is the same with Enoch was not, as is evident from comparing this place | sometimes that righteousness whien he requires of his people. In Col. ii. with Gen. v. 24. to which it refers. The expression of St. Peter, 1 Ep. ii. 11. the circumcision of Christ means, the circumcision enjoined by Christ. 22. Neither was guile found in his mouth, is taken from Isa. liii. 9. Neither The Hebrews used the word living to express the excellence of the thing was there any deceit (or guile) in his mouth. Whence it appears, that in to which it is applied. Thus, living water, or living fountain, signifies, this, as well as the other texts above cited, to be found is equivalent to was. running, or excellent water. Liring stones, living way, living oracles, 2. Verbs expressive of a person's doing an action, are often mean, excellent stones, an excellent way, and excellent oracles. used to signify his supposing the thing, or discovering and ac8. The Jews, having no superlatives in their language, emknowledging the fact, or his declaring and foretelling the event, ployed the words of God or of the Lord in order to denote the especially in the prophetic writings. greatness or excellency of a thing. Thus, He that findeth his life shall lose it (Matt. x. 39.) means, He that expects to save his life by apostacy, shall lose it.-So, Let him become a fool (1 Cor. iii. 18.) is equivalent to, Let him become sensible of his folly.-Make the heart of this people fat (Isa. vi. 9, 10.), i. e. Prophesy that they shall be so.- What God hath cleansed (Acts x. 15.), i. e. What God hath declared clean. But of that day and hour no man knoweth (that is, maketh known), not even the angels who are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father (Matt. xxiv. 36.), that is, neither man, nor an angel, nor the Son, has permis. sion to make known this secret. tion. 3. Negative verbs are often put for a strong positive affirmaThus, No good thing will he withhold (Psal. lxxxiv. 11.) means, He will give them all good things.-Being not weak in the faith (Rom. iv.19.), i. e. Being strong in the faith.-I will not leave you comfortless (John xiv. 18.) ineans, I will both protect and give you the most solid comfort. 4. The privileges of the first-born among the Jews being very great, that which is chief or most eminent in any kind is called the first-born. Gen. xlix. 3. So, in Job xviii. 13., the first-born of death is the most fatal and cruel death.-In Isa. xiv. 30. the first-born of the poor denotes those who are most poor and miserable. (See also Psal. lxxxix. 27. Jer. xxxi. 9. Rom. viii. 29. Col. i. 15. 18. Heb. xii. 23.) 5. The word son has various peculiar significations. This word was a favourite one among the Hebrews, who employed it to designate a great variety of relations. The son of any thing, according to the oriental idiom, may be either what is closely connected with it, dependent on it, like it, the consequence of it, worthy of it, &c. Thus, the sons or children of Belial, so often spoken of in the Old Testament, are wicked men, such as are good for nothing, or such as will not be governed.-Children of light are such as are divinely enlightened. (Luke xvi. 8. John xii. 36. Ephes. v. 8. 1 Thess. v. 5.)—Children of disobe dience are disobedient persons. (Ephes. ii. 2.) Children of Hell (Matt. xxii. 15.); of wrath (Ephes. ii. 3.); and Son of perdition (John xvii. 12. 2 Thess. ii. 3.), are respectively such as are worthy thereof, or obnoxious thereto. A son of peace (Luke x. 6.) is one that is worthy of it. (See Matt. x. 13.) The children of a place are the inhabitants of it. (Ezra ii. 1. Psal. exlix. 2. Jer. ii. 16.)-So the word daughter is likewise used (2 Kings xix. 21. Psal. xlv. 12. exxxvii. 8. Lam. ii. 13. Zech. ii. 10.); the city being as a mother, and the inhabitants of it, taken collectively, as her daughter. The children of the promise are such as embrace and believe the promise of the Gospel. (Gal. iv. 28.)-Sons of men (Psal. iv. 2.) are no more than men. And Christ is as often called the son of man, as he is man. The sons of God (Gen. vi. 2.) are those who professed to be pious, or the children of God. (Matt. v. 45) They are such as imitate him, or are governed by him. (1 John iii. 10.) On the same account are men called the children of the devil. So likewise (John viii. 44.) father is understood in a like sense; also those who are the inventors of any thing, or instruct others therein, are called their fathers. (Gen. iv. 20.) 6. Name is frequently used as synonymous with persons. Thus, to believe on the name of Christ (John i. 12.) means to believe on him. See similar examples in John iii. 18. xx. 31. Rev. iii. 4. In like man. ner soul is put for person, in Matt. xii. 18. In whom my soul is well pleased, that is, in whom I am well pleased. See other examples in Gen. xii. 13. xix. 20. Psal. cvi. 15. Job xvi. 4. Prov. xxv. 25. Rom. xiii. 1. Heb. x. 33. 7. As the Jews had but few adjectives in their language, they had recourse to substantives, in order to supply their place. Thus, in Gen. xiii. 10. a beautiful garden is called the garden of the Lord. In 1 Sam. xxvi. 12. a-very deep sleep is called the sleep of the Lord. In 2 Chron. xiv. 14. and xvii. 10. the fear of the Lord denotes a very great fear. In Psal. xxxvi. 7. Heb. (6. of English Bibles), the mountains of God are exceeding high mountains; and in Psal. Ixxx. 10. (Heb.) the tallest cedars are termed cedars of God. The voices of God (Exod. ix. 28. Heb. in our version properly rendered mighty thunderings) mean superlatively, loud thunder. Compare also the sublime description of the effects of thunder, or the voice of God, in Psal. xxix. 3-8. The production of rain by the electric spark is alluded to, in a very beautiful manner, in Jer. x. 13. When he (God) uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens. In Jonah iii. 2. Nineveh is termed an exceeding great city; which in the original Hebrew is a city great to God. The like mode of expression occurs in the New Testament. Thus in Acts vii. 20. Moses is said to be version, exceeding fair. And in 2 Cor. x. 4. the weapons of our warfare ROTEINS TW Now, literally fair to God, or, as it is correctly rendered in our are termed duvara To Or, literally, mighty to God, that is, exceeding powerful,--not mighty through God, as in our authorized translation. 9. According to the Hebrew idiom, a sword has a mouth, or the edge of the sword is called a mouth. (Luke xxi. 24.) They shall fall by the mouth (or, as our translators have correctly ren dered it, the edge) of the sword (Heb. xi. 31)-escaped the edge of the sword, is in the Greek Toμa, the mouth of the sword. So, we read of a twomouthed sword (Heb. iv. 12.), for it is Toms in the Greek. That this is 6. Prov. v. 4. the Hebrew phraseology may be seen by comparing Judg. iii. 16. Psal. cxlix. 10. The verb gewone, to know, in the New Testament, frequently denotes to approve. Thus in Matt. vii. 23. I never knew you means, I never approved you. A similar construction occurs in 1 Cor. viii. 3. and in Rom. vii. 15. (Gr.) which in our version is rendered allow. Compare also Psal. i. 6. 11. Lastly, to hear denotes to understand, to attend to, and to regard what is said. In illustration of this remark, compare Deut. xviii. 15. with Acts iii. 23. and see also Matt. xvii. 5. and xi. 15. xiii. 9. and Luke viii. 8. It were no difficult task to adduce numerous similar examples of the Hebraisms occurring in the Scriptures, and particularly in the New Testament; but the preceding may suffice to show the benefit that may be derived from duly considering the import of a word in the several passages of Holy Writ in which it occurs. In order to understand the full force and meaning of the Hebraisms of the New Testament, the following canons have been laid down by the celebrated critic John Augustus Ernesti, and his annotator Professor Morus: 1. Compare Hebrew words and forms of expressions with those which occur in good Greek formulæ, particularly in doctrinal passages. As all languages have some modes of speech which are common to each other, it sometimes happens that the same word or expression is both Hebrew, and good Greek, and affords a proper meaning, whether we take it in a Hebrew or a Greek sense. But, in such cases, it is preferable to adopt that meaning which a Jew would give, because it is most probable that the sacred writer had this in view rather than the Greek meaning, especially it the latter were not of very frequent occurrence. Thus, the expression, ye shall die in your sins (John viii. 24.), if explained according to the Greek idiom, is equivalent to ye shall persevere in a course of sinful practice to the end of your lives: but, according to the Hebrew idiom, it not only de notes a physical or temporal death, but also eternal death, and is equivalent to ye shall be damned on account of your sins, in rejecting the Messiah. The latter interpretation, therefore, is preferably to be adopted, as agreeing best with the Hebrew mode of thinking, and also with the context. Hence we find kingdom and glory used to denote a glorious kingdom. (1 Thess. ii. 12.) Mouth and wisdom for wise discourse (Luke xxi. 15.); the patience of hope for patient expectation (1 Thess. i. 3.); glory of his power for glorious power. (2 Thess. i. 9.) So circumcision and uncircumcision mean circumcised and uncircumcised persons. Anathema (Cor. xvi. 22.) means, an excommunicated member. The spirits of the prophets (1 Cor. xiv. 32.) means, the spiritual gifts of the prophets. When one substantive governs another, in the genitive, one of thein is sometimes used as an adjective. In the body of his flesh, means, in his fleshly body (Col. i. 22.); Bond of perfectness (Col. ii. 14.) means, a perfect bond. In Eph. vi. 12. spiritual trickedness ineans, wicked spirits. Newness of life (Rom. vii. 6.) is a new life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. ii. 9. compared with iii. 22.) means, the tree of the knowledge of good, or of a plea-worship and reverence of him which flows from it, and, consequently, it is sure which to taste is an evil. When two substantives are joined together by the copulative and, the one frequently governs the other, as in Dan. iii. 7. All the people, the nations, and the languages, mean, people of all na tions and languages. In Acts xxiii. 6. the hope and resurrection of the dead means, the hope of the resurrection of the dead. In Col. ii. 8. Philosophy and rain deceit denotes a false and deceitful philosophy. Hath brought life and immortality to light (2 Tim. i. 10.) means, to bring im mortal life to light. But the expression, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John xiv. 6.), means, I am the true and living way. It is of importance to observe, that, in the original, nouns in the genitive case sometimes express the object, and sometimes the agent. In Matt. ix. 35. the gospel of the kingdom, means, good news concerning the kingdom. Doctrines of devils (1 Tim. iv. 1.) evidently mean, doctrines concerning demons. The faith of Christ often denotes the faith which the Lord Jesus Christ enjoins. The righteousness of God sometimes means, his personal perfection, and This rule applies particularly to the doctrinal passages of the New Testament, which must in all cases be interpreted according to the genius of the Hebrew language. Thus, to fear God, in the language of a Jew, means to reverence or worship God generally. The knowledge of God, which is so frequently mentioned in the New Testament, if taken according to the Hebrew idiom, implies not only the mental knowledge of God, but also the both a theoretical and a practical knowledge of God. The reason of this rule is obvious. In the first place, our Saviour and his apostles, the first teachers of Christianity, were Jews, who had been educated in the Jewish religion and language; and who (with the exception of Paul), being unac quainted with the niceties of the Greek language at the time they were called to the apostolic office, could only express themselves in the style and manner peculiar to their country. Secondly, the religion taught in the New Testament agrees with that delivered in the Old Testament, of which it is a continuation; so that the ritual worship enjoined by the law of Moses is succeeded by a spiritual or internal worship; the legal dispensation is succeeded by the Gospel dispensation, in which what was imperfect and obscure is become perfect and clear. Now things that are continued are substantially the same, or of a similar nature. Thus the expression to come unto God occurs both in the Old and in the New Testament. In the former it simply means to go up to the temple; in the latter it is continued, so that what was imperfect becomes perfect, and it implies the mental or spiritual approach unto the most High, i. e. the spiritual worshipping of The various significations of the words "Son," and "Sons of God," God. In like manner, since the numerous particulars related in the Old according to the oriental idioms, are investigated and elucidated at consider-Testament concerning the victims, priests, and temple of God are transfer. able length by Professor Stuart, in his "Letters on the Eternal Generation of the Son of God," pp 91-107. Andover (North America), 1822. 2 Dr. A. Clarke on Exod. ix. 28. As the Hebraisms occurring in the Old Testament are uniformly rendered, in the Septuagint version, in good Greek, this translation may be considered as a commentary and exposition of those passages, and as conveying the sense of the Hebrew nation concerning their meaning. The Alexandrian translation, therefore, ought to be consulted in those passages of the New Testament in which the sacred writers have rendered the He braisms literally. Thus, in 1 Cor. xv. 54. death is said to be strallored up in victory, which sentence is a quotation from Isaiah xxv. 8. As the Hebrew word 1 NersaCH, with the prefixed, acquires the force of an adverb, and means for ever, without end, or incessantly; and as the Septuagint sometimes renders the word LaNersaCH by s vixos in victory, but inost commonly by TEXOS, for ever, Michaelis is of opinion that this last meaning properly belongs to I Cor. xv. 54., which should therefore be rendered death is swallowed up for ever. And so it is translated by Bishop Pearce. 3. In passages that are good Greek, which are common both to the Old and New Testament, the corresponding words in the Hebrew Old Testament are to be compared. Several passages occur in the New Testament, that are good Greek, and which are also to be found in the Alexandrian version. In these cases it is not sufficient to consult the Greek language only: recourse should also be had to the Hebrew, because such words of the Septuagint and New Testa ment have acquired a different meaning from what is given to them by Greek strict, sense. Thus, in Gen. v. 24. and Heb. xi. 5. it is said that Enoch writers, and are sometimes to be taken in a more lax, sometimes in a more Enoch pleased God, ups; which expression in itself is sufficiently the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament. Were this, indeed, "free from these idioms, we might naturally conclude that it was not written either by men of Galilee or Judæa, and therefore was spurious; for, as certainly as the speech of Peter betrayed him to be a Galilæan, when Christ stood before the Jewish tribunal, so certainly must the written language of a man, born, educated, and grown old in Galilee, discover marks of his native idiom, unless we assume the absurd hypothesis, that God hath interposed a miracle, which would have deprived the New Testament of one of its strongest proofs of authenticity."3 The following are the principal Aramaan or Syriac and Chaldee words occurring in the New Testament:-A field of blood, (Acts i. 19.) — Aguazdowy (Armageddon), the (Abba), Father, (Rom. viii. 15.)-Anaux (Aceldama), the mountain of Megiddo, or of the Gospel, (Rev. xvi. 16.)— Brda (Bethesda), the house of mercy, (John v. 2.)—K15 (Cephas), a rock or stone, (John i. 43.)-Kogy (Corban), a gift or offering dedicated to God, (Mark vii. 11.)—Ext, Exa, aux faxban (Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani), my God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. xxvii. 46. Mark XV. 34.)—Eppaba (Ephphatha), be thou opened, (Mark vii. 34.)-Mapeperova (Mammon), riches, (Matt. vi. 24.)—Megav A6 (Maran Atha), the Lord cometh, (1 Cor. xvi. 22.)—Paxя Raca), thou worthless fellow! (Matt. v. 22.)—Tanita nupas (Talitha cumi), maid arise! (Mark v. 41.)4 3. Latinisms. "The sceptre having departed from Judah” (Gen. xlix. 10.) by the reduction of Judæa into a Roman province, the extension of the Roman laws and government Would naturally follow the success of the Roman arms; and if to these we add the imposition of tribute by the conquerors, together with the commercial intercourse necessarily conse quent on the political relations of the Jews with Rome, we shall be enabled readily to account for the Latinisms, or Latin words and phrases, that occur in the New Testament. The following is a list of the principal Latinisms:-A7(assarion, from the Latin word assarius), equivalent to about three quarters of a farthing of our money, (Matt. x. 29. Luke xii. 6.)—Kuvos (census), assessment or rate, (Matt. xvii. 25.)-KenToupicov (centurio), a centurion, (Mark xv. 39. 44, 45.) shall find that it is to be limited to those who are dead. Hence it will be evident that the collation of the original Hebrew will not only prevent us from -Koxana (colonia), a colony, (Acts xvi. 12.)-Kevoludia (custaking words either in too lax or too strict a sense, but will also guard us todia), a guard of soldiers, (Matt. xxvii. 65, 66. xxviii. 11.) against uncertainty as to their meaning, and lead us to that very sense which-Anapos (denarius), a Roman penny, equivalent to about Besides the Hebraisms which we have just considered, there are found in the New Testament various Rabbinical, Syriac, Persic, Latin, and other idioms and words, which are respectively denominated Rabbinisms, Syriasms, Persians, Latinisms, &c. &c. on which it may not be improper to offer the sacred writer intended. a few remarks. seven-pence halfpenny of our money, (Luke vii. 41.)— word is derived, to scourge with whips, (Matt. xxvii. Penzer (flagellum), a scourge, (John ii. 15.); from this 26. Mark xv. 15.) As this was a Roman punishment, it is Icols (Justus), (Acts i. 23.)-Ayv (legio), a legion, (Matt. no wonder that we find it expressed by a term nearly Roman. about three fourths of an English halfpenny, (Matt. v. 26.) xxvi. 53.)—Kcdgaven (quadruns), a Roman coin equivalent to (linteum), a towel, (John xiii. 4.)-Max (macellum), shambles, (1 Cor. x. 25.)-Meußgava (membrana), parchment, (2 Tim. iv. 13.)-MEX (mille), a mile; the Roman mile consisting of a thousand paces, (Matt. v. 41.)—Tus (8€Xtarius), a kind of pot, (Mark vii. 4.8.)—Пgarropov (prætorium), a judgment hall, or place where the prætor or other chief magistrate heard and determined causes, (Matt. xxvii. 27.) 1. Rabbinisms. We have already seen that during, and subsequent to, the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish language-Tos (libertinus), a freed man, (Acts vi. 9.)—ATEY sustained very considerable changes. New words, new sentences, and new expressions were introduced, especially terms of science, which Moses or Isaiah would have as little understood, as Cicero or Caesar would a system of philosophy or theology composed in the language of the schools. This new Hebrew language is called Talmudical, or Rabbinical, from the writings in which it is used; and, although these writings are of much later date than the New Testament, yet, from the coincidence of expressions, it is not improbable that, even in the time of Christ, this was the learned language of the Rabbins.2 Lightfoot, Schoetgenius, Meuschen, and T (Speculator), a soldier employed as an executioner, others, have excellently illustrated the Rabbinisms occurring in the New Testament. 2. Aramæisms, or Syriasms and Chaldaisms.-The vernacular language of the Jews, in the time of Jesus Christ, was the Aramean; which branched into two dialects, differing in pronunciation rather than in words, and respectively denominated the Chaldee or East Aramæan, and the Syriac, or West Aramaan. The East Aramaan was spoken at Jerusalem and in Judæa; and was used by Christ in his familiar discourses and conversations with the Jews; the West Aramæan was spoken in "Galilee of the Gentiles." It was therefore natural that numerous Chaldee and Syriac words, phrases, and terms of expression, should be intermixed with the Greek of the New Testament, and even such as are not to be found in the Septuagint; and the existence of these Chaldaisms and Syriasms affords a strong intrinsic proof of 1 See p. 190. supra. Michaelis, vol. i. p. 129., who has given some illustrative examples. Mori Acroases super Hermeneutica Novi Testamenti, vol. i. p. 233. See also Olearius de Stylo Novi Testamenti, membr. iii. aphorism vii. (Thesaurus Theologicus Nov. Test. toin. ii. pp. 23, 24.) 12.)—Zmagns (sicarius), an assassin, (Acts xxi. 38.)—ag Biblica. pp. 83-88. Bishop Marsh, in his notes to Michaelis, states, that a 4. From the unavoidable intercourse of the Jews with the neighbouring nations, the Arabs, Persians (to whose sovereigns they were formerly subject), and the inhabitants of Asia Minor, both words and expressions may occasionally be traced in the New Testament, which have been thus necessarily introduced among the Jews. These words, however, are not sufficiently numerous to constitute so many entire dialects; for instance, there are not more than six or seven Persian words in the whole of the New Testament. These cannot, therefore, be in strictness termed PERSISMS; and though the profoundly learned Michaelis is of opinion that the Zend-avesta, or ancient book of the Zoroastrian religion, translated by M. Anquetil du Perron, throws considerable light on the phraseology of Saint John's writings; yet, as the authenticity of that work has been questioned, not to say disproved, by eminent orientalists, it cannot (we apprehend) be with propriety applied to the elucidation of the New Testament. From the number of words used by Saint Paul in peculiar senses, as well as words not ordinarily occurring in Greek writers, Michaelis is of opinion (after Jerome) that they were provincial idioms used in Cilicia in the age in which he lived; and hence he denominates them CILICISMS.2 The preceding considerations and examples may suffice to convey some idea of the genius of the Greek language of the New Testament. For an account of the principal editions of the Greek Testament, see the BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX to Volume II. PART I. CHAP. I. SECT. III.; and for the most useful Lexicons that can be consulted, see PART II. CHAP. IV SECT. III. I. The ARAMEAN LANGUAGE (which in the authorized English version of 2 Kings xviii. 26., and Dan. ii. 4., is rendered the Syrian or Syriac) derives its name from the very extensive region of Aram, in which it was anciently vernacular. As that region extended from the Mediterranean sea through Syria and Mesopotamia, beyond the river Tigris, the language there spoken necessarily diverged into various dialects; the two principal of which are the Chaldee and the Syriac. of the Old Testament, of which an account will be found in chap. iii. sect. iii. § 1. infra.3 2. The SYRIAC or West-Aramaan was spoken both in Syria and Mesopotamia; and, after the captivity, it became vernacular in Galilee. Hence, though several of the sacred writers of the New Testament expressed themselves in Greek, their ideas were Syriac; and they consequently used many Syriac idioms, and a few Syriac words.4 The chief difference between the Syriac and Chaldee consists in the vowel points or mode of pronunciation; and, notwithstanding the forms of their respective letters are very dissimilar, yet the correspondence between the two dialects is so close, that if the Chaldee be written in Syriac characters without points, it becomes Syriac, with the exception of a single inflection in the formation of the verbs. The earliest document still extant in the Syriac dialect is the Peschito or old Syriac version of the Old and New Testament, of which an account will be found in chap. iii. sect. iii. § 3. infra. The great assistance, which a knowledge of this dialect affords to the critical understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures, is illustrated at considerable length by the elder Michaelis, in a philological dissertation, originally published in 1756, and reprinted in the first volume of MM. Pott's and Ruperti's "Sylloge. Commentationum Theologicarum."6 II. Though more remotely allied to the Hebrew than either of the preceding dialects, the ARABIC LANGUAGE possesses sufficient analogy to explain and illustrate the former, and is not, perhaps, inferior in importance to the Chaldee or the Syriac; particularly as it is a living language, in which almost every subject has been discussed, and has received the minutest investigation from native writers and lexicographers. The Arabic language has many roots in common with the Hebrew tongue; and this again contains very many words which are no longer to be found in the Hebrew writings that are extant, but which exist in the Arabic language. to the twelfth century under the dominion of the Moors, The learned Jews, who flourished in Spain from the tenth were the first who applied Arabic to the illustration of the Hebrew language; and subsequent Christian writers, as Bochart, the elder Schultens, Olaus Celsius, and others, have diligently and successfully applied the Arabian historians, geographers, and authors on natural history, to the explanation of the Bible." The ETHIOPIC language, which is immediately derived from the Arabic, has been applied with great advantage to the illustration of the Scriptures by Bochart, De Dieu, Hottinger, and Ludolph (to whom we are indebted for an Ethiopic grammar and fexicon); and Pfeiffer has explained a few passages in the books of Ezra and Daniel, by the aid of the PERSIAN language.9 III. The Cognate or Kindred Languages are of considerable use in sacred criticism. They may lead us to discover the occasions of such false readings as transcribers unskilled in the Hebrew, but accustomed to some of the other dialects, have made by writing words in the form of that dialect, instead of the Hebrew form. Further, the knowledge of these languages will frequently serve to prevent ill-grounded conjectures that a passage is corrupted, by showing that the common reading is susceptible of the very sense which such passage requires; and when different readings are found in copies of the Bible, these languages may sometimes assist us in determining which of them ought to be preferred.10 1. The CHALDEE, sometimes called by way of distinction the East-Aramaran dialect, was formerly spoken in the province of Babylonia, between the Euphrates and the Tigris, the original inhabitants of which cultivated this language as a distinct dialect, and communicated it to the Jews during the Babylonian captivity. By means of the Jews it was transplanted into Palestine, where it gradually became the vernacular tongue; though it did not completely displace the old Hebrew until the time of the Maccabees. Although Jahn, Elementa Aramaicæ Linguæ, p. 2. Walton's Prolegomena, c. xii. the Aramaan, as spoken by Jews, partook somewhat of the 3.(pp. 559-562. edit. Dathii.) Rigge's Manual of the Chaldee Language, pp. 9-12. (Boston, Mass. 1832.) To his excellent Chaldee Grammar Mr. R. Hebrew character, no entire or very important corruption of has appended a Chrestomathy, containing the biblical Chaldee passages, it took place; and to this circumstance alone the Babylonians and select portions of the Targums with very useful notes and a vocabu are indebted for the survival, or at least the partial preserva-lary to facilitate the acquisition of this dialect to the biblical student. Masclef, Gramın. Hebr. vol. ii. p. 114. Wotton's Misna, vol. i. præf. p. tion, of their language, which, even in the mother-country, xviii. has, since the spread of Mohammedism, been totally extinct. The principal remains of the Chaldee dialect now extant will be found, 5 Walton, Prol. c. xiii. § 2, 3, 4, 5. (pp. 594-603.) Syriaca pro illustrando Ebraismo Sacro exibentur (Hala, 1756), in Pott's D. Christiani Benedicti Michaelis Dissertatio Philologica, quâ Lumina and Ruperti's Sylloge, tom. i. pp. 170-244. The editors have inserted in the Bauer, Herin. Sacr. p. 107. Walton, Prol. c. xvi. $6—8. (pp. 674-678.) 692.) 19 Gerard's Institutes of Biblical Criticism, p. 63.-For Notices of the prin cipal Grammars and Lexicons of the Cognate Languages, see the BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX to the second Volume, PART II. CHAP. IV. SECT. IV. CHAPTER II. CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE TEXT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. SECTION I. HISTORY AND CONDITION OF THE TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. § 1. HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TEXT. I. From the writing of the books of the Old Testament, until the time of Jesus Christ; 1. History of the Pentateuch; 2. Ancient history of the remaining books of the Old Testament.-II. From the time of Jesus Christ to the age of the Masorites; 1. History of the text in the first century; 2. From the second to the fifth century; 3. Particularly in the time of Jerome.— III. From the age of the Masorites to the invention of the art of printing; 1. Object of the Masora,-its object and critical value; 2. Oriental and occidental readings; 3. Recensions of Aaron ben Asher and Jacob ben Naphtali; 4. Standard copies of the Hebrew Scriptures in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.-IV. From the invention of the art of printing to our own time. THE CRITICAL HISTORY of the Text of the Old Testament has been divided into various periods. Dr. Kennicott has specified six; Bauer divides it into two principal epochs, each of which is subdivided into two periods; Jahn has five periods; and Muntinghe, whose arrangement is here adopted, has disposed it into four periods, viz. 1. From the writing of the Hebrew books until the time of Jesus Christ; 2. From the time of Christ to the age of the Masorites; 3. From the age of the Masorites to the invention of the art of printing; and, 4. From the invention of printing to our own time. I. HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TEXT FROM THE WRITING OF THE BOOKS OF THE Old Testament UNTIL THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST. 1. We commence with the Pentateuch, concerning the earliest history of which we have more minute information than we have of the other books of the Old Testament. Previously to the building of Solomon's Temple, the Pentateuch was deposited By the side of the ark of the covenant (Deut. xxxi. 24-26.), to be consulted by the Israelites; and after the erection of that sacred edifice, it was deposited in the treasury, together with all the succeeding productions of the inspired writers. On the subsequent destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, the autographs of the sacred books are supposed to have perished: but some learned men have conjectured that they were preserved, because it does not appear that Nebuchadnezzar evinced any particular enmity against the Jewish religion; and in the account of the sacred things carried to Babylon (2 Kings xxv. 2 Chron. xxxvi. Jer. lii.), no mention is made of the sacred books. However this may be, it is a fact, that copies of these autographs were carried to Babylon; for we find the prophet Daniel quoting the law (Dan. ix. 11. 13.), and also expressly mentioning the prophecies of Jeremiah (ix. 2.), which he could not have done, if he had never seen them. We are further informed that, on the finishing of the temple in the sixth year of Darius, the Jewish worship was fully re-established, according as it is written in the book of Moses (Ezra vi. 18.); which would have been impracticable, if the Jews had not had copies of the law then among them. But what still more clearly proves that they must have had transcripts of their sacred writings during, as well as subsequent to, the Babylonish captivity, is the fact, that when the people requested Ezra to produce the law of Moses (Nehem. viii. 1.), they did not entreat him to get it dictated anew to them; but that he would bring forth the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. Further, long before the time of Jesus Christ, another edition of the Pentateuch was in the hands of the Samaritans, which has been preserved to our time; and though it differs in some instances from the text of the Hebrew Pentateuch, yet upon the whole it accurately agrees with the Jewish copies. And in the year 286 or 285 before the Christian æra, the Pentateuch was translated into the Greek language; and this version, whatever errors may now be detected in it, was so executed as to show that the text, from which it was made, agreed with the text which we now have. 1 So it should be rendered;-not in the side of the ark. See Dr. Kenni cott's Diss. ii. p. 298. 2 See a fuller account of the Samaritan Pentateuch, infra, sect. ii. pp. 43, 44. 3 See a critical account of the Septuagint version, in chap. iii. sect. iii. $2. infra. 2. With regard to the entire Hebrew Bible.-About fifty years after the rebuilding of the temple, and the consequent re-establishment of the Jewish religion, it is generally admitted that the canon of the Old Testament was settled; but by whom this great work was accomplished, is a question on which there is considerable difference of opinion. On the one hand it is contended that it could not have been done by Ezra himself; because, though he has related his zealous efforts in restoring the law and worship of Jehovah, yet on the settlement of the canon he is totally silent; and the silence of Nehemiah, who has recorded the pious labours of Ezra, as well as the silence of Josephus, who is diffuse in his encomiums on him, has further been urged as a presumptive argument why he could not have collected the Jewish writings. But to these hypothetical reasonings we may oppose the constant tradition of the Jewish church, uncontradicted both by their enemies and by Christians, that Ezra, with the assistance of the members of the great synagogue (among whom were the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi), did collect as many copies of the sacred writings as he could, and from them set forth a correct edition of the canon of the Old Testament, with the exception of his own writings, the book of Nehemiah, and the prophecy of Malachi; which were subsequently annexed to the canon by Simon the Just, who is said to have been the last of the great synagogue. In this Esdrine text, the errors of the former copyists were corrected; and Ezra (being himself an inspired writer) added in several places, throughout the books of this edition, what appeared necessary to illustrate, connect, or complete them. Whether Ezra's own copy of the Jewish Scriptures perished in the pillage of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, is a question that cannot now be ascertained; nor is it material, since we know that Judas Maccabæus repaired the temple, and replaced every thing requisite for the performance of divine worship (1 Macc. iv. 36-59.), which included a correct, if not Ezra's own, copy of the Scriptures. It is not improbable, that in this latter temple an ark was constructed, in which the sacred books of the Jews were preserved until the destruction of Jerusalem, and the subversion of the Jewish polity by the Romans under Titus, before whom the volume of the law was carried in triumph, among the other spoils which had been taken at Jerusalem. II. HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TEXT FROM THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE AGE OF THE MASORITES. 1. As the Jews were dispersed through various countries, to whose inhabitants Greek was vernacular, they gradually acquired the knowledge of this language, and even culti vated Greek literature: it cannot therefore excite surprise, that the Septuagint version should be so generally used, as to cause the Hebrew original to be almost entirely neglected. Hence the former was read in the synagogues: it appears to have been exclusively followed by the Alexandrian Jew, Philo, and it was most frequently, though not solely, consulted by Josephus, who was well acquainted with Hebrew. Prideaux's Connection, part i. book v. sub anno 446. vol. i. pp. 329–344. and the authorities there cited. Carpzov. Introd. ad Libros Biblicos Vet. Test. pp. 24. 308, 309. Bp. Tomline's Elements of Theology, vol. i. p. 11. Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. vii. c. 3. § 11. Muntinghe, Expositio Critices Sacræ, pp. 51, 52. Jahn et Ackermann, Introd. ad Libros Vet. Foed. $90. 2. In the second century, both Jews and Christians applied themselves sedulously to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures. Besides the Peschito or Old Syriac version (if indeed this was not executed at the close of the first century), which was made from the Hebrew for the Syrian Christians, three Greek versions were undertaken and completed; one for the Jews by Aquila, an apostate from Christianity to Judaism, and two for the Ebionites or semi-Christians by Theodotion and Symmachus.' The Hebrew text, as it existed in the East from year 200 to the end of the fifth century, is presented to us by Origen in his Hexapla, by Jonathan in his Targum or Paraphrase on the Prophets, and by the rabbins in the Gemaras or Commentaries on the Misna or Traditionary Expositions of the Hebrew Scriptures. The varieties are scarcely more numerous or more important than in the version of the second century. But the discrepancies, which were observed in the Hebrew manuscripts in the second or at least in the third century, excited the attention of the Jews, who began to collate copies, and to collect various readings; which, being distributed into several classes, appear in the Jerusalem Talmud about the year 280. They are as follows: (4.) The divisions of chapters and verses did not exist in any Hebrew MSS.; but it should seem that both the Hebrew original and the Septuagint Greek version were divided into larger sections, which differ from those in our copies, because Jerome, in his commentary on Amos vi. 9., says that what is the beginning of another chapter in the Hebrew, is in the Septuagint the end of the preceding." (5.) The Hebrew MS. used by Jerome for the most part agrees with the Masoretic text; though there are a few unimportant various readings. III. HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TEXT FROM THE AGE OF THE MASORITES TO THe Invention of the Art of Printing. 1. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of the Jews into various countries of the Roman empire, some of those who were settled in the East applied themselves to the cultivation of literature, and opened various schools, in which they taught the Scriptures. One of the most distinguished of these academies was that established at Tiberias in Palestine, which Jerome mentions as existing in the fifth century. The doctors of this school, early in the sixth century, agreed to revise the sacred text, and issue an accurate edition of it; for which purpose they collected all the scattered critical and grammatical observations they could obtain, which appeared likely to contribute towards fixing both the reading and interpretation of Scripture, into one book, which they called (MasoRaH), that is, tradition, because it consisted of remarks which they had received from others. Some rabbinical authors pretend that, him, first, its true reading, and, secondly, its true interpretation: and that both these were handed down by oral tradition, from generation to generation, until at length they were committed to writing. The former of these, viz. the true reading, is the subject of the Masora; the latter or true interpretation is that of the Mishna and Gemara, of which an account is given in a subsequent chapter of the present volume. (1.) DYDIO TINY (ITTUR SOPHERIM), or the Rejection of the Scribes to this class belong five places, in which the reader is directed to reject the prefix vau, which was found in the Hebrew text. As we have no information concerning the "rejection of the scribes," except the slight notice contained in the Talmud, Morin is of opinion, that it is only a fragment of some corrections and a revision of the sacred text made by some Jew-when God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, he taught ish doctors, whose time and circumstances are utterly unknown.3 (2.) DID (THIKUN SOPHERIM), or the Correction of the Scribes, contains sixteen or eighteen places, which were corrupted in the Hebrew manuscripts, and the correct reading of which was restored by the collation of copies. (3.) Extraordinary Points placed over one, more, or all the letters of some word, which, as appears from the collation of ancient versions and the Samaritan text, denote that those words and letters were not found by the copyists in some manuscripts. Of this description of various readings there are fifteen examples. Jahn ascribes the origin of these points—or at least of many of them to the unwillingness of a transcriber to erase a letter or word improperly written, which he rather chose to denounce by this extraordinary point, while other subsequent copyists transcribed the points along with the word.4 (4.) In many Jewish manuscripts and printed editions of the Old Testament, a word is often found with a small circle annexed to it, or with an asterisk over it, and a word written in the margin of the same line. The former is called the np (KHеTIB), that is, written, and the latter, (KeRI), that is, read or reading, as if to intimate, write in this manner, but read in that manner. For instance, when they meet with certain words, they substitute others thus, instead of the sacred name Jehovah, they substitute Adonai or Elohim; and in lieu of terms not strictly consistent with decency, they pronounce others less indelicate or more agreeable to our ideas of propriety.5 (5.) The (SBIRIM) are critical conjectures of the more ancient rabbins, on certain passages of Scripture. 3. The state of the Hebrew text, in the west of Europe, during the fifth century, is exhibited to us in the Latin version made by Jerome from the original Hebrew, and in his commentaries on the Scriptures. From a careful examination of these two sources several important facts have been collected, particularly that (1.) The Old Testament contained the same books which are at present found in our copies. (2.) The form of the Hebrew letters was the same which we now have, as is evident from Jerome's frequently taking notice of the similar letters, beth and caph, resh and daleth, mem and samech, &c. (3.) The modern vowel points, accents, and other diacritic signs were utterly unknown to Jerome. Some words were of doubtful meaning to him, because they were destitute of vowels. 1 An account of these versions and of the biblical labours of Origen is given in chap. iii. sect. iii. §2. infra. 2 Bauer has given the examples at length, in his Critica Sacra, p. 208. * Morini Exercitationes Biblicæ, lib. ii. exercit. 22. cap. i. §6. Muntinghe, Expositio Crit. Sacræ, p. 55. Jahn et Ackermann, Introd. $107. Cappel's Critica Sacra by Vogel and Scharfenberg, tom. i. p. 455. The Keri and Khetib are copiously discussed by Bishop Walton, Proleg. viii. §§ 18-26. Cappel, Critica Sacra, lib. iii. c. i.—iii. xiv.-xvi., and by Mr. Whittaker, in his Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures, pp. 114-178. • See a full account of them in Cappel's Critica Sacra, lib. vi. c. 8. VOL. I. 2 C The The Masoretic notes and criticisms relate to the books, Masorites or Massorets, as the inventors of this system were verses, words, letters, vowel points, and accents. called, were the first who distinguished the books and sections of books into verses. They marked the number of all the verses of each book and section, and placed the amount at the end of each in numeral letters, or in some symbolical word formed out of them; and they also marked the middle verse of each book. Further, they noted the verses where something was supposed to be forgotten; the words which they believed to be changed; the letters which they deemed to be superfluous; the repetitions of the same verses; the different reading of the words which are redundant or defective; the number of times that the same word is found at the beginning, middle, or end of a verse; the different significations of the same word; the agreement or conjunction of one word with another; what letters are pronounced, and what are inverted, together with such as hang perpendicular, and they took the number of each, for the Jews cherish the sacred books with such reverence, that they make a scruple of changing the situation of a letter which is evidently misplaced; supposing that some mystery has occasioned the alteration. They have likewise reckoned which is the middle letter of the Pentateuch, which is the middle clause of each book, and how many times each letter of the alphabet occurs in all the Hebrew Scriptures. The following table from Bishop Walton will give an idea of their laborious minuteness in these researches: |