,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face 7bold74 ,small capital text has been replaced with all capitals4 ,the carat character 77 indicates that the following letter or number is superscripted 7example3 #ae;b-#ah;a74 e represents e with a macon over it4 ,,home ,,university ,,library ,,of ,,modern ,,knowledge ,,the ,,literature ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,by ,,george ,,foot ,,moore1 ,m4,a41 ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d4 ,,london ,,williams ,,norgate ,,henry ,,holt ,co41 ,,new ,,york ,,canada3 ,,wm4 ,,briggs1 ,,toronto ,,india3 ,r4 ,t4 ,,washbourne1 ,,ltd4 ,illustration3 ,,home ,,university ,,library ,,of ,,modern ,,knowledge ,editors3 ,,herbert ,,fisher1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,b4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 ,,prof4 ,,gilbert ,,murray1 ,d4,,litt41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a4 ,,prof4 ,j4 ,,arthur ,,thomson1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 ,,prof4 ,,william ,t4 ,,brewster1 ,m4,a4 7,,columbia ,,university1 ,u4,s4,a47 ,,new ,,york ,,henry ,,holt ,,and ,,company ,illustration3 ,,the ,,literature ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,by ,,george ,,foot ,,moore ,m4,a41 ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d4 ,professor in ,harvard ,university2 ,editor of the ,harvard ,theological ,review2 ,author of ,commentary on ,judges1 etc4 ,,london ,,williams ,,and ,,norgate ,the following volumes of kindred interest have already been published in the ,home ,university ,library3-- ,,vol4 #ef4--,,the ,,making ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,testament4 ,by ,,prof4 ,b4 ,w4 ,,bacon1 ,,ll4,d41 ,d4,d4,vol4 ,,vol4 #fh4--;,,comparative ,,religion4 ,by ,,principal ,j4 ,,estlin ,,carpenter1 ,d4,litt4 ,,vol4 #ae4--,,mohammedanism4 ,by ,,prof4 ,d4 ,s4 ,,margoliouth1 ,m4,a41 ,d4,litt4 ,,vol4 #dg4--;,,buddhism4 ,by ,,mrs4 ,,rhys ,,davids1 ,m4,a4 ,,vol4 #ed4--;,,ethics4 ,by ,g4 ,e4 ,,moore1 ,m4,a4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,,the ,,canon ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament #g ,,ii ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,as ,a ,,national ,,literature #be ,,iii ,,the ,,pentateuch #bi ,,iv ,,character ,,of ,,the ,,sources4 ,,genesis #cc ,v ,,exodus1 ,,leviticus1 ,,numbers #dg ,,vi ,,deuteronomy #eh ,,vii ,,age ,,of ,,the ,,sources4 ,,composition ,,of ,,the ,,pentateuch #fe ,,viii ,,joshua #gc ,,ix ,,judges #ha ,x ,,samuel #ia ,,xi ,,kings #ajj ,,xii ,,chronicles #aah ,,xiii ,,ezra ,,and ,,nehemiah #abh ,,xiv ,,story ,,books3 ,,esther1 ,,ruth1 ,,jonah #acd ,,xv ,,the ,,prophets #add ,,xvi ,,isaiah #adg ,,xvii ,,jeremiah #afd ,,xviii ,,ezekiel #agd ,,xix ,,daniel #ahj ,,xx ,,minor ,,prophets #aij ,,xxi ,,psalms4 ,,lamentations #bah ,,xxii ,,proverbs #bca ,,xxiii ,,job #bce ,,xxiv ,,ecclesiastes4 ,,song ,,of ,,songs #bdc ,,bibliography #bea ,,index #bec ,,the ,,literature ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,canon ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,the early ,christians received the ,sacred ,books of the ,jews as inspired ,scripture containing a divine revelation and clothed with divine authority1 and till well on in the first century of the ,christian era the name ,scriptures was applied exclusively to these books4 ,in time1 as they came to attach the same authority to the ,epistles and ,gospels1 and to call them1 too1 ,scriptures 7#b ,pet4 iii4 #af71 they distinguished the ,christian writings as the ,scriptures of the new dispensation1 or1 as they called it1 the new covenant1 from the ,scriptures of the old covenant 7#b ,cor4 iii4 #f1 #ad71 the ,bible of the ,jews4 ,the ,greek word for covenant 7diathk7 was rendered in the early ,latin translation by testamentum1 and the two bodies of ,scripture themselves were called the ,old ,testament and the ,new ,testament respectively4 ,the ,scriptures of the ,jews were written in ,hebrew1 the older language of the people2 but a few chapters in ,ezra and ,daniel are in ,aramaic1 which gradually replaced ,hebrew as the vernacular of ,palestine from the fifth century ,b4,c4 ,the ,sacred ,books comprise the ,law1 that is1 the ,five ,books of ,moses2 the ,prophets1 under which name are included the older historical books 7,joshua1 ,judges1 ,samuel1 ,kings7 as well as what we call the ,prophets 7,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 and the ,twelve1 i4e4 ,minor ,prophets72 a third group1 of less homogeneous character1 had no more distinctive name than the ,scriptures2 it included ,ruth1 ,psalms1 ,job1 ,proverbs1 ,ecclesiastes1 ,song of ,songs1 ,lamentations1 ,daniel1 ,esther1 ,ezra-,nehemiah1 and ,chronicles4 ,the ,minor ,prophets counted as one book2 and the division of ,samuel1 ,kings1 ,ezra-,nehemiah1 and ,chronicles each into two books was made later1 and perhaps only in ,christian copies of the ,bible4 ,there are1 consequently1 according to the ,jewish enumeration twenty-four books in the ,bible1 while in the ,english ,old ,testament1 by subdivision1 we count the same books as thirty-nine4 ,the order of the books in the ,pentateuch and ,former ,prophets 7,joshua-,kings7 is fixed by the historical sequence1 and therefore constant2 among the ,latter ,prophets ,jeremiah was sometimes put first1 immediately following the end of ,kings1 with which it was so closely connected4 ,in the third group there was no such obvious principle of arrangement1 and consequently there were different opinions about the proper order2 that which is given above follows the oldest deliverance on the subject1 and puts them in what the rabbis doubtless supposed to be a chronological series4 ,so long as the books were written on separate rolls of papyrus1 the question of order was theoretical rather than practical2 and even when manuscripts were written in codex form 7on folded leaves stitched together like our books71 no uniformity was attained4 ,at the beginning of the ,christian era1 lessons from the ,law were regularly read in the synagogues on the sabbath 7the ,pentateuch being so divided that it was read through consecutively once in three years71 and a second lesson was chosen from the ,prophets4 ,the title of these books to be regarded as ,sacred ,scripture was thus established by long-standing liturgical use1 and was1 indeed1 beyond question4 ,nor was there any question about the inspiration of most of the books in the third group1 the ,scriptures4 ,there was a controversy1 however1 over ,ecclesiastes and the ,song of ,songs2 some teachers of the strictest school denied that either of them was inspired1 while others accepted only one of them4 ,the question was voted on in a council of rabbis held at ,jamnia about the beginning of the second century of our era1 and the majority decided for the inspiration of both books4 ,there were also1 even down to the third century1 ,jewish scholars who did not acknowledge ,esther as ,sacred ,scripture4 ,on the other hand1 some were inclined to include among the ,sacred ,books the ,proverbs of ,ben ,sira1 which stand in the ,english ,bible among the ,apocrypha under the title ,ecclesiasticus4 ,it is thus evident that1 while there was agreement in general1 there was1 down to the second century ,a4,d41 no authoritative list of the ,scriptures1 and that about some of the books there were conflicting opinions among the learned of the most orthodox stamp4 ,an interesting confirmation of this is the fact that in the first half of that century it was thought necessary to make a formal deliverance that the ,gospel and other writings of the heretics are not ,sacred ,scripture4 ,there are other indications that in that generation ,jewish ,christianity had a dangerous attraction for some even in rabbinical circles1 and there was evidently ground for apprehension that the inspiration which the ,christians claimed for the ,scriptures of the ,new ,covenant might impose upon well-meaning but uninstructed ,jews4 ,in the same connection it was decided1 further1 that ,ben ,sira 7,ecclesiasticus7 was not ,holy ,scripture1 and that no books written from his time on 7about #bjj ,b4,c47 were inspired1 in accordance with the theory1 found also in ,josephus1 that inspiration ceased in the age of ,ezra and ,nehemiah4 ,by such decisions1 recognizing the inspiration of books that had been challenged and excluding others for which inspiration had been claimed1 the canon of the ,scriptures1 that is1 the authoritative list of ,sacred ,books1 was defined4 ,the oldest catalogue we have1 containing the titles of all the books1 dates probably from the latter part of the second century1 and is not concerned with the point of canonicity--which it takes for granted--but with the proper order of the ,prophets and the ,scriptures4 ,the ,jews had for centuries been widely distributed through the lands that had been included in the kingdoms of ,alexander's successors4 ,there were large numbers in ,babylonia and the neighbouring provinces of the ,parthian empire1 and still more in the countries around the eastern end of the ,mediterranean1 in ,syria and ,asia ,minor1 in ,egypt and ,cyrene4 ,in ,alexandria the ,jews had a whole quarter of the city to themselves1 and ,philo estimates their numbers in ,egypt in his time 7ca4 ,a4,d4 #dj7 at a million4 ,in cities like ,alexandria1 where ,greek was the common speech of a population recruited from many races1 the ,jews soon exchanged their mother tongue for the cosmopolitan language4 ,the ancient ,hebrew of their ,sacred ,books was unintelligible1 not only to the masses1 but even to most of the educated1 who had learned in the schools of ,greek rhetoricians and philosophers rather than at the feet of the rabbis4 ,if the knowledge of the holy ,law by which the distinctive ,jewish life was regulated was not to be lost altogether1 the ,scriptures must be translated into ,greek4 ,the ,pentateuch was doubtless translated first--legend attributes the initiative to ,king ,ptolemy ,philadelphus 7#bhe-bdf ,b4,c472 then other books1 by different hands and at different times and places4 ,to some of the books1 as to ,daniel and ,esther1 additions were made in the translation which were not accepted by the ,palestinian ,jews4 ,besides the books which were finally included in the ,jewish canon1 there were various others1 written in ,hebrew or ,aramaic after the pattern of the several forms of ,biblical literature4 ,history1 for example1 is represented by #a ,maccabees1 relating the struggle of the ,jews in ,palestine for religious liberty and national independence in the second century ,b4,c42 the ,proverbs of ,solomon have a counterpart in the ,proverbs of ,ben ,sira1 already mentioned2 the ,psalter1 in the so-called ,psalms of ,solomon2 the story of ,judith may be compared with ,esther2 the visions of ,daniel have their parallel in popular apocalypses bearing the names of ,enoch1 ,noah1 ,ezra1 ,baruch1 and other ancient worthies4 ,these writings were sooner or later translated into ,greek1 and some of them attained a wide circulation4 ,the ,greek-speaking ,jews1 also1 produced a religious literature1 in part imitating the familiar ,biblical forms1 as in the ,wisdom of ,solomon and #b ,maccabees1 in part cast in ,greek moulds1 as when prophecy disguised itself in ,sibylline ,oracles1 or the supremacy of reason over the emotions was made the subject of a discourse after the pattern of a ,stoic diatribe 7#d ,maccabees74 ,the influence of ,greek culture on many of these writers was not confined to language and literary form2 they lived in an atmosphere of ,greek thought--the popular philosophy1 in which ,platonic and ,stoic elements were fused or confused--and a few had a more academic acquaintance with the ,greek thinkers4 ,but1 under all this1 they were ,jews to the core1 devoted to the religion of their fathers1 of the superiority of which they were the more convinced by the spectacle of heathenism about them3 ,judaism was the only true religion1 its ,scriptures the one divine revelation4 ,the ,law and the ,prophets had the same precedence as in the ,palestinian synagogue4 ,of the other ,scriptures there was no authoritative and exclusive list1 and among books read solely for private edification it is not likely that a very sharp line was drawn2 but1 on the whole1 the practice of the ,greek-speaking ,jews does not seem to have been materially different from that of their countrymen in ,palestine4 ,outside of ,palestine1 ,christianity was spread by ,greek-speaking ,jews who had embraced the new ,messianic faith1 and their converts in the fields of their missionary labours1 both ,jews and ,gentiles1 spoke ,greek1 either as their mother tongue or as the language of common intercourse4 ,the church1 therefore1 took over the ,jewish ,scriptures in the existing translations3 the ,christian ,old ,testament was from the beginning the ,greek ,bible1 not the ,hebrew4 ,they received also from the ,greek-speaking ,jews the belief in the divine inspiration of the translators1 by virtue of which the same infallible authority attached to the version of the ,seventy which belonged to the ,hebrew original4 ,in their desire to possess every word of ,god1 they gathered up the religious books which they found in the hands of the ,jews1 without inquiring curiously whether the ,jews included them in the narrower category of ,sacred ,scriptures or not2 and they discovered no reason in the books themselves why ,esther1 for example1 should be inspired and ,judith not2 or why ,ecclesiastes1 with its scepticism about the destiny of the soul1 should be divinely revealed1 and the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 with its eloquent defence of immortality1 a purely human production2 or1 again1 why the ,proverbs of ,solomon were ,scripture1 and the ,proverbs of ,ben ,sira 7,ecclesiasticus7 nothing but profane wisdom4 ,controversies in the second century made the ,christian apologists aware that the ,jews did not acknowledge the authority of some of the books from which their opponents adduced proof-texts1 and this practical concern1 rather than purely learned interest1 led to the drawing up of lists of books which were accepted by the ,jews as ,sacred ,scripture4 ,the oldest of these lists which has come down to us was made by ,melito1 ,bishop of ,sardes1 about ,a4,d4 #agj2 it contains the books of the ,jewish canon enumerated above 7p4 #h71 with the noteworthy exception of ,esther1 about which1 as we have seen1 ,jewish opinion was divided4 ,christian catalogues of the ,jewish ,old ,testament long show an uncertainty about the right of this book to a place in the canon4 ,meanwhile the church had1 in its worship and in religious instruction1 established a use and tradition of its own4 ,the ,wisdom of ,jesus1 son of ,sirach1 was appropriated for the moral instruction of youth and of converts1 as is shown by the title it bears in the ,greek ,bible1 ,ecclesiasticus1 that is1 ,the ,church ,book1 and other writings not included in the ,jewish canon were highly esteemed in the church4 ,about ,a4,d4 #bdj1 ,julius ,africanus1 ,bishop of ,emmaus in ,palestine1 addressed a critical letter to ,origen on the story of ,susanna and the ,elders in the ,book of ,daniel4 ,this story1 he said1 was not found in the ,hebrew ,daniel1 and was not acknowledged by the ,jews4 ,he proved by internal evidence that it was not translated from the ,hebrew1 the language in which the ,scriptures of the ,old ,testament were inspired1 but originally composed in ,greek1 and he raised various historical objections to the tale3 it ought not1 therefore1 to be quoted as ,sacred ,scripture4 ,in his answer1 ,origen1 the greatest ,biblical scholar of his age1 argued that if the story of ,susanna was to be set aside on the ground that it was not accepted by the ,jews1 other books1 such as ,judith and ,tobit1 would have to be rejected also4 ,he appeals to the prescriptive usage of the church itself1 which had always used these books and read them with edification4 ,this immemorial tradition was authority enough for ,christians2 there was no reason why the church should prune its ,bible to please the ,jews or adapt itself to their opinions about what was and what was not inspired ,scripture2 he reminds his correspondent of the law1 ,thou shalt not remove the ancient landmarks which those before thee have set4 ,this way of looking at the matter1 as might be expected1 prevailed in the church4 ,lists of the books of the ,jewish ,bible were handed down1 and scholars were well aware that the ,christian ,old ,testament contained several books not received by the ,jews4 ,by the more critical of the ,greek ,fathers these books are not cited with the same authority for the establishment of doctrine as the books of the ,hebrew ,bible4 ,thus1 ,athanasius1 at the end of a list of the canonical ,scriptures of the ,old and ,new ,testaments 7,a4,d4 #cfe71 adds3 ,there are1 besides these1 other books1 not1 indeed1 included in the canon1 but prescribed by the ,fathers to be read by those who come to the church and wish to be taught the doctrine of religion1 namely1 the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 and the ,wisdom of ,sirach1 ,esther1 ,judith1 ,tobit1 and the ,teaching of the ,twelve ,apostles4 ,but this learned reserve had no effect on the liturgical or practical use of the church4 ,the question of the inspiration and authority of the supernumerary books of the ,old ,testament was not decided by any council speaking in the name of the catholic church2 nor was it ever thus determined exactly what these supernumerary books were1 though several local synods made lists of them4 ,the ,latin ,church received its ,bible from the ,greeks1 and the ,latin translations of the ,old ,testament made from the ,greek included1 as a matter of course1 the books which the church accepted and the synagogue rejected4 ,about the beginning of the fifth century1 ,jerome undertook a new ,latin translation direct from the ,hebrew4 ,he lived for many years at ,bethlehem1 and had learned ,hebrew from ,jewish teachers1 whose assistance he employed also in the work of translation4 ,in some of the prefaces to this translation 7which was published in parts71 and in other places in his writings1 ,jerome gives a catalogue of the books of the ,hebrew ,bible1 corresponding to the contents of our ,english ,old ,testament1 and expressly excludes all others from the class of canonical ,scriptures3 ,whatever is not included in this list is to be classed as apocrypha4 ,therefore ,wisdom 7commonly entitled 'of ,solomon'71 and the ,book of ,jesus son of ,sirach1 and ,judith and ,tobit 444 are not in the canon4 ,the word apocrypha1 literally secret1 or esoteric1 writings1 had been used generally for the books of heretical sects1 or suspected of being such1 and1 more broadly1 of writings which the church repudiated as not only uninspired but harmful1 the reading of which it often forbade4 ,it was1 therefore1 a very radical word that ,jerome uttered when he applied this name to books which the church had always regarded as godly and edifying4 ,jerome himself did not consistently maintain the position which would make the ,jewish ,bible the canon of the ,christian church4 ,at the request of certain bishops he translated ,judith and ,tobit1 noting in the prefaces that the ,jews exclude these books from the canon and put them among the apocrypha1 but significantly adding in the one case that he thinks it better to oppose the judgment of the ,pharisees and obey the commands of the bishops1 in the other pleading not only the demand of a bishop but the fact that the ,nicene ,council had included ,judith among the ,sacred ,books4#a ,in another preface he describes ,ecclesiasticus and the ,wisdom of ,solomon as books which the church reads for the edification of the people1 not for proving the doctrines of the church--a definition which accords with the attitude of many of the ,greek ,fathers4 ,jerome thus halts between two opinions3 in relegating to the apocrypha everything that is not in the ,hebrew ,bible he speaks as a critic2 in recognizing the books found in the ,christian ,old ,testament1 but not in the ,hebrew1 as useful and edifying1 though of inferior authority for doctrinal purposes1 he1 like ,origen1 takes the ground of the practical churchman4 ,the mediating position is more clearly defined by ,rufinus1 who1 after giving a catalogue of the books of the ,hebrew ,bible1 adds3 ,there are other books1 which older authors called not 'canonical' but 'ecclesiastical1' such as the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 and the so-called ,wisdom of the ,son of ,sirach1 named by the ,latins ,ecclesiasticus2 to the same class belong ,tobit1 ,judith and the ,books of the ,maccabees4 #a ,the ,nicene ,council made no formal deliverance on the subject of the canon1 and upon what ,jerome's appeal to its authority rests is unknown4 ,the great influence of ,augustine was thrown wholly on the side of ecclesiastical tradition2 he even remonstrated with ,jerome for translating the ,old ,testament from the ,hebrew and thus disturbing the minds of the faithful1 instead of revising the ,old ,latin version after the ,greek4 ,in his treatise on ,christian ,doctrine 7ii4 #h2 written in ,a4,d4 #cig7 he includes among the canonical books of the ,old ,testament1 ,judith1 ,tobit1 #a and #b ,maccabees1 ,ecclesiasticus1 and the ,wisdom of ,solomon2 ,african provincial synods at ,hippo 7,a4,d4 #cic7 and ,carthage 7,a4,d4 #cig7 pronounced themselves in the same sense4 ,the ,syriac-speaking churches1 whose ,old ,testament was translated from the ,hebrew1 originally recognized those books only which were found in the ,jewish ,bible2 it appears1 indeed1 that the earliest ,syriac version did not extend to ,chronicles1 ,ezra1 and ,nehemiah1 but did include ,sirach4 ,under the influence of the ,greek ,church1 those branches of the ,syrian ,church which remained in communion with it gradually added to their ,bible translations of the other books from the ,greek2 but the ,nestorians1 in whose schools ,biblical criticism moved more freely than in the ,catholic ,church1 continued to reject them1 or to accord them1 together with several of the books commonly reckoned canonical 7,chronicles1 ,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 ,judith1 #a and #b ,maccabees1 ,job1 ,ecclesiasticus1 ,wisdom71 only qualified authority4 ,throughout the ,middle ,ages learned authors repeated the conflicting utterances of the ,fathers concerning the canon1 without being disturbed by their inconsistency2 in practice1 the ,old ,testament comprised all the books that were usually found in copies of the ,greek or ,latin ,bible1 without regard to the fine distinctions of canonical and ecclesiastical4 ,the immemorial usage of the church had more weight than the opinions of scholars4 ,with this concurred the fact that from the fourth century on the ,bible was copied in collective codices1 on folded sheets of parchment or vellum like our books1 not in separate rolls1 and thus the canon of the ,old ,testament became1 not a mere list of ,sacred ,books1 but a physical unity1 in which the books of the ,jewish ,bible were intermingled with those which the ,jews did not accept4 ,the question assumed a new significance at the ,reformation4 ,in rejecting the authority of ecclesiastical tradition and the prescriptive usage of the church and making the ,scriptures the only rule of faith and practice1 the ,reformers were under the necessity of deciding what books were inspired ,scripture1 containing the ,word of ,god revealed to men1 clothed with divine authority1 demanding unqualified faith1 and a means of grace to believers4 ,obviously they could not logically acknowledge books whose place in the ,bible had no other warrant than that the church had accepted them from very early times2 nothing short of the authority of the ,new ,testament itself would suffice1 and they found in the ,new ,testament no quotations from these books4 ,to the ,jews1 ,st4 ,paul said1 were committed the oracles of ,god2 it was the ,jewish ,scriptures to which ,jesus and the ,apostles appealed4 ,naturally1 therefore1 ,luther reverted to the position of ,jerome3 the books found in the ,hebrew ,bible1 and those only1 were the ,scriptures of the ,old ,testament2 whatever was more than these was to be reckoned among the apocrypha4 ,in the first complete printed edition of his translation 7#aecd71 these books 7,judith1 ,wisdom1 ,tobit1 ,sirach1 ,baruch1 #a and #b ,maccabees1 the ,greek additions to ,esther and ,daniel1 the ,prayer of ,manasseh7 stand between the ,old ,testament and the ,new1 with the title 7after ,jerome7 ,apocrypha2 that is1 books that are not equally esteemed with the ,holy ,scripture1 but nevertheless are profitable and good to read4 ,the other ,protestant versions1 on the ,continent and in ,england1 followed this example4 ,the attitude of ,luther toward the ,old ,testament ,apocrypha was maintained by the ,lutheran ,churches1 whose ,confessions do not1 however1 attempt a more exact definition of the value and authority of the ,apocrypha4 ,the earlier ,reformed 7,calvinistic7 ,confessions take substantially the same ground3 the ,ecclesiastical ,books1 or ,apocrypha1 are useful1 especially for moral instruction1 but they have not the same authority as the canonical books1 and doctrines may not be deduced from them alone4 ,the ,articles of the ,church of ,england 7#aefc2 ,english translation1 #aega7 agree on this point with the other ,reformed ,confessions3 after enumerating the canonical books of whose authority there was never any doubt in the ,church1 the ,sixth ,article continues3 ,and the other books 7as ,hierome saith7 the ,church doth read for example of life1 and instruction of manners2 but yet it doth not apply them to establish any doctrine4 ,a list of such books follows1 comprising those commonly printed in the ,english ,bible under the title ,apocrypha4 ,a more radical position was represented by the ,synod of ,dort 7#afah7 and by the ,westminster ,assembly 7#afdc74 ,the latter declares3 ,the books commonly called ,apocrypha1 not being of divine inspiration1 are no part of the canon of ,scripture2 and therefore are of no authority in the church of ,god1 nor to be otherwise approved1 or made use of1 than other human writings4 ,in opposition to the ,protestant limitation of the canon of the ,old ,testament to the books of the ,hebrew ,bible1 the ,roman ,church defined its attitude more sharply4 ,in the ,fourth ,session of the ,council of ,trent 7#aedf7 it framed a ,decree concerning the ,canonical ,scripture1 in which the books set apart by the ,protestants as ,apocrypha are included with the rest4 ,the complete contents of the ,old ,testament in the ,catholic ,bible as thus defined are as follows3 ,the ,five ,books of ,moses1 that is1 ,genesis1 ,exodus1 ,leviticus1 ,numbers1 ,deuteronomy2 ,joshua1 ,judges1 ,ruth1 four ,books of ,kings ,samuel1 ,kings1 two ,books of ,chronicles1 #a and #b ,esdras ,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 ,tobit1 ,judith1 ,esther1 ,job1 the ,psalter of ,david1 containing one hundred and fifty ,psalms1 ,proverbs1 ,ecclesiastes1 ,song of ,songs1 ,wisdom1 ,ecclesiasticus1 ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah with ,baruch1 ,ezekiel1 ,daniel1 the ,twelve ,minor ,prophets1 two ,books of ,maccabees1 namely1 the ,first and ,second4444 ,if any man does not accept as sacred and canonical these books1 entire1 with all their parts1 as they have customarily been read in the ,catholic ,church and are contained in the ancient common ,latin edition 444 let him be anathema6 ,this decree not only affirms that all the books in question are ,holy and ,canonical ,scripture1 but seems to put them all in one class1 and deliberately to exclude the ancient distinction between the books of the ,jewish ,bible and the ,ecclesiastical ,books4 ,many of the ,fathers had1 however1 made such a distinction1 and ,catholic scholars1 even after ,trent1 thought it permissible to class the ,ecclesiastical ,books 7which ,protestants call the ,apocrypha7 as deuterocanonic1 meaning not thereby to imply that they are inferior in authority or infallibility or dignity--for both classes owe their excellence to the same ,holy ,spirit--but that they had attained recognition in the church at a later time than the others4 ,individuals have sometimes gone farther1 and acknowledged a difference in authority3 the deuterocanonic books are useful for edification1 but not for the proof of doctrines--a position substantially the same as that of the ,greek ,fathers and of moderate ,protestants2 but this is plainly against the sense of the decree of ,trent4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,as ,a ,,national ,,literature ,for the religious apprehension of ,jews and ,christians the ,old ,testament is a body of ,sacred ,scriptures1 containing the ,word of ,god as revealed to the chosen people4 ,the revelation was made at sundry times and in divers manners through many centuries1 that is to say1 it has a historical character1 an adaptation to the needs or accommodation to the capacities of men1 and1 from the ,christian point of view1 makes a progressive disclosure of the divine purpose and plan of salvation4 ,to understand this economy of revelation1 or this pedagogic of religion1 it is necessary to distinguish the times1 and to determine the nature1 authorship1 and age of the several books or parts of books4 ,the critical questions which lie at the threshold of every historical inquiry arise1 therefore1 in the study of the ,old ,testament1 and much learning and acumen have been expended upon them1 especially in modern times1 by scholars of all shades of theological opinion4 ,that there should be wide divergence in their conclusions on many points is not surprising1 in view of the difficulty of many of the questions and the insufficiency of the data available for a solution2 the same thing is true in other ancient literatures4 ,a more radical difference exists in the ,old ,testament1 however1 because1 for many scholars1 ,catholic and ,protestant1 the deliverances of the church1 or the consent of tradition1 or the testimony of the ,new ,testament1 or the concurrence of all these1 outweighs1 in such a matter as the unity and ,mosaic authorship of the ,pentateuch1 the internal evidence of the books themselves1 and makes it their task to show that the evidence which seems to contradict this attribution is1 when properly interpreted1 compatible with it2 while others hold that no external authority and no theory of inspiration can be allowed to countervail the cumulative weight of internal evidence4 ,apart from its religious value and authority for the synagogue and the church1 the ,old ,testament contains the remains of a national literature which richly rewards study for its own sake4 ,while its masterpieces may be read with pleasure and profit without regard to the age and circumstances in which they were written1 they will be better appreciated as well as better understood in the light of their own times and in their place in the literature as a whole4 ,in this literature are also the sources for the political history of the ,hebrew people and for the history of its civilization and religion4 ,the critical ordering and appraisal of these sources is fundamental to any solid historical construction and1 indeed1 to any historical understanding of the ,old ,testament4 ,in the present volume the results of this critical inquiry are concisely set forth1 with primary reference to the history of the literature and the development of religion1 rather than to the sources for the political history1 a complete investigation of which would require a somewhat different method4 ,the questions are approached in the same way in which we should deal with similar questions in any other literature2 critical problems1 whether in sacred texts or profane1 can be solved only by the application of the established methods of historical criticism4 ,all that survives of ,hebrew literature prior to the age of ,alexander is preserved in the ,jewish ,bible4 ,it is not until the beginning of the third century ,b4,c4 that we come upon books written by ,jews in ,hebrew or in ,greek which are not included in the canon4 ,it is1 doubtless1 only a small part of a rich and varied literature that has thus been rescued across the centuries2 much the larger part of what was written in the days of the national kingdoms1 for example1 must have perished in the catastrophes which befell ,israel in the eighth century and ,judah in the beginning of the sixth4 ,what was saved was preserved for its intrinsic religious value or its association with great names of religious leaders and teachers1 not out of a merely literary or patriotic interest4 ,nor were these losses confined to the older literature4 ,of the history of ,judah under the ,persian kings1 for example1 there must once have been completer records than the dubious scraps we have in ,ezra4 ,of secular poetry1 which there is every reason to think flourished no less than hymnody1 we should have had no specimens1 had not an anthology of love songs somehow got the name of ,solomon1 and by a mystical interpretation been converted to religion4 ,the remains of this literature are scattered unequally over a period of a thousand years or more4 ,the youngest writings in the canon date from the second century ,b4,c4 7,daniel1 ,maccabean ,psalms71 being later than ,sirach1 and contemporary with some of the visions of ,enoch4 ,all that is preserved of the earliest writings has been transmitted to us by later authors1 who incorporated in their works longer or shorter passages extracted from their predecessors4 ,the books of the ,old ,testament differ widely in matter and form--history and story2 legislation1 civil and ritual1 moral and ceremonial2 prophecy and apocalypse2 lyric1 didactic1 and dramatic poetry4 ,the literary quality of the best in all these kinds is very high4 ,the ,song of ,deborah 7,judg4 #e71 notwithstanding the imperfect state of the text1 is one of the greatest of triumphal odes2 parts of ,job attain the height of the sublime2 some of the ,psalms are worthy of a foremost place among religious lyrics2 many oracles of the prophets are as noteworthy for the perfection of the expression as for the elevation of the thought2 the laws are often formulated with admirable precision2 in the art of narration the older historians are unsurpassed in ancient literature4 ,these qualities appear even more conspicuous in comparison with the remains of ,egyptian or of ,babylonian and ,assyrian writings4 ,it is only among the ,greeks that we find anything to match the finest productions of the ,hebrew genius4 ,it need hardly be said that the ,old ,testament is not all on this high level of excellence--what literature is8 ,but1 taken as a whole1 the level is surprisingly high1 and even in the decadence classical models are sometimes imitated with no small degree of success4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,pentateuch ,the ,old ,testament begins with a comprehensive historical work1 reaching from the creation of the world to the fall of the kingdom of ,judah 7#ehf ,b4,c471 which in the ,hebrew ,bible is divided into nine books 7,genesis-,kings74 ,the ,jews made a greater division at the end of the fifth book 7,deuteronomy7 and treated the first five books 7the ,pentateuch7 as a unit1 with a character and name of its own1 the ,law4 ,the names of the several books in our ,bibles are derived from the ,greek version1 and indicate in a general way the subject of the book1 or1 more exactly1 the subject with which it begins3 ,genesis1 the creation of the world2 ,exodus1 the escape from ,egypt2 ,leviticus1 the priests' book2 ,numbers1 the census of the tribes2 ,deuteronomy1 the second legislation1 or the recapitulation of the law4 ,the three middle books of the ,pentateuch 7,exodus-,numbers7 are more closely connected with one another than with the preceding and following books 7,genesis1 ,deuteronomy72 in fact1 they form a whole which is only for convenience in handling divided into parts4 ,in these books narrative and legislation are somewhat unequally represented4 ,exod4 #a-ai is almost all narrative1 as are also c4 #bd1 and cc4 #cb-cd2 the story is picked up again in ,num4 #aj1 what lies between is wholly legislative2 in ,num4 #aj-bg1 #bh-cf1 narrative and laws alternate1 the latter predominating4 ,it is evident that from the author's point of view the narrative was primarily a historical setting for the ,mosaic legislation4 ,deuteronomy begins with a brief retrospect 7,deut4 #a-c7 of the movements of the ,israelites from the time they left the ,mount of ,god till they arrived in the ,plains of ,moab1 the lifetime of a whole generation4 ,there1 as they are about to cross the ,jordan to possess the ,land of ,promise1 ,moses delivers to them the law which they shall observe in the land1 and with many exhortations and warnings urges them to be faithful to their religion with its distinctive worship and morals4 ,thus ,deuteronomy also presents itself essentially as legislation4 ,the history of the ,israelite tribes opens with the account of the oppression in ,egypt1 the introduction to the story of deliverance4 ,its antecedents are found in the ,book of ,genesis1 the migration of ,jacob and his sons from ,palestine to ,egypt several generations earlier in a time of famine2 and this in turn is but the last chapter in the patriarchal story which begins with the migration of ,abraham from ,syria or ,babylonia to ,palestine4 ,gen4 #a-aa tells of creation and first men2 the great flood2 the dispersion of the peoples1 with a genealogical table showing the affinities of the several races and another tracing the descent of ,abraham in direct line from ,shem the son of ,noah4 ,but even in ,genesis the interest in the law manifests itself in various ways1 such as the sanction of the sabbath1 the prohibition of blood1 and the introduction of circumcision4 ,in regarding the whole ,pentateuch as ,law1 or1 to express it more accurately1 as a revelation of the principles and observances of religion1 the ,jews were1 therefore1 doing no violence to the character and spirit of these books2 and in ascribing them to ,moses they were only extending to the whole the authorship which is asserted in particular of many of the laws1 and especially of the impressive exhortations in ,deuteronomy which form the climactic close of his work as a legislator4 ,it was early observed1 however1 that there are numerous expressions in the ,pentateuch which assume the settlement of ,israel in ,canaan and look back to the age of ,moses as to a somewhat remote past3 ,gen4 xxxvi4 #ca1 for example1 implies the existence of the ,israelite monarchy4 ,in the seventeenth century such anachronisms were bandied about a good deal1 but1 inasmuch as they were all brief clauses which might well be notes or glosses by scribes1 they proved nothing about the age of the main text4 ,the controversy sharpened the eyes of the critics1 and many more conclusive facts were brought to light1 which proved that the ,pentateuch was not the product of one author nor of one age1 and that1 whatever part ,moses may be conceived to have had in it1 much must be ascribed to later writers4 ,no methodical attempt had been made1 however1 to distinguish its different strata1 or to discover the sources from which it was compiled4 ,this was first undertaken by an eminent ,french physician1 ,jean ,astruc1 who in #agec published the results of his investigations under the modest title ,conjectures concerning the ,original ,memoirs which it appears that ,moses used in compiling the ,book of ,genesis4 ,astruc's analysis was suggested by peculiar phenomena in the use of the divine names in ,genesis1 and he was led to the hypothesis that ,moses had for the primeval and patriarchal history two principal sources1 one of which employed consistently the proper name ,jehovah1 the other the appellative ,elohim 7,god74 ,the two narratives were in large part parallel1 and when they were united in one continuous narrative1 repetitions1 contradictions1 and chronological difficulties were created which disappear when the sources are separated and recombined in their original sequence4 ,this is not the place for a history of criticism3 it must suffice to say that1 as the result of the labours of many scholars in the last century and a half upon the problem of the sources and composition of the ,pentateuch1 historians are now generally agreed that four main sources are to be recognized1 of which three run1 in varying proportion1 from ,genesis to ,numbers and reappear in ,joshua1 while the fourth is found in ,deuteronomy and ,joshua only4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,character ,,of ,,the ,,sources3 ,,genesis ,of the four main sources of the ,pentateuch and ,joshua1 two are easily recognizable1 and may be distinguished with certainty in almost any combination4 ,the ,book of ,deuteronomy1 though itself a composite work1 constitutes a whole1 with a characteristic religious point of view and marked peculiarities of language and style4 ,the strand akin to it in ,joshua is not always so easy to discriminate from additions and editorial retouchings in one of the other sources2 but since these are of approximately the same age1 the difficulty is1 from the historian's point of view1 not of very serious moment4 ,the second source1 more closely interwoven in the narrative of ,genesis-,numbers1 and ,joshua1 has also such strongly marked peculiarities1 not only in religious ideas and in phraseology and style1 but in its whole conception and treatment of the history1 that it stands out in salient contrast to any surroundings in which it may occur4 ,its interest is concentrated on the origin of the sacred institutions of ,israel1 especially on the priesthood1 the worship1 and the distinctive religious customs of the people1 for which reason it is commonly called the priestly history and law4 ,the two remaining sources resemble each other much more closely in religious conceptions1 in language1 and in their representation of the history1 so that1 where their closely parallel narratives are intimately interwoven to make one continuous and harmonious story1 it is often impossible to unravel them4 ,as far as ,exod4 iii4 #ad one of them employs the name ,elohim for ,god1 while the other uses ,jehovah from the beginning 7see ,gen4 iv4 #bf71 and this difference frequently serves as a first clue2 but editors and copyists have so often1 purposely or thoughtlessly1 interchanged the names of ,god that it is by no means a decisive criterion4 ,from ,exod4 #c on1 this criterion fails altogether4 ,closer acquaintance with the two sources discovers1 under all their similarity1 individual peculiarities by which they can ordinarily be recognized4 ,frequently1 also1 the connection of the story itself1 references or allusions to incidents already recounted and preparation for events subsequently to be narrated1 serve to identify passages with one or the other4 ,for the sake of brevity1 it is customary to designate these sources by symbols3 ,j 7,jahvist71 the source in which ,god is from the beginning called ,jehovah 7more exactly1 ,jahveh72 ,e 7,elohist71 the closely cognate source in which ,elohim 7,god7 is consistently used throughout ,genesis2 ,d1 ,deuteronomy and the kindred narrative in ,joshua2 ,p 7,priestly71 the source in which the interest in the religious institutions predominates4 ,this author also uses ,elohim exclusively in ,genesis1 and down to ,exod4 vi4 #b ff4 ,the two sources1 ,j and ,e1 both narrate the story of the patriarchs at some length4 ,j begins with the migration of ,abraham from ,haran 7,gen4 #ab72 the corresponding introduction of ,abraham in ,e is not preserved1 and the first passage that can with confidence be attributed to that source is ,gen4 #bj4 ,from that point through ,genesis and down to ,exod4 #bd1 ,j and ,e furnished the author of the ,pentateuch most of his narrative4 ,the contents of both were evidently drawn from the same common stock of legend1 and they tell in large part the same stories in variant forms1 with differences of incident or of localization4 ,sometimes one is ampler and more detailed1 sometimes the other4 ,the author of ,genesis in such cases often chose the fuller version1 enriching it here and there from the other2 in other places the two are combined in more equal measure into one continuous narrative2 or1 again1 as in parts of the story of ,joseph1 extracts from the two alternate in large blocks4 ,j and ,e are1 as has been said above1 much alike in language and style1 yet each has distinguishing peculiarities of expression4 ,these of necessity disappear in a translation1 especially in a translation which1 like the ,authorized ,version1 raises everything to one stately level of noble ,english prose4 ,even in translation1 however1 a difference in the story-teller's art and manner may be discerned4 ,for ,j the reader will find good examples in ,gen4 #ah-ai2 #bd2 #ch2 #ci2 and #dc-dd 7which are nearly solid extracts from that source72 with the latter chapters1 from the story of ,joseph1 should be compared ,gen4 #dj-db1 chiefly from ,e4 ,gen4 #bb is also from ,e4 ,from the literary point of view1 ,j is the better narrator2 he tells his story directly1 swiftly1 with almost epic breadth1 and with just that measure of detail which gives the note of reality1 never overloading the story with circumstance4 ,nor is it only the external action which he causes thus vividly to pass before us2 with the dramatic instinct of the true story-teller he makes us spectators of the inner play of feeling and motive4 ,the religious element in the stories of ,j is pervasive4 ,the forefathers are favourites of ,god1 who directs their ways1 and protects and blesses them in all their doings4 ,he appears to them in human form1 and converses with them as a man with his friends2 reflection has not yet found such too human behaviour unbecoming in ,god4 ,gen4 #ah is a striking instance of this familiarity in the deity3 ,jehovah with two companions comes to ,abraham's tent1 eats of the meal the patriarch's hospitality provides1 predicts that ,sarah shall bear a son before the year is out--a prospect which moves the old woman listening behind the door to incredulous merriment--and as he departs announces that he is going down to ,sodom to see whether they are as bad there as has been reported to him4 ,a still more drastic example is the man who wrestles with ,jacob1 and finding himself no match for the brawny patriarch1 disables him by a foul1 putting his hip out of joint1 and finally1 to get loose1 unmasks as a god1 owns ,jacob the winner1 and names him ,israel1 the man who held his own against a god 7,gen4 xxxii4 #bd ff474 ,or1 again1 as ,moses is on the way to ,egypt by ,god's command to deliver his people1 ,jehovah encounters him where he halts for the night1 and tries to kill him1 desisting only when ,zipporah bans him by smearing her imperilled husband with the bloody foreskin of her son 7,exod4 iv4 #bd ff474 ,such extremely human representations belong to the ancient legends which are incorporated in the history2 the author's own conception of ,god1 if we may judge him by passages like ,exod4 xxxiii4 #ab-bc2 xxxiv4 #f-i1 was much less crude2 but it is significant that such traits were allowed to remain with so little change4 ,the legends also attribute to ,god a partiality for the patriarchs which lets him protect and prosper them in transactions such as are repugnant not only to the most rudimentary morality but to savage manliness1 as in ,gen4 #ab and #bf1 variants of the story how one of the forefathers exposed his wife's honour rather than risk his own neck4 ,less striking1 but no less instructive1 is ,jacob1 who gains the birthright by overreaching his brother and the blessing of the first-born by deceiving his father1 and in the end outwits the wily ,laban at his own devices and grows rich at his expense4 ,it would be a mistake to take such stories as reflecting the morality of the author's time3 they were the traditions of another age and another order of things4 ,but again it is significant that they are narrated in ,j without any visible attempt to mitigate their offensive features4 ,other authors1 as we shall see1 toned down these features or eliminated them4 ,the second of the authors in the patriarchal history 7,e7 is but little inferior to ,j as narrator1 and in translation the difference is even less noticeable than in the original4 ,where they can be directly compared1 however1 ,e is slightly less vivid and picturesque4 ,a certain learned1 or antiquarian1 interest is also apparent4 ,e notes1 for instance1 that ,laban1 who as a ,syrian naturally spoke ,aramaic1 called the boundary cairn ,jegar ,sahaduta1 while ,jacob named it in good ,hebrew ,gal ',ed 7a popular etymology of ,gilead71 and that the ancestors of the ,israelites in their old homes beyond the ,euphrates were heathen4 ,he is particularly well informed in things ,egyptian2 he knows1 for example1 the ,egyptian names of the chief personages in the story of ,joseph4 ,it is in accord with this tendency that he introduces the name ,jehovah only after the call of ,moses 7,exod4 iii4 #ad ff471 and for the patriarchal period employs only the appellative1 ,god4 ,the conception of deity is less nave than in ,j3 ,god never appears in tangible bodiliness like a man1 but reveals himself in visions or dreams1 or makes known his will by a voice out of the unseen4 ,things objectionable to morals or taste are frequently softened down4 ,in ,j1 for example1 ,joseph's brothers1 at ,judah's instance1 sell him to the ,ishmaelites2 in ,e ,reuben persuades them to put ,joseph into a dry well1 intending to save him from them and restore him to his father2 while he is absent1 ,midianites steal ,joseph out of the well and carry him off to ,egypt4 ,compare also ,gen4 #bj 7,e7 with c4 #ab 7,j71 noting how in the former the author takes pains to make clear that no harm came to ,sarah1 and that ,abraham is a prophet whose intercession is effectual with ,god4 ,on the other hand1 the interventions of ,god in ,e often show a disposition to magnify the miracle and to give it a magical character4 ,thus at the crossing of the ,red ,sea1 in ,j the waters are driven back by a strong wind1 leaving the shallow basin dry2 in ,e the miracle is wrought by ,moses with his wand 7like the plagues71 and this representation is followed by ,p1 in which the waters stand in walls on either hand while the people march between4 ,if the author of ,e was acquainted with ,j1 as it would be natural to assume1 he certainly does not copy him2 of literary dependence in a strict sense there is no sign4 ,the two appear1 rather1 to be parallel narratives1 drawing on a common stock of tradition1 which had already acquired by repetition1 whether oral or written1 a comparatively fixed form4 ,this common stock included traditions of different groups of tribes and of holy places in different parts of the land4 ,as might be supposed1 the tribes seated in central ,palestine1 with their kinsmen east of the ,jordan1 which constituted the strength of the kingdom of ,israel1 make the largest contribution2 ,judah with its allied clans in the south comes second4 ,in the treatment of the common tradition in ,j and ,e1 respectively1 local or national interests appear1 from which it is generally inferred that ,e was written in the ,northern ,kingdom 7,israel7 and ,j in the ,southern 7,judah74 ,the question of the age of these writings can be more profitably considered at a later stage of our inquiry4 ,the patriarchal history which begins with the migration of ,abraham1 ,gen4 #ab1 is preceded by what may be called the primeval history of mankind1 ,gen4 #a-aa4 ,in these chapters ,e is not represented1 and it seems probable that the ,israelite historian began his book with ,abraham4 ,the primeval history as we read it1 therefore1 is derived in part from ,j1 in part from ,p4 ,from ,j come ,gen4 ii4 #d;b-iv4 #be2 vi4 #a-h2 a part of the composite story of the ,flood 7vii4 #a-e1 #g-aj1 #ab1 #ag;b1 #bb-bc2 viii4 #f-ab1 #ac;b1 #bj-bb72 the sons of ,noah1 ix4 #ah-bg1 and part of the table of nations 7x4 #h-ai1 #ba1 #bd-cj72 the ,tower of ,babel 7xi4 #a-i74 ,these pieces do not form a literary unity1 and they give evidence1 as we should expect1 of diverse origin4 ,there are some among them which imply a continuous development of civilization1 unbroken by the catastrophe of the ,deluge1 and ,noah himself was originally an agricultural figure1 the first vine-dresser and maker of wine1 not the navigator of the ark4 ,the tradition which ascribes the invention of the arts of primitive civilization to descendants of ,cain 7,gen4 iv4 #ag-bd7 is obviously of different origin from the story of ,cain and ,abel4 ,closer inspection shows that the narrative of ,j in ,gen4 #a-aa is composed of two strands1 each having a consistency and continuity of its own1 and similar phenomena appear in subsequent parts of the history from ,genesis to ,samuel4 ,if these various elements are alike designated by the symbol ,j1 it is because they exhibit the peculiarities of conception and expression which characterize that work4 ,the ,god who walks for pleasure in his garden in the cool of the day1 misses his gardeners1 and finding that they have eaten the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge1 drives them out of the garden for fear they might also put out their hands to the tree whose fruit gives immortality1 or who comes down to see the tower the ,babylonian heaven-stormers are building1 and apprehending more presumptuous attempts from their success1 breaks up their concert by the ingenious device of making them talk different languages1 is plainly imagined in quite the same way as the ,god who visits ,abraham on his way to ,sodom or wrestles with ,jacob or tries to kill ,moses on the road to ,egypt4 ,even more primitive is the fragment1 ,gen4 vi4 #a-d1 telling how deities1 captivated by the charms of mortal women1 begot with them a mythical race of giants4 ,the ,deluge has long been known to be a ,babylonian myth1 which now forms an episode in a poem celebrating the exploits of a hero named ,gilgamesh4 ,but1 though preserving even such details of the ,babylonian original as the sending out of the birds1 the ,hebrew author has impressed upon it the stamp of his own religion1 effacing its polytheistic features1 and making the ,flood a just judgment on universal sinfulness2 while for the ,babylonian hero he substituted a figure of ,palestinian legend1 and shows his inland bringing-up by converting the ship into an enormous box4 ,it has frequently been assumed or asserted that others of these myths of the early world1 particularly the ,garden in ,eden and the ,tower of ,babel1 are also of ,babylonian origin1 but no parallels to them have as yet been discovered1 nor does internal evidence point that way4 ,the scenery in the ,garden in ,eden is nave enough1 but the problem of the myth is one which has exercised the minds of men through all time3 ,why is man mortal8 or1 as it is usually put in myths1 ,how did man fail of immortality8 ,two other persistent questions are here joined with it1 ,why has man to work so hard for a living8 and ,why must women bear children with pangs and peril8 ,the answer evinces a reflection of which we often think primitive philosophy incapable3 man aspired to a knowledge that ,god jealously kept to himself--he would not respect his limitations4 ,the third chief narrative source in the ,pentateuch1 commonly called the ,priestly ,history 7,p71 is of a different character from those which we have been examining4 ,a more descriptive title for it would be1 ,origins of the ,religious ,institutions of ,israel4 ,in the view of the author1 these institutions were successively ordained by ,god at certain epochs in the history of mankind and in connection with certain historical events2 these events he narrates as the occasion or ground of the institution1 which the subsequent observance recalls and commemorates4 ,these institutions were not all first revealed to ,israel and prescribed for it2 on the contrary1 the author has a theory of a progressive revelation of ,god's will1 beginning with the first man and woman1 and amplified from age to age by the addition to its contents of fresh ordinances1 while at the same time its extension gradually narrows1 until1 in the ,mosaic ,law1 it is addressed to the chosen people of ,israel alone4 ,the place of each new institution is therefore fixed not only in a chronological system but in the genealogical scheme of races and nations4 ,the genealogies which connect one epoch of revelation with the following one are thus not the bare bones of history1 stripped of its flesh and blood1 but serve a distinct and characteristic purpose4 ,the ,origins begin with the creation of the world 7,gen4 i4-ii4 #d71 and a comparison of this account with that of ,j in #b-c well illustrates the difference between the two sources4 ,the ,god of ,p is not one who fashions man and beast out of clay and breathes with his own lips into the work of his hands the breath of life2 he stands above and apart from the world1 and creates all things by fiat3 ,let there be light1 and there was light--so in sublime simplicity the formula runs4 ,the creative acts are six natural days3 ,evening came and morning came1 a first day4 ,and he rested 7kept sabbath7 on the seventh day from all his work which he had made4 ,and ,god blessed the seventh day and made it holy1 because on it he rested from all his creative work4 ,the ordinance of the sabbath thus has its origin and sanction in the creation itself1 and this is alleged in the ,decalogue 7,exod4 xx4 #aa7 as the motive for man's sabbath-keeping4 ,the ,flood gives occasion to the blessing of ,noah and his sons1 in which for the first time animal food is permitted--like many of the ancients1 ,p made the first men vegetarians--and with this licence is coupled a prohibition of flesh with blood in it and the sentence of ,god upon murder1 ,whoso sheddeth man's blood1 by man shall his blood be shed2 for in the image of ,god made he man4 ,these commandments1 given to ,noah1 are binding on all mankind1 his descendants4 ,the genealogies of the antediluvians connect the creation with the ,flood and serve also the chronology2 genealogies of the descendants of ,noah's sons follow1 the chronology attaching to the line of ,shem down to ,terah1 the father of ,abraham4 ,abraham's migration to ,canaan and the birth of ,ishmael are briefly told1 and then1 at large1 the covenant with ,abraham1 the promise of a son by ,sarah1 and the institution of circumcision1 which is an ordinance for all the ,abrahamic peoples1 the ,arab descendants of ,ishmael as well as the ,israelites and ,edomites sprung from ,isaac1 and for their slaves1 home-born or foreign4 ,the only other incident in ,abraham's life of which ,p gives a fuller account is the purchase from the sons of ,heth of the cave of ,macpelah1 the burial-place of the patriarchs2 meagre notices of marriages and deaths1 and tedious pedigrees take the place of the vivid stories of ,j and ,e4 ,the contrast is most striking in the case of ,joseph1 about whom we have from ,p only a few verses4 ,doubtless this is in part due to the fact that the author of the ,pentateuch preferred the richer narrative of his other sources1 but what is preserved of ,p shows clearly enough that his history of ,joseph1 even when complete1 was brief and dry4 ,the diction and style of ,p are very unlike that of ,j and ,e2 a favourable example of his manner is ,gen4 #ag4 ,even in a translation1 which necessarily obliterates much1 some of the author's peculiarities can be observed1 foremost among them a certain stiffness and a laborious circumstantiality1 which will be felt if ,gen4 xvi4 #a-b1 #d-h1 #aa-ad 7,j7 or xvi4 #h-ba 7,e7 be compared with c4 #ag 7,p74 ,in ,gen4 #a1 thanks to the subject1 this dry simplicity gives an impression of sublimity2 but in general1 narration is not the author's best gift4 ,on the other hand1 the conception of ,god1 as we have seen in ,gen4 #a1 is more elevated than in either of the other sources2 and in the little ,p tells of the patriarchs their deportment is unimpeachable4 ,,chapter ,v ,,exodus1 ,,leviticus1 ,,numbers ,in the early chapters of ,exodus the narrative is chiefly a combination of ,j and ,e2 the first considerable extract from ,p is ,exod4 vi4 #b-vii4 #ac1 recalling the covenant with ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and announcing its approaching fulfilment1 adding1 as the signature of the new epoch of the history now opening1 the revelation of the name ,god1 ,jehovah 7,jahveh71 which none of the patriarchs had known4 ,in the story of the plagues all three sources are interwoven2 a distinctive feature of ,p is that ,aaron with his wand1 under ,moses' direction1 brings the plagues to pass4 ,the announcement of the last plague is the occasion for ,p to introduce the ordinance of the ,passover4 ,the houses of the ,israelites are to be marked by the blood of the victim on the door-posts and lintel3 when ,jehovah passes through the land1 smiting dead all the first-born of the ,egyptians1 he will skip the houses so protected--thus the name of the feast is explained 7,exod4 xii4 #a-ac74 ,to this is annexed a law for the observance of the feast of ,unleavened ,bread1 which in ,palestine immediately followed the ,passover 7xii4 #ad-bj74 ,with the institution of the ,passover is connected also a change in the calendar3 henceforth the month of the vernal full moon 7,march-,april7 is to be the first of the year4 ,it was so in the ecclesiastical calendar of later times1 but the civil ,new ,year was1 and still is1 in the ,autumn4 ,all the strands of the triple narrative lead to a holy mountain in the desert 7,sinai in ,p and probably in ,j2 ,horeb in ,e and ,d71 the ,mount of ,god1 represented in all as the ancient seat of ,jehovah4 ,it was on this mountain that ,god appeared to ,moses and bade him return to ,egypt to deliver ,israel3 when he had brought the people out of ,egypt they should worship at this mountain4 ,thither1 therefore1 ,moses directs their way after crossing the ,red ,sea4 ,in all the sources ,god's presence is manifested by cloud and fire upon the mountain1 and ,moses goes to the summit to meet ,god 7,exod4 #ai1 ,j1 ,e2 xxiv4 #ae;b-#ah;a1 ,p74 ,these imposing preparations portend a revelation of no common moment2 and the whole situation bids us expect the organic law of the religion of ,jehovah1 the things which he requires of his worshippers4 ,we find1 in fact1 in each of the three sources at this point larger or smaller groups of laws purporting to be delivered to ,moses at the holy mountain1 and containing what may be regarded as fundamental institutions4 ,these bodies of law are1 however1 very different2 the problem of their relation to one another and to the narratives is extremely difficult1 and the parallel account of the legislation at ,horeb in ,deut4 #e adds another element to the complication4 ,if the reader will attentively compare ,exod4 #bj2 #ba-bc2 #bd2 ,deut4 #e2 ix4 #h-x4 #e2 and ,exod4 #cd1 he will get some impression of the nature of the difficulties4 ,according to ,deut4 v4 #bb1 the ,decalogue 7,deut4 v4 #f-ba2 ,exod4 xx4 #a-ag1 with noteworthy variants7 was the law written on the two tables of stone by the hand of ,god which ,moses dashed down and shattered when he saw the people wantoning around the golden calf 7,exod4 xxxii4 #ai74 ,god proposes to reproduce the law on two new tablets 7xxxiv4 #a71 but the ,decalogue 7xxxiv4 #bh7 written on these tablets 7xxxiv4 #ad-bf7 is wholly different from that of ,exod4 #bj1 being not a compend of moral law1 but prescriptions for the festivals and ritual rules1 whereas ,deut4 ix4 #h-x4 #e says in so many words that it was the ,decalogue of v4 #f-ba which was restored4 ,it is impossible to discuss these problems here4 ,it must suffice to say that they arise in part from the attempt to harmonize radically different representations of what the fundamental law given at ,sinai 7or ,horeb7 was1 in part from the tendency of later times to ascribe to the original ,mosaic legislation the whole body of actual law regarded as having a religious sanction4 ,to the latter cause we may without hesitation attribute1 for example1 the introduction of the fragmentary remains of a ,palestinian civil code in ,exod4 #ba-bb1 to which other remnants of diverse origin have been attached1 as well as the great mass of ritual and ceremonial laws which are thrust into the framework of ,p4 ,the fundamental law of ,j1 the basis of the original compact between ,jehovah and ,israel1 is preserved in ,exod4 xxxiv4 #a-e1 #aj;a1 #ad-bh 7with some manifest amplifications in vss4 #ae1 #af1 #bd74 ,when this was combined with the story of the golden calf and the broken tables 7,e71 it was necessary to take it as a renewal of the law1 and this was accomplished by very slight additions in vss4 #a and #d 7like unto the first1 that were on the first tables1 which thou brakest74 ,what the ,horeb constitution in ,e originally was1 is less confidently to be determined4 ,in the form in which ,e was read by the authors of ,deut4 #e and of ix4 #h-x4 #e 7end of the seventh century or later71 it was the ,decalogue only 7,deut4 v4 #bb f472 but it is not certain that this was the oldest representation4 ,there are other evidences that ,e was revised and enlarged in the seventh century by an author who was influenced by the prophets1 particularly by ,hosea2 and the story of the golden calf 7with which the ,decalogue narrative is closely connected71 a condemnation in advance of the ,israelite worship of ,jehovah in the image of a bull1 may have been introduced in this edition1 as the repudiation of the sacrifice of children to ,jehovah in the story of ,abraham and ,isaac 7,gen4 #bb7 probably was4 ,in ,p the case is clearer4 ,according to his theory all the ordinances of worship were revealed at ,sinai4 ,legitimate sacrifice presupposes one legitimate temple and altar1 a legitimate priesthood1 and a minutely prescribed ritual4 ,in ,j and ,e the patriarchs set up altars and offer sacrifice in many places2 it is an obvious interest of the authors1 or of the local legends of holy places which they follow1 to trace the origin of the altars1 sacred stones1 holy trees and wells1 at ,shechem or ,bethel1 ,hebron or ,beersheba1 to one of the forefathers4 ,in ,p1 on the contrary1 the patriarchs never offer sacrifice4 ,until the tabernacle was erected and ,god's presence filled it1 until ,aaron was consecrated as priest1 until the technique of the various species of offering had been revealed by ,god and exemplified by ,moses or ,aaron1 no sacrifice could be anything but impious1 like the worship of heathen4 ,accordingly1 the first thing ,god does when ,moses goes up into the mount is to give him plans and specifications for a sacred tent--a portable temple--with all its furniture1 an altar for sacrifice in the court before it1 the vestments of the priests1 and the apparatus of the high-priestly oracle1 and to reveal in detail the ritual for the consecration of priests 7,exod4 #be-cj74 ,the making of the tabernacle and all the other things necessary for the complete cultus is described in ,exod4 #ce-dj2 the consecration of the priests and the inaugural sacrifices by ,aaron in ,lev4 #h-i2 ,lev4 x4 #a-g is closely connected with cc4 #h-i1 and its sequel 7combined with other matter7 is found in c4 #af1 the ritual of atonement4 ,lev4 #h-i is a good specimen of the author's method4 ,in the form of a description of the sacrifices of consecration and the inaugural sacrifices of ,aaron1 he gives a paradigm for every variety of offering4 ,here was obviously a natural place to introduce laws prescribing the ritual of these species of sacrifice and the circumstances which demand them1 and accordingly we find in ,lev4 #a-g a collection of such laws1 some of them 7e4g4 ,lev4 #a and #c7 unquestionably old both in substance and formulation1 with slight adaptation to their surrounding 7e4g4 the sons of ,aaron1 i4 #e1 etc471 or with supplements to meet new economic and social conditions1 such as the burnt offering of doves 7,lev4 i4 #ad-ag1 cf4 vs4 #b72 others are younger or have been more extensively enlarged and amended4 ,the chapters thus represent a growth in actual custom and corresponding rule4 ,in c4 #d we may observe an example of another kind of legal growth1 namely1 the systematic development of principles or ideas4 ,the scale of sin-offerings1 graduated by the social station of the sinner--the high priest1 the whole people1 the prince1 a common citizen--is consistently thought out in conformity with a theory4 ,observe that the prince is assigned a modest place next the bottom1 below the religious community corporately1 while the priest takes his at the top4 ,we can say with full confidence that this elaborate ritual is not the booking of usage1 but is a product of sacerdotal theory2 and1 further1 that so long as kings reigned1 the most high-church ecclesiastic is not likely to have arrogated so much to himself1 or1 at least1 to have proclaimed his ambitions4 ,only in days when1 under foreign governors1 the high priest was really the greatest man in the community is such a table of precedence conceivable4 ,whether even then this law was actually put in operation1 may be an open question4 ,the position of the sacrificial laws1 ,lev4 #a-g1 explains itself1 as has been said4 ,in many other cases1 however1 we see no reason why a subject is brought in where it is4 ,thus1 ,lev4 #aa-ae1 on various forms of uncleanness and the prescribed purifications1 to which x4 #aj f4 seems to be a fragmentary introduction1 have no obvious association with anything in the context1 though they are introduced appropriately enough before the general purification of the ,day of ,atonement1 c4 #af4 ,the laws1 which read like the chapters of an exactly formulated code of purity1 have been expanded by the addition of new paragraphs 7e4g4 ,lev4 xiv4 #ba-cb1 #cc-ec71 and in some cases changes in the ritual may be recognized2 compare1 for example1 ,lev4 xiv4 #a-h with vss4 #aj-bj4 ,chapters #ag-bf form a distinct body of law1 having certain marked peculiarities of its own1 notably the frequent recurrence of the motive of holiness--that is1 the avoidance of things and actions tabooed by the religion of ,israel--often coupled with the appeal to ,god's holiness1 as in xix4 #b1 ,ye shall be holy1 for ,i1 ,jehovah1 your ,god1 am holy1 or simply asserting his authority1 ,i am ,jehovah4 ,on the other hand1 much in the laws of this ,holiness ,book 7,h71 as it now stands1 has close affinity to the mass of ritual and ceremonial laws in ,leviticus and ,numbers4 ,the hypothesis which seems best to explain the phenomena is that an independent collection of laws 7or rather the remains of such a collection71 characterized by the motive of holiness1 has been expanded and edited in the spirit and manner of the priestly legislation1 while some laws which were originally included in this collection have been transposed to other contexts4 ,the ,holiness ,book closed with an earnest exhortation and warning to observe all these laws1 promising the blessing of ,god on obedience and depicting in strong colours the calamities with which he will punish defection 7,lev4 #bf74 ,the position and prophetic tenour of this chapter resemble ,deut4 #bh1 and the book in its original form is apparently the product of the same age with ,deuteronomy4 ,the ,origins 7,p7 described in ,exod4 #bh f4 and ,lev4 #h f4 the choice of ,aaron and his sons to be priests and their installation in the sacred office4 ,the inferior order of the ministry of the sanctuary1 the levites1 is not as yet instituted4 ,this is done in ,numbers1 and indeed with a certain redundancy1 for ,num4 #c and #d independently deal with the subject1 and c4 #ah takes it up afresh without any allusion to a previous appointment4 ,much stress is laid on the exclusive prerogative of ,aaron and his sons in the service of the altar and the ministry within the veil2 no levite1 much less a layman1 may presume to these sacred functions on pain of death4 ,the levites are given to ,aaron and his sons as temple slaves for the menial work of the sanctuary1 in place of the first-born ,israelites of all tribes who would naturally be dedicated to ,god1 i4e4 to the temple4 ,yet1 as ministers of religion1 they are supported by a general tithe of the products of the soil imposed on all the people4 ,the laws in ,numbers present the same variety as in ,leviticus4 ,there are old laws with modifications and enlargements1 and many others which by various signs betray a more recent origin4 ,num4 #bh-cf belong as a whole to the latter class2 cc4 #bh f4 exemplify that growth of the law by the formulation of sacerdotal ideals or desiderata which has been noted in the case of ,lev4 #d4 ,it is to be observed that the narrative of ,p has reached in ,num4 xxvii4 #ab-bc the end of ,moses' career2 nothing is in place after it but the ascent of ,mt4 ,abarim and ,moses' death 7,deut4 #cd74 ,num4 #bh-cf thus stand even formally in the place of an appendix4 ,the narrative of ,p 7,origin of the ,religious ,institutions7 and the great mass of ritual and ceremonial laws in the three middle books of the ,pentateuch are often called collectively the ,priests' ,code4 ,the name naturally suggests to the ,english reader an orderly body of law1 compiled1 revised1 and promulgated by some authority2 and1 in fact1 many critics--except for the orderliness1 which nobody has ventured to affirm1 and with allowance for later additions--regard the ,priests' ,code as such a law book1 compiled and edited by priestly scribes in ,babylonia1 brought to ,juda by ,ezra1 with the authority of the ,persian king1 to reform the many disorders that existed there1 and ratified and put in force in ,b4,c4 #ddd by the magnates and the people of the ,jews4 7,see ,ezra #g2 ,neh4 #h-aj1 and below1 pp4 #abi ff47 ,internal evidence of such an origin and destination is1 however1 sought in vain in the laws2 the things that ,ezra and ,nehemiah were most zealous about1 especially the veto on mixed marriages1 do not stand out in the so-called ,priests' ,code as they do in other parts of the law1 while about a reform of the cultus in ,jerusalem in conformity with a new ritual introduced from ,babylonia1 the story of ,ezra's doings is significantly silent4 ,the phenomena we have observed in ,exodus-,numbers suggest the hypothesis1 rather1 that various old laws1 dealing chiefly with sacrifice and with the rules of clean and unclean--the two principal subjects of priestly regulation--were inserted at suitable points in the ,origins of the ,religious ,institutions 7,p72 these received amendments and supplements both before and after their incorporation2 other more independent developments1 whether representing actual custom or sacerdotal aspirations1 found place among or beside them2 and thus the whole ,priestly stratum grew by a process of accretion through many generations into its present inorganic magnitude4 ,it is antecedently probable that this process went on in ,palestine1 where the ritual laws were a practical concern1 rather than in the schools of ,babylonia2 and only strong evidence to the contrary could overcome this presumption4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,deuteronomy ,deuteronomy purports to contain the laws under which ,israel is to live in the land of ,canaan4 ,it deals with the conditions of an agricultural people1 settled in towns and villages1 in the presence of a native population to the contamination of whose religion and morals the ,israelites are exposed4 ,this legislation was revealed to ,moses at ,horeb 7,deut4 v4 #bh-cc71 but1 inasmuch as it was not to go into effect until ,israel was established in the possession of ,canaan1 being in fact wholly inapplicable to nomadic conditions--a consideration of which ,p1 in its code of worship1 is oblivious--it was not promulgated till the moment when the people1 encamped opposite ,jericho1 was on the point of invading ,palestine4 ,then the aged ,moses1 about to lay down his office and his life1 delivers to the people1 in national assembly1 the law by which they are in future to be governed1 and adds his most urgent injunctions and solemn warnings to be faithful to their religion and the law of their ,god4 ,the book is thus almost wholly in the form of address1 and the hortatory note is insistent4 ,as an introduction1 ,moses briefly recalls the history of the wanderings1 from ,horeb on1 impressing at every turn the lessons of their experience 7,deut4 #a-c72 the material is taken chiefly from ,e's narrative1 which it was intended to supersede in an independent ,book of ,deuteronomy4 ,there follows a hortatory discourse 7iv4 #a-dj71 closely akin to cc4 #bi-cj4 ,the last acts and the death of ,moses are narrated in confused fashion in c4 #ca2 xxxii4 #dh-eb2 #cd4 ,the ,song of ,moses 7c4 #cb71 and the ,blessing of ,moses 7c4 #cc71 are apparently independent compositions which have been given an appropriate place at the end of the book4 ,the core of ,deuteronomy is cc4 #e-aa2 #ab-bf2 #bh4 ,speaking generally1 the first part 7cc4 #e-aa7 expounds the fundamental principles of religion1 while the second 7cc4 #ab-bf7 contains special laws1 and1 as a fitting and effective conclusion of the whole1 c4 #bh sets forth the blessings which ,god will bestow on ,israel if it keeps his commandments1 and the curses it will incur by unfaithfulness and disobedience4 ,the special laws1 particularly in ,deut4 #bb ff41 are similar in character to those in ,exod4 #ba-bc and in ,lev4 #ag-be1 and doubtless embody in the main ancient custom2 but beside them are provisions of a singularly ,utopian kind1 such as those on the conduct of war in c4 #bj and the septennial cancelling of all debts 7xv4 #a-aa74 ,the conception of religion which dominates the whole book1 but is most conspicuous in cc4 #e-aa1 is the highest in the ,old ,testament4 ,there is but one ,god1 supreme in might and majesty1 constant in purpose1 faithful to his word1 just but compassionate2 he is not to be imaged or imagined in the likeness of anything in heaven or on earth2 idolatry1 divination1 and sorcery are strictly forbidden4 ,the essence of religion is love 7,deut4 vi4 #d71 the love of ,god to his people and their responsive love to him is the ruling motive in worship and conduct4 ,in the relations of men to their fellows1 whether countrymen or strangers and to the brute creation1 humanity and charity are the prime virtues2 the ,utopian features of the laws are such only because they push the ideal of humanity too hard for unideal human nature4 ,what is most characteristic in the ,deuteronomic legislation1 the thing on which it dwells with insistent iteration1 is that ,jehovah will be worshipped only at one place1 to be chosen by himself in the territory of one of the tribes4 ,there all sacrifices must be offered1 all festivals celebrated4 ,at the head of the special laws this fundamental article is repeatedly laid down 7,deut4 xii4 #ac-ai--seemingly the oldest formulation--xii4 #b-g1 #h-ab1 #bj-bg71 and it recurs in connection with the laws concerning the disposition of ,god's share in man's increase 7tithes1 firstlings1 etc47 and the annual festivals 7,passover1 ,tabernacles74 ,this was an innovation which dislocated the whole system of religious observances1 and the ,deuteronomic legislation had to provide for the direct and indirect consequences of so radical a change4 ,by ancient custom the religious dues were rendered and sacrifices offered at the village altars 7high places71 and there also the festivals were kept which marked the seasons of the husbandman's year2 beside the altar1 with a simple religious rite1 domestic animals were slaughtered whenever hospitality or a family festival gave occasion4 ,if a man visited a more renowned sanctuary at a distance from his home1 he did it of his own accord and in his own time and way4 ,the feasts at the village altars1 at which custom prescribed open hospitality1 were a godsend to the poor of the community1 many of whom would else seldom have tasted flesh or eaten their fill4 ,the ,deuteronomic law licenses the slaughter of animals at home without any religious rite1 and introduces a plan of charity tithes to replace the hospitality of the altar4 ,its concern for the levites 7that is1 the priests of the local sanctuaries71 who by the new arrangement were left without a livelihood1 is also to be noted4 ,the motives for this radical change in immemorial religious custom are characteristic4 ,in the first place1 the high places had been seats of ,canaanite worship before they were taken possession of by the ,israelites1 and not only did the stigma of aboriginal heathenism cling to them1 but1 in fact1 many heathenish doings were perpetuated at them--drunken debauches and consecrated prostitution4 ,but1 further1 their existence seemed to be incompatible with strict monotheism3 the many gods were worshipped in many places2 the one ,god seemed to have as corollary one place of worship4 ,as a matter of experience1 the localizing of ,jehovah at numerous sanctuaries--,dan1 ,bethel1 ,gilgal1 ,beersheba--with their distinctive traditions and local peculiarities of ritual1 doubtless did result1 for the apprehension of the common man1 in making a local ,jehovah1 as happens to the ,virgin and the ,saints in ,catholic countries4 ,for the ,deuteronomist this was only another kind of polytheism3 ,hear1 ,o ,israel1 ,jehovah1 our ,god1 is one ,jehovah6 ,deuteronomy is1 therefore1 the programme of a reform4 ,fortunately1 we know how this programme was put in execution2 the history of it is written in #b ,kings #bb-bc4 ,in the course of some repairs in the temple in ,jerusalem1 a law book turned up1 the reading of which threw ,king ,josiah and his advisers into consternation4 ,after taking counsel of a prophetess1 an assembly was convoked1 and the book publicly ratified by the notables and the people as the law of the realm4 ,thereupon the king proceeded to put the code in force4 ,he not only cleaned house in the temple in ,jerusalem1 where a miscellany of foreign gods and cults was installed1 but he destroyed and desecrated all the high places1 that is1 the immemorial seats of the worship of ,jehovah in the towns and villages of his kingdom1 pulling the altars to pieces1 smashing the stone pillars1 hewing down the sacred poles1 and forcibly carrying off the priests 7levites7 to ,jerusalem1 where he assigned them a living from the income of the temple1 but--in his zeal going beyond the law of ,deut4 xviii4 #f-h--;excluded them from sacrificial functions4 ,it was seen long ago by some of the ,church ,fathers that the law book which ,hilkiah found and ,josiah enforced can have been no other than ,deuteronomy4 ,the historian of the kingdoms1 writing after the reforms of ,josiah and the following reaction and believing that the prohibition of worship at the high places had been binding since the building of ,solomon's temple1 is at pains to say that none of the kings from ,solomon to ,josiah1 not even those to whom otherwise he gives the best mark for piety1 had paid any attention to this law1 with the sole exception of a brief attempt by ,hezekiah4 ,we can go further1 and say that none of the older historians and none of the prophets of the ninth and eighth centuries show any acquaintance with such a prohibition4 ,if the prophets assail the worship at the high places1 as ,hosea does1 it is on the ground that it is heathenish and immoral1 not that it is illegitimate2 if ,hosea condemns the pilgrimages to ,gilgal and ,beersheba1 it is not implied that it would be better to go to ,jerusalem2 nor1 indeed1 is any condemnation of the worship at the high places more drastic than ,isaiah's of the cultus in ,jerusalem4 ,before the latter part of the seventh century there is no thought that ,jehovah has such an exclusive preference for ,solomon's temple4 ,all the other evidence in ,deuteronomy points to the same age4 ,its conception of ,god and of religion is derived from the prophets of the eighth century4 ,the influence of ,hosea is particularly plain3 that the essence of religion is love is ,hosea's idea1 if there is such a thing as originality in religion4 ,the language and style of ,deuteronomy are of the seventh century1 in its excellences and in its defects2 ,jeremiah and the author of ,kings have the closest resemblance to it in its rhetorical manner and in its peculiar pathos4 ,on these grounds1 since the latter part of the eighteenth century1 an increasing number of scholars have held that the book was written in the second half of the seventh century for the purpose of bringing about a revolution such as actually followed its well-timed discovery2 and this is now the opinion of almost all who admit that the common principles of historical criticism are applicable to ,biblical literature4 ,deuteronomy is not all of one piece1 as has already been pointed out4 ,many older laws were taken up into it at the beginning or introduced subsequently2 considerable additions were made to it after ,josiah's time1 and even after the fall of ,judah1 for in several passages that catastrophe and the dispersion of the people are an accomplished fact1 an existing situation4 ,it is only the reform programme and what hangs together with it that can be definitely dated4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,age ,,of ,,the ,,sources1 ,,composition ,,of ,,the ,,pentateuch ,deuteronomy is a fixed point1 by reference to which the age of other strata in the ,pentateuch may be determined1 at least relatively4 ,thus in ,p the patriarchs never offer sacrifice at the ancient holy places of ,canaan1 and the notion that legitimate sacrifice can be made only on one altar is so fundamental an article of religion that the first thing at ,sinai is the construction of the tabernacle to be transported from one station to another in the desert4 ,the inference is plain that ,p was written at a time when the principle of the unity of the sanctuary for which ,deuteronomy contends with the zeal of innovation was no longer disputed1 at least in the author's surroundings1 so that he has no need to enjoin it1 and can1 indeed1 ignore the fact that there ever had been other sanctuaries of ,jehovah4 ,such a state of things never existed while the kingdom stood2 it was only in the ,persian period1 when ,juda was reduced to a circle of a few miles about ,jerusalem1 that the conditions implied in ,p arose4 ,only in that age1 through political circumstances1 did the high priests attain the pre-eminence to which ,p gives the sanction of divine right2 and ,p itself not obscurely witnesses that these towering pretensions did not go unchallenged 7see especially ,num4 #af74 ,with this all the other evidence concurs3 the supramundane conception of ,god and the avoidance of everything that seems to bring the deity into too close contact with earthly things or tempts the imagination to figure him too humanly speak of the progress of theological reflection4 ,the language is plainly in decadence3 apart from words which seem to be new1 and occasionally foreign1 the sentence is losing its flexibility1 or authors are losing their mastery of it2 it is only necessary to compare even the best passages in ,p 7such as ,gen4 #bc7 with examples of really classical ,hebrew prose 7say1 in #b ,sam4 #aa ff4 or the stories of ,elijah in ,kings71 on the one hand1 and with the writing of the ,chronicler 7third century ,b4,c471 on the other1 to see that ,p is nearer to the latter than to the former4 ,the age of the laws now set in the framework of the ,origins is a distinct question1 or rather1 as will be understood from what has been said above1 it is a separate question for every law1 and often for successive paragraphs of the same law4 ,and behind the question of the age of the law in its present formulation is frequently the remoter problem of the age of the institution or custom4 ,various criteria are available in the history of the ,kingdoms1 in the prophets1 in other collections of laws1 and in ,ezekiel's programme for the ,new ,jerusalem 7,ezek4 #dj ff474 ,it must be enough here to say that the older laws in ,p go back1 substantially in their present shape1 to the days of the kingdom1 and in many cases represent a prescriptive usage which is of remote antiquity2 while the latest additions to ,p were made at a time so recent that they had not found entry into the copies from which the earliest ,greek version was made in the third century ,b4,c4 ,j and ,e are both older than ,deuteronomy4 ,in ,genesis1 as has already been noted1 they recite the foundation legends of ,shechem1 ,bethel1 ,hebron1 ,beersheba1 and other of the holy places of ,canaan1 telling how the patriarchs built the altars1 set up the sacred stones1 planted the sacred trees1 dug the holy wells1 and offered sacrifice to their own ,god at these spots1 by this origin legitimating as ,israelite sanctuaries what were1 at the time of the conquest and long after1 ,canaanite high places4 ,similarly1 in ,joshua1 ,gilgal and ,shiloh are ,israelite foundations4 ,these were all1 in the time of the kingdoms1 holy places of great repute1 frequented by pilgrims from distant quarters2 but there were others1 of less ancient pretensions1 which attained equal celebrity4 ,dan1 for instance1 which came into the hands of the ,israelites in the time of the ,judges1 claimed a priesthood descended from ,moses1 and became proverbial for the tenacity with which the good old traditions of ,israel were preserved there4 ,the narratives in ,judges1 ,samuel1 and ,kings show that every town and village had its own holy place1 with an altar and a sacred stone1 and sometimes a hall for feasts 7e4g4 #a ,sam4 ix4 #bb71 and that temporary altars were built whenever and wherever there was reason4 ,this practice is presumed in an ancient fragment of a law1 ,exod4 xx4 #bd-bf1 which prescribes that all offerings must be made at an altar1 which may be a mound of earth or a heap of field-stones 7not hewn stone71 and promises that at every place where ,god has given signs of his presence he will come to the sacrifice and bless the offerer4 ,this rule1 which probably originally stood in the context of ,j1 expressly sanctions the local altars and sacrifices which are so abhorrent to the deuteronomic reformers of the seventh century4 ,on the other hand1 the strong interest in the origins of the holy places of ,canaan indicates that when ,j and ,e were written these high places were ,israelite sanctuaries1 which had as such their sacred legends2 indeed1 a considerable part of the patriarchal stories is ultimately derived from these legends of local sanctuaries1 which form a cycle1 harmonized and connected by a migration motive4 ,that both ,j and ,e were written long after the settlement of the ,israelites in ,palestine is proved even more conclusively by the fact that the obligatory religious observances are those of an agricultural people4 ,thus in ,exod4 #cd1 in what was probably according to ,j the organic law of the religion of ,jehovah1 and is indisputably the oldest collection of religious laws in the ,pentateuch1 three festivals are ordained1 at which every male is bound to see the face of ,jehovah1 that is1 to appear at the high place with his offering--he is warned not to try to see ,jehovah without something in his hands--namely1 the ,feast of ,unleavened ,bread1 the ,feast of ,weeks1#b and the ,feast of ,ingathering in the end of the year4 ,the first of these1 as we know1 came at the beginning of the barley harvest1 at the second the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented1 the third celebrated the close of the vintage and the olive-pressing4 ,the firstlings of the flock and herd1 if we may infer from the order of the prescriptions1 were to be offered at the feast of ,unleavened ,bread in the ,spring4 ,the sabbath is to be kept as a day of abstention from agricultural labour1 even in ploughing-time and harvest thou shalt rest4 ,the occupations of a nomad go on one day like another2 the care of the flocks cannot be suspended for sabbath-keeping4 #b ,the older name1 ,harvest ,feast1 is preserved in the parallel1 ,exod4 xxiii4 #af4 ,it is difficult to reconstruct the narratives of the exodus and the wanderings in the desert in ,j and ,e as they originally were4 ,extensive transpositions seem to have been made at some stage in the transmission1 by which parallel relations of the same occurrence are separated and appear as distinct events4 ,there were evidently considerable differences in the traditional accounts which the earliest authors found current4 ,the holy mountain is in ,e named ,horeb1 in ,j 7probably7 as in ,p1 ,sinai2 ,moses' father-in-law in the one is ,jethro1 in the other ,hobab4 ,in ,j there are some traces of a tradition1 perhaps the oldest of all1 in which there was no mention of ,sinai2 the ,israelites made their way straight from the ,red ,sea to ,kadesh4 ,a comparison of ,j and ,e with the history of the times of ,saul and ,david in ,samuel1 and with the stories of ,elijah and ,elisha in ,kings1 would lead us to ascribe them both to the classic age of ,hebrew prose of which those narratives are specimens4 ,on the other hand1 in ,j and the older stratum of ,e there is no influence of the prophetic movement of the eighth century which left so deep a mark on religion and literature4 ,on these grounds ,j may be probably ascribed to the ninth century1 and ,e1 which is somewhat younger1 to the first half of the eighth4 ,both used older sources1 and both were revised and enlarged by later hands2 we have had more than one occasion to refer to an edition of ,e which reflects the teaching of the prophets1 particularly of ,hosea4 ,these two histories--the one1 as we have seen1 ,judan1 the other ,israelite--ran so nearly parallel and contained so much matter in common that an attempt to combine them in one continuous narrative was natural4 ,the task was accomplished with considerable skill1 by a ,judan historian in the seventh century1 who probably introduced variants or supplementary matter from other sources4 ,the author's own hand is most certainly recognized in the multiplied and emphasized warnings against all sorts of heathenism and in a fine tone of religious reflection on the history and its lessons1 in which the influence of the prophets is plainly visible1 but the peculiar theories of the seventh century historians do not appear4 ,whether this history 7,,je7 extended beyond the ,book of ,joshua1 and if so where it ended1 are questions which must be reserved for later consideration4 ,it is the general opinion that the next stage in the growth of the ,hexateuch 7,genesis-,joshua7 was the inclusion in a new edition of ,,je of the ,book of ,deuteronomy in the form and dimensions which it had attained in the generation after the fall of ,judah2 and1 perhaps in connection with this1 the history of the conquest in ,joshua as narrated in ,,je was recast and much enlarged by an author who was full of the ideas and phrases of ,deuteronomy4 ,at a considerably later time1 perhaps in the fifth century ,b4,c41 or even in the fourth1 the ,origins of the ,religious ,institutions1 a product of the ,persian period1 with the mass of laws that had been incorporated in it 7see above p4 #eg71 was united with ,,jed1 thus bringing together into one volume all that was preserved about the history down to the conquest of ,canaan and all the various institutions and collections of laws which were attributed to ,moses4 ,the author of this comprehensive work1 as was most natural1 took ,p1 with its sharply marked divisions and outstanding epochs1 as his basis1 and introduced in each period the parts of ,,je which seemed to him to belong there4 ,where ,p had a parallel narrative1 as in the story of the ,flood1 he wove the strands together with more or less ingenuity1 omitting1 in ordinary cases1 only the most palpable doublets4 ,it is possible that the same author first incorporated in ,p a large part of the so-called priestly laws2 it is more certain that1 besides the harmonistic changes necessary in combining his sources1 he made numerous additions2 but there is usually no way of distinguishing his hand from that of earlier or of still later editors4 ,this hypothesis1 which1 for all its seeming complexity1 is doubtless a great simplification of the actual literary history1 is accepted by the majority of ,old ,testament scholars--with many variations in particulars1 it need hardly be said4 ,it is commended to the historian1 not merely by the fact that it explains the confusion and contradiction which reign in the ,pentateuch and offers a solution of its literary problems1 but that1 when the sources are distinguished and reconstructed and their age and relations determined1 they become historical sources of great value for the times in which they were respectively written1 confirming1 supplementing1 or interpreting the evidence of the historical books and the prophets1 and contributing important material of various kinds to our knowledge of civilization in ancient ,israel and of its religious development4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,joshua ,in all the sources of the ,pentateuch the possession of ,canaan is the goal toward which the whole history moves1 from the call of ,abraham to the last exhortations of ,moses in the plains of ,moab1 and they must all have narrated1 however briefly1 the occupation of the country4 ,the history of the conquest and division of ,canaan is the subject of the ,book of ,joshua4 ,the author has evidently derived his material from diverse sources1 and it is reasonable to expect to find among them the continuation of the chief sources of the ,pentateuch4 ,this expectation is verified2 it is not difficult to recognize in some places the sequel of the preceding narratives1 and other passages which on internal grounds may confidently be ascribed to one or the other of them4 ,but the attempt to analyze the book discovers at once the fact that the problem is different from that in ,genesis to ,numbers4 ,the author of the ,pentateuch had two chief narrative sources1 a history compiled probably in the first half of the seventh century and in any case pre-,deuteronomic1 which from its two principal strands is commonly designated by the symbol ,,je1 and the history of the religious institutions 7,p71 probably of the fifth century4 ,the author of ,joshua had for his sources1 besides the continuation of ,p1 a history of the conquest by a writer belonging to what is not inaptly called the deuteronomist school of historians1 whose thought and style are moulded by those of ,deuteronomy4 ,in cc4 #a-ab the author of ,joshua follows this source almost exclusively1 only here and there introducing a passage from the post-exilic narrative 7e4g4 ,jos4 v4 #aj-ab72 in cc4 #ac-bd1 on the other hand1 the allotment of the tribal territories and the assignment of cities in these territories to the levites and the priests1 are chiefly from the later work4 ,inasmuch as the style of the deuteronomist and of the priestly writers is characteristically different1 the rough analysis is here comparatively easy1 nor is it ordinarily difficult to recognize the brief passages which are incorporated from the older sources2 but1 as in the ,pentateuch1 the discrimination of the original contents of the priestly source from subsequent expansions and from the hand of the author of ,joshua himself is frequently very uncertain4 ,here also additions were made by editors at a still later time1 some of which are not found in the ,greek version4 ,a different and much more difficult problem is presented by ,jos4 #a-ab1 the problem1 namely1 of the sources of the deuteronomist history4 ,the duplication of the narrative is very plain in the story of ,jericho 7,jos4 #f74 ,one account told how the ,israelites marched around the city once each day for seven days in ominous silence2 on the seventh day1 at ,joshua's command1 they broke out in the war-cry1 and rushing upon the city from every side1 took it by storm1 and put every living thing in it to the sword1 sparing only ,rahab the harlot and her household4 ,in the parallel narrative a religious procession1 the priests bearing the ark in the midst1 compassed the city seven times2 on the last circuit the priests blew a fanfare on their ram's horns1 at which the walls fell flat to the ground1 and the ,israelites1 after bringing ,rahab to a place of safety1 burnt the city with fire4 ,editors or scribes who were particularly edified by the horn-blowing start it prematurely in vs4 #h f41 #ac1 and have tried to improve on the story in other places4 ,the second version shows the same inclination to glorify the divine interventions by giving them a magical form which has been remarked in ,e's account of the deliverance at the ,red ,sea1 while the simpler story of the unexpected assault--to which there is a close parallel in a ,roman hand-book of military stratagems--resembles in its naturalness ,j's account of the crossing of the sea4 ,both sources tell of the rescue of ,rahab1 and thus presuppose some such story as we find in ,jos4 #b1 where1 again1 duplication is evident4 ,the interdict on the spoils of ,jericho 7vi4 #ag1 ,j71 is the antecedent to the story of ,achan1 whose appropriation of a part of the spoil is the cause of the repulse at ,ai 7c4 #g71 and thus the clues can be followed backward and forward4 ,the chief source in c4 #h 7the taking of ,ai7 and c4 #i 7ruse of the ,gibeonites7 also is ,j1 with which the parallel account of ,e is combined2 additions by later hands are recognizable1 the most remarkable being viii4 #cj-ce 7cf4 ,deut4 xxvii4 #a-h1 #ab74 ,in the history of the two campaigns by which the allied kings of the south and of the north respectively were annihilated 7,jos4 #aj and #aa7 both sources appear4 ,a considerable part of these chapters1 however1 is the work of the deuteronomist author1 especially the summary of the conquests1 cc4 x4 #bh-dc2 xi4 #aj-bc4 ,chapter #ab1 which for completeness goes over the conquests east of the ,jordan also1 is dependent on ,deut4 #c2 ,jos4 xiii4 #b-f 7the territories remaining to be conquered7 is of the same sort and probably by the same hand4 ,it seems1 therefore1 that both ,j and ,e related the crossing of the ,jordan1 the taking of ,jericho and the operations against ,ai1 and1 further1 the wars with the confederate kings4 ,in these narratives ,israel1 from its standing camp at ,gilgal1 invades the country as one great army under the command of ,joshua2 the deuteronomist author represents them as exterminating the native population root and branch1 they left not a soul alive4 ,there are1 however1 scattered here and there through the text1 fragments of a very different story 7xiii4 #ac2 xv4 #ac-ai1 #fc2 xvii4 #aa-ac1 #ad-ah2 xix4 #dg71 most of which are also found continuously in ,judg4 #a4 ,according to this account1 the ,israelite tribes invaded the country separately or in small groups2 their success varied in different regions1 but everywhere the walled cities remained in the possession of their old inhabitants2 in some quarters the ,israelites became subject to the ,canaanites1 in others they in time reduced them to subjection4 ,this account may not embody a historical tradition--it could perfectly well have arisen by inference from the actual situation at the beginning of the kingdom--but it is at least in a broad sense historical4 ,the case illustrates in an instructive way the fact that the oldest literary sources of the history which we can recover had themselves diverse and sometimes contradictory sources in tradition4 ,in the ,pentateuch it is well established that ,j and ,e had been combined by a historian of the prophetic period 7,,je71 though there is evidence that the separate works continued to circulate4 ,in ,joshua1 also1 it is probable that the deuteronomist historian used the composite ,,je1 and that the harmonizing of these sources and some of the religious improvement which runs along with it is the work of his predecessor who combined the two sources4 ,it seems that ,p also had ,e independently1 and it is certain that later editors of the deuteronomist school added their contributions4 ,the allotment of the tribal territories1 the designation of asylum cities1 and the setting apart of cities for the levites and priests1 comes chiefly1 as was said above1 from a priestly source4 ,how much of it was in the older history of ,p 7,book of ,origins7 is doubtful4 ,one1 at least1 of the earlier narratives told of the division of the land by lot1 and ,p1 who followed this representation1 may have connected with it some sort of domesday book2 but it was probably not so detailed as that which we now read4 ,the assignment of forty-eight cities to the priests and levites1 including the most important places in the country1 is an extravagance even for the sacerdotal imagination1 comparable to ,ezekiel's partition of the land in parallel strips4 ,it is the counterpart of ,num4 xxxv4 #a-h1 in a late supplement to the priestly laws1 and directly contradicts the older principle 7,num4 xviii4 #ba-bd7 that neither priests nor levites shall have any landed property4 ,thus in ,joshua1 as in the ,pentateuch1 the priestly element is neither of one sort nor of one age3 and again the evidence of the ,greek version shows that additions and changes continued to be made in the text till the neighbourhood of #bjj ,b4,c4 ,there is no evidence that the author of our ,book of ,joshua was the same as the author of the present ,pentateuch2 various indications point rather to the contrary4 ,nor can the author of the deuteronomist history of the conquest be certainly identified with any one of the hands engaged in the compilation and enlargement of the ,book of ,deuteronomy2 all that can be affirmed is that he was of the same spirit1 and that literary dependence upon ,deuteronomy1 and sometimes on younger parts of it1 is visible in many places in ,joshua4 ,the ,book of ,joshua closes with a farewell address by ,joshua to the tribes of ,israel assembled at ,shechem1 in which1 after a brief rsum of ,god's dealing with their fathers from the calling of ,abraham1 the exodus1 and their own more recent experiences down to the present1 he exhorts them to put away the gods which their fathers served beyond the river 7in ,mesopotamia71 and worship ,jehovah alone4 ,thereupon the people solemnly pledge themselves to serve him only and hearken to his words 7,jos4 #bd74 ,there is no question that this discourse is derived from ,e2 a counterpart to it from the hand of the author of the deuteronomist ,joshua stands in c4 #bc1 and corresponds to the address of ,moses in ,deut4 xxxi4 #a-h4 ,the sequel of ,jos4 xxiv4 #bh is found in ,judg4 ii4 #f-i4 ,the restoration at a late time1 of the old fragment ,judg4 i4 #a-cf1 and the division of the books at this point1 led to the repetition of the verses in ,jos4 xxiv4 #bi ff4 ,the importance of this fact is the proof it gives that ,e narrated the history of the generations following the death of ,joshua as an apostasy from the religion of ,jehovah such as the dying leader had warned the people against 7,jos4 xxiv4 #ai71 and thus determined the treatment of the whole period which we now find in the ,book of ,judges4 ,the last injunctions of ,joshua in the deuteronomist history 7,jos4 xxiii4 #ad-af7 exhibit the same conception of the subsequent history2 in ,judg4 ii4 #aa-;iii4 #f1 both ,e and the deuteronomist author are represented4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,judges ,the ,book of ,judges falls into three parts1 namely1 7#a7 ,judg4 i4 #a-;ii4 #e1 which intrudes1 as has already been observed1 between the close of ,joshua and its immediate sequel in ,judges ii4 #f ff42 7#b7 ,judg4 ii4 #f-xvi4 #ca1 stories of a succession of champions and deliverers of ,israel in the centuries preceding the establishment of the kingdom2 7#c7 ,judg4 #ag-ah2 #ai-ba1 two additional stories laid in the time of the ,judges4 ,in the ,christian ,bibles the story of ,ruth1 which also is said to have occurred in the days of the ,judges1 follows4 ,the introduction1 ,judg4 ii4 #f-;iii4 #f1 gives a summary of the whole period3 as soon as ,joshua and his generation had passed away1 the ,israelites fell away from the religion of ,jehovah1 and worshipped the gods of ,canaan2 indignant at this defection1 he allowed them to be overrun and subdued by their enemies2 when in their distress they turned to their own ,god for help1 he raised them up champions who delivered them2 but their amendment was brief1 they presently relapsed into heathenism2 and so it went on from bad to worse4 ,in correspondence with this general scheme each epoch in the history is opened in some such way as this3 ,the ,israelites again did what was evil in the sight of ,jehovah2 he delivered them into the power of such and such a tyrant or nation2 when they cried unto him1 he raised up so and so as a deliverer4 ,thereupon follows the story of the deliverance 7see iii4 #g-aa2 iii4 #ab-ae2 iv4 #a ff474 ,sometimes1 as in vi4 #a-aj1 x4 #f-ah1 these preambles are expanded1 but the purport remains the same4 ,another feature of the book is the systematic chronology in which the frequency of the numbers twenty1 forty1 and eighty 7forty years being in the ,old ,testament equivalent to a generation7 at once strikes the attention2 see iii4 #aa1 #cj2 iv4 #c2 v4 #ca2 viii4 #bh2 xiii4 #a2 xv4 #bj 7xvi4 #ca74 ,in several other instances the figures vary a little on either side of twenty 7eighteen1 twenty-two1 etc474 ,the duration of the oppression is given in the introduction of the story2 the period of peace and prosperity which succeeded the deliverance1 at the end2 see1 e4g41 iv4 #c2 v4 #ca4 ,in the same way the life of ,moses is divided into three parts of forty years each2 ,eli judged ,israel forty years2 ,david and ,solomon each reigned forty years4 ,it can hardly be doubted that this chronology is artificial1 and that the key to it is found in #a ,kings vi4 #a1 which reckons four hundred and eighty years 7i4e4 twelve generations7 from the exodus to the building of ,solomon's temple2 but the actual figures in ,judges and ,samuel do not foot up to this sum1 and there are some gaps in the series1 namely1 the years of ,joshua after the conquest1 the rule of ,samuel1 and that of ,saul4 ,the symmetry of the scheme has been broken by intrusions or accidental omissions in the later history of the book4 ,the author of the part of the ,book of ,judges we are now considering 7ii4 #f-xvi4 #ca7 sees in the history of these centuries a series of oppressions by the native kings or by neighbouring peoples which the ,israelites brought upon themselves by neglecting their own ,god and worshipping the deities of the ,canaanites1 the ,baals and ,astartes4 ,this is making history illustrate and enforce the prophetic teaching of ,hosea in the eighth century and ,jeremiah in the seventh4 ,about the oppressions the author of ,judges had clearly no information independent of what he extracted from the stories of the deliverances in his sources4 ,in accordance with his theory of national sin and national disaster he converted what are in the stories themselves local conflicts1 involving particular tribes or regions1 into oppressions and deliverances of all ,israel2 where the story tells of raids by the ,midianites1 for example1 the introduction gives them the ,amalekites and the ,eastern ,bedouins for allies1 and extends the devastation these wrought across the whole country to the neighbourhood of ,gaza4 ,the exaggeration of the evils and the emphasizing of the moral1 as in other cases1 invited later editors to amplifications in the same spirit4 ,of the heroes who delivered ,israel from its oppressors the author made a succession of dictators 7judges71 who differed from the kings after them chiefly in that their office was not hereditary1 and to most of them he gives in his chronology a long reign4 ,the setting of the history is thus unmistakably a product of the so-called deuteronomist school of the sixth century which we have already recognized in ,joshua1 and shall learn more of in ,kings4 ,the stories themselves have1 however1 not been recast or extensively retouched by deuteronomist hands2 only at the beginning and the end1 where they had to be fitted into the frame1 are such retouches common4 ,the author's source was a collection of stories of struggles in different parts of the land1 both east and west of the ,jordan1 with the older settled populations or with invaders1 and the exploits of the leaders and champions of the ,israelite tribes in these struggles4 ,it included ,ehud's assassination of the king of ,moab1 the defeat of ,sisera and the ,canaanite kings of the great ,plain by ,barak and ,deborah1 the rout and pursuit of the ,midianite invaders by ,gideon1 and ,jephthah's victory over the ,ammonites in ,gilead4 ,the history of ,abimelech's kingdom of ,shechem--sequel to the story of ,gideon--which is not accompanied by the author's moralizing comments1 and the stories of ,samson1 which have no more than a chronological introduction and close1 evidently belong to the same cycle of heroic legends2 as do also the stories of ,micah's idol and the migration of the ,danites 7cc4 #ag-ah71 and the older form of the story of the levite and his concubine and the sanguinary vengeance on ,benjamin in cc4 #ai-ba4 ,the two last-named stories were not comprised in the deuteronomist ,judges1 whose doctrine they could not well be made to exemplify4 ,on the other hand we shall see that this work included ,eli and ,samuel among the judges1 and came to its natural conclusion with the establishment of the kingdom1 as it began with the death of ,joshua4 ,in several of the stories we recognize not merely such additions and improvements as are commonly made to popular tales in the retelling1 but evidences of the combination of two versions of the same exploit or accounts of other doings of the same hero4 ,this is particularly plain in the story of ,gideon1 where in ,judg4 vii4 #bd f4 7vs4 #bc is a harmonistic note71 viii4 #a-c1 the business of the chiefs of ,midian is effectually finished1 while in viii4 #d ff4 it is all still to be done4 ,the phenomenon is entirely similar to those which we have had repeated occasion to observe in the ,pentateuch and ,joshua and is to be explained in the same way4 ,the two versions of the story had been united before the time of the author of the deuteronomist ,judges1 for in the joints of the narrative no trace of his peculiar motives or style occur4 ,the stories recount the exploits of local or tribal heroes1 and doubtless represent the traditions of the regions or tribes concerned2 with the union of the tribes under the kingdom1 however1 these traditions became the common property of the nation1 and more than one writer made collections of them4 ,as in the patriarchal legends1 two strands may be distinguished1 which have such affinities with the ,judan and the ,israelite histories in the ,hexateuch respectively that they are naturally regarded as the continuations of ,j and ,e4 ,to ,j may be probably attributed the story of ,ehud 7disregarding the introduction and conclusion71 say ,judg4 iii4 #af-bh2 in the story of ,gideon1 viii4 #d-fj 7with small exceptions71 and a part of cc4 #f-g2 part of the history of ,abimelech2 and the adventures of ,samson4 ,a good specimen of the other narrator is the beginning of the story of ,abimelech1 with the fable of ,jotham1 ,judg4 ix4 #a-be4 ,here1 again1 additions have been made at various stages of the transmission3 to the sources independently1 by the author who first combined them1 by the deuteronomist author1 and in some places by editors at a much later time4 ,these hands cannot always be certainly discriminated1 but the main outlines of the literary history are clear enough4 ,a peculiar problem is presented by the so-called ,minor ,judges1 of whom nothing is told but the length of their rule and the sultanly size of their families 7,judg4 x4 #a-e2 xii4 #h-ae74 ,they seem to be brought in only for the sake of the chronology1 the difficulties of which they do not diminish4 ,except the curt notices that1 the ,israelites having again offended their ,god1 he gave them into the power of the ,philistines for forty years1 and that ,samson judged ,israel for twenty years1 it has already been remarked that the stories of ,samson have no such introduction and conclusion as those which precede4 ,the statement about the duration of ,samson's judgeship occurs both at the end of ,judg4 #ae1 and at the end of c4 #af1 and it has been inferred from this that whoever put this formal close in xv4 #bj left out the adventure with ,delilah and ,samson's tragic end 7c4 #af74 ,the stories of ,micah and the migration of the ,danites 7,judg4 #ag-ah7 and of the levite and his concubine and the decimation of ,benjamin 7cc4 #ai-ba7 were not included in the deuteronomist book2 but there is no reason to doubt that they are of the same age as the other stories in ,judges1 nor that they were found in one or more of the literary collections of these stories4 ,in cc4 #ag-ah the character of the narrative in the main suggests the same source with the stories of ,samson 7,j71 but there are some duplications and inconsistencies which may be regarded as fragments of a closely parallel account of not greatly inferior age4 ,in cc4 #ai-ba1 again1 the original story seems to be from ,j 7with perhaps traces of another version in c4 #ai71 but in the following account of the vengeance taken by all ,israel on the ,benjamites1 the older narrative has been united with a second1 which in its point of view1 its language1 and its unimaginable exaggerations1 is evidently akin to parts of the ,books of ,chronicles1 or to the youngest additions to the ,pentateuch such as the vengeance on the ,midianites 7,num4 #ca71 and doubtless belongs to the most recent stratum of the ,old ,testament4 ,judges i4 #a-;ii4 #e1 as has been pointed out above1 is foreign to the connection in which it stands1 and can only have been introduced there by a late compiler or editor4 ,it is a remnant of the most historical1 and presumably the oldest1 account of the establishment of the tribes in western ,palestine4 ,that1 in completer form1 it had originally a place in the ,judan history 7,j7 is unquestioned1 and in that work it may have been closely followed by stories of exploits such as those of ,ehud1 ,barak1 ,gideon4 ,inasmuch as it contradicted the theory of the complete conquest and extermination of the ,canaanites1 it was left out of the works which described the conquest in that way1 but scraps of it were subsequently introduced in ,joshua1 and finally the whole restored in its present position4 ,it is easily seen that the recurring apostasies into ,canaanite heathenism1 as well as such stories as those of ,deborah and ,barak and of ,abimelech1 assume that the ,canaanites had not been killed off to the last man1 but1 on the contrary1 were very much alive2 and1 in fact1 the authors of ,judg4 ii4 #bj-;iii4 #d feel the necessity of explaining why ,god had allowed these heathen to survive4 ,the historical value of the stories in ,judges is very great4 ,however large the element of legendary embellishment may be in them1 they give us a picture of the social and religious conditions in the period preceding the founding of the kingdom which has an altogether different reality from the narratives of the exodus and the wanderings4 ,the trustworthiness of this picture is confirmed by one contemporary monument of prime significance1 the triumphal ode in ,judg4 #e1 commonly called the ,song of ,deborah1 celebrating the victory of the ,israelite tribes over ,sisera and his hosts and the death of the fleeing king by the hand of a ,bedouin woman in whose tent he sought refuge4 ,the text in the middle of the poem has suffered greatly1 but the beginning and end are better preserved and display not only a developed poetic art but poetic inspiration of the highest kind4 ,to the historian it has an even greater interest for the light which it throws on the times3 the independence of the tribes on both sides of the ,jordan1 the subjection of those along the ,great ,plain to the ,canaanite kings with their walled cities and their formidable chariotry1 the summons to the struggle in the name of religion and the varying response1 the victory of ,jehovah over his foes4 ,it should not be overlooked that ,judah is ignored2 it was not counted among the tribes of ,israel4 ,the moralizing improvement of the history in the ,book of ,judges is not carried beyond the story of ,jephthah1 but neither at that point nor after the stories of ,samson is there anything to indicate that the author is done4 ,the introduction in ,judg4 ii4 #aa-;iii4 #f1 a passage in which both the deuteronomist historian and a predecessor in the same way of thinking have had a hand1 seems to require a correspondingly solemn conclusion1 and the example of ,deuteronomy and ,joshua suggests that this would take the form of a hortatory address such as ,moses and ,joshua deliver as their testament to the people4 ,exactly such a discourse is found in #a ,sam4 #ab1 where the aged ,samuel1 on the point of laying down his office as judge1 reminds the people's conscience of the chief crises of the times of the judges in terms reminiscent of the introduction to the ,book of ,judges and to the several oppressions1 upbraids them for their sin in desiring a king1 and closes with admonitions for the future4 ,here ,samuel appears as a judge1 the last in the succession2 as a judge he is represented also in #a ,sam4 #g1 where he delivers his people from the ,philistines in the great victory at ,ebenezer through the efficacy of his sacrifice and prayers--a ,gideon or a ,jephthah went about the business in a more secular fashion6 ,eli also is said to have judged ,israel forty years4 ,at some stage in the history of the sources of ,judges and ,samuel1 therefore1 ,eli and ,samuel were enumerated among the judges1 and the close of the period was marked by the address of ,samuel which we now read in #a ,sam4 #ab4 ,the contents and form of this address have their parallels in the writings of the sixth century or the latter part of the seventh1 and to that time it is doubtless to be ascribed4 ,,chapter ,x ,,samuel ,a different division is adopted in the present books of ,judges and ,samuel1 in which the stories of ,eli and of ,samuel are not made the close of the period of the judges but the prelude to the history of the kingdom4 ,the ,greek ,bible divides this history into four books of the ,kingdoms1 or rather of the ,reigns of the ,kings2 the ,hebrew1 into two1 ,samuel and ,kings2 the modern translations employ the latter names but adopt the subdivisions of the ,greek1 thus making two books of ,samuel and two of ,kings4 ,first ,samuel shows how the conquest and occupation of central ,palestine by the ,philistines led to the establishment of a national kingdom under ,saul1 a ,benjamite2 narrates the rise of his rival1 the ,judan ,david1 and the feud between them1 down to the disastrous battle with the ,philistines at ,mt4 ,gilboa in which ,saul and his gallant sons fell4 ,second ,samuel is the history of ,david's reign and the tragedy of his house1 the conclusion of which1 the intrigue which raised ,solomon to the throne and the death of the aged king1 is treated as the prelude to ,solomon's reign and carried over into #a ,kings2 one recension of the ,greek ,bible1 however1 joins these chapters 7#a ,kings #a-b7 to the preceding book4 ,the two ,books of ,kings recount the reign of ,solomon2 the division of the kingdom after his death into two1 on the old line1 ,israel and ,judah2 the parallel history of the two kingdoms to the end of ,israel in #gba ,b4,c42 and the rest of the history of ,judah to its fall in #ehf4 ,in the account of how ,saul became king there are two contradictory representations4 ,one of these1 which agrees with #a ,sam4 #ab in treating the desire of the people for a king as the wanton repudiation of ,jehovah their king and of ,samuel their divinely appointed judge1 is contained in cc4 #h2 x4 #ag-bg2 #ab4 ,the other1 according to which ,god1 seeing the distress the people were in because of the ,philistines1 of his own motion resolves to give them a king to deliver them from their oppressors1 is in #a ,sam4 ix4 #a-x4 #af2 #aa4 ,in c4 #i ,samuel appears as a seer with a neighbourhood reputation of being able to tell where people's stray asses have gone1 not as the prophet and judge1 the first man of his time4 ,these strands can be followed in both directions beyond the chapters named3 #a ,sam4 xiii4 #a-xiv4 #ff belongs to the second1 which we may call the national version of the matter2 c4 #ae attaches itself to the other1 say theocratic1 representation1 though it is of a somewhat different texture4 ,on the other side1 vii4 #c-ag plainly goes with c4 #h2 while iv4 #a;b-vii4 #b are akin to the national version1 showing how grievous the situation was and how urgent the need of a king4 ,chapters #a-c have a twofold motive2 they tell of the wonderful childhood of a great man1 and they explain the disasters of ,eli's house4 ,the latter has reference to cc4 #d-f2 the former1 a favourite theme of popular tales1 is an appropriate introduction to ,samuel the prophet4 ,of the two accounts of the origin of the kingdom1 it takes no great critical discernment to see that what we have called the national version is the older and more historical2 the other1 which condemns the monarchy as a kind of apostasy1 takes the standpoint of ,hosea4 ,the picture of the monarch in #a ,sam4 #ab is drawn from sorry experience4 ,even in the older narrative not all is of one piece4 ,chapter #i1 in which ,saul is a young man in his father's house1 does not tally with c4 #ad1 where he has a grown-up son4 ,the author of this narrative made it up from traditions of diverse origin1 some of them more strictly historical1 others embellished with legendary traits4 ,in its main features1 however1 it gives us a trustworthy account of the establishment of the kingdom4 ,in c4 #ac1 the breach with ,samuel1 vs4 #g;b-#ae;a 7with x4 #h which prepares for it71 are not part of the original narrative2 c4 #ae gives another account of the origin of this breach1 which was evidently a standing feature of tradition4 ,in the remaining chapters of #a ,samuel the central interest is the relations of ,david to ,saul4 ,here also there are not only two main literary sources but evidence of variant traditions underlying the oldest narrative1 and of the additions by later editors1 sometimes of their conception1 sometimes taken from old and good sources4 ,it is impossible here to pursue the analysis of the sources further4 ,it must suffice to say that the further on we go1 the more the older and better of the histories predominates4 ,in #b ,samuel almost the whole is from this source 7c4 #g is a notable exception1 in the spirit and manner of the seventh century74 ,abridgment and transposition have brought matters into disorder at some points2 but #b ,sam4 #i-bj is a well-preserved piece of continuous narrative1 of which #a ,kings #a-b is the sequel4 #b ,sam4 xxi4 #a-ad and c4 #bd are from the same source1 but must originally have stood at an earlier point in the history2 their present position is best explained by supposing that they were once omitted--which their contents make very natural--and subsequently restored from a completer copy1 not in their proper connection but in an appendix4 ,chapter xxiii4 #h-ci is a very ancient roster of ,david's valiant men1 the companions of his days as an outlawed freebooter on the ,philistine border2 xxi4 #ae-bb is of the same character4 ,two poems attributed to ,david are also included in this appendix1 c4 #bb1 which1 with many variants1 is found also in the ,psalter 7,ps4 #ah71 and xxiii4 #a-g4 ,the history of ,saul and ,david gave little invitation to a moralizing improvement such as we have found in ,judges and shall find again in ,kings4 ,whatever faults those heroes had1 a propensity to the worship of heathen gods could not be laid to them4 ,the national uprising against the ,philistines was1 in fact1 a revival of religion4 ,if in times of peace men sought the blessing of the gods of the soil 7the ,baals7 upon their tillage1 in war their only reliance was on ,jehovah1 the god of ,israel4 ,nor was the worship of ,jehovah at the village sanctuaries 7high places7 or upon altars erected for the nonce1 illegitimate1 even in deuteronomic theory1 till ,god had taken up his sole abode in ,solomon's temple4 ,accordingly there is1 after #a ,sam4 #ab1 once the close of a history of the judges1 small trace of the motives or phrases of the seventh-century school of historians2 and only in a few passages can the hand of post-exilic editors be suspected4 ,for the rest we have in our hands a product of the oldest ,hebrew historiography4 ,from a literary point of view the older source in the history of ,david is unsurpassed4 ,it has in perfection all the qualities that distinguish the best ,hebrew prose such as are conspicuous in the ,judan author of the patriarchal stories in ,genesis4 ,in the art of narrative ,herodotus himself could do no better4 ,its historical value is also very high4 ,the account of ,david's later years in #b ,sam4 #i-bj2 #b ,kings #a-b bears all the marks of contemporary origin4 ,it comes from one who not only knew the large political events of the reign1 but was intimately informed about the life of the court1 and the scandals1 crimes1 and intrigues in the king's household which clouded the end of his glorious career4 ,these things are narrated with an objectivity and impartiality which cannot fail to impress the reader4 ,the author has a high admiration for ,david1 but this does not lead him to gloze over his faults or even his grave sins1 nor to disguise the weakness of his rule in his own house which was the cause of so much unhappiness4 ,his development of this domestic tragedy is1 indeed1 truly dramatic1 and the discrimination of the characters--say of ,absalom and ,adonijah--shows fine insight4 ,he tells without comment how only the distrust of some of the ,philistine chiefs kept ,david1 as a vassal of ,achish of ,gath1 from fighting upon the ,philistine side against ,saul in the fatal battle of ,mt4 ,gilboa4 ,so1 too1 he is loyally minded to ,solomon1 but he does not conceal the strings of the harem-intrigue by which the doting old ,king ,david was brought to declare for his succession1 or to pass over the ominous beginning of ,solomon's new course1 with the execution of ,adonijah1 the deposition of the priest ,abiathar1 and the murder1 at altar where he had sought asylum1 of ,joab1 to whom more than any other the house of ,jesse owed the throne4 ,the official pretexts are duly recorded1 but the facts speak for themselves4 ,in #a ,kings ii4 #e f4 the death of ,joab is enjoined in ,david's testament2 opinions differ whether these verses are from the same source with ii4 #ab ff41 or are by the late seventh-century writer to whom vs4 #a-d are ascribed by all4 ,without idealizing ,david1 we may at least allow ourselves the conjecture that1 if his last words decided the death of his old companion in arms and most loyal servant1 ,nathan or ,bathsheba was at his dying ear4 ,the crisis in the history of the ,israelite tribes which the ,philistine invasion created2 the long struggle with these foes1 very different from their conflicts with their petty neighbours2 the emergence in this struggle of a national consciousness at once political and religious2 the union of the tribes in a national kingdom2 the conquest of independence2 the following wars of expansion and the foundation of a short-lived ,israelite empire--these were achievements to stir the soul of a people and be celebrated in song and story4 ,the leaders too1 in these memorable doings were such heroes as ancient history loves to have in the middle of its stage--,saul with his chivalric son ,jonathan2 ,david with ,joab1 ,abner1 and the rest of his gallant band4 ,the making of great history has often given a first impulse to the writing of history1 and we may well believe that it was so in ,israel1 and that the beginning of ,hebrew historical literature1 in the proper sense of the word1 was made with ,saul and ,david4 ,around such figures the popular imagination always weaves a more or less translucent tissue of legend1 and particularly about their youth before they come out on the stage of history1 or the manner of their first appearance4 ,the historians gathered up tribal tales such as the exploits of the judges 7that is1 in the original sense1 deliverers1 or defenders71 the sacred legends of holy places1 the traditions of a wonderful escape from the ,egyptians1 a visit to the ,mount of ,god and an agreement to worship the god of the place as their god1 of another sanctuary in the desert at ,kadesh1 conflicts with the ,bedouins1 and attempts to force an entry into ,canaan--in short1 all the diverse material which is preserved in the older narratives in ,exodus and ,numbers--and combined them as best they could into a continuous history of the people of ,israel4 ,the continuity is1 however1 only a narrative continuity2 historically there are great gaps in it1 or1 more exactly1 the traditions cluster about only a few points1 such as the exodus and the invasion of ,palestine1 and these are embellished with a wealth of legendary and mythical circumstance beneath which the facts are effectually hidden4 ,the nature of this material may be judged from the fact that between ,joshua and ,eli there are only the episodes of the judges1 strung on a chronological string1 generalized as experiences of all ,israel1 and put under a theological judgment--invaluable as pictures of civilization1 but as a history of a couple of centuries 7the chronology says four7 evidently insufficient4 ,on the other side of the exodus are1 according to the genealogies1 three or four generations 7the chronology again makes it four hundred years7 of total ignorance2 beyond that lies the patriarchal story1 the realm of pure legend4 ,out of such materials ,judan authors in the tenth and following centuries constructed the history of their people from the remotest antiquity1 and1 as commonly happens with the first precipitation of national traditions1 preformed all subsequent representations4 ,this earliest book of history is commonly designated in the ,pentateuch and ,joshua by the symbol ,j4 ,it is disputed whether the oldest history of the founding of the kingdom in ,samuel should be regarded as a continuation of ,j4 ,if it were meant thereby to affirm unity of authorship of this strand from ,genesis to ,samuel1 that would be saying much more than the facts warrant2 but there is through the whole so noteworthy a congruity of conception and sameness of excellence in style that it is not inappropriate to use for it the one symbol ,j in the sense of the oldest ,judan history4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,kings ,david took ,jerusalem1 which till then had been a ,jebusite stronghold1 and made it the capital of his kingdom2 but he reigned1 after as before1 in patriarchal fashion1 making1 so far as appears1 few changes in the old institutions4 ,solomon reorganized the monarchy after the common pattern of ,oriental despotisms1 dividing the country into provinces for purposes of taxation1 without regard to the autonomy of the tribes and their liberties4 ,he built a great palace in the citadel1 and1 within the same enclosure1 a temple1 which1 as the royal sanctuary1 was also in a sense national4 ,like other ,eastern rulers1 he caused his doings to be recorded in the annals of the kingdom1 and doubtless the priests of the temple kept their own chronicles4 ,from this time1 therefore1 sources of a new kind make their appearance in the history1 contemporary records drawn from the royal and priestly annals4 ,the extracts from these sources in the ,book of ,kings1 like those of the ,assyrian kings1 or the ,phoenician annals of which fragments 7through ,menander7 are preserved by ,josephus1 were brief and bald records of doings or happenings1 not biographical or historical narratives4 ,but brief and bald as they were they furnished a groundwork of fact2 and1 since they set down at the accession of each king the length of his predecessor's reign1 they gave also the data for a continuous chronology4 ,it is not to be supposed that the historical literature whose brilliant beginnings we have seen ceased in the first century of the kingdom or that the writers occupied themselves solely with the remoter past4 ,the memorable deeds of great men will not have gone uncelebrated4 ,the narrative1 however1 which is the chief source for the times of ,saul and ,david1 breaks off abruptly in #a ,kings #b4 ,the ,books of ,kings are of a wholly different fabric4 ,for one thing1 while the two ,books of ,samuel cover little more than the span of one long lifetime1 ,kings1 in about the same space1 comprises the history of close on to four centuries4 ,but there is a still greater difference1 as we shall see1 in the way in which history is treated4 ,the grand divisions of the ,books of ,kings are these3 #a ,kings ii4 #ab-xi4 #dc is occupied with the reign of ,solomon2 the division of the kingdom after his death is narrated in xii4 #a-bd2 the parallel history of the two kingdoms of ,israel and ,judah to the fall of ,samaria in #gba ,b4,c4 runs to #b ,kings xviii4 #ab2 the history of ,judah from that date to its own fall in #ehf fills the rest of the book4 ,the age of the book is easily determined3 it tells of the two sieges of ,jerusalem by the ,babylonians 7#eig and #ehf ,b4,c472 the destruction of the temple and palace and the razing of the city walls1 the assassination of ,gedaliah1 whom ,nebuchadnezzar had made governor over the devastated land2 and the flight of the ,jews from the king's vengeance to ,egypt4 ,the last event mentioned is the liberation of ,king ,jehoiachin by ,evil-,merodach 7,amil-,marduk7 in #efa ,b4,c4 ,it is of course possible that this detached notice 7#b ,kings xxv4 #bg-cj7 was added by a later hand2 but there is no reason to include the story of ,gedaliah in this suspicion4 ,the book in its present form cannot1 therefore1 be earlier than1 say1 about #ehj ,b4,c4 ,in some places in the body of the book1 also1 the fall of ,judah is spoken of as an accomplished fact1 e4g4 #b ,kings xvii4 #ai f4 7in conflict with vss4 #ah and #ba ff474 ,such passages are1 however1 not very numerous1 and they commonly sit loose in their context1 like the verses just cited1 as if they were thrust into the narrative by an editor4 ,the bulk of the work1 on the contrary1 seems to suppose the existence of the kingdom4 ,it is1 therefore1 the general opinion that the book was written before the fall of ,jerusalem1 and that a continuator added the account of the catastrophe and the events immediately subsequent to it4 ,the older ,kings1 from beginning to end1 is dominated by the conception and permeated by the phraseology of ,deuteronomy and of the prophet ,jeremiah1 and must therefore be placed between #fba ,b4,c4 7the date of the introduction of the deuteronomic law7 and the beginning of the last act of the history1 that is to say1 probably shortly before the year #fjj ,b4,c4 ,it is not enough to say that ,kings was written under the influence of ,deuteronomy2 it was written1 we might rather say1 as a commentary on the deuteronomic doctrine that falling away from the national religion is punished by national disaster4 ,in this point of view it resembles ,judges2 but while in ,judges it is the lapse into ,canaanite heathenism1 the worship of the ,baals and ,astartes1 which draws upon ,israel invasion and subjugation1 in ,kings not only foreign religions but the worship at the high places1 that is1 the worship of ,jehovah at his oldest and holiest sanctuaries1 provokes the wrath of ,god2 for since the dedication of ,solomon's temple ,jehovah had made it his exclusive abode and all other places of worship were illegitimate4 ,we have seen that down to ,josiah's reform this worship prevailed unchallenged in both kingdoms4 ,in the author's view1 generation after generation1 under bad kings and good1 had thus sinned against the organic law of religion1 and all judgments had failed to work amendment4 ,in ,israel idolatry made the case worse2 the golden calves1 that is1 the small images of ,jehovah in the form of a bull1 which ,jeroboam had set up at ,bethel and ,dan1 were worshipped under all his successors4 ,these sins had in the end brought ruin on ,israel1 and they were bringing it on ,judah4 ,manasseh had done even worse than ,jeroboam2 strange gods from near and far were installed in the temple itself1 and under its walls men sacrificed their children to the ,king 7,moloch74 ,josiah's reforms had no lasting results2 the reaction under his successors restored the high places1 and heathen cults flourished again4 ,the doom was imminent2 would ,judah learn the lesson of history before it was too late8 ,some one has said that history is philosophy teaching by example2 for the author of ,kings history was prophecy teaching by example4 ,it was the lesson of the history that the author was after1 and this ruling motive determined his selection of material as well as the treatment of it4 ,it explains why he hardly tells anything about some of the greatest kings and the most glorious periods of the history1 which did not afford illustrations of his thesis1 while he dwells on things of much less historical importance4 ,the characteristic interests of the author and his highly characteristic style sharply distinguish his own writing from the sources which he incorporates4 ,these sources1 as will be supposed1 were of different kinds and of various worth2 they were naturally not the same in all parts of the long period he covers1 and he has not always dealt with them in the same way4 ,part of his material comes1 directly or indirectly1 from the annals of the kings1 to which the reader is regularly referred for further information 7see e4g41 #a ,kings xiv4 #ai1 #bi71 or from temple records2 part of it from more properly literary sources4 ,sometimes it has all the marks of trustworthy tradition originating close to the event2 again1 it is embroidered with legendary traits2 a smaller part is edifying fiction4 ,in some cases1 as in the stories of ,elijah and ,elisha1 a special source is recognizable1 but in the main the attempt to trace the literary channels through which the matter reached the author is fruitless4 ,in the history of ,solomon's reign the central place is taken by a description of the palace and temple he erected 7#a ,kings #f-g71 for which c4 #e is a preparation1 and c4 #h1 the dedication of the temple1 the sequel4 ,the interesting account of the provincial organization and system of taxation in c4 #d is evidently from an authoritative source2 the cession of cities in ,galilee to ,hiram1 the list of cities fortified1 the 7mutilated7 account of the revolt of ,edom1 the rise of the kingdom of ,damascus1 and the 7mutilated7 history of the revolt of ,jeroboam1 the prelude to the separation of ,israel and ,judah1 are also of good authority4 ,by the side of these are stories celebrating the magnificence and wisdom of ,solomon1 the beginnings of the exuberant ,solomonic legend4 ,the judgment of ,solomon in the case of the two harlots and of the visit of the ,queen of ,sheba are examples of the popular tale1 and relatively old4 ,the dedication of the temple has been much expanded by the author of the ,book of ,kings2 #a ,kings viii4 #ad-ff are wholly his composition2 ix4 #a-i is an appendix to c4 #h4 ,in viii4 #a-ab an older account of the dedication has been improved by various hands4 ,comparison with the ,greek translation shows that this process went on to very late times2 the latest additions are akin to the priestly stratum in the ,pentateuch4 ,chapter xi4 #a-ac also is by the author of the ,book of ,kings1 built about a few words from his source in vs4 #g2 vss4 #bi-dj are of the same sort4 #a ,kings #ab-b ,kings #ag contains the parallel history of ,israel and ,judah4 ,the method of the author is to follow the reign of a king1 say of ,israel1 to its end and then go back to take up the king of ,judah who came to the throne during this reign1 follow him to his death1 and return to pick up the ,israelite history again in the same way4 ,the result is1 thus1 interlocking histories1 rather than a parallel history4 ,the length of each reign is given1 probably ultimately from the annals1 with a computed synchronism which is at some points demonstrably in error4 ,with the introduction of each king a comprehensive judgment by the standard of the deuteronomic law is pronounced upon his reign4 ,thus1 ,in the eighteenth year of the king ,jeroboam the son of ,nebat king of ,israel1 began ,abijah to reign over ,judah4 ,three years reigned he in ,jerusalem1 and his mother's name was ,maacah the daughter of ,abishalom4 ,and he walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before him1 etc4 ,in the third year of ,asa king of ,judah began ,baasha the son of ,abijah to reign over all ,israel in ,tirzah1 and he reigned twenty and four years4 ,and he did that which was evil in the sight of the ,lord1 and walked in the way of ,jeroboam1 and in his sin wherewith he made ,israel to sin4 ,these judgments are so stereotyped that they are pronounced even on kings who reigned but a short time--,zimri1 for instance1 who lasted only seven days4 ,in the case of godly kings of ,judah1 even of such as are credited with commendable zeal against the worships that ,deuteronomy denounces as ,canaanitish heathenism1 the reproach of leaving the worship of ,jehovah at the high places unmolested is not spared them2 see1 e4g41 #a ,kings xv4 #a-ad2 xxii4 #dc4 ,the conflict between the tribes to whom the name ,israel by historical right belonged1 headed by ,ephraim1 intent on reclaiming the ancient liberties which ,solomon had curtailed and securing adequate guarantees for them1 and ,rehoboam1 obstinate to maintain the despotism which his father had established and the supremacy of ,judah1 ended in the ,israelite tribes refusing to acknowledge the succession and setting up a kingdom of their own with ,jeroboam the son ,nebat as king4 ,these critical events are narrated in the source1 #a ,kings xii4 #a-bj1 with noteworthy impartiality2 a comparison with the treatment of the matter by the author of the ,book of ,kings himself in xi4 #bi-ci2 xii4 #ba-bd1 is instructive4 ,the account of ,jeroboam's religious foundations and innovations in c4 xii4 #bf-cc 7with which xiii4 #cc;b belongs7 is probably based on an old ,israelite source 7the temples ,jeroboam built1 etc471 on which the author of the book has put his own construction and made his own comments4 #a ,kings #ac is a specimen of the edifying stories--religious fiction--which were added to the historical books at a very late time and are especially numerous in ,chronicles2 the reference to it in #b ,kings xxiii4 #ag f4 is an interpolation in a context itself post-exilic4 ,the story of the visit of ,jeroboam's wife to the prophet ,ahijah 7#a ,kings xiv4 #a-ah7 is in the manner of the author1 but seems to have an older basis4 ,the fluid state of the text at a very late time is again shown by the fact that in some recensions of the ,greek version the story is not found in this place1 but1 together with other matter about ,jeroboam 7in part variant parallel to #a ,kings xi4 #bf ff41 #dj71 in a long passage which stands in c4 #ab between vss4 #bd and #be4 ,the invasion of ,shishak1 king of ,egypt 7#a ,kings xiv4 #be-bh71 is introduced by the author with a catalogue of the deuteronomic transgressions which provoked ,god to punish the kingdom in this way2 the similarity to the introduction to the oppressions in ,judges is apparent4 ,so in the following chapters3 the author's facts probably come from annalistic sources which can in places be recognized1 but the religious interpretation of the events1 which he sometimes gives in his own quality as historian1 sometimes puts into the mouth of a prophet 7e4g4 xvi4 #a-g1 cf4 xiv4 #a-ah71 is from the point of view of the deuteronomist school4 ,another characteristic of the author's method is illustrated by his treatment of the reign of ,omri 7#a ,kings xvi4 #bc-bh74 ,omri was the founder of the greatest dynasty of the northern kingdom1 and was one of its greatest kings4 ,from an inscription of the ,moabite king ,mesha1 we learn that ,omri subjugated the lands east of the ,jordan 7see also #b ,kings i4 #a2 iii4 #d ff471 and it is probable that his conquests were pushed to the north-east into ,syria2 the ,assyrian kings long after his death call ,israel the house of ,omri4 ,but the long and brilliantly successful reign of a king who in religion followed in the footsteps of the kings of ,israel before him1 golden calves and all1 obviously could not be made to exemplify the doctrine that such sins are regularly visited by condign judgment in national disaster4 ,consequently1 all that our author records of ,omri1 beyond the revolutions which paved for him the way to the throne 7#a ,kings xvi4 #af-ah71 is contained in one verse1 #a ,kings xvi4 #bd--;he built a capital on a new site1 ,samaria6 ,in the following reign1 however1 ,israel had troubles enough2 the conquests east of the ,jordan were lost1 and the long chapter of ,syrian wars began4 ,this was material more to the author's purpose1 and he makes good use of it4 ,here also1 in addition to the annals and whatever other sources were at his hand for the preceding period1 he had a new and peculiarly grateful source in the stories of ,elijah and ,elisha4 ,to the fact that these prophets were outstanding figures in some of the crises of the ,syrian wars we owe it that so much of the history of that struggle is preserved2 for what the author has extracted from the annals is as meagre as elsewhere4 ,from such lives and times of the prophets is derived much the greater part of #a ,kings #ag-b ,kings #aj1 with #b ,kings xiii4 #ad-ba4 ,the stories of ,elijah 7#a ,kings #ag-ai2 #ba2 #b ,kings #a2 ii4 #a-ah7 are among the most striking in the ,old ,testament2 the supernatural in them seems the natural setting for a figure of such heroic mould1 and is a stronger testimony than any record of fact could be to the impression of the superman on the imagination of ordinary mortals4 ,through the vesture of legend1 we too have the impression of a something titanic in the man who dared solitary to stand for his ,god against kings1 priests1 prophets1 and people1 and1 worse than all1 the vengeful fury of a woman6 ,we can see1 also1 that his conflict against the prophets of ,baal makes an era in the history of religion in ,israel4 ,if ,jehovah be ,god1 follow him2 but if ,baal1 then follow him1 he thunders at the people on ,mt4 ,carmel4 ,it was not the first assertion of the jealousy of ,jehovah and the exclusiveness of the true religion2 but the issue had never before been so dramatically joined4 ,the intolerant monotheism of ,judaism had found its war cry4 #a ,kings #ag-ai1 ,elijah at ,sarepta1 on ,carmel1 and at ,horeb1 belong together2 the beginning1 which must in some way have brought ,elijah upon the stage1 is not preserved2 #a ,kings #ba 7,naboth's vineyard7 may very well be from the same source2 in the end of the chapter 7vs4 #bj;b-#bf7 the author of the ,book of ,kings has the word1 and in the other chapters there are slight traces of the same hand4 ,with these small exceptions the stories are old1 and probably received their present literary form in the ninth century1 certainly before the prophetic movement of the eighth4 #b ,kings i4 #b-ag is a legend of a different kind and presumably considerably younger4 #b ,kings ii4 #a-ah1 on the other hand1 is akin to the older stories in #a ,kings #ag-ai1 #ba2 it forms the connecting link with ,elisha4 ,among the stories of ,elijah stand other episodes of the ,syrian wars in which prophets figure1 #a ,kings #bj2 xxii4 #a-ch4 ,the second of these1 ,micaiah ben ,imlah before ,ahab and ,jehoshaphat1 is of peculiar interest4 ,they are apparently of the same age with their surroundings4 ,in both a few verses are from later editors4 ,to the same cycle probably belong #b ,kings iii4 #d-bg1 the campaign against ,moab1 as well as #b ,kings ix4 #a-x4 #bg1 ,jehu's revolt instigated by ,elisha1 the murder of ,king ,ahaziah and of the queen mother1 ,jezebel1 the massacre of the princes of the house of ,omri and the extirpation of the worship of ,baal4 ,beside these are a group of stories about ,elisha1 chiefly celebrating him as a wonder-worker1 and bringing him into connection with the sons of the prophets1 who seem to have formed a kind of dervish order4 ,the collector or editor has accumulated them all in one reign1 probably against their original intention4 ,scattered through the narratives drawn from the lives of the prophets are brief notices from the annals and the usual deuteronomist appraisals by the author of ,kings4 ,the attempt of ,jehu to exterminate the dynasty of ,omri1 involving the slaughter of the ,judan princes1 had the unintended result of enabling the queen mother1 ,athaliah1 a daughter of ,ahab and ,jezebel1 to seize the throne4 ,the revolution1 planned by the chief priest of ,jerusalem1 which overthrew the usurper and brought the true heir1 the seven-year-old ,joash1 to his own1 is told in #b ,kings xi4 #a-bj2 a somewhat minute account of the restoration of the temple in his reign follows in c4 xii4 #d-af1 both from a good ,judan source1 perhaps ultimately a temple chronicle4 ,the author of ,kings has his usual formulas1 including the tolerated high places1 in c4 xii4 #a-c4 ,the extract from the annals at the end of the chapter1 the straits into which ,hazael of ,syria brought ,joash1 and his death by a treasonable conspiracy1 which might be thought to prove that piety is not always crowned with prosperity1 is anticipated by the author of ,kings in #b ,kings xii4 #c--;,joash's piety lasted only as long as he was in the leading strings of the priest ,jehoiada4 ,in the following reigns the material derived from narrative sources is more scanty2 a noteworthy passage of this kind is the account1 evidently from an ,israelite writer1 of the chastisement ,jehoash of ,israel inflicted on the presumptuous ,amaziah of ,judah 7#b ,kings xiv4 #h-ad74 ,the contemporary reigns of ,jeroboam ,,ii of ,israel and ,azariah1 or ,uzziah1 of ,judah1 lasting half a century1 a period of great prosperity in both kingdoms1 are dispatched with extreme brevity1 and are followed by the swiftly successive conspiracies and revolutions in which the northern kingdom declined to its fall4 ,the story of treason and bloodshed is suspended to tell of the reign of ,ahaz in ,judah 7#b ,kings #af7 from a source chiefly interested in the temple1 and then the last act of ,israel's tragedy opens4 ,to the brief account of the fall of ,samaria in #b ,kings xvii4 #a-f1 is appended the moral of the whole history1 ,,vss4 #g-da4 ,this homiletic improvement of the catastrophe was an inviting task1 and besides the author of ,kings1 the exilian continuator and perhaps still later editors contributed to draw it out and emphasize it4 ,from this point the historian has only ,judah to deal with4 ,the reign of ,hezekiah is narrated at some length in #b ,kings #ah-bj4 ,a considerable part of these chapters 7xviii4 #ac-,,xx4 #ai7 is found also in the ,book of ,isaiah 7,isa4 #cf-ci71 with variations which are of much interest for the history of the text4 ,the psalm1 ,isa4 xxxviii4 #i-bj1 for instance1 is not found in ,kings2 #b ,kings xviii4 #ad-af is not in ,isaiah1 and minor differences occur in almost every verse4 ,the introduction to the reign of ,hezekiah by the author of ,kings is somewhat longer than usual1 and attributes to him not only the destruction of the serpent idol in the temple which ,moses was believed to have made 7cf4 ,num4 xxi4 #h f471 and of other apparatus of heathenism1 but the removal of the high places1 making him thus anticipate the reforms of ,josiah a century later 7#b ,kings xviii4 #d74 ,this probably exaggerates ,hezekiah's good works1 but for the bronze serpent to which sacrificial worship had been paid from time immemorial1 as well as for vs4 #g f4 7,hezekiah's rebellion71 which is the antecedent of vs4 #ac ff41 he may have had the authority of the annals4 ,from the annals probably come also #b ,kings xviii4 #ac-af1 with their brief record of the penalty ,hezekiah paid for his revolt4 ,of this we have also ,sennacherib's account in his inscriptions1 where he tells how he took the cities of ,judah and shut up ,hezekiah in ,jerusalem like a bird in a cage1 and gives the figures of the heavy indemnity he imposed upon him4 ,there follow two longer accounts of ,sennacherib's operations1 #b ,kings xviii4 #ag-xix4 #h and xix4 #i-cg1 which are commonly regarded as parallel and somewhat discrepant relations of the same campaign1 but by some are thought to refer to two different occasions1 at an interval of ten years or more4 #b ,kings xx4 #a-aa 7cf4 ,isa4 #ch7 is perhaps from a life of ,isaiah1 who is the chief figure in it2 vs4 #ab-ai 7,isa4 #ci71 the embassy of the chronic ,babylonia rebel1 ,merodach ,baladan1 presumably to undermine ,hezekiah's shaky loyalty to his ,assyrian lord1 seems to belong at an earlier point in the story2 in it also ,isaiah is the central person4 ,in the closing paragraph the author of ,kings has preserved an interesting annalistic notice of an aqueduct and reservoir which ,hezekiah constructed1 not improbably the ,siloam tunnel and the reservoir it feeds4 ,of the fifty-five years' reign of ,manasseh1 and the two years of his son ,amon1 a half-century of peace and prosperity in which the country recuperated from the disasters ,hezekiah had brought upon it1 nothing is told4 ,instead we have a long catalogue of ,manasseh's religious obliquities1 which includes all the crimes most abhorrent to the seventh-century prophets and laws1 and the proclamation of ,god by his servants the prophets that these sins sealed the doom of ,judah4 ,this prediction is made from the standpoint of the accomplished fact1 and indeed most of the chapter seems to be by the exilian continuator of ,kings or a still later writer4 ,with the reforms of ,josiah 7#fba ,b4,c42 #b ,kings #bb-bc7 we arrive at events which1 if not within the personal knowledge of the author of ,kings1 were known to his older contemporaries4 ,this does not1 of course1 exclude the use of written records or narratives1 and1 in fact1 there seem to be traces of such in the chapters4 ,more certain it is that the continuator of the book made some changes in the account2 the oracle of ,huldah1 for example1 seems to have been revised in the light of the event4 ,to this continuator1 as has already been said1 the history of the two sieges of ,jerusalem1 the deportations1 and the misfortunes of those who were left in the land are to be attributed4 ,in several places in earlier parts of the history we have had occasion to observe that additions and changes continue to be made by the editors or scribes--and every scribe who copied a book in those days wielded an editor's pen when he chose--until a time close to the age of the ,greek translation1 that is1 the third century ,b4,c4 ,the age in which the ,pentateuch and the several ,historical ,books 7,joshua-,kings71 the product of the long and obscure process which we have attempted to outline in the preceding chapters1 were adjusted and connected so as to make a continuous history from the creation to the fall of the ,judan state1 can be fixed only by the fact that the author of ,chronicles 7about #cjj ,b4,c4 or somewhat later2 see below7 seems to have read these books in the order and1 so far as his use of them permits a judgment1 substantially with the contents of our present ,old ,testament4 ,this arrangement1 or edition1 if we choose to call it so1 as has been shown1 did not put an end to additions and alterations1 though they gradually became less frequent and less important in the following centuries4 ,a standard and stable ,hebrew text was established only in the second century after the ,christian era4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,chronicles ,by the side of this comprehensive history stands another which is in part parallel1 in part supplementary1 to it1 ,chronicles-,ezra-,nehemiah4 ,it differs from the former in being the work of one author1 whose characteristic conceptions1 interests1 and manner make it easy to distinguish his writing from the sources he incorporates4 ,his peculiarities are the better known because there is so much of his own in the books--not far from half the matter contained in them4 ,the succession of the high priests is brought down to ,jaddua1 who was contemporary with ,alexander the ,great1 and lists of heads of priestly and levitical families are given in ,neh4 #ab for the reign of ,darius 7,codomannus71 the last ,persian king4 ,the book can1 therefore1 not be put much1 if any1 before #cjj ,b4,c41 and more probably it was written in the following century4 ,the history begins with the death of ,saul and the election of ,david as king by all ,israel at ,hebron 7#a ,chron4 #aj-aa74 ,the preceding chapters are filled with genealogies1 beginning with ,adam4 ,twenty-six verses bring us to ,abraham1 and the second chapter opens with the sons of ,israel1 while the third is a list of the sons of ,david and of his successors on the throne to the fall of the kingdom1 with the descendants of the last king through several generations4 ,these genealogies1 to which historical notices of different kinds are frequently attached1 are in part compiled from various places in the ,pentateuch and ,historical ,books1 in part more freely reproduced from such passages2 but a large remainder has no parallel in the older work4 ,the author1 here as elsewhere1 evidently attaches great importance to these lists1 in particular to those which enabled the families of his own time1 clerical and lay1 or the inhabitants of towns and villages1 to trace their pedigree back to remote times4 ,it is not without reason that the historical narrative sets in with ,david1 and that the first event of his reign recorded is the taking of ,jerusalem2 for ,jerusalem is from first to last the centre of the author's interest4 ,he writes the history of ,judah alone1 touching upon the kingdom of ,israel only in its relation to ,judah4 ,the desire to magnify and glorify the kingdom of ,judah in its great days1 especially under ,david and ,solomon1 to represent it as the most powerful1 wealthy1 and magnificent among the nations1 not only of its time but of any time1 frequently expresses itself in enormous exaggerations4 ,david could raise a native army of a million and a half1 almost as many as1 according to ,herodotus--who certainly does not underestimate the numbers--,xerxes mustered from the whole ,persian empire for the invasion of ,greece2 he laid away1 out of his poverty1 to build the temple1 a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver--over three times the national debt of the ,united ,kingdom in #aiab2 at the dedication of the temple ,solomon sacrificed #bb1jjj bullocks and #abj1jjj sheep and goats2 and so on4 ,it is evident that the author has raised the figures out of the grasp of his own imagination4 ,from the same motive1 if it is possible to avoid it1 he tells nothing to discredit the kings whom he thus extols4 ,david's sin in taking a census is necessarily related1 because the sequel of it was the choice of a site for the future temple1 but1 characteristically1 not ,god but ,satan tempted him to number the people2 otherwise none of the misdeeds and misfortunes which are set down so impartially in #b ,samuel is so much as alluded to by the ,chronicler2 ,david is in his pages the model king4 ,solomon fares as well2 nothing is said of the perverting influence of his foreign wives nor the temples he erected to their gods4 ,indeed1 his piety is such that he will not allow ,pharaoh's daughter1 apparently the only foreign wife the ,chronicler gives him1 to live in the city of ,david1 for the neighbourhood of the ark is holy4 ,solomon's press-gangs were one of the greatest grievances of the tribes2 the author of ,chronicles takes pains to aver that ,solomon raised his corve from the remnants of the ,hittites and other heathen2 no ,israelites were put to such work4 ,in ,kings we read that ,solomon ceded twenty towns in ,galilee to ,hiram1 king of ,tyre1 in payment for materials and services in the building of the temple2 to the ,chronicler such a transaction is unimaginable1 and he amends it by making ,hiram give the towns to ,solomon4 ,all this is1 however1 incidental to the main purpose of the book to exalt ,jerusalem as the religious capital1 its temple as the place which ,god has chosen for his abode1 its liturgy as the correct form of worship1 its priests and levites as the only ministry of valid orders and unimpeachable succession4 ,it is not solely the pride of the churchman which prompts him to dwell on these things4 ,the assertion is so emphasized and reiterated that we can hardly mistake in inferring a controversial animus1 especially when we recall that at the time of writing there was a rival temple on ,mt4 ,gerizim near ,shechem1 at one of the most venerable holy places in the land4 ,this temple is said by ,josephus to have been erected in the time of ,alexander the ,great1 in avowed rivalry to the temple in ,jerusalem4 ,the high priests of the ,samaritan temple were a branch of the ,jewish high-priestly line1 its ritual was the same1 the ,pentateuch was the ,law in ,shechem as well as in ,jerusalem4 ,if the ,jews maintained that ,jerusalem was the only place in the land where sacrifice might lawfully be made to ,god1 the ,samaritans made the same exclusive claim for their temple3 ,shechem1 not ,jerusalem1 was the place 7unnamed in ,deuteronomy7 which ,god had chosen out of all the tribes to put his name there4 ,at ,shechem was held the first great religious assembly of ,israel after the invasion of ,canaan2 there1 on ,gerizim1 the first altar of ,jehovah was erected by his express command 7see ,deut4 xi4 #bf-bi2 ,jos4 viii4 #cj-ce2 ,jos4 #bd2 especially ,deut4 xxvii4 #d1 where ,ebal in the ,jewish ,bible is an anti-,samaritan substitute for the original ,gerizim74 ,the rivalry of ,shechem was thus a serious menace1 and so the ,jerusalem ,jews treated it4 ,in their eyes the people of the old territory of ,ephraim were descendants of the assorted heathen whom the ,assyrian kings had colonized in the cities of ,samaria after transplanting to the eastern provinces of the empire the old ,israelite population of the region 7see #b ,kings #ag--;a very late passage--noting especially vs4 #cd1 unto this day74 ,on the other hand1 ,jerusalem and the region about it1 after lying waste for seventy years1 had been repeopled under ,cyrus by ,jews of pure race returning from the exile in ,babylonia1 who rebuilt the temple and restored the worship as prescribed in the law4 ,they were surrounded by the peoples of the land1 who were regarded as descendants of the ancient heathen of ,canaan with whom intermarriage was forbidden in the law4 ,this is the ,chronicler's representation3 the returned exiles are the only genuine stock1 their priesthood the only legitimate sons of ,aaron1 the rest of the ministry1 down to the temple slaves1 was authenticated by recorded pedigrees 7see ,ezra ii4 #ei-fc71 and the elaborate liturgy of his own time the same in all particulars which had been used in the temple from its foundation4 ,the author has an exaggerated interest in this liturgy1 and especially in the part taken in it by the minor orders of the clergy1 levites1 musicians1 singers1 door-keepers1 and the rest4 ,the levites are provided for in the ,pentateuch1 but the orchestra and choruses1 according to the ,chronicler1 were organized by ,david 7#a ,chron4 #bc-bf71 who thus provided for the proper execution of his ,psalms4 ,when a great religious function is described1 the music invariably comes in for a prominent notice 7e4g4 #b ,chron4 v4 #ab f474 ,we have seen that the historians of the seventh and following centuries1 the so-called deuteronomist school1 wrote or interpreted the history to exemplify the doctrine that defection from the national religion is surely punished by national calamities4 ,the ,chronicler's doctrine of retribution is at once harder and more individual4 ,he also turns it about3 unusual suffering is proof of sin4 ,thus1 ,asa was1 according to ,kings1 a conspicuously good king1 but in his old age he had the gout4 ,the ,chronicler1 by the mouth of a prophet1 explains why3 he relied on the king of ,syria to help him against ,israel1 instead of relying on the ,lord4 ,the king clapped the prophet into prison for meddling with affairs of state1 and so added another affront to ,god4 ,he was impenitent1 however1 for though the gout was very bad1 yet sought he not unto the ,lord1 but to the physicians4 ,uzziah1 another godly king1 was in his later years afflicted with leprosy1 a disease which was regarded as peculiarly the stroke of ,god4 ,the ,chronicler gives the reason3 the king presumed to burn incense on the altar in spite of the protest of the priest1 and was smitten with leprosy on the spot4 ,there is no reason to impugn the author's good faith in such emendations of his sources4 ,he thought he knew the laws of history1 and if in the particular instance the record did not correspond1 it must be defective4 ,but whatever apology may be made for his good intentions1 it need hardly be said that the unsupported testimony of a doctrinaire historian who deals so sovereignly with the facts is of no weight4 ,the ,chronicler names a considerable number of books as authorities for different periods of the history2 the ,book of the ,kings of ,judah and ,israel 7or ,israel and ,judah7 and the ,book of the ,kings of ,israel are repeatedly cited for things not related in our ,book of ,kings4 ,for more information about ,joash the reader is referred to the ,midrash of the ,book of ,kings1 and for ,abijah to the ,midrash of the ,prophet ,iddo1 titles that in later times1 at least1 would designate an edifying exposition in which full licence was given to the imagination to embroider the theme with picturesque inventions4 ,the favourite references1 however1 are to writings bearing the names of prophets--,samuel1 ,nathan1 ,gad1 ,ahijah1 ,iddo1 ,shemaiah1 ,jehu son of ,hanani4 ,the title ,history of ,samuel the ,seer1 of ,nathan the ,prophet1 and so on1 may mean either about ,samuel or by ,samuel4 ,very likely the author entertained the theory which subsequently prevailed among the ,jews that in each age the prophets wrote down the events of their own time in which many of them had a conspicuous part4 ,the question is of no other interest2 for an examination of the extracts from his sources which the ,chronicler has incorporated or condensed shows that 7with small possible exceptions to be considered hereafter7 his material was all taken from our ,book of ,kings4 ,this enables us to confront his history of ,judah with his sources and acquaint ourselves with his habitual way of dealing with them1 an investigation not only instructive for his method1 but of the greatest importance when we come to the ,chronicler's history of the ,persian period1 where1 for the most part1 his sources are not independently preserved4 ,in the first place it will be noticed that he has selected from the history in ,samuel and ,kings the parts which particularly interested him for their own sake1 such as the description of religious ceremonies1 or could be used as a text for the doctrines he had most at heart1 and has therefore passed over a very large part of the contents of his source4 ,precisely so1 the author of ,kings1 two centuries earlier1 had dealt with his sources1 though with a different interest4 ,what the ,chronicler chose to include he generally copied out without much change2 the present variations in the text are chiefly due to divergent transmission4 7,compare1 for illustration1 #a ,chron4 x4 #a-xi4 #dg with #a ,sam4 #ca and #b ,sam4 xxiii4 #h-ci1 or #a ,chron4 xvii4 #a-xx4 #h with #b ,sam4 #g1 #h1 #aj and #ab474 ,often he introduces in these extracts1 or appends to them1 notes of his own which would in almost all cases be certainly recognizable on internal evidence even if we had not the text of ,kings before us4 ,in a few places he condenses or abridges the narrative of ,kings1 as in #b ,chron4 xxxii4 #a-bc compared with #b ,kings xviii4 #ac-xix4 #cg4 ,of alterations1 or1 from the author's own point of view1 corrections1 of the older history several examples have been given above4 ,one more1 of a striking character1 may be cited1 viz4 #b ,chron4 xxii4 #aj-xxiii4 #ba compared with #b ,kings #aa4 ,the ,carian mercenaries of the guard in the sacred precincts of the temple 7#b ,kings xi4 #d7 were a plain profanation1 of which the pious chief priest could not have been guilty4 ,the ,chronicler accordingly rewrites the story1 substituting the levites 7note #b ,chron4 xxiii4 #f7 for the obnoxious heathen4 ,finally1 he sometimes freely expands on his text1 as in the building of ,solomon's temple 7#b ,chron4 #b-c74 ,in view of the ,chronicler's multiplied references to authorities1 it has frequently been assumed that his immediate source was not the ,books of ,samuel and ,kings1 but a work of a midrashic character--that is1 euphemistically1 a work with more concern for edification than for historical verity--written not long before his time from the same point of view and with the same salient interests1 which the ,chronicler in all simplicity took for authentic history4 ,this ghost source eludes1 however1 all attempts to catch it actually walking4 ,it may perfectly well be that the ,chronicler did not invent everything in the book which is plainly invention1 but if not1 we can only apply the famous contribution of an undergraduate to ,homeric criticism1 the ,iliad was not written by ,homer1 but by another man of the same name4 ,there remain a few short notices1 not derived from the ,pentateuch or ,historical ,books1 whose contents and form suggest that they are scraps which the ,chronicler picked up from some other source1 e4g4 the migration of the ,simeonites1 #a ,chron4 iv4 #bd-dc 7in the main74 ,but these passages are so few1 and generally of so little historical importance1 that the question need here not be pursued farther4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,ezra ,,and ,,nehemiah ,the books which in our ,bible bear the names ,ezra and ,nehemiah 7in the ,jewish ,bible1 one book1 ,ezra7 are the immediate continuation of ,chronicles1 by the same author4 ,when they were divided1 #b ,chron4 xxxvi4 #bb-bc1 the necessary sequel of vss4 #bj-ba was repeated at the beginning of ,ezra 7,ezra i4 #a-c74 ,the reason for the division is plain3 down to the end of the exile the work was no more than an epitome of the ,pentateuch and ,historical ,books2 but from the time of ,cyrus to ,alexander it was the only history the ,jews possessed4 ,this part was therefore separated from what went before as the book of post-exilic history1 and named ,ezra after the figure most prominent in the earlier half of it1 on the same principle that the history of the founding of the kingdom was named ,samuel4 ,the subdivision into two books of ,ezra as in the ,greek ,bible1 or as we name them ,ezra and ,nehemiah1 is apparently due to ,christian hands4 ,this part of the ,chronicler's work begins1 as has been said1 with an edict of ,cyrus permitting the ,jews in ,babylonia to return to ,jerusalem and rebuild the temple4 ,there follows a list 7given again in ,neh4 #g7 of the families who availed themselves of this permission1 shortly after #ech ,b4,c4 ,the restoration of the temple is begun1 then stopped by the machinations of their enemies under ,xerxes 7#dhf-dfe ,b4,c47 and ,artaxerxes 7#dfe-dbd ,b4,c471 but happily completed 7by the same ,zerubbabel and ,joshua who began it7 in the sixth year of ,darius 7,nothus1 #dbd-dje ,b4,c474 ,after these things1 in the reign of ,artaxerxes1 ,ezra came up from ,babylonia1 armed with large powers by an edict of the king1 to order things according to the law of his ,god in the province beyond the river 7,euphrates1 ,ezra #g f474 ,he found things enough that needed reform2 particularly the frequent intermarriages of all classes1 including the clergy1 with the peoples of the land1 and succeeded in inducing the ,jews1 in a great act of penitence1 to divorce these foreign women 7cc4 #i-aj74 ,at this point the ,history of ,nehemiah sets in abruptly in the form of personal memoirs4 ,nehemiah1 a favourite cup-bearer of the ,persian king ,artaxerxes1 hearing that the wall of ,jerusalem was broken down and the gates burned1 asks permission to go thither and repair the damaged fortifications1 and is sent with a commission as royal governor of the district4 ,in spite of dangerous opposition from jealous neighbours in ,samaria and elsewhere1 by the utmost endeavours he accomplishes the rebuilding of the walls in a very brief space 7,neh4 #a-f74 ,in all this there is not so much as a mention of ,ezra1 who is supposed to have been now thirteen years in ,jerusalem1 but in ,neh4 #h he suddenly appears on the scene with his law-book4 ,the law is read1 and the people solemnly covenant by sign and seal to observe it2 ,nehemiah's name stands at the head of the list of signers1 but otherwise he is entirely ignored 7,neh4 #h-aj74 ,lists of the inhabitants of ,jerusalem and of other settlements1 a catalogue of the priests and levites who came up under ,cyrus1 and a description of the dedication of the walls1 in which the singers shine1 fill ,neh4 #aa-ab4 ,that the ,chronicler is the author is palpable4 ,finally1 in c4 #ac1 ,nehemiah1 who had returned to court1 reappears1 and finds a sad state of things2 a foreigner1 and an ,ammonite at that1 lodged by the high priest in a chamber of the temple1 flagrant violations of the sabbath by market men1 and the old grievance of mixed marriages in full gait4 ,even the high priest's family was not pure3 one of its scions was son-in-law to ,nehemiah's arch-enemy1 ,sanballat of ,samaria4 ,naturally ,nehemiah expelled him4 ,it has been necessary to give this somewhat detailed synopsis of the books to make intelligible the problems they present4 ,on this point it is further to be observed that the book is not all written in ,hebrew3 ,ezra iv4 #h-vi4 #ah2 vii4 #ab-bf1 containing chiefly correspondence with the ,persian court and documents issuing from it1 are in ,aramaic1 the official language of the western provinces of the empire4 ,moreover1 the oldest ,greek translation of the ,chronicler's history1 part of which is preserved in the ,bible of the church as #a ,esdras1 differs both in matter and order from the ,jewish standard text and the later ,greek version2 it contains1 for example1 the famous exhibition of wits by the three ,jewish youths at the court of ,darius 7#a ,esdr4 #c f471 as a result of which ,zerubbabel obtains from ,darius permission to go up to ,jerusalem4 ,in #a ,esdras the reading of the law 7,neh4 #h7 immediately follows the act of penitence for the strange wives 7,ezra #aj74 ,a large part of ,ezra-,nehemiah exhibits the ,chronicler's familiar motives and manner2 in other places he has incorporated extracts from the sources with or without annotations of his own4 ,of these sources the only ones which have been independently preserved are the prophecies of ,haggai and ,zechariah1 from which the author takes1 however1 no more than the facts that at the instance of these prophets ,zerubbabel and ,joshua began to rebuild the temple in the second year of ,darius 7,ezra v4 #a f472 the completion of the work by the same hands1 which according to the ,chronicler took place in the sixth year of ,darius and was celebrated in a great dedication ceremony1 is in ,zech4 iv4 #i still prediction4 ,another source which stands out distinctly is the ,memoirs of ,nehemiah1 of which ,neh4 #a-f 7except c4 #c7 is a solid piece4 ,there is1 moreover1 a series of documents3 ,ezra #a1 the edict of ,cyrus2 ,ezra iv4 #g-vi4 #ab1 complaints to the court of the ,jews' building operations1 and answers of the kings ,artaxerxes and ,darius respectively4 ,ezra vii4 #aa-bf1 commission of ,artaxerxes to ,ezra4 ,a diplomatic appearance is given to these by the fact that--except the edict of ,cyrus--they are all couched in the official ,aramaic2 and1 inasmuch as in cc4 iv4 #g-vi4 #ah the connecting links of narrative are also in ,aramaic1 the presumption is that this material was taken bodily from an ,aramaic book in which the letters and rescripts were already embodied4 ,finally1 a distinct source is commonly assumed for the history of ,ezra4 ,this is chiefly told of ,ezra in the third person2 but in some parts for a considerable space together ,ezra speaks in the first person 7,i or we71 and it is accordingly thought by most scholars that the ,chronicler had in his hands ,memoirs of ,ezra as well as of ,nehemiah1 which in part he incorporated intact 7e4g4 ,ezra #h f471 in part recast into the form of a narrative about ,ezra 7as in ,ezra #aj2 ,neh4 #h f474 ,it is evident that the story of ,ezra1 whatever its origin1 is badly dislocated3 the chapters which now stand in ,neh4 #h-aj have no business there1 and1 as has been noticed above1 in #a ,esdras the reading of the law immediately follows ,ezra #aj4 ,on the other hand1 there is a gap at the end of ,ezra #f2 chapter #i cannot well be its original sequel4 ,and1 lastly1 ,neh4 #i f4 does not seem naturally to follow c4 #h4 ,the most probable restoration of the order is ,ezra #h2 ,neh4 vii4 #gj-gc2 #h2 ,ezra #i-aj2 ,neh4 #i-aj4 ,this arrangement gives a continuous and consistent story1 and the numerous dates fall into sequence4 ,incidentally another connection is thus restored1 ,neh4 #aa follows vii4 #e;a4 ,the list 7,neh4 vii4 #e;b-#fj7 of the exiles who returned with ,zerubbabel and his company 7 ,ezra #b7 is obviously not what is required here4 ,the dismemberment of the story of ,ezra is not to be attributed to the ,chronicler1 but to misadventures of copying such as are not infrequent in ancient manuscripts4 ,the extract from the ,memoirs of ,nehemiah breaks off with ,neh4 #f2 though perhaps in vii4 #a-d2 xi4 #a-c the ,chronicler has utilized in his own way some further sentences4 ,in ,neh4 xii4 #bg-dc1 the procession at the dedication of the walls is described1 ostensibly by ,nehemiah in the first person1 and the passage has on this ground been taken for an extract from the ,memoirs4 ,it is1 however1 an unmistakable piece of the ,chronicler's own composition4 ,in c4 #ac1 also1 ,nehemiah1 in the first person1 gives an account of his reforming enterprises on a second visit to ,jerusalem4 ,an unaltered extract from the ,memoirs1 however1 the chapter cannot well be2 the ,chronicler's vein crops out in too many places4 ,it does not belong to our present task to discuss the historical value of these sources2 but it may not be amiss to say that the authority of the ,memoirs of ,nehemiah alone is unimpeached4 ,the question is of peculiar interest in the case of the supposed ,memoirs of ,ezra1 because ,neh4 #h has been generally understood by recent critics to be the account of the formal introduction of a new1 or newly codified1 law1 the ,priests' ,code or the ,pentateuch1 which ,ezra brought up from ,babylonia4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,story ,,books3 ,,esther1 ,,ruth1 ,,jonah ,besides the older and younger historical books we have been considering1 the ,jewish ,bible contains some examples of what we should call the short story1 and the church has preserved others4 ,the canonical books of this class are ,esther1 ,ruth1 and ,jonah2 among the apocrypha are ,judith and ,tobit2 others1 such as #c ,maccabees1 are found in manuscripts of the ,greek and ,latin ,bibles1 or in ,oriental translations1 but did not attain official recognition of any of the great churches4 ,these stories1 which1 as might be expected1 differ widely in literary quality as well as in subject and motive1 are doubtless only the rare survivors of a larger literature of this kind1 but they suffice to give us a notion of the popular reading of the ,jews in the last centuries before the ,christian era4 ,it would be more exact1 perhaps1 to say the popular story-telling1 for probably the written books were chiefly used by the story-tellers1 who reproduced their contents orally and freely1 just as the ,moslem story-tellers to-day recite stories from the ,arabian ,nights or the ,antar romance4 ,some of them1 however1 like ,esther1 attached themselves to popular festivals and were recited or read as part of the celebration4 ,,esther4--,esther is the story of a beautiful ,jewess of ,susa whom ,xerxes raises from the ranks of his concubines to be his queen1 and who uses her influence over him to save her people from a general massacre which the grand vizier has prepared for them by way of avenging an affront from one of the race4 ,the plot is developed with noteworthy art4 ,the deposition of ,vashti1 which1 so far as the main matter goes1 is necessary only to make room for ,esther1 under the author's hand becomes a brilliant first act4 ,the embroilment of ,mordecai and ,haman is skilfully managed2 the stiffnecked ,jew refuses homage to the proud vizier1 who schemes a generous revenge4 ,esther ventures her life for her people by intruding into the audience chamber1 but the dnouement is artfully retarded--instead of a pathetic plea for the imperilled ,jews1 an invitation for the king and his prime minister to a petit dner in the queen's apartments6 ,at the banquet the king offers ,esther her wish1 but again the issue is postponed4 ,haman1 in his elation at such signal marks of queenly favour1 builds a gallows for ,mordecai seventy-five feet high--and next day has to parade the streets of the capital at the bridle of the hated ,jew's horse proclaiming him the object of the king's special honour6 ,the scene in the banqueting hall when ,esther at last makes her petition is highly dramatic4 ,she makes it a plea for her own life1 for we are sold1 ,i and my people1 to be destroyed1 to be slain1 and to perish4 ,the king1 who has no inkling that she is a ,jewess1 and is incensed at the thought of such a plot against his queen1 angrily asks1 ,who is he1 and where is he1 that durst presume in his heart to do so8 ,the climax so skilfully prepared comes in the stunning words1 ,this wicked ,haman here6 ,thenceforth the action matches swiftly3 the king bursts out of the room to collect himself by a turn in the garden2 the fallen vizier sinks a suppliant on the queen's couch1 where the king1 returning1 finds him2 the sinister eunuch standing by describes the fine new gallows ,haman has at home1 ready for ,mordecai1 and on his own gallows1 in poetic justice1 ,haman is hanged1 fifty cubits high6 ,mordecai succeeds to the seal of state1 and conceives the counter-stroke by which1 instead of the heathen massacring the ,jews1 the ,jews slaughter the heathen4 ,an annual festival celebrates the joyful issue4 ,for the full account of ,mordecai's greatness the reader is referred to the royal annals of ,media and ,persia1 where it will be found1 he says1 recorded along with the mighty deeds of ,xerxes1 including his subjugation of the ,greeks4 ,despite this authority1 it should be unnecessary to say that the ,book of ,esther is a work of fiction4 ,whether it is pure invention1 or whether some of the incidents are borrowed from fact1 is an idle question1 because a wholly unanswerable one4 ,if the local colour1 which is laid on pretty thick1 is good1 as some modern archologists aver1 it would not be strange that a ,jewish novelist who wrote not so long after the passing of ,persia should prove as well acquainted with it as a modern archologist4 ,some recent interpreters find in the story a mythical background3 ,esther is ,ishtar1 the ,babylonian goddess of love2 ,mordecai1 ,marduk's man1 was originally ,marduk himself1 the great god of ,babylon2 the name of ,haman sounds something like one way of pronouncing the name of an ,elamite god in the epic of ,gilgamesh4 ,the triumph of ,mordecai and ,esther over ,haman would thus be an echo of ancient strife between the gods of ,babylonia and ,elam4 ,it will be obvious1 however1 to the mythologically unsophisticated understanding1 that if these very problematical combinations are right1 the author of the ,book of ,esther was quite innocent of them1 and therefore that for the interpretation of the story he tells they are wholly irrelevant4 ,the ,book of ,esther1 it was long ago observed1 is singular among the books of the ,bible in that there is no mention of ,god in it4 ,it is ,jewish with a sanguinary loyalty to race1 but of ,judaism as religion there is not a trace2 it is in fact somewhat obtrusive by its absence4 ,when ,mordecai warns ,esther that if she fails her people in their hour of need deliverance will come from another place1 the word ,god is ostentatiously avoided2 before her great adventure she fasts three days1 but there is no suggestion of prayer2 in the celebrations of rescue and the annual commemoration of it there is feasting and gladness1 but no thanksgiving to ,god4 ,it is no wonder that orthodox rabbis doubted the inspiration of so conspicuously secular romance1 nor that the ,greek translators made good the religious deficiencies of the book by putting pious prayers into the mouth of ,mordecai and ,esther at the appropriate junctures4 ,the age of the book cannot be very closely determined2 it is pretty certainly not older than the third century ,b4,c41 more likely from the second4 ,a note at the end of the ,greek version says that this translation was brought from ,jerusalem to ,egypt in the year which corresponds to #aad ,b4,c4 ,the earliest mention of the festival of ,purim is in #b ,macc4 xv4 #cf1 where it is called ,mordecai ,day4 ,,ruth4--,the story of ,ruth is laid in the time of the ,judges1 for which reason it was placed in the ,greek ,bible and in modern versions between ,judges and ,samuel4 ,it tells of a young ,moabitess1 the childless widow of a ,judan from ,bethlehem1 who accompanies her widowed mother-in-law back to ,bethlehem1 embracing her religion4 ,ruth goes out to glean after the reapers and by chance comes to the field of ,boaz1 a kinsman of her husband1 who shows her kindness4 ,by ,naomi's contrivance1 she reveals to him who she is under circumstances that appeal to his chivalry1 and1 after a nearer of kin has waived his right1 ,boaz takes the widow with the land1 and they live happy ever after4 ,their son ,obed is ,david's grandfather4 ,the legal proceedings in the last chapter are different from anything we otherwise know of ,israelite custom1 but our ignorance is no warrant for assuming that the usage there described is fictitious4 ,if the story of ,esther is told with dramatic power1 that of ,ruth is told with idyllic grace4 ,the pathos of the moment in which ,naomi bids her daughters-in-law return to their mothers' homes and ,ruth refuses to part from her is unforced4 ,the picture of the gleaners in the fields2 the delicacy with which the night at the threshing-floor is treated2 the scene at the city gate1 where the waiver and redemption are witnessed and the shoe given in attestation2 the blessing of the townsmen on the union1 all have the charm of simple and unaffected narrative4 ,the question what the book was written for has received diverse answers4 ,it has been thought that the author meant to protest against the narrowness of those who condemned all marriages with foreigners and put the ,moabites under a special ban1 by showing that ,david himself had ,moabite blood in his veins2 others see the point of the book in the commendation of the marriage of childless widows1 not by brothers-in-law only as the levirate law required1 but by remoter kinsmen4 ,others have conjectured otherwise4 ,in this state of the case it is safe to say that if the author had an ulterior motive1 he concealed it more successfully than is common to story-tellers who write with a purpose4 ,there are no very definite signs in the book of the age in which it was written4 ,the author is familiar with the ,hebrew literature of the good period1 and writes a better imitation of it than some4 ,it is precisely this imitative character which stands in the way of putting the book in the days of the kingdom4 ,but where1 in the centuries of the ,persian or ,greek dominion it belongs1 it is impossible to say4 ,,jonah4--,the third of the short stories1 ,jonah1 is not found1 like ,esther and ,ruth1 in the ,jewish ,bible in the miscellaneous collection of ,scriptures and in the ,christian ,bible among the ,historical ,books1 but in the prophetic canon1 as one of the ,minor ,prophets4 ,the reason1 doubtless1 is that it is not only a story about a prophet and his mission1 but was thought to be written by himself4 ,the tale is too familiar to have to be retold at length4 ,the ,israelite prophet1 ,jonah the son of ,amittai1 is commissioned by ,god to go to ,nineveh and announce its impending destruction2 to escape this unwelcome errand he embarks on a ,phoenician ship bound for ,spain1 at the other end of the world2 a tempest threatens to engulf the ship2 the seamen cast lots to discover against whom the gods are so angry2 the lot falls on ,jonah1 and he is cast into the sea1 which thereupon becomes calm2 ,jonah is swallowed by a monstrous fish1 which after three days sets him ashore safe and sound4 ,he goes to ,nineveh and delivers his message2 the people repent of their sins1 and ,god repents of his purpose to destroy them1 whereat the prophet is very indignant and upbraids ,god with his soft-heartedness2 he expected this from the beginning1 and therefore tried to flee to ,tarshish4 ,by his own grief for the death of the plant which sprang up in a night and perished in a night1 the prophet is taught the lesson of the divine compassion3 ,how should ,i not have compassion on this great city1 ,nineveh1 in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand human beings which do not know their right hand from their left1 not to speak of cattle8 ,with this rebuke the book ends4 ,these closing words leave no room for question about the purpose of the book4 ,in the person of ,jonah1 the rebuke is addressed to the ,jews1 to whom ,god's long-suffering with the heathen was a stumbling-block4 ,the greater prophetic books1 ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 all contain a long array of oracles against foreign nations1 predicting their total and remediless destruction1 some of them very precise as to time and agent 7see1 for example1 ,isa4 #ac f41 against ,babylon74 ,the fulfilment of these prophecies1 the final breaking of the power of the heathen world1 must come before the golden age of ,israel could dawn4 ,yet the generations came and went1 and the heathen still ruled the earth6 ,then1 too1 the ,jews doubtless felt that they1 as the people of ,god1 had an exclusive claim on his affections1 as he asserted exclusive claims to theirs4 ,the author of ,jonah not only extends to mankind ,god's word in ,ezekiel1 ,have ,i any pleasure in the death of the wicked8 saith the ,lord ,god1 and not rather that he should return from his way and live8 but he asserts the all-embracing compassion of ,god4 ,the one ,god is the creator of the heathen as well as of ,israel1 his merciful providence is over all his works4 ,the higher spirit of ,judaism here reproves the lower1 narrow1 exclusive1 and intolerant spirit1 which could unfortunately allege so much warrant for itself from the law and the prophets4 ,therein the author had many and noble successors1 not only among the sages1 with their cosmopolitan wisdom1 but in the circles of the law4 ,it is not the fault of the author that modern readers and interpreters have had their attention diverted from the moral of the book to the fable in which it is conveyed2 he could not have imagined the pseudo-historical frame of mind to which the question whether it all happened thus and so was of such absorbing importance that it might almost be said that the sea-monster swallowed the commentators as well as the prophet4 ,for one of the difficulties of the book he is not responsible1 the psalm 7,jonah ii4 #b-i7 which ,jonah sings in the fish's belly was put in his mouth by a later editor2 vs4 #aj is the immediate sequel of vs4 #a4 ,the poem was evidently not composed for the place2 it is a hymn of thanksgiving not a prayer for deliverance2 but the 7figurative7 references to the depths of the abyss seemed appropriate to ,jonah's situation4 ,the hero of the story is a historical character1 of whom1 to be sure1 we know only that he came from a place named ,gath-hepher1 and predicted the reconquest of lost ,israelite territories which ,jeroboam ,,ii4 achieved 7#b ,kings xiv4 #be74 ,it has been conjectured that the author of our book may have heard in some way that he went on a mission to ,nineveh2 but if he had1 that would not make the book any more historical4 ,jonah1 like ,ruth and ,esther1 belongs to the later period of ,hebrew literature2 it is more likely that it was written after the time of ,alexander than before1 but greater definiteness is not justified4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,prophets ,in the old story of ,saul and ,samuel 7#a ,sam4 #i f47 ,samuel is named the seer1 that is1 a man endowed with what we call second sight1 and a note by an editor explains that what in his time was called a prophet used to be called a seer4 ,samuel was1 indeed1 in the apprehension of later times1 a prophet1 but the story itself makes a clear distinction between the two4 ,the band of prophets whom ,saul meets coming down from the high place1 working up by music an enthusiasm1 or possession1 which makes them beside themselves1 raving in the prophetic fury 7raving and prophesying1 in such connections1 is the same word in ,hebrew71 an enthusiasm which ,saul catches1 to the surprise and scandal of his townsmen1 are evidently something quite different from the village seer2 they must have been outwardly very much like modern ,moslem dervishes4 ,in the ninth century of the ,syrian wars1 these gregarious prophets appear in many places2 especially in the stories of ,elisha they are organized societies of devotees1 living by themselves in colonies of huts or cells under a superior--again very much like a dervish order--and sometimes turning their religious zeal into political channels1 as when they incite ,jehu to the revolt which overthrew the house of ,omri4 ,beside them are others who also bear the name prophet1 but stand apart from the order and often in opposition to it4 ,such a figure is ,micaiah son of ,imlah1 confronting the four hundred prophets whom ,ahab got together1 and declaring their unanimity of inspiration to be the work of a lying spirit sent from ,god to lure the king to his doom 7#a ,kings #bb74 ,such a figure1 above all as we have already seen1 is ,elijah1 who1 solitary1 champions ,jehovah's right to the undivided allegiance of ,israel1 or thunders the doom of the dynasty at the authors of ,naboth's judicial murder4 ,it is in such men as these1 rather than in the common herd of prophets by profession1 that the ethical prophets of the eighth century have their forerunners4 ,the moral conception of ,god had its roots far down in the religion of ,israel1 as may be seen in the older 7certainly preprophetic7 strata in ,samuel1 and better still in the patriarchal legends1 which received their present form in the same age2 but after the establishment of the kingdom it was crossed by the national idea4 ,it was not till the eighth century that the men came who thought through what the moral idea of ,god involves1 and had the courage to proclaim its consequences1 fatal though they might be to both state and church4 ,these prophets1 beginning with ,amos1 not only preached a new doctrine1 they employed a new method4 ,the message which they spoke to the heedless1 incredulous1 or hostile ears of their contemporaries1 they also recorded1 whether in the hope to reach through the written page a larger audience1 or to perpetuate their words to generations following4 ,thus there begins a prophetic literature which is one of the most characteristic features of the ,old ,testament4 ,four prophets of the second half of the eighth century have given their names to such prophetic books1 ,amos1 ,hosea1 ,isaiah1 and ,micah4 ,then1 in the latter part of the seventh century and the beginning of the sixth1 follow the little books of ,zephaniah1 ,nahum1 and ,habbakuk1 and the great one of ,jeremiah1 whose younger contemporary in ,babylonia is ,ezekiel4 ,haggai and ,zechariah were instrumental in the rebuilding of the temple in the reign of ,darius ,i4 ,in the discussion of these books we shall not attempt a chronological disposition1 but follow the order of the ,english ,bible4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,isaiah ,the first of the prophetic books bears the name of ,isaiah1 a ,judan prophet1 who dates his call in the year that king ,uzziah died1 a year which cannot be fixed with certainty1 but was at all events not very long before #gcd ,b4,c41 and whose latest dated utterances are from the time of ,sennacherib's invasion in the year #gja4 ,his prophecies thus range over a period of not far from forty years4 ,he witnessed the humbling of ,israel by ,tiglath-,pileser in #gcd1 the fall of ,samaria in #gba1 the ,assyrian campaigns in the west in #gbj and #gaa1 and the condign punishment ,sennacherib inflicted on ,judah in #gja2 and all these events 7of which we have historical knowledge from both ,assyrian and ,jewish sources7 are reflected in his prophecies4 ,the book contains1 however1 much besides the prophecies of ,isaiah in the different periods of his long career4 ,it has already been noted that ,isa4 #cf-ci are found also1 with some variations1 in #b ,kings #ah-bj1 where they are an integral part of the narrative4 ,that this extract from ,kings was copied into the ,book of ,isaiah is explained by the fact that the prophet is a prominent figure in the story4 ,it does not stand in immediate connection with the prophecies of ,isaiah during the campaign of ,sennacherib in cc4 #bh-cc1 from which it is separated by several oracles of different character and date2 and the natural presumption is that this historical appendix was added at the end of a roll1 just as ,jer4 #eb1 also an extract from ,kings 7#b ,kings xxiv4 #ah-xxv4 #ba71 is appended at the end of the roll of ,jeremiah4 ,in the present ,book of ,isaiah1 cc4 #cf-ci are followed by another prophetic book of considerable length 7,isa4 #dj-ff71 which has no title1 and in which1 from first to last1 no prophet's name appears4 ,the theme which is announced in the first verses of this book and runs through a large part of it is the approaching deliverance of the ,jews from the ,babylonian captivity1 their return to their own land1 and the restoration of ,zion4 ,in ,isa4 #a-ce certain larger divisions are at once apparent2 cc4 #a-ab1 a collection of prophecies1 chiefly1 as appears from dates and other indications1 from the earlier years of ,isaiah's ministry2 cc4 #ac to #bc1 a collection of oracles mainly against foreign nations2 cc4 #bd-bg1 previsions of a great judgment1 in a peculiarly mysterious tone2 cc4 #bh-cc1 chiefly from the time of ,sennacherib1 followed by c4 #cd1 in which ,god's fury is poured out on ,edom1 and c4 #ce1 a prophecy of restoration akin to cc4 #dj ff4 ,it is thus evident that the present book is made up from several older collections of prophecies gathered by different hands2 the peculiar titles in cc4 #ac-bc1 for instance1 are most probably to be attributed to the editor of an independent book of prophecies against the heathen4 ,the same phenomenon appears on a smaller scale in ,isa4 #a-ab4 ,that these chapters1 at one stage in the history of the collections1 formed a roll by themselves is probable from the fact that they begin with a grand overture 7c4 #a71 in which the leading motives of ,isaiah's prophecy are heard1 and close 7c4 #ab7 with a psalm of praise for the messianic deliverance which is the subject of c4 #aa4 ,but the order of the prophecies is not chronological3 the inaugural vision and ,isaiah's call to be a prophet stands1 not at the beginning1 as in ,jeremiah and ,ezekiel1 but in c4 #f 7dated in the year of ,king ,uzziah's death71 while the chapters that precede it 7cc4 #b f42 #e71 with what was once an initial title 7ii4 #a71 may confidently be assigned1 on internal grounds1 to the reigns of ,uzziah's successors4 ,chapters #g and #h 7dated under ,ahaz7 seem to have originally followed close on c4 #f1 as they do now4 ,whatever may be the reason for this singular arrangement1 it seems evident that the compiler had several smaller groups or loose leaves of oracles1 which he put together for better preservation1 rather1 perhaps1 by affinity of subject than in order of time4 ,this must have taken place at a comparatively late time1 for not only does his roll begin with a prophecy 7,isa4 i4 #b-i7 which vividly depicts the devastation of ,judah and the isolation of ,jerusalem by ,sennacherib in #gja 7perhaps the latest oracle of ,isaiah preserved in the book71 but it contains passages 7e4g4 xi4 #aa-af7 which bear all the marks of a time several centuries after ,isaiah's death2 the psalm in c4 #ab is perhaps later still4 ,another indication that the collection was made at a date remote from the age of the prophet is the fragmentary character of several of the oracles in cc4 #b-e4 ,the refrain verses here afford a certain clue2 they show that prophecies originally composed with much art in balanced strophes with closing refrains came into the compiler's hands mutilated and dislocated4 ,thus1 v4 #be has the refrain of ix4 #h-ba2 x4 #d1 while x4 #a-c is a woe which has strayed away from v4 #ah ff41 and the refrain ii4 #i1 #aa1 #ag recurs in v4 #ae4 ,fragmentary as many of these prophecies are1 enough remains to show that ,isaiah had poetical genius as well as unequalled mastery of the peculiar literary form of the ,hebrew oracle4 ,the parable of the vineyard 7,isa4 v4 #a-g71 or the picture of the swift1 resistless advance of the ,assyrian 7v4 #bf-cj71 or the description of devastated ,judah 7i4 #b-h71 or the oracle against ,samaria 7ix4 #h-ba71 in the authorized ,english ,version illustrate in different ways the art with which ,isaiah handles this traditional form4 ,the earlier prophecies of ,isaiah1 whether directed against ,israel and its allies or against ,judah1 are unsparing in their condemnation of the political and social evils of the time1 and predict the imminent and irremediable ruin of both nations4 ,this is revealed to ,isaiah in the vision which made him a prophet1 in terms so drastic that the closing words were piously erased by some late editor 7so in the ,greek ,bible71 and a meaningless phrase put in their place in the curtailed sentence by a still later hand 7our ,hebrew text74 ,with this the tenor of his utterances in cc4 ii4 #e-;iii4 #bf2 v4 #a-cj2 ix4 #h-x4 #d1 wholly agrees4 ,these unrelieved forebodings of doom led in later times not only to excisions such as we have noted in vi4 #ac1 but to interpolations2 hopeful pendants were attached to the prophet's gloomy pictures1 sometimes written for the purpose--a particularly instructive example is iv4 #b-f1 after iii4 #af-;iv4 #a--sometimes borrowed from other prophetic contexts4 ,to the latter class belongs the famous messianic oracle1 ix4 #a-g1 which is very imperfectly connected 7by changes in viii4 #bb7 with the preceding climactic denunciation of doom1 the end of which is missing4 ,if ,isa4 ix4 #a-g is a prophecy by ,isaiah1 it can only belong to his latest years4 ,one other feature of ,isaiah's message must be signalized4 ,his ,god indignantly rejects the sacrifices and all the pompous worship which are offered him in his temple in ,jerusalem 7,isa4 i4 #aj-ag74 ,men think they can thus gain the favour of ,god and persuade him to overlook or condone their sins against their fellows6 ,such worship is an insult to ,god4 ,so ,amos a few years before had condemned the worship at ,bethel 7,amos v4 #ba-be74 ,so their successors repeat in no uncertain terms 7see ,mic4 vi4 #f-h2 ,jer4 #g1 especially vss4 #ba-bc74 ,it is the fundamental doctrine of prophecy3 the will of ,god is wholly moral4 ,for worship he cares nothing at all2 for justice1 fairness1 and goodness between man and man he cares everything4 ,such a ,god is capable of destroying the nation for the wrongs men do their fellow men2 he is not capable of being bribed by offerings1 or flattered with psalms1 or wheedled with prayers4 ,he will listen to no intercession 7,jer4 xv4 #a ff41 after c4 #ad72 nothing but complete reformation and reparation will he call repentance--and there comes a pass where repentance is impossible4 ,the book of prophecies against the heathen 7,isa4 #ac-bc7 begins with two remarkable chapters 7xiii4 #a-xiv4 #bc7 declaring the imminent destruction of ,babylon by the ,medes1 whom the prophet sees already in motion against the doomed city1 and exulting over the descent of the king of ,babylon to hell1 greeted by the taunts of the mighty of the earth who were before him there4 ,the two prophecies are connected by a prediction of the deliverance of captive ,israel1 which will be restored to its own land and rule over its oppressors 7xiv4 #a-d;a74 ,the situation is not that of ,isaiah's time1 in which ,babylon was a province of the ,assyrian empire1 and when1 under ,merodach ,baladan1 it for a while reasserted its independence1 seems to have sought an alliance with ,hezekiah against their common oppressor1 ,assyria 7,isa4 #ci #b ,kings xx4 #ab ff474 ,the ,medes had been in league with the ,babylonians against ,assyria until its fall in #fjf ,b4,c42 it was not until the time of ,cyrus that the ,medes became a menace to ,babylonia1 and only after ,cyrus's conquest of ,lydia 7#edf ,b4,c47 that the turn of ,babylon was visibly come4 ,on the other hand1 the sack and ruin of ,babylon1 pictured with vengeful satisfaction in ,isa4 #ac1 did not come to pass at that time4 ,the ,persian armies1 after a decisive battle in northern ,babylonia1 entered the city in the autumn of #ech without resistance4 ,babylonian inscriptions acclaim ,cyrus as a deliverer1 and ,babylon became one of the capitals of his great empire4 ,on these grounds the prophecy is generally thought to fall between #edf and #ech ,b4,c4 ,it is immediately followed by a short oracle 7,isa4 xiv4 #bd-bg7 against the ,assyrians1 quite in the tone of the prophecies of ,isaiah in the time of ,sennacherib 7#gja ,b4,c471 and by an enigmatical warning to the inhabitants of the ,philistine cities1 said in the title to have come in the year that ,king ,ahaz died4 ,another prophecy concerned with the inhabitants of these cities1 bearing ,isaiah's name and definitely dated 7#gaa ,b4,c471 is ,isa4 #bj4 ,chapter #ag1 entitled ,the ,burden of ,damascus1 is in fact chiefly against the kingdom of ,israel1 and falls in line with prophecies of ,isaiah in the time of the alliance of the two kingdoms against ,judah 7ca4 #gcf ,b4,c472 compare ,isa4 #g4 ,in ,isa4 xxii4 #ae-be is a prophecy of ,isaiah singular in the fact that it is launched at an individual1 the major domo of ,king ,hezekiah4 ,besides these1 the collection contains oracles against ,moab 7,isa4 #ae f471 ,nubia 7c4 #ah71 ,egypt 7c4 #ai71 another vision of the fall of ,babylon before the armies of ,elam and ,media 7xxi4 #a-aj71 but in a different spirit from cc4 #ac-ad1 the ,arabs 7xxi4 #aa f41 #ac-ag71 ,tyre 7c4 #bc71 and one with the mysterious 7editorial7 title ,burden of the ,valley of ,vision 7xxii4 #a-ad74 ,the last-named1 in the form of a vision1 depicts a crisis in the history of ,jerusalem1 and condemns the frivolous behaviour of its inhabitants on the eve of a siege or1 as some think1 during the respite given by a temporary raising of a siege4 ,it was probably uttered by ,isaiah at an early stage in ,hezekiah's revolt against ,sennacherib 7#gjd or #gjc ,b4,c471 before the actual appearance of the ,assyrian army4 ,the oracle against ,tyre 7,isa4 xxiii4 #a-ad--what follows is a later supplement7 seems more appropriate to the thirteen years' siege by ,nebuchadnezzar than to the operations of ,shalmanezer or of ,sennacherib in ,isaiah's days4 ,thus ,isa4 #ac-bc1 like cc4 #a-ab1 contains prophecies of ,isaiah from both the earliest and the latest period of his activity1 intermingled with others having a totally different historical horizon and dating from a much later time1 and to both additions have been made by editors or scribes4 ,a very interesting example of the latter phenomenon is ,isa4 xix4 #ah ff4 ,the passage is1 in all probability1 from the time of the ,greek kingdoms of ,egypt and ,syria1 the name of the city in the ,greek ,bible1 ,city of ,righteousness1 referring to ,leontopolis1 where a ,jewish temple was erected about #agj ,b4,c41 with high priests of the legitimate line exiled from ,jerusalem4 ,city of ,destruction 7heres7 in the ,hebrew text is a hostile perversion1 possibly by way of another reading ,city of the ,sun 7heres74 ,each of the three large prophetic books has such a group of oracles about gentile nations1 ,isa4 #ac-bc2 ,jer4 #df-ea2 ,ezek4 #be-cb4 ,they are in part levelled at the immediate neighbours of ,judah1 in part against the great powers1 ,babylon and ,egypt4 ,many of them are in such general terms--or1 if they refer to specific events and situations1 our knowledge of the history is so incomplete--that it is peculiarly difficult to fix their age4 ,it was also a kind of prophecy which peculiarly invited imitation4 ,under the foreign yoke the ,jews wore for so many centuries1 it must often have been a relief of soul to repeat what ,god was going to do to the heathen2 the spirit of the author of ,jonah was not for everybody4 ,moreover1 if there is any place in the ,old ,testament where it would be easier than another for oracles of the false prophets to slip in and be preserved1 it is in these collections2 about the doom of the enemies of ,israel they were as orthodox and as emphatic as the best4 ,it is not strange1 therefore1 that there should be more than usual uncertainty about the origin of these anathemas on the gentiles4 ,isaiah #bd-bg contains a series of prophecies of judgment to come which differ from others in the book in having no particular address4 ,the vision seems to widen to a judgment of the world1 in which the earth itself reels and sinks under the weight of men's sin1 and the celestial powers 7the heavenly bodies1 which are the tutelary deities of the heathen7 and the kings of the earth are cast into the pit and shut up in prison1 while the ,lord of ,hosts reigns gloriously in ,zion4 ,in another passage ,god1 with his great sword1 punishes the leviathan1 the swift and winding serpent1 and slays the great dragon in the sea4 ,the mythological eschatology of ,judaism made much of such imagery1 which is itself doubtless of mythical ancestry4 ,the diction and style of these chapters alone would suffice to acquit ,isaiah of responsibility for them2 anything more unlike his writing could not be imagined4 ,the author1 whosoever he was1 riots in plays on words1 many of them1 as is the fate of laborious punsters1 forced or far-fetched4 ,as to the age of the chapters1 apart from the language1 prophecy is here plainly making the transition to apocalypse with those visionary revelations of the last judgment in which ,jewish invention was so fertile4 ,this of itself points to a late time in the post-exilic period4 ,the historical allusions which have been scented out in the chapters are too uncertain to reckon with2 only1 as in c4 #ai1 the way in which ,egypt and ,assyria 7or ,syria7 are conjoined seems plainly to point to the divisions of ,alexander's empire4 ,in chapters #bh-cc are brought together a number of oracles of ,isaiah from the years of ,hezekiah's revolt and ,sennacherib's punitive expedition4 ,these oracles are generally brief and pointed2 they agree in form and spirit with his prophecies in cc4 #a-ab quite as closely as the writing of an aging man ordinarily resembles that of his youth4 ,in xxviii4 #a-d1 indeed1 an early prophecy against ,samaria is made to serve as text for a counterpart addressed to ,jerusalem4 ,mingled with these is a series of passages which foretell the destruction of the foe and the miraculous escape of ,judah from imminent ruin1 or1 taking higher flight1 picture the golden age to come4 ,to the former class belong1 for example1 xxx4 #bg-cc2 xxxi4 #d-i2 to the latter1 xxix4 #ah-bd2 xxx4 #ah-bf2 xxxii4 #a-h1 #af-bj2 while c4 #cc partakes of both characters4 ,that ,isaiah predicted the deliverance of ,jerusalem in the last extremity is reported also in ,kings1 and need not be questioned 7see also ,isa4 x4 #e-ad2 xiv4 #bd-bg74 ,most of the prophecies of the golden age are1 however1 alien to their context1 and the unmediated transition from the unsparing predictions of judgment to these messianic idylls makes them suspicious4 ,it is not to be believed that the prophet thus took the sting out of his most pungent oracles1 but the position of the passages in question can have no other intention4 ,if1 then1 these are utterances of ,isaiah at all1 they cannot have been spoken in their present connection4 ,some of them1 at least1 are much more likely by other hands4 ,this is true most evidently of c4 #cc1 which was probably once the end of this little book of prophecies from the time of ,sennacherib 7,isa4 #bh-cc74 ,isaiah #cd is a prophecy against all the nations1 which at once concentrates itself upon ,edom1 and is remarkable for its rancour1 in which1 as in other respects1 it resembles cc4 #ac f4 ,the supernatural features of the judgment remind us also of ,isa4 #bg3 it is too little that the people are annihilated1 its very land is turned into an uninhabitable waste1 and1 as by some prodigious volcanic convulsion1 its dust becomes brimstone and its soil burning pitch4 ,this is the ,lord's vengeance for the wrong of ,zion4 ,the cause of this unusual passion is known from other prophets 7see ,obad4 vss4 #aj-ab2 ,ezek4 xxv4 #ab-ad2 c4 #ce73 in the life and death struggle against ,nebuchadnezzar1 the ,edomites1 ,judah's next neighbours and near kin1 had been on the side of the ,babylonians1 and were the chief gainers by the ruin of ,judah1 occupying permanently the whole south of the country to a line north of ,hebron1 making good in this way the part of their own old territory which had been taken by the ,nabatans4 ,the injury was lasting and the hatred durable1 but the flaming passion of ,isa4 #cd would incline us to think that it was written while the grief was still fresh4 ,the pendant to this1 ,isa4 #ce1 a prophecy of the return of the dispersion and restoration of ,zion1 is quite in the manner of ,isa4 #dj ff41 and not improbably by the same author4 ,of ,isa4 #cf-ci 7#b ,kings #ah-bj7 account has already been given 7see above1 pp4 #aab f474 ,there remains the anonymous prophetic book1 ,isa4 #dj-ff1 which not only has no title1 but in which--in striking contrast to the frequency with which ,isaiah's name occurs in the earlier chapters of the book--no prophet's name appears4 ,it begins with the announcement that the ,jews have now been sufficiently punished for their sins2 their guilt has been expiated by suffering4 ,the hour of national restoration is at hand4 ,god has already called the deliverer1 who will bring low the pride of ,babylon and set free captive ,israel2 by his edict ,jerusalem shall be rebuilt and the temple restored4 ,the ,jews1 not only from ,babylonia but from the wide and distant lands of their dispersion1 shall flock back to their own country1 the cities of ,judah shall be repeopled1 and ,zion shall be too strait for its inhabitants4 ,the deliverer is ,cyrus 7,isa4 xliv4 #bh2 xlv4 #a71 who is called ,god's friend1 his anointed one 7messiah72 the victories he has already gained have been won in the might of ,jehovah1 who1 all unknown to him1 girds him for the battle1 and will go before him to new conquests4 ,the prophet's prediction was met with incredulity2 the power of ,babylon seemed invincible1 the resurrection of the dead nation impossible4 ,impossible1 maybe1 to men1 but not to the ,almighty ,god1 the creator of heaven and earth1 the sovereign ruler of the nations6 ,as surely as the words of former prophets have come true1 so signally shall these foretellings be fulfilled4 ,for history is the unfolding of ,god's plan from the beginning1 which he reveals by chapters to his servants the prophets4 ,that this prophecy was delivered by ,isaiah of ,jerusalem1 a century before the fall of ,judah and a century and a half before the time of ,cyrus1 would never have entered anybody's head had these chapters not been appended to a roll which bore at its beginning the name of ,isaiah and contained many oracles of the eighth-century prophet4 ,but this physical fact1 which may be due to no intention more profound than a desire to economize writing material1 cannot count against the conclusive internal evidence2 background and foreground in ,isa4 #dj ff4 are not merely totally different from those of the prophecies of ,isaiah and his contemporaries1 they are alike inconceivable in his age4 ,nor is the fact that the ,jews in ,new ,testament times1 including the ,new ,testament writers1 quoted these chapters as ,isaiah and believed him the author of them1 prove anything except that such was the opinion of the ,jews in that age4 ,the historical situation in ,isa4 #dj ff4 would of itself be conclusive against ,isaiah's authorship2 but it is not the only proof of the contrary4 ,the author of these chapters has not inappropriately been called the theologian among the prophets4 ,his idea of ,god is conspicuously more advanced than that of the prophets of the eighth century2 it lies in the same line with the monotheism of ,deuteronomy and ,jeremiah1 but lies beyond them4 ,and it is characteristic that1 in contrast to the older prophets1 this one reasons about it4 ,he argues the omnipotence of ,god in history from his omnipotence in creation1 and makes large use of the evidence from the fulfilment of prophecy to prove that ,jehovah is the only ,god2 he can predict because he foreordains and brings to pass4 ,with him begins the polemic1 not against the worship of heathen gods1 but against their existence4 ,what the heathen bow down to are naught but helpless1 senseless idols1 the work of their own hands4 ,he is fond of inviting his readers to an image-maker's shop to see how a god is made 7see1 e4g41 ,isa4 xliv4 #i-bj74 ,such are the impotent gods that the ,babylonians expect to save them out of the hands of the creator of the world6 ,the style of ,isa4 #dj ff4 is not less decisive4 ,translation necessarily in large measure effaces the differences1 but even in translation a comparison of two passages on similar themes such as ,isa4 x4 #e-ai and ,isa4 #dg may perhaps give some impression of them4 ,the style of ,isaiah and his contemporaries--,amos1 ,hosea1 ,micah--is concise and pregnant1 the sentences are short and have often an oracular ring4 ,the author of ,isa4 #dj ff4 writes with a freer pen in flowing periods2 he develops his thought and his figures more at large2 if he is obscure1 it is seldom from compression4 ,here again1 ,deuteronomy and ,jeremiah1 the whole literature of the seventh century1 is an intermediate stage4 ,the later author is a poet1 as ,isaiah is1 but with other themes and in other forms2 compare1 e4g41 ,isa4 #e with ,isa4 xlii4 #a-i4 ,in short1 each has a highly characteristic style1 and the two are totally different4 ,the historical situation1 as it has been defined above1 appears most distinctly in ,isa4 #dj-ee4 ,in the following chapters two passages were long ago seen not to correspond to that situation1 viz4 lvi4 #i-lvii4 #ac and c4 #fe 7especially vss4 #a-af71 in which the vehement attack on idolatrous and abominable rites practised by ,jews under the prophet's eyes was thought to indicate a pre-exilic origin4 ,it was a serious error1 however1 to conceive that the so-called exile cured all the ,jews once and for all of every inclination to heathenism2 the history of the ,seleucid period sufficiently proves the contrary4 ,there is nothing in the chapters inconsistent with the view1 now generally entertained1 that these flaming denunciations were delivered in ,palestine in the ,persian or the ,greek period2 and there is no warrant for assuming that they were specifically addressed to the half-heathen population of the old territory of ,israel1 still less to the so-called ,samaritan sect1 that is1 the worshippers at the rival temple on ,gerizim4 ,other chapters 7,isa4 lvii4 #ad-ba2 #fj2 #fa f47 resemble in spirit and manner the prophecies in ,isa4 #dj-ee1 but are more probably by later writers under the influence of those prophecies than by their author4 ,their optimism contrasts with the depressed tone of lviii4 #a-lix4 #ae;a1 in which the sense of sin is borne in on the community by the delay in the coming of the good times4 ,in lix4 #ae;b-#ba1 and lxiii4 #a-f ,god's fury is poured out on foreign nations1 in the latter specifically on ,edom2 lxiii4 #g-lxiv4 #ab is a cry for ,god's intervention in dire distress 7see lxiii4 #ah2 lxiv4 #aj f41 devastation of ,judah1 burning of the temple72 c4 #ff contains diverse elements1 consolation to ,jerusalem of the school of ,isa4 #dj-de1 and censures of abominable rites 7lxvi4 #c f41 #ag ff474 ,isaiah #ef-ff is1 therefore1 generally regarded as an appendix to the book of consolation1 cc4 #dj-ee1 containing very diverse elements4 ,it would be nothing strange if alien prophecies and editorial expansions were found in ,isa4 #dj-ee also1 and displacements are probably in more than one passage4 ,the question of authorship is of peculiar interest in the case of three prophecies which have for their subject the mission and suffering of the ,servant of ,jehovah1 ,isa4 xlii4 #a-i2 xlix4 #a-ac2 lii4 #ac-liii4 #ab1 which are thought by some to be taken wholly or in part from an older prophet1 by others to be later insertions4 ,the reasons for ascribing the ,servant passages to a different author do not seem decisive4 ,the ,book of ,isaiah is thus a great collection of prophecies of various ages1 from the middle of the eighth century ,b4,c4 down perhaps to the third1 with some minor additions of even later date4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,jeremiah ,jeremiah dates his call to the arduous mission of prophet in the thirteenth year of ,king ,josiah 7#fbf ,b4,c471 and he lived till after the fall of ,jerusalem in #ehf ,b4,c41 so that1 like his predecessor ,isaiah a century earlier1 his career spans a period of about forty years in a time of great events4 ,only five years after he began to prophesy1 ,josiah reformed religion in ,judah on the new model of the law-book discovered by ,hilkiah 7,deuteronomy2 see above1 pp4 #fb f474 ,jeremiah1 scion of a priestly family native in ,anathoth1 a few miles north of ,jerusalem1 which very likely traced its descent from ,abiathar1 ,david's priest1 whom ,solomon deposed in favour of ,zadok1 was therefore one of those priests of the high places who were hit hardest by the suppression of the local sanctuaries4 ,that his townsmen of ,anathoth sought his life 7,jer4 xi4 #ah ff47 has been attributed to their indignation that ,jeremiah should dare to preach ,josiah's covenant to them 7see ,jer4 xi4 #a-ag74 ,whatever hopes he may have entertained at first1 ,jeremiah was not long in seeing that the reform had cleaned only the outside of the cup and the platter1 while men fortified their consciences behind the covenant against an investigation of the inside4 ,in #fjh ,b4,c4 ,josiah fell in battle at ,megiddo against the ,egyptian king ,necho4 ,after a brief vassalage to ,egypt1 ,judah came under the ,babylonian yoke4 ,jeremiah saw all this2 saw1 too1 ,jerusalem twice taken by the armies of ,nebuchadnezzar 7#eig1 #ehf ,b4,c471 the temple burned and the walls razed2 and was at last forced to accompany the refugees to ,egypt after the murder of ,gedaliah4 ,early in the reign of ,jehoiakim1 ,jeremiah delivered himself of a fulminant oracle in the gate of the temple 7,jer4 vii4 #a-ae1 cf4 c4 #bf71 in which he declared that the ,jews' faith in the temple as the palladium of the city was a delusion2 unless they altogether amended their ways1 ,god would make the temple a ruin like the ancient sanctuary at ,shiloh4 ,priests1 prophets1 and people clamoured with one voice for the blasphemer's death1 but he hurled back at them a reiteration of his warning4 ,the intervention of some of the magnates saved his life2 but another prophet who lacked such influential protection was extradited from ,egypt and put to death4 ,under these circumstances ,jeremiah took another way of reaching the public 7see ,jer4 #cf74 ,he dictated to ,baruch the prophecies which he had uttered from the beginning of his mission to that time1 and sent ,baruch to read the roll in the temple at the fast in the ninth month in the fifth year of ,jehoiakim 7#fjc ,b4,c474 ,some of the nobles had ,baruch give them a private reading1 and then carried the book to the king1 first giving ,baruch the friendly advice to put himself and ,jeremiah out of harm's way4 ,the king1 as he read the roll1 cut off the pages1 and burned them on the brazier in his chamber4 ,jeremiah thereupon dictated to the faithful ,baruch another roll containing all the prophecies that were in the first1 and there were added besides unto them many like words4 ,we may be sure that the second edition would have been even less agreeable reading to ,jehoiakim than the first4 ,one of the additional words is indeed preserved in ,jer4 xxxvi4 #bi-ca4 ,the chapter is of peculiar interest1 because it is an account--the only one in the ,old ,testament--of the origin of a prophetic book4 ,we see the prophet reproducing1 doubtless from memory1 the content of oracles uttered in the course of the preceding twenty years or more1 and enlarging the collection for a second edition4 ,it is a fair conjecture that this second roll furnished to our ,book of ,jeremiah most1 if not all1 the prophecies prior to the fifth year of ,jehoiakim2 but it is certain that the roll itself is not incorporated as such in the present book4 ,there are also several prophecies from later years of ,jehoiakim1 and many from the reign of the last king1 ,zedekiah1 especially from the time of his revolt and the siege of ,jerusalem by the ,babylonians4 ,a distinctive feature of the ,book of ,jeremiah is the presence of passages of considerable extent derived from a biographical source4 ,from this comes the account of the making and reading of the collected volume of prophecies in the fourth and fifth years of ,jehoiakim of which we have already spoken 7,jer4 #cf71 and particularly the narrative of ,jeremiah's fortunes during the last siege of ,jerusalem and afterward1 including the flight to ,egypt and his experiences with the refugees there1 covering thus three or four years beginning with #ehh 7,jer4 #cg-dd74 ,to the same source it is natural to ascribe c4 #bf1 relating to the circumstances and consequences of the prophecy delivered in the temple at the beginning of ,jehoiakim's reign 7c4 #g72 c4 #bh 7collision with the false prophet ,hananiah1 in the beginning of the reign of ,zedekiah72 c4 #bi 7letter to the ,jews in ,babylonia1 about the same time72 and parts of cc4 #cb1 #cd1 and #ce4 ,there is good reason to believe that the author of this biography was ,baruch1 who not only stood in intimate relations with ,jeremiah before the fall of ,jerusalem1 but accompanied him to ,egypt 7,jer4 xliii4 #f74 ,it is consequently a historical source of the best possible kind4 ,for the first half of ,jeremiah's career this source fails us2 and1 as we have seen1 it is continuous only from the last years of ,zedekiah4 ,it is possible that ,baruch's association with ,jeremiah began in the time of ,jehoiakim1 and his narrative may have commenced there4 ,unfortunately this life of ,jeremiah has not been preserved complete or intact4 ,the prophecies contained in it led later compilers to introduce other oracles which seemed appropriate to the context1 and to supplement the words of ,jeremiah by edifying compositions of their own4 ,their aim1 it must constantly be borne in mind1 was not to produce a critical edition of the prophecies of ,jeremiah1 but to make a book effective to impress the truths and motives of religion on their own contemporaries1 and with changing times and situations to keep the book1 so to speak1 up to date4 ,if the words of an old prophet suggested to them a good moral1 they wrote it out for him1 without dreaming that they were doing either him or morality a wrong1 or thinking how much trouble they were making for future historical students4 ,it is exactly the same procedure and the same motive which meets us in innumerable places in the ,pentateuch and ,historical ,books4 ,to stigmatize such interpolations as literary fraud is absurd4 ,these additions are often recognizable by their prosaic preachiness or by their composite imitativeness4 ,of one kind of prediction the ,jews of later centuries could not have enough1 the prophecies of deliverance from the foreign yoke and the better time to follow4 ,they not only cherished the hopeful words of former prophets and wrote variations on their themes1 but gave expression to their faith and their ideals in their own way4 ,that they often took their inspiration from ,isa4 #dj ff4 is natural4 ,in ,jeremiah such promises of a happier future are accumulated in cc4 #cj-cc1 which contain1 with some oracles of ,jeremiah1 pieces of various authorship and age1 some of them such pendants to gloomy pictures as we have found numerous in ,isaiah 7e4g4 ,jer4 xxx4 #a ff4 to vss4 #ab-ae71 others more independent compositions4 ,these stand interspersed among the extracts from ,baruch's life of ,jeremiah4 ,in the first half of the book 7,jer4 #a-be7 there is no such history for a framework4 ,it will be observed here that the prophet commonly introduces his message in personal form1 ,the word of ,jehovah came to me1 saying1 or ,then ,jehovah said to me1 or the like4 ,sometimes an oracle begins1 as in c4 #ah1 ,the words which came to ,jeremiah1 as a kind of title1 while in the sequel the prophet speaks in the first person4 ,dates are infrequent in this part of the book1 and if a chronological order was observed in ,baruch's roll1 it has been broken up in the present arrangement4 ,internal evidence does not always suffice to fix the age of the utterances1 the less because some of the early oracles have obviously been adapted to a later situation4 ,this is peculiarly evident in cc4 #a-f4 ,in these chapters are several prophecies from the years when the wild horsemen from the ,scythian steppes were overrunning western ,asia and striking terror into the stoutest hearts by their barbarous appearance and fierce manners4 ,jeremiah saw in them the scourge of ,god 7see e4g4 ,jer4 iv4 #e-h1 #bg-ca71 the day of doom was come6 ,it was1 indeed1 such a vision of doom that first met his gaze1 when ,god made him a prophet 7,jer4 i4 #ac ff474 ,but in the present shape of these chapters the enemy out of the north which menaces ruin is not the wild ,scythian hordes1 but the serried armies of ,babylon4 ,it is not at all improbable that this change of horizon was made by ,jeremiah himself1 when at the beginning of ,jehoiakim's reign the ,scythian flood had run off1 and1 by the overthrow of ,nineveh and ,nebuchadnezzar's defeat of ,pharaoh ,necho on the ,euphrates1 the new ,babylonian empire had become the impending fate of ,syria and ,palestine4 ,among the prophecies of ,jeremiah in this part of the book also are introduced pieces1 larger or smaller1 which are the product of later generations2 two conspicuous examples are ,jer4 ix4 #bc-cd2 x4 #a-af 7x4 #ag is the immediate continuation of ix4 #bb71 and xvii4 #ai-bg4 ,jeremiah's experience in the pursuit of his calling was a hard one4 ,his ,cassandra forebodings gained him the enmity of all1 and hostility grew to bitter hatred as the dire fulfilment stared them in the face4 ,his countrymen in ,anathoth plotted his death2 the prophecy in the temple all but cost him his life1 and was an end1 for the time at least1 of public appearances2 the coming of his collected oracles into ,jehoiakim's hands drove him and the scribe into hiding4 ,during the last siege1 he first was kept in arrest in a private house1 then cast into an empty cistern1 where he would have perished but for the friendliness of a negro eunuch2 then confined in the court of the guard till the taking of the city2 released by the ,babylonians1 his counsel to the refugees not to flee to ,egypt was badly received1 and he was constrained to accompany them4 ,in ,egypt1 again denouncing and predicting ill1 he disappears2 ,jewish legend says1 killed by his exasperated countrymen4 ,but these outward perils and pains were not all he had to bear for being a prophet4 ,in anguish of soul he suffered twice the tragedy of his people1 in foresight and in fact--suffered as only a man of sensitive spirit and unflinching will can suffer4 ,that needs no commentary2 but there is another element we do not so easily conceive3 ,jeremiah believed that the word of ,god he had to utter was not merely a prediction1 but the effectual cause1 of the ruin of ,judah 7see ,jer4 i4 #i f474 ,it is not strange that the task ,god had laid on him seemed too heavy to be borne4 ,he feels himself a man of contention to the whole earth4 ,he remonstrates1 he reproaches ,god for having misled him1 he resolves never again to speak in the name of the ,lord2 but there is within him as it were a burning fire shut up in his bones1 he cannot hold in 7,jer4 xx4 #g-ah2 see also xv4 #aj f41 #ae-ah2 xii4 #a-f74 ,these confessions1 as they have been called1 are of the greatest interest2 they are a revelation of the prophet's soul such as has no counterpart in the ,old ,testament1 and1 with ,baruch's simple story1 bring him as a man nearer to us than any of the other prophets4 ,in the ,hebrew 7and therefore in the ,english7 ,bible1 the last chapters of the book 7,jer4 #df-ea7 contain a collection of prophecies against foreign nations1 to which is appended 7c4 #eb7 an extract from the ,book of ,kings 7#b ,kings xxiv4 #ah-xxv4 #ba71 describing the taking of ,jerusalem by the ,babylonian army in #ehf ,b4,c4 ,in the ,greek ,bible the oracles against the foreign nations come in between ,jer4 xxv4 #ac and vs4 #ae1 but in an altogether different order4 ,they evidently formed a little book by themselves1 which in one recension of the ,book of ,jeremiah were appended to the volume of his prophecies1 in another were inserted in the middle of it as the corresponding collections of foreign oracles are placed in ,ezek4 #be-cb and ,isa4 #ac-bc4 ,the question of the original place and disposition of these prophecies is of importance only for the relation of the two forms of the book to each other1 and need not be pursued here4 ,it is very doubtful whether ,jeremiah had any hand whatever in these chapters4 ,the prolix prophecy against ,babylon 7,jer4 #ej-ea7 is a purely literary exercise1 for which contributions have been levied right and left1 and was written at a time when ,babylon had long ceased to be of historical importance4 ,others of the prophecies borrow from earlier prophets generously4 ,an examination1 by the aid of the marginal references in the ,revised ,version 7,oxford and ,cambridge edition1 #ahih71 of the appropriations and reminiscences will give a profitable notion of this literary imitation of prophecy4 ,the different order of the prophecies is not the only1 nor the most important1 difference between the ,hebrew and the ,greek ,jeremiah4 ,besides a great number of variant readings of the ordinary kind1 the oldest ,greek version is much shorter than the ,hebrew2 it has been reckoned that in the neighbourhood of #bgjj words in the latter have nothing corresponding to them in the translation4 ,some part of this may be due to abridgment by the translators1 to which the repetitions in parts of ,jeremiah--chiefly secondary parts--invited2 but when all allowance is made for this1 it remains that the ,hebrew copies from which the translation was made had a much briefer text than the ,palestinian ,hebrew in our hands1 and it is probable that the greater part of this difference1 which is chiefly in comparative verbosity1 is due to padding with stock phrases and turns of thought in the ,palestinian text4 ,in some instances oracles or tags to oracles which on other grounds are recognized as late additions to our text had not got into that of the ,greek translators4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,ezekiel ,ezekiel was one of the priests of ,jerusalem who was carried off to ,babylonia with ,king ,jehoiachin in the deportation of #eig ,b4,c4 ,those who were thus deported were the upper classes1 including1 of course1 the royal family and the court and the aristocracy of the priesthood1 and skilled artisans1 particularly the smiths 7armorers74 ,having thus removed the natural leaders of the rebellious people1 ,nebuchadnezzar made ,zedekiah1 an uncle of ,jehoiachin1 king in his stead and gave ,judah another trial4 ,the eight or ten thousand ,jews with their families who were removed to ,babylonia were colonized at different points1 ,ezekiel repeatedly mentions the river ,chebar1 that is1 probably1 the grand canal in the vicinity of ,nippur4 ,the patricians in exile thought very poorly of the new lords who had stepped into their shoes in ,jerusalem1 and they flattered themselves that events would soon take such a turn that they would return to ,juda and to power4 ,they had prophets and diviners among them who encouraged them in this expectation4 ,when ,zedekiah revolted and the ,babylonian armies a second time besieged ,jerusalem1 their faith in the inviolability of ,zion1 confirmed1 rather than shaken1 by the outcome of things in #eig ,b4,c41 when ,jehoiachin surrendered and the holy city took no harm1 made them refuse hearing to ,ezekiel's prediction of ruin2 they may even have dreamed that ,nebuchadnezzar would find out his mistake and restore to ,judah its legitimate rulers1 chastened by experience1 and pack ,zedekiah and his advisers into exile in their place4 ,against this vain and superstitious optimism ,ezekiel had to contend until the disastrous issue made a rude end of all their dreams and threw the exiles into the depths of hopelessness3 ,bel had triumphed over ,jehovah1 and it was all over with the nation4 ,thenceforth ,ezekiel's task was to save them from despair by the assurance that ,god still had a purpose to fulfil with them1 and that1 in his own time1 when they had been thoroughly purged from their old sins and filled with a new spirit1 he would restore them to their own land and bring to life again the dead nation4 ,these two periods of the prophet's mission sharply divide the ,book of ,ezekiel4 ,to the day when the word came to him that the ,babylonian armies had invested ,jerusalem 7,ezek4 #bd7 he combats delusion2 from the arrival of the tidings of the fall of the city 7xxxiii4 #ba ff47 he combats despair4 ,the first part is all menace1 the second is full of promise4 ,numerous dated oracles serve as landmarks1 especially in the first part4 ,between the two1 in the two years of suspense1 when about his own people the prophet is dumb1 is placed the group of prophecies against foreign nations 7cc4 #be-cb71 beginning with oracles against the neighbours of ,judah who held true to ,nebuchadnezzar in this crisis and had their reward at ,judah's cost--,ammonites1 ,moabites1 ,edomites1 and ,philistines4 ,these are followed by long predictions of the ruin of ,tyre1 over whose calamity the prophet exults more loudly than the grievance of ,jerusalem 7,ezek4 xxvi4 #b7 seems to justify4 ,nebuchadnezzar did in fact besiege ,tyre for thirteen years 7#ehe-egb ,b4,c471 and doubtless inflicted upon it great losses2 but the island city1 with its command of the sea1 he could not take4 ,ezekiel himself1 in a remarkable passage which is perhaps his latest word in the book1 admits that his predictions of the capture of ,tyre 7xxvi4 #g-ad7 had not been fulfilled--,nebuchadnezzar had had to raise the long and ineffectual siege--but he promises that ,jehovah will reward him for these fruitless labours in the ,lord's service by giving him ,egypt instead 7xxix4 #ag-ba74 ,the animosity against ,egypt which finds expression in the predictions of the ,babylonian subjugation of that country is more easily explained4 ,egypt had been the evil genius of ,judah1 instigating rebellion against the ,babylonian suzerainty1 and promising armed aid which always failed in the decisive hour2 it was meet that it should taste the cup of humiliation itself4 ,in c4 #cb the descent of ,egypt to the hell of fallen nations is vividly depicted2 a similar picture of the descent of the ,babylonian king in ,isa4 #ad has already been noted4 ,not improbably ,babylonian notions of the nether world may have influenced the imagery of both1 as a myth of paradise seems to have suggested the imagery of ,tyre in ,eden 7xxviii4 #ab ff474 ,outside this group is an oracle against ,edom 7c4 #ce71 and the great prophecy of the irruption of ,gog and his hordes and their fate 7cc4 #ch f474 ,a conspicuous feature of the ,book of ,ezekiel are the extended visions and the elaborated symbolical actions4 ,in the inaugural vision 7,ezek4 i4-iii4 #ae71 for instance1 ,god appears1 a veritable deus ex machina1 on a high seat in a curious motor car made up of animated wheels and winged monsters4 ,in a later vision 7c4 #aj7 he sees ,god leave the doomed temple in ,jerusalem and mount this cherubim car1 in which he is whirled away through the air to the east2 and in the great vision of the new temple in the golden age ,god returns to his abode in the same conveyance 7c4 #dc74 ,striking examples of symbolical actions may be found in ,ezek4 #d1 and in xii4 #a-bj4 ,they are of such an extraordinary character as to raise the question whether they were really enacted before the eyes of the people or only described in discourse4 ,ezekiel's visions are sometimes ecstatic states1 in which he is instantaneously translated from place to place4 ,at the end of the inaugural vision1 the spirit lifted him up and took him away1 setting him down in amazement among the colonists at ,tell-,abib4 ,in viii4 #a ff41 as he sat in his own house in the midst of a company of the elders of ,judah1 the spirit1 which is described as a strange luminous creature1 took him up by the hair of his head and wafted him in the visions of ,god to ,jerusalem1 where his conductor showed him all the idolatrous cults and the abominable mysteries that were practised in the temple under the very eyes of the glory of the ,god of ,israel 7c4 #h72 after seeing ,god take his flight from the desecrated sanctuary1 the prophet is translated by the spirit to ,chalda again4 ,another such vision in ecstasy is the famous scene in the valley of dry bones 7,ezek4 #cg74 ,in such cases it is impossible to say how much is actually the experience of the visionary1 how much literary form4 ,in the great vision of the restoration1 cc4 #dj-dh1 which also is introduced as an ecstasy with the translation of the prophet to ,palestine1 we may be pretty sure that the element of conscious composition predominates4 ,the chapters contain a programme for the coming age when all the twelve tribes1 gathered together from exile and dispersion1 shall reoccupy the holy land1 with a new1 geometrical division of the territory1 with a new plan for the city of ,jerusalem1 a new constitution for the state1 a new temple after the old model1 a reorganized ministry of religion1 and a reformed worship4 ,the ruling idea which runs through all is to make impossible those sins against the holiness of ,god1 his land1 his house1 his people1 which had been the cause of former ruin4 ,the ,book of ,ezekiel seems to have been arranged and published by the author1 and though some derangements and repetitions may be observed1 it has not been much meddled with by later editors1 and1 to whatever reason it may be attributed1 exhibits none of the phenomena of compilation and amplification which we have found in ,isaiah and ,jeremiah4 ,the ,hebrew text1 however1 has suffered more than most books in transmission1 and has reached us in an unusually corrupt state4 ,the author has a style of his own1 which can rise to eloquence 7as in the oracles against ,tyre71 but is generally pedestrian and sometimes clumsy4 ,he has plenty of imagination1 not always regulated by taste or restrained by decency4 ,his drastic figures of the unfaithfulness of ,israel and ,judah are often unfit to translate4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,daniel ,in the ,hebrew ,bible the ,book of ,daniel stands1 not as in our ,bible among the ,prophets1 after ,ezekiel1 but among the miscellaneous books in the third division1 the ,scriptures4 ,various reasons have been suggested for this1 but by far the most probable is that at the time when ,daniel became current1 in the second century ,b4,c41 the ,prophets were already a definite group of writings with a traditional use in the readings of the ,synagogue1 to which a new book could not well be added4 ,the ,book of ,daniel consists of two parts1 stories about ,daniel and his three comrades 7cc4 #a-f71 and visions of ,daniel 7cc4 #g-ab72 in the latter ,daniel reports his visions in the first person as ,ezekiel habitually does1 and it was only natural that he should be taken for the author of the book4 ,according to the introduction to the first story1 ,daniel and his three friends1 ,hananiah1 ,mishael1 and ,azariah1 were ,jewish youths of high birth who were carried captive to ,babylon by ,nebuchadnezzar in the first deportation 7which is erroneously dated in the third year of ,jehoiakim74 ,one story 7,dan4 #a7 tells how these youths contrived to avoid all danger of eating unclean food1 and how ,god blessed them in body and mind for their scrupulousness in observance of the dietary laws2 another 7c4 #c71 how the three were saved from ,nebuchadnezzar's overheated furnace1 into which they were thrown for refusing to worship the idol2 a third 7c4 #f71 how ,daniel was cast into the lions' den for praying to his ,god despite the edict of ,darius4 ,these miraculous deliverances constrain the heathen kings publicly to acknowledge that the ,god of the ,jews is the greatest of gods4 ,the same acknowledgment is drawn from ,nebuchadnezzar when ,daniel recalls his forgotten dream and interprets it1 after all the diviners of ,babylon had failed 7c4 #b72 he alone is able to decipher and explain for ,belshazzar the handwriting on the wall 7c4 #e74 ,the stories of ,nebuchadnezzar's madness 7c4 #b7 and of ,belshazzar's feast 7c4 #e7 teach also how ,god punishes kings who in their pride of power exalt themselves before him1 or in their arrogance profane his holy things4 ,all of them thus magnify the ,god of the ,jews as in power and wisdom above all other gods1 and two of the most striking of them have for their theme the deliverance from mortal peril of men who stood faithful to their religion against the king's commandment4 ,these obvious motives1 as we shall presently see1 have a bearing on the age of the stories4 ,in the second part of the book are four visions1 or revelations1 which stand in chronological order 7according to the author's chronology73 c4 #g in the first year of ,belshazzar2 c4 #h in his third year2 c4 #i in the first year of ,darius son of ,xerxes1 of the race of the ,medes--not properly a vision1 but a revelation by ,gabriel2 and cc4 #aj-ab in the third year of ,cyrus1 king of ,persia4 ,by the side of these must be put ,nebuchadnezzar's dream in ,dan4 ii4 #bh-de 7second year of ,nebuchadnezzar71 which1 in its four-empire scheme1 corresponds to ,daniel's vision in c4 #g4 ,the interpretations which ,daniel gives to ,nebuchadnezzar or the angel gives to ,daniel1 though sometimes surrounded with an impressive air of mystery1 give all the necessary clues to the understanding of the visions1 and obscure allusions are often made plain by a more explicit parallel4 ,under fantastic and varied imagery1 they unroll the history of the empires which succeed one another in the dominion of the world1 from the ,babylonian 7,dan4 #b and #g71 or the ,medo-,persian 7c4 #h71 or ,persian 7cc4 #aj-ab7--that is from the assumed standpoint of ,daniel--through the dominion of ,alexander and the kingdoms into which his empire was broken up1 ending always with the reign of ,antiochus ,,iv4 7#age-afd ,b4,c474 ,the goal in them all is the destruction of the heathen power and the establishment of the eternal kingdom of the holy people of the ,most ,high1 otherwise1 the ,jews4 ,the simplest form of this scheme is ,nebuchadnezzar's dream in ,dan4 #b4 ,the image with head of gold1 breast and arms of silver1 belly and thighs of brass1 legs of iron1 and feet part of iron and part of clay1 stands for four empires in a scale of deterioration1 like the four ages of ,hesiod1 beginning with the ,babylonian1 represented by ,nebuchadnezzar himself4 ,this is followed by an inferior kingdom1 and that by a third universal empire2 the destructive strength of the fourth is figured by iron which shatters all that it smites2 the feet and toes signify a divided kingdom1 in part strong as iron1 in part brittle as pottery4 ,the stone which smote the image on the feet and broke them to pieces1 whereupon the whole image collapsed into dust and was whirled away by the wind1 while the stone grew to a great mountain and filled all the earth1 is the kingdom which the ,god of heaven shall establish in those days1 which shall never be destroyed1 nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people1 but it shall break in pieces and annihilate all those empires1 and it shall stand forever4 ,the image thus represents the rule of the heathen as one world-empire1 the dominion being exercised successively by four kingdoms and by the divisions of the fourth2 in the destruction of these last the heathen world-empire is forever annihilated1 and the eternal kingdom of ,god subdues and rules the whole earth4 ,what is said about the second and third kingdoms is too general to identify them2 the iron strength and destructiveness of the fourth1 and its divisions with their mingled strength and weakness1 naturally suggest ,alexander and his successors1 and this impression is strengthened by the one specific trait in the whole picture2 the vain effort to make iron and wet clay combine signifies1 we are told1 an equally futile attempt to bind the divided kingdoms together by intermarriages 7,dan4 ii4 #dc74 ,we know from the historians that attempts to ally the kingdoms of the ,ptolemies in ,egypt and the ,seleucids in ,syria by dynastic marriages were repeatedly made in vain1 and the author of ,daniel himself1 in c4 #aa1 refers to these alliances and their disastrous failure in plain terms4 ,the vision of ,daniel in c4 #g brings in the four empires under the symbol of four monstrous beasts4 ,the fourth1 more terrible and more destructive than the others1 has ten horns 7out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise1 vs4 #bd72 another horn1 with the eyes of a man and a boastful mouth1 arises which roots out three of the ten4 ,daniel sees how he makes war on the holy men 7i4e4 the ,jews7 and prevails over them 7vs4 #ba72 the interpreting angel describes in more detail the crimes of the last king3 he will utter speeches against the ,highest1 and wear out the holy men of the ,most ,high1 and try to change 7religious7 seasons and law 7religion74 ,god's people will be delivered into his power till the expiration of three and a half years 7cf4 xii4 #g74 ,then the proud king and his kingdom will be annihilated and the universal and eternal empire of the ,jews established4 ,still more definite is the description of the doings of the little horn which springs up on the head of the great he-goat in the vision of c4 #h4 ,here the interpreter becomes explicit3 the he-goat is by name the ,macedonian empire4 ,the little horn is a king who shall arise in the latter time of the divided kingdoms of ,alexander's successors4 ,this king magnifies himself against the chief of the heavenly host1 casts down his sanctuary1 takes away his daily burnt-offerings1 and destroys the holy people2 and is then himself suddenly broken without hand4 ,in the further explanation given to ,daniel in ix4 #bf ff41 the cessation of the daily sacrifice is to last half a week 7of years71 i4e4 three and a half years2 the profanation of the sanctuary and suppression of the sacrifices and the persecution of the ,jews occur again in xi4 #ca ff4 7cf4 xii4 #e-ab74 ,in connection with this we hear of setting up of a desolating 7or appalling7 abomination1 in the temple4 ,the common use of abomination 7loathsome thing7 for idols or other objects of heathen worship leaves no doubt that some such object is meant here3 the king not only stopped the worship of the ,god of the ,jews in his own temple1 but established in its place a heathen cult4 ,it is1 indeed1 not improbable that the words translated appalling abomination are an intentional distortion of the proper name of the heathen god ,baal ,shamaim1 i4e4 ,jupiter4 ,the definiteness of all this proves that the author is not creating an imaginary monster in whom all the sins of the heathen rulers against the ,god of ,heaven and his people are accumulated1 but describing a historical figure4 ,nor is there the smallest room for question whose portrait he is painting3 every feature of it belongs to ,antiochus ,,iv41 ,epiphanes 7,manifest ,god1 the title means1 which ,antiochian wits perverted to ,epimanes1 ,manifest ,madman71 who in #afh ,b4,c4 took possession of the temple in ,jerusalem1 suppressed the worship of its ,god1 erected an altar of ,jupiter on the great altar of burnt offering1 and inaugurated heathen sacrifices4 ,not only that1 but he forbade circumcision1 the observance of the sabbath1 and the possession of copies of the scriptures1 and commanded that ,jews should certify their abjuration of their own religion by sacrificing to his gods4 ,those who ignored or defied his decrees were persecuted2 many of them put to death4 ,this attempt to extirpate the ,jewish religion and forcibly heathenize the people provoked a revolt led by ,judas ,maccabus and his brothers1 who three years later recovered the temple1 purged it1 and restored the sacrifices4 ,if there could be any doubt about the identification1 it would be removed by ,dan4 #aa1 which1 as was recognized by ,porphyry in the third century of our era1 contains a minute history of the relations of the ,ptolemies and ,seleucids1 their intermarriages and their wars1 with increasing detail1 down to the ,egyptian campaigns of ,antiochus ,epiphanes--mentioning1 for instance1 the rebuff he received from the ,roman envoy 7,popillius ,laenas71 and in the sequel of this his desecration of the temple in ,jerusalem and persecution of the law-abiding ,jews--and there the history ends4 ,all this is supposed to be revealed to ,daniel in the days of ,nebuchadnezzar and under later ,babylonian and ,median kings down to the first year of ,cyrus1 that is1 according to the historical chronology1 about three hundred and seventy-five years before the event4 ,such visionary panoramas form a recognized genus of ,jewish literature1 and they are regularly unrolled to some man of ,god in the remote or remotest past4 ,in the second and first centuries before our era a great variety of such visions were attributed to ,enoch1 others to ,noah2 revelations to ,seth the son of ,adam were once popular1 and ,adam himself had some4 ,another class1 like ,daniel1 bore the names of men of the exile2 ,baruch is the putative father of several such revelations2 one of the most notable of the kind is the apocalypse of ,ezra1 which stands in the ,apocrypha in our ,bible as ,second ,esdras4 ,the age of such apocalypses is determined1 not by the date assigned to the imaginary seer1 but by the actual standpoint of the author as disclosed in the visions4 ,in ,daniel the historical panorama is unrolled every time to the reign of ,antiochus ,,iv41 and there stops4 ,the writer had witnessed the desecration of the temple and the persecution of the ,jews for their religion1 he had seen the first small successes of the ,maccabees1 but the recovery of the temple and the restoration of sacrifice had not yet occurred4 ,the death of ,antiochus is circumstantially predicted1 but in a place and manner very remote from the reality 7,dan4 xi4 #de74 ,the visions of ,daniel fall1 therefore1 between ,december #afh ,b4,c41 the date of the desecration of the temple1 and ,december #afe1 the restoration4 ,the motives of the stories also 7see above1 p4 #agh f47 are most appropriate to the situation under ,antiochus4 ,it is possible that they are adaptations of older tales1 but there is no reason to think that they are of high antiquity4 ,the ,greek ,bible has three additional stories about ,daniel 7,susanna and the ,elders1 ,bel1 and the ,dragon7 which stand in our ,bibles among the ,apocrypha4 ,one peculiarity of the ,book of ,daniel remains for brief mention4 ,like ,ezra1 it is in two languages3 ,dan4 i4 #a-;ii4 #d is in ,hebrew1 from ii4 #d b to the end of c4 #g in ,aramaic1 and from the beginning of c4 #h the rest is in ,hebrew again4 ,the ,aramaic begins appropriately where the ,chaldans 7diviners7 are introduced speaking in what the author evidently conceives to be the language of the country2 the text does not1 however1 revert to ,hebrew when this conference is over1 but holds on1 not only through all the rest of the stories1 but through the first vision 7c4 #g74 ,a motive for just this distribution of the two tongues is not discoverable2 in the chapter of accidents are various possibilities which offset one another4 ,as in ,ezra--though there are some differences between the two books--the ,aramaic is of a kind which was vernacular in ,palestine in the last centuries before our era4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,minor ,,prophets ,the ,minor ,prophets--so called not in depreciation1 but because their books are smaller than those of ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 and ,ezekiel--form in the ,jewish ,bible one book1 in which are brought together oracles in the name of various prophets from the eighth century ,b4,c4 7,amos1 ,hosea7 to the fifth 7,haggai1 ,zechariah71 and one anonymous book 7,malachi74 ,as in the collections which bear in their titles the names of ,isaiah and ,jeremiah1 so in the collection of the ,twelve1 prophecies have been attributed1 by error or conjecture or accident1 to prophets to whom they do not belong1 and additions and alterations have been made by compilers or editors4 ,the extent of this alien matter differs in different books2 ,hosea1 for example1 seems to contain little of it1 while in ,micah it is considerable4 ,,hosea4--,in our ,bibles1 in which the ,minor ,prophets stand and are counted individually1 the first is ,hosea4 ,this position1 which it has also in the ,hebrew ,bible1 may have been given the book1 partly on account of its age1 partly on account of its length2 but it might also claim it by reason of its worth1 for ,hosea is one of the greatest of the prophets1 not in ,minor company alone1 but in the canon4 ,no other contributed so much1 through his own words and through his great successors1 ,jeremiah and the ,deuteronomists1 to deepen and spiritualize the conception of religion4 ,hosea was an ,israelite who began to prophesy to his countrymen in the reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii41 probably about #gej ,b4,c41 and after ,jeroboam's death witnessed at least the beginning of that procession of assassinations and revolutions through which the kingdom hurried to meet its fate2 but it does not appear from his book that he lived to see the invasion of ,tiglath-,pileser and the loss of ,gilead and ,galilee in #gcd ,b4,c4 in which his own predictions of impending doom had so signal a verification4 ,their complete fulfilment came in #gba1 when ,sargon made an end forever of the kingdom of ,israel1 and deported many of the people of ,samaria to remote quarters of his empire4 ,the ,book of ,hosea opens with chapters out of the prophet's experience with his unfaithful wife1 in which he sees a counterpart and symbol of ,god's experience with ,israel4 ,this discovery of this significance in the tragedy of his life is what made him a prophet4 ,he saw then that it was for this he had been led to marry a woman who turned out a gross adulteress4 ,when he drove her from his house1 when later he bought her out of the servitude into which she had sunk1 and by seclusion and a discipline at once firm and kind tried to win her back by love to virtue1 that1 too1 was an apologue of ,god's dealing with his people 7see specially ,hos4 i4 #b-i2 iii4 #a-e74 ,he is the first1 apparently1 to use the metaphor adultery1 or fornication1 for religious defection4 ,the oracle1 ii4 #b-bc1 translates it into its historical terms and discloses ,hosea's construction of the religious history of ,israel4 ,the root of ,israel's apostasy was the belief that the gods of the soil of ,canaan1 the baals1 gave the corn and the wine and the oil which in reality its own ,god1 ,jehovah1 bestowed4 ,therefore he will take away all these1 which she deems the gift of the baals1 the wages of her prostitution1 and will lead the people into the desert of exile4 ,but he will be with them there to comfort and encourage1 and ,israel will return to its first love as in the early days when it was alone with ,god in the desert of the exodus4 ,then the old relation will be restored1 never to be broken1 and the gifts in the new betrothal are uprightness and justice and charity and kindness of heart and faithfulness and the knowledge of ,god 7,hosea's word for religion74 ,that will be the golden age6 7,see ,hos4 ii4 #ah-bc47 ,when the ,jew says his ,shema or the ,christian his ,great ,commandment1 ,thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might1 it is ,hosea's great thought he is repeating4 ,hosea interprets ,god's dealing with his people by his faith in ,god's inextinguishable love4 ,outraged love may smite harder than offended righteousness1 but its blows are remedial1 not retributive or expiatory2 its aim not to satisfy justice1 but to recover the erring4 ,the exile1 which for ,amos is the final vindication of ,god's righteousness in the death of the sinful nation1 is for ,hosea a chastisement which leads to repentance and restoration4 ,he is therefore the author of that ideal of a golden age of godliness and uprightness and happiness1 beyond the impending judgment or the present oppression1 which is one of the leading motives of the so-called messianic prophecy4 ,the rest of the book 7cc4 #d-ad7 consists of a collection of oracles1 without titles1 and often without obvious boundaries4 ,they contain an appalling picture of the sins of the nation as a whole and of all classes of society2 kings and princes1 priests and prophets and people--all are corrupt4 ,the theme of the whole may be read in ,hos4 iv4 #a f43 ,there is no truth1 nor charity1 nor knowledge of ,god 7religion7 in the land2 naught but swearing and breaking faith and murder and theft and adultery4 ,therefore ruin yawns before the nation4 ,yet ,god will not destroy utterly2 all the pathos of the divine love finds words in such passages as xi4 #h ff41 ,how can ,i give thee up1 ,ephraim8 or xiv4 #a ff41 ,o ,israel1 return unto the ,lord thy ,god4 ,this book of a prophet of the northern kingdom has come down to us through ,judan hands2 the title1 with its list of ,judan kings 7exactly the same as in the title of ,isaiah71 is doubtless due to a ,jewish editor1 and we are not surprised to find in the text itself ,jewish touches1 such as the words and ,david their king in iii4 #e1 or i4 #aa1 but these are not numerous nor important4 ,the text of ,hosea is1 however1 unusually corrupt4 ,the prophet's style is very difficult1 and scribes did as they commonly do with a difficult text1 they made mechanical mistakes because they did not understand and false emendations because they thought they understood what they did not4 ,,joel4--,joel was probably put between ,hosea and ,amos because the editors of the ,book of the ,twelve thought that he was one of the earlier prophets1 and1 chiefly because of its position1 this opinion has been general until recent times4 ,in the book itself there are neither names nor identifiable historical allusions by which its age can be determined4 ,the whole situation1 however1 is that of the so-called post-exilic times4 ,the occasion of the prophecy with which the book begins was a portentous plague of locusts1 whose invasion and ravages are described in ,joel #a-b in highly poetical imagery4 ,locusts and drought together have so devastated the land that both men and beasts are perishing1 and--the last touch of the extremity--the obligatory daily offerings in the temple have been cut off4 ,the prophet calls to fasting and supplication2 perhaps ,god may be entreated to have mercy on them 7ii4 #ab-ag74 ,god had pity on his people2 the following oracle 7ii4 #ah-bg7 promises relief and everlasting prosperity4 ,the visitation seems to the prophet an omen of the dread ,day of the ,lord4 ,he sees the nations gather beneath the walls of ,jerusalem 7in the valley with the ominous name1 ,jehoshaphat1 ,jehovah judges7 for the last onset1 to be annihilated by the intervention of ,god4 ,then the golden age will be ushered in4 ,the heads of the people are priests and elders2 of king and princes there is no word4 ,the ,judah and ,jerusalem which the prophet addresses are the religious community which assembles in the temple2 people and congregation are the same thing4 ,this one observation takes ,joel out of the company of ,amos and ,hosea and puts him by the side of ,malachi4 ,all the other features of the book confirm this date4 ,assyrians or ,babylonians1 without whom no picture of the ,day of the ,lord in the pre-exilic prophets would be complete1 are not here2 ,israel has disappeared4 ,the author has read much prophetic literature2 reminiscences in thought and phrase meet us at every turn4 ,the heathen in the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat are ,ezekiel's hordes of ,gog 7,ezek4 #ch f472 the fountain that flows from the house of the ,lord is a modest counterpart of the river that sweetens the ,dead ,sea 7,ezek4 #dg74 ,the thumb-prints of editorial hands have been thought to betray themselves in several places1 and some students would give a larger range to this observation4 ,the additions1 if such they are1 are not far remote in time from the original book1 and reflect the same religious conceptions4 ,,amos4--,a dramatic scene in ,amos vii4 #aj-ag describes the appearance of ,amos at ,bethel on a high festival1 with his presages of swift and utter ruin for ,israel 7cf4 vii4 #a-i74 ,that his hearers greeted the message with incredulity can well be believed1 for under ,jeroboam ,,ii4 ,israel was at the very culmination of its power and prosperity4 ,the chief priest of ,bethel was not minded to let such speech pass in his diocese2 as scornfully as ,creon dismisses the prophet ,teiresias in the ,antigone1 he bids ,amos be gone3 ,o ,seer1 be off1 flee to the land of ,judah2 make thy living there1 and there do thy prophesying4 ,but prophesy no more at ,bethel1 for it is a royal temple and a residence city4 ,spurning the contemptuous insinuation1 ,amos answers3 ,no prophet am ,i1 and no member of the prophetic order1 but a herdsman am ,i and a ripener of sycamore figs4 ,jehovah took me from following the flock1 and bade me1 ,go prophesy against my people ,israel4 ,incidentally we see in how low esteem the professional prophet stood1 that the priest should make a taunt of the name and the prophet indignantly repel it4 ,the priest followed up his warning by a report to the king1 and we may safely conclude that ,amos prophesied no more at ,bethel4 ,perhaps it was the rude end of his mission that prompted him to collect his oracles into a book1 the earliest example of such a collection1 as a witness to his own generation and to that which should see the fulfilment4 ,the title1 this part of which may well be original1 describes ,amos as a shepherd from ,tekoa1 in the wilderness of ,judah4 ,beyond the brief scene at ,bethel nothing more is told of him in the book or out of it4 ,but the book is his monument4 ,it is one of the easiest of the prophetic books to understand and one of the best preserved4 ,chapters #a and #b contain a series of brief oracles1 on the same plan1 against the neighbours of ,israel1 the ,syrians of ,damascus1 the ,philistines1 ,phoenicians1 ,edomites1 ,ammonites1 ,moabites1 ,judans1 leading up to a longer indictment of ,israel and denunciation of ,god's judgment upon it4 ,this is followed by prophecies against ,israel 7cc4 #c-f71 which seem to be formally divided into three parts by the introductory formula1 ,hear this word 7iii4 #a2 iv4 #a2 v4 #a71 but by subject would naturally fall into a larger number of oracles4 ,chapter #g begins with three visions1 the delivery of which at ,bethel may have provoked ,amaziah's interference 7vii4 #aj-ag72 c4 #h again opens with a vision1 in which the basket of summer fruit 7kais7 is to the prophet a symbol of the coming end 7kes7 of ,israel2 in c4 #i ,amos sees the ,lord standing beside the altar and pronouncing the word of destruction and inescapable doom 7ix4 #a-h;a71 from which an awkward transition 7ix4 #h;b-#aj7 carries us to a prediction of the restoration of ,david's kingdom and the prosperity of the golden age4 ,the doom which ,amos sees impending over ,israel is visited upon it in retribution for the wrongs which men inflict upon their fellows1 the oppression of the poor by the rich1 the small man by the great2 the injustice1 often in the forms of law1 by which men are deprived of property and liberty2 the luxury1 aping foreign modes1 which is not only corrupting in itself1 but is the chief motive of injustice and oppression and fraud4 ,the very prosperity of the nation was its ruin4 ,with all this1 ,israel is very religious2 it acknowledges the success in war and the profit of commerce as the gift of the national ,god and evidence of his favour1 and does not grudge him his share even of ill-gotten gains4 ,amos's ,god has a conscience--that was a new idea about gods6--and abhors such religion2 he hates their festivals1 refuses their sacrifices1 spurns their hymns of praise4 ,but let justice roll down like floods1 and right like an unfailing stream4 ,that is the only worship he owns4 ,the standard of right is not one thing in ,israel and another among the heathen3 ,amos summons the ,philistines and the ,egyptians to behold with amazement and horror the doings in ,samaria4 ,in the oracles with which the book opens1 he pronounces the judgment of ,god on the peoples neighbour to ,israel1 not solely because they have wronged ,israel1 as in so many of the prophecies against the nations1 but because they have violated the principles of humanity4 ,it is the first assertion in the ,old ,testament that there is such a thing as an international morality4 ,amos is the first in the succession of ethical prophets1 the author1 so far as we know1 of a new idea of religion4 ,it is deeply significant that he and ,hosea are contemporaries2 hardly more than ten years can lie between ,amos's appearance at ,bethel and the earliest of ,hosea's prophecies against the house of ,jehu4 ,the ,god of ,amos is the apotheosis of right1 the conscience of the world that can neither be corrupted nor sophisticated2 the ,god of ,hosea was born in the heart of a man whose love the grossest wrong could not quench4 ,retribution is the divinity of the one1 redemption of the other4 ,amos's conception was the first to take hold2 the earlier prophecies of ,isaiah against ,judah are wholly in that mood4 ,hosea had to wait a century before his greater thought found a fruitful soil in ,jeremiah and the ,deuteronomists4 ,the predictions of judgment in ,amos are so sweeping and ultimate that later readers found the message incomplete4 ,especially the last oracle 7ix4 #a ff47 was an ill-omened close4 ,consequently1 a messianic pendant was attached to it 7ix4 #aa-ae7 by a ,judan editor1 and an imperfect juncture made by the introduction of vs4 #h;b 7which flatly contradicts the first half verse7 and #i;b 7no grain shall fall to the ground7 perhaps displacing some words of the original4 ,it seems that some imitative pieces have been inserted also in c4 #a2 the prophecy against ,judah in ii4 #d f4 with its deuteronomic sins1 falls out of the scheme and is generally recognized as editorial4 ,slight retouches elsewhere 7e4g4 iv4 #ac2 v4 #h f42 ix4 #f7 need not detain us4 ,in general the book has suffered little from the improvers1 and the text is in relatively good preservation4 ,,obadiah4--,the single chapter of ,obadiah1 the shortest of the ,old ,testament books1 is a prophecy against the ,edomites1 toward whom1 as we have repeatedly seen1 the ,jews cherished an implacable animosity from the time of the fall of ,jerusalem4 ,obadiah vss4 #a-i has close parallels in ,jer4 xlix4 #g-bb 7cf4 ,obad4 vss4 #a-d with ,jer4 xlix4 #ad-af2 ,obad4 vs4 #e f41 ,jer4 xlix4 #i f42 ,obad4 vs4 #h1 ,jer4 xlix4 #g74 ,the question which is the borrower has been differently answered4 ,obadiah vss4 #ae-ba1 in which ,edom gets its judgment in the ,day of the ,lord on the nations1 is probably later than vss4 #a-ad1 but the whole is post-exilic4 ,,jonah4--,the ,book of ,jonah has already been discussed along with the stories of ,esther and ,ruth4 ,,micah4--,the prediction of ,micah1 the ,morashtite1 that ,zion should be plowed as a field and ,jerusalem be a heap of ruins and the temple hill become like forest shrines 7,mic4 iii4 #b71 is quoted under his name in ,jer4 xxvi4 #ah--the only example of such a prophetic quotation in the ,old ,testament4 ,the author1 a resident of ,moresheth-,gath in the ,judan ,lowland1 is said in the title to have prophesied in the days of ,jotham1 ,ahaz1 and ,hezekiah1 which is the editor's way of saying that he was a younger contemporary of ,isaiah4 ,the reign of ,hezekiah is attested by the tradition in ,jeremiah4 ,it is probable that only cc4 #a-c 7with perhaps some dubious possibilities in the following chapters7 can be attributed to ,micah4 ,the book opens with an oracle against ,samaria 7,mic4 i4 #b-h74 ,samaria fell in #gba ,b4,c41 while the sequel 7vs4 #i ff47 portrays the imminent peril of ,judah1 presumably in the time of ,sennacherib 7#gja ,b4,c474 ,the case seems to be similar to ,isa4 xxviii4 #a ff43 the fate of ,samaria1 though it is already fact1 is represented prophetically for a closer parallel to the following4 ,verses #aj-af are little more than a string of ominous puns on the names of towns in the author's ,lowland1 which in translation lose what little point they have4 ,the second chapter gives the cause of the woe much as in ,amos or ,isaiah1 but perhaps with local emphasis on the wrongs the capitalists of the great city inflict on the peasant proprietors4 ,his forebodings and censures are not well received1 men bid him stop his preaching1 it is a different sort of prophet they like 7ii4 #f-aa74 ,if a man1 walking in wind and falsehood1 should lie1 ',i will preach to thee of wine and drink1' he will be the preacher for this people4 ,micah has more to say1 but not better1 about the demagogue prophets in the following oracle 7iii4 #e-g74 ,the predictions of disaster in ii4 #a-aa have their point blunted in vs4 #ab f4 in the way the editors of the prophetic books so often do it4 ,chapter #c returns to condemnation1 which turns at last on the heads of the rulers who build up ,zion with blood and ,jerusalem with iniquity1 and ends with the prediction of the total destruction of the city which has already been quoted4 ,then the unexpected follows1 in the prophecy that ,jerusalem shall become the religious centre of the earth1 to which all nations flow1 and the law of ,god the universal arbiter in an age of universal peace 7,mic4 iv4 #a-e74 ,verses #a-c are found also1 in no more suitable context1 in ,isa4 ii4 #b-d4 ,they belong to neither ,isaiah nor ,micah4 ,for the rest1 ,mic4 #d-e and cc4 #f-g contain a number of pieces of diverse age and origin4 ,chapters iv4 #f-v4 #a are as a whole of good omen1 yet after the promise of restoration in iv4 #h1 ,jerusalem is suddenly in desperate straits2 exile awaits its people1 and only beyond the exile 7the words thou shalt come even unto ,babylon may be a gloss1 but the meaning is not essentially changed7 redemption waits 7iv4 #i f474 ,in iv4 #aa-ac1 again1 many nations gather against ,zion1 but it crushes them like sheaves on the threshing floor4 ,there follows 7v4 #b-i1 #aj-ae7 a messianic prophecy1 in which an allusion to ,isa4 vii4 #ad appears4 ,no less strangely assorted are the oracles in ,mic4 #f-g1 of which there are four3 vi4 #a-h2 vi4 #i-af2 vii4 #a-f2 vii4 #g-bj4 ,the first of these contains the quintessence of the prophetic conception of religion3 ,god does not demand holocausts and costly offerings in expiation of sin2 nor the supreme expiation which the prophets and the laws of the seventh century so often reject and condemn3 ,shall ,i give my first-born for my transgression1 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul8 ,he hath showed thee1 ,o man4 ,what is good and what doth ,god require of thee1 but to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with thy ,god8 ,trenchant condemnations of the sins of the times fill vi4 #i-af and vii4 #a-f1 the former of which1 at least1 is pre-exilic2 while the book closes in the situation and spirit of ,isa4 #dj ff4 ,thus the ,book of ,micah1 like that of his contemporary ,isaiah1 has been a depository for prophecies differing in age by several centuries4 ,perhaps the book once stood at the end of a roll1 and was therefore the natural place to add stray and nameless pieces1 as happened later to the ,book of ,zechariah at the end of the volume of the ,minor ,prophets4 ,,nahum4--,in the three larger prophetic books we have found groups of oracles against foreign nations1 some relatively old1 many late and literary variations on given motives--it was evidently a grateful theme4 ,in ,nahum we have a whole book occupied with the impending fall of ,nineveh and the ,assyrian empire1 which had so long and so brutally tyrannized over all western ,asia4 ,now its hour has struck1 and the prophet triumphs over the fate of the old lion1 who rent in pieces to satisfy his whelps and strangled for his lionesses1 and filled his dens with prey and his lairs with ravin4 ,his imagination revels in the terrors of the onslaught1 the horrors of the sack1 which he depicts with unsurpassed vividness and great poetic power4 ,it is the judgment of the ,lord1 long deferred1 but sure and final 7,nah4 #a74 ,in ,nah4 iii4 #h-aj the fate of the ,egyptian ,thebes is adduced as an historic example3 all her power could not save her1 and it shall fare no better with ,nineveh4 ,the reference is probably to the capture of ,thebes by ,assurbanipal in #ffa ,b4,c4 ,nineveh itself fell about #fjf ,b4,c4 under an attack of enemies from the north 7,medes or ,scythians71 and was destroyed never to be restored4 ,with it the ,assyrians disappear from history4 ,the prophecy of ,nahum was probably delivered shortly before this event1 though a date twenty years earlier1 when1 according to ,herodotus1 ,nineveh barely escaped from a similar onset by ,cyaxares1 is not strictly impossible4 ,it is thought by many scholars that the first chapter 7with which ii4 #b must go7 is a later composition1 a poem1 much deranged1 originally in acrostic form4 ,,habakkuk4--,the ,book of ,habakkuk predicts that ,jehovah is about to raise up the fierce ,chaldan nation1 which marches through the breadth of the earth to occupy habitations not belonging to it1 which scoffs at kings and has dynasts in derision1 laughing at all fortresses1 against which it casts up a mound and takes them 7,hab4 i4 #e-aa74 ,such a prophecy would be timely in the last years of the seventh century3 the ,chaldan1 or ,new ,babylonian1 kingdom dates its independence from #fbe1 and is hardly likely to have attracted much attention in the ,west before the fall of ,nineveh in #fjf ,b4,c4 and the defeat of ,pharaoh ,necho on the ,euphrates in #fje ,b4,c4 ,the prophecy1 which does not specifically threaten ,judah1 intrudes between i4 #d and i4 #ab ff41 where the plaint of vss4 #b-d is continued1 so that vss4 #e-aa are at least misplaced4 ,this complaint is of the oppression of the righteous 7,judah7 by the wicked 7heathen1 i4 #ac-ag74 ,from his watch tower the prophet sees a vision of a distant time1 which he is bidden record1 and of whose ultimate fulfilment he is assured 7ii4 #a-c74 ,what follows is a series of invectives which the nations he has gathered under his robber rule shall heap upon the fallen oppressor1 the man who was greedy as hell1 insatiable as death4 ,the date of the prophecy depends on the identification of this tyrant of the nations4 ,if it is ,babylon1 the oracle must be considered later than i4 #e-aa1 which greets the rise of the ,babylonian power to execute ,god's judgment on the world4 ,an ingenious solution of the difficulty has been proposed1 viz41 to transfer i4 #e-aa from c4 #a to a place after ii4 #d1 and see in it the contents of the vision spoken of in ii4 #c3 the ,babylonians would then be the ministers of ,god's avenging justice on the ,assyrian robbers of the world1 and the whole might have been uttered about #fae ,b4,c4 ,all parts of these chapters abound in reminiscences of the eighth-century prophets2 the resemblances to ,jeremiah may be explained by the contemporaneousness of the authors4 ,habakkuk #c1 entitled ,a ,prayer by ,habakkuk the ,prophet1 with a musical direction following1 as in the ,psalms1 is in fact a psalm1 and the presence of the musical directions1 implying liturgical use1 suggests that it once stood in a hymn book like the ,psalter4 ,it is a fine ode1 by an author well read in the classic literature of his nation4 ,the theophany 7iii4 #b ff47 is indebted to ,exod4 xxxiii4 #b ff4 and ,judg4 v4 #d ff4 ,the ode belongs with the ,psalms of the ,persian period4 ,it is imitated in ,ps4 #gg4 ,the title ascribing it to ,habakkuk the prophet is of no greater authority than the ascription ,pss4 #adf-adh in the ,greek ,bible to ,haggai and ,zechariah4 ,,zephaniah4--,the pedigree of ,zephaniah is carried back to his great-great-grandfather1 ,hezekiah4 ,as such genealogical proper names have seldom more than three terms1 it has been conjectured that the particular reason for adducing two extra generations here was that the prophet boasted royal blood--,hezekiah was the king of that name4 ,the thing is possible1 though the generations are somewhat rapid2 the parallel royal line counts four4 ,it would be a romantic touch if the prophet was a great-grand-nephew of ,manasseh1 and a second cousin of ,josiah1 of the manners and morals of whose courts he has so bad an opinion4 ,the title says that he prophesied in the reign of ,josiah1 and with this the tenor of a large part of the book agrees4 ,like the earliest prophecies of ,jeremiah 7,jer4 #a-f7 ,zephaniah's ,day of the ,lord is inspired by the irruption of the ,scythian hordes which threatened to engulf the civilized nations of western ,asia in a common ruin1 as the ,mongol and ,turkish hordes1 pouring out of the same cradle of the commissioned races1 the scourges of ,god1 did successively in later ages4 ,for ,judah it is the day of reckoning for the sins which made the reign of ,manasseh a by-word with prophets and historians1 and which went on unrestrained through the short years of his successor and the minority of ,josiah down to the reforms of his eighteenth year4 ,nowhere is the state of things in that three quarters of a century more clearly exposed than in the first oracle of ,zephaniah4 ,the second chapter holds out the possibility that repentance may still save ,judah2 the wave of invasion has taken1 as we know from historical sources it did1 the way by the coast1 bringing calamity on the ,philistine cities4 ,it surged on to the very frontier of ,egypt1 where it was stayed1 more likely by the payment of a great indemnity than by force of arms1 and rolled back whence it came4 ,zephaniah sees the storm break over ,assyria1 and predicts the total destruction of the proud city of ,nineveh which had so long said in her heart1 ,i1 and none beside me4 ,several verses in this chapter are suspected of being later amplifications1 viz4 ii4 #g;a 7,judah profits by the ruin of the ,philistine plain2 vs4 #g;b connects directly with vs4 #f71 and especially the oracles against ,moab and ,ammon1 which accuse them of their enmity to ,judah in the time of ,nebuchadnezzar1 a generation after ,zephaniah4 ,the first oracle in ,zeph4 #c is incomplete2 the original conclusion1 a sentence of doom upon ,judah1 the only imaginable sequel to vss4 #a-g1 is supplanted by the inconsequent pouring out of ,god's fury on the nations1 whereupon the heathen are converted1 the dispersion returns1 and1 purified and chastened the remnant of ,judah enjoys a modest golden age 7iii4 #h-ac74 ,the book closes in a more jubilant salutation of the good time coming 7iii4 #ad-bj74 ,thus in ,zephaniah1 as in so many other prophetic books1 all turns out well in the end2 but as in most of the others1 the happy endings are an afterthought of later generations for whom the judgment was in the past but the golden age had not yet come4 ,,haggai4--,haggai dates his first revelation to the very day of the month--a new fashion which he and his contemporary ,zechariah have--the first day of the sixth month 7of the ,jewish calendar7 in the second year of ,darius 7,hystaspis71 that is1 #ebj ,b4,c4 ,he has the word of the ,lord for ,zerubbabel1 the governor of ,judah1 and ,joshua1 the chief priest1 that it is high time to rebuild the temple2 the lean years they have been having are due to ,god's displeasure that he is thus neglected4 ,the civil and religious heads of the community stir up the people and the work begins2 again the exact date is given4 ,three other oracles follow1 all in the same year4 ,the first of these 7ii4 #a-i7 encourages ,zerubbabel and the people to more zeal by the prediction that the great crisis of history is at hand3 yet a little while and the ,lord will shake the heavens and the earth2 he will shake all the nations1 and the treasures of all the nations shall flow to his temple 7cf4 ,isa4 lx4 #i ff471 and ,god will fill the house with his glory4 ,the third 7ii4 #bj-bc71 to ,zerubbabel1 foretells the overthrow and destruction of the kingdoms of the nations2 and1 in prudently veiled phrase--since such great expectations might have ill consequences if they reached ,persian ears--the restoration of ,zerubbabel to the throne of his fathers1 fulfilling the messianic predictions of earlier prophets4 ,the intervening oracle 7ii4 #aj-ai7 is another spur to zeal in rebuilding the temple4 ,the immediate restoration of ,jewish nationality which ,haggai and ,zechariah so confidently foretold was not merely the expression of a general faith or the result of studies in their predecessors4 ,for in reality ,god was shaking the nations2 in particular the ,persian empire1 newly made master of the world1 was shaken to its foundations by the usurpation of the pretended ,smerdis1 the death of ,cambyses1 the conspiracy of the nobles against ,smerdis1 and the elevation of ,darius to the throne4 ,in the years when the ,jewish prophets were making their predictions1 ,darius was confronted by formidable rebellions in every quarter of the empire except the west4 ,it might well appear to ,haggai that the armies of the nations were falling every one by the sword of his fellow4 ,in the end ,darius put down all opposition and welded the empire together more strongly than ever2 the brief dream of ,jewish independence under a ,davidic prince and the brighter vision of the golden age faded4 ,,zechariah4--,zechariah's first oracle is dated in the month after that in which ,haggai's first was delivered4 ,it is a brief exhortation to his countrymen to repent1 and not neglect the warnings of the prophets as their fathers had done1 to their sorrow when the predicted judgments overtook them 7,zech4 i4 #a-f74 ,then follow1 in i4 #g-vi4 #ae1 under the common date 7second year of ,darius1 #aath month1 #bdth day71 a series of eight visions1 the meaning of which is interpreted to the prophet by an angel4 ,they symbolize the shattering of the power of the nations2 the rebuilding of the temple and city1 and the golden age to follow2 the removal of the sin of ,judah2 the recognition of the ,messiah 7,zerubbabel72 the harmony of prince and priest4 ,at the end of this group of visions is a bit of history of high interest4 ,a crown was made of gold and silver brought by some representatives of the ,babylonian ,jews1 and set by the prophet on the head of ,zerubbabel1 who was saluted as the ,scion1 i4e41 the ,messiah 7,jer4 xxiii4 #e71 with the prediction that he should rebuild the temple1 assume majesty1 and sit and rule upon his throne4 ,the coronation1 it need hardly be said1 was in the secrecy of a private house1 and is to be regarded as a symbolical act2 the ,babylonian envoys kept the crown as a memento4 ,but its significance is unmistakable4 ,the prediction was not fulfilled4 ,whatever became of ,zerubbabel--he disappears with this scene--he never wore a real crown nor sat upon the throne of his fathers4 ,this has led to more than one change in the text1 which1 however1 as in many other cases1 were not sufficiently thorough-going to pass unnoticed4 ,first1 the crown is once made plural1 crowns1 as though the intention was to crown both the prince and the priest2 when it comes to the coronation1 however1 only ,joshua1 the high priest1 receives the honour 7vi4 #aa74 ,but vss4 #ab1 #ac;a1 which are left untouched1 can refer only to ,zerubbabel4 ,verse #ac;b originally read1 and ,joshua shall be priest at his right hand 7so the ,greek ,bible1 instead of on his throne71 and there shall be harmony between the two4 ,in vs4 #ad there is only one crown4 ,in ,zech4 #g the question is asked of the prophet by some pilgrims from ,bethel1 whether1 now that the temple was rebuilding1 they should continue to keep the fast for the burning of the temple in the fifth month2 his response1 that what ,god wants of them is not fasting but justice1 charity1 compassion1 that none should oppress his neighbour nor devise evil against him1 is quite in the spirit of the earlier prophets to whom he appeals4 ,he goes on1 in c4 #h1 to picture the coming golden age1 when the fasts shall all be turned into cheerful feasts1 a prophecy which is one of the finest of its kind in the ,old ,testament and a fitting crown to the book4 ,the prophecies of ,zechariah 7cc4 #a-h7 are definitely dated2 they spring out of a definite historical and religious situation which is everywhere apparent and consistent4 ,not so the chapters which follow 7cc4 #i-ad74 ,the titles 7ix4 #a2 xii4 #a7 have a different form 7,burdens71 the situations which give their background to the oracles are wholly unlike that which stands out so clearly in ,haggai and ,zechariah2 the character of the prophecies1 with their affected obscurity1 easily penetrable1 doubtless1 to contemporaries1 but impenetrable to us who have not the historical key1 and their apocalyptic eschatology1 are in strong contrast to the manner of ,zechariah2 the evidence of diction confirms that of situation and content4 ,it has1 therefore1 long been recognized that none of these prophecies can be by the author of ,zech4 #a-h3 they are anonymous oracles which have been appended at the close of his book or of the ,book of the ,minor ,prophets4 ,they are not all by the same author3 cc4 #ab-ad contain two pictures 7xiii4 #a-xiii4 #f2 xiv4 #a-ba7 of the final onset of the heathen on ,jerusalem1 their destruction1 and the golden age of pious prosperity that ensues1 variations of ,ezekiel's original in the great prophecy of ,gog 7,ezek4 #ch-ci7 which gave the scheme for all subsequent revelations on the last times4 ,a notable difference between the two pictures is that in ,zech4 #ab the heathen are destroyed by the clans of ,judah1 who deliver ,jerusalem2 while in c4 #ad ,jerusalem is taken by the heathen and subjected to all the horrors of a sack1 half of its inhabitants being carried into slavery1 before ,jehovah himself1 descending on the ,mount of ,olives1 fights against the nations and cleaves the mount itself in twain4 ,in cc4 xii4 #a-xiii4 #f concrete features of the author's time are probably discernible1 in the fact1 for instance1 that ,judah 7that is the inhabitants of the other towns and the country7 besieges ,jerusalem in company with the neighbouring heathen peoples1 and in the striking animosity displayed toward the prophets1 who are in the same condemnation with the idols and arouse much intenser feeling 7xii4 #b-f74 ,our ignorance of the internal history of the ,jewish community for two or three centuries is1 however1 so complete that these allusions furnish us no clue4 ,in ,zech4 #i-aa also there are two sections1 viz4 ix4 #a-xi4 #c and xi4 #d-ag xiii4 #g-i4 ,the age of these can be fixed with greater confidence by the external historical situation4 ,the heathen power the overthrow of which ushers in the golden age is named1 in ix4 #ac1 the ,greeks4 ,egypt and ,syria 7,assyria71 that is1 the kingdoms of the ,ptolemies and the ,seleucids1 shall be brought low 7x4 #aa74 ,the land of ,hadrach1 to which the first oracle is directed1 is in all probability the region of ,antioch1 the ,seleucid capital4 ,the bad shepherds of cc4 #aa2 xiii4 #g-i1 who are over the flock of ,god1 are very good likenesses of the ,jewish high priests of the ,greek time1 though it is impossible to identify the concrete historical persons and events of c4 #aa4 ,taking all together1 we shall not go amiss in ascribing these to the early part of the third century ,b4,c4--say between the year #bjj1 when ,juda came under ,seleucid rule and the religious persecution of ,antiochus ,epiphanes and the ,maccaban revolt1 to neither of which is there any allusion in the chapters4 ,chapters #ab-ad may perhaps be put in the century before4 ,,malachi4--,a third appendix to the ,book of ,zechariah is the anonymous book which we call ,malachi4 ,the earliest title1 ,the ,burden of the ,word of the ,lord against ,israel1 is word for word the same as that in ,zech4 xii4 #a 7cf4 ix4 #a71 and doubtless was prefixed by the same editor4 ,subsequently1 perhaps to give the book an independent status and thus round out the number of the ,minor ,prophets to twelve1 the words by ',my ,messenger' 7,heb4 malaki2 iii4 #a f47 were added4 ,jewish tradition in later times identified this messenger with ,ezra4 ,in the versions the word was naturally taken for a proper name4 ,the book consists of two parts1 ,mal4 i4 #b-;ii4 #i1 which from i4 #f on is addressed to the priests1 and ii4 #aj-;iv4 #c1 to the people at large4 ,the priests treat the worship in the temple with professional disrespect1 under which lurks an equally professional scepticism4 ,any kind of blemished or diseased victim is good enough--the prophet invites them to make such a scurvy gift to the governor6 ,the perpetual routine of sacred services they find tiresome4 ,they are no less negligent in their other great function as the religious teachers and guides of the people4 ,the ,tora1 that is1 the revealed will of ,god1 is committed to them1 and they1 degenerate successors of the faithful priests in the good old times1 have not only themselves abandoned the right way1 but have caused many to fall by their false instructions4 ,they have earned the contempt in which men hold them4 ,the curse of ,god is on them4 ,one of the most notable words in the ,bible stands in this indignant denunciation 7,mal4 i4 #aa f474 ,jehovah's own priests in his own temple treat his worship with contempt2 he refuses their offerings3 ,for from the rising of the sun to the setting1 my name is great among the nations1 and in every place pure sacrifices are burnt to my name among the nations1 saith ,jehovah of ,hosts2 but ye profane it by thinking that the table of ,jehovah may be polluted and his food despised4 ,that the sacrifices of the heathen may be pure sacrifices1 though not according to the ,mosaic rite1 because all true worship is the worship of the true ,god1 is a conception quite unparalleled in the ,old ,testament4 ,the author's polemic against the priests of ,jerusalem has doubtless made him say more than he would have stood by as a dogmatic statement2 more1 indeed1 than any church has ever been ready to acknowledge1 but it was fitting that it should be said1 for it is the final consequence of the ethical conception of religion of which the ,hebrew prophets from ,amos on are the exponents4 ,of the remaining oracles1 one 7,mal4 iii4 #f-ab7 urges to the honest consecration of the tithes 7dues to the temple72 another 7ii4 #aj-af71 as commonly interpreted1 condemns the marriages with heathen women which so disturbed the soul of ,nehemiah and ,ezra1 and especially the divorce of native wives to take foreign ones2 but the language should perhaps rather be taken as figurative for foreign worship4 ,the two remaining prophecies 7ii4 #ag-;iii4 #e2 iii4 #ac-;iv4 #c7 are addressed to such as thought that ,god did not trouble himself about men's affairs3 the long threatened day of doom gave no sign of coming1 nor was the promised reward of serving ,god bestowed4 ,the prophet declares that the ,day will come1 sudden and terrible1 and the ungodly will get their deserts4 ,the last verses 7iv4 #d-f7 are not improbably an addition by an editorial hand4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,psalms4 ,,lamentations ,the ,book of ,psalms counts one hundred and fifty hymns1 and this evidently by design1 for the ,greek ,version1 which sometimes unites in one what are two psalms in the ,hebrew and divides one ,hebrew psalm into two1 comes out with the same number4 ,it is divided into five books1 as is indicated in the ,revised ,english ,version1 vis4 ,book ,i41 ,pss4 #a-da2 ,book ,,ii41 ,pss4 #db-gb2 ,book ,,iii41 ,pss4 #gc-hi2 ,book ,,iv41 ,pss4 #ij-ajf2 ,book ,v41 ,pss4 #ajg-aej1 each book ending with a liturgical doxology4 ,the rabbis were probably right in the opinion that this fivefold division was made in imitation of the five books of the ,pentateuch1 but in some cases1 as we shall see1 the limits correspond to those of older separate books4 ,the psalter has not inaptly been called the hymn book of the second temple4 ,we learn from ,jewish tradition that certain psalms were used in the liturgy of the ,herodian temple on certain days or at certain seasons1 and to many of them musical or liturgical directions are prefixed and interludes are noted 7,selah71 from which1 apart from tradition1 such a use would be inferred4 ,it is evident from the familiarity with the ,psalms which is shown in the ,new ,testament and in contemporary ,jewish writings1 both ,greek and ,hebrew1 that1 like our hymn books1 the ,psalter was largely used for private devotion and edification4 ,the poems contained in the ,psalter are from different ages and authors1 and of widely diverse religious worth and poetical excellence4 ,some of them are unsurpassed in the religious literature of the world2 others are the tedious production of authors who1 like so many hymnists of all climes1 were neither born nor made poets4 ,thanks to the translators1 such pieces are a great deal better1 so far as expression goes1 in the ,authorized ,english ,version or in ,luther's1 than the original4 ,a modern hymn book is seldom1 if ever1 a fresh compilation from the sources2 it is habitually made up from collections already in use1 with the addition1 perhaps1 of the editor's gleanings from the sources1 or of recent poems4 ,the names of the collections thus used may be given1 and the names of the authors--often taken along without verification4 ,editors of hymn books have also generally allowed themselves great liberties with the text of hymns1 altering them to suit their own taste or the religious and theological idiosyncrasies of their sect2 abridging1 transposing1 expanding1 without scruple2 and only in very modern times has a tardily awakened literary conscience constrained them to give notice of such changes4 ,in this way medival ,catholic poets are made to sing good ,protestant songs1 or ,calvinists and ,methodists to drop their shibboleths and express themselves in a manner acceptable to ,unitarians4 ,the familiar hymn1 ,o for a thousand tongues to sing my dear ,redeemer's praise1 has been adapted to ,buddhist use as1 ,o for a thousand tongues to sing my holy ,buddha's praise1 ,the glories of my teacher great1 the triumphs of his grace1 with similar changes throughout1 and if we did not know the ,christian hymn1 we might take the author for a good ,shin-shu ,buddhist1 though an indifferent poet4 ,the editors of the ,psalter proceeded in the same way1 and the older recollections on which they worked can in part be recognized4 ,it is observed that ,books ,,ii4 and ,,iii4 of the ,psalter 7,pss4 #db-hi71 or1 more exactly1 ,pss4 #db-hc1 must once have formed a collection by themselves1 whose editor was averse to the use of the proper name ,jehovah1 and accordingly altered the text of the hymns where this name occurred by substituting the appellative ,god 7,elohim71 giving rise to such strange expressions as ,o ,god1 my ,god4 ,thus ,ps4 #ec is the same with ,ps4 #ad1 but wherever ,jehovah stands in ,ps4 #ad1 ,god takes its place in ,ps4 #ec2 ,ps4 #gj is merely an extract from ,ps4 #dj 7vss4 #ac-ag7 with the same change4 ,in the latter1 however1 copyists1 influenced by the parallel passage1 have restored ,jehovah in one 7,greek7 or two 7,hebrew7 places1 as they have done in other of these psalms4 ,this occurrence of the same hymn in two parts of the ,psalter1 of which another instance is ,ps4 #ajh 7made up of parts of two psalms in the elohistic book1 lvii4 #g-aa1 and lx4 #e-ab71 is itself presumptive evidence that these parts once existed separately4 ,at the time when the musical directions were prefixed to the psalms1 the last two books 7,pss4 #ij-aej7 seem not to have been included in the temple hymn book2 for these directions1 scattered through ,pss4 #a-hi1 are lacking from that point on1 notwithstanding the fact that a larger proportion of the psalms in ,pss4 #ij-aej were manifestly composed for public worship than in ,pss4 #a-hi4 ,the titles of ,psalms give the names of other collections from which individual psalms were taken4 ,thus twelve psalms1 ,pss4 #db1 #dd-di1 #hd1 #he1 #hg1 #hh1 are hymns or songs of the ,korahites1 and eleven1 ,pss4 #ej1 #gc-hc1 of ,asaph1 who were according to the ,chronicler--a good authority on the worship of his time--families1 or hereditary guilds1 of temple musicians1 and seem1 in this capacity1 to have had special hymn books containing psalms which they sang1 and which may also have been composed by members of the guild4 ,the fact that the ,korahite and ,asaphite psalms are not scattered through the present ,psalter1 but appear in groups1 and only in the elohistic hymn book 7,pss4 #db-hi71 confirms this view4 ,when they were incorporated in the collection1 the source was indicated by prefixing the name of the guild book to the individual psalms4 ,another group of fifteen psalms 7,pss4 #abj-acd7 bear in their titles1 ,the ,song of the ,ascents1 a phrase which1 by the irregularity of its form1 shows that it was transferred mechanically from the title of the collection 7,the ,songs of the ,ascents7 to the individual poems4 ,the ancient interpretation makes the ascents the fifteen steps1 or ascending platforms1 on which the levitical orchestra stood at the festival of the water-drawing on the evening after the first day of ,tabernacles 7hence the ,authorized ,version1 ,song of ,degrees1 i4e4 ,steps74 ,we need not discuss the question2 that these psalms constitute a liturgical unit selected for a specific ceremony is plain4 ,a considerable number of psalms have loosely prefixed to them the words ,hallelu ,jah 7,praise ye ,jah71 which in the ,hebrew text are frequently found at the end1 having been erroneously carried back from the beginning of a following psalm4 ,when this displacement 7which is later than the ,greek translation7 is corrected1 the ,hallelujah psalms are #aje-ajg1 #aaa-aah1 #ace1 #acf1 #adf-aej4 ,here also a liturgical collection is naturally inferred4 ,jewish tradition informs us about the use of the ,hallel 7,pss4 #aac-aah7 and the ,great ,hallel 7,ps4 #acf7 at the festivals1 and the name ,hallel is also sometimes given to ,pss4 #adf-adh4 ,both the ,hallels and the ,songs of ,degrees1 it will be observed1 are in the last of the three parts of the ,psalter 7,pss4 #ij-aej74 ,of greater interest is the large collection of psalms which bear individually the name of ,david4 ,this name is found in the titles of all the psalms in ,book ,i4 7,pss4 #a-da71 except ,pss4 #a and #b1 #aj 7properly a part of #i1 as in the ,greek ,bible71 and #cc 7in the ,greek ,bible ,davidic72 further1 in ,book ,,ii41 two groups1 ,pss4 #ea-fe1 #fh-gj1 and thereafter1 scattering1 ,pss4 #hf1 #aja1 #ajc1 #ajh-aaj1 #abb1 #abd1 #aca1 #acc1 #ach-ade--gc psalms in all1 or almost half the ,psalter4 ,manuscripts of the ,greek ,bible add a varying number of others1 and other versions do the same4 ,in the light of the phenomena we have already observed1 we may confidently infer that there was once a collection of religious lyrics bearing some such title as ,hymns of ,david4 ,so long as this book had a separate existence1 the name would naturally not be repeated at the head of the individual poems in it2 such repetition became necessary1 however1 when psalms from this book were taken up into a larger hymn book containing not only psalms from the ,korahite and ,asaphite collections but many anonymous hymns2 just as the name of ,charles ,wesley would be attached to one of his hymns only when it was taken out of his own volume and included in a composite hymn book4 ,by good fortune we have the colophon of this ,davidic ,psalter in ,ps4 lxxii4 #bj1 in the words of a scribe3 ,the ,prayers 7an older name for ,psalms7 of ,david son of ,jesse are finished1 that is1 the roll containing them is copied to the end--a very common ,oriental form of colophon4 ,curiously enough1 the hymn to which this note is annexed is said in its title to be by ,solomon1 to whom ,ps4 #abg 7one of the ,songs of ,degrees7 is similarly attributed4 ,in both cases the ground of the ascription is plain3 the editor thought that ,ps4 cxxvii4 #a referred to the building of the temple1 while the prayer for wisdom with which ,ps4 #gb begins suggested to him ,solomon's dream1 #a ,kings #c4 ,from this ,davidic hymn book came what is now the first book of the ,psalter entire1 except ,ps4 #a and probably #b2 further the groups in ,book ,,ii4 7#ea-fe1 #fh-gj1 with #gb71 which probably stood immediately after ,ps4 #da4 ,for it will be noted that the second 7elohistic7 part of the present ,psalter 7,pss4 #db-hi7 is made up of ,korahite1 ,asaphite1 and ,davidic psalms1 and that in their present position the ,davidic psalms1 say ,pss4 #ea-gb1 are thrust into the otherwise solid group of ,asaphite hymns ,pss4 #ej 444 #gc-hc4 ,further1 the transposition of the ,davidic psalms to the beginning of the book would bring the hymns of the guilds together4 ,the elohistic recension does not extend consistently beyond ,ps4 #hc2 and ,pss4 #hd-hi 7,korahite7 may therefore be regarded as a supplementary extract from the guild book4 ,the titles of several of the ,davidic psalms specify the occasion and circumstances in which the poem was composed2 these historical notes are especially numerous in the group ,pss4 #ea-gb 7see ,pss4 #ea1 #eb1 #ed1 #ef1 #eg1 #ei1 #fj1 #fc71 but occur also in the ,first ,book 7,pss4 #c1 #g1 #ah1 #cd71 and in ,ps4 #adb 7cf4 ,ps4 #eg74 ,the incidents referred to are1 with one exception1 all narrated in the ,books of ,samuel4 ,there is no reason to imagine that the editor had any tradition about the origin of these particular poems1 much less authentic information on the subject4 ,precisely as in the ascription of ,pss4 #gb and #abg to ,solomon1 he combined what he took to be allusions to a historical situation in the poems with the history as he read it4 ,psalm #ea1 for example1 is a confession of deep sinfulness1 and seems to specify blood-guilt 7vs4 #ad74 ,when had ,david reason to express himself in this manner8 ,clearly after his adultery with ,bathsheba and the murder of ,uriah4 ,it is a very familiar procedure4 ,modern commentators have made many similar guesses1 but nobody attaches any authority to them4 ,whether the scattered ,davidic psalms in the last part of the ,psalter 7,pss4 #ij-aej7 are a gleaning from the ,davidic hymn book of poems which had not been included by previous editors or come from some other source is uncertain2 the latter is the more probable hypothesis4 ,the ,psalter1 in the form in which we have it1 is one of the latest books in the ,old ,testament1 for it contains poems in which the religious persecution of ,antiochus ,,iv4 and the ,maccaban struggle are clearly reflected1 and very likely events still further down in the second century ,b4,c4 ,this was shown by an acute critic at the beginning of the fifth century ,a4,d41 and in the ,reformation century ,john ,calvin rightly referred ,pss4 #dd and #gd to the ,maccaban times1 and admitted the same possibility for ,ps4 #gi4 ,all these are from the ,korahite and ,asaphite collections included in the elohistic hymn book1 which itself is not the youngest of the sources of our ,psalter4 ,numerous other psalms are1 with greater or less probability1 assigned to the same age2 thus1 ,ps4 #adi1 where the saints1 with the high praises of ,god in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands1 execute judgment on the heathen1 is singularly apt to the ,maccaban victories4 ,psalm #aaj 7,davidic7 most naturally is understood as one of the ,asmonan princes1 since in them alone priesthood and royalty were united4 ,there are1 however1 other and more conclusive criteria than references to historical events or persons4 ,the religious situation in the ,jewish community reflected in very many of the psalms is that of the ,persian and ,greek period1 not that of the days of the kingdom4 ,the strife of parties or of classes1 on one side the righteous1 the pious1 the poor1 for whom the psalmists speak1 on the other1 the wicked1 the ungodly1 the rich and the great2 here those whose delight is in the law of ,god 7religion71 there those who contemn it and pursue evil ways regardless of its precepts and prohibitions1 is a new condition1 not in the behaviour of the wicked1 but in the self-consciousness of the pious1 who feel themselves a distinct class and are evidently crystallizing into a party or a sect4 ,the religious conceptions and the conception of religion are drawn chiefly from ,jeremiah and the ,deuteronomists1 and from ,isaiah #dj ff41 but on the subjective side of religion1 piety1 the best of the psalms represent a more advanced stage than the prophets of the seventh and sixth centuries4 ,the hopes of the future of ,god's people and of the world run with the prophets of the ,persian period and the contemporary anonymous and editorial additions to the older prophetic books4 ,that the long rehearsals of the ancient history like ,pss4 #gh1 #aje1 #ajf1 or eulogies of the law such as ,ps4 #aai1 or litanies of the fashion of ,ps4 #acf1 belong to a stage in the history of the liturgy such as rouses the enthusiasm of the ,chronicler is also apparent4 ,the evidence of language tends the same way4 ,fine hymns were written even at a late time2 but on a large part of the psalms the decadence has set its mark4 ,such is the impression the ,psalter makes as a whole1 and it indicates that not only is the existing collection late1 but that most of the hymns in it were comparatively modern when they were brought together4 ,this is what would be expected in a hymn book1 which for devotional even more than for liturgical use1 needs to express and nurture the type of piety prevalent in its own time and circle4 ,protestant hymn books fifty years ago1 outside the ,anglican communion1 had hardly any hymns in them more than a couple of hundred years old1 except versified translations of the psalms1 modernized and ,christianized in the operation4 ,it would be going much beyond the evidence to say there were no psalms in the ,psalter that were composed in the days of the kingdom2 there may be a considerable number4 ,but the proof that any particular psalm came from that period is difficult and seldom very convincing4 ,this is true even of the psalms which speak of the king2 for1 aside from the impossibility of deciding in some instances whether a reigning king is meant or the king of the good time coming 7,messiah71 a foreign king may sometimes be in mind 7,ps4 #de is so interpreted by many71 or an ,asmonan king4 ,,lamentations4--,the fall of ,jerusalem in #ehf ,b4,c4 is the subject of five poems of considerable length which together make the ,book of ,lamentations4 ,the mistaken opinion that the prophet ,jeremiah was the author caused this book to be put immediately after ,jeremiah in the ,christian ,bible1 with an introduction explicitly attributing the poems1 or the first of them1 to the prophet4 ,in the ,hebrew ,bible the book stands among the miscellaneous ,scriptures4 ,the first four poems are in the ,hebrew elegiac metre1 the verse used for dirges1 the characteristic of which is that each line is divided by a csura into unequal parts1 oftenest in the ratio of three to two1 as in ,amos v4 #a4 ,fllen no mre to rse is srael's dughter6 ,prstrate to arth she les1 n one to lft her4 ,in ,lamentations #a-d this is combined with an alphabetic acrostic4 ,in cc4 #a and #b the poem consists of twenty-two tiercets1 the first line of each beginning with a letter of the alphabet in order2 c4 #d1 of as many couplets2 while in c4 #c each line of the tiercet begins with the proper letter4 ,chapter #e is neither alphabetic nor in elegiac metre4 ,the alphabetic artifice is not uncommon with ,hebrew poets1 the most elaborate example being ,ps4 #aai1 where in stanzas of seven verses each line of the stanza begins with ,a1 ,b1 ,g1 ,d1 and so on4 ,the five ,lamentations differ considerably in character and poetic merit4 ,chapters #b and #d are distinctly superior to the rest1 and describe the agony of ,jerusalem in vivid and moving images2 peculiarly direct and poignant is c4 #e2 while c4 #c has more the character of a psalm4 ,the poems are not all by the same author4 ,those which seem to stand nearest to the catastrophe 7cc4 #b and #d at least7 were probably written no very long time after it2 the others perhaps in the following generation4 ,there is nothing in them that would lead us to think of ,jeremiah as the author4 ,perhaps the statement of the ,chronicler that ,jeremiah made a dirge for ,king ,josiah which was written among the ,lamentations1 and recited in later times by the professional singers of dirges1 may imply that he ascribed one of the poems to the prophet4 ,at any rate1 it became tradition1 and has chiefly contributed to get ,jeremiah the injurious reputation of the weeping prophet4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,proverbs ,the ,book of ,proverbs bears the title ,the ,proverbs of ,solomon son of ,david1 ,king of ,israel4 ,other titles scattered through the book prove that it is made up of several collections of proverbs which once circulated independently4 ,thus ,prov4 #aj begins1 ,the ,proverbs of ,solomon2 xxii4 #ag-ba is an introduction inviting the reader to give attention to ,sayings of ,sages1 and dwelling on the profit of so doing2 xxiv4 #bc1 ,these also are by the ,sages2 xxv4 #a1 ,these also are ,proverbs of ,solomon which the men of ,hezekiah king of ,judah edited2 xxx4 #a1 ,the ,sayings of ,agur son of ,jakeh2 xxxi4 #a1 ,the sayings of ,lemuel ,king of ,massa 7871 which his mother taught him2 finally1 xxxi4 #aj-ca is an anonymous alphabetic poem in praise of the good housewife4 ,the inference of diverse origin drawn from these titles is confirmed by diversity of character and form1 and by the repetition of proverbs in the different sections1 especially in ,prov4 x4 #a-xxii4 #af and cc4 #be-bi2 on the other hand1 the similarity of all parts of the book in thought and expression indicates that there is among them no wide difference in time4 ,the theme of the book is wisdom1 by which is meant primarily a practical wisdom in the conduct of individual life under the social1 political1 and economic conditions of the time4 ,the end is a prosperous and happy life1 and the motive is enlightened self-interest4 ,experience shows that morality conduces to prosperity and happiness1 and immoral and unsocial actions to the opposite4 ,to inculcate this truth and to apply it is the aim of the wise1 who make this knowledge the foundation of virtue and of well-being4 ,their instruction is not given in the form of a philosophical ethic1 with a discussion of the nature of the highest good and of the principles and motives of conduct1 but in sententious maxims1 or aphorisms1 sometimes grouped upon a central theme1 often without any thread of connection4 ,religion is affirmed by the most reflective of these authors to be the first principle of wisdom 7,prov4 i4 #g2 ix4 #aj2 cf4 xv4 #cc71 but there is no appeal to a divine law or to the conscience of the individual2 the maxims are based on observation and experience4 ,the opposite of wisdom is folly2 it is an unintelligent selfishness which ignores the consequences of its course1 and sooner or later involves itself in loss or ruin4 ,for ruin is the end of persistent folly as happiness is the fruit of wisdom4 ,this is the order of the world2 ,god's ordering1 no doubt1 but working itself out by natural law4 ,wise men and fools are two permanent classes of men1 divided by as hard a line as in the ,stoic ethics is drawn between the virtuous man and the rest of mankind4 ,the authors know no degrees of wisdom2 they recognize different kinds of folly1 but no difference in fools4 ,the pictures of society they draw are chiefly of city life1 with its temptations and vices1 and they closely resemble those which ,jesus the son of ,sirach 7,ecclesiasticus7 paints about #bjj ,b4,c4 ,monotheism is taken for granted2 among the many follies the sages condemn1 the folly of polytheism and idolatry does not appear4 ,the national particularism of the ,jewish religion is nowhere in evidence2 the cultus is hardly referred to1 except to say that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination1 or that justice is more acceptable to the ,lord than sacrifice4 ,these features are doubtless due in part to the distinctive tendencies of the moralists1 but they also reflect the times4 ,we find them in ,job1 in ,sirach1 and in ,ecclesiastes1 other products of ,jewish ,wisdom which date from the later ,persian or ,greek period2 and we have every reason to believe that this peculiar development1 of which we have no trace earlier1 was characteristic of that age4 ,with this the evidence of language accords4 ,of the several parts of the book1 ,prov4 x4 #a-xxii4 #af seem to be the oldest1 and may be from the ,persian period2 the following chapters are later4 ,so also is ,prov4 #a-i1 which may well have been written under ,ptolemaic rule 7say #cbj-bjj ,b4,c471 when the ,jews enjoyed times of peace and prosperity4 ,the latter author treats his topics more sustainedly1 though without logical disposition or connection1 in a warm and friendly tone such as an experienced elder might use toward a youth4 ,the style is easy and flowing1 and sometimes rises to poetic inspiration4 ,the personifications of wisdom and folly in c4 #i give a good example of his manner4 ,a more philosophical mind is recognized in c4 #h1 with its personification of the divine wisdom1 first of ,god's creations1 the skilled artificer who was by his side at the making of the world1 rejoicing in ,god's habitable earth and the sons of men who people it4 ,here the author comes near the conceptions of the ,greek ,wisdom of ,solomon1 and prepares the way for the theological hypostases of ,wisdom and the divine ,reason and ,word 7,logos74 ,even among the aphorisms of the older collections1 there are few that have the stamp of true popular proverbs1 the wisdom of the generations finding the pregnant phrase in the mouth of the people2 they are1 what indeed they profess to be1 maxims of the sages1 fashioned with conscious art for a didactic end4 ,and these sages seem to have been1 like the ,greek sophists1 professional teachers of the youth of the well-to-do classes4 ,that the bulk of this wisdom1 when compilation of it came to be made1 should have been labelled ,solomonic1 is explained by ,solomon's fame for wisdom1 which is the subject of numerous anecdotes in the historical books 7see #a ,kings iii4 #d-ae1 with the examples1 ibid4 vs4 #af-bh2 #a ,kings x4 #a-ad1 etc471 coupled with the explicit statement that he spake three thousand proverbs1 not to mention his songs and his expeditions into natural history 7#a ,kings iv4 #bi-cd74 ,in later times ,solomon's fame for wisdom was not that of an ethical philosopher but of an adept in magic4 ,it is almost a pity to take away from ,solomon the urgent warnings against women in which the ,proverbs abound2 they have in his mouth such a mordant irony4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,job ,the ,book of ,job is the greatest work of ,hebrew literature that has come down to us1 and one of the great poetical works of the world's literature4 ,in the form of a colloquy between ,job and his friends1 in which at last ,god intervenes1 it discusses the gravest problem of theodicy1 ,how can the suffering of a good man be reconciled with the moral government of ,god8 ,in a prose introduction the reader is apprised of the true cause of ,job's sufferings1 of which the parties to the colloquy are1 of course1 ignorant3 they are a trial of his uprightness1 more specifically1 of his disinterested virtue4 ,in this prologue in heaven1 ,satan insists that ,job's exemplary virtue is no wonder1 since ,god rewards him so well for it1 and ,god1 who has full faith in the patriarch1 gives ,satan permission to test him4 ,in an hour all his wealth is swept away and his children perish1 but ,job bows submissive to ,god's will4 ,then he himself is smitten with a loathsome and distressful ailment which was regarded as in a peculiar sense the stroke of ,god1 his wife bids him bless ,god 7a euphemism for curse7 and die2 but he rebukes her3 ,what8 shall we receive good at the hand of ,god1 and shall we not receive evil8 ,in all this did not ,job sin with his lips4 ,his three friends come to bemoan him and to comfort him1 but the sight of his misery makes them dumb2 they sit down with him in silence for seven days4 ,so far the prologue4 ,on this scene the poem opens3 ,job's long suppressed grief breaks out in bitter words2 he curses the day of his birth1 he envies the dead who are at rest4 ,the eldest of the three friends answers him1 and so the colloquy begins4 ,the structure of the poem is symmetrical4 ,each friend speaks in turn and to each ,job replies4 ,the cycle is thrice repeated 7cc4 #d-ad2 #ae-ba2 #bb-bf71 but1 at least in the present text1 the third round is incomplete--,zophar has no speech4 ,the friends being apparently convinced that it is useless to argue with him1 ,job soliloquizes 7cc4 #bg-ca71 contrasting his former prosperity with his present adversity1 and again protesting his good conscience before ,god and men4 ,now a new disputant comes on the scene1 whose name does not appear among the dramatis person1 the youthful ,elihu2 a short prose introduction tells us who he is1 and why he intrudes4 ,he is incensed at them all2 at ,job for justifying himself at ,god's expense1 at the friends for not having found arguments to put him down4 ,for his part1 he is so full of words that he cannot hold in4 ,he delivers himself1 accordingly1 of four speeches 7cc4 #cb f42 #cd2 #ce2 #cf71 to which ,job vouchsafes no reply4 ,suddenly ,god1 whom ,job had alternately challenged and implored to appear1 answers him out of the whirlwind 7cc4 #ch-da72 with ,job's confession of his presumption in speaking of things he understood not 7xlii4 #a-f71 the poem ends4 ,in the prose epilogue ,god condemns the three friends1 whom he pardons at ,job's prayer2 and the trial over1 ,god1 in poetical justice1 restores ,job to a prosperity greater than the first4 ,in the argument1 the three friends and ,elihu maintain throughout the view of divine retribution which was plainly the orthodoxy of the author's time3 ,god rewards piety and virtue with prosperity and requites sin with adversity4 ,this law is grounded in the righteousness of ,god2 it is inconceivable that he should act otherwise4 ,consequently if a man is overwhelmed by calamity1 as ,job is1 the only explanation their religion can allow is that he is a great sinner2 any other interpretation would impugn the justice of ,god or bring into question the existence of a divine providence4 ,they recognize1 indeed1 that in sending suffering ,god may design through chastisement or by way of warning to bring the sinner to repentance and amendment2 they admit that suffering may be a trial of man's faith4 ,they present the matter to ,job thus1 especially in their earlier speeches2 but the character of ,job's replies convinces them that neither of these is his case1 and they come at last to outspoken accusation4 ,job denies their insinuations and their charges4 ,he has done nothing to deserve such a fate2 if they insist on calling this ,god's justice1 he will say straight in ,god's face that he is an almighty tyrant1 who unjustly destroys an innocent man4 ,if ,god slay him for it1 he will not belie his conscious rectitude4 ,the argument goes round and round1 takes this or that turn1 grows hotter as it proceeds1 but does not get beyond this deadlock4 ,the author's motive so far is clear3 he means to controvert the dogma that all suffering1 or at least extraordinary suffering1 is retributive1 and to show in the instance of ,job how this doctrine may drive a godly man to the denial of ,god's justice altogether4 ,with remarkable psychological insight1 however1 he makes ,job not only cling to the belief that ,god is more just than his dealings with him show1 but makes this faith grow in even steps with his passionate charges of injustice4 ,he appeals from the injustice of ,god to the just ,god who some day will have to justify him4 ,the author meant to refute the doctrine that ,god's providence is exhaustively explained by distributive justice4 ,had he his own solution of the problem of theodicy to put in the place of that cruel dogma8 ,job1 we have seen1 finds no solution4 ,in the speeches of ,jehovah1 where dramatic fitness would lead us to look for the author's solution if he had one1 there is no refutation of ,job's charges1 no response to his pleadings4 ,the speeches are splendid1 but the gist of them is that ,god's ways are inscrutable4 ,if man cannot comprehend ,god's operations in nature1 what folly1 what presumption1 to pretend to fathom his dealings in providence6 ,in that ,job acquiesces for the soul of man4 ,let his sufferings be a mystery1 he can submit and trust2 call them punitive1 and he revolts against the injustice4 ,that is the end to which the author would bring his readers4 ,some one has said that there is nothing about which men are usually so sure as about the character of ,god1 and nothing they are so ready to do as to interpret his dealings by his character--especially his dealings with others4 ,such were ,job's friends4 ,and from this point of view we have no difficulty in understanding1 what has stumbled some critics1 how they1 with their zeal for ,god's character--that is1 for their orthodox conception of it--come off in the epilogue with so smart a rebuke1 while ,job1 whose words seemed to them sheer blasphemy1 is praised for saying what was right about ,god4 ,the theme of the ,book of ,job is one which exercised the greatest of the ,greek tragic poets1 and it is treated with an schylean grandeur2 in conception and execution it declares the genius of its author4 ,it has not come into our hands altogether as it left his1 and certain parts of the poem are generally recognized as additions by other pens4 ,the most considerable of these are the speeches of ,elihu 7cc4 #cb-cf74 ,it has already been noted that ,elihu's name is not in the prologue1 he comes in with a bit of a prologue of his own 7xxxii4 #a-e72 and when the three friends are rebuked in the epilogue1 he1 who surely deserved the same condemnation1 is ignored4 ,all his speeches1 provocative enough1 draw no reply from ,job4 ,when1 at the end of ,elihu's discourse1 ,god answers out of the whirlwind 7xxxviii4 #a ff471 ,who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge1 it is to ,job he addresses himself1 not ,elihu2 and the appearance of ,god is naturally taken as the response to ,job's challenge in xxxi4 #ce1 ,o that ,i had one to hear me1 etc41 just before ,elihu breaks in4 ,all these signs indicate that ,elihu is an intruder4 ,this inference is borne out by the arguments so pretentiously announced4 ,they are in the main variations on the themes in the preceding speeches of the friends1 with a certain evident predilection for the idea that suffering is a warning4 ,it would seem that another poet thought1 as he makes ,elihu boast1 that he could improve on the arguments of the friends4 ,the unbiassed reader1 without depreciating the poetical merit of the speeches1 will be likely to differ with him4 ,the eulogy of the divine wisdom 7,job #bh7 is a very fine poem1 in the vein of ,prov4 #h1 of which it is probably not independent1 but it is1 to say the least1 inappropriate in the mouth of ,job at this point in the debate4 ,the description of ancient mining is particularly noteworthy4 ,in the speeches of ,god1 the long descriptions of the hippopotamus and the crocodile 7xl4 #ae-xli4 #cd7 are not without reason suspected of being purple patches1 and in putting them in some damage has been done to the margins4 ,it has been questioned whether the prose prologue and epilogue really belong with the poem2 but it would not be intelligible without them4 ,in ,ezek4 xiv4 #ad1 #bj the name of ,job occurs with ,noah and ,daniel as exemplary righteous men1 who1 if they were alive1 could nevertheless not save the wicked city of ,jerusalem from its doom2 but whether the story ,ezekiel knew about ,job had any resemblance to the prologue of our book1 no one can tell4 ,it may very well be that there was a prose book of ,job 7in which1 possibly1 the friends played the opposite rle from that given them in the poem71 and that the poet took from it the incidents and setting that he needed2 but about that also nothing can be known4 ,the age of the book is determined chiefly by the problem with which it deals4 ,the doctrine of individual retribution is the application to the individual of the prophetic teaching about ,god's dealing with the nation2 it appears in a peculiarly crude and hard form in ,ezekiel at the moment of the break up of the nation4 ,it was furthered by the teaching of the sages1 as in ,proverbs1 about the connection between prosperity and happiness and virtue4 ,experience contradicted the dogma1 and so the problem of theodicy arose--arose in a peculiarly difficult form1 because all that befell a man was attributed to the immediate act of ,god1 who was not relieved of any part of his responsibility by talk of second causes and natural laws1 and because the sphere of retribution was limited to this life1 with no relief in the possible compensations of another4 ,this is the problem of ,job1 and of itself suffices to put the book in what is called the post-exilic age4 ,it belongs to the literature of ,jewish ,wisdom1 with ,proverbs and ,ecclesiastes4 ,the latter book1 one of the latest certainly in the ,old ,testament1 is much concerned with the same conflict of dogma with experience1 though in a very different spirit4 ,job may be a work of the fifth century ,b4,c41 or perhaps of the fourth4 ,the language would incline us to the earlier date4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,ecclesiastes4 ,,song ,,of ,,songs ,two singular books remain1 about the inspiration of both of which the straitest sect of the ,pharisees in the first century of our era had grave difficulties1 ,ecclesiastes and the ,song of ,songs4 ,both are attributed to ,solomon1 the ,song by title1 ,ecclesiastes by implication in the book itself1 and doubtless the supposed authorship had much to do with finally securing the two books a place in the ,jewish ,bible4 ,,ecclesiastes4--,the title of ,ecclesiastes runs1 ,the words of ,koheleth the son of ,david1 king in ,jerusalem1 under which pseudonym no one but ,solomon can be meant2 see also ,eccl4 i4 #ab1 and especially ii4 #a-aa4 ,in the body of the book1 ,koheleth is regularly used as a proper name2 it is apparently coined for the nonce4 ,like many pseudonyms in other literatures1 it is probably a mystification1 piquant to the author's contemporaries but impenetrable to us4 ,that it means ,preacher--an ancient guess--is highly improbable2 but even if the meaning were transparent1 there is no more reason for translating a fictitious proper name than a real one4 ,the theme of this symphony of pessimism is stridently announced in the first notes of the overture3 ,vanity of vanities1 vanity of vanities6 ,everything is vanity4 ,the world and its happenings1 man and his strivings1 pleasure1 pain1 wisdom1 folly1 good and evil--all is utterly empty2 existence has no meaning and no worth4 ,all is chance and change1 in which things endlessly go round and round1 but plan1 purpose1 progress is nowhere to be seen4 ,and as all have one lot1 even this senseless and inconstant fortune1 so death sooner or later overtakes all alike and ends the strange play without plot we call human life4 ,of a divine providence directed to any end or by any principle1 of a justice above which requites men according to their deeds1 long years and happiness to the wise and good1 adversity and premature death to the wicked and foolish1 ,koheleth1 looking on the world of things as they are with searching eyes1 discovers no sign4 ,of another world and an immortal soul1 with which some of his contemporaries consoled themselves1 he1 keeping his thinking within the bounds of experience1 knows nothing4 ,man dies as the beast dies1 the same vital breath is in them both1 all are of dust and turn to dust again2 nor has man any advantage over the beast1 they all have the same end 7iii4 #ai-ba2 ix4 #d-f74 ,there is consolation in this thought1 when the misery of the world weighs too heavy on the heart4 ,the dead are better off than the living1 but happier still it would be never to be born to see the evils that are under the sun 7iv4 #b f474 ,when we look the facts squarely in the face1 the only counsel of wisdom is to make the most of what capricious fortune gives us in its friendly moods1 to enjoy the pleasures life offers while we can1 with abandon1 but without excess4 ,for the too much is always evil1 even too much wisdom and virtue6 ,be not over righteous nor put on too much wisdom1 why shouldest thou die before thy time8 7vii4 #af f474 ,the author's religion makes ,god somehow the cause of what happens under the sun1 the evil and the good4 ,in one place he seems to express the belief that all that ,god does is fine and opportune1 if man could only understand it2 but ,god has denied man the intelligence to penetrate the secret of his ways4 ,so there is nothing better for man to do than to be merry1 and have a good time while he is alive6 ,it is easy to imagine what scandal all this gave to pious souls1 and it was very natural that orthodox editors should try to neutralize ,koheleth's scepticism and his epicurean counsels by notes in an opposite sense4 ,a modern editor would have put his protests into footnotes1 as for example to ,gibbon's famous chapters on the spread of ,christianity2 an ancient editor1 having no footnotes1 put his incontinently into the text4 ,to these editorial improvements belong the last verses 7,eccl4 xii4 #ac f471 with its conclusion1 ,fear ,god and keep his commandments1 for this is the business of every man2 for ,god will bring every deed into the judgment on all secrets1 whether it be good or bad4 ,the judgment after death is evidently meant4 ,the warning against many books and much reading in xii4 #ab is also a gloss1 while xii4 #i-aa appears to be written by an earlier editor of the book1 commending it to reading and study4 ,in the body of the book1 also1 several verses are obviously introduced to give an orthodox twist to the author's very heterodox utterances4 ,that ,ecclesiastes belongs to the latest stratum of ,hebrew ,biblical literature is evident from both its matter and its style2 but there is nothing in it by which its age can be exactly fixed4 ,,song ,,of ,,songs4--,a verse already quoted 7#a ,kings iv4 #cb7 tells that1 besides three thousand proverbs1 ,solomon composed a thousand and five songs4 ,we shall probably not err in assuming that this verse was in the mind of the editor who prefixed the title ,the ,song of ,songs 7that is1 the very best of songs71 by ,solomon4 ,there is nothing in the book to indicate that ,solomon was the author or that the poet meant his productions to be attributed to him4 ,the one theme of the book1 running through many variations1 is the love of man and woman1 passionate and sensuous4 ,in the second century of our era its songs were warbled at banquets or wedding feasts1 a profane abuse on which a scandalized rabbi denounced damnation4 ,in the first century it was1 in spite of ,solomon's name1 no ,holy ,scripture for the straitest sect1 and was not finally admitted to the canon1 we may be pretty sure1 until an allegorical sense had been discovered in it1 or rather imposed on it3 it sang1 under the figure of wedded love1 of the relation of the ,lord to ,israel4 ,the ,fathers took over all the allegory1 only making the lover ,christ1 the beloved the ,church 7as still in the running titles of the ,authorized ,version71 or the soul4 ,the medival church saw in the bride the ,virgin ,mary4 ,the allegorical interpretation was a necessary corollary of the dogmatic assumption that the canon of inspired scripture could contain nothing but books of religious instruction and edification4 ,allegorical love poetry--usually the love of ,god and the soul--is not uncommon in mystical sects or circles of various creeds2 and the ultra-spiritual poets often revel in an ultra-sensual imagery of passion and fruition2 but nothing in the ,song of ,songs suggests such an origin1 nor have we knowledge of a ,jewish mysticism of this erotic type in the centuries from which it must come4 ,the literary criticism of the last century chiefly spent itself in endeavours to discover in the book a lyric drama with a moral tendency1 on some such theme as the triumph of pure love over lust4 ,great ingenuity was expended in dividing the text into regular acts and scenes and assigning the speeches to the leading actors and the chorus4 ,in its simplest form there were but two actors1 the virtuous village maiden and the harem-jaded ,solomon2 a more plausible scheme gave the girl a rustic lover1 which added much to the piquancy of the scenes with ,solomon1 and to the dnouement1 in which the king1 foiled by the maiden's constancy1 confesses virtue triumphant1 and sends her back to her shepherd swain4 ,more recent supporters of the dramatic hypothesis have modified this scheme in a way to remove some of its plainest difficulties1 but have complicated it in proportion4 ,other interpreters take the book for a collection of love songs1 or1 more specifically1 of wedding songs1 such as are sung to-day at village weddings in ,syria and ,palestine4 ,a certain dramatic quality in the songs1 and their relation to successive stages of the festivities1 would give the appearance of a progressive action which has been urged for the dramatic theory4 ,the ,syrian peasant to-day1 in the region of ,damascus1 is for his bride-week in song and salutation a king or prince2 a sledge on the village threshing-floor is his throne1 and the bride is queen4 ,through the week the royal pair are honoured by the villagers with songs and dances4 ,if in the ,hebrew songs the bridegroom-king is sometimes called ,solomon1 it is because ,solomon was the richest and most splendid of kings4 ,this view of the nature of the book is simpler and more probable4 ,the several poems are not distinguished by titles1 and there is room for difference of opinion about the divisions2 but this is a small difficulty compared with the partition into roles in the supposed play4 ,the songs are fine examples of popular poetry1 with traditional subjects1 forms1 and imagery4 ,nothing requires us to suppose that they are the production of one poet2 we may think of them rather as an anthology of love songs1 not necessarily all composed for wedding festivities1 but all appropriate for use on such occasions4 ,the language of the songs proves that they belong to a very late period in ,hebrew literature1 though the type is doubtless old enough4 ,such popular poetry has no motive for preserving or imitating archaism1 as hymn writers do1 but modernizes itself from generation to generation4 ,the wedding songs of old ,israel may have been like enough to these in character1 but they were in another speech4 ,it was a fortunate misunderstanding that has preserved them2 but the accidental preservation of these few pages emphasizes the loss of almost every other vestige of ,hebrew secular poetry4 ,,bibliography #a4 ,general4--,,smith1 ,w4 ,,robertson4 ,the ,old ,testament in the ,jewish ,church4 #ahib4--,these lectures1 first published in #ahha1 were meant to give to laymen an account of the problems and methods of criticism4 ,they are a remarkably lucid exposition of the subject1 and may still be read with profit as a general introduction to criticism4 #b4 ,the ,canon4--,,ryle1 ,h4 ,e4 ,the ,canon of the ,old ,testament4 #ahib2 #bnd ed4 #ahie4--;,a history of the growth of the ,old ,testament rather than a history of the canon4 ,in that growth there were1 according to the author1 three stages2 in the first1 which began with the ratification of ,deuteronomy in #fba ,b4,c41 the ,law 7,pentateuch7 was the only recognized collection of ,sacred ,scripture2 in the second the ,law and the ,prophets2 and in the third the ,law1 the ,prophets1 and the ,writings4 ,the latter part of the volume1 which treats of the history of the canon in the usual meaning of the term1 is a convenient but not very accurate compilation4 ,the article ,canon 7of the ,old ,testament7 in the ,encyclopaedia ,biblica1 by ,karl ,budde1 and the article ,old ,testament ,canon in ,hastings' ,dictionary of the ,bible1 by ,f4 ,h4 ,woods1 are concise presentations of generally accepted opinions by competent scholars4 #c4 ,literature of the ,old ,testament4--,,driver1 ,s4 ,r4 ,introduction to the ,literature of the ,old ,testament4 #fth ed41 revised1 #ahig4 ,a volume of the ,international ,theological ,library1 designed primarily for ministers and students of theology4 ,the technical matter 7lists of ,hebrew words and the like7 is1 however1 set off from the body of the text1 and the work can therefore be used with profit by laymen for purposes of study4 ,the synopses of the contents of ,biblical books will be found helpful4 ,the author is a scholar of conservative temper and cautious about accepting new or radical theories4 ,,cornill1 ,,carl4 ,introduction to the ,canonical ,books of the ,old ,testament4 ,translated by ,g4 ,h4 ,box4 ,new ,york4 #aijg4--,originally one of a ,german series of theological handbooks1 this volume is on a smaller scale than ,driver's and goes less into details which are of interest only to the professional student4 ,the author's criticism is much less conservative than ,driver's and more original4 ,,kent1 ,c4 ,f4 ,the ,student's ,old ,testament4 #aijd-aiaj4--;,i4 ,narratives of the ,beginnings of ,hebrew ,history1 #aijd2 ,,ii4 ,israel's ,historical and ,biographical ,narratives1 #aije2 ,,iii4 ,the ,sermons1 ,epistles1 and ,apocalypses of ,israel's ,prophets1 #aiaj2 ,,iv4 ,israel's ,law and ,legal ,precedents1 #aijg4 7,two volumes on the ,poetical ,books will complete the series47 ,the sources of the ,pentateuch and the ,historical ,books are separated1 and where the narratives are parallel they are printed in parallel columns with headings indicating their origin4 ,the analysis is also set out in tabular form1 and maps and chronological charts are added4 ,the oracles of the prophets are arranged1 so far as possible1 in chronological order1 additions and interpolations being set in smaller type4 ,the author is an experienced teacher and book-maker1 and has a fine talent for exposition4 ,,carpenter1 ,j4 ,,estlin1 and ,,harford-,,battersby1 ,g4 ,the ,hexateuch according to the ,revised ,version4 #b vols4 #aijj4--,the first volume 7separately reprinted1 #aijb7 contains an excellent history of criticism1 and develops fully and very clearly the evidence for the prevailing theory concerning the sources and composition of the ,hexateuch4 ,tabular appendices exhibit the linguistic evidence in a form which makes it available1 as far as possible1 to the reader who does not know ,hebrew2 they also give a synopsis of the laws and institutions1 and an analysis and conspectus of the several codes4 ,the second volume presents in the text of the ,revised ,version the analysis of the ,pentateuch and ,joshua in an extremely ingenious typographical scheme4 ,the articles on the ,books of the ,old ,testament1 from ,genesis to ,judges inclusive1 in the ,encyclopaedia ,biblica1 by the author of the present volume1 may be referred to for a fuller statement of the reasons for his views and a more detailed analysis4 ,the article ,historical ,literature in the same ,encyclopaedia gives a comprehensive survey of the ,hebrew historiography from its beginnings down to the time of ,josephus4 ,the article on ,prophecy and ,prophets in ,hastings' ,dictionary of the ,bible1 by ,a4 ,b4 ,davidson1 though not dealing primarily with critical questions1 may be strongly commended1 and the article on ,psalms1 by ,w4 ,t4 ,davison1 in the same volume1 is good4 ,an excellent article on ,proverbs in the ,encyclopaedia ,biblica should also be mentioned4 ,,index ,abomination1 ,dan4 #h1 #ahf ,acrostics1 #bbi f4 ,alexander and successors in ,dan41 #ahe f4 ,allegory1 in ,song of ,songs1 #bdg ,amos1 ,book1 #aif ff4 ,annals1 royal and temple1 #ajj ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 #ahf1 #ahg f4 ,apocalypses1 character of1 #ahh ----age1 how determined1 #ahh ,apocrypha1 older use of the name1 #ah ----,jerome1 #ag f4 ----,luther1 #ba f4 ----,see ,canon ,aramaic1 in ,ezra1 #acj ----in ,daniel1 #ahi f4 ,asa1 king1 #abc ,assyria1 ,greek kingdom 7,syria71 #aee1 #bae ,astruc1 analysis of ,genesis1 #cb ,athanasius1 #af ,augustine1 #ai f4 ,baal1 ,tyrian1 #aaa ,baals and ,astartes1 #hc1 #aib ,babylon1 destruction1 prophesied1 #aeb ----taken by ,cyrus1 #aec ,babylonian myths in ,genesis1 #dc f4 ,baruch1 scribe of ,jeremiah1 #aff f41 #afh ,bible1 ,jewish1 see ,old ,testament ,calvin1 on ,maccaban ,psalms1 #bbf ,canaan1 conquest1 in ,jos41 #gg f41 #hh f4 ,canon1 ,jewish1 formation of1 #aa ----of ,greek-speaking ,jews1 #ac ----,jewish1 in ,church ,fathers1 #ad ff4 ----of ,greek ,church1 #ac ff4 ----,latin ,church1 #ag ff4 ----,syrian churches1 #bj ----in the ,middle ,ages1 #bj ----the ,reformation1 #ba ----,reformed churches1 #bb ----,council of ,trent1 #bc ----,see also ,apocrypha ,chaldans1 in ,hab41 #bje ----in ,dan41 #ahi ,cherubim car1 #agh ,chron4--,ezra--,neh41 one book #aah ,chronicles1 ,book1 #aah ff4 ----sources1 #abd f4 ----genealogies1 #aai ----historical value1 #abd ,chronology in ,judg41 #hb ----in ,kings1 #aja ,commandments1 ,ten1 #di f4 ,criticism1 historical1 #be f4 ----of ,pentateuch1 #ca ff4 ,cyrus1 edict of1 #abh ----deliverer1 messiah1 #afj ,daniel1 ,book1 #ahj ff4 ----two languages in1 #ahi ----,nebuchadnezzar's dream1 #ahc f4 ----the four beasts1 c4 #g1 #ahd f4 ----ram and he-goat1 c4 #h1 #ahe ----,seleucids and ,ptolemies1 c4 #aa1 #ahg f4 ----age of the book1 #ahh ,darius ,hystaspis1 #bji f4 ,david1 history1 #if f41 #aji ----,psalms of1 #bbc ,day of the ,lord1 in ,zeph41 #bjg ----in ,joel1 #aie ----in ,mal41 #bag f4 ,deborah1 ,song of1 #hi ,decalogue1 #di f4 ,deluge1 ,babylonian myth1 #dc f4 ,deuterocanonic ,books1 #bd ,d 7,deuteronomy1 ,deuteronomist71 #ce1 #hd ,deuteronomists1 historians1 #hd ----,see also ,jos41 ,judg41 ,kings ,deuteronomy1 #eh ff4 ----programme of a reform1 #fb ----age of the book1 #fd f4 ,dragon of the sea1 #aef ,e 7,elohist71 #ce ----characteristics1 #ci ff4 ----origin1 #da ----age1 #fg f4 ----,horeb constitution in1 #ej ----in ,jos4 #a-ab1 #ge ff4 ----in ,judg41 #hf ,ecclesiastes1 ,book1 #bdc ff4 ,ecclesiastes1 interpolations1 #bdf f4 ----age1 #bdf ----inspiration1 #h ff41 #bde ,ecclesiastical ,books1 #ag1 #bd ,ecclesiasticus1 in the ,church1 #ae f4 ,eden1 ,garden in1 #dc ,eden1 ,prince of ,tyre in1 #agg ,edom1 prophecies against1 #aeh f41 #agg1 #aig1 #aii ----,obad41 #bjj ,egypt1 ,ezekiel's prophecy1 #agg ,eli1 a judge1 #ij ,elihu1 in ,job1 #bdj f4 ,elijah1 #aaj f41 #ade ,elisha1 #aab f4 ,esther1 ,book1 #ace ff4 ----mythical interpretation1 #acg ----age1 #ach1 #aci f4 ----inspiration1 #h1 #ach ----additions in ,greek1 #ach ,exile1 theory of the return1 #abb ,exodus1 ,book1 #dg f4 ,ezekiel1 ,book1 #agd ff4 ----against foreign nations 7cc4 #be-cb71 #agf f4 ----state of the text1 #ahj ,ezra1 #abi ff4 ----,priests' ,code1 #ef f4 ----two languages in1 #acj ,ezra and ,neh41 sequel of ,chron41 #aah ----contents1 #abh ff4 ----sources1 #aca f4 ----historical value1 #acc ----derangement1 #acb 7cf4 #abh-aca7 ,fast1 the true1 #bab ,feasts1 agricultural1 #fi ,fool1 in ,proverbs1 #bcb f4 ,foreign nations1 oracles against1 #adb1 #aeb ff41 #aeh f41 #aga f41 #agf ff41 #aie1 #aig1 #bjj1 #bjd f41 #bjf1 #bad f4 ,genesis1 ,book1 #cc ff4 ,gerizim1 temple on1 #aba ,god1 national idea1 #adf ----moral idea1 #ade ----in ,j1 #cg f4 ----in ,e1 #ci f4 ----in ,p1 #dg ----in ,amos1 #aih f4 ----in ,hosea1 #aic1 #aii ----in ,deuteronomy1 #ei f4 ----in ,isaiah #dj-ff1 #afa ,gog and his hordes1 #agh1 #bjj ----echo in ,zech41 #bad ,golden age1 prophecies of1 #aea1 #aeg1 #aeh1 #afi ff41 #agf1 #agi1 #aic1 #aih f41 #bac f4 ,golden calves1 #ajd ,gospels1 inspiration of1 #aj ,greek versions of ,o4 ,t41 #aa ,greeks1 kingdom doomed1 #bae ,habakkuk1 ,book1 #bje ff4 ,hadrach1 #bae ,haggai1 ,book1 #bji ,heavenly bodies1 judgment on1 #aef ,hezekiah1 king1 #aad f4 ,high places1 #fe f41 #ie1 #ajc1 #aag ----untouched by good kings1 #ajg ----,hezekiah's measures1 #aad f4 ----,josiah1 #fa f41 #aaf ,historical literature1 #ih ff4 ----oldest1 #ii cf4 #if f4 ,history1 religious lessons1 #ajd ,holiness1 ,law of1 ,lev4 #ag-bf1 #ed f4 ,horeb1 ,mount of ,god1 #dh ,hosea1 ,book1 #aij ff4 ,idolatry1 satire on1 #afa ,idols1 see ,golden ,calves1 ,serpent ,immortality1 denied in ,eccles41 #bdd ,inspiration1 cessation of1 #aj ----of ,eccles4 and ,cant41 #h ff4 ---of ,gospels1 #aj ,isaiah1 prophet1 #aae1 #adg ----genius of1 #aej ----earlier utterances1 #aej ----rejection of sacrifice1 #aea ,isaiah1 ,book1 #adg ff4 ----main divisions1 #adg f4 ----cc4 #a-ab1 #adi f4 ----cc4 #ac-bc1 #aeb ff4 ----cc4 #bd-bg1 #aef f4 ----cc4 #bh-cc1 #aeg f4 ----cc4 #cd-ce1 #aeh f4 ----cc4 #cf-ci1 #adg ----cc4 #dj-ff1 #aei ff4 ,j and ,e1 characteristics of1 #ce ff4 ----in ,gen41 common tradition1 #dj f4 ----diversity of tradition1 #gj ----combined in one book 7,j ,e71 #ga ----in ,jos41 #gh ----in ,judg41 #he ,j 7,jahvist71 #ce ,j1 literary quality1 #cf ----in ,gen4 #a-aa1 two strands1 #da f4 ----anthropomorphism1 #cg f41 #db ----religious element1 #cg ff4 ----origin1 #da ----age1 #fg f4 ----fundamental law in1 #ej f4 ----in ,jos41 #gd ff4 ----in ,judg41 #hf ----in ,sam41 #ii ,jehoash1 king of ,israel1 #aac ,jehoiakim1 king1 #afe ,jehu1 king1 #aab1 #aah ,jeremiah1 prophet1 #afd ----his hard lot1 #aga f4 ----confessions1 #agb ----not author of ,lam41 #bcj ,jeremiah1 ,book1 #afd ff4 ----later additions1 #afh f41 #aga1 #agc ----,hebrew and ,greek texts1 #agb f4 ,jericho1 taking of1 #ge f4 ,jeroboam ,i41 #ajd1 #ajh ,jeroboam ,,ii41 #aad ,jerome1 #ag1 #ah ,jerusalem1 two sieges1 #aag f41 #agd ----in ,chron41 #aba ,joash1 king of ,judah1 #aac ,job1 mention of in ,ezek41 #bda ,job1 ,book1 #bce ff4 ----prologue and epilogue1 #bda ----structure of the poem1 #bcf f4 ----purpose of author1 #bci f4 ----age1 #bdb f4 ----later additions1 #bdj ff4 ,joel1 ,book1 #aid ff4 ,jonah1 ,book1 #adj ff4 ,joshua1 ,book1 #gc ff4 ,josiah1 king1 #aaf ----his reforms1 #fb ----reaction1 #ajc f4 ,judas ,maccabus1 #ahg ,judges1 ,book1 #ha ff4 ----stories of deliverance1 #hd ff4 ----interpretation of history1 #ha1 #hc ----original close of the ,book1 #ia ,judgment1 last1 in ,isa4 #bd-bg1 #aef f4 ,julius ,africanus1 #ae ,kadesh1 #gj ,kingdom1 founding1 two accounts1 #ib ----division of1 #ajh ,kings1 ,books1 #ajj ff4 ----#b ,kings #ah-bj ,isa4 #cf-ci1 #aad ,koheleth1 the name1 #bdc ,lamentations1 ,book1 #bbi ff4 ,latin ,bible1 #ag ,laws1 given at ,sinai1 #di ----,ezra's1 ratification of1 #acj ,legends1 rise of1 #ih ,leviathan1 #aef ,levites1 choice of1 in ,num41 #ee f4 ----in ,chron41 #abc ,leviticus1 ,book1 #eb ff4 ,little ,horn1 ,dan4 #h1 #ahe ,love1 principle of religion in ,hos41 #aib f4 ,malachi1 ,book1 #bae f4 ,manasseh1 king1 his sins1 #ajd ,medes1 #aeb ,merodach ,baladan1 #aaf1 #aec ,messianic prophecy1 see ,golden ,age ,micah1 ,book1 #bja ff4 ,micaiah ben ,imlah1 #aab1 #ade ,midrash1 of ,kings1 #abd1 #abg ,minor ,prophets1 #aij ff4 ,mixed marriages1 #abi1 #acj1 #bag ,myths1 ,babylonian1 in ,gen41 #agg f4 ,moloch1 #ajd ,monotheism1 in ,deut41 #ei ----in ,isa4 #dj-ff1 #afa ,naboth's vineyard1 #aaa ,nahum1 ,book1 #bjd f4 ,nehemiah1 mission to ,jerusalem1 #abi f4 ----,memoirs1 #abi1 #aca1 #ahc ----,book1 #aah1 #abh ff4 ,new ,year1 #dh ,nineveh1 prophecy against1 ,zeph41 #bjh ----,nah41 #bjd f4 ,numbers1 ,book1 #ee ff4 ,obadiah1 ,book1 #bjj ,old ,testament1 the name1 #g ----,jewish1 divisions1 #h ----order of books1 #h ----sacred scriptures1 #be ----a national literature1 #bf ff4 ----literary quality1 #bh f4 ,omri1 king1 #aji f4 ,origen1 #af ,p 7,priestly authors71 #ce f4 ----,origins of ,religious ,institutions1 #dd f4 ----in ,gen41 contents1 #de ff4 ----diction and style1 #df ----conception of ,god1 #dg ----the revelation at ,sinai1 #ea ----age of the laws in1 #ff f4 ----age and origin of ,p1 #ef f41 #fe f4 ----united with ,j ,e ,d1 #gb ----in ,jos41 #gh ,passover1 #dh ,patriarchs1 in ,j and ,e1 #ce ff4 ,pentateuch1 #bi ff4 ----the law of ,moses1 #ca ----names of the books1 #bi ----contents1 #bi-ca ----beginnings of criticism1 #cb ff4 ----main sources1 #cc ff4 ----method of the author1 #gb f4 ----composition1 #fe ff4 ----age of1 as a whole1 #gb f4 ----,see under the several ,books1 also1 ,j1 ,e1 ,d1 ,p4 ,peoples of the land1 #abb ,porphyry1 #ahg ,priesthood1 in ,chron41 #aba1 #abb f4 ,priests' ,code1 #ef f41 #acj1 #acd ,priests and levites1 cities1 in ,jos41 #gh ,priests1 invective in ,mal41 #baf ,primeval ,history1 sources1 #da ----ultimate sources1 #db f4 ,prophets1 ,former and ,latter1 #h ----in old ,israel1 #add f4 ----societies1 or orders of1 #ade f4 ----popular1 #bjb f4 ----bad repute of1 #aif1 #bad ----ninth century1 #aaj ff4 ----eighth century1 #adf f41 #aij1 #aii ,proverbs1 ,book1 #bca ff4 ,providence1 scepticism in ,eccles41 #bdc1 #bdd ,psalms1 ,book1 #bah ff4 ----older hymn books1 #bbj ----liturgical and devotional use1 #bah f4 ----titles1 #bai ----,elohistic book 7,ps4 #db-hb71 #bbj1 #bbd ----,davidic1 #bbc1 #bbd1 #bbe1 #bbf ----,asaphite and ,korahite1 #bba1 #bbd ----,songs of ,ascents1 ,hallels1 #bbb ----,maccaban1 #bbf f4 ----age of the ,book1 #bbc ff4 ----religious conceptions1 #bbg f4 ,purim1 #aci ,religion1 idea of1 in ,hos41 #aia f4 ----in ,deut4 #ei ----in ,mic41 #bjc ----in ,isa4 #dj-ff1 #afa f4 ----in ,proverbs1 #bcb ----true1 among the heathen1 #baf ,restoration1 in ,ezek41 #agi ----in ,isa41 #adh ff4 ----,see ,golden ,age ,retribution1 orthodoxy of ,job's friends1 #bcg ,ruth1 ,book1 #aci ff4 ,sacrifice1 patriarchal1 #ea f4 ----ritual laws1 in ,lev4 #a-g1 #eb ----prophetic rejection1 #aea f41 #aih ,samaria1 ,omri's new capital1 #aaj ----fall of1 #aad ,samaritan sect1 in ,jewish eyes1 #abb ,samuel1 last of the judges1 #ij f4 ,samuel1 ,books1 #ia ff4 ,sanballat1 #acj ,scriptures1 class of sacred books1 #h ----disputed1 #i ,scythians1 #agj f41 #bjg ,seers1 #add ,sennacherib1 siege of ,jerusalem1 #aae ,septuagint1 see ,greek ,version ,serpent1 idol1 in temple1 #aad f4 ,servant of ,jehovah1 in ,isa41 #dj ff41 #afd ,sheol1 imagery1 #aeb1 #aef1 #agg f4 ,shishak1 invasion by1 #aji ,siloam tunnel1 #aaf ,sinai1 #dh ,sirach1 ,book1 see ,ecclesiasticus ,scepticism1 #bag ,solomon1 #ig ----character of his reign1 #ajj ----his wealth and wisdom1 #aje ----reputation for wisdom1 #bcd ----,proverbs ascribed to1 #bcd f4 ----,eccles4 ascribed to1 #bdc ----,psalms ascribed to1 #bbc f4 ,song of ,deborah1 #hi ,song of ,songs1 #bdf ff4 ----allegorized1 #bdg ----age1 #bdi ----inspiration1 #h1 #bdg ,story books1 ,jewish1 #acd ff4 ,suffering of the good1 in ,job1 #bcg ff4 ,susanna and the ,elders1 #ae1 #ahi4 ,symbolical actions in ,ezek41 #agh ,syria 7,assyria71 #aee1 #bae ,syriac ,bible1 contents of ,o4 ,t41 #bj ,syrian wars1 #aaj ,tabernacle1 in ,p1 #ea ,temple1 dedication of1 #ajf ----abode of ,jehovah1 #ajc ----no protection to the city1 #aff ----rebuilding of1 #bji ,theodicy1 in ,job1 #bcg ff41 #bdb ,tyre1 prophecy against1 ,ezek41 #agf ,uncanonical books1 ,hebrew and ,greek1 #ab ----,see also ,apocrypha ,valley of dry bones1 #agi ,visions1 in prophets1 #adi1 #agh1 #ahc ff41 #aig1 #baa ,wedding songs1 #bdh ,wisdom1 in ,proverbs1 #bcb ----personified1 #bcc ----divine1 in ,job #bh1 #bda f4 ,worship1 prophetic attitude1 #aea f4 ----,see ,sacrifice ,zechariah1 ,book1 #baa ff4 ,zech41 #i-aa1 #ab-ad1 age1 #bad1 #bae ,zedekiah1 king1 #age f4 ,zephaniah1 ,book1 #bjg ff4 ,zerubbabel1 ,messianic hopes1 #baj f4 ,,the ,,london ,,and ,,norwich ,,press1 ,,limited1 ,,london ,,and ,,norwich ,the ,home ,university ,library of ,modern ,knowledge ,a ,comprehensive ,series of ,new and ,specially ,written ,books ,,editors3 ,,prof4 ,,gilbert ,,murray1 ,d4,litt41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a4 ,,herbert ,,fisher1 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a4 ,,prof4 ,j4 ,,arthur ,,thomson1 ,m4,a4 ,,prof4 ,,wm4 ,t4 ,,brewster1 ,m4,a4 #a_/-net in cloth #bef ,pages #b_/f net in leather ,history and ,geography #c4 ,,the ,,french ,,revolution ,by ,,hilaire ,,belloc1 ,m4,a4 7,with ,maps47 ,it is coloured with all the militancy of the author's temperament4--,daily ,news4 #d4 ,,history ,,of ,,war ,,and ,,peace ,by ,g4 ,h4 ,,perris4 ,the ,rt4 ,hon4 ,,james ,,bryce writes3 ,i have read it with much interest and pleasure1 admiring the skill with which you have managed to compress so many facts and views into so small a volume4 #h4 ,,polar ,,exploration ,by ,dr ,w4 ,s4 ,,bruce1 ,f4,r4,s4,e41 ,leader of the ,scotia ,expedition4 7,with ,maps47 ,a very freshly written and interesting narrative4--,the ,times4 #ab4 ,,the ,,opening-,,up ,,of ,,africa ,by ,sir ,h4 ,h4 ,,johnston1 ,g4,c4,m4,g41 ,f4,z4,s4 7,with ,maps47 ,the ,home ,university ,library is much enriched by this excellent work4--,daily ,mail4 #ac4 ,,medi,,val ,,europe ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,c4 ,,davis1 ,m4,a4 7,with ,maps47 ,one more illustration of the fact that it takes a complete master of the subject to write briefly upon it4--,manchester ,guardian4 #ad4 ,,the ,,papacy ,,modern ,,times 7#acjc-ahgj7 ,by ,,william ,,barry1 ,d4,d4 ,dr ,barry has a wide range of knowledge and an artist's power of selection4--,manchester ,guardian4 #bc4 ,,history ,,of ,,our ,,time 7#ahhe-aiaa7 ,by ,g4 ,p4 ,,gooch1 ,m4,a4 ,mr ,gooch contrives to breathe vitality into his story1 and to give us the flesh as well as the bones of recent happenings4--,observer4 #be4 ,,the ,,civilisation ,,of ,,china ,by ,h4 ,a4 ,,giles1 ,,ll4,d41 ,professor of ,chinese at ,cambridge4 ,in all the mass of facts1 ,professor ,giles never becomes dull4 ,he is always ready with a ghost story or a street adventure for the reader's recreation4--,spectator4 #bi4 ,,the ,,dawn ,,of ,,history ,by ,j4 ,l4 ,,myres1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a41 ,wykeham ,professor of ,ancient ,history1 ,oxford4 ,there is not a page in it that is not suggestive4--,manchester ,guardian4 #cc4 ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,england ,a ,study in ,political ,evolution ,by ,prof4 ,a4 ,f4 ,,pollard1 ,m4,a4 ,with a ,chronological ,table4 ,it takes its place at once among the authoritative works on ,english history4--,observer4 #cd4 ,,canada ,by ,a4 ,g4 ,,bradley4 ,the volume makes an immediate appeal to the man who wants to know something vivid and true about ,canada4--,canadian ,gazette4 #cg4 ,,peoples ,,problems ,,of ,,india ,by ,sir ,t4 ,w4 ,,holderness1 ,k4,c4,s4,i41 ,permanent ,under-,secretary of ,state of the ,india ,office4 ,just the book which newspaper readers require to-day1 and a marvel of comprehensiveness4--,pall ,mall ,gazette4 #db4 ,,rome ,by ,w4 ,,warde ,,fowler1 ,m4,a4 ,a masterly sketch of ,roman character and of what it did for the world4--,the ,spectator4 #dh4 ,,the ,,american ,,civil ,,war ,by ,f4 ,l4 ,,paxson1 ,professor of ,american ,history1 ,wisconsin ,university4 7,with ,maps47 ,a stirring study4--,the ,guardian4 #ea4 ,,warfare ,,in ,,britain ,by ,,hilaire ,,belloc1 ,m4,a4 ,rich in suggestion for the historical student4--,edinburgh ,evening ,news4 #ee4 ,,master ,,mariners ,by ,j4 ,r4 ,,spears4 ,a continuous story of shipping progress and adventure4444 ,it reads like a romance4--,glasgow ,herald4 #fa4 ,,napoleon ,by ,,herbert ,,fisher1 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a41 ,vice-,chancellor of ,sheffield ,university4 7,with ,maps47 ,the story of the great ,bonaparte's youth1 his career1 and his downfall1 with some sayings of ,napoleon1 a genealogy1 and a bibliography4 #ff4 ,,the ,,navy ,,and ,,sea ,,power ,by ,,david ,,hannay4 ,the author traces the growth of naval power from early times1 and discusses its principles and effects upon the history of the ,western world4 #ga4 ,,germany ,,of ,,to-,,day ,by ,,charles ,,tower4 ,it would be difficult to name any better summary4--,daily ,news4 #hb4 ,,prehistoric ,,britain ,by ,,robert ,,munro1 ,m4,a41 ,m4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4,e4 7,illustrated47 ,literature and ,art #b4 ,,shakespeare ,by ,,john ,,masefield4 ,the book is a joy4 ,we have had half-a-dozen more learned books on ,shakespeare in the last few years1 but not one so wise4--,manchester ,guardian4 #bg4 ,,english ,,literature3 ,,modern ,by ,g4 ,h4 ,,mair1 ,m4,a4 ,altogether a fresh and individual book4--,observer4 #ce4 ,,landmarks ,,in ,,french ,,literature ,by ,g4 ,l4 ,,strachey4 ,it is difficult to imagine how a better account of ,french ,literature could be given in #bej small pages4--,the ,times4 #ci4 ,,architecture ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,r4 ,,lethaby4 7,over forty ,illustrations47 ,popular guide-books to architecture are1 as a rule1 not worth much4 ,this volume is a welcome exception4--,building ,news4 ,delightfully bright reading4--,christian ,world4 #dc4 ,,english ,,literature3 ,,medi,,val ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,p4 ,,ker1 ,m4,a4 ,prof4 ,ker1 one of the soundest scholars in ,english we have1 is the very man to put an outline of ,english ,medival ,literature before the uninstructed public4 ,his knowledge and taste are unimpeachable1 and his style is effective1 simple1 yet never dry4--,the ,athenum4 #de4 ,,the ,,english ,,language ,by ,l4 ,,pearsall ,,smith1 ,m4,a4 ,a wholly fascinating study of the different streams that went to the making of the great river of the ,english speech4--,daily ,news4 #eb4 ,,great ,,writers ,,of ,,america ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,,erskine and ,prof4 ,w4 ,p4 ,,trent4 ,an admirable summary1 from ,franklin to ,mark ,twain1 enlivened by a dry humour4--,athenum4 #fc4 ,,painters ,,and ,,painting ,by ,sir ,,frederick ,,wedmore4 7,with #af half-tone illustrations47 ,from the ,primitives to the ,impressionists4 #fd4 ,,dr ,,johnson ,,and ,,his ,,circle ,by ,,john ,,bailey1 ,m4,a4 ,a most delightful essay4--,christian ,world4 #fe4 ,,the ,,literature ,,of ,,germany ,by ,professor ,j4 ,g4 ,,robertson1 ,m4,a41 ,ph4,d4 ,under the author's skilful treatment the subject shows life and continuity4--,athenum4 #gj4 ,,the ,,victorian ,,age ,,in ,,literature ,by ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,the book is everywhere immensely alive1 and no one will put it down without a sense of having taken a tonic or received a series of electric shocks4--,the ,times4 #gc4 ,,the ,,writing ,,of ,,english ,by ,w4 ,t4 ,,brewster1 ,a4,m41 ,professor of ,english in ,columbia ,university4 ,sensible in its teaching1 and not over-rigidly conventional in its manner4--,manchester ,guardian4 #ge4 ,,ancient ,,art ,,and ,,ritual ,by ,,jane ,e4 ,,harrison1 ,,ll4,d41 ,d4,litt4 ,charming in style and learned in manner4--,daily ,news4 #gf4 ,,euripides ,,and ,,his ,,age ,by ,,gilbert ,,murray1 ,d4,litt41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a41 ,regius ,professor of ,greek at ,oxford4 ,a beautiful piece of work4444 ,just in the fulness of time1 and exactly in the right place4444 ,euripides has come into his own4--,the ,nation4 ,science #g4 ,,modern ,,geography ,by ,dr ,,marion ,,newbigin4 7,illustrated47 ,geography1 again3 what a dull1 tedious study that was wont to be6444 ,but ,miss ,marion ,newbigin invests its dry bones with the flesh and blood of romantic interest4--,daily ,telegraph4 #i4 ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,plants ,by ,dr ,d4 ,h4 ,,scott1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s41 late ,hon4 ,keeper of the ,jodrell ,laboratory1 ,kew4 7,fully illustrated47 ,the information is as trustworthy as first-hand knowledge can make it4444 ,dr ,scott's candid and familiar style makes the difficult subject both fascinating and easy4--,gardeners' ,chronicle4 #ag4 ,,health ,,and ,,disease ,by ,w4 ,,leslie ,,mackenzie1 ,m4,d41 ,local ,government ,board1 ,edinburgh4 ,dr ,mackenzie adds to a thorough grasp of the problems an illuminating style1 and an arresting manner of treating a subject often dull and sometimes unsavoury4--,economist4 #ah4 ,,introduction ,,to ,,mathematics ,by ,a4 ,n4 ,,whitehead1 ,sc4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4 7,with ,diagrams47 ,mr ,whitehead has discharged with conspicuous success the task he is so exceptionally qualified to undertake4 ,for he is one of our great authorities upon the foundations of the science4--,westminster ,gazette4 #ai4 ,,the ,,animal ,,world ,by ,professor ,f4 ,w4 ,,gamble1 ,d4,sc41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,with ,introduction by ,sir ,oliver ,lodge4 7,many ,illustrations47 ,a delightful and instructive epitome of animal 7and vegetable7 life4444 ,a fascinating and suggestive survey4--,morning ,post4 #bj4 ,,evolution ,by ,professor ,j4 ,,arthur ,,thomson and ,professor ,,patrick ,,geddes4 ,a many-coloured and romantic panorama1 opening up1 like no other book we know1 a rational vision of world-development4--,belfast ,news-,letter4 #bb4 ,,crime ,,and ,,insanity ,by ,dr ,c4 ,a4 ,,mercier4 ,furnishes much valuable information from one occupying the highest position among medico-legal psychologists4--,asylum ,news4 #bh4 ,,psychical ,,research ,by ,sir ,w4 ,f4 ,,barrett1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,professor of ,physics1 ,royal ,college of ,science1 ,dublin1 #ahgc-aiaj4 ,what he has to say on thought-reading1 hypnotism1 telepathy1 crystal-vision1 spiritualism1 divinings1 and so on1 will be read with avidity4--,dundee ,courier4 #ca4 ,,astronomy ,by ,a4 ,r4 ,,hinks1 ,m4,a41 ,chief ,assistant1 ,cambridge ,observatory4 ,original in thought1 eclectic in substance1 and critical in treatment4444 ,no better little book is available4--,school ,world4 #cb4 ,,introduction ,,to ,,science ,by ,j4 ,,arthur ,,thomson1 ,m4,a41 ,regius ,professor of ,natural ,history1 ,aberdeen ,university4 ,professor ,thomson's delightful literary style is well known2 and here he discourses freshly and easily on the methods of science and its relations with philosophy1 art1 religion1 and practical life4--,aberdeen ,journal4 #cf4 ,,climate ,,and ,,weather ,by ,prof4 ,h4 ,n4 ,,dickson1 ,d4,sc4,oxon41 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s4,e41 ,president of the ,royal ,meteorological ,society4 7,with ,diagrams47 ,the author has succeeded in presenting in a very lucid and agreeable manner the causes of the movements of the atmosphere and of the more stable winds4--,manchester ,guardian4 #da4 ,,anthropology ,by ,r4 ,r4 ,,marett1 ,m4,a41 ,reader in ,social ,anthropology in ,oxford ,university4 ,an absolutely perfect handbook1 so clear that a child could understand it1 so fascinating and human that it beats fiction 'to a frazzle4'--,morning ,leader4 #dd4 ,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,physiology ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,g4 ,,mckendrick1 ,m4,d4 ,it is a delightful and wonderfully comprehensive handling of a subject which1 while of importance to all1 does not readily lend itself to untechnical explanation4444 ,upon every page of it is stamped the impress of a creative imagination4--,glasgow ,herald4 #df4 ,,matter ,,and ,,energy ,by ,f4 ,,soddy1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,r4,s4 ,prof4 ,soddy has successfully accomplished the very difficult task of making physics of absorbing interest on popular lines4--,nature4 #di4 ,,psychology1 ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,behaviour ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,,mcdougall1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,m4,b4 ,a happy example of the non-technical handling of an unwieldy science1 suggesting rather than dogmatising4 ,it should whet appetites for deeper study4--,christian ,world4 #ec4 ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,the ,,earth ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,w4 ,,gregory1 ,f4,r4,s4 7,with #ch ,maps and ,figures47 ,a fascinating little volume4444 ,among the many good things contained in the series this takes a high place4--,the ,athenum4 #eg4 ,,the ,,human ,,body ,by ,a4 ,,keith1 ,m4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 ,conservator of ,museum and ,hunterian ,professor1 ,royal ,college of ,surgeons4 7,illustrated47 ,it literally makes the 'dry bones' to live4 ,it will certainly take a high place among the classics of popular science4--,manchester ,guardian4 #eh4 ,,electricity ,by ,,gisbert ,,kapp1 ,d4,eng41 ,professor of ,electrical ,engineering in the ,university of ,birmingham4 7,illustrated47 ,it will be appreciated greatly by learners and by the great number of amateurs who are interested in what is one of the most fascinating of scientific studies4--,glasgow ,herald4 #fb4 ,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,nature ,,of ,,life ,by ,dr ,,benjamin ,,moore1 ,professor of ,bio-,chemistry1 ,university ,college1 ,liverpool4 ,stimulating1 learned1 lucid4--,liverpool ,courier4 #fg4 ,,chemistry ,by ,,raphael ,,meldola1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,professor of ,chemistry in ,finsbury ,technical ,college1 ,london4 ,presents clearly1 without the detail demanded by the expert1 the way in which chemical science has developed1 and the stage it has reached4 #gb4 ,,plant ,,life ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,b4 ,,farmer1 ,d4,sc41 ,f4,r4,s4 7,illustrated47 ,professor ,farmer has contrived to convey all the most vital facts of plant physiology1 and also to present a good many of the chief problems which confront investigators to-day in the realms of morphology and of heredity4--,morning ,post4 #gh4 ,,the ,,ocean ,a ,general ,account of the ,science of the ,sea4 ,by ,sir ,,john ,,murray1 ,k4,c4,b41 ,f4,r4,s4 7,illus47 ,a life's experience is crowded into this volume4 ,a very useful feature is the ten pages of illustrations and coloured maps at the end4--,gloucester ,journal4 #gi4 ,,nerves ,by ,prof4 ,d4 ,,fraser ,,harris1 ,m4,d41 ,d4,sc4 7,illustrated47 ,a description1 in non-technical language1 of the nervous system1 its intricate mechanism and the strange phenomena of energy and fatigue1 with some practical reflections4 ,philosophy and ,religion #ae4 ,,mohammedanism ,by ,prof4 ,d4 ,s4 ,,margoliouth1 ,m4,a41 ,d4,litt4 ,this generous shilling's worth of wisdom4444 ,a delicate1 humorous1 and most responsible tractate by an illuminative professor4--,daily ,mail4 #dj4 ,,the ,,problems ,,of ,,philosophy ,by the ,hon4 ,,bertrand ,,russell1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,a book that the 'man in the street' will recognise at once to be a boon4444 ,consistently lucid and non-technical throughout4--,christian ,world4 #dg4 ,,buddhism ,by ,mrs ,,rhys ,,davids1 ,m4,a4 ,the author presents very attractively as well as very learnedly the philosophy of ,buddhism as the greatest scholars of the day interpret it4--,daily ,news4 #ej4 ,,nonconformity3 ,its ,,origin and ,,progress ,by ,principal ,w4 ,b4 ,selbie1 ,m4,a4 ,the historical part is brilliant in its insight1 clarity1 and proportion2 and in the later chapters ,dr ,selbie proves himself to be an ideal exponent of sound and moderate views4--,christian ,world4 #ed4 ,,ethics ,by ,g4 ,e4 ,,moore1 ,m4,a41 ,lecturer in ,moral ,science in ,cambridge ,university4 ,a very lucid though closely reasoned outline of the logic of good conduct4--,christian ,world4 #ef4 ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,testament ,by ,prof4 ,b4 ,w4 ,,bacon1 ,,ll4,d41 ,d4,d4 ,professor ,bacon has boldly1 and wisely1 taken his own line1 and has produced1 as a result1 an extraordinarily vivid1 stimulating1 and lucid book4--,manchester ,guardian4 #fj4 ,,missions3 ,,their ,,rise and ,,development ,by ,mrs ,,creighton4 ,very interestingly done4444 ,its style is simple1 direct1 unhackneyed1 and should find appreciation where a more fervently pious style of writing repels4--,methodist ,recorder4 #fh4 ,,comparative ,,religion ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,,estlin ,,carpenter1 ,d4,litt41 ,principal of ,manchester ,college1 ,oxford4 ,puts into the reader's hand a wealth of learning and independent thought4--,christian ,world4 #gd4 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,freedom ,,of ,,thought ,by ,j4 ,b4 ,,bury1 ,litt4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 ,regius ,professor of ,modern ,history at ,cambridge4 ,a little masterpiece1 which every thinking man will enjoy4--,the ,observer4 #hd4 ,,literature ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,by ,prof4 ,,george ,,moore1 ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 of ,harvard4 ,a detailed examination of the books of the ,old ,testament in the light of the most recent research4 ,social ,science #a4 ,,parliament ,its ,history1 ,constitution1 and ,practice4 ,by ,sir ,,courtenay ,p4 ,,ilbert1 ,g4,c4,b41 ,k4,c4,s4,i41 ,clerk of the ,house of ,commons4 ,the best book on the history and practice of the ,house of ,commons since ,bagehot's ',constitution4'--,yorkshire ,post4 #e4 ,,the ,,stock ,,exchange ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,,hirst1 ,editor of ,the ,economist4 ,to an unfinancial mind must be a revelation4444 ,the book is as clear1 vigorous1 and sane as ,bagehot's ',lombard ,street1' than which there is no higher compliment4--,morning ,leader4 #f4 ,,irish ,,nationality ,by ,mrs ,j4 ,r4 ,,green4 ,as glowing as it is learned4 ,no book could be more timely4--,daily ,news4 #aj4 ,,the ,,socialist ,,movement ,by ,j4 ,,ramsay ,,macdonald1 ,m4,p4 ,admirably adapted for the purpose of exposition4--,the ,times4 #aa4 ,,conservatism ,by ,,lord ,,hugh ,,cecil1 ,m4,a41 ,m4,p4 ,one of those great little books which seldom appear more than once in a generation4--,morning ,post4 #af4 ,,the ,,science ,,of ,,wealth ,by ,j4 ,a4 ,,hobson1 ,m4,a4 ,mr ,j4 ,a4 ,hobson holds an unique position among living economists4444 ,original1 reasonable1 and illuminating4--,the ,nation4 #ba4 ,,liberalism ,by ,l4 ,t4 ,,hobhouse1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,sociology in the ,university of ,london4 ,a book of rare quality4444 ,we have nothing but praise for the rapid and masterly summaries of the arguments from first principles which form a large part of this book4--,westminster ,gazette4 #bd4 ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,industry ,by ,d4 ,h4 ,,macgregor1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,political ,economy in the ,university of ,leeds4 ,a volume so dispassionate in terms may be read with profit by all interested in the present state of unrest4--,aberdeen ,journal4 #bf4 ,,agriculture ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,,somerville1 ,f4,l4,s4 ,it makes the results of laboratory work at the ,university accessible to the practical farmer4--,athenum4 #cj4 ,,elements ,,of ,,english ,,law ,by ,w4 ,m4 ,,geldart1 ,m4,a41 ,b4,c4,l41 ,vinerian ,professor of ,english ,law at ,oxford4 ,contains a very clear account of the elementary principles underlying the rules of ,english ,law4--,scots ,law ,times4 #ch4 ,,the ,,school3 ,an ,introduction to the ,study of ,education4 ,by ,j4 ,j4 ,,findlay1 ,m4,a41 ,ph4,d41 ,professor of ,education in ,manchester ,university4 ,an amazingly comprehensive volume4444 ,it is a remarkable performance1 distinguished in its crisp1 striking phraseology as well as its inclusiveness of subject-matter4--,morning ,post4 #ei4 ,,elements ,,of ,,political ,,economy ,by ,s4 ,j4 ,,chapman1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,political ,economy in ,manchester ,university4 ,its importance is not to be measured by its price4 ,probably the best recent critical exposition of the analytical method in economic science4--,glasgow ,herald4 #fi4 ,,the ,,newspaper ,by ,g4 ,,binney ,,dibblee1 ,m4,a4 7,illustrated47 ,the best account extant of the organisation of the newspaper press1 at home and abroad4 #gg4 ,,shelley1 ,,godwin1 ,,and ,,their ,,circle ,by ,h4 ,n4 ,,brailsford1 ,m4,a4 ,mr ,brailsford sketches vividly the influence of the ,french ,revolution on ,shelley's and ,godwin's ,england2 and the charm and strength of his style make his book an authentic contribution to literature4--,the ,bookman4 #hj4 ,,co-,,partnership ,,and ,,profit-,,sharing ,by ,,aneurin ,,williams1 ,m4,a4--,a judicious but enthusiastic history1 with much interesting speculation on the future of ,co-partnership4--,christian ,world4 #ha4 ,,problems ,,of ,,village ,,life ,by ,e4 ,n4 ,,bennett1 ,m4,a4 ,discusses the leading aspects of the ,british land problem1 including housing1 small holdings1 rural credit1 and the minimum wage4 #hc4 ,,common-,,sense ,,in ,,law ,by ,prof4 ,p4 ,,vinogradoff1 ,d4,c4,l4 #he4 ,,unemployment ,by ,prof4 ,a4 ,c4 ,,pigou1 ,m4,a4 ,,in ,,preparation ,,ancient ,,egypt4 ,by ,f4 ,,ll4 ,,griffith1 ,m4,a4 ,,the ,,ancient ,,east4 ,by ,d4 ,g4 ,,hogarth1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,b4,a4 ,a ,,short ,,history ,,of ,,europe4 ,by ,,herbert ,,fisher1 ,,ll4,d4 ,,the ,,byzantine ,,empire4 ,by ,,norman ,h4 ,,baynes4 ,,the ,,reformation4 ,by ,president ,,lindsay1 ,,ll4,d4 ,a ,,short ,,history ,,of ,,russia4 ,by ,prof4 ,,milyoukov4 ,,modern ,,turkey4 ,by ,d4 ,g4 ,,hogarth1 ,m4,a4 ,,france ,,of ,,to-,,day4 ,by ,,albert ,,thomas4 ,,history ,,of ,,scotland4 ,by ,prof4 ,r4 ,s4 ,,rait1 ,m4,a4 ,,latin ,,america4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,r4 ,,shepherd4 ,,history ,,and ,,literature ,,of ,,spain4 ,by ,j4 ,,fitzmaurice-,,kelly1 ,f4,b4,a41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,latin ,,literature4 ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,s4 ,,phillimore4 ,,the ,,renaissance4 ,by ,miss ,,edith ,,sichel4 ,,italian ,,art ,,of ,,the ,,renaissance4 ,by ,,roger ,e4 ,,fry4 ,,literary ,,taste4 ,by ,,thomas ,,seccombe4 ,,chaucer ,,and ,,his ,,time4 ,by ,miss ,g4 ,e4 ,,hadow4 ,,william ,,morris ,,and ,,his ,,circle4 ,by ,a4 ,,clutton ,,brock4 ,,scandinavian ,,history ,,literature4 ,by ,t4 ,c4 ,,snow4 ,,the ,,mineral ,,world4 ,by ,sir ,t4 ,h4 ,,holland1 ,k4,c4,i4,e41 ,d4,sc4 ,,sex4 ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,a4 ,,thomson and ,prof4 ,,patrick ,,geddes4 ,,the ,,growth ,,of ,,europe4 ,by ,prof4 ,,grenville ,,cole4 ,,between ,,the ,,old ,,and ,,new ,,testaments4 ,by ,canon ,r4 ,h4 ,,charles1 ,d4,d4 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,philosophy4 ,by ,,clement ,,webb1 ,m4,a4 ,,political ,,thought ,,in ,,england3 ,from ,bacon to ,locke4 ,by ,g4 ,p4 ,,gooch1 ,m4,a4 ,,political ,,thought ,,in ,,england3 ,from ,bentham to ,j4 ,s4 ,mill4 ,by ,prof4 ,w4 ,l4 ,,davidson4 ,,political ,,thought ,,in ,,england3 ,from ,herbert ,spencer to ,to-day4 ,by ,,ernest ,,barker1 ,m4,a4 ,,the ,,criminal ,,and ,,the ,,community4 ,by ,viscount ,,st4 ,,cyres4 ,,the ,,civil ,,service4 ,by ,,graham ,,wallas1 ,m4,a4 ,,the ,,social ,,settlement4 ,by ,,jane ,,addams and ,r4 ,a4 ,,woods4 ,,great ,,inventions4 ,by ,prof4 ,j4 ,l4 ,,myres1 ,m4,a41 ,f4,s4,a4 ,,town ,,planning4 ,by ,,raymond ,,unwin4 ,london3 ,,williams ,,and ,,norgate ,and of all ,bookshops and ,bookstalls4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note3 ,minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been silently normalized except for the following3 ,page #bg3 eighth century and ,judah in the beginning of the sixth4 of has been added4 ,page #ajj3 saying much more that the facts warrant4 that has been changed to than4 ,page #aci3 the festiva of ,purim4 festiva has been changed to festival4 ,page #bbd3 the editor thought that ,ps4 cxxv i4 #a referred to the building of the temple4 cxxv i has been changed to cxxvii which according to the context appears to be intended4