha, ho begged for two mules' burden
of earth, that he might erect an altar therewith in his
own laud, and thus sacrifice acceptably to the God of
the land where he had received his cure (2 Kings v.
17). The gods of a nation were considered part of its
land, and could be worshipped acce^itably only in cou-
nectien with its soil.
Sand {clwl) is abundant in Egyjit, occurs in some
parts of the desert of Sinai, though not by any means
general in that district, and is found along the shores
of the seas and lakes, and in some of the moiintain
torrents of Palestine. The " sand of the sea " is often
used in the Bible as a figitre expressive of great number
or abundance (Gen. xxxii. 12; xli. 49, &c.), and in other
passages (Job vi. 3 ; Prov. xxvii. 3) as expressive of
weight. When Moses killed the Egyptian who was
oppressing his Hebrew brother, he hid his body in the
.sand (Exod. ii. 12). In the final blessing of Moses
(Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19), Issaehar is exhorted to rejoice in
his tents, for " they shall suck of the abundance of the
seas, and of the treasures hid in the sands " — a state-
ment which Dean Stanley explains as referring to the
mci'chandise from the port of Acre, and to the sands
of the torrent Belus (Sinai and Palestine, page 348).
The parable of the house built on the sand, with which
" the Sermon on the Mount " concludes, must be
familiar to the reader. On one of the sandy flats of a
mountain torrent the house is built in the dry season,
and when the rains set in the roaring stream sweeps all
before it.
The sand and sand-drifts of Egypt and the East
have been likened by Dean Stanley to glaciers — "sands
and sand-drifts which in purity, in brightness, in firm-
ness, in destruetiveness, are the snows and glaciers of
the south " (Introd., p. xxxvi.). Professor Wyville
Thomson, wi'itiug from the Challenger Expedition,
gives a wonderful account of a "glacier" of moving
sand in the Bermudas which, blown by the wind, " has
partially overn'helmed a garden, and is moving slowly
on." The sand-blown liiUs and dunes which line some
pertions of the Mediterranean coast, ai'e referred to by
Jeremiah in the words, " Fear ye not me ? saith the
Lord : will ye not tremble at my presence, which have
placed the sand for the boimd of the sea by a perpetual
decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves
thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail;
though they roar, yet can they not pass over it ? "
(Jer. V. 22.) The might of Jehovah makes the feeble-
ness and mobility of the sand the barrier to the strength
of the ocean.
Clay (tit, cliomer, irTiXos) is repeatedly referred to in
tlie Bible as the material of hricJcs, poitery, and seals.
The word is sometimes used to denote mud, and is then
in our version generally translated " mire," or " dirt "
(Isa. hai. 20 ; Jer. xxxviii. 6, &c.). But in other pas-
sages it clearly refers to alluvial clay or potter's clay,
which was used for the purposes above named. It is
very doubtful whether the finer kinds of porcelain clay
existed either in Egypt, Palestine, or Assyria. Most
of these finer kinds of clay are the result of a peculiar
disintegration of rocks containing felspar. The Icaolin,
or porcelain clay of Cornwall, e.g., results from the
decomposition of light grey or almost white granite.
The felspar of the granite, which consists of silicate of
alumina and potass, is acted upon by water containing
carbonic acid in solution, and thus becomes gradually
decomposed. The j)otass compounds, being soluble,
are washed out ; and the silicate of alumina remains as
a fine impalpable white powder. This powder then
becomes separated by rain- wash and streams from much
of the quariz and mica with which in the gi'anitc it was
associated, and forms the clay so miich valued for the
finer sorts of potteiy. So far as we are aware there is
no evidence that potter's clay of this very pure character
existed in the lands of the Bible. But other kinds of
clay, also suited for purposes of pottery, imdoubtedly
occm-red, and are repeatedly mentioned.
In Jer. xviii. 3 is a reference to the potter's wheel.
Sir J. G. Wilkinson conclusively shows that it must
have been in use in Egypt previous to the time of
Joseph (iii. 165). Tlie earliest distinct reference to
pottery (with the exception of Rebekah's pitcher, Gen.
xxiv. 14, which may possibly have been of earthenware),
is found in the naiTative of Gideon's little army, who
hid then* torches in earthen pitchers, which they sub-
sequently broke (Judg. A'ii. 16, 19). From Jer. xxxii.
14, it appears that iu ancient times earthen vessels
were employed, as iron safes are with us, to preserve
documents from destruction by fire or vermin. The
titter desolation of the patriarch Job is forcibly shown
by the use he made of a potsherd (Job ii. 8).
Two distinct kinds of bricks were made use of in
olden time. The bricks of Assyiia were kiln-baked,
and were generally set in bitumen or asphaltum.
Those of Egypt, on the other hand, were sun-dried,
sometimes made with straw, sometimes without straw.
The Assyrian method of manufacture is mentioned in
connection with the building of the Tower of Babel
(Gen. xi. 3) ; and the Egyptian method — both with
and without straw — was one of the employments of
the Hebrews during their Egy[)tian bondage (Exod.
i. 14 ; V. 7). Sun-dried bricks were used at Nineveh ;
and in later times kiln-burnt bricks were employed in
Egypt, as the mention of a brick-kilu there by the
prophet Jei'emiah (xliii. 9) indicates. The Israelites
appear to have followed the method of burning iu kilns
(2 Sam. xii. 31).
The third use to which clay was put — viz., for seals
(Job xxxviii. 14) — seems strange to us in modem times.
The luxury of sealing-wax was unknown then, and clay
took its place. Even the seals of public documents
were made of clay impressed by the tablet, and then
baked. In Assyria small cylinders of hard stone,
engraved with devices and letters, were used to impress
the clay seals. The mummy-pits of Egypt, and some-
times doors, were iu like manner sealed with clay. The
den of lions in which Dauiel was placed was sealed
in like manner. And it is not improbable that the
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
15
sealing of our Lord's tomb was effected similarly (Matt.
xxvii. 66).
Several Hebrew words are used to denote roch, or
stone, or pehhlc. It is not unlikely that one of these
{challamish) refers specifically (as Michaelis suggests)
to the granite or porphyric rocks found in the peninsula
of Sinai. Gesenius, indeed, renders it " flint ; " but the
fact that it occurs with special reference to the miracle
of Horeb favours the suggestion of Michaelis (Deut.
viii. 15 ; Ps. cxiv. 8).
In the paper on " Precious Stones " allusion was
made to the slioliam stone of Gen. ii. 12, as the flint
from which ancient weapons were made. There are
references to cutting implements of flint in later times
(see Exod. iv. 25 ; Josh. v. 2, 3, where the Hebrew
reads charboth tsurim, "stone-knives").
The employment of stones for building purposes is
too obvious to need much comment. Altars were
commanded to be made of earth or of unhewn stone
(Exod. XX. 25) ; and in the narrative of the building of
Solomon's Temple, it is stated that " The house, when it
was in building, was built of stone made ready before
it was brought thither : so that there was neither
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the
house while it was in building" (1 Kings vi. 7). Some
of the enormous stones Avhich modem explorations on
the Temple site have brought to light, are believed to
have been part of the original ei-ection of Solomon.
The references of the New Testament to Christ as the
" foundation-stone," or " chief corner-stone," in the
great spiritual temple of His Church, will be familiar
to the reader (Eph. ii. 20—22 ; 1 Pet. ii. 4—8 ; Mark
xii. 10; Matt. xvi. 16—18).
The probability has been suggested that the appa-
rently well-known stones which are dignified by specific
names in the historical parts of the Old Testament, were
really boundary stones to mark the limits of land (Josh.
XV. 6 ; 1 Sam. \n.. 15 ; xx. 19 ; 1 Kings i. 9 ; 2 Sam. xx.
8), cromlechs or cairns, or heaps of stones erected in com-
memoration of some public event — ^by Jacob at Bethel,
by Joshua at the river Jordan, by Samuel at Ebenezer
between Mizpeh and Shen (Gen. xxviii. 18; xxxi. 45;
Josh. iv. 9 ; 1 Sam. vii. 12). This practice of memorial
stones, and heaps of stones, is common to almost all
nations. It survives, in a modified form, in the monu-
ments, mausoleums, and obelisks of modern days, and
may be regarded as tlie oiitward expression of an instinct
of humanity. Even in some of the wild regions of the
Alps — the Col du Bonhomme for instance — the traveller
finds conical heaps of stones commemorative of some
ancient tradition ; and the mounds and ancient monu-
ments of our o\vn country have been deemed of such
importance as to engage the serious consideration of
Parliament.
In fiirther illustration of the use of memorial stones,
and also as raising further questions of some import-
ance, may be quoted Deut. xxvii. 2 — 8 : "And it shall
be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou
shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with
plaister : and thou shalt write upon them all the words
of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou
mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey ;
as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee.
Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that
ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this
day, in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with
plaister. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the
Lord thy God, an altar of stones : thou shalt not lift
up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the
altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones : and thou
shalt offer bumt-offeriugs thereon unto the Lord thy
God : and thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt
eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And
thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this
law very plainly." This passage, on the one hand,
gives additional iuterest to the previous commands,
that altars should be made either of earth or of natural
stones, which had not been fashioned by artificial aid,
and to the subsequent fact of the absence of iron tools
in the actual operations of the building of Solomon's
Temple ; and on the other hand it suggests questions
of some interest, which lead on naturally to the matters
remaining to be dealt with in this paper. The Hebi'ew
term here translated "plaister" is sid. There has
been much controversy whether this means gypsuvi or
livie. Gypsum, as is well known, is the natm-al
sulphate of lime, which occurs abundantly in some
districts bordering the Dead Sea, and other inland
lakes, and also in those geological formations which
are the result of deposit in such seas. Burnt and
artificially prepared, it forms the so-caUed "plaster of
Paris," which, when mixed with water, becomes a
quick-setting cement or stucco. Lime also, in its
different vaiieties, may be employed for a similar
purpose. It is clear, from the above-quoted passage,
that the natural stones were to be plastered over with
the material termed std, and then on the smooth sur-
face the words of the Law were to be cut. In Egypt it
was not at all uncommon to cover the walls of buildings
and monumental stones with a coating of cement, upon
which figures and hieroglyphics were subsequently
painted ; and a similar practice appears to have been
here followed. Either lime or gypsum would answer
this purpose ; and Oriental scholars are in great doiibt
as to which material is meant.
Now side by side with this controversy let us place
another. The vale of Siddim, in Gen. xiv., has given
risen to almost endless discussion. Several Hebrew
and Arabic roots have been regarded as giving a
ratienal interpretation of the word ; and all the while
every one agrees that the vale of Siddim must be
somewhere on the borders of the Dead Sea.
There is reason for making these two controversies
mutually explanatory. Without entering into the
minutiae of Hebrew aud Arabic etymology, there can
be no question at all that the two forms of roots repre-
sented by sddad and sid are very closely allied. And
whatever be the way by which the term Siddim became
16
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
applied to a district bordering on the Dead Sea, it is
highly probable etymologically that the term aid would
bo applied to a rock ohai'acteristic of the vale of
Siddim. The English reader may be reminded that
the termination -im is simply the form of the Hebrew
plural, and that the only fundamental diiforences
between the two words are the shortening of the A'owel
i and the doubling of the d. Hence, as gypsum is
specially characteristic of the neighbourhood of the
Dead Sea, •wlidst limestone covers almost the whole
of Palestine, the balance of evidence is strongly in
favour of gypsum. The sid of Deut. xxvii. is the
gypsum which was found in the valley of Siddim.
This explanation is indeed not borne out by Amos ii.
1, where it is said that Moab " burned the bones of the
king of Edom with sid ; " but this passage is highly
metaphorical, and it is exceedingly probable that the
word, in course of time, became applied indiscrimi-
nately to all powders which could be used for plaster
or cement.
The Hebrew word for Limestone appears to have
been gir, which in Isa. xxvii. 9 is translated " chalk."
Almost the whole of Palestine west of the Jordan is
limestone. The reports of Lieutenant Couder to the
Palestine Exploration Society render it evident that
there are at least three systems of limestone strata.
The lowest of these is described as highly ciystalline
and dolomitic {i.e., containing magnesia as well as lime) ;
in some districts it is much disturbed and contorted.
It is found generally in proximity to basaltic or other
trap rock, and is probably metamorphic in origin.
Connected with this are other strata somewhat similar,
but containing fossils, which fix the geological age of
the ujiper beds as that of the English Lower Chalk
formation, and of the underlying metamorphic lime-
stone as Neocomian or Upper Jurassic. In the north of
Palestine, Ijong unconformably upon the above-named
series, are beds of limestone, some of it very white and
hard, containing flints, and referred to the time of the
Upper Chalk. And in the south of Palestine, the so-
called Nummulitic Limestone, which has generally been
referred to the lower part of the Eocene formation, is
well represented. In connection with these formations
are numerous outbursts and dykes of basaltic and other
trap rock.'
One point in connection with limestone rock, which
is of great interest in Biblical history, is the formation
of natural caverns. All limestone districts are full of
caves, fissures, and hollows. The geological history of
such caverns is very simple. All rocks are penetrated
more or less by cracks and fissures ; those which have
been subjected to much uptilting and contortion will,
of course, be more affected with fissures and clefts
than others. Into these fissures and clefts rain-water
1 The writer has obtained this information from the reports of
Lieutenant Condor, as published in the Quarterly Statements of the
Palestine Exploration Society. He uses it in preference to other
accounts, not by any means in disparagemeut of the labours of
other observers, but because it i)resents the newest and most
systematic information on the subject.
from the surface penetrates ; this rain-water, having
previously passed tlu'ough the surface-soil filled with
decaying vegetation, becomes charged with carbonic
and organic acids. Thus charged, it is capable of
dissolving the limestone, and so in course of years the
rock becomes disintegrated and hollowed into caverns.
In some caverns another chemical action becomes super-
added. Water charged with carbonic acid can dissolve
only a definite quantity of limestone. If, by evapora-
tion or heat, the amount of carbonic acid becomes
lessened, the limestone is again deposited in the form
of carbonate of lime ; and thus arise the stalactites
and stalagmites which crowd many natural caverns
in limestone. Those who are familiar with the caves
of the Mendip HUls, or Derbyshire, or Yorkshire, will
readUy be able to understand the method of formation
of the caves of Palestine. Such caves have been the
abode both of men and of wild beasts. Dr. Tristram
[Land of Israel, p. 237) gives a good account of a
hysena cave on the edge of the Jordan valley which
is singularly like the caves that geologists have heard
so much of lately in England.
These caverns of Palestine have been of great im-
portance in Jewish history. They were used for places
of burial, for shelter and concealment, and perhaps
also for worship. Caves at Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and
Moimt Olivet are still kept sacred to the scenes of the
Saviour's history; and scattered all over the country
are cave-memoiials of past Hebrew life. We should
like to transcribe a page or two of Dean Stanley's
wonderful account of these ancient caves, but space
forbids; we content ourselves with a few sentences,
and refer the reader who is interested in the matter to
Sinai and Palestine, p. 150. " We see in these caves
also the hiding-places which served sometimes for the
defence of robbers and insurgents, sometimes for the
refuge of those ' of whom the world was not worthy ; '
the prototype of the catacombs of the early Christians,
of 'the caverns of the Vaudois and the Covenanters.
The cave of the five kings at Makkedah ; the ' caves,
and dens, and strongholds,' and ' rocks,' and ' pits,'
and ' holes,' in which the Israelites took shelter from
the Midianites in the time of Gideon, from the Philis-
tines in the time of Saul ; the cleft of the cliff Etam,
into which Samson went down to escape the vengeance
of his enemies ; the caves of DaAad at Adullam, and
at Maon, and of Saul at En-gedi; the cave in which
Obadiah hid the prophets of the Lord; the caves of
the robber-hordes above the plain of Gennesareth ; the
sepulchral caves of the Gadarene deiuouiacs ; the cave
of Jotapata, where Josephus and his countrymen con-
cealed themselves in their last struggle — continue from
first to last what has triUy been called the 'cave-life' of
the Israelite nation. The stream of their national
existence, like the actual streams of the Grecian i-ivers,
from time to time disappears from the light of cLay^
and runs underground in those subterraneous recesses,
to burst forth again when the appointed moment
arrives — a sticking typo, as it is a remarkable instance,
of the preservation of the spiritual life of the chosen
MINERALS OF THE BIBLE.
17
people ; ' burning, but not consumed ; ' ' chastened,
but not kiUed.' " (See Judg. vi. 2 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 6 ; xiv.
11 ; Judg. XV. 8 ; 1 Sam. xxii. 1 ; xxiii. 25 ; xxiv. 3 ;
1 Kings x™i. 4, 13 ; Mark v. 3 ; Josephus, Bell. Jud.,
i. 16, §§2— 4; iii. 7, §36; 8, § 1.)
In connection with limestone it will be convenient to
notice Alabaster and Mabble. The former term
occurs in the New Testament in the account of the
woman who brought the "alabaster box of very precious
ointment," and breaking the box [i.e., in all probability
removing the seal of the vase), poured it on the head
of our Saviour as He sat in the house of Simon the
leper (Matt, xx^-i. 7 ; Mark xiv. 3 ; Lxike vii. 37). The
term alabaster is confined by modem mineralogists to
crystalline snow-white sulphate of lime, or crystallised
gypsum. But the word is i-eally derived from a place
called Alabastron, in Egypt, where vases and vessels
for holding perfumes were manufactured in ancient
times. In the time of our Lord it is clear, from Pliny
and other writers, that the term was indicative more of
the form and usage of the " box " than of the material
of which it was composed. Some of these ancient
cdabastra were manufactured out of fibrous or semi
crystalline carbonate of lime, some out of the different
varieties of onyx, and some from other materials.
•' Marble" is the rendering in our English version of
four different Hebrew words {shesh or shaish, bahat,
dar, and sochereth). These words all occur in Esther
i. 6, as descriptive of different stones ornamenting the
palace of the Persian king. In other passages the first
of the above words occurs alone (1 Chron. xxix. 2;
Cant. V. 15). Undoubtedly these terms apply to dif-
ferent varieties of ornamental stone. Marble in modern
nomenclature is applied to aU the ornamental varieties
of limestone. Some of these rocks derive their beauty
from the infiltration of metallic oxides and the different
chemical substances they contain; others are the result
of organic agencies, and are filled with the relics of
extinct life. It is utterly impossible to identify the
above terms with any known species of marble of
modem times. Shesh was most likely the snow-white
crystalline carbonate of lime of metamorphic origin,
like to the marbles of Paris or Carrara, and used
abundantly for purposes of statuary. The Septuagint
rendei's bahat by crixapaySiTijs {i.e., emerald), but on what
authority there is no means of knowing ; it may have
been green serpentine, or perhaps malachite. Dar, in
Arabic, means a pearl; and Michaelis has sug-gested
ttiat in Esther it signifies what mineralogists now call
" satin spar," a peculiar fibrous variety of gypsum,
which when polished has a beaxitiful pearly lustre.
Sochereth is generally considered to have been a spotted
or variegated mai'ble, of which there are many well-
known kinds.
THE DEAD SEA AND ITS MINERALS.
One is almost tempted to claim the Dead Sea as the
most unique and extraordinary mineral production of
Palestine. It certainly is not vegetable nor animal,
and its waters are most decidedly mineral.
74 — VOL. lY
From the GuK of Akaba to the extreme north of
Syria runs a deep natural valley or fissure. The Dead
^ea occupies the lowest part of this deep valley, and
its surface is more than 1,300 feet below the level of
the Mediterranean and Red Seas. On the north the
river Jordan, rising in the slopes of Lebanon, drains the
valley, and flows southward into the Dead Sea. On
the south, another river, rising at a watershed two-
thirds of the distance between the Dead Sea and the
head of the Gulf of Akaba, flows northwards into the
Dead Sea. The sea, therefore, receives the natural
drainage of the whole of the valley between Lebanon
and the watershed overlooking the Gulf of Akaba.
It has no natural outlet, the evaporation from its
surface balancing the supply of fresh water by the
rivers. Consequently, its waters are cliarged with
mineral salts, which, as the concentration proceeds, must
become deposited as chemical strata. There can be
little doubt that the whole fissure or valley was once
an arm of the Red Sea, a continuation of the Gulf
of Akaba northwards. By the raising of the whole
district through past geological agencies the Red Sea
retreated to its present limits; and changes of physical
conditions caused evaporation to prevail over supply of
water, and reduced the inland sea to its present pro-
portions.
It will readily be seen that there are two physical
problems of importance connected with the formation
of the Dead Sea — ^•iz., the hollowing out of the valley,
and the drying up of the district.
The old tradition of the destruction of the " cities of
the plain " by volcanic convulsion, and the formation
of the sea on their site, is manifestly inadequate to
account for all the j)henomena. Those cities were most
probably to the north of the existing sea ; and whatever
the peculiar form of the catastrophe which overtook
them, there is clear geological e^-idence that the Jordan
Aalley and the Dead Sea existed pretty much as they
are now, long before any possible date that can be
assigned to Abraham. The two theories of formation
which have been most discussed are these : (1) A sudden
dislocation resulting in a sinking down of the strata,
and the formation of the valley ; and (2) its production
by the ordinary methods of atmospheric denudation.
The difference of the strata on the east and west sides
of the sea favour the former theory; and the presence
of almost all the signs of ordinary atmospheric denuda-
tion are strongly in favour of the latter. Probably
both agencies have concurred in the production of the
valley. It is clear that the present rivers and the
present flow of di-aiuage are quite inadequate to effect
such a result ; because, whatever they may wear away
from the laud surface would be deposited in the Dead
Sea itself, and tend to fill up the cliasm. The river
erosion theory, therefore, presupposes a considerable
elevation of the land above its present level, so that the
river fiowing through the valley might make its way
past the intervening water.shed into the Gulf of Akaba.
Another physical problem of interest is the drying
up of the district by dimiuished rainfall or increased
18
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
eyaporatiou. Tiio Dead Soa is only oue of a series of
inland seas in Central Asia ; and there is strong reason
for believing that the rainfall over the whole of the^e
districts was in ages long gone by vastly greater than
now.
Captain Manry, iu his Physical Geography of the
Sea (chap, xii.), argues that the uplifting of South
America and the Andes is the cause of the inland seas
of Asia. He maintains that the south-east trade-winds
blowing over South America and the Andes must rise
at the equator as dry winds above the lower stratum of
air; and that they return to the surface of the earth,
still devoid of moisture, as the counter trade-winds that
oross East Europe and Western Asia. Hence the
excessive evaporation of these districts, the dry wmds
sucking up all moisture. This theory, though very
ingenious, is far-fetched and iiusound. Apart from the
objectiou urged by Sir J. Herschel, that the crossing
of the winds (as suggested by Caj)taiu Maury) at the
equator is utterly impossible [Phys. Geog., p. 48), there
is no need to go as far as South America in order
to accoimt for the dessication of "Western Asia. At
the comparatively recent time when the Sahara and
Northern Africa were beneath the sea. Western Asia
must have been a region of great atmospheric moisture.
The uplifting of lai'ge districts in North Africa into
dry land would have a much more potent effect upon
Syria than any possible result of the Andes iu South
America.
The vciy peculiar geological conditions of the Dead
Sea have resulted in the deposit of a number of minerals
along its shores. Gypsum,, rock salt, brimstone, and
hitunien demand a word or two of notice.
Nitre, or more correctly natron, a natural carbonate
of soda, which occurs abundantly in some lakes of
Egypt, does not appear to have been found at the
Dead Sea. This substance is mentioned in Prov. xxv.
20, " As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs
to an heavy heart;" and in Jer. ii. 22, "Though than
wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet
thine iniquity is marked before me." These passages
are readily understood when it is remembered that the
substance referred to is not what we call nitre or salt-
petre, but is a substance closely allied to ordinary
washing soda, and to the carbonate of soda which
effervesces vigorously with acids.
Gypsum and Rock Salt are the natural deposits
resulting from the evaporation of sea-water, and both
occur abundantly in the neighbourhood of the Dead
Sea. Gypsum has already been discussed. Salt is
of frequent mention in the Bible. Eating salt together
is, in the East, a pledge of amity and friendship.
Hence the " covenant of salt " (Lev. ii. 13 ; Numb, xviii.
19; 2 Chron. xiii. 5) was an indissoluble pact; and
"salted with the salt of the palace" (Ezra iv. Ii) meant
not maintenance, but the sign of faithfulness to the king.
Salt was used in the sacrifices and offerings of the
Israelites (Lev. ii. 13; Ezek. xliii. 24), probably with
the same idea of honour and fidelity. Salt is the condi-
ment that sweetens food and preserves from putrefac-
tion : hence the references of our Lord to His people as
the " salt of the earth " (Matt. v. 13 ; Mark k. 49, 50 ;
Luke xiv. 34). The sterility of the salt districts of the
Dead Sea appears to have suggested the figm-e of a
" salt land," and the custom of " sowing with salt," as
indicating barrenness, and utter desolation, and ruin
i (see Jer. xvii. 6 ; Judg. ix. 45 ; Dent. xxix. 23 ; Zeph,
' ii. 9).
Brimstone or Sulphur occurs nearly pure in lumps
or balls in the deposits of the Dead Sea (Anderson, 187 ;
Tristram, p. 279). This sulphur is most probably the
result of deposit from the hot sulphurous springs which
occur in places along the shores. It might possibly bo
the result of chemical reaction of decomposing carbon-
aceous matter upon gypsum. Any way, there it is ; and
its intense inflammability is used in the Scriptures as
the symbol or figui-e of Divano wrath and vengeance
(Gen. xix. 24; Dent. xxix. 23; Job xviii. 15; Isa. xxxiv.
9; Ezek. xxxviii. 22: Rev. xix. 20; xx. 10; xxi. 8).
Bitumen, in Hebrew chemdr, sometimes translated
"slime" (Gen. xiv. 10; xi. 3), has already been alluded
to as the mortar used for cementing the bricks of
Babylon. It is found in the neighbourhood of that
city, and also in connection with the Dead Sea. The
bitumen pits in the vale of Siddim caused the defeat of
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, as recorded in Gen.
xiv. The river-cradle of Moses was rendered water-
tight by means of bitumen (Exod. ii. 3). There is a
popular idea that the bitumen of the Dead Sea is a
proof of volcanic action. This is a huge delusion.
Some of the hquid hydro- carbons — naphtha, rock-oil,
&c. — may be the result of the interior heat of the earth
causing an upward distillation of carbonaceous strata.
But bituminous matter results from the natural decom-
position of organic remains, and occurs most abimdantly
in strata which are jmrely aqueous, and have no con-
nection whatever with volcanic agency. To point to
the bitumen of the Dead Sea as a proof of volcanic
agency is a most extraordinary development of the
imagination of enthusiastic travellers.
JOB.
19
BOOKS or THE OLD TESTAMENT.
JOB {continued).
BT THE KEV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALTTH, N.B.
^^^^sIhIS divine di-ama has a double action.
^^J i^-J*-/- rji|^g jjiain piu-pose of tlie poet \f&s to
combat the manner in which the theology
of his time sought to justify the ways of
God to man. The current belief on the subject had
the merit of being simple and intelligible. It acknow-
ledo-ed only one principle of moral government, that
of retributive justice, which was always assumed to be
at work, api)ortioning in this world their due reward
to good and evil men. According to this creed the
righteous are always blessed with prosperity, while the
wicked are always overtaken with ruin. But expe-
rience soon supplied matter for perplexing questions.
The Book of Job does not stand alone, in the literature
of Israel, in the attempt to deal with the difficulty
raised by the contradictory facts. Two Psahns espe-
cially, xxxvii. and Ixxiii., attempt to dissipate the
anxious doubts occasioned by the failure of the popular
theory. But these deal only with the question of the
triumph of ungodly men. The Book of Job takes up
the other side, which is surrounded by still more per-
plexity. Why does the Divine Ruler of the world
permit good men to be afflicted ?
This forms the main subject of the poem, and supplies
one of its two lines of action. By his choice of the
dramatic form, the unknown theologian is able to ex-
pose the falsehood and cruelty of the current theory in
the persons of three able rejiresentatives, with a com-
pleteness that would have been impossible in any other
stj'le of composition. But he is enabled to accomplish
more. The sufferer who is the victim of these well-
meaning persecutions is the hero of a real tragedy, in
whose fate are involved questions of universal interest.
Can religion be entirely disinterested ? Shall men be
able to preserve their integrity under affliction which
has crushed out not only happiness, but hope and faith ?
When innocence is of no avail, and justice is withheld,
and God, withdrawn in dark impenetrable silence, does
not answer even with the merciful summons of death,
can a human soul, by maintaining the truth and freedom
of its moral consciousness, conquer for itself a truer
peace, and out of affliction bring a blessing ? To one
despairing of this life can there spring up a longing
and a hope of anotlier, in which innocence shall at
length find its vindication and its reward ? These are
some of the questions that are answered in the Book
of Job. And there are others which are not answered,
which the inspired author of this great book could
only himself suggest, and which waited for the fuller
light of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The poem consists of seven di-\-isions — (1) chaps, i., ii.,
the opening, in prose ; (2) chaps, iii. — xiv., the first
dialogue or scene, commencing with a monologue by
Job, and continued by a speech from each of the three
friends, and a reply to each from the hero ; (3) chaps.
XV.— xxi., the second scene, constructed on the same
plan ; (4) chaps, xxii. — xxvi., the third scene, in which
one actor is silent ; two long speeches by Job, who has
now put his antagonists to silence, conclude this scene
(xsvii. — xxxi.) ; (5) xxxii.— xxxvii., occupied by a fourth
speaker not pre^aously mentioned ; this part was not
in the original plan of the poem ; (6) xxxviii. — xlii. 1 — 6;
Jehovah speaks from the tempest those majestic de-
scriptions of His power, to which Job can only respond
in broken accents of penitence and awe ; (7) epilogue
in prose.
1. — THE PROLOGUE (chaps. i., ii.).
The first pui-pose of the author was to present in
one person a combination of the most perfect goodness
and most complete prosperity that could be conceived,
and then, by a quick succession of siidden calamities, to
reduce him to the utmost miseiy. This is done in an
epic introduction, which defies attacks on its authen-
ticity, by the fact that without it the poem would not
only be incomplete, but unintelligible. All the necessary
conditions were exactly satisfied in the person of Job.
His greatness and his misfortunes were a tradition^ in
the East. His piety and his patience were the theme
of Hebrew prophets (Ezek. xiv. 14 ; James v. 11).
In a few simple and majestic words this model of
patriarchal virtue and greatness is introduced. The
traits of his character are brought out in detail in the
course of the poem (xxis. 11 — 16; xxxi.), and show how
nearly the standard of even Christian holiness was
approached in the ideal presented by the four splendid
epithets, " perfect, upright, fearing God, and eschewing
e\al." " There is none like him upon earth," was the
testimony of Jehovah to Job's righteousness.
If such a man should fall into misfortune, plainly the
cuiTeut belief must l)e in error. Tradition asserted
that Job had been overtaken by the worst of calamities.
What was the interpretation of a fact so at variance
with the orthodox creed ?
With marvellous art and profoimd insight into the
mystery of human life, the way is prepared for the dis-
cussion of this difficulty. It is necessary that the
spectator should be admitted partially into the secrets
of the Divine Ruler. He must be furnished with a
1 The question of Job's liistorical existence is not necessary to
tlie right understanding of the Book of Job. There have been
some who held the whole work to be fictitious— a long- parable like
in kind to that of Dives and Lazams. Others have understood
it as entirely and literally historic. The truth probably lies be-
tween the two. The book is a poem founded on the facts pre-
served in the traditional accounts of Job, who belonged probably
to the patriarchal age. The LXX. , in the appendix before quoted,
identifies him with Jobah, prince of Edom, mentioned in Gen. xxsvi.
33. But this appendix is of very doubtful authority. The name
Job, lyob, appears to mean " the afflicted one " (Ewald, however,
fetching it from an Arabic root, makes it "he that repents").
Was the earlier name changed to suit the lot of the s\ifferer ?
20
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
reason for tbe afflictiou of the suit'erer, wliicli ho himself,
if he could perceive it, would acknowledge to be suffi-
cient. Without this his sense of right would bo too
keenly stung to enable him to follow the course of the
poem.
The necessary motive is supplied by Satan, the
accusing angel, who, fresh from his self-chosen task of
roaming eartli in search of sin, fronts God in heaven
itself with calumnies against His pui-est creatures and
detraction of His most tried saints.' It is indeed a
devilish suggestion, one too gross for human mind to
invent, that all %-irtuo is assumed, and piety itself but
a selfish policy to cheat God. " Doth Job serve God
for nought?"
Than that such a miserable suspicion should continue
to exist in heaven or hell, better that not one only but
all good men be stricken down with sudden ruin. The
blows that rained on Job and left him a broken and
desolate man, and the loathsome disease- which tired
even the affection of his wife, and turned it into the
bitterest of temptations, would have had their purpose
had this only been recorded, that " Job sinned not with
his lips." For the devil had predicted blasphemy and
renunciation. " He will renounce thee to thy face."
But his falsehood recoiled on himself, for not only was
Satan silenced, not afterwards to appear'' in the poem,
but his fiendish spite produced those wonderful words
of resignation which seem to descend from the clime of
some eternal calm, and have been the strength and
support of thousands of sorrowing souls. " "We have
received good at the hands of God, and shall we not
also receive evil ?" " Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the
name of the Lord." Thus is the integrity of the
sufferer proved sincere. Job sitting on his ash-heap
an utterly miserable man, the symbol of woe for all
time, has already, and not for himself alone, disarmed
the enemy of mankind of one of his most deadly
weapons.
2. — THE FIRST SCENE (chaps. iii. — xiv.).
The prologue concludes with the touching descrip-
tion of the visit of the three friends, to whom the news
of Job's calamity had been quickly* brought. It is a
1 The poetic interest as well as profound meaning of the scenes
in heaven has caught the imagination of some of the greatest
in modem literature. It powerfully impressed Byron. Shelley
meditated a tragedy on Job. Goethe in Faust, Bailey in Festus,
have actually imitated this scene, and by their attempt have only
thrown into bolder relief its incomparable grandeur and simplicity.
^ This disease is intei-preted to be elephantiasis. Among its
symptoms, which are in the course of the poem accurately and
painfully described (see vii. 5—15; xvi. 8; xxx. 17, sq.), was that of
fetid breath. This is mentioned in the one allusion to Job's wife
put into his own lips (xix. 17). The words used by her, "Curse
[i.e., renounce, or leave] God, and die," may have been spoken
in wish to see an end of his sufferings. The LXX., however, ex-
tends her words, and gives them a tone of selfish querulousuess.
•• It is worth mentioning only as an instance of the monstrous
conjectures allowed themselves by expositors, that Elihu has been
regarded as Satan come back in disguise "as an angel of ligiit.''
Perhaps the wish in xxxiv. 36 would have been more appropriate
on a fiend's lips.
^ " Reports spread among the mounted tribes of the Arabian
desert with the rapidity of telegraphic despatches."
picture of true friendship, true sympathy. " Now when
Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come
upon him, they came every one from his own place ;
EHphaz'' the Temanite, and Bildad tlie Shuhite, and
Zophar the Naamathite ; for they had made an appoint-
ment together to come to mourn with him and to com-
fort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off,
and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept ;
and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust
upon their head 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."
When the long silence was at length broken, it was
by that piercing ci-y in which the sufferer, his forced
composure at last overcome, " cursed the day of his
birth," and called for death and nothingness to end his
cruel grief.
" Let the day perish wherein I was bora,
And the night which said, There is a man conceived.
Let that day be darkness.
And let not God brighten it from above,
Neither let the light shine upon it.
Lo ! let that night become barren.
Let no joyful voice come therein.
Let the cursers of days curse it,
Who can at will rouse the dragon.''
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb.
Nor hid sorrow from my eyes."
In this wild and passionate outburst of feeling it is
important to mark that there is no approach to the
impiety which Satan hoped to provoke. The language
of the sufferer is reckless and vehement, but it comes
from the depths of a single and simple heart. As yet
there is not even a complaint of injustice, not a ques-
tion of the pro^adence which has allowed the affliction.
Existence indeed has become inexpressibly miserable,
and for a time the active trust, once habitual to this
pious soul, is paralysed. Sick in body and sick in mind,
his one wish is for death to come to end the weary
scene of monotonous never-ending pain that robs him
of thought and rest, and even of hope.
" No more safety, no more rest, no more peace,
Trouble, trouble for ever.7 (iii. 26.)
Everything has now been most skilfully prepared for
5 The character of each of these comes out with clearness and
dramatic truth in the poem. In rank they were, of course, chiefs
like Job himself, principal scheiks or emirs of large tribes. The
LXX. calls Eliphaz and Zophar ^acXtU, Bildad n'pai'i/or. The
name Elijihaz is one of the points connecting the poem with
Idumeea (Gen. xxxvi. 10, 11). Tcman, his tribe or country, was
the name of part of Arabia Petraja. Shuah is the name of a son of
Abraham and Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2), and perhaps connects him
with the same region. Of Zophar or Naama nothing is known.
*j In the A. v., " mourning;" margin, " leviathan." The allusion
is to the constellation of the Dragon, which, according to the
mythology of Eastern nations, stands ready to devour the sun
and moon. " Those who curse the day " are magicians who know
how, by incantations, to change days into dies infa.iti. Job prays,
not that the memory of the day may be lost, but that the day
itself may be blotted from the course of time. In the transla-
tions given in this paper, the English version has been carefully
compared with those of Lee, Delitzsch, and Renan.
7 Cf. " Ah, woe ! ah, woe ! pain, pain ever, for ever." (Shelley,
Prom. Unbound.)
JOB.
21
the entry of the three friends. Full as they were of
the doctrines which they think it religious to imjiress
on Job, they could not well be the fii-st to break the
silence. But his wild words supply a reason for ad-
dressing him.
Eliphaz, who speaks first in each dialogue, is evi-
dently the oldest of the three, as he is the most
dignified, the calmest, and the most considerate. He
is the only one whose words convey sympathy -with the
pain they inflict. He comes forward under a sense of
duty and with an apology.
" If we attempt a word, we shall grieve you perhaps ;
But who can withhold himself from speaking ? "
Nor could anything be more appropriate than the
endeavour to recall the sufferer to the memory of the
truths whose efficiency he had himseK proved in admi-
nistering consolations to others, when
" He upheld the falling,
And strengthened the feeble knees.
So Eliphaz covers his approach to the statement of the
position which in common with the others he takes
up, and even when he comes to it all is vague, im-
personal, indirect. He appeals to Job's own memory to
tell him of any case where a righteous man had been
cut ofE, or an innocent man had perished. As to the
other side of the doctrine, that the wicked invariably
meet with retribution, he contrives to give his statement
of it a greater air of indirectness by reference to the
mysterious vision which had revealed to him the infir-
mity of human nature. At the close, in describing the
blessings which penitence may secure, he allows himself
to indicate Job more directly : —
" In thy place I would turu unto God,
And address myself to the Almighty.''
The note touched so gently by Eliphaz is struck by
each of the others in turn, always with increasing
peremptoriness and decision, as Job, so far from accept-
ing then* interpretation of what had befallen him, hurls
it from him in anger aai disdain. Bildad, who through-
out unites brevity with a quick and vigorous imagina-
tion, comes at once to the attack mthout a word of
sympathy or solace. He asks abruptly the question
whether God could pervert judgment or do injustice
(viii. 3) — an admirable question for a calm philosophical
discussion, but cruel when thrown in the face of one
who was harassed and wrung by torture which seemed
so mysterious and undeserved. It is true he glances
by Job to fix the whole blame on his children (viii. 4).
And this father, with his heart aching in its desolation,
had watched with such pious care the morals of his
house, had expiated so religiously the possible sins of his
sons and daughters (i. 5) ! As Eliphaz had appealed to
a vision, so Bildad calls to the aid of his argument the
wise proverbs of the ancients, and sketches the inevit-
able fate of the wicked in a number of most strikmg
and beautiful similes drawn from the experiences of
Egypt and the desert lands of the East (viii. 6 — 19).
His general conclusion, summed up in an antithetical
verse, combines an accusation and a threat : — !
" No, God does not cast away the iuuoceut,
He does not stretch out his hand to help the eviJ-doers."
Zophar, the youngest and most violent of the three,
who sometimes descends even to coarseness in his tone
(xi. 12 ; cf. XX. 7), does not advance the coutrover.sy a
step. His speech contains a fine passage on the mys-
terious greatness of God, and the impuissance of man.
But he only reiterates in a new form, and with forcible
illustrations, the common position that retributive justice
alone is a. sufficient principle to account for all pheno-
mena of the moral world. He aj)pears indeed very
desirous of Job's penitence and restitution, but, like
Bildad, he closes an appeal which, if made under other
conditions, might have been very effectual, with the im-
plied condemnation : —
" But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,
And refuge shall be closed to them ;
Their hope is worth only a dying man's breath,"
God cannot act unjustly. The friends were right
to maintain that fundamental truth, without which it
would be impossible to conceive of a moral order. But
they should have left room for the doubt whether justice
alone is a sufficient explanation of all the facts which
make up the experience of life. At least, they might
have made allowance for one too tortured to think with
perfect calmness. They need not have been so hasty
to impute evil. Friendship should have kept them
from condemning him for a few hasty and passionate
words ; nay, should have clung to him in all extremes,
even had he been proved guUty of the greatest impiety.
" To him that is afflicted grief should be shown of his friends.
Even though he has abandoned the fear of the Almighty."
Job felt this break in their sympathy, and felt it
keenly. The disappointment shows itself repeatedly
in the course of his speeches, and lends them much of
their bitterness and fierceness of tone. A little confi-
dence in his innocence would have helped him to bear
his pain and wm back something of liis shattered faith.
With sympathy, even silent sympathy, he might have
discovered for himself where the creed in which he too
had been educated was imperfect and incomplete. For
he too had been taught to see the liand of God in out-
ward dispensations. But now that he feels from the
bottom of his heart that he is a sore contradiction of
what he had learnt to believe, the repetition of the old
half-truths only exasperates him to fierce defiance, and
tends to shatter all his former faith into fragments.
" And thus, whatever of calmness and endurance Job
alofie, on his ash-heap, might have conquered for him-
self, is all scattered away ; and as the strong gusts of
passion sweep to and fro across his heart, he pours him.
self out in wild fitful music, so beautiful because so true;
not answering them or their speeches, but now flinging
them from him in scorn, now appealing to their mercy
or turning indignantly to God ; now praying for death ;
now in perplexity, doubting whether, in some mystic
way he cannot understand, he may not perhaps after
all really have sinned (vii. 20), and praying to be shown
his fault ; and then staggering further into the darkness.
22
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and breakiug out iutj upbraidiugs of tlic Power v>'hicli
Las become so di-eadful au enigma io him. ' Tliou
enquirest after my iniquity, tliou seareliest after my sin,
and thou knowest that I am not wicked. Why didst
thou brmg me forth out of the womb ? Oh, that I had
given n]i the ghost, and no eye had seen mo. Cease,
let me alone. It is but a little while that I have to
live. Let me alone, that I may take comfort a little
before I go, whence I shall not return, to the laiid of
darkness and the shadow of death.' In what other
poem in the world is there pathos deep as this ? "With
experience so stern as his, it was not for Job to be calm
and self-possessed, and delicate in his words. He
speaks not what he knows, but what he feels; and
without fear the writer allows him to throw out his
passion, all genume as it rises, not overmuch carmg
how nice ears might be offended, but contented to be
true to the real emotion of a genuine human heart." i
In this passionate music are struck two or three
dominant chords which persist and prevail to the end
of the whole sad strain. In the first i^lace, Job never
lets go the consistent profession of his real innocence.
It is the more important to remark this, because
the translation of our English Bible sometimes repre-
sents the speaker as utterly inconsistent Avith himself.^
Beneath his desire for death was something more than
the longing for rest from pain. He wants to pass away
before his will and reason, overmastered by suffering,
have consented to any sin.
" Oh, that it ■would please God to destroy me !
That He would let loose His baud and cut me off !
That I might have at least this consolation,
This joy ill the sufferings that He heaps upon me,
That'* I have not violated the vrords of the Holy One."
(vi. 9, 10.)
And SO, Avhen from his intense realisation of the
a\vful jiower of God, he recoils back from the hope of
an answer from one so self-sustained and arbitrary —
" If I had called and He had answered me,
I would not heliove that He had heard my voice :
He who crushoth me with a tempest
And multiplied my wounds without cause ;
Who will not suffer me to take breath.
But fiileth me with bitterness ; "
though he is driven to say —
" Were I iunoceut, He would declare mo guilty,"
ho is yet true to his own conscience, and excLaims, in
tones that are sublime though defiant — •
" Yes, I am iunoceut ; life is nothing' to me;
I care no more to live." ■* (ix. 21.)
1 Froude, Hhort S'.udUi on Gnat Suljccts, 201.
- See, e.y., vii. 20, where " 1 have sinned," should bo "If I havo
sinned." In xiv. 17, the word rendered " transgression " should bo
"condemnation." There is great difficulty in translating Job, arising
from the fact that in Hebrew the same words are employed for
moral evil and physical suffering-.
'' A. v., ''I havo not concealed the words of the Holy One,"
though sufficiently con-ect, does not bring out the meaning.
* This rendering is also adopted by Ewald. Delitzsch, how-
ever, translates, " AVhether I am innocent, I know not myself,"
which is not in accoi'dance with the context or consistent with
Job's other iitteraucjs. CI. x. 7, "Thou knowest that I am not
wicked."
In contrast to the viev>- of Providence wliich the
friends with such wearisome reiteration parade as the
adequate explanation of all the facts of existence, Job,
conscious of the contradiction in his own case, refers
everything to an arbitrary omnipotence wliich governs
the world without regard to innocence or guilt, and
disdains to give account of His deeds to creatures so
mean as man : —
" The earth is given into the hand of the wicked j
He covereth the faces of the judges thereof.
If it is not He, who then is He ? " (ix. 24 ; of. ver. 19.)
And yet he has not let go his trust in God as a God of
truth. When in a hasty moment, under the influence
of his bitter disappointment in them, he becomes unjust
to his friends, and interprets as falsehood of lieart what
was only error of understanding, he confidently appeals
to the God who "is no accepter of persons," and wiU
bo the first to confound those who think to do Him
ser\ice by unfairness and imtruth (xiii. 8 — 11).
It is this "belief in unbelief" which constitutes the
strength of Job, and leads him through all his perilous
wanderings of doubt at last to the higlier trust and
purer faith. Even now ho turns from man and throws
himself on God. He leai-ns that even in the exercise
of arbitraiy power the Diiine Being would respect his
sincerity, and in some dim way he sees in this a hope of
salvation : —
" This, moreover, shall turn to my salvation.
For a hypocrite dare not appear before Him." (xiii. 16.)
And SO, as his old coucej)tion of God's character be-
comes more and more insufficient and unsatisfactoiy,
so that with this God above him there is no hope but
the hope of death, no comfort but in the eternal silence
of the tomb, there begins to shape itself before him, as
yet confused, indistinct, and far-off, another God of too
pure eyes to behold evil, and awful in gi-andeur and
power, but with something akin to the human in His
heart, something sympathetic with the struggles and
weaknesses of the creatures that He made. What if he
could not yet think of this new tenderness in connection
with his eartlily lot, but only caught at the coHJecturo
that beyond the grave (if men who die could live again)
God would " have a desire for the work of His hands ? "
(xiv. 14, 15.) Tot the mere i>resentiment indicates the
guiding hand which was leading the sufferer on to
truth. His perception of his relation with his Maker
Avas becoming clearer. A new and better faith was
taking the place of the old.''
■^ Before passing on to the nest division there arc some passages
iu this which need explanation.
" How long wilt thou keep thine eyes fixed on me ?
Wilt thou refuse me a moment to swallow down my spittle ? "
(vii. 19.)
This is an Arabian proverb, answering to our expression, "A
breathing while."
" For vain man would be wise.
Though man bo born like a vrild ass's colt."
(xi. 12 in A. V.)
This is a curious passage, and has beea a great difficulty to
GEOGRAPHY OF THE EIBLH.
23
OEOaSAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR 'WILSON, R.E.
IV.— THE DEAD SEA.
[HE Dead Sea, to use its modeni and more
familiar name, is usually called in tlie
Bible tlie '•' Salt Sea," but is also styled
the '•■ Sea of tlie Plain," or Arabali ;
the " East Sea ; " and once, in 2 Esdi-as v. 7, tlie
'•■ Sodomitish Sea." To tlio writers of the Talmud it
was known as the " Sea of Sodom " and the " Sea of
Salt;" to Josephus as the "Asphaltic" and "Sodo-
mitic" Lake; and it is now called by the Bedawiu
"Bahr Lut," the Sea of Lot. The title "Dead Sea"
appears not to have been used Ijy Jewish writers, but
it was cxirrent in the country when Jerome wrote, and
it is also found in the writings of Pausanias a.nd Galen :
this name probably originated in the very general belief,
which has survived even to ovx oavu day, that the
waters of the lake covered the doomed Cities of the
Plain, and were of such a deadly cliaracter that no bird
could fiy over them ; that the shores were desolate and
barren, and that the scenery was gloomy and forbid-
ding. Recent investigation has completely disposed of
these erroneous impressions, which possibly arose from
the fact that at the northern end of the lake, the part
most frequently ■visited by travellers, there is a dreary
waste of mud without the slightest trace of vegetation.
Our knowledge of the '• Dead Sea " and its shores is
derived, for the most part, from the boat expeditions of
Lieutenant Lynch, of the American Navy, in 1848,
and of the Due de Luynes in 1864 ; and from the land
journeys of Seetzen, Robinson, De Sauley, Captain
Warren, R.E., and others.
The Dead Sea occupies the deepest portion of the
great depression of the Jordan valley ; it is oblong in
form, the longest dimension being almost due north
and south ; and its width is nearly uniform, except near
the southern end, where a long low peninsula, the
Lisan, stretches out for some distpmce from the eastern
shore, and di\ndes its waters into two unequal portions.
The lake has a length of forty-six miles, and an average
width of ten miles ; on either side the mountain-ranges
run parallel to each other, and on the east they rise
expositors,
tions : —
Tlie clioice seems to lie bet'^eea three esplana-
(1)
" For before an empty bead gainetb nnderstandiug
A wild ass woxild become a man." (Delitzscb.)
(2) " Thereby eyen the fool would be bora again to intelligence,
And the young ass ^Y0uld become a reasonable creature."
(Renan, Ewald.)
(3) "Batman is furnished with an empty head (i.e., receives
at birth an empty undiscerning heart),
And man is born as a wild ass's colt " {i.e., as stupid and
obstinate). (Hupfeld.)
Tlie preceding verses dwell ou the penetration and certainty of
the Divine insight into character and consequent discipline. (1)
and (3) present man in contrast ns stupid and undiscerning. In (2)
the verse is taken ns expressing the result of the Divine discipline.
abrujitly from the water's edge, . leaving no margin,
except at those points where small deltas have been
formed at the mouths of the larger ra-\-ines that dis-
charge their waters into the lake. The northern end,
bordered by the plain of Jericho, is somewhat rounded,
and at the southern end the shore is for some two or
three miles perfectly Gui and but slightly raised abovo
the surface of the water ; beyond this it is shut in by
the salt mountain of Jebel Usdum and the rising
ground that separates the waters of the lake from those
of the Red Sea. The extraordinary depression of the
surface of the lake, 1,292 feet below the level of the
Mediterranean, according to the line of levels run
across the country in 1865 by the Royal Engineers,
together with the absence of any outlet for its waters,
render it the most remarkable body of water in the
world ; and its great depth, 1,308 feet at the deepest
point, is equally worthy of notice. The total depression
of the bed of the lake is thus 2,600 feet, almost the
same as the elevation of the Mount of OUa'Cs above the
Mediterranean. The level of the lake varies as much
as from ten to f^tteen feet at different seasons of the
year, rising when the melting snows and winter rains
are brought down by the Jordan and by the smaller
streams running directly to the lake from the moun-
tains on the east and west, and falling during the long
dry summer, when the supply of water is not sufficient
to meet the enormous amount of evaporation constantly
going on under the fierce rays of a Syrian sun. The
water of the Dead Sea is clear and bright, but, owing
to the large quantities of various salts held in solution,
it is intensely salt, and has a nauseous bitter taste.
Tlie specific gravity, 1228, distilled water beiug 1000,
and the Mediterranean 1025, is gi-eater than that of
any known water, and to this may be attributed the
extreme buoyancy noticed by so many travellers. This
peculiarity was well kno^vn to ancient wi-iters. Aris-
totle relates that if men or animals were thrown bound
into the lake they would not sink; Seneca says that
bricks would float in it ; and Josephus, B. J. iv. 8, § 4,
tells us that when Yespasian went to see the Dead Sea,
" he commanded that some who could not swim, shoiJd
have their hands tied behind them, and be thrown into
the deep, when it so happened that they all swam as if
wind had forced them upwards." So buoyant is the
water, that it is difficult to keep the feet down when
smmming, and there is a constant tendency to roll over
when striking out. Sinking is almost an impossibility,
for the body floats without the slightest exertion ; and
with a gentle movement of the hand to prevent tiu-ning
over, a sitting posture can be retained with perfect ease
for any length of time. Unless the body is well rubbed
after bathing, a saline crust is soon formed by the
rapid evaporation, and the water leaves a greasy feeling
24
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ou the skin ; but
with duo precaution
a bathe in the Dead
Sea is far more in-
vigorating and re-
freshing tlum one
in ordinary sea-
water. The effect
of the great specific
gravity was noticed
by Lynch, the com-
mander of the
Am 'rican Expedi-
tion, during liis first
day's sail on the
kke, when the dense
lieavy waves raised
by a strong north-
westerly gale are
said to have struck
the bows of the boat
like the " sledge-
liammers of the
Titans/' and to have
settled down again
with great rapidity
as soon as the wind
ceased. The density
of the water in-
creases with the
depth, and its com-
position varies at
difEerent places on
the surface and at
difEerent depths.
The salts deposited
by the water con-
sist almost exclu-
sively of chlorides
of magnesium,
sodium, calcium,
and potassium, with
a certain quantity
of bromides of the
same bases. There
is a total absence
of iodine, but the
amount of bromine
is so large as to
make it probable
that the Dead Sea
will at some future
period become one
of the principal
sources from which
this valuable sub-
stance is obtained. The quantity of salt held in solu-
tion is so great that the solid matter in a gallon of the
water is more than eight times the weight of that in
a gallon of sea-water. No trace of animal or vegetable
MAP OF THE DEAD SEA.
life has yet been
found in the lake;
fresh-water shells,
and occasionally
fish, have been
picked up on the
northern shore, but
they have always
been dead, and
appear to have been
brought down by
the Jordan. An ex-
periment made by
M. Lartet conclu-
sively proves the
deadly effect of the
waters on animal
life, for some small
fish, which he re-
moved from a very
salt pool close by,
died directly they
were immersed in
the lake. On the
shores of the Dead
Sea it is very dif-
ferent; there,
wherever there is
fresh water, an
abundant vegeta-
tion springs up.
On the eastern
shore palm - trees
are found, and in
several places the
bushes grow down
to the water's edge.
Nor is there any
want of life, for
numerous birds en-
liven the thickets
round the springs
with their song, and
the rocks around
re-echo to the call
of the partridge,
whilst ducks and
divers may fre-
quently be seen
floating on the
placid surface of
the lake. Josephus
says that " the sea
in many places
sends up black
masses of asphaJ-
tum, having the form and size of headless bulls,"
and from this phenomenon it received the name of
" Lacus Asphaltitis." Of late years the occasions on
which masses of bitumen have risen to the surface have
OKerak
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
25
OSHEB, OR TREE OF SODOM, AT AIN JIDI (EN-GEDI).
(From a Photograph talcen for the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
been less frequent than they appear to have been for-
merly. After the great earthquake of 1837, a large
quantity is said to have been found by the Arabs, who
realised a considerable sum by its sale ; and there have
since been occasional finds. The appearance of the
lake hardly bears out the description, " an infernal
region," given to it by early travellers, even under the
most unfavourable circumstances, when heavy-leaden
clouds give a sombre hue to everything around. When,
on the other hand, the surrounding mountains are
lighted up by the bright rays of the sun, there is, per-
haps, no place in the world that can equal this region
for brilliancy and richness of colouring ; and the vivid
tints in Mr. Holman Hunt's picture of the "Scape-
goat '' are no exaggeration of those frequently wit-
nessed on the shores of the Dead Sea. No one who
has stood on the Mount of Olives and seen the moun-
tains of Moab glowing under the rays of the setting
sun, can ever forget the wondrous beauty of the scene,
with the bright bine water lying in the depths below,
and the burnished mountains rising beyond like the
border of some enchanted fairy land. Striking atmo-
spheric effects are occasionally produced by the enormous
evaporation. Irby and Mangles noticed it " rising in
broad, transparent columns of vapour, not unlike water-
spouts in appearance, but very mixch longer." At
other times the mist may be seen hanging over the
surface of the water, or spreading out in a thin haze
over the mountains ; whilst at night the heated air often
rushes up from the deep chasm in a strong fierce gale.
The geology of the basin of the Dead Sea was care-
fully examined by M. Louis Lartet, the distinguished
geologist who accompanied the expedition of the Due
de Luynes, and the conclusion he arrived at was
that the lake " had never been in communication with
the neighbouring oceans, although its waters formerly
stood at a much higher level than they now do." The
fact that a hill of cretaceous formation, 781 feet above
the sea, separates the waters of the Dead Sea from
those of the Gulf of Akabah, and that the cretaceous
strata are covered with their own debris alone, and show
no trace of any water -course running in a southerly
direction, effectually disproves the theory of an ancient
prolongation of the Jordan to the Red Sea ; and that of
an ancient marine communication with the surrounding
oceans is equally disproved by "the absence of any
marine organisations in the most ancient strata of the
basin, the fluviatile character of the post-eocene de-
posits of the Arabah, the existing traces of the direc-
tion of the streams towards the Dead Sea, and the
non-existence of any material elevation of the ground
in the middle of the Arabah since the formation of the
26
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
present valleys." M. Lartet thinks that the position of
the cretaceous and eocene beds on both sides of the
Jordan valley, and the striking rectilineal character of
the valley itself, seems " to favour the idea of the exist-
ence of a vast line of fracture through tlie middle of
the country ; " and that " the eastern side of the high-
lands of Judah must have undergone a considerable
downward movement all along the line of dislocation,
nud thus originated the depressed trench which sepa-
rates Palestine iiro^ier from the highlands on the other
side of Jordan." The basin of the Dead Sea has thus
been formed without any influence from, or commimi-
catiou with, the ocean ; whence it follows that the lake
which occupies the bottom of the basin has never been
anything but a reservoir for the rainfall, the saltness of
which originally proceeded from the constitution of the
environs of the lake, and has greatly increased under
the influence of incessant evaporation. M. Lartet
found the ancient deposits of the Dead Sea extending
up the Jordan valley as far north as Wady Zerka^
where they were at least 300 feet above the present
surface of the lake, so that the water must at one time
have stood at that level, filling iip a large portion of
the valley, and have then dej)osited the marls which
are so rich in salt and gypsum beds. At a later date
volcanic erxiptions have taken place to the north-east
and east of the Dead Sea, and the last phenomena
which affected its basin were the hot and minei-al
springs and bituminous eruptions which often accom-
pany and follow volcanic action.
Having thus given a sketch of the general character
of the Dead Sea and its basin, we may proceed to an
examination of some of the most important places on
tlie .shores of the lake, commencing with the western
side. The Jordan, as it approaches its final home,
rushes through a flat expanse of whitish mud on
which there is hardly a trace of vegetation, and its
thick cream-coloured waters can be seen pursuing
their course far out into the clear blue -waters of tlie
lake. Leaving to the right the curious artificial
mound, Tell er-Rashidiyeh, and proceeding westward,
we pass over a low barren plain, well kno-wn to
travellers, and reach the foot of the mountains near
some remarkable blocks of rock, one of which is known
to the Bedawin as Hajar el-Asbah, and believed by
M. Ganneau to be the stone of Bohan mentioned as a
point in the border-line between Judah and Benjamin.
All along the northei'n shore of the lake are lines of
driftwood marking the different levels at which the
water has stood. South of Hajar el-Asbah, on a spur
at the base of the cliffs, is Khirbet Gumran, which M.
de Saulcy would identify with Gomorrah. The ruins are
quite insignificant, a few rude walls, a small pool and
fragments of pottery. The most remarkable feature is
the number of tombs, about 1,000, covering the mound
and adjacent plateaux ; tliey are arranged in regular
rows close together with their longest dimensions north
and south, and their form is that of a small elliptical
tumulus surrounded Ijy rough stones with two larger
ones at the head and foot ; beneath the tumulus is an
excavation, about four feet deep, in which the bodies
were laid and covered with a layer of sun-dried bricks.
Two miles south of Gumran, and about 300 yards from
the shore of the lake, is the sjjring of Ain Feshkah ; the
water, which is slightly brackish, but quite driidcable,
rises at a temperature of 82°, and flows off through a
thicket of cane to tlie lake ; in the spring and stream
are numbers of small fish, and on the rocks behind the
coney is occasionally found. South of the spring the
level space between the mountains and the lake gradu-
ally nai'rows, till at the end of two miles the bold bluff
of Ras Feshkah descends perpendicularly into the water,
effectually preventing any progress along the shore.
Beyond, the Wadies Samarah and En Nar run to the
Dead Sea, the latter, a continuation of the Kedron,
descending abruptly through a remarkable chasm in
the rock which is quite inaccessible. Further south
a small plain covered with tamarisk, acacia, and noble,
borders the lake ; it receives the drainage of Wady
Ghuweir, and contains two springs, Ain Ghuweir and
Ain Terabeh. Between Ain Terabeh and Am Jidi
(En-gcdi) several valleys come down from the Wilder-
ness of Judah and pass to the Dead Sea through great
fissures in the cliffs, which present scenery of the
wildest gi-andeur ; at the mouth of one of them, Wady
Shukif, a hot sulphur spring rises at a temperature of
of 95"^ within a few inches of the water of the lake.
At Ain Jidi there is a plain about li miles long,
and 1\ miles broad at its widest point ; two valleys, the
Wadies Sadur and Ai-eyat, said to contain perennial
streams, break through the mountains at either end, and
on a little sloping spur between them the waters of Ain
Jidi (En-gedi, the "fountain of the kid") burst forth
and fall down in cascades to the sea five hundred feet
below, giATng life to a bright green strip of vegetation
which presents a striking contrast to the surrounding
desolation. There are no traces now of the A-ines, the
balsam, and the palms mentioned by Solomon, Josephus,
and Pliny. The plain is now covered with acacia, tama-
risk, liable, the henna, which may perhaps be the " cam-
phire in the gardens of En-gedi ; " and the oshei; or
apple of Sodom, with its wiinkled bark, its large round
glossy leaves, and its golden yellow fruit pleasing to
the eye, but cracking like a hollow puff-ball with the
slightest pressure. The heat at Ain Jitli in summer is
very great : Captain Warren, R.E., in July found it 110°
after sunset, and this may perhaps have something to
say to a curious optical delusion which has been noticed
by several travellers, the appearance of dark moving-
spots passing over the surface ef the water like floating
islands. There are a few remains of buildings round
the fountain, but those of the ancient city of Hazezon-
tamar, " the city of i>alms," are some distance below at
the foot of a succession of teii'aces, remnants perhaps
of the vineyards of En-gedi. Hazezon-tamar is first
mentioned in connection with the march from the
south of Chedorlaomor, who. after smiting the Ainorites
who lived in the town, advanced and defeated the con-
federate kings of tlie "cities of the plain" in the vale of
Siddim, possibly the small plain in which Ain Ghuweir
CHRONOLOGY OP THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
is situated. It was in the " strougliolds of Eu-gedi"
that David dwelt dimng one portion of his life in the
WUdemess of Ji;dah, and it was amongst '"the rocks
of the wild goats that he was sought for l)y Saul and
3,000 chosen men of Israel ; whilst on the plain below
the spring the Moabites and Ammonites assembled on
their march against Jehoshaphat shoi-tly before the
extraordinary event occurred which relieved Judah from
invasion (2 Chron. xx. 22 — 24). South of Aiu Jidi, a
plain varying in width from li to 3 miles, and 150 to
250 feet above the sea, lies between the mountains and
the lake, and extends southwards to Jebel Hatrui-a ; the
plain or rather ten-ace formed by the ancient deposits
of the Dead Sea, is cut through by deep dry water-
courses, the continuation of valleys coming down from
the hills, and in these a few acacias may be seen, the
sole relief to the di-eary lifeless aspect of the district ;
on the shore are several hot sulphur springs. Alouo-
this plain the Bedawin pass when making a raid on the
hill-country of Judaea, and the same route was followed
by the Moabites and the Ammonites on their expedition
agT.inst the kingdom of Judah.
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AJ^D COINS OF THE BIBLE.
MEASURES OF TIME (continued).
THE CHSONOLOGrY OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
BT F. K. CONDEE, C.E.
[lTH regard to the chronology of the New
Testament, the only part which, notwith-
standing long discussion, can as yet be
said to have been brought within the pro-
vince of reasonable certitude, is the narrative of the
Acts of the Ajjostles, together with the date of such
Epistles as may be referred to the history therein
contained. The pious student wiU fondly seek to attacli
a distinct date to each of the events recorded in the
Gospel. But it is not a help, but a hindrance, to intel-
ligent study to hold out the idea that this has yet been
done. Even that primary question, the length of time
which elapsed from the baptism to the crucifixion of
Christ, is still matter of debate. While the term of
three years is that which is generally thought most con-
sistent with the requirements of the Evangelic record,
one of the latest and most learned of the writers on
sacred chronology is firm in the opinion that the time
must be limited to a single year.
The one Gospel date which may be regarded as cliro-
nologically fixed, is tliat of the Crucifixion. Tlie term
of the procuratorship of Pilate, who held that ofiice
for the last ten years of the reign of Tiberius, first
approximately fixes tlie time. The fifteenth year of
Tiberius, according to St. Luke, preceded the Passion.
Tlie Passover, in the year in question, fell on the fifth
day of the week. These requisites are found to concur
in the year 783 of the City of Rome, or 30 of the
A.D. reckoning. Tlie names of Longinus and Quar-
iinus, tlie Consuls for that year, are refeiTcd to in early
Christian literature. And a reference exists to the
computation of the vague Egyptian year, which gives
a coincident result. Again, tlie habitual celebration
by the Christian Church of the day of Pentecost on
the Sunday, on which day of the week it falls when
the Passover is on the Thursday, is a mute confirmation
of the accuracy of the reckoning. Good Friday may
be regarded as the best fixed day of the week in ancient
history.
The Nati\'ity, according to St. Matthew, occurred
during the reign of Herod the Great, who died on the
20th of Cisleu, in the year of Rome 749. How long
before the close of this reign the event occurred is not
stated by any Evangelist. There is a reference by St.
Luke to the fact of Christ being about thirty years old ;
but it is not distinctly said whether this was His age at
His baptism, at His commencement of public teaching,
or at His death. The same doubt attaches to the event
as to which the date of the fifteenth year of Tiberius
Caesar is given by the same Evangelist. If this were,
as the first glance at the passage suggests, the com-
mencement of the preaching of John, the whole course
of the events comprised in the Gospel must have been
crowded into a very few months. If the reference to
the Passovers be taken as conclusive, the term of three
years will be made out ; but the reference to 15 Tiberius
will be unexplained. In any case, the reference to
Cyi'enius, who is said by Josephus to have been sent into
Syria to take an account of the national pro^ierty on
the deposition of Archelaus, nine years after the death
of Herod,' and which, if it stood alone, would carry
do-\vn the date of the Nativity to that time, is still
matter of extreme perplexity.
Even with regard to the close of the Acts of the
Apostles, several dates, although not very far apart,
have been suggested by learned men. The point, how-
ever, which is decisive (unless conflicting e\'ideuce, as
yet unknown, can be brought against it), is the statement
of St. Jerome, in his in Evangelistas ad Damasum
prefatio, that Festus succeeded Felix as Procurator of
Judaea in the second year of Nero, being the twenty-
fifth year after the Passion. The investigations of
Lehman have tended rather to fix the latest thav the
earliest iiossible limit of the recall of Felix. The clear
statement of St. Jerome cannot be disputed, except on
equally plain ground of evidence.
This determination of the date of the arrival of
Festus at Caesarea enables us to trace the thread of the
1 Ant. XX. 1, § 2.
28
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
narrative of the historian of the Acts of the Apostles
with detailed accuracy, and to fix the principal events
recorded, not only to the year, but often to the day.
Thus the year of Paul's visit to Athens being known,
and the season when the navigation was open being also
known, there can be little doubt that the date of his
defence before the tribunal of the Areopagus was on
the 22nd, 23i-d. or 2-ith of the month Hecatomboon,
when this com-t held its sitting, immediately after the
feast of the 0eo|evio, or festival of foreign gods, whicli
was celebrated on the 20th of that lunar month. Again,
the sacrifice of the priest of Juijiter, "before the city,"
at Lystra, may with a like propriety be referred to the
festival of the Bovip6yia, which occurred on the 14tli of
Scirrophoreon, the mouth corresponding to the Jewish
month Tamuz.
It may be more convenient to the student to throw
the fixed and indisputable dates of the New Testament
into the form of a table, specifying each successive year
throughout the Acts of the Apostles. One further
remark, however, deserves serious note.
The entire spiritual fabric of the Church of Rome
rests on the assumption that Peter the Apostle was
bishoi) of that city, and handed dowTi his primate's
power to his successor. Of this we have here to speak
as matter of chronology alone. The accuracy of the
date of the establishment of that see, and of the
presence of Peter at Rome, is an integral and essential
condition of the truth of the claim to primacy ; as the
date has been fixed by the solemn celebration of the
eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Peter, and by
the attribution, by equally infallible dogma, of the term
of twenty-five years to his episcopate. These dates give
the foundation of the see in A.D. 42, and the martyi-dom
in A.D. 66.
But A.D. 42 is the very year at the close of which,
according to the Acts of the Apostles, Peter was in
chains in Jerusalem. At the Passover of A.D. 43 took
place his deliverance. Four years later, we find him at
Antioch. In the next, a sabbatic year, he was at Jeru-
salem. Six years after that he was also at Jerusalem,
unless he was not considered by the historian of the
Acts to be a per.son of svifRcient importance to except by
name from the statement, "All the elders were present."
In A.D. 57, on the arrival of St. Paul at Rome, the chief
of the Jews there told him that they liad received no
letters concerning him, and that they knew that the sect
to which he belonged was evei-y where spoken against —
a statement altogether irreconcileable with the hypo-
thesis that Peter had, at that date, been for fifteen
years ruling a Church in Rome. Finally, the references,
in the First Epistle of Peter, to the conflagi-ation which
had occurred, to the sore trial of his hearers ^ — and to
the commencement of the destruction at the Temple
itself- — can hardly be attributed to a date anterior to
the burning of the Temple and the destruction of the
city; and, in that case, must date at least five years
later than the legendary martyi-dom of the Apostle.
Whatever argument, then, may be adduced for the
primacy of Peter, acceptance of the Romish dogma on
that point is manifestly incompatible with a belief in
the truth of the Acts of the Apostles.
' 1 Peter iv. 12, t>7 e" v/mv Trupwcrci.
2 1 Peter iv. 17, tou upfao-Oai t6 npi'/ia ujro TO
FASTI APOSTOLICI ; OR, TABULAR VIEW OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Years of
Rfci. 1 Septet
oaing. I ""'*•
4839
4840 : 4
4841 ' 5
1
4&42 I 6
484.3 A.S. 1
Etbnarch.
High Priest.
4844
4845
4846
4847
4848
4849
Hsrod Antipas 1 Joseph Caiaphas
Agrippa
1
2
3
Jouathan f. Annas
TheophOus f. Annas
4850 ;A.S. 2 I 4
4851 I 1 j 5
4852 2 ' 6
4853 3 . 7
Simon f. Boetbus
Matthias
Alioneus
A.U.C. Emperor
783
784
785
786
787
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
Tiberius
17
18
19
20
22
Cains
Procurator.
Events.
Marullus
Pontius Pilate : Crucifixion on Friday, IStb Nisan,
being the 5th of April of our present
Gregorian reckoning.
4 Death of Stephen. Peter before
I Sauhetlrin.
5 I Jews banished from Rome by Tiberius.
(Ant. xviii. 3, § 10. )
Tumults in Samaria.
Paul in Jerusalem for fourteen days.
Death of Herod Philip, Tetrarch of
Trachonitis.
Sedition about aqueducts. (Bell. ii. 10,
§4.) Tumults in Alexandria.
Agrippa in Rome. Petronius sent
agiiinst Jerusalem.
Pilate scut to Rome by Vitellius.
Death of Tiberius on 9th Nisan or
26th March.
Agrippa receives tetrarchies of Herod
Philip and of Lysanias
Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, ban-
ished. Peter at Lydda.
Death of Caius, who was assassinated
on Ist Adar. Agrippa made King.
Peter at Csesarea.
A.D.
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
3d
40
Claudius' Paul iu Autioch.
Fadus
Death of Apostle James. Imprison-
ment of Apostle Peter. '
Death of Agrippa the Great, set. 54.
Claudius in Britain. Elymas blinded. I
Paul at Lystra, on 14tli Scirrophoreou. '
41
42
43
44
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
29
Years of
Sao.
4854
4855
4856
4857
4838
4859
4860
4861
4862
4863
4865
4866
4867
A.S. 3
!i A.S. 4
Ethnarch.
Higli Priest.
Agrippa II.
Ananias f. Nebedeus
Jonathan
Isuiael f. Cabi
Josei^h f. Cabi
Annas
1
A.U.C. ■
Emperor I
798
5 1
1 799
6 1
Ludi Se-
7
culares
1
801
8 !
802
9
803
10
804
11
805
12
806
13
807
Nero
808
1
809
2
810
3
811
4
812
5 i
Procurator.
Events.
A.D.
Dearth (Acts xi. 30; ^nf. xv. 1, § 2).
Dearth. Theudas, false prophet, be-
headed ahout this tim€(.4nf.xxi. 5, §1).
Tiber. Alexander Dearth. Conversion of Queen Helena
of Adiab(3ne. Claudius yields sacred
vestments {Ant. xv. 1, § 2).
Cumanus Paul in Jerusalem (Gul. ii. 1). Death j
I of Herod, King of Chalcis. Agrippa j
succeeds.
I Paul at Athens, on 20th Hecatombeon. !
i 1st year of 207th Olympiad. Se-
dition at Passover. 1st Epistle to
Thessalonians written from Corinth.
Jews banished from Eome.
;Paul at Corinth. London fortified.
I Nero adopted by Claudius.
Paul at Corinth and Ephesus.
Felix I Paul at Ephesus, visits Antioch and
Phrjgia. Batanea, Trachonitis, and
Abilene given to Agrippa.
Paul at Ephesus. 1st Epistle to Co-
rinthians written from Ephesus.
Death of Claudius. Epistle to
j Konians written in Macedonia. Paul
i leaves Philippi, and is imprisoned.
.Death of Azizas, KingofEmesa. Peter
i leaves Antioch.
Festua IPaul before Festus. Sicarii prevail.
[Paul arrives at Eome.
Albinus Paul abides at Eome.
End of Acts of Apostles.
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
54
55
56
57
58
59
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
FIEST EPISTLE TO THE COEINTHIANS.
BY THE BEV. S. G. GBEEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
"^^T was in Corintli that St. PavJ fii-st came !
\Si)^ fully "ito contact with the highest forms j
|V^ of Greek civilisation. Thessalonica was in I
^^^ yf^^ comparison provincial, and the Apostle's
stay in Athens had been but brief. When St. Paul ;
visited Corinth it was at tlie height of its restored
fortunes ; Romans ^ and Jews, together with Greeks,
constituted its heterogeneous population ; while the \
absence of political power, no less than its commercial
prosperity, had tended to the growth of luxurious
habits, and the culture of a dilettante philosoi^hy ; the
natural consequence being a depravation of morals
which made Corinth a bye-word even in the heathen
world. The Apostle, entering the city alone, was sad-
dened and dismayed by the prospect before him,
needing at length the succour of a heavenly vision.-
But his course was taken from the first. To the
intellectual pride of Corinth he opposed, without any
concealment or reserve, the most humbling doctrines
of the Cross ; while, disdaining those weapons of
rhetoric which he might so easily have wielded, he
1 Among the Corinthian Christians Latin names predominate :
Justus, Crispus (Acts xviii. 7, 8), Gaius, Quartus (Eom. xvi. 23),
Fortunatus, Achaicus (1 Cor. xvi. 17). Stephanas, Erastus,
Sosthenes, and Phcebe, are Greek.
2 See 1 Cor. ii. 3; Acts xviii. 9. That St. Paul was alone on
his first entrance into Corinth is plain from the history. Silas
and Timotheus came to him afterwards.
declared with the plainest simplicity the testimony of
God. Nor would he, like other teachers, derive his
maintenance from those whom he taught. Resolved
to be independent, contented to be poor, he spent the
intervals of evangelic labour in tent-making, with Aquila
and Priscilla. His efforts soon yielded rich fruit;
and a church was gathered which henceforth was to
occasion some of the chief joys and sorrows of the
Apostle's life.
2. Again, as at Thessalonica and Beroea, the Jews
excited a tumult against the Apostle, but not with the
same success. The wisdom and adroitness of GaUio
the proconsul foiled their aim, and he "drave them
from the judgment-seat." ^ St. Paul therefore stood
his ground, remaining in the city " yet a good while,"
quitting it only for a visit to Jerusalem, with the
double pui-pose of celebrating the Pentecost,^ and of
discharging a vow. This having been accomplished,
the Apostle commenced his third great missionary
journey, in the course of which he came to Ephesus,
j and there entered upon a lengthy abode. Momentous
3 ^cts xviii. 16. The notices of Gallio in secular history are
interesting. He was brother to Seneca, the distinguished philo-
sopher, who says of him, " Nemo mortalium uui tam dulcis est,
quam hie omnibus." (No one else is so charming to his intimate
friend as Gallio is to everybody. )
''"This feast that cometh in Jerusalem" (Acts xviii. 21).
' Wieseler shows that this must in all probability have been
30
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
eveuts IkuI iiieaiiwliile taken place in the Coriutliian
church.
3. The first of these was the visit of Ai)ollos, the
eloquent Jew of Alexandria, whoso teaching l)rought a
new iuflucnco to bear upon the Jews iu Corinth, and
speedily established a special school of thought in the
church. Of this more will be said further on. A yet
more serious matter was tho growing di.spositiou to
tolerate in tho church those sins of the flesh Avhich
made Corinth so infamous. Hearing of this wliilo at
Ephesus, tho Ai)ostle wrote a letter to tho Corinthians
which has not been preserved ; warning them " not to
associate with fornicators.'" ^ It has recently been
coujoctiu-ed with much shrewdness that a portion of
this letter has become inserted in the Second Epistle,
chap. \"i. 14 — vii. 1 inclusive. The connection of this
passage with the paragraphs preceding and following
is certainly very difficult, while chap. A-ii. 2 follows
naturally on \"i. 13. But whatever tliis supposition
may be worth, it is certain that the letter contained a
stem protest against fellowship with evil. Probably
also it included some direction or request for a contri-
bution to tho necessities of the impoverished Christians
in Jerusalem, from which city St. Paid had recently
come. Not only was this letter written, but a bi'ief
visit was paid by tho Apostle to Corinth, unrecorded
in the history. That such a visit was made appears
plain fi'om 2 Cor. xiii. 1, " This third time I am coming
to you " (see also xii. 14), words which it is impossible
fairly to interpret with Paley, " This is the third time
I am ready io come to you, althoiigh I have actually
visited you but once.'"" The interview between the
Apostle and tho Corinthian church appears to have
been very painful. He came " in lieaAdness " (2 Cor. ii.
1), God " humbled him among them" (xii. 21), while yet
he had " spared " the most flagrant transgressors (xiii.
2). Having paid tliis ATisit, the Apostle returned to
Macedonia, intimating an intention, which he was after-
wards led to change,^ to call at Corinth ag£iiu on his
projected tour to Macedonia, returning the same way,
so as to give the church " a second benefit " (2 Cor.
i. 15).
4. The state of tho Corinthian church meantime
grew more deplorable, and tidings an-ived iu E^jhesus,
brought by members of the family of a Christian lady
named Chloe,^ which occasioned the Aj)Ostle the deepest
the Pentecost. See Alford in loc. This seems to huve been a
favourite festival with St. Paul (1 Cor. xvi. 8 ; Acts xx. 16) ; the
" birthday of the Church."
• 1 Cor. V. 9, " I wrote to you in the Epistle not to associate
with fornicators." It is true that i:ypa^l,a here (the epistolaiy
aorist; might refer to the letter now being written (chap. ix. 15 ;
Gal. vi. 11 ; Philem. 19 ; 1 John ii. 14) ; but there is no previous
passage in this First Epistle that bears out tho Apostle's reference;
besides which the contrast, "I wrote, but now I write" (1 Cor. v.
11), seems to point to two different communications. We there-
fore take 'i-jpoi^a as iu 2 Cor. ii. 4.
- See Kora: Paxdinm on 2 Cor. xiii. 1. Whether the lost letter
or the unrecorded visit is to be placed first, is a question that has
been variously answered.
3 See Introduction to Second Epistle.
•1 1 Cor. i. 11, {,T,o To.i. x\onr— " We cinnot fill up tho blank,"
says Alford, "not knowing whether they were sons or servants,
or other members of her family. Nor can we say whether Chloe
anxiety. At the same time a letter arrived from tho
Corinthians to Paul, in which liis advice was sought
respecting some important points of doctrine and church
discipline. These two circumstances — the intelligence
and the epistle — jointly determined him to write at
large to the church. The Epistle therefore divides itself
into two main portions, which we may entitle respec-
tively the Tidings from Corinth, and the Corinthian
Letter.
The time of writing was evidently towards the close
of St. Paul's residence in Ephesus, and when he was
anticipating the Pentecost (chap. xvi. 8). It would
be therefore about the season of the Passover, a sup-
position which corresponds with the allusions in
chap. V. 7.
I. The Tidings feom Corinth. Before giving
any answer to the questions proposed by the Corinthians,
the Apostle dwells upon those crying evils existing
among them which they had not thought it worth
while to mention. St. Paul gives his authority for the
charges brought, as if to sliow that he proceeds upon
no surmise, and to give opportimity, if possible, for
refutation. He also begins very tenderly, according
to his wont; singHng out every cause of congratu-
lation, and especially the gifts which had been so
largely bestowed upon the Chiistians of Corinth (chap,
i. 1—9).
The charges brought are mainly three : the outbreak
of a factious spirit (i. 10 — iv. 21), a case of incest
tolerated in the church (v. 1 — 13), and the habit of
bringing their disputes before heathen courts (vi.
1 — 9). This section of the Epistle concludes with a
general warning against complicity with heathenism
(vi. 9—20).
(1.) The Spirit of Factiousness. The church in
Corinth was divided into parties, maintaining internal
strife rather than developing into outward schism.
Each section claimed some great name as its distin-
guishing badge. Those who rebelled against every
form of Judaism, and, in repudiating tho Law as a
ground of justification, probably passed to an Antino-
mian extreme, said, " We are of Paul." Others, admiring
eloquence and pliilosophy, as applied to di\4ne things,
caring, it may be, little for doctrine, and choosing rather
to live in a mystic sentimentalism, would say, " We are
of Apollos." The Jewish party in the church claimed
the great name of Cephas, Peter, the Apostle of the
circumcision. Others, again, made the name of Christ
a pai-ty watchword, probalily denying even apostolic
authority, and anticijjating the modern cry. " Not Paul,
but Jesus."* All these parties are sternly rebuked by
the Apostle. " Is Christ divided ?"'' Not only are the
was (Theophylact and others) an inhabitant of Corinth, or some
Christiau woman (Estiusl, known to tlie Corinthians elsewhere, or
(Michaelis, Meyer) an Ephesian, having friends who had been in
Coi'inth.*'
* Much has been written on these parties. See especially Dr.
Davidson's Introduction, 1849, vol. ii., pp. 223—240.
^ Chap. i. 13. Lachmann punctuates this as an exclamation,
"Christ is divided! " i.e.. by your factions and disputes. So Dean
Stanley. The interrogation, however, seems better to suit tho
context.
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORmTHIANS.
31
votaries of lirmian authority upbraided, but those who
assert an exclusive conneetiou with Christ. It is pos-
sible to say " I am a Christian '' in as sectarian a tone
as that of some who say, '• I am a Calvinist," or " I ara
a Wesleyan."' The spirit in which these professions
respectively may be made makes all the difference.
The corrective to this party spirit is supplied in
three distinct forms.
o. Tlie spirit of Christianity is not exclusive disciple-
ship, but a common gospel. " Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to evangelize." These words of Paul would
no doubt have been echoed with equal earnestness by
Pet«r and Apollos. They were no more responsible
tlian he for the narrowness and strife of their respective
adherents. Such is ever the history of jjarties. Men
whose souls are truly and grandly catholic are made,
by their misunderstanding admii-ers, the ijatrons of
sectarian eschisiveness.
)3. This Gospel, in its simplicity, actually excludes the
human element. Neither the philosophy of the Greeks
(as vaunted by the followers of Apollos) nor tlie symbol-
ism of the Jews !_to which Peter's self-styled adherents
were devoted) might be suffered to impair its grandeur.
The wisdom of man is " foolishness " with God, and
"the foolishness" of God is wiser than men. Only in
" Clu-ist and Him crucified " is the truth to be sought ;
the revelation of truths which " eye had not seen nor ear
heard, which had not entered into the heart of man."^
Every human accretion shall be swept away in the day
of " manifestation by fire." Such are the topics of this
sublime discussion, closing with the great declaration
that, so far from being the lords of men's consciences,
the very ministers of Christ live for the sake of the
Church — " Say not that you are ours ; it is we who are
yours ! " The Chm-ch collective, the body and temple
of Christ, is greater than the individuality of any
minister. The Church was not made for the Apostles,
but the Apostles for the Church ; and the same may be
said of the luiiverse, past, present, and to come.
y. Tlie Apostle shows what he and his comrades
really were — " ministers of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God." To Him only are they responsible,
wliile their humiliation and sufferings on earth are
tokens that they belong to Him. Only the false are
proud. In a strain of mingled tenderness and rebuke
the Apostle closes this part of his letter, appealing to
the self-denial and humility of himself and his brethren
as marks of their true calling, and avowing a determi-
nation, if necessary, to exert his authority to punish in
the name of Christ.
(2.) Tlie case of incest. A gross act of immorality
had been pei-petrated in the church — a man marrying
his stepmother while his father yet lived.- The case
was thus doubly atrocious ; but tlie church had tolerated
1 1 Cor. ii. 9 (Isa. Isiv. 4). Tlie ordinary application of fhese
words to lieaveuly joys is incorrect. The Apostle is referring to
the truths revealed to men in Christ.
2 Chap. V. 1, " His father's wife." That the father was yet
alive is clear from 2 Cor. vii. 12, " For his cause that had suffered
wrong."
the deed, tlie guilty man being retained — not with
shame, but in a spii-it of defiance — in the membership
of the churcli. The Apostle demands the excommuni-
cation of the transgressor : " Put away from yourselves
that wicked person ; " enjoining, if necessary, his deliver-
ance " unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh" —
i.e., the infliction, by supernatural power, of some sore
bodily disease, the pain of which might bring him to a
better mind.-^
(3.) Umoorthy appeals to the lazo courts. . The tran-
sition from the preceding paragraph to this topic is
immediate and uatm-al. The church, haraig these
dread powers within itself, to adjudicate, to exclude,
and to punish, ought not to take any of its disputes
before heathen tribunals. The privilege of settling
their own quarrels had been granted by the Romans
even to Jews;* much more should Chi-istians disdain
to seek decision in any other way. Nay, more : the
saints would one day sit in judgment on the world ; how
little fitting, therefore, that they should now ask the
world to judge amongst them ! — " Is it so," the Apostle
asks, " that there is not a wise man among you ?"
(4.) The last two points lead to a vehement denuncia-
tion of every heathen practice. An objection is antici-
pated— perhaps had been actually made. Are not " all
things lawful " to the Christian ? Had not Paul
himself declared as much ? Yes, in matters indifferent,
as in meats ; but not in actions involving the principles
of morality. To Aiolate these is to profane the body,
which belongs to Christ — the body, which is the temple
of the Holy Spirit.
n. The Letter of the Corinthian Church.^
The several points raised are noted below : on the whole,
it may be remarked that no part of the Apostle's writings
more strikingly illustrates his power of drawing uni-
versal lessons from special and occasional circumstances.
The questions raised are mostly obsolete ; the solutions
declare principles that are imperishable.
(1.) Is it good to marry ? (chap. \ai.) This question
takes a threefold shape.
a. Under present circumstances, and as a general
rule, the single state is to be prefeiTed. Only (I) those
who cannot control themselves must maiTy ; (2) those
already maiided must not separate, excepting for spiri-
tual purposes and for a time ; (3) where a heathen is
married to a Christian (although Christ has left no
special rule on the point), it is generally best that the
union should continue.
j8. As to giving in mai'riage, the parents' prerogative,
the matter is again one of Christian expediency, "without
any absolute command from Christ. Only in general, as
3 Chap. V. 5. See Alford. It does not appear that the sentence
was actually inflicted ; the penitence and grief of the guilty person
having averted this further doom (2 Cor. ii. 7). As proofs that
in special circumstances such penalties were inflicted hy apostolic
avithority, may be cited the cases of An.aiiias and Sapphira, of
Elymas; with the hints given in 1 Cor, xi. 30; 1 Tim. i. 20 ; and
perhaps 1 John v. 16.
4 Josephus, Ant. siv. 10, § 17 ; svi. 6, § 1 ; Acts xviii. 14, 15.
5 See a very ingenious conjectural rex^roduction of this letter itt
ilr. Lewin's Life and Epistlei'of St. Paul, vol, L, pp. 386—391.
32
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
things are in the Church, it is best to witlihold, unless
there be danger in any way of dishonour : thou, " let
them marry."
y. " Widows had better not marry again, but they
may."
(2.) May a Christian man eat flesh that has been
offered to idols ? (chap. viii. — xi. 1.) This was a very
practical matter, as the traffic between the temples and
the shambles was constant, and the purchaser coidd
never be sure that the carcase from which his joint was
cut had not been slain before some altar. Now this
really made no difference ; for as an idol is " nothing
in the world,"' it could not claim the A-ictim. Yet so
strong was " the consciousness of the idol," that some
converts from heathenism would be unable to get rid
of the feeling that they were doing wrong, and would
thus be morally injured. For the sake of these, there-
fore, it would be well that the " strong " should forbear
to exercise their Christian liberty. Especially, where
the common meal was spread in the precLucts of the
idol temple, would it be wise to abstain. Not that the
place made any actual difference ; but as, to some who
might recline at the table, the act would be a conscious
participation in idolatry, they must have no example
of ours leadmg them to so great a sin.
a. This view is sustained by the Apostle's own
example. He too forbore to pi'ess, in another way, his
obvious rights for the sake of others. As a teacher of
the church, he was entitled to maintenance from the
church on two distinct grounds — the general practice
among men (ix. 7) and the express command of God
(w. 9, 10, 13, 14). Moreover, others had claimed this
power and received support (ver. 12). Yet, lest he
should scandalise any or be misconstrued, he withheld
his claim, and laboured for his own maintenance. Such
was his unalterable resolution ; such his self-discipline.
Turning for a moment to the Isthmian games, so
familiar to the dwellers in Corinth, he represents this
self-denial as his training for the race of life and the
immortal crown.
&. The thought of seK-discipline leads to that of
watclif ulness ; and, with an especial reference to his
Jewish brethren in Corinth, the Apostle illusti-ates his
warning by the example of those who "were over thro svn
in the wilderness " (x. 1 — 15). The thought here is
that uo privilege, however exalted, can suffice to prevent
apostacy and ruin. Idolatiy was the " temptation "
then, as it is the temptation now, but to the watchful
and sincere " the way of escape "' is always open.
y. The evil of idolatry is further illustrated by its
utter antagonism to all that pertained to Christian
fellowship : " Ye cannot diink the cup of the Lord and
the cup of demons " (x. 16 — 22).
5. Coming back to his former point, St. Paul declares
anew the law of Christian freedom (x. 23 — xi. 1).
The representation which he has made of the e\ils of
idolatry will sufficiently deter from even apparent con-
nivance at so awful a sin. " Give none offence," i.e.,
1 Chap. X. 13, Tiyv iKpaatv.
Be stumbling-blocks to none ; and '• Be ye followers of
me, even as I also am of Christ." It is plain that
chap. xi. 1 properly belongs to the preceding chapter.
(3.) How should the wovien he attired in worship ?
(xi. 2 — 16.) The freedom which the Gospel gave to the
female sex appears to have been in danger of abuse.
Women in the Christian assembly were tempted to lay
aside those decencies of costume which were elsewhere
maintained in public. This was decidedly a mistake.
Women must wear the veU in Christian service " because
of the angels " — " as they veiled their faces in the
presence of God."^ The whole passage is very instruc-
tive, as bearing upon the relation between Christianity
and the conventionalisms of society.
(4.) Concerning the Lord's Supper (xi. 17 — 34).
Here there was decided ground for blame. The Corin-
thians, it wordd appear, had prided themselves on strict
adherence to apostolic direction in the matter of ordi-
nances. In the preceding case, St. Paul had acknow-
ledged their fidelity — " I praise you " (xi. 2). But
in the matter of the Eucharist, they had grievously
deviated — " I praise you not " (vv. 17, 22). The
special offence was, that they had turned the Lord's
Supper into a meal, for which every one brought his
own portion, and selfishly enjoyed it without respect to
others. Thus in the same professedly sacred repast the
rich banqueted at one table, while the poor at another
were fain to be satisfied with crusts. Such impiety
and greed are sternly rebuked ; the Apostle taking
occasion to detail the institution of the Lord's Supper,
as delivered by Christ to him personally. The narra-
tive is in close accordance with that of St. Luke (xxii.
19, 20), but with somewhat fuller detail, and proves the
close, immediate fellowship of the Apostle Paul with
the risen Lord.^ The sin was one peculiar to the
primitive age — an " eating and drinking unworthily,"
which drew down swift *' condemnation." Hence an
outbreak of disease and death in the Corinthian church*
— the manifest "judgment of the Lord."
(5.) Concerning spiritual gifts (xii. 1 — xiv. 40). The
nature and regulation of these gifts were points of great
importance in the early Church. The dispensation was
one of miracle ; and those to whom special powers were
imparted were often so flushed with the honour and
excitement as to forget the source of these endow-
ments and the puqjose for which they were designed.
The following truths therefore needed to be clearly
set forth : —
a. The source of these gifts— the Holy Spirit (w.
1-6).
j3. Their diversity, for the sake of one common end
(vv. 7—20).
7. Their equal importance — each in its jjlace (w.
21—30).
5. The supremacy of Love (xii. 31 ; chap. xiii.).
- Stanley on chap. xi. 10. No perfectly satisfactory explanation
of this verse has yet been given. There is, however, uo reasonable
doubt that the word " power " (tf ouo-i'a) means here the veil.
3 " I received of the Lord" (chap. xi. 23), i.e., at some particulax
time, we know not when.
4 Chap. xi. 30. See above under I. (2).
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
33
Then folloAVS (chap. xiv. 1 — 22) a detailed discussion
of the gift of tougues, sotting forth its value as a sign,
but showing the superior worth of a service, such as that
of prophecy, rendered '• with the understanding." It is
plain that the Corinthians were apt to value the mystic
utterance, comprehended only by the few, more highly
than that which appealed to the mind and heart of all.
The Apostle corrects the mistake, and concludes by
setting forth —
e. The necessity of order and arrangement in Divine
service (xiv. 23 — 40).
(6.) The Besurrection of tlie Dead (xv. 1 — 58).
This in all probability was among the topics on which
the Corinthiajis sought the guidance of the Apostle.
Some among them denied the resurrection — " Gentde
believers " probably, " inheriting the unwillingness of
the Gx-eek mind to receive that of which a full account
could not be given (see vv. 35, 36) ; and probably of
a philosophical and ca-villiug turn."' These objectors
are met by St. Paul with the argument that to deny
the resurrection of the dead is to deny the resurrection
of Jesus. The Gospel, therefore, has nothing for us
but a dead Christ, and the Cliristian hope is gone !
In setting forth this great topic the Apostle has three
main lines of thought —
a. Chi-ist's resurrection a certainty (vv. 1 — 11).
/3. The resurrection of man dependent on that of
Christ (vv. 12— 3J;).
7. The mode of the resurrection, mysterious, yet con-
ceivable (vv. 35 — 58). " He enters into no details,
he appeals to two arguments only: first, the endless
variety of the natural world ; secondly, the power
of the new life introduced by Christ. These two
together furnish him with the hope that out of God's
infinite goodness and power, as shown in nature and
in grace, life will spring out of death, and new forms
of being, wholly unknown to us here, will fit us for
the spiritual world hereafter The
Christian idea of a future state is not fuUy expressed
by a mere abstract belief in the immortality of the
soul, but reqidres a redemption and restoration of the
whole vian.^
(7.) One practical topic yet remains : the Collection
for the destitute Christians of Judcea (xvi. 1 — i). Part
of the interest of the Apostle's directions here is the
way in Avhich they dovetail into the history, with the
allusions in the Second Epistle, and in Romans xv.
' Alford on 1 Cor. xv. 14.
2 St.iuley, 1 Corinthians ; detached note on cLap. sv.
25 — 27. The correspondence is so absolutely complete,
yet so inartificial, as to produce upon the mind the
impression of a mathematical demonstration. Paley's
argument is too familiar to need reproduction here ; ^
it is enough to say that no adversary has been bold
enough to attempt its refutation.
III. The Apostle concludes his letter with some
intimations of his future movements, especially his
purpose of visiting Corinth on his way from Mace-
donia^— his former plan having been, as shown above,
to call there both on his journey out and home. He
had his reasons, however, for altering his arrangement,
as will be shown in the Introduction to the Second
Epistle. Timothy had already been sent with Erastus
into Macedonia, and might probably reach Corinth —
whether he actually went thither is uncertain. ApoUos
had also been requested to re-visit the city, but shrank
from doing so, very likely from the perverse use that
had been made of his name. Stephanas, now in the
Apostle's company, with two of his comrades, was on
the point of returning, and as the earliest Achaian
convert, and a minister in the church, is commended to
I the esteem of the brethren. Salutations, with a stirring
autograph sentence, and a doubly tender benediction,
close the Epistle. Sosthenes, of whom nothing more
is known,^ appears to have acted as amanuensis, and
there is no reason for doubting that part of the Eutha-
lian subscription which specifies Stephanas, Fortunatus,
and Achaicus, as the bearers of tlie Epistle. Titus
either accompanied them or speedily followed.
5. On the whole, no part of the Apostle's professed
wi'itings is more indubitably his than this Epistle. In
none do we see more of the heart of the pastor, coun-
sellor, and friend. He speaks with authority, as an
ambassador of Christ ; but at the same time with
melting tenderness to all who have gone astray. His
style glows with even unwonted eloquence ; and the
discotirse on Love in the thii'teenth chapter, with that
on the Resurrection in the fifteenth, will always hold
a foremost place among those writings which bear in
themselves the indisputable stamp of inspiration from
God.
3 Horce Paulinos, on Eom. xv. 25 — 27.
* Verse 5, "I do ijass through Macedonia" — i.e., such is my
intention. The words have heeu misunderstood as showing that
he was in Macedonia when he wrote : hence the erroneous appendix
to the chapter — " written from PhiUppi." There is no douht at
all that Ephesus was the place of writing.
5 He maiy have been the foi'mer chief ruler of the Corinthian
synagogue (Acts xviii. 17) ; hut this is unlikely. The name was a
very common one.
75 — VOL. IV,
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE UEIM AND THE THUMMIM.
BY THE REV.
G. CEANE, D.SC, F.G.S., PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND NATURAL SCIENCE, SPRING
HILL COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.
^HE deep longiug of liumanity for Divine
guidance has expressed itself in many
ways. The perplexities of life, the
great crises of existence, the social and
spiriauil problems that force themselves into promi-
nence and baffle man's intellect and judgment, lead
either to the wail of despair, or to the earnest heartfelt
supplication to God, " Send forth thy light and thy
truth, let them lead me " (Ps. xliii. 3).
This longing of human nature may be regarded in a
twofold way. On the one hand, in imperfect and false
forms of religion it ^vill express itself in a mystical and
superstitious manner; where religious ideas are low
and religious faith is distorted, the appeal for Divine
direction wiU assume the form of witchcraft and divina-
tion. On the other hand, in the true revelation of the
Almighty God we may expect that this longing of His
intelligent, moral, and spiritual creatures will be met
and satisfied ; and that as that revelation progressed
from its earlier and elementary stages to the full and
complete development of His siiiritual power, we shall
find different methods of Divine guidance and different
ways of making known the Di-vine ^vill.
Heathen nations have had their modes of di\'ination,
and of appeal for the decision of the gods. The oracles
of Dordona, Jupiter Amnion, and Delphi ; the astrology
of Persia ; the arrow divination (Ezek. xxi. 21), and the
" magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers " (Dan. ii. 2) of
the Chaldaeans ; the " divining cups " of Egypt and
other nations (Gen. xliv. 5) ; the auspicia and auguria
of the Romans; the curious judicial "ordeals" of the
ancient Saxons in England, of Madagascar, and other
lands — these and many other similar things are illus-
trations of the admitted weakness of human judgment
and foresight making appeal to a supposed Divine
authority and direction.
" Enquire of the Lord " is a ^jhraso often met with
in early Scripture history. Rebekah is represented in
one of the crises of her life as going " to enquire of
the Lord" (Gen. xxv. 22). During Jethro's visit to
Moses we find the Lawgiver vindicating his judicial
office in these words : '" Because the people come unto
me to enquire of God : when they have a matter they
come unto me ; and I judge between one and another,
and I make them know the statutes of God and his
laws " (Exod. xviii. 15, 16). In the tribal war against the
Benjamites, " the children of Israel enquired diligently
of the Lord " (Judg. xx. 27). During the troublous
tames of Saul, David, and Samuel, this " enquiring of
the Lord" frequently appears (1 Sam. ix. 9; x. 22;
xxii. 10, 13, 15 ; xxiii. 2, 4 ; xxx. 8 ; 2 Sam. ii. 1 ; v. 19,
23 ; xxi. 1 ; 1 Chron. xiv. 10, 14). Subsequently Jeho-
shaphat, Benhadad king of Syria, Josiali, and others
are represented as "enquiring of the Lord" (1 Kings
xxii. 5, 7; 2 Kings viii, 8; xxii. 13, &c.). And the
singular embassy of Ahaziah to enquire of Baal-zebub
the god of Ekron, thus neglecting Elijah tlu^ prophet
of Jehovah, is another most curious illustration of this
longing for Di^■ine knowledge and instruction.
It will be observed by those who have followed the
preceding passages and quotations, that this enquiring
of the Lord was sometimes in connection with the
ephod and breastplate of the high priest, sometimes
with the so-called teraphini or images, and sometimes
by the mouth of the authorised projjhet of Jehovah.
The teraphim appear to have been httle images Avhich
were kept in the house, and consiUtcd for guidance in
times of emergency. Labau clearly belicA'cd them to
be "gods," when he j)ursued his daughter Rachel to
recover those she had stolen (Gen. xxxi. 30). Micah,
when manufacturing his Levito into a priest, equipped
him with " an ephod and teraphim " (Judg. xvii. 5, 11,
12 ; xviii. 14, 20). During tlie times of the judges and
the early kings these teraphim are occasionally men-
tioned; they were "put away "in the reign of Josiah
(2 Kings xxiii. 24) ; but after the captiA-ity they re-
appear (Zecli. X. 2), perhaps in consequence of Chaldsean
influence (Ezek. xxi. 21 — 23).
Turning now from these illustrations of the longing
of humanity for some actual material representation of
Di^Tne direction and decision, we notice tliat in the
early manifestations of God to man this longing was
met, and in different ways did Jehovali make known
His counsel and guidance to those who " enquired " of
Him. The pillar of cloud and of fire which led the
Israelites during the exodus and the wilderness wan-
derings (Exod. xiii. 21), and the Shechinah glory of the
mercy-seat of the Ark ; the clouds, and fire, and smoke
of Mount Sinai, and the like manifestation of the
Di\Tnc presence at various times — all teach that God
met the longing of His people, and satisfied by mani-
fested guidance the yearning of those who enquired of
Him (Exod. xix. 9 ; xvi. 7, 10 ; xxiv. 16 ; xl. 34, 35 ;
Numb. ix. 15, 16 ; Lev. ix. 6, 23 ; 1 Kings viii. 10,
and others).
Between the time of Moses and the period when the
prophetic office became recognised as the authoritative
and inspired exponent of the Di^-ine mil, " tlie Urim
and the Thummim" in the breastplate of the high
priest was the medium through which God communi-
cated His guidance in matters of great national im-
portance and pei^jlexity. This title first appears, with-
out the least explanation, as if it was perfectly familiar
in the tunes when the Book of Exodus was written :
"And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment
the Urim and the Thummim ; and they shall be upon
Aaron's heart when he gooth in before the Lord ; and
Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of
Israel upon his heart I)f'fore the Lord continually"
(Exod. xx\-iii. 30). But if the Urim and the Thummim
THE URIM AND THE THUMMIM.
35
were perfectly familiar to those for wliom these words
were first written, they have not been so in modern
days. For the last two thousand years at least there
has been considerable difficulty in uuderstaudiug ac-
curately what they really meant. Conjectures have
been numerous, but accurate and definite knowledge
has been sHght. The Rabbi Kiinchi remarks, '• He is
on the safest side who frankly confesses his ignorance ;
so that we seem to need a priest to stand up with Urim
and Thummim, to teach us what the Urim and Thuni-
mini were" (quoted in Jennings' Jewish Antiquities, i.,
p, 233). So Dr. Lightfoot confesses, " There are so
many oj)Luion3 about what Urim and Thummiiu was,
and so great obscmities made how the oracle was given
by it, that it may seem to require another oracle to tell
ns how that oracle was given " (vi. 278). In this doubt
and uncertainty it is perhaps satisfactory to conclude
with Dr. Jennings, that " amidst this great variety of
sentiments we may indidge this consolatory reflection,
that if a more clear aud certain knowledge of this
subject had been necessary or useful, the Scripture
account beyond all question would have been made
distinct and particular " {Jewish Antiquities, p. 238).
No one now can be " a priest with Urim and Thummim,"
nor can claim to speak with the authority of an ancient
oracle ; but we ^■entlu•e to think that this subject is not
so profitless as these writers suggest, and that its devout
investigation will bring iis very near to problems of great
importance in the spiritual history of mankind.
As to the mere meaning of the words there is but
little conflict of opinion. The plural form is quite in
accord with Hebrew usage in regard to similar expres-
sions. " Light and perfection " is perhaps as accurate
an English rendering as can be given. It should be
remembered, however, that in the Hebrew not only the
definite article but also the sign of specific definition is
used with both words, indi?atuig (though in this some
distinguished Hebraists think otherwise) a specific dif-
ference between the two terms. Some have considered
the words as equivalent to " perfect illumination," thus
blending the two ideas into one. The chief argument
alleged in favour of this is that the oracle is sometimes
referred to simply as "the Urim," without any mention
of " the Thummim " (Numb, xxvii. 21 ; 1 Sam. xxviii.
6) — a slippery argument at the best ; but if it be worth
anything it is more than balanced by the inversion of
the terms, " thy Thummim and thy Urim," in Dent.
xxxiii. 8.
Whilst there is nothing in the mere meaning of the
terms to determine their usage and significance, there
is almost as little in the historic narrative concerning
the thing itself. The passage already quoted is part
of the Di^nne command to Moses. In Lev. ^-iii. 8 we
read of the fulfilment of the command ; and in subse-
quent history we find the transmission of the sacred
symbols to Eleazar and the descendants of Aaron
(Numb. XX. 28 comp. -with Numb, xxvii. 21). The
tribe of Levi, in the final blessing of Moses, is dignified
by its special possession of the Thummim and the
Urim (Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9). And after this we find only
dim and regretful references to the glory that was
departed (1 Sam. xxviii. 6 ; Ezra ii. 63 ; Neh. vii. 65).
The different oijinious that have been held as to the
nature of the Urim and the Thummim, aud as to the
m'ethod by which God made known His will thereby,
may be ranged in two leading classes. First : the Urim
and the Thummim were the four rows of precious
stones in the high priest's breastplate, the oracle being
made known either by some supernatural lighting up
of the stones, or by some supernatural designation of
the successive letters of the answer from amongst the
letters of the names of the sons of Jacob which were
carved upon the stones, or by an audible voice to the
high priest when, arrayed in his robes and breastplate,
he stood before the ark. Second : the Urim and the
Thummim were stones or other substances which were
placed within the folds of the breastplate, and which
were employed in oracular utterances ui ways that will
be indicated below. The former class represents the
opinions which have been most widely held both by
Jewish wi'iters and by Christian expositors. Josephus
apparently regarded the Urim and Thummim as in-
cluding both the twelve stones of the breastplate and
the two sardonj-xes which the high priest bare on his
shoulders; for he says, "As to those stones, which we
told you before, the high priest bare on his shoulders,
which were sardonyxes, the one of them shiued out
when God was present at their sacrifices ; I mean that
which was in the nature of a button on his right
shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, and beinc"
seen even by those that were most remote. . . . Tet
wiU I mention what is still more wonderful than this :
for God declared beforehand, by those twelve stones
which the high priest bare on his breast, and which
were inserted into his breastplate, when they should
be victorious in battle ; for so great a splendour shone
forth from them when the army began to march, that
all the people were sensible of God's being present for
their assistance " (Whiston's Josephus, p. 77 ; Ant iii.
8, § 9).
Tliose who have held this form of theory, and also
maiutaiued that the answer was given by the simid-
taneous or successive illumination or prominence of
the letters, are met by the difficulty that the letters of
the twelve sons of Jacob, which were engraven on the
stones of the breastplate, do not contain all the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. Accordingly the Talmudists
state that the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
were likewise engraven over the name of Reuben ; and
under that of Benjamin the words shibte Jah, " the
tribes of the Lord ; " and thus the alphabet was com-
pleted (see quotations in Jennings' Jewish Antiquities^
i., J). 235). Kalisch, in an able treatment of the whole
subject in his Commentary on Exod. xxviii. 30, " con-
siders the Urim and Thummim identical -with the
precious stones ; " takes the term as implying only one
notion — " the perfectly shining gems ; " and believes
that this " perfect light or brilliancy " represented
" the absolute banishment of terrestrial selfishness, the
Hghest possible degree of sel£- denial ; " and that the
36
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
high priest bearing tlioso symbols of purity upon his
lieart '• became, by the sight of the gems, powerfully
imiiressed with the grandeur of his mission ; his mind
gavo itself up entirely to the duties of his office ; all
earthly thoughts vanished before him ; he was raised
to a prophetic vision, and in this state of enthusiastic
sanctity God deigned to reveal to him His will and the
fates of His people ; and both the high priest and the
people wore con\'inced of the truth of such inspirations "
(Kalisch on Exod. xx^-iii. 30. 31). There is much that
is touching and true in the latter part of this theory,
and we shall return to it subsequently.
The curious conceits and conjectures of those who
have held this first class of theory, are perhaps equalled
by the strange mysticism and vague guesses of those
who have held the second. The point of agreement in
this second class of theory is, that within the folds of
the choshen or breastplate, and hidden from the popular
view by the enveloping stones, were placed the Urim
and the Thummim. Jahn. Michaelis, Gesenius, and
others regard the Urim and Thummim as three veiy
ancient stones, one for an affirmative, another for a
negative, and the third for a neutral answer, and that
the high priest employed them as lots. Ziillig and
Winer understand the Urim as cut and polished dia-
monds, partly with the name of God engraved on them,
and the Thummim as rough unpolished diamonds,
which the high priest used as dice (see the notes on
these two opinions in Kalisch, loc. cit.). Others have
understood the term to indicate a stone or plate of
gold, with the sacred cabalistic name of Jehovah — the
Tetragranimaton or Sliem-hmmnephorasli — engraved
thereon. Philo considered it as referring to two images
of the two virtues or powers, SriKaxrly re koI a\-f)9eiau
("revelation and truth"). Others have followed him,
tracing the origin of the images to Egyptian custom,
and believang that the contemplation of these images
exerted a subjective influence on the mind of the high
priest, and raised him to the ecstasy of prophetic vision.
Dr. Spencer adopted in part this view of Philo, but
maintained that the answer was given by the audible
voice of an angel.
Professor Plumptre has ventured on " one more
theory." This theory blends the \aew of Philo and
Spencer with the latter part of that of Kalisch, and
adds some modifications chai-acteristic of its author. It
is quite impossible to do justice to this theory in a few
sentences. Tlie reader must therefore be content with
its main features, and may refer to the original article
for full illustration. The Thummim is identified with
the figure of Truth, 'AA^fleta, which was suspended by a
golden chain from the neck of the priestly judges of
Egypt, and wdth which they touched the lips of suitors
when giving e^^dence before them. The Urim, in like
manner, is identified with the figures of porcelain, or
jasper, or cornelian, or lapis lazuli, or amethyst, which
arc found right over the heart of every priestly mummy
of ancient Egj-pt. These figures were in the form of
the '• mystic scarabseus," or Egyptian beetle, which in
Egyptian mythology was the symbol of life and light.
Taking their form and origin thus from Egyptian
customs, the Urim and the Thummim woiUd be per-
fectly familiar to the Israelites of Moses' days ; and
would therefore need no description, nor any account
of their manufacture. These symbols, hidden in the
breastplate beneath the twelve stones that represented
the twelve tribes of Israel, Aaron bore upon his heart
before the Lord. And in matters of great national
importance affecting the welfare of those twelve tribes,
the high priest, gazing intently upon those syml)ols in
the presence of Jehovah, was raised above all distui-b-
ing elements — selfishness, prejudice, fear of man — and
passed for the time into the mysterious half-ecstatic
state of prophetic trance and vision. He received in-
sight from the Eternal Spirit, and declared the decision
of Jehovah. But this revelation by Urim and Thum-
mim was only temporary. Other influences, half
sensuous, half spiritual, higher in their tone and power
than the mere contemplation of symbols, were to take
its place. The sense of hearing was to supplant the
sense of sight. The hai-p of Da-vid heralded the
coming change ; and when music — in its marvellous
variety, its subtle sweetness, its spii-it-stirring power —
became the la^vful help to the ecstasy of praise and
prayer, the utterances of the prophets, speaking by
the mouth of the Lord, superseded the oracles of the
Urim and the Thummim.
Two or three general considerations will materially
aid the attempt to estimate the value of these different
and conflicting theories. All opinions wluch connect
the Urim and the Thummim with the diamond are
clearly incorrect ; because, as has been shown in the
article on "Precious Stones" (Bible Educator, "Vol.
II., p. 348), there is strong evidence that neither the
diamond nor the Oriental gems were known in the
time of Moses. In like manner those who regard the
oracle as the sudden lighting up or flashing forth of the
gems in the centre of the breastplate arc also unsatis-
factory, because neither lapis lazuli nor agate (the two
centre stones) correspond at all vrith any such pheno-
menon. The same remark may be made respecting the
idea of Josephus concerning the two sardonyxes on
the shoulders.
Further, the theoiy of Kalisch as to tlie " per-
fectly shining gems " as one notion is fallacious,
not only because there is a specific gi-ammatical dis-
tinction between the two terms " Urim " and " Thum-
mim," but also because many of the stones were not
"perfectly shining," and never coidd be made so by
any natural agency. And the idea of the illumination
or prominence of the letters carved upon the stones
may also be rejected as introducing needless complica-
tions, and being perfectly unthinkable. It may indeed
be noticed that the colours of the stones of the breast-
plate were ari-anged with a striking regard to ihn
natural gradation of rainbow tints. The red and
yellow tints are on one side, and the green and blue on
the other. But this does not favour the supposition of
a sp9cial illumination either of particular stones or of
particular letters ; and this form of theory may justly
THE URIM AND THE THUMMIM.
be regarded as a gratuitous assumption having no
foundation whatever in fact.
Again, the first class of theories above-mentioned
may be rejected en bloc, because the passage in Exodus
(chap, xxviii. 30, 31) draws a clear distinction between
the stones of the breastplate and " the Urim and the
Thummim." The latter were to be placed in the
breastplate of judgment. The preposition el, as
Kalisch urges, does indeed admit quite unforcedly the
interpretation that the Urim and the Thummim were
externally fixed to the breastplate; but it is manifest
from the use of the same words, ndthan el, in reference
to the Ark in Exod. xxv. 16, that the preposition means
in or into, and not iipon. The " testimony," or two
Tables of the Law, wei*e placed loithin the Ark; the
Urim and the Tluimmim were placed loithin the breast-
plate. Kalisch reasons vigorously against what he
calls the hiding within the breastplate of the Urim and
the Thimimim ; and asks vehemently, " Wliere, thx-ough-
out the whole Mosaic legislation, do we find an analogy
to such mysterious concealment ? It is tlie distinguish-
ing mark of Mosaism tliat the whole people, down to
the lowest indiAadual, shared the same knowledge, and
were admitted to the same sources of information ; that
the priests had no exclusive privilege whatever." And
again, "If these were liidden in the breastplate, unseen
by all the Israelites, was it not to be apprehended
tliat the people might connect with them superstitious
notions ? What were those mysterious objects which
had the power of manifesting the fates of Israel?"
It seems a very presumptuous thing for a Gentile to say
of the writings of a Jew, but these statements appear
to us to do grievous despite to the genius of Mosaism.
Its symbolism on the one hand, its concealment on the
other, appear repeatedly. The cloud that veUed God's
presence on Mount Sinai ; the veil that separated the
Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple; the
cherubim overshadowing the mercy- seat that covered
the Tables of the Law ; the twelve stones of the
breastplate, radiant with the names of the twelve tribes
of Israel, that hid mysteriously the Urim and the
Thummim — these all are constituent and component
parts of the symbolic teaching of that sublime and
awful Being who manifests His glory by conceal-
ment.
A reference to a singular and striking incident in
the history of the Ark will perhaps make this clearer.
On the return of the Ark after its capture by the
Philistines, it came to the little town of Beth-shemesh.
The inhabitants allowed their curiosity to overcome
their respect for the great symbol of God's presence ;
and although the mercy- seat in its golden glory shone
on their gaze, telling things unutterable of the sprinkled
sacrifice of the great Day of Atonement, and of God's
mercy through such sacrifice to the penitent and con-
trite, they dared with impious bauds to place aside
this mercy-seat and gaze within — on what ? On the
Tables of the Law — the emblems of God's power and
majesty. The seat of Mercy covered and hid the
Power; and when that Mercy-seat was ii-reverently
removed, the Power blazed forth and punished the
transgressors (1 Sam. vi.).
And in like manner there is a peculiar symbolism in
covering over the Urim and the Thummim by the
twelve tribal stones. The rich and precious produc-
tions of the earth, graven with the nam(>s uf the tribes
of Israel, were symbolic of their land and nation ;
and, borne on the heart of the high priest before the
Shechiuah glory of the Ark, represented the whole
assembled tribes paying homage to the great Jehovah.
And in times of great pei-plexity, when the fate of the
nation was in suspense, the high priest, taking from
the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim, was raised
thereby to prophetic vision, and was able to declare the
decision of God. The symbolism of this is quite in
unison with the symbolism of the Ark. Concealment !
Are there not now " secret things which belong to
God," as well as "things that are revealed and belong
to us?" And in the early stages of Divine teaching
the symbolism and the concealment must have been
greater than now.
Fi'om these considerations, the fii-st class of theories
must be altogether repudiated. Neglecting the in-
congraous notion of Dr. Spencer that the response was
given by an audible supernatural voice, the theories of
the second class resolve themselves into two kinds —
those which regard the response as given either by lot,
or by some external and objective indication of the
will of God ; and those which attribute the response
to the subjective influence of the sacred symbols on
the whole spiritual nature of the high priest, raising
him to that state of inspired ecstasy in which he re-
ceived the prophetic afflatus, and was able to declare
the decision of God. It appears decisive against the
former that lots were perfectly familiar amongst the
Israelites, and are repeatedly referred to in the Scrip-
tures (see Numb. xxvi. 55 ; xxxiii. 54 ; Josh. xiii. 6 ;
1 Chron. vi. 63; Prov. xvi. 33; Ezek. xlvii. 22, &c.).
Had the Urim and the Thummim been nothing but a
casting of lots, or a thi'ow of diamond dice, it would
not, amongst a people with whom similar determinations
were familiar, have been invested with the strange
solemnity that surrounded it. It was something ex-
ceptional and unique, called into exercise only on
occasions of gi'eat national importance, and deriving
its significance from the momentous issues of its
decisions.
The subjective theories, on the other hand, are in fuU
agi'eement with the known facts of human conscious-
ness, and lead naturally onwards to the magnificent
developments of prophetic power and insight which the
Hebrew monarchy presented. During the transition
period between the great Lawgiver and the full esta-
blishment of the prophetic office, occurred the transfer of
the tnte theocracy of Jehovah to the mediate theocracy
of the Jewish king and the Jewish prophet. When the
people, in their haste and political ambition, demanded
a king, the power of the Urim and the Thummim
began to decline. When Saul, the chosen king of the
peojole, refused the prophetic teaching of Samuel and
38
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
violated his allegiauco to God, he lost tliis Divhie
dec-isiou ; whilst David, through Abiathar (1 Sam. xxiii.
6, 9 — 12), retained it in a modified form. Aud when
at length the God-ehoseu king ascended the throne, and
Jehovah established his house for ever, the previous
theocracy became embodied in the kingly office, aud
the Urim aud the Thummim gave place to the grand
succession of Jewish prophets.
The Urim and Thumnum derive their significance,
therefore, from the direct government of the Israelites
by Jehovah. By means of these mysterious symbols
He guided the destinies of the nation in matters of
great public importance and perplexity. And when at
length a visible king reigned by Di\-iuo appointment,
the counsel of the Urim and the Thummim passed into
the public ministry of the prophets, whicli modified aud
controlled the political organisations of the kings.
But if the office of the Urim aud the Thummim de-
parted with the establishment of the Jewish monarchy
aud prophets, their influence and symbolic teaching
still survive. Archbishop Trench {Seven Churches, p.
125) traces in the promise to the Church at Pergamos a
reference to these ancient symbols — " To him that over-
cometh will I give to eat of the hidden manua, aud will
give him a lohite stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth
it" (Rev. ii. 17). Whether this suggestion be correct or
not, it well agrees wth the general teaching of the New
Testament. That which in the olden Jewish times was
the prerogatiAC of the few, Ijecomes in Christian days
the privilege of the many. Christ makes all His faith-
ful followers "kings and priests unto God" (Rev. i.
6; X. 10). Aud much of the sacred symbolism that
gathered aroimd the ancient priesthood, novi^ gathers iu
another form around the believer iu Christ. Mere
symbols have given i)lace to true spiritual power. The
whole history of religious feeling, from the first dawn
of light upon Abraham's mind till the consummatiou of
the promises in Christ, has been one long struggle of
the spiritiuil reality against its material surroundings.
Symbols had their effect iu leading the mind up to the
underl^-ing essence; but Avhen at length, in the full
light of Gospel truth, we have the Spirit of God made
manifest in the hearts and consciences of Christians,
the symbols have done their duty, aud pass away as
obsolete memorials of au imperfect past. The Spirit
of God which once underlay the symbols, and spake
through them to the devout miud, now cojumunicates
directly with the heart, and needs no material inter-
vention.
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOn WILSON, R.E.
I v.— THE DEAD SEA {coiilUued).
LITTLE more than half-way between Aiu
Jidy and Je]:)el Hatrura is Sebbeh, the
ancient fortress of Masada, situated on a
platform, 620 paces long aud 210 wide, at
the Top'l^fli cliff 1.. 500 feet above the Dead Sea. The
platform is isolated by tremendous chasms on all sides,
and was enclosed by a wall running along the edge of
the j)recipice and aif ording no foothold outside it ; on
a slight projecting ledge at the north end, about 70 feet
below the platform, is a strong circular fort in almost
perfect repair, and still lower are the remains of a
quadrangular fort. Within the walls of the fortress
are the ruins of a reservoir, a chapel, probably of Cru-
sading date, au archway, a network of walls, and a
series of rooms, corridors, and chambers— perhaps the
remains of Herod's palace. The place Avas approached
hy two paths, one on the east, the other on the west,
and one of them, according to Josephus, was called the
" Sei-pent," as " resembling that animal in its narrow-
ness and its perpetual windings." Both of these paths
are in existence, and have been described by travellers.
The fortress of Masada was built by Jonatlian
Maccabeus in the second ceutury B.C., and afterwards
strengthened by Herod the Great, but its chief interest
is in connection with the celebrated siege of which
Josephus gives a most vivid description. After the
fall of Jerusalem the fortress was seized by Eleazar
and 1,000 men, and bisieged by Flavins Silva. The
first operation of the Roman genei*al was to establish a
camp, which may still be seen on the plain to the west,
and erect a wall of circumvallatiou, still in very fair
repair, to prevent the escape of the besieged. In order
to approach the fortress a gigantic causeway was con-
structed \vith great labour across one of the ravines,
and upon this a tower plated with iron- was erected, and a
battering-ram brought against the walls. The masonry
after some little time gave way, but only to disclose
an inner wall of huge beams which the Jews had put
up to deaden the blows of the ram ; this was with some
difEcvdty set on fire, and the Romans then retired to
their camps, inteuding to carry the place by assaidt
next morning. Dui'ing the night, however, the be-
sieged, stirred to madness by an exhortation addressed
to them by Eleazar, killed their Avives and children,
and then choosing ten men by lot to slay the rest, lay
doAvn by their sides and offered their necks to the
chosen executioners ; when these ten liad slain their
comrades, they cast lots amongst themselves as to who
shoidd kill the other nine, and then slay himself. The
last man, after seeing that every one was dead, set fire
to the palace, and tlien running his sword through his
body, fell down near his relations. When the Romans
entered the place next morning they were sui"prised at
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
39
the x^erfect sileuce, and fearing an ambnsli, gave a loud
sliout, wliicli brought out from one of the caverns two
women and five children, the sole survivors, who had
managed to conceal themselves whilst the slaughter was
going on. The number of persons who perished in this
remarkable manner is said to have been 960.
A little beyond Jebel Hatrura is Wady Umm
Bagkhek, with its tiny rill of sweet water and a in-o-
f usiou of oleanders, canes, ferns, &c. ; there are traces
of an old road in the valley, and near its mouth the ruins
of a castle dating from the time of the Crusades.
Further to the south is Wady Zuwekeh, and here too
there are the remains of a mediaeval castle, perhaps one
of the posts by which the road to Kerak in Moab was
sectired. In front of the valley is a plain of some extent,
which Dr. Tiistram found in January, 1864, carpeted
with tropical plants in full bloom, many of them neAV
species of Indian or Nubian genefa ; on a second visit,
however, in 1872, a little later in the year, he found it
perfectly barren, owing to the lateness of the rains. In
Zuweireh, M. de Saitley believes he finds traces of the
name Zoar, and in the little tower of Umm Zoghal close
by he sees the ruins of the town itself ; but, as we have
previously shown, Zoar must have been far to the north.
A little more than a mile beyond Wady Zuweireh is the
salt moimtaiu of Jebel Usdum ; Dr. Tristram describes
it as a huge rock of salt, about 350 feet high, from
one to one and a-half miles wide, and about seven miles
long, completely isolated from tlie surrounding moim-
tains ; it is penetrated by fissures, '"' choked with glit-
tering stakctites of salt, though the general aspect of
the mount is anything but glittering until closely
inspected." Portions of the salt cliff are continually
splitting off and falling, leaving pei-pendicular faces;
and " wide as the hill is, there is no pkteau on the top,
but a forest of little peaks and ridges, furrowed and
scarped angulai-ly in every direction." Every year the
rains make changes in the form of the mountain,
washing away some of the pinnacles, and forming others
to take their place : one of these Captain Warren, R.E.,
describes as a '" gigantic Lot with a daughter on each
arm, hurrying off in a south-westerly direction, their
])odies bent forward as though they were in great
haste, and their flowing garments trailing behind;"
and another large pillar of salt is called by the Bedawin
" Lot's wife." Along the southern end of the Dead
Sea stretclies the Sebka iilain, a great flat of fine sandy
mud about fifteen feet above the level of the lake, and
extending from its shores for about ten miles in a
southerly direction. Nothing can be more dreary than
the aspect of this plain, without a plant or leaf to
relieve the glare from its .surface. The Sebka is fur-
rowed by several small water-courses, and at its eastern
extremity is separated by the Wady Tufileh from the
Ghor es-Safieh, " a wild thicket and oasis of trees of
various kinds with fertile glades and opens of irregti-
lar shape, rising gradually to the mountains of Moab."
This fertile tract extends about six miles south of the
Dead Sea, and is well watered by numerous rivulets ;
the chief source of its wealth, however, is the broad
rusliing stream which comes down the Wady Siddiyeh ;
tliis valley was the botmdary line betvreen Moab and
Edom, and is possibly the brook Zered named in Deut
ii. 13, 14, as the point at which the wanderings of the
Israelites ended. Its course is fringed with oleanders,
tamarisk, &c., and its waters abound with small fish and
fresh-water crabs. North of Wady Siddiyeh are the
ruins of a castle of the Crusading period, and still further
north, wliere the mountains approach more closely to the
sea, is Wady Nmeirah, with some niius which have
been identified by some writers with Nimrim of Moab ;
but it seems more probable that the place alluded to
in Isa. XV. 6 as the " waters of Nimrim " is higher
up the valley, at the springs of Nmeirah, where there
are said to be the ruins of an old town. Proceeding
northwards along a barren plain at the foot of the hills
we reach the curious peninsula called by the Bedawin
Lisan, or the " tongue ; " the Lisan, formed by the
ancient deposits of the Dead Sea, presents a scene of
utter desolation, but the l^eds of marl and gypsum have
been cut up by the rains into quaint picturesque forms,
which have been compared by travellers to ruined cities
or dismantled fortresses ; in one of these water-courses
called Meraikli are the ruins of a large tower of sohd
masonry, probably btiilt to secure the passage of the
ford across the Dead Sea, which was in use when Ii-by
and Mangles visited the country, but has been impas-
sable for many years owing to the high state of the
Avater. Into the gulf which separates the northern end
of the Lisan from the mainland the Wady Kerak dis-
charges its waters, a broad perennial stream, fringed
with date-palms and oleanders, that fertilises the Ghor
el-Mezari, as the level sjiace between the foot of the
mountains and the lake is called. On the south bank
of Wady Kerak, a side valley falls in, which is kno-\vn
to the Bedawin as Wady Draa ; there are here some
riiins bearing the same name, whicli possibly represent
the early Christian Zoar, described as being on the road
from the southern end of the Dead Sea to Kerak, and
once an episcopal see xmder the Ai-chbishop of Petra.
Soon after passing the mouth of Wady Kerak we come
to the Nagh Jerrah, up which a good broad road, though
somewhat steep, leads from the Ghor to Shihan (Sihon)
and the plains of Moab. Some distance to the north,
and nearly opposite En-gedi, the Bedawin pointed out
to Professor Palmer a tall isolated needle of rock 1,000
feet above the sea, to which they gave the name of
" Lot's wife ; " the pillar at a distance bears a certain
resemblance to an Arab woman with her child tipon her
shoulders ; the colotiring at this point is very fine, the
red sandstone being streaked with bright bands of
yellow, violet and purple. A little further the Arnon
(Wady Mojib) issues from the motmtains throtigh a wild
romantic gorge, scarcely sixty feet wide, into which the
sun rarely penetrates, so lofty are the perpendicular
walls of rock that form its sides ; the stream is perennial,
and in winter as much as forty feet wide and one foot
deep. Proceeding northwards again we reach the
plain of Zara, a ^vide open belt of land stretchmg along
the edge of the lake ; the surrounding rocks present
40
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
41
every variety of gorgeous colouring ; and on the plain,
amidst groves of tamarisk and acacia, there is rich
abundant pasturage, with great tufts of grass ten feet
hio-h, and near the shore-line an impassable thicket of
cane. The plain is full of hot springs, many of them
slightly sulphurous, and near its northern limit are a
few broken basaltic colrjnns and rude remains, marking
the site of Zareth-shahar, one of the towns allotted to
Reuben (Josh. xiii. 19). On the liill-side above the
plaiu are the ruins of Mkaur (Machserus), 3,800 feet
abore the sea, and covering more than a square mile of
groimd. Machserus is frequently mentioned by Jose-
phus in connection with the wars of the Jews, and he
tells us tliat Herod greatly strengthened the fortifi-
cations and built a magnificent palace there ; its chief
interest, however, is derived from its having been the
place in which John the Baptist was imprisoned and
afterwards put to death by order of Herod Antipas.
Dr. Tristram, who visited the ruins in 1872, gives an inte-
resting description of the citadel, built at some distance
from the town, in which he found two dungeons, " one
of them deep, and its sides scarcely broken in," with
"small holes still visible in the masonry, where staples
of wood and iron had once been fixed," and he concludes
that one of these " must surely have been the prison-
house of John the Baptist." Three miles north of the
plain of Zara is the mouth of the gorge of Wady Zerka
Maiu (CaUirrhoe), so narrow that it is not seen until
it is reached. " Picture," says Dr. Tristram, " a wild
ravine never more than 100 yai'ds wide, and in some
places only thirty, winding between two rugged lines of
brilliant red cliffs, 600 feet high, which stand perpen-
dicular, biit sometimes seem to meet. The water, in a,
large and rapid lukewarm stream, rushes to the sea,
over and among boulders of gi-anite, sandstone, and
conglomerate, under the dense shade of tamarisk-trees,
choked with cane-brakes, waving their tall feathery
heads. An emerald fringe of maiden-hair fern, hanging
from the rocks, skirts the line of tlie stream to the
very mouth of the gorge." Some distance up the
gorge are the celebrated hot springs of CaUirrhoe, to
which Herod resorted during his last iUness in the vain
hope of obtaining relief from its baths ; the springs
are mentioned both by Pliny and Josephus, and have
been visited during the past century by Seetzen, their
discoverer, in 1807, and after him by Irby and
Mangles, the Due de Luynes, Dr. Chaplin, Mr. Klein.
Captain "Warren, R.E., and Dr. Ti-istram. The springs
are all on the right or northern side of the valley, and
issue from the rock at the point of junction between
the new red sandstone and the limestone ; this side of
the valley is cut tap by deep precipitous ravines, each
supplying a hot spring, " which sometimes emerges
at the top, and comes dashing down; and at others,
bubbles up with tremendous force at the foot." Within
three miles there are ten large springs ranging in
temperature from 130° to 148'-*, according to Dr.
Tristram ; Captain Warren, however, gives the tem-
perature of one as high as 167°. The scenery in the
gorge is very striking ; on either hand rise lofty walls
of rock tinged with red, violet, and yellow ; bright
green palms nestle in the ravines amidst thick brush-
wood, where many a strange tropical plant may be
seen; round the springs are curious sulphur ten-aces
deposited by the water, whilst the most stai'tling and
weird effects are produced by the columns of steam
tliat are continually rising from the boiling caldrons
in the lower depths of the chasm. Northwards from
the mouth of the Zerka Main the mountains are cut by
several ravines of no great importance, except that of
Wady ed-Deid, down which a plentiful stream, rising
near Medeba, runs tlu'ough a thicket of willow and
oleander to the lake. At this point the plain of Seisa-
ban, with its exuberant fertility, far exceeding that of
the oasis of Jericho, may be said to commence ; this
tract extends northward for about ten or twelve miles,
and is everywhere well watered by springs or streams
coming down from Jebel Nebbeh (Mount Nebo) and
the mountains of Moab. At one point not far from
the north-east comer of the Dead Sea are some
mounds which may possibly mark the site of Beth
Jesimuth, and more to the north is a conspicuous mound
cro^vned by the tomb of a Moslem loely, or saint, called
Beit-harrau, without doubt the modern representative
of Beth-haran, one of the fenced cities built by the
chOdi-en of Gad, and mentioned in Numb, xxxii. 36
vdih Beth-nimrah, which we have identified in a pre-
vious paper with the mound of Nimi-in, a short distance
higher up the Jordan valley. In the article on the
Jordan valley the Seisaban has been alluded to as the
site of the encampment of the Israelites before they
passed over Jordan, and it would be difficult to find
a more suitable locality for the establishment of a large
camp.
It only remains to notice briefly the continuation of
the great fissure of the Jordan valley to the Red Sea.
Beyond the Sebka at the southern end of the Dead Sea
some hills of moderate elevation are met with, and the
road leading over them is probably the " ascent of
Akrabbim," mentioned in the Bible as a point in the
southern boundary of Judah, and in 1 Mace. v. 3 as
the scene of Maccabeus' victory over the Edomites;
from this point the ground gradually rises till in the
neighbourhood of Petra it attains a height of 781 feet
above the sea, and it then falls to the level of the Red
Sea at Akabah (Elath).
-i-l
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE BOOK OF EZSA.
BY THE EEV. CANON EAWLIN30N, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
has been shown iu a previous article
upon the two Books of Chronicles,^ that
originally the Book of Ezra was, in all
probability, not a distinct work, but the
com-luiuii^- section of that large history of the Jewish
people wliicli the writer of Chronicles considered to
be needed by the circumstances of the times in which
he lived. It has been noted that there is a remarkable
uniformity of style between the tAvo works ; and that,
the concluding section of the one being identical -n-ith
the opening section of the other, and the said section
terminating abruptly in Chronicles, it is scarcely pos-
sible to frame any other tenable explanation of the
facts, than by supposing that one author wi-ote the
whole as a single composition, but that subsequently
his work was broken up, tlie last portion, which treated
of a special period of the history, being detached from
the rest, and so made into a distinct and separate narra-
tive. The occasion of this separation was, it would
seem, the composition of another history by a contem-
13oraiy, which treating of the same period, and dealing
with very similar circumstances, seemed more akin to
the post-captivity section of Chronicles than that section
was to the narrative whereto it was attached by the
author. Ezra was separated from Chronicles, not to
stand by itself, but to be attached to Nehemiah, and to
be considered as forming tlie opening section of a j)ost-
capti^-ity history, which began with the deci-ee of Cyrus
and terminated with Nehemiah's reforms in B.C. 431.
Such a mode of manipulating historical writings is not
uncommon in the East, where the amour propre of
authors is little considered, and the main object is to
arrange the history conveniently for the learner. In
the Jewish Church there seems to have been from very
early times a superintending body, which had histories
completed or curtaded,'- which compiled works from
existing materials,^ and which regarded itself as entitled
to arrange the Scriptures in the most convenient form,
whether by separating an integral work into parts, or
by uniting separate productions into a whole.
Ezra was, until the third century A.D., united with
Xehemiah, the two "Books " constituting together what
was then called "the Book of Ezra." Origen is the
first writer who notes that the works are really
separate ; and even he lets us see that the separateness
was not in his time generally recognised.^ It was not
1 See Bible Educator, Vol. III., p. 137.
- The concluding cbajyter of Deuteronomy must have been
added to the work of Moses by some such authority, which may
also have curtailed the Second Book of Samuel. (See Bible Edu-
CATOK, Vol. III., p. 3, note 2.)
•* The original " Books of the Kings," which Jeremiah used in
composing the existing " Books," were such compilations, gradually
made out of the works of the Prophets by some authority.
■* Origen speaks of "the first and second of Esdras, uhich together
mako up Esdras." (.\p. Euse'o. HUt. Ecdcs. vi. § 25.)
till towards the close of the fourth century^ that the
division came to be commonly adopted, and thiit dis-
tinction to be made between a " Book of Ezra " and a
" Book of Nehemiah," to which we are accustomed.
It is allowed on all hands that j)ortions of the Book
of Ezra are from the pen of Ezra himself. In chap.
Adi. 27, 28, and in the whole of chaps, viii. and ix., the
first person is used, where it is plain tliat Ezra himself
is intended ; and so much of the work is on tliis account
universally admitted to be his. Some writers'" are of
opinion that the rest of the Book is from a different
hand. Others assign to Ezra the last four chapters,'
but think that the first six are the composition of a
different author. A minute examination of the text
has convinced the present writer that the entire work
is from first to last the production of one pen ; and he
has no hesitation in assigning to Ezra the composition
of the wliole.^
A division of the Book, however, into two distinct
portions must be freelj' granted; and it must Ije
allowed that Ezra is not in the same sense the author
of both. The narrative contained in the fii'st six
chapters, commencing with the first year of Cyras in
Babylon, or B.C. SSS,'-" and terminating with the sixth
year of Darius Hystaspis,'" or B.C. 515, is divided by
a gap of no less than fifty-seven years from the nari-a-
tive of the last four chapters, which belongs to the
seventh and eighth years of Artaxerxes Longimanus,^^
5 Jerome is the first writer who speaks of a " Book of Nehe-
miah." {Ep. ad Paulin., Op., vol. iv., part ii., p. 57i.)
6 As De Wette (EinUitung in d. Alt. Test. § 195), and Bertheau
(E.reget. Handbuch, vol. iv. , part ii., pp. 7, 8).
7 As the present Bishop of Bath and Wells. (See the Dicticnary
of the Bihle, vol. i., p. 606.)
^ An outline of the grounds on which this opinion is formed has
been given iu the Speaker's Commcntarn, vol. iii., pp. 386-7. The
unity of the work is apparent, not merely from its uniformity of
style, but from the correspondency of plan between the second
section (chaps, vii. — x.), admitted to be by Ezra, and the first
section (cliaps. i.^vi.), whereof his authorship is doubted.
'J This date is determined by the Cauon of Ptolemy. There is
no need to suppose that the Jews regarded " the reign of the
kingdom of Persia" as commencing two year's later (b.c. 536), for
the prophetic round number seventy years need not have been
fulfilled cracthj. The Captivity commenced B.C. 605 (Dan. i. 1;
2 Kings xxiv. 13; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, 7). The decree of Cyrus was
issued B.C. 53S, iu the sixty-eighth year after. The foundations of
the Temple were laid B.C. 537 (Ezra iii. 8), in the sixty-ninth year
after the commencement of the Captivity.
10 That the Darius of chap. iv. 2-i-, chap. v. 6, 7, and chap,
vi. 1 — 15, is Darius Hystaspis, and not Darius Nothus, follows
from the fact distinctly stated in chap. v. 2, that Zcrubbabel and
Jeshua, who brought the people from Babylon iu B.C. 538 (Ezra
iii. 2), and commenced the rebuilding of the Temple in B.C. 537
(ii). iii. 8), were still living in his second year. The second year
of Darius Nothus was B.C. 423, or 115 years after Zerubbabel and
Jeshua were full-grown men. (Compare Hagg. i. 1, &c., and Zech.
iii. 1; iv. 9.)
1' That the Ai-tnxerxes of chap. vii. 1 — 27, and of Neh. ii.
1 ; xiii. 6, is Longimauus, is generally allowed. It is rendered
almost certain by the fact that the high priest contemxjorary
with him was Eliashib (Neh. iii. 1 ; xiii. 4), the nvandson of Jeshua
(ih. xii. 10). Artaxerxes Longimauus was the grandson of Darius
Hystaspis.
EZRA.
43
or to B.C. -4-58 aud 457. Ezra liimself lived iu tliis
latter period, aud was sent from Babylon into Judaea by
A.rtaxerxes, on a special commission (vii. 14), iu the year
B.C. 458, wlieu lie was certainly not less than thirty,'
and pro1)ably not more than fifty years of age. His
own birth, therefore, would have fjiUen into the period
B.C. 508 — i88 ; and he can scarcely have had any per-
sonal knowledge of the events which occurred diu-ing
the period B.C. 538 — 516. They belonged to the time
of his fatlier or his grandfather. Thus, wliile he is to
be viewed as the original and sole author of the second
section (chaps, vii. — x.), towards the first section (chaps.
i. — xi.) he stands in the position of a compiler. He
could not have written it at first hand, but must have
derived his knowledge of the events contained in it
either from inquiries or from documents. An exami-
nation of tlie work itself indicates a strong probability
that documents were its main source. The deci-ee of
Cyrus (i. 2—4), the letter of Rehum (iv. 8—16), the
reply of Ai-taxerxes (iv. 17 — 22), the letter of Tatnai
(v. 7 — 17), the decree of Darius (vi. 3 — 12), are plainly
documents. Copies of them would uecessai-ily exist in
the Persian archives in Ezra's time, and might pro-
bably exist also at Jerusalem. The lists contained in
cliaj). i. (w. 9 — 11) and chap. ii. (w. 2 — 61, 64 — 67, and
69), consisting as they do almost wholly of names and
numbers, must also, it would seem, have been derived
from documents, siuce they are far too exact to be the
result of mere inquiry.- This conclusion, which it ,
would be natural to draw from Ezra alone, is confirmed
by a comparison of Ezra ii. with ISTehemiah atI. and j
1 Esdras v., which contain lists parallel to those in Ezra !
ii., but clearly not drawn from them — lists of which
the most reasonable account is, that they were taken
from the same document that the wi'iter of Ezra used,
a document which was illegible in parts, aud in others
difficult to decipher.^ If this be allowed, then the
documentary portion of the first section of Ezra will
amount to 112 verses out of 157, or to considerably
more than two-thirds of the whole ; and Ezra's own |
direct contributions to the narrative will be reduced to
forty-five verses, or less than tkrce -tenths.
It has been supposed by some that Ezra found the
docu.ments in question akeady embodied in an historical
work from the pen of Zechariah, or Haggai, the prophets
of the return from the Captivity. Biit this supposition
is entirely unsupported by e^-idence. "While, on the
one hand, there is no resemblance iu style between the
first section of Ezra and the admitted prophecies of
Haggai and Zechariah, on the other, there is the closest
resemblance between the peculiarities •* of the narrative
connecting the documents in this section and the pecu- !
1 This follows from his being a " ready scribe " (Ezra vii. 6),
and teacher of the law (ib. ver. 10), when he received his com-
mission. I
~ On similar grounds it has been concluded that certain lists in I
Herodotus were drawn from Persian documents. (See Eawliuson's
Herodotux, vol. i., p. 56.)
3 Compare the Spealcer's Commeniayy, vol. iii. , p. 395 (note on
Ezra ii. 64).
* Ou these peculiarities, see the Spealcer's Commentary, vol. iii.,
p. 387, note 7. I
liarities observable throughout the second section, which
is generally allowed to be Ezra's. If, therefore, Ezra
found any general narrative of the events in question
already in existence, and regarding it as authoritative,
followed it, at any rate it is clear that he did not copy
it or embody it as it stood, but re- wrote the whole iu his
ovni words.
The subject-matter of Ezra is the history of the
chosen race from the accession of Cyrus to the spinng
of B.C. 437, the eighth year of Artaxerxes Long-imanus ;
or rather perhaps the history during such space of that
portion of the chosen race which took advantage of the
decree of Cyi'us, and returned to its native country,
Palestine.'' The time covered is eighty-one years. The
scene is in part Babylon, in part Judsea, in part the
intermediate country. The narrative opens with the
statement that "in the first year of Cyi'us, king of
Persia, thcd the word of the Lord by the mouth of
Jeremiah might be fulfilled, Jehovah stirred up the
spirit of Cyrus, kiug of Persia," to make a certain
proclamation, the terms of which are given. The pro-
phecy of Jeremiah, whei'eto allusion is made, is con-
tained in his twenty-fifth and twenty-ninth chapters ;
where he annoimces that " after seventy years Babylon
shall be punished and the Jews delivered from their
captivity."*" Cyi'us seems to have taken Babylon in
the sixty-eighth year after the Captivity commenced,
thus anticipating the round number used by Jeremiah
by a couple of years. Having been acknowledged as
king, he almost immediately issued his decree allowing
" all the people of Jehovah " to return to their own land.
The terms of this decree are recorded by the writer of
Ezi*a in three verses of his first chapter (vv. 2 — 4). He
then proceeds in general terms to relate the result — ^the
actual return of a part of the people under a leader,
whom he calls Sheshbazzar in one place (chap. i. 8) and
Zerubbabel iu others (chaps, iii. 2 ; iv. 2 ; v. 2, &c.) ; ho
gives a list of the sacred vessels which they brought
back with them (chap. i. 9 — 11), of the chiefs who
headed them (chap. ii. 2), of the families into which
they were divided, and the number of each family
(chap. ii. 3 — 39), of the Levitical and other septs con-
nected with the service of the sanctuary (chap. ii. 40 —
58), and of the exiles who did not know their pedigree
(chap. ii. 59 — 61); estimating the whole number of
those that returned at something a little short of
50,000 (chap. ii. 64, 65). To this account he adds
the number of their horses, mules, camels, and asses
(chap. ii. 66, 67). He then proceeds to narrate the
restoration of the Temple — how the rich men subscribed
towards it (chap. ii. 68, 69) ; how Jeshua the high
priest, and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah, took the
lead, first erecting the altar of burnt -offering (chap,
iii. 2, 3), then keeping the Feast of Tabernacles (ib. ver.
4), after this obtaining timber from Phoenicia {ib. ver.
5 It should be remembered that a large proportion of the
Israelites preferred to remain in the countries to which the
Babylonians had transported them (Josephus, Ant. si. 1), and
remained there permanently, their descendants being still found
in the country at the present day.
'i Jer. sxT. 12 J ssix. 10.
u
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
7) ; and final!}', in the second year of Cjrus, B.C. 537,
commeufing tlio actual foundation of the building with
songs and shoutings, but at the same time with tears,
" so tliat the people could not discern the noise of the
shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the
people," who wept doubtless because the scale and
stylo of the new construction fell far short of the old ^
{lb. vv. 8—13).
With his fourth chapter the author enters iipon a
new phase of the history — the opposition made to the
proceedings of Zerubbabel by the mixed race which,
tiU the Jews returned, had held possession of the
laud.- He tells us how, on Zerubbabel's first arrival,
these people offered to unite with him in the work of
restoration, how their offer was refused, and how from
thenceforth they did all they could to oppose and
prevent the building (chap. iv. 1 — 4). After making
futile representations to two Persian kings, Cyrus and
Ahasuerus,' they addressed a letter to a third, Arta-
xerxes,^ which produced a favourable reply. The
building was peremptorily stopped. The " adver-
saries" triumphed. "Then ceased the work of the
house of God at Jerusalem " — the workmen being
compelled to desist "by force and power" {ib. vv.
7—24).
Ere long, however, another change occiu'red. Arta-
xerxes, the opponent of the Jews, was succeeded by
Darius ; and, so soon as that king had firmly established
himself, " in his second year " (iv. 24), the Jews took
heart, and resumed the work of construction (chap. v.
1, 2). Once more the "people of the laud" interposed,
and addressed a letter to the new monarch, inquiring
whether the building was to be allowed {ib. w. 6 — 17).
Darius, having caused a search to Ido made, found at
Ecbatana a copy of the decree of Cyrus, and at once
wrote a reply to the inquirers, sanctioning Zerubbabel's
proceedings, and requiring them to lend him their
assistance (chap. vi. 1 — 12). Upon this all opposition
ceased, the work progressed rapidly, the heathen lent
their aid {ib. ver. 13), and "in the sixth year of Darius"
(B.C. 515) the building was completed (Ezra vi. 15).
A feast of dedication was then held, of which the
writer of Ezra gives an account towards the close of
his sixth chapter (w. 16 — 18) ; and this was followed
by a passover, celebrated on the fourteenth day of the
first month, according to the command of Moses and
the practice of the more religious among the kings.
With these events the sixth chapter of Ezra con-
cludes, and the seventh opens with a new and much
later history. "In the seventh year of Artaxerxes," we
are told (and this Artaxerxes must be a later king than
Darius) ,5 Ezra, the son (descendant) of Seraiah,^ went
1 Compare Zccb. iv. 10.
2 See 2 Kings xvii. 24—41.
3 This Ahasuerus miust, it would seem, be Cambyses.
^ Tliis Artaxerxes is probably the pseudo-Smerdis who succeeded
Cambyses, B.C. 522, and is called Tany-ojaiccs by Ctesias.
5 See the order of the names in chap. vi. \i, nnd the first words
of cliap. vii., "It came to pass nfter these thinoa," &c.
6 Seraiah had been higb priest under Zedekiah (2 Kings xxv. 19 ;
1 Chrou. vi. 14). He was probably separated from Ezra by three
or four generations.
up from Babylon to Jerusalem with a special commis-
sion from the Persian monarch (chap. vii. 14). The
Artaxerxes intended is generally sujiposed to bo Longi-
manus ; and in this case there is (as has been observed)
an interval of fifty-seven years between tlie conclusion of
chap. vi. and the opening of chap. vii. If he is a later
Artaxerxes (Mnemon), the interval will be still longer
(117 years) ; but tliis is iniprobable.'^ There can be
little doubt that Longinianus is meant — the monarch
who succeeded his father, Xerxes, son of Darius, in B.C.
465. Assuming such to be the case, tlie gap in the
histoiy is one of fifty-seven yeai-s, and includes the last
thirty years of Darius Hystaspis, the entire reign of
Xerxes, and the first six years of Artaxerxes I., extend-
ing from B.C. 515 to B.C. 458. We must suppose tliat
either Jewish history was for this period a blank — so
far, at any rate, as Palestine was concerned ^ — or that
Ezra, on reaching Jerusalem, fouud no important docu-
ments relating to the period, and so passed it over in
silence. His own commission, however, and his execu-
tion of it, he regarded naturally as events of interest ;
and he proceeded to apjiend to his account of the
return under Zerubbabel, a further account of a second
return of exiles, under his own guidance, from Babylon
to Palestine.
Commencing with a statement of his own descent
(vii. 1 — 5\ and of the nature of his office [ib. ver.
6), and first giving in brief the main facts of his
journey {ib. vv. 6 — 10), ho proceeded to place on record
the commission which he received from the gi-eat king
{ib. vv. 11 — 26), the names and number of those who
went up with him (viii. 1 — 14), the circumstances which
happened on the journey {ib. vv. 15 — 32), the arrival at
Jerusalem and delivery of the sacred vessels to the
priests who had the charge of the Temple treasures
(vv. 33 and 341, and the solemn sacrifice made ])y the
second body of exiles (ver. 35\ in imitation of that
which was offered by the first body under Zerulibabel
(chap. vi. 17). It is remarkable that on both occasions
the returned exiles considered themselves as represen-
tatives of all the tribes, and not of Judah only ; they
offered burnt-offerings and sin-offerings "for all Israel"
— twelve bullocks, ninety-six (12 by 8) rams, and twelve
he-goats — "according to the number of the tribes of
Israel." (Compare with this the statement in 1 Chron.
ix. 3, that in Jerusalem dwelt at this time "of the
children of Judah, aud of the children of Benjamin,
and of the children of Ejiihraim and Manasseh.")
From this account of his commission and its execu-
tion, Ezra passes (in chaps, ix. and x.) to a matter
which seemed to him, on his arrival at Jerusalem, of
the utmost importance, and one requiring all his atten-
' It is generally allowed that the Artaxerxes of Nehemiah is
identical with Ezra's Artaxerxes. As Eliashib, the grandson of
Jeshua, was high priest in Nehemiah's time (Neh. iii. 1 ; xii. 10),
the Artaxerxes who sent him to Talestine can scarcely be Mnemon,
whose twentieth year (ih. ii. 1) was B.C. 385, or more than a
century and a half after the manhood of Jeshua (b.c. 537).
8 The events related in the Book of Esther probably fell into
this interval ; but they may not have caused much stir in Palestine,
whore the Jews were too strong to have been in much danger.
EZRA.
45
tion. He found the law disregarded in a most vital
point, and his people (as it seemed to him) on their way
to complete apostacy. The returned exiles, who had
perhaps been unable to bring with them an adequate
number of their own countrywomen, had intermarried
in certain cases with the neighbouring idolatrous nations
— had become to some extent entangled in the idolatries
of these various races, and were in danger of being
assimilated to, if not even absorbed into them. Ezra
describes in impressive language tlie horror with which
he learnt of these proceedings " And when I heard
this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and
plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and
sat down astonied " (chap. ix. 3). On his astonishment
followed his prayer {v\. 6 — 15) — a prayer which recalls
the tone and echoes the phrases of Daniel (Dan. be.
5—19).
Ezra relates how the people were affected by seeing
his horror and his grief — how they too burst into
tears and " wept with a great weeping " (chajj. x. 1) —
how by the mouth of a certain Shechaniah they con-
fessed their sin, and expressed their desire to turn from
it, inviting Ezra to initiate proceedings for the reform
of the abuse and the general purification of the people
(vv. 2 — 4). He then tells us what measures were taken
— how first of all the people renewed their covenant
with God by solemnly making oath that they would put
away their heathen wives (ver. 5) — how then after some
delay (vv. 7 — 15) a standing commission was appointed
to carry out the whole matter (ver. 16) — and how finally
in the course of thi-ee mouths the commission brought
its labours to an end, having effected a complete separa-
tion of the heathen from the Israelitish element, and
sent the foreign wives, with their offspring, out of the
country (ver. 17). In conclusion, a list is given of
those whose wives were divorced, by which it appears
that the entire number was less than might have been
supposed, being only 113 in a population which must
have exceeded 60,000, and which cannot have contained
fewer than 10,000 households. The " strange wives "
were thus not many more than one in a hundred ; but
tlic example had been set in high quarters, and so was
likely, if unchecked, to have rapidly spread. Among
the ] 13 Israelites who had transgressed, twenty-seven
belonged to the prie.stly tribe of Levi, and of these
seventeen were actual priests, and four members of the
high priest's family !
Little objection is taken to Ezra by modern writers
of the Rationalistic scliool. As it contains no record
of anything miracidous, there is nothing in it to provoke
sceptical criticism. Its difficulties are merely historic,
and are in fact limited entirely to the question of the
proper identification of the several Persian kings men-
tioned in the narrative. There can be no doubt that
the first-named is the Cyrus who took Babylon in B.C.
538, and died in B.C. 529. Some suppose that the
Ahasuerus who is the next king mentioned by name
(Ezra iv. 6) represents Xerxes; that the third king,
Artaxerxes {ib. ver. 7), is Longimanus ; that the Darius
of chaps, iv. — vi. is Darius Nothus ; and the Artaxerxes
of chaps, vii. — viii., Artaxerxes Mnemou; audit must
be allowed that this exposition is the only one which
removes all difficulty as to the names. But the view
is rendered untenable by the fact, which appears in
Zechariah and Haggai no less than in Ezra, that Zerub-
bal)cl and Jeshua, who led the exiles from Babylon to
Palestine in the first year of Cyrus (b.c. 538), and com-
menced the building of the Temple in his second year
(B.C. 537), resumed the work in the second year of the
Darius of the Book of Ezra (chap. v. 2 ; Hagg. i. 1 ;
Zech. i. 1 ; iv. 14), and brought it to a completion in
his sixth.
As the sixth year of Darius Nothus was B.C. 420
(or 118 years after the taking of Babylon by Cyrus), it
is simply impossible to regard him as the king under
whom the Temple was completed, since in that case
both Zerubbabel and Jeshua must have lived to the age
of 150 ! Thus the Darius of Ezra, Haggai, and Zecha-
riah 7nust be the first Darius of Persia, or Darius the
son of Hystaspis. But if this be so, the Ahasuerus
and Artaxerxes who intervene in Ezra (chap. iv. 6, 7)
between him and Cyrus, can only be the two Persian
kings whose reigns exactly filled up this interval — viz.,
Cambyses and the pseudo-Smerdis. The only difficulty
in this case is to account for the names. Why did the
Jews call the son and successor of Cyrus by a name
corresponding to the Persian Xerxes, when his true
name was Cambyses ? And why did they call his
successor, whose real name was Gomates, and who was
known in Persia as Smerdis, by the entirely different
royal appellative of Artaxerxes ? To these questions it
is impossible, in the present state of our knowledge, to
give wholly satisfactory answers. We can only say
that the Persian kings and princes did often bear more
names than one. It was a common practice for the
king to change his name upon his accession. As a
prince the second Darius was known as Ochus;^ he
took the name of Darius on ascending the throne.
Similarly, Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon) till his accession
bore the name of Arsaces.- The pseudo-Smerdis was
known to some of the Greeks as Tanyoxares or Tany-
oxarces.''
It is quite possible that Cambyses as crown prince
bore the name of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), and only took
the name of his grandfather on becoming king. The
Jews may have known him at Babylon under his
original appellation, and may therefore have simply
retained it. The pseudo-Smerdis, whose great object
was to conceal his real name, may have indulged in a
free use of various royal titles. The Persian names
were significant, and might be taken as epithets —
Artaxerxes meant, according to Herodotus,* "the very
warlike." At any rate, whether the explanation here
offered be accepted or not, the historical and chrono-
logical scheme on which Ezra has been arranged must
1 Ctesias, Exc. Pers., § 49. Manetho called him "Oclius" after
his accession. (Clem. Al. Cohort. aA Gentes, § 5.)
2 Pint. nt. Artax., § 2 ; Ctes. Exc. Pers., § 57.
•^ This name is given to him by Ctesias {Exc. Pers., 1. s, c).
■^ Herod, vi. 98.
4(5
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
be rogarclecl as established. Tlie foiu' kiugs of the
earlier section of tlio Book mrist represent Cyrus the
Great, his sou Cambyses, the pseudo-Snierdis, and
Darius Hystaspis. The Artaxerxes of the latter section
may j)ossibly bo Mnemon, but on the Avholc it is far
more probable that he is Longimauus.'
1 See note 11, on page 42.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
BY THE REV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF KAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
' Stej)liauas and his two companions were
the actual bearers of the first Epistle
to the church m Corinth, the Apostle,
in his anxiety about its reception, soon
afterwaias comnussioned Titus, who was at the time
occupied in the business of the collection, to ^nsit the
city, and report the effect of the instructions and
wai-nings that had been given. New troubles at the
same tima arose in Ephesus. The intention of St.
Paul to remain there until Pentecost was unexpectedly
frustrated by the riot of Demetrius and the silversmiths.
This hea\'y trial, coming at so anxious a time, well-nigh
broke the Apostle's heart. " We were pressed," he
says, " wit of measure, above strength, insomuch that
we despaired even of life."' Times there had been
when that uproar in the Ephesian theatre would have
been but a small thing to the brave soldier of Jesus
Christ. But liis heart was now so full of concern
and sorrow for the Corinthians, that he could not bear
the stress. Bodily weakness was superadded to the
mental conflict. He '' called unto him the disciples,
and embraced them, and departed for to go into Mace-
donia."- His inain anxiety was to meet ^vith Titus,
who ought by this time to have been returning from
Coi-inth. Down to Troas the Apostle bent his way, but
for awhile was disappointed. His intention was "to
preach Chi-ist's Gospel" in that sea-port towTi; and
everything was favourable for the task. " A door was
opened " to him " by the Lord ;" but it was in vain.
Titus had not arrived, and the AjDostle could not bend
his mind even to evangelic labours before he had heard
from Corinth. Restlessly he crossed over to Mace-
donia, and at last was "comforted by the coming of
Titus ;" so comforted, that at the very mention of
Macedonia, the Apostle breaks into the ascription,
" Thanks be unto God !" ^ — for Titus had brought good
news. The Corinthians had not only repented, but had
zealously set themseh-es to put away the e\-il. "I am
filled mth comfort," exclaims the Apostle ; " I am
exceeding joyfid in all our tribulation." In the hal-
lowed excitement of such joy this second Epistle to the
Corinthians is written, in some Macedonian town ; per-
haps PhUippi, or Thessalonica, or Bercea — dispatched
by Titus, probably with Luke or Trophimus (chap.
1 Cbap. i. 8.
- Acts ss. 1. Meyer thinks that some nnfavour.iMe news as to
the effect of his first Epistle had by this time rtached St. Paul.
^ Chap. vii. 6 ; ii. 13, 14.
■vdii. 18), and Tychicus (chap. viii. 22) ; and then did
the Aj)ostle, with free and exulting heai-t, "round about
unto lUp-ioum fully preach the Gospel of Christ."'*
This work accomplished, the Apostle bent his steps to
Corinth for his " thu-d visit," to find, let us hope, that
his two letters had wrought their work, and that words
which through all generations since have lived in the
hearts of the disciples of Christ, had not failed in their
salutary effect upon those who heard them fii-st, as read
from the apostolic scroU.
2. The intelligence brought by Titus, although ou
the whole so cheering, was not without its disquieting
elements. True, these were overljorne by the fact that
I the Corinthians had repented of their grosser sins ; but
it was nevertheless necessary that St. Paul shoidd still
1 write on some points with decision, even with severity.
I The Judaiiiing party in the chm-ch — the same, probably,
who had .said, •■• We are of Cephas," in bygone days —
had acquired strength, had even become "the majority"
of the teachers,-"' and lost no occasion of disparaging the
] apostleship and even the character of Paul. There is,
I therefore, a twofold current of thought tlu-ough all this
I Epistle ; an exquisite tenderness and joj', combined
j with manly earnest self -vindication ; rebukes pathetic
I in their very sternness from a heart so loving; and
"boastings" uttered mth a kind of ingenuous shame,
although the intent was not the exaltation of self, but
the glory of the Lord.
3. Accoi'dingly, it is impossil)le to reduce the contents
of the Epistle to any formal order. Each mood by
turns predominates, and any oiitliue must take notice
only of the prominent thoughts in the several sections,
\vithout regard to the numerous hints and side-touchings
which betray the feelings that struggled all through
I for mastery in the Apostle's mind. The general order,
! however, may be stated as follows : —
I. After a general introduction and salutation (in
which Timothy, who had now rejoined him, is in-
cluded) (i. 1 — 11), St. Paul at once vindicates his own
sincerity and fair dealing in the matter of the delayed
^■isit (i. 12 — ii. 4). He avows that he had changed his
intention of taking Corinth on his way to Macedonia
(1 Cor. xvi. 5), and he gives the reason. It was not
that he was untx-ue to his promise, nor light in purpose,
■* Rom. XV. 19 ; which must be referred to this part of St.
Paul's history. Compare Acts xx. 2.
* Chap. ii. 17, "' ttoXXoi.
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
47
but to spare tlie church aud liimself. lu a word, he
could not see them uutil he knew iu what spirit they
had received his letter.
II. This matter being set clear, St. Paul now in the
strength of his aiiection declares his forgiveness of the
man who had sinned, suiiered, and repented [u. 5—11).
Characteristically, the Apostle declares that to remain
uuforgi\-ing would give an advantage to Satan, by
driving the sinner to despaii'.
III. The way is now clear to speak of the coming of
Titus, and tlie joy it brought (ii. 12 — 16), sxiggesting
the image of a triumph, with the iucense of its sacrifice
floating upwards, and filling the air with fragrance;
yet to some doomed ones in the procession the scent
would be that of death ! for there were rebels still.
IV. The foregoing thought seems to suggest the
impassioned \-indication of himself and liis brother
apostles, into which he now breaks forth (ii. 17 — Ani.
16). He had asked the question, " Who is sufficient
for these things ?" aud replies in substance, "We are,
by the grace of God ! "
(1.) Some, Avho decried his character and work, had
brouglit letters of commendation, probably from Jeru-
salem, which had imposed upon the Corinthians. Paul
appeals to then- own consciousness as the true commen-
dation of liis ministiy (iii. 1 — 6).
(2.) With the image of a letter stO in his mind, he
declares the clearness and transparent truth of the
apostolic ministry (iii. 7 — iv. 6). Nor does he speak of
his own labours merely — it is the " ministration of the
Spirit," as contrasted to the older miuistration of Law.
His illustrations are here taken from the "vanishing-
glory" of the countenance of Moses descending from
the mount ^ — a countenance still veiled ! The glory of
the Gospel, on the contrary, is permanent, and shines
upon us with no interveniug A^eil. Such, the Apostle
seems to say, is the contrast between our teaching and
that of the men who would lead you back to Judaism.
(3.) From this sublime delineation of a faithful
ministry, St. Paul tm*us now to the human side (iv. 7 —
y. 10). Wliere there is so much glory there must be
somewhat to show that the true power is Avith God, not
Avith us. Hence the Apostle is led to depict the trials
aud supports of apostolic life, " bearing about in the
Tiody the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest." Death and life, life
out of death, the faith that rests on the unseen, the
Jiope that springs toward heaven, and gazes unappalled
on the solemnities of the judgment- seat, are the topics
of the paragraph. " Such a life," Paul seems to say,
" is ours."
(4.) Hence there is cleej) sincerity in our aims and
conduct, as befits those who must be " made manifest
before the judgment-seat of Christ " (v. 10, 11), Avith
tlie constant j)OAver of an all-sufficient motive. " One
died for all, then they all died " {\. 14). We died to
live in Christ ; our very being is henceforth absorbed
1 Chap. iii. 13. " So tliat the children of Israel gazed not to
the close of that which was vanishing away."
in His. Here is the first utterance of that great con-
ception, of life in the risen Christ, which was to reappear
more fully in tlie Epistles to tlie Galatians aud the
Romans.- The truths on which all this^rcsts, the doc-
trines of " reconciHation " and of "righteousness," are
then declared, as if iu similar anticipation of the pro-
founder doctrinal discussions which were to follow (v.
18—21).
(5.) But at present the Apostle retiu-us to liis theme,
and, as his heart wanns, becomes more intensely per-
sonal (vi. 1 — vii. 3).3 " Receive not the grace of God
in A-ain. . . . Receive us," is now the substance of his
appeal. " The almost lyrical and poetical character
Avhich belongs to this burst of feeling," says Dean
Stanley, "may be fitly compared to Rom. viii. 31 — 39;
1 Cor. xiii. 1 — 13, Avhicli occupy, iu a similar manner,
the central place in those Epistles." With a fine ai^pro-
priateness the Old Testiiment'' is made to furnish lan-
guage for his glowing appeals. The " acceptable time "
and "the day of salvation" which the prophet dimly
saw has come ; aud at the close of the chapter promise
after promise gathered from Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Zechariah, in one glorious rush of utterance
declare Avliat God avlU do for those who accept liis truth.
(6.) The reference to the return of Titus is resumed
as by one who has given vent to all his sadder emotions,
and can now freely utter his triumph and joy (vii.
4 — 16). He even ceases to regret the scA^erity of his
former Epistle. "I do not repent, though I did
repent" — for the reproof has done its work; "godly
sorrow" has Avrought true "repentance," and jo}-ful
confidence is restored !
V. The claims of the collection for the impoverished
Chi-istians of Judtea are now urged Avith inimitable force
and delicacy (viii. 1 — ix. 15). It was doubly generous
in the Apostle, while defeudiug himself from the asper-
sions of the Judaizers, to retain a compassion so tender
for the community so apt to misunderstand aud condemn
him. This, however, was liis true character. If the
incentives by whicli he lu'ges ready liberality on the
Corinthians are to be classified, they might be stated
thus : —
(1.) The example of the Macedonian churches (viii.
IS).
(2.) The seH- sacrifice of Christ (A^er. 9).
(3.) The former alacrity of the Corinthians tliemselves
(w. 10—15).
(4.) The character of the messengers — Titus, and tAvo
other brethren" (jv. 16 — 24).
2 Gal. ii. 20 ; Eom. vi. 1—13, &c.
■* This paragrapli contains the remarkable digression, " without
connection with what either precedes or follows" (vi. 13 — vii. 1),
which has already been mentioned in our Introduction to the first
Epistle, as possibly an extract from the Apostle's earlier letter to
the church in Corinth.
■• Isa. xlis. 8; Lev. xxvi. 12; Isa. Iii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 1, 9, 33;
xxxii. 38 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 26, 27 ; Zech. viii. 8.
5 Who these brethren were cannot be determined with any
certainty. Luke has been suggested by many, partly from the
reference to "the Gospel" in verse 18 ; but in tlie language of the
New Testament the Gospel always means the preaching of the
Gospel, never the written record. Trophimus, again, was an
Ephesiau, well known, aud connected with the Apostle in this
43
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
(5.) St. Paul's own coufidenco in the Coriuthians
(ix. 1—5).
(6.) Tlic return which Divine bouuiy will make to
the generous {ix. 6 — 11).
(7.) The thauksgiviug aud prayer of the recipieiats,
botli bringing glory to God, and forniiug a new link
between Jewish and Gentile Christians (ix. 12 — 14).
This last thought occasions the outburst of praise for
the one great gift of which we all are recipients, and
which is truly '• unspeakable " (ver. 15).
YI. The Apostle ha^-ing closed this practical matter,
occupies the remainder of the Epistle with a re-assertion
of his authority aud claims (x. 1 — xii. 10). It may be
that St. Paul here resumes his pen after a pause-
Perhaps "in the interval news liad come again from
Corintli. indicating a relajpse of fervour on the part of
the church at large, and a more decided opposition to
liim on the part of the Jewish section of the church.
Or, after the full outpouring of his heart, he may have
returned to the original impression, which the arrival
of Titus had removed. As the time of his visit either
actuall}' di-ow nearer, or was more forcibly impressed
upon his imagination, he was again haunted by the fear
already expressed (ii. 1), that he should have to visit
them, not iu love, but in anger." '
(1.) He asserts his apostolic authority (x. 1 — 7).
(2.) He ^•indicates his boasting (x. 8 — 18).
(3.) He pleads, in defence, his affection for the
Coriuthums [\i. 1 — 15).
(4.) He details his claims more fully (xi. 16 — 33).
a. If his opponents were Hebrews, so was he (ver. 22 ;
compare PhU. iii. 4, 5).
/3. His toils and sufferings wei'e apostolic {w. 23 —
31 . Many of his trials here recounted took place
in unrecorded journeys, or are passed over by the
historian.'-
7. He began his public Christian career by a notable
escape from danger (vv. 32, 33).
S. He had been raised to the third heaven, and disci-
plined by the " thorn in the flesh " (xii. 1 — 10). Thus,
out of exaltation came weakness, aud in weakness
strength. The date of the rapture, " fourteen years
alms-errand (Acts xxi. 29). He also left Coriuth in St. Paul's
company at the close of the visit ■which siieedily followed this
second Epistle. The third brother (ver. 22) may have been
Tychicus, an Ephesian likewise (Acts sx. 4), a friend aud associate
of Titus (Titus iii. 12), and conversant with St. Paul's affairs (Eph.
vi. 21).
1 Stanley, 2 Corinthiaru<!, Introduction to, chaps, x. — xiii.
"- Five scourgin^s from the Jews, not one related in the Acts.
" Thrice beaten with rods " (a Eomnn punishment)— only one
instance related (Acts xvi. 23). "Once stoned," at Lystra (Acts
xiv. 19). " Thrice shipwrecked " — not one instance recorded up to
this time. " Perils by countrymen " (Acts ix. 23, 29 ; xiii. 50 ;
xiv. 5, 19; xvii. 5, 13; xviii. 12. " Perils by heathens" (Acts xvi.
20 ; six. 23).
ago," j)laces it soon after the escape from Aretas, just
described. With regard to the trial that followed, we
only know that it was some humiliating and disabling
affliction : whether temjitations to sin (as to sensuality,
held by most Roman Catholic theologians) ; or trials
from ivlthout, as persecutions,^ which scarcely com-
ports with the definite character of the affliction,
and the Apostle's importunate prayer for deliverance ;
or hodlhj affliction [a very ancient tradition says excru-
ciating headache,'' others suggest an impediment in
speech (chap. x. 10), and it has been jikusibly main-
tained that the malady was one that affected the eye-
sight^]. In any case, the assurance of Divine support
transformed the feebleness into a new source aud aliment
of spiritual strength. " I glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me."
VII. Summary of his self -vindication, aud appeal to
the Corinthians (xii. 11 — xiii. 10). That the Apostle
had been compelled to assert his own claims, was their
doing ; a necessity which ought not to have been forced
upon him, for his apostolic career spoke for itself.
Was he behind others in anything ? Only iu oue — that
he had not cjist himself upon the support of the church.
With a fine irony he adds, " Forgive me this wrong."
Again he indignantly repudiates the charge of acting
insincerely by them,^ and declares his intention of deal-
ing with the church in faithfulness when he should
arrive. If sevei-ity were needed, none could be more
grieved than the Apostle himself; and if he writes
sharply, it is that he may obviate the necessity for
sharper speech. He would always ratlier " build " than
" destroy."
VIII. Salutation and farewell. The benediction
which concludes the whole " is the most complete of
all which occui's iu St. Raid's Epistles;" "remark-
able," Alford well says, " for the distinct recognition of
the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and thence
adopted by the Christian Church iu all ages as the
final blessing in her services." The blessing is invoked
upon " all," even upon those with whom he had most
strenuously contended, or whom he had most sharply
reproved. No better introduction could be imagined
for the ■visit which he was so soon to pay, as the sequel
of these two immortal Epistles, to the people whose
conduct and spirit had occasioned some of the deepest
joys and keenest sorrows of his life.
3 Persecution of Judaizers : Chrysostom, and many Greek
fathers.
■* Jerome, Tertullian.
* See Brown's Horce Siibsecioa:. Compare Acts is. P; xxiii. 5;
Gal. iv. 15 ; vi. 11.
6 The words in xii. 16, "being crafty, I caught yon with guile,"
are, of course, to be read as iin indignant quotation of his enemies'
words—" Is thai what they say ?"
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPIURE.
49
THE COINCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
THE LOCAL COLOURING OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
BY THS EDITOR.
[HE Epistle to the Romans occupies, iu
some respects, a very peculiar position.
Thi' circumstances under whicli it was
written, the structure of its argument,
will be dealt with elsewhere, under the heading of the
"Buoks of the New Testament." The special fact to
which I now desire to call attention is that it is the
first extant epistle of St. Paul's adcbessed to a church
which as yet he had not seen. He knew it, indeed,
by report, "for theii* faith Avas spoken of throughout
all the world," but of direct personal communication
with the church as such there had been none. And,
therefore, in the comparative absence of local questions,
such as so largely fill the Epistles to the churches of
Thessalonlca and of Corinth, there was a fitting oppor-
tunity for sach a treatment of the great docti-ines of
the Gospel, of the great problems of the history of
Israel and mankind, as that on which St. Paul enters
here. His thoughts seem to take a wider range, the
horizon of his mental vision is enlarged, his Epistle
becomes a great Apologia, and he seeks
" to the height of his great argument
To vindicate the waj-s of God to man."
2. On the other hand, the Epistle displays a close
personal knowledge of many distinct congregations or
churches among the Christians at Rome, and the
number of names of those to whom lo^nng messages
are sent is larger than in any other. How are we to
reconcile this apparent inc3nsistency ? The answer is
to be foimd, it is clear, in the fact that the decree of
Claudius which banished all Jews from Rome must
have included Christians as well as non-Christians.
To the former class apparently belonged Aquila and
Priscilla, seeing that no mention is made in the Acts
of their having been hearers of St. Paul or converted
by him, and that from the first they were companions
and fellow-workers. But if they were disciples at
that time, then probably there must have been other
believers among the artisans whom they employed
and the friends who had sought with them a refuge at
Corinth. Others would be attracted by their influence
and example, and those who were able to instruct the
eloquent Jew of Alexandi-ia iu the Gospel of Christ
may well have been among the pillars of the church of
Achaia, perhaps even among the teachers of the church
of Rome before they were driven from that city.' It
1 The inferences drawn from the fact that Claudius is said to
have expelled the Jews because they were constantly disturbing
the peace, under the command of Chrestiis ("imimlsore Chresto"),
"have been already noticed in the Bible Educatoe; see also
the paper on " Aquila and Priscilla " in the writer's hihlical
Studies.
76— VOL. IV.
is noticeable how, as we study the list of names, fact
after fact confirms the conclusion to which we have
thus been led. Andronicus and Jimia (probably
Junias as a man's name) were " in Christ " before the
Apostle who salutes them (Rom. syi. 7). Epsenetus,
the " first-fruits of Achaia, the " weU-beloved," the
fii-st Christian convert, is named next to Aquila and
Priscilla, as haviug j)robably been converted by them,
and returned with them to Rome (Rom. xvi. 5), while
St. Paul in writing to Corinth names the household
of Stephanas by the same honourable title (1 Cor.
xvi. 15). Those who had been St. Paul's fellow-
workers, Timotheus, Tertius (possibly the same as
Silas or Silvanus), Gains, in whose house the church of
Corinth found its chief place of meeting (Rom. xvi. 23),
all these are on intimate and friendly terms with the
Christians of Rome. And on this hypothesis we may
include in the list of these early converts those of the
household of Narcissus, of whom traces have been
discovered in inscriptions still extant (Rom. xvi. 11),
and Rufus, whose mother had received St. Paul with a
kindness which made him feel that he owed to her
nothing less than filial love (Rom. x-sd. 13), and who
has been identified, on fairly good grounds, with the
son of Simon of Cyrene, whom St. Mark mentions
in chap. xv. 21.- In these then, not in St. Peter or
St. Paul, we may see the real founders of the church
of Rome, the first preachers of the Gospel in the great
imperial city.
3. The besetting temptation of the church in that
city had been, it is ob^-ious, that which arose out of
their position, as attacked by the unbeheA-ing Jews.
At first the church was probably entirely Jewish, and
the Jews' trans-Tiberine quarter was the scene of
continual riots, in which the name of Christus (pro-
noimced Chrestus) had been heard so often, that he
was looked upon as their author, and which led to
the decree of Claudius. When they returned with a
larger infusion of Greek and therefore Gentile blood,
they probably sought a home elsewhere in some remote
district of the city. And so when St. Paul arrives at
Rome, while the Christians there sent out deputations
of the brethren to meet him as far as to Appii Forum
and the Three Taverns, the Jews who live together iu
their old suburb (the decree of Claudius which ex-
pelled them having been rescinded or treated as null
and void) speak of the Church of Christ as a body of
whom they know personally little or nothing, except as
" a sect everywhere spoken against " (Acts xxviii 22).
This was the stat« of things when St. Paul reached
■- See the paper on " Simon of Cyreue " in the writer's Biblical
i Studies.
50
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Rome, and it was diic in part to tlio influence of his
counsels. But wlien ho wrote to thcni from Corinth
the clanger was still fresh in his memory, and thought
of as still imminent. And therefore he dwells witli
an emphatic and exceptional fulness on the duty and
necessity of obediouco to civil authority, teaches them
that even the government of a Noro is Letter than
anarchy, and therefore a Divine ordinance, a '' minister
of God for good," as able, and, it might be, willing to
defend them against the lawless attacks of their Jewish
enemies, should those attacks be renewed, as he himself
had been defended from them at Coriuth by the inter-
vention of Gallio.
4. The close connection between the congregations
which St. Paul had known at Coriuth and those whom
he has in \'iew in wi'iting to the Romans may serve to
throw light on the difficult and obscure questions con-
nected with the disputes referred to in chap. xiv. Who,
we ask, were those who held it to bo unlawful to eat
anything but herbs ? Who were bold enough to eat
meat ? In what way could the eating meat become a
stumbling-block to the weak ? Have we come into
contact with a simple asceticism, or with an Esseno
superstition, or with a Gnostic idea that all animal
food, as such, was impure and unlawful ? Many
treatises have been wiitten on this chapter, maintaining
this or that theory ; but the right answer is, I lielieve,
to be found in the fact on which I have now dwelt, that
the greater part of the Christians at Rome whom St.
Paul addresses had jireviously been imder him at
Corinth. The controversies in the former city were but
the expansion and echoes of those which had disturbed
the latter, leading the weak, over-scrupulous brother to
avoid any animal food that was exposed for sale in the
market of a heathen city, through the fear that it
might possibly have been slain as a sacrifice to an idol ;
while the strong, holding that " an idol was nothing in
the world," was ready to eat what had been so offered,
even at the risk of offending others, or of shrinking,
in the presence of heathen friends, from the confession
of" his faith. Assume that the questions discussed by
St. Paid in 1 Cor. viii., ix., x. were transferred to Rome,
when a large portion of the members of the Corinthian
church had returned to the city from which they had
started, and we have an explanation, natural and
adequate, of the teaching in Rom. xiv. The principle
applied to the points at issue is the same in both.
St. Paul's own convictions are clearly in favour of the
bolder and stronger view. " I know, and am persuaded
by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of
itself," not even that which had been offered in sacrifice
to idols, but this was modified in action by the tenderest
sympathy and consideration for the weaker conscience
of the over-scrupulous. What was objectively right
might thus come to be subjectively wrong, and a man
might be led by the influence of example, or through
fear of shame, into doing what his conscience did not
approve of. For such persons abstinence from what
was to them doubtful was the only wise and right
tjourse, and abstinence for their sake from what might
otherwise have been done with a safe conscience was
enjoined by the Ai)ostle even on the strong as an
obedience to the higher law of love.
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.
It is now admitted by nearly all commentators Avho
admit their Pauline authorship that the three letters
which we know ])y this title Avere written after the
Apostle's liberation from his imprisonment at Rome,
and after he had carried into ett'ect the intention ex-
pressed in the letters to the Philippians and to Phile-
mon, of re-visiting the scenes of his former labom-s.
It is not difficidt, on this assumption, to track his
course, and to get at least an outhne of the incidents of
his journey. Accompanied l^y some of the faithful
discii)les who had been with him at Rome, certainly by
his beloved son in the faith, Timotheiis, he seems to
have made his way to the Asiatic churches who owed
so much to his teaching. In many ways tiie ATisit
must have been a painful one. The fii-st love had
waxed cold. AU in Asia were "turned away from
him" (2 Tim. i. 15), two even from whom better things,
it woidd seem, might have been expected, Phygellus
and Hermogenes, being named as the most conspicuous
instance of this desertion. AU the more did his mind
dwell gratefiUly on any ministrations which, like those
of Onesipliorus, showed that the old lo^dng- kindness and
affection had not quite died out (2 Tim. i. 18). When
he had last parted from the representatives of these
churches, they " all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck
and kissed him, sorrowing* most of all for the words
that ho spake, that they shoidd see his face no more "
(Acts XX. 36, 37). Now when he left, leaving the
reluctant Timothy behind him, there were, it woidd seem,
no other tears but those which the master and scholar
had wept over each other (2 Tun. i. 4). But worse
even than this personal desertion was the falling away
of these Asiatic churches from the purity of their first
faith. The' germ of wild specidative heresies which St.
Paid had even seen among the ministers of the church,
and of which he had Avarned them on the occasion of that
most memorable parting, had groAvn with a portentous
rapidity. Hymena3us, Philetiis, Alexander (1 Tim. i.
20 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17 ) appear to have been the chief here-
siarchs, teaching that the resurrection was past already,
that its meaning was exhausted in a spiritual conversion
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that
there was no real return to life after death, no judg-
ment of the risen dead. He endeavoured to check the
progress of the eiTor by the strongest exercise of his
aj)ostolic authority, and passed upon them the sentence
which at Corinth had been reserved for the sin of the
incestuous adulterer (1 Cor. v. 5). They were "delivered
to Satan," and that solemn sentence was followed by
some shai-p bodily suffering by which, the punishment
being corrective and not destructive, they were to be
taught " not to blaspheme " (1 Tim. i. 20).
The coincidences connected with the personal cha-
racter of Timothy will be found. I believe, to h.-we a
special interest. At the close of their long companion-
THE COmCIDENCES OF SCRIPTURE.
hi
sliip aucl frieudsLip the miud of tlie Apostle goes back
to the days when he had first known the mother — pro-
bably the widowed mother — Eunice, and the grand-
mother Lois, and had seen their unfeigned faith, and
noted how the boy who was growing iip under their
care had from a chUd been taught to know the Holy
Scriptures (those, of course, of the Old Testament), as
entering into his daily life. He, tlie young disciple,
himself of Lystra, had witnessed those early persecu-
tions which attended the Apostle's efforts hi his mis-
sionary work among the Gentiles (Acts xir. 19) — had,
in the interval, gained a good report not only among
the believers in his own town, but also in Iconium,
wiiere he was probably known as a messenger, if not
as an evaugehst (Acts xvi. 2). Tear by year he had
become more and moi'e dear to the Apostle's heart,
was as his "true son," "like-minded" in all essential
points, one in whose devotion he could entirely eonfide.
Yet there were, it is clear, di'awbacks even here, and
the character of Timothy presented some weak points
about which St. Paul was obviously anxious. He was
placed at a comparatively early age, say thii'ty-four or
thirty- five, in a position where he had to exercise autho-
rity over many men older than himself, and he seems
to have tended to that shrinking from the exercise of
authority which is often found iu meditative and devout
minds. And therefore his master plies him through-
out with counsels on this head. He is to let no man
despise his youth (1 Tim. iv. 12), is not to " neglect,"
but rather to " stir up" {i.e., re-kindle) "the gift that
is in him " (2 Tim. i. 6), is to " keep that which is com-
mitted to his trust " (2 Tim. i. 14). With an un-
usual solemnity he charges him " before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels," to yield to no
influence which may be brought to bear on him to bias
his decisions (1 Tim. v. 21), or again, " iu the sight of
God who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus,
Avlio before Pontius PUate witnessed the good con-
fession," to keep the commandment " without spot and
unrebukeable " (1 Tim. vi. 13, 14). His peculiarities of
age and temperament brought with them other dangers.
His total abstinence from wine, probably under a
Nazarite vow, like that which St. Paul himself took, but
permanent instead of temporaiy, might seem to favour
the heresy of those who commanded men to abstain
from this or that kind of food, forgetting or denying
that " every creature of God is good, and nothing to be
refused, if it be received with thanksgiving " (1 Tim. iv.
4). It tended, at any rate, with such a constitution as
his, to weak health, and weak health brought with it
the danger of hasty and impulsive action, of suddenly
"laying hands" (whether as ordaining, or, more i)ro-
Ijably, as "absohdng") on those whom a fuller and
calmer inquiry would have led him to reject. It might
bring with it the very temptations which, at first, it
was designed to counteract, and so, in the delicate and
difficult task of inquu-y into other men's sins, he was
to "keep himself pm-e " (1 Tim. v. 22), to "flee aU
youthful desires" (the Authorised Version, "lusts,"
suggests too exclusively one form of evil), which
might mar the completeness of his character azid
work (2 Tim. ii. 22).
It is, at least, a noteworthy fact that the two dis-
ciples to whom these Epistles were addressed should
have been severally examples of the apparently con-
trasted, biit really consistent courses of action whicli
St. Paul adopted under different circumstances. "With
regard to Titus, who had accompanied him to Jeru-
salem (probably on the journey of Acts xv.), he lays
stress on the fact that "he, being a Greek," was "not
compelled to be circumcised" (Gal. ii. 3). There he
was contending for a pruiciple, and the case of Titus
presented itself as a crucial instance, and would have
been binding as a precedent. Of Timothy, on the
other hand, it is recorded that because the Jews of
the district in which he lived knew that his father
was a Greek, Paul "took -and cu-cumcised him" (Acts
xvi. 3). Then, as there was no pressure from without,
the act was not the abandonment of a priuciple, but
a voluntary concession, in entire harmony with the
Apostle's plan of becoming " all things to all men, if
by any means he miglit save some" (1 Cor. ix. 22).
In this case, too, the mother was a Jewess, and the re-
ceived rule of the Rabbis in such cases was that the
child of a mixed marriage inherited from the nobler side,
whether it was that of father or of mother ; and there-
fore to have sent to them as an Evangelist, not an un-
circumcised Greek, like Titus, but a Jew neglecting the
appointed symbol, not yet formally discarded, of God's
covenant -with his race, would have been a gratuitous
insult to then- feelings. And we note, if I mistake
not, a corresponding difference in the tone adopted in
the epistles to the two disciples in reference to the
errors of the Judaising sects. Both, indeed, are
warned against " fables," " Jewish fables," the teacliiug
of those who profess to be " doctors of the law" (1 Tim.
i. 7) ; but it is clear that the tone is sharper in the
Epistle to Titus tlian it is in those to Timothy, as
though the former had been more openly attacked.
Among the many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
it is specially " they of the circumcision," of whom he
is told that their " mouths must be stopped," that they
must be " rebuked sharply."
Of the coincidence connected with the names of
Claudia and Pudens, Luke and Mark, I have already
spoken. Among the other names, however, which
meet us in this Epistle there are some that cannot be
passed over in this relation, though a few lines wiU
suffice for each.
(1.) "Alexander the coppersmith wrought me much
evil" (2 Tim. iv. 14). In the riot caused by Demetrius
and his craftsmen, we find the Jews, ob\-iously with an
animus hostile to St. Paul, putting forward a certain
Alexander to " make a defence," sc, to vindicate himself
and them from the supposition that they were involved
in any comj)licity with St. Paul's action (Acts xix. 33).
The name was too common for us to infer the identity
of the one opponent with the other ; but it is at least
probable that a " coppersmith," a worker, i.e., in bronze,
would have some business relations with the silver-
52
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
smith ami his followers, aud that this may have led the
Jews of Epliesus to select him as their spokesman.
The Alexander who is mentioned in conjunction Avith
Hymenasus is, on the other hand, probably a different
person, an heretical teacher calling himself a Christian,
while the other was an open antagonist.
(2.) The mention of Apollos in the Epistle to Titus
(iii. 13) has a special interest. Assuming the release
from the imprisonment at Rome and the renewed
activity of St. Paul among the scenes of his old labours,
it shoAvs that Apollos also, of Tvhom our last glimpse
was at a distance of some ten or eleven years, had
during this interval continued his activity, aud that St.
Paul's feelings to him had undergone uo change. Jnst
as in writing to the Corinthians, he never allows his
indignation against the Apollos party to lead him to a
word of bitterness against the individual teacher, and
recognises that he and the man whom some looked upon
as his rival had, each of them, their speciiil calling and
ministry in the Church of Christ, so now his feeling
towards him is simply one of anxious fi-iendliness. The
Alexandi-ian Jew, " mighty in the Scriptures/ " Zenas
the lawyer," given by special devotion to a study ot
the Law, like that of Hillel or Gamaliel — these are
they whom the Apostle desires to see, as the noblest
representatives of Christian Judaism, for whom he
wishes such provision to be made that nothing may
be wanting.
(3.) Lastly, we may note the probable significance of
the earnest entreaty that Timothy, whom the Apostle
expected to arrive at Rome before his martyrdom,
would, when he came, bring with him the cloak that he
had left at Troas, " the books, but especially the parch-
ments" (2 Tun. iv. 13). They point, it is cleai-, to some
hurried departm-e, hastened on, it may be, by threaten-
ing danger and the desertion of his friends, so that the
baggage which miglit have delayed his progress had
to be left behind. And now that he has the prospect
of some months in prison, he wants the cloak which
might give some warmth, even in the Mamcrtino
dungeon, to his feeble aud aged liniljs. In tliose last
hours he wants the " books " which had been the solace
and guide of his life, the separate volumes of the Old
Testament, the Law, the Prophets (including most of
the historical books), and the Holy writings. Not even
his well-stored memory, nor the fulness of spiritual
illumination, nor the sense of communion with an ever-
present and Divine friend, can allow him to dispense
with that daily study of the written Word. And with
these he wants the " pai'chments." What these were is
left to conjecture. They may have been books of
greater value, and of more costly material. But it is,
I believe, more probable that the Apostle, who so con-
stantly appealed to his rights as a Roman citizen, and
who must have known that that appeal would not be
officially received unless the claims were formally
attested, referred, when he asked for the parchments, to
his documents, to which he might appeal in proof of
the claim which exempted him from torture, or from
the death -of a rebel or a slave.
DIFFICULT PASSAOES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY C. J. VAUGHAN, D.D., MASTER OF THE TEMPLE.
" In whom also we have obtaiued an iuheritance, being predes-
tinated according to the purpose of Him who wovketh all things
after the counsel of His own will."— Ephes. i. 11.
HE opening of the Epistle to the Ei^he-
sians contains the amplest, though not the
most systematic, statement of St. Paul's
doctrine of the Christian'.s salvation. It
will be interesting to compare it briefly with his lan-
guage elsewhere on this mysterious yet (in his treat-
ment) profitable and practical subject.
The jjassage here before us extends, in one long sen-
tence, from the 3rd to the 14th verse of tlie first
chapter. (1) It opens with a general ascription of
prai.se to God. Benedicenti henedicamus. " Blessed be
God, who blessed us with all spiritual blessing" — that
sort of benediction which (with Him who.so "favour"
is "life," and who neither feels nor speaks without
doing) is benefaction too — " in the heavenly places "
(compare i. 20; ii. 6; iii. 10) which are the home of
the Christian because they are the homo of Christ
(Phil. iii. 20 ; Col. iii. .3)—" in Christ," the all-compre-
hending, all-contaioing One. (2) Next, in verses 4 to
6, this grand self-fulfilling " benediction " is declared
to be in accordance Avith a Divine choice, an election
prior to created being, an election centred and summed
up in the foreseen and foreordained Christ ; an election
having for its direct aim the holiness of its objects, a
holiness as in God's sight, a holiness of which the very
element and atmosphere is love (verse 4). Further,
this election is a predestination too ; a definite desig-
nation of its objects, as by a line of boundary and demar-
cation, for a certain position and- relationship, described
as one of adoption and sonship, towards God Himself,
by the agency and insti-umentality of Jesus Christ ;
and all this in accordance with the will, not of man, but
of God, and to tlie praise, not of man, but of God, in
whose gi'ace alone we find grace, and are endued with
grace — the word exap'T^oirei/ suggests both these ideas
— "in" [within, inside, as contained in] "the beloved
One " (verses 5, 6). Thus far the subject has been that
originating will and purpose of God, in the eternal
past, which, in the absolute certainty of the Omniscient
and the Omnipotent, can " call those things which ba
not, as though they were " (Rom. iv. 17). (3) Next, iii
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
.53
verses 7 to 12, we read of the f uLfilment of this eternal
purpose in time. " We bare the redemjjtion," it is
onrs, "through the blood of Christ." And what is it,
in tills its present possession ? It is the remission, the
dismissal, of all sin (verse 7). How ascertained, how
certified to us ? By the commuuieation to us of the
secret of the Divine will ; of that purpose which, having
Christ for its centre and sum, pointed onward to " a
dispensation of [belonging to] the fulness of times " — in
other words, to a Divine stewardship, an exercise and
communication of bounty, to be introduced when the
pi-eliminary periods of necessary preparation should be
fulfilled; a purpose which had for its direct aim the
gathering up of all the scattered and sin-broken unities
of earth and heaven in Christ HimseK (verses 8 — 10).
In that Di\ane Person we Christians — we who, as the
12th verse expresses it, " have hoped by anticipation,"
have set our hope, in the f oreview of things still unseen,
" in Christ '' — form the assigned and allotted heritage
of God Himself {4K\r]pui9viJ-^y), to set forth the praise of
His glory — to reflect, in thanksgiving of word and act,
the manifestation which He has thus made of His own
being and attributes (verses 11, 12). (4) Finally, in
verses 13 and 14, the place of St. Paid's present
readers, as representatives of the Gentile Christendom,
withui the pale of the Divine purpose and performance,
is strongly and emphatically asserted. They too, like
earlier disciples, hearing the Gospel, believed, and,
believing, were sealed with the same Holy Spirit of
promise, who is Himself the earnest of our inheritance,
" unto " [pointing to, and preparing for] the actual
redemption, by resurrection, of " the acquisition " — that
is, of God's already piirchased possession — that so, in
eternal ages, the manifestation thus made of His
Dirine wisdom, power, and love may be the subject of
adoring contemplation to a universe reconciled and re-
united in Christ.
The involved structure and redundant fulness of this
paragraph contrast strongly with the exact precision
and almost severe terseness of Rom. viii. 29, 30. " For
whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
tlie firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom
He called, them He also justified : and whom He justi-
tified, them He also glorified." We have here five
steps distinguished. Two of these belong to a region
" far above out of our sight," and can be but faintly
imaged in language or conception. (1) The Divine
" foreknowledge." This originating act of the Divine
grace cannot with any consistency be resolved into one
of mere prescience. The whole object of St. Paul in
this passage is to trace to God's wiU and God's agency
tlie work of human salvation. K it be only that God
foresees how man wUl resolve, and according to that
foresight of the human volition foreordains and pre-
destinates, man is the originator, and God but the
recorder— man's is the primary part, and God's the
secondary, in the work of salvation— and the Apostle's
whole argument founders at the outset. The "fore-
knowledge " spoken of is evidently a fore-approval ; it
denotes the resting of the mind of God beforehand
upon the person with complacency and 1 jve. It corre-
sponds to the "good pmiiose of His wiU."' or "the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will," in the 5th and lltli verses
of Ephes. i. (2) The Divine " predestination." The
demarcation, as by limit and boundary, in the Di\dnc
purpose and counsel, of those who are first " fore-
known." The word occurs twice in tlie passage before
lis in Ephes. i. In both Ejiistles the possible Anti-
nomian perversion is precluded by the strongest asser-
tion of the characteristic feature of the predestination ;
a conformity of spii'it, and eventually of body also, to
the holy Sa-^aour HimseK. " To be conformed to the
image of His Son " (Rom. viii. 29). " That we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love '" (Ephes.
i. 4). Where this likeness is not, neither is the predes-
tination. (3) The Di\Tne " call." The Gospel is made
audible, in due season, to the destined heir of salvation.
This is the copula, the connecting link, between the two
eternities. This is the point of transition from the
purpose to the performance — from the first two to the
last two steps of the Dinne procedure — from the fore-
knowledge and predestination to the justification and
glory. It is expressed in the parallel passage to the
Ephesians by the clause, " having made known unto
us the mystery of His will" (Ephes. i. 9\ (4) The
Divine " justification."' They who, hearing the Gospel
of grace, believe and accept it, are at once justified—
cleared fi'om guilt, forgiven freely, and admitted into
a life of love and blessing. "We have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephes. i.
7). (5) The Di^-ine '^ glorifying." " Them He also
glorified." This is that final recognition of the sons of
God, that future perfection, both in character and con-
dition, of those who have been here disciplined into
holiness, which is the completion and consiimmation of
the Gospel redemption. St. Paul puts even this last
act, which is necessarily future for all, into a past
tense, as though for the purpose not only of asserting
its absolute certainty, but also of indicating the retro-
spective character of the whole passage, and guarding
his readers against a presumptuous self- appropriation,
in this life, of its language of individual assurance.
They who shall eventually see heaven, whosoever they
be, shall have been the objects of a whole series of
Divine acts, to which they will owe as much the first
rising of the soul's desire and inquiry after God, as the
"bringing forth of the headstone with shoutings" in
the day of resurrection and glory. The " glory" here
is equivalent to the " redemption of the purchased pos-
session " in Ephes. i. 14.
There is another and briefer passage on the same
great subject in 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. "Because God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;
whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtain-
ing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here (1)
the "foreknowledge" and "predestination" of Rom.
54
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
\'iii. aro abbreviated into tlio one term "clioieo;" (2)
ther ••call" is set prominently in A-icw, exactly in the
place wliicli it occupies alike in Rom. \'iii. and Ejjlies.
i., as the connecting link between the eternal pm-pose
and its realisation ; (3) the "justification," or " j)03ses-
sion of redemption " in " the forgiveness of sins," is
replaced by that " belief of the truth " which appro-
priates, and that " sanctification of [or by] the Sjiirit "
which cs-idences it; (i) the crowning particular is
twice brought into vicAv, first in tlie general form of
"salvation," and then in the more precise expression,
" the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
So troo and elastic arc the tlicological terms of Holy
Scripture ; so consistent, so harmonious its enuncia-
tions of doctrine. So practical, moreover, so admoni-
tory, are its introductions of abstruse, mysterious, even
metaphysical truths. The j)assage in the Epistle to the
Ephesiaus is a thanksgiving for the "unspeakable gift."
The passage in the Epistle to the Romans is an assur-
ance that all things viiist " work together for good to
them that love God." The passage in the Epistle to
the Thessalouians emphasises the security of the Chris-
tian from that " deceivableness of unrighteousness "
which is the punishment of the caviller and the un-
believer. There is no such thing in Scripture as a dry,
formal, or tlieoretical presentment even of the deepest
or least comprehensible of God's truths.
In what has been said it has been assumed that the
direct bearing of these statements concerning predes-
tination and election is upon individuals and not upon
communities. Such is the natural interpretation of the
Church of England's 17th Article, which is indeed but
the transcrijit (in paraplirase) of St. Paul's language
in the passages quoted above. "We regard it as tlie
declaration of a Di^-ine inirpose of love, formed in
eternity, wrought out step by step in time, for all sucli
as shall eventually come to salvation. It is the thought,
so humbling to hitman pride, that all good is of God ;
as much the first impulse and inclination towards
repentance and faith, as tlio actual admission of the
man "washed and sanctified" into the everlasting
kingdom in heaven. St. Paul, tauglit of God, traces
back this glorious consuaumation to a date prior to the
veiy existence, not of the individual only, but of the
race. He bids no man to say of himself, while he is
yet in this body, " I am one of the elect — I can never
perish — I am predestinated to salvation." But ho bids
each man say, as he enters the golden gates, " I come
hither, not of my free ■will, but of God's grace — He laid
the first stone of this blessedness when as yet I was not
— He willed. He purposed. He loved, He called. He
justified, now He lias glorified — of Him, and through
Him, and to Him, are all things." Thus only is "boast-
ing excluded," when the origination, as well as the com-
pletion, of the iudiAddual salvation is ascribed to God,
and God alone. The hard and proud logic which would
infer reprobation from election, has no place and no
footing within God's theology. All good is of God — aU
good and no evil. Enough if we can grasp separately,
in the present, the contrary yet not contradictory prin-
ciples of DiA'ine grace and human responsibility, and
wait for their reconciliation in a world and in a con-
dition of which, in this life, we can have but the
feeblest and faintest conception.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE KEV. W. HOUGHTON, BI.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
REPTILES.
E now come to the class Reptllia, air-
breathing, cold-blooded Vertebrates, which
together ^^'ith the class ^ res form the sub-
division Sauropsida of modern zoologists.
The Reptilia embrace creatures such as crocodiles,
tm-tles, tortoises, lizards, and serpents. Frogs and
toads are now commonly placed in a distinct class, the
Ampliihia, because either for longer or shorter periods,
or throughout the whole of their lives, they are pro-
vided with gills for aquatic respiration in addition to
lungs for aerial respiration. In the Beptilia the heart
is generally composed of two auricles opening into a
single ventricle, but in the Crocodilina the ventricular
part of the heart is separated into two cavities. In all
reptiles the venous and arterial blood are more or less
intermingled; the anterior limbs are sometimes absent;
the caudal vertebrae frequently form a series equalling
in length the rest of the body; the jaws tisually possess
teeth, and these are constantly reproduced during the
life of the animal. But in the Chelonia (tortoises) the
jaws are covered by a horny sheath as in birds ; in the
Crocodilina alone the teeth are provided with sockets ;
the tongue may be flat and immovable as in crocodiles,
tortoises, and some lizards, or it may bo long, bifid,
and protrusible, as in serpents and other reptiles. In
the Chelonia the body is enclosed in a bony case ; in
the Crocodilina the outer skeleton consists partly of
horny scales developed by the outer layer of the skin,
and partly of large bony plates produced by the inner
layer of the skin. According as bony plates are
combined with these scales, and constitute an osseous
skeleton or not, the Reptilia aro di^dded into two
large groups, the Loricata and Squaniata ; the former
group contains the Chelonia (tortoises, turtles) and
the Crocodilina (crocodiles, gavials, and alligators);
the latter the Sauria (lizards) and Ophidia (serpents).
The word " reptile " does not occur in our English Bilile ;
the creatures designated are usually called "creeping
things," but the term is used in a much wider sense.
There are two Hebrew words, viz., reines and sherets,
AOTMALS or THE BIBLE.
55
rendered " creeping things " in our version ; and both
these terms inchide not only reptiles properly so called,
but any crawling creatures, whether possessing feet or
not, whether living in tlie laud or in the water (Gen. i.
21, 26, 28, 30; vii. 21 ; Lev. xi. 41, &c.). Reptiles are
very numerous in Palestine, the nature and climate of
the countrj'- being x)0culiarly suited to this class of
animal life. " The limestone rocks and chalky hills
afford the cover and the security, both in summer and
winter, in which the serpent tribe delight. The sandy
downs and wilderness of Judsea are the natural home of
the myriads of lizards which dart over the plains, and
on the slightest alarm conceal themselves in the sand.
The tropical heat and di'y atmosphere of the Jordan
valley are favourable to their reproduction to an extent
only limited by the supply of food " {Nat. Hist. Bib.,
p. 255). Of the Chelonia, the common laud tortoise
' {Testudo cjrceca) is found everywhere in al:)undance
during the warm months ; in the winter it conceals itself
in holes in the earth or under rocks. Numerous birds
of j)rey, especially the bearded vulture or lammergeier,
feed upon these tortoises, whose hard carapaces these
birds break by letting them fall from a great height
upon the rocks ; the natives also eat both the animal
and its eggs, -vA^iich are hard and round, and about the
size of a pigeon's eggs. Tristram procui-ed on Moimt
Carmel another species of land tortoise, with a carapace
somewhat flattened behind, the Testudo marginata.
Water-tortoises {Eimjs Caspica) also abound in all the
streams and marshes, especially in Lake Huleh ("Waters
of Merom), in the mud of which and in the bank-holes
they conceal themselves during winter. The marsh or
water-tortoises are not slow in their movements like
the land species, for they swim with facility, and move
on the land more quickly. The habits of the water-
tortoises diifer in some other respects from those of
the laud species, the latter being vegetarian in their
food, while the former are carnivorous, feeding on
living animals, as fish, frogs, river moUusks, &c.
It is uucertaiu whetlier the Crocodilina are repre-
sented in Palestine at present. Tristram thinks we have
good evidence of the existence of the crocodile in the
marshes of the Zerka, or " crocodile river," and says that
the Arabs are familiar with it, but he ueA'er saw one
himself. The Smiria are well represented ; twenty-two
species of lizards belonging to eighteen genera were
collected in Palestine by Tristram's j)arty ; the large
spiny-tailed dhab {Uromastix spinipes) is well known
in the wilderness of Judsea; the chameleon (Chameleo
vulgaris) is also common ; geckos {Ptyodactglus gecko),
with their strange fan-shaped feet, abound over the
whole country, among rocks, in ruins, and on the walls
and the ceilings of houses. Various species of the
green lizard (as Lacerta viridis and L. Icevis) are con-
spicuoiis in the woods and cultivated grounds; still
more common are the wall lizards (Zootocincc) , of which
several species occur in the Holy Land, swarming by
thousands on the rocks and walls in the warm weather.
The large fulvous skink, or sand lizard {Plestiodon
auraius), Avith body prettily spotted with orange and
red, is found in the sandy and rocky districts near the
Dead Sea. The family of Scincidce both in structure
and habits seems to establish a sort of connection with
or transition to the great division of serpents by the
intervention of certain species such as those of Anguis
and Acontias. In shape they are serpent-like, and the
legs are sometimes rudimentary and concealed beneath
the skin ; they do not climb like the true lizards, but
confine themselves to dry sandy places.
Tlae sheltopusik, a snake-like lizard {Pseudopus
Pcdlasii, Cuv.), with only two rudimentary hind legs
and elongated body, is very common in Syria ; and
though generally regarded as dangerous it is perfectly
harmless, feeding on other small lizards and mice in the
cultivated plains.
The Ophidia or serpents of Palestine are very
numerous, the conditions of the country favouring
their increase, as in the case of the Sciuria. Eighteen
species were secured by Tristram's pai*ty, Init a much
larger mimber, it is probable, remains to be described.
Thirteen of these eighteen species belong to the Colu-
brine sub-order of snakes, the Serpents propres non
venimeux of Cu^'ier, the harmless snakes of Dr. Gray
(Syn. Brit. Jtfws.). The greater number of these Colu-
brine snakes belong to the genera Ablahes of the family
Coronellidce, and Zamenis of the family Colubridce.
Many are brilliantly coloured, slender, and generally of
a small size, but some species are very large. The
Tropidonotos Injdrus of the family Natricidce, " Fresh-
water snakes," is exceedingly common in the marshes
and lakes ; of the sand snakes, the Eryx jacidus is,
j)erhaj)s, the most abundant. Of the venomous snakes
of Palestine there are four genera : the Naja haje, or
" deadly cobra," a colubrine snake with grooved fangs ;
four viperine snakes, two true A-ipers (Fzjpera Euphratica
and V. ammodytes) ; the Xanthian Katuka (Dahoia
xanthina), and the Toxicoa {Echis arenicola), "a very
common and dangerous reptile in the hotter and di-ier
imrts of the country." The horned viper (Cerastes
Hasselquistii), a small but veiy venomous snake, well
known in the sandy deserts of Egypt and Arabia, has
been repeatedly observed in Palestine, and is well
known in the southern wilderness of Judaea.
The Amphibia are represented by the edible frog
[Bana esculenta), which abounds in the marshy places
of Palestine, and is equally common in Egypt; by
the green tree-frog {Hyla arborea), a beautiful little
creature which sits on trees and catches flies as they
pass ; and by one species of toad {Bufo pantlierinus), a
southern form, abundant in all parts of the country.
Neither the common frog of this country (Bana tern-
poraria), nor the toad (Bufo vulgaris), has been observed
in Palestine.
We now proceed to notice the Reptilia and Amphibia
which are mentioned in the sacred writings.
The Chelonia— the order of Reptiles includmg the
tortoises, turtles, and terrapencs, characterised by the
body being enclosed l^etween a double shield, out of
which they protrude the head, tail, and extremities-
are not definitely mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
-^ih.i>-
UM'-^n^m
i^^^^c^r^stJ^
THE DHAB.
The English version in Lev. xi. 29 enumerates " the
tortoise " amongst the " unclean creeping things " for-
bidden as food, but the Hebrew word tsdb probably
denotes rather a largo species of Hzard than a tortoise.
Land-tortoises and marsh-tortoises, as we have seen-
are common ui many parts of Palestine at the present
day, and no doubt formerly existed in the country, and
would have been known to the Jews, who would have
included them amongst the " unclean creeping things."
The Hebrew term tsdb will be considered when we
come to the saurians or lizards.
The Crocodilina, the other order of the Loricata,
is represented by the common crocodile [Crocodilus
vulgaris), which \mder the name of livydthnn is
frequently alluded to in the Old Testament, though
this word is used also in a generic sense, to signify
any huge monster of the deep or of the rivers. For
instance, in the passage in Ps. civ. 25, 26, " This great
and \vide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable,
both small and great beasts ; there go the ships ; there
is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein,"
some large whale or other cetacean is intended, for
"the great and wide sea" here must refer to the
Mediterranean, and not to any river as the Nile. In
the Authorised Version the Hebrew word is always left
untranslated, with the excejition of Job iii. 8, where
it is rendered " mourning." It occurs five times in the
text of the Old Testament, and once in the margin
(Job iii. 8). In Ps. Ixxiv. 13, 14, " Thou didst divide
I the sea by thy strength; , . . thou breakest the
heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be
meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness," the
Egyptian crocodile is clearly intended. The heads of
Leviathan symbolically represent the princes of Pharaoh
(the great crocodile or " dragon that lieth in the midst
of his rivers," Ezek. xxix. 3\ and his army who were
destroyed in the Rod Sea, and whose dead bodies cast
i on shore were devoured by the jackals and other wild
beasts of the desert, here poetically called "the people
inhabiting the wilderness." A similar figure may be
seen in Prov. xxx. 25, 26, " The ants are a people not
strong;" " The conies are but a feeble folk." In the
i passage in Isa. xxvii. 1, "In that day the Lord with
j his sore and great and strong sword shall punish
I leviatlian tlie piercing seri^ent, even leviathan that
! crooked serpent ; and lie shall slay the dragon tliat is
! in the sea," the Hebrew word {Ih-ydthan) may denote
1 some large snake or python, typifying the Egyptian
! power, or the Hebrew nachash may be used in this
passage not restrictively to a serpent, but to any fierce
! monster. The passage (Job iii. 8) in which Job curses
the day of his birth — " Let them curse it that curse the
day, who are ready to raise up their mourning " (margin,
"leviathan") — is obscure, and a better translation is,
A"NIMALS or THE BIBLE.
7V-
THE CKOCODILE.
" Let the cursers of the days ciirse it, those who can
rouse the crocodile." " There is evidently an allusion
to ancient and wide-spread superstitions : one of the
earliest and most natural corruptions of religious
feeling was a desperate struggle against the powers
of nature : the sorcerer was believed, and believed
himself to be able to arrest the course of day and
night by incantations. It does not foUow that Job
adopted the belief, though he found in it an apt
expression for his feelings " (Canon Cook in Speaker's
Comment, iv. 28). The leviathan or crocodile is here,
according to the same wiiter, "in all probability a
symbol of the dragon, the enemy of light, who in old
Eastern traditions is conceived as ready to swallow up
sun and moon, and plunge creation into original chaos
or darkness."
The most detailed account of Leviathan is to be
found in the forty-first chapter of Job, a description
which, though clothed in the hyperbolical garb of
Oriental poetry, very graphically represents the croco-
dile of the Nile. " Canst thou draw out le-v-iathan with
an hook, or fasten his tongue with a cord ?" The
tongue of the crocodile adheres to its jaws nearly up to
its edges, hence the impossibility of putting a noose
round it. " Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons,
or his head with fish-spears?" The scaly armour of
the crocodile is so hard that a rifle-ball often will, unless
tipped with steel, glance off it as from adamant.
" Who can discover the face of his garment, or come
within his double bridle ?" (ver. 13): i.e., " Who can lift
up his outside covering " (detach his scaly skin) P The
expression " double bridle " is usually explained by
" the double row of teeth." The teeth of the crocodile
are in one visible single row, but the teeth are hollowed
at the base so as to form sheaths for the germs of
teeth destined to replace them, so that the row is in
fact a double one. " His eyes are like the eyelids of
the morning " (ver. 18). In illustration of this idea, it is
curious to notice the following passage from HorapoUo :
" To express sunrise, they (the Egyptians) depict the
two eyes of a crocodile, because the eyes of the auimal
rising from the deep appear before its whole body"
(Hieroglyph, i. 68). Some of the Egyptians, as the
inhabitants of Ombi and Crocodilopolis, paid great
honour to the crocodile. " Those who live not far from
Thebes," says Herodotus. " and those who dwell round
Lake Mceris look on these animals with gi-eat A'enera-
tion. In these places the people keep one crocodile in
particular who is taught to be tame. They adorn his
ears with ear-rings, put bracelets on his fore-i)aws,
giving him each day his portion of bread with a certain
number of victims ; and after thus treating him with
great attention when ahve, they embalm him when he
dies, and bury him in a sacred place." Strabo gives a
curious accoimt of a tame crocodile he saw at Arsinoe,
or Crocodilopolis (" crocodile-city"), as was its ancient
58
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
name. The creature was kept iu a lake, aud was tame
aucl gentle iu disposition; itAvas called Suchus. A^'isitors
used to bring it bread, Hesli, aud wine. On one occa-
sion the priests took a small cake, cooked meat, aud a
mixtuic of honey and milk, and went to the animal,
which was lying by the edge of the water. Some of
the priests then opened the crocodile's mouth, and
another put into it the cake, then the meat, and then
poured down the draught of milk and honey. Other
Egyptian people, however, amongst whom the most
celebrated were the Tentyi-ites, regarded crocodiles with
far different feelings. The people of Elephantine, so
far from considering ci'ocodiles sacred, used to eat
them. Differences of opinion iu religious matters have
often been a fertile source of quarrels; and as the
people of Ombi treated the crocodile with every mark
of veneration, and their not very remote neighbours,
the Teutyrites, hunted and destroyed this saurian on
ovory opportunity, a fierce hatred arose amongst these
two people, a fact noticed by Juvenal, who speaks of
the quarrel as an
" Immortalc odium ct nuuquam sauabile vulaus."
These people of Denderah seem to Iiave been very
skilful iu destroying crocodiles. Pliny speaks of
them as men of small stature, but gifted with great
presence of mind. He afSi-ms that they swim in the
river after a crocodile, and jump on its back. This
remmds us of the celebrated exploit of the late Charles
Waterton, perhaps the only Englishman who has ever
ridden a crocodile. An authority quoted by Kitto,
speaking of the crocodiles of the Rio San Domingo
(W. Africa), says they " are so tame that they hurt
nobody. It is certain that children play Avith them,
riding upon their backs, and sometimes beating them,
without their showing the least resentment." The
author of the jiassage in the Book of Job, however,
expresses the general fact, and represents the crocodile
as a dangerous pet, when he asks, " Wilt thou play
with him as with a bird, or wilt thou bind him for
thy maidens ? " The crocodile of the Nile, which is
found also in the Senegal and other rivers of Africa,
is a formidable animal, aud often seizes men as they
sleep on the shore. The vertebrae of the neck bear
upon each other by means of small false ribs, so that
lateral motion is difficult ; hence a quick turn will serve
to place a man out of immediate danger. Ordinary
bullets will seldom pierce the crocodile's scaly armour,
but hard steel-tipped bullets from a good rifle will find
an entrance. Amongst some of the Egyptians, as we
have seen, the crocodile was an object of worship ; its
mummies are still to be found in some of the cata-
combs, and several may be seen in the British Museum.
Crocodiles lay eggs, twenty or thirty in number.
They are about the size of those of a goose, aud are
deposited on the sand, where they are hatclied by the
heat of the sun. Numbers of the eggs aud the newly-
hatched young ones are devoured by ichneumons, vnl-
tures, aud other predacious aniuials. The true crocodiles
are found iu Africa, Asia, and America ; there are none
iu Europe or iu Australia. The alligators are peculiar
to America, the gavials to India. Numerous remains
of crocodileau reptiles are found iu a fossil state iu our
own country, from the lias to the early tertiaries.
The Saurians appear to be denoted by the Hebrew
words tsdb, andhdh, letudli, cuach, and tinshemetli.
Tsdb occurs only in Lev. xi. 29, as one of the
'•unclean ci'eeping things" disallowed as food; it is
rendered in our version by " tortoise." It is probable
that the Hebrew word is the same as the Arabic dhab,
'•a large kind of lizard." The Septuagiut renders it by
" land crocodile." Fi-om the description of the word
dhab, as given by the Arabian naturalist Damir, it
appears to be either the Psammosaurus scincus, the
Monitor terrestris of Cu^-ier, or else the Mastigure
{Uromastix spinipes), a kindred species, very common
in the desexis of North Africa and Arabia, as well as
in the wilderness of Judaea. The Egyptian Mastigure
is a large lizard attaining the length of two feet, of a
green or gTeyish-green colour above, and with scattered
spines on the upper side of the thigh, and conical
tubercles on the sides and loins ; but the chief pecu-
liarity of this lizard consists iu its tail, which is broad
and thick, covered with a series of whorls of sharp
hard-edged scales, which it uses with effect when
irritated. According to the statements of the Arabs,
the dhab is a match for the horned cerastes, whose hole
it enters, and whose body it chastises Avith vigorous
blows of its spiny tail. The Hebrew tsdb is derived from
a root meaning " to be slow," and this is true of the
Egyptian mastigure, which has a slow aud awkward
gait, turning its head from side to side with great
caution as it walks. Dr. Tristram kept a specimen
alive for some months ; it was very docile, and would
come at his caU, sleeping in the sun during the day,
supporting itself on its taU, with the nose aud fore-legs
leaning against the wall. The dhab rarely bites, but
when it does so, " nothing will induce it to relinquish
its grasp." Its food consists principally of beetles, but
it does not hesitate to attack larger animals, as chickens,
when iu coufinement. Some of the ancieuts tell strange
stories about the mastigure. Old Topsel says : " The
tail of this crocodile is very sharp, and standeth up like
the edges of wedges in bunches above the ground,
wherewithal when he hath moiinted himself up upon
the back of a beast, he beateth and striketli the beast
most cruelly, to make him go with his rider to the
place of his most fit execution, free from all rescue of
his heardmau or pastor, or annoyance of passengers,
when iu most cruel aud savage manner he teareth the
limbs and parts one from another till ho be devoured "
{Histwy of Four-footed Beasts and Serj^ents, p. 692).
The figure of this lizard, which is before us as we write,
is rudely drawn, but otherwise it is a veiy correct
representation.
Andhlli occurs once only, in Lev. xi. 30, as an "un-
clean creeping thing." Our version renders the word
l)y "ferret," which it certainly does not mean. The
andkdh is mentioned with the isdb aud other kinds of
lizard, so that probably the unakixh is also some kind of
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
59
saurian. EtymologieaUy, the word points to some
"groaning" or "sighing" animal. The ancient ver-
sions disagree entirely; there is but one slender clue
in the Ethiopic word Angueg or Angmja (LudoK, Leo:.
Aeth., s. v.), which in Abyssinia denotes some large
river-lizard. If the Ethiopic word be the same as the
Hebrew, the andkah may be taken to represent the
water-lizards, such as the Monitor Niloticus or Yaran
of the Nile, while the tsdh may stand as the represen-
tative of the land-lizards; but it is impossible to do
more than form a conjecture.
Letddh. — There is much less uncertainty as to the
meaning of this word, which occurs only in the list of
" unclean creeping things " (Lev. xi. 30), and is ren-
dered "lizard" in ou.r version. All the old versions
agree in identifying the letddh with some kind of
saurian, and some concur as to the genus indicated.
The Septuagint word is /<aAa/3ct>T7Js or a<jKa\a^uiTr)s ; the
Yulgate reads stellio. Now we know from Aristotle
what the affKaXafiiirris denotes : speaking of the wood-
pecker, he says, " It runs quickly iipon trees, and even
with its head downwards, like the askalabotce." In the
Etymologicon Magnum the askalabotes is thus ex-
plained: "A little animal like a lizard, which creeps on
the walls of houses." This identifies the ascalabotes
with some species of the family Geckotidce, or geckos,
many members of which are characterised by a lieculiar
lameUated structure of the toes, by means of which
tliey are enabled to run over smooth surfaces even in
an inverted position, head downwards, like house-flies
on a ceiling. The Latin stellio also signifies "a
gecko," and the name refers to the white star-like spots
with which the body is covered. If we look at the
Hebrew word we shaU. see that its derivation from a
root meaning "to cling," "to adhere," or "to hold
oneself," is peculiarly suitable to a gecko. It is true
that other lizards have the habit of clinging to the
groimd or to other objects, but this is strikingly
exhibited in the geckos. Their habits are thus summed
up by Dr. Gray : " They live on insects and worms,
which they swallow whole, the cesophagus being very
large. They produce a sound by the movement of their
tongues against their palate, which has given rise to
their name — similar to the double click often used in
riding, which has been attempted to be imitated by the
word Gecko, Foekaie and Geitge — and also to be called
postilions, claqueurs, and spitters. Nocturnal, avoiding
the heat of the sun, and catch their food in cracks,
in rocks, houses, &c. Their movements are very
brusque, without sound, and exceedingly rapid. They
hibernate, and are provided with one or two fatty
masses in front of the pubis, which are said to be a
proAision for their nourishment during that period.
The males are smaller ; . . . the egg is spherical,
with a hard calcareous shell" {Catalogue of Lizards in
Brit. Mas., p. 142). Geckos are found nearly in all
parts of the world ; in the greatest abundance in warm
climates. They have the character — whether deserved
or not — of being highly venomous, exhaling poison
from the lobes of the toes. Though prettily marked,
they are certainly repulsive in appearance, and hence
probably the reason for the disgust they inspire. The
Arabs think that contact with a gecko produces leprous
sores ; hence one of their names for this lizard is Abu
burs or Abu hurays, i.e., "Father of lepi-csy." Hassel-
quist confirms the assertion that the geckos secrete a ^
venomous fluid. He says, " The poison of this animal
is very siugular, as it exhales from the lobuli of the
toes. At Cairo I had an opportunity of observing
how acrid the exhalations of the toes of this animal are.
As it ran over the hand of a man who was endeavouring
to catch it, there immediately rose little red pustules
over all those parts which the animal had touched"
[Travels, p. 220). Several geckos occur* both in Egypt
and Palestine ; one of the commonest species being the
fan-foot {Ptyodaciylus gecko), Le Gecko des Maisons of
Bory ; it is reddish-brown, spotted with white.
Coach, a word of uncertain meaniug, occurs only iu
Lev. xi. 30, as another " unclean creeping thing." The
Septuagint and the Vulgate interpret it by " chame-
leon;" but this lizard is with more probability assigned
to another Hebrew word — viz., tinshemeth. Etymologi-
eaUy, coach clearly points to some large and strong
animal, probably of the Saurian family. The word
coach occurs frequently iu the Bible iu the sense of
"strength," "power," "wealth." There is a large
lizard — common iu Bible lands, in the sandy parts of
Egypt, peninsula of Smai, and in the southei-n parts of
Judsea — the Laud Monitor or Ouaran {Fsamviosauriis
scincus), which may perhaps be intended by the coach.
The Monitor of the Nile [Monitor Niloticus) is another
large and jiowerful lizard, being five or six feet in
length, belonging to the same family ; both are emi-
nently carnivorous in then- habits, feeding on other
lizards, mice, jerboas, crocodiles' eggs, &c. Either
lizard may be denoted by the cuach, but it is not
possible to come to any definite conclusion.
The chameieon is thought to be denoted by the
Hebrew word tinshemeth, which occurs only in the list
of unclean creeping things (Lev. xi. 30), and is trans-
lated " mole " in om* version. The context points rather
to some species of lizard, and we need not be sur-
prised to find so many kinds of lizards mentioned iu the
list of prohibited animals when we remember how great
is their number, and how numerous the genera that
are found in Palestine and the Bible lands. "Every
kind of soil," says Tristram, "and every district has
its numerous species, and they swarm most especially
in the barren and desolate wilderness. There are
lizards of the water and lizards of the land. Immense
numbers are peculiar to the sandy deserts ; other's bask
on the rocks and shelter themselves securely in the
caves and fissures of the glens. Some species resort to
the cultivated plains ; others run among the biiishwood
of the Galilean hills; many others clinil) the trees of
the forests of Gilead and Tabor, and seek their food
among their branches."
The word tinshemeth is derived from the root
ndsham, "io breathe," "to inhale the air;" and the
chameleon certainly deserves the name of "breather,"
60
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
2^ar excellence, as it is fond of filling its immense lungs
with air till it becomes almost transparent. Chameleons
live on trees, clinging to the branches Avith great force
by their feet and prehensile tail ; their movements
are excessively slow, proceeding with regularity and
affected gravity. They live on flies and other insects,
Avhich they procure by the rapid ejection of their elon-
gated tongue, which is viscid at the tip ; the eggs are
placed on the groimd imder leaves ; they are round, and
the shell is calcareous, whit*", spotless, and very poi-ous;
they inhabit Asia and Africa, and are naturaHsed in
Southern Euroiie. Their eyes are very curious, and
capable of being moved in opposite directions ; they
are covered with a cii'cular lid, pierced with a small
central hole; the ears are concealed under the skin.
Their faculty of changing colour is well knowTi, but
whether it is involuntary or under the control of the
animal is a question at present undecided. The species
that occurs in the Bible lands is ihc Cha rneleo vulgaris ;
it is extremely common iu the Jordan -valley.
There is yet auotlier Hebrew word, chomet, occurring
in Lev. xi. 30, and rendered " snail " by the A. V.,
which the old versions and later authorities interpret
by " lizard." Fiirst derives the Hebrew name from an
unused root meaning '* to ^vind," " to bend," of an
animal winding itself like a serpent. It has been con-
jectured that the serpent-like sand-lizards, Scpsidce,
are probably denoted by the Hebrew term. Many of
these lizards have no Aasible feet ; when alarmed they
bury themselves quickly in the sand. Several species
inhabit the Bible lands; they bear some resemblance
to the blindworm of this country, which is also a lizard,
despite its snake-like form. Their teeth are small,
and the little creatui-es are harmless. The Arabs of
North Africa call them sand-fish, and esteem them as
delicacies. The flesh is white and good.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
JOB (concluded).
BT THE REV. A. S. AGLEN, M.A., INCUMBENT OF ST. NINIAN's, ALTTH, N.B.
3. SECOND SCENE (CHAP. XV. — XXI.).
'ITH the second appearance of Eliphaz we
become conscious of a change, which
marks the true dramatic chai"act«r of
the poem. We are not to expect any
advance in the arguments employed by the three
friends. These remain throughout in substance the
.same. But an entirely new turn is given to the dialogue
by the mode in which they are presented. Up to this
time the three have been content with general state-
ments, which were, of course, partially true ; now they
step forward to a direct and jiersonal attack. Job's
speeches appear to them to be a damning proof of his
impiety, and they do not hesitate to denounce him as a
rebel against God (xv. 4 — 6, 13). This change of
attitude is effected with consummate art. Hitherto the
three speakers have maintained the temper becoming
men charged with a grave and painfid task, in which
they have no doubt of success. Job, on the other hand,
has been passionate and intemperate. But now the
relative situation changes. In attempting to maintain
their new position, the three friends stray further and
further from the truth, and, as is natural, grow visibly
angry. "Wounded seK-love shows behind their zeal for
God, and, as always happens, their bigotry grows more
intense with the rise of personal feeling. Job, on the
other hand, becomes every moment calmer and more
collected as the accusations assume a more direct form.
Bi'foro, he had been confused and divided, as one who
figlits in the dark where friend and foe are indistinguish-
able. But as the charges are brought personally home
to him be feels more and more the falsehood implied in
them, and is more and more confirmed in his innocence.
•' He had before known that he was innocent, and now
he feels the strength that lies in innocence, as if God
were beginning to reveal Himself within him, to prepare
the way for the outward manifestation of Himself."
The theme chosen by the speakers suits their indig-
nant mood. Abandoning all attempt to comfort Job
with the promises that wait on repentance, tliey con-
centrate all their powers on the description of the doom
of wicked men. It is an awful picture, none the less
true because of the falsehood of its application. The
type of wickedness selected is one intended to cover
the case of Job. It is the Oriental chieftain grown,
gi'eat and rich by suceessfid \aolence and rapine (xv.
27, 28 ; xviii. 7 ; xx. 6 — 15\ Tlie successive steps of
the tyrant's ruin are graphically described, from the
first stings of the guilty conscience that disturbs the
serenity of his proud prosperity to the obliA-ion that at
last overwhelms and buries his infamous name (xv. 20,
sq.; xviii. 7, sq. ; xx.). A few delicate touches sevxe to
detect the individual peculiarities of the three. Eliphaz
is still the most dignified and considerate, and although
he assumes an air of siiperiority, he tries to make his
words less direct while he supports them with the
weighty authority of tradition (xv. 17, sq.). He dwells
chiefly on the terrors which haunt a guilty mind,
painting, with a vi\'idness of touch whicli no poetry has
surpassed, the coward fears tliat attend an evil con-
science (xv. 20 — 24). Bildad, whose taste for bre\dty
makes Job's lengthy speeches especially offensive to
him (x\aii. 2), follows with a desci'iption of the godless
man, which is a masterpiece of poetic idealising, and
teems with images that have enriched literature for
ever (6 — 14). Zophar, the most angry and the least
able to disgiiise his wounded vanity, pursues the same
theme in a series of vigorous figures, which display at
JOB.
61
the same time the narrowness and coarseness of his
mind (chap. xx.).
Job's reply to Eliphaz opens Avith a keen, biting
sarcasm —
" I eould console you with tny moutk,
And you should have for comfort the movement of my lips."
But he soon drops this scornful tone, and his strain
becomes elegiac and subdued. Once and again, in
words of indescribable pathos,^ he portrays his bodily
and mental anguish, his condition so desolate aad so
hopeless (xri. 6, sq. ; xix. 13 — 21). As before he poured
out so passionately his longing for instant death, so
now, in the gentler mood that has come over his spirit,
he anticipates the rest of the grave, and, bidding fare-
well to life, chants in strains of exquisite tenderness
his own reqidem —
" My spirit is spent,
My days are extinct ;
There only remains the tomb.'
(xvii. 1.)
" All my hope is to have the ^ave for my abode :
I have made my bed in the darkness.
I have said to corruption, ' My father ;'
To the worm, 'My mother and my sister.'^
And where, then, is now my hope ?
As for my hope, who shall see it ?
It is gone down to the gates of Sheol,
If, at least, there is rest in the dust." (xvii. 13 — 16.)
But through this elegiac tone the strong persistent
and almost triumphant protestation of innocence is
always heard.-^ And here the higher purpose of the
poem comes into clearer light. The refining efiicacy
of affliction has already appeared in Job's gentler
manner. It shows still more plainly in the purer
form which his faith begins to take.
The growth of a better trust is exhibited in two
ways. The creed of the three friends, which is also the
creed in which Job has been educated, is confronted
Tvith the contradictory facts of experience in all their
naked truth, although even now to reflect upon them
brings consternation and bewilderment (xxi. 6). If
villany is daring and consistent enough, it will succeed.
This is true now, and was beginning to appear painfully
true in Job's time ixxi. 6 — 13). The wicked man may
openly renounce God and scoff at His judgments, and
no sign of wrath is given in heaven, '"the destruction
which he deserves does not come upon him." But he
gains all that he desires, and lives honoured and happy
(14 — 18)^ Utterly wide of the mark is the weary
1 See xix. 21 —
" Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O my friends ;
For the hand of God hath touched me."
2 Cf. Shakspeare, Rom. and Juliet —
" Here, here will 1 remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids ; oh here
Will I set up my everlasting rest."
3 See xvi. 17.
4 This does not appear in A. V. Translate—
" Lo, their good ! is it not in their hand ?
(The counsel of the wicked be far from me.)
How rarely is the candle of the wicked put out,
Or his destruction come upon him.
Or God distributing to him a lot of wrath.
That they are as stubble before the wiud,
Or as chaff that the storm carrieth away ?"
proverb that the wrath is but delayed, to fall on their
posterity —
" ' God,' you say to me, ' reserves this punishment for their
children.'
But He should punish them, so that they might perceive it
for ever.
Their eyes should see their own destruction,
They should themselves drink the wrath of the Almighty.
For what matters to them their house after them,
When once the number of their months is accomplished ? " 5
(xxi. 19-21.)
They will die ? Yes, that is part of their happiness.
They die like aU the rest. " One man is good, another
wicked ; one is happy, another miserable. In the great
indifference of nature they aU share a common lot."
Btit the tyrant passes away in the midst of his posterity,
and even death is made sweet by the jiageants that
surround his burial, and the knowledge that his sculp-
tm-ed tomb will Ije the j)raise and envy of travellers,
and continue his glory when he is gone^ (xxi. 23 — 33).
That is the actual fact about the wicked man, whom,
in spite of their intimate knowledge of his character,
the three friends identify with Job. Such he might
have been had he been openly godless. The contrast
between this state of happiness and his own wretched
condition, as he sits on his ash-heap alone in his forlorn
nakedness, a mark of scorn for even his nearest friends,
is all the more impressive becatise it is drawn by the
hand of the sufferer. And the poet discloses his high
aim in the noble exclamation which rises to the hero's
lips while they describe a lot which in outward re-
spects is so enviable —
" May the counsel of the wicked be far from me."
(xxi. 16.)
That thought was dictated by a feeling which antici-
pated the teaching of the Cross of Christ. " Job was
learning to see that it was not in the possession of
enjoyment; no, nor of happiness itseM, that the differ-
ence lies between the good and the Ijad. True it
might be, that God sometimes, even generally, gives
such happiness — gives it in what Aristotle calls an
eiriyiyp6fievoy re\os — but it is no part of the terms on
which He admits us to His service, stiU less is it the
end which we may propose to ourselves on entering His
service. Happiness He gives to whom He will, or
leaves to the angel of nattire to distribute among those
who fulfil the laws tipon which it depends. But to
serve God and to love Him is higher and better than
happiness, though it be with wounded feet, and bleeding
brows, and hearts loaded with sorrow."''
If this is the goal to which Job is gradually struggling
through his outward trial, the issue of the conflict put
upon him by his friends is no less gloriotis and clear.
Obliged by his own sincerity to deny their asstimption
that his sufferings are just, and driven, in order to
account for them, to contemplate the Divine power as
3 The force of this passage also is entirely missed in the A. V.
6 Verse 32, " And shall remain in the tomb," margin, " Shall
watch in the heap," has been variously explained. The best com-
mentators are now agreed that it refers to the monument of the
dead man sculptured on his tomb, in which he seems to watch
even in death over the possessions in which he gloried when alive.
7 Froude, ut supra.
G2
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
capricious aud inimical, lie yet supports liiiiiscK more
aucl luoro by the brave certaiuty that there is a just
God, who abides iu heaven as the \vituess to his inuo-
ccuco aud the arbiter of his cause (xvi. 18 — 21). The
conception of au Invisible One who can " be wrought to
syjupathy" with human hopes and fears grows clearer
with every utterance of the sulferer. At last there
comes one of those flashes of inspiration by which from
time to time God heralds his fuller revelation. Wliat-
ever be the literal meaning of the celebrated passage in
chapter xix. — its difficulties are discussed below — from
which to English oars thoughts of an incarnate Saviour
and a resurrection from the dead can never be dis-
sociated, it is certain that it leaps in its large aspiration
far beyond the purest hopes that up to this time had
stirred even Hebrew hearts. In the intense feeling that
justice must and will be done. Job is made to cast one
marvellous look through the mysterious darkness of
death, and see God, his avenger, stand as it were above
his dust, and vindicate his character upon his grave. In
this great hope he is able himself to live again, and to
appropriate the living Redeemer, and look upon Him
when the skin is wasted from his bones and the worms
have done their work on the body which now imprisons
his spirit.^
1 The literal rendering of chap. xis. 25—27 (wliicli may be fairly
obtained from the A. V. by omitting the italics and correcting
from the margin) is as follows : —
" And I know, my vindicator lives ;
And the last, He will arise over the dust ;
Aud after my skin, which has been thus torn to pieces.
And from my flesh, shall I see God.
Tea, I shall see Him for myself.
Mine eyes shall behold Him, none other ;
My reins pine away within me."
The word god, translated "vindicator," means Uood-avenger or Icins-
raan (Numb. xxsv. 12). But in Prov. xxiii. 11 ; Lam. iii. 58,
&c., it implies one who procures justice or compensation for the
ojipressed (see Delitzsch I'li loc). It is as the rescuer of his
honour, the vindicator of his character, that Job contemplates
God in this passage (cf. xvi. 19). The term is applied to God in
Exod. vi. 6 ; Isa. xliii. 1 ; xlviii. 17, &c., as the one who redeems
from the bondage of Egypt or the Babylonian exile. From Isa.
lix. 20, St. Paul applies the word to Christ (Rom. xi. 26, trans.
" deliverer" in A. V.), but god is nowhere in the 0. T, applied to
the Messiah.
The second line may mean —
" At the last He will arise upon the earth,''
or
" At the last Ho will arise over my dust."
The third line can mean nothing else but —
"After my skin has been torn in shreds from my bones."
In line 4, the words " from my flesh " have given rise to much
controversy. Soma would give them the sense " when my flesh
has been made whole again." But this quite destroys the
parallelism with the preceding line, and would be inconsistent
with the character of Job's feeling at the time, which induces
him to look for certain death, and to reject all thought of
recover)-. To understand it as au anticipation of a bodily rosur-
roction in St. Paul's sense would, of course, be to import into
the Old Testament ideas quite foreign to it. And tlie particle
translated " from " may bo more correctly tmderstood as " free
from," i.e., "deprived of." This preserves the paralleUsm —
" And after my skin, thus torn in shreds,
Even as a fleshless skeleton, I shall see God."
That there is any direct, still loss conscious, anticipation here of
an incarnate Redeemer, and of a resurrection in the flesh, can
only be admitted with extreme violence, not only to the passage
itself, but to the whole tenor of the Book of Job. On the other
hand, this is not the mere expression of conviction that God will
appear m this life as the avenger of Job's innocence, and present i
4. THIRD SCENE (CHAPS. XXII. — XXXI.).
Only one more opening was left for Eliphaz. The
hypothesis on which he had proceeded, that Job woidd
yield before the uidirect chai-ges brought ag2iinst him,
had been m(>t with indignant and consistent denial.
He now withdraws the restraint Avliich friendship and
respect had placed upon his lips, and proceeds to
change conjectures into certaiuty by arguing that the
sufferer's misfortunes are the result of particular crimes,
which ho enumerates with unsi)ariug severity aud
minuteness (xxii. 5 — 11 ; 17 — 24). It is a proof of the
profound insight into character possessed by the jjoet
that these falsehoods are powerless to make Job angry.
He does not deign to reply to them. There was
nothing to reply. If, indeed, God's tribunal could be
reached, where, instead of unworthy aud baseless in-
vective, the suiferer felt he would meet justice aud
even sympathy (xxiii. 6, 7), then he would plead his
cause and maintain his innocence. But turn whei'e he
will, all is darkness and silence. God Himself is not to
be found. And the evidence of His i)resence in the
world, if OAddence at all, is such as to produce con-
sternation and despair (xxiii. 8 — 17). For everywhere
around are victims of oppression and cruelty, unfriended
aud unavenged —
" Where groans are heard rising from the city.
The soul of the wounded crieth out for vengeance ;
And God takes no heed of their wrongs." (xxiv. 12.)
The robber, the adulterer, the assassin, pursue their
abominable crimes, and as long as they escape detection
by man, God has no care ; neither living nor dying do
they suffer retribution. The curses of their Adctims do
not hurt them in life, and cannot follow them when
they drop off "in their proper time like ears of ripo
corn," hajjpy even in death (xxiv. 13 — 24).
" If it is not so, who will make me a liar,
Aud make my speech nothing worth ? "
These incontestable facts silence, if they do not con-
vince. Zophar retires altogether from the contest.
Bildad sounds the note of retreat. He contents himself
with a picture of the greatness of that God whose real
character he so little imderstood; and is proudly cut
short by Job, who, after a few words of satire, takes
Himself to His servant's view when reduced to a mere skeleton
aud consumed by his cruel disease. It is true that this actually
happens in the sequel. But comparison with xvii. 16; sx. 11; xxi.
26, shows that by the word "dust" the grave is most probably in-
tended, and " without my flesh" impUes more than the emaciation
of sickness.
The passage is a further expansion of the thought of chaps, xiv.
13—15 ; xvi. IS, 19, iu which the sufferer, in whose heart an image
of the eternal God of love and justice is beginning to displace that
of a God of more caprice (sec this worked out iu Delitzsch and
Ewald), catches at the hope that even after death the bond between
his Maker and himself would hold. There he trusted to hear the
assuring voice, and maintained the existence of a Witness to his
innocence in heaven. Here, by a nioment.ai-y outburst of trium-
ph.aut faith, ho " knows" he will actually iu the spirit behold his
Redeemer. Thus he " plants the flag of victory upon his own
grave." Thus "the doctrine of immortality gleams forth like a
solitary star in the darkness." [See Delitzsch, Ewald, Davidson,
and Renan (trans. 1. The same view is held by Vaihinger, Um-
breit, Hupfold, and others.] And thus, we may add, though
unconsciously, this unknown writer shows the existence in the
heart of man of a need which only the fuller revelation of Jesus
Christ would meet and satisfy.
JOB.
G3
up tlie same theme of Diviue majesty, aud pursues it
iu a spirit of loftiness which Bilckd could uot have
approached. But eveu while coiifessiug that aU creation
is couf oimded by the glory aud might of its Maker, of
whose ways it cau but perceive a small portion and catch
but the faintest echo of His mighty voice (xxvi. 14), the
sufEerer can stiU solemnly appeal to this di-ead Being,
and with an oath protest his integrity and his truth.
" As God liveth, wlio denies me my riglit,
And the Almiglity who hath sorely vexed my soul;
All the while my breath is iu me,
And the spirit of God is in my nostrils.
My lips shall not speak wickedness,
Jfor my tongue pronounce a lie.
God forbid that I should grant you to be in the right ;
Till I die I will uot remove my integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go ;
My heart does not reproach me for a single one of my days." i
(xxvii. 2—6.) ■
And now a new note is struck — a note which it is
imiJortant we should catch, since upon our perception
of it depends our appreciation of the grandeur of pur-
pose in the conclusion of tlie j)oeni. Job's experience
of life, tried as it had been by severe suffering, aud
tested by its power to silence his friends, has led him
on to a great height. " He had seen the fact that the
wicked may prosx^er, and in learning to depend uj)0u
his iunoceucy he had learnt that the good man's support
was there if it was anywhere ; and at last, with all his
heai-t, was reconciled to the truth." But this conclusion
had not solved the mystery of the outer world. That
was deeper and deeper to him. Better try no longer
to understand it." " The wisdom tliat cau compass that
mystery, he knows, is not in man, though man search
for it deeper and harder than the miner ^ searches for
1 So far the inteutiou of the poet is clear, and has been pursued
with the strictest regard to dramatic truth. But a passage follows
of some obscurity and of doubtful purpose. In chap, sxvii. 13—23,
Job appears to recede from the position to which he had been
driven by the result of his obserration, and to concede the very
point which he has hitherto maintained so resolutely and well.
Many attempts have been made to avoid the difSculty. Kennicott
was the first to suggest that the third speech of Zophar had
accidentally been transferred to Job. According to this hypo-
thesis, chaps, xxvi. 2— xxvii. 12 contain the reply to Bildad, and
Zophar begins chap, xxvii. 13. Eichhorn supposed Job to be
stating his adversaries' case merely to reply to it. But he does
not reply. Ewald, again, understands the passage as an inten-
tional recantation of Job, who had iu the heat of argument been
carried too far. But this seoms inconsistent with Job's solemn
oath of innocence at the beginning of chapter xxvii. The most
feasible explanation is the one most agreeable to the dramatic
necessity of the poem. The whole of chap, xxvii., after verse 7, is
couched in a tone of indignant satire. After protesting in the
most solemn way his own innocence, the hero turns round on his
adversaries with the very principles invoked against himself. He
acknowledges the general truth of their views of Divine retribution,
which he may safely do without allowing that every unhappy
man must be wicked, only to threaten them with the fate they
deserve. They, not he, are wicked ; on them, not on him, will
fall the terrors of the sword, the pestilence, and the storm. This,
which is Kenan's view, is substantiall}' that of Delitzsch, who says,
" Job holds up the end of the evil-doer before the friends, that
from it they may infer that he is not an evil-doer; whereas the friends
hold it up before Job that he might infer that he i^ an evil-doer.''
2 For chap, xxviii. 3, 4, see Vol. III., p. 51. It is a passage
which owes its elucidation entirely to modem exegesis. The
ancient versions and the A. "V. can make nothing of it. The old
commentators speak of it as " Cimmerian darkness."
2 Mining operations may have become familiar to the author —
(1.) from the "Iron mount" of Josephus, between Wady Zerka
the hidden treasm-es of the earth." The only wisdom
within man's reach is the moral wisdom of riglxt pur-
pose and good act.
" Behold the fear of God — that is wisdom ;
Aud to depart from evil — that is understanding.'' •*
(xxviii. 29.)
" Here, therefore, it might seem as if all was over.
There is no clearer or pu.rer faith possible f (u- man ;
and Job had achieved it. His evil had turned to good ;
and soiTOW had severed for him the last links which
bound him to lower things. He had felt that he could
do without happiness, that it was no longer essential,
and that he could live on, and stiU love God and cling
to Him. But he is not described as of prasternatural,
or at all Titanic nature, but as very mau, full of all
human tenderness and susceptibility. His old life was
still beautiful to him. He does not hate it, because he
could renounce it ; and now that the struggle is over,
the battle fought and won, and his heart has overflowed
in that magnificent song of victory, the note once more
changes ; he tm-ns back to earth to linger over those
old departed days, with which the present is so hard a
contrast ; and his parable dies away in a strain of
plaintive but resigned melancholy"^ (xxix., xxx.).
But from this mournful tone the thought of the
unjust charges against him soon arouses him, and with
one more strong and explicit protestation of his i^erf ect
o1)edience to the liighest laws of conscience and God, he
appeals for the last time to his Di^-ine Judge, arraigns
in imagination the prisoner at the dread tribunal, and
in the most solemn manner declares Ms integi-ity and
pleads his cause (chap. xxxi.). And here the scene ends,
and we are formally told that " these three men ceased
to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own
eyes.""
(Jabbok) and Abarim. (2.) In Sinai, where frequent traces of mines
are discovered by travellers. (3.) In Egypt. (4.) In Lebanon.
■1 Cf. Eccles. xii. 13. By and by Jehovah will Himself show
His servant how Nature reflects, not only His greatness, but His
wisdom, and subserves the higher purposes of moral order.
* Froude, lit swpra.
G In chap. xxiv. 1—8 we have a passage which, when compared
with chaps, xvii. 6, xxx. 1—10, becomes of considerable historical
interest aud importance. As rendered in the A. V., there is some
confusion. Verse 7 should be translated—
" They pass the night naked, without clothing.
And have no covering against the cold."
It is thus seen to refer to the same people, whose miserable con-
dition is described in the other verses, and in chap. xxx. 1—10.
Ewald recognised in this a description of the Horites or Troglodytes
of Edom, a remnant of one of the aboriginal tribes, strangers alike
to the Hebrews and their cognate tribes, and to the Cauaanites,
who in the time of the poet, were reduced to a state of homeless
and 'abject misery, living a gipsy or bush Ufe, and a prey to every
powerful tribe.
In chap. xxix. 18, many commentators (e.g., Delitzsch, Davidson)
see a mention of the fable of the phcenix. The word khol, trans-
lated "sand " in the A. V., is identified by many ancient Eabbms
(cf. Ps. ciii. 5) with the mvthical Egyptian bird who was supposed
to live a thousand years, and at the end of that time burn itself
in its own nest that a new and young phoenix might spring from
the ashes. . -,a: ,*
Verse 24 of chap. xxx. has been a cause of great ditticulty.
The A. v.,
" Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave (marg.
'heap '),
Though they cry in his destruction,"
gives no intelligible sense. The word rendered " heap " in the
64
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
5. KLIHU (CHAPS. XXXII. — XXXVII. \
It seems probable from chap. xvii. 8, 9 that there was
an audience around the speakers who were variously
impressed by what they heard. Bildad also com-
mences his second speech (xviii. 2) in tlie plural.
Among these spectators hitherto silent, or expressing
their feelings only by signs, was a young man named
Elilm, a Buzite, a descendant, that is, of a collatei'al
branch of the family of Abraham (Gren. xxii. 21 ; cf. Jer.
XXV. 23). Seeing, however, that his elders " had found
no answer, and yet had condemned Job," he is impelled
by an irresistible inspiration to throw himself into the
discussion, and not without signs of impatience from the
sufferer (xxxiii. 31) proceeds to deliver his opinions iu a
long address. Every reader feels that this appearance
of Eliliu is an interruption to tlie regular action of the
drama. No notice is taken of this speaker by Jehovah,
nor is he mentioned either in the prologue or epilogue.
The opening words of God, in chap, xxxviii., " Who is this
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ? "
are only addressed to Job, and imply that he had just
then spoken. This connection is broken by Elihu's dis-
com-ses. Even in the English version the style of this
portion is perceptibly different; it is more rhetorical
and discursive, and the poetry, though sometimes fine,
wants the intense and vi^'id colouring of the rest of
the book. In a commentary the difference of language
is at once perceptible. The difficulties of this part are
far fewer and smaller than elsewhere, and arise from
quite different causes. There are other arguments, too
long to be inserted here, which seem to point to a
later origin and insertion of this portion of the poem.
Wlietker the same author added it in later life (as
E-enan supposes), or some other hand interpolated it,
will never be known. The reason of the addition is
plain. In the original plan of the work no room was
left for the development of one most important truth
more than once hinted at, that suffering is in itself a
means of moral purification. Elihu's idea of punish-
ment is not, as tliat of the others, the vindictive, i)ut
the reformative. It is to teach them, and bring them
to His feet in humble prayer, that God visits sinners
(;xxxiii. 23 — 30). But there are put into his mouth
charges against Job as severe and reprehensi))le as
those of the three friends, and he is guilty of misre-
presenting the sufferer's language (xxxiv. 8). Besides
this, the speeches consist chiefly of descriptions of
Divine power.
6. FOURTH SCENE (CHAPS. XXXVIII.— XLII. 6).
Whatever be the relation of the section just closed
to the rest of the poem its insertion is managed with
considerable art. During the last few moments of his
margin might refer metaphorically to Job (this heap of ruins) if
the rendering " Onlj may He not stretch out His hand to a heap
of rubbish " accorded with the second member of the verse. It
seems better to understand by it overthrow or falling, as Delitzsch—
" Doth not one, however, stretch out the hand in falling ?
Doth he not raise a cry for help on that account iu his ruin ?"
Job feels himself hurried aloug to death, but by au instinct of
aelf-preservation tries to check his fall.
speech, Elihu makes us sensible of the tempest gather-
ing in the heavens, from the bosom of which the awful
voice of Jehovah breaks in a thunder-peal. Both in
the sublimity of its conception, and in the incomparable
grandeur of its poetry, this scene is the crown of the
whole poem. At first it does not seem to contain any
answer to the questions raised, or solution of the diffi-
culties with which tlie book deals. As a Theodicsea, as
a justification of God's ways to man, it speaks no more
than the natural works, of which it gives such vivid
and life-like pictures, speak. It is one of God's silences,
not one of His revelations. It has a voice only for
" those who have ears to hear." And yet it humbles
Job " to dust and ashes." It completes the work of
restoration in his soul. His error had consi.')ted, not in
maintaining his innocence, nor in denying with indig-
nant scorn the shallow inferences of his friends, but iu
the assumption tliat he too could penetrate behind the
veil and read the mystery and ways of God. The
burden of the drama is, not that we do, but that we
do not, and cannot, fathom the mind of the Divine
Ruler of the world — that it is not for man to know it,
nor for God to reveal it. Wlien, therefore, the Almighty
at length speaks, iu answer to Job's rejieated challenge,
it is not to argue, it is not to answer, but to unfold the
gloiy and wonder of creation in a series of living
pictures, " to point, with mighty but tender irony, to
the arch of the rainbow and the fountains of the dawn,
and to amaze, to startle, to humble the dust and ashes of
mortality with the miracles of His power ; to convince
them that man is nothing-perfect, and that God is All-
complete." But it is not only to convict man of his
impuissance and liis inability to comprehend the move-
ments of the Di\ine mind that Job is catechised on his
knowledge of the laws of nature, on the diffusion of
light, the formation of rain, or the marvels of the
treasure-house of ice and snow. It is not merely ta
conAince him of the nothingness of his puny strength
that, after he has "girt his loins like a man " (xxx\-iii. 3),
he is confronted one by one with inferior creatures
which yet defy his dominion and laugh at his pretension
and pride, so that the "lord of creation " is left " en-
circled with a universal chorus of contempt.'" He
is to learn, in the first place, that "God's thoughts
are not as our thoughts, nor our ways as His ways ;"
but at the same time he is to learn that in the
outward manifestation of Himself in nature there is
enough to confirm the testimony of conscience to a
moral order, founded on perfect justice and directed by
perfect wisdom. The temerity which could for a
moment question this, needed reproof and humiliation,
while the faith which caught at something higher still,
' " This is the sting of these matchless descriptions. They
exhibit the laughter of God at man's pride and folly, passing in
reverberated echoes throughout the free and noble creatures of
His baud — the lion roaring, tlie hawk soaring, the wild ass spurning,
the eagle screaming, the horse suortiug, the poacock strutting, the
ostrich tossing, behemoth brooding, and leviathan lashing the
deep into laughter, all in token of their perfect and united dcrisiou
of man's pretensions, his character and his virtues." (Giliillan,
Bards of the Billc, p. 55.)
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
65
and claimed love and sympathy as well as justice in the
DiA-ino dispensations, needed to be confirmed. By
tender and beautiful touches these lessons are brought
out.
The proud and powerful animals which laugh at
weak man liave got their proper place in creation, where
they live according to the nature with which God has
endowed them. The ordinary phenomena of the universe
servo the higher purposes of the moral order — the dawn
of day puts an end to the works of darkness, snow and
hail act as Divine judgments (xxx\'iii. 12—15, 22, 23).
The sea is kept within appointed bounds, and the pride
of its waves stayed (xxxviii. 11), that man may not suffer
from their destructive power, while even on the desert
God's bounty overflows in kindly though useless rain
(ver. 26). As in the Sermon on the Mount so here, the
common and cvery-day sights of Nature, the grass, the
flowers, the birds, are made the vehicles of the lessons
of humility, gratitude, and peaceful dependence on the
one wise and just and perfect God.
Twice only does the proved and humbled saint — who
had so longed for opportunity to open his cause at
God's tribunal — venture to reply. It is but to confess
his inability to reply. In broken accents, and in con-
fusion, which shows how utterly all self -consciousness
has disappeai'ed, and how true and noble is liis peni-
tence, Job rises out of his weakness in repenting of it,
and "by losing himself finds himself."
7. THE EPIIiOGTJE.
God does not justify His ways to man, but He pro-
nounces judgment on the past controversy. " The self-
constituted pleaders for Him, the accepters of His
person, were all wrong ; and Job — the j)assionate,
vehement, scornful, misbelieving Job — he had spoken
the truth ; he at least had spoken facts, and they liad
been defending a transient theory as everlasting truth."
Nor was the judgment confined to words. The general
law which, however large the exceptions, tends to con-
nect prosperity and goodness, is admitted and eonfirzned,
and our sense of fitness satisfied, by the outward in-
demnification to Job for his outward sufferings. The
lesson taught to him and us, although independent
of this residt, perhaps needed it for its completion. Hap-
piness and enjoyment, if regarded as things essential,
" have a tendency to disennoble our nature, and are a sign
that we are still in servitude to selfishness. Only when
they lie outside us, as ornaments merely to be worn
or laid aside as God pleases — only then may such things
be possessed with impunity. Job's heart in cs-rly times
had clung to them more than he knew, and now they
were restored because he had ceased to need them."
THE HLSTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
BT THE REV. W. F. MOULTON, M.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN., PKOFESSOR OF CLASSICS, WESLETAN COLLEGE, EICHMOND.
MILES COVERDALE (continued).
specimen
.rIE quotation which has been given from
the dedication to Coverdale's Bible wiU
prepare the reader for finding but little
originality in the work. Had we no
of Coverdale's translation, wo should
conclude that he ought to be j)laced in the same
class with Wyeliffe and PurA-ey rather than vrith
Tyndale. The title - i^age alleges that the work
has been faithfully translated out of Dutch (i.e.,
German) and Latin into English. It is true that
other copies of the book have a title-page fi'om which
these words are absent; but the agreement between
them and Coverdale's statement is so complete, that
we cannot but regard the title as presenting Cover-
dale's own description of his work. The accuracy of
this statement has indeed been denied, but its correct-
ness may easily be shown by comparing Coverdale's
version with the translations which we know to liave
been extant in his time. If, for example, we com-
pare the two transktions of Numb. xxiv. 15—24
which have been given, from TjTidale's Pentateuch
and Coverdale's Bible respectively, we find an amoimt
of agreement sufficient to prove that Coverdale had
Tyndale's ti-ansktion before him, but with this a con-
siderable amount of divergence— about twenty-seven
variations in every hundred words. Where the two '
77— VOL. IV.
translators differ, Coverdale is almost invariably in
agreement with Luther's version and the Zurich Bible
(see Yol. I., p. 260). A minute examination of an easy
chapter in the New Testament, Luke xv., leads to
similar results. The agreement in ver. 13, " took his
journey into a far country, and there he wasted his
goods -vvith riotous living," would of itself be sufficient to
prove that Coverdale's translation was not independent
of Tyndale's. There are, however, nearly one hundred
and fifty variations, some suggested by the Yulgate,
but almost all in agreement with Luther. In the
Pentateuch and in the New Testament the difference
between Luther's version and the Zurich Bible is
usually limited to points of dialect : where these two
versions are really at variance, Coverdale generally shows
a marked preference for the Zurich Bible. The more
carefully the question is studied, the more probabl?
does it appear that the "five interpreters" whom
Coverdale was " glad to follow " were the four already
mentioned and the Latin translator Pagninus.^
Coverdale's relation to Tyndale requires a little
1 See especially the Fourth Appendix in Westcott's Hisfory of
the English Bible. Dr. Westcott traces to their source almost all
the alternative renderings given in the margin of Coverdale's Bible.
The few renderings which he do?s not identify have since been
discovered in other editions of the two Gorman versi-ons.
66
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
fiu-tlier atteution. No writer ou the sul)ject appears to
have noticed liow tliis relation varies in different parts
of the New Testament. Luke xv., referred to before,
will serve as a specimen of the historical books — the
Gospels and the Acts. In most of the Epistles Cover-
dale makes many changes. Taking sixty verses at
random from Romans, 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians,
Titns, Philemon, and Hebrews, Ave find that Coverdale
dej)arts from Tyndale's Testament of 1534 rather
more than twice in every verse. In the subjoined
extract from Romans iii. (in modern spelling), the
words which differ from Tyndale are printed in
italics : —
" What furtherance then have the Jeics 1 Or what
advantageth circumcision ? Surely very much. First :
imto them was committed vjhat God spalce. But
ivhereas some of them did not believe thereon, what
then ? should their unbelief make the promise of God
of none effect ? God forbid. Let it rather be thus,
that God is true, and all men liars. As it is -m-itten :
That thou may est be justified in thy sayings, and
shouldest overcome when thou art judged. But if it
he so, that our unrighteousness praiseth the righteous-
ness of God, what shall we say ? Is God then un-
righteous, that he is angry therefore ? (I speak thiis
after the manner of men) God forbid. How might
God then judge the world ? For if the truth of God
be through my lie the more excellent unto his praise,
why should 1 then be judged yet as a sinner? and not
rather to do thus (as loe are e\il spoTcen of, and as
some report, that we should say). Let us do evil,
that good may come thereof. Whose damnation is
just."
In the first Epistle of St. John, Professor Westcott
reckons about one alteration for every verse. In the
Epistles of St. Peter also there are many changes.
In the Epistle of St. James, however, containing 108
Verses, the difference between Coverdale and Tyndale
amounts to three ivords only; and even here the
change merely consists in the adoption of Tyndale's
earlier instead of his later rendering. In St. Jude the
agreement is complete. In Revelation i. two words
are altered. One of these is angel for messenger (verse
20) : throughout the Epistles to the Seven Churches
Coverdale retains this word, whereas Tyndale, with
strange inconsistency, has now messenger, now angel,
and once (chap. iii. 7) tiding s-bringer. In chap. ii.
there are besides two slight verbal changes, and one
alteration which is sufficiently interesting to be noticed
)nore particularly. In verse 3, " and hast suffered and
hast patience " is the very clear rendering of Tpidale's
earlier Testament ; but in his second edition we are
startled to find the words " didst wash thyself" in the
place of " hast suffered." Strange as the words appear
in this connection, we find on examiuatitm that they
are a faithful translation of Erasmus's Greek text,
which in the Apocalypse was very incoiTCct. Cover-
dale, gaining by his dependence on other translators in
such an instance as this, where the text of the Greek
was incon-ectly given, naturally retained the earlier
words, and Tyndale's later rendering found no place in
any other version.
Although Coverdale's is but a secondary translation,
a version derived from other versions, its importance in
the history of the English Bible is great. We cannot
too carefully bear in mind that in three-foui"ths of the
Old Testament this was the fii-st printed version pre-
sented to the English reader. Throughout this large
portion of the Bible Coverdale for the present stands
alone. Some isolated chapters had lieen published by
Tyndale, the "Epistles from the Old Testament,"
already descril)cd; but a comparison of the two ver-
sions of Isaiah xii. will .show that they have little in
common. If we go on to compare with both the chapter
as it stands in our in-esent Bibles, we shall fiud that, in
one hundred points of translation, the Authorised V^ersion
agrees with Tyndale against Coverdale in thirty-two,
with Coverdale against Tyndale in twenty-seven, with
both in nineteen, with neither in twenty-two. In
Luke XV. the Authoi'ised Version accords with these two
versions whei*e they agree with each other, except in
about one instance in every verse. In ninety-four
instances the Authorised Version agrees with Tyndale
against Coverdale, in thirty-two with Coverdale against
Tyndale : in nineteen places where the two differ tho
Aiithorised Version agrees with neither. We will not
further tax the patience of our readers by numerical
statements. Such aualj'ses, however, are the only
means l)y which the exact relation of the Aersions can
be made clear.
Coverdale's Bible is divided into six parts. The fu-st
contains the Pentateuch ; the second, the histoi-ical
books from Joshua to Esther (or, as it is here Avritten,
Hester), Ezra and Nehemiah being denominated 1 and
2 Esdras ; the third, Job, the Psalter, tho " Proverbs of
Salomon," the " Preacher of Salomon," and "Salomon's
Balettes." In the fourth, embracing the prophetical
books, Baruch (with the Epistle of Jeremy) finds a
place before Ezekiel ; but a note at the end states that
the book " is not in the canon of the HebrcAv," and
a later notice explains that Baruch belongs to the
Apocrypha, but is " set among the prophets next
unto Jeremy, because he was his scribe, and in his time."
The Book of Lamentations is thus introduced : " And
it came to passe (after Israel was brought into cap-
tiuyte, and Jerusalem destroyed) that Jeremy the
Prophet sat wepinge, mournyngo, und making his mono
in Jerusalem ; so that with an heuy herte he sighed and
sobbed, sayenge." Part 5 contains the Apocryphal
Books, aiTanged in the same order as in the Authorised
Version : the Prayer of Manasses, however, is omitted
altogether.
The sixth part of Coverdale's Bible consists of
the NcAV Testament. In tho table of contents tho
books are arranged in the same order as in Luther's
and Tpidale's Testaments, but are placed in three
groups: — (1) The Gospels and Acts; (2) the Epistles
of St. Paul ; (3) the Epistles of St. Peter and St. John,
the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of St. James
and St. Jude, and the Revelation. No part has any
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
67
preface, with the exception of the fifth, coutaiuing the
Apocrypha ; but at the commciiceineut of the vohime
there is a dedicatiou to Kiug Henry, whicli is followed
by a ijrologue to the Christian reatler. Each book
(except the Psalms, Solomon's Song, Lamentations,
and two or thi-ee short pieces in the Apocrypha) is pre-
ceded by a table setting forth the contents of the several
chapters ; hence in the body of the work there are no
headings of chapters. There is, as a rule, no division
into short verses, but every chapter is subdivided into
sections (indicated by letters, A, B, &o.), each section
answering to perhaps five or six of our verses. These
sections, however, are frequently broken up into smaller
paragraphs. Four chapters of Lamentations ai-e divided
as in our Bibles, the Heln-ew letters which commence
the several verses being placed in the margin. A few
references to similar or parallel passages are supplied,
together with the marginal notes to which we have
already referred. Besides those notes which contain
alternative renderings, we find a few of an explanatoiy
kind. Thus in Numbers xxxiii. the high places are
stated to be " hill-chaiiels, or altares builded -\-pon hilles."
In Job ix. 9, on '•' the seven stai-s," we read, " some call
the seuen starres the clock henne with hir chekens."
At the end of the Psalter is given a note on Selah :
" In the psalter this worde Sela commeth very oft, and
(after the mynde of the interpreters) it is asmoch to
saye as, allwaye, contynuaUy, for ever, forsoyth, verely,
a liftinge vp of the voyce, or to make a pause, and
earnestly to consider, and to ponder the sentence." In
Acts xx\-ii. "syrtes" (in the Authorised Version "quick-
sands ") are explained as "perlous places in the see ; "
and in Titus i. 12, Epimenides is given as the name
of the " own prophet." There are in all twenty-three
of these explanatory notes.
The most interesting portion of Coverdale's Old Testa-
ment is the Psalter. It is hardly too much to say that
this portion is still familiar to aU who read the Book of
Common Prayer, for the Prayer-Book Psalter is in
essence the Psalter of Coverdale's Bible. Out of the
seventeen verses in the Prayer-Book version of Psalm xc,
a very difficult Psalm, twelve stand now exactly as they
stood in 1535 ; in the six Psalms, xc. — xcv., the amount
of difference between Coverdale's Bible and the Prayer-
Book is little more than two words in each verse. The
numbering of the Latin version is retained, so that
Psalm ix. is joined with x.. Psalm cxiv. with cxv. ; cxvi.,
and also cxlvii., ai'e divided into two. In each case a
note of explanation is supplied. The titles of the
Psalms are abridged, everything except the indica-
tion of authorship being, as a rule, ouiitted : no
notices such as Song of Degrees, Maschil, or Michtam,
are to be found. Most of those who are accustomed to
the liturgy of the Church of England are strongly
attached to the Psalter as given in the Prayer-Book.
The greater freedom of translation, the introduction of
words whicli may make the sense clearer, the tender
rhythm, for the sake of which expansion and paraphi'ase
are not unfrequently adopted, are characteristics which
with many go far to atone for the inferiority of the
version in point of exactness. It must not be supposed,
however, that Coverdale's Psalter is of interest for these
only who are familiar with the Book of Common Prayer.
A multitude of passages, remarkable for beauty and
tenderness, and often for strength and vigour, are
common to both our versions of the Psalms, and are
due to Coverdale. " My flesh and my heart faileth, but
God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for
ever." " Enter not into judgment with thy servant,
for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."
'• Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not
thy Holy Spirit from me." '" For thy lovingkindness
is better than life ; my lips shall praise thee." '' Thou
Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the woi-ks of thy hands.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : they all shall
wax old, as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou
change them, and they shall be changed. But thou ai't
the same, and thy years shall not fail." It would be
easy to multiply these quotations, some identical in their
language with the Authorised Version, some agi-eeing
with it in almost every point of importance ; but enough
has been given to show to how great an extent the
noble language of our Psalter is derived from the Bible
of 1535.
In the other poetical books, in the Prophets, and in
the Apocrypha, a much smaller proportion of Cover-
dale's woi'k survives in our present Bibles. Every
page of the older version contains many phrases and
turns of expression which are familiar to us all, but
comparatively few passages of any length have remained
untouched by successive re^-isers and translators. It
is not difficult to find passages in wliich the change is
but slight. " Incline your ears, and come unto me,
take heed and your soul shall live. For I wUl make an
everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
Da^^d." " Seek the Lord while he may be found ; call
npou him while he is nigh." " But who may abide the
day of his coming ? " " She [_i.e., "Wisdom] is the breath of
the power of God, and a pure clean expressing of the
clearness of Almighty God. Therefore can no defiled'
thing come into her, for she is the brightness of the
everlasting light, the nndefiled mirror of the majesty
of God, and the image of his goodness. And for so
much as she is one she may do all things, and being
stedfast herself she reneweth all, and among the peojile
conveyeth she herself into the holy souls."
It would be easy to accumulate examples on the
other side, and point out the faults of the version.
These faults are in the main those of the authorities
whom Coverdale followed: as a t 'anslation f rom Ger-
man (and Latin) sources, the work is deserving of
high praise for faitlifuluess and beauty.
To one peculiarity the translator himself has called
attention. The reader will remember his defence of
the principle of varying the English rendering of
the same word. He has certainly illustrated this
principle in his work, but perhaps not so frequently
J In the text " vndefyled," — clearly au error of the press.
G3
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
as wo might luive oxpectod. In the words which ex-
press the idea of repentance he is far from regular ; pen-
ance aud amendment frequently occur, but repentance
four times as often as either. He refers to scribe and
lawyer, but here his practice is remarkably consistent ;
in every New Testament passage he adheres to scribe.
It is not a little surprising to find the Greek ecclesia
uniformly rendered congregation (never church) through-
out Coverdale's New Testament.
The English of this version does not often pi-esent
much difficulty to the modern reader. A long chapter
will often contain no word or phrase which is not still
understood. The enumeration of ornaments given in
Isa. iii. is as intelligible as that found in our Authorised
Torsion. We meet with many words wliich are no
longer current in literary English, but are familiar in
various dialects ; others are more antiquated. The
following will serve as specimens of each class : — to
spar a door, to clip sheep, a maund of figs, chafthone
(jawbone), lever (rather), symnel (a cake), doorcheek
(door-post), body (as in "an indiscreet body"), youl
(yell), perquellies, creshet, venison (in the sense of a
hunted animal), hoo (an exclamation, " stop ! "), smoor
(smother), chevesance (agi'eement, gain), a cankered
carle, bach (bat), rigbone (backbone), roivles (waves),
niastress (mistress), tunicle, innermer (inner), bug
(object of fear, bugbear), toood (mad). Some words
now in common use, but not found in our present
Bibles, meet us here : as conjuror, trowel, sturdy,
surgeon. A collection is a hand-reaching ; augury is
birds crying or fowls crying. One peculiarity in the
spelling is very marked : the eye requires a special
education to recognise and interpret such words as
szhynne, buszshed, wyszdome, which are found on every
page. The proper names are usually given in their
Latin form, — Eliseus, Ezechias, Manasses, Amasias,
Mardocheus. Tessalonians seems to be the form used
throughout, both in the Epistle itself and in references,
though the city is called Thessalonica. These minor
peculiarities connect themselves with the place of
pu1)lication and the authorities chiefly followed in the
work.
Several copies of the first edition of Coverdale's
Bible are known to exist. Two are amongst the
treasures of the British Museum. The variations in
the title-page of the book have been already adverted
to. Five title-pages in all have been preserved, — some
pi'inted in England, some abroad ; the latter alone con-
tain the reference to "Dutch and Latin" sources. Two
of the title-pages bear the date 1536, but the imprint
states explicitly that the printing was finished in
October of the previous year.' Of the later editions
of Coverdale's Bible it is not necessary to speak, as
they are said to vary but little from the original work.
In 1838 the first edition was reprinted by Bagster.
The reprint is in ordinary type, and the lines and pages
do not correspond to those of the original work ; in all
important matters, however, it appears to be a thoroughly
faithful and trustworthy reproduction.
We cannot do more than briefly refer to the three
Testaments of 1538, containing the Yulgate together
with a translation which agreed in all important
respects with that of Coverdale's Bible. The only
edition which can be closely associated with Coverdale's
name is the second, printed in Pai'is, by Reguault. It
is not probable that any of these Testaments exerted
an appreciable influence upon later English versions.
1 For further informatiou ou this subject see Fry On Coverdale's
Bible of 1535 ; see also Westcott's History of the English Bible, pp.
57, 58.
BIBLE WOEDS
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A.
CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PUffiCENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
MERODS appears in the fifth and sixth
chapters of the First Book of Samuel as
the name of the disease with which tho
Philistines were visited in punishment
for their capture of the ark of the covenant. It is
found once again (Deut. xxviii. 27) among the curses
threatened to tlie Israelites for disobedience. Emerods
is a naturalised form of hoemorrhoids , Gr. aliioppoi^es,
the designation of the disease now known as the
"piles," coming through the Italian form emorroidi.
Ensue (verb act.). This, which is now only used as
an intransitive verb, moaning "to succeed" or "to
result from," was formerly employed in a transitive
sense, as " pursue " is now. It occurs once in this sense
in the Prayer-Book Version, " seek peace and ensue it "
(Ps. xxxiv. 14), wliere the A. V. has pursue ; and in the
quotation (1 Pet. iii. 11). It is a close representation
of the Latin inseqnor, " to follow after," through the
French ensuivre, of which we have an example in
Shakespeare : " Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day "
{Jiich. II., i. 2) ; and in the following passage from
^ Gelding's Caesar (Richardson) : "Our enemeyesoLmm/;
i with a great noyse, as if the victory had bene theirs out
! of all age."
Entreat [verb act.) is frequently found in the A. V.
j where we should now us(> the verb treat, always with a
I qualifying adverb, as Gen. xii. 16 : " He entreated Abram
well for her sake ; " Luke xx. 11 : " They entreated him
.shamefully, and sent him away empty; " Acts xxvii. 3 :
" Julius courteously entreated Paul." We may illus-
trate this usage from early authors.
I " Uncle, you say the queen is at your house ;
I For heaven's sake fairly let her be cntrcafci."
(Shakespeare, llich. II., iii. 1.)
BIBLE WORDS.
Gd
" So al! the twenty I likewise enlreaicd,
And left them groaning there ui)on the plain."
(Spenser, Fairij Qiieea, iv. 10, 10.)
Eschew {verb act), " to avoid," " flee from." An
obsolete aud, we fear, a too often unintelligible word,
found both in the A. Y. and in the Prayer-Book. Job
is described as one that "feared God and eschewed
evil" (Job i. 1, 8 ; ii. 3). St. Peter, quoting Ps. xxxiv.
14, exliorts his readers to " eschew evil aud do good," a
rendering found in the Prayer-Book Psalter, which the
Bible version has " depart from evil." In the collect
for the Third Sunday after Easter we are taught to
pray that "all that are admitted into the fellowship of
Christ's religion may eschew those thiugs that are con-
trary to then' pi'ofession." Eschew is an anglicised
form of the old French verb eschever, " to avoid,"
"turn away from," allied to the Italian schivare, "to
avoid," "parry a blow," and the German scheuern, "to
shun." The following are examples of its use : —
" Thau is it wisdom, as it thiuketh me.
To maken vertu of necessite,
And tdk it wel that we may not eschue ! "
(Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 2183— 5.)
"Forsoth «so/ii;ue young widewis" (Wiclif, 1 Tim. v. 11).
" Ebchewlnij curside nouelties of voyces, aud opynyouns of false-
name of kunuyng " {lb. vi. 20).
" Heaven give that joy, what cannot be eschewed must be em-
braced." (Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5.)
Pat {s^lbst.), the older spelling of the modern "vat."
The simple noun is found in Joel ii. 24 ; iii. 13 : " The
fats shall overflow mth wine aud oil ; " " The press is
full, the fats overflow;" and the compounds winefat
(Isa. ]xy\u. 3; Mark xii. Ij, pressfat (Hag. ii. 16). It is
the A. S.faet, ^\. fatu, fata, "a vessel," " a vat." In
Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, the edition of
1623 gives the old spelling /aiies, where modem editions
have vats.
" Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Pluuipie Bacchus, with pink eyre,
In thy /atfcs our cares be drowned."
Fine, Finer, Fining-pot (Job xxviii. 1; Prov.
xvii. 3; XXV. 4; xxvLi. 21). Another case (see cumber,
dure) where the simple word has disappeared, while
the compound refine, refiner, &c., remains in use. The
following examples are given by Richardson : —
" (Gold) is assayed by the fire to the intente it may thenceforth
bee had in so much the more price as it is the more exactly
f\jned" (Udal, 1 Pet. i.). "The furnaces where gold is fined"
(Holland, PIuii/, xxxiv. 13). "The law of England ... by many
successions of ages has been fined and refined by au infinite number
of grave and learced men " (Hobbes, Dial, on. Laws of Emjland).
Fitches {s^d>st.), now spelt " vetches " (Isa. xxviii.
25, 27 ; Ezek. iv. 9), as in the case of the word fat, the
substitution of the broader for the narrower sound of v
for/ (of which we have other examples in vixen- fixen,
"the she-fox ;" ^-ye, Rnd fifty), obscures its meaning,
except where, as in many local dialects, it continues to
be the recognised form of the word. Chaucer spells it
"fetches."
." This is said by hem that be not worth two fetches.'^
(Troilus and Cress., iii. 938.)
Gerard gives both speUings : " It is called in English
vetch or fetch " {Herbal, 1053).
Gier-eagle is found as the name of a bird of prey
forbidden to be eaten (Lev. xi. 18; Dent. xiv. 17). It
is akin to the Grerman geier, " a vulture," " a hawk," in
mediaeval Latin, gira. The ger-falcon, or jetfalcon,
contains the same root. Mr. Aldis Wright says that
geir is constantly used by Holland, in his translation
of Pliny, for a vulture. He gives the following pas-
sago : — " The manner of the geires is to foresee a car-
nage, and to fly two or three dales before unto the place
where there will be any carrions or dead carkasses"
{Pliny, X. 6). Elisha Coles, in his Latin Dictionary,
gives " a geier, vultur." The gier-eagle of the A. Y. is
now admitted to be the whit« carrion vulture of Egyi:)t
{Percropterus Neophron .Mgijptiacus). This was fii'st
clearly established by Bruce.
Glede, the name of an unclean bird of i)rey (Deut.
xiv. 13). It is descended from the A. S. glida, " a
kite," and was in the general vernacular for centuries
since, and is still in local use for the Milvus ater. The
name seems to be derived from the gliding or hovering
motion of a kite. Nares gives the following examples
of its use : —
" The glead and swallow labouring Ion?-, effectless
'Gainst certain death, with wearied wings fall down.
For want of pearch, aud with the rest go draun."
(Sylv. Du Barbas, 2nd day, 1st week.)
" Eavenous gledes and kites ... if they have spied any prey
from on high, quickly in their flight snatch it up, or if they sieze
upon it, make no long stay." (Holland, .diiHus Marcellin, 1609.)
Goodman {subst.). Found usually in the phrase
" goodman of the house " (Matt. xx. 11 ; xxiv. 43; Mark
xiv. 14 ; Luke xii. 89 ; xxii. 11), but once alone : " The
goodman is not at home ; he is gone a long journey "
(Prov. vii. 19), where we should now say, "the master
of the house," or, in still more recent colloquialism,
" the governor." According to Mr. Earle, Philology
of Engl. Tongue, p. 520, it " means a man, not who is
good (adjective), but a man who is master of the good
(substantive), i.e., of the household or jn-operty." This
derivation has been called in question, and '" goodman "
is considered by some (Aldis Wright, Bible Word-Book,
p. 231) to be a corrujition of the A.-S. gummann or
gurna, " a man ; " goodwife being a compound formed
in supposed correspondence with goodman. The more
obvious derivation is probably the correct oue. The
meaning of the word is well illustrated by a passage from
Randle Cotgrave (1611) under the word maistre, given
by Mr. Earle. " Also a title of honours (such as it is)
belonging to all artificers and tradesmen; whence
Maistre Pierre, Maistre Johann, &c., which we give
not so generally, but qualifie the meaner sort of them
(especially in country towncs) with the title of goodman
(too good for many)." The use of goodman in Shake-
speare shows that, as Cotgrave asserts, it was confined
70
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to "tlie meaner sort," we have " Goodmau Driver,"
"Goodman Didl," "Goodman Verger," '• Goodmau
Puffc'," " Goodmau Delver."
Habergeon [suhst.). Exod. xxviii. 32, '• And there
shall bo an hole in the top of it (the ephod) . . .
u.-i it were the hole of an habergeon (Exod. xxxix. 23) ;
2 Chron. xxvi. 14, " Uzziah prepared . . . shields,
aud spears, and helmets, and habergeons ; " also Neh.
iv. 16 ; Job xli. 26, found in WicHf's Bible as haberion,
haburion, hmvherioivn, — a small coat of mail covering
the neck and shoulders. It is a dimin\itive form of
hauherlc, from the A.-S. heals-beorga, a "neck-cover-
iu"" ; " Old German, halsberc ; Old Freuch, halbere, hau-
bcrc ; Italian, nsbergo. "We received it from the French
hauhergeon, defined by Cotgrave as "a little coat of
maile ; or only sleeves and gorget of maUe." Chaucer,
" Rime of Siro Thopas," distinguishes it from haixberk —
"Aud over that a haherjeoti
For i^ersiug of bis liert,
Aud over that a fyn hauierl;,
Was all ywrought of Jewes vyerk,"
We find it often in Spenser — ■
" Their mijjlitie strokes their haherjeons dismayld."
(F. Q., Bk. II., vi. 29.)
And it was adopted by Milton —
"Then put ou all tliy gorgeous arms, thy helmet,
Thy brigaiidiue of brass, thy broad habergeon."
{Sams. A'jonistes, 1110, 1120.)
It very early found a place in translations of the Bible.
Wiclif has, " clothed with the haburioun of rightwys-
uesse" (Ephes. vi. 14), and "thei hadden haburiouns
(A. V. " breastplates "), as yren /i«&(tnoMns" (Rev. ix.
9), where the word is retained in the Geneva Bible with
a slight change of spelling, habbergions. Latimer
speaks of " the habergeon, or coat armour of justice "
{Sermons, p. 29, Park. Soc), aud Udal of " the jaeke
or haberion made of the righteousnesse of all the vertues
evaugelycall" {Paraphr. of Erasmus, Luke, 183, 8).
Hale {verb act.). Luke xii. 58, " Lest he [thine
adversary] hale thee to the judge ;" Acts \dii. 3, "Saul
made havock of the Church . . . aud haling men
and women committed them to prison." To hale is to
drag with violence, to pull along with force a reluctant
person, answering to the modern strengthened verb to
haul. The root is the same as that of the German
holen, the Dutch halen, the French haler, to pull, to
drag, to tow. It occurs frequently in our earlier writers,
e.g., Lord Surrey, in his Translation of the ^neid, ii.
343, describes Hector as —
" Distained with bloody dust, whose feet were bowlne (swollen)
"With the streight cordes wherewith they haled him.''
Spenser spells the word hayl —
" Him sternly gript, and hayling to and fro.
To overthrow him strongly did assay."
We find it in Shakespeare not unfrequontly ; e.g., in
2 Henry VI., iv. 1, the Captain says of Lord Suffolk—
" HaJe him away, and let him talk no more.''
Helve (subst.) is once used in the A. V. for the
wooden handle of a hatchet (Deut. xix. 5), " When his
hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down a tree,
and the head [Heb. ironl slippeth from the lielve
[Heb. wood] ; " where the A. V. follows Wiclif (" The '
yrun slitlith fro the helve'") and Cranmer. It is an
old Anglo-Saxon word, helf, " a handle," aud is still in
use in some parts of England. " To throw the helve
after the hatchet," given by Ray in his Proverbial
Plvrases, is a proverb still employed in describing the
conduct of those who iu despair give themselves up to
recklessness. Bishop Hall, in his Contemplations,
describes Elisha (2 Kings vi. 6) as borrowing an axe
"to cut an helve for the lost axe."
Inward {adj.), "intimate," as a friend. Job xix. 19,
" All my inward friends abhorred me ; and they whom
I loved are turned against me." It is a good Eliza-
bethan word, frequent in Shakespeare and Bacon ; e.g.,
Lucio says of the Duke {Measure for Measure, iii. 2),
"Sir, I was an inward [i.e., intimate] friend of his;"
and Buckingham asks {Richard III., iii. 4) —
" Who knows the Lord Protector's mind herein?
Who is most inviard, with the noble duke?"
And in Bacon's Essays, we read in Essay XL, Of
Great Place. " A servant or favoiu-ite, if he bo inward,
and no other cause of esteem, is commonly thought but
a byway to close corruption ; " and iu Essay XX., Of
Counsel, "Those inward coimsellors had need also bo
wise men."
Inwards {subst.), the intestines or ^-iscera of an
animal. Exod. xxix. 13, 22, " Thou shalt take all the
fat that covereth the inwards ; " Lev. iii. 3, 9, 14 ; iv.
8, &c. In Wiclif, where the A. V. has " bowels " we
find "inwardnesses," " Te ben not anguischid in us,
but ye ben anguischid in your ynivardnessis" (2 Cor.
vi. 12). In Shakespeare, Falstaff enumerates among
the virtues of " sherris," that " it makes its course from
the inwards to the parts extreme " (2 Henry IV., iv. 3).
Knap (^verb act.) is not found in the A. V., but sur-
vives in the Prayer-Book Psalter : " He breaketh the
bow, aud hnappeth the spear in sunder '' (Ps. xlvi. 9).
This verb, which has been superseded in our ordinary
language by " snap," is, like that, evidently formed
from the sound, aud coi'responds with the German
Icnappen, " to crack." We meet with it iu Shakespeare
{Merchant of Venice, iii. 1) : "I would she were as lying
a gossip iu that as ever hnapiped ginger." A passage
quoted by Richardson from North's Translation of
Plutarch supplies a close parallel to that in the Psalter :
" At the length he made such struggling, putting back
one thigh aud setting forward another, that he Icnappcd
the staff of the dart in sunder." From the sound, Icnap
also was used to signify to deal a short sharp blow.
Thus to " Tcnap a pair of tongs together " (Bacon,
Nat. Hist. § 133).
" He with his shoephooko l:naps them on the pates,
Schooling his tender lambs from wanton !;ates."
(Nares' Glossarxj.)
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
Knop {subst.), the same word as Jcnob, and inti-
mately connected with knap ; as that signifies to strike
with a sharp sonnd, so this inij)lies the himp, promi-
nence, or swelling caused by a blow. The root is one
of the most widely spread. Gaelic, cnap, " to strike, to
beat," and also "a button, a lump, a hillock;" A.-S.
cnaep, " a top, a button," from which conies the old
English and provincial hnap for the top of a hill. The
well-known thistle-like flower, knaj)weed, is so called
from the round balls of its inflorescence. German, Icnopf,
" a button." Our translators only employed it in the
description of the golden candlestick (Exod. xxi. 31,
33). WicUf uses it, Exod. xxvi. 11, " Fifti hnopjjis
of bras;" and xxxvi. 18, "Fifti brasun Icnoppis with
which the roof myghte be knyt " ("'fastnyugs" and
" bokelis " are alternative readings), where the A. V.
has " taches," i.e., " tacks," or " catches." Chaucer
employs hnop for a button. The purple robe worn by
*' Riches " is described
" With a bend of gold tassiled,
Aud /cnopes fine of gold amiled."
(Komaunt of Rose, 1080.)
And for a rosebud —
" Of Jtiieppes close some saw I there.
And some well better woxeu were."
[Ihid., 1702.)
Latehet {subst.) . Synonymous with the modem lace
{cf. " bootlace," " staylace"), of which it is a diminutive,
used only in the A. Y. as a "fastening of a sandal," " a
shoestring." Gen. xiv. 23, " I will not take from a thread
even to a shoelatchet" where Wiclif's version has "the
thong," or " tlie lace of his schoon ;" Isa. v. 27, " Neither
shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latehet
of their shoes be broken;" Mark i. 7, Luke iii. 16,
*' The latehet of whose shoes I am not worthy to un-
loose." Latehet is a derivative from the Latin laqueus,
"a snare," through the Italian laceio, "a thong," "a
string," and its diminutive laceietto, and the French
lacet — aU related to the A.-S. laeccan, "to lay hold
of," "to catch." The word latch, both in its substantive
and verb form, is now restricted to the fastening of a
door, but was formerly used in a much wider signifi-
cation— e.g., by Chaucer, for a " snare " —
" Love will none other birde catch,
Though he set either uette or lalah."
[Horn, of Rose, lC2i.)
And by Shakespeare —
" I have words
That would be howled out iu the desert air.
Where hearing would not latch them" [lay hold of them].
(Macbeth, iv. 3.)
Learn {verb act). This verb, which formerly had a
double signification, both to impart and to acquire
knowledge, has now entirely lost the former, except as
a provinciaUsm. It occurs in the sense of " to teach "
in the A. Y. only in Acts vii. 22, " Moses was learned
[eVaiSeuerj, taught, instructed] in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians;" but is more frequently found in the
Prayer-Book Psalter: Ps. xxv. 4, "Lead me forth in
thy truth, and learn me " (Ps. Ixxxii. 5 ; cxix. 66 ; cxxxii.
13). Our language is singular in this union of the two
senses in one word. All the cognate tongues distinguish
accurately between " teaching " aud " learning ; " e.g.,
A.-S. laeran, " to teach ;" leornian, "to learn ; " German,
lehren and lernen. The sense " to teach " is the most
usual one in Piers Plowman ; e.g. —
" ' What !' quod the Prest to Perkyn, ' Peter, as me thiuketh
Thou art lettred a litel, who lerned the on boke ? ' "
(vii. 131.)
Shakespeare also uses it —
" Sweet prince, you leam me noble thankfulness."
(Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 1.)
aEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BT MAJOE WILSON, E.E.
v.— GALILEE.
^HE circumstances under which Galilee is
first mentioned in the Bible, in connec-
tion with the appointment of three cities
of refuge west of Jordan, are rather in-
teresting as apparently indicating the existence in the
time of Joshua of some division of Palestine into three
districts, corresponding to the later Roman i)rovinces
of Galilee, Samaiia, aud Judsea. The fii-st of the three
cities was Kedesh, in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali ; the
second Shechem, in Mount Ephraim; aud the third
" Hebron, in the mountain of Judah " (Josh. xx. 7). The
name " Galil," however, in this passage is confined to
a small " circuit " or " region " near Kedesh, and it is
used in a similar sense in 1 Kings ix. 11, where we are
told that Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities iu the land
of Galilee as payment for the timber axd gold used in
the building of the Temple ; and in 2 Kings xv. 29,
where Galilee is included in the list of places taken by
Tiglath-pileser, and whose inhabitants were carried
away captive by him to Assyria. In Isa. ix. 1, the
district is called " Galilee of the nations " (Gentiles),
either from the transfer of a number of its cities to
Hiram, or from the settlement of strangers in the
country after the deportation of its inhabitants to the
banks of the Euphrates. After the Captivity the
division of Palestine into three districts is mox*e
marked ; but the boundaries do not seem to have been
clearly defined until they became Roman provinces.
The Galilee of the New Testament, so intimately
connected with the life and ministry of our Lord, was
separated into Uj)per and Lower Galilee, and extended
72
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
from Carmel and the southern edge of the great pkiu
of Esdraclon on the soutli to the sources of Jordan and
the river Litany on the north ; and embraced tlie
country between the Jordan and Sea of Galilee on the
cast, and the territorj- of Ptolemais on the west. Wo
have already had occasion to notice that portion of the
the two promontories of Has el Abiad and Ras en
Nakura (Ladder of Tjtc) ; but as Ave proceed southward
the ground rises, the town of Safed lies on a hill 3,000
feet high, whilst to the west of it is Jebel Jermuk, the
culminating pohit of the hills of Galilee, 4,000 feet
above the sea. From Jermuk a high ridge runs west-
MAP OF GALILEE.
province bordering on the Sea of Galilee and Jordan
valley, and may now pass to an examination of the
upland country, which is really a continuation of the
southern spurs of Lebanon, though separated from the
main range by the deep chasm of the Litany. At first
the hill-country is a broad elevated tract of rich land,
overlooking the Jordan valley by a steep descent on the
cast, and on the west throwing out rocky spurs, with
deep intervening valleys, to the sea itseK, so as to form
■ward to form the northern boundary of the plain of
Er Rameh, and south of the latter we reach a broad
range of hills, the Mount Asamon of Josephus, vnih
the rich plain of El Buttauf beyond it. and still farther
south the lower hills that border the plain of Esdraelon
on the north, with the hUl above Nazareth rising amongst
them in a conspicuous manner. The hills that skirt the
great plain of Esdraelon are high and precipitous on the
east, as in the traditional Mount of Precipitation ; but
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE
74
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
on tlie west they sink gradually tlirough a scries of
low ridges to the plain. At the north-east corner of
Esdraelou is the isolated hill of Mount Tabor ; and at
its eastern extremity rises Jcbel Duhy, or Little Her-
inon, Tvith Nain and Eudor lying at its foot; on the
south the plain is limited by the ridge of Carmel on
the west, and by the range of Mount Gilboa (Jebel
Fukoa) on the east. The hills of Galilee are of lime-
stone, but there are in several places large tracts of
basalt, as, for instance, at Alma, El Jish, Hattin,
above Tiberias, and in the vicinity of Jebel Duhy.
Perhajis the most marked feature of Galilee is the
number and richness of its plains, such as the Merj
Ayun, in the extreme north ; the plain of Zaanaim, near
Kades, where Jael was encamped when Sisera sought
refuge from the victorious Israelites ; tlie plain of
Ramali, some ten miles long and two miles wide, and
full of fine old olive trees; the fertile plain of El
Buttauf; the "great plain of Asochis"of Josephus;
and Esdraelon, which stretches from west to east, and,
nowhere more than four hundred feet above the sea,
completely separates the hill-country of Galilee from
that of Samaria. There is no deficiency of water in the
district ; through Esdraelon winds the river Kishou, and
down the valley of Jezreel the waters of the foimtaius
of Zerin aud Ain Jalud find their way to the Jordan
valley ; whilst farther north streams run down through
Wadics Rubudiyeh, Heudaj, and Derdarah towards the
east, and on the west is the Nahr Naman, or river
Belus; there are also many fine springs, of which we
need only mention here those of Kedesh, Tibnin, Hattin,
Setfuriyeh, noted in the history of the Crusades;
Nazareth, the traditional scene of the Annunciation;
Lejjun (the waters of Megiddo), Ain Jalud, and the
copious springs round the base of Jebel Jermuk.
Tliroughout Galilee the vegetation is luxuriant and
abundant ; the slopes of Jermuk, Tabor, and other
moimtaiss are still clothed with trees and bi-ushwood,
aud many of the hills were once covered with forests
that have left traces of their existence in large roots,
which form an almost inexhaustible mine for the char-
coal burners of Damascus. In some of the valleys
trees and shrubs gi-ow with a luxuriance that is seen
nowhere else in Palestine with the single exception of
the vale of Nablus ; the soil is of gi-eat fertility, and
where cultivated produces rich crops, whether of com
on the plains of Esdraelon and Buttauf, or of olive and
vino in the secluded valleys of the upland region.
It was this rich district that, in the final didsion of
Palestine between the twelve tribes, fell to the lot of
Ashei*, Naphtali, Zebulun, aud Issachar. To Asher
was assigned the sea-coast from Cai-mel to Sidon, with
the plaiu of Phoenicia and the low hills on its western
border — one of the richest tracts in Palestine, well
fulfilling the promise made in the blessing of Jacob,
that his " bread " should bo " fat," and that ho should
yield " royal dainties " (Gen. xlix. 20) ; and in that of
Moses, that he should be " blessed with children," and
■" dip his feet in oil," and that his " shoes " should lie
" iron and brass." The royal dainties refer to the rich
harvests of corn, oil, and wheat, whilst in the iron and
brass for the shoos there may be an allusion to the
metallic manufactures of the Phoeuiciaus. To Naph-
tali fell the broad elevated tract lying between Asher
and the Jordan, the modern Belad Besharah ("lajid of
good tidings "), which may still be described in the words
of Josephus as " universally rich and fruitful, and full
of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it
inrites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation
by its fruitf Illness " — a land in which Naphtali was to
be "satisfied with favour, and full mth the blessing of
the Lord." To Zebulun was allotted the hill-country
bordering on the great plain of Esdraelon from the
sea-coast to the Sea of Galilee ; he was to " dwell at the
haven of the sea," at the " going out " of Acre, and was
" to suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures
hid in the sand " (Dent, xxxiii. 19) — an allusion pos-
sibly to the fisheries that yielded the purple TyrLau
dye, and to the manufacture of glass from the sauds of
the river Belus. Issachar received for liis inheritance
the fertile plain of Esdraelon, with the beautiful valley
of Jezreel ; here, on the highway of the armies of
Egypt and Assyria, the great battle-field of Palestine,
he was to lead a nomad life, dwelling "in tents," bow-
ing " his shoulder to bear," and becoming " a servant to
tribute;" but at the same time he was ecpially with
Zebulim to suck of the abundance of the seas and of
treasures hid in the sand.
Though the whole of Galilee and Phoenicia were
allotted to the four tribes, the latter country was
never conquered, and no one can help beiug struck
by the peculiar relations that existed between the
Israelites and their northern neighbours. In Judg.
i. 31, we are told that Asher did not drive out "the
inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidou,
nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of
Aphik, nor of Rehob ; " and in verse 32, that the
Asherites " dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabi-
tants of the land." Neither did Naphtali drive out
the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath, but
"he dwelt among the Canaanites;" nevertheless, the
inhabitants of these towns became tributaries to him,
and in the son of a widow of the tribe of Najjhtali,
whose husband was "a man of Tyre, a worker iu brass"
(1 Kings vii. 14), we have an indication that mixed
marriages were not uncommon. There is no trace of
any great war between the Israelites and the Phoeni-
cians, and it is not unlikely that a con.siderable portion
of the northern ti-ibes settled down as fellow-citizens
amongst the people of Tyre, Sidon, and other Plioeni-
ciau cities, not always without being oppressed, as we
learn from Amos, who threatens Tyi'o "because they
delivered up the whole capiivity to Edom, aud remem-
bered not the brotherly covenant" (Amos i. 9); and
from Joel, who complains agaiust Tyre and Zidon
because they had sold the childi'cn of Judali and of
Jerusalem " unto the Grecians," tliat they " might
remove them far from their border" (Joel iii. 6). To
this close intercoui-se with the idolati'ous nations around
them we may probably ascribe the early perversion of
GEOGRAPHY OF THE EIBLE.
the nortliern tribes from the pure worship of Jehovah,
aud that gradual decay which made them an easy j)rey
to the invader. Even in the time of our Saviour there
appears to have been a marked distinction between the
Jews of Northern and Southern Palestine, perhaps due
to a similar intercourse with the Gentiles. There are
several passages iu the New Testament that show that
the Galileans were looked down upon by the inhabi-
tants of Judaea, and that there was some peculiarity in
their dialect or accent by which they were readily dis-
tinguished from other Jews.
"We may now give some account of the most interest-
ing localities in Galilee, commencing at the northern
extremity with the Merj Ayun, a beautifid plain six
miles long and two broad, between the Litany and
Hasbany rivers. In the centre of the plain is the fine
spring of Derderah, supplying the stream that runs by
Abil (Abel-beth-maachah) to the Jordan; and at its
northern end is a mound, Tell Dibbin, covered with
ruins which are supposed to be those of Ijon, a town of
Naphtali taken by the captains of Benhadad at the
same time as Dan and Abel-beth-maachah, and cap-
tured at a later date by Tiglath-pileser. Southwards,
on a slight elevation at the brink of the precipitous
descent to the Jordan valley, is the large castle of
Hunin, erected apparently during the period of the
Crusades. The keep, however, is much older, either
Roman or Jewish, and is protected by a deep ditch
partly excavated in the rock. The place must always
have been of importance as commanding the ascent
from the Jordan valley to the western hills, but it lias
not yet been identified with any Bible name. West of
Hunin is the castle of Tibnin, standing on a rocky
isolated hill with the A-illage of the same name at its
base. This fortress was built by Hugh of St. Omer, in
1107, and under the name of Torou is frequently men-
tioned in the liistoiy of the Crusades ; its siege by the
Duke of Brabant, in 1107, and the disgraceful flight of
his army when on the point of success, is one of the
most cuiious incidents of that stormy time.
Southwards from Hunin the main road crosses or
skirts several small plains, which, with their bright
green crops and the wooded hills that slope gently
down to them, form some of the softest and most
beautiful scenery in Palestine. Tlie largest and most
picturesque of these plains is that of Kades, with the
ruins of Kedesh-naphtali, lying on its western border.
Kedesh was appointed a city of refuge, and allotted to
the Levites. It was the residence of Barak, aud the
place in which he assembled the tribes of Naphtali and
Zebulun before marching against Sisera ; and near
it was the terebinth of Zaanaim, under which the tent
of Heber the Kenite was pitched. It was one of the
towns taken by Tiglath-pileser, and iu the time of
Josephus was in possession of the Tp'iaus; at a
later date it appears to have been the site of a con-
siderable Roman town, called by Eusebius aud Jerome,
Kiidossos, or Cidissus. The modern village of Kades
stands on the hill-side, amidst a vast heap of rub-
bish, in which may be .seen many mutilated capitals
and columns, but the more important ruins are on a
tongue of land running out eastwards into the plain.
These consist of a large masonry tomb, with places
for several bodies, which, from the similarity of its
architecture to that of the synagogues, appears to be of
Jewish origin ; a temple of Baal of the same date as
those at Baalbek, in which an altar has been f oimd with
an inscription to Baal as Lord of Sports, and a lintel
with a bust of the god; aud a remarkable group of
stone sarcophagi standing on a masonry phitform.
There are also large numbers of rock-hewn tombs,
some of which have peculiar features in their construc-
tion not seen elsewhere. In close proximity to Kedesh
was Hazor, the city of Jabiu, and principal city of the
north of Palestine, which we would propose to identify
with some extensive ruins on a prominent hill. Tell
Harah, overlooking the Huleh Lake, and about two
miles fi'om Kades. The ruins are those of a citadel
and a town of some size surrounded by a wall ; the i"e-
mains are all of an ancient type, and no mortar has
been used in any of the buildings. Dr. Robinson has
brought forward several strong arguments iu support
of his theory that Hazor was at Tell Khureibeh, a hill
not far from Tell Harah, but they all apply with far
greater force to the latter place, which the learned
American traveller does not appear to have visited.
South-west of Kades is the village of Tarun, the
modern representative of Iron, a town of Naphtali
mentioned in Josh. xix. 38, between En-hazor and
Migdal-el; there are many ruins in the neighbourhood
of the village, including those of an early Chi-istian
church, prettily situated on rising g-round, and at one
time containing several large stone sarcophagi, orna-
mented with crosses, which are now lying on the slope
of the hill. Not far south of Tarun is the A-illage of
Kefr Birim, with tlie ruins of two synagogues, one in
a sufficient state of preservation to enable us to form
some idea of the style of its architecture. We have iu
a previous paper noticed the j)rincipal featm-es con-
nected with the structure and arrangement of the syna-
gogues in Galilee, and will only remark here on the
evidence they afford of the wealth and culture of the
Jews in Northern Palestine at the time they were
erected, during the first three centuries of our era.
Kefr Birim is inhabited solely by Maronite Christians,
who have a small clmrch in the village, and the j)lace
was once celebrated as containing the tombs of Barak
and Obadiah. At Meiron, south-west of Kefr Bii-im,
and at tlie foot of Jebel Jermuk, there is another syna-
gogue, the site for which had iu great part to be cut
out of the rock. Round the modern ^-iUage tliere are an
immense number of rock-hewn tombs of every known
form ; and on a ridge to the south there is a remarkable
sarcophagus for two bodies, raised on a sort of platform,
with a passage and chamber so arranged that the friends
or relatives of the deceased could enter aud look at the
bodies after they had been laid out. Meiron is said to
be the resting-iilace of Hillel, Shammai, and other
celebrated Jews, whose tombs are situated on one side
of a large rectangular court ; here during the Feast of
76
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Purim numbers of Jewish pilgrims assemble, and costly
robes aud rich offerings are burned in stone basins
raised to such a height that every one in the courtyard
can see the gift aud he Avho sacrifices the gift. At
night bonfires arc lighted on the hills, and cast a lurid
glare over the country, strangely recalling the time
when many a hUl-top in Palestine was jig'loAV with fires
in honour of Baal.
From the summit of Jebel Jermuk there is a grand
view of the surroiinding country — Lebanon and Hcr-
mon on the north. Tabor and Carmel on the south,
with the Sea of Galileo on one side and the Mediter-
ranean on the other. It is one of tJiose extensive
views so common in Palestine, which give such a
good idea of the smallness of the land, and yet
embrace so many localities of undying interest. East-
ward, on a hill overlooking the Jordan valley, is the
to^^l of Safed, with its fine old castle and filthy habita-
tions, which has sometimes been supposed to be " the
city set upon a hill which cannot be hid " (Matt. v. 14).
On New Tear's Day, 1837, Safed was almost destroyed
by an earthquake, when more than three-fourths of the
houses were thrown down, and about 5,000 people
perished in the ruins. A similar disaster befell El
Jish, the Giscala of Joscphus, north of Safed, where
every house was laid low, and the falling church
crushed a number of the congi-egation who were at
prayers at the time. To the south of Jcbel Jermuk is
the large well-built village of El Mughar, standing
on the slope of Tell Hazur, perhaps the En-hazor of
Josh. xix. 37 ; aud westward is Rameh or Ramah, one
of the fortified towns of Naphtali, giving its name to
the wooded plain beneath it. The next place of inte-
rest is Umm el Amud, a collection of ruins, including
those of a synagogue, situated at the extreme eastern
limit of the rich plain of Buttauf above the head of
"Wady Hamam. The mins have not been identified with
any Bible name, but if, as we believe, Cana was at
Khirbet Kana, they would be of special interest as
standing on the direct road from Cana to Capernaum.
The view westwards from Umm el Amud down the
great plain of Asochis is very fine, and there is a curious
contrast between the white barren-looking hills on the
north and the well-wooded heights that form its
southern boundary. Proceeding along the northern
edge of the plaiu, we reach some ruins called Khirbet
Kana or Kana el-Jelil, which Dr. Robinson, with
whom we are inclined to agree, identifies with Cana,
the scene of our Lord's first miracle, as well as of the
miracle noticed in John iv. 46 — 54. The name Kana
el-Jelil is an exact representation of the Hebrew
original, whilst that of Kefr Kenna, the traditional
site, about four miles north-east of Nazareth, is
very different from it. The Bible affords us no clue
to the position of Cana, excejit that it was on higher
ground than Capernamn, and perhaps within a day's
journey of it ; nor do Josephus, Eusebius, or Jerome
give any information on this point ; we have, there-
fore, to depend on the later and far from satisfactory
accounts of pilgrims and writers in the Middle Ages.
Of these, Marinus Sanutus (1321 A.D.) distinctly places
Cana at Kana el-Jelil, and marks it on his map as
lying north of Sepphoris; the same position is also
assigned to Cana by Breydenbach (1483), Anselm (1507),
and apparently by Phocas, who in the twelfth century
travelled from Acre via Sepphoris aud Cana to Naza-
reth. Quaresmius (1616-29) mentions both Canas, aud
decides in favour of Kefr Kenna on account of its
proximity to Nazareth ; since his day this has been the
view generally held by travellers, with the exception of
Pococke (1737-40), who seems inclined to identify Cana
with Kana el-Jelil. The ruins cover the summit and
sides of a small spur that runs out from the main ridge,
and consist of rock-hewn cisterns, the walls of houses,
a large building, perhaps a church, and several tombs ;
they are of far more importance than has generally
been supposed, and cover a large area.
A short distance beyond Kana is the Wady Jefat, a
wild glen, with thickly-wooded slopes, which leads to
the rock of Jefat, identified by Schultz aud other travel-
lers with the fortress of Jotapata, so stoutly defended
by Josephus against the Romans, and where he fell as a
jirisoner into their hands on the capture of the place.
The natural features of Jefat correspond well with
the minute description of Jotapata giveu by Josephus,
but of the fortifications not a trace has been left.
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
LEPEOSY.
BY W. A. GREENHILL, M.D. OXON.
F all the diseases that afflict mankind, by far
the most interesting and important to the
theologian, and indeed to every reader of
cS^^-:t:o3) the Bible, is leprosy, which word is used by
our translators to represent the Hebrew nrny (tzara'ath)
aud the Greek AeVpa. In the Old Testament it is the
subject of two whole chapters in Leviticus (xiii., xiv.),
besides being brought prominently before the reader in
the cases of Moses (Exod. iv. 6), Miriam (Numb. xii.
10), Naaman (2 Kings v. 1), GehazI (2 Kings v. 27),
and Uzziah (2 Kings xv. 5 ; 2 Cliron. xxvi. 19) ;
and in the New Testament this disease was the
occasion of two of our Lord's miracles, one of which
is mentioned by three of the Evangelists (St. Matt,
viii. 2; St. Mark i. 40; St. Luke v. 12), the other
by St. Luke alone (xvii. 12). And to this it may bo
added that it derives an additional interest from the
fact of its having been selected from very early times
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
77
as the special type of sin. If the disease is not (at
least in this country) of so much importance to the
physician as to the divine, it is to him a subject of
special curiosity and interest on account of the singularly
confused way in which the word lepra has been used
for at least 800 years, and the difficulty (until lately) of
obtaining any authentic and satisfactory information
about the disease which (for the sake of distinction)
may be called " genuine leprosy." It is hardly necessary
to give here any description of the modem leprosy, as
most commentators give extracts from books of travels
containing accurate details of this most horrible and
formidable disease ; but as there is considerable
difference of opinion among competent judges as to
the exact nature of the leprosy of the Old and New
Testament, it will be needful to examine this question
at the outset. Its importance will be best shown by
putting side by side the statements of some modern and
ancient writers, and then considering liow far they can
be reconciled with each other. Thus Archbishop Trench
says * of leprosy that it " was nothing short of a living
death, a poisoning of the springs, a corrupting of aU the
humours, of life ; a dissolution little by little of the whole
body, so that one limb after another actually decayed
and fell away." And Mr. Clarke, at the beguming of
his careful and elaborate " Preliminary Note on the
Character of Leprosy," says ^ that it "is the most terrible
of all the disorders to which the body of man is subject.
There is no disease in which hope of recovery is so
nearly extinguished." On the other hand, St. Augustine
says^ that when the lepers were restored to health,
they were not said to be " healed " {sanati), but
■"cleansed" {mundati), because "lepra is an ailment
affecting merely the colour, not the health or the
soundness of the senses and the limbs." And St.
Isidore of Seville classes "scabies" and "lepra"
together, and says "• that " each complaint is a rough-
ness of the skin, attended with itching and scaliness."
Other passages both from modem and ancient wi-iters
might be quoted, but these are sufficient to show the
nature and the extent of the difference of opinion that
exists on the subject of the leprosy of the Bible. It
will be both interesting and instructive to endeavour to
trace out the origin of this difference, and probably the
most satisfactory mode of doing this will be by ascer-
taining the exact meaning of the words that have been
used as synonymous terms to represent this disease.
In carrying out this inquiry, it will be more con-
venient to work backwards, beginning with the English
of the present day, and gradually ascending to the
Greek of the New Testament, and the Hebrew of
Moses. At first sight it may seem tliat this is a mere
question about words, rather than one relating to
di-vinity, or even to medical science ; but it will iii the
end be found to be one of those cases in which the use
of the same Latin word in two quite different senses
1 Notes on the MiracUs of our Lord, § 10, p. 213.
2 Speaker's Commentary, Levit. xiii., xiv.
3 Qiuest. Evang., lib ii., § 40, torn, iii., p. IWt A.
'^ Et'jmol., lib. iv., cap. 8, § 10, torn, i., p. 98, ed. Matr. 1778.
has caused great part of the confusion and difficulty
that has embarrassed the subject, and encumbered it
with a vast number of books and dissertations, which,
but for this cause, would never have been written at all.
The English word leprosy is sometimes used to
signify a mere scaly eruption, but is more commonly
applied to a constitutional disease, analogous in some
respects to certain bad forms of scrofula, which has
within the last few years formed the subject of some
extensive and important inquiries conducted by the
Loudon College of Physicians at the expense of the
Colonial Office. This latter sense of the word is
probably the only meaning which it bore in the fourteenth
century, when Wicliffe translated the New Testament
into English, and used the words leprous and lepre
as synonyiuous with the Latin leprosus and lepra (St.
Matt. viii. 2, 3 ; quoted in Richardson's Did.).
The Latin word lepra was certainly used in this
latter sense during the Middle Ages — generally, if not
exclusively ; but it is equally certain that in the older
writers it was used as synonymous with the Greek AcVpo,
to signify essentially a mere scaly affection of the skin,
though complicated occasionally with more important
ailments. It is probable that it was not used to signify
the mediasval or true leprosy before the latter half of
the eleventh century, and that Constantino, the learned
monk of Monte Casino, is the earliest writer in whose
works it is found in this sense.^ It may be considered
therefore as almost capable of proof that St. Jerome
(towards the end of the fourth century) in his revision
of the Latin version of the Old and New Testaments
used the word in the earlier or less formidable sense ;
especially as Arnobius (about the beginning of the same
century) renders'' XeVpa by "vitiligo," a word which
certainly never signified any disease at all resembling
the true leprosy.''
With respect to the Greek AeVpa It may be stated
that there is j)robably no passage in any medical
writer, either before or after the time of St. Luke,
in which the word is used to signify anything but a
5 One of his works (D« Sfoibontm Cogniti'one et Cwatione) is a
translation from the Arabic treatise of Abii Ja'far Ahmad (or
Ibnu-1-Jezzar), and ore of the chnpters (lib. vii., cap. 17, vol. i.,
p. 160) is entitled " De Elephantiasi," and corresponds with the
chapter called Fi-l-Judhdm in the original, which is still in MS. It
happens that this same work was also translated into Greek, and
in this version (which has never been printed) the chapter in
question is headed 'E\e<pavTiaai!. It is also quite certain that this
is the disease treated of ; but the strange thing is, that, though
Coustantine in the heading of the chapter speaks of elep/iaittiasts,
in the opening words of the chapter he calls the disease lepra.
Without pursuing the subject further, or attempting to account
for Coustantine's using two quite different words in the same
chapter to signify the same disease, the writer will merely
suggest that it may be this particular chapter which has given
rise to all the confusion, respecting the use of the word le]»-a, that
has prevailed from the time of Constantine (who died towards the
end of the eleventh century) nearly to the present day ; at least
this may be accepted as a probable conjecture, until some earlier
instance of this use of the word is pointed out. (See the Brit, and
For. Med. Chir. Eev. for Oct., 1874.)
fi Adv. Gentes, lib. i., p. 337 A, 1. 8 ; p. 338 A, 1. 19 ; p. 339 A,
1. 13, ed. Paris, 18;?6.
7 Celsus says of it, " quamvis perse nullum, ferScnhim adfert,
tamen et fceda est," &c. (^De Medic, lib. v., cap. 28, § 19). Could
any physician speak in this way of the mediaeval leprosy ?
73
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
scaly skin disease, Avitli or ■without more serious com-
plications. Is it therefore credible that St. Luke,
liimself a physician, would have given to the word a
meaning quite different from what it usually (if not
universally) bore in his time ? or that he would have
called the disease \firpa, when he meant f\«pavTla(ns P
which would be much the same as if a physician in the
present day were to describe a bad case of scrofula
under the name of ringworm. Tet this is the amount
of the burden of proof that falls upon those who
contend that by Xeirpa St. Luke meant some disease
essentially resembling the true or mcdiasval leprosy.
Many passages might be quoted from the ancient non-
medical writers in which the word is used in the same
o-eneral sense, so that it seems probable that those
passages which appear at first sight to have a different
meaning may admit of the same exi)lanatiou.
We now arrive at the old Greek version of the
Pentateuch, in which \eirpa is used for the translation
of nins {tzara'ath). If the above reasoning be sound,
and if it bo conceded that St. Luke wrote about the
same disease that is described in Leviticus, it will
follow that the leprosy of the Old Testament was
essentially different from the leprosy of the Middle
Ages and of modern times. Nothing but the strongest
internal evidence could overthrow this conclusion, and
this strong iutei-nal evidence is certainly wanting ; for
v.'hen Lev. xiii., xiv. are scientifically examined by an
impartial physician, the difficidty of explaining the
word n??? {tzarcC atli) in these chapters as signifying
iXecpavTiaais is at least as great as if it be taken in the
sense of Xfirpa.
A very strong confirmation of this A-iew is furnished
by the fact that both diseases are at the present day
to be found in Syi'ia, called by two different names,
judh'nn and haras, which correspond respectively to
i\«pavT'ia(Tis and Kfirpn. in the translation of the Ai'abic
work already quoted.'
On the other hand, it must be mentioned that in the
Hebrew translation of the i^edical work mentioned
above, the word nn;^ {tzara'ath) is used for the Arabic
juclhdm and the Greek iKf^uvTiaffts. If, however, the
Latin lepra can be proved to have lost its original mean-
ing so completely within the comparatively short period
of a few hundred years, we need not be surjirised at
finding the same change of signification to have
occurred in the course of several thousand years in the
1 With respect to the latter word there is an important and
interesting sentence in Dr. Tilbury Fox's pamphlet, Leprosy,
Ancient and. ifodeni, &c., Ediuhnrsh, 1866 : " During the last year
(1865), in my travels through Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, seeing
and hearing- as much as possible about leprosy, curiously enough,
I found in the vicinity of the Lebanon ranq-e, that a form of disease
is common, of old date, and recosniised as distinct from elci^haniinsis :
it is called havas d Israihj. I declare from the description,
character, and seat of the disease that it is nothing more nor less
than lepra vulgaris or aJphoB " (p. 7).
case of the Hebrew n?-is {tzara'ath) ; and it would not be
safe to conclude that, because the word was used to
signify f\«pavTiaats in the eleventh or twelfth centuiy
after Christ, it therefore bore the same meaning in the
time of Moses, probably in the sixteenth or seventeenth
century before Christ.
It should bo borne in mind that the preceding
remarks are not supposed to clear up all the difficulties
connected with the (so-called) leprosy of the Old and
New Testaments, but only to otter some reasons for
believing that the disease in question (though doubtless
frequently modified in appearance and character by
various complications^) was essentially more akin to
Aevpa (in its proper sense) than to i\e<pavTia(ns, and that
therefore the adoption of the term " leprosy," which was
at that time used in a different sense, was Ul-choson in
the first instance, and has continued to confuse the
whole subject down to the present time. It would take
up far too much space to enter fidly into the various
questions connected \vith this disease, and therefore
only a few can be noticed here, and those in a very
cursory and imperfect manner. It Avill have been
observed that the view advocated above lessens con-
siderably the medical importance of the disease, and it
certainly is not easy to understand why a disease that
is in itself so little dangeroiis should be noticed at such
length in Holy Scripture. Many conjectures have been
offered on tliis subject, but perhaj)s it is better to
confess onr ignorance, and to acknowledge, that,
whether the disease in question be considered in its
medical and sanitary aspect, or in a ceremonial and
symbolical point of vicAV, it is not possible to bring
forward any explanation that shall be perfectly satis-
factory— though there have not been wanting competent
and even eminent persons, both divines and physicians,
who have ventured to pronounce on the sidjject with great
positiveness. To confine these remarks to the medical
difficulties of the case, it seems hardly reasonable for
any one li\T[ng in this age and country to expect to be
able to verify by his own experience Ihe description of
such a disease as nyn^J {tzara'ath), wiitten by a non-
professional author, between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago,
and relating to the different species and complications
of the malady found in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine.
Even in the case of many diseases mentioned by the
old Greek, Ijatin, and Arabic physicians in times much
nearer to oiir own, the difficulty of identifj-ing the
descriptions is very great (and found to be the greatest
by those who have given most attention to the subject);
and to look for a greater degree of cei-tainty in the
diseases mentioned in the Old Testament is an expec-
tation uni-easonable in itself, and one which certainly
will not be gratified.
- Thus Pllilo calls it no\vii6p<por Kat noXvTporrot, "multiform
and chaugcful'' (?) (De PosUr. Caini, § 13, torn. i., p. 234, ed. Mangey.)
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.
79
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.
BY THE EEV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
_N tlie fourtli centuiy before tlie Christian
T^l^ era, the pro^^uces of Asia Minor were
cs overrnn and in part siibdiiecl by hordes
of Gauls, partly from the disbanded
armies of Brennus, flushed with their successes in Italy,'
and coveting the spoils of the Eastern world. Migra-
tions from the West continued through successive
generations ; and tlie Asiatic and Western powers
maintained, with various fortunes, a long-continued
struggle," until by degrees the Gallic community Avas
compressed into the rich central district lying between
Phrygia on the east and Cappadocia on the west, and
watered by the Halys and the upper streams of the
Sangarius. Augustus, B.C. 25, constituted this district
a Roman province ; while its name Galatia, etymologi-
cally allied to Gaul ^ and Kelt, denotes the race to
which its colonists belonged. At the same time a large
proportion of the ancient Phrygian inhabitants remained;
the conquerors adopting even their religion ; while,
from the admixture of Greek settlers, the province was
sometimes called Gallo-grcecia ; but the Keltic race
predominated, and in their character and national
usages presented a marked contrast to their Asiatic
neighbours, whether Jew or Gentile.
2. To this alien and isolated community the Apostle
Paul, in the course of his second missionary journey,
and just before his departure for Europe, first bore
" the glad tidings of Christ." The historian's mention
of the apostolic visit is brief and cursory — " When they
(Paul and Silas) had gone throughout Phrygia and the
region of Galatia." It is only from the Ejiistle now
under consideration that we can supplement the narra-
tive. The Apostle, "through infirmity of the flesh,
preached the Gospel unto " the Galatians " at first."*
From his language it would appear not only that he
was subject to some grievous affliction while labouring
amongst them, but that the affliction was the very
cause of his detention in Galatia. It is impossible not
to connect this notice with St. Paiil's reference to " the
thorn in his flesh" (2 Cor. xii. 7).^ The "trial,"
whatever it was, to which the Apostle was thus subject
had no unfavourable influence on his reception. On
the contrary, it seems only to have called forth the
sympathy and generous kindness of these impulsive
Keltic people. They received Paul " as an angel of
God " — nay, in a higher character stUl, had it been pos-
sible— " as Christ Jesus." In the ardour of their first
1 The sacking of Eome by Brennus occurred B.C. 390.
" The final and decisive defeat of the Gauls in Asia was by
Attains, King of Pergamos, B.C. 230.
3 The Greeks at first usually employed Galatia, the Eomans
Gallia. The restriction of the former to Asiatic, the latter to
European, Gaul is observed only by later Greek writers. See
an elaborate note in Canon Lightfoot's Commentary on Galatians,
p. 3.
^ Gal. iv. 13. 5 See Introduction to 2 Corinthians.
love they would have done anything, suiTCHdered any-
thing for the teacher who had pointed them to Christ.''
Their faith, if not deeply rooted, was earnest and eager.
They " ran well ; " giving every evidence that they
" had known God," or rather, as the Apostle adds with
a fine characteristic turn of thought, " were known of
God."
3. Wliat particular cities were thus visited must
remain matter of conjectm'e. It is natural to think of
Ancyra, Tavium, and Pessinus, the chief towns of the
Galatian province. Some critics, indeed, have remarked
that the Roman pro-vince of Galatia included Lycaonia,
with part of Pisidia, so including several cities visited
by St. Paul on his first and second missioriary tours,
the Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Der])e.7
There is, howevei*, reason to believe that the word
Galatia is used in the New Testament in its j)opular
and narrower sense, and that the Galatian cities must
be ranked among those many places, unnamed in the
history, in which the Apostle preached the word of life.
It may be, indeed, that the slightness Avitli which the
Galatians are noticed by St. Luke is attributable to
their defection from the faith.
A second -^dsit to the province was jiaid by the
Aj)Ostle in his third missionary journey, between his
lengthened residence in Coi'inth and his abode in
Ephesus. He " went over the country of Galatia and
Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples." s
This visit to the Galatians seems to have been one of
disappointment and sadness. Not only had the enthu-
siasm— the "blessedness " — of their first love deiJarted,
but the faitliful instructions and warnings of the
Apostle were misconstrued. He is counted as "au
enemy " because he " tells them the truth." He is
constramed to say, " If any man preach unto you any
other Gospel than that ye have received, let him be
anathema." 9 The germs not only of disaffection, but
of heresy, are already among them. That revolt from
the simplicity of the Gospel has begun, which occa-
sioned, in the end, the stern reproof of this Epistle.
4. The genuineness of the Epistle may be assumed as
beyond all reasonable doubt, and is, indeed, unques-
tioned even by the most revolutionary critics of modern
times.'" With respect to its date, however, very various
opinions have been entertained, and the question, within
certain limits, may be regarded as still open. The
Euthalian subscription states that it was " written from
Rome," but this view is now universally abandoned as
6 " Y<^ would have plucked out your own eyes.'' The iuference,
sometimes drawn from these words, that St. Paul's malady was
one that affected the eyesight, is hardly warranted. As Dean
Alford suggests, the emphasis rests on the word cues, not on your
own: the idea being that they would have given up anything, how-
ever valuable, for their beloved teacher's sake.
7 Acts xiii. 51 y. xiv. 6; xv. 41. ^ Acts xviii. 23.
9 Gal. iv. 15 16 • i. 9. '" See Lighlfoot, Introduction, § 4.
80
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
untenable. Tlio following considerations contain the
data from which it soems possible to reach at least an
approximate conclusion : —
a. Two visits to Galatia had been paid when the
Epistle w.\3 written. This appears certain from the
passages already cited, intimating the veiy dilforent
reception of the Apostle on the two occasions. The
phrase in chap. iv. 13, "Through infirmity of the flesh
I preached the Gospel ^nto you at the first,'' plainly
shows that a second ^•isit had already taken place.
iS. The history almost precludes the possibility of
the letter luu-ing been written after St. Paul's arrival
in Greece (Acts xx. 2). There he abode but "three
months," during which, as will be fully shown in the
next paper, the Epistle to the Romans was written — a
task which nmst have absorbed the Apostle's whole
available time and thought. After leaving Corinth, at
the close of these three months, events succeeded one
another so rapidly up to the time of the Apostle's
imprisonment in Csesarea as to have left no possible
leisure for composition.
y. The limits between which this letter must be
placed are, therefore, the Apostle's arrival in Ephesus
(Acts xix. 1), and the close of his journey through
Macedonia into Greece. This period comprises the
time dui'ing which, as shown in previous papers, the
two Epistles to the Corinthians were written. Accord-
ingly, the ablest critics have placed the Galatian letter,
either (1) before the First to the Corinthians, (2)
between the First and Second, or (3) between the
Second and the Epistle to the Romans. In any case,
it belongs to the group of Epistles written during the
latter part of St. Paul's third missionary tour. Its
precise place in this group, if determined at all, must be
decided by internal eWdence exclusively.
5. At first sight, the earliest place in the series might
appear warrant«d by the Ai)Ostle's language, " I marvel
that ye are so quicJcly tui-ning renegades from Him
who calle<l you in grace." ' And midoubtedly, if there
were no counter-considerations, the words would natu-
rally suggest that a veiy brief period had elapsed since
the conversion of the Galatians,- or, at any rate, since
St. Paul's second and disappointing visit to them.
But (1) the word raxfois may mean " readily, rashly "
(1 Tim. V. 22 ; 2 Thess. ii. 2). Or (2) allowing that
the adverb refers to time, it must be remembered that
soon is a relative term, and that apostacy from the faith
might be called speedy even after years of Christian
l^rofession.^ No very certain conclusion, therefore,
can be gathered from this expression of the Apostle.
If it be further urged that the letter naturally expresses
that knowledge of the state of the Galatians wliich
woidd be the result of a recent visit, it is obvious to
reply that all through the Apostle's residence in
Ephesjis there would undoubtedly be frequent com-
^ Cliap. ). 6. Observe, the verb is present — " turning," rot
"turned."
2 Some expositors, acoorJinjtly, looking only to this phrnse,
have pliced the letter between Ft. Paul's first and .second visits to
Galati.1. '•> See Lighlfoot, pp. 41, 73.
muuicatiou with the neighbouring province of Galatia,
which would keep him sufficiently informed respecting
the state of the churches.
e. The really determining consideration in the matter
seems to be the close connection in thought and sty]o
between the Epistle to the Galatians and that to the
Romans. The former is the finished sketch, the latter
the full development, of the same great argument
respecting law and grace. So remarkable is the coin-
cidence, not only in the general ourse of reasoning,
but in special illustrations and indi\'idual expressions,
that it seems impossible not to l)elievo that the two
Epistles belong to nearly the same period of the
Apostle's mental history.-'
C Pursuing a similar train of observation, it will
appear tliat the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
contains the germ of many thoughts in the Epistle to
the Galatians. The former, indeed, may be said to
supply, as it were, texts for the latter on some most
important points. To the Corinthians the Apostle says
(2 Cor. V. 21), " He hath made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might bo made the righteous-
ness of God in Him." The expansion of this thought
occupies the gi'cater part of the Galatian Epistle.
Again, in contrasting the Judaic Avith the Christian
dispensation, St. Paid writes (2 Cor. iii. 9), " If the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much, more doth
the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."
Here we liave the suggestion of that thought of deatli
by the law, and life through justification, which per-
vades the Galatian and Roman letters. The personal
references, again, which form so marked an element in
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and that to the
Galatians, suggest a similar order. These are thrown
out in the former Epistle, occasionally, promiscuously,
half apologetically : in the latter are combined into an
elaboi-ate defence. In the former they are simply
j>ersonal, in the latter are associated with doctrine :
showing that the opposition to the Apostle had taken
more definite ground, and must be more fidly and argu-
mentatively met. Consistent with the same conclusion
is the fact that while to the Corinthians the Apostle
speaks much of his suffermgs, in writing to the Galatians
he is reticent on this point. As an ambassador of
Christ, he is now concerned to exhibit his credentials,
rather than to speak of his sorrows : only saying, in
reference to the latter, " henceforth let no man trouble
me : for I bear in my body the brands {a-TiyfiaTa) of the
Lord Jesus." 5
•< Space will not allow the citation of parull-.l passages. The
student will readily gather them for himself ; or he may study
tlie copious table drawn out by Dr. Lightfoot, pp. 4-i, sq.
Compare Kom. iii. 20 with Gal. ii. 16; Koni. i. 17 with Gal. iii. 11;
Rom. iv. 3, 10, 11, 17 with Gal. iii. 6—9; Rom. x. 5 with Gal. iii.
12 ; Rom. iv. 1.3, 11, 16. with Gal. iii. 15—18 ; Rom. vi. 3, xiii. 14,
with Gal. iii. 27 ; Rom. xi. 32 with G.al. iii. 22; Rom. viii. 14—17
with Gal. iv. 5—7; Rom. vi. 6, 8 with Gal. ii. 20; Rom. vii. 23,
25, with Gal. v. 17; Rom. xiii. 8—10 with Gal. v. U. These are
but the more manifest coincidences : the minor and verbal accor-
dances arc almost numberless. It is evident that the argument is
cumulative, and in this view is irresistible.
5 G.il. vi. 17. The word contains a double allusion— to the
marks of persecution, and to the brand or badge which denoted
ownership or lifelong service.
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.
81
71. We conclude then with some confidence that the
Epistle to the Galatians is to be placed after that to
the Corinthians, and before that to the Romans. The
Apostle had left Ephesus and had not yet arrived in
Achaia. While travelling through Macedonia, and
giving "much exhortation" to the brethren in "those
parts," ' he finds opportunity to address these immortal
■words of warning and instruction to the erring disciples
in Galatia. "All the brethren who are with " him- —
his companions in travel — unite in the expostulatory
addi'ess, thus assisting him to bear this heaviest part
of what he has a little while before described as " the
care of all the churches."'^
5. The special error by which the Galatians were led
astray is for us long buried among the settled contro-
versies of the past. We wonder perhaps at its former
power, at least in any Gentile community ; and yet in
some points of Adew the doctrine of the Judaizers was
at least plausible. The Gospel without doubt was the
development of the Law, which it " came not to destroy,
but to fulfil ; " and it might speciously be argued that
the plan adopted in the Divine education of the xoorld
was as necessary for the individual. First Moses, and
then Christ — this had been the experience of the race,
the experience of all the earliest converts and teachers
of the truth : — why not, then, the experience needful to
all who would be saved? It was in this aspect that
the conversion of the Gentiles was at first regarded by
the mother-church at Jerusalem ; and even after the
decision of the assembly, recorded Acts xv., the opinion
still lingered. Scattered through Galatia were many
Jews,* and though the bulk of the converts in the
province were Gentiles, " doing serA^ice unto them
which by nature are no gods,"^ the reception of Jesus
as the Messiah would bring the converts from heathen-
ism into the circle of Jewish thought. Add to this
that the Keltic character is imaginative, impulsive,
especially open to the allurements of ritualistic, sen-
suous forms of religion, and it is no wonder that the
Galatians were "bewitched" — fascinated'' by a ceremo-
nialism in which, it was represented to them, they
might indulge without losing their part in Christ and
in His Gospel. The teachings of the Apostle, in their
severe simplicity, became distasteful. The religious
extemalism, in which circumcision was the leading rite
and most expressive symbol, was presented, not, indeed,
as a substitut-e for Christianity, but as its needful
accompaniment. The Judaizing teachers claimed for
their presentation of the Gospel the merit of complete-
ness. In comparison with this, the apostolic doctrine
1 Acts XX. 2. 2 Gal. i. 2.
3 2 Cor. xi. 28. It may be added that the above conclusion
R.S to the date of the Epistle is strongly maintained by Canon
Lightfoot, to whose able and exhaustive essay, Journal e/ Classical
ami Saci'ed PJiiioIogy, vol. iii. [Commentary, pp. 35 — 55), the reader
is referred. The same view is advocated by Bleek (Introduction to
New Testament), and Conybeare and Howson, with others. The
great majority of expositors, however (see Alford), dite the
Epistle from Ephesus, either before or after the First Epistle to
tlie Corinthians.
■* See Josephus, Ant. xii. 3, § 4 ; xvi. 6, §3. « Gal. iv. 8.
^ Gal. iii. 1, e/iiianave — exactly our word "fascinated."
78 — vaL. IV.
appeared impalpable and imperfect. Were the com-
mands and institutions delivered to the fathers to be
counted as nothing? Was the olden covenant to be
annulled? As the very condition of being " in Christ,"
must not the faithful be grafted into the stock of
Abraham ? Such were the questions which arose from
the midst of early Jewish Chi'istianity ; questions which
perplexed and perverted the GeutUe churches, and
which reached their uttermost of mischief in Galatia.
The old assertion was echoed from Jerusalem and
Antioch, " Except ye be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, ye cannot be saved;"" and the Apostle
whose name had already become the symbol of a libei'al
Christianity was decried as a pretender to the apostolic
office, or, at any rate, as inferior to the twelve who had
received their commission direct from Christ. It was
therefore needful for St. Paul to insist, with greater
fulness and detaU than heretofore, upon two j)oints :
first, the freedom and spu-ituality of the Gospel ; and
secontlly, his own apostolic claim, as of one commis-
sioned by Christ Himself.
6. These are accordingly the leading thoughts of the
Epistle, which naturally falls into three di^nsions.
Personal, Doctrinal, and Practical ; with a Summary at
the close written by St. Paul's own hand.
I. Personal (chaps, i., ii.). This section may be
divided as follows : —
(1.) Salutation (i. 1 — 5). In this opening sentence,
with the customary greeting St. Paul asserts his apos-
tolic claims — " Not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ, and God the Father " — thus anticipating
what was to follow.
(2.) Rebuke, and declaration of the unchanging truth
of the one Gospel which he preached (i. 6 — 10). It is
to be observed that the Apostle omits the usual com-
mendation, either in the impetuosity with which he
presses on to his main topic, or to enhance the sternness
of his reproof.
(3.) Assertion of his own apostleship (i. 6 — ii. 21).
This section is subdivided as follows : —
a. The Gospel which he preached came " by reve-
lation of Jesus Christ" (i. 11, 12).
6. It was opposed to aU his early beliefs and preju-
dices (vv. 13, 14).
c. Even after his conversion he remained independent
of the Apostles, being actually separate from them (vv.
15— 17).8
d. And, subsequently, when visiting Jerusalem, the
independence was maintained. Only a fortnight was
spent in St. Peter's company, and there was no inter-
course with the rest of the Twelve (vv. 18 — 20V^
e. His work from the first lay apart from that of the
' Acts XV. 1.
8 The three years' abode of the Apostle in Arabia, entirely
passed over in the history, forms an important datum in his
biography. It is included in the phrase "after that many days
were fulfilled " (Acts ix. 23).
9 " James the Lord's brother " is now generally regarded as a
different person from James the son of AlphaBus. The " brethren
of the Lord" were probably not cousins, but either sons of Joseph
and Mary, or sous of Josejih by a former wife.
82
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Judseau Cliristians, v.lio did uot evou know liiiu persou-
ally, yet fully sympathised with him {w. 21 — 2-4).
/. When " fourteeu years after" this first visit to Jeru-
salem,' he "went up" thither again (to attend tlie meet-
ins of the Church recorded Acts xv.)i he still maintained
liis independence. He went up, not at the cull of the
Apostles, but " by revelation ; " asserted his freedom,
notably, in relation to the demand that Titus should be
circilmcised ; and in regard to his position and labours
as an Apostle, was treated on a footing of equality with
the rest (ii. 1—10).
g. And afterwards at Antioch, so far from yielding
to Peter as a superior, he " \^^thstood him to the face,"
rebuking him for unworthy yielding to the Jewish
party, and so falling into the same kind of eiTors as
those which he is proceeding to denounce ^ (w. 11 —
21).
II. Doctrinal. — The mention of St. Peter's error
leads natui-aUy to the detailed exj)Osure and refutation
of the similar delusion of the Galatians.
(1.) They had received the truth, not in connection
with legal ordinances, but by the exhibition of a crucified
Saviour. Is their Christian life now to sink to a lower
level ? (iii. 1—5.)
(2.) "Would they be the true seed of Abraham ?
They, like him, must be just through faith (vv. 6 — 9).
(3.) The Law condemns, it cannot justify. Christ
only can redeem (w. 10 — 14).
(4.) The Law was later than the i)romise : the pledge
of redemption through Christ stands fii'st in order of
time, and is supreme (w. 15 — 18).
(5.) Further, the Law, so to speak, is but a paren-
thesis in the Divine dealings, a tempor'ary dispensation
rendered necessary by man's transgression. It was,
moreover, given through instrumentality of created
beings, "angels," and an earthly " mediator," and cannot
therefore belong to tlie eternal order ^ (vv. 19, 20).
(6.) Tet the Law is not contrary to the promise, but
preparatory to its fulfilment in the Gospel (w. 21 — 23).
(7.) Inference from all the foregoing. The Law is
for the childhood of the race ; but the time of nonage
is passed, and the inheritance of freedom may be
claimed (iii. 24 — iv. 7).
The Apostle here interposes an earnest appeal to the
Galatians, not to turn again to a state of bondage, but
to listen again to his own pleadings, ratlier than to the
words of those who would enslave their souls (iv. 8
—20).
(8.) An illustration of the contrast between Law and
1 For the difficulties iu the chronology, as compared with the
history in the Acts, see Li-htfoot, p. 88. The " undesigned coinci-
dences" of tlie two accounts vxe very striking; and no real
discrepancies remain.
- The words of St. Paul's address to St. Peter gradually "lose
themselves " in the reflections suggested, so that at the end of the
chapter the Apostle is speaking to the Galatians. "For simihir
instances of the intermingling of the direct languntro of the
Bpeaker and the after comment of the narrator," see John i IS-
IS ; Actsi. lG-21.
3 It is said that more than 200 interpretations have been given
of verse 20, on which see the commentaries. Tha above appears
the general sense.
Gospel is drawn from an allegorical application of the
history of Isaac and Ishmaol* (vv. 21 — 31).
III. Practical (chaps, v., vi.). Of tins section
" freedom " is the key-note.
(1.) Maintain your freedom resolutely (v. 1).
(2.) If you surrender your liberty in the matter of
circumcision, you are bound by tlie whole Law. Law or
Gospel — you must choose between them (vv. 2 — 6).
(3.) These Judaizers are false teachers, autichristian
and corrupting {w. 7 — 12).
(4). Only remember that liberty is not licence.
There is a law — the law of love. Show your freedom
by walking iu the Sj)irit (vr. 13 — 18).
a. The works of the flesh are enumerated (rv. 19
-21).
b. And the works of the Spirit (vv. 22—26).
(5.) Two special injunctions are added :
a. To forbearance and brotherly sympathy (vi. 1 — 5).
b. To liberality, especially in the support of their
teachers and fellow-believers (w. 6 — 10).
These two injunctions, it may be added, remarkably
correspond with the special topics of St. Paul's Second
Epistle to the Corinthians — the restoration of the erring
(2 Cor. ii. 5 — 11), and the obligations of beneficence
(2 Cor. viii., ix.). On the latter point the Apostle had
abeady given directions *' to the churches of Galatia "
(1 Cor. xAd. 1).
IV. Summary, in the Apostle's own handwriting,
and Benediction (vi. 11 — 18).
At this point St. Paid himself takes the pen from his
amanuensis, and "in large letters," written with his
" own hand " as if to mark the intensity of his feeling,^
and to add impressiveness to his words, gathers up the
whole teaching of the Epistle into one glowing para-
graph, ending with a pathetic reference to the suf-
ferings which marked him out as Chi-ist's, and bidding
the Galatians an affectionate fareAvell. He had written
sternly, but cannot leave them in anger : his last words
to them are words of love.
7. The effect of the letter is imknown : neither in
liistory or Epistle is there any further mention of
Galatia.^ Once the Apostle had expressed a generous
hopefulness as to the result of his appeals, " I have
confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be
none otherwise minded ; " ' but how far his expectations
were fulfilled it is impossible to say. Again and again
the Galatian churches appear in ecclesiastical history,
always with the same mingled character of earnestness
and superstition — impulses to noble devoteduess and
strange lapses into heresy. There is scarcely a form of
•• "Which things are an allegory'' (ver. 24), rather "are
susceptible of allegorical application,*' superimposed upon their
literal, historical raeauing.
■^ Verse 11 — uot " how large a letter," but " with low large
letters." Some have interpreted this, ingeniously, of the size of thfr
letters as rendered necessary by the Apostle's (suppased) imperfect
eyesight— a kind of apology, iu fact, for bad writing ! But this
seems forced, and the above interpretation is natural.
^ There is au appnrcnt exception in 2 Tim. iv. 10, " Crescens
(has departed) to Galatia ;" but there are strong reasons for
believing this passage to refer to European Gaul.
7 Gal. y. 10.
THE HISTORY OF TH:E ENGLISH BIBLE.
83
error wliieh does not in some way connect itself with
Ancyra. Gregory of Nazianzum denounces the f oUy of
the Galatians, who abound in many names of impiety.
Julian " the Apostate " declares that whole villages
in the province were depopulated by the intolerance
and quarrels of the Christians. Yet, in the persecution
under Diocletian, Galatia had given its martyrs to the
faith, and at the close of this stormy period " a famous
council was held at Ancyra — a court-martial of the
Chiu'ch, for the purpose of restoring discipline, and
pronouncLug upon those who had faltered or deserted
in the combat." The revival of heathen worship in
Galatia was attempted by Julian, who visited the pro-
vince in person, but unsuccessfully : confessors again
withstood to the death. It was easier to the end for
the " foolish Galatians " to gi-asp the crown of martyr-
dom than to rest in the simplicity of the faith.
8. This Epistle has in all ages engaged the reverent
study of the greatest theologiiins. Luther chose it as
the most eifective means of attacking the corruptions
of the mediaeval Church, and his Commentary on the
Galatians, written and re-written by him with sedulous
care, was his favourite work. " The Epistle to the
Galatians," said the great Seformer, "is my Epistle:
I have betrothed myself to it ; it is my wife." More
modern expositions are almost innumerable ; that by
Canon Lightfoot is well and deservedly esteemed for
justness of criticism, copiousness and accuracy of infor-
mation, and sympathetic insight into the very heart of
the Apostle.
THE HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
BY THE REV. W. F. MOULTON, M.A. LOND., PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS, WESLEYAN COLLEGE, RICHMOND.
MATTHEW'S BIBLE.
runs thus :
iBOUT two years after the publication of
Coverdale's translation appeared another
foho volume containing the Bible in
English. The inscription on the title-page
■ The Byble, which is all the holy Scrijoture:
In which are contayned the Olde and Newe Testament
truly and purely ti'anslated into Englysh by Thomas
Matthew. Esaye I. Hearcken to ye heauens and thou
earth geaue eare : for the Lorde speaketh. M,D, xxxvii,
Set forth with the Kinges most gracyous lycence." In
no part of the volume is any information given as to
the place of publication, and all that we can say is that
the book was printed abroad. The Dedication to
Henry VIII. bears the signature of Thomas Matthew,
but contaias nothing which thi'ows any light on the
translator or on the cu'cumstances of the translation.
A brief " Exhortacyon to the studye of the holy Scryp-
ture " is signed with the initials I. R. The only
remainiug indications which can point to any persons
connected with the work are the initials R. G. and
E. W., found on the reverse of the title-page of the
second part of the volume (containing " The Prophetes
in Englysh,") and the letters W. T., which occur at the
end of the Book of Malachi.
It is evident at a glance that this book is no reprint
of Coverdale's translation. Yet, notwithstanding the
measure of favom* shown to Coverdale's Bible, the new
volume made its way into England with surprising ease
and success. The first notice of it that we find is in a
letter from Cranmer to Cromwell, dated August 4, 1537.
The Archbishop begs Cromwell to read the book, a
copy of which he sends with his letter, assuring him
that, so- far as he has examined the translation, it is
more to his liking than any translation heretofore
made. He prays Cromwell to exhibit the book to the
king, and to obtain from him a "license that the same
may be sold and read of every person, without danger
of any act, proclamation, or ordinance heretofore granted
to the contrary, until such time that we the Bishops
shall set forth a better translation, which I think will
not be till a day after doomsday." A few days later
Cranmer again writes, expressing his most hearty thanks
to CromweU for havuig obtaiued from the king that
the book ' ' shall be allowed by his authority to be
bought and read within this realm." This translation
may therefore be called the first authorised version of
the English Bible.^ The initials mentioned above,
R. G. and E. W., are those of the London printers,
Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, at whose
expense the volume was printed. From a letter written
by Grafton to Cranmer, in which he seeks protection
against unauthorised reprints, we learn that the im-
pression had consisted of 1,500 copies, and that Grafton
had ventured in the undertaking the sum of £500 — a
large venture at that time. The whole impression
appears to have been sold within a short period. The
royal licence had removed all obstacles which could
embarrass the sale or the reading of the book, and the
English nation joyfuUy welcomed the gift of the Scrip-
tures translated into their mother tongue.
But it is time to ask. Who was Thomas Matthew ?
What is the meaning of the initials I. R. and W. T.,
which, as we have seen, are foimd in this book ? The
second of these questions may be easily answered.
Foxe's testimony, though of doubtful accuracy in some
details, is of itseK sufficient to show that under " I. R."
we must understand John Rogers, the first who suffered
for his religion in the reign of Queen Mary.
John Rogers was born about the year 1500. Soon
after taking the degree of B.A. at Cambridge, in 1525,
he received an invitation to Christ Chm-ch, Oxford,
1 In the same year, 1537, the royal licence was obtained for
Coverdale's Bible. See above. Vol. III., p. 264.
8t
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
then known as " Cardinal Collogo." About the year
153-i lie accepted the office of chaplain to the Merchant
Adventurers at Antwerp, in which city Tyndale was
then residing. Foxe relates that in Antwerp Rogers
chanced "to" fall in company with tliat wortliy martyr
of God, William Tyndale, and with Miles Coverdale,
which both for the hatred they l)ave to Popish super-
stition and idolatry, and love they bare toward true
religion, had forsaken their native country. In confer-
ring with them the Scriptures, he came to great know-
ledge in the Gospel of God, insomuch that he cast off
the" heavy yoke of Popery, perceiving it to be impure
and filtliy idolatry, and joined liimself with them two in
that painful" (i.e. difficult) " aud most profitable labour
of translating the Bible into the EngUsh tongue, which
is entitled, 'The Translation of Thomas Matthew.'" ^
Rogers's association with Tyndale seems to have been
very intimate, though of but short duration His Bible
was published a few months after Tyndale's death. In
1537 he married, and removed to Wittenberg, where,
probably, he remained until 1547. During the short
rei"-u of Edward VI. he received many marks of favour
from the party then in power. His elevated position
and his courageous advocacy of Protestant opinions
marked him out as an early victim in the persecution
which followed ; and in February, 1555, he was burned
alive in Smithfield.
The nature of Rogers's Biblical labours mil appear
when we examine the internal character of Matthew's
Bible. Enough has been said to show that " W. T."
can hardly have any other meaning tlian "William
Tyndale." It is much more difficult to deal with the
remaining question, relating to Thomas Matthew.
Foxe intimates that this was merely a name which
Rogers assumed from prudential motives, lest his
known connection mth Tyndale should prove injurious
to the undei'taking. In favour of this view, which is
accepted by most modern Avi'iters, is the fact that in the
official record of the apprehension of Rogers he is
described as "John Rogers, alias Matthew." It is
possible, however, that the name is a real one, and
belongs to some patron tlirough whose aid the work
was undertaken. Neither view is free from difficulty.
If Matthew and Rogers were different men, it is singular
that all knowledge of Matthew should so soon have
been lost, and that in less than twenty years the name
shoidd have been supposed to be a mere alias. If but
one person is signified, it is somewhat strange that both
names should occur in the documents prefixed to the
Bible. On any supposition the statement on the title-
page is inaccui-ate.
Let us now examine the translation itself. Tlie Xew
Testament need not detain us long, for with very
sliglit and occasional exceptions it is a reproduction of
Tyndale's version. Where Tyndale's second and third
editions differ, Matthew seems usually to agree with the
third, tliat of 1535. In the Old Testament the case is
not so clear. It will be remembered that in 1537 there
existed in print the following versions of the Old
Testament, or parts of the Old Testament: Tyndale's
Pentateuch (1531, 1534), Jonah (1531), and " Epistles"
from the Old Testament aud Apocrypha (1534), and
Coverdalo's Old Testament and Apocrypha. If we
compare the translation before us with each of those,
we meet with the following results : —
(1) The translation of the Pentateuch is certainly
Tyndale's. The changes introduced are very slight,
hardly greater perhaps than the variations between
the two editions pvdjlished by Tyndale himself. For
example : in the list of clean beasts (Dent. xiv. 4, 5),
the last five are given by TjTidale as the bugle, hart-
goat, unicorn, " origen, and camelion ;" in Matthew's
Bible wild goat takes the place of hart-goat, but no
other change is made. In Lev. xi. 22 Rogers and
Tyndale agree (with Luther) in leaving untranslated
tlie four words which in the Authorised Version are
represented by locust, bald-locust, beetle, grasshopper.
Tyndale, however, gives no explanation of the words,
whereas in Matthew's Bible it is stated that "Arbe,
Selaam, Hargol, Hagab, are kyndes of beastes that
crepe or scraul on the grounde, which the Hebrues them
seines do not now a dayes know." In the passage
which we have referred to so frequently. Numb. xxiv.
15 — 24, the two Aversions differ only in spelling.
(2) An example of Tjaidale's "Epistles" from the
Old Testament has been already given (see Vol. II.,
p. 302), and has also been compared with Coverdale's
version (see Vol. III., p. 266). It is therefore only
necessary to say that Matthew's Bible and Cover-
dale's are here perfectly in accord.
(3) In the books from Ezra to Malachi, not excluding
the Book of Jonah, and in the Apocryphal books (with
one exception, wliich will be referred to afterwards),
Matthew's Bible is almost identical with Coverdale's.
In 100 verses taken at random from various books
witMn these limits, the difference in text be^een the
two versions does not amount to eight words in a
thousand. In Psalms xc. — xcv. (87 verses) the only
variations in translation are an insertion of the, and
the substitution of thine for thij (three times), disdain-
fully for disdainedly, and we for as for lis we (xcv. 7),
said for sware (xcv. 11). With the exception of the last,
for whicli it is hard to account except on the suppo-
sition of accident, all these alterations maintained
tlieir ground, aud are still to be found in the Prayer
Book Psalter.
(4) Wo have now examined all the books of the Old
Testament except nine — Joshua to 2 Chronicles. Here
we should naturally expect that Matthew's Bible would
give Coverdale's translation, as the only English trans-
lation then extant. The most cursory examination will
sliow that this is not the case. This part of Matthew's
Bible therefore is now. Who then is the translator ?
The statements of our authorities are conflicting. Foxe^
ascribes nearly tlie whole of Mattliew's Bible to Tyndale
and Coverdale, Rogers being the translator of some
' .i4c(s and Monwnents, vol. vi., p. 591.
S Vol.
412.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
Apocryphal books and the " corrector to the jirint."
Bishop Bale ^ (writing about 1548) speaks of Rogers as
translating the whole Bible, making use ot Tyndale's
version. Another writer, quoted by Lewis,^ tells us
that to the end of the Books of Chronicles the trans-
lation is Tyndale's ; and from thence to the end of the
Apocrypha, Coverdale's; and that the whole New
Testament is Tyndale's. There can be no doubt that
the last of these statements is almost hterally true, and
that TjTidale left behind him in manuscript a version
ef the books from Joshua to Chronicles, which was
first given to the world by Rogers in Matthew's Bible.
We know that Tyndale continued to labour on the
Old Testament for months, if not for years, after the
completion of his Pentateuch ; and we can point to no
one more likely than Rogers to be entrusted with the
results of his labours. It is also clear that, if tliese
books had been translated by Tyndale, the general
principle on which Rogers acted wovdd lead him to
adopt this version in preference to Coverdale's. If we
examine the translation itself, it lends evidence on the
same side. One or two illustrations only can be given
here.
We have to show that the translation of the Books
from Joshua to Chronicles is probably from the same
hand as the translation of the Pentateuch, and not from
the same hand as the translation of the later books
(from Ezra onwards). There is a Hebrew word (elon),
occurring nine times in the Old Testament, which is
rendered "plain" in our common Bibles, but which in
Tyndale's Pentateuch is more correctly ti-anslated "oak"
or " oak-grove " (in Deut. xi. 30, " grove "). We turn
to the later passages in which the word occurs, viz.,
Judg. iv. 11 ; ix. 6, 37 ; 1 Sam. s. 3, and find that in
each of tliese passages Matthew's Bible has "oak." The
curious expression rendered in our Bibles " shut up and
left" occurs five times (with slight variations), viz.,
once in Deuteronomy and four times in the Books of
Kings. In Mattliew's Bible the uniform rendering is
"prisoned (or in prison) and forsaken." It is not
necessary to inquire into the correctness of this render-
ing ; whether con-ect or not, the same translation of
this peculiar phrase was adopted by Tyndale in his
Pentateuch, and by the translator of the Books of
Kings. Amongst the musical instruments described
in these pages (see Yol. IT., p, 314), is the tambour or
hand-drum, in Hebrew topJi. Now this word occurs
three times in the Pentateuch, five times between
Joshua and 2 Chronicles, and nine times in later books
• — that is, three times in the part which was certainly
Tyndale's, nine times in Coverdale's portion, and five
times in the books which lie between. In the Penta-
teuch the translation is always timbrel. In the books
from Ezra onwards (setting aside three passages in
which entirely difEerent words occur) Coverdale always
adopts tahret. In the books of which we are now
speaking, Matthew's Bible has always timbrel, nev«r
1 See Rtrrpe, Cranmi'r, Vol. 1., p. 119.
'^ Histonj oj Trniislattons, p. 107,
tab ret — that is, has Tyndale's rendering and not
Coverdale's. The effect of such e\adence as this, the
acciunidation of minute coincidences between Tyndale's
acknowledged work and the work which tradition
ascribes to him, is such as to produce the strongest
persuasion that the tradition is true. This conclusion
would seem to leave Rogers no part in the work of
translation, and to assign him no higher place than that
of editor. There is, however, a small contribution
from his own hand. In Coverdale's Bible one portion
of the Apoci-ypha was absent, the Prayer of Manasses ;
the Zurich translators, whom Coverdale mainly followed,
having passed over this book. The omission is here
supi^lied. The translation, however, is made neither
from the Greek text, which at that period was not
accessible, nor directly from the Latin, but j)robably
from the French Bible of Olivetan (1535).
Rightly to estimate Rogers's work, it would be
necessary to institute a minute comparison between his
Bible and the earlier translations : the hand of the
careful editor is evident throughout, as a few miscel-
laneous examples -will prove. In Psalm xiv. the
intrusive verses admitted by Coverdale, and still
allowed to stand in our Prayer Books, are entu-ely
removed. The numbering of the Psalms is changed,
and made to agi-ee with the Hebrew. As in the
Hebrew Bible, the Psalter is divided into five books
or " Treatises." " Hallelujah," left untranslated by
Coverdale, is rendered, "Praise the everlasting." In
Psalm cxix., and in other alphabetical poems, the several
letters of the Hebrew alphabet are wi-itten at the head
of each section and before each verse. In Job i. 21
Coverdale had inserted after the words, " the Lord hath
taken away," the parenthesis, "the Lord hath done his
pleasure ;" but Rogers removes these words, adding
the following note, " The Greek and Origen add here-
unto. As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done." In
Job xxxiii. 23, Coverdale has "angel," where we read
" interpreter :" Rogers substitutes " messenger," with
an explanation in the margin, "That is, an instructor
with the word of God." These notes are the most
characteristic feature of Matthew's Bible. Sometimes
dealing with points of translation, sometimes with
verbal explanations, sometimes with matters of doctrine,
they furnish an interesting and often a valuable com-
mentary on the text. As Coverdale's note on Selah
has been quoted, Matthew's may be given for the sake
o£ comparison: " This word, after Rabbi Kimchi, was a
sign or token of lifting up the voice, and also a monition
and advertisement to enforce the thought and mind
earnestly to give heed to the meaning of the verse unto
which it is added. Some will that it signify pei-petually
or verily." Rogers deals very freely with the notes of
his predecessors. Where Tyndale presses unduly into
controversy with Rome, Rogers again and again declines
to follow him, but he retains useful explanations of the
text. He does not always, however, decline controversy.
Almost the only note in the Aj)ocryphal books (on
2 Mace. xii. 44) is a protest against the practice of
praying for the dead. In the canonical books these
86
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
notes, placed sometimes in the margin, sometimes at
the end of the chapter, are frequently of considerable
extent, especially in the Psalms and in some parts of
Isaiah — chap, xliii. for example. The titles of the
Psalms are carefully explained, the opinions of various
authors being quoted. In Ps. ii. the verses are allotted
to the several speakers — the prophet, the enemy, God,
and the King Christ. The same separation of person-
ages is given very elaborately in the Song of Solomon.
In Ps. xcvii. 8 daughters are expLained as towns and
villages. On the last verse of Ps. cxxxix. there is a
cui-ious remark : " Some read. Then lead me by the
way of the world, that is, destroy me." In Gen. ii. 17,
••■ die the death," the editor carefully explains the force
of such apparently redundant expressions, such " re-
hearsals of words," as he calls them. On Numb, xxxiii.
52, " chapels," he quotes two Rabbins for the alternative
rendering " graved paving stones." In the New Testa-
ment Rogers sometimes gives in substance one of
Luther's vigorous comments. Thus on John v. 17 :
" That is, my Father keepeth not the Sabbath day, no
more do I. But my Father used no common merchan-
dise on the Sabbath, and no more do I."
Rogers does not folloAV Coverdale in giving the con-
tents of chapters in one body at the commencement of
a book, but usually prefixes a heading to each chapter.
No prologues or introductions are given, as a rule. A
note at the commencement of the Song of Solomon
briefly states the writer's view of the meaning of this
" mystical device." The Book of Lamentations has an
introduction slightly altered from Coverdale's. The
Apocryphal books are introduced by a preface (trans-
lated from Olivetan's French Bible), in which the
inferior authority of these books is carefully pointed
out. In the New Testament the only insertion of the
kind is of considerable length, and is no other than
Tyndale's famous Prologue to the Ej)istle to the
Romans.
The preliminary matter in Matthew's Bible is un-
usually elaborate. Besides the dedication and the
exhortation already spoken of, and some other sections
of no great length (as a Calendar and an Almanac, at
tho close of which we are told that " the year hath
. . . fifty-two weeks and one day ... in all, 365 days
and six hours"), we find a very copious "Table of the
principal matters contained in the Bible," occupying
twenty-six pages. This concordance or dictionary is
not original, but is translated from Olivetan. Rogers's
obligations to this French Bible were very great
throughout his work. Thus, the notes above referred
to on Job i., xxxiii., Numb, xxxiii., Ps. xcvii., cxxxix.,
2 Mace. xii. 44, and on Selah, the preface to Solomon's
Song, the division of the Psalter into five " Treatises,"
the rendering of Hallelujah, are either altogether or
in the main derived from this source. Much of the
explanatoiy matter is taken from the commentaries of
PeUican.
The order of the books is nearly the same as in
Coverdale's Bible; but Baruch is removed from its
place by Jeremiah, and placed between Ecclesiasticus
and " the song of the iii children in the oven." The
Prayer of Mauasses precedes 1 Maccabees. The books
of the New Testament are divided into two groups, the
historical books and the Epistles. The order of the
Epistles remains unaltered, 1 2 Peter and 1, 2, 3 John
coming between Philemon and Hebrews ; but there aro
no breaks in the list, separating the Epistles into
different classes. There is a curious tendency to give
two forms of names, as " Ezechiel or Jehezekiell," &c.
Copies of Matthew's Bible are to be found in the
libraries of the British Museum and of Lambeth
Palace, the Bodleian Library, &c. The volume is a fine
folio, of larger size than Coverdale's Bible. Like that
Bible, it is ornamented with woodcuts, most of them
small: these are most numerous in Exodus and the
Revelation. Of the subsequent editions of Matthew's
Bible (1549, 1551, &c.) it is not necessary to say more
than that considerable alterations were introduced in
the notes, introductions, &c., and some changes made
in the text.
Closely connected with Matthew's Bible is that of
Taverner. Our information respecting this translator
is mainly derived from a graphic account given by
Anthony a Wood (one of his descendants), in his Athence
Oxonienses. Richard Taverner was born in 1505. He
was educated for a time in Benet (Corpus Christi)
College, Cambridge ; but after a year and a half went
to the Cardinal College, Oxford. About 1530, being
now Master of Arts in both imiversities, he " went to
an inn of Chancery, near London, and thence to the
Inner Temple, where his humoiu- was to quote the law
in Greek when he read anything thereof." In 1534 he
went to the Court, and was taken into the attendance
of Cromwell, through whose influence ho was after-
wards made one of the clerks of the signet. In 1539
Taverner published his edition of the Bible : " The
most sacred Bible, whiche is the holy scripture, con-
teyuing the old and new testament, translated in to
English, and newly recognised with great diligence
after most faythful exemplars, by Rychard Taverner.
i^° Harken thou heuen, and thou erth gyue eare : for
the Lorde speaketh. Esaie. i. Prynted at London in
Flete strete at the sygue of the sonne by John ByddeU,
for Thomas Barthlet. Cumprivilegio ad imprimendwm
solum. M. D. XXXIX." The version was allowed to
be publicly read in churches. After the fall of Crom-
well, in 1540, Taverner's labours on the Scriptures
brought him under censure, and he was committed to
the Tower : his imprisonment, however, was of short
duration, and he was soon restored to the king's favour.
In 1552, though a layman, he received from Edward YI.
a general licence to preach. We are told that ho
preached before the king at Court, and in some public
])laces in the kingdom, wearing a velvet bonnet or round
cap, a damask gown, and a chain of gold about his neck ;
in which habit he was seen and heard preaching several
times in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, in the beginning
of the reign of Elizabeth. Dui-ing Mary's reign
Taverner prudently remained in retirement. Elizabeth
showed him marks of special favour, and made him
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
87
liigh sheriff of the county of Oxford. He died in the
year 1575.
The dedication of Taverner's Bible is to King Henry,
and is characterised by manliness and good sense. The
preliminary matter is nearly identical Avith that found
in Matthew's Bible. There are no woodcuts, and but
few explanatory notes. In the numbering of the Psalms
Taverner returns to the Vulgate reckoning, giving the
Hebrew numbers in the margin: the division of the
Psalter into five books no longer appears. The influence
of the Vulgate is distinctly traceable in many, if not in
most, of the changes which Taverner introduced in the
Old Testament. Thus, in Gen. iii. 5, where Matthew
has "ye shall be as God," Taverner changes the last
word into " gods ;" in verse 2-4, for " a naked sword" he
writes "a fiery sword." In the closing words of Gen.
xlix. 6 the earlier rendering, " they houghed an ox," is
changed, certainly not for the better, into " they threw
down the walls of the city ;" in verse 10 " Shiloh "
becomes " he that is to be sent." In Matthew's Bible
the obscure word Abrech (Gen. xli. 43) is retained in
the text, different opinions as to its meaning being
given in the margin ; Taverner removes the note, and
reads, " that eveiy person should bow his knee before
him." For " prisoned and forsaken " (1 Kings xxi. 21),
Taverner has " incluse and furthest," a bare and hardly
intelligible translation from the Latin. Many of the
alterations, however, give greater clearness to the
English. Thus, "a curtesye bawlme " (G^n. xliii. 11)
is changed into "a quantitie of bawlme;" by and by
into forthwith; but and ifmio but if. On the whole,
the amount of alteration is but small. In Numb. xxiv.
15 — 24, for example, only two words in Matthew's
Bible are changed by Taverner — viz., remnant into
residue, and neverthelater into nevertheless. The
principal difference between the two works in the Old
Testament, therefore, consists in the absence of so large
a proportion of Rogers's notes from Taverner's edition.
In the New Testament the changes introduced by
Taverner are more numerous. Thus in Matt, xxi., xxii..
containing ninety-two verses, we find about forty varia-
tions, of which one-third are retained in the Authorised
Version. In ten or eleven of these changes the object
has been to remove superfluous words ; in nearly twenty
a more terse or expressive phrase has been sought for,
or a more correct and literal rendering of the Greek.
In xxii. 12, " had never a word to say " is more forcible
than " he was even speechless ;" " intreated them foully"
(ver. 6), than "intreated them ungodly;" " stopped the
Sadducees' mouths" (ver. 34), than "put the Sadduceea
to silence." In Luke xii. 29, where we read " neither
be ye of doubtful mind," Tyndale's translation is
" neither climb ye up on high ; " Taverner's, " and be
not carried in the clouds." In John viii. 25, a very
difficult verse, Tyndale reads, "Even the very same
thing that I say unto you;" Taverner, "First of all,
even that I say unto you." In John iii. 8, Taverner
adopts the rendering, " The spirit breatheth," but with
a note that " spirit is here taken for the wind." Another
added note is in the Epistle of St. Jude, on the word
"feasting" (ver. 12) : " Feastmges for the relyef of the
poore were called charytyes." Many more examples
of improved English or more faithful renderings might
easily be given. It must, however, be confessed that
in difficult passages Taverner often fails us, and that
many plain mistakes in earlier versions remain uncor-
rected. In Acts xxvii. 9, for instance, Taverner retains
Tyndale's translation, " because that we had overlong
fasted;" and in Acts xii. 19 we read even here that
Herod commanded the keepers " to dejoart." A curious
feature in this edition is the occasional adoption of a
novel spelling, in accordance with the etymology of
a word. As a whole, the version is of very unequal
merit— the work of a scholar, able and energetic, but
somewhat capricious and uncertain.
Taverner's Bible was published both in folio and ia
quarto ; liis New Testament in quarto and in octavo in
the same year. Another edition of the New Testament
(somewhat altered) appeared iu 1540; of the Old
Testament ia 1551.
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
BT MAJOK WILSON, E.E.
v.— G A L I L E E {concluded).
*ORTH of Jefat are Sukhnin (Sogane) and
Kubarah(Gabara),the latter once classed
with Tiberias and Sepphoris as one of
the largest cities of Galilee, and men-
tioned by Josephus as having been taken by Vespasian
shortly before he laid siege to Jotapata. To the
south, across the plain of Buttauf, lies Rummaneh, the
Rimmon of Naphtali ; and beyond, at the western end
of what may be called the southern arm of the Buttauf,
is Seffuriyeh, the old Sepphoris, or Diocsesarea, once
the capital of Galilee, and for many centuries of the
present era an important city, having coins struck with
its name. Tradition now points to it as the home of
Joachim and Anna, the reputed parents of the Virgin ;
and Antoninus (circ. 600 a.d.) states that in his day a
basilica stood on the spot where the Virgin received
the salutation of the angel, a site now transferred to a
more convenient situation at Nazareth. The modern
village of Seffuriyeh covers the ruins of the old town,
so that little of interest can be seen except the castle
and church, and a fine aqueduct, about four mdes long,
with subterranean tanks, which brfflught water to the
city from some springs in the hUls. Not far from the
village are the f ouut.iins of Seffuriyeli, so celebrated in
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the history of the Crusades, aud beariug a melancholy
interest as the point from whidi the Christian army
marched to the fatal battle of Hattin, which resulted in
the loss of the cross, the capture of tlie king of Jerusalem,
aud the almost total destruction of his army. Away to
the east stretches tlie long open valley devoid of water
and of shade, up which the Christians advanced, and at
its head the bare waterless heights of Lubieh, on which
they passed the night before the battle, harassed on all
sides by their active enemies, who fired the dry grass
aud shrubs around them. The next moruiug the Chris-
tians fought with their usual valour; but two days'
exertion imder the fiei-ce rays of a July sun, without
wat-er, was too much for the bravest ; the footmen and
archers first failed, throwing aside their arms, aud
then the knights retired to Kuru Hattin — the spot,
according to tradition, on which the Sermon on the
Mount was delivered — where, after thrice beating back
the attacks of the Saracens, the king, with his few
remaining followers, was obliged to surrender to
Saladin. The black basaltic rocks of the old crater
seem in keeping -with the last scene of the sad di-ama,
the execution of two hundred knights after the battle ;
and Dean Stanley has called attention to the toucliing
circumstance that the last struggle of the Christians
occurred witliin sight of the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum,
Gennesareth, and many " of the holiest scenes of Chris-
tianity." On the slope of the hills which form the
southern border of the valley up which the Christian
army marched, lies Kefr Kenna, the site, according to
modem tradition, of Caua ; there are many tombs and
traces of its ha^^ng been an ancient town, and within
the A-illage are two rival buildings, each claiming to
mark the scene of our Lord's first miracle, one contain-
ing the jars in which the water is said to have been
turned into wine.
To the south-west of Kefr Kenna lies Nazareth,
the place in which Jesus gi-ew from childhood to
manhood, "and increased in wisdom aud stature."
Prettily situated, and standing on the slope of a
secluded upland basin, environed by gently rounded
hills, Nazareth is not unlike the rose to which Quares-
mius quaintly compares it : " And, like a rose, has
the same rounded form, enclosed by mountains as
the flower by its leaves." The old town or village of
Nazareth was on the southern skirts of the present
town, and partly on higher ground above the line of
cliffs which, more or less broken, runs along the side
of the hill ; this is shown by the number of rock-hewn
tombs that liave been found amongst the modem
buildings and the i uins on the south and south-west.
It was possibly to the edge of one of these cliffs that
Jesus was brought when "all they in the synagogue
. . . rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led
him unto the brow of the hrll whereon their city was
built, that they might cast him do^vn headlong " (Luke
iv.,28, 29). One such cliff, about twenty-five or thirty
feet high, behind the Maronito convent has been spe-
cially noticed by travellers, and it is interesting to find
that on the ground above it traces of the old village
may still be seen. In the modern town are t-liuivii the
'• table of Christ," His " school," and His " workshop,"
and two miles to the south, overlooking the plain of
Esdraelou, " the Mouut of Precipitation ; " over the
spriug which rises to the north-east of the town is
the Greek Church of the Annunciation, and more to the
south the rival Latiu church, erected over the " Holy
Grotto," in which a marble slab marks the place Avhere
the Virgin stood during the Annunciation. Of the
two traditions the Greek one is \mdoubtcdly the most
ancient, for we are told in the apocrj-jihal Gospel of
St. James that the first salutation of the angel came
to Mary as she was drawing water from the spring in
the neighbourhood of the town. Over the vestibule
in front of the grotto in the Latin church, the house in
which the Virgin lived is said to have stood before it
was borne by angels to the hill of Loretto, to become
" the devotion of one half of the world, and the ridicule
of the other half." About a mile and a liaLf south-
west of Nazareth is the village of Tafa, the traditional
birth-place of Zebedee and of the apostles James and
Jolm, and probably the modern representative of
Japhia, a point on the boundary of Zebulou (Josh. xix.
12) ; it is also the Japha occupied by Josephus during
the Roman war, and described by him as being the
largest A-illage of Galilee and protected by a double
wall ; it was afterwards besieged and captured by Titus,
when 15,000 of the inhabitants perished (B. J. iii. 7,
§ 31). A remarkable series of rock-hewn chambers
were discovered some years ago at Yafa by the Rev.
J. ZeUer, which appear to have been used as a place of
retreat in time of danger; the chambers are in three
tiers connected by circular shafts or well-holes, each of
which was once closed by a stone slab fitting so closely
that the opening could hardly be seen ; there are many
niches for lamps, and each chamber has a small air-
shaft to give ventilation. The entrance to the first
chamber is by a small hole in the side of a natural
cavem in the rock, and thence other openings give access
to the remaining chambers.
Proceeding southwards from Nazareth, we reach the
great fertile jilain of Esdraelou, with Mouut Tabor at
its north-eastern angle ; the summit of the mount is an
oval plateau with an open grass-plot in the centre, and
a border of trees, which adds much to the beauty of the
place. The plateau was once surrounded by a strong
solid wall protected by a ditch partly cut in the rock, of
both of which there are many remains ; aud there are
also portions of the old Church of the Transfiguration,
on the site of which a new church and convent have
arisen. It was on Tabor that Barak assembled liis
forces before descending with " ten thousand men after
him" to meet Sisera, who was encamped with the
Canaanite host near the " waters of Megiddo ; " and
there, too, the brothers of Gideon were slaughtered by
Zebah and Zalmunna. An early Christian tradition
places the scene of the Transfiguration ou Tabor, but it
is e-iadent from the Bible and Josephus that there was
always a town or fortress on the summit, aud it is
scarcely probable that such an event would have taken
GEOGR.VPHT OF THE BIBLE
90
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
place iu an iuliabited town. At tlio foot of Tabor lies
Deburieh, the Daberath of Josh. xix. 12 ; and southwartls
across the jjlain, where the sharp peak of Little Herniou
rises up, the little vilLige of Neiu ; a confused mass of
overthrown walls, amidst which nothing can be distin-
guished, marks the site of Naiu, whei'c the widosv's sou
was raised from the dead ; no trace now remains of
any surrounding wall, or of the gate throiigh which the
funeral procession was passing when our Lord met it ;
but it seems not unlikely that the viUage was built like
many of those still met with iu Palestine, the walls of
the houses themselves forming the exterior of the town,
and being so built as to leave only one or two entrances
to the interior. Eastward from Nain is Endor, on the
sloj)e of a hill containing numerous caverns, one of
which may have been the dwelling-place of the witch
consulted by Saul the night before his death at the
fatal battle of Mount Gilboa.
On the direct road from Nazareth southwards across
the plain is the village of El Fuleh, near which was
fought the celebrated battle of Mount Tabor, where
Kleber with his little army withstood for six long hours
the incessant assaults of 15,000 Turkish cavalry, till the
aiTival of Napoleon turned the tide of battle and caused
the defeat of the Turkish army. Farther south, on a
inoimd near the head of the valley of Jezreel, is Zeriu
{ Jezreel), commanding a view of nearly the whole of the
great jilain of Esdraelon westwai'd, and eastward looking
down the broad rich valley of Jezreel to the acropolis of
Bethshean and the distant mountains of Gilead. The
village itself is poor and miserable, and there is little
to remark in the ruins that cover the mound, but
beneath that heap of rubbish lie waiting for the hand
of the explorer the site, perhaps the remains, of the
ivory palace of Ahab, the street into which Jezebel was
thi-own down at the command of Jehu, and the scenes
of some of the bloodiest tragedies in sacred history
Without the city, on the road to Beisan, was the vineyard
of Naboth the Jezreelite, where Joram met his death :
and as we look down the long valley with its even slope
of green turf, we can easily picture the advance of
Jehu, which is so graphically described in 2 Kings ix.
16 — 24; the dispatch of the several messengei's, the
recognition of Jehu by his furious driving, the hasty
preparation of the chariots of the kings of Israel and
Judah, the meeting near the foot of the mound, the
death of Joram, and the flight of Ahaziah, mortally
wounded, over the great plain to Megiddo — all
come before the traveller with a ^-ividness and reality
that can only he felt by those who have visited the
spot.
Down the valley of Jezreel is the spring of Ain Jalud,
issuing in several small streams from a cavern at the
foot of the northern slope of Mount Gilboa. It was
on the hiU-side above that Gideon encamped before his
victory over the Midianites, who were gathered to-
gether in the broad valley by the hill of Moreh, possibly
that on which the village of Kumi now stands ; and it
was at the fountain itself, the spring of Harod, or
*• trembling," that Gideon proved his men before making
the night attack on the camp of the Midianites, which
resulted in the complete discomfiture of the vast host,
and its headlong fliglit towards the fords of the Jordan.
Near the same spot many years afterwards was fought
the battle of Mount Gilboa, which ended so disastrously
for the Israelites. The Philistine army was encamped
at Shunem, now Solam, on the northern side of tho
valley, whilst the Israelites "pitched by a fountain
which is in Jezreel," perhaps the spring which rises
up at the foot of the mound on which the city of Jezreel
was built ; and it was whilst the two armies were thus
mutually facing each other that Saul made his adven-
turous night journey to visit the witch at Endor, which
lay on the farther side of Little Hermou in rear of the
Philistine camp. The next morning tho Israelites were
attacked and driven up the slopes of Moimt Gilboa;
and there on the f ollomng morning the corpses of Saul
and his three sons were found amongst the heaps of
slain.
On the southern side of Esdraelon, near Taanach,
still represented by the little village of Taanuk, Barak
gained his great victory over the Cauaanite host of
Jabin. It was during the course of the battle that
one of those sudden storms, accompanied by haU and
piercing cold, which are so common in Palestine, came
to the assistance of the Israelites ; " the stars in theii*
courses fought against Sisera," and the fierce storm,
driving fuU in the faces of the Canaanit^s, numbed
their limbs and rendered them helpless to resist the
attack of the Israelites, who advanced with the gale at
their backs. Then the " rains descended " and the
" flood came," converting the great plain into a vast
morass, in which the flying Canaanites were " trodden
down," and " the horse-hoofs were broken by the means
of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones ; "
then, too, the stream '• rose in its bed," and "that ancient
torrent, the torrent Kishon," swept them away as they
were vainly endeavouring to cross its swollen waters.
As the rout became general, Sisera descended from his
chariot, and fled away on foot northwards to the plain
of Kedesh, where he met his death at the hands of Jael
the wife of Heber the Kenite. It was on the same
groiind, in the "plain of Megiddo," that King Josiah
was "sore wounded" by one of the Egyj^tian archers
in the army of Pharaoh-necho, whose march towards
Assyria he had vainly endeavoured to stay. As we
shall see when we come to describe the neighbouring
province of Samaria, Megiddo was a fortress closing
the important pass over the hUls from the plain near
Caesarea, and there seems little doubt that the Egj-j)-
tiaus were foUowing the usual high road to Damascus,
which runs through Megiddo, now Lejjun, when Josiah,
who had advanced through the hills from Jerusalem,
attempted to stop them, perhaps hoping to surprise tho
army whilst entangled in the pass. After receiving
his fatal wound, Josiah was carried to Jerasalem to
die, and the deep, permanent impression which this
calamity made on the Jews can be traced in many of
the later Avi-itings. Tho " mourning of Hadadrimmou
in the vaVley of Megiddo " is used by Zechariah as a
DirnCULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
91
type of the deepest and most despairing grief; and in
continuance of the same imagery, " the place which is
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon " is pre- \ and e^-il
sented to us by the writer of the Apocalypse as the
scene of the final conflict between the hosts of good
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAXS.
BY C. J. VAUOHAN, D.D., MASTEK OF THE TEMPLE.
" The eyes of your understanding' being enlightened, that ye
may know what is the hojoe of His calUng, and what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the ex-
ceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according
to the working cf His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ,
when He raised Him from the dead."— Ephes. i. 18—20.
iLL the considerable manuscripts read
"heart" {KapSias) for "understanding"
{Stavoias) in the 18th verse. " The eyes of
your heart being enlightened." The ex-
pression is remarkable, and has no exact parallel in
Scrijiture. We can scarcely fail to be reminded by it
of St. Paul's saying, " If any man love God, the same
is known of Him " (1 Cor. viii. 3) — with its explanation
in another Epistle, " But now, after that ye have known
God, or rather are known of God " (Gal. iv. 9), remind-
ing us that the knowledge of God is not a discovery,
but a revelation ; that in this one instance true know-
ledge is receptive rather than origiaative ; that when
we would speak of a true, and therefore a Divine,
theology, it behoves us to express it as even more
passive than active, and to submit to describe ourselves
as not so much " knowing." as " being known of," God.
But besides this thought, which lies in the latter
clause of the sentence quoted from the First Epistle to
the Corinthians, there is the fundamental idea of the
passage, that the love of God is the condition, the
method, and the attainment too, of the knowledge.
The " eyes " which must be " illuminated " for this
knowledge are the eyes, not of the intellect, but of "the
heart." The affections are the inlet, the medium, the I
instrument, the very element and atmosphere of the
knowledge.
It is tnie that the "heart," in the language of the I
Bible, has a wider and more inclusive meaning than
any one province or department of the human being.
It is found in contexts which give it the sense of will,
judgment, understanding, imagination, rather than that
of feeling or affection. Jonathan's armour-bearer says
to him, in reply to the proposal of an attack upon the
garrison of the Philistines, " Do all that is in thine
heart ; . . . behold, I am with thee according to thy
heart " (1 Sam. xiv. 7). Job corrects the assumption
of his friends by saying, " But I have understandmg
[literally, ' an heart '] as well as you ; . . . yea, who
knoweth not such things as these ? " (Job xii. 3.) And
so in the New Testament we read of cavillers "reason-
ing in their hearts" (Mark ii. 6) ; doubters "musing
in their hearts " (Luko iii. 15); "the work of the law
[that which the law bids men do] written in their
\ hearts," without any suggestion of love accompanying
I the knowledge of duty (Rom. ii. 15) ; a man "' standmg
stedfast in his heart, having . . . power over his own'
I wiU," having " so decreed in his heart," with reference
1 to a matter of judgment rather than of feeling (1 Cor.
I vii. 37) ; and so in other places. That rigid demarca-
[ tion of the powers and faculties of the immaterial part
j of man, which has introduced so much unreality and
■ confusion into our metaphysics, has little encourage-
ment in Scripture. The whole man moves together,
I whatever be the j)articular subject of his study or
piu'suit.
j If, then, in the passage before us we emphasise the
word "heart," and point attention to "the eyes of the
heart " as the organ of spu-itual vision, it is not as a
matter of verbal nicety, but as the recognition of a
great truth — namely, that the knowledge of God is tha
knowledge of a Person, and can only be gained or
practised by a personal intercourse, of which, whether
the object be human or Divine, the one condition
is liking, affection, love. "The eyes of the heart
being enlightened."
2. Another important variety of reading occurs in
the presence or absence of the " and " (/coi'j before the
clause "' what the riches of the glory," &c. The ex-
ternal evidence is not quite decisive, though the balance
is somewhat in favour of the omission. If internal
considerations may be allowed any place in the ques-
tion, we would suggest that (1) the insertion of the
" and " was a natural impulse, tliere being apparently
three co-ordinate clauses, each expressing a separate
object of the knowledge desired for the reader ; but
that (2) the sense is materially obscured by such an
addition, it being scarcely possible to define more than
two distinct topics of knowledge, the one in the future,
the other in the present ; the one the eternal inheri-
tance, the other the Almighty inworkiug.
Even when the "and" has been rejected, there will
remain an alternative of interpretation.
Either St. Paul may say this : " That ye may know
(1) what is the hope of God's calling — in other words,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints ; and (2) what is the exceeding gi-eatness of
His power to us-ward who believe," &c., in which case
the "hope " is all in the far, the eternal future, when
grace has become glory. Or this : " Tliat ye may know
what is the hope of God's calling — in other words, (1)
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints ; and [2) what is the exceeding greatness of
92
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
His power to iis-ward who believe," &c., in which case
the " hope " itself has tTvo parts, the grace which quali-
fies for the inheritance, as well as the gloiy which
shall follow.
There is nothing iu the Greek to decide between
these two interpretations. And there is much to bo
said for both. On the whole, the former has the ad-
vantage in sunplicitj, in the avoidance of a too long
fore-A-iew of sense and construction, which is never
less likely than in the case of one who wiutes by an
amanuensis.
3. A third question arises upon the passage. Wliat
is the connection of " according to " {Kara.) ? (1) Does
it depend upon the immediately j)receding word " be-
lieve " — ascribing faith itself to God's operation ? At
first sight tliis is attractive, and it is both grammati-
cally tenable and doctriually true. It might appeal
also for suppoi-t to a possible interpretation of the ex-
pression in Col. ii. 12, " Through the faith of the opera-
tion of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." In
that place, however, the ordinary use of iritxTis with a
genitive points rather to the sense of " faith in " than
of " faith wrought by." (Compare, for example, Rom.
iii. 22, 26 ; Gal. ii. 16, 20 ; iii. 22 ; Ephes. iii. 12 ; Phil.
iii. 9 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13.) The resurrection of Christ is
the crowning and completive act of His great work for
us, and faith in it is faith in Him. Since, then, no
one can propose to make irig-Teveiv kclto, (in the passage
now under review) mean " to believe in," we must be
contented to see, in this instance, only a remote or
apparent parallelism between the two contemporaiy
Epistles, and to interpret each by the light of its own
language. (2) Is it nst, then, more natural to give a
wider scope to the " accordance " here asserted ? — in
other words, to refer the Kara, not to the iriamvovTas,
but to the whole clause, " And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power ? " We shall thus have the
thought of the correspondence, the congruity, the com-
mensurableness, of the two things — the Divine power
put forth upon the Christian, and the Divine power put
forth upon Christ. The former of these is " according
to," on the scale, after the pattern, measure, and like-
ness of, the other. The exertion of omnipotence in
converting, sanctifying, and at last glorifying the indi-
vidual man, is an exertion of the same kind and of the
same amount as that which " raised Christ from the
dead and gave Him glory" (1 Pet. i. 21),
4. We liave here, in the Greek, three words — not to
say four — expressive of the general idea of power. An
attempt ought to have been made in our version to give
them distinctness. " And what is the exceeding great-
ness of His power (Swaixis) . . . according to the work-
ing {tvfpy(ia) of the strength (/cparos) of His might
(tVxwy)." The more comprehensive idea of (1) Uvafxis,
"power," "potency," " ableness," is resolved afterwards
into (2) the iVxvs which is " might," the possession of
hvvafiis, (3) the Kpdros which is "strength," the /o7-ce of
SwafMis, (4) the (vtpyeia which is "an operation," that
actual putting forth, in the individual instance, of the
Kparos of the ia-xis, which is dwa(j.is iu exercise.
" And buth put all things under His feet, and gave Him to bo
t'he Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the
fulness of Uim that lilluth all iu all."— Ephes. i. 22, 23.
The difficulty of this passage lies iu the last clause,
" The fulness of Him that filleth all in aU." We will
begin with the last words of all.
1. It is remarkable that St. Paid here uses i\ form
{ir\7]povfXfvov) found elsewhere only as a strict passive.
(See Luke ii. 40, TrArjpov/j.ei'oi' a-o<pias, or <To<pta. Compare
Dan. VUl. 23, irX-qpovixivoov Toiv a.fj.apTtwv ainici/.) St. Paiu
himself uses the active voice in this Epistle (iv. 10),
" that He might fill (■!^\■l^p<ia■rj) all things." Our first
impulse, therefore, is to try here a passive rendering :
" Of Him who is filled with all in all [has all fulness
in all respects]." Yet this on examination fails to
satisfy us. For (1) the tense of irXfipovixivov suggests
a gradual or progressive completion; a sense quite
suitable to the human growth of the Saviour in wisdom
as in stature (Luke ii. 40), and to the growing measure
of the sins spoken of in Dan. viii. 23 ; but highly in-
appropriate to the plenitude of the Divine perfections,
which is the subject in the passage before us. St.
Paul himself uses the passive perfect {imr\r)pcoiJ.€yoi)
in Rom. i. 29 ; xv. 14 ; PhU. i. 11 ; Col. ii. 10 ; and could
scarcely have failed to employ it here, had this render-
ing been in his view. (2) The eV Tra.aii> becomes, on this
supposition, a nearly unmeaiiing appendage to the ra
TrdvTa vnth. which it is combined ; almost that jingle of
" all in all " which is so thoroughly employed by modern
English writers.
We seem driven to the conclusion that St. Paul has
here used ir\i)pov<TQai in the middle voice, for which,
indeed, there is abimdant authority in Greek writers
(Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, &c.), but always, so far as
we have observed, in one tense, the aorist, and with
some reflexive meaning, as " to man one's (o\vn) ship,"
&c. Some have found a reflexive sense even here ; a
latent sibi, " for His own glory," or the like : se ipso,
" with Himself " ("who fills all things with His o^vu
presence and blessing "), though excellent in sense, can
scarcely be felt to be a grammatical use of the middle
voice; and in iv. 10, where that is the meaning, St.
Paul himself employs the active form. The idea that
St. Paul was influenced by the desu*e for a sonorous
ending of the long sentence, in preferring -KXripovfiivou
to ■K\-t)povvTos, will scarcely bear examination. On the
whole, we must leave this instance (like the 7rpo€x«iM«^«
of Rom. iii. 9) as exceptional and inexplicable gramma-
tically, while we acquiesce in the active rendering as
affording the only intelligible sense.
The result, then, will be to assimilate the passage to
that in Ephes. iv. 10, where it is stated as the object
of the ascension of Christ, " that He might fill all
things." (Compare Jer. xxiii. 24, " Do not I fill heaven
and earth ? saith the Lord.") " Of Him that filleth
all things [the universe] with [literally, ' in point of,'
' in the matter of '] all things." Or more idiomati-
cally, " Of Him to whom the universe itself owes all
its fulness."
There will remain the slighter question, whether
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
93
God, or Christ, is the Person spoken of. And this
may in part depend npon another question now t© be
entered upon.
2. " The fulness (irATjpcoMa) of Him that filleth aU in
all." The remarkable word irA.i7pai/xa is sometimes found
in the sense of "sum," the total amount of a number
of separate items in a reckoning. St. Paul in one
place (Rom. xi. 12) makes it the opposite of ^rrrnjia,
l)0ssibly Avith something- of this meaning of " sum," or
"total," or "fuU amount," in contrast with a previous
"dclicit," "defect," or "reduced condition." Even
this one apparent exception might possibly be explained
away ; and there can be no doubt that the far commoner
si«"nificatiou of irX-fipana, both in classical winters and
in the Greek Testament, is " that by which something
else is filled," the " contents " of a thing, as the crew
of a ship, the population of a place, the wine in a cup,
the constituent years of a life. Thus in the Septuagint
we have ■KXrjpwfj.a applied to the contents of the sea
(1 Chi-on. x^-i. 32 ; Ps. xevi. 11 ; xcviii. 7) ; of the earth
(Ps. xxiv. 1 ; 1. 12 ; Ixxxix. 11) ; of a particular city or
counti'y (Jer. Anii. 16; xlvii. 2; Ezek. xii. 19; xix. 7;
XXX. 12 ; xxxii. 15) ; of the hand, in reaping or gathering
(Eccles. iv. 6). In the same way, in the New Testa-
ment, ir\r]po!fia is used for the piece of cloth with which
the hole in the rent garment is filled ujj (Matt. ix. 16 ;
Mark ii. 21), and for the broken pieces which fill the
baskets after the multitudes have been miraculously
fed (Mark viii. 20). St. Paul applies it, in Rom. xi.
25, to the multitude which forms the sum total of the
Gentile world ; in Rom. xiii. 10, to that " love " which
fills and satisfies every shape and form of " law ; " in
Rom. XV. 29, to that "plenitude of blessing," that " all
and everything contained in Christ's benediction," in
which he hopes soon to visit his readers ; in Gal. iv. 4,
to that moment which filled up and completed the
appointed time previous to Christ's coming in the
flesh ; in Ephes. i. 10, to that period which filled up
and completed the preliminary " seasons," the periods
of preparation for the introduction of the Gospel.
There remain a few instances of the aj^iilication of
the same word, in the same sense, to a yet more sacred
and mysterious subject. St. John speaks of Christians
" receiving out of the itx^^poiixa of Christ " (John i. 16) ;
that is, out of the abundance which is in Him ; out
of that plenitude of grace and blessing which is con-
tained in Him as the Life of His Church. And so, in
the Epistle before us, and the contemporary and parallel
Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul speaks of this as the
ultimate object of all Divine knowledge, "that ye might
be filled with [unto] all the TrATjpa\ua of God " — filled
full of grace and blessedness, to the very extent of all
that constitutes the plenitude of God's own perfections
(Ephes. iii. 19) ; makes this the goal of the Church's
race, tliat "we all come . . . unto the measure of the
stature of the TrArip'xfj.a. of Christ" — that standard of
spiritual heiglit which belongs to (is characteristic of)
the fulness of all grace and blessing which is ia Christ
Himself (Ephes. iv. 13) ; and declares that " all the
TrKripa/j-a" (without further explanation) " was pleased to
take uj) its permanent habitation [KaroiKria-at) in Christ "
(Col. i. 19) ; adding, at a subsequent point, this inter-
pretation of his enigmatical saying, " For in Him
[Christ] dweUeth all the irx-fipco/jia of the Godhead
bodily ; " all the " contents," all the constituents, all
the plenitude, whether in power, or ■wisdom, or holiness,
or love, of the Godhead, of the Deity (Col. ii. 9).
These are the scattered, yet not incongruous, elements
which must be combined in our interpretation of the
passage before us. " The irX-npufxa of Him that filleth
all in all " finds its exact parallel either in E]jhes. iii.
19, " the ■^■\■l^pcDfJ.a of God ;" or iu Ej)hes. iv. 13, " the
irx-fipw/xa oi Christ;" or in Col. ii. 9, "the Tr\7Jpa)/xa of
the Godhead." It will be seen that we fail to find
any parallel for the phrase before us, if the irXripuixa,
here is taken in apposition with the Church. We must
seek some new sense, if that be the construction, for
■7r\7]pufj.a itself. We cannot with any propriety speak
of the Church as the " contents," as that which con-
stitutes the fulness, of Christ or of God. And we
have found no warrant, in the usage of the Greek Bible
in either Testament, for that sense of n\ripajfj.a which
would make it " the thing filled by another." It is
always "' that by which another thing is filled."
The result of our investigation is, that we regard
the TTArj/joj^a here as an accusative and not a nominative ;
as agreeing, in case, with abrSv (ver. 22), and not with
rjTLs (ver. 23). "God gave Him [Christ] as Head over
all things to the Church, which is His body ; " gave
Him, in other words, to the Church, as " the ■n-A-fipuiJ.a
of Him that filleth aU in all " — as the Plenitude of the
Universal Plenisher ; as that Person who is Himself the
very Sum and Substance of God, co-extensive with, and
inclusive of, the Infinite, the Incomprehensible Deity.
If there should seem to be anything harsh or abrupt
in the grammatical construction of the sentence thus
proposed — according to which " the Church which is
His [Christ's] body " is a definition by itself, and the
words which follow belong to the clause which pre-
cedes it — let a I'eference be made to Col. i. 18, where
we read, " And He [Christ] is the Head of the body,
the Clnu'ch; who is the beginning," &c. The return
from the Church to Christ is there at least equally
abrupt ; and the subject-matter is the same.
We are still too much the slaves of chapter and
verse. Had this Epistle always been printed in para-
graph, we should have found no difficulty in returning
from " the Church which is His body," to connect "the
TrATjpcoyua of the irATjpou.uei'oy " with "file Head over aU.
tluno:s."
94
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH.
CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
CANON RAWUNPON, M.A.
'he Book of Nehemiah was long regarded,
both by Jews and Christiaus, not as a
substoutivo Tvt)rk, but as a j)ortion of
Ezra, aud was, as remarked in a former
paper,' united witli Ezra in a single " Book," wliicli
passed nndor that ^vriter's name. It is to criticism
rather than to tradition that we are indebted for the
recognition of the fact — a fact not now disputed by
any one — that the " Ezra " of the original Hebrew Canon
was a composite work, and that the latter portion of it
proceeded from a distinct author, and was intended by
that author to stand by itself as a distinct and separate
narrative. Origen was the first to perceive and make
the separation. Guided by the critical acuteuess which
distinguished him even among liis brethren of the
Alexandrian school, he noted in the " Ezra " of his day
a "fijst" and a "second book,"^ his "second book"
being exactly that which wo now call "the Book of
Nehemiah." Jerome, two centuries later, went further.
Disc<arding altogether the name of Ezra, he boldly called
the work by the title which it now universally bears, sub-
stituting for Origen's " first " and " second books of
Ezra" a "Book of Ezra," and a "Book of Nehe-
mLah."3
The authorship of " Nehemiah " is a somewhat com-
plicated problem. Were we to regard the opening
phrase of the work* as intended strictly to apply to
the whole treatise, the question would be simplified,
and we should merely have to say that "Nehemiah,"
like " Ezra," is the composition of the writer whose
name it bears. But internal difiiculties — historical
and critical — render tliis view untenable. Nehemiah's
probable date is B.C. 470 — 420.^ Portions of the Book
of Nehemiah must have been written later than B.C.
336, since mention is made in them of Jaddua and of
Darius Codomannus (chap. xii. 11, 22). Again, three
chapters of the work — the eighth, ninth, aud tenth —
contrast strongly in their style with the portions cer-
tainly written by Nehemiah, and possess various features
indicating that they are from another hand.'' There is
thus reason to believe that the work, as it stands, is a
compilation, different parts of which are to be assigned
to different authors.
The "book" naturally divides itself into four
sections.
1 See Bible Educatoii, Vol. IV., p. 42.
2 Seo Euseb. HUt. Eccles. iv. 26.
3 Jerome, Epist. ad Paulin. (Op., vol. iv., part 2, p. 574.)
* "The words of Nehemiah, the eon of Hachaliah " (Neh. i. 1).
5 Nehemiah, who is cupbearer to Artaxerxcs Louginiauus in B.C.
445, aud is then appointed by him to an important mission, can
scarcely have been at the time less than twenty-five years old, in
which case his birth would fall into the year B.C. 470. That ho
lived to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes (b.c. 432) is certain
(Neh. V. 14 ; xiii. 6). He is likely to have lived ten or fifteen
years lontrer (b.c. 423 to 418).
^ See the Speaker's Commcntarij, vol. iii., p. 426.
Section I. comprises the first seven chapters. It is
written in a uniform style, clearly by Nehemiah him-
self, who prefixes his name to it,'' and then proceeds to
tell us of his doings, using the first person singular
tliroughout, and frequently interposing short ejacula-
tory prayers,® a feature which does not belong to any
other of the sacred wi'iters. It gives an account of
events belonging to the twentieth year of an Arta-
xei-xes, who is clearly the same as the Artaxerxes of
Ezra (already proved to have been Lougimanus'-*), and
was apparently wi-itteu not long after that king's thirty-
second year, which was B.C. 433 — 432. The events
belong to the year B.C. 445 — 444.
Section II. consists of three chapters (chaps. \'iii. — x.).
It contains a narrative of events belonging to the autuma
of B.C. 444. Nehemiah is here spoken of in the third
person,*" and is called by a new title, " Tirshatha,"
instead of "pechah." The prominent person in the
narrative is Ezra.*^ There are no parenthetic prayers,
but about half the section consists of a long prayer and
confession of sins, which in many respects resembles
Ezra's (Ezra ix. 6 — 15). The writer appears to include
himself among the laity, or " people of Israel," as distinct
from the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers,
the Nethiuim, and the nobles (chap. x. 29 — 39).
Section III. extends from the commencement of
chap. xi. to chap, xii., verse 26. It is made up of six
catalogues, or lists : — (1) A list of the dwellers at Jeru-
salem, and the leading men in Nehemiah's time (chap,
xi. 1 — 24 ; (2) a list of the country towns and villages
occupied by the returned Israelites at the same period
(chap. xi. 25 — 36) ; (3) a list of the jn-iestly and Levitical
families that i-eturned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel
(chap. xii. 1 — 9); (4) a list of the high-priests from Jeshua
to Jaddua {ib. 10, 11); (5) a list of the heads of the
priestly families in the high-priesthood of Joiakim {ib.
12 — 21) ; and (6) a list of the chief families of Levites
and porters at the same period (ib. 24 — 26). There is
little to indicate who was the author of this portion of
the work, or of its component parts. The most notice-
able fact connected with it is the mention (in chap, xii.)
of the high-priest, Jaddua, twice (verses 11 and 22),
and of his contemporary, Darius Codomannus, called
"Darius the Persian" (verse 22). These touches are
probably the Latest to be found in the Old Testament.
They cannot be earlier than about B.C. 335 — 330.'^
Section IV. comprises the remainder of the book. It
extends from chap, xii., verso 27, to the close of chap,
xiii. Here the author is once more,. evidently, Neho-
8 Chap. iv. 4, 5 ;
W Neh. viii. 9 : x
19; vi. 9, 14.
7 Chap. i. 1.
3 Supra, Vol. IV., p. 42.
11 Neh. viii. 1—6, 9, 13.
12 Darius Codomannus did not begin to reign till B.C. 336. He
was murdered B.C. 331.
THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH.
95
miali, the first ijerson singular being resumed,' together
with the use of short ejaculatory prayers,- which charac-
terises Section I. The stylo is identical with that of the
opening chapters. The narrative is of events in which
Nehemiah was personally concerned — the dedication of
the wall, and reforms connected with the Temple and
the observance tf the Sabbath. The date of the occur-
rences is probably B.C. 431.
It will be seen from this review that while the first
and last sections of the book, or eight and a half chapters
out of the tliiite->n, are, bej^ond a doubt, Nehemiah's,
the case is different with regard to the second and third
sections, comprising four and a half chapters. Of these,
the second section may be said to be certainly not the
work of Nehemiah, while the third section cannot, in its
present shape, be his, but may have been primarily com-
posed by him, having subsequently undergone revision.
Tlie two lists which make up chapter xi. are decidedly
of Nehemiah's time, and are extremely likely to have
been drawn out by him.^ The lists in chapter xii. may
be a gradual accretion, or they may have been drawn
out by Nehemiah, with the exception of verses 11, 22,
and 23. Jaddua, or " the men of the Great Synagogue,"
may have added these verses, about the year B.C. 330.
The wiiter of the third section must have been a lay-
man of moderate rank, contemporary with Nehemiah.
It has been conjectured that Zadok, or Zidkijah, Nehe-
miah's scribe, was the author;* and this is certainly not
improbable, but there is no direct evidence of it. Who-
ever the ^vriter may have been, it seems probable that
Nehemiah sanctioned the narrative by adopting it into
his woi-k, and giving it its present position.
The subject-matter of Nehemiah is the history of the
Palestinian Jews from about B.C. 445 to B.C. 431, a period
of fifteen years. It is the latest history contained in the
Old Testament Scriptures, and is remarkable for the
moderation and hiuuility of tone which characterise it.
Nehemiah, one of the cup-bearers of Artaxerxes Longi-
manus, accustomed to wait upon him in his palace at
Shushan, or Susa, hears, in the autumn of B.C. 445,
from his brother Hanani, who had recently paid a visit
to Jerusalem, that the condition of the brethren in
Judaea was most wretched — " the remnant left of the
Captivity there in the province was in great afiiiction
and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem being broken down,
and its gates burned with fire " (chap. i. 3). The intel-
ligence caused Nehemiah great grief. When he heard
it "he sat down and wept, and mourned certain days,"
after which he offered a prayer to " the God of heaven,"
which is recorded at length {ib. 5 — 11). The prayer was
mainly that God would grant him grace and favour in
the sight of Artaxerxes, with whom it would seem that
he had at once determined to intercede for his nation.
See cliap. xii. 31, 38, 40, &c. The third person is used in
verse 47 ; the first is resumed in chap. xiii. 6, and continues to the
close of the book.
2 See chap. xiii. 14, 22, 29, and 31.
5 Davidson, in his Introduction, allows that "there is nothing
against the supposition" that Nehemiah wrote chap. xi. (vol. ii.,
p. 144). So De Wette, EinUitung, § 1976.
* See the Speaker's Commeniary, vol. iii., p. 426.
Fom* months afterwards, in the early spring of B.C. 444
— having probably then entered on his ofiice with the
king for the fii'st time after receiving Hanaui's intelli-
gence*— he attracted the king's attention by the sadness
of his countenance, and was able, without any violent
effort, to introduce the subject of his country's woes,
and to obtain of the king permission to i^isit Jerusalem,
and restore the walls and fortifications of the city (chaj).
ii. 1 — 8). In very brief terms the cup-bearer relates his
journey and arrival, his delivery of the king's letters to
the " governors beyond the river," and his recognition
by them as one having authority [ib. verse 9). He
then tells us of an opposition which his coming aroused.
" Yv^hen Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the seiwant,
the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly
that there was come a man to seek the weKare of the
children of Israel" (verse 10). We have here opened
to us the condition of things in Palestine when Nehe-
miah appeared upon the scene. Samaria, it seems, had
become the main town of these pai'ts (chap. iv. 2). A
mixed population occupied it — Babylonian, Ammonite,
Philistine, Arabian. The existing chief was SaubaUat,
a Samaritan by birth,^ but probably of Babylonian
parentage.'' His chief counsellor, a favourite slave, was
Tobiah, an Ammonite. Geshem, an Arab chief, the
head, probably, of the Arabian element in the j)opula-
tion of Samaria,* was on friendly terms with liim, and
joined in the opposition offered to Nehemiah.'^
Ha^dng settled himself at Jerusalem, and formed
an estimate of the strength of the " oj)position," Nehe-
miah proceeded with some secrecy, three days after his
arrival, to reconnoitre the ground, and see with his own
eyes the condition of the defences. He went round the
whole circuit of the walls by night, entering and return-
ing by "the valley gate;" and having thus obtained a
knowledge of the work to be done, he proceeded to
make arrangements for accomplishing it rapidly (chap.
ii. 11—20).
The whole work was commenced at once. Some f orty^*^
working parties were formed, and the entire line of the
walls was distributed amongst them (chap. iii. 1 — 32).
Simultaneously the several bands set to work, and the
wall was rapidly raised to half its intended height
(chap. iv. 6). The energy shown took the Samaritan
opponents by surprise. " Wliat do these feeble Jews ?"
they said ; " will they fortify themselves ? wiU they
make an end in a day ?" And again, even more
5 The Persian kings had numerous cup-bearers (Xen., Hell. vii.
i. § 38), who probably served their master in turn.
^ "The Horonite" seems best explained, not as "a native of
Horonaim, a city of Moab," but as " a native of one of the Beth-
horous, the upper or the lower." (Fiirst, Handiciirterbuch, ad
voc. ; Grove, in Dictionarij of the Bible, vol. i., p. 828.)
' The name Sanballat is Babylonian in its formation and ele-
ments (Speaker's Commentary, vol. iii., page 432). The foreign
population of Samaria was chiefly Babylonian. (See 2 Kings
xvii. 24).
8 Sargon relates that he settled a number of Arabians in Samaria.
(Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii., pp. 415-6, first edition.)
9 See Neh. ii. 19; vi. 1, 2, 6.
^^ Forty-four working parties are mentioned (chap, iii.), but o£
these five seem to have undertaken two pieces of the wall succes-
sively ; thus, the exact number of working-parties would have been
thirty-nine.
96
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
mockingly, " That Avhieli tliey build, if a fox go up,
he shall even break down their stone -wall" {ib. 2, 3).
MoreoA'cr, they " conspired together to come out and
fight against Jei'usalem, and to hinder" the building
{ib. verse 8). But, while bold in word, they were tardy
and undecided in act. The Israelite buiklers worked
under a perpetual fear of hostile attack — " lialf wrought
in the work, and the other half held ready the spears
and the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons"
(verso 16) ; even the very laboui'ers themselves " Avith
one hand wrought in the work, and with the other held
a weapon;" but, after all, no attack seems to have been
made on them, and the whole circuit was completed
without any need of fighting {ib. 17 — 23).
When the idea of inteiTupting the woi'k by open
violence was relinquished, various plans were formed
by " the adversaries " for putting a stop to it, either by
frightening the workmen, or by intimidating Nehemiah,
or by entrapping him into a false position (chap. vi.
1 — 19) ; but these plans all failed. It must have
caused Nehemiah great trouble and difficulty that the
Samaritan opponents were supported by a party among
the Israelites themselves, a party which certainly in-
cluded members of the high priest's family (chap. vi.
' IS), and which probably had the support of Eliashib,
the liigh priest, liimseK (chap. xiii. 4 — 7). Nehemiah
succeeded, however, in triumphing over eveiy obstacle,
and in less than two months from the time when he
began building ^ had completed the entire work, restored
the whole circuit of the waUs, and set up strong doors
in the gate- towers (chap. An. 15 ; vii. 1).
The completion of the work, and the return of the
various building parties to their several towns and
villages in the country round Jerusalem, revealed the
fact that the great city was very scantily inhabited, and
that an effort was needed to increase its population,
with a view to its security. In connection with this
pui'pose, having come accidentally upon a register of
those who returned with Zerubbabel (which he tran-
scribes, chap. vii. 6 — 73), Nehemiah proceeded to take
a census of the people himself, and having learnt theii-
number, he increased the population of Jerusalem, by
transferring to it one in ten out of the population of
the country districts, so augmenting the inhabitants to
a total which seems not to have fallen far short of
twenty thousand (chap. xi. 1 — 19).
These measures must, however, have occupied some
considerable time. In the interval, it woiild seem that
Ezra arrived for the second time at Jerusalem, and as
the seventh or sabbatical month was just commencing
{cliap. viii. 1), he was requested by the people to " bring
the book of the Law of Moses," and read it in tlieir ears
in a imblic place (ib. 1 — 5). He did so, with the sanc-
tion of Nehemiah (verse 9), and the hearts of the people
were moved to desire a solemn and formal act of iniblic
repentance. But the occasion did not seem to Ezra and
Nehemiah to be suitable. The slay was the first of Tisri,
1 The building was be^n early in the month Ab, and was cou-
chicled fifty-two days later, on the 25th of the next month, Elul
(Neb. vi. 15).
the " Feast of Trumpets," a day of salibatical rest and
festive joy. This feast was introductory to the Great
Festival of the sevcntli month, the Feast of Tabernacles,
which lasted from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of
Tisri, and was a special period of rejoicing. It was
determined that, before gratifying the desire of the
people for a public repentance, the Great Festival
should bo kept with unusual solemnity : the people
should be stirred to do according to all the old customs ;
booths should be made ; the Law should be read ; on the
first and last days of the feast should be " solemn assem-
blies " — all should 1)0 done as Moses had commanded
{ib. 10 — 18). Then when the feast was over, and when
one day had been allowed the people for rest, the grea+<
work of repentance was taken in hand. The people
assembled " with fasting, and with sackcloth, and with
earth ujion them " (chap. ix. 1) ; " confessed their sins
and the iniquity of their fathers " (verse 2) ; and then
solemnly signed a covenant, pledging themselves " to
walk in God's law, and observe and do all the eom-
mandments of the Lord " (chap. x. 29), and especially
to forsake the crying sins of the time — not to inter-
marry -ivith the heathen (verse 30), not to i>rofano the
sabbath or the sabbatical year (verse 31) ; not to exact
pledges for debt (ibid.). They also further bound them-
selves to pay yearly the third part of a shekel for the
maintenance of the ser^-ice of the sanctuaiy, and to
furnish, by a voluntary arrangement, the wood needed
for the sacrifices (verses 32 — 34'). The formal act of
public repentance being thus complete, those arrange-
ments were carried out with respect to augmenting the
population of Jerusalem which have been already men-
tioned.
The events of which we have here given a sketch occu-
pied a space of, apparently, less than a year. They com-
menced in the month Chisleu (December) of B.C. 445, and
terminated towards the end of Tisri (September), B.C.
444. From this time we have in Nehemiah no further
continuous narrative until the thirty-second year of Arta-
xcrxes, B.C. 433-2, twelve years later, when it appears
that the governor of Judaea paid a visit to the court of
Artaxerxes at Babylon,^ and after remaining away a
year,^ obtained leave of the king to return and resume
his governorship. A general idea, however, of Nehe-
miali's administration during this period, of his manner
of life, and of the evils which he set himself to check,
may be gathered from chapter v., whence wo learn (1),
that during the whole twelve years he took nothing of
the Jews for the support of himself or court (ver. 14) ; (2)
that he allowed no oppression by his servants (ver. 15);
(3) that he did not take advantage of the general poverty
to buy up poor men's plots of ground (ver. IG) ; (4) that
he supported at his table, without charge, one hundi-ed
- Neh. xiii. 6. On the practice of the Persian lyings to hold
their courts at different cities in different parts of the year, see
Xen., Cyroyi. viii. 6, §22; Anah. iii. 5, §5 ; Plut., Do Exil, vol. ii.,
p. 604; Athen., Deipn. xii., p. 513, F; ^lian., Hist. Anim. x. 6;
Zoiiaras, iii. 26, p. 302, &c.
■* The expression used ("at the end of days") generally means
"at the end of a year." (See Exod. xiii. 10; Lev. xxv. 29, 30;
Numb. ii. 22; Judg. xvii. 10, kc.\
HEZEKIAH.
97
and fifty of the chief resident Jews, besides showing
hospitality to such as came on a visit to Jerusalem from
foreign countries (verso 17); (5) that ho redeemed from
slavery many of his countrymen who were in servitude
among the heathen (verse 8) ; and (6) that he set himself
to discourage, as far as he possibly could, the practice
Tvhich had grown up of lending money upon mortgage,
or upon the persons of sons and daughters (verses
3 — 5) — a practice which had produced wide-spread
poverty, and had converted a large number of the
Ijeople into slaves (verse 8). So powerful were his
representations, that he induced the money-lenders to
restore to the debtors their hinds, their vineyards, their
olive-yards, and their houses ; to repay what they liad
received from them by way of interest, and to promise
that they would lend without pledge, or other security,
in future (verse 12).
The visit of Nehemiah to the court of Persia was,
perhaps, connected with the chief event related in the
last section of the narrative (chap. xii. 27 — xiii.) — the
dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. It seems certain'
that the dedication did not take place until Nehemiah
returned to Jerusalem, in the thirty-third year of Arta-
xerxes, B.C. 432, twelve or thirteen years after the wall
was finished ; and the most probable account of this long
delay is, that Nehemiah did not venture on so imposing
a ceremony as the dedication of the wall until he had
obtained express permission for it from the Persian
monarch. The ceremonial itself, which must have been
very striking, is described with great minuteness in
chap. xii. 27 — 43.
In conclusion, Nehemiah relates certain reforms
which he accomplished on his return from Babylon in
B.C. 432. They consisted mainly of the following : —
(1) The putting away of foreign wives, together with
their offspring (chap. xiii. 3, and 23 — 29); (2) the
re-vindication of the Temple chambers to sacred pur-
poses, after they had been desecrated by being handed
over to heathens for secular uses {ib. 4 — 9) ; (3) the
re-establishment of the Levites in their sacred offices
at Jerusalem, and of the tithe system necessary for their
1 This has been questioned ; but the nexus of chapters xii. and
xiii., together with the date in chap. xiii. 6, seem to the present
writer to prove the point.
sustenance {ib. 10 — 13) ; and (4) the restoration of a
strict observance of the Sabbath in lieu of a lax prac-
tice which had gradually growH up {ib. 15 — 22). The
narrative of these occurrences occupies the whole of
the last chapter.
The Book of Nehemiah is invaluable for the lesson
it teaches, that when the Church of God is at the
lowest, it will still be protected by His Almighty
hand, will be enabled to triumph over the malice of its
external enemies, and will be purged and purified from
the internal corruptions which endanger it far more
than any hostility ab extra. It must have greatly
helped to encourage and sustam the nation during the
terrible times of the Ptolemaic and Syrian persecu-
tions ; and it may with advantage be read and pon-
dered on by Christians, at all periods when the j)ower
of the world is put fortli to crush or ovei-lay the faith.
That Judaism rallied from the weak and seemingly
moribund condition described by Nehemiah, became
once more a power in the world, strong enough to con-
front heathen Rome, and wage a desperate struggle
with the entire force of the Empire, is one of the most
remarkable of the facts of history, and should never be
forgotten by the Christian commimity in times of
depression and danger.
A minor point, which lends a peculiar interest to
Nehemiah, is its fiJness of topographical detail. In
inquiries concerning the ancient city, its site, walls,
towers, gates, and principal buildings, the third and
twelfth chapters are simply invaluable. For copious-
ness, for exactness, for authority these chapters tran-
scend all the other notices that have come down to
us with respect to ancient Jerusalem ; and the possi-
bility of recovering the general plan of the place
rests almost entirely upon Nehemiah's descriptions.
It seems to the present vrriter that scarcely sufficient
use of them has been made by modern top0graphers,2
who, while verbally allowing their importance, suffer
their representations of the original town to be unduly
affected by the accounts which were given of a very
different city, five centuries later, by the Jewish histo-
rian, Josephus.
2 See Williams's Holy Ciin ; and the accouEt of Thenius in the
Exegetischas Handhuch, vol. iii , Appendix,
SCEIPTUEE BIOaRAPHIES.
HEZEKIAH.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRJECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
ifiZEKIAH, king of Judah, stands in the
sacred records at the opposite pole to Ahab,
among the kings of Israel. The one is de-
scribed as being as eminent for his piety
as the other was for his wickedness. As "there was
none like xmto Ahab, which did sell himself to work
wickedness in the sight of the Lord" (1 Kings xxi. 25),
79— VOL. IV.
so there "was none like" Hezekiah "among all the
kings of Judah after him, nor any that were before
him " (2 Kings xviii. 5). He was not like other king.!,
who made a good beginning and a bad ending ; ' but he
remained true in his allegiance to Jehovah to the last,
1 See 1 Kings xi. 4; 2 Chron. xx. 35; xxiv. 17—25; xxv. 14—16.
98
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
" He clave unto the Lord, and departed not from fol-
lowing him " {lb. vor. 6) ; and therefore he stands as
one of the three among the kings of Jiidah — Asa and
Josiah being the other two — of whom it is stated without
cpaUfication that " they did that wliich was riglit in the
sight of the Lord" {ib. ver. 3) ; and the Divine favour
rested in a marked manner upon him. His reign,
though overcast with some dark shadows, was, on tlie
whole, a prosperous one. It is recorded of him, as of
no king since Da\nd, that " Jehovah was with him, and
he prospered in all his goings " (ver. 7). His relations
to foreign powers were favourable. His rebellion against
the usui'ped suzerainty of Assyria was successful, and
the invasion provoked by it was, by the Divine interpo-
sition, repelled. The prince of the rising Babylonian
state negotiated with him on equal terms, and his in-
fluence was powerfully felt among all the neighbouring
nations (2 Chron. xxxii. 23). The first rumblings of
the storm, which was destined to break with such over-
whelming violence on his successor's head, were oidy just
auoTible, and "peace and truth" characterised his days to
the end [2 Kings xx. 19). The internal resources of
his kingdom were largely developed during his reign.
The land was covered Avith barns and storehouses for
the agricultural produce, and with stalls and farm-
biiildings for the shelter of coiintless flocks and herds.
His personal wealth was enormous. He had ' ' exceed-
ing much riches and honour, .... for God had
given him substance very much" (2 Chron. xxxii.
27—29).
The piety of Hezekiah was the more remarkable for
the unfavourable influences which had surrounded his
childhood. In the idolatrous court of his weak and
wicked father, Ahaz, it might have seemed liopeless for
a yoxing prince to keep his faith untainted, and his morals
pure. But if, as has been not unreasonably thought,
Zachariah, the father of his mother, Abi, or Abijah, is
to be identified with Isaiah's " faithful witness " (Isa.
viii. 2), the boy might well bo shielded from contagion
by prophetic warning and maternal counsel. He must
have grown up under the eye of the now aged prophet,
and by his early promise, consoled him amidst the idol-
atries of the monarch, and the moral degradation of the
j)eople, with the bright anticipations of a reign which
should foreshadow the just and beneficent rule of the
promised Messiah. Many of Isaiah's most subhme pre-
dictions of the future king — the " rod " that was to
"come forth out of the stem of Jesse;" the "branch"
that was to "grow out of his roots" — undoubtedly had
a primary reference to the son of Ahaz, and received a
partial fulfilment in the peaceful and prosperous close
of his glorious reign. Under Isaiah's influence and
guidalice, a gift of sacred poetry was developed in
Hezekiah, of which a specimen is preserved to us in the
tender and pathetic ode celebrating his recovery from
his dangerous sickness. The three Psalms, xh-i. — xlviii.,
which are thought to celebrate the defeat of Sennacherib,
may also probably be from his pen. His literary acti-vity
is also evidenced by the collection of the Proverbs of
Solomon^, made, under his directions, by his scribes
(Prov. XXV. 1 — xxix. 27). To him also we are perhaps
indebted for the discovery and preservation of many of
the Psalms bearing David's name in the second book
of the Psalms, with those of Asaph in the third (cf.
2 Chron. xxix. 30).^ His culture and the magnificence
of his taste is shown by the costly treasures, silver and
gold, spices and jewels, collected by him in his palace
at Jerusalem (2 Kings xx. 13). He is justly chai'acter-
ised by Ewald- as " one of the most splendid princes
who ever adorned the tlu'one of David."
Hezekiah succeeded his father, Ahaz, at the age of
twenty-five, B.C. 726. We are unable to estimate his
natural character very highly. Tender and emotional,
with a soft and timid disposition, we find him rash in
action, and speedily terrified by the consequences of his
inconsidei'ateness ; unduly elated in prosperity, and
despondent when reverses came. Flattered by atten-
tion, and ostentatious in display, and clinging to life
with an almost cowardly tenacity, we must agree in the
substantial truth of Chalmers' words,^ that "the inci-
dental exhibition of himself made by Hezekiah is any-
thing but magnanimous," and abstain from j)lacing him
in the first rank of Old Testament wortliies.
The strength of Hezekiah's reign lay in the counsels
of Isaiah. The warnings and advice so contemptuously
scorned by his unhappy father (Isa. ^41. 12) were re-
verently followed, and in all the emergencies of his
chequered i-eigu his imimediate resort was to the aged
prophet. To him he may be said to have owed his throne
and his life. It was doubtless at Isaiah's instigation,
and under his dii-oction, confirmed by the prophecy of
Micah ( Jer. xxvi. 18 ; Micah iii. 12), that immediately
on his accession he set about the great work of religious
reformation which distinguishes his reign. His first
care was to restoi'e the Temple worship suspended by
Ahaz. He opened the long-closed doors of the Temple,
and overlaid tlieir valves with plates of gold (2 Chron.
xxix. 3 ; 2 Kings xviii. 16). The polluted courts were
cleansed, and the sacred furniture set in order by the
Levites, whoso active zeal is contrasted with the greater
lukewarmness of the priests (2 Chron. xxix, 34). The
vessels that Ahaz had cut in pieces and cast away,
were re-consecrated, and restored to the altar-service
{ib. xxviii. 24 ; xxix. 19), and the old Temple ritual
solemnly renewed in its most gorgeous form. A sin-
offering of the most comprehensive nature having been
first offered as a great national expiation, the king
himself taking the chief place in the puiificatory rite
(ib. w. 20 — 24), a burnt-offering followed, as a symbol
of the seH-dedication of the purified nation {ib. w. 27
—^29). A biu'.st of sacred song — the chanting of psalms,
and instrumental music ordained by Da\-id — celebrated
the renewal of the ancient sacrifices ; and tho people,
now once more consecrated to God's service, testified
their joy by numerous free-will offerings {ib. w. 27 — 33).
These preparations had occupied so much time that tho
proper date for the Passover arrived before aU things
1 See Perowne, Book of Psalms, vol. i., p. 77.
- Ewald, Historij of Israel, E. Tr., vol. iv., p. 172.
3 Daily Scripture Readings, vol. iii., p. 309.
HEZE'KIAH.
necessary had been got ready, and the j)eople gathered.
The feast, therefore, as the law allowed (Numb. ix. 10, 11),
was deferred to the f om-teenth day of the second month.
Hezekiah, resolved that it shoiild be, as far as possible,
a solemn act of the whole nation, iu^^ted the northern
kingdom, at that time tottering to its fall under the
feeble rule of Hoshea (2 Chron. xxx. 1, 5 — 11), as well
as his own, to take part in it. This invitation, though
scornfully rejected by the greater part of Israel, was
accepted by some few. Five of the ten tribes were
represented {ib. vv. 10 — 18), and Hezekiah showed
himself a true son of the prophet who so witheriugly
denounces ritual formalism when contrasted with the
true worship of the heart and life (Isa. i. 11 — 17 ; Iviii.
2 — 7), by admitting these Israelite worshippers to the
feast, although deficient in the legal pui'ifications, -with
the prayer, " The good Lord pai-don every one that
prepareth his heart to seek the Lord Grod of his fathers,
though he be not cleansed according to the purification
of the sanctuary" (2 Chron. xxx. 18 — 20).
Sudden as this reformation was (ib. xxix. 36), it was
thoroughly popular. The nation Avent along with, and
even outstrijjped, then* yoimg king in his zeal for reli-
gious pui-ity. The great Passover, bruiging together
worshippers from all parts of the kingdom, had afforded
an opportunity for mutual kindling of then' religious
ardour. On its termination, bands of enthusiasts
pom-eci forth from the holy city, their zeal against
idolatry wrought to its highest pitch, and spread them-
selves over the whole land, destroying the mai-ks of
superstition wherever they were found. The record of
these violent and tumultuary proceedings seems a page
out of the Mstory of our own Reformation, or of the
Great Rebellion. As then, much that was innocent
perished with that which was baneful. The high places,
though practically sanctioned by Samuel, David, Solomon,
and other sincere worshippers of Jehovah; and furnishing
the only centres for religious meeting to the inhabitants
of the country districts, had become tainted with idola-
trous rites, and shared the fate of the images and groves.
The destruction of these ancient places of religious
assembly, hallowed by the memories of centuries, must
have l)een regarded with much secret indignation, of
which, at a later period, Rabshakeh sought to avail
himself (2 Kings xviii. 22). How merely superficial this
reformation was, how deeply the spirit of idolatry had
eaten into the heai*t of the nation, is seen in the sudden
recoil under Manasseh. One time-honom-ed memorial
of Israel's nomad life in the wilderness — "the brazen
serpent that Moses had made" — fell a victim, at the
same time, to the superstitions of which it had been the
object. Hezekiah " brake it in pieces, and called it
Nehushtan " (2 Kings xviii. 4).^
Hezckiah's religious reformation was prematurely
1 According to the A. V., it was Hezekiah who gave the brazen
serpent the name of " Nehushtan," contemptuously calling it a
mere " bit of brass." It is, however, more probable that the
words should be translated " they called it," or " one called it,"
Nehushtan being its popular name, with an evident allusion to the
word nachash, "a serpent," preserving the sound, but softening
the sense.
checked by tlie approach of a most tremendous danger,
threatenmg the existence of Judah as a nation. Elated
by the internal prosperity of his kingdom, and indignant
that the people of Jehovah should be tributary to a
heathen monarch, Hezekiah had thrown off his allegiance
to the king of Assyria, and withheld the customary
tribute. His rebelhon was speedily followed by the
subjugation of the northern kingdom, and the deporta-
tion of the ten tribes. The capture of Samaria might
well make Hezekiah tremble for the fate of Jerusalem.
Nor was tke incensed suzerain slow in preparing to
chastise his rebellious vassal. But the blow was for
a time suspended. The rich prize of the merchant
city of Tyre diverted Shalmaneser's army, and the pro-
tracted and imsuecessful siege left the invader no
leisure for attacking Jerusalem. Five years elapsed;
Sargon succeeded Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib Sargon.
Hezekiah, like a wise ruler, employed the interval
in strengthening the walls of the city, adding to the
fortifications, replenishing his arsenals, and cutting
off the waters of which a besieging army might avail
itself, and diverting them for the supply of Jerusalem
(2 Clu-on. xxxii. 2 — 5). At length the dreaded hour came.
Sennacherib invaded Judaea at the head of an immense
army, covering the land like a vast inundation, sweeping
all before its devastating tide. One by one the fortified
towns — " the fenced cities of Judah " — fell into the inva-
der's hand. Only Jerusalem remained. Sennacherib's
object was the subjugation of Egypt. Jerusalem was
chiefly valuable as a strong fortress, which it was unsafe
to leave untaken in his rear. The Scriptural narrative
is here so brief that it is not easy to determine whether
the Assyrian army actually undertook the siege of
Jerusalem, ©r whether the spectacle so graphically de-
scribed by Isaiah (Isa. xxii. 1 — 7) of the multitudinous
array of nations as they defiled past the walls of the
city in their varied costimie, seen from the housetops by
the panic-stricken inhabitants, was of itself suificient to
procure submission. Isaiah vainly urged trust in the
Lord. For the time Hezekiah was in the hands of fai*
other counsellors ; men demoralised by the reign of
Ahaz, among whom Shebna has a bad j)re-emineuce, in
whom all real faith in God was dead, and who, careless of
national honour, resigned themselves to sensual enjoy-
ment— " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shaU
die " {ib. ver. 13). Con\dnced by them of the hopeless-
ness of resistance, Hezekiah dispatched an embassy to
the Assyrian king, who had marched forward with the
main body of his troops to the reduction of the important
frontier town of Lachish, acknowledging the guUt of
his rebellion, and placing himself completely at Senna-
cherib's mercy. No submission could be more abject.
" I have offended : return from me ; that which thou
puttest on me I will bear" (2 Kings xviii. 14). The
terms exacted were crushingly oppressive. The royal
and sacred treasui-ies were emptied to raise the sum
demanded as the price of peace, and Hezekiah was even
comj)elled to imdo his own work, and sia-ip the gates
and piUars of the Temple of the plates of gold with
which he had overlaid them {ib. w. 15, 16).
100
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
This is the darkest page in tho Listoi'y of Hezekiali.
Ho had yot to learii the lesson of faith in God, of which ho
became so signal an example. Better counsels prevailed.
Isaiah regained his ascendancy. Shebua was degraded
from the post of chief minister, and surrendered his
robo and key of office to the excellent Eliakim. Trust
in tho Lord was inculcated as a more powerful defence
than any " arm of flesh." However enormously the
Assyrian's host outnumbered the forces of Judah, there
wore more with them than with him. The confidence of
tho monarch spread through the people ; they " rested
themselves on the words of Hezekiali " (2 Chron. xxxii.
7, 8). This confidence was soon put to tho severest
tost. Whether it was that Hezekiali had been entering
into negotiations with Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, and,
relying on aid from him, had ouco again asserted his
independence, or that Sennacherib, having mot with re-
(vorses in his Egyptian campaign, and doubtful of the
good faith of his Jewish vassal, had resolved to antici-
pate possible treachery by his aniiiliilation as a separate
•power, the Assyrian king dispatched a large detachment
to Jerusalem, under the command of the " Tartan," or
general, accompanied by two of his highest officials, the
" chief of tho eunuchs," and the " chief of the cup-
bearers," to demand au unconditional surrender.^ The
embassy took its stand on the same spot where, many
years before, Isaiah had met Ahaz, and warned him of
tho ruin that would tlireaten his kingdom from the
Assyrians, whom he was bent on caUiug in to his aid
against the allied forces of Syria and Israel (1 Kings
xviii. 17; Isa. ra. 3, 17—20; viii. 7,8). With a proper
ifsense of his dignity, Hezekiah, when siunmoned, refused
^,0 appear personally, l)ut sent Eliakim, and the now
degraded Shebna, and Joali the royal chronicler, to
receive tho Assyrian envoys. The Rabshakeli — who,
from his command of fluent Hebrew, is not unreason-
ably supposed to have been a renegade Jew — delivered
a defiant message, taunting Hezekiah with his power-
Jessness to resist the force of his master, and with
the vanity of his expectations of effectual help from
•\he "bruised reed" of Egypt. Eliakim, noticing with
jmeasiness the effect his words — the substantial truth
of which ho toe well knew — were already having on
tho populace who were eagerly listening from the
walls, begged him to speak in Aramaic, with which he
and his companions were acquainted. But Rabshakeli
followed up his advantage, and at onco addressed
himself to the people, warnmg tliem in brutally coaree
language of the extremities to which a siege would re-
duce them, and drawing a glowing picture of the advan-
tages they would gain if they would leave their city
and their sovereign to their fate, and, throwing them-
selves on the great king's mercy, allow him to transplant
them to a good and fertile land, where they would enjoy
1 In our A. V., Tartan, Kabsaris, and Rabshakeli are used as if
they were proper names, and are usually so understood. This is an
error. They are not proper names, b>it designations of office.
" Tartan " is the ordinary title of an Assyrian general ; " Rab-saris "
signifies the "chief eunuchs ;" " Rab-shnkeh " probably " the chief
cup bearer," or " butler " (cE. Geu. xl. 1).
the blessings of peace and plenty. Hezokiali's trust in
Jehovah, he told them, was idle. No local deities had
hitherto been strong enough to protect their land. Who
was Jehovah, then, that he should deliver Jerusalem out
of Sennacherib's hand ? No acclamation of assent, nor
even a murmur of approbation, followed Rabshakeli's
speech. Hezokiali's command had been, " Answer him
not," and it was obeyed. Full of horror at his bold
blasphemies, the ministers hastened to their master with
rent garments, and reported the audacious defiance.
Despairing of any human succour, Hezekiah at onco
threw himself on tho protection of Him whom Senna-
cherib had defied. It was a supreme crisis for liimself
and his kingdom. Utter distress was combined with
utter helplessness. " Tho children wore como to the
birth, and there was not strength to bring forth."
Prayer to the One who could effectually help was his
only refuge. At the same time, he dispatched his
chief minister to Isaiah, beseeching him to add his
intercessions to his own, and "lift up his prayer for
the remnant that were left" (2 Kings xix. 4). The
prophet's answer was reassuring. His strong faith in
Jehovah never wavered for an instant ; nor would lie
allow Hezekiah to fear. " The Lord had heard the
blasphemous taunts of Rabshakeli, and would avenge
them. The haughty monarch's career should be soon
cut short. Terrible news would prostrate his proud
spirit, and he would return defeated to his own land,
where he should fall by the sword " {ih. \y. 6, 7).
The Assyrian envoys communicated the issue of their
embassage to Sennacherib, who had, meanwhile, broken
up from Lachish, probablj-^ from inability to reduce it
without serious loss of time, and was besieging Libnah.
The hostile movement of Tirhakah from the south-west
made it essential that the annoyance of Hezokiali's con-
tinued resistance should be stopped, and that Jerusalem
should bo his, as a fortress for his troops to fall back
upon in case of need. It was inconvenient to spare
troops to take the city by assault. He anticipated that
his threats would do the work. So a second eml^assy
was sent to Hezekiah, bearing a letter couched in terms
of stm more insolent defiance. " Every king had fallen
before Assyi-ia, and should the king of Judah be au
exception ? To trust to his Grod for deliverance was
only to deceive himseH " [ih. w. 9—13). Once more
Hezekiah is presented to us as au example of faitli and
prayer. His instant resort is to the insiUted Majesty
of Heaven. With the blasphemous document in his
hand, ho enters into the Temple, and spreads it before
the Lord, calling upon tho "living God" to manifest
the difference between Himself and the dumb idols
which had proved so powerless to protect their votaries,
and, by tlic strangeness of His deliverance, force all tho
kingdoms of the earth to acknowledge JehoA-ah as the
one true God. Tlio answer to his prayer was given in
ono of Isaiah's sublimest lyrical flights, unsurpassed,
perhaps, in the whole range of prophetical Scripture.
" Tho virgm, the daughter of Sion, tossed her liead, and
laughed to scorn the menaces of the invader. The vain-
glorious Assyrian might vaunt of his conquests as the
HEZEKIAH.
iOl
fruit of liis CYu wisdom and might. He sliculd be
tauglit that he was but the instrument of the contemned
Jehovah ; " the rod of His hand, the staff of His indig-
nation " (Isa. X. 5), to be cast aside when he had done
his Master's work. He should be ignominiously di-agged
away from the city, which he was menacing -with utter
destruction, without setting foot on its sacred soil, or
even coming near it, with a ring in his nosti-ils, and
a bridle in his mouth, like one of his own prisoners.
And the deliverance so complete, so unlocked for,
should come from no human power. Jehovah would
do it for his own sake, and his servant David's sake.
'• The zeal of tlie Lord of Hosts " should sweep away the
multitudinous hosts of Assyria" (2 Kings xix. 20 — Si).
How this deliverance was to come to pass God did
not reveal. Not even Isaiah knew. But that it would
be both the kiug and the prophet most surely believed.
Nor had they long to wait for the issue. " Tlie word of
God runnetli very swiftly." Tliat very night, within a
few hours of the utterance of Isaiah's words, "the
angel of Jehovah went out and smote in the camp of Iho
Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand."
How, we know not; nor can we ever know cei-tainly,
for the Word of God is silent. But, whether by the
suffocating blast of the simoom, or by a sudden pesti-
lence— agencies which the Lord of Nature employs
when and as He jjleases — the destruction of the host
was utter. The few survivors awoke next morning to
a wide scene of death. Their comrades of the night
before lay all around then "dead corpses."
" For the Augel of Doatli spreid his wings ou the blast.
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still ;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword.
Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."
(Byron, Hehreio iIdodle$.)
With the anuiliilation of his host all Sennacherib's
schemes of conquest vanished. In haste and dismay
the proud blasphemer returned to his own land, destined,
ere veiy long, to complete the fulfilment of Isaiah's
prophecy, falling by the hands of his own sons in the
shrine of Nisroch his god, the last conqueror of his
race. " Within a few years from that time the Assyrian
power suddenly vanished from the earth." ^
A new danger speedily tlu-eatened Hezekiah ; not now
for his kingdom, but for his life. Worn out, perhaps,
with the anxieties of the f earf id crisis through which he
had passed, he was struck down by a disease, the mortal
nature of which Isaiah was divinely commissioned to
declare. The weakness of Hezekiah's character — his
want of moral fibre — was at once displayed. Utterly
overwhelmed with the announcement of the speedy
approach of death, the tender-hearted monarch burst
into a torrent of tears, and with averted face poui-ed
forth a prayer for prolonged life. Length of days was,
under the old covenant, the reward promised to faithful-
ness of service. Hezekiah could not unjustly appeal
to the integrity of his work, and expostulate with God
1 Stanley, Jcicis?i Cliurch, vol, ii., p. 400.
for thus cutting short his days — he was not yet forty —
in the midst of his years, and bidding him leave the
land of light and joy and gladness for the darkness
and sadness and silence of the grave. We must not
judge Hezekiali by a Christian standard. " Life and
immortality " had not yet been " brought to light by
the Gospel." The resui-rection of Christ had not yet
illumined the impenetrable obscurity of the grave, and
we can pardoi one of Hezekiah's sensitive tempera-
ment for shrinking, with what seems to us an almost
craven fear, from descending into its gloom. We
should have liked a more manly bearing. But the Old
Testament saints were men of their own epoch — not of
ours — and, let us never forget, " men of like passions
with ourselves ; " and w^hatever we may think of Heze-
kiah's prayer, God regarded it Avith favour. The cry
for prolonged life had hardly been upraised, and Isaiah,
after uttering the sentence of death, had barely left the
precincts of the palace, wlien he was commissioned to
rettim and reverse liis own sentence, promising reco-
very and the addition of fifteen years to Hezekiah's span ;
of days. Not even when the end is certain will God
allow the proprr means to be neglected. A poultice of
figs ai^pliod to tlie boil by Isaiah's direction worked the
cure. The rcvuLsi )n v,'as so sudden that Hezekiah may
be excused for desiriug a sign to con^dnce him of the
trutli of Isaiah's words. The sign was granted, and
like his father, Ahaz (Isa. vii. 11), he was permitted to
choose between two forms of it. He chose the most ■
apparently difficult: "the shadow should return ten
degrees on his father's sun-dial." "And Isaiah cried
unto Jehovah, and he brought the shadow ten degrees'
backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of:'
Ahaz " (2 Kings xx. 11). Wliere Scripture is silent, it is;
oiu' wisdom to be silent also, and not to speculate on the
possible natural causes of tliis retrogi-ession. " Whoever
truly believes in the Old Testament must also be pre-
pared to believe in a miracle."* Cheered by this sign,
the king's recovery was speedy. In three days he wes-
able to go up to the Temple to give thanks to Him who
had " delivered his soul from the pit of corruption," and
permitted him to look forward to making known God's
truth to his yet unborn children. Hezekiah's marriage
probably took place soon afterwards. His wife, Heph-
zibah, was a native of Jerusalem (2 Kings xxi. 1), tra-
ditionally a daughter of Isaiali (cf. Isa. Ixii. 4). His
sou and successor, Manasseh, was not born till three
years afterwards (cf. 2 Kings xx. 6 ; xxi. 1).
Of the remaining fifteen years of Hezekiah's life one
transaction alone remains on record. In this we are
expressly told that " God left him " to himself, " to try
him," that by his grievous failure he might learn his
own weakness, and himible himself before God. His
deliverance from the menaces of Assyria had the effect
of placing him in a very elevated position among neigh-
bouring states. It was certainly politic to court the
friendship and secure the alliance of the favourite of
2 Niebuhr, GeschL-ht Assurs u. BahcU, p. 49, quoted by Rev. H.
Browne in Kitto; Cijdop. Bill. Lit., vol. ii. 296.
102
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
a God whose power had proved so irresistible. The
marvel of Hezekiah's recovery, with its acteudaut miracu-
lous porteut, increased his fame. Neighbouring priuces
hastened to place themselves under his protection, and
vied with one another in the largeness of the gifts to
Hezekiah and the house of his God (2 Chron. xxxii. 23l
The sudden change was too much for his not over-strong
character. Elated by finding himself the object of so
much adulation and wondering reverence, " his heart was
lifted up, and he rendered not again according to the
benefit done unto him " [ib. ver. 25). The chief of the
potentates who sought intercourse with Hezekiah was
Merodach-baladau, the viceroy of the Assyrian province
of Babylon. His ambassadors came with the ostensible
purpose of congratiilatiug Hezekiah on his recovery,
and inquiring into the particulars of the retrogression of
the shadow, which would have especial interest for the
Chaldean astronomers. The real purpose lay deeper.
He was ali-eady contemplating throAving off his alle-
giance to Assyria, and he was anxious to acquaint him-
self with the internal resources of Hezekiah's kingdom,
that he might know how far an alliance Avith Judah
would help him towards his design. The honour of
receiving such visitors carried Hezekiah beyond himself.
Heedless of the cupidity he would be thus awakening,
and only desirous to show, by the immense amount of
the treasm-es at his command, how valuable an ally he
might be, he ostentatiously displayed the whole of his
resources to the Babylonian ambassadors. " Thei-e was
nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Heze-
kiah showed them not " {ih. ver. 13). Isaiah was too
keen-sighted not to discern the real object of this visit,
and too loyal a servant of Jehovah not to f«el the un-
suitableness of any alliance between the people of God
and the godless Babylonian power. Sternly did the
aged prophet interrogate the monarch as to his visitors,
and theii- object ; and then raising the veil of the future,
in words of terrible import he warned him of the in-
stability of the possessions he was glorying in, and the
treacheiy of the alliance he was so eagerly courting.
" The king of Babylon was to accomplish that which the
king of Assyiia had attempted and failed in. All the
treasures that he was displaying with so much pride
should be taken as spoil to Babylon : ' nothing should Ije
left; ' nay, more, his children should be carried captive
thither, and become the degraded menials of the royal
l)alace." The pious but feeble nature of Hezekiah bowed
in submission to the Divine decree ; " He humbled
himseK for the pride of his heart " (2 Chron. xxxii. 26).
" The word of the Lord "could not but be "good" in
its iiltimate issues. As for liimseK, he should bo spared
Avitnessing the threatened calamities ; " peace and truth "
were to last his days, and Avith that assurance he Avas,
perhaps, too easily contented (2 Kings xx. 19). His
reply was not magnanimous. It is diificult to acquit it
altogether of something very like selfishness. But his
words embody a truth. " It is no small mercy in Him,
and n© small comfort to us, if either Ho take us away
before His judgments come, or keep His judgments till
we are gone. A grief it is to know that these things
shall happen, but some happiness withal, and to be
acknowledged as a great favour from God, to be assured
that we shall never see them." ^
After this we have only the general record of the
peace and prosperity in which Hezekiah closed his
days. He was not an old man when he died. He slept
with his fathers in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and
the twenty-ninth of his reign, and was bmied with
great honour, amid the general mourning of the whole
nation ; not in the rock-hewn tomb of Da^id, wliich was
probably then full, but in the road leading up to the royal
burial-place- (2 Chron. xxxii. 33). " With him closed the
glorj', the independence of the kingdom of Judah. He
was the last tridy great and good king of God's people."
1 Bishop Sanderson, Sermon II. ad, Populum.
2 The word nbyo, translated iu the A. V. "chiefest" (marg.,
" highest ") " of the sei^ulchres," should certainly be rendered
"ascent," "going up to," aa 1 Sam. is. 10 ; Josh. x. 10; xviii. 17;
2 Kings is. 27 ; 2 Chron. xx. 16 ; with the LXX., tv Uva/Snaet rcKpiav
vImv Aavid. It is the conjecture of Theuius (2 Kings xs. 21) that
there being no longer any space left iu the hereditary tomb of the
kings of Judah, separate caves were excavated in the road leading
up the rocky slope for him and the succeeding kings.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOK OF PRESTON, SALOP.
OPHIDIA.
HE various kinds of serpents, harmless
and poisonous, that have been noticed in
Palestine and the Bible lands have been
mentioned in a preceding article. Bible
allusions to serpents, under the English names of viper,
asp, adder, cockatrice, &c., are very numerous, and pro-
bably in the Hebrew refer to different species. The
word ndchdsh appears to be the common name of the
serpent generally, without reference to any distinct
species. The subtlety of the serpent is mentioned in
Gen. iii. 1 ; see also Matt. x. 16, " Be ye wise as ser-
pents." The poisonous properties of some species are
frequently alluded to (see Ps. Iviii. 4 ; Prov. xxiii. 32).
The forked, sharp tongue of the serpent did not fail to
strike the attention of the Hebrew writers, some of
whom regarded the tongue as the instmimeut of poison
(see Job xx. 16, " The viper's tongue shall slay him," and
compare Ps. cxl. 3) ; but generally the venom is correctly
ascribed to the bite (Numb. xxi. 9; Eccles. x. 8, 11 ; Prov.
xxiii. 32). The serpent's habit of lying concealed in
hedges is mentioned in Eccles. x. 8, " Whoso breaketh
an hedge, a serpent shall bite him ;" " in the holes of
walls " (Amos v. 19). The partiality of some serpents
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
103
for dry, sandy places is alluded to iu Deut. viii. 15,
" Wlio led thee tlirougli that great aud terrible wilder-
ness, wherein were fiery serpents," i.e., serpents pro-
ducing burning pains from their bites. The oviparous
nature of most of the ophidia is mentioned in Isa. lix.
5, '' they hatch the serpent's eggs," whei'e the English
version has the imfortunate rendering of " cockatrice."
The peculiar and graceful mode of a serpent's progres-
sion along the ground is expressly noticed iu Prov. xxx.
19, where Agur mentions " the way of a serpent upon
a rock " as one of the three, yea four, things " which
are too wonderful" for him. " The organs of locomo-
tion for the exceedingly elongate body of the snake
are the ribs, the number of which is very great, nearly
correspondiug to that of the vertebrse of the trunk.
Although their motions are in general very quick, and
may be adapted to every variation of ground over
which they move, yet all the varieties of their locomo-
tion are founded on the following simple process. When
a part of their body has found some projection of the
ground which aifords it a point of support, the ribs
alternately of one and the other side are drawn more
closely together, thereby producing alternate bends of
the body on the corresponding side. The hinder portion
of the body being drawn after, some part of it finds
another support on the rough ground or projection, and
the anterior bends being stretched in a straight line,
the front part of the body is propelled in consequence.
Diu-iug this peculiar kind of locomotion the numerous
broad shields of the beUy are of great advantage, as
by means of the free edges of those shields they are
enabled to catch the smallest projections on the ground,
which may be used as poiuts of support. A pair of
ribs corresponds to each of these ventral shields. The
snakes are not able to move over a perfectly smooth
surface." (Giinther, in Ray Society's Beptiles of British
India, p. 164.)
The following Hebrew words denote some species of
serpent : — Pethen, sJiepMphon, epheh, 'acslmb, tsepha,
or tsepJioni.
Pethen occurs as the name of some poisonous serpent
whose venom is several times mentioned, as in Deut.
xxxii. 33, " the cruel venom of asps ;" Job xx. 14, " the
gall of asps within him," &c. The pethen is the " deaf
adder" of the Psalmist (Iviii. 4, 5), "that stoppeth her
ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
charming never so wisely." The pethen in Isa. xi. 8
is said to dwell in holes ; the probable derivation of the
■word is from a root meaning to " extend " or " expand."
Putting all these points together, there is much reason
to believe that the Egyptian cobra {Naia haje) is the
serpent intended. This serpent is, and long has been,
the species upon which the serpent-charmers have prac-
tised their peculiar science. When irritated, the cobra
expands or dilates its neck and breast tUl almost flat,
and its habit is to conceal itself in holes of walls and
rocks. The expression " deaf adder which will not be
charmed " clearly points to some particular individual
which obstinately refused to be charmed, and not to
any particular species which was physically incapable of
hearing; for the Psalmist is speaking of wicked and
obstinate men, whom he compares to obstinate serpents
which close then- ears to the music of the charmer. A
popular notion, not yet wholly eradicated, once pervaded
the public mind that the serpent used to stop its ear
with its tail ! (see Bythner's Lyre of David, p. 165,
Deo's translation ; also Dr. Thomson's The Land and
the Book, p. 155). No serpent, it may be stated, has
any external opening to the ear, the orifice being com-
pletely closed. It will be desirable to say a few words
on serpent-charming in connection with the passage in
the 58th Psalm. Those who professed the art of taming
serpents were called by the Hebrews melachushhn ; the
art was called lachash. Jeremiah (viii. 17) alludes to
the custom in these words : " Behold, I vrill send ser-
pents, adders (A.Y. cockatrices) among you, which will
not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord ;"
see also Eccles. x. 11, " Surely the serpent shall bite
without enchantment." The serpents usually practised
with are the Indian and Egyptian cobras. The art of
serpent-charming is of great antiquity. The skill of
the Italian Marsi aud the Libyan Psylli was celebrated
throughout the world. There can bo no doubt that the
serpent-charmers ai'e not, as a rule, impostors, practising
only on individuals whose poison-fangs had been pre-
viously drawn or broken off, but that they possess the
power of soothing and taming the snakes so as to render
them harmless to themselves. If a serpent behaves more
suspiciously and exliibits more restlessness than usual,
then, as a precaution, the fangs are extracted. The
shrill sounds of the flute are those which the serpent-
charmers find to have most influence over their animals.
Probably serpents, though, comparatively speaking,
deaf to ordinary sounds, are capable of hearing pretty
distinctly the sharp shriU notes of the flute. Hence
the effect produced by such music.
Shephiphon. — Here is another word which we think
can be identified, though it occurs but once, viz., in Gen.
xlix. 17, " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder
[Heb. shephiphon'] in the path that bitetli the horse's
heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." The
Hebrew word is no doubt identical with the Arabic
siffon or siphon, which is used to denote the horned
snake {Cerastes Hasselquistii), a poisonous serpent well
known in the sandy deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and
Arabia Petrsea. Its habits exactly suit what is said of
it in the passage in Genesis. The cerastes likes to coil
itself on the sand and to bask iu the impress of a
camel's foot, lying in ambush for any passing animal.
" So great is the terror which its sight inspires in horses,"
says Tristram, " that I have known mine, when I was
riding in the Sahara, suddenly kick and rear, trembling
and perspiring in every limb, and no persuasion would
induce him to proceed. I was quite unable to account
for his terror, until I noticed a cerastes coiled up ui a
depression two or three paces in front, with its basilisk
eyes steadily fixed on us, and no doubt preparing for a
spring as the horse passed." The name of cerastes
{Kipas, "a horn") is derived from two horn-like pro-
cesses over the eyes of the males ; the females occasion-
104
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ally possess them, but less developed. The cerastes is
about a foot in length, and is one of the most dangerous
of poisonous snakes.
Epheh occurs three times, viz., in Job xx. 16 ; Isa.
adder {Echidna Mauritanica), and to the toxicoa
{Echis arenicola) of Egypt and North Africa. Dr.
Tristram's party found this viper frequently in winter
under stones by the shores of the Dead Sea ; it is a
T?'^
tOTPTIAN COBRA..
xxx. 6 ; Hx. 5, and is always translated " viper ;" some { small species, about a foot long, common in sandy
kind of poisonous serpent is intended. Shaw mentions tracts, rapid in its movements, and poisonous. The
a snake which the Arabs call lefah (el effah), which viper (^x'^ya) which is said to have fastened on St.
may be the kind denoted by the Hebrew word. The Paul's hands, and astonished the barbarians at Malta
Arabic ophidian has been referred to the Algerian (Acts xxviii. 3), has been identified with the Vi;pera
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
105
aspis, a not uncommon species on the coasts of the
Mediterranean Sea. The woods have disappeared from
Malta, and no venomous snake is now found in the
island.
'Acshicb is found only ra Ps. cxl. 3, " Adder's poison
is under their lips." The Vipera ammodytes and V.
eupliratica are common in Palestine, and very likely
came under the notice of the ancient Jews.
Tsepha or tsephoni occurs five times in the Old
Testament as the name of a venomous sei-pent (see
Prov. xxiii. 32 ; Isa. xi. 8 ; xiv. 29 ; lix. 5 ; Jer. viii. 17).
The root of the word means " to hiss " — a chai'acter
common to serpents, and one which can afford not the
slightest clue. The word is translated "adder" and
and the words of a poet may be taken in a poetical and
hyperbolical sense. The serpent, almost throughout
the East, has been considered as an emblem of the ev-il
principle,'^ the spirit of disobedience and contimiacy ;
though some nations, as the Phoenicians, Chinese, the
Egyptians, the Indians, savage tribes of Africa and
America, regarded it as a beneficial genius, a symbol of
wisdom and power. But if the sei-peut was worshipped
as the symbol of eternity, it was also regarded as an evU
genius and the enemy of the gods, " so contradictory,"
Dr. Kalisch observes, " is all animal worship. Its prin-
ciple is in some instances gratitude, and in others fear ;
but if a noxious animal is very dangerous the fear may
manifest itself in two way.s — either by the resolute desire
" cockatrice " in our version. This latter creature — a
purely fabulous animal — was supposed to have been
hatched by a cock from a viper's eggs ; it is represented
in old books with a cock's head and a dragon's body.
Basilisk, " king of serpents," was another name of the
cockatrice. The latter word is probably a corruption
of crocodile, through the French cocatrix. Tristram
thinks the 'acshicb may denote the Daboia xanthina,
a large, prettily-marked, yellow serpent, and one of the
most dangerous from its size and nocturnal habits ; it
is not uncommon in Palestine. The " fiery serpents "
of the deserts of Sinai, which caused the death of the
Israelites at the time of the wanderings (Numb. xxi.
6, 8, and Deut. viii. 15) must have been some highly
venomous kind. Tlie Hebrew term rendered " fiery "
in our version, " deadly " by the LXX., " burning"' in
some other versions, alludes probably to the sensation
produced by the bites. " The fiery, flying serpent " of
Isaiah (xiv. 29 ; xxx. 6) is distinct from the foregoing.
There is no such thing in nature as a flying serpent ;
of extirpating the beast, or by the wish of averting the
conflict with its superior power ; thus, the same fear may
on the one hand cause fierce enmity, and on the other sub-
mission and worship." The general notion with regard
to the part the serpent is said to have played in the Fall is
that the reptile represents Satan, the Evil Spirit, under
its guise. Several writers, however, deny that the Evil
Spirit is to be understood in the narrative of Genesis.
It is true it is not distinctly mentioned, nor indirectly to
be inferred from the story itself ; still wo know the
serpent was amongst Eastern people generally regarded
as an emblem of the Spirit of Evil, and early traces of
Jewish interpretations favour this view. It was a
belief amongst the Jews that the serpent, prior to the
part it played in the Fall, moved along in an erect
position, and was pro\-ided with feet ; that, as a punish-
ment, poison was inserted under his tongue, and it was
to be regarded as a deadly enemy to man. Josephus
{Antiq. i. 1, § 4) expressly says, " And when he had de-
prived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go
106
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
rolliug along, aud dragging kimself along the ground."
Miltou similarly conceives of an erect mode of
progression : —
" Not witli iudeuteJ wave.
Prone on the ground, us siuca ; but ou his rear,
Circular base of rising folds that tower' d
Fold above fold, a surging maze." (Piir. Lost, ix. 496.)
The narrative in the Book of Genesis points to the
belief held by the ancient Jews that previous to the
cui-se there was a time when the serpent was not a
degraded creature, and the prophet Isaiah pictures a
time when the nature of the serpent shall again be
changed; not only would the lion and the ox eat
straw together, the wolf aud the lamb lodge together,
but eveu the enmity Ijetweea the serpent and other
animals would cease ; wlicn there would be no danger
in the weaned child playing at the hole of the asp, or
at the adder's den ; dust alone should the serpent eat ;
nothing was to hurt or destroy in aU God's holy
mountain.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMEI^iT.
THE PEOPHETS :— OBADIAH.
BY THE VEET KEV. R. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF CiNTERBUKY.
i^ ^lORT as is the Book of Obadiah, cousist-
^^y^ ing of only twenty-one verses, it has never-
i-^W^M tli*-'l*^^^ ^^®*^^ ^^^^ subject of much contro-
\r^^r^(^ versy, aud has questions connected with
it of considerable interest aud difficulty. As regards
its date, critics have placed it as early as the reign of
Rehoboam, and as late as the conquest of Jerusalem by
Ptolemy Lagus, so that by soine it is regarded as the
earliest, by others as the latest, of all the proj)hotical
writings. "We find, moreoA^er, that the first five verses
are repeated in the prophecy of Jeremiah agaiast
Edom (chap. xlix. 7 — 22\ aud that the two prophets
have also thoughts hi common where the words are not
identical: which, then, of the two borrowed from the
other ? So again : there is a close relation between the
prophecies of Joel and Obadiah. "Which, then, was the
earlier, and served as a model to the other ? Finally,
the modern Jews regard the prophecy of Obadiah as
the charter of their future greatness, assuring them
of the possession of the leading countries of Europe.
It will be interesting to see what are the pnncij)les of
prophetical interpretation which lead them to this
belief.
Now we may briefly dismiss any late date for Oba-
diah by appealing to his place in the canon. This
argument has indeed often been pressed too far ; but
we may at least say that the Jews, in their arrangement
of the minor prophets, have drawn a definite line of
separation between those who wrote before the Babylo-
nian exile and those who wrote after it ; and that this was
a matter upon which their information could not have
been insufficient. They have also evidently attempted
some sort of arrangement of the earlier prophets among
themselves, and have placed Obadiah among those who
■wrote in the reign of Jeroboam II. His exact place
was, however, probably fixed l)y the words of Amos ix.
12, wliere God promised tliat Israel should possess the
remnant of Edom. Of this prophecy Obadiah's pre-
dictions seemed an enlargement, and witliout meaning to
settle his exact date, which possibly they did not know,
they placetl him where liis matter admirably fitted in.
In Hosea and Amss we have Israel's punishment, but
the latter ends -with the promise of restoration, and the
subjugation of Edom, his inveterate foe. It seemed,
then, natural to place at the head of the roll those
proijhets whose subject was the fate of Israel herself;
and subsequently one who foretold the subjugation of a
j)eoj)le mth whom the Israelites were ever at war, and
their final supremacy.
But as undoubtedly the prophecy was written soon
after one of the many captures of Jerusalem (verse
11), aud as the Divine auger against Edom was occa-
sioned by his malevolent joy at his brother's adversity,
it has generally been supposed that Obadiah must have
■wiitteu soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Chaldseans in B.C. 588; and the more confidence is
felt in this conclusion because we find in Ps. cxxxvii. 7
the expression of similar auger against the Edomites
for the bitter exultation with which they encouraged
the Chaldseans to complete the work of destruction.
Moreover, as Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the
cajiture of Jerusalem, reduced the Ammonites and
Moabites to obedience (Josephus, Antiq. x. 9, § 7), and
as the Idumajans lay in the very path of lus army, the
predictions of the prophet have thus a natiu'al and
immediate fulfilment.
It is no sufficient answer to this to point out that the
repeatedly recurring j)hrase " Thou shouldest not " . .
(w. 12, 13, 14) would be more correctly translated, "Do
not look upon the day of thy brother ; do not rejoice
over the children of Judah,'* i&c, as these phrases, though
deprecatory in f onn, may all have been suggested by an
accomplished fact. There is something so particular
and exact about them, that the sole justification of such
charges would be that these crimes had actually been
committed. It would be malicious to suggest that your
brother should not join in plundering you, nor stand in
the crossway to cut off your fugitives, nor deliver up
those who had escaped, unless he had done so. Edom
is represented in these verses not merely as generally
exulting with malignant pleasure over the downfall of
Jerusalem, but as lianng been guilty of special acts of
deliberate meanness and cruelty ; and these acts, if
j really committed, would justify the sentence which the
OBADIAH.
107
prophet is commissioned to pass. Tlie tenth and
eleventh verses seem conclusive upon the point, that
the immediate occasion of the prophecy was Edom's
malevolent joy at Judah's downfall, and that it had
taken part in capturing Jerusalem. The deprecatory
form, then, of the appeals would rather lead to the
conclusion that Obadiah wrote immediately after the
capture, and while the Edomites were still triumphing,
and following out their malignant policy of refusing
the Jews all refuge.
The question, however, will turn very much upon the
relation of Obadiah to Jeremiah. If he copied from
Jeremiah, then uucpiestiouably ho had in view the
capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar : if Obadiah
be the older, then the occasion was probably that men-
tioned in 2 Chron. xxi. 17, when the Philistines and
Arabians, in the days of Jehoram, made a predatory
incursion into Judtea, captured Jerusalem, slew most
of the royal family, and retired with much spoil. As
the Edomites had revolted from Jehoram, and made
then* rebellion good in spite of much slaughter, nothing
would be more probable than that they would feel a
malicious pleasure in seeing their former masters hum-
bled beneath the enemy. The idea that the capture
referred to could be that in the reign of Amaziah, when
Joash king of Israel demolished four hundred cubits
of the city walls (2 Chron. xxv. 23), is disposed of by
the fact that Obadiah describes the conquerors as
strangers and foreigners. But the invasion of preda-
tory hordes such as were these Ai-abs in Jehoram's
days does not agree with so complete and methodical a
subjugation of the Jews as is implied by the flight of
the runaways into Edom, and the pursuit of them so
far from Jerusalem. The Philistines and Arabs wanted
plunder, and would retire as soon as they had gained it.
Nebuchadnezzar aimed at total conquest, and at the
deportation of all the inhabitants of the land to people
his new city of Babylon. Certainly the circumstances
agree better with the date usually given, B.C. 688, than
with any other.
No controversy, however, is more disputed than
whether Jeremiah borrowed from Obadiah, orvice versa.
The manner in which the former leans upon other books
of Holy Scripture, and perpetually uses words and
phrases taken from them, is well known, but Obadiah
has the same habit. In verses 17, 18, two points are
taken from Balaam's prophecy in Niimb. xxiv. 18, 19 :
the first, that Jacob is to possess Esau ; the second, that
he is to destroy him that remaineth, the word in both
places being the same, namely, sarid. Amos has the
first of these two points in chap. ix. 12, bui; the word
for "remnant" is there sharith, and Obadiah, taking
the idea probably from Amos, had nevertheless gone
back to the Torah, and made fuller use of the original
prediction, which guaranteed Israel's final ascendancy.
From Balaam, too, he took the simile of Edom's setting
his nest on high. Again, there are no less than five
places where Joel and -Obadiah are dependent one upon
the other (compare especially Joel iii. 14, Obad. 15 ;
Joel ii. 32, Obad. 17) ; and though, of course, it is quite
possible that Obadiah may have been thus made use of
by two prophets so dissimilar as Joel and Jeremiah, it
is more jjrobable that he made use of them.
The question is undoubtedly a very difficult one, and
critics take different views with arguments which seem
veiy plausible till the other side is read. Upon the
whole, I stiU adhere to the view I published in my
Bamptou Lectures, Prophecy a Preparation for Christ
(p. 141, 2nd Ed.), that Obadiah wrote after Joel and
Jeremiah. The behaviour of Edom at the time of
Jerusalem's capture made a very deep impression upon
the minds of the Jews, as we learn from Ps. cxxxvii.,
and Obadiah is to me a proof of the manner in which
educated Jews were conversant with their own Scrip-
tures. Profoundly versed both in the Pentateuch and in
the Prophets, he poured forth his indignation in this
short ode, in which predictions and phrases, with which
his memory was stored, formed the vehicle for the ex-
pression of deep and earnest feeling. But he is not
devoid either of originality or of power, and his poem is
well arranged. He begins with Edom's humiliation;
he next justifies God's sentence by showing Edom's
guilt ; and finally, he foretells that there are larger
mercies in store for God's people than the possession
of the territory of that small state. Thei-e is wide-
sjiread domiuion prepared for them, and deliverers who
shall rise up in Mount Zion, not for mere human or
national gloiy, but because " the kingdom is Jehovah's."
It is this latter part which has made Obadiah a
favom-ite study with the Jews. They read in his words
the certainty, not merely of restoration to their own land,
and the extension of their dominion over Idumsea and
Philistia, but of the do^vnfall of Christianity, and the
conquest, by themselves, of France and Sj)ain. Natu-
rally we ask for the explanation of so extraordinary an
interpretation, and we find that it is a settled principle
with the Rabbins that Edom is Rome, and the Edom-
ites all Christians whatsoever. For reasons which
will scarcely bear the test of criticism, they believe that
Janus, the first king of Latium, was Esau's grandson,
and that the Latins were not Trojans but Idumseans.
To the same stock they refer all the early Christians,
as if the apostles and first disciples were not Jews, but
Edomites ; and affirm that when Constantino made the
Roman empire embrace Christianity, it became Idu-
msean. Accepting this as an established principle, the
Jews easily arrive at conclusions of a very startling
kind.
The " mount of Esau," in verse 21, is naturally the city
of Rome, and by the " sa'viours " they understand men
like the judges of old, who will chastise the Chinstians
as Gideon chastised the Midianites. Sepharad is Spain,
probably from some confusion with Hesperia, a name
sometimes given to it ; but as Jerome's Jewish teacher
told him that Sepharad was the Bosporus, and as this
might be the Cimmerian Bosporus, now the Strait of
Teuikale, situated at the foot of the Caucasus, in the
country of Iberia, others think that some Jewish com-
mentator, in his ignorance of geograi^hy, confounded
this with the Iberia in the north of Spain. Be this as it
108
THE BTBLE EDUCATOR.
may, the notion is now so iugi-ained in tliG Jews, that
they call the two great di^^sions of their nation, who
have each their own pronunciation of Hebrew, Sepliar-
dhn, who are the Jews of Spain, and Ashkenazim, the
Jews of Germany. Really Sepharad is probal^ly a
district of Lydia, round Sardis. But when once
Sepharad had become Spain, Zai-ophatli, a village on the
coast of the Mediterranean between Tyre and Sidon,
easily became France.
The real fulfilment of the prophecy is to be sought
for rather in the triumphs of Chi'istianity than in its
defeat. But it is possible that a more full accom-
plishment remains than any that has yet happened;
and with it tliere may be also a more literal fulfilment
to the Jews, dependent, however, upon their acceptance
of our Lord as their Messiah. For though the Christian
Church, as the antitype, has taken possession of the
promises made to the type, the Jewish theocracy, this
does not necessarily exclude a fulfilment to the Jews
themselves, who, when " the kingdom is Jehovah's,"
may have their own special rights and privileges in his
uuiversul Church.
ETHNOLOaY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE:— (3) EACES IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
BY THE KEY. WILLIAM LEE, D.D., KOXBUBGH.
§ 4. — TIME OF THE CAPTIVITY.
*i^,HE pei'iod over which the "Captivity"
extends cannot be very exactly defined.
The " seventy years " of Jeremiah (xxv.
12 ; xxvii. 22 ; xxix. 10) apply only to
the kingdom of Judah, and for many reasons cannot
be understood as a definite computation, even in the
case of the southern kingdom (see Ewald, Hist. v. 73;
cf. Pridcaux, Connection, i. 184). If we reckon the
duration of the " CaptiAaty " from the destruction of
the Holy City by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 586 B.C.,
when the expatriation of the Chosen People may be
said to have become complete, to the return of the
first detachment of the Babylonian exiles under Zerub-
babel, consequent on the edict of Cyrus in the year 536
B.C., the exact time was about forty-nine years. It
3uust always, however, be kept in mind that this darkest
period of the national degratlation and misery was only
reached by successive steps, and that the recovery from
it was also gradual. Taking into account the whole
series of deportations by which the land was by degrees
emptied of its inhabitants — one district after another
seeing its children swept away — the duration of the
Capti^-ity extended over a period of not less than 300
years.
As early as the days of Joel (c. 800 B.C.), tliere had
been partial captivities of " Judah and Jerusalem,"
many of the inhabitants of the southern kingdom
having been at this time seized and sold into slavery by
the Sidonians, " that they might be removed far from
their border " (Joel iii. 1—7). About the same time, as
we find from the Book of Amos (809 B.C.— 784 B.C.),
not only Tyre and Sidon, but the Syrians of Damascus,
the Philistines, the Edomitcs, and the Ammonites had
swept the whole population from particular districts
of the country, or, in tlie language of the prophet, had
" carried them away with an entire captivity " (Amos
i. 1, sq. ; cf. Pusey, Minor Proph., in loc). Then
between 747 B.C. and 730, Tiglath-pileser, king of
Assyria, following up inroads in the same direction
made in the previous reigu by his predecessor Pul,
king of Assyria (cf. 1 Chron. v. 26), wrested from the
northern kingdom some of its fairest territories, in-
cluding Galilee and the trans-Jordauic provinces of
Gilead, and carried away the Israelite inhabitants to
Assyi-ia (2 Kings xv. 29). The great deportation of
the remains of the ten tribes, the bounds of whose
kingdom were now miserably contracted, embracing
only the cities of Samaria, followed in the year 719 B.C.
In that year, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, " took
Samaria, and can-ied Israel away into Assyria, and
placed them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of
Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes " (xvii. 6). There
now only remained, at least in any force, the two tribes
constituting the kingdom of Judah (xvii. 18). Already,
as we have seen, terribly weakened by successive cap-
tivities in the days of Joel and Amos, this kingdom
now began to share in earnest the fate which had
befallen her northern neighbour. To say nothing of
the probable results of her subjugation (c. 610 B.C.) by
Pliaraoh-necho, king of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, the great instrament of her threatened
judgments, appeared before the walls of Jerusalem in
the year 606 B.C. Jehoiakim, then king of Judah, at
first submitted to the conqueror of so many other
kingdoms without a struggle, but after three years
rebelled against liim, with, however, no other result
than that of involving his kingdom in war not only
with the dial dees, but with their allies or vassals the
Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, amidst whose
oppressions his reign and his life closed. Three months
after the accession of his successor Jehoiachin, the first
step was taken to the utter extinction, for the time, of
the kingdom of Judah. In the year 598 B.C., Nebu-
chadnezzar took possession of Jerusalem, and carried
thence Jehoiachin himself and 10.000 captives, includ-
ing "all the princes and all the mighty men of valour,
and all the craftsmen and smiths," together with the
treasures of the temple and of the palace of the king
(2 Kings xxiv. 10 — 16). The final blow was not struck
till thirteen years afterwards. In the year 586 B.C.,
having provoked his fate at once by his sins against God,
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
109
and Lis attempts to throw off the Bal^ylonian yoke, the
new Yassal-king, Zedekiah, after sustaining in Jerusalem
a two years' siege, aggravated by a desolating famine,
and after seeing his own sons and the princes of Judah
massacred before his eyes — the last sight permitted to
him — was carried away, blind, to Babylon, followed a
few months afterwards by the whole remnant of the
people except " some of the poorest of the land," while
Jerusalem itself — with its Temple, its palaces, its
private houses, and its walls— was razed to its foun-
dations or burned with tire (2 Kings xxv. 9 ; Jer. lii. 13).
The dates of the successive steps of the return, as far
as we know them, may be added. The retiirn under
Zerubbabel took place in the year 536 B.C. ; under Ezra,
in 458 B.C. ; and under Nehemiah in 445 B.C.
(2.) The ethnical history of Palestine throughout the
somewhat indefinite period thus known as the times of
the Captivity, is not without difficulty.
Of the population which from the conquest had
always hitherto been predominant in the land, there
is little to be said. For very many years the race of
Israel now almost wholly disappeared from the scenes
associated with their past national history. They
had not, it is true, utterly vanished from the face of
the earth ; nor were they without hope of re-assuming
their ancient position in the territories granted to their
fathers. Nei'ther were they absolutely extinct, even
at this time, in Palestine itself — hardly, perhaps, in
any part of Palestine. It is sometimes supposed that
the deportation of the ten tribes from Samaria had been
carried out so thoroughly, that that district was, after
the invasion of Shalmaneser, wholly evacuated of its
Israelitish inhabitants ; but this cannot be maintained.
From the history of Josiah we know that at the time of
the great passover celebrated by that Judean king at
Jerusalem, at a date posterior to the captivity of the
ten tribes, scattei-ed remnants at least of its native popu-
lation— "Israelites," to quote the words of Josephus,
"who had escaped capti\dty and slavery under the
Assyrians" — were still found in Samaria (2 Chron.
XXXV. 17, 18 ; Jos., Ant. x. 4, § 5). The same fact is
even more explicitly mentioned in connection with the
deportations of the people of the southern kingdom.
The Babylonian conquerors of Judah were anxious
that the fields and vineyards and olive-gardens should
not be left without cultivators. Accordingly, some
of "the poor of the land" were, as already noticed,
exempted from the doom inflicted on the nation as a
whole. Other exemptions are represented by the
daughters of King Zejlekiah, by the prophet Jeremiah
himself, and by Gedaliah, a Jew of noble birth, who
was made native governor, under the Babylonians, of
the Hebrew population thus left behind in the land of
Judah. This Judean residuum, too, was afterwards
joined by numbers of their countrymen, who during the
progress of the war had sought safety in flight, having
taken refuge in the wilderness fastnesses of Judah, or
in neighbouruig countries, as Moab, Amnion, and Edom
(Jer. xl. 7, 11\ Though many of the Jews now re-
ferred to — those, namely, who had fixed their residence
at Mizpah with Gedaliah — ere long lost heart, and,
Gedaliah having meantime perished by assassination,
migrated to Egypt, many also remained (Ezra vi. 21).
Five years after the destruction of Jerusalem there
seems to have been collected in the neighbourhood of
that city a sufficient number of Jews to prove a source
of annoyance and danger to the Babylonians. At least
the Babylonians at that time found it necessary to fit
out another expedition against the Judeans, which re-
sulted in their carrying away 745 of the latter to join
their brethren in Babylon (Jer. lii. 30). Althouglv, how-
ever, all through the very darkest period of the Cap-
i'n-ity there might be here and there in the land smaU
bodies of men belongmg to all the tribes of Israel who
maintained a precarious footing in the midst of the
former possessions of their race — such fragments of the
ancient Jewish population as in the Middle Ages con-
tinued to cling to the same land after even more ter-
rible calamities ' — still the Jews were for the time hardly
without any existence in Palestine. Wo cannot be
surprised that this should have been the case. It
must be remembered how many distinct deportations
had taken place. The process of transplanting the
Hebrews from their own to foreign countries had been
going on for centuries in, at one time or other, every
part of the territory of Israel. Nor must it be forgotten
that throughout all this period there -were in operation
other agencies by which, even to a still more serious
extent, the country was being emptied of its inhabitants ;
and, indeed, that it is to the sword, the pestilence, and
famine, rather than to capti\dty, that the disappearance
of the native population is mainly attributed in the
Bible (see, e.g., Jer. xv. 2; Ezek. v. 12). Such an
event as the actual exhaustion, one way or other, of
the inhabitants of a conquered province is known
(Herod, iii. 149 ; vi. 31) to have been not unusual in
the merciless warfare of Eastern nations in these early
times.
(3.) The population wo find in Palestine at this period
accordingly consisted for much the most part of foreign
races, some of which can still be identified.
Its numbers must, in the aggregate, have been more
considerable than is sometimes imagined. Many cities
(like Jerusalem itself) were, it is true, in ruins, or pre-
sented the even sadder spectacle of grass-grown streets
and houses intact but untenanted (Lam. i. 1 ; Ezek. xi.
6). In many places the fields lay imcultivated (Jer. iv.
7 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 33), the roads were unfrequented (Lam.
i. 4). Beasts of prey roamed undisturbed in tracts of
country which had before been crowded with populous
villages (Jer. xlix. o3; Lam. v. 18). Even so rich a
district as Samaria had for a time been suffered to
return to a state of nature, and was overrun by lions
(2 Kings xvii. 25). How complete indeed the desolation
1 Bsnjatnin of Tudela (Early Travels in Palestine, p. 81 sq.) men-
tions the numbers of his race whom he found in the Holy Laud,
when he visited it about the year 116.1. In Tiberias he found 50
Jews; iu Bethlehem, 12 Jews; in Jerusalem, 200; in Gibeon,
none ; in Sychem, none ; in CsBsarea, 10 ; in Nob, 2 ; in Joppa,
" one Jew only, a dyer by profession."
110
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
was in some parts of the land appears from tlie
terms in which the change is desciibed that was to
follow the withdrawal of the jndgments nuder which
it then lay : " I vnl\ cause you to dwell in the cities,
and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land
shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of
all that passed by. And they shall say, This laud that
was desolate is become like the garden of Eden ; and
the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become
fenced and are iuhabited. Then the heathen that are
left round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build
the ruined places and plant that that was desolate "
(Ezek. xxx\'i. 33 — S6). Upon the whole, however, the
country from which Israel had been thrust forth was
not by any means allowed to remain altogether without
a population of one kind or another.
Of this population the prevailuig character differed
in different parts of the country, especially in the three
great provinces into which, in the later histoiy of Israel,
we find Palestine divided.
In the more northern territory, or Galilee, the j)opu-
lation was probably very much the same as in all times.
Galilee had from the first contained a large iuter-
mixture of Phcenicians (Judg. i. 31, sq.). Considerable
additions to the same foreign element in its population
must have bf^en made when Solomon gave over aljso-
Intely tweuty of its cities to Hiram king of Tyi-e in
compensation for his services in furnishing materials
for the Temple and " the king's house" at Jerusalem.
In Isaiah's days it was so largely inhabited by heathens
that it was kno\vn as " GalUec of the Gentiles " (Isa.
ix. 1). Passing on to the times of the Maccabees
(1 Mace. v. 20—23), wo find it stUl chiefly inhabited
by "the heathen;" and Strabo {Geogr. xvi. 2, § 34)
describes it as in his day occupied by " Syrians,
Phcenicians, and Arabians." There can be no question,
from the general tenor of the history — though the fact
is not anywhere expressly stated — that at the time
when Jerusalem was lying in ruins, and indeed
throughout the whole period of the Captivity, Galilee
was veiy much in the same position as it had been
before and after this period as to the character of its
population, except that in all probability the proportion
of the Jewish inhabitants was very much smaller than
it had been at either the earlier or the later dates now
referred to (cf. Ewald, v. 231).
If, during the exile, North Palestine was for the most
part occupied by old settlers from the border-lands
of Phoenicia, with a mixture of Syrians and Arabians,
the kingdom of Judah, in the south, ere long fell a
prey to one of its own neighbours. It was at this time
that a people which from first to last fiU a prominent
place in Jewish histoiy first obtained an actual footing
in the Holy Land. The Edomites have been already
noticed as through the founder of their nation, Esau,
"brethren " by blood, but by hereditary predisposition
among the most inveterate of the enemies of Israel.
When Nebuchadnezzar invaded the kingdom of Judah,
and besieged Jerusalem, in the days of Zedekiah, several
of the Arab peoples joined the army of the Babylonians ;
but none of them appear to have entered into the
quarrel more zealously than " the children of Seir," who
indeed not only took an active part in the war, but did
everything they could to inflame the passions of the
invaders against the common enemy. We find them
again and again denounced by the prophets as those
who had prompted the extreme measure of razing Jeru-
salem to its foundations (Ps. cxxxvii. 7 ; Lam. iv. 22 ;
Ezek. XXV. 12 ; Obad. 10). No sooner had Jerusalem
fallen, than — probably as the reward of the serA-ices
they had rendered on this occasion — the Edomites
claimed and received permission from the conquerors to
form settlements in the desolated territories of Judah.
It seems that they asserted a right to the occupation
of Israel as weU as Judah (Ezek. xxxv. 10). At all
events they proceeded actually to occupy considerable
districts appertaining to the southern kingdom, where
we still find them at the time of the return from
Babylon (1 Esdi-as iv. 50; Joseph., Antiq. xi. 3, § 8 ;
Ezek. xxxA-i. 5). Nor were they ever afterwards
wholly rooted out of the land. In the time of Judas
Maccabjeus (e. 167 B.C.) they held the whole of the
southern part of the old kingdom of Judah, with the
ancient capital of Hebron, up to the former countiy
of the Philistines to the west, as well as, north-east of
Jerusalem, between Jericho and Samaria, a tract of
laud extending to the Jordan (Ewald, Hist., v. 81).
Even aft«r their complete subjugation by John Hp*-
canus, the Edomites or Idumeaus, as they now began
to be called, being incorporated with Israel, to whose
worshij) they were compelled to conform, and to whom,
in Herod the Great, they eventually gave the last of
her independent sovereigns, continued to occupy some
of the same territories, to which it accordingly became
customary, both with Jewish and heathen wi'iters, to
give the name of Idumea — a name, indeed, sometimes
applied (especially in the Latin j)oets) to the whole of
Palestine (Reland, Palcestina, i. 48, 69 sq.). And at
Eleutheropolis, in the numerous caves which abound
there, traces may, it is believed, still be found of these
early settlements of the Idumeans. According to
Jerome {Covim. 07i Obadiah), they continued for a
time to keep up, even in Palestine, the troglodyte habits
to which they had been accustomed in Mount Seir (see
Robinson, Researches, ii. 51 — 53, 69).
With regard to the third division of the country, our
information is more direct. About a hundred and fifty
years before the destruction of Jerusalem, the capital
of Samaria had, as we have seen, been besieged by
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and after a three years'
siege taken, such remains of the ten tribes as now
represented the kingdom of Israel — a kingdom by this
time miserably contracted in extent of territory and in
population — being earned away into Assyria. How
long the desolation thus caused was suffei'ed to continue,
is uncertain; but cither Shalmaneser himself (2 Kings
xvii. 3, 24), or his grandson, Esar-haddon (Ezra iv. 2 —
10), resolved to colonise the itogion thus (at least, in
great part) emptied of its former inhabitants. The
new population was drawn from seveml places, which
BIBLE WORDS.
Ill
appear to have recently exposed themselves to the
same fate which had overtaken Samaria itseK. " The
king of Assyi-ia brought men from Babylon " [" a fact
which," according to Ewald {Hist., iv. 218), "proves
that Babylon had then been for some time independent
of Nineveh, and had only with great diificulty been
again subjugated"], ''and from Cuthah" [a place not
certa,inly identified; Ewald, following Abulfeda, Rosen-
miiller, Gesenius, Knobel, and others, make it a city
near Babylon ; Josephus [Ant. ix. 14, § 1 ; x. 9, § 7 ; cf .
Bochart, Geogr., 833), a coimtry of Persia], "and from
Ava " [not identified], " ?nd from Hamath "' [a Syrian city
on the Orontes], " and from Sepharvaim" [supposed by
Yitringa to be also in Syria ; by others (see Keil, in loc.)
to be the same as the Sipxjhora of Ptolemy, the most
southei'n city of Mesopotamia], "and placed them in the
cities of Samaria instead of the childi'en of Israel ; and
they possessed Samai-ia, and dwelt in the cities thereof"
(2 Kings xvii. 24). Of the strangers thus introduced
into Samaria the greater proportion appear to have been
"Cutheans," the name by which they were afterwards
most genei'ally known amongst the Jews (Jos., Ant. ix.
14, § 3 ; X. 9, § 7). What their numbers were is not
stated. They occupied, however, all the cities which the
deportation of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser had left im-
inhabited, " eveiy nation " among them haA-ing assigned
to it cities of its own (2 Kings xvii. 24, 29) ; whence we
may conclude that these numbers were considerable. We
find them still in the same locality after the return of
the Jews from Babylon (Ezra iv. 1). And with more
or less admixtm-e of Jevrish blood {Diet, of Bible, s. v.
" Samaria ;" Milman, Hist. i. 420 ; Wmer, Bealworter-
biich, s. V. " Samaritaner ; " Trench, Parables, 313), but
certainly without losing their distinctive character as
aliens by descent (Luke x-\-ii. 18; x. 29 — 37), and, to
some extent, in religion (John iv. 22), they continued,
under the name of " Samaritans," to form an important
element in the population of the Holy Land down to
the days of our Lord. Descendants of the same race
have, indeed, never ceased to maintain their ancient
position in Palestine, and especially in the territory
formerly known as Samaria. Benjamin of Tudela (a.d.
1163) found in the city of Nablous alone " about 100
Cutheans who observe the Mosaic law, and are called
Samaritans" {Early Travels, 81). Among recent tra-
vellers, Robinson {Researches, ii. 273 ; iii. 129) has
given the fullest account of the present condition of
this remarkable people. He twice visited them, first in
the year 1838, and again in the year 1852.
With these principal races, the Phoenicians in the
north, the Idumeans in the south, and the Cuthean
colonists in Samaria, were, however, intermingled at
this time, representatives of many other nationalities.
That the Hebrews were not altogether absent, has
been ah'eady noticed. Among the heathen we find
" Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites,
Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites " (Ezra ix. 1) —
remnants from the aborigines or interlopers from the
different countries round about. There was also a small
body of Babylonian troops, Avith a governor and pro-
bably other officers entrusted with the local administra-
tion of the country, which at this time, the reader need
hardly be reminded, was a satrapy of the kings of
Babylon, as afterwards for so long a period of the
kings of Persia.
It need be only added that the ethnological condi-
tions now described must, with little change, have con-
tinued to characterise Palestine for very many years
after the return of those of the children of the Cap-
tivity whose proceedings are narrated in the Books
of Ezra and Nehemiah. The original permission of
the Persian government for the restoration of a
Jewish community in the mother country extended
(cf. Ewald, V. 88) only to Jerusalem and its imme-
diate vicinity; but the complete re-occupation — as
far as the re-occupation was ever complete — by the
Chosen Seed of t^he Promised Land was the work of
centuries.
BIBLE WO EDS
BY THE BEV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRECENTOR OF LINCOIiN CATHEDRAL.
^ EASING {subst), a lie, a falsehood, from
the A. S. leasung, "lying," which is de-
rived from leas, "false," "loose," con-
nected with the Gothic liusan, " to lose,"
laiis, "empty." {Gom^axe vamis, Lai, "false," "lying,''
"deceptive;" " vanus mendaxque," Virg. ^n. ii. 80.)
It occm-s twice in the A. V. : Ps. iv. 2, " How long will
ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?" v. 6, "Thou
shalt destroy them that speak leasing." We find it ia
Wiclif — e.g., " Whanne he spekith lesijng he spekith of
his owne, for he is a here, and fadir of it " (John viii. 44) ;
"lesyng mongeris" (1 Tim. i. 10). Chaucer {Knighfs
Tale, 1069) speaks of " charmes and force, lesynges and
flaterye." It is common in Piers Ploughman — e.g.,
" Ah, by lesynges thou lyvest, and lecherouse werkes "
(ii. 124). In Passus, iv. 18, Reason, when arraying
himself to ride, called to his assistance
" Tom Trewe-tonge-telle-me-no-tales —
Ne lesyng-to laugh-of— for I louvd hem neuere."
Shakespeare also kn@ws the word. The Clown in
TxveJfth Night [i 5) says to Olivia —
" Now Mercury endue tliee with leasing, for tliou speakest well of
fools."
Let {verb act.). A word which was foi-merly used
in two senses apparently the reverse of each other : (1)
to allow, or permit ; (2) to hinder. The latter sense,
though very frequent in the A. V. and the literature of
the time, is now entirely lost. " The idea of slackening,"
wi-ites Mr. Wedgwood, " lies at the root of both appli-
112
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
cations of tbo term. When wo speak of lotting one do
something, we conceive of him as previously restrained.
, . . At other times the slackness is attributed to
the agent, when let acquires tho sense to be slack in
notion, delay, or omit doing. . . . When in a causa-
tive sense, to let one from doing a thing is to make him
(et or omit to do it, to hinder his doing it " {Diet. Engl.
Etym., vol. ii., p. 320). It is frequent in tho A. Y. :
Exod. V. 4, " Wherefore do ye let the people from their
Avorks ? " 2 Thess. ii. 7, " He who now letteth will lei,
until he bo taken out of tho way ; " Deut. xv. (heading),
" There must be no let of lending or giA'ing ; " Isa. xliii.
13 ; Rom. i. 13 ; and in tho Collect for the 4th Sunday
in Advent, " We are sore let and hindered in running
the ra«e that is set before us." The word is derived
fr©m A. S. laettan, Dutch letten, '"to hinder." Wo
may illusti-at« its use from Chaucer's description of the
theatre of Theseus —
" VJ'lieu a man was set on o tiegri?,
He leite uougbt bis felawe for to se ;"
the spectators being ranged ticn- above tier, so that none
hindered the others' sight. Also from SiJenser —
" Leave, ah leave off, whatever wight thou bee.
To lei a weary wretch from her dew rest,
And trouble dyiug soule's tranquillite."
[Faerij Queene, II. i. 47.)
And from Shakespeare —
"What lets but one may enter." (Tico Gent, of Verona, iii. I.)
List {vei-b intmn'i.) — Matt. xvii. 12, "They have
done to him whatsoever they listed," Mark ix. 13 ; John
iii. 8, " The wind bloweth where it listeth ,•" James
iii. 4, "Whithersoever the governor listeth" — from
the A. S. lystan, "to v\'ish," "to chuse," "to will," and
like that used impersonally in the old writers, me
lyste, me listeth, " it i^leaseth me," but not in the A. V.
Examples are infinite : —
" Alle his werkes he wroughtc with loue as him llste."
(Piers Plovghmaii, i. 148.)
Chaucer uses leste — " hem teste," it pleased them ; anJ
luste — " him luste," it pleased him.
" Sche walketh up and down, and as hire lialc.
Scbe gaderetb flowers party whytc and rede."
{Knight's Tale, 191.)
It is frequent in Spenser :
"And when him Jist the prouder lookes subdew.
He would them gazing blind or turn to other hew "
(F'levii Queene, I., vii. 35) ;
and in Hooker, both personally and impersonally :
" Which the will if it listed might hinder from being
done" {Eccl. Pol, I. vii. 3); "They are to stand in
defence of the freedom w'hich God hath granted, and
to do as themselves list " {Ibid. V. Ixxi. 5).
Manner {svhst.). Lev. xiv. 54, " Tliis is the law
for all mc'.nner plague of leprosy ; " Lov. vii. 23, " Te
shall eat no manner fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat ;"
Rev. xviii. 12, " All manner vessels of ivory, and all
manner vessels of most precious wood." In these pas-
sages, where a reader unacquainted with the usage might
conjecture that " of " had been left out by a printer's
error, an old form, of constant occurrence in our earlier
writers, is retained. John Trevisa (a.d. 1385) says,
" Thre mane)- speche," " Thre maner people." Chaucer,
as quoted by Mr. Aldis Wright, gives "no maner joie,"
"a maner Latyn," "such maner rime," "thes maner
murmur." Bishop Fisher has "three inaner wayes."
We meet with this abbreviated form repeatedly in
Hooker : " Their (the angel's) longing to do by all means
all manner good to the creatures of God " {Eccl. Pol.,
I. iv. 1 ; " All -inanner virtuous duties," V. iv. 3 ; " No
manner persons," VIII. ii. 13. This archaic form has
been most unwarrantably modernised by recent printers
of the A. V. {e.g. The Spealcer's Commentary) by the
insertion of " of."
Manner, with the, is used (Numb. v. 13) in the same
sense as " in the very act " (John viii. 4). It is an old
law-French phrase, the meaning and derivation of
which is illustrated by the following quotation from
Blackstone : " A thief taken with the mainour — that is,
with the thing stolen upon him in inanu " (in his hand,
hond-habend) — " might, when so detected, flagrante
delicto, be brought into court, arraigned, and tried
without indictment " {Commentaries, bk. iv. c. 23). We
fijid it in Shakespeare thus : Costard says, " The manner
of it is, I was taken with the manner" {Love's Labour's
Lost, i. 1) ; and Prince Henry upbraids Bardolph, " O
villain, thou stolest a cup of sack, eighteen years ago,
and wert taken with the manner " (1 Henry IV., ii.
4). It survives in Dryden: "I have taken you in the
manner, and will have the law upon you " {Don Sebas-
tian, Act 1).
Mete {verb act.), to measure. Exod. x^d. 18, "When
they did mete it [the manua] witli an omer ; " Ps. Ix. 6,
" Mete out the valley of Succoth ; " Matt. vii. 2, " With
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again ; " also Mark iv. 24, Luke vi. 38. Meted (Isa.
xrai. 2, 7 ; xl. 12), from the A. S. metan, " to measure."
The Greek fj-erpe'iy aud the Latin metiri spring from
a common root, which is indicated by tho Sanskrit
md, "to measure," and matrans, "a measure." Piers
Ploughman says —
" Thou myghtest better mefc the myste on Malverne hulles.
Than gete a momme (mumbling) of here mouth " (Prolog. 214);
and again^
" For the same mesures that ye mele amys other elles
Ye shulden ben weyen therwyth when ye weude hennes (go
hence)."
(i. 175.)
Aud Shakespeare writes —
" Their memory
Shall an a pattern or a measure live,
By which his grace must mete the lives of others."
(2 Henry IV., iv. 4.)
Meteyard, for "a yard-measure," the A. S. met-geard,
is found in Lev. xix. 35.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
113
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
BY THE REV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
"^^""^"^i^^HE existence of a cliurch in Rome at a very
^^- early period of the Christian era may be
inferred not only from the probabilities of
!K the case, but from express testimonies of
Scripture. "Strangers of Rome, Jews as well a«
proselytes," were among the multitude who, on the
day of Pentecost, heard in their " own tongue " the
"wonderful works of God," and listened to St. Peter's
first proclamation of the Gospel. "Andronicus and
Junia," most probably dwellers in Rome at the date
of St. Paul's Epistle, are deckred to have been "in
Christ " before himself.' When " Claudius commanded
all Jews to depart from Rome," there were among the
exiles at least two believers, afterwards renowned in
the Church and the Apostle's " helpers in Christ Jesus." -
As St. Paul in his evangelic journeys traversed the
Roman "world," he found the faith of the Romans
everywhere spoken of. It is true that at a later period
the Jews in Rome professed comparative ij^-norance as
to the Christian faith. "As concerning this sect, we
know that everywhere it is spoken against." ^ But the
tone is that of supercilious affectation. These proud
Hebrews, while willing to hear the renowned apostle,
were anxious to show that they had nothing in common
with the humble company who had gone forth to meet
him " as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns."
2. It is instructive to observe that no apostolic name
can be connected excepting indirectly with the earliest
days of the Roman church. The tradition which attri-
butes its formation to the labours of St. Peter is easily
disproved.'* Whether thac apostle spent his latest days
and received the crown of martyrdom in the imperial
city, is an open qiiestion, and, in the absence of evidence
to the contrary, the affirmative is generally maintained,
by ecclesiastical historians. But it is certain that when
the church in Rome was founded, Peter was stLU at
1 See Acts ii. 10 (where the phrase " Jews and proselytes " refers
immediately, if not exclusively, to the " strangers of Borne ") ;
Eom. xvi. 7.
- See Acts xviii. 2. Though not expressly so stated in the |
Tjistory, it is most probable that Aquila and Priscilla were already
believers in Christ when they came from Rome to Corinth. The ;
edict of Claudius is mentioned by the Roman historian Suetonius \
{Cla:idius, chap, xxv.) : " Judseos, impulsore Chresto, assidue |
tutnultuantes, Eoma expulit." ("Ho expelled the Jews from j
Rome, who were continually raising disturbances, at the instiga-
tion of Chrestus.") As the Romans mispronounced and misunder-
stood the name Christus, supposing it to be from the Greek
XPiTTor (chresftis), "good," it is highly probable that the historian
here gives some perverted view of the commotion caused by
Christianity.
3 Acts xxviii. 22.
'• The earliest promulgator of this tradition is Eusebius, Bishop
of Cffisarea about a.d. 325, who says that St. Peter proceeded to
Rome in the second year of Claudius, and remained in the city as
bishop for twenty-five years. So Jerome, nt the end of the fourth
century. As Herod Agrippa is known to have died in the fourth
year of Claudius, and as Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem in ihe
year of Herod's death, the tradition is clearly false.
80 — A'OL. IV.
Jerusalem ; that he afterwards dwelt at Csesarea, return-
ing thence to Jerusalem, and being subsequently found
at Antioch ; that his special designation as " apostle to
the circumcision " would be little likely to lead him
afterwards in the direction of Rome ; and that towards
the close of his life he was in the far East, at Babylon,
from which city he wrote his first Epistle.* The tone of
Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the Romans is quite
irreconcUeable with the notion that his brother apostle
had occupied or was still occupying the ground. Not
only is there no mention of St. Peter among the many
salutations nt the close of the Epistle, nor any refer-
ence, however indirect, to his character and teachings ;
but St. Paul, while longing to visit Rome, both avows
it as his own rule of action not to labour " on another
man's foundation," aud expresses his desire to impart
to the Romans "come spiritual gift" in language which
could only be studiously offensive to another apostle Lf
already labouring in the city.^ There is nothing, there-
fore, to connect the Roman church with the name of
Peter, excepting that, like many other churches, it may
be supposed to have been among the results of his
great Pentecostal sermon.
3. The " Apostle of the Gentiles " had naturally long
been anxious to visit the metropolis of the Gentile
world. While still at Ephesus, in his third missionary
journey, he planned an extended tour, including Rome,
after the visit which he was bound to pay to Jerusalem :
" I must also see Rorne " — a desire fulfilled in how
unexpected a way ! To visit the Roman church had
been his longing and his prayer — his " great desire for
many years." To the " fruit " which he had reaped
among Greeks and barbarians, thus rendering him their
" debtor," it was his ardent desire to add new obliga-
tions by trophies of the Gospel gathered " at Rome
also."' Meantime, upon his way to Jerusalem "to
minister unto the saints," during a three months' halt
at Corinth, St. Paul addresses to the Roman Church,
and through them to the Church Universal, this won-
5 Compare Acts xii. 3, 19 ; Gal. ii. 7—9 ; Acts xv. 7 ; Gal. ii. 11 ;
1 Pet. V. 13. In this last passage, the interpretation of Babylon
as meaning Rome is hardly worthy of serious refutation.
5 Compare Rom. xv. 20; i. 11; and chap, xvi., •passim. The
absence of all mention of St. Peter has been accounted for by
some on the supposition that he was at the time absent on an
episcopal visitation. A few dates may here be convenient : —
A.D. 44. — Peter imprisoned at Jerusalem by Herod.
A.D. 50, — Apostolic council at Jerusalem ; Peter at Antioch.
A.D. 5S. — Epistle to the Romans.
A.D. 65. — First Epistle of Peter, from " Babylon."
A.D. 68. — Martyrdom of Paul (and Peter?) under Nero.
There is thus absolutely no place for the traditional twenty-five
years' episcopate of Peter in Rome, even were it possible on other
grounds.
' See chap. i. 14, 15. The Apostle's declaration that he was
" debtor" to the Greeks, &c., is generally interpreted as meaning
that he oiccd to all men the proclamation of the Gospel. The con-
text, however, sujiports the explanation here given.
114
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
clei'ful Epistle. Many minute indications couciu- in
fixiug the time and place of its composition. Plia'bc.
tlio bearer of the Ej)istle, was " deaconess " of tlie
cliurcli in Oenclu'cse, the poi-t of Coriutli (xvi. 1). Gains
and Erastus (xvi. 23) are Coriutliiau names (see 1 Cor.
i. 14 ; 2 Tim. iv. 20). Timothcus, Sosipater, and Gains
(x^^. 21, 23) were among the Apostle's companions
on his journey to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 4). Added to
which, there appears in the Epistle an e^^dent fore-
boding of the dangers that actually awaited him from
those in Judaea who believed not (Rom. xv. 31). To the
Apostle it appeared that deliverance from these enemies
would be a necessaiy condition of his A-isiting Rome ;
in reality, it was their success which brought aljout
this end. " Man proposes; God disposes."
4. Tlie genuineness of the Epistle has never been
seriously questioned. The friends and foes of Chris-
tianity alike have accepted it as the mature fruit of the
Apostle's intellect, and the best compendium of his
■^jheology. The circum ;tance8 of its composition were
favourable. His deepest anxieties respecting Corinth
were at rest ; his work in that city was over ; he had
" no more place in those parts ; " the success of his
appeals to Gentile churches on behalf of the necessitous
Jewish Christians had filled him vrith gratitude and
joy ; in the greeting's which close the Epistle we have
the very overflow of Christian affection ; the Apostle's
mind is at leisure to discuss great questions ; and the
greatest of all at that time were those which reached
the height of their interest in the church at Rome. To
this chiirch, accordingly, the Epistle Avas primarily
addressed, while it is highly probable that it was ex-
pressly intended for much wider diffusion. Different
editions of the letter, so to speak, have been thought to
have existed almost from the first, addressed to different
churches, and varying only in their clos3. In the
Epistle as we have it, these different endings are com-
bined, so that the final benediction customaiy with the
Apostle is thrice ropeated (xv. 33 ; xvi. 20, 24), while
one gi-and doxology crowns the whole (xvi. 27).^ Of
course it is possible that benedictiov. might be thus
added to benediction in the course of the same letter
to the same people ; biit such repetition is not after
the Apostle's manner ; and the supposition that we have
here indications of an "encyclical" cliaracter is at least
in perfect harmony with the scope and contents of tlie
Epistle.2
5. The Church in Rome was a typical Christian com-
munity, in so far as it contained both Jewish and Gen-
tile members.^ At times the Apostle addresses them
1 This doxology is found in almost all the later MSS. at the
end of cliaptor xiv. Some insert it both there and at the end of
chajiter xvi. ; others omit it altogether.
- On this interesting point, see M. Benan, S'lint Paul, p. Ixv.
sq. There seems no adequate reason for rcjectinf» an hypothesis
which so completely explains these reiterated farewells, although
when M. Eenan tells us (chiefly from the evidence of the names)
that chap. xvi. 3—20 was addressed to the Ephesians, 21 — 2t to
the Thessalonians, and 25 — 27 " to a church unknown," he carries
critical conjecture a little too far.
•^ The great number of Jews at that time dwelling in Home is
attested both by historians and poets. The decree of Claudius
as altogether Gentile. " I speak unto you Gentiles,
. . . among whom are ye also the called of Jesus
Christ ... as among other Gentiles." " I have
written the more boldly unto you, because of the
grace that is given to me of God, tliat I should be the
minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentries ; " while of the
Jews he speaks m tlie third person, " My heart's desire
and prayer to God for them is, that they might be
saved." ^ On the other hand, the whole argument of
the Apostle is adapted to Jewish modes of thought :
" I speak to them that know the law." He speaks of
" Abraham our father ; " quotes largely from the Old
Testament ; appeals to those who " are called Jews ; "
addresses to the Jews one gi-eat branch of his argu-
ment : " Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man ! "* In
the words of Professor Jowett, " The Roman church
appeared to be at once Jewish and Gentile ; Jewish in
feeling, Gentile in origin ; Jewish, because the Apostle
everywhere argues with them as Jews ; Gentiles, be-
cause he expressly addresses them by name as such." ^
At the same time, the two elements would come into
constant conflict ; the Judaism of some would be more
pronounced ; others would claim a wider liberty ; one
part of the church would have passed by Jewish initia-
tion from heathenism to Christianity ; others would be
Gentile converts who had never submitted to the
Mosaic law. No opportunity could be more fitting for
the detailed and authoritative exposition of the i-elation
of Christianity to the Law. And not to the Law of
Moses alone ; the Apostle, with a wider sweep of thought
than in the Epistle lately writt2n to the Galatians, in-
cludes in his view every form of legal obligation, and
passes from the narrow limits of a controversy between
Jew and Gentile to the complete solution of the mighty
problem. How can man be just with God ? Among
the latest words written by the Apostle " with his own
hand " to the churches of Galatia, stands the impas-
sioned declaration, " God forbid that I should glory-
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The same
sentiment in another form is repeated as motto and
subject of this Epistle to the Romans : " I am not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of
God unto salvation to evei'y one that believeth ; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek."
6. The outline of thought in this Epistle is marked
with peculiar clearness.
I. Introduction (chap. i. 1 — 17). — Tlie personal
references in this first i^aragraph have been already
noticed. The declaration, " I am ready to preach the
Gospel to you that are at Rome also," forms the link of
transition to the Apostle's main topic.
II. Doctrinal. — "The Righteousness op God,"
a Di^ane gift revealed in the Gospel, originating and
resulting in faith ; in other words, Justification by
faith.
was but temporary ; multitudes had returned, among whom we
find Aquila and Priscilla (xvi. 3).
4 See xi. 13; i. C, 13; xv. 15, 16; x. 1. In this last passage,
"for them " and not " for Israel " is the reading accepted by critics.
5 See iv. 1 ; ii. 1, 17, 21 ; iii. 10—18.
•5 Commentary, vol. ii.,p. 23.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
115
(1) The universal need. — "AU under sin." The
" wrath of God " against " those who hinder, overbear
{KarexovToov) the tiTith in nnrighteonsness " (i. 18).
a. The Gentile world. The law of nature universally
violated (i. 19—31).
b. The Jewish world. The Law of God universally
broken (chap. ii.}.
[Objections from the Jewish point of view ; their
answer, chiefly from the Old Testament Scriptures
(chap. iii. 1—19).]
Grand Conclusion. — " By deeds of Law shall no
flesh be justified" (iii. 20).
(2) The method of salvation.
a. Genei'al announcement : " A righteousness is
manifested " — " of God " — " without law " — " by faith "
— " through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus " —
for " Jews and Gentiles " ahke — declaring the principle
of God's " forbearance " in respect of " sins past " ' — set
forth in a " jn'opitiation " — justifying the believer and
" re-establishing the law."
[Jewish question met : How then was Abraham jus-
tified? Answer: By/VaY/i (chap, iv.).]
b. Completeness of the salvation. Key-note : " Let
us have peace I"^ Detailed Statement: "By Christ's
death we are reconciled ; by His life we shall be saved."
The greatness of the '-free gift" immeasurably sui--
passes thot of the offence. Contrast between the
results of Adam's transgression and the fruits of
Christ's redemption (chap. v.).
c. Redemption a power for holiness. [Objection : If
salvation is by grace, have we not a licence to continue
in sin ? Answer : We are raised into a new life, in
which continuance in sin is impossible.'] Analogies .-
Death and resm*rection (vi 1 — 13) ; bondage and free
service (vi. 14 — 23) ; the marriage relation (\'ii. 1 — 6).
[The power of the Law in awakening the conscious-
ness of sin and misery, the unavailing struggles of the
soul against evil, and the joy of deliverance through
Christ, illustrated from the Apostle's own experience
(%'ii. 7—25).]
d. The perfect and final victory over evil. " Chi-ist
for us, and Christ in us " (chap. -riii.).
(1) The spiritual life, completed by the Resurrection
(w. 1—17).
(2) Creation perfected, in the j)erfecting of the " sons
of God " (ATT. 18—25).
(3) Pri\alege of access to God {yx. 26, 27).
(4) " All things " in the DiAine plan are tributary to
the Christian's highest good (y\. 28 — 30).
(5) The believer's position is unassailable; his tri-
umph in Christ is assured against every possible foe
{yv. 31—39).
1 In iii. 25, the phr.ise " to declare His righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past," should rather be rendered " to
declare His righteousness because of the passing over of the former
sins •■' (comp. Acts xiv. 16; xvii. 30). The word for remission is
dtflferent.
2 There can be little doubt, if the testimony of MSS. is to decide
the question, that the true reading in chap. v. 1 is exw/uf", " let
US have," not ^xofj-ev, "we have." The former is adopted by
Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Westcott. Lachmuun is doubtful ;
Alford retains e'xoM^".
III. Relation of the Jews to the Gospel
Dispensation. — " To the Jew first, and also to the
Gentile."
The Ai>ostle introduces this part of the discussion by
expressing his " heart-heaviness and continual sorrow "
caused by his countrymen's rejection of Christ, not-
■n-ithstanding then- olden honours and privileges (ix.
1—5).
a. And yet descent from Abraham in itself consti-
tuted no claim upon Divine favour {Ishmael was Abra-
ham's son, and Esau Isaac's). There must in addition
be God's promise, His choice, and the acceptance of
His laio of righteousness. From ancient prophecy it is
shown that these might be forfeited by Lsraelitcs, and
professed by Gentiles (,ix. 6 — 33).
b. Rejection, then, is the consequence of unbelief,
shown in the refusal of "God's righteousness." This
unbelief is inexcusable, as the Gospel has been clearly
preached to Israel. Then* own prophets, indeed, foi'e-
told their obdm:acy (chap. x.).
c. Notwithstanding, Israel is not finally cast away.
(1) Jews, as such, are not rejected : " for I also am
an Israelite " (xi. 1).
(2) There is still a faithful remnant, as chosen and
designated by God. Parallel from Elijah's days (xi.
2—6).
(3) It is only the blindness of unbelief that causes
rejection (xi. 7 — 10).
(4) The fall of the Jews is the opportunity of the
Gentiles ; and the conversion of the Jews wUl be the
life of the world (xi. 11—16).
(5) Caution to the Gentiles, not to boast themselves
aga'inst the Jews (xi. 17 — 24).
(6) " AU Israel shall be saved " (xi. 25—33).
d. This section of the Epistle ends with a lofty
ascription of praise to God for His wondi-ous and un-
searchable ways (xi. 33 — 36).
lY. Practical Teachings.
(1) General. — Spirit and conduct of the Christian.
«. The law of consecration — a law of humility (xii.
1-3).
b. The Christian in the church — the law of mutual
service (xii. 4 — 13).
c. Tlie Christian in the world — the law of meekness
and forgiveness (xii. 14 — 21).
d. The Christian's relation to earthly governments —
the law of submission (xiii. 1 — 7).
e. Summai-y of the foregoing — Love the fulfilliug of
Law (xiii. g — 14).
(2) Special. — Behaviour in things indifferent.
a. The rule of forbearance. God in Christ the only
master of the soul (xiv. 1 — 13).
b. The Cliristian law of love demands tenderness to
the consciences of others (xiv. 14 — 23).
c. The " strong" are taught by the example of Christ
to tolerate the " weak" (xv. 1 — 7).
d. Application to the questions at issue between Jew
and Gentile. Sympathy between the two the lesson of
tlie Old Testament (xv. 8—13).
V. Conclusion of the Epistle.
116
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
a. St. Paul's own rolatiou to the Grontile world (xv.
14-21).
b. Intimation of his journeys, including (as he hoped)
a visit to Rome (xv. 22 — 32).
First benediction (ver. 33).
c. Introduction of Phoebo, the bearer of tlio letter
(xvi. 1, 2).
d. Greetings to friends (xvi. 3 — 16).
Apostolic warning (''with his own hand?") and
second benediction (vv. 17 — 20).
e. Greetings from friends (xvi. 21 — 23).
Third benediction (ver. 24).
/. Final doxology (xvi. 25 — 27).
7. It only remains to note the fact that this Epistle to
tlio Romans was written, not in their own language,
the Latin, but in Greek. Of this the simple explana-
tion is that the Greek had already become the literary
language of the Empire. It was the tongue which, no
doubt, St. Paul himself best understood ; and the great
majority of his hearers would understand it also. " The
Greek language was understood and employed at Rome
in the first century. The Jews residing there learned
it by intercourse with the Greek-speaking inhabitants
and with the Romans themselves, many of whom pre-
ferred it to the Latin. The oldest Jewish tombs of
Rome liavo Greek inscriptions, as we learn from
Aringhi.' Gentile Christians generally understood
Greek, as we infer from various witnesses ; from Mar-
tial, Tacitus, Juvenal, and 0\'id. Ignatius, Dionysius
of Corinth, and Irenaeus wrote in Greek to the Roman
Christians. Justin Martyr, who resided in Rome for
a time, wrote his apologies to the Roman emperors in
the same tongue. Clement and Hermas wrote in I
Greek. Of the names of the first twelve bishops of
' Roma, Suhterranea, vol. i., p. 397, &c.
Rome, ten are Greek and only two Latin." ^ It may bo
added that of the twenty-four names found in chap. xvi.
5 — 15, one is Hebrew, seven are Latin, and sixteen
Greek. " The names," says Canon Lightfoot, " belong
for the most part to the middle and lower grades of
society. Many of them are found in the columbaria
of the freedmen and slaves of the early Roman em-
perors," There were "saints " "in Caesar's household"
(PhU. iv. 22).
8. It is no part of our present purpose to discuss
the opinions tliat have been entertained concerning the
theology of this Epistle. For these the reader is re-
ferred to the doctrinal commentaries, as those of Calvin,
Tholuck, Olshausen, Stuart, Jowett, Hodge, and Hinton.
Even more valuable to the student are the expositions
(like that of Dr. Vaughan ^) which enable the reader to
judge for himself as to the meaning by a comparison
of Scripture with Scripture. Much also depends upon
the use of single words and phrases ; and a Greek Con-
cordance, wisely used, is often the best commentary.
"The Epistle to the Romans," says Dr. Yaughan,
"occupies a central j)lace, chronologically as well as
doctrinaUy, amongst all the writings of St. Paul. "We
see him in the fulness of his Christian strength, every
part of his education still tenaciously grasped, and con-
secrate for all time to the Church's and to his Master's
service. No peculiar circumstance of his readers, no
exceptional experience of his own, here narrows his
scope or colours his style. It is the Gospel, pure and
simple — the Fall and the Redemption — the weakness
of Law and the might of Grace — which he sets forth in
this letter in words strong and pregnant, at once charac-
teristic of the writer and worthy of the august theme."
2 Dr. Davidson, Znfroducfion io the Study of the New Testament,
vol. i., p. 141.
3 St. PauVi EpistUto the Romans. With Nofes.by C.J. Vaughan, D.D.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY C. J. VAUGHAN, D.D., MASTER OF THE TEMPLE.
" According to the course of this world, according to the princa
or the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience." — Ephes. ii. 2.
^(n r^^ SERE are two words in the Greek Testa-
^^ rOnjp meut for the term "world" in our version.
\^^\ ^^^ "^^'^ ^^^ ^8 alwv, the other is KSa-fios. In
<st9fe5^^ this one passage of the Epistle to the
Ephosiaus the two are combined, " according to the aluv
of this Koa-fios." Tliere is a clear difference between the
two terms. Tlie former regards time, the latter space.
The one (altiu) expresses an " age" or "period," indefi-
nite, or even infinite ; it is used sometimes for a life-
time, sometimes for a generation, more often (in Scrip-
ture) for one of those vast aggregates of time whicli
enter into God's counsels in reference to man's being
and destiny ; and this either in combination, singular
or plural (as, e.g., " the age of the age," " the age of
the ages," " the ages of the ages," &c.), or simply as
" the age," whether in the sense of " eternity," past
(John ix. 32) or future (John vi. 51), or of "time" in
contradistinction to both (Mark iv. 19). In this last
use it is often combined with " this," or " the present "
(Matt. xii. 32 ; xiii. 22 ; Luke xvi. 8 ; Rom. xii. 2 ; 1 Cor.
i. 20; ii. 6, 8; Gal. i. 4 ; 1 Tim. ^-i. 17; 2 Tim. iv. 10,
&c.), in contrast with "that" or "the future," or "the
coming " (Luke xviii. 30 ; xx. 35 ; Ephes. i. 21). Wlien,
for example, St. Paul says, " Bo not conformed to this
world " (Rom. xii. 2), he uses the word alwv as the ap-
propi'iate term for that temporary condition of man's
world, wliich sliall cease at the revelation of Christ in
glory. " Wear not the garb of tiino ; live for eternity."
The idea of time is never wholly lost in the use of aldf,
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
117
although it is thrown completely iuto the background
in such a phrase as that of Heb. i. 2, " By whom also
lie made the worlds " (literally, "the ages ").
The other word, K6atJ.os, from (1) its original idea of
" order," " arrangement," " apparatus," which it appa-
rently retains in the Septuagint, being there always fol-
lowed by a genitive of explanation, as " the Koafxos of
heaven," " the heaven and the earth, and all the K6<Tfj.os
of them," &c. (see Gen. ii. 1 ; Deut. iv. 19, &c.), passes
into (2) that of " world," or material universe, and is
so foimd repeatedly in the Apocrypha and the New
Testament. Its onward course is as clearly traceable.
Becoming next (3) specially appropriated to the world
of men, as in the well-known phrases of St. John's
Gospel, "God so loved the world;" "My flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world," &c. (see John i.
10, 29 ; iii. 16, 17 ; iv. 42 ; vi. 33, 51 ; vii. 4, 7, &c.), the
Kdfffxos sinks at last into a term of disparagement and
reproach, denoting either (a) the world of sense and
matter, in contrast with spirit and heaven ; as iu the
phrases, " the rudiments of the world " (Gal. iv. 3 ; Col.
ii. 8), " careth for the things of the world " (1 Cor. vii.
33, 34) ; or (6) the world as affected by sin, and lying
under God's displeasure ; as in the expressions, " that
we should not be condemned with the world " (1 Cor.
xi. 32), " without God in the world " (Ephes. ii. 12),
"the pollutions of the world" (2 Pet. ii. 20), "the
whole world lieth in wickedness " (1 John v. 19), &c.
"According to the alwy of this Koa-fjios," then, is. in
other words, " in accordance with the time-state of this
matter-world ; " on those principles which belong to the
present temporary passing condition of a universe of
sense and matter, infected with the disease, and lying
under the penalties, of sin and the fall,
2. The life of sin is further characterised as " accord-
ing to the prince of the power of the air." It is not
only shaped by the nde of human example, or by that
tradition of evil which comes down to it from an an-
cestry of like passions and corruptions (1 Pet. i. 18j.
There is a subtle agency of solicitation and temptation
which has its plan, its aim, and its rule, and which is
carried on by a spiritual agent, here described as " the
prince of the power of the air."
The term "prince," or " ruler " {&pxaif), as applied to
the devil, has ample illustration in the Gospels. The
phrase " prince of this world," or " prince of the world "
(according to the best manuscripts in one place), occurs
three times in our Lord's discourses in the Gospel of
St. John (xii. 31 ; xiv. 30 ; xvi. 11). The idea of a power,
actual though not original, exercised by a personal
.igent, himself first fallen, over the human being which
lias once of will and choice admitted his influence, is
present everywhere, expressly or by implication, in the
Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation.
The peculiarity of the expression before us lies in
the description of the place and seat of this hostile
power. " The prince of the power {f^ova-ia) of the air
(a^p)." The "power" over which Satan rules is said
to belong to the " air." The figure is that of an
organised and concentrated authority, such as that
which we call a "government" or " empire," having a
constituted aud recognised head, and a definite and
even localised realm aud capital. The use of e^ovaia is
remarkable. A faint illustration of it may be found in
Luke iv. 6, where, after showing " all the kingdoms of
the world," the tempter says, " All this power [empire]
will I give thee;" or in Luke xxjii. 7, where Pilate,
learning that Jesus is a Galilsean, " knows that he
belongs to Herod's jurisdiction " (government). Else-
where i^ova-ia seems to be used (like apx-n) almost per-
sonally. " Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. . . . "Wilt thou then not be afraid of the
power .P Do that which is good, aud thou shalt hare
praise of the same ; for he (or ' it ') is the minister of
God to thee for good " (Rom. xiii. 1 — 4). We under-
stand it here of that collective " empire " of evil, of
which the devil is the head, and of which the " air " is
described as the scene and home.
The word d^p in Scriptiu-e has but one meaning. It
has none of its derived senses of "mist" or "gloom,"
such as might make it the synonym of ffK6Tos in Luke
xxii. 53, Ephes. vi. 12, or Col. i. 13. We find it in the
literal sense in the six other places of its occurrence :
Acts xxii. 23 (" and threw dust into the air ") ; 1 Cor.
ix. 26 ("not as one that beateth the air"); xiv. 9 (" ye
shall speak iuto the air"); 1 Thess. iv. 17 ("to meet
the Lord in the air ") ; Rev. ix. 2 (" the sun and the
air were darkened ") ; xvi. ] 7 (" poured out his vial
into the air "). " The power of the air," in the passage
before us, must connect in some way the air or atmo-
sphere with the agency of evil spirits.
There is a parallel passage in chap. vi. 12 of tiiis
Epistle, where St. Paul speaks sf the Christian struggle
(■n-aAi?" as " not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities (apxds), against powers (f^ooo-ias), against
the rulers of the darkness of iAiis world [literally, ' the
world-rulers of this darkness'], against spiritual wicked-
ness in high places [literally, ' against the spiritual
things,' the spirit-hosts or spirit-forces, ' of wickedness
in the heavenly places ']." In that remarkable passage,
the abode of evil spirits is called rd iirovpapia, the very
same term which is used again and again in this
Epistle for the abode of Christ and His people, and of
the holy angels (Ephes. i. 3, 20; ii. 6; ui. 10). We
cannot but infer that the drjp of chap. ii. 2 is the iirovpafia
of vi. 12 ; and we seek some connecting link elsewhere.
In the Gospels and Acts we find repeatedly rd
irereiva. rod ohpavod as the Greek equivalent for " the
birds of the ah- " (Matt. vi. 26 ; viii. 20; xiii. 32 ; Mark
iv. 32 ; Luke viii. 5 ; ix. 58 ; xiii. 19 ; Acts x. 12 ; xi. 6).
There is a lower as well as a higher heaven ; an ohpavis
synonymous with drjp, as well as an ovpav6s which is the
home of God. The heaven which " gives rain " (James
V. 18), or prognosticates fair or foul weather (Matt.
xvi. 3 ; Luke xii. 56), is ovpw6s in the Greek, as well as
the "heaven" which is "God's throne" (Matt. v. 34).
There is a " mid-heaven " {ixiaovpavmxa) in which the
birds fly (Rev. xix. 17), as well as a " third heaven," the
presence of God Himself, to which St. Paul was caught
up to hear "unspeakable words" (2 Cor. xii. 2, 4).
118
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Thus " the prince of tlie power of tlio air " is another
name for the prince of " the spirit-liosts of evil in the
heavenly places."
If now we ask what is the forc« of this designation,
we shall see in it an intimation (1) of the nearness to
us, even as in the air we breathe, of our spiritual foes ;
(2) of their free and unrestricted action; ^3) of the in-
visible and impalpable character of their presence ; not
in " flesh and blood," not in the form of human oppo-
nents or persecutors, but in that of subtler and more
secret influences which can only bo counteracted by
prayer and watching.
3. There remains one point, minute perhaps, but not
trifling, in reference to the third and last clans* of this
text. An English reader might suppose " the spirit
that now worketh," &c., to be a further description of
'• the prince of the power of the air ; " or, to use gi-am-
matical language, the word " spirit " to be in apposition
with the word " prince." It is not so. The word
" spirit " is, in the original, in the genitive case, not the
accusative ; and is in apposition, not with " prince," but
with "power." The devil is called "the prince [or
ruler] of the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience." The " spirit " itseK ia under the
rule and dominion of Satan. He sends it forth, he
commissions, directs, and controls it. The Tn/eCjuo which
actually eVepy??, is not the person, but the vassal, of the
tempter. The influence, the agency, the inspiration of
evil, is so far one and the same that it can be spoken
of in the singular; as elsewhere we read of "sinrits,"
"evil spirits," "unclean sjnrits," so here we read of
" the spirit ; " yet, in whichever foi-m it be expressed,
we are to remember that it is but an effluence and
emanation from one who manages in secret the empii-e
of temptation, and is skilful as well as vigilant alike in
counsel and action.
With the exception of the vaiioty of number, the
phrase here resembles that of the Gospels, " the prince
of the devils" (Matt. ix. 34; xii. 24; Mark iii. 22;
Luke xi. 15). For the singular number here we may
find a partial parallel in 1 John iv. 1, 6, where the
singular " the spirit of error," and (possibly) " the spirit
of antichrist," follows the mention of " the spirits,"
" every spirit," &c. ; as though there was a unity in
the diversity of the agents and agencies of evil.
Of the general idea we see a striking illustration in
the "lying spirit" of Micaiah's vision (1 Kings xxii.
21, 22).
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, R.E.
VI. — SAMARIA.
^T is extremely difficult to define the limits
of the province of Samaria. Josephus
states that it lay "between Judeea and
^Jc;^^^ Galilee," and that it commenced at " a
village called Ginaea (Jenin) on the great plain
(Esdraelon)," and extended " to the toparchy of Acra-
batta ; " we shall therefore not be far wrong in assign-
ing as its boundaries, the ridge of Carmel and the
plain of Esdraelon on the north, the Jordan Valley on
the east, the great "Wady Belat on the south, and the
Mediterranean on the west. In the Old Testament the
name Samaria is sometimes used in a general sense to
denote, first the kingdom of the ten tribes, as in 1 Kings
xiii. 32, where the i^rediction of the " man of God " Ls
directed against " the altar in Bethel and against all
the houses of the high places which are in the cities of
Samaria," before the town of Samaria was built ; and,
afterwards, the more limited territory of the later kings
of Israel. Thus the king of Assyria is said to have
placed certain nations or people in " the cities of
Samaria ; " Ezekiel speaks of the " captivity of Samaria
and her daughters " (Ezek. xvi. 53) ; Amos of the
"mountains of Samaria," (Amos iii. 9); and Hosea,
evidently in allusion to the worship instituted by Jero-
boam at Bethel, exclaims, " Thy calf, O Samaria, hath
cast thee ofB;" and again, " Tlio calf of Samaria shall be
broken in pieces" (Hosea viii. 5, 6). Gradually the
kingdom of Israel declined until, in the ninth year of
King Hoshea, the remnant of the ten tribes was can-ied
away to Assyi-ia, and " the king of Assyi-ia brought
men from Babylon, and from Cuthali, and from Ava,
and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed
them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children
of Israel : and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the
cities thereof " (2 Kings xvii. 24).
An interesting question now arises as to the extent
to which the deportation of the Jewish poj)ulation was
carried, and their place occupied by the new settlers,
who, as Josephus says, were called " Samaritans, taking
the name of the country to which they were removed "
(Ant, X. 9, § 7). Sevei-al writers maintain that the later
Samaritans of the book of Ezra and of the New Testa-
ment were of purely Assyrian oi-igin, whilst others, with
whom we are inclined to agree, think it most probable
that a remnant of the tribes was left, and that during
the Captivity, and after it, a mingled race grew up which
owed its origin to the Israelites left in the countiy, and
to the foreign colonists. Be this as it may, there is no
doubt that after the return of the Jews from Capti\'ity
a bitter feeling existed between them and the Sama-
ritans, and that this broke out into open enmity on the
refusal of Zerubbabel to allow the latter any part in the
rebuilding of the Temple. Upon this the Samaritans
accused the Jews of i-ebellious designs against the
Persian Government, and were able to stop the work
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
119
at Jerusalem duriug the reigns of two kiugs. Hence-
forward the division between the two j)eople appears
to have been continually growing greater ; the erection
of a temple on Mount Gerizim intensified the religious
hatred, whilst the political division of the country under
foreign government must have contributed its part to
the feeling of national dislike. " There be two manner
of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is
no nation : they that sit upon the mountain of Samaria,
and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that
foohsh people that dwell in Sichem,'' says Jesus the son
of Sirach (Ecclus. i. 25, 26) ; and Josephus informs us
that the Samaritans gave themselves out as Jews when
it suited them, and at other times concealed their con-
nection, as when they addressed a letter to Antiochus
Epiphanes as God, styling themselves Sidonians, and
asking permission to give the name of Jupiter Hellenius
to their temple. Perhaps the expression " Thou art a
Samaritan and hast a de^Hl," used as a term of bitter
reproach amongst the Jews, is a better indication of
the feeling with which they regarded their neighbours
than anything we could quote. So, too, the Samaritans
used to light rival beacon fires at the rising of the new
moon to mislead the Jewish watchers on the hill-tops ;
they waylaid Jews on their way to Jerusalem, and
refused them hospitality, as in the case of the Samaritans
of a certain village who would not receive our Lord
" because his face was as though He would go to Jeru-
salem " (Luke ix. 53) ; they are said on one occasion
to have defiled the Temple by scattering dead men's
bones on the sacred pavement : they claimed for t4ieir
copy of the Law a higher antiquity than that of any
possessed by the Jews ; and they even contejided that
the temple on Gerizim was the true temple, and not
that at Jerusalem. During the first foui* centuries of
the present era the Samaritans appear to have been in
a flourishing state, in spite of the slaughter of more
than 10,000 of them by "Vespasian ; but towards the
close of the fifth century they were so severely punished
for an outrage committed on the Christians at Nablus
(Neapolis), that they never recovered their importance,
and gradually dwindled away until they now number
not more than a few families at Nablus.
With the exception of the strip of plain along the
sea-coast, the character of Samaria is essentially moun-
tainous, and this tract is sometimes alluded to in the
Bible as "the mountains of Ephraim;" the valleys,
which descend to the Jordan on the one hand, and to
the Mediterranean on the other, take the character of
wild ravines, but they frequently rise in small plains
of great richness, such as those of El Mukhna and
Dothain. There is, however, one exception in the re-
markable pass through the vale of Nablus between
EbaJ and Gerizim which affords easy access from the
coast to the hill country. The roads naturally follow
tlie features of the country; there is one great high-
way from north to south along the central ridge or
" backbone," whilst the other reads pass up the trans-
verse vaUeys ti meet it. There is no want of water,
and in some places there is careful tei'race culture
on the hiU- sides ; Carmel and other hills are partially
covered -with dense thickets, and there are indications
that forests of some size existed at one time. Josephus,
probably, gives a fair account of the state of the countiy
in his day, when he tells us it was very fruitful, had
abundance of trees, and was full of " autumnal fruit,
both that which grows wild and that which is the
effect of cultivation ; " he also adds that it was thickly
populated, and that by reason of the excellent grass the
cattle yielded more milk than those in other places.
In this beautiful province, with its fnutful soil and
well- watered valleys, Joseph was to be "a fruitful bough,
even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run
over the waU " (Gen. xlix. 22). And in the fuller
blessing of Moses his land was to be blessed of the
Lord " for the precious things of heaven, for the dew,
and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the
precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the
precious things put forth by the moon, and for the
chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
precious things of the lastuig hiUs" (Deut. xxxiii.
13—15).
That jiortion of the Jordan Yalley which lies within
the province of Samaria ha^dng already been described,
and the coast-plain being reserved for future notice,
we will confine our attention to the piincipal points of
interest in the hiU country. At the north-western
extremity of Samaria is the rugged ridge of Carmel,
the sides of which, says Lieutenant Conder, "always
steep, often precipitous, are covered thickly with a
wildei-ness of shrubs of dark and rich green ; " in place?
the bare rock appears covered only by a thorny herbage,
whilst in others "all is one soft surface of thick vege-
tation : ' ' this feature of Carmel which adds so much
to its beauty has often been noticed by travellers, and
is also alluded to in the Bible. On the promontory
running into the sea stands the convent from which
the celebrated order of Carmelites sprung, but the point
of chief interest is the shapeless ruin at the eastern end
of the ridge called by the Arabs " El Maharrakah" (the
sacrifice), where in all probability stood " the altar of
the Lord that was bi-oken down," and which was
repaired by Elijah on the occasion of his memorable
conflict with the priests of Baal (1 Kings xviii. 20 — 40).
Not far distant is a well which may have furnished
water for the trenches round the altar, and iu the plains
below winds the Kishon, to which Ehjali " brought
down " the false prophets '' and slew them there."
Carmel is also mentioned in connection with Elisha,
who appears to have been living there when visited
by the Shunammite woman whose son he raised from
the dead (2 Kings iv. 25). Proceeding south-eastward
along the foot of the hills that form the southern border
of the plain of Esdraelon, we reach Lejjuu, the Legio
of Eusebius and Jerome, and the Megiddo of the Old
Testament. Legio was an important and weU-kuown
place during the occupation of Palestine by the Romans,
guarding one of the principal passes from the maritime
plain to Esdraelon, through which the high road from
Egypt to Damascus formerly ran. The ruins cover a
120
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
large extent of ground on either side of a small stream
that comes down from the hills of Samaria, but there
are no visible remains of any important building except
those of the Saracenic khan which Mauudrcl stayed
at in 1697. Some four miles eastward is the village
of Taanuk, situated on the southern side of a large
isolated tell, which is covered with ruins, cisterns, and
rock-hewn tombs ; in this place we readily recognise the
old Canaanitish city of Taanach, which is so often men-
tioned in the Bible in connection with Megiddo. Still
farther east is Jenin (En-gannim, "the fountain of the
gardens"), prettily situated at the foot of the hills; a
fino fountain bursts forth behind the village, and its
him were smitten with blindness. South of Dothain
is the curious upland basin of Merj el-Ghurruk, the
"drowned meadow," which has no outlet to the sea,
and after heavy rain becomes a lake ; and on a hill
guarding a pass to the west is the curious walled
village of Sanur, which appears to have escaped the
general devastation of the country, and presents an
interesting specimen of the class of viUage that once
covered many of the hill-tops in Palestine. South-east
of the Merj lies the large village of Tubaz (Thebez),
prettily situated on the hill-side, and overlooking a rich
upland plain, well cultivated and dotted with olive-
trees ; there are many rock-hewn tombs and fragments
lI.Vr OF SAMARIA.
waters are brought in by a covered aqueduct, and then
carried away to give life to the rich gardens which still
surround the village and add much to its beauty.
South-west of Jenin is the rich plain of Dothain,
with an isolated tell or mound bearing the same
name, on which are some ruius and the tomb of Neby
Dothain ; at its foot are the two wells from which the
place takes its name. In Dothain we probably have
the Dothan of Gen. xxx\'ii. 17, where Joseph was
thrown into a " pit," one of those rock-hewn cisterns
which are so common in the country, by his brethren,
and whsre he was sold to a party of Midiauites or
Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. It was at Dothain
that Elisha was residing when the army of Benhadad
invaded Israel, and there, too, that the remarkable
event took place which is described in 2 Kings vi. 13 —
18, when "the mountain was full of horses and chariots
round about Elisha," and the Syrian host sent to seize
of ruins, but no traces have yet been found of the old
walls that surrounded the place when it was besieged
by Abimelech, or of the tower at the foot of which he
met his death at the hands of his armour-bearer after
having been struck by a piece of millstone thrown
down from above (Judg. ix. 53, 54). Below Tubaz
runs the Roman road from Nablus to Beisan, and if we
follow it a short distance towards the latter place we
reach Teyasir, generally identified with Asher, a town
of Manasseh, but which we would rather identify with
Tirzah, th-? residence of Jeroboam, Baasha, Elah, and
Zimri, a place celebrated for its beauty. Tirzah has
usually been placed at Telluzah, in the mountains north
of Nablus, but this seems a rather inconvenient situation
for the capital of the kingdom of Israel. Teyasir, on
tlie other hand, occupies an important position at the
head of one of the passes leading to the JordaH Yalley,
and its situation, though not commanding any extensive
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
121
view, is extremely picturesque; near
the Tillage is a remarkable tomb of
masonry, somewhat similar to one at
Malul, near Nazareth. A short distance
south-east of Tubaz, on an isolated
conical tell, is the deserted village of
Ainun, a name identical with ^uon,
the place in which John the Baptist is
said to have been baptising (John iii.
23). The position of ^non has been
the subject of much dispute ; the only
indication we have of its situation is
that it was near to Salim, and that
" there was much water there." There
are no springs at Ainun, but Lieut.
Conder, R.E., has pointed out that in
the upper part of the great "Wady
Farah there are copious springs mid-
way between Ainun and the village of
Salim, which lies due east of Nablus.
Lieut. Conder, in his report on the
subject, adds, " It has been suggested
that our Lord's journey through Sa-
maria was with the object of ^asiting
the Baptist, and were such the case
He ' needs must ' pass by Shechem
(Nablus) in order to arrive at the
springs of Wady Farah." There are
several Salims in Palestrae, but with
the exception of one near Taanuk, on
the southern skii-ts of Esdraelon, none
of them have springs in their vicinity ;
the name Ainun, however, seems to
point to the springs of Wady Farah
as those at which John baptised.
From Tubaz the old Roman road
runs to the south-west, and, ascending
the narrow gorge of Wady Bludan,
reaches the fertile plain of El Mukhna,
with the two mountains of Ebal asd
Gerizim on its western side, flanking
the broad pass which leads to Nablus,
the ancient Shechem. At the eastern
end of the pass are Jacob's Well and
Joseph's Tomb ; the former is covered
by a vaulted chamber, and lies within
the ruins of an old church of the fourth
century; it is seventy-five feet deep,
lined with rough stones, and has been
sunk in the rich alluvial soil of the
plain. Christians, Jews, Moslems, and
Samaritans agree in regarding this as
Jacob's well, and, as the Christian
tradition dates from the early part of
the fourth century, there seems little
reason to doubt that it is the same
well at which our Lord met the Sa-
maritan woman. Captain Anderson,
R.E., who has given an interesting
account of his descent of the well in
122
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Recovery of Jerusalem, aptly remarks that " the
existence of a well in a place where water-springs
are abnudant is sufficiently remarka))lo to give this
woU a peculiar history." North of the well is the
small square building known as Joseph's Tomb, quite
motleru, with vases for burning offerings similar to
those noticed at Meiron iu Galilee. The great depth
of soil at this point precludes the idea tliat Joseph
was bui-ied in a rock-hewn tomb, but we know that
his body was embalmed in Egypt, placed in a coffin
or sarcophagus, and brought to Palestine by the Israel-
ites, probably in one of the wagons which accompanied
them on their march, and this sarcophagus may still
remain in the soil beneath the Httle building. As we
proceed up the pass we notice, on the left-hand side, a
small enclosure ^vith trees, gardens, a well, and several
masomy tombs, one of which is said to be that of
Sheikh Yusuf (Joseph) ; and it is curious to notice that
this tomb was shown to Maundrel as that of Joseph;
the name of the enclosure is El Amud (the column or
pillar), and the Rev. George WUhams has identified it,
with some probability, as the site of "the pillar that
was in Shechem," where Abimelech was made king
(Judg. ix. 6), and of the terebinth of Moreh near which
Abraham built his fii-st altar to the Lord after entering
the Promised Land, and Joshua set up a great stone
(Josh. xxiv. 26).
A little further, and we reach the water-parting
between the waters of the Mediterranean and those
of the Dead Sea, and here there is a remarkable topo-
graphical feature, a recess on either side of the valley,
forming a grand national amphitheatre which was in aU
probability the scene of the ratification of the Law. It
vrill be remembered that, in accordance with the com-
mand of Moses, the Israelites were, after their entrance
into the Promised Land, to " put " the curse on Mount
Ebal and the blessing on Mount Gerizim ; " this was
to be accomplished by a ceremonial in which half the
tribes stood on the one mount and half on the other ;
those on Gerizim responding to and affirming blessings,
those on Ebal curses, as pronounced by the Levites,
who remained with the ark in the centre of the interval."
It is hardly too much to say of this natural amphi-
theatre that there is no other place iu Palestine so
suitable for the assembly of a large body of men within
the limits to which the human A'oice could reach, and
where at the same time each iudi-vidual woiild bo able
to see what was going on. The recesses iu the two
mountains that form the amphitheatre are exactly oppo-
site to each other, and the limestone strata running
up to the very summits in a succession of ledges
present the appearance of regular benches. A grander
sight can scarcely be imagined than that which the
reading of the Law must liave presented: the ark borne
by the Levites, on the gentle elevation that separates
the waters that flow westward from those flowing
towards the Jordan, and "all Israel and their elders,
and officers, and their judges," on this side and on
that, " half of them over against Mount Gerizim and
half of them over against Mount Ebal," covering the
bare hill-sides from head to foot. It has frequently
been urged that it would be impossible to assemble the
twelve tribes on the ground at the same time, and that,
supposing this to be possible, they v.'ould not be able
to hear the Law read. There are really few places
which afford such conveniences for the assembly of a
large number of persons, or give, within the same ai-ea,
so much standing ground ; but until there are correct
plans of the great natural amphitheatre, no accurate
calculation of the numbers it would hold can be made.
With regard to the second poiut there can be no doubt,
for the air of Palestine is so clear that the voice can
be heard at distances which would seem impossible in
England, and it is not unusual for men passing along
the valley to keep up a conversation with others on the
heights. Even if this were not the case, it is not neces-
sary to suppose that every word of the Law was heard
by the spectators ; the blessings and cursings were
probably as familiar to the Israelites as the Ten Com-
mandments are to us, and the responses would be taken
up as soon as the voice of the reader ceased. On the
right hand was Mount Ebal, its slopes covered with the
remains of that terrace-culture which once clothed the
bare hills of Samaria Avith the olive and vine, and its
summit commanding one of the most remarkable and
extensive views in Palestine ; on the left is Mount
Gerizim, attaining its greatest elevation at the eastern
extremity, where there is a small plateau supporting the
ruins of a castle, and within it the foimdations of an
octagonal church, with ciu-ious side chapels, supposed
to have been built by Justinian, circa a.d. 533. South
of the castle there are many rude foundations, and a
sloiiing rock, believed by the Samaritans to mark ihe
position of the altar of their temple ; still farther south,
above the plain of El Mukhua, the place at which
Abraham was about to offer up Isaac is pointed out ;
and beyond are the ruius of a small town with a poi-tion
of its surrounding wall. West of the castle some
massiA^e foundations are shown as the " twelve stones "
set up by Joshua after the reading of the Law ; they
are really a portion of a soHd j)latform of unhewn
stones, wliich, with somewhat similar platforms on the
east, may have formed part of the great substructure
ou which the Samaritan temple rested. Westward, at
the foot of the elevation on which the temple stood, is
the place at which the small remnant of the Samai'itans
still keep the Passover in accordance with the direc-
tions contained m Exod. xii. 1 — 28 ; and not far off are
the ruins of Louzah, which have been identified with
those of the second Luz, founded by the inhabitants
of the first to-\vn of that name when expelled by the
Ephraimites from Bethel.
Returning to the valley, and proceeding westward
from the scene of the delivery of the Law, wo soon
reach the trees and gardens that surround the town
of Nablus, and the briglit sparkling streams that
give to the vale of Nablus so much of its peculiar
beauty. The toAvn contains nothing of very great
interest except the principal mosque, which is iu
itseK a history of the changes that have taken place
THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.
123
from the time wlien the fii-st basilica was erected, to the
day when the church of the Crusaders was adapted to
the service of the followers of Mahomet. At the south-
west end of the town is the place where, accorduig to
ti'aditiou, Jacob received the coat of Joseph, after he
had been sold by his brethren to the Midianites.
Behind the town the slope of Gerizim is broken into
several bold cliffs, which have the appearance of over-
hanging the town, and from the top of one of these,
whence escape to the mountains behind would be easy,
we can readily pictiu-e Jotham delivering the striking
parable (Judg. is. 7 — 21), on the occasion of his being
told that Abimelech had been made king " by the plain
of the piUar that was in Shechem." It was to Shechem
that, after Solomon's death, all Israel came to make
Rehoboam king ; and it was at the same place that, on
the secession of the ten tribes, the capital of the new
kingdom of Israel was established by Jeroboam : this
was, however, soon removed to Tirzah, and Shechem,
though a city of refuge, lost much of its importance till
it became in later times the chief town of the Samari-
tans. During the reign of Vespasian, the city was
rebmlt and called Neapolis, " the new city," whence the
modern name of Nablus is derived. The decline of
the Samaritans dates from about a.d. 487, when their
temple on Gerizim was destroyed in consequence of
an attack wliich they had made on the Christians who
lived in the to\vn. Gn several occasions afterwards
they attempted to regain their lost importance, but
each successive rising was put down with great severity,
and in the twelfth centuiy there were only about one
hundred at Nablus, and perhaps four or five hundred
in other parts of Palestine ; all have now disappeared,
with the exception of the few families who stUl live
under the shadow of their holy mountain.
North-west of Nablus is Sebustiyeh (Samaria). It
would be difficult to find a more beautiful situation for
a town than that offered by the hill on which the old
capital of the kingdom of Israel was bmlt, and no
description can give an adequate idea of the charm of
the view from the highest point looking westward.
The hill, really a spur of the main range, though almost
isolated from it, stands as it were in a vast amphitheatre,
the sides of which were once covered with the olive and
vine ; there is a large accumulation of rubbish in which
the Arabs frequently turn up coins, gems, bronzes, and
other rehcs of the ancient city; and there is perhaps no
l)lace where a richer harvest awaits the future explorer.
The complete destruction of Samaria, and the great
buildings which it contained, -^vith the exception of the
church built by the Crusaders, is in striking accordance
with the thi-eat of Micah, " I wUl make Samai-ia as an
heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard : and
I wiE pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and
I will discover the foundations thereof " (Micah i. 6).
There are the remains of two temples on the hill itself,
and a thii-d at the foot of the northern slope, which,
with the exception of the Jewish Temple at Jei'usalem,
must have been superior to any building of the kind in
Palestine. On the southern side of the hUl we can still
trace, by the columns on either side, the magnificent
street, fifty yards vride, which ran from the western to
the eastern gat-eway, and the old city waU that followed
in an irregular manner the contour of the hUl; the
western gateway is readily recognised, but the eastern
has disappeared and been replaced, apparently, by the
Chui'ch of St. Jolm the Baptist. This church, now
used as a mosque, is, with the exception of that of the
Holy Sepulchre, the largest built by the Crusaders in
Palestine, and is supposed to enclose within its walls
the tomb of the Baptist. The tomb- chamber, or grotto,
is some fourteen feet below the level of the gi-oimd, but
the loculi, or receptacles for the bodies, are of masonry,
and the whole chamber appears to have been constructed
in imitation of a rock-hewn tomb, at the time the church
was buUt.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.
BY THE EDITOR.
'UCH that bears iipon the authorsliip and
character of this Epistle has already been
brought before the readers of the Bible
Edtjcatoe in the paper on the coinci-
dences connecting it with the Gospel of St. Matthew
(Yol. I., p. 325), and in the series of notes on some of its
more difficult passages ("Vol. I., pp. 31, 53, ^Q, 100).
Something more, however, is needed to place the Epistle
in its true relation to the other books of the New
Testament, and to state what is known as to the life
and character of the writer.
2. Of the three disciples bearing the name of James
(the English reader may need to be reminded that this
is the strangely-altered form of the Jacob of the Old
Testament, and the 'la/ciiSos of the Greeks, and that it is
therefore as much a Hebrew name as Judas or Simeon),
there can be no reasonable doubt that it is to the one
known as the " brother of the Lord " that this Epistle
is to be ascribed. The son of Zebedee was cut off by
the sword of Herod Agrippa I. before there had been
time for the activity of a Christian teacher to take the
form of an encyclical letter to the whole body of Jews
scattered throughout the world. The son of Alphajus
(on the assumption that he was distinct from the
"brother of the Lord"), although an apostle, is too
little prominent in the history of the Acts for us to
think of him as the author. The one teacher of the
name who presents himself in the New Testament as
124
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
likely to have so written is the James who, after the
death of the brother of John, seems to have taken his
place in the Apostolic body ; whom St. Paul recognised
as being, with Peter and John, among the pillars of the
Church (Gal. ii. 12) ; who was manifestly left in charge
of the Church of Jerusalem on St. Peter's departure
(Acts xii. 17) ; who took his place as president in the
first Council of the Church (Acts xv. 13) ; who was
found by St. Paul, on his last visit to the Holy City,
after all the other Apostles had a;i)parently departed,
as the guide and teacher of the Jewish Church (Acts
xxi. 18) ; whose name carried so much weight with it
that it was used, rightly or wrongly, by the Judaising
opponents of St. Paul, as the watchword under which
they fought (Gal. ii. 12).
Taking this conclusion as proved, it wiU be obvious
that it gives a very special interest to the Epistle that
had this James as its author. If we would rightly
measure that interest, we might picture to ourselves
what our excitement and curiosity would be, if this letter,
instead of ha^dng had a place among the canonical books
from the first, had been disinterred from the MSS. of
some old library, and brought to light as a new contri-
bution to the history of that marvellous past. An epistlo
by the brother of the Son of Man in whose name aU
Christendom has placed its trust — by ono who had gi-own
up with Him, witnessed His mighty works, known His
homo life as well as His public ministry: should we
not turn to its pages with an eager desire to learn how
such an one had come to believe in the Divine mission,
the Divine nature, of Him with whom he had lived in
the companionship of the daily incidents of the common
life of the village and the carpenter's shop, and what
aspect of the religion of Christ had most impressed
itself on his mind and heart ? The interest is greater
when we remember that, during the greater part of
our Lord's ministry, James, as one of the brethren, did
not, in any full sense of the word, " believe " on Him,
doubted His claims to be the Christ, tried to impede His
preaching, as more anxious for His personal safety than
for the acknowledgment of His claims. Something
must have happened beyond the facts recorded in the
Gospels to work the change of which the Acts and this
Epistle bear witness. What that ivas, a single passing
allusion in St. Paul's narrative of our Lord's appear-
ances after His resurrection may serve to show — "After
that He was seen of James " (1 Cor. xv. 7). That
manifestation changed unbelief or doubt into the full
assurance of faith, and threw a new light upon the life
and death that had preceded it, and thus explains how
it was that we find him, as one of the brethren of the
Lord, taking part in i}ie first gathering of the disciples
after the Ascension (Acts i. 14). The part that he took
in the government of the Church at Jerusalem has been
already noticed. The special character of his ministry,
as compared with that of St. Peter, may bo inferred from
tlie fact that he could remain at Jerusalem in safety
when that Apostle's life was endangered by Herod's
persecution ; that he remains as the permanent overseer
of the Church there while others go forth on missions
to Jew or Gentile ; that he is recognised by those who
were zealots for the Law as their natural leader (Gal. ii.
12 ; Acts xxi. 20). He reproduced, as was natural, the
features of the earthly life of the brother whom he now
recognised as the Lord, as one sent to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. In the teaching of that Lord, a&
remembered, or as recorded, it may be, in the first
notes or memoirs that formed the basis of the Gospel
of St. Matthew, ho found the groundwork of his belief,
and hence his Epistle presents, as has been shown, more
parallels than any other with the Sermon on the Mount.
If we may accept the traditions embodied in the narra-
tive of Hegesippus, the earliest writer of an ecclesiastical
history, fragments of whose writings are preserved by
Eusebius {H. E. ii. 23), he reproduced also in part the
life of the Baptist ; lived as a Nazarite, or a Rcchabite,
in the austerity of his abstinence ; became known as
emphatically the just, or righteous ; like the Essenes,
wore a linen garment, as symbolising his consecration to
a priesthood other than that of Aaron ; spent days and
nights in the Temple in constant prayer, till his knees
were as hard as a camel's ; was revered by the whole
multitude at Jerusalem, and had some privileges of pre-
cedence in the Temple granted him by the priesthood.
A time came, however, according to this account, when
the current of feeling changed. The priests, led, it may
be, by the difference between his mode of life and that
of the growing body of Gentile Christians, thought that
they might extort from him a rejection ef the claims
of the prophet of Nazareth as the Christ, and led him
to the parapet of the Temple that he might make his
recantation in the presence of the assembled people.
His faith, so the account runs, did not fail him. To
the question put to him, " Tell us what is the door of
Jesus ?" (possibly a distorted echo of Matt. vii. 13, 14),
he answered, " Why ask ye me about Jesus the Son of
Man P He sits in heaven on the right hand of great
power, and will come in the clouds of heaven." Some
of those who heard him raised hosaunas, but the Scribes
and Pharisees threw him from the Temple and then
stoned him, and his last words were, like those of his
Lord, " Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do."
Strange and legendary as this history is, it may be
regarded as having a substratum of truth, and, taken
together with the undoubted facts recorded in the New
Testament, helps us to understand the Epistle which we
are now considering. It is written, as by one to whom
the Church of the Circumcision had been specially com-
mitted, to " the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad."
Its formula of salutation (i. 1) is the same as that which
the same writer liad used in the encyclical letter of
Acts XV. 29 (" greeting," the Greek x^'P^'", as distin-
guished from St. Paul's " grace and peace "). Its teach-
ing is, so to speak, on the lines of the Sermon on the
Mount, of the teaching of the Baptist, of the sapiential
and prophetic books of the Old Testament, rather than
on those which are more or less common to the teaching
of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John. It represented
the stage of education which Jcmsh Christians had,
THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.
125
for the most part, reached, the aspect of truth which
was fitted for their reception, the substance of a truth
which is eternal and di-vino, though it is not all the
truth ; but it does not touch on the mystery that had
been hid from ages and generations, or on the deeper
things of God that had been laid open to the minds of
St. Paul or of St. John. It does not follow that the
writer himself was not in all essential points in harmony
with the truths of those whose teaching was apparently
wider and fuller than his own. He had, we know, after
the gospel which St. Paul preached had been "com-
municated" to him, recognised the grace which had
been given to the Apostle of the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 2, 9).
On every occasion on which that Apostle visited Jeru-
salem he found a welcome from St. James and those
whom he influenced, and readily fell in with the
counsels which were given that he too should adapt
his teaching and his life, in things indifferent, to the
capacity of those with whom he there came in contact,
and once more be to the Jews a Jew (Acts xxi. 23,
24). The decree of the Council at Jerusalem settled
the terms of an agreement between the two great
divisions of the Church, and from those terms St.
James did not recede. But the atmosphere in which
he lived, the habitual tenor of his own life, the state of
those whom he had to teach, were conditions which in-
fluenced him, as they influence others, and they explain
the special phenomena of the Epistle.
I agree wtth Dean Alf ord in thinking it probable that
the Epistle of St. James is perhaps the earliest in date
of all the books of the New Testament. There is no
reference to the controversies of which Acts xv. records
the commencement, and which continued, with more or
less heat, for long years afterwards ; no allusion to the
duties, in act or feeling, of Jewish Christians towards
their Gentile brethren. The " assembly " of Christians
is still spoken of (in the original) as a " synagogue "
(ii. 2). The word " Church " (Ecclesia) does not occur
in it. All these data lead to the inference that it was
written before, and not after, the conversion of the Gen-
tiles and its after consequences had become prominent
facts. The dominant thought of the Epistle is that
"the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ" is the highest
form of the wisdom after which every true Israelite
should seek ; that He, as the Judge of all, standeth at
the door, and will punish every secret sin ; that worldli-
ness in every form, greed of gain, contempt of the poor
and needy, wrong done knowingly by the rich to those
who laboured in their fields, bitterness of speech,
hypocrisy, formalism, want of active charity — the sins
which were most prominent in the religious life of
Pharisaic Judaism — were those against which, by visible
judgments of the sword and miseries and desolation in
this life, not less than in the judgment of the last great
day, the sentence of condemnation would be most severe.
The inference thus suggested is obviously important in
its bearing upon the question which has, in almost every
age of the Church, occupied men's minds — How we are to
reconcile the teaching of St. James, tliat " a man is justi-
fied by works, and not by faith only," with that of St.
Paul, that "a man is justified by faith without the deeds
of the law." It is comparatively easy to see that the two
formulae are but opposite poles of the same great truth.
The faith and the works must each of them be living,
and the faith that does not issue in acts of love is dead,
as the acts themselves are dead unless they spring, not
from mere impulse or love of gain or a far-sighted
calculation of profit, but from trust in God. But if the
conclusion to which we have been led be legitimate, it
follows that we need not think, as men have for the most
part thought, of St. James as modifying or correcting
either the actual teaching of St. Paul or perversions of
that teaching by those who professed to be his followers.
If that had been St. James's aim, we must believe that
he would have written more openly, and referred, as St.
Peter refers, to those things in the writings of his " be-
loved brother," some of which were hard to be under-
stood. But there is absolutely no evidence, external or
intomal, for assuming such a purpose. Those to whom
St. James wrote were, of all classes of Christians, the
least likely to take up and exaggerate the teaching of the
Apostle from whom so many of them shrank ; and if
the date thus assumed be correct — i.e., that the Epistle
was written before, and not after, the Coimcil of Acts
XV. — there had hardly been time for them to become
acquainted with it. It is significant, too, that when he
specifies the special form of faith in which men put a
false trust, it was not belief in Jesus as the Christ, the
Son of God, the Saviour of the world, but the old simple
Monotheistic creed of Judaism, " Thou believest that
thero is one God." The Antinomianism which he at-
tacked was that of those whom the Baptist had reproved
as expecting salvation without repentance, because they
said within themselves that they had Abraham to their
father (Matt. iii. 9), and thought that the simple repe-
tition of the formula which served them as a creed
— " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord " — •
would ensure their admission into the kingdom of
heaven. Against these he presses home the fact that
the faith of Abraham their father was not a bare assent
to a dogma, but a living and active trust, issuing in
thorough, unhesitating obedience.
Such, then, was the life, and such the teaching of the
" brother of the Lord." And therefore we may give
thanks that the Epistle which embodies it has, in the
providence of God, been preserved for the permanent
instruction of the Church, and see in it, not, as Lather
once rashly said, " an epistle of straw," taking its place
with the wood, hay, stubble, that even good men have
built upon the one Foundation, but among the precious
treasures which the Church could ill afford to lose. So
long as worldliness combines with formalism ; so long
as men mistake the confession of an orthodox creed for
a life of godliness, and dispute about that creed with
bitterness and passion ; so long as men are tempted to
combine the love of Mammon with that of God ; so long,
i.e., as the Church is militant on earth, the teaching of
the Epistle of St. James can never become obsolete,
and it will deliver its stern, but necessary warnings in
the ears of every generation.
126
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY C. J. VAUGHAN, D.D., MASTER OF THE TEILPLE.
" And hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us; having aboUshed in His flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances." — Ephes. ii. 11, 15.
IE general idea of this passage is plain,
but the details are difficult. Addi-essiiig
communities predominantly Gentile, St.
Paul reminds them of the greatness of the
change by which they have been brought into their pre-
sent conclitiou of grace and chui'ch membership. " Now
in Christ Jesus ye, who sometime were far off, are
[were] made nigh by [iu] the blood of Christ." There
is an evident reference, brought out still more distinctly
in verse 17, to the words of Isaiah Ivii. 19, " Peace,
peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,
saith the Lord ; and I will heal him " (comp. Acts ii.
39). This " making nigh " is (1) " in Christ Jesus," by
inclusion and incorporation in Him. It is (2) a thing
done and accomplished : the aorist tense points to the
moment of their evangelisation, of their conversion and
baptism ; if not to an earlier time still, when the great
redemption was wrought, and the kingdom of heaven
opened, once for all, to all believers. It is (3) " iu the
blood of Christ : " just as the high priest is said (Heb.
ix. 25), to enter the Holy of Holies on the day of
Atonement, " in " the blood of the appointed victims,
as though enveloped in its protecting covering, so
Christians are said to be brought nigh to God "in
the blood of Christ " (compare Heb. x. 19), as their
enclosing and encasiug safeguard, their very passport
and condition of entrance into i>he holy and blessed
Presence which is their sanctuary and home.
He goes on to enlarge upon then' " making nigh,"
in its groimdwork and history. " For He [Himself] is
our peace, who made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and
broke down the middle wall of partition, having abo-
lished, iu His flesh, the eumity, even the law of com-
mandments contained iu ordinances, that He might
create, in Himself, the two into one new man, so
making peace."
This is, in substance, the rendering of our English
version, made with a true insight into a cousti-uction
which has been much perplexed and distorted by some
later interpreters.
" The middle wall of partition " is a phrase of some
obscTirity, till we examine its separate terms by the |
help of parallel passages of Scripture. The compound
neffSroixov occurs here only. But we have to7xos in |
the Septuagint version of Isa. v. 5, as an equivalent
to (ppay/x6s, in the words, " I will take away the hedge
{<ppay^6s) thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; and break
down the wall {roixos) thereof, and it shall be trodden [
down : " and we have in Ezck. iv. 3 the expression, '
' Set it for a wall (rolxos) of iron between (avafj-fffov) \
thee and the city;" showing that the fj.e(r6Toixov is "a j
wall between" two persons or parties, as (here) the I
Jew and the Gentile. The genitive rod (ppayfiov is
explanatoiy : " the mid waE [cousisthig] of the (ppayfxSs.'^
The passage just quoted from Isaiah is the key to the
sense as well as the phrase. The (ppay/xos (or ro^xos)
there is the " fence " or " hedge " placed by " the Lord .
of Hosts" round His "vineyard," "the house of Israel;"
and the same word is used iu the same application in
our Lord's parable of the wicked husbandmen, iu Matt.
xxi. 33, and Mark xii. 1. This hedge or fence between
Israel and the Gentile world was the Mosaic Law ; not
one part of that law, but the law as a whole, moral,
judicial, and ceremonial. Christ is here said to have
"broken do^vn" this barrier between Jew and Gentile
by His death on the cross.
The following clause, subordinate and almost paren-
thetical in construction, is added in explanation of the
brief statement of the former. "Ha\ang abolished,
in His flesh, the eumity." The "flesh " spoken of is
that "body of flesh," wherein Christ " reconciled " us
" through death " (Col. i. 22) ; that " flesh " in which
Christ, " the mystery of godliness," was " manifested"
at His nativity (1 Tim. iii. 16) ; that " likeness of flesh
of sin," in which God " sent His own Son " (Rom. %'iii.
3) ; that " flesh " which He " gave for the life of the
world" (John vi. 51) ; that "flesh" in respect of which
He was "put to death" (1 Pet. iii. 18), "sufEered for
us" (1 Pet. iv. 1) ; that " body of Christ" by which we
were put to death to the law" (Rom. vii. 6). The
" enmity " spoken of is not only, or chiefly, the feud
between Jew and Gentile, springing out of the selection
of the one as the depositary of the promise, and the
possessor of the revelation, to which the other was a
stranger: it is rather that deeper and subtler eumity
which man the sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, cherishes
towards a forsaken and defied God, and of which all
human antagonisms, whether of self-interest, passion,
or religion, are but the sallies and outbursts. It is
that "eumity against God" which St. Paul makes a
characteristic of " the <pp6vr)^jLa of the flesh " (Rom. A-iii.
7) ; St. James, of ''the friendship of the world" (James
iv. 4) : that of which St. Paul speaks when he says,
" If, wheu we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of His Son " (Rom. v. 10) ; and again,
"Tou that were sometime alienated and enemies in
your mind by [in] wicked works, yet now hath He
reconciled" (Col. i. 21).
It is remarkable, yet in perfect harmony with his
language elsewhere, that St. Paul makes this " enmity "
to be, in other words, "the law of commandments
contained in ordinances." It would be a gi'atuitous
assumption to limit this " law " to the ceremonial
portion of the Mosaic revelation. The word " com-
mandments " (fUToXs.!.) is the regular phrase for the
Divine precepts of duty, even for those of the decalogue
itself. Our Lord, quoting the fifth Commandment,
BIBLE WORDS.
127
calls it " God's ^vtoXt] " (Matt. xv. 3 — 6) ; and says to
the youug ruler, "Thou kuowest the commandmeuts
(tos eVroXas), Do not commit adultery, Do not kiU," &c.
(Mark x. 19). St. Paul siJeaks of the tenth command-
ment as the evToKr\ (Rom. vii. 8, &c.); and calls the
fifth "the first eVroA^ with i^romise " (Ephes. vi. 2).
Nor is the other word, " ordinances " {UjixaTo), sugges-
tive of any limitation. Probably meaning a " decree,"
as in the phrases, "a decree from Csesar Augustus"
(Luke ii. 1), "the decrees of Caesar" (Acts xvii. 7), "the
decrees that were ordained by the apostles and elders "
(Acts xvi. 4) ; the word ^6jjxa is found, besides, only in
this passage and in the parallel verse of the accom-
panying Epistle (Col. ii. 14), " Blotting out the hand-
writing of ordinances that was against us" — or more
literally, " the handwriting th.at was against us by its
Myixara'^ — where the sense is at least as ambiguous as
here, and must be decided by the same considerations.
There is nothing in St. Paul's language elsewhere,
or in the known experience of human nature, to make
the restriction of the word to " ordinances," in the sense
of " ceremonial rules," true or approjiriate. The whole
argument of the 7th chapter of tlie Epistle to the
Romans tmms upon the effect, not of ceremonial, but
of moral pi-ecepts upon the heart and life of the fallen
creature. It is not the difiiculty of an exact attention
to a minute and burdensome ritual, but the difficulty of
obeying, iu the spu'it, a moral rule such as, " Thou
shalt not desire," which St. Paul there adduces in
justification of his startling expression, " The motions
{Trad-niJ.aTa) of sius, which [motions] were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death" (Rom. vii. 5). And so, in the paradoxical
aphorism of 1 Cor. xv. 56, " The sting of death is sin,
and the strength of sin is the law," it is not of the
ceremonial law, but of the moral, regarded as a reve-
lation of duty, saying, " Do this, and thou shalt live " —
but also, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in
aU things that are written in the book of the law to
do them " — that St. Paul speaks, with a deep insight
into that " weakness of the mortal nature," which makes
law itself a stimulus to transgression, and " the thing
which should have been for our health an occasion of
falling."
The statement before us is, that Christ by His death
abolished the Law, not in one part of it, but as a whole ;
not only took away, by His Atonement, its condemning
power in reference to this part ; but also destroyed it
as a system of commands and prohibitions, offering
reward and punishment on the condition of a rigid and
self -satisfying obedience. The Law of Moses is no
longer the Divine rule for man ; although, iu its moral
part, being the transcript of a prior law, the relationship
of the creature to the Creator, it must ever retain its
binding force, not in virtue of its enactment by Moses,
but of its expressing a part of that " mind of Christ "
(1 Cor. ii. 16), which is the unwritten, but heart-written
code of the Christian.
BIBLE WORDS.
BY THE BEV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
EESING (siihst.). The printers have ] upper springs and the nether springs" (Josh. xv. 19;
Judg. i. 15). See also 1 Kings ix. 17 ; 1 Chron. vii. 24 ;
Job xli. 24; Ezek. xxxi. 14, 16, 18 ; xxxii. 18, 24. The
superlative nethermost occurs 1 Kings vi. 6. In Shake-
speare we find nether twice in connection with " lip : "
" a foolish hanging of the nether lip " (1 Henrrj IV., ii.
4) ; "why gnaw ye so your nether lip?" {Othello, v. 2).
Bacon narrates how, in Julian's satire, "The Csesars,"
all the emperors were "invited to a banquet of the
gods, and Silenus the jester sat at the nether end of
the table, and bestowed a scoff on every one as they
came in."
Or ever {prep.). Or, in the sense of " before," was
allowed the old form to remain, Job xli
18, " By his [leviathan's] neesings a light
doth shine, and his eyes are like the eye-
lids of the morning," though in 2 Kings iv. 35, " the
childe neesecl seven times," they have without any
authority prefixed the s. The A. S. was niesan, and
both forms were in general use, and both are found
in Minshew. "Neesing" is the word in Job both iu
Beck and Wiclif, though in Madden's edition, through
mistaking the long s for an /, wo find an alternative
form, fneesynge. The readers of Shakespeare will
remember Puck's trick of slipping away, in the form of
a three-legged stool, from under the story-teller, who
"topples down," to the merriment of the whole party, infrequent use in our early language, and when coupled
who
" Waxen in their mirth, and nceze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there."
[Midsummer NigWs Bream, ii. 1.)
Nether (adj.), lower, A. S. nither, nyther, or neothra;
German, nieder. It is frequent in the A. V. : Exod. xix.
17, "They stood at the nether part of the mount;"
"the upper and the nether millstone" are mentioned in
Dent. xxiv. 6 ; Caleb gave Ms daughter Achsah " the
with ever or ere is found several times in the A. V.
Ps. xc. 2, " Before the mountains wei-e brought forth,
or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world ; "
Prov. viii. 23, " I [wisdom] was set up from everlasting
. . or ever the earth was ;" Cant. vi. 12, " Or ever
1 was aware ; " Dan. vi. 24, " The lions had the mastery
of them . . . or ever they came to the bottom of
the den ;" and in the Prayer-book Psalter, Ps. Iviii. 8,
" Or ever your pots be made hot with thorns." 0>- and
128
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ere are o;irly prepositions signifying "before." The
earlier forms ai-e stated by Dr. Morris {English Acci-
dence, p. 205) to be ar and ae-r, both being compara-
tives of the root a. Or is connected with the German
ur, and in A. S. appears as a substantive, signifying
'• beginning," " oi-igui." Or is constiintly used by itself,
as by Chaucer —
" Tliereforo I rede (advise) you this counsel take,
Forsaketh siuue, or (before) siuue you forsake."
(Doctonr's Tale, 12,219, 12,220.)
" Clear was the day, as I have told or this."
(Knight's Tale, 1,685.)
And by Henry the Minstrel (a.d. 1461 ) —
" Willyam Wallace, or he was mau of armys.
Grot pite tliocht that Scotland tuke sic harmya."
{Wallace, i. 618.)
Another frequent construction is or than, " before
that,'' as in "Wiclif, Gen. xx\-ii. 10, " That he (Isaac)
blisse to thee or titan he die;" and or that, as in
Chaucer —
" Or that I further in this tale pace." (Prologue, 36.)
The i-eduplicated form or evei; or or ere, which is the
only one found in the A. V., is frequent in Shake-
speare—
*' Ha 1 1 been any god of power I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere
It should the good sliip so have swallowed." (Tempest, i. 2.)
The form ere ever appears once in the Apocrypha,
Ecclus. xxiii. 20, " He knew all things ere ever they were
<ireated," and is the reading adopted by Collier and
Knight, instead of the usual " or ever," in Hamlet, i. 2 —
" Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven,
Era I hal ever seen that day, Horatio."
Ouches, sockets of gold or other precious metal, to
liold jewels. The word is only used in the A. Y., Exod.
xxviii. 11, 13, and xxxix. 16, 18, for the gold settings of
the onyx stones of the high priest's ephod, engraved
with the names of the twelve tribes. In a marginal
note to Wiclif 's version, Exod. xxv. 7, the " breastplate,"
or "racional," is defined as "an ouche on the priest's
breast, on which was written doom and treuth." In
Cranmer's version, for ozichesvfe read " hooles of gold."
Tlie true form appears to be nouche (as nadder is of
adder, napron of apron, newt of eft, &c.), derived from
the Italian nocchio, a " knob " or " knot." This form
appears in Wiclif, Exod. xx\-iii. 4 ; 1 Maec. x. 89 ; xi.
58, &c., and is used by Chaucer, of Griselda —
"A coroune on hire lied they han ydressed,
And sette hire ful of noiiches gret or smal."
{CUrhe's Tale, 8,2.58 )
Spenser uses the form ou'c/i; thus he describes Duessa —
" Like a Persian niitro on her hed
She wore with crowns and ou'cJies garnished." (P. Q., I. ii. 13.)
Shakespeare's FalstafE sings a scrap of a song —
" Brooches, pearlp, and oxuches." (2 Henr'j IV., ii. 4.)
These examples show that ouche was used in a wider
sense, not merely for the setting, but for the whole
jewel.
Peep (verb intron.), found twice in the A. Y. : Isa.
viii. 19, " Wizards that poej) and mutter;" x. 14, " There
was none (nestling) that moved the wing, or opened the
mouth, or peeped." It is an imitative word, like
" cheep," formed after the shrill cry of young birds, like
the Greek imriri^fiv, the Latin pipire, the French pepier.
It is used by Sir M. Wiat, c. 1540, for the squeak of a
mouse —
" At last she asked softly who was there ;
And in her language, as well as she could,
' Peei),' quod the other, ' Sister, I am here.' " (Sat. i. 42.)
The French verb pefler is explained by Cotgrave "to
feep, cheep, or pule as a young bird in the neast ;" and
pepieur, as "a peeper, cheeper, puler." Ben Jonson
adopts it, but probably borrows it from the Scriptural
use —
" 0 the ouely oracle
That ever )).'ept, or spoke oat of a doublet."
(Sfap/e of N BIOS, Act ii., sc. 4, Eichardson.)
Pill {vei-h act.), to j)are, bark, skin, the same as tho
modern peel, vv^hich is also found (Isa. xviii. 2, 7 ; Ezek.
xxix. 18). Pilled only occurs in the A. Y. : Gen. xxx.
37, 38, " Jacob took him rods . . . and pilled white
strakes in them, , . . and he set the rods which lie
had pilled before the flocks ; " and Tob. xi. 13, " The
whiteness pilled away from the corners of his eyes."
Wiclif s version of the former passage is •v'igorously
idiomatic : Jacob " a parti unryendido them [took oft" tho
rind or bark], and riendis drawun awey ... in
thUke that wereu pilde semede whyteness." Chaucer
describes the Sompnour —
" Quyk he was, and chirped as a sparwe,
■With skalled browes blake, and inUi herd '' (cropt beard).
(Prol. 627.)
Shakespeare makes Shylock say of Jacob—
" The skilful shepherd •piUed me certain wands."
CHerchant of Venice, i. 3.) ;
and Queen Margaret — ■
" Hear me, you wrangling pirates that fall out
In sharing that which you have 'puled, from me."
(Richard. III., i. 3.)
Poll [verb act), to cut, to lop, to clip the poll or head.
So a pollard is a tree whose head has been lopped, and
a polled cow is one without horns. This verb is often
connected by old writers with the preceding, pill.
Thus—
" He hath a groom of evil ?uize.
Which ijols and pils the poor in piteous wize."
(Spenser, F. Q., V. ii. 6.)
" Pilling and t'olUnij is grown out of request since plaine pilfering
came into fashion." Winwood's Memorial (Nares).
It is used in tho A. Y. of Absalom cutting his hair,
2 Sam. xiv. 26, "When he polled his head, for at every
year's end he polled it ; becau.se the hair was heavy
on him, tliereforo ho polled it ;" and in a similar sense,
Ezek. xliv. 20, " Neither shall thoy (tho priests) shave
their heads . . . they shall only ^wll their heads,"
and Micah i. 16, "Poll thee for thy delicate children."
Wiclif employs it, 1 Cor. xi. 6, " If a womman be not
veyjid or keucrid, bo she pollid ; for if it is a foul thing
to a woman for to be pollid, or for ta be maad ballid,
vcyle she hir head." Richardson quotes from North's
Plntarch : " His death did so grieve them that they
polled themselves, they clipped off their horses' and
mules' hair " (p. 230).
FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER.
129
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE FIEST EPISTLE OF ST. PETEE.
BY THE EDITOI
lias often been said that the contrast
between the Peter of tlie Gospel — impul-
sive, unsteadfast, slow of heart to under-
stand the mysteries of the kingdom —
and the same Apostle as he meets us iu the Acts, firm
and courageous, ready to go to prison a'nd to death,
the ruler of a church, the preacher of a faith, the inter-
preter of Scripture, is one of the most cou\-incing proofs
of the power of Christ's resurrection and the mighty
working of the Pentecostal gift. And so indeed it is.
The change that liad taken place was too rapid to be
explained by the ordinary processes of growth and
development, of study and of thought, and we are
compelled to " wonder," as the Scribes and Pharisees
wondered then, at the transformation of those who had
been known as '• unlearned and ignorant men " into
apostles and theologians. The first of the Epistles
that bear the name of St. Peter presents, however,
a yet more marvellous contrast to the utterances of
rash zeal and half -formed thoughts, as of one who wist
not what he said, of which so many are recorded in the
Gospels. Nowhere, not even in the fullest and loftiest
portions of St. Paul's writings, is there a deeper insight
into the mysteries of the faith, a spirit more entirely iu
harmony with the mind of Christ. To him have been
in part revealed the things which " the angels desire to
look into " (1 Pet. i. 12), the mystery of the completion
of the redeeming work behind the veil that separates us
from the unseen world, the preaching to the " spirits in
prison," the "Gospel preached unto the dead" (1 Pet.
iii. 19; iv. 6). And with this there is a delicate and
subtle handling of the great ethical duties of man's life,
as modified by the facts and precepts of the Gospel,
which reminds us of tlie Epistle to the Ephesians. No
one can read the Epistle itself in the spirit of earnest-
ness and prayer, without being brought some way
onward in his heavenly course. Those who are familiar
with Leightou's noble Commentai-y will see to what a
height of holiness and spiritual wisdom it may lead one
who fulfils the conditions of a true learner.
In this instance it is allowable, I believe, to trace the
ordinary as well as the special and supernatural workings
of Divine grace, the influence of growth and experience,
of companionship with a mind more rapidly and fully
illumined than his own, of writings in which the higher
truths of faith were set forth m their completeness.
We know from St. Paul's own statement (Gal. ii. 2, 9)
that St. Peter, like St. James, had accepted the Gospel
which that Apostle preached unto the Gentiles, aud had
given to him the right hand of fellowship. We know,
from the narrative of the Acts (xv. 7), that he welcomed
and supported him against the narrower zeal of the half-
81 — VOL. IV.
Christianised Pharisees. If we assume the genuineness
of the Second Epistle that bears his name, we know
also that most, if not all, the writings of that Apostle
(including some, it may be, that have not come down to
us) had found their way into his hands, and that though
he found in them some thmgs " hard to be understood,"
he had yet recognised the -writer as having had a
■wisdom given to him, which ma&le them a revelation
of truths to which the Church would do well to give
heed. If for one moment there had been something
like antagonism between the two (Gal. ii. 11), the pain
of that conflict, like the other paroxysm of contention
that divided Barnabas from St. Paul, had left behind
it no traces of bitterness; and the Ej)istle which he
writes to churches, many of wliich must have been
founded by St. Paul, and all of which had come in
contact with his teaching, bears not the slightest trace
of resentment or alienation. He is content to learn
from the teacher who had rebuked him, and reproduces
largely (as a glance at the marginal references in any
ordinary Bible will show abundantly) the truths which
he had been taught by him. The assumption thus made
on the strength of his own words in 2 Pet. iii. 15, is, to
say the least, confirmed by two facts, which would, even
without them, have suggested the same inference. When
he writes his first Epistle, Mark is with him (v. 13), who
had been St. Paul's fellow-traveller aud fellow-worker in
his first missionary jouimey, and who was not likely to
have been chosen for that office unless he had been pre-
viously trained by the Apostle for it. Sylvanus, the
bearer of the Epistle, had been with St. Paul at Antioch
for many months, was chosen to take the place of Bar-
nabas in his second and gi-eator missionary enterprise
among the Gentiles, had himself been joined with the
Apostle in the salutations of two of his Epistles
(1 and 2 Thessalonians), and had probal)ly acted as his
amanuensis.
We know too little of the life of St. Peter outside the
record of the Acts to be able to say with certainty what
circumstances led him to address these churches, whicl;,
so far as we know, he had not visited ; nor at what time
he wrote these Epistles to them. We have a few
scattered hints, and have to piece them together as we
can. And first, we have no trace of his j)resence at
Jerusalem for any length of time after the Council of
Acts XV. For a considerable length of time he liA^ed and
worked at Antioch, still the Apostle of the Circumcision
(Gal. ii. 11), yet teaching in the mother-city of Gentile
Christendom. Thence he appears to have gone to the
further East, aud to have made the great city on the
Euphrates— so famous in the histoiy and prophecy of
Israel, still flourishing and wealthy, aud the seat of
130
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
a large Jewish populutiou — the hoa<i-quarters of his
miuistry. In the name of the chiu-eh of Babylon,' as
elect together with them, he sends greetings to those to
whom he writes {1 Pet. v. 13). And he writes, it will
be noticed, still as the Apostle of the Circumcision, ^to
those who, like the ''twelve tribes scattered abroad"
of St. James's Epistle, were "among the strangers of
the dispersion" — Jews dwelling among Gentiles. It
was at a time, apparently, Avhen they needed counsel,
when no other teacher of ecxual authority was at hand
to comfoi-t them; when St. Paul, who had founded
so many churches in those regions, had been cut off
from them, possilily after that last visit of his, sub-
sequent to the first imprisonment at Rome, of which
wo read that it was a time of trial and persecution,
which led " all in Asia " to turn away from him (2 Tim.
i. 15). From this Epistle we learn that they were at
the beginning of a " fiery trial " (1 Pet. iv. 12) ; that
their name was cast out as evil (ii. 12) ; that the name
of Christian, which had liad its birth-place in Antioch
(Acts xi. 26), had spread westward to these Asiatic
churches, and was, as afterwards under Trajan, the
t«st-word of their persecutors. If they accepted the
title, they were looked upon as self -condemned ; to dis-
own it, to plead " not guilty " to the charge of being
a Christian, was enough to ensure them an acquittal.
We may infer from the earnest counsels of chains, ii.,
iii., that the Apostle feared lest the enthusiasm of their
new life should lead them to take part in anarchic or
revolutionary movements; from his warnings against
the luxury that showed itself in " the plaiting of hair
and wearing of gold, and putting on of apparel "
(iii. 3), that the new faith numbered some at least
of the "honourable women" of the wealthier classes
among its disciiiles; from his desii'e that the be-
lievers should be able to give an answer (literally,
an apology) to every man that asked them a reason
of the hope that was in them" (iii. 15), that there were
men among them with suf&cient culture to venture on
such a ■vindication. The profound spiritual truths of
which the Epistle is the utterance, must be left to the
meditation of the devout reader, guided by a teacher
like Leightou. Here it will be enough to note the
externrl facts as to the writer of the Epistle, and those
to whom it was addressed, which wall best help the
student to appreciate its general beai'ing. And here,
in addition to wliat has been already dwelt on, we may
note two or three points of interest.
(1.) St. Peter lived as St. Paul did, in the expectation
of the comuig of Christ as not far off. The thought of
his "appearing" to judge the quick and the dead, to
redress all wrongs and punish all e-\al, and reward the
faithful, is the ground of his hope for the future. But
even in the First Epistle, and yet more strongly as we
shall see iu the Second, this hope is tempered by the
1 The conjecture that St. Peter wrote from a garrison town
named Babylou, on the Eifyptian frontier, or that he auticipated
the mystic symbolism of the Apocalypse, and thus indicated that
he wrote from Home, may safely be dismissed as altogether
arbitrary.
feeling that the times and the seasons were not revealed
to him ; that the prophets of the New Testament, not
less than those of the Old, were still in the position of
those who " enquired and searched diligently, or what
mq,nner of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them
did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings
that should come on Christ [ra Tra^VaTa ds XpKrrhv), not
iu Himself only, but in His people, and the glory that
should foUow"(i. ll).^
(2.) We may note some coincidences bearing on tho
personal history of the writer. Ho who had heard of
the witness of the Baptist to " the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sins of the world " (John i. 29, 36),
dwells on the fact that all believers were redeemed
"' with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. i. 19). He to whom
Jiad been given the special thrice-repeated charge,
"Feed my sheep" (Jolm xxi. 15 — 17), reproduces that
command in his exhortation to his brother elders to feed
the flock of God which was among them, and points
to Christ almost iu tho very words which the beloved
disciple has recorded, as the " Chief Shepherd " that
shall reward all faitlif ul shepherds who serve under Him
(1 Pet. V. 2). He who for so many years was a fellow-
worker with the brother of his Lord, dwells on the
truth that those who live the new life are " born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and aliideth for ever "
(1 Pet. i. 23) ; even as St. James had taught that "God
of His own will begat us with the Word of Truth"
(James i. 18) ; and gives, as he does, as the reward
of the highest Christian grace, manifested in act, that
it " shall cover the multitude of sins " (James x. 20 ;
1 Pet. iv. 8). He whom Satan had " desired to have
that he might sift him as wheat" (Luke xxii. 31), and
who in that sifting had failed so gi-ievotisly, warns men
out of his own bitter experience, that • ' their adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom
he may devour " (1 Pet. v. 8). Such was the Epistle,
the genuineness of which may be looked on as aU but
unquestioned, even by the wildest criticism, which the
Galilean fisherman left as a perpetual possession to the
Church of Christ. The keys of the kingdom of heaven
had been given to him as the symbol that he was called
to the office of a scribe instructed to the kuigdom of
heaven ; and with these he had. as it were, opened the
doors of the house of the Interpreter, and brought forth
out of the treasures of the Divine wisdom " things
new and old." The claims which have been made to
rest on that power of the keys, on the promise that on
the faith which he proclaimed Christ would build His
Church, may be baseless, and in their ultimate develop-
ment monstrous ; but in the teaching of this Epistle,
so rich in all spiritual knowledge, in all that can
oslablish and strengthen the unstable soul, we may
recognise no unworthy fulfilment of that lugh function
of which the promise spoke.
- I may be allowed to refer to the paper on " The Prophets of
the New Testament," iu my volume of BMical Studies, for the
exegesis of this passage.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
131
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
BY WILLIAM CABKUTHEES, F.E.S., KEEPER OF THE BOTANICAL DEPAETMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
OEDEBS XXVI. — XXIX. SIMAETTBE^, SAPINDACEJE, MELIACE^, AND VITACE^ffi.
^"'''^^''^'"^HE small order of Quassiads {Simanihece),
consisting of bitter slirubs or trees, natives
of tropical regions, is represented in the
flora of Palestine by a single tree, which
is found only in the depressed yaUey of the Dead
Sea, reaching as far north as Jericho. This is the
Balanites ^gijptiaca, Del., a small scrubby thom-tree
with a hard wood used for makiug walking-sticks at
Jerusalem, and an oval fruit not unlike a walnut, from
which is obtained an oil prepared by the Ai-abs of
Jericho, and sold to travellers under the erroneous name
of Balm of Gilead.
The large order of Soax^worts {Sapindacece) is repre-
sented in the Holy Land by two maples found on the
Lebanon range; while a single species of the Meliad
order [MeliacecB] is planted abundantly by the road-
sides, but nowhere occurs in a wild state. This is the
Bead tree, or Pride of India {Melia Azedarach, Linn.),
forming an agreeable shade to the travellers by its
dense mass of compound winged leaves. The sweet-
scented lilac flowers are collected into an erect spike,
and are succeeded by a cluster of pale blue fruits, about
the size of currants, which are often used as beads for
rosaries.
The Yines {VitacecB) form a small order of chmbhig
plants, widely distributed over the tropical and sub- ,
tropical regions of the world. They have large simple
leaves like the grape-vine, or compound leaves like the
Virginian creeper, an American plant largely grown in
England, and which is, perhaps, not generieaUy distinct
from the true vines. The indigenous flora of Europe
is without any representative of the order, though the
well-known grape-vine has long been under cultivation
in the southern countries of this continent. The Romans
brought the vine to Britain. The different attempts
that have been since made to bring it into cultivation
have failed. It was foimd to be at best but a precarious
crop, and it never produced a satisfactory wine, because
the summer temperature is neither sufficiently great nor
long continued to ripen the grape completely. Further
north than 50° north latitude is too cold, and further
south than 36° is too hot for the vine to attain -pev-
fection. It, however, accommodates itself remarkably
to artificial treatment, and is consequently extensively
cultivated under glass in countries much beyond its
northern limits.
The vine has been cultivated from the remotest
antiquity on account of its fruit. Representations of it
are to be foimd in the early sculptured monuments of
Egypt and Assyria ; while the Bible carries its history
back to the days of Noah, who " began to be an husband-
man, and he planted a vineyard" (Gen. is. 20). Like
other plants which "have been from the earliest times
associated with man, it is impossible to discover its
native locality. It is generally believed that the moun-
tainous region between the Euphrates and the Caspian
Sea to the north-east of Palestine is its original country.
Wnd ATues are frequently met with in the woods m this
region, but these may be the evidence and the remains
of a former cultivation, rather than the spontaneoi*s
growth of the plant in its native locality. It is certainly
not indigenous to Palestine, but is still under cultivation
there. A wUd vine {Vitis orientalis, Linn.) having
compound leaves, like those of the Virginian creeper,
is sometimes met with on the low lauds near the coast,
and is indigenous to this region.
So numerous are the references to the vine and its
products in the Bible that it would be impossible to
notice them all in this paper. From them we learn
that in the days of Abraham the Holy Land produced
its grape harvest, for Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine for Abraham's refresh-
ment, when he was on his way back from deliveiing
Lot out of the hands of his captors (Gen. xiv. 18).
When Joseph was carried into Egypt, he found the vine
cultivated there ; and we learn from the di-eam of the
royal butler that the sweet and unfermented juice of
the grape was dnmk by Pharaoh. " A vine was before
me . . . and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand : and I
took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup,
and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand " (Gen. xl.
9 — 11). Some 200 years later the captive Israelites
were familiar with the vine in Egypt, where it must
then have been extensively gi-own, seeing that the %
and it are specially mentioned as the crops which were
destroyed by the plague of hail that the Lord rained
on Egyi)t. '■ He destroyed their \-ines with liaU, and
then- sycomore-trees with great hailstones (Ps. Ixxviii.
47, margin). In the wilderness the memories of the
Israelites went back to these fruitful vineyards. In
their murmurings against Moses, their plaint was,
" Wherefore have ye made us to come out of Egypt,
to bring us into this e%'il ijlace ? it is no place of seed,
or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates " (Numb.
XX. 5).
The terms in which the Lord described to His people
while joui'neyiug in the wilderness the land which He
had given to them, shows that the vine had already
been extensively cultivated there. It was " a land of
wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pome-
gi-anates" (Deut. viii. 8), where they should possess
vineyards and olive-trees which they had not planted
(Deut. \i. 11). And the men whom Moses sent to spy
the land, whether it was good or bad, confirmed this
description ; when, having cut down from the valley of
Eshcol " a branch with one cluster of grapes, they bare
it between two upon a staff" into the camp (Numb. xiii.
23), at once an earnest and an evidence to the people of
132
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
SITTING UNDER THE VINE. (From the Asstjrian Scvlx^turcs.)
the rich land they wore going to possess. "When at
length, Israel having obtained possession of the land,
Judah received as his portion the terraced hiUs of the
south clad with vineyards, the blessing of Jacob was
fully realised, "Binding his foal unto the vine, and
his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his gar-
ments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes "
(Gen. xlix. 11). The extraordinary productiveness of
the vineyards of Judah must have often recalled to
the devout husbandman this prophetic blessing of his
ancestor; just as the modern aspect of the whole region
forcibly recalls to the traveller a later i)rophetic warning
now singularly fulfilled, " I will destroy her vines and
her fig-trees, whereof she hath said. These are my
rewards that my lovers have given me : and I will make
them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat
them " (Hos. ii. 12). The terraced hills are all bare ;
not a vine is to be seen in the valley of Eshcol ; and
there are no traces of Solomon's famous vineyards at
En-gedi, save the terraces, and the huge empty cisterns
"which supplied the vines with water. The Turks and
Saracens, who have so long held the land, have been
tlie chief means of bringing about this state of things,
the use of wine being forbidden to them by their
religion. But they will not always possess the land ;
and in the picture of restored Israel, which the sure
word of prophecy gives, the vine occui)io3 a prominent
place. The few and scattered, yet singularly productive
vineyards of Judah, which travellers see, will yet spread
until they again cover the terraced hills of that land, as
it is said, " I will bring back the captivityof my people
Israel, . . . and they shall plant vineyards, and drink
the wine thereof " (Amos ix. 14). " The mountains
shall drop sweet wine" (Amos ix. 13).
When the vine was planted in a garden, or near a
house, it was generally trained over trellis-work, so as
to secure the shady arbour so coveted in the East. The
sculptures from the palaces of Assj'ria represent scenes
in the royal garden where the king and queen, or
their guests, are resting under the grateful shade of
carefully-trained vines, and are being refreshed with
the juice expressed from the grapes, which abimdantly
hang from tlicm.
In the vineyard the vino was not carried to such a
height; the l)ranches were kept from the ground by
short props. The vineyard was enclosed ])y a fence, to
protect it from the sheep and cattle, which are fond of
the tender leaves, as well as from the wild animals,
which made destructive inroads upon it. In the poetic
figure of Israel, represented as a \\ne brought out of
Egypt, so exquisitely sustained and amplified in the
80lh Psalm, the wiiter deplores that through the broken-
down hedges "the boar out of the wood doth waste it,
and the wild beast of the field doth devour it " (Ps. Ixxx.
SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PETER.
133
13). Jackals aucl foxes, both alike fond of gi-apes, are
great enemies to the vine-growers. To one or other of
these animals Solomon refers, when he says, " Take us
the foxes, the little foxes that destroy the vines : for
onr vines bear tender gi-apes " (Cant. ii. 15).
Besides the fence, each vineyard was provided with a
watch-tower, which afforded protection to the cultivator,
and enabled him to detect the approach of any enemy.
The vines require continual attention ; they must be
carefully pruned and purged, that they may bring forth
more and better fruit ; they must be propped up and
weeded; so that during the growth of the vines the
tower was always occupied by some one discharging
those duties.
Each vineyard had its wine-press, the practice being
to express the juice from the grape in the field. The
wine-presses were generally hewn out of the solid rock,
and large numbers of them remain at the present day.
They consisted of two vats or presses, the upper and
larger one for treading the grapes, and a smaller one
for recei^nng the juice or mast. Dr. Robinson thus
describes one of these ancient wine-presses which he
observed near Jerusalem: — "Advantage had been taken
of a ledge of rock; on the uj)per side, towards the south,
a shallow vat had been dug out eight feet square and
fifteen inches deep, its bottom declining slightly toward
the south. The thickness of rock left on the north side
was one foot; and two feet lower down on that side
another smaller vat was excavated, four feet square by
three feet deep. The grapes were trodden in the
shallow upper vat, and the juice dra\vn off by a hole at
the bottom, still remaining, into the lower vat. This
ancient press would seem to prove that in other days
these hills were covered with vineyards ; and such is its
state of preservation that, were there still grapes in the
vicinity, it miglit at once bo brouglit into use without
rei^air" {Bibl. Research., iii., p. 137). Canon Tristram
observed no less than eleven of these wine-presses on
the east of Carmol alone. Being di;g out of the rock,
they arc often filled with earth, and passed by travellers
without being observed.
The juice of the gi-apc was pressed out by men, more
or fewer in number in proportion to the size of the
press. It was a fatiguing operation, and they sang or
shouted to encourage each other. " He shall give a
shout, as they that tread the gi-apes " ( Jer. xxv. 30).
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PETER AND THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE.
BT THE EDITOR.
^"H^T cannot be denied, and ought not to be
^^" concealed, that the second Epistle that
bears the name of St. Peter does not stand,
as regai'ds the evidence for its authen-
ticity, on the same footing as the fii-st. While that is
recognised in all the eai-ly catalogues of the books of
the New Testament as acknowledged and received, and
quoted by some at least of the early Fathers of the
Church, the second Epistle is classed by Eusebius, as
late as the fourth ceutary, as among the Antilegomena,
or books whose authority had been questioned. It is
not directly quoted by any writer before the latter
part of the third centuiy, though phrases occur in
some earlier writers that seem, as it were, echoes of
its language, or of that of some writing closely resem-
bling it.
Origen, and later on, Jerome, speak of it in the same
terms as Eusebius, as an Epistle that had been ques-
tioned. After their time, however, it was received as
genuine, and took its place in the canon of Scripture
without question, until the application of a more search-
ing criticism as to the origin and authorship of each
single book of the New Testament brought these facts to
light, and led not a few inquirers to reject it as spurious.
The doubt thus originated has been strengthened, in
the judgment of many critics, by the contents of the
Epistle. Their character, it is said, and not -n-ithout
truth, differs from that of the first. It is less Pauline
in its tone, and more apocalyptic ; deals more in dark
I and awful pictures of the wickedness of false teachers
and then- followers, and of the final close of all things
by the coming of the Son of Man, and the manifesta-
tion of the new heaven and the new earth. The very
language in which that manifestation is spoken of, the
answer given to those who began to ask the ciucstion,
" Where then is the promise of His coming ? " — when
they saw that year after year passed on without the
fulfilment of that jiromise — points, it is said, to a date
j later than any which comes within the limits of St.
Peter's life. Lastly, there is the striking parallelism
j between chap. ii. of this Epistle and that which bears
] the name of St. Jude. That resemblance is, of course,
perfectly compatible with the hypothesis of St. Peter's
authorship, whatever view we take of the mutual
relations of the two documents. Either writer might
have reproduced what had been written by the other,
or both might have di-awn from some common source.
The resemblance is therefore not in itself, like the
want of external evidence or the difference of style, an
I objection to the genuineness of the Epistle. It is a
l)henomenon that has to be accounted for, and possibly
this explanation may lead us to view the other more
perplexing phenomena in their true light.
It is obvious that on the admission of its spurious-
ness the Epistle loses much of its interest and value.
There is no question here of a conjectural or traditional
authorship, such as that with which we have to deal in
regard to the Gospels, which do not in their text, as
134
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
distinct from their titles, claim to be written by this
or that disciple. If the Epistle be not by St. Peter,,
it is a deliberate and, from our modern point of \'iew,
fraudulent personation. The writer claims to bo
" Simeon, an apostle of Jesus Christ," to have been
present in the holy mount, and to have heard the voice
that came from heaven at the ^dsion of the " excellent
glory" of the Transfiguration. If he were not this,
and-the document itself was an apocryphal writing of
the second century, then its interest would be limited
to the fact that it bears witness (1) to the authority of
the first Epistle, of which it claims to be the successor ;
(2) to tlie reception of a narrative of the Transfigiiration
like that contained in the first three Gospels, and
therefore, by inference, to the recognition of the narra-
tive of those Gospels as a whole ; (3) to the existence of
a collection, jaore or less complete, of the Epistles of
St. Paul, and to the recognition of theu* authority even
by those v.'ho looked to St. Peter, the Apostle of the
Cii'cumcision, as their guide and teacher. We need
not undervalue the importance of the testimony thus
given, but- it is clear that, if this were all, the Epistle
would have to take its i)lace among the Apocryjilia of
the New Testament, and that its claims upon om- reve-
rence and faith would be altogether gone.
Here, as elsewhere, the argument from coincidences
has a claim to be heard. Do we find resemblances
between the two Epistles, such as would be natural in
the same writer, but such also as are too inconspicuous
to admit of our belie\'ing that a writer of a later date
would have hit upon them as giving' the supposititious
document which he meant to foist upon the Church the
chai'acter of genuineness ? I submit that the follow-
ing, comparatively minute as they may seem, have this
character : —
(1) We have this exceptional form of salutation,
" Grace and peace he multiplied," in both Epistles, and
in them only.
(2) In 1 Pet. i. 19, we have the combination of the
words aixujxov Ka\ aairixou (" without blemish and with-
out spot"). In 2 Pet. ii. 13, we have the like combina-
tion, as in a writer to whom the one word naturally
suggested the other, of o-TrrAoi koI fxo)jj.oi (" spots and
blemishes "). So again, ^(tttiAoi koX a,uunriToi, in 2 Pet.
iii. 14, the latter word not occurring elsewhere in the
New Testament.
(3) The use of the rare verb eTroirrei'ieiu ("behold"')
in 1 Pet. ii. 12 ; iii. 2, and of the equally rare noun
fTrSiTTat in 2 Pet. i. 16, neither word occurring elsewhere
in the New Testament.
(4) The remarkable use of the word aper^ ("virtue"),
as applied to God, in 1 Pet. ii. 9 (where it is WTongly
translated " praises " in tlie Authorised Version) and
2 Pot. i. 3.
(5) The Avi'iter's fondness for tlie word " precious "
in both Epistles, as applied to faith (2 Pet. i. 1), the
trial of faith (1 Pet. i. 7), the blood of Christ (1 Pet.
i. 19), the promises of the Gospel (2 Pet. i. 4).
(6) Each Epistle quotes a whole verse from the Book
of Proverbs, quotations from which occur but seldom
in the Apostolic writings : 1 Pet. iv. 18, " If the right-
eous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear?" from the Gi'eek vei'sionof Prov. xi. 31;
and 2 Pot. ii. 22, " Tlie dog is retui'ncd to his own vomit
again," from Pi-ov. xxvi. 11.
(7) Tlie use of n ^5hs (" the ivay of truth ") in 2 Pet.
ii. 2, in the half -technical sense, as equivalent to the
faith or religion of Christianity, that was chai'acteristic
of the Apostolic age (Acts xix. 9, 23 ; xxii. 4 ; xxiv. 22),
but was not common in the age that followed.
In addition to these verbal coincidences, we may note
some that affect the substance and teaching of the
Epistle. In both, the gift of prophecy and the exist-
ence of an order of prophets in the Apostolic Church
are prominent topics of thought (1 Pet. i. 10 — 12; 2 Pet.
i. 19 — 21 ; iii. 2). In both, stress is laid upon the teach-
ing of the history of the Deluge (1 Pet. iii. 20 ; 2 Pet.
ii. 5 ; iii. 6). In both, there is the same reference to
deeper, half -traditional mysteries connected vrith that
history, to the " spirits in prison that had been afore-
time disobedient," to " the angels that sinned," and
were connected, in some mysterious way, with the sins
that brought about that great judgment.
The incidental mention of Silvanus in 1 Pet. v. 12, as
has been pointed out already, explains the reference to
St. Paul's Epistles in 2 Pet. iii. 15. That of Mark, in
1 Pet. V. 13, taken together with the traditional con-
nection of his Gospel with St. Peter, fits in with the
declaration of the writer of the second Epistle that ''he
would endeavour that his readers should bo able, after
his decease, to have the things of which he wrote in
remembrance, so that they might feel sure that they had
not followed cunningly-de^dsed fables " (2 Pet. i. 15, 16),
and with the numerous verbal coincidences between
both the Epistles and the Gospel which bears St. Mark's
name. In the words, " Kno'nTng that the putting off
of my tabernacle cometh suddenly " (2 Pet. i. 14), we
may trace a distinct reference to the words of our Lord
in the narrative recorded in John xxi. ; while in 1 Pet. v.
2 — 4, " Feed the flock of God that is among you . . .
when Christ the chief Shepherd sliall appear," wo havo
an equally distinct echo of the thrice-repeated command,
" Feed my sheep," in the same chapter.
So far for the points of resemblance, which at least
tend to show identity of authorship. What explana-
tion can be given of the more startling and prominent
differences ? The answer is to be found, I believe, in
the state of the Church in the period to which these
Epistles and the Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul and that
of St. Jude all alike belong. It was a time of pcrsecu-
tion, of morbid excitement, of strange heresies, of wild
lawlessness. In every church there were prophets
stirred with the thought of Avhat they saw around them,
of Avhat they beheld in vision as in the near or distant
future. St. Peter, we have seen, wrote his first Epistlo
at the commencement of such a period. Assume an
interval of a year or two, or even of a few months, and
there would bo time for these phenomena to affect his
thoughts and .speech. It might well be that as St. Paul
records words which the Spirit had spoken expressly iu
THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE.
135
prophetic utterances in the Cliurcli (1 Tim. iv. 1), so
St. Peter miglit have heard or read a " prophetic word"
(2 Pet. i. 19), fuU of like warnings and denunciations.
Such a "word of prophecy," in proportion to the impres-
sion it made on men's minds, would be reproduced with
more or less variation, and transcribed and circulated,
would become, as it were, the text of Apostohc sermons.
This is, I believe, the natiu-al and sufficient explanation
of the resemblance between the Second Epistle of St.
Peter and the Epistle of St. Jude. It explains also,
in no small measm-e, the difference between the tone
and thought of the two Epistles now under considera-
tion; the stress laid upon "true knowledge" (iTrlyvaxris)
(2 Pet. i. 2, 3, 8; ii. 20; iii. 18), in contrast with the
speculative knowledge of which the false teachers
boasted ; on the truth of the facts of which the Apostle
had been an eye-witness, ii-i contrast with the cunningly-
devised " fables," against which St. Paul, no less than
St. Peter, utters so strong a protest (2 Pet. i. 16).
But it woidd foUow, on this supposition, that an
Epistle sent by a special messenger to churches excited,
persecuted, unsettled, would not be received in the same
way, or publicly read to the same extent, as one which
dealt more with the gi-eat truths, promises, laws of
life, which belonged fully to every age, and met the
wants of every heart. As a matter of fact, even after
its reception into tho canon of Scripture, the Second
Epistle of St. "Peter has never attracted the minds of
men to study it in the same measure as the First. If
we may reason from this later experience, it is open to
us to believe that, after having done its work, it was for
a time less read, sought after, circulated — practically,
perhaps, forgotten ; and that, therefore, when it was
rescued from this obscurity, it was viewed at first with
suspicion and distrust. The fact that it was afterwards
received, in spite of that suspicion, may, at least, be
held as showing (even while we do not claim any very
high critical a^^tllority for their judgment) that the
more the Epistle was known, the more scholars and
collectors of MSS., like Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, not
altogether careless of such questions, or incompetent to
deal with them, came to know the facts of the case, the
more they were disposed to look on the evidence in its
favour as stronger than the doubts and distrust which
sprung out of gaps and defects in that evidence. In
that conclusion wo too may be content to rest.
THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE.
So much has been said of this Epistle in connection
with that with which it is so closely allied, and with tho
special difficulties which it hero and there presents, that
it will not be necessary to do more than say a few words
as to the writer and the readers of the Epistle. The
fact that it, too, was placed by Eusebius among tho
Antilegomena, or disputed writings, and that it is
absent from the Peschito or earliest Syriac version,
ought not, indeed, to be passed over; but it admits of
the same explanation as that which applied to the
Second Epistle of St. Peter. It was recognised, how-
ever, in the Muratorian Canon, and by Origen. "We
may reasonably infer, from the fact that the writer calls
himself, not an " apostle," but a '" servant " of Jesus
Christ, and refers to the apostles (ver. 17) as a distinct
body, that he himself was not of the number of the
twelve. This, of course, at once distinguishes him
from tho " Judas, not Iscariot," the " Judas, brother
[oi*, possibly, son] of James," of whom we read in
tlie Gospels. His further description of himself as
" brother of James," as his claim to be heard, connects
him with the Bishop of Jerusalem, and helps us to
identify him with the Judas who is named in Matt,
xiii. 55, as among the brethren of the Lord. On this
assumption, all that was said of the early life of his
more conspicuous brother, tlie early want of faith, tho
subsequent fuU belief, applies equally to him. Of his
work in the Apostolic Church we know absolutely
nothing, and we only learn from a tradition that his
graudchildi-en were brought before the Emperor Domi-
tian as belonging to the kingly line of David, and were
found to be poor working men, from whom no iiolitical
danger coidd be aj)prehended ; that he probably con-
tinued to reside ui Palestine, and was, perhaps, the only
one of the famUy that continued the li£e of the car-
penter's shop of Nazareth. We may infer, from his
reference to his brother James as clothing liis words
with authority, from the cpiotations or references to
purely Jewish traditions, oral or written, that the writer
was himself of the church of circumcision, and was
writing to members of that church, at a time when
they were in danger, not so much from the Judaising,
Pharisaic tendency against which St. Paul had con-
tended, as from the half- Gnostic, half- Oriental Jewish
fables, coming from those wlio claimed to bo doctors of
the Law, and yet were lawless and ungodly, and who
represented the second growth of hei*esies in the Apos-
tolic Church. To what section of that church he -wi'ote,
we have no certain knowledge. The state of the Asiatic
churches, as described in the Pastoral Epistles and
those of St. Peter, might weU lead us to think of them ;
but the same phenomena were probably to bo found
almost everywhere. As in those Epistles, so here, the
'■'faith," in its objective sense as almost equivalent to a
creed, is assumed to have been preached, delivered,
handed down, and men are called upon to "contend
earnestly " for it. The key-note of the whole group is
the " putting men in remembrance " of what they knew
before.
The special difficulties connected with the traditions
about Michael the archangel disputing with the devil
about the body of Moses, and the quotation from the
prophecy of Enoch, do not require any full discussion.
It may be enough to say that these allusive references
do not compel us to give to either a higher authority
than they would possess had they not been mentioned.
It would be a strained and untenable view of inspira-
tion to assume that the one tradition out of many that
had surrounded the life of Moses with legendary
fancies, the one passage in a book certainly apocry-
phal, originating, perhaps, m the time of the Maccabees,
13o
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
clovolcped under Herod the Great, otherwise full of wild
and fantastic dreams, wore in this way taken from the
ir.ass of worthless matter with w^hich they were asso-
( iated, and then stamped and re-issued with a new and
divine authority. What we may legitimately infer is
the strong hoid which such traditions and such books
had upon the minds even of devout Christians; how
largely they may have influenced the thoughts of men
as to the remote past and the immediate future. As
men held the treasure of the truth in earthen vessels,
as they built upon the one foimdation, not only gold
and silver and precious stones, but wood, hay, stubble,
so it was here. As we cannot suppose for a moment
that these facts were specially revealed to the writer of
the Epistle, or that they had been handed down by a
tradition from primitive times, of which not a trace
exists in the canonical or apocryphal writings of the
Old Testament, no other couclusioa is open to us than
to see here that mingling of the divine and human
which we recognise in greater or less measure through-
out the sacred volume. Recognis'ng in that volume
diversities of gifts and degrees of greatness, we may
see in the absence from St. Paul's Epistles of such
references and quotations, a token that the mind of the
great Apostle lived and breathed habitually in a higher
atmosphere ; did not dwell on that which filled the
thoughts of others, or, at least, took its place among
their familiar imagery; and saw more clearly than
others the truth as it is in Jesus. What we do learn
from the presence of the allusions in St. Jude's Epistle
is that the acceptance of such traditions does not affect
the testimony which a man bears to the things which
he has seen and heard, or to the faith which has been
delivered to him, or the strength of his protest against
evil, or the fulness and fervour of his hope or love.
That is a lesson which it is well to bear in mind as
we look back upon the long history of the Church of
Christ, and are tempted to place on the same level
the essential convictions and the floating opinions,
or incidental allusive references, of those who have
been among the saints of God; and it is a gain
and not a loss to have a crucial instance to guide
us in such an epistle as that which bears the name
of St. Jude.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, E. E.
VI. — SAMARIA {concluded).
|AMARIA was founded by Omri in the
sixth year of his reign, and became the
capital of the kingdom of Israel until
its capture by the Assyrians about B.C.
721. Here Ahab raised a magnificent temple to Baal,
which was afterwards destroyed by Jehu on the occa-
sion of the slaughter of the priests and worshippers
of Baal (2 Kings x. 23 — 27) ; and it was in the pool
of Samaria tliat Ahab's chariot was washed after the
disastrous battle of Ramoth-gilead, " and the dogs
licked xip his blood, and they washed his armour,
according unto the word of the Lord Avhich he spake "
(1 Kings xxii. 38). The city was twice ineffectually
besieged by Benhadad, king of Syria, and on the
second occasion was miraculously relieved after the
inhabitants had been reduced by famine to the most
horrible extremities to sustain life ; the whole story of
the siege, with the episode of the two women (2 Kings
vi. 26 — 29), is one of the most thrilling in the Old
Testament, and the local circumstances attending it
have been well brought out by Van de Velde : " As the
mountains round the hill of Shemer are higher than that
hill itself, the enemy must have been able to discover
clearly the internal condition of the besieged Samaria.
. . . . The inhabitants, whether they turned their
eyes upwards or downwards, to the surrounding hills,
or into the valley, must have seen all full of enemies.
The mountains, and the adjacent circle
of hills, were so densely occupied by the enemy that not
a man could pass through to bring provisions to the-
beleaguered city. The Syrians on the hills must have
been al)le, from where they stood, plainly to distinguish
the famishing inhabitants." On the third occasion the
city was taken by the Assyrians, but only after a siege
of three years, and with its fall the kingdom of Israel
came to an end. In later years Samaria was rebuilt by
Herod the Great, who embellished it with fine buildings,
and called it Sebaste, whence it derives its present name
Scljustiyeh, one of the few instances in which the more
modern name has entirely supplanted the older one.
It was to the Sebaste built by Herod that Philip went
down to preach the Gospel ; and " there was great joy
in that city," and many, " both men and women, wero
baptised ;" amongst others, Simon the sorcerer, who was
afterwards so severely reproved by St. Peter for his
worldliness (Acts viii. 5 — 25).
In the liills west of Nablus, Lieutenant Conder
has succeeded in bringing to light many ancient sites
pi-eviously unknown, and amongst others the exten-
sive ruins of Deir Asruhr, which he identifies with
Sozuza, the seat of a Christian bishop. fir.st mentioned
at the Council of Chalcedon in the middle of the fifth
century. Tlie ruins occupy a commanding position,
and cover an area of about a square mile ; many
of the Ijuildings are in a fair state of preservation^
and appear to be Roman, or even older, but the place
has not yet l^een identified with any Bible name.
Proceeding southwards from Nablus along the rich
plain of El Mukhua, and passing Lubban (Lebouah),
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
137
1!lill|l|ll"Wl"llfl'»^^^^^^^
138
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
we reacli the ruius of Seilun (Sliiloh), the positiou of
which is given with great miuiiteuess in Juclg. xxi.
19, as being "ou the north side of Bethel, on the
east of the liighway that goeth up from Betliel to
Shechem, antl ou the south of Lchouah." The ruins
of Shiloh cover the surface of a tell on a spur that lies
between two valleys which uvite about a quarter of a
mile above Khan Lubbau. In their present state they
are nothing more than the ruius of au Arab village,
but there are traces of early fouudations, and the walls
are built of old material ; the most interesting feature
is a sort of level open com-t, seventy-seven feet wide,
and four hundred and twelve feet long, partly hewn
out of the rock, that may very possibly have been
prepared to receive the tabernacle, which, according to
Rabbiuical traditions, was " a structure of low stone
walls, with the tent draAvn over the top." It is at any
rate important to find a place, in the iindoubted ruius of
Shiloh, sufficiently large to have received a tent of the
dimensions of the tabernacle, and one apparently speci-
ally prei)ared for its reception. It was at Shiloh that
the ark rested from the death of Joshua till its capture
by the PhUistuies at the disastrous battle of Aphek,
and here, in the most sacred of Jewish sanctuaries,
Samuel was brought up and called to the prophetic
office. After the loss of the ark and death of Eli.
Shiloh appeal's to have been deserted, and Jeremiah
(vii. 12) refers to it as a striking example of the Di\-iuo
indignation : " Go yo now to my place which is in Shiloh,
where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to
it for the wickedness of my people Israel." In the
hUl-sides round the ruins are several rock-hewn tombs,
in one of which, if we may trust Jewish tradition, Eli
and his sons were buried; and in a small valley to
the north-east is a spring which may have been the
scene of the seizure of " the daughters of Shiloh " by
the Benjamites, when the men lay in wait in the vine-
yards for the women as they went forth " to dance in
dances." There is no grandeur or beauty in the positiou
of Shiloh, but from its seclusion and central situation it
was well adapted to be the resting-place of the ark and
the principal sanctuary of the Jewish nation.
Southward from Seilun lies Jr£na, the ancient Gophna,
and hence the old Roman road, which passed westwai'ds
by Tibneli to the maritime plain, and Csesarea can be
plainly traced. Tibnoh has generally been identified
with Timnath-serah, or Timuath-heres, the town given
to Joshua after the partition of the country between
the twelve tribes, and in " the border " of which he was
buried. The ruins are of some extent, but consist
merely of heaps of stones ; the surrounding counti-y is
wild and rugged, and must have been extremely pic-
turesque when the hill- sides were covei*ed with tei'races
bearing olive and A-inc. In the rocks south of the ruins
are a number of tombs, one of which, having certain
peculiarities in its construction, has been identified by
several writers with the tomb of Joshua. On the face
of a sort of vestibule in front of the tomb are some
two hundred niches for lamps, aiTanged in vertical
rows ; they are all more or less blackened by smoke.
and when filled with lighted lamps must have presented
a Avild weird appearance, throwing out long shadows
from the pillars which support the roof. From the
vestibule a small low door leads into the first tomb
chamber, in which are five loculi, or receptacles for
bodies, with the usual bench running in front of them ;
hence a passage about seven feet long, and two and a
half feet high, runs into a second and smaller chamber,
Avith a single loculus at the end, which is supposed to
have been the last resting-place of Josliua. The whole
arrangement of the tomb is pecuHar, and unlike any-
thing existing elsewhere in Palestine; but there is
no tradition, nor indeed anything to show that it is
Joshua's tomb, with the exception of its close proximity
to the supposed site of Timnath.
At the southern extremity of Samaria lay Bethel,
the " house of God," a name which has passed into
our language almost as a household word, and now
represented by the few Arab houses that form the
village of Beitin, on the high road from Jerusalem to
Naljlus. There are the remains of a square tower, a
small church, an old pool, which receives the water
of a small spring, and in the rocks towards the west
a large number of rock-hewn tombs. The ruins lie at
the head of a valley, which soon deepens into a grand
gorge, as it falls to the Jordan Yalley, and behind
them the ground rises a little to a broad shoulder on
which "the natural rock has been worn by the weather
into strange forms, amongst which Jacob may have
laid himself down to sleep after taking of " tlie stones
of that place and putting them for his pillow." It
was here that, during his dream, Jacob received the
promise, that in him and in his seed all the families of
the earth should be blessed ; and on awakening he took
the stone that had served for his pillow, and setting it
up for a piUar, anointed it, and called the name of iho
place Bethel, thus changing its name from Luz, by
which it had previously been known. On his return
from Padan-aram, wliilst passing down the country from
Shechem to Mamre, Jacob again stayed at Bethel, and
erected an altar on the place where God had appeared
to him during his dream. In after years. Bethel was
one of the towns to wliich Samuel went each year in
circuit to judge the people, but it was in connection with
tlie worship of the Golden Calf, after the division of
the country into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel,
that the place became of so much importance. The
sanctity attached to Bethel from its having been the
site of Jacob's altar, and its positiou, within sight of the
Temple at Jerusalem, made it well adapted to become the
great southern sanctuary of the kingdom of Israel, and
its situation commanding the road to the north, and the
southern passes from the Jordan Valley, rendered it of
no sliglit importance as a border fortress. We can only
allude to the tragic story of the man of God of Judah,
who boldly presented himself before Jeroboam, as he
stood by the altar to burn incense, and predicted the
vengeance of the Lord (1 Kings xiii. 1 — 32), a predic-
tion so remarkably fulfilled when Josiah brake down
the altar and the high place, and " took the bones out
JEHOSHAPHAT.
139
of the sepulchres, and burned them npon the altar, and
polluted it " (2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16) ; and will conclude
by draAving attention to the cui-ious fact, that every
Jew who worshipped on Mount Moriah must have had
before him evidence of the idolatry which was so widely
spread over the country in the glistening walls of the
temple of Bethel ; and that every priest who ofEered
on the altar of Jeroboam must have been reminded of
the purer worship in the Temple of Solomon on Mount
Moriah.
SCEIPTURE BIOaRAPHIES.
JEHOSHAPHAT.
BY THE EEV. W. BENHAM, B.D., VICAR OF MARGATE.
[Places where mentioned: — 1 Kings xv. 24 ; xxii., passim; 2 Kings
i. 17; iii. pa-ssim; viii. 16; xii. 18; 1 Cliron. iii. 10; 2 Chion.
xvii. — XX., passim; xsi. 1, 2, 12 ; xxii. 9 ; Joel iii. 2, 12; Matt. i. 8.]
',i;iF^'m^'EHOSHAPHAT, the fourth king of Judah,
4vii I L.^ was the son of Asa and Azubah. Of his
mother no further mention is made. His
father reigned over Jndah for forty-one
years, and is pi'ouonnced in the Book of Kings to
have done that which is right in the sight of the Lord ;
though the account in the Chronicles exhibits some
imfavourable features in his character. He began
very well, and showed his zeal for the Lord by casting
out idolatiy. But afterwards, when the animosity be-
tween the sister kingdoms had broken out more bitterly
than ever, he resorted to the fatal expedient of calling
in foreign help against his adversary. It was the
beginning of a gloomy end. He imprisoned the seer,
Hanaui, for rebuking him, and " oppressed some of the
people at the same time " (see 2 Chron. xvi. 7 — 10).
His growing worldliness was further shown by the
fact, that when seized with disease, "he sou^^ght not to
the Lord, but to the physicians." He died in B.C. 917,
and was honoured with a magnificent funeral (2 Chron.
xvi. 13, 14).
The accession of Jehoshaphat was welcomed with
bright hopes by the nation. They brought him presents,
and he had riches and honour in abundance (2 Chron.
xvii. 5, 6). And the hopes were not disappointed.
" He walked," we are told, " in the first ways of his
father "1 (xvii. 3). His influence grew and iucreased so
much that the fear of the Lord fell upon the kingdoms
aroimd ; none made war upon him, and the Philistines
and Arabians brought him tribute.
Two distinct features marked the early portion of the
reign. The first is the means which he set on foot for
the education of the peoiile. In the third year of his
reign he appointed five princes' to take the general
superintendence of the work, and established them in
the cities of Judah. And with them he sent Levites
and priests, who taking the book of the Law with them,
went about through the cities of Judali and taught the
people. It is, in fact, the first missionary effort on
1 Our version has "Lis father David ;" but such a phrase occurs
nowhere else, aud it is hard to make sense of it as thus apphed.
The LXX. and some Hebrew MSS. omit "David," which reading
is confirmed by internal evidence. There will be evident signi-
ficance in making a distinction between the first and last years 'f
Asa.
record. He had resumed his father's crusade against
idolatry, but ho had found, also, that there was need of
j something more than mere iconoclasm. We can easily
imagine the ignorant, practically heathen state in which
, the people lived. For the first time, instruction in tho
ways of God was brought to their homes. As old
Matthew Henry well wi-ites, " He dealt with them as
reasonable creatures, and wou.ld not lead them blindfold,
no, not into a reformation, but endeavoured to have
them well taught, knowing that that was the way to
have them weU cured." The organisation thus set on
foot was, in all probability, the beginning of the syna-
gogue system, which Ezra afterwards so fully extended
and completed.
His second step was to reorganise the military force.
He built castles aud storehouses in Judah ; increased
the means of communication and tratfic with the towns,
and garrisoned them ; aud he made Jerusalem a great
centre of military operations. Like David, he had his
heroes {gibborim), or mighty men, of which one Adnah
was commander. There were two other captains from
the tribe of Judah, aud two of Benjamin.
Meanwhile gTeat changes had taken place in the
kingdom of Israel. The alliance between Asa and
Benhadad had proved too much for Baasha, and in all
probability hastened his end. His son Elah, after a
reign of two years, had perished by the sword of
Zimri, and a time of dreadful anarchy followed, which
was brought to an end by Omri, who succeeded to tho
northern throne ten years before the accession of Jeho-
shaphat to that of Judah. Seven years later — that is,
therefore, three years before the accession of Jehosha-
phat— Ahab succeeded Omri, and a new policy began.
A close alliance was entered into between Jehoshaphat
and Ahab. It proved disastrous, but it might have
been most beneficial. Ahab was of a disposition which,
rightly directed, might have made him a blessing to his
j)eople. " The Scripture — which speaks of the cities
which he built, aud his ivory house, and his might,
and the wars which he warred — leaves the imj)ressiou
upon our minds that he was intellectually superior to
his predecessors, of a higher ambition, less narrow in
his notions. He had not the dread which Jeroboam
felt of intercourse with Jerusalem ; he cultivated the
friendship of Jehoshaphat" (Maurice's Prophets and
Kings, p. 125). Certainly, peace between two sister
kingdoms must be better than war. And there was
uo
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
nothing, thorofovc, in tbo alliance wliicli appcarod to
tlireaten tho peace of cither people. But Ahab formed
another alliance. He mai'ried Jezebel of Sidon, and at
once succnmbed to her stronger will. His first st<^p
•was to naturalise tho worship of her country ; and from
that day Baal worship was the established religion of
Israel, never to bo rooted out until tho ruthless hand
of Jehu destroyed it and tho Ahab dynasty together.
This made tho alliance dangerous, which otherwise
would have been wiso and politic ; for a man who touches
pitch will be defiled. But the danger was greatly in-
creased by the cordiality of the alliance, rcsidting in an
intermarriage. Jehoshaphat's heir, Jehoram, married
Ahab's daughter, Athahah. There is a Jewish tradition
tha^; when Ahab humbled himself for his sin (1 Kings
xxi. 27 — 29) and lay in sackcloth, he sent for Jehosha-
phat to adv-iso and exhort him, and even submitted to
hard stripes from his hand. This is most likely sheer
fable, but the penitence of Ahab was very probably
known to Jehoshaphat, and may have led to the visit of
Jehoshaphat to Samaria. It was the first ^-isit since
the disruption of Solomon's monarchy. To testify his
pleasure at so auspicious an occasion — as a man of the
world would Ijo sure to call it — Ahab prepared gi'eat
festivities to flatter and honour his guest. All was
splendour and liopefulness. The star of peace had
surely now returned (2 Chron. xviii. 2).
A practic<al result followed upon this interchange of
compliments. Ahab proposed an offensive alliance
against the king of Syria, and an attack on Ramoth-
gilead. Jehoshaphat's father had made alliance with
Syria against Israel; the son may have rejoiced in
thinking that he was following a better and more
enlightened course. Ho entered into it heartily. "I
am as thou art," he said; " my people as thy people,
my horses as tliy horses." But his overflowing
amiability did not overpower his piety towards God.
He would not go forth until counsel had been sought
at the mouth of the Lord. Then began a scene which
the Scripture depicts with marvellous dramatic power.
Four hundred false prophets, either worshippers of the
golden calves, or fresh importations by Jezebel of
Baalites, raised the cry, "Go up and prosper." Jeho-
shaphat was not satisfied. He would fain hear a
prophet of the Lord ; and Micaiali, the son of Imlah,
was remembered by Ahab, though he added, " I hate
him, for ho doth not prophesy good conceraing me, but
evil." It was he, according to Josephus, who had
denounced Ahab for letting Benhadad escape (1 Kings
XX. 35—43). Tho consultation with Micaiah added, in
Ahab's warped and self-Avilled judgment, a fresh in-
stance of Micaiah's ill-will to him, for the prophet
foretold, in solemn and impassioned words, what the
teiTible result of the expedition would be. It was an
e%'il spirit, he said, which had entered into his flatterers,
even the spirit of false prophecy. It Avould bring him
to his death, and all Israel would be scattered, as sheep
that have not a slicpherd. One of the false prophets,
Zcdekiali, thereupon .stnick Micaiah on the cheek, with
taimtiug words; tj which Josephus makes two curious
additions. He says that Zcdekiah taunted Micaiah
with contradicting Elijah, for whereas Micaiah was
foretelling the king's fall at Ramoth-gilead, Elijah
had said that the dogs should lick up his blood in
Naboth's vineyard. And Josephus adds, that when
Zedekiah struck Micaiah, he defied him thus : "To
shall soon know whether he be a true prophet, and hath
tho power of the Divine Spirit ; for I will smite him,
and let him then hurt my hand, as Iddo caused the
lixind of King Jeroboam to wither." The apparent
ti-iumph of tlie experiment, Josephus adds, jiut an end
to Aliab's hesitations, and even induced Jehoshaphat to
overcome his scruples.
Ahab, however, was ill at ease, and like the coward
which ho continually showed himself to be, he deter-
mined to save himself, at his friend's risk, from the ruin
which Micaiah had foretold. On pretence of giving up
the post of command to Jehoshaphat, he persuaded him
to assume his royal robes, while he disguised himseK as
a common soldier. Perhaps he hoped Jchosliaphat's
upi-ightuess would protect him. The ruse was nearly
proving fatal to Jchoshar>hat. The Syi'ian captains,
commissioned to fight only against Ahab, thought
that Jehoshaphat was he, and sui-rounded him. "But
Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him ; and
God moved them to depart from him " (2 Chron. xviii.
31). Meanwhile a chance arrow, shot, according to
tradition, from tho bow of Naaman, struck Ahab
between the joints of his armour, and wounded him in
the lung. He lingered until nightfall, and then died.
Jehoshaphat returned home in peace, but was met
with a stern rebuke from Jehu, the son of that Hanani
who had rebuked his father (2 Chron. xix. 2). Ho
seems to have laid the warning to heart,' and gave him-
self once more to the subject of internal reform. This
time it was judicial reform which he took in hand. Ho
appointed judges in each city of his kingdom, and con-
stituted a judicial court at Jei'usalem, for purposes,
apparently, of final appeal, in both ecclesiastical and
state matters (2 Chron. xix. 8). It consisted of priests,
Levites, and the " chief of the fathers of Israel." Over
tho ecclesiastical court he placed Amariah, the high
priest; over the secular, Zebadiah, the ruler of tho
house of Judah. The charge which he delivered on
this occasion is given in 2 Chron. xix., and there seems
to be a distinct reference to it in Ps. Ixxxii.
The alliance, however, with the kingdom of Israel
still had attractions for him, and he joined Ahab's son
Ahaziah, not in a warlike, but a commercial enterprise.
No harm, he might think, was likely to come of that; it
was merely a partnership for tho material good of tho
two peojiles. Where Solomon had built ships, namely,
at EzioH-geber (Suez), the two kings founded a fleet to
sail into tropical seas, and bring Indian riches home.
But again a prophetic voice was raised against the expe-
dition, and it came true, for the ships were broken to
pieces (2 Chron. xx. 3.5 — 37). Ahaziah jn-oposed a second
attempt, but Jehoshaphat refused (1 Kings xxii. 49).
1 JoseX'liTis adds tbat he performed expiatory sacvifices to Go'T,
JEHOSHAPHAT.
141
More glorious is the next passage iu Lis life. A vast
host of Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites formed a
confederacy against him ; and Jehoshaphat was startled
by the sudden news that they had appeared in the rich
gardens of En-gedi, west of the Dead Sea (2 Chron. xx.
2).' His first step, in contrast to the character of his
father Asa, was to seek the Lord's help, by proclaiming
a fast, and summoning a congregation to the Temple.
Tlie people assembled from all the cities, men, women,
and children (ver. 13), and Jehoshaphat led the worship.
His prayer, which is given at length, bases his hope
upon the petition uttered by Solomon, and declares that
he has no help to look for but God's. Upon tliis,
Jahaziel, aLe\-ite of the sous of Asaj)h, came — as Isaiah
afterwards to Hezekiah — with an assurance that his con-
fidence shall be rewarded. " Te-morrow," said he, "go
ye down against them : behold, they come up by the clilf
of Ziz ; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley,
before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to
fight in this battle." Ziz was a steep and difficult zigzag
path, cut in the face of the rock. It is the only pass from
En-gedi to Jerusalem, and is the route stiU taken by the
Ai'abs in their marauding expeditions (Dr. Robinson).
The assurance was implicitly believed, and the Levites
immediately poured forth a song of praise, as if the
victory were already won. The next morning, the whole
body of the people went forth as appointed, singers in
the van of the army, singing their hallelujahs.
How the sudden rout was accomplished we are not
clearly told. "The Lord," we are told, "set ambush-
ments " agaiust the enemy, which is interpreted that
the men whom the enemy had set in ambush agaiust
Judah, fell, by mistake or designedly, upon their own
allies, which led to mutual distrust throughout the
whole army, so that Ammonites and Moabites fell upon
Edomites, and afterwards on one another. The
tremendous overthrow is desci'ibed with \Tvdd power in
the sacred narrative, as well as in the Psalms which
belong to the period. Take, for example, the 83rd
Psalm, which by almost universal consent refers to this
event. It throws some fresh light on the history. It
begins by describing how the enemies of the Lord took
counsel against His "secret ones " (tliat is, those whom
He holds in the hollow of His hand), and resolved to
blot out the name of Israel altogether. It gives a list of
the confederates, more complete than that in the Chro-
nicles— Edom, Ishmael, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal,
Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyrians, and children
of Asshur. Two or three in this list caU for special
remark. The Hagarenes dwelt in the land of Gilead,
near, therefore, to Ammon. Gebal is probably the moun-
tain coimtry south of the Dead Sea. The PhUistiues
and the Tyrians, I need not say, were on the west of
Judah ; the rest on the east. Tkere is no mention of
the western invaders in the Chronicles. Their adhesion
to the coalition proves how mighty was the danger.
Jehoshaphat was literally surrounded by enemies. If
1 For "Syria" read "Edom" in this passage, am for Ci^J.
Hazazon-taraar is interpreted by Gesenius " tl'.e field of tlie
pastures."
by Asshur is meant Assyria, as is generally the case,
it is the first mention since the days of Nimrod (Gen.
X. 11). Tho Assyrian monarchy was now an infant
power, and this may be its first appearance on tho
scene where it afterwards pkyed so formidable a
part ; or the word may mean here Syria, in which case
wo may assume that the confederacy, as far as Syria
was concerned, was in retaliation for the helii which
Jehoshaphat had given Ahab. The expression "thej'-
have holijen the children of Lot," is explained by the
statement in Chronicles, that the latter had organised
the confederacy.
The 48th Psabn, again, gives a splendid description
of the overthrow. One illustration, in the rush of the
poetic fervour, is taken from a painful experience of the
king. " Fear came there upon them, and pain, as of a
woman in travail, and as thou breakest tho ships of
Tarshish with the east wind." The deliverance was to
him an assurance of what he had always been taught to
believe, " That which we have heard [in the history of
past times], such have we seen" (cf. Job xlii. 5). Tho
47th Psalni belongs to the same happy period.
The valley where this mighty invasion was crushed
and destroyed, and where the Jews were three days
busily engaged coUectiug the spoils, was ca,Ued " the
Valley of Berachah " [i.e., Blessing], " because there
they blessed the Lord." The prophet Joel speaks of
"the valley of Jehoshaphat" (chap. iii. 2), and this is
the name now given to the valley of the Kedron. The
explanation is probably this : there is a paronomasia on
the word " Jehoshaphat," which means, " whose cause
the Lord judgeth;" and the proj)het, foretelling the
overthrow of the nations which oppress Israel, exclaims,
" Gather them together into the valley of Kedron ; it
shall become for them like the valley in which Ammon
and Moab fell before Jehoshaphat, for here I will
judge my people's cause." Here, be it remembered,
was Gethsemane, whence our Lord was di-agged to the
house of Caiaphas, hard by. He summons, in vision, the
nations to witness His sorrow, and judges them by His
pierced hands. Wherever Christ crucified is preached,
that place becomes to the hearer a valley of Jehoshaphat.
The exjiression " valley of decision " in verse 14 is
doubtless an equivalent to this, but "decision" should
be translated " hewing in pieces," which makes the
simile closer between the judgment of the children of
Lot and the final judgment of all the enemies of God.
Ih tho last act which is recorded in Jehoshaj)hat's
life, we have stUl another sign of the close alliance
between the two kingdoms, and it is one in which, as
each time before, Jehoshaphat is brought into straits,
but is delivered for his faitlifulness' sake. And the
impression left by this last story is, that though it cost
him trouble and anxiety, yet it made him an instrument
of deliverance and of good to his ally.^ Jehoram, the
son of Ahab, was to a certain extent a religious reformer,
though he is described as having wrought evil in the
2 The fact of bis having the same name ns his brother-in-law,
the son of Jehoshaphat, is another indication of community of
feeling.
142
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
siglit of tlio Lord (see 2 Kiugs iii. 1 — 3j. He may
have beeu iuflucuced for good by Jeliosliapbat. His
accession (b.c. 896) was the signal for the revolt of
the king of Moab, who had beeu tributary to Ahab.
Jehoram aj)plied to Jehoshaphat for assistance, aud it
was reailily given. Tho kiug of Edoui also joined the
confederacy. The allies passed southward round the
Dead Sea, in order to attack the rebellious kiug from an
unexpected quarter. Elisha the proi)hct, apparently
in consequence of a Dinno intimation, accompanied the
ai-my, unknown to the allied kiugs. Au unforeseen
calamity fell upon them ; they journeyed seven days
through the wilderness of Edom, and found no Avater.
The kiug of Israel, as his manner was (cf. \i. 33), found
no resource but to complain against God, while Jeho-
shaphat immediately inquired for a prophet of the
Lord. Then came tho remarkable scene with Elisha;
the stern rebuke of the sou of Jezebel; the mercy shown
for Jehoshaphat's sake; the minstrel, under whose
skilful hand the prophet grew calm, and ready for the
prophetic imj)ulse ; the trenches dug in the sand ; the
night of waiting ; the fulfilled hopes when the morning
dawned ; the delusion of the Moabites, followed by their
utter discomfiture. Kir-haraseth, the strong mountain-
fortress of Moab, was levelled with the ground. A
ghastly tragedy followed. The king of Moab, hemmed
in on aU sides, made one desperate effort to break
through tho besieging host. This failing, in the frenzy
of despair, he took his eldest son, and sacrificed him
before them all.' A shudder of indignation ran through
the besiegers, and in very pity they turned away from
him aud went home.
These are the records which remain of the life of
Jehoshaphat. He died in the year 892, at tho age of
sixty. One warning moral of his life has beeu drawn
with much power by Dr. J. A. Hessey. In his lectiu-es
on the Kiugs of Judah, he heads that on Jehoshaphat
with the words " The Dangers of Indecision." But
the dangers, great as they were, were all surmounted.
The intermarriage alone proved disastrous. Athaliah,
true daughter of her mother Jezebel, is like a blood-
stained thread in the woof of Jewish history, until
Jehoiada's revolution puts her out of the way. But on
the whole Jehoshaphat's policy, at home and abroad,
was glorious aud happy. There had been no reign, on
the whole, so prosperous as his, and in external j)ros- '
perity his kingdom " most nearly rivalled the grandeur
of that of Da-\dd."
1 This seems clearly the uieauiug of the words of 2 Kiugs iii. 27 ;
aud the facts ai'e so stated at leugth by Josephus. Some, however,
suppose that the kiug of Moab offered the kiug of Edom's sou,
restiug that opiuiou maiuly upou Amos ii. 1 ; but an uncertain
tradition pi-eserved by Jerome explains the latter passage by stating
that the kiug of Moab, iu revenge of what he had suffered, sacri-
legiously disinterred the body of the kiug of Edom after his death,
aud burned it into lime.
ETHNOLOOY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE .—(3) EACES IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL, FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM LEE, D.D., ROXBURGH.
it is true, gradually followed. Nor was there only
the return of fresh detachments from among the
captives beyond the Euphrates, but doubtless a con-
tinuous re-migration from among the scattered bodies of
those Hebrews who, having left the country voluntarily
in the troublous times which preceded tho final catas-
trophe, had taken refuge iu such asylums as were
accessible to them in the territories of neighbouring
peoples. Even, however, at the time of tho expedition
of Nehemiah (b.c. 445), nearly a hundred years after
the date of the edict of Cyrus (B.C. 536)., though fifteen
considerable towns (including Hebron) in the tribe-lands
of Judah, aud fourteen considerable towns iu Benjamin,
with their adjacent villages, were found again colonised
by Israelites (Neh. xi. 20—36), the laud generally
seems, as regarded its population, to have remained,
very much in the same state as during tho Captivity.
It is impossible here to trace (he history of the pro-
cesses by which the calamities brought on Israel by that
judgment were eventually repaired. Indeed, of about
200 years — the very years, too, when some of the most
important events connected with that repair must have
taken place — our knowledge is extremely meagre aud
uncertain. For such information as wo possess on the
subject generally, the reader may be referred to the
§ (5). — TIME OF OUR LORD.
tN" bringing these papers on the Ethnology
of Palestine to a close, by some account
of the races found in that country at the
commencement of the Christian era, our
space (already as far as this subject is concerned all
but exhausted) will not permit us to enter into many
details.
At tho time of the Captivity, wo found the Holy
Land in many places utterly desolate ; and as far as it
was inhabited at all, occupied chiefly by a mixed foreign
population of Phcjeuicians, Syrians, Idumeans, Cutheaus,
aud other alien races, with but a residuum of its fomner
Hebrew possessors — a residuum the extent of which
cannot be exactly calculated, but which must at most
have been very small. Nor was it otherwise than
slowly and by degrees that the edict of Cyrus, which
permitted the return of tho exiled Jews to their own
land, effected any change on these conditions. The
poi'mission originally applied, as alreadj^ noticed, only
to Jerusalem and its immediate AMcinity; and the
whole number of persons who, at least on its first
publication, were willing to take advantage of it, was
42,360, or, including the sei'vants iu attendance, under
50,000 (Ezra ii. 64). Others of tho Babylonian exiles,
ETHNOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
I'iS
articles entitled " Between the Books," in i^receding
pages of the present work. It is enough to say that
by the time of the advent of Christ, Palestine, if not
under exactly the same conditions as before the terrible
conwdsious it had imdergone, was once more in the
possession of the Chosen Seed, with a population hardly
less numerous than that which crowded its narrow
confines in the most prosperous days of its earlier
history.
That population certainly iacluded now, as in all
former times, a considerable proportion of foreigners.
The latter were of many different races. With some
of these we have been akeady familiar in the ethnical
history of Palestine at periods before noticed. An
obvious example is found in the " Samaritans." How
far the Cutheau settlers in Samaria of the times of the
Captivity had, by intermarriage, established in course
of ages a right to the claim which they sometimes made
to the possession of Israelite blood in their veins, is
a question that has been much debated. That upon
the whole the Samaritans of the days of Christ must
be regarded as not only "strangers" (Luke xra. 18),
but lineal descendants of " the strangers " introduced
into " the cities of Samaria," soon after their conquest,
by Shalmaueser, cannot be doubted. Then, Syrians,
Arabians, Phoenicians, and Idumeans also continued
to form part of the foreign inhabitants of the Holy
Land (Strabo, Geogr. xvi. 2, § 34; ; Josej)hus, B. J.
iv. 4, § 5). But fresh blood had likewise been intro-
duced. More than 500 years had elapsed siuce the
Return; and the new masters who had overrun the
land, or temporarily occupied it, in succession, could not
have failed to import new elements into its permanent
population. We have, especially, distinct evidence that
such a result had followed the Grecian rule. Many
Palestinian cities had been originally founded and
colonised by the Greeks in t-he times of Alexander the
Great and his successors. G^erasa, for instance, is said
(see Reland, Pakest. ii. 806) to have derived its name
from the fact that it was originally peopled by a
number of the older soldiers of Alexander's army, who
being unfit any longer to follow the camp, fixed their
residence in tliis trans -Jordanic city. Paneas — after-
wards called by King Herod Csesarea-PhUippi — dates
from the same period, and in like manner owed its
foundation to the Greeks, who, indeed, left traces
throughout the whole of Palestine, of a dominion
which lasted nearly three centuries, in the Greek names
of cities, places, and streams, which they had almost
everywhere substituted for those previously in use
(Ewald, Hist. Y. 23p). That in the time of Christ a
considerable proportion of the Gentile population to
be found in Palestine contiaued to be of Greek origia,
the vn-itings of Josephus everywhere bear abundant
evidence. Another important element, likewise intro-
duced since the time of the Capti-^dty, and indeed iu the
days of Christ, of comparatively recent introduction,
was due to the Roman conquest, and the reduction of
Palestine to the position of a pro\'ince of Rome.
Foreigners were not by any means to be found at
this time distributed equally over all parts of the land.
The principal seats of the heathen population may bo
very clearly ascertained from contemporaiy writings.
Galilee, the jjlain of Jericho, and Samaria, are said
by Strabo to have been territories inhabited by non-
Israelites [Geogr. xvi. 2, §3i). In addition to these
territories must be mentioned the region of Decapolis.
This district, the limits of which are variously stated,
and which was partly situated on the west, but for the
most part on the east of Jordan, had everywhere
(Lightfoot, X. 240) a population in which the heathen
predominated.
Of the cities which, in the time of our Lord, contained
the largest proportion of foreign inhabitants, Csesarea
demands to be first noticed. That city was the head-
quarters of the Roman garrison ; and the foreign troops
stationed there, which amounted to almost a legion, or
6,000 men (Ewald), consisting partly of Italian (Acts x.
1 ; xxvii. 1), but at least invariably of non- Israelite
cohorts (Jos., Ant. xiv. 10, § 12), did not by any means
constitute the chief part of its heathen inhabitants.
As the seat of government, and the usual residence of
the governor, very many foreigners of all classes, in
ever-iucreasing numbers, were naturally led to take up
their residence withLu its walls, and in the neighbouring
villages, or country houses. Like the earlier town on
the same site which it superseded, and which in its
Greek name, Stratonis Pyrgos, bore testimony to its
foreign origin, Csesarea, indeed, had been more a GentUe
than a Jewish city from its foundation. Herod the
Great, by whom Caesarea was founded, and constructed
on a scale of magnificence before unknown in Palestine,
colonised it from the first chiefly with foreigners (see
Milman, ii. 112), of whom, according to Josephus {B.J.
iii. 9, § 1), Greeks formed the largest proportion.
Another city remarkable now, as always, for the
number of its foreign inhabitants, was the ancient
Beth-shean, situated about twelve miles south of the Sea
of Galilee, and four miles west of the Jordan. It was
one of the Canaanite cities from which the primitive
inhabitants were not wholly expelled at the period of
the Conquest (Judg. i. 27). For a time it bore the
name of Scythopolis (2 Mace. xii. 29 ; comp. with 1 Mace.
V. 52; Jos., Ant. v. 1, §22; vi. 14, § 8; xii. 8, § 5;
Euseb., Onom. 118), a Greek name which indicates the
presence there at one period of a Greek loopulation, but
also apparently points to an earlier occupation by races
distinct at once from the Greeks and the Canaanites.
Though the fact is disputed (Reland, Palcest. ii. 992 ;
Robinson, Bes. iii. 330), it appears upon the whole to
be probable (Ewald, iv. 231) that the Scythians, who,
according to Herodotus {Hist. v. 103 — 105), made an
incursion through Palestine into Egypt about the year
B.C. 600, had, as Pliny (v. 16) and a chronicler of the
eighth century after Christ (G. Syncellus, Chron. i. 505)
relate, taken possession of Beth-shean, and given occa-
sion to the subsequent choice of its Greek name. That
Beth-shean, which was still in the time of Eusebius a
noble city — a fact to which even its existing ruins testify
(Irby and Mangles, 92 ; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria,
lU
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
343) — had, about tho time of Christ, a largo foreigu
populatiou, we have satisfactory evidence (Jos., B. J.,
ii. 18, § 3 ; cf. Lightfoot, Works, x. 240).
We have unusually full information as to Tiberias.
Tiberias was the capital of the tetrarcliy of Galilee, and
one of the greatest cities of Palestine. It had been
built by Herod Autipas, after tho birth of our Lord,
and was situated within a few miles of the principal
scenes of the Saviour's ministry, though we have no
reason to believe that it was ever visited by Him.
Josephus speaks expressly of its "Greek" inhabitants
{Vita, § 12). Herod himself had passed most of his
early life abroad, and though by religious profession a
Jew, was a foreigner by descent, and all his sympathies
were with foreign manners and customs. His gorgeous
palace, with its gilded roof and walls adorned with
idolatrous sculptures, was destroyed in the Jewisli war
as offensi\-e to the religious feelings of the nation ; but
the fact that the city was ceremonially unclean, as being
built an the site of a place of sepulture (Jos., Vita, § 12;
Keland, Pal. ii. 1,036), must always have limited the
numbers of its Jewish inhabitants.
Other foreign or semi-foreign towns in Palestine, at
this time, were Hippo, " replenished with Greeks, but
with not a few Jews mixed with them " (Lightfoot, x.
242) ; Cgesarea-Philippi (Reland, ii. 918), with its grotto,
•dedicated to the god Pan, remains of which exist to this
(lay (Robinson, Res. iii. 347) ; Pella (Jos., Ant. xiii. 15,
§ 4) ; and Gadara (Lightfoot, x. 241).
Some of the cities just named were indeed so truly
foreign cities, that — though within Jewish territory —
they were exempt from the regulations of the Jewish
code, and, as regarded local jurisdiction, subjected to
laws of their own {Wmer, Bealwurt., s. v. "Decapolis").
In most of them were found heathen temples, as well
as other buildings — theatres and hippodromes — devoted
to uses abhorrent to the spirit of the Jewish religion,
and to the prevailing religious feelings of the Jews of
that age. From the Mischna {Aboda Zara, c. 1., Ml^ch.
2V.) we learn incidentally that, in some of them, as in
Beth-shean, many of the shops were distinguished by
idolatrous emblems which enabled the scrupulous Jew
to detect and avoid the Gentile purveyors with whom
it was unlawful for him to deal.
As to the native population of Palestine at this period
not mucli need be said.
That Jews formed the great biilk of tho inhabitants
is everywhere evident. From the number of victims
offered at the passover A. U. 819, Josephus {B. J. vi.
9, § 3) reckons that the worshippers who took part in
that last celebration of the greatest of the Je\vish
festivals must have numbered 2,700,000, which it has
lieen shown (Grcswell, Dissert, ii. 272) will, after every
allowance is made for the probable number of Jews of
the Dispersion among these wor.sliippers, imply that the
strictlj- Jewish population of the Holy Land was then
not less than C.000,000.
Nor were the Jews iu Palestine of that day of less
purely Hebrew blood than iu any former times. For a
moment, in the first century after the Return, there
appears to have been ground for apprehension that by
the intermarriage of tho restored people with the mixed
foreign races who as yet disputed the possession of the
land with them, the holy seed would cease to exist as a
distinct race (Ezra ix.). But the immediate danger was
averted by the stringent measures taken by Ezra and
Nehemiah (Ezra x. 9 ; Neh. xiii. 23) ; and if the tempta-
tion to a like departure from the principles of the
Mosaic law was never afterwards removed, but became
one to which the people were more and more exposed,
as time went on, by the ever-iucreasiug intimacy of
their relations with neighbouring nations, tho new zeal
for a sti'ict observance, of the letter at least, of their own
laws, which from about this time began to take posses-
sion of their minds, together with the indiscriminating
hatred for alien races and customs, which began to sup-
plant their earlier proneness to the opposite extreme —
the result, probably, of greater intimacy with their
neighbours, and especially of the wrongs which they had
suffered from them — proved a permanent safeguard iu
the future. A horror of foreign marriages became, in-
deed, a leading characteristic of the nation (Jos., Ant. xi.
8, § 2 ; xii. 4, § 6 ; Tacitus, Hist. v. 6). Every means are
known to have been used to maintain the integrity of
the Chosen Race. The importance attached to the point
is evident from the care with which the genealogies of
the different families were preserved from the time of
the return from Babylon down to the issue of the
decree of Augustus for the census which brought
Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem at the time of the
Nativity (1 Chrou. ix.; Neh. vii. 5; xii.; 1 Mace. ii. 1;
viii. 17; xiv. 29; Luke ii, 3), and later. Josephus takes
care to mention that he had transcribed the account
of his own family from tho public tables {Vita, § 1;
Contra Ap. i. 7).
The most remarkable difference in the ethnic con-
dition of the population of Palestine, at this period as
compared with earlier periods, was probably found in
tho change which had taken place iu the national
character of the Jews themselves. For a A-iew of the
extent and the nature, as well as the causes of this
change, the reader must be referred to works like those
of Jost, Milman, and Ewald. Let it suffice to say that
there was at once deterioration and improvement. The
change, however, whether for good or evil, was, after
all, little more than superficial. No people, perhaps,
ever preserved its individuality more thoroughly from
first to last than that marvellous people which for 2,000
years was so intimately associated with tho Holy Land.
The ethnology of Palestine even in those periods
which followed not only the time of our Lord, but the
date of the latest of tho canonical books, is not without
at least indirect interest for tho Biblical student, espe-
cially in connection with the fulfilment of prophecy.
But to pursue our inquiries into the periods in question
Avould be beyond the purpose of the present papers.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
145
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE KEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., RECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
AMPHIBIA.
•HE Amphibia, cold-blooded vertebrates,
pro\'ided, either temporarily or perma-
nently, with giUs for aquatic respiration as
_ _ well as lungs for aerial respiration, do not
appear to be abundantly represented in Palestine, the
croakers," but Gesenius interprets it " marsh-leapers."
Either derivation aj)tly describes the frog ; but it must
be mentioned that Egyptian scholars claim the word as
a purely local name adopted by the Arabs in Egypt.
" The radicals of which it is composed occur in a modi-
fied form in the Egyptian for 'tadpole,' hefennu, or
THE TREE-FROG.
edible frog {Rana esculenta), the tree-frog {Hyla
arborea), one species of toad {Bufo pantherinus), being
the only recorded inhabitants. The edible frog is very
common both in Egypt and the Holy Land, and so
amazingly numerous in some of the lakes and pools of
the latter country as "to cover the surface towards
evening in one solid, unbroken mass." Its loud croak-
ing at night is said to be jierfectly deafening. Frogs
are mentioned in the Old Testament only in connection
with the account of the second plague of Egypt (Exod.
viii. and Ps. Ixxviii. 45 ; cv. 30) ; compare also in the
Apocrypha, "Wisdom xix. 10. In the New Testament
frogs are mentioned only in Rev. xvi. 13, " I saw three
Tinclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out
•of the mouth of the false proi)het." The Hebrew
word tsejpliarde'a means, according to Fiirst, "marsh-
82 — VOL. iv.
hefenr, which Brugsch renders ' tadpoles,' giving as
the Arabic equivalent walad dofda, the young dofda "
(Canon Cook in Speaker's Commentary, vol. i., p. 489).
Bochart has adduced instances of plagues of frogs
having occurred in several places, as at Pseonia and
Dardania, where these creatures suddenly appeared in
such numbers as to cause the inhabitants to leave the
district. The Egyi^tian plague of frogs, like the other
plagues, had probably a direct bearing on Egyptian
superstitions. "A female deity with a frog's head,
named Hcka, was worshipped in the district of Sah
{i.e., Benihassan), as the wife of Chnum, the god of the
cataracts, or of the inundation, and Lepsius has shown
that the frog was connected with the most ancient forms
of nature-worship in Egypt. According to Chasreraon,
the frog was regarded as a symbol of regeneration"
(Canon Cook in Speaker's Commentary, p. 279).
146
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The greeu and elegant little ti*ee-frog {Hyla arborea)
may bo often seen sitting on a leaf »f a tree both iu
Egypt and Palestine ; its food consists of flies. In
specimen in the possession of a friend of ours is con-
tent with one blue-bottle in three days. The toad {Bufo
pantherinus) is a southern form. Tristram saya it is
confinoment these tree-frogs eat very sparingly. A i common in all parts of the country
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN.
BY THE EDITOR.
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN.
'he position of this Ejiistle iu the Canon
of the -Now Testament is every w^ay re-
markable. The writer does not mention
his own name, nor give any intimation,
direct or indirect, to whom the letter is addressed. On
the other hand, there is hardly any epistle for the
existence of wliich, in the apostolic age, we have more
abundant testimony. Polycarp reproduces the teach-
ing of 1 John iv. 3, " Whosoever doth not confess that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is an antichrist; " and
Polycai-p was, according to the early traditions of the
Church, a disciple of St. John. So was Papias, and
he, we learn at second-hand from Eusebius, quoted it
frequently. Irenasus, who, though writing in Gaul,
belonged to the succession of the Asiatic chux-ches, uses
it largely in his controversial -wi-itings. By Clement
in Alexandria, by Tertullian and Cyprian in Western
Africa, in the earliest extant Canon (known as the Mura-
torian Fragment), in the earliest version of the New
Testament, the Peschito Syriac, its authority is recog-
nised. Writers who questioned the authorship of the
Apocalypse did so on the ground that its stylo was so
different from that of the Epistle, which they looked on
as unquestionably St. John's. We may fairly say that
we have no ground, but the most arbitrary assumptions,
for not so receiving it.
The bearing of tliis fact on the controversies which
have been raised as to the authorship of the fourth
Gospel is obvious enough. Those controversies are
dealt with elsewhere. Here it will be sufficient to
draw attention to the fact that the strong resemblance
between that Gospel and the Epistle now before us, in
thought, style, phraseology, so that the one is often but
the echo of the other, is at least primd facie e\adenco of
identity of origin. Wlicther we adopt the tlieory that
the writer coloured with his own thoughts and language
his report of a teaching higher than his own, or that
his mind was so penetrated with that teaching that
ho spontaneously re2)roduced it, the close relationship
between the two documents will liardly bo called in
question by one who has any critical facuKy capable
of appreciating the elements of likeness or unlikeness
which take their place among the mternal evidence of
the authorship of books.
With St. John as with St. Peter, we have to fill
up the scanty records of the New Testament from
traditions more or less uncertain. The Gospels tell us
of the fiery zealot, first the disciple of the Baptist,
afterwards of Christ, receiving a descriptive name, as
one of the " Sons of Thunder," twice rebuked for
his biu'ning and impetuous zeal, once for his aspiring
ambition, and yet, iu spite of that fervour, or, it may
be, because of it, emphatically "the disciple whom
Jesus loved," to whom He committed the care of His
mother, when she stood weeping by the cross. From
the " hired servants " of his father Zebedec, from his
being known to the high priest, from the indications
of a special intimacy with Lazarus and his sisters, we
may infer a social position somewhat higher than that
of the other Galilean disciples ; a culture also higher ;
a greater receptivity for the special aspects of the
truths which were presented by our Lord when He
was teaching, not the peasants and fishermen of Galilee,
but those who were " masters in Israel," in Jerusalem.
After the Ascension, we find liim in companionship, as
before, with St. Peter. He is at Jerusalem when St.
Paul is received and recognised there in his character
as the Apostle of the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 9). The
si^ecial trust committed to him probably kept him
in Palestine till the Yirgin's death. The date of that
event is purely conjectural, but the absence of any
mention of an apostle at Jerusalem at the time of St.
Paul's last visit there, makes it all l)ut certain that ho
had left it before that date. A tradition so early and
so widely spread that it can hardly bo questioned,
connects his later years with the Asiatic churches that
were founded by St. Paul. There, after the departure
of tJiat Apostle, perhaps in the same i)ersecutiou in
which he and St. Peter suffered, he was in " the isle that
is called Patmos," as a sufferer for the faith (Rev. i. 9),
Thence he returned to Ephesus, and remained there
till his death, guarding the Church against the rising
heresies that denied the reality either of the divinity or
humanity of his Lord, shrinking even from chance
contact with false teachers, unwearied in his watcliful
care over the souls of individual disciples,^ living on to
such extreme old age that men thought that his Lord's
mysterious words (John xxi. 23) meant that he should
have an earthly immortality; and then, when his strength
failed him, carried into the congi-egations of believers,
1 I refer to the two stories, (1) that St. John rushed out of a
public bath in which he found himself together with Ceriuthus ;
and (2) that hearing that a joudsj convert whom he had baptised
had joined a band of robbers, ho went after him, allowed him-
self to be taken prisoner, and finally re- converted him.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN.
147
and uttering', as.liis last counsel, the words, "Littlo
children, love one another."
With this brief outline of what is known as to the
writer, we proceed to the Einstle. It contains, as has
been said, no direct statement for what readers it was
intended, and the only traditional statement on the sub-
ject mentioned by Augustine, that it was sent to the
Parthians, is at once too late, too confused, and too im-
probable to be received. On the other hand, the tone
of the writer, in its warm affection, the oft-recurring
"little children," the classification of those to whom
he writes into groups with whose stages of spiritual
growth he is well acquainted (ii. 12 — I-i), his reference
to false teachers as one who knew their previous history
and character (ii. 19), all point to a close personal rela-
tion, and we can hardly err in believing that the Epistle
was addressed to the Asiatic churches, of which Ephesus
was the centre, and -with which tradition, both local and
general, connected the later years of St. John. So we
can account for the impression made by it on Polycarp,
and Papias, and IrenBeus ; so wo can best explain the
character of the heresies which it combats, as being the
after-growth of those germs of ei-ror of which St. Paul
had warned the elders of Ephesus (Acts xx. 30), which
he had more formally denounced in the Pastoral Epistles,
and of which we have foixnd traces in those of St. Peter
and St. Jude. As the gi-eat truth of the Gospel, the
"mystery of godliness,"' was that Christ, the Son of God.
had been manifested iu the flesh (1 Tim. iii. 16), so the
note of heresy was its denial of that truth (1 John iv. 3).
This was the spirit of antichrist, and those who pro-
claimed it were themselves apostates and forerunners
of the great apostacy (1 Jolm ii. 18). The teachers of
falsehood, it would seem, came not merely as reasoners
and disputants, but simulated the very forms of inspi-
ration, which were meant to give sanction to the truth ;
and therefore it was necessary at Ephesus, as it had
been at Thessalonica and Corinth, that men should
"prove all things," should " try the spirits whether they
were of God " (1 John iv. 1) ; and the unfailing criterion
which was to distinguish the true prophet from the
false, was his adherence to the confession of faith in
the great fact of the Incarnation, just as St. Paul had
made it the note of a true prophetic utterance, that he
who spake by the Holy Ghost should declare that Jesus
was the Lord (1 Cor. xii. 3).
So far, then, as the Epistle of the beloved disciple was
controversial, it maintained the same truths as those of
St. Paul and St. Peter, and against kindred, if not
identical, forms of error. But there were also, as might
be expected, features that were specially characteristic.
As Faith was the watchword of St. Paul, and Hope of
St. Peter, so wo cannot fail to recognise that Love was
that of St. John. And this, while it had its ground in
the point of view from which he looked on the whole
mystery of the faith, was also strengthened by all the
personal memories of the early days of his discipleship.
He had seen with his eyes, and handled with his
hands, that Word of Life about which men were wrang-
ling and disputing (i. 1). He had felt the reality of
that tender and compassionate love ; had seen the water
and the blood flow from the pierced side (v. 6) ; and
felt that that ineffable sacrificial act was indeed the
propitiation for his sins and those of the whole world,
cleansing from all sin (i. 7 ; ii. 2). He had known the
power of the miction of the Holy One, which came with
the Pentecostal gift, and had tasted that eternal life
which was not merely the blessedness of a far distant
future, but consisted in knowing God, and Jesus Christ
whom He had sent (John xvii. 2). When he had leant
upon His breast in the fiUness of his early devotion, he
had learnt the lesson wliich the experience of his after
life did but deepen and intensify ; felt that if he asked
anything according to His will. He would hear him;
that there was, as it were, an interchange and reciprocity
of life between the Master and the disciple. The words,
" God dwelleth in him, and he in Him," '• We are in Him
that is true," were but the expression of that conscious-
ness of a life hid with Christ in God, which every year
made more real and precious. In that consciousness, in
the faith on which it rested, was the only safeguard
against the sensuous and corrupt thoughts of God which
had led the heathen world astray. The danger of
idolatry was not yet past. It might reappear at any
time, in new forms or old, whenever the central truth
was forgotten or denied, and therefore the last word of
warning (strange as it may seem to us that those to
whom he wrote should have needed it) was, " Little
children, keep yourselves from idols " (v. 21).
For a discussion of the memorable passage that speaks
of the " three that bear record in heaven " (v. 7), and of
the " sin unto death," I refer to the notes by Mr.
Spence that have appeared in The Bible Educator
(Yol. II., pp. 116, 333).
THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN.
The two remaining Epistles stand so nearly on the
same footing, and have so much iu common, that they
may conveniently be dealt with together. Their chief
interest lies in their being private letters, examples
all but unique (St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon is the
only other document of the kind in the New Testa-
ment) of the " correspondence " of the Apostolic Church,
of the familiar intercoui'se between an apostle and his
friends in Christ. It was, doubtless, because they tvere
private letters, and therefore not read at the time in
the gatherings of church members, that they were less
known than the first Epistle — were omitted in at least
one early version (the Peschito Syriac), and classed by
some writers as of doubtful authority. The special
designation by which the writer speaks of himself, not
as an apostle, but as "the elder," may also, in part,
accovint for some of the doubts which were felt as to
its authorship, and actually gave rise to a notion that
there was in the church at Ephesus a John the Pres-
byter, or elder, as distinct from the Apostle. It is
clear, however, that, so far as internal e^adence goes,
the two private Epistles are stamped with the same
character, reproduce the same words and phrases, as
those which we have found in the more pubhc document.
118
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The '-tUH-eivers and auticlirists " who confess not that '
Jesus Christ is como iu the flesh (2 John 7), the joy ,
of the writer that his chiklren walk in the truth (3 John
4\ the commandment which we had from the begin- ;
niuf?, that we should love one another — all these point
to the same mind as uttering itself in the three Epistles,
and to that as being the same, also, as that which per-
vades the fourth Gospel. Even the touch of dissatis-
faction with writing as an instrument of conveying
thoughts, the deep consciousness that "pen and ink"
are poor substitutes for the interchange of thought and '
feeling between living men, is, I venture to think, a
note of the identity of the man who thus expresses
himself with the wTiter who, when he had finished his
task of recording what the Spirit brought especially to '
his remembrance, was constrained to confess that if the
things which Jesus had done and taught wore to be '
written every one, he supposed the world would not ,
contam the books that should be written (John xxi. 25). j
It remains to say a few words as to those to whom
the Epistles were addressed. The words translated
'• elect lady " {K7jria EkJeda) may be both, either, or
neither of them treated as proper names. Both are
found in Christian inscriptions of comparatively early
date. Looking to the fact that ekleda is used of the
sister of the person addressed in 2 John 13, and to the
improbability of two sisters having the same name, I am
disposed to take " the elect Kyria " as the most probable
rendering. "We learn from the Epistle itself that she
had both the means and disposition to exercise hospi-
tality towards Christian travellers ; that this had made
her name well known among the whole body of believers
of the district ; that there was some risk that her hos-
pitality might be too indiscriminate ; that she might
receivetand foster some who were at once persecutors
of the faith, and, like most of the heretics of that age,
conspicuous for their evil deeds, impure and profligate
in their lives. The presence of one such teacher might
be enoTigh to contaminate the children who were dear to
the mother's heart, and of whom the Apostle rejoiced
to hear that they were walking in the truth. The
Epistle brings before us, iu this way, a picture of that
brighter side of the life of the apostolic age, in which
women like Phoebe, Dorcas, Lydia, Euodias, Syntyche,
and others like them, devout and honourable, exercised
a wide influence for good, meeting the special wants
of the new society, presenting a purer ideal of woman-
hood than the heathen world had known.
We cannot with certainty identify the Gains or Caius
to whom the third Epistle was addressed. The name
was one of the most common wherever the Romans had
found their way, and two, one at Derbo (Acts xix. 29 ;
XX. 4), and one at Corinth (1 Cor. i. 14 ; Rom. xvi. 23),
appear among the converts of St. Paul. The fact that
the latter is named as the " host " of St. Paul himself,
and of " the whole church," is sufficiently in harmony
with the praise bestowed on the Gains of the third
Epistle, as showing kindness to " the brethren and to
strangers," to suggest the probability that one and tho
same man is spoken of in both. And on this assump-
tion we may be led to infer that the state tf things
which the Epistle brings before us Ijelongs to tho church
of Corinth ; that Gains continued to exercise his hospi-
tality there ; and that as, during the time of St. Paul's
ministry, so also afterwards, there was frequent inter-
course between tho church of Corinth and that of
Ephesus. The tone of the Epistle is obviously that of
one who is writing to another church than that with
which he is himseK most directly in contact. Ho has
written; he may come; if he comes, he will do this
or that.
On this view the Epistle forms an interesting
link between St. Paul's Epistles to the church of
Corinth and those of Clement of Rome to tlie same
society. We recognise in all three documents the same
features. Diotrephes, who "loveth to have the pre-
eminence" and "prateth with malicious words," is the
natural successor of those " very chief apostles," as St.
Paul ironically calls them, who disturbed tho church
with whisperings and backbitiugs, with railings, and
even with smitings on the face — is, perhaps, identical
with the imnamed fomenter of strife and bitterness,
of whom Clement speaks so strongly. The enemies of
the one apostle were likely to be equally hostile to tho
other, whose teaching, however it might differ in form,
they found to be essentially the same. It may bo noted,
lastly, that those who represented the faith of the two
Apostles, and who had profited by the generosity of
Gains, acted, as they might well do if they were working
in the self- same city, on the same rule of life as St. Paul
had laid down for himself. They, too, went forth to
their work out of pure love to the name of Christ.
" taking nothing of the Gentiles." Admitting that all
such hypotheses are more or less uncertain, that which
has Ijeen thus set forth seems to me to have strong
I claims on our acceptance.
BIBLE WORDS.
BY THE KEV. EDMUND VEK4.BLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
OLL {subsD, the head, used chiefly in
numeration, as when we .speak of "polling
a constituency," i.e., taking its nmubers.
A "poll-tax," otherwise a " capitation tax,"
tax on individuals counted V>y heads. It is so
used in the A. V. : Numb. i. 2, 18, 20, 22 (the census
of the Israelites), " Every male by their 2^oUs ; " and
1 Chron. xxiii. 3, 24 (David's census of the Levites\
" Their number by their polls, man by man ; " Numb. iii.
47, " Five shekels a^neco by ihe poll." The Holn-ew in
BIBLE WORDS.
149
each case is n'abj {rjulgoleth), tlie root of "Golgotha."
Poll is connected with the same root as boll (see ante
"boiled"), ball, from its roundness, and the Scotch poit'.
In Wiclifs version of " Bel and the Dragon," the angel
is said to take Habacuc " by the poll of hym," where the
A. Y. has " took him by the crown." We find " all
flaxen was his poll," in Ophelia's song, Hamlet, iv. 5.
Prevent {verb act.), to anticipate, to be beforehand
with, from the Latin prcevenire, "to come before;"
never in the A. Y. in the modern sense to " hinder,"
wliicli arises from one who comes before another pre-
occupying tiie ground. It is very frequent in the
A. Y., as will be seen by the Concordances — e.g., Ps.
cxix. 148, " Mine eyes prevent the night watches ;" Matt,
xvii. 25, "When he was come into the house, Jesus ^re-
ventecl [anticipated] him;" 1 Thess. iv. 15, "We which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent [be before] them which are asleep ; " and
occurs in the Prayer Book, e.g., "Prevent us, O Lord,
in all our doings," &e, ; " Let thy grace prevent and
follow us," &c. We may illustrate its use from Shake-
speare. Brutus says of Cato's suicide —
" I do find it cowardly and vile
For fear of what miglit fall, so to jireuoif
The time of life." (Julius Cocsav, v. 1.)
And from Bacon, " As the fable goeth of tlie basilisk,
that if he see you first, you. die for it ; but if you see
him fii'st, he dieth : so is it with deceit and evil arts ;
which if they be first espied they leese [lose] their life ;
but if they prevent, they endanger " {Adv. of Learning,
xxi. 9).
Purtenance {subst.). Only found in the A. Y. of the
Paschal Lamb (Exod. xii. 9), " His head with his legs,
and with the purtenance thereof." The word so trans-
lated, 3"};7 {Jcereb), is that usually rendered " inward parts "
or "inwards," i.e. the intestines (e.gr., Exod. xxix. 13; Lev.
i. 9 ; Isa. xvi. 11) or "bowels" (Ps. cix. 18). The meaning
of purtenance is simply that which pertains or belongs
to, like the form now in use, "appurtenance," from
appartenir. This, indeed, is its more ordinary sense
in early writers ; as in Piers Plowman, " With all
the purtenances of purgatorie," ii. 103. Pecock, in his
Eepressor, speaks of an image " carven with pu,rtenancis
sett aboute him," pt. ii., c. 10. But it also occurs in
the euphemistic sense of the A. Y. for the pluck
usually sold with the head — e.g., in Middleton, quoted
by Mr. Aldis Wright, " The duke is the head, and I
Blurt am the purtenance ; and Lyly, " I will only handle
the head and purtenance," Midas, i. 2 (Nares). Richard-
son ^[uotes from Butler : —
" The shaft against a rib did glance,
And gall him in his purtenance."
{Hudihras, pt. i., canto 3.)
Quick (adj.), living, alive, also Quicken (■^erS act.),
to make alive, very familiar in the A. Y. and Prayer
Book, as " the quick and the dead " of the Creed ; Ps.
Iv. 15, "Let them go down quick into hell;" cxxiv. 3,
" They had swallowed us up quick ; " Heb. iv. 12, " The
word of God is quick and powerful;" and the verb,
Ps. Ixxx. 18, " Quicken us, and we will call upon Thy
name;" Rom. viii. 11, " He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." In
Wiclif, Matt. xxvi. 63, "I adjure thee by the living
God," is "I counjour thee by quijcke God;" and Luke
X. 30 (the parable of the "Good Samaritan") we have,
" Which robidcn him, and woundis putt in, wenden
away, the man Icfto \\\x\i-(£mjk." Chaucer gives us
" Not fully qnijke, ne fully deede they were."
(Knight's Talc, 157.)
Shakespeare's Anno Page says —
" I had rather be set quiclc in the earth
And bowled to death with turnips."
(Merry Wives, iii. 4.)
And Antony— <. ^y the fire
That qiLicliens Nilus' sliiue, I go from hence
Thy soldier, servant." (Ant. and Cleop. i. 3.)
The word quick or quickens comes to us from the A. S.
civic, or civv^, " li\dng," and cwiccan, " to make alive."
The same root is found in many common words, the
quick of the nail, a quich-set hedge (opposed to a dead
hedge), quicksilver, a quaginire, i.e., a quick or living
bog. Couch-grass, locally called twitch, is quick grass,
from the vitality of its scions.
Reins {subst.), frequent in the A. Y. : Job xvi. 13,.
" He cleaveth my 7-ei7is asunder, and doth not spare;"
Ps. vii. 9, "The righteous God trieth the very hearts
and reins ; " cxxxix. 13, " Thou hast possessed my reins."
It is the English representative of the Latin renes, the
kidneys. " In the ancient system of physiology the
kidneys were believed to be the seat of desire and
longing, which accounts for their often being coupled
with the heart " (Smith, Diet, of Bible, ii. 1026). In
Shakespeare we have " pills to cool the reins " (Merry
Wives, iii. 5), and Bacon tells us that " bowling is good
for the stone and reines " (Essays, 50).
Rereward (suhst.), the hinderpart of an army as
opposed to the van, the "rearguard." Numb. x. 25,,
" Dan set forward, which was the rereioard ;" Josh. vi.
9, 13, "The rereward came after the ark ; " 1 Sam. xxix.
2 ; Isa. Iii. 12, Iviii. 8, " The glory of the Lord shall be
thy rereivard." The examples given by Richardson
show that " rereward " and " rereguard " were used con-
temporaneously, guard and ward being different forms
of the same word, like guaranty and warrantry, gtd-x
and wise, guepe and tvasp. It is an English form ot
the French arriere-garde, rere, corresi)onding to the
old French 7'iere, Lat. retro, Ital. dirietro. It is a
Shakesperian word. " Now in the rearward comes the
duke " (1 Henry VI., iii. 3).
Ring-straked (adj.). Only found in Gen. xxx. 35, 39,
40 ; xxxi. 8, 10, 12, of the cattle v/hich were to be Jacob's
hire. It signifies pai-ti- coloured with circular spots.
Strake is used for the ring of a cartwheel. The Hebrew
C"}~»^ simply means " striped " or " banded," and con-
tains no idea of roundness. " Straked" is the old
150
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
spoiling' of "streaked," as we have "strakes" fur
'' streaks " (Gen. xxx. 37, and Lev. xiv. 37). So in
Spenser —
" His buvniug eyen, whom bloudie stralces did stain."
(F. y. iv. 15.)
Sliylock, in the Merchant of Venice (Act i., sc. 3), de-
scribes Jacob's "yearlings" as "streaked and pied."
We have found no example of the use of ring-straked.
Road (subsf.). " To make a road " is used (1 Sara,
xxvii. 10), "Whither have ye made a road te-dayp"
where wo should now uso the compound inroad, i.e., a
hostile riding into an enemy's country, the Scotch raid ;
a road being, etymologically, a way through which men
may ride. A road in nautical language is a place
where ships can ride at anchor — e.g., " the Yarmouth
Roads." The phrase " to i-nako roads " was common
in our early litei'ature — e.g., " Often times they would
make rodes in the night, and assault the castles of
our camp" (Golding, desar's Covimentaries, fol. 261,
Richardson); "A number of Scotishmen inade a road
into the countrie of Glendale " (Holinshed, Hist, of
Scotland, anno 1524, ih.). In Shakespeare, Henry V.,
preparing for war with France, speaks of the necessity
of defending himself '• against the Scots, who will make
road upon us " {Henry V. i. 2).
Rumagate (snh'^f.). This expressive old word, dropped
out of the A. v., is only preserved to us in the Prayer-
book Psalter (Ps. Ixviii. 6), " But letteth the runagates
continue in scarceness." The orthograjihy in Cranmer's
Bible, and Beck's Bible (1549), rennagate, found also in
God's curse on Cain (Gen. iv. 12), points to its probable
derivation fror?. renegado, " a renegade," i.e., one who has
denied his faith (Lat. renegare, to deny), the spelling
being altered, as in so many words in all languages, to
put a vernacidar meaning upon a foreign word, mth
little care whether it was the true one. The word trans-
lated "runagate" in Ps. Ixviii. 6, cn^iiD ("rebellious"
in A. v.), signifies simply those who turn aside from the
right path. The false etymology being once fixed on
tlio word, it was commonly used for "a deserter" — e.g.,
'• Wondering at it, he dcmaunded the cause of hys
runnagates, of whom a great number resorted to him
day by day" (Goldiug, Ccesar, fol. 206, Richardson). It
is used contemptuously in Shakespeare. Richard HI.
upbraiding Richmond, then on the seas, cries —
" White-livered runagate, what doth he there ? " '
(Rich. III. iv. 4.)
Sackbut (sid)st.), a musical instrument, only found
in Dan. iii. 5, 7, 10, 15, at the dedication of Nebuchad-
nezzar's golden image. Mr. Chappell (p. 35), quoted
by Mr. Aldis Wright, defines a sackbut as " a bass
trumpet with a slide, like the modern trombone."
The French saquebute was a wind instrument of the
same kind, with a tube that could be drawn out at will ;
and the Spanish sacabuche denotes a wind instniment,
and also a kind of pump. Sacar in Spanish is "to draw
or puU out." The Hebrew word of which s'Kckhut is the
representative, n??d, sabeca, is identified by Bochart and
others with the Greek crapL^vKr], which, however, signi-
fied a harp. It is used once by Shakespcjire —
" Why, hark you !
The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries, and fifes.
Make the sun dance." (Coriolanus, v. 4.)
Also we have in Beaumont and Fletcher —
" A dead march within of drums and saghutU."
(The Mad, Lover, iii. 1.)
1 See Trench, English, Past and Present, p. 200.
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOB WILSON, E.E.
VII. — SINAI.
55^ott"^J^HE Peninsula of Sinai may be described
Vi3l (^^^ as a triangular promontory Ij'ing between
two arms of the Red Sea of unequal
length ; the eastern and shorter of these
is the Gulf of Akabah ; the western, the Gulf of Suez.
Tlie base of this triangle is a line about 150 miles
long drawn from Suez to Akabah, and the two sides
measured from these points respectively to the apex
at Ras Muhammed are about 186 and 133 miles;
and the area, enclosed within these limits is about
11,500 square miles, or twice that of Yorkshire. On
the northern side or base of the triangle, is a
smaller one formed by a steep and lofty limestone
escai-pment, impassable except at a few points, which
stretches southwards into the peninsula and separates
it in a marked manner from the plateau of the Tih
on the north. The peninsula is one of the most moun-
tainous and intricate countries in the world ; tracts
of sand are rarely met with, plains are rather the ex-
ception than the rule, and the roads for the most part
run through a labyrinth of narrow, rock-bound valleys.
It is a desert, certainly, as Major Palmer, R.E., well
describes it, " in the fullest sense of the word, but a
desert of rock, gravel, and boulder, of gaunt peiks,
dreaiy ridges, and arid valleys, and plateaux, the whole
forming a scene of stern desolation which fully merits
its description as 'the great and ten-ible wilderness.' "
In the centre of the peninsula rises a vast crystalline
mass, split up into innumerable peaks that attain a
considerable altitude, as Jebel Zebir, 8,551 feet ; Jebel
Katerin, 8,536 feet; Jebel Umm Shomer, 8,449 feet;
Jebel Musa, 7,375 feet; Jebel Serbal, 6,734 feet, &c.
On the east the mountains descend somewhat abruptly
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
151
to the sea, •u-liilst on tlie west tliey are flanked by an
arid plain Avliicli extends almost without interruptioa to
the Mediten-auean, and, for some distance north of Tor,
is separated from the GuK of Suez hy a low range of
hills of tertiary sandstone. Northward, a broken sand-
stone district separates the Sinaitic mountains from the
limestone plateau of the Tih. The mountains forming
the crystalline "core" of the peninsula are composed
of granites, syenites, aud varieties of gneiss and schists,
traversed by dykes of diorite aud dolei-ite. They exhibit
every variety of profile : gi-eat rounded bluffs, isolated
peaks and pinnacles, and serrated ridges rise up to
stupendous heights, and blending in wild confusion,
pi-esent views of the most grand and impressive cha-
racter. The sandstone district, rich in antiquities and
mineral wealth, is broken up into quaint forms which,
combined witk the rich colouring, give a peculiar charm
to the scenery ; whilst on its plains are found the only
tracts of deep, heavy sand met with in the peninsula.
In the cretaceous and tertiary districts, on the other
hand, the features are devoid of interest, and the scenery
is monotonous, except when lighted up by the rich glow
of the rising or setting sun ; this district stretches as
far south as Tor, and includes the di-eary desert of El
Gaah, which for a distance of eighty miles stretches
along the western foot of the mountains. In the low
ridge north of Tor there is a hill, Jebel Nagus, with a
sand-slope lying on its face, from which strange, mys-
terious noises, like the loudest note of an ^olian har^i,
proceed whenever the hot sand is set in motion.
The valleys or " wadies " of the peninsula are deeply
cut, and descend rapidly to the sea ; they frequently rise
in 0]3en plains or " fershes," covered with desert vege-
tation, that lie at the foot of the higher peaks and form
one of the most interesting topographical features of
the interior. In the granite district the valleys wind
in broad reaches between lofty hills amidst the grandest
of mountain sceneiy, or break through the mountain
barriers by nari-ow defiles, sometimes not more than
twelve feet wide, in which vertical walls of rock, several
himdi-ed feet high, rise up so as almost to shut out the
light of the sun. In the sandstone district the cliffs
are lower, but the richness of their colouring produces
bright pictures of which the eye never grows weary;
whilst in the limestone district the traveller is glad to
hurry thi'ough the dreaiy valleys and escape from the
scorching rays of the sun, which are reflected with
intense power from the white rocks on either hand.
The two great valleys of the peuinsiLla are the Wady
Feiran with its innumerable feeders, one descending
from the base of Jebel Musa, on the west; and the
Wady Rahabeh draining an almost equal extent of
country on the east. The former, from its open cha-
racter and gradual ascent, is marked out by Nature as
the great high road into the interior; and it was the
rout« by wliich the Israelites probably approached Sinai.
The valleys appear to have been formed by the action
of water, and there are in some places lofty banks of
alluvium, which, according to some writers, mark the
existence at a remote period of inland lakes.
The water supply is far more plentiful than has
generally been supposed ; in the granite districts, and
especially in the neighbourhood of Jebel Musa, there
are several perennial streams and numerous springs of
good water ; but the sandstone and limestone districts
are badly supplied, and the water in the latter, owing
to the large quantities of carbonate of soda and other
salts held in solution, is brackish, and has a purgative
effect. There is one hot spring, at the foot of Jebel
Hammam Faraun, which has a temperatm-e of 157°.
^Vherever there is running water, abundant vegetation
is found ; the gardens in the valleys round Jebel Musa
are well stocked with fruit-trees, and in the lower
valleys there are fertile and beautiful oases, such as the
great palm-grove in "Wady Feiran, aud the lesser-knowu
oases of Dhahab, En Nuweibeh, Ain Hudherah, Hebrau,
Tor, &c. The general vegetation is sparse, but there are
not wanting indications that it was formerly more plen-
tiful, and even now there is, at certain seasons of the
year, a considerable amount of vegetation on the upland
plains. The rimth, abeithiran, shiah, murr, sehTceran,
the rose of Jericho, and other almost sapless herbs and
shrubs peculiar to desert soils, are found at different
altitudes, affording sufficient pastiu-age for the Bedawi
flocks and herds; and after the winter rains small
patches of grass may be seen on the hill-sides, creeping
plants of various kinds come to life, and in some places
the ground is covered with a profusion of small flowers.
Of larger trees, the tarfah, or tamarisk, from which the
traditional mauna exudes, occurs in several localities,
often in dense thickets ; the han tree grows on the sides
of the hills ; the retem, or broom, the " jimiper " of the
Bible, under which Elijah "lay and slept," is found ia
most of the valleys, and puts forth in spring beautiful
white aud purple blossoms ; whilst the plains and opeu
valleys are dotted with the seyal, or acacia, the " shittali
tree " used so largely in the construction of the taber-
nacle and ark of the tabernacle (Exod. xxxv. — ^xxxviii.).
The climate of the peninsula is perhaps one of the
most healthy in the world, especially of that portion of
it which is elevated from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the
sea. There is generally a great difference between
the night and day temperatures, from 40*^ to 50°, and
even on the plauis the thermometer falls in winter to
within a few degrees of the freezing-point. No one
who has travelled in the desert can forget the exliila-
rating effect of the fresh morning air, or the joyous
feeling of life and strength that it brings with it ; the
mere act of breathing is a pleasure, and we can hardly
be sui'prised at the stories which have been handed
down of the great age attained by many of the hermits
and anchorites, or that they believed that man needs in
the desert "hardly to eat, drink, or sleep, for the act of
breathing wiU give life enough." lu summer the heat
is intense, especially in the limestone districts ; whilst
in winter the cold in the mountains is severe, and the
frost brings down huge masses of rock which, rolling
do-^vn the steep mountain-sides, cause the mysterioRS
noises often heard in the higher districts. The most
remarkable featiu-es of the climate are its intense dry-
152
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE I>ESEKT i'KOM AYUN MUSA (MOSES' WELL8).
(Prom, a Pliotograph of tho Oi'dnancc Survey of Sinai.)
ness and tho clearness of the atmosi^here, enabling
places to be seen at extraordinary distances. No less
remarkable, too, is the stillness ; there is often no sound
that tho sharpest ear can detect, and for days together
the silence is nnbroken even by the -wind. The colouring
too is so varied, so gorgeous, and at times so fantastic,
that any attempt to convey an idea of it either by words
or on canvas must fail. In winter the peninsula is fre-
quently visited by hea-vy gales of wind unaccompanied
by rain, and the effect of these in tlie mountains is
wonderfully grand. "Whirlwinds often start up like
magic from the beds of the valleys, and hurry along
with great force until they are broken by some obstacle ;
and on tho plains tho Jchamasin blows, pai'ching and
drying up tho air, and striking the face like a blast
from a furnace ; tho Avhole air is filled with fine sand,
which penetrates everywhere and presents the appear-
ance of a dense haze, whilst sometimes the heavier
particles are caught up and driven across tho level
ground in a wild sand-storm. Tlie average annual rain-
fall is small, but it varies in different years ; snow falls
every year on the higher mountains, though never lying
long, and rarely reaching l«;elow 5,500 feet above the
sea. The peninsula is subject to violent rain-storms,
which fill tho dry beds of the valleys with roaring tor-
rents, and are sometimes attended with loss of life.
The storms are very partial, and the first indication that
one has occurred may be a stream rushing down tho
valley. The Rev. F. W. Holland was fortunate enough
in December, 1867, to see one of these floods or " soils"
in tho Wady Feiran ; the storm commenced at 4.30
P.M., and a few minutes aft«r six the dry bod of tho
valley, over 300 yards wide, was turned into a foaming
torrent, eight to ten feet deep. Next morning a
gently-flowing stream, a few yards wide, was all that
remained ; but the whole bed of the wady was changed,
nearly 1.000 palm-trees were swept away, and about
thirty Bedawin were lost and buried in the debris.
"When at Tor in 1868, the -writer found traces of a
flood from this same storm that had come down "Wady
Sigilli^'oh, and which after passing over sixteen or
seventeen miles of dry desert, the plain of El Gaah,
had a body of water four er five feet deep and about
150 yards wide. "Wellsted mentions a similar flood in
1832, which left an alluvial deposit one foot thick in the
vicinity of Tor. There seems no reason for believing
that tho climate of Sinai has undergone any material
change since the date of the Exodus. "We know that
there was during the Egyptian occupation, and also in
the fifth and sixth centuries of the present era, a far
larger amount of vegetation and cultivation than there
is at present, but the effect of this would probably bo
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
153
WADY MUKATTEE.
(From a Photogroph of the Ordnance Survcj or Sinai.)
confined to a sliglit increase in the quantity of rain
and a greater regularity in its fall. No mention is
made in the Bible of cold or frost in connection with
the stay of the Israelites at Sinai, though thoy must
have suffered severely, coming as they did from the low
country of Egypt ; unless, indeed, the humane com-
mand in Exod. xxii. 26, 27, that a man who had taken his
neighbour's raiment should return it to him at sunset,
was intended to secure for the poor some certain pro-
tection against the intense coldness of the nights.
The Bedawin of Sinai number about 4,000 males ;
they are a qiiiet and inoffensive race, and their poverty
is such that their whole life is one long struggle for
existence. The principal tribe, Towara, are not the
aboriginal inhabitants of the peninsula, but settled in
it at the time of the Muhammedan conquest. Their
predecessors were a branch of the Aramasan race, of
whom traces may possibly remain in the Jibaliyeh
tribe, as names peculiar to them are found in the
Sinaitic (Aramaean) inscriptions. The Jibaliyeh are
looked down upon by the other Bedawin as not being
of pure descent, and are supposed to derive their origin
from the prisoners sent by Justinian for the service of
the Convent, who intermarried with the Aramaeans.
The Bedawin are not strict observers of the outward
forms of Moslem devotion, but they have a deep reli-
gious feeling, as the following simple prayer, uttered
by every man at sunset, will show : * O Lord, be gra-
cious unto us. In all that we hear or see, in all that w©
say or do, be gracious unto us. Have mercy on our
friends, who have passed away before us. I ask pardon
of the Great God ; I ask pardon at tlio sunset, when
every sinner tiirns to Him. Now and for ever I ask
pardon of God. O Lord, cover us from our sins, guard
our children, and protect our weaker friends." There
are few, if any. Biblical names remaining in the penin-
sula, even the name Sinai being unknown in the native
nomenclature ; and though there is what has been
called "a general atmosphere of Mosaic tradition "in
the country, the Bedawi traditions have been so much
influenced by monkish legend, that it is not easy to sepa-
rate those that are of purely native origin. Professor
Palmer has, however, succeeded in bringing to light
two of great interest: one placing the rock from which
Moses brought water in Wady Feiran, not far from
the traditional site of Rephidim ; the other possibly
identifying some curious remains at Erwcis el-Ebeirig
with the camp of Kibroth-hattaavah.
There are numerous traces of the various people who
have, from time to time, lived in the peninsula, chiefly
ruins which may bo classed as Primitive, Egyptian, and
Monastic. The first consist of the stone houses, tombs.
154
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and stone circles that are found in almost every part of
the country, and show that it must have been inliabited
at a very early period by a largo settled population, pos-
sibly the same as the people of '• An " mentioned in
the Egj-ptian inscriptions at Magharah, or the Amale-
kites of the Bible. The stone houses, ca,lled by the
Betlawiu naivamis, are found in clusters of from
twenty to thirty, and are almost identical Avith those
knoAvn in Scotland as hothan, or bee-hive houses;
they are slightly elliptical in shape, aud from forty to
fifty feet in circumference, with walls rising perpen-
dicularly to a height of two feet, aud then assuming;
the bee-hive form. The houses have doors only one
foot eight inches wide, aud they are built of carefully
selected stones on which there is no trace of any tool
having been used. The stone circles are from ten to
forty-five feet in diameter, and similar to those called
in England " Druids' Circles," with a cist composed of
four large stones in the centre ; immediately round the
cist is a circle of standing stones enclosing a cairn of
small stones, and beyond this there is an outer circle of
larger stones. The bodies were buried in these cists, on
their left sides, in that peculiar bent position which is
considered one of the oldest forms of burial ; aud with
them have been found bracelets of shell and of copper,
necklaces of beads formed from shells, and lance and
arrow-heads of flint.
Egyptian remains are found at Magharah and at
Sarabit el-Khadim. The mineral wealth of Magharah
e;u.-ly attracted the attention of the Egyptians, and the
conquest of the peninsula was one of the first objects
of the early dynasties. The first invasion was by
Senefru, the immediate predecessor of Cheops, the cele-
brated monarch of the fourth dynasty, who buUt the
Great P)-i-amid, and who is represented on a tablet at
Magharah striking to the earth one of the An foreigners
who inhabited the region. The Egyptians, however,
seem never to have retained a firm hold of the country,
as the tablets contain certain records of the re-conquest
of it, and of expeditions to work and explore the mines,
by Sephres, An, Tancheres, Phiops, Nephercheres,
Amenemha III., and Amenemha IV. The last expedi-
tion recorded is one of Thothmes III., of the eighteenth
djTiasty, after which the mines were abandoned. The
object for which these mines were worked was the
viafka or copper, and the ha, ii'on or copper. The
mines of IVIagharah are for the most part on the right
bank of a deep gorge in the sandstone, called Wady
Grenaiyeh ; aud the greater number of the tablets are
cut in the face of the rock, which rises in a series of
abrupt ledges to a height of about 300 feet. On an
almost isolated hUl opposite the mines, and connected
with them by a causeway, are the ruins of the village
in which the miners lived.
At Sarabit el-Khadim there are the remains of two
temples of different dates, and numerous stelae and
inscriptions recording the thanks and vows of those
employed in the mines. The temple was founded in
the twelfth dynasty, and dedicated to the goddess Athor^
the lady or mistress of the mufka ; and it has columns
with capitals in shape of the head of the goddess
Athor, with cow's ears. The mines were opened in
the reign of Amenemha II., and there are tablets of
the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. Some of the
inscriptions relate to supplies ; one mentions the quan-
tity of corn, cattle, birds, vegetables, and other things
supplied ; another that a convoy of cattle and fowl had
been successfully brought by the troops to the spot.
Many fragments of Egyptian glazed ware or porcelain,
and of vases used in the service of the Temple, have
been found in the mines, as well as the place where the
flint tools used in working the mines were manufac-
tured.
As early as 250 A.D., according to Dionysius of
Alexandria, the Egyptian Christians were accustomed
to take refuge from persecution in the moimtains of
Sinai ; but the first definite notices we have of these
communities are contained in the narratives of Silvanus,
Ammouius, and Nilus (350 — 400 A.D.). The anchorites
appear to have led a rather precarious existence in the
caverns and holes on the sides of Jebel Musa and the
mountains at Feii-an, exposed to all the variations of
temperature, and to the constant attacks of the Sara-
cens, who on several occasions massacred great numbers
of them. In the sixth century Justinian built the
large convent and church at the foot of Jebel Musa,
aud about the same time numerous other monasteries
and chapels were erected in the peninsula ; that of
Pharan (Feiran) was visited by Autoniuus Martyr,
600 — 628 A.D., who gives an interesting account of the
manner in which he was met, on arrival, by a band of
women and children beai-ing palm-branches and flasks
of attar of roses in their hands, and singing an anthem
in the Egyptian tongue. It seems probable that there
was a great persecution of the monks about the eleventh
or twelfth century, and that from that date the con-
vents began to decline. In 1398 A.D., according to
Biu'ckhardt, there were six convents besides that at
Jebel Musa, but they appear to have been deserted
soon afterwards, and now the Convent of St. Katharine
alone remains.
The Convent of St. Katharine stands on the left
bank of a nan*ow valley between Jebel Musa and
Jebel ed-Deir ; its solid granite walls have been much
shaken by earthquakes, aud so undermined by ^vinter
torrents, that it was found necessary to rebuild them
partially at the end of last century. The ancient
entrance, a fine old doorway protected by a machi-
covdis, is now closed, and all visitors have to enter
by a postern. The interior of the convent is filled
with numerous buildings of different ages, and there
is a perfect labyrinth of passages, turning and testing
in every direction, exposed to the full glare of the sun
or passing through dark tunnels. The church is re-
markable for its massive grandeur and its style, which
shows how common the use of Christian symbols had
become as early as the time of Justinian, 527 — 554
A.D. At its eastern end is a chapel enclosing tlie place
on which the Burning Bush is said to have grown, aud
there is a large mosaic of the Transfiguration, with two
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
155
medallions, supposed to contain portraits of Justinian
and Theodora, but more likely representations of our
Saviour and the Yirgin. On the walls of the convent
refectory, and in other places, may be seen tlie names
and coats-of-arms of many knightly j)ilgrims during
the Middle Ages. In the immediate neighbourhood of
Jebel Musa are the ruins of several smaller convents,
probably connected with that of St. Katharine, and the
sides of the mountains are covered with traces of the
little terraced gardens of the old monks, and of their
chapels and lodging-places. There are four roads to
the summit of Jebel Musa : one, the usual pilgrims'
route immediately behind the convent, where the ascent
is by an immense number of steps ; a second from
Wady Leja ; a third by the Sikket Shoeib ; and a
fourth, perhaps the easiest, up Wady Shreich, which
was shown to pilgrims in the early part of last century
as the route followed by Moses when he ascended
Sinai. In the bed of the latter A^aUey there is a small
stream that might well be called a "brook that de-
scended out of the mount," and near its mouth is an
excavation said to be the mould in which the golden
calf was cast, whilst a slight elevation on the hill above
was formerly pointed out as the place where it was set
up. On the summit of Jebel Musa are a chapel, near
the '•' clift of the rock," in which Moses was placed
when the glory of the Lord passed by (Exod. xxxiii. 22) ;
and a mosque built over the cave in which he is said to
have lived during his sojourn of forty days and nights
on the mount. At a lower level are the chapels of
Elijah and Elisha, with the grot in which the former is
reported to have lived, and chapels dedicated to the
Holy Girdle of the Yirgin, St. Gregorius, St. John the
Baptist, St. Anne, &c.
At Feiran there are the ruins of a convent and
church, at the mouth of Wady Aleyat, a convent
higher up the valley, and a series of tombs, cells,
and chapels on Jebel et Tahuneh, a mountain over-
looking the valley wliich may be the " Giboah " of
Rephidim, on which Moses took his stand during the
battle. This mountain appears to have liad some
special sanctity attached to it, for it is literally covered
with tombs and chapels, and a flight of steps led to the
summit, which was crowned by a church ; the pathway
passed numerous small chapels, apparently built over
the ceUs of hermits, which form as it were so many
stations on this " Yia Sacra." A remarkable feature at
Feiran is the number of tombs, rectangular buildings
of loose stones each containing two or more interments,
on the slopes of the hill, and it is curious to notice the
different system of burial in two monastic establish-
ments so near each other as Feiran and Jebel Musa ;
at the former place the bodies were wrapped in a wind-
ing-sheet of palm-fibre, and laid in stone tombs above
gi-ound; whilst at the latter they were buried in the
ground, and the bones afterwards collected and placed
in a crypt.
At the back of Serbal, in the romantic valley of
SigUliyeh, which in its gi-and scenery and perfect
seclusion rivals the " Happy Yalley " of Rasselas,
there are the remains of several monasteries, and
the road by which they were reached, one feature of
which is a broad staircase 1,500 feet high, is a most
remarkable specimen of enguieeriug and of the untiring
energy of the monks. There are some other monastic
remains at Wady Gharbeh, Wady Rahabeh, Wady
Zeraigiyeh, Dhahab, near Jebel cth Thebt, and at Tor,
where there would appear to have been a large convent
with smaller commimities gathered round it, and many
cells and chapels cut in tlie rock. There are besides
many later remains in the countiy, a castle at Tor,
several mosques, and numerous tombs of Bedawi
worthies.
The peninsula is rich in mineral wealth; at Magharah
and Sarabit el-Khadim are the turquoise mines j)re-
viously mentioned as having been worked by the
Egyptians, and there are traces of the smelting of
copper ore at the former ; whilst in Wady Nasb, near
the latter, there are extensive slag heaps. In the
plain of El Markha, at Wady Gharaudel, and in Wady
Sened, slag heaps and broken tuyers have also been
found. South of Jebel Musa, at Jebel Hadid, the
" iron mountain," there is a considerable bed of spe-
cular iron ore, but there are no traces of its having
been worked.
The celebrated Sinaitic insci'iptions are very gene-
rally distributed over the peninsula, but the largest
collections are perhaps those near Ain Hudhera and in
Wady Mukatteb ; they were at one time supposed to
be of great antiquity, but recent investigation has
shown that they were written during the fii*st three or
four centuries after Christ. This has been proved by
the discovery of nearly twenty bi-liugual inscriptions
in Greek and Sinaitic, of a Sinaitic inscription written
over an older Greek one, and of Sinaitic rnscrijitions
evidently written after the construction of the I'oad to
the convents in Wady SigUliyeh. The inscriptions
are prol>ably the work of a trading community settled
in the peninsula, and they are often accompanied by
rude drawings of men and animals, sometimes of an
obscene character. The writers possessed a very im-
pe^^fect knowledge of Greek, for letters are found tm-ned
the wrong way, and the names are sometimes written
backwards as in Sinaitic ; amongst these names are
some of Egyptian origin, as Horns, but names ending
in " Baal " and " Omru " are most frequently met
with. It may be added that the inscriptions are brief
sentences containing the name of the wi-iter with a
"pro salute."
We must now briefly examine the present resources
of the peninsula for sustaining life. The vegetation
has already been alluded to as affording a certain
amount of pasturage for sheep and goats; and as
regards food for man, there is a fair supply of game,
including the ibex, the hare, and four or five sj)ecies
of partridge ; there are also date-palms, and gardens
in the higher country, where olive, plum, cherry, and
other fruit-trees grow in great luxuriance. The tarfah,
from which the so-called "manna" exudes, is widely
spread; but this manna, which is caused by insects
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIA^S.
157
during a fe^' summer mouths, and is really a mild
aperient, has no connection with that mentioned in the
Bible. These resources ai*e, of course, quite inadequate
to the supply of a large multitude, but they would
be of some assistance ; and we must not forget that,
like the modern Bedawia, the Israelites rarely ate
animal food.
Ha^^ng thus given a general sketch of the physical
cliaracter of the peninsida and its present condition,
we may now proceed to an examination of the route of
the Israelites after they crossed the Red Sea. It may
be asked what grounds there are for believing that the
Mount of the Law was in what we now call the Penin-
sula of Sinai. There is no direct evidence of this, but
we are told that after leaving Rameses the Israelites
camped at Succoth, at Etham, and " l^efore Pi-hahiroth,
between Migdol and the sea " (Exod. xiv. 2) ; or, as in
verse 9, " by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth." This gives
three days' march from Rameses to the sea ; for though
the actual passage of the Red Sea did not take place
till the sixth or seventh day after leading Rameses,
the events connected with tliose terrible days before
the great deliverance came, must have created a far
greater impression on the minds of the Israelites than
the somewhat monotonous routine of their daily life
afterwards; and the author of the Book of Exodus,
in noticing this important period, would hardly have
omitted an encampment at which they had rested.
Now Rameses must have been to the west of the line
of hills which, more or less well defined, extends from
"VVady Gliarandel to the Mediterranean ; for to the
eastward there is the barren desert of Et TQi, almost
destitute of water, which could never have supported a
much larger population than it does now, and on wbieli
no traces of permanent occupation by the Egyptians
have yet been found ; we also have the expressed opinion
of nearly every Egj-ptologist that Goshen was to the
west of the line of the Suez Canal. From this position
of Rameses it follows that the Red Sea of the Bible
must have been the Gulf of Suez ; and after crossmg
this, the mention of an encampment by the sea (Numb.
xxxiii. 10), and the general agreement of the natural
features of the coast with those indicated in the Bible
nai'rati^e, show that the Israelites travelled south and
not east. We have also a tradition, at least as old as
Josephus, placing Sinai in the peninsula ; and when we
remember that after the Captivity there was a colony
of Jews in Egypt, and that the peninsula was no un-
known country, but a rich mining district, on either
side of which ran at different periods the highway to
the East, and through which there was a road con-
necting Egypt mth Elath, we can hardly believe that
a place so intimately connected with the birth of the
Jewish religion could have been forgotten. This ^-iew
has been opposed by Dr. Beke, who maintains that
the Red Sea crossed by the Israelites was the GuU.
of Akabah, and that Sinai was a moxintain within a
day's march of the head of that gulf. To support his
theory. Dr. Beke is obliged to locate Goshen in the
middle of the Tih desert, and to make the Israelites,
after crossing the sea, travel over bad roads through
the mountains for several days, to reach a mountain
which was in sight and within an easy day's march
of the point at which they crossed.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.
BY THE REV. S. G. GEEEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF EAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
KE Epistle to the Romans was the last
great effort of St. Paul's missionary
'^S^l P^^ career. Henceforth we know him chiefly
^^j/J&% as "the prisoner of the Lord." From
Corintk he proceeded, in a journey full of the deepest
interest,' to Jerusalem. Here ho was apprehended and
sent to Ctesarea. where he remained in custody for two
weary years. Having appealed from the partial and
corrupt provincial tribunal to the supreme court at
Rome, he was at last sent to the imperial city ; thus
attaining — but in how unforeseen a way ! — a cherished
desire of his life. His faithful companion, Luke,
was with him throughout ; and it is at this point that
the history in the Acts of the Apostles ends.
2. It was at one stage or another of the Apostle's
imprisonment that he wrote his Epistles to the Colos-
sians and to Philemon, with that (so called) to the
1 Note especially his visit to Troas (Acts xx. 6—12) ; his farewell
to the Ephesinn elders at Miletus (xx. 17—38) ; his sojouru at
Tyre (sxi. 3—5) and at Caesarea (sxi. 8— li).
Ephesians. That these three letters were sent into
Asia together is abundantly clear. Of that to the
Colossians, the bearers were Tychicus and Onesimus ;
while Tychicus was also charged with that to the
Ephesians, and Onesimus with that to the Colossian
Philemon.- The companions of Paul are the same in
the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon ; ^ the
absence of individual greetings in the Epistle to the
Ephesians will be noted in its place. Between the
Colossian and Ephesian letters, also, there is such a
similarity in thought, purpose, and arrangement, as to
lead irresistibly to tlie conclusion that the two were
written nearly at the same time. In aU three Epistles
- See Col. iv. 7—9 ; Eph. vi. 21 ; Philem. 10—12.
3 To the ColossiaDS, " Aristarchus, Marcus, Justus, Epaphras,
Luke, Demas " (iv. 10—14); to Philemon, "Epaphras, Marcus, Aris-
tarchus, Demas, Lucas " (vv. 23, 24). Note also the greeting in hoth
Epistles to Archippus (Col. iv. 17; Philem. 2). He was probably a
member of Philemon's family. Aristarchus, mentioned in both
Epistles, had accempauied Paul in his voyage to Some (Acts xxvii.
2), where we also learn that Luke was of the party.
158
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Amter refers to his imprisoumeut, aucl iu a similar
tone. To the Colossiaus ho dechires that he rejoices in
his sufferings for the Chui'ch ; and appends to the letter,
■with his own hand, the touching appeal, " Remember
my bonds." It is as " a prisoner of Jesus Christ " that
he addresses Philemon ; and to the Ephesians he twice
describes himself in the same way, " the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles ; " " the jirisoner of the
Lord."i
3. Tlie question has, howoA'er, been raised, whether
these three letters belong to the Apostle's imprisonment
in Csesarea, or in Rome ; and though the hitter is the
view adopted by the great majority of interpreters,
many of no mean name have advocated the former.^
The question cannot be decisively settled by internal
evidences ; and apart from the almost universal tradition
of the Cluirch, which points to Rome, there is little or
no external testimony bearing on the matter. From
the Epistles themselves, however, we learn three things
which turn the balance in favour of Rome. First, Paul
when he wrote was a prisoner in chains (Col. iv. 3 ;
Philem. 10 ; Eph. vi. 20), which we know was the case
in Rome (Acts xxviii. 16, 20), but apparently not iu
Csesai-ea.^ Secondly, he was, nevertheless, at liberty to
preach the Gospel (Col. iv. 3, 4; Eph. vi. 19, 20), which
again corresponds better with his Roman imprisonment.
And, thirdly, he was hoping when he Avrote to be
speedily liberated, and to journey to Colosste (Philem.
22), whereas, just before his Csesarean impi-isonment,
his thoughts seem to have still turned to Rome (comp.
Acts xix. 21) ; while his purpose to " aj)peal unto Ceesar "
(Acts XXV. 11), thoiigh not expressed imtil his appearance
before Festus, was i^robably formed long previously.
These considerations, it is confessed, are none of them
demonstrative ; but in the absence of any counter pro-
babilities equal in weight, they may fairly justify our
adlierence to the ordinary view.
4. Another question relates to the order of the Roman
Epistles. That to the Philippians stands alone : those
to the Colossiaus, Philemon, and the Ephesians were
sent together : did these three precede or follow the
other ? Here, again, internal evidence must bo our
sole guide ; and the usual xicw, that the letter to the
1 See Col. i. 24; iv. 18; Philem. 1; Eph. iii. 1 ; iv. 1.
2 Especially Meyer. De Wette appears to hesitate between
the two. The arguments in favour of Csesarea have thus been
summarised by Dr. W. Liudsay Alexander, who, however, pro-
nounces for Rome : — (1.) It is improbable that Paul would pass
two whole years without writing an Epistle. (2.) Communica-
tions would be easier between Caesarea and the churches of Asia
Minor than bet\veen these churches and Eome. (3.) It is difficult
to suppose the somewhat considerable group (see note 1 above)
of Paul's companions to have gathered so soon in Rome. (-1.) It
is likelier that Onesimus would liave been found verij soon (Philem.
15) at Csesarea than in Rome. (5.) Paul requests Philemon to
prepare him a lodging (ver. 22); hardly likely during the Reman
imprisonment. It is plain that all these considerations, even if
admitted, would amount only to the faintest probability ; while, as
shown above, there are reasons of greater weight in support of the
ordinary view.
3 There were two kinds of what we may term j>rivnta or home-
imprisonment. One was the custodia militari:^, when the prisoner
had a soldier always with him, chainerl arm to arm ; the other the
ciustodia libera, where the confinement was without further personal
restraint. See Acts xsiv. 23.
Philippians exliibits a more rigorous and therefore a
later imprisonment, appears fully warranted by a
comparison of the Epistles. The Apostle, in writing
to the Colossiaus, is hopeful of speedy release : lio
is a prisoner, indeed ; but amid circumstances wliicb
permit to liim comparative leisure of thought : wlion ho
writes to the Philippians, the clouds have darkened,
the crisis is near. Still he speaks of the possibility of
release, but his position is gi-avw* ; it is possible tliat
the end is at hand. This he has learned steadily to
contemplate : "to depart and to be with Christ is very
far better " — an utterance to which there is nothing to
correspond in the other three Epistles. From the
history of the period, we know that " the captain of the
guard," Burrhus, a humane man (Acts xxviii. 16), died a
year or little more after St. Paul's arrival in the city ;
and was succeeded by Tigellinus, a man of cruel and
\-iudictive spirit. This new favourite of K"ero had
taken a principal share in bringing about the emperor's
marriage with Popptea, a proselyte to Judaism. Hence-
forward the character of Nero rapidly deteriorated;
and the effects would not be long in reaching a prisoner
hke Paul. The Jewish fanaticism of Poppsea would
combine with the haughty cruelty of Tigelliuns to
aggravate the Apostle's peril; and in the prospect
of a speedy doom, he writes to the Philippians. The
same conclusion, as to the comparative lateness of this
Epistle, is sustained by its references to Epaphroditus.
First, the Philippians had heard of St. Paul's imprison-
ment; they had then raised a contribution for his
wants, and sent it by Epaphroditus ; the intelligence
had subsequently reached them that Epaphroditus was
ill in Rome. Epaphroditus had heard of then' distress,
and now, finally, having recovered, was about to return
with the Apostle's letter. Four journeys between
Rome and Philippi, vvith intervening periods, had thus
occurred diu-iug St. Raid's imprisonment before he
wrote the Epistle. True, this "does not absolutely
forbid the earlier date, but it better suits the later.
The argument on which Dr. Lightfoot mainly relies
in placing the Ej)istle to the Philippians first among
the Roman ktters, is its nearer corresi)ondence with the
earlier Epistles than with those to the Colossiaus and
Ephesians. This is shown both in style — a comparison
being instituted especially betAveen the Epistles to the
Philippians aud to the Romans '' — aud iu substance, the
topics of the Philippian letter being kincked with those
of the foregoing. "We have " the spent wave of the
controver.sy " between law and grace; while "a new
type of error is springing up," to whicli the Colossian and
subsequent Epistles are largely devoted. The argument
is plausible, on tlie supposition that the Paidine Epistles
unfold a strictly progressive order of religious thought.
But a series of letters written to churches in widely
■• See Lightfoot on the PhiUp\nans, pp. 42, 43. The pas«ages
compared are Phil. i. 3, 4, 7, 8, with Rom. i. 8—11 ; Phil. i. 10,
with Rom. ii. 18; Phil. ii. 8—11, with Rom. xiv. 9, 11; Pliil. ii.
2—4, with Rom. xii. 16—19, aud 10 ; Phil. iii. 3, with Rom. ii. 28,
i. 9, and v. 11 ; Phil. iii. 4, 5, with Rom. xi. 1 ; Phil. iii. 9-11, 21,
with Rom. x. 3, ix. 31, 32, and vi. H ; Phil. iii. 19, with Ram. vi.
21. svi. 18; Phil. iv. 8, with Rom. xii. 1.
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.
159
different circumstances would scarcely be likely to pre-
sent one systematic course of develoxameut ; and tLe
diversity of tone between the Pliilippiau and Colossiau
letters is sufficiently explained by the different character
of the two communities. On any supposition, a con-
siderable time must have elapsed between the Epistle
to the Romans and that to the Philippians ; so that the
coincidences between the two in thought and expression
cannot prove any very intimate connection. The posi-
tion and circumstances of the European churches, rather
than the time of -wi-itiug, accoimt for the occasional
similarity of tone in the letters addressed to them —
a similarity perfectly compatible with the interven-
tion of letters in a different strain to the churches of
Asia Minor.
5. The further question has been raised, whether
the Epistle to the Colossians, with the accompanying
private letter to Philemon, was written before or after
that to the Ephesians. As, however, the three were
dispatched at the same time, and by the same mes-
sengers, it would be useless, even if possible, to decide
their comparative priority. As a matter of convenience
"we may take the Colossiau letters first. Colossse or
Colassse,' in Phrygia, on the river Lycus, a branch of
the Mseander, had formerly been a large city, but in the
Ajjostle's time was comparatively inconsiderable, having
been eclipsed by the neighbouring manufacturing towns
of Hierapolis and Laodicea.- It appears, from the Acts
of the Ajjostles, that St. Paul twice visited Phrygia,
once in his second missionary journey (Acts xvi. 6),
and again at the beginning of his third (xviii. 23).
Neither of these journeys, however, as the Epistle seems
plainly to show, included Colossse.^ " I would," says
the Apostle, at the beginning of the 3rd chapter, " that
ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for
them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh.'" It is indeed possible to read
these words as including two classes — those who had
and those who had not seen the Apostle ; but it is far
easier and more natural to interpret them as referring
solely to those who were personally strangers to St.
Paid, of whose "faith and love " he had only '"heard "
(chap. i. 4). It may seem strange that he shovdd have
twice traversed Phrygia without visiting Colossae or
even Laodicea. But it would be plainly impossible for
Mm to visit every one of the sixty-two* Phrygian cities
(the word all in Acts xviii. 23 — " he went into all the
country of Phryo-ia " — is an interpolation of the English
translators). We know not what circumstances may
have determined his route ; and besides the road along
1 The chief MSS. of the N. T. read Cokssse (KoAa<T<rai'). The
classical name was certainly Colossse (Herodotus vii. 30; Xenophon,
Anah., i. 2, 6). So Straho, xii. 576 (who calls it w6\ia^ia, " a little
town"), and Pliuy, v. 41. Colassae was, no doubt, a corruption
current in the Apostles' time. All the coins have the classical
form.
2 The remains of the ancient city have been discovered about
three miles north of the modern Klionos (Chonoe).
3 Lardner, however, labours to prove that the Colossian church
was planted by St. Paul (TFor/js, vol. vi., p. 151 sq.).
•* Hierocles, in the sixth century. The number may have been
smaller iu the Apostle's time (Davidson).
the valley of the Moeander, there is one which he may
have taken, further to the north, which, after passing
near Thyatira, entered the valley of the Hermus at
Sardis.^ And yet, though imvisited by the Apostle,
Colossse owed its evangelisation indirectly to his lal)ours.
Epaphras, one of its citizens, a friend and companion,
and most probably a convert of St. Paid, had zealously
undertaken the task of proclaiming the Gospel, not only
in Colossse, but in Laodicea and Hierapolis. From him
the Colossians had first "learned" the truth that is in
Jesus; and he had remained among them "a faithful
minister of Christ." " He was now in Rome Avith the
Apostle, voluntarily sharing his imprisonment, affec-
tionately ministering to his needs — "our dear fellow-
servant " (chap. i. 7) ; " my fellow-prisoner in Christ
Jesus " (PhUeni. 23) — and it was, no doubt, by the
tidings he had brought of the state of things at
Colossse, that the Apostle is led to Avi-ite this letter.
The earnestness and affection Avhich breathe through
every paragraph may well be accounted for l:»y the
Apostle's intimate relation with Epaphras, if, indeed,
any explanation were necessary of the Apostle's intense
concern for the tru.th of God and the soids of men.
6. The genuineness of this Epistle may fairly be re-
garded as established beyond any need of controversy
here. The most destructive critics, for the most part,
regard it as belonging, with the letter to Philemon,
to the Pauline series, although these two (except the
letter to the Philippians) are the latest that pass un-
challenged. It is true that some German critics,'
and notably Baur, have questioned the Epistle, chiefly
on internal grounds, as referring to a state of opinion
which, it is alleged, did not exist in the Church until the
second century. The allegation, however, is a mere
assumption, connected with the assaults that have been
made by the same critical school upon the genuineness
of the Gospel and Epistles of St. John, which deal with
forms of heresy sunilar to those here denounced by St,
Paid. The writings themselves, if their genuineness can
be established on external independent grounds, are the
best testimony to the early prevalence of such errors ;
and to the Colossian Epistle the chain of testimony is
complete and irrefragable.^ Internal endence is equally
satisfactory. " Non est cu jusvis hominis," says Eras-
mus, " Paidinum pectus effingere." " It is not given to
every one to express the lieai-t of Paul ;" and his " heart "
nowhere more truly reveals itself than in many of the
utterances of this Epistle.
5 Conybeare and Howson, vol. ii. , p. 5.
<> See Col. iv. 12, "Epaphras, one of you" (ef ip-wv), also verse
13. In chap. i. 7 we read, " As ye also learned of Epaphras our
dear fellow-servant," where the word also appears to point to other
labours than his (according to Lardner, al., to the labours of St. Paul
himself). But the best modern critics are agreed in expunging the
word also {^ai) as absent from the principal MSS., and the verse
without it becomes au explicit declaration that Epaphras was, as
maintained above, the first evangelist of Colossas. He is to be dis-
tinguished from the Philippian Epaphroditus, although the names
are the same— one being the contracted form of the other.
7 Schrader, Mayerhoff (L838), Schwegler, besides Baur. The
arguments are to be found in Baur's Paulus, 417 sq.
8 See ontbnritipFs nurl quotations iu Kirchhofei-, Quellensammlwig,
pp. 207— 2iU ; JDr. iJavidsou's Introduction, vol. i., p. 174.
160
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
7. For the church at Colossse was thrcateucd, and in
some measure jjervcrted, by new forms of error. The
Judaism which had so fatally marred the Apostle's work
in the neighbouring regions of Galatia, had found foot-
iiii^ among these Phrygians also, but in another shape,
and mth admixtures of Gentile philosophy, partially
Greek, but chiefly Oriental. The germ of those specu-
lations afterwards known as Gnosticism— a name which
covers <^reat varieties of theory and belief — was already
at work. The Apostle was called not only, as hereto-
fore, to present the contrast between law and grace, but
to meet the allegations of a vain philosophy with the
teachint's of a profounder wisdom, and to set forth
Christ, not only as " the End of the Law," but as " the
Way, the Truth, and the Life."
The false teaching' by which Colossse had been visited,
appeal's to have been threefold in form.
(1) Its basis was /jK^aic. Cu-cumcision was enforced,
rendering it necessary for the Apostle to insist upon
spiritual circumcision. Jewish fasts and feasts were
also held to be obligatory — the " new moon " and " sab-
Toaths." The old '• handwriting of ordinances " was
exiilted into a universal law, and the " rudiments,"
or "elements," of the world — i.e., the typical observ-
ances of Mo.saism (Gal. iv. 3) — were made a yoke of
bondage.
(2) With this was blend?d a mystical philosophy
characterised by inquiries and speculations respecting
the unseen world ; the " worshipping of angels ; "
theories as to the nature and rank of spiritual and
invisible powers, which led to the virtual dethronement
of Christ as Lord of all, and made it needful to exalt
Him as " the Head," the •' Fulness " being "well pleased
to dwell in Him. "2 It is here that we see the beginning
of those vain philosophies which, in the next generation,
■were connected with the names of Cerinthus, Basilides,
and the promulgators of Gnostic heresies.
(3) Together Avith these phases of belief, there ap-
pears to have been the inculcation of ascetic practices —
" voluntary humility," " neglecting of the body," an en-
forced ritual abstinence, " Touch not, taste not, handle
not ; " a professed trampling upon carnal appetites and
desires, which St. Paul boldly stigmatises as a more
" fleshly " thing than these desires themselves. Thus
cai-ly in the history of the Church does he declare the
truth which it would be well if all after times had
remembered — that au unnatural ascetism is a sure
minister to selfishness and sensuality.
In protesting against these various yet connected
forms of error, the Apostle takes occasion to dwell, in
animated language, on the supreme greatness of Christ,
and the glory of His redemption ; as also to enforce
1 Who were fhe teachers does not appear. The allusions in
chop. ii. 4, 8, are thought hy some to point to au individual teacher.
But this is very uncertain. No doubt the disseminators of error,
■whether one or many, came as professed converts to Christianity.
- Chap. i. 19 should read, "In Him (Christ) the Fulness ve;is
pleased to dwell " (comp. chap. ii. 9).
those pi-actical obligations which it was especially
needful to press liome upon recent converts from
heathenism.
8. The Epistle, it should be observed, is addressed
not to " the church " in Colossse, but to " the saints and
faithful brethren." The Apostle seems to use the
former style of address only to communities where ho
had himself laboured (Thessalonica, Corinth, Philippi) ;
the latter, to believers personally unknown to him, and
perhaps destitute of some " gift " of organisation which
apostolic presence was needed to impart. In this re-
spect the Colossian, Roman, and Ephesian Epistles are
alike (see the paper on the Epistle to the EphesLans).
The present Epistle, though unstudied and informal in
its arrangement, may be briefly analysec4 as follows : —
(1.) Introductory (i. 1—12).
(2.) Redemption by the Father and the Son (i. 13
—29),
(3.) Warning against false doctrine (ii. 1 — iii. 4).^
Here the Apostle repeats a leading thought of the
Galatian and Roman Epistles (see Rom. A-i. 4 ; ■\'iii.
10; Gal. ii. 19, 20, &c.). The coincidence is at least
as close as any that have been adduced between the
Epistles to the Philippians and to the Romans. (See
above, and note 4, p. 158.)
(4.) Practical exhortations based upon this (iii. 5 —
iv. B).-*
(5.) Conclusion. Personal (iv. 7 — 18).
9. The remaining history of the church in Colossa) is
unknown. The warning words addressed not many
years after to the neighbouring churches of Laodicea,
Thyatira, and Sardis, from the lips of Christ liimseK, too
sadly betoken a wide-spread declension from the faith
and love which, notmthstanding all tendencies to error,
had once characterised the Phrygian churches. " Thou
art neither cold nor hot ; " " Thou sufferest that woman
Jezebel to teach ; " " Tliou hast a name that thou livest,
and art dead." ^ May we hope that Colossse escaped the
prevailing corruption ? We cannot tell ; wo have only
in this Epistle the imperishable memorial of a name
that might otherwise have been lost in the darkness of
the past ; a testimony to all time that the true corrective
to superstition, the best antidote to vain philosophy,
and the only secret of a holy life, are to be found in
the apprehension of Christ the Saviour in His glory as
" the Image of the Invisible God," and in His redeem-
ing work, as " making peace through the blood of His
cross," that He might reconcile all things unto God.
3 In chap. ii. 18, the "worshipping of angels " is certainly illus-
trated by the fact that, as Theodoret {Ecd. Hist.) attests, the
archangel Michael was worshipped at Colossoe and a temple built
in his honour. In chap. ii. 21, " Touch not, taste not, handle
not," are the enslaving ordinances of men. It is surprising
that the words are often quoted as though they were apostolic
commnnd-i !
•* Punctuate chap. iii. 16 thus, " Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly ; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one
another ; in psalms and hymns and spiritual sougs singing with
■j^ract^ in your hearts to the Lord."
' Eev. iii. 1, 15 ; ii. 20.
CONTRASTS OF SCRIPTURE.
161
CONTEASTS OF SCRIPTURE.
ST. aiAEK AXD ST. LUKE.
BY THE REV. T. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE, M.A.,
!/^r^\^N a former paper' I examined certain con-
trasts in the phraseology of tlie Gospel
narratives, vrhich were to be attributed to
the different classes of readers for whom
each Gospel was originally intended. I proj)Ose in this
paper to call attention to certain contrasts between the
Gospel narratives of the various Evangelists, which
are to be accounted for by the individual characteristics
of the writers ; aud I commence with some peculiarities
of the Gospel of St. Mark. There are certain points in
which the same events are narrated by St. Mark diffe-
rently— both as regards language aud detail — from
the record of them by other Evangelists. Now if we
assume, as there is much reason for doing, that St.
Mark wrote his Gospel, if not at the dictation, at
least under the guidance, of St. Peter,- we shall find
that fact a suflB.cient explanation of such differences ;
and thus those very differences regarding detail become,
from this point of view, a strong testimony in favour
of the general truth of the narrative. There are
certain passages in St. Mark which must have been,
at all events, suggested by an eye-witness, and, I will
venture to add, by an eye-witness with an eye for
natural scenery and detail. For example, in Mark
iv. 33 the description given of the storm and the
Saviour asleep differs from that given by St. Matthew
(chap. viii. 24) and that given by St. Luke (chap,
viii. 23) by the introduction of such a little detail,
as only an eye-witness, aud an eye-witness who was apt
to regard such details, could have suggested. St. Mark
says (in comnist to the other Evangelists, who merely
mention that He was sleeping), " And He was in the
hinder i^art of the ship, asleep on a pillow.'"
In the description of the feeding of the five thousand
St. Matthew says (xiv. 19), " And He commanded the
multitude to sit down on the grass," &c. St. Luke
(ix. 15) i-emarks, " And they made them all sit down."
St. Mark's words are (vi. 39), "And He commanded
them to make all sit down hy companies upon the green
grass." Surely that is the description of one on whom
the actual sight of those groups clad in white and
variegated garments, dotted over the bright gi-een grass,
had made an impression from the picturesqueness of
the scene.
St. Matthew and St. Luke both narrate at length the
details of our Lord's temptation; but St. Mark alone
(with the appreciation of one who regarded intensely
the natural aspects of a scene) adds (i. 13), " And He
1 Vol. II., p. 257.
- Tertulliau (Cant. Jfamoii«m, 4, 5) refers to St. Peter's connection
with this Gospel thus— "c.ijus interpres Uarcxis." St. Mark is
spoken of by Irenaeua as " interpres et sectator Petri." Jerome
goes so far as to state explicitly that the origin of this Gospel
was " Petro narvanU, et iXlo scriherde."
INCUMBSKT OF BERKELEY CHAPEL, MAYFAIR.
was there in the wUderness forty days, tempted of Satan ;
and ivas with the ivild beasts," This is the more re-
markable, as St. Mark does not give — beyond the mere
mention of it — any record of the temptation ; and yet
he gives that one suggestion which an appreciator of
Nature would be struck with, of the complete loneliuess
and awf ulness of those forty days.
St. Mark, iu describing the finding of the colt on
which Christ was to make his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, gives a little detail unnoticed by the other
Evangelists — that the animal was found " without, in a
place where two ways met." These are aU remarkable
I examples of the writing of one (or the writing from the
accounts given by one) who was an eye-witness of the
scenes described, and who also had a vivid j)erception of
the natural characteristics of any scene or place. As
illustrative of a regard to detail from personal and inti-
mate knowledge of the incidents, though not involving
any illustration of an " eye for Nature," I may quote
St. Mark (xiv. 59) : '' But neither so did their witness
agree together ;" (xv. 44), " And PUate marvelled if He
were already dead : and calling unto him the centurion,
he asked him whether He had been any while dead ; "
(xvi. 3, 4), " And they said among themselves, Who shall
roU away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ?
And when they looked, they saw the stone was roUed
away, /or it ivas very great."
In many narratives the Gospel of St. Mark mentions
the expression of our Lord, which is not noticed by the
other Evangelists, thus showing that the writer was
informed by one who had not only been a close com-
panion of Him dui-iug His ministry, but was naturally a
keen and accurate observer. That Christ "' groaned in
spirit " is mentioned (\-i. 34 ; viii. 12) ; that He " looked
round" (iii. 5); that the rich young man was "loved"
by Him (x. 21). I may add the minute and graphic
account of the possessed with the legion of devils in St.
Mark v. 1 — 5.
It is not, I think, out of place to notice some con-
trasts between the phraseology of St. Mark's and the
other Gospels, which seem to indicate that the former
was derived from one who was a Galilean. St. Luke
•RTites (v. 1), " He stood by the lake of Gennesaret;"
St. Mark, in the parallel j)assage (i. 16), " Now as He
walked by the Sea of GalUee." St. Luke writes (viii.
22), "And He said unto them. Let us go over unto
the other side of the laJce ; " St. Mark (iv. 35) merely
says, " Let us pass over unto the other side," which
were, perhaps, the words used by our Lord, himself a
Galilean, whereas St. Luke added "of the lake" to
make it clearer to his readers, as it no doubt also made
it clearer to himself. I cannot but think that the con-
trast between the style of allusion to St. Peter in the
Gospel of St. Mark, aud iu the other Gospels, is really
83— VOL. IV.
ie2
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to be attributed to tliat modesty Tvliicli, as a rule,
characterises an impetuous and passionate nature iu
its calmer moments. St. Matthew, for example, writes
(yiii. 11), " And when Jesus was come into Peter's
house ; " St. Luke says (iv. 38), " Ho entered into
Simon's house." In St. Mark's narrative the promi-
nence of Peter's name disappears : thus (i. 29), " They
entered mto the house of Simon and Andrew with
James and John."
St. Matthew (xv. 15) mentions that Peter was the
spokesman of the disciples in asking the meaning of
tlae parable — " Then answered Peter, and said unto him.
Declare unto us this parable." St. Mark ("N-ii. 17) says,
" His disciples asked Him concerning the parable."
Tlie message of the angels to the disciples is thus
recorded by St. Mai-k (xvi. 7), " Go your way, tell his dis-
ciples and Peter that He gocth before you into Galilee :
there shall ye see Him." Tlio words "and Peter" arc
peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel. To others there might
have been little in the fact of the mention of Peter's
name ; to him, with the memory of his fall so fresh,
how very dear that mention must have been. The
mention of that name, therefore, in a narrative written
at his suggestion, is natui'al. Nor can we regard it as
wanting iu modesty if we agi*ee with the remark of St.
Gregory, " If the angol had not named Peter, he had
not dared to come amongst the disciples."^
St. John (xviii. 10) iu narrating the incident about
the cutting off of the servant's car, mentions that this
act of zeal for the Master was done by Peter. In St.
Mark's Gospel the narrative is given, but no name is
mentioned ; the act is merely referred to as that of a
certain person who stood by.
From the Gospel of St. Mark, with its interesting
traces of St. Peter's influence, I turn to the Gospel of
St. Luke. Some of the characteristics of St. Luke's
Gospel I have already alhided to as indicating the par-
ticular class of persons for whom his Gospel was pri-
marily intended — namely. Gentile readers. But the
opening verses suggest that a particular Gentile convert,
named Theophilus, was addressed. It has, no doubt,
been suggested that the word Theophilus was not neces-
sarily the name of an individual, but merely a generic
name- for any lover of God {de6(pi\os). The whole tone
of the passage, as well as ancient testimony,^ is, how-
ever, opposed to this idea. Tlio very word Kpartare
("most excellent ") seems to designate an individual of a
particular i-ank,^ and would be strangely out of place
if the word were used as simply meaning " amans Dei,"
and not as the actual name of an individual.
But further, the statement in chap. i. 4 could scarcely
be addressed to an abstract idea, and not to a person.
St. Luke states that he writes in the hope that "you may
1 " Si angelus Petrum non nominasspt, venire inter discipulos
non auderet ; A'ocatur ergo ex nomine, ne dosparet ex negations."
- Epipbau., If(pr., li., p. 429; Orifjen, iiow. i. in Luc.
■' He was supposed bj- some to belong to Alexandria. Theo-
pbylact (ArQuinent. in Luc.) suggests that he was perhaps of the
senatorial order, and perhaps a prince.
•* See Acts xxiii. 2G j xsiv. 3 j xxvi. 25, where the same desip^a-
tion is used.
clearly perceive ■' tlio certainty of those things wherein
thou hast been instructed (KaTT^xv^ns)" — language which
bears upon its face the impress of historic indi\-iduality.
Assuming then that this Theophilus was a Gentile and
resident in Italy, thei'e are various peculiarities which
are traceable to the fact of this Gospel having been
addressed to him. Archbishop Thomson has pointed
out that various passages owo their minuteness of
detailed description to the fact that Tlieophdus was
not an inhabitant of Palestine, to whom the relative
position of certain places would have been well known.
For example, Capernaum is described as "a city of
Galilee " (iv. 31) ; Nazareth also " a city of Galilee "
(i. 26) ; Arimathea as a " city of the Jews " (xxiii. 51).
The country of the Gadarenes is indicated as being
" over against Galilee " (rai. 26). There are, however,
some passages bearing upon this point, the phraseology
of which is a striking contrast to that of the otlier
Evangelists. Of these I would note two instances. St.
Luke (xxii. 1), speaking of the great Jewish feast, says,
" Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which
is called the Passover ; " St. Matthew writes (xxvi. 2),
" Ye know that after two days is the Passover." St.
Luke (xxi. 37) mentions that Christ went out and abode
"in the mount which is called the Mount of Olives,"
which is language most imlikely to have been used
except by one writing at a distance.*'
There are some passages in St. Luke in which ho
substitutes for the word used by the other Evangelists,
when it happens to be a foreign word, or of foreign
significance, language which would be more intelligible
and more acceptable to an educated Greek. This con-
trast between St. Luke's and the other Gospels would
seem to indicate not merely his superior style as an
educated man (for he would be acquainted with the
words current iu Palestine), but one writing amongst
those who would understand best the most accurate
Greek. Thus we read in St. Matthew (xxii. 17), "' Is it
lawful to give tribute {k/jvo-ov) unto Ca3sar, or not ? "
The same word for " tribiito " is ijsed again by St.
Mark in the j)arallel passage (xii. 14). Now this is not
a Greek word; it is not to be found in Greek litera-
ture, although it no doubt was the real name of the tax,
for it was a Roman impost, and the word employed by
the two Evangelists is the Latin census (a t.ax). In St.
Luke's Gospel (xx. 22) we read, " Is it lawful to give
tribute (<p<ipov Sovvai) to Cajsar, or not?" The word for
"tribute " thus used by St. Luke — though probably not
the real word used on the occasion, for the Roman title
for it would doubtless have been that used in the con-
versation with our Lord— is the word which a Greek
would have employed. It was the word used for a tax
paid by foreigners to a ruling state."
In the accoimts given by St. Matthew and St. Mark
of the Crucifixion, we read, " Wlien they were come to
5 tjri7vw9, the tT' intensifying the ycrb; "plane et accurate
cognoscere," as Wake interprets it.
•> Josepbns uses the same {JcwUU fVar, book v., c. 2, § 3).
' Thucydides (i. 9G) uses ^op", as designating- the tax paid by
the islanders, &c., to Athens.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
163
a place called Golgotlia, that is to say, a place of a
skiill" (Matt, xxvii. 33) ; and, "They bring Him uuto
the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The
place of a skull " (Mark xv. 22). But St. Luke (xxiii.
33) omits the word Golgotha altogether, and changes
the meaning of it into a proper name — " When they
were come to the place which is called Calvary "
(^Kpavlov).
Tn conclusion, I may call attention to some minor
contrasts in the language of St. Luke's Gospel to that
of the other Evangelists, and which it is, I think, not
fanciful to trace to the fact of which St. Paul informs us,
that St. Luke was a physician. Both St. Matthew (viii.
14) and St. Mark (i. 29, 30) mention the sickness and
heahng of Simon's Avife's mother. They both state that
she was sick of ''a fever ; " but St. Luke mentions that
(iv. 38) she was taken " with a great fever." The former
two Evangelists mention, after the fever, at Christ's
command, leaves her, that " she arose and ministered
unto them." St. Luke -svrites, "And immediatelij she
arose and ministered unto them." The physician appre-
ciated the intensity of the fever from which she was
sufEering, and was naturally more struck than others
with the fact that not only did the fever depart, but,
without any intei-val for the uatiiral recovery of health,
she was restored by the same miraculous power at once
to her former strength. St. Luke also is the writer
who compares the sweat of agony in the Garden to
(xxii. 44) " as it were gi'eat drops of blood falling down
to the ground ;" and he alone of the Evangelists records
the healing of Malchus' ear, while the others only state
the incident of its ha\'ing been smitten off.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
BY THE EEV. EUSTACE R. CONDER, M.A., LEEDS.
> S the Bible among all books, so among the
books of the Bible, the Psalms in the Old
Testament, the Gosjiel of John in the
New Testament, have taken deepest hold
on the heart of mankind. In sorrow, in sickness, in
old age, in his happiest and holiest hours, the Christian
turns, as if instinctively, to the pages of this Evangelist.
When the Gospels are sold separately, the sale of the
fourth Gospel far exceeds that of the other three. No
part of the Bible, apart from the special evidence of
fulfilled prophecy, presents more strongly the internal
evidence both of historic truth and of Di-sdne inspiration.
If the question be asked, where, in the whole range of
literature, is foimd tlie most wonderful combination of
sublime ideas and simple language, the reply must be —
in the Gospel and Epistles of St. John. Calvin was
wont to call this Gospel the key to open the door to
the right understanding of the other three. It not only
completes the picture of our Saviour's outward life and
ministry, which had else lacked some of its most im-
portant features, but gives such an inward -view of His
character and teaching, that we seem almost brought
into personal contact with Him, side by side with the
disciple who said, " Lord, to whom should we go ?
Thou hast the words of eternal life ; " or with him who
exclaimed, as his doulits vanished at sight of his risen
Master, " My Lord and my God ! "
We know more of the Apostle John than of most
of the apostles. There is no reasonable doubt that it is
to himself he refers as the unnamed one of the two dis-
ciples of John the Baptist, who, on John's testimony,
believed in Jesus as the Messiah, and were accepted by
Him as His first disciples (chap. i. 35 — 40). Andrew,
there named as his companion, and Simon, the third of
this little band of earnest and faithful adherents, next
appear as j)artners (Luke v. 10) wdth John and his
brother James, together with Zebedee theu' father, ia
their rough but honest and useful calling as fishermen
on the Lake of Galilee. In the fists of apostles these
four are always first named, and as James is placed
first, we infer that John was the younger brother. The
impetuous fervour, energy, and loftiness of spirit, which
earned for the two brothers from their Master the name
of Boanerges ("Sons of Thunder"), are clearly discern-
ible in two incidents preserved by St. Luke (chap. ix.
49, 54), and in their ambitious request recorded in the
first two Gospels (Matt. xx. 20 ; Mark x. 35). Although
he shared the panic of that terrible moment when Jesus
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and " all the dis-
ciples forsook Him and fled," John proved his courage
and devotion by accompanying Jesus into the high
priest's palace, and standing close by His cross, where
he received the sacred trust of filling a son's place to
the mother of his dying Lord ; " and from that hour
that disciple took her to his own home." We may take
for gi'anted what is universally allowed, that it is to
himself he refers as " the disciple whom Jesus loved "
(chap. xiii. 23; xix. 26; xxi. 7, 20). Thus, whUe
avoiding the express mention of his own name, he at
once indicates the authorship of his work, and claims to
be an eye-witness of what he narrates. This claim is
also made with great emphasis in chai>. i. 14 ; xix. 35
(see also xxi. 24), and is dwelt on with intense earnest-
ness in his First Epistle (chap. i. 1 — 3).
If, as seems tolerably clear, the sister of our Lord's
mother, mentioned by St. John (xix. 25), was Salome,
wife of Zebedee (comp. Matt, xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40),
the Evangelist was a first cousin of the Lord. This,
however, would not account for the peculiarly intimate
relations between them, had there not been in John's
character, combined with his fiery fervour, a singular
tenderness, loveliness, and receptivity; a largo admix-
1G4.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tare, iu a word, with masculine force, of that feminiue
elcmout wliich keen observers of human nature have
prououucod essential to the highest greatness and finish
of character. Some of the most terribly severe things in
the Bible are found iu his Gospel and Epistles, couched
iu the quietest words ; but the prevailing impression
they leave on our miuds is of gentleness and love. No
wonder, then, that when trial, experience, and the soften-
ing touch of age, had mellowed his whole nature, and
a hundred winters, or near, had gone over his head in
a world whose only sunshine for him came from the
world beyond, — no Avonder that the image of the aged
Apostle left in the memory of the Church, almost to the
exclusion of every other, should have been that of saintly
simplicity and most loving tenderness.
Diverse indeed was the lot severally appointed to
the two " sons of thunder " — for the one, to be the first
martyr of the glorious companj^ of ajjostles ; for the
other, to be, for long years, its last survivor; a living
link of communion and testimony between the first and
second centuries. Tradition, fuller and more trust-
worthy than iu the case of any other apostle, assures us
that St. John liveol until the reign of Trajan (who began
to reign a.d. 93), and that he laboured, died, and was
buried at Ephesus.' As we cannot suppose him to
have been many years (if at all) younger than our Lord
(the true date of whose bu-th, it will be remembered,
is B.C. 4), this would make him to have reached and
perhaps ovei'passed one hundred years of age,
The question of Authorship is of immensely greater
importance in the case of the fourth Gospel than of the
other three. Their value would be the same if they
had come down to us under other names. The writers
of the second and third contribute nothing of their
own to the reports of eye-witnesses, which they faith-
fidly transmit. The writer of the first, though an eye-
witness, never speaks as such ; and we know nothing
of him but the few incidents connected with his call as
a disciple and ordination as an apostle. With the
fourth Gospel the case is widely difEerent. The writer,
as we have seon, lays the greatest stress on his being
an eye-witness ; more than this, he claims to be the
Apostle John himself. If he was n)t — if this Gospel
was written by an)' one else, with how pious soever
intention, it is neither more nor less than a forgeiy,
and consequently utterly worthless. The intelligent
reader, tlierefore, cannot be contented to leave this
question as a mere scholar's controversy, in which he is
not practically interested. He must desire to know at
least the nature of the grounds on which, in reading
the fourth Gospel, he may confidently believe that he
has before him the words of the beloved disciple and
venerable apostle ; bringing him within one remove of
listening to the very voice of Jesus.
^ The testimonies are given by Eusebias, Eccl. Hist. iii. 23 ;
V. 24; iii. 1. A German writer, named Liltielberger, between
thirty and forty years ago, laboured hard to destroy the credit of
this universally received tradition. His criticisms, resting on the
fallacious argument from silence, are clearly stated, and ably and
satisfactorily answered, together with a large number of other
objections, by Dr. D.ividson (litrod. to N. T., vol. i., pp. 24t flf.).
Some brief general maxims may be here of great
help and value : —
(1.) Positive evidence, if sufficient and decisive, over-
rides any amount of negative CAadence in the form of
objections and difficulties. Objections, often of great
apparent weight, and difficult if not impossible to clear
away, may be brought against the strongest case in a
court of justice, or the best establi.shed fact in history.
Yet the e-\-idence may be so clear and ample as to
forbid doubt. It is not therefore needful, in order to
an intelligent and devout faith in apostolic teaching,
that the reader should be aware of all the minute and
intricate objections — sometimes formidable, sometimes
triflinw — which the keen ingenuity of modern scholars
(especially in Germany) has consti-ucted against the
genuineness of the books of the New Testament ; or
should be acquainted with the answers. The positive
evidence is what mainly concerns him. If that is
decisive, there must be a reply to the objections, though
he may not at present be furnished with it.
(2.) On the other hand, the refutation of objections,
when the skiU of able and learned opponents has been
taxed to the utmost to adduce them, adds considerably
to the strength of the positive evidence.
(3.) It is not necessary, in order to an intelligent
and sound judgment, either to possess or to affect an
unnatural impartiality. Suppose a man finds the title-
deeds to his estate, or the honour of his friend, or
the validity of his parents' marriage, called in ques-
tion, it would be monstrous to expect him to be coolly
impartial. But the very depth of his interest in the
matter will make him scrutinise the evidence the more
keenly. He will not rest content till all doubt is shown
to be unreasonable.
(4.) In matters of historical evidence and reality, a
clear head, common sense, and a firm grasp of the main
points, are far more important than microscopic masteiy
of minute details, and will enable the reader so en-
dowed to see his way to a calm well-grounded certainty,
where men immensely his superiors in learning lose
themselves in a wilderness of doubt.
(5.) The highest evidence of all — that self-evidence
of Divine truth by which it commends itself to every
man's conscience, heart, and understanding — cannot bo
measured by literary criticism, or communicated from
mind to mind by argument. Where this evidence of
truth and Divine insjjii-ation is recognised, the question
of authorship may sometimes remain debateable, and of
very inferior importance ; as in the case of the Epistle
to the Hebrews. But in the case of this Gospel, the
two things are inseparable. If it l)e Inspired, it must
l)e St. John's, because a deliberate forgery could not be
Divinely inspired.
It is needful to distinguish between (I.) the external,
and (II.) the internal evidence of authorship; or, as it
is often termed, genuineness.
I. The EXTERNAL EVIDENCE is the testimony of
the Church. In plainer words, the fact that among
the numerous and widely-scattered Christian com-
munities, from Gaul to Syria, this Gospel was received
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
165
as from the pea of the Apostle John, at so early a
date as to preclude the possibility of its being spurious.
Let us set down, in brief outline, the proof of this
fact.
1. The existence of the general Epistle of St. John
is a powerful testimony to the genuineness of the Gospel.
Even hostile critics admit that both must b:? from one
pen. The opening verses appear distinctly to point to
the Gospel, and to its unique and wonderf id beginning ;
for although they would have been a true description
of the Apostle's preaching, it would not be natural for a
preacher in writing to his hearers thus to describe his
own preaching. A forger would have incalculably in-
creased the danger of detection and failure by attempt-
ing to float TWO such extraordinary compositions as the
work of the last sur^•iving Apostle. And who, forsooth,
was this wonderful forger, or in what nook of obscurity
did he hide his head, who achieved that rarest feat of
genius (.if it was only genius), the expression of the
sublimest truth in phrases of such terse simplicity that
they have become key- words of all Christian teaching,
and can never die ? " God is light ; " " God is love ; "
" Sin is lawlessness ; " "' Eveiy man that hath this
hope in Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure ; "
"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; " "The
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin." Who was the man able to sustain this style of
thought and diction throiigh the Epistle and to write
the Gospel besides; yet mean and wicked enough to
send forth his works with a lie.^ Truly "these are
not the words of him that hath a devil."
2. The testimony in 2 Pet. i. 14 to John xxi. 18 must
not be overlooked.
3. Ignatius, bishop of the church of Antioch diu-iug
the last thirty years of the first centiuy and the early
years of the second, and martyred under the Emperor
Trajan, employs phrases which plainjy aj)pear taken
from this Gospel.^
4. Papias of Hierapolis, according to Eusebius (Hist.
Eccl. iii. 39\ quoted St. Jolm's Epistle. Papias was a
contemporary and friend of Polycarp of Smyrna, who
already held the pastoral office when Ignatius passed
through that city on his way to martyrdom. Papias is
supposed to have been martyi-ed about the same time
with Polycarp.
5. Tatian, the hearer and friend of Justin Martp-,
compiled a work entitled Diatessaron (" Through the
Four "), that is, a harmony or continuous narrative com-
piled from the four Gospels. The year of Tatian's
death is not known; but this work, which obtained
a wide circulation, cannot be dated later than about
A.D. 170. There is no room for question as to what
" four " Gospels it combined, even if we had not express
testimony that the Diatessaron commenced with the
1 Davidson's Introd. to JV. T., i. 234. See for qnotatioDS from, or
allusions to this Gospel, by Justin Martyr, by Poly crates of Ephesus,
and in the Epistle to Diognetus, pp. 235, 236. Allusions like these,
iu which the Gospel is not expressly named, do not supply strong
direct evidence, but are valuable as shutting out the objection
■which naght be drawn from their absence.
words " In the beginning was the Word."^ The com-
pilation of such a harmony implies the previous wide
and unquestioned reception of all the four Gospels;
and thus affords testimony much earlier than the date
of its own composition.
6. Theophilus, bishop of the chitrch of Antioch abotit
A.D. 170 — 183,^ is the first writer who exi^ressly names
St. John as the writer of the fourth Gospel. He wrote
a commentaiy on the four Gospels. How coidd either
he (born within thirty or forty years of St. John's death)
or the churches amongst which his commentary circu-
lated, have been imposed on by a recent forgery, and
accepted it side by side with the venerable writings of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke ?
7. Irenseus, also born within seme thirty years (or
less) of St. John's death, bishop of the chiu-ch at Lyons
from A.D. 177, but a native of Asia Minor, and in his
youth a hearer of Polycarp, hin s If a hearer of St.
John, among some four hundred quotations from the
Gospels, quotes St. John more than eighty times, ex-
pressly naming him as the author of the fourth Gospel.
He has some curious arguments to prove that there
could not be more or fewer than fotir Gospels ; strained
and fancifid, it is true, in themselves, but indubitably
proving that four, and only four, authentic and genuine
narratives of the Gospel history were ttniversally re-
ceived as inspu'ed Scripture.
8. In like manner, Terti lian, born soon after A.D. 150,
by some 200 quotations from this Gospel, bears witness
to its unquestioned reception by the African churches.*
9. The venerable Syriac Bible, called Peshito (simple
or faithful), ascribed to the latter part of the second-
century, contains this Gospel. It is also eniunerated
among the books of the New Testament Canon in the
remarkable MS. known as " The Canon " or " Frag-
ment "' (from its being mutilated at each end) " of
Mtiratori," so called from its discoverer; the original
of which critics ascribe to about A.D. 170.^
Let the reader clearly understand that the value of
this accumulated evidence is not the mere sum of
individual testimonies (weighty though that is) ; but lies
in the demonstration thus furnished, that in the third
quarter of the second century this Gospel was received
withoiit question or suspicion, together with the three
others (and no more), by the chm-ches of Asia, Europe,
and Africa. This wide dissemination implies a con-
siderable lapse of years since its publication ; so that
the combined light of these testimonies shines far back
through the first half of the century — that is, within
the lifetime of hundreds, if not thousands, who had
seen and heard the Apostle himself. That within that
half century, both the Gospel and the Epistle should
have been forged, and obtained tliis world-wide reception
as genuine, is an utterly (one might say monstrously)
incredible stipposition.
- See Davidson, p. 237.
3 Ih., vol. iii., p. lOS-t.
* See Dr. Tischendorf's TF7ie7i v-ere our Gospels Written ? p. 49.
(Religious Tract Society.)
5 lb., p. 49. Westcott's BiUe in the aairch, pp. 112—116.
ir.6
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
II. TllO IXTEKXAL EVIDENCE is twofokl; COUbidtiug
jjartly iu the iudicatious, thickly imbeddod iu the narra-
tive, that it is the work of a truthful witness, himself a
living actor ami spectator in the events he describes ;
partly in the utter impossibility of giving any reasonable
explanation of the production of the work, if it were a
forgery. Bo it remembered that this is not a question
of doubt or possible mistake iu the ascription of an
anonymous work to a certain author. Tlie book claims
to bo from St. John's pen — in a manner the most
simple, natural, and modest, if he was its author;
most subtilly and deliberately deceitful if he were not-
And this is a book which proclaims Truth to be the
mainstay of life, liberty, and holiness. The rank im-
possibility of imagining who or what the forger could
be, if the Gosj)el and Epistle are forgeries, has been
already hinted at in i-eference to the latter. To any one
who realises the literary and religious character of the
half century after St. John's death, as regards both
Christians and heretics, it will not seem an exaggeration
to say that the production of this Gospel, if it was the
work of an impostor, was a mii'aclo gi-eater (because
more imaccoimtable) than the resurrection of Lazarus .
and the success of the imposture was miraculous also.
No one is so foolish or hardy as to deny that if written
diu-iug St. John's lifetime — if written by a Jew of
Palestine, a personal follower of oiu* Lord, the Gospel
could have been wi'itten by no one else but the Apostle
himself. Now the indications of such authorship
abound ; not coarsely thrust in or j)atehed on, as by
the hand of a foreign forger, more than a century after
the facts narrated, but inwoven naturally and unobtru-
sively, as by one who was himself part of the scenes ho
depicts. A forger attempting this would have betrayed
liimself over and over again. Appreciation of this sort
of evidence must vary, partlj' according to the readei''s
learning, but chiefly according to his tact, acuteness,
sensibility, and good sense — candour, of course, being
supposed. As examples, let the reader turn to chap. i.
U, 29, 35—39 ; ii. 6, 7, 12, 20, 22 ; iv. 6, 27, 28, 54 ;
vi. 5 ; xi. 54 ; xii. 1 — 6 ; xiii. 4 ; and the whole of the
exquisitely graphic, simple, and beautiful narratives of
the healing of the blind man (chap, ix.), and the raising
of Lazarus (chap. xi.). These examples may suggest
others for private study.
It is true that many ingenious attempts have been
made to fasten on this Gosj)el mistakes in regard to
localities, Jewish customs, &c., inconsistent with its
being the work of a Jew of our Saviour's time. But
these hare so broken down, that one of the latest hostile
critics surrenders them wholesale.^
1 Dr. Keim, quoted by Mr. Sanday, iu his Critical Essay on the
Authorship and Historical Character of the Fourth GospeJ, -p. 284.
(Macmillau & Co., 187 2.) In this extremely able work, the internal
evidence for the genuiueuess of this Gospel is wrought out with
signal acumen, clearness, and force ; and the theory of a Gnostic
authorship shown to be nothing short of an absurdity. It is
much to be regretted that Mr. Sanday should have gone so far to
damage the value of his own argument by the astonishing and
self-complacent coolness with which he corrects the mistakes of
St. John and the other Evangelists, puUs discourses to pieces,
melts different events and times into one, and (by what he calls
"a method of analysis and comparison") substitutes his owu
subjectivity for that of the Evangelist. Probably, however, the
low point of view from which his book is written, as i'egards
apostoUc infallibility, may render it more useful to not a few
readers, whom a higher (and juster) view would reiiel.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE liEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., EECTOE OF PEESTON, SALOP.
FISH.
According to the ancient Hebrews, the
whole animal creation was di^dded into
three large groups — viz. (1), habitants of
_^ the laud, (2) habitants of the air, and (3)
habitants of the water. The habitants of tlie water in-
cluded (a) fishes and the whale tribe, or the Cetacea ;
and (6) " creeping things of the water," which would
probably embrace molluscous animals, Crustacea, as
lobsters, crabs, &.C., the marine and fresh-water Anne-
lida, the Ecliinodermata, as star-fish, sea-cucumbers
{Holothuridce), &c. Perhaps also in the first didsion
(a) certain aquatic mammalia, as the otter and the seal,
would be included. The Coelenterata, such as zoophytes,
corals, &c., would probably, from their plant-like forms,
be considered to belong to the vegetable kingdom.
The creeping things were regarded also from another i
point of view, \-iz., then- locomotion, and were divided
into these four groups — (1) " Those that go upon four
feet," such as some of the reptiles, as lizards ; and the
amphibia, as frogs, toads, &c. ; (2) '"those that have
many feet" (Lev. xi, 42; see margin, Heb., "doth ,
multiply feet"), such as crabs, shrimps, lobsters, &c.,
among the Crustacea, millepedes amongst the Myrio-
poda, spiders and scorpions amongst the Arachnida ;
(3) winged creeping things, as insects ; and (4) " those
that go upon the belly," as serpents, annelids, gastero-
podous moUusks. Creatui'es of the water are divided
into two classes, atz. (1), " those that have fins and
scales," and (2) " those that have not." So of fishes,
" whatsoever hath fins and scales iu the waters, in the
seas, and in the rivers " were allowed as food, while
those fishes destitute of these parts were to be considered
as an abomination to the Hebrews (Lev. xi. 9 — 12).
Hence the Silurida;, or sheat-fish family, the Petromy'
zidce, or lampreys, and the Raiida;, skates, all of which
have scaleless skins, would be disallowed as food. Eels,
from their serpent-like form, would probably also bo
excluded. "Whether the ancient Jews considered them
destitute of scales, wo cannot tell ; but that the Jews
have for a long time been aware of the existence of
scales iu the integument of the col, is clear from a
certain passage in the Talmud (Ahada Sara, fol. 39 a),
which relates that when Rabbi Ashi came to Tamdoria,
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
167
some oue placed before Liiu au eel-like fish («ni:i72,
tselopechd, which Rashi explains by vh^y^a, " anguille "),
aud that ou his holding it to the light he noticed some
veiy fine scales, and thereupon did not scrapie to par-
take of its flesh.
The Bible allusions to fish, fisheries, and modes of
fishing are numerous. According to the account in the
first chapt-er of Genesis, fishes were created on the
fifth day, together with great sea-monsters [tannim,
A. Y. " whales ") (Gen. i. 21). The fishes of Egyi^t
are more than once alluded to; they are especially
mentioned in connection with the fii-st plague : " The
fish that is in the river shall die " (Exod. vii. 18, 21 ;
fully understand the force of Isaiah's denunciation in
" the burden of Egypt." '• The river sliall be wasted
and dried up ; . . . the reeds and flags shall wither ;
. . . the paper-reeds by the brooks ; . . . the fishers
also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into tho
brooks shall lament, aud they that spread nets upon
the waters shall languish" (xix. 5 — 8). Fishes are
specially mentioned as creatures Over which man was
to hold dominion (Gen. i. 26, 28 ; ix. 2) ; their prolific
nature is alluded to in Gen. xlviii. 16. Of Ephraira and
Mauasseh the patriarch Jacob says, " Let them grow, as
fishes increase, in the midst of the earth " (see margin) ;
indeed, both the Hebrew word for a fish — viz., ddg —
FISHING WITH GROUND-BAIT. (EGYPTIAN)
Ps. cv. 29). The Israelites complain bitterly of their
want of flesh in the wilderness, and call to mind tho
days when they ate freely of fish in the laud of Egypt
(Numb. xi. 5). The ancient Egyptians consumed large
quantities of fish both fresh and salted. " The great
abimdance of fish produced in the Nile," says Sir G.
Wilkinson, " was an invaluable provision of Nature, in
a coimtry which had neither extensive pasture lands, nor
large herds of cattle, and where com was the principal
production. When the Nile inundated the country,
and filled the lakes and canals with its overflo^ving
waters, these precious gifts were extended to the most
remote ^^llages in the interior of the valley ; and the
plentiful supply of fish they then obtained was an
additional benefit conferred upon them at this season
of the year. The quantity is said to have been im-
mense, aud the shoals of small fish which then appear
in the canals aud ponds call to mind aud confirm a
remark of Herodotus respecting their numbers at the
rising Nile" {A\ic. Egypt, iii., p. 63). "We can then
and the Chaldee nun, are derived from roots each one
meaning '• to be prolific." The immense number of
fishes that in apostolic times swam in the Lake of
Gahlee are often alluded to in the New Testament.
" They enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net
began to break " (Luke v. 6 ; see also John xxi. 6, 11).
The GalUean lake still swarms with fish. " The density
of the shoals of fish in the Sea of Galilee," says Dr.
Tristram, '' can scarcely be conceived by those who have
not witnessed them. Fi-equently these shoals cover an
acre or more of the surface, and tho fish, as they slowly
move along in masses, are so crowded, with their back
fins just appearing on the level of the water, that the
appearance at a little distance is that of a ^dolent shower
of rain pattering on the surface."
There is no distinct mention of any particular kind
of fish in the Bible. Several kinds are found in the
Sea of Galilee. Dr. Tristram's party secured fourteen
species, and he thinks that jirobably the number in-
habiting the lake is at least three times as great. Two
168
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
SHEAT-FISH (Clarias niacr acanthus).
species, one a bream {Chromis Nilotica, Hasselquist),
the other a sihirus {Clarias macr acanthus, Giinther),
are very common, and are identical with the common
species of the Nile. The similarity between the fishes
of the Lake of Galilee, the Jordan and its affluents, and
those of the Nile, is a cm-ious fact. Besides the two
species just named, four otlier species, hitherto un-
known to science, were collected by Tristram ; three of
these were very abundant, but "all essentially African
in their characteristics ; " they belong to the genus
Hemichromis, and their nearest relatives are found
either in the Nile or some of the lakes of south-eastern
Africa discovered by the late much lamented Dr.
Livingstone. It may bo rememljered that the reader's
attention was called in a preceding article (Bible
Educator, Vol. II., p. 246) to the number of African
typos of plants and birds found in the Jordan valley
and the sub-tropical plains of the Dead Sea. The
similarity of the iclithyological fauna of Palestine with
that of Africa, taken in conjunction witli this other
fact, helps, geologically, " to join Palestine very closely
to that continent." Josephus, speaking of the country
near the Lake of GennesJireth. and the fertile fountain
by which the district was watered, says that this foun-
tain, called by the people of the country Capharnaum,
was supposed by some to be a vein of the Nile because
it produces the coracine {Siluroid) fish, which is also
found in the lake near Alexandria {Bell. Jud., iii. 10,
§ 8). The sheat-fish, of which various species are
known, have the character of being poor and unpalat-
able food. Russell {Hist. ofAle^jpo, ii.. p. 217) says of a
species of silurus that is found in the Orontes and stag-
nant waters near that river, " that it has a rank taste,
resembles coarse beef in colour, and by the doctors is
considered unwholesome," though it is much eaten by
the Chi'istians; and recently Tristram testifies from
experience that these siluroids are most unsavoury
eating." This seems to us to throw some interesting-
light on one of our Lord's parables. In Matt. xiii. 47,
48, we read, " Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto
a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every
kind ; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and
sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast
the bad away." Jesus, when he delivered the string
of paraliles contained in this chapter, was sitting " by
the sea-side," meaning, of course, the Sea or Lake of
Galilee, and no doubt was cbawing this illustration of
the kingdom of heaven from a well-known custom
amongst the fishermen of that lake. The net {aaynyri)
was a largo kind of drag-net which was used with boats,
and would often, and jierhaps always, enclose together
with the fish which had scales numbers of the very
common sealeless sheat-fish. The epithet which is
rightly translated "bad" in our version, is in the Greek
ANIMALS OF THE EIBLE.
169
LABEOBARBUS CANIS.
170
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ffairpd, aucl more definitely deuotcs '" that wliieh is
putrid." But iJutriU. fisli ^yould seldom, if ever, be
drawn to laud by the draw-uets, uor would the separa-
tiou of such fish have req^uircd so much care as seems
implied in the expression " sat down and gathered," &.c.
Whether the Jews in the time of Christ were iu the
matter of fish-diet as puncti-
lious as they were earlier iu
their histoiy, oue caunot say ;
but it is curious to note the
occurrence of such expres-
sions as the aairphs aiXovpos of
Atheu£eus and Greek paro-
dists cited by him, and the
" dimidio putrique siluro "
(with half a stinking silurus)
of Juvenal {Sat. xir. 130).
Although the Jews of our
Lord's time probably woidd
not cat these siluri, their
Roman conquerors most cer-
tainly would. Salted siluri
were exported from Egypt in
large quantities, and hawked
about tlio streets of Rome;
consequently, the Romans in
Palestine would no doubt be
familiar with these fish both
in their salted aud fresh con-
dition. The fish, often has-
tily and carelessly prepared,
and then hawked about the
streets of Rome and other
towns in the hot months,
would merit the epithet ap-
plied to them; and as these
fish were considered cheap
aud vile food, and were only
bought by the lower orders,
the epithet of aairphs origi-
nally bestowed on semi-putrid
salted fish was perhaps ap-
plied to any sUui-us, whether
prepared or fresh.
The fishes of the Jordan
and its affluents, which do
not differ from those of the
Lake of Gennesaret, being
chiefly bream or Imrbel, are
exceedingly numerous. Tho
Jordan is " alive with fish to its very exit, and carries
by the rapidity of its current into the poisonous waters
of the Dead Sea millions of fry, chiefly of bream, which
are soon stupefied, and become the easy jjrey of the
birds which await them, while myriads of their carcases
strew the shore near the mouth." But perhaps iu
none of the streams of Palestine are fish more abun-
dant than in the river Jabbok. In a small stream
among the ruins of Rabbath-ammon, Tristram noticed
" one continuous line of fish coming and going," and
FISH-GOD. (nIMKOUD.)
meutious that with tho simplest appliances, as by a shirt
extemporised into a bag, his i)arty were able to catch
any number. Tho fish chiefly f ouud here is the Barbus
longiceps.
The saliue waters of the Dead Sea contain no animal
life, but iu the salt hot aud sulphurous sjirings near tho
Dead Sea shoals of minute
gudgeons aud minnows, and
still smaller fish of the genus
Cyprinodon Hammonis, Cuv.
ct Yal., are found. Those
that enter the lake are soon
stupefied and die. The fishes
of tlie western streams which
flow into the Mediterranean
are not so numerous as those
east of its watershed, but the
same kinds are found in
them, as the blenny {Blennius
lupulus) in the Kishou. The
fish of the Mediterranean
coast do not differ from those
that occur in the sea gene-
rally; the principal kinds
caught off the shores of the
Mediterranean belong to the
families Sjxiridce, Percidce,
Scomber idee, Baiadce, and
Pleuronectidce, but some spe-
cies, as the mullets, are more
abundant in the Syrian
waters. The Nile and the
fresh waters of Egypt have
from remote time been cele-
brated for their fish. Besides
the siluroids, fishes of the
families Labridce, Sparidce,
Chrcmidce, and Cyprinidce
are common.
The ancient Jews do not
appear to have paid much at-
tention to fisheries, and there
are few Bibhcal allusions to
them. The coast of Pales-
tine had few localities suitable
for carrying on extensive
fisheries, and these fishing
stations were chiefly in the
hands of the Phoenicians, as at
Tyre and Sidon. Caesarea was
not built before the time of Herod the Great, who named
tho town iu honour of the Emi^eror Augustus. Joppa,
on the south-west coast of Palestine, was a seaport
to'mi in Solomon's time, and in the hands of the Jews,
but they do not appear to have carried on any fishing
trade ; it is probable, however, that the Phoenicians had
a fishing station at Joppa, for we read iuNehemiah (xiii.
16) that at Jerusalem " there dwelt men of Tyre which
brought fish and all manner of ware, aud sold on the
sabbath unto the children of Judah." It is probable
AmMALS OF THE BIBLE.
171
that from Joppa — the port of Jerusalem iii ancient
times as at present — that city was supplied with fish,
as is the case now. But Tyre and Sidou were the
swept away, are covered with their nets, spread out to
di*y over tlie ruins."
The fishery of the Lake of Galilee in the time of our
chief and most important places where the Phceniciaus Lord was extensive and of considerable commercial
FISHING-SCENE. (ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.)
carried on a fishing trade j the very name of Sidon,
according to Gesenius, signifies " a fishing-place," and
Tyre is mentioned by Ezekiel in connection with fish-
ing-nets. '' It shall be a place for the spreading of nets
importance, and the allusions in the Xew Testament
are numerous. Did the ancient Jews carry on a fish-
ing trade here ? There is no reference in the Old
Testament Scriptures to any fishery of the Galilean
AN EGYPTIAN GENTLEMAN FISHING. (THEBES.)
in the midst of the sea " (xxvi. 5; comp. also verse 14).
At this day the people of Tyre, now a poor Tillago,
subsist chiefly by fishing; "their boats are the only
craft in the harbour of her whose merchants were
princes ; and the old wharves and the column-strewn
promontory, whence aU the palaces have been long since
lake, but it is not probable that none should have
existed. The existence of a regular fish-market at
Jerusalem is implied from tlie notice of one of the north-
western gates of the city, the Fish-gate — the gate, that
is, which opened on the fish market (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14 ;
Neb. iii, 3). The supply, probably, came chiefiy from
172
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Mediterranean coasts, and was brought — previously
salted — to the market at Jerusalem by Phoenician
dealers. There was a traditional belief amongst the
Jews that Joshua enacted ten laws, one of which was
"that it was permitted to any one to throw his net
into the sea of Tiberias, but it was not allowed to any
one to construct a weir, as the stakes might injure the
fishing-boats. " Ut indifferenter quivis retia pandet
ad piscationem in mare Tiberiadis ; attameu sub hac
cautione, ne maceriem aliquam struat, quae remora sit
navibus " (Lightfoot's ifom? Heb. in Matt. iv. 18).
Whether the Jews made use of their reservoirs and
pools as aquaria for keeping fresh-water fish alive, one
cannot say ; there is no direct allusion in the Bible to
anything of the kind, for the two passages, " Thine
eyes are like the fish-pools in Heshbon " (Cant. vii.
4); "They shall be broken in their foundations [see
margin], and all that make sluices and ponds for
fish" (Isa. xix. 10), do not convey the meaning of
our version in the original. The word in the first
passage rendered " fish-pool " merely means " a pool,"
The aaynvr} was a large net, and required the use of
fishing-boats, numbers of which were employed on the
Galilean lake. The a,u<pl^A-n(rrp3v, mentioned in Matt,
iv. 18 ; Mark i. 16, was probably not unHke our " cast-
ing-net." Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw
Simon Peter and Andrew " casting a net into the sea."
As to the precise mode in which the amphiblesiron was
gathered up and thrown, there is no clear evidence to
show. A fisherman with net in hand just about to
make his cast, was one of the figui-es on the shield of
Hercules. His attitude is thus described : " And on
the land there stood a fisherman on the look-out, and
he held in his hands a casting-net for fish, being like to
a man about to hurl it from him " (Hesiod, Scut. Here).
The term to denote " a cast '' was p6\os from $d\A(a, " I ,
throw." The Romans used their casting-net in a manner
not dissimilar to the one in use amongst the Greeks,
and they had the same term to signify " a cast,"' atz.,
bolus. The net itself was jacidum rcte, or jacnhim;
it was also called funda. The following c^uotatiou from
Plautus will explain the use of the jaculum : — " Like a
EGYPTIANS BEINGING IN FISH, AND SPLITTING THEM FOR SALTING.
" fish " being an interpolation ; while the passage in
Isaiah should be thus translated " The pillars of the
land are broken ; all they that work for wages are sad
at heart." The prophet, speaking of the misfortune
that should come upon Egypt, includes all classes of
the people in the general doom ; " the pillars of the
land "are the upper classes. Compare Ezek. sxx. 4;
Ps. xi. 3 ("foundations," A. Y.) with Gal. ii. 9, "James,
Cephas, and John, who seemed to be iiillars." " They
that work for wages " are the lower orders.
MODES OF CATCHING FISH.
Fish were caught by various methods, the most usual
one being by nets, which may have been similar to our
seine or drag-net. There are several Hebrew words for
nets, the most common being the Tcherem (from a root
meaning " to enclose ") and mihmordh (from lnhnar, "to
plait "). This latter was probably a kind of drag-net or
"seine," like the a-a-ynvr] of Matt. xiii. 47, with lead or
other weights at the bottom, and corks or pieces of wood
at the top. Such a net Ovid had in view when he wrote —
"Adspicis tit summa corUx levis innatet unda
Cam grave nexa simul retia mergat odus."
(Trisf. iii., iv. 11.)
man who throws his casting-net into a fish-pond, when
the net sinks to the bottom, he contracts its folds, and
when he has made his throw he takes care that the fish
do not escape whilst the net entangles them in all
directions within its folds " (True., act. i., so. 1). From
this it is pretty clear that the jacuhnn or amphiblesiron
must have been nearly identical in form and manner of
use with our own casting-net. The Romans, being
gixat fishermen, would doubtless often use their casting-
nets in the Lake of Galilee. The time for fishing is
the night, the fishermen in their boats returning to
Tiberias at daybreak. The night was the usual time
for net-fishing in Apostolic times (see Luke v. 5) :
" Master, we have toiled all the night." The casting-
net " was used either by a naked fisherman wading
from the shore, and by a rapid motion throwing his
net, and then drawing it in a circle, or from boats."
Dr. Tristram, when at Aiu Tabighah. considered to be
the ancient Bethsaida, witnessed a Galilean fisherman
using his casting-net. Ho lived in a hut which looked
like a little stack of rushes ; his net was spread on the
shore to dry ; out of the rush-hut emerged a man stark
naked, and began to prepare the net for a cast; "having
folded it neatly, he swam out with it a little way, cast
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
173
it, and returned by a semi-circular coui-se to the sliore,
when lie gently drew it in witli a few fisLes enclosed."
Fishing with hook and line was also practised; it
is alluded to by Isaiah (xix. 8), " They that cast angle
into the brooks ; " see also Hab. i. 15 ; Job xli. 1,
" Canst thou draw out the crocodile with a hook ? "
Our Lord teUs Peter " to go to the sea, and cast an
hook, and take up the fish that first couieth up " (Matt.
xvii. 27). The hook was called in Hebrew khakkdh,
i.e., the palate or mouth-&i.ev ; the word tsinnah, " a
thorn," was also used poetically of "a hook"" (Amos iv.
2), as was also sir ; the Hue was called khebel. The
ancient Egy^itians sometimes used a rod, which was
short and of one piece ; but they often used the liue
alone with ground-bait ; they did not use a float ; there
is no mention in the Bible of any fishing-rod. Arti-
ficial fly-fishing was not practised, nor does it appear
that fly-fishiug with the natural fly was ever adopted.
Fish-speariug was occasionally practised; this is
alluded to in Job xli. 7, " Canst thou fill his skin ■s\-ith
barbed irons, or his head with fish-spears ? " The fi^h-
spear is still much used in the smaller streams and the
northern rivers of the Lebanon. Weirs and stake-nets
formed of a sort of cane-wattle are used in the Kishou
and some other streams, and from the passage quoted
above from Lightfoot such a mode of fishing was
known to the Jews, though there is no direct allusion
to it in the Bible. At the present day poison is also
employed. " Men sit on a rock overhanging the water,
on which they scatter crumbs poisoned with vitriol,
which are seized by the fish. As soon as they are seen
to float on their backs, the men rush into the sea and
collect them." In Ezek. xxix. 4, where the prophet
declares a pimishment upon Pharaoh and his people
for their treacheiy to Israel, we read, " I will cause the
fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales." Some have
supposed that allusion is here made to some sucking-
fish {Eclieneis re»iora) or some large cephalopodous
mollusk (cuttle-fish). The echeneis possesses great
powers of adhesion, and is sometimes employed for
catching turtles. The fish is secured by a ring and
cord, and meeting with a turtle, it fixes itself thereon
by means of its powerful sucker, when both fish and
turtle are hauled in together. "We do not think, how-
ever, that the i)rophet alludes to anythuig of this kind.
Pharaoh is symboKcally represented by the great cro-
codile (A. Y. " dragon ") that lieth in the midst of his
rivers ; the people are denoted by the smaller inhabitants
of the rivers, viz., by the fish. Pharaoh and his people
were to be ejected from their countiy; the allusion,
probably, is to tlie unsuccessfid expedition of Apries
against the Cyrenians, and to the heavy loss sustaiued
by the Egyptian army amongst the deserts of Libya.
Compare verse 5, " I will have thee thrown into the
wilderness." Bishop Hall well explains this passage :
" I will drag thee out of those watery pools of thiue to
the dry land ; and for thy j)rinces and i)eople, which are
as the lessei" sort of fishes, they also, as sticking to thy
scales, shall be plucked out with thee." The ancient
Egyptians were expert fishermen, and used to construct
artificial ponds into which they placed various kinds
of fish when they fed them for the table ; hence the
people were compared to the fish metaphorically. The
favourite mode of fishing amongst those who took a
pleasure in it, was with the spear or bident. " They
sometimes stood on the bank of a canal, but generally
used a punt or boat made of papyms, in which they
glided smoothly over the lakes and canals within their
grouads without disturbing the fish as they lay beneath
the broad leaves of the lotus plant. The custom of
angling for amusement and speariug with the bident
may be considered peculiar to the higher orders, and
while the poorer classes employed the net and hook,
the use of the spear was confined to the sportsman.
The bident was a spear with two barbed points, which
was either thrust at the fish with one or both hands as
they passed by, or was darted to a short distance, a
long line fastened to it preventing its being lost, and
serving to secure the fish when struck. On these
occasions they were usually accompanied by a friend or
some of their children, and by one or two attendants,
who assisted in securing the fish, and who, taking them
off the barbed point of the spear, passed the stalk of
a rush through their giUs, and tlius attached tliem
together in order more conveniently to carry them
home" ("Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt, iii. 60).
Fish-worship was prevalent among some ancient
nations ; hence ki the Levitical law the worship of fish
is expressly forbidden (Deiit. iv. 18). Dagon, a diminu-
tive of do.g, "fish," in the sense of endearment, was the
national god of the Philistiues ; his temples were at
Gaza and Ashdod. Dagon is represented with the
face and hands of a man and the body of a fish.
Tlie Babylonians and Assyi-ians had their fish-gods ;
the wood-cut (page 170) represents a fish-god from
Nimroud.
174
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
LEPROSY (continued).
BT TV. A. GREENHILL, M.D. OXON.
^T -woTild be out of place hero to enter
minutely into the purely medical questions
relating to the leprosy of the Bible, but
it will be useful and interesting to ex-
amine some of the cases that are mentioned in Holy
Scripture, and see what light they throw upon the
nature of the disease. In the New Testament twelve
persons arc mentioned as being aifected with leprosy,
but they may be noticed imder three heads — (1) the
man whose miraculous cleansing is mentioned by St.
Matthew (^-iu. 2—i), St. Mark (i. 40—45), and St. Luke
(v. 12 — 16); (2) the ten lepers mentioned by St.
Luke only (xvii. 12 — 19) ; and (3) " Simon, the leper,"
mentioned by St. Matthew (xxvi. 6) and St. Mark
(xiv. 3). (1.) In the case of the single leper it is to
be noticed that he did not (like the ten) " stand afar
off," but mixed with the crowd, and came close to
our Lord. 'SYliy he was allowed to do this does not
clearly appear ; at first sight it seems possible that he
was aifected with the kind of leprosy that was con-
sidered " clean ; '' and this conjecture derives some
slight support from St. Luke's description of the man
as being ttAtjptjs AeVpos, "fidl of leprosy," which might
be supposed to mean " covered ivith leprosy," as men-
tioned in Lev. xiii. 12, 13. But, upon tlie whole, it is
probable that St. Luke's expression refers to the gravity
of the disease rather than to its supei-ficial extent ; and
again, if the man had been already " clean," our Lord
would not have told him to " show huusclf to tlie
priest, and offer for his cleansing those things which
Moses commanded." We may suppose, therefore, that
the man had been listening from a distance to our
Lord's sermon on the moimt, and that, when it was
ended, his eagerness to profit by His divine power
induced him to disregard the regulations respecting
ceremonial pollution. Our Lord's putting forth His
hand, and touching an unclean lej)er, which was noticed
with wonder in very early times, may Ix; explained on
the same ground as His transgressing the strict regula-
tions of the Sabbath, and He who was Himself perfect
in purity might touch even an unclean leper without
incurring defileraent. (2.) The case of the ten lepers
mentioned only by St. Luke (xvii. 12 — 19) probably
did not differ from that of the single leper just noticed,
and presents no special difficulty ; but (3) the mention
of the feast "in the liouse of Simon the leper" (St.
Matt. xxvi. 6 ; St. Mark xiv. 3) has given rise to much
specidation, and several conjectures have been hazarded
in order to get over the difficulty. It has been supposed
that the house belonged to Simon, but that he himself
was not present at the feast; or that A^vpSs was the
cognomen of his family ; or (which is the most common
explanation, and wliich alone deserves to be seriously
noticed) that he had formerly been a leper, but was
now healed, perhaps miraculously by our Lord Himself.
It is impossible to prove that this last conjecture is
erroneous ; but surely no one would ever think of
translating "S.ifxwv 6 \eirp6s, " Simon xvho had once been a
leper " (any more than Baprifiaios 6 Tv(p\6s, " Bartimteus
who had once been blind "), unless no other mode
of escaping the difficidty could bo found. In the
present case it is believed that there is no necessity
for any such far-fetched explanation. It is quite'
true that no one could associate with an "unclean"
leper ■without pollution ; but it is expressly said that
some lepers were " clean," even though their skin was
covered with the disease from head to foot (Lev. xiii.
12, 13). Such were perhaps the persons referred to by
Josephus (Ant. Jud. iii. 11, § 4), who in foreign nations
held high civil and militarj- offices, and were allowed
to enter into holy places and temples; and of whom
Naaman may be taken as a specimen (2 Kings v. 1).
Such was probably Gehazi, who (according to the
common chronology) was admitted to an audience with
the king of Israel, after he had been divinely smitten
with leprosy (2 Kings idii. 4). And such we may
suppose was Simon, as this is the simplest and most
natural way of explaining what woidd otherwise be a
very real difficulty.
In the Old Testament six cases of leprosy are men-
tioned, in the persons of Moses (Exod. iv. 6), Miriam
(Numb. xii. 10), Naaman (^2 Kings v. 1), Gehazi (2 Kings
v. 27), Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 19), and the four lepers
at the gate of Samaria (2 Kings vii. 3). These last
appear to have been affected with an ordinary kind of
" unclean " leprosy in the natural way, and accordingly
they were kept outside the city gate, in accordance with
the regulation in Leviticus (xiii. 46), that the " unclean "
leper " shall dwell alone ; without the camp shall his
habitation be."
The case of Naaman, also, appears to have been a
natural and ordinary one, and was not so severe as to
hinder his caiTying on his public duties, nor so loatlisome
as to prevent the king his master from " leaning on his
hand." when he went with him into the house of his
god Rimmon to worship there. The case was, however,
protracted, and was at last cured miraculously. It has
been argued from the words of the king of Israel,
" Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man
doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?"
that leprosy was commonly considered by the Jews to
be incurable by human means. But it is not necessary
to take these words in their strict, logical sense; and
surely no one could have believed that the lepers whoso
recovery was contemplated in Lev. xiii. and xiv. were
to be healed bv a constant succession of miracles. Of
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
175
course a case o£ Jevrish leprosy, especially if complicated
with other diseases, might become practically incurable ;
but when St. Cyril of Alesaudi-ia says of AeVpa, that
the complaint was incurable (to iraOos ovk ida-iixov, in
Cramer's Catena Grcec. Pair, in Nov. Test, vol. ii.,
p. 431, he probably only means that it was often very
troublesome and obstinate.
In each of the other four cases mentioned in the Old
Testament the disease was miraculously intlicted as a
sign (Exod. iv. 6), or a pimishment ; three were of the
white variety, two lasted a very short time, two were
permanent. In the case of Gehazi, the disease appears
(as was intimated above) to have been of the " clean "
kind, so that there was no ceremonial objection to his
conversing w-ith the king (2 Kings viii. 4), Hke any
other person. The case of Gehazi 1ms been quoted in
proof that the disease was hereditary ; but as in this
instance it was altogether miracidous and exceptional,
no inference can be safely drawn from it with respect
to the general character of leprosy. If indeed the
words of Elisha have any bearing at all on the question
of the hereditary or non-hereditary character of the
disease, they would rather seem to imply that it was
not commonly considered to be transmitted from father
to son; for why should the prophet have thought it
necessary to tell Gehazi that the " leprosy of Naaman
should cleave unto him and his seed for ever," if this
was generally believed to be one of the usual conse-
quences of the disease ?
As Gehazi was probably afflicted with a permanent
leprosy of the " clean" type, so, on the other hand, the
leprosy of King Uzziah' certainly rendered him per-
manently " unclean ; " and accordingly " he dwelt in a
several house unto the day of his death" (2 Chron.
xxvi. 21). We know nothing more of the character or
course of the disease, except that it appeared first on
his forehead.
Both Moses and Miriam were affected with the icJiite
species of leprosy, and in the case of Miriam it is im-
plied [ii not expressly stated) that the disease rendered
her unclean ; but we learn nothing more of its precise
character in either case. "With respect to Miriam,
however, the words used by Aaron in his expostulation
with Moses deserve to be specially noticed, " Let her
not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half con-
sumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb "
(Numb. xii. 12). Wliether these words are meant to
describe (with more or less exaggeration) what Aaron
saw before his eyes in the case of Miriam, or what he
had seen in the case of other people, they are remarkable
as expressing something quite different from what we
have hitherto found connected with leprosy, and cer-
tainly implying a far more formidable disease than any
of the varieties so minutely described in Lev. xiii.,
xiv. It is not easy to say exactly what disease is meant ;
perhaj)s Aaron had not a very distinct idea himself;
1 As the case of Azariah is sometimes mentioned (2 Kings xv. 5),
it may be useful to remind the reader that this is the second name
of the king who is more commonly called Uzziah.
but if it ever can be proved that elephantiasis, or triie
leprosy, existed among the Israelites, this passage may
fairly be intei-preted in that sense.
We have now examined each case of leprosy men-
tioned in the Bible, and it must be confessed that the
result appears to indicate that the word nv^a {tsara'ath)
was used in ancient times with some degree of latitude.
And this idea is confirmed by an examination of the
minute description of symptoms given in Leviticus
(xiii., xiv.), which (it should be borne in mind) relate
entirely to the disease in its earliest stages, not in its
fuUy developed form. Instead of entering into the
minute medical details requisite for a complete ex-
amination of these difficult and interesting chapters, it
will perhaps be better here to give only the general
results at which the writer thinks he has arrived on the
wliole question, and to notice in detail a few special
points of interest.
First, it is quite clear that two distinct and weU-
marked diseases, or grotips of diseases, are mentioned,
which rendered the patients respectively " clean " or
"unclean." Now it is of the titmost importance to
decide what this " uncleanness " meant : did it mean
ceremonial pollution ? or did it mean the power of pro-
pagating disease ? or did it comprehend both these
ideas ? In other words, was it entirely symbolical of
spiritual impurity, like the touch of a dead body, and
the other defilements mentioned in Leviticus ? or was
it simply a matter relating to the sanitary regulations
of the theocratic police ? The answer to this question
depends in some degree on the behef that the disease
was, or was not, contagioi^s; for those who contend that
it was incommunicable by ordinary contact from one
person to another generally consider the "uncleanness''
to have been ceremonial, while those who take the
opposite view with respect to contagion are generally
content with this simple reason for the restrictions
imposed by the Mosaic law, and do not look out for
any deeper significance. But the two views are not
at all irreconcileable, and so far from being mutually
antagonistic, they will (it is believed) be found to
explain and confirm each other. Any one who reads
the laws of pm-ification contained in Lev. xii. to
XV., supplemented by those relating to the defilement
proceeding from a human corpse in Xumb. xix., must
be convinced that these regulations, like so many others
in the Mosaic law, had a deep spiritual meaning,
and were intended to impress upon the muids of the
Israelites a profound sense of the loathsomeness of
every kind of impurity and sin. (See Keil and
Delitzsch, Comment, on the Pentateuch, vol. ii., p. 372,
&c.) On the other hand, it will be difficult to per-
suade any physician that these regulations were not
intended (partly at least) to prevent the spread of
disease among the people, and they will in his eyes
derive an additional value from this belief. It is per-
haps impossible to prove absolutely the truth of either
of these opinions, but it is at any rate highly probable
that botli are well founded; and while the physician
■pnR not consider that the sanitary precepts of Moses
176
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
lose any of their value bocauso they admit of an
allegorical interpretation, the divine will bo glad to bo
able to render the parallel of sin with leprosy more
complete by the assurance that the disease, at least in
some of its forms, was contagious. It has not been
sufficiently borne in mind that several varieties of
disease, more or less intimately connected with each
other, were certainly included under the generic term
'"ir^s {tsara'atli), and that some of these were contagious
and some were not ; and this fact seems to furnish the
simplest explanation of mast of the difficulties that
beset the subject. For instance, the apparently para-
doxical regulation that a man entirely covered with
leprosy is to be pronounced " clean " (Lev. xiii. 12, 13),
will scarcely be considered to be satisfactorily explained
by the allegorical interpretation of Philo ' and the ancient
Eathers ; nor, if the " uncleanness " is to be considered
merely symbolical, does this view admit of an easy ex-
planation, as long as the disease which has spread all
over the body is lielieved to be au extension of the
same kind of unclean leprosy which has appeared in
different parts. But the explanation is easy and satis-
factory if we suppose that the " unclean " leprosy was
simply one or more of the contagious species, and that
the man who was pronounced " clean," even when
covered with a white erujition from head to foot, was
one who might safely mix with his neighbours without
any fear of communicating to them his disease. It
woidd be out of place here to attempt to prove this
suggestion at length, but we may mention an illustration
relating both to the "clean" and the "unclean" species.
The curious and very ancient tradition that the Jews
were driven out of Egypt on account of their diseased
condition wiU serve to illustrate the variety of com-
plaints comprehended under the generic term nrn^
{tsara'ath). One of the oldest Greek wi-iters,- who
mentions the tradition, says that they were affected
with ^(lipa Kai \fwpa, which words are rendered by a later
Latin historian,' " scabies et vitiligo." There does not
seem to be any reason why these two diseases should
not have lieen reckoned as species of n?3S (tsara'ath),
especially as they are not unfrequently mentioned
together by the Greek medical writers ; and if this
1 Quod Deus sit immutaUlis, § 27; D« Plantaf. Noe, § 26, vol. i.,
pp. 292, 346, ed. Man?ey.
- Lysimachus in Joseplius, Cont. Apion., i. 34, 35; pp. iQG, 467.
I'l. Havercamp.
•* Justin, Hist, xxxvi. 2.
conjecture be accepted as probable, we have at once one
example of a " clean," or non-contagious, species of the
disease (AeVpa), and one of an " unclean," or contagious
species {^dipa).^ It would probably be the white scales
of xi-rrpa tliat gave to the sufferers the snow-white
appearance that is mentioned in the cases of Moses,
Miriam (?), and Gehazi.
Upon tlio whole, the vriter is inclined to offer (though
with great diffidence) the following conclusions, as tho
result of his investigation of the subject up to tho
present time :— That the disease was (in the words of
Philo, already quoted) "multiform and changeful,"
modified by various complications, and comprising
several species more or less distinct ; that some of these
varieties were contagious, and others non-contagious,
and that all the contagious siiecies rendered the patients
ceremonially unclean; that it was not a special or
miraculous disease, existing only in those times and
countries, but an ordinary malady, used occasionally
by God for miraculous purjwses ; that it was not in-
curable by human means, though troublesome and ob-
stinate ; that it was not hereditary, though a disease of
common occurrence among the Jews ; that it was not
the same as elephantiasis, though it is possible that
this disease may occasionally have been complicated
Avith it; that there is no evidence that any case of
elephantiasis is mentioned under the name of lejirosy
in any part of Holy Scripture ; and that if the disease
known as elephantiasis occurs at all in the Bible, it is
probably in the case of Job.
"With respect to the (so-called) leprosy of garments
and houses (Lev. xiii. 47, &c. ; xiv. 34, &c.), there is no
reason for thinking that the expression was used other-
wise than analogically,^ to designate certain spots, dis-
colorations, and efflorescences that appeared occasion-
ally on walls and articles of clothing, and which were
probably caused in many cases by damp, and might
therefore be unwholesome to the persons who were
brougrht in contact with them.
4 Aeirpa is exprcssly reckoned among the non-contagious diseases
by Alexander Aphrodisiensis [Problem. Med. ii, 42), and •>i/wpa. among
the contagious, compreliending the modem itch.
^ Thus in Berne they sjieak of the " caucer" of buildings, but
that is not the disease so called in the human body. In Egypt
two sorts of diseases of certain trees, proceeding from insects, are
called " leprosy ;" and Hasselquist speaks of a " leprosy " iu the
fig-tree. (See Michaelis, Comment, on the Laus of Moses, vol. iii., p.
288. Lond., 18] 4.) Thus also ^eTptiw was applied to a. wine-jar,
and ^u)pitiw to trees. (See Liddell and Scott's Lexicon.)
JONAH.
177
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PEOPHETS :— JONAH.
BT THE VERY REV. K. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF C4.NTERBUEY.
HE prophecy of Jonah is confessedly ono
of the most remarkable and interestmg
in the Old Testament. Deserting the
ordinary cycle of Jewish thonght, it carries
us to a great heathen city, Israel's bitter enemy ; but
the prophet's errand thither is to show that God's
anercies are not limited to his covenant people, but
embrace the whole heathen world. And the prophet
cari-ies his message unwilliugly. Trained in the narrow
belief that salvation was for the Jews only, he endea-
vours to escaj)e altogether from being made the movxth-
piece of the Di^-iue love to men so barbarous and cruel
as the j)eople of Nineveh ; and when, agaiust his will, he
Jias summoned them to repentance, and they obey his
call, and the sentence of destruction is changed to one
of acceptance, his stubborn prejudices break out into
oj)en murmurs, from which he is cured by a lesson so
apt and forcible, and yet involving so playful an exhibi-
tion of the Divine power, that many scholars have been
led by it to treat the whole narrative as a pleasing
fiction, or at best as an allegory full of symbolic
teaching.
But ''wisdom is justified of her children," and there is
a fulness of instruction in this prophecy which justifies
the miraculous element contained in it, however different
■the form of the miracles may be from that found in the
rest of Holy Scrij)ture. For, in the fii'st place, it is a
gi'eat and cardinal truth that there is mercy for those
not in covenant with God. Even now we Christians
are only slowly learning the lesson that God's love is
broader than human prejudice, and that He will judge
men, not by the privileges which they possess, but by
the use which they make of them. Just as in old
time apostate Samaria, which had uttei'ly deserted the
worship of Jehovah, was declared more just than Judah,
Ijecause the latter, while priding herself upon her cove-
nant relations to God, was false to their principles ( Jer.
iii. 11), so may it be now. Men who have not the
law may, as St. Paul declares, attain to such a state as to
'he even judges of those who, while they have the letter
©f inspiration, and the outward seal of the covenant,
yet transgress the law (Rom. ii. 14, 27).
Now, however much we may neglect it in practice,
yet aU this is, at least, acknowledged by us in words.
Hut it was very different in the days of Jonah. Though
directly contained m the whole teaching of the Book
of Genesis, and implicitly in much of such scriptures
Tjesides as the Jews then possessed, yet the effect of
the Mosaic law, especially of the necessary care taken
therein to guard the chosen people from contact with
the heathen, had made them look upon the whole Gentile
Tvorld as out of the pale of the Di\ane mercies. After
Jonah, the whole body of prophets took up his parable,
84 — TOL. IV.
and taught in the very plainest way that Jehovah was
the God of the Gentiles also. To us this truth seems
taught eveiywhere in the Old Testament, but Jonah
was the first to teach it plainly and directly to the Jews ;
and he taught it unwillingly. And yet he acknowledges
that it was no new truth ; for the reason which he gives
for his refusal to bear God's message was that he under-
stood in its fulness that proclamation of the Divine
attributes made in Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, and knew, there-
fore, that there was pardon even for Nineveh, if it
repented (Jon. iv. 2).
The teaching, then, of the Book of Jonah is vexy
marvellous. Even more so is its typical nature. In
the midst of a storm so terrible that the ship was in
danger of being dashed to pieces by the ^-iolence of the
waves, Jonah lies fast asleep. They awake him, and
he is made the propitiation by which the storm is
appeased and the ship saved. But, after a three days'
death in the belly of that which seemed to him a living
grave (chap. ii. 2), he is restored to life; and upon his
resurrection follows the conversion of the Gentiles.
We have thus a sealed-up prophecy, not opened until
I our Lord came, and claimed to be himself the reality
of that which Jonah had been only in type (Matt. xii.
39, 40).
Now it is exceedingly probable that the Book of
Jonah is the oldest written prophecy. Its j)lace in
the Canon testifies generally to the belief of the Jews
that it belongs to the earliest or Assyrian period, but
its position after Obadiah is probably owing to its
seeming to the ai-rauger that Jonah was that "am-
bassador to the heathen" of whom Obadiah speaks.*
But we find that Jonah prophesied at a time anterior
to the mifitaiy successes of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings
xiv. 25), though probably during that monarch's reign.
We have then firm ground beneath us, so far only as
the facts reach, that Jonah was a prophet of estabfished
repute early in the reign of Israel's warrior king, and
that Nineveh was at the height of its power when he
went thither. But whether Jonah's mission took place
early or late in his life is altogether uncertain. Nothing
in Assyrian history helps us to fix the date, nor do we
even know whether Jonah was young or old when he
foretold the conquest by Israel of the whole country
from Hamath to the Dead Sea.
It has been answered, however, that the book contains
several Aramaisms — words, that is, akin to Syriac and
Chaldee, but not belonging to pure Hebrew. But this
argument proves nothing ; for scholars are not by any
means agreed whether these Aramaisms belong or not
to the declining age of Jewish literature, or whether
1 See Vol. III., page 275.
178
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tliey may not have beeu the patois, or vovuat'iilar dialect
of the country people. There is very imic*h to make it
probable that pure Hebrew was the language only of
peoijlo of the highest caste, the kings and princes, the
priests and the prophets of Jerusalem, or at most of
Judah ; and that the mass of the people spoke Aramaic,
or a debased Hebrew full of Aramaic words. Even
with us, many phrases which strike us as Americanisms
are thoroughly good English forms, which, howevei",
have not been used in literature, but belong to certain
country districts, where, if some poet had arisen, or
writer of repute, they would, from his pages, have won
their way into the language of scholars. Now, Jonah
was of Gath-hcpher, a village far away to the uorth iu
the tribe of Zabulon. If he had used no words except
such as were employed by Isaiah, critics might with
good reason have disputed the authenticity of the book.
They might fau-ly have said, " This book was not written
by a man brought up in the provinces, but by one of
the litferati of Jerusalem ; some practised hand there
Las employed the legend of Jonah as a vehicle for much
pleasing instruction, and has constructed out of it a
very admu-able allegory." These Aramaisms, however,
show that it was not written by one of the prophets of
Judah, but ai-e just what was to be expected of a villager
brought up in Galilee.
But if Jonah himself wi'ote this prophecy, as we
believe upon the authority of the Jewish Synagogue, it
follows that it is the oldest, or one of the oldest, of the
prophetic writings. And admirably it serves as an
introduction to all the rest. It taught that the provi-
dence of God was not confined to the Jews, but reached
the heathen also. It taught that His providence was
one of mercy to them and not of anger, and that conse-
quently the time must come when all the privileges of
the covenant would be as freely opened to them as to
the chosen seed. Finally, it told of God's mercies in
Christ. But they were so sealed up and A^eiled over, that
its teaching was appropriate only to the starting point,
and not to the fuller and more definite period reached
by prophecy afterwards. Upon the surface there is
nothing to tell of a Messiah at all ; even when our Lord
spoke of the sign of the prophet Jonah, tlic Scribes and
Pharisees coiild understand nothing of His meaniuo- ;
but the meaning became i^laiu and open when Christ
rose from the dead.
The wonderful teaching of the book, its fitness to be
at the head of the collected volume of the prophets, its
marvellous typical fulness, would lose none of their
force even if it were a symbolic writing, nor would
the appeal of our Lord to its sign be less appropriate.
In some respects tho book would be even more mar-
vellous, because such a view of it would imply that the
writer was conscious of the nature of the work he was
Avriting, and intended it thus to be an epitome at once
of prophecy and of the mediatorial work of Christ. But
the Jews did not regard it in this light. Daniel they
did exclude from the prophetic roll, because his pro-
phecies seemed to belong to the world, and not to the
Jewish Church. Though Jonah's teaching almost as
directly contradicted their prejudices, yet they classed
him among the prophets, and undoubtedly regarded
the book as historically true, and as wiitten by Jonah
himself.
In modem times the tendency has been to look upon
it as mythical; and the objections to its historical truth
have arisen, not merely from the existence in it of
miracles, but from the nature of the miracles themselves.
In an age when the advance of science has made us
careful not to accept any facts but such as are carcfidly
verified, the preservation of Jonah alive in the belly of
a fish beneath the waters for more than twenty-four
hours, and the sudden growth and decay of the gourd,
are sufficiently startling. The real point, however, for
those who believe that God has deigned to authenticate
his revelation by miracles, is, whether there is such a
reason for these miracles as justifies us iu receiving
them as matters of faith. Now, if Jonah was a type
of our Lord's death and resui'rection, thou the first
miracle belongs to the most fimdamental articles of our
creed ; and if the object of the second mh-acle was the
vindication of God's mercy to the whole heathen world,
and was intended to stamp that great truth upon the
very forefront of the prophetic roll, Ave cannot justly
speak of either of them as playful disjjlays of the Divine
omnipotence. It is, in fact, the intensity of meaning
and the fulness of the teaching of this book, and the
unique place which it holds, which make these miracles,
if I may so speak, a necessary part of the Divine revela-
tion. The one is the great sign of God's marvellous
work for man, the other the centre and germ of tho
truth which is embodied now in the catholicity of the
Church — a truth no less than that Christ " died for all "
(2 Cor. V. 14).
A few words must be said, however, as to each of
these miracles. The fish which swallowed Jonah is de-
scribed by the prophet iu very general terms ; but, owing
to our translators haA*ing rendered om* Lord's word in
Matt. xii. 40, "a whale," much has been wi-itten about
the impossibility of a crcatm-e with so small a throat
swallowing a man. But tho word which our Lord
adopted from the Scptuagint version, cetos. though now
it gives its name to the whole class of Cetacca, whales,
dolphins, etc., was used by the ancients in a much wider
sense, and Photius expressly classes under it the white
shark. Cants carcharias, common in the Mediterranean.
There is not the slightest doubt that this creature can
swallow a man with ease. The miracle remains the
same, that Jonah was preserved alive beneath the waters
for the same length of time that our Lord lay in the
grave — namely, one whole day and a small part of two
others ; but it does not involve the necessity of the
creation of a fish specially for this purpose.
The other miracle is the extraordinary growth of the
gourd. But the plant called in Hebrew Tcikaion is
really tho " Palma Christi," tho Ricinus communis of
botanists. St. Jerome describes this plant as having
a firm trunk, broad leaves shaped like those of the vine,
and as giA'ing a most dense shade. "It gi'ows," he
adds, "with gi-eat rapidity, so that the seed rises mar-
JONAH.
179
velloiisly into a shrub ; and where a few days before you
saw only a small plant, you behold qxiite a little tree."'
Elsewhere we leam that it has a hollow stem, and rises
often to a height of fifteen or sixteen feet. Dr. Pusey,
who has collected much A-aluable iuformation both about
the white shark and the palma Christi, quotes also an
interestiug account of the manner in which it is some-
times as suddenly destroyed. " On warm days, when
a small rain falls, black caterpillars are generated in
great numbers on this plant, which in one night so
often and so suddenly cut off its leaves that only their
bare ribs remain " {Introcl. to Jonah, p. 261). Ho
further notices that there is nothing m the test to imply
that it was the stem that was gnawed asunder, and that
the word " worm " might be used collectively for a
multitude of caterpillars. As regards the minor point,
that if Jonah had bixilt him a booth (chap. iv. 5\ he
would not have needed a palma Christi to shade him, he
fm-ther shows that the booth which Jonah put up was
such as the Jews erected at the Feast of Tabei'nacles ;
and that these, composed of slight branches, did not
exclude the sim. But we can very well imagnie that,
in so hot a climate, no erection of dead boughs, or even
of planks, would give a shade so refreshing as gi*een
living foliage.
It is so uncertain at what period of his life Jonah
went to Nineveh, that it is useless to inquire who was
the king at that time. If Jonah went on his mission
in middle age, and published his i)rophecy about
Jeroboam's conquests in his old age, but soon after that
monarch's accession (in B.C. 825), the date of his journey
might have been as early as the time of Jehoahaz,
Jeroboam's grandfather. If he foretold those conquests
in his youth, and went to Nineveh at an advanced age,
his mission might have taken place as late as B.C. 771,
when Pul, king of Assyria, made Menahem, one of
the adventurers who succeeded Jeroboam, pay him a
thousand talents of sUver to establish him in the king-
dom. It is more important to notice that the command
to put sackcloth on their beasts and flocks, and make
them fast, is a strong argximent for the authenticity of
the book. No such custom existed among the Jews ;
but it was a heathen practice. When Alexander had
become barbarised, he commanded the horses and
mules to be shorn as mourning for the death of
Hephsgstion; and Herodotus tells us that the Per-
sians bewailed the death of Masistius in a similar
way.
Another, though less striking, confirmation is the
statement of the size of Nineveh. Jonah calls it " a
city of three days' journey," i.e., it had a cii-cumferenee
of sixty miles. Now, by the general testimony of the
ancients, Nineveh was a larger city than Babylon, which
had a circumference of forty-five miles ; and Diodorus
tells us that its walls formed a ijarallelogi-am of unequal
length, being 150 furlongs on each of the longer, and
90 furlongs on each of the shorter sides, so that in
all there were 480 furlongs, i.e., just sixty miles. In
this great city, then, Jonah went one day's journey, a
distance of twenty miles, repeating his single text,
that after a respite of forty days, Nineveh would be de-
stroyed. He may have uttered his cry for many days
consecutively, tUl his voice had reached all parts ; or
rumoiu- may have carried his words whither he had not
penetrated himself. The narrative does not dwell upon
this, but tells us that within the stipulated time Nineveh
had repented, and that its heathen people found grace
and mercy.
It would be unpardonable to conclude without a word
upon Jonah's prayer, or rather thanksgiving (comjiaro
Hannah's prayer in 1 Sam. ii. 1). It is founded upon
the older psalms, especially those of David; and, as one
critic observes, it is an excellent instance of the way in
which the Psalter should be used. For, while almost
every phrase is taken from the Psalms, yet Jonah so
adaj)ts them to his own condition as to invest them with
fresh liveliness and force. Where Da'^'id speaks of
God hearing his voice from the Temple (Ps. xviii. 6),
Jonah intensifies it : " Out of the belly of sheol [the
gi'ave] I cried, and thou heardest my voice " (Jon. ii. 2).
Where David describes himself as cut off from before
God's eyes (Ps. xxxi. 22), Jonah said that he is " cast
out" (Jon. ii. 4). While David speaks of himself as
compassed by the sorrows of death (Ps. xviii. 4), it is
the waters which compass Jonah about ; the depth that
closes round him ; the weeds that are tangled about his
head (Jon. ii. 5). And so throughout till we reach the
most touching point of all. David, conscious of his
integrity, had declared that he hated those who regarded
lying vanities, i.e., idols (Ps. xxxi. 6) ; Jonah, humbled
by the thought of his own disobedience, meekly says
that those who regard lying vanities forsake their own
mercy, forsake the God in whom alone mercy is to be
found (Jon. ii. 8). It is, in short, the thanksgiving of
one who knew those early psalms by heart, and had con-
stantly employed them in God's worship ; but he uses
them with a vigour and power of adaptation to his own
circumstances, and with the blending of so much that is
original, as to make them all new. It is no re-moulding
of old materials, but a new creation, fresh with living
force, and the creation of a mind long used to fijid
utterance for its emotions in the language of inspu-ation.
Even then, at this early date, the sweet singer of Israel
supplied the sacred words by which the deepest feelings
of the soul in communion with God are alone able to
find their proper utterance.
180
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
MEASUEES, WEIGHTS, AND COINS OF THE BIBLE.
LARGER MEASURES OF TIME.
BY F. E. CONDEK, C.E.
THE LUNAK RECKONING OF THE BIBLE.
jN" our account of tlie divisions of tlie year,
employed in the Bible, we described the
mode in which the commencement of each
now moon was determined by actual ob-
servation. It is necessary, in order to understand the
many references to the Hebrew names of the months
that occur in various passages, to explain in what order
they wei'e arranged, and wliat relation they bore to our
present seasons and division of time.
Nineteen ordinary years contain, within a few minutes
of time, 235 lunations, or lunar months. This allows
twelve months a-piece to twelve years, and thirteen
months to each of the remaining seven years. Thus,
the first day of the lunar year only coincides with a
given day of the calendar, or solar year, once in
nineteen years. On every other occasion it will fall
either earlier or lat<?r, according to the introduction of
the thirteenth, or embolismic mouth ; so that the com-
mencement of each lunar year will fall either eleven
days earlier, or twenty-two days later than that of the
preceding one. To show this course with exactitude,
we require a table, similar to that given in our Prayer-
books, gi'S'iug the epact, or age of the moon, on a fixed
day in the solar year, on each of the nineteen years of
the cycle. And, in dealing with long periods of history,
a correction has to be made in this table, by antedating
the commencement of the lunar year, at the rate of one
day in eveiy twelve Metonic cycles — that is to say, in
every 228 years.
For the purpose of ordinary reference of events to
the season of the year, however, it is enough to regard
the lunar month as approximately coincident with the
proper calendar months ; as, for example, to say that
Nisan, or Aljib, falls in March and April ; Zif in April
and May ; and the rest in order. The earliest possible
commencement of the lunar year, as we have before
stated, was on the fifth day of our present month of
March.
We have thro\vn into the form of a table the sequence
of the Jewish months, with their respective fasts and
festivals, giving references to those passages in the
Bible, as well as the Wars and Antiquities of Josephus,
which quote precise dates ; and adding the chronological
facts recorded in the Mishna, aad those commemorated
in the present Jewish calendar. By the aid of this
table all the references made, by the writers cited, to
the Jev.ish months can be at once readily understood.
Three groat festivals, as stated in the Pentateuch,^
were appointed Ijy Moses, on each of which it was in-
cumbent on every male Jew, who was not a minor or a
slave, to be present at Jerusalem. These were, the
' £xod. xsiii, H.
Feast of the Passover, First-fniits, and Unleavened
Bread, occupying the seven days from the fourteenth to
the twenty-first day of Nisan ; the Feast of Pentecost,
on the sixth and seventh of Sivan ; and the Feast of
Tabei'nacles, occupying the eight days from the four-
teenth to the twenty-second cf Ethanim, or Tisri. These
feasts approximately coincided with the commencement
of barley harvest, with the close of wheat harvest (oiu*
harvest home), and with the vintage. The chief additions
that were made to these original festivals in later years
wei'e, first, the Feast of Lights, or of the re-dedication
of the Temple, wlileh was instituted, in the time of the
Maccabees, to celebrate the re-consecration of the Temple
after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. This was
held on the twenty-fifth of Cisleu, being the anniversary
of the erectioti, by David, of an altar on the threshing-
floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the subsequent site of the
great brazen altar of Solomon. Second, the Feast of
Purim, which was held on the fourteenth day of Adar,
when the roll of the Book of Esther, referring to the
events commemorated on that festival, is read in the
synagogue.
The principal fasts are referred to by the prophet
Zechariah (chap. viii. 19). They were — (1.) That of the
tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Expia-
tion, which was the central solemnity of the entire
Jewish ritual. This fast alone was absolute ; food,
drink, washing, anointing, putting on shoes, and every
l^ersonal enjoyment, being forbidden on pain of death,
if the prohibition were wilfully infringed, and of a sin-
offering, if inadvertently broken. (2.) On the seven-
teenth day of Tamuz, a solemn fast commemorated the
five signal calamities — of the breaking of the Tables of
the Law by Moses, on his descent from the Mount ; of
the burning the roll of the Law ; of the breaking
down of the wall of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar ; of
the erection of an idol in the Temple by Antiochus
Epiphanes ; and of the cessation of the daily sacrifice
during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. (3.) On the
ninth day of Ab, a solemn fast commemorated five
other great calamities — namely, the announcement that
the Jews v>'ho left Egyjit should not enter Canaan ; the
destruction of the Temple of Solomon; the desti-uction
of the Temple of Herod ; the fall of Bother ; and the
ploughing-up of the site of Jerusalem. (4.) In the
tenth month, Tebeth, the eighth, ninth, and tenth days
were fasts, being the anniversaiy of the thi'co days of
darkness in Egypt. The tenth of Tebeth is stiU
observed as a fast, as being the date of the commence-
ment of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
Special festivals took place on the fifteenth of Ab,
and on the morrow of the Day of Atonement. All the
maidens of Jerusalem then attired themselves in gay
clothing, which they lent to one another, and went out.
THE LUNAR RECKONING OF THE BIBLE.
181
with dances and songs, into tlie country ; the young
men being invited to foUow, and select their brides.
Garlands were worn by the maidens ; and the festival
is said to be referred to in the Song of Songs,- in the
■words, " Go forth, O ye daughters of Sion," and in the
mention of the crown, of the day of espousals, and of
gladness of heart. For the feasts and fasts of less
importance, and for the general relations of the calendar
to the history of the Jews, we refer to the following
almanack : —
THE BIBLE ALMANACK,
Shoicing the Jeivish Months, ivith the Festivals, Fasts, and
principal events which fell on fixed days of the lunar
month.
The iucideBce of the Subbath varied from year to yenr. The
first Sabbath of the month Adar -was called the first Sabbath.
The date in Luke vi. 1 is the first Sabbath of Nisan.
FiEST Month, ABIB (Helrew), or ITISAN (Aramaic) :
March and Apeil.
1 New Moon. Messengers alloTred to travel on the Sabbath.
Wood-offering ; palms borne. Ezra vii. 9 ; x. 17. Ezek.
xsvi. 1 ; sxix, 17. Exod. si. 2 — 17.
2 Death of Nadab and Abihu.
3 Dan. x. 1.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24.
25
26
27
28
29
30
Josh. iii. 2 ; Esek. xxx. 20.
Prodigy (Bell. vi. 5, § 3).
Lamb taken for Passover. Death of Miriam (Numb. xs. 1).
Jordan crossed (Josh. iv. 19). Exek. xl. 1.
Ezra vlii. 31.
Search for leaven at even. Esth. iii. 12.
Passover (Exod. xxiii. 14). Prayer for rain. Eoman camp
pitched [Bell, v, 11, § 4). Fight in Temple (Bell. v. 3, § 1).
Masada taken (Bell. vii. 10, § 1). First day of unleavened
bread.
First-fruits.
Third day of unleavened bread.
Fourth day of unleavened bread.
Fifth day of unleavened bread.
Sixth day of unleavened bread.
Seventh day of unleavened bread. Prodigy (Bell. vi. 5, § 3)
Siege of Jerusalem commenced (Be'l. v. 7, § 2).
Dan. s. 4.
Second Month,
9
10
11
12
13
14
ZIF (Uehrciv), OE IJAE (Aramaic) -.
April and Mat.
New moon. Numb. i. 1, IS. Ant. xi. 4, § 2. Foundation of
Second Temple.
1 Kings vi. 1 ; 2 Chron. iii, 2.
Foundation of Temple by Solomon. Outer wall of city taken
by Titus, on fifteenth day of siege (Bell. v. 7, § 2).
Death of Eli.
Second wall taken (Bell. v. 8, § 1).
Siege of Jotnp^ta commenced (Bell. iii. 7, §§
Second Passover.
2 Caut. iii. 11.
Wilderness entered (Exod. xvi. 1). Titus recovers second
wall (Bell. V. 9, § 2).
Jewish War began (Bell. ii. 15, § 2 ; iii. 7, § 2).
Bell. ii. 15, § 2 ; iii. 7, § 3.
Feast of the School.
Belief of Jotapata (Bell. iii. 7, § 3).
Death of Samuel.
Koman banks completed (Bell. v. 11, § 4)
Third Month, SIVAN -. May and June.
1 New moon. Beginning of year for tithe of beasts. Exod.
six. 1 ; Ezek. xxxi. 1.
Day of Pentecost (Bdl. vi. 5, § 3 ; Acts ii. 1 ; xviii. 21 ; xx. 16.),
Second day of Pentecost.
Death of E. Simeon.
Eepulse of Vespasian (Bell. iii. 7, § 29).
Esth. viii. 9.
Japha taken by Titus (Bill. iii. 7, § 31).
Fast for Jeroboam. Jerusalem taken by Pompey (^nf. xiv.
4, § 3) ; taken by Herod (Ant. xiv. 16, § 4). Gerizim taken
by Romans (Bell. iii. 7, § 32).
FouETH Month, TAMUZ : June and July.
New moon. Jotapata taken (Bell. iii. 7, S 3^)-
Deith of Sabinus (Bell. vi. 1, § 6).
Vespasian returned to Ptolemais (Bell. iii. 9, § 1).
Ezek. i. 1. Tower of Antonia taken (Bell. vi. 1, § 7).
Famine prevails in Jerusalem (2 Kings xsv. 3).
Ezek. iii. 16.
Solemn fast. Five great calamities befell (Zech. viii. 19).
Wood- offering.
Cloisters of Temple burnt, on eightieth day of siege (Bell. vi.
3, § 1).
Nehemiah goes round the city (Neb. ii. 12).
182
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Fifth Month, AB : July and August.
New nioou. Messengers sent. Death of Aaron, Ezra vii. 8.
Temple burnt (Ant. s. 8, §5).
Neb. iii. 1; cf. vi. 15.
■Wood-offering.
Wood-ofifering. Spies sent. Palace burnt (2 Kings ssv. 8).
Two banks completed for siege [Bell. vi. 4, § 1).
Solemn Fast (Zecb. vii. 5). Five great calamities befell (Zecb.
viii. 19).
Wood-offering. Ezek. ss. 1. Bell. vi. 4, § 5.
Paul at Lystra (Acts xiv. 13).
Wood- offering. Dance of virgins. Cant. iii. 11. Bell. ii. 17, § 7.
AVood-offering. 102ud day of siege. Bell. vi. 8, § 1.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
29 Titlio of beasts.
Sixth Month, ELUL : August and September.
1 Xew moin Commencement of year for titbing cattle. Hagg.
i. 1.
9
10
11
12
13
U
15
10
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
(30)
Ezek. viii. 1.
Bell, ii, 17, § 8.
Dedication of wall of Jerusalem. Murder of High-priest
Jouatlian (Bell. ii. 17, § 9). Capture of Jerusalem by
Titus [Bell. vi. 8, § 4).
Sea-fight on Lake of GaHlee (Bell. iii. 10, § 9). 120th day of
siege. Bell. vi. 8, § 5.
Feast for expulsion of Greeks. Death of spies.
Wood offering. Paul at Athens (Acts xvii. 23),
Hagg. i. 15.
Wall finished (Neh. vi. 15).
An additional day in what were called full years — not in ordi-
nary or " hollow " years.
Seventh Month, ETHANIM (Heorciv), or TISRI
(Aramaic) : September and October.
I\ew moon. Messengers sent — allowed to travel on the
Sabbath. Commencement of year for intermissions and
jubilees. Neh. vii. 73.
Neh. viii. 13.
Fast for murder of Gedaliah. High Priest set apart for the
Day of Atonement.
Fast on account of golden calf.
Total Fast. Great Day of Expiation. Acts xxvii. 9.
Duuco of Virgins.
First day of Feast of Taberuacles (Neh. viii. 18 ; Ezra iii. 4).
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Sixth.
Seventh.
Eighth. Palms home. Neh. viii. 18. Hagg. ii. 1.
Prayers for rain.
Feast for the Law being finished. Gamala taken (Bell. iv. 1, § 9).
Neh. ix. 1.
Cestius encamps on Scopus (Bdl. ii. 19, § 4).
Cestiua enters Jerusalem (Bell. ii. 19, § 4).
Eighth Month, BUL (Hebrew), or MAECHESVAN
(Aramaic) -. October and November.
1 New moon.
3 Prayer for rain.
4
Death of sons of Zedekiah. Taanitli, i. 3. Euiu of Jerusa-
lem. Bell. vi. S, § 4.
Retreat of Cestius (Bell. ii. 19, § 9).
Altar in Bethel (1 Kings xii. 32).
Fast for laiu for three days, if none falls. Taanitli, i. 4.
Ninth Month, CISLElI : November and December.
1 New moon. Messengers sent.
Three days more severe fast, if no rain fulls. Taanilh, i. 5,
Zecb. vii. 1.
Baths closed, if no rain falls.
Fast for burning of city.
Death oi Herod the Great, B.C. 4.
If no rain, an absolute fast ordered.
Idol erected in Sanctuary (1 Mace. i. 54).
2 Sam. xxiv. 8.
Wood-offering.
Hagg. ii. 10.
Ezra X. 9. Anl. xi. 5, § 4.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
1S3
25 1 Mace. iv. :.;'.
13
26 Feast of Li/ats, or of the Dedication of the Temple. Palms
14
borne.
-15
27
16
28
17
29
18
30
19
Tenth Monih, TEBETH : December and January.
20
21
1 New moon. E::ra x. 16; Ant. si. 5, § 4.
23
2
23
Vow against tribes of Benjamin.
3
24
Zech. i. 7.
4
25
5 Ezek. cssiii. 21. News of fall of city.
26
6
27
7
28
8 Fast. Three days of darkness in Egypt. LXX. translation, of
29
Law.
30
Siege of Jerusalem
9 Fast.
10 Fast. Ezek. sxiv. 18. Ant. x. 7, § 4.
commenced by Nebuchadnezzar,
11
12 Ezek. :ixix. 1.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
21
25
26
27
28
29
Eleventh Moxth, SEBAT : January and February.
1 New moon. Beginning of the year for trees. Deut. i. 3.
o
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Feast. Expulsion of Sadducees,
Twelfth Month, ADAE: February and March.
New moon. Messengers sent. Death of Moses (Deut. sxxir.
7). Beginning of ecclesiastical year. Ezek. xxxii. 1.
Temple finished (Ezra vi. 15).
Feast for rain.
Roll of Book of Esther read.
Ditto.
Fast for Esther.
Feast of Purim. Palms borne.
Ezek. xxxii. 1". Tables set in provinces for Temple tax.
23 Feast for dedication of Temple by Zerubbabe''
24
25 Tables set in Jerusalem for Temple tax.
26
27 Death of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xsv. 27).
28
29 Tithes of beasts.
Thirteenth Month, VEADAR,
Intercalated seven times in each cycle of nineteen jena.
aEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOR
Til. — SINAI {concluded).
lYE mountains ia the peninsula have at
different times been identified with the
Mount of the Law — Jebel el-Ejmeh,
Jebel Umm Alawi, Jebel Katharina,
Jebel Serbal, and Jebel Musa ; and if we can deter-
mine with any degree of accuracy which of these was
Mount Sinai, it will not be very difficult to ascertain
the route followed by the 600,000 fighting men who
went up out of the land of Egypt, the morning after
the first Passovei", accompanied as they were by their
wives and families, their flocks and herds, and possibly
by wagons. The topogi-aphical features which the
Bible requires in connection with Mount Sinai are —
WILSON, R.E.
(1.) A mountain summit overlooking a place on whicli
the children of Israel could be assembled. It does not
seem necessary to suppose that there must have been
space in front of the mount sufficient for their perma-
nent encampment ; indeed, it would rather apj)ear that
the tents were pitched in the neighbouring valleys,
whence the people could be easily summoned to take
part in any solemn act, such as the delivery of the Ten
Commandments. (2.) The place on which the Israelites
assembled must have had such a rektion to the moun-
tain as would enable the people to stand " at the nether
part of the mount," and yet " remove and stand afar
ofB," and at the same time hear the voice of the Lord
when He spake " out of the midst of the fire " and
18-t
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
185
Nm'v\'^o^V-
THE KAS STTFSAFEH AND PLAIN OF ER EAHAH. (From a Photograph of the Ordnance Survey of Sinai.)
answered Moses "by a voice." (3.) The summit of
the mount must have been a well-defined peak, visible
from the nether part, of the mount as well as from
afar off, and easily distingiashed as the " top of the
mount" on which the Lord came down. (-i.) The
mountain must have risen precipitously from the place
of assembly; in Deut. iv. 11, the people are said to have
stood " under it," and they were apparently able at the
same time to see the summit ; the mountaia was also
one that could be touched. (5.) The position of the
mount with respect to the surrounding mountains was
such that it could be isolated or set apart, by placing or
prescribing bounds round it which no man or animal
was to cross. (6.) It is evident from several passages
that the supply of water at Sinai must have been ample,
and in Deut. ix. 21 the brook into which the dust of
the golden calf was cast is said to have " descended out
of the mount." (7.) As the Israelites remained at or
near Sinai for a year, there must have been sufficient
pasturage in the neighbourhood for the sustenance of
their flocks and herds during that period.
Let us now see how far each of the proposed moun-
tains fulfils these conditions.
Jehel el-Ejmeh is not a distinct mountain or even a
defined peak, but a long ridge or rather cliff forming
the edge of the Tih plateau ; the ground in front of it
is very broken, and not suitable for the assembly of a
large multitude. There is no running water, and only
one well, the supply from which is scant and of bad
quality ; and, except after the rains, there is no vege-
tation.
Jebel Umm Alawi is not an isolated peak, but the
culminating point of the granite ridge which, rising
abruptly from the great plain of Sened, forms its
western boundary. The plain is of considerable extent,
but falls away from the base of the mountain, affording
to spectators standing in front a very unfavourable
position for seeing and hearing. There is no running
water, and only one spring at the northern end of the
plain. There is but slight vegetation, and a total
absence of any tradition either Christian or native,
though the conjunction of mountain and plain is very
remarkable.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the belief
that Jehel Katharina was Mount Sinai was not un-
common, and it appears to have arisen from a statement
of Josephus that Mount Sinai was the highest mountain
in the district. Though Katharina and its twin peak
Zebir are the highest summits in the peninsula, the
mountains that surround them, and of which they form
the nucleus, are so lofty and rise so precipitously from
their bases that it is impossible to see either summit
from the plain of Er Rahah, or from any place in the
neighbourhood on which a large number of people
186
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
could be assembled. There is plenty of water aud
several ijereniiial streams, aud on the slopes of the
moimtain itself a fair amount of pasturage ; but as all
contact with the mount was forbidden, this Avould not
have been available for the flocks and herds.
Jebel Serhal is i)erhaps the most striking moun-
tain in the peninsula. It rises abruptly to a height
of more than 4,000 feet above the valley at its base,
and its summit, a sharp ridge about three miles in
lengtli, is broken into a series of peaks, varying little
in altitude, but rivalling each other in the beauty and
grandeur of their outline. The ridge of Serbal lies
nearly east and west ; on the south there is an almost
precipitous descent to the bed of Wady Sigilliyeh,
whilst on the north a rough mountain tract, bounded
by Wady Ajeleh on the west and by Wady Aleyat
on the east, extends to Wady Feiran, a distance of
three miles. The country round is extremely wild and
rugged, and in consequence of the rapid fall of the
valleys, there is a total absence of those smaU open
plains which are so frequently met with in the higher
districts. There is no plain in the vicinity of Serljal,
and those writers who have identified this mountain
with Sinai have supposed that the Israelites were as-
sembled for the delivery of the Law in Wadies Aleyat
and Er Rimm ; they would, however, in this case have
been divided into two sections by a high granite ridge,
and those in the latter valley could not well be do-
scribed as standing " at the nether part of the moxmt."
The beds of these valleys are so covered by enormous
boulders, whicli successive winter floods have heaped
together in -wild confusion, that there is no standing-
ground for a number of men ; and it does not seem
probable that the valleys presented a different appear-
ance in the time of Moses, for they must always have
been subject to floods of more or less violence. The
ridge of Serbal is broken into some ten or twelve peaks,
which vary so little in altitude that when seen from
lower ground, or from a distance, the eye fails to dis-
tinguish the highest ; and it may be remarked that the
loftiest peak is not seen from Wady Ajeleh, and only
from one or two points in Wady Feiran. It would be
difficult to set bounds round Serbal, unless the limits
followed the course of Wadies Aleyat and Ajeleh, which
with Feiran would enclose a tract of three or four
square miles. There is a good supply of water near
Serbal, but no brook descending out of the mount, for
neither oi the running streams in Wadies Sigilliyeh and
Feiran take their rise in Serbal. There is also a certain
amount of pasturage, but not so mucli as in the higher
districts ; the steep mountain-sides are not favourable
to the growth of grass and other herbs, and tlio oasis
of Feiran consists only of palms and tarfah. Serbal is
supposed to have been the seat of an ancient worship ;
but there is no trace of this, the ruins on its summit
being comparatively modern, and the name Serbal re-
ferring to the appearance of the mountain after liea^^y
rain, and not to any connection with Baal. The ruins,
too, at Feiran ai*e in close proximity to the episcopal
city of Pharan, and lie chiefly on Jebel et-Tahuneh,
tending to show that that mountain and not Serbal was
held in most esteem by the early Christians.
The mountain mass, oi Jebel Musa, or, as it would be
better named, Musa-Sufsaf'eh, is about two miles long,
running from south-east to noiih-west, and one broad.
Its general elevation is G,5UU feet, but at its soutliern ex-
tremity Jebel Musn, rises to 7,363 feet, and at its northern
end the peak of Ras Sufsafeh to G,937 feet, whilst the
intervening space is cut up by a series of deep clefts
into numerous peaks of lower altitude. On the west
the mountain is bounded by Wady el-Leja, and on the
east by Wady ed-Deir ; both valleys run northwards,
and the former sweeping round tho loot of Sufsafeh,
which rises almost precipitously to a height of 2,000 feet,
joins the latter at Aaron's Momid (Harun). To the
north of the Ras Sufsafeh, aud sloping uuifoi'mly down
to its very base, lies the plain of Er Rahah, containing
400 acres of available standing-ground directly in front
of the moimtain. The southern boundary is formed
by Wady Sebaiyeh, the bed of which is separated by
nearly a mile and a quarter of rugged broken ground
from tho peak of Jel:)el Musa. It will thus be seen
that the block Musa-Suf saf eh is almost isolated, and we
must mention another feature, Wady Shreich, which
rims nearly parallel to Wady Leja, and cuts off, as it
were, a thin sfice from the western face of the mountain.
Though the peak Jebel Musa has been identified with
Sinai from the fourth or fifth century, it cannot be seen
from the plain of Er Rahah, aud there is not sufficient
space near the mountain to accommodate the Israelites
in Wady Sebaiyeh. The Ras Sufsafeh, on the other
hand, stands directly over the plain of Er Rahah, and
as we find in it every topographical feature required
by the Bil)le even to the minutest detail, we would
identify it with tho Mount of tho Law in preference to
the rival peak Jebel Musa. We have here a mountain
summit overlooking a plain which, -with its branches
Soil Leja and Wady ed-Deir, contains 4,293,000 square
yards in full view of the mount, ample standing-
ground for the Israelites without including tho moun-
tain slopes on which large numbers of peoi^le coidd
have stood. There is also iu the vallej^s within a
i-adius of six miles of Ras Sufsafeh sufficient space
for tho whole multitude to have encamped, aud from
this distance they could easily have been assembled
before the mount on any special occasion. On Er
Rahah the people would be able to stand at "the nether
part of the mount," on sloping ground where they
would he well placed for liearing the voice of the Lord
when Ho spake " out of the midst of the fire," and they
would be able to " remove aud stand afar off " on the
ground to the north near the mouth of tho Nagb
Hawa. Tlie peak of the Ras Sufsafeh is the first
ol)jcct wliich strikes the eye of the traveller as he
leaves the Nagb, and from tliat moment he never loses
sight of the " top of the mount " till ho reaches the
foot of tho great mass which rises so abruptly tliat it
may well be described as a mountain that can be
" touched." The block of Musa-Suf safeh is so com-
pletely isolated from the surrounding mountains that
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
187
there would be no difficulty iu placing bounds round it,
and there is in its vicinity a better supply of water and
pastiu-age than iu any other part of the peninsula ;
besides six perennial streams, there are several large
and good springs; the numerous gardens show what
can be produced by a Uttle cultivation, and everywhere
amongst the mountains there are small f:asins in which
grass and other desert vegetation grow iu great pro-
fusion. Without attempting to localise the minor inci-
dents of the narrative, we may point out how well the
features of Wady Shreich, with its tiny stream, its easy
ascent to the mountain, and the bend near its mouth,
lend themselves to the incident of the Golden Calf ;
and the peculiar features of Jebel Moneijah (the Mount
of Conference) well adapt it to have been the original
site of the Tabernacle of Witness.
We may now turn to an examination of the route
followed by the Israelites from Egypt to Sinai. We
have already seen that their three days' march from
Rameses would bring them to the western arm of the
Red Sea, but the point at which they crossed is a
matter of some dispute ; the opinion generally adopted
is that it was at or near Suez, and this view has in
its favour a ti-adition as old as the sixth century.
Wherever the passage was effected, the first camp in
the desert would naturally be pitched round the oasis
of Ayun Musa (the " springs of Moses "), where there
was in the sixth centuiy a small commemorative chapel.
Erom these springs or wells the first stage in the march
of the Israelites is marked out by nature, for to reach
Jebel Musa-Sufsafeh they must have travelled south-
wards over the barren district between the range of
Er Rahah and the sea. To this tract the Bible gives
two names, " the wilderness of Shur " (Exod. xv. 22)
and the " Wilderness of Etham " (Numb, xxxiii. 8).
The first name, Shur ("wall "), is perhaps derived from
the remarkable wall-like escai*pment which forms the
westei-n boundary of the Tih plateau ; and the second,
Etham, is possibly the same as Pithom, a frontier
town of Egypt towards the desert ; and we may
suggest that the desert was known to the Egyptians
as that of Etham, and to the desert tribes as that of
Shur, whilst Moses would be equally acquainted with
both names.
As the Israelites, leaving Ayun Musa, turned their
faces southwards away from the land of tlieir bondage
and the scene of their great deliverance, they must
have gazed on the same features that now strike the
eye of the traveller on his way from Suez to Jebel
M^^sa, for the general aspect of the desert can have
altered little. On their left would be the long level
range of Er Rahah ; in front, the terraced plain several
miles broad, sloping gently down to the bright blue
sea, and beyond the sea to their right the picturesque
line of cliffs, on one point of which the name of Ras
Atakah (Mount of Deliverance) still lingers. Nor
would the minor features of that barren desolate wil-
derness be wanting, though they have j)robably been
modified by the action of weather during the course of
ages ; the quaint, table-topped hills and ridges ; the
ever ceaseless sand-drift movmg over the surface of the
ground ; the stones furrowed, and seamed, and scored
by its action ; the blackened pebbles, the bright sun,
the scanty shrubs, and the arid soil, brightened, it may
be, by the few blades of grass that spring up like maoic
after heavy rain. In this dreary wilderness they went
three days "and found no water," and when they at
last reached Marah, it was to find the water imfit for
drinking, salt and bitter, as all the springs iu this
district remain to the present day. The water was
mhaculously sweetened for them by casting a tree or
shi-ub into it ; but as the Bible docs not mention its
name, it is useless to inc[uire what particular shrub was
used, especially as the Bedawi know of no means of
sweetening the water. Marah has been identified with
Aiu Hawarah or Wady Amarah, and either locality
would be suitable.
The next stage in the journey was Elim, where
there were twelve wells and seventy palm-trees, and
this we may locate either at Wady Gharaudel, where
there is a comparatively fertile valley with tamarisks,
palms, and other vegetation, and a stream of water
with large pools surrounded by bulrushes ; or with
Wady Useit, where there is a broad open plain with
springs of brackish water and a few clumps of palm-
trees. From Wady Useit, two roads lead to Jebel
Musa : one, the north route, runs up Yfady Hamr, and
thence past Sarabit el-Khadim to Wady es-Sheikh ;
the other, the coast route, turns down Wady Taiyibeh
to the sea, and thence follows the course of Wady
Feiran. Both routes are practicable for such wagons
as were employed to carry the Tabernacle after the
Israelites left Sinai, and which perhaps accompanied
them from Egypt, and both have a sufficiency of water.
The coast route is far the most easy, and we have an
indication that this was followed by the Israelites in
Numb, xxxiii. 10, which places the encampment on the
sea-coast, probably on the broad level plain at the mouth
of Wady Taiyibeh. The next station is the Wilderness
of Sin, which we would identify with El Markha, au
extensive plain on the coast, open, level, covered in
parts with slight vegetation, and weU suited for a large
encampment. From this point, three roads, which
afterwards join each other, branch off ; one passes over
the Nagb Buderah to Wady Mukatteb, another turns
up Seili Sidreh to the same place, and thence both pass
to Wady Feiran, whilst the third follows the course of
Wady Feiran throughout. The first is impracticable
for the passage of a large host, but the two latter
routes are perfectly easy, and the Israelites may have
followed either or both. The two next encampments,
Dophkah and Alush, are mere names in the itinerary
without any special description ; they were intermediate
stations between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim,
and conseqiieutly, if our view of the route is correct,
must have been in Wady Feiran.
The most important station between the Red Sea and
Sinai is Rephidim, the scene of the victory over the
Amalekites, and tliis, following Lepsius and Stanley, we
would locate at Feiran, the site assigned to Rephidim
183
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
WADT ED-DEIR AND PLAIN OF EE RAHAH, FROM JEBEL MONEIJAH.
(From a Photograph of the Ordnance Survey of Sinai.)
by early Cliristian tradition. Tlae position of Feiran
answers in every respect to tlae requirements of tlie
Bible narrative. The Amalekites in position above the
ruins would be well supplied with water, whilst the
Israelites would have foiuid no water during their
three days' march from El Marklia, and we can well
imagine that when tliey arrived, weary and thirsty, at
the place where they had been led to expect water, and
found it occupied by the Amalekites, they would give
vent to those murmuriugs which led to the miraculous
supply when Moses struck the rock. Not far from
this place a rock, Hesy el-Khattatin, was shown by
the Bedawin to Professor Palmer as that from which
the water flowed. In endeavouring to fix the site of
the battle of Rephidim, there is no occasion to search
for a large battle-field according to modern ideas : we
should rather consider what the Amalekites thought
of the Israelites at this stage of their journey, and
where they would probably make an effort to stop
their advance. They could not have known that the
Israelites were proceeding to Jebel Musa imder Divine
guidance, and probably looked upon them as a people
who, having escaped from their bondage in Egy^it,
werp trying to force their way eastwards along the
great highway that runs through the peninsula, or to
conquer the country with a view to its future settlement.
In either case they would naturally assemble their
forces in some strong position, and try to fight a de-
cisive action before the Israelites reached the heart of
the country. Such a position there is at Feiran, pro-
tectiug the rich palm-grove and the stream of water,
objects which must always have been of the greatest
importance in the eyes of the desert tribes. Here,
secure from any danger of a flank attack, with good
roads leading to the rear in case of defeat, they
would offer battle to the Israelites, who might be ex-
pected to arrive faint and weary after three days'
journey without water, with every chance of success.
The topographical features of Feiran lend themselves
readily to the minor incidents of the battle; detach-
ments coming doAvn Wadies Nisrin and Rummaneh
would be able to harass the rear of the Israelite host
(Deut. XXV. 18) ; and on the hill of Jebel et-Tahuneh
Moses may have stood, secure from hostile darts, whilst
the battle was raging beneath him. Jerome, Cosmas,
Antoninus, and other old Avriters place Rephidim at
Feiran, and tell us that an oratory was erected there
with its altar over the stones, which it was believed
were those on which Moses rested during the battle.
The Rev. F. W. Holland, who has paid three visits to
the Peninsula, and those writers who believe that the
Israelites followed the north route from Wady Uscit,
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAXS.
1:9
identify Repliidim with El Watiyeli, a remai-kable pass
through the granite Tvall that shuts in Jebel Musa ; but
we do not think that this place answers the required
conditions so well as Feiran.
There are two practicable routes from Feiran to
Jebel Musa-Suf safeh : one following the course of the
"Wady es-Sheikh throughout ; the other passing up
"VYady Solaf and across the low hills to El Watiyeh,
or turning through the Nagb Hawa to the plain of
Er Riihah. Either or both of these routes may have
been followed by the Israelites ; the main body, with
the flocks and herds, may have gone round by the
AVady es-Sheikh, whilst Moses and the elders travelled
by the shorter route of Wady Solaf.
We have thus followed the Israelites from their
encampment after crossing the Red Sea to the camp
before the mount, in which they remained for a year,
and may now turn our attention to the route by which
they left the peuinsida. Unfortunately, our knowledge
of the country to the north-east of Jebel Musa is confined
to tlie route usually followed by travellers on their way
northwards to Petra and Palestine, and the Bible nar-
rative merely gives the names of certain encampments
on the line of march. We may, however, infer that
the pass by which they ascended to the Tih plateau was
practicable for light wagons, and perhaps also, from
the absence of the name in the first part of the joiuTiey,
that they did not pass by Akabah (Ezion-geber or Elath) .
A very natural and probable route would be down the
Wady Saal, and thence by Erweis el-Ebeirig to Ain
Hudherah, usually identified with Hazeroth. From this
point, however, the line of route is doubtful. We can
hardly suppose that the Israelites turned down to the
Gulf of Akabah. as there is no mention of Elath or of
the sea in the Bible at this stage, and we know of
no good road to the Tih plateau with the exception
of one followed by a German traveller in the early
part of the present ceutuiy. We gather from his
account, which is very meagre, that he passed up a
valley near Jebel Aradeh, and found a good open
road all the way ; unfortunately, no one has followed
the same route since, but it is such a likely one for
the Israelites to have taken that, until the country is
explored, we would propose to adopt it. At Erweis
el-Ebeirig the ground for more than a mile, m every
direction, is covered with cui-iously arranged stones,
e^-idently the remains of a large encampment, and the
Bedawin have a strange story connecting the place
with a lost caravan. This has induced Professor
Palmer to identify it with Kibroth-hattaavah, the scene
of the "very great plague" described in Numb. xi.
31 — 34; and if the route followed by the Israelites
was by Wady Saal and Ain Hudherah, the position
of Erweis el-Ebeirig would correspond with that of
Kibroth-hattaavah in the Bible narrative. It was not
far from this place that Dean Stanley, in 1852-3, met
with large flights of cranes which darkened the sky,
and Schubert appears to have seen a similar flight near
the same spot. The valley in which Ain Hudherah is
situated is one of the most beautiful in the whole
peninsula ; the high sandstone cliffs on either side are
broken into the most fantastic forms, and glow with a
variety of brilliant colours ; bright red fading away to
salmon colour and the delicate pink blush of the rose,
rich purple changing to every shade of violet, bz-iglit
yellow, pearly white, grey, dull brown, and deep olive,
make up a picture which must be seen to be realised.
In the midst of the valley, amid great banks of golden
sand, rise the stately palms that mark the position of
the fountain of Ain Hudherah (Hazeroth), where Miiiam
was smitten with leprosy (Numb. xii. 10). The ques-
tion of the route followed by the Israelites after they
reached the plateau of the Tih we must leave for
future consideration.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAXS.
BT THE EEV. S. G. GEEEX, D.D., PEESIDENT OF EAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
HILIPPI (anciently Kp-nviSes, " Fountains,"
_^ new-built and new-named by Philip of
"^^^iy^ Macedon) was the first place in Etu*ope
7>H3 where the Gospel was preached by the
Apostb Patd.i Very simply did the evangelisation
of the continent begin. '• We went out of the city by a
river-side, where we supposed that there was a place of
prayer (for the Jews! ; and we spake unto the women
who resorted thither."- In Philippi, also, broke out the
earliest strictly Gentile persecution — presage of a world
1 Acts xvi. 12. Philippi is here said to be the first town of
Macedonia at which the Apostle aud his companions arrived in
their journey (not "chief"). It had teen made a "colony" by
Augustus, after the great victory over Brutus and Cassius, B.C. 42.
- Acts xvi. 13. The above rendering gives the sense of the
phrase oO ti-o^ifo/iei/ npojeux'!" ^'i-ai (the accepted reading).
in arms against the Christian faith; and there, for
the first time, did the Apostle invoke the protection of
the Roman name. The visit was altogether a memor-
able one, and the Philippian believers were not slow to
apprehend the honour that had been conferred on their
city, or the affection of the teacher who had so suffered
among them. When Paul, ^vith Ids companions Silas and
Timothy, departed from Philippi, there were " bretlu-en "
to whom he bade farewell. The " house of Lydia " was
already a gathering-place for the believers in Christ. It
is more than probable that Luke, who was also in the
apostolic company, was left behind for a season^ to
3 Luke first speaks of himself in Acts xvi. 11. "Loosing from.
Troas, we came with a straight course," &c. The first person
disappears after the record of the Philippian visit, and reappears
later on at Philippi (Acts ix. 5, 6).
190
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
niiuister to the iufaut t'liurch ; but, however this may
have been, the Philippiaus showed from the first
the most generous kindness to the Apostle. Even in
Thessalonica — the very next stage in his journey — they
" sent once and again " unto his necessities ; and wlien
ho had left the Macedonian proA'ince, and had readied
Corinth, the friendly and acceptable supply continued.^
It is characteristic of the Apostle, that what he Avoiild
not receive from the proud and wealthy Corinthians, he
frankly accepted from the comjjaratively poor people of
Macedonia. Where there was no love, where the affec-
tion was but dubious, he spurned the gift.
2. We read no more of Philippi untd the time of that
memorable \nsit to Corinth in which St. Paul wi-ote his
Einstle to the Romans. Before that \nsit, the Apostle
passed thz'ough Macedonia, makuig Philippi, no doubt,
one of his halting* places, and, probably, wintiug thence
his second letter to the Corinthians, if not also that to
the Galatians.- Then, after the three months' stay at
Corinth, St. Paul, with some of his comrades, "saUed
away from Philippi," on their way to Jerusalem. This
was the last Aasit to the city before his imprisonment.
The affectionate relations that he cultivated with the
Philippian Clu-istiaus had evidently continued in all
their fervour. Whether present or absent, he had them
in his heart, and the Eijistle now before us, written at
one of the most critical stages of his Roman caj)tivity,
indicates the relief that he foimd in communication with
these, his best and most loyal friends.
3. The reasons which induce us to place the Philip-
pian letter latest among the Epistles of the first Roman
captivity have been already pointed out.^ Burrhus was
dead ; Tigelhnus filled his place ; PoppEea, the Jewish
wife of Nero, was at the height of her ascendancy.
Every prospect was dark for the Apostle. He had
himself, as it would appear, been removed into a more
rigorous confinement. Certain things, at any rate,
had "happened to" him of an apparently unfavour-
able character, although overruled by Divine Provi-
dence for good^ — occurrences plainly additional to the
simjjle fact of his imprisonment. From his mention of
the Praetorium (E. V., " palace "), i.e., the head-quarters
of the Roman city-guard, or the barracks of the imperial
guard on the Palatine hill,^ we should gather that he
had been transferred from custody in his "own hired
house" to a closer military surveillance, in prospect of
a trial which would bring to him release or martyrdom.
4. At this crisis it was that Ej)aphroditus arrived as
messenger of the Philippian cluu'ch to minister to the
Apostle's wants. His advent was welcome on every
accoiint, not only for the sj-mpathy shown and the
supply provided, but because it was a renewal of
former kindness. For some years, it would appear.
1 See 2 Cor. xi. 9—" "Wlien I was present with you, and wanted,
. . . that which was lacking to me the brethren which came
from Macedonia supplied."
2 See Bible Educatou, Vol. IV., pp. 4G, 80.
3 See Bible Educator. Vol. IV., p. 153.
^ See Canon I/ightfoot's elaborate note on Prcelorium, chap. i.
i.3, p. 97 sq. He gives a different explanation, but his reasonings
seem hardly satisfactory.
the Philippians had omitted to furnish help of the kind
that had so greatly cheered St. Paul in Thessalonica
and Corinth. They had, indeed, in response to his
appeal, most gladly and liberally contributed to the
relief of the destitute Christians in Jerusalem ;5 but to
himself they had given nothing. Not that this was felt
as a slight, or imputed as blame — they had only " lacked
opportunity ;" their disposition toward the Apostle was
as fei-vently generous as ever. But " now at the last "
this generosity had again found full vent, and the sensi-
tive heart of the aged servant of Chi'ist is full of joy :
" Ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my
affliction. "" For a while EiJaphroditus had remained
with the diminished band of St. Paul's helpers, and had
wrought beyond his strength, for it would a^jpear that
many of the friends, whose names we read in earlier
epistles, had departed. Some had been sent away on
the AiDOstle's errands, as Tychicus, Ej)aphi-as; others
were becoming absorbed in personal affairs. " They
all," says the old man, sadly, " seek their own." ' Only
Timothy was left, and Epaphroditus threw himself
into the woi-k with such zeal as to endanger his life.
Happily he had recovered, but not before the Philippian
church had heard of his peril, and had been filled with
sorrowing anxiety. To reassure them, therefore, as well
as to convey the expression of St. Raid's gratitude to his
old friends, Epaphroditus is made the bearer of this
letter.
5. A closer examination of the Epistle will bring to
light another apparent purpose of the Apostle, hinted,
indeed, with exquisite delicacy, and to be traced only
by those who read "between the lines." The earnest
and repeated injunctions against mutual jealousy, vain-
glory, and strife, seem to imply the existence in this
otherwise right-hearted church of a self-seeking spirit,
which, if it had not broken out into open dissension,
stUl threatened the peace of the commimity. " Stand
fast in one spirit. Be like-minded, having the same
love, of one accord, of one mind. Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Do all things
without murmurings and disputings. Let us walk by the
same rule, let us mind the same thing." These and
similar exliortations scattered through the Epistle, with
the marked repetition of the word all in the expression
of the Apostle's good wishes,^ show an intensity and
persistency in dwelling on this one theme, which would
have been somewhat out of place had there been no
danger. The warm words in which the Apostle again
and again commends Epaphroditus suggest that the
latter was to some extent the object of jealousy ; but
however this may be, we have the names of two, at least,
who had quarrelled — two female members of the church
— Euodia (not Euodias, as E. V.) and Syntyche. These
5 2 Cor. viii. 1—5. " Chap. iv. 10—14.
" Chap. ii. 21. Observe, the Apostle is not here laying down
any general ma.xiui, " All seek their own ;" but is speaking of his
former associates— they are all (oi Trtli/TCf) seeking their own — set
on private and selfish interests. Demas was one of them. See
Col. iv. It, and compare 2 Tim. iv. 10, The Epistle to the Philip-
pians stands between the two.
8 See especially chap. i. 3 — 8.
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.
191
St. Paid beseeches "to be of tbe same miud iu tlie
Lord;" and personally addressing an elder or pastor of
the eburcb as his " true yokefellow," entreats him to
" help " these Christian ladies to settle their dispute,
" inasmuch," adds the Apostle, " as they labom-ed Tvith
me in the Gospel." ^ It may be observed that the veiy
energy of disposition which, when rightly directed, leads
to the highest forms of Christian activity, as well as the
sensitive adherence to principle which marks a style of
character like tliat of the PhUippians, wdl often expose
to precisely the same danger. Those ^vho care but little
about theii- beliefs and labours will, without resentment,
allow them to be misunderstood, or even disparaged;
and, on the contrary, that which begins in enthusiasm
often ends in strife.
6. Apart from the indication of this danger, however,
there is nothing in the Philippian church to arouse the
Apostle's fears, or to inciu- his rebuke. The unsophis-
ticated men of Macedonia were little likely to be per-
verted by the speculations which threatened the stability
of the Colossians; and the Judaising tendency, which
was the bane of the early churches, is only mentioned as
a source of mischief, well understood indeed, but not
practically affecting the church at Pliilippi. Of all St.
Paul's writings this is the simniest. Its burden, uttered
like a refrain of some glad song, is "Rejoice!"^ IsTo
doubt it was a cherished memory in the Philippian
church that Paul and Silas had prayed and sung praises
at midniglit when " fast ia the stocks " in the " inner
prison "' of their town ; now, from the depth of a yet
sadder incarceration, and in what miist outwardly have
seemed a darker night, is heard the selfsame music.
7. So true is the Epistle to all that we can conceive
of the great Apostle's character, and so artless and
unstiidied is it in tone, that it is wonderful to find any
one disputing its genuineness on internal grounds.
Tliat this has been done is one of the very perversities
of criticism. The objections of Baur (of which a suflfi-
cient account will be found in the introduction to Dr.
Eadie's Covimentary, " rest," says Bleek, " sometimes on
perverse interpretations of separate passages, sometimes
on arbitrary historical assumptions, whUe in other cases
it is hard to conceive that they were meant in earnest." ^
The hand as well as the heart of Paul cannot but be
discerned by every unprejudiced reader through the
whole course of the Epistle. Here are his specially-
characteristic doctrines,^ his favourite illustrations,^ his
1 The E. v., " Help those women which laboured with
me," obscures the certain reference to Euodia and Syntj-che, in
cvv\cinj3aiov avTuTs, a'irtvei trui'i/fXiiTai — words which can only hear
the construction above given.
2 Chap. i. 4, "making request u'i(/i joi; ;" 18, " I rejoice, yea, and
will rejoice ;" 25, " Tour furtherance and joy of faith ;" ii. 2, " Fulfil
ye my joy ;" 17, 18, " I joy and rejoice with you all: do ye joy and
rejoice with me ;" iii. 1, " Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord;"
iv. 1, "My brethren . . . my joy and crown;" iv. 4, " Rejoice in
the Lord alway : and again I say, Ecjoicc." Other passages are in
the same strain.
3 See Canon Lightfoot's Epistle to the Philippians, p. 73.
4 Note especially the thought of conformity to the death and
resurrection of Christ (chap. iii. 10, 11), and of Him as our
righteousness (iii. 9).
^ Compare chap. iii. 2, 3 with Kom. ii. 2S; chap. iv. 18 with
Eom. xii. 1.
very tui'us of phrase.^ The pathos with which he de-
scribes his trials is beyond a forger's art, while if tho
language of aspiration and hope which the Epistle con-
tains thi'oughout be the product of another mind, we can
but say, " A second Paul, or even a greater, is here ! " ^
The internal evidence is at every point corroborated
by external testimony. In the earhest ages there is no
indication that the Epistle was ever disputed. It is
quoted by the most ancient Christian writers ; and, in
particular, the thought of '• citizenship in heaven " (chap,
i. 27 ; iii. 20) seems to have been adopted from this
Epistle (for it occui's nowhere else iu Scripture) into
the vocabulary of the Churcb.s All the evidence, in
fact, from MSS., versions, and quotations, by which the
cauonicity of the New Testament writings is established,
applies to this Ej)istle, with absolutely nothing to thi-ow
into the opj)osite scale.
8. The arrangement of the letter is entirely informal.
It is, in fact, a letter, simply and entu-ely, one topic sug-
gesting another in natiu-al course. For convenience in.
studying, the following order may be specified.
I. Address and Greeting (chap. i. 1 — 11). Here
it is observable that the letter is addi-essed to an or-
ganised church, with " bishops and deacons." Compare
the thanksgiving and the prayer with those in Col. i.
The spirit is the same ; the difference is that between
the Apostle's address to Christians whom he did not
personally know, and that to his own familiar friends.
II. The Apostle's own Position (chap. i. 12 — 30).
Into this he enters at large, as likely to be of peculiar
interest to the PhUippians. Three things are specially
noted (1), that the rigour of his imprisonment in the
prsetoriau camp had aided the dissemination of the
Gospel. For Paul to be talked about was for Christ
to be known (w. 12, 13). So in chap. iv. 22 we read that
there were " saints in Caesar's household." ^ (2) In the
Church the immediate result of the Apostle's trials was
an extended preaching of the Gospel — by some in sin-
cerity and love, by others in a malicious spirit, iuasmuch
as they seized the opportunity of insinuating Jewish
errors, which they knew the Apostle hated. Never was
utterance more magnanimous than St. Paid's expression
of joy that even thus Christ was preached. We are
ready to wonder at fii-st that he who so sternly denounced
the same teachings in the Galatiau chui-ches should
acquiesce in them, even welcome them, in Rome. The
explanation of the anomaly is plainly that in the former
case it was the perversion of Christians, in the latter it
was the conversion of the heathen, that he had iu mind.
To the Galatians he would say, Renounce not your
faith for an imperfect form of Christianity ; among tho
Romans, Better an imperfect Christianity than none.
And to his own soul the discipline was salutary— the
disciple was humbled that the Master might be exalted.
(3) In a sentence the Apostle gives the motto of his life :
^ Compare especially chap. iv. 1 with 1 Cor. xv. 58.
" See especially chap. i. 21—25; iii. 7—11, 20, 21.
S Clement of Rome, § 21 ; Ep. to Diognetus, § 5 j Justin Martyr,
De Resurrect., § 7.
9 On this subject see Canon Lightfoot's singularly interestiJ'g
and exhaustive discussion {Philippians, p. 169 sq.).
192
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
" To mo to live is Christ;" then, iu irresistible contrast,
the attractions of the better life appear. His desire is
to depart, and to bo with Christ ; i yet he is willing to
remain whUo he can speak or work for liis Lord, and
for the souls of men. " And," he says, " I know that I
shall abide and continue with you aU." There is, of
course, no inspired prophecy here, but a very assured
anticipation — fidfiUed, as will be shown iu our intro-
duction to the First Ejiistle to Timothy.
III. Counsels to the Philippians, especially
against pride and partisanship (chap. i. 27 — ii. IS). The
key-note of this exhortation is, " Let your ' citizenship,'
your common associated life, be worthy of the Gospel "
(a^iws iro\tTfve<T6€). In the special form of this exhorta-
tion there is much impressiveness. Tlie evils that had
crept into the Philippian church specially threatened the
stability and harmony of the Christian commonwealth ;
"therefore," says the Apostle, "be of one mind; strive
together." The great pattern of humility and self-
abnegation is presented in Him, Avho, though truly
and essentially Divine, regarded not even equality Avith
God as an honour to be tenaciously grasped, but conde-
scended to manhood and to death for us.- In closing
his appeal here to the Philippians, the Apostle refers
again to his own sufferings. Even if, contrary to his
expectation just expressed, his blood should be shed in
speedy martyrdom, as a libation upon the sacrificial
offering of the faith of these his brethren, it -would only
add to his joy.
IV. Personal, and Apparent Close (chap. ii. 19
— iii. 1). The Apostle hopes to send Timothy, has now
sent Epaphroditus, whom he affectionately commends ;
then, as if to close the salutation, adds, j)robably " with
his own hand," " Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord."
The words that follow, " To write the same things," &.C.,
have been variously understood. May they not be a
half apology, so to speak, for his persistent dwelling on
this one theme of Christian joy ? At any rate, he seems
at this point to lay down his pen. When he resumes it,
it is for quite another theme.
V. Caution against Judaism — The Law of
Evangelical Righteousness (chap. iii. 2 — iv. 1).
This familiar section begins suddenly, with the warning,
" Mark ye the dogs ! mark the evil workers ! mark the
concision!" — plainly a reference to the Judaisers who
might yet menace the Philippian church. The Aiiostle
speaks with full authority on the question, for he also
was a Jew, perfect m legal righteousness, yet for Christ
he had renounced it all. Never was nobler picture
drawn than this seH- delineation of a consecrated man,
1 In ver. 23 we should read, " havin? my (t-V) desire to depart,
and to be with Christ; for it is very far better" (nnWw ti'<i>
fxHWov Kf}(iinTQi). The E. v., "having a desire," leaves it iu some
doubt which way the Apostle's personal preferences inclined. In
his own language there is no doubt at all.
- On the great passage, chap. ii. 5 — 11, much has been written,
and it is impossible here to enter into any detailed exposition ; the
true sense, it is believed, is given above. The word cipTa-y/j.lc, it
has been satisfactorily shown, means not " robber3-,'' as in E. V.,
but a thing to be seized — an object of eager desire. Ou the words
rendered "form" and "fashion," see Trench's N. T. Synonyms,
series 2, § 20.
ending with a solemn protest against the perversion
of Gospel blessings. The " enemies of the cross of
Christ," for whom the Apostle wept, were not its open
foes, but its false adherents — tho"Antinomians" of the
early Church. With the false position of these men St.
Paul contrasts the heavenly citizenship {-TroXlrevna) of
beUevers, and declares the glorious aim of the Christian
life in the final resurrection, adding the lesson, " Stand
fast in the Lord."^
YI. Renewed Appeals (chap. iv. 1—9). That to
Euodia and Syntycho has been already noted. In the
reference to " Clement " * it is not quite clear whether
he is simply mentioned as a fellow-labourer of the
Apostle, or is besought to exert his influence with that
of St. Paul's " true yoke-fellow " for the reconciliation
of those two Chi-istian ladies. The former seems the
likelier explanation. The spirit of joy is then again
commended, with the spirit of trust. " Be anxiously
troubled (fj.€pi/j.uuT€) about nothing, and the peace of
God shall keep, or garrison {(ppovp-naet), your hearts."
Sublimely comprehensive is the call that succeeds, to
the pursuit of all Christian excellence. Again the
Apostle writes " finally," but he has yet a postscript to
add on personal matters.
YII. Acknowledgment of the Gifts from
PhILIPPI — DOXOLOGT, SALUTATIONS, AND ClOSE
(chap. iv. 10 — 23). The references of the Apostle to
the gifts brought by Epaphroditus, and to former
kindnesses received from the Philippians, have been
ah-eady noted. His acknowledgment blends gratitude
with manly independence. Rather for their sakes than
for his own is their liberality valued ; and in an equally
characteristic strain does he make retui-u for their
kindness — "My God shall supply all your need" — as
you have supplied all mine. The greeting that follows
is threefold, from the Apostle's own companions, the
church in Rome generally, and, in j)articular, the
Christians attached to the " household " of Nero —
prol^ably freedmen or slaves in the Imperial retinue.
So near the throne had the power of the Gospel
reached.
9. The subsequent history of the church in Philippi
is almost unknown. Whether Timothy was sent accord-
ing to St. Paul's intention, does not appear. That the
Apostle himself was able after a while to fidfil his pm--
pose of visiting the Philippian church -will be hereafter
shown. In the next century, Polycarp, bishop of
Smyrna, addresses an Epistle to the Philippians, still
preserved among the writings of the Apostolical Fathers.
This, however, adds but little to our knowledge of tlie
church. An interesting glimpse of their kind hospi-
tality to the martyr, Ignatius, when on his way to suffer
3 It is clear that chap. iv. 1 belongs properly to chap, iii., closing
the reference to the resurrection precisely as St. Paul had done in
1 Cor. XV. 58, employing the same mode of appeal— " Therefore, my
beloved brethren ; " and inculciting the same lesson—" be steadfast,
immoveable," &c.
•» The notion entert.ained by some that this Clement was the
" Bishop of Rome," and the author of the Epistle to the Corin-
thians, included anion- the works of the Apostolical Fathers, is
rendered entirely improbable by consideration of place and date.
The name was a common one.
THE PLAl^'TS OF THE BIBLE.
193
at Rome, sliows that the ancient character of the
Philippians remained j while, on the other hand, a
presbyter, one Yalens, had brought scandal on the
church by his avarice; and partly, perhaps, because
this vice was so contrary to their former habit and dis-
position, Polycarp utters the most solemn warnings
against all covetousuess. But this letter is the last clear
trace that we have of this church, once so distinguished
by its o^vn devotedness, and by the affection of St.
Paul. The light has passed still westward, and not a
vestige remains of the mother church of European
Christendom.!
1 See Conybeare and Howson. The site of Fhilippi Las long been
a desert.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
BY WILLIAM CARRUTHERS, F.R.S., KEEPER OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITISH MUSEUlff.
ORDERS XXX. — XXXII. ANACARDIACE.!;, RHAMNE^, AND LEGtlMINOS^.
HE Terebinths {Anacardiacece) are an order
of trees or shrubs with a resinous or
milky acrid juice, and inconspicuous
flowers, found in the warm regions of the
wsrld. None of them reach so far north as to find a
place among our native plants. In Palestine there are
five species, belonging to the two genera Rhus and
Pistacia. One of them, the tanning sumach {Rhus
coriaria, Linn.) is a small tree, some fifteen or twenty
feet high. It is extensively grown for its leaves, which
contain so much tannic acid that they are gathered for
use in tlie preparation of leather.
The Pistacia tree {Pistacia vera, Linn.) is cultivated
in Palestine for its edible fruits. These are probably
tlie nuts which Israel sent with the balm, honey, &c.,
as a present to obtain favour for his sons from " the
man " Joseph, in Egypt (Gen. xliii. 11). The Mastick
tree (P. Lentiscus, Linn.) is found chiefly as a shrub
along the shores, and is prized becatise of the resin
which exudes from incisions in its bark. This is the
gum mastic used for varnishing pictures, and largely
chewed by the Turks, under the idea that it sweetens
the breath and strengthens the gums. The Terebinth
(P. Terebintlms, Linn.) is a larger tree, sometimes,
indeed, attaining a considerable size ; from it is obtained
the aromatic resin called Ohio turpentine. Many
critics consider this to be the tree called elah (n^ss) in
the Hebrew Scriptures, and translated "oak," except in
two passages, viz., Isa. vi. 13, where it is rendered " tcil-
tree," and Hosea iv. 13, where it is incorrectly trans-
lated " elm," a tree not found in Palestine. The oak had
its distinctive name allon (p-":?), and the elah is distin-
guished from it as a different tree in both these passages :
" As a feiZ-tree and as an oah whose substance is in
tliem when they cast their leaves ;" and again, they
'■ burn incense upon the hills, under oaTzs, and poplars,
and elms, because the shadow thereof is good." The
special tree meant by elah cannot be determined with
certainty; there is, however, no tree in Palestine that
has a better claim than the terebinth. Fine specimens
occasionally stand out as striking objects in the land-
scape, trees like that in the wood of Ephraim, whose
lower branches caught up Absalom as he was passing
under it on the back of the ass.
The Buckthorn family (Rhamnece) is an order of
85 VOL. TV.
i spiny shrubs or trees, found in warm or temperate
I regions, having two representatives in Britain, the
j common buckthorn {Rhamnus catharticua, Linn.) and
the alder buckthorn {R\ Frangida, Linn.\ both common
j in hedges and thickets. Neither of these trees occurs
in Palestine, but a species common in English gardens
[R. Alaterniis, Linn.) is found on the shores in the
north, and Boissier describes no less than five new
species from the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges.
Besides these, there are belonging to this family two
species of Zizyphus and one of Paliuriis fouad in
Palestine. The common jujube {Z. vulgaris, Lam.) is
everywhere cultivated because of its berry-like fleshy
fruit, which is eaten both fresh .and dried, being some-
what acid when fresh, but sweet and agreeable when
di-ied. The Christ's-thorn {Z. sjoina-Christi Linn.) is
also a common plant, especially abundant in the warmer
regions of the south. It is a shrub or small tree, with
angular branches, small oval leaves, and numerous long
sharp and recurved thorns. Its bright yellow fruit,
called nabqah, is edible. The Paliurus aculiatus
(Lam.) is also called Christ's-thorn. It is a shrub with
slender flexible branches ; the base of its oval leaves
is furnished with two sharp spines, one of which is
straight and erect, while the other is curved like a hook.
Either of these plants might have been employed to
form the crown of thorns which, in mockery, the Roman
Boldiers placed on the Saviour's head before His ciuci-
fixion. Both were equally suited to the purpose, and
equally accessible to the soldiers.
Reference is no doubt made to the spiny bushes
of this order in many passages in the Old Testa-
ment, under the various terms translated indifferently
"thorns," "thistles," and " briers," in our Authorised
Version. Neither- the words themselves nor the contexi
supply any key to the particular plants intended, if,
indeed the terms were meant to be limited to special
plants. It seems more probable that they were general
designations including all the numerous prickly shrubs
or herbs of this or other orders, which form so con
siderable a proportion of the vegetation of Palestine.
The Pea family (Leguminosce) is one of the largest
and most important orders in the vegetable kingdom.
Its individual members are easily recognised bj' the
generally compound leaves, the form and siructuve of
194
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
their flowers, and tlie pod or dry fruit. They ai-e dis-
tribiilcd over all the "world, from the Equator to the
Arctic regions ; thoy are rare iu New Zualaud, aud are
reported to bo entirely absent from the native flora of
St. Helena, Tristan d'Acuuha, aud the islands of the
Antarctic Ocean. There are nearly eighty species
indigenous to Britain, while our gardens and pleasiu-e-
grounds abound with exotic forms, inti'oduccd for their
graceful foliage and beautiful flowers. Boissier de-
scribes nearly "200 species from Palestine, a quarter of
which belong to the single genus Astragalus. Eleven
species of leguminous plants occur both iu Britain and
Palestine ; among them is our common white clover
{Trifolium rcpens, Linn.), which has been foimd near
the summit of Lebanon. Five other clovers found in
Britain gi-ow on the sides or at the base of the same
mountain. Three out of the seven British medics also
reach Palestine, one {Medicago sativa, Linn.) being
foimd on Lebanon, and the others occurring on the
shore. And, lastly, an alpine form of the bird's-foot
trefoil (Lotus coniiculatus, Linn.) has been gathered in
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. These herbaceous plants,
with a few other European species, are the outliers of
the northern flora, finding their southern limits in the
high lands of Palestine ; another group of leguminous
plants, representing tropical vegetation, spreads over
the country northwards from the deserts and the de-
pressed valley of the Dead Sea in the south.
Six species of lupine eccur in Palestine, several of
which are old favourites iu oiu' gardens, though they
are now being superseded hj the more ornamental
American species of the genus.
Eight genera, in addition to the three mentioned,
found in Britain, are represented in Palestine, but by
different species. Among these is the genus Astra-
gahis, which has three British species, against the
fifty recorded by Boissier. The majority of these are
alpine forms, but a considerable number belong to
the hoary, prickly group of dwarf woody shrubs found
in the south, and from the bark of several of which
exudes the gum tragacauth of commerce. It has been
suggested that the "spicery" which the Ishmaelitish
merchants were conveying to Egypt wlieu Joseph was
sold to them (Gen. xxxvii. 25) was this gum. As the
same substance, nelcoth (hnd?), is included among the
presents sent by Israel to Joseph, it would appear to
have been some native product of Syria which was rare
iu Egypt ; and the opinion that this was gum traga-
canth is strengthened by the fact pointed out by Rosen-
miiller, tliat the Arabic term naka'at is analogous to
this Hebrew word. An allied word, nelcoth (nbj), is
translated " precious things " in the Authorised Version,
and in the margin " spicery," in the account given of
Hezekiah's exhibiting to the ambassadors from Babylon
the princely treasures which lie and his predecessors
had collected. It may be that the predominant vege-
table products preserved in the royal museum, or house
of spicery, gave its name to the house, though it con-
tained, as well, treasures of silver and gold.
The Spanish broom {Sjpartiumjunceum, Linn.), which
has been cultivated with us for at least three hundred
years, is a common plant in Palestine ; and in the south
as well as throughout the deserts of the Siuaitic penin-
sula another broom [Rdama Rcetam, Boiss.), often
confounded with the Spanish broom, is very abundant.
This is the ratam of the Arabs, and no doubt the
rothem (cri'i) of the Hebrew Scriptures, a word trans-
lated " juniper " in our Authorised Version, in the three
passages in which it occurs. The projihet Elijah, in
his flight to Horeb to escape the persecutions of Jezebel,
" came and sat down under a juniper-tree ; and ho
requested for himself that he might die ; . . . and
as he lay and slept under a juniper-tree, behold, then
an angel touched him, and said unto him. Arise and
eat " (1 Kings xix. 4, 5). The ratam sometimes attains
a height of ten feet, and consists of a somewhat dense
bush of almost leafless slender twigs. " This is the
largest and most conspicuous shrub of these deserts,
growing thickly in the water-courses aud valleys. Our
Arabs always selected the place of encampment (if
possible) in a spot where it grew, in order to be shel-
tered by it at night from the wind ; and diu'ing the
day, when they often went on in advance of the camels,
we found them not unfrequently sitting or sleeping
under a bush of ratam, to protect them from the sun.
It was in this very desert, a day's journey from Beer-
sheba, that the prophet Elijah lay down and slept
beneath the same shrub" (Robinson's Biblical Re-
searches, vol. i., p. 203). That the ratam was used for
fuel is implied iu the reference to "coals of juniper"
(Ps. cxx. 4), and confirmed by the practice of the present
day. " It is ruthlessly uprooted by the Arabs, who
collect it wherever it is tolerably abundant for the
manufactm'e of charcoal, which is considered of the
finest quality, and fetches a higher price in Cairo than
any other kind" (Tristram, K-it. Histonj, p. 360). The
large I'oot appears to have been used in extremities as
food, for Job speaks of the outcasts who were driven
into the Avilderness as cutting up "mallows by the
bushes, and juniper roots for their meat " (Job xxx. 4).
The Tise of this bitter root, containing but very littlo
nutriment, as food, exhibits iu a telling manner the
misery of these outcasts.
Several leguminous plants were cultivated for food
by the Jews. The red pottage for which Esau sold his
birthright to Jacob (Gen. xxv. 34) was made from the
small, dark-coloured, disc-like seeds of the lentil {Ervum
Lens, Linn.). Dr. Robinson, haWng run short of pro-
visions, was glad to get a supply of lentils at Akabah,
which he found " very palatable." He could well con-
ceive that to a weary hunter they might be quite a
dainty {Biblical Researches, vol. i., p. 246). They
were cultivated in the time of David in Palestine, for
Avo read that one of his mighty men, Shammah, slew a
troop of Philistines who were foraging in his field of
lentils (2 Sam. xxili. 11) ; and beans, lentils, and parched
pulse were among the provisions supplied to David aud
his attendants by Barzillai. when he was seekmg in the
wilderness security from his rebel son Absalom (2 Sam.
xvii. 2-3). Beans aud lentils were also part of the
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
196
iugreclients of tlie bread that Ezekiel was to eat foi* 390
days, during tlie figurative siege of Jerusalem (Ezek.
iv. 9). The lentil is the smallest legumiuous plant
cultivated for food. It is somewhat like the vetch, but
has its flowers geuerally iu pairs, and they are fol-
lowed by very short pods, containing two or three
of the small seeds. The farinaceous food sold under
the name " Revalenta Arabica '' is the flour of these
seeds.
The bean was cultivated from the earliest times.
Representations of its cultivation figiu-e on the sculp-
tured stones of Egypt. It continues to be a favom-ite
food of the Fellahs.
The " parched pulse " included in the provision
supplied to David was probably a leguminous seed,
although this is not implied in the text, for the word
" pulse " is supplied by the translators. Nor is it
certain what is the pulse in the only other passage
where this word is used (Dan. i. 12, 16). The plain
and poor food which Daniel and his companions pre-
ferred to the flesh and rich food from the king's table,
probably consisted of gi-ain of any kind, for the word
zeroim (D's^.i) literally means seed, and there is no
reason why it should be limited to pulse.
Heugstenberg suggested that the "leeks" {hatzir,
T"n), which the Israelites longed for in the wilderness,
Avas probably fenugreek, a j)lant largely eaten in Egypt.
Sonnini says, " In this fertile country the Egj-ptians
themselves eat the fenugreek so largely that it may
properly be called the food of man. In the mouth of
November they cry 'green halbeh' for sale iu the
streets of the town. It is tied up in large bunches,
which the inhabitants purchase at a low price, and
wliich they eat with incredible greediness, without
any kind of seasoning" {Voij. i., p. 379). There is
nothing in the etymology of the word to guide us to
the plant meant ; any green grass-like herb like the
leek has as good a claim to be considered the plant as
the fenugi'cek.
The locust-tree, or St. John's bread {Ceratonia siliqiia,
Linn.), is cultivated for feeding animals in Palestine, and
throughout the countries bordering on the Mediter-
ranean. Its popular names have been given to it from
the erroneous tradition that its pods, and not the locust
insects, were the food of John in the wilderness. It is
, probable that the husks on which the swine fed (Luke
,( XV. 16) were the long- dark j)ods of this tree, wliich con-
tain a certain amount of saccharine and other nutritious
substances. The locust-tree is very common throughout
Palestine, and its husks are to be met with on stalls iu
all Oriental towns.
Several acacias are found iu the deserts to the south,
of Palestine, in the lower valley of the Jordan, and in
the ravines that open into it. They are small trees,
with angular twisted branches, clothed, when in flower,
with elegant feathery leaves, and clusters of small
flowers, arranged in round balls or long spikes. The
species found in Palestine yield, from natural or artificial
wounds on the bark, the gum arable of commerce. One
of the species {A. Seyal, Del.) has been identified with
the shittah-tree of the Bible. It is mentioned only once,
being included among the choice trees enumerated in
Isaiah's prophecy, with which the Lord would enrich and
beautify the desert when His people tm-ned to Him.
" I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittak-
tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree ; I will set in
the desert the fix-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree
together " (Isa. xli. 19). A group of such noble trees
foreign to the wilderness, but flourishing by the side of
the desert acacia, would force on Israel the conviction
that " the hand of the Lord had done it." The wood
of this ti-ee, called shittim-wood, was extensively used
in the construction of the tabernacle and its fm-niture.
The ark of the covenant, containing- the two tables of
the law ■wL'itten by the finger of God, and occupying the
most holy place in the sanctuary, was an oblong chest
of shittim-wood, four feet long, by two and a half feet
wide. The altar of incense, and the table on which
was placed the shew-Jn-ead, as well as the staves by
which they and the ark of the covenant were borne
when the camp was moved, were made of shittim-wood,
and all these objects were overlaid with precious gold.
The altar of burnt-offering placed in the outer court,
and the staves with which it was carried, were made of
the same wood, overlaid with brass. And, finally, the
boards which formed the walls of the tabernacle, with the
transverse bars by which the^were united into a solid
wall when they were erected, were of shittim-wood, as
well as the four pillars which supported the curtain that
enclosed the most holy place (Exod. xxv. and xxvii,
passim). According to Tristram, the shittah-trees
growing in the valley of the Dead Sea would supply
planks fom- feet in diameter, so that there would be .no
difficulty in obtaining iu the wilderness those required
for the tabernacle, which were seventeen feet long, and
scarcely a foot broad. The wood is compact and tough,
and agrees well with the somewhat free translation of the
LXX., who render it S-o-n-ara ^'ha, "incorruptible wood."
196
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTINE.
BY MAJOU WILSON, K. E.
VIII. JUD^A.
\HE term " Judaea " was sometimes applied
to the whole of Palestine; and even in
Matt. xix. 1 we read of the '" coasts " of
Judaea beyond Jordan. Strictly speaking,
however, Judaea was the Roman pro>-ince which, as
Josephus informs us (B. J., iii. 8, § 5), extended from the
village of Anuath on the southern borders of Samaria,
to tho village of Jardas on the confines of Arabia ; and
from the sea to the river Jordan. Its extent was nearly
the same as that of the kingdom of Judah, and it em-
braced the territories allotted to the tribes of Benjamin,
Judah, Dan, and Simeon. The name appears to have
come into use after the Captivity, for in Ezra v. 8
mention is made of the " pro\Tnce of Judaea ; " and
in Dan. v. 13, Belteshazzar asks Daniel whether he
was the same man who was brought by his father out
of Judaea (Jewry in A. Y.).
The province of Judaea is naturally divided into five
regions: the HUl country, or " mountains of Judah;"
the Wilderness ; the Shephelah, or Lowland; the
Negeb, or South Country; and the plain between the
sea and the hills. The HUl country is a continuation
of the ridge that runs southwards from the plain of
Esdraelon ; it forms an elevated table-land or plateau,
which attaios its greatest altitude at Hebron, and thence
sinks by a series of irregularly defined teiTaces to the
desert on the soutli. The plateau is everywhere cut up
by deep valleys and ravines falling abruptly to the Medi-
terranean on the one hand and to the Jordan valley on
the other, their heads often overlapping in a remarkable
manner. One great road, on which the principal cities
were situated, passed along the line of water parting
from south to north, and from this central highway the
side roads turned off down the valleys to the coast and
the trans-Jordanic region. The general aspect of the
country, an endless succession of round swelling hills
of grey limestone, is somewhat monotonous, especially
in autumn, when the scant vegetation is burned up by
the rays of the sun ; there are, however, often gardens
and vineyards in the valleys, and for a brief period in
spring the hills are carpeted with flowers. There is
no doubt that these same hOls were very productive at
the period when Judaea supported the large population
which has left its traces in the ruins on every hill-top
throughout the country ; and there is ample evidence
of former vegetation and cultivation, not only in the
'•Hareths" (forests) of the Bible which had not entirely
disappeared at the time of tlie Crusades, but in the
ruined vineyard terraces which can be traced to the
summit of nearly every hill, and in the countless rock-
hewn cistoms made solely for purposes of irrigation.
The soU is still rich, and industry alone is wanted to
re-clothe tho mountain-sides with the vine, olive, and fig.
The Wilderness is !^he district stretching along the
western shore of the Dead Sea in which David took
refuge for some time when pursued by Saul ; it is a
dreary waste of bare hUls cut up by innumerable water-
coui'ses, uncultivated, and bearing no traces of former
occupation. The Shephelah or lowland intervening
between the hills and the plain is, on the contrary', the
most fertile portion of the province, and seems to have
been at one time densely populated. The Negeb, or
" south country," was the name given to the rich pasture-
lands, lying between the hUls and the desert, in which
the Patriarchs settled down with their flocks, and which
afterwards fell to the lot of Simeon. Of this, however,
as well as of the plain of PhUistia, a notice will be given
in a future paper.
Amongst the most prominent of the mountains of
Judah are Neby Samwil, which has been identified by
several writers with Mizpeh ; the Mount of Olives, to
the east of Jerusalem ; and the Frank mountain, south
of the same city, on which Herod built the city and
fortress of Herodion. In the Bible mention is made
of Mount Perazim, possibly near Baal-perazim, the scene
of two of David's victories over the Philistines ; and of
Mounts Ephron, Jearim, and Seir, on the boundary of
Judah ; but with our present information their sites
cannot be definitely fixed. The valleys running to the
Jordan have been noticed in a previous paper, and it
will only be necessary to mention here the valley of
Zeboim, or hysenas, near Michmash, probably one of
the tributaries of Wady Kelt ; the Kedron valley,
wliich runs between the Mount of Olives and Jeru-
salem, and, under the name of Wady en-Nar, finds its
way to the Dead Sea ; and the valley of Berachah, now
Beraikut, in the wilderness of Tekoa, where Jehosha-
phat and the men of Judah and Jerusalem assembled
and " blessed the Lord " after their signal deliverance
from the invasion of the Moabites and Ammonites.
The western valleys, rising in the hills, at first descend
abruptly, and then pursue their course as deep ravines
until they debouch on the plain, where they are for the
most part mere shallow water-courses : the most im-
portant are Wady Suleiman, up which nms the camel-
road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and which, rising near
Gibeon, opens out into the plain of Beit Nuba, iden-
tified with the "valley of Ajalon" by the existence of
the village of Yalo (Ajalon) on its southern border,
and perhaps also with the plain of Ono mentioned by
Nehemiah ; Wady Ali, up which the usual road to Jerii-
salem runs ; the great Wady Surar, amongst the feedei-s
of which must be sought the valley of Gibeon, the vallej
of Rephaim, the scene of David's great battle with tha
Philistines, and the valley of Sorek, mentioned in con-
nection with Samson's story ; the Wady es-Sumt, which
has been identified with the valley of Blah ; the Wady
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
197
el-Franj, perhaps the valley of Zephathah, where Zora
was defeated by King Asa ; and the Wady es-Seba,
which comes from the vicinity of Beer-sheba. There
are many springs in the hill country of Judah, but
none of them are of any great size, and the towns said
villages situated on the crests of the hills appear to
have depended principally on the collection of the rain-
fall in tanks and cisterns for their supply of water.
Such was the country in which " the lion of Judah en-
trenched himself to guard the southern frontier of the
Chosen Land, with Simeon, Dan, aad Benjamin nestled
around him. Well might he be so named in this wild
country, more than half a wilderness, the lair of the
savage beasts, of which the traces gradually disappear
as we advance into the interior. Fixed there, and never
dislodged except by the ruin of the whole nation, ' he
stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old hon ;
who shall rouse him up ? '" '
Not far from the northern frontier of Judsea, " on the
east side of Bethel," was Ai, an important toAvn guard-
ing the head of the pass from Jericho to Bethel. The
possession of this point by au invader advancing from
the east would enable him to cut the great highway
that follows the line of water-parting, and separate the
southern districts from the north of Palestine. Accord-
ingly, we find Joshua, as soon as Jericho had fallen,
sending spies to reconnoitre the place, and then attack-
ing it. The first attempt of the Israelites failed, but
after the execution of Achan in the valley of Achor, a
second and successful attempt was made, and Joshua
"burnt Ai, and made it an heap [a tell] for ever."
The word tell used in this passage only occurs in four
other places in the Bible, and it is curious to find that
in the position which we should naturally expect Ai
to have occupied, there is a quasi-isolated hill, to which
the Arabs now apply the distinctive title of Et Tell,
" the heap." On the summit of the hiU are a few olive-
trees, and over its surface are heaps of loose stones
and rubbish, with innumerable fragments of pottery;
towards the east the gi-ound falls at first abruptly, and
then passes off in a long, gentle slope to the edge of
the steep descent to the Jordan valley, a feature which
answers to the " plain " (Josh. viii. 14) over which the
men of Ai followed the feigned flight of the Israelites.
On the west side of Et Tell, and entirely concealed
from it by rising ground, is a small valley, well suited
for an ambush, which falls into the deep ravine that pro-
tects the northern face of the old town ; into this latter
vaUey the Israelites descended the night before the
capture of Ai, and it was probably on the heights above,
where the camp was pitched, that Joshua took his stand
during the battle ; in this position he woidd be able to
control the movements of the main body of the Israelites,
and at the proper moment give the signal for the ambush
to rise up quickly and seize the city ; his commanding
form, thrown into sharp relief against the bright blue sky,
being equally visible from "the way of the wilderness,"
and the valley in which the ambush was placed.
1 Sinai and Fdestine, d. 162.
Not far from Et Tell, on a hill commanding a remark-
able view over the lower portion of the Jordan valley,
the plain of Jericho, and the northern extremity of the
Dead Sea, there are the ruins of a fortified church,
evidently of very ancient date, which may possibly
occupy the site of the altar built by Abraham on the
mountain east of Bethel, " having Bethel or? the west
and Hai on the east." The position with reference to
Beitin and Et Tell, the modern representatives of the
two towns, answers well, and as the name Ai clung to
its site as late as the fourth century, it is not impro-
bable that the church was built with a view of marking
a position of so much interest. On the same hill
Abraham and Lot were encamped before their separa-
tion, and the view from thence, as we have already
pointed out, throws considerable light on the position
of the Cities of the Plain.
Not far from Et Tell, towards the south-east, is the
modern A-illage of Mukhmas, standing on the edge of
the great ravine of Wady Tuwar, which separates it
from the village of Jeba. In these two names the
Michmash and Geba of the Bible are readily recognised,
and the features of the surroimding country are in
perfect accordance with the events which are described
as having taken place there. The old town of Michmash
ajipears to have been bmlt on rising ground a little to
the west of the modern village, and from this place ihe
hill of Tulel el-Ful, generally identified with Gibeah of
Benjamin, whence the watchmen of Saul beheld the
multitude of the Philistines melting away and " beating
down one another" (1 Sam. xiv. 16), is distinctly visible.
The battle of Michmash freed the Israelites from the
yoke of the Philistines, and secured them from all
oppression until the disastrous conflict on Mount
Giiboa. So depressed was the state of the nation during
the period which followed the loss of the ark at the
battle of Aphek, that in the third year of Saul's reign
" it came to pass in the day of battle that there was
neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the
people that were with Saul and Jonathan ; but with
Saul and with Jonathan was there found ;" and in the
honr of trial many fled across Jordan (1 Sam. xiii. 7),
whilst others deserted to what they thought the stronger
side (1 Sam. xiv. 21). At the opening of the campaign
we find Saul at Michmash and Jonathan at Gibeah, and
operations were commenced by a successful attack made
by Jonathan on Geba ; on hearing of this the Philis-
tines advanced in overwhelming strength, and compel-
ling Saul to withdraw to Gilgal, pitched their camp
in Michmash, whence they sent out foraging parties
towards Ophrah, Beth-horon, and the valley of Zeboim.
The Israelites afterwards assembled under Saul at
Gibeah, and it was from this place that Jonathan and
his armour-bearer started on their heroic adventure.
Descending the steep slope towards Geba under cover
of the darkness, they reached " the passage " of Mich-
mash, running between two sharp " teeth of the cliff "
— Bozez, the " shining," and Senek, " the thorn" — and
climbing up the rugged face of the further side, dis-
closed themselves to the Philistines just as the day was
198
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
breaking. Their first onslaught oroatocl a sudden panic,
which was increased by the shocks of an earthquake,
and finally the host broke and fled in wild confusion,
pursued by the Israelites, past Beth-aven and down
the western slopes of the mountains to the valley of
Ajalon. From their hiding-places in the clefts and
toles of Mount Ephraim, the men of Israel rose up
eager for revenge ; the Hebrew deserters in the Philis-
tine camp turned against them, and they " followed
hard after them in the battle,'' and the " people smote
the Philistines." The names of Geba and Michmash
occur again in the graphic description of the advance
of Sennacherib's army against Jerusalem in Isa. x.
28 — 32: "He is come to Aiath [Ai], he is passed to
Migron [the precijiice] ; at Michmash [on the edge of
the great ravine] he hath laid up his caiTiages : they
are gone over the passage ; they have taken up their
lodging at Geba." The next day the march continues
through a terror-stricken district ; Ramah, out of the
direct line of march, is "afi'aid;" " Gibeah of Saul is
fled ; " and in the evening Nob is reached, whence ho
shakes " his hand against the mount of the daughter
of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem."
South-west of Bethel lies El Jib (Gibeon), one of the
four cities of the Hivites, the inhabitants of which
beguiled the Israelites into making a league with
them, in the clever manner described in Josh. ix.
The modern callage stands on the northernmost of two
isolated hills formed of horizontal strata of liiuestone,
Tv'hich present a somewhat remarkable appearance when
seen from a distance. On the east a fine spring issues
from a cavern in the rock, and the water runs down
into a ruined reservoir, the " pool of Gibeon," where
the bloody tragedy described in 2 Sam. ii. 15, 16 was
enacted before Abner and Joab when at the head of
the troops of Ishbosheth and David, and where the
battle took place in which Asahel was slain. It was
at the " great stone which is in Gibeon " that Amasa
was treacherously murdered by Joab, and it was in the
tabernacle of Gibeon that Joab himseK was killed in
after years whilst clinging to the horns of the brazen
altar. To Gibeon the "tabernacle of the congregation"
was removed from Nob, and one of the earliest acts of
Solomon's reiga was to visit it and offer up a thousand
burnt-offerings on the occasion when the Lord appeared
to him m a dream and gave him the desire of his heart,
"wisdom and understanding," adding also " riches and
honours." Beneath El Jib is the plain on which the
five kings were encamped with all their hosts, when
" Joshua came unto them suddenly, and went up from
Gilgal all night." Awed by the sudden appearance of
the Israelites, and by the sound of that terrible shout
which " not a man could stand before," the Amorites
were driven with great slaughter across the i)lain, and
chased " along the way that goeth wjj to Beth-horon,"
the long gentle slope tliat leads to Beth-horon the
Upper ; then, whilst they were rushing down the steep
descent to Beth-horon the Lower, " the going clown of
Beth-horon," one cf those sudden storms so peculiar to
Palestine broke upon them, " and the Lord cast great
stones from heaven uj)on them to Azekah," and " they
were more which died with hailstones than they whom
the childi'en of Israel slew with the sword." It was at
this stage of the battle, whilst the Amorites were rush-
ing down the steep descent below him, that Joshua
took his stand on some prominent peak on the ridge,
and sjiake to the Lord, "and said in the sight of Israel,
Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, moon, in
the vaUey of Ajalon ! And the sun stood still, and the
moon stayed until the peojilc had avenged themselves
on their enemies." The pursuit continued to Azekali
and Makkedah, jilaces not yet identified, and at the end
of that long, memorable day the Israelites "returned
iu peace " to then' camp at Makkedah, " none moved
his tongue against any of the people of Israel."
A short distance te the south of El Jib, the hill
crowned by the village and mosque of Neby Samwil
rises abruptly from the plain, and fonns one of the
most conspicuous objects in the district ; from its
summit the most extensive \'iew in Southern Palestine
is obtained, embracing the Mediterranean, Jerusalem
with Mount Olivet, and the distant mountains of Moab.
The mosque was once a Chi'istian church, built by
the Crusaders on the spot whence pilgrims first saw
Jerusalem, and called by them Mount Joy, from the
joy which it gave to the pilgrim's heart ; on the same
elevation Richard Coeur de Ijion stood in sight of
Jerusalem, but buried his face in his armour, with the
noble exclamation, " Ah, Lord God ! I j)ray that I may
never see thy Holy City, if so bo that I may not rescue
it from the hands of thine enemies ! " In the fourth
century tradition placed Ramathaim-zophim, the place
where Samuel was born and buried, at Neby Samwil ;
and some recent travellers have sought to identify it
with Mizpeh, but this latter site was possibly nearer
Jerusalem, not far from the modem village of Shafat.
Proceeding southward along the central highway, we
soon reach Jerusalem, and about three miles beyond it,
Bethlehem, surrounded by well-kept terraces covered
with vine, olive, and fig-tree. The town is almost en-
tirely inhabited by Christians, and at its eastern extre-
mity stands the great convent which encloses within its
walls the Church of the Nativity, built by Helena over
the grotto in which our Lord is said to have been bom ;
the tradition attached to the grotto dates from the
second century, and it is perhaps the oldest Christian
tradition in Palestiae. At a very early period pilgrims
commenced visiting Bethlehem, but it is hardly pos-
sible to say whether the grotto could ever have served
as a stable, for the original form of the ground is quite
concealed. Below the level of the church is a series of
grottoes, partly natural, partly artificial, in which are
shown the tombs of St. Paula and St. Eustacliia. as well
as the tomb of St. Jerome and the chamber in which
the illustrious recluse passed a great portion of his
life. The view from Betlilehem is of great interest,
for though it is impossible to identify any particular
spot, the spectator cannot help feeling that he has
beneath his eyes the corn-fields of Boaz, in which Ruth
gleaned, and the hills on which the shepherds were
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
199
'• keeijing watch over their flock by night," when the
angel of the Lord apiieared to them and proclaimed
"the good tidings of great joy." Away in the distance
rise in endless succession the barren hills of the wilder-
ness in which David took refuge when hard pressed by
Saul ; and close at hand is the well " by the gate," for
whose water David longed when in the Cave of Adullam
(2 Sam. xxiii. 15). So, too, within a narrower limit,
must have been " the habitation of Ckimham, which is
by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egj-pt" (Jer. xli.
17) ; the stable in which our Sa-snour was born and laid
in a manger, "because there was no room for Him in
the inn ; " and the scene of that terrible massacre when
Herod " sent forth and slew all the children that were
in Bethlehem."
Between Bethlehem and Jerusalem a small building
is pointed out as the tomb of Rachel, one of the few
places concerning which the traditions of Christian,
Jew, and Moslem ai-e identical : in tliis case, however,
tradition woidd certainly seem to be at fault, for no one
can read the incidents in 1 Sam. ix., x., without coming
to the conclusion that Rachel's sepulchre was north of
Jerusalem, and not south. Not far from the sepulchre
are the remains of a very remarkable aqueduct which
carried the water from the sealed fountain at Solomon's
Pools across the vaUey by means of a stone syphon, and
afterwards delivered it at Jerusalem at a level high
enough to supply Herod's palace and the whole city
with water. The stone tubing is finished in the most
beautiful manner, and the several portions are joined
together by a very hard, fine cement. The so-called
Pools of Solomon lie in a valley to the south-west of
Bethlehem, and consist of three large tanks, so arranged
that as much water as possible may be collected and
stored for the use of the city. The lower pool is the
largest, being 582 feet long, about 180 feet broad, and
60 feet deep, and it presents some peculiar features
in its construction ; round the sides are rows of seats
with steps leading from one to the other, and there are
several other arrangements that would lead us to believe
that it was at one time used as a naval amphitheatre for
nautical displays. One of the cliief sources of water-
supply is a subterranean fountain close to the upper
pool, but there are other works which show consider-
able engineering skill in their construction, and which
are on a large scale : one of these is an aqueduct which
follows the contour of the hills for a distance of more
than thirty miles, bringing water from a spring in the
Wady Aroob ; and another a drift or tunnel for the
collection of water, which has been cut through the
eolid rock for a distance of about four miles. Of the
two aqueducts which conveyed water to Jerusalem, that
from Wady Aroob is probably the one which was
restored by Pontius Pilate, who defrayed the expense
from the surjilus funds of the Temple, an act which
exasperated the Jews to such an extent that it was
f oiind necessary to remove Pilate from Jerusalem. The
distance given by Josephus, 400 stadia, agrees very
fairly with the length of the aqueduct fi-om the source
to Jerusalem. Immediately below the Pools is a spring
called Ain Etan, the water of which is conveyed by an
aqueduct to a large subterranean reservoir excavated in
a small hill called Tell Etan, on which are ruins of the
type indicating the site of an ancient town or village.
It is hardly possible to doubt that in this place rather
than at Urtas, lower down the valley, we have the site
of Etham, and that the beautiful gardens of Wady
Urtas are the successors of those made by Solomon, to
which allusion is probably made in Eccles. ii. 5, 6 : "I
made mo gardens and orchards, and I planted trees
in them of aU kinds of fruits ; I made me pools
of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth
forth trees." Of the date of the pools themselves wo
can form no certain opinion, but there is nothrug to
preclude the idea that some of them at least were made
by Solomon.
From Solomon's Pools an aqueduct also carried water
to the curious hiU, in shape like a truncated cone, on
which the fortress and city of Herodian were built by
Herod. On the summit may still be seen a circular
enclosure of large, well-hewn stones, with four round
towers ; and at its foot is a reservoir with a large
mound in the centre, which some writers have supposed
to be the tomb of Herod.
Southward from the Pools lies Hebron, one of the
most ancient towns in Palestine, built "seven years before
Zoan in Egypt ; " originally called Kirjath-arba, from
Arba the father of Anak, it afterwards received the name
of Mamre, and became the scene of some of the most
remarkable events in the lives of tlie Patriarchs. It was
at Hebron that Sarah died and was buried in the Cave
of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased from Ephrou
the Hittite ; and the massive walls of the enclosure or
Haram which surround the cave now form the most
conspicuous object in the town. On the conquest of
Palestine by Joshua, Hebron was given to Caleb, and
it was afterwards assigned to the Levites and made a
city of ref iige ; it was the seat of David's government
for the seven and a half years during which he reigned
over Judah ; and beside one of the pools which still
exist, David hanged the murderers of Ishbosheth. The
town is prettUy situated in a narrow valley, the sides of
which are clothed with vineyards producing grapes still
reckoned amongst the finest in Palestine ; but it seems
doubtful whether the valley of Eshcol was not situated
more to the south, iu closer proximity to Kadesh-barnea,
whence the spies were sent by Moses to explore the
country. The Haram or sacred enclosure, withiu which
is the Cave of Machpelah, is 194 feet long and 109 feet
wide, and its walls are buUt, up to a certain height, of
massive masonry, similar in character to that of the
substructures of the Temple at Jerusalem; and the
stones used are little, if at all, inferior in finish to
those of the well-kjiown " WaUing Place." Above this
ancient masonry rises a modem wall sufficiently high
to screen the interior from the hiU behind, and there
are two minarets at opposite comers of the area ; the
southern end of the enclosure is occupied by a Gothic
building, now used as a mosque, but possibly at one
time a Christian church built by the Crusaders. Within
200
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
it are the tombs or cenotaphs of Ismic and Rebekali,
whilst those of Abraham, Sarali, Jacob, and Leah are
■without the building, each in its own separate com-
partment; the mausolea are covered with rich silken
vcUs, ha^dng the respective names embroidered in the
centre. Of the cave itself, strange to say, we have
no detailed account, though it must have been visited
before the Moslem conquest of Palestine, and during
the Christian occupation at the period of the Crusades.
From what Arculf says with reference to the tomb of
object of reverence to Christian and heathen alike ; an
idol and altars were erected near it, and large fairs
held, which attracted crowds from far and near ; to
put an end to the disorders arising from these prac-
tices, a basilica was erected by order of Constantine,
and the solid foundations may be the remains of a wall
surrounding and protecting this church. About three
miles to the west of Hebron are two places called Ain
Nunkur and Dewir-Ban, which Dr. Rosen has proposed
to identify with Debir, the fortress captured by Othniel,
SOLOMON S POOLS, NEAR UKTAS.
{From a Photograjih taken for the ralistinc Exploration Futid.)
Adam, who in the seventh century was supposed to
have been buried at Hebron, we may perhaps infer that
the Patriarchs were buried in loculi, or holes cut in the
side of the rock, and that the aspect of the tomb-
chamber was not very different to that of the numerous
sepulchral caverns scattered over Palestine.
A short distance northward from Hebron, surrounded
by rich vineyards, is the large oak-tree which is sup-
posed to mark the place where Abraham lived ; but
it seems more probable that the Pati-iarch's tent was
pitched at Ramet el-Khulil, about two miles from
Hebron, where some massive foundations attest the
presence at one time of an important building. This
view is in accordance •with that of the early Christians,
who speak of the place as being about two miles from
Hebron. The tree, at that time a terebinth, was an
who received as his reward the hand of Achsah, the
daughter of Caleb; and the scene of the picturesque
incident described in Judg. i. 14, 15. For along period
Hebron was the centre of the tribe of Judah, and in the
extensive vineyards which surround it, producing the
vine and grape, which were always, amongst the Jews,
the type of the blessings of Jehovah, we may see " the
choice vine " by which " Judah was to bind his foal ; he
was to wash his garments in wine, his clothes in the
blood of grapes."
South of Hebron lie Cannel, Ziph, Maon, Anab,
Socho, and other towns which fell to the lot of Judah ;
but we have not sufficient space to give any detailed
description of them, and must pass westward down the
great Wady el-Franj to Beit-Jibrin, the ancient Beto-
gabra and later Eleutheropolis. The modem village is
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
201
202
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
a tliriviug place, and thero arc many remains of tlio old
town, as well as of a castlo partly of B/oman construction.
To the south-east are the ruins of an old church dedi-
cated to St. Anne, and not far from it a remarkable
series of excavations in the rock, which appear to have
been prepared as habitations. A small doorway leads
into a cave, whence openings give access to chambers
on the right and loft ; the chambers are either bottle-
shaped with a domed roof, or large irregular excavations
with pillars of rock to support the roof ; some of the
chambers are as much as forty and fifty feet higli, with
winding staircases to reach their floors, and they com-
municate with each other by narrow, irregular passages.
To the date of these excavations wo have no clue, but
they may possibly have been the dwelling-places of
the Idumeans who, according to Jerome, inhabited this
portion of the country and lived in caves. In close
proximity to Beit- Jibrin was " the valley of Zephathah
at Mareshah," where Asa defeated the host of Zerah
the Ethiopian, and wo find the latter place still existing
nnder the name of Maresa.
Some ten miles north of Beit- Jibrin are the ruins of
Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh), prettily situated on one of
the low undulations by which the mountain district
passes into the plain ; it lies on the left bank of Wady
Surar, and commands a fine view down the valley, so
that the ark must have been seen advancing long before
it " came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and
stood there." Beth-shemesh was afterwards the scene
ef the battle in which Amaziah, king of Judah, was
defeated and taken prisoner by Jehoash, king of Israel.
In the immediate vicinity of Ain Shems lie the scenes
of some of the principal events in the life of Samson,
the groat champion of the tribe of Dan. On the right
bank of Wady Surar is Surah (Zorali), the birth-place
of Samson, situated on the summit of a rocky project-
ing spur, "the root of Dan," whence he watched the
fii'O, kindled by the brands attached to the foxes' tails,
spreading with lightning speed through the orchards
and corn-fields of Philistia ; the valley at its foot is
possibly the "valley of Sorek," the homo of Delilah;
about a mile and a half to the west is Tibueli (Tim-
nath), where Samson got his Philistine wife ; and it
was somewhere in the intervening space, the " going
down" from Zorah to Timnath, that he kUled the young
lion that " roared against him."
Proceeding northwards, we reach Amwas, the ancient
Enimausor Nicopolis, and Jimzu (Gimzo), standing at
the western edge of the plain ; and El Medyeh, which
has recently been identified with Modin, the burial-
place of several of the Maccabsean princes. About
half a mile west of the modern village is a grouj) of
tombs bearing tho name Kabr el- Jahud, " the tombs of
the Jews," which fulfil all the required conditions — a
view to the sea, and seven tombs "over against one
another," with surmounting pyramids, and a cloister
surrounding them. The pyramids have disappeared,
the only traces left being the cornice on the interior
and other fragments ; and of the cloister only a portiou
of the supporting wall remains. Some slight excava-
tions have already been made, and it is proposed to
make others on a larger scale, which may possibly
bring to light inscriptions or other memorials of the
great house which, for a brief period, I'aised the country
to a position which Imd been unknown to it since the
Captivity.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY THE BEV. S. G. GBEEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF KAWDON COLI,EGE, LEEDS.
iN the record of St. Paul's missionary travels
foAV cities hold so distinguished a place
as Ephesus. Hither, no doubt, he was
^ bending his way, with his companion
Silas, when their course was mysteriously diverted, in
a manner contrary to their own desires and repeated
endeavours, to the continent of Europe. They " were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in
Asia "—a term which designates, not the continent in
general, nor even Asia Minor, but only " Proconsular
Asia," the eastern part of the latter, a mere strip of
country between the Mediterranean on the one side,
and Phrygia, with Bithynia on tho other, i Of this
1 See Acts xvi. 6. The "territory properly cftlled Asia" (Ptolemy,
Geogr.) included Pliryfria with Mysia, Lydia, and Caria; hut iu
Acts ii. 9, 10, Asia and Phryeia are spoken of as distinct ; and this
is the general usnge in the New Testament. Compare Acts sxvii.
2; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; 2 Tim. j. 15; 1 Peter i. 1, where
Phrygia seems included; and in Acts vi. 9, the name prohahly has
a still wider extension.
district Ephesus was the capital, while round about it
lay tho " seven churches " of tho Apocalypse.
Returning from Europe, the Apostle proceeded at
once to Ephesus, only, however, to pay a hurried visit
to the synagogue, and to promise a longer stay. Tliis
promise was fulfilled in his third missionary journey-
as recorded in Acts xix. For three months, we ai-o
told, St. Paul carried on his work in the synagogue:
but being as usual rejected by the Jews, he constituted
a Christian society of "both Jews and Gentiles." whicli
seems to have met in the house of Aquila and Priscilla ;'
while the Apostle conducted more public ministrations
in "the school of one Tyrannus." Ephesus became the
head-quarters of labours widely extended. "All they
which dwelt in Asia hoard tho word of the Lord Jesus."
" The churches of Asia salute you."^ Thus to tho little
company of twelve, who at the outset had been led from
2 See 1 Cor. svi. 19 ; written from Ephesus.
3 Acts xix. 10 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19.
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
20[
tlieir exclusive allegiance to Joliu the Baptist into the
deeper truth and wider liberty of the Gospel, a great
company of converts was added. We know the name
ci only one, Epsenetns, " the first-fruits of Asia." ' The
Apostle had many friends and helpers in Ephesus.
Timotheus of Lystra, with Erastus and Sosthenes of
Corinth, " ministered unto him." " Gaius and Aris-
tarchus, men of Macedonia," were companions of his
sojourn. Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus came
also to his help." With this missionary band a group
of native " elders " became associated. The word of
God "gi-ew mightily and prevailed." Tet was there
much opposition. The Apostle even " fought with
beasts" — whether literally or figuratively, it is not easy
to determine.^ Still with heroic energy he persevered,
charaoteristically basing his determination to stand his
ground not only on the " great door and effectual "
which had been opened to him, but on the very fact
that there were '• many adversaries.""* In the midst of
these trials and conflicts, the Apostle wrote, as we have
seen, his First Epistle to the Corinthians ; after which
the riot caused by Demetrius and his craftsmen seems
to have hastened his already intended departure.s But
the Apostle had spent tliree years in the city — a period
miprecedented, so far as we know, in his missionary
«areer. His subsequent interview with the Ephesian
elders attests at once the power of his ministry, and the
attractive charm of his life among them. Never was
uttered a nobler avowal of faithfulness, " I have not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God :"
never was parting more pathetic, " They all wept sore,
and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him."''
2. It is, then, without any wonder that we find an
epistle addressed "to the Ephesians," and the first
supposition naturally is, that the thoughts of the great
Apostle in his Roman imprisonment would fondly revert
to the friends from whom he thus had parted. To the
believers at Colossse, whom he had never seen, he writes
in a strain of the most earnest affection ; how much
more to the well-known, tenderly cherished Christians
of Ephesus !
Such is the expectation which the very title to the
letter is calculated to arouse. But many a reader must
have been conscious that with all the power and sub-
limity of this almost unequalled Epistle, there is scarcely
the tone in which St. Paul addressed the other churches
with which he was personally familiar. Compare, for
instance, this letter with those to the Corinthians, the
Thessalonians, or the Philippians. In these, every
chapter overflows with personal allusions. He dilates
upon his life, toils, trials, sorrows among these people
of his charge, as to readers who would never weary of
the theme. True, he deals also with the sublimities of
1 Eom. xvi. 5, where the undcnbtea rending is Asia. The " house
of Stephanas " was "the first-fruits of Achaia" (1 Cor. xvi. 15).
2 Acts xix 22, 20; 1 Cor. i. 1 ; xvi. 17.
3 The student must beware of f pplyinsr the words to the tumult
raised by Demetrius (Actnxis.;, for the simple reason that this had
not t.aken place when the First Ipistle to the Corinthians was
written.
^ 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9. s Ajts xix. 21 ; xr. 1. C Acts xx. 17—38.
the Christian faith, Ijut it is in the affectionate tone
of one who had often talked of these things with the
men to whom he writes, showing them how the doctrino
ever blended with his own deepest experiences and
highest hopes. Now the Epistle to the Ephesians gives
us no such impression of intimacy. Not only is there
no reference to any former intercourse, but throughout
the whole discussion the Apostle speaks as ong removed
from his readers. There is no touch indicative of past
fellowship and love. It is the Christian prophet at the
height of his inspiration, rather than the warm-hearted
pastor, who speaks. Nor does he even address "the
church." As to the Romans and Colossians, he writes
" to the saints — the faithful in Christ Jesus." He has
"heard of" their faith and love, rather than personally
witnessed it.'' On the whole, the impression is that if
he is indeed writing to the same Christian community
to whose elders he had addressed words so thrillingly
tender on that last voyage to Jerusalem, something
must have occurred meanwhile to alter, even while
elevating, his tone. Add to this that in the Epistle
there are literally no personal greetings. Tychicus,
the bearer of the letter, is the only person mentioned
throughout. Timothy had been with St. Paul, we
know, at Ephesus ; he is now in Rome, and is united
with the Apostle in greeting to the Colossian church ;
but even his name is omitted here. It is almost im-
possible to believe that St. Paul could have addressed
a letter to the scene of labours so prolonged, and of
fellowship so dear, with no individual reminiscences, or
the mention of a single friend.
3. These considerations liaA^e led some critics in
modern times to deny the genuineness of the letter
altogether. As shown in our first paper, M. Renau
classes "the Epistle to the Ephesians" among the
'■ doubtful" letters.^ De Wette regards it as a mere
variation on the Epistle to the Colossians by some con-
temporary of St. Paul. Dr. Davidson attributes i^. to
" a gifted and thoughtful Christian ; far-seeing, compre-
hensive in the range of his ideas, with an inspiration
resembling the Pauline," ^ dating the letter about thn
close of the first century. Baur and Schwegler are
yet more decided in rejecting the Epistle, btit as they
include that to the Colossians also, and that chiefly
on internal grounds, discerning in both the traces of
Gnostic and Montanist heresies, it is scarcely necessary
to revert to their arguments.^" Nor need we occupy
space with discussing the minute inconsistencies which
Dr. Davidson supposes to exist between the language
and thought of this Epistle, and the undoubted Pauline
writings.^^ The testimony of Christian antiquity would
" Compare Eph. i. 1 with Rom. i. 7, and Col. i. 2 j also -Eph.
i. 1.5 with Eom. i. 8, and Col. i. 9.
s Bible Educator, Vol. III., p. 269.
9 Introduction to tlic S'udy of the Neio Testament, vol. i., p. 403.
w See Bible Educator, Vol. IV., p. 157, "Tha E.pistle to the
Colossians."
11 See Introdmtion to the Study of the New Testa'mer.t, vol. i., pp.
385 — 391. An extract or two will show the style of the reasoning.
'" Let him that stole steal no more," &c. This admonition to a
church where the Apo=tle bad laboured three years is uuFuituble,
especially in the mild form it assumes." So on chap. v. 18, " 'Be
204
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
amply coanterbalancc such considerations, oven were
they more plausible.* Modern criticism may pronounce
this or that expression " un-Pauliue ; '" but satisfactory
evidence declares the Epistle to be PauVs. It was
universally received in the Church at an age too early
for successful forgery; while the value set upon St.
Paul's writings would secure the most careful examina-
tion of any document bearing his name. In fact, the
genuineness of the " Ephesian "' letter has never been
so much as doubted until recent times.-
4. The difficulty, however, remains. The personal
element is most strikingly absent, just where, from our
knowledge of St. Paul's character, and the whole strain
of his writings, we should expect it most to abound.
Various explanations of the fact have been offered.
Thus it has been said that Tychicus (see chap. vi. 21)
would supply by word of mouth the lacking details.
Some have again suggested that a second letter of a
more private character accompanied the Epistle ; others
have found in the very extent of St. Paul's acquaint-
anceship in Ephesus a reason for the omission of all
greetings. He had so many friends that he would
particularise none, lest he should be suspected of in-
vidious preference. It would ob\'iously be better to
leave the difficulty altogether unexplained, than to
resort to explanations like these ; and the true reason
for a fact which it is useless, with some critics, to
ignore, or more boldly to deny, must be sought in
quite another direction.
Turning, then, to the most ancient MSS. of the Greek
Testament, we find in chap. i. 1, that the words " in
Ephesus" (eV 'E<pfffCf)) are omitted from the two earliest
that have come down to us — the Vatican and tlie
Sinaitic — being suppHed in both by another and a later
band. There was, therefore, \'irtually a blanJc after the
words " the saints who are — ," a fact of which the im-
portance will immediately be seen. A passage in the
Avritings of Basil the Great (bishop of Csesarea, died
A.D. 379) shows that the blank existed in the MSS. to
which he had access : " Writing to the Ephesians, as
truly united by knowledge to Him icho is, he called
them in a peculiar sense those loho are, saying, ' To the
saints who are, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.' "
The point of the argument evidently is that there was
no designation of place after the words ivho are (to7s
odfftv), while the very absurdity of his argument, and
not drunk with wine, wherein is ercess.' The Christians of Asia
Minor had no tendency to drunken excesses, but rather to ascetic
abstinence from wine, and the advice given to Timothy might, per-
haps, have been more suitable, ' Drink a httlo wine.' " " The
co-ordination of faith and love is un-Pauline (vi. 2:5). Instead of
saying 'faith which worketh by love' (Gal. v. G), the writer has
' love with faith.' " " The closing benediction in which both terms
stand, does not savour of Paul, because it is not addressed to the
readers directly, and has the difficult expression rendered ' in sin-
cerity' in the English version. Exegetical difficalties do not
belong to authentic Pauline benedictions at the close of letters."
1 The Epistle is quoted as St. Paul's by Poly carp, Irenaeus, Cle-
ment of Alexandria, and Tertullian, not to speak of later authorities.
See summary in Smith's Did. of Bible, art. " Ephesians," by Bp.
Elhcott, and the citations in Kirchhofer's Quellensammlung .
- See Alford's Prolegomena, N. T., vol. iii., p. 8 ; also Dr. David-
son in his Former Introdiu:lion to N. T. (Bagster), vol. ii., p. 352, for
a full reply to the objections urged against the Epistle.
his still regarding the Epistle as "to the Ephesians,"
only make his testimony to the omission the more
valuable.^ In like manner Jerome (died a.d. 420)
writes, " Some think that the saints and faithful at
Ephesus are addressed by a word signifying essence,
so as to bo called they loho are from Him who is. But
others simply sujiposo the letter addi-essed not to those
ivho are, but to those who are at Ephesus, saints and
faithful." It is plain that the question could never
have ai'isen had not the omission been recognised and
familiar. Further, we learn from TertuUiau mat Mar-
cion (in the second century) regarded the Epistle as
written to the Laodiceans. The words of TertuUiau
are, "Another Epistle, which we have inscribed to the
Ephesians, but heretics to the Laodiceans ; " and again,
"Marcion has sought to alter the title {i.e. from in
Ephesus to in Laodicea), as if he had made a most
diligent inquiry into the matter." ^ That Marcion was a
" heretic" does not affect his testimony in this matter;
he is admitted on all hands to have been both learned
and inteUigent, while he can have had no theological
motive for a wilful alteration in this case.'
5. If now we turn to the Epistle to the Colossians,
dispatched into Asia, as shown in our last paper,^ at
the same time with the letter now under consideration,
we find a remarkable corroboration of Marcion's view :
" When this Epistle is read among you, cause that it
be read also in the church of the Laodiceans ; and that
ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" (Col. iv.
16). Of course this may refer to a lost Epistle ; but
the probability is at least as great that St. Paul is
speaking of that which, as we kuow, was sent at the
same time with the Colossian letter " by Tychicus and
Onesimus."
At the same time there is absolutely no sufficient
warrant for substituting the words " in Laodicea " for
" in Ephesus " (Eph. i. 1). The whole strain of the
evidence points to a blank as existing in the original
copy, to be filled up variously, according to the par-
ticular church l)y which the letter might be received.
The Epistle is, in fact, "encyclical" — a letter to the
cluirches in Asia, the autograph copy of which woxdd
bo passed from one Christian commimity to another,
and in its course would naturally be sent from Laodicea
to the neighbouring city of Colossse. This hypothesis
accounts for all the facts— for the absence of personal
allusion ; for the blank in the MS. shown by the two
most authoritative exemplars, and recognised by Origen
{?), Basil, and Jerome; for the general rather than
3 Origen, in the third century, has the same criticism ; but it
is uncertain whether the words t" 'E^iaw existed in his copies or
not. See Bible Educator, Vol. IV., p. 10.
* Tertullian, Against Marcion, chap. v. 11, 17.
^ It may be added that Ignatius (bishop of Antioch, died a.d.
115), in writing to the Ephesians, quotes St. Paul as making men-
tion of them in eve.nj epistle; for so the words tf iraatj imaToX^
must be translated, showing that no one Epistle to the Ephe.cians
from the Apostle could have been before this eminent father
as he wrote. But another text (now regarded as of higher value)
reads " always " instead of " in every epistle," so that the argu-
ment can scarcely he pressed.
6 See Bible Educator, Vol. III., p. 157.
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
205
personal tone of the letter ; and lastly, for tlie existence
of the reading " in Ephesus " in the far larger number
of authorities, since the name of the chief city of the
district would be likelier than any other to be inserted
to fill up the ellipsis. With some confidence, therefore,
we regard this sublime Epistle as the Letter of St. Paul
to the Gentile Christians of Asia,^ an aspect in which
its tone and character appear in striking coincidence
with its great design — to declare to those believers
their place in the universal Church of God, and to set
ferth the glories of that truth, or rather of that Saviour,
who was their common trust. The letter may be com-
pared with the First Epistle of St. Peter, which, with a
yet wider range, was sent to the Jewish Christians
scattered through the same community. Not a few
interesting points of resemblance, and also of contrast,
appear between the two. Jew and Gentile are " one in
Christ Jesus."
6. The course of thought in the Epistle is very
marked, yet, like that in its companion letter to the
Colossians, not easy to reduce to exact analysis. In
none of the Apostle's writings do his fervour and
intensity more strikingly appear. His great theme — the
gathering of the Gentiles into the fold of Christ — has
fired his soul ; the long paragraphs and frequent paren-
theses attest the eagerness and hurry of his thoughts,
while the occasional grandelirs of expression reach a
height unsurpassed in any other of his Epistles.
I. In the first chapter the Apostle, after a brief
salutation, speaks of the greatness of Christ's redeem-
ing work ; exulting in its application to these Gentile
Christians, and praying that they may apprehend its
greatness. The closing thought is that of the Resur-
rection of Christ the Lord.
II. And in Him these Gentiles have risen from
spiritual death to a heavenly life. The second chapter
is devoted to the expansion of this thought. It is not
simply on the general contrast between nature and grace
that the Apostle here speaks, but on the special favour
shown to the Gentiles in gathering them into the
Christian commonwealth ; breaking down " the middle
wall of partition " which hitherto had sundered the
human race, and making aU one in Christ.
III. In the third chapter the Apostle pursues the
same theme, as one inexpressibly dear to him, " the
prisoner of Jesus Christ on behalf of "the Gentiles."
- This view was first suggested by Arctbishop Usher ; it is sup-
ported by Bengel, Neander, Bleak, Olshausen, Lauge, Stier, with
many more ; and among English writers by Couybeare and How-
son, Canon Lightfoot, Mr. Llewellyn Davies, and others. See
Lightfoot On a Fresh English Revision of the New Testament, pp.
20 — 22. The ordinary view is maintained, among others, by
Wieseler, Kirchhofer, Meyer, with Ellicott, Alford, Davidson,
Eadie, and GHoag. That the letter was addressed specifically to
the chui'ch in Laodicea is the opinion of Grotius, Wetstein, Ham-
mond, Mill, Paley, Lewin, and others. Of the great critical
editors, Tischendorf encloses the words !=v'E<piiTui in brackets as
doubtful ; Lachmann and Tregelles retain them.
'- In passing, the phrase " if ye have heard of the dispensation
ot the grace of God given me to you-ward " (ver. 2) may be noted
as hardly appropriate to the Epliesian church. It is not thus that
St. Paul spioke to "the elders" in Acts xx. Applied to the whole
Gentile community, no language could be more suitable.
His special apostolic commission is declared, according
to his wont; the oneness of mankind in Christ is shown
as " the mystery " (that is, the secret) hidden from past
ages ; all heaven is summoned, as it were, to gaze upon
the unveiling of the wonder ; and then an appeal is made
to '• THE Father, of whom every family in heaven
and earth is named," ^ that the people thus blest may
comprehend the greatness of His love. A noble doxo-
logy fitly concludes the prayer.
IV. The remainder of the Epistle is occupietl by
practical exhortations, based in the first instance upon
the spiritual unity, with the diversity of gifts, character-
istic of the Clmrch. "There is one body and one
spirit." Love is the secret of life and growth, there-
fore be true {a\ri6evoyTes, not simply " speahing the
truth") in love. This is the general theme of chap.
iv., leading in chap. v. to the kindred thought of
" light." Love and light — this is practical Christianity.
At chap. V. 22 to vi. 9 the same principles are applied
to relative duties, mentioned in their order — of wives
and husbands, children and parents, servants and
masters.
Y. The Apostle's conclusion (chap. \i. 10 — 24), " Put
on the whole armour of God," " Pray always ; pray for
me." Tychicus is briefly commended, and in w. 23, 24
we seem to see again St. Paul's " o^vu liand " in the
benediction which crowns the Epistle.
7. The great likeness between the Epistles to the
Ephesians and to the Colossians cannot but strike every
careful reader. The general course of thought and the
o\'ideut purport are the same in both, and there are many
actual identities of expression. By no writer has this
correspondence been better pointed oiit than by PaJey
in his Horce Paulince on the Ephesians, § 1. Two
kinds of resemblance are there shown to exist: fii'st,
between particular expressions, even whole sentences
being occasionally I'epeated : as Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14 ;
Eph. i. 10, Col. i. 20 ; Eph. iii. 2, Col. i. 25 ; Eph. v.
19, Col. iii. 16, &c. ; and secondly, between the same
thoughts expressed with such variations as to show the
independence of the two Epistles. The instances cited
under this head may be taken as decisively refuting De
Wette's criticism, that this letter is a weak and diffuse
imitation, by another hand, of that to Colossse. The
similarities and diversities prove alike the correctness
of the supposition that the Apostle, iusinred by one
theme, and with one great pnrpose in view, wrote these
two letters about the same time, adding to the church at
Colossse those special cautions respecting the inroads
of subtle error, which were not needed by the other
3 Chap. iii. 1-4, 15. Two things are here to be particularly
marked. The first is, that the words " of our Lord Jesus Christ "
are here to be omitted from the text (see all critical editions) ; the
Father is the simple antecedent. The second point is, that " the
u-?ioZ(3 family " in our version is a mistranslation. The Apostle is
not here spe.aking of the church as one family ; but of the hitherto
divided human race, in all their separate tribes and nations, now
revealed as owning one fatherhood, and partaking one salvation.
Accordingly he invokes " the Father of whom vaaa Trarpid, every
tribe, or nation, or family (literally, e\erj fatherhood.) in heaven
and earth is named." The words fhus fall in with the whole scope
of the Epistle— God's love in Christ to all men.
20G
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Christian communities of Asia.i As yet, tlio " ^vill
1 For conveuieut reference, a tablo of these correspondeuces
bctweeu the Epistles is subjoined : —
Epuesians.
i. 19— ii. 5
iv. 2-4
iv. 16
iv. 32
iv. 22—24
COLOSSIANS.
ii. 12, 13.
iii. 12—15.
ii. 19.
iii. 13.
iii. 9, 10.
Ephesians.
V. (5-8
V. 15, IG
vi. 19, 20
V. 22— vi. S
COLOSSIANS.
iii. e— 8.
iv. 5.
iv. 3, i.
iii. IS— iv. 1.
A yet more subtle class of resemblances may be traced where ia
the two Epistles the associatiou of thoughts is the same, the
couuectiou beiug arbitrary. Compare Eph. iv. 21, 25 with Col. iii.
9, 10 ; aud Eph. v. 20—22 with Col. iii. 17, 18. Paley's sagacious
comments ou all these parallels should be read.
worship" aud "false philosopliy" which marked tho
dawn of a uew form of heresy were coufiiied to tho
Phrygian district. The wuruiiigs against these are there-
fore found only iu the Colossiau letter ; while both, with
equal power though iu varied straiu, set forth the " good
pleasure " of God iu His Sou, ''having made peace by the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all tliiugs uuto
Himself — by Him, whether thiugs in earth or thiugs
iu heaveu;" aud "in the dispcusatiou of tho fulues^
of times to gather up together {avaKfpaKaiua-affdat) all
tlungs in THE Christ." Here is "the one far o£^
diviue eveut, to which the whole creation moves."
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
BY C. J. VAtJOnAN, D.D.. MASTER OF THE TEMPLE.
" Of whom the whole family in heaveu aud earth is named. " —
Ephesians iii. 15.
5?^|^>^HERE is a link of connection (lost in the
''IV (\ „ English) between this verse and the one
before it. If, with the best manuscripts,
we omit the last Avords of verse 14, " of
our Lord Jesus Christ," the force of the counection
is seen still more cleai-ly. " For this cause I bow my
knees unto the Father (riarfpo), of whom the whole
family (irarpia) in heaven and earth is named." The
word irarptd is derived from ttutt^p, and means a body or
society made so by descent from one father. It occurs
repeatedly iu the Septuagint (fifty times in the Book
of Numbers alone) ; often in combination with " house "
(kot' oIkovs TrarpLwv aiirSsv), and apparently as a paraphrase
of the word " father " in the Hebrew (" by the house of
their fathers "). In the New Testament it occurs but
three times. Luke ii. 4, " Because he was of the house
and lineage (family) of David." Acts iii. 2-5, "And iu
thy seed shall all the kindreds i^famUies) of the earth be
blessed." In the latter place it is substituted for the
" nations " {tevn) of Gen. xxii. 18, LXX, or tho "tribes"
{<t,v\al) of Gen. xii. 3, LXX.
In tho passage before us the rendering should as-
suredly be "every [not "the whole"] family." The
absence of the definite article makes this evident, aud
the context suggests the explanation, St. Paul has
spoken (in i. 21) of the exaltation of Christ "in the
heavenly places, far above aU [or ' every '] principality,
and power, aud might, and dominion, aud every name
that is named, not only in this world, but also in
that which is to come ;" evidently pointing to angelic
existences, and to varieties or gradations of rank and
power amongst them. Again, lie has given this (in iii.
10) a» tho Divine object of the disclosure of the great
"mystery" hidden from the beginning of tlie world,
" that now unto the principalities aud powers in heavenly
places might be made known through tho Church the
manifold wisdom of God." The idea, therefore, of
heavenly as v.ell as earthly " families " is already in the
mind of the writer and reader, when it takes the form
in which it is presented in this verse. " For this cause "
— because I am suffering for you Gentiles, and because
that suffermg is " your glory," testifying as it does
your share iu the " inheritance " and the " body " and
the " promise " (ver. 6) — " I bend my knees (in prayer)
imto the Father, from whom every family in heaven
and upon earth is named [derives that name of Trarpia],
that He may grant you," &c.
" Every family," angelic or liumau. Each one of tho
many " principalities aud powers in the heavenly places"
is a varpia in reference to the common narrjp of all.
Each one of the many " folds " {avKal), Jewish and
Gentile, whicli constitute the universal " flock " (ttoiVi/?))
of the great Shepherd (John x. 16), is a ■rrarpia. in tho
same regard. The clau.se is no pm-poseless expletive. It
has a direct bearing upon the paragraph, aud upon tho
Epistle. It shows why the Gentile has a place iu God's
Church side by side Avitli the Jew. It lifts the thought
of both to a higher unity and a higher relationship still.
In two other places iu this Epistle the presence or
absence of the definite article has a similar bearing.
But in neither of these instances is tho reading (as it
is here) certain. In ii. 21 the MSS. vai*} between " all
the building " {iraa-a v oikoSo^tj) and " every building "
(TrStra olKoSofx-fj). On many accounts the latter (wliich
is the reading of the great Vatican MS.) is to be pre-
ferred. Just as here " every family," so there " every
building " is the striking aud appropriate phrase to ex-
press the separate elements of wliich tlie unit whole iar
made up. Each church, each congregation, still more,
each of the two great constituent bodies, tho Gentile
and the Jewish, is a buihhng, an o/koSo^utj, of Avhich tho
combination, the " framing together," is the temple, the
va6s, which is to bo the everlasting "hal)itation (KaToiKt]-
rijpwi') of God." This use of olKooofi'fi, as a separate part
or portion of a great whole, is illustrated by its plural
form in Matt. xxiv. 1, " the buildings (tos oiKoSofxa^) oi
the temple;" and Mark xiii. 1, 2, "what buildings
(iroTairai otKoSofxai) are here," ..." these great buildings"
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
(ras fj.eyd,\as olKoSofxas). Each wall, each buttress, each
toof, is an olKoBofj.^, aud the whole assemblage of olnoZo^aX
is the temple.
In the remaining passage referred to (iv. 7) the read-
ing is more doubtful and less important. The question
between eSo'erj x"P'^ and e'Sfie?? ri x"P's is complicated by
the 7) of ihodri, and both on that ground and on that of
manuscript authority may be strongly argued both
ways. The sense is only so far affected by the absence
or presence of the definite article, that in the one case
St. Paul asserts the x"P'^. "i the other assumes it (" to
each one of us was given grace ; " or else, " to each one
of us was given the grace " which, of course, as Chiistians,
we have) ; in either case equally laying the chief stress
of his statement on this point, that the measure of the
gift is the free wUl of the Giver, and that thus a second
motive is furnished for that mutual forbearance to
which he in\ates his readers. As the universal Church
is one, in every possession and evei-y relationship, so the
individual varieties of endowment existing within it are
due to the exercise of a supreme choice and will which
cannot be denied to its Head.
" Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the know-
ledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ."— Ephesiaks iv. 13.
This verse is embedded in a long and involved sen-
tence, and can only be understood by a glance at the
whole.
St. Paul has been led to illustrate his expression,
'•the gift of Christ," in verse 7, by a reference to
Ps. Ixviii. 18, which connects an "ascension" with a
"gift-receiving;" and that, not for self-aggrandisement,
but for distribution to others ; that distribution, once
more, having for its object the communication of the
Divine Presence ("that the Lord God might dwell
among them"). He assiimes the prophetic import of
the words — their fulfilment (whatever their prior and
minor application) in Christ alone. The " ascension "
suggests, if it implies not, a previous "descent." And
the deeper the descent, the loftier the exaltation. As
the one is not only to earth, but "into the lower pai-ts
of the earth ; " so is the other not only to heaven, but
"far above all heavens." Further, it is only by ascen-
sion that Christ can " fill all things " with Himself.
Not om earth, but only from a super-celestial heaven,
can the promise be verified, "Lo, I am with you
alway."
From these comments and inferences St. PavJ returns
(ver. 11) to the " gifts." (1) And first, he regards
them as all included in the one ascension " giving."
" He gave," not " He gives." Tlie Pentecostal gift
had the gifts of all times and of all lands in it. (2)
Next, the gifts themselves are not things, but persons.
The ascended Lord " sent abroad into the world " not
agencies, but agents ; not ministries, but ministers. He
Avorks by men. As the chief business of His own life
on earth was the education of a few chosen men to be
His disciples, witnesses, and representatives to the
world, so it is now. Not by forms and ceremonies,
not by books and codes, not by r-les and systems, but
by the instrumentality of living men, separately quali-
fied and commissioned for the work, does the Divine
Lord exercise His headship over the Church which is
His body. (3) St. Paul arranges aud classifies these
workmen. In 1 Cor. xii. 28 ho gives one list of Church
offices aud ministries : " God hath set some in the Church,
first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that mu-acles, then gifts of healings, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues." Here we have
another : " He gave some (to be) apostles ; and some,
prophets; aud some, evangelists; and some, pastors aud
teachers." Neither is meant to be exhaustive. Tliere
is no moi'e intention of a fourfold ministry in this place
than of an eightfold ministry in the other. Both are
specimen lists; exemplifications, not enumerations, of
offices and officers. But though the specification of
a certain number of perpetual orders and separate
ministries is not to be found here, we may yet see
an indication of certain functions indispensable at
all times to the life and gi-owth of the Chm-ch. The
apostolical element, for rule and discipline ; the pro-
phetical element, for stirring and quickening ; the
evangelistic element, for missionary enterprise; the
pastoral and doctoral element, for spiritual shepherd-
ing and systematic instruction — all these, however
named, however distributed, must be found, always and
everywhere, in every branch of the Church Universal
which would maintain its vital union with the body and
with its Head. Sometimes all these elements have been
found in combination. St. Paul was apostle, prophet,
evangelist, pastor and teacher, all at once, or by turns,
as the varying circumstances of time and place made
each the apiiropriate office and the required ministry.
More often they are found in distribution : one mind,
one hfe, has been devoted to a single function, and has
found ia it an amj)le field for aU powers aud for all
energies. These things are as God wills : no Church
can exist without the functions, but no Church ceases to
exist by reason of a change of names, or a re- arrange-
ment of officers.
St. Paul proceeds next to the ohject of this Pente-
costal gift — this gift of men, to men, for men, by Christ
in heaven. And here he distinguishes between an ulti-
mate and an immediate object. The ultimate object
(irpJs) is " the perfecting of the saints ; " the immediate
object {els) is " the work of the ministry " (more exactly.
'' a work of service" or "' minist^'atiou "), " the edifying'
[tlie gradual building up] of the body of Christ."
The same distinction between the remoter and the
more direct aim is mai'ked in the subsequent verses
(13, 14). " Till we all come," &c., is the one ; " that we
henceforth be no more children," &c.^ is the other.
The precision of the original is obscured in the English
Version by a wanton interchange of " in " and " unto " as
the rendering of the threefold els in verse 13. "We read
it thus : " Till we all attain " — the same verb {KaTavTav)
is so rendered in Phil. iii. 11 — "unto the unity of the
faith " — that f:v6Ti)s of the Christian iriffris, or Gospel
revelation (see, e.g., Gal. iii. 25), which has been asserted
208
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
above, and especially in the fj-ia irians of verso 5 — " and
of the knowledge {Myvwa-is, the further knowledge,
personal and experimental) of the Son of God ; " in other
words, "unto a perfect [mature, full-grown] man" —
one, not many (Gal. iii. 28) ; iu other words, " unto a
measure of stature [or, of age] of [belonging to, charac-
teristic of] the fulness of Christ." The arrival at
" unity" is as much future as the arrival at "maturity"
of age or growth. The actual realisation of that unity,
which is already ours in theory and principle, waits for
that " perfecting " {KarapTian6s) which is the ultimate
object, as the ''ministry^' (Siokov/o) and the "edifying"
(olKo5o/jiT)) are the immediate objects, of the ascension
gift.
The 14th verse returns to tho present. Unity, like
maturity, like perfection, is the goal : work, servants'
work, builders' work, is the race. It, too, has an object ;
not, like the other, seen afar off, but lying in the way to
that other, and the condition of its attainment. " That
we be no more children," at the mercy of every wave
and gust of human teaching, of every trick and strata-
gem by which designing men practise upon the weakness
or credulity of an intellectual, moral, and spiritual in-
fancy ; " but speaking, doing, living the truth " — for the
rare word aKriBevovres embraces all these ideas — " iu
love, may grow up " — the tense of av^-n<rwij.ei> expresses
the result of the growth ; " may have grown up ; " may
be found to have done so, when the account is taken
— "into Him in all things" — into entire union with
Him — " who is the Head, even Christ ; from whom" —
out of (e|) whom, as the source of all growth — " all the
body, framed and knit together" — the former is a
builder's word (see ii. 21) suitable to the %ure of the
oiKoBofii] in this verse and verse 12 : the te^ise of the
two participles expresses a gradxial process of compact-
ing— " by means of every joint of [belonging to,
essential to] the supply" — by the help of cat-h joint
transmitting, as it were, the vital tluid, "the supply
(iwixopriyia, as here) of the Spirit of Jesus Christ " (Phil,
i. 19) from one member of the body to another — " ac-
cording to an operation in [within, not exceeding] the
measure of each several part " — regulated by a working
of Di%'ine grace commensurate with the capacity of each
particular mem^Der of the body — " makes the growth of
the body " — carries on its own growth — " unto tlie
building up of itself in love."
Let us endeavour to disentangle the sentence by a
paraphrase. The ascended Lord gave gifts unto men.
What gifts ? A multitude of men, qualified and com-
missioned for the discharge of various ministries in the
Church which is His body. With what object ? " The
perfecting of the saints." The attainment, in other
words, of that absolute spiritual unity which is the
maturity of the Christiiiu life. This we see not yet. But
we ai'e in the way to it. There is "a work of minister-
ing," there is a gradual " building up of the body of
Christ," which aims at the healthy development of the
iudividiial and of the generation, from a helpless and
credulous infancy, into a life of which the principle is
" Truth in love," and which consists in a growing union
with Christ Himself; a union individually realised, in
the supply of the Divine Sj)irit to each separate member
of the body, but securing also a collective and cor-
porate growth, a progress of the Church as a whole iu
that life of which the very element and atmosphere Lj
love.
BIBL
W 0 li D S .
BY THE REV. EDMUXD VENABLES, M.A., CANON EESIDENTIAET AND PK.ECENT0R OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
AVOUR [verb intr.), to be minded or dis-
posed in a certain way. It ouly occurs
in our Lord's words to Peter (Matt,
xvi. 23), " Thou savourest not the things
that be of God," and the parallel passage (Mark viii. 33).
It was adopted by Tyndale in the latter ]Aace, but not
in the former, where he has " Thon perceavest nott godly
thynges, " from Wiclif's "Thou saver ist not the thingis
that ben of God," which he had derived from the Vul-
gate, " Non sapis ea quae Dei siuit." In earlier versions
it was a frequent rendering of tho Greek verb <ppovui>,
through the Latin sapere : e.g., Wiclif's rendering of
Rom. xii. 3 is " That ye sauere not more than it bihoueth
to sauere, but for to sauere to sobreness ; " and Latimer
quotes 1 Cor. xiii. 11, " When I was a child I savoured
as a child." It is used by Shakespeare, e.g., " The
prince our master says that you savour too much of
your youth " {Henry V. i. 2), and was in not unf requent
employment down to a comparatively recent period,
though now quite dropped out of use, except as a
pietioal word.
Savour (.mbst.), so continually used iu the A. V. for
" taste " or " flavour :" e.g., Matt. v. 13, " If the salt have
lost his savour; " and more frequently stUl for " scent,"
especLally m the phrase. " s^ceet savour," " siveet-stnelUng
savour," as applied to sacrifices, e.g., Gen. viii. 21,
" The Lord smelted a sweet savour," and sometimes
metaphorically, e.g., 2 Cor. ii. 16, " The .'!avo^lr of death
unto death." It is now almost or quite obsolete ;
though the adjective .<iavoury (Gen, xxvii. 4), "Make
me soA^oury meat, such as I love," still remains in use.
Scall (subst.) is only found in the chapters relatin"
to leprosy (Lev. xiii. 30, 31, &c.; xiv. 54), to express what
is now known as "a scab," i.e., a dry piece cf skin
I peehng off from the surface of a sore. It is a translation
I of the Hebrew word pnj {netlieTi), derived from a verb
BIBLE WORDS.
209
siguifyiug " to pull off," " to tear away." It comes from
tlie A. S. scxjlan, " to divide," "to separate," aud is the
same word under a sliglitly varied form aud meauing, as
" scale " (of a fish) ; the expression " a scald head," which
is still in use for tho " tetter," or " ringworm," is simply
a head affected with scalls. It is used as a term of
opprobrium iu Shakespeare, " To be revenged upon the
this same scall" {Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 1).
Chaucer, as a punishment for the careless copying of
his scrivener, utters the Avish —
" Under thy long locks thou maist have the scall."
(Words xmio his own Scrivener.)
And he describes the Sompnour as "with scalled
(scurfy) browes, blake aud pilled berd" (Prol. 530).
Richardson quotes from Sir Thomas More, " Than shal
id these scalde and scabbed peces scale clere of, and the
hole body of Christes holy Church remaine pure."
Scrabble {verb intr.). David, in his feigned madness
at Gath, ''scrabbled on the doors of the gate " (1 Sam. xxi.
13). The marginal reading, " made marks," is a correct
translation of the Hebrew verb n;n, tavah (found also in
Ezek. ix. 4, " Set a inarJc on the foreheads of the men that
sigh and that cry"'). It is akin to the verbs "scrape,"
" scratch," "scrawl," " scribble," and is probably formed
from the sound of scratching with the naUs. It is still
used in Lincolnshire in the sense of " to scratch," and is
explained in Miss Baker's Northamptonshire Glossary,
" to write in an uucouth and unsightly manner ; to make
unmeaning marks, as boys often do with chalk on a
wall or gate."
Scrip (stibst.), a wallet or small bag. Used in the
A. V. for the shepherd's bag in which David put his
atones for slinging (1 Sam. xvii. 40) ; and a traveller's
wallet, r-ripa (Matt. x. 10, and the parallels ; Luke xxii.
35, 36). It is allied to the Frisian skrap, "a pocket; "
the O. N. sJcreppa, and the "Welsh ysgrap, ysgrepan,
which have the same meaning. A scrip was character-
istic of a traveller —
" Whan folke in chirche had geve him what hem lest,
He went his way, no longer wold he rest,
With serippe and tipped staf, y tucked hie."
(Chaucer, Sompnour's Tale, 7316.)
" Come, Shepherd, let ns make an honourable retreat, though
not with bag and bags^age, yet with scrip aud scrippage." (Shake-
speare, As You, Like it, iii. 2.)
Seethe {verb trans.). Sod, preter. ; and sodden,
fart., " to boil " or " cook by boiling," from the A. S.
seothan, "to boil," part, soden, gesoden ; German,
sieden. It is frequent in the A. Y., e.g., Exod. xvi. 23
(of the manna), " Bake that ye will bake to-day, and
seethe that ye will seethe ; " 1 Sam. ii. 13, " The priest's
servant came while the flesh was in seething ; " Gen.
XXV. 29, " And Jacob sod pottage ; " 1 Sam. ii. 15, " He
will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw." "We give
examples of its early use from Richardson—
" Peter fyshed for his foode, aud his fellowe Andrews ;
Some they sold, and some they soih, and so they lived both."
(Piers Ploivman, fol. 81, p, 2.)
83 — VOL. IV.
Chaucer's cook
" Coude roste, aud seihc, aud broile, and frie,
Makeu mortrewes', and well bake a i>ie."
(Chaucer, Prol. 384.)
" (Their drink is) meath made of houey, or liquorice sodden in
water, for thereof they have great store." (Berners' Fivissart, ii. 1.)
Shakespeare gives us " sceth your blood to froth "
[Timon of Athens, iv. 3); aud ''sodden water" {Hen. V.
iii. 5); and "sodden business" [Troilus and Cressida,
iii. 1).
Shamefastness (subst.). This fine old word, from
the A. S. sceamfcEstnes, akin to " bedfast," " rootfast,"
'• soothfast," steadfast," has been altered by the un-
authorised meddlesomeness of printers into " shame-
facedness;" thus "changing the word, which meant once
a being estabhshed firmly and fast in honourable shame,
into the mere wearing of the blush of shame on the .
cheek." ^ This alteration, as Prof. Lightfoot remarks,''
is doubly imfortunate, " as suggesting a wi'ong deriva-
tion aud an inadequate meaning." The passage where
it occurs (1 Tim. ii. 9), " that women adorn themselves
with shamefacedness and sobriety," has shamefastness
in all the older editions and versions, e.g., "Wiclif, "Also
wymmen in covenable abite with schamefastnesse and
sobernesse araiynge hem silf ; " Tyndale, " Lykwyso
also the wemen that they arraye them selves in manerly
aparell with shamfastnes and honest behaveour ; " so
also Beck and the Geneva Bible. It is also found iu
the Apocrypha (Ecclus. xli. 16, 24), "Therefore bo
sharnefast according to my word, for it is not good to
retain all shamefastnes ,-.... so shalt thou bo
truly shamefast, and find favour before aU men," where
the spelling has also been tampered with in the same
unauthorised manner. As examples of its use we may
cite Chaucer's description of Yirginia —
" Shamefast she was in maiden's shamefastnesse."
{Doctor's Tale, 11,939.)
And Spenser —
And
" Then to the knight with shamefast modestie.
They turne themselves at Una's meeke request."
(F. Q., I. X. 15.)
" She is the fountaine of your modestee ;
You shamefast are, but Shamefastnesse itself is shee."
(F. Q., II. ix. 43.)
Shawm {subs.) only occurs in the Prayer-book
Psalter, Ps. xcviii. 7, " With trumpets also and shawms,
O shew yourselves joyful before the Lord the King,"
where the A. V. has " with trumpets and sound of
cornet." This latter is the more correct version, the
original "^giTS [shophar) signifying the horn of a ram or
other animal. A " shawm " or " shalm " was a bass
instrument of music, played, as its derivation indi-
cates, with a reed like the oboe, but, according to Mr.
Chappell, having probably more the tone of a bassoon.
Mr. Chappell (i. 35) quotes, as descriptive of the sound
1 " A mortrewes seems to have been a rich broth or soup, iu the
preparation of which the flesh was stamped or beat in a mortar.'
(Tyrwhit.)
2 Trench, "English Past and Present, p. 198.
3 Revision of New Testament, p. 185.
210
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
and compass of the sliawm, one of tlio inscriptions from
the walls of Leconfield Manor House, Yorkshire —
" A shaumo miikuth a swete souude, for lie tuuytlie tliu basse,
It niouutith not to hye, but kcpithe rulo ami space.
Yet yf it be blowne with to vehement a wynde,
It makithc it to uiysgovorue out of liis kiude."
It Is derived through the French chalumeau , "a reed-
pipe," from calamelliis, a diminutive of the Latin
calamus, "a reed." A kindred word is the German
schahneic, " a reed-pipe." The older form preserved the
radical 1, shalmele or shahnie — e.g. :
" Suclie a soune
Of bumbardc and of cl.irioune,
With cornemuso (bagpipe) and shalmele."
(Gower, Confessio Amantis.)
"Loud minsti-alcies,
In cornmuse and shalmies,
And many another pipe."
(Chaucer, Hoiisc of Fame, iii. 128.)
—or shalme, as used by North in his translation of
Plutarch, " The women players of pipes or shalvies "
(p. 378) ; " Agesilaus commanded his musitians to soxmd
their shalvies or pipes, whilst he did set up a token of
triumph " (p. 516).
Silverling (subs. ; German, silberling') occurs only
in the A.Y., Isa. vii. 23, " Every place . . . where
there were a thoiisand \'ines at a thousand silverlings,"
i.e., returning a thousand shekels of silver for rent.
Wiclif has " a thousand syluer penys." The word so
translated (f]p3, cesep/i) is rendered elsewhere "silver"
or " money," or " shekels of silver." In Tyndale's and
Cranmer's translations, the price of the magical books
burnt at Ephesus appears as "fifty thousande silver-
lynges" (Acts xix. 19). The same word is used in
Cranmer and Tyndale for the money stolen by Micah
from his mother (Judg. xvii. 2, 3), " The leuen hundredth
syluerlynges."
Skill (verb int.) is found in four places in Kings and
Chronicles for to "know how," or " understand how "
to do a thing (1 Kings v. 6 ; 2 Chron. ii. 8), "Thy ser-
vants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon ; " ib., ver. 7,
"'Can skill to grave;" chap, xxxiv. 12, "All that could
shill of instruments of music." It is derived from the
A. S. scylan, to " divide," " distinguish," " discern dis-
tinctions or differences." Julius Ceesar, seofBng at
Sylla's resignation of his dictatorship, remarked " that
Sylla could not sJcill of letters, and therefore knew not
how to dictate" (Bacon, Adv. of Learning, bk. I., vii. 29).
Mr. Aldis 'Wright quotes from Holland's translation of
Pliny, " Without beans they canot slcill how to dresse
anything for their daily food " (Pliny, xviii. 10).
Strait (adj. and subst. ; Straitly, adv. ; Strait-
ness, subst.), from the Latin stridiis, " drawn close,"
through the Itaiian stretto, and the O. Fr. estroit,
"narrow." The sons of the prophets, incommoded by
want of room, saic - 'o Elijah, " The place where we
dwell with thee is 1 o strait for us " (2 Kings ^^. 1 ; cf.
Isa. xlix. 20) ; " Enter ye in at the strait (narrow) gate,
. . . bec^aixse strait is the gate and narrow is the
way ihi\i leadeth xmto life" (Matt. vii. 13; Lnko xiii.
24). As a substantive we find it used : 1 Sam. xiii. 6,
"Israel saw that they were in a strait;" 2 Sam. xxiv.
14 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 13 ; Job xxxvi. l(j ; Phil. i. 23. Moses
foretells the sufferings of the Israelites " in the sieo'e
and straitness " (Deut. xxviii. 53, 55, 57). The adverb
straitly is found where we should use "strictly:"
Gen. xliii. 7, "The man asked us straitly of our state ;"
Josh. vi. 1, "Jericho was straitly shut uj};" Mark i. 43,
" He straitly charged him." As illustrations of its use
we give the following : —
" In prayers and in penance putten hem manye,
Al for loue of owre Lorde lyvodeu ful shcvfc."
(Piers Plowman, I'rol. 25, 26.)
Chaucer says of the wife of Bath —
" Here hoseu weren of fyu scarlet reed,
Ful sfrcyfe y-tyed." (Prol. 457.)
" He mought see that a strait (tight) glove will come more
easily on with use." (Bacon, ^Idv. of Learn., II. xxii, 8.)
" His majesty hath straitly given in charge,
That no man shall have private confereuco
Of what degree soever with his brother."
(Shakespeare, Richard III., i. 3.)
Swaddle (verb tr.), to bind, to tie up in bands, used
chiefly of swathing new-born infants. Lam. ii. 22,
"Those that I have sivaddled and brought up hath
mine enemy consumed;" Ezek. xvi. 4, "In the day
thou wast born .... thou wast not ....
swaddled at all." We have also swaddling-clothes
(Luke ii. 7, 12j and swaddling -band (Job xxxviii. 9).
The word to swaddle is a fuller form of to swathe, and
is connected with the A. S. bisuethan, " to bind," and
its derivatives, swethel, or swethil, "a swathing band;"
swethung, "a bandage or plaster." Mr. Aldis Wright
supplies the following apt illtistration : —
" The nurces also of Sparta use a certaine manner also to bring
up their children, without sioadling or binding them up in clothes
vfith swadling bandes." (North's Plutarch, Lycurjus, p. 55.)
Sir Thomas More employs the word in a general sense.
Thus he speaks of a man who " muste bee fayue once or
twise a daye to swaddle and plaster his legge," and of
" our swadlynge and tending our bodies with warm
clethes " (Richardson) ; and Ascham remarks that " to
swadle a babe much about with bandes verye seldome
doth anye good" (Toxophilus,Mk. ii.). With the cessa-
tion of the pernicious practice of swathing or swaddling
the limbs of a newly-born infant with tight bauds of
linen wound round and round it, which pi'e vailed every-
where till the middle of the seventeenth century, the
word describing it has dropped out of usage and become
obsolete.
Taber (verb intr.). Nahum ii. 7, " Her maids shall
lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their
breasts," i.e., beating their breasts in measured time
like the beating of a labour or drum. It is an accurate
rendering of the Hebrew verb fl3n, tahphaph (found
also Ps. Ixviii. 25, " the damsels playing with timbrels "),
from f]n (toph), a " tabret," " timbrel," or " small drum."
The verb " to taber," with its congeners, is not unfre-
qucnt in our earlier writers.
"Ich can nat tahre ne trompe, at festes no harnen."
Pi«rs Plownxan (Eichardson).
BIBLE WORDS.
211
" For in your court is many a losengeour (deceiver),
That tabourers iu your eares many a souu."
(Chaucex', Leg. of Good Women, 354.)
" Yo will rather never serve God at all ; never fast, never kneel ;
but drink and be merry, and pipe up John iaberer. ' To-morrow
snail be my father's wake.* " (Calfhill, Answer to Martial, p. 257.)
Tache (snbst). Tins word, which is only another
form of "tack," connected with "attach," French ai-
tachcr, Italian attaccare, the A. S. tacan, " to take,"
"lay hold of," is only found in the description of the
tabernacle and its furniture (Exod. xxvi. 6, 11, 33 ;
XXXV. 11, &c.), for the small hooks or fastenings by
which a curtain is suspended to the rings from which
it hangs. It represents the Hebrew D-ip., " a hook,"
from D^p^, " to bend." Mr. Aldis Wright illustrates the
interchange of the hard and soft sound in tach and
tache by the similar instances of Tiirh and church, nook
and notch, nich and niche.
Tale (subst.), a reckoning or account, a number
told. A. S. tael, a number ; Germ, zahl, a number.
In Exod. V. 8, 18, we have " the tale of the bricks," i.e.,
the full number of bricks for which the taskmasters
of the Israelites were responsible to Pharaoh ; 1 Sam.
xviii. 27, of the proofs of David's slaughter of the
Philistines, " They gave them in full tale to the king ; "
1 Chron. ix. 28, " That they (the Levites) should bring
them (the ministering vessels) in and out by tale." In
A. S. tellan is " to tell " in both senses, to " count " and
to "recoimt," "narrate;" as in German, zahlen, "to
reckon;" erziihlen, "to relate." We may compare
the expressions "telling beads," the "tellers" in the
House of Commons, a "tally."
" Of other heuene than here holde thei no tale " (take no account).
(Piers Plowman, i. 9.)
" He hath eue the verai heares of your heades noubred out by
tale." (Udal's Erasmus, Luke xii. 7.)
" And every shepherd tells his tale (counts his sheep)
Under the hawthorn in the dale." (Milton, L' Allegro, 67.)
Tire {verb tr. and subst.) is used in the A. V. exclu-
sively for dressing the head, though its ordinary use, as
of attire, of which it seems a shortened form, is wider
and more general. Jezebel " painted her face and tired
her head " in expectation of Jehu's an-ival (2 Kings ix.
30) ; Isaiah speaks of the women's " round tires like the
moon " (Isa. iii. 18) ; and Ezekiel is bidden " bind the
tire of thine head about thee " (Ezek. xxiv. 17, 23). The
specious derivation from the Persian tiara is a false
one. It has been connected by some with the German
zier, zieren, " ornament," but the evidence is in favour
of its coming through attire, from the Old French atour,
" a hood," or " woman's headdress. It is a word of
frequent occurrence.
"Women tijre theme selues with gold and silke to please their
loners." (Tyndale, WorUs, p. 72.)
Spenser's Perissa —
" In sumptuous tire she joyed herself to pranck."
(Faery Quecne, II. ii. 56.)
And Charissa — ■
" On her head she wore a fire of gold."'
(Fai')-y Qiieene, I. x. 31.)
Tittle {subst.), only found in Matt. v. 18 ; Luke xvi.
17, as the translation of the Greek Kepaia ; Latin apex,
one of the little projections or points which distinguish
some of the Hebrew letters from one another, e.g.,
2 and 3 ; n, n, and n ; : and X Our translators adopted
the word from Wiclif and Tyndale. It signifies the
tiniest thing possible, and is connected with tit, " any-
thing small of its kind," a little horse, a little girl, &c.,
often used in composition to form a diminutive, e.g.,
titlarh, titmouse, titbit, titfaggots. " To a tittle "
signifies "exactly," e.g., "I'll quote him to a tittle'^
(Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, iii. 4) ; " St.
Paul . . . to a tittle recites the words of Christ "
(Jeremy Taylor, Apology for Set Forms, § 87).
" What shalt thou exchange for rags ? robes. Tor tittles, titles ;
for thyself, me." (Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 1.)
Trow {verb int.), to tliiuk, believe, suppose, from
the A. S. treow, "true;" tremvian, Germ, truuen, "to
think to be true." It is only found in the A. V., Luke
xvii. 9, " Doth he thank that servant because he did the
things that were commanded him ? I trow not." It
is a very common word in early writers, e.g. : —
" This I troxce to be treuthe, who can teche the hettre ?"
(Piei's Plowman, i. 143.)
" A bettre prest I irowe ther no wher none is."
(Chaucer, Prol. 526.)
Stephen Hawes introduces Perjury, saying —
" I swei-e in lykwise, and anon she troweth,
That we have sayd is of very trouth."
In Wiclif 's version trow is frequent in the sense of
"believe," "trust:" Matt. xxiv. 26, " Nyle ye trowe" :=
" believe it not ; " John ii. 24, " Jhesua trowide not him-
seK to hem, for he knewe alle men." The quotations
from Piers Plowman and Hawes give evidence of the
close connection between " trow " and " truth," or
" troth," the lever by which Home Tooke thought to
overthrow Truth, defining it to be " that which every
man troweth," and therefore having no real substantial
existence.
Tush {inter j.), an expression of contempt or impa-
tience, occurring in the Prayer-book Psalter, Ps. x. 6,
12, 14, " Tush, I shall never be cast down ; " " Tush,
God hath forgotten; " " Tush, Thou God carest not for
it ; " Ps. Ixxiii 11 ; xciv. 7. In no place is there any
corresponding expletive in the Hebrew. The word is
found frequently in Coverdale's translation, e.g., Ezek,
XX. 49, " Then sayde I, O Lord, they will saye of me ;
Tush, they are but fables." Richardson gives the fol-
lowing from Sir P. Sidney : " Tush, tush ! son. said
Cecropia, if you say you love, but withal you fear, you
fear least you should offend " {Arcadia, b. iii.). Holin-
shed writes it twish : " Tliere is a cholerike or disdainfull
interjection used in the Irish language called boagh,
which is as much in Eughsh as twish" {Bescr. of
Ireland, c. 8).
Twain {numeral adj.), "two," from the A. S.
twegen, the masc. form, of which twd is the fem. and
ueut., akin to the Germ, ziveen. The root appears in the
212
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
English words containing tlio idea of duality, " twin,"
" twine," " twenty." It occurs frequently in the A. V. :
e.g., Isa. vi. 2 (of the wings of the serai^him), ''With
twain he covered his fac«, and with twain he covered
bis feet, and with ticain he did fly ;" Matt. v. 41, '• Who-
soever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
twain ; " xxi. 31, " Whether of them twain [which of
the two] did the will of his father ? " &c. It is met
with still more frequently in Wiclif's Bible, e.g., Gen.
vi. 19, " And of alle lyuyngo beestis of al fleisch thou
schalt bryuge into the schip tweyne and ticeijne." In
Piers Plowman we have '' Tymme the tjTikere and
tweyne of his preutis " (v. 317). Chaucer gives us —
" Ri?lit soue upon the cLaunging of the moue,
When lightlesse is the world, a night or twame."
(Troil. and Cressid. iu. 551.)
" I (Grisildis) have not had no part of children twein,
But first sikeuesse, and after wo and peine."
(CUrh's TaU, 8526.)
Iu Ezek. xxi. 19 we find " both twain," mth which
Mr. Aldis Wright compares —
" He hath him clensed bothe tu'O,
The hody and the soule also."
(Gower, Confess. Am. i., p. 275.)
" I beheld rj-ghtwell hothe the ways tu-ayne,
And mused oft whyche was best to take. "
(Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure, c. i.)
Very (adj.). This word, which is now used only
as an augmentative adverb, was formerly employed as
an adjective, corresponding to the Latin verus, " true,"
Old French verai. Of this we have a very familiar
example in the Nicene Creed, " Very God of i^ery God,"
*' Verus Deus ex vero Deo." We have it in the A. V. :
Gon. xxvii. 21, 24, "Art thou my very son Esau.''"
John vii. 26 ; Acts ix. 22, " Proving that this is very
Christ." Wiclif uses it constantly : e.g., Luko xvi. 11,
" If ye weren not trewe in the wickid thing of ritchesse
^' the unrighteous mammon,' A. V.], who shall bitake
to you that which is verry ?" John i. 9, '"It was
verri light which lightneth ech man comynge into this
world." Latimer gives us "the habergeon of i<ery
justice" {Se7~m., p. 30); and Shakespeare —
" My very friend hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf." (fio)rt. and Jul. iii. 1.)
And Hooker, '' The very whole entire form of our
Church polity " {Eccl. Pol. II. i. 1 ; '" Sui^erstition
. . , . mingloth itself with the rites even of ve^'y
divine service done only to the true God" {Ibid., V.,
iu. 3).
Wax [verb intr.), to grow, increase, from the A. S.
wcaxan ; German, tfachscn. It is a verb of very fre-
quent occurrence iu the A. Y. : 1 Sam. iii. 2, " Eh's eyes
began to wax dim;" Jer. vi. 24, "Our hands wax
feeble ; " Luke xii. 33, " Provide yourselves bags which
wax not old ; " 2 Chron. xiii. 21. " Abijah waxed
mighty ; " Luke i. 80, " The child grew and loaxed
strong in spirit ; " Phil. i. 14, " The brethren waxing
confident by my bonds." We find it constantly in early
authors —
"These lien treuthes tresores trewe folke to helpe,
That uevere shal wax, ne wau^e withouto God iiimselve."
(Pieis Plowman, vii. 54, 55.)
•■ His sleep, his mete, his drynk is him by raft [bereft],
That lene he u'cr, and drye as is a schaft."
(Chaucer, Knigld's Tale, 501.)
" As this temple wa.ns,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal." (Shakespeare, Hamlet, i. 3.)
" He waxes desperate with imagination." (Ibid. i. 4.)
Whit (subst.), a small part, an atom, or least bit.
1 Sam. iii. 18, "Samuel told him every whit, and hid
nothing;" John \-ii. 23, "I have made a man every
lohit whole ; " xiii. 10, " He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet, but is clean eveiy whit ; " 2 Cor.
xi. 5, " I was not a ivhit behind the very chiefest
apostles." It is derived from the A. S. wild or wicht,
"a thing," "creatm-e." The words aught and naught,
'• something" and "nothing," contain this root; aught
being the A. S. d-wiht; and naught, nd-iviht, or naht.
Examples are very abundant. Of Chaucer's uuller's
wife we read —
"She was full aslepe a litel wight." {Reeve's Tale, 4282.)
"Dyvers gaue good earo to hym, and some never a whytte, such
as had rather havewarre than peace." (Froissart, Berners' Trans,,
vol. i., c. 357.)
" He had a sharpe foresight, and working wit
That never idle was, ne once would rest a whit."
(Spenser, Fairy Qu«e)i, II. ix. 49.)
" Mahomet cald the hill to come to him againe and againe ; and
when the hill stood still he was never a wldt abashed, but said,
' If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the
hill.'" (Bacon, Essays, xii.)
Wimple {suhst.) occurs once iu a list of articles of
female attire, " The mantles, and the wimples, and the
curling pins" (Isa. iii. 22). The Hebrew word nin^cp
{mitpdchoth) signifies " wide coverings " or " mantles,"
and is employed for the " veil " worn by Ruth, capacious
enough to hold " six measures of barley " (Ruth iii. 15).
It is rendered by Wiclif " schetis, ether smockis ; " and
in Cranmer's Bible " kerchiefs." The word is akin to
the A. S. winpel, the French guimple, " a hood," and
the Dutch xoimpel, "a veil" It denotes a plaited or
folded covering for the neck and throat used by reli-
gious women or elderly ladies. Chaucer writes of the
Prioress —
" Ful semely hire wympcl ypynched was " (Prol. 151) ;
and points out the distinction between it and the veil—
" Wering a vaile insted of u-imple.
As uonues don in hir abbey."
(Rom. of the Rose, 3864.)
Wit {verb intr.), " to know," from the A S. witan.
Gen. xxiv. 21, " The man held his peace to loit whether
the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not;"
Exod. ii. 4, " His (Moses') sister stood afar off to wit
what would bo done to him ;" 2 Cor. viii. 1, "Wo do
you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia." In the last passage "do" has a causa-
tive meaning, as in Gowor —
" He dothe us soaidele for to wits
The cause of thilke prelacie."
(Covf Am. i, p. 13. W. A. W.)
Of this old verb vanous tenses arc employed by our
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
213
translators. Thus we have the pres. ind. wot : Gen.
xxi. 26, "I wot not who hath done this thing; " Phil. i.
22, " What I shall choose I wot not." The past loist :
Exod. xxxiv. 29, " Moses ivist not that the skin of his
face shone ; " Acts xxiii. 5, " I loist not, brethren, that
he was the high priest." Of the infinitive to wit, there
are examples above. Instances of its use in our old
writers are too common to need citation.
Withs (siibst.), used only in Judg. xvi. 7, 8, 9, of
the means used by Delilali for blading Samson, " If they
bind me with seven green withs that were never dried,
then shall I be weak." The marginal reading " cords"
is more true to the original : cf. Job xxx. 11 ; Ps. xi. 2.
The word tvith signifies a supple bough or twig used
for winding about for the purpose of binding, A. S.
withie, " a band," " a rope," and is allied to the pre-
position with by the idea of connection. The verb
windan, " to bend, twist, twine," and ivindel, anything
" twined," especially a wicker basket, are related to it.
The willow being most suitable for this purpose, the
tree itself acquired the name of tvith, or loithy, by
which it is still popularly known. Wiclif so uses it :
Lev. xxiii. 40, '^ Withies of the rennynge Mater " =
"WiUows of the brook" of the A. V, The "willows
of Babylon," in Ps. cxxxvii. 2, are " the ivithies in the
myddes of it." The word is still in good local use
for a bond or tie. A pilgrim is thus described in Piers
Plowman —
" He bare a bnrdoun (a staff, hovdone) ybound with a brode liste,
In a nitheioyndeswise ywounden aboute." (V. 524, 525.)
I Where withewyndes is the genitive of the old English
; withioind, convolvcdus, or bindweed. " Bind-iuif/i. " is
also a popular name of the wild clematis, or traveller's
joy-
! Wittingly (adv.), knowingly, understanding what
he was doing, A. S. ivitendUce. Gen. xlviii. 14 (of
Jacob blessing his grandsons), " Guiding his hands
ivittingly."
" There is no blyndness more incurable than when a man is both
icittynglye and willynly blynde."' (Udal, Marl<e c. 3.)
" Nor yet do I account those judges well advised which un'fttngly
will give sentence after such witnesses." (Latimer, Remains,
p. 325.)
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE BOOK OF PROVEEBS.
BT THE EDITOR.
IE book now before us stands at the head
of what have been called the sapiential
books of the Old Testament, those of
which Wisdom is the theme, by which
men are to be taught what true wisdom is, and how
best to apply it to the varied relations of theii- lives.
In the early stages of social intellectual growth, when
men begin to observe and generalise on the facts of
human hfe, they clothe the rough results of observation
in the form of short and iJitliy sentences. Every
race that has passed beyond mere savagery has had
its proverbs of this kind. In proportion to the clearness
of their moral perception of the right and wi'ong
of things, theii' proverbs, as in the case of not a few
of the Greek wi-iters of this type — such, e.g., as
Theogjiis and Phocylides — have approached more or
less nearly to the standard of those of Israel. The
Hebrew word translated "proverb" {mashal) has, how-
ever, a special sigr.ificance. What we may almost call
the instinctive delight of man's mind in recognising
resemblances where at first we see only differences,
the pleasure of perceiving (as Aristotle puts it) that
■• this is like that," was developed in special strength
in the Israelites and other people of the East. Their
proverb was primarily and essentially a " similitude,"
the transfer of lessons from the facts of man's common
life, or even from those of brute nature, to the region
of man's moral and spiritual being. It was thus a con-
densed parable or fable, capable at any time of being
expanded, sometimes presented with the lesson clearly
taught, sometimes involved in greater or less obscurity,
that its very difficulty might stimulate the desire to
know, and so impress the lesson more deeply on the
mind. The proverb might be a " dark saying," requir-
ing an interp7*otation. Thus, e.g., " The fining-pot is
for silver, and the furnace for gold : but the Lord trieth
the hearts " (Prov. xvii. 3), is a parable of which we
find an expansion in Mai. iii. 3, " He shall sit as a
refiner of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and sUver ; " while Prov. i. 17,
" Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any
bird," given as it is, without any intei-pretation, and
cipable (as commentaries will show) of many, is a
" dark saying," in which the teaching is deliberately in-
volved in more or less obscurity. Traces of these gene-
ralised maxims, so obvious as to seem tniisms, are to be
found before we are brought into contact with any fidl
collection of them. The saying " Wickedness proceedeth
from the wicked " passed cui'rent as a " proverb of the
ancients " in the days of Saul (1 Sam. xxiv. 13). An
individual instance of strange inconsistency was gene-
ralised as a type of all like anomalies, and the question
" Is Saul also among the prophets ? " became a proverb
in Israel (1 Sam. x. 11 ; xix. 24). Later on, a rough
induction from the facts of human history led men to
transfer to a previous age the guilt of that in which
they themselves were actors, and to say, "The fathers
have eaten sour gi-apes, and the chUdi'on's teeth are
set on edge " ( Jer. xxxi. 29 ; Ezek. xviii. 2). The
Book of Job is fuU of apophthegms of the proverb
214
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
type, one of which afterwards became the motto, so
to speak, of the Book of Proverbs, and gave tlio key-
note to all its teaching". " The fear of the Lord, tliat
fe wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is uuderstaud-
ing" (Job xxviii. 28). It was natural that the first
advance to a higher culture under the son of David,
the first residt of intercourse with " the children of the
oast country " (1 Kings iv. 30), whose wisdom clothed
itself in this form, should be the utteraueo by this great
representative and patrou of culture, of maxims, pre-
cepts, condensed parables in the shape of j)roverbs.
The definite mention of three thousand as the number
of which he had been the author (1 Kings iv. 32) points
to the existence of a much larger collection as known, at
least by repute, in the time of Ezra, embracing many
notes on the minor facts of life, as well as its great
laws of duty ; and it seems reasonable to assume that
what we now have is but an educational anthology of
that collection, made with a special view to the training
of the young in that fear of the Lord which is the " be-
ginning of wisdom." The structure of the book seems
indeed to show that the selection took a yet wider range.
The traces of compilation present themselves at almost
every turn, and we are able, within reasonable limits of
probability, to trace each part of the book to its sovirce,
and to see in it the work of one who, like a well-in-
structed scribe, brought out of his treasure things now
and old. A brief analysis of its contents will make this
plainer.
(1) i. 1 — 7. "We have here the title and the introduc-
tion to the whole book as it now appears. It is " The
Proverbs of Solomon," but at the outset we are told
that it contains more than this, and " the words of the
wise " generally are to be found in it. The object of
the book is stated fully, as if to commend it to the
attention of the reader ; and that object is, as has been
said, distinctly educational in the best and highest sense.
(2) i. 8 — ^vii. 27. The next section is a long, con-
tinuous exhortation, each sub-section opening with the
words " my son," or "ye children," as of a father speak-
ing to his children, or a master to his scholai's. The
warnings are chiefly against the social vices which mark
the transition period between the life of villages and
that of great cities, the lawlessness which leads young
men (as, e.g., Gideon and David's followers in Adullam)
to prefer the robber, brigand life of adventure to the
labours of the field (i. 11 — 19) ; the harlotry and base-
ness which contact with nations of a lower standard of
morals brought to the Israelites as to their inouarch
(ii. 16 ; V. 3—23 ; y\. 2i— 20 ; vii. 5-27) ; the frauds of
the usurer and the spendthrift, sure to accompany the
first iniiiation into the ways of commerce (vi. 1 — 3).
The difference in stjde has led some cintics to assign this
to a later date than that of Solomon ; but the evidence
for or against difference o-f authorship is very slight.
The incidental reference of the speaker to his being
" tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother "
(iv. 3), in connection with the name Jodidiah ("lieloved
of Jehovah ") given him by Nathan (2 Sam. xii. 2S), and
with Bathsheba's conspicuous influence during his early
years (1 Kings i. 15 — 22), so far as it goes, is in favour
of Solomon's authorship.
(3) viii., ix. The book rises hero into a higher and
more drauiatic strain. Wisdom herself is iat reduced
as speaking, not merely, as in i. 20 — 33, in the language
of reproof, but as setting forth her own majesty and
glory. Her work is seen in the marvels of the imiverse,
in the order of human life. She is co-eternal with the
self -existing God, is with Him as one brougiit up with
Him, works out His will, is manifested in all His works.
We are reminded of Hookers noble praise of Law, that
'■ her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony
of the world ; " yet more of the teaching of St. John,
the later development of the truth thus sown upon the
field of human thought, that " In the beginning was tho
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God ;" that " without Him was not anything made that
was made ;" that He too was from all eternity " in tho
bosom of the Father " (John i. 1—3, 18). With that
true Wisdom inviting men as to a great feast in her
lordly house, with its seven pillars as the symbol of per-
fection (ix. 1 — 12), is contrasted once agiiin the tempting
invitation of the harlot, offering the "bread eaten in
secret," the pleasures of sin of which men are ashamed
even in the moment of enjoyment, instead of the bread
of God which endureth to eternal life (ix. 13 — 18).
(4) X. 1 — xxii. 16. The new heading of this section,
" The Proverbs of Solomon," indicates with sufficient
clearness that we have here tho centre and kernel of tho
book, the selected maxims from that larger collection
which from its very bulk would have been ill adapted
for educational uses. Speaking roughly, it contains
about 400 out of the 3,000. The maxims are brief,
pithy, isolated, in marked contrast to the continuous
teaching of the two previous sections, are more simply
prudential, arc characterised by the recurrence of certain
striking phrases, such as the "foimtain" or "well of
life" (x. 11; xiii. 14; xiv. 27; xvi. 22), the "tree of
life " (xi. 30 ; xiii. 12 ; xv. 4), the " snares of death "
(xiii. 14; xiv. 27), "health" or "healing," in its ethical
sense as contrasted with the sins which are the diseases
of the soul (xii. 18; xiii. 17; xiv. 30; xv. 4; xvi. 24),
and many others less conspicuous ; yet more by the
constant reference to Jehovah as the Judge and Ruler
of mankind, and to the office of the king as his great
earthly represcntatiA-e.
(5) xxii. 17 — xxiv. 22. This section, though following
in our received chapter- division as if it were continuous
with the foregoing, is yet manifestly distinct. The
short proverbs cease, and we again have the continuous
exhortation, addressed as before by the teacher to his
" sou " (xxiii. 15, 19, 26), warning him against the same
dangers. It would bo a reasonable hypothesis to assumo
that it was in this form that the book first came into
use, the proverbs properly so called being its substance,
the homiletic exhortations serving as prologue and
epilogue.
(6) xxiv. 23 — 34. Hero, too, in the midst of apparent
coutinnif^y wo see the traces of a late addition. The
I coiiiijilcr, or a later editor, camo across the vivid picture
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
215
©f "flie field of tie slothful," and in tlie absence of any
direct evidence that they were by Solomon, attached
them to the boot which ho had already put together,
or which he found ready to his hand, under the title of
" the words of the \Tise," to which he had already re-
ferred by anticipation in the opening promise of its
title.
(7) XXV. 1 — xxix. 27. Here the commencement of a
new and later section is more distinctly set before us.
•■• These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men
of HezeMah king of Judah copied out." The words
are very remarkable. They show the existence of a
collection of proverbs already recognised as authoi-ita-
tive. They point to a literary activity specially busied
iit that period in collecting and arranging the scattered
fragments of the past, either as making further extracts
from the original more bulky collection, or putting into
writing what had hitherto been handed down orally.
And it may be noted that the section which thus opens
is all but identical in character with that from x. 1 —
xxii. 16, which bsars the heading " The Proverbs of
Solomon," and which we have seen reason to regard as
the kernel of the original book. The maxims are of the
same length, have the same parallelism of structure,
and are more or less grouped together in the same way,
according to their subjects. There is the same stress
laid on the ideal majesty of the kingly office, on the
typical characters of the " fool " (xxvi. 1 — 12), the
'•■ slothful " (xxvi. 13 — 16), and the " righteous " (xxix.
2, 7, 16).
(8) XXX. The sections that follow present more
peculiar characteristics. Instead of the " proverbs,"
or simply " words of the wise," we have here and in
xxxi. 1 the word "prophecy." The Hebrew word
thus rendered {massa) is not, however, that which is
commonly used to describe the prophet's work : literally
it means " burden," and as such is used either literally
(as in Numb. iv. 15) of ths holy things which were to
be borne by the sons of Korah, or figuratively (as in
Numb. xi. 11) for the weight of care and responsibility.
In Isa. xiii. — xxiii. and Jer. xxiii. 33 — 38, it ajipears in a
sense more nearly approaching to that of " prophecy "
as the title of messages which the prophets were com-
missioned to deliver, and probably implied that the
message was in the figurative sense, a '• burden " which
the prophet had to bear, until he had freed himself
from its weight by delivering the message. An obscure
passage in 1 Chrou. xv. 22, in which Chenaniah, the
chief of the Levites, is said to have been for massa,
or, as in our version, for " song," gives us probably a
transition stage in the histoiy of the word, and helps
ns to understand how it might come to be applied to
the deeper, more enigmatic, more poetic forms of pro-
verbial wisdom.
The authorship of this section presents a problem
almost as difficult as that of the title. "Who was Agur
the son of Jakeh ? Who were Ithiel and Ucal, to
whom his counsels were addressed? Their names
occur nowhere else, and there is not even the shadow of
a tradition about them. The conjecture that the names
are ideal, that Agur means the "collector" of wise
counsels, while Ithiel (= God is ivith vie) and Ucal
(= I am strong) represent two t}i)os of character, one
trusting in Di\'ine support, the other in his own strength,
though ingenious, can hardly be looked on as satisfac-
tory. On the whole, I believe it is safest to come to
the conclusion that we have here, as in the " Chalcol
and Darda, sons of Mahol," of 1 Kings iv. 31, name?
of Eastern sages, who were famous in their day, thougl
we know nothing biit their names ; and that in the final
revision of the Book of Proverljs, probably under Heze-
kiah, the editor (if we may use that modem term)
found in the teaching which the master had given to his
scholars a wisdom that was woi'th preserving. A care-
ful study of the chapter will show that it has in many
passages a striking resemblance to the Book of Job.
Here, too, the teacher has learnt his ignorance of the
Infinite and Eternal God. He, the man honoured as a
sage, confesses that he has not " learned wisdom," nor
has he the knowledge of the Holy One (comp. Job xlii.
5). There is as in Job, especially in chaps, xxxix., xl., a
deep sense of the wonders of the animal world, the
mystery of their half -human skill, and foreshadowings
of human characteristics of moral good and evil (Prov.
XXX. 15, 19, 25 — 31). His thoughts on the mystery of
the universe have suggested the question, identical
in substance with that thought of Prov. viii. 30.
whether he can in any way transfer to that Diviue
Being the human relations of fatherhood and sonship :
and he asks, and yet is not able to make answer to
himself, "What is his name, and what is his son's name,
if thou canst tell it.'"' The facts thus noticed suggest.
I think, the probability that we have here, as in the
Book of Job, a wisdom, Semitic indeed, but not Israelite,
the work of some proselyte to the faith of Israel, whose
wisdom the " men of Hezekiah " honoured by placing
its utterances iu the same anthology as the proverbs of
their own king. The reign of that king was, we know,
conspicuous for the re-opening of intercourse with the
neighbouring nations of the East (2 Chron. xxxii. 23\
and, if we may assign Ps. Ixxxvii. as one of the psalm ;
of the son of Korah to that period, for the admission
of proselytes from among them to the faith of Israel.
(9) xxxi. 1 — 9. Here, too, we must rest in the con-
fession of our ignorance as to Lemuel and the mother
who thus entreats him to resist the temptations of
wine and strong drink. The Jewish tradition that the
king was Solomon, and the monitress, Bathsheba ; and
Ewald's conjecture that Lemuel ( = he loho is for God),
like Ithiel and Ucal, is a purely ideal name, are neither
of them satisfying ; and here, too, I incline to the view
that we have an excerpt from some lost storehouse of
gnomic wisdom. On the assumption of which I hav«'
before spoken, that the whole work was put together
in its present sliapc in the days of Hezekiah, it may hi
an allowable conjecture that the king's purpose was to
provide an educational manual for the son whom lie
left behind him as the fruit of his somewhat late
marriage with Hephzibah.
(10) xxxi. 10 — 31. Here, again, wo have manifestly an
216
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
inclepeudont fragment. Not only is the subject carriocl
on through twenty-two verses in a manner entirely diffe-
rent from anything else in the book, but the structure
<rf those verses, arranged as they are like the Lamenta-
tions of Jeremiah, and some few of the Psalms, in alpha-
betic order, shows its distinct and isolated character.
The portrait of a " virtuous woman,'' of one whose virtue
is also energy and strength, corresponds in its general
features to the praise of the happiness of home in vv. 18,
19; but as a picture it is fuller, and brings before us
more vividly the nol)ler ideal of womanhood, which was
impressed on the minds of Israel, to be transmitted and
transfigured afterwards in the history of Christendom,
as compared Avith that which has prevailed in the bar-
barism which makes the woman do the man's work
and liear tho man's burdens, or in the corrupt civili-
sation which sees in her only the instrument of man's
sensual pleasure.
I have thought it right to bring out the composite
character of the book with this fulness, partly because
its structure could not otherwise be understood, and
partly also because it may serve as a representative
instance of the kind of editorial addition and revision
to which so many of the books of the Old Testament
liave been suljjected. It will be felt, I believe, that
these facts in no degree diminish our reverence f jr the
book or alfect our trust in its guidance, while they
add largely to the interest with which we read it, and
to the life and reality vnth. which it comes before us as
embodying the thoughts and experience of living men.
One word remains to be said as to the teaching of the
book. For the most part it seems to stand, like the
proverbs of other nations, on the ground of a prudential,
practical morality. lilen are warned against sensuality,
drunkenness, slander, indebtedness, on the ground
that they will find themselves involved in disaster, or
shame, or inconvenience. The rewards and jninish-
ments of the life to come are hardly mentioned. It
was well that there should be one book in the Bible
recognising the worth of those mixed motives which no
ethical system can altogether dispense with, which are
specially necessary for the young whose spiritual dis-
cernment has not been quickened by personal expe-
rience. But though this is the dominant character of
the book, it would be wrong to take it, as men have
sometimes done, as a complete account of it. The key-
note struck in the opening prologue, " The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of Avisdom," is never altogether
lost. The thought of the mystery and greatness of the
Divine government is ever present to the minds of the
writers of its several j)arts. It is one of the blessings
promised to the " righteous," that they, and they only,
have hope in their death (xiv. 32). In the noble poetry
of chap, viii., in the obscure but siiggestive enigmatic
utterances of chap, xxx., the book passes beyond the
limits of prudence and rules of life, and enters on the
higher region of the Eternity and Infinity of the
Divine existence. The moralist passes for a brief
moment behind the veil, and speaks as a theologian.
I may be allowed, perhaps, in conclusion to refer the
reader to an essay on " The Social Ethics of the Book
of Proverbs " in my volume on Biblical Studies, and
to my introduction to, and notes on, the book itself in
the Speaker'' s Cojnmentary.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
B1 THE EEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., EECTOE OF PEESTON, SALOP.
MOLLtrSKS.
?TTE character of the niolluscan fauna of
Palestine," says Tristram, "partakes, as
might have been expected, of the same
variety which marks the other branches of
ir-, jr'auna and flora. There are, however, fewer excep-
tions to its general character as a part of the Medi-
terranean basin, and fewer traces of the admixture of
African and Indian forms. Northern types, especially
•f the genus Clausilia, are frequent in the Lebanon
and on its southern spizrs in Galilee. The niolluscan
fauna of the maritime plains and the coast possesses no
features distinct from those of Lower Egyjit and Asia
Minor. The shells of the central region are scarce, and
not generally interesting ; while on the borders of the
Jordan Yalley and in the southern Avilderness we meet
with very distinct groups of Helix and of Bulhmis,
chiefly of species peculiar or common in some few cases
to the Arabian desert.. The fluviatile mollusca are of
a tj-pc much more tropical in its character than that of
tlif torrf>strial shells. There are here but feu* species
similar to those of the east of Em-ope. Most of the
species are identical with or similar to those of the
Nile and Euphrates, and some of the genus Melanopsis
are peculiiir to the Jordan and its feeders. It seems
probable that the inhabitants of the waters were better
able to sustain the cold of the glacial epoch than the
mollusks of the land; and from the post-tertiary
remains found by the Dead Sea we may infer that the
species now existing have been transmitted from a
period antecedent to the glacial ; while the more boreal
forms introduced at that epoch have maintained their
existence in the colder districts of Northern Palestine,
to the exclusion of the southern species, which have
not succeeded in re-establishing themselves. The
beautiful group Achntina requiring a degree of moisture
not generally found in Palestine, is only represented
by a few insignificant and almost microscopic specie.^.'"
(" Report on the Terrestrial and Fluviatile Mollusks oi
Palestine." in Proc. Zr:ol Soc, 1865, p. 5-30, &c.)
The following siiecics have been noticed as occurring
in Palestine — of the gCBUS Limax, 8 species; Tedacella
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
217
1; 8iu:cinea, 2; Helix, 49 or 50; Bulimus, 16; Pupa, 8 ;
Clausilia, 8 ; Tornatella, 1 ; Glandina, 1 ; Planorbis, 2 ;
Limneus,! or 2; Cyclostoma, 1 ; Bithinia,3; Mehtnia,
4; Melanopsis, 7; Neritina, 3; Cyrena, 2; Z7>i.to, 7,
The Uuios, or fresh-water mussels, are abundant and
of large size, of species often differing from those
found elsewhere; they are especially common in the
Lake of Galilee, and are collected by the natives for
food.
Bible references to molluscous animals are few; "the
snail " is mentioned in Ps. Iviii. 8 : " As a snail whieh
melteth, let every one of them pass away ;" or, more
literally, as in the
Hebrew, " As a
snail that goes
along melting as
it goes." The
Hebrew word is
shablul, from a
root meaning "to
make wet or
moist," and is in-
terpreted by the
Targum to mean
the naked snail or
slug [Limax). It
seems to have
been an idea
amongst the
Orientals that the
slug, by emitting
its slime as it
moved along,
melted away.
Owing to the dry
climate of Pales-
tine, slugs are few
and scarce, but
snails [Helix) are
very abundant.
" God has created
nothing without
its use," says the
Talmud; " He has created the snail to heal bruises, by
laying it upon them." The snail is mentioned in our
English Version, in Lev. xi. 30, amongst unclean
animals; but the Hebrew term chomet denotes some
species of lizard.
Onyclia — that is, the homy operculum attached to the
foot of some gasteropodous mollusk of the Strombus
family — occurs in Exod. xxx. 34, as one of the ingredients
of the sacred perfume. It is also mentioned in Ecclus.
(xxiv. 15), where wisdom is compared to the pleasant
odour yielded by " galbanum, onyx, and sweet storax."
Tlie name from the Greek, opv^, " a nail or " claw,"
correctly designates the claw-shaped operculum of a
strombus, lience the Arabs call this mollusk " Devil's
claw;" compare the German TezifelsMaiv. Onycha,
under the name of Blatta Byzontina, was foi*merly
used as medicine, and is often mentioned by old phar-
HELIX ASPEESA. (JIULLER.)
PEARL OYSTERS {Avlcula marijaritifcra).
macological writers. Some years ago Mr. Daniel
Hanbury kindly supplied us with specimens of onycha
which he purchased at Damascus ; the claw-shaped
opercula were mixed with tlio opercula of some species
of Fiisus ; when burnt, the substance yielded a slight
aromatic odour.
Pearls are mentioned in tlie Old Testament only in
Job xxviii. 18 : " No mention shall be made of coral, or
of pearls ; for the price of wisdom is above rubies." The
Hebrew word gdbish occurs also with abne, " stones,"
in Ezek. xiii. 11; xxxviii. 22, "stones of ice," i.e., hail-
stones. We have no doubt that rock-crystal — than
which nothing can
be better com-
pared with ice —
and not pearls, is
denoted by the
Hebrew word
gdbish. If it be
objected that
rock-crystal is not
an article of much
value amongst
ourselves, there is
reason to believe
that it was held
in very high
esteem by the
Orientals. In an
interesting in-
scription in the
cuneiform charac-
ters which con-
tains the private
wiU of Senna-
cherib, King of
As Syria — the
earliest example
of a will extant —
especial mention
is made of crystal.
Amongst other
treasures, such as
golden chains, crowns and heaps of ivory, which
the gi-eat king, the king of multitudes, gave to Esar-
haddon his son, crystal {abne ibba) stands prominently
out. But although no definite allusion to pearls is
made in the Old Testament, the New Testament con-
tains several references to them. Pearls {iJ.apyaplTai) are
especially mentioned by our Lord in one of His parables :
" The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking giodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl
of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought
it " (Matt. xiii. 45, 46). Pearls are mentioned amongst the
jewellery worn by women (1 Tim. ii. 9; Rev. xvii. 4)
"The twelve gates" of the hoaveuly Jerusalem "Avere
twelve pearls " (Rev. xxi. 21), vvhere perhaps mother-of-
pearl may be more definitely intended. In the expres-
sion, "Neither cast ye your pearls before swine" (Matt.
vii. 6), our Lord uses pearls metaphorically for any-
218
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tiling valuable, or more especially for wise and precious
words, which in Arabic are figuratively called pearls.
Vai-ious species of luoUusca }aeld pearls, such as the
Unio margarltiferus of our own rivers, the Mijlilus
edulis, Ostrea eduiis, of our shores and seas. We once
possessed a, fine peai-1 obtained from the first-named
mollusk taken from a river in the Isle of Man ; but the
most valuable of pearls are afforded by the Avicula
marguritifera, the pearl-oyster of commerce, found in
the Indian Ocean, and especially in the Persian Gulf
and Red Sea. Pearls are formed by the deposit of the
nacreous substance around some foreign body, as a grain
of sand, which serves as a niicleus.
Purple. — Under this name, the representative of the
Hebrew word arcjdmdn, two or three species of
molluscous animals of the genera Murex and Purpura
are signified. The colouring matter — though it is
difficult to say j)recisely what was the tint described
under the Hebrew name — was obtained from a small
organ in the animal's throat, and was extensively used
as a dye. Phoenicia was celebrated for its production,
Tyrian dye having had a world-wide reputation. The
Murex hrandaris and 31. trunculus furnished most of
the colouring matter, though the Purpura hcemastoma
•was also employed. These moUusks were obtaiued in
immense numbers from the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea. " To the present day," writes Tristram, " thick
layers of crushed shells of Ilurex hrandaris may be
found near Tyre, the remains of this extinct industry,
and recaUiug the Mens Testaceus of Rome, or the
kitchen-middings of Denmark." Princes and nobles
were clad in robes of purple or scarlet (see Judg. viii.
2Q ; Esth. ^•iii. 15 ; Dan. v. 7, 16, 29) ; they were also
worn by the rich and luxurious amongst the people (see
Jer. X. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 7 ; Luke x\a. 19 ; Rev. xvii. 4,
Ac). All the species of the Miiricidce probably yield
a coloui'iug matter; the Murex erinaceous (Linn.) of
our own coasts gives a dye which is either violet, blue,
or rosy, under apparently the same conditions. The
Purpura lapillus, common dog-whelk of the family
Buccinidce, yields a dye of a creamy consistency and
colour more or less yellowish at first ; when exposed to
the light of the sun it passes through different shades
of green to violet, then to jmrple and crimson, as may
be readily seen by crushing a specimen, and exposing
the dye to the sun's light. According to Lacaze-
Duthiers, the organ which secretes the colouring matter
is the kidney, urea having been discovered in the liquid
by chemical analysis. A good deal has been written on
the purple dye yielded by our English Purpura. The
Venerable Bede says of its permanency, " quo votustior
CO solet esse venustior." The derivation of the Hebrew
word argdmdn (Chaldee, argevdnd) is uncertain. The
notion that it is to be referred to the Sanskrit rdgaman,
" having a red tiuge," should be rejected, as it is ex-
ceedingly improbable that the Phoenicians should have
used a loan-word to designate an animal so common
on their own shores. The derivations proposed by
Fiirst and Gesenius seem to ns also unsatisfactory.
Some species of dye -i>r educing mollusk is intended
by the Hebrew tei-m techeleth, I'eudered " blue "m the
Authorised Version (see Exod. xxvi. 4, 31; Numb,
iv. G, &c. ; Ezek. xxiii. 6 ; xxvii. 7, 24) ; the Targum
explains it by chihon or chalzon, evidently, from the
description, " a slug." It is usual to refer the techeleth
to the Helix ianthina (Linn.) — the lanthina of more
modern zoologists — the oceanic snails whose small
foot secretes a float of numerous cartilaguious air-
vessels, to the iinder surface of which the ovarian
capsules are attached. When handled these moUusks
exude a copious Adolet fluid from beneath the margin
of the mantle. But this remarkable mollusk does not
appear to have been known by the ancients, whether
Oriental or European ; no mention of it occurs in the
works of Aristotle, Pliny, or other old writers on
natural histoiy. The earliest notice of it appears in the
Opusculum de Purpura, of Fabio Colonna, published at
Rome in 1616. Forskal, in 1776, has given an accoimt
of lanthina communis. We learn from Pliny that the
Romans had various names for their purple dyes,
expressing more or less their various tints and qualities ;
the principal mollusks which supplied the dye so mucli
esteemed by the Romans wei'C the Murex trunculus
and M. hrandaris, and the Purpura lapillus, which
Pliny appears to intend by the name Buccinum. The
techeleth of the Hebrew Bible, we think, denotes one
or other of these dye-yicldiug species, and not any
kind of lanthina.
ILLUSTEATIONS OF EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
PEAYEE : PUBLIC AND PEIVATE.
BY THE REV. DR. EDERSHEIM.
1^ HOUGH all other gates of heaven were
closed, yet are those ever open by which
the sighs of the afflicted go in." This
beautiful Rabbinical saying is truly de-
scriptive of Jewish views and feelings unto tliis day.
Even in the most degenerate period of Isaiah and Micah,
the people were not remiss in " appearing" before God,
" spreading forth their hands," " making many prayers,"
or " ciying unto Jehovah " (Isa. i. ; Mic. iii.). The
same seeming inconsistency appears in New Testament
times. Side by side with the mere outward service of
the letter, with hypocri.sy, self-righteousness, and vain
glory — indeed, partly as their vehicle or their cover —
we read of many and long prayers. Pi*ayer formed not
only part of the religion of the Pluirisees and Scribes ; it
mingled with every relationship, and literally pervaded
ILLUSTRATIONS OP EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
219
the every-day life of Israel. As a man rose iu the
morning, or laid down at night; as he went out, or
cauic iu ; as he worshipped in the Temple, or entered
the synagogue ; at every meal ; in every domestic occui*-
rence ; in cLanger or deliverance, nay, almost for every
act and event of life, there were prescribed formulas
which the devout Jew had to repeat. Besides, since
every sueli herachah (or benediction) contained praise of
the Divine name, it was considered an act of piety, and
therefore entailing merit, to repeat as many as possible,
till it was declared an evidence of special righteousness
to say a hundred such berachoth in the course of the
day. The formalism and bondage which characterised
all this were the fruits of Pharisaism. But the zeal for
God which underlay it, the desire to serve Him, and even
the many sublime sayings of the Rabbis in regard to
prayer, were the outcome of the Old Testament dispen-
sation, and of the many centuries of Di^-ine teaching
and training through which Israel had passed.
Por the Old Testament history had been f uU of prayer,
and all its lieroes men of prayer. It was the earliest sign
of distinction between the races of Seth and Cain, in
the days of Enos : " Then began men to caU upon the
name of Jehovah" (Gen. iv. 26). Enoch "walked with
God ;" Noah, and after him all the Patriarchs, marked
the place of their sojourn by each building an altar ;
Abraham pled with God ; Eliezer of Damascus sought
His guidance and help ; Isaac " entreated for his wife ;"
Jacob had power with God, and prevailed ; and Moses
was pre-eminently a man of j)rayer.' The same charac-
teristic appears in seasons of need or in hours of
danger in the history of Joshua (chap. vii. 6 — 9), and of
all the later judges. Hannah asks her child of the
Lord ; Samuel frequently prays ; the Psalms of David ;
the recorded prayer of Solomon for himself at the
beginning of his reign, and again at the dedication of
the Temple ; the example of the pious kings, of Daniel,
and of the prophets, all taught one and the .same lesson.
Every glorious event in the history of Israel was con-
nected -with the personal intervention of God, with His
presence and help sought and obtained; and every
calamity or humiliation called for fresh acknowledg-
ment of Jehovali, and return to Ilim. Great national
experiences are not like isolated dogmas ; they reach
down to the roots of social life, and pervade it in all its
branches.- It was not otherwise in Israel, although
Pharisaism made of the living God a sort of national
Deity, bound to Israel for the fathers', and for their own
sake ; converted praj'er partly into a necessaiy form,
and partly into necessarily a merit; and made every
Jewish petitioner a claimant, mora or less entitled ac-
cording to his position, his learning, or his religiousness.
Yet with all these examples of prayer in the history
of Israel, it is very remarkable that the original institu-
tion of public worship by Moses contains no allusion
to prayer as cue ol its constituent elements. The nearest
' Even accord::].:): to the Talmud (Ber. 32 h), tbe acceptance of
Moses flepeiuied not upon h^s works, but upon his prayers.
- It deserves special notice tll.^t no less tliau tv/euty-five diffe-
rent terms are used in the Hebrew for "a-aviug-.
approach to it is found in the confession of the higb
priest over the so-called '• scapegoat," on the Day of
Atonement (Lev. xvi. 21), and in the sublime prayer
with which every Israelite was to accompany the offer-
ing of the first-fruits (Deut. xxvi. 5), and the third year's,
01*, as it is commonly called, "the poor's tithe" (Deut.
xxvi. 15). But even so, tliese were rather private than
public services, while the high priest's confession can
scarcely be ranked with the ordinary ritual. The true
explanation probably lies in this, that the worship of the
sanctuary was primarily sacrificial, and as such sym-
bolical and typical. Sacrifices proceeded on the ground
of the covenant relationship between Israel and God,
and were either sacrifices for restoring that relation-
shij) when it had become interrupted or dimmed (siu
and trespass offerings), or else to exhibit and enjoy it
(burnt and peace offerings). Hence sacrifices were not
so much " prayers without words " (to use the language
of a distinguished German writer), as rather the prepa-
ration for i>rayer, while the symbol of prayer consisted
in the burning of incense on the golden altar within the
holy place (Ps. cxli. 2 ; Rev. v. 8).^
So far as appears from Scripture, the first real litur-
gical element was introduced by King Da^-id in his
Psalms, which henceforth formed part of the Temple
services. This institution was, no doubt, fui-ther deve-
loped by King Solomon, and in later times of religious
revival. The Levites acted not only as choristers, but
there was probably also antiphonal singing, and the
worshippers took part in the service (1 Chron. xvi. 36 ;
Ps. xxvi. 12; Isviii. 26; Jer. xxxiii. 11). But, indeed,
our present arrangement of the Psalms, which must bo
of a very early date, already contains distiact evidence
of liturgical formulas. Each of the first four books of
Psalms closes with a " eulogy," or benodicticn (Ps. xli. ;
Ixxii. ; Ixxxix. ; cvi.), while Ps. cl. may be regarded as a
grand closing eulogy, not only to the fiftii book, but to
the work as a whole. Then there are festive Psalms for
the Sabbath (Ps. xcii.), and for the new moon (Ps. Ixxxi.) ;
Psalms of degrees, or rather of ascent, possibly for the
festive pilgrim bands on then* way to Jerusalem and
arrival in the sanctuary ; the '' Hallel " (Ps. cxiii. to
cxviii.) ; the Hallelujah Psalms, &c.
The subject is far too wide for special treatment here,
but this much seemed necessary to explain the great
revolution which took place in public worship during and
after the period of the Babylonish captivity. Deprived
of their sacrificial services, and of then* common central
sanctuary, the institution of synagogues became almost
a necessity to the Jews. After the return from Babylon
these were spread over the whole of Palestine, and,
indeed, wherever Jews resided in any numbers. Tho
avowed purpose of the synagogues was mainly twofold :
that in every place Moses should be read, and to have
some central spot " where prayer was wont to be made."
After that the practice of public prayers soon became
general. Not to speak of the services when the foun-
3 I must bere take leave to refer the reader to my work on Tim
Temple, its Mhil-^lr;! nvd S'-rvlces ns the.} Kerc at the Time of Jesus
C'lrisi, chap, viii., and otlier plicos.
22 »
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
dations of the second Temple -were laid, and the walls
of Jerusalem dedicated (Ezra iii. 10, 11 ; Neh. xii. 27,
40'i, we read in Neh. xi. 17 of a special office " to begin
the thanksgiving in prayer." Henceforth the progress
was rapid. The Apocrypha, whilo expressing many
beautiful sentiments, also afford painful evidence how
soon prayer degenerated into formalism, with its two-
fold consequences of either work-righteousness or
hypocrisy. This brings us to tho period of the
Pharisees and Scribes, and of the New Testament,
which must chiefly engage our attention. Here it may
le convenient to consider tho subject under the three-
fold aspect of Temple-prayers, Synagogue and other
public prayers, andprivafe and family prayers. Before
briefly describing each, some general remarks, explana-
toi-y of the views prevalent at the timo of Christ, may
prove useful.
In general tlio Eabbis distinguished, on the ground
of the expressions used by Solomon (1 Kings \i\\. 28),
two elements in praye-, entreaty and thanksgiving. To
these eon-esponded tlie two kinds of prayer — the Bera-
chah, or benediction, and the Tephillah, or petition.
Confession of sin was indeed, not wanting, but it
seems rather national than individual, or else to stand
out as quite a separate and distinct element, specially
suitable for certain wants or seasons, such as at fasts,
or on those occasions when it was thought that God
held periodical judgment in regard to the deeds of
men, decreeing the fate of each individual according to
his merits. The duty of prayer itself is in the Talmud
( Jerus. Ber. iv. 1) beautifully traced up to the command
to love the Lord our God, and to serve Hrm with our
whole heart (Deut. xi. 13), since the service of the
heart could, in the nature of it, consist only in prayer,
as evidenced in the case of Daniel, whose " continual
service of God " (Dan. vi. 16) must refer to his habit of
prayer (chap. vi. 11). The later Rabbis indeed, especiaUy
in the Babylon Talmud, whose constant aim it was to
substitute prayer for the sacrifices of which they were
for ever deprived, tried to put supplication even above
sacrifices, as the most acceptable mode of approaching
God. But sounder -views also prevailed. Thus it was
said, that the great point in prayer should be, in the first
place, to realise before Whom we stood. When Rabbi
Eliezer lay a-dying, his disciples came to ask him what
they should do to inherit eternal life. " Have regard,"
he replied, " for the honour of your companions, turn
away your children from vain thoughts, place them
near sages, and when you pray, think before Whom you
are standing, and so you shall obtain the life to come "
{Ber. 28, b). This same Eliezer was (according to Jer.
Ber. iv. 4) in the haliit of every day saying some one
new prayer for fear of falling into formalism, while other
Rabbis either added a new eulogy, or some verses from
Scripture, to the ordinary prescribed prayers. For as
another sage, Eleazar, declared : " He that converteth
j)i-ayer into a regular recurring duty, his is not devout
supplication." These are the words of the Mishna, or
of the traditional law. Would that their spirit were not
contradiotod by the punctilious injunctions with which
they are surrounded. But the very explanations and
illustrations by which the above quotation is accom-
panied in the Gemara contain puerile discussions about
what a man was to do, if, wliile praying, he remembered
that he had already said his prayers, or if ho recited on
the Sabbath the jirayer for ordinary days, &c. But
here is another beautiful Mishnic saying. In Bera-
choth V. 1, we read : " None should stand up to prayer
except he have first bowed tho head in private devout
meditation. The pious of old were wont to wait an
hour before they prayed, in order to direct their hearts
to the place (of His holiness). Even were a king to
greet us, we should not acknowledge it ; nor should wo
stop even if a serpent were to wind around our heel."
Unfortunately, or rather characteristically, hero again
the Rabbis immediately set themselves (in the Gemara)
elaborately to viiS(uss under what circumstances of
previous pre-occupation, lightness, or weariness one may
or may not pray ; what siibjects Elijah discussed with
Elisha in their last walk; whether a man may, while
praying, shake off a scorpion, though not a serpent,
since the bite of the former is far more dangerous,
and so on.
Th ' subject of intercessory pi*ayer is often alluded
to bv the Rabbis. Its efficacy depended, of course, on
the religious merits of him who offered it. Frequent
instances of its miraculous success are recorded. But
as, in general, to commit a mistake in prayer was re-
garded as of evil omen, whether to the individual or
the congregation, so it was said that you might know
by the ease or otherwise with wliich you said your
prayer whether or not your intercessions for otliers
were heard. We purposely abstain from quotiu:^ the
views of the later Rabbis about the benedictions '^rhich
the Divine Being Himself was supposed to say, and
other kindred topics, as they touch on the blasphemous.
Tet they were only the logical consequences, rigidly
carried out, of their system. Rather wiU we close this
part of our subject by quoting two beautiful principles
laid down in tho Mishna, whatever may be thought
of the reasons by which they are supported. " Every
one," it is said, " ought to bless God for the evil (that
happens him), even as he blesses Him for the goodi for
it is written, ' Thou shalt love tho Lord thy God \dth
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength.' With all thy heart means, with both its
inclinations — that towards good, and that towards evil ;
^vith all thy soul means, even if thy soul were taken
from thee ; with all thy strength moans, with all thou
possessest;" or, as explained by others, "according to
every measure that God measureth out to thee, praise
Him as much as possibly thou canst." ' Again, " When
giving thanks for evil, it is to be done, without regard
for the good (that may flow from it) ; and when for the
good, it is without regard to the evil (that may ultimately
result in consequence); " in short, it is to be absolute and
grateful acknowledgment of God as our Father under
J There is in the original a play of alliteration upon the words
sfrcngth, measure, praise, an&veni much which cannot be reproduced
in the translatiou-
ILLUSTRATIONS 01' EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
221
all cireumsbances, and witliout selfisliiiess, doubt, or
ca^-il. While Rabbi Akiba was being horribly tortured
to death, the hour arrived for reciting the Shema — of
vrhich hereafter. StraightTvay he commenced it, and
became full of joy. His torturers charged him vrith
being either a sorcerer, or mocking them. But the
Rabbi rei^lied, that never before had he been able to
know that he loved God with all his soul, and that
now he felt most joyous in that opportunity. The
Gemara adds that thus — professing at the same time
his beUef and his love — he gave u.p the ghost. With
the same words on their lips have thousands of Jewish
sufferers in bygone ages died under the hands of their
persecutors ; for most traly could St. Paul bear Israel
witness, '• that they have a zeal for God, though not
according to knowledge " (Rom. x. 2).
1. So far as the Temple services were concerned, we
know that at the time of Christ prayer mingled with
every one of them. When a private sacrifice was
offered by any one in Israel, he led it up into the Great
Court, and turned its face westwards, towards the
sanctuary, so as to present it before the Lord. Then,
laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice,' to con-
stitute it the substitute of the offerer, he confessed over
it as follows : — " I entreat, O Jehovah ! I have sinned;
I have done perversely ; I have rebelled ; I have com-
mitted (naming here his sin, or his trespass, or the
breach of the command of which he had been guilty) ;
but, behold, I return ui repentance, and let this be for
my atonement." ^ Again, the ordinary daily service in
the Temple had its season of prayer alike for priests and
worshippers. We read in Luke i. 9, 10, that while the
aged Zacharias — on whom the lot for it had fallen for
the first and only time in his life' — was burning the
incense on the golden altar in the awf id gloom of the
holy place, only lit up by the seven-branched candle-
stick, "the whole multitude of the people were praying
without." This was the period of great silence in the
Temple, which served as a symbol to heavenly realities,
in the silence of heaven, " alx)ut the space of half an
hour," after the opening of the seventh Apocalyptic seal
(Rev. viii. 1 — 4). We know exactly what the prayers
then offered^ were. Even before that ser%-ice, and
when the priests were gathered in " the hall of polished
stones," to cast lots who shoiild burn the incense, and
who lay upon the altar the pieces of the sacrifice, or
pour out the drink-offering, prayer was made by them,
the people probably also at the same time engaging in
devotions. Again, as at the close of each day's service,
the drink-offering was poured out, the Temple music
began, and to its accompaniment the Le\-ites chanted
the Psalm appointed for the day. Each Psalm was
' The only exceptions to this rule were firstlings, tithes, and the
Paschal lamb, in which cases there was no imposition of hands.
2 We must here refer to our Tolume on the TempJe Services
(chapter on Siorifices), which g^ives full details on all Temple rites
and ordinances at the time of Clirist.
•* No one was admitted to this service if he had already once
before officiated iu it.
•• They form part of the ordinary daily prayers. We must again
refer to our volume on The Te;n%-'le and its Services.
sung, not cjiiduuousiy, but in three sections. At each
interval the priests drew a threefold blast on their
silver trumpets, and the people worshipped. In the
Temple it was customary not to respond by an Amen.
but with this : '• Blessed be the name of th'3 glory of
His kingdom for ever and ever " (Jer. Ber. ix. 9). Hence
the concluding addition to the Lord's Prayer in Matt,
vi. 13, which is wanting in most ancient MSS., is really
only the Temple formula.
We have given but an outline of the prayers in the
ordinary daily Temple services. There were also special
benedictions for the particular ser\ices of the various
feast days, in the presentation of fii-stlings, the first-
fruits, and the firstborn, and in the different purifica-
tions. Probably the most elaborate ritual was that on
the Day of Atonement, and during the Feast of Taber-
nacles. Into this we cannot here enter. But sufficient
has been said to show that at the time of our Lord
prayer formed one of the great elements in the worship
of the Temple. In connection with this matter, the
Rabbis were very particular in enjoining due reverence
in every approach to the sanctuary. The worshippers
were to come uj) solemnly and quietly, carrying neither
staff in their hand, nor ha\-ing shoes on their feet, nor
yet beai-ing purse or scrip, nor with dust on their feet
{Ber. ix. 8). The application of this command to His
disciples by the Saviour (Matt. x. 9, 10) must mean, that
in the service of the true Temple they were to be influ-
enced by the same spirit of reverence. In reference
to the attitude in prayer, a distinction was made be-
tween bending the knees, bowing the head, and falling
prostrate on the ground, the latter being reserved
only for those in closest fellowship with God. Thus
we read, that in the night of His agony in the garden,
the blessed Saviour " fell on his face, praying " (Matt,
xxvi. 39). In general, the worshippers were to turn
towards the Holy Place, and on leaving, to i-etire at
first backwards, j)roperly to compose their body and
dress, to draw the feet together, to cast down their eyes,
to fold the hands over their breast, and to " stand aa a
servant before his master, with all reverence and fear."
2. So much has already been said in previous articles
on the synagogue, and the manner in which prayers
were there offered — on the phylacteries and the Mlitli,
that we need not enter into many details. The duty of
attending the synagogue is put so strongly, that it la
said he who does not pray in a sj-nagogue deserves the
name of impious (Jer. Ber. v. 1), the Scriptural refer-
ence here being somewhat curiously to Ps. xii. 8, while
the Babylon Talmud maintains {Ber. 6, a) that prayer
best secures its answer when offered in a synagogue
(Ps. Isxxii. 1). Similarly it is maintained that if a man,
who is wont to attend the synagogue, misses it one day,
God would demand an account of the neglect, according
to Isa. 1. 10 ; and that if the Eternal, on entering a syna-
gogue, found fewer than ten present. He was angry at
this remissness. Further it is declared, that if there
was a sjTiagogue iu a place, and a man entered it not,
he was an evil neighbour, according to Jer. xii. 14.
Rabbi Jochanan accc>n:itod for t're lorss^evity of people
222
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
in Babylon, by their going early to the synagogue, and
remaining long there ; and Rabbi Joshua ben Levi re-
commended this to liis sons as a means of prolonging
life (Deut. xi. 21 ; Prov. viii. 34). It was even deemed
a duty to have a fixed place in the synagogue (Jer. Ber.
iv. 5), for which, as we know, the Pharisees ohose the
chief seats. Besides prayer in the synagogue, and
private prayer in the Temple, the Rabbis were wont
to offer their devotions in the Ac<ademies, and to com-
mence and close their studies with supplication, of which
frequent examples are given in the Talmud. On occa-
sion of public fasts it was the custom to bring the ark,
which contained the rolls of the Law, into a public place.
The people appeared in sackcloth and ashes. Some
venerable man, whose home had been desolated by
sorrow, was chosen in preference to lead the devotions
of the people, and penitential Psalms mingled \vith con-
fession of sin and entreaty.
Few questions require more careful answering than
those of the proportion of fixed and free prayer in the
synagogue, and what parts of the present Jewish
prayer-book date from Temple times, or, at least, from
the first century of our era. About fifty fragments of
the ritual still in use in the synagogue on ordinary days,
on Sabbaths, fast-days, the New Tear's, and the Day of
Atonement, undoubtedly belong to that period. Cei-tain
Ijortions being early fixed, considerable latitude was
allowed to the leader to insert between them longer or
shorter prayers, which in course of time became tradi-
tional, and finally a fixed part of the liturgy. Among
the early Rabbis great difference of opinion prevailed on
this subject. Rabbi Gamaliel insisted on strict ad-
herence to the fiied forms ; Rabbi Joshua thought that
an abstract of the prescribed daily benedictions was
snflBcient; while Akiba only allowed it to those who
could not remember the eulogies. On the other hand.
Rabbi Elieser strongly insisted on free prayer.
The oldest portions of the liturgy extant, and which
were iiudoubtedly in use at the time of our Lord,
claim our special attention. These never varied. Any
one who attempted any alteration ; j)ronounced certain
words (in reference to God) more than once, which
might seem by implication to contravene the Di%ine
Unity ; or made use of what were deemed heretical ex-
pressions ; or, indeed, did anything at all singular, was
at once stopped, when leading the devotions. In fact,
the very manner in which the honour of leading prayers
was to be accepted was accurately defined (Bcr. 34 a).
It seem:5 that at first you must decline, without which
officiating woidd be like meat without salt ; but if you
resisted too long, it would be like a dish that was over-
salted. At the first in^-itation you are to refuse, at the
second to hesitate, and at the third to rise and go.'
Wiiat an illustration does all this afford of the hj-jjo-
crisy and vain glory with which the Master charges the
Pharisees ! In the minuteness of their injunctions,
in the punctiliousness of their observances, and in the
^ In three tliiuirs, the Rab!>is say on tliis nconsion, mny there
ba a. too much or a too little : iu risiug, iu salt, aud iu the refusal
(to lead prayer).
self-righteous confidence of their pretensions, no better
dlustration nor sadder confirmation of the words of our
Lord could bo imagined, than that all unconsciously
offered in these Rabbinical disquisitions.
3. The Rabbis fixed three times a day as seasons for
private prayer, quoting for this the example of the
Psalmist (Ps. Iv. 17), aud of Daniel (\d. 10). Tii,>y
further vindicated the practice, because there wore tiir, e
changes in the course of every day. The origin of
morning prayer they traced to Abraham, on the giOimd
of Gen. xix. 27 ; that of afternoon prayer to Isaac,
appeaUng to Gen. xxiv. 63 ; and that of evening prayer
to Jacob, basing their inference on Gen. xxviii. 11.
They also placed the morning and afternoon prayers in
correspondence with the morning and evening sacrifice
in the Temj^le, frankly confessing that from that point
of view they had no warrant for evening prayer, upon
which one of their number suggested that it might
stand iu remembrance of the half -burnt pieces of tlio
sacrifice, which were allowed to smoulder all night on
the altar. We know, as a matter of fact, that the
hour for the morning sacrifice was the third (corre-
sponding to our 9 A.M.), though the i^reparations for it
commenced vrith the break of day. The evening sacri-
fice was slain at the eighth hour and a-half (about 2.30
P.M.), and the pieces laid on the altar about an hour
later. On the eve of the Passover, the evening sacrifice
was offered one hour, aud if it fell on the Sabbath two
hours earlier, on account of the Paschal lamljs that had
to be slain afterwards. Hence the earliest hour at which
evening prayers might be said was 12.30 p.m., and this
was probably the prayer which Peter offered when he
had the vision which showed him that nothing might be
called common or unclean (Acts x. 14). In course of time,
the afternoon prayer dropped out of practice, leaving
only morning and evening prayers. The limit for
morning prayer was variously fixed at from when you
can distinguish between pale-blue and white or else light
green, till nine o'clock (when the children of kings
rise), or even mid-day ; that of the afternoon either tiU
the evening, or to a quarter before four o'clock ; while
evening prayer might be said any tiinc of the evening
or night. The prayers for the Sabbath and feast-days
were not bound to any special hour.
In prayer the voice was neither to be too much
elevated, nor were they to be said silently. In bowing
down, the back must be bent so low that every vertebra
becomes conspicuous. Here again arise endless discus-
sions, as to how loud one must say f)rayers, and whether
or not it is sufficient, if one cannot hear one's own voice ;
what is to be done in case of misplacement of words or
sentences, of insufficient pronunciation, of errors, &c. ;
in what posture workmen on walls or trees, or per.sons
carrying burdens, may say their pi'ayers. Sec. ; till one
feels involved in endless wretched casuistry, that stifles
all .spirit of devotion. Thus the question whether
a man may at all salute or return a salutation in tho
middle of his prayer, or only at the close of a section,
is a very knotty point, the solution of which partly
depends on whether you salute from reverence, from
DAVID.
223
feav, or merely in commou politeness. The scliool of
Sliammai was wont to say evening prayers lying, and
morning prayers standing, but the practice was declared
dangerous. Commonly, devotions were performed in
an upper room on the roof, or in the open air, in streets
and market-places, which, as we know, the Pharisees
chose in preference, for the purpose of ostentation
(Matt. Ti. 5).
The fixed prayers for the morning, which were
in use at the time of Christ, in the form we are about
to reproduce, consisted (1) of two benedictions, after
which it had been common to read the Ten Com-
mandments, a practice abolished lest the Sadducees
should pretend that this was the only important point
in the Law ; (2) of the repetition of the Shema (so called
from the first word in it, Shema — " Hear, O Israel,"
&e.), which was really a sort of " belief," and consisted
of the recital of Deut. vi. 4 — 9 ; xi. 13 — 21 ; Numb. xv.
37 — il ; (3) of another benediction ; and (4) of the
Shemoneh-Esreh, or eighteen benedictions. In reality,
however, they were nineteen, a special prayer having
afterwards been added against the " heretics " — most
probably the early Christians. Of these Eulogies, the
three first and the three last are the oldest in date;
while those numbered xiii., xiv., xv., date from the fijial
dissolution of the Jewish commonwealth.
The afternoon prayers consisted of the eighteen
Eulogies, and the eveuuig prayer of the Shema, with
two benediL'tions before and two after it, followed by
the eighteen Eulogies.
Morning and Evening Prater.'
(3) " Blessed art Thou, O Lord, King of the world,
who formest the light and Greatest darkness, who
makest peace and Greatest everything ; who in mercy
givest light to the earth and to those who dwell upon
it, and in Thy goodness renewest day by day, and con-
tinually, the works of creation. Blessed be the Lord
our God for the glory of His handiworks, and for the
light-giving lights which He has made for His praise.
Selah! Blessed be the Lord God, whohathformed the
lights ! "
(2) "With great love hast Thou loved us, O Lord our
God, and with much overflowing pity hast Thou pitied
us. Our Father and our King, for the sake of our
fathers who trusted in Thee, and Thou taughtest them
the statutes of fife, have mercy upon us and enlighten,
our eyes,- that we in love may praise Thee and Thy
unity. Blessed be the Lord, who in love chose His
people Israel."
1 We give it not in its present form in the Jewish Prayer Bcok,
but as criticism suggjests it had originally stood.
- We have here left out a beautiful portion, because the most
recent authorities consider it of later date than the original
prayer, and we also wish to study brevity.
SCEIPTUEE BIOaEAPHIES.
BY THE EEV. WILLIAM LEE, T).D., PKOFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP GLASGOW.
DAVID,
\HE biography of the man who was the
vii'tual founder of the Hebrew monarchy,
and by the admission, even of his de-
tractors (see Bayle, Did. s. v.), one of
the greatest men that ever lived, is set before us in
Holy Scripture with a fulness and detail not unworthy
of its gi'eat interest and importance. It cannot, of
coiu'se, be told at length within the narrow limits at
oiu' disposal in these pages. Nor will any attempt
be made to do more than to refer very briefly to the
leading facts, and especially to those faGts which relate
rather to his personal history, than to the history of the
times of which he formed so great a part.
Let it bo admitted, at the outset, that while it is
hardly possible to exaggerate the greatness of the
qualities by which David was distinguished, his cha-
racter was not only not without defects and failings,
but was staiHed by the perpetration of crimes for which
no palliation can be found that absolves him from fear-
ful guilt, any more than it saved him from a terrible
retribution ; and whicla, especially when regarded in
relation to his high religious professions and advantages,
must, but for the deep remorse, and life-long repent-
ance by which they were followed, have more tliau
neutralised aU the claims which he otherwise possesses
to the lofty position which he occupies — and, all things
considered, worthily occupies — among the most illus-
trious of mankind.
I. The true character of David began to reveal itself
even in his earHest years. We are apt to be struck less
Avith the essential unity, than with the foi-mal contrast
between the youth and manhood of the son of Jesse.
The distinction in his fortunes at the two periods is
indeed vei*y remai-kable, and as such is oftener than
once expressly referred to in the Bible : " Thus saith
the Lord of Hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote,
from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people,
over Israel " (2 Sam. vii. 8) ; " The Lord chose David
also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds :
from following the ewes great with young he brought
him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance "
(Ps. Ixxviii. 70, 71). But the ruddy boy, in his shepherd's
coat, tending the sheep of his father on the hill-sides
in the wilderness of Judah, was already, if not a king,
endowed with the kingly gifts, and with those gifts
more than kingly, which gave to his royal state in
after years its truest splendour and glory. Thus,
before he left the sheepfolds he was already known for
his skill in minstrelsy; for remarkable courage, and
aptitude for military enterprises; for his sagacity, or
22i
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
" prudeuce," in any business entrusted to him ; for a
noble presence; and for the spiritual graces which
always continued to be the brightest jewels in his
diadem (1 Sam. xvi. 18).
Nor can we wonder that so it should have been. It
might perhaps at first sight appear that the circum-
stances of David's youth were very unfavourable to
the development of such qualities as those wliich
afterwards distinguished him so eminently. But, in
the first place, those qualities were in a great measure
independent of the outward conditions under which
the son of Jesse grew up from infancy to manhood.
A man of his extraordinary native genius, and force
of character — to say nothing of the spiritual graces
with which he had from boyhood been endowed in a
measure not less remarkable — must have forced his way
to higli distinction, under any cii"cumstances, however
discouraging and unfavourable. It is the common lot
of men such as lie was, to rise superior to the hin-
drances and difficulties with which ihey have often to
contend, and which, while sufficient to repress the
ambitious aspirations of feebler natures, tend, in their
cases, to further rather than to hinder the ultimate
triumph. Then, in the second place, it may be doubted
whether for such a career as lay before him, the circum-
stances of David's youth were otherwise than favour-
able in a very high degree.
Even for the rougher aspects of that cai*eer his life
in those early years afforded no unsuitable preparation.
Bethlehem was a remote, and, if we are to judge of
the condition of the inhabitants from the description
of them in the Book of Ruth, as a rule, a quiet and
peaceful village. But it was exposed, like other j^arts
of the country, to occasional incursions from hostile
tribes, with one of whose strongholds, Jebus, it was
in dangerously close proximity. In the time of
Elkanah it appears to have been ravaged by the
Midianites (Ruth i. 1, 6). And when David was in
hiding in the cave of Adullam, it is mentioned inci-
dentally tliat there was a garrison of the Philistines
close to the gate of Bethlehem (2 Sam. xxiii. 14). In
these circumstances even those of the young men of
the town whose youth, or employment, kept them at
home, could not fail to have opportunities of acquiring
some experience in arms. But David's shepherd life
gave him special facilities for such experience. The
wild and thinly-peopled wilderness-ground, stretching
towards the east to the borders of the Dead Sea, and in
a southerly direction to the confines of Mount Seir,
where the shepherds of Bethlehem had often to follow
their flocks in search of pasture, were the haunts not
only of wild beasts, but of more formidable enemies, in
the shape of robber-hordes from beyond the frontiers.
And Ave know tluit in di'fi>nee of their charge the men
who followed this employment not unfreijuently found
it necessary to engage in bloody conflicts with aggressors
who carried out tiieir depreda'iuas not by stealth, but
by force of arms (1 Chron. vii. 21 ; cf. Kitto, Pict. Bible,
in loc.1. The reputation wliich we have found Da^dd
had already giuned as "a mighty vali.ant man. and
a man of war " (1 Sam. xvi. 18), was doubtless earned
in contests arising from one or other of the causes
here referred to.
It must be remembered, however, that the place for
which the future king was destined, was not solely, or
even chiefiy, that of a soldier ; and for the development
of some, at least, of those qualities by which he was
in the future to bo more eminently distinguished, but
especially for the early growth of that simple piety
towards God, which from first to last formed the crown-
ing distinction of "the man after God's own heart,"
the very quietness and seclusion of his shepherd life —
and whether under his father's roof in Bethlehem, or
on the Avild uplands, where by day and night he watched
liis flocks, that life must have been for the most part
quiet and secluded — afforded some of the most favour-
able conditions which he could have enjoyed.
Nor was the even tenor of the quiet Bethlehem life
altogether unbroken. One incident of this period
demands notice, in consequence of the difficulty of
reconciling the account of it with another portion of
the history of David's early years;' but perhaps it
may deserve our attention also, in connection with the
discipline by which the young shepherd was prepared
for the approaching change in his fortunes. Said had
now become subject to paroxysms of a mental disease,
for which, in accordance with the practice of early times,
it was determined to employ the suj^posed remedy of
music. And already, as we have seen, enjoying at
least a local reputation for skill in minstrelsy, the
youngest son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, was recom-
mended by one of the courtiers, and sent for by the
king, to "play with his hand" before Saul. It appears
that there was as yet no continuous residence on his
part at the palace. David did not wholly abandon tho
pastoral life, and assume, as for a time ho appears to
have done afterwards (1 Sam. xvi. 21), the position of a
minstrel permanently attached to the court. He " went
and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep"
(xvii. 15) ; i. e., ho came and went between Gibeah and
Bethlehem, as the state of tho king's mind was such as
to require or dispense with his ser\-ices. Even, however,
the occasional visits which he paid, while yet a boy, to
a court in wliich, if he did not then himself attract the
attention of Saul (xA^ii. 55), or possibly of any of the
great men Saul had gathered around him (xiv. 52 ;
xvii. 55), he had an oi)portunity of seeing something
of a world very different from that with which he was
familiar in his own obscure village, could not fail to
have some influence on the secret training which he
was undergoing for the great part he was, ere long,
himself to play on the stage of public life.
It is in relation to its influence in the same direction
1 Cf. 1 Sum. xvi. 19 — 23 witli 1 Sam. xvii. 55, 53. Many sug-
gestious liave been offered for the removal of au apparent discre-
paucy, the iraportiiucc of wUicb lias surely been greatly exaggerated.
The first passacre appears to imply au earlier fauiiliarity on the
part of Saul with David's person than probably existed, simply
because some portions of it — e.g., verse 21^refer, by anticipation,
to circumstances which did not take place till after the victory
over Goliath.
DAVID.
225
iliat a preTions event in tlic simple annals of these,
upon tlie whole, iineventfnl years, finds its explanation.
While the jonng shepherd of Bethlehem was passing
his days and nights in tending his father's " few sheep
in the wilderness," with no aires beyond those ai-ising
from his humble charge, a great, though, as far as the
ceuntry generally was concerned, Httle suspected
revolution had taken place in Israel. Saul had for-
feited the favour of God, and been formally, if secretly,
rejected by Jehovah as king. He was now king only
by sufferance. But not only had Saul been virtually
deposed ; Samuel had received the command to anoint
the man whom Jehovah had selected to be the future
occupant of the throne. It was to the town of Beth-
lehem that the aged prophet was commanded, with this
view, to direct his steps. It was among the sons of
Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that he was told he should
find the predestined captain of the Lord's inheritance.
And it was, in fine, on the head of Jesse's youngest
son, David, that, when the moment for the completion
of the transaction arrived, he was di\'inely directed to
pour the consecrating oil. The graphic details of this,
the most striking event in the history of David's youth,
-are familiar to every reader. That its influence on the
formation of David's character was mainly contem-
plated in the seemingly premature ceremony which
brought Samuel to Bethlehem, on the occasion in
question, cannot be doubted. It made no immediate
change in his fortunes. From the sacrificial feast, at
which he received the holy unction, he returned to the
sheepfolds, whence he had been hurriedly brought, at
the last moment, at the bidding of the prophet ; and
many years were to elapse before he should ascend the
throne of Israel. It could not even have any effect in
preparing the way for his eventual succession to the
monarchy. Such a purpose, indeed, the care taken to
avoid public notoriety must alone have sufficed to
defeat. Its aim must be mainly, at least, sought in
the direction already indicated. Thus understood, the
anointing was an event of the utmost importance in the
early history of Da^dd. One result was found in the
special grace which was communicated to the " chosen
of the Lord," by means of the sacrament, " The Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward."
But how great must also have been the moral influence
in the formation of his own character, of the mere know-
ledge which was now for the first time conveyed to him
— the knowledge, if not of the precise uatui-e of the
destiny awaiting liim (for this was probably withheld),
at least of the fact that he was the object of the
peculiar favour of Jehovah !
An invasion of the Philistines, which seems to have
taken place when he was about twenty years of age
(Ussher, Ann. i. 49), at length gave David an oppor-
tunity of manifesting to the nation how great a man
had been growing up in comparative obscurity in their
midst, and was the occasion of raising him, in a single
day, from his humble duties at the sheepfolds, if not to
the throne, to a position which was hardly second to
that of the king who still reigned over Israel.
87 — VOL. IV.
The inveterate and powerful enemies of the chosen
people, just mentioned, probably encouraged by the
growing weakness of Saul's government, had on this
occasion penetrated as far south as to the mountain
Ephes-dammim, near Shochoh, in Western Judah, and
had there entrenched themselves. Saul, who seems at
once to have raised an army to oppose the invaders,
took up his position in the Valley of Elah, or of '* the
Terebinth," a narrow " ravine " alone separating the two
hosts. It was this " ravine " which became the scene of
the combat between David and Goliath. The details of
the remarkable episode in the life of the Psalmist, to
which reference is now made, need not be gone into at
length. Whether the proposal of the Philistines to
submit the old question of Israel's independence to the
arbitrement of single combat, had been contemplated by
them from the first, or was an after-thought, suggested
by some such circumstance as their finding the Israelites
better prepared for resistance than they expected, is
not stated. There seems, at all events, to have been a
reluctance on their part, not only to force on a general
engagement, but even to give battle when themselves
threatened by the attacks of the army of Saul. In
ancient warfare, the mode of determining the fortune
of war between contending forces by duel was not
unusual (see examples ia Chandler's Life of David,
i. 70) ; and there was an obvioiis motive for its proposal
on the part of the Philistines on the present occasion.
They had in their camp a man of gigantic stature (six
cubits and a span, or upwards of nine feet — a stature,
however unusual, not imprecedented : see Keil in loc).
Goliath of Gath was probably a descendant of the
Rephaim or " Giants," whom the spies of Moses, and
afterwards Joshua, found ui Canaan among the abori-
gines of that country, and a few remnants of whom are
said to have taken refuge, after the conquest, " in Gaza,
in Gath, and in Ashdod," cities of the Philistines
(Numb. xiii. 32 ; Josh. xi. 22 ; cf. Blunt, Coincidences,
119). It was reasonable to suppose that the Israelites
could have no warrior willing and able to encounter
single-handed such an opponent, especially with the
gi'eat additional advantage he possessed from the
strength of his armour, and the weight and size of his
weapons. Nor need we be surprised that the hope
which may have been indulged to this effect by the
Philistines was not disappointed. For forty days,
morning and evening, the Philistine champion had
come forth into the open valley to repeat his defiance
with no other result, except that " all the men of Israel
.... fled from him, and were sore afraid " (1 Sam.
x-vii. 24) ; when Da^dd, in his shepherd's coat, and with
his shepherd's wallet and sling, and also with the
simple faith in God, and in God's cause, which he had
in like manner brought with him from the sheepfolds,
appeared on the scene. The Israelite camp could not be
more than two or three hours' jom-ney from Bethlehem,
David was at this time still engaged in attendance on
Jesse's sheep ; but his three eldest brothers were in the
ranks of the army of Saul. Sent one day, by his
father, with some simple gifts, to inquire after the
226
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
welfare of tlioso bi'othcrs, ho arrived at the camp at
the very momout wlien the Philistine champiou camo
forth as usual to defy Israel. It may perhaps appear
marrellous, even incredible, that a task whicli liad been
declined by Said and all his mighty warriors, should
have been accomplished by a shepherd-boy with a sliug
and a stone. That a stone hurled by the strong and
practised arm of a youth shoidd have chanced to kill
Goliath, is however, neither incredible nor marvellous.
Nor are the youth and inexperience of David reasons
why wo shoiUd bo surprised that he made the attempt.
The vcntiire was one perhaps rather to be expected
from a youth than from a man, who with more years
might have been expected to have less hardihood and
self-confidence. But it must be remembered that the
rictory of David over Gohath was a victory accom-
plished rather bj^ religious faith than by warlike
qualities. There is no pretence of the exhibition on
his part of greater militai-y skill, or force of arm, or
even physical courage, than was possessed by those
great captains in Saul's army who declined the en-
counter. His trust was only in God. " Thou comest
to me," he said to Goliath, " Avith a sword and with a
spear, and with a shield ; but I come to thee in the
name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, whom
thou hast defied " (1 Sam. xvii. 45). Whatever the
cause, the result of the apparently so unequal combat
was not only the death of Goliath, but the iitter rout
of the Philistines, and a revolution in the foi-tunes
of David himself, which gave a new colour to his
whole life.
II. The phase of David's history on whicli wo now
enter embraces the period from his introduction to the
court of Said — the immediate result of his victory
over the Philistine champion — to the death of that
monarch : the period of what may be called his hero
life, in contrast at once with his shepherd life, by which
it was preceded, and his life as king, first over Judah,
and latterly over all Israel, which followed it. Its
whole duration was probably about ten years. It was
for David a time of veiy various fortune. For the first
few years he might have appeared to have reached an
elevation of rank and prosperity sufiicient to satisfy his
utmost ambition, or at least to render him an object of
envy to all the nation. He was admitted into the
number of the king's most favoured servants. The
honourable position of Said's armour-bearer, to which
he was immediately raised, was ere long exchanged for
that of commander of the king's body-guard (Ewald,
Hist., iii. 75), an officer only second to the commander-in-
chief of his forces, and, like the latter, haA^ing the dis-
tinction, shared only with the presumptive heir to the
throne, of a seat at the royal table. He l>ecame, at the
same time, the chosen associate and bosom friend of
Jonatlian, the son of Saul : he was married to one of
Saul's daughters. Nor did he enjoy only the honours
and distinctions which can be coufeiTod by the favour
of the monarch : he was the idol of the nation. " All
Israel and Judah loved Da\nd, because he went out and
came in before them " (1 Sam. xviii. 16.) A great and
terrible reverse of fortune followed. The seeds of that
implacable hatred of the youth whom he had raised to so
liigh a pinnacle of greatness, which at last took posses-
sion of Said, and led to all the persecutions from which
David suffered, in the later years of Saul's life, wore
indeed sown at a very early period, and began to bear
fruit long before the final rupture between these two
remarkable men. At the close of the campaign against
the Philistines, in which David had played so distin-
guished a part, even if he did no more than kill
Goliath — ^iDut the presumption is that ho had eanied
further honours in the pursuit of the enemy — Saul
returned in triumph to Gibeah ; and as the ^actorious
army passed across tho country from the borders of
Philistia, whither it had chased the routed foo towards
the capital, " the women," we are told, " came out of
all [the] cities of Israel [which lay on tho route],
singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets,
Avitli joy, and with instruments of music. And the
women answered one another, as they played, and
said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his
ten thousands " (xviii. 6). The preference implied in
such words rankled in a natui'e probably always prone
to jealousy, and all whoso worst jiassions had beeu
exasperated by insanity and a consciousness of the loss
of the Divine favour. " From that day forward " Saul
had looked upon David with an evd eye ; and the very
honours he heaped upon him were bestowed in, appa-
rently, every case with some latent evil design. At
last — after escaping repeated attempts at assassination,
even in the palace of tho sovereign — David was driven
forth from house and home; deprived of all his honours;
divorced from a wife whom he loved ; and, hunted as a
felon and outlaw from one refuge to another, at tho
continual hazard of his life, could only find in tho end
security in voluntary banishment.
That which mainly characterises this period of the
life of the Psalmist is, as already suggested, the heroic
aspect in which it presents him throughout. "Whether
in Said's service — fii'st as captain over a thousand of
the ordinary tribal conscripts, and, latterly, as couv
inauder of the king's body-guard ; or, again, as tho
chief of a band of freebooters, who gathered around
him after his outlawry, in the wilderness of Judah,
and in the laud of the Philistines at Ziklag, a common
character belonged to the life of Da\dd all thi'ough
these years. Wild feats of arms, often against over-
whelming odds, in which, by his great military genius,
his personal daring, and the command he exercised
over his comrades in arms (whom ho had tho art of
inspiring ■with his own martial spirit, and with tho
most unreserved confidence and attachment to liis
person), ho met with almost unvarying success — such
were tho every-day incidents of his life at a period
in which he appears to have beeu undergoing the
special discipline, previously denied him, for an im-
portant part of the work which awaited him after his
accession to tho throne.
It was, in some respects, a very different life from
that which was ever passed by him either before or
DAVID.
227
afterwards : a rough life, toe, and part of it, at least,
spent among rough companions, few if any of whom
had any sympathy with his better nature. Nor was his
own conduct, at this period, always without traces of
the inevitable results of the deteriorating influences to
which he was exposed. The duplicity, for instance, to
which he stooped in his relations to Achish, king of
Gath, at Ziklag (1 Sam. xxA-iii. 1 seq.), was wholly
unworthy of him, and nearly led him into what might
have proved a fatal blunder. The question, too, how
far his position, especially at Zikkg, was consistent
with his own professions (1 Sam. xxiv. 10) of loyalty to
the existing government, is a very difficult one. Da^dd,
however, as might indeed have been expected from the
f oi'ce and strong individuality of his character by nature,
preserved even at this time, under the rough manners
of a soldier of fortune, the high religious principle, the
warm feelings, and elevated tastes, which he had shown
in earlier and happier days. It is not without iuterest
that we find him, after the final ruptiu-e with Saul
took place, making it his first care to provide for the
security of his aged parents (1 Sam. xxii. 3). A
striking fact of the same kind has been noticed by all
his biographers. One day, when in hiding in a fastness
above the cave of Adullam, and withia view of the
home of his youth, he was seized with an irrepressible
longing for a draught of water from the well from
which he had drunk in his boyhood. " David longed,
and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the
water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate ! "
The sequel of the story must be added. Wlieu, at the
hazard of their lives — ^for to reach the well they had
to break through the ranks of a " garrison " of the
Philistines, then at Bethlehem — three of his companions
proceeded to the place, drew water, and brought it
back to him, "he would not drink thereof, but poured
it out unto the Lord ;" he saw iu it but the blood of
these brave men (2 Sam. xxiii. 15). It is needless to
say how iu this incident at once the strong home
affections which prompted the wish, and the womanly
tenderness which shrunk from its gratification at so
great a risk, are full of significance in relation to the
degree in which the finer instincts of Da^ad's nature
remained unaffected by the circumstances of his life
at this time. Then, not only was his harp stiU his con-
stant companion and solace in those days, and was as
often heard in his camp in the wilds of En-gedi, as it had
been on the neighbouring pasture-grounds in the days
of his youth, or afterwards in the palace at Jerusalem,
and employed at every period in the praise of God ;
but perhaps there are none of the Davidic Psalms more
remarkable for the depth of the spiritual experience
which they embody, or for the evidence they afford of
the devoutness, the strength of faith, the aspiration I
after good of their author, than those many Psalms
(e.g., Ps. vi., vii., xviii., xxxiv,, xl., lii., liv., Ivi., Ivii., lix,,
kiii., cxlii.) which are, either by tradition or on internal
evidence, attributed to this jjeriod.
It must never be forgotten by any one who wishes
to estimate aright the character of David that, if not
the solcUer-life, the Me of the freebooter, at least, was
adopted by him not by choice, but by compulsion. To
escape the persecutions of Saul he had in vain attempted
to find refuge in a voluntary exile from Israel (1 Sam.
xxi. 10). He had previously thought, it would seem,
of even abandoning all ambitious hopes in connection,
with public affairs, and devoting himself to a purely
rehgious life. Such at least appeai-s to be the most
obvious explanation of a remarkable iacideut in his
history, wliich finds its place between the flight from
his house at Gibeah and the failure of Jonathan's last
efforts to bring about a reconciliation with Saul. At
this period, we are told, he fled first to Ramah, to the
house of Samuel, who still survived ; and from thence
removed with the aged prophet to the neighbouring
school of the prophets (Naioth, " school," or " studium;"
Ewald, Hist., iii. 50, note), where for some time — indeed,
until driven forth, whether he would or not, by his
j powerful and implacable enemy — we find him living
I among the ordinary members of the sacred coUege, and
! taking his part in the devotional exercises and other
j religious employments to which these holy men were
exclusively dedicated (1 Sam. xix. 18, seq. ; cf. Stanley,
Jewish Church, ii. 59).
III. The last great division of the histoiy of David
embraces a period of no less than forty years — the forty
years during wliich he filled the throne.
It was at Ziklag, in the land of the Philistines, that
he heard of the issue of the battle on Moimt Gilbea.
He received the tidings of a disaster which involved
the ruin of his enemy, if it also inflicted a terrible blow
on his country, in no unworthy spirit. The wretched
Amalekite who brought him the first intelligence, and,
doubtless in the hope of a rich reward, claimed to have
himself administered the death-blow to Saxil, found, to
his cost, that he had fatally miscalculated the feelings
with which a generous nature, like that of David, would
regard the fall of one whom, whatever the wi-ongs he
had suffered from him, he never ceased to respect,
both on account of his position and for the sake of his
personal qualities. That David's mourning for Saul,
no less than for Jonathan, was heartfelt, cannot be
doubted. He had no purpose to serve in paying insin-
cere honours to the memory of a king who had already
lost his hold on the affections of his former subjects.
And every word of the magnificent elegy which he
composed on the occasion bears testimony to the depth
of the emotions by which it was inspired.
228
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACHER.
BY THE EDITOK.
I HE titlo of this book in tho original,
Koheleth, is fairly rendered by the Greek,
Ecclesiastes, and by the English equiva-
lent. Preacher. It is connected with the
verb wliicli signifies " to call together," with the noun
whicli denotes an " assembly " so called. Tho Hebrew
form of the word is that which belongs properly to
abstract feminine nouns, and hence there seems reason
to believe that, as with such English words as " majesty,"
■' lordship," " royalty," tho absti'act word has been
transferred to the concrete, personal representative of
the thought implied, or else that, as in Prov. i. 8,
"Wisdom is introduced as a person, speaking as a
woman, uttering her voice in the streets, so here the
primary thought is that the writer is identified with
the wisdom with which he was so largely gifted, and
assumes that as a kind of allegorical designation, as if
to imply that it is Wisdom who speaks through him.
Tho contents of the book would seem, at first, to
leave no room for doubt as to its authorship, and there-
fore as to its date. The Preacher describes himself as
" the son of David, king over Israel in Jerusalem "
(i. 1, 12). The autobiography with which the book
opens corresponds in its broad outlines and in many
of its details Avifch the life of the historical Solomon.
Jewish and Christian writers till the sixteenth century
accepted it as the work of Solomon, with hardly an
exception. The criticism of tho last three centuries,
beginning with the great name of Grotius, has, however,
raised serious doubts on this point. The style of the
book is unlike that of the Proverbs which wo ascribe to
Solomon. Its language is fuller of Aramaic or Chaldee
words and forms than the Proverbs, or than any Psalm
or other writing belonging to the period of tho monarchy
of Judah. The word " angel," or "messenger," as ap-
plied to tho priest of God (chap. v. 6), is not found else-
wl'ere in that sense till we meet with it in Mai. ii. 7.
The Divine name throughout the book is Elohhn, and
not Jehovah ; and though this has little bearing on the
question of date, and might, from one point of view, be
said to point to an early rather than a late period in
the history of Israel, it is urged that this betrays a
different hand from that of the author of the Proverbs,
in which both names are used with nearly equal fre-
quency. The social and political state described in the
book belongs, it is said, to a time of decay, and anarchy,
and oppression, rather than to the highly-organised and
prosperous reign of Solomon. Tlio tone of scepticism
and despondency which pervades the book throughout,
finding the thought that strengthens it only at the
very last, is said to be foreign to tlie earnestness and
devotion of the tone of David and of Solomon. And so
the ingenuity of critics has assigned for its composition
the time of Zerubbabel, or Nehcmiah, or Alexander tho
Great, or the Maccabees. One able writer, dwelling
on what he considers the parallelism of parts of its
teaching with that of the Stoics and Epicureans, has
argued that it must have been after those two sects had
divided the philosophy of the world of Greek thought
— that is, in the third, or even as late as the secoiid,
century before Christ.i
These arguments are met by the assertion that
Aramaic forms and words might have belonged to
Hebrew in its early stages of growth, or might have
come in through Solomon's intercourse with other
Semitic races ; that the history of the Judges, or of
Saul, or DaN-id, presented types of social disorder that
correspond with the descriptions given by the Preacher ;
that diversity of style is adequately accounted for by
difference of age, or subject, or mood, even in the same
writer. The mental struggles which it portrays are
not greater than those which meet us in the Book of
Job or the complaints of Ps. Ixxiii. It is not necessary,
even assuming a very close resemblance, to infer that
the writer of the book must therefore have derived his
thoughts from the disciples of Epicurus or of Zeno.
The tendencies of thought and feeling which we connect
with those two names are essentially human tendencies,
and have appeared in different countries and different
periods quite unconnected with each other. To make
the best of life, by hardening ourselves against its
troubles, or making the most of its enjoyments; to
believe that we are in a fixed order which we cannot
alter, or in a whirl of chance which we cannot control;
these rough and ready solutions of the problems of the
universe present themselves naturally enough at all
times, and we need not look for traces of derivation, or
urge a charge of plagiarism, wherever we may find
them.
On the whole, then, while it must be admitted that
the verdict of nearly all recent criticism is against
the Solomonic authorship of the book, it must be said
that no satisfactory theory has as yet been substituted
in its place, and that, after all, we must say of it, as
of the Book of Job — in some respects at once the
most like it, and the most unlike, among the books of
the Old Testament — as Origen said of tho Epistle
to tho Hebrews, " Who wrote it, God only knows."
It will not do to say, as some have said, that the
book itself settles the question, that it is cither an
impudent forgery, with no claim whatever to a place in
the canon of Scripture, or that it must stand as wintten
by tlie son of David. Those Avho press this short and
easy method of settling a complicated question forgot
that the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha presents
phenomena of a strictly analogous character. It, too,
1 Mr. T. T;ler, EcdcsiasUn. Williams and Norgate, 1874,
ECCLESIASTES.
229
claims to be written by the great king whose name is
prefixed to it. For centuries it was received as standing
on the same footing as Ecclcsiastes. Even now it
occupies an honourable place among tlie books which
the Church reads for " example of life and instruction
of manners." No one has ever dreamt of stigmatising
it as a forgery. The fact must be admitted that the
quasi-dramatic personation of character as one form of
instruction has been in almost every age recognised as
perfectly legitimate, and that if the balance of evidence
is in favour of a later date than that of Solomon, there
is no ground for rejecting this conclusion on an a priori
assumption that an inspired writer was necessaiily
debarred from employing such personation.
The contents of the book present, pei-haps, a yet more
difficult problem than the question of its authorship. It
does not present moral lessons in plain and easy lan-
guage like the Book of Proverbs. It is not an utterance
of devout aspirations like the Psalms, nor the pro-
clamation of a Divine message like the writings of the
prophets. Its tones are harsh, discordant, despondent.
It reads like the confession of one who had wasted his
life, and had no hope beyond it. Life and immortality
are shrouded as with a thick darkness. It seems to
anticipate that weariness of the satiated voluptuary,
of the over-wrought intellect, which we are sometimes
to think of as attaching to a high culture, like that of
modern civilisation. Want of power to understand
its drift led some of the older Rabbis to question its
authority — to shut it out from the studies of the young.
For a like reason it takes its place now among the less-
known and less-studied books of the Old Testament.
Rightly apprehended, however, the book is of profound
interest and significance. It meets the n3cessities of a
state of mind fi-om which, perhaps, no period of the
world's history has ever been quite exempt, but to
which periods, like our own, of increasing luxury and
advancing knowledge are especially liable.
The ever-recurring watchword of the book, " Yanity
of vanities, all is vanity," speaks of bitter disappoint-
ment, in tones of which we find echoes iu the poetry
that expresses most powerfully our modern experience —
in Shakespeare's Samlet, in Byron's Chilcle Harold, in
Tennyson's Palace of Art. Tlie man has gone in quest
of the chief good, and has souglit for it in many ways,
and retired from the search at eveiy stage baffled and dis-
appointed. The permanence of Nature does but oppress
him with the sense of the short-lived littleness of man.
Pleasure palled on the sense ; magnificence and state
brought no profit ; wisdom, sought for its own sake, and
not springing from the fear of the Lord, yielded no
contentment. He hated the labour wliich he had taken
under the sun. " Vanity of Vanities, hollowness and
A^exation, were written upon all things" (chaps, i., ii.).
The order of tlie world presented, it was true, tokens
of a righteous order — a time for everything, for blame-
less joy, after the pattern of a true Epicureanism (iii.
12, 13), for righteous judgment (iii. 16, 17). But that
thought, too, failed to comfort at first, for the shadow of
death closed in the prospect, and, as yet, there was no
vision of judgment beyond it, only the thought that man
" hath no pre-eminence above the beast ; that all are
of the dust and all tuna to dust again" (iii. 19, 20). A
closer scrutiny of the facts of man's life around him did
but make the problem more rusoluble. Sympathy with
the oppressed, indignation against the oppressor, were
better than the selfish pursuit of pleasure, with which
the seeker after happiness had started ; but there was no
clue to guide him through the labyrinth, and what he
saw did but leave on him the conviction that death was
better than life ; that the experience of other men was
like his own, and that everything under the sun was
vanity (iv. 2 — 7). Changes of dynasties, rashness and
hypocrisies in worship, the increase of goods that brings
increase of trouble, and gives nothing to the possessor
but the beholding of them with tlieir eyes — all these
taught the same lesson. Length of days, seeming
prosperity, was to him, as to the old Greek poets, no
safeguard against a disastrous end. It was better not
to be at all than to lead a life so profitless (v., vi.).
There came, however, at this stage, the dawning of
better things. A " good name " was " better than pre-
cious ointment" (vii. 1). Conscience and self-respect
were quickened into a new, thougli as yet struggling',
life by the seeker's sympathy with suffering ; and with
this there revived also the sense of the preciousness of
wisdom, not now as merely speculative, but as including
patience, calmness, the equal balance of temper at either
extreme of fortune (vii. 9 — 14). The man learnt to see
that the first condition of wisdom was to fear God
(vii. 18) ; that its first fruits were the consciousness of
the sin that cleaves to all men, even to the just (vii.
20) ; of the ignorance which hems in man's searcli for
knowledge on every side; of the uprightness of man's
nature as designed by God; of the "many inventions"
by which man has swerved from that uprightness (vii.
23—29).
So far there had been a clear and definite progress ;
but the book, true to human experience, reproduces the
oscillations and wanderings of thouglit of one wlio has
not as yet set his feet upon the rock which remains
unmoved, though the waves foam and dash around it ;
and so we find a return of the old melancholy. " Vanity"
is still written on all things. Mirth within reasonable
limits seems the highest good attainable, but those
limits are fixed by the deepening conviction that it
never can be well with the wicked, " because he feareth
not God," that it shall be well with these that do fear
Him (viii. 11 — 13). The consciousness of God, so to
speak, is growing stronger ; a righteous scorn of evil is
taking the place of cynical indifference. And with this
there is a greater readiness to accept even the apparent
disorder of tlie world as having a divine order underlying
it. The "poor wise man who delivered the city"' may
be slighted and forgotten; kings may be negligent or
corrupt, " servants may bo set upon horses ;" but the
wise man will yield to the ruler, and will not curse the
king, nor pour out his passion in a multitude of Avords
(ix. 15 ; X. 4 — 7, 20). Revolution brings no remedy.
Government of any kind is better than absolute anarchy.
230
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Tlie TTiso mau cau, iu tlie midst of that imperfect order,
find opportunities for doing good, and '"oast his bread
upon the waters," and " iu the morning sow his seed "
(xi. 1 — 6). ActiA-ity in good works is the natural and
divinely-appointed remedy for the gloom and melan-
choly of scepticism. Even this, in the absence of
the life and immortality which was not then brought
to light, was not enough to remove the sense of the
nothingness of human life. Death, withaU its physical
phenomena, the failure of sight and hearing, tko silver
cord loosed and the golden bowl broken, with all its
attendant pageantry, tlie mourners going about the
Mreets, is still a dark aud dreary thought ; but there is
at least a gleam of hope in the belief, however faint
aud indistinct, that when " the dust shall return to the
earth as it was," the spirit shall " return to God who
gave it " (xii. 1 — 7). The burden of the seeker's strain,
the burden which weighs heavily on his soul, is not
yet removed. " Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher ;
all is vanity.'' But mucli has beeu gained, though not
all. The seeker has found, at least, a higher law of
life than that with which ho started ; a deeper conviction
that the order of things, in which he recognises Gad's
work, does indeed make for righteovisuess, and by that
law he is content to live himself, and is eager to proclaim
the "acceptable words " to others. " Fear God, and keep
His commandments, for that is the whole duty ef man"'
— all, i.e., that makes man tnily mau. " For God shall
bi;iug every work into judgment, with every secret
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
Such, I believe, is the plan aud teaching of this
strange enigmatic book, which, as wo read it, we feel
to be as true to the sad and dreamy scepticism of our
own time as it was to that of the man who wrote it,
more than two thousand years ago. The Two Voices
of Tennyson present a parallel more or less close to
its alternations of mood and thought ; and I am con-
strained to confess that that poem aud the Palace of Art,
to which I have referred above, have helped me more
to understand its teaching than the exegesis of ma7iy
commentators. If at first it seems strange that a book
60 different, in its questioning aud half -desponding
tone, from the writings of lawgiver, psalmist, prophet,
1 The italics show that the word "duty" is not in the Hebrew.
Literally, we might render, " all that becomes a mau."
evangelist, apostle, should liave found a i^lace in the
canon of Scripture, wo may yet recognise in those who
so placed it a wisdom higher thau they were themselves
conscious of. The mental aud spiritual disease for which
it provides a remedy, is not peculiar to any one age or
race, is not excluded by the prevalence of any religious
system. It recurs in the nineteenth century after Christ
in nearly the same form as it had presented itself, it may
be, a thousand years Ijeforo. The man of ijlcasure,
the man of money, the statesman and the controver-
sialist, each wearied with that to which he has given his
life, finds iu it still the echo of his own experience.
Renan, judging of St. Paul by what he himself would
have done, had ho been in St. Paul's place, pictures
to himself the old age of the Apostle, as tliat of
one who found that ho had been living for a di-eam
and delusion, and who, after his youth aud man-
hood had fed upon the' words of tho j)salmist or
prophet, after he liimseK had written what was to
occupy a like place with them in tho veneration of
mankind, fell back after all upon Ecclesiastes — the
words of the Preacher — as the one book that satisfied
him, and helped him to meet the problems which vision
aud revelation failed to solve. As applied to St. Paul
personally, that picture of the brilliant Frenchman is, o£
course, simply ludicrous, but it is not the less true that
many who have beeu students of St. Paul's writings,
and admired his life, aud traced the controversies that
have grown out of them, may yet, in the presence of
doubts which they cannot put away, find refuge iu its
teaching. It is one of the signs of the times, iu part
helping us to understand how M. Renan could have
adopted a notion that seems so monstrous, that Mr.
Matthew Arnold, who claims to be the true expositor of
St. Paul's mind and heart to the men of this generation,
should have reproduced substantially the teaching of
Ecclesiastes. So far as he is an ethical teachei', he is the
Koheleth of the nineteenth century. We may hope,
much as we may shrink from the contrast which his
teaching presents to the mind of Christendom, and, Ave
must add, to the mind of Christ, that he, too, may
have borne, not altogether in vain, a witness for the law
of righteousness, and the " sweet reasoualjleness " of
Jesus, and given men who were in the abyss of despair
aud doubt a steiJiiing- stone on which to rise out of it.
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
PALESTrNE.
BY MAJOR WILSON, B.E.
IX.— PHCENICIA., PHILISTIA, AND THE MARITIME
PLAIN.
yHE 0 -iginal name of Phcenicia was Kna or
Kcnaan (Canaan), derived from Canaan,
the fourth son of Ham, and signifying
'• lowland " in contradistinction to Aram,
tho "highland " of SjTia. This term, if we may judge
from the allusion in Gen. x. 15 to Sidon, the first-
born of Canaan, from the pre-eminence given to tho
name Sidon throughout the Old Testament, and from the
manner in which Isaiah speaks of Tyre and Sidon as
" cities of Canaan." appears at first to have been confined
to the narrow midulating tract which stretches along
the Mediterranean from Ras en-Xakurah, "the ladder
of Tyre," to the Nahr Auly, River Bostrenus, two miles
nortii of Sidon. Herodian states that Kna or Chna was
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
231
the ancient name of Phoenicia, and the word Keuaan is
found on a coin of Laodicea, whereon that town is
called '• a mother city of Canaan." The name Canaan
was not, however, long confined to this limited area,
for it was applied at different times to districts of
varying extent. The earliest mention of its limits
is in Gen. x. 19, where we are told that " the border
of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest
from Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom,
and Gomorrah, and Admali, and Zeboim, even unto
Liasha;" and in JSTumb, xxxiv. 2 — 12 the boimdaries
are more definitely fixed as extending from the wilder-
ness of Zin on the south to the entrance of Hamath
on the north.
At present, however, we must canfine our attention
to the country known as Phoenicia, a name derived,
accordiiig to some, from cpoivi^, " a palm-tree," according
to others, from Phoinix, the founder of the Phoenician
race. Phoenicia proper was probably the tract origi-
nally called Kna, including Tyre and Sidon, but at a
later period it embraced the more extensive district
from the mouth of the Orontes to the "ladder of Tyre,"
inchiding the colonies of Aradus (Arvad), Tripoli, and
Beirut (Berytus). Josephus calls Mount Cai-mel a
■" Tyrian mountain," and states that Csesarea was in
Phoenicia. Ptolemy makes the river Chorseus, south
of Tantura (Dor), the southern boundary; and Strabo
includes Csesarea, Joppa, and the whole coast of
Philistia within the limits of Phoenicia. The eastern
boundary is nowhere defined, but the country probably
did not extend far beyond the narrow strip of plain
along the coast and the lower spurs of the mountain-
range of Palestine. Laish, which under its later name
of Dan became famous as the northern limit of the
Jewish nation, appears to have been an isolated colony ;
at any rate, its capture by the Dauites does not seem to
have caused any complications between the Jews and
the Phoenicians.
The narrow coast-plain commences about foiu* mUes
north of Latakiyeh (Laodicea) and extends to Tarabulus
(Tripoli) ; between the last-named place and Tartus
(Antaradus) it expands into a fine open plain, the
Junia, whence an arm of some width stretches towards
the south-east, and is connected with the Bukaa, or
valley, between the two Lebanons, by an easy pass up
the Nahr el-Kebir (River Eleutherus), possibly "the
entrance of Hamath." South of Tripoli the mountains
approach the coast, and as far as Beirut the road lies
either along the beach or over the rugged spurs of the
main range of Lebanon ; one of which terminates in a
fine bold cliff, crowned by a Maronite convent, the
present Ras es-Shuka and the Theoprosopon of Strabo.
The projecting headland of Beirut is IcA'el or slightly
undulating, with sand-hills on the southern side, which
are constantly encroaching on the town, and swallow-
ing up mull^erry-gardens and houses ; southward from
these sand-dunes a narrow level tract stretches along
the coast till we approach Sidon, where the hills again
close in, but after crossing the river Auly tliey sweep
round to the east, leaving a broad undulating plain
behind the town of Sidon ; stiU farther south, the hills
return to the shore for a short distance, and then
again recede behind Tyre, till the plain is terminated
by the Rjis el-Abiad, or " White Promontory," a cliff
of white chalk projecting into the sea, which may
perhaps dispute the title of " Ladder of Tyre " with
the Ras en-Nakurah, about three miles to the south.
The narrow undidating tract between Beirut and Ras
el-Abiad is called by Josephus " the great plain of the
city of Sidon ;" its average width is about a mile, but
behind Sidon the hills recede to a distance of two mdes,
and in rear of Tyre to a distance of five miles.
Phoenicia presents a marked contrast to Palestine in
the number and size of the perennial streams and rivers
by which it is watered ; in the north, between Aradus
and Ti-ipoli, is the Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus), one
tributary of which las been identified by Dr. Thomson
with the Sabbatical River of Josephus, which was said
to flow only on the seventh day ; Pliny, however, states
that it ran for six days, and was dry the seventh. At
the present day there are many reports current respect-
ing the river ; it would appear to flow, as a rule,
every tliird day, bu.t, like many intermittent springs,
the source from which it derives its supply is greatly
iufluejiced by the rainfall. A few mUes south of
Jeljeil is the Nahr Ibrahim, River Adonis, which
derived its name from Adonis, who was supposed to
have been killed in the neighbouring mountain ; on the
anniversary of his death the river was believed to
become a blood colour, and the water still acquires a
ruddy tinge when heax'j rains have brought down a
quantity of the red soil on its banks : this feature,
alluded to by Lucian and Mauudrell, did not escape the
notice of Milton when writing the lines —
" While smooth Adouis from his native rock
Ean i^urple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thainmuz yearly wouuded."
The next river is the Nahi- el-Kelb, or Dog River, the
ancient Lycus, a rapid mountain stream which runs to
the sea through a fine gorge about seven miles north-
wards from Beirut. At tliis point the mountauis touch
the coast, and a road has been artificially cut in the rock,
over a cliff from eighty to one hundred feet above the
sea ; this road is, if we may trust an existing inscrip-
tion, the work of the Emperor Aurelius. At a higher
level there are unmistakable remains of a much older
road, which has been cut at one place through a layer
of bone brescia, containing the bones of many animals
now extinct in Palestine. On the face of the cliff
above are a series of ttiblets, traces of Egyptian and
Assyrian inscriptions, but unfortunately so defaced that,
with the exception of one, which is said to record the
j)assage of Sennacherib on his return from his first
campaign against Hezekiah, not a word can be de-
ciphered. These monuments possibly commemorated
the successful passage of this difiicult place by the
several Egyptian and Assyi-ian armies during the
constant wars in which the two countries were engaged.
North of Beirut, the Nahr Beirut, or Majoras, flows to
the sea hard by the traditional scene of St. George's
2G2
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
fight witli the dragon ; and
south of the same town is
the Nahr ed-Damur, the
ancient Tamyras. North
of Sidon, the Nahr Auly,
or "pleasant Bostrenus,"
fvives life and fertility to
the plain; and between
that town and Tyro, the
Khasimiyeh, or Leontes,
discharges the drainage of
the great plain of Ccele-
Syi'ia into the sea. A
short distance south of
Tyre, a cluster of large
fountains of clear good
■water, called Ras elAin,
bursts forth from the
plain; the water, which
rises to the surface with
gi-eat force, was raised to
a certain level by a series
of circular or octagonal
reservoirs, similar to that
previously described as
existing at Et Tabigah,
on the shore of the Sea of
Galilee, and was then car-
ried away by aqueducts to
the ancient city of Tyre.
There are a few points
■which should be noticed
with regard to Phcenicia :
the smalluess of the terri-
tory in comparison ■with
th^ iiiHuence which it
exerted on the history of
the world, as in the similar
cases of Palestine, Greece,
and Italy; the secluded
character of the country,
shut in on the east by the
range of Lebanon, which
secured it for a long period
from invasion, and turned
the attention of the people
to maritime rather than
to land enterprise; and
the number and conveni-
ence of its harbours, quite
large enough for the re-
quirements of ancient
navigation, when compared
with the southern coast of
Palestine. The soil of
Phoenicia, though now un-
cultivated, is rich, and
lemons.oranges, figs, pome-
granates, apricots, &c.,
grow in great luxuriance.
■whilst the neighbouring-
forests of Lebanon for-
merly supplied abundant
timber for ship-building,
and the cedar whith was
used by Solomon when
buUding the Temple.
We haA^e previously al-
luded to the close inter-
course that probably
existed between the Phoe-
nicians and the northern
tribes, the mixed state of
society, and the possible
effect which such intimate
relations had upon the
introduction of idolatry
amongst the Israehtes ;
and may here notice the
intimacy between Solomon
and Hiram, and the mar-
riage of Ahab with a
daughter of Ethbaal.
Until the reign of David
the Israelites do not seem
to have engaged in com-
mercial enterprise, but the
conquest of Edom by that
monarch gave them the
command of Ezion-gcber,
on the GuK of Akabali,
and in the reign of Solo-
mon we find the Phceni-
cians engaged with the
Jews in making voyages
to Ophir.and participating-
in the profits derived from
them. When, however, at
a later date Jehoshaphat
attempted to restore tho
trade in the Gulf of
Akabah, the Phoenicians
were not allowed to take
any part in tho under-
taking. In tho 27th chap-
ter of Ezekiel there is an
interesting account of tho
trade of Tyro with tho
surrounding nations,
amongst others with Judah
and the land of Israel,
from which were imported
"wheat of Miunith, and
Pannag, and honey, and
oil, and balm" (ver. 17).
If we may infer from this
that the Phoenicians de-
rived their chief supply of
grain from their Hebrew
neighboui-s, it Avill explain
GEOnRAPHT OF THE BIBLE.
233
234
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the friendly, or, at any rate, not oiJcnly hostile, relations
that ahvays existed between the two peoples, even at a
time whi'n the Phceuieians were engaged in that ti-affie
in Jewish slaves which brought down upon them the
fierce denunciations of the Hebrew prophets (Isa. xxiii.;
Ezek. xxvii., xxviii. ; Joeliii. 4 — 8 ; Amos i. 9, 10). There
is one other point of contact between the Jews and
Phoenicians which should not remain unnoticed — the
simikrity, perhaps identity, of the language used by the
two peoples, and also by the surrounding tribes : this is
perhaps indicated by the absence of any mention in the
Bible of the employment of interpreters by the Jews m
their intercourse with the original inhabitants, and by
the special mention of Egypt in Ps. Ixxxi. 5 as being a
country " where I heard a language that I understood
not." The similarity between Hebrew and Phoeuieiau
■was noticed by Jei-ome and Augustine, Avhen the latter
language was still spoken ; and there ai*e, besides, many
Phoenician and Carthaginian names which are devoid of
meaning except in Hebrew. The discoveiy of the cele-
brated Moabite stone proves the use of the Phoenician
language in Moab in the time of King Mesha, and a small
inscription, found by Monsieur Ganneau, near Jei-usalem,
seems to point to its use in that city during the period
of the kings.
Commencing at the northern extremity of the country,
the first place of importance is Ai-adus, the Arvad of
the Bible, situated on the island of Ruad, which lies
about two and a-half miles from the shore, to the north
of the river Eleutherus. The island is about three-
quarters of a mUe in circumference, high and rocky,
and still suiToimded by the massive foundations of the
old Phcenieiau fortifications ; there are also numbers of
Tock-hewn cisteims, and the remains of the moles which
formed the ancient harbour. Arvad appears to have
been noted for the skUl and bravery of its mariners and
soldiers (Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11), and to have escaped the
fate of the southern cities, by its timely submission to
Alexander the Great. During the troubled period
•which followed Alexander's death, it was a place of
considerable importance, but gradually fell to decay
under the Romans and Saracens. On the mainland,
nearly opposite the island of Ruad, is Tartus ( Antara-
dus), alluded to by Tasso under the name of Tortosa.
The old town was of some extent, and was protected
by a massive wall and fine castle, which bear traces of
Phoenician workmanship. A short distance to the east
are the ruins of a fine old Gothic cathedral, erected
during the time of the Crusades.
Proceeding southwards, we reach Tarabulus, the
modem Tripoli, which sprang up round the castle
built by Raymond of Toulouse on the banks of the
jECadisha. The old city, which derived its name, " Triple
City," from the colonies established by Arvad, Tyre,
and Sidon, was situated on a promontory to the west of
the modern town, where there are the remains of a wall
and line of towers, with an immense number of broken
shafts of columns. At Tripolis the scheme was designed
for the revolt of the Phoenician cities against the Persian
king Oclius, which resulted in the almost total destruction
of Sidou ; and the town is alluded to (2 Mace. xiv. 1) as
the place at which Demetrius Soter, the son of Seleucus,
landed. Southward from Tripoli, along the sea-coast,
is Batrun (Botrys), and Jcbeil, the Gebal of the Bible,
whose inhabitants were employed as stoue-cutters in
pi'eparing the material for Solomon's Temple (1 Kings
V. 18), and are mentioned by Ezekiel as the " calkors "
of the Tyrian ships (xxvii. 9). Gebal or Byblus was also
celebrated in mythology as the birth-place of Adonis.
To the south of Jebeil is Beirut (Berytus), the most
important commercial town in modem Syria, and
the port of Damascus. The town is prettily situated
on a triangular promontory, projecting into the Medi-
terranean, with a good roadstead, suitable to the
requirements of the present day, in the Bay of St.
George, which has been compared to that of Naples.
Tlie principal export is silk, the trade in which is rapidly
increasing, and the town itseM is everj- day becoming
of greater importance. Beirut has been identified mth
the Berothah or Berothai of Scripture, but this seems
doubtful, and its chief interest is perhaps due to its
having been the place at which Titus celebrated the
bu-thday of Vespasian, after the fall of Jerusalem,
holding games and public spectacles in the amphitheatre
built by Agrippa, on which occasion many of the captive
Jews are said to have perished ; as well as to its having
been one of the most noted seats of learning from the
third to the sixth century. FoUo^viug the coast-line, we
reach the little promontory on which Saida (Sidon) now
stands ; the existing remains, or at least such as meet
the eye, are not of much importance, but there is no
doubt that many interesting relics of the old Phoenician
city lie buried in the rubbish ; and from the tombs we
may hope . for records of the past as valuable as the
great sarcophagus of King Esmunazar, which is now
deposited at the Louvre in Paris. The environs of
Sidon are still famous for the beauty of the gardens, in
which the various fruits of Palestine grow vrith great
luxuriance ; but the harbour, which was once alive with
galleys from all parts of the then known woi-ld, is now
forsaken, except by a few small boats which are able
to pass through its half-closed entrance. Sidon is
mentioned in Gen. x. 19, as marking one of the limits
of the Canaanite, and it appears to have acquired
impoi-tance at a very early period ; for we find Joshua
alluding to it as "great Sidon," and Homer makes
special mention of the skill of the Sidonian workmen ;
the embroidered robes of Aiadromache, and the bowl
given as a prize by Achilles at the games in honour of
Patroclus, were of Sidonian workmanship. At a later
period the Sidonians were celebrated for their nautical
skill, and the contingent which they sent to the fleet of
Xerxes is said by Herodotus to have been the best and
most renowned of the great armada. Sidon is inferior
to Tyre in Biblical interest, and we need only notice
here its capture by Nebuchadnezzar, its revolt against
Persia, the almost total destruction of the to^vn by King
Ochus, and the assistance rendered by the Sidonian
fleet to Alexander during the siege of Tyre. At the
time of our Saviour's visit to the coasts of Tyre and
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
235
Sidon, the latter appears to hare been a thriyiug city,
■svliose iuliabitauts, according to Strabo, cultivated the
sciences of arithmetic and astronomy. It is now but a
small town, rarely visited by a foreign vessel, as all the
Syrian trade has passed to the more convenient port of
Beirut.
South of Saida, not far from the headland of Aiu
el-Kentarah, are the ruins of Zarephath, or Sarepta, the
town in wliicli Elijah lived during the latter part of
the di-ought (1 Kings xvii. 9, 10) ; and a little chapel
on the sea-shore bearing the name of El Khudr, the
Muhammedan title of Elijah, possibly marks the site of
the chapel erected by the Crusaders over the spot on
which the widow's house was supposed to have stood.
The ruins extend for more than a mile, and contain
many fragments of columns ; but the name has been
transferred to the modern village of Surafeud, which is
situated ou the slope of the hills some distance from
the sea-coast. Still further south is Sur (Tyre), once
the "mistress of the sea," now a wretched collection of
hovels, with narrow, dirty streets. The old to\vn stood
on a rocky islet about three-quarters of a mile long
and haK a mile wide ; but the causeway made by Alex-
ander during his famous siege connects it with the
mainland, and has converted the island into a peninsula.
The island is nowhere more than fifteen feet above the
level of the sea, and its surface is covered with the ruins
of old walls and towers ; the confined space available
for building purposes must have had its effect on the
architecture of the Tyi'ians, and it is probable that
the houses of the old town were, contrary to the usual
practice in Palestine, built in several storeys, giving the
place that grand aiJiiearance which is noticed by more
than one old wi-iter. The harbour is now almost filled
up with rubbish, and a few fishing boats only are left
to re^iresent the fleets that once carried the commerce
of the Mediterranean. One of the most interesting
ruins is that of the Cathedral, in which lie the remains
of the German Emperor, Frederic Barbarossa, which
were brought down from Tarstis. No one can visit
Tyre without being reminded at every step of the pro-
phecies uttered against the city by the Hebrew j)rophets,
and especially byEzekiel (see chaps. xxvi.,xxTii.,xxviii.)
— her walls are " broken down ; " her " pleasant houses "
destroyed ; her stones and timber lay " in the midst of
ihe water ; " it is a place " for the spreading of nets in
the midst of the sea ; " and we may well exclaim with
FJzekiel, " "What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed
in the midst of the sea ? " or, " How art thou destroyed,
that wast inhabited of sea-faring men, the renowned
city, which wast strong in the sea ? "
The first mention made of Tyre in the Bible is
in connection with the boundary of Asher (Josh. xix.
29), and even at this eai-ly period it was of sufficient
importance to be classed as a " strong city : " it is,
however, during the reigns of David and Solomon
that we first catch any glimpses of the condition of
the city. In 2 Sam. v. 11, Hiram, king of Tyre,
is said to have sent "messengers to David, and cedar-
trees, and carpenters, and masons ; and they built
Da-v-id a house" (palace); and the assistance rendered
by Hiram to Solomon in the building of the Temple
is familiar to every one. The various works in brass
executed for the Temple (1 Kings \ai. 13 — 15) imply a
considerable advancement in art; and we also gather
that they were skilled as wood-carvers and stone-
masons, and were bold adventurous seamen. The
wood for the Temple was floated down in great rafts to
Jaffa ( Joi^pa), and thence carried up to Jerusalem ; this,
of coiu'se, necessitated constant and close intercom-se
between the Tyrians and the Jews, and the relations
at this period between Hiram and Solomon, and their
respective peoples, appear to have been very intimate,
a fact which may have had its influence on the poly-
theistic tendencies of Solomon in his old age. About
720 B.C. Tp-e was ineffectually besieged by Shalmaneser
for five years, but this did not interfere with its pro-
gress, for Ezekiel gives a most graphic description of
its wealth and power between that date and the
memorable siege of Nebuchadnezzar, which lasted for
thirteen years. Curiously enough, history nowhere tells
us whether Tyre was captured by Nebuchadnezzar — the
probability is that it was not ; but however this may be,
there is no doubt as to the result of Alexander's siege
in 332 B.C., when 30,000 of the inhabitants were sold as
slaves. The town soon revived, and when our Saviour,
• and afterwards St. Paul, visited it, there was a flourish-
ing trade. Jerome calls it the finest and most beautiful
city in Phcenicia, and William of Tyre, who was arch-
bishop of the see, has left an interesting account of its
wealth and military strength during the Crusades ;
under Moslem rale it gradually declined until it reached
its present state.
Between four and five miles from Tyre there is a re-
markable monument shown as the tomb of Hiram, which
consists of a huge sarcophagus twelve feet long, eight
feet wide, and six feet high, hewn out of a single block
of limestone, with a lid of the same material five feet
thick, the whole resting on a massive platform, ten feet
high, built up of three courses of large stones. South
of Tyre are the fine fountains of Ras el-Ain, and the
reservoirs or tanks which were made to raise the water
to a level sufficiently high to supply the old town ; the
remains of the aqueducts are still visible in manyijlaces.
In the vicinity of the fountains stood Patetyrus (old
Tyre), but hardly a trace of it is now left, as Alexander
carried away all the stonework of the buildings for the
construction of his causeway. According to mediaeval
tradition, it was at Ras el-Ain that Jesus met the Syro-
Phcenician woman (Mark vii. 24 — 30); and it is said
that He drank of the water from the fountain, and
blessed the place from whence it came.
Passing southward, and crossing the rocky spurs of
Ras el-Abiad and Ras en-Nakurah by -svindiug paths
hewn step -like in the rock, we reach the northern ex-
tremity of the 2^lain of Acre, which extends to the base
of Mount Carmel, a distance of twenty miles. The
plain has an average width of about five miles, and it
is extremely fertile, being well watered by the Belus and
Kishon, as well as by several fountains. On the east
28R
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the liills of Galilee rise somewliat abmiptly, but spurs
occasionally run out into the plain, and give variety to
the landscape. The town of Acre, the Accho assigned
to the tribe of Asher, and the Ptolemais of the Macca-
bees and the New Testament, is situated on a project-
ing headland, which forms the northern extremity of the
great bay that sweeps round to Carmel on the south.
There is little Biblical interest attached to Acre, with
the exception of its having been one of the places at
which St. Paul touched on his jom-ney to Jerusalem
(Acts xxi. 7) ; but during the Crusades it became of
great importance, and at a later period was called by
Napoleon the key of Palestine. Its position, guarding
the entrance to the great plain of Esdrnelon, and com-
manding the anchorage in the spacious bay, fully
justified this title ; and it is perhaps worthy of notice
that the rise of Acre to importance followed upon the
increase in the size of ships, the bay affording the only
secure anchorage for large ships on the coast of Syria
souti of Beirut. It is hardly necessary to notice here
the numerous sieges of Acre during the Middle Ages, or
in more modem times : that by Napoleon, when the town
was so heroically defended by Sir Sidney Smith, will
always have a special interest to Englishmen ; and that
by Khalil, when the place was finally captured by the
Saracens, will ever be regai'ded as one of the saddest
tragedies in the history of the Crusades. At the
southern end of the bay of Acre, under the shadow of
Mount Carmel, is Haifa, a small town, supposed by
some writers to be the Sycamiuum of the Greeks
and Romans.
To the south of Mount Carmel the celehr&ied plain of
Sharon commences, and extends with vai-ying width as
far south as JafEa ; a range of low hills runs parallel to
the coast-liiie, and separates the sandy and sometimes
marshy district along the shore from the fertile culti-
vated plain that lies at the foot of the hills of Samaria,
and is the true plain of Sharon. We may infer from
the fact that the herds of David wei*e pastured on
Sharon, or " the Sharon," as it is called in the Hebrew
text, that the plain afforded abundant pasturage, and
its beauty and importance are indicated in Isa. xxxv.
2 ; xxxiii. 9. Tlie tall squill, which may possibly be the
"rose of Sharon," grows in abundance, and in many
places are still found numbers of those oak-trees from
which the rendering of the LXX., 6 Spu/uJr, " the wood,"
may have been derived. Southward from Jaffa stretches
the great maritime plain, which comprised the country of
the Philistines ; it extends beyond Gaza to the verge of
the desert, and is from ten to twenty miles wide. On
the west the coast is fringed by a line of sand-hills, and
a sandy tract, on which the maritime cities are buUt ;
whilst between these and the foot of the mountains of
Judah lies the immense plain of corn-fields, which was
one of the chief sources of the power and wealth of the
Philistines. In early suaxmer the plain is still clothed
\vith one waving mass of corn, from which rise up
•' tells," or mounds, covered with ruins, a few native
houses, and gardens ; and marking the sites of the
ancient cities of Philistia.
The plain south of Carmel is watered by several
streams — the Nahr Belkii, south of Tantura (Dor) ; the
Nalir Zerka, about two miles north of Csesarea, a deep
stream, which is probably the ShUior-libnath of the
Bible, on the south border of Asher. The Zerka is in-
teresting, as being the only river in Palestine in which
the presence of the crocodile has been ascertained, though
it is also believed to live in the Kishon. Piiuy and
Strabo mention the name of a town called CrocoAilon,
in this district; and in the time of the Crusades the
presence of crocodiles in the i-iver is alluded to. South
of Csesarea are the streams El Akhdar, Abu Zaburah,
Arsuf , and the Aujeh, wldch has its source in the great
springs at Ras el- Ain, and reaches the sea some distance
north of Jaffa. South of Jaffa there are no perennial
streams. In summer the water of some of these streams
does not find its way to the sea, but lodges in marshes
on the eastern side of the range of hills mentioned above.
This renders the district unhealthy, and withdraws
large tracts from cultivation ; but formerly there was a,
perfect system of drainage, the water being carried off
by drifts or tunnels cut through the hills : these are now
choked with rubbish and vegetation, but they might be
easily cleared, and a large area of waste land reclaimed.
The origin of the Philistines is doubtful, and then*
history is almost a blank ; they appear to have been
a commercial people, and to have attained considerable
proficiency as smiths, armourers, and in the goldsmith's
art ; their Avealth was abundant, owing to the extreme
richness of their country, and the extensive transit
trade between Northern Syria and Egypt. Th&
warlike spirit of the Philistines, and the military
strength of the country, may be gathered from the
constant wars with the Phoenicians, and Egyptians, and
the length of many of the sieges sustained by the
towns ; there would also appear to have been a navy,
which took part in the war between the Mediterranean
nations and Rameses III.
The fii-st point of interest south of Carmel is Athlit,
the Castellum Peregiinorum of the Crusading period ;
it is probable that Athlit occupies the position of an
old town, though it has not been identified with any
Biblical site, and is first known to us as a fortified
landing-place for pilgi-ims on their way to the Holy
City. The ruins are extensive, and consist of a largo
castle or fortified post, in which was the town proper,
and an entrenched camp of some size. The town, now
a confused mass of ruined churches and palaces, was
situated on a rocky promontory, having a bay on the
north and on the south, so that shelter could bo
obtained from the north and south winds. South of
Athlit, picturesquely situated on a tongue of land
which juts out into the sea, are the rums of Dor; at
the extremity of the spit is a fragment of a lof iy lower,
which formed part of a mcdiasval castle separated from
the old town by a deep rock-hewn ditch. Tlie remains
of the old harbour can still be traced, and there arc
many capitals and broken columns on the shore, but
most of the ruins have been covered by the drifting*
sand. The kiup: of Dor is mentioned in the list of
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
\VJ
kings conquered by Joshua (Josh. xii. 23), and liis city
was assigned to Manasseh, though lying within the
territory of Asher (Josh. xvii. 11). We gather, however,
from Judg. i. 27, that the original inhabitants of Dor
were not at first driven out by the Israelites, though at
<a later period we find one of Solomon's purveyors, who
was also his son-in-law, stationed there (1 Kings iv. 11).
South of Dor are the extensive ruins of Csesarea. The
lino of the old Roman wall, which enclosed an area
in the shape of a half moon, can still be traced by the
line of rubbish which marks its course ; but the more
important remains are those of the mediseval city built
by the Crusaders, which occupied a space 600 yards
long and 250 yards broad, near the centre of the
diameter of the half moon. The walls of this later city
with their flanking towers are still standing, and one
tower, at the south-west comer, into which the shafts
•of many columns have been built, is well known, from
the drawings of Mr. Tipping and others. Stretching out
into the sea beyond this tower are the remains of an
old mole or breakwater, which curved round so as to
give complete protection from the south-westerly gales,
whilst at the northern end of the harbour there is a sort
of rough landing-stage, made entirely of marble and
granite columns. Within the mediaeval walls are the
ruins of the old cathedral church of Csesarea, and some
massive foundations which, Mr. Drake suggests, may
have formed part of the temple built by Herod in
honour of Caesar. The ruin, however, which will be
regarded with most interest is that of the amphitheatre
situated, as Josephus describes it, " on the south quarter
behind the port, .... and conveniently situated
for a prospect to the sea;" for it was probably in
this theatre that Herod was seated upon his throne,
" arrayed in royal apparel," when he was smitten by
the mysterious disease which ended his life. Our
view of Csesarea (page 233) is taken from the theatre,
and shows the walls of the city of the Crusaders in the
■distance. On the north of the city there are the re-
mains of three aqueducts, one 6 feet 3 inches high and
o feet 10 inches wide, which appears to have brought a
portion of the waters of the Nahr Zerka into the town.
Caesarea was built with great magnificence by Herod
the Great, and occupies an important place in the Acts
of the Apostles ; it was here that Cornelius was con-
Tcrted and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
that St. Paul remained two years in bonds T)efore his
voyage to Rome. It was the home for some time of
Philip the deacon, and was visited by St. Paul on
several occasions. Caesarea appears to have been the
official residence of Festus and Felix, and the head-
quarters of the Roman army of occupation.
When St. Paul was brought down to Caesarea, in
consequence of the conspiracy agamst him at Jerusalem,
we read (Acts xxiii. 31 — 33) that he was brought '• by
night to Antipatris," by a mixed body of horse and foot
soldiers, but that at that point the footmen returned to
Jerusalem, and " left the horsemen to go with him " to
Caesarea, across the level expanse of the plain of Sharon.
Antipatris has usually been identified with Kefr Saba,
a small village south-east of Caesarea ; but it was more
probably at Ras el-Ain, where there is a large artificial
mound close to the great fountains which feed the
river Aujeh. Ras el-Ain is close to the point at which
the old Roman road left the mountains and entered the
plain, and fulfils all the requirements of the account
given by Josephus, having "rivei's in abundance,"
and a fertile soil, being near the mountains, and a
suitable point for the commencement of a lino of
defence, such as Alexander Jannseus took up across
tlie maritime plain. Kefr Saba, on the other hand,
meets none of the required conditions. The springs at
Ras el-Ain are probably the " Deaf Fountains " of the
Crusaders ; and their old castle of Mirabel stands on
the mound.
Southward, along the sandy ridge which fringes the
coast, runs the direct road from Csesarea to JafPa ( Joppa),
up which St. Peter passed on his memorable journey
" to find the first Gentile convert in the Roman garrison
at Csesarea." There is little to remark on the way
except the ruined citadel, town, and harbour of Arsuf
(Apollonia), where there appears at one time to have
been an extensive manufactory of glass; and the
numerous tunnels which formerly drained the marshes
of the district. Jaffa itself is beautifully situated on
an isolated hill, which rises from the edge of the
Mediterranean, and is surrounded on the land side by
a girdle of gardens, which produce oranges, lemons,
and apricots, that have a special reputation even in
the East. The appearance of the to^vn from the sea,
witTi the houses rising in a succession of terraces, is
very charming ; but, like all Eastern towns, the streets
are narrow and filthy, and the interior disappointing.
Of ancient Joppa little remains; the outline of the
harbour, to which the fleets of Hiram came laden with
material for the Temple, can stiU be traced ; and M.
Ganneau has recently found the old cemetery; but all
else is of modem or mediseval date. It was at Joppa
that Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, and after-
wards tarried many days " with one Simon, a tanner,"
whose house was " by the sea-side." The house is still
pointed out to ti-avellers, and whether it is really the
site or not, we can feel certain that the flat house-top
on which Peter prayed, and saw in a vision " heaven
opened," overlooked, as the present one does, the great
westei'n sea, which was to be one of the principal means
of conveying the glad tidings of great joy to the Gen-
tiles. In later years a mournful interest attached to
Jaffa, as the scene of the massacre of 4,000 Turkish
prisoners, by order of Napoleon.
Passing south-eastward over the sandy plain in the
footsteps of the messengers who were sent to seek Peter
at Lydda, we reach the remnant of the old Phihstine
town of Beth-dagon, and shortly afterwards Ludd, or
Lydda itself, surrounded by olive-trees, which bear the
appearance of great age. In the Aillage is one of the
most picturesque ruins in Palestine, the church of St.
George, said to liave been built by Richard Coeur de
Lion, in honour of England's patron saint, who, accord-
ing to tradition, was bom at Lydda ; and on its outskirts
23S
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
is a scries of catacombs, apparently used l)y the early
Christians. At Lydda Peter cured Eneas, Avho " had
kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy ;"
and " all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him, and
turned to tlie Lord." From Ludd a road runs south-
ward through an avenue bordered by gardens and
orchards to Ramleh, a place which has not yet been
satisfactorily identified with any Biblical site, but which
played an important part in the history of the Crusades,
and was celebrated as the head-quarters of Richard,
some of whoso most daring exploits wore performed in
its immediate vicinity. Not far from Ramleh, Mons.
Clermont- Gauneau has made a most important dis-
covery, identifpng beyond a doubt the ruins of Abu
Shusheh with Gezor, one of the most ancient towns of
Palestine, whose king, Hozam, wj^s defeated by Joshua
whilst attempting to relieve Lachish, then besieged by
the Israelites. The town occupied an important strate-
gical position, guarding the entrance of one of the
passes leading to Jerusalem, and was several times taken
and rc-takcu during the wars of the Jews. On one of
these occasions it was captured by one of the Pharaohs,
and afterwards formed part of the dowry of Pharaoh's
daughter, when she becafiie Solomon's ^vife. Two
inscriptions, which Mons. Granneau has recently found,
defining the limits of Gezer, are of the highest
interest.
South of Ramleh, on the north bank of Wady Surar,
is Akir (Ekron), the northernmost of the five cities of
the lords of the Philistines, standing on a gentle emi-
nence, which overlooks the rich plams to the south and
east. Ekron was the last place in Philistia in which
the ark rested, and whence the two milch kine, drawing
the cart which conveyed it, choosing their own path,
" took the straiglit way to the way of Beth-shemesh."
"West of Akir, on a slight elevation about two miles
from the sea, is Tebnah, the ancient Jabneh, taken by
Uzziah (2 Chron, xxvi. 6) ; and to the south of the latter
place is Esdud (Ashdod), one of the royal cities of the
Pliilistines which fell to the lot of Judah. It was to
Ashdod that the ark was brought after the defeat of
the Israelites at the fatal battle of Aphek ; and here it
was set lip in the temple of Dagou ; " and when they of
Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the
Lord." Dagou was set up again, but on the second
night he was also thrown down and shattered before
the ark ; and " the hand of the Lord was heavy upon
them of Ashdod, and He destroyed them, and smote
them with emerods ; " after which the ark was sent to
Gath. Ashdod is noted as haA-ing sustained the longest
siege recorded in history, that of Psammcticus, who
besieged it for twenty-seven years; and it was the
Azotus at which Pliilip was found after the baptism of
the Ethiopian eunuch.
Southward from Esdud is Asculan ( Ascalon), occupy-
ing a strong natural position on the sea-coast ; it was
one of the five cities of the lords of the Philistines,
but is less frequently mentioned in the Bil3lo than the
other four. Of the ruins of Ascalon little can now be
seen ; they ai-e for the most j)art buried in tlio drifting
sand or covered with gardens, and the place presents
an appearance of desolation which cannot fail to call
to mind the words of Zephaniah, " Ashkclon sliall be a
desolation." Ascalon was celebrated as the seat of tho
worship of the Syrian Venus, a goddess represented
ujider the form of a fish with a woman's head ; and in
Herod's reign it was adorned with baths, porticoes, and
fountains. During the crusades Ascalon was one of
the most important cities in the country, and in it
" was entrenched the hero of tlie last gleam of history
which has thrown its light over the plains of Philistia.
Within the walls and towers still standing Richard
held his court ; and the white-faced hill which, seen
from their heights, forms so conspicuous an object in
the eastern part of tho plain, is the ' Blanche Garde '
of the crusading chroniclers, which witnessed his chief
adventures." Still further south, about three miles
from the sea, from which it is separated by an inter-
vening tract of drifting sand, is Ghuzzeh (Giiza), still a
town of some size, surrounded by gardens, orchards, and
a wide-spreading grove of olives. Gaza, as the frontier
town on the road from Egyjit to Palestine, occupied an
important position both as a military station and depot
for the transit trade ^vitll Arabia, and has Ijeen well
described by Van de Velde as the key of tho countiy.
It was one of the oldest cities in tho world, being men-
tioned even before the call of Abraham as a " border '*
city of the Cauaanites. It was assigned to Judah, and
api^ears to have been for a short time in the possession
of the Israelites, but soon reverted to the hands of the
Philistines. The account of the destruction of the
temple of Dagon by Samson, when tho blind giant
perished -with 3,000 of his enemies, who had come to
make merry over him, is familiar to every one. As
might be expected from its position, the history of Gaza
is one of almost constant sieges, but we have no space
to allude to any of them, except that by Alexander
the Great, who c<aptured the town after a stubliorn
resistance of five months, and put all tho inhabi-
tants to the sword. It vrill bo noticed that Gaza,
Jabneel, and Ashdod stand inland, and these positions
were probably selected from fear of pirates; each toAvn,
however, had its double in the maiumas, or port, which
was situated on tho coast itself.
There are two towns which demand a few words iu
conclusion — Gath, the home of Goliath, and Lachish.
The site of Gath has not yet been definitely ascertained,
though there are good reasons for supposing that it
stood on Tell es-Safieh, a conspicuous hill in the plain
about ten miles east of Ashdod. Lachish has been
sometimes identified with Umm Lakis, a mound where
tliere are a few ruins, between Gaza and Beit Jibrin
(Elouthcropolis) ; but this site hardly answers to tho
requirements of Lachish, which was evidently a strong
place, occupying an important position on one of the
roads from Philistia to Egypt, possibly near or on tho
lower slopes of tho hills of Judoea. In the reign of
Hezekiah, Sennacherib laid siege to the town " with all
his power," and amongst the slabs found by Layard in
ILLUSTRATIONS OP EASTERIT MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
239
the i^alace of KouyuujLk were same representing the before the city of Lachish. I give iDermissiou for
siege and capture of Lachish, with the following in- its slaughter." These slabs are now in the British
scriptiou : " Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the i Museum, and give a most interesting representation '
country of Assyi'ia, sitting on the tin-one of judgment \ of the siege of an ancient city.
ILLUSTEATIONS OF EASTEEN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
BY THE KEY. DK. EDEKSHEIM.
Recitation of the Shema.
(Dent. Ti. 4^9; xi. 13—21 ; Numb. xt. 37—41.)
Pbatees after the Shema.
(3) " True it is that Thou art the Lord our God, and
the God of our fathers ; our Maker and the Rock of
our Salvation ; our Help and our Deliverer. Thy name
is from everlastiug, and there is no God beside Thee.
A new song did they that were delivered sing to Thy
name by the sea-sh®re ; together did all jjraise and own
Thee as King, and say. The Lord God shaU reign who
saveth Israel."
(4) (Only said in the evening.) " O Lord our God,
cause us to lie down in peace, and raise us up again to
life, O our King ! Spread over us the tabernacle of
Thy peace; strengthen us before Thee in Thy good
counsel, and deliver us for Thy name's sake. Be Thou
for protection roimd about us; keep far from us the
enemy, the pestilence, the sword, famine, and affliction ;
keep Satan from before and from behind us, and hide
US in the shadow of Thy wings, for Thou art a God
who keepest and deliverest us ; and Thou, O God, art
a gracious and mercifid King; keep Thou oui* going
out and our coming in, for life and for peace, from
henceforth and for ever."
The Shema was allowed to be repeated not only in
Hebrew, but in any other language, so as to procvire the
proper understanding of tie prayer. A bridegroom,
women, children, slaves, mourners for the first two days,
and those necessarily engaged about a dead body, as
well as all who were unfit for prayer, were exempted
from the SJiema.
It is impossiljle here to reproduce all the eighteen, or
rather nineteen, eulogies. On the Sabbath, only the
three first and the three last were said, but a seventh
(for the feast) was inserted between them ; on New
Tear's Day, nine ; on public fasts, twenty-four eulogies
were said. Besides, every individual was bound on
such occasions to insert between the eulogies a prayer
that God might hear and deliver His people. ,In
general, private prayers might be inserted among
these " benedictions." In seasons or places of danger,
this brief prayer, which summarised the eighteen eulo-
gies, was prescribed : " Save Thy people Israel, even
though they transgress Thy laws ; may their need come
before Thee. Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who hearest I
prayers and supplications ! " Indeed, a benediction was \
ordered to be said at every great event, or phenomenon j
in Nature — in short, almost on every special occurrence. !
Thus the Rabbis multiplied prayer and formalised it. |
We reproduce, however, two of the eighteen eulogies
(VII. and XIV.), because they contain some echoes of
the benediction of Zacharias, when, his tongue once more
loosed to praise the Lord, he was " filled ^vith the Holy
Spirit and prophesied, saying, 'Blessed bo the Lord
j God of Israel ; for He hath visited His people, and hath
I wrought redemption for them, and hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant
David.' " "With this compare —
Eulogy VII. — " Behold our misery, and plead our
cause, and save us quickly for Thy name's sake, for
Thou art a strong Sa\'iour. Blessed l^e Thou, O Lord,
the Saviour of Israel."
Eulogy XIV. — " Speedily cause Thou the branch
of David Thy servant to shoot forth, and exalt his horn
by Thy salvation, for in Thy salvation do we trust all
the day. Blessed be the Lord God, who causeth the
horn of salvation to shoot forth."
A very interesting branch of this subject is that of
family prayer among the ancient Jews. There were
certain seasons and feasts in which family prayer
formed a special element. At the beginning of every
Sabbath, there were the setting apart of the cup of Avine,
the welcoming of the Sabbath as a bridegroom, the
blessing of the children of the house, and other religious
rites in the family. At the close of the sacred day,
solemn distinction was made between it and the work-
ing week. The Paschal supper was pre-eminently a
season of family prayer, and many of the sacred relics
of that night of service have been iDreserved to us.
Other feasts also, such as that of Tabernacles and the
Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, when every house
was illuminated, afforded special opportunities for family
religion. But, indeed, one of the oldest liturgical rem-
nants left us is the grace at table, which also embodied
Ps. xxiii. Never was food or drink tasted without
blessing God for each and aU — ^for the fruits of the
ground, for those of trees, for bread, &c. In fact, for
every article of food, and for every variety of it, special
benedictions were enjoined. Unhappily, here also the
same spirit of legalism everywhere appeared, the same
miserable questions and discussions, the same cumbrous
punctiliousness, which, as in other services, turned the
freedom of the spirit into the Ijondage of the letter, and
laid upon the worshipper a yoke that was intolerable.
"We shall now, in conclusion, bring before the reader
some passages of the New Testament in which the
prayers of the Pharisees are referred to, and see how they
are illustrated by what has been described in this paper.
Of the practices condemned in Matt. vi. 5 we have
240
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
had abundant cyidence in reference to the choice of the
synagogue for prayer, and the value attached to this. As
for praj-ing in the streets, the example of a Rabbi is
specially extolled (Jer. Ber. viii. 3), wJio was observed
to pray in the streets, then to walk on a few yards and
again to pray. Nor could sncli public exhibitions bo
well avoided, since the sight of anything sti-ango, new,
good, or beautiful, always required a special benediction
{Ber. ix.).
In reference to the encouragement to persevdre in
prayer (Matt. \-di. 7 — 11 ; Luke xviii. 1 — 8), we could
quote a number of beautiful Rabbinical sayings such
as these : — " With man it happens, that he attends to the
^vishes of the ricli, and heeds not those of the poor ; but
before God all are equal ;" " Man disowns poor relatives,
but God owned Israel in the oppression of Egypt;"
" Pray," it is said, " even in the most desperate circum-
stances." We are assured that " he who prays much is
heard ;'' though some prayers (the Scriptural instances
being mentioned) may be answered only after forty days,
some after twenty, some in three, some in one day, and
often in the same hour, or even before they have been
spoken. In this respect a comparison is also made
between the God of Israel and the idols of the heathen,
the latter being near (in the house), and yet far when
you call upon them ; while the God of Israel is far (in
heaven), and yet close at hand when you seek Him.
As for the ''long prayers" of the Pharisees (Mark xii.
40), we have hatl abundant evidence of them. Besides,
it was a fixed Rabbinical princijile that " prolix prayer
prolonged life."
The story of the prayers of the Pharisee and the
publican (Luke xviii. 10 — 14) may receive this farther
illustration. We read (Jer. Ber. iv. 2) that on leaving
the Academy, Rabbi Nechunjah was wont to pray, " I
thank Thee, O Lord my God, and God of my fathers,
tliat Thou hast cast my lot among those who frequent
academies and synagogues, and not among those who
attend theatres and games. Both I and they work and
watch ; I work for the inheritance of heaven, and they
for their perdition, as it is written in Ps. xvi. 10, ' For
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.' "
These brief notes on some of the sayings of our Lord
migh-t be greatly enlarged, if the scoj)e of this paper
admitted. One other passage, however, claims our
attention. In Luke xi. 1 we read that tlie disciples
asked the IVIaster to teach them to pray, even as John
the Baptist and the Pharisees had taught theirs. The
plea was well grounded, as the Talmud contains many
prayers which the Rabbis left to their followers. And
the Lord also so far recognised the justice and propriety
of their request, that He left both for them and for us
those precious words known as " The Lord's Prayer."
A certain class of writers have thouglit that they could
trace such similarity between the prayer which Christ
and those wliich the Rabbis taught, as to establish a kind
of identity between them. The statement has no real
foundation whatever. It is quite true that we meet
with expressions and petitions analogous to most of
those in the Lord's Prayer, scattered among tl e recorded
prayers of the Rabbis. But all those prayers are of a
vinch later date than the Lord's Prayer ; they contain
each only one or two of these expressions, while the
most deeply reaching find no counterpart among the
Rabbis ; and lastly, such addresses and petitions as
" Our Father," and " Thy kingdom come," moan, in the
mouths of the Pharisees, not the universal fatherhood of
love and compassion, nor yet the all-embracing enlarge-
ment of His spiritual dominion, but that God is tho
Father of Israel as a nation, that all men are to bo
coerced into the synagogue, and that the bondage of its
cumbrous traditionalism is to be imposed upon a world
of proselytes, over whom Israel shall rule with all the
pride of Pharisaical self-assertion. In proof of the wide
difference between the Lord's Prayer and those of tho
Rabbis, we select the one which, so far as we can judge,
comes nearest to it.^ Bar Kapara prayed : " Before Theo
do we bend, before Thee we bow, before Thee we fall
down, and Tliee alone do we adore. To Thee every
knee shall bend, and every tongue confess. Thine, O
Lord, is the majesty, the power, the glory, the victory,
and the praise ; for what is in heaven, and what on
earth, is Thine. Thine, Lord, is the kingdom, and
Thou art exalted above aU. Riches and honour are
before Tliee. Thou reignest over all, and in Thine hand
are power and might. It is in Thy power to make any
one great or mighty. We bless Thee, O our God, and
praise Tliy glorious name. We adore Thee with all our
heart and soul. All our members say. Who is like
Thee, O God, who deliverest the needy from the mighty,
and the poor from the hand of him who doeth violence?
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who art worthy of praise."
(Jer. Ber. viii. 8.)
The reader will sufficiently mark the difference — we
had almost said the contrast — between this and our
Lord's prayer. The same felt want runs through all
the teaching of the Rabbis on this subject. And yet
we have chiefly sought to present the most favourable
side of it. We have purposely confined our references
almost exclusively to the Jerusalem Talmud, the whole
tone of which is far higher and less mingled with super-
stition than that of the later Babylon Gemara. And
even so we have left out all allusion to such follies as
the supposed influence of prayer upon e\-il spirits, its
miraculous results, &c. But the deepest want under-
lying all, is that of a sense of personal (not national)
need, guilt, and sin (not special sins), Avhich lays us all
equally low, calls us all equally to God, and is equally
met for us all in the revelation and provision of the
Gospel. In short, in all its religiousness Judaism
knew not that beatitude with which Christ's teaching
began: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven." For Ho "has not como
to call the righteous," but " to the poor the Gospel is
preached.' '
1 Gfrorer, Gatch. d. Urdtrist, ii. pp. 149, &c., refers to two other
prayers, which, however, are far inferior in tone to that given
above. Mauy other Rabbinical j^rayers are scattered through the
Talmud.
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.
211
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.
BT THK REV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
*HE Epistles of St. Paul to his younger
companions Timothy and Titus are not
only distinguished from the Apostle's
other letters by the specialty of purpose
expressed in the title of "the Pastoral Epistles:" they
mark also a new stage in his career.
Much ingenuity has been expended in the endea-
vour to connect the notices of time and place in these
Epistles with the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles.
The attempt, however, is futile, as will immediately be
shown ; and, in our own day, those critics who reject
the supposition of the Apostle's liberation followed by
a second imprisonment, find it an easier escape from
the difficulty to deny altogether the genuineness of the
Pastoral Ejiistles. It is well to have been brought to
this point of agreement at least, that if St. Paul did
indeed write these three letters, there was a period of
freedom and missionary effort in his life subsequent
to that two years' captivity in Rome which St. Luke
records, and to which we owe his letters to the churches
in Asia, to Philemon, and to the Philippians.
2. The first question, then, is whether there is suffi-
cient warrant to accept the Pastoral Epistles as the
veritable letters of St. Paul. To this, if the verdict of
Christian antiquity is to be taken, there can be but one
reply. The testimony is unanimous ; the letters are
undisputed.^ To modems it has been left to question,
on internal and subjective grounds alone, what the early
Church without hesitation accepted. That the objections
made are baseless might bo shown by an examination
of them one by one.- The letters, it is said, recognise
Gnostic forms of error ; the sufficient reply is that the
tendencies from which Gnosticism arose were already
discernible in the churches. Many words and phrases, it
is again alleged, occur in the Epistles which are not found
in St. Paul's other writings : this merely suggests a dif-
ferent date of composition. The same fact may be noted
ia comparing the Epistle to the Galatians with those to
the Thessalonians.^ Criticisms to the effect that the
" general tone and character of the Epistles are different
fi'om Paul's," that " the pervading spirit is fiat, sober,
sensible, without vigour, depth, or spiritual richness,"
1 " There never," says Alford, "was the slightest doubt in the
ancient Church that the Epistles to Timothy and Titus were
canonical, and written by St. Paul " (N. T., vol. iii., p. 69). They
are contained in the earliest versions, are cited by Christian
authors from Clement downwards, are included in the ancient
catalogues, and are reckoned by Eusebius among the homoloijoumena,
or universally confessed canonical writings. Marciou, however, is
said to have rejected them from his canon, for doctrinal reasons.
- See Alford's reply to the criticisms of Baur and De Wette in
particular {N. T., vol. iii., pp. 74—86), and Dr. Davidson's full dis-
cussion (Introduction to the New Testament, 1857, pp. 100—153).
2 "If the First Epistle to Timothy exhibits 81 of these pecu-
liarities, and the ■ second 63, the Epistle to the Galatiaus has 57,
that to the Philippians 54, and those to the Colossians and
Ephesiaus together 143." (Davidson, vol. iii., p. 121.)
88 — VOL. rv.
and that " un-Pauline sentiments occur," * may safely be
left to the readers of the letters themselves. Let it
only be remembered that an address ad clerum will of
necessity differ both in its topics and its tone from one
ad populum, and most if not all the differences noted
between the two series of Epistles will be explained.
Other points of difficulty will be examined in the course
of this paper. There are no objections weightier than
those just noticed, and they would scarcely have been
urged but for the impossibility of finding a place for
the Pastoral Letters in the narrative of " the Acts."
Admit a sequel to the history, and all is clear. To cut
the knot by denying the letters to be genuine, raises
greater difficulties than it seeks to solve ; for it is im-
possible to explain how a generation which showed
itself so wisely cautious in its admission of alleged
apostolic writings — which doubted even the Epistle
to the Hebrews, and scarcely allowed to the Second
Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude their place
in the canon — should thus undoubtingly and unani-
mously have received the letters to Timothy and Titus,
excepting in full, satisfactory assurance of their having
proceeded from the Apostle PauL
3. There is, further, no ground whatever in the
Apostle's recorded history for discrediting his liberation.
" I know," he said to the Ephosian elders, " that ye all,
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of
God, shall see my face no more." This was no inspired
prophecy, but a natural foreboding.'^ Was the fore-
boding fulfilled? is a question which can only be
decided by facts. The words may be set over against
those written to the Philippians : " I know that I shall
abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of faith." If the former passage would lead
us to believe that the Apostle saw Ephesus no more,
the latter would prove with equal force that he again
visited Philippi. Tlie language of the Apostle's alter-
nate hopes and fears cannot be taken as determining
his subsequent history. So far, indeed, as anything
can be gathered from the earlier Epistles of his Roman
captivity, liberation appears at least as likely as martyr-
dom. Throughout, the possibility of release is assumed :
and in the four letters" there is nothing akin to the
words in which the Second Epistle to Timothy de-
clares the Apostle " ready to be offered," and the time
of his departure at hand. That St. Luke's narrative
does not notice so important and interesting an event in
the Apostle's career, proves nothing but that the record
was complete before the event took place.
4 Dr. Davidson, Introduction io the Sfudy of the New Testament,
1868, vol. ii., pp. 169, 171.
* Canon Birks thinks that the words were actually fulfilled, and
that St. Paul gave to Timothy the charge of the Ephesian church,
without himself going thither. See Horx Ai^ostoliccB, pp. 290 — 292.
s Including that to Philemon.
242
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
4. But there is positive evidence, apart from the
leWcrs themselves, teudiug in the same direction. The
often quoted language of Clement of Rome, notwith-
standing all the attempts made to explain it away,
decisively shows the release of St. Paul from his first
Roman imprisonment to have been a tradition of the
early Church. The Apostle Paid, he says, "having
been a herald (of the Gospel) both in the east and west,
received the glorious renown due to his faith, having
taught righteousness to the whole world, and ha^-iiig
come to the extreme ivest (rh rtpfxa ttjs Sva-fois), and having
borne witness before the rulers. Thus did he depart
from the world, and went his way to the holy j)lace,"i
It is plainly impossible that Clement, u-riting from
Some, should have intended by " the extreme west,"
either the imperial city itself, or any place mentioned in
the Acts as the scene of St. Raid's ministrations, all of
wliich lay east of Rome. The only explanation is, that
as the Apostle had, in -writing to the Romans (xv. 24),
declared liis intention of visiting SjKiin, he is here said
by Clement to have carried out his purpose. The Frag-
ment of Muratori (a.d. 170) expressly asserts the same
thing.2 Eusebius mentions it as an historical fact : —
"After pleading his cause, Paul is said to have de-
parted again on the ministry of preaching, and after a
second Aasit to the same city, he finished his life with
martyrdom." •* Chi'onological data point in the same
direction. We have already seen reason for assigning
the Epistles to the Colossians, Ephesians, and Philip-
pians to the year a.d. 62-3. The Apostle's martyrdom
may be placed about a.d. 6S. There is then a space of
some five years, which, as there is no anterior opposing
probability, as the anticipations of the Epistles them-
selves warrant the supposition, as early Christian
authors accredit it, and as the references of the Pas-
toral Epistles cannot be otherwise explained, we are
fully warranted in believing to have been occupied in
part by an extended and final apostolic journey.
5. The appeal to the Pastoral Epistles themselves
must now be made ; a brief citation of passages will
suffice. The argument is, first that the references to
time and place in these Epistles not only are not suj)-
port«d by the history in the " Acts," but cannot be
assigned to any part of it ; and secondly, that these
references, taken together, perfectly cohere with the
supposition of a later journey, followed by a second
imprisonment in Rome.
(a) When the First Epistle to Timothy wiis Avritten,
he had been commissioned to remain in Ephesus, while
St. Paul proceeded to Macedonia (chap. i. 3). Now two
occasions are recorded in the history in Avhich the
Apostle departed from Ephesus. On the former, he
went not to Macedonia, but to Jerusalem (Acts xviii.
1 Clement, First Epistle io the Corinthians, chap, v., where sec
Canou Lightfoot's note.
" The words are, " Profectionem Pauli ab tJrbe ad Spaniam pro-
ficiscentis." See Fragm. in Kirchhofer's QucUcnsammlunri, p. 2.
3 Eccl. Hist., ii. 22. Chrysostom, Jerome, and Theodoret miprht
be quoted to the same effect. Jerome (d. a.d. 420) resided some
time in Eome as secretary to the bishop Daniasus, and would be
fuTT^ilinr with the traditions and archives oC the city.
19 — 22) J on the latter, he went to Macedonia, but
Timothy had been sent on from Ephesus before him
(Acts XX. 1, compared with xix. 21, 22), and was still
with St. Paul when the Apostle wrote from Macedonia
to the Corinthians. The exjjlanation suggested by
Wieseler, who rejects the hypothesis of St. Paul's
release, is that the Apostle, diuing his residence in
Ej)hesus, recorded in Acts xix., temporarily quitted
that city for Corinth and Macedonia, leaving Timothy
behind. This supposition, Wieseler thinks, will also
reconcile Acts xix. 8, '■ three months," ver. 10, '• two
years," "with xx. 31, " three years." If to the two years
and three months mentioned in the liistoi-y, we add nine
months for the Apostle's excursion to Macedonia, w©
have the " thi'ee years" of which he sjieaks in his
address to the elders. The solution is ingenious, and
derives some plausibility from the fact that there was
undoubtedly a Aisit ^laid by the Apostle to Corinth
during his residence in Ephesus.* But it is highly im-
probable that this hurried visit was part of a lengthened
tour, embracing Macedonia ; while the care committed
to Timothy was of a far more solemn and responsible
character than a charge during temporary absence. It
may be added that the Apostle writes in chap. iii. 14,
15, of his OAvn possible return, in language quite incon-
sistent with the supposition that his pastoral home was-
still at Ephesus, And further, when St. Paul gavo
his parting charge to the Ephesian elders at Miletus,.
Timothy was Avith him (Acts xx. 4). Is it supposablo
that if Timothy had already been invested with the
superintendence of the Church, no reference should
have been made to the fact It The reconciliation of
the " two years and three months " of one place wdth
the " three years " of another, needs no such violent
hji^othesis as Wieseler 's, the simple explanation being
that the Apostle's labours in Ephesus loere not closed
with the " two years " of Acts xix. 10 ; verse 22 plainly
pointing to an additional period; "he himself stayed
in Asia for a season." On the whole, then, the only
explanation of 1 Tim. i. 3 is in the suijposition of a
kter journey.^
(6) The Epistle to Titus contains two notices con-
firmatory of the same conclusion. Titus had been left
in Crete (i. 5), as Timothy in Ephesus, for the consoli-
dation of the churches. Now the only occasion in
which the history mentions a visit of St. Paul to Crete
was in his voyage to Rome as a prisoner, when it is
scarcely supposablo that Titus was with him, and certain
that, if he had been, there would have been no oppor-
tunity for the action mentioned in the Eiiistle. The
second point is that, when the letter was written, St.
Paul was on his way to winter quarters in Nicopolis, in
Epirus;® a fact which effectually -negatives the sup-
position of this visit to Crete having been paid dm-ing-
4 See JntroAuction to 2 Corinthians, and 2 Cor. xiii. 1.
* For a thorough examination and refutation of Hug's view, that
Timothy had returned from Macedonia before St. Paul quitted
Ephesus, and was then left behind, rejoining him after a short
interval in Macedonia, see Birks' llorce A\iosiollcm, ;'p. 285 — 288,
6 See Ziitroduclion to the Epistle to Titus.
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.
243
one of the voyages between Asia and Europe recorded
in tlie " Acts."'
(c) The Second Epistle to Timothy, which, as we
shall show, was the Apostle's last letter, written from
Rome on the eve of his martyrdom, has two sentences
(iv. 13, 20), not to mention others, which decisively
point in the same direction. " The cloak (or, possibly,
manuscript case) which I left at Troas with Carpus,
bring with thee, and the books." Now the last visit
paid to Troas by St. Paul before his imprisonment in
Rome was on his way to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 6) several
years before his martyrdom, whereas he is evidently
speaking to Timothy of a recent occurrence. Again,
" Trophimus have I left at Miletus sick." On St. Paul's
halt at Miletus (Acts xx. 17), Troiihimus was not left
behind, but accompanied him to Jerusalem (xx. 4 ; xxi.
29). We are compelled, therefore, to infer a later visit.
(d) On the above grounds, therefore, we conclude
that after the Apostle's two years' imprisonment at
Rome, being liberated by the court before wliich he was
tried, he undertook a journey, including at least Ephesus
(1 Tim. i. 3), Crete (Titus i. 5), Macedonia (1 Tim. i. 3),
Miletus (2 Tim. iv. 20), Corinth (2 Tim. iv. 20), and
Nicopolis (Titus iii. 12).- It is at the same time highly
probable that in the course of this journey he was
enabled to fulfil his desire to visit Philippi (Phil. i. 25 —
27 ; ii. 24), Colossse (Philem. i. 22), and even Jerusalem
(Heb. xiii. 23).^ That he also travelled to Spain is, as we
have seen, an early tradition. The probability of the
6upi)osition that Nicopolis was the place of his arrest —
" the last scene of the Apostle's labours, before his final
imprisonment " ^ — will be discussed in our Introduction
to the Epistle to Titus.
6. At what particular stage in the journey the First
Epistle to Timothy was written, we cannot tell. That
St. Paul had visited Ephesus, and had passed on to
Macedonia, lea-\dng his younger associate behind, is all
that appears on the surface of the Epistle. Timothy
was invested with the ofiice of an evangelist — a word
which in this connection denotes, not a preacher of the
Gospel, or missionarj', in the wider seuse,^ but an
apostolic deputy, with power to superintend the organi-
sation of the churches, especially by " ordaining elders."
To this particular office Timothy had been set apart,
or rather he had groivn into it, through long associa-
1 Matthew Henry and others have imagined a visit to the island
during the voyage into Syria recorded in Acts xviii. IS, wlieu St.
Paul was on liis way to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost,
i.e., in the early summer, after which he spent a considerable time
in Syria, Galatia, and Phrygia, passing then through " the inland
districts " (xix. 1) to Ephesus, where he remained three j-eai-s.
There is thus absolutely no place here for the wintering in
Nicopolis.
- Dr. Hackett on the Acts (Eng. edit.), vol. ii., p. 279 ; supple-
mentary Note 1, by S. G. Green. The later date of the Epistle is
held, among others, by Neander, Alford, Ellicott, Macknight, Mill,
Conybeare and Howson, Canon Lightfoot, Lewiu, Dr. Patou Gloag ;
the earlier, by Grotius, Hammond, Lardner, Burton, Townseud,
and Moses Stuart.
3 See IiifroducfiOd to the Epistle to the Hebrews.
■^ Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, ii. 481.
5 In this sense Philip, one of " the seven," is termed an evan-
gelist (Acts xxi. 8). Different again is the application of the word
to the biographers of our Lord — the " four Evangelists.''
tion, on affectionate and confidential terms, with the
Apostle. At the time when we first meet with him
in the history he Avas a very young man. This was at
Lystra (Acts xvi. i.), at the outset of St. Paul's second
missionary journey. Timothy was at that time already
" a disciple ; " and as he is called St. Paul's " son in th(
faith," it is probable that he was converted in the
Apostle's first visit to Lystra (Acts xiv. 6, 7). The out-
break of popular fury on that occasion, endangering the
life of the Apostle, must have made a lastmg impression
on the mind of the boyish disciple (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11).
On the second visit of St. Paul to Lystra, he determined
to associate Timothy with himself as a companion; and,
to obviate a Jewish prejudice, "took and cii-cumcised
him," as being partly of Jewish parentage.e From this
time we have continual glimpses of the young evangelist.
He remains in Bercea, when Paul is hurried away out
of the reach of the Jews ; is sent to Thessalonica to
"estabfish" and "comfort" the brethren; rejoins the
Apostle at Cormth, where his name is imited with St.
Paul's in addressing the Thessalonians. He is found
with Paul at Ephesus, whence he is sent to Macedonia
and Corinth. In Macedonia he is united with the
Apostle in the addi-ess of the second Corinthian letter ;
and at Corinth he joins in salutation to the Roman
church. In St. Paul's last journey to Asia, before his
imprisonment, Timothy is with him; and in Rome
again unites with the Apostle in the superscription of
the letters to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to
the Phihppians. From Rome he is, in all probabihty,
sent to Philippi ; rejoining the Apostle at Ephesus, or
perhaps accompanying him thither. At Ephesus he is
now left in charge of the churches of the district ; and
St. Paul, having travelled on to Macedonia, addresses
to him this letter of counsel.^
7. It is observable that Timothy, even at the end of
these journeyings and labours, is still addressed as a
youth : "Let no man despise thy youth. Flee youthful
lusts." ^ The advice has been employed to discredit
the later date of the Epistles, even to discredit them
altogether. Was Timothy, the youth of Lystra, still
a young man when St. Paul was imprisoned in Rome ?
The answer is simple. Between the circumcision of
Timothy and the martyrdom of Paul was an interval of
just seventeen years. Supposing him to have been
under twenty at the former period, he would be some
years short of forty at the latter ; and according to the
usage of the times, as well as in comparison with " Paul
the aged," and considering the responsibilities entrusted
to him, Timothy was young.^ Such, at least, would be
6 For St. Paul's different conduct in the case of Titus, and its
reason, see Introduction to the Epistle to Titus.
7 For the several points in this paragraph, see Acts svii. 14 ;
1 Thess. iii. 2 ; Acts xviii. 5 ; 1 Thess. i. 6 ; 1 Thess. i. 1 ; 2 Thess.
i. 1; Acts six. 22; 1 Cor. iv. 17; xvi. 10; 2 Cor. i. 1; Eom.
xvi. 21 ; Acts XX. 4; Col. i. 1; Philem. 1; Phil. i. 1; ii. 19.
s 1 Tim. iv. 12; 2 Tim. ii. 22.
9 Paul himself was evidently of venerable age at the close of
his life, A.D. 68. His conversion must be dated about 36. Sup-
posing him to have been seventy years old at death, he would be
;\bout thirty-four when converted. But at that time he is ex-
pressly called "a young man" (Acts vii. 58).
241
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the very natural yiew of the seniors, over whom lie was
invested with spiritual authority.
8. The order of the Epistle is by no means formal ;
the main topics are sufficiently distinct, but there are
many digressions on matters personal both to Timothy
and to the Apostle himself. A very brief analysis is
•all that can now be given.
I. Salutation. — " Grace, mercy, and peace ! " (chap.
i. 1. 2.)
II. Timothy's Commission at Ephesus, especially
in the stand he was to take against Judaising error
^i. 3—10).
Digression. The contrast of Law and Gospel brings
to mind his own exceeding happiness in haWng " ob-
tained mercy," and being entrusted with the " glad
tidings of the glory of the blessed God."
Doxology. (i. 11—17.)
III. The Charge to Timothy, in many particulars
(i. 18— vi. 10.)
(1.) Appeal to him to be faithful (dread example
from Hymenseus and Alexander') (i. 18 — 20).
(2.) Injunctions respecting worship.
(a) Intercession to be made for all. Divine sanc-
tion of the law of universal charity (ii. 1 — 8).
{b) Decencies of worship to be observed by women
(ii. 9—15).
•(3.) Directions concerning the officers of the churches.
■(a) The bishop — his character and qualifications (iii.
1-7).
(b) The deacons — their character and qualifications
(iii. 8—13).
It is no part of our present purpose to discuss the
nature of these ecclesia.stical offices. The settled order
in the churches which their mention indicates, is a
strong argUKient for the later date of the Epistle. The
letter to the Philippians, probably the last, as we have
seen, of St. Paul's two years' Roman captivity, is the
earliest that speaks of bishops and deacons.
Digression. Renewed appeal to Timothy. In the
Ajiostle's absence- ho is besought to comport himself
worthily of the Mystery op Godliness^ (iii. 14 — 16).
(4.) Cautions against asceticism (iv. 1 — 11).
(5.) Rules for a faithful and successful vunistry (iv.
12—16).
1 irymeticBiis, one of those who taught that the resurrection was
already past ("2 Tim. ii. 17, 18) ; Alexander, " the coppersmith "
(f! Tim. iv. 11), perhaps the same mentioned at Ephesus (Acts xix.
33. 3t).
- It may be observed that the words in verse 14, " hoping to
come unto thee shortly," are au additional disproof of the earlier
date ; for, as Canon Cirks remarks {Jl. A., p. 295), "When St. Paul
entered Macedonia on his second visit, he plainly did not intend
to return to Asia until after the winter, au interval of nine
months."
^ The reading in chap. iii. ver. 10 of O^ for 9S {Who instead of
GocI) is now accepted by almost all critics of the first rank. See,
iimoug English expositors, Alford and EUicott in loc. "The
Mystery" is the antecedent personified; " The mystery, who;" or
"the Mystery — He who was manifested," &c. Different opinions
prevail as to the punctuation of the preceding sentences. The
phrase " the pillar and ground of the truth" may grammatically
refer either to ihe Church (as in E. V.), to Timolhy, or to the
Mijsteni. The question merits more extended examination than
can be given here : we incline to the second view.
(6.) Commands respecting different classes in the
Church.
(a) Pastoral demeanour towards old and young, and
the female sex (v. 1, 2).
(6) Precepts respecting "widows," supported by the
Church, and devoted to works of usefulness (v. 3 — 16).
(c) Elders to bo properly supported (v. 17, 18).
(d) Care and impartiality to bo observed in consider-
ing accusations against cliaractor (v. 19 — 21).
(e) Caution lest the unworthy should be ordained to
the ministry (v. 22, 24, 25).
Digression. Sudden parenthesis caused by considering
Timothy's feeble health and many cares (ver. 23).*
(/) Directions respecting servants, especially Chris-
tia.ns, where both master and servant were Christians.
Law of subordination (vi. 1 — 5).
Digression, from the thought of earthly ambitions ;
how poor they are, especially when they take the form
of covetousness ! Live above them, and lay hold on
eternal life ! (vi. 6 — 12.)
IV. Closing Appeal, doxology and benediction
(vi. 13—21).
The reference, after the sublime outburst of praise
in vv. 15, 16, to two topics of the pi-eceding discussion,
the right use of wealth (vv. 17 — 19), and the absurdities
of a vain philosophy, must, no doubt, bo explained by
the special circumstances and dangers of the Asiatic
churches. The sudden re-introduction of such themes
is eminently characteristic of the Apostle, and a striking
mark of genuineness.
9. It has often been remarked that the best episto-
lary compositions as truly reveal the character of the
recipient as of the writer. A man may not unfairly bo
judged by the letters his friends write to him. Apply-
ing this test to the character of Timothy, a very dis-
tinct portrait rises before tis — a weakly, young-looking
man, intellectual and speculative, with nobler faculties
tlian he himself was conscious of ; too ready to submit
to the unfavourable verdict of others, and needing to
be aroused, by stimulating, encouraging appeals, to act
with a boldness and decision commensurate with his
powers. No doubt he needs the warning words which
the venerable Apostle, his father in Christ, addresses
to him; while in every essential element of character
he is worthy not only to be that Apostle's familiar
attendant and friend, but to be entrusted ^vith the high
responsibility of carrying on the apostolic work alone,
amid the peculiar perils which in early days encom-
passed the " churches of Asia." Were other evidence
wanting, the latest letter of St. Paul, as wo shall here-
after see, well proves how fully Timothy deserved the
great Apostle's confidence and love.
•• " Imagine an impostor sitting down to forge au epistle in the
name of St. Paul. Is it credible that it should come into his
head to give such a direction as this, so remote from everything of
doctrine or discipline, everything of public concern to religion or
the Church, or to any sect, order, or party in it, and from every
purpose for which such au epistle could be written? It seems to
me that nothing but reality, that is, the real valetudinary situation
of a real person, could have suggested a thought of so domestic a
nature." (Palcy, Horx Paulinte on 1 Timothy, § 4; see also the fol-
lowing p.aragraf h.)
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
215
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
ORDERS FROM ROSACEA TO CUCURBITACEiE.
KEEPER OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITI'SH MUSEUM.
BY WILLIAM CARKUTHEKS, F.R.S
SiJHE Rose family {Boi,acece) is one of tlic
best-kuowu orders of plaiits, as it iu-
cludes many favourite flowers like the rose,
meadow-sweet, aud ciuqiic-foil, and mune-
rous valuable fruits, like the apple, cherry, plum, aud
strawberry. The plants of the order are generally dis-
tributed over the world, but are most abundant in the
temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The
indigenous flora of Palestine does not contain many
representatives of the family ; and the species that have
beeu noticed are chiefly met with on the mountains of
the north or on the shores of the Mediterranean. The
translators of our Authorised Version have rendered
chabatztzeleth (n'^san) " rose.'' The word occurs in only
two places in the Bible, one where the bride in the Song
replies, " I am the rose of Sharon and the Hly of the
valleys " (Cant. ii. 1); aud the other where the prophet,
looking forward to the time of Gospel blessing, says,
" The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose "
(Isa. XXXV. 1). It is unlikely that our best-known aud
favourite flower is meant, seeing that Palestine has no
roses except in the Lebanon and anti-Lebanon ranges in
the north, where our common wild dog-rose and tliree
other species occur. The etymology of the Hebrew
word (from hetzel, "a bulb ") seems to indicate that the
plant referred to had a bulbous root ; and this agrees
with the interpretation of the LXX., who rendered it
in the passage in Isaiah by " lily," while the general
word " flower " is employed in the Song of Solomon : " I
am the flower of Sharon — the Idy of the valley." Some
one or more species of the genera Lilium, Crocus, or
Narcissus may be the plant referred to.
The "briars " with which Gideon threatened to tear
the flesh of the men of Succoth who refused to supply
his army with bread when pursuing the Midianites, and
with which he "taught them" on his return from
victory (Judg. viii. 7, 16), were probably a bramble,
perhaps Bubiis discolor, a species common in our
hedges and not rare in Palestine. The "thorns"
which, according to the proverb, could pierce the hand
of the drunkard (Prov. xxvi. 9), and which is referred
to ia the description of leA^athau in these words,
" Canst thou bore his jaw through with a thorn ? " must
have been of some strength, and may have been the in-
durated spine of the sloe or the hawthorn, which occui*
in the hUly regions of Palestine.
The common almond, with two other species of the
same genus, grows spontaneously on the Lebanon
mountains, and they were, no doubt, extensively culti-
vated in ancient times in the gardens and the level
districts of the Holy Land. In the strange experiments
which Jacob performed ■with the flocks of Labau, he
used peeled rods of " green poplar, and of the hazel
and chestnut tree " (Gen. xxx. 37). Luz ("V), here
translated " hazel," is the same word as that employed
by the Arabs for the almond-tree, aud should be thus
rendered in this passage. Luz, the Canaauitish name
for Bethel, was probably derived from the ex'.s'cncc
there of a famous almond- tree, or from the extensive
cultivation of the almond in that locality.
The word most frequently employed for the almond
in the Hebrew Scriptures is shahed Ck.c), a singularly
expressive term for this tree, being derived from the
A-erb " to wake," alluding to its being the first tree to
wake out of the winter's sleep. In London its bare
leafless branches are covered with blossoms in Mardiv
or April, but in Palestine the tree is white with bloom
in January. Both the verb and the name derived from
it are used together when the Lord employs the tree
as a figure to illustrate tlie speedy execution of his
word. •' Jeremiah, what seest thou ? and I said, I see
a rod of an almond [a wakener] tree. Then said the :
Lord unto me. Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten
[early wake as to] my word to perform it " ( Jer. i. 11,
12). This early clothing of the tree with its white
blossoms supplies Solomou with a beautiful metaphor
of old age. It is the time when " the almond-tree shall
flourish " (Eccles. xii. 5). By a kind of microscopic
criticism, perhaps natural to lexicograjjhers, this inter-
pretation of the metaphor has been attempted to be set
aside, because, it is said, the flower of the almond is not
white, but pink. No doubt the individual flower has a
pinkish hue, but the general aspect of the tree in bloomi
fully justifies the comparison between it and the hoary
locks of the old man. A further beauty is seen iu the
illustration, wdien one recalls the black leafless branches,
as if prematurely clothed with their many blossoms,
rudely shaken by the yet wintry wiads of March. <
The fiiiit of the almond-tree was amongst the pre-
cious productions of Canaan which Jacob sent to Egj'pt
that his sons might obtain favour in the eyes of Egj'pt's
ruler (Gen. xliii. 11) ; and its form supplied a suitable
model for the bowls of the golden candlestick.
The only representative of the Myrtle family {Myr-
tacece) found in the Holy Land is the common myrtle,
a favourite everywhere from the sweet scent of its
wild flowers and bruised leaves. It is an abundant
plant in the south of Europe, and one with which we
are well acquainted as an in-door plant iu Britain. It
grows spontaneously in the hiUy regions in the north
of Palestine, but it is no longer found on the Mount of
Olives, though Tristram has met with it in many of the
glens near Jerusalem. The returned captives, when
celebrating their first Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem,
formed their booths of branches of the palm, olive, pine,
and myrtle cut from the Mount of Olives (Neh. viii. 15) ;
and the modern Jew of every land still uses it in his
observance of this feast, when he can obtain it. The
246
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
myi-tle will again aboiiud in the Holy Laud, according
to that promiso of the Lord, "Instead of the thorn shall
come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come
np the mp-tlc-trce " (Isa. Iv. 13) ; even the desert shaU
bo clothed with the '" cedar, the acacia, tlie myi-tle, and
the oil-tree " (Isa. xli. 19). The man riding upon the
red horse in the vision of Zechariah is represented as
standing in a gi-ove of myrtle-trees (Zech. i. 8, <&c.).
A plant like the pnrple loosestrife so common in our
marshes, meadows, and by the side of our water-courses,
is found on the shores of Palestine. To the same
family [LijthrariecB) belongs the dwarf shrub Laivsonia
inermis, Linn. — the camphire of the Song of Solomon :
*' My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the
vineyards of En-gedi" (Cant. i. 14). Camphor and the
tree that produces it were unknown to the ancients,
and this, therefore, cannot be the plant referred to here.
Equally erroneous is the marginal reading of "cy|n-ess,"
a name only applied by us to the coniferous trees or
shrubs common in cultivation. The translators of our
Authorised Version were no doubt led into this error
by the Septuagiut version, where the Hebrew hoplier
(152) is correctly rendered Kvirpos, by which the Greeks
meant, not the cypress, but the Lawsonia. This is the
henna of the Arabs, a plant prized for its clusters of
small fragrant flowers, but much more as yielding fi'om
its bruised leaves a cosmetic dye used in colouring the
uails of the fingers and toes, the tips of the fingers, the
palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet. The
reddish-orange colour thus x^roduced is thought to en-
hance the beauty of the Oriental lady of to-day, and
it was equally valued by the ancient Egyptians, as we
learn from the mummy remains of their women.
Nearly related to the henna in a systematic arrange-
ment is the pomegi'anate (Piinica granatum, Linn.), so
frequently mentioned in the Bible. It is a shrub or
low tree, generally with many stems together, producing
blood-red flowers, and globular fruit about the size of an
apple. This fruit was higlily prized by the childreu of
Israel ; in their complaint in the wilderness they longed
for the pomegranates they knew in Egypt (Numb. xx. 5).
With the vine and fig, tliis was one of the signs of the
fruitful land promised by the Lord to His people (Dent,
viii. 8) ; and the spies found it in abundance in their
excursion into the laud (Numb. xiii. 23). The frequent
use of Rimmon for towns and villages indicates the
abundance of pomegranate Aineyards around them.
Tlic beautiful form of the fruit led to its being era-
ployed in the ornamentation of the high priest's robe
(Exod. xxviii. 33, 34), and to its use in the sculptured
capitals of the pillars in the Temj)le (1 Kings vii. 18).
The delicious and refreshing pulp in whicli the seeds
are embedded makes the pomegranate a highly-prized
fruit in all warm countries. The liquid ruljy colour of
this pulp is alluded to in the figurative desci-iption of
the beautiful complexion of the bride : " Tliy temples
are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks "
(Cant. iv. 3). The " spiced wine of the juice of the
pomegi-auate " (Cant. viii. 2) is made at the present day
in the East as it was in the days of Solomon.
The only representative of the Gourd family [Ciicur-
hitaccw) native to England is the wild bryony, whoso
long, creeping stem and shining heart-shaped leaves
abound in the hedges of the south. Two species of
bryony are described by Boissier from the neighbour-
hood of Jerusalexn and other localities in Palestine.
The bitter cucumber or colocynth, known to us from
the familiar drug obtained from the spongy pulp in
which its seeds are embedded, is an indigenous plant in
Palestine. It grows on the shores of the Levant as
well as in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. It is
probably the wild gourd which was shred into the pot
of pottage at Gilgal by one of the sons of the prophets,
who apparently mistook it for a good melon. The error
of the young man was discovered when the pottage was
being consumed ; but Elisha delivered those who had
I)artaken of the food by miraculously destroying its
injurious qualities (2 Kings iv. 38 — 41). The squirting
cucumber {Echallium elaterium, Linn.) is also found in
Palestine. It has more active medical properties than
the colocynth, but its small prickly fruit was not likely
to have been mistaken l)y any one for a melon or a
gourd. In the narrative it is said that the "wild
gourds " were gathered from " a wild vine." This
designation is frequently applied to creeping or climb-
ing plants with tendrils, which, except in this habit of
growth, differ in all other respects from the true ^nne.
The colocynth is probably also the " vine of Sodom," as
Canon Tristram has suggested, which is mentioned in
the song of Moses: "Their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
and of the fields of Gomoi-rah ; theii- grapes are grapes
of gall, their clusters are bitter" (Deut. xxxii. 32). It
"grows most abundantly on the barren sands near
Gilgal, and all round the Dead Sea on the low flats,
covering much ground with its tendinis, which reach a
prodigious length and bear great quantities of fruit."
The nauseous taste of the bitter pulp of the colocynth
fruit — bitter as gall — agrees with the description of
the " gi'apes " of this vine of Sodom.
The gourd which covered the booth erected by Jonah
on the east side of Nineveh was, there can be little
doubt, one of the climbing goiirds, whoso large leaves
would supply the angry prophet with a grateful shade
(Jon. iv. 5 — 9). The sudden destruction of the plant
woiild follow naturally the injury done to its stem by a
herbivorous grub or worm. The castor-oil plant or
"palmocrist" {Bicinns communis, Liim.), suggested in
the margin of our Bibles, and at first in-oposed by
Jerome as the gourd of Jonah, though common in the
East, is not an arbom' plant, and does not agree with
the narrative.
Several species of the Gourd family, though perhaps
not indigenoxis to Palestine, have been long cultivated
there. The cucumber and melon were well known in
Eoypt to the Israelites during their bondage, and they
were among the good thiijgs mourned for in the wilder-
ness (Numb. xi. 5). Ax the present day the melon,
water-melon, and cucumber are largely grown in Pales-
tine and Egypt, and form important articles of food to
the people.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
247
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
THE COUXTRY EAST OF JOEDAN.
BY MAJOR WILSON, K.E.
X. — BASHAN, GILEAD, AIv-D MOAB.
r5>i=^^|jr;-g-jg general cliaracter of the country east
of Jordan has already been alluded to in
general terms as a wide table-land of
undidating downs, clotbed witli ricli grass,
and dotted with the relics of primeval forests, through
which wind the deep ravines of the Tarmuk, the
Jabbok, and the Aruou, and we may therefore pass at
once to an examination of the three districts of Bashau,
Gilead, and Moab, into which it was divided.
basha:^.
The limits of Bashan are defined in the Bible as
being from " the border of Gilead," the river Tai'muk,
or Hieromax, on the south, to Mount Hermon on the
north, and from the Jordan valley on the west to
Salchali (Sulkhad), south-east of Jebel Hauran, and the
border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites on the
east. It was bestowed on the half-tribe of Manasseh,
together with "half Gilead," and after the Captivity
was divided into the foiu* proA-iuces of Gaulouitis,
Auranitis, Trachonitis, and Batansea, and we may
perhaps add Itursea or Jetur, which was conquered by
the cluldreu of Manasseh at a later period (1 Chron.
V. 19, 23). The oaks of the forests of Bashan, and the
wide-spreading plains on vrhich " the strong buUs of
Bashan" pastured, appear to have had a proverbial
fame, but the country itseK has no Biblical history, and
its name is foimd most frequently in connection with
that of King Og.
The province of Ituroea, over which Philip was
tetrarch (Luke iii. 1), lay along the base of Mount
Hermon, and is now called Jedui", the Arabic form
of the Hebrew Jetur, a name derived from Jetur, the
son of Ishmael, who settled there. The country is
undulating, and lias an extremely rich soil, well watered
by the streams which descend from Hermon, as Avell as
by niimerous springs ; the rock is basalt, broken here
into deep chasms, and there rising ui jagged rocks of
the most fantastic form. TJio province of Gmdonitis is
nowhere alluded to in the Bible ; but Golan, its chief
town, is mentioned as a city of Bashan, in the portion
of Manasseh, which was allotted to the Levites, and
as one of the cities of refuge east of Bashan. Of the
site of Golan nothing is known, but it may have been
at a place called Nawa, where there are extensive ruins.
The western boundary of Gaulouitis was the Jordan,
whence the ground rises abruptly, presenting the
apj)earance, to a spectator on the western heights, of a
long ridge running from Hermon towards the moun-
tains of Gilead ; it is, however, nothing more than the
edge of the i^lateau, with a few isolated hills not con-
nected with any moimtain system. The plateau or
table-land now called Jaulau, the Arabic form of the
Hebrew Golan, is extremely fertde, and provides abun-
dant pasturage for the Bedawi flocks. It was once
covered with thi-iving towns and villages, but Avith
the exception of some dozen, they now lie waste, and
their place is occupied by the black tents of the
Bedawin. Amongst these towns were Bethsaida- Julias,
Gamala, and Hippos, which we have already noticed
when describing the Sea of GalUee, and Apheca, the
modern Fik, which may possibly be the Aphek at which
Benhadad and his Sp-ian army Avere defeated by the
Israelites (1 Kings xx. 26—30). The plain of the
Jaulau, like Jedur, is of volcanic formation, a vast
field of basalt, watered by numerous Avinter toiTents
and perennial streams, which form part of the drainage
system of the Sheriat el-Mandliur or Tarmuk ; and it
was formerly traversed by the two Roman roads leading
respectively from the Jisr Benat Jakub, alcove the Sea
of Galilee, and from Gadara to Damascus ; of these
roads large sections remain in an almost perfect state,
and one of them must have been the road by which
Saul joui-neyed to Damascus, " breathing out threaten-
ings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord."
The proA-ince of Trachonitis lay to the south of
Damascus and east of Gaulouitis, and included the
remarkable district of the Lejah, with part of the western
slopes of Jebel Hauran. The Lejah, which has been
identified with " the region of Avgoh, the kingdom of
Og in Bashan," containing sixty great cities, is a wUd
mass of basaltic rock, some twenty-two miles long by
fourteen wide, with a clearly- defined boundary, which has
been compared to a " cyclopean wall in ruins." Pro-
fessor Porter describes it as being " wholly composed
of black basaltic rock, which appears to have issued
from innumerable pores in the earth, and to have flowed
out on every side xmtil the plain was almost covered.
Before cooling, it seems to have been tossed like a tem-
pestuous sea, and subsequently to have been shattered
and rent by internal convulsions. . . . Deep fissures
and yawning chasms with ragged broken sides intersect
the whole like a network; while here and there are
mounds of rock e-iddently forced upwards by some
mighty agency, and then rent and shattered to their
centres. . . • The aspect of the whole when one gains
a hio-h point is wild and savage in the extreme." Jose-
phus tells us (Antiq. xv. 10, § 1) that the robbers who
infested the district lived in caves ha^dng narrow
entrances "in which but one could come in at a time,"
whdst the interiors were " incredibly large and made
very wide ; " and he adds, " the ground over then- habi-
tations was not very high, but rather on a plain, wlule
the rocks are altogether hard and difficult to be entered
upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by the
guidauce of another, for these roads are not straight,
but have several revolutions." These descriptions call
248
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
to mind the recent accounts in the newspapers of tlie
lava beds in which Captain Jack and his Modoc warriors
were able to hold their own against the trained sokliers
of tlio United States.
Traclionitis is only once mentioned in the Bible,
as the region over which Philip was tetrarch (Luke
iii. 1), and it is but rarely noticed in history, yet
it must formerly have been of some importance, if
we may judge from the number of deserted towns ;
indeed, nothing is more striking than the constant
evidences which meet the eye of the traveller that this
wild, desolate region was at one time thickly popidated.
Amongst tlie more important sites are Musmeih, where
the ruins cover a larger area than Jerusalem, and
include many large buildings, such as the Doric
temple erected during the reign of Aurelius Antoninus
and Lucius Verus, which has an inscription of much
interest, identifying the place with Pliseno, the capital
of Trachon ; Edhra, which is probably Edrei, the scene
of the great battle in which Og, king of Bashan, was
killed, " and his eons, and all his people, until there
was none left him alive " (Numb. xxi. 33 — -35). Edhra
stands on a rocky promontory which projects from the
south-west corner of the Lejah. " The site," says Pro-
fessor Porter, " is a strange one — without water, without
access, except over rocks and through defiles wliich are
all but impracticable. Strength and security seem to
have been the grand objects in view, and to those all
other advantages were sacrificed." Within the walls
are the ruins of two Christian churches, one of which,
as an inscription informs us, was converted, A.D. 516,
from a temple into a church. Kunawat, the Kenath of
Numb, xxxii. 42, which Nobah took, with " the villages
thereof, and called it Nobah, after his o^vn name," is
picturesquely situated on the western slopes of Jebel
Hauran, and on the left bank of the wild ravine of Wady
Kunawat, a tributary of the Yarmuk. The ruins are
extensive, and amongst them are a theatre, hippodrome,
a large basilica of the fourth century, temples, and
many private houses with stone doors tastefully orna-
mented with fruit and flowers. Not far from Kunawat
is one of the most interesting remains in the country,
the temple of Siah, which, according to inscriptions in
Greek and Aramaic, was built in honour of BjuiI Samiu,
and contained a statue of Herod ; its chief interest,
however, is derived from the fact that it was erected
at t\i(i same period as Herod's temple at Jerusalem, and
that in its construction it offers many points of resem-
blance to what we know of that building.
The province of Batancea comprised the mountain-
range of Jebel Hauran, except the western slope, which
is of volcanic origin, and composed of hills of moderate
elevation and easy gradients, covered with wood and
cultivation. The name Batanacsa still lingers in the
small town of Bathaniyeh, on the norihern spurs of
Jebel Hauran, and Wetzslein has shown tliat the proper
name of the whole range is Ard el-Batliauiyeh. Among
the many ancient sites are Suweideh, next to Busrah
the most extensive ruins in the country, but of which
the history is entirely lost ; and Sulkhad (Salchah), men-
tioned as one of the limits of Bashan. The ruins of the
latter place are situated at the south-eastern extremity
of Jebel Hauran, and include many important buildings
and private houses with their massive stone walls, stone
doors, and stone roofs, in an almost perfect state.
The province of Auranitis, tlie Auran mentioned by
Ezekiel in defining the north-eastern boundary of the
Promised Land, and the modern Hauran, was situated
between Gaulonitis and Batana?a. It consisted of the
great fertile plain which extends to the west and south
of Jebel Hauran, and is now known as En Nukhrah,
This plain is perfectly flat, and its soil is extremely rich,
whilst over its surface are scattered the ruins of innu-
merable towns and villages. Under the reigns of the
Herods and Agrippas, and under the Roman Empire,
the province of Auranitis attained to a considerable
degree of prosperity, which was only stopped by the
Moslem invasion. Amongst the inscriptions found at
Busrah, the chief town, the names of Malichus, the
opponent of Herod the Great, and Harethath Philo-
demus, who held Damascus, and governed it by an
ethnarch, at the time of St. Paul's escape, have been
found. The most important town of Auranitis was
Bostra, the modern Busrah, and perhaps, though it is
by no means certain, the Bozrah in the land of Moab
mentioned by Jeremiah. The ruins are very extensive,
and comprise a triumphal arch, a temple, two Roman
gateways, a great mosque, said to have been built by
Omar ; a church, erected in 513 A.D., a large castle, and
other important buildings. Bostra was also the centre
from which the roads traversing the country east of
Jordan radiated, and the great trunk roads from Arabia
to Damascus and the north, and from Palestine to
Busrah on the Euphrates, passed through it.
Perhaps the most striking feature in the Hauran, and,
indeed, in the whole district comprised in the ancient
territory of Bashan, is the almost exclusive use of stone
in the buildings, whether basilicas with their lofty gal-
leries, or private houses with their different chambers and
outhouses. There is no wood in the country, and the
only material available being a hard basalt, the builders
were obliged to resort to a combination of arches as a
means of covering gi'eat spaces. Tlie arches were built
in parallel lines, and supported walls, on which large flat
slabs were laid, fitting perfectly together, and forming
a roof, on which a layer of earth was generally placed.
The doors were also of stone — sometimes of a single
slab, sometimes with two leaves, but in either case
turning easily on socket-hinges. Many of the door.s
may still be seen swinging on their hinges, and in some
of the inscriptions reference is made to the difficulties
met with in their construction; the doors of small
recesses in the sides of the walls and the shutters of the
windows were made of the same material and in a
similar manner. The date of these private houses has
been matter of some dispute. Some writers are of
opinion that they date from the reign of the giant king
of Bashan, but this view can scarcely be maintained in
the face of recent investigation. It is certainly probable
that the old inhabitants of Bashan, having no other
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
249
250
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
material, built theii- houses of stone, and there may pos-
sibly be remnauts of these in the country, but by far the
larger number of the private dwelling-places and tombs
now standing date from the Christian period; this is
proved by iuscriptions, and by the fact that most of the
pagan inscriptions are not in situ, but are generally
found in later buildings. Christianity, according to Do
Yogiie, " penetrated very early into these regions, and it
counted numerous adepts, organised in hierarchic order,
T\-hen Constant iue gave it peace ; and accortlingly, from
the second half of the fourth century inscriptions are
foimd pointing out the existence of a strong and active
Christian society, building houses, porticoes, cisterns,
hostelries, basilicas, churches, tombs. Sic, in honour of
the Holy Trinity and of the saints who were most
widely worsliipped."
GILEAD,
sometimes called " Mount Gilead," and " the land of
Gilead," extended from -the river Tarmidi on the north
to the borders of Moab on the south, that is, to the
Wady Mojib or Arnon. It would appear that at a
Tcry early period the Moabite territory extended far
to the north of the Arnon, and embraced the " plain
country"' or Mishor, and south-eastern portion of the
Jordan Yalley, but that when the Israelites reached
the country the Moabites had been driven out by
Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was in iJossessiou
and hviug at Heshbon. On the defeat of Sihon at
the decisive battle of Jahaz the country feU into the
hands of the Israelites, and was afterwards given to
Reuben and Gad, but this particular district, the
modern " Belka," still retained the distinctive name of
" Mishor," or sometimes the " land of Moab," and the
plains east of Jordan were also known as the Arboth
Moab, or " plains of Moab." Between the Tarmuk and
the Jabbok (Wady Zerka) rise the mountains of Jebel
Ajlun, presenting a uniform outline when viewed from
the west, but assuming a more prominent appearance
■when approached from the east, a feature on which Dr.
Beke dwells particularly in his account of a journey
from Damascus to Nablus through the Hauran. This
district is " the half of Gilead " over which Og reigned,
and which was afterwards given, with all Bashan, to
the half-tribe of Manasseh ; so, too, it was in this
northern Gilead that Laban overtook Jacob where he
had " pitched his tent in the mount," possibly not far
from the modern Tibneh, and here a heap of stones
was thrown up to mark the boundary between the
two families, and called Galeed, " the heap of witness,"
possibly a play on the original name Gilead. To the
south of the great chasm of the Jabbok lie the hills
of Jebel Jelad (Gilead), the loftiest summit of which,
Jebel Osha, overlooks the whole of the Belka, or
elevated plain, that extends right down to the Arnon.
The hills north and south of the Jabbok are well culti-
vated, and are in places covered with forests of oak, the
descendants of the oaks of Bashan; the country pre-
sents some of the most rm-al scenery in Palestine, open
forest glades with luxuriant grass, and a rich variety of
TVild flowers. The plain of the Belka is bordered on
the east by a low chain of hills which separate it from
the eastern desert, and on the west rise a series of
heights overlooking the deep chasm of the Jordan
Valley, whilst its surface is dotted with isolated hills or
tells, on which the ancient cities were built. In this
southern half of Gilead were situated Mount Aljarim,
Mount Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, wliich are mentioned
in connection with the approach of the Israelites to
the Promised Land and the death of Moses. It was
this rich district of Gilead, with its abundant j^asturage
"a place for cattle," that the two tribes of Gad and
Reuben desired for their "very great midtitude of
cattle," and in which they afterwards led a pastoral
life, to wliich there are several allusions in the Bible.
It Avas at Mahanaim in Gilead that Abner rallied the
Israelites after their defeat on Mount Gilboa, and that
David took refuge when fleeing from Absalom; in one
of the forests of Gilead Al:)salom was caught in the
thick boughs of a terebinth, and through the same
country our Lord passed on his last journey to Jeru-
salem.
Amongst the more important places in Gilead were
Gadara (Umm Keis), which we have already noticed in
connection with the Sea of GaUlee ; Gerasa (Jerash), a
large town, on a little stream fringed with oleanders
that falls into the Jabbok, which in the time of Jerome
gave its name to the country. Gerasa is not alluded to
in the Authorised Yersion of the Bible, but some MSS.
read "Geraseues" for "Gergeseues" in Matt.viii.28. The
town is mentioned by Josephus as having been "burned
by the Jews during the last war with the Romans, but
it afterwards recovered, and during the reigns of the
Antonines (138 — 180 A.D.) was adorned with those mag-
niflcent buildings, temples, and palaces, the ruins of
which are the most striking and beautiful in Palestine.
Amongst these ruins are those of a colonnade which
ran through the centre of the city, temj)les, theatres,
and gateways, many still in a good state of preservation.
At the foot of Jebel Osha is Es Salt, a large town
picturesquely situated on a partially isolated hiU, the
slopes of which are terraced for the culture of the
olive and the "vdne ; the inhabitants, of whom about one-
sixth are Christians, are hardy and courageous, and able
to hold their OAvn against the marauding Bedawin. Es
Salt has generally been identified mth Ramoth-gilead,
the city of refuge for the tribe of Gad ; but its position
does not altogether answer the requii'cments of the
Bible narrative, and Jilad, north of Jebel Osha. and
Jerash have been proposed as more suitable sites for
the ga-eat fortress. Ramoth-gilead, being witliin the
limits of Gad, must have been south of the Jabbok or
on it, and from the part which it played during tho
wars between the Israelites and the Sp-ians we may
infer that it occupied an important strategical position,
perhaps commanding a i)ass leading from the Jordan
Yalley to the plateau ; until, however, tho counti-y has
been properly surveyed, it is impossible to come to any
definite conclusion. It was at Ramoth-gilead that
Ahab lost his life during the joint expedition, with
Jehoshaphat, to recover the city which had been seized
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
251
by Beuliadad in tlio reigu of Omvi ; a second aud
successful attempt was made by Joram, wlio, liowever,
was wounded so severely that lie was obliged to retire to
Jezreel, lea^dng Jcliu in command of the conquered
city. The anointment of Jehu as king over Israel,
1 his rebellion against Joram, and sudden departure from
- Ramoth-gilead for Jezreel, where the last scene of the
successful conspiracy was accomplished, are minutely
I and gi-aphically described in 2 Kings ix.
South-east of Es Salt are the extensive ruins of
Amman, situated on either side of a small stream,
which has its source in the old town aud flows through
it. Amman is the Rabbah or Rabbath-ammou of the
Bible, but it afterwards received the name of Phila-
delphia from Ptolemy Philadclphus. The ruins are
amongst the most remai'kable in Palestine, and include
an immense theatre partly excavated in the rock, a
mausoleum, odeiim, temples, a church, a citadel and
other public buildings, but they date from the Roman
period, and no traces have yet been discovered of the
presence of the Israelites. The whole place is now
desolate, and only %-isited by wandering Bedawin with
their flocks, recalling the prophecy of Ezekiel, " I will
make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites
a couching-place for flocks " (xxv. 5). Rabbah is the
only city of the Ammonites mentioned in the Bible, aud
its chief interest is derived from the long siege which
it sustained during the reign of David; at the end,
apparently, of about two years the lower town was taken
by Joab ; but the citadel remained, and the honour
of its capture was reserved for David himself. The
importance attached to the operations against Rabbah,
is attested by the unusual fact of the presence of the
ark with the army, and the length of the siege shows
that it must have been a place of very great strength.
Dui'ing the period between the Old and N^ew Testa-
ments the town became of great importance, and, as
we gather from Josephus, was the scene of several
contests.
To the south-west of Amman is Hesban (Heshbon),
the royal city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, standing
on a hiU which rises above the general level of the
plateau. The existing ruins are of little interest, but
there are numerous cisterns, and a large reservoir,
which may call to mind the passage in the Song of
Solomon, "Thine eyes are like the fish-pools in Hesh-
bon." The fountain of Hesban, in the valley of the
same name, is described by Captain Warren as a " de-
lightful spot, a large volume of water rushing straight
out of the side of the rock." In the immediate vicinity
of Hesban are the ruins of El Al (Elealeh), Main (Baal-
meon), and Medeba (Madabal ; but the place of chief
interest is, undoubtedly, Jebel Nebbeh, which, in all pro-
bability, is the Moimt N'ebo of the Bible. Mount Nebo
is only mentioned twice in Scripture (Dent, xxxii. 49 ;
xxxiv. 11, biit in both these passages its position is so
distinctly defined as being " over against Jericho," that
it is extraordinary to find its true position unknown
until the name was recovered by Mons. de Saulcy, in
1853. Since that date it has been visited by the Due
de Luynes, Dr. Tristram, Captain "Warren, aud many
others, and a complete siu-vey has recently been made
of the district by the American Palestine Exploration
Fund; unfortunately, this has not yet been published,
and we must attempt to reconcile the very discordant
accounts of tlie view from the summit which have been
given by diiferent travellers. Jebel Nebbeh is a hiU
on the edge of the swelling ground at the western ex-
tremity of the Belka, and to the south-west of Hesban ;
its elevation is 2,G70 feet above the sea, nearly the same
as that of the Mount of Olives ; and though the ground
to the north-east is some two hundred feet higher, there
is no other hill of equal height overlooking the Jordan
valley till wo come to Jebel Osha on the north, and
Jebel Attarus on the south, neither of which can by
any possibility be said to be " over against Jericho."
The view embraces the whole western range from far
south of Hebron to the mountains of Galilee, and the
Jordan valley as far as Kurn Surtabeh ; to the north
the view is obstructed by the mountains of Gilead, but
according to Dr. Tristram, the mountains of the Hauran
can be seen through a depression in these hills, and he
believes that on a clear day the summit of Hermon
might be seen rising over the Jordan ; to the north-east
there is higher ground, and to the south Jebel Attarus
closes tlie landscape. In Deut. xxxiv. 2, "the utmost
sea" is mentioned as the limit of Moses' view; this
appears to refer to the Mediterranean, and it is just
possible, though it has not been accurately ascertained,
that under favourable cii-cumstances the sea may be seen
through the great depression of the plain of Esdraelou.
On the northern slopes of Jeljel Nebbeh are the ruins
of Nebbeh (Nebo), a town taken possession of and re-
built by the tribe of Reuben, which is mentioned in
connection with Heshbon, Elealeh, and Baal-meon, places
that are not far distant from it. Dr. Robinson gives the
name in his list of places in the Belka, and indicates
the position in which it should be looked for by future
travellers. Captain Warren describes the ruins as " a
confused heap of stones, 300 yards from east to west,
and 100 from north to south." In a ravine forming
the northern boundary of Jebel Nebbeh are the springs
of Moses, " Ayun Musa," gusliing oiit of the limestone
rock, and nmniug down the ra'^dne in a succession of
cascades from twenty to thii'ty feet high; uj) this
ravine Moses may possibly have passed on his way to
Mount Nebo, and here too may be the valley " over
against Beth-peor " in which he was buried. No traces
of the name Pisgah have been found, but it would
appear to have been the district or mountain, elsewhere
called the mountain of Abarim, of which Nebo was the
"head" or culminating point. There is another spot
mentioned in connection with Pisgah which has not
yet been identified, "the Peer," from whence Balaam
" saw Israel abiding according to their tribes ; " this
may probably bo looked for on one of the spurs of the
eastern hills to the north of Jebel Nebbeh, which com-
mands a better view of the plain of Jordan (Seisaban)
than that obtained from Mount Nebo.
To the south-east of Hesban, Dr. Tristram discovered
252
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
the ruins of the important Roman town of Ziza, one
of, the chief military stations of the province, at which
tlie Dalmatian cavalry were quartered ; and to the east
of this the remains of the magnificent palace of Mashita,
its walls covered with elaborate and beautiful carving,
hardly injured by time or man. " Every inch of their
surface and all the interstices are carved with fretted
work, representing animals, fruit, and foliage, in endless
variety. " " There are upwards of fifty animals in all
sorts of attitudes, but generally drinking together on
opposite sides of the same vase. Lions, winged lions,
bufEaloes, gazelle, panthers, lynx, men ; in one case a
man with a basket of fruit, in another a man's head
with a dog below ; peacocks, partridges, parrots, and
other birds." This grand palace Mr. Fergusson refers
" to the Sassanian dynasty of Persian kings, and to the
bistory of Chosroes II.," fixing the date to be 614 a.d.
Almost due south of Jebel Nebbeh, and overlooking
the Dead Sea, is Jebel Attarus, on the slopes of which are
the ruins of Attarus, the Ataroth built by the children
of Gad in the land of Gilead (Numb, xxxii. 34) ; and
about three miles to the south-east are those of Kureiyat,
situated " on sister hillocks, half a mile apart," repre-
senting either the Kerioth or Kiriathaim of Jer. xlviii.
23, 24, towns in the plain country named in the denun-
ciations against Moab. Still further to the south-east
are the ruins of Dliiban (Dibon), mentioned in Numb.
xxxii. 3, 34, and also in Jer. xlviii. 18, " Thou daughter
that dost inhabit Dibon, come dovni from thy glory, and
sit in thirst ; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon
thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds." Like so
many other Moabite towns, Dibon was built on two
adjacent knolls locally called harith, a word iden-
tical with the Hebrew haresh or haraseth, which had
much puzzled commentators until Professor Palmer
found this explanation of the difficulty in the present
local idiom of the country. A wall runs round the
town, and just within the gateway the famous Moabite
stone, containing an inscription of King Mesha, was
found. The extreme importance of the Moabite stone
cannot be exaggerated, but it will be sufficient to
mention here that the inscription gives a brief account
of King Mesha and his father, tolls of the victorious
campaigns of the former, and contains a record of the
rebuilding of cei-tain cities in Moab ; among the names
which appear are Jehovah, Israel, Omri, Chemosh,
Dibon, Baal-meou, Horouaim, Kerioth, &c. A short
distance south of Dhiban, on the " brink " of the
torrent Arnou (Wady Mojib), are the featureless ruins
of Araar, the ancient Aroer, the southern point of the
territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and after-
wards of the tribe of Reuben.
MOAB.
The Wady Mojib, or Amon, which formed the
boundary between Moab and the Amorites, and at a
later period between Moab and Israel, is a tremendous
ravine, more than 2,000 feet deep, which cuts its way
throiTgh the plateau, and discharges its waters into
the Dead Sea. The district south of the Arnon is
termed in Ruth i. 1, 2, " the country of Moab," and may
be considered as Moab proper ; but, as we have pre-
viously explained, Moab extended at one period much
further to the north, over the district called the " land
of Moab" in Dent. i. 5, and embraced the plain of
Seisaban, north of the Dead Sea, termed in the Bible
Arboth Moab, or the plain of Shittim. On the south,
Moab extended to tlie borders of the Wady Sidiyeh, or
Seil Gharabi, down which runs a fine stream, which is
probably the brook Zered, that lay between Moab and
Edom, and was the proper term of the Israelites' wan-
dering. The character of this portion of the country
is very similar to that north of Wady Mojib, an elevated
plateau, with a rich soil, providing abundant pasturage
for the flocks of tke Bedawin, as it formerly did for
those of the Moabites, whose pastoral character may be
inferred from the fact that the country paid a tribute
to Ahab of 100,000 rams, and the same number of
wethers with their fleeces. The relations between the
Moabites and Israelites appear to have been of a mixed
character ; the story of Ruth points to a friendly inter-
course between the two peoples at that time, and at a
later period wo find David's father and mother dwelling
with the king of Moab " all the while that David was
in the hold " (1 Sam. xxii. 4) ; but with the exception of
these instances, the relations were hostile rather than
amicable. One Moabite king, Eglon, reigned at Jericho
for eighteen years, when he was killed by Ehud (Judg.
iii.). Saul at the commencement of his reign made a
successful expedition against Moab, and David " smote
Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them to
the ground" (2 Sam. viii. 2). We have already, in the
ai'ticle " Judaea," alluded to the Moabite invasion of
Judaea during the reign of Jehoshaphat, which ended
so disastrously to the invaders ; this appears to have
been followed by the joint expedition of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoram, and the king of Edom, who, passing rovmd
the southern end of the Dead Sea, overran the countiy,
throwing down the walls of the towns, laying waste
the land, stopping the wells, and felling all the trees
(2 Kings iii. 6 — 27). In the time of Isaiah, however,
Moab seems to have regained its former prosperity,
and to have obtained possession of many of the towns
which at one time belonged to Reuben.
To the south of Wady Mojib are the ruins of Shihan,
in which the name of Sihon is preserved, and perhaps
some memory of the great battle on the banks of the
Amon. About ten miles to the south are the ruins of
Rabba, the ancient Ar or Ar of Moab, one of the prin-
cipal places of Moab. The ruins are chiefly of the
Roman epoch, but there are also many remains of the
old Moabite city. Still further to the south is Kerak,
the Kir Moab of Isa. xv. 1, and the Kir-haresh,
Hareseth, or Haraseth of other passages in the Bible.
The position of Kerak must have marked it out from
the earliest times as a suitable site for a great fortress.
The platform on which the town stands is triangular in
shape, and protected on two sides by great ravines,
more than 1,000 feet deep, with steep, rugged sides,
whilst on the third it is connected with the en-
254
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
cii'cling hills by a narrow neck, wliieh falls away from
tho walls. The platform was surroiiucled by strong
walls, to which additional protection was given by
scai-pIug tho rock below, and tho only entrances to
the town were through two tnnnels cut in tho rock
beneath the wall. The ruins, especially of the great
towers erected by the Crusaders, are very striking,
and give tho impression of great strength ; in fact,
before the invention of fire-arms tho place was quite
impregnable. It was to Kir-haraseth that King Mesha
retreated before tho united forces of the three kings,
and here, after a vain attempt to break through the
besieging force, "he took his eldest son that should
have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-
offering on tho wall" (2 Kings iii. 27). During tho
Crusades Kerak became, under King Fulke, an im-
portant station, and in 1183 a.d. successfully with-
stood an attack by Saladin and his brother.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE BOOK OF ESTHER.
BY THE KEV. CANON RAWLINSON, II.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
^HE place of Esther in the Hebrew Bible
is between Ecelesiastes and Daniel, at
the head of wluit may be called the
second portion of the Hagiographa.' Its
ordinary name among the Jews is viegillath Esther,
" the roll of Esther," or, more shortly, megillah, " the
roU,*' since it was always written on a separate roll,
which was read through at the Feast of Purim." The
Greek translators shortened megillath Esther into
"Esther," and placed the book between Judith and
Job. Tho place in which Esther stands in the English
Bible it owes to Luther, who probably regarded it as
the latest of the historical books.
The canonicity of Esther has been widely questioned.
It does not appear that tho Jews had ever any doubt
upon the point ; on tho contrary, they held Esther in
peculiar honour, sometimes uniting it with the Penta-
teuch in their copies, and going so far as to say, by the
mouth of one of the most famous of their teachers,^
that " on tho camiug of tho Messiah the prophetical
books and the Hagiographa would pass away, -while
Esther and tho Pentateuch would endure for ever."
But in tho Christian Church objection was made to
Esther at a very early period. Melito of Sardis, in
the second century, excluded it from the canon ;** and
his example was followed by Junilius,-^ by Gregory of
Nazianzen,'' by Athanasius (or the author of tho Sy-
nopsis Sacrce ScripturceJ which passes under his name),
by Nicephorus, by Leontius, by Callistus, and others.
At the time of tho Reformation Luther expressed
himself adverse to the canonicity of the book;^ and
more recently several writers of repute, as Niebuhr, Do
Wette. Mr. Theodore Parker, and Dr. Davidson, have
taken the same side. It is not clear on what grounds
the doubt originally rested. Perhaps with some, the
1 The first portion consists of the poetical books— the Psalms,
Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Lamentations, and Ecelesiastes ; the
second, of tho historical books— Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiali,
and Chronicles. Ruth is improperly placed in the Ha^ographa by
the Inter Jews only.
' See Carpzov, IntroducHo ad Libvos Biblicos, <i. xx., §1.
3 Maimouiiles, quoted by Carpzov, c. xx., §6, p. 36(5.
4 A)). Euseb., K. E. iv. 26. 5 De rnrtihw^ Ttivinm Legis, vi. 3.
6 Op. vol. ii., p. 98. 7 Pp, C3 and 133.
8 De Servo Arbitrio, p. 118; CoUoq. Conviv. i. 30, b.
fact that the book docs not contain tho name of God,
or any distinctly religious teaching, may have weighed
against its claim to be considered a part of God's word ;
but probably the feeling against it in tho ancient Church
arose mainly out of the circumstance that the Esther
which they had in their hands was not the Hebrew
work, but the interpolated Esther of the Septuagint,
which was naturally, and in a certain sense rightly,
placed upon a par with Tobit, Judith, and other
Apocryphal productions. In modern times the feeling
has been against the Hebrew Esther, and has been
grounded mainly on supposed historical difficulties and
improbabilities, which have been thought to show that
it could not be an authentic narrative.
It will be, perhaps, best to examine, in the first
instance, these latest objections, since, if they can be
established, the whole work is invalidated. If tliey
are proved to be unsound, tho question wUl then arise,
whether the Hebrew or the Greek book is to be regarded
as the true "Esther;" and if the Hebrew book is pre-
ferred, we shall have to consider whether the scantiness
of the religious element, and the omission of the nam©
of God from it, are sufficient to deprive it of canonicity.
If this question be decided in the negative, it will
be interesting, in conclusion, to inquire what is the
probable date of the work, who was its i^robable author,
what aro its most marked characteristics, and how wo
may account for that which is the most striking feature
of all — the complete absence of the name of God, and
the almost complete absence of any distinct religious
teaching.
The historical objections raised to the Book of Esther
are chiefly the following^ :— (1) The Persian king in-
tended by Ahasuerus seems to be Xerxes. As Esther
cannot be identified with Amestris, tho daughter of
Otancs, who really ruled Xerxes, the whole story of her
being made queen, and of her great power and influence,
becomes impossible. (2) A Persian king would never
have invited his queen to a carousal. (3) The honours
9 These arguments will be found in the following works : — De
Wette, Ehihitung in d. AH. Test., § WS ; Theodore Parker, Ttavsla-
tion of De Wette, with Additinn^, vol. ii., pp. 3t0— 315; aud David-
son, Introduction to the Old Testament, vol. ii., pp. 157 — 162,
THE BOOK OF ESTHER.
255
said to have been paid to Mordecai are excessive. (4)
The marriage of Ahasueriis to a Jewess is impossible,
since tlie Persian queens were taken exclusively from
the families of the Seven Conspirators. (5) Esther's
concealment of her Jewish descent, and Haman's igno-
rance of her relationship to Mordecai, are highly im-
pi-obable. (6) The two murderous decrees, the long
notice given, and the tameness ascribed to both Jews
and Persians, are incredible. (7) The massacre of more
than 75,000 Persians by the Jews in a single day,
without the loss (so far as appears) of a man, transcends
belief, and is an event of such a nature that no amount
of historical evidence would render it credible.
The first of these difficulties is perhaps the greatest ;
for it is true that " profane writers tell us of one wife of
Xerxes only, whose name is Amestris, and who is not a
Jewess, but the daughter of a great Persian noble,
Otanes." ^ It must be remembered, however, that the
account which profane writers give us of the domestic
history of Xerxes is meagre in the extreme, and, more-
over, that it is far from ti-ustworthy. The Greeks
knew but little of what took place at the Persian court
in Xerxes' time, and revolutions in the seraglio might
easily escape their notice. Esther cannot be Amestris,
for Amestris was married to Xerxes before he ascended
the throne ; " but she may be a wife, whom Xerxes took
and made his queen after his retiirn from Greece, of
whom the Greeks knew nothing. Her sway over Xerxes
may have been temporaiy ; and Amestris ( Vashti ?)
may, after a temporary disgrace, have recovered her
influence.^ The most that can be said with truth is,
that profane history gives us no corroboration of this
portion of the histoiy; it does not, however, contra-
dict it.
With respect to the impossibility, or high improba-
bility, of a Persian king marrying a Jewess, or inviting
his queen to a carovisal, or assigning to a benefactor
excessive honours, or issuing murderous decrees, or
tolerating the massacre of many thousands of his
subjects, it is to be observed, in the first place, that
Oriental despots have often done things equally out-
rageous ; and secondly, that the impidsive, extravagant
character assigned by the Greek writers to Xerxes,^
makes such actions very much less improbable in him.
As Dr. Davidson himself allows, with respect to several
of the points, difficulties of this kind may faii'ly ''be
solved by Xerxes' weak, capricious, proud, and madUke
disposition. He . . . cannot be judged by the
standard of ordinary humanity." ^
It may be added, that the Persian monarchs, though
professing a profound respect for " the law of the
1 De Wette, EuileUun<;, § 198, a.
- Since her son, Darius (Ctes., Exc. Pers., §20), was grown up
at the time of the Grecian expedition (Herod, ix. 108).
3 It is not clear that Amestris had any influence in the later
years of Xerxes. It was when her son Artaxerxes succeeded to the
throne, and she became queen-mother, that we hear of her as an
important personage.
* Herod, vii. 35; ix. 108—113; Ctes., Exc. Peis. § 27; Plut.,
Moral., vol. ii., p, 455, E.
5 Introduction to the Old Testament, vol, ii., p. 161.
Medes and Persians, which altereth not,'"' and perti-
naciously adhering to it in certain cases, nevertheless
often set it at nought when their passions were roused.
Cambyses married his full sister,'' which was as much
against the Persian law as mari-j-ing a Jewess. Darius
Hystaspis sanctioned a general massacre of the priest-
caste of the Magi.'^ Xerxes made a subject sit oa
his throne.^ Cambyses, again, burnt dead bodies.^'^
There was, in fact, nothing which a Persian king, well
settled upon his throne, might not do and did not do, if
the fancy took him. The very " royal judges " them-
selves, the guardians of Persian law, declared on one
occasion that the unwritten code whereof they were
custodians comprised an enactment, "that the king of
the Persians might do what he pleased." '^
Still, it must be allowed that there are, in the history
recorded in '" Esther," three things which, to Europeans
of the nineteenth centm-y, are difficult of behef, even
when related of so j)assionate, so capricious, and so
strange a being as Xerxes. These are — (1) the design
conceived by Haman, and allowed by Ahasuenis, of
destroying all the Jews on a fixed day, announced
beforehand; (2) the contrivance by which, when the
king wishes the Jews to escape, he effects his purpose,
when it would have been (as it seems to moderns) so
much easier simply to have revoked his former edict ;
and (3) the allowance of such a massacre as that I'ecorded
in chap. ix. 5 — 16, according to the Hebrew text, which
makes the entire number of persons slain by the Jews
to amount to 75,800. If it were true, as has been main-
tained by some,^'- that the 75,800 were all said to be
Persians, men of the ruling race, the fellow-country-
men of the king, the improbability woidd be much
increased, and would amount to a serious difficulty.
But to judge faii'ly of the nan-ative before us, we
must do two things — first, we must consider it from the
Oriental, and not from the European point of A'iew;
and secondly, we must not exaggerate its features. To
a Em-opeau of the nineteenth century, a massacre on an
appointed day, by permission from the go.ernment, of
thousands of unoffending persons, seems one of the most
monstrous things that can be conceived. We have,
indeed, one instance of such a fact in the histoiy with
which we are familiar; but the massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew stands by itself in our minds as though it
were a solitary case, wholly without a parallel. Acquaint-
ance with Oriental history would make us aware that in
the East such terrible doings are not infrequent ; that
there they excite little horror, and do not appear strange
or startling. The destruction of the Mamelukes at
Cairo ; that of the Janissaries at Constantinople ; and
the attempted destruction of the Syrian Christians in
1850, are recent examples ; the massacre of the Scythians
by the Medes ; '^ of the Magi by Darius Hystafepis; '^ and
" Dan. vi. S, 15. 7 Herod, iii. 31. ^ ibid. iii. 79.
9 Ihid. vii. 15—17. ^° I^id. iii. 16.
11 Ibid. iii. 31. tm /3a(Ti'SeuavTt Uepaeaiv tferi-a. Troif'eu' to av /3ov\t]Tai.
12 Theodore Parker, Tmn.-ilaUon of De Weite, vol. ii., p. 345.
13 Herod, i. 106 ; Strab. si. 8, § 4.
" Herod, iii. 79.
256
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of all the Romans in Asia by Mithridates,' are earlier
instances. To sweep a tribe or potty nation ont of his
|)ath, was thus no wild or extravagant idea, when enter-
tained by an Oriental statesman, who knew that ho had
great intlnence with his sovereign, and could induce him
to sign almost any decree that he chose. It is, there-
fore, by no me-ans improbable that Haman should have
obtainwl from Xerxes the original decree which put the
Jews in danger.
When Haman was hanged, and Mordecai made chief
minister in his room, a reversal of the decree seems, to
the modem European reader, the simple and natural
course. But in the East, such a " divinity doth hedge a
king," that it is always difficult for him to retract, to
acknowledge himself to have decided wrongly, and to
imsay what he has said before. Such tergiversation
was especially difficult with the Medo-Persians, who
prided themselves on the unchangeableness of their laws
and edicts. As Darius the Mode could not recede
from his decree when he found tluit it menaced his
favourite minister, Daniel ; - as Xerxes could not recall
liis woi-d passed to Amestris, though it threatened to
make a rebel of his brother ; ^ so Ahasuerus was (accord-
ing to Persian notions) bound by his o^vn act, and could
not, without loss of his subjects' respect, annul the edict
which he had allowed Haman to issue in his name, and
sign with his signet. The simple and direct course
Ijeing thus regarded as impossible, it was necessary to
have recourse to contrivance and artifice. The Jews'
enemies must be allowed to set ou them ; but the Jews
might \ye permitted to defend themselves. That course
had not been forbidden by the first edict; it was ex-
pressly allowed by the second. And the governors of
provinces might be told to favour the Jews,* aud, if
need were, to take their part. In this way the triumph
of the Jews would bo secured, without the king having
to go from his word.
And now a few remarks as to the result. It has been
said • tliat the narrative represents the Jews as tamely
awaiting destruction in the first instance, without any
effort to avoid it, and then as setting with such savage-
ness on their enemies as to kill 75,000 ! These 75,000
have been represented as Persians;^ and it has been
said that they appear to liavo tamely submitted to be
slaughtered, so that the Jews did not on their side
lose a man in the struggled Now, here the features of
the narrative are either misrepresented or exaggerated.
The people whom the Jews slaughtered wore not,
periiaps, in any case, Persians. The standing army of
Persians which governed the empire was on the side
of the Jews (Esth. ix. 3) ; their enemies were the idola-
trous people of the provinces, conquered races like
themselves, for whom the Persians liad little regard,
aud with whom they felt no sympatliy. Tlio number,
75,000, is uncertain, for it is replaced by 15,000 in the
1 Merivale, Roman Empire, vol. i., p. 30. - Dan. vi. 14 15
3 Heroa. ix. 111. 4 Esth. viii. 9—11; ix. 3.'
5 Th. Parker, vol. ii., p. 3t5; Davidson, ii., p. ICO.
I De Wette, EinUitung, §198, a.
' Theodore Parker's Translation of De Welte, vol. ii., pp. 310—5.
Septuagint version, and this latter figure is more in
harmony with the 800 destroyed at Susa (ib. 6 and 15),
than the larger number of the present Hebrew text.
Further, the " tamoness, apathy, and submission " ob-
jected to by the critics,* are imaginations of their own,
founded merely on the silence of Scripture, which
is always a weak ground, and hero has no weight at
all. It is the writer's object to set before us, broadly
the great danger of the Jews, their deliverance, and
their triumph — not to give us all the details and minoj
features of the transactions. He does not tell us what
the Jews would have done had the original design of
Haman been carried out,'-* or what their enemies did
when the Jews set upon them. It is quite a gratuitous
supposition that there was no fighting, and that none
of the Jews perished. A modern critic'" say.s, with
reason, " The author of the book is wholly intent upon
the victory and deliverance of the Jews. The result
he relates, . . . but how much it cost to achieve this
victory he does not relate. . . . We can scarcely
doubt that many Jews were killed or wounded."
It would seem, therefore, that the historical objections
taken to the general narrative contained in Esther are
untenable. The facts are not antecedently improbable
in an Oriental government, and under such a monarch
as Xerxes; even if they were, the evidence for their
truth is overwhelming. No other account has ever
been given, or can be given, of the origin of the
Feast of Purim,^' which the Jews keep to this day.
Nothing but its historic truth can account for the
inclusion of Esther in the canon. The more candid
of modern sceptical critics'^ confess it to be "incontes-
table (unstreitig) that the Feast of Purim originated iu
Pei'sia, and was occasioned by an event similar to that
related in Esther." May wo not say, having exposed
the weakness of the historical objections, that it was
occasioned by the events there related, aud by none
other ?
The Book of Esther, like tho Book of Daniel, aud
some others, comes to us in two forms, a longer aud a
shorter. Tho longer form is that of the Septuagint
version, which was followed by the Old Latin, and
^ Theodore Parker, Davidson.
9 It is quite possible that there would have been a great
exodus before the day arrived. That " the book " says uothiufr
of this (Bleek, riitiodiictioii, vol. i., p. 451) is no evidence to the
contrary. It is not the aim of the author to say what might have
been, but what was.
i« Stuart, Defence of the Old Test. Canon, §21, pp. 209, 210.
11 The latest of the sceptical critics says, " This feast, as it is
celebrated, certainly i>re-supposes the events of our book. It might,
however, be possible that it originally had some other, or a more
general signification, something in reference to tho freeing of the
people out of captivity, or the like; and that a later idea gave it
this particular reference to a single deliverance, as related in this
book" (Bleek, JntroJiicfioii, vol. i., p. 453). Tho vague fog of this
German criticism may well be contrasted with the strong common
sense of the Anglo-American, who says, " The fact that the Feast
of Purim has come down to us from time almost immemorial,
proves as certainly that the main events related in Esther hap-
pened, as the Declaration of Independence, and the celebration of
the 4th of July, prove that we (Americans) separated from Great
Britain, and became an independent nation " (Stuart, Defence of
the Ciuioi, §21, p. 308).
1- De Wette, Einleitung, § 198, b.
THE BOOK OF ESTHER.
257
-whicli, since the Council of Trent, has been accepted by
the Church of Rome as canonical. The shorter form is
that of the Jewish canon, which was preferred by Origen ^
and Jerome,- and which the English Church and the
Reformed Churches of the Continent represent in their
authorised versions of the Old Testament Scriptui-es,
relegating the Greek additions to the Apocrypha. It
seems certain that these '• additions " formed no part of
the original, from which they differ greatly in toue,^ and
■which they contradict repeatedly.^ They cannot have
been written until the time of Alexander the Great,^
and are probably of a considerably later date. They
were never accepted by the Jews, and, though translated
from the Greek into the Chaldee, the Arabic, and the
Samaritan versions, they are found in no Hebrew manu-
script or edition; further, they contain numerous ex-
pressions which are inappropriate to the persons using
them, or otherwise unsuitable.^ We may, therefore,
■confidently regard the Hebrew book as the true Esther,
and set aside the '"'additions" as embellishments of a
later age, neither authentic nor authorised.
The omission of the name of God, and the slightness
of the religious element in the book, which have been
mentioned as its most remarkable characteristics, do
not deprive it of canonicity. The name of God is not
found in Canticles, which has, nevez-theless, "all the
external marks of canonicity possessed by any other
book of the Old Testament not expressly cited in the
New."' The religious element is lacking from large
portions of all the historical books, yet those portions
are as much canonical as the parts most penetrated by
the religious spirit. The fact is that canonicity, in the
<?ase of an historical book, does not necessarily imply
more than that the history is true, and the moral bearing
of the work such as to accord with the highest religious
enlightenment of the time and people for which the
work was written.
It is in connection with this last-mentioned point that
the canonicity of Esther has been most seriously assailed
in recent times. It has been said that the whole book
•" breathes nothing but a spirit of pride and revenge " ^
— " a very narrow-minded and Jewish spirit of revenge
and persecution "•' — and that thus it is quite unworthy
«f a place in the canon. To us it seems that this is a
gross misi-epresentation. Esther, the heroine, is not a
Judith, not even a Jael, but a timid, shrinking woman,
forced into action by the danger of her near relative
1 Origen, Epist. ad Jul. African.
2 Hieronym., Prcefat. ad Esther: Jerome, after separating the
" additions " from the rest of the book, appended them to the
true "Esther;" and this, consequently, is their position in the
Vulgate.
3 The tone of the " additions " is markedly religious, and it is
clear that they were introduced mainly to supply what was thought
a defect in the original narrative.
* On these contradictions, see the Speaker's Commentary, vol. iii.,
p. 473 ; and compare Gerhard's Exegesis, § 202.
^ Since they represent Haman as a Macedonian, who vished to
transfer the empire to the Macedonians from the Persians.
6 See the Speaker's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 473, note 4.
7 Wright, in Kitto's Biblical Cyclopo^ia, vol. i., p. 382.
8 De "Wette, Einleitung, § 198, h — " So athmet sie doch den Geist
der Eachsucht und des Stolzes."
9 Bleek, Introduction, vol. i., p. 450, E. T.
89 — VOL. IV,
and of her nation. What can be more affecting than
her words when first required to take an active part —
" Go and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three
days, night or day ; I also and my maidens will fast
likewise ; and so will I go in tmto the king, which is
not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish l"'^'^
Or what, again, more touching than her exclamation —
" Oh, how could I endure to see it — the evil which is coming
on my people !
" Oh, how could I endure to see it— the destruction of my
kindred !"!'
So far is she from being revengeful or persecuting,
that she declares, apparently from her heart, " If we
had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had
held my tongue " (chap. -vii. 4). It is true that both
she and Mordecai gave then' sanction to a course which
issued in the ^-iolent death of several thousands of
persons ; but if the first decree of Ahasuerus could
not be reversed, it is difficult to see how otherwise
they could have prevented the destruction of the
Jewish people. As it was, what they obtained from
the king was only that the Jews, if attached, might
defend themselves,^- which is the natural right of every
man; and if even 75,000 persons fell in consequence of
this permission, it only shows how numerous were the
Jews' enemies. Even the second day's slaughter at
Susa, which is chiefly objected to, as indicating Esther's
"lust for revenge, and thirst for blood," ^^ was on the
same conditions as the slaughter of the first day ;^^ and
Esther's request for its allowance indicates that the
anti- Judsean party at Susa was not quelled by the first
day's contest, but was prepared, without the protection
of an edict, to renew the struggle upon the morrow.
Even Mordecai's character, which has been called merely
astute and worldly,^^ is not open to serious impeach-
ment. Mordecai refused the customary prostration
(chap. iii. 2), as trenching on the reverence due to
God, though he must have known that his refusal
exposed him to great danger. When he found that
his contumacy had endangered his nation, he "rent
his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went
out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud
and hitter cry " (chap. iv. 1), not, surely, in selfish
sorrow, but in profound sympathy with and anxiety
for his people. His aj)i)licatiou to Esther {ihid. 8) was,
no doubt, prudent, and may be ascribed to " worldly
wisdom;" but the manner of it indicated belief in a
Divine Providence, and faith m. God's promises to the
Jews (ibid. 14). His character is not, perhaps, one of
remarkable elevation, but it has no offensive traits, no
faults that deserve a heavy censure.
If it be still said that, whatever be the truth as
regards the characters of Esther and Mordecai, yet
the book itself breathes the haughty spirit of Jewish
W Chap. iv. 16.
11 Chap. viri. 6 (as rendered by Ewaldin his Geschichte d. VoUtes
Israel, book v., section 2, A 1).
12 Chap. viii. 11. 13 Bleek, p. 452, b.
!•« " Let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to (Jo
to-morrow also according unto this day's decree " (chap. is. 13),
15 Ewald, Bleek.
253
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
exclusivcncss, we must ask, Is uot this spirit found
generally in tlao Old Testament ? Was tlio Jewish
nation ever free from it ? Was it not intensified by
the Captivity, and is it not more rampant in Ezra and
Nehemiah than in Esther ? Finally, is not this one of
the points in which the earlier is altogether inferior to
the later dispensation, and in which it was reserved
for Christianity, in the fidncss of time, to improve and
correct Judaism ?
Objections to the canonicity of Esther being thus (it
is hoped) removed, it remains to consider — (1) What is
the probable date of the work ; (2) who was its probable
author ; (3) what are its most marked characteristics ;
and (-i) how we may account for the most remarkable
chai-acteristic of :dl — the absence of the name of God,
and the almost entire absence of any distinct religious
teaching.
1. The date of Esther has been much controverted.
Ewald argues 1 that the book "cannot have been written
earlier than the opening years of the Greek age," i.e.,
B.C. 330 — 300. De Wette assigns it vaguely to the time
of the Ptolemies and SeleucidiB,- B.C. 312, at the earliest.
Dr. Davidson-' suggests the reign of Ptolemy Lagi (B.C.
323 — 283^ ; Bertheau,^ some part of the third century
(B.C. 300—200). On the other hand, Bei-tholdt, Welte,
and Htivemick^ regard it as written in the reign of
Autaxei-xes Longimanus (b.c. 464 — 425); and Bishop A.
Hervey places it even earlier — in the latter portion of
the reign of Xerxes (B.C. 473 — 464). The arguments for
an early date are (1) the style, which is very close to
that of Ezra and Nehemiah — compositions of the time
of Longimanus ; and (2) the minuteness of the nan-a-
tive, and its inclusion of imimportant details,*' which
could only be known to a contemporary. So early a
date as B.C. 473 — 464 is, however, unlikely, since one
who wrote under Xerxes could scarcely have thought
it necessary to say, " This is Ahasuerus, which reigned
from India even unto Ethiopia " (chaj). i. 1) ; or have
declared that " all his acts " were already entered in
the "book of the chronicles" (chap. x. 2). The reign of
Artaxerxes Longpimanus suits best with all the pheno-
mena, which, on the whole, may perhaps be said to point
to a late period in this reign — say B.C. 444 — 424.
2. The predominant Jewish and Christian tradition
makes the author of the work to be Mordecai,'' but tlie
tradition is not uniform ; Ezra, the high priest Joiakim,
and " the men of the Great Synagogue " being respec-
tively declared the authors by important Jewish or
Christian writers.® Mordecai's claim, which has the
1 Geschichte S. Volk. Jji*. vol. v., p. 230, E. T.
2 Einleitung, § 199.
3 Introduction to the Old Testament, vol. ii., p. 166.
4 Exegetisches Handbuch, vol. iv., p. 2S8.
5 As quoted by De Wette, Einleitung, § 199, h.
« See chap. i. 4—8, 10, 1-t ; it. 8. 9, 14, 16, &c.
' Carpzov says, " Longe plurima pars ct Helraoruni et Chrisiia-
novum Doctorum Mardochoeum scripsisse statuit" (Introduclio,
p. 361).
8 Ezra, by Augustine (De C v. Dei, xviii. 36) ; Isid. Orig., vi. 2,
p. 55, F ; the high priest Joiakim, by the pseudo-Philo aud the
Eabbi Azarias ; the men of the Great Syuag»gue, by the Talmudists
{Baba-hathra, fol. 15, 1) aud othets.
balance of authority in its favour, is discredited by the
consideration that it has probably originat<Kl from a
misunderstanding of chap. ix. 20, 32, which has been
thought to assert the authorship of Mordecai, but which
certainly does not do so. Internal evidence does not
point to Mordecai, who would scarcely have spoken of
himscH as "a certain Jew" (chap. ii. 5), or have expa-
tiated so much on his own greatness (chap. viii. 15 ; ix.
4 ; X. 2) and good qualities (chap. x. 3). Even less is
to be said in favour of Ezra or Joiakim. The work
has none of the characteristics of Ezra's style, which is
a sufficiently marked one. It was certainly written by
a Persian Jew, aud therefore not by Joiakim, whoso
whole life was passed at Jerusalem. The " men of the
Great Synagogue " may have received the book into tho
canon, but could no more have Avritteu it than Joiakim,
being Palestinian and not Persian Jews. On the whole,
it must be said that the author is unknown, but that he
was, without doubt, a Persian Jew, one living probably
at Susa, which he so well describes (chap. i. 5 — 7), in
the reigu of Artaxerxes Longimanus. He had probably
been acquainted with Queen Esther aud with Mordecai,
and wrote in his old age, partly from the royal archives
(chap. ii. 23; vi. 1; ix. 32; x. 2), partly fi-om his own
experience, aud partly from information received from
them, au account of the institution of the Feast of
Purim.
3. Among the characteristics of Esther are the sim-
plicity aud purity of its style, the graphic power which
sets distinct pictm*es before the reader,^ the skilful
delineation of character, aud the intimate knowledge ex-
hibited of Persian manners and Persian history diu-ing
the period of the narrative;^" but the most marked
characteristic is, undoubtedly, the purely historical
character of the book, and tho almost eutire absence
from it of any direct religious teaching. It is not
only that the name of God does not occur, but from
first to last there is the most marked reticence with
respect to the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and other
practices of the Jewish religion. No mention is made
of the Temple, or of Jerusalem, or of the Holy Land, or
of the priests or Le^-ites, or of any festival except that
of Purim, or of any earlier facts of Jewish history
except the Captivity," or of the Law, or of any prophet,
or of the Sabbath-day, or even of prayer. The only
religious ideas allowed to appear in the book are, fii'st,
the efficacy of fasting (chap. iv. 16) ; secondly, the
separateness of tlie Jews, and the certainty tliat tliey
would be in some way or other dehvered from their
enemies (ehap. iv. 14) ; thirdly, the Proridential govern-
ment of the world, aud tlie consequent duty of all
persons to make a proper use of their opportunities
(ibid.) ; fourthly, the certainty that punishment wiU fall
on those who neglect this duty (ibid.); and fifthly, the
propriety of cclebratuig a great deliverance by the esta-
blishment of a permanent festival — " a day of gladness
3 See especially chap. i. 5—7; vi. 4—11; vii. 1—8; viii. 15,
&c. &c.
lu Comp.are the Speahcr's Commentary, vol. iii., pp. 471, 473.
11 Chap. ii. 6.
•THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.
259
and feastiug, and of sending portions one to anothei- "
(chap. ix. 19). Moroover, where these religious ide<as
occxir, they are (except the last) rather iniphed than
stated. Thus, a studied reticence appears thi-oughout,
for it cannot be held that the Jews of the dispersion
at any time sank so low as to forget the name of God,
or to put fasting in the place of prayer, or to have no
priests, or entirely to neglect the Sabbath, or to have
no regard for the Temple or for Jerusalem. Reticence,
not ignorance, is thus the phenomenon which we have
to consider. Why did the author of Esther keep back
his religious views so entii'ely ?
4. It has been said by some^ that, knowing his work
woidd be recited at the Feast of Purim, he guarded
against the profanation of holy things at a time of
joyous feasting; but the festive joy of the religious
Hebrews was not of such a character as to render the
reading of ordinary Scripture during its continuance
incongruous. Others- have conjectured that the inten-
tion was to prevent profanation by the Persians ; but it
is not likely that the Persians would have understood a
book written in Hebrew, or, if any did, have eared to
study it. To the present writer it seems that the reti-
cence was probably the result, not of an act of wUl, but
1 Eiehm, Studien und Kritik, 1862, p. 407, /,• Bleek, Introduction,
p. 450, E. T.
^ As Aben-Ezra, quoted by Carpzov in bis latroductio, p. 369.
of habit. The Jews, bred up among the heathen, and
living in constant intercourse Avith them, learnt by
degrees to keep back the expression of theu- religious
convictions, to assimilate themselves externally to theu-
masters, to eliminate from their ordinary discourse all
that would mark them for Jews, wtule they cluno- inter-
nally to their old belief, and practised secretly their old
customs. A century and a half of tliis dissimulation
made it so habitual, that it was not laid aside, even
where there was no occasion for it. The Jew of the
dispersion kept his religion iu his heart of hearts, and
spoke of it as little as possible.
It may have helped to keep Esther free from the
religious element, if it was in the main extracted from
the Persian archives. We do not know on what scale
these were written, but it is quite possible that they
contained most of our present Esther. At any rate, if
the author took them for his basis, and found them,
as he might, altogether secular in tone, he would be
naturally led to assimilate to them his own portions
of the work.
Finally, it must be granted that the whole difficulty
is not overcome by these considerations, and it may
weU be that other circumstances also, which cannot be
particularised, prevented the author from giving ex-
pression to the religious feelings and beliefs which he
entertained, and which underlie his narrative.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.
BY THE REV. S. G. GREEN, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
name of Titus, companion of St. Paul,
and apostolic delegate, does not once
occur in the "Acts of the Apostles." ^
He is, however, mentioned, as one well
known, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and in
the Epistle to the Galatians ; and from the notices there
given we gather the following facts : — He was a Gentile
by birth — a convert, cr "' son in the faith," of St. Paul
— first introduced to us as accompanying the Apostle
from Antioch to Jerusalem to attend the conference
recorded in Acts xv. On that occasion certain of the
Jews insisted that Titus should be circumcised, to whicli
demand the Apostle maintained a firm refusah If it be
asked why, at a later time, St. Paul himself ordered the
circumcision of Timothy, the reason may perhaps be
found in the different parentage of the two disciples.
Timothy was son of a Jewish mother, though "his father
was a Greek" (Acts xvi. 1 — 3). Titus— probably a native
of Antioch — was Greek altogether. But beyond this
I Some MSS., iu Acts xviii. 7, read " Titus Justus " as the
name of the Corinthian in whose house St. Paul worshipped ; but
the reading lacks support, though perhaps testifying to a tradition
that Titus was with St. Paul at Corinth. Dean Howson, in Smith's
Diet., refers to a theory recently started, that Timothy and
Titus were the same person — "ingenious, but quite untenable,"
Titus was a common Eoman proenoram.
distinction, the veiy principle of Christian liberty was
involved. In the case of Timothy the action of Patil
was voluntary, for the sake of conciliation ; in that of
Titus there was an absolute requirement. Concession
may often be wisely and gracefully made on a point
where dictation must be strenuously resisted, and St.
Paid would freely yield what no attempted compidsion
would ever extort.
After this visit to Jerusalem we fijid Titus with
the Apostle in his third gi'eat missionary journey.
That the two had been together in the course of the
second, at least in Corinth, may be reasonably in-
ferred from the strong affection felt by Titus towards
the Corinthians. The third journey began with a visit
to Phrygia and Galatia ; and since St. Paid mentions
Titus to the Galatians as one well known to them, it is
probable that the Apostle was there also accompanied
by his younger comrade. The next halt was at Ephesus,
whence the First Letter to the Corinthians was widtten,
and of the unnamed brethren who conveyed it, it is
more than likely that Titus was one.^ It was part of
" See Stanley on 1 Cor. xvi. 11 ; also 2 Cor. xii. 18, referring to
the same mission. Titus either conveyed the letter, or was sent
immediately afterwards to ascertain its effect, and the former
supposition appears the more reasonable.
260
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
his commission to asoortaiu tlio effect of this epistle ;
and his return from Corinth was accordingly awaited
by St. Paul, with anxious restlessness, at Troas. The
suspense continuing, the Apostle crossed over to Europe,
and at length met Titus in Macedonia, bearing tidings
which, if not entirely satisfactory, yet gladdened his
heart, and caused the affectionate glow of the Second
Epistle. Tills epistle also St. Paid sends to the Corin-
thians l)y the hands of Titus, who is at the same time
commissioned to complete those arrangements for the
collection to be made for the impoverished Christians
in Jerusalem, which he had commenced on his former
visit.' From this time we read no more of him until
the date of the present epistle ; the strong probability
is that he attended the Apostle to Jerusalem as bearer
of the alms, and eventually followed him to Rome.
That the Apostle was liberated for a time we have
endeavoured to show in the Introduction to 1 Timothy.
In whatever direction his course was first bent, whether
westward to Spain, or eastward to Greece and Europe
—a question on which we have no data — Titus was
probably with Paul from the first ; and at length we
find the former "left behind in Crete," and charged
with a commission similar in honour and responsibility
to that which had been given to Timothy in Ephesus ;
yet, as it would seem, of even greater difficulty.
2. The scattered notices of Titus personally, together
with the character of the tasks entrusted to him, enable
us to form some adequate notion of his character.
Trusted and honoured by the Apostle as " a partner and
fellow-helper," Titus could well sympathise with him in
"inward affection" and in "earnest care" for the
spiritual welfare of the churches ; his errands of love
ivere spontaneously undertaken, rather than by the
direction of a superior, while with this also he would
gladly comply ; hi? joy in the success of his errand to
the Corinthians was so genuine and hearty that it
swelled the tide of the Apostle's own gladness. At the
same time a high and scruprdous integrity was as evi-
dently a feature of his character, with a certain fearless
justice in dealing with offenders, contrasted, it may be,
with the more timid and shrinking nature of Timothy.
Titus was the right messenger to be entrusted with the
First Letter to the Corinthians, charged as it was with
reproof and condemnation. Timothy might himself
also arrive ; but in prospect of this a special word of
warning is added, lest his gentler spirit should be
cowed.- The Corinthians, moreover, received Titus
"with fear and trembling;" while his scrupulous care
not to take any personal advantage of his ascendancy
over them is specially noted by the Apostle : " Did
Titus make a gain of you ? " ^ A similar character is
apparent from the present epistle. While corresponding
in general contents with the Epistles to Timothy, it has
1 The passages from which the foregoing summary has been
made are chiefly Titus i. 4, " mine own son in the faith ;" Gal.
u, 1, 3—5 ; Acts xviii. 11, 23 ; 2 Cor. ii. 13 ; vii. 6, 13, 14 ; viii.
16—24
2 1 Cor. xvi. 10.
3 2 Cor. vii. 15; xii. 18.
not their tone of appeal as to one needing encourage-
ment, possibly lacking energy and decision. Titus was
a man to " rebuke sharply " if needed ; to carry "autho-
rity" in his words and deeds. The intricacies of doc-
trine find no place in the letter. Titus was of a i^ractical
turn ; he was set to do rough work among a rough
people, and was well adapted for his task.* Timothy
would have found himself out of place among the " liars,
evU beasts, and slothful bellies " of Crete ; and Titus
might hardly have been at home with the mystical
speculators of Ephesus.
3. At what time the churches in Crete (now Candid)
were formed is altogether uncertain. Among the
sojourners in Jerusalem at the time of the Penteco^^tal
descent of the Spirit, were Cretan Jews,* and these
may have carried to their native island the message of
the Gospel. No other mention of Crete occurs in the
Acts until the account of St. Paul's voyage to Rome ;«
although it is quite possible that during some of his
unrecorded travels he may have touched upon its shores.
As a prisoner he could scarcely have had any oppor-
tunity for missionary labour, although the ship lay
windbound for some time in the harbour of " The Fair
Havens." It was in the endeavour to proceed along
the south coast of Crete to the port of Phoenix,' there
to winter, that the ship was caught by the Euro-aquUo
(E.N.E. gale), and driven before the wind some five
hundred miles, to the island of Malta, where she was
wrecked. The event would make Crete very memor-
able to the Apostle, and we are quite prepared to find
him visiting the island on his release. He here finds
several churches, much in need of consolidation and
organisation ; and having spent as much time as pos-
sible in superintending this work, he leaves it, on his
departure, in the hands of Titus, to whom he addresses
this epistle.
4. The letter seems to have been written on the
approach of winter, and in some stage of the Apostle's
journey between Crete and Nicopolis.* If this Nico-
polis (the " City of Yictoiy," so named from the battle
of Actium) was, as generally supposed, the well-known
city of that name in Ej)irus, at the mouth of the Adriatic,
opposite the Italian shores (not the "Nicopolis in Mace-
donia," as in the subscription to the Epistle in the
received text), it may be supposed either that Crete was
a stage in the Apostle's circuit from Ephesus to Mace-
donia,^ or was visited after Macedonia, in which case
the route from Crete to Epirus would naturally lead by
•« Titus i. 12, 13 ; ii. 15.
•' Acts ii. 11. Philo testifies to the large number of Jewish
residents in Crete. [It is rather curious that the inhabitants
of the island are called, in the Authorised Version, Cretes in the
above passage, and Cretians in Titus i. 12, neither being quite
correct. The word should, of course, be Cretans.]
'' Acts xxvii. 7, 21. See Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St.
Paul, chap. ii.
' Not Phenice as A.V., which is properly the old English form
for Phiymicia (Acts li. 19 ; xv. 3; xxi. 2).
s Not at Nicopolis (chap. iii. 12), shown by the word there
(tKei). Several cities of the name are enumerated, but it is natural,
in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, to think of the
most celebrated. ,
9 1 Tim. i. 3.
THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.
261
the isthmus of Corinth.' Ou the former supposition,
the two Epistles, the First to Timothy, and this to Titus,
would be ^vritten about the same time, and their simi-
larity in thought and diction make this very probable.
If Crete was taken after Macedonia, no place appears
likelier than Corinth ; but, as there are absolutely no
local hints iu the letter itself, the place of its composition
must be left to conjecture. The winter which followed,
and which, as there is no reason to doubt, was passed
at Xicopolis, according to the Apostle's plan, was, in all
probability, the last that he spent in freedom. When
next he speaks of "\vinter," it is as prisoner again in
Rome (2 Tim. iv. 21j. Titus had meantime, as it seems,
rejoined him in Xicopolis, but had proceeded northward
to Dalmatia — a parting which, if we may judge from
St. Paul's tone in mentioning it, was not without some
element of sadness ; although, in all charity, we must
conclude that duty had called Titus in that direction.
5. The work which devolved on Titus in Crete was
" to set in order the things that were left undone " in
the Apostle's visit, and "to ordain elders in every city."
To this general commission the details of the Epistle
all refer. The order is imstudied, but may be broadly
specified as follows : —
I. Address and Greeting (i. 1 — 5) ; in which may
be noted the unusual solemnity and even stateUness of
tone in which St. Paul refers to his own apostolic com-
mission.
II. QiTAi,iFiCATiONS OF THE BiSHOPS to be or-
dained (i. 6 — 9). Here the Apostle repeats in effect the
delineation given in 1 Tim. iii. 2 — 7.
III. Caution against prevailing Evils (i. 10 —
16). If in Ephesus the teachings of the Judaising party
iu the church were associated with a false and imhealthy
asceticism, the same doctrines were in Crete allied with
an unblushing immorality. With great effect the
Apostle quotes the Cretan poet Epimenides" as gi\Tng
a true but unflattering picture of his own countrymen,
Kpr)T€s ad vl/eCcToi, kuko. Qfjpia, yaartpfs 0/3701.
It would be hard work to maintain the purity of the
Grospel in such a commimity, and for their souls' health
the minister of Christ must be prepared to employ the
weapon of sharp rebuke.
IV. This thought of " healthful '' teaching gives tone
1 Another combination is thus given by Paley : " If we may be
allowed to suppose that St. Paul, after his liberation from Rome,
sailed into Asia, taking Crete in his way ; that from Asia and
from Ephesus, the capital of that country, he proceeded into
Macedonia, and crossing the peninsula iu his progress, came into
the neighbourhood of Nicopolis, we have a route which falls in
with everything. It executes the intention expressed by the
Apostle of visiting Colossae and PhiUppi as soon as he should be
set at liberty at Rome. It allows him to leave ' Titus in Crete,'
and ' Timothy at Ephesus,' as he went into Macedonia, and to
write to both not long after from the peninsula of Greece, and
probably the neighbourhood of Nicopolis, thus bringing together
the dates of these two letters, and thereby accounting for the
affinity between them, both in subject and language." (Ho)-(f
Paiiliiiip, Titus, No. ii.) On this showing the mission of Titus
to Crete would precede that of Timothy to Ephesus.
- Epimenides, a poet of the sixth century before Christ, in
popular estimation inspired ; hence the phrase, " a prophet of their
own." St. Paul also quotes from heathen poets (Acts svii, 28;
1 Cor. XV. 33).
to the PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS that foUow (ii. 1 — 10)
to the aged and the yoimg of both sexes, and to servants
— Titus himself being among them all "a pattern of
good works."
Y. Every preceding injimctiou is confirmed by the
HIGHEST MOTIVES (ii. 11 — 14). Eminently Pauline
is the brief majestic description of " the grace of God
that bringeth salvation," and at the same time proclaims
the law of pmnty and righteousness.
YI. Teachings and pastoral influence of TiTUS
HIMSELF (iii. 1 — 11). Here, no doubt, the strain of
the Apostle's remarks is to be accounted for by the
character of this Cretan people. Some would make
the new faith a pretext for insubordination. Hence,
as St. Paul elsewhere writes to the Christians of Rome,
and St. Peter to the scattered Jewish believers of Asia
Minor,^ it was important to inculcate obedience to civil
rulers ; still more needful was it to urge the obligations
of brotherly kindness and " meekness unto all men,"
in the world as well as in the Church. Here again
the Apostle enforces his admonition by appeal to the
loftiest truths. In verses 3 — 7, every clause and expres-
sion bespeaks the hand of Paul. The injunctions that
follow respecting controverted questions are remarkable
from their appeal to the practical influence of such
discussions. This is in accordance with the tone of the
whole Epistle ; even the " heretic " is to be rejected
because of the evil issues of his false belief and teaching.
YII. Personal (iii. 12 — 15). That here we have
no note of place has been already remai'ked. All that
we learn is that Tychicus the Ephesian is again with
St. Paul, having, no doubt, rejoined him in Asia, and is
accompanied by Artemas, of whom nothing more is
known. Titus would be relieved of his Cretan charge
by one or other of these brethren, and would then
rejoin the Apostle with Zenas (nowhere else mentioned)
and Apollos, whom it is interesting to find, after having
disappeared for many years fi-om the record, still actively
at work for Christ. Yerse 14, in its very abi'uptness
and repetition, shows how full the Apostle's mind was
of one topic — Chi-istian purity as the result of Christian
faith. " Ours," in this verse, must mean our brethren
ill Crete.
6. The salient points of likeness between this Epistle
and the two addressed to Timothy have been already
noted. The three have that similarity which would
natiirally characterise letters written by the same author,
on the same general topic and about the same time,
and yet that difference which would as naturally be
caused by the different chai-acters of the persons ad-
dressed, and the special circumstances of each locality.
If in many points unlike to the earlier Epistles, the
simple explanation is to be found in the diverse cii-cum-
stances and distant tunes iu which they were written.
There are, however, coincidences at least as striking ;
and, not to mention again resemblances in doctrinal
statement, that characteristic which Paley regards as,
above all, distinctive of St. Paul's style— the habit of
3 Eom. siii. 1 ; 1 Peter ii. 13.
262
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
•' going off at a word " — may be illustrated from the
Pastoral Epistles as decisively as from any other of his
writings.* It is certain, at the same time, that the
thi-ee Epistles stand or fall together. They have been
accepted by the Church on the same authority; they
bear the impress of one mind ; their resemblances and
differences are alike beyond the reach of art. To illus-
trate this would require much detailed comparison.
The student may consult the elaborate discussion of
Dr. Davidson in his earlier Introduction to the New
Testament, where the objections raised by De "VVette,
on internal grounds, against the authenticity of the
letter to Titus, are decisively refuted. One peculiarity
of these Epistles is the characterisation of true Christian
doctrine as " healthful " — an idea not elsewhere found.
In the short Epistle to Titus there are no fewer than
four instances : — Chap. i. 9, '-that he maybe able by
healthful doctrine both to exhort and to con-vince ;" chap,
ii. 1, " Speak thou the things which become the health-
ful doctrme." So chap. i. 13 ; ii. 2, believers are
described as " being healthy in the faith." The same
thought is found in 1 Tun. i. 10 ; vi. 3 ; 2 Tim. i. 13 ;
iv. 3 (veiled a little, perhaps, to the English reader by
the employment of the word sound), constituting a very
distinctive peculiarity of the Pastoral Epistles. The
contrasted idea of sickness and gangrene, applied to
error, is found in 1 Tim. vi. 4 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17. Another
coincidence is in the recurring phrase, irKtrbj 6 \6yo<s,
" Faithful is the saying," which in the Pastoral Epistles
seems to take the place of the Apostle's older formula,
" I would not have you to bo ignorant," as introducing
matters of high importance. The " faithful sayings "
of these Epistles ai-e of themselves a most interesting
study. See 1 Tim. i. 15 ; iii. 1 ; iv. 8, 9 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11;
and Titus iii. 7, 8, " Faithful is the sapng — that being
justified by His grace, wo (shall) be made heirs accord-
ing to the hope of eternal life ; " words in which again
the mind and hand of Paul are manifest. Other
peculiarities common to these Epistles are the applica-
tion of the word Saviour to God the Father (1 Tim. i. 1 ;
1 See Titus i. 15, 16 ; ii. 10— U ; iii. 3—7 ; as well as instances in
1 and 2 Timothy. Such phrases may also be noted as the parenthesis,
"I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not" (1 Tim. ii. 7); found
also in Eom. is. 1. See further in Introduction to 2 Timothy.
ii. 3 ; iv. 10 ; Titus i. 3 ; ii. 10) ; the term for godliness
(euo-e'iSeto), found in these Epistles repeatedly, but no-
whore else in St. Paul's writings ; " the use of the word
epi])hanij {iirKpaveia) for the final appearing of Christ
(1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. i. 10; iv. 1, 8 ; Titus ii. 13). It
is observable also that in all these letters the salutation
at the commencement is, "Grace, mercy, peace," instead
of the usual " Grace and peace." ^ A tolerably complete
list of such peculiarities will be found in Dr. Davidson's
earlier Introduction, vol. iii., pp. 119, 120. They are
sufficiently numerous to constitute the Epistles into a
distinct group, but certainly not sufficiently distinctive
to invalidate the Pauline authorship.'*
7. At the departure of Titus to Dalmatia, he dis-
appears from the history. Whether he continued Ids
evangelistic labours in that region,^ or returned to
Crete, or resumed his attendance upon St. Paul before
the A^jostle's martyrdom, we know not. Tradition
represents him as having remained in Crete, as bishop
of the churches, untU his death at an advanced age
(some authorities say ninety-four). Ancient churches
are dedicated to him, and his name is invoked as that
of the patron saint of Candia. From the Epistle itself
we should gather that the mission of Titus to tiie island
was temporary, and soon completed. He was to ordain
" bishops," rather than to himself assume a bishopric.
There was other work for him to do ; and if we take the
more charitable hypothesis of his departure to Dalmatia,
we see in his visit to that region but another step in a
truly apostolic career, in which Titus, once the repre-
sentative, became the follower of his master Paul.
2 1 Tim. ii. 2; iii. 16; iv. 7, 8; vi. 3, 5, 6, 11 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5;
Titus i. 1. lu 1 Tim. v. 4 the verb is found; and the adverb in
2 Tim. iii. 12 ; Titus ii. 12.
3 De Wette, in Davidson's Introd^lction, iii., p. 119. Many
modern editors, however, omit the word mercj in Titus i. 4. So
Tischendorf, not Lachmaun.
4 " What ? was the Apostle's stock of words and modes of
expression exhausted before he wrote these Epistles ? Must he
repeat what he had already used ? Had he no new ideas to com-
municate, demanding for their expression new words and combina-
tions of words ? So it is virtually maintained by such as dwell
upon this particular. But, in doing so, they dishonour Paul in
overlooking his mental opulence, &c." (Davidson.)
•' Dr. Neale remarks that of all the churches in modem Dalmatia
not one is dedicated to Titus. (Ecclesiological Notes en Dalmatia,
quoted by Howson.)
THE HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
BY THE KEY. W. F. MODLTON, M.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN., PEOFESSQR OP CLASSICS, WESLETAN COLLEaE, EICHMOND.
THE GREAT BIBLE.
preparmg
respects
own of 1
Matthew.
HE current of our history now returns to
Coverdale, whom we left in Paris in
the year 1538. Ho had Ijoen charged by
his jjatron, Cromwell, with the duty of
another !Kble, differing in some important
from the two already in circulation — his
535 and that bearing the name of Thomas
The excellence of Parisian paper and tyj^o-
graphy was the cause of the selection of this city for the
new woi-k. There was nothing stealthy or secret in the
procedure adopted. Croinwell was the patron of this
especial undertaking ; and through his influence a licence
was obtained from the king of France, Francis I., by
which Coverdale and Grafton were authorised, in con-
sideration of the liberty which they had received from
their own sovereign, to print and transmit to England
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
263
the Latin or the English Bible, on condition that there
were no private or unlawful opinions in the new work,
and that all dues, obligations, &c., were properly dis-
charged. Under this protection Coverdale and Grafton
applied themselves with the utmost diligence to the
fulfilment of their commission. Letters to Cromwell
are still extant, which contain very interesting notes of
progress, and also show how deeply Cromwell interested
himself in the work. For seven or eight months the
two Englishmen and their associate, Regnault, the
French printer, seem to have been left unmolested. In
December, however, there came a mandate from the In-
quisition, which stayed all progress. Happily, a portion
of the Bible was safe in England. Many sheets were
seized ; but even these were in large measure afterwards
recovered, "four great dry vats-fuU" being re-purchased
from a haberdasher, to whom they had been sold. The
interruption caused a slight delay, but was most bene-
ficial iu its results. Cromwell was not the man to be
foiled in his purpose : being unable to secure the accom-
plishment of the work in Franco, he brought over types,
presses, and men to England. In April, 1539, this
"Bible of the largest volume," as it was then spoken
of, or the first edition of the Great Bible, was issued
from the press.
The title-page is so curious that we give a reduced
copy of it on page 205. The original measures about
fourteen inches by nine ; the copy, about eight and a
half by five and a half. The design is said to be from
the hand of the celebrated Hans Holbein. The highest
figure in the engraving represents the Lord Christ in the
clouds of heaven. Two labels contain His words. On that
which extends towards the left of the engra^-ing we find
Isa. Iv. 11 {Verbum nieum, &c.). The other is directed
towards the king, who, having laid aside his crown, and
kneeling with outstretched hands, receives the declara-
tion, " I have found a man after mine own heart, which
shall fulfil aU my will " {Inveni, &c., Acts xiii. 22) ; and
himself exclaims, " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet ''
(Ps. cxix. 105). The king appears again as the most
prominent of all the figures. Now he is seated on his
throne : the royal arms and motto will be recognised at
once. The king hands the Word of God {Verbum Dei)
to bishops and clergy on his right hand, to Cromwell
and others of the laity on his left. To the former he
says, HcEc prcecipe et cloce (" These things command and
teach," 1 Tim. iv. 11) : to the latter, Quod justum est
judicate, ita parvum audietis ut viagnum ("Judge
righteously ... ye shall hear the small as well as
the great," Dent. i. 16, 17) ; and also words taken with
slight alteration from Dan. vi. 26, " I make a decree ;
. . . fear Ijefore the living God." Below, on the right,
Cromwell appears a second time, pointed out by the
device and motto at his feet : he is delivering the Word
of God to the laity, admonishing them iu the words of
Ps. xxav. li. On the other side is Cranmer, clearly
indicated by his costume and his arms, placing the
sacred volume in the hands of one of his clergy, and
solemnly repeating the charge of 1 Peter v. 2. Below
stands a preacher, enforcing the duty of prayer and
thanksgiving on behalf of kings (1 Tim. ii. 1). The
chorus of joy and thankfulness expressed in the
attitude of the king's lieges, no less distinctly than in
the shouts of " Vivat Bex," and "God save the king,"
needs no comment. Prisoners look wistfully from their
cells ; but whether they are introduced as wondering at
the commotion, or as sharers in the joy, or as affording
in their own persons a warning that such punishment
awaited all undutiful subjects, it is not easy to decide.
Many .smaller features of this remarkable composition
must be left to our readers to discover. It represents,
with great faithfulness, a page of the history of the
times. That the precious boon now conferred was the
residt of no human contrivance, is thankfully acknow-
ledged here, and in the imprint even more clearly
still : A Domino factum est istiid (" Tliis is the Lord's
doing ") are the translator's pious words, in which the
devout student of history mil heartily unite. Nor does
the engraving exaggerate the liberty granted by the
king. An injunction to the clergy, issued by Henry's
authority, required them to provide by a certain date, in
each parish, " one book of the whole Bible, of the largest
volume in English," the cost to be divided between the
parson and the parishioners. It was ordained that this
Bible should be set up in a convenient place within the
church, and that the clergy should " expressly provoke,
stir, and exhort every person to read the same." This
injunction, drawn up by Cromwell before the publication
of the work, was twice repeated in subsequent years ;
and no historian fails to relate that Bishop Bonner
placed six Bibles in St. Paul's. Another point worth
carcfnl notice is the prominence assigned by the artist
to Cromwell. This Bible is often called Cranmer's, but
without any just reason. All honour is due to the
Archbishop for his exertions to promote its circulation,
1>ut the undertaking was not his, but Cromwell's ; and
the Bible is now rightly associated with Cromwell's
name. Fifteen months after its publication Cromwell
was disgraced and sentenced to death ; but, though
the circle under his feet is left blank in the title-page
of subsequent editions, the figures remain unchanged,
and thus all copies of the Great Bible preserve the
memorial of Cromwell's zeal.
Most truthful and impressive is the exhibition of
national feeling here presented. "It was wonder-
ful," says Sti*ype,i "to see with what joy this book
of God was received, not only among the learneder
sort, and those that were noted for lovers of the
Reformation, but generally all England over, among
all the vulgar and common people ; and with what
g'reediness God's word was read ; and what resort to
places where the reading of it was. Everybody that
could bought the book, or busily read it, or got others
to read it to them, if they could not themselves ; and
divers more elderly people learned to read on purpose.
And even little boys flocked among the rest to hear
portions of the holy Scripture read." The most con-
vincing proof of the accuracy of these statements is the
1 Life of Cranmer, I., p. 92.
264
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
rapidity with which successive editions were printed
and circulated. Cromweirs Bible, hastily snatched
from destruction, was given to the world in April, 1539.
There are still extant copies of six editions bearing
the date 1540 and 1541. Nor were these mere reprints
of Cromwell's Bible. As we shall see, the agree-
ment amongst the seven Bibles is sufficiently great to
authorise us in including them in one family and under
one designation ; but each has peculiarities which dis-
tinguish it from the rest. Cranmer's direct connection
with the book begins with the second edition. On the
14th of November, 1539. Henry bestowed on Cromwell,
for five years, the exclusive right to grant a licence for
the printing of the Bible in the English tongue. A
letter from Cranmer to Cromwell is extant, bearing the
same date, in which the Archbishop conveys the under-
taking of the printers to sell the Bibles at a price not
exceeding ten shillings, on condition of receiving a
monopoly of the publication. In this letter Cranmer
asks " the king's pleasure concerning the Preface of the
Bible," which had been sent to Cromwell to " oversee."'
This Bible had been committed by Henry to Gardiner
and others among the bishops for their judgment.
"After they had kept it long in their hands, and the
king was divers times sued unto for the publication
thereof, at the last being called for by the king himself,
they re-delivered the book ; and being demanded by the
king what was their judgment of the translation, they
answered that there were many faults therein. ' Well,'
said the king. ' but are there any heresies maintained
thereby ? ' They answered, there were no heresies that
they could find maintained thereby. ' If there be no
heresies,' said the king, ' then, in God's name, let it go
abroad among our people.' Accox-ding to this judgment
of the king and the bishops, M. Coverdale defended the
translation, confessing that he did now himself espy some
faults, which, if he might review it once over again, as he
had done twice before, he doubted not but to amend ; but
for any heresy, he was sure there was none maintained
by his translation." ^ In AprU, 1540, the Book was pub-
lished with Cranmer's preface, which henceforth was
attached to all editions of the Great Bible. Three
months later appeared another edition, which, like the
last, bore Cranmer's name on the title-page. In Novem-
ber of the same year the fourth edition was ready for
i«5ue, though not published until 1541. It appeared
under very strange auspices, as the title wiU show :
" The Byble in Englyshe of the largest and greatest
volume, auctorysod and apoynted by the eommaunde-
mente of oure moost redouljted Prynce and Soueraygne
Lorde Kynge Henrye the A-iii., supreme heade of this
his Churche and Realme of Englande : to be frequented
and used in every churche mthiu this his sayd realme
accordynge to the tenour of his former Iniunctions
geven in that behalfe. Oversene and perused at the
commaurKlement of the kynges hj-ghnes, by the
ryghte reverende fathers in God Cuthbert bysshop of
Duresme - and Nicolas ^ bisshop of Rochester." It is
1 Fulke, Defence of English Translations, p. 98 (Parker Society).
S Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of Durham. 3 Nicholas Heath.
probable that the association of Tunstall and Heath with
this edition was little more than nominal. Lest the
work in which Cromwell had taken so deep an interest
should suffer after his fall, other names, representing
widely different tendencies and sympathies, must give
it wai-rant and authority. Three other editions were
issued in 1541, one (November) similar to that just
described, in its connection with the two bishops ; two
(May, December) bearing Cranmer's name upon the
title-page. We are not told how large were the im-
pressions of the later editions ; but as the first edition
consisted of 2,500 cojjies, we may reasonably conclude
that the number circulated during these years of liberty
was very large.
The liberty was too remai-kable to be of long duration.
Soon after Cromwell's disgrace the opposite party at-
tempted to avail themselves of Coverdale's scheme for
annotations on difficult texts (a scheme never carried
into effect), for the purpose of checking altogether tho
printing of the Bible. Grafton indeed was committed
to the Fleet, and bound under a heavy penalty not to
print or sell any more Bibles until the king and clergy
should agree on a translation. In 1542 Convocation^
at the king's instance, arranged a plan for a new trans-
lation. The books of the New Testament were allotted
to various bishops — St. Matthew, for instance, being
taken by Cranmer, St. Luke by Gardiner, the Acts by
Heath. The plan soon fell to the ground. When one
of the translators (Bishop Gardiner) could propose that
ninety-nine words, such as panis propositionis (shew-
bread), simidacruin (image), hostia (victim), ejicei-e (to
cast out), should, " on account of their genuine and
native meaning, and the majesty of the matter signified
by them," be presented to the people in this Latin
dress, it became very evident that the bishops had no
real wish for a vernacular translation. The king now
directed that the universities should be entrusted with
the work, but the adverse influences had become suffi-
ciently powerful to frustrate this design. About this
time Anthony Marler, a haberdasher of London, who
had borne the expenses of the earlier editions of the
Great Bible, received from Henry a patent, convej-ing
to him the exclusive right of printing the English Bible
during four years. In 1543 the reading of the Scrip-
tures was by Act of Parliament placed under very
severe restrictions. The iise of Tyndale's translations
was entirely forbidden, and three years later Coverdale's
Testament was placed under the same ban. Permission
to read the Bible in English was accorded to certain
classes only. Obedience to these injunctions was en-
forced by many penalties, and was stUl more effectually
promoted by the zeal of the numerous opponents of the
Reformation, who spared no pains to crush out the
growing love for the Scriptures. On aU sides the
proscribed Bibles were sought for and destroyed. A 11
the better traditions of earlier years were fast passing
into oblivion, when the reaction was suddenly stayed
by the death of the king in January, 1547.
We pass to a brief examination of the character of
this translation. The principal questions before us are
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
265
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m
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^^^ tent of all tbe holv fn-ppturc, bothc
A illvg/ Pt^oltimnDnctweteftament truly
A r5«\ ^sy / tranOat^D after tb^ "ocryte of tt)C
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FAC-SIMILE (kEDUCED) OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE GREAT BIBLE.
266
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
these : — In wliat relation does tlie Great Bible stand to
those previously published by Coverdale and Rogers ?
Wlmt influences may be traced in this new version ?
How far are we justified in speaking of the seven issues
in 1539 and the two following years as editions of the
same work ? Comparing Numb. xsiv. 15 — 24, as given
in the Great Bible, with the translations of Tyndale and
Coverdale, we find that in every four places in which
these two translators differ, the Great Bible agrees
with Tyndale three times, with Coverdale's Bible once.
Yery rarely do we find any new rendeiing of impor-
tance. The most striking arc in verse 16, " and that
falleth with open eyes;" verso 18, "and Edom shall
be possessed, and Seir shall fall to the possession of
their enemies ; " verse 22, " the Kenite shall be rooted
out ; " verse 24:, " Italy," in the place of " Chittim." In
most of the new renderings the authority followed is
Miinster's Hebrew-Latin Bible, published in 1534-5.
In the early books of the Old Testament the successive
editions of the Great Bible appear to bo nearly in
accoi'd, the work of revision being in the main com-
pleted when the book was first published in 1539. If
we pass to the prophetical books we meet with a much
larger propoi'tion of new matter. In Isa. liii., for
example, the Bible of 1539 differs in about forty places
from Coverdale's former translation ; in the Bible
known as Cranmer's we find about twenty additional
alterations, some of gi-eat importance ; in the editions of
1541 hardly any further change was "made. The influ-
ence of Miinster is to be seen in almost every case. We
gladly welcome such renderings as " the chastisement of
our peace " (1540) in the place of " the pain of our
punishment " (1539) ; and " the Lord hath heaj)ed
together upon him the iniquity of us all," is a more
adequate representation of the prophet's meaning than
" through him the Lord hath pardoned all our sins."
We need not examine other passages in detail. So far
as the Old Testament is concerned, we see that the
term Great Bible represents in the main two revisions
(1539, 1540) ; and that, whilst much use was made of the
Yulgate and of the Complutensiau Polyglott, Miinster's
Latin version was the authority to which Coverdale
chiefly deferred.
In its general character the New Testament is very
similar to the Old. In Luke xv., xvi., for example, the
Great Bible almost always agrees cither with Tyndale's
or with Coverdale's earlier version, but in most instances
with Tyndale. What is new is of little value. The
impression produced by these chapters is confirmed as
■we extend our survey. There are, however, some
changes of detail which are very important, though they
are not always changes for the better. Thus in John
iii. 3, " born anew " g^ves place to " bom from above ; "
in John x. 16, " one fold " is unfortunately substituted
for "one flock;" in John xiv. 1, the familiar rendering,
"je believe in God, believe also in me," takes the place
of Tyndale's, in which all was exhortation (" believe
in Gt)d, believe also in me "). In these passages the
change is apparently due to the authority of Erasmus.
Throughout the New Testament, indeed, the new
renderings are mainly derived from Erasmus and the
Vulgate. The later editions of the Great Bible some-
times contain valuable emendations; but the amount of
variation is apparently not great.
The chief characteristic of the Great Bible is found,
not in its translations, but in its text. In one of his
letters to Cromwell, Coverdale speaks of the care with
which he notes the " diversity of reading among the
Hebrews, Chaldecs, and Greeks, and Latinists." The
result is, that on every page of this version we find some
additions to the text. The reader may remember that
Purvey's version of Proverbs contains several clauses and
verses found in the Latin text, but not in the Hebrew
(Vol. T.,p. 82). Almost all these supplements may be seen
in the Great Bible. The same phenomenon meets us in
the New Testament. In Luke x^i. 21, for instance, we
read of Lazarus, that "no man gave unto him ;" at the
end of 1 Cor. xvi. 19, we find the words, " with whom
also I am lodged ;" and it is in this version that Luke
xvii. 36 first finds a place. It must be confessed that
his unwillingness to give up any portion of the text
presented by the Vulgate sometimes (in 1 John ii. 23,
for exami^le) led Coverdale to adopt readings which are
now recognised as correct ; but this good fortune is only
occasional. As a rule, the additions found no favour
with later editors. These supplements, however, were
not presented by Coverdale as part of the text, but were
placed within i^arentheses, printed in a different type,
and pointed out to the reader by a special sign. Besides
this sign, a hand {^^) is of very frequent occurrence in
both text and margin of the Great Bible. It had been
Coverdale's intention to supply numerous annotations
on difficulties of every description, and great was his
regret when the huriy and confusion amidst which the
first edition was completed rendered this part of his
scheme impracticable. The notes were never pub-
lished, but Lq the first three editions the sign remained.
Another mark ( + ) is used in the Old Testament, to
point out passages which are " alleged of Christ or of
some apostle in the New Testament."
One portion of the Great Bible stands apart from the
I'est, not indeed in internal character, but in virtue of
its subsequent history. A note at the beginning of the
Book of Common Prayer states that the Psalter therein
contained "followeth the division of the Hebrews, and
the translation of the great English Bible, set forth and
used in the time of King Henry the Eighth and Edward
the Sixth." This translation was necessarily adopted in
connection with the first Praycr-Book (1549), and ob-
tained a very strong hold upon the people. At the
last revision of the Prayer-Book (1662), when the new
translation was accepted for the Epistles and Gospels,
it proved impossible to change the Psalter. " It was
f oimd, it is said, smoother to sing ; but this is not a
full account of the matter, and it cannot bo mere
familiarity which gives to the Prayer-Book Psalter,
with all its errors and imperfections, an incomparable
tenderness and sweetness. Rather we may believe
that in it we can yet find the spirit of him whose work
it mainly is, full of humility and love, not heroic or
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
267
creative, but patient to accomplish by God's help the
task which had been set him to do, and therefore best
in harmony -with the tenour of our own daily Hves." ^
The general characteristics of the version are found
here also. Eveiy careful reader has been struck with
the additional words and clauses found in the Psalter of
the Prayer-Book. For example, "him that rideth upon
the heavens, as it were upon an horse " (Ps. Ixviii. 4) ;
" their'corn, and wine, and oil" (iv. 8) ; " a vioth. fretting
a garment " (xxxix. 12) ; " God is a righteous Judge,
strong and patient " (vii. 12); "even where no fear was"
(xiv. 9) ; " neither the temples of my head to take any
rest" (cxxxii. 4). In Ps. xxix. 1, we find a double
translation of one clause, " bring young rams unto the
Lord," and " ascribe unto the Lord glory and strength."
A verse is added to Ps. cxxxvi., and three verses are
introduced into Ps. xiv. Canon Westcott gives a list
of more than seventy of these additions, some from
Miinster, but most brought in from the Vulgate. In
the Great Bible the word, or clause, or verse, is in
almost all cases carefully separated from the context,
and marked as an addition ; but unfortunately all such
distinction has been obliterated in our editions of the
Prayer-Book. The titles of the Psalms, and such notes
as Selah, omitted in the Prayer-Book, are here given in
full. The curious love of variety of rendering, so
characteristic of Coverdale, is often observable. The
" chief musician " is usually " the chanter," but
sometimes "he that excelleth." Michtam of David
becomes " the badge or arms of David." Halleluya
is retained from the original, but a translation, " Praise
the everlasting," is placed by its side. As we might
expect, the inscriptions of the Psalms are sometimes
enlarged from the Latin. Thus Ps. xxiv. is assigned to
" the first day of the Sabbath." It is curious to read at
1 Westcott, History of English Bible, p. 294.
the beginning of Ps. xxvi. '"a Psalm of David afore ho
was embalmed."
There is little requu-ing notice in the arrangement
of the Great Bible. It contains no dedication. In
the table of contents the word " Hagiographa " (a name
designating those books of the Old Testament which aro
not included under " the Law " and " the Prophets " —
such as Job, the Psalms, &c.) strangely takes the placd
of '•' Apocrypha." As in the earlier editions of the
Great Bible Rogers's preface to the Apocryphal bocks
is I'etained, we light upon the astonishing statement
that "' the books are called Hagiogi-apha because they
were wont to be read, not openly and in common, but as
it were in secret and apart." The preliminary matter
resembles that of Matthew's Bible. The Concordance,
however, is omitted, and a short prologue is inserted, to
explain the marks found in the text and margin. Short
headings are usually prefixed to the chapters, but no
book has a preface, unless the three or four lines ex-
pressing the general meaning of the Song of Solomon
can be so considered.
Many copies of the Great Bible have been preserved.
Mr. Fry, to whom we owe the most complete and
accurate account of the various editions, lias examined
nearly one hundred and fifty copies ; most of these,
however, are incomplete, perfect copies being very rare.
The library of the British Museum contains every one
of the seven editions. At Lambeth Palace may be
seen copies of the first two editions which may very
possibly have belonged to Cranmer himself. Amongst
the treasures of the library of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, is a splendid copy of Cromwell's Bible, printed
on vellum and illuminated; another copy on vellum
(AprU, 1540), presented by Anthony Mai-ler to Henry
YIIL, is preserved in the British Museum. A useful
reprint of the New Testament of 1539 will be found in
Bagster's English Hexapla.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EASTEEN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
BY THE REV. DR. EDERSHEIM.
MAEEIAGE AMONG THE ANCIENT HEBEEWS.
T is a significant saying, attributed to Rabbi
Akiba: "Man and wife who are devout,
the Shechinah is between them ; if other-
wise, fii'e devours them." There is here
a, play upon the terms in the original, which it is not
difficult to explain. The Hebrew word for man — AISH
(pronounced Ish) — has for its middle letter the I; and
that for woman — ^iSflafl" (pronounced Ishah) — ^for its
final letter the H, which together form the word Jah
(Jehovah) ; while if you remove these two letters there
remain only AeSH (Esh), which means fire.^ The
1 The letters printed in capitals are the proper letters ; those in
small type the vowel-points. The saying is given in the Pirl-e R.
Elieser in name of another Eahbi, and the explanation added, that
the fire is that of spiritual destruction.
sentence is brief, and sounds peculiarly rabbinical. But
like such aphorisms, it throws a flash of light on social
matters — the position of woman, the marriage relation-
ship, and family life in the ancient synagogue. Happily,
there is here scarcely a dark side to the picture. And to
this day Jewish family life may well serve as a model,
shaming every other than a genuinely Chi-istian house-
hold. Indeed, on no part of his subject can the im-
partial Jewish historian dwell with more satisfaction
than on this. Quotations superficially made, and trite
references to the ease with wliich divorce might be ob-
tained, have produced a false popular impression, for
which neither the Scriptures nor the teachings of the
Rabbis afford warrant.
At the outset the reader should bear in mind the
268
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
almost immeasurable clifEerenc« between the position of
woman among the Hebrews and among all other Eastern
nations. There was, indeed, concession in this, as in
other matters, to "the hardness" of men's hearts — for
all God's teaching is " little by little " — but comparison
will here show a difference not in degree but in kind.
Rabbinical sayings on this subject might be multiplied,
but we prefer, in the first instance, to take our sketch
from the Old Testament. The position of woman seems
already implied in the account of her creation. Not
only the New Testament (Mark x. 6) but the Rabbis
trace back the institution of marriage to the state in
Paradise. From the first woman was destined to be
man's ezer, or help (Gen. ii. 18), and as such she is
presented tlu-oughout the sacred story. Every one
knows the position of equality and influence, sometimes
even unduly so, of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel
in the families of the patriarchs; how independently
they were addressed, spoke, and acted. There is nothing
like it in any other Eastern story, nor in the spirit of
the times. And to this day the Jews are "wont to name
" the four mothers " as ancestral saints by the side of
" the three fathers." For these many centuries has their
reverent mention been repeated at the family service
each night of the Paschal supper, till even this would
have sufficed to make female equality a traditional
household thought.
Of course the reasons of all this reach down to the
very root of religious life in Israel. But the social
conditions also were such as, on the one hand, to pre-
suppose, and, on the other, to promote the proper
position of woman. She was not shut up, as Eastern
females are, in a separate part of the house, jealously
guarded, but mingled freely with the other sex in the
family, and among strangers. She entertained the
guests, appeared at the family feasts and at marriages,
took part in public festivals, went to the sanctuary — not
unfrequently quite alone; in short, enjoyed free social
intercourse, so far as at all possible in those times and
circumstances. Even the occupations of women, as
referred to in Scripture {e.g., Exod. xxxv. 25 ; 1 Sam.
ix. 11 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 6, 8 ; Prov. xii. 4 ; xxxi. 13—24, &c.),
show a marked contrast to the idleness of the harem.
It is quite true that polygamy was not prohibited, and
that divorces were possible. But it is well known that
in Old and New Testament times monogamy seems, in
practice, to have been the rule (compare Prov. xii. 4 ;
six. 14; xxxi. 10; Tobit i. 9; ii. 11; viii. 4, 13; Sus.
29, 63 ; Ecclus. xxvi. 1 ; Matt, xviii. 25 ; Luke i. 5 ; Acts
V. 1), and that the exceptions chiefly lay with kings,
or with the rich and luxurious. The Rabbis, indeed, also
allowed a plurality of wives. But the circumstance
that they limited their number;^ that, according to their
unanimous opinion, the high priest required to be
monogamous ; that the law fixed that the claims of the
first married woman should take precedence of those
1 According to some, by the outward circumstances of a man ;
according to others, no civilian was to have more than four, nor
princes more than eighteen wives.
of the second, the second of the third, and so on {Cheth.
X.) ; and, finally, the provision that in case a man had
lived in monogamy and afterwards became polygamous,
his first wife might claim to be divorced ( Yeb. 65, a) —
all prove that the whole current of feeling was in the
direction which we know Jewish life generally took.
It has been well remarked, that even the symbolical
representation of the union between Jehovah and His
people seemed to point to monogamy.
From what has been stated it will be inferred, that
ordinarily the choice of a wife must have lain with a
youth himself, though no doubt there are even Biblical
examples of betrothal on the part of the parents. The
Rabbis expressly disapprove of engagements made
through messengers, as hkely to lead to disappoint-
ments. A woman was required to give her exj^ress
consent, else the marriage was not valid. Of course
this applied only to those who were of age. A girl
was considered a minor up to twelve years and one
day; from that time she was of age. Wlule a minor
her father (but not her mother) could betroth or give
her in marriage. But once betrothed or married he
lost his power over her, even though she had been
divorced or become a widow during her minority.
Similarly she might, if she attained majority after
betrothal, insist upon divorce. Perhaps for our present
purpose it may be best, first, briefly to state what, in
the view of the ancient synagogue, should influence the
choice of a wife ; then io describe successively the rites
of betrothal arul of vuirriage, the legal enactments
prohibiting or regulating marriage, and those referring
to divorce ; and lastly, to detail what were regarded as
the mutual duties of married life.
The common proverb, "marriages are made in heaven,"
is assuredly of Jewish origin {Ber. Rabba, 58). The
destination of man and wife for each other was supposed
to be God's special work, since creation had ended. In-
deed, there is a story, that forty days before the birth
of a child it is announced in heaven to whom he or
she is to be wedded. But in all fairness this language
is not that of fatalism ; rather of reverent acknow-
ledgment of God in the most important event of life.
Quite in accordance with the principles which were to
guide in the choice of a wife, it was said, that regard
should, in the first place, be had to the family of a girl.
For it was thought that daughters generally were like
their fathers, and sons to their maternal uncles. If we
put it this way: first, learning and piety (for in the
Jewish mind the two covered each other), then descent,
and lastly money, we have correctly indicated the
degrees of a desirable union. If possible, a man
shoiild many the daughter of a sage, or at least of
the head of a synagogue, or of a parochial adminis-
trator, or of a schoolmaster. As for the unlettered,
"they were dead even while living," according to Isa.
xxvi. 14, and connection with them was only to be con-
templated if the wealth thereby acquired were devoted
to assist a sage in his studies.
We have felt ourselves at liberty to gather up the
I spirit of the Rabbis at different periods, because on
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
269
such a subject opinions do not change with dogmatic
prejudices.^ But that similar sentiments were also
entertained while the Temple stood, will appear from the
subjoined quotation. The story connected with it reads
strange, but it rests upon what seems indubitable testi-
mony {Taan. iv. 8). It is said, that annually on the
afternoon of the Day of Atonement, and on that when
the offering of wood for the altar was completed (the
15th Ab), the maidens of Jerusalem were wont to
gather in the vineyards close to the city.^ They aU
went arrayed in white dresses lent them for the pur-
pose, that there might be no invidious distinctions.
Here, as the maidens danced and sang, the youths
had an opportunity of choosing their partners. The
following fragment of one of their songs which has been
preserved, is characteristic : —
" Around in circles gay, the Hebrew maidens see ;
From them our happy youths their partners choose.
Remember ! beauty soon its charm must lose.
And seek to win a. maid of fair degree.
When fading youth and beauty low are laid.
Then praise shall her who fears the Lord await ;
God does bless her handiwork, and in the gate,
' Her works do follow her,' it shall be said."
Thus viewed, marriage was considered almost a reli-
gious duty,'' that is, not from lust, nor for beauty, nor
yet merely for wealth. For whatever woman was, either
for good or bad, she was always superlatively.* String-
ing together several portions of Scripture, it was argued
that an unmarried man was without any good (Gen. ii.
18), without jo^ (Deut. xiv. 26), without blessing (Ezek.
xliv. 30), without protection (Jer. xxxi. 22), without
'peace (Job v. 24) ; indeed, could not properly be called a
man (Gren. v. 2). It was a principle, " If thou hast power
over a son, give him a wife " {Kidd. 30). Some went
even so far as to advise, if it were not otherwise attain-
able to get a daughter married, to liberate a slave and
wed her to him ! In general, the age at which a young
man should marry was stated to be not later than from
eighteen to twenty years, early marriages being specially
recommended. But the more sober opinion also pre-
vailed, that a man should only take such a step when
he had sufficient to provide for wife and family. Any-
how, wedded life must not be allowed to interfere with
the prosecution of study, otherwise even celibacy was
excusable. Unequal unions, such as that of a very old
man with a young girl, were declared an abomination.
Of hindrances to marriage by relationship or other-
wise, we shall speak in the sequel.
Sufficient has been said to illustrate the general views
and feelings of the synagogue. Suppose, then, a proper
<;hoice made, and marriage actually in view. Legally
speaking, it would be considered duly concluded by any
one of two things, done either personally or through
messengers, viz., handing a piece of money (to the value
1 I must take leave to refer the reader who wishes further
details to my Hislory of the Jewish Nation, chaps, ix. and x.
2 See my Temple, its Ministry and Services, pp. 286, 296.
3 Except by the sect of the Essenes, who were ascetics.
4 Maza or Moze ?—" Findeth " or " found ? " used to be the pithy
Kabbinical inquiry after marriage, the two terms pointing to
opposite experiences of woman, according to Prov. xviii. 22 and
JScclea. vii. 26.
of at least a perutha, the smallest coin = igd.), or
deUvering a written document; or else by cohabitation
{Kidd. i. 1 ; ii. 1), the latter mode of marrying being,
however, ]>rohibited by the Rabbis as indecent, on pain
of stripes. In each case there must be a distinct decla-
ration of purpose of marriage ; it must be made before
two witnesses, and on the part of the man, the woman
expressly consenting — that is, if she were of age ; other-
wise her father acting for her. These practices, no
doubt, marked the most ancient customs, and they serve
to indicate that the Jewish law, like that of Scotland,
really regarded marriage as a civU contract. As usual,
the Talmudists discuss at length various questions
connected with the validity of marriages contracted
under certain conditions. The most important points
here are, that if it had been expressly mentioned that
the woman was not under a vow, or else that she had
not certain bodily defects, and it proved otherwise,
the imion was invalid [Chethub. vii. 7 ; Kidd. ii. 5) ; if
it had been contracted for a future time (say, "Be
betrothed to me after thirty days "), then apparently
the man, but not the woman, was boimd by the
contract (comp. Kidd. iii. 1 — 10, which discusses other
similar hypothetical cases).
The interval between betrothal and marriage was
fixed by the law, as for a maiden from ten months to a
year, and for a widow three months. In Biblical times
we read that on the day of the marriage the bridegroom,
accompanied by his "friends" (Judg. xiv. 10; John iii.
29), went to the house of the bride. From Tobit vii. 13,
&c., we learn that there the father led his daughter up to
the betrothed with the words, " Take her according to
the Law of Moses," a benediction being then spoken,
and the chethubah read and sealed. Substantially
this is the basis of the present Jewish marriage cere-
monial. Both in Scripture (Ps. xix. 5 ; Joel ii. 16) and
in the Mishna {Kidd. v. 6) we read of the chuppah, or
baldachino, under which at present Jewish marriages
are performed (always in the open air). The veiling of
the bride, the ring, and the benedictions (not necessarily
said by a Rabbi) are aU of ancient origin. The other
modern ceremonies are only accessories, chiefly connected
with remembrance of Israel's bondage and of their
present circumstances. From the Bible we know that
in the evening the bride was brought to her new home,
surrounded by her maiden "companions" (Ps. xiv. 14),
with torches and lamps (Matt. xxv. 1), amid music and
dancing (Jer. vii. 34 ; xvi. 9), she herself being richly
adorned and veiled (Isa. Ixi. 10; Jer. ii. 32), There
was a marriage-feast at which bride and bridegroom
wore garlands (Song of Sol. iii. 11 ; Ezek, xvi, 12).
This was celebrated with music and dancing (Ps, kxviii,
63; Jer, vii. 34; xvi. 9, &c.), and general merriment.
The marriage festivities generally lasted seven days
(Judg. xiv. 12).
The accounts given by the Rabbis do not greatly differ
from the picture which the Bible presents of this family
feast. Before the marriage the most pious fasted,
or, at least, abstained from intoxicating drink. In con-
nection with the marriage of Cana (John ii. 1), and
270
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
again, as perhaps illustrating the locality where our
Lord spoke the comparisons (Matt. ix. 15 ; John iii.
29), in which He mentioned the children of the
bridechamber, and the friends of the bridegroom,
it is interesting to know that in Galilee marriages
were much more simply conducted than in Judasa
proper, and that the practice of having " friends of the
bridegroom " was not customary there [Chethub. 12).
After the destruction of the Temple, bride and bride-
gi-oom (also the groomsman) were prohibited wearing, as
formerly, garlands of myrtle and of roses. In similar
token of mourning, or else to remind all how shortlived
was joy, a glass was dashed to pieces, or ashes strewed
on the head of the bridegroom, or the bride would even
send him a burial-dress. On the way to and from the
house of wedding wine and oU were distributed, nuts
given to children, seeds scattered, or even a pair of
fowls carried before the married couple. The bride
wore a peculiar kind of veil, covering the eyes ; some-
times her hair hung loosely down, while married women
had carefully to cover it up. The evening feast was
one of boisterous merriment, almost amountuig to
rioting. There were regular joke-makers ; anything,
however false, might be said in praise of a bride ; and
to msike the gravest Rabbi, even the President of the
Sanhedrim, sing or dance, seemed a special object of
delight. Some of the more serious men protested
against these sometimes indecent exhibitions, and it
formed a standing complaint by the more strict followers
of Shammai against the school of HUlel. But any one
was expected to join in a bridal procession, and to do
honour to the newly-wedded pair. It was said in praise
of King Agrippa I., that whenever he met such a pro-
cession he always headed it. More serious utterances,
however, are also met with, almost reminding us of
the Roman Catholic view of marriage as a sacrament.
Thus we read : " To three persons, entrance on their
new condition biings the forgiveness of sins — to the
bridegroom, the Rabbi, and the President of the
Sanhedrim."
A gi'eat deal has been written about the ease with
which divorce might be obtained in Israel. It is well
known that the two rival schools of Shammai and
HUlel here differed. Both appealed to the words,
" matter of uncleanness " (ervath davar, in Deut. xxiv.
1), only that the one rested their opinion on the word
ervath (iinclcanness), the other on davar (matter), in the
sacred text. The Shammaites accordingly restricted
divorce to an iniquitous action ; whereas the Hillelites
infeiTcd that a divorce was warranted for any matter,
even if the wife had only spoiled her husband's
dinner. Rabbi Akiba endeavoured farther to prove
that a man might lawfully dismiss his wife if he found
another more attractive. These, however, are excep-
tional extravagances. The general ^new was, that it
was lawful to divorce a wife without paying her her
settlement, if she had transgressed the law of Moses
and of Judah. But it was always first sought to bring
about a reconciliation. The letter of divorce had to bo
signed by witnesses, and it was couched in very express
terms. Of the marriage of proselytes, strangers, and
slaves we cannot here find space to write.
In general, the husband was bound to love and cherish
his wife, to support her in comfort, to I'cdeem her if she
had been sold into slavery, and to bury her, on which
occasion even the poorest was to provide at least two
mourning-fifes and one mourning woman. He was to
treat his wife with courtesy, for her tears called down
Divine vengeance. He was to spend less than his
means warranted for food, up to his means for his own
clothing, and beyond them for that of his wife and
children. On the other hand, it was the ordinary duty
of the wife "to grind the meal, to bake, wash, cook,
suckle her childi-en, make her husband's bed, and work
in wool." Tliese regulations were modified if she were
wealthy. " If she had brought with her one slave, she
was not required to grind the meal, bake, or wash ; if
two slaves, she was free from cooking and suckling the
children ; if three, she was not requu-ed to make the
bed nor work in wool ; if four (it is added), she might
sit in her easy chair " {Cheth. v. 5) ! However, this
indulgence was limited, since idleness was supposed to
induce insanity ; so that a man was even boimd to divorce
liis wife, if he had rashly vowed that she should not
work. The woman should abstain from all appear-
ance of evd, immodesty, or impropriety ; she should
always meet her husband cheerf idly, cleanly, and tidily ;
receive his friends with politeness and affability; bo
obedient and respectful, and, above all, encourage her
husband in piety and study. Nor is the comparison ^
which St. Paul makes in the Epistle to the Ephesians
between the married relationship and the union of Christ
with His people altogether without a parallel among
the Rabbis. To them also the bridal pair symbolises
the union of God with the world, or else of God with
Israel ; and they speak of the seven days of the mar-
riage festival as emblematical of the seven millenniums
during which the world was to last.
We close with a beautiful Rabbinical story which,
better than any lengthened statements, wUl illustrate
family life among the sages. On a certain Sabbath
Rabbi Meir was engaged in the sacred college. In his
absence his two sous had died. To spare her husband
some hours of grief, and not to convert the joy of the
Sabbath into mourning, the mother repressed her own
feelings, and concealed the sad tidings. The Sabbath was
past, and its holy exercises ended, when she asked her
husband whether it were not duty readily and cheerfully
to restore to the rightful owner any property, however
pleasant, which had been entrusted for safe keeping.
When the astonished Rabbi answered the strange in-
quiry in the affirmative, his weeping wife led him to
the bed on which the lifeless remains of their two
chUdren were stretched, reminding him that He whoso
they rightfully were had only asked back what for a
time he had entrusted to their keeping.
1 Th« Talmud also uses exactly the same expression as St. Paul
(Eph. V. 28) : " He that loveth his wife as his own body." Comp.
Weil, Moise et U Talin., p. 298.
BIBLE WORDS.
271
BIBLE WOEDS.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON RESIDENTIARY AND PRECENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
DIVISION II.— WORDS ALTERED IN MEANING.
SECTION I. — WORDS ELEVATED IN MEANING.
[HE former papers on Bible words have been
deveted to the obsolete words of Holy
Scriptiu'e. "We now, in accordance with
the plan stated at the outset, proceed to
consider the words that have sustained a change or
modification of signification since the publication of
the Authorised Version.
Wo shall direct our attention, in the first place, to
those words ■V7hicli have been either improved or de-
teriorated— elevated or depressed — during the last two-
and-a-half centuries. It is a sadly significant fact that
the latter class far outnumbers the former ; that the
list of the words which, oi'iginally honourable or inno-
cent, have acquired a low or harmful meaning should
be so much larger than that of those which have been
purified or ennobled. An instructive homily might be
delivered on the evidence thus aiforded of man's fallen
estate, and how certainly ho injures and degi-ades all
that he touches except when under the guiding in-
fluences of the Holy Spirit of God. But to do this is
not our duty now, and we will content ourselves with
directing our readers to Archbishop Trench's admirable
lecture on " The Morality of Words." > In this depart-
ment of our subject the mode of treatment will be more
condensed, and the illustrations less copious, than was
requisite when we were dealing with words that almost
or entirely had passed out of use.
Abject. This word is now only used as an adjec-
tive, and is seldom heard except in the phrases "abject
poverty," "abject circumstances," and the like, carrying
with it rather a feeling of pity and compassion than of
contempt or disgrace. But its earlier use was very
different. In Ps. xxxv. 15, "Tea, the very objects came
together against me unawares, making mows at me,
and ceased not" (Prayer-Book).' It is evident that
it is a word of intensest scorn, denoting the lowest
and most contemptible rabble. Shakespeare uses it
in the same sense when he makes Gloucester speak of
"the abject people" (2 Hen. VI. ii. 4), and complains
" We are the queen's objects, and must obey" {Rich. III.
i. 1). So also Bale (Richardson) describes St. John as
exiled for the Gospel preaching; and made a " vile
ahject."
1 Trench, Study of Wordi^, chap. ii.
- V/e have restored the old reading of the "Sealed Book" which
the unlicensed despotism of printers has robhed us of, as they have
done with s7iame/astn«ss (2 Tim. ii. 9) ; siih (Exod. xxxv. 6) ; it own
accord (Lev. xxv. 5) ; ViU, or " kiln " (2 Sam. xii. 31 ; Jer. xliii. 9)j
and inoa for " more" (passim) ; and many other noble relics of our
ancient mother tongue. "We may illustrate the true reading by
Helena's words in Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2 : —
" Make movis upon me when I turn my back,
Wiuk at each other : hold the sweet jest up."
Church (svhst), A. S. cyrice, adopted from the
Greek KvpiaK-f), "belonging to the Lord," Kvpws, has so
completely asserted its sacred meaning in modern lan-
guage that it is almost startling to find our translators
rendering UpocrvAovs, "robbers of churches" (Acts xix.
37), where the context shows that it is of heathen temples
the town-clerk of Ephesus is speaking. But that they
were only following the usage of the time, which had
not yet restricted the word " church " to a Christian
building, is demonstrated by many passages from our
earlier literature. Thus Sir John Clieke speaks of the
" rending of the veil of the church," i.e. the Temple at
Jerusalem (Matt, xxvii. 51), while "the church of
Juno" is found in Gelding's Ovid; "the church of
Jove " in Marlowe's Lucar ; and Holland makes Pliny
(x. 43) speak of a " young raven hatched in a nest upon
the church of Castor and Pollux."
Delicately, Deliciously (ac^^^). Neither of these
adverbs, as at px*esent used, implies the slightest reproach.
On the contrary, in most instances they carry with them
the idea of refinement and excellence. But in the A. V.
both words bear an unfavourable meaning, being re-
garded as synonymous with luxuriously in its unfavour-
able sense. Whatever be the real meaning of the much
controvex-ted phrase, "Agag came to him delicately"
(1 Sara. XV. 32), our translators certainly did not intend
it to say anything in commendation of the doomed king.
The " delicately bringing up of a servant from a child "
censured (Prov. xxix. 21) is the petting and pampering
of a young slave. The word used (Luke vii. 25), " They
who live delicately," is the same with that rendered
" riot " (2 Pet. ii. 13). In the only passage where
deliciously occurs in the A. V. (" to live deliciously,"
Rev. xviii. 7, 9) the verb is identical in root with that
translated " to ivax wanton" (1 Tim. v. 11). In the trans-
lation of Yive's Instruction of a Christian Woman (bk.
i. chap. 8), "to leade the life delicately and deliciously "
is coupled with " wasting it away riotously," as opposed
to " living chastely, sadly, soberly, measurably." Piers
Plowman, p. 142, bids his readers
" Think that Dives for his delicafe lyf to the devil went,"
of whom also Jeremy Taylor writes, " He went in fine
linen and fared deliciously every day" {Serm. 9,
vol. v., p. 528).
Fame (subst.), which is now almost universally used
of the renown or celebrity derived or anticipated from
some great or noble action —
" The spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights and live laborious days "
(Milton's Lysidas),
was formerly applied in a lower sense to any reports or
272
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
intelligence, good or bad, like the Greek <t>VM and the
Latin fama. Thus Bacon, in his incomplete Essay of
Fame, uses it in the plural, where we should now use
"reports," inquiring "what are ialse fames, and what are
true /awes; . . . how /tn/ies may be sown and raised;"
and records how " Mucianus undid Vitellius by a fame
that he scattered," and " Julius Ctesar took Pompey
unperceived ... by a, fame that he cunningly gave;
how Caesar's own soldiers loved him not." We find it
in this lower sense in the A. V., as when " the favie "
of the arrival of Joseph's brethren was spread in
Pliaraoh's house (Gen. xlv. 16) ; and 1 Kings x. 7,
where the queen of Sheba acknowledges that Solomon's
"wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame she had
heard." We may add the words of Jeremiah with
reference to the Assyrian invasion (Jer. vi. 24), " We
have heard the favie thereof; our hands wax feeble,
anguish hath taken hold of us."
Injurious {adj.) is now apjilied to things that
cause harm or detriment, e.g., "injurious to the cha-
racter," "injurious to the health," without any trace of
the idea originally attaching to it of the harm being
unjust or wrongful, and is never used of persons as it
is in the only two places where it appears in the A. Y. :
1 Tim. i. 13, "Who was before a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injiirious ;" Ecclus. viii. 11, "Rise not
up at the presence of an injurious person," in both
which it is the rendering of vfipKTT'fjs, " a violent, over-
Ijeariug person, doing harm from insolence." This is
Shakespeare's use of the word, e.g., "injurious wasps"
{Two Gentleynen of Verona, i. 2); "injurious Hermia "
{Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2); "a false traitor
and injurious ^^llain" (Rich. II. i. 1). Bacon couples
" injury " with " insolence : " " By occasion of putting
down others' injury or insolency " (Adv. of Learn., II.,
xxiii. 30) ; " Exposed to scorn and injury " {ib. 32).
Proper {adj.) has ascended in the scale from the
sense of mere proprietorship. 1 Chron. xxix. 3, " I
(David) have (given) of my own proper good" {i.e., of
my own personal property) ; Acts i. 19, " The field is
called in theii' proper tongue Aceldama " {i.e., in their
own language) ; 1 Cor. vii. 7, " Every man hath his
proper (individual) gift of God; " or of comeliness, Heb.
xi. 23 (of Moses' parents), " because they saw that he
was a. proper child" {ckttuos, rendered "fair," Acts vii.
20), till it has come to signify what is seemly and fit
absolutely, so that we speak of doing things "at a
'proper time," or " in a proper way." Both of the older
uses may be illustrated from Shakespeare : —
" The bastard's brains with these my propel- hands
Shall I dash out." (Winter's Tale, ii. 3.)
" Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man."(Rie?i. III. i. 2.)
" You are a thousand times a properer man
Than she a woman." (As Ton Like It, iii. 5.)
Religion {subst.). This word, which is now used in
a wide and elevated sense to denote the whole spiritual
life, inward and outward, including the performance of
our duty both to God and man, has in the A. Y. a much
narrower signification, and was confined to the outward
alone. In the words of Archbishop Trench, " like
eprjrTKfla, for which it stands (James i. 26, 27 ; Acts xxvi.
5), it expressed the outer form and embodiment which
the inward spirit of a true or a false devotion assumed"
{Select Glossary, p. 183) ; and in those of Dr. Arnold,
" denoted commonly the outward service, as consisting
in rites and ceremonies ; and might be, and was,
applied to persons who in their lives and hearts scarcely
served God at all " {Sermo7is, YI., p. 354). Our trans-
lators inherited this use of the words religion and
religious from their mediaeval abuse, when religion was
restricted to a conventual life, and a " religious person "
meant simply one who had bound himself by monastic
vows. Thus we read in Gower —
" In black clothes thei them clothe.
The daughter and the lady both.
And yolde hem (yielded themselves) to religion."
(Con/. Am., bk. viii.)
In Shakespeare's As You Lihe It, v. 4, the Duke "meet-
ing with an old religioios man . , . was converted," . . .
and " put on a religious life," i.e., as the context shows,
deserted the world and lived as an ascetic. The old
usage of the words is admirably illustrated in the
Sermon of " False Semblaunt " in Chaucer's Roniaunt
of the Rose, vv. 6141 — 59, which well deserves perusal.
We quote a few lines : —
" Good sense maketh the good thought.
The clothing geveth ne reveth (takes away) nought.
The good thought and the working
That maketh the religion flouring.
There lieth the good religion
After the right ententioun."
With which we may compare Latimer's words, "Reli-
gion, pure religion, I say, standeth not in wearing of
a monk's cowl, but in righteousness, justice, and well-
doing " {Sermons, p. 392).
Reward {verb act.) in the A. Y. signifies to requite
or recompense without reference to the good or e'V'il
character of the return. Deut. xxxii. 41, " I will reward
them that hate me ; " Matt. xvi. 27, " He shall reward
every man according to his works ;" Rev. xviii. 6,
" Reward her (Babylon) even as she rewarded you."
(1 Sam. xxiv. 19; 2 Sam. iii. 39; 2 Chron. xx. 11 ; Ps.
liv. 5 ; Hos. iv. 9 ; 2 Tim. iv. 14.) Reivard is another
form of the old French reguerdon, reguerdoner, to
" recompense " or " pay back ; " " guerdon " being de-
rived from the Teutonic ividerlon, A. S. xoitherlean
{wither = again, lean = wages), the gu taking the place
of the w, as in Guillaume, William ; Gualtior, Walter ;
guepe, wasp ; guerre, war, &c. We find it in its old
wide sense in Piers Plowman —
" After the dede is don one dome (sentence) shal reiearcU
Mercy or no mercy, as treuthe wil acorde " (iii. 316)
and in Spenser —
" Yet not escaped from the dew reward
Of bia bad deeds." F. Q., iii. 5 (Bichardaon).
BIBLE WORDS.
273
Success {^iibst.) formerly signified the result or
consequence, whetlier favourable or unfavourable, and
like the word "reward" took its character from the
qualifying adjective. In the only place where it occurs
in the A. V. (Josh. i. 8), " Thou shalt have good success,"
the adjective appears redundant according to modern
usage. In the same way Ascham Avi-ites of " the good
or ill successe of the quicke and hardy witte " {Schole-
master, bk. ii., Richardson). Bacon speaks of " the
siiccesses and issues of actions " {Adv. of Learn., II.,
iv. 2), and of judging "by successes and events" (lb.,
II., X. 2), where he means the consequences simply,
irrespective of their character : while Shakespeare, em-
ploying the qualifying adjective, has "good success"
(3 Henry VI., iii. 3) ; " best success " {ib., ii. 2) ; " bad
success" (ib.); "vile success" (Othello, iii. 3) j and
" success of mischief " ( 2 Henry IV., iv. 2).
Tabernacle (subst.). A tabernacle is nothing
more than a tent or movable dwelling, from the Latin
iabernaculum, a diminutive of taberna, a " shed " or
"hut." Om' translators having borrowed this word
from the Yulgate as the designation of the sacred tent
that sheltered the Ark of the Covenant, it has acquired
a quasi-sacred character which has been perpetuated
by Whitfield's "Tabernacle" in Moorfields, and its
numerous successors. It is much to be regretted that
the word should be so often found to the obscuring of
the sense, where the simpler " tent " or " booth " would
be much more intelligible, and avoid misconception.
The tent-life of the patriarchs is much obscured by the
rendering (Heb. xi. 9), " dwelling in tabernacles with
Isaac and Jacob ;" nor does the ordinary reader at
once perceive that the " tabernacles of Israel " in
Balaam's blessing (Numb. xxiv. 5), and the " tabernacles
of Edom and the Ishmaelites " (Ps. Ixsxiii. 6), were
merely the ordinary tents of these tribes, and had no
religious character. Few recognise at once that St.
Peter's request on the Mount of Transfiguration, " Let
us make three tabernacles " (Mark ix. 5), only indicated
his wish to construct leafy huts for his Master and
His glorified companions from the boughs of the trees
that covered the mountain side, similar to those which
he had been accustomed to help in fabricating at
the annual festivity of the "Feast of Tabernacles,^'
or "booths," when the whole Jewish people lived
in arbours for a week (Lev. xxiii. 42, 43; Neh. viii.
14—17).
"Worship (ve)-b act. and svhit.). A higher significa-
tion has been placed on this word by modern usage than
it bore originally, or its etymology properly warrants.
The noun represents the A. S. weorthscipe, " the state or
condition of worthiness," the verb implying the oiitward
testimony to the worthiness. Though now restricted to
honour and service paid to God, it had a wider sense
in the A. Y. Thus, Luke xiv. 10, " Thou shalt have
ivorship in the presence of them that sit at meat with
thee;" Josh. v. 14, "Joshua fell on his face, and did
ivorsliip," i.e., made obeisance by prostration ; Matt,
xviii. 26, "The servant feU down, audi loorshipped him"
(his fellow- servant). We have a familiar example of
this use of the word in the marriage service, "With my
body I thee worsliip," and in the title "your Worship,"
addressed to the magistrate on the bench.^ Spenser's
Red Cross Knight started on his adventures " to win
him loorsliip," i.e., honour (F. Q., I., i. 3) ; and Sir
Guyon is described as —
"Of mickle worship in his native land." (F. Q., II., i. 6.)
It had been constantly used by WiclifE in this lower
sense in his version of the Bible, e.g. Matt. xiii. 57, " A
prophete is not withouten ivorschip but in his owne
cuntre ; " ib. xix. 19, " Worschipe thi fadir and thi
modir ; " John xii. 26, " If any man serve me, my fader
schel loorschipe him ; " to which we may add a passage
from the " Examination of William Thorpe," quoted by
Archbishop Trench (Select Glossary, p. 239) from
Foxe's Book of Martyrs, " Man that was made after
the image and likeness of God is full worshipful in
his mind; yea, this holy image which is man, God
looi'shipped."
Worthy (adj.). This adjective, representing the
A. S. weorthe or tvyrthi, originally implied no more
than general desert, the particular character being
defined by the dependent words. Thus, in the A. Y.
we have, Deut. xxv. 2, "worthy to be beaten;" 1 Sam.
xxvi. 16, " loorthy to die ; " Luke xii. 48, " things ivorthy
of stripes ; " Acts xx^-i. 31, " worthy of death," on the
one hand; and 2 Sam. xxii. 4, "worthy to be praised: "
Matt. X. 10, " the workman is worthy of his meat ; "
Rev. iv. 11, " wm-thy to receive glory," on the other.
It also occurs in the A. Y. in the modem favourable
sense : 1 Kings i. 52, " a worthy man ;" Matt. x. 13,
" if the house be worthy ; " Acts xxiv. 2, " very tvorthy
deeds ; " James ii. 7, " that worthy name." In Nahum
ii. 5, " he shall recount his worthies," we have an ex-
ample of the plural used substantively, in the manner
familiar to us in the phrase " the nine worthies," e.g.,
" the Pageant of the Nine Worthies " - in Shakespeare's
Love's Labour's Lost, act v.
" The worthies nine that were of might.
By travaile won immortal praise."
Paradise of Dainty Devices (Nares).
1 See Trench, English Past and Present, p. 136.
" The orthodox list of the " Nine "Worthies " included three
Gentiles, Hector, Alexander, Caesar ; three Jews, Joshua, David,
Judas Maccaheeus ; and three Christians, King Arthur, Charle-
magne, and Godfrey of Boulogne. For the last, Guy of Warwick
was sometimes suhstituted. Shakespeare disturbs the just pro-
portion by placing four Gentiles in his list. Hector, Alexander,
Pompey, and Hercules.
90 — VOL. IV.
274
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
BT THE KEV. A. BARKY, D.D., PRINCIPAL OP KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, AND CANON OF WORCESTER.
" Now we }iave lecoived, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God ; that we miijht know the thin!,'S that are freely
given to us ef God. Which things also we speak, not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ;
comparing spiritual thiu:4S with spiritual. But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolish-
ness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiri-
tually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet
he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, that he may in.struct him ? But we have the mind
of Christ." — 1 CoK. ii. 12 — 16.
tiE secoud chapter of the First Epistle to
the Corinthians contains, perhaps, the
most explicit assertion in the New Tes-
tament of the supernatural character of
the iiiuaiiuatiou of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
Nothing can be more distinct than the contrast drawn
between it and the "wisdom of the passing world"
{cuuv) — that is, the systematised knowledge, which the
" Gi'eeks seek after," gained by the human intellect
working in alienation from God, and in fancied inde-
pendence of Him. Nor is it less notable that this
inspiration is declared to be necessary, both for the
teaching and the learning of the Gospel.
I. In Gospel teaching St. Paul notes (a) (see vv. 7
— 10) that its substance is a revelation of God in
Christ, in itself " hidden," or uudiscoverable by human
reason, but, when revealed, capable of being imderstood
and proclaimed by those who have the iuspiratiou of
the Holy Spirit. The great Scriptural distiuctiou is
preserved throughout, that the revelation itself is in
Christ, but the power to understand it and proclaim it
is of the Holy Ghost ; in accordance with the principle
indicated in our Lord's declaration, that the Comforter
should " bring all things to their remembrance what-
soever He had said unto them " (John jdv. 26) — a prin-
ciple fruitful of instructive application to all manifesta-
tions of Christ in His Word and His Sacraments. But
(6) he goes on to declare that the word — that is, the
formed expression of thought iu the message — is equally
" taught of the Spirit " (ver. 13) ; again in accordance
with our Lord's promise, " It shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which spcaketh in
you" (Matt. X. 19, 20).
It is evident that this assertion is made for the
Apostles directly and primarily, but, from the nature
of the case, not for them alone. The degree in which
the illumination may be claimed will depend on the
position which the special work of teaching to be done
holds in the scheme of Revelation. Clearly the infinitely
highest place is duo to the apostolio foundation of
Christianity, and therefore the plenary apostolic inspi-
ration may not again be looked for. But in various
degrees the claim is certainly universal. There is
involved no declaration as to what is inaccurately called
"verbal iuspii-atiou;" no decision between "mechanical"
and "dynamical" theories j the one point is that there
is a Divine guidance in the utterance, as well as the
conception, of the message.
In the close of this declaration comes the remarkable
passage ia which the true teachers are described as
Trvsvfj.ari.Ko7s ■Kvevfx.a.TiKO. cvyicpiuovres. This passage is
explained in two different ways, according as the word
TTveu.uoTi/cors is taken to be masciUine or neuter. In the
former case, it being observed that cuyKpivftv is used
for " to interpret " by the LXX. (as in Gen. xl. 8 ; xli.
12, 15 ; Dan. v. 12), the passage is rendered " inter-
preting or explaining spii'itual things," that is, things
revealed to them by the Spirit, only " to spiritual
men," that is, to those enlightened by the same Spirit ;
and thus is made a transition to the next subject.
But against this there is the absence of all indica-
tion of a difference of gender between the two words
TryevfiaTiKa. and iri/evnariKo'ts (which is made more signi-
ficant by the emphatic insertion of the avOponros in
the next verse, as if to mark here the transition to a
new idea), and also the want of any other instance of
such usage of crvyKpiveiv by St. Paul. The other inter-
pretation, taking TryevixariKois as neuter (as in the A. V.),
agrees with the j)roper sense of avyKpiva> and St.
Paul's use of it elsewhere (see 2 Cor. x. 12), and falls
in better with the scope of the passage. It gives the
sense of " combining and comparing spiritual things
with spiiitual ; " and implies tliat in the whole system
of Divine truth there is at once an internal unity, so
that one part illustrates another, and a distinctiveness,
so that no part of it can be judged of accurately and
completely by comparison with earthly analogues. The
first principle is recognised everywhere, net only in the
compai-ison of the Old Testament with the New, to
which Origeu and Chrysostom here refer it, but as au
imiversal canon of Scriptural interpretation. The other,
while it does not contradict the great principle of
analogy, as worked out by Bishop Butler (whicli is
indeed sanctioned by our Lord's teaching in parables),
warns us against pressing analogies between spiritual
and temporal truths as if they Avere absolutely complete
— a wai'ning only too clearly illustrated in Saljellian
or Arian theories of the Incarnation, and in ultra-
" forensic" conceptions of the Atonement.
II. From teaching the Gospel St. Paul passes to
speak of tlie qualification for learning and receiving it ;
and lays down with equal clearness the necessity of an
illumination of tlie Holy Ghost. He contrasts the
" natural man," that is, tlie man who has iu him only
the pi*inciple of earthly life (if'^x'')' ^^'ith the apiritual
man, who has iu him, by communion with the Holy
Spirit, the principle of the life eternal (irfeG/no). To the
one he denies absolutely the faculty of "receiving the
things of the Spirit," of entering into the meaning and
the fii'st principles of what must seem " foolishness "
unto him, or of judging of special points of teaching,
which must be referred to these spiritual principles.
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE.
275
The spiritual man, on the other hand, being raised to a
higher level, " judges all things " (perhaps natural as
•well as spiritual things], and, in respect of the principles
of that judgment, is himself judged of no man who has
not the same gift.
To siipport the fii-st assertion of the inability of the
natm-al man to judge the things of the Spirit, St. Paul
(just as in Rom. xi. oi) cj^uotes Isa. xl. 13, "Who hath
known the mind of the Lord ? " — a passage contrasting
the infinite nature and providence of God with the
puny attempts of man to represent Him by idolatry —
and applies it to the corresponding attempt to include
His dispensations within finite human conceptions. To
support the claim to insight of the spiritual man, he
adds, " But we have the mind of Christ," that is,
" the mind of God " revealed to us in the Word and
Person of Christ, into which the Holy Spirit enables
us to enter.
III. It should be observed that, in respect neither of
the learning nor of the teaching of the Gospel, is there
any contrast here di'awn between different actions of
the human mind — between, for instance, thoughtful
reasoning and instinctive or emotional intuition. The
" spiritual mind" is the mind kindled and guided in the
action of all its faculties — reason, conscience, imagina-
tion, affection — by the Spirit of God ; and one or other
may predominate, a« a matter of fact, in the process of
the knowledge of God in each individual life. Nor
again, in cousideriag this subject, should we forget St.
Paul's declaration that heathens may " show the work
of the Law written on their hearts " by the finger of
the Spirit (Rom. ii. 15), or oui- Lord's revelation of
the office of the Comforter to " con\Ttice the world "
(John xvi. 8) of the three great moral truths. But the
passage is still a clear assertion of the need of a
"special gi-ace" of the Holy Spirit to each soul, as a
condition of his being able to understand and believe
the Gospel. And this assertion, however it may have
been misused or perverted by fanaticism, lies close to
the root of that belief in the origination of all things,
both in the visible and invisible spheres, from the will
of God, which is the foundation of all religion.
DISEASES OF THE BIBLE
THE DISEASE OF JOB.
BY W. A. GEEENHILL, M.D. OXON.
)T has been considered an interesting sub-
ject of inquiry to attempt to realise the
exact nature of the diseases by which
some of the great men of antiquity were
attacked or carried off ; and the same interest attaclies
to the diseases incidentally mentioned in Holy Scripture,
with this additional element of importance, that the
investigation, if conducted in a critical and at the same
time a reverential spirit, wUl sometimes help to remove
difficulties and apparent absurdities which do not exist
in the text itseH. But it must be confessed that the
subject is beset with peculiar difficulties, which render
anything like dogmatism most unseemly and injudi-
cious ; and in many cases the particulars mentioned
(not, be it remembered, by a physician, but in works
intended for ordinary readers) can fairly be apphed to
diseases of very different characters. Much, therefore,
of what is said in these articles is offered with great
diffidence, and is only intended to be received as pro-
bable till some more plausible explanations are brought
forward.
The disease inflicted on Job has given rise to much
discussion, but it cannot be said that the subject is
positively determined. It is not described in detail ia
the Book of Job itself, but its nature must be gathered
from incidental symptoms mentioned here and there in
the passionate and highly poetical complaints wrung
from the afflicted patriarch at once by his bodily suf-
ferings and the ill-judged accusations of his friends.
Neither PhUo nor Josephus give us any information on
the subject, but we find from Or-igen (Sexapla) that
the 3?T ]VV (shecMn ra'), with which Job was smitten
(ii. 7), was in one ancient Greek version translated, or
rather explained, by the word i\e(pas, or elephantiasis.
In another place {Cont. Gels., lib. vi. § 43, p. 665, ed.
Bened.) he speaks of Job as being afflicted with this
disease, which was probably equivalent to the modern
leprosy {kyplcfi i\4<payTi, T(f cvTu KoAou/xeVo.' voa-fifiaTi.), but
the passage is only introduced incidentally, and must
not be considered to intimate that Origen was express-
ing a formal opinion on the subject formed after due
examination, but only the popular notion prevalent in
the third century after Christ. We find this opinion
repeated in the same incidental manner by Abii-l-feda
about a thousand years later {Hist. Ante-Islavi, p. 26,
ed. Fleischer), and it has continued to be very generally
accepted to the present day. And yet perhaps the
utmost that can be said in favour of this conjecture as
to the nature of Job's disease, is that it is as probable
as any of the others that have been proposed ; ^ for cer-
tainly there are several particulars, both as to what is
mentioned and what is omitted, which agree but very
imperfectly with the symptoms of elephantiasis or
leprosy. Without entering into unnecessary medical
J Certainly much more so than the idea that Joh was visited with
an attack of sniall-poj, against which the two following,' reasons
(among others) appear quite conclusive :— (1) There is no sufficient
reason to believe that this disease was known for many centuries
after the time of Job; and (2) is it conceivable that a man's friends
would have begun a long and abstruse discussion with him while
he was suffering from so highly contagious a febrile disease as
small-pox ? or that he himself would have been in a condition to
answer them ?
276
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
details, it uiay be meutioued tliat tlie whole narrative
seems to imply that the disease, though not of au acute
febrile character, was not of any very long duration ;
and that all the circumstances connected with it, both
when it Avas iutiictod upon Job, and when it was re-
moved from him, must bo considered exceptional. If
it bo supposed that Job suffered from elephantiasis or
leprosy, the expression " sore boils (5?t ]VV, shechin ra')
from the solo of his foot unto his crown " wdl require
some explanation. This same expression occui's in
Deut. xxviii. 3.5, where it is translated ''a sore botch,"
but the words " from head to foot " need not be taken
too litei'ally, so as to ))e inconsistent with Job's scraping
(or scratching) himself Avith a potsherd on account of
the intolerable itching (ii. 8). The word ynv (shecMn)
occurs thii'teen times iu the Bible, and is everywhere
rendered €\kos by the LXX., that is, ulcer or boil;
nor does this sense aj)pear in any instance to be inap-
plicable to the context, so that in this place we may
fairly hesitate before we give to the word (without any
absolute necessity) a meaning (viz., burning, inflamma-
tion) which has been proposed, but which it does not
bear in any other passage.
THE DISEASE OP SATJL.
The particulars of Saul's madness need not be given
here in detail, but the expression used to indicate the
cause or nature of the disease is remarkable. It is
said that " an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him "
(1 Sam. xvi. 14, 16. 23; xviii. 10; xix. 9). It is inte-
resting to notice that Josephus uses the word Sat/xSvia,
demons, in connection with Saul's illness (Ant. Jud., vi.
8, § 2), but neither he nor the author of the Books of
Samuel speaks of it as anything supernatural. This
view of the case would appear to have been taken by
Saul's courtiers and attendants also, who, when they
perceived the nature of his ailment, recommended a
sensible plan of treatment, as if for au ordinary case of
melancholia. They said imto him, " Behold now, au
G\n\ spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our lord noAV
command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek
out a man, who is a cunning player on au harp ; and it
shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is
upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou
shalt be well " (1 Sam. xvi. 15, 16). The particulars given
of Said's malady would seem to indicate that he was
affected with frequent attacks of melancholy, and occa-
sional paroxysms of homicidal mania; and the terms
used to express the supposed cause of this lamentable
condition {\\z., " an evil spirit from God ") may pei-haps
be illustrated by the expression used by the Jews in
reference to our Loi'd, " He hath a devil {demon,
SatiJ.61'101'), and is mad" (John x. 20).^ The soothing
effects of music, and its use by the ancients in certain
diseases, is abimdantly proved by the authorities quoted
by Bochart {Hieroz., lib. ii., cap. di, vol. i., p. 511, &c. ;
ed. Rosenm.) and Mead {Of Poisons, Ess. ii., vol. i.,
p. 74, &c., in Works, ed. 1765).
1 The following' extracts from the Hippocratic Collection may
also be quoted. Iu speaking of the so-called sacred disease, ^epi tTjc
ieprji voi'aov, the author says : " It is thus with regard to the
disease called sacred .- it appears to me to be nowise more divine
uor more sacred than other diseases, but has a natural cause from
which it originates, like other affections. . . . But if it is reckoned
divine because it is wonderful, instead of one there are many
diseases which would be sacred ; for, as I will show, there are
others no less wonderful and prodigious, which nobody imagines
to be sacred. . . . And I see men become mad and demaited from
no manifest cause, and at the same time doing many things out of
place," &c. (Adams' Translation, p. 843). And in another place
the author (whether the same person as the writer above quoted,
or not) says ; "To me it appears that such affections are just as
much divine as all others are, and that no one disease is either
more divine or more human than another, but that all are allko
divine ; but each has its own nature, and no one arises without a
natural cause" (On Airs, Waters, and Places, j). 216, Adams' Trans-
lation slightly altered).
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
JERUSALEM.
BY MAJOR
JERUSALEM is situated in the midst,
almost on the water-parting, of the moun-
tain-sy.stem of Judtea ; it is surrounded
on all sides by hills, but not in the sense
of its being shut in by higher ground, as many have
supposed from a fanciful iuterpretation of the woi'ds of
the Psalmist, " As the mountains are round about Jeru-
salem, so is the Lord round about his people." This is
evidently an allusion to the protection afforded to the
city by the wild hills cut up by a thousand ravines,
which guard it on every side, and render any approach
difficult, especially to a large armed force.
The modem city stands at the southern extremity of
a small plateau, one thousand acres in extent, which
falls gi'adually towards the south-east, and is isolated
from the surrounding hills by two ravines bearing names
familiar to us as household words — the valley of the
WILSON, K.E.
I brook Kedron, and the VaUey of Hinnom. These valleys
are at first little more than shallow depressions in the
ground, but as they approach their point of junction
near Bir Eyub (Joab's well), the fall is more rapid, and
they present the character of deep ravines. The plateau
is di^-ided into two unequal halves by a third ravine
which passes through the city and joins the Kedron at
Siloam ; this, or a branch of it, which comes from the
west, is the Tyropoeon, the valley of the Cheesemongers,
I or possibly of the Tyiiaus. A fourth and smaller valley
rises on the eastern side of the plateau, and falls into the
] Kedron near the well-known Golden Gate ; it is almost
filled with rubbish, and for a long time escaped the
notice of travellers. Of the two sections into which the
! city is divided by the third ravine, the eastern was
Mount Moriah, on which stood the temples of Solomon,
I Zerubbabel, and Herod, and the palace of Solomon ;
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
277
whilst the western, which rises to a height of 120 feet
above Moriah, was the " Upper City " of Josephus, in
which was situated the palace of Herod with its three
great towers, Hippicns, Phasaelus, and Mariamne.
The city is enclosed by a well-built wall which has
flanking towers at certain intervals, and is protected on
called t]io Haram esh Sherif, or " noble sanctuary,"
which is considered by all Moslems as only second in
sanctity to the sacred area at Mecca ; at the southern
end of the enclosure are the Mosque el Aksa, and the
buildings from which the Knights Templars took their
name : almost in the centre is a raised nlatform on
PLAN OF MODERN JEEUSALEM.
the north by a rock-hewn ditch ; the wall is pierced by
ten gates, but only five — the Jaffa gate on the west, the
Damascus gate on the north, the St. Stephen's gate on
the east, and the Dung and Sion gates on the south — are
now open ; of the closed gates, four, known as the
Golden gate, the single, double, and triple gates, led
into the Haram esh Sherrf , and one — the Bab es Zahire —
into the north-eastern quarter of the city. The surface
of Mount Moriah is now occupied by a large enclosure
which stands one of the most beautiful and celebrated
of known buildings, the Kubbet es Sakhra, or "Dome of
the Rock ;" whilst the surface of the area is studded with
cypress and olive trees, which harmonise well with the
numerous fairy-like shrmes and the glistening walls of
the larger buildings. "Within this Haram esh Sherif
once stood the Temple, but its destruction has been so
complete — ^literally, not one stone having been left upon
another — that even at the present day its exact position
278
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
is a matter of dispute ; all that we now see in the grand
mural masonry of the enclosure is but a remnant of
the mighty platform on which the real Temple stood.
The western hill is covered with houses, except on the
west, where are the large gardens of the Armenian
oonvcnt ; and on the south, where there is an open space
without the walls on which is the tomb of David and a
Christian cemetery. At the north-west corner is the
citadel with its three towers, one of which, the well-
known Tower of David, is probably the Phasaclus of
Josejihus. From the Jaffa gate a street, called David's
Street, runs along the brow of the western hill to the
" gate of the chain " of the Haram esh Sherif , following
in a general way the line of that branch of the Tp-opceon
valley to which we have already alluded; and to the
north of this street lies the Christian quarter, rising
gradually to the north-east until it reaches the ruins of
Kasr Jalud, which have sometimes been identified with
those of the Tower Psephinus of Josephus. Almost
in the centre of the Christian quarter is the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, covering the reputed sepulchre of
our Lord, which wo know must have been without the
walls at the time of the crucifixion; and one of the most
difficult questions in Jerusalem topography is to deter-
mine whether the site occupied by the present church
was reaUy outside the second wall of the city at that
time. North of the Haram esh Sherif again is a fourth
quarter of the city, chiefly inhabited by Moslems, and
situated on a hill which rises one hundred feet above
the level of the Sanctuary ; this is probably the hill
formerly called Bezetha.
In order to understand many of the details which
follow, it will be necessary to bear in mind that the
plateau on whicli Jerusalem stands is composed of
limestone built up of strata of varying thickness, which
have a uniform slojie to the south-east ; the upper beds
are composed of an extremely hard, compact stone called
missce, whilst the lower, termed maluhi, are soft, friable,
and easily woi'ked. This particular geological feature
was of great service in one way, as it enabled the Jews
to excavate numerous cisterns for the storage of water
in the malahi with comparative ease, and leave a natural
roof of hard rock ; most of the tombs in the neigh-
bourhood of tlie city have been cut in the same soft
rock. One of the most striking features in Jerusalem
's the vast accumulation of rubbish, which Jias turned
the deep gorge of the Tyropceon into a shallow depres-
.- ion, and has almost concealed from sight the steep,
mggod cliffs of the Kedron and Hinnom valleys that
constituted those natural defences in which the Jcbu-
sltes put their trust, when thoy boasted to King David,
"Thou wilt not come in hither; the blind and lame
shall drive thee back." It is the .same within the city ;
the Armenian g.inlons are from forty to fifty feet above
those of Herod's palace ; the present Via Dolorosa is
about the same height above the pavement or the
ancient street ; the scenes of those events which here
some modem house, there some broken column, is said
to have witnessed, are buried beneath the accumulations
of centuries ; whilst the bed of the Kedron, over which
our Lord so frequently passed on his way to the Mount
of Olives and Bethany, is covered up by thirty-eight
feet of rubbish.
The City Walls. — The ancient city was protected on
three sides by a wall and flie deep ravines mentioned
above, and on the north — the only side on which it
could be attacked with any chance of success — by at
first one, then two, and lastly by three walls. Josephus
gives a somewhat detailed account of the course of these
ancient walls, but unfortunately the positions of several
of the land-marks he mentions have been lost and have
not yet been recovered. Any attempt to enter upon a
discussion of the disputed points would be beyond the
scope of the present paper, and we will confine ourselves
to a short description of the present walls, noticing as
we proceed some indications which may help to guide
us to a right solution of the difficulties. At the Jaffa
gate, aboiit the centre of the western wall, is the
citadel, containing two towers which correspond to the
description given by Josephus of the towers Hippicus
and Phasaelus erected by Herod; the dimensions of
the latter and its construction agree well with those of
the Tower of David — a solid mass of masoniy twenty-
nine feet high, standing on a substructure which has a
sloping escarp faced with large hewn stones equal if
not superiorjn finish to those of the Temple platform.
The second tower guards the Jaffa gate, and thougli
not quite so large as Hippicus, is identified with it by
the discoveiy of an aqueduct, twelve feet below the level
of the present one, which is in all probability that by
which Josephus says water was brought into the tower
Hippicus : in this tower we have the starting-point of
the first and third walls.
From the remains of ancient foundations it seems
quite certain that the old wall followed the line of the
present one northwards as far as the north-west
angle ; but here all traces of a wall disappear, with the
exception of two apparent fragments some distance
beyond the north wall, and it is doubtful whether the
third wall took a wide sweep to the north by these, or
followed the course of the present wall. Excavations
have been made at Kasr Jalud — the Tancred's tower of
the Crusaders — but they have failed to discover anything
that would identify it with the octagonal tower of
Psephinus. The present north wall is comparatively
modern, but it is protected by a rock-hewn ditch, which
is supposed to be of ancient date : we know, however,
so little of what was done during the numerous recon-
structions of the walls that it is impossible to assign a
date to it : one thing only is clear, that it was made long
after the extensive quarries at the Damascus gate had
been woi'ked. At the Damascus gate there is an old
gateway almost buried in the rubbish, which some hav(>
supposed to be a gateway of the second wall, others of
the wall built by Hadiian round JElia. The east wall,
as far as the north-east angle of the Sanctuary, is similar
in appearance and construction to the north wall ; but
we then come to a tower of massive masonry and the
eastern wall of the Sanctuary, which will l)e noticed
presently ; at the south-east angle of the Sanctuary the
GEOG-RAPHT OF THE BIBLE.
279
■wall turns to the west, and here a certain quarter of
the old city which was called Ophel has been shut out
of the modern town. Captain Warren made several
excavations on this ground, and succeeded in un-
covering' a large section of the ancient wall of Ophel
with its flanking towers, but unfortunately the points
at wliich it turned and crossed the Tyropoeon valley
were not found. The present wall passes the valley,
now almost filled with rubbish, some distance higher
up, and then crosses the western hill to the south-west
angle of the town, whence it runs in a direct line to the
Jaffa gate. The ancient city extended over the southern
portion of the western hUl far beyond the modern walls,
but no clue has yet been found to its limits in this
direction; the wall was probably not far down the
southern slope, and perhaps included part of the aque-
duct which brought water from Solomon's Pools; on
the western side there is at one point, the Protestant
cemetery, a valuable indication of the course of the wall
in a rock cutting which can be followed some distance
towards the north, but terminates abruptly on the south
at the most interesting point. The rock here presents
the appearance of a perpendicular cliff which has been
cut to give additional security to the wall built upon
it, and at one place there is a nan*ow rock-hewn flight
of steps to enable the inhabitants to reach the valley
below. On the accompanying plan (page 277), the
approximate course which wo suppose the third wall to
have followed is indicated.
The first wall ran, according to Josephus, from the
Tower Hippicus to the Temple, and there is no doubt
that it followed the right bank of the small branch
of the Tyropoeon previously mentioned, and crossed
the central ra\'ine at what is called the Causeway, or
"Wilson's Arch ; its general direction, therefore, would
be that of Daidd Street. The second waU is said to
have commenced at the gate called Gennath of the first
wall, and, circling round to the north, joined the Tower
of Antonia. Our own belief is that it passed along the
eastern side of the Pool of Hezekiah, and, including the
present Church of the Holy Sepulchi-e, turned eastward
to the barracks near the Ecce Homo Arch, where M.
Ganneau has recently proved tlie existence of a rock-
hewn ditch. Many vri'iters, however, suppose that the
second wall commenced at an old arch now called
the Gate Gennath, and passed along the line of the
bazaars to the east of the church, in which case the
reputed Sepulchre would have been without the city
walls at the daie of the crucifixion. It wiU be suflQ.-
cierit to state here that no certain trace of the second
wall has yet been found, and that Captain Warren's
excavations have shown conclusively that the so-called
Gennath gate is a comparatively modern structure,
unconnected with any masonry of the character of a city
wall. The pi-esumed courses of the first and second
walls are shown on tlie map (page 277).
The Haram esh Sherif is one of the most sacred
and ancient of all holy places; within its area was
the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on which
David set up his altar ; there, too, were ^ihe Temples of
Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod, and the fortress of
Antonia ; and there at the present day is the great
mosque which is esteemed so sacred by the followers of
Mahomet. The exact positions of the Temple and of
its altar are stiU matter of dispute, but we can at any
rate feel that the hill is the same Mount Moriah round
which cluster so many memories connected with Jewish
history, with the earlier and later years of our Lord's
life, and with the ministry of the apostles ; and that
somewhere on the broad level surface stood the building
which excited the admiration and astonishment of the
queen of Sheba. Tlie Haram, or Sanctuary, is enclosed
by a massive wall, perhaps the finest specimen of mural
masonry in the world, wliich runs very nearly all round
it ; and before attempting to describe the interior, we
will take a survey of the wall itseK, commencing at the
south-west angle. We may state here that the masonry
is of varied character, due to the numerous reconstruc-
tions which have taken place at different epochs. The
lowest portions, and therefore the oldest, are built of
what have been called " bevelled stones," a term wliich has
led to much confusion ; the stones really have a " draft "
from one quarter to three-eighths of an inch deep, and
two to five inches wide, chiselled round their margins,
the faces being left rough, finely picked, or chiselled
according to the taste of the time or to the labour that
could be spared upon them. Above these stones, and
often mixed witli them, are those used during the first
reconstruction, large blocks scarcely inferior in size,
but having plain chiselled faces, without a marginal
draft ; this gradually changes into another style, similar
in eharacter, but with a marked difference in the size of
the stones, and above are the later Turkish additions.
The stones are from three to four feet hig^i, and the
largest stone that has yet been noticed is ne at the
south-west angle, which is 38 feet 9 inches long, 4 feet
high, and 10 feet deep ; this enormous block is built
into the wall at a height of eighty-five feet above the
sm-face of the ground, and when noticing the great
quarries at the Damascus gate, we will attempt to give
an explanation of the manner in which it was placed in
position.
The south-west angle and the wall for some distance
on either side contain some of the finest masonry in
the enclosure, and it is interesting to notice that this
angle is a right angle, whilst the other angles of the
enclosure are not, a fact which has an important bear-
ing on the site of the Temple, which is described as
]->eing square. Proceeding up the western wall, we find
at a distance of thirty-nine feet the remains of an old
arch which were first brought to notice by Dr. RoMnson,
and are now known as " Robinson's Arch ;" the arch is
fifty feet wide, and has a span of 41 feet 6 inches, and
there is no doubt that a road passed over it to the centre
aisle of the royal cloisters, " Stoa Basilica,"' which Herod
built along the southern wall of the Temple. Captain
Warren's excavations showed that the springing of the
arch was forty-two feet above the gTound, but whether it
was continued westward by a series of arches, or whether
there was an ascent by a grand staircase, is not known.
280
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
At tlie same place Captain Warren found a remarkable
aqueduct cut in the rock, which is perhaps one of the
oldest remains hitherto discovered at Jerusalem, for it
■was in existence before the great wall was built by
Herod the Great, and was cut through in laying the
foundations. At 270 feet from the angle we reach
an enormous lintel, over a closed entrance now called
" Barclay's Gateway ; " this gateway formerly gave
access to a large vaulted passage, which, after running
sixty-nine feet iu a direction perpendicular to the west
cealed by Jei'cmiah. Beyond the Wailing Place is
" Wilson's Arch," one of the most perfect and magnifi-
cent remains iu Jerusalem, dating from the same period
as the construction of the Haram wall ; it has a span of
41 feet 6 inches, exactly the same as that of Robinson's
Arch, and formed part of a grand viaduct which crossed
the valley towards the palace of Herod on the western
hill. In this respect it corresponds exactly with the de-
scription given by Josephus of one of the approaches to
the Temple, which " led to the king's palace and went to
TH.
MOUNT OF OLIVES AND GAEDEN OF GETHSEMANE.
{From a Photograph of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem. )
wall, entered a chamber covered by a well-built dome,
and then, turning at right angles to the south, ascended
by a ramp, or steps, and reached the surface of the
Temple area in the Stoa Basilica. Portions of this
passage may still be seen in the Mosque of Burak, and
in one of the Haram cisterns, and there can be no
doubt about its being one of the approaches to the
Temple of Herod, which Josephns describes as leading
thence to the suburbs.
North of Barclay's Gateway is the fine section of
the wall known as the Jews' Wailing Place, from the
fact that every Friday, the day before the Sabbath, the
Jews come in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones
and weep outside the precincts which their rabbis forbid
them to enter, lest by any chance they should tread over
the spot where the ark is supposed to have been con-
a passage over the intermediate valley." To the west
Captain Warren found three additional arches of tho
^^aduct, of smaller size, and an ancient passage running
towards the west, which may have been a secret means
of communication between Herod's palace and the
Temple, as it certainly is the subterranean gallery men-
tioned by the old Arab writer, Mejr ed Din, " which
David caused to be made from the gate of the chain to
the citadel,'' and of which portions were occasionally
found in his day. From Wilson's Arch to the north-
west comer the ground is so covered by buildings and
rubbish that the wall of the Sanctuary cannot be seen ;
but at one point an old entrance to the area has been
found in a cistern, which pierces the massive wall and
is perpendicular to it; this may be the second gate
mentioned by Josephus as leading to the suburbs.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
2S2
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
At tho north-west angle the roek rises to the surface
and there is no wall, but we find traces of the ditch
which separated Bezetha from Mount Moriah, and
protected tho northern face of the enclosure. The
presence of this ditch had long- been supposed from
certain indications in two remarkable subterranean
passages, but the verification of its existence is due to
tlie recent labours of M. Granneau. A fine aqueduct
coming from the north, but ot which the source has
not yet been found, passed through one of the sub-
terranean passages, and entered the area at the north-
west angle through a passage cut in the rock, thirty
feet high, and covered by large stones laid horizon-
tally across. Nothing can be seen of the north wall
of the Sanctuary tmtil we reach the Birket Israil, the
traditional Pool of Bethesda, a large reservoir con-
structed in the bed of the fourth valley, to which wo
have already alluded ; the pool is upwards of eighty
feet deep, but filled up to an average height of thirty-
five feet by rubbish and sewage. This pool was partially
excavated in the rock, and had an overflow to the
Kedron valley, which shows that in its original form
the reservoir was only twenty-five feet deep, and there
are indications that this state of affairs existed during
the early Christian period; it follows, therefore, that
the north wall of the Sanctuary at this point, which
is also the south wall of th& pool, is of comparatively
recent date, a fact previoiisly inferred from the character
of tho masonry. No trace has yet been found of the
system of conduits by which the reservoir was supplied
with water.
Passing out of the city at the St. Stephen's gate,
and turning to the south, we reach a large tower at the
north-east angle of the Sanctuary, called the Tower of
Antonia, which is built of fine massive masonry. The
natural rock falls very rapidly here, as the tower stands
OH the northern slope of the fourth valley, and there
is an accumulation of rubbish no less than 110 feet
deep ; the original height of the wall was 150 feet, and
we may remark that the character of the masonry is
quite different to that met with at the south-east angle
and other portions of the enclosing wall. Proceeding
southwards, we reach the Golden Gate, which has been
found to stand from thirty to forty feet above tho sur-
face of the rock, and to have in front of it a massive
wall, which may perhaps have been the retaining wall
of a terrace running from north to south above the
Kecbon valley. The Golden Gate has long been closed,
in consequence of a tradition that when the Christians
take Jerusalem, they will make their triumphal entry
through it. The ground in front is occupied by a
Moslem cemete<-y, making excavation impossible ; but
when we reach the south-east angle, there is no such
difficulty, and here Captain Warren made one of his
most inter3sting excavations. The rubbish has accumu-
lated at this point to a depth of eighty-two feet, and
the height of the Sanctuary wall must oriEpiially have
been as much as 150 feet ; the comer-stone was let
into the rock about two feet, and carefully dressed
with a four-inch marginal "draft;" and in a small
hole in tho rock near it a little earthenware jar was
found which looked as if it had been purposely placed
there. On several of the stones in the wall there were
characters in red i^aint apparently put on with a brush,
and about five inches liigh ; Mr. Deutsch at once pro-
nounced them to be Phoenician chai-acters, and Captain
Warren believes them to be quarry marks put on before
the stones were placed in situ. If this be the case,
the stones must have been dressed before they were
brought from the quarry, a curious commentary on tho
passage in 1 Kings vi. 7, " And the house, when it was
in building, was built of stone made ready before it was
brought thither ; so that there was neither hammer, nor
axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was
in building." At the foot of the wall there is a layer
of fat mould from eight to ten feet deep, and on the top
of this a layer of broken pottery about two inches thick,
with several handles of jars, on two of which Phceniciau
inscriptions were foimd, with the royal crest of an
eagle; the words on one are "Le Melek Zepha" — belong-
ing to King Zepha. At first sight it would appear
that we have here traces of the Phoenician woi»kmeu
employed by Solomon in the Ijuildiug of the Temple ;
but the style of the masonry is similar to that of the
Herodian period, and we know that the Phoenician
character was used for certain purposes quite as late as
the reign of Herod, and it' may have been retained for
masons' marks, potters' stamps, &c.
Turning the south-east angle, we find in the south
wall a closed entrance called the Single Gateway,
beneath which, at a considerably lower level, Captain
Warren discovered a fine passage three feet wide, about
sixty feet long, and eighteen feet high, the object of
which could not be ascertained. Further west are three
closed entrances known as the Ti'ij)le Gateway, which
formerly gave access to three covered passages in the
interior of the Sanctuary, and here M. de Saulcy dis-
covered two remarkable rock-hewm passages, which may
have had some connection with the overflow from the
cisterns of the Temple. At this point the rock rises
to the su7-face, and we are able to ascertain the top of
this poi-tion of the ridge of Moriah. Still more to the
west is the Double Gateway, which will bo more con-
veniently described when examining tho interior ; it is
sufficient to say hero that it is undoubtedly a relic of
the Temple of Herod. Not far from it is an inscription
of Hadrian built into the wall upside down, which some
■writers suppose belonged to the statue of Hadrian that
was erected in the Temple area. From this gateway
to the south-west angle the wall presents no features
of particular interest.
The discoveries of Captain Warren have been fre-
quently mentioned, and hero wo may give in his own
words a description of one of the shafts by which he
penetrated through the enormous accumulations of
rubbish which conceal the foundations of tho Temple.
" The shaft mouth," he says, '• is on the south side of
the Sanctuary wall. Near the south-west angle beside
it, to the east, is a large mass of nibbish that has Ijeen
brought up ; while ovor the mouth itself is a triangular
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
283
gin of iron with iron -wheel attached, with guy for run-
ning up the excayated soil. Looking down the shaft,
the Haram wall is seen, and a man standing at what
appears to be the bottom. An order is given to this
man, who repeats it, and then, faintly, is heard a sepul-
chral voice answering, as it were, from another world.
Reaching down to the man who is visible is a thirty-
four-feet rope ladder, and on descending by it, one finds
he is standing on a ledge which the ladder does not
touch by four feet. This ledge is the top of a wall run-
ning north and south, and abutting on the Sanctuary
wall. On peering down from it, one sees the Sanctuary
wall with its projecting courses until they are lost in
the darkness below, observing also at the same time
that two sides of the shaft are cut through the soil,
and are seK-supporting. Now, to descend this second
drop, the ladder is again required. Accordingly, having
told the man at the bottom to get under cover, it is
lowered to the ledge, whence it is found that it does
not reach the bottom by several feet. It is therefore
lowered the required distance, and one has to reach it
by climbing down hand over hand for about twelve feet.
On passing along, one notes the marvellous joints of the
Sanctuary wall-stones, and also probably gets a few
blows on skull and knuckles from falling pebbles. On
reaching the bottom, one is at a depth of seventy-nine
feet from the surface, and from here we commence the
exploring of the ' bottomless pit.' After dropping a
rope down, we found that it was only six feet deep,
though it looked black enough for anything. Climb-
ing down, we found ourselves in a passage running
south from the Sanctuary, four feet high by two feet
wide."
We may now turn to the interior of the Sanctuary,
which presents many points of interest, and is to a
certain extent made ground. Hollows have been filled
in with rubbish, supporting vaults have been built, and
masses of rock cut away, so that now, with the excep-
tion of a deep hollow in front of the Golden Gate, a
slight rise towards the north-west angle, and the raised
platform in the centre, the surface is almost level. As
no excavation is allowed within the sacred area, it is
difficult to form an idea of the original form of Mount
Moriah; but by careful observation of the points at
which the rock is visible in cisterns and other places.
Captain Warren has been able to make an approximate
restoration of the ridge. At the north-east comer, as
we have already seen, the fourth valley, in which the
Pool of Bethesda lies, runs across the Sanctuary, to fall
into the Kedron north of the Golden Gate ; and here
we are at once struck by the fact that the bed of the
ravine is no less than 110 feet below the present sm-face
of the ground, and that all ti-aces of the vaUey have
been completely obliterated. Whether the ravine has
been filled with rubbish or arched over by tiers of vaults
is still uncertain, but we have a guide to the date of the
work in the fact that the Pool of Bethesda was, during
the early Christian period, only twenty-five feet deep,
and that, for a height of twenty-six feet, the northern
side of the Golden Gate is concealed by rubbish : this
would indicate that wlien the Temple was standing the
ravine stiU preserved to a great extent its natural form.
In the north-west corner a large mass of rock has
been removed, and the effect of this has been to leave a
scarp or perpendicular cliff some twenty-three feet higli
beneath the barracks on the north wall, and a smaller
one of about three feet at the north-west angle of the
platform. Between these two places the rock is visible
on the surface, except at one point where a ditch has
been cut, which woidd limit the extent of the Templo
area in this direction. On the platform stands the
great mosque, Kubbet es Sakhrah (Dome of the Rock),
which covers the sacred rock whence Mahomet is said
to have ascended into heaven. The rock rises 4 feet 9
inches above the platform, and much has been written
on its isolated position ; but if the groimd were restored
to its original form, we should see nothing remarkable,
the sacred rock being on the line of greatest elevation
or back-bone of the ridge of Moriah. At the south-east
corner the floor of the area is supported by a series of
vaults known as Solomon's Stables, the age of which
has been matter of some dispute : in their present state
they are certainly a re-construction; but whether an
earlier system of vaidts existed, is not known. The
floor of the vaults is 107 feet above the rock, and the
manner in which this space is filled up is still a matter
of speculation. The south-west corner is also made
ground, but here we have no indication of its character.
The principal buildings in the Sanctuary are the
Dome of the Rock and the Mosque el Aksa ; the former
is a very beautiful, octagonal buUdiug. ornamented with
rich stained-glass windows, mosaics of varied pattern,
marble, and tiles. According to Mr. Fergusson, it is
the church built by Constantino over the sepulchre of
our Lord, which he places in this position, but accord-
ing to other writers it was erected by Abd-el-Mehk,
684 A.D. ; by the Crusaders, who used it as a church,
it -was called the Templum Domini. The Mosque el
Aksa, at the south end of the Sanctuary, is not so
remarkable for the beauty of its architectural details,
but it is interesting as being the Templum Solomonis
of the Crusaders, from which the Templars derived
their name, and the facade dates from the period of the
Christian occupation of the city. Beneath the mosque
is a double passage leading up to the area from the
Double Gateway mentioned above as being certainly a
portion of Herod's Temple, and the character of the
masonry of the passage, and of the vestibule within the
gateway, fully bears out this view ; it has generally bees
identified with the '"' Huldah " gate of the Temple.
So much -water was used in the cei-emonies connected
with the Temple service, that we should naturally
expect to find some special arrangements for its storage,
and these, in fact, exist at the present day in a series of
rock-hewn cisterns, varying from twenty- five to fifty feet
in height, and of peculiar form. One of these cisterns,
called "the great sea," would hold more than 2,000,000
gallons, so that the whole series would contain abont
12,000,000 gallons. The older ones have been forme 1
by, so to speak, mining out the soft rock {malaJd), and
284
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
leaving a natural roof of hard (misscp) rock. These
cisterns were supplied partly by the collection of the
rainfall and partly by water brought in by an aqueduct
from Solomon's Pools, which enters the Sanctuary at
Wilson's Arch ; and it may be noticed that the main
duct leads to a place now called El Kas, "the cup/'
near the spot at which Mr. Fergusson places the altar
of the Temple.
The sketch of the Sanctuary given above will, it is
hoped, enable the reader to understand some of the
difficulties which have been experienced by those writers
who have attempted to solve the question of the site of
the Temple. The following are the pi-incipal theories
which have been advanced: — First, that the Temple
courts occupied the whole Sanctuary ; second, that they
occupied a square of 9-50 feet at the northern end of the
Sanctuary ; third, that they occupied a square of 925
feet at the southern end; fourth, that they occupied a
square of 600 feet nearly coincident with the present
platform in the centre of the Sanctiiary ; and fifth,
that they occupied a square of 600 feet at the south-
west angle. Of these theories we are most inclined to
adopt the latter, but there are some objections even to
this, and the question will probably never be decided
until excavation is allowed in the Sanctuary itself. The
actual Temple was a comparatively small building, but
it was surrounded by extensive courts, to which various
dimensions ai'e assigned, according to the different
interpretation of the data given by Josephus and
the Talmud. One thing is certain, that the Temple
enclosure was a square, and the only right angle we
find in the Sanctuary wall is at the south-west corner.
Leaving the question of the exact site of the Temple,
we may take a glance at its probable appearance,
supposing it to have occupied only a square of 600
feet at the south-west angle ; and we may best do this
in Mr. Fergusson's own words : "In order to try and
realise the whole, fancy a building like the nave of
Lincoln, raised on a lofty terrace, and standing in a
court surrounded by cloisters and porches. Fancy these
courts approached by ten great gateways, each in itself
a work of great magnificence ; and again this group
surrounded by another court on a lower level, one side
of which is occupied by a building longer and higher
than York Cathedral, and the other three sides by
cloisters more magnificent than any we know of; and
all this supported by terrace-waUs of such magnificence
of masonry, that even at this day, in their ruined state,
they affect the traveller as much, perhaps, as any build-
ing of the ancient world." Captain Warren's excava-
tions have shown that the terrace-walls attained the
enormous height of 180 feet, and the effect of this mass
of masonry when fresh from the builders' hands, com-
posed as it was of huge blocks of white stone, must
have been grand and impressive in the extreme ; and
we can easily realise the feelings with which the asto-
nished Jews, as they looked on these walls, replied to
our Lord, " Forty and six years was this temple in
building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days ? "
Within the ivalls of the City there is no place of equal
importance with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre;
here, too, all is vague, aU is doubtful, and two questions
rise at once. Did Constantino really discover the tomb
" wherein never man before was laid ? " and is the site
now sliown that which was uncovered in the fourth
century, and believed at that time to be the sepulchre
of our Lord ? The first question will perhaps never be
answered; as far as we know, the early Christians
attached no importance to the tomb itseK, and the indi-
cations in the Bible are far too vague to enable us to
fix upon any particular spot. The second question can
be settled by excavation, as there are only two theories
— that of Mr. Fergusson, who maintains that the Dome
of the Rock is the church of Constautine ; and that of
his opponents, who maintain the authenticity of the
present site. Our space will not allow us to enter upon
this vexed question, and we will confine ourselves to a
brief description of the great church, which, whether it
cover the sepulchre of our Lord or not, must always
possess undying interest as the resting-place of Godfrey
and Baldwin, and the moving cause of some of the most
momentous events in the history of the world. The
great fire of 1808 destroyed a large portion of the church,
which was afterwards rebuilt by a Greek architect ; but
many of the older parts still remain, and amongst these
are the southern entrance, the only one now open, which
presents an interesting example of Norman architecture,
and the lower portion of the massive campanile. Enter-
ing the church, we have immediately in front of us the
Stone of Unction, on which our Lord's body is said to
have been laid for anointing when taken down from the
cross, and on the right hand the chapels of Golgotha
and Adam ; the former is about fifteen feet above the
floor of the church ; the latter, in which the natural rock
is visible, is on a level with it, and under the Chapel of
Golgotha. Turning to the left from the Stone of
Unction, we reach the " Rotunda," in the centre of
which is the building that covers the Holy Sepulchre :
there are two chambers, one called the Chapel of the
Angels, in which the angel is said to have sat on the
stone that was rolled away from the mouth of the
sepulchre; the other, approached by a low doorway,
containing the tomb itself, a raised bench covered
with a slab of white marble. There has been some
dispute as to whether any portion of the inner chamber
is composed of natural rock, the surface being now
covered with marble. Of this, we think, there can be no
doubt. To the west of the Rotunda there is a chamber
containing several receptacles for bodies, similar to
those seen without the city. In the Chapel of Adam
the natural rock is also visible, and taking this into con-
sideration with the character of the gi-ound on which
Jerusalem is built, it is quite certain that the rock must
have been largely cut away to obtain a level flooring for
the Rotunda, and it is quite possible that beneath the
slab which covers the tomb an isolated mass of rock
may have been left. To the east of the Rotunda is the
Greek Church, ninety-eight feet long and forty feet wide,
surrounded by an aisle, from which open out various
chapels commemorative of several events connected
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
285
with our Lord's passion and resurrection. At the
eastern end of the church a flight of steps leads down
to the Chapel of Helena, and thence there is another
descent to a chamber hewn in the rock, in which the
three crosses and the superscription are said to have
been found. Without the church are many remains
of the old convents and other buUdiugs which were
attached to it, and in these, too, several Scriptural
events are localised. Whatever opinion may be formed
of the genuineness of the various sites which are pointed
out, no one can visit the church without feelings of
solemnity not unmixed with sadness that it should be
connected with some of the darkest superstitions of
the age.
Amongst these, that connected with the ceremony of
the holy fii*e at the Greek Easter is the most remark-
able, for the mass of pUgrims then assembled in the
church believe in the actual presence of the Holy Spirit
and the descent of the fire from heaven. Perhaps the
following account of the ceremony, contained in a letter
written shortly after witnessing it, may be of interest
to those who have not had an opportunity of being
present: — '"Having last year seen the ceremony from a
little gallery in front of the Sepulchre, I determined
this time to join the crowd, and see what the pressui-e
was like when the struggle to catch the fire took place.
On entering the door I was invited by the Tui-kish
guardians to take a seat on their divan, and for a long
time watched the endless stream pouring inwards, a
wonderful mixture of faces and dresses from all parts of
the world — Russian women from the wilds of Siberia,
Copts from Egypt, Greeks, Armenians, Arab women,
wrapped in their snow-white sheets, and travellers from
the far West. The Pacha soon came in and took his
seat beside me, and after watching the entry of the
Greek and Armenian bishops with their trains, we
adjourned to the Greek Convent, near the Chapel of
Golgotha, where we were served with sweets, lemonade,
coffee, and cigarettes. We then went round to see the
arrangements for preserving order; the Rotunda was
densely crowded, and we had some trouble in forcing
our way through the narrow space which the Turkish
soldiers were keeping clear for the procession which
was to move round the Sepulchre. Here we had our
first scrimmage ; a sudden movement of the pilgrims
pushed in the soldiers, and for a few moments there was
a great uproar; the Pacha had to use his stick, and
some of the officers drew their swords — more, however,
for show than use, as order was soon restored. The
soldiers behaved admirably, and though some of them
had their heads broken, I never saw one lose his temper
during the ceremony. We now pi'oceeded to the Latin
Convent, where more sweetmeats and cigarettes were
consumed ; but we soon heard the chanting commence,
and again forced our way to the Rotunda. Here the
Pacha and his staff turned off to the Greek altar, whilst
M and I remained amongst the pilgi-ims. At last
the procession comes down and moves slowly round
the Sepulchi'e ; hundreds of voices pom* out wild curses
on the Jews ; the excitement increases, the mass of
upturned faces glow with a divine frenzy, and one seems
to catch something of the strange enthusiasm. And
now the procession has completed its third round, the
bishop enters the Sepulchre, the door is locked behind
him, and the moment has arrived. A sudden silence
falls on all, so intense that you might hear a pin drop ;
every face is rigid with awe ; every eye has that strange
light which tells of deep inward feeling, and no wonder,
for the actual presence of the Holy Spirit is expected ;
in a few moments a light is seen to glimmer through a
hole in the mausoleum, and then the great bells roll out
a solemn peal, whilst the whole multitude sends forth
a loud roai*, almost a groan, of relief after the sup-
pressed excitement. The fire was caught by the nearest
pUgrims and passed to others, and so rapidly that in
less than five minutes the whole church was covered by
a sea of fire, rising and falling with the surging crowd,
and throwing a lurid glare over the strange eager faces.
The time had now come for the bishop to carry the fire
to the altar, and the Pacha did a very foolish thing,
for, half stifled by the smoke of the torches, he at-
tempted to get away by the same path up which the
bishop was advancing ; at the same time the j)Ugrims
made a rush, the line of soldiers was broken through in
a moment, and all order was lost ; the Pacha was carried
past me like a whirlwind, and I had to use my arms and
short stick freely to keep my place. M was less
fortunate, for he was caught in the stream, and when I
last saw bim he was being carried helplessly along in
the crowd. I was only a dozen paces from the door of
the Sepulchre, and yet before he reached me the poor
bishop had lost his hat, and his robes were half torn
from his back, in the frantic rush to light candles from
the one that he carried. The pilgrims say the fire only
burns heretics, so I suppose I must count myself as
one, for I was half roasted, and my head covered
with melted wax. It was a strange sight to see many
of the pilgrims washing, so to speak, their hands and
faces in the fire, and in one comer I noticed a mother
passing the lighted taper under her baby, a curious
reminiscence of the days when children were 'passed
through the fire to Baal.' Half an hour afterwards the
church was empty, and the fire on its way to kindle
lamps in many a distant church."
There are many interesting remains of churches and
convents within the city, amongst others those of the
Church and Hospital of the Knights of St. John, oppo-
site to the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepul-
chre, where extensive excavations have lately been made
by the German Government : we have, however, only
space to notice those connected with the ancient water-
supply. The large number of tanks and cisterns show
that Jerusalem must always have depended for its
water-supply on the collection of the rainfall and on
water brought in from a distance. We have in a pre-
vious paper noticed the pools and aqueducts at Urtas,
from which the chief supply was derived ; one of these
aqueducts has been repaired, and delivers water in the
Sanctuary ; but the point at which the " high-level aque-
duct" entered the city has not yet been ascertained.
286
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
To tho north-west of the city a large pool, the Birket
Mamilla, collects the surface draiuage of the upper part
of the Valley of Hinnom, aud an aqueduct conveys tlio
water to Hezekiali's pool within the city. Lower down
the Valley of Hinnom is another large pool, the Birket
OS Sultan, but at so low a level that the water could
never have been brought into tho city. At the head of
the Kedron valley there is also a largo pool, which may
have fed the Pool of Bethesda ; but no aqueduct has
yet been found in connection with it. Lower down the
Kedron vaUey, at the foot of the eastern slope of Ophel,
is the Fountain of the Virgin, an intermittent spring,
the water of which runs down through a remarkable
rock-hewn passage to the Pool of Siloam ; here Captain
Warren discovered a branch passage which carried
the water of the fountiiLn within the wall of Oplicl, so
that on the approach of a besieging force the ordinary
opening to the spring might be closed, aud tlie whole
supply of water be reserved for the use of those within
the walls. A short distance below the junction of the
Kedron aud Hinnom valleys is the deej) well of Bu-
Byub, whence many of the poorer inhabitants derive
their principal supply of water during the summer.
The ground in the immediate viciuity of Jerusalem
is one vast cemetery ; the sides of the Valley of Hinnom
are almost everywhere perforated with rock-hewn tombs,
and so is the left bank of the Kedron, where are the
curious monoliths so well known from photogi-aphs and
drawings ; whilst to the north of the city is the " tomb
of the kings," and the great necropolis gathered round
the " tomb of the judges." These rock-hewn tombs vary
much in the detail of their arrangement, but the general
character of the larger places of burial is almost the
same throughout : a vestibule, with a low door which
leads into an ante-chamber, whence the several tomb-
chambers, containing the " loculi,"' in which the bodies
were deposited, oj)en out. M. Ganneau has recently
found many sarcophagi in the tombs, on which are
short inscriptions, or rather names, in Hebrew and
Greek. South of the city, round the tomb of David,
is a large Protestant cemetery, and near it the English'
burial-ground. On tho north-west, round the Birket
Mamilla ; oa the north, outside the Damascus gate ; and
on the east, along tho Sanctuary wall, are large Moslem
cemeteries ; and the slopes of Olivet are almost paved
with Jewish tombstones.
A short distance east of the Damascus gate is the
great subtei-rauean quarry from which, it is supposed,
a large proportion of the stone used in building the
Temple was takeu ; the excavations are very extensive,
and in many places there are traces of the presence of
tha old quarry men ; some of the blocks are half de-
tached from the rock, and there are numerous niches
for the reception of lamps. The original entrance to
the quai-ries appears to have been at the point where
the rock-hevvu ditch, east of the Damascus gate, com-
mences, a position which would make the process of
moving the stones down to the Temple wall a com-
paratively easy one ; they were not improbably run
along the side of the central or Tyropoeon valley on
rollers, and brought to their exact position in the wall,
so that there would be no occasion to lift them, a matter
of some difficulty witli such heavy weights.
There are two places of great interest without the
city which requu-e a few words in conclusion, Gothsemane
and the Mount of Olives. The former is a small en-
closure smTouuded by a high white wall, within which
are a few old olive-trees and some flower-beds, carefully
tended by a Latin monk. A very old tradition, appa-
rently as early as the commencement of the fourth
century, identifies this spot with the garden to which
Jesus ofttimes resorted with his disciples, and there
seems no reason why the tradition in this case should not
be correct, though we might wish that the taste for holy
places had not led to the localisation within the walls of
the garden of every incident connected with that last
memorable evening. Close to the garden is the curious
subterranean tomb and chapel of the Virgin, which,
however, has no such claims to authenticity as Geth-
semane ; and between these two places passes the road
which runs up the Moimt of Olives. Au early tradition
connects the summit of Olivet with the Ascension of
our Lord, and here a noble church, of which all traces
have been swept away, was erected by the Empress
Helena, mother of Constantino ; but Dean Stanley has
shown that the scene of the Ascension was possibly on
the lower road to Bethany, ^irhich follows the line of the
Roman road to that place and Jericho. The view from
the Mount of Olives, whether for its intrinsic beauty
or its high interest, is one of the most remarkable in any
part of the world ; on the one hand are the bright blue
waters of the Dead Sea, lying in their deep depression
at the foot of the mountains of Moab. and on the other
the grey walls of the ancient city, standing out in sharp
contrast to the green vegetation and red soil around it.
In the city itself all is vague and uncertain, whilst on
the Mount of Olives there is a feeling of reality in all
around ; at least, the natural features are the same as
those upon which our Saviour and his disciples often
gazed, and looking down on Jerusalem itself we can
realise the feelings which prompted Keble to vrrite —
" Oue heart-ennobling hour ! It may not be :
The unearthly thoughts have pass'd from earth away.
And fast as evenin£? sunbeams from the sea.
Thy footsteps all, iu Sion's deep decay.
Were blotted from the holy ground. Yet dear
Is every steue of hers, for Thou wert surely here."
DAVID.
287
SCRIPTUEE BIOGRAPHIES.
DAVID {concluded).
BY THE EEV. WILLIAM LEE, D.D., PKOFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW.
^|?"^^HAT the death of Saul aud his three eldest j tribute as " a great man, and a prince in Israel " and
" " he not only succeeded in securing the acknowledgment
sons opened the way for the succession of
David himself to the throne, could hardly
fail to be generally recognised. To say
nothing of his consecration by Samuel many years
before — a fact which, as already said, was not at the
time (if it ever was) made known to the nation — and
later intimations of the Divine purpose, which appear
to have been more publicly given (2 Sam. v. 2), he had
almost from the moment that he entered on public life
recommended himself to the whole of Israel as worthy
of the sovereignty (2 Sam. v. 2). Then, especially of late,
many of the chief men, not only of his own tribe, but
of all the nation generally, had — in some cases accom-
panied by numerous followers — already openly thrown
off theii' allegiance to Saul, and betaking themselves
to what they regarded as the rival camp at Ziklag,
become the avowed supporters of his claims. And,
once more, the number aud experience of the forces
under his command, no less than his own militai'y
genius, gave him an advantage in any struggle for the
succession to the throne, with which no other man
could in the existing circumstances of the country hope
to compete. His selection, accordingly, as Saul's suc-
cessor appears to have followed the disaster at Gilboa,
without, at least for the time, any opposition whatever.
For the first seven years and sis months of his reign
the actual dominion of the new king was confined to
the territory of Judah. At the moment of his acces-
sion (Ewald, Hist. iii. 109 ; cf. Milman, i. 288) it was
only ia Judah that he could hope to maiutain a govern-
ment at all. The rest of the country, at least to the
west of the Jordan, was in the hands of the victorious
Philistines, while the trans- Jordanic provinces were at
this time without unity among themselves. By and
by another cause emerged for this temporary limita-
tion of his kingdom. At what precise date the event
occurred is not stated ; but some time in the earlier
years of David's reign at Hebron, Ishbosheth, a younger
son of Saul, was brought forward as 'a new claimant
for royal honours in Israel. He was yet a youth —
the age assigned to him in the extant text (2 Sam.
ii. 10) is evidently a corrupt reading (SpeaJcer's Com-
mentary, in loc.) — a youth, too, of feeble character and
little capacity, whose only hope, indeed, of success
depended on the support he received from his kinsman,
Abner, already weU known as the former commander-
in-chief of the army of Saul. Establishing the head-
quarters of Ishbosheth at Mahanaim beyond the Jordan,
Abner proceeded to take steps with a view to his re-
covering the kingdom, which seemed by his father's
death to have been hopelessly lost to his house. Abner
was a soldier of consummate ability — David afterwards,
on the occasion of his death, paid his memory a generous
of the authority of his protege in Gilead, but, wresting
successively " Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and
[with the exception of Judah] all Israel " (2 Sam. ii.
9 ; cf . Ewald, Mist. iii. 112) from the Pliiiistines, ho
raised him at last to a position which, if Ishbosheth
himseK had had any capacity, would have rendered him
a formidable rival to David. As it was, the two com-
petitors for the monarchy now came into direct collision.
"There was long war between the house of Saul and the
house of David," the only result, however, being that
" David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of
Saul weaker and weaker " (2 Sam. iii. 1). At length,
deserted by Abner, with whom he had been foolish
enough to quarrel, the feeble representative of an un-
happy dynasty fell a Aictim, by assassination, to the
contempt of his own faction, leaving the territories over
which he had nominally reigned for about two years to
pass without a struggle into the stronger hands of his
rival.
Of the history of the re-united empii-e in the most
stirring and glorious period of the reign of David, when
most of the work was done on which his claims to the
character of a great and powerful king, and a wise and
far-seeiag statesman, as well as a successfid warrior,
must always rest, it is beyond the scope of the present
paper to speak at length. (1.) One of the first, and not
one of the least difficult, tasks which lay before him at
the commencement of his reign was the selection of a
more suitable capital city ; and his prescience in fixing
upon Jerusalem, an ancient stronghold, which at that
time still was, as it had always from before the Conquest
been, ia the hands of a tribe of aboriginal Canaanites,
has been dwelt upon by all his biographers. It was (as
its past liistory, and the history of its capture by David
himself alone proved) a place of great natural strength,
and must have been already well fortified ; but the new
king had no sooner obtained possession of it than, aided
by the military capacity and experience of Joab, recently
elevated to the rank of captain of the host, he proceeded
to surroimd it with new lines of fortification (2 Sam. v.
9 ; 1 Chron. xi. 8). He himself took up his residence
in the citadel, a quarter of Jenisalem which he distin-
guished by the name of "the city of David; " and there
in the course of tiiie, with the assistance of materials
and skilled workmen, obtained from his neighbour tke
Mng of Tyi-e, he constructed a magnificent palace of
cedar (2 Sam. v. 11), with probably other accommoda-
tions, on a scale commensurate witii the numbers of his
ministers and retinue, and appropriate to the habits of
Oriental luxury and ostentation which, at least within
the precincts of the court, had already begun to be intro-
duced in Israel. (2.) It is uncertain how long it was —
288
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
it coiilil not be very long — after Jerusalem had become
the royal residence, that the important step ^yas resolved
upon of constituting the seat of government the centre
also of the religious worship of Isi-ael. No greater
event signalised the reign of Da^-id than the removal of
the ark of the covenant from the place of its exile in
Ku'jath-jearim to what was lieuceforth to become not
only the •' roj'al " but the " holy " citj'. The religious
revival, of which the establishment in the metropolis of
the symbol of the DiWne presence formed the indis-
pensable basis, but which embraced the re-organisation
of the whole institutions of religion, now for so long
suffered to share in the general confusion and disorder
of e\"il times, and in some particulars their first settle-
ment on a permanent footing, was not fully carried into
effect by David himself. But in its entirety — including
even the building of the Temple, for which he made
vast preparations — that great work must be claimed as
pre-eminently due to the genius, and above all to the
piety, of the " man after God's own heart." The day
in which the new Tabernacle at Jerusalem received the
ark was probably, what Dean Stanley [Jeicish Ch., ii.
83) calls it, "the greatest day in Da\-id's life." He was
carefid to enlist the sympathies of the nation in that
day's proceedings, by consulting beforehand the chiefs
and elders of the people, and by admitting them to
a large share in the ceremonial. He arranged, too,
that vast numbers of priests and Levites, broiight to-
gether from all parts of the country, should take part
in the sacred pageant, and give the sanction of religion
to a work which it would have been unlawfid to carry
out by the simple authority of the king. But that work
was, as already said, David's own. According to one
interpretation of Ps. cxxxii. 6 (cf. Speaker's Comm., in
loc.\ its future accomplishment had even been a dream
of his youth, while he was yet a shepherd boy at Beth-
lehem. And not only in its aims, but in the splendour
and solemnity with which it was carried out, he appears
to have taken the deepest interest. Several of the
Davidic psalms were composed by him for the use
of the Levites on this occasion. He could not re-
frain from even giving public expression to the in-
tensity of his emotions in a way which seemed, not
perhaps without some reason, unsuitable to his posi-
tion. As the procession drew near to Mount Zion,
the king, casting aside his royal robe (2 Sam. vi. 20,,
himself joined the Levitical singers, and wearing only
(like them) a linen ephod, personally took part in their
exuberant demonstrations, " playing " on the harp, and
" leaping " and '• dancing before the Lord with all his
might " (2 Sam. vi. 14, 16 ; 1 Chron. xv. 29). (3.) It was
probably in these years also that alike the civil and the
mihtary organisation of the kingdom — as both continued
in force till the end of David's reign, and are found, in
most particulars, to have been adopted by his suc-
cessors— were first inti'oduced (see Ewald and Stanley).
(4.) To the same period belong most of the wars by
which David not only first reduced to subjection the
hereditary enemies of Israel, but extended its boun-
daries, for the first time, to the furthest limits wliich
had ever been assigned to the Laud of Promise.
His conquests at this time are thus summarised by
Milman : — " He defeated the Philistines, and took Gath
and a great part of their dominion. He conquered and
established garrisons in the wliole territory of Edom.
. . . He ti'eated the Moabites with still greater severity,
putting to the sword a great part of the j)opulation. Ho
overthrew the Syrians of Zobah, ... a country lying
between the trans-Jordanic tribes and the Euphrates.
. . . The Syrians of Damascus marched to the defence
of their kincbed, but retreated, ha^dng suffered the
loss of 22,000 men. The kingdom of Hamath entered
into a strict alliance with the conqueror. Thus the
Euphrates became the eastern boundary of the Hebrew
kingdom ; the northern was secured by the occupation
of the fortresses in the kingdom of Damascus, and by
the friendly state of Tyre ; the southern by the ruin of
the Philistines and the militarj- possession of Edom
[Hist, of Jews, \. 295).
The close of the great wars of conquest just re-
ferred to brings us to the fiftieth year of David's age
and the twentieth of his reign. It brings us also to the
saddest and the most deplorable event in his history.
The period of DaWd's greatest worldly prosperity seems
not to have been by any means one of corresponding
prosperity as regarded his spiritual condition. Pro-
bably worldly success had itself been a snare to him.
Whatever the true cause, it is evident there was a
general falling away of spirituality and conscientious-
ness in the service of God on the part of Da-^-id about
this period. He had been led into other unauthorised,
or rather expressly proliibited, compliances, of a less
aggravated character, with the manners of the heathen
— as, for example, in the introduction into his court of
an extensive harem after the fashion of other Eastern
kings — long before he was guilty of the crime, or rather
series of crimes, which, besides bringing upon himself
a terrible retribution, has left so deep and indelible a
stain on his character, and given in all ages, as it did in
his own day (2 Sam. xii. 14), so ''great occasion to the
enemies of God to blaspheme."
The period of David's gi-eat fall is clearly defined.
The war against Ammon was still unfinished, and its
capital, Rabbah, which had hitherto obstinately resisted
every attack, was at the moment invested by the Israelite
army uuder Joab ; but Da^•id himseK — who had now
learned to prefer, if not the ease and luxury, at least
the more peaceful duties of royalty in his own court to
the hardships of the camp (2 Sam. xii. 28) — '' tarried stUl
at Jerusalem " (xi. 1). Nor is the serious character of his
transgression less distinctly marked. From first to last
the whole story is a miserable one. "Whatever toleration
might by ancient usage be given to polygamy, adultery
was by the Jewish law regarded as a sin of the deepest
dye, and was punishable by death. Then, the off'ence
committed by David in corrupting the virtue of Bath-
sheba acquired if possible increased enormity from the
fact that the victim of his unhappy passion was known
by him to be the wife of one of his own friends and
servants, who also, as an officer in the army, was at the
DAVID.
289
time absent on duty, having a command at the siege
of Rabbah. But the fact of David's adultery with
Bathsheba does not stand alone. The history of his
wretched expedients, not to repair the evil he had done,
but to secure himself against its consequences, ending
in the treacherous, no less than deliberate, steps taken
by him to remove by death the man whom he had
so deeply wronged, implies much deeper degradation
than is necessarily involved in what might have been
a momentary consent to a sudden temptation, no sooner
yielded to than repented of. Nor must it be forgotten
that nearly a whole year elapsed not only before any
evidence was afforded of the agonising remorse and
profound contrition to which he was at length awakened
by the reproofs and denunciations of the prophet
Nathan, but even before he showed any disturbance of
conscience whatever.
The general question as to the relation of this dark
page in David's histoiy to the character which is
claimed for him as " a man after God's own heart," or
as a man of eminent righteousness and piety, is one,
in some respects, not without difficulty. That his
religious character is not fatally impeached by his
conduct on this occasion, appears to be assumed every-
where in the Scriptures. It is not possible, certainly,
to extenuate the sins of which he was on this occasion
guilty.
It is in immediate connection with what was thus
the most heinous of the sins of David that we have an
account of the most terrible of the calamities to which
he was exposed in his strangely diversified life ; and
there is good reason for this. They had a direct relation
to each other. For the secondary causes of the rebellion
of Absalom we must go back to agencies which had
been in operation for many years before. His own ex-
cessive and often inconsiderate indulgence to his family,
and the jealousies and rivalry among the different
members of it, inseparably connected with the institu-
tion of polygamy, must especially be taken into account.
But whatever might be its secondary causes, the rebel-
lion of Absalom, with all its bitter accompaniments, was
primarily a Divine judgment, inflicted on account of
David's conduct to Uriah ; a judgment meant to mark
the Divine displeasure against a sin which was regarded
as so heinous as to cast into the shade all his other
errors (Ps. li., &c.). Rather let us say, it was the con-
tinuation of many judgments which that sin brought
upon Da^dd. It was preceded by the death of Bath-
sheba's fii-st-born child, the child of shame ; by the rape
of Tamar; and by the treacherous murder of Amnon —
in all of which domestic tragedies, affecting his own
household, as well as in Absalom's revolt, we find one
feature in common, namely, that the unhappy king was
wounded in those of his feelings in which he appears
to have been the most sensitive to suffering — his family
affections ; in all of them, consequently, the sentence
was carried out which denoimced " evil against David
out of his own house" (2 Sam. xii. 11). Nay, some of
the very means by which the rebellion of Absalom was
rendered possible, and so far successful, had a direct
91 — VOL. IV.
connection with the sin of which it is declared to have
been the retribution. Ahiihophel the GUonite Avas
Absalom's mainstay in his attempted usurpation ; and
Ahithoi^hel the Gilonite was the grandfather of Bath-
sheba, the woman whom David had so deeply wronged,
and appears to have been prompted to the course he
took, with results so calamitous to David, by a sense of
the reproach thus brought upon his family.^
The conduct of David when the news reached him
in Jerusalem that the standard of rebellion had actually
been raised by Absalom at Hebron, and that " the hearts
of the people of Israel " were with the usurper, was
altogether worthy of him. Among the minor incidents
of the flight from the capital on which he immediately
resolved, and which presents to us throughout one of
the most touching scenes in all history, while the de-
scription of it in 2 Sam. xv. and xvi. is, for graphic
power and pathos, unsurpassed in all literature, may be
recalled a characteristic instance of David's considera-
tion for others, and of the strong attachment which ho
inspired in his followers. A Philistine named Ittai
appears to have recently joined the " Gittites " — a force
of six hundred men originally formed by David when
an exile in Gath, and to have had the command of that
nucleus of a standing army in Israel. As the Gittites
passed on before the king with those of his servants
who came forth from the capital to accompany him in
his flight, this man cauglit his eye. " Then said the
king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with
us ? Return to thy place, and abide with the king ; for
thou ai't a stranger, and also an exile. Wliereas thou
earnest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go
up and down with us ? seeing I go whither I may.
Return thou, and take back thy brethren ; mercy and
truth be with thee. And Ittai answered the king, and
said. As the Lord livetli, and as my lord the kingliveth,
sm-ely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether
in death or life, even there also will thy servant be"
(2 Sam. XV. 19—21).
Nothing, howevei', is more memoi'able in the history
of the flight — when, descending the path from the city,
the king and his faithful followers crossed the Kidron,
and ascending Mount Olivet, took their way towards
1 " The chief instrument in the conspiracy was Ahithophel.- No
sooner had Absalom determined upon his daring deed, than he
looks to Ahithophel for help. He appears, for some reason or
other not mentioned, to have quite reckoned upon him as well
affected to his cause ; and he did not find himself mistaken.
'Ahsalom,' I read, 'sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's
counselloi', from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacri-
fices. And the conspiracy ' (it is forthwith added, as though
Ahithophel was a host in himself) ' was strong ; for the people
increased continually with Absalom.' David, upon this, takes
alarm, and makes it his earnest prayer to God that he would 'turn
the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.' Nor is this to be
wondered at, when we are told in another place that ' the counsel
of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man
had enquired at the oracle of God ; so was all the coimsel of
Ahithophel hoth with David and with Absalom.' He, therefore,
was the sinews of Absalom's cause. ... I look upon it to he
so probable as almost to amount to certainty, that Uriah had
married the granddaughter of Ahithophel. I feel that I now have
the key to the conduct of this leading conspirator. . . . When
David murdered Uriah, he murdered Ahithophel's grandson by
marriage ; and when he corrupted Bathsheba, he corrupted his
granddaughter by blood." (Blu-ut, Coincidences, p. 135.)
290
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tbt' wilderness on their route to the Jordan aud Gilead,
David himself, weeping as ho went, with his head
co\ ered and his feet bare, in token of the deep sorrow
which overwhelmed liim, aud all the people, likewise
covered, sharing iu his; grief, or in the history of what
followed — than the evidence everywhere afforded of
hi^i clear recognition of the hand of God iu his bitter
Im.uiliation, and his pious resignation to the Divine,
will. He was not prostrated by unmanly fear, nor did
ho abandon his hope iu God. His presence of miud
never forsook him. He took aU prudent means to
arrest, if possible, the threatened danger to which his
''ule aud even his lL£e were exposed. But his whole
conduct showed that his " sin was ever before him,"
and that he was deeply conscious that it was the
visitation of God which was now upon him. Zadok,
one of the high priests, with the Levites bearing the
ark, had accompanied him to the brook Kidrou; but
he sent them back, saying, " Carry back the ark of God
into tlie city ; if I shall find favour iu the eyes of the
Lord, He will bring me again, and show me both it and
his habitation. But if He thus say, I have no delight
in thee : behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth
good unto Him" (xv. 25, 26). So, also, when, as he
approached Bahurim, Shimei, a Benjamitc, connected,
as already noticed, Avith tlie family of Saul, came forth
from his house, and runniug along " on the hUl's side,
over against " the path taken by the king, cursed him,
and threw stones and dust at him, loading him, too, with
every term of vituperation ; aud Abishai asked leave to
cross the intervening gorge aud j)ut Shimei to death,
Da\'id answered, " Let him curse, because the Lord
hath said unto him, Curse Da^nd ; who then shall say,
Wherefore hast thou done so " (xvi. 10). The same
recognition of the hand of God may probably be traced
in David's conduct on a memorable occasion afterwards.
The passionate burst of grief with which, after the
battle in the " forest of Ephraim," near Mahanaim in
Gilead, David, who had been dissuaded from accom-
panying his army to the field, and awaited tlio tidings
of -the result iu the gate of the city, received the report
of Absalom's death — a burst of grief in the agony of
which he was not only indifferent to the great deliver-
ance he had secured, but to their indignation (2 Sam.
xix: 5)— forgetful of the de})t of gratitude he owed to
his victorious soldiers, is not easily explained at first
si>,^ht. "We have, it is sometimes said, a striking illus-
ti-afion of that intense affectionateness of feeling by
which David was always characterised. Was there not,
however, more than evidence of the strength of his
affections for those to whom he was attached ? Mere
w.irmth of affection could hardly, in tlie circumstances,
a rnunt for the manner in which he mourned for a son
i- 10 had done so much to forfeit his regard. Was
f ' -e not also the consciousness that for Absalom's sin
a ■ 1 death ho himself was not without direct responsi-
bility? When he said, weeping, " O my son Absalom,
my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for
thee ! O Absalom, my son, my son ! " did not remorse
mingle with love, and was there not the feeling that at
once the guilt aud the punishment of the son ought iu
strict justice to have been borne by the father ?
After his return to Jerusalem, it may be inferred
(Ewald, iii. 196) that the remaining years of David's
rule were devoted almost exclusively to the iuterual
improvement of the country. Wo know little, however,
of the national history in these years, aud stiU less of
the personal life of David himseK. On the latter
subject, however, wo find evidence, especially in his con-
duct on tlie occasion of the pestilence whicli one of his
not unfrequeut errors brougiit on the land, that the
lofty faith aud devout submission to the vnH of God
which always distinguished him, had not ceased to
retain their place in liis heart. The last of his inspired
songs is preserved in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, and gives beautiful
exj)ression to the firm trust and perfect confidence in
God, iu which, at least before his mind was enfeebled
by bodily infirmity, he passed the last days of his great
and, as a whole, saintly life.
Of the Psalms of David we do not here speak. The
subject has already been exltaustively treated under
another head in the third volume of this work.
His character has been often portrayed ; never, per-
haps, more powerfully than in Mr. Maurice's Kincjs
and Pro^pliets of Israel. Edw^ard Irviug's estimate
of it is even more favourable, but probably not less
just. " There nevei*," says that eloquent writer, " was
a specimen of manhood so rich and ennobled as
David the son of Jesse. Other saints haply may have
equalled him in single features of his cliaracter; but
such a combination of manly, heroic qualities — such a
flush of generous, godlike excellences hath never yet
been embodied in a single man. His psalms do place
him in the highest rank of lyrical poets. . . . And
where are there such expressions of the varied conditions
into which human nature is cast by the accidents of
ProAadeuce — such delineations of deep afiliction and
inconsolable anguish, and anon such joy, such rapture,
such revelry of emotion, in the worship of the living-
God ! . . . But it is not the writings of the man which
strike us with such wonder as the actions and events of
his wonderful histoiy. He was a hero without a peer,
bold iu battle, aud generous iu victory ; by distress or
by triumxih never overcome. . . . He was a man
extreme in all his excellences — a man of the highest
strain, whether for counsel, for expression, or for action,
in peace and in wai*, in exile and on the throne. . . .
The force of his character was vast, and the scope of
his life was immense. His harp was full-stringed, and
every augcl of joy and of sorrow swept over the chords
as he passed; but the melody always breathed of
heaven."
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
291
DIFFICULT PASSAGES EXPLAINED.
BY THE KEV. A. BAKKT, D.D., PRINCIPAL OP KING's COLLEGE, LONDON, AND CANON OF "WORCESTEB.
FIEST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
" For otlier fouudiitiou can uo man lay than that is laid, vvliicli
is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold,
silver, in-ecious stones, wood, luiy, stubble ; every man's work
shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built
thereux'ou, ho shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall
be burned, lie shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved; yet
so as by fire." — I Cok. iii. 11 — 15.
?HE general idea of the passage presents
little difficulty, altliougli some details may
require elucidation. But the last verse
is famous, as ha\'iug been (somewliat
■violently) pressed into the service of the doctrine of
Purgatory ; and, in order to judge of its true interpre-
tation, it is necessary to glance at the passage as a
whole.
The teaching of the Avhole chapter is directed to a
divided and imeasy condition of the Corinthian church,
marked by the growth of parties, or perhaps what we
should call " schools of thought," of which the more
Gentile sections assumed the names of Paul and ApoUos,
while the more Judaic delighted in the name of Cephas,
and even arrogated to themselves the name of Clu-ist.
But although the first obvious purpose of the Apostle is
to rebuke this party spirit and its habit of " boasting in
men," by recalling their minds to God, as the beginner
and finisher of every good work, it seems that he was
also anxious to repress rash and unsound developments
of the Gospel, prompted in aU probability by that
desire of completeness of sj^stem, which is characteristic
of the "wisdom of this world " (referred to in the earlier
chapters), in its impatience of mystery. Thus, from
the metaphor of the seed which he had " planted and
ApoUos watered," but of which " God alone had given
the increase " — a metaphor fully sufficient for his first
pm-pose — he passes, in the words "ye are God's building,"
to another metaphor, which allows the actual work-
manship of man to be more strongly marked. In the
light of this latter metaphor, he, as the first evangelist
of Corinth, is the "skilful architect," "laying the one
sole foimdation," in the person of Jesus Christ ; all
tliat come after are building after their own manner
uj)on that one foundation. His solemn warning is,
"Let each take heed how he buildeth thereon."
The workmanship of some is compared to gold, silver,
and precious stones — i.e., costly stones, such as those of
the Temple of Jerusalem (Mark xiii. 1), or those de-
scribed ui the imageiy of the Apocalypse (see Rev. xxi.
19, &c.) ; that of others to planks, dried gi'ass (for the
interstices of the walls), and straw (for the thatching of
the roof). The first is the workmanship of those who
build slowly and for posterity, the other of those who
rear up hastily buildings only to last for a day. But
the test is not left to the lapse of time (for the inter-
pretation which explains "the day" as, like the Latin
dies, signifying that lapse of time, will not bear criti-
cism); "the day" "revealed in fire" will api)ly a
short, sharp test. Now this phrase clearly signifies
especially the dies ilia, the day of j iidgment ; but
remembering the liew of the Last Judgment in Holy
Scripture as the completion and irrevoealile fixing of a
process already begun in this world, we shall haidly be
wi-ong in extending it to the general sense of the " days
of trial " (of " fiery trial," as in 1 Pet. iv. 12) — the critical
seasons of individual and collective history, which cul-
minate in the great day. The fii-e shall try the work
of each builder. The gold, silver, and costly stones,
worthy of a temple, shall stand; the wood, dried gi-ass,
and straw, worthy only of a hovel, shall be burnt up.
It has been disputed whether the superstructure so
tested is moral, doctrinal, or spiritual. But the dis-
cussion is probably an idle one. The superstructure is
the Christianity of the converts ; all elements which
form part of that Christianity — morality, doctrine,
devotion — must be, though perhaps in different propor-
tions, included in the building which is to be tried ;
and all are actually tried, whether in the various " days
of the Son of Man " in this life, or in the great " day
of the Lord " at last.
"If a man's workmanship abide, he shall receive
reward; if any man's work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss," or "shall be mulcted" {C'niJ-i-<»H<^^Tai). The
principle enunciated is universal ; its fulfilments are
various in time and character. The reward and penalty
may be subjective, in the joy or sorrow of knowing
that we have helped or hindered the work of God, and
have been instrumental of good or evil to human souls ;
they may be " objective," in results coming upon us
from without or from above, and actually bringing upon
us either positive suffering or negative loss of sijiritual
bliss; they may consist simply in the attainment, or
the failure of attainment, of a degree of spiritual per-
fection. This is matter of detail; the essential point
is that, in one way or another, the solemn responsibility
of teaching is clenched by the certainty of a future
retribution. '^
" But lie himself shall be saved," provided (that is)
that, however unsound his workmanship, his work has
been done, and his life lived, in sincerity of faith.
"Tet so as by fire," or rather, " through fire " (5ia irvpos),
escaping, but barely escaping, from imminent destruc.
tion. So in Ps. Ixvi. 12 we read, " We went throi'gh fii-e
and water, and Thou broughtest us out ; " and in Jude
23, " Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire."
The metaphor, itself common enough, is suggested here
by all that has gone before, and the sense of it would
have appeared sufficiently obvious, if it had not been
read by the light of preconceived ideas.
The first serious application of the whole passage to
292
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
a fire, half-testing and half-purgatorial, to be revealed
at tlie day of judgment, is due to Origen, translating,
contrary perhaps to his wont, Avhat is plainly metaphor
into literal ]'cality. But it is clear that in the passage
itself the words '* tlirough fire " in tlie last verse must
be interpreted by the fire spoken of in the proAdous
verses, and that iu tliose verses there is no idea of pur-
gation, but simply of discrimination between the sound
and the unsound. Ea'cu if '• the day " be the day of
judgment only, St. Paul's words give no support what-
ever to the idea, whencesoever derived, of a purgatorial
fire, still less to the peculiar conception of such a fire
wliich has been excogitated by Romanist divines. The
whole passage, on the simple interpretation given above,
hangs together ; the notion interpolated into it would
break up its simplicity by the introduction of a wholly
dift'ei'cut idea. It would be difficult to maintain the
purgatorial interpretation, if the verse stood aloue.
But taking the whole context, it is seen to be absolutely
untenable.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., KECTOE OF PEESTON, SALOP.
ANTHEOPODA.
JF the four classes which compose the sub-
kingdom Anthropoda of modern zoolo-
gists— the Insecta, Myriopoda, Araclinula,
and Crustacea — there are distinct Bible
notices only of the first and third.
The following insects are mentioned in the sacred
writings — lice, fleas, beetles, locusts, ants, hornets,
bees, moths, flies, and the cochineal insect, rendered in
our version by " crimson " or " scarlet.'
Of the class Arachnida, the scorpion and spider are
definitely mentioned.
INSECTA.
Lice, under the Hebrew term kinnhn, or kinndm, are
noticed only in reference to the third great plague of
Egypt (see Exod. ^iii. 16—18; and Ps. cv. 31). Much
difference of opinion has at various times been ex-
pressed as to the real meaning of the Hebrew word.
Many commentators, following the Septuagint, or
rather the interpretation of the Greek word {aKvi^i^, or
ff/cciires) as given by Philo {Be Vit. Mos., ii. 97) and
Origen (Hom. iii. in Exodum), think that gnats or
mosquitoes are intended. The Greek word aKvi^, or
Kvi^, is used by ancient authors in an extended sense
to signify either " a gnat," " a i)lant-louse," or " worm-
like larva," or " worm," &c., and must not be supposed
to meau only " a gnat." Etymologically, the word
chinndh, as suggested by Gesenius, pomts to some
"biting" creature; hence apparently the LXX. ex-
pressed the same idea by the Greek word /criil/, from
Kvio), " I bite." By some, however, the word cliinnim
is referred to an Egyptian root, Icen, in the sense of
force and abundance, or in that of plague and calamity.
The Coptic has gne, '' percussit." A certain determi-
native associates the plague with a bad smell and
corruption. Brugsch quotes a passage which points to
a periodic visitation : " The year did not bring the
plague (ken) at the usual time." The word is identified
by Brugsch with the Egyjitian chenemms, a mosquito
(see Canon Cook's " Essay on Egyptian Words," in
Si^ealcer's Commentary, vol. i., pp. 489, 490). Zoologi-
(.;ally, the evidence is strongly in favour of lice, or
rather ticks, and not gnats ; for the former vermin may
spring out of the dust (" Stretch out thy rod, and smite
the dust of the land that it may become lice," viii. 16),
but gnats are always produced from the water, where
the eggs are laid and hatched.
The flea is mentioned only in 1 Sam. xxiv. 14: "After
whom is the king of Israel come out ? after whom dost
thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea;" and in
xxvi. 20. There is no doubt about the Hebrew word
pafusli, wliich is probalsly derived from a root meaning
"to spring." Fleas are extremely common in Eastern
coimti'ies, absolutely swarming in some localities.
COLEOPTEKA.
Beetles. — The beetle is mentioned in our version as
one of the flying creepuig things allowed for food ; the
Hebrew word is chargol, and clearly must denote some
species of locust, and not a beetle, as is evident from the
only passage (Lev. xi. 21 — 23) where the word occurs.
The expression, "which have [upper joints] legs above
their feet, to leap withal," refers to the saltatorial
locusts, and not to any coleopterous insects, which,
however, are well represented in Palestine, upwards
of 400 species liaA^iug been described. Some of the
large flower-beetles {Biiprestidcv), \vith brilliant metallic
colouring, are very beautiful.
ORTEOPTERA.
The order Orthoptera [i.e., " straight wings ") con-
tains all those insects whose posterior mngs, which are
generally large and strongly reticulated, are longitudi-
nally folded when at rest. The metamorphosis is
incomplete, both larva and pupa being active and
resembling the perfect insect, except that the former
has no wings and the latter only rudiments. The
Orthoptera are divided into two large sections, viz., the
Cursoria (runners) and the Saltatoria (leapers). In
the former, the legs are formed for running, as in the
cockroaches ; in the latter, for leaping, as in cnckets,
grasshoppers, and locusts : it is with this latter division
that we have to do.
Under varioits names, represented in our English
version by "cankerworm," "caterpillar," "grasshopper,"
" palmerworm," "locust," and " bald-locnst," various
species of locusts, or various stages of their existence,
are denoted. When we bear in mind the frightful
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE,
293
damages which these insects do to vegetation in various
parts of the East — Egypt, Palestine, and the Bible
lands generally being no exception to the rule — we shaU
not be surprised that the Biblical allusions to locusts
are very numerous. There are some nine or ten
Hebrew words which appear to denote either some
species of locust, or a stage in its existence ; they are
the following: arbeh, soVdm, hhargul (wrongly ren-
dered " beetle " in the A. V.), Tclidgab, gob, gdzdm, yeleJc,
Jchdsil, and tseldtsdl. These we must briefly notice.
Arheh is the most general name for a locust ; it is
derived from a root meaning " to multiply," and is
very applicable to the countless hosts. The arheh is
the locust of the Egyptian plague (Exod. x.), and
wherever tlie word occurs tliere is almost always a
reference to its destriictive or multiplying powers
(Deut, xxviii. 38 ; 1 Kings viii. 37 ; Ps. cv. 34 ; Judg.
vi. 5, &c. &c.). It was one of the kinds of saltatorial
Oi-tJwptera allowed as food (Lev. xi. 22). The species
most destructive and most dreaded are the migratoi-y
locust {(Edipoda migratoria) and the Acridimn pere-
grinitm; and arheh, while perhaps used in a wide
sense to signify a locust generally, may more definitely
refer to one or other of these two eminently destruc-
tive species, Avhicli in modern times as in ancient con-
tinue to devastate Palestine and the Bible lands. The
CEdipoda migratoria has at different times invaded
Europe; in 1748, the army of Charles XII., then in
Bessarabia, was stopped in its course, and even Eng-
land did not escape. In Slu'opshirc and Staffordshire
they attacked the blossoms of the apple-trees and the
leaves of the oak, making the trees look as bare as at
Christmas. The other species, the Acridimn pere-
grinmn, is found in Arabia, Egypt, Mesopotamia,
Persia, and Palestine. From the swarms which devas-
tated tlie Holy Laud in the year 1865, Dr. Tristram
obtained specimens of the (Edipoda migratoria and
ihe Acridium peregrinuvi, the latter species appearing
to pi-edominate.
SoVdm, translated '• bald-locust," occurs only in Lev.
xi. 22, as one of the insects allowed for food. The
Hebrew word moans " a devoui-er." The soVdm in
the Talmud is said to have a " smootli head," and has
been referred witli some degree of probability to some
species of Truxalis, of which several kinds occur in
Palestine. These locusts have a long smootli head and
projecting antennae. The Truxalidse, like other locusts,
feed on plants, and not on animals, as has been sup-
j)osed by some writers.
Khargul occiu-s only in Lev. xi. 22, as another edible
locust ; it cannot be a beetle, as was showni above by
the context where the word occurs ; moreover, beetles
would be excluded from food by verse 23.^ It is
impossible even to conjecture what the Tvhargul may
denote.
Klulgdh is another edible locixst; it is rendered
"grasshopper" and "locust" in our version. From
1 It is wortliy of remark that locusts aud other insects are
stateil to possess "four feet" — six, of course, being the right
number.
2 Chrou. vii. 13 compared with Lev. xi. 22 some devas-
tating locust is intended ; from Numb. xiii. 33, " Tliere
we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, . . . and we
were in our own sight as grasshoppers" (khagdbim),
compared wiih. Eccles. xii. 5, " The grasshopper {Jchagdb)
shall be a burden," and Isa. xl. 22, " He that sitteth upon
the circle of tlie earth, and the inhabitants thereof as
grasshoppers," some small species of saltatorial ortlio-
pterous insect appears to be signified, probably some
kind of grasshopper, locusta, of which genus there are
several species in Palestine. Some kinds are prettily
marked, and sought after by young Jewish children as
playthings. Lewysolm [Zool. des Talm., § 384, p. 292)
says that a regular trafiic used to be carried on with
these gi'asshoppers ; numbers were caught and, after
sprinkling with wine, were sold; the Israelites were
not allowed to buy them before the dealer had thus pre-
pared them.
Gob occurs in Isa. xxxiii. 4, " As the mnning to and
fro of locusts shall he run upon them ;" in Amos vii.
1, "Behold, he formed grasshoppers [margin, 'green
worms '] in the beginning of the shooting np of the
latter groAvth ;" and in Nahum (iii. 17), " Thy crowned
are as the locusts [arbeh), and thy captains as the great
grasshoppers [gob, Heb., 'locust of locusts'] which
camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun
ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known
where they are." There is nothing here to tell us
whether any particular species is intended. Both the
larvse and imago halt at night, encamping under the
hedges. The prophet is declaiming against Nineveh,
and especially her multitudinous armies (compare verses
15, 16), whicli he aptly compares to swarms of locusts.
According to Flirst, gnb is from an unused root signi-
fying to " bring or crowd together ;" and this idea of
multitudes is expressed in the Hebrew, gob gobai,
i.e., locusts upon locusts ; consequently this i^art of the
passage, " Thy captains as the many grasshoppers," may
be merely a repetition of the former part of the verse,
" Thy crowned ones are as the locusts, and thy captains
as the swarmers."
Gdzdm, which the LXX. and the Vulgate render by
Ka^TTT), and eruca, i.e. "a catei-piUar," occurs in Joel
i. 4 ; ii. 25 ; and Amos iv. 9. Our version translates
gdzdm by " palmerworm." Whatever creature the
word signifies, it was evidently some destructive insect,
whether in its perfect or imago state, which caused great
destruction to olive-trees and fig-trees, as mentioned
by the prophet Amos. From the expression in Joel,
" That which the gdzdm hath left, hath the arbeh eaten,"
it has been thought that the larvse— preceding the
perfect insects in their ravages — either of the CEdipoda
migratoria or the Acrldium peregrimiiyi are intended.
Our English "palmerworm" is applied loosely to
A-arious "hairy caterpillars." The "black and red
palmer " of the fly-fisherman represents the larvse of
the large tiger-moth {Arctia caja) familiar to every
stroller in the country in the autumn and spring,
popularly known as woolly-bears. From the habit of
this caterpillar wandering far away from its food
294
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
before it spins its cocoon, it has received the name of
palmer. Halliwell {Did. of Archaic ami Provincial
Word.-^, s. V.) gives the meaning of " Avood-louse," and
quotes Hollybrand's Dictionarie, 1593, as defining
'' palmer " to mean " a ■worme having a great many
feet." Wo suspect the word originally was given to
the tiger-moth larva from its erratic habits, and that
Yelek, rendered by " caterpillar" and " cankerworm"
in our version, occurs in Joel i. 4; ii. 25 ; Nah. iii. 15,
16 ; Ps. cv. 34 ; Jer. li. 14, 27 : some destructive insect
appearing in immense numbers is evidently denoted.
The work yclek means "thelicker" or "cropper," in
allusion to its destructive properties (compare Numb,
xxii. 4, " Now shall this company lick up all that
11. BEE (EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS).
III. SACRED BEETLE OF THE EGYPTIANS.
subsequently it was employed in a wider sense. The
palmer-caterpillars feed chiefly on the dead nettle,
often on the hollyhock, though they do not restrict
themselves to any particular kind of plants. In no
sense, however, can they bo said to bo injurious to
crops. Westwood refers the word palmer to a Low
German word, pahnc, "bud," "catkin of willow," &c.,
and says, "The buds of eyes of the -vino are called
palmer in Germany; whence may bo explained by
palmer-worm, a grub or worm d(^stroying the buds of
plants" {Diet of Engl. Etymol., 1st Ed.).
are round about us ") ; the word, probably, does not
denote any particular species of locust, but is used in a
wide and general sense to signify a locust in any stage
of its life-history. The j)rophet Jeremiah (li. 27)
compares the cavalry of the Babylonish army to " the
rough yelelc ;" he refei's to the " bristling spears and
lances," and compares the army to a locust, the tibiae
of whose legs in all the species are much aculeated.
Khdzil, variously rendered by the LXX. and Vulgate
to mean "locust," "wingless locust," " mildew," " rust,"
is translated " caterpillar " in our version. The word
MICAH.
295
occurs in 1 Kings viii. 37 ; 2 Chron. vi. 28 ; Ps. Ixxviii.
46; Isa. xxxiii. 4; and Joel i. 4. The Hebrew word
signifies " a consumer," and perhaps a locust in its
larva and pupa stage may be intended.
TsehUsdl is foimd only in the sense of a sti-idulous
insect in Deut. xxviii. 42, " All thy ti'ees and fruit of thy
laud shall the tseldtsdl consume ;" the word is from
tsdlal, "to tinkle," "to clink;" hence it denotes "a
cymbal." Here, no doubt, it is ouomatopoetic to express
a stridulous locust.
We have stated above that the two or perhaps three
pi'e-emiuently devouring species of locust that are
known to occur in the Bible lands are the CEclipoda
migratoria, Acridium peregrinum, and A. lineola ; con-
sequently the Biblical allusions must relate more to
these species than to others. Of the numerous Hebrew
names some may be synonyms, others the larvae or
nymphfe of the species just mentioned. The grandest
Bible description of the ravages of locusts, and of the
fear and dismay caused thereby amongst the inhabitants
of the land, occurs in the second chapter of the prophet
Joel, where, according to the opinion of some commen-
tators, under the figure of desolation by locusts, an
Assyrian invasion of Palestine is spoken of. We agi'ee
with those wi'iters who understand the description in a
literal sense. The objection to the literal view, that
locusts generally invade Palestine from the south,
whereas the scourge is by the prophet called "a
northern army," cannot stand, for as Oedman has said,
"locusts come and go with all winds;" their home is
not confined to the Arabian deserts; they have been
met with in the Sp'ian desert, from whence they could
easily be driven by a north or north-east wind into
Palestine. Serville, in his monograph {Histoire Natu-
relle des Insectes, Oi-thopteres, p. 738), says that the
CEdipoda migratoria is believed to have had its birth-
place in Tartary.
We thus summarise the Scriptural references to
locusts : —
(1.) They occur in enormous numbers, and sometimes
obscure the sun (Exod. x. 15; Jer. xlvi. 23; Joel ii.
10, &c.).
(2.) They are extremely voracious (Exod. x. 12, 15 ;
Joel i. 4, 7, 12 ; ii. 3 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 46; Isa. xxxiii. 4, &c.).
(3.) They are compared to horses (Joel ii. 4 ; Rev.
ix. 9) : with this may be compared the words of the
naturalist, Ray, " Caput oblongum, equi instar prona
spectaus."
(4). They make a fearful sound in flight (Joel ii. 5 ;
Rev. ix. 9).
(5.) They have no king (Prov. xxx. 27).
(6.) Their onward march is irresistible (Joel ii. 8, 9).
(7.) They enter houses and devour even the wood-
work (Ex6d. X. 6 ; Joel ii.}.
(8.) They do not fly during the night time (Nah.
iii. 17).
(9.) The gi-eater number are destroyed by the sea
(Exod. X. 19; Joelii. 20).
(10.) Their dead bodies taint the air (Joel ii. 20).
(11.) They are used as food (Lev. xi. 21, 22 ; Matt,
iii. 4 ; Mark i. 6).
All these characteristics are sti'ietly true of locusts,
and have been corroborated hj several travellers. The
Arabs in Sinai do not eat locusts, but they are eaten
by Arabs near Mecca, in Beyrout, and on the east of
Jordan. Tristram found that locusts were eaten by
the Jehalin, a tribe in the south-east of Judaea, by most
of the tribes in the Jordan A'alley, and by the Beni-
Hassan in Gilead ; and we have the personal testimony
of the same traveller as to their good qualities. " I
found them very good," he says, " when eaten after the
Arab fashion, stewed with butter. They tasted soiue-
what like shrimps, but with less favour." Dr. Kitto
also compares their flavoiu* to that of shrimps. There
are different ways of preparing them for food : ground
and pounded, and then mixed with flour and water,
they are made into cakes ; or they are simply salted
and eateu ; or boiled, stewed, or fried with butter.
" How idle then," to quote the words of Kirby and
Spence, " was the controversy concerning the locusts
which formed part of the sustenance- of John the
Baptist, .... and how apt are even learned men
to perplex a plam question from ignorance of the
customs of other coimtries " {Entom. i. j). 305). The
Baptist's "locusts" were the insects of that name, and
not, as by many maintained, the long sweet pods of the
locust-tree (Ceratonia siliqua), called Johannis brodf,
or St. John's bread, by the monks of Palestine.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE PEOPHETS :— MICAH.
ET THE VERT BEV. E. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF CiNTEEBTJRT.
HE histoiy of Micali contains several points
of very gi*eat interest. In the first place,
if, as we believe, the opening chapter
of Isaiah is a preface prefixed by the
prophet to his wi-itings when he collected them into
one volume, and put them forth for the abiding use of
the Church, it was with a quotation from Micali that he
began his labours. For Ave entirely agree with Dr.
Pusey that the words in Isa. ii. 2 — i were originally
spoken by l^Iicah, and that the time when the warning
note was first struck by both propliets was the early
part of the reign of Jotham. Tlie arguments alleged
to prove that Isaiah wrote the prophecy contained in
chaps, ii. — iv. at a still earlier date in Uzziah's time are
uncouA'incing, and at variance with the fact that IsrJah
was not called to the prophetic ofiice imtil the end of
296
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
that monarcli's reign. lu Micah the words form an
integral j)art of a connected prophecy, from which they
are iuscparahle ; in Isaiah they are but the text, and
were prefixed by the proj)het to his discourse to give
authority to it, and also that he might add his testi-
mony to the startling words of the \'illage seer.
For though Micah did not begin to proi)hesy till the
reign of Jotham, he was probably the older man, and
had gi'adually gained high reputation at home before
he took up his abode .at Jerusalem. Moresheth, his
birthplace, was but a little village on the maritime low-
laud, and so unimportant that the name of the neigh-
bouring town of Gath had to be added to it, that people
might understand where it was. The villages near his
birthplace, Aphrah and Sajihir and Zaanan, and others
equally unknown to fame, are mentioned by him in the
first section of his Prophecy ; and possibly he had long
exercised the office of preacher among them before the
l)ro\'idence of God summoned him to rebuke sin at
Samaria and Jerusalem, the fountain-head.
With this agrees the duration of Micah's more full
exercise of j)rophetic powers, which is expressly limited
to the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. It was
during this period that he wore the black dress of
camel's hair girt about the loins with a leathern gii-dle,
which was the projihet's garb ; and as there is nothing
in his prophecy later than the beginning of Hezekiah 's
reign, he was probably removed then by death, not, how-
ever, without seeing the fruit of his labours. For we
read in the Book of Jeremiah, "Micah the Morasthite
prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, aud
spake to all the people of Judah, saying. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts : Zion shall be ploughed like a field,
and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of
the house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah
and all Judah put him at all to death ? Did he not
fear the Lord, aud besought the Lord, aud the Lord
repented him of the evil which he had pi'onounced
against them ? " (Jer. xxvi. 18, 19.)
The elders then of Judah expressly say that the words
— which verbally agree, excepting a slight difference of
speUing, with the present text of Micah — are not Isaiah's,
but Micah's. Nor could they be mistaken as to the
authorship of words which produced a public reforma-
tion, and apparently formed the turning point in Heze-
kiah's religious life. But we find them ascribed, not to
the time of Jotham, but to that of his grandson ; and
how can this discrepancy be explained ? Dr. Pusey's
opinion is that Micah renewed his prophecy at the begin-
ning of Hezekiah' s reign. " The i^rophets," he says,
" did not heed repeating themselves." And in fact this
was inevitable. The inspired message they had to
deliver was often as short and summary, and had as con-
stantly to be repeated, as the Baptist's cry, " Repent ye,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." But in reading
the Book of Micah it is impossible not to feel that the
state of things described in it belongs to the last days
of the reigu of Ahaz ; and it is thus in exact accord with
the words of the elders in Jeremiah. Hezekiah was
fresh upon his throne. No change had yet been made.
At the very nick of time Micah came forward with the
terrifying aunouncem :ut that Zion should bo ploughed
as a field, and Jerusalem become heaps of ruins. The
young king's heart was touched ; he determined to do
all he could to stem the increasing tide of sin, and the
national ruin was for the time averted.
But Isaiah quotes the words so literally that he too
must have had before him our present text. Did the
prophets then ijublish from time to time their separate
prophecies, and years afterwards collect them into a
volume ? Nothing is more probable ; but this is not,
wo imagine, the true explanation. The veriest tyi'O in
criticism must feel that the first chapter of Isaiah was
penned late in the reign of Hezekiah. Om- view is that
it was written when Isaiah published in one connected
volume the first thirty-nine chapters of our present
book, and consequently after the embassy of Merodach-
baladan in B.C. 712; or even nine years later, as ho
mentions in chap, xxxvii. 38 the accession of Esarhaddon
to the throne of Assyria. The Book of Micah, who
had been at that time long dead, was doubtless well
known to the prophets, and especially to one like
Isaiah, who was so famous a scribe that in his very
youth he had been chosen to compile the official
record of Uzziah's acts (2 Chron. xxvi. 22). It would
be a matter of religious feeling with him to tran-
scribe Micah's exact words ; and he does it so care-
fully as not even to omit the opening conjunction and,
which in Isaiah has no meaning, while in Micah it
couples the quoted words with what precedes. And
thus Isaiah, of whom there can be no doubt that he
held the very highest rank among the prophets of
Jerusalem, prefixed to his prophecy on republishing it
the cry of the simple villager of Moresheth-gath.
Another point of great interest which the book sets
before us is the growing corruption of the prophetic
order. In Samaria we see the beginning of its decline
in the days of another Micah, or Micaiah, the son of
Imlah. Four hundred proi>hets of Jehovah were base
enough to promise Ahab victory at Ramoth-gilead,
while withholding the fact that it would be bought
at the price of his life. In Micah's time they had
sunk even in Judah to a still lower level. In his sad
picture of the genei'al immorality then prevalent, he
says that " Zion was built with blood, and Jerusalem
with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward,
and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets
thereof divine for money " (chap. iii. 10, II). The men
who ought to have brought a message from God to
men's souls were prostituting their powers to mere
fortune-telling for gain. He even accuses them of
exercising a sort of terrorism over men's minds, in
order to compel them to give them bi-ibcs : " He that
putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war
against him " {ibid. 5). The projihcts must have
attained to great power before this was possible, and
must have begun to use their power for private greed.
And so Isaiah, the contemporary of Micah, bearing his
independent witness to the decay of his order, stigma-
tises " the prophet that tcacheth lies " as the very tail
MICAH.
297
and lowest of all bad meu (Isa. ix. 15). Priest and
pi-opliei, elsewliere lie saj's, wei-e erriug through strong
driuk (chap, xxviii. 7), aud were ready when the people
bade them to prophesy smooth things (chap. xxx. 10).
Now it was not till this time that there is a word or
rebuke for the prophets. Here and there individuals
liad fallen below the level of their ofl&ce, but as a class
they were men who feared God and truthfully spake
His word. From Micah's time the false prophet is ever
foremost among the agents working actively for Judah's
ruin, till in Jeremiah's days men who drew their in-
spiration from Baal ( Jer. ii. 8) were so numerous and
influential, that the true proj)het found himself con-
fronted by a confederacy too powerful to resist. " A
wonderful aud horrible thing is committed in the land ;
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule
by their means ; aud my people love to have it so :
and what will ye do in the end thereof ? " (Jer. v.
30, 31.)
To such the very name of Mieah was a rebuke.
Fully ^vi-ittea it is Micaiah, or Micaihu {Who is like
iinto Jail ^) ; and the prophet himself in forcible words
calls attentiou to its meaning in his noble description
of the Divine mercy with which he closes his book
(chap. vii. 18 — 20), and which we have quoted below.
Now it has often been remarked that though elabo-
rately finished as a poem, yet the prophecy of Micah
reads like a collection of extracts, or rather as if it
were the condensation of all that he had been teaching
duriug long years of active toil. And this is even more
striking in the original, because our translators have
introduced inferential particles, but, then, therefore,
notwlthstandinc/, where the Hebrew has only and.
From the vigour of these short telling sentences it is
plain that Micah was an orator of no common eloquence ;
but the book itself we believe to be a poem, containing
the substance of the great sermon preached by Micah
soon afcer Hezekiah's accession to the throne. For,
though in form disjointed, there is an essential unity in
the matter ; while the rhythm is not merely exact, but
elaborated with the most rigid care. The whole divides
itself into three sections : the first (chaps, i. and ii.)
beginning with, " Hear, all ye people ; " the second
(chaps, iii. — v.) beginning with, "Hear, I pray you, 0
heads of Jacob ; " the third (chaps, vi. and ^^i.) begin-
ning with, " Hear ye now what the Lord saith." In
these there is not merely a reference from time to
time to what has preceded, but a progress of thought.
In the first part the corruption alike of Israel and
Judah is traced to the capitals, Samaria and Jerusalem
(chap. i. 6); and judgment is therefore to begin at
Samaria, the very stones of which are to be poured
down into the valley. But it will not stop there, but
will sweep up to the very gate of God's people, even to
Jerusalem {w. 6 — 9). As Samaria was destroyed in
tlie sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, and the siege of it
began three years pre\-iously, we cannot be far wrong
in concluding that the Book of Micah was written very
soon after the death of Ahaz.
In the second section the capture and destruction of
Jerusalem are foretold with increased energy. It is in
this portion that we find the prediction which wrought
so powerfully upon the mind of the king, and his
princes and also of Isaiah, the great counsellor of Heze-
kiah's reign. But Micah docs not rest content with
general denunciations; he predicts that not Nineveh,
the then dominant power, but Babylon should be the
place of Judah's capti\-ity (chap. iv. 10), thus forestall-
ing in a remarkable way Isaiah's prophecy spoken after
the visit of Merodach-baladau's ambassadors. Yet
everywhere else it is the Assyrian who is described as
Judah's enemy (chap. v. 5, 6 ; 't'ii. 12), just as we should
expect in Hezekiah's reign. Lastly, in the third part,
the prophet turns to exhoi-tation, in which threatenings
aud promises alternate with extraordinary vividness
and force.
And so, too, as regards the promises. The first
section ends with a general prediction of future happi-
ness : " I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee ; I
will surely gather the remnant of Israel." They are to
be carefully folded as the sheep of Bozrah, the strong
defences of which suggest their safety ; while the
hum of their midtitudes bespeaks their prosperity and
wealth. There is even a prophecy of the Messiah, but
in covert terms. He is described as the " Breaker"
chap. ii. 13), who should break through all hindrances,
and prepare for them a way by which they may pass
onwai-ds with their King, Jehovah, at their hea But
the second section is full of the most direct Messianic
predictions. The mountain of the Lord's house is to
be established as the centre to which all the world shall
flock (chap. iv. 1). The law is to go out from Zion,
that it may be the possession of the Gentiles {ibid. 2).
Universal peace is to prevail {ibid. 3). Zion is to
thresh all nations, that the wheat may be gathered in
for Go:l (ibid. 13). Bethlehem Ephratah is men-
tioned by name as the birthplace of Him whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting (chap.
V. 2) ; and the remnant of Jacob is to bo as dew for
sweetness and gentleness in preaching the Gospel, but
as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, to tear down
the strongholds of wickedness, and to trample the
licentiousness of heathenism and its false gods under
foot (ibid. 7, 8).
In the last section the prophet speaks chiefly of the
peaceable fruits of the religion of Christ. If men wish
to be accepted they must come unto God, not with
Jewish sacrifices ; still less with those blood-stained
Moloch rites, in which men gave their firstborn for
their transgression, the fruit of the body for the sin
the soul. God must now be sought by doing justly,
by loving mercy, and by walking humbly with Him
(chap. vi. 6 — 8). The penitent soul must now look
to Jehovah, and wait for the God of its salvation
(chap. \Ti. 7). So will it raise the anthem of praise
saying, " Who is a God like tmto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the lem-
nant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his auger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn
again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue
298
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
our iniquities ; thou wilt cast all theu* sins into the
dei)tbs of the sea " {ibid. 18, 19).
It remaius only to add that the style of Micah is
very strongly marked. He is bold and lofty in thought
like Isaiah, rich in metaphor, lively and animated, but
•n-ithal simple and chaste in his mode of expression.
But what chiefly characterise him are his rapid tran-
sitions. Persons, genders, numbers, are suddenly
changed ; questions are interposed — often even dia-
logues, which must bo carefully noted, if we woidd not
miss the sense ; promises and threatenings follow close
upon one another, and upbraidings arc mingled with
words of mercy. Everything denotes a man of quick
impetuous feelings, of intense energy, of a mind whose
active workings presented him at once with the fuU
aspect of all the varied bearings of each separate truth.
Xo wonder that Dr. Pusoy speaks of him as " the
mighty prophet, who wrought a repentance greater than
his great contemporary Isaiali;" and yet, as the same
authority has with great labour proved, the Book of
Micah is a finished poem, smooth and measured in the
flow of its words, and with every cadence cai-efully
attended to. To the Hebrew, whose ear could take in
the exquisite beauty of these studied tones, the whole
must have been as the " very lovely song of one that
had a i^leasant voice, and could play well upon an instru-
ment " (Ezek. xxxiii. 32). But even more noble is the
prophet's moral teaching. No book of the Old Testa-
ment strikes deeper chords in our nature, or strikes
them with a more masterly hand than that of Micah
the villager, Ijut withal the meet partner of Isaiali in
revealins: to mankind the richness of evansrelic truth.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,
THE EEVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.
BY THE EDITOR.
^HIS book, with which the canon of the
Xew Testament closes, stands ui veiy
striking contrast with all that have g^one
before it. Its glowing and gorgeous
imagery, its symbolic visions of the coming history of
the Avorld, are, as far as that volume is concerned, abso-
lutely unique. And yet if the method of education
which had been begun imder the old covenant was to
reach its completion in the new, if men were to have
stamped ^vith divine authority what their yearning ex-
pectations might otherwise fashion for themselves, it was
to be exj)ected, a priori, that it would not close without
embracing that aspect of the truth which took the form
of an apocalypse. The later prophets of the Old Testa-
ment, Ezekiel and Daniel, in some measui*e even Isaiah
and Jeremiah, had seen such visions, shadowing forth
the history of the gi-eat kiugdoms of the world, and the
coming of the Messiah. One whose thoughts had been
specially turned to their prophetic writings, to the
coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven
(Dan. vii. 13 ; Matt. xxvi. 64), to " the abomination of
desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet" (Dan.
ix. 27 ; Matt. xxiv. 15), would be led, we may weU
believe, to desire earnestly that ho too might be blest
with like manifestations of the Divine glory, with like
foreshadowings of the future triumphs of the Di^ane
kingdom. The Pentecostal gift itself was connected
with seeing visions and di*eamiug dreams (Acts ii. 17).
St. Peter, his friend and companion, had been taught
by a vision the gi*eat truth that he was to call no man
common or unclean. St. Paul, though he Avrote no Book
of Revelation, had yet been the recipient of " visions
and revelations of the Lord " without number, and had
been cauglit up to tlie third heaven, and to the paradise
of God (2 Cor. xii. 1—4). In the fifteenth chapter of
1 Corinthians, in both the Epistles to the Thessalonians,
especially in 2 Thess. ii., we come across the traces of a'
mystery which had evidently passed before his mental
eye in some trance or \-ision of the night. To the
prophets of the New Testament whose names have
passed away unrecorded, were revealed the things
which eye had not seen, nor ear heard, which God
had prepared for them that love Him (1 Cor. ii. 9). It
was, if one may so speak, the uatiiral and fitting con-
summation of these scattered teachings that one, at
least, of the great leaders of the Church should be called
to receive and to transmit an apocalypse of this nature :
and if Divine gifts are adapted, according to the wisdom
of the Eternal Spirit, to the character and powers of
those to whom they are given, we may be bold to say
that there was no one on whom this gift was so likely to
be bestowed as on the beloved disciple, who had shared
the secrets of his Master's heart ; who had been able to
receive and record the higher teachuig, which trans-
cended the power of the earlier Evangelists. The
idealising mystic temperament which lives m what to
others seem abstract terms, light and darkness, life and
death, love and wi-ath, is also that which is m'ost readily
led to clothe its thoughts in symbols, and to shadow
forth the future, not in the form of an anticipated
chi'onicle of things to come, but in mysterious ■visions
and things hard to be understood. It was fit that the
beloved disciple should be taught in the same way as
Daniet, the " man greatly beloved," had been of old, and
that he whose sense of the love of God and Christ was
clearer and deeper than that of most others, should
see that love revealed, both in the clear light of un-
miugled truth, and in the rainbow hues that encircled
the cvej-lasting Tlii'one.
In writing thus I have assumed that the writer of the
Apocalypse was one and the same with the Evangelist.
That identity has been questioned, however, both in
THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
299
ancient and modern times, and in siug-ularly opposite
directions. Writers of the early Cbiu-cli had not the
slightest doubt about the Gospel of St. John, but they
classed the Revelation with the Antilecjomena, or doubt-
ful books (Euseb., H. E. vii. 25), partly because it was
not universally received, partly with a method which
almost anticipates the "higher criticism" of our own
time, on account of internal differences of phrase and
style.^ The tendency of Jiot a few recent writers, on
the other hand, has been to assign the Revelation to the
Apostle, and the Gospel to an unknown wi-iter of the
second century, writing under Gnostic influences. The
authorship of the Gospel has been discussed in its
proper place (Bible Educatoe, Vol. IV., page 163),
and I have brought together in j)revious papers (Vol. I.,
pages 27 and 97), a su.fficient number of coincidences
of thought and language between the two books to
balance, and more than balance, the alleged difference of
style. The hesitation of wi'iters of the second and third
centuries to receive the book is traceable to the fact that
its mysterious character excluded it, as it has done
largely since, from the public reading of the Church,
and therefore it was not found in the earliest versions.
The existence of many sptirious Revelations, one of
which retains a j^lace in our Apocrypha, under the
title of the Second Book of Esdi-as, had probably some-
thing to do with the hesitation which was shown in
receiving a book stamped with an apocalyptic character.
The fact that the hesitation was overcome shows that
inquiry of some sort was met by e^^deuce that was
thought sufficient — by the testimony, for example, of
the Muratorian fragment (a.d. 170), of Irenseus (a.d.
195), of Tertulliau, Hippolytus, and Origen ; and we
may rest, I believe, in the conviction that the tradition
of the Clmr jli has, in this case, not been mistaken.
Assuming St. John's authorship, we have to deter-
mine, as far as is possible, the period of his life to
which the Revelation belonged. The general belief of
the early Fathers who mention the book at all, begin-
ning Avith IreuBBUs, assigned it to the persecution under
Domitiau (a.d. 95 — 97), when, it is said, the Apostle was
banished to Patmos ; and that is still the date adopted
by the majority of commentators. I am constrained,
however, to follow Ewald, Renau, and other critics in
connecting it, not with the persecution of Domitian, but
with that of Nero. The entire absence of any reference
to the destruction of Jerusalem, the assumption that it
is still waiting for its judgment (Rev. xi. 8), seem con-
clusive on this point. To the argtiment, on which
AHord and others lay stress, that the Nero persecution
did not extend beyond Rome itself, it may be replied
that the Pastoral Epistles, and those of St. Peter, show
that the Asiatic Christians also were exposed at that
1 Thus Diouysins of Alexandria is led to doubt the authorship,
(1) because the '^riier of the Revelation names himself, and that
of the Gospel and Epistles does not ; (2) because the Gospel and
Epistles agree in their style and language, iu their use of " light,"
" darkness," " life," " truth," " love," and differ from the Revela-
tion ; (3) because the Epistles do not even contain an incidental
reference to the Revelation, such as we find St. Paul making in
2 Cor. xii. 1. (Euseb., His!. Ecd. vii. 25.)
period to a severe persecution (see Bible Edtxcator,
Vol. IV., p. 130), and that the wild outburst of popular,
as well as imperial, fury in the capital was sure to be
followed by a like excitement iu the provinces, espe-
cially in that which had been for many years the chief
seat of Christian propagandism. It was, we may add,
precisely at that time, when Rome was reproducing the
cruelties, as well as the vices, of the older Babylon, that
the name of the city on the Euphrates was likely to
present itself as the symbol of the great city which
rej)resented the world's power as on the side of evil ;
that men wotild come to think of it as " drunken with
the blood of saints," and as " the mother of harlots "
(Rev. xvii. 5). The persecution of Domitian was com-
paratively limited in its extent, and did not present, as
that of Nero did, the horrors that stii- the blood, and
make men look for judgment from above.
It would be out of place here to enter iu any detail
into the interiiretation of the book. The number and
variety of the schemes by which men have endeavoured
to make it fit in with the histoiy of the world down
to the nineteenth century are euotigh to show that its
mysteries are yet unsolved, that as yet perhaps we are
hardly on the right track to the solution. Briefly it
may be noted that on the one side there are those who
hold that the range of the visions of the book did not
extend very far beyond the horizon of the Apostle's own
time, that it was in relation to the events and fears and
hojies of that age that he was led to declare to men the
things that "must shortly come to pass." For such
interpreters days are literally days, and not years.
Babylon is imperial Rome ; the gi-eat judgment that
falls upon Babylon is the desolation that came txpon
Rome, the loss of her majesty and power in the inva-
sion of the barbarians. The vision of the new Jeru-
salem is the triumph of the Church of Chi-ist. As
believing, in this way, that the visions of the future
which passed before the seer of Patmos have ah-eady
received an adecpiate, though not a literal, fulfilment,
this has been called the Pneterist school of interpre-
tation, and is mainly represented by Grotius, Ham-
mond, Bossuet, Herder, Ewald, Lee, and Maurice,
names sufficiently wide apart from each other to show
that the method of interpretation is not necessarily
connected with the teaching of any chui-ch or sect. A.t
the opjjosite extreme are those who hold that, as no
series of events, either in the history of the Roman
Empire or in that of modern Europe, corresponds
closely to the series of prophetic visions, while yet
those visions, being inspired, must of necessity receive a
literal fulfilment, the whole book, with the exception of
the messages to the Seven Churches, belongs to a time
even now future, and leads men to be on the watch for
the signs of that which, on this assumption, will be the
beginning of the end. In this view Babylon is neither
Imperial, nor, strictly speaking, Papal Rome— as she
has been, or is— but the same great city in some new
and as yet undeveloped phase, as allied with all forms
of superstition and ungodliness, and brought into an
open antagonism to the Church of God. When that
300
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
conflict shall come the world will see (so the advocates
of this Futurist system tell us) a wonderful aud literal
fulfilment of the portents and visions of the Apocalypse.
This school of interpretation is less numerous than the
other, but it has found able representatives among our-
selves in Dr. J. H. Todd, Dr. S. Maitland, Mr. Isaac
WiUiams, and others.
Between the two there is a third school — always the
most numerous, and, from the nature of the case, at-
tracting more popular interest — which maintains that,
though the final consummation of the kingdom of God,
as set forth in the closing chapters of the book, is still
future, the visions from chaj). iv. onwards to the end
present a continuous history of the Church and of the
world in their spiritual aspects, corresponding to that
of mediaeval and modern Europe. Under this scheme
the days of the prophetic visions (xii. 6 ; xiii. 5) are
equivalent to years, and, as such, serve as the basis of a
chronological arrangement of events. We are led on to
think of our own time as on the threshold of a great
catastrophe. As Imperial Rome has passed away,
men have found in Papal Rome the Babylon of the
Apocalypse. She, too, is " drunken with the blood of
the saints," and is the "mother of abominations." It
cannot be wondered at that this method of interpreta-
tion should at all times have been popular. It appeals
to that desire to pierce the secrets of the future which
is more or less strong in all men ; it tempts the subtle
and the imaginative to exercise their ingenuity on the
enigmas which have bafiied others. Each thinks that
his scheme will be more coherent and con^-iucing than
those that have gone before it. The drawback upon its
claims is that the interpreters are almost hopelessly at
variance ; that history has too often to be written afresh
to make it fit in with their schemes of interpretation ;
that small things become great, and great small, as seen
in a perspective which is quite other than that of the
ordinary historian. Each generation from the tenth
century onward has thought of itself as standing near
the end of all things, and the triumph of the saints,
aud the reign of Christ for a thousand years, aud has
heard the footfall of the coming Antichrist. The broad
distinction between those who hold a pre-millennial or
a post- millennial Advent does but represent a rough
classification, within which there are endless diversities
of detail.
I do not pretend to have succeeded where so many
have failed, and I confess myself unable to accept any
one of these methods as leading by itself to satisfactory
results. AU that I can suggest to the reader is the
probability that each of them is true, so long as it is not
looked on as adequate and exhaustive ; tlmt each becomes
false when it is pushed beyond that limit. The visions
were meant to guide the Apostle, and those for whom
he wrote, in the midst of the terrors aud confusions of
their own time — the things that,were " shortly to conic
to pass ;" to comfoi't them with the tliought of tlie
triumph of God's righteous kingdom, and of the de-
struction even of the greatest woi-ld-power that was
opposed to it. So far, we may seek the first clue to their
interpretation in the historical succession of events after
the time of Nero. But that triumph did not come iu
its fulness, aud seems yet far off. The old antagonism
between the kingdoms of light and darkness continues,
and the issue, when it comes, must, to all appearance,
be brought about by a more tremendous conflict, issuing
in more entire victory. But " Prophecy," in Bacon's
pregnant words, " hath springing aud germinant ac-
complishments," and in the interval between the first
struggle and the last there may be many such fulfil-
ments, many conflicts and triumphs, many " days of
the Lord," precursors of the last great day. If this
should seem to render the prophecies of the Book of
Revelation too vague and elastic, it must be remembered
that this is precisely the way iu which we have learnt
to interpret the language of the older prophets. The
vision of Isaiah (say, e.g. chap, xl.) speaks unmistakably
of the return from Babylon, but is not exliausted by it ;
it passes from that to the coming of the Messiah, and
received, as we believe, a fulfilment in the coming of
our Lord ; but neither did that exhaust it. It goes
beyond any glory wliich the Church of Christ has as yet
attained on earth, to the time of the new heaven and
the new earth, and the restitution of all things. So, too,
to take a yet higher example, our Ix)rd's prophetic
teaching in Matt. xxiv. obviously draws all its imagery
from the circumstances and incidents of the time, and
finds a fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem, and,
as obviously, is not exhausted by that destruction, but
looks forward to a far-off Divine event.
From this point of view, then, we may hold that those
are not ^vrong who study the book in close connection
with the early struggles of the Christian Church, nor
those who look forward to a glory yet to be revealed,
nor those, again, who in each succeeding age have felt
that it had a message of hope and warning even for them.
Even the darker, more pcrplexing»enigmas of the book
find in some measure a solution which fits iu with this
Avider method of study. Tlie earliest and most gene-
rally received explanation of the mysterious number of
the Beast, which sees in the Greek arithmetical value
of the letters of the word Lateinos an equivalent to six
hundred and sixty -six, has had, it is clear, an applica-
tion both to Imperial and Papal Rome ; and, so far as
we may read the sigus of the times, the part of Rome
iu this world's history is not yet extinct, and some
future Armageddon may see the Latin races of Europe
arrayed under her leadership on the side of antagonism
to the truth.
Yet the chief value of the book practically is, after all,
independent of its 'predictive element. It has enriched
the devotion aud the poetry of Christendom with the
most glowing imagery, with symbols of profoundest
meaning. All that is noblest and most beautiful in the
writings of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, in the ritual of Taber-
nacle and Temple, is brought together by the writer
into what has well been called a gorgeous "mosaic"
of gems, in which all that was most precious sparkles
as with a new radiance. No book iu llio Bible has so
helped to raise the thoughts and imaginations of the
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.
301
poor above their common life, and to make them, more j power if we were to strike out from them all that
or less, unconscious poets. The hymns of Christendom flows directly and mdirectly from the Revelation of
would lose a large portion of their beauty and then* St. John.
-BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.
BY THE REV. T. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE, M.A., INCUMBENT OP BERKELEY CHAPEL, MAYPAIR.
^[l^l^jJI^HE authenticity of this Epistle has been
accepted invariably from the earliest ages
of the Church, though some j^ersons re-
ferred to by St. Jerome,^ regarding its
subject-matter as of only private interest, questioned its
place as one of the Canonical Scriptures. The Epistle
was written during the Apostle's imprisonment in Rome,
which is referred to in verses 9, 10, and was addressed to
Philemon, who was a convert of St. Paul's (ver. 19), and
a personal friend (ver. 13), and who, after his conversion
to Christianity, had exerted himself in deeds of active
Christian work. From the Epistle itself we discover
the circumstances under which it was written. A slave
named Onesimus had run away from his master, Phile-
mon, having apparently first robbed him. This slave
came to Rome, and was there converted by St. Paul.
Having remained with the Apostle for some time, he
is at last sent back by St. Paul to Philemon; and he
takes with him this letter, in which the Apostle asks
Philemon to receive him back, and to forgive his
offence. The delicacy, the tact, the Christian love with
which St. Paul does this are apparent in every verse
of the Epistle.
The Epistle opens by reminding the one to whom it
is addressed that the writer is '"a prisoner '' of Jesus
Christ, and so at once awakens the reader's sympathy.
It is addressed also to Apphia, the wife of Philemon, as
well as to Philemon himself, and Arcliipj)us, who was
connected with the Church at Colossse,^ the residence
of Philemon, and probably some near relation of his.^
The first seven verses are composed of this address,
and of expressions of joyous recollection of, and sym-
pathy with, Philemon ; and then, with exquisite deU-
cacy and pathetic power, the writer at last introduces
the object of his letter: "Wherefore, though I might
be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is
convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee."
He reminds him — so as to melt his heart, before the
object, the doubtless hated object, of this petition is
even mentioned — who is the petitioner, "such an one
as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus
Christ." Who could refuse a request from such an
one as that? Even after that with what jjathos
the name is introduced : " I beseech thee for my son
1 Proam. in Pbilem. 3 — 7.
2 Col. iv. 17.
3 Philemon's son (Olshausen), or only an intimate friend
(ChrySOStom — iVepi'i/ nva iVwr <pi\ov).
Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds." The
writer feels that the mention of the name of the run-
away and defrauding slave, even though introduced so
delicately, wiU stir up the old resentment of the master ;
and St. Paul may have felt also that possibly Philemon
may have thought that he did not know how badly
Onesimus had treated his master — that if he had known
that he had robbed him, as well as deserted him, Paul
might not have so entirely forgiven him ; and yet it is
a difficult thing to send a letter by a man's own hand
containing an expression of your knowledge that he is
a thief. The very name of the runaway ('o^/tjo-i^uos),
which signifies "profitable," suggests a pleasant way
of showing the writer's knowledge of the extent of his
wrong, and yet doing it in a manner which can scarcely
hurt the bearer of the letter, and which by its pleasantry
and wit could stir up no angi-y feeling (but rather pro-
voke a smile) in the reader, so lie writes, " I beseech
thee for my son Profitable, who in time past was im-
profitable to thee, but is now profitable to thee and to
me." Then the Apostle, to show his estimate of the
value of this servant, and at the same time his respect
for his master, states that he would gladly have kept
Onesimus for his own servant, but that he would
not do so without knowing the wishes of Philemon
(vv. 13, 14). With equal pleasantry and tenderness he
sjjeaks of the slave's having run away (ver. 15) : " For
perhaps for this reason he icas separated [not as in
A.Y., "he departed," throwing any blame on him] from
thee for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for
ever." In fact, St. Paul, with great pathetic j)leasantry
of expression, suggests that Philemon is to be a great
gainer — " unprofitable " goes back as profitable ; he was
removed temporarily that he may return " pei-ma-
nently;" he left as a slave — he returns as "a brother."
Read in the light of the preceding, there is scarce need
for comment on the following (w. 18, 19) : " If he hath
wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine
account. I Paul have written it with mine own hand,
I will repay thee : not that I would remind you that
you owe me your own self." I cannot but think that^
finally, in verse 22, there is a " gentle reminder " to
Philemon, that Paul hopes to see in person the result
of this Epistle; and that so, Philemon must not act
harshly, thinking that Paul yvill never know it : " At
the same time, prepare me a lodging ; for I trust that
through your prayers I shall be given unto you " — i.e.,
" shall come to you."
302
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
This exquisite Epistle is of iucstimablc value in
sLowing the practical manuer iu which St. Paul dealt
witli the difficult aud daugcrous question of slavery.
Ko Roman opponent could, after this letter was wiitten,
pretend that the teaching of Paul encouraged ser^-ilo
revolt ; and yet no timid or interested Christian could
point to St. Paul as sanctioning those features of
servitude which were essentially bad. To have sent
back the runaway slave disarmed hostility on the one
side ; to make him bo received as " a brother beloved "
took away all the sting of slavery on the other. This
Epistle, brief and particular as it is, is also of surpassing
inti'rost to all admii*ers of tlie great Apostle of the
Gentiles, as giving us a larger glimpse of that side
of his character which occasionally shows itself else-
where*— exhibiting to us the eloquent polemic, and the
enthusiastic apostle, as jiossessed of a heart as tender as
a woman's, and a love profoundly earnest, aud intensely
selfless. Here also wo see how St. Paid applied to the
ordinary actions of personal life the same great Christian
principles by which he sought to guide the Christian
Church.
1 Especially iu the Epistles to the Corinthians.
GEOGEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
BY ilAJOE WILSON, K.E.
SYRIA.
HE term " Syi*ia " is used in the New Testa-
ment to denote the country lying between
the Taurus mountains on the north, and
the proA"ince of Galilee on the south, and
which was bounded on the west by Phoenicia and the
Mediterranean, and on the east by the desert. In
the Old Testament Syria, or Aram, appears to have
extended to the Euphi'ates, and perhaps beyond; and
several of the local divisions of the country are men-
tioned:— Ai'am-nahai'aim ("Syi'ia of the two rivers"),
called Mesopotamia in the Authorised Yersion (Gen.
xxiv. 10) ; Padan, or Padan-aram (" the plain Syi-ia, or
the cultivated Syria"), apparently another name for the
disti-ict of Aram-uaharaim ; Aram-dammesek ("Syi'ia
of Damascus"), in 2 Sam. viii. 5 ; Aram-zobah ('' Syi'ia
of Zobah "), Aram Beth-rehob (" Syria of Beth-rehob "),
in 2 Sam. x. 6; Aram-maachah (" Syria-maachah "), in
1 Chron. xix. 6 ; aud perhaps Geshur in Sji'ia (2 Sam.
XV. 8). Aram-uaharaim has generally been identified
with that portion of the Greek Mesopotamia which lies
between the great bend of the Euphrates and the upper
Tigris ; but there are several passages in the Bible —
esi)ecially those relating to Jacob's flight from Haran —
tliat are diificidt of explanation on this supposition ; and
we are almost inclined to adopt the view of Dr. Beko,
that the Aram-naharaim, or Padan-aram, in which Haran
was situated, lay to the oast of Damascus, between the
rivers Barada and Awaj. Syria of Damascus was of
course in the vicinity of that city ; and we find at a
later period, when Damascus had increased in imjiort-
ance, that the term Aram was applied to this district
alone. It is difficult to assign any precise locality to
the other divisions. Maachah and Geshur are men-
tioned as being on the borders of Argob (the Lejah) and
Bashan (Deut. iii. 14 ; Josh. xiii. 11 — 13). Rehob has
been variously identified with the ui>per Jordan valley
and with a district to tho north-east of Damascus;
wliilst Zobah, which in the time of David was an im-
povtant state, able to put large armies into the field,
appears to have extended to the Euphrates. Several
of the towns of Zobah are mentioned in the Bible — as
Berothah, Betah, andHelam, tho scene of David's great
factory over Hadadezer — but none of them have yet
been satisfactorily identified.
Syria is natui-ally divided into three separate sections:
the district north of the Orontes, the valley of the
Orontes, and the valley of the Litany (Leontes). In
the first district the princijial feature is the mountain-
range of Jawar Dagh (Mount Amanus), from five to
six thousand feet high, wliich divided Syi'ia from Cilicia :
running in a southerly direction from its point of junc-
tion with the Taurus mountains, and so near the coast
as to leave but a naiTow strip of plain, the range bifur-
cates at its southern extremity, throwing out one arm to
terminate abruptly iu the lofty cliffs of Ras el-Khanzir
(Rhosus), the other to die away gi'adually in the hills of
Jebel Musa (Pierius), within a few miles of the mouth
of the Orontes. Over this wild district there are only
two good passes — one near Bayas, the other at Beilan,
south of Iskauderun (Alexandria), the port of Aleppo,
by which Barnabas probably crossed the Amanus on
his way from Antioch " to Tarsus, to seek Saul." East
of Mount Amanus is a hilly tract, drained by the streams
which fall into the Lake of Antioch, and by the river of
Aleppo, the ancient Chains ; beyond this lies the diy
upland of the Syrian desert, extending to tho Euphrates.
The second section extends from Antiocli to the
!N"ahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus), and throughout tliis dis-
tance runs the range of Jebel Nusaii-iyeh (Bargylus)
in a southerly direction, and almost pai-allel to the coast.
The range is steep towards the Orontes, on the east,
whilst towards the west it descends in low, irregular
hills, and throws out several short spurs, one of which
terminates in the lofty headland of Ras Akra (Casius).
At the northern extremity of Bargylus is tho secluded
glen in which Daphne, the favourite resort of tho
luxurious people of Antioch, was situated ; aud at the
southern end, on one of the steep wooded hills by which
the range breaks down to the level plain north of the
Lebanon, rise the strong walls of the castle of El Husn,
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
603
commauding iu old crusading days the great road which
led from Hums aud Hamah to the coast. East of Jebel
Nusairiyeh, aud parallel to it, is another range of
mountains of less elevation, extending from the bend of
the Orontes to the south of Hamah ; aud between these
two lies the rich valley of the Orontes, abundantly
watered by the streams which descend from the hills on
either side. In the mountains of N"usairiyeh dwell a
strange x^eople, whose creed is a curious melange of
Idolatry, Judaism, Christianity, and Islamism, and who,
according to their own tradition, were expelled by Joshua
from Palestine. They have recently been visited by
Mr. Johnson, the American consul at Beirut, who, in
his interesting account, states that they have " preserved
vestiges of the worship of Baal, the Syrian Apollo ; of
Astarte, the Sji-iau Venus ; of fire, and of the heavenly
bodies; aud they have also retained traces of the
Jewish law."
The third section comprises the two great ranges of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, aud extends from the j)lain
of the Nahr el-Kebir to the sources of the Jordan. The
remarkable pass or plain to the north of Lebanon which
connects the valley of the Orontes with the coast-plaia
is not improbably the " entrance of Hamath," men-
tioned on several occasions as the northern border of
the Promised Land. From this plain the mouutaias
rise into the lofty ridge of Lebanon, which attains its
greatest elevation in Jebel Sunnin, about 10,000 feet
high, and then gradually falls towards the south until
it reaches the grand gorge of the Litany (Leoutes) ; the
eastern declivities are steep, with few streams, and but
slight cultivation ; whilst the western fall by a gentler
slope to the sea, and are carefully cultivated by a
hardy mountain population, whose terraced gardens
and picturesque A"illages have frequently been com-
mented upon by travellers. Formerly the mountains
were thickly wooded with cedar, cypress, and fir, but
these have now in great part disappeared, leaving only
a few groves of stately cedars as representatives of
*' the glory of Lebanon." The olive and mulberry are
assiduously cultivated, and roimd the villages are ex-
tensive vineyards, producing wine which stiU has a
certain reputation in the country. The beauty and
f ertihty of " that goodly mountain, even Lebanon," are
frequently aEuded to in the Bible, and so is the fragrance
of its flowers aud vines (Cant. iv. 11 ; Hosea xiv. 6).
The range of Anti-Lebanon rises south of Hums, and
nmuing nearly parallel to that of Lebanon, attains its
culminating point in Mount Hermon, at its southern
extremity. The range is only mentioned once in the
Bible, as " Lebanon toward the sun-rising," but Mount
Hermon is frec^uently referred to as a limit, and also in
connection with its snow-clad summit, which can be
seen from so many points in the Holy Land. From
Hermon a ridge stretches out towards the east, and
forms the northern boundary of the rich pkin of
Damascus. Between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon lies
the great plain of the Bukaa— the Ooele-Syria, or " the
hoUow Syria," of the Greeks— watered in its northern
portion by the Orontes, and in its southern by the
Litany. The soU is extremely rich, and produces fine
crops of grain and abimdaut pasturage.
East of Mount Amanus, and a few miles only from
the Orontes, is the Lake of Antioch, formed by the
waters of three streams, of which the Kara-Su is the
most important, which drain the highland district to
the north. The lake is about forty mUes in cu-cum-
ference, and discharges its waters into the Orontes by
a stream also known as the Kara-Su. The Kuweik, or
river of Aleppo (Chains), rises near a tributary of the
Euphrates, and after flowing past Antioch loses itself
in a marsh not far from the site of Colchis. The
Orontes, the longest river in Syi-ia, rises about ten
miles north of Baalbek, and flows northwards through
the fertile vaUey to the Jisr el-Hadid (iron bridge),
where it turns westward towards Antioch, and after
passing through a narrow gorge enters the coast-plain.
The Litany, rising not far from the source of the
Orontes, flows southward through the Bakaa, which
gradually contracts towards the south, till the river
enters a wonderful chasm near the village of Tuhmur.
Here the precipices on either side are no less than a
thousand feet in height, and the channel is so narrow
that it is spanned by a natural bridge. The river after-
wards pursues its way past the Castle of Esh Shukif,
thi-ough a deep rocky gorge which cuts through the
southern spurs of Lebanon, aud finally enters the sea
through a broad tract of meadow laud. The Barada,
which is either the Abana or Pharpar of Scripture, rises
near the northern end of Anti-Lebanon, and flowing
down through the plain of Zebdany, breaks through the
ridge on the east by a deep chasm, the Suk Wady Barada,
at the lower end of which are the ruius of the ancient
AbUa ; the river then runs through a beautiful valley,
receiving, en route, the waters of the great fountain
of Ain Fijeh, and leaves the mountains about two"
miles from Damascus. Here the waters are led off by
numerous aqueducts aud canals for ii-i-igation, and after
passing through Damascus in seven separate streams,
they re-unite below the city, and are finally lost in the
lakes on the verge of the great eastern desert. The only
other important stream is the Awaj, which rises amongst
the spm's of Mount Hermon, and flows through the
plain of Damascus to a lake not far from that which
receives the Barada. This stream is regarded by several
writers as one of the two " rivers of Damascus."
Amongst the many important places in Syria which
deserve a passing notice, few have a greater interest
in one sense than Seleucia, the port of Antioch whence
Paul, accompanied by Barnabas, set forth on his
first missionary journey (Acts xiii. 4), and where he
probably landed on his retiu'n. Seleucia was not only
a port, but a strong fortress, and the ruins are of a very
remarkable character. The city stood at one extremity
of a small but fertUe plain to the north of the Orontes,
and was built partly on level ground, partly on the
lower slopes of the Mens Pieria, from which it took its
name of Seleucia Pieria. Tliere are many remains of
the city walls and towers, but to us the most interestrag
ruins are those of the harbour from which Paul sailed.
304.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
305
Oil the outside was a kind of basin, protected from the
pvcvaiiiug winds by substantial jetties, whence a passage
foi- the giiUeys was cut through the soHd rock to a canal
a hundred yards wide, which ran between walls of
massive masonry to the great basin. This basin was an
V- -co-ular oval in shape, 450 yards long and 200 to 350
wide, and its walls were formed of large hewn stones.
Aujther remarkable work was a grea' excivation more
than three thousand feet long, which, partly in the
form of a hollow way, partly in that of a tunnel, led
from the upper part of the city to the sea. Seleucia
was built by Seloucus, the first of the Seleucidse, and
here he was buried. It was a islacc of great importance,
and the privileges of a free
city were granted to it by
Pompey.
Abaut eighteen miles
from Seleucia is Antak'e'i,
a small miserable place,
occupying in part the site
of Antioch, the magnifi-
cent capital of the Greek
kings of Syria. Antioch
was beautifully situated,
partly on an island,
and partly on the left
bank of the Orontcs, im-
mediately above the grand
gorge through which tliat
river forces its way to the
sea. The city extended
over the level ground, and
spread far up the slopes of
Mount Silpius, where the
grand old walls, with their
flanking towers, shattered
by earthquakes, still form
a striking picture as they
wind along the rugged
crags on the summit. The
walls are about seven miles
in circuit, and some por-
tions of them are interest-
ing specimens of old mural
masonry; one gateway — that through whicli the Aleppo
road passed out — still bears the name of St. Paul.
Antioch was remarkable for the extent and beauty of
its buildings. Successive rulers, whether Greek or
Roman, appear to have vied with each other in orna-
menting the famous city ; and even foreigners would
seem to have contributed their share, for we find Herod
the Great making a road, with a colonnade, from the city
gate eastward towards Aleppo. Of all these glories
little remains : earthquakes and conqucrmg hordes have
done their work too surely ; auci a change in the bed
of the river has left no trace of the island on which
many of the most magnificent buildings were situated.
Antioch was founded by Seleucus Nicator, B.C. 300, and
the site was well chosen, commanding easy access with
the sea by the vaUey of the Orontes, with Cilicia by the
92 — VOL. IV,
r^jf* .s'-'^Damascus^ian-an
'•>,'! Mt Hermon
Beilan pass, with Mesopotamia by way of Aleppo, and
with the rich plains of Coele- Syria by the valley of the
upper Orontes. Seleucus, with the view of attracting
settlers to his new city, gave all the inhabitants, of
whatever country, the rights of citizensliip ; and the
Jews, who from the first settled there in great numbers,
were govesned by their own ethnarch, and possessed
the same political privileges as the Greeks. Under the
Seleucid kings the city increased in size and sjjlendour,
and its contact with Jewish history at this period is
several times mentioned in the books of Maccabees. It
is, however, in connection with the Apostolic Church,
and the early progress of Christianity, that Antioch
possesses its chief inte-
rest. On the dispersion
of the Christians from
Jerusalem, at the death of
Stephen, certain " men of
Cyprus and Cyrene" came
to Antioch (Acts xi. 20),
and preaching the Gospel
to the Grecians, founded
the first Gentile church.
The success that attended
their efforts soon became
known at Jerusalem, and
Barnabas was sent tc
strengthen and confirq
the infant church. It wf<
soon after this that Paul,
who had been brought to
Antioch by Barnabas
(Acts xi. 25, 26), first com-
menced his regular minis-
terial work, and that the
disciples received the name
of Christians. During the
joint ministry of Paul and
Barnabas, Agabus and
other prophets who came
from Jerusalem foretold
the famine, and alms were
collected and sent to the
poorer brethren in Judsea.
It was from Antioch that Paul started on his first
missionary journey; and here he returned to give
an account of his labours (Acts xiv. 27). At the same
place he commenced and ended his second jom-ney;
and it was also the starting-point of the third journey.
The only other incidents connected with the Apostolic
Church are the A-isit of some Judaising teachers from
Jerusalem, who disturbed the Church until the questions
at issue were settled by the council at Jerusalem (Acts
XV. 1—31) ; the contention between Barnabas and Paul
(Acts XV. 38, 39), and between Paul and Peter (Gal.
ii. 11—21). During the first four centuries Antioch
continued to be an important centre for Christian pro-
gress; and amongst the many eminent names connected
with the city we may mention those of Ignatius and
Chrysostom. The gradual decay of Antioch is due to
SKETCH MAP
of
SYRIA.
30(3
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
several causes — tlio foiuiiling of Constantiuople, tlio
ravages of earthquakes — throe of Avhicli -were of such
violence as almost to destroy tlio town ou each occasion
— and the various sieges, especially that of Chosroes, the
Persian, by whom the city is said to have beeu left
utterly desolate.
Almost due cast of Antioch, on the verge of tho
eastern desert, is Aleppo, the ancient Bercea, containing
a largo population, of which rather moro than one-fifth
aro Christians. Aleppo was at one time identified
with tho Helbon of Ezek. xxvii. 18, but the site of this
pLacc was found by Professor Porter near Damascus.
Aleppo is on the highway between Mesopotamia and
Palestine ; and the Ai'abs have a tradition that Abraham,
on his way to the land of Canaan, j)itched his tent on the
castle hill, and remained there some years, gwng of
his abundance to the j)Oor of the district. ' The country
to the south-west of Aleppo, as well as the valley of the
Orontes, is studded Avitli the ruins of towns and villages,
many of them containing" very perfect remains of early
Christian churches, and other important buildings ; but
there is no place of special Biblical interest until we
reach Hamah (Hamath).
The position of Hamath, in a narrow portion of the
valley of the Orontes, about midway between the soui-ce
of that river and the bend which it makes above Antioch,
was of no slight importance, for it commanded the
valley, and the great road from the valley of the
Euphrates, which passed down it ; and it may almost bo
called the northern " key " of Palestine. A place so
situated must naturally have been the scone of stirring
events, and we find it frequently alluded to in connection
with militarj' opei'ations. Hamath is mentioned in
most of the passages of the Bible which relate to the
northern boundary of the Promised Land; and it
would appear to have been included in the kingdom
of Solomon, wlio built " store-hoiises " there, possibly
with the view of facilitating commercial intercourse
with the East. On the death of Solomon, Hamatli
recovered its independence, and appears in the Assyrian
inscriptions of 900 B.C. as a separate state in alliance
with the Syrians of Damascus and the Phoenicians, but
j.t was retaken by Jeroboam II., who appears to have
disirumtled the place. Its subsequent capture by the
Assji-ians is alluded to in the well-known speech of
Eabshakeh (2 Kings xviii. 34 ; Isa. xxxvii. 13). Tho
modern town of Hamah lies on both sides of the Orontes,
and is cliiefly remarkable for the number of large wheels
which raise water to the houses and gardens in the upper
part of the town. The castle, which stood on a mound
in the centre of Hamah, has entirely disappeared; and
so have all other remains of ancient Hamath, except
some remarkable inscriptions which have recently been
discovered, and have hitherto resisted every effort to
decipher them.
Proceeding soutliward up the valley of the Orontes.
wo pass Zifrun, perhaps tlie Ziphron of Numb, xxxiv. 9 ;
Hums (Emesa), the liome of Longinus; Rildah, where
Xebuchadnozzar was encamped when Jerusalem was
taken, and wliere the sons of Zedekiah were slain, and
Zcdekiah's own eyes put out (2 Kings xxv. 6, 7) in
presence of the great conqueror ; and reach tho strange,
solitary monument of Hurmul, situated on rising ground,
which commands a view down the Orontes on the ono
hand, and the Bukaa ou the other. Here, probably,
tlie " laud of Hamath " terminated, and Ccele-Syria, ("the
hollow Syria "), the deep valley between the ranges of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, commenced. About two
miles from tho monument is the great source of the
Orontes, Ain el-Asy, perhaps the Ain (fountain) of
Numb, xxxir. 11 ; one of the points ou the northern
boundary of the Promised Land.
The most interesting place in the Bukaa, or Coelc-
Syria, is Baalbek (Heliopolis), wliere the grandeur and
beauty of the ruins have for centuries attracted the
notice, and excited the admiration of travellers. Baalbek
has apparently no Biblical history, though the gi-and
masonry of the platform would seem to be of far older
date than the period of the Antonines, to whom tho
temples are due. The principal buildings are the three
temples ; the first, or "great temple," of whicli only six
columns and a few other small portions remain, stood
on an artificial platform, which appears never to have
beeu comi^leted. Immediately in front of the temple
was a large rectangukr court, 440 feet long and 370
wide, surrounded by recesses and niches, mth a rich
ornamentation of fruit, flowers, &e. ; in front of this,
again, was an octagonal court, whence a triple gateway
led to the portico, and a broad flight of steps. The
second, or Temple of Jupiter, stands on a platform of
its own, ou a lower level than the great temple, and is
one of the most striking ruins in Syria. It is larger
than the Parthenon at Athens, and richly and profusely
ornamented. The third temple is circular in form, and
built in a similar style. In the platform under the
great temple are the three enormous stones from which
the temple derived its name of Trilithon. Each of tho
stones is over sixty feet in length and thirteen feet in
height, and they are built into the wall at a height of
twenty feet above tho ground (see page 304). There
is, howoA^er, in the quarries a much larger stone, tho
dressing of which was never finished; it is no less
than 68 feet 6 inches long, 14 feet 1 inch thick, and
from 14 feet to 17 feet 6 wide. The quarries would
appear to liave been abandoned whilst some largo
building was going on, as there are numbers of large
stones but half quarried; and this enables us to see
pretty clearly the method of working. In the great
rectangular court of tho temple may still be seen the
foundations of the large church built by Theodosius
towards the close of tho fourth century, when he de-
stroyed the temple. Two of tho apses are nearly perfect,
and they are at the western end of the church, an
arrangement necessitated by the position of the great
temple, and the desire to make use of the grand entrance
by which tlie court was reached.
From Baall)ek a road leads across the range of Anti-
Lebanon to Damascus ; and following this we reach tho
fine gorge of Suk Wady Barada, where the Barada
breaks through the mountain barrier. Tlio cliffs rise
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
307
precipitously on either side, aud high up on the left
hank is a deep cutting in the rock, -which marks the
course of the old Roman road. In the cutting there
is a tablet containing an iu scrip tion to the eifect that
the road which had been carried away by the river was
re-made by the Emperors Marcus Anrelius and Lucius
Verus ; and that the mountain was cut through by
Julius Yerus, legate of Syria, at the cost of the people
of Abilene ; aud immediately below the gorge are the
ruins of the old city of Abila, commanding a beautiful
Adew down the fertile valley of the Barada. There is
little left save a numlser of rock-hewn tombs, fragments
of columns, and rude foundations, and the name itself
has disappeared, unless it lingers in the Kabr Habil
(Abel's tomb), whicli lies on a hill above the ruins, and
is no less than thirty feet long. Abila was the capital
of the tetrarchy of Abilene, which is mentioned in
Luke iii. 1. Still following the road, we pass the great
spring of Ain Fijeh, bursting forth at the foot of a
cliff on which stands a ruined temple, aud reach the
village of Dumali, whence a short, steep ascent over a
barren limestone hill leads to the Kubbet en Ifasr.
Immediately on reaching the crest of the hill a view
meets the eye wdiich once seen can never be forgotten ;
it is one of tliose views which impresses itself at once
on the mind, and ever afterwards lingers in the memory ;
a scene so beautiful that Mahomet, whilst stiU a camel-
driver from Mecca, is said, after gazing upon it, to have
turned away without entering the city, with the ex-
pression, " Man can have but one paradise, and my
paradise is fixed above." The general features of the
view have 1:)een well caught by Dean Stanley, who
observes, " Ear and wide in front extends the level
plain, its horizon bare, its lines of surrounding hills
bare, all bare far away on the road to Palmyra and
Bagdad. In the midst of this plain lies at our feet
the vast lake or island of deep verdure, walnuts and
apricots waving above, corn and grass below ; and in
the midst of this mass of foliage rises — striking out its
white arms of streets hither and thither, and its white
minarets above the trees which embosom them — the
city of Damascus. On the right towers the sno-wy
lieight of Hermon overlooking the whole scene; close
behind are the sterile limestone mountains ; so that one
stands literally between the living and the dead." All
this wealth of verdiire is due to the Barada, which,
scattered over the plain in countless rills, gives life to
the thirsty soil ; and iu this as well as in the peculiar
position of the city we may see the cause of the remote
antiquity of Damascus. Here, at a very early period, a
great centre for trade arose ; caravans passing through
from Tyre and the sea-port towns liy way of Palmyra
to Assyria and the east ; whilst in Ezekiel we have an
allusion to the commercial intercourse with Tyre, whence
manufactured articles, " the multitude of the wares of
thy making," were received in return for " wine of
Helbon and white wool."
Amongst the many interesting ruins which Damascus
contains we may notice the old Roman wall, with its
sf^uare towers, on which the circular towers of the pre-
sent wall stand, and the eastern city gate, Bab Shurky,
a fine old Roman gateway, consisting of a central arch
aud two side ones. The central and southern entrances
are now closed, aud all the traffic of the city passes
through the northern gate, which is only ten feet wide.
This gateway is of special interest, as from remains
found at diiferent periods within the city, it appears to
have opened into one of those grand streets lined with
columns which form such an important feature of the
larger towns of Palestine, and marked the line of the
great military road. In this case wo may well believe
that the current tradition is correct which identifies the
street with the " Yia Recta," or " street called Straight "
of Acts ix. 11. At one point in the wall is shown tho
place whence St. Paul was lot down in a basket (2 Cor.
xi. 33), and not far from it the tomb of St. George, tho
porter who assisted him in his escape, as well as the
place where the "great light suddenly sinned from
heaven " (Acts is. 3). It may be remarked that this
site is shown on the east of the city, whilst the road
from Jerusalem entered it from the west. There is no
indication in the Bible of tho exact locality at which
St. Paul was converted, except that it was as " he came
near Damascus ;" and we would gladly believe that the
site, identified by an earlier tradition, near the -s-illago
of Juneh, is correct, for at this jDoint a traveller along
the Roman road from the Jordan obtains his first view
xii Damascus aud its richly- cultivated plain, a view
scarcely, if at all, less striking and extensive than the
more celebrated view from the Kubbet en Nasr. Within
the city walls, the most interesting building is the gi'eat
mosque, which contains many traces of the changes
which it has passed through. It is not impossible that
on this site once stood the house of Rimmon, to which
Naaman had to accompany his master (2 Kings v. 18) ;
but the earliest date to which any of the existing remains
can be assig-ned, is that of the Seleucid kings. This
temi)le, of which a large fragment can stiU be seen, was
succeeded by a building richly ornamented in the style
of the Baalbek temples, which was converted into a
church, and afterwards turned into a mosque. Curiously
enough, over one of the doors the Moslems have left
the old Christian inscription, " Thy kingdom, O Christ,
is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth
throughout all generations." Some of the private
houses at Damascus are remarkable for the beauty and
taste displayed in the decoration of their interiors, but
externally all have the same character. No windows
look towards the streets, which have an extremely dull
appearance, the bare walls being only broken by the low
dooi-ways which open into the narrow winding passages
that give access to the courts of the houses. The courts
vary in size, but nearly all of them are paved with
marble, and watered by one or two foimtaius, and have
numbers of orange, lemon, or citron trees growing in
tliem. All the dwelling-rooms look into the court, and
some in the older houses have beautifully carved ceilings
of wood, and haA'e the sides of their walls tastefully
decorated with inlaid work.
Damascus is first mentioned in the Bible iu con-
308
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
309
uection witli Eliezer, the steward of Abraham, who was
a native of the city (Geu. xv. 2). We have but shght
iudication in the Bible of any stay made by Abraham at
Damascus, but several traditions are supplied from other
sources, one to tlie effect that Abraham lived some time
at Damascus, and was king of tliat place before entering
the Promised Land. At Burzeh a small cave is shown
as the " Place of Abraham," and the village of Jobar is
said to occupy the site of Hobah, to which Abraham
pursued the kings (Gen. xiv. 15). During the reign of
Da\-id we find the " Syrians of Damascus " taking part
with Hadadezer, king of Zobah, in the war against
David, but they were completely defeated, and David
" put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and the Syi'ians
became servants to David, and brought gifts " (2 Sam.
via. 6).
In Solomon's reign, Rezon made himself master of
Damascus, and " was an adversary to Israel all the days
of Solomon " (1 Kings xi. 25). After the separation of
the ten tribes, the kings of Damascus were continually
at war with one or other of the two kingdoms, and
the kingdom of Israel was invaded l)y them on several
occasions. In the reign of Joash, however, some success
attended the arms of the northern kingdom, for he is
said to have beaten " Hazael thrice, and recovered the
cities of Israel;" whilst his successor, Jeroboam II.,
is reported to have "recovered Damascus" (2 Kings
xiii. 25 ; xiv. 28). At last an attempt on the part of
the kings of Damascus and Israel to depose Ahaz, king
of Judah, induced the latter to apply to the Assyrians
for assistance. That aid was given ; Rezin, king of Syria,
slain, and the city of Damascus destroyed — "taken away
from being a city," and made "a ruinous heap" (Isa.
xvii. 1). It was some time before the city recovered its
former prosperity, but during the Persian period it was
known as the most floiirishing place in Syria. We have
no space to enter more particularly into the history of
Damascus, and its many points of contact with Jewish
history, as well as with that of Assyria, as recorded in
the cuneiform inscriptions, paid will only draw attention
to the state of Damascus at the period of St. Paul's
visit, when " the governor imder Aretas the king kept
the city of the Damascenes with a garrison" (2 Cor. xi.
32). This Aretas was one of the line of NabathEean
pi'inces who reigned at Bosrah, in the Hauran, from
about 100 B.C. to the Roman conquest in 109 A.D., and
who f rec^uently pushed their arms as far as Damascus.
The name of Aretas, under the form Harethath-Philo-
deraus, occurs on a gateway in Bosrah, as well as that
of his son Malchus, who assisted Vespasian during the
Jewish war. On the death of Tiberius, 37 a.d., the
government of Syria was much neglected, and it v\-as
apparently at this time that Aretas gained possessiuu
of Damascus, and held it under an ethnarch ; the date
of St. Paul's escape being usually fixed at 39 A.D.
In a wild glen high up in Anti- Lebanon, and not
many miles from Damascus, is Helbon, which Professor
Porter has satisfactorily shown to be the Helbon men-
tioned by Ezekiel. The whole surrounding country is
rich in vines and olive-trees, and the wine is still said
to be of a superior quality. East of Damascus, on
the plain, is a curious artificial mound, apparently of
Assyrian origin, whence a stone slab, on which a stand-
ing figure is represented, was obtained and placed by
the Palestine Exploration Fund at the South Kensington
Museum. Further east, on the borders of the lake or
marsh in which the Barada loses itself, is the village of
'• Harran of the Columns," so called from the remains
of an old temple which can be seen for a long distance
towering over the jjlain. This place Dr. Beke has
identified with the Harran, whence Jacob fled, which is
so intimately connected with the history of the patri-
archs ; and he cites in support of his views the accoimt
of Jacob's flight and Laban's pursuit, which is given
in the Bible. Dr. Beke also supposes that the space
between the Barada and Awaj is the Aram-naharaim,
or Mesopotamia of the Bible ; and we think that his
arguments have not yet been suflBciently answered.
In conclusion, we woidd add a few notes from Captain
Warren's account of the summit of Hermon, which,
from its pre-eminence amongst the liigli places of Syi-ia,
must have been the scene of an ancient worship. At
the top is a plateau, comparatively level, with two small
peaks lying north and south of each other, and about
400 yards apart ; whilst to the west, at a distance of COO
yards, is a third peak. These three are nearly the .same
height, and together foi-m the summit of Hermon. " On
tlie northeim and western peaks no ruins coidd be found,
.... but on the southern peak there is a hole scooped
out of the apex; the foot is suiTOunded by an oval of
hevni stones ; and at its southern end is a sacelhim, or
temple, nearly destroyed." This sacellnm has nothing
in common 'with the numerous temples on the western
slopes of Hennon, and may have been intended for a
different form of worship. The view from the summit
is grand and instructive, embracing a veiy large pro-
portion of the Holy Land, which lies far below, spread
out like a gigantic relief map.
21)
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
ORDERS CRASSULACE^ AND UMBELLIFER.^.
BT WILLIAM CAEKUTHEKS, F.P..S., KEEPEK OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BEITISH MUSEUM.
FEW fleshy plants, allied to our common
stonecrop, are indigenous to Palestine,
flourishing in the most arid localities.
These are, hoAvever, not referred to in
the Bible, and need only a passing allusion hero. They
are species of Sedum, Umbilicus, Sec, and with them
may bo mentioned two saxifrages and a Mesembryan-
themum. This last plant' (iLT. nodiflorum, Linn.) De
Sauley found on the shores of the Dead Sea, and, ob-
serving the hygrometric properties of its fruits, the
dried capsules of which open when moistened by the
rain or moisture, and close again when dry, he, to his
own satisfaction, established that it was the real rose of
Jericho. His friend, the Abbe Michon, believing that
this remarkable plant was as new to science as it was
to the traveller, founded for it a new genus, dedicated
to De Sauley, and named it Saulcya hierichuntica,
(Do Saulcy's Journey, vol. i., p. 512.)
The UmbelUferce are a large group of herbs, easily
recognised by their numerous small flowers arranged
in umbels. In Palestine, as in Britain, they form a
considerable proportion of the wild flowers of the pas-
tures and waste places. Different kinds of the grey
and spiny sea-holly (Eryngiuin) grow on the shores
of SjTia and in arid localities in the interior, while
species of Foeniculutn, Pimpinella, Bupleurum, Scandix,
Daucus, &c., occur in the pastures, and CEnanthe and
Helosciadiuin are found in wet places like the Sea of
Galilee and the Jordan. !Many Mediterranean forms
of the order aro met with which have no representatives
in Britain. Few of the plants of this order are remark-
able either for their beauty or their economic value, and
they aro consequently, witli the exception of a few cul-
tivated species, not referred to in the Bible. These
species ai'o the cumin, dill, and coriander — all of them
extensively used as spices still, as they were by the
Hebrews, because of the essential oil contained in the
fruit. The cumin {Cuminum sativum, Linn.) was as
carefully cultivated by the Jews, in ploughed fields, as
a crop of cereals, and the fruits (popularly but erro-
neously called seeds) were easily separated from their
stalks by beating with a rod (Isa. xxviii. 25, 27). The
Saviour charges the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees
with punctiliously tithing the cumin and dill, which arc
only inferentially included in the Le\-itical law, while
they omitted judgment, mercy, and faith (Matt, xxiii.
23). The passage referred to contains the only refer-
ence to dill to bo found in the Scriptures. Tlio trans-
lators of our Authorised Version correctly translated
ayrjeov by " dill," but placed the word in the margin,
while they inserted the name of a different plant,
'• anise," in the text. The coriander is mentioned only
in the description given of the manna miraculously
provided for the Israelites during their wilderness
wandering. This i^kut was cultivated in Egypt, tho
fruit being bruised to mix as a spice with bread ; and
thus being familiar to the Jews, they compared the
unknown substance, as regards both its form and
colour, to the coriander seed (Exod. xvi. 31 ; Numb.
xi. 7).
The mUky gum- resin exuded from tho stem of Gal-
banuvi officinale, Don, was one of the ingredients of
tho perfume for tho tabernacle (Exod. xxx. 34). as
pointed out by Dr. Birdwood (Bible Educator, Vol.
II., p. 151). This plant is a native of Persia, and is
not found in Palestine. It has been supposed that the
rosli (t'Ni) occurring several times in the Bible, and
generally translated "gall" or "bitterness," is a plant.
In one passage it is rendered " hemlock." " Judgment
springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of tho field "
(Hos. X. 4). It is thought to be derived from a root
meaning poison, and to indicate, therefore, a poisonous
plant. Celsius and others, with the translators of our
version, have referred it to the j)oisonous hemlock.
Darnel, nightshade, henbane, centaury, and other plants
have also been suggested, but there are no materuils to
guide to any certain judgment as to the plant intended.
The same may bo said of pannag (^??), an article of
commerce sold to the Tyrians by tho Jews, and men-
tioned only in one passage in Ezekiel : " Judah and the
land of Israel, they were thy merchants ; they traded in
thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey,
and oil, and balm " (xxvii. 17). The translators of our
version have adopted the notion of some of the rabbins
that Pannag was a wheat-producing district in Judyea,
like Minnith. The Syriac version renders it dolchon,
"millet." Among other conjectures it has been supposed
to bo the gum-resin of one of the umbelliferous plants.
ORDERS OF MONOPETALOUS PLANTS.
Plants belonging to the teazel- worts (Dij^sacecB) arc
abundant in Palestine, but as neither these nor the more
frequent though less obvious species of the natural
orders Bubiacete and Valerianaccie aro mentioned in
Scriptm-e, they require only a passing allusion.
The herbaceous plants of tho Composite order form
a lai'ge proportion of tho wild flowers in Britain. The
daisy, hawk weed, thistle, and many more, are familiar
to every one. Equally abundant are the plants of this
order in Palestine, but instead of the soft-leaved and
defenceless .species best known to us, the predominant
forms are spiny plants with but little foliage. They
belong to the genera Centaurea, Notobasis, Scolyviu.'?,
Echinops, Cirsium, &c. In early spring, Porter says,
"the plain in Sharon is covered with forests of gigantic
tlustles : " they abound on hill as on plain, and some
species are troublesome weeds in the fields, and arc
probably among the plants referred to in various places
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
311
as " tliorns " and " tliistles." Tlius, if the choacli (nin),
translated "tliistle " in the passage "Let thistles grow
instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley" (Job
xxxi. 40), be an agricultural weed, as the passage im-
plies, it may be one of the spiny thistles or knapweeds,
which are the pests of the Oriental cultivator. But
such a corn-weed would not suit the requirements of
other passages where aUusiou is made to the choach,
so that it had better be considered to be a general term
applicable to any spiny herb or shrub.
The Txorviwood {Artemisia Absinthiwm, Jjinn.) is em-
ployed in several passages in the Old Testament iu a
figurative sense, to indicate, iu harmony with the noxious
qualities of the weed, the evils that sin brings on man.
Several species of wormwood occur in Palestine, aU of
which may be included under the general term IcCanah
nj?7). "Wormwood is the name given to the star which
John, iu his vision in Patmos, saw fall upon the third
part of the rivers, making them bitter (Rev. viii. 11).
Sevei-al species of Campanula are common spring
plants in Palestine. True heaths are absent except in
the higher hills of the north, where Erica Orientalis is
found. Ehododendron ponticum, Linn., grows on the
Lebanon range; a strawberry-tree {Arhuhis Andrachne,
Linn.), allied to that found at Killarn-ey, occurs fre-
quently on the mountainous table-land.
The oHve is j)erhaps the most abundant as it is the
most important tree now growing in Palestine. Yet in
former times it was much more abiindant than it is
now, for many long unused oil-presses, hewn out of the
solid rock, are met with far from any indications of the
tree. The olive grows to a height of about twenty feet ;
it has oblong leaves, hoary on their under- surface, and
numerous clusters of small, whitish, fragrant flowers.
A large proportion of its numerous flowers fall off in
the spring, frequently covering the gi'ound with a white
carpet. To this Eliphasi refers, in speaking of the
wicked man : " He shall cast off his flower as the olive"
(Job XV. 33). The fruit, which is nevertheless pi'o-
dueed in great abundance, consists of an oily and fleshy
pericarp, violet iu colour when ripe, enclosing a stonj'
kernel. The oil is obtained by placing the fruit in a
stone vat, sometimes hewn out of the solid rock, and
covering them vrith a flat stone fitting the cavity, to
which pressure is applied by a wooden sci'ew. The oil
was, and still is, of great importance to the Oriental,
being largely used at meals, and iu the preparation of
food. Among the items in the large store of provisions
supplied by Solomon to Hiram's workmen, who were
employed on Lebanon obtaining the wood for his
Temple and palace, was included " twenty thousand
])aths of oU " (2 Chron. ii. 10). Olive-oil was the
material burnt in house-lamps (Matt. xxv. 3); with it
the people anointed then* bodies (Ps. xxiii. 5) ; and it
was largely employed in the Temple service, mixed
with the sacrifices (Lev. ii. 1, Sec), and for the lamp of
the Tabernacle (Exod. xxvii. 20), as well for the golden
candlestick of the Temple. The wood of the olive is
yellowish, hard, and fine-grained, and well fitted for
cabinet work. It was used by Solomon for the cheru-
bim, and for the doors and the posts iu his Tempi;
(1 Kings -^-i.).
The olive is often employed figuratively iu the Bible,
to indicate prosperity aud the possession of the favour
of God. The land of promise was '"a ^aud of oil olive
and honey" (Deut. viii. 8). David, iu reference to
the blessings God had conferred on him, says, " I
am like a green olive-tree in the house of God" (Ps.
lii. 8). And when God blesses his returning people, it
is i)romised that "his branches shall spread, and hib
beauty shall be as the olive-tree " (Hos. xiv. G).
The Apostle Paul employs a figure drawn from the
operation of the husbandman on the olive-tree to illus-
trate the relation of Jew aud Gentile to Gosi^el blessing.
It is the practice to propagate good varieties of olive,
as we do roses and apples, l)y engrafting them on
ordinary stems. So St. Paul says to the Gentile, " If
some of the branches be broken off, aud thou, being- a
wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and with
them pai'takest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree,
boast not agjiiust the branches " (Rom. xi. 17).
The Salvadora persica, Linn., supposed by some to
be the " mustard-tree " of the New Testament, aud
found iu the lower valley of the Jordan, has beeii
already figured and described (see Yol. I., p. 120).
Several species of sea-lavenders (Statice) are found iu
Palestiue ; a large variety grows on the shores of the
Dead Sea, and some small spiny species oeciu' on the
highest ridges of Lebanon.
Among tlie Indian merchandise offered in Tyre by
the men of Dedau were " ivory and ebony " (Ezek.
xxvii. 15), both obtained from Ceylon. Ebony is thc-
heart-wood of Diosjvjros Ebenum, Linn.
Tlie storax-tree {Stijrax offi,cinale, Linu.) is an abun-
dant plant throughout the lully regions of Palestine.
It never attains to the size and appearance of a tree,
even in the most sheltered positions. The bark is
smooth and pale, the leaves are small with a doAvny
covering ou the uuder-surface, and the white flowers
are like orange blossoms, both iu appearance and odour.
It has been suggested that the libiich, translated
"poplar" in our version, is this pale-leaved shrub,
but the reference in Hosea implies that the lihnelt
was a tree of some height, for sacrifices were offered
under its good shadow (iv. 13). There is no reason for
rejecting the rendering of our version. A balsamic
resinous substance, with an agreeable odour, sometimes
exudes iu drops from the bark of the storax, and may
be obtained in larger quantity by subjecting the bark to
pressure. This is believed to be that substance which
was employed iu the preparation of the holy incense,
called naiaf {^\), i.e., a " drop " (Exod. xxx. 34). The
LXX. rendered nataf by a corresponding Greek word,
o-Tc/cTTj, anl this has beeu adopted in our version withcut
translation.
The periwinkle {Viiica v.iinor, Linn.), familiar to us
iu our hedges and copses, is found also in Palestine ;
but the most important member of the family Apocij-
nacece is the oleander {Nerium oleander, Linn.), which
grows abundantly ou the banks of streams aud lakes
312
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
all over the couutry. Its profusion of pink blossoms,
in their setting of dark-green leaves, gives to the
locality Avhoi-e it abounds a luxuriance and a beauty
that arrests the attention of every traveller. No certain
allusion is made in the Bible to a plant bulking thus
.aigely in the landscajje of Palestine, unless we accept
tlio oasclcss conjecture that the tree which Moses at the
command of God cast into the bitter waters of Marah
was this river-side shrub.
Several species of the allied order of Asclepiads are
found in Palestine, belonging to the MediteiTanean
genei-a Cijnnnclmm and Peri-ploca ; the only one de-
serving sjiecial notice is Calotropls procera, Linn., a
tropical plant reaching the confines of the country in
the valley of the Dead Sea, This is supposed by some
to bo the " apple of Sodom," referred to by Josephus
and others. The fruit, about the size of an apple, con-
sists of a loose bladdery skin, surroundmg a pod filled
with small flat seeds, which are furnished with tufts of
silky hair. Tempted by the promising fruit, the igno-
rant traveller would fill his mouth with an expanding
mass of dry silky filaments, instead of the juice of a
fruit, and such experience might originate the fable
of the
" Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye.
But turn to ashes on the lips."
Many species of Convolvulus, including our common
smaller bindweed [C arvensis, Linn.), are to be found
in Palestine, and a still greater variety of nightshades
[Solanaccce). The most remarkable of these is Solaniim
sanctum Linn., which claims, with the Calotropis, the
honour of being the " apple of Sodom." This is found
chiefly in the Jordan valley, where it grows as a useless
weed on waste j)laces, or is utilised for hedges. It is a
shrubby plant, some five feet high, and with both stem
and woolly leaves covered with scattered spines. The
flower is like that of the common potato, and so also is
the fruit, except that it is somewhat larger, and when
iipe the pulp is said to dry up and become powdery.
The box-thorn [Lycium europ(eum, Linn.) is more
widely distributed, being met with almost everywhere
over the hilly country. It is clothed with numerous
stifp, sharp spines, and is well adapted for hedges, for
which it is used in Palestine, as in Itiily and other
countries. This is probably one of the plants included
in the "brambles," "briers," and "thorns" of our
EnglLsh Bible. The mandrake {Mandragora officinalis,
Linn.) belong.? also to this family. It is a stemless
herb, v.'itli a long fleshy tap-root. The leaves are
large, and are .spread out on the surface of the ground ;
from amongst them spring the pui-ple flowers, each on
a. short stalk. The fruit is yellow, round, and nearly
the size of a plum ; like the berries of the potato and
tomato, they contain, when ripe, a large number of small
seeds buried in a soft pulp. They are sweetish, but
rather insipid, and though they do not commend them-
selves to strangers, they are much sought after by
Orientals. The mandrake has long been famous for its
supposed virtues in love incantations, and it is men-
tioned in connection with these imaginary virtues in Gen.
XXX. 14 — 16. The tap-root frequently breaks up into
two or more branches, in such a manner that a little
imagination readily recognises in it some approach to
the human figure :
" The rooted mandrake wears
His human feet, his human hands."
Wlien the doctrine of signatures was accepted, this
appearance suggested the presence in the plant of the
most marvellous virtues. Its possession was coveted,
but no ordinary dangers had to bo encountered in
securing it. The unwary collector might bo killed by
merely touching it, and, when he proceeded to remove
it from the ground, it would utter a frightful shriek,
that would certainly drive him mad, if it did not kill
him outright. To prevent this catastrophe, the follow-
ing plan was pursued, as Josejihus tells us : — " They
dig a trench quite round about it, till the hidden part
of the root be very small ; they then tie a dog to it, and
when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him,
this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies im-
mediately, as if it were in stead of the man that would
take the plant away ; nor after this need any one be
afraid of taking it into their hands." The mandrake is
common in Palestine. It ripens its fruit in April and
May, during wheat harvest, as in the days of Reuben.
The mandrake is mentioned as having a pleasant odour
(Cant, vii, 13).
Numerous plants of the Borage and Labiate families
contribute to the floral beauties of Palestine. In spring
the marjoram, mint, rosemary, lavender, savory, and
thyme make the hills fragrant as well as beautiful.
The mint is mentioned in the New Testament, and
there only in the charge that the Saviom* brings against
the Pharisees of tithing mint and anise, while they
neglected judgment, mercy, and faith (Matt, xxiii. 23).
Our common horse-mint {Mentha sijlvcstris, Linn.) is
probably the kind referred to, as it is extensively culti-
vated in the East. It is much used in cookery, and was
one of the " bitter herbs " mth which the paschal lamb
was eaten. Not only the hills and plains of the table-
land, but the bari'en and rocky districts of the south
and the desert region possess those labiate plants, and
from one, or perhaps several, of these the Jews made up
the bundles of " hyssop " used in their ceremonial
spi-iuklings (see Vol. I., p. 227).
Several species of speedwell, toad-flax, and snap-
dragon are found in the corn-fields of Palestine ; and
the prickly Acanthus spinosus, Linn., is an abundant
weed in all the plains. This plant may bo included
among the " brambles " of the Bible.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
313
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE KEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., KECTOR OF PRESTON, SALOP.
HOMOPTEKA.
I OME species of liomoptei-ous insect is de-
noted by tlio Hebrew word tulah', or
tolaath, rendered in our version by " scar-
let " or " crimson ;" it also denotes some
vermiform creatures, as worms or larvse. In most of the
passages the dye obtained from the insect, rather than
the insect itself, is spoken of. The terms by which
scarlet or crimson are expressed in Hebrew vary ; the
full expression for the cochineal insect is tolaath sham,
i.e., "worm of crimson." Shdnt is probably derived
from shdndh, " to shine," alluding to the bright colour
of the dye. The expression sheni tolaath, i.e., " crimson
of worm," also occurs (see Exod. xxv. 4 and Lev. xiv.
4). The LXX. and Yulgate read generally kSkkivov
and coccinum, and there is no doubt that the cochineal
insect is meant. The Coccus ilicis is very common in
Palestine, and is still occasionally used as a dye,
though it has been suj)planted by the Coccus cacti of
Mexico, which has been introduced into Palestine and
other countries. In the Coccida: family the male alone
has wings, the female being apterous. The dye is pro-
duced from the female, which, is much larger than the
male insect. When alive, the size of the female is
about equal to a cherry-kernel, but when dry it shrivels
up to the size of a grain of wheat. Its colour is dark
red. These insects attach themselves to the twigs and
leaves of the Syrian Holm Oak (Quercus coccifera), on
the juices of which they feed. The colour is far better
described l)y crimson rather than by scarlet, the usual
rendering of the A. V. The Ai'abic name is Tcerviez,
the origin of our English " crimson." It was one of
the dyes used in the di'apery of the Taljcrnacle (Exod.
xxvi.), and in the holy garments of the high priest
(Exod. xxrai. 5, 6, 8, 15, 33, &c.). Crimson robes were
worn by the rich and luxurious (see 2 Sam. i. 24 ; Prov.
xxxi. 21 ; Jer. iv. 30; Rev. xvii. 4, &c.). Isaiah (i. 18)
in a well-known passage compares heinous sins to
crimson ; and Nahum speaks of the soldiers in the
army advancing towards Nineveh as wearing crimson
dresses (ii. 3). It was with a crimson robe (xA.o/xvs
KOKKivri) that the Roman soldiers clothed the Saviour, in
mocke-ry of His claims to royalty (Matt, xxvii. 28).
HYMENOPTERA.
Of the hymenopteroiis order mention is made in
the Bible of ants, bees, and hornets. The ant is noticed
in Prov. vi. 6 — 8 : " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; con-
sider her ways and bo wise : which having no guide,
overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the siunmer,
and gathereth her food in the liarvest ; " and again in
XXX. 25 : " The ants are a people not strong, yet they
prepare their meat in the summer." Much has been
written on the question — supposed to be answered in
the affirmative in the passages just quoted — whether
the old belief of Jewish Rabbis, Arabian writers on
natural history, and many of the ancient Greek and
Roman writers, that ants gather in food during the
summer for consumption in tlie winter, is supported by
fact. Ants, as a rule, are dormant in winter, and do
not consequently require food for winter consumption.
Greek and Latin writers say that the ant stores up
grains of corn ; this is quite true, but the corn is not
eaten by the insects, which are chiefly carnivorous in their
habits, though they are also fond of saccharine matters.
Ants take a pleasure in running away with various
small objects, as beans, seeds, &c., which they convey
to their nests, and use as a lining to keep out the damp.
The late Colonel Sykes tells us of a species of Indian
ant, the Atta proviclens, so called from his having found
a large store of grass-seeds in its nest; he says that
this insect carries seeds underground, and brings them
again to the surface, after they have got wet during the
monsoons, apparently to dry, thus corroborating what
the ancients have written on this particular jjoint. The
observations of modern naturalists are almost conclusive
that ants do not store up food in the summer and
autumn for winter consumption, at any rate in tem-
perate climates ; but it cannot be denied that there
may exist species of exotic ants which in warm climates
may store up food. Tristram noticed some ants among
the tamarisks of the Dead Sea, actively engaged in col-
lecting the aphides and saccharine exudations in the
month of January, so that in the warmer climates of
Palestine the ant may not be dormant all through the
winter. But it cannot fairly be said that the writer or
writers of the passages in the Proverbs assert absolutely
the storing-up properties of ants. Kirby and Speuce
have said with much force with regard to the words in
the passages in question, " If they are properly con-
sidered it will be found that the interpretation which
seems to favour the ancient error respecting ants, has
been fathered upon them, rather than fairly deduced
from them. He does not aflirm that the ant which he
proposes to the sluggard as an example, laid up in her
magazine stores of grain against winter, but that with
considerable prudence and foresight she makes use of
proper seasons to collect a supply of provisions suffi-
cient for her purposes. There is not a word in them
Implying that she stores up grain or other provisions.
She prepares her bread and gathers her food, namely,
such food as is suited to her, in summer and harvest,
that is, when it is most j)lentiful, and this shows her
wisdom and prudence by using the advantages offered
to her" {Introcl. to Entom. ii. 47). Solomon, in the
sixth chapter, is speaking against idleness — against the
" sluggard," who " sleepeth in harvest, and causetli
shame " (x. 5), that is, who neglects proper and season-
able times, and sleeps when he ought to be working.
" Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eye-
lids "(vi. 4). " The sluggard will not plow; . . . there-
fore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing " (xx. 4).
514
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Solomon then aptly refers, for a lesson iu diligence, to
one of the least of insects, the little ant, which always
avails licrseK of favourable opportunities — whicli does
not sleep in harvest, but gathers food at the right time.
In the other passage (xxx. 25) the ant is especially
mentioned as one of the four things which tliough
little upon the earth, " arc exceedingly wise," and it
would bo difficult to name any other little creature more
deservedly celebrated for its wisdom, architectural skill,
diligence, and perseverance, than the ant. We may
notice that the texts in the original Hebi'cw cannot be
said to favour the notion that storiug-up properties for
winter are implied.
Amongst the Arabs the ant was regarded as a symbol
of wisdom, aud it was once a custom to place one of these
insects in tlic hand of a newly-bona child, with the
jn-ayer, " May the boy turn out ingenioiis aud skilful."
The Hebrew word is nemdldh, which with some pro-
bability has been referred to the root ncimal, " to cut "
— compare the word insect — the ant having the junction
of the thorax aud abdomen very fine.
Ants arc common in Palestine, but not more than a
dozen ditfcrcnt species were collected by Dr. Tristram's
party, "a very small proportion of the number that
must exist there." They vary iu habits, colour, aud
size, oue species being about an inch iu length.
SCEIPTUEE BIOGEAPHIES.
JOSIAH.
BY THE REV. EDMUND VENABLES, M.A., CANON KESIDENTIAEY AND TK^CENTOR OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
'HE later history of the kingdom of Judah
is that of a series of violent reactions,
now towards the true faith, now towards
idolatry, the tendency, however, being on
the whole constantly downwards. These reactions took
their character from that of the reigning monarch.
When Hezekiah and Josiah were on the throne, every
token of idolatrous worship was put down with a strong
hand, and apparently with the zealous good-will of the
nation. But the reformation was in eacli case merely
superficial. The idolatrous iiarty were repressed tem-
porarily, and were compelled to acquiesce, at least out-
wardly, in measures which they detested, and which
they secretly thwarted whenever they dared. But they
remained unaltered at heart, ready, as soon as the
change of the monarch introduced a change of religious
policy, to return to the open practice of their old abomi-
nations. Meanwhile, the people were surely dete-
riorating; sinking lower aud lower in the social and
moral degradation insejiarable from the cruel and
licentious forms of worship to which they were so
fatally addicted. Idolatry had eaten into the heart
and life of the nation. The reactionary policy of such
monarchs as Hezekiah and Josiah might check the
outward development of the evil for a time, but the
poison was surely working beneath the hypocritical garb
of conformity, declaring itself with increased virulence
a=; soon as the pressure was removed.
The latest of these reactions against idolatry was
that under Josiah, the last of the good kings of Judah
— the pattern in the Old Testament, as Timothy is in
the New, of youthful piety, and of devout reverence
for the Holy Scriptures. The memory of this prince,
illumining the dark days of the hopeless decline of
the nation with a transient gleam of brightness, was
cherished with tender regret by the Jews. The name
of Josiah was as deservedly dear as that of his
wicked grandfather Manasseh was hateful. He was
regarded as one of the three irreproachable sovereigns
of Judah,^ aud his " remembrance like the compositioii
of the perfume that is made by the art of the apothecaiy,
sweet as honey iu all mouths, aud as music at a banquet
of Avine " (Ecclus. xlix. 1). In the words of the sacred
historian, "Le did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David
his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to
the left " (2 Kimgs xxii. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 2). His
untimely death, when leading the armies of Judah, was
mourned with the deepest and most universal sorrow,
which was perpetuated as a day of national humiliation,
even after the return from the captivity (2 Chron. xxxv.
25 ; 1 Esdras i. 32 ; Zech. xii. 11).
Josiah, the fifteenth king of the separate kingdom of
Judah, was the sou of Amon, and grandson of Manasseh.
His mother was Jedidah, a native of Boscath, a town
near Lachish (Josh. xv. 39 ; 2 Kings xxii. 1). Ho was
only eight years old wheu his father Amon became the
victim of a domestic conspiracy. Little as Amon had
deserved liis people's good-will, his assassination was a
decidedly unpopular act, which was at once avenged by
the execution of the conspirators, while his young son
was called to the throne by the unanimous voice of the
nation, B.C. 6-il.- We are destitute of all detailed
information as to the earlier yeai's of Josiah, but it
would seem that even within the precincts of the palace
there was a godly remnant, by whom the promise of
good he may have exhibited iu his childhood was care-
fully fostered. The result was a liappy oue. There
is no monarch of Judah, after Da^-id, who was more
1 " All, except David, and Ezekias, and Josias, were defective ; for
they forsook the law of the Most High, even tlie kiugs of Judah
failed" (Ecclus. xlis. 4). There was a similar triad of wicked
kings — Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh— who, according to Jewish
tradition, would hare uo part in the future life.
- "Die people of the land" we are informed, "slew all them that had
conspired against king Amon ; and the people of the land made
Josiah king in his stead" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 2.51. At the nuirdor
of Amaziah a similar poi^ular movement and election of a king
had taken place, the young son being, as here^ chosen as successor
(2 Kings xiv. 19—21).
JOSIAH.
315
eminent for personal piety, and for his religions zeal.
It was long before the personal character of the king
could exercise any direct influence over the nation, and
the prophecies of Zephaniah give a terrible picture of
the moral and religious degradation of Jerusalem during
the early years of his reigu, while the rites of Baal
and Molech continued unchecked by public authoiity.
But it was a period of quiet preparation, during which,
through the influence of this prophet and the important
party who had viewed the idolatries and cruelties of the
late kings with indignation, the country was ripening
for a religious revolution^ (Zeph. i. 1). What in modern
phraseology would be styled Josiah's conversion took
place in his sixteenth year, " while he was yet young "
(2 Chron. xxxiv. 3). He then " began to seek after
the God of David his father." Surrounded as the
young king was with an almost established system
of idolatry, it needed no small courage to declare him-
self openly on the Lord's side, resolved to bring
back his people to the faith from which they had so
grievously apostatised. This resolution had doubtless
been gaining strength, imtil his arrival at man's estate
gave him independence of action. In his twentieth
year the young and pious king commenced a personal
progress for the purpose of rooting out the memorials
of idolatry, which extended beyond the limits of his
own kingdom to the land of Israel, the former seat of
the ten tribes. This personal A-isitation was spread over
six years. The external reform was thorough and
violent ; forced, for the most part, on a reluctant people,
rather than called for bj' them. The brief record in
the Chronicles" of the demolition of the monuments
of superstition and the destruction of every symbol of
idolatry, reads like a page out of the Reformation of tlio
sixteenth century. Wherever he went he destroyed the
images of every sort and kind with fire and hammer,
scattering the ashes and pulverised fragments on the
graves of their worshippers. The idolatrous altars
were broken down in his presence, and the shrines
demolished. The high places, desecrated in the refor-
mation of Hezekiah, but reinstated during the long
supremacy of idolatry under his son Manasseh, were
once more defiled through the length and breadth of his
land, " from Geba " in the extreme north, to " Beer-sheba "
at the extreme south of Judah (2 Kings xxiii. 8). As a
climax of horror he even violated the sanctity of the
grave, breaking up the sepulchres of the idolatrous
priests, and burning their bones on the altars they had
served (2 Chron. xxxiv. 5). The authority of Josiah as
a reformer was recognised to the utmost boundaries
of Israel. The forcible demolition of the homes and
objects of idolatry "with their mattocks round about"
extended to " the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
Simeon, even unto Naphtali," to the extreme north
(2 Chron. xxxiv. 6). ISTowhere was the purification more
thorough-going tihan at " the king's chapel " of Bethel
(Amos vii. 13), the original seat of the false worship of
1 Newman, Hcbrein ilonarcliij, p. 285.
' 2 Cbrou. xxxiv. 3—7.
him " who made Israel to sin." The altar and the
high place were demolished, and all trace of the symbols
of idolatry done away, by crushing to powder whatever
could not be consumed by fire. Here, too, the gi-aves were
opened and the bones burnt on the chief altar, in fulfil-
ment of the malediction uttered by the " man of God
from Judah " three hundred years before (1 Kings xiii.
2). His was the only sepulchre spared, together with
that of the old prophet who had so basely and fatally
deceived him (2 Kings xxiii. 17, 18). Utterly abhorrent
as this desecration of the tomb was to Jewish feelings,
the condition of the dead priests might well he envied
by the unhappy men whom the stern young reformer
found still ministering at the idolatrous shrines. They
were remorselessly slain on the altars which they had
served, as a sacrifice to the offended majesty of Jehovah
(2 Kings xxiii. 20). The work of reform had probably
begun in Jerusalem — though the chronology is here
somewhat confused^ — with the piirging of the Temple,
which had been shamefully profaned in the last two
idolatrous reigns. In this work we may well conceive,
though there is no direct testimony to the fact, Josiah
would be greatly strengthened and encouraged by the
youthful prophet Jeremiah, who was then just at the
outset of his career (Jer. i. 2). The house of the Lord
and its precincts were cleansed from every trace of the
licentious rites of which they had been the scene.
The vessels made to Baal, Astarte (Authorised Yersion,
"for the grove "), and the host of heaven, and the image
of Astarte herself (Authorised Yersion, " the grove ")
were ejected from the Temple and burnt. Ih) horses
dedicated to the gun ; the altars erected by Ahaz on the
flat Temple roof; the high places dedicated by Solomon
to the false gods of his foreign wives, were successively
destroyed. Tophet, the locality of the horrid rites
of Molech, where Manasseh had made liLs own son
to pass throiigh the fire (2 Kings xxi. 6), was defiled
with the bones and ashes of the dead. The idolii-
trous priests througtout tlie land were deposed from
their ofiiee; those of the Levitical order Ijeing placed
under strict surveillance at Jerusalem. As a mark
of disgrace, they were forbidden to officiate at the
Temple altar (2 Kings xxiii. 8, 9) So disgraceful had
been the desecration of the Temple, that it needed not
purification only, but repair. To meet -the necessary
expenses a collection was set on foot, similar to that
established in the reign of Joash [2 Kings xii. 9, 10).
When it appeared that a sufficient sum had been raised,
Josiah sent it to Hilkiah, the high j)riest, by his
finance-minister, Shaphan — grandfather of the excel-
lent Gedaliah, the governor of Judaea after the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, so treacherously
murdered by Ishmael the son of Nethaniah (Jer. xl.,
3 Josiah's reform is placed by the author of Kings after the dis-
covery of the Book of the Law and the national covenant (2 Kings
xxiii. 4 sq.). But the Chronicler is probably more correct in
putting it earlier in Josiah's reigu, and spreading it over a scries
of years. According' to biin, the purification of the land began iu
the twelfth year of Josiah's reign. At its conclusion he " returned
to Jerusalem," where six years later, in his eighteenth year, the
" Book of the Law" was found by Hilkiah (2 Cbrou. xxxiv. 3—7,
8-U).
316
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
xii.) — with iustruetions to pay the sum over to the
chief arcliitect for the commencement of the restora-
tion (2 Kings xxii. 3 — 7). Hilkiah tlien mentioned to
Shapliaii the recent discovery in the Temple of a roll
which, on perusal, ho at once recognised as " the Book
of the Law," which, ha^^ng been placed, iu obedience
to Deut. xxxi. 26, by the side of the ark iu the Holy of
Holies, had been lost or mislaid during the profanation
of the Tcmplo by Manasseh.' Shaphan conveyed the
newly-found treasure to the king, and read it before
him. So completely had the sacred volume been
neglected during the last mcked reigns, that its dis-
covery " amounted almost to a new revelation." ^
Horror-struck at the terrible denunciations it contained,
Josiah rent his clothes, and in extreme consternation,
immediately sent a deputation headed by Hilkiah to a
prophetess named Huldah, entreating her to counsel
him how to escape the Di'i'ine wi'ath the idolatries of
tlie nation had incurred. Her reply was far from
re-assuring. She declared that repentance would be
too late to avert the threatened doom. God's wrath
was kindled against Jerusalem, and would not be
quenched. For the king liimseK she had a more com-
fortiug message. His tender-hearted piety and un-
feigned repentance should not be unrewarded. L-re-
versible as the sentence against his people was, he
should not behold its execution. Before the Divine
judgments fell on the land he should be gathered to his
grave in j)eace (2 Kings xxii. 15 — 20).
Josiah felt it to be of the utmost importance that the
nation should be made acquainted with the contents of
the Book of the Law. If God's judgment on the city
and nation could not be averted — though who covild
tell whether the repentance of Jerusalem might not be
as effectual to turn away the fierceness of His anger,
as that of Nineveh had been (Jonah iii, 9, 10) — still
individuals might, like himseM, be permitted to escape
the full severity of it. So he summoned the elders
of the j)eople, with the priests and prophets as the
representatives of the nation, to a pubhc reading of
the book. An immense concourse assembled in the
Temple, and the king, elevated above the crowd on the
platform, or "pillar," which was the monarch's special
place iu the Temple courts (2 Kings xi. 14; 2 Chron.
xxiii. 13), recited the sacred document from end to end.
The heart of the people bowed before the majesty of
the Divine law, and they without hesitation renewed
the covenant with the God of their fathers, the monarch
leading the way. " All the people stood to the cove-
nant," and "did according to the covenant of God, the
God of their fathers " (2 Kings xxiii. 1—3 ; 2 Chron.
xxxiv. 32).
1 It is considered a settled point by the Rationalistic school of
critics that this roll, whether containing the whole Pentateuch, or
merely the book of Deuteronomy, was a forgery of Hilkiah's. We
cannot enter into the question here, but a consiiU ration of the
arguments will convince the unbiased mind of the soundness of
Professor Rawlinson's conclusion, that " fraud or mistake might
as easily have imposed a new Bible on the Christian world in the
sixteenth century, as a new ' Law ' on the Jews in the days of
Josiah " (Speaker's Commentary, 2 Kings xxii. 8).
2 Stanley, Jewish Church, ii. 499.
This solemn pledge of national fealty was further
consecrated by a celebration of the long-intermitted
feast of the Passover on a scale of most unusual
grandeur and magniticence, on the day appointed by
the Law. To increase the solemnity of the rite, " the
holy ai'k " of the covenant, which had been either con-
tumeliously cast out by the idolatrous kings, or, which
is perhaps more probable, i*emoved by Josiah during
the progress of the repairs, was replaced in the Holy
of Holies (2 Chron. xxxv. 3). Such a Passover, attended
by such multitudes, and observed with such accuracy
of ritual, we are told by the Chronicles, had not been
held since the days of Samuel, the last judge — i.e.,
during the whole existence of the monarchy. The
details are fully given in the Chronicles (2 Chron. xxxv.
1 — 18). It was held in the eighteenth year of Josiah's
reign. He was then twenty-sis.
Josiah's exertions for national reform did not relax
after this Passover. He had put down open idolatry ;
he now proceeded to exterminate secret superstitious
practices, equally forbidden by the law of Moses ; such
as witchcraft, and working mth famiUar spirits (Lev.
XX. 27 ; Deut. xviii. 9 — 12). His religious zeal is
recorded in terms of the highest commendation by the
author of the Book of Kings. " Like unto him was there
no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all
his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the law of Moses ; neither after him
arose there any like him" (2 Kings xxiii. 25). Wo
learn also from an incidental notice iu Jeremiah's
writings (Jer. xxii. 15, 16) that Josiah was careful to
order his own life and government by the same law.
" By the careful administration of justice he alle-
viated the distress of the more helpless of his sub-
jects, and won the esteem of all by his gentle yet
active sway."^
But it was too late for the virtues of the most pious
and beneficent monai'ch to save a people who, in spite
of their formal repentance, had in heart departed com-
pletely from God. The earlier chapters of Jeremiah
reveal the hoUowness and insincerity of their professed
penitence, and prepare us for the fijial catasti-ophe.
The formidable inroad of the Scythians (lea^•ing its
memorial in the name Scythopolis, borne in later times
by the old Canaanitish city of Bethshan), recorded by
Herodotus (Bk. i. 104 — 106), is entirely omitted by the
sacred historians, who allow the last thirteen years of
Josiah's reign to glide by without record. They hasten
on to the fatal end. The little kingdom of Judah was
in constant danger of being crushed between the two
mighty rival world-powers of Egyjjt and Assyria. Too
weak to stand alone, it could only exist by attaching
itself to one or other of its powerf id neighbours. Josiah
had allied himself to Assyria, then enfeebled by the
Syrian inroad, and distracted by internal dissensions ;
and when his suzerain was assailed by the powerful
king of Egypt, Pharaoh-necho, he felt himself bound
by honour and fealty to interpose his resistance.
3 Ewald, nistory of Israel, Eug. Tr. iv. 239,
THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE APOCRYPHA.
317
Necho's object was to reacli Carchemisli ou the river
Euphrates. To do this it was essential that he should
pass through the territory of Judah. lu spite of the
assurance of the Egyptian king that he had no hostile
designs against Judah, and his warnings to Josiah not
to mix himself up in a quarrel with which he had
nothing to do, and so to compel him to attack one
whom he would prefer leaving untouched, Josiah, with
rash chivalrousness, determined to oppose the passage
of Necho's army. The two forces encountered ou the
great battle-field of Esdraelon, not far from Megiddo.
Josiah, like Ahab, entered the battle in his chariot in
disguise. But, like Ahab, a chance arrow inflicted on
bim a mortal wound. His servants transferred him
from his war-chariot to a lighter vehicle that was in
reserve, and conveyed him to Jerusalem, which, how-
ever, he did not reach alive. He was buried, not in
the old royal sepulchres, wliich were full at the time of
Hezekiah's death, but " among the sepulchi-es of his
fathers ; " i.e., a catacomb, newly excavated by his grand-
father Manasseh in the garden attached to his palace
(2 Kings xxi. IS, 26), where he and his son Amon had
been interred. This lamentable event occurred B.C.
609, in the thirty-ninth year of Josiah's age. The
death of Josiah was without a precedent in Hebrew
annals, and the depth of the national mourniag was
equally uujjrecedented. His fall overwhelmed his
kingdom with consternation. He was the first king of
David's line who had fallen in battle; and his death
left the country at the mercy of a powerful foreign
invader, with only a young and inexperienced king
to oppose him. An elegy over the departed king
was written by the ijrophet-poet Jeremiah, which was
annually sung by the male and female minstrels of the
land, even after the return from captivitv. If we may
press the language of Zechariah, tliis mourning was
as domestic as it was public, as individual as it was
universaT. Every family shut itself up and mourned in
seclusion, even the men and women being separated
from one another. Every family wept apart, and their
wives apart (Zech. xii. 11 — li). The memory of this
national mourning long sur^^ved as a tyi)e of the
deepest conceivable sorrow. Nor was this mourning
greater than the calamity deserved. For himself an
early death before the arrival of the cxih imjiending
over his nation was indeed a blessing. Though he fell
in war, the prediction of Hiddah, that he sh.iild be
" gathered into his grave in peace," was fulfilled in its
spirit, by his removal " from the evil to come," and
under circumstances which allowed his burial with regal
honours in the tomb of his ancestors.^ But for his
kingdom the untimely death of "the last royal hero of
Israel " was an irreparable calamity. Had he lived, his
piety could not long have delayed the doom of the guilty
nation ; but it was fearfully accelerated by the weakness
and wickedness of his unhappy sons.
I Compare the interpretation of this same phrase, " Thou shalt
die in peace," in connection with Zedekiah (Jer. xxxiv. 5).
THE CANOK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE APOCEYPHA.
BT THE EDITOE.
^HE Greek word canon [Kavwv), connected
with Kcivva, and so with "cane," " canal,"
" channel." meant primarily a straight rod,
and so a measuring rule, employed by car-
j)enters and other craftsmen in their work. From this
it was an easy transition to use it for that which was a
rule of ethics or of criticism. So the later Alexandrian
critics used to speak of a greater writer as being the
" canon " of excellence in his own department. So the
Fathers of the Church spoke of the Creed as being the
" canon " or rule of faith ; so decrees of councils were
called canons or rules of the Church ; so saints are said
to be " canonised " when their names are placed in the
list which is the rule and measure of the Church's
observance of saints' days ; so, lastly, in modern eccle-
siastical phraseology, the canon (abbreviated from the
Latin canonicus) is a priest who is bound by the rule of
the foundation or society of which he is a member.
As applied to a catalogue of the books of Scripture,
the earliest direct use of the term " canon " is found
in a Greek writer, Amphilochius, about A.D. 380, who
gives a catalogue of the sacred books, under that name.
Through the influence of Jerome and Augustine, who
use it frequently in this sense, speaking of this or that
book as "in the canon," or "not in the canon," it ob-
tained general cuiTency in the Latin Church. The
meaning of this use seems to be, not that the writings
were the rule or measure of men's faith, but that the
list was the rule by which they were to test the claims
of books claiming to be j)art of Holy Scripture. It
is obvious, in the nature of things, that a canon of
Scripture in this sense implies the existence of at least
several books recognised as sacred, and belongs, there-
fore, to a comparatively late stage in the growth of the
collection. So Jewish tradition ascribed to Ezra, and
to the Great Synagogue, or assembly of scholars, of
which he was the reputed founder, the formation of the
received Hebrew canon. The books of the Old Testa-
ment, however, present traces of the gradual growth in
earlier times of a collection of writings, sj)ecially pre-
served, and looked on as of high authority. Thus,
Moses is told (Exod. xvii. 14) to write the condemna-
tion of Amalek "for a memorial in a book," and to
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. There is a " Book
of the Covenant," including a^jpareutly the Ten Com-
mandments and the laws in chap. xx. — xxiv., as early
as Exod. xxiv. 7. The rules in Exodus and Leviticus,
the genealogies, the muster-roll, the list of journeys,
in the Book of Numbers, imply written records, 'pre-
served as authoritative, even if we believe the present
318
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
aiTangemcut of tlio books to be of later date. Assum-
ing the Mosaic autliorship of the Book of Deuterouomy,
"statutes and judgmeuts" ai-o implied at every turn,
as authoritative aud accessible, to be written upon door-
posts and gates, to bo taught to children (Deut. vi. 7 —
9). The Book of the Law, presumably the last revised
copy of it, was to be put in the side of the ark of the
covenant for safe keeping (Deut. xixi. 26). lu Josh,
xxiv. 26 we find a solemn document registering the
renewed covenant of the people as being added to the
books already recognised as sacred. The development
of poetic and prophetic literature, the desire to continue
the history of the nation from the time of Moses,
led from the time of Samuel and Da^dd onwards to
the " making of many books," of which the writer of
Ecclesiastes speaks (xii. 12), and wo have traces at every
step of an abundant literary activity stretching far
beyond the books which we now receive as canonical.
There was the writing in which Samuel entered " the
manner of the kingdom," and laid it up liefore the
Lord (1 Sam. x. 25\ There were the numerous Psalms
of the Tabernacle and the Temple, and the schools of
the Prophets, of which we j)robably have but a small
proportion. There were the " three thousand proverbs "
and the " thousand and five songs" of Solomon (1 Kings
iv. 32). There were the Books of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Judah aud Israel, in which the king's scribe
registered his achievements. These were composed at
various periods and of various characters ; the Book of
the Wars of the Lord (Numb. xxi. 14) ; the Book of
Jasher (Josh. x. 13 ; 2 Sam. i. 18), of Nathan the Pro-
phet (1 Chron. xxix. 29), of Gad the Seer [ibid.), of the
Acts of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 41) ; the Prophecy of
Ahijah the Shilouite aud Iddo the Seer (2 Chron. ix.
29) ; the Prophecy of Jonah, distinct from the book
that bears his name (2 Kings xiv. 25) ; the Book of
Shemaiah the Prophet (2 Chron. xii. 15), of Iddo the
Seer concerning genealogies (ibid.), of Jehu the sou of
Hanani (2 Chi-on. xx. 34) ; the Acts of Uzziah, by Isaiah
the son of Amoz (2 Chron. xx\-i. 22); the Lamentations
of Jeremiah for Josiah (2 Chron. xxxv. 25). All these,
though we know nothing more than their names, show
that the Hebrew literature of the monarchy was at once
extensive and varied. As yet, however, it was a litera-
ture and not a Bible. The book of the Law retained
throughout this period au exclusive aud solitary pre-
eminence. That alone was read to the j)cople in the
reformation of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xvii. 9), that
alone was fouud in the Temple in the reign of Josiah
(2 Chron. xxsiv. 14). Prophetic writings and histories
were held in honour according to their importance, but
there was no canon.
The great wrench given to the national life in the
Babylonian captivity brought with it, we may well
believe, the destruction and mutilation of the greater part
of this literature. It was (according to the tradition
already mentioned, sufficiently probable in itself, and in
accordance with wliat is recorded of his character and
work in the book that bears his name, to have almost
the character of history) the work of Ezra the Scribe
to gather up the fragments that remained, that nothing
might be lost. According to the wilder, more legendary
form of the tradition, the Law was burnt aud all the
books had perished, and there was given to Ezra the
priest a supernatural power to dictate what had thus
been lost, and to add to it a multitude of apocalyptic
visions ; and so every word and letter of the books thus
written was assumed to have come from this Divine in-
spiration given to a single man (2 Esdras xiv. 39 — 48).
A somewhat earlier tradition assigns a like work to
Nehemiah, of whom it is said that he "founding a
library, gathered together the acts of the kings and the
prophets, and of David, aud the epistles of the kings
concerning the holy gifts"' (2 Mace. ii. 13); and the
two are clearly so far in accord, that they assign the
formation of the present collection of the Old Testa-
ment books to the time of the revival of the religion of
Israel under the rule of the Persian kings.
It is, at all events, from this time that we trace the
more distinct growth of a canon of sacred books in
addition to the Book of the Law, which had all along
borne that chai'acter. The work that had been done
was one of compilation and selection. What we have
is, in fact, an anthology of the wider religious litera-
ture of Israel. But when that anthology had been
made, it came by degrees to hold a definite and revered
position in the minds of teachers and learners. In
proportion as the prophetic power ceased to manifest
itself, the prophetic writings of an earlier time became
more precious aud distinctive. So in Zech. vii. 12 the
Law and the words of the "' former prophets " seem
placed on the same level of authority. The Prologue
to the Book of Ecclesiasticus, not later than B.C. 131,
speaks of the writer's grandfather as having given
himself to the reading of " the Law and the Prophets
and the other books of our fathers," and thus shows
that the three-fold division into Law, Prophets (in-
cluding the greater part of what avo know as his-
torical books), and Hagiograplia or holy writings, was
already recognised.
Strangely enough, however, no earlier direct state-
ment of the number of the books of the Old Testa-
ment is found than that given by Josephus after the
destruction of Jerusalem, and that is not free from
difficulty. He counts up the books which are justly
held to be divine, as including (1) five books of Moses,
(2) thirteen Prophets, and (3) four containing hymns
and rules of life. The total makes up twenty-two, the
number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and it was
with reference to this memoria technica of symbolic
completeness that the books were grouped so as to
bring them within that limit. It is not easy, however,
so to arrange the books of the received canon, even
taking the twelve minor prophets as a single book, as
to bring the number of each group into harmony with
Josephus's statement. Of the existence of the division
in our Lord's time, however, there can be no doubt.
Broadly and popularly the books were spoken of as
" the Law and the Pr()])hets " (Matt. xi. 13 ; Acts xiii.
15), more fully as '• the LaAv, the Prophets, and the
THE CAXON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE APOCRYPHA.
319
Psalms" (Luke xxiv. 44). Portions from each section
are quoted as " Scri^jture " by Josephus, by Pliilo, and
by the writers of the New Testament. Targums, or
paraphrases, were made of some books in each.
Singularly enough, the earliest actual list of named
books is given by a Christian, not by a Jewish authority.
Melito, Bishop of Sardis (a.d. 179), made a special
inquiry into the exact number of sacred books, and
enumerates all that we have, except Nehemiah and
Esther, of which it may be conjectured that they were
grouped together with Esdras or Ezra, as belonging to
tlie same period. Origen gives the Jewish number,
twenty-two, but adds the Epistle of Jeremiah to
Baruch, which we now find in the Apocrypha. Prac-
tically, however, the views of Christendom on the
subject of the Canon of the Old Testament have been
fashioned more by the authority of Jerome than of any
other writer. To him Ave owe the broad line of demar-
cation between the canonical and apocrj'phal books, and
we have to bring before our mind's eyo the position in
which he found himself.
We have seen that the books recognised as sacred by
the Jews of Palestine con-esponded closely with that of
our present Bible, and so far as we may judge from
the wi-itmgs of Philo, the great Alexandrian interpreter
of the first centuiy, the Jews of that city recognised
the same books, and no others. The literary activity
of Alexandi-ia led, however, to the composition of other
books in Greek, or to translations from Aramaic books,
and these were read as religious and edifymg books,
first by Jews and afterwards by Christians. The
desire to have a complete library of such books, a
library, so to speak, m a single volume, apparently led
the scribes who met the demands of the reading public,
as publishers do now, to bring together the earlier and
the later books, the more and the less authoritative;
and with a view to the convenience of the reader,
both were grouped according to their subjects, history
with history, didactic with didactic books, with no
distinction as to their authority. In this way what is
known as the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old
Testament (from the tradition that it was made by
seventy elders summoned from Jerusalem by Ptolemy
Philadelphus, B.C. 271) presented a different order, and
included other books than the Hebrew Bible as it was
read in Palestine.
The volume thus made up was, we must remember,
widely spread in the first century among the Hellenistic
or Greek-sj)eakiug Jews (the " Grecians " of the Acts) ;
and though not read in their synagogues, was exten-
sively studied in private. AUusive references to it are
found in some at least of the writings of the New
Testament.' It fell naturally into the hands of Greek-
1 The followiug passages are given as examples by Dr. Weatcott
from Stier : —
as compared with Eeclus. v. 11.
„ „ „ Wisd. iii. 3—7.
(1) James i. 19,
(2) 1 Pet. i. 6, 7,
(3) Heb. xi. 34, 35,
(4) Heb. i. 3,
(5) Rom. i. 20—32,
(6) Eom. ix. 21,
(7) Eph.vi.13— 17,
2 Mncc. vi. 18 ; yii. 42
Wisd. vii. 26.
Wisd. xiii., XV.
Wisd. XV. 7.
■\Visd. V. 18—20.
speaking converts to the Christian faith. If they
were Jews, or under Jewish influence, the traditions of
the Palestine schools would keep them steady in then'
judgment as to the relative authority of the two sets
of books thus brought together. But those who were
converts from heathenism would naturally take the
volume as a whole and make no distinction. Some
few, like Melito of Sardis, might be led by the spu-it
of inquiry to journey to Syria to learn what was the
judgment on this point of the mother Church of Chris-
tendom, and put the result on record ; but the tendency
was, for the most part, in the other direction ; and one
of the earliest extant MSS. of the Septuagint version —
the Alexandi'ian — one used in Christian worship, con-
taius a Psalm of David after his victory over Goliath,
and Psalms of Solomon which are not found even in
our Apocrypha. When the Septuagint was translated
into Lathi for the benefit of Christians in Rome and
Africa, there was still less — removed as they were one
step farther from the fountain-head — to check this
tendencj^, and a spurious Apocalypse, like the Second
Book of Esdi'as, which had not even a Greek original,
was received as part of the Scriptm'es of the Old
Testament.
The di-ift in this direction was happily stemmed by
the scholarship and spirit of inquiry of the great
Jerome. When he undertook the work of revising the
existing Latin versions, and, where necessary, translating
anew, he determined to qualify himself for his task by
learning Hebrew. With this view, when at his hermi-
tage in Bethlehem, he j)ut himself under the teaching
of a Jew, and was thus brought into contact with the
Palestine tradition as to the canon which the Rabbinic
schools had never modified. He recognised that they
were in this respect true to their vocation as those to
whom had been committed the oracles of God, and
adopted their canon. In his prologues and introduc-
tions to the several books of the Old Testament ho
traced, more distinctly than had been done before by any
writer of equal authority, the Jewish line of demarca-
tion, asserted, as in the passage quoted in the sixth of
the Thirty-nine Ai-ticles,that the Church reads the books
which were not in the Hebrew canon " for example of
life and instruction of manners," but does not apjjly
them to establish any doctrine. And though he did
not exclude them from his version, and followed, for
the most part, the order of the Septuagint, he fixed on
them, in a sense to be hereafter discussed, the name of
Apocrypha. His great contemporary, Augustine, less
under the influence of Hebrew tradition, was less
clear in his estimate, and oscillated in his language,
and could not bring himself to disparage what the
whole Church had up to that time received with scarcely
a question.
The result of this conflict of authority was that
Western Christendom was for about a thousand years
more or less di\-ided on this point. The term " Apo-
ci'y[)ha "' was seldom used as Jerome had used it, and
" Ecclesiastical " took its place, as indicating that the
books so called were read and acknowledged by the
320
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Church. The greater influenco of Augustine, aud, we
may add, the fact that the two sets of books were
not divided from each other, even in Jerome's version,
gave gradually a prej)ouderauco to the SciDtuagiut
rather thjm to the Hebrov canon, and it was nut till
men imdertook once again the work of translation,
and thus came in closer contact v>'ith Jerome's writings,
or with the Hebrew text, that the old distinction
was revived. Thus Wichf, though he kept the books
in their old order, spoke of the non-Hebrew books as
Apocrypha. Luther, in his fii-st edition of his complete
German Bible (A.D. looi), grouped the greater part of
the Apocrypha together, as " books Avhich were not of
like worth with Holy Scriptures, yet were good and
useful to be read." Coverdalo, witli a strange exception
in favour of the Book of Baruch, places the books apart
as " not held by ecclesiastical doctors in the same
repute as the other Scriptm-es. " Cranmer's Bible fol-
lowed this arrangement, but used cpiite inaccurately the
milder term •' Hagiographa " (holy writings) instead of
" Apocrypha," aud from that time forward this position
has been assigned to them, without any change, in all
authorised English or other Protestant versions. The
Sixth Article adopted the dictum of Jerome, while the
compilers of the Table of Lessons imder Edward VI.
showed their respect for the books by readiug many of
them in extenso, to the exclusion even of much that was
edifying in the canonical books. It was reserved for
the Council of Trent (Sess. IV.) to declare that they,
and, we may add, the traditions of the Church, were to
be received with " the same affection and reverence " as
the other Scriptures, and to pronounce a sentence of
anathema on all who did not receive them as '" sacred
and canonical." ^
Tlie history of the term Apocrj^jiha requires a brief
notice. We are so accustomed to associate the adjec-
tive " apocryphal " with the idea of what is " spurious "
that we forget its original significance. Primarily,
then, it meant simply " secret" or " hidden." It is the
word used in Luke viii. 17 ; Col. ii. 3, where it is thus
translated in our version. In tliis sense it seems to have
been used by Gnostics and other heretics who boasted
that they had "secret books"' and a "hidden wisdom."
St. Paul's assertion that "in Christ were all the hid
(aTr6Kpv(poi) treasures of wisdom and knowledge " (Col.
ii. 8), had probably an allusive reference to the claims
of such teachers. Associated in this way with writings
that were conspicuously spurious, it suffered, as words
will suffer, a loss of reputation. The fathers of the
Church argued, after their manner, that the name bore
witness against itseK. It implied that the books so
called had a " secret origin," that they ought to be
read in " secret " and not openly. So they warn their
hearers agajnst the many New Testament Apocrypha
that were then current, and bid them carefully avoid
them. The word had thus acquired its secondary sense
when Jerome had the boldness to apply it to books which
1 It should be stated in fairness that the Caiiiicil of Trent did
not recognise 1 aud 2 Esdras, or the Prayer o; JIauasses.
a large portion of Christendom had regarded as on the
same level as the canonical Scriptures. Augustine
and others pi-eferred, as has been said above, the milder
term of " Ecclesiastical." The ingenuity of a later age
invented the somewhat unmeaning term of " deutero-
canouical." When " Apocrypha " appeared as the title
of the books collected and set apart in Cranmer's Bible,
it was with the explanation that it meant that they were
read " not openly, but as it were in secret.'"- Since that
time the word has appeared as the title of the non-
Hebrew portions of the sacred writings, ■without a note
or explanation.
A short account of each book of the Apocrypha will
form the subject of a separate paper. Here it may be
worth while to add a few notes on the familiar words
"Bible," "Old Testament," "Xew Testament."
Bible. — In the New Testament itself the word
$t0\Lov has no sacred or distinctive force, but is used
generally for " books " (2 Tim. iv. 13 ; Eev. v. 1 ; x. 2) ;
while the term "Scripture" {ri ypa(pr,), or tli > sacred
writings {ra iepa ypd,ujj.aTa), is employed for a'lat we
call the Old Testament (2 Tim. iii. IS). Taken by
itself, therefore, the word Blblia would have seemed to
the Greek or Latin a very inadequate description of
the Scriptures. It required the adjectives " hoi}' " or
" sacred " to give it that significance. " Bihlia Sacra "
was accordingly the title ai)plied to Jcroine's version,
known as the Vulgate. When the word Avas first used
in English it was in like manner (as, e.g., by Chaucer),
in the wider meaning of " book " generally, though
soon the higher meaning prevailed exclusively. Me-
diaeval Latin, however, mistook the neuter plural for
a feminine singular. Men began to speak of the Holy
Bible, or, without the adjective, of " the Bible," as
emphatically the book. In some respects this has
doubtless been a gain. It has served to give men a
sense of the unity of purpose and character, if not of
plan, which makes the collection the precious inheri-
tance of Christendom. But with this gain there has
been also a loss. Men have failed to see what the old
plural " Biblia Sacra '' reminded them of, that they had
not a " book " only, but a " literature ;" or, as Jerome
had the courage to say, "not a book, but a bihliotlicca,
or library." The variety of Scripture, the origin and
character of all its diverse parts, is not less characteristic
of it than its essential unity.
The Old and New Testaments. — These terms
are, of course, as familiar as the Bible. There is too
much reason to believe that their history and mean-
ing are frequently as little understood. Practically,
the thought in which this application of the names
originated is found in Jer. xxxi. 31 — 3i. "Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
2 As a matter of fact this explnuatiou is frivou somewhat
ludicrously of the word Hapioirai.li:i, or " Holy Writings." It
would seem th.it the writer of the Tn face hod oriKiually written
"Apocryi>l-.a" and fiiven the oin-eiit cxi'lauatiou of it, aud that the
word w'.s altered by higher authority, as the book, was passing
through the press.
CANTICLES; OR, SONG OF SOLOMON.
521
of Juddli." The essential cliaraeteristic of this new
coveuant, as coutrasted with the okl coveuaut between
Jehovah and Isi-ael, recorded in Exod. xxiv. 7, where ;
Grod gave laws and the people promised obedience, \
was that there was to be not only the promise of
reward for that obedience, but that the power to
obey should be itself imparted. A new strength
was to be given to the conscience and the will, a
new and closer relationship was to be established
between God and man : "I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will be
their God, and tliey shall bo luy people." With this
there was the promise of pardon for all past trans-
gressions : "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more " ( Jer. xxxi. 33, 34). To
this passage our Lord referred when, on the night of
the Last Supper with his disciples, " he took the cup
and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying. Drink
ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the new covenant
{StaOrjKT], the Greek word, has this meaning), which is
slied for many for the remission of sins " (Matt. xxvi.
27, 28). The constant remembrance, probably the
constant repetition of these words at every meeting of
the disciples to break bread, stamped them upon their
minds indelibly. They were living under the New
Covenant which Jeremiah had foi'etold. The Book of
the Law belonged to the Old Covenant, and is so de-
scribed by St. Paul in 2 Cor. iii. 14. The Epistle to the
Hebrews gave yet greater prominence to the thought
and to the phrase. Clirist was the Mediator of the
New Covenant (Heb. ix. 15). In one remarkable, though
difficult passage, the new compact was represented not
as an agreement into which two parties enter as on
equal terms, but as the gratuitous assignment of an
inheritance, the legacy left by Chi-ist and realised by
and on His death, and so, according to what is at least
a natural and obvious interpretation of the passage, the
word SiadriKT) in this passage was taken as meaning not
" coveuaut," but " will " or " testament." In the Greek
Church the term SiaOrjKri naturally kept its ground. In
the "West, Latin wi-iters varied in their choice of an
equivalent, and for a time Listrumentum, which em-
bodied the '• covenant " idea, kept its place side by side
with Testamentum. The great Latin Fathers, how-
ever, from TertuiUan onwards, adopted the latter, and
finally it prevailed exclusively. It was natural, wheu
the canon of Christian Scriptures was completed, that
men should compare the two volumes of the sacred
books of Christians and Israelites, and should speak of
the former as the Books of the New Testament, of tlio
latter as belonging to the Old. Soon, witli the natiiral
tendency of language to abbreviated descriptions, the
terms '• Old " and "'New Testament" were used by them-
selves to describe the books so collected. The trans-
lators of our English version have wisely for the most
part kept to the idea of "covenant" in translating, except
in the passages where the close reference to the death
of Christ led them to prefer the word which in itself
implied tliat death. Speaking generally, however, we
need to remember that the familiar names eml)ody the
former and not the latter of the two meanings, and the
Sacred Books of which the Church is the witness and
keeper are respectively those which belong to the Old
and the New Covenants between God and man.
OOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
CANTICLES; OE, SONG OF SOLOMON.
BY THE RIGHT EEV. THE LORD BISHOP OF DERRY.
[his paper proceeds upon the supposition
that tlie Song of Songs is the composi-
tion of the son of David ; that it is a
portion of the Ketlnibhn, or "Writings,"
recognisLtl. by our Lord HimseK ; and that the
principle to be adopted in its interpretation is that
which, taking its starting-point from an event in
Solomon's history, finds in the Canticles an ideal repre-
sentation of the love between Chi-ist and His Church.
The article is, therefore, divided into three parts. In
the first, the analogy of Proverbs and Ecelesiastes is
employed to show the probability tliat the Song of
Songs should be coloured by the circumstances of the
writer's life. In the second section the principle of
interpretation is laid down and established. In the
third, a summary view will be given of other theories
of explanation.
I. The Books of Proverbs and Ecelesiastes are per-
vaded by allusions to Solomon's time and history, so
93 — VOL. IV.
numerous and subtle as to preclude the notion of a
literary forgery, and so real as to point to a Solomonic
origin.
1. Let us notice the traces wliich we may find in
the Proverbs of Solomon's time, and of his personal
circumstances.
(a) Of his time. His was the golden age of the
history of Israel. The kingdom of Da^-id's heir extended
from sea to sea ; his navies traversed the remotest
oceans. After all deductions, it was a period when
happiness and security were widely diffused. The
style of the old historian, as he contemplates this,
clothes itself with the soft images of pastoral poetiy :
" Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his
vine, and under his fig-tree."
Yet even uuder Solomon human nature works out
its own laws. Wherever there are ships in goodlier
tiers crowding the haven, and shops in statelier rows
along the streets, there will be vulgar regions where
322
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
"the almighty dollar " aspires to dethrone the living
God — an atmosphere of commercial fraud and delirious
adveutiiro (or, if we prefer, "highly speculative con-
cerns "), where the very spirit of man seems to become
metallic.
Again, Oifter years of desperate and sanguinary
struggles, a new era of literature, poetry, art, and even
science, diiwned upon Israel. The old horizon opened
boundless prospects upwards towards heaven ; on the
side of earth it was narrow and contracted. Now it
widened marvellously. A great thinker, who was
also a true poet,' in tracing the outlines of his own
intellectual career, has described that which has often
occurred in the history of nations :—
" A matron uow of sober mien.
Yet radiant still, and with no earthly slieen.
Whom as a faery child my childhood wooed.
Even in my dawn of thought. Philosophy ;
Though then unconscious of licrself, pardie.
She bore no other name than Poesy."
Poetry among the Hebrews was succeeded by Philo-
sophy, though not in a logical or .systematic sliape.
There arose a desire to stand face to face with Nature
and humanity, and to solve the enigmas which will not
allow a stimulated curiosity to rest.
Once more. The Jewish mind was, at this time,
exposed to the trial of being brought into its first real
contact with foreign religions and forms of thought.
This process must inevitably toll upon a nation
through iniluences which it absorbs by every pore.
Repulsion is succeeded either by contemptuous tolera-
tion, or l)y an undefined attraction to that which was
utterly hateful.^
We sliall understand the Book of Proverbs better by
remembering that, in one of its aspects, it is a moral
manual addressed to a commercial, luxurious, and, in a
certain sense, sceptical age.
(6) But we may also find traces of Solomon's jJersonaZ
circumstances in the Book of Proverbs.
(a) In the earlier portion of his reign offences against
royal sanctity were punished with terrible but necessary
severity, in Joab and Shimei. We find the recollection
of this in those great maxims that speak of the awe
and majesty wliich hedge round a king : " A king that
sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth (winnoweth)
away all evil with his eyes. ... A wise king scat-
tereth the wicked, and bringeth the wlieel (the thresher)
over them. . . . The wrath of a king ig as mes-
sengers of death, . . . The king's wrath is as the
roaiing of a lion."
After the death of Nathan it woidd seem that the
Divine wisdom which had been granted to Solomon
rendered it unnecessary that any great prophet should
be raised iip to discharge the same office which had been
fulfilled by Gad and Nathan for his father. " A
divine sentence is in the lips of the king ; his mouth
transgresseth not in judgment."
{$) The personal circumstance wliieli is most deeply
* Coleridge.
- Constant use has here been made of Ewald'a History of Israel,
iii. 274, seq,, " Intellectual Development of Solomon's Age."
impressed upon it is that in it Sjlomon is addressiug"
his son.
Several other treatises, no doubt, resemble tho
Proverbs in this characteristic. Fathers woiUd faiu
leave their sons more than gold or acres. They forget
that experience is, in its very essence, personal ; that it
cannot be transferred from one mind into another, a*
liquid is poured from vessel into vessel. So the English
man of the world, in his weU-known letters, hoped to
mould the clownish natm'e of the lad for whom they
were written, into that of a finished fop, with the most
graceful bow, and the best-tm-ned compliment, with,
the softest smile, and the liardest heart, of any " man
of wit and fashion about town."
This human element gives a peculiar iuterest to a
large portion of the Proverbs.
In the eight opening chapters "my sou" occurs no
less than fifteen times. This circumstance makes the
counsels more winning and more touching. One verse
there is which has been transferred to the Ejjistle to the
Hebrews, from thence taken and set like a gem as the
Epistle in our Service for the Communion of the Sick ;
whose words to the eye of Faith, in her hour of deep
and sacred agony, run like a legend round the base of
the Cross, which " towers beyond her sight." Would
not the text, " Desinsc not the chastening of the Lord,
neither be weary of His correction," want something of
its perfect pathos, if it did not begin, " My son P"
Does not this lend a peculiar iuterest to those words
in the fourth chapter, so musically rendered in our
English version ? — " I was my father's son, tender and
only beloved in the sight of my mother. He tauglit
me also, and said unto me. Let thine heart retain my
words."
(c) The Book of Ecclesiastes also points to Solomon,
and to Solomon in his penitence.
Omitting the distinct assertion, " I, the preacher,
was king over Israel in Jerusalem," let us turn to other
passages. The veiy name of Kohclcth, in the Hebrew
femiuiue, is worthy of notice. It indicates the Divine
Wisdom in and tln-ough Solomon,^ acting as the Gatherer
of Israel. The writer of a composition which was a
literary forgery, would surely have avoided a form so
marketUy different from the opening of Proverbs and
the Song, while it is exquisitely suitable to a penitent
who desires to retii'e from observation.
Throughout the book, as compared with that of Pro-
verlos, there is one fine indication of true penitential
feeling.
In Proverbs, Eloli im is used of God five times, Jehovah
ninety times ; while in Ecclesiastes Elohim is employed
thirty-nine times, Jehovah never. Solomon had been
highly favoured, yet he had fallen. His voice falters,
he dare not use the covenant word Jeliovah.
There are several passages wliieh would be almost
imintelligible upon any other hypothesis : —
3 Bishop AVordsworth refers to St. Luko xi. tO, where our Lord
speaks of " the Wisdom of God.'* But in tho parallel passage (St.
Matt, xxiii. 34) we hare, " Behold, I send unto you ;" and imme-
diately afterwards, " How often would I have gailicred thy children."
CANTICLES; OR, SONG OF SOLOMON.
323
" Better is a poor aucl a wise cliikl tlian an old aud
foolisli king, who will uo more bo admonislicd. For
out of prison he eometh to reign ; whereas also he that
is born in his kingdom becometh poor. I considered
all the living which walk under the siin, with the second
child that shall stand np in his stead." ^ Solomon must
have had a prophetic glimpse o£ the future by his own
inspiration or that of the seer Ahijah.^ The " old and
foolish king " is himself. He who '•' comes out of
prison "to glory, like a second Joseph, is Jeroboam.
If the prophecy came through liimseK, he is rapt unto
the future. He looks back from the quiet land upon
this crowded, passionate life. He sees the throngs of
living men moving restlessly to and fro. But in that day
they walk not with David's heir, but with the " second
young man," i.e., Jeroboam ; aud in the foUowiag verse
there is an allusion to the meaning of the name Jeroboam
(:=" whose people are many"). But "the people that
come after" shall not rejoice in him.
What a subtle and profound meaning also is given
to the opening admonition of the next chaj)tcr: "Keep
thy foot when thou goest to the house of God." ^ The
allusion is to the priests washing their feet. Solomon
gives the life-lesson of his own bitter experience. He
had buUt a gorgeous temple ; he had offered almost
countless sacrifices ; he had placed a molten sea for the
priests to wash in.* Church-buUding aud adornment
are good ; heart-searching and purification are better.
He had not kept his feet.
There are yet three other passages which should be
considered. The two verses in which ointment is
mentioned' seem to refer to the anointing oil, to
indicjite that royal -virtue is better than royal chrism.
The admonition, " I counsel thee to keep the king's
commandment, and that in regard of {he oath of God,"''
enjoining subjects to remain true and loyal under all
circumstances, is very significant.
The book seems to read itself off, upon the hypothesis
that it came froni Solomon in his penitence.
II. In whatever degree it is probable that Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes, being Solomon's, are tinged with a
personal coloui-ing ; it is also probable that the Song of
Solomon, if written by him, should possess the same cha-
racteristic. No doubt it refers to his marriage. Taking
its rise from this, it glorifies the marriage relation, and
that in its origuial and di\'ine form, as it came from Him
who "at the beginning made them male and female." "
From this point of view we can accept the saying of
Niebuhr, recorded by Bunseu. A young pastor spoke
to the great historian of the scandal which he felt, at
being obliged to consider this burning song of love a
part of the Sacred Canon received by our Lord and
His apostles. "For my part," exclaimed Niebuhr,
"with energy, " I should think there was something
wanting in the Bible, if we could not find in it any
expression for the deepest and strongest sentiment of
1 Eccles. iv. 13—15. 2 1 Kings xi. IJ, 35.
3 Eccles. V. 1. * 2 Chron. iv. 6.
* Eccles. vii. 1 ; x. 1. * Eccles. viii. 2.
7 St. Matt. xis. I. Note the singular, Space xni Oti\v.
humanity." It is for one supremely that the strain is
sung. "My dove, my uudefiled, is but one."^ The
only passage where the Bivine name is breathed is in.
speaking of the sacred character of such passion. " Tlie
coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most
vehement flame," so well translated by Coverdale, " a
very flame of the Lord." ^ Tlius our interpretation ifj
in conformity with the first words of the heading of the
first chapter in our Authorised Version, " The Church's
love unto Christ," and with those other sentences in
subsequent summaries, " The mutual love of Christ
and the Church," " The Church glorieth in Christ,"
" Christ awaketh the Church with His calling," " A
description of Christ by His graces," " The Chiu'ch
praj^eth for Chi-ist's coming." This mode of inter-
pretation would have been spoken of by the older com-
mentators as allegorical or r.iystical; wo prefer to
speak of it as idealising. That is, in Solomon's Song-
we have a representation of the highest of all earthly
affections in its supreme passion aud jjurity ; the veiy
ideal of the reciprocal love of two human beings for
each other in body, soul, and spirit. And in this we
have an inspired representation of the great ideal of
spiritual love — the mutual love between Christ and
His Church.
For this view of the matter we can allege three
proofs : —
1. One feature in the Old Testament is the way in.
which great ideas are gradually elaborated. One of
tliem is init forth — projected, as it were — by the Spirit
as if out of due season. It is left, for centuries perhaps,
unnoticed and undeveloped. Then it is taken up by
prophet after prophet, and clothed upon with successive
touches. Thus, God's love for His Church is early
represented under the image of spousal affection, with
its beautiful weakness as well as strength. " The Lord,
whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." ^° This sweet
and solemn idea re-s'ived ages after its first expression,
and kept clothing itself in a poetry which drew its
riches from historical events. In the 46th Psalm —
that song upon " lilies," of " lovely things " — where
inspii'ation surges joyously froin the Psalmist's lips,
the application becomes too clear to ailmit of serious
discussion : "Kings' daughters were among thy honour-
able women." And then with echoes from the Book of
Ruth, coming thick and fast, " Hearken, O daughter,
and consider ; incline thine ear ; forget also thine own
people, and thy father's house ; so shall the King greatly
desire thy beauty : for He is thy Lord, and worship
thou Him." ^^ Again and again we have those unspeak-
ably tender passages in the prophetic Scinpturcs, where
the Almighty deigns to represent Himself as beai'iug
the same relation to His Clmrch which the sj)ouse bears
to the betrothed.'- Especially is it to be noticed that, in
« Cant. vi. 9. 9 Cant. viii. 6. 1" Exod. sxxiv. 1-t.
'1 Ps. xlv. 10, 11. For Jewish interpretation see the book Tsohar
on verse 13, " By the Icinfj's daugUer is meant the Church of Israel"
(Schottgen, Horce H. et Talmud., ii. 23-i). See Dr. Kay, The Psalms,
p. 115.
1- Isa, liv. 5 ; Isii. 5 ; Jer. ii. 2 ; Ezek. xvi. 3, sqq.
324
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
(ho Hebrew Caiiou, tlic couciso and pathetie Hosea
comes uext after the Cauticles. lu a series of xiuuiis-
takcable allusions, the fiiitlilessuess of tlie actual Israel
Ls put iu contrast with the lovo of the ideal Israel.^ In
Hosea the Song of Songs is given back in sighs.
This view of a largo portion of the Old Testameut
makes it in the highest degree probable that when we
come to a song, of which we are told that it is Solomon's,
and "the most excellent of Songs," and of which we
know that it alone has been preserved out of a thousand
and five, it should be intended for the Divine Song of
a Divine Love.
And this enables us to deal with one of M. Renau's
principal arguments. '" One sole argument," says that
eloquent writer, "can bo adduced with plausibility by
tliose Avho maintain the possibility of a religion arriere-
pensee in the Canticles. That is the example of the
erotico-mystical poetry of India and Persia. It is quite
certain that iu neither country is this kind of poetry
very ancient. . . . It is evident that no real likeness
can be made out between the production of a mysticism
which is so advanced, and a pastoral di'ama which has
not, like the present, au}- religious aspect whatever. And
first, if the author really had any imderlying theological
purpose, he would not have chosen the dramatic form.
The lyrical form is the only one which suits these meta-
physical debauches. . . . Besides, what improba-
bilities are involved in placing a gi'eat development of
trausceudental theologj- iu Judea in the tenth century
before Christ ! Nothing was ever so utterly alien to,
and averse from luysticism, as the Hebrew, the Arabian,
and the Semitic mind in general. The idea of putting
the Creator into connection with the creature ; the
supposition that an amorous relation can exist between
them; the thousand refinements of this nature, in which
the mysticism of the Hindoos and that of Christians has
allowed itself such unlimited license, are at the antipodes
to the severe conception of the Semitic God. There is
no doubt that such ideas would have passed for
bhisphemies in Israel. Allegories of this kind always
indicate a certain necessity for concealment, a revenge
on some external repression. Under the transcendental
language of the Soufis; under the burning Ij'rical passion
of Louis do Leon, under the feigned cpiietism of Madame
Guyon, vrc can feel the intolerant rigour of orthodox
Islamisrj^, of the Incpiisition, of Galilean Catholicism.
But the histcrj' of the Jewish people — at least before
the date of the prophets devoted to scvei'O Mosaism
and Pietist kings — presents no example of persecution
for doctrinal reasons. . . . Further, erotico-mystical
poems presuppose a vast develoinnent of philosophical
and theological schools ai'ound them. But no people
has ever been more sober than the Hebrew i)COi)le
in regard to symbolism, allegories, and speculative
divinity. Tracing, as they did, a line of entire and
absolute separation: lietween God and man, they rendered
all familiarity, a", tender f:ontiment, all reciprocity
1 Cf. Hos. ii. 2; Cant. iii. 4 ; vili. 8 ; Hos. ii. 14; Caut. viii. 8 ;
Hengsteiiberg, Prolej. io Cdiiticles, pp. 304, 305 ; Thrupp, On the
Soiij of Solomon, p. 15; Bishop of Lincoln, Minor Prophcfs, pp. 1, 2.
between heaven and earth a sheer impossibility. . . .
We therefore hold it for certain that the author of the
Canticles, in writing his poem, had no mystical inten-
tion."'- Tho argument in this passage is altogether
based upon the supposition that tho idea of a relation
between God and His peoijle, capable of being adum-
brated under tho image of wedded love, is ntterly
foreign to the Hebrew writers. But it has Ijeeu
shown above that it may be found iu a multitude of
passages, beginning with Moses and ending with the
later prophets.
2. The second proof of our interpretation is derived
from the New Testament. It has, indeed, been boldly
asserted that '• the so-called higher sense has no sup-
port from the New Testament, and that the Song of
Songs is never quoted there." Yet it is of tenor referred
to than any other -wi'iting in the Old Testameut, with
the solitary exception of the Psalms. There is one
title which our blessed Lord delights to" give Himself,
that of tlie Brldegroovi? There is one image graven
upon the Church's heart, as one golden day out of all
the past abides in the widow's memory, the Marriage.^
But our Lord's human mind moved in the sacred circle
of the Bible, and His language was impregnated with it.
He drew these images from the Song of Solomon.
The stern Baptist, no teacher of a luxuriant and
florid imagination, actually compresses the whole simple
dramatism of the Canticles into a few brief clauses : " He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom ; but the friend of
the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, ro-
joiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." ^ St.
Paul had the apijlication of the Bride to the Church in
his mind when he wrote in relation to that great mystery,
which he referred to Christ and His Church : "^ "not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing " (Eph. v.
27; cf. " Thou ai't all fair, there is no spot in thee,"
Cant. iv. 7).
But mainly is this constant reference to be found in
the Apocalypse of St. John. We present these references
in parallel columns, and they are possibly not quite
complete : — •
"Behold, I stauiJ at the door,
and knock" (Rev. iii. 20).
" Blessed is he that watcbeth,
and keepeth his garments "
(Eev. xvi. 15).
" Surely I come quicklj-.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord
Jesus" (Rev. xxii. 20).
" The Miarriage of the Lamb
is come, and his wife hath made
herself ready " (Eev. xix. 7).
" It is the voice of my be-
loved that knocketh " (Cant.
V. 2).
" I have put off my coat; how
slia.ll I put it on ? " (Cant. v. 3).
"Make haste, my beloved"
(Cant. viii. 14).
Summary of the whole Song
of Songs.
The more carefully these passages are studied, tho
more subtle and implicated will the threads of con-
nection bo found.
3. Tlie reception of a book of this character into tho
Canon of Scripture necessitates such a view of its
contents.
- Renan, £lvilc .<!i!r 7a Caniiquc des Canliques, pp. 115 — 121.
3 St. Matt. ix. 15 ; XXV. 1—10. "» St. Matt. xxii. 2.
- St. John iii. 29. « Eph. v. 32.
CANTICLES; OR, SONG OF SOLOMON.
32£
Bishop Audi'ews gives praise to God for tlie abuudant
liglit of Scripture: " Blessed be Thy Name, O God, for
the light which shines iu upon our senses. But more
blessed for another light. For the profit and experience
of faithfid histories ; for the instruction of wise
Proverbs ; for the sweet solace of holy Psalms.
Blessed l)e Thy Name for that sun which never goes
down, for that light which no darkness ever over-
spreads." How does such a book give light ? Other
books contain dogmas of faith, or a heaven-given ritual,
or holy examples, or precious hymns, or rules of saintly
life, or moral laws, or the prophecy of forth-telling, or
that of foretelling. Supposing it to be what some would
have it, it is not a gentle breath of the Divine Spirit ;
it is a vapour from metal molten iu the furnace of
human passion. It is a mere opera belonging to " the
fleshly scliool," the strain of a Hebrew Swinburne. It
was not without cause that among the interpretations
of Theodore of Mopsuesta, condemned by the Second
Council of Constantinople, was that which made the
Proverbs a mere manual of worldly experience, and the
Canticles a mere idyll or canzonata.
Nor can it be said that the matter is mended by the
last refinement of criticism. A fair and simple girl,
persecuted by the unworthy passion of the sensual
Solomon, is pounced upon and dragged to his seraglio.
Through five acts the operetta tells us of her resistance,
until the Shulamite finds herself in her own garden,
rewarded by the voice of her faithful shepherd. And
this we are told is a story worthy of the Bible, and of
the books with which i*; is associated ! " The poem is
neither mystic, as the theologians would have it ; nor
equivocal, as Castaliou believed ; nor purely amatory, as
Herder thought. It is moral. It is summed up in
viii. 7, ' If a man would give all the substance of his
house for love, it would utterly be contemned.' Nothing
can resist true love ; the rich man who would buy it
buys shame. The object of the song is not the
voluptuous passion which dwells in the seraglios of
the degenerate East ; but true love, the inspirer
of coiirage and sacrifice, preferring free poverty to
servile opulence, fixing itself in vigorous hatred of
lying and meanness, and ending by calm happiness
and fidelity." '
Let us remember the cost at which this version of
the book is purchased. And to do so, we must quote
the facile words in which M. Renan sums up the heavier
materials of Brettscher and Hitzig : —
" The first section is composed of the three first
verses. These three verses are pronounced by one or
several women. It seems at first sight most natural to
place them in the mouth of a captive maiden in love ;
but there are great difficulties. First, the expression of
1 Esusn, p. 138.
love is sensual. Part seems to be pronounced by a
choir of women. The third and fourth verses suijpose
that he to whom they are addressed is loved by many
at once. The word alamoth certainly means the occu-
pants of the harem. It appears, then, that in these
three verses we have a harem scone. Each of these
women aspires to the love of a master, evidently
Solomon. They express this by passionate invitations.
' The king hath brought me into his chambers,' must,
I think, be assigned to a young girl just shut up iu the
harem." -
That a poem with an introduction so odious, and of no
apparent moral or religious significance, shoidd have
been exalted to a place beside Moses and the Prophets,
is, surely, inconceivable.
4. To these arguments might be added the fascina.
tion which the Song has always had for devout souls.
Nor is this confined to monastic precincts, and those
who may be called professional mystics. We find the
Canticles, indeed, to have been the favomite book or
St. Bernard, who poured cut the hoarded tenderness-
and experience of his soul in those eighty-six sermons
to the brethren at Clairvaux. But it was as dear to
Leighton, to Taylor, and to Buuyan, as to Bernard and
Catherine of Siemia.
" Such is the force of tlie religious sentiment," says
M. Renan, once more, " that it can give beauty and
charm to wrong interiiretatious. The mystic sense is
philologically false, but religiously true. The Shida-
mite lias taken the cloister veil; under it she is fair
still. How many true loves have lived upon the sweet,
Vulnerasti cor' mewm, which the Church sings upon her
festivals ? ^ Those litanies and hymns, entirely made
up of the sad or burning images borrowed from this
sacred Idyll, how many tears have they made to flow ?
Add that the Christian interpretation has given to the
Song that transparency and delicacy wluch is wanting
to the original." ^
The Christian refuses such poor consolation as this.
If the beauty is falsely imported into the book, it does
not exist for him at all.
On the whole, the interj^retation of the Canticles
which we call idealisinr/ seems to be involved in the
reception of the book. And its sacred character is
proved (1) from the nse of its leading imago in the Old
Testament ; (2) from the repeated references to it by the
Baptist, l)y St. Paul, by St. John, and by our Lord
Himself ; (3) from its reception into the Sacred Canon ;
and (4) from its acceptance by holy and devout souls.
as the food of their spiritual life.
2 Let it be remembered that the loug passage, vii. 2—10, re-
quires, on this hypothesis, an interpretation equally unpleasant.
3 See above all the hymns of AJani de S. Victor (ii. 189—320;,
Edit. Grant) and his school ; Pitra, Spicil. Solcm., iii. 451.
■• Recan, pp. 141, 142.
326
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
THE G EXE VAN BIBLE.
W. F. MOULTON, M.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN., MASTER OF THE WESLE-YAN HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE.
;HE accossiou of Edward YI. gave new life
to the hopes of all friends to the diffu-
sion of Scripture truth. We are told hj
some writers that from the very fir.st the
young prince manifested his reverence for the Bible,
requiring that the Sacred Book, the sword of the Spirit,
should at his coronation be carried before him. The
restrictions which Henry had laid upon the printing
and reading of the Scriptures were at once removed.
In the first year of Edward's reign an injunction was
issued requiring every beneficed person to provide
witliin three months a copy of the English Bible " of
the largest volume," and within twelve months a copy
of Ei-asmus'-s Paraiolirasc mi the Gospels. As before, it
was required that the books should be set up in some
convenient place within tlie church, that thej^ might be
read by the parishioners. In 15 iS official inquiry was
made as to the obedience which had been paid to this
injunction. A period of remarkable activity in the
printing and circulation of the Scriptures immediately
followed. Mr. Anderson's list of the editions published
in Edward's short reign comprises thirteen or fourteen
Bibles, and as many as thirty-five New Testaments
separately printed. Of the editions of the wliole Bible
seven wore of the last translation, three of Matthew's,
two of Coverdale's, one (and, in part, another) of
Taverner's. Of the editions of the New Testament two
out of every three contain Tyn dale's version.
The many important events of this reign do not fall
within our province. The Prayer Books issued in
1548 and 1652 contain portions of Scripture which call
for a brief notice, but they will most naturally come
before us at a later period, in connection with the final
revision of the Liturgy. There is, however, one version
(a fragment) of the New Testament whicli must not be
passed over. The author is no obscure divine, but the
scholar who, as Milton says, " taught Cambridge and
King Edward Greek." Sir John Cheke. appointed by
Henry (in 15 iO) Professor of Greek in the University
of Cambridge, and in 1544 chosen as tutor to the
young prince, was one of those scholars who laboured
with the greatest zeal and success in the re-i-ival of
the study of the classical languages. In one of the
manuscripts in the library of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, is a translation of St. Matthew ^vl•itteu by
€heke's own liaud, probably about the year 1550. The
manuscript was first printed in 1843, under the editor-
ship of the Rev. J. Goodwin. Besides the Gospel of St.
Mattliow (which is complete, with the exception of about
fifty verses) the translation embraces part of the first
chapter of St. ]\Iark. In the orthography, which is very
3)eculiar, Cheke follows a system of his own. But the
most remarkable feature of his work is the persistent
endeavour to express all ideas by means of home-born
words ; we might almost suppose the translation io
have been the result of a reaction against Gardiner's
movement for a semi-Latin version of the Scriptures.
The following extract, though short, will sufficiently
show the character of this singular fragment. The
peculiar orthography is preserved, but not the contrac-
tions in writing, which are numerous.
ST. MATTHEW XIV. 26 — 33.
And his discipils seiug liim walkiug on the see weer trobled,
saieng that it was a phantasm, and thai cried out for fear. Jesus
bi and bi spaak to them and said. Be of good cheer. Jt is J, fear
not. Peter auswerd vnto him. Sir, saith he, Jf it be thou, bid me
comm on the water vuto the. And he said, Comm on. And Peter
cam doun out of the boot and walked on the waters to com to
Jesus. And seing the wind strong, was aferd, and when he began
to sink he cried out. Lord, saith he, save me. Jesus bi and bi
stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him, and said vuto him.
Thou smal faithed, whi hast thou doughted ? And when thei weer
ones eaterd into the boot the wind ceased. Thei that weer in
the boot cam and bowed down vnto him and said, Suerli thou art
the soun of god.
In a marginal note Cheke explains the meaning of
phantasm as " that which appeared to the eies to be
sumthing and is nothing in deed.'' Several of the notes
and expLanations are of interest, but the boldness of the
vocabulary is the characteristic which most impresses
the reader's mind. A proverb is a bkcord, apostle is a
frosent, regeneration is gainbirth, the lunatic are
moond, the demoniacs spirited ; Matthew is said to be
called while sitting at the tolbooth ; this natural man is
soulisch; phylacteries and bordei's (Matt, xxiii. 5) are
gardes and weltes ; the magi arc iciseards ; the last of
the signs of Messiah (Matt. xi. 5) is that " the beggars
be gospeld."
The abrupt conclusion of this intci'esting fragment
is no inapt symbol of the fortunes of the writer and of
the results of Edward's prematui'c and sudden death.
One of the first acts of Mary's reigTi was the prohibi-
tion of the public reading of Scripture. A second pro-
clamation, in June, 1555, denounced the writings of the
Continental reformers and of many noble Englishmen,
among whom were Tyndale, Frith, Cranmer, and
Coverdalo. Three years later a more stringent injunc-
tion was issued, requiring that wicked and .seditious
books should be given up on pain of death. Tliough
tlic English Bible is not expressly mentioned in these
two proclamations, there can be no doubt that under
their sanction many copies of the Scriptures were de-
stroyed. Two men whose names arc nobly connected
with the history of the English Bible, John Rogers
and Tliomas Cranmer, were committed to the flames ;
Coverdale narrowly escaped with his life, and went
into exile. Wo cannot wonder that during the five
years of Mary's reign no BiHle or Testament was pub-
Ushed on English gi'ound. Still tlie pei'secution was
not without its influence for good. As " the blood of the
THE HISTORY OF THE EXGLISH BIBLE.
martyi's " became emphatically in England the seed
of a reformed and purified Church, the policy which
drove learned and good men into banishment from
their country was destined to prepare the way for a
more accurate and worthy representation of Scripture
truth.
"With the foreigners who, compelled by a royal pro-
clamation, left England without delay, many learned
Englishmen sought refuge from the troubles of their
country in flight. Some betook themselves to Stras-
burg, some to Frankfort-ou-the-Maiue, some to Zurich,
and other towns in Germany and Switzerland. Our
concern is with a l)and of exiles who left Frankfort in
1555 in consequence of dissensions respecting matters
of ritual, and removed to Geneva, where Calvin, who
had little liking for the English Prayer Book, exercised
unbounded influence. Among these exiles were Jolm
Knox, the celebrated Scottish i-eformer; Miles Cover-
dale ; Thomas Cole, said to have been Dean of Salisbuiy ;
Christopher Goodman, at one time a di-s-inity-professor
at Oxford, author of a violent treatise against " the mon-
strous regiinent" (government) of women, afterwards a
leader of the extreme Nonconformists ; John PuUain,
noted for his poetical powers, a translator of Ecclesiastes,
Esther, and other books of Scripture into English verse ;
Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and "William "Whit-
tingham. It is mainly with the three last named that
we are here concerned. Gilby was a Cambridge scholar,
Sampson and "Whittingham were educated at Oxford.
Of Gilby we know comparatively little, except that he
"was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge ; that the
troubles of Frankfort drove him to Geneva ; and that
on the accession of Elizabeth he returned to England,
and received the -vicarage of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. He
■died in 1584. Sampson was Dean of Chichester in
Edward's reign. On the accession of Mary he fled to
Strasburg. and afterwards joined the band of exiles at
Geneva. In 1561 he Ijecame Dean of Christ Church,
Oxford, but was shortly afterwards deprived of his
office for nonconformity. "William "Whittingham was
born near Durham in 1524 ; at the age of twenty-
three he was made one of the senior students of Christ
Church, Oxford. Wuen Knox left Geneva, in 1559,
"Whittingham was ordained his successor in the pas-
torate of the English church. In 1560 he returned to
England, and three years later was made Dean of Dur-
liam. Wliittingham was one of the translators of that
metrical version of the Psahns which is known by the
names of Sternhold and Hopkins, the largest contri-
butors to the collection. He died in 1579.
In 1557 a duodecimo volume was published at Geneva,
entitled " The Newe Testament of ovr Lord lesus
Christ. Conferred diligently with the Greke, and best
approued translations. With the arguments, as wel
before the chapters, as for euery Boke and Epistle ;
also diuersities of readings, and moste proffitable anno-
tations of all harde places; wherunto is added a copious
Table. At Geneva Printed by Conrad Badius. m.d.
Lvii." Tlie title-page also contains a curious woodcut,
representing Time raising Truth out of her grave, with
the motto, " God by Tjnne restoreth Trvth, and maketh
her victoriovs." After the table of contents is given
" The Exnstle, declaring that Christ is the end of the
law, by John Calvin." This is followed by an address
to the reader, giving some account of the work. The
wi'iter uses the first person singular throughout, and
clearly shows that the translation is from his own hand.
Though no name is given, we can have little doubt that
the work was executed by "Wliittingham. This might be
probable in itself on account of the position held by
Whittingham amongst his countrymen in Geneva, and
from the association of Calvin (whose sister "Whitting-
ham had maiTied) with this translation ; but, as we shall
see presently, there are other indications whidi point to
the same conclusion. Apart from the translation and
the notes, which are considered below, the chief charac-
teristics of the book are the use of Roman tj-^ie (addi-
tions and explanatory words being printed in italics)
and the novel arrangement of the text. Our modem
verses are here seen for the first time in an English Bible.
In the Old Testament the division into short verses
was ready to hand in the Hebrew Bible ; thi'ough Pag-
ninus (1528) this division became familiar to readers
of Latin. In the New Testament there was no pre-
cedent of the kind. From the earliest times, however,
the text had been broken up into paragraphs of various
lengths, and Pagninus, for the sake of uniformity, intro-
duced into the New Testament verses similar to those
now in use, but of greater length. R. Stephens, when
preparing for one of his editions of the Greek Testa-
ment, resolved on an arrangement more nearly resem-
bling that of the Old Testament. . He worked out his
plan on a journey from Paris to Lyons, and the Greek
Testament published in 1551 in this respect resembles
oiu' present Bibles. For the Apociyphal books this
work had been accomplished a few years earlier by the
same hand. The complete system of verses first met
the eye of English readers in the Bible of 1560, of
which we have now to speak.
Three years after the publication of the Genevan
Testament an edition of the whole Bible in English was
published in the same city : " The Bible and Holy Scrip-
tures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament.
Translated according to the Ebrue and Greke, and con-
ferred with the best translations in diners languages.
"With moste profitable annotations vpon zM the harde
places, and other thinges of gi-eat importance as may
appeare in the Epistle to the Reader." On this title-
page, also, is a woodcut, representing the passage through
the Red Sea. The book is a ciiiartoof about 600 pages,
printed (like the Testament of 1557) in Roman and
italic types, and furnished with " hrguments," marginal
references, headings of chapters, and explanatory notes.
This is the first edition of the celebrated Genevan
version, of which more than 130 editions were pub-
lished, and which retained its popularity with the
English public for nearly a hundred years.
The intei'esting address prefixed to the volume clearly
brings out one distinction between the former publica-
tion and the present. "Whereas that was clearly from
328
IHE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
one hand, this openly professes to be the result of com-
bined labours. Anthony a. Wood tells us that Cover-
dale, Goodman, Gilby, Sampson, Cole, and Whitting-
ham " undertook the translation of the English Bible,
but before tlie greater part was finished. Queen Mary
died. So that, the Protestant religion appearmg again
in England, the exiled divines left Frankfort and
Geneva, and returned into England. Howbeit, Whit-
tingham, with one or two more, being resolved to go
through with the work, did tarry at Geneva a year and
a half after Queen Elizabeth came to the crown." The
" two or three " who remained Avith Whittingham seem
to have been Gilby and Sampson. Knox, Goodman,
Cole, Pullaiu, Bodleigh, and Coverdale returned to
England in 1559. Coverdale, indeed, seems to have
spent but a short time in Geneva ; but it is hardly pos-
sible to believe that the veteran translator had no share
in this undertaking. Whittingham, however, was in
all probability foremost in the company of translators ;
and the prominent position which ho holds in this work,
together with the intimate relation between the transla-
tions of 1557 and 1560, warrants the belief that the
earlier was maiidy from his hand.
The relation between the " Genevan Testament "
(1557) and the Testament of the " Genevan Biljle "
(1560) recpiires careful attention, as some have repre-
sented them to he practically the same version, whilst
others have considered them altogether different woi-ks.
It may easily be shown that the truth lies between
these extremes. We will, as before, first examine a
single chapter throughout, and then notice renderings
of jjarticular interest. Luke xvi. is a chapter of mode-
rate length, and of rather more than average difficulty.
The principal English versions available for the use
of the exiles of Geneva were Tyndale's, Coverdale's,
Matthew's, and the Great Bible. In this chapter,
Matthew (1551) agrees word for word with Tyudale ;
the Great Bible departs from Tyndale in about thirty
renderings ; Coverdale varies much more frequently — in
ninety or a hundred places. The Genevan Testament
deserts Tyndale in favour of Coverdale aljout twelve
times only ; hence it is evident that, though Coverdale's
translation was used, it was not the basis of the new
version. The Great Bible in this chapter introtluces
about seventeen new renderings, mostly of veiy little
consequence, and in verse 21 a clause is added. The
Genevan Testament adopts not more than three or four
of these changes. It is clear, therefore, that it is on
Tyndale's Test^ament that the new version is founded.
From Tj-ndale the translator departs rather more than
forty times; in thirty of these instances the rendering is
new, and in eight of the thirty this new" rendering ob-
tained a place in our Authorised Version. The Genevan
Biljle, again, varies from the T(»stament of 1557 in nearly
forty pkccs; in thirty-three of these the rendering is
new, and in sixteen the alteration still maintains its
ground. Hence, so far as this chapter is concerned, we
may say that the Testament is a careful revision of
Tyndale, and that the Bible is again a careful revision
of the Testament. As an example of extensive altera-
tion may be given the introduction to the Gospel of St.
Luke : —
ST. LUKE 1. 1 — 4.
1 For asmucli as niauy liaue takcu in baud to write the 1ns-
torie of those thynges, wherof wo are fully certitiecl,
2 Euen as tliey declared them vnto vs, which from the begyn-
uyui,' saw them their sehies, and were ministers at the doyng-
(inargi/i: or, of the thiug):
3 It seemed good also to me (moste noble Theophilus) as sone
as I had learned perfectly all thynges from the begiunyng, to wryte
vnto thee therof from poyut to poynt :
4 That thou mightest acknowlage the tructh of those thinges
where iu thou hast bene broght vp.
In these four verses several renderings are intro-
duced for the first time, as tcrite the history, ivhereofife
are fully certified, it seemed good, learned perfectly,
thereof, from point to point, most noble. The Bible of
1560 differs in several places: — set forth the story (ver.
1), persiiaded (for certified), as they have delivered (ver.
2), ministers of the luord, instructed (ver. 4). The
reader will not fail to observe tliat several of these
renderings are found in our Authorised Version. It
Avould be easy to give many examples of a similar kind.
We can only remai-k, iu passing, that the rendering of
John iii. 7, which is now most familiar, " Ye must be
born again," first appears in the Genevan version. The
passage cited above is interesting, as exhibiting very
clearly the influence of Bcza ou the Genevan trans-
lators, most of the new renderings being found either
in Beza's Latin translation, or in his notes. This in-
fluence may bo traced throughout the work. In points
of interpretation Beza is in the main a safe guide ;
as a critic deciding on the Greek text to be adoptetl
in any passage, ho is often rash and misleading.
We owe to him the true reading in Rom. xii. 11,
" serving the Lord," where Tyndale and others have
"apply yourselves to the time." On the other hand, in
Mark xvi. 2, as the ordinary Greek text signified " the
sun having risen," and so appeared to conflict with the
narrative of tlie other Gosj)els, Beza adopted anothci*
reading, which was very slenderly supported, and trans-
lated the words " while the sun was rising." Not
satisfied with tliis, however, he hazarded a conjecturo
that the words *' not yet " might have accidentally
fallen out of the text. The Genevan translators actually
insert this conjecture in their margin as an alternative
translation, and in the text read " when the sun was yet
rising." In Matt. i. 11, the clauses which we now find
in the margin of our Bibles were introduced into the
text of the Genevan versions, again on very insufficient;
e\ndence. There are other blots of the same character,
but ou the whole Beza's influence tended greatly to tho
improvement of tlie work. Mistakes were removed
Avhich had disfigured all preceding versions. Thus in
Acts xxvii. 9, the earlier versions had followed Tyndale
land Erasmus) in the translation "because we had over-
long fasted." The Genevan Testament was the first
to give what is now generally acknowledged to be the
true translation, " because the time of the fast was
now passed ; " the meaning being made still clearer by
the following note, "This fast the Jews observed about
tlie month of October, in the Feast of their expiation
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
329
(Lev. 32.di) So that Paul thought it better to winter
there, than to sail in the deep of winter which was at
hand." In the I3th verse of the same chapter, Tyndale,
Coverdale, and the Great Bible have the rendering
" loosed unto Asson " (Assos), sujjposiug the Greek
word asson to be a proper name; the Genevan trans-
lation is the first to give the true meaning, " nearer."
The notes in the Genevan version have already been
referred to. They are not derived from Matthew's
Bible, but were prepared by the Genevan translators
themselves, and prepared with much care. As may be
supposed, the comments belong to the school of theology
which we associate with the names of Calvin and Beza,
but a very large proportion of them contain uotliiug to
offend readers of other schools. In the Epistle to the
Romans, for instance, the Genevan Testament contaras
about 220 explanatory notes (not including alternative
renderings), the Bible of 1560 about 250, but not more
than six or seven can be called " Calvinistic." The
condensed commentary which the notes contain is
usually good and useful, supplying historical a.ud geo-
gi'aphical information, clearing up obscure texts, but
most frequently containing pithy observations on lessons
that are taught by a narrative, or inferences which may
be drawn from a text. In the Bible of 1560 most of
the notes of the earlier Testament were retained, and
several additions made ; the commentary was also ex-
tended to the whole Bible, with the exception of the
Apociyphal Books, in wliieh the notes are scanty. The
matter of the annotations was derived from Beza, Calvin,
and others. Oin* limits will not permit us to give many
examples ; th.e following will serve as a specimen : —
Exod. i. 19. Their disobedience herein was lawful, hut their
dissembling evil.
2 Chron. xv. 16. Herein he showed that he lacked zeal, for she
ought to have died, buth by the covenant, as ver.?e 13, and by the
law of God ; but he gave place to foolish yity, and would also seem
after a sort to satisfy the law.
Ps. xlvi., title. (Alamoth), which was either a musical instru-
ment or a solemn tune, unto the which this psalm was sung.
Ps. cxix. 25 (cleaveth unto the dust). That is, it is almost
brought to the grave, and without Thy word I cannot live.
1 Sam. iii. 4. Josephus writeth that Samuel was twelve years
old when the Lord appeared to him.
Matt. XX. 23. God my Father hath not given me charge to
bestow offices of honour here.
John vi. 28 (the works of God). Such as be acceptable unto God.
Ephes. V. 16 (Eedeeming the time). Selling all worldly pleasures
to buy time.
Heb. xi. 4 (by the which). Meaning /ai(?i.
Occasionally (especially in the Acts) the note con-
tains some considerable additions to the text, similar to
tliose so freely admitted into the Great Bible. Tlius in
Acts xiv. 7, we read that others add " insomuch that all
the people were moved at the doctrine. So both Paul
and Bamaba.s remained at Lystra." This reading Beza
mentions in his note as contained in his own most
ancient MS. — a MS. of the sixth century {Codex Bezce)
now preserved in the Library of the University of Cam-
bridge, and remarkable for such additions to the ordi-
nary text.
• That is. Lev. xxxii. (a mistake for xxiii.) 27 — 29. Though the
text is di'. iled into verses, the marginal references of the Genevan
Testament follow the old paragraphs.
Let us now tm-n to the Old Testament. If in the
passages which we have before taken as a test we com-
pare the Genevan Bible with the translations of Tyndale
and Coverdale, and with the Great Bible, we shall find
that con.siderable variation exists, but that the Genevan
translation is nearer to the Great Bible than to any
other. In Numb. xxiv. 15 — 24, the Genevan Bible
differs from Tyndale about forty-six times, from tho
Great Bible about thirty-five. In Isa. xii. the variation
from the Great Bible is about the same in amount, four
changes in eax-h verse ; in several of these the version
returns to Tyndale. In Ps. xc. the Great Bible is de-
serted in more tlian eighty instances ; in two out of
every three the change is an improvement, and more
than fifty of the changes hold their gi-ound in the Autho-
rised Version. As will be seen hereafter, the Authorised
Version has been very largely iufluenced by the Genevan
Bible, which, in that part of the Old Testament not
translated hj Tjoidale, was the most thorough and
satisfactory of all the earlier versions. The rendering
of some words in Gen. iii. 7, "and made themselves
breeches," has given to the Genevan translation the
name by which it is popiilarly known, the " Breeches
Bible." One peculiarity strikes the reader at once, and
points to a Avi-iter much followed by the translators.
Tliis is the orthography of the Hebrew proper names,
which not only frequently appear in a dress novel to
the English reader, but also have an accent to mark
the original pronunciation. Thus we find laakob,
Izhdk, Zidkiah, Habel, Rahel, Heuah (Eve). This
peculiarity was derived from Pagninus, whose transla-
tion, remarkable for literal fidelity, had very great
weight with the Genevan translators. Dr. Westcott
examines minutely the variation of this Aversion from
tlic Great Bible in several portions of the Old Testa-
ment, and proves that most of the changes were made
in the interests of literalness of translation ; that many
are traceable to Pagninus, some to the Latin versions
of Mi'm.ster and Leo Juda, and to tlie French Bible ; and
that in tJie Apocryphal Books the Genevan version was
much influenced by a French translation by Beza. The
Apocryphal Books in this version rec^uire special notice.
In the earlier English Bibles the translation of these
books was based on the Latin, either directly or through
the intervention of other versions. (Thus in Tobit i.,
ii., iii., the narrative was given in the third person, as
in the Latin Bible ; in the Greek text the first person
is mainly used, and accordingly we find this person in
our present version.") This important change of text
was made by the Genevan translators. The Prayer of
Manasses, given by Rogers aud in the Great Biljle, is
hare omitted.
The language of the Genevan version does not pre-
sent much difficulty to the reader of the present day.
Sometimes we find words which have a more modern
look than those of the Authorised Version, as cxcom-
miiiiicate, amity, hurlyhnrly, s^irgeoa, umpire; several
other words are strange, or are used in a peculiar sense,
as quadriii (Mark xii. 42), chapman, improve (reprove),
frail (basket), grenne (gin), commodity (Rom. xiii. 16)»
330
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
grieces (Acts xxi. 40). On this subject the reader may-
find mncli interesting' information in a little book en-
titled English Retraced (Cambridge, 1862').
To the great and deserved popularity of the Genevan
Bible we have already referred. The times were
favourable to its success. No one can forget the inci-
dent which occurred on the day of Elizabeth's corona-
tion, when the City of London presented the young
Queen -n-ith an English Bible. Elizabeth thanked the
City for their "goodly gift," kissed the sacred book,
and promised she would "' diligently read therein."
The people saw in this the symbol of the restoration of
the Scriptures to their rightful place of authority ; and
though many expectations were disappointed, yet from
that day the English Bible has been free. In 1559
Elizabeth repeated the injunctions issued by Edward
Tl., that every parish should provide "one whole Bible
of the lai-gest volume in English," together with the
paraphrases of Erasmus. It was ordered that inquiry-
should bo made whether any " parsons, vicars, or
curates did discourage any person from reading any
part of the Bible."
The expense of the publication of the Genevan Bible
was borne by the English community in that city. In
1561 Bodley obtained from the Queen a patent for the
exclusive printing of this version during seven years.
In the same year he published an edition in folio at
Geneva. In the course of Elizabeth's reign as many as
seventy editions of the Genevan Bible and thirty of
the New Testament, in all sizes from folio to 48mo,
some in black letter and others in the ordinary cha-
racter, were issued from the press. A few ef these
were printed abroad, but the large majority at home.
In 1579 appeared the first Bible printed in Scotland, a
folio volume, " printed by Alexander Arbutlmot, Printer
to the King's Majestie."
Amongst the editions of the Genevan Testament
referred to above are mcluded those of a revision by
Lawrence Tomson, first j)ublished in 1576. Tomson
was secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, then Secre-
tary of State ; an inscription on a marble tablet in
Chertsey Church celebrates his knowledge of twelve
languages and the excellence of his character. On the
very title-page of his Testament Tomson professes his
obligations to or rather dependence upon Beza, whoso
annotations he reproduces to a very considerable extent.
The text, however, is not much altered, and the chief
characteristic of this edition is the large extent of
the commentaiy in the margin. This revision passed
thi-ough many editions, and was not unfrequcntly sub-
stituted for the Testament of 1560 in issues of the
Genevan Bible.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EASTEEN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
SICKNESS, DEATH, BUEIAL, AND MOUENING.
BY THE REV. DK. EDERSHEIM.
^^^^.^ROM the nature of it, there is no subject on
Avliich more differing and often more extra-
vagant utterances could be strung together,
j^^:^^ as expressive of the views of the Rabbis,
tlian on death, the hereafter, the resurrection, and the
kingdom to come. For although Scripture was very
definite in the purport of its teaching on these subjects,
yet it was in the Old Testament expressed so briefly —
we had almost said, so indefinitely — as far as details
are concerned, that a wide field was left for the specu-
lations, the fancies, and the endless logical and exege-
tical inferences of Rabbinical theology. And yet,
strange though it may appear to some, there are few
subjects on which the student could collate more
passages from the Rabbis that remind him of what he
reads in the New Testament. A few of these sayings
•of old may here find a place.
An argument somewhat similar to tliat by which our
Lord proved to the Sadducees the immortality of the
soul (Mark xii. 26, 27), occurs in the Babylon Talmud
(Ber. 18, a), where it is argued from two passages of
Scripture, that "the righteous are called living after
their physical death;" while in another place {Taan. 5)
we read that "our father Jacob is not dead." Similarly,
the expression of St. Jude (ver. 12), " twice dead, plucked
up by the roots," finds its counterpart in this {Ber. 10, a) :
" Thou art dead here below, and thou shalt have no part
in the life to come." Even the sublime comparison of
St. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 36—44), in which the burial of the
body is likened to the sowing of some grain, finds an
echo, however faint, in the Rabbinical parable [Midr. B.
Gen. 33) about the dispute between the straw, the
stubble, and the chaff, each maintaining that the ground
is only tilled for its sake, till the grain of wheat shows
them the end of each — to rot or to be blo-wn away, all
except the seed-corn, which grows for nourishment here,
and spi-ings up into new life hereafter. If in the
Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 14) we read, that " here wo
have no continuing city, but seek one to come;" and
in that to the Corinthians (2 Cor. v. 1) of a " dwelling
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" and if
St. Peter admoni.shes us as " strangers and pilgrims,"
we have it in the Mishna {Aboth iv. 16), " This world
is like an antechamber to the world to come ; prepare
thyself, therefore, in it for entering the banqueting
hall; " and in the Talmud {3Ioed K. 9), " This world is
like a liostelry on a journey ; the world to come is our
real dwelling-place." And the reproof of our blessed
Lord to the Sadducees concerning the resurrection, in
which there was neither marrying nor giving in marriage
(Mark xii. 25), would find the more ready reception by
His hearers, that it may have reminded some of them of
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EASTERN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
331
the higher teaching of their own sages; At any rate,
we read it as the utterance of the great Bab [Ber. 17, a),
" The world to come is not like this world. There, there
is neither eating nor drinking; neither marrying nor
business ; neither jealousy, hatred, nor discussion ; but
the sages, wearing their crowns, shall enjoy the sight
of the Shechiuah, as it is written (Exod. xxiv. 11),
* they saw God, and did eat and di-ink.' "' But even
the exhortation of our Lord concerning the laying up
for ourselves of treasures not on earth, but in heaven,
finds this parallel {Ah. vi.), " In parting out of this
world, not gold nor silver, but his woi'ks, accompany a
man ; " while the expression, " Out of thine own mouth
thou art condemned,"' is recalled to us by two Talmudical
sayings [Cliag. iv. 6 ; Taan. 11, a), to the effect that at the
judgment-seat each soul would be made to bear witness
of its actions. According to Rabbi Eliezer, the souls of
the righteous were under the throne of the Divine glory.
And, Avithout entering into details, it is quite ceiiain
that the Jewish fathers taught a twofold resurrection —
that of the righteous in the days of the Messiah, and
that of all men at the final judgment.
If we have heard among the Rabbis echoes of New
Testament sayings about death and that which is to
follow, it is interesting to know that the allusions to
death, burial, and mourning which occur in the Gospels
are alike confirmed and illustrated hj the customs pre-
valent at the time.
When St. James wrote (i. 27), that " Pure religion
and imdefiled before God and the Father is this : to
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction," he
appealed to a principle universally admitted in his time.
Yisitation of the sick was regarded as a religious duty ;
the more so, that eacli visitor was supposed to carry
away a small portion of the disease. In the figurative
language of those days, it was said that the Shechinah
rested over the head of the sick-bed. Indeed, accord-
ing to one opinion {Jer. Ber. ii. 3), sickness atoned for
sin ; the somewhat curious reference here being to the
•conjunction of the two in Ps. ciii. 3. Other and truer
views are expressed in the Babylon Talmud [Ber. 5, a),
"which almost remind us of the language of the Epistle
to the Hebrews fxii. 5 — 11). "While suffering, a man
was to examine himself, it was said — first, about his past
conduct (Lam. iii. 40) ; next, whether he had neglected
the study of the Law (Ps. xciv. 12l Having satisfied
himself on these points, he was to regard the dispensa-
tion of God as a trial of his faith, and an evidence of
God's love; he was to recognise God in all, and "to
receive it with love." '
But we have been wandering from our point, which
was to show that visitation of the afflicted constituted,
by universal consent, at least one part of " pure reli-
gion." According to the Rabbis, the following " works
of mercy " were traced up to the command to love one's
neighboiir as oneself — nor was there any measure indi-
cated in, or limitation to, their observance — ^viz., to visit
1 It is characteristic that, according to another authority, wounds,
leprosy, and the death of children, are not to be regarded as proofs
Of the Divine love, nor as atoning for sin.
the sick, to comfort the mourners, to carry out tho dead,
to introduce a bride, to be helpful to travellers, and to
take part in all connected with a burial. Nay, if a
funeral convoy and a bridal procession met, the latter
had to give way to the former, and they who attended
it to foUow the dead. It took precedence even of a
royal j)ageant ; and it was said in praise of Agrippa I.
that he was wont to join funeral processions. With-
out here entering into particulars on the treatment of
the dying or of the sick, we may mention as at least
a curious coincidence, that, according to the Talmud
[Shab. 110), it was customary after administering re-
medies, to say to the patient, " Kum" ("Arise"), just
as we read it in Mark v. 41, " Tcditha cumi." Of the
present ceremonies of tho Jews beside the dying-bed
there are no traces in ancient times.
The first duty, after death had really taken place, was
to close the eyes and the mouth of the deceased. B'^t
this should never be attempted so long as the faintest
breath remained, since the least interference would
hasten the decease. Then the body was either laid
upon the bare gi-ound, or on sand or salt. Next, the
closing of eyes and mouth was firmly secured; alter
which, as we read in the case of Tabitha (Acts ix. 37),
the body was washed in warm water. There is singular
confirmation of the Gospel narratives in what then
followed. As we read, in the case of our blessed Lord,
of the ointment against the burial (Matt. xxvi. 12),
of the spices and ointments (Luke xxiii. 56), and of the
mixtm-e of mp-rh and aloes (John xix. 39), so the Rabbis
speak {Ber. 53, a) of the "spices for the dead ; " and name
aloes and myrrh, as well as hyssop, oH of roses, and
rose-water, as those with which the body was nibbed.
Next, hair and nails were cut (the hair of a bride being
allowed to flow loose), and all the openings of the body
closed up. As to the clothes in which the dead were to
be arrayed, considerable difference prevailed. Till after
the destruction of Jerusalem much luxury seems to have
been displayed, and "gi-eat quantity of spices," "many
ornaments," large sums of money, " furniture of gold
and precious goods," were deposited with the dead
( Josephus, Antt. xv. 3, § 4 ; x-vi. 7, § 1). The body of
Herod the Great was carried on a golden bier encrusted
with jewels, and wrapped in pui'ple ; a diadem aad a
crown of gold were on his head, and a sceptre in his
hand. The procession was attended by his army, in
order of battle, and followed by five hundred servants,
carrj-ing spices {Antt. xvii. 8, § 3). Indeed, such was the
desire to outdo one another in these melancholy exhibi-
tions that at last people left their relatives unburied, so
as not to have a meaner funeral than their neighbom-s.
As a rule, it was ordered that burial should follow
as soon as possible after the fact of death had been
quite ascertained. Of this we have instances in the
immediate burial of Stephen (Acts viii. 2), and ef
Ananias and Sapphira (Acts v. 6, 10). An exception
was made after hea^-y rains, &c., and at the death of
parents, whom the children were thought to honour
by keeping their remains even for three days. As the
sepulchres were roomy, and not closed up, there was
332
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
uot so much danger to be apprehended from premature
burial. It is a very remarkable fact, wlncli may tbroAV
additional light on the visit of the women to the grave of
Jesus, that the law expressly allowed the opening of the
g.-ave on the third day, in oi-der to look after the dead.
In the case of the ruler of the synagogue, whose
daughter Christ raised from death (Matt. ix. 23), im-
uu'diate preparations seem to have been made for the
i>urial; and the Lord found ou His arrival the company
already assembling, " and saw the minstrels " in waiting
to begin the funeral music. On the other hand, the
disciples had laid the body of Tabitha in the "upper
chamber," expecting the arrival of Peter (Actsix. 37, 39).
Quito irrespective of the circumstance that the later
Ribbis, at least, held that the departed knew what
passed in this world — that they hovered about their
u:iburied remains, and felt any slight or dishonour
attaching to them — the Jews at all times displayed great
reverence towards the dead. Even in its excess this is
OHO of those evidences of exquisite religious delicacy
which truly characterised Judaism. It was customary
to provide one's burying-placc beforehand ; and family
sepulchres are mentioned in the earliest Hebrew records
(Gen. xxiii. 20 ; Judg. viii. 32 ; 2 Sam. ii. 32). The heirs-
at-law were prohibited from disposing of such. Burying-
places were, as a rule, outside the cities — commonly at
no less a distance than fifty cubits. In Jerusalem no
dead body was allowed to remain over night. The
favourite localities for burying were rocky places and
caves. Sepulchres were also prepared in gardens. Two
bodies were not laid iu the same niche, except those of a
daughter with her father, or of a son with his mother.
If the dead were buried in successive layers, at least six
Jiand-breadths of earth must intervene (about a foot and
a half). The names given to burying-places, such as
" house of assembly," "hostelry," " place of rest" or " of
freedom," " field of the weepers," " house of eternity,"
" house of life," &c., are expressive of the ideas pre-
valent. After the final scattering of Israel the desire
to be buried in the soil of Palestine became so intense
that it used to be said, " He that rests iu Palestine is as
if he were bui-ied under the altar."
Sepulchres vrere so constructed as to consist of a
kind of antechamber which led down lower to one or
more passages and chambers (sometimes right and left),
where the bodies were deposited. Hence we read that
in the new rock-hewn toml) of Joseph of Arimathfea, in
the garden, Avhich evidently was capable of holding
several bodies (John xix. 41), John "stooped down " to
look into the sepidehre ; while " Simon Peter, follomng
him, went into the sepulchre " (John xx. 5, 6). Com-
monly, family sepulchres held either eight or else
thirteen bodies. The dead were deposited in a re-
cumbent position, either in, or, in earlier times, more
commonly Avithout a coffin. The place of sepulture
was closed by a door, or large stone (John xi. 38, 39;
Mark xv. 46 ; Matt, xxvii. 66). Sepulchres were whitened
once a year (in the month Adar), so as to indicate their
presence, and prevent defilement from the dead. After-
wards it became customary to erect monuments, but the
practice was disapproved by the Rtiljbis. Wluit we call
gi'avestones were uot at all in use. Criminals and
suicides were buried in a spat apart, but their families
were allowed afterwards to gather their remains. Places
of sepulture were protected from profanation. It was not
lawful to Avalk on the grass that covered graves, far less
to allow sheei) to feed upon it. All light behaviour,
eating or drinking m a cemetery, etc., were regarded
as insults to the dead. On the other hand, it was for-
bidden to wear phylacteries, or to carry a book of the
Law among sepulchres. As partly sanitary measures,
no spring used for drinking-water, or public thorough-
fare, was allowed to pass through a graveyard.
The funeral procession receiA'cd in its progress every
token of respect. Each one rose as it passed, and, if
possible, joined the cortege. First came, generally, the
women ; then, in Judaea, the hired mourners, men and
women, who made lamentation, and the funeral music ;
next came the bier, on which the body lay, generally open,
or in a cotfin (called " ark," or " chest ") ; after Avliich fol-
lowed the chief mourners, the special friends; and, lastly,
the general company. In Galilee the hired mourners
went after the bier. Commonly the body was carried,
it being the custom frequently to change the bearers,
so that all might share in this " work of mercy. " Fttneral
cars, however, are also spoken of. The ordinary mode
of burial illustrates how Jesus could so easily arrest the
funeral procession at Naiu, bid the youth sit up, and
restore him to his widowed mother (Luke vii. 11 — lb).
Over the bier of a bride or bridegroom it became
customary to carry a baldachino ; nor was the face of a
bridegroom covered, which, at least in later times, was
the practice. The custom of laying a disused roll of
the Law beside sages, at their burial, was disapproved.
Children under one year were not carried ou a bier ; for
those under one month there were no motiniing cere-
monies— the warrant for this omission being derived
from the example of David on the death of his firstborn,
byBathsheba (2 Sam. xii. 15 — 23). The noise, weeping,
and lamentations at a funeral made the rites needlessly
repulsive. There were regular mourning-chants iu
use, while other hymns were fuU of laudations of the
deceased. When to all this are added the noise of
trumpets and flutes, the howling of the paid mom*ners,
the tambourines and tinkling of the cymbals of tiie
mourning-women, and the glare of torches, the scene
can be more easily imagined than described. These
extravagances are not to be confouiuled with the
mourning-hymns, for example, of David at the death
of Saul and Jonathan i^2 Sam. i.), or of Jeremiah for
King Josiah (2 Chron. xxxv. 25), although the demon-
strations of grief among Easterns were always loud.
Commonly the funeral procession halted seven times,
and a short address was given at each pause. At
the grave a funeral oration was delivered, and certain
verses and benedictions repeated, acknowledging God,
and recognising His justice. Then the company formed
in two rows, through which the chief mourners passed,
each addressing to them some words of consolation.
Anciently, at the burial of kings (2 Chron. xvi. 14-;
THE ACTS OP THE APOSTLES.
o33
xxi. 19 ; Jer. xxxiv. 5), and afterwards at tliat of dis-
tiugiiislied men, precious spices wore burned. Thus
Akylas, the well-known Jewish proselyte, emulated at
the burial of Gamaliel the expenditure usual at royal
funerals. But anything like " cremation " was expressly
denounced as a heathen i^ractice ^ {Avod. Sar. 11).
That certain mourning rites were observed in the
earliest times appears from the Biblical record. At
the death of Sarah " Abraham came to mourn and weep
for her " (Gen. xxiii. 2) ; while at the tidings of that of
Joseph '• Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon
his loins" (Gen. xxxvii. 31). The Egyptian mourning for
Jacob gave even its name to a place in Palestine (Gen. 1.
11). The friends of Job came to offer consolation, and
when so doing rent their upper garments, sprinkled dust
upon their heads, and sat dovra with him upon the ground
seven days and seven nights, "and none spake a word
unto him " (Job ii. 12, 13). The mourning for Moses
1 The cremation of Saul and of his sons (1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13) was
prohablv due to a special cause ; and the reference in Amos vi. 10
may apply to the prevaieuco cf the plague.
and Aaron lasted thirty days (Numb. xx. 29,- Deut. xxxiv.
8), as in later times that for distinguished persons (Jos.
/. Wars, iii. 9, § 5), though the book of Ecclesiasticus
speaks only of seven days in the case of near relatives.
The Book of Psalms (Ps. xxxv. 13, 14, &c.) implies
that a special " mourning- dress" was worn; while the
admonition to Ezekiel (xxiv, 17) shows that in his
days it was customary in such circumstances to put
off the head-gear and the sandals, to cover the lower
part of the face, like a leper, and to " eat the bread of
men," which in Hosea ix. 4, and Jer. xvi. 7, is more par-
ticularly explained as " the bread of mourners " and the
"cup of consolation." Indeed, the custom of such a
meal and of a cup of consolation is already alluded to
in 2 Sam. iii. 35, and in Prov. xxxi. 6. The address of
David at the burial of Abner (2 Sam. iii. 33, 34) was a
kind of funeral oration. Many other passages in the
Bible alluding to mourning practices will readily occur
to the reader. The only rites interdicted were those in
imitation of heathen customs, which tended to deface
the body (Lev. xix. 28 ; Deut. xiv. 1).
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
BY THE EDITOR.
iLL that has to be said as to the writer of
this book has already been brought before
our readers in the introduction to the
Gospel of St. Luke. What we have here
is manifestly a sequel to that Gospel, addressed to the
same persons by the same writer. And as everything con-
nected with the Gosj)el led us to think of it as specially
intended for the instruction of Gentile converts, so in
the Acts we have what was manifestly designed to show
tlie way in which the purpose of God had been brought
to fullilmeut, and those who had before been aliens liad
been admitted into the same society, tlie same Church,
the same kingdom of God, as those who were of the
stock of Abraham. The purpose of the book thus re-
cognised limits in some measure the promise of its title.
It does not give us the Acts of the Twelve, their mission
Vr'ork in Palestine, or in the farther regions of the East.
It hardly goes beyond the Acts of St. Peter and St.
Paul, and of these it gives a selection rather than a con-
tinuous narrative, and leaves gaps which we have no
matei'ials for filling up.
It may ])e added that tliere is a manifest purpose
subordinate to this, wliich determined the choice of the
facts recorded, and the prominence assigned to them.
In the controversies which had followed on the teaching
of St. Paul, and the efforts of the Judaising teachers to
supplant him, the name of Peter had been freely used
by the latter as their leader. Those who said " I am of
Cephas" couuted on that name as a tower of strength.
Their boast was not altogether without foundation. On
one melancholy occasion the Apostle of the Circumcision
had suffered himself to be misled by them, and had practi-
cally sided with them (Gal. ii. 14). St. Paul had been com-
pelled to stand up in direct oi)position and to rebuke him.
There seemed some probability of a permanent division.
The Gentile converts of Italy, of whom Theophilus was
one, were sure to have heard of these disputes, probably
with many exaggerations, and it was in every way
natural and legitimate that he should write to give its
due prominence to the fact that the two great Apostles
had been of one heart and mind as regards the admission
of the Gentile converts, that the door of faith had been
tliro\vn open in the first instance by St. Peter, and that
the great charter cf the freedom of the Gentile converts
had come from the Apostles and elders of Jerusalem.
The absence of any reference to the one interruption of
this concord was not necessarily, even assuming that
the writer of the Acts knoAv it, a snppressio veri in any
sense in which such a suppression would have been cul-
pable. It was but a passing personal weakness, which
St. Paul was compelled to notice because his own inde-
pendence had ])oon challenged, and he had been repre-
sented as having no direct Divine commission of his
own, l)ut wliich did not affect at all the great work of
the Church, and might therefore well be passed over.
Over and above its interest as showing the gradual ex-
pansion of the Church, both as to extent and compre-
hensiveness, the book now before us has in other ways a
special value.
(1.) As occupying a prominent place among the
evidences of the Christian faith. The abruptness of
its close, its fixing- precisely the close of the two years'
imprisonment of St. Paul, the manifest familiarity of
tlie writer and the assumed familiarity of tlie readers in
334
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
cliap. xxviii. with the details of Italian topography, at
least suggests the iuference that the book aa'iis written
at Rome before the great Neronian persecution. A
comparison of its narrative with St. Paul's Epistles,
such as that worked out in Paley's Horce Paidiiicv,
confirms this inference, and loaves hardly any shadow
as to the conclusion that Ave have here a strictly contem-
porary narrative. The total absence of any ostentatious
desire on the part of the writer to represent himself as
an ej^e-Avitness of, or actor in, the events Avhicli he
narrates — his open confession (Luke i. 2) that he Avas, as
regards the first part of his history, but a compiler from
the oral or written records of others ; — all this gives
a special force to the incidental — one might almost say
accidental — AA-ay in AA'hich he glides, at some portions of
his narrative, into the first person, as in the journey
from Troas to Philippi (Acts xvi.), again from Philippi
to Troas, and so on to Jerusalem, and again in the story
of the voyage to Italy, and so shoAvs that he had been
the friend and companion of the apostle Avhose Avork
he chronicles. All this is confirmed by the singular
accuracy Avhich marks his incidental notices affecting
the goA-ernmeut of provinces ov cities, such as that
of the proconsul of Cyprus, the aTparriyoi of Philii^pi,
the politarchs of Thessalonica. But if we admit this,
then it follows, eA'en from the book of the Acts taken
l)y itself, that the outline of the life, miracles, cruci-
fixion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord were
accepted as facts by all the churches, JcAvish and
Gentile alike, Avithin thirty years from the date of those
great events. It folloAvs, as the Acts presupposes the
Gospel, that that also was written and Avas read, Avitli
all its fulness of incident and teaching, at the same
early date; that, so far from being the first of such
AATitten records, it presupposes the existence of many
previous narratives of the same kind, more or less
incomplete, it may bo, but substantially agreeing Avith
that which he sets forth. And if so, then it folloAvs
that that Gospel narrative on which our faith rests is
no mythical aftergrowth of a period removed from all
contemporary evidence, no " cunningly dcA^sed fable "
imposed on the credulity of an uncritical period, but
the record of one who had gathered information from
many different sources, and Avas capable of sifting it.
(2.) OA-er and above this evidential value, the Acts
serves as the indispensable introduction to St. Paul's
Epistles. Without it they Avould come before us as
the fragments of a literature and a life Avhich it Avoidd
be hard to reconstruct iu any intelligible form. We
should not have knoAvn hoAv it AA-as that the persecutor
had become the apostle, but for the threefold narratiA'o
of his conversion. We should have failed to under-
stand hoAV it Avas that he became "all things to all
men," if we had no record of his maintaining the
freedom of the Gentile converts from the burden of the
Law, and yet circumcising Timotheus ; of the singular
variety of his teaching, as addressed to his own country-
men in the synagogue at Antioch iu Pisidia, or to the
peasants at Lystra, or to the Stoics and Epicureans
at Athens. The Epistles, it is true, brin^ out, as it was
natural they shoidd do, individual traits of character
Avhioh the narrative leaves unnoticed, but the broad
outline of the man's life is brouglit before us, and by
the union of the tAVO sources of information, it stands
before us with such a wonderful distinctness, that
there are foAv great teachers of any age or country
Avliom Ave know better or so Avell. Such a narrative
as that of the voyage and shipAvreck, in chap, xxvii.,
is absolutely unique in the books of Holy Scripture ;
and in its circumstantial detail, in the incidents and
measurements, Avhich seem to come as from a ship's log,
leaA'es on us an impression of unquestionable truthfid-
ness ; and that narrative brings out the courage, the
calmness, the cheerfulness, almost the humour of the
Apostle Avith a vividness Avhich makes the Avholc scene
pi-esent to our mind. And it is noticeable that this
scene is interwoven Avith the higher supernatural side
of the Apostle's life so closely that the tAVO can hardly
be disjoined. The vision, the prophecy, the assui-ance
in a Divine protector ansAvering his prayers, these are
as much an integral portion of the narrative as the
hoisting up the mainsail or the casting of the lead.
(3.) Not less significant is the A'aluc of the Acts as
lacing the first volume of the history of the Christian
Church. The small brotherhood of disciples, aa'Iio in
the Gospels are but as scholars, sIoav of heart to under-
stand, gathering roimd the Master whose words are
higher than their thoughts, are now thrown on their
OAvn resources, brought into noAV and imexpected com-
binations of events, compelled to accept, not only the
promptings of a higher Avisdom, lout the guidance of
unforeseen circumstances. And tlio writer, though he
has a purpose before him, that of so selecting events as
to mark the steps of outAvard and iuAvard groAvth, is
yet as far as possible from giving simply a highly-
colom'ed picture of ideal perfection. The first gloAV of
love and liberality had a special charm for one Avhose
own nature was generous and free-hearted, and avIio
had been led to record in his Gospel with special
fulness all the portions of our Lord's teaching AA'hich
bove upon the danger of riches and the blessedness of
almsgiA-ing ; and so in the early chapters he returns
again and again, Avith a manifest delight, to the de-
scription of the time Avhen all were of one mind and of
one heart, and the spontaneous surrender of personal
lights made any enforced community of goods un-
necessary. But Avith this exception, the histoi*y notes
blemishes as Avell as excellences ; records the first
sectional controversy in the ncAV society, in the mur-
murings of the Grecians against the HebrcAvs, because
their Avidows were neglected in the daily ministration ;
the first doctrinal controversy, in the demand of the
Christian Pharisees that the Gentiles should be cir-
cumcised, and compelled to observe the whole Mosaic
hiAV ; the first personal dispute, in the sharp dissension
betAveen Paul and Barnabas as to the fitness of John,
sui-named Mark, for missionary labours. And avc find
that each such controversy becomes the starting-point
of a noAV and higher development or of a wider activity.
The first leads to the appointment of the seven, and
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
tliroiigli them, as successors to their work, of the per-
manent cliacouate. The second issued in the first
great example of the practice, afterwards so prominent
in Chm-ch history, of settHng disputes of docti-ine or
discipline by the deliberations and canons of a council,
and in establishing the principle of the freedom of the
Gentile converts on an unshaken basis, while in prac-
tice it urged a policy of reciprocal concessions. The
last had as its ultimate I'esult the extension of St.
Paul's labours, which might otherwise have been more
or less within the limits of his first journey through the
eastern and central provinces of Asia, to the farthest
limits of the West. We have the picture of a universal
Chiu'ch, one in its faith in the Lord Christ, whose
name it came to bear ; but presenting then, as it has
done ever since, diversities of usage, character, organi-
sation, according to the A^arying circumstances of each
local church. And as the work goes on the centre of
action is shifted. At fii'st Jerusalem is the head-
quarters of the mission-work of the preachers of the
new faith. Then Antioch in its turn becomes the
new centre, the mother Church of the Gentile Christen-
dom. We feel, as we close the book, though the history
stops with St. Paul's arrival at the imperial city, that
from that time Rome would of necessity assume a new
character in the history of the Church ; that mission-
work there would be more important tlian in any
region of the world ; that its influence would, for good
or evil, gradually become predominant.
(4.) It lies in the nature of the case that the Acts
should present itself as pre-eminently the hand-book,
so to speak, of missionary enterprise. And there is, if
I mistake not, something specially suggestive in the
report it gives of the apostolic method of evangelising.
Those who entered on that work did not rest satisfied
\vith preaching a new doctrine, still less did they dream
that the work could be done by distributing books,
however sacred, broadcast over the world. They
taught, they roused the conscience ; they appealed to
the light of nature, to the witness of God borne by
the rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, to the pro-
phecies of the Christ that was to come. But they
came cliiefly as witnesses of facts, of things that they
had seen and heard, and pre-eminently of the one fact
of the Resurrection as a witness at once of the victory
over death and sin which had been won by Christ,
and of the future resurrection of mankind to appear
before Him as the Judge of the living and the dead.
And having done this, they proceeded to organise a
society ; and that society was to have, as its conditions
of existence, the Baptism without which no one was
admitted to membership ; the Supper of the Lord,
wliich was to be the token and the means of the com-
munion of all members, breaking down all barriers of
race, or culture, or rank, in a life higher than their OAvn.
And with this there were at least the outlines of a wide
world-embracing organisation. Elders or bishops (the
two names were at first interchangeable) were ordained
in eveiy city to be pastors of the flock, and as such to
guide and teach. Deacons were appointed to help them
in their ministrations, and specially in those that had
to do with the works of mercy, which formed so pro-
minent a ijart in the life of every church. From time
to time the church was visited by an apostle, or by an.
apostolic delegate, such as Timothy and Titus, to set
in order whatever was amiss. The members of one
church felt that they might count on those of others
as brethren, and commended Christian travellers or
teachers to their good offices. On special emergencies
the bishop-elders gathered together under the guidance
of apostles, and their decrees were submitted to the
approval of the great body of the faithful. We do not
find in the Acts, or anywhere else in the ITew Testa-
ment, a code of poUty or discii>line. What we do find
is a society which has its life organised ; its badges and
traditions ; its branches, each with an independent life,
yet recognising the one great society to which all seve-
rally belong. That type presents itself as the model to
which all missionary work must conform, if it seeks for
any measure of success like that which this book records.
(5.) Lastly, the inquiry as to the probable sources of
the information from which the book was compiled is,
if I mistake not, very full of interest. We know from
the book itself that the writer was with St. Paul on his
last journey to Jerusalem, and from chap. xx. to the
end we have the narrative of an eye-witness. But on
this journey they stop at Ccesarea (xxi. 8), and are
received by Philip the Evangelist, and from him, then
or during the longer i^eriod of St. Paul's iuiprisonment,
he could not fail to learn the vdiole history of the
appointment of the seven, the work and martyrdom of
Stephen, the labours of Philip in Samaria, the conver-
sion of the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius, the death
of Herod Agrippa. Thus then we cover chaps, vi.. vii.,
viii., X., xi., and part of xii. But the travellers were
accompanied also by Mnason of Cyprus, " an old dis-
ciple," or, as the word means, a disciple from the very
beginning", and here we get a new source of informa-
tion to fill up the gap left by previous witnesses. He
was a resident at Jerusalem, for the writer and St.
Paul were to lodge with him. He must at least have
known something of those " men of Cyprus " who first
preached the word of God to the Greeks or Gentiles
at Antioch, even if he were not lumself one of them,
and we may reasonably look to him as St. Luke's chief
informant for the events that fill chaps, i. — v., for the
pictures of the Church's life that are there so graphi-
cally drawn. For all that concerns St. Paul, perhaps
in part also for what concerns St. Stephen and Gama-
liel, we can have no doubt, if we accept the fact of com-
panionship, in looking to him as the source of all that
is recorded in the Acts, perhaps even as the actual
reporter of St. Stephen's strangely interrupted speech,
calm and continiious at first, then hurried and impetuous,
then broken off by the clamour of his opponents. The
echoes of that speech, which meet us in St. Paul's dis-
course in Acts xiii. 17 — 22, and in Gal. iii. Id, sere prima
facie evidence of the deep impression it made on him.
It is obvious that all these traces of opportunities well
used bear upon the first book addressed to TheophUus
536
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
as well as the second, upon the Gospel as well as
upon the Acts. Add the manifest traces of access to
the company of devout women whom he alone names
(Lnke viii. 2, 3), and of wliom the mother of the Lord
was, we may well believe, the centre, and of an intimate
such as the calling of a physician might naturally
liave led to (Luke viii. 1 ; xxiii. 6—12 ; Acts xiii. 1),
and it is not too mucli to say that we have before
us the picture of one possessing means of information
and care in using them which make his record in the
acquaintance with the members of the Herodian family, j highest sense of the word historical from first to last.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
THE BISHOPS' BIBLE.
3T THE KEV. W. F. HOULTOX, 5I.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN., HEAD MASTEK OF THE WESLETAN HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE.
I^L^RIXG the early part of Elizabeth's reign,
the English Scriptures were circulated
mainly in two versions. Four editions,
indeed, of Tyndiile's Testament are assigned
to the Tears 1561, 1566, 1570, but it does not appear that
the Bibles of Coverdale, Taverner, or Matthew were
reprinted after 1553 ; hence the Great Bible and the
Genevan Bible, the versions associated with Archbishop
Cranmer and with the Puritan exiles, were left in
possession of the field. The former alone had any
authority or ecclesiastical influence on its side, but the
latter was the household Bible of England. For some
years new editions of Cranmer's version continued to
appear. Eight in all are known to have been published
in this reigu — together, it is said, with one New Testa-
ment of the same version, for printing Avhicli without
licence the printer. Richard Harrison, was fined eight
shillings. One of these Bibles, printed at Rouen in
1566, at the cost of R. Carmardeu, is especially noted
as a fine specimen of typography.
This state of things could not continue. It could not
be expected that the Genevan version (with its body of
notes, wliich reflected the views of one particular school
of theology, and which were not always guarded in
expression) would receive such official sanction as to
displace the Great Bible ; and, on the other hand, the
manifest superiority of the later translation, joined
witli its great popularity, made it impossible to restore
Cranmer's Bible to its former position. Matthew
Parker, the celebrated Archbishop of Canterbury, ,
consecrated in 1559, resolved on undertaking a revised
translation, upon a plan similar to that which Cranmer
had tried (tliough without success) in 1542. Letters
collected in the Aolume of the Parker coi'respondence,
published l)y the Parker Society, contain much inte- i
resting information respecting the archbishop's design, j
In 1566 he writes to Sir W. Cecil, stating that he has |
"distributed the Bible in parts to divers men," and
expressing a hope tliat Cecil A\'ill undei-take the re^-ision
of some "one epistle of St. Paul, or Peter, or James."
As early as December, 1565, we find a letter from Park-
hurst, Bishop of Xorwieh, acknowledging the receipt of
the portion whicli had been assigned to liim — five of the
Apocryphal books. About tlie same time, Geste, Bishop
of Rochester, writes, returning the Book of Psalms
revised, and expressing a hope tliat tlie archljishop will
excuse his '• rude handling of the Psalms." This modest I
j description of his work is not far from the truth. " I
have not altered the translation," he says, " but where
it giveth occasion of an error, as in the first Psalm, at
the beginning, I turn the preterperfeet tense into the
present tense, because the sense is too hard in the pre-
terperfect tense. Where in the Kew Testament one
jaiece of a Psalm is reported, I translate it in the Psahu
according to the translation thereof in the New Testa-
ment, for the avoiding of the offence that may rise to
I the people upon diverse translations." Sandys, Bishop
of Worcester (father of the poet, George Sandys), -iviites
on the 6th of February, 1566, annoimcing that he has
completed his portion (Kings and Chronicles) ; he adds
a criticism on the Great Bible — tliat Munster had been
followed too much by the translators. Da^•ies, Bishop
of St. DaA-id's, writes that he received the archbishop's
letter of December 6th, 1565, towards the close of the
' following February, and the " piece of the Bible "
(Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel) a week later !
He was at the same time engaged, with William Salis-
bury and Thomas Huatt, upon the first Welsh trans-
lation of the New Testament, which was published in
1567. A letter from Cox, Bishoj) of Ely, who was
entrusted with the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle
to the Ro]nans, shows a just appreciation of ilio magni-
tude of the task on whicli Parker had ventured. " I
would wish,"' he adds, "that such usual words that we
English people be acquainted with might still remaiT:
in their form and sound, so far forth as the Hebi-ew
AviU well bear. Inkhorn terms to bo avoided. Tlie
translation of the verbs in the Psalms to be used
uniformly in one tense, &c. ; and if ye translate bonifas
or misericordia, to use it likewise in all places of the
Psalms, &c." On the 5th of October, 1568, Parker
writes to Cecil, sending at the same time a copy of
the completed work, to be presented to the Queen.
" Because I would," he says to Cecil, " you knew all,
I here send you a note to signify who first travailed
in the divers books, though after them some other
perusing was had ; the letters of their names be partly
affixed in the end of their books, whicli I thought a
policy to shew tliem, to make them more diligent, as
answerable for tlieir doings. I have remembered you
of such observations as my first letters sent to them
(by your advice) did signify." The rules for the re-
visers here referred to were the following : — " First, to
follow the common Enjrlisli translation used in the
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
337
churches, and not to recede from it but where it varieth
manifestly from the Hebrew or Greek original. Item,
to use sections and divisions in the text as Pagniue in
Lis translation useth, and for the verity of the Hebrew
to follow the said Pagnine and Munster specially, and
generally others learned in the tongues. Item, to make
no bitter notes upon any text, or yet to set do^vn any
determination in places of controversy. Item, to note
such chapters and places as contain matter of genealo-
gies, or other such places not edifying, with some strike
or note, that the reader may eschew them in his public
reading. Item, that all such words as sound in the old
translation to any offence of lightness or obscenity, be
exj)ressed with more convenient terms and phrases."
It is a matter of greater difficulty to determine with
•exactness who were the revisers of the several books.
The letter just quoted contains a list, and at the end of
some books in the new Bible are initials which can be
identified with more or less certainty. Unfortunately
the list does not always agree with the initials; but the
discrepancy may perhaps be explained by the arch-
bishop's statement that some books passed through the
hands of more than one reviser. From the list we learn
that Parker himself iindertook Genesis, Exodus, the first
two Gospels, and the Pauline Epistles, "nith the excep-
tion of Romans and 1 Corinthians. Le^dticus and
Js'umbers were re'S'ised at Canterbury, probably by A.
Pierson, to whom Job and Proverbs also seem to have
been committed. Deuteronomy was placed in the hands
of Alley, Bishop of Exeter. At the end of the Psalter
•are the initials T. B., supposed to indicate Thomas
Bacon, a prebend of Canterbury. Ecclesiastes and
Canticles fell to the lot of A. Perne, Dean of Ely.
The earlier Apocryphal books were revised by Bishop
Barlow ; Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations by Home,
Bishop of Winchester ; Ezekiel and Daniel by Bentham,
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry ; the Minor Prophets
by Griudal, Bishop of Loudon. The third and fourth
Gospels seem to have been committed to Scambler,
Bishop of Peterborough ; 1 Corinthians to Goodman,
Dean of "Westminster; the General Ei^istles and the
Book of Revelation to Bullingham, Bishop of Lincoln.
The remaining books have already been referred to in
connection with their respective revisers. The above
particulars are not free from doubt, but they are pro-
bably not far from the truth. It will be observed that
most of the contributors were bishops, hence this version
is commonly known as tlie Bishops' Bible. Ai'chbishop
Parker, in reserving for himself so large a proportion of
the books of Scripture, some of these remarkable for
their difiiculty, was no doubt sui-e of obtaining eflBcient
co-operation in his work. The memory of one scholar,
Lawrence (possibly the Thomas Lawi-encc who was
head-master of Shrewsbury School from 1568 to 1583),
is j)reserved by Strype in his account of this version.
Lawi-euce, who was famed for his knowledge of Greek,
sent to the archbishop '• notes of errors in the transla-
tion of the New Testament." These notes relate to
nearly thirty passages of the New Testament, almost all
taken from the first three Gospels. It has been gene-
94 — VOL. IV.
rally supposed that the criticisms refer to the earlier
translations, and hence Lawrence has been classed
amongst the objectors whose complaints led to the
scheme for a new version. Upon examination, how-
ever, it will be found that the rendei-ings on which he
comments belong, without exception, to the first edition
of the Bishops' Bible itself; some, indeed, are not
foimd in any other version at all. These criticisms
belong, therefore, to a later date.
The preparation of this yersion appears to have
extended over three or four years. The letter accom-
panying the splendid copy which was presented to the
Queen bears date October 5, 1568. The Bible itself
had no dedication. On the title-page are no other
words than " The Holie Bible," with a quotation from
Rom. i. 16. In the centre is a portrait of the Queen,
and at the commencement of Joshua and the Psalter
are introduced portraits of the Earl of Leicester, and of
Cecil (Lord Burleigh). Prefixed to the book we find
a sum of the whole Scripture, a table of genealogy, a
table of the books of the Old Testament, with tables of
lessons and psalms, an almanac and calendar, two pro-
logues, a chronological table, and the table of contents;
woodcuts, maps, and other tables are also introduced
into the volume. The second of these prologues is
Cranmer's, taken from the Great Bible. The first is
written by Parker himself, and mainly consists of a
defence of translations of the Bible, and an earnest
exhortation to all to search the Scriptures : the design
and plan of the new version are also briefly explained.
There is also a preface to the New Testament from the
archbishop's hand. At the end of the volume is the
name of the printer, John Jugge, and the last page is
adorned with a woodcut representing a pelican feeding
her yoimg with her blood, and a Latin couplet on this
symbol of our Saviour's love.
A second edition, in a small quarto volume, was
issued in 1569 ; a third of the Bible, and an edition of
the New Testament, followed in 1570, 1571. In 1571
Convocation ordered that every archbishop and bishop
should have a copy of this version, "of the largest
volume," in his house, "to be placed in the hall or the
large dining-room, that it might be useful to their
servants, or to strangers ;" also that a copy shoidd be
placed in eveiy cathedral, and, as far as possible, in
every church.
The criticisms of Lawrence referred to above may
have been the occasion of a new re^dsion of the work.
However this may be, it is certain that the edition
published in 1572 contains a corrected translation of
the New Testament, in which nearly all the improve-
ments suggested by Lawrence are found in the tex*:.
In all, about thirty editions of this version appear to
have been published, almost all of these containing the
whole Bible. There are some singular difl'erences of
text and many other variations in the several editions.
The edition of 1572, for example, contains two transla-
tions of the Psalter in parallel columns — one properly
belonging to this version, the other taken from the
Great Bible. Other editions — those of 1575, 1595, for
338
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
instance — contain only the latter version of the Psalms.
Sometimes Parker's preface is omitted, so that Crau-
mer's stands alone, giving to a hasty reader the im-
pression that he has before him a copy of the Great
Bible. The last edition of the Bishops' Bible bears the
date 1608.
As to the character of the translation very different
views have been held. As the Genevan version and the
Bishops' Bible represented T;\adely different ecclesias-
tical oj)inions and sympathies, we can hardly wonder
that many a critic has given a partisan's opinion instead
of a sober judgment. We are, moreover, confronted by
a difficulty which has not hitherto existed. The revision
was entrusted to many hands; each reviser seems to
have acted independently, and the superintendence
exercised by the archbishop and others could not pos-
sibly render uniform the results of the separate action
of many minds. The version must therefore be examined
in various parts; one book cannot be taken as rej)re-
senting others. It need hardly bo said that the basis of
the translation is the Great Bible ; a glance is sufficient
to make this certain. The merits of the Genevan Bible
are so great, that, without losing sight of the Hebrew
and Greek scholarship of the revisers, or of the aids
which they (in common with the Genevan translators)
possessed and used, we may be content to try the
Bishops' Bible in most instances by one simple test —
how far have the revisers of the Great Bible availed
themselves of the corrections and the impi'ovements
which are found in the Genevan version ? Less could
scarcely be expeetc d than that those changes which were
real improvements, and which could be adopted without
sacrificing the style and spirit of the older translation,
should be taken into the text.
In Numb. xxiv. 15 — 24 the Bishops' Bible agrees in
almost every point with Cranmer's. In verse 15 we
read the plural (eyes are open) instead of the singular ;
in the next verse, "falleth with open eyes" is changed
into " falleth, and his eyes are opened ;" and in verse 24
"Chittim" is retained in the place of the doubtful inter-
pretation " Italy," adopted in the Great' Bible. Two of
these are changes for the better, but, on the other hand,
five or six clear improvements introdxiccd by the trjins-
lators of the Genevan version are passed over here.
2 Sam. xxiii. 1 — 7 is a passage of considerable difficulty,
and has given great trouble to translators, ancient and
modern. In these seven verses the Bishops' and the
Great Bible differ about eighteen times. Fifteen of the
new renderings in the former version are taken from
tho Genevan Bible. Of the eighteen changes, thirteen
may be called improvements ; with one excejition they
are derived from the Genevan Bible, from which also
come two changes which are clearly for the worse.
About twelve better renderings found in the Genevan
Bible are here neglected. In 1 Kings xix., which is a
fair specimen of a chapter of the historical books, tho
Bishops' Bible can hardly be distinguished from Cran-
mer's. In fourteen versos of the twenty-one there is no
difference whatever, and in the remaining seven the
discrepancy does not average as much as two words in
a verse. The chief variations are in verso 6, whei-e we
read " a cake baken on the coals " for " a loaf of broiled
bread;" and in verso 15, where "that thou mayest
anoint " is rightly changed into " and when thou comest
there anoint." For these two cori'cctions the reviser
Avas indebted to the Genevan Bible ; but more than
twenty emendations which the same version suggested
he has left unnoticed. In two difficult verses (12, 13)
of Isa. xliv., in which the Genevan Bible departs- from
Cranmer's at least twenty times (and usually for tho
better), the Bishops' Bible agrees with Cranmer's as far
as the last word, which is " house " instead of " temple."
In Prov. viii. 22 — 35, not more than six words of the
Bishops' Bible differ from Cranmer's, and in Eccles.
xii. not more than twelve, though in each chapter the
Genevan Bible contains some useful correction. On
the other hand, in Job xix. there are few verses of the
Great Bible which have not been altered in the revision.
Verses 25, 26, for example, stand thus in Cranmer's
Bible : " For I am sure that my Redeemer liveth, and
that I shall rise out of the earth iu the latter day;
that I shall 1)6 clothed again with this skin, and see God
in my flesh."' In the Bishops' Bible of 1568 we read*.
" For I am sure that my Redeemer liveth, and that he
shall raise up at the latter day them that lie in the dust ;
and though after my skin the worms destroy this body,
yet shall I see God in my flesh." This passage, it may
be remarked, illustrates cleai'ly the variations in the
different editions of the Bishops' Bible. The folios of
1568 and 1575, for example, read as above ; the quarto
of 1569 and the folio of 1595 go back in all important
respects to the reading of the Great Bible, the other
translation of verse 26 being placed in the margin.
The remai'kable rendering in verse 25 is new; the
changes iu verse 26 are from the Genevan Bible.
The conclusion from this investigation is not very
favourable to tho Bishops' Bible. In the Old Testa-
ment, it is clear, Cranmer's Bible was too closely
followed, and improvements which wore Teady to the
hand of the translators were not appreciated. "Wliat
is original in this version does not often possess any
great merit; nor does it appear that the rcdsiou of 1572
produced much effect in the Old Testament.
"When we come to consider the New Testament, it is
more important to distinguish between the two editions
of the Bishops' Bible. Lawi-ence's criticisms, already
spoken of, bring before us some thirty passages which
stood iu need of correction. All the renderings to
which Lawi-ence raised objection are to be found in tho
first edition of the Bishops' Bible: his corrections,
with the exception of one, are almost literally adopted
in the revision of 1572. In two or three instances the
faulty rendering is found in the Bishops' Bible alone ;
thus in Matt. xxi. 33 we read " made a vineyard," where
almost all other versions rightly have " planted ; " and
in Col. ii. 13 we find " dead to sin, and to tho uncircum-
cision of your flesh." The latter is so serious a mistake,
both as a translation of the Greek and in the sense
conveyed, that charity would require us to regard it as
a misprint if the preposition " to " were not repeated. In
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
339
most of tlio passages the renderings to which Lawrence
takes exception arc simply retained from the Great
Bible and other early versions. Lawrence's criticisms
are very interesting, and in most points imquestionably
just. "We owe to him several readings in om* present
Bibles — for example, armies in Matt. xxii. 7; besides
(instead of ivith) in Matt. xxv. 20 ; seize upon in Matt,
xxi. 33 (Lawrence's suggestion was, "take possession
or seisin upon his inheritance"); hranMe hush (instead
of bush or bushes) in Luke ^-i. 44. The last words of
Mai'k XV. 3, '• but he answered nothing,"' were intro-
duced at his suggestion from the Greek text of Stephens
(1546); this clause, however, is probably not genuine.
In judging of the merits of the translation of the
New Testament, we must take the version in its cor-
rected form, as it appeared in 1572. The verdict of
the student will vary according to the portion which he
is examining. Again and again he will wonder at the
retention of an early rendering which had been cor-
rected by a later translator, or the preference shown for
a roundabout phrase (such renderings as " when he had
gone a little further he,"' &c., instead of "he went a
little further, and," &c., are especially common in the
Bishops' Bible) ; but he will meet with many proofs of
close study of the original text, and an eai'nest desire to
represent it with all faithfulness to the English reader.
Dr. Westcott's comment on the translation of Epli. iv.
7 — 16 (a very difficult section) will show how much
merit is possessed by some portions, at least, of the
Bishops' Bible. Having pointed out that in this section
the Great Bible and the Bishops' differ iu twenty-six
places, he adds : " Of these twenty-six variations no
less than sixteen are new, while only ten are due to
the Genevan version, and the character of the original
corrections marks a veiy close and thoughtful re\dsion,
based faithfully upon the Greek. The anxiously literal
rendering of the particles and prepositions is specially
worthy of notice; so too the observance of the order
and of the original form of the sentences, even where
some obscurity follows from it. In four places the
Authorised Version follows the Bishops' renderings; and
only one change appears to be certainly for the worse, in
which the rendering of the Genevan Testament has been
followed. The singular independence of the revision,
as compared with those which have been noticed before,
is shown by the fact that only four of the new changes
agree with Beza, and at least nine are definitely
against him." The same writer compares the two chief
editions of the Bishops' Bible throughout the Epistle to
the Ephesians. The changes amount to nearly fifty,
and among the new readings are some phrases most
[ familiar to us all, as " less than the hast of all saints,"
"middle wall of partition," "felloto-citizens with the
I saints."
j The marginal notes iu the Bishops" Bible consist of
alternative renderings, references to similar passages,
and comments explanatory of the text. The comments
are much less numerous here than in the Genevan
Bible. They are very unevenly distributed. On the
fii'st five chapters of Job, for example, there are (in the
edition of 1575) more than fifty notes, a larger number
than we find on the whole book of Isaiah, with its sixty-
six chapters. The Epistle to the Romans contains
nearly seventy explanatoiy notes, in the place of the
250 of the Genevan Bible : a few, perhaps a dozen, of
the Genevan annotations are retained in the Bishops'
Bible. It is curious to notice the difference in the
passages chosen for explanation in the two versions.
Sometimes it is a rendering of the Genevan Bible that
calls forth the remark in this. Thus in Rom. \m.. 6 the
Genevan translators read "the wisdom of the flesh."
The note in the Bishops' Bible is as follows : " ^poyovcri
and <pp6vr]fjLa, Greek words, do not so much signify
wisdom and prudence as affection, carefulness, and
minding of anything." A little lower down there is a
curious note on another Greek word. In verse 18,
where we now read " I reckon," the Bishops' Bible has
" I am certainly persuaded." The note runs thus :
" \oyiCo,aai. signifieth to weigh or to consider ; but
because the matter was certain, and St. Paul nothing
doubted thereof, it is thiis made : I am persuaded."
Wliere an uncommon word is used in the text, the
translator sometimes adds a short note on its meaning.
Thus in Rom. xi. 8, where we now read " the spirit of
slumber," this version has " the spirit of remorse," the
last word being explained as "pricking and unquiet-
ness of conscience." In Isa. Ixvi. 3 we read, " he that
kiUeth a sheep for me hnetcheth a dog," with a nofo
which certainly cannot be considered superfluous :
" That is, cutteth off a dog's neck."
The general tendency and character of the Bishops'
Bible are perhaps shown most clearly in the Apocryphal
books. Strange to say, the Great Bible is followed
here also, though representing the Latin and not the
Greek text. The precedent of the Genevan Bible,
therefore, is entirely neglected, as a glance at the
beginning of Tobit or Esther, or at the fom-th chapter
of Judith, is sufficient to prave. As in the Genevan
version, however, the comments on the Apocrypha are
very scanty. The Prayer of Manasses is restored to
its former position between the additions to Daniel and
the First Book of Maccabees.
340
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE MINOR PROPHETS :—NAHIJM.
BY THE VERY REVEREND E. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF CANTERBURY.
\^T Tras the great lessou of the Book of Jouuh
'3 jA? that the righteous goverumeut of God ex-
fL tends also to heathen nations. During
^i^"^^!^ one of the most eventful ^leriods of Jewish
history we find Assyria constantly appearing as the
great world-iiower whose rapitily extending empire was
destined finally to crush one part of the chosen nation,
while the other was to have as remarkable a deliveniuce.
Thus intimately connected with Israel, Nineveh, the
capital of Assyria, became also herself the proper
object of j)rophecy ; and while Jonah teaches us that
tliere is mercy even for those not in covenant with
God, if they repent, Nahum completes the represen-
tation of the Di\'iue justice by showing that if they
relapse into sin punishment will as inevitably overtake
them. I
Of Xahum we know personally but little. He was
a Galilieau, born, as St. Jerome tells us, at Elkosh, a
.small uninhabited village in his days, but of which the j
insignificant ruins were pointed out to him by his guide, j
Towards the end, however, of the sixteenth century the j
idea arose that Nahuni was born at Alkosh, a town near
Mosul, where also a modern tomb is pointed out as the '
place of his burial. His parents in this case would ,
Imve been exiles carried away with the ten tribes, and
Nahum would have l^een born aud brought up within
sight of the town whose utter ruin he was to prophesy.
But thg tradition is of too recent date to be trustworthy; !
and Kahum speaks of places in North Palestine as if they
were those with which he was mostfamUiar: — "Bashau
languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon '
languisheth." With all these mountains he would i
have been well acquainted if really he "was a Galilaeau.
Moreo\"er, tlie name Capernaum means '• the village of
Nahum ; " Nalmm itself signifying "consolation." There
is indeed no tradition to explain why this Galilseau town
boi-e this name, but it suggests a j)ossible connection
"with the prophet. Much, too, in the phraseology of the
book shows that Nahum came from the north. Of this
I will mention but one instance. In chap. iii. 2, he
speaks of the " pransing horses " — the word being a very
poetical term referring to the circling motion of hoi'ses' ,
iiet as thfy gallop. Now this word occurs in only one
other place of Scripture — namely, in Judg. v. 22, where
Deborah speaks of •"the pransings of the chargers;" ,
./.id she also belonged to North Palestine, where, appa- !
reutly, the word remained in ordinary use. I
But if the '• dasher in pieces," in cliap. ii. 1, be Senna-
cherib, Nahum must have prophesied in Judeea, for he
speaks of his coming vp t)efore the face of Jerusalem ; \
and Bleek draws the same conclusion from the manner
in which the deliverance of Judah is referred to in
chap. i. 12. 13. Nor can wo imagine anything more
natural tliau that pious Israelites, after the deportation of
the ten tribes, should have removed from their desolate
country to enjoy both the religious privileges and also the
greater earthly prosperity of Judaea. The beginning of
Hezekiah's reign had been a time of happiness ; aud wo
find the king inviting the Israelites to unite with his
own people for the celebration of the Passover ; and the
invitation was joyfully accepted. For long years there
had been no such time of joy throughout the land; but
troubles soon began to appear from Nineveh. Senna-
cherib, one of the most warfike of its kings, in his tliird
campaign, as we learn from the cuneiform inscriptions,
after conquering the Philistines, marched on Jerusalem,
and though he could not capture it, he nevertheless
inflicted terrible misfortunes iipou the whole country.
His own account is that he captured forty- six of Heze-
kiah's strong to^vns, besides castles aud smaller towns
without number ; that he carried away 20l»,1.50 people
into captiNaty ; that the spoil consisted of horses, asses,
camels, oxen, and sheep, in countless droves, besides
thirty talents of gold, eight hundred of silver, precious
stones, thrones and couches of ivory, woven cloths, furs,
scented woods, aud even male and female slaves, to-
gether with the king's daughters and other inmates of
his palace. He also boasts that he shut up Hezekiah
inside Jerusalem like a bird in a cage ; and if we accept
his statements as true in the main, however much
exaggerated in detail, we must conclude that Hezekiah
purchased with many costly treasures the withdrawal
of Sennacherib from the siege. The expedition itself
is that referred to in 2 Chron. xxxii. I — 8, and in
Isa. i. 5—8.
In the history of the subsequent campaigns we find
Sennacherib carrying on constant war with the repi'c-
sentatives of Merodach-baladan, who, in alliance with
the kings of Elam, maintaiued the struggle begun by
their fathers to set Babylon free. But Judaea seems to
have remained unmolested until Hezekiah's fourteenth
yeai*. when the Assyi'ian, having established his supre-
macy far aud wide iu the east and north, turned his
arms once again westward, and made the attack upon
Judaea and Egypt which ended in his overthrow.
While, however, Rawlinson (Ancient Monarcldes, ii.
158, 168), considers that Sennacherib twice attacked
Hezekiah, Lenormant and others argu? that his disas-
trous expedition iu that king's fourteenth year was the
sole war between the two powers (see his Premieres
Civilisations, ii. 270 — 289). This latter view is eer-
taiuly more in accordance with tlie data given in the
Bible.
It was apparently in this iuterval that Nahum pub-
lished his prophecy, in whiel] he begins, as Dr. Pusey
has pointed out (Minor Prophets, p. 356\ by setting
forth in stately rhythm not unlike that of the Psalms
of DeoT.-ees the awful side of God's attributes : —
NAHUM.
O ^ -I
"A jealous God and au Aveuger is Jehovali ;
An Aveuger is Jehovah, aud Lord of wrath ;
Au Avenger is Jehovah to his adversaries,
Aud a Eeserver of wrath to His euemies."
As we read ou we learu the i-easou of this solemn
declaratiou of justice. Why, asks the prophet, do
ye devise mighty de^dces against Jehovah ? (chap. i. 7).
The verb is one doubly emphatic, showing that it was
uo common scheme of ordinary aggression that thus
roused the Divine anger.
But, overwhelming as was the earthly power of the
Assyrian, the device was to fail, and that utterly.
" Jehovah wiU make au utter end." In sharp contrast
with God's covenant people, the great empire of Nineveli
was to perish for ever. Of Judah God says, " I Avill
not make a fuU end" (Jer. iv. 27); aud so the Jew
exists even to this day, though scattered over the whole
earth. But the kingdom of Assyria perished almost
suddenly, after ha^^ing held the sovereignty of Upper
Asia for more than five hundred years. Its soldiers
were disciplined warriors at a time when the Medes
fotight in a confused mass, horse and foot, spearmen
and archers all mingled in one disorderly crowd ; for
sucli, Herodotus tells us, was the Asiatic and Median
mode of fighting till Cyaxares, the conqueror of Nineveh,
first separated into divisions and ranks these motley
hordes. Now Phraortes, the father of Cyaxares, had
lost life aud empire in battle with the Assyrians, aud
yet in the very height of their power they fell so utterly
that from the day of its capture Nineveh entirely passed
away. In one day it changed from being empress of the
world to absolute powerlessness.
But though this was the final accomplishment of the
prophet's words, yet they had also a primary reference
to Sennacherib. In the cylinders foimd at Nineveh he
records campaign after campaign, boasting of his mighty
gods Ashur and Bel, Nebo and Nergal and Ishtar, aud
of the coimtries which in their name he liad conquered.
He describes, too, the I'ebuildiug of Nineveh, and the
carving of the bas-reliefs, of which many may now be
seen in our museums. Tliose annals are full both of
acts of ruthless cruelty and also of deeds which prove
Sennacherib to have been a valiant and able general;
and then suddenly they cease. No cylinder, no bas-
relief, records the result of his second campaign against
Hezekiah. Thoiigh he reigned in all twenty-four years,
and survived the less of his army for eight years, yet
his glory was gone. The words, then, of the prophet,
"Jehovah wiU make an ixtter end," arc true also of
Sennacherib. " When they arose early in the morning,
behold, they were all dead corpses " (2 Kings xix. 35).
His trained and disciplined veterans, v.-ho had won for
him so many victories, were no more. Aud the king
never recovered the disaster, nor did Assji-ia ever again
attempt the subjugation of Jerusalem.
But we have not yet done with this remarkable verse.
" Affliction shall not rise up the second time." What
does Nahum mean ? Plainly he refers to the conquest
of Samaria by Shalmanezer in the sixth vera- of Hezekiah.
Now there seems here a difficulty in Shalmanezer and
Sennaclierib being contemporary kings oi Assyria; but
Ave find that this was the case with this great empire
just as it was at Rome, where often two emperors
aud two Cassars, invested with all but imperial power,
scarcely sufficed to look after the interests and protect
the frontiers of so unwieldy a I'calm. We thus usually
find the " kings of Assyria " spoken of in the plural
{2 Chron. xxrai. 16 ; xxxii. 4 ; Isa. x. 8 ), and Sennacherib
actually claims to have been the conqueror of Samaria
(I^a. xxxvi. 19), though Shalmanezer's was the hand that
accomplished it. Again, the king Jareb to whom the
prophet Hosea says that the golden caK of Bethel was
sent as an offering, doubtless by the Assyrian army,
was Sennacherib (Hos. x. 6 ; see also chap. v. 13) ;
while Shalman, who spoiled Beth-arbel (Hos. x. 14),
was Slialmanezer. We have thus Hosea's testimony to
their being contemporaries, the latter commandmg the
army, while the costliest part of the booty is sent as a
present to the former, who was busy elsewhere.
Tliere being then two contemporary sovereigns at
Nineveh is no difficulty. And now to return to the pro-
phet's words: the meaning is that no such calamity
shall befall God's people a second time by the hands of
the Assyrians as befell them at Samaria. The time may
aud did come when the final lapse of Judsea iuto idolatiy
was to be punished by the capture of their city, but
it was by Chaldseans from Babylon. Sennacherib was
purposing to conquer Jerusalem aud take the people
ca^Jtive. " What, then," says the propliet, " are ye so
proudly" devising against Jehovah? He will make a
full end, fii'st of thee aud thy trained warriors, and
then of thy gi'eat city. Wliile, as regarded the object
of his haughty pui-pose, " affliction shall not rise up a
second time." No second calamity, such as the capture
of Samaria and removal of the ten tribes, shall again
crown the Assyrian's arms.
Immediately afterwards, in verse 11, Sennacherib is
tlius spoken of : " Tliere is one come out of thee (i.e.,
out of Nineveh) that imagineth evil against Jehovah, a
counsellor of Belial." Again, in chap. ii. 1, he is de-
scribed as the "breaker in pieces," aud Jerusalem is
warned tliat he is on his ma-rch against her. She is
commanded, therefore, to put her munitions — i.e., her
fortifications — in order, aud to send an army of observa-
tion to watch the Assyrian's advance, that the people
may have notice to drive away their cattle, and flee to
the strongholds. She is, moreover, to "make her loins
strong," and prepare manfully for tlie struggle. And
next there follows a magnificent description of Senna-
cherib's army, attired in scarlet like our o\vn soldiers,
and with sliields painted red, aud war-chariots armed
not with flaming torches, as cur version has it, but with
"the fire of steel" — that is, with scythes or other cutting
instruments of steel bright aud flashing like fire. But
all ends in ruin. In a few words tlie prophet sums up
tlie fate both of Sennacherib's army aud of Nineveh
itself, which he represents as doomed to be captured by
reason of an inundation of the rivers Tigris. Khausser,
and Zab, wliish all flowed through it, aud which, swollen
by heavy rairs, burst open the gates built to prevent
th? ingress cf an enemy, and wasli away the munitions
342
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of llio palace itself, built of uuburut brick ; for such is
tlio meaning of the words "the pahice shall be dis-
Bolrcd " (chap, ii 6).
But the contrast which the proi^hct draws between
Nineveh fallen and Nineveh in its i)ride shows that he
wrote when the enipu-e was in its strength, "' Where,"
he asks, " is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeditig-
placo of the yonug lions, where the lion, even the old
lion, walked, the lion's whelp, and none to frighten him?
Tho lion tearoth iu pieces enough for his whelps, and
straugk'th for his lioness, and filleth his holes with
prey, and his dens with ravin " (chap. ii. 11, 12). Now
Esarhaddon, who succeeded Sennacherib, did not dweU
at Nineveh, but at Babylon, in order to be able the more
easily to control its turbulence ; and though uo mean
warrior, yet his chief occupation was architecture. Tho
prophet's words are a picture rather of Sennacherib in
his might, when he came homo from campaign after
campaign loaded with booty, and walked up and down
In his palace, to which ho gave the name Zakdi-uu-isha
— i.e., " it hath not its eo[ual " — secure in his power and
fearless of danger.
In chap. iii. 8 there is an allusion to the capture of
No-Amon, better known to us as the sacred Thebes,
the capital of Upper Egypt, which for a like j)triod
■^vith Nineveh had been the centre of a mighty empire.
For six ceutui'ies, from B.C. 1706 to 1110, its Pharaohs,
one of whom was Sesostris, had been the great con-
querors who had marched far and wide Avithout know-
ing defeat, and had exacted tribute from the Assyrians
themselves. Like Niueveh, too, it was ;i great mart
of trade, and drew its wealtli as much from commerce
as from war. Yet gradually its i)ower declined, and
finally it was captured by tho Assyrians, as it seems,
whom in old time it had so often defeated. Its siege,
and the terrible scenes which took place when the in-
vaders gained an entrance to it, were probably fresh
in men's minds when Nahum wrote, and he draws
from it the warning that, as No-Amon, the mightiest
capital of the grandest empire of old, had fallen, so
too would Nineveh fall, and even more completely pass
away.
Such, then, are the historical data of Nahum's pro-
phecy. It only remains to say that he has but one
subject — the fall of Nineveh ; and that he describes this
with wonderful energy, grandeur, and power. His
phraseology, however, is j)eculiar, being full of forms
which seem strange to us who have so little to enable
lis to judge what richness of idioms the Hebrew lan-
guage possessed. He has many words also not found
elsewhere in the Scriptures, and others which are rare.
Lastly, he has much iu common with Isaiah, who at the
time ho prophesied must have arrived at old age. And
wo can well understand that even one so original and
strong as Nahum would nevertheless have been deeply
impressed by the commanding genius and noble enthu-
siasm of a i>rophet like Isaiah, who held then, as he has
held ever siuce. the foremost place among the inspired
men whom God raised up to make known to mankind
His will.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
TUB OEDEES OF APETALOUS PLANTS— CHEN OPODIACEiE TO EUPHOEBIACE^.
S., KEEPER OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
3T V,'. CARRUTHERSj F.E.
'?%^HE Chenopod order is represented in Pales-
tine by species prevailing as weeds in cul-
tivated grounds, as well as by forms that
grow only on saline localities. Species of
Salicornia, Anabasis, Atriplcv, and Clienopodiuin are
found on the shores of the Dead Sea, as well as of the
Levant. Theso plants abound in tlie vegetable alkali
which, is so important an ingredient in the manufacture
of soap. Indeed, tli3 word alkali, which was originally
applied to tho ashes of these i^lants, is derived from
Jcall, or el-hali, tha Arabic name for the glass-wort
(Sal sola ludi, Linn.), a prickly bushy herb, common on
our sandy shores, and found also iu Palestine. The
Arabs I'.ave long manufactured soap from olive-oil and
the alkaline ashes of this plant, and it is probable that
it is to this material that reference is twice made iu the
Bible under the name " soap" (Jcr. ii. 22 ; Mai. iii. 2).
Sever?.! species of nettles occur in Palestine ; that
most freqn:3ntly met with is the Roman nettle {Urtica
rihdifeva, Linn.). This i^lant is found in the neigh-
bourhood of villages iu the south of England, and is
easily distinguished from tlie common nettle l)y the
little balls of green female flowers. In Palestine it
grov,\s to a height of six feet, among* ruins, where it
specially flourishes. This is probably the Idmmosli
ip'raji) of the Hebrews, rendered, in tho two passages in
which it occurs, " nettle." It deserves notice that iu
both passages it is associated with its favourite habitat.
Of Edom it is prophesied that "thorns shall come up
in her palaces, nettles and l^rambles in tho fortresses
thereof" (Isa. xxxiv. 13); while of backsliding Israel it
is said, " the i)leasaut jilaees for their silver, nettles shall
possess them, thorns shall be in their tabernacles "
(Hos. ix. 6). The plural, Idmmeshonim, of a scarcely
altered form of t^iis woi-d, is employed by Solomon in
descriJjiug tho Tineyard of the sluggard ; it is rendered
" thorns " in oiir version. "' It was all grown over with
thorns, nettles had covered the face thereof, and the
stonewall thereof was broken down" (Prov. xxiv. 31).
The c.'if?rf;?(';», translated "nettlcR"' in this passage, are no
doubt altogether different plants from the MmmesliGnim,
but it is extremely doubtful what they were. Various
plants have been suggested, but it seems more probable
tliat tho term was a general one for wUd shrubs. In
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
343
this sense it was understood by the LXX. in a passage
in Job where it also occurs. The patriarcli comjihiins of
the contempt in which he was held by the miserable
peoj)le who lived on what tliey could grub up in the
wilderness, and found their shelter under the cliarul
(Job XXX. 7). Tlie curse pronounced on Moab and
Ammon declared that their country should bo overrun
with cliarul, like the field of the slothful (Zeph. ii. 9).
The fig and mulberry, though very different in ap-
pearance, belong both to the order Moracece. The fig
{Ficus carica, Linn.) is one of the native frxrit-trees of
Palestine. It is found, Avild or cultivated, everywhere
thi'oughout the country. Moses, in describing the Land
of Promise, charactei'ises it as a land of " vines and fig-
trees and pomegranates " (Deut. viii. 8) ; and the spies,
when they returned, confu-med this description, for they
brought figs and pomegi'anates, as well as grapes, from
Eshcol (Numb. xiii. 23). The tree often attains a great
size, with ■wide-spreading branches, and its large leaves,
forming a dense crown of foliage, produce a pleasant
shadow, which was often preferred to the tent. The
Scripture expression, " every man under his fig-tree "
(1 Kings iv. 25, &c.), presents a vi\id picture of i^eace,
prosperity, and security. To the grateful shade of
some secluded fig-ti'ee Nathanael retired to pray (John
i. 48). From the large leaves of this tree our first
parents while yet in Paradise made aprons to cover the
nakedness that their disobedience revealed (Gen. iii. 7).
Like the almond, the fig-tree shows its blossom before
its leaves are produced. But in the fig the blossom is
scarcely discoverable, for it is enclosed in tlie hidden
cavity of the enlai'getl hollow receptacle, and consists
of an immense number of minute colourless flowers,
densely covering the surface of the cavity. The whole
mass of flowers, with the hollow stalk on which they
are borne, is the edible fruit. In the true fig the fruit
is borne on the younger portion of the branches in the
axils of the leaves, but in the sycaiiiore and some other
figs the enlarged receptacle springs from the old parts
of their branches, or even from the trunk itself. Some
Tarieties of the fig-tree in Palestine produce fruit in
early summer, and such a tree was, or ought to have
been, the specimen the Sa\'iour cursed on account of its
barrenness. Unusually early in its foliage, while its
neighbours were yet leafless and bare, it professed to
be a fruit-bearer, and should have had figs already
somewhat ripe. But it was a inere pretender, and the
Lord cursed it. With the Mount of Olives is associated
a second allusion to the fig-tree in the New Testament.
Stanley thus refers to them both. " One is tha parable
not spoken, but acted, with regard to the fig-tree, which,
when all others around it were, as they are still, bare
at the beginning of April, was alone clothed with its
broad gTeen leaves, though without the corresponding
fruit. Fig-trees may still bo seen overhanging the
oi'dhiary road from. Jerusalem to Bethany, growing out
of the rocks of the solid ' mountain ' (Matt. xxi. 21),
whicli raiglit by the prayer of faith be removed, and
cast into the distant Mediterranean ' sea.' On Olivet,
too, the brief parable in the gi'eat prophecy was spoken,
when Ho pointed to the bursting buds of spring, in the
same trees as they grew around him : — ' Behold the fig-
tree, and all the trees ; when they now shoot forth,'
when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves,
' ye see and know of your own selves that summer is
now nigh at hand-' (Luke xxi. 29, 30)." (Stanley's '
Sinai and Palestine, p. 414.)
The fruitfulness of the fig-tree was considered a
sign of Divine favour, as in Joel -no read, " The Lord
will do great things ; the fig-tree and the vine do yield
their strength " (ii. 22). On the other hand, the destruc-
tion of the fig-tree or its crop was received as a judg-
ment from the Lord. " I wUl surely consume them, saith
the Lord : there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs
on the fig-tree ; and the leaf shall fade " ( Jcr. viii. 13).
In Palestine the fig-tree bears two or three crops in
the year. The first ripe fruit was called hihhurali
(^n-n3!i), " I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I
saw your fathers as the fii-st ripe fruit in the fig-tree at
her first time " (Hos. ix. 10). The green or unripe figs
were called pag (JE), a word which enters into the
composition of Bethphage, the village near Bethany on
the Mount of Olives. The name literally means " the
house of unripe figs." The fig was an important food-
substance to the Jew. Pressed together, and dried, it
was formed into cakes (debelah, n'OT), which could be
kept for any length of time, and were stored away for
household use ; they formed part of the provision of
David's army (1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; xxx. 12).
The sycamore of Scripture is a true fig {Ficus sxjco-
Tiiorus, Linn.), and a' very different tree from the maple,
which bears the same name in England. It is one of
the largest and most important trees in Palestine.
Some specimens are described as having immense
gnarled trunks, fifty feet in circumference. The ti*ee
has somewhat the appearance of our oak, having for
the size of the tree a short trunk, but large wide-
spreading and umbrageous branches. It was extensively
planted in ancient times, as it is now, near houses, and
by the road-sides, on account of its shade. On one of
the sturdy horizontal branches of a road-side sycamore
Zaccheus would find a safe and suitable place for seeing
Jesus passing beneath. The fruit is eaten, but it is
smaller and less palatal)le than the common fig. The
wood was iised for furniture and for building ; and the
tree was of so much value that David tock special pains
to prevent its unnecessary destruction, by appointing
a royal commissioner to look after its conservation
(1 Chrou. xxvii. 28). It was not valued so highly as the
cedai', the wood used in palaces. The contrast between
these two woods is brought out in the boast of the
l)resumptuous Israelites on whom the Lord threatened
Judgment — " The bricks are fallen down, but we will
build with hewn stones : the sycomores are cut down,
but we will change them into cedars " (Isa. is. 10).
They would more than repair their losses, for they
would replace their common houses built of brick and
sycamore hj palaces of stone and cedar. The jiros-
perity of Israel during the reign of Solomon is indicated
among other ways by the contrast between those two
;44
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
trees. " The king made silver to be iu Jerusalem
as stones, aud cedars made he to be as the sycomore-
trees tliat arc iu the vale, for abuudauco "' (^1 Kings
X. 27).
The mulberry {Morns nigra, Linu.) is mentioned in
the Authorised Yersiou iu the narrative of David's
victory over the Philistines at Rephaim [2, Sam. v.
23, 2i), but erroneously, as the pojilar is the tree in-
tendefl. On the other hand, our translators have
retained the Greek name of the mulberry, avKafxivos, iu
the passage where this tree is mentioned in the New
Testament. " The Lord said, If yc had faith as a
grain of mustard-seed, ye might say unto this sycamine-
tree. Be thou plucked up by the root, a ud be thou
planted iu tlio sea ; aud it should obey you " (Luke
xvii. 6). No doubt this is the black mulberry, a native
of Western Asia, where it has been long valued for its
fruit. At the present day it is chietiy cultivated iu
Palestine for its leaves, which are the favourite food of
the silkworm, "the raising of which is the staple in-
dustry of the peasantry of Lebanon. The mulberry is
also grown for rearing silk about mauy of the villages
between Jerusalem and Nablous, and often covers the
terraced hills" (Tristram, Nat Hist, p. 396).
The Elm {Ulmus camjjestris, Linu.) is one of the trees
of Lebanon, and it is generally thought that it is to this
that the prophet refers uuder the name tidhar C'^^"'''^),
rendered in our version "pine-tree." "I -will set in
the desert the fir-tree, and the j:)iiie, aud the box-tree
together" (Isa. xli. 19); again, " The glory of Lebanon
shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the j5i»e-iree, aud the
box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary"
(Isa. Ix. 13). It has been contended that the ash or
the pine itself was meant, but there is uothiug in the
etymology of the Avord or iu the cognate languages to
help to an identification.
The spice-bearing trees, producing the cinnamon and
cassia of -the Bible, belong to the Laurel family ; they
did not grow iu Palestine. Dr. Birdwood has already
investigated these plants (Vol. I., j). 2-43). The bay-tree
(Lanriis nobilis, Linn.) is considered by the translators
of our A-ersion to be the equivalent of etzrah (TJi>?) of
Ps. xxxA-ii. 35 : " I have seen the wicked in gi'cat power,
aud si>rea(ling himself like a gi'eou bay-tree."' This
word is used iu fifteen other places in the Bible, but in
all these it is applied to man in order to distinguish a
native from a foreigiier. In the passage quoted it may
mean only a vigorous tree in its native locality ; and it
is certain that if the Psalmist intended a particular tree
he would not have chosen tlic bay, which is at best only
a tall shi-ul), and is confined to the northern upland
region of the country. There would ])e no want of
trees iu Palestine suitable as emblems of vigorous and
enormous growth.
The spiny sea buckthorn groAving on many of our
sandy sea-shcres is the only representative in our native
flora of the Elceagnacea;, to which the oleaster belongs.
This is an abundaiit tre^^ iu Palestine, and there can be
little doubt is the etz shemen, rightly translated " oil-
tree " in Isa. xli. 19 — " I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, aud the oil-
tree." From its wood were made the tAVO cherubim iu
Solomon's Temple (1 Kings vi. 23, " olive-tree," iu the
margin " trees of oil "). It Avas also en)ployed iu
making the booths after the Captivity, being obtained
for this purpose from the " mount " near Jerusalem
(Nell. A-iii. 15, translated " piue-brauehes "). ■ That it
was a different tree from the olive is obvious from the
passage in Nehemiah, Avhere it is distinguished from
tlie oliA'e. Neither can it be the false balm of Gilead
(Balanitis JEgyptiaca, Del.), Avhieh groAvs only iu the
loAver A'alley of the Jordan, and the tree specified could
be found near Jerusalem. The oleaster {Elceagnus
angustifolia, Linu.) has a fragrant floAver, aud a small
green berry, from Avhich is obtained an inferior oil.
The spurge-worts {Eupliorhiacecc) are represented by
a larger number of species than is found iu Britain.
One of the most remarkable of them, and one A'ery
common iu Palestine, is the palm-crist, or castor-oil plaut
(Eicinus communis, Linn.), Avhich is conjectured to haA'e
been the plant that gave a grateful shade to Jonah at
NiucA'ch. This notion is based chiefly on the similarity
between the Hebi-ow kikayon and the Greek HlKt. The
narrative, however, implies that the i)laut Avas fitted to
cover an arbour, aud was more likely some kind of
gourd thau the palm-crist. The box, another member
of this family, is mentioned twice iu our English Bible,
in both eases iu connectiou Avith the predicted pros-
perity of Israel, Avhen the Lord '"Avill set in the desert
the fir-tree, the j)iue, and the box-tree together" (Isa>
xli. 19), and " the glory of Lebanon shall come unto
thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, aud the box together "'
(Isa. Ix. 13). The box is found on the niotiutains of
Leljanou, growing to a height of tAveuty feet or more,
and forming a small compact evergi-een tree. It is
largely imported into England from the countries bor-
dering the eastern poi'tion of the Mediterranean, for
the use of the Avood-cugraA'er, aa'Iio finds its hard, even,
and close-grained wood specially suited to his work.
The high polish it can bo made to take, aud its freedoju
from Avarping, make it a favourite for carving small
objects, and it was probably brought Avith the cedar
from Lebanon, aud employed iu Solomon's Temple.
The word rendered " Ashurites " in Ezekiel, " Of the
oaks of Bashau have they made thine oars ; the com-
l^any of Ashurites liaA-e made thy beuches of ivory,
brought out of the isles of Chittim " (xxA-ii. 6). is now
geuerally held to be a contracted form of teasshur, aud
to refer to the box-tree. Dr. Fairbairn renders the
A'ersc, " Of oaks of Bashan they made thy oars, thy
plank-Avork (deck) they made iA-ory (i.e., inlaid Avitli
ivory) Avitli box-trees from the isle of Cyprus." This
not only agrees Avitli the context, but it giA-es a narra-
tive in accordance Avith the geographical references, for
while box was abundant in Cyprus, iA'ory was unkuoAvn
except as an import from abroad.
BOOKS OF THE APOCRYPHA.
345
EOOKS OF THE APOCRYPHA.
BY THE EDITOR.
i7S f^t^T will uofc b3 necessary to treat the books
which occupy the secondary or tertiary
position indicated by their name with any-
thing like the same fubiess that was re-
quisite for the Canonical Books of Scripture ; but a
brief notice of each book in the order in which they
stand, giving an account of its date, authorship, and
chief characteristics, will, it is believed, be both inte-
resting and instructive.
I. 1 EsDEAS. — The greater part of this book repro-
duces what we find in the canonical loooks of Ezra and
NeTaemiah, and was manifestly written by a Greek, pro-
bably by an Alexandrian Jevf , who was acquainted with
them. It gi\;es, as was natural in a compiler from docu-
ments more or less fragmentary, a narrative intended to
be more concise and more continuous of the return of
the Jews down to the close of the book of Ezra, whose
name itpiresents in the Greek form oi Esdras. But the
writer M'as one who thought it uecessai-y to embellish
history, after the pattern of the dialogues on government
which Herodotus introduces in his account of the Persian
monarchy, or Xenophon in his Cyropcudia (" Education
of Cyrus"), and so he interpolates what is the original,
and practically, therefore, the most interesting portion of
the ])ook, the narrative of the debate between the three
young men that were of the body-guard of Darius
as to the i-espective power of wine, of women, and of
truth (iii., iv.). The advocate of truth is represented
as being none other than the historical Zerubbabel, the
prince of the house of David. It is through his eloquence
that the king bids him ask what he will, and it should
be given him. This was the secret history of the return
from Babylon.
Historically the book has but little value, is careless
in its arrangements, and inconsistent with the Hebrew
record. It has, however, left one legacy to the world,
which will not readily pass out of remembrance. When
we hear in debates, religious or political, in the eloquence
of statesmen or advocates, the familiar words " Magna
est Veritas et prsevalebit," we are listening (ignorant as
speakers and hearers alike may bo of the fact) to a quo-
tation from the Apociyphal Book of 1 Esdras (iv. 41).
II. 2 EsDKAS. — The strange book which bears this
title is marked hj an entirely different character. It is
distinctly and professedly an Apocalypse. No Greek
text of it is extant, though versions exist both in Arabic
ind Ethiopic as well as Latin ; but it may be inferred
from the details of these versions, as well as from the
fact that it is cjuoted in the Epistle that bears the name
of Barnabas, by Clement of Alexandria. The entire
absence of any reference to it in Philo or Joseplius, or
the writers of the New Testament, as well as of any
historical landmarks in the book itself, leaves the date
of its composition open to conjecture. No critic worthy
of the name has assigned an earlier date than the time
of Julius Cffisar, or a later date than that of Domitian.
I do not pretend to have arrived at any conclusion on
the subject. It is not easy to determine from internal
evidence the chronology of the di'cams of a fevered and
distempered brain.
And yet, wild and strange as are the contents of the
book, no one, I imagine, can read it withont profound
interest. It gives us, as no other book does, a vivid
picture of one phase of the Jewish mind, in the wild
unsettled period that preceded or followed the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem. There we find the first trace of the
legend that was aftei'wards accepted as to the dictation
to Ezra of the existing Hebrew Bible, and of a large
number of secret revelations in addition (xiv. 38 — 48).
There, too, for the first time, we find the marvellous
tale, the parent of so many yet more marvellous theories,
how the ten tribes in the land of their exile resolved
that they would go to a far-off country, '' and keep there
the statutes which they never kept in their own laud "
(xiii. 40—46).
III. ToBiT. — Of this book we have, besides the Scp-
tuagint and the Latin version, two Hebrew texts. There
is no reason, however, to think that it was originally
written in Hebrew. And Ave know, both from Origen
and Athanasins, that the Jews of their time did not re-
cognise it as belonging to the canon. Tlie existence of
Hebrew translations is, however, interesting, as showing
the popularity of the book, not only among Christians to
whom it came commended by its position in the Greek
version of the Old Testament, but among Jews who
a.ccepted it on its ethical and literary merits. Of these
we need not hesitate to speak very highly. While to
some extent reminding us of the Book of Ruth as being
a domestic history, it is for us interesting as being one
among the earliest examples of ethical fiction. Keverence
for parents (iv. 3), the duty and the blessuig of alms-
giving (i. 16, 17; iv. 16; xiv. ll),piirity and temperance
(iv. 15), the holiness of marriage (viii. 7), these are the
leading lessons of the book ; and though the story with
which it is interwoven has for us a superstitious and
almost ludicrous aspect, it has yet in pai'ts a singular
tenderness and beauty. Many readers may note, not
without interest, the circumstantial detail that "they
went forth, and the young man's dog with them " (v. 16),
as the first indication that the Greek feeling of friendly
companionship with tlie dog, which for the most part
appears in Scripture only as a ravenous and unclean
beast, was beginning to find entrance among the Jews.
The book, it must be added, has no claim to the
character of history. The developed belief as to posses-
sion by evil spii'its, the practice of exorcism, the names
Asmodeus and Raphael, indicate a date subsequent to
the Babylonian Captivity ; and the personation of auto-
biography in chaps, i. — iii. is but the well-known artifice
which has been held legitimate by all writers of fiction.
IV. Judith. — Here, too, we are on the ground of
historical fiction, and not of history \ and the writer
346
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
betrays liimself by more serious auaclirouisms than
those wliich we liave found iu Tobit. Nobut'luuluezzar
( = Nabiiehodoiiosor) is made king of Nineveh, not of
Babylon, at a time after the destruction of the former
city ; is called the king of the Assyrians, instead of
the Chaldeans, as iu the historical books of the Old
Testament. The Israelites are represented as having
returned from the cai^tivitj-, and rebuilt their Temple,
in the time of the very king who had destroyed the
Temple and carried them into exile (iv. 3; v. 18, 19).
In this instance, however, wc can trace the l)ook with
more certainty than Tobit to a Hebrew or Aramaic
original. Jerome, at all events, speaks of it as written
in the Chaldeo language, and as read among the
Hebrews. Joscphus, siugularly enough, does not even
aUude to it, and from this we must infer either that he
was altogether unacquainted with it, or that ho recog-
nised its uuhistorical character.
V. The best of the Chapters of the Book of
Esther, which are foxjnd neither in the
Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee. — I have quoted the
title of this fragment, as sho\viug vnth. sufficient clear-
ness the grounds on which it was placed among the
Apocrypha. In this instance, as in 1 Esdras, a canonical
book was thought not sufficiently interesting, and was
embellished with additions by the Greek translator.
The writer indicates his own time with sufficient clear-
ness by reference to " the fourth year of the reign of
Ptolcmcus and Cleoiiatra" (xi. 1). It may be added
that, like the author of Judith, he betrays his ignorance
of chronology by making Mardocheus ( = Mordccai') one
of those who were carried away by Nebuchaduezzar,
and yet as living in the time of Artaxerxcs the Great,
who is identified with tlie Ahasuorus of the original
book. The additions are, it may be added, absolutely
worthless.
VI. The Wisdom of Solomon. — Wc enter here
on a " strain of higher mood," and the book which bears
this name is in many respects the gem of the whole
Apocrypha. Here again we have to confess that we
knoviT nothing of the writer, and can l)ut rouglily ap-
proximate to the date of the book. Thei*e is no trace
of a Hebrew original, and it was never received by the
Jews of Palestine. The personation of the Son of
David, if indeed what is so vague and general can be
called a personation, is but poetic and dramatic, like
that which we have seen in Tobit, and perhaps at an
earlier date in Eoclcsiastes. The b/ook is not quoted
in the New Testament, though some passages iu-^t.
Paul's Epistles seem to imply that he had ecJioes of it
floating in his memory, or drew fi'om the same source.'
Our first actual knowledge of it comes from Christian
sources, and this does not carry us further back than
the latter part of the second century. The book is,
however, clearly pro- Christian. There is no reference
iu it to tlie facts of the Gospel history, nor to its leading
thoughts. The writer was an Alexandrian Jew, who,
1 Compare, e.g., Rom. is. 21; is. 22; Eph. vi, 13—17, with
V/lsa. xy. 7 5 sii. 20 ; v. 17— 12.
like Philo, had come in contact with the language and
thoughts of Platonists, Stoics, Epicureans, and had
sought, as Pliilo, without giving up the faith of his
fathers, to show that it was in harmony with all that
was ti'uest and noblest in the philosophy of Greece.
By many w'riters indeed, from Jerome onwards, Philo
has been regarded as the author, but of this there is no
proof. The fact that there is a collection of numerous
writings by Pliilo, and that this is not among them, is
evidence that it was not thought of as by him at the
time when the collection was made ; and though there
is a general resemblance in tone of thought, there is
nothing distinctive enough to suggest the inference of
identity. The name of Apollos has suggested itself
to more than one critic as the probable author, and it
must, I think, bo admitted that there is nearly as good
ground for accej)ting his authorship of the Book of
Wisdom, as there is for holding that ho wrote the
Epistle to the Hebrews. In both cases, indeed, we
cannot get beyond the assertion that each was a book
which he miglit have written. It would be an interest-
ing study to com^^are the two books on the assumption
that one Avas -wi-itton before and the other after his
conversion. So studied, we may think of him as -pass-
ing from that adoring reverence for a half -personified
Wisdom which had its starting-point in Prov. Anii., to
the thought of the '■ Word made flesh." In the words
which speak of the Son of God, as the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person (Heb. i.
3), we hear the echo of those that had described wisdom
as "the brightness of the everlasting light, the un-
spotted mirror of the power of God, and the imag"e of
his goodness " (Wisd. vii. 26). He who had spoken of
the "just man" (Wisd. ii. 18) as the "son of God,"
adopted and blessed by Him, learnt to see that the Son
T)f God in an infinitely higher sense was indeed the
Just One. The words " grace and mercy is to his saints,
and he hath care for his elect" (Wisd. iii. 9), would
come to him with a new meaning. The description of
Wisdom in vii. 22 — 21 would prepare the way for that
similar description of the word of God (Heb. iv. 12,
13), in which the v/riter of the Epistle to the Hebrews
approaches most nearly to the thought and language of
St. John. Very striking too, on this supposition, would
be the contrast Ijetween the thoughts suggested in
Wisd. X., xi. by the Book of Genesis, Wisdom manifest-
ing herself in creation, in the history of Cain and Abel,
of Noah, of Abraham,' of Lot, of Jacob, and the suiwey
of the same history in Heb. xi., in which the self-samo
incidents arc made to serve as illustrations not of an
abstract wisdom, but of a living and energetic faith.
We can scarcely resist the imi^ression that the book,
as it is, is but the fragment of what was intended to
have been a far larger work. It ends abruptly, its
survey of the history of Israel being altogether in-
complete, and with hardly even the semblance of the
rhetorical iieroration wliicii the general character of
the book would have led us to expect.
VII. The Wisdom of Jbstts the Son of
SiRACH, OR Ecclesiasticus. — In this instance vv^e
BOOKS OF THE APOCRYPHA.
347
have what we find in no other Cauouical or Apoci'yphal
book — an editorial preface, pui'portiug to give some-
thing like a history of its origin. It represents it as
the result of the labours of three generations. The
elder Jesus, or Joshua (the name reminds us of tlie
high priest at the time of the return from Babylon),
lived '"almost after all the prophets," a phrase which
seems to indicate a date betweeu Zechariali and Malachi.
"What the exce^jtioual loftiness of the eighth chapter of
Proverbs ivas, at a later time, to the writer of the
Wisdom of Solomon, that the prudential morality of
the rest of the book was to him. He became a collector
of " the grave and short sentences of wise men," and
added " some of his own." He bequeathed this collec-
tion to his son Sirach, who, iu his turn, left it to a
younger Jesus, named after his grandfather. To him
belonged the work of arranging and editing, and if we
accept the second Prologue as genuine, we arrive at
something like a definite statement as to the origin of
the book which he thus edits. It Avas originally in
Hebrew. — i.e., the Aramaic of Jerusalem after the retui'n
from the Exile. He had come into Eg)*pt when Euer-
getes was king, in the thirty-eighth year from some era
to us undefined — ^probably, i.e., aboiit B.C. 133 — and
thought it his duty to translate it for the benefit of
those of his countrymen who, being settled in " a strange
country," wore yet "wdliug to learn, being prepared
before iu manners to live after the law." The later
chapters of this book give us distinct internal CA-idence
of date in harmony with the conclusion thus arrived at.
Zerubbabol, Jesus (Joshua) the son of Jozedek, and
Nehemiah are named among the great men of the past
(xlix. 12, 13). Simon the son of Onias, as the priestly
hero of a time nearer to the writer's own, is porirp^yed
with a fulness and vividness which shows that his work
in the restoration of the Temple, perhaps even the
majesty of his personal presence, had impressed itself
uj)on the minds of his countrymen. There were, how-
ever, two high priests that bore the name of Simon,
each of them the son of Onias, and separated by nearly
a century from each other; the elder, known as the Just,
having held his office from B.C. 310 — 290, the younger
from about B.C. 217. The former was, however, so
much the more illustrious that we can hardly think it
likely, even allowing for the fictitious magnitude often
given to contemporary fame, that ho would have been
passed- over in silence while so much was said of his
less conspicuous namesake. Significant both as to the
date of tlie book, its Hebrew or Palestine origin, and tlie
growing antipathy which it indicates, is the passage in
which the ^vriter enumerates, am_ong those whom his
sold abhorreth, those " that sit upon the mountain of
Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and
that foolish people that dwell in Siehem " (1. 26). This
could hardly have been written before the rivalry be-
tween Gerizim and Jerusalem had become a definitely
pronounced fact, and it stands among the earliest tokens
of the antagonism which afterwards rose to such a height,
that the Jevrs had " no dealings with the Samaritans."
The title of Ecclesiasticus, it may bo noted, is of Latin,
not Greek, origin as applied to the book. In the Sep-
tuagint, and as quoted by the Greek Fathers, it is always
as the Wisdom of Sirach, sometimes the All-excellent
Wisdom {iravdpeTos) . When given to this book it was
in the sense iu which the whole body of the Apocrypha
were sometimes called Ecclesiastical — i.e., fit for being
used in church, the pre-eminent popularity of the book,
and possibly its general use for the etlucal instruction
of catechumens, winning for it the special application
of the more general name. The fact that one of the
sapiential books of the Old Testament had ah-eady
received the title Ecclesiastcs iu a different sense,
might contribute to the currency of the name as applied
to a book which seemed to the superficial reader to
belong to the same class.
VIII. Baeuch and the Epistle of Jekemy. —
Here also we have a book pm-porting to come from
one who was prominent in the history of Israel, the
secretary and companion of a prophet (Jer. xxxii. 12 ;
xxx^d. 4 — 10). There are no traces, however, of any
Hebrew original, and the book has never been acknow-
ledged as genuine, either by the Jews themselves or by
those who were brought into contact, as Jerome was,
with the Jewish Canon. There is not the slightest
reference to it in the New Testament, or iu the early
Fathers. It must, therefore, be regarded as simply a
compilation put together to meet the demands of Alex-
andrian Jews for additions to their religious literature,
or to meet tlieir religious dangers with edifying counsels.
Its chief characteristic, in which it stands alone among
the Apocrypha, is that it is manifestly modelled chiefly
upon the writings, not of the sapiential, but of the pro-
phetic books of the Old Testament ; and although the
true prophet is not there, we at least hear echoes of the
lofty imagery with which the older seers had set forth
the future glories of Israel (iv. 30; v. 9). Like all the
Alexandrian books, however, the note of the love of
heavenly wisdom is not absent from it, and in iii. 12 — 37
we have distinct traces of the influence of such passages
as Job xxviii. ISToticeable also is the prominence given
to " the Everlasting " (<5 aldyios), as the equivalent for
the Hebrew Jehovah, instead of the more common
•' Lord" of the ISTew Testament waiters. Most readers
will, it is believed, feel that it woidd be a gain to the
majesty of our version if that or " the Eternal " llad
been adopted in like manner there, as it is in the French
and some other versions.
The Epistle op Jereivit, annexed to Baruch,
stands on just the same footing. As a composition it
is every way inferior to it, and is not in any sense an
imitation of the style of the prophet from whom it
pui"ports to come. It is, indeed, simply a long diatribe,
partly modelled upon Isa. xh-i., against the folly of
idolatry, and almost the only fact of interest in it is the
incidentjil notice of the special forms of impurity con-
nected with the Babylonian worship of Mylitta (ver. 43),
as that worship is described by Herodotus.
IX. The Song of the Thsee Holy Childeen,
THE History of Susanna, Bel and tee Dragon.
— The three fragments that bear these titles appf^ar in
348
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
the Sej)tuagint version of the Book of Dauiel. The
character of that book, as partly narrative, partly Apoca-
lyptic (perhaps also its position among the Hagiographa,
and not among the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures),
tempted the translator to embellish the book witli narra-
tives, which may very probably have been based upon
traditions ah'cady current, and to interweave a prayer
and a psalm (both, it m\ist be admitted, irrelevant and
inappropriate, and scarcely rising above the level of
rhetoric) into the narrative of the heroic confession, the
martyrdom in will and deed, though not in result, of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. As incorporated
with the text of Daniel in the Greek version, all portions
were received by the early Christians with the same
reverence, and j)assed in the same way into the Latin
version. The Song of the Three Children was accejited
in the foui-th century as a hymn of the Christian Church,
in the first instance by the Church of Spain, at the
fourth Council of Toledo (Can. 14), and still retains its
place in the Prayer-Book of the Church of England.
The history of Susanna has probably become more con-
spicuous as having furnished painters with a Biblical
subject which admitted of a sensuous treatment, than
as supplying preachers with a theme for homiletic in-
struction. Some of the early Fathers, however, ventured
upon an allegorical interpretation, and Susanna ap-
peared as a type of the Christian Church suffering
under calumny and persecution. The narrative of Bel
and the Dragon is chiefly noticeable in connection with
the history of the English Prayer-Book. Of all the
Apocryijhal lessons it was the one which the Puritan
party most strongly objected to, and in deference to
their feelings it was struck out of the Table of Lessons
by the Hampton Court Conference under James I.
When the Restoration came, the bishops and divines
who revised the Prayer-Book thought fit to give the
Puritan party a "slap in the face" by restoring it.
Happily, it has disappeared with a good deal besides of
Apocryphal lumber in the last revision of 1870.
X. The Prayer of Manasses. — The narrative of
the repentance of Manasseh, and of his return from
Babylon and restoration to his kingdom (2 Chrou. xxxiii.
12, 13), and the fact that a Hebrew prayer attributed
to him was extant at the time when the Books of
Chronicles were compiled (2 Chrou. xxxiii. 18), were
naturally suggestive to the class of writers who under-
took the task of filling up gaps or adorning the narra-
tives of the Hebrew Bible. There is no reference to it,
or trace of its existence, before a.d. 221 ; but its moral
teaching and rhetorical power commended it for devo-
tional use among Christians, and it is found in the great
Alexandrian MS. of the Old Testament, not as part of
the volume, but among the hymns and rhj^hmical
prayers which are appended to the Psalter. As with
the Icon Baslllhe in English literature, the interest
attaching to its supposed history has given it a promi-
nence whicii it would hardly have attained otherwise.
XI. 1 AND 2 Maccabees.— The way in which these
books are presented to us in the Apocrypha is to a
certain extent misleading. Our fii-st impression is
that, as with 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Knigs, 1 and
2 Chronicles, in the Old Testament, so here, that which
is brought before us is a consecutive history. A very
slight inspection serves, of course, to show that instead
of this we have two entirely independent narratives,
and that the Second starts from an earlier peviod than
the First, the events included in the one being from
B.C. 180 to B.C. 161, in the other from B.C. 168 — 135.
Each book has therefore to be dealt with separately.
It is worth while noting that the two that we have are
only a portion of a copious literatui-e dealing with the
great struggle of the Jews, headed in the first instance
by Mattathias the Just, and afterwards by Judas the
Maccabee, his more famous son, against the attempt by
Autiochus Epiphaues to destroy their faith and crush out
their national life. A Third Book of Maccabees found
a place in the Septuagiut Canon of Scriptui-e, giving ;iii
account (as if an inverted order had seemed natural to
the compiler) of events which preceded those recorded
in the Second. A Fourth Book, running parallel with
the Second, is extant in Greek, and was ascribed con-
jectm-ally to the authorship of Josephus. A Fifth is
extant, giving a summary of Jewish history from the
attempt of Heliodorus (2 Mace, iii.) to the time of oiu*
Lord. There arc traces even of a Sixth.
The two whicli are now printed in the English Apo-
crypha owe their position to the fact that they were
included iu the Latin Vidgate. Jerome, it is true,
though he says that he found the First Book in Hebrew,
did not translate them, and the Vulgate version is from
the older Latin translation of the Old Testament that
was current before Jerome's work. The Council of
Trent formally adopted them as part of the Canon of
Scripture. The Reformed Churches dealt with them
as \n.i]\ the other books of the Apocryjiha, but, unlike
most of the others, they have never taken their place
in the public reading of Scxipture authorised by the
Church of England. The whole history of the period
has l)een so fuUy treated in the articles " Between the
Books," by Dr. Maclear, that it will not bo necessary
to go over that ground again.
1 Maccabees. — The book appears, from Jerome's
statement, and from internal evidence, to have been
written originally in Hebrew, but was probably soon
translated for the use of the Alexandrian Jews. For the
most part it tells its tale with a fairly sustained dignity,
without exaggeration, and few can read the narrative of
the heroic resistance of Mattathias and his sons to the
insane tyranny of Antiochus (chaps, i. and ii.) without
feeling their heai-ts glow within them. There is no in-
termixture of matter clearly legendaiy as iu the Second
Book, and the narrative seems to have been based, as it
professes to be, on "the chronicles of the priesthood"
(xvi. 24\ If we feel distrust anywhere, it is where tho
writer professes to give actual copies of the official
dociuuents that had passed in the negotiations between
the Maccabaian chiefs on the one side, and the Romans
and Lacedfemonians. It is probable enough that some
such negotiations were carried on, and chap. viii.
cannot fail to bo read with interest, as recording tho
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
349
first direct contact between the great world-power of
the "West and the race of Abraham, and giving the im-
pressions made upon the mind of the Jews by the
power and simpUeity of the Roman government, in
which " none wore a crown or was clothed with purple
to be magnified thereby " (viii. 1-i) ; but the style of the
letter purporting to come from the Roman senate is not
that of the official documents of the Republic, and we
can hardly believe that, even in the degenerate days
which had then fallen upon Sparta, the Lacedajmouiaus
woidd distinctly admit that they and the Jews were
brethren, and that both had come out of the stock of
Abraham (xii. 21).
2 Maccabees. — We come here upon a book of a
Tcry different and inferior stamp. The writer professes
to base his narrative upon a larger work by Jason of
Gyrene, in five books (ii. 23) — an indication, we may note
in passing, that the Jews had already found then- way
to Western Africa. As Cyi'ene, like Alexandria, was
distinctly a Greek colony, it was probable, in the nature
of the case, that both the original work and the epitome
were written in that language. The real beginning of
the narrative does not meet us till chap. ii. 19, and the
actual opening of the book takes the form of an encyclical
letter from the Jews at Jerusalem to their brethren in
Egypt. The letter bears every mark of being spurious,
and gives in a strangely incoherent way a series of legends
as to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes (i. 1 — 16), the
celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles by Nehemiah,
and the miraculous appearance of a flame after he had
poured water on the stones of the altar (i. 20 — 36). It
then goes back to a remoter past, and teUs how Jeremiah
had ascended "the mountain where Moses climbed up
and saw the heritage of God," carrying (!!) the taber-
nacle (!), the ark, and the altar of incense, and hid them
in the cave (ii. 1 — 8), then turns to the dedication of the
Temple, and Solomon, and the formation of a sacred
library by Nehemiah (ii. 9 — 14). All this is brought
before vis with a strange incoherence and confusion, then
follows the notice of Jason of Cyreue, and in chap. iii.
we enter on the real narrative. In part, as has been
seen, it covers the same ground as the First Book. Its
narrative is, however, more highly coloured. The story
of martyrdoms, as in the cases of Eleazar and the Seven
Brothers (vi., vii.), is related with more circumstantial
fulness. Heliodorus in his outrage on the Temple sees a
vision of a " horse with a terrible rider," is smitten for a
time witli blindness, and then repents and otfcrs sacri-
fice (iii. 24 — 35). Horsemen are seen in the air, in cloth
of gold, and armed with lances, over the streets of Jeru-
salem (v. 1, 2). Antiochus is smitten of God, and eaten
with worms (ix. 1 — 12); and he too repents, and makes
a vow, and recalls his persecuting edicts. Judas Macca-
bseus sees in a vision the high priest Onias, and with
him " a man with gray hairs, and exceeding glorious,"
who is declared to be Jeremiah, the prophet of God,
who "prayeth much for the people and the holy city"
(xv. 12, 13). All this indicates the probal)ility that the
book was written to meet the demand for the mar-
vellous, which was not satisfied by the simple record
of the First Book, and places it, as a history, on a far
lower level.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S., EECTOK OF PRESTON, SALOP.
HORNET.
'ENTION of this hymenopterous insect
occurs in Exod. xxiii. 28 ; Dent. vii. 20 ;
Josh. xxiv. 12. In all these passages the
hornet is referred to as one of the means
employed by Jehovah for the extirjiation of the Canaan-
ites. There seems little reason to doubt that the word
" hoimet " (Hebrew, tsir'ali) is used metaphorically in
the Pentateuch, though understood in a literal sense
by the author of the Book of Wisdom (xii. 8). No
actual destruction of the Canaanitish tribes by hornets
is mentioned in the Biblical narrative; moreover, the
■word tsirah (A.V. " wastes ") in Exod. xxiii. 28 seems
to be clearly parallel to tmah, "fear," in the preceding
verse ; and a similar expression is used figuratively in
Deut. i. 44, " The Amorites, which dwelt in that moun-
tain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees
do;" see also Ps. cxviii. 12, "They compassed me
about like bees." Hence fsu-'o/i, translated "hornet,"
must be understood metaphorically to designate any
plague or punishment that God would inflict upon the
enemies of Israel — the stings of terror and confusion —
to help His own people to drive them out from before
them.
Hornets were probably common in Palestine in ancient
times. In Josh. xv. 33 mention is made " of the valley
of Zoreah," or Zorah ; compare also Judg. xiii. 2 ; xvi.
31. This place was the home of Samson, who was
buried between Zoreah and Eshtaol ; tsor-'ah in Hebrew
means " a place of hornets," and in this locality these
insects may have been especially common. Dr. Tris-
tram's j)arty found four species of hornets all very
common in Palestine; but none identical with the
Ves2m crabro, or hornet, of this country. The Palestine
species are larger than our hornet ; but, unless pro-
voked or accidentally trodden upon, they are not dis-
posed to attack. Of the four species, two construct
nests in a similar manner to the hornet of this country ;
the other two make very large nests underground or
in rock ca^-ities, with combs of great size, sometimes
eigliteen inches in diameter, and placed horizontally.
Hornets belong to the family of Vespidce, or the " wasp
family," none of which, except hornets, are mentioned
in the Bible.
350
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
arc ofteu uUudod to iu the sacretl writings, eitber w'illi
reference to the way in wliicli, iu great swarms, tliey
make their attacks ou men or other animals that have
excited their anger (compare Deut. i. l-l- ; Pf. cxviii. 12;
Isa. vii. 18) ; or iu respect of the honey made by these
insects (sec Judg. xiv. 8, " Behold, there was a swarm
of bees and houey iu the carcase of the lion "). The
abundance of bees iu the Holy Laud iu aucient times
is shown by the frequency of the expression, " A laud
ficttviug with milk and houej'." Bees are to this day
very common iu Palestine. " Few eouutiies," Avrites Dr.
Tristram, " are more admirably adapted for bees than
this, vrith its dry climate, and its stunted but varied
flora, consisting, in large jiroportiou, of aromatic thymes,
mints, and other labiate plants, as weU as of crocuses iu
spring; while the dry recesses of the limestone rocks
everywhere afford shelter and protection for the combs."
Dr. Thomson speaks of immense swarms of bees which
made their home in a gigantic cliff of Wady Kurn.
" The people of Malia, several years ago," he writes,
" let a man down the face of the rock by ropes. He
was entirely protected from the assaults of the bees,
and extracted a large amount of honey ; biit he was so
terrified by the prodigious swarms of bees, that he could
uot be induced to repeat the exploit " {Land and Booh,
p. 299). With this we may compare the expression of
the Psalmist, " Honey out of the stony rock ; " see also
Deut. xxxii. 13, and the passages which refer to the
serious attacks made by bees when angry (Deut. i. 44;
Ps. cxviii. 12). The passage about Samson's fiindiug
a swarm of bees and houey iu the carcase of the liou he
had slain is easily explained. The animal the strong
man had killed had been dead some time, so that if any
one, as Oedmau has said, here represents to himself
a corrupt and putrid carcase, the occurrence ceases to
have any true similitude, for it is well known that in
these countries, at certain seasons of the year, the heat
mil, in the coiu'se of four-aud-tweuty hours, so com-
pletely dry up the moisture of dead camels, aud that
without their undergoing decomposition, that their
bodies long remain like mummies, unaltered aud entirely
fi'co from offensive odour. Herodotus (v. 114), speaking
of a certain Onesilas, who had been caj)tured by the
Amathusians, and liad been beheaded, says that his head,
after having been suspended over the gates, had become
occupied by a swarm of bees ; so that there is no reason
to suppose, Avitli Dr. Thomson, that hornets, aud not bees,
may be intended. No species of the wasp family, except
tlie Nectarina mellifica of Brazil, has been observed to
make honey ; certainly uo hornet is a honey-maker. The
taking of bees' nests by smoking them appears to have
been a very ancient custom, and it is cui'ious to observe
that iu the passage of Deut. i. 44, the Syriac version,
and an j^abic MS. which Bochart saw, read, "Chased
you as bees that are smoked." In Isa. vii. 18 we road,
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord
shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of
the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land
of Assyria." It has been supposed that the expression.
"shall liiss for the fly," or "the bee," alludes to the
ancient custom of hissing or Avhistling to the bees to
summon them from or to tJieir hives. That the custom
prevailed amongst the ancient Romans is evident from
numerous passages iu classical authors ; we quote from
Vu'gil only —
" Tinuitusque cie et Martis qnate cymbala circum."
The practice still continues; many a cottager clangs
together his tin and ii-ou with the idea of inducing his
bees to swarm. It is, however, doubtful whether the
prophet alludes to any practice of this kind. It is said
that the expression " hiss to " (Hebrew, sharah) refers
to the call to attention, ist, hiss, used iu Eastern
countries. So Jehovah would call the attention of the
distant nations of Egypt and Assyria. The former,
with " its vast and unparalleled numbers, is compared to
the swarming fly; and the Assyrian nation, with its
love of war aud conquest, to the stinging bee, which is
hard to keep off (Deut. i. 44; Ps. cxviii. 12). The
emblems also correspond to the nature of the two
countries : the fly to slimy Egypt, with its swarms of
insects (see chap, xviii. 1); and the bee to the more
mountainous and woody Assyria, where the keeping of
bees is still a principal bi'anch of trade
The military force of Egypt would march out of the
whole compass of the laud, and meet the Assyrian force
in the Holy Land, and both together would cover the
land iu sxich a way that the valleys of steep ijrecipitous
heights, and clefts of the rock, and thorn-hedges, and
pastures would be covered with these swarms. The
fact that just such places ai"e named as affording a
suitable shelter aud abundance of food for flies and
bees, is a filliug up of the figure in simple truthfulness
to nature" (Delitzsch, Prophecies of Isaiah, in loc).
The following passage, containing an enlogium on
the bee, is given by the LXX. in Prov. vi. 8 : "Go to
the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and what a noble
work she produces ; whose labours kings and private
men use for their health ; she is desired and honoiu'ed
by all ; and though weak in strength, yet, since she
values wisdom, she prevails." No Hebrew copy of the
Scriptures contains this passage ; it is foimd in the
Arabic version, and is quoted by Origon, Clemens
Alexandi-inus, Jerome, aud others. The Hebrew word
for a bee is debunth, generally derived from a root
meaning "to march," or "form a procession;" hence
"a swarm," as the Arabic dahr.
LEPIDOPTEEA.
Although about 230 species of lepidopterous insects
have been recorded as occurring in the Holy Land,
there is no allusion to any butterfly or moth iu Scripture,
with the single exception of the clothes-mcths [Tineidce),
many .species of which are kno^vu to occur in Palestine.
The destructive habits of the Larvoe of the clothes-moth
form the subject to which the Bible allusions refer.
" They all shall wax old as a garment ; the moth shall
eat them up " (Isa. 1. 9). " Ho consumeth as a garment
that is moth-eaten " (Job xiii. 28). " Where moth and
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE.
351
rust doth corrupt " (Matt. vi. 19). See also Job iv. 19 ;
Ps. xxxix. 11 ; Isa. li. 8 ; Hos. v. 12 ; James v. 2. The
expression iu Job iv. 19, " who are crushed before the
moth," would be better rendered, " who are crushed as
though they were moths." In Job xx\'ii. 18, the house
of the ungodly man, though a palace, is compared to the
house which a moth builds ; " it is as brittle aud perish-
able a thing*, aud can be as easily destroyed as the fine
spinning of a moth, or even the small case which it
makes from remnants of gnawed articles and drags
about with it '" (Delitzsch on Job, in loc).
The two-winged order of insects is mentioned under
the names of " flies " and " gnats." In the Hebrew
Bible two words occur, zebub aud 'drob, both of whieli
are translated "flies" iu our version. The former word
is found only in Eccles. x. 1 : " Dead flies {zebub im) cause
the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking
savour;'"' and in Isa. vii. 18, "The Lord shall hiss for
the zebub that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of
Egypt." In the first passage the word is pro1)ably used
in a wide sense to denote any of the family of Museidce
that swai"m in the houses of the East, and crawl every-
where, spoiling ointments or food if not protected by a
covering. The zebub of the proj)het Isaiah probably
denotes some biting insect, such as the blood-sucking
horse-flies {Hippoboscidce) and gadflies (Ostridce). The
Arabic word dthebab, almost identical with the Hebrew,
points to some injurious insect. Of this fly Sir G.
Wilkinson says, " The dthebab is a long grey fly which
comes out about the rise of the Nile, aud is like the
cleg of the north of England ; it abounds in calm, hot
weather, and is often met with in June and July both
in the desert and on the Nile" {Transact. Entom. 8oc.,i\.,
p. 183). It will attack both man and beast, and produce
death if the disease it generates is neglected. But even
the common fly is a tormenting pest in Egypt and other
parts of the East. " Those who have not lived," says
Dr. Tristram, " iu the East can have but little idea of
the imtatiou and pain caused in some places and at
some seasons by the countless swarms of those insects,
which are far more rapacious than in temperate
climates, and many species of which settle in the human
body like mosquitoes, and by their bites draw blood
and i^roduce festering sores." By means of flies the
dreaded ophthalmia is conveyed from one person to
anotlier and the infection spread. Mention is made in
2 Kings i. 2 of Baal-zebub, a god of Ekron, to whom
Ahaziah sent for an oracle concerning the result of his
illness. The woi'd denotes " loi'd of flies ; " according
to some, the god was i-egarded as the averter of tly-
swarms, like the Zcus a.i:ofxv7os of Elis ; others regard the
god as represented in the form of a fly, as Dagon was
in that of a fish. The idol Mtjiodes mentioned by
Pliny {Nat. Hist., xxis. 6) is in favour, perhaps, of this
latter opinion. In the time of our Lord the Jews
altered Baalzebub into Baalzeboid — i.e., " lord of the
dwelling," and applied it to tlie j)rince of the dcAdls.
The later Rabbins again changed Baalzeboul into Baal-
zebel — i.e., "lord of dung," to express "in the most in-
tense form their abomination of idolatiy." It is quite
j)robable that reference may be intended to the habits
of the Coprophagi, the dung-feeding scarabcei, to whieli
the Scarabceus sacer, or sacred beetle of Egypt, belongs.
This species, as well as others of the group, incloses its
eggs in a ball of excrement, which it forms by rolling
the substance along by means of its hind legs ; these
balls arc sometimes more than an inch in diameter. The
Hebrew word zebel does not occur in the Hebrew Bible,
but it is used in the sense of " dung " in Talmudical
writers ; Gesenius, under the root zdbal, which he con-
siders another form of the more common ddbal, " to be
round," translates ze&eZ and zebul "rounder globular
dung, such as that of goats or camels." Hence it is not
at aU improbable that the Phoenician fly-god may have
been in the form of some dung-rolling scarabaeus.
The plague of flies, as related in the Book of Exodus
(viii.\ and referred to in Ps. Lsxviii. 45, cv. 31, probably
denotes flies of various kinds, common flies, gnats, sand-
flies, mosquitoes, &e. The Hebrew word \ir6b is ren-
dered " swarms of flies " iu our version, aud it would
be difficult to suggest a better translation.
The word "gnat" (Greek, Kdvajyp) occurs only in Matt.
xxiii. 24 : " Te blind guides, which strain at a gnat and
swallow a cameL" The proper rendering of this text is
" stram out a gnat " — a metaphor taken from straining
wine so as to get rid of little particles, &c. ; see this
more fully under article " Camel" (Bible Editcatoe,
Vol. I., p. 366). Gnats or mosquitoes are most irrita-
tiug pests in all parts of the East ; they are nowhere
more common than in the low-lying marshy lands of
Palestine and Egypt.
AEACHNIDA.
Of the Araclinida, the third class of air-breathing
Anthropoda, mention is made in the Bible only of the
scorpion and the spider. The fii'st-named animal i:>
several times alluded to. "Who led thee through
that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery
serpents, and scorpions, and drought" (Deut. viii.
15). Scoi"pious to this day are very common in tho
wilderness of Sinai ; no less than five distinct species
having been found there. The prophet Ezekiel (ii. 6)
compares the rebellious house of Israel to scorpions.
The apostles were to have power " to tread on serpents
and scorpions," and nothing was to hurt them (Luke
X. 19). In the Book of Revelation (ix. 3, 10), St.
John in a vision sees locusts coming out of the smoke
of the bottomless pit, which " had tails like unto scor-
pions." The pain from the stuig is especially alluded
to iu verse 5 : " Their torment was as the torment of a
scorpion when he striketh a man." A scorj)ion for an
egg (Luke xi. 12) was probably a proverbial expression;
the Greeks used to say, " a scorpion for a perch."
The sting of a^scorpion inflicts a severe wound, into
which some poisonous fluid is discharged by the small
openings at the extremity of the tail. These creatures
are carnivorous in their habits, feeding chiefly on
insects, as on beetles aud locusts, spiders' eggs, &c.
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
The claws, like those of a lobster, are the creature's
palpi ; the uumber of eggs varies from eight to twelve.
Seorpious live iu the hot countries of both hemispheres,
coucealiug themselves under stones ; they are often
found amongst ruins, and even in houses. They can
run swiftly, and carry their tails curved over their backs.
They seize their prey witli their claw-like i^alpi, and
' pierce their victims with their sting before eating them.
It is said that when seized, the scorpion will sometimes,
in its efforts to escape, sting itself in the head, and so
cause its own death. Young scorpions are at fii-st
carried on their parents' backs; during this time the
female lies concealed in her retreat. Scorpions swarm
in every part of Palestine. " It is always necessary,"
says Dr. Tristram, " before iiitching tents to turn up
every stone, however small, lest a scorpion should be
secreted, as, when disturbed or roused by the warmth
of tlie camp, these troublesome pests will strike at
and sting any person or object within reach. So
numerous ai*e they, that in the warmer parts of the
countiy every third stone is siu'e to conceal one.
Eight species have been already described from Pales-
tine, and we found several additional kinds, varying in
colour and iu size. The largest and most dangerous
species is black, and about six inches long ; others are
yellow, striped and banded. They lie dormant during
the cold weather, but ai*e A'ery easily aroused and excited.
.... The sting of the scorpion is very painful, much
more so than that of the hornet, and our muleteers
were sevei'al times stung ; but suction and the applica-
tion of ammonia and sweet oil reduced the swelling and
pain in two or three hours. I have known an instance
of a man dying from the effects of a scorjiiou sting
which he had received in tho throat when leaning against
a wall in which the creature was secreted " [Nut. Hist.
Bib., p. 303).
The scorpions in the passage, " My father hath
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scoi-pions" (1 Kings xii. 11), must signify some instru-
ment of scourging; probably they were thongs set
vith sharp iron points or nails resembling the scorpion's
stmg. The Hebrew word for a scorpion is \ikrdb,
which, according to Geseuius, is a blended form from
'dhar, "to wound," and 'akifb, "the heel." The modei'u
Arabic name for a scorpion is identical with the Hebrew
— viz., 'akmb.
SPIDEE.
f Two Hebrew words — viz., 'accdbisli and semumith.
are rendered by " spider " in our version. In Job viii.
14 it is said of the ungodly ("hypocrite," A. V.), "his
liope shall be cut off, and his house shall be the house
of an 'accabidh." In Isa. lix. 5, the Jews are said to
hatch adders' (" cockatrice," A. Y.) eggs, and weave the
>veb of the \iccdbish. There is not the slightest doubt
that 'accubisJt, signifies a spider; the modern Arabic is
'anTcabitt, another form of the same word. In both of
the Sci-iptural passages allusion is made to the fragile
nature of the spider's web, which the slightest vio-
lence "will rupture. " They weave spiders' webs, but
their webs serve not for clothing, neither can men
cover themselves with their works " (see verse 6 of
Isa. lix.).
There is some doubt about the other Hebrew word,
semdmltli, which occurs only in Prov. xxx. 28. " The
semdmith taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings'
palaces." The ci'eature is mentioned ])y Agur tlie son
of Jakeli as one of the four things that are exceedingly
clever, though they be little upon the earth. The
IjXX. and Vulgate understand some species of li/ard,
as the gecko, and the evidence is decidedly in favour of
this interpretation. (See the article on " Lizards," Vol.
IV., p. 59.)
LEECHES AND WORMS.
Of the sub-kingdom Vermes, Biblical notices of the
horseleech and worm only occur. The former is men-
tioned only in Prov. xxx. 15 : " The liorseleach hath
two daixghters, cryiivg, Give, give." Tlie Hebrew word
'aluhdh, from 'alah, "to suck," is taken both by the
LXX. and Vulgate to denote "a leech," though many
modern scholars understand by it some vampire-like
monster, which was supposed to drain men of their
life-blood, like the (jlioul of the Arabian Nights. They
compare the 'ahtlidh with the lilitli of Isaiah (" screech-
owl," A. v.), that frequented ruined places and carried
off children at night (Isa. xxxiv. 14). That a belief in
such spectres was held by the Jews is not denied, and
is attested indeed by the Targum on Ps. xii. 8, which
says, " The wicked go round about as the aliihah that
di'inks the blood of men." But the ordinary rendering
gives very good sense, and we see no reason to dissent
from it. The expression of " the two daughters, czyiug.
Give, give," accurately describes the bloodthirsty pro-
perties of some of the leeches ; and it may be worth
while to mention, in favour of the rendering of our ver-
sion, that the Arabs to this day designate a leech of the
Nile {Limnaiis Nilotica) by the term 'alaJc.
The horseleech (Hcemopis sanguisuga) is common in
the stagnant waters of Palestine. It has small teeth,
and cannot pierce the skin ; but when it gets into the
mouth or nostrils of cattle or horses as they drink, it is
productive of serious mischief, causing much pain and
loss of blood ; so tenaciously do these bloodsuckers
cling that they are often nearly torn asunder by cft'orts
made to extract them. The leech of commerce, or the
medicinal leech, once common enough in this country,
but now rai'ely seen, is still more abundant in Palestine
than the horseleech. Other genera of discophorous
annelids belonging to the leech family, such as Trochelia
and Bdelia, are common in the waters of Syina.
Warm. — Three Hebrew words are rendered " wonn "
in our version — sds, rimmo.h, and tole'ah. The first-
named term probably denotes the larva of the clothes
moth ; it occurs in Isa. li. 8. " The moth shall eat them
up like a garment, and the sds (worm) .shall eat them
like wool." The manna that the Israelites kept till the
morning of a week-day " l)red worms (toldim) and
stank ; " but there was no rimmdh (worm) in the manna
gathered the night before the Sabbath and kejjt over it.
Job says, " My flesh is clothed with rimmdh'" (vii. 5; see
also xvii. 14). The familiar passage iu Job xix. 26,
CAKTICLES; OR. S0XG OF SOLOMON.
353
*• Though alter my skiu worms destroy this body," has
no mentiou of worms in the original Hebrew. The
word rimmah is dorivcd by Gesenius from a root mean-
ing "to be putrid," and would thus stand for vainous
kinds of maggots and insect larvae that feed on decayed
vegetable or animal matter. The other word, tuWali
or tolaath, appears also to be used for some larva de-
structive to the vine, possibly that of the Tortrix
vitisana — "Thou shalt plant vineyards, . . . but sluilt
not gather the grapes, for the tOlddth shall eat them"
(Dent, xxviii. 89) — or to the lan'83 of the two-winged
meat-flies, which wovdd feed on the dead bodies of those
slain in battle (Isa. Isvi. 24 ; see also Job xvii. 14; xxiv.
20 ; xxi. 26 ; ^ii. 5). As a symbol of that which is vile
and despicable, the worm occui's in Ps. xxii. 6 ; Isa. xli.
14 : as a figure to express the stings of a guilty con-
science in another world, the worm is used by our Lord,
" Their worm shall not die " (Mark ix. 44, &c.).
Herod Agrippa's death was caused by worms of some
kind (^Acts xii. 23). " He was eaten of worms, and gave
up the ghost." "What kind it was that caused his death
it is quite impossible to say.
Several kinds of earth-worm {Lumbricvs) are found
in Palestine, apparently similar to those of this eountiy.
]\[yrf(n)oda and Scolo^yendnr are extremely common;
they arc eagerly devoured by the birds.
ANTHOZOA.
The class Anthozoa is represented in Scripture by the
coral. The Hebrew word rdmoth etymologically means
" that which grows ujiward," and is with good reason
imderstood to mean " coral." " No mentiou shall be
made of coral, . . . for the price of wisdom is above
rubies" (Job xxviii. 18). "Syria was thy merchant;
. . . they occuijied in thy fairs with emeralds and coral"
(Ezek. xxAii. 16j. The coral brought to Tyre by the
Syrians would have been that of the Red Sea, which is
most valuable, although good coral is obtained from the
Mediterranean also. The coral is broken off from the
rocks to which it is fixed by long hooked poles, and then
di-awn out. It may be mentioned that the Hebrew word
rendered " price " in verse 18 of Job xxviii. literally
means "a di-awing out " — " The drawing out of wisdom
is above the drawing out of coral." The red coral of
commerce {Corallium rubrum) is composed of a large
quantity of calcareous matter mixed with homy matter.
It is the product of multitudes of little creatures of
microscopic size called polypes or zoophytes.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
CANTICLES; OE, SONG OF SOLOMON (concluded).
BY THE EIGHT KEVEREND THE LORD BISHOP OF DERET.
I OME who read these lines may be tempted
to express a certain degree of surprise.
Looking at the matter from the point
of view of Europeans and of Englishmen
wish modern associations, they may be inclined to ask
why the same truths could not have been taught by
straightforward dogmatic assertions ; why these wrap-
pings of symbolical poetry, these strange and passionate
riddles, have been adopted ?
If a great master in music were about to play upon
an organ, few sciolists would have the pedantic inso-
lence to instruct him upon the mode of his performance.
Who are we that we should ventm-e to dictate to the
Holy Spirit how He may best utter the music of his
meaning ? We can easily imderstand that truth finds
access to different minds in different shapes. The acted
parables of our Lord, the symbols which He employed,
were perhaps more eloquent to many who saw them
than His spoken parables. To not a few, the evergreens
that' cover the church walls at Christmas are dim yet
real tokens and pledges of the new life which Christ
brought with Him. To some pious peoj)le, the hai-pers
of the Apocalypse, and the foundations of the New
Jcnxsalem, convey more than all articulate meaning.
There are those whose affections may be gained, and to
whom God's Word may be made more pleasant, by the
symbolism of this sweet Idyll. It will be observed
that many of the objects to which the Bride and the
95 — VOL. JV.
Spouse are likened, are such as no poet would ever
select for pictorial effect or natural verisimilitude. And
thus we are incited to read them from another point of
view. Thus, in one passage, whose effect is marred by
the imfortunate difficulty of finding an equivalent for
the Hebrew m'eiin, " his belly is as bright ivory over-
laid with sapphires " (v. 14). There may be some to
whom the ivory, the most precious of animal products,
and the sapphire, the Scriptural symbol of the visibl ■'
heaven, may give an exquisitely delightful conception
of the imiou of all that is best in earth and heaven, and
so of the highest humanity and truest Deity. Or again,
it may safely ])o affirmed that there is no single proper
name in Solomon's Song which is not significant,^ and
meant to be such, a pregnant hint of the true principle
of interpretation. For instance, the eye.s of the Bride
are said to bo like the pools in Heshbon. As the word
Heshbon points to meditation, this view of the Church
as A creatui'e with clear, large, deep, limpid, meditative
eyes, the mirror of the heaven by day and night,- may be
more impressive anvl touching than the bare statement
that the Church is given to prayer and meditation, and
relies upon heavenly teaching.
1 Soloinou, Shulamite, En-gedi, Tirzah, Ammi-nadib, Bath-
rabbim, Baal-hamon. See Bisbop of Lincoln's Note on Cant.
vii. 4.
- "The eres large, clear, briglit, untroubled (as neither mud
blackens, nor wind stirs these waters), quiet, and modest " (seo
authorities in Poole, Syrioj). Crit. ii. 2,033).
354
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
And in a book of the marvellous power and compass
of Scripture, wc are not surprised to find passages
which suit Clirist and His Church. One in especial we
may notice, because two hints as to its hidden meaning
are given us in the Apocalypse (comp. Cant. v. 2 — 8
with Rev. iii. 20; xvi. 15).
Does not our Lord Himself more than hint to us that
we have here a symbolic prophecy of the days of the
Church's declension ? The Divine Spouse pities His
Betrothed. The clouds gather, and the rain beats upon
the earth ; but from the stormloss shore, through the
cold and rain, He comes, and says, in that piercing
voice, which is yet so tender, " Oj)en to Me."
He has come in His love, but " He cometli as a thief."
She has not "watched and kept her raiment." " I have
put off my coat ; how shall I put it on ? I have washed
my feet; how shall I defile them?" As if any feet
.could be defiled by moving towards Him! The days
are past, when Christ's sweet voice was as music to her,
of which she could say, "I have followed it, or it hath
led me rather." ^ But then, " My beloved put in his
hand by the hole of the door." A hand put in. Why
that emotion, that sorrow ? What if it were known to
her by some mark, perhaps pierced and wounded for
her ? At that moment the fountains are opened, and
drops of penitence, at once sweet and bitter, fall upon
the lock that had been bolted against Him. So she
goes forth, seeking Him and finding Him not for a
while. Yet, when she is outcast, panting and wounded
for His sake, her beauty is fairest in His eyes.
Whatever may be thought of such explanations in
detail, we are amply justified in finding (as has been
beaixtifully said) " in this noble and gentle history
shadows of the emotion of the highest love, of the
infinite condescension of the Incarnation."- And here
is one great use of the book. It is intended to be
an antidote against coldness in religion; against the
religion which (as Bishop Butler complained) is so very
moderate, and very reasonable, that it has nothing to do
with the heart and affections. The world sweeps by
with seductive songs ; the very flowers of which they
teU are laden with associations —
" The lilies and languors of virtue.
The roses and raptures of vice."
WJiat if wo could say, passionately clinging to purer
pleasures ? — " I am ui-j beloved's, and my beloved is
mine : he feedeth among lilies " (Cant. vi. 3).
There was a patient tormented with an undefinablo
misery, and a perpetual restlessness, whom his physician
ad\'ised to think at night of sometliing vast, quiet, and
beautiful. Ho thought tliat he would occupy himself
with the idea of God, and in so doing he found rest
both to body and soul. In this Divine book (strangely
pathetic as so much of it is, with the exquisite pathos
latent in the love of all finite natures), may we not find
such a conception of Christ as will give us perfect
peace ? It lias been well said by certain old ^vriters,
1 Shakespeare, Tempest.
2 Mr, Kingsbury in the Speaker's Commentary,
" The Jews did not allow any younger than thirty years
to read this book. Better if they had measured the
fitness by grace rather than years. Let the reader of
it be sober and pure, humble and teachable, not fixed on
eartlily things. Let him be well read in all Scriptm*e,
especially Psalms and Canticles; endued with an ex-
perimental knowledge of God's dealings with his heart,
and that of others ; having the grace of God quick and
living in him, communing much with the Spouse in
prayer; having experience of the sweetness of Divine
love. Vainly does the unloving draw ndar to read tho
Song of Songs ; a cold heart cannot bear those words of
fii'e. The language of love is barbarous to him who
loveth not." =»
III. The liistory of the rationalistic interpretation of
the Canticles, from Theodore of Mopsuesta downwards,
has been drawn briefly and clearly by M. Renan.
Sebastian Castalion pronounced it to be an improper
book. After the lapse of a century, Grotius and Leclerc
took something of the same position ; the first awk-
wardly, and with hesitation ; the last with some degi-ee
of decision. Meanwhile, Vatablas, Bossuet, and Bishop
Lowth, in different sections of the Chi-istian Church,
were shaping out the old theory of Abeu Ezi-a, that
there are two senses, one natural, the other mystic and
spiritual, and both to be maintained. Towards the end
of the last century, the new school of Biblical exegesis
in Germany attempted to uproot completely every
sense but the most coarsely literal. Seiuler and J. D,
Michaelis intex-preted it literally. Herder maintained
that the book was not mystic, and scarcely refrained
from drawing the conclusion that it was immoral. In
1771 Jac«bi gave a new turn to the exposition of the
Song of Songs. He took up some hints thrown out
by the reverent and exquisite genius of Bossuet, and
pressed them to very different conclusions from those
of tho gifted and pious prelate. He maintained that
the piece was a di'ama, and its subject " the victory of
faithful lovers ; " that the heroine was a viUager un-
wittingly entrai^ped into his court by a sensual king.
Wliile Herder, Doederlein, Eichhorn, and Do Wette
looked upon the book as a collection of detached love-
songs, Umbreit, Ewald, Hitzig, and in Holland and
France Rcville, and Renan, have carried the ultra-
dramatic theory to its last degree of elaboration.
It ■will not be expected that wo should here reproduce
the list of dramatis personce, and the contents of the
Acts, which have been drawn out by M. Renan, like
a Parisian Vaudeville. Tlie following analysis will
sufficiently indicate the theory : —
Act I.
Act II. .
Act III. .
Act IV. .
Act V. .
Epilogue .
chapter i. 2 to ii. 7.
chapter ii. 8 to iii. 5.
chapter iii. 6 to v. 1.
chapter v. 2 to vi. 3.
chapter vi. 4 to viii. 7.
chapter viii. 8 to viii. 14.
But to this scheme there are several insuperable
objections, even from the position of those who attach
« Del Eio, Durham, Sanctius, and St. Bernard, quoted in
Poole's Synopsis Crit. ii. 1,967.
CANTICLES; OR, SONG OF SOLOMON.
355
no weight to tlie arguments which we have produced
from Scripture.
1. The piece can only be put into this shape by
arbitrary transpositions, and the most enormous di-afts
upon the imagination. The chronological order of
action is almost inverted. In the first chapter the girl
is supposed to enter the seraglio of Solomon , but it is
only in the third chapter that she comes to Jerusalem
for the first time; while in the sixth chapter she is
carried aAvay finally by the chariots of Solomon ; and
the eighth chapter obstinately refuses to fit into the
frame at aU. Indeed, M. Renan himself seems to
admit that he can make nothing of the whole passage
from vi. 11 to vii. 12.
2. It is quite certain that there was no trace of a
theatre or theatrical rej)resentations at Jerusalem before
Herod. Indeed, the Book of the Maccabees and Jose-
j)hus prove that the erection of a theatre by Herod
gave the deepest oifence to Jewish prejudices.^ And it
is qmte idle to talk of representing in private families a
piece which woidd have requu-ed, according to the
critics, the following personages : —
The Shulamite.
The Shepherd.
Solomon.
Brothers of the Shulamite.
Many women of the harem.
Men of Jerusalem.
Solomon's suite.
Wedding companions of Shepherd.
Choir.
Sage to speak Moral and Epilogue.
It only remains to say that, according to the most
competent writers, there is nothing in the Hebrew of
the Song of Songs inconsistent with a date as early
as the reign of Solomon. The alleged Chaldaisms, as
in the case of the Book of Ruth, may be a touch of pro-
vincial or popular language. Of the words attributed to
Grecian or Persian origin, one only is worthy of notice
— the word paradise." But the oeciu-rence of one word
is a slender basis upon which to build a theory.^
As to the internal evidence for Solomon's authorship,
1 2 Mace. iv. 11, sqq., 22, sqq. ; Josephus, Antiquities, xv. 8, § 1 ;
Be B. Jiid. i. 21, § 8 (quoted by Eenan, £tude sur la Cantique,
p. 81).
- DT\S (Cant. iv. 13). The word is not preserved in old Persian.
Fuerst refers to the Zend painliera, the Armenian pardez, the
Sanskrit poj-adtVa {Lexicon, p. 1,150).
3 An argument upon which much stress has been laid is, that
"the allegorical representation of Israel under the image of a
virgin was not sufficiently common iu the age of Solomon ; that
the image is but seldom used by the prophets until after Amos
(v. 2) ; and that only after Isaiah did the xjersonification of Israel,
Judah, Sion, Jerusalem as na (daughter), n'Tina (a virgin), become
stereotyped in popular usage. But in addition to the palmary
passages (Exod. xx. 5; xxxiv. 14) quoted above, the germ may
be traced in the following texts : — Exod. xxxiv. 15, 16; Lev. xx. 5,
6 ; xvii. 7 ; Numb. siv. .33 (where idolatrj- is spoken of as whore-
dom) ; Dent, xxxii. 16, 21, where even the cold and unimaginative
Vitringa writes : " A naetaphor plainly taken from a husband
who, when he sees himself spumed by a wife indulging in unworthy
affection, and hence in anger to retaliate and move her to jealousy,
openly transfers his love to another, and perhaps more ignoble
woman." In Deut. xxxiii. 12, Benjamin is called nini Tl) (beloved
ef the Lord). Nay, Solomon himself is called rT'"!''!^, 2 Sam. xii.
24, 25 (see also the name of the mother of Josiah, 2 Kings xxii. 1).
No doubt the symbolic representation is infinitely fuller and more
definite after Solomon (seeJer. xxxi. 33); but that only proves that
we should notice the pleasm-e in grandeur, the pas-
sionate feeling for nature, the taste for beautiful and
gorgeous objects in art, the indications of acquaintance
with natural history. He who " spake three thousand
proverbs, and whose songs were a thousand and five,"
spake also, and apparently in these proverbs and songs,
" of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even
imto the hyssop that spi-ingeth out of the wall : he spake
also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and
of fishes" (1 Kings iv. 31 — 33). Hengstenberg remarks
that iu this brief poem myrrh is as frequently mentioned
as in all the rest of the Old Testament. Apple-trees
and apples are spoken of in Cant. ii. 3, 5 ; vii. 9; viii. 5 ;
in the rest of the Old Testament twice only. Lebanon
and its glorious cedars are constantly before his fancy
(i. 17; ii. 13; iii. 9; iv. 8, 11, 15; vii. 5 ; viii. 9). For
other trees, plants, and flowers, see i. 17 ; vii. 7 ; ii. 2 ;
i. 12, 14; vii. 8, 12, 13; iv. 13, 14. For beasts and
birds, i. 9; i. 7, 8; iv. 1, 2; ii. 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17; iii.
5 ; viii. 14 ; iv. 8. For gorgeous gems, furniture,
adornments, and buildings, i. 5, 10, 11, 17 ; iii. 10, 11 ;
V. 14, 15 ; vii. 2, 5 ; rai. 9 (compare, for similar indica-
tions of taste and feeling, Eccles. ii. 4 — 8 ; x. 7, 11 ; xii.
4, 5, 6 ; Prov. ix. 1 ; xxiv. 30, 31, the exquisite little
pastoral, xxvii. 24—27; xxx. 19, 24—31). "Let any
one," says Kleuker, "compare the accounts of Solomon's
passionate love in the historical books, the taste for
uatm-e and magnificence displayed in all his delineations
of it, and of which ample evidence is given in his other
writings, and it wUl be difficult even to conceive that
any other than he wrote the Song of Songs."
To those who are inclined to agi-ee with our interpre-
tation of this Di^^ne song, we desire to point out a far
profounder likeness in substance between the Books of
Proverbs and Canticles. The English word proverb is
hardly an adequate rendering of H'? {mashal) ; properly
it is a comparison or similitude ; hence any syiubolical
discourse, or, as the Latin translator has rendered it,
the Parables of Solomon, discourses which, as Jerome
says, have one thing on the surface, another in their
depths.'* Thus, as to the three shapes which occupy so
much of the book, Wisdom, the Strange "Woman, and
the Viriuous "Woman, it may be said, without in the
sUghtest degree mysticising away a fine moral lesson,
that behind the veil of the mashal there is something
more. "We may venture to think that St. Augustine wa?
not altogether ■wrong when he 'wi'ote that in Proverbs
Solomon is found to have proj)hesied of Christ and of
the Chm-ch. The words of Agui- (that significant name),
in the 30th chapter, have something more in them than
meets the eye. They rise out of the region of elemen-
tary natm-al history. The emphatic language of the
fii-st verse, " even the Prophecy," necessitates a profound
the idea was developed and given currency to by him. The fact
that so many prophets use the image of the conjugal relation pre-
supposes that it was clearly in the circle of popular sacred ideas.
Hosea implies the Song of Solomon as certainly as some hymns
popular in English Protestant Nonconformist communities imply
the Pilgrim's Progress (see Hengstenberg, Proleg. to tlie Song of
Solomon).
■1 " Aliud in medulla habentes, aliud iu superflcie pollicertes."
356
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
interpretation. '' The iiropliecy " is N'lt''Qn [hammassd),
that is, properly, burden, henco revelation or Divine
orade. To those who receive the two books in this
distinctively Christian acceptation, there is an over-
whelming conviction of nuity of thought and spiritual
characteristic in the enigmatical representation common
to both.
Among the principal works or expositions on the
Canticles may bo named Athanasius ; St. Bernard, In
Cantica, Sermones Ixxxvi. (this exposition does not go
beyond iii. 22 ; it. is, of course, deficient in critical
tact and insight, but abounds with exquisite touches) ;
Cornelius a Lapido, Comment., torn. vii. 429, 615 ;
Matthew Henry (curiously like the great Jesuit in
thought and tone) ; Bossuet ; Lowth ; Hengsteuberg
{Prolegomena to Song of Solomon, translated in Com-
mentary on Ecclesiastes, Clark, Edinburgh, pp. 272 —
305); Ginsburg; Thrupp, 1862 ; Bishop of Lincoln, Holy
Bible, iv. 120, sqq. ; and the Rev. T. L. Kingsbury's
most interesting contribution to the Speaker's Com-
vientary, vol. iv. The whole history of the rationalistic
interpretation will be found in Ernest Renan, La Can-
tique des Cantiques (Paris, 1869).
It only remains for us to quote, in conclusion, some
wise sentences from the repertory of the thoughtful
Christianity of a past age, to be found in Poole's
Synopsis : —
" "We come to the following conclusions : (1.) We
should read the Canticles as a part of Scriptm-e, which,
though obscure, has a tendency, when read rightly, to
affect man for good, and soothe and delight his spirit.
. . . (3.) The doctrines which are contained in this
book are the selfsame plain spiritual verities which are
found in other Scriptures. This we say, lest when any
shall have heard the doctrines of faith, repentance, &c.,
brought out in the exposition of these images, ho may
think them unsuitable to such. But we prove that
such doctrines are dedueible from the Canticles by the
following solid arguments : —
" (a) They agree with the whole scope of the Canticles,
which is exactly the same with the whole scoijc of the
Bible, namely, to show the lovo of God, and the duty
of the Church.
" (b) Precisely the same images — the vineyard, the
marriage, &c. — are to be found in very many other pas-
sages of Scripture (see Isa. v. 1, 2; Jer. iii. 1; Hosea,
p>assim ; St. Matt. xxii. 2, &c.), suggest to us just the
same doctrines, and have the same use, scope, and object
as the present book.
" (c) The same doctrines are in Ps. xlv.", of which the
tone, colouring, style, and application are of a piece
with Solomon's Song.
" (d) Doctrines precisely similar may be gathered by
collating pai'allel passages from other Scriptures. Thus,
if we compare the description of Christ, Cant. v. iO, &c.,
with that of Rev. i. 13, sqq., we may perceive a great
likeness, notably in what is said of the feet and face.
But it is cei'tain that that description. Rev. i. 13, sig-
nifies the various perfections of Christ, His omni-
science by the eye ; His justice by the feet that walk
aright ; His omnipotence by the arm, which is brought
out fully in Rev. ii. and iii. Why should not the same
Spirit who prompted the one passage have prompted
the other also ?
" But many objections occur : —
" 1. If such doctrines are to be taught, why are
they taught figuratively ? Answer : Who are you, to
teach the Holy Si>irit how to declare His mind and
meaning ?
'• 2. Objection : Such doctrines are too Evangelical,
and do not suit the Old Testament. It is doubtful
whether Solomon knew such doctrines, or had any
intention of teaching them here. Answer : The ques-
tion is not about Solomon's meaning, but that of the
Spirit of God." '
Poole, Syiiop. Crit. ii., 1,9G7.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
THE ORDEES OF APETALOUS PLANTS— SALICINE^ TO CUPULIFEE^ AND CONIFERS.
BY W. CAERUTIIEBS, F.R.S., KEEPER OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
courses.
jiHE Willow family (Salicinece) is repre-
sented in Palestine, as with us, by .species
of poplar and willow, which find their
favourite localities beside the water-
Our two British poplars are found also in
Palestine, along with two or three other species. It
has been thought that the becaim (D'^35) of the Hebrew
Scriptures, translated in our English Bible " mulberry-
trees," were poplars. The word occurs only in the
narrative of the utter destruction of the Philistines on
the occasion of their second invasion of Israel, after
David was anointed king. They had spread them-
selves over the valley of Reiihaim ; and God, in answer
to David's inquiry, said, " Thou shalt not go up ; but
fetch a compass behind them, and come ui^on them
over against the mulberry-trees. And let it be, when
thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the
mulberiy-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself"
(2 Sam. V. 23, 24). The Septuaglnt rendered the word
by Sttjoi, " pear-trees ; " and this interpretation has been
accepted by RosenmiiUor and others. Celsius proposes
the gum-bearing J.^ij/ris; but this must be excluded,
as it is not a native of Palestine. The Jewish Rabbis,
followed by our translators, understand it to mean the
mulberry-trees. Dr. Royle has suggested that it may
be the aspen, for which he finds an Arabic name, baca,
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
357
not unlike the Hebrew. This tree is noted for the
ease with which its leaves, borne on long flattened
stalks, are moved by the slightest wind.
There is reason,- to believe that the white poplar is
referred to under the name libneh (nn?), which occurs
twice in the Old Testament. In Jacob's experiments
with Laban's flocks he employed peeled rods of green
poplar, hazel, and chestnut-trees (Gen. xxx. 37). It
was one of the trees under wliich idolatrous Israel
sacrificed : " Under oaks and poplars and elms, because
the shadow thereof is good " (Hos. iv. 13). The wliite-
flowcred storax-tree is thought by some to be the
libneh ; but as this was only a bush, it could not be
ranked with the oak, as a tree whose umbrageous
ci'own could afford shelter to the j>riest while sacri-
ficing. The etymology of the word suggests that the
tree was of a whitish colour, and justifies the appli-
cation of the name to the downy-leaved poplar. Our
own Pojpulus alba, Linn., may be the plant of the
uplands referred to by Hosea ; while the allied P.
euphratica, Dene, would l)e abundant in the locality
where Jacob was tending Laban's flocks.
Tlie branches of the Avillow were employed by the
Israelites in the construction of the booths at the Feast
of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 40). In the description of
behemoth this tree is specified as one which gave him
shade : " The shady trees cover him with their shadow ;
the Avillows of the brook compass him about " (Job. xl.
22). The prosperity of Israel, when the Lord shall pour
out His blessing, is likened to the rapid growth of
" willows by the water-courses " (Isa. xliv. 4). The only
other reference to this tree— for the " brook of the
^villows " (Isa. xv. 7) is obviously the name of a place — is
in that psalm sung by the Israelites after the captivity, in
which, with unsurpassed power and pathos, the picture
of their misery is drawn : " By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered
Zion. "We hanged our harps upon the willows in the
midst thereof" (Ps. cxxx^di. 1, 2). There is no good
reason for the attempts which have been made to find
some other tree than the willow which would accord
with these references, for different species of Salix
occur in Palestine. The Salix Babylonica, Linn., is
one of them ; and whether this is the very species which
grew on the banks of the Euphrates, it has, from its
long association with the narrative of Israel's misery,
become the symbol of sorrow, and is extensively planted
in our cemeteries : all the existing trees in Britain are
cuttings from one introduced into the garden at Hamp-
ton Court, in the end of the seventeenth century.
Another Hebrew word, fsaftsafah (nsaps), is translated
" willow " in our Bible. It occurs only in the passage
where Ezekiel, in his figurative description of the king
and princes of Jerusalem cari'ied captive to Babylon,
speaks of a great eagle as having placed the seed of
the land "by great waters, and set it as a wiUow-tree "
(xvii. 5). The correctness of this rendering is bome
out by the Arab name, safsaf, for the willow, which is
obviously the same as that of the Hebrew Scriptures.
The Oriental plane {Platanus orientalis, Linn.) is
one of the more common trees of Palestine, occun-ing
frequently by streams and in the plains : it is often
planted by roadways and near towns for its shade. It
has always been a favourite tree, from the protection
from sun and rain afforded by its dense mass of
foliage. On this account it was the principal tree
jjlanted in the groves of the Athenian academies. It
must not be confounded with the plane-tree of Scotland,
which, though agreeing with it generally in the form
of the leaf, in other respects differs widely from it.
The Oriental plane grows in London, ornamenting all
its squares, and often enlivening with its green foliage
the narrowest lanes and the most crowded thorough-
fares. The property it has of throwing off' its outer
bai'k every sj)ring, and so getting rid of the coating of
London soot which invests everything within its reach,
probably secures for this tree its vigorous to>vn life.
It is to this casting off of its bark, getting rid of its
clothes, that it owes its Hebrew name, 'armon (l^'^ns),
derived from a root meaning "nakedness." 'Armon
is translated in our version " chestnut-tree ; " but the
Septuagint and Vulgate, with recent translators, render
it ' ' plane-tree." The word occurs twice in the Scriptures :
" Rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut-
tree," were placed by Jacob in the water-troughs where
Laban's flocks came to drink (Gen. xxx. 37) ; and
Ezekiel, in describing to Pharaoh the grandeur of the
Assyrian empire, says, " The cedars in the garden of
God could not hide him : the fii--trees were not like
his boughs, and the chestnut-trees were not like his
branches " (Ezek. xxxi. 8).
The fruit of the walnut is supposed to be the nut
referred to by Solomon : '" I went down into the garden
of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see
whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates
budded" (Cant. vi. 11). The Hebrew egoz (iiJ»i) is
closely aUied to the Persian goivz, and to the Arabic
jowz, the names for the walnut in these languages.
The tree is a native of the moimtains in the east, and
was no doubt common in the higher lands of the north,
of Palestine in ancient times, as it is at the present
day. The only reason against li'miting egoz to the
walnut is that this tree does not flom*ish with the vine
and pomegranate, its geographical distribution being
limited to colder localities than that in which these
plants flourish.
The oaks are the most abundant trees in the hilly
table -land of Palestine ; in some places forming woods,
and in others covering the ground for miles with a
dense brushwood, from eight to twelve feet high. Our
common British oak does not occur in Palestine, yet
it is found high up on Lebanon. Three species of oak
are of frequent occurrence throughout the country.
Of these, the Valouian oak (Quercus ^gilops, Linn.)
most nearly resembles our common oak. It has a
stout trunk, and attains a height of some twenty to
thirty feet. Tlie large acorns, which are eat«n by the
Arabs, are borne in very large cups densely covered
with long recurved teeth. These cups are extensively
used by tanners, because of the large amount of
358
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tannic acid they contain. The tree is common in
Galilee, forming forests on Tabor and Carmel ; it is
«lso abundant across the Jordan in Bashan ; and is, no
doubt, the " oak of Bashan " mentioned several times
in the Old Testament. The most common oak is an
evergreen species, Q. pseudococcifera, Desf.. like the
holly or holm oak (Q. Ilex, Linn.) of our parks and
shrubberies. To this species belongs the famous oak
at Hebron, under which tradition says that Abraham
entertained the three angels. This is an immense
spreading tree, with a trunk twenty-.six feet in girth,
which forks about six f 3et from the ground into three
equal stems, and these afterwards di\-ide into many
smaller limbs. The branches cover an area ninety-
three feet in diameter. Tristram and Thomson record
larger oaks which they have measured in Palestine.
In the time of Josoi^hus the traditional tree was a large
terebinth, which has long ago entirely disappeared,
and the tradition has been transferred to this well-
known oak. But old as this tree is, it has no real
claim to the great antiquity tradition gives to it; it is
probably the last relic of the grove under one of the
trees of which the angels were iuAited to rest by
Abraham (Gen. xviii. 1). The third species is the gall
oak (Q. insedifera, Linn.), a deciduous-leaved tree,
from twenty to thirty feet high. Its leaves are white
on the under surface. It is not so common as the
other two, but is seen occasionally in Samaria, Galilee,
and the Lebanon range. The young branches are
attacked by a hymenopterous insect which produces a
lai'ge croj) of bright chestnut-coloured galls extensively
used in the manufacture of ink and dyes.
The oak is not mentioned in the New Testament, but
it is frequently referred to in the Old Testament, under
several slightly varied terms, all derived from the same
root, meaning " strength." The same radical idea is
contained in the technical name of our British oak, Q.
Bobur, Linn. ; and the Jews, like ourselves, used the
oak proverbially for strength. Thus we read of the
Amorito that his " height was like the height of the
cedars, and he was strong as the oak" (Amos ii. 9).
The simplest form of the Hebrew name, el {^H), is more
frequently, and quite correctly, rendered in our Aversion
"mighty men." Elon ((i''.^) is translated "plain," as
"plain of Moreh " (Gen. xii. 6; Deut. xi. 30; and
Judg. ix. 6) ; "plain of Mamre " (Gen. xiii. 18 ; xiv. 13 ;
xviii. 1) ; " plain of Zaanaim " (Judg. iv. 11) ; " plain
of Meonenim " (Judg. ix. 37) ; but in all these instances
it would be more correctly translated " oak." The tree
seen by Nelmchadnezzar in his dream, and called ilan
(]Vn, Dan. iv. 10, 11, &c.), was also an oak. When
Joshua on the eve of his death received the promise of
the people that they Avould serve the Lord, he took a
great stone, and set it i;p as a witness under an oak
(nV«, allah) in Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 26). Perhaps the
most distinctive term for the oak among the Hebrews
was allon (pVw), which is throughout rendered " oak " in
our Authorised Version. Of the wood of this tree the
Tyrians made the oars of their vessels (Ezek. xxvii. 6),
and idolators formed the idols they worshipped (Isa.
xliv. 14), while the idolatrous worship was celebrated
under the umbrageous head of the oak (Hos. iv. 13).
CONIFERS.
The indigenous flora of Britain includes three coni-
ferous plants — a pine, a juniper, and a yew. The
members of the order are found principally in the
colder regions of the globe, and the species occurring
in Palestine are confined to tlie mountains of the north.
The most remarkable of them is the cedar, repeatedlj^
I'efei'red to in the Scriptures under the name erez (i")i*).
This is the name still given to the iree by the Arabs,
and though it would not be accurate to restrict it abso-
lutely to the Lebanon cedar, there can be no doubt that
this was the plant to which it was in the first instance
and in a special manner applied. The cedar {Pinus
Cedrus, Linn.) is confined in its geographical distribu-
tion to Asia Minor, coming south as far as Lebanon.
It does not reach Palestine proper, and should not be
included among the trees of that country. A closely-
allied tree, if not a variety only of the Lebanon cedar,
grows on the Atlas mountams ; and the deodar, a third
species, is found on the mountains in the north of
India. The Lebanon cedar was long supposed to be
confined to the small hollow on the north-western
slope of Lebanon near Kadisha, called '" The Cedars,"
which is over 5,000 feet above the level of the sea,
and more than 3,000 feet below the summit of the
mountain. Explorers have, however, found in the
less accessible mountain fastnesses of Lebanon to the
north several other groves, and cedars are known to bo
common on the Taurus range. The well-known grove
of " The Cedars " consists of between four and five
hundred trees growing on a platform some six acres
in extent, with the summits of Lebanon towei'ing to a
great height around on every side. The trunk of the
largest tree measures forty-seven feet in circumference,
and its total height is about one hundred feet. The
noble appearance of the cedar, and the interesting
associations connected with it, have led to its being
extensively planted in England. It is a common tree
in and around London, and many parks throughout
England, like Blenheim Park in Oxfordshire, contain
magnificent specimens. Its foliage is not unlike that
of the common larch, consisting of a large number of
small needle-like leaves grouped together in tufts ; Init
while in the larch the leaves fall off at the approach of
winter, in the cedar they continue for two years, thus
making the tree an evergreen. The cones are also very
different from those of the larch, being oblong and
blunt, and made up of many pui-plish-broAvn bcales
densely packed together. They rise upright from tho -
branches, and as they take three years to ripen, and
remain much longer on the tree, a fruit-bearing cedar
always presents a singularly prolific appearance. Tho
branches are thrown out horizontally from the parent
trunk. These again part into limbs which preserve the
same horizontal direction, and so on down to the
minutest twigs. The leaves point upwards, growing
from the twigs like gi'ass from the earth. " Climb into
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
359
one," says Dr. Thomson, " and you are delighted with a
succession of verdant floors spread around the trunk
and gradually narrowing as you ascend. The beautiful
cones seem to stand upon, or rise out of, this green
floormg" [The Land and the Bool; p. 200).
The majestic form and large spreading branches of
this noble tree, which make it the pride of so many
parks in England, made it the glory of Lebanon to the
Jew (Isa. xxxY. 2). Tho cedar was the highest tree
known to him. " His height was exalted above all the
trees of the field. . . . The cedars in the garden of
God could not hide him" (Ezek. xxxi. 5, 8); and it was
considered to be the noblest member of the A'egetable
kingdom. Solomon's botanical knowledge extended
from the meanest plant, the hyssop springing out of the
wall, to the noblest, the cedar of Lebanon (1 Kings
iv. 33). The cedars were the type of pre-eminent great-
ness and excellence. '• Trees of the Lord" (Ps. civ. 16)
the Psalmist calls them, by a parabolic Hebraism, to
indicate their mighty grandeur.
An aromatic odoui- pervades every part of the plant,
and this, according to Schulz, is characteristic of the
cedar groves. " Evei-j-thing," he says, " about this tree
has a strong balsamic perfume, and hence the whole
forest is so perfiimed with fragrance that a walk
through it is delightful." This explains such allusions
as " His smell shall be as Lebanon " (Hos. xiv. 6). Tliis
perfume is present in the wood, and is due to a resin
which freely exudes from the trunk while the tree is
living, and may often be seen si^otting the wood after
it is made into furnitiu-e ; metal objects placed in
cabinets of cedar-wood are often injured by being
coated with this resin as with a fine A*arnish. The
resin was held in high esteem by the ancients as a
powerful antiseptic, and under the name of cedria was
employed by the Romans in embalming the dead. To
this is due the prevalent belief in the imperishable
nature of cedar-wood. The value of the timber for
practical purposes has recently been called in ques-
tion, but without good foundation. The high value set
on it in ancient times, as shown by its extensive use
in the first and second Temples, and in the palace of
Solomon, which from tho quantity of this wood em-
ployed in its construction was called " The house of the
forest of Lebanon" (1 Kings vii. 2), as well as from
the trouble that the Assyi-ian king took to obtain it
from Lebanon for his palace at Nineveh — this high
value is fully justified by an examination of the wood
itself, which, though soft like almost all coniferous
woods, is nevertheless a close, compact-grained wood,
fitted for carving, and susceptible of the highest polish.
Fragments of the cedar beams employed in the palace
at Nineveh were found by Mr. Layard in the jirogress
of his excavations, and are now preserved in the British
Museum. These specimens, which have been subjected
for some three thousand years to the oxidation and
other chemical actions to which all dead organic bodies
are liable, and have lost the elasticity of new wood, are
still in a remarkably perfect condition. Through some
imperfect observation they were declared to be frag-
ments of yew, but 1 have made a careful microscopic
examination of the wood-cells, and have satisfied myself
that the minute structure confirms Mr. Layard's deter-
mination from their external appearance, and their odour
when burning, that they were portions of Lebanon cedar.
The labours of the eighty thousand hewers whom
Solomon employed in Lebanon, to supply the demands
of the Temple and the palace he was erecting, must
have made serious havoc among the cedars, from which
perhaps they have never recovered. The wood was
brought down to the shore and shipped to Joppa, whence
it was transported to Jerusalem. Josephus records that
Hei-od also used cedar for the roofing of his temple.
The fir-tree was supplied by Hii-am from Lebanon, as
well as the cedar, for the construction of the Temple.
The pines of Palestine belong to two sj)ecies, the Aleppo
pme {Piniis Halepensis, Linn.), found in the moun-
tainous tracts throughout the country, and common on
the Lebanon range above the zone of evergreen oaks ;
the other, the sea-side pine (P. maritima, Duh.), form-
ing forests here and there along the coasts, or on the
sandy plains bordering the coast. Extensive forests of
a third pine (P. Carica, Linn.) occur on the moimtains
of Gilead, on the farther side of Jordan. The Aleppo
l^ine is probably the berosh (o'iiS) or berotli ('"ii">?),
generally translated " fir-tree " in our version. Solomon
employed fir planks in the Temple for the flooring, and
he made the two entrance doors and the gilded ceiling
of this wood (1 Kings vi. 15, 34). The Tp-ians used it
for the decks of their ships (Ezek. xxvil 5), and Da^dd's
harps were made of the same material (2 Sam. vi. 5).
The tidhar (i^i7'?) is associated with the fu' and the
box on the mountains of Lebanon (Isa. xli. 19 ; Is. 13) ;
but whether it was one of the coniferous trees, as the
translators of our version have understood it, or some
hardy tree like the elm growing with them, it is impos-
sible to say, as there is nothing in the context or the
word itself to throw light on the question.
Much difference of opinion also exists as to the oren
(p«), from which idols were made (Isa. xliv. 14). Our
version renders it "ash," but as this tree is not a native
of Palestine, this interpretation must be set aside. The
Septuagint and the Yulgate render it "piue-tree," and
this view has been adopted by most critics. The abun-
dance of the pine in Palestine, and the fitness of its
wood for image-making, are in favour of this inter-
pretation.
Isaiah specifies the timber of the cedar, cypress, and
oak, as well as the oren, as used for making idols. The
tirzah (nnn), translated " cyj)ress," occurs only in this
passage, and may be that tree, though the Septuagint
and Yulgate make it the oak, and others render it
'• holly." The cypress is extensively planted in the
countries of the East as it is with us, but it lias not
been noticed as indigenous in the north of Palestine.
The trees frequently mistaken for it are species of
juniper, which are abundant on the Lebanon range,
about three thousand feet above the level of the sea ;
and the tirzah may be the arborescent juniper of
Lebanon {Junijperus excelsa, Willd.). It has been con-
360
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
jectured that the arar ("»?7»), twice nientioued by Jere-
miah, and in both places rendered " heath" in our ver-
sion, is the savin (/. Sahina, Linn.), which occupies the
cracks in the rocks, and grows in desert regions where
heat and drouglit destroy other vegetation. If a special
tree be intended by the arar, the shrubby savin meets
the requirements of the texts ; but the word may only
describe the solitary forlorn aspect of a desert plant, as
the cypress have been severally named. There is abso-
lutely nothing to support these or any of the other
opinions that have been advanced as to this wood, and
our translators have wisely avoided committing them-
selves to any English equivalent, by retaining the
Hebrew word untranslated.
Among the costly articles of commerce for whick
the merchants of the earth are said to mourn (Rev.
M.DAKS or L-EBx::os. iFr^ni a Photograph.)
in the opposite picture the tree, emblematic of tlie man
who trusteth in the Lord, is only specified as that
which grows by the water-side (Jer. x\'ii. 8\ It cannot
be the heath, as no plant of this group is met with in
the desert.
"We have already seen that the janlper of our Au-
tliorised Version (1 Kings xix. 4, &e.) is a leguminous
plant (Yol. IV., p. 194).
The gopher wood (-ffij) of which Noah constructed
the ark is conjectured by some authors to have belonged
to some coniferous tree, and the cedar, the pine, and
xviii. 12) when the Apocalyptic Babylon is dr-stroyed,
is thyine wood {s.vKov QvCvov). This is the CalUtrls
quadrivalvi<, Vent., a tree nearly related to Thuja, but
having jointed branches, with rings of small scale-like
leaves at the joints. It is found on the Atlas range>
and its wood has been always highly prized. It was
known to the ancient Romans under the name of citron-
wood, and brought a fabulous price in the market.
Pliny records that a table made of this wood was sold
for 1,400,000 sesterces, equal to about £13,750 of our
money !
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
361
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
THE DOUAI AND KHEMISH VERSIONS.
BY THE RilV. V7. F. MOULTON, K.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN.,, MASTER OP THE 'WESLEYAN HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDfSE.
ITHERTO onr lii story has mainly recorded
tho efforts made by earnest reformers of
") tlie Cliurcli to diffuse throughout Eng-
g hind tho knowledge of the Scriptures,
'iho oppor^ition to these eudeavoiirs has proceeded from
the Church of Rome, and has at times been as success-
ful as it was intense. Less than fifty years have elapsed
from the time when Tyndale's Testaments were burned
at St. Paul's Cross, and now an English version of
the New Testament is cft'ered to the Romanists them-
selves, with the sanction of an authority which none
could dispute. This version bears the following title :
" The New Testament of lesus Christ, translated
faithfvlly into English out of tlie authentical Latin,
according to the best corrected copies of the same,
diligently confen-ed with the Greeke and other editions
in divers languages : vnili argvments of bookes and
chapters, Annotations, and other necessarie helpes, for
the better vnderstandiug of the text, and specially for
the discouerie of the Corrvptions of diners late trans-
lations, and for cleering the Controversies in religion of
these dales. In the Eugli-?h College of Rhemes-
Psalm 118.^ . . . That is, Giue me vnderstandiug
and I Avill searche thy law, and Avill keepe it vfiili my
whole hart. S. Aug. tract 2, iu Epist. loan ....
that is, Al things that are readde in holy Scriptures,
we must heare with great attention, to oiu* instruc-
tion and saluation : but those things specially must be
commended to memorie, whicli make most against
Heretikes : Avhose deceites cease not to circumuent and
beguile al the weaker sort and the more negligent
persons. Printed at Rhemes by lohn Fogny. 1582.
Cum privilegio."
The translation of the Old Testament was not pub-
lished tuitil 1609, 1610, though finished long before.
Tlic title is similar to that of the New Testament,
" Doway," however, being substituted for Rheims ;
the text on the title-page is Isaiah xii. 3, " You shall
draw waters in joy out of the Saviour's foimtains."
Tho work was printed at Doway by Lawrence KeUam
at the " sign of the Holy Lamb."
The Romish College at Dona: was one of the
" Englisii Colleges beyond the seas," founded with the
object of organising missionary work in England.
William Allen, through whose efforts the college was
founded, was a man of learning and of imtiring energy.
In Mary's reign he was Principal of St. Mary's Hall,
Oxford, and Canon of York ; soon after the accession
of Elizabetli he loft England, and for a quarter of a
century was the mainspring of the movement for the
restoration of England to commxinion with Rome. He
^ This verso and the (•[notatioa from Augustine which follows
are given in botli Latin and English.
was made Cardinal by Sixtus V., in 1587. In con-
sequence of tho disturbed condition of the coimtry the
college was (iu 1578) removed to Rheims for a time.
One of the early students at Douai was Gi'ogoiy Mai-tin,
formerly fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, who
afterwards became teacher of Hebrew and reader of
divinity in tho College at Rheims. It is probable that
the " Rhcmish Testament " and the " Douay Bible "
owe theii- origin to Allen, but that tho translation was
mainly executed by Martin. Besides AJlen, three
other English scholars, graduates of Oxford, are said
to have been associated with Martin in the Avork — Dr.
J. Reynolds, Dr. Briston, or Bristol, aiKl Dr. Wor-
thington. The last two are supposed to have con-
tributed the notes, which are an essential part of this
version.
The preface to tho Rhoaiish Testament is an elabo-
rate and ingenious document. The translators are at
no pains to conceal that their motive in undertaking
the work was the extensive circulation of other ver-
sions of the Scriptures. Not content with translating
truly, they " have also set forth large Annotations "
to help tho studious reader embarrassed by the con-
troversies of the times. The text which they follow
is not the Greek, but the " old vulgar Latin "
used in the Church for 1,300 years, con-eeted by St.
Jerome according to the Greek, commended by St.
Augustine, declared by tho holy Council of Trent to
be of all versions the only " authentical," preferred,
even by adversaries such as Beza, so exact in repre-
senting the Greek that " delicate heretics "" have pro-
nounced it rude, shown to be impartial by the fact that
even the versions of EIrasmus and others aie more to
the advantage of tho Catholic cause than this ancient
Bible of the Church. The Latin (they say) is found
to agree either v/ith other manuscripts of the Greek or
with the reading of ancient Fathers of the Church.
Whilst, however, the translation is from the Latin, the
Greek text is not to be disregarded: tho reader will
often find the Greek word (also tlic Latin word) placed
in the margin when the sense is hard or the reading
ambiguous. The peculiarities of this version, there-
fore, result partly from the use of the Yulgate as a
basis, and partly from the principles by which the
translators were guided in their work.
The Bible called the Vulgate is, strictly .speaking,
not one book, but a combination of several. The Old
Testament, with the exception of the Psalter, is a trans-
' lation from the Hebrew, executed by Jerome about the
1 end of the fourth century. Tlio Psalter is a revision
I (by Jerome) of a much older translation, made not from
the Hebrew, but fi-om the SeiDtuagint. The Apocryphal
Books also belong to tlie same early version, revised and
corrected in part. The Old Latin version of tho New
362
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Testament probably dates from the beginniug of tlie
secouci century; the New Testament of the Vulgate
consists of this older translation, revised with care in
iho Gosjjels, but imperfectly in the Epistles. In the
Psalms, therefore, a translation from the Yulgato
pi-eseuts the original at fourth hand, so to speak, the
Hebrew having passed into a Greek version (often of
very inferior quality), the Greek into a Latin, before
the translation into English commenced. On the other
hand, Jerome's own work is of great excellence. Wo
may expect, tlierefore, that any correct reproduction of
the Yulgatc in English will be very faulty and im-
jierfect in the Book of Psalms, but usually good and
true in the greater part of the Old Testament. lu the
New Testament the case is more complicated. The
Latin translation, being derived from manuscripts more
ancient than any we now possess, is frequently a witness
of the highest value in regard to the Greek text which
was current in the earliest times, and (as was remarked
in an earlier chapter) its testimony is in many cases
confirmed by Greek manuscripts which have been
discovered or examined since the sixteenth century.
Hence wo may expect to find that the Rhemish New
Testament frequently anticipates the judgment of later
scholars as to the presence or absence of certain words,
clauses, or even verses. Thus in Acts xvi. 7, there is
now overwhelming evidence for reading " the Spirit of
Jesus suffered them not;" in Matt. v. 44, the words
*' bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you," and the words " which despitefully use you and,"
.shovdd be omitted from the text, having found their
way into later manuscripts from St. Luke's Gospel ; and
in 1 Peter iii. 15 we must read "Lord Christ" instead
of " Lord God." In these and many other instances
the Rhemish Testament agrees with the best critical
editions of the present day. There are, no doubt,
many examples of a different kind, such as the reading
*' hy good worlcs make your calling and election sure "
(2 Peter i. 10) ; but, on the whole, the influence of the
use of the Yulgate would in the New Testament be
more frequently for good than for harm in respect of
text. As a translation the Vulgate is, as a rule, literal
and faithful, but often obscure : a correct reproduction
of the Vulgate will reflect these qualities, and this tlie
Rhemish Testament certainly does. If, however, we
allow that this A'ersion faithfully represents the Latin,
it must be uuderstood that it is the Latin as current in
the time of the translators. Even then it was acknow-
ledged that the common copies of the Vulgate differed
widely from Jerome's text, and the need of a new ex-
amination of manuscripts was felt as early as the
Council of Trent. It was not until 1587 and 1592 that
the authorised editions of the V\dgate appeared, and
these were very far from suppljang tlie want.
"We come now to the consideration of the principles
of action adopted by the translators. Having the
Latin text before them, how did they deal with it ?
The answer may be given in few words : the translation
is literal and (as a rule, if not always) scrupulously
faithful and exact, but disfigured by a i^rofusiou of
unfamiliar and Latinised words, which convoy no
meaning whatever to the ordiuaiy English reader. The
last peculiarity strikes the eye at the first opening of
the volume. The translators argue skilfully in defence
of their practice. K (they ask) such words as Raca,
Hosanna, and Belial be retained, why not Corbana (for
treasury, Matt, xx^di. 6) ? If Sabbath is kept for the
seventh day, why not Parasceue for the Sabbath-eve ?
If Pentecost is a iiroper word, what objection is there to
Pascha for Passover, Azymesfor sweet (i.e., unleavened)
bread, bread of i)roposition for shew-bread .'^ If
proselyte and phylacteries be allowed, why not neophyte
and didragmes ? It is not possible, they maintain, to
avoid the word evangelise, for no word can convey
its meaning ; and for the same reason they use " dcj)o-
situm " in 1 Tim. \\. 20 ; " He exinauited himself " in
Phil. ii. 7; "to exhaust the sins of many" in Heb. ix.
28. A table containing the explanation of fifty-eight
words is given at the end of the book. Some of these
words are now familiar to all : as acquisition, victim,
prescience, gratis, allegory, adulterate, advent, resusci-
tate, co-operate ; others, as commessation, contristate,
prejinition, are strangers still. Others are still in use,
but not in the sense here assigned. Thus calumniate
does not now denote "violent oppression byword or
deed," nor is prevarication equivalent to " transgres-
sion," nor is issue limited to a " good event." But this
list does not by any means do justice to the peculiar
vocabulary of the Rhemish translators, as the following
quotations will prove : " He will shew you a great
refectory adorned " (Luke xxii. 12) ; " I will not drink
of the generation of the vine " (ver. 18) ; " sleeping for
pensiveness " (ver. 45); "transfer this chalice" (ver.
42); "averting the people" (xxiii. 14); "adjudged
their petition to be done" (ver. 24); "wrapped it in
sindon " (ver. 53) ; " society of his passions " (Pliil. iii.
10). To say nothing of words now well known (as
altercation, fallacy, primacy, demureness, contume-
lious), we find many other Latin words disguised,
or hardly disguised, such as edible, coinquination,
acception, correption, exprohrate, potestates, longa-
nimity, obsecration, scenoptegia. The translation of
some verses in the Ei^istle to the Ephesians will illus-
trate at once the Latinised diction and the excessive
literalness of this version : " To me the least of al the
sainctes is giuen this grace, among the Gentils to
cuangelize the vnsearcheable riches of Christ, and to
illuminate al men what is the dispensation of the
sacrament hidden from worlds in God, who created
al things : that the manifold wisedom of God may be
notified to the Princes and Potestats in the celestials
by the Church, according to the prefinition of worlds,
which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord ;" " Our
wrestling is not against flesh and bloud : but against
Princes and Potestats, against the rectors of the world
of this darkenes, against the spirituals of wickednes in
the celestials." On the other hand, the translator's
care strictly to follow the text before him often led to
happy results, the preservation of a significant phrase
of the original or of an impressive arrangement of
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
363
words. Tkus every translator would now agree with
tkis version in tlie words, " liberty of the glory of the
children of God " (Rom. viii. 21) ; " holiness of the
truth " (Eph. iv. 24) ; " by their fruits you shall know
them" (Matt. vii. 16). If we turn to any chapter
of the Gospels we shall find examples of excellent
translation, which in some cases have been followed by
om* Authorised Version. In Matt, xxv., for example,
the translation in verse 8, " our lamps are going out,"
is unquestionably correct ; in verses 17, 18, 20, 22,
the article should certainly be inserted, the five, the
tioo; in verse 21, "place thee" is muck better than
"make thee ruler;" and in verso 27, "bankers," if a
somewhat bold rendering, is more intelligible than
" exchangers." It is from the Rkemisk Testament
that the Authorised Yersion obtains " blessed " in Matt,
xxvi. 26 (for "gave thanks"); "hymn" in verse 30;
"adjure" in verse 63; and it would have been well if
our translators had also adopted " court " in verse 3,
and "Rabbi " in verses 25 and 49. In the first chapter
of St. James we owe to the Rhemish version "up-
braidetk not" (verse 5), "nothing doubting" (verse
6), "the engrafted word" (verse 21), " bridleth not"
(verse 26). If three chapters, taken by accident,
yield siich results, the reader will not doubt that
very many examples of the same description might
be produced. Nothing is easier than to accumulate
instances of the eccentricity of this Aversion, of its
obscure and inflated renderings ; but only minute study
can do justice to its faithfulness, and to the care with
which the translators executed their work. Every
other English version is to be preferred to this, if it
must be taken as a whole ; no other English version
will prove more instructive to the student who will take
the pains to separate what is good and useful from
what is ill-advised and wrong. The marginal notes
which are added by the translators from time to time
prove that they kept the Greek text before them,
though translating from the Latin. Sometimes this
saves them from mistake, as in Phil. iv. 6, where the
Latin might mean " in all prayer," but the Greek must
signify " in everything by prayer." The most re-
markable proof of their use of the Greek is their treat-
ment of the Greek article. As the Latin language has
no definite article, it might well be supposed that of all
English versions the Rhemish would be least accurate
in this point of translation. The very reverse is actually
the case. I have noticed as many as forty instances in
which, of all versions, from Tyndale's to the Authorised
inclusive, this alone is correct in regard to the article.
This is the more remarkable, as the older versions were
certainly known and used by the translators of the
Rhemish Testament. They make no allusion in their
preface to auy indebtedness to preceding translators,
but of the fact there can be no doubt. The comparison
of any chapter with thft translations in the Genevan
and Bishops' Bibles will be sufficient to convince the
most incredulous.
It is not necessary to say much on those peculiarities
of this Testament which stand connected with the faith
professed by the translators. In a Roman Catholic
version we expect such renderings as do penance, priest
(for elder), sacrament (for mystery ov secret); "Catholic
usage " has also led to the substitution of " our Lord "
for " the Lord." There is but little, however, in the
text to favour Romish doctrine : it is in the notes that
this is strenuously and perseveringly taught. With
these, differing widely from the translation in their
spirit and characteristics, we are happily not concerned
in this place. Elaborate confutations of the teaching
of these notes were published within a few years, by
W. Fulke in 1589, and by T. Cartwright in 1618. In
the former work the Rhemish version and that of the
Bishops' Bible are given in parallel columns. Neither
of these writers appears to ci-iticise the translation to
any large extent.
On the Douai version of the Old Testament it will
not be necessary to dwell. As it was not published
until 1610, it does not belong (so to speak) to the line
of ancestry of our Authorised Yersion.
Editions of the New Testament appeared in 1600,
1621, 1633, and of the whole Bible in 1635. In 1749,
1750, the work was revised by Dr. Challoner ; another
revised edition, by Dr. Troy, bears date 1791. The
later editions differ widely from the original version;
an interesting paper on the variations will be found
among the collected Essays of the late Cardinal
Wiseman.
GEOaEAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
EGYPT.
BT MAJOR WILSON, E.E.
^HE name by which Egypt is usually known
in the Bible is Mizraim, a word in the
dual form, which may perhaps indicate
the natiiral diidsion of the country into
Upper and Lower Egj'pt; that is, the Nile Yalley
and the Delta. Egypt is also called "the land of
Mizraim ; " the " land of Ham " (Ps. cv. 23, 27), and
Rahab ("the proud one") (Isa. fi. 9). According to
Ezekiel (xxix. 10), the country extended from Migdol
to Syene, and these limits might well be used to
define its extent at the present day, for the northern
point, Migdol — the Magdolum of Antoninus, which was
twelve miles from Pelusium — has been identified with
Tell es-Semut, east of the Suez Canal ; and the southern
one, Syene, with Assouan, on the borders of Nubia, a
little below the first cataract of the Nile. The districts
364
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
of Caphtor and Pathros, wliicli are uamed in tlic Bihlo,
appear to have formed part of Upper Egypt.
There lias prol)ably been little change in the physical
aspect of Egyi)t shu-o the days when Joseph was made
"ruler over all the Ituid of Egypt," or siuee those in
which Moses led the Israelites from the land of their
bondage. The Vailoy of the Nile, or Upper Egypt,
must always have presented the same general a})p('ar-
ance ; the mysterious river rolling silently northward
between two, almost unbroken, table-topjjed walls of
limestone, which here approach the water, there retire
from it, leaving large plains of the richest soil, to whicli
new life is given each year by the fertilising waters of
the great river. Over these flats is spread a carpet
of luxuriant vegetation of the brightest green, which is
in striking and not unpleasing contrast to the yellow
hills of the barren desert on either side. So, too, the
Delta must always liavo been a great plain, intersected
by the many arms of the river and by innumerable
canals, which irrigated the country and spread the life-
giving waters over an area far greater than that which
is now cultivated. Tlie sands of the desert liave been
allowed to encroach and swallow up large tracts, such
as the •' land of Goshen," which was formerly the
" best of the land " (Ctcu. xlvii. 6). but is now little
bettor than the surrouiidiug desert ; the diminution of
the population has also had its effect, and many of the
canals and lakes, once well stocked with fish, have dried
up, and no longer fertilise tho land ; such is especially the
case with the great canal that connected the Nile with
the Gulf of Suez, and gave life to the Wady Tumeilat,
which is now covered Avith sand. The Delta is trian-
gular in form, its eastern and western faces being
bounded by branches of the river, and its ]>ase by the
><ea; its fertility was surprising, and is alhided to in
several passages of the Bible, as for instance in Gen.
xiii. 10, where the Jordan valley is said to have been
"like a garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt."
The rainfall is so slight that it has no influence on the
cultivation, a peculiarity noticed by Zechariah (xiv. 18) ;
and the necessity for irrigation is mentioned in Dent,
xi. 10, 11, where a contrast is drawn between the land
of bondage and tho Promised Land, which was to be
" a land of hills and valleys," that " drinketh water of
the rain of heaven." At one point of Lower Egypt a
remarkable change in the features of the country has
taken place in consoqucnco of the gradual elevation of
the ground in the vicinity of Suez ; the effect of this
has been to cut off aJI connection between the Bitter
Lakes and the sea, and to cause the head of the GiUf
of Suez to retire southwards, an intci-esting illustra-
tion of the prophecy of Isaiah, that the Lord should
"utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea"
(xi. 15).
The Nile is called in tlio Bible " Shihor," or " lor."
and the ''river of Egypt;" its annual imindation is the
great blessing of Egypt, and during its progress the
rise and fall of tho river is tho one subject of conversa-
tion, for a failure brings want, pei-haps famine, wliilst an
excessive inundation spreads over the country, oanying
destruction in its train. It was perhaps one of these
latter that Amos had in his mind's eye when he wrote
(ix. 5), " And it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and
shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt." The Nile
commences to rise at various dates between the second
week in June and the first week in July, and by about
the "J-ith of July a very good estimate can be formed
of the sort of inundation which may be expected; the
river attains its maximum height in September or
October, and a rise of from twenty-three to twenty-five
feet is considered " a good Nile." In 1873 the rise
was only nineteen feet nine inches, whilst in 1874 it
was as much as twenty-nine feet, and caused consider-
al^le damage to some of the eroj)s in Upper Egypt.
The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and
Red Seas, and the Sweet Water Canal from the Nile
to Suez, are effecting great changes in modem Egypt,
but as they have no Biblical interest we need only
allude to them here.
Egypt was essentially an agricultural country, the
granary of the surrounding nations, who all turned to
it in time of famine. It owed its fertility to tho
annual inundation of the Nile and to artificial irriga-
tion throughout the year, which was carried on by the
same means as that now employed, the sJiadoof, a long
pole attached to an upright with a bucket at one end
and a counter-weight at tlic other. The whole system
of agriculture, from the time Avhen the ground was
ploughed up after the subsidence of the inundation,
to the time when the grain was harvested, threshed,
or trodden out by unmuzzled oxen, aud stored in
granaries, is clearly depicted on the monuments, and
from the same source we gather that most of the pro-
ducts correspond with those of modern Egyjit. Yines
producing wine of excellent flavour were extensively
cultivated; the date-palm grow in large numbers, and
so did the fig, olive, orange, lemon, pomegranate, and
banana ; vegetables, such as the " cucumbers and the
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick,"
for which tho Israelites hungered in the dreary desert
(Numb. xi. 5), flourished luxuriantly : and the great
open fields were covered with wheat, barley, flax, rye,
peas, beans, lentils, &.e., which brought forth fruit
abundantly. In comparatively modern times, rice,
sugar-cane, the tobacco plant, and cotton have been
introduced into the country; but on the other hand, tho
papyrus, the most important of all Egyptian plants,
and the lotus, the favourite flower of the ancient
Egy^itians, have almost disappeared ; and that taste
for horticulture, which is recognisable in the well-
stocked gardens of the monuments, appears to have been
almost lost. Paper was manufactured from the i)apyrus,
and boats were made from its st.alks, sometimes of con-
siderable size, sometimes small, like the tiny ark of
bulrush (pajtyTus) into which Moses was placed by his
mother. Tlie sycamore and acacia, the wood of which
was largely used by the Egyptians, are common at the
present day. The disappearance of the papyrus and
lotus appeal's to have been foreseen by Isaiah (xix. 7) :
" The paper reeds by tho brooks, by the mouth of tho
G-EOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
o65
brooks, aud everythiiig" sown liy tlio brooks, sliall
wither, be driven away, and be uo more." We may
liero briefly notice the cliauge made by Joseph in the
tenure of la.ad in Egypt, the effect of which was to
transfer all property in the laud to the crown, excepting
that vested in the priests, who wore left in full possession
of their binds and revenues. The oi'iginal proprietors
thus became, after the famine, crown tenants, holding
their lands by payment of an annual rent, amounting
to one-fifth of the produce. The statements of Gen.
xh-ii. with regai'd to the condition of land tenure and
its origin in an exercise of the king's authority, ai-e
confirmed by the old historians, Herodotus, Diodorus,
and Strabo, and also by the monuments ; but there is
still some uncei'tainty as to the particular Pharaoh to
merchants would appear to have supplied horses and
chariots to the Hittites and Syrians (1 Kings x. 28,
29). The camel, now the principal beast of burden in
Egypt, is, curiously enough, not noticed on the monu-
ments, but it is mentioned (Gen. xii. 16) in connection
witli Abraham's sojourn in tlio country ; it apj^ears
amongst the animals upon which a murrain would bo
sent (Exod. ix. 3) ; aud it is represented on one of the
Assyrian monuments as forming part of the tribute
paid by Egypt. The crocodile, the " dragon " of the
striking passage in Ezek. xxix. 4, 5, is now rarely found
in Lower Egypt, but frogs abound in the rivers and
ponds; and lice, flies, and occasionally locusts, are still
amongst the plagues of Egypt. The Nile and the
lakes arc abundantly stocked witli fisli, and there are
whom the change is to be attributed, some writers
believing him to have been Ameuemha III., others
Apophis, the last of the shepherd kmgs. The histoiy
of Joseph as well as that of Abraham is curiously illus-
trated in a papp-us, translated by Mr. Goodwin. The
story records that one Saneha, an amu (a foreigner or
nomad of Arabia or Palestine), was received into the
service of Pharaoh, and rose to Jiigh rank, becoming a
"counsellor among the officers, set among the chosen
ones ; " this shows that there is nothing improbable in
the rise of Joseph to power, or in the reception whicli
Abraham received from Pharaoh.
Cattle, sheep, goats, asses, and dogs were plentiful
in ancient Egypt, and its horses were in great request ;
to these latter there are many allusions in the Bible. In
Deut. xvii. 16 the Israelites are forbidden to traffic in
horses with Egypt, possibly on account of the close
intercourse which it would necessitate : and the prophets
frequently reprove the people for trusting in the
chariots aud horses of that country. Solomon, how-
ever, "liad horses brought out of Egypt," and his
large fisheries on Lake Monzrileh, Init the more cele-
brated Lake Moeris is dried up.
Without attempting to enter into any discussion on the
language of the Eg-j-ptians, we may di'aw attention to tlio
lai'ge numl)er of Egyjitian words found in those passages
of Genesis and Exodus which relate to Egyi^t ; and to
the fact that the author of those liooks, who must have
possessed a good knowledge of the language, uses the
words without any indication of their meaning, as if he
supposed they would be quite familiar to his readers.
With reference to this it lias been well observed that
"it is highly improbable that any Hebrew, born and
brought up in Palestine within the period extending
from the Exodus to the accession of Solomon, would
have had the knowledge of the Egyptian language"
which must have been possessed by the writer.
The relations of Egypt to the early history of the
chosen people have been dwelt upon sufficiently in the
biographies of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses (Yol. I.),
and in the Dean of Canterbuiy's paper on the Penta-
teuch (Vol. I., pp. 1—5).
366
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
"We may now turn to an examination of the several
districts aucl towns of Egypt mentioned in the Bible,
and of tlieso the fii-st in interest are Goshen and the
cities immediately connected with it. We gather from
the Bible that the " land of Goshen," or, as it is some-
times called, " the laud of Rameses," was in the eastern
portion of the Delta, as it is nowhere stated that the
Israelites crossed the Nile at the time of the exodus ;
that it was a frontier province not far from the resi-
dence of the Pharaoh of Joseph, either Memphis or
Zoan ; that it was between that place and Palestine ;
and that it was a pastoral country, in which Pharaoh's
own cattle were pastured, in " the best of the land." The
Septuagint and Coijtic translators, whose testimony in
aU Egyptian matters is of great value, call Gosheu
Gesem Arabuis and Tarabia, which indicate that it
should be looked for in the district east of the Delta,
called by Ptolemy the "Arabian nome." The chief
town of this nome is called, on the Egyptian lists,
Kesemet, which is a close transcription of the Greek
Gesem, et being the usual feminine termination ; the
name Goshen still lingers in the modern Facus, which
is derived from the Greek Phakusa, or, as it would be
in Egyptian, Pa or Pha-Koseu, " the Goshen." Tell
Facus is situated on a canal, which runs from Zagazig
to San (Tauis or Zoan) ; and the district of which it
was the chief town adjoined the nomes of Tauis and
Tuku, or Tukut. There is abundant evidence to show
that these three districts contained a large Semitic
popiilatiou, and we may suppose that Jacob's family,
originally settled in Goshen, spread into the other two
nomes.
The identification of Barneses, the first station of the
Israelites, is of the greatest importance, but there is
considerable difficulty in fixing its position. "Without
entering into the discussion of this question, we may
state that until recently critics have placed Rameses on
the canal made in the "Wady Tumeilat by Osirtasen of
tlio twelfth dynasty, either at Tell Abbasiyeh or at Abu
Kesheb, the one at the western, the other at the eastern
end of the valley. Brugsch Bey, the well-known
Egjrptologist, has, on the other hand, found that San
(Zoan) was at one time called Rameses, and he proposes
to identify this witli the Rameses of the Exodus. The
direction in which the Israelites marched from Rameses
is also the subject of much controversy : those wiio place
Rameses near the westei*n end of "Wady Tumeilat hold
that the march was down that valley, and that the Red
Sea was crossed between the Bitter Lakes and Lake
Timsah, to which jioint the sea once extended ; whilst
those wlio identify Rameses ■with Abu Kesheb, at the
eastern end of the valley, think that the Israelites
marched southwards and crossed the Red Sea near
Suez ; Pi-hahiroth, Migdol, and Baalzephon being
placed near that town. The views of Brugsch Bey
are of special interest, as he states that he lias found
the names of all the places mentioned in the narrative
of the Exodus on the Egyptian monuments. They are
to the effect : — 1. That the to\vu of Rameses differs iu no
way from the town of Zoan, or Tanis, the chief town of
the district of Tanis. 2. That the adjoining district
Avas called Tukut, which is easily identified with
Succoth, the second station of the Israelites. 3. That
the third station, called in the Bible (Numb, xxxiii. G)
Etham, bears the name of Hetham, "the fortified," in
the Egj'ptian texts, and was to the west of El Kautarah,
on the confines of the desert. 4. That from Etham
they turned northwards by Migdol, the Magdolon of
the Greeks, now Tell es-Semut, and encamped before
Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea (Mediter-
ranean), in face of Baal-zephon. The latter name, in
Egyptian, Baal-Zipuna, was that of a sanctuary situated
on Mount Casius, whilst Pi-hahiroth, " the Hiroth," was
the Egyptian name of
" That Serbonian bog,
Betwixt Damiata aud Mount Casius old,
Where armies whole have sunk."
And it is in this locality that he places the destruction of
Pharaoh and his army. 5. That after the great dehver-
auce the Israelites journeyed southwards to Marah, the
Bitter Lakes, and thence to Elim, the Egyptian Alim,
" town of fishes," north of the Red Sea.^ The inscrip-
tions give the name Yam Suph — translated iu our
vex'sion, "Red Sea" — to the Lake Sii'bonis, aud all the
lakes, as well as to the Red Sea, the meaning being " sea
of flags or weeds," Until the documentary evidence
is fidly laid before Egyptologists, we must reserve our
judgment, remarking that there would appear to be
nothing contradictory to the Bible narrative in the
supj)osed route of the Israelites, and that it reconciles
some diificulties iu the older views.
Pitliom, the city mentioned \vith Rameses as having
been built by the Israehtes, is identified by some critics
with the Patoumos of Herodotus, aud the Tlioum of the
Antouine Itinerary, between Heliopolis aud Pelusium,
whilst Brugsch has found on the hieroglyphic lists
the name of Pitliom as chief town of the district of
Tukut (Succoth). Zoan has been satisfactorily identified
with Tanis, the modern San, where Brugsch Bey has
made his most interesting discoveries ; amongst them
is an inscription with the expression " sechet Tauet,"
which exactly corresponds to the " field of Zoan " in
the passage, " Marvellous things did He in the sight of
their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of
Zoan." The Egyptian papyri aud mouumonts also
teach us, according to Brugsch, that the title of Joseph,
" Zaphuatli-paaneah " or Zaphanet-phaukh, means in
Egyptian the governor of the district Sethroites ; that
the Abrech of Gen. xli. 43— translated in our version,
" bow the knee " — is Egyptian, and means the Ab or
first officer of Phai-aoh's house ; that the town Pithom
worshipped God under the name, "the liviug God,"
which con-esponds to Jehovah ; that a serpent of brass
1 We may remark that the theory of Brugsch Bey relating to
the Exodus, should it ever be adopted, will uot be opposed to the
view that the Mountain of the Law was iu the Peninsula of Sinai,
and that the Israelites followed from Ayun Musa to Jebel Musa-
Sufsafeh, the route we have indicated in the article ou " Sinai."
The positions assigned to some of the stations would, howeyer,
have to be altered.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE.
367
was regarded as the symbol of the Uving God; and
that the cJuirtuvimim, or " magicians " of Egypt, who
attempted to perform the miracles of Moses, were the
" high priests " of the iovra of Rameses. Zoan became
a city of great importance at a very early period, and
when Isaiah wrote it would appear to have been one of
the chief cities in Egyi)t, as he speaks of " the princes
of Zoan " (Isa. xix. 11 ; xxx. 4). The mounds that
mark the site of the town in which Moses had his
memorable interviews with Pharaoh before the Exodus,
are remarkable for their height and extent ; a good
general view is obtained from the highest mound, which
is thus described by Mr. Macgregor : " The horizon is
nearly a straight line on eveiy side ; and looking west
the ti-act before us is a black rich loam, without fences
or towns, and with only a dozen trees in sight. This is
the ' field of Zoan.' Behind is a glimmer of sUver
light on the far-away shore of Lake Menzaleh ; across
the level foreground winds most gracefidly the Mushra;
but between that winding river and the mound we look
from, there is, lying bare and gaunt, in stark and silent
devastation, one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the
world. It is deep in the middle of an enclosing amphi-
theatre of mounds, all of them absolutely bare, and all
dark-red, from the millions of potsherds tliat defy the
vdnds of time, and the dew and the sun alike, to stir
them, or even to melt away their sharp-edged frag-
ments." Ezek. xxx. 14 foretells the fate of the city in
the words, " I will set fire in Zoan."
Sin is identified with Pelusium, but the site of this
latter place is not quite certain ; the most probable
identification would appear to be Tineh, near the sea-
shore, to the east of Port Said. Sin is called by
Ezekiel "the strength of Egyjit " (xxx. 15), and such
Pelusium was, the key of Egypt on the east, strongly
protected by the mud and swamp which surrounded it.
Situated thus, on the eastern frontier, Pelusium was
one of the first towns attacked by invaders from the
east, and its exposed position may explain the special
threat of the prophet, " I will pour my fury upon Sin,"
and " Sin shall have great pain " (ver. 16). Talipanlies, a
frontier town about sixteen mUes from Pelusium, was
the place to which Johanan and " all the captains of the
forces " brought " all the remnant of Judah," including
Jeremiah ; and it was here that the prophet foretold the
conquest of the countiy by Nebuchadnezzar, who was
to set his throne " at the entiy of Pharaoh's house in
Tahpanhes" (Jer. xliii. 5 — 10). The to\vn was called
Daphnse by the Greeks, and has been identified with
the modern Tell Defenneh; it seems also not impro-
bable that the Hemes of Isa. xxx. 4 was the same place.
Alexatidria, the birth-j)lace of Apollos (Acts xviii. 24),
was founded by Alexander the Great, B.C. 332, and
soon became a place of great importance. Alexander
himself assigned to the Jews a quarter in the new
city, giving them all the rights of citizenship, and here
they settled in such numbers that in after years, as
Philo informs us, two out of the five districts were
called Jewish districts. According to tradition, the first
church in Alexandria was founded by St. Mark, and
the number of Christians, even at the end of the first
century, was very large. Hardly a vestige remains of
the once magnificent city. The Pharos, one of the seven
wonders of the world ; the Museum, with its famous
library; the Serapeum, with its colossal statue of
Serapis ; the Cesarium ; the gymnasium, have long
since disappeared; but a new town has sprung up,
which promises to be of importance in the futm-e. The
Pi-beseth of Ezek. xxx. 17, whose young men were to
fall by the sword, has been identified with Bubastis
(Tell Basta), a town on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile
at which Shishak, after his conquest of Thebes, fixed
the seat of his government. There are many remains
of the ancient town and of the Temple of Pasht, which
excited the admiration of Herodotus. On, the " Aven " of
Ezek. xxx. 17, the " Beth-shemesh " of Jer. xliii. 13, and
"Heliopolis" of the Septuagiut, was a place of great
celebrity, and the principal seat of leai-ning in Egypt
before the accession of the Ptolemies, when the schools
were transferred to Alexandria ; the ruins are not far
from Cairo, and are marked by an obelisk sixty-eight
feet high, which is considered one of the oldest monu-
ments of its kind in Egypt. Mounds and crude brick
walls are aU that remain of Beth-shemesh; for its
" images " have been broken, and " the houses of the
gods of the Egyptians " have been burned with fire
(Jer. xliii. 13). At On Moses is said to have studied,
and to have become " learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians," and Josej)h's wife, Asenath, was a daughter
of one of the priests of the renowned temple ; here, too,
is now shown a venerable sycamore, beneath whose
branches the Holy Family are said to have rested when
they came into Egypt. To the north-west of Heliopolis
some mounds, called TeU el-Tahudeh, are supposed to
mark the site of the town in which Onias built liis
temple for the use of the Jews in Egypt. JVbj;7i or
Mempliis, wliich is specially threatened by Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Hosea, was on the westei*n bank of the
Nile, some distance higher vip than Caii-o ; it was one
of the oldest, and at the same time the largest and most
magnificent city in Egypt. Its ruins for a long time
were the wonder and admiration of ti-avellers, but they
gradually disappeared under an ever-increasing layer of
sand and mud, and the very site appears to have been
lost during the fifteenth and following centuries, until it
was re-discovered at the commencement of the present
century ; a remarkable fulfilment of the prophecies of
Jeremiah and Ezekiel : " Noph shall be waste and
desolate without an inhabitant " (Jer, xlvi. 19) ; " I will
also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to
cease out of Noph " (Ezek. xxx. 13). Most imiDortant
excavations have been made at Memphis by Monsieur
Mariette, resulting, among other things, in the discovery
of the Apis Mausoleum or Serapeum. The Serapeum
resembled in appearance an ordinary Egy[)tian temple ;
an avenue of sphinxes led up to it, and two pylons stood
before it; but it differed from all others in having
beneath it a series of rock-he^vn vaults, in which were
placed the mummied representatives of the god Apis.
" Living, the sacred bull was worshipped in a magni-
363
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
ficeiit tciuplo at Mouipliis, and lodged in a palace
adjoiiiiug — tho Apienni ; dead, ho was buried iu exca-
vated A'aiilts at Suklcarali, and worsbijiped in a temple
built over tliem — the Serapenui." The necropolis of
Memphis is of vast extent, and to this there may be an
allusion in Hosea ix. G : " Egyjit shall gather them up,
Memphis shall bury them." No or No-Amon, '"that
was situate among the rivers " (Nahum iii. 8), has been
identified \vith Thebes, the ancient c.-ipital of Upper
Egypt; and Syerc, mentioned by Ezekiel (xxix. 10) as
tha southern liiult of Egyi)t on the border of Cush or
Ethiopia, is without doid)t the modern Assouan, cele-
brated for its great granite quarries whence most of
the Egyptian monimients were hewn.
We Jiave on several occasions alluded to the distinct
manner iu which the fate of some of the cities of
Egypt was foretold by the Hebrew prophets, and may
iu conclusion draw attention to the remarkable fulfil-
ment of the prophecy of Ezok. xxx. 13, that " there shall
be no more a prince of the land of Egypt," in the fact
that no native ruler has occupied the throne for more
than two thousand years.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE MINOE PEOPHETS :— ZECHAEIAH.
Bx THE VEKy EEVEEEND E. PAYNE SMITH, D.D., DEAN OF CANTEEBUEY.
HE prophet Zechariah was uot merely a
priest, l)ut the head of one of the priestly
families, as we learn from Neh. xii. 16,
whei-e, in the catalogue of these high
functionaries, he is called the son of Iddo, though really
he was i\\Q sou of Berechiah. His father, however,
appears to have died in early life, and thus, in the
records of the return Eiom exile, the grandfather takes
his place (Ei^ra v. 1 ; vi. 14). As Zechariah was uot
called to be a prophet till the second year of Darius
(chap. i. 1), which was the eighteenth year after the
return, and as ho is still styled a " young man " iu
chap. ii. 4, it is plain that he must have been very
young when he left Babylon. The Avord is, in fact, that
translated " child " in Jer. i. 7, and certainly could not
be applied to one more than twenty or twenty- one years
of age ; and thus we have the affecting picture of the
aged Iddo bringing* with him the infant child of his
dead son to the dear land of their forefathers ; and that
child destined to be the companion and pai'tner of
another aged man, Haggai, in the good work of guiding
and encouraging the feeble remnant who had returned
to their homes under the many difficulties which besot
them in foundiug once again the nation which, for
seventy years, had been without a territory and without
a government of its own.
The eighteen years which had passed since Cyras
permitted the cziles to leave Babylon had been years of
great trial. They Avere but a small community, and
probably, when in captintj-, had accustomed themselves
to trade rather tliau agricultiU'C ; and so, when they
found themselves once again iu possession of thca-
wasted country, it was no sliglit task to rebuild their
city and temple, as well as reclaim the land, overgrown,
as it must have l)ecn, with l)riars and thorns (Isa. vii.
23 — 25), and with all tlie buildings upon it utterly gone
to decay. And besides their poverty aud internal diffi-
culties, their Rcttlcraent was viewed with great dissatis-
faction by the n:otley tribes which had been planted as
colonists in Palestine (Ezra iv. 9), I)y wdiose iuflucuco,
at lengM:, th'^ir work vras stopped by Artaxei'xes, king
of Persia.
This monarch was probably the successor of Cambyses,
known in history as the pseudo-Smerdis. He was a
Magian, and, as such, a worshipper simply of the
elements, fire, air, &c., and opposed to temples and the
belief in any personal and national God. But no sooner
was he slain, and Darius Hystaspes settled upon the
throne, than Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the
people to resume the building of the Temple ; and an
appeal to Darius having Ijeeu made bj- their enemies,
search was instituted in the roj'al archives, and the
original letter of Cyrus the Persian discovered. In
consequence of this, Darius not only authorised the
Jews to continue their works, but gave them large aid
from the king's own revenue.
But the prophecies of Zechariah are by no means
confined to this simple subject, but set before us the
whole destiny of the Jews, and the purpose of their
existence as God's people. They consist of three en-
tirely separate portions : (1) a series of visions revealed
to tlie prophet on the night of the twenty-fourth day
of the month Sebat, iu the second jear of Darius, being
the third month after Zechariah's first call. They are
not written in poetry, but in prose, with a rich colour-
ing, nevertheless, which in places reminds us of Ezekiel.
As Zechariah was an infant when he left Chaldtea, this
caunot be the effect of his education there, but must be
caused partly by his study of E/,ekiel, and partly by
the effect of their residence in Chaldaea upon tlie whole
body of the exiles. These A'isions occupy the first .six
chapters, excepting chap. i. 1 — 6, which is an introduc-
tion or preface to the whole. Upon them follows (2) a
cousolatoiy discourse (chaps'. \\\., viii.), written two
years later, occasioned by a difficulty which had arisen
as to keeping of certain fast days instituted during
tin exile. Wliile finally wo have (3) a description of
the fortimes ©f the Church (chaps, ix. — xiv.), di\aded
by the sixperscription at chap. xii. 1 into two pai-ts, in
the first of which, chaps, ix. — xi., Zechariah describes
the fall of the heathen world, the founding of Chris-
tianity, and Isi-aol's rejection of the Messiah ; while in
the second part, also consisting of three chapters, we
have the .spiritual Israel's struggle and victory, its
ZECHARIAH.
369
purification by trial, aud the glory aud perfectness of
the new Jerusalem.
The visions set before us the hopes connected in the
minds of the j)eople Avith the building of the Temple,
lu the first, chap. i. 7 — 17, Zechariah sees a rider upon
a roan horse, followed by others on horses roan, speckled
aud white, in a myrtle '' bottom," an old English woi-d
fo." a low valley. The myrtle was not a native of
Palestine, but was introduced probably from Persia,
aud is not mentioned in the Bible till Isa. xli. 19 ; Iv. 13.
In Chaldsea it was common enough. These mounted
horsemen bringing tidings from all the earth represent
God's providence ; and as they report that all nations
are at j)eace, the angel who accompanies Zechariah
prays for Jerusalem, and receives a promise that the
Temple shall be rebuilt : " For the Lord shall yet com-
fort Zion, aud shall yet choose Jerusalem."'
Next (chap. i. 18 — ii. 13) we have a vision of four
horns, the usual symbol in the Scriptures for strength,
and representing in this place the four great monarchies,
which one after another were to oppress the Jews. But
upon these follow four carpenters, or rather smiths, who
with their hammers are to fray aud crush these Gentile
powers. And after their destruction Jerusalem is to
attain to great wealth and happiness, figured by her
being of such vast extent that no wall can encircle her^
but she is "to be inhabited as towns without walls for
the multitude of men and cattle therein ; " and for her
protection Jehovah is to be "a wall of fire round about
her." This vision ends with a hymn of joy, in which it
is also shown that the Gentiles are to share in her
spu'itual blessings.
In the third ^dsion (chap, iii.) we find Joshua, the
high priest, put upon his trial. Yery probably accusa-
tions had been sent against him to the Persian king-
when the Jews began to rebuild their Temple. Here
he is tried in a higher conri, before Jehovah, with
Satan as his accuser. According to the custom of
Eastern trials he is dressed in " filthy garments," but
upon his acquittal he is clothed in a dress of honour,
and a tiara, indicative of his restoration to the high
priesthood, is placed upon his head. As high priest
he is to judge the people wisely, and thereby prepare
for the coming of Chi-ist, who is called the Branch
or Sprout. Moreover, to encourage him, the founda-
tion-stone of the Temple is laid before him, and he
is assured that the seven eyes of God, the symbol of
His ever watchful pro"i-idence, shall perpstually rest
upon it.
As the third vision was to encourage the spiritual, so
the fourth (chap, iv.) is to encourage the temporal ruler,
Zerubbabel. Difficulties huge as mountains are to
become a level plain before him. As his hands laid
tlie foundation of the Temple, so shall they also finish
it ; and the candlestick with its seven lights is set u^) in
jn-oof that it shall be complete. The meaning of these
lights is probably the same as that of the seven eyes in
the preceding vision, while the oil flowing through the
seven pipes denotes the presence aud activity of the
Holy Ghost. Lastly, the two olive-trees, explained as
96 — VOL. IV.
" the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the
whole earth," are Joshua and Zerubbabel, the represen-
tatives of the rulers in Church and State.
In the fifth vision (chap. v. 1 — 4) we see the land of
Judah purified from the curse. For seventy years
it had been desolate because of the wrath of God ; but
the curse, written upon a mighty roU, twenty cubits
long and ten broad, is seen flying rapidly away. In our
version the sense is obscured by the rendering in verse
3, " This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of
the ivhole earth." The words mean the tohoJe land,
i.e., Jiulsea.
In the next \-ision (chap. v. 5 — 11) Zechariah shows
them that the cause of the curse is also removed.
"Wickedness, such as in the form j)artly of idolatry and
pai'tly of immorality had defiled their land, is now taken
away. Seized in the form of a woman, it is thrust iuto
an ephah or bushel, as into a cage, a mass of lead is
thrust down upon it to keep it from, escaping, and two
winged figures carry it to the land of Shinar, i.e., to
Babylon, where the exiles had lately dwelt in captivity,
and where, with all other evil things, it is to be per-
mitted to have its abode.
In the seventh and last vision (chap. vi. 1 — 8), four
chariots, representing the four winds, are seen issuing
forth from between two mountains of brass, to carry
the commands of God to the four quarters of the earth.
But besides the general representation that God's
empire is universal, two of these chariots go to the north
country " to cause God's spirit to rest upon the north
country " (ver. 8). The north is ever, in the language
of prophecy, the home of the enemies of God, and so
the black horses go there first, carrying judgment and
tribulation with them, while the white horses f jUow to
bear Jehovah there as a victor in triumphal progress.
By "the spirit of God resting upon the north" we thus
understand his spirit going forth to execute judgment.
Probably the reference is to the numerous revolts
agaiust Darius at the commencement of his reign, which
brought much misery especially upon the northern
portions of his dominions, while the grizzled chariot
going forth towards the south suggests tliat Egypt also
was unquiet under the new rule. And thus then these
A'isions set before the Jews in magnificent succession
the pictures of Jerusalem once again the chosen seat of
Jehovah, its enemies beaten small as with hammers, the
city spreading far and wide, with God as a wall of fire
to guard it round, its high priest and civil ruler the
especial objects of the Divine favour and protection, the
Temple rebuilt, the curse removed, wickedness cax'ried
far away, and the might of Jehovah's empire going out
far and wide. We can well understand how thoroughly
these visions would have encouraged the people, and
filled their minds with hope; and upon them follows an
interesting symbolical action (chap. vi. 9—15).
From the time of the return of the exiles under Ezra
the wealthy Jews, who preferred remainiug among the
Gentiles, quieted their consciences by sending rich
presents to Jcnisalem. Three men from Babylon had
just arrived as bearers of such gifts, and were lodged at
370
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
tho house of Josiali, the son of Zephauiah. Tliitlier
Zecliariab was to go, and with the silver and gold which
thcv had brought was to uiako crowns, and set one upon
the head of Joshua, the high priest, as a symbol that in
then- jjromised deliverer, the Branch, the kingly shoidd
be united with the pi-iestly office, and that ho should
" sit and rulo upon his throne, and be a priest upon his
throne," tho throne being the sjTnbol of tho royal autho-
rity. Crowns were also to be given to tho bearers of
these gifts, which were, however, finally to be laid up
in the Temple before the Lord as a memorial.
Tho second portion of the Book of Zechariah consists
of a discom-se (chaps, vii., viii.) occasioned by a question
put to the priests and projihets in the Temple. It was
spoken two years subsequently to the previous A-ision,
and the question which it answered was, Were they, now
that they had rctui-ned to Jerusalem, to keep the solemn
days of fasting and humiliation, which had been insti-
tuted during the exile at Babylon ?
This question he answered in the same spirit as Isaiah
of old (chap. Iviii. 3 — 7). They were not so to fast ; for
true fasting consists iu doing justice and mercy; and
it was because they had neglected these " weightier
matters of the law " that they had been driven from
their land. Let them keep justice and mercy, and then
aged men and women supporting then* steps with their
staves shall once again dwell in theii* city, their streets
shall be full of boys and gii-ls at play, their temple
shall be built, their land bear them bounteous crops, and
they themselves, instead of being a curse, shall be a
blessing to all people. If only they s^ieak the truth, and
execiite judgment, and think no evil, and take no false
oath, then their fasting days, " the fast of the fourth
month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of tho
seventh, and the fast of the tenth," may all be kept as
cheerful feasts. They may eat and di-ink, if they will ;
only they must love ti-uth and peace (chap. viii. 16
-19).
The third portion of the book is of far wider signi-
ficancy. It begins (chap, is.) Avith the denunciation of
God's anger upon Dama.scus, Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia.
These probably are named as representing the enemies
of the theocracy, and their fall is to be followed by the
restoration of the monarchy at Jerusalem. But its
king is not to come in royal fashion as Jeremiah fore-
told, '■ riding in chariots and on horses, ho and his
servants and his people " ( Jer. xxii. 4), but lowly, and
sitting upon an ass ; and ho is to speak not war but
peace to the heathen, and as the king of peace " liis
dominion is to reach from sea to sea, and from the river
even to the ends of the earth." The Jews in cap-
tivity, now '• prisoners of hope," are to return, and
Eiihraim and Judah, once again united, together are to
form an empire more powerful than that of Greece ;
while their own land is to be so fruitful that tho abun-
dance of com and wine shall lead to happy marriages,
and fiU their dwellings with young men and maids.
In the next chapter (chap, x.) the same line of thought
is continued, but with the warning that they are to seek
their blessing from Jehovah, and not from idols or
diriners. And as in old time their shepherds, i.e., their
kings, had been their ruin, Jehovah mU now be himself
their shepherd, and under his rule they shall become
like a glorious war-horse ; and out of Judali shall pro-
ceed tho corner, i.e., the corner-stone, upon which the
whole building of the state dejjends, the nail or bracket
which supjiorts the most i^recious articles for use and
adornment, the weapons of war for defence, and (not
the oppressor, as the A. Y. renders the word, but) the
captain or rider, who shall win for the Jews dominion
(ver. 4). In tho rest of the chapter the'haj)py effects
of the union of Ejihi-aim with Judah are described;
and whereas in old time they had been scattered among
the heathen in punishment, they are now to be sown,
among them as a blessing, and also because their own
laud can no longer contain their increasing numbers,
though they are to recover their former boundaries,
and possess Gdead and Lebanon as in DaAdd's days.
But now (chap, xi.) the scene changes. Through the
defiles of Lebanon an army is approaching, spreading
devastation all around. Israel is now a " flock for the
slaughter," which the prophet is himseK to feed. He
makes, therefore, two staves, of which he calls one
Beauty, the other Bands, i.e., Union, the use of bands
being to fasten things together. With these he smites
three evil shepherds, or kings, but liis flock rejects him,
and so he cuts the staff of beauty in simder to show
that the covenant between Israel and Jehovah is at an
end. He then throws up his office, and demands his
price or wages, and they weigh unto him thirty pieces
of silver, which in angry irony as the goodly — i.e., the
pitifid — price at which they had valued him, he tlu-ows
to the j)otter in the house of the Lord. Finally he cuts
asunder the other staff", to show that there was union
no more between Judah and Israel. And as they lu\d
thus rejected the good shepherd, they must now have
in his place one who shall seek only their evil, and do
them hurt; and who shall at length himseM meet Avith
such a fate as he deserves.
Mysterious as are the terms of this chapter, there can
be little doubt that it prefigures the rejection of Christ
by the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem as its
consequence by the armies of Rome. But the exact
interpretation of the several portions are so open to
controversy that an elaborate commentary woidd bo
required fully to explain their meaning. Very pro-
bably, however, the three evil shepherds represent
monarchs Avho, like Antiochus Epiphaues, grievously
oppressed the Jews in the period preceding the Advent
of our Lord.
The second portion (chaps, xii., xiii., xiv.) is termed
" tho burden of the word of Jehovah for Israel ; " the
word " Israel" being here, as is so commonly the case
in the later prophets, the symliol for mercies larger
than those wliich belonged to the lineal descendants of
Jacob. It commences with the description of a fearful
struggle between the heathen powers and God's people,
in Avhich the latter is to have the victory, but not by
might of war, but because Jehovah pours out upon tho
house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
ZECHARIAH.
371
the spirit of grace aud of supplication; so tliat they
look ou Him vrliom tliey liavo pierced, aud mourn with
sorrow as deep as that for tin only son, and as the
people mourned for Josiah in the valley of Megiddo.
And because of this earnest repentance a fountain is to
be opened in Jerusalem for sin aud for uncleauuess ;
idolatry is to be banished completely from the laud,
and false prophecy to cease, so that if any one profess
to have the gift, his own father aud mother in utter
abhorrence shall thrust him tlirough. Finally, upon
the repentance and reformation of the people follows
their piu-ificatiou by terrible trial. The sword wakes
agaiust God's fellow ; the shepherd is smitten, the sheep
scattered (chap. xiii. 7). The fires of the refining fur-
nace blaze, the day of Jehovah comes, all nations are
gathered against Jerusalem, already it is captured, aud
is sufEeriug the last hoiTors of war, wheu Jehovah goes
forth to battle for his people. All nature trembles as
He marches along, Mount Olivet is cleft asunder, the
people flee, the light of natiire is shi'ouded, but living
waters go forth from Jerusalem, aud Jehovah's king-
dom is established over all the earth. Hencefoi-ward
Jerusalem is safely inhabited, and from year to year all
nations go up thither to worship, for she is now the
holy city, aud upon all that she has is inscribed " Holi-
ness unto the Lord."
Undeniably these last six chapters are very unlike to
the first eight, and from early times their genuineness
has been called in question. But the dispute is very
different from most of those raised about the integrity
of portions of Holy Scripture ; for generally the object
is to bring them down to a later date. Here it is said
that these six; chapters are so entirely unlike anything
written after the exile, and are so completely after the
manner of the old prophets, that they must be of great
antiquity, aud possibly were written by Zechariah the
son of Jeberechiah (called Berechiah in the Septuagint),
mentioned La Isa. viii. 2. Mede argued that Jeremiah
was their author, saying that they were quoted as
his in Matt, xxvii. 9, and that it did not follow that
because they were appended to Zechariah's prophecies,
they must, therefore, also belong to him. Archbishop
Newcome went farther, and said that these chapters are
among the oldest prophetical writings in the Bible, and
must have been composed before Israel went into cap-
tivity, of whom he explains them literally ; and to this
view men like Pye Smith have given their adhesion.
The main argument for two authors has been well put
by Eichhorn, who says : — "' As the reader passes from
the fii'st liaK of the prophet to the second, he cannot
fail to perceive how strikingly different are the impres-
sions which are made uj)on him by the two. Tho
manner of writing in tho second portion is far loftier
and more mysterious ; the images employed grander and
more magnificent ; the point of view and the horizon
are changed. The Temple is no longer the central
object of thought, and expressions often repeated iu
the first part no longer occur."
But though there is much at first sight plausible in
this argument, yet German critics have now for some
time held that it is untenable. De Wette, iu the first
three editions of his Introduction to the Old Testament,
accepted the theory of two authors, but has since
affiiTued that the quotations or allusions in these six
chapters not merely to Isaiah, Joel, Micah, and Amos,
but even to Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Ezekiel, are so
many, that the author must have lived after the exUe.
So also a closer examination of the historical allusions
has shown that they all agi-eo with the political state of
things iu Zechariah's days; aud to this we must add what
after all is the great argument, that the canon of Old
Testament Scripture was settled scarcely a life-time
after Zechariah's death, and was in course of preparation
long before, so that it is hard to conceive that so great a
mistake coidd possibly have been made as to ascribe to
one of the prophets who flourished in post-exilian days
the writings of one of the older seers. The veiy fact
that there is a dissimilarity of style would have pre-
vented the mistake ; uor can we imagine that any
one would have attributed these chapters to the same
author as the first eight imless they had really been
his.
It is interesting to add that to the two prophets
by whose instrumentality the Temple was buUt several
of the finest choral psalms are attributed, with con-
siderable probability. Thus, according to the LXX.^
Haggai aud Zechariah wrote Ps. cxxxvii., cxlv. —
cxlviii. ; according to the Syriac, Ps. cxxv., cxxvi. ; aud
according to the Yulgate, Ps. cxi. If, therefore, the
Septuagint is right, these prophets would have been
the first from whose lips the triumphant cry of " Halle-
lujah," "Praise ye Jehovah," first proceeded; and
we owe to the joyfid exclamation with which they
celebrated the building of the Temple, that which has
become the settled formula of praise in all languages
in which the word of God is proclaimed to men.
372
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
BY WILLIAM CARRUTHEES, F.R.S., KEEPER OP THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, BRITISH MUSEUM.
THE ORDERS OF MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.
^HE most remarkable plant found in Palcs-
tiHe belonging to this great division of
tlie vegetable kingdom is the palm-tree
{Phcenix dactylifera, Linn.), the tamar
("»pn) of tlifi Old, and the <t>o':yi^ of the New Testament.
The palm has been closely associated with the Holy
Land from the earliest times. The Greek name for
the coast region was Phoenicia, and this was derived
from the Greek designation for the date-palm, and was
applied, no doubt, because the abundance of the tree
ATas a characteristic of the country. Some of the coins
struck at the Phoenician towns of Tyi'o and Sidou have
on them the emblematic figure of the palm. The earliest
Icuown Jewish coins, believed to have been struck by
Judas Maccabseus, contain a fair representation ef the
date-tree, showing its large pinnated leaves and bunches
of fruits. This same figure is reproduced in the coins
struck by Eleazar and Simon during the short period of
their successful revolt against the Romans wliich was
pait down by Titus when he defeated the rebels and
destroyed Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The well-known coin
struck by Vespasian to celebrate this event represents
captive Judaea as a weeping woman seated on the ground
under the shade of a palm-tree. To the Jew as well as
to the foreigner the palm was a fitting emblem of Pales-
tine, and though it is now almost unknown on the hills
and in the valleys of the land, there are many indica-
tions of its former abundance. Jericho is again and
again called the city of palm-trees, and Josephus tells us
there was in his time a grove beside the town seven
miles long. This has gradually disajipeared, and now
not a tree remains. Canon Tristram describes the last
relic of Jericho's famous grove, which he saw some
years ago, then wild and neglected, now dead and gone.
Tlie wliole valley of the Jordan was probably stocked
with the palm in New Testament times. That it grew
around the Sea of Galilee is recorded by Josephus, and
its existence at no very distant period in the valley is
proved by the occasional occurrence of dead stems, which
are especially abundant on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Some of these have, no doubt, come from the narrow valley
of En gedi, where, apart from the recorded testimony,
the ancient name of the valley itself— Hazazon-tamar,
the " valley of the palm" — establishes that the date once
flourished there. But not only in the depressed and
6ub-tropical region of the Jordan and Dead Sea were
palms abundantly met with; they were scattered in
more or less abundance throughout the whole country.
Near Gibeali of Benjamin was a place called Baal-
tamar, "tlie sanctuary of the palm" (Judg. xx. 33),
which was near to, if it was not the same, as the palm-
tree under which Deborah dwelt when she judged
Israel (Judg. iv. 5). In Nehemiah's days the inhabi-
tants of Jerusalem were able to supply themselves with
palm-leaves from the Mount of Olives for the celebra-
tion of the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. Aaii. 15). Tito
name of Bethany, " house of dates," indicates the
presence there of groves of palms, arid from them, no
doubt, were obtained the leaves (" branches ") of palm-
trees which the multitude carried when they conduoted
the Saviour in triumi)h over Olivet to Jerusalem (John
xii. 13). Not a palm is now to be found on Olivet,
though both the olive which gave its name to the mount,
and the fig from which Bethphage was named, still
grow together there. A few palms are to be found
within the walls of Jerusalem, and groups are met with
at Nablous, Nazareth, and other places, but they are
most abundant on the maritime j)lains. Palm-leaves
are among the relics brought from the Holy Land in
tlie Middle Ages ; hence a pilgrim safely returned
from Palestine came to be called a " palmer."
The date has a tall slender stem, uniformly thick
throughout, and unbroken by branches. It grows to
a height of eighty feet, but has an average of thii-ty
feet. The stem is somewhat smooth below, but rough
above, from the remains of the bases of the former
leaves still adhering to it. The erect habit of the tree
is referred to by the prophet when, speaking of the
dead idols, he says, " They are upright as the palm-tree,
but speak not " (Jer. x. 5). The grace and beauty of
the stately stem crowned with its feathery foliage sug-
gested the fitness of emplojong its name for women ;
thus Absalom had a " fair sister " whose name was
Tamar, and a daughter "of a fair countenance" to whom
he gave the same name (2 Sam. xiii. 1; xiv^ 27).
The palm-tree was well adapted for architectural
purposes, and was employed by Solomon in the Temple
(1 Kings vi. 29 — 35). The pillars and arches of the
Temple shown to Ezekiel in a vision, as well as its
walls, were ornamented with palm-trees (Ezek. xl.
and xli.).
Some have thought that the sweet flag {Aco7-us
Calamus, Linn.), found in damj) ^ilaces in the north of
Palestine, is the " sweet cane " (Jer. vi. 20) and the
"sweet calamus" (Exod. xxx. 23) of our version. But
in Jeremiah it is called " sweet cane from a far country,''
and consequently was not, like the sweet flag, a native
product of Palestine. (See Yol. I., p. 244.)
Several species of Aroidee arc common in Palestine.
They are more obvious than the cuckoo-pint of our
hedges, because of the bright colour of their flowering
leaves and the intolerable stench given out by them.
This property induced Canon Tristram to suggest that
some of the si^ecies found in the coi'n-producing plains
might bo the "cockle" or noisome weed, baoshah
(noi^a), alluded to by Job (xxxi. 40), seeing this word is
derived from a root signifying "to stink like carrion."
Tlie brilliant covering of flowers which in spring
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.
373
surprises and delights every traveller in Palestine is
largely due to the numerous and varied forms of lilia-
ceous plants wliicli abound on liill and plain. Tulips
and lilies, squills and hyacinths, with fritillarics and
asphodels, combine to deck the fields with a wondrous
glow of colour. To these, and the plants belonging to
other orders associated with them, the Sa^^our referred
when, teaching trust in God, He bade His hearers
" Consider the lilies of the field " (Matt. vi. 28). A very
common Palestine plant, the star of Bethlehem {Onii-
tliogahvm umhellatmn, Linn.), whose white and green
flowers adorn every hill in spring, has been supposed
to be referred to under the name "dove's dung" in the
narrative of the siege of Samaria by Benhadad, when the
inhabitants were reduced to so gi*eat extremities that
the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung was sold for
five pieces of silver (2 Kings vi. 25). Some imagine
this to be the small bulbous root of the star of Beth-
lehem, which is sometimes used as food ; but no reason
has been adduced sufiicient for rejecting the literal
reading of the passage. A somewhat conventional
treatment of a squill or a hyacinth is shown on the
shekel of Judas Maccabseus and on other Jewish coins.
Their obverse contains the representation of a spike
composed of three flowers.
The prickly butcher's broom, which bears its small
green flower on the centre of its leaf -like branches, so
common in the woods of the south of England, is not
unfrequent in Palestine, along with a larger species,
Ruscus hypoglossum, Linn. Tristram suggests that
the sillon of Ezek. ii. 6; xxviii. 24, translated "briar"
in our version, is the butcher's broom.
The varieties of onion in Palestine are numerous and
often beautiful, though not always agreeable to the
smell. The wild species adorn the pastures with their
white, pink, and purple flowers, while those used as
vegetables are cultivated everywhere, and one or other
of them forms an ingredient in most Oriental dishes.
Three kinds are included in the list of the good things
which the Israelites had enjoyed in Egypt, and which
they lusted after in the wilderness. " We remember the
fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers,
and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlick ; but now our soul is dried up " (Numb. xi. 5,
6). These are known from profane records to have
been favourite vegetables in Egypt. It has been ques-
tioned whether the Hebrew hatzeer ("i'?v') is correctly
identified with the leek. The word means green, and
is elsewhere translated "herbs" or "grass," but in the
passage now quoted it means an edible plant, like the
leek.
Our common sea-eide rush {Jimcus inaritimus, Sm.)
grows in clumps along the shores of the Dead Sea, and
other British species occur in damp localities in the
north of Palestine.
No remarkable species of orchids are met with in
Palestine. The plants of this order are terrestrial
forms similar to those found in England and the south
of Europe.
Several beautiful species of Amaryllidacece are natives
of the Holy Land. Deserving special notices are tho
white pancratiums and the yellow Operanthus. Tho
hilly pastures abound with patches of violet ixiolirions,
and plains and hills alike are adorned with the bright
flowers of the polyanthus narcissus {N. Tazetta, Linn.).
Tliis plant has been very generally accepted as the
"rose" of our Bibles. The etymology of the Hebrew
word chubatztzeleth (nVsjn) implies that the " rose of
Sharon " was a plant with a bulbous root, and thus
necessarily excludes the rose (see iiage 245). But in a
country where bulbous-rooted plants form so large a,
proportion of its floral vegetation, it is difficult to decide
upon a single plant. Lindley thought it was an Ixio-
lirio7i, Sir J. E. Smith the Operanthus, and RosenmiiUcr
the meadow saffron. The majority of critics, however,
accept this beautiful narcissus, which is not unfrequent
on the plain of Sbaron.
Many forms of Irldacece are found in the plains of
Palestine, including species of Iris, Gladiolus, and
Crocus. The colouring material saffron is collected in
the Holy Land from Crocus sativus. Scop., and other
species. It consists of the yellow style and stigma
of the flower dried in the sun, and pounded to make
powdered saffron, or jiressed into smaU tablets to form
cake saffron. It is chiefly used for colouring confec-
tioneiy and giving a tint to liqueurs. A recent traveller
says "he found saffron a very useful condiment in
travelling cookery, a very small pinch of it giving out
not only a rich yellow colour, but an agreeable flavour
to a dish of rice or to an insipid stew " (Tristram, Nat.
Hist, of the Bible, p. 480). In the well-stocked garden
to which the bride is compared, saffron is mentioned as
having a place (Cant. iv. 14). There is little doubt
that the Hebrew karhovi (cis^S) is here correctly trans-
lated " saffron," for the Arabic name for the plant is
almost the same ; and indeed the Greek Kp6Kos and the
Latin crocus are derived from the same root as the
Hebrew.
) The Cyperacece are not numerous in Palestine, and
with one exception none of them are remarkable. A
Cyperus with an edible tuber {C. esculentus, Linn.)
is found in the Jordan and other streams. It may
be the achu (in«), translated "flag" in the passage,
" Can the rush grow up wdtheut mire ? can the flag
grow without water ? " (Job viii. 11) ; and twice ren-
dered " meadow " in Genesis. " Behold, there came
out of the river seven well-favoui*ed kine and fat-
fleshed, and they fed in a meadow " (Gen. xli. 2, 18).
These passages imply that the achu was a water plant
suitable for pasture, and in no plants of Palestine are
these qualities more strikingly present than in the edible
cyperus. The most remarkable plant of Palestine
belonging to this order is the famous Papyrus anti-
quorum, Linn., which, though no longer found in its
ancient habitat, the lower Nile, still grows in abundance
in Lake Merom and the swamps of the Upper Jordan.
It has been seen on the shores of the Sea of Gralilee, and
luxurious specimens were observed by Canon Tristraja
growing to a height of sixteen feet with stems three
inches in diameter, in a marsh at the fountain of Ain ©t
374
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Tiu, a little to the north of the Sea of Galilee. Lake
Hiileh, the ancient " Waters of Merom,"' appears to bo
the jjresont head-quarters of the papyrus north of
tropical Africa. Tristram thus describes tliis locality :
" The whole marsh is marked in the maps as impassable,
and most tx-uly it is so. I never anywhere else have
met with a swamp so vast and so uttei-ly impenetrable.
First there is an ordinaiy bog, which takes one up to
the knees in water; then, after half a mile, a belt of
deeper water where the yellow water-lily flourishes.
Then a belt of tall reeds, the oijen water covered with
white water-lily, and beyond again an impenetrable
wilderness of papyi'us, extending right across to the
east side. A false step off its roots will take the
intruder overhead in suffocating peat mud. In fact,
the whole is simply a floating bog of several mUes
square — a very thiu crust of vegetation over an un-
known depth of water, and if the weight of the explorer
breaks through this, suffocation is imminent. Some
Arabs who were tilling the plain for cotton assured us
that even a wild boar never got through it. We shot
two bitterns, but, in endeavouring to retrieve them, I
slipped from the root on which I was standing, and
was drawn down in a minute, only saving myself from
drowning by my gun, which had pro-^-identially caught
across a papyrus stem " (Tristram, Land of Israel, j).
587).
The papyrus has fleshy underground root-stocks,
which creep to a great length below the mud, and
throw up then* tall three-cornered stems, which usually
rise to a height of ten or twelve feet. The i-oot-stocks
contain a large amount of starch, and were used as an
article of food by the ancient Egy|)tians. Theophrastus
says those who wish to eat the byblus dressed in the
most delicate way, stew it in a hot pan and then eat it.
The long slender bare columns are furnished with a
few short leaves near the base, and bear also at the
top a few leaves from the centre of which the great
tuft of fruit-bearing leaves spring, giving the whole
j)lant the appearance of a huge long-shanked broom.
Internally the stems are composed of a loose cellular
tissue, from which was manufactured the ancient paper.
The green rind or skin of the stem was removed, and
the interior didded longitudinally into long thiu slices.
A number of these slices were placed on a flat board
alongside of each other ; a second series was laid over
the first at right angles, and they were then beaten
carefxdly with a flat wooden mallet, until by the help of
the mucilage in the tissues, and some starch, paste, or
glue which was added, they were connected together.
This pulpy layer was then exposed to the sun, and as
soon as it was dried it was ready for use.
The gome (MPJ), translated in our version "reed" and
"bulrush," is, no doubt, the papyrus. This word occurs
four times in the Bible. The mother of Moses " took
for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime
and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she
laid it in the flags by the river's brink" (Exod. ii. 3).
Ethiopia is said to send "ambassadors by the sea, even
in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters " (Isa. xviii. 2). j
One element in the projihetic illustration of the joyous
changes brought about in the Sav-iour's kingdom is that
" in the habitation of dragons shall be grass Avith reeds
and rushes " (Isa. xxxv. 7). And, lastly, Bildad, to
enforce his position that destruction must overtake the
man that forgets God, asks, " Can the rush grow up
without mire r* can the flag gi-ow without water ?
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it
withereth before any other herb " (Job A-iii. 11, 12).
The allusions in the context all accord with what is
known of the ijaper reed. The Egyptians made various
articles besides paper from the pai)3Tus. We have the
testimony of several ancient writers that boats or canoes
were made from it ; Bruce found such boats in use
among the Abyssinians when he Ansited them.
The translators of our Authorised Version have intro-
duced " paper-reed " as the rendering of 'aroth ('"lit?),
"the paper-reeds by the brooks shall
Avither " (Isa. xix. 7), but this is doubtless a mistake.
The word is derived from a root meaning to make
bare or naked, and it is probably a descriptive term
for the meadow pastures by the side of a river.
There are many species of grasses in Palestine, but,
unless in excej)tional spots, they never form a perma-
nent pasture like what we have in Britain. The
herbivorous animals obtain, all the year round, more
of their fruit from the young shoots of shrubby plants
than from the GraminecB ; consequently, in its Bible
meaning, "grass of the field" includes a larger variety
of plants than the same phrase as wo popularly employ
it, though with us it covers many fodder plants that
are not iu the strict sense grasses. Among the grasses
of the Holy Land are some of our well-known British
forms. Our common species, the annual meadow grass
{Poa annua, Linn.), a useful plant in pastures, but a
troublesome pest in gi-avel walks and roads, occurs in
similar situations in Palestine. Species of Poa, Feshvca,
Agrostis, Panicum, Bromus, Phalaris, and other British
grasses, are met with associated with forms found
only in warmer regions. Some are remarkable for
their great size, like the Arunclo Donax, Linn., and a
species of Saccharum. The Arundo is abundant aU
along the banks of the Jordan, and forms immense
brakes on the shores of the lakes through which the
river inins, as well as at different places arotind the
Dead Sea. It grows to a height of twelve feet, and
supports a magnificent and graceful plume of flowers,
easily moA'ed by a slight breath of wind. This plant
is the reed of Palestine, and is without doubt the
agmon (P'^^n) and the kaneh (^?P^) of the Old, and the
KaXaixos of the New Testament.
Wheat, barley, millet, and spelt were cultivated by
the Jews, and they ai"e still grown in Palestine, with the
addition of maize and rice. The great extent to which
the whole land was cultivated in former days is seen iu
the artificial terraces which are everywhere met with.
From the insecurity of property in the East, regular
farming has been for ages carried on only in the A-icinity
of towns. The whole of Olivet is cidtivated in terraced
fields of wheat and barley; scattered trees of olives
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
375
occur througliout the fields, and here and there a
solitary fig-tree.
CKypTOGA.Mic Plants. — Excepting in regard to a
few species of ferns growing in the cx-acks of the
rocks, almost notliing is known of the cryptogamous
plants of Palestine. Future travellers must remedy
this defect in our knowledge. However, to the Bible
student this is of less importance, as no references are
made to any of these plants in the Scriptures, unless
we hold that the nianna was a lichen (Bible Edit-
CATOE, Yol. II., p. 176), or the hyssop was a moss (I. c.
Vol. I., p. 227).
THE HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
THE AUTHOEISED VEESION.
BY THE KEV. W. F. MOITLTON, M.A. LOND., D.D. EDIN., HEAD MASTEE OF THE WESLETAN HIGH SCHOOL, CAIMBRIDGE.
'HEN James I. succeeded to the throne
in March, 1603, he found the southern
part of his dominions in a state of great
uneasiness and disquiet in consequence
of the differences between the Puritan party and their
opponents in the Church of England. One of the
first events in his reign was the presentation of the
celebrated "Millenary Petition," subscribed by some
hundreds of Puritans, praying for alterations in the
Church service, and for greater strictness of eccle-
siastical discipline. The king, by no means unwilling
to play the part of moderator, resolved to convoke an
assembly, in which the discordant opinions of the rival
parties might be stated, and be submitted to free dis-
cussion. Thus originated the famous Hampton Court
Conference, held on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of January,
1604. We are not here concerned Avith the petitions and
arguments which mainly occupied the hours of debate ;
our present interest is in a question which was altogether
subordinate at the time, but which the event proved to
be the most important and the most fruitful of all the
questions raised. At this conference the Pui'itans were
represented by Dr. Reynolds, President of Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, Dr. Sparke, Mr. Knewstubbs,
and Mr. Chadertou; the opposite party by Whitgift,
Archbishoj) of Canterbury, Bancroft, Bishop of London,
seven other bishops, and five deans. An account of the
sum and substance of the conference, written by Dr.
Bai-low, Dean of Chester, is our chief authority for the
proceedings of this assembly.
In the course of the second day. Dr. Reynolds
" moved his Majesty that there might be a new trans-
lation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in
the reign of King Henry VIII. and Edward VI. were
corrupt, and not answerable to the truth of the original.
For example, first. Gal. iv. 25, the Greek word <Tv(rT0ixe7
is not well translated, as now it is ; horderetli neither
expressing the force of tho word, nor the apostle's
sense, nor the situation of the place. Secondly, Ps. cv.
28, ' They were not obedient,' the original being, ' They
were not disobedient.' Thirdly, Ps. cvi. 30, 'Then
stood up Phinees and prayed ;' the Hebrew hath ' exe-
cuted judgment.' To which motion there was, at the
present, no gainsaying, the objections being trivial and
old, antl already in iirint, of ten answered ; only my lord
of London well added, that if every man's humour
should be followed, there would be no end of trans-
lating. Whereupon his Highness wished that some
special pains should be taken in that behalf for ouo
uniform translation ("professing that he could never yet
see a Bible well translated in English, but the worst of
all his Majesty thought the Geneva to be), and this to
be done by the best learned in both the universities;
after them to be reviewed by the bishops and the chief
learned of the church ; from them to be presented to
the privy councU ; and lastly to be ratified by his royal
authority. And so this whole cluirch to be bound imto
it and none other. Mar^;y, withal, he gave this caveat
(upon a word cast out by my lord of London), that no
marginal notes should be added, having found in them
which are annexed to the Geneva translation (which he
saw in a book given him by an English lady) some notes
very partial, untrue, seditious, and savouring too much
of dangerous and traitorous conceits. As, for example,
the first chapter of Exodus, and the nineteenth verse,
where the marginal note alloweth disobedience unto
kings ; and 2 Cliron. xv. 16, the note taxetli Asa for
deposing his mother only, and not killing her."
It is not necessary to defend the Genevan Bible
against the royal critic. On the real excellence of the
translation enough has been said already, and the two
notes quoted as dangerous do not need any apology.
The narrative well Ulustrates the conflicting ^-iews of
two parties, for the quotations given by Dr. Reynolds
are from the Great Bible and the Bishops' Bible, and
in each case the rendering is corrected in the Genevan
version. On the one side, therefore, the Genevan Bible
is the standard by which the translations are tried ; on
the other, the faults and the dangerous teaching of this
same version are taken as the groimd for a new trans-
lation. It is not improbable that the scheme would
have fallen to the ground, had it not harmonised so
completely with the king's turn of mind and favourite
pursuits. When Convocation met, shortly after the
conference, not a word appears to have been said on
the subject. A letter from the king to Bancroft, dated
July 22nd, 1604, gives us our earliest information, but
by this time the plans for the execution of the work
seem to have been completely arranged. The king
announces that he has chosen (chiefly, we may suppose,
on the nomination of the universities) fifty-four trans-
lators, to meet in various companies at Westminster,
Oxford and Cambridge, under the presidency of the
Dean of Westminster and the two Hebrew Professors.
376
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Bancroft is required to take steps, in conjunction with
the other bishops, for providing the translators Avith
church pi-efermcut in recompense for their hibours, and
also for procuring from learned men throughout the
kingdom criticisms on the earlier translations, and sug-
gestions on difficult passages. Other letters like tliis
bear testimony to the king's earnestness in the prosecu-
tion of the i\-ork. It is therefore not a little surprising
to find that three years passed away before the com-
panies entered on their labours. The difficulty in pro-
A-iding funds to meet necessary expenses, the death of
Lively, th? Hebrew Professor at Cambridge, and pro-
bably of others who had been selected as translators,
were, no doubt, amongst the obstacles which retarded
the work.
The letter in which the king refers to the fifty-four
translators contains no list of names, and no information
from other sources enables us to ascertain with exact-
ness on whom the choice had fallen. The lists w-e
possess specify no more than forty-seven. Whether
the discrepancy arises from the changes in the compo-
sition of the companies which took place (thi-ough
death or other causes) between 1604 and the comple-
tion of the work in 1611, or whether the list of fifty-four
included bishops or other scholars, intrusted, not Avith
translation, but with the revision of the work of the six
companies, it is impossible to say.
The following statement shows how the work was
divided, and gives the names of the chief persons con-
nected with each portion : — (1) Genesis — 2 Kings :
Bishop Andrews, Dean Overall, Dr. Saraiaa (the
friend of Hooker), Bed well, the best Arabic scholar
of his time, and six others. (2) 2 Chronicles — Eccle-
siastes : Lively, Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge,
Dr. Chaderton, who had taken a prominent pai-t in the
Hampton Court Conference, and seven others. (3)
Isaiah — Malachi : Dr. Reynolds, President of Corpus
Christi College, the leading representative of tie
Puritans at the Conference, Dr. Miles Smith, after-
wards Bishop of Gloucester, and five others. (4) The
Apocrypha: A. Downes, Professor of Greek at Cam-
bridge, and six others. (.5) The Gospels, Acts, and
Revelation : Dr. Abbot, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, Mr. Savile (afterwards Sir Henry), the
editor of Chrysostom, and six or seven othei-s. (6) The
Epistles. Dr. Barlow, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln,
and six others of comparatively little fame.
The duties of the revisers, and the plau of the new
work, were defined in the following body of instructions
supplied to each company : —
"1. The ordinary Bilolo read in the Church, com-
monly called the Bishops" Bible, to be followed, and as
little altered as the truth of the original will admit.
" 2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers,
with the other names of the text, to be retained as
nigh as may be, accordingly as they Avere vulgarly
Used.
"3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, viz., the
word chnrch not to be translated congregation, Sec.
"4. Wb?u 1. word hath divers significations, that to
bo kept which hath been most commonly used by tlio
most of the ancient fathers, being agreeable to the pro-
priety of the place and the analogy of the faith.
•' 5. The division of the chapters to bo altered either
not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require.
" 6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, 6ut only
for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words
which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly
and fitly be expressed in the text.
" 7. Such quotations of places to bo marginally set
down as shall serve for the fit reference of one Scripture
to another.
" 8. Every particular man of each company to take
the same chapter or chapters; and having translated or
amended them sevei'ally by himself where he thinketh
good, all to meet together, confer what they have done,
and agree for their paris what shall stand.
" 9. As any one company hath dispatched any one
book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest to be
considered of seriously and judiciously, for his Majesty
is very careful in this point.
" 10. If any company, upon the review of the book so
sent, doubt or differ upon any place, to send them word
thereof, note the place', and Avithal send the reasons ; to
which if they consent not, the difference to be com.-
pounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the
chief persons of each company at the end of the
work.
"11. When any place of special obscnrity is doubted
of, letters to be directed by authority to send to any
learned man in the land for his judgment of such a
place.
" 12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest
of his clergy, admonishing them of this translation in
hand, and to move and charge as many as being skilful
in the tongues, and having taken pains in that kind, to
send his particular observations to the company either
at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxfoi-d.
" 13. The directors in each company to be the Deans
of Westminster and Chester for that place, and the
king's professors in the Hebrew or Greek in either
university.
" 14. These translations to be used when they agree
better Avith the text than the Bishops' Bible; Tindale's,
MatthcAv's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's, Geneva.
" 15. Besides the said directors before mentioned,
three or four of the most ancient and grave divines in
either of the universities, not employed in translating,
to be assigned by the Vice-Chancellor upon conference
with the rest of the Heads to l)e oAcrseers of the
translations, as well Hebrew as Gi-eek, for the better
obserA'atiou of the fourth rule above specified."
Wlien each company had completed the allotted task,
the scA-eral parts were collected for revision. The uiuth
rule prescribed that every book should bo submitted to
the judgment of all the companies ; but, even had it
been possible to carry such a nde into effect, yet much
Avould afterwards remain to be done in the way of
arrangement and the harmonising of details. Six of
the translators — twelve, according to another account —
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
377
oue (or two) out of each compauy, met together at the
close to review the work. Boys and Downs, of the
Cambridge company, " were sent for up to London,
where, meeting their four fellow-labourers, they went
daily to Stationers' Hall, aud in three-quarters of a
year fulfilled their task. All which time they received
duly thirty shillings each of tliem, by the week, from
the Comijany of Stationers;' though before they had
nothing." "Wlio the " four fellow- labourers " were, we
have no means of ascertaining. Bishop Bilson, though
not one of the translators, is said to have been con-
nected with the final revision, and the account which is
given us of Bancroft's influence on the translation has
led some to add his name also. The reader may be
surprised to find that so much of the history is involved
in obscurity. " Never," says a writer who is our highest
authority on the translation of 1611," "was a great
enterprise like the pi-oductiou of our Authorised Version
carried out with less knowledge Imnded down to pos-
terity of the labourers, their method and oi'der of
working." The only account which we possess of the
procedure of the translators is to be found in Selden's
Table Talk : it appears to relate to the last revision.
" The translation in King James' time took an excellent
way. That part of the Bible was given to him who
Avas most excellent in such a tongue (as the Apocrypha
to Andrew Downs), and then they met together, and
one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands
some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French,
Spanish, Italian, &c. : if they found any fault, they
spoke ; if not, he read on."
In 1611, seven years after the Hampton Court Con-
ference, the new translation was given to the world.
The titlo-page of the volume (a folio printed in black-
letter by R. Barker), contains the statements with which
we are all familiar, and the Dedication which follows is
equally well known. It is otherwise with the Trans-
lators' Preface, which is not to Ije found in modern
Bibles. This is a document of considerable length
(equal to about nine pages of the Bible Educator),
written "bj Dr. Miles Smith, in which the translators
justify the demand for a new translation of the Scrip-
tures, and explain the principles which have guided
their ewn action. We have not space for qiiotations,
but must content ourselves with urging our readers to
make themselves acquainted with this learned and very
interesting document.^ Besides a Calendar, Table of
Lessons, and other matter, belonging rather to the
Prayer-book than to the Bible, there are given elaborate
Tables of Genealogies, drawn up by John Speed, the
celebrated historian. Tlie Table of the Books of Scrip-
ture agrees in almost all respects with that contained
in our present Bibles.
. The statements on the title-page are of importance.
1 Mr. Anderson makes it very probable that tbe money was
furnished by the printer, R. Barker.
' Dr. Scrivener, Introduction to the Camhridae ParnijraTpli Bible,
p. 12.
3 Tho reprint of this Preface (issued by Macintosh) can be pro-
cured for sixpence.
"What we are to understand by the notice that tho ver-
sion is " appointed to be read in churches," it is hard to
say. " No evidence has yet been produced to show that
the version was ever publicly sanctioned by Convocation
or by Parliament, or by the Privy Council, or by the
king. It gained its currency, J)artly, it may have been,
by the weight of the king's name, partly by the personal
authority of the prelates and scholars who had been
engaged upon it, but still more by its own intrinsic
superiority over its rivals. Copies of the ' whole Bible
of the largest volume and latest edition ' are required to
be in churches l)y the Visitation Articles of Laud, 1622
(St. Davids), 1623 (London). In the Scotch Canons
of 1636 it is said still more distinctly that 'the Bible
shall be of the translation of King James ' (cap. 16, § 1).
. . . The priuting of the Bishops' Bible was at once
stayed when the new version was defijiitely undertaken.
No edition is given in the lists later than 1606, though
the New Testament from it was reprinted as late as
1618 (or 1619). So far ecclesiastical influence naturally
reached. But it was otherwise with the Genevan Ver-
sion, which was chiefly confined to j)rivate use. This
competed with the King's Bible for many years, and it
was not till about the middle of the century that it was
finally displaced.'"^
On the other question, the relation between the
Authorised Version (so called) and earlier translations,
the reader shall judge for himself. On the following
pages are given two passages, from the Old Testament
and the New, respectively, as they appear in the most
important of our English versions. An examiuation of
these specimens will show how far the translators of
1611 were indebted to their predecessors. In that part
of the Old Testament from which our specimen is
taken the true line of succession begins with Coverdale's
Bible. The three versions which precede (those of
Wycliffe, Purvey, and the Douai Bible), aU derived
from the Latin Vulgate, can have exercised but little
influence on our present translation. The Douai Old
Testament, it wiU be remembered, was not published
until 1610. In the New Testament, on the other hand,
the eight versions are connected together by strict
relationship. It will be observed that Tyndale's work
reaUy occupies two columns, the first of these contain-
ing his earliest translation (1526), the third his last
revision, which was incorporated in the Bible of
"Thomas Matthew." The quotations are made from
the earliest editions of Coverdale's Bible, the Rhemish
Testament, and the Authorised Version; from tho
second edition of Matthew's Bible, and of the Douai
Version; from the Great Bible of May, 1541, the
Genevan Bible of 1578, and the Bishops' Bible of 1575.
The versions not given are of secondary importance.
Taverner docs not materially differ from Tyndale and
Coverdale; the Genevan Bible usually contains the
improvements introduced into the Testament of 1557,-
and Tomsou's revision can hardly be regarded as a
distinct work.
* Wostcott, H'slo.-i; of English BMe, p. 123.
378
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
■VVYCLIFFE.
Isaiah liv. 11 — 17.
11 Thou porelet, with tem-
pest al to-pulUd, with oute any
coumfort, lo ! I shal araie by
order thi stones aud foiinde thee
iu salires ;
12 Aud I shal sette jasp thy
pynacles and thi gates iu to
graueu stones, aud alle thi tex'mes
iu to desirable stoues.
13 Alle thi sones tagt of the
Lord, aud uiultitvide of pes to
thi soues,
14 Aud in rigtwisnesse thou
shalt be fouudid. Go awei aferr
fro chalenje, for thou shalt not
drede, and fro inward ferd, for it
shal uot neghe to thee.
15 Lo ! an earth tiliere shal
come, that was not with me ; thi
comeliug sumtyme apassid shal
be ioyned to thee.
76 Lo ! I shop a smyth blow-
ende iu the fyr coles, and bring-
ende forth a vessel in to his
werk ; and I shop the sleere to
destroyen.
17 Eche vessel that is mad
agen thee, shal uot be rigt reulid ;
aud eche tunge withstondcnde
to thee, in dom thou shalt deme.
This is the eritage of the ser-
uauns of the Lord, aud the rigt-
wisnesse of hem aneut me, seith
the Lord,
PURVEY.
Isaiah liv. 11 — 17.
11 Thou litlc and pore, drawun
out bi tempest, with outen ony
coumfort, lo ! Y schal strewe
thi stoonys bi ordre, and Y schal
founde thee in safiris ;
12 And Y schal sette jaspis
thi touris and thi gatis in to
grauun stoonys and alio thin
eendis in to desirable stoonys.
13 Y" schal make alle thi sones
taugt of the Lord ; and the mul-
titude of pees to thi sones,
14 And thou schalt be fouudid
in rigtfuluesse. Go thou awei
fer fro fals caleng, for thou schalt
not drede ; and fro drede, for it
schal uot ueige to thee.
15 Lo, a strauuger schal come,
that was not with me ; he that
was sum tyme thi comelyng
schal be ioyued to thee.
IG Lo ! Y made a smyth blow-
ynge coolis in fler, and briugynge
forth a vessel in to his werk ;
and Y haue maad a sleere, for to
leese.
17 Ech vessel which is maad
ageus thee, schal not be dx-essid ;
and iu the doom thou schalt
deme ech tunge ageustondyugc
thee. This is the eritage of the
seruauntis of the Lord, aud the
rightfulnesse of hem at me, seith
the Lord.
DOUAI BIBLE.
Isaiah liv. 11 — 17.
11 Pocre litlo one shaken with
tempest without al comfort, be-
hold I will lay thy stones iu
order and wil found thee in
sapphires.
12 And I wil put the jasper
stoue for thy munitions, and thy
gates into grauen stones, al thy
borders into stones worthie to
be desired.
13 Al thy children taught of
our Lord ; and a multitude of
peace to thy children.
14 Aud in justice thou shalt
be founded, depart far from
calumnie, because thou shalt not
feare : and from dread, because
it shal uot approch to thee.
15 Behold, the borderer shal
come, which was not with me,
thy stranger sometime shal be
ioyued to thee.
IG Behold I have created the
smith that bloweth the coles in
the fire, aud briugeth forth a
vessel for his worke and I created
the killer to destroy.
17 Euerie vessel that is made
agayust thee shal uot prosper
and euerie tongue resisting thee
iu judgement thou shalt judge.
This is the inheritance of the
seruants of our Lord, and their
justice with me sayth our Lord.
COVEEDALE. (MATTHEW.)
Isaiah liv. 11 — 17.
11 Beholde, thou jioore, vexed
aud despised, I wil make thy
walles of precious stoues aud
thy fouudacion of Saphires,
12 Thy wiudowes off Cristall,
thi gates of fyue cleare stones
aud thy borders of pleasauut
stones.
13 Thy children shal all be
taught of God, aud I will geue
them pleuteousnes of peace.
14 In rightuousness shalt thou
be grounded, and be farre from
oppression : for the which thou
nedest uot be afrayed nether for
hynderaunce, for it shal not come
nye the.
15 Beholde the aleaunt that
was farre from the shal dwell with
the, and he that was sometyme
a straunger vnto the shalbe
ioyned with the.
IG Beholde I make the smyth
that bloweth the coles iu the
fyre 4 he maketh a weapon after
his hondy wox-ke. 1 make also
the waister to destroye :
17 But all the weapens that
are made agayust the shal not
prospere. Aud as for all tunges
that shal resiste the iu iudgmeut
thou shalt ouercome them &
coudemne them. This is the
heretage of theLordes seruauntes
and the rightuousnes that they
shal haue of me saieth the Lorde.
TYXDALE. j
Eomaks xii. 6—1.5.
6 Seyinge that we have divers |
gyftes accordynge to the grace j
that is geveu vnto vs, yf euy ]
man have the gyft ofif prophesy i
lett hym have it that itt be !
agreyuge vnto the fayth. j
7 Let hym that hath an office, j
wayte on his otBco. Let hym ;
that teacheth take hede to liis 1
doctryne. |
S Let hym that csliorteth
geve atteudauuce to his eshorta- I
cion. Yf euy man geve, lett ;
hym do it with siuglenes. Let |
hym that rucleth do it with dili- !
gence. Y^feny man shewe mercy j
lett hym do itt with cherfulues. j
0 Let love be without dis-
simulaciou. Hate that which is
evyll and cleave vnto that wliich )
is good. I
10 Be kynde one to another I
with brotherly love. In gevynge
hououre goo one before another.
11 Let not that busynes which
ye have in honde be tedious to
you. Be fervent in the sprete.
Apply yourselves to the tyme.
12 Reioyce iu hop?. Be jia-
tieut in tribulacion, continue in
prayer.
13 Distribute vnto the ne-
cesiito off the saynctes.
14 Blesso them which perse-
cute yon, blesse but course nott.
15 Be mery with them that
are mery, w-^pe with them that
Wepe.
COVEEDALE.
EoiiANs xii. 6 — 15.
G Aud (we) haue dyuers giftes
accordinge to the grace that is
geuen vnto vs. Yf euy man haue
the gifte of prophecienge let it
be acordinge to the faith,
7 Let him that hath an ofiice
wayte vpou the office, let him
that teacheth take hede to the
doctrvne.
S Let him that eshorteth geue
atteudauuce to the eshortacion.
Yf euy man geueth let him geue
with synglenesse. Let him that
ruleth be diligent. Yf eny man
showe mercy let him do it with
chearfulnesse.
D Let loue be without dis-
simulacion. Hate that which is
euell. Cleue vnto that which is
)od.
10 Be kynde one to another
with brotherly loue. In geuynge
honoure go one before another.
I 11 Be not slouthfnll in the
I busyuesse that ye haue in haude.
j Be feruent in the sprete. Ap-
j plye yourselues vnto the tyme.
12 Eeioyse in hope, be pacient
in trouble. Continue in prayer.
il3 Distribute vnto the neces-
sities of the sayntes. Be glad
I to harbarow.
\ 14 Blesse them that persecute
you. Blesse and curse not. I
] 15 Be mery with them that i
are mery and wepe with them !
1 that wepe, I
j MATTHEWS BIBLE.
I Romans xii. 6 — 15.
i 6 Seynge that we haue diuers
gyftes, accordynge to the grace
that is geuen vnto vs. Yf anye
J man haue the gyfte of prophesye,
j let hym haue it that it be agre-
I ynse vnto faythe.
7 Let hym that hathe an
I offyce, wayte on hys office. Let
hym that teacheth take hede to
hys doctryne.
S Let hj-m that exhorteth geue
atteudauuce to hys exhortaeion.
Yf any man geue let him do it
with singleucs. Let hym that
rueleth do it with diligence. Yf
any man shew mercy, let him do
it with cherfulues.
9 Let loue be wythout dis-
simulacion. H,ate that whiche is
euel aud cleaue vnto that whych
is good.
10 Be kynd one to another
with brotherlj-e loue. In geuynge
honoure go one before another.
11 Let not the busynes whiche
ye haue in hande bo tedious vnto
you. Be feruent in the spirite.
-^PPly yourselves to the tyme.
12 Eeioyse iu hope. Be pa-
cyeut iu trybulacion. Continue
in prayer.
13 Distribute vnto the ne-
cessite of the Saynctes, be dili-
gent to harboure.
14 Blesse them whiche perse-
cute yon : blesse but curse not.
15 Be mery with them that
are morye. Wepe wyth them
that wepe.
GREAT BIBLE.
EoMANS xii. 6 — 15.
6 Seynge that we haue dyuers
gyftes accordynge to the grace
that is geuen vnto vs: yf any
man haue the gyfte of prophecy
let him haue it that it be agreing
vnto ye fayth.
7 Let hym that hath an office
wayte on hys office. Let hym
that teacheth take hede to hys
doctrine.
S Let hym that exhorteth
geue atteudauuce to his exhorta-
eion. If any man geue, let hym
do it wyth synglenes. Let hym
that ruleth do it with dihgence.
If any man shewe mercy, let him
do it with cherfulues.
0 Let loue be wythout dis-
simulation. Hate yt whych is
euyU and cleaue vnto yt which
is good.
10 Be kynde one to another
with brotherly loue. In genynge
hououre go one before another.
11 Bo not slonthful in the
busines whych ye haue in hande.
Be feruent iu the sprete. Applye
yourselues to the tyme.
12 Eeioyse in hope. Be pa-
cient in tribulacyon. Continue
in prayer.
13 Distribute vnto the neccs-
sitie of the sayntes : be ready to
harbour.
14 Blesse them which persecute
you : blesse (I say) and curse not.
15 Bo mery wyth them that
are mery. Wepe also wyth them
that wepe.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
379
GREAT BIBLE.
Isaiah liv. 11—17.
11 Beholile the poore ouer-
whelmed with tempest and
without couforte, I wyll make
thy walles of jn-ecyous stoues
and thy fouudacyou of Saphires.
12 Thy wyudowes of Chrystal,
thy gates of fyue cleare stones
and all tliy borders of pleasaunt
stones.
13 Thy chyldren shal all be
taught of god, and I will geue
them plenteousnes of peace.
14 In ryghteousues shalt thou
be grounded & be farre from
oppressyou for the whiche thou
nedest not be afrsyde, nether for
hynderaunce for it shall not come
uye the.
15 Beholde, the aleaunt that
was farre from me slial dwel with
the, and he that ioyueth batayle
agaynst the shal perysh.
16 Beholde, I make thesmyth
that bloweth the coles in the fyer,
and he maketh a weai)en after
his handy worcke, I make also
the waster to destroye :
17 But all the weapens that
are made agaynst the shal not
prospere. And as for all touges
that shal resyst the in iudgemeut
thou shalt ouercome them &
condempne them. This is the
hery tage of the Lordes seruauntes
& theyre ryghteousnes cometh of
me sayth the Lorde.
GENEVAN BIBLE.
Isaiah liv. 11—17.
11 O thou afflicted and tossed
with tempest that hast no com-
fort, beholde, I wil lay thy stones
with the carbuncle and laye tliy
foundation with saijhirs.
12 And I will make thy win-
dowes of emeraudes, and thy
gates shining stones, and all thy
borders of jjleasaut stones.
13 And all thy children shall
be taught of the Lorde and much
peace shalbe to thy children.
14 In rigliteousnesse shalt
thou be established and be farre
from oppression ; for thou shalt
not feare it : and from feare, for
it shall not come ueere thee.
15 Beholde the enemie shall
gather himselfe but without me:
whosoeuer shall gather himselfe
in thee, against thee shall fall.
16 Behold, I haue created the
smith that blowotli the coles in
the fire, and him that bringeth
forth an instrument for his
worke : and I haue created the
destroyer to destroy.
// But all the weapons that
are made against thee shall not
prosper ; and euery tongue that
shall rise against thee in iudge-
meut thou shalt condemne.
This is the heritage of the Lords
servants and their righteousues
is of me, saith the Lord.
GENEVAN BIBLE.
EOMANS xii. 6—15.
6 Seeing then that wo haue
to the grace that is giuen vnto
vs whether we haue prophesie,
let us prophesie according to the
proportion of faith :
7 Or an office let vs waite on
the office : or hee that teacheth
on teaching.
8 Or he tliat exhorteth on ex-
hortation : hee that distrlbuteth
let him do it witli simplicitie :
he that ruleth with diligence :
hee that sheweth mercie with
chearefulnes.
0 Let loue be without dis-
simulation. Abhorre that which
is euill, and cleaue vnto that
which is good.
10 Be affectioued to loue cue
another with brotherly loue. In
giving honour goe one before
another,
11 Not slothful to doe seruice:
feruent in spirit seruiug the Lord.
12 Reioycing in hope, patient
in tribulation, continuing in
prayer.
13 Distributing vnto the ne-
sessities of the Saintes, giuing
your selues to hospitalitie.
14 Blesse them which persecute
you ; blesse I say and curse not.
15 Eeioyce with them that
reioyce, and weepe with them
tveepe.
is giuen vuto vs eyther prophecie,
after the measure of fayth,
7 Eyther office, in adminis-
tration : or he that teacheth, in
teaching.
8 Or he that exhorteth, in
exhorting : he that giueth in
siugleuesse, he that ruleth in
diligence : hee that is mercyfull
in chearefulnesse.
D Loue, without dissimulation,
hating euil, cleauing to good.
10 Affectioued one to an other
with brotherly loue, in giuing
honoure, goyug one before an-
other.
11 Not lyther in busiuesse,
feruent in spirite seruing the
Lorde.
12 Reioycing in hope, patient
in trouble, instant in prayer.
13 Distributing to the ueces-
sitie of saintes, giuen to hos-
pitalitie.
1/f Blesse them whiche pei-se-
cute you, blesse, and cursse not.
15 Eeioyce with them that
doe reioyce, and wepe with them
that weepe.
BISHOPS' BIBLE.
Romans xii. 6 — 15.
6 Seeing that wee haue diuers
giftes that are diuers, according ! giftes according to the grace that
BISHOPS' BIBLE.
Isaiah liv. 11—17.
11 Beholde, thou poore vexed
and despised, I will make thy
walles of pretious stones and thy
foundation of Saphires.
12 Thy windowes of Christall,
thy gates of fyne cleare stone,
and all thy borders of pleasaunt
stones.
13 Thy children shal be all
taught of God, and I will give
thee jilenteousuesse of peace.
14 In rigliteousnesse shalt
thou be grounded and bee farre
from oppression for the which
thou needest not to be afrayde,
nej'ther for hiuderaunce, for it
shall not come nigh thee.
15 Loe, who so gathereth
together against thee doth it
without me, and who so within
me dothe ioyne together agaiuste
thee shall surely fall.
16 Beholde, I make the smyth
that bloweth the coales in the
fyre, and he maketh a weapon
after his handle worke : I make
also the waster to destroy.
17 But all the weapons that
are made against thee shall not
prosper : and as for all tongues
that shall resist thee in judge-
mente, thou shalt ouercome them
and condemne them : this is the
heritage of the Lordes seruauntes
and their rigliteousnesse com-
mcth of me sayth the Lorde.
AUTHORISED VERSION.
Isaiah liv. 11—17.
11 Oh thou afflicted, tossed
with tempest and not comforted,
behold I will lay thy stoues with
faire colours and lay thy founda-
tions with Saphires.
12 And I will make thy win-
dowes of Agates, and thy gates
of Carbuncles, and all thy borders
of pleasant stoues.
13 And all thy children shalbo
taught of the Lord, and great
shalbe the peace of thy children.
14 In righteousuesse shalt
thou be established : thou shalt
be farre from oppression, for
thou shalt not feare ; and from
terrour, for it shall not come
neere thee.
15 Behold, they shall surely
gather but not by me, whosoeuer
shal gather together against thee,
shall fall for thy sake.
16 Behold I haue created the
smith that bloweth the coales in
the fire and that bringeth foorth
an instrument for his worke, and
I haue created the waster to
destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prospex', and
eueiy tongue that shall ris9
against thee in iudgemont thou
shalt condemne. This is the
heritage of the seruants of the
Lord and their righteousnesse is
of me, saith the Lord.
EHEIMS TESTAMENT.
Romans xii. 6 — 15.
6 And hauing giftes, according
to the grace that is giuen vs,
diftcreut, either prophecie accord-
ing to the rule of faith.
7 Or miuisterie in ministring,
or he that teacheth in doctrine.
S He that exhorteth in ex-
horting, he that giueth in sim-
Ijlicitie, he that ruleth in care-
fulnes, he that sheweth mercie
in chserefulnes.
9 Loue without simulation.
Hating euil, cleauing to good.
10 Louiug the charitie of the
brotherhod one toward an other.
With honour preuenting one an
other.
11 In carefulnes not slouthful.
In spirit feruent. Seruing our
Lord.
12 Reioycing in hope. Patient
in tribulation. Instant in praier.
13 Communicating to the ne-
cessities of the sainctes. Pursu-
ing hospitalitie.
14 Blesse them that persecute
you : blesse and curse not.
15 To reioyce with them that
reioyce, to weepe with them that
weepe.
AUTHORISED VERSION.
Romans xii. 6 — 15.
6 Hauing then gifts, differing
according to the grace that is
giuen to vs, whether prophecie,
let vs prophecie according to the
proportion of faith.
7 Or ministery, let vs wait, on
our ministring : or hee that
teacheth on teaching.
8 Or he that exhorteth, on
exhortation : he that giueth let
him doe it with simplicite : hee
that ruleth, with diligence: hee
that sheweth mercy with cheere-
fulnesse.
9 Let lone bee without dis-
simulation : abhorre that which
is euiU, cleaue to that which is
good.
10 Bee kindly aflfectioned one
to another with brotherly loue,
in honour preferring one another.
11 Not slouthfull in busines:
feruent in spirit, seruiug ,tLe
Lord.
12 Reioycing in hope, patient
in tribulation, continuing instant
in i)rayer.
13 Distributing to the necea-
sitie of Saints : giuen to hos-
pitalitie.
14 Blesse them which perse-
cute you, blesse and curse not.
15 Reioyce with tuem that
doe reioyce, and weepe with
them that weepe.
380
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Tho passage from the Old Testament (Isa. liv. 11 — 17)
is cue which most will confess to bo well translated in
our ordinary Bibles. One or two points of inter-preta-
tion are still undecided, but there are not a dozen words
in the seven verses which an exact translator would now
find it necessary to change. What light, then, does the
comparison of versions cast upon this result ? The
passage contains 182 words, of which about 86 have
remained unchanged during all the fluctuations repre-
sented by the five (or six) versions given above. If we
set these aside, and consider only the variable element,
consisting of 96 Avords, we shall find on comparison that
in more than 60 of the 96 the Authorised Version
agrees with the Genevan Bible, whereas its agreement
with the Bishops' Bible does not extend to more than
twelve out of the same number. Hence, though the
Bishops' Bible nominally furnished the basis for the
new translation, it is clear that the Genevan exercised
a much more powerful influence. Indeed, a glance will
show that the five translations divide themselves into
two classes — the Bibles of Coverdale, Cranmer, and the
Bishops standing on one side, the Genevan and Autho-
rised Version on the other. In the few places in which
the Authorised Version differs from the Genevan, the
change (which is but rarely suggested by any other
version) is usually for tlie better, the new rendering
being more literal or idiomatic, better in style or
rliythm.
It must not be supposed, however, that any one
example will adequately illustrate the character of our
translation of the Old Testament. Taking a chapter
from the historical books (1 Kings xix.), we find that,
whilst thirty or forty renderings from the Genevan Bible
were preferred by the translators, this version was de-
serted by them twice as frequently ; they depart from
the Bishops' Bible on an average four times, and from
the Genevan three times, in every verse, and many of
the renderings do not appear to be suggested by any
earlier version. On the other hand, a section to which
we have often referred (Numb. xxiv. 15 — 24) contains
vei-y little that is not found either in Tynda,le or in
Coverdale, or in the Genevan Bible.
We have not room for detailed remarks on the
New Testament passages, but the reader will find it an
interesting and useful occupation to trace for himself
the manner in which the structure now so familiar was
gradually built up. In earlier chapters we have pointed
out passages which have been retained with compara-
tively little change, in one version after another ; this
passage rather shows how far alteration may extend,
not more tlian one-third «f the words having remained
untouched. It will be found that very little in the last
translation of these verses is absolutely new. The trans-
lators show much tact and skill in selection, combination,
and aiTangoment, but the number of words first intro-
duced by them does not amount to four in a hundred.
It is obvious that tho Genevan and Rhemish versions
have exercised much greater influence than tlie Great
and Bishops' Bibles. The Rhemish Testament Avas not
even named in the instructions furnished to the trans-
lators, but it has left its mark on every page of their
work.
An inquiry into the exact relation in which tho
Authorised Version stands to earlier English transla-
tions, to the vai'ious foreign versions of Scripture, and
to the chief critical authorities of the time, is of course
impossible in these pages. For more detailed informa-
tion the reader is referred to Professor Westcott's ma.?t
valuable woi"k,^ so often quoted already. By an analysis
of passages of the translation and of the alternative
reudei-ings offered in the margin, it is shown that tho
authonties most frequently followed by our translators
were Beza in the Ncav Testament (both for text and foi*
interpretation), and in the Old the Latin versions of
Junius and TremeUius, Miinster, Leo Juda, and Pag-
niuus. The influence of the Vulgate was exercised
mainly through the Rhemish version.
When all critical helps and sources of influence have
been taken into account, the student Avliose analysis has
been most comi)lete will find most to admire in the
work of our translators. The praise he will award will
not be indiscriminate eulogy. He will discover that
much that they have transmitted to us Avas inherited by
them from others ; the execution of different parts of
the work Avill prove to be unequal — the Epistles, for
example, standing far below the Pentateuch in accuracy
and felicity of rendering ; many thiAvs and inconsis-
tencies will reveal themselves ; occasionally it will be
found that better renderings have been deliberately
laid aside and Avorse preferred ; but, notwithstanding,
every successive paragraph Avill bear new testimony to
the tact, care, diligence, and faithfulness of the men to
Avhom, in God's proAridence, we owe the version of the
Scriptures which has come doAvn to us consecrated by
the associations of 250 years.
If we compare one of our modern Bibles with a
copy of the first edition, Ave find that the differences
are by no means few or slight. There is a history of
the text which it is very interesting to trace. In Dr.
Scrivener's Preface to the Cambridge Paragraph Bible,
which embodies the results of many years of laboiir,
the reader Avill find this history carefully and fully
narrated. We content ourselves Avith calling attention
to the most important facts. Tho first issue of the
present version was a folio A'olume (printed in black-
letter), beai-ing date 1611. It has recently been dis-
coA^ered by Mr. Fry and Dr. Scrivener that two editions
were issued in that year, and it is not yet decided to
the satisfaction of all which edition can claim to b'^ '^hf)
first. In 183.3 the delegates of the Oxford Univeroi.j
Press published a reprint of the Bible of 1611, and it
is by means of this volume that the peculiarities of the
earliest editions can most conveniently bo studied.
Probably this reprint represents the second, not the first
issue of the year. Both issues are incorrectly printed ;
the earlier, for example, reads in Matt. xxvi. 36, " Then
Cometh Judas ; " whilst in tho later, twenty AVords of
Exod. xiv. 10 are given twice over. There are also
1 Hisiorxj of the EmjUsh Bible {2m\ cOit.), pp. 267—289.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
381
differeuces of text whicli are nut misprints. In Matt,
xiii. 45, for example, the earlier edition reads "good,"
the later "goodly" (pearls); in Acts iv. 27 the two
editions have "the " and " thy" (Holy Child) ; and in
1 Peter i. 22 they read "your souls" and "yourselves."
Many copies of each issue are still preserved. In 1612
appeared an octavo edition, in Roman tj^pe ; other
editions quickly followed, in 1613, 1617 (black-letter),
and 1616 (Roman). The earliest edition in Avhicli the
Apocryi)hal books are omitted is that of 1629 (Loudon).
In the same year appeared the first Cambridge edition,
a work of considerable importance. Some revision and
correction had been attempted in 1616, but the two Cam-
bridge books of 1629 and 1638 were the first in which
the text was examined with care and accui*ately printed.
In many instances the changes introduced in these
two editions were clear improvements, and as sucli
they have maintained their ground. Thus in 1 John
V. 12 the words " of God " were omitted until 1629, and
in 1 Tim. i. 4 the word "godly" until 1638; on the
other hand, in Matt. xii. 23 the edition of 1638 led all
subsequent editions into error by the insertion of "not"
in the question, "Is this the son of Da\dd.'^" The
amount of correction introduced was of course relatively
very smaU (perhaps thirty changes in all being made in
Genesis, for instance, and six in the Epistle to the
Romans) ; but, to say nothing of the correction of mis-
prints, the examples just quoted are sufficient to show
the value of the revision.
The only other editions which we can mention par-
ticularly are three which have exerted great influence
on all modern Bibles. Bishop Lloyd's Bible (London,
1701) is remarkable as being the first that contains the
marginal dates, mostly derived from Archbishop Ussher.
In the Cambridge Bible of 1762, edited by Dr. Paris,
and the Oxford edition of 1769, edited by Dr. Blayney
(afterwards Professor of Hebrew), considerable labour
was expended in the effort to improve the ordinary
editions. These editors sought to apply with greater
consistency the principle of denoting additions to the
original texts by italic type, substituted ordinary forms
of words for such as had, in their opinion, become obso-
lete, and made very large additions to the number of
marginal references, which in our present Bibles are
said to be seven times as numerous as in the edition of
1611. The chief increase in the marginal notes also is
due to Dr. Paris and Dr. Blayney. These notes are an
essential characteristic of the Authorised Yersion, though
bY a wise rule resti'icted within very narrow limits, and
,,^.erefore rendered wholly unlike the commentary with
which Matthew's, the Genevan, and the Bishops' Bibles
had been furnished. It has been computed that 8,418
marginal notes were inserted by the original translators,
that 35 in all were added between 1611 and 1762, 383
more by Dr. Paris, 76 only by Dr. Blayney. Unhappily,
each of these editions was disfigured by errors, which
maintained their place in the text until a veiy recent
period.
Some of the differences in text between A'ai'ious
editions of the Authorised Yersion have excited so
much attention as to call for special notice. In Acts
vi. 3, " ye may appoint " (for " we ") found its way into
many editions between 1638 and 1682 ; in 1 Tim. iv.
16, " thy doctrine " took the place of " the doctrine "
between 1629 and 1769; in 2 Cor. xii. 2, "about"
was substituted for "above" by Dr. Blayney: "unto
me" for "under me " in Ps. xviii. 47, and "abide" for
" abide stiU " in Rom. xi. 23, are mistakes from the
same source. Some editions have owed their celebrity
to faults more or less serious, as the " Yinegar Bible,"
so called from a misprint of vinegar for vineyard in one
of the Gospels. The " Pearl Bible " of 1663, and other
editions of about the same date, some imported from
abroad, some from the press of the privileged j)rinters,
are notorious for scandalous blunders, such as righteous-
ness for unrighteousness (Rom. vi. 13). In 1632 Laud
inflicted a fine of £300 on the king's printers for an
edition of the Bible in which " not " was omitted in
the Seventh Commandment. Negligence gross as this
belonged to an xmsettled age, but as late as 1830 Bibles
were often printed with serious want of accuracy. The
last forty years have witnessed a considerable improve-
ment, and recent editions have left little to be desired.
The Cambridge Paragraph Bible is the classic edition
of the Authorised Yersion, and is a monument of minute
accuracy and unsparing labour.
Such matters as the use of italics, i)unctuation, and
the division of the text into paragraphs, cannot be con-
sidered here. With questions of English, peculiar
foi-ms of words, changes in orthography, &c., readers of
the Bible Educator have already been made familiar
in the papers on " Bible Words." The headings of
chapters must not be passed over without a word, espe-
cially as they proceed from the hands of the original
translators. There are. Dr. Scrivener informs us,^ only
twelve variations between our present headings and
those of 1611, " the only one of importance being that
prefixed to Psalm cxlix," where " that power which he
hath given to the Church to rule the consciences of
men" is discreetly curtailed in the edition of 1762
l)y the omission of the last six words, that of 1769
further amending by substituting "his saints" for
" the church," which latter some modern Bibles still
retain.
The revision of 1611 was not at once received with
general favour. Romanists complained (as Romanists
still complain) of unfairness in the translators' treat-
ment of controverted passages ; and Puritans clung
tenaciously to the translation and commentary fur-
nished in the Genevan Bible. On the whole, however,
the opposition seems to have been but faint ; and though
for half a century the rival versions circulated side by
side, the later steadily gained ground. It could not
altogether escape the perils of those troublous times.
In 1652 the Long Parliament made an order that a Bill
should be brought in for a new translation of the Bible,
and four years later the House directed "that it be
referred to a committee to send for and advise with Dr.
1 Preface to PavaQra-ph Bible, p. Ixv.
382
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Waltou, Mr. Huglics, Mr. Castle, Mr. Clerk, Mr. Poiilk,'
Dr. Cuclworth, and such as they should thiuk fit, and
to consider of tlio translations and impressions of the
Bible, and to offer their ophiions therein."- The care
of this business was especially commended to White-
locke, and at his house in Chelsea the committee often
met, " and had the most learned men in the Oriental
tongues to consult with on this great business; and
divers excellent and learned observations of some mis-
takes ui the translations of the Bible in English,
which yet was agreed to be the best of any trans-
lation in the world." " I took jiaius iu it," adds
Whitelocke, " but it became fruitless by the Parlia-
ment's tlissolution."
About the same time appeared the only work of that
age in which any detailed criticism of the Authorised
Version was attempted.^ The author. Dr. Gell, who had
been chaplain to Archbishop Abbot, complains that the
last translation is wrested and partial, speaking the
language of one sect or party (the Calvinistic), and that
the better renderings have usually been relegated to the
margin. Many of his criticisms are of little worth, b\it
iu some instances (as iu Gal. v. 17) he exposes serious
mistakes.
Shortly after the Restoration, the Book of Common
Prayer once more imderweut revision, and in 1662 was
issuetl iu its present form. The changes which were
made at once declai-ed and established the supremacy
of the last translation of the Scriptures. As we have
already seen, the Psalter of the Great Bible was left
undisturbed, but in the Epistles and Gospels, and iu all
the longer portions of Scripture which are read in the
occasional services (as 1 Cor. xv. 20 — 58 ; Acts vi. 2 — 7 ;
XX. 17 — 36, &c.), the version of 1611 was uniformly
adopted. The Psalms which are interspersed amongst
the various ser\dce3 naturally agi'ee iu almost every
point vrith the Prayer-book Psalter. Perhaps the only
variations which exist are — xcviii. 9 {is come), Ix^-ii. 5
iyea), xli. 1 (eix words in the foiouer part of the verse),
cxx\'iii. 2 (laboior), Ixxi. 5 (alway be), xxxix. 11 {by
vieatis), xc. 12 (0 teach), cxvi. 4 {found, called), li. 9
{away). The translations of the Benedicite, Benedictus,
Magnificat, the Offertoiy sentences, and the " Com-
fortable Words " in the Communion Ser\ace, stand by
themselves, agreeiug in many rendeiings with some of
the older versions (especially the Great Bible), but in
many others with none. The Benedicite, for example,
agrees almost verbally with the Great Bible in the first
part of each verse ; but where the Great Bible has speak
good of and set him up, we find bless ye and magnify
him in the Prayer-book. The verses from Job xiv. iu
the Burial Service and from Deut. xxvii. in the Com-
minatiou Service come very near the Great Bible. The
translation of Rev. xiv. 13 is peculiar to the Prayer-
book, and the same may be said of the Lord's Prayer
1 Probably Samuel Clark and Matthew Poole. See 'Westeott,
History, p. 121.
2 Lewis, History of Translations, p. 354.
3 An Essay toward the Amendment of the last English Translation
of the Bible, by Robert Gell (Loudon, 1659).
and the Ten Commandments. Other passages agree
with the Authorised Version, "svith a few slight vam-
tions, such as the insei'tiou of but in 1 John i. 9, to be
iu Luke ii. 32, and the reading acceptable unto in 1 Tim.
ii. 3. NoAV and then the language of a prayer or
exhortation recalls an old or peculiar rendering of a
passage of Scripture, as " not considering the Lord's
body" (1 Cor. xi. 29), "pastors and doctors" (Eph.
iv. 11), and the quotation from Matt. xxv. 35 in the
Burial Service. These details wiU show that the Book
of Common Prayer, whilst it enshrines fragments of
our various English versions, has largely contributed to
establish and render familiar the transktion of 1611.
In 1856 the subject of revision was brought by Pro-
fessor Selwj-n before the Lower House of Convocation,
of the Province of Canterbury, but his proposals met
with little favour. The desirableness of the appoint-
ment of a Roj'al Commission was urged upon the
House of Commons, but without effect. Meanwhile
the general interest in Biblical studies was continually
advancing. The merits of our translation, on the one
hand, aud on the other the amoimt of improvement
absolutely required, became more f idly understood from
year to year. Some specimens of a revised version by
five clergymen (the present Bishops of Gloucester and
Salisbury, the late Dean Alford, the Rev. W. G.
Humphry, and Dr. Barrow), published about this time,
showed that reverent regard for the Authorised Version
might coexist with an earnest desire for its improve-
ment, and helped to prepare the way for the remarkable
change in public opinion which has recently taken place.
In February, 1870, both Houses of the Convocation of
Canterbury unanimously passed a resolution to the
following effect : — " That a Committee of both Houses
be appointed, with power to confer with any Com-
mittee that may be appointed by the Convocation of
the Northern Province, to report upon the desirableness
of a re-vdsion of the Authorised Version of the Old and
New Testaments, whether by marginal notes or other-
wise, in all those passages where plain and clear errors,
whether in the Hebrew or Greek text originally adopted
hj the translators, or iu the translation made from the
same, shall, on due iuvestigation, be found to exist."
The mover and seconder of the resolution in the Upper
House (the late Bishop of Winchester aud the Bishop
of Gloucester and Bristol) had limited their proposal to
the New Testament, but on the motion of the Bishop
of Llandaff it was at once agreed to extend the inquiry
so as to include the whole Bible. Eight members of
the Upper and sixteen of the Lower House were ap-
pointed the Committee of the Convocation of Canter-
bury. The Northern Province declined to co-operate
with the Southern in this inquiry, on the ground that
the time was not favourable for re^^sion, and that the
risk was greater than the probable gain. Early iu May
the Committee presented a report recommending that a
re\ision of the Authorised Version of the Holy Scrip-
tures should be imdertaken, on the principle of depart-
ing as little as possible from the general style and
language of the existing version, and " that Convocation
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
383
should nominate a body of its owu members to under-
take the work of re^ision, who shall be at liberty to
iuYite the co-operation of any eminent for scholar-
ship, to whatever nation or religious body they may
belong." A Conmiittee was accordingly appointed,
consisting of eight members of each house, and the
first meeting was held on the 25th of May. It was
then resolved that two companies should be formed
for the revision of the Authorised Yersion of the Old
Testament and tlie New Testament respectively; that
the company for the revision of the Authorised Yersion
of the Old Testament should consist of the Bishops of
St. David's, Llandaff, Ely, Liucoln, and Bath and
Wells, Archdeacon Rose, Professor Selwyn, Canon
Jebb, and Dr. Kay, together with eighteen scholars and
divines, who should be invited to joiu in the work; and
that the company for the revision of the Authorised
Yersion of the New Testament should consist of the
Bishops of Wiuchester, Gloucester and Bristol, and
Salisbury, the Prolocittor, the Deans of Canterbury and
Westminster, and Canon Blakesley, together with nine-
teen invited scholars and di^dnes.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,
SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.
BY THE EEV. S. G. GEEEN, D.D., PBESIDENT OF EAWDON COLLEGE, LEEDS.
HE Second Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
purports to have been written from Rome
very near the close of the Apostle's life.
The evidence for his second imprison-
ment in the impei*ial city has been so fully given
in our introduction to the two preceding "pastoral
epistles," that little need be added here. The ex-
positors who reject this hypothesis find themselves
involved in the greatest difficidties, not only by the
personal and local references, which have already been
noted, but by the connection of this Second Epistle to
Timothy with those to the Pliilippians and Colossians.
The references to Mark (chap. iv. 11), to Timothy (chap-
iv. 9), and to Demas, are absolutely inexplicable except
on the hypothesis of a second imprisonment. Easier,
on the whole, is it to declare the spimousness of the
pastoral epistles altogether ; and this, as we have seen,
is the alternative most recently adopted.
2. It is undoubtedly far from easy to trace the
course of the Apostle Paid's last missionaiy journey.
That it embraced Crete and Ephesus has already been
shown, with the high probability that the last winter
of St. Paul's freedom was spent at Nicopolis in Epirus.
Here, as some think, he was arrested,^ and again taken
to Rome. The weight of evidence, however, seems to
point to a subsequent circuit ; and the conditions of the
case are best satisfied by supposing that in the spring
of the year a.d. 67 or 68 he quitted Nicopolis for
Corinth and Ephesus, being apprehended in the latter
city or its neighbourhood, and conveyed to Rome. It
would further appear that when St. Paul A-isited
Ephesus, Timothy was absent from that city. The
route thus suggested harmonises the \4sit to Corinth
implied in chap. iv. 20, the arrival in Asia, probably at
Troas [iv. 13), the absence of Timothy from Ephesus,
the Apostle's arrest, and other facts stated or implied,
into a fuUy consistent whole.
St. PauVs Voyage to Borne. — At the very first stage
of the journey, Trophimus, the long-tried companion of
1 Conybeare and Ho'.vsou, vol. ii., 13. 482.
the Apostle, quite breaks down. He is " left behind at
Miletus, sick." It is quite impossible, as was shown in
the introduction to the First Epistle, to assign this fact
to any period of the Apostle's earlier journeys. The
suggestion that the verb aireKnrov should be rendered
" they left behind," referring not to the Apostle but to
others; or that the "leaving behind" meant sending
forward from Myra (Acts xx^di. 5), or some other point
in St. Paid's earlier travels, scarcely deserves refutation.
Having traced the Apostle's course thus far, we have
to think of his position at Rome during his second im-
prisonment, and of those who were his chief companions
there. Titus had proceeded northward to Dalmatia.
Luke is there still to strengthen and to cheer him;
possibly, indeed, had attended him (with Tychicus also)
aU through those later journeys ; but of this we know
nothing. Concerning Crescens, we have no further
information but that, having been %vith the Apostle for
a while, he had departed " to Galatia," or Gaid. Demas
had apostatised Friends, indeed, there were — members
of the Roman Church — but they could not be what St,
Paul's older friends had been to him. His circiun-
stances had changed. Instead of dweUiug in "his own
hired house " — a well-known spot, the resort of many —
he is consigned to some obscure abode, probably to a
prison, where the friend who has travelled from Ephesus
has to " seek him out very diligently " before finding
him. The last scene has nearly arrived. No longer
does the Apostle doubt what the issue shall be, whether
deliverance or death ; the " time of " his " departure is
at hand."
TJie Contemporary History. — A great change had
meanwhile taken place in the relation of Christians
to the Empire. When St. Paid was fii-st sent to
Rome it was simply as a disturber of the peace. The
proconsid who sent him " had no certain thing to
write " concerning him to the imperial tribimal. This
may account both for the lenity of his treatment at
the fii-st, and for the fact that, even under the sway
of the infamous Tigellinus, he was released. But
in the Apostle's absence from Rome that great event
38i
THE BIBLE EDUCATOR.
Lad taken place which led to the first general per-
secution of the Church. The burning of the city,
with the false accusation of the Christians, occurred
A.D. <)4, the year after the date we have assigned to the
Epistle to the Philippians. St. Paul was then already
on his way to Spain, or to the East, wken the disciples
of Christ were for the first time proscribed by Roman
law as malefici; and on his i-eturu he would experience
t'lc full ctfect of the Emperor's malignant cruelty.
Eicapa was hopeless ; there remained for the servant
ox Christ only the martyr's crown.
3. Yet before he died the Apostle earnestly desires
the presence and comfort of his former companion,
Timothy. This, above all, was the object of the Epistle,
wliich commences with the earnest longing, "greatly
desiring to see thee," and closes with the request,
repeated in its ui'gency, " Do thy diligence to come
shortly unto me," " Do thy diligence to come before
winter." ' That Timothy had retiumed to Ephesus is
tolerably clear from several references. Ho was to
" salute the household of Onesiphorus," - who, we know,
was an Ephesian ; Priscilla and Aquila, mentioned in
the same verse, appear to have settled in Ephesus, and
to have had a church in their house. Alexander of
Ephesus is pointed out to Timothy as a man to be
guarded against; so with Hymenaeus, the teacher of
false doctrine in the same city. From the words,
*• Tychicus I have sent to Ephesiis," it has, indeed,
been concluded by some that Timothy could not have
been in the city at the time, or would he have needed
the information ? But rightly interpreted, the words
rather support our view. The form direo-TetAa, " I
sent," is best explained as the epistolary aorist " I
send him with this letter,"^ so completing the Apostle's
loneliness. Tychicus, in bearing the letter to Timothy,
would doubtless undertake his charge so as to set the
latter free to rejoin St. Paul in Rome.
1 If this is to be taken as a note of time, we must place the
winter at Nicopolis in the year 66 — 7 ; the Second Epistle to
Timothy in 67 ; the winter in Borne, 67— S. Nero died in June,
A.D. 68.
- It has been supposed, from chap. i. 16 ; W. 19, that Onesi-
phorus himself was now deceased ; and chap. 1. 18 has been quoted
as authorising praj'er for the dead, a practice which, even granting
the premises, it certainly does not sustain (see Hammond, in loc).
•* Chap. iv. 12. See Bible Educator, Vol. IV., p. 30, note 1.
After an earnest personal appeal, which occupies from
chap. i. 1 to ii. 14, a special caution is added against
one e\"il to which the Asiatic churches were most prone,
the " striving about words ;" " profane and vain bab-
blings." Hero the false doctrine of Hymena3us and
Philetus* is selected for reprobation. There can be
little doubt that the error was some early form of
Antinomianism. Taking advantage of the Apostle's
frequent i-epresentation of the Christian as possessor
of a new life " risen with Christ," these men drew the
inference that the resurrection was already past, and
that the believer was no longer subject to the ordinary
laws and restraints of earthly life. Already was he
judged, saved, glorified ; and therefore was free to live
as he listed. Monstrous as the doctrine was, we know
that it often disturbed the peace of the early Church,
and that St. Paul's indignant protest against it was not
out of place. Yet, while clear from complicity with
these forms of e\al, Timothy was meekly and wisely to
instruct even the votaries of error, "that they might
return to soberness out of the snare of the devil (by
whom they are now held captive) to do the will of God "
(chap. ii. 14—26).
In the names of Pudens, Linus, and Claudia it is
interesting to be able, on not unreasonable grounds,
to imagine some connection between the Apostle's
labours a*id our own Britain. The point is one which
we cannot discuss at length: only it is more than
likely that Claudia was the daughter of a British king,
married after the date of tliis Epistle to Pudens, who
liad served as 'a soldier in Britain. Linus appears to
have afterwards become chief bishop of the church in
Rome.''
4 "Hymenaeus and Alexander" are mentioned (1 Tim. i. 20) as
excommunicated heretics. An argument has been founded upou
the mention of Hymenseus in both Epistles for the priority of
the Second. Otherwise his excommunication would be mentioned
first (1 Timothy) and his heresy afterwards (2 Timothy). But the
argument is altogether too slender for the conclusion. It is not
certain that the Hymenceus was the same ; and granting that, he
was, there are far stronger reasons for the accepted order of the
two Epistles. It seems, indeed, impossible candidly to con:pare
them as a whole, and to doubt which of the two preceded the
other.
5 See " Excursus on Pudens and Claudia," in Alford's Grecl:
Tcsf., Introduction to 2 Timothy; Couybeare and Howsou's St.
Paul, vol. ii., p. 500 (note on 2 Tim. iv. 21) ; Bible Educatob, Vol.
III., p. 245.
ERRATA.
VoL L, p. 55, col. 1, line 25, for iireptpaivei read vne/j.<paivet.
,, p. 55, col. 2, note, for "Heineke " read " Heinichen."
jj p. 110, col. 1, in table, "Sacrifice on Mount Moriah," for
Abraham's age read " 125," and insert a blank for
Jacob's age. Under the head " Flight of Jacob," for
= substitute a semicolon in each case.
Vol. II , p. 106, col. 1, for " Orders XII.— XIV." read " XII.— XV."
,, p. 125, inscription, for "octavo edition" read "qiuirto."
Vol. III., p. 364,
col. 2, make the following corrections : —
For 4741
30 0
2 read 30 0 3
For 4773 .TO 4 6 rP.ad 30
» 4745
.•» 0
fi „ 30 0 7
„ 477.'! 30 r, 1 „ .TO
., 4747
.TO 0
7 „ .% 1 2
„ 4779 30 r. a „ :x)
„ 4770
30 4
3 „ 30 4 4
„ 48:^! 31 4 6 „ 31
Vol. III., p. 364, col. 2 (continued).
Under the Year 4890 omit "A.D."
Insert "A.D." before the year of banishment of Archelaus— 6.
For A.D. 34 read 37 ; for A.D. 52 read 5^t ; for A.D. 93 read 05.
Vol. IV., p. 92, col. 2, line 29 from the top, for " thoroughly " read
" thoughtlessly."
,, p. 128, col. 1, lines 3 and 5 from the bottom, for Toi'xor read
Torxoc.
„ p. 127, col. 1, line 8 from the top, for "probably" read
"properly."
„ p. 127, col. 2, line 19 from the top, for " this part" read
"sins past."
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