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HISTORIC NOTES 
 
 THE BOOKS 
 
 OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, 
 
 SAMUEL 'SHARPE. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 
 
 1858. 
 
P E E E A C E. 
 
 The following short notes are neither theological nor 
 devotional. They are an attempt to explain, by means 
 of the history, the circumstances under which the 
 several books, and portions of books, were written, and 
 the times wdien the writers lived. Such knowledge 
 forms no part of our religion ; but it may help us to 
 understand the opinions of the writers, and even the 
 lessons in religion which we should draw from their 
 works. A complete commentary on the Bible should 
 contain many parts. One part should be theological, 
 and show the views which each writer in the Scriptures 
 teaches us of God's nature and attributes, and of his 
 dealings with man. A second should be ethical, and 
 explain the moral teachings, and oui* duties to one 
 another. A third should be an account of the manu- 
 scripts ; and a fourth, grammatical, to explain the 
 language of these most ancient w^ritings. A fifth should 
 be historical, to explain the history of the books by 
 means of the history of the nation. Such is the aim of 
 the present work ; and, by so confining it, the author 
 avoids the difiicult subjects of the inspiration, miracles, 
 prophecies of a Messiah, and the authority now due to 
 
V PREFACE. 
 
 the Mosaic law since tlie introduction of Christianity. 
 Other divisions of the subject might be mentioned, such 
 as the geography and natural history. They are all 
 necessary to a full understanding of the Bible, but not 
 all equally important. So great, indeed, is the difference 
 in their importance, that a writer, who confines his com- 
 mentary to one of the lower branches, feels it necessary 
 to apologise to his readers for omitting what is so much 
 more valuable. 
 
 The arguments for fixing the age of any book, or por- 
 tion of a book, rest upon the comparison of the history 
 therein mentioned, whether directly or indirectly, with 
 the political state of the nation as known from the other 
 books. In stating these arguments, the Author will 
 perhaps seem to some readers to be too short, and to 
 have given the reasons for forming his opinions too 
 scantily. But he supposes his readers well acquainted 
 with the Bible ; and therefore he has contented himself, 
 when putting forward his opinion, with leaving to the 
 reader the task of completing the argument for himself, 
 by the help of the passages referred to, as well as of 
 weighing how far the circumstances mentioned support 
 the opinion advanced. 
 
 Highbury Places 2lstJuly, 1858. 
 
THE CONTENTS. 
 
 TABB 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 On the Old Testament 
 
 On the Pentateuch 
 
 On the Book of Genesis 
 
 On the Book of Exodus 
 
 On the Book of Leviticus 23 
 
 On the Book of Numbers 25 
 
 On the Book of Deuteronomy 31 
 
 On the Book of Joshua 36 
 
 On the Book of Judges 42 
 
 On the Book of Buth 49 
 
 On the First Book of Samuel 51 
 
 On the Second Book of Samuel 60 
 
 On the First Book of Kings 63 
 
 On the Second Book of Kings 69 
 
 On the Book of Ezra 74 
 
 On the Book of Nehemiah 76 
 
 On the two Books of Chronicles 78 
 
 On the Book of Esther, and the addition in the Apocrypha 80 
 
 On the Chronology of the Old Testament 
 A Sketch of the History of Egypt 
 A Sketch of the History of Edom 
 A Sketch of the History of Syria 
 A Sketch of the History of Assyria 
 
 On the Poetry of the Hebrews 
 On the Book of Job . 
 On the Book of Psalms 
 On the Book of Proverbs . 
 On the Book oi Ecclesiastes 
 On the Song of Solomon 
 
 81 
 
 88 
 
 95 
 
 107 
 
 116 
 
 127 
 132 
 138 
 146 
 147 
 150 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 FAOE 
 
 On the Prophets 152 
 
 On the Book of Joel 156 
 
 On the Book of Araos 159 
 
 On the Book of Hosea 161 
 
 On the Book of Micah . ... , . . .163 
 
 On the Book of Isaiah 165 
 
 On the Book of Zephaniah 177 
 
 On the Book of Nahum 178 
 
 On the Book of Habakkuk 179 
 
 On the Book of Jeremiah and Lamentations . . .180 
 
 On the Book of Ezekiel 187 
 
 On the Book of Obadiah . . . . . . .192 
 
 On the Book of Jonah 192 
 
 On the Book of Haggai . . . . . . ,194 
 
 On the Book of Zechariah 195 
 
 On the Book of Malachi 200 
 
 On the Book of Daniel . 201 
 
 On the Apocryphal Books 208 
 
 On the First Book of Esdras 209 
 
 On the Second Book of Esdras 209 
 
 On the Book of Tobit . . . . . . .210 
 
 On the Book of Judith 212 
 
 On the Wisdom of Solomon 214 
 
 On the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach .... 216 
 
 On the Book of Baruch 217 
 
 On the Epistle of Jeremiah 218 
 
 On the additions to the Book of Daniel .... 218 
 
 On the prayer of Manasses 219 
 
 On the First Book of Maccabees 219 
 
 On the Second Book of Maccabees 222 
 
 On the New Testament and the historic testimony to it . 225 
 
 On the Language of the N'ew Testament .... 226 
 
 On the Four Gospels 235 
 
 Their Contents 242 
 
 On the date of the Crucifixion 247 
 
 On the Acts of the Apostles 251 
 
 On the Twenty-one Epistles 252 
 
 On the Epistle to the Romans (including part of an Epistle 
 
 to the Ephesians) 257 
 
CONTENTS. Vli 
 
 PAGE 
 
 On the First Epistle to the Corinthians . . . .261 
 
 On the Second Epistle to the Corinthians . . . 262 
 
 On the Epistle of James 263 
 
 On the two Epistles to the Thessalonians .... 265 
 
 On the Epistle to the Galatians 267 
 
 On the Epistle to the Colossians 269 
 
 On the Epistle to the Laodiceans (called the Epistle to the 
 
 Ephesians) 270 
 
 On the Epistle to Philemon 271 
 
 On the Epistle to the Philippians 272 
 
 On the Second Epistle to Timothy 272 
 
 On the Epistle to Titus 274 
 
 On the First Epistle to Timothy 274 
 
 On the First Epistle of Peter 275 
 
 On the Epistle of Jude 277 
 
 On the Epistle to the Hebrews 278 
 
 On the Second and Third Epistles of John . . . 280 
 
 On the First Epistle of John 281 
 
 On the Second Epistle of Peter 283 
 
 On the Book of Revelation 285 
 
 On the ground Plan of the Temple 291 
 
HISTOEIC NOTES 
 
 ox 
 THE BOOKS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 The Old Testament contains the religious writings of a 
 nation which is distinguished, above eveiy other nation 
 in the world, for its having always held more just views 
 of religion than its neighbours. While other nations 
 were worshipping a crowd of gods, some good and 
 some bad, the Israelites ackowledged one only Creator 
 and Governor of the universe. While the Egyptians 
 worshipped animals, and statues of their own making, 
 the Israelites sacrificed to a spiritual Being, all-powerfal, 
 and eternal, and self-existent. As their neighbours 
 grew wiser from century to century, and the Greek 
 pliilosophers improved upon the older and grosser views 
 of religion, the Israelites grew wiser also, and were still 
 much in advance, and had discovered that the Almighty 
 did not need tlie slaughter of rams and bullocks, but 
 was to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and 
 would accept no sacrifice but that of a humble mind. 
 And, lastly, while the Pagans were still bewildered in 
 doubt, and were scoffing at all that they themselves 
 called holy, Christianity itself was being preached by 
 Jews in Galilee, in Judea, in Asia Minor, and even in 
 Rome and Athens. 
 
2 ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Thus tlie history of the Jewish religion is ahnost 
 necessary to the full understanding of Christianity. 
 Through the whole of their hooks shines tliat devout 
 trust in God which is so peculiar to their nation. Their 
 devotion was never weakened hy a divided worship. 
 They saw the hand of Jehovah in every event in life, 
 and thus the chronicles of the nation hecame lessons in 
 religious wisdom. 
 
 The collection of Hebrew books owes its English 
 name to a mistake in the translation. It ought to be 
 called the Old Covenant. The Book of Deuteronomy 
 Avas first called the Book of the Covenant, when pub- 
 lished in the reign of Josiah. See 2 Kings xxiii, 2. But 
 after the spread of Christianity, the collected Hebrew 
 Scriptures were called the Old Covenant, the name 
 used by the Apostle Paul, in 2 Cor. iii, 14 ; and thence 
 the Christian Scriptures w^ere, for distinction's sake, 
 named the New Covenant. The Old Testament con- 
 tains writings of various ages; some perhaps as early 
 as the year b,c. 1300, the time of Moses; and others as 
 modern as the year B.C. 53, after Jerusalem w^as con- 
 quered by the Romans under Pompey. It contains 
 books written in every century between those two 
 dates, and indeed it contains all that is left to us of the 
 Hebrew writings of those centuries. 
 
 But the books do not differ in language so much as 
 we should expect from the difference of their age. We 
 must suppose that, every time they were copied, the 
 scribe acted as an editor. He altered the spelling and 
 the words, when they were too old to be understood. 
 He added now and then a few w^ords to explain what 
 seemed to need explanation. He sometimes added 
 large portions, and inserted them in the middle of the 
 narrative in the places to which they seemed best 
 fitted. 
 
 We may judge of the fate of Hebrew manuscripts 
 by a comparison with the Greek version, and from the 
 better known history of the New Testament manu- 
 scripts. In every case, that which was most full, and 
 had received most additions, was most valued. The 
 
ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 3 
 
 shorter manuscripts perished through neglect. It was 
 hardly before tlie time of the Reformation that the 
 more ancient manuscripts of the Bible were thought 
 more valuable than the newer. Thus, most of the 
 books consist of an older portion with later additions ; 
 and we must never suppose the whole of a work modern 
 because some part of it is so. We must endeavour to 
 separate every book into the several portions, and study 
 each by itself, and assign to each its own date, by the 
 help of the historic circumstances therein mentioned, and 
 of the state of the nation as therein described. A book 
 that is quoted by another is, of course, more ancient 
 than that which quotes it. One Avhich describes 
 Ephraim and Manasseh as the ruling tribes, is earlier 
 than those which call Judah the chief of the nation. 
 On the other hand, one that mentions Jewish kings 
 is, of course, more modern than the establishment of 
 the monarchy ; one which mentions the temple is not 
 more ancient than David's reign ; one that bewails the 
 captivity is not more ancient than that great national 
 misfortune. So also with the changes in religion and 
 philosophy ; a book which speaks of the uselessness of 
 ceremonies is likely to be more modern than one that 
 enjoins them. 
 
 The books were not all written in the same spot. 
 Part of Jeremiah and two or three Psalms were written 
 in Egypt ; part of Ezekiel in Babylon ; Leviticus and 
 Deuteronomy, and most of the Prophets, in Jerusalem ; 
 parts of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, perhaps in 
 Shechem or Samaria and Hebron, which were the 
 capitals before the time of David. Part of the Book of 
 Joshua may have been -written in Hebron, and part of 
 Samuel possibly in Jabesh Gilead. 
 
 The Old Testament may be most conveniently di- 
 vided into four portions, not very unequal in size, 
 namely, 
 
 (1.) The Law, or Pentateuch, containmg, 
 
 Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. 
 
 Exodus, Numbers, 
 
 B 2 
 
ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 (2.) The Historical Books, or. 
 
 Joshua, 
 Judges, 
 Ruth, 
 
 2 Samuel, 
 2 Kings, 
 2 Chronicles, 
 
 Ezra, 
 
 NTehemiah, 
 
 Esther. 
 
 (3.) The Poetical Books, or. 
 
 
 Job, 
 Psalms, 
 
 Proverbs, 
 Ecclesiastes, 
 
 Song of Solomon. 
 
 (4.) The Prophetical Books, or. 
 
 
 Isaiah, 
 
 Jeremiah, 
 
 Lamentations, 
 
 Ezekiel, 
 
 Daniel, 
 
 Hosea, 
 
 Joel, 
 
 Amos, 
 
 Obadiah, 
 
 Jonah, 
 
 Micah, 
 
 Nahum, 
 
 Habakkuk, 
 
 Zephaniah, 
 
 Haggai, 
 
 Zechariah, 
 
 Malachi. 
 
 Of these, the last twelve are called the Minor Prophets. 
 
 The first time that we hear of any of these books 
 having been put together to make one whole, is when 
 the " Book of the Lord " is quoted in Isaiah xxxiv, 16, 
 which chapter may have been written about the time of 
 the return from captivity, B.C. 536. The next mention 
 of them is in the Second Book of jMaccabees, which 
 was written about the year B.C. 130, where we are 
 told that on the return from the captivity, Nehemiah 
 founded a library, and gathered together whatever 
 could be found of the sacred books. These books are 
 described in 2 Maccabees, ii, 13, as of four classes. 
 These are, 
 
 (1.) The Books of Kings. 
 
 (2.) The Writings of David. 
 
 (3.) The Writings of the Prophets. 
 
 (4.) The Epistles of the Kings concerning Gifts to 
 the Altar. 
 
 In these we recognise three of the four divisions of 
 our Bible, and they may have also contained the Penta- 
 teuch or Law. The fourth seems meant for the Letters 
 from the Persian kings mentioned in the Books of Ezra 
 and Nehemiah. The Pentateuch or Law is not men- 
 tioned, probably because it had never been lost; and 
 when Ezra read to the people out of the " Book of the 
 
ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 5 
 
 Law of Moses," we find the words whicli he read are in 
 Deuteronomy (Nehem. vlii, i, 14, is). 
 
 The loss of some of these books before the time of 
 Nehemiah, and his bringing them together again, will 
 explain the state in which they are now found. In par- 
 ticular the scattered pages of Isaiah have been put 
 together without regard to the order in which they were 
 written, and they have portions of two or three other 
 writers mixed up with them. Copies of these books 
 were afterwards sent into Egypt, in the reign of the 
 second Ptolemy, to be translated into Greek ; and the 
 Septuagint version was then made, of which several 
 manuscripts are now remaining. 
 
 During the wars whicli followed the rise of the Syrian 
 power, when, on the death of the second Ptolemy, the 
 kings of Syria struggled with the kings of Egypt for 
 the sovereignty of Judea, Jerusalem was repeatedly 
 entered by foreign armies, the temple was plundered of 
 its treasures, and these books were destroyed or lost. 
 When, however, the Jews were again independent 
 under Judas Maccabteus, he got together other copies 
 of the sacred books. 
 
 The letters by means of whicli these earliest of books 
 were written were probably nearly the same as those 
 now in use, and known as the square Hebrew characters. 
 The reasons for so judging are, that neither the Rabbi- 
 nical letters, nor the Samaritan letters are so simply 
 pictorial in form, nor do they so closely resemble the 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics from which all the neighbouring 
 alphabets seem to have been copied either directly or 
 indirectly. Moreover, the antiquity of the square 
 Hebrew letters may be further defended by our show- 
 ing that the Persian arrow-headed characters used in 
 the inscriptions of the reign of Darius were directly 
 copied from them. 
 
 The following are the Egyptian hieroglyphics which 
 seem to have been chosen by the Hebrews as the model 
 for their letters. We remark that in five cases the 
 position of the letters has been changed, that which was 
 lying down has been made to stand upright ; and that 
 
ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 for six of the Hebrew letters we do not look for hiero- 
 glyphic originals, because their forms are borrowed from 
 other Hebrew letters, by the side of which they are here 
 placed. 
 
 a 
 
 ^V 
 
 N^ 
 
 P 
 
 »— ^ 
 
 2 £5 
 
 g 
 
 4. 
 
 :! 
 
 d, t 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 e, h 
 
 n 
 
 n n 
 
 f, V 
 
 « 
 
 1 
 
 z 
 
 \ 
 
 T 
 
 t, th 
 
 ^i^ 
 
 D 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 k 
 
 u 
 
 ^ P 
 
 l,r 
 
 >^ 
 
 n h 
 
 m 
 
 
 f2 
 
 n 
 
 /— \ 
 
 1 
 
 s, sli 
 
 ^ 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 s, sh 
 
 lALtl 
 
 t^ V 
 
 OX THE PENTATEUCH. 
 
 The first five Books in the Hebrew Bible have been 
 named The Books of Moses, or The Law, and in Greek 
 The Pentateuch. In Nehemiah viii, i, we find one or 
 all of them called " The Book of the Law of Moses." 
 From this the name has been shortened to '' The Books 
 of Moses," and thence Moses has been thought to be the 
 
ON THE PEXTATEUCil. 7 
 
 author. But tliey are of various ages, tlie greater part 
 certainly more modern than Moses, and part, perhaps, 
 more ancient. They are the oldest writhigs in the 
 world, except the Hieroglyphics carved on the Egyptian 
 temples. They may be conveniently divided into twa 
 parts. The Fii'st Part is the Book of Genesis, which 
 contains two accounts of the Creation of the World, an 
 account of the origin of evil, and a traditional history 
 of the family of Israelites, from their migration out of 
 Chaldea, until their settlement in Lower Egypt. The 
 Second Part consists of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, 
 Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which together form a 
 short history of the Israelites in Egypt, and of their 
 march out of that country, and contain the body of 
 Jewish law. Most of this law has been added at various 
 times to the history of the march, in the form of speeches 
 or commands spoken either by the Lord to Moses, or 
 by Moses to the people. The three longest of these 
 inserted portions form two of the books of the Penta- 
 teuch, namely, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. 
 
 01^ THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 We have no account of when this first of the Llebrew 
 books was written, nor by whom. It has been called 
 one of the books of Moses ; and some small part of it 
 may have been written by that great lawgiver and 
 leader of the Israelites. But it is the work of various 
 authors and various ages. The larger part, in its pre- 
 sent form, seems to have been written when the people 
 dwelt in Canaan and were ruled over by judges, when 
 Ephraim and Manasseh were the chief among the tribes. 
 It is more modern than the history of the march out 
 of Egypt in Exodus and Numbers. But the author 
 may have had older writings to guide him in his history. 
 It is evident also in numerous places that other writers, 
 far more modern, have not scrupled to make their own 
 
8 ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 additions. We must divide it into several portions, 
 and each portion will best explain itself. 
 
 Chap, i-ii, 3. The Creation. — This is an account of 
 God's forming the world out of an original shapeless 
 mass, by separating the light from the darkness, and 
 the water from the dry land. God then made the 
 plants, the sun, moon, and stars, fishes, birds, and 
 beasts, and lastly, man and woman after his own image. 
 To their service he gave the rest of the creation, and 
 bade them be fruitful and multiply themselves over the 
 earth. 
 
 The creation was the Avork of six days, and on the 
 seventh the Creator rested. The day is reckoned from 
 sunset to sunset, according to the Jewish custom. The 
 whole is told with grand simplicity; and modern writers 
 on the sublime, from Longinus downwards, have been 
 able to produce few finer instances of the kind than the 
 words of this early writer ; " And God said, Let there 
 be light ; and there was light." 
 
 Chap, ii, 4. — iv. The Creation and Fall of Man. — This 
 is a second history of the creation of the heavens and 
 the earth, with an account of the origin of evil. God is 
 here named Jehovah. 
 
 The earth is at first watered not by rain, but by 
 water which rose out of it. A man is formed, Adam, 
 and then a woman. Eve, as a helpmate for him ; they 
 are placed in the Garden of Eden, at the sources of the 
 Tigris and Euphrates. From this garden two other 
 rivers flow, one of which makes a circuit round the 
 land of Cush or Ethiopia, and the other round Havilah 
 or Arabia. 
 
 In this garden Jehovah gives them leave to eat of 
 every fruit but one ; this one is forbidden to them 
 on pain of death. But the serpent tempts the woman 
 to taste the forbidden fruit, and then the woman tempts 
 the man. By yielding to this temptation they lose their 
 innocence, and, as a punishment, are driven out of the 
 garden to bear the labours and sorrows of mortal life : 
 and the serpent is cuised to creep upon his belly and 
 bear the enmity of mankind. After leaving the Garden 
 
ON TPIE BOOK OF GENESIS. 9 
 
 of Eden, Adam and Eve have three sons, of whom 
 Cain, the eldest, becomes a tiller of the soil, and murders 
 Abel, the second, who is a keeper of cattle. 
 
 [There is much in this history of the origin of sin 
 and evil to show that the writer had the opinions of 
 the Egyptians in his mind. He adopts some of them, 
 he contradicts others. He names the Creator, Jehovah 
 God, as though to distinguish him from the gods of the 
 pagans. The land is watered, like Egypt, without the 
 help of rain. The Egyptians thought marriage less 
 holy than celibacy ; ancl it is probable that, under the 
 allegory of the forbidden fruit, the writer here meant 
 to blame marriage. The first pair have no children till 
 after they had fallen from their state of innocence. On 
 the Egyptian monuments we find the serpent mentioned 
 as the enemy of mankind. The husbandman also is 
 here said to be older than the herdsman, agreeably with 
 the greater antiquity of the Egyptian civilisation over 
 that of the Israelites. But, on the other hand, had the 
 writer been an Egyptian he would have made the agri- 
 culturist good and the herdsman wicked, for the Egyptian 
 tillers of the soil always felt themselves robbed by their 
 wandering neighbours who kept flocks ; and shepherds 
 were an abomination to the Egyptians. This is the 
 only place in the Old Testament in which an attempt is 
 made to explain the origin of evil in the world. In all 
 the other Hebrew writings Jehovah is acknowledged to 
 be the author of all things ; *^ I cause peace and I create 
 evil," says Jehovah, in Isaiah xlv, 7.] 
 
 Chap. v-ix. Noah and the Flood. — Here the genealogy 
 of mankind is given from Adam, the first man, to Noah, 
 in whose days God was so far displeased with the world's 
 wickedness, that he determined to destroy it by water. 
 He gives Noah directions to make an Ark or ship, in 
 wdiich he is to save himself and his family and a pair 
 of every kind of animal. The earth is then drowned 
 by rain, and it remains one hundred and fifty days 
 under water ; and, when the waters retire, Noah lands 
 on Mount Ararat in Armenia. From hence, the same 
 country as that from which Adam and Eve before 
 
10 ON THE BOOK 0¥ GENESIS. 
 
 issued, he and lils three sons a second time people the 
 earth. 
 
 Chap, x, 1-20. The Birth of the Nations. — Of Noah's 
 three Sons, Japhet is the father of Gomer, the Cimerians ; 
 of Magog, the Scythians ; of Madai, the Medes ; of Javan, 
 the lonia.ns or Greeks ; of Tiras, the Thracians ; of Tar- 
 shish, Tarsus; of Chetim, Cyprus; and Dodanim, i^/ioc/es. 
 Ham is the father of Canaan and Sidon; of Mizraim, 
 the Egyptians ; of Cush, the Arabs, from Sheba on the 
 Red Sea to Dedan on the Persian Gulf; and of Nimrod, 
 the Babylonians and the Assyrians. 
 
 Chap. X, 21 — xi, 9. The Descendants of Shem, and the 
 Toiver of Babel and Confusio7i of Tongues. — A list of 
 the children of Shem is given in chap, xi, lo, xxii, 20-24, 
 and XXV, 1-1 8, to complete the list of Noah's descendants ; 
 but here they are inserted by a more modern writer 
 with greater knowledge of geography and of languages, 
 but in a manner wholly contradicting the above list of 
 the sons of Ham and Japhet. According to this more 
 modern writer, the sons of Shem are, Elam, the northern 
 Persians; Ashur, the Assyi^ians ; Lud, tlie Lydians ; 
 Aram, the Syrians ; and Eber, the Hebrews. And Eber 
 not only includes the Hebrews proper, or Israelites, but 
 also the Arabs, who, in the former account, had been 
 given to Ham ; as Joktan, or Arabia Felix ; Sheba and 
 Hadoran, Hadramaut ; Havilah, near the Persian Gulf; 
 with Ophir, on the coast of Nubia; and Hazarmaveth, 
 perhaps Auxmn in Abyssinia. 
 
 The children of Noah, after the flood, move into tlie 
 plain of Shinar, between the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 where they build the Tower of Babel, or Babylon, from 
 which spot Jehovah thought fit to disperse them over 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 [These sentences, with this knowledge of geography, 
 could hardly have been written before Solomon's voyage 
 down the lied Sea; while the former account of the 
 births of the nations, chap, x, 1-20, must be A'ery much 
 more old. In this second account, all the nations 
 speaking an Arabic, or Syriac, dialect, are called sons 
 of Shem. In the country of Elam, which is on the 
 
ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 11 
 
 north-western side of Persia, the language was not 
 Persian, but more near to the Babylonian and Assyrian.] 
 
 Chap, xi, 10—32. The Descent of Abraham from Shem. 
 — Here follows a list of the descendants of Shem in a 
 right line to Abraham, in continuation of chap, x, 20. 
 
 Chap, xii-xxxv. The History/ of Ahrahain, of Isaac, 
 and of Jacob. — Abraham removes from Ur in Chaldea, 
 the seat of his family, to the land of the Canaanites. 
 
 From thence he is driven with his flocks and servants 
 by the famine into Lower Egypt, already a rich country, 
 governed by Pharaoh, the King, who is surrounded by 
 his princes. On his return, he and his nephew Lot 
 agree to part ; Abraham settles in the hill country near 
 Hebron, and Lot in the valley of the Jordan. There 
 Lot is taken prisoner on an invasion by the Kings of 
 Elam or Persia, and Shinar or Babylon; but he is 
 rescued by Abraham, who pursues the invaders and 
 defeats them at Hobab near Damascus (xiv). 
 
 Jehovah then promises Abraham that, though at 
 present childless, he shall be the father of a great 
 nation, who will dwell in slavery [in Egypt] for four 
 hundred years ; but will regain the land of Canaan in 
 the fourth generation ; after which they shall rule from 
 the Euphrates to the Nile [as under Solomon] (xv). 
 
 Abraham's first child is by Hagar, an Egyptian 
 woman ; he is named Ishmael (xvi). But God promises 
 him a son by his wife Sarah (xvii, xvili). Sodom and 
 Gomorrah are then destroyed by brimstone and fire 
 from heaven. Lot, who escaped from the destruction, 
 has two children, Moab, the father of the Moabites; 
 and Benammi, the father of the Ammonites (xix). 
 Abraham then dwells between Kadesh and Shur, that 
 is, between Palestine and Egypt. There Isaac is born ; 
 and Ishmael is driven away to live in the desert of 
 Paran, and be the father of a great nation (xxi). 
 
 To prove Abraham's faith, God orders him to kill 
 Isaac in sacrifice ; but on the father's showing his wil- 
 lingness to obey, and binding him to the altar on Mount 
 Moriah, the child is spared (xxiii). He sends to Meso- 
 potamia to fetch a wife for his son Isaac from among his 
 
12 ON TPIE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 kindred (xxiv). He himself marries again, and gives 
 birth to Jokshan, and Medan, and Sheba, and Dedan, 
 and other Arabic tribes, who are thus declared to be 
 yet more closely related to the Israelites than they were 
 in chap, x, 21-32. Ishmael's children are Nebaioth, 
 Kedar, Dumah, Tern a, and other Arabic tribes, between 
 Shur, on the borders of Egypt, and Havilah (xxv). 
 
 Isaac's wife gives birth to Esau and Jacob, the fathers 
 of two nations ; and Esau, the eldest, sells his birthright 
 to Jacob. Esau marries two wives of the nation of the 
 Hittites. Jacob, by a deceit, gains from his father the 
 blessing that was meant for his eldest brother; and of 
 Esau it is foretold that his race will have to serve his 
 brother's race, but a time will come when they will be 
 able to throw off the yoke (xxvii). Jacob is warned not 
 to marry a Hittite ; and Esau, besides his Hittite wives, 
 marries an Ishmaelitish wife, a sister of Nebaioth (xxviii). 
 Jacob marries two Syrian wives, and two of their hand- 
 maids, and has twelve sons ; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, 
 Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, by the first wife ; Joseph and 
 Benjamin by the favourite wife ; and Dan, Naphtali, 
 Gad, and Asher, by the handmaids. Jacob gains the 
 name Israel, or icrestling with God, and settles at 
 Hebron, where his father Isaac was living (xxxv). 
 
 Chap, xxxvi. 0?i the Edomites. — Esau, or Edom, gives 
 birth to the tribes of Edomites about Mount Seir. Seir, 
 the Horite, gives birth to the tribes about j\Iount Hor. 
 Eight Kings of Edom are named, who reigned before 
 there were kings in Israel. 
 
 [Hadar, or Hadad, the last of these kings, was probably 
 the child that was driven to seek his safety by flight 
 from David's troops (1 Kings xi, 17). The seven pre- 
 vious reigns will occupy the time of the seven genera- 
 tions from Moses to David, the time during which the 
 Israelites had been acquainted with Edom.] 
 
 Chap, xxxvii-1. The History of Jacob's Family. — 
 Joseph, the favourite son, dreams that his brothers are 
 to be in obedience to him ; and they therefore hate him, 
 and sell him as a slave to a company of INlidianite mer- 
 chants, who were trading between Gilead and Egypt. 
 
ox THE BOOK OF GEXESIS. 13 
 
 The Midianites then sell him to a captain in Pharaoh's 
 guard. 
 
 In Eg3^pt, Joseph is thrown into prison on the accusa- 
 tion of his master's wife (xxxix). There he gains great 
 credit by interpreting the prophetic meaning of the 
 dreams of two of his fellow prisoners (xl). He is then 
 sent for to interpret the King's dreams, which he ex- 
 plains to mean that there will be a seven years' famine 
 after seven years of plenty. Thereupon he is appointed 
 by the King to be his prime minister, and to store up 
 corn for the nation (xli). 
 
 Joseph's brethren come down to Egypt to buv corn. 
 There they are recognised by Joseph, though they do 
 not recognise him in his high station. He sends them 
 back home to fetch their youngest brother, Benja- 
 min (xlii). When they bring Benjamin, Joseph tells 
 them who he is (xliii, xlv). 
 
 He sends them again back to Canaan to bring their 
 old father Jacob, who then settles with his whole family 
 in the land of Egypt (xlvii, 12). 
 
 In the severity of the famine the Egyptians sell 
 their lands to the King for food, and thereby Joseph 
 changes the tenure of the soil throughout Lower 
 Egypt (xlvii). 
 
 Joseph has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom 
 he brings to Jacob to be blessed : but old Israel lays his 
 right hand on Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand 
 on Manasseh, the elder, saying that Ephraim should be 
 the greater nation (xlviii). 
 
 Jacob then gives a prophetic opinion about his sons. 
 Reuben is not to be great. Simeon and Levi are to be 
 shunned for their violence, and to be scattered anion o- 
 the rest ; Judah is to be the leader ; Zebulon is to be 
 on the coast; Issachar is to be a servant; Dan shall 
 avenge his people ; Gad shall attack in the rear ; Asher 
 shall be rich in food ; Naphtali is a spreading tree ; 
 Joseph is to be the chief of his brethren ; and Benjamin, 
 like a wolf, shall seize his prey (xlix). 
 
 Jacob, on his death, is embalmed, and sent to be buried 
 in Hebron, but Joseph is buried in Egypt (1). 
 
14 ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 
 [Of these several portions of the Book of Genesis, the 
 second account of the Creation, including the Garden 
 of Eden and the fall from a state of innocence, may 
 perhaps be the oldest. Next in age may be the history 
 of Joseph and of his rule over Egypt ; but this seems 
 hardly so old as the history of Moses and of his leading 
 the Israelites out of Egypt, as told in the Books of 
 Exodus and Numbers. The attempts to explain the 
 descent of nations is more modern. The literature of a 
 people always begins with the history of some stirring 
 event, like the Israelites marching out of Egypt. To 
 this the traditional history of the nation in its cradle, 
 when settling in Egypt under Joseph, is afterwards 
 added in a preface. 
 
 The history of Joseph is marked with a simplicity 
 and stamp of antiquity which is wanting in much of 
 the earlier part. But from this we must separate the 
 genealogical portion as more modern. That Jacob was 
 Israel, the father of all Israelites ; that the twelve tribes 
 were named after his ten sons and two grandsons; that 
 the two greatest tribes were children of Joseph, the 
 prime minister, is an after addition to the beautiful his- 
 tory of Joseph. It is more probable that the historian 
 took the names of the patriarchs from those of the tribes, 
 as this was clearly the case with some of them. The 
 tribe of Asher was so called because the people were 
 many of them Assyrians or Syrians. The tribe of 
 Beni-amin, or sons of Amin, took their name from the 
 neighbouring Ammonites. The tribe of Reu-ben were 
 sons of Reu, a name for a Moabite, which we may trace 
 in its feminine form in the Moabitess Ruth. The other 
 names are not so easily explained, though Ephraim, 
 Levi, and Naphtali are clearly plural forms, and as such 
 belong to tribes. The date of some of these additions 
 may be guessed from the history of the nation. They 
 were written before the establishment of the monarchy, 
 while Ephraim and Manasseh were yet the chief tribes. 
 Jacob's opinion of his sons, in chap, xlix, was written in 
 the time of Samuel, before the Levites became holy, 
 and when the tribe of Benjamin was in front of every 
 
ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 15 
 
 battle. And if part of the praise of Judali seems too 
 great for that age, before Judah was the royal tribe, we 
 must suppose those words a later addition. Upon the 
 whole, it seems probable that the Book of Genesis, as 
 we now have it, was put together in the time of Samuel; 
 and that the writer made use of at least four earlier 
 pieces of writing, namely, the history of the Creation 
 and the Fall of Man, in chap, ii-iv, the history of the 
 Creation in chap, i, and the history of the Deluge in 
 chap. Y-ix, and the history of Jacob and Joseph in 
 chap, xxxvii-l. 
 
 The list of Arab tribes descended from Shem, in 
 chap. X, 21-32, is a later addition after Solomon's 
 voyages had added to the nation's knowledge of geogra- 
 phy. Equally modern are the nation's limits and the 
 geographical knowledge in chap, xiv and xv. The 
 writer who put into their present shape these early tra- 
 ditions about the nation, had very little knowledge of 
 contemporary history. He makes Abraham travel 
 without difficulties or dangers from Syria beyond the 
 river to Egypt, through countries peopled with a variety 
 of quarrelling tribes. And he describes him as the 
 father of many of these tribes which we find, no later 
 than in the lifetime of his grandson Jacob, already 
 occupying their proper place in history. In this way 
 the traditions respecting the origin of the nations have 
 been mixed up with the traditions of a single family. 
 Abraham's building his altar on Mount Moriah, where 
 Solomon built his temple, and the derivation given to 
 the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, which was after- 
 wards called Jeru- Salem, are clearly modern. Indeed 
 his journey into Egypt could hardly have been written 
 earlier than when the prophet Hosea, speaking of Moses, 
 had saidj " I called my son out of Egypt."] 
 
16 
 
 , ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 This book contains the history of the sufferings of the 
 IsraeHtes in Egypt; of the eflPorts made by Moses to 
 obtain leave from the King for their departure ; of their 
 journey out of Egypt ; and of their receiving the Law 
 from Jehovah, at Mount Sinai. But we have no diffi- 
 culty in seeing that it was written at very different 
 times ; and it is only by separating the modern portions, 
 which have been added one after the other, that we can 
 prove the great antiquity of the original writing. There 
 are clear traces of three different dates. First, there 
 is an original narrative, written soon after the events. 
 Secondly, there is a history of the Exodus, embodying 
 that original narrative. This was written in the time 
 of the Judges, while the nation's boundaries were yet 
 narrow, before the institution of the Levltes, and before 
 the temple was built for Jehovah. Thirdly, there are 
 the modern additions, which are marked by their 
 Levitlcal bias, and by the description of wealth and of 
 a state of society which belongs to a time later than the 
 reign of Solomon. The original document Is not easily 
 separated from the history in which it is embodied; 
 nor win we begin with the attempt; but the history, 
 as written in the time of the Judges, may perhaps 
 be divided from the later additions in the following 
 manner : — 
 
 Paet I. The History of the Exodus. 
 
 Some generations after the time of Joseph, when his 
 services to the king of Egypt were forgotten, the 
 Israelites In the land of Goshen were cruelly used by 
 the Egyptians. They were treated like slaves ; they 
 were made to work at brickmaking, and particularly at 
 the walls of the cities of Pithom and Raamses. They 
 had increased very much in numbers ; and when their 
 murmurs became loud, and rebellion seemed not im- 
 probable, the Egyptians ordered their male children to 
 be put to death at birth. Moses, an Israelite, who had 
 
ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 17 
 
 been educated in Egyptian learning, and had tlien 
 fled from the tyranny, and was dwelling among the 
 Midianites at the foot of Mount Sinai, there formed a 
 plan to free his countrymen. The angel of the Lord 
 appeared to him, and told him that he would lead them 
 out of Egypt, and bring them into the land of the 
 Canaanites, and Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, 
 and Gergesites, and Hivites, and Jebusites ; and that, 
 with a mighty hand, he would make the king of Egypt 
 let them go (iii). 
 
 Moses and his brother Aaron accordingly asked 
 leave of Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt; 
 but were only allowed after they had worked many 
 miracles before the king, and brought several dreadful 
 plagues upon the land. After these plagues had fallen 
 upon the Egyptians, the King let the Israelites go ; and 
 the Eeast of the Passover was established in memory of 
 the last plague, and of the Israelites being free from it. 
 Their first journey was from Rameses [the city of the Sun, 
 or Heliopolis] to Succoth [the tents, or Scen^B of the 
 Roman Itinerary], after they had been 430 years in 
 Egypt (xii). 
 
 From Succoth they marched to Etham, at the edge 
 of the desert [Thoum, in the Itinerary], and then, 
 instead of going towards the land of tlie Philistines, the 
 shortest way to the promised land, they turned south- 
 wards at the Bay of Hahiroth [or of Heroopolis.] There 
 they were overtaken by the Egyptian chariots; but the 
 Lord divided the sea by means of a strong east wind, 
 and the Israelites marched through in safety, while the 
 Egyptian army was drowned in attempting to pursue 
 them (xiv). They then marched southward towards 
 Mount Sinai, and on the route they were miraculously 
 fed in the desert on manna (xvi). There they were 
 attacked by Amalek, whom they defeated, and war was 
 thereupon threatened against his race for ever (xvii). 
 They then reached in safety the valley where Moses's 
 father-in-law dwelt, at the foot of Mount Sinai. There 
 Moses appointed judges over the people to assist 
 him (xviii). 
 
18 ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 At Sinai, Moses went ijp the holy mount unto God, 
 who told him that, if the Israelites would be obedient, 
 they should be his peculiar people, a kingdom of priests, 
 a holy nation (xix, g, continued at xx.) God then gave 
 him \\\Q Ten Commandments, and other laws about 
 servants and against keeping slaves, about theft, witch- 
 craft, and doing justly (xxiii, 9, continued at is); and 
 again promised that they should conquer the Seven 
 Nations before mentioned (xxiii, 27, continued at xxxi, is). 
 And, at the end of the conversation. He gave to Moses 
 two tables of stone, with the laws written on them 
 (xxxi, is). 
 
 Before, however, Moses came down from the mount, 
 the people became impatient, and Aaron made a golden 
 calf for them to worship. They made their ofte rings 
 to the idol, as the god which brought them out of 
 Egypt; and when Moses saw them dancing round it, 
 he threw down the two tables of the Law in anger, and 
 broke them (xxxii, 24, continued at so). And God sent 
 a plague upon the people, as a punishment for their 
 guilt (xxxii, 35). • 
 
 Moses then placed a tent or tabernacle outside the 
 camp, as the sanctuary, or place of meeting, in which 
 he consulted with the Lord (xxxiii). He made two new 
 tables of stone like the first, on which God again wrote 
 the words of the Law, and again promised that they 
 should drive out the Seven Nations, if they kept the 
 Passover, and obeyed the Commandments (xxxiv, 21, con- 
 tinued at 29). And Moses brought down to the people 
 the two neAV tables, with the Ten Commandments written 
 thereon (xxxiv, 35). 
 
 [This narrative of the events on the march seems 
 continued by a few verses in Leviticus xxiv, 10-23, and 
 then, perhai)s, again at Numbers, chap. ix. 
 
 The mention (xii, xiii) of the month, Abib, or Epiplii, 
 as the month of the Passover, or first month after the 
 spring equinox, gives us a tolerably exact date. This 
 month was moveable in Egypt, but when adopted in 
 Palestine, was fixed. We know from Egyptian history 
 that in the year B.C. 1322, at the beginning of the Sothic 
 
ox THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 19 
 
 period in Egypt, tlie first of Epiplii was on our 14tli of 
 May. It moved one day earlier in every four years. 
 Thus in B.C. 1160, the month of Epiplii began on the 
 3rd of April; and in B.C. 1100, about the time when 
 Samuel was made judge over Israel, it began on the 
 19th of March. Thus, this mention of the month of 
 Abib as the month of the spring equinox, must have 
 been written between these two years. It could hardly 
 have been written after Samuel's death, nor could its 
 adoption into Palestine be more than sixty years before 
 his time. 
 
 Hence, unless we can yet more exactly distinguish 
 the times at which each sentence was written, we must 
 consider most of the above, in its present form, to 
 belong to the time of Samuel. The threat of war for 
 ever against the Amalekites, belongs to the later time, 
 when the priestly portion of the first book of Samuel 
 was written (see 1 Sam. xv, xxx).] 
 
 Part II. The Additions to the Booh of Exodus. 
 
 Chap, vi, 14-27. — This is an imperfect genealogical 
 table. The writer, having perhaps a complete table of 
 the genealogies before him, began with Reuben and 
 Simeon, and copied no further than enough to show the 
 descent of the Levites. 
 
 Chap, xv, 1-21. — This is a triumphal ode in praise 
 of Jehovah for the safe passage of the Red Sea, when 
 the Egyptians were drowned. In Chap, xiv, the waters 
 were said to be divided naturally by the wind; but 
 here the floods stand upright in a heap. Here the 
 Israelites are described as a more powerful people than 
 in the former parts of the book ; the Edomites and 
 Philistines are said to be afraid of them; and the 
 country of the latter people is called by its modern 
 name of Palestine. The sanctuary had already been 
 built on the Holy Mountain at Jerusalem. This poem 
 was therefore written after the time of Solomon. 
 
 Chap, xix, 7-25. — This passage is clearly modern, 
 because it speaks of priests, a body of men who had not 
 at that time been set apart. The nation had no separate 
 
 C 2 
 
20 ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 order of Levites when the first portion of this book was 
 written. Moses had been told, only a few verses earlier, 
 that the Israelites were a holy people, they were a 
 nation of priests. 
 
 Chap, xxiii, 10-17. — The appointment of a sabbath 
 year for the field to lie fallow, may be part of the 
 additions. The command to appear before the Lord 
 three times a year, is certainly new; only once a year was 
 that duty required in the time of Samuel {see 1 Sam. i). 
 Moreover, when the Passover was ordered at the spring 
 equinox, that was the beginning of the year agreeably 
 to the Jewish calendar then in use : but here the Feast 
 of Ingathering, only six months later, in September, is 
 called the end of the year. This is agreeably to the 
 calendar used at a later time in Judea. 
 
 Chap, xxiii, 28-33. — In the former promise (iii and xxiii, 
 23), the conquest was limited to a part of the country 
 now called the Holy Land ; but here it is extended to 
 the limits of Solomon's sway, from the Red Sea to the 
 river Euphrates. 
 
 Chap, xxiv-xxxi, 17. — Here the Book of the Covenant 
 is spoken of (xxiv, 7,) in terms which seem to belong 
 to the reign of King Josiah {see 2 Kings xxii, xxiii). 
 Directions are given for making the tabernacle, with an 
 amount of gold and other valuables, such as the Israelites 
 did not possess till the reign of Solomon (xxv-xxvii). 
 Aaron and his sons are set apart as an order of priests, 
 and directions are given respecting the sacrifices and 
 burnt offerings (xxviii, xxix). Every male of the age 
 of twenty is to pay every year, for the service of the 
 tabernacle, half a shekel of silver, of full weight, accord- 
 ing to the shekel of the sanctuary, not the shekel 
 of currencv (xxx). And the Sabbath is to be kept 
 holy (xxxi, 17). 
 
 This appointment of Aaron and his sons to be priests, 
 in chap, xxviii, must have been written long after the 
 curse spoken against Levi, in Genesis xlix, 5-7. The 
 directions concerning the burnt offerings and heave 
 offerings in chap, xxix, can have formed no part of the 
 Law in the time of Jeremiah, who seems particularly to 
 
ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 21 
 
 be putting aside these modern additions, when he says, 
 that the Lord gave no command concerning burnt 
 offerings and sacrifices in the day that he brought the 
 Israehtes out of Egypt (vii, 22). We may here remark 
 that the title of Levite, given to Aaron, in chap, iv, 14, 
 must be a modern addition. His brother, Moses, being 
 of the same family, would have been equally so called, 
 before the word Levite w^as used as another name for 
 priest. 
 
 Chap, xxxii, 25-29. — Li the verses which follow these 
 five, after the idolatry of worshipping the golden calf, 
 Moses tells the people that he will endeavour to make 
 atonement for them ; and then God punishes them with 
 a plague. But in these five inserted verses there is a 
 clear contradiction, since they speak of a slaughter com- 
 mitted by the zeal of the Levites, as the punishment for 
 the very sin wdiich Moses hopes to get forgiven. 
 
 Chap, xxxiv, 22-28. — Here, as in chap, xxiii, 10-17, the 
 Israelites are ordered to keep three great feasts : and, 
 as in chap, xxiii, 28-33, they receive a promise that, on 
 doing so, the old borders of their land shall be enlarged. 
 
 Chap. XXXV to end. — These last six chapters contain an 
 account of the tabernacle being made by the free offer- 
 ings and willing labour of the people, with the same 
 amount of gold, and the same costly furniture, as ordered 
 in chap, xxv-xxvii. 
 
 [These portions, here treated as additions to the origi- 
 nal book, for the most part belong to the three centuries 
 and a half between Solomon and Josiah. The sacrifices 
 at the solemn feasts were then conducted Avith costly 
 splendour ; the Levites were the established order of 
 priests ; the shekel of the sanctuary was distinguished 
 from the shekel of currency; and the boundaries of 
 the kingdom reached to the Euphrates. The modern 
 laws bearing these marks of their owai age may 
 have been added at various times after the establish- 
 ment of the monarchy. And it is by the comparison 
 of these additions Avith those parts which more clearly 
 belong to the history, that Ave are able to shoAV the 
 greater antiquity of tlie latter. 
 
22 ON THE BOOI-: OF EXODUS. 
 
 If we now return to the more tliorongli examination 
 of that portion of the book which, in its present form, 
 belongs to the time of Samuel, we shall be able to dis« 
 tinguish some portions as yet older and more simple 
 than the rest, and which we may consider as the ori- 
 ginal narrative. Thus, the history seems contradictory 
 in adding any more laws, after the Ten Commandments, 
 in chap, xx, and before the mention of the two tables 
 of stone on which they were written, in chap, xxxi, 18.. 
 Part of these chapters we have separated, as of the 
 age of the Kings ; and, if we might separate the Ten 
 Commandments from the other laws in chap, xx-xxii, 
 we should obtain a portion of the original narrative. 
 Indeed, we may conclude from Joshua writing a copjj 
 of the Laws of Moses on an altar of stones, that the 
 Ten Commandments were all the laws that originally 
 claimed Moses for their author (Joshua viii, 32). In the 
 same way, the account of the stations at which the 
 Israelites stopped, and of the passage of the Red Sea, in 
 chap, xiii, xiv, bears marks of far greater simplicity, and 
 is far less ambitious in its style, than the history of flie 
 plagues brought upon Egypt. The account of Moses 
 being gi'eeted by his father-in-law, after his successful 
 escape out of Egypt (xviii, 1-12), is far older than the 
 account of his appointing judges over the people, by 
 Jethro's advice, on the next day (i3-26). Other sen- 
 tences might be pointed out, but these more simple 
 parts do not seem now capable of separation from the 
 history in which they are woven. We must be content 
 to consider the Book of Exodus, in its present form, as 
 written in the time of Samuel, by the help of an earlier 
 writing, nearly, or perhaps quite, as old as the events 
 mentioned, and having large additions made in the time 
 of the Kings. The earlier writing Ave must consider 
 the original book ; and it may very possibly be the 
 work of Moses, to whom the whole has usually been 
 given.] 
 
23 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 
 
 This third book of the Pentateuch is a collection of 
 Jewish laws, put together in the form of several com- 
 mands, delivered by Jehovah to Moses, in the tabernacle 
 or tent of meeting at the foot of Mount Sinai. They 
 are thus inserted by their authors into the older history 
 of the march out of Egypt. They are commands 
 relating to sacrifices, to clean and unclean food, to 
 leprosy, to marriage, and to other points of morality, 
 wdiicli mark a very rude state of society. 
 
 From this description we must except the short 
 history of an Egyptian blasphemer, which seems to 
 belong to one of the older books, either Exodus or 
 Numbers. The rest also of this book is not all of one 
 age ; and the portion of history about the blasphemer 
 stands between the older and the newer portions of 
 Law. Thus the whole book is divided into three 
 parts. 
 
 Part I. Chap, i-xxiv, 9. 
 
 This is a more modern work than some of the earlier 
 additions to the Book of Exodus, but more ancient than 
 some of the later parts of that book. Many of the 
 commands are the same that had been there delivered 
 more shortly ; and they are here repeated at great 
 length. Thus the first seven chapters of this book are 
 summed up in the words, " This is the law concerning 
 the burnt offering, &c." and they are an enlargement of 
 part of Exodus xxix. And again in chap, ix, 4, there is 
 a reference to Exodus xxix, 42. 
 
 When these commands were w^ritten, the people were 
 already quietly established in the land of Canaan, and 
 dwelling in houses ; and they are ordered at the Feast 
 of Tabernacles to dwell in tents for seven days, to 
 remind them that their fathers dwelt in tents during 
 their march out of Egypt (xxiii, 42). And money was 
 so far common, and found convenient, that they w^ere 
 allowed to send the sin-offering of a ram in money 
 
24 ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 
 
 instead of in kind (v, is). The priests were the phy- 
 sicians, but medical knowledge was so low that mouldi- 
 ness on the wall of a damp house was thought a disease 
 like leprosy (xiv, .34). 
 
 The strongest proof of the late origin of this portion 
 of the Law is, that the priests are all spoken of as sons 
 of Aaron, which was not the case before Jerusalem 
 became the capital, as we may learn from the Book of 
 Samuel. But the calendar which is used in describing 
 the feasts, and makes the Feast of Ingathering fall in the 
 seventh month (xxiii, 39), is the more ancient one, which 
 also makes the year begin with the spring equinox, as in 
 the original Book of Exodus. This is not the case in 
 the additions to the Book of Exodus, which describe 
 tlie Feast of Ingathering as at the end of the year, and, 
 therefore, make Abib no longer the first month but 
 the sixth (Exod. xxiii, le). This portion of Leviticus 
 was, therefore, probably inserted into the history of the 
 march later than Exodus xii, 18, xiii, 4, but earlier than 
 Exodus xxiii, 10-17. 
 
 Part II. Chap, xxiv, 10-23. 
 
 These few verses contain the history of an Egyptian 
 brought before Moses for the crime of blasphemy. They 
 form a portion of the history of the march out of Egypt. 
 We must suppose that the first portion of Leviticus was 
 at some time inserted into the account of the march 
 before these verses ; and that, at a later time, the latter 
 portion was inserted after these verses ; and, lastly, 
 that when the two portions were taken away from the 
 account of the march, to form a book by themselves, 
 they carried away this portion of history with them. 
 
 Part III. Chap, xxv to the end. 
 
 This latter portion of Leviticus is far more modern 
 than the rest. Before it was written, slavery, which had 
 once been forbidden, had been introduced (xxv, 45, 46); 
 the temple had been not only built, but destroyed {see 
 xxvi, 31); the northern tribes had been carried into 
 captivity, and scattered among the heathen {see xxvi, 33). 
 
ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 25 
 
 Many of the cities had been fortified, and some had 
 been allotted to the Levites {see xxv, 29-32). A new 
 command is now also given that every seventh year is 
 to be a sabbath year ; and also a law as to the sale of 
 estates, that when sold they should return to their 
 owner at the end of forty-nine years (xxv, s). That the 
 ceremonial law was also at this time falling into less 
 regard, may be supposed from the phrase " uncircum- 
 cised hearts" (xxvi, 41). The same phrase is used in 
 Ezekiel xliv, 7. From all these circumstances, we may 
 suppose that this latter portion of Leviticus is more 
 modern than the Book of Deuteronomy, which was 
 published in the reign of Josiah, B. c. 624. 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 
 
 In this book the history of the march out of Egypt is 
 continued from Mount Sinai, where the Law was 
 delivered to Moses, to the east bank of the Jordan, 
 opposite to the town of Jericho. Like the Book of 
 Exodus, of which it is a continuation, it also contains 
 several later portions, chiefly laws, inserted in the form 
 of commands spoken either by the Almighty or by 
 Moses. These may be distinguished from the narrative 
 by their modern character. We will attempt to separate 
 the portions in the following manner : — 
 
 Part I. Tlie History of the March out of Egypt continued 
 at Chapter ix^from Exodus xxxiv, 35. 
 
 When the time of the year came round for the Pass- 
 over, the Israelites kept it at the foot of Mount Sinai, 
 as they had before been ordered ; and they then moved 
 forward on their journey on the twentieth day of the 
 second month of the second year. After several marches, 
 they encamped in the Desert of Paran (x, 12, continued 
 at 29). There their Midianite guide, the brother of 
 Moses's wife, refused to go any further with them ; tliey 
 were leaving his land, and he returned home (x, 32, 
 
2(5 ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 
 
 continued at xii, le). From the Desert of Paran, Moses 
 sent forward spies to view the promised land. They 
 went as far as Hebron, and after forty days returned to 
 Kadesli with a report of its richness, but of the fearful 
 size and power of its inhabitants (xiii, omitting 21, and 
 2?art of 22). The discouraged Israelites at first refused 
 to obey tlie command of Moses that they should attack 
 the Amorites, and as a punishment are told that they 
 shall wander in the desert for forty years. They after- 
 wards, against his command, attacked the Amalekites 
 and Canaanites, and were defeated (xiv, continued at xx). 
 At Kadesh, Miriam died; and there the people were 
 miraculousl}^ supplied with water from the rock. From 
 Kadesh, Moses sends messengers to ask leave of the 
 Edomites to pass through their land, but he was refused ; 
 and as the Israelites were not strong enough to force a 
 passage, tliey return to IMount Hor, and there Aaron 
 died (xx). From Mount Hor they turned by the Red 
 Sea to go round the land of Edom, wandering over a 
 wide track of unknown country, and thus reached Pisgah 
 in the land of ]\Ioab. There they were attacked by the 
 Amorites, Avliom they defeated (xxi, 25, continued at 32), 
 and they then encamped in the plains of Moab, on the 
 banks of the Jordan opposite Jericho (xxii, 1). 
 
 Part II. Chap, xxxiii, 1-49. 
 
 This portion seems as old as the history itself It is 
 a list of the places at which the Israelites stopped on 
 their journey from Rameses, in Egypt, to the plains of 
 Moab, on the banks of the Jordan. Kadesh, from 
 wdience the spies went forward, seems to be one day's 
 journey beyond Eziongeber, the well-known town at 
 the head of the Red Sea ; and it must be distinguished 
 from Kadesh Barnea, on the north of the Desert of 
 Sliur, VN'itli which it is confounded in the Book of 
 Deuteronomy. 
 
 Part HI. Modern Additions to the History. 
 
 According to the command of the Lord, Moses, in 
 Sinai, numbered the Israelites able to bear arms, and 
 
ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 27 
 
 found them 603,550 males above the age of twenty, 
 withou 1 counthig the Levites, who were appointed to 
 attend ^o the tabernacle (i). He then arranged the 
 order of the march (il). He appointed the Levites to 
 the office of the priesthood, and on numbering their 
 males, from one month old and upwards, found they 
 were 22,000 (iii). He appointed to the several families 
 of Levites their duties, and found there w^ere 8,580 
 between the ^^ears of thirty and fifty, the age at which 
 they were to do duty in the tabernacle (iv). He gave 
 the people several further laws about adultery (v), and 
 about those who aimed at perfect holiness, as Nazarites 
 (vi). The chiefs then made their offerings to the taber- 
 nacle of tlie Lord, which were waggons drawn by oxen, 
 dishes and bowls of silver, golden incense-pots, bullocks, 
 rams, kids, goats. Judah was the first tribe to make its 
 offering (vii). The Levites were then consecrated to 
 their duties, and ordered to perform them from the age 
 of twenty-five to fifty (viii). 
 
 Chap. X, 13-28. — The tribes marched forward, guard- 
 ing the tabernacle and the sanctuary, as arranged in 
 chap, ii, and in the order in which they made their 
 offerings in chap. vii. 
 
 Chap. X, 33. — xii, 15. — They travelled three days' 
 journey from the Blount of the Lord, and as the ark 
 moved, Moses said, " Rise up. Lord, and let thine 
 enemies be scattered" (x). 
 
 On the people murmuring at having nothing to eat 
 but manna, Moses appointed seventy elders to help him 
 in his government. Soon afterwards a flight of quails 
 was sent to feed them (xi). Aaron and Miriam called 
 in question Moses' authority, and Miriam was thereupon 
 punished with leprosy (xii, 15.) 
 
 [The description here given of the manna, that it was 
 like a hard seed, and required grinding, is very unlike 
 the earlier account given in Exodus xvi, where it is com- 
 pared to hoar frost, which melted away as the sun 
 grew hot. The figure of speech, " Is the Lord's hand 
 shortened," would seem borrowed from Isaiah 1, 2, or 
 lix, I.] 
 
28 ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 
 
 Chap, xlli, 21. — They searched the land from the 
 Desert of Zin unto Rehob, on the way to Hamath. 
 
 [Tliis declaration, that the spies went to the northern 
 limits of what was afterwards David's kingdom, is con- 
 tradicted by the next verse, which means that they 
 went only to Hebron at the southern limits of the land 
 of Canaan.] 
 
 Chap, xiii, part of 22. — Hebron was built seven years 
 before Zoan in Egypt. 
 
 [This fortifying of the city of Hebron, before named 
 Kirjath-Arba, took place in the reign of Reholjoam 
 i^see 2 Chron. xi, 10), about the time that Zoan or 
 Tanis became the capital of Egypt.] 
 
 Chap, xv-xix. — Various laws were given relating to 
 the offerings and to the blue fringes which the Israelites 
 were to wear on their garments (xv). Two hundred 
 and fifty men, headed by a Levite, rebelled against 
 Moses, and were miraculously punished (xvi) ; and the 
 priesthood was further confirmed to Aaron by his rod 
 budding (xvii). The rights and profits of the Levites 
 were fixed (xviii). Directions were given for making 
 the water of purification (xix). 
 
 Chap, xxi, 26-31. — These few verses, to explain that 
 Heshbon was the capital of the Amorites, contain eight 
 lines quoted from Jeremiah xlviii, 45-46. 
 
 Chap, xxii, 2. — xxiv. — The style of these chapters, 
 containing the history of Balaam, strongly marks them 
 as the work of another writer. The city of Petra is 
 mentioned by its Greek name (xxii, 5). Balaam's last 
 prophecy (xxiv, 14-24) is, that a king will arise in Jacob, 
 who will destroy the Moabites, the children of Seth, the 
 Edomites, and the Amalekites; that the Kenites of 
 Petra will be conquered by the Assyrians, who will 
 themselves be conquered by the Chittim. 
 
 [These last words of Balaam are, perhaps, the most 
 modern words in the Pentateuch. They were added in 
 praise of the Maccabce princes. Seth is an Egyptian 
 name for Satan, and by the children of Seth, the Sama- 
 ritans seem meant. Josephus calls them Cutheans. 
 The Assyrians here spoken of are the subjects of the 
 
ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 29 
 
 Persian monarchs; the Chittim are the Macedonians 
 under Alexander the Great.] 
 
 Chap. XXV, xxvi, and xxxi. — While dwelling among 
 the INIoabites and ^lidianites, on the east of the Jordan, 
 the Israelites were seduced into idolatry and fornication ; 
 whereupon they were ordered to destroy the Midianites, 
 for they "have distressed you by their wiles" (xxv). 
 Moses therefore numbered the people for war, and 
 found that the males, of twenty years of age and up- 
 wards, amounted to 601,730. Of the Levites, the males, 
 from one month and upwards, amounted to 23,000 (xxvi, 
 continued at xxxi). One thousand out of every tribe were 
 sent to the war, and they slew of the Midianites, every 
 man, every male child, and every grown-up woman, but 
 the girls, under the age of womanhood, they kept alive. 
 They divided the prisoners and spoil into two equal 
 parts, one part for those who went to battle, and one for 
 the rest of the Israelites. Of the former portion, one in 
 five hundred Avas given to the Levites, and of the latter 
 portion, one in fifty (xxxi). 
 
 Chap, xxvii, i-ii, a7id xxxvi. — A law was made in 
 favour of a powerful family of the tribe of Manasseh, that 
 if a man died without sons, the inheritance should be 
 divided among his daughters. And this was followed 
 by a second law, that heiresses should not marry 
 strangers, or carry the inheritance out of the tribe. 
 
 Chap, xxvii, 12-23. — Joshua was appointed by Moses 
 to be his successor. 
 
 Chap, xxviii, xxix. — Laws were made relating to the 
 several offerings ; the daily offerings, those for the Sab- 
 baths, the new moons, the passover in the first month, 
 and the great fiist and feast in the seventh month. 
 
 Chap. XXX. — Laws were made by Moses relating to 
 vows. 
 
 Chap, xxxil, xxxiii, 50-56, xxxiv, xxxv. — Land was 
 given to the tribe of Reuben, to the tribe of Gad, and to 
 the half of the tribe of Manasseh, on the east side of 
 the Jordan, with a command that they should help their 
 brethren to conquer and gain for themselves land on the 
 west side of the river. The other tribes were told that 
 
30 ON THE BOOK OF NOIBERS. 
 
 they should drive out the Canaanites, and tliat their boun- 
 daries should be from the entering in of Hamatli to the 
 Nile. Forty-eight cities were then given to the Levites, 
 and six of those appointed to be cities of refuge. 
 
 [The Book of Exodus and the Book of Numbers may 
 originally have been one history, and both written in 
 the time of the Judges, by the help of an earlier history 
 of the march out of Egypt ; and they both contain later 
 additions of various ages. But in this book, the want 
 of unity in the whole, and the want of agreement be- 
 ween the parts, is still more strongly marked than in 
 the former. The simple meeting of Moses wdth his 
 father-in-law, and his afterwards asking the help of his 
 Midianite a'uide, are in strange contrast with the march 
 of his army of 600,000 men, guarding their women 
 and children, as described in chap. i. The first may 
 have been written about the time of the events, and 
 made use of by the later writer in the time of Samuel ; 
 the second was added after the monarchy was esta- 
 blished. 
 
 The order in which the tribes encamped and marched 
 to battle may perhaps be that wdiich was established 
 under the monarchy, when the tribe of Judah was the 
 chief. The number of the men capable of bearing 
 arms would agree with a population of about four mil- 
 lions and a half, wdiich is double what w^e can believe 
 the country held in the time of Solomon or Jehoshaphat. 
 
 The appointment of a body of priests, called Levites, 
 who, in the Book of Leviticus, are called sons of Aaron, 
 is clearly more modern than the time of Samuel, and 
 was no doubt written after the time of Solomon. The 
 account of the costly gifts to the tabernacle also can- 
 not be more ancient than that reign. We find no sign 
 of such w^ealth in the time of Samuel, Saul, and David. 
 
 The war against the Midianites, in chap, xxxi, seems 
 a modern account of that successfully carried on by 
 Gideon, {see Judges vii, viii.) No other w^ar against that 
 people is known; and a comparison between the two 
 histories wall show how far more modern is this history 
 in the Book of Numbers.] 
 
31 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 JosiAH came to the throne of Jerusalem -when he was 
 eiglit years old, m the year B.C. 642. The quiet of his 
 childhood was undisturbed by foreign invasions; the 
 Assyrians on one side were engaged in ^var against the 
 rising Babylonians, and the Egyptians on the other 
 w^ere so far weakened by their civil wars, that for nine- 
 and-twenty years they were employed on the siege of 
 Azotus, which the Assyrian general defended without 
 supplies from home. During Josiah's minority the 
 country was governed by the priests ; and when he 
 came of age, and had to meet the assembled people as 
 their king, Hilkiah the high-priest, the father of Jere- 
 miah, produced to him from out of the temple the Book 
 of the Covenant — a Book of Law which had not been 
 before published. This we recognise, by the quotations 
 from it, as the Book of Deuteronomy. 
 
 Compare 2 Kings xxii, 13, w 
 
 " Enquire concerning the 
 words of this book that is 
 found, namely, 
 
 '• For great is the wrath of 
 the Lord that is kindled against 
 us, because our fathers have not 
 hearkened unto the words of 
 this book, to do according to all 
 which is written concerning us." 
 
 Compare also 2 Kings xxii, 
 
 " The words of this book 
 which the king of Judah hath 
 read, namely, 
 
 " Because ihey have forsaken 
 me, and have burned incense 
 unto other gods, that they might 
 provoke me to anger with all 
 the works of their hands ; there- 
 fore my wrath shall be kindled 
 iigainst this place, and shall not 
 be quenched." 
 
 ith Deut. xxviii, 45. 
 
 " Now all these curses shall 
 come upon thee, and shall pur- 
 sue thee, and overtake thee, 
 till thou be destroyed ; because 
 thou hearkenedst not unto the 
 voice of the Lord thy God, to 
 keep his commandments and his 
 statutes which he commanded 
 thee." 
 
 17, with Deut. xxix, 25-28. 
 
 " Because they have forsaken 
 the covenant of the Lord God 
 of their fathers, which he made 
 with them when he brought 
 them forth out of the land of 
 Egypt; for they went and 
 served other gods, and wor- 
 shipped them, gods Avhom they 
 knew not, and whom he had 
 not given unto them. And the 
 anger of the Lord was kindled 
 against this land, to bring upon 
 
32 OX THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 it all the curses that are written 
 in this hook. And the Lord 
 rooted them out of their land 
 in anger, and in wrath, and in 
 great indignation, and cast them 
 into another land, as it is this 
 day." 
 
 And compare 2 Kings xxii, 19, 20, with Deut. xxx, 2, 3. 
 
 " As touching the words that " And when thou shalt rc- 
 
 thou hast heard, namely, turn unto the Lord thy God, 
 
 " Because thine heart was and shalt obey his voice accord- 
 tender, and thou hast humbled ing to all that I command thee 
 thyself before the Lord, when this da}^, thou and thy children, 
 thou heardest Avhat I spake with all thme heart and with 
 against this place and against all thy soul ; that then the Lord 
 the inhabitants thereof, that thy God Avill turn thy captivity, 
 they should become a desola- and have compassion upon thee, 
 tion and a curse, and hast rent and will return and gather thee 
 thy clothes and w^ept before from all the nations, whither 
 me; I also have heard thee, the Lord thy God hath scattered 
 saith the Lord. Behold, there- thee." 
 fore, I will gather thee unto 
 thy fathers, and thou shalt be 
 gathered unto thy grave in 
 peace, and thine eyes shall not 
 see all the evil w^hich I wnll 
 bring upon this place." 
 
 In the same way the words of Deut. xxvi, I6, are quoted 
 in 2 Kings xxiii,3; of Deut. xvi, i, in 2 Kings xxiii, 21, 
 and of Deut. xviii, 10-12 in 2 Kings, xxiii, 24. 
 
 Hence we gain from the Book of Kings the informa- 
 tion that the Book of Deuteronomy was first published 
 in the year b. c. 624, by Hilkiah and Shaphan, and we 
 may reasonably suppose that they were the authors of it. 
 It bears no evidence of any greater antiquity. Those 
 parts which speak of older events seem to be taken 
 from the Books of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers. It 
 is written in the form of a speech made by Moses to 
 the assembled Israelites ; and as former additions to 
 the Law had been written in the form of speeches 
 in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, so this, which 
 was meant as a summary of the whole, a second edition 
 of the Law, as its Greek name means — this is a speech 
 spoken in Moab just before his death. 
 
ox THE liooK or deutehonomy. 33 
 
 Moses reminds the Israelites that, oa leaving Horeb, 
 he had set judges over the tribes; that thej went to 
 Kadesh Barnea, near the land of the Amorites ; that 
 they sent forward spies to view the promised land, but 
 they themselves disobediently refused to go up and 
 possess tlie land ; and then returned towards the Red 
 Sea (chap, i); that they then made a circuit round 
 Edom, and then round Moab, and after journeying for 
 thirty-eight years, they conquered the land between the 
 river Arnon and Gilead (ii) ; that they then defeated 
 the king of Bashan and conquered Gilead; and that 
 he ^himself had been told by God that he was only to 
 see the promised land from a distance (iii). He orders 
 them to be obedient to the Ten Commandments, and 
 prophesies that they will be disobedient, and that as a 
 punishment they will be carried into captivity by the 
 heathen. But he adds that, if they then in their trouble 
 turn to the Lord, he will not forget them. He then 
 sets apart three cities, on the east of the Jordan, as 
 places of refuge for the man-slayer, namely, Bezer in 
 the southern desert, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan in 
 Bashan (iv). 
 
 He repeats the Ten Commandments, and exhorts the 
 people to obedience (v, vi). He orders them utterly to 
 destroy the seven nations that they will meet when they 
 cross the Jordan (vii, viii) ; but tells them that those 
 nations will be conquered as a punishment because 
 they have been wicked, not because the Israelites were 
 righteous ; and reminds them of their disobedience in 
 Horeb (ix). He says that in Horeb the Levites had been 
 set apart for the service of the Ark ; and orders them to 
 circumcise their hearts, to be just to the fatherless and 
 widows, and to love the stranger (x). He tells them that 
 they shall hold the whole country between the Desert 
 and Mount Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the sea (xi), 
 and orders them to bring their offerings to the place 
 which the Lord shall choose for his habitation. When 
 eating meat, they are to abstain from the blood, and 
 not to forget the Levite (xii.) They are to stone to 
 death prophets that ask them to turn to other gods. 
 
34 ON THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 even if they work miracles (xiii). They are not to cut 
 their flesh ; they are not to eat unclean animals ; and 
 they are to carry their tithes to the place which God 
 shall choose for his dwelling (xiv). They are to release 
 their debtors at the end of the seventh year (xv.) They 
 are to keep the three great Feasts ; the Passover in the 
 month of Abib, the Feast of Weeks at harvest-time, 
 and the Feast of Tabernacles after the vintage, at which 
 times every male is to appear before the Lord in the 
 place which he shall choose for his dwelling ; and they 
 are to plant no grove near the altar of the Lord (xvi.) 
 
 When they choose for themselves a king, he is not 
 to be a foreigner, nor is he to have many horses nor 
 many wives, and he is to keep a copy of this book and 
 read therein all the days of his life (xvii). The Levites- 
 are to be maintained ; the people are to hearken unto 
 the prophets whom the Lord will raise up; but false 
 prophets are to be put to death (xviii). When they 
 conquer the promised land, they are to set apart three 
 other cities of refuge (xix). When they conquer cities- 
 at a distance, they are to spare the women and children, 
 but of the nations within the land they are to leave 
 nothing alive. Timber trees may be cut down for a 
 siege, but not fruit trees (xx). Cities are to make 
 sacrifices for blood that has been shed ; foreign wives, 
 when put away, may not be sold as slaves : stubborn 
 sons may be stoned to death (xxi). The house wall is 
 to have a battlement, lest anything fall from the roof 
 (xxii). Ammonites and Moabites shall not enter into 
 the congregation of the Lord till the tenth genera- 
 tion ; but Edomites and Egyptians in the third fxxiii). 
 The Lord has made a covenant with them, that they 
 shall have him for their God, and he Avill have them for 
 liis peculiar people (xxvi). When they conquer the 
 land, the curses of the Law are to be delivered on 
 Mount Ebal, and the blessings on Mount Gerizim 
 (xxvii). He again says, that if they do not obey the 
 Law, they and their children and their king will be 
 carried into captivity (xxviii). They will be destroyed 
 if they keep not the covenant which their fathers made 
 
ox THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 35 
 
 with the Lord (xxix); but if they turn again to the 
 Lord, the Lord will again rejoice over them fxxx). 
 
 Moses then wrote this law in a book, and delivered 
 it to the Levites, with a command that it should be read 
 every seventh year at the Feast of Tabernacles, in the 
 place which the Lord shall choose for his habitation. 
 Lie encourages Joshvia to be strong against his enemies 
 fxxxi) ; and he teaches the people a psalm, setting 
 forth God's promises of reward and punishment (xxxii). 
 He adds a blessing on the several tribes of Israel 
 (xxxiii) ; and then dies on Mount Nebo, in the land of 
 Moab (xxxiv). 
 
 [The history of the march of the Israelites here varies 
 from that in the older books ; for, besides mistaking 
 Kadesh, near Ezion-geber, for Kadesh-Barnea, near the 
 land of the Amorites, the writer makes the refusal to 
 enter the promised land, and the return southward, an 
 act of disobedience to the command of Moses ; and of 
 course omits their being stopped by the Edomites, as 
 that could not have been the case when they had 
 reached Kadesh-Barnea. When this book was written, 
 the nation was living under a race of kings, and the 
 Levites were enjopng full power. That the Moabites 
 should be spoken of with greater severity than the 
 Edomites, marks the date of the book as after that of 
 Ruth, because no blame is there thrown upon David 
 for being descended from a Moabitess, and after the 
 war against Moab, in the reign of Jehoshaphat. The 
 words " circumcise your hearts" belong to the age of 
 the prophets, when the ceremonial law was less valued. 
 Words out of the Book of Deuteronomy are several 
 times used by the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote about 
 the same time or a little later. Thus Jer. (xi, 4,) calls 
 Egypt " the iron furnace," as it is called in Dent, iv, 20. 
 In chap, xi, 8, he says, that for their disobedience the 
 Lord will bring upon Israel " all the words of this cove- 
 nant," — referring to the curses in Dent, xxviii, 15, 
 xxix. 1, which are there called the " words of the cove- 
 nant." But some parts of this book seem added in the 
 time of the captivity in Babylon, such as the mention of 
 
 D 2 
 
36 ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 their king being taken away as prisoner, in chap, xxviii. 
 Hence, it is not impossible that in the passages last 
 spoken of, the writer of this book may have borrowed 
 thoughts from Jeremiah.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 The Book of Joshua is the history of the conquest of 
 the land of Canaan by the Israelites. It begins with 
 the death of INIoses, and ends with the death of the 
 general from whom it takes its name. Its date and 
 author are alike unknown. It is not only short, but 
 very incomplete. It wants many particulars that might 
 help us to understand the course of events. It is 
 written in continuation of the march out of Egypt, 
 and its events are followed up in the Book of Judges. 
 But these books are very far from helping us satisfac- 
 torily over what we must call the dark ages of Hebrew 
 history — the two hundred years between the clear 
 account of the march of the Israelites out of Egypt, 
 and the election of Saul as king. The Book of Joshua 
 also contains a full geographical survey of the country. 
 
 The first eleven chapters are the history of the war. 
 They begin with the passage of the Jordan and the 
 encampment at Gilgal ; the blockade and taking of 
 Jericho : the defeat at Ai, near Bethel ; and then the 
 conquest of that town. No resistance on the march 
 northward is mentioned; and Joshua then sets up an 
 altar to Jehovah on Mount Ebal, as Moses had com- 
 manded, and carves on it the Commandments ; and 
 while one-half of the congregation stands near Mount 
 Ebal, and the other half near the neighbouring Mount 
 Gerizim, he reads the blessings and cursings of the Law. 
 
 The Gibeonites who dwell near Ai and Jericho make 
 peace with the conquering Israelites, but nevertheless 
 get condemned to perpetual bondage. The little kings 
 of the more southern parts of the land, — namely, of 
 Jerusalem, of Hebron, of Jarmuth, of Lachish, and of 
 Eti-lon, — march northward against Joshua, and are 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 37 
 
 defeated by liim in a great battle near Gilgal. By this 
 one decisive action the power of the Canaanites is put 
 down. He then overruns the southern half of Canaan, 
 as far as Gaza and Kadesh-Barnea, without, however, 
 being able to take the strong cities of the Philistines. 
 Afterwards is more shortly stated the conquest of the 
 northern half of the country. 
 
 The twelfth chapter contains a list of the kings of 
 Canaan whom Joshua had defeated in battle. 
 
 The next seven chapters describe the division of tlie 
 land among the conquerors, and the boundaries of the 
 twelve tribes, of which two and a half settle on the east 
 side of the Jordan, and nine and a half within the land 
 of Canaan, on the west side of the Jordan. The taber- 
 nacle is set up at Shiloh, which becomes the religious 
 capital, while Gilgal remains the military capital. Some 
 tribes and cities are mentioned which were unconquered, 
 or which paid tribute to be allowed to keep their 
 possessions. 
 
 The twentieth chapter describes the appointment of 
 six cities of refuge for men guilty of manslaughter. 
 
 The twenty-first chapter contains a list of the cities 
 with their suburbs, held by the Levites, which list 
 includes tlie cities of refuge. 
 
 The last three chapters contain the dismissal home- 
 ward of the tribes that live on the east of the Jordan, 
 who are sent back after they have helped their brethren 
 to the conquest of the land of Canaan. Lastly, the tribes 
 are assembled at Shechem, a second religious capital at 
 the foot of Mount Ebal ; and Joshua, before he dies, 
 exhorts them to continue to serve the Lord, according 
 to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. 
 
 [It is not easy to form an opinion of the date of a 
 book which certainly had additions made to it after the 
 chief part was written. We must necessarily form 
 some conjectural division of such a book into its earlier 
 and its latter parts. Li this way, if we may suppose 
 tliat a small portion is a later addition after the division 
 of the kingdom, we shall see reasons for thinking that 
 the greater part of the book was written in the very 
 bemnnino- of David's reicn. 
 
38 - OX THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 It was written before Epliraim liad lost its rank as 
 tlie chief tribe, wliile the cities of Ephraim, namely, 
 Gilgal, Shiloh, and Shechem, were yet the capitals ; 
 before the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and 
 Judah, and the controversy about Mount Ebal and 
 Mount Gerizim, which is shown in Deut, xxvii, 12, 1.3, 
 (see chap, viii, 33) ; and before Gezer was conquered in 
 the reign of Solomon (xvi, 10). On the other hand, it 
 was written after the Canaanites had been made to 
 pay tribute (xvi, 10, xvii, 13); and after the death of 
 Saul, as the writer quotes the poetical Book of Jasher 
 (x, 13), which was not written before the death of Saul 
 and Jonathan {see 2 Samuel i, 19-27). It is from the 
 Book of Jasher that the writer quotes the description of 
 the sun and moon standing still while the battle was 
 fought near Gilgal. 
 
 It is in the chapters describing the territories of the 
 twelve tribes and the Levites, that we find some parts 
 that we must take for modern additions. These are, 
 1st, the allotment given to the tribe of Judah, chap. 
 XV ; 2nd, the list of cities belonging to the tribe of 
 Benjamin, chap, xviii, 21, to the end ; and, 3rd, the list 
 of cities given to the Levites, chap. xxi. 
 
 The A'ery large portion of land here given to the 
 tribe of Judah, including the territory of Simecm and 
 part of the territory of Dan, marks an importance 
 which that tribe had no claim to before it became the 
 royal tribe in the reign of David, and which it did not 
 gain till after the division of the kingdom. The Phi- 
 listine cities of Gaza and Ashdod had not been included 
 in the portions given to Simeon and Dan ; but when 
 these two tribes sunk into the tribe of Judah, the Phi- 
 listines were conquered and their cities included within 
 Judea. Moreover, the northern boundary of Judah 
 divides the portion of Dan by a line which would seem 
 taken for military reasons ; which was natural after the 
 two halves of the kingdom had been engaged in civil 
 war; but before the division of the kingdom it is pro- 
 bable that Judah would have swallowed up either the 
 whole of Dan or none. Indeed, this chapter is clearly 
 
ON TIIE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 39 
 
 written after the conquest of Jerusalem, and after the 
 tribe of Benjamin, in which that capital stood, had lost 
 its own name and formed part of the kingdom of Judah; 
 as we are told that the Jebusites dwell with the children 
 of Judah in Jerusalem unto this day (xv, cs). Lastly, 
 the Egyptian river is in this chapter twice called by its 
 common name, the Nile, while in the older part of the 
 book it is called by its less usual name, tlie Sihor (xiii,3.) 
 
 Yerse 9 of chap, xix, forms part of this addition. 
 It says that the territory of Simeon formed part of the 
 territory of Judah, and was only given to Simeon 
 because the tribe of Judah was not then numerous 
 enough to occupy it. 
 
 The list of cities belonging to the tribe of Benjamin 
 (xviii, 21-28) may also be a later edition, after that tribe 
 had risen with Judah into greater importance. It fol- 
 lows after the writer had described the boundaries of 
 the tribe, and after he had ended with the words used 
 in the case of the other tribes : " This was the inherit- 
 ance of the children of Benjamin." Indeed the greater 
 part of the names of cities must be counted among the 
 additions because of the partiality with which the lists 
 were formed. The cities of Ephraim, Manasseh, and 
 Gad, the middle tribes, are for the most part omitted, 
 while those of Benjamin and Judah in the south, and 
 Naphtali and Zebulon in the north, with their depen- 
 dent tribes, are enumerated in fall. 
 
 The twenty-first chapter, also, which contains the 
 list of the cities belonging to the Levites, must be a 
 later addition. For the writer has said that at the 
 division of the conquered country no possessions in 
 land were given to the Levites, or had been promised 
 by Moses, but " the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel 
 made by fire are their inheritance" (xiii, 14). And so 
 we find it written in the Book of Numbers, chap, xviii, 
 24, " The tithes of the children of Israel I have given 
 to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said unto 
 them. Among the children of Israel they shall have no 
 inheritance." Moreover, among the Levitical cities we 
 find Gezer, which was not conquered from the Canaan- 
 
40 OX THE BOOK or JOSHUA. 
 
 ites till Solomon's reign. Thus this list of Levitical 
 cities could not have been made till some time after 
 Solomon. 
 
 These remarks are enough to establish two dates for 
 the Book of Joshua, one shortly before the conquest of 
 Jerusalem from the Jebusites, perhaps 200 years after 
 the death of Joshua, and the other still later, after the 
 division of the kingdom in the reign of Rehoboam. 
 But even in what we have called the older part, there 
 are sentences that must have been added by the later 
 editor. Such are the words, " from all the mountains 
 of Judah and from all the mountains of Israel " (xi, 21) ; 
 as Judah and Israel never meant different parts of the 
 country before the revolt against Rehoboam. Such 
 also is Joshua's saying that the Gibeonites are to be 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water " for the House 
 of my God" (ix, 2.3). This must have been written 
 after the temple was built by Solomon. 
 
 The learned J. H. Hettinger, in his Exercitationes 
 Anti-MorhiiancB, informs us that in the library at Ley- 
 den there is a copy of the Samaritan Book of Joshua ; 
 and he adds a very short epitom.e of its contents. In 
 part it is the same as our Hebrew Book, with many 
 additions. But until that MS. is published at length, 
 any comparison of the two is incomplete and of little 
 value. 
 
 In Dent, xxvii, 4, and in Jos. viii, 30, the Israelites 
 are commanded to build an altar to the Lord, as the 
 Hebrew says, on Mount Ebal, which is formed of white 
 barren crags; but as the Samaritan says, on Mount 
 Gerizim, which is a fertile hill, covered with cheerful 
 green. The Samaritans acted upon the commands of 
 their own bible, which is certainly supported by the 
 appearance of the two hills, as well as by other parts of 
 the history, which are the same in both bibles, and tell 
 us, in Deut. xi, 29, and xxvii, 12, that the curses were 
 pronounced from the barren Mount Ebal and the 
 blessings from the cheerful Mount Gerizim. The two 
 readings in the passages first quoted were a cause of 
 quarrels between tlie tAvo nations for many centuries. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 41 
 
 The chief historical difficulty in tlie Book of Joshua 
 is, that the writer describes the tribes that conquer 
 Canaan as all members of the families that marched 
 out of Egypt under Moses. He does not say that 
 these wanderers from Goshen w^ere joined on the east 
 side of the Jordan by any others of the same race. 
 Nor does he say that when they crossed the Jordan 
 they found any large number of inhabitants of their 
 own blood and language, already dwelling among the 
 people that spoke the Canaanite languages, and whom 
 they came to conquer. But the Book of Genesis 
 enables us to supply Avhat is here wanting. The 
 crowded state of Mesopotamia, which drove Abraham 
 to move his wealth and flocks and servants into Canaan, 
 no doubt drove many others of the same nation to look 
 for new homes in the same direction. For several 
 centuries there was this migration westward from 
 Mesopotamia. Therefore it is impossible to doubt but 
 that when Moses and his followers arrived in the plains 
 of Moab, on the east of the Dead Sea, he was joined 
 by numbers who called him their countryman. These 
 new allies would form part of his army in the attack on 
 the Amorites and Bashanites. They would also follow 
 Joshua and Caleb across the Jordan for the invasion of 
 Canaan; and they perhaps formed part of the three 
 tribes whom Joshua sent back again to their homes 
 on the east of the Jordan, with thanks for their help 
 (xxii, 4). In the same w^ay we may suppose that, besides 
 the despised Gibeonites, there were many other settlers in 
 Canaan who Avelcomed Joshua's invasion, and joined 
 his armies against the Canaanites, putting themselves 
 under the command of those who had come out of 
 Egypt. Thus was the settlement of the country assisted. 
 As in the case of the rapid conquests by Alexander the 
 Great and by Mahomet's successors, that portion of the 
 population wdiich was before in bondage rose at once in 
 rank and into the historian's notice by the success of 
 invaders of the same race with themselves. This book 
 seems to be quoted in Isaiah xxxiv, I6, where the writer 
 speaks of the division of the land among the tribes.] 
 
42 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 
 
 The Book of Judges contains the liistoiy of the 
 Israelites after their conquest of Canaan, and while 
 the J were divided into twelve tribes witli no central 
 government. It wants that clearness and chrono- 
 lomcal arrano;ement wliicli we seldom find but in the 
 history of a monarchy. Its history follows that of the 
 Book of Joshua ; but it was not written in continuation 
 of that book, as it is the older writing of the two. It 
 is rather several distinct histories than one. Each 
 belongs to only a part of the country and to three or 
 four of the tribes, and they must be considered 
 separately. 
 
 Chap, i mentions the death of Joshua, and then the 
 alliance between the tribes of Simeon and Judah. It 
 enumerates some of the cities which the tribes on 
 the west side of the Jordan were imable wholly to 
 conquer. 
 
 With chap, ii the book begins again, and this time 
 before the death of Joshua. An angel tells the Israel- 
 ites that they have disobeyed God's orders in making- 
 treaties w^ith the Canaanites and in worshipping their 
 idols; so God will not drive out their enemies before 
 them. Joshua then dies, and is buried in the mountains 
 of Ephraim. The tribes are enumerated whom the Is- 
 raelites are unable to drive out (iii, e). Then are men- 
 tioned the several neighbouring nations that oppressed 
 parts of the country. 
 
 (1.) First, the children of Israel did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, and therefore he allowed the King of Syria 
 to overrun the land from north even to the south, 
 where Othniel, Caleb's nephew, dwelt. They served the 
 Syrians for eight years, and then the land had rest for 
 forty years (iii, ii). 
 
 (2.) Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, and the Ephraimites round Jericho, toge- 
 ther with the tribe of Reuben, on the east of the Jordan, 
 ^vere held in servitude by the Moabites for eighteen 
 
ox THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 43 
 
 years. They are released by Ehud, of the tribe of 
 Benjamin, -svho helped the Ephraimites ; and the land 
 had rest for eighty years. 
 
 About that time Shamgar delivered the southern 
 tribes from the oppression of the Philistines who had 
 overrun them (iii). 
 
 (3.) And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord, and the Canaanites, whose king dwelt at 
 Hazor, held the northern tril^es in servitude for twenty 
 years. The king of Hazor was defeated, and Sisera, 
 his general, was slain, while Deborah, the prophetess 
 or poet, ruled in IsraeL Then the land had rest for 
 forty years (v, 3i). 
 
 (4.) And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord, and the Midianites, and Amalekites, and 
 people of the East invaded the country, and oppressed 
 it for seven years. They marched southward, even as 
 far as Gaza. The Israelites retired to the mountains. 
 The great body of the Midianites had crossed the Jordan 
 near Gilead, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. 
 Gideon of Ophrah, in Manasseh, took the field against 
 them. He summoned help from Asher, and Zebulon, 
 and Naphtali, and defeated them. The writer adds the 
 tradition that the rocks of Oreb and Zeeb, near Ophrah, 
 were so named after the two leaders of the Midianites, 
 then slain (vii). Gideon drove the Midianites across 
 the Jordan and into their own country; and then the 
 land had rest for forty years (viii). After his death, 
 Abimelech, one of his sons, slew his brethren and made 
 himself king at Shechem, the capital of Ephraim. He 
 reigned for three years, when the men of Shechem 
 rebelled against him ; and though he at first defeated 
 them, he was soon defeated and slain (ix). After his 
 death, Tola was judge over Israel in Ephraim for 
 twenty-three years, and then Jair of Gilead was judge 
 for twenty-two years (x, s). 
 
 (5.) And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord, and served idols, and they were delivered into 
 the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites. The 
 Ammonites oppressed the Israelites on the cast of the 
 Jordan for eiirhteen years. Thev also crossed the Jor- 
 
44 ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 
 
 dan to fight against Judali, and Benjamin, and Epliraim 
 (x.). Then Jephthah of Gilead, who had been living in 
 the land of Tob, near Damascus, delivered his countr}^- 
 men, and defeated the Ammonites, and drove them 
 beyond the mountains. Before the battle, he made a 
 vow that he would slay, as a burnt-offermg to God, 
 Avhatsoever he should first meet as he returned home. 
 Pie returned home a conqueror, to be ruler of Gilead 
 and judge of Israel ; and his daughter, his only child, 
 came out to wish him joy. He allowed her two months 
 to mourn, and then slew her according to his vow (xi). 
 
 This success of the people of Gilead against the enemy 
 gave them a weight among the tribes which made 
 Ephraim jealous. They accordingly crossed the Jordan 
 and invaded Gilead. But they were beaten by Jephthah, 
 and he reached the ford of the Jordan before them to 
 cut them off on their retreat. The guard at the passage 
 asked every man to pronounce the word Shibboleth ; 
 and whoever said Sibboleth was known to be an 
 Ephraimite, and slain accordingly, Jephthah judged 
 Israel for six years. After him, Ibzan judged for seven 
 years. He was a native of Bethlehem, no doubt the 
 town of that name in Zebulon. Then Elon of Zebulon 
 judged Israel for ten years. Then Abdon of Ephraim 
 judged Israel for eight years (xii). 
 
 (6.) And the children of Israel did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, and the land was delivered into the hands 
 of the Philistines for forty years. During this time, 
 Samson made his heroic struggles against the Philistines 
 of the city of Gaza, in behalf of his countrymen of Dan 
 and Judah (xvi). 
 
 The book ends with two pieces of history which are 
 wholly separate from the rest. 
 
 First, in those days when there was no king in Israel, 
 a man of Ephraim made for himself idols, and conse- 
 crated one of his sons to be his priest. Afterwards he 
 hired a Levite of the family of Judah from Bethlehem 
 to be his priest; and then he trusted that the Lord 
 would take care of him (xvii). About that time, the 
 tribe of Dan, finding its lands between Benjamin and 
 the coast too narrow for their numbers, sent a party 
 
ox THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 45 
 
 northward to seize other lands from the Canaanites. In 
 passmg through Ephraim they took with them the 
 before-mentioned Levite as their adviser and priest ; 
 and they were successful in turning out the inhabitants, 
 and making themselves masters of a district at the foot 
 of Mount Lebanon (xviii). 
 
 The second is of the war betw^een the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin and the rest of the Israelites, also in the days 
 when there was no king in Israel. A certain Levite 
 went up from Ephraim to Judah to fetch his wdfe. As 
 they returned home through Benjamin she was ill- 
 treated by the men of that tribe, whereupon he slew 
 her to mark his anger against them (xix). When the 
 Israelites next met in general assembly at Mizpeh, this 
 Levite told them of the wrong done him ; and to avenge 
 him, the people destroyed the cities of Benjamin, and 
 put to death the whole of the tribe, men, women, and 
 children, except six hundred men wdio fled to Mount 
 Kimmon (xx). The Israelites had sworn that no one 
 should give his daughter unto a Benjamite to wife. 
 But they afterwards repented, lest one tribe should be 
 w^anting to Israel. To supply the Benjamites with 
 wives, they attacked the town of Jabesh in Gilead, and 
 slew every soul, except four hundred young women, 
 and then sent the Benjamites to find two hundred more 
 young women, by carrying off that number by force 
 from the feast at Shiloh (xxi). 
 
 [These last two portions of the book form no part of 
 the continuous history. The same may be said of the 
 next book, the Book of Ruth. The history of the 
 Judges is continued in the Book of Samuel. 
 
 To determine the chronology we must have regard to 
 the geography, and we shall see that the wars here 
 mentioned do not always belong to the wdiole of the 
 Israelites. The invasion from Syria (iii, 8) overran the 
 ti'ibes on the west of the Jordan, both in the north and 
 in the south, probably at the same time that the 
 Moabites (iii, 12) conquered Reuben on the east of the 
 Jordan, and the INIidianites (vi, 1) conquered Ephraim. 
 This was the first general invasion. Tlie Canaanites of 
 Hazor (iv) conquered only the northern tribes o 
 
46 ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 
 
 Galilee. This was at a later period, probably at the 
 same time with that invasion of* the Philistines which 
 was checked by Shamgar (iii, 3i). The invasion also- 
 of the Ammonites and Philistines at the same time (x, 7, 
 and xiii, i) made a second general invasion. Thus the 
 six portions of the book, each beginning with the words, 
 ** The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the 
 Lord," may be arranged in four separate chronological 
 tables, each representing the same period of time*. 
 Taking the history of Ephraim and Manasseh, we have 
 (vi, i-x, 5) : 
 
 (4.) Servitude under the Midianites ... 7 years. 
 
 Rest under Gideon 40 
 
 Abimelech reigned 3 
 
 Tola judged 23 
 
 Jair judged 22 
 
 INIaking a total of . . . 95 years 
 before the second general invasion. Then 
 follows (chap. X, 6-xii, 15) : 
 (5.) Servitude under the Ammonites 
 Jephthah judged 
 Ibzan judged .... 
 Elon judged .... 
 Abdon judged .... 
 
 18 years, 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 10 
 
 Making a great total of . 144 years. 
 For the north-western tribes, Issachar, Zebulon, Asher, 
 and Naphtali, we have a second table of chronology 
 (chap, iii, 8-v, 3i): 
 
 (1.) Servitude under the Syrians . . . 8 years. 
 
 Rest under Othniel 40 
 
 (3.) Servitude under Canaan (chap, iv) . . 20 
 Deborah's rest 40 
 
 Making a total of . . . 108 years 
 before the invasion of the Ammonites and others. This 
 period was 95 years in the former Table. 
 
 For Reuben we have a third table of chronology 
 (chap, iii, 12-30) : 
 
 (2.) Servitude under the Moabites . . . .18 years. 
 Rest 80 
 
 !Making a total of . . .98 years 
 "before the invasion of the Ammonites and others. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 47 
 
 For Benjamin and Judali we have a less complete 
 chronology: thus (chap, iii, 7-11): 
 
 (1.) Servitude under the Syrians .... 8 years. 
 Eest under Othniel 40 
 
 (6.) Servitude under Philistines, and . . . — 
 Rest under Shamgar (chap. iii. 31) . . — 
 
 Servitude under the Philistines (during which 
 Samson judged 20 years, chap, xiii-xvi.) . 40 
 
 Thus the whole time from Joshua's death to the end 
 of this book may have been about 150 years, divided 
 into two periods by the second great invasion. Our first 
 Table contains both periods. Our second and third con- 
 tain only the first period. The last table seems to con- 
 tain both periods ; but it is incomplete, and must be filled 
 lip by conjecture. 
 
 It seems probable that the forty years daring which 
 the southern half of the land was overrun by the Phi- 
 listines, as mentioned in chap, xiii., and during half of 
 which Samson was fio-htino; against them in the neicj-h- 
 bourhood of Askelon, include also the wars between 
 Ephraim and the Philistines mentioned in 1 Samuel, iv. 
 As Eli the priest was hardly to be counted among the 
 Judges, Samuel probably succeeded Abdon. Saul and 
 David followed as kings. If, therefore, we allow eighty- 
 five years to the last three, and David died in the year 
 B.C. 1015, then the Book of Judges ends in the year 
 B.C. 1100, and begins with Joshua's death about B.C. 
 1250, and the Exodus took place about B.C. 1300. 
 
 In this way, from the Exodus to the building of the 
 temple in the fourth year of Solomon's reign is 289 
 years. If, instead of considering the periods of time in 
 part contemporaneous, we had added them altogether, 
 we should have had about the 480 years mentioned in 
 1 Kings vi 1. But the above calculation is fully con- 
 firmed by the genealogies. Moses was fourth in descent 
 from Jacob. David was eleventh in descent. There- 
 fore, from the death of Moses to the death of David, 
 at thirty-five years for a generation, is 245 years, and 
 from the Exodus to David's death 285 years, agreeably 
 to the former result. Tlie whole ari>;ument will be 
 
48 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 
 
 made more clear by the following General Chronological 
 Table : — 
 
 11 
 
 •-a 
 
 ;2w 
 
 
 
 CM 
 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 49 
 
 Chap. i. of the Book of Judges has several marks of 
 being more modern than most other parts of the book. 
 First, it calls the father-in-law of Moses a Kenite, 
 whereas he was called a Midianite in the Books of 
 Exodus and Numbers. Secondly, it describes the 
 Amorites as living between the going-up of Akrabbim, 
 and the city of Selah or Petra, whereas in chap, xi, the 
 Amorites dwell to the north-east of Moab. Thirdly, 
 the mention of the rock city of Selah or Petra, and the 
 calling the mountain heights to the south of the Dead 
 Sea by their Greek name of Akrabbim or Akrabattene 
 are peculiarities far more modern than the greater part of 
 this book, which is among the oldest in the Bible. 
 
 So also the larger and poetical parts of chap, iv, v, 
 including the history and song of Deborah, have been 
 added after the rest was written. Here, also, Moses's 
 father-in-law is called a Kenite. Here the remarkable 
 Avords, " Lead thy captivity captive," seem borrow^ed 
 from the prophecy of Amos i, 5. For the rest this book 
 must rank next in age to the history of the march out 
 of Egypt in Exodus and Numbers, and as far older than 
 the Book of Joshua.] 
 
 01^ THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 When David rose, from keeping his father's flocks, to- 
 be Saul's son-in-law and afterwards king of Israel, it 
 was natural for his admiring countrymen to value and 
 record any traditions which related to his family. Such 
 was the history of Ruth, his great-grandmother. And 
 it is highly honourable to the writer, and the people for 
 wdiom he wrote, to observe that the purpose of the 
 history is not to declare her noble rank or high birth, 
 but to tell us that she was a poor woman, a foreigner, 
 an idolatress, a widow almost without friends, but of 
 blameless life and a pattern of womanly virtues. 
 
 Ruth was a native of Moab on the further side of the 
 Jordan, who had in her own country married a Jew 
 
 E 
 
50 ON THE BOOK OF RUTH. 
 
 from Betlileliem in Judea. On his death her motlier- 
 in-law returns home, and Ruth affectionately follows 
 her, saying, " Intreat me not to leave thee ; for whither 
 thou goest I will go ; thy people shall be my people, 
 and thy God my God." There, while gleaning after 
 the reapers at harvest-time, she gains the notice of 
 Boaz, a wealthy member of her late husband's family, 
 who hears of her dutiful behaviour, and tells his 
 servants to " let her glean among the sheaves and 
 reproach her not, and to let fall some handfuls on pur- 
 pose for her, and leave them that she may glean them." 
 Boaz, though not a young man, shortly afterwards 
 offers to marry her, but first calls upon her husband's 
 next of kin to renounce his right to her hand. This 
 Boaz was obliged to do by the law described in Deu- 
 teronomy (chap. XXV, 5-10), which regulated the 
 marriage of an heiress, because Ruth, though in poverty, 
 would carry with her to her new husband the claim to 
 a family estate which had belonged to her late husband, 
 but which was of no value in money, because it had 
 passed by mortgage into other hands and must be 
 repurchased before possession of it could be obtained. 
 
 The ceremony by which the nearer kinsman re- 
 nounced his prior right to redeem the mortgaged estate, 
 is carefully described as having gone out of use before 
 the book was written. Boaz called upon him to buy 
 the estate and marry Ruth, the young widow ; this he 
 refused to do, and in the presence of ten witnesses he 
 took off his shoe and presented it to Boaz, the second of 
 kin, in token that he gave him liberty to take upon 
 himself the rights which had belonged to the first 
 of kin. 
 
 The fruit of this marriage between Boaz of Bethlehem 
 in Judea, and Ruth the Moabitess, was Obed, the 
 grandfather of King David. " And the women said 
 unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left 
 thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be 
 famous in Israel." 
 
 The sweetness of Ruth's character, her attachment to 
 her mother-in-law, their praiseworthy behaviour in 
 
ox THE BOOK OE EUTII. 51 
 
 poverty and their rural way of life, are described with 
 XI simplicity which approaches the sublime. The book 
 was written in the reign of David, or not long after, at 
 any rate, before her being a Moabitess was made a 
 reproach, as it was in the Book of Deuteronomy (xxiii, 3. 
 JSee also Ezra ix, i, 2). 
 
 ON THE FIEST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 This book contains two histories blended together, in 
 such a manner, that while in the beginning they may 
 be easily separated, towards the end the task is less 
 easy. The first has a priestly bias, and is no doubt the 
 Book of Samuel mentioned in 1 Chron. xxix, 29. It 
 contains the history of the prophet's life, and his govern- 
 ment of Israel, his willing appointment of Saul to be 
 king, his being afterwards displeased with Saul, and 
 his anointing David to be his successor. The other 
 history has a more political character, and may be part 
 of the Book of Gad, spoken of in 1 Chron. xxix, 29. In 
 it Saul is made king and general by the choice of the 
 people, in opposition to Samuel's earnest remonstrance ; 
 .and David afterwards in the same way gains his rank 
 with the army, not because the prophet anointed him, 
 but because he defeated the Philistine champion. After- 
 wards we have two accounts of Saul's first seeing David, 
 two accounts of David's earning a wife by his bravery, 
 two accounts of Saul's hurling his javelin at David, and 
 two accounts of David's deserting to the Philistines; 
 but it is not so certain to which book they each belong. 
 The story of Samuel being raised from the dead by tlie 
 witch of Endor, and Saul's death, belong to the Book of 
 Samuel. The two Histories may perhaps be divided in 
 the following manner ; — 
 
 Part I. The History of Samuel and of his making Saul 
 and David kings. 
 When Eli and his sons were priests of the Lord and 
 Judges of Israel in Shiloh, the capital of Ephraim, 
 
 E 2 
 
52 ON THE FinST BOOK OF SxVMULL. 
 
 Samuel was born at Ramali in Benjamin ; and liis mother 
 brought him to Eli as soon as he was old enough, to be 
 a servant at the altar under his care (chap, i, ii). As 
 Samuel grew up to manhood, he was as attentive to his 
 religious duties as the sons of Eli were neglectful ; and 
 while they rioted in vice, all Israel from Dan to Beer- 
 sheba saw that Samuel was a prophet of the Lord (iii). 
 
 In about the fortieth year of Eli's priesthood, the 
 Israelites were attacked and routed by the Philistines. 
 To restore the courage of the soldiers, the Ark of the 
 Lord was brought from Shiloh into the camp by the 
 two sons of Eli. But the Israelites were again routed, 
 the sons of Eli were slain in the battle, and the Ark of 
 God was taken by the Philistines. Eli himself fell 
 down dead when the news was brou2;ht to him in 
 Shiloh (iv). 
 
 The Ark of God brought nothing but trouble upon 
 the Philistines when they had taken it. When carried 
 into the temple of Dagon at Azotus, the statue of the 
 god fell down before it in the night. When they sent 
 it away to Gath, disease came upon the people of that 
 town ; and when they sent it on to Ekron, death came 
 upon the Ekronites. They therefore sent it back to 
 the Israelites with a sum of gold as a trespass offering 
 for having taken it (vi). The Israelites everywhere 
 defeated the Philistines, and regained from them the 
 towns of Ekron and Gath, and the whole land of the 
 Amorites. They then also put away the images of 
 Baal and Astarte, which they had worshipped while 
 subject to the Philistines. On the recovery of the Ark 
 it was brought to Kirjath-jearim in Benjamin ; and the 
 sovereignty of the twelve tribes which, while Eli lived, 
 resided at Shiloh within the tribe of Ephraim, now 
 rested with the tribe of Benjamin. The prophet 
 Samuel dwelt in Ramali in Benjamin, and he judged 
 that tribe at Bethel, Gilgal, and JNIizpeh, where all the 
 tribe met in public assembly. lie exercised also over 
 the other tribes whatever little authority they were 
 willing to place in the hands of one chief (vii, continued 
 at ix). 
 
ON THE FIRST BOOK OF SAML'EL. 53 
 
 Now there was a young man named Saul, wlio had 
 the care of his father's asses, which one day went 
 astray. By command of his father, he set out in search 
 for them, but not readily finding them, he went into a 
 city where there dwelt a celebrated prophet or seer, 
 from whom, by payment of a small sum of money, he 
 hoped to learn which way the asses had gone. On 
 entering the city, he met the prophet Samuel, who 
 told him that he was the seer. He bade him not mind 
 his asses, and assured him that he was the desire of all 
 Israel (ix). He then anointed Saul's head with oil, and 
 told him that God had made him captain over the 
 nation. He told him that he would become a new man, 
 and that, as a sign tliereof, a spirit of prophecy would 
 come upon him. And accordingly when Saul shortly 
 afterwards met a company of prophets, he prophesied 
 like the rest; and the change in him was so remarkable 
 that it became a national proverb, " Is Saul also among 
 the prophets? " (x, 16, continued at xi). 
 
 About that time the Ammonites invaded Gilead, on 
 the east of the Jordan, and threatened that within seven 
 days they would put out every man's right eye in the 
 city of Jabesh-gilead. In the city's distress Saul sent 
 messengers northward and southward, to summon the 
 people to meet him in arms, for the relief of the men of 
 Gilead. He routed the Ammonites with great slaughter, 
 and on his return to Giigal, the nation or the troops 
 proclaimed him king (xi, continued at xv). 
 
 After a time Samuel reminds Saul that he had made 
 him king, and charges him to attack the Amalekites, 
 and destroy them and their herds, because Amalek 
 had attacked the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. 
 Saul accordingly routed the Amalekites from Havilah 
 to Shur, but spared their king and seized their cattle. 
 And for this act of humanity and disobedience, the 
 prophet tells him that the kingdom shall be lost to 
 his family ; and Samuel never sees Saul again (xv). 
 Samuel then, by the advice of the Lord, looked round 
 for a proper person to succeed Saul as king, and found 
 him in David, the son of Jesse of Bethlehem in Judea : 
 
54 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 "he anointed the boy with oil, and the spirit of the Lord 
 came upon him, while an evil spirit entered into Saul, 
 who became mad. Saul, to comfort himself, sends for 
 a musician ; and the young David is brought to him, 
 who forthwith becomes his harp-player, and his armour- 
 bearer, and his favourite (xvi, continued at xviii, u.) 
 
 David behaves himself wisely in his new position, 
 and Saul after a time becomes jealous of his popularity* 
 To get rid of him Saul offers him a daughter in mar- 
 riage, if he will earn her by the dangerous exploit of 
 killing an hundred Philistines.* This task David per- 
 forms, and thereby gains the princess and great credit 
 with the army (xviii, continued at xix, s). 
 
 On other occasions David routs the Philistines with 
 great slaughter; but Saul's madness increases, and as 
 David is playing the harp to him, he hurls a javelin, 
 and would ha^e killed him on the spot if he had not 
 avoided it (xix, 8-10, continued at xxi, 10). So David, 
 in fear for his life, deserts to the Philistines, and flies to 
 the king of Gath (xxi, continued, at xxvi). 
 
 The men of Ziph send word to Saul, that David is 
 hidincr in the neiij-hbourhood ; and Saul comes down in 
 pursuit of him. There David had an opportunity of 
 killing Saul, but he would not hurt the Lord's anointed, 
 though he was his enemy. Saul is moved by this kind- 
 ness, and promises that he will do David no more harm. 
 But this promise does not lead David to return into his 
 service (xxvi, continued at xxviii, 3). 
 
 Samuel was now dead, and Saul had put all the 
 wizards out of his land. But he was still in fear of the 
 Philistines, and he could get no answer to his questions 
 about the future, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by 
 prophets. His servants tell him of a witch at Endor,, 
 near Mount Tabor, and so he went to seek her in 
 disguise. At his request, and on his promise that she 
 should not be punished, she called up the prophet 
 Samuel's spirit to answer him. Samuel gives the king 
 no comfort, but tells him that the Israelites will be 
 defeated by the Philistines, and that he and his sons 
 will be slain on tlie morrow, and that the kinirdom will 
 
ox THE FIRST BOOK OF SxVMUEL. 55 
 
 pass away from his family in punishment for his not 
 slaying the Amalekites (xxviii, continued at xxxi). As 
 it was foretold so it happened. The Philistines routed 
 the Israelites and slew Saul's sons ; and Saul killed him- 
 self by falling on his sword. And the men of Jahesh- 
 gilead came and fetched his body to their city and burnt 
 it, and buried the ashes with due respect for one who 
 had before done them a service (xxxi, continued at 2 
 Sam. ii, 4). And when David became king he sent to 
 thank them for showing a kindness to their late lord 
 (2 Sam. ii, 4-7). 
 
 Part II. The History of Saidh reign, and of his quarrel 
 with David. {Beginning at chap, viii.) 
 
 As Samuel the prophet grew old, and his sons, whom 
 he had made judges with him, turned aside from justice, 
 the people of Israel came to him in Ramah of Benjamin, 
 where he dwelt, and called upon him to help them to 
 choose a king, who might lead them to battle against 
 their enemies. He was much displeased with their 
 request; and told them that in rejecting a priestly 
 government they were rejecting Jehovah. He warned 
 them of the tyranny that they might expect from a 
 king. But they would not obey his voice ; and they 
 said, " Nay, but we will have a king over us." Samuel, 
 therefore, being unable to move them from their pur- 
 pose, wisely determined to help them in their choice 
 (viii, continued at x, 17). He called a meeting of the 
 tribes at Mizpeh, one of the cities in which he judged, 
 and the first vote decided that the king should be taken 
 out of the tribe of Benjamin ; the second, that he should 
 be one of the family of Matri ; and the third, that he 
 should be Saul, the son of Kish, a young soldier, who 
 was a head and shoulders taller than his companions 
 (x, continued at xii). Samuel, when presenting Saul 
 to the people, claimed from them that they should 
 acknowledge the justice of his own past government, 
 and reproached them with their ingratitude, but charged 
 them, however, to fear the Lord and obey their new 
 king (xii). 
 
56 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 Ill the second year of Saul's reign, the Philistines 
 marched witli so large a force against the Israelites, 
 that many fled in their alarm to the further side of the 
 Jordan. Saul got together his soldiers at Gilgal; hut 
 agreed to tarry there seven days, until Samuel should 
 arrive to sacrifice a burnt offering before the battle. 
 Samuel did not arrive at the ap|)ointed time. The 
 Philistines had already reached Michmash, from which 
 town Saul withdrew his troops, and the battle could no 
 longer be delayed. Saul therefore offered the burnt 
 offering himself, and the prophet who then arrived in 
 the camp, told him that but for that act the Lord 
 would have established the kingdom in his family for 
 ever ; but now his kingdom should not continue, for 
 the Lord had sought him a man after his own heart to 
 be captain over his people (xiii, 14). 
 
 The Israelites were badly armed. The Philistines 
 having possession of the coast, had been able almost to 
 debar them from the use of iron. But Saul advanced 
 from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin (xiii). From Gibeah, 
 Jonathan, Saul's son, made a brave attack upon the 
 Philistines, which so far discouraged them that many 
 returned home, while the Hebrews in the Philistine 
 army deserted and joined Saul. Saul thereupon had 
 the Ark of the Lord brought into the camp and began 
 the battle. But the success was at first doubtful, and 
 the Israelites were sorely distressed. At length, how- 
 ever, they routed the Philistines, and drove them back 
 from Michmash to Aijalon. On inquiring into the 
 causes of the want of success in the earlier part of the 
 day, it was found that Saul had charged the people 
 with an oath that they should not eat till evening ; and 
 that Jonathan, who had not heard the command, had 
 eaten a little honey. For this Saul would have put his 
 son to death ; but the people saved the young hero, 
 whose bravery had so lately saved them. After this 
 great battle at Michmash, Said was able to clear the 
 kingdom from his enemies on all sides, from the Moabites, 
 the Ammonites, the Edomites, the people of Zobah and 
 tlie Philistines, thono-h with these last the war con- 
 
ON THE nilST BOOK OF 8AI\IUEL. 57 
 
 tinned tlirougli the whole of this reign. Saul also made 
 an attack upon the Amalekltes, who were plundering 
 the Israelites in their turn (xiv, continued at xvii). 
 
 When the Philistines were invading Judea, and were 
 encamped at Shochoh, on the road to Bethlehem, Saul, 
 at the head of the army of Israel, encamped at Elah. 
 While waiting for an engagement, a giant, named 
 Goliath, every morning and every evening came forth 
 out of the Philistine camp, and challenged the Israelites 
 to choose out their bravest champion to fight with him. 
 But no Israelite durst venture forth to meet him in single 
 combat. It chanced that at that time a lad of the name 
 of David, who was too young to carry arms, came into 
 the camp with food for his three elder brothers, who 
 were soldiers. When he heard of Goliath's challenge, 
 and of the alarm of the Israelites, and that King Saul 
 had promised great wealth and his daughter in marriage 
 to any one who would conquer the Philistine champion, 
 the young lad offered to accept the challenge. Saul 
 allowed him, and would lend him his own armour, but 
 David went forth armed only with a sling and a bag of 
 stones ; and his first stone struck the Philistine on the 
 forehead, and brought him dead to the ground. Upon 
 this the Israelites took courage, and routed the army of 
 Philistines, and pursued them with great slaughter to 
 the very gates of Ekron and] Gath (xvii). After this 
 success, David was made a captain in Saul's army, and 
 became the dear friend of Jonathan, Saul's son. But 
 the king's gratitude was soon changed into jealousy, 
 for when the women of Israel came forth to meet him 
 singing the army's praise, the burden of their song was, 
 " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of 
 thousands." Saul in a fit of madness even cast his 
 javelin at David, and would have killed him (xviii, 13, 
 continued at xix). On another occasion when Saul again 
 tried to kill David, he was saved by the friendship of 
 Jonathan (xix, 7, continued at ii) and of his wife Miclial, 
 Saul's daughter; and he fled for safety to the prophet 
 Samuel at Ramah. Saul then sent messengers after 
 him to seize him. But a holy spirit came upon them. 
 
58 ON THE riKST BOOK OF SAMUEL, 
 
 and instead of obeying the king's commands, they joined 
 Samuel's company of prophets, and prophesied like the 
 rest. A second and a third body of messengers, when 
 sent to seize David, turned prophets also ; and at last 
 Saul went himself to Ramah to take David; but he 
 also stripped oflP his clothes and prophesied like the rest. 
 Whence arose the saying, " Is Saul also among the 
 prophets?" (xix). Saul afterwards in his madness tried 
 to kill his own son Jonathan, because he was David's 
 friend ; and then David, in fear for his life, hid 
 himself (xx). He went to Nob, and took Goliath's 
 sword from the priest there (xxi, 9, continued at xxii). 
 
 David then retired into Moab with a body of fol- 
 lowers, who made him their leader. There he left his 
 father and mother in safet3\ By the advice of the 
 prophet Gad, he hid himself in the forest of Hareth in 
 Judea. And Saul when in search of him slew the 
 priests of Nob, because they had received David and 
 not given him up (xxii). In Ziph David was nearly 
 being betrayed to Saul ; but he was saved because the 
 king was called off* from the pursuit of him by an 
 inroad of the Philistines (xxiii). While hiding in the 
 desert of Engedi, David had an opportunity of killing 
 Saul, but he would not lift his hand against the Lord's, 
 anointed. Saul was moved by this kindness, but David 
 would not trust himself with him, and withdrew into a 
 place of safety (xxiv). Samuel dies, and David retires 
 into the desert of Paran, and there he marries two 
 wives, because Saul's daughter had been taken from 
 him and given to another husband (xxv, continued at 
 xxvii). 
 
 David then deserted to the Philistines, taking with 
 him a body of followers, and went down to Achish, 
 king of Gath. Achish received him well, and gave 
 him the town of Ziklag for a dwelling place, and David 
 made himself master of Judea, and conquered the 
 nations on the south (xxvii). Thus began David's 
 reign over Judah, where he was king during the last 
 five years and a half of Saul's reign over Israel {see 
 2 Sam. ii. lo-ii). The Philistines then marched south- 
 
ON THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 59 
 
 wai'd against the Israelites, and Acliisli took David 
 witli him in his service (xxviii. 2, continued at xxix)» 
 But the princes of the Philistines distrusted David; 
 and Achish, for fear of their displeasure, was obliged 
 to send David away while they marched forward to 
 fight Saul at Jezreel (xxix). David had no sooner 
 arrived at Ziklag, than the Amalekites invaded the 
 south of Judea ; but he defeated them, and slew every 
 man of them in their flight, except the troop that was 
 mounted on camels (xxx, continued at 2 Sam. i, i-ii, 4). 
 
 [The history of Samuel, the first part of this book, 
 seems far more modern than this latter history of Saul 
 and David, from which we have separated it. The 
 writer's knowledge of geography has a wider range, 
 but is less exact. He makes Saul follow his father's 
 asses over a distance of perhaps eighty miles ; and he 
 has more knowledge of the town of Jabesh in Gilead, 
 and of Mount Gilboa to the north of Samaria, than of 
 the land of Benjamin where Samuel and Saul lived. 
 He seems to have read the Book of Exodus, as he 
 speaks of Amalek opposing Moses near Mount Sinai. 
 But he seems to misunderstand the geography of the 
 Book of Genesis ; for while the land of the Ishmaelites 
 is there described (Genesis xxv, I8,) as the whole of the 
 Arabian desert from Havilah towards Assyria, to Shur 
 or Pelusiam, the frontier town of Egypt, this writer 
 says (I Sam. xv, 7,) that Saul, marching southward 
 from Judea against the Amalekites, routed them from 
 Havilah to Shur. His opinion of the little worth of 
 burnt offerings and sacrifices (xv, 22,) should make us 
 think that it was written in time of the prophets Micah 
 and Isaiah. 
 
 The second part, the life of Saul, is more ancient 
 than the former. There is nothing in it to make it 
 seem more modern than the reign of Solomon, if 
 indeed it is so modern. The writer no doubt lived 
 witlnn the country of Benjamin, and was wholly free 
 from the priestly bias which appears in the former part. 
 The geography of this life of Saul is almost limited to 
 the countries of Benjamin, Judah, and the Philistines. 
 
60 ox THE ilKST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 Gatli, the town of tlie Philistines, is only twenty miles 
 distant from Gibeah, Saul's town, and from Bethlehem, 
 David's town ; and it seems almost to be by the mistake 
 of the writer of the life of Samuel, that the last battle, 
 in which Saul was slain, is placed in the valley of 
 Jezreel at the foot of Mount Gilboa. This last history 
 may possibly be part of the Book of Gad. We shall 
 perhaps find a further portion of the Book of Gad at 
 the end of the Second Book of Samuel.] 
 
 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 This Second Book has been arranged by the editor as 
 a continuation of the First. But it is from the hand of 
 a different author. It contains the reign of David after 
 Saul's death, and the establishment of Jerusalem as the 
 capital of the kingdom. 
 
 When David returned to Ziklag from his attack upon 
 the Amalekites, news was brought him -that Saul had 
 been defeated by the Philistines, and slain after the 
 battle; and that his son Jonathan was also killed (i). 
 But this didc not make David king over the twelve 
 tribes. He -was already king of Judah, with Hebron 
 for his capital; and Ish-bosheth, one of Saul's sons, 
 was now declared king over Benjamin and the rest of 
 Israel (ii). For two years a civil war continued 
 between David and the son of Saul, till Abner, a chief 
 general among the Israelites, deserted to David in 
 Hebron (iii). Upon this, Saul's son is put to death by 
 his own subjects, and they send to Hebron to make 
 David their king. David had already reigned seven 
 years and six months over Judah, and he was now king 
 over the twelve tribes (iv and v, 5). 
 
 The first act of David's reign over Israel and Judah 
 united, was to seize the city of Jerusalem, wdiich had 
 hitherto belonged to the Jebusites, a people who seem 
 to have lived peaceably in the middle of the tribe of 
 Benjamin, and to have taken no part in the late wars. 
 
ON THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 61 
 
 He then again routed the Philistines (v). His next act 
 was to bring the Ark of the Lord from Gibeah, where 
 it had remained during Saul's reign, and he placed it 
 under its Tabernacle in his new capital (vi). He would 
 then have built a temple to receive it ; but that was a 
 duty and a privilege reserved by God for his son (vii). 
 
 David next defeated the Moabites on the east of the 
 Jordan, and made them pay him tribute. He then 
 inarched northward into Syria against Zobah, which 
 was probably the district to the north of Sidon, between 
 the mountains and the coast; and he plundered the 
 cities of Betah and Berothai, the latter perhaps Beyrout. 
 The king of Zobali was at that time fighting to recover 
 his frontier at the river Euphrates. David then 
 defeated the Syrians of Damascus, who marched to 
 the help of the king of Zobah. But the king of 
 Hamath, on the river Orontes, who was at war with 
 the king of Zobah, saved his country from invasion by 
 sending forward a tribute to David before it was 
 demanded. At the same time David also placed 
 garrisons in the cities of the Edomites, between Judea 
 and the Red Sea (viii). 
 
 David showed kindness to one of the sons of Jona- 
 than (ix), and would also have shown kindness to the 
 king of the Ammonites ; but this last would not trust 
 him. He therefore defeated the Ammonites in battle, 
 together with the Syrians, who came to help them (x). 
 It was during this war against the Ammonites, while 
 his troops were in the neighbourhood of Rabbah, that 
 David basely contrived the death of Uriah, that he 
 might gain possession of his wife (xi), for which crime 
 he was boldly reproved by the prophet Nathan. When 
 the city of Rabbah could no longer hold out against 
 his forces, David went down from Jerusalem to the 
 army, that he might have the honour of taking the city 
 in person (xii). 
 
 David's troubles began from the crimes of his own 
 children. First, Absalom killed Amnon, and then 
 withdrew from punishment to the king of Geshur, who 
 held the country between Gilead and Damascus (xiii). 
 
G2 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 
 
 But Absalom Avas the favourite son of liis father, and 
 therefore he was shortly afterwards allowed to return 
 to Jerusalem and was forgiven (xiv). He then formed 
 a conspiracy in Hebron against David ; and the hearts 
 of Israel were so far turned to the young man that 
 David had to leave Jerusalem for his safety, and the 
 rebellious son made himself master of the capital (xv). 
 As David retreated through the land of Benjamin, 
 the family of Saul turned against him (xvi). Absa- 
 lom then summoned all Israel, from Dan to Beer- 
 sheba, to the pursuit of their late king; and David 
 retired across the Jordan to Mahanaim, in north 
 Gilead, where he met with support from the people of 
 the country, and from the neighbouring Ammonites 
 (xvii). When Absalom led his forces across the Jor- 
 dan he was defeated by David and slain in the battle, 
 much to the grief of his father (xviii). The people of 
 Israel and Judah then returned to their allegiance, 
 and the latter led David back again to Jerusalem as 
 king (xix). 
 
 The people of Benjamin soon afterwards rebelled 
 against David, but they were defeated (xx), and this 
 rebellion was followed by the hanging of seven of Saul's 
 grandsons, and the removal of Saul's and Jonathan's 
 remains to the burial-place of his family (xxi, 14). After 
 this, David once more had to send his forces against the 
 Philistines, whom he defeated at Gob (xxi). 
 
 The words of the eighteenth Psalm are then said 
 to be spoken by David in thankfulness for his success 
 {xxii). We then have the last words which the king 
 spoke before his death, and a list of the chief captains 
 in his army (xxiii). And lastly, though rather out of 
 place, we have an account of David's numbering the 
 people, who are declared to be 1,300,000 males able to 
 bear arms, or 800,000 for Israel, and 500,000 for Judah; 
 and an account of his purchasing from Araunah, the 
 Jebusite, a threshing-floor upon which, by the advice of 
 the prophet Gad, he built an altar for burnt-oiferings 
 unto the Lord (xxiv). 
 
 [This Second Book of Samuel may very probably be 
 
ON THE SECOND BOOK OF SAIMUEL. 63 
 
 the Book of Nathan, mentioned in 1 Chron. xxix, 29, 
 or founded on that book; as Nathan is an important 
 person in the history. It mentions David's family 
 reigning after him (vii); but there are no passages 
 which should lead us to think that it was written 
 later than Solomon's reign. It was before the rise 
 of the Levites and their influence over the Hebrew 
 writings. In the political views and geographical 
 knowledge which it shows, it is unlike either of the 
 two books into which we have divided the First Book 
 of Samuel. The countries paying tribute to David, and 
 mentioned with accuracy, extend over 300 miles from 
 north to south, while the country governed by Saul, 
 and well known to the writer of his life, vv^as hardly 
 more than 50 miles in length or breadth. The latter 
 two chapters of this book seem a supplement or addi- 
 tion to the history, and the last may be part of the Book 
 of Gad.] 
 
 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 
 
 The two books of Kings contain the history of the 
 monarchy for four hundred years, from the death of 
 David till the Babylonian captivity. When the nation, 
 iifter Solomon's death, is divided into two, there is no 
 division in the history. The events of the two monar- 
 chies are carried forward in one narrative. The WTiter 
 of the last part evidently lived at the time last mentioned. 
 The earlier parts were written at an earlier time ; but 
 the last writer may have been the editor who put the 
 whole together in its present form. On the other hand, 
 the history with which the first book ends is repeated 
 rather confusedly at the beginning of the second book, 
 which makes it more probable that they had two editors. 
 It is therefore convenient to treat them as two different 
 works. The First Book has been fitted to the Second 
 Book of Samuel as a continuation of that history ; but 
 there is no part of it which can well have been written 
 by the same author. 
 
64 ON THE riRST BOOK OF KINGS. 
 
 Paut I. SoIomo7i's reign. Chap. i-xi. 
 
 As David's life drew towards a close, his son Adonijah 
 plotted to get himself recognised as the successor to the 
 crown ; but Bathsheba, David's favourite wife, obtained 
 the appointment for her son Solomon. Solomon was 
 accordingly anointed as king by the priests, and he 
 reigned for a short time jointly with his father. On 
 David's death, Solomon succeeded quietly to the throne; 
 but he put Adonijah to death, because he was restless 
 under his disappointment, and wished to gain rank in 
 the State, by marrying one of the royal widows. Joab 
 and Shimei, two of David's servants, were also put to 
 death ; the first for joining Adonijah in his schemes of 
 ambition, and the second for quitting Jerusalem, where 
 he had been ordered to live, because his loyalt}^ was 
 distrusted. 
 
 Solomon appointed a new class of officers over the 
 kingdom^ to collect supplies for his household. He had 
 a large army with a body of cavalry, part on horses, 
 part on dromedaries, and part in chariots. He reigned 
 prosperously and peaceably, receiving tribute from all 
 the little kings who ruled between Tiphsah on the 
 Euphrates and the Egyptian border, including Edom on 
 the south, and Tadmor in the eastern desert, better 
 known as Palmyra. 
 
 Solomon's chief work was building the temple of 
 .Jerusalem, which was the employment of seven years . 
 For this he bought the services of Hiram, king of Tyre; 
 and while Solomon sent labourers to work on Mount 
 Lebanon, in cutting timber and stone, Hiram's ships 
 brought these materials to the point on the coast 
 nearest to Jerusalem. For this and other services he 
 repaid the king of Tyre, by giving him twenty cities 
 in the land of Galilee. When the temple was finished 
 he dedicated it to God, with a beautiful prayer, as to a 
 " Being whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, 
 how nmch less this house which I have built." And he 
 held a great religious festival, gathering together people 
 from the whole leng-th of his kingdom, from the Entering 
 
ON THE riPvST BOOK OF IvINGS. 65 
 
 in of Hamath, between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus, to 
 the river of Egypt, or Pelusiac branch of the Nile. He 
 also built a palace for himself, and a second palace, called 
 the House of the Forest of Lebanon, and two open por- 
 ticoes, in one of which he sat on his throne to judge the 
 people. These were all ornamented by the skill of 
 Tyrian workmen. 
 
 Solomon gained credit with his subjects and neigh- 
 bours for the wisdom of his judgments. He was wiser 
 than all men, and spoke three thousand proverbs and 
 one thousand and five songs. The queen of Sheba, in 
 South Arabia, who had heard of his wisdom by means 
 of the caravans which passed between the two countries, 
 came in person to visit him. 
 
 At Eziongeber, the Edomite port on the Red Sea, 
 with the help of the king of Tyre, he fitted out a ship 
 for the southern trade. This ship sailed once in three 
 years, and brought home gold from Ophir, the port of 
 the Nubian gold-mines; and apes, ivory, ebony, and rare 
 birds, from the further coast of Africa. 
 
 Besides numerous other wives, Solomon married, 
 rather late in life, an Egyptian princess ; and the 
 Egyptian king, her father, as a marriage gift, sent an 
 army into Palestine, to besiege and take for Solomon 
 the town of Gezer, in Samaria, which the Israelites had 
 not been able to conquer. By his foreign wives Solomon 
 was led to worship the gods of many of the neighbour- 
 ing nations. 
 
 But Solomon's prosperity did not last to the end of 
 his reign. Formerly, when David conquered the 
 Edomites, Hadad, the child of the reigning family, 
 escaped to Egypt ; and when the friendship cooled 
 between Solomon and his father-in-law, the king of 
 Egypt sent back Hadad to raise the Edomites in rebel- 
 lion. At the same time, the king of Damascus threw off 
 his allegiance to Solomon. Jeroboam, also, the governor 
 of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, made some 
 attempts at a revolt ; but he was unsuccessful, and fled 
 to Egypt to escape from punishment. With these ex- 
 
 F 
 
66 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 
 
 ceptions, Solomon's long reign was one of unbroken 
 peace and prosperity. 
 
 [This history of Solomon's reign is said to be founded 
 on a book no longer in being, called " The Book of the 
 Acts of Solomon." xi, 4i.] 
 
 Part II. The History of Judah and Israel, from the 
 
 death of Solomon to the death of Jehoshaphat, 
 
 Chap, xii-xxii. 
 
 On Solomon's death, B. c. 980, the northern tribes 
 
 threw off their obedience to Judah ; and when Reho« 
 
 boam, Solomon's son, was made king at Jerusalem, the 
 
 tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh made Jeroboam king 
 
 at Shechem, in Samaria. From that time forward the 
 
 tribes of Judah and Israel remained under different 
 
 kings. But so little is known of them, that the history 
 
 of the two kingdoms, with their civil and foreign wars, 
 
 during the next ninety years, does not take up more 
 
 space iUpthis book than Solomon's uneventful reign. 
 
 Shishak, king of lEgypt, the friend of Jeroboam, in- 
 vaded Judah, and plundered Jerusalem ; and Jeroboam, 
 perhaps as an act of homage to this powerful ally, set 
 up golden calves, for his people to worship, at Bethel 
 and Dan. Rehoboam also set up images and high 
 places for idolatrous worship in Judah. Abijam, the 
 next king of Judah, the son of Rehoboam, continued the 
 idolatry ; and even Abljam's son, Asa, the next king, 
 though a better man, did not remove the idolatry from 
 the high places. The civil war between Israel and Judah 
 continued, with intervals, for about forty years, when 
 Asa, king of Judah, sent his treasures from Jerusalem to 
 Damascus, to engage Benhadad, the king of that part 
 of Syria, to invade Samaria. Benhadad, readily con- 
 sented. The Syrians, however, were defeated by the 
 Israelites on the first invasion ; as also on a second 
 invasion, when Benhadad restored the cities which he 
 had before taken. But, on the death of Asa, his son 
 Jehoshaphat, who then came to the throne of Judah, 
 made peace with Israel ; and when Benhadad, for the 
 
ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 67 
 
 third time, marched against Israel, the two kings 
 joined their forces against him. The two kings, by 
 the advice of their prophets, gave battle to the invad- 
 ing Syrians, at Ramoth in Gilead. But the Syrians 
 were successful. The king of Israel was slain, and 
 Jehoshaphat had to save himself by flight. Jehoshaphat, 
 however, was a prosperous monarch. He conquered 
 the Edomites, and put their country under the com- 
 mand of a deputy. He then built ships at Ezion- 
 geber, with a view to regain the trade on the Red Sea, 
 which had before enriched Solomon. But here he was 
 unsuccessful. The king of Israel offered to help him 
 in his attempts ; but Jehoshaphat would not allow him 
 to join him. He was unable to guard his ships, and 
 they were soon afterwards broken to pieces by foreign 
 jealousy. 
 
 These kings of Judah all mounted the throne in quiet 
 succession ; in each case the son succeeded to the father. 
 But the monarchy of Israel, which began in rebellion, 
 was never long free from civil violence. King Nadab, 
 the son of Jeroboam, was killed by Baasha of Issachar, 
 who then seated himself on the throne. Afterwards, 
 Elah, the son of Baasha, was violently put to death. 
 Omri, a captain of the horse, was then made king, and 
 was succeeded by a son and two grandsons. 
 
 [These short annals are said to be taken from the 
 Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, and the 
 Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. But there 
 are also portions which ^eem added from other sources 
 than those mentioned. These are chaps, xvii-xix, 
 which contain the history of the prophet Elijah, his 
 raising the widow's son, his convincing the false pro- 
 phets of Baal by fire from heaven, and his speaking 
 with the Almighty in Horeb ; and chap, xxi, which 
 contains Elijah's denouncing judgment against Ahab, 
 king of Israel, and his wife tiezebel, for killing Naboth, 
 whose vineyard they wished for. The gi eater portion of 
 the Books of Kings is an unornamented narrative. But 
 some parts of the history of Elijah are highly poetical. 
 Perhaps, indeed, the account of the Almighty's speaking 
 
 F 2 
 
68 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF laNGS. 
 
 to the prophet in Horeb is the finest instance of the 
 sublime that the sacred volume contains. The writers 
 show no partiality towards either of the two kingdoms 
 over the other. They seem to have read most of the 
 earlier books of the Bible, that is to say, at least Genesis, 
 Exodus, Numbers, Judges, and Samuel. The calcula- 
 tion of the number of years between the Israelites' 
 coming out of Egypt and Solomon's building the temple, 
 seems formed upon the Book of Judges, which is un- 
 happily supposed to relate a series of events that 
 happened one after the other. 
 
 One passage is clearly a modern addition, written in 
 the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, who is there men- 
 tioned by name, as though prophetically. It may, 
 perhaps, begin at chap, xii, 26, and end at chap, xiv, 18. 
 The writer of this passage shows a partiality towards 
 Judah and the Levites, which does not agree with the 
 rest of the book. He blames Jeroboam, because his 
 priests are not Levites ; and he makes a prophet from 
 Judah foretell that Josiah, three hundred years later, 
 will overthrow the altar in Bethel, which Jehoshaphat 
 was then raising. Yet more modern is the latter part of 
 the beantiful prayer spoken by Solomon on the dedi- 
 cation of his temple in chap. viii,^27-6i. Here, in words 
 borrowed from Deut. iv, 20, Egypt is called the iron 
 furnace. Here also, mention is made of the carrying 
 off of the Israelites into captivity, and a prayer added 
 that their conquerors may have compassion on them; 
 but no mention is made of a return home. This prayer 
 of Solomon would, therefore, seem to have been written 
 before the end of the Babylonian captivity, when the 
 people were only able to pray " towards the temple," 
 and not in it. The style is gorgeous and ornamented, 
 like the poetry of the later psalms.] 
 
69 
 
 OX THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 
 
 From the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, B.C. 897, till 
 the end of the Jewish monarchy, B.C. 588. 
 
 In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, the Moabites on 
 the east side of the Jordan rebelled against Jehoram, 
 then ^ king of Israel; and he, instead of crossing the 
 river against them, marched southward through Judea, 
 with the permission, and indeed with the support, of 
 Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom. The three kings 
 entered Moab on the south side of the Dead Sea, and 
 routed the Moabites without being able to reconquer 
 the country. They had to retreat, unsuccessful, from 
 the siege of Kirharaseth, but not before the king of 
 Moab had sacrificed his own son upon the city walls as 
 a burnt-offering to his gods (iii). 
 
 Soon afterwards, the Syrians invaded Samaria, but 
 retreated suddenly on hearing a noise from heaven, 
 •which they thought was that of an army of chariots 
 coming against them (vii). 
 
 Jehoram, the fifth king of Judah, the son of Jeho- 
 shaphat, married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, the 
 sixth king of Israel ; and thus for a time the kingdoms 
 were allied. Against Jehoram the Edomites revolted, 
 and he was not able to subdue them (viii, 22). 
 
 Ahaziah, the sixth king of Judah, joined his uncle, 
 Jehoram or Joram, king of Israel, in an attack upon the 
 Syrians in Ramoth-gilead ; but with doubtful success 
 (viii, 29). He also joined him in defence of his kingdom, 
 against the rebel Jehu; but the two kings were both 
 slain, and Jehu seized the kingdom of Israel, whilst the 
 queen, Athaliah, remained mistress of the kingdom of 
 Judah. By the frequent rebellions the kingdom of 
 Israel was always becoming w^eaker ; and, from this 
 time forward, the whole country, to the east of the 
 Jordan, was lost to the Israelites, and fell under the 
 king of Damascus (x, 33). 
 
 For six years Judah was governed by a queen, until 
 
70 ON THE SECOND BOOK OE laXGS. 
 
 the high-priest gained over the army in favour of her 
 grandchild Jehoash, then a child of seven years of age, 
 and had her put to death (xi). Jehoash governed very 
 much by the advice of the high-priest, and he repaired 
 the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 
 
 During his reign Israel was wholly [subject to the 
 king of Syria, Hazael of Damascus; and then to his 
 son Benhadad. The Syrians marched so far southward 
 as to take Gath, a city of the Philistines, and were only 
 bought off from attacking Jerusalem by having the 
 treasures of the temple and of the palace sent to them 
 as a bribe (xii-xiii). 
 
 Amaziah, the eighth king of Judah, renewed the old 
 war against Israel. At the same time he fought against 
 the Edomites, and took the city of Selah, the rock, better 
 known by its Greek name, Petra. But against Israel 
 he was unsuccessful, and Jehoash, king of Israel, be- 
 sieged Jerusalem, broke down a large portion of the 
 wall, and carried off what treasure he could find in the 
 temple, and then returned to Samaria, with hostages 
 which the king of Judah gave for his quiet behaviour 
 (xiv, u). Thus prosperity for a short time returned to 
 Israel, and the king gained possession of Damascus and 
 Hamath as of old (xiv). 
 
 In the reign of Azariah, or Uzziah, the ninth king 
 of Judah, Israel was again torn to pieces by rebellions, 
 and w^eakened by the change of kings. The Assyrians, 
 a new enemy, then invaded the land ; and Pul, king of 
 Assyria, was only bought off from his attack by a pre- 
 sent of one thousand talents of silver (xv, 20). Such 
 readiness, however, to pay the invader is usually the 
 cause of other attacks ; and accordingly, Tiglathpileser, 
 the next king of Assyria, came down upon Israel with 
 such forces, that he took possession of Gilead and 
 Galilee, the northern half of the kingdom; and he 
 carried off the people of those provinces as captives into 
 Assyria (xv, 29). 
 
 But no danger from abroad could stop the civil war 
 between Israel and Judah. The king of Israel engaged 
 the king of Syria to help him in his attack upon Judah; 
 
ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 71 
 
 (xv), and Ahaz, the eleventh king of Judah, with equal 
 want of wisdom, sent the treasures from the temple, to 
 engage the king of Assyria again to march against 
 Israel. On that occasion, however, Tiglath came no 
 further than Damascus, which place he conquered, and 
 he placed the captives on the banks of the river Kir, as 
 it falls into the Caspian Sea (xvi, 9). 
 
 Israel, at that time, was spared, only because their 
 king consented to pay a tribute to the conqueror. But 
 his successor refused to continue this payment, and sent 
 an embassy to Seve, king of Egypt, to ask for help 
 against the Assyrians. Shalmaneser, the king of As- 
 syria, then marched into Samaria. For three years 
 he pillaged the unhappy land, and carried away the 
 nobles captive into Halah and Habor, and the cities of 
 the Modes (xvii). Thus ended the kingdom of Israel 
 which had lasted about two hundred and fifty years, 
 through eighteen short reigns. The first king was a 
 rebel, and his son was overthrown by another rebel. 
 Such nearly was the fate of the other families that 
 reigned over Israel ; Jehu's alone lasted so long as five 
 generations. During these years, the people of Judah 
 never attempted to overthrow the royal family of David, 
 and were thereby saved from the troubles which usually 
 accompany a change of dynasty. 
 
 The conquest of the kingdom of Israel took place in 
 the sixth year of Hezekiah, the twelfth king of Judah ; 
 and in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, 
 the next king of Assyria, invaded Judea. He took 
 many of the fortified cities, and then encamped at 
 Lachish, at which town he received Hezekiah's mes- 
 sengers, with a gift of three hundred talents of silver 
 and thirty talents of gold, to turn him aside from the 
 siege of Jerusalem. Hezekiah's offence had been look- 
 ing to Egypt for help ; and, notwithstanding the tribute 
 paid, and the submission made, to Assyria, the Egyptian 
 army was still expected in Jiidea (xviii). Accord- 
 ingly, Semiacherib sent his generals against Jerusalem, 
 while he himself turned his own force towards the 
 Egyptian frontier, to meet the Egyptian king, Tirha- 
 
72 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF lONGS. 
 
 kah. But an angel of the Lord smote the camp of the 
 Assyrians, and left a large part of the army dead ; and 
 Sennacherib himself returned to Nineveh (xix). Sen- 
 nacherib's retreat from Judea may have been in part 
 called for by the rising of the Babylonians, who then 
 made themselves independent of Nineveh; and Berodach 
 Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent an embassy with a 
 present to Hezekiah, to engage his friendship, at a 
 time when they* were both in danger from the same 
 enemy (xx). 
 
 Manasseh and Anion, the next two kings of Judah, 
 reigned in peace from their foreign enemies, who were 
 now otherwise engaged; but the latter was murdered 
 by his people ; and his son, Josiah, was only eight 
 years old when he was placed upon the throne to 
 govern under the guidance of the priests (xxi). 
 
 In Josiah's reign was brought forth out of the 
 temple, by the priests, a new book of the Law, perhaps 
 the Book of Deuteronomy (xxii). This was delivered 
 to the king, who, in the temple, in solemn assembly, 
 read before the people the covenant contained in that 
 book, that they should keep the commandments of the 
 Lord as written therein. He put down idolatry through- 
 out the land, and he kept the passover in the eighteenth 
 year of his reign, as commanded in that book, in manner 
 more solemn and exact than ever it had been kept 
 before (xxiii, 25). 
 
 When Nechoh, king of Egypt, marched through Galilee 
 to attack the Assyrians at the Euphrates, Josiah, faith- 
 ful to his allegiance to Assyria, rashly engaged with 
 him in battle at Megiddo. Josiah was slain ; and when 
 the people set up one of his sons, Jehoahaz, as king, the 
 Egyptian king sent him off as prisoner to Egypt, and 
 made the land pay him a tribute of a hundred talents of 
 silver and a talent of gold, and he set upon the throne 
 Jehoiakim, another of the late king's sons, as likely to 
 be a more obedient vassal (xxiii). 
 
 Jehoiakim, the seventeenth king of Judah, notwith- 
 standing that he was seated on the throne by the king 
 of Egypt, was shortly afterwards recalled to his obedi- 
 
ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 73 
 
 ence to liis more powerful eastern neighbour. Assyria 
 had lately sunk under the rising power of Babylon ; and 
 for three years Jehoiakim paid tribute to the Baby- 
 lonians. He then ventured to rebel, but he was not 
 able to defend himself. The Egyptians could no longer 
 help him ; and his unhappy country was overrun by 
 invading armies. After his death, Nebuchadnezzar 
 besieged Jerusalem, and carried off to Babylon the next 
 king, Jehoiachin, and his nobles, as prisoners, with all 
 the gold that was to be found in the temple. 
 
 The Babylonians did not, however, yet put an end 
 to the monarchy ; and Nebuchadnezzar thought he had 
 found an obedient vassal in Zedekiah, the king's uncle, 
 whom he then placed upon the throne in Jerusalem. 
 But Zedekiah ventured, like his predecessors, to aim at 
 independence, though far too weak to gain it. He 
 rebelled against the Babylonians ; and Nebuchadnezzar 
 again besieged and took Jerusalem. Zedekiah was 
 carried prisoner to Babylon; his palaces and the 
 temple w^ere burnt; and the Jewish monarchy was 
 brought to a close. The nineteen kings of Judah 
 were all of the family of David (xxv). 
 
 [In this Second Book of Kings, the history is told 
 with the same impartiality as in the first. The pay- 
 ment of tribute to their more powerful neighbours is 
 not forgotten. The blame of the civil wars is not 
 thrown on Israel more than on Judah. 
 
 The history of the prophet Elisha, which runs 
 through chaps, iv-xiii, like the history of Elijah, in 
 the Eirst Book, is unlike the rest of the narrative to 
 which it is joined, and is by a very different writer. 
 Part of it seems out of place. In particular, the inva- 
 sion by the Syrians under Benhadad, in the reign of 
 Jehoshaphat, and their flight at the miraculous noise, 
 seems to be the same invasion as that mentioned in 
 1 Kings XX, or that in 1 Kings xxii. 
 
 In two places in this Second Book of Kings we may 
 see how the writer has allowed himself to be misled by 
 wdiat was at first only a figure of speech or poetic flight 
 The Israelites under Jehoshaphat had no war chariots. 
 
74 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 
 
 but they defeated the Syrian army, which was accom- 
 panied with chariots, whereupon the Psalmist (Ps. Ixviii) 
 says that on their side were the chariots of Jehovah, 
 which were thousands of thousands. And upon this 
 the unpoetic historian (2 Kings, vii, 6,) says that the 
 Syrians in this battle were alarmed by a noise of 
 chariots in heaven. Again, another Psalmist (Ps. cii), 
 speaking of his illness, says, "My days are like a 
 shadow that declineth." And making use of this figure 
 the historian (2 Kings, xx, quoted in Isaiah xxxviii,) says 
 that King Hezekiah's recovery from illness was typified 
 hy the shadow going back upon the dial.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF EZRA. 
 
 This book contains the history of the return of the Jews 
 from captivity, and their rebuilding the temple, of their 
 being hindered by the Samaritan party, of the return 
 home of a further body of Jews under the priest Ezra, 
 and of Ezra's putting away the heathen wives. 
 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, in the first year of his reign, 
 B. c. 535, makes a decree that all the Israelites may 
 return home from all parts of his dominions, and re- 
 build their temple, and he restores to them the golden 
 vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jeru- 
 salem (i). Then follows a list of the captives who 
 returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel. They were 
 42,360 males in number besides their servants (ii). 
 They set up the altar in Jerusalem and keep the feasts ; 
 -and in the second year of their arrival they begin to 
 build the temple (iii). The people of the northern 
 tribes, who at the same time returned from Assyria, 
 -ask leave to join them in their pious work ; but they are 
 refused by the Jews, and the building is stopped by the 
 jealousy of the two parties (iv, 5). 
 
 In the reign of Cambyses, here called Ahasuerus, 
 the Samaritans send to Persia an accusation against 
 the Jews (iv. e). 
 
ox THE BOOK OF EZRA. 75 
 
 In the reign of Smerdis, here called Artaxerxes, a 
 decree is received in Jerusalem, ordering the work to 
 be stopped (iv). 
 
 But in the second year of Darius Hjstaspes, the 
 Jews, under Zerubbabel, again begin to l3uild; a new 
 decree permitting the work is obtained from Darius, 
 and in the sixth year of his reign, B.C. 516, the House 
 of the Lord is finished fvi). 
 
 In the seventh year of Xerxes I., here called Arta- 
 xerxes, B.C. 478, the high-priest Ezra goes up from 
 Babylon with another party of priests, carrying a letter 
 from the king, which releases the priests and Levites 
 from all taxes, and authorizes him to claim a sum of 
 money from the royal treasurers for the service of the 
 temple (vii). Then follows a list of Ezra's companions ; 
 they were 1,754 males in number (viii, 20). They arrive 
 in Jerusalem, and Ezra delivers the royal letter to the 
 king's lieutenants (viii, 36). 
 
 In Jerusalem, Ezra, by threatening excommunication, 
 persuades the people, that is to say, the priests and 
 Levites, and men of Benjamin and Judah, to put away 
 their foreign wives, whether they were the Canaanite 
 natives of the land, or Egyptians, or Moabite foreigners. 
 Then follows a list of the priests who had married 
 foreign wives (x), 
 
 [The latter half of this book professes to be written 
 by Ezra, who speaks in the first person, and in all pro- 
 bability he wrote the whole of it in Jerusalem in the 
 reign of Xerxes L, about the year B.C. 476. We may 
 remark, upon its peculiarities, that the Persian monarch 
 is here called king of Assyria (vi, 22); and that none are 
 acknowledged to be true Jews but the 45,000 men who 
 had been in captivity and had returned home (x, 7, s). 
 This narrow jealousy, which was rather increased than 
 lessened by their misfortunes, was the sad cause of the 
 nation's fall. 
 
 The Book of Ezra is not now complete, for we find 
 quoted in Nehemiah two passages not now in our copies, 
 besides a third passage, which is in both books. Thus 
 Nehemiah vii, 6-73, is quoted from Ezra ii, i-70. But 
 
76 ON THE BOOK OF EZRA. 
 
 Nehemiah vii, 73 — viii, 12, is not in our Ezra, though 
 evidently belonging to it ; it is, however, in the Greek 
 apocryphal copy, which is called the First Book of 
 Esdras, where it is chap, ix, 37-55. So also Nehemiah 
 viii, 13-18, is not in our Ezra, though it seems taken 
 from it.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF NEHEI^HAH. 
 
 This is Nehemiah's account of his being sent as 
 governor of Jerusalem by the Persian king, Artaxerxes, 
 of his rebuilding the city walls, and of the regulations 
 which he made for the government of the Jews who 
 had settled there. 
 
 In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, B.C. 445, Ne- 
 hemiah, a Jew, the king's cupbearer, obtains permission 
 to return to Jerusalem, with royal letters, which 
 authorise him to claim timber for the repair of the 
 temple and the city walls (i, ii). On his arrival he 
 encourages his countrymen, who divide the work be- 
 tween them, and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (iii). 
 Sanballat, the governor of the province, and the Sama- 
 ritan party, propose to stop the fortifications ; but the 
 Jews arm themselves and are not attacked (iv), and the 
 wall is finished in fifty-two days (v, vi). Then follows 
 a list of the Jews who had come up to Jerusalem ninety- 
 one years before, under Zerubbabel, w^hich is quoted 
 from the Book of Ezra (vii). 
 
 [And here we must remark a strange blunder on the 
 part of the scribe who wrote out this Book of Nehe- 
 miah. The passage from Ezra just quoted is, in that 
 book, followed by an account of the Eeast of Taber- 
 nacles in the seventh month (Ezra iii, 1). This account 
 is also found in the apocryphal First Book of Esdras 
 V, 47. The Book of Ezra once contained the account 
 of a second Feast of Tabernacles, also, of course, in 
 the seventh month of another year. This second 
 account, though not now in Ezra, we find in 1 Esdras 
 ix, 37. And the scribe of Nehemiah, misled by the 
 
ON THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 77 
 
 words, ''when the seventh month was come," has 
 inserted in his book this second account of a Feast of 
 the Tabernacles instead of the first. It is chap, vii, 73 — 
 viii, 12, together with verses 13-1 8, which are neither in 
 Ezra nor in the Greek first book of Esdras.] 
 
 After these quotations, Nehemiah continues his nar- 
 rative. On the last day of building the city walls, the 
 Levites humble themselves before the Almighty, and 
 in the name of the nation renew their covenant with 
 Him (ix). To this the heads of the people set their 
 seals ; and promise to walk according to his laws, and 
 to bring their offerings to his temple (x). The rulers 
 of the people, together with one man in ten of the rest, 
 dwell in Jerusalem, the others withdraw to their own 
 cities (xi). 
 
 Then follows a list of twenty-two chief priests and 
 six Levites, who came up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, 
 and of their sons, who held the same rank in the time 
 of Nehemiah (xii, 1-26). [This whole list seems an 
 addition not written by Nehemiah himself. At any 
 rate, part of it is by a later hand, as it contains a list of 
 the descendants of the chief priest Jeshua down to the 
 time of Jaddua, who lived under Alexander the Great.] 
 
 The narrative then continues. The city wall is de- 
 dicated to God with great solemnity by the priests and 
 Levites (xii). On the same day the command in the 
 Book of Deuteronomy (chap, xxiii, 3,) is read before the 
 people, that the Ammonite and Moabite are not to enter 
 into the congregation for ever. When Nehemiah came 
 to Jerusalem a second time B.C. 433, he reforms many 
 of the abuses. The gates of Jerusalem are shut against 
 all traders who would bring in their goods on the 
 Sabbath, to the profanation of that day ; and the people 
 are exhorted to put away their foreign wives (xiii). 
 
 [We may remark that the Nehemiah who came up 
 with Zerubbabel, on the first return from captivity, and 
 is mentioned in chap, vii, 6, may perhaps be the same 
 person as Nehemiah, the Tirshatha or governor of 
 chap, viii, 9, and also as the Tirshatha of chap, vii, 65, 
 who, in 1 Esdras v, 40, is called Nehemiah; but he 
 
78 ON THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 
 
 cannot possibly be the same person as the writer of 
 this book, who lived so much later, and who is called 
 the Tirshatha in chap, x, i. 
 
 As Nehemiah returned to Persia, and came back 
 again to Jerusalem before he wrote the history, we 
 may suppose that it was written about B.C. 433.] 
 
 O:^ THE TWO BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. 
 
 The Chronicles begin with the descent of the several 
 nations from Adam"(i). Then follow the genealogies of 
 the heads of the Israelitish nation from Jacob, who is 
 here called Israel (ix). The reign of David fills the 
 remainder of the First Book. The Second Book con- 
 tains the reign of Solomon, and the history of the 
 kingdom of Judah, till it was overthrown by the Baby- 
 lonians. The whole is so nearly the same as what we 
 have read in Genesis, Samuel, and Kings, that we 
 must suppose that it w^as written with the help of those 
 books, and we proceed to examine where it differs from 
 them. 
 
 The descent of the several nations is the same as in 
 the Book of Genesis, and, in particular, it includes the 
 double origin for the Arabic tribes of Havilah and 
 Sheba, which is given in Genesis x. 
 
 The genealogies of the Israelites are not quite the 
 same asin those earlier books. David's family is given 
 with greater fulness, as are the families of the priests, 
 which are copied from the Books of Ezra and Nehe- 
 miah, with some additions. 
 
 After the genealogies, when the Books of Kings and 
 Chronicles run side by side, the difierence between 
 them is very remarkable. The Book of Kings contains 
 the history of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah ; the 
 Book of Chronicles contains only Judah. The Book 
 of Kings states the faults of both with such impartiality,, 
 that we might fancy its author lived on the east side of 
 the Jordan ; but the Book of Chronicles often omits to 
 
ON THE TWO BOOKS OF THE CHEONICLES. 79 
 
 blame, or even to mention, the faults of the kings of 
 Judah. The Book of Chronicles is far less accurate 
 than the other, and shows a strong priestly bias, a love 
 of the ceremonial worship, and a wish to praise the 
 Levites. 
 
 Thus, the Book of Chronicles does not mention that 
 King Abijah walked in all the sins of his father 
 (^see 1 Kings, xv, 1-3), nor that the brazen serpent 
 ■was worshipped in Judah until the reign of Hezekiah 
 (see 2 Kings xviii, 4). 
 
 No mention is made in Chronicles of David's con- 
 cubines, nor of his crime with Bathsheba, spoken of 
 in 2 Sam. v, 13, and xi; nor of Solomon's seven 
 hundred wives and three hundred concubines, spoken 
 of in 1 Kings xi. 
 
 In 1 Kings xxii we learn that Jehoshaphat made 
 a ship at Ezion-geber of the class called ships of 
 Tarshish, which was to go to Ophir for gold. In 
 2 Chron. xx, 36, with a strange ignorance of geography, 
 this ship is said to be built in order to go to Tarshish. 
 In 2 Chron. xviii Jehoshaphat's army is said to amount 
 to 1,160,000 men, besides the garrisons in the cities. 
 This must be either an exaggeration or a mistake ; for 
 since the land was only a tenth part of the size of 
 England, all the males, even including the children, 
 cannot have amounted to so large a number. 
 
 The Chronicles make no mention of King Hezekiah 
 buying off the attack of Sennacherib by sending to 
 him at Lachish the sacred treasure from the House of 
 the Lord {see 2 Kings, xviii). 
 
 From a comparison of these, and many other pas- 
 sages, we remark that the Chronicles are far less 
 authentic than the Books of Kings. They were written 
 with a Levitical bias, and are more modern than the 
 Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They were probably 
 written about B.C. 400 ; for, though the genealogies in 
 1 Chron. iii come down to about B.C. 300, the latter 
 names may easily be a modern addition. With this 
 exception, the two Books of Chronicles, in their present 
 form, seem to have been wholly written at one time. 
 
80 ON THE TWO BOOKS OF THE CimONICLES. 
 
 David's song of thanksgiving on bringing the ark 
 to Jerusalem is formed out of Psalms cv and xcvi, 
 which were probably written after the captivity. The 
 end of Solomon's Prayer, on dedicating the temple 
 (2 Chron. vi, 4i), is in part quoted from Psalm cxxxii, 8, 
 a psalm written for the second dedication of the temple 
 in the time of Zerubbabel. 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 
 
 This book contains an account of the Jews gaining 
 from Ahasuerus, king of Persia, an important decree 
 in their favour by means of Esther, a beautiful Jewish 
 maiden, whom the king chose for his favourite wife ; 
 and it relates the origin of the Jewish Feast of Purim. 
 Ahasuerus, when giving a grand feast to his nobles in 
 the palace at Shushan, sends for Queen Vashti to show 
 her beauty to his riotous guests ; but the queen, in 
 modesty, refuses to obey his summons (i). Thereupon 
 he puts her away, and has all the handsomest young 
 women of the kingdom brought before him, and of these 
 he chooses Esther for his queen, as being the fairest of 
 them all. Soon afterwards, Mordecai, her uncle, sent 
 word to the king, through her, of a plot against his life 
 by two of the chamberlains (ii). Haman, the king's 
 chief minister, is offended with Mordecai, and obtains 
 a decree that every Jew, man, woman, and child, shall 
 be put to death, throughout the kingdom, on a day 
 therein named (iii). Esther undertakes to go to the 
 king and entreat his favour for her nation (iv). Haman 
 plans the death of Mordecai the Jew, but is himself put 
 to death by the king (v, vi, vii). And, lastly, Esther 
 obtains from the kino- a decree authorisino; the Jews 
 throughout the kingdom to defend themselves by arms, 
 and to kill their enemies ; and they ever after kept the 
 fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of feasting, 
 called the I'east of Purim, because they, on that day. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ESTIIEE. 81 
 
 slew three liimdred of their enemies at Shushan (viii, 
 ix, x). 
 
 [In the Greek translation, Ahasuerus, a name com- 
 mon to many Persian kings, is called Artaxerxes. He 
 is described as " the Ahasuerus who reigned from India 
 to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven pro- 
 vinces," showing that between that time and the writing 
 of the book others had reigned, but this was the greatest. 
 He was probably the Artaxerxes mentioned in Ezra vii, 
 commonly called Xerxes I, who died B. c. 464, or pos- 
 sibly Artaxerxes Longimanus mentioned in Nehemiah 
 ii. 1 ; and the book must be at least one hundred years 
 more modern. In the Septuagint there is a postscript to 
 the book which says that a copy of it was brought 
 to Alexandria in the fourth year of Ptolemy Philometor ; 
 hence this book was written between the years B. c. 360 
 and 160. The postscript here spoken of is now placed 
 as part of the Apocrypha. The whole is written in 
 a boastful exaggerating tone ; it is wholly free from all 
 traces of rehgious feeling, and blackened by a spii'it of 
 revenge against the nation's enemies. It shows some 
 knowledge of Persian manners and customs. It bears 
 very few marks of historical accuracy; but, never- 
 theless, it is very probable that one of the king's wives 
 may have been a Jewess, and that she may have been 
 the cause of the favour shown to the Jews in the 
 reign of Xerxes I, when Ezra obtained a decree in 
 their favour {see Ezra vii), or in the reign of Arta- 
 xerxes Longimanus, when Nehemiah obtained a similar 
 decree.] 
 
 ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 The chief difficulties in the chronology are before the 
 death of Solomon. After that time, the reigns of the 
 kings of Judah and kings of Israel are both given by 
 the historian ; and we soon come to the reign of Heze- 
 kiah, when we have a recorded Babylonian eclipse, in 
 C. Ptolemy's Astronomy, to fix the time. Other Baby- 
 lonian eclipses follow, to fix the date of the Captivity. 
 
 G 
 
82 CHRONOLOGY OP THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Thus the chronology may be divided into three parts. 
 The first is before tlie beginning of history, properly so 
 called, before the time of Abraham, and is measured by 
 the generations, or by adding together the ages of the 
 patriarchs at the birth of their children. The second is 
 from Abraham to Solomon, and is measured partly by 
 the generations, and partly by the historians giving 
 an opinion about the time between distant events. The 
 third is from Solomon to the Captivity, and is measured 
 by the kings' reigns. 
 
 The years between the Creation and the Migration of 
 Abraham, in Genesis, chap, v, xi, and xii, are 2,021 ; or 
 1,556 between the Creation and the Flood, and 465 
 between the Flood and the Migration. But the Greek 
 translators of the Bible, living in Alexandria in the reign 
 of Ptolemy Philadelphus, having the buildings, and 
 sculptures, and writings of Egypt before their eyes, and 
 knowing its high state of civilization when Abraham 
 came there, seem to have thought more years were 
 required to explain the world's progress in arts and 
 sciences. Accordingly they added 586 years before the 
 Flood and 880 after, by making the patriarchs, for the 
 most part, 100 years older when their children w^ere 
 born. The two schemes may be thus compared : — 
 
 In the In the •n;fF«,.<.r,^^ 
 
 Hebrew. Greek. D^ffe^ence. 
 
 The genealogies in chap. v. . 1556 yrs. . 2142 . 586 
 The genealogies in chap, xi, xii 
 
 to Abraham's migration . 465 „ . 1345 . 880 
 
 Totals . . 2021 3487 1466 
 
 Here we are tempted to make two conjectures ; first, 
 that in the Hebrew figures there is an error of twenty 
 years, and that the writer meant to say that the world 
 was 2,000 years old when the promises were given to 
 Abraham on his migration ; secondly, that in the Greek 
 figures there is a mistake of six years in Lamech's age ; 
 and that the translators meant to add an exact Egyptian 
 cycle of 1,460 years to the world's age as given in the 
 Hebrew Bible. 
 
 The years between Abraham's migration out of 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF TIIE OLD TESTAJtlENT. 83 
 
 ChaldjEa and Solomon's death, are thus given in the 
 Hebrew and in the Greek : — 
 
 In the In the 
 
 Hebrew. Greek. 
 
 Abraham older at Isaac's birth than at the 
 
 migration .... Gen. xxi, 5 . 25 yrs. 
 
 Isaac's age at Jacob's birth . . xxv, 20 . 40 
 
 Jacob's age on entering Egj^t . xlvii, 9 . 130 
 
 Time in Egypt in the Hebrew, or since 
 
 migration in the Greek . Exod. xii, 40 . 430 , 430 
 
 From Exodus to Solomon's fourth year 
 
 1 Kings vi, 1 . 480 . 440 
 
 To Solomon's death . . . xi, 42 . 36 .36 
 
 Totals . . .1141 906 
 
 The period of 516 years in the Hebrew, from the 
 Exodus to Solomon's death, the writer of the Book of 
 Kings probably calculated for himself out of the very 
 books which we now possess, and in nearly the following 
 way:— 
 
 From the Exodus Years. 
 
 To the espying of the land . . Numb, x, 11 . 2 
 
 To Caleb's conversation with Joshua Josh, xiv, 7 . 45 
 
 To Joshua's death ..... . — 
 
 Servitude under Mesopotamia . Judg. iii, 8 . 8 
 
 Othniel ruled iii, 1 1 . 40 
 
 Servitude under Moab . . . iii, 14 . 18 
 
 The land had rest .... iii, 30 . 80 
 
 During this long time Ehud judged . iv, 1 . 
 
 Servitude under Canaan . . . iv, 3 . 20 
 
 Rest under Deborah . . . . v, 31 . 40 
 
 Servitude under JVlidian . . . vi, 1 . 7 
 
 Gideon ruled viii, 28 .40 
 
 Abimelech reigned . . . . ix, 22 . 3 
 
 Tola judged x, 2 . 23 
 
 Jair judged (5th in descent from Jacob) x, 3 . 22 
 
 Servitude under the Philistines and others x, 8 . 18 
 
 Jephthah judged (5th in descent from Jacob) xii, 7 . 6 
 
 Ibzan judged xii, 9 . 7 
 
 Elon judged xii, 11 . 10 
 
 Abdon judged xii, 14 . 8 
 
 Servitude under the Philistines (Samson 
 
 and Eli) xiii, 1 . 40 
 
 Samuel judged and Saul reigned . . . — 
 
 David reigned .... 1 Kings ii, 11 . 40 
 Solomon reigned (12th in descent from 
 
 Jacob) xi, 42 . 40 
 
 G 2 
 
84 CHKONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 These figures, if added together, give a total of 517 
 years. But it is clear that many of the periods are 
 embraced within others, and to two no number of years 
 is given. Accordingly, in the Hebrew of the First Book 
 of Kings (vi, i and xi, 42), it is treated as 516 years, and in 
 the Greek as forty years less, or 476 years. Other early 
 Jewish authorities must have taken this period as much 
 longer; for Paul, in Acts xiii, I8-20, says, that after the 
 Exodus the Israelites were forty years in the desert, and 
 about 450 years under Judges till the time of Samuel. 
 This makes the time between the Exodus and Solomon's 
 death about 610 years. 
 
 But to return to the chronology of the Hebrew Bible. 
 The time of Solomon's death is pretty certainly known 
 as B.C. 975. Measuring along the reigns of his succes- 
 sors, it is 275 years before the eclipse in the reign of 
 Hezekiah, which is recorded by Ptolemy as in the first 
 year of the reign of Mardock Empadus. Thus from 
 the quotations above, we form the following table of the 
 chronology of our Hebrew Bible : — 
 
 B.C. 
 
 From the Creation 4137 
 
 1556 years to the Flood . . . . 2581 
 
 465 years to Abraham's migration . . 2116 
 
 195 years to Jacob's arrival in Egypt . 1921 
 
 430 years to the Exodus .... 1491 
 
 516 years to Solomon's death . . . 975 
 
 If the inquirer now wishes to form for himself on 
 critical grounds a scheme of chronology founded on 
 these materials, he will probably think the Alexandrian 
 critics hardly bold enough in their departure from the 
 Hebrew, though he cannot but blame them for altering 
 the text of the Bible. He will think with them that 
 the civilization of the world in the time of Al^raham 
 can hardly have been the growth of the short period 
 of 2,000 years. At that time Egypt enjoyed the ad- 
 vantages of laws, of civil government, of hereditary 
 monarchy, of military discipline, of a learned priest- 
 hood, of writing by means of hieroglyphics, of agricul- 
 ture, of sculpture, and of architecture. But he will 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAiVLEXT. 85 
 
 hardly think with the Alexandrians, that the difficulty 
 is removed by adding the short period of 1,460 years 
 to the world's age. We can form no opinion of the 
 length of time needed to produce such wonderful 
 results. And if man was endowed with this know- 
 ledge at his creation, the 1,460 years would not be 
 needed. 
 
 For the times between Abraham and Solomon, which 
 are of uncertain length, but within the province of 
 history, we may take two rules for our guidance. 1st. 
 That no part of an ancient writing is so little to be 
 trusted as the figures, whether in the number of years 
 or number of the population ; and, therefore, when the 
 reigns or genealogies contradict the numbers of years, 
 it will not be safe to rely on the numbers. 2nd. 
 When two modes of reasoning lead to diflFerent results, 
 it will be safer to take the shorter periods of time ; as 
 ancient historians have more often made the intervals 
 of time, like the population of a country, or the dis- 
 tance between towns, too large. Now, if we suppose 
 all Solomon's subjects, children of Israel as they called 
 themselves, were really children of Jacob, the time we 
 are speaking of would be far too short. A great nation 
 could not have been born of one family in a thousand 
 years. But if we rely upon the genealogies, which, 
 indeed, agree with the reigns of the Judges, as shown 
 in page 48 ; and if we remember that Moses was only 
 fourth in descent from Jacob, and Solomon was only 
 the twelfth in descent from Jacob, we must think that the 
 Alexandi'ian critics did not do enough in shortening the 
 time of the residence in Egypt, or the time between 
 the Exodus and Solomon. In this case we cannot allow 
 much more than 100 years for the residence in Egypt, 
 nor 300 years from the Exodus to Solomon. We shall 
 have to conjecture that many other Chaldees migrated 
 towards Egypt and Canaan besides Abraham; that 
 there were many followers of Moses who were not chil- 
 dren of Jacob; that many fought under Joshua who 
 had not followed Moses through the desert ; and that 
 many more shared in the division of the lands taken 
 
86 CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TEST^UIENT. 
 
 from the Canaanites who had not crossed the Jordan 
 with Joshua. The events, indeed, in the history from 
 the Exodus to Solomon's death, can hardly occupy more 
 than three centuries, if we observe that the times men- 
 tioned are mostly in round numbers of forty years each, 
 which we are at liberty to consider indefinite, and only 
 to mean several years. 
 
 The following table shows the more probable dates 
 of these events, as fixed by the genealogies and by the 
 reigns of the Judges that ruled over Ephraim and Ma- 
 nasseh. No notice is taken of the events belonging to 
 the other parts of the country : — 
 
 Genealogies. Reigns of Judges and Kings. 
 
 B.C. 1400 Judah born 
 
 Pharez born . . Residence in Egypt 
 Esrom born 
 1300 Aram born . . Exodus under Moses. 
 
 Wandering in the Desert. 
 Aminadab born . Joshua's invasion of Canaan. 
 Amalekite and Midianite rule, 
 1200 Naasson born . Gideon judges. 
 
 Abimelech judges. 
 Salmon born . . Tola judges. 
 Jair judges. 
 Boaz born . . Ammonite invasion. 
 Jephthab ; Ibzan. 
 1100 Obed born . . Elon; Abdon. 
 Jesse born . . Samuel judges. 
 David born . . Saul reigns. 
 Solomon born . David reigns. 
 
 Solomon reigns. 
 975 Solomon's death. 
 
 After Solomon's reign the difficulties in the chrono- 
 logy become less. The following table is formed by 
 taking the length of the kings' reigns out of the Book 
 of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, and calculating 
 backwards from the eclipse recorded at Babylon in the 
 reign of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus : — 
 
 Kings of Judah. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Kings of Israel. 
 
 Rehoboam 
 
 . 975 . 
 
 , Jeroboam. 
 
 Abijam, his son . 
 
 . 958 
 
 
 Asa, his son 
 
 . 955 
 
 
 
 954 
 
 . Nadab, his son, 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 87 
 
 Kings of Judah. 
 
 Jehoshapliat 
 
 Jehoram . 
 Ahaziah 
 Queen Athaliah 
 Joash 
 
 Amaziah 
 Uzziah 
 
 Jotham .... 
 Ahaz .... 
 
 Hezekiah .... 
 
 Manasseh .... 
 
 Amon .... 
 
 Josiah .... 
 
 Jehoahaz .... 
 
 Jehoiakini 
 
 Jehoiachin or Jeconiah 
 
 Conquest by Babylon 
 
 Zedekiah .... 
 
 End of the Monarchy 
 
 Cyrus grants permission to 
 the Jews to return home 
 
 Ezra sent to Jerusalem by 
 Xerxes .... 
 
 Nehemiah's second Tisit to 
 Jerusalem 
 
 The Romans conquer Jeru- 
 salem .... 
 
 The walls of Jerusalem re- 
 built, 483 years after 
 Cyrus' decree (Josephus, 
 Wars, I. viii.) 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Kings of Israel. 
 
 952 . 
 
 Baasha. 
 
 930 . 
 
 , Elah, his son. 
 
 929 . 
 
 , Omri. 
 
 918 . 
 
 Ahab, his son. 
 
 914 
 
 
 897 . 
 
 , Ahaziah, his son. 
 
 896 . 
 
 Jehoram, son of Ahab. 
 
 891 
 
 
 884 
 
 
 884 . 
 
 , Jehu. 
 
 877 
 
 
 856 . 
 
 , Jehoahaz, his son. 
 
 840 . 
 
 , Joash, his son. 
 
 838 
 
 
 825 . 
 
 , Jeroboam II., his son. 
 
 811 
 
 
 773 . 
 
 , Zachariah, his son. 
 
 773 
 
 , Shallum. 
 
 773 . 
 
 , Menahem. 
 
 761 , 
 
 . Pekahiah, his son. 
 
 759 , 
 
 . Pekah. 
 
 743 
 
 
 731 . 
 
 . Hosea. 
 
 728 
 
 
 722 , 
 
 . Conquest by Assyria. 
 
 699 
 
 
 644 
 
 
 642 
 
 
 611 
 
 
 611 
 
 
 600 
 
 
 600 
 
 
 600 
 
 
 588 
 
 
 535 
 
 
 478 
 
 
 432 
 
 
 63 
 
 
 53 
 
88 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 The Egyptians are the earliest people known to us as a 
 nation. While Abraham and his countrymen were 
 moving about in tents and Avaggons, the Egy})tians 
 were living in cities and enjoying all the advantages of 
 a settled government and established laws. They had 
 already cultivated agriculture, and parcelled out their 
 valley into farms; they reverenced a landmark as a 
 god, while their neighbours knew of no property but 
 herds and moveables. They had invented hieroglyphics 
 and improved them into syllabic writing, and almost 
 into an alphabet. They had invented records, and wrote 
 their kings' names and actions on the massive temples 
 which they raised. 
 
 Of course we have no means of counting the ages 
 during which civilization was slowly making these steps 
 of improvement. Overlooking, therefore, those years 
 when the gods were said to have reigned upon earth, 
 and the times of Menes the fabulous founder of the 
 monarchy, history begins with the earliest remaining 
 records. These are the temple at Karnak and the 
 obelisk at Heliopolis, both raised by Osirtesen I. of 
 Thebes, and the great pyramids built by Suphis and 
 Sensuphis, kings of Memphis, w^ith the tablets in the 
 copper mines near Sinai, which record the conquest of 
 that country by Suphis, and prove that those mines had 
 been already worked by the Egyptians. Such was the 
 state of Egypt about 1,600 or 1,700 years before our era. 
 ' It was divided into several little kingdoms, whose 
 boundaries cannot now be exactly known. In the 
 valley to the south of Silsilis was the kingdom of 
 Elephantine. Next was the kingdom of Thebes, which 
 perhaps included all the valley to the east of the 
 river. It had a port at jEnum on the Red Sea, and 
 thus traded with Arabia. Next was the kingdom of 
 This, or Abydos, on the west of the river, which 
 had a little trade with the Great Oasis ; and then the 
 kingdom of Heracleopolis, also on the western bank. 
 
A SKETCH OF THP] HISTORY OF EGYPT. 89 
 
 Next was the kingdom of Memplils, embracing the 
 western half of the Delta, which in the reign of Siiphis 
 had been strong enough to conquer Thebes and the 
 peninsula of Sinai. In the east of the Delta were the 
 kingdoms of Bubastis, Xois, and Tanis. 
 
 It was in the time of these little monarchies that the 
 Chaldean and Phoenician herdsmen were moving west- 
 ward, and settling quietly in the Delta. But after a 
 few generations, as their numbers increased, they took 
 possession of some of the cities, and levied a tribute 
 from the Egyptians. Their sovereigns were called the 
 Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, who dwelt at Abaris, pro- 
 bably the city afterwards called Heliopolis, and they 
 held their ground in Egypt for about six reigns. The 
 tyranny, however, of the Hyksos at length led the 
 states of Egypt to unite against them; and Amasis, 
 king of Thebes, making common cause with the kings 
 of the other parts of Egypt, defeated these hateful but 
 warlike Phoenicians, and drove them out of the country. 
 This may have taken place about fourteen hundi'ed and 
 fifty years before our era, and about two hundred years 
 after the reign of Osirtesen I. 
 
 B.C. 1450. — With Amasis and the expulsion of the 
 Shepherds began the reigns of those great Theban 
 kings, whose temples, and statues, and obelisks, and 
 tombs, have for more than three thousand years made 
 the valley of the Nile a place of such interest to travellers. 
 The kings of the other parts of Egypt sank to the rank 
 of sovereign priests. Amunothph I gained Ethiopia 
 by marriage. Thothmosis II, by his marriage with 
 Queen Nitocris, the builder of the third pyramid, added 
 Memphis to his dominions. Thothmosis IV", built the 
 temple between the fore-paws of the great sphinx. 
 Amunothph III set up his two gigantic statues in the 
 plain of Thebes, one of which uttered its musical notes 
 every morning at sunrise. 
 
 It was at the beginning of this period, before Memphis 
 was united to Thebes, that the Israelites settled in the 
 Delta, and Joseph, as prime minister of the King of 
 Memphis, changed the laws of Lower Egypt. And it 
 
90 A Sin^TCII OF THE IIISTOKY OF EGYPT. 
 
 was after Thebes and Memphis were united, when 
 Joseph's services had been forgotten, that Moses led his 
 countrymen out of Egypt to escape the tyranny of their 
 masters. The Egyptian reh'gion at this time was the 
 worship of a crowd of gods, of which some were stone 
 statues, and others living animals ; and it was against 
 these and other Egyptian superstitions that many of the 
 laws of Moses are pouitedly directed. 
 
 It was then that the great buildings of Egypt were 
 made. Oimenepthah I added to the temples of Thebes 
 and of Abydos. Rameses II covered Egypt, and 
 Ethiopia, and the coasts of the Red Sea with his 
 temples and obelisks and statues. He fought success- 
 fully against the neighbouring Arabs, and marched 
 through the land of the Philistines northward, a little 
 before the heroic struggles of Samson against the 
 same people. Rameses III still further ornamented 
 Thebes with his architecture. 
 
 The tombs of these kings are large rooms quarried 
 into the Libyan hills opposite to Thebes, with walls 
 covered with paintings still fresh, and with hieroglyphics 
 which we are attempting to read. The columns which 
 upheld their temples are the models from which the 
 Greeks afterwards copied. Their statues, though not 
 graceful, are grand and simple, free from false orna- 
 ment, and often colossal. Their wealth was proverbial 
 with the neighbouring nations ; and the remaining monu- 
 ments of their magnificence prove that Egypt was at 
 this time a highly civilized country, to wdiich its neigh- 
 bours looked up with wonder. The Jewish nation was 
 weak and struggling with difficulties before the reign of 
 David ; the history of Greece begins with the Trojan 
 war ; but before the time of David and the Trojan war, 
 the power and glory of Thebes had already passed away. 
 Upper Egypt sank under the rising power of the Delta. 
 The ban prosperity had lasted for about five hundred 
 years. 
 
 B.C. 990.— On the fall of Thebes, Shishank, king of 
 Bubastis in the Delta, became king of all Egypt. He 
 gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon, and as a 
 
A SIvETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. 91 
 
 dower lie besieged and conquered, and gave to the 
 Israelites, Gezer, a hill fortress in Samaria, which had 
 hitherto defied the Hebrew arms. But he afterwards 
 quarrelled with the Hebrew monarch, and then became 
 the friend of every one who was Solomon's enemy- 
 He set up the Edomites in rebellion against the Jews, 
 and helped the young Hadad to become king of Edom 
 (1 Kings, xi, 19). On the death of Solomon, Shishank 
 fought against Rehoboam the next king of Judah, 
 (2 Chron. xii, 2), and left an account of his victories 
 over him, carved on the walls of the great temple of 
 Karnak in Thebes. After his death, Egypt was torn to 
 pieces by civil wars. Zerah, king of Ethiopia, was 
 able to march through the whole length of the land 
 when hastening to attack Judea (2 Chron. xiv, 9). For 
 a few reigns Egypt was governed by kings of Tanis. 
 Then the kings of Ethiopia reigned in Thebes; and So 
 or Seve (2 Kings xvii, 4), and Tirhakah (2 Kings xix, 9) 
 led the armies of Egypt to help the Israelites against 
 the Assyrians. This unsettled state of affairs lasted 
 nearly three hundred years, during which, as the 
 prophet Isaiah had foretold, Egyptians fought against 
 Egyptians, every one against his brother, and every 
 one against his neighbour, city against city, and 
 kingdom against kingdom (Isaiah xix, 2). This was 
 put an end to by the city of Sais rising to the mastery,, 
 helped by the greater number of Greeks that had 
 settled there, and by the greater skill in arms of the 
 Greek mercenaries, whom the kings of Sais took into- 
 their pay. 
 
 B.C. 697. — Under the kings of Sais, Egypt again 
 enjoyed a high degree of prosperity. They were more 
 despotic than the kings of Thebes. They hired Greek 
 mercenaries, and struggled with the Babylonians for 
 the dominion of Judea. Psammetichus conquered 
 Ethiopia. Necho began the canal from the Nile to 
 the Red Sea. His sailors circumnavigated Africa. He 
 conquered Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii, 29-35) ; and when 
 the Chaldees afterwards drove back the Egyptian army^ 
 the remnant of Judah, with the prophet Jeremiah^ 
 
92 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 retreated into Egypt to seek a refuge with king Hoplira 
 (Jeremiah xUi, xliil). The colony of Greeks at Nau- 
 cratis, a little below Sais, now became more important. 
 The Greek philosophers, Thales and Solon, visited the 
 country, brought there by trade and the wish for 
 knowledge. Hecatasus of Miletus went up as high as 
 Thebes, and Pythagoras dwelt many years among 
 the priests. But Egyptian greatness now rested on 
 a weak foundation. Jealousy increased between the 
 native soldiers and the more favoured mercenaries. 
 The armies in Asia met with a more powerful enemy 
 than formerly. Nebuchadnezzar defeated them on the 
 banks of the Euphrates ; Cyrus reconquered the island 
 of Cyprus ; and lastly, Cambyses overran Egypt and 
 reduced it to the rank of a Persian province. 
 
 B.C. 523. — For two hundred years Egypt suffered 
 severely under its Persian rulers, or else from its own 
 struggles for freedom, when the Persian armies were 
 called ofP by warfare in another quarter. Cambyses 
 plundered the tombs and temples, broke the statues, and 
 scourged the priests. Darius governed more mildly by 
 native satraps ; but after his defeat at Marathon, the 
 Egyptians rose and made themselves independent for two 
 or three years. Afterwards when Bactria rebelled 
 against Artaxerxes, they again rose and made Inarus 
 and Anyrtgeus kings. Then for a few years Hellanicus 
 and Herodotus, and other inquiring Greeks, were able 
 to enter Egypt, and study the customs of this remark- 
 able people. When the Egyptians were again con- 
 quered, Darius No thus attempted to alter the religion 
 of the country. But when the civil war broke out 
 between Artaxerxes Mnemon, and the younger Cyrus, 
 the Egyptians rebelled a third time against the Persians, 
 and with the help of the Greeks w^ere again an inde- 
 pendent monarchy. Plato and Eudoxus then visited 
 the country, and studied in the school where Moses 
 gained his learning, and Jeremiah wrote his Lamenta- 
 tions. The fourth conquest by the Persians was the 
 last, and Egypt was governed by a Persian satrap, till, 
 by the union among the Greek states, the Greek merce- 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. 93 
 
 naries were witlidrawn from the barbarian armies^ and 
 Persia Avas conquered by Alexander the Great. 
 
 B.C. 332. — The Greeks had before settled in Lower 
 Egypt in such numbers, that as soon as Alexander's 
 army occupied Memphis, they found themselves the 
 ruling class. Egypt became in a moment a Greek 
 kingdom; and Alexander showed his wisdom in the 
 regulations by which he guarded the prejudices and 
 religion of the Egyptians, who were henceforth to be 
 treated as inferiors, and forbidden to carry arms. He 
 founded Alexandria as the Greek capital. Soon after 
 his death, his lieutenant Ptolemy made himself king of 
 Egypt, and was the first of a race of monarchs who 
 governed for three hundred years, and made it a second 
 time the chief kingdom in the world, till it sank under 
 its own luxuries and vices and the rising power of 
 Rome. The Ptolemies founded a large public library, 
 and a museum of learned men. Under their patronage, 
 Theocritus, Callimachus, Lycophron, and Apollonius 
 Khodius wrote their poems ; Euclid wrote his Elements 
 of Geometry; iVpollonius of Perga invented conic 
 sections ; Hipparchus made a catalogue of the stars ; 
 Eratosthenes measured the size of the earth; Homer 
 w^as edited; anatomy was studied. But poetry soon 
 sank under the despotism; and the winters were then 
 contented to clothe science in verse. Aratus wrote an 
 astronomical poem ; Manetho an astrological poem ; Ni- 
 cander a medical poem; and afterwards Dionysius a geo- 
 graphical poem. The Bible also was translated into 
 Greek in Egypt, and thus became known for the first 
 time to the Pagan world. The second Book of Mac- 
 cabees and the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach were 
 both written at this time in Alexandria. 
 
 Under these Alexandrian kings, the native Egyptians 
 continued building their grand and massive temples 
 nearly in the style of those built by the kings of Thebes 
 and Sais. ^ The temples in the island of Phila?, in the 
 Great Oasis, at Latopolis, at Ombos, at Dendera, and 
 at Thebes, prove that the Ptolemies had not wholly 
 crushed the zeal and energy of the Egyptians. An 
 
94 A SIvETCH OF THE inSTORY OF EGYPT. 
 
 Egyptian yjlialanx liad been formed, armed and dis- 
 ciplined like the Greeks. These soldiers rebelled 
 against the weakness of Epiphanes, but without success ; 
 and then Thebes rebelled against Soter II; but was 
 so crushed and punished, that it never again held rank 
 among cities. 
 
 But while the Alexandrians were keeping down the 
 Egyptians, they were themselves sinking under the 
 Romans. Epiphanes asked for Roman help ; his two 
 sons appealed to the senate to settle their quarrels and 
 ^uard the kingdom from Syrian invasion. Alexander 
 II was placed on the throne by the Romans; and 
 Auletes went to Rome to ask for help against his 
 subjects. Lastly, the beautiful Cleopatra, the disgrace 
 of her country and the firebrand of the Roman Republic, 
 maintained her power by surrendering her person first 
 to Julius Caesar, and then to Mark Antony. 
 
 B.C. 30. — On the defeat of Mark Antony by Augustus, 
 Egypt became a province of Rome, and was governed 
 by the emperors with suspicious jealousy. It was still 
 a Greek state, and Alexandria was the chief seat of 
 Greek learning and science. Its library, which had 
 been burnt by Caesar's soldiers, had been replaced by 
 that from Pergamus. The Egyptians yet continued 
 building temples, and covering them with hieroglyphics 
 as of old. But on the spread of Christianity, the old 
 superstitions went out of use; the animals were no 
 longer worshipped; and we find few hieroglyphical 
 inscriptions after the reign of Commodus. Now rose in 
 Alexandria the Christian catechetical school, which 
 produced Clemens and Origen. The sects of Gnostics 
 miited astrology and magic with religion. The school 
 of Alexandrian Platonists produced Plotinus and Pro- 
 clus. Monasteries were built all over Eg}'pt, and 
 Christian monks took the place of the pagan hermits. 
 
 A.D. 337. — On the division of the Roman empire, 
 Egypt fell to the lot of Constantinople. On the rise of 
 the Arian controversy, the Egyptians belonged to the 
 Athanasiaii party, while the Greeks of Alexandria were 
 chiefly Arians. Hence a new cause of weakness to the 
 
A SI^:ETCII OF THE IIISTOEY OF EGYPT. 95 
 
 government. Under Theodosius, Paganism and Arlan- 
 ism were forbidden by law, the library was burnt by 
 the Athanasians, and the last traces of science retreated 
 from Alexandria before ignorance and bigotry. Copies, 
 however, and translations of the Bible, were still made 
 there for the rest of Christendom. The Ethiopic trans- 
 lation, and three Coptic translations, were there made ; 
 the Armenian translation and the Syriac translation 
 were both brought into Egypt to be corrected according 
 to the most approved Alexandrian text ; and the Latin 
 translation, which, when afterwards corrected by 
 Jerome, became the Vulgate of the Western World, 
 was probably made in Alexandria. But the country 
 fell off every year in civilization, in population, and in 
 strength ; &nd when the Arabs, a.d. 640, animated b}^ 
 religion, and with all the youth and vigour of a new 
 people, burst forth upon their neighbours, Egypt was 
 conquered by the followers of Mahomet, six hundred 
 and seventy years after it had been conquered by the 
 Komans. 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 The Edomites were an Arab race who dwelt in the 
 desert country between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. 
 The Israelites acknowledged them as their kindred, and 
 in the genealogies of their own and the neighbouring 
 nations, said that Edom, the father of the Edomites, 
 was the same person as Esau, the brother of Jacob 
 their own forefather (Gen. xxv, 3o). They were a 
 warlike and unsettled people who dwelt in tents, and 
 whose whole property was in their cattle, their waggons, 
 and what their waggons could carry. They did not 
 cultivate the soil. Indeed they owned but few spots 
 where the industry of the husbandman would be largely 
 rewarded. They had no respect for a landmark. They 
 did not grant that any man was the owner of the field 
 which he cultivated; and, unless stopped by force, 
 would readily feed their cattle upon their neighbour's 
 
96 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOil. 
 
 crops. Like the Ishmaelites, their hand was against 
 every man and every man's hand against them. 
 
 Their desert home was bounded on the north by the 
 cultivated land of Judea on one side of the Dead Sea, 
 and by that of the Moabites on the other. The 
 Moabites were of the same race, though of rather more 
 settled habits than themselves ; and in southern Judea 
 the lower classes at least were nearly the same in blood 
 as these Ai'ab neighbours. On the north-west the 
 Edomites touched upon the Philistines, a warlike people 
 of the same race with themselves, but more settled in 
 then' habits, and idolators; whom the Jews in their 
 hatred called of a wholly foreign race, and who had 
 lately been driven out of Egypt. On the west they 
 were separated from Egypt by the Midianites of Mount 
 Sinai, and by the desert to the north of Mount Sinai. 
 On the east and on the south the wide desert of Arabia 
 was thinly peopled by other Arabs of the same wander- 
 ing unsettled habits, of whom their nearest neighbours 
 were the Sabeans, and Hagarites, and other tribes of 
 Midianites. The most marked geographical feature in 
 their country is the valley which joins the two seas, 
 now called the Wady Araba. It is bounded on the 
 west by the low hills of the deserts of Sin and Paran, 
 and on the east by a lofty range, the northern half of 
 Avhich is called Mount Seir, and the southern half 
 Mount Hor. In this range was situated the town of 
 Petra, the chief fastness of the Edomites. All these 
 people of the desert, like the Israelites themselves, were 
 strict believers in one only God. 
 
 The Edomites in their desert were not without some 
 sources of wealth. As long as the navigation of the 
 sea was difficult, their country offered the readiest route 
 for the passage of merchants from the Persian Gulf to 
 Egypt. The caravans, or troops of camels laden with 
 merchandise, passed from the head of the Persian Gulf 
 to Edom, and from thence to the Hebrew cities on the 
 east of the Delta. Towns arose on the spots which 
 gave water to the camels and their owners on the 
 march; they flourished for some centuries, and they 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 97 
 
 began to fall when it was found that the merchandise of 
 the east could be carried more cheaply along the? 
 southern coast of Arabia, and up the Red Sea. The 
 improvements in navigation, and the geographical dis- 
 coveries marked by the voyage of Scylax in the reign 
 of Darius, by that of Eudoxus in the reign of Ptolemy 
 Euergetes II., and by that of Hippalus in the reign of 
 the Emperor Claudius, slowly but certainly ruined 
 these cities in the desert. 
 
 The peninsula of Sinai, between the two gulfs at the 
 head of the Red Sea, was held by the Midianites,. 
 another tribe of Arabs, who were usually at peace with 
 Egypt, and dependent on that great kingdom. The 
 Egyptians not only worked the copper mines in the 
 peninsula, and held Feiran, the chief town, but also 
 several little towns on the coast, more particularly one 
 at the head of the eastern gulf, named Eziongeber, in a 
 spot still marked by its Egyptian name Wady Tabe, 
 the Valley of the Citi/. They thus for a long time 
 held what might have been of great value to the 
 Edomites, had they known how to use it, the only port 
 on the Red Sea which naturally belonged to that tribe. 
 When Moses, after escaping out of Egypt, reached 
 Eziongeber, and there left the friendly Midianites, he 
 asked leave of the Edomites to pass through their land 
 (Numb. X, 29); but he was refused, and he was not 
 strong enough to force his way; and he thereupon, 
 made a circuit through the countries to the east of 
 JMount Hor, and reached the valley, of the Jordan 
 through the land of Moab. From that time forward, 
 or at least as soon as Judea had a history, its wars with 
 those troublesome neighbours the Edomites were almost 
 unceasing. 
 
 When the twelve tribes of Israelites first placed their- 
 armies in obedience to one leader, and made Saul their 
 king, the Edomites were among the enemies from whom 
 he had to clear the frontier (1 Sam. xiv, 47). As the 
 Hebrew kingdom grew stronger, David, after conquer- 
 ing the Philistines, the Moabites, and the Syrians, put 
 garrisons in the chief cities of Edom, to stop their- 
 
 H 
 
98 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 inroads for the future (2 Sam. vili, 14). The Edomites 
 had been for many generations living under one little 
 chief or king, and the names were known of seven 
 kings who ruled over them before the time of David. 
 But they were too unsettled to allow of the power 
 descending from father to son ; and the cities of Teman 
 and Bozrali, and other places, in their turn gave chiefs 
 to the whole tribe (Gen. xxxvi., and 1 Chron. i, 43). 
 Joab, the captain of David's forces, put an end to this 
 line of kings, and remained six months in Edom, and 
 he slew every man and every male child in the land, 
 that did not escape from him by flight. Among those 
 who fled was Hadad, a son of the chief, whose servants 
 carried him ofl" in safety and brought him into Egypt, 
 where he was kindly received and taken care of by the 
 king of Bubastis (1 Kings, xi, 15). For the rest of 
 David's reign, and for the greater part of Solomon's 
 reign, the Edomites remained in quiet obedience to the 
 king of Judea ; and not before that time could have 
 been written the words in Deuteronomy, " Thou shalt 
 not hate an Edomite, for he is thy brother" (xxiii, 7). 
 
 It is probable that during the quiet of Solomon's 
 reign, the caravans through the land of the Edomites 
 were more numerous, and the wealth of the cities 
 greater, than when the country was independent. The 
 most important route was from Dedan on the Persian 
 Gulf,' through Teman, and thence on to Egypt. An- 
 other great route, which crossed the first near Petra, 
 was from Sheba in south Arabia, to Jerusalem 
 {Job vi, 19, Isaiah xxi, 13-14). To increase that portion 
 of the trade which brought goods from the coasts of 
 the Red Sea to Jerusalem, Solomon and Hiram king of 
 Tyre jointly fitted out a merchant-ship at Eziongeber, 
 the port at the head of the ^lanitic Gulf The ship 
 was of the largest class and called a ship of Tarsus, 
 taking its name from that city so famous for ship- 
 building. Hiram manned it with his Tyrian sailors, 
 and Solomon probably supplied the timber. The ship 
 was lamiched once in three years. As they sailed 
 only when the wind was in the stern, and bartered 
 
A SIvETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 99 
 
 along the coast, touching at the several ports, their 
 progress was slow. The half-year's northerly wind 
 might take them as far as Zanzibar on the coast of 
 Africa near to the equator. As it would be necessary 
 there to spend some months in exchanging their goods 
 with the natives, the wind would keep them a whole 
 twelvemonth. The half-year's southerly wind would 
 then bring them home again to Eziongeber, by the end 
 of the second year. There the third year would be 
 spent in port, while their foreign treasures were sent on 
 to Tyre and Jerusalem. Tliis new trade was no loss 
 to the cities of Edom; the caravans from Eziongeber 
 all passed through their country. Solomon's ships 
 brought home gold from Ophir, the port of the Nubian 
 gold mines, with apes, ivory, ebony, and parrots from 
 the countries beyond Abyssinia (1 Kings, ix, x). 
 
 But as Solomon's life drew towards a close his power 
 grew w^eaker. He had married an Egyptian princess, 
 a daughter of Shishank of Bubastis; and his first 
 trouble came from his father-in-law. As we have 
 already seen, when young Hadad the Edomite fled 
 from David, he was kindly received in Egypt. After 
 a time, Shishank gave him the sister of his own queen 
 to wife ; and Haclad's son Genubath was brought up 
 in the palace at Bubastis with the Egyptian princes. 
 Shishank, king of Bubastis, afterwards became king of 
 all Egypt, and too strong to value his alliance w^itli the 
 Israelites. He was probably jealous of Solomon's in- 
 terfering with his trade on the Red Sea. So he sent 
 back Hadad, who was now upwards of forty ^^ears old, 
 to raise the Edomites in rebellion against Solomon, and 
 to make himself king. The Edomites were too little 
 civilised to understand the advantage of trade. They 
 readily followed Hadad in an attack upon their old 
 enemies the Israelites (1 Kings, xi, 14). They at once 
 stopped Solomon's trade on the Red Sea, and no doubt 
 very much lessened their own wealth, which had been 
 flowing in upon them by the trade through their 
 rocky and sandy country. 
 
 Eighty years afterwards, B.C. 897, Jehoshaphat, king 
 
 H 2 
 
100 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 of Judah, again made the Edomites submit. He de- 
 throned their king, and sent a deputy from Jerusalem 
 to reign over them. He also attempted to regain the 
 trade of the Red Sea, which had been so profitable to 
 Solomon. For this purpose, he built a number of 
 merchant vessels at Eziongeber, the spot fixed upon by 
 Solomon for his port. But he was not strong enough 
 for this undertaking, in the midst of such an unsettled 
 and warlike race of people. His joort was attacked 
 and his ships broken to pieces either by the Edomites 
 or by the Egyptians; and the Israelites were never 
 again masters of the trade on the Red Sea. 
 
 In the reign of Jehoram, the successor of Jehosha- 
 phat, the Edomites revolted from under the dominion 
 of Judah, and again made for themselves a king. 
 Jehoram led against them his forces, and fought a 
 severe battle with them. But he was unsuccessful, and 
 the Edomites remained independent (2 Kings, viii, 20). 
 A little later, B.C. 838, Amaziah, king of Judah, fought 
 another great battle with the Edomites, and slew many 
 thousand of them in the Yalley of Salt near the Dead 
 Sea; he took the city of Selah, afterwards called 
 Joktheel (2 Kings, xiv, 7). 
 
 This is the first mention in history of this interesting 
 city, which bore the name of Selah, the Rock, from its 
 peculiar situation, or, as the Greeks translated it, Petra. 
 It was situated in a small inclosed hollow, in the range 
 of Mount Hor, on the east side of Wady Araba, the 
 valley which runs from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. 
 This is surrounded by steep cliffs of porphjaw and red 
 sandstone, but watered by a brook which gave the spot 
 its value. It is withdrawn from all the caravan routes. 
 The roads which lead to it through the dreary mountain 
 passes, cannot be found without the help of a guide. 
 On one side it is entered through a frightfal chasm so 
 narrow that not more than two horsemen can ride 
 abreast ; on the other side the road which leads down 
 into it, is too steep for a loaded camel. The wild 
 security of this rock-inclosed city, was not easily 
 disturbed by an invading army ; for it was still further 
 
A SliETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 101 
 
 guarded by the fierceness and poverty of its owners, 
 and by the sandy barrenness of the country which 
 surrounds it. Nor was such a spot often visited by 
 travellers. No caravans passed through it, unless they 
 turned aside either for its shelter or its water. Of all 
 cities in the world, it was that which was least known 
 to its neighbours. 
 
 Uzziah, or Azariah, the next king of Judah, followed 
 up this conquest of Petra by again gaining for the 
 trade of his nation a port on the Red Sea. Solomon's 
 port had been at Eziongeber, on the western side of the 
 head of the JElanitic Gulf, a spot convenient for the 
 Midianites and Egyptians when they were masters of 
 that desert shore. But there may perhaps have been 
 reasons for thinking the opposite side of the bay better 
 suited for ships; and there Uzziah built the town of 
 Elath, not five miles from the old port. It was after- 
 wards called ^Elana by the Romans, and is now called 
 Akabah. But the Jews were not strong enough either 
 to use or to hold these conquests; and in a very few 
 years Petra was again in the hands of the native Arabs, 
 the men of Edom (2 Kings, xiv, 22). 
 
 A few years later, B.C. 742, in the reign of Ahaz, 
 king of Judah, in the midst of his other troubles, while 
 the land was invaded on the north by the powerful 
 Syrians, and on the east by the equally powerful Phi- 
 listines, the Edomites overran the southern portion and 
 carried oif numerous captives. By the help of the 
 Syrians they regained from the Jews the town of Elatli 
 on the Red Sea (2 Kings, xvi, 6, in Septuagint). 
 
 On the conquest of Judea by the Babylonians, B.C. 600, 
 when the nation was in the very depth of its misfortunes, 
 the Edomites again rushed in to snatch at their share of 
 the booty. When Jerusalem was being stormed and 
 plundered by the Chaldsean army, the Edomites cried, 
 " Raze it, raze it, even to its foundations" (Ps. cxxxvii) ; 
 and the anger of the Jew^s against the insults and lesser 
 injuries caused by the Edomites, was almost equal to 
 that which they felt against the Babylonians, the great 
 authors of their misfortunes. It was then that the 
 
102 A SIvETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 prophet Ezekiel wrote that in pmiisliment for the 
 cruelty of Edom against Judah, it should at a future 
 day be made desolate even as far as Teman, and the 
 men of Dedan should he put to the sword (xxv), and 
 that the cities of IMount Seir should be laid waste (xxxv). 
 It was then that the prophet Obadiah wrote of the city 
 of Petra, that the pride of its heart had deceived it, 
 that, though dwelling on high in the clefts of the rock, 
 it should be brought low. 
 
 It was at this time that the Book of Job was written, 
 , and the scene of the poem is laid at Uz, in the land of 
 Edom (Lament, iv, 21), probably on its northern side, 
 not far from Moab. It describes the simple pastoral 
 mode of life of one of the Arab chiefs, whose wealth 
 was in his camels, oxen, asses, and sheep, and whose 
 strength was in the number of his famih^ The even 
 course of his life is unbroken by any variety except the 
 storms from heaven, or the report that a caravan from 
 Teman or from Sheba had lost its way in the desert ; 
 ■unless, indeed, his servants should be so far careless in 
 their look-out as to allow his flocks and herds to be 
 carried off by the neighbouring Saba^ans, or by the 
 Chaldseans, who had lately settled in the lower portion 
 of the valley of the Euphrates. 
 
 When Cyrus, king of Persia, led his conquering 
 armies westward, and restored the JewisJi captives in 
 Babylon to their country, and gave them leave to re- 
 build their temple, B.C. 535, the Edomites were among 
 the nations whom he conquered. The Jews rejoiced at 
 hearing of their slaughter, and thought it a just punish- 
 ment for former injuries. " Who," asks the prophet, 
 " is this that cometli from Edom, with dyed garments 
 from Bozrah? Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?" 
 And he adds as an answer, " I will tread them in mine 
 anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood 
 shall be sprinkled upon my garments." The Edomites, 
 with the rest of their Arab neighbours, remained subject 
 to Persia as long as that empire lasted, but regained 
 their independence when the Persians were overthrown 
 by Alexander the Great. 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 103 
 
 About tlds time we find a new name given to the 
 inhabitants of Edom, which it is necessary to attend to, 
 lest we should be misled to suppose that any change 
 had taken place in the population ; they are sometimes 
 called Nabatffians or Nebaioth. In the Book of Genesis 
 (xxv, 13, 15), among the Arabs of the desert, or sons of 
 Ishmael, we ffind "Nebaioth mentioned together Avith 
 Kedar and Tenia and other tribes of that neighbour- 
 hood. It had been usual for the Edomites of Petra to 
 send a yearly tribute of a lamb to Jerusalem, and Isaiah 
 says, "Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from 
 Selah, through the desert, unto the mount of the 
 daughter of Zion " (xvi, i). And in the later work, 
 which has been by mistake given to Isaiah, the same 
 tribute is said to be sent from the Nabatseans ; thus 
 " the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee ; they 
 shall come up with acceptance to mine altar, and I will 
 glorify the house of my glory " (Ix. 7). We see, there- 
 fore, that the Edomites of Selah or Petra are also called 
 Nabata3ans. And in yet later times we shall find the 
 names of Arabia Nabatasa and Arabia Petrasa, both given 
 to the desert country of Edom. 
 
 At the same time we find a new meaning given to 
 the word Edom, or, what is the same thing, we find the 
 limits of Edom removed northward almost to Hebron, 
 and they include even part of the hill country of Judah. 
 Historians seldom have to speak of any but the govern- 
 ing class in a nation ; so much so, that if from any 
 cause these are removed, and a lower class rises into^ 
 notice, the country seems peopled by a new race of 
 men; so it was in this southern portion of Judea. 
 When the priests and nobles were carried into captivity 
 by the Babylonians, the peasants that remained behind 
 readily formed one nation with the Edomites, with whom 
 they were more closely related in blood and feeling than 
 with their Jewish masters, and henceforth we shall find 
 two meanings belonging to the word Edomite, or Idu- 
 mean, as it is written in Greek historians ; sometimes 
 this name will belong to the Arabs of the desert about 
 Petra; but the Greek name of Idumean more usually 
 
104 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 •belongs to the less wandering race of southern Judca, 
 within twenty miles of Jerusalem. The wilder Edomites 
 •or Nabata3ans are driven hack to the south of the Dead 
 Sea. 
 
 The successors of Alexander never held Edom. The 
 Ptolemies were willing to befriend and uphold it as an 
 independent State, which was usefully placed between 
 Egypt and her rival kingdoms. Antigonus, when king 
 of Asia INIinor, was defeated in his attempt to take the 
 <iity of Petra. He had heard that the Nabata^ans had 
 left Petra less guarded than usual, and had gone to a 
 neighbouring fair, probably to meet a caravan from the 
 -south, and to receive spices in exchange for the woollen 
 goods from Tyre. He therefore sent forward four 
 thousand light-armed foot and six hundred horse, who 
 overpowered the guard and seized the city. The Arabs, 
 W'hen they heard of what had happened, returned in 
 the night, surrounded the place, came upon the Greeks 
 from above, by paths known only to themselves, and 
 overcame them with such slaughter that, out of the 
 four thousand six hundred men, only fifty returned to 
 Antigonus to tell the tale. 
 
 The Nabatagans then sent to Antigonus to complain 
 of this crafty attack being made upon Petra, after they 
 had received from him a promise of friendship. He 
 endeavoured to put them off their guard by disowning 
 the acts of his general ; he sent them home with pro- 
 mises of peace, but at the same time sent forward his 
 •son Demetrius, with four thousand horse and four 
 thousand foot, to take revenge upon them, and again 
 seize their city. But the Arabs were this time upon 
 their guard ; the nature of the place was as unfavour- 
 able to the Greek arms and warfare, as it was favour- 
 able to the Arabs ; and these eight thousand men, the 
 flower of the army, under the brave Demetrius, were 
 unable to force their way through the narrow pass into 
 this remarkable city (Diod. Sic. lib. xix). 
 
 When the family of the Maccabees made the Jews 
 again for a short time an independent nation, they 
 rsnewed the old war with the Idumeans or Edomites, 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 105 
 
 but. they did not attempt to enforce Jewish authority 
 over any portion of the country, except that which had 
 once been Judea. Judas Maccabeus in the flush of 
 his success in the year B.C. 164, did not march further 
 southward against them than the heights of Acrabat- 
 tene, which "divide the valley of the Dead Sea from 
 the country of Edom (Josephus, Antiq. xii, viii, i, and 
 xiii, ix, i). 
 
 At this time, also, we find another name given to the 
 desert country which Ave have been calling Edom, and 
 Nabatsea. In one of the additions to the prophecy of 
 Balaam, which was written under the Maccabees, the 
 inhabitants of Petra are called Kenites, a name which 
 in earlier times (see Gen. xv, 19, and 1 Sam. xxvii, lo) 
 belonged to a tribe not quite so far to the south. The 
 writer first speaks of the conquest of Idumea, or the 
 northern part of Edom by Judah, and says, " Edom 
 shall be a possession, and Seir shall be a possession, and 
 Israel shall act valiantly." He then mentions the con- 
 quest of the city of Selah or Petra, not by the Israelites, 
 but by the Assyrians, most probably an Assyrian force 
 in the service of Cyrus in the year B.C. 535. "And he 
 looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and 
 said. Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy 
 nest in Selah, or the rocJc,^^ making a pun on the word 
 Ken or nest. "Nevertheless, thy nest shall be destroyed, 
 and the cunning of Asshur shall take thee captive" 
 (Numbers xxiv, 22). 
 
 In the reign of the Emperor Trajan, Arabia Nabatsea 
 was received within the bounds of the Roman Empire. 
 The Romans were already masters of Egypt and Pales- 
 tine; and the rocky fastness of Petra at last was obliged 
 to receive a Roman garrison. In return for the loss of 
 their liberties, the Nabatseans gained a great increase of 
 trade ; and the buildings with which the city of Petra 
 Avas ornamented, declare the wealth which flowed into 
 it from this source. But it may be doubtful hoAV much 
 of that wealth fell to the share of the Nabat^eans, and 
 how much the Romans, Avho held Petra, were able to 
 keep for themselves ; the temples hewn out of the rock 
 
106 A SIvETCII OF THE HISTORY OF EDOM. 
 
 are all of a Roman style of architecture, ornamented 
 with porticoes and Corinthian columns of the age of 
 the Antonines. The theatre, which is of a semicircular 
 form, witli seats cut like steps in the rock, is capable 
 of holding four thousand persons. A triumphal arch, 
 springing from rock to rock, spans the narrow gorge by 
 which the city is entered. The tombs in which the 
 inhabitants were burled remain in the form of cells 
 pierced into the cliffs on all sides, around the theatre, 
 the jnarket-place, the temples, and along the roads even 
 for miles out of the city ; but the dwelling-places of the 
 living have long since disappeared, swept away in all 
 probability by the waters of the little stream which in 
 the winter season is often swollen to a torrent (Bart- 
 lett's Forty Days in the Desert). 
 
 This prosperity of Petra under the Romans was but 
 a gleam of brightness before its death. The art of navi- 
 gation was becoming every year better understood, and 
 the number of articles from the east, which were light 
 enough and costly enough to pay for land carriage 
 through the desert on camels' backs, was becoming 
 more limited. The trade-winds had been discovered 
 between the mouths of the Indus and the coast of 
 Africa ; and the Alexandrian merchants regularly sailed 
 from the Red Sea to India and Ceylon. Tyre and 
 Sidon lost their trade by sea, and Petra Its trade by 
 land ; and In the reign of the Emperor Yalens, In about 
 A.D. 370, Petra was again recovered by its native Arabs, 
 the city had lost Its importance, and its fall was hardly 
 noticed by the historians (Socrates, Eccl. Hist. lib. iv; 
 Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. lib. vi). This Interesting city was 
 henceforth lost to the civilised world. It was closed 
 against all travellers. It had no place in the map till it 
 was discovered by Burckhardt in our own days, without 
 a human being dwelling in it, with oleanders and 
 tamarisks choking up its entrances through the cliff, 
 and with brambles trailing their branches over the 
 rock-hewn temples. 
 
107 
 
 A SIvETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. 
 
 The Syrians, if we may judge from their language, 
 were a people closely allied to the Israelites. In 
 Hebrew, and by themselves, they were called Aramseans, 
 and their comitry was called Aram. The name of Syria, 
 by which the country is usually known, is probably 
 a Greek corruption of the word Assyria. It was 
 bounded on the north by Mount Taurus, and the moun- 
 tains of Armenia; on the west by the INIediterranean 
 Sea; on the south by the Israelites of Palestine ; and 
 on the east by Assyria and the Arabian Desert. But 
 the line which divided the Syrians from the Assyrians 
 is uncertain from our want of history ; and was pro- 
 bably changeable from their being of nearly the same 
 race. 
 
 Syria contained one portion of low country between 
 two momitainous districts. These are — first, the val- 
 ley of the river Orontes ; secondly, to the south of that 
 valley, the mountain ranges of Lebanon and Anti- 
 libanus, with the sources of the Orontes and of the 
 Jordan; and thirdly, to the north of that valley, a 
 larger momitamous country, with some of the sources 
 of the great river Euphrates. This northern district is, 
 in the Book of Genesis, called Chaldea, and Padan- 
 Aram, and Aram of the Rivers, or Mesopotamia, so 
 named from the numerous streams which unite to form 
 the Euphrates. Here, in Syria beyond the river, was 
 situated Ur of the Chaldees, the town from which, 
 according to the tradition, Abraham migrated (xi, 3i), 
 and Haran or Charan, the town to which Jacob fled 
 from Chanaan (xxvii, 43 ; xxviii, 5). The Syrians were 
 at first divided into several tribes or kingdoms, and 
 they were usually at war with the Israelites, from 
 the very first settlement of the latter in the promised 
 land. 
 
 The Syrians from Aram of the Rivers, or Mesopo- 
 tamia, overran the western side of Palestine soon after 
 the death of Joshua, in the time of the Judges; and 
 
108 A SIvETCII OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. 
 
 held the country in servitude for eight years. But 
 Chushan-rishathaim, the Syrian king, was defeated by 
 Othniel, a nephew of Caleb, who dwelt at Hebron, at 
 the very furthest end of the land. For some years the 
 Israelites of the south were free from these trouble- 
 some invaders. (Judges iii, ii). The northern parts 
 of Palestine probably remained in the hands of the 
 Syrians. 
 
 We may suppose that whenever the Israelites in theu' 
 struggles were oppressed by any of their neighbours in 
 the south or east, the Syrians in the north marched in for 
 their share of booty. Wlien Saul was appointed king, 
 and had defeated the Philistines, he then had to clear 
 even his southern portion of the country from the 
 Syrians of Zobah, a tribe which seems to have dwelt 
 between Mount Lebanon and the coast (1 Sam. xiv, 47). 
 This part of Syria had lately been overrun by the 
 Egyptians, who had marched along the Phoenician coast, 
 in the reign of Rameses II., and had left that great 
 king's name and titles carved on the rock near Bey- 
 root. The Syrians from beyond the river are not often 
 heard of in the Jewish wars. 
 
 When David was made king of Israel, the Syrians 
 nearest to the Israelites were divided into three or four 
 little king^doms. The chief of these were the kingdom of 
 Damascus, between the mountain range of Antilibanus 
 and the Arabian desert ; the kingdom of Zobah, between 
 Mount Lebanon and the sea; and the kingdom of 
 Hamath, which was betAveen Lebanon and Antilibanus, 
 the southern portion of which was called the Entering 
 in of Hamath. Of these three Zobah was, at this time, 
 the strongest ; and Rehob, king of Zobah, in about the 
 year B.C. 1020, was carrying on a war against Toi, king 
 of Hamath, and claiming for himself the lower portion 
 of the valley of the Orontes, which valley in its upper 
 part formed the kingdom of Hamath. The king of 
 Zobah sent an army northward, under the command of 
 his son Hadad-Ezer, to gain that portion of territory 
 and to make the river Euphrates the boundary of the 
 kingdom of Zobah. 
 
A SIvETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. 109 
 
 David was at tliis time firmly seated on the throne of 
 Jndea, and clearing his kingdom of his enemies. He 
 therefore took advantage of these wars among the 
 Syrians, and marched against Hadad-Ezer and routed 
 him in battle. He took from him horses for a hundred 
 chariots, with numerous shields of gold, and a large 
 weight of copper, which he found in the cities of Betah 
 and Berothai. This last was probably the city of 
 Beyroot on the coast ; and the copper may have been 
 brought there from the island of Cyprus, the great seat 
 of the ancient copper-mines. 
 
 In these battles the Syrians of Damascus sent a force 
 to the succour of their brethren of Zobah, and to fight 
 against David ; and, therefore, after the victory, David 
 took possession of the city of Damascus, and put a 
 Jewish garrison in it and made it part of his kingdom. 
 Toi, king of Hamath, on the other hand, felt relieved 
 from an enemy by David's victory over his neighbour ; 
 and he, therefore, sent his son Joram to meet David, 
 and to congratulate him on his success, and to purchase 
 his friendship with a gift of vessels of gold, vessels of 
 silver, and vessels of copper (2 Sam. viii). 
 
 Soon afterwards, when the Ammonites, who dwelt on 
 the east of Palestine, rebelled against David, they sent 
 to Hadad-Ezer, and from him hired a body of Syrians 
 from Beth-rehob, and Zobah, and Ishtob, and IMaacah. 
 These Syrian forces were defeated by Joab, David's 
 general ; and Hadad-Ezer brought down a second army 
 of Syrians from that part of his dominions which was 
 beyond the Euphrates, from the district of which Edessa 
 w^as afterwards the capital. This second army marched 
 southward to Helam, an unknown town, perhaps near 
 Damascus. But they were defeated with great 
 slaughter by David, who crossed the Jordan, and led 
 his army against them in person. Hadad-Ezer, upon 
 this, begged for peace, and then all the kings of Syria 
 served the Israelites (2 Sam. x). 
 
 The name of king Hadad-Ezer, we may remark, like 
 those of many of the kings of Nineveh, contains the 
 word Assur, and helps to prove that Syrians and Assy- 
 
110 A SKETCH OF TIIE IIISTORY OF SYRIA. 
 
 rians were of the same race, aiid only different tribes of 
 the same nation. The site of Zobah, his capital city, 
 is miknown. It may have been near the modern city 
 of Antioch, but can hardly have been between Hamath 
 and the Euphrates, which was a district at that time 
 struggled for by the two kings. The town of Beth- 
 Rehob, named after the king's father, was within the 
 boundaries of the land claimed by the tribe of Asher ; 
 Maachah was within the limits of the tribe of Naphtali ; 
 and that portion of the Promised Land which was after- 
 wards held by these two tribes, had not then been 
 gamed from the Syrians. When the first of these por- 
 tions of territory was embraced within the limits of the 
 kingdom of Judah, it received the name of Asher from 
 its Assp'ian population; and hence in the genealogy of 
 the nations, one of Jacob's sons, the child of a handmaid, 
 was named Asher. 
 
 Another little kingdom at the southern part of Syria 
 was Geshur, situated near the sources of the river 
 Jordan. The kingdom of Geshur may have embraced 
 the northern portion of Dan and part of the territories 
 which belonged to the tribe of Naphtali. Hither Absa- 
 lom fled from his father David. But the kingdom of 
 Geshur was by no means independent ; and the young 
 man, when David sent to recall him, had no choice but 
 to return (2 Sam. xiii, xiv). 
 
 After David's death Solomon's power was also obeyed 
 throughout all the southern parts of Syria proper ; and 
 he, moreover, held the city of Tiphsah, on the Euphrates 
 (1 Kings iv, 24), and Tadmor in the eastern desert, 
 better known as Palmyra (1 Kings ix, is). 
 
 Before the end of Solomon's reign, however, 
 [b.c. 980(?)] his power became weaker, and the 
 Syrians revolted ; and Damascus made itself indepen- 
 dent not only of him, but of the kingdom of Zobah, of 
 which it had formed part. Rezon, who had been in the 
 service of the king of Zobah, now made himself king of 
 Damascus (1 Kings xi, 23). From that time forward 
 Zobah was no longer the chief kingdom in southern 
 Syria; Damascus was henceforth the more powerful. 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTOEY OF SYRLV. Ill 
 
 and when Israel and Judali weakened tliemselves by 
 their quarrels, the Syrians of Damascus were counted 
 by both as allies. Tabrimon, king of Damascus 
 [b.c. 955 (?) J, the son of Hezion or Eezon, the last 
 king, formed an alliance with Abijam, king of Judah, 
 Solomon's grandson (1 Kings xv, is). 
 
 In the reign of Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon 
 [b.c. 940(?)], when Asa, the next king of Judah, felt 
 himself pressed by Israel, he sent his treasure to 
 Damascus to purchase an inroad of the Syrians against 
 his enemies. Benhadad accordingly sent an army of 
 Syrians southward. His troops entered the kingdom 
 of Israel near Dan, and took the towns of Dan, Ijon, 
 and Abel-bethmaachah, and overran the land of Naph- 
 tali as far as the lake of Genesareth (1 Kings xv, 20). 
 
 Benhadad reigned for many years and with great 
 prosperity. He had thirty-two little kings in his army, 
 with a body of cavalry and a body of chariots. Ahab, 
 king of Israel [b.c. 918(?)] was forced to acknowledge 
 him as his master and to beg for mercy from him 
 (1 Kings XX, 4). But Benhadad grew insolent and 
 careless with his success ; and when he was besieging 
 the city of Samaria, the Israelites, in their despair, made 
 a sally and routed the Sja^ians. He himself escaped 
 with his cavalry, but the rest of his army was de- 
 stroyed (1 Kings XX, 21). 
 
 The next year after this invasion Benhadad again led 
 his forces against Samaria in search of plunder, and he 
 marched as far southwards as Aphek, about ten miles 
 to the north of that capital. There, however, he was 
 again routed by the Israelites, and had, in his turn, to 
 beg for his life. After making a treaty with Ahab, he 
 returned home to Damascus (1 Kings xx, 34). 
 
 In the third year Benhadad again marched southward, 
 but this time on the east side of the Jordan. There he 
 was met by the joint forces of Jehoshaphat, king of 
 Judah, and Aliab, king of Israel. They joined battle 
 near the town of Ramoth-Gilead, and the king of Israel 
 was slain (1 Kings xxii). 
 
 Twenty years afterwards the Syrians of Damascus 
 
112 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. 
 
 again attacked the Israelites of Samaria, in the reign of 
 Jehoram, the son of Ahab [b,c. 895(?)]. 
 
 Benhaclad was still on the throne of Damascus, or a 
 second of the name had succeeded the former. The 
 besieged town was sorely pressed by famine. But the 
 Syrian army, upon hearing an unusual noise, as it 
 seemed of chariots and horsemen who had been sent to 
 help the town, raised the siege and fled in the night 
 (2 Kings vi, vii). It was after one of these invasions 
 in which the Syrians were defeated by Jehoshaphat, at 
 the foot of Mount Baslian, that the 68th Psalm was 
 written. Benhadad was shortly afterwards put to 
 death by Hazael, who then reigned in his stead 
 (2 Kings viii, 15). 
 
 Thel'urther inroads of the Syrians on the kingdom 
 of Israel were for a few years checked by the alliance 
 formed between the kings of Israel and Judah. The 
 Syrian army, led by king Hazael, fought a battle with 
 the two kings near Ramoth-Gilead (2 Kings viii, 29), 
 and the king of Israel fortified himself in that city to 
 oppose further invasion (ix, u). But when Israel was 
 torn to pieces by the successful rebellion of Jehu 
 [b.c. 884(?)], Hazael conquered the whole of the 
 country to the east of the river Jordan, not only Gilead 
 and Gad, but even the land of Reuben down to the river 
 Anion (2 Kings x, 33). 
 
 The kingdom of Israel was now ruined, and could 
 offer no resistance in the open country to the Syrians. 
 Hazael led his forces even through Samaria, and at- 
 tacked the more distant kingdom of Judah. He besieged 
 and took Gath, a city as far southward as Jerusalem 
 [b.c. 877 (?) J He then turned against Jerusalem itself; 
 and only withdrew from the capital Avlien bought off 
 by Joasli, king of Judah, who sent him the whole of the 
 royal treasure and of the sacred treasure, to purchase 
 his retreat (2 Kings xii, 17, is). 
 
 The kingdom of Damascus was now at its greatest 
 size. We hear at this time of no second independent 
 Syrian kingdom. Israel and Judah were both tribu- 
 tary to king Hazael. But the prosperity of Damascus 
 
A SKETCH or THE HISTOEY OF SYRIA. 113 
 
 ended on liis death. Benliadad, his son, succeeded him, 
 and was defeated in three great battles by Joash, king 
 of Israel [b.c. 840 (?) ], who recovered from the Syrians 
 all the cities that his predecessors had lost, and regained 
 the old limits of the kingdom of Israel (2 Kings xiii, 25). 
 Twenty years afterwards the city of Damascus was 
 itself conquered by the Israelites [b.c. 820(?)], and 
 Jeroboam II even made Israel master of all southern 
 Syria, as in the days of Solomon (2 Kings xiv, 2s). 
 
 About this time a new nation rises into notice whose 
 size and power w^holly change the politics of the little 
 states between the Orontes and the Jordan. The 
 Assyrians of Nineveh, after having been conquered by 
 the Medes, had thrown off the foreign yoke and made 
 themselves independent and powerful under a king of 
 the name of Pul ; and they soon took part in the wars 
 between the Syrians and the Israelites. 
 
 Menahem, king of Israel, ambitious of conquering 
 every Syrian town that had before obeyed Solomon, 
 attacked and took the city of Tiphsah on the Euphrates. 
 This brought upon him the enmity of the Assyrians, 
 who were no doubt masters of all Syria beyond the 
 river, and may have before taken that city, or may 
 have looked upon it as their lawful prey. The Israelites 
 could not resist the Assyrians, and the king of Israel 
 then had to pay tribute, not to the king of Syria, but to 
 the king of Assyria, for the quiet possession of his own 
 kingdom (2 Kings xv, 19). 
 
 Rezin, the next king of Damascus, instead of attempt- 
 ing like his father to plunder the tw^o kingdoms of Israel 
 and Judali, made an alliance with the former that they 
 might jointly plunder the more distant [b.c. 740 (?)] 
 He marched through the whole length of the unhappy 
 land of Judah in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, 
 and even assisted the Edomites on the Red Sea to 
 regain the port of Elath (2 Kings xvii, 6, in Septuagint). 
 But the king of Damascus was no longer the most 
 powerful plunderer in that neighbourhood. Tiglath 
 Pileser, the successor of Pal on the throne of Nineveh, 
 
 I 
 
114 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. 
 
 moved by a large tribute from the king of Judali, led 
 bis Assyrian forces against Damascus ; he put to death 
 Kezin, the king of Syria; and he carried away his 
 nobles to live in captivity on the banks of the river Kir, 
 a river which falls into the Caspian sea at the very 
 furthest limits of the kingdom of Assyria (2 Kings xvi, 9). 
 
 From this time forward, all Syria, including the dis- 
 trict round IMount Lebanon and the valley of the 
 Orontes, was subject to the king of Nineveh. There 
 are no natural difficulties to check the free passage 
 between the valleys of the Tigris, of the Euphrates, and 
 of the Orontes. From Nineveh on' the Tigris, the route 
 is across a low range of hills, and a plain, scarcely a 
 desert, to the river Chaboras, and then by the banks of 
 that little stream to the town of Carchemish on the 
 Euphrates. From Nineveh to Carchemish is about 160 
 miles. Fro'm Carchemish the route is along the bank 
 of the Euphrates up the river for about 100 miles, to 
 the ford near the town of Tiphsah. Here the route 
 crosses the river, and about thirty miles higher up 
 leaves the valley of the Euphrates and crosses over to 
 the valley of the Orontes near Hamath, having the 
 northern edge of the great desert of Arabia on the left 
 hand. From the Euplu'ates to Hamath on the Orontes, 
 is about 110 miles, and from ^Hamath to Damascus is 
 about 100 more. By this route of about 500 miles, 
 armies marched from Nineveh to Damascus; and 
 thenceforth all Syria became a part of the great kingdom 
 of Assyria. As the latter portion of this very important 
 route was southward, the Hebrew writers all speak of 
 the armies of Nineveh as coming down upon them from 
 the north. 
 
 At Damascus, Ahaz, king of Judah, did homage 
 to his new master Tiglath-Pileser, king of Nineveh 
 (2 Kings, xvi, 10). 
 
 The Chaldees, or Syrians of Mesopotamia, had pro- 
 bably been subject to Assyria for a long time before 
 this conquest of Damascus by that power. It was from 
 Chaldea, as we have seen, that the Hebrew nation traced 
 
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SYRIA. Ii5 
 
 its origin. The family of Abraham migrated from that 
 country ; but now a larger and a warlike migration of 
 the same people, joined, perhaps, by others from the 
 mountains of Kurdistan, took place southwards down 
 the river Euphrates ; and they conquered Babylon. In 
 the year b. c. 625, their leader Nabopulassar, Avas king 
 of that city, and two years later, he marched northwards 
 and conquered Nineveh. But this probably made kittle 
 change in the affairs of S\Tia. The Syrians and As- 
 syrians spoke very nearly the same language and were 
 of kindred races; and Syria was, as before, subject to 
 Nineveh. 
 
 When the Persians under Cyrus the Great conquered 
 Assyria in the year B.C. 535, Syria shared the same fate 
 and became a province of Persia. 
 
 Tradition tells us that the city of Balbec, situated 
 between the two ranges of Mount Lebanon near the 
 sources of the Jordan, was ornamented with a temple to 
 the sun, by a king of Assyria who held Syria and was 
 willing to copy the Egyptian customs in religion. In 
 the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, he found a god so like 
 his own, that he copied his statue for his own temple of 
 the sun in Syria (^lacrobius. Lib. i. 2.3). The Syrian 
 city received an Egyptian name, Balbec, the City 0/ 
 Baal, from Baki the Egyptian for city, and was by the 
 Greeks afterwards called Heliopolis, when the latter 
 temple was there built. The builder of this earlier 
 temple must have been one of the Persian kings, a suc- 
 cessor of Cyrus. 
 
 When Persia was conquered by Alexander of Mace- 
 don, Syria became a Greek province. On this last 
 conquest, however, the fate of Syria was wholly changed. 
 After the death of Alexander and the division of 
 his wide conquests among his generals, Babylon fell 
 to the lot of Antiochus, and Syria formed part of 
 the new Greek kingdom of Babylonia. Among the 
 subjects of Antiochus were a large number of Greek 
 settlers, who formed the strength of his army and the sup- 
 port of his throne. These Greeks were more numerous 
 
 I 2 
 
11€ A SKETCH OF THE HISTOKY OF SYRIA. 
 
 on the coast of the Mediterranean than at Nineveli or 
 at Babylon. Hence the valley of the Orontes became 
 the most important part of his kingdom. There his son 
 Seleucus built a new capital, which he named Antioch 
 after his father, and a second city on the coast, which 
 he named Seleucia, after himself. The half Greek city 
 of Antioch on the Orontes then became the capital of 
 the united kingdom of Syria, Assyria, and Babylon, 
 while the Syrian towns of Balbec to the south, and 
 JEdessa to the north, became also Greek cities. But the 
 successors of Seleucus held a very uncertain throne. 
 They were sometimes masters of Palestine and part of 
 Asia Minor ; but at other times, part of Syria itself was 
 held by the kings of Egypt. In the year B.C. 83, Syria 
 was conquered by Tigranes, king of Armenia, and in 
 the year B.C. 66, it was seized by the Romans, who 
 -continued to hold it till it formed part of the great 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 On the rise of Christianity, when the Apostles were 
 forced to leave Jerusalem, Antioch with its mixed 
 population became the head-quarters of those who 
 addressed themselves as religious teachers to the Greeks 
 ( Acts xi, 26; xiii, i). There the Gospels and Epistles 
 were read in the Greek language rather than in Syriac ; 
 w^hile it is to the Christians of the town of Edessa, in 
 Aram of the rivers, on the further side of the Euphrates, 
 that we probably owe the Syriac translation of the Old 
 and New Testaments. 
 
 A SKETCH OF ASSYKIAN HISTORY. 
 
 'The Assyrian records have saved for us the names of 
 thirty-six kings who reigned in Nineveh, on the banks 
 of the Tigris, before what we must now consider the 
 beginning of Assyrian history. The last of these was 
 Sardanapalus, whose true name was, perhaps, Asser- 
 Hadan-Pul, syllables which we shall find used in the 
 
A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. IIT 
 
 names of many 'of the later ' kings. His throne was- 
 overturned by an invasion of the Medes, a people who 
 dwelt on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and who were 
 separated from the kingdom of Nineveh by the mountains 
 of Kurdistan. Arbaces, king of the Modes, led his 
 army across these mountains, and made himself king of 
 Assyria in about B.C. 804. 
 
 After the death of Arbaces the Mede, the Assyrians 
 w^ere able to make themselves again independent. The 
 first of the new line of kings was Pul. In his reign, 
 Menahem, king of Israel, was unwise enough to provoke 
 a war with these neighbours. Tempted by the disturbed 
 state of Assyria, in the year B. c. 773, he led his army 
 300 miles northward, either conquering or passing by 
 the kingdom of Syria ; and then about 100 miles east- 
 ward to Tiphsah or Thapsacus, on the Euphrates, one of 
 the nearest cities on that side of Assyria. He was able 
 to conquer the place, and he put the inhabitants to 
 death with great cruelty (2 Kings xv, le). But this 
 was an unfortunate victory for the Israelites. In the 
 next year Pul marched in his turn into Samaria. The 
 frightened Israelites could make no sufficient resistance, 
 and they purchased a peace at the price of 1000 talents 
 of silver. With this booty Pul returned home. He 
 reissued twenty-one years. 
 
 [B.C. 753.] Tiglath Pileser, or Tiglath Pul Asser, 
 the next king of Assyria, also found an excuse for 
 invading Samaria. In the civil war between Israel and 
 Judah, when the Israelites called to their help the king 
 of Syria, wdiose capital was Damascus, Aliaz, king of 
 Judah, sent a large sum of money to purchase the help 
 of the Assyrians from Nineveh. Tiglath accordingly 
 led the Assyrian army against Syria ; he overran that 
 country, and conquered Damascus, and slew Resin the 
 king. He invaded the country of the Israelites, and so- 
 entirely routed them, that he took from them the larger 
 part of the kingdom. He then added to the Assyrian 
 Empire, not only Syria, but Gilead on the east of the 
 river Jordan, and Galilee to the north. He left to 
 
118 A SKETCH OF ASSYEIAN HISTORY. 
 
 the Israelites only the province of Samaria. He carried 
 his prisoners to the furthest end of his own kingdom, 
 and placed them on the banks of the river Kir, which 
 flows into the Caspian Sea in latitude 39°. Ahaz, king 
 of Judah, went in person to Damascus to pay his homage 
 to the Assyrian conqueror and thanlv him for his help 
 (2 Kings XV, 29, xvi). 
 
 His kingdom had been invaded on the north by the 
 Assyrians, on the east by the Philistines, and the 
 Edomites on the south overran tlie southern portion and 
 carried off numerous captives, and Ahaz in his despair 
 took the unwise step of calling in the Assyrians to help 
 him. Then, probably, was written the prophecy of 
 Joel,*who says, that wdiat the first flight of locusts had 
 left, the latter, namely the Assyrians, had eaten ; and 
 also the eighty-third Psalm, in which the poet declares 
 that amono; the enemies who had made a leao-ue for 
 the destruction of his nation, were the Edomites and 
 Moabites, and Philistines, and Tyrians; and that the 
 Assyrians also had come to help those descendants 
 of Lot. 
 
 By this time we are able to mark the limits of the 
 great Assyrian Empire. Nmeveh, the capital, was 
 situated on the east bank of the Tigris, a little above the 
 point where the Greater Zab falls into that river. Near 
 it were the cities of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen 
 (Genesis x, ii, 12). These cities together formed the 
 capital of the upper part of the valley watered by the 
 Tigris and Euphrates. The sites of these ancient towns 
 may be identified with the ruined walls and palaces of 
 the neighbourhood, without much doubt. The modern 
 Nimrood at the junction of the greater Zab and the Tigris, 
 is the Nineveh of Strabo, and no doubt the Nmeveh of 
 the Bible. Calah, or Halali, the castle, was likely to be 
 on the hills, and hence may be the modern Khorsabad. 
 Resen, which was between these two cities, and larger 
 than either of them, is therefore marked by the great 
 ruins of Kouyunjik ; while Rehoboth, the least impor- 
 tant of the four, may be the town of ]Mosul, the Mespila 
 
A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 119 
 
 of Xenoplion. At this time the king of Nineveh held 
 also, first, the mountains of Kurdistan, the country of 
 the hardy Kurds, and, secondly, the country between 
 Kurdistan and the Caucasus, being the valley of the 
 rivers Kir and Araxes, which rise in the mountains of 
 Armenia, and flow into the Caspian Sea. Tiglath was 
 also master of the kingdom of Media, between Kurdis- 
 tan and the southern end of the Caspian Sea, of the 
 kingdom of Syria, which contained the sources of the 
 Euplirates and the valley of the Orontes, and of the 
 northern part of Palestine. 
 
 [b.c. 734.] Shalmaneser, the next king of Assyria, is 
 also called Shalman by the prophet Hosea. In the ninth 
 year of his reign (b. c. 725) he led an army against the 
 little kingdom of Israel, which was now reduced within 
 the limits of Samaria. At the end of three years 
 (b.c. 722) he wholly conquered this unfortunate people, 
 and carried away into captivity the chief men of the ten 
 tribes. He placed a number of Assyrians and Baby- 
 lonians in the cities of Samaria, and placed the Sama- 
 ritan captives at Halah near Nineveh, at Habor on the 
 river Gozan, and in some of the cities of the Medes 
 (2 Kings xviii, ii). He also conquered Sidonand Acre 
 and the island of Cyprus ; Tyre alone held out against 
 a siege (Meander, in Josephus). Shalmaneser reigned 
 fourteen years, and died before this removal of the 
 Israelites into captivity was completed. The prisoners 
 were sent home, says the prophet Hosea (x, e), as a 
 present to his successor. 
 
 [b.c. 720.] Sennacherib, called Jareb by Hosea, suc- 
 ceeded Shalmaneser. He followed up the successes of 
 the last two kings. He completed the carrying away of 
 the Israelites, and then invaded Judea, in the fourteenth 
 year of the reign of king Hezekiah (b.c. 714). He 
 inarched without interruption through Galilee and Sa- 
 maria, which were now provinces of Assyria. His 
 troops entered the country of Benjamin at Aiath and 
 Migron. He laid up his carriages at Michmash as he 
 came upon the hill country around Jerusalem. The 
 
120 A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 
 
 people fled at his approacli, and all resistance seemed 
 hopeless. While Sennacherib was near Lachish, be- 
 sieging that city in person, Hezekiah sent messengers to 
 beg for peace and to make terms of submission. The 
 haughty conqueror demanded 300 talents of silver and 
 30 talents of gold, a sum so large that Hezekiah had to 
 take the treasures from the temple to enable him to pay 
 it (2 Kings xviii, 14 ; 2 Chron. xxxii). 
 
 In the meantime Sennacherib sent forward part of his 
 army southward, under the command of Tartan, against 
 the cities of the coast. In passing by Jerusalem, Tartan 
 endeavoured to persuade the people to open their gates, 
 and assured them that it was in vain to look for help 
 from Egypt. But he made no attempt to storm the 
 place ; he moved forward and laid siege to Azotus in 
 due form, and soon made himself master of that city. 
 (2 Kings xviii. 17, Isaiah xx, i). 
 
 When Sennacherib had made terms w^ith Hezekiah, 
 he led his army against Egypt, provoked by the news 
 that Tirhakah, the Ethiopian sovereign of that country, 
 was marching to the relief of the Jews. He passed 
 through the desert, along the coast, and arrived at 
 Pelusium, the frontier town on the most easterly branch 
 of the Nile. Here he w^as met by an Egyptian army, 
 under the command of Sethos, a priest of Memphis. 
 But before any battle took place some unknown cause 
 had scattered and routed the Assyrians ; and while the 
 Jews gave glory and thanks to Jehovah for their deli- 
 verance, the Egyptians set up a statue in the temple 
 of tlieir god Pthah in Memphis (2 Kings xix, 35 : Hero- 
 dotus, ii, I4i). 
 
 Sennacherib himself escaped alive and returned home 
 to Nineveh. But he was probably at the end of his 
 reign less powerful than at the beginning ; and Bero- 
 dach-baladan, who was then reigning at Babylon, may 
 have felt himself too strong to be treated as the vassal 
 of Nineveh. Berodach made a treaty with Hezekiah, 
 king of Judah (2 Kings xx, 12), which could hardly 
 have been agreeable to Sennacherib. The latter years 
 
A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 121 
 
 of Seiinaclierib's reign were probably employed in wars 
 with Babylon against Berodach and his successors ; 
 till, when old, as he was worshipping in the temple of 
 the Assyrian god Nisroch, he was murdered by two of 
 his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer. But they gained 
 nothing by their crime. They had to flee from punish- 
 ment, and they escaped over the northern frontier into 
 Armenia, a mountainous country that had been able to 
 hold itself independent of Assyria. Esarhaddon, his 
 third son, then gained the throne of Nineveh (2 Kings 
 xix, 37). Sennacherib had reigned for, perhaps, thirty- 
 seven years over Assyria, Media, Syria, Cyprus, Galilee, 
 and Samaria, and probably held Babylon as a dependent 
 province, governed by a tributary monarch. 
 
 [B.C. 683.] The date of Esharhaddon's gaining the 
 throne of Nineveh is uncertain, but the time that he 
 became king of Babylon is better known ; for in the 
 year B.C. 680, he put an end to a line of kings who 
 had reigned there for sixty-seven years (Ptolemy's 
 Canon, and that of Syncellus, in Cory's Fragments). 
 Towards the end of his reign he had occasion to punish 
 some act of disobedience on the part of Manasseh, king 
 of Judah. He sent an army against him, and carried 
 him prisoner to Babylon; but after a short time he 
 released him, and again seated him on the throne of 
 Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxiii, 11). Esarhaddon reigned, 
 perhaps, sixteen years. 
 
 [B.C. 667.J Sardochjeus, the next king, reigned over 
 Nineveh, Babylon, Media, and Israel for twenty years. 
 
 [B.C. 647.] Chyniladan reigned twenty-two years ; 
 but, during this latter reign, Assyria was weakened by 
 the loss of Babylon, which then fell into the hands 
 of the Chaldees, and of Media, which became inde- 
 pendent under Phraortes. 
 
 These Chaldees, first mentioned in the Bible, were a 
 tribe of Syrians at the sources of the river Euphrates, who 
 held the country called Aram of the Bivers, or Mesopo- 
 tamia. Their earliest known seats were Ur and Charran, 
 from which toAvns the race of Israelites traced their 
 
122 A SIvETCII OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 
 
 origin; and from thence Abraham was supposed to 
 have migrated. Another tribe of Chaldees dwelt at the 
 sources of the Tigris. These were the Kurds, a hardy 
 race who inhabit the mountains of Kurdistan, between 
 Nineveh and Media ; and these hitter are thought, with 
 some probability, to be the people who, under the name 
 of Chaldees, now made themselves masters of Babylon. 
 In the year B.C. 625, their leader, Nabopulassar, was 
 king of that city, and of the lower half of the valley of 
 the Tigris and Euphrates. Two years later, he marched 
 northward against Nineveh. The prophet Nahum 
 describes his storming and sacking that famous capital. 
 Nineveh fell before the rising wealth of Babylon, a city 
 300 miles nearer the sea, as Egyptian Thebes had 
 already sunk under the cities of the Delta (C. Ptolemy, 
 in Cory's Fragments). 
 
 In this falling state of the country, while Media was 
 independent, and civil war was raging between Nineveh 
 and Babylon, Assyria was further weakened by an 
 inroad of the Scythians. These roving Tartars, passing 
 the Caspian Sea, whether on the west side or east side 
 is doubtful, first came upon the Medes, and wholly 
 routed the army which Cyaxares, the king, sent against 
 them. They then crossed Mesopotamia, laying waste 
 the country as they passed. They met with no resist- 
 ance in Judea ; but their numbers lessened under the 
 hardships of their march. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, 
 was able to turn them aside from entering that country ; 
 and those that remained perished, as they marched 
 northward, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean 
 (Herodotus, i, los). 
 
 On the conquest of Nineveh by Nabopulassar, the 
 city was by no means destroyed. It probably shared 
 with the rising Babylon, the favour of the sovereign, 
 who is still sometimes styled the king of Assyria 
 (2 Kings xxiii, 29). It was probably then that the Book 
 of Jonah was written. The Jews had expected that 
 Nineveh, the great enemy of their nation, would have 
 been wholly and for ever destroyed ; but Assyria is no 
 
A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 123 
 
 longer unfriendly to them, and the purport of the Book 
 of Jonah is to explain the justice of God's government 
 in sparing that great city, which had repented of its 
 enmity, and should now find favour in their sight. 
 Josiah, king of Judah, finds a friend and protector in 
 Nabopulassar, king of Assyria. 
 
 Modern research has not yet helped us to understand 
 the ancient authors in their description of Nineveh. 
 Its walls surrounded a large space of cultivated land, 
 and probably embraced what we may call several towns 
 within their circuit. Diodorus Siculus (ii, 3,) says that 
 it was 480 stadia, or forty-eight English miles round. 
 The Book of Jonah tells us that it was a great city of 
 three days' journey, by which the writer seems to mean 
 that it was a journey of three days to pass through the 
 city ; but he adds rather more exactly, that it held 
 within its walls cattle for its maintenance, and a popu- 
 lation of more than 120,000 persons, who, in their 
 heathen ignorance, he said, did not know their right 
 hand from their left. Its palaces were, no doubt, 
 chiefly built in the reigns of Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, 
 and Esarhaddon; but it is not impossible that it may 
 have been further ornamented with buildings and sculp- 
 tures by Nabopulassar. The walls were covered with 
 the wedge-shaped writing, in which every character, 
 whether it is a letter or a syllable, is formed of several 
 straight lines, each headed like a nail. 
 
 These civil wars between Nineveh and Babylon may 
 have given encouragement to Necho, king of Egypt, to 
 push his arms eastward, and to claim authority over 
 Samaria and Judea. But Josiah, king of Judah, was 
 true to the Babylonians. When Necho landed on the 
 coast, and marched northwards as far as Carchemish on 
 the Euphrates, Josiah led an army against him. But 
 the Egyptians were victorious ; Josiah was slain at 
 Megiddo ; and Jerusalem, and the whole of Palestine, 
 was in the power of the Egyptians, who set up a new 
 king over Judah (2 Kings xxiii, 29, 2 Chron. xxxv, 20, 
 xxxvi, 5). 
 
124 A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 
 
 Nabopulassar was now old, and his son Nebuchad- 
 nezzar commanded for him as general, and carried on 
 the war against the Egyptians on the debateable ground 
 of Palestine. After some years the Egyptians were 
 wholly defeated by the Babylonian army under Nebu- 
 chadnezzar (2 Kings xxiv, i ; 2 Chron. xxxvi, G ; 
 Berosus in Josephus). By these battles the Babylonians 
 regained their power over Jerusalem, and drove the 
 Egyptians out of the countr3^ 
 
 In B. c. 605, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded to his father, 
 and governed that large kingdom in his own name, 
 which he had hitherto been enlarging as a general: 
 He carried captive to Babylon the Jewish nobles ; and 
 Judea remained a province of that great monarchy. 
 The seat of his government was at Babylon, a city 
 which soon became as large as Nineveh, which it had 
 overthrown. Jerusalem twice rebelled against him, but 
 he easih' reduced it to obedience ; although on the second 
 rebellion, Hophra, king of Egypt, came up to help the 
 Jews. Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and 
 took away from them every possession that they had 
 held in Palestine, Arabia, and the island of Cyprus. He 
 died in the forty-third year of his reign (Berosus in 
 Josephus ; 2 Kings xxv, 8). 
 
 [b. c. 562.] After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, four 
 other kings of less note reigned over Babylon, and held 
 Nineveh. But the Median power was now rising. The 
 Medes were in close alliance with the Persians ; and the 
 young Cyrus, at the head of the united armies, routed 
 the Babylonians in several battles, and at last conquered 
 Babylon and put an end to the monarchy. After a few 
 years Cyrus united the kingdoms of Media and Persia, 
 by right of inheritance ; and he thus (b.c. 535) added to 
 the land of his birth the whole of the possessions which 
 had been held by Sennacherib, and more than those of 
 Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 Notwithstanding its conquest by Persia, Babylon 
 continued a large city, being still the capital of the 
 plain watered by the Tigris and Euphrates. Though 
 
A SKETCH OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 125 
 
 no longer tlie seat of government, it was still tlie seat 
 of trade, and of great importance when visited by 
 Alexander on his overthrow of the Persian monarchy 
 in the year B.C. 324. x\Iexander died there; and on 
 the division of his wide conquests among his generals, 
 Babylon in a few years became the kingdom of Seleucus 
 and his successors. This city of Nebuchadnezzar was 
 now to fixll yet lower. It was governed by Greeks; 
 and Seleucus found Syria the most suitable province 
 in his empire for the capital. Accordingly he built 
 Antioch, on the Orontes, for the seat of his government, 
 and Seleucia, on the Mediterranean, as the port of that 
 new city ; and Babylon never rose again to be a place 
 of importance. 
 
 The chronology of the times that we have been de- 
 scribing, from Pul, king of Assyria, to Cyrus, king of 
 Persia, will be better understood by the help of the fol- 
 lowing Table. By the side are written the years before 
 our era ; at the top are the names of the countries ; 
 and from the whole we are enabled to see at a glance 
 the width of kin2:dom under each sovereiOT. When 
 the wedge-shaped characters shall have been more cer- 
 tainly read by the able decipherers now engaged on 
 them, we shall no longer be required, or at liberty, to 
 guess by what kings the palaces of Nineveh were built 
 and ornamented. But, in the meantime, it seems 
 reasonable to suppose that it was during those years 
 when the nation's energy Avas shown in its width of 
 empire, that it was also engaged on its largest, most 
 costly, and most lasting buildings. Success in arms is 
 usually followed by success in arts ; and the size of 
 the palace bears some proportion to the size of the 
 kingdom. 
 
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127 
 
 OX THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 Poets, like tlie professors of the other imitative arts, 
 besides aiming at moving onr feelings and raising our 
 thoughts by the more real beauties of their works, 
 have usually been willing to give further pleasure by 
 adding ornaments. Some of these in poetry form its 
 versification, such as a fixed length of line, or syllables 
 marked out by length and accent, or rhyme at the end 
 of the line, or alliteration in the middle; by all of 
 which, strength is added to the pauses and the memory 
 is helped. Another ornament is an artificial diction, or 
 a choice of words not used in every-day life. But the 
 employment of ornament is dangerous; many a bad 
 poet has given us common thoughts, ornamented with 
 versification and artificial diction in the place of poetic 
 beauties ; and perhaps the safest way to reach excellence 
 is to look with distrust upon all ornament as a snare. 
 From this danger Hebrew poetry was remarkably free. 
 Its rude, simple language had no words but those of 
 the actions and feelings of every-day life. The only 
 mark of its versification was, for the most part, in the 
 sense, and very little in the sound. It was made by 
 dividing each sentence into two or more parts, so that 
 the latter clauses either repeated in new words, or 
 answered, or in some way balanced, the first. This is 
 called the parallelism of the clauses in Hebrew verse. 
 As an example, we may take Job's praise of Wisdom: — 
 
 " But where shall wisdom be found , 
 And where is the place of understanding ? 
 Men knoweth not the price thereof; 
 Neither is it found in the land of the living. 
 The depth saith, It is not in me ; 
 And the sea saith, It is not in me. 
 It cannot he gotten for gold ; 
 Neither shall silver he weighed for the price thereof" 
 
 (Job xx\'iii, 15.) 
 
 This mode of marking the verse by the arrangement 
 of the thoughts, is seen as well in the English trans- 
 
128 ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 lation as in the Hebrew original. It is also seen in 
 the Greek of the New Testament, when poetry is there 
 introduced. In the beginning of Luke's Gospel, Mary 
 
 says: — 
 
 " My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
 He shewed strength in his arm ; 
 
 He scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 
 He put down the mighty from thrones, 
 And raised up the lowly. 
 He filled the hungry Avith good things, 
 And the rich he sent away empty." 
 
 So slight was the difference between verse and prose, 
 that it is not always easy to mark the boundary which 
 divides them; and so natural was it for a writer or 
 speaker to throw his tlioughts into the form of verse, 
 that it was not unusual for a Hebrew preacher to 
 address his hearers in w^hat we may call metrical prose, 
 marked by somewhat the same parallelism of its clauses. 
 Such a style of delivery was used when the thoughts 
 w^ere earnest and impassioned, and it was often accom- 
 panied with an intonation of the voice ; and hence we 
 find the same word used for a prophet, a poet, and a 
 ready speaker. As an example of this, we may take 
 part of a speech by the Saviour to the twelve dis- 
 ciples : — 
 
 " The disciple is not above the teacher, nor the slave 
 above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be 
 as his teacher, and the slave as his lord. If they have 
 called the master of the house Beel-zebub, how much 
 more his household ? Therefore fear them not, for there 
 is nothing covered which will not be uncovered, and 
 hid which will not be known. What I tell you in the 
 dark, speak ye in the light ; and what ye hear in the 
 ear, preach ye on the housetops." Matt, x, 24-27. 
 
 Thus, since the Hebrew poetry received so little help 
 from outward ornament, it was driven to rest its claims 
 entirely on the higher and truer merits of the art ; on 
 its lofty thoughts, its depth of feeling, its bold and 
 grand images. In these higher excellences it was not 
 
ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBKEWS. 129 
 
 a little helped by the nature of its subject, which is 
 usually devotional, and expresses a more earnest trust 
 in the Almighty than is found in the poetry of nations 
 who cultivate a divided worship. Even when smarting 
 under their sufferings, the Jews never thought them- 
 selves forgotten by their God, or doubted his power to 
 help them. 
 
 " Behold (says Isaiah) the Lord's hand is not shortened that 
 it cannot save ; 
 Neither is his ear hardened that it cannot hear." (Ch. lix, 1.) 
 
 And the prophet Habakkuk beautifully says, — 
 
 " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
 ISTeither shall fruit be on the vine ; 
 Though the labour of the olive shall fail, 
 And the fields shall yield no meat ; 
 Though the flock shall be cut ofi" from the fold. 
 And there shall be no herd in the stalls ; 
 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, 
 I will joy in the God of my salvation." 
 
 (Ch iii, 17, 18.) 
 
 Equally beautiful is the melancholy tone with which 
 the prophets speak of the nation's sufferings : — 
 
 " Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the 
 porch and the altar ; and let them say, Spare thy people, Lord, 
 and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should 
 rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, 
 Where is their God? " (Joel ii, 17.) 
 
 The change from narrative to a speech, from speak- 
 ing of God to addressing him, is frequently very im- 
 pressive. Thus : 
 
 " God hath spoken once, yea, twice have I heard it, 
 That power belongeth unto God. 
 Likewise unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy ; 
 For thou renderest unto every man according to his work." 
 
 (Ps. Ixii, 11, 12.) 
 And again : — 
 
 " O bless our God, ye people, 
 And make the voice of his praise to be heard. 
 He holdeth our souls in life. 
 And suffereth not our feet to stumble. 
 For thou, O God, hast proved us ; 
 Thou hast tried us as silver is tried." 
 
 (Ps. Ixvi, 8, 9, 10.) 
 K 
 
130 ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 In many passages, earnestness and enthusiasm aro 
 a cause of sublimity far beyond what ornament pro- 
 duces; as, 
 
 " Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, 
 And sound an alarm in my holy mountain ; 
 Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ; 
 For the day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at hand.*' 
 
 (Joelii, 1.) 
 And again, when the Psalmist says, — 
 
 " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 
 Let my right hand forget her cunning, 
 If I do not remember thee. 
 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, 
 If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 
 
 (Ps. cxxxvii, 5, 6.) 
 
 The similes are usually chosen from the most fa- 
 miliar objects ; as, 
 
 " My days are consumed like smoke ; 
 And my bones are burned like an hearth. 
 I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top." 
 
 (Ps. cii.) 
 
 The metaphors are of the boldest kind ; as, when the 
 people are happy, " the mountains skip like rams, and 
 the little hills like lambs" (Ps. cxiv). When the nation 
 is alarmed, " the earth trembleth, and the hills smoke " 
 (Ps. civ, 32). When the wicked reproach, " they 
 sharpen their tongues like a sword, and shoot their 
 w^ords like arrows" (Ps. Ixiv, 3). 
 
 No writings furnish us with finer instances of the 
 sublime than the Old Testament. At the head of these 
 stands the description of the creation of light in the 
 Book of Genesis. It strikes us with its shortness and 
 almost bluntness. The creation follows at once upon 
 the Creator's word. " And God said, Let there be 
 light ; and there was light." The first words raise our 
 expectations, and those which follow fully satisfy them. 
 The act is instantaneous, without mention of instru- 
 ments or succession of events. 
 
 Another method of producing the sublime is by 
 several grand images rising one over the other, so that 
 
ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. 131 
 
 at every pause the mind feels satisfied, and always 
 rests with pleasure upon the last thought as being yet 
 more striking than any that have gone before. Such 
 is the prophet Nahum's vision of the march of the 
 army and storming of the city of Nineveh : — 
 
 " Woe to the city of blood ! 
 
 It is full of falsehood and robbery ; but the prey will not escape. 
 
 [Hark!] there is the sound of a whip, and the rattling of 
 wheels ; 
 
 There is a noise of prancing horses, and of jumbling war- 
 chariots. 
 
 [Look !] the horseman lifteth up his bright sword and glittering 
 spear. 
 
 There is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases. 
 
 There is no end of corpses ; they stumble over the dead bodies." 
 
 (Chap, iii, 1.) 
 
 The reader is hurried along by the hurry of the 
 battle, and his ears and eyes are both engaged in 
 noting the advance of the Babylonian chariots and the 
 slaughter of the Assyrians. Here the description rises 
 from a state of quiet to noise and to dreadful action. 
 But yet more grand are those pictures which, on the 
 other hand, rise from noise and action to rest and 
 silence. Such is the history in prose of Jehovah speak- 
 ing to Elijah at the Mount in Horeb, which teaches 
 us the superiority of rest over action as a source of the 
 sublime ; — 
 
 " And a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 
 in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but the Lord was not in the 
 wind. 
 
 " And after the wind came an earthquake ; but the Lord was 
 not in the earthquake. 
 
 '' And after the earthquake a fire ; but the Lord was not in the 
 fire. 
 
 " And after the fire a still small voice. 
 
 " And it was so that when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face 
 in his mantle and came forth out of the cave." (1 Kings xix.) 
 
 Perhaps no other instance can be given of a writer 
 venturing so slowly and so boldly to raise our expecta- 
 tions, and then completely satisfying them. And if 
 we would explain the sources of the sublime in poetry 
 by those in either of the kindred arts, we may compare 
 
 K 2 
 
132 ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 the creation of light to one of the huge simple pyramids 
 of Memphis, without ornaments and without parts, 
 before which we bow down in awe and wonder. The 
 storming of Nineveh, and the history of Elijah, we may 
 compare to the temples of Upper Egypt, where, after 
 examining the massive roof, the strength of the walls 
 and columns, and the size of the sculptured figures, we 
 feel encouraged in our efforts to overcome difficulties, 
 and to aim oui'selves at something great. 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 This is a poetical work on the justice of God. The 
 thoughts that arise on seeing the good man suffer are 
 thrown into a dramatic form, and the arguments for 
 and against God's justice in the government of the 
 world are put into the mouths of Job and his friends. 
 The first two chapters are a prose narrative, and intro- 
 duce the speeches. 
 
 In the land of Uz, in the neighbourhood of the 
 Edomites (Gen. xxxvi, 28; Lament, iv, 21), in a part 
 of the Arabian desert to the south-east of Palestine, 
 dwelt Job, or the persecuted one. He was a good man, 
 who feared God. His wealth was counted in flocks of 
 sheep, and camels, and oxen, and asses, and servants. 
 He had seven sons and three daughters ; and on their 
 birthdays he offered burnt-offerings for them to God, 
 lest they should have sinned in their hearts. 
 
 Now on a day when the sons of God, or the angels, 
 presented themselves before Jehovah, Jehovah points 
 out to Satan, or the persecutor, his servant Job as a man 
 perfectly upright. Satan answers that he had observed 
 him, but that his goodness was only for the sake of 
 worldly reward. On this Jehovah puts into Satan's 
 power all that Job has, that he may be tried ; only Job 
 himself is not to be touched. Job's troubles then begin. 
 The neighbouring Saba^ans carry off his oxen; the 
 lightning burns his sheep; the Chaldseans drive away 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 133 
 
 Ills camels ; the house falls upon the children and kills 
 them all. Job bows himself before God in humility ; 
 " the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed 
 be the name of the Lord." 
 
 When Satan next presents himself before Jehovah, 
 he refuses to acknowledge that Job has been really 
 tried; and Jehovah then puts him wholly in Satan's 
 power, only his life is to be spared. The unhappy man 
 is thereupon afflicted with a most distressing leprosy 
 from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. His 
 wife is no comfort to him, but reproaches him with the 
 uselessness of his piety. Three friends come in to talk 
 with him ; and the speeches begin. 
 
 Job curses the day in which he was born, and wishes 
 it blotted out of the year. He wishes that he had died 
 at his birth, and had gone where the wicked cease from 
 troubling and the weary are at rest (iii). 
 
 Eliphaz, one of his friends, asks him if he can listen 
 to blame. He tells him that his piety should support 
 him ; the innocent never perish ; but they that plough 
 iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. He tells 
 him to trust in God, who woundeth and healeth ; so 
 shall he again be prosperous (iv, v). 
 
 Job answers that his sufferings are heavier than his 
 friends are aware. He wishes for death, but says that 
 he will speak in his distress, and complains against God 
 (vi, yii). 
 
 Bildad, the second friend, denies that God is unjust. 
 He says that Job's children must have sinned, and tells 
 Job to make supplication to the Almighty (viii). 
 
 Job acknowledges that no man is just before God ; 
 but asserts his innocence. He will not, however, 
 answer God, as there is no umpire to judge between 
 them. He prays for death as a relief from his suffer- 
 ings (ix, x). 
 
 Zophar, the third friend, blames Job for boasting. 
 He wishes that God would speak and reprove him. He 
 advises him to put away his iniquity, and then he need 
 not fear (xi). 
 
 Job, in answer, denies that ciood and evil are sent as 
 
134 ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 rewards and punishments. All nature contradicts it. 
 God, for his own purposes, maketh judges foolish and 
 overthroweth the strong; he raiseth up nations and 
 destroyeth them. At length, urged on by the warmth of 
 argument, Job says that he will speak, come what may ; 
 and tells his friends to listen while he pleads with God 
 (xii, xiii, 19). He then makes his complaint against 
 the Almighty. He begs Him to withdraw his hand, 
 that he may not be checked by fear ; he will then either 
 answer an accusation, or plead and wait for an answer. 
 He complains that God is crushing the driven leaf, and 
 pursuing the parched stubble ; that man is weak and of 
 a short life ; and that after death he will not live again 
 (xiii, 20 ; xiv). 
 
 Eliphaz, in a second speech, reproaches Job with 
 impiety, and with turning against God. He quotes to 
 him the opinion which wise men had declared, perhaps 
 in the form of a poem, that trouble and anguish always 
 overtake the wicked (xv). 
 
 Job answers that his friends are miserable comforters. 
 He continues his laments and his assertions of innocence 
 (xvi, xvii). 
 
 Bildad, in his second speech, continues the argu- 
 ment, that none but the wicked suffer, and asserts that 
 this is the dwelling of him that knoweth not God 
 (xviii). 
 
 Job now complains of his friends' cruel reproaches ; 
 his kinsmen have deserted him, his servants do not know 
 him, his wife loathes him. But he is sure that hereafter 
 God will avenge him (xix). 
 
 Zophar, in his second speech, returns to the same 
 argument, that the triumph of the wicked is short, and 
 that at last the heavens reveal his iniquity and the earth 
 rises up against him (xx). 
 
 Job denies the truth of this argument, and says the 
 wicked often thrive and are powerful ; their houses are 
 safe and their cows calve. We must not teach God, or 
 undertake to say Avhom he should reward or whom he 
 should pmiish (xxi). 
 
 Eliphaz, in his third speech, becomes yet more re- 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 135 
 
 proachful, and argues that Job's iniquities must be 
 great ; lie has perhaps refused water to the thirsty or 
 bread to the hungry. He advises him to return to God 
 and be prosperous (xxii). 
 
 Job answers that his complaints are not made in 
 rebellion. He mentions many cases in which the 
 wicked prosper (xxiii, xxiv). 
 
 Bildad seems convinced, and in his third speech 
 agrees with what Job has been saying, and shortly adds 
 that no man is just in the sight of God (xxv). 
 
 Job then reproves Bildad's want of charity and 
 weakness of argument, and praises God's power (xxvi). 
 
 Zophar ventures on no third speech in reply. 
 
 As his friends make no answer. Job protests his 
 sincerity and his innocence ; he quotes his friends' 
 opinion, that the wicked are always unprosperous, as 
 altogether false. He praises Wisdom in a fine strain of 
 poetry ; silver and iron can be dug out of the mines, 
 but where is wisdom to be found? its worth is above 
 gold and jewels ; wisdom is the fear of the Lord 
 (xxvii, xxviii). As his friends still make no answer, he 
 continues his reply ; he describes his past prosperity 
 (xxix), his present misfortunes (xxx), and again protests 
 his innocence (xxxi). 
 
 Here a new person is introduced, who may be com- 
 pared to the chorus of a Greek tragedy. Elihu, a 
 young man who had listened while his elders were 
 speaking, takes up the argument. He says the old are 
 not always wise. He blames the reasoning of the three 
 friends, for though young he cannot help speaking 
 (xxxii). He then addresses Job, and quotes his words 
 to blame them. He says God's ways are not to 
 be understood ; pain is sometimes sent as a correction 
 (xxxiii). 
 
 He further argues that God's ways are not unjust, 
 but that man must bow in humility (xxxiv). 
 
 He blames Job for bargaining with God (xxxv). 
 
 He shows that God is just, that Job is sinful, and 
 that God is to be feared and his wisdom is unsearchable 
 (xxxvi, xxxvii). 
 
136 ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 Jehovah tlien answers Job out of the whirlwind in a 
 series of questions. He describes the ocean, the storm, 
 the stars and seasons, the lion, the rock-goat, the mule, 
 the rhinoceros, the horse and the eagle, to show that no 
 man has knowledge enough to judge the ways of 
 Providence (xxxviii, xxxix). 
 
 Jehovah then calls on Job to answer him (xl. i, 2). 
 
 Job acknowledges his worthlessness, and will attempt 
 no answer (xl, 3-5). 
 
 Jehovah again calls on Job for an answ^er, and points 
 out the wonders of the creation, the river-horse, and 
 the crocodile (xl, 6, xli). 
 
 Job acknowledges that God's ways are too wonderful 
 for him to understand, and repents in dust and ashes 
 (xlii, i-e). 
 
 Lastly, Jehovah, in wrath against the three friends, 
 orders them to sacrifice a burnt-offering for their folly, 
 and he restores Job to double his former prosperity. 
 
 [The scenery and imagery of the poem are Arabian. 
 They belong to' the tribes dwelling on the borders of 
 the desert, whose habits are simple and pastoral. But 
 the religious thoughts are strictly Hebrew. Among 
 any other people, perhaps, the inquiry would have been 
 on the origin of evil, on matter being itself opposed to 
 God's wishes, or on a wicked god whom the ruler of the 
 world ^vas not wdiolly able to overcome. But here 
 there is only one First Cause ; Satan is a servant of the 
 Almighty ; the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, 
 blessed is the name of the Lord. 
 
 The author's knowledge of geography and natural 
 history reaches from the crocodile of the Nile to the 
 river Jordan of Palestine (xl, 23) ; from deserts parched 
 with the tropical sun, where the ostrich lays its eggs 
 in the sand, to regions of ice and snow. Judging from 
 the numerous arts and sciences mentioned, it would 
 seem to have been written long after the Hebrew 
 monarchy had risen to its prosperity. The w^riter 
 mentions gold of Ophir, silver, iron, and copper, and 
 the art of mining (xxviii, 1-2), writing, and sculptured 
 writing on stone (xix, 23). The sapphire stone had 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 137 
 
 gainecV, its present name (xxvlil, e), from the Island of 
 Sapphirene in the Red Sea. Landmarks were used to 
 divide estates (xxiv, 2). Wheat and barley were cul- 
 tivated (xxxi, 40). Oil and wine were made (xxiv, 11). 
 Fields were ploughed and harrowed (xxxix, 10). Cattle 
 were pledged for debt (xxiv, 3). Swaft couriers and 
 ships were in use (ix, 25). Cities (xv, 28), kings, and 
 judges (xii, 17) are mentioned; and it w^as the custom 
 for an accusation to be made in Avriting (xxxi, 35). 
 Mirrors were made of polished metal (xxxvii, is). 
 Music was produced by harps and pipes (xxx, 31), and 
 in war by trumpets (xxxix, 24). Soldiers wore shields 
 made w ith bosses (xv, 26), and when their ranks were 
 closed, would hold them lapping over one another like 
 the scales of a crocodile (xli, 15). When w^e remember 
 that working in iron was almost unknown to the 
 Israelites in the reign of Saul (1 Sam. xiii, 19), we can 
 hardly suppose a book with these marks of civilisation 
 written before the time of Solomon. 
 
 Birt it may be shown that it is far more modern. 
 There are thoughts taken from Proverbs, Psalms, and 
 Isaiah ; and when the writer has made use of words and 
 thoughts which are also met wdth in another book, a 
 comparison betw^een the two will show that the words in 
 Job are the more modern. Thus compare the following ; 
 Isaiah xxxv, 3, " Strengthen ye the weak hands and 
 confirm the feeble knees." 
 
 Job, iv, 3-4, "Behold, Thou hast instructed many, 
 and Thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy 
 words have upholden him that w^as falling. Thou hast 
 strengthened the feeble knees." 
 
 The words " The Lord turned the captivity of Job," 
 (xlii, 10), meaning only, that the Lord put an end to his 
 afflictions, could not have been so used before the time 
 of Jeremiah, in whose w^ritings the turning away the 
 captivity is so often spoken of 
 
 We have the same imagery of heaven introduced in 
 the First Book of Kings (xxli, 19), which was written 
 at the time of the Babylonian captivity. " I saw the 
 Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven 
 
138 ON THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 standing by liim on his right hand and on his left. And 
 the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may 
 go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead ? And one (angel) said 
 on this manner, and another said on that manner. 
 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the 
 Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord 
 said unto him. Wherewith? And he said, I will go 
 forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of 
 all liis prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade 
 him, and prevail also : go forth, and do so." Zechariah 
 also, who wrote at the time of the return from cap- 
 tivity, speaks of Satan as an angel who accused men 
 before Jehovah. These considerations, together with 
 the mention of the Chaldseans, who had not settled so 
 far south till a little before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 fix the date of this book as more modern than the year 
 B. c. 600. It is thus more modern than the writings of 
 Ezekiel, though that writer mentions Job as a real per- 
 son deserving of the same reverence with Noah, in 
 chap, xiv.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS.. 
 
 When David set up the tabernacle in Jerusalem for 
 the worship of Jehovah, he appointed a company of 
 Levites as musicians and singers to sing psalms before 
 the congregation (1 Chron. xv); and on the day when 
 the service was first performed, he himself delivered a 
 psalm of praise into the hands of Asaph, which was 
 then sung (xvi, 7). Li the same way, when Solomon 
 had built his temple and opened it for worship, a chorus 
 of Levites with musical instruments praised the Lord, 
 singing, " For he is good, for his mercy endureth for 
 ever " (2 Chron. v, is). Again, when Hezekiah restored 
 the worship in the temple, and sacrificed a burnt- 
 offering on the altar, the singers sang their hymns, 
 and the musicians sounded their instruments, until 
 
ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 139 
 
 the burnt-offering was finished (xxix, 28); and after 
 the return from captivity, when the foundation of the 
 new temple was being laid, the courses of the priests 
 sang by turns, "giving praise to the Lord, for he is 
 good, for his mercy endureth for ever " (Ezra iii, ii). 
 For the use of a temple-service, in which singing praises 
 to God formed so important a part, a collection of psalms 
 must have been needed, to which new psalms were 
 added from time to time as they were written ; and part 
 of that collection we, no doubt, now have in the book 
 which bears the name of David. 
 
 Of these psalms, some were meant to be sung by 
 the chorus in alternate parts, and others were meant 
 for a single voice. These last may, perhaps, be marked 
 out in the title by the words, " for the chief musician." 
 The title also often gives other information respecting 
 the musical instrument, or the manner in wdiich it 
 should be sung, which is not now understood. But 
 these titles are not thought to be ancient, nor can they 
 be relied upon when they give the author's name. 
 Seventy-one are given to David; one to Solomon; 
 twelve to the sons of Korah ; twelve to Asaph ; one to 
 Heman ; and one to Ethan — avIio were all Levites sing- 
 ing in David's tabernacle ; and one to Moses. But 
 many of these, from their subject and style, are certainly 
 more modern; and some even w^ere written after the 
 Babylonian captivity, when the temple w^as rebuilt by 
 Zerubbabel. 
 
 The collection is divided into five books, at the end 
 of Psalms xli, Ixxii, Ixxxix, and cvi. The end of each 
 of the first four books is marked by the word Amen ; 
 and the second book more particularly with the words, 
 " The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended." 
 By these divisions, therefore, we note the separate col- 
 lections which were added from time to time to the 
 original book. But the date of the collections remains 
 uncertain, as the times in which the several psalms 
 were written do not agree with the order in which they 
 stand; and there are even in the first book psalms 
 which seem to have been written after the captivity. 
 
140 ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 
 
 If we would form an opinion, therefore, of when, and 
 by whom, and on what occasion each was written, we 
 must be guided only by the subject. Some may have 
 been written by David, whom tradition called the sweet 
 psalmist of Israel (2 Sam. xxiii, i). But that many 
 belong to a later period of history is evident from the 
 circumstances mentioned. 
 
 The Psalms are not simply devotional poems ; their 
 political earnestness is, for the most part, as remarkable 
 as their religious earnestness. And this is one cause 
 of their eloquence and beauty. They are poems written 
 for an occasion, and each, no doubt, truly describes the 
 feelings which gave rise to it ; but they do not always 
 describe the occasion itself. We must guess at it as 
 well as we can. Among the events in Jewish history, 
 those which will best help us in our attempts to give a 
 date to the Psalms are the invasion by Sennacherib, 
 the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, the captivity in Baby- 
 lon, and the return from captivity. These events, and 
 one or two more, together with the style, which was 
 gradually changing from bluntness to a more easy flow 
 of language, are the grounds upon which they have been 
 arranged in the following list. 
 
 But it is more than probable that many of them are 
 older than the form which they now wear. Many were, 
 doubtless, written for one occasion, and afterwards re- 
 written, and thus made in thought and language to 
 suit a later event. And, upon the whole, it must be 
 granted that the reasons for which any exact date is 
 given to them are often very slender. 
 
 Psalms iv, vi, vii, viii, xii, xiii, xvi, xxx, xxxii, xxxv, 
 xxxvi, xxxviii, xli, liv, Iviii, Ixii, xci, mention no cir- 
 cumstances from which we can easily form an opinion 
 as to when they were written. Nor does their style 
 declare them to be modern ; they may be among the 
 oldest in the collection. Psalms xxxviii and xli con- 
 tain a sketch of those thoughts which we find at greater 
 length in the Book of Job. 
 
 Psalm iii speaks of the Lord's holy hill; ci of his city; 
 and ex of ]Mount Zion. These, therefore, cannot have 
 
ox THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 141 
 
 been written before Jerusalem was conquered by David, 
 and made the capital of the country. 
 
 Psalm Ixxii is in honour of Solomon when made king 
 in David's lifetime. The writer prays God to give grace 
 to the king and to the king's son. Sheba, not Ophir, 
 is spoken of as the country of gold. It is the earliest 
 psalm to which we can give a date. B.C. 1016. 
 
 Psalms xviii and xxix speak of God's temple, and 
 therefore could not have been Avritten before Solomon 
 built the temple ; for even the heavens would not have 
 been figuratively so called before that time. 
 
 Psalm xlv was on the occasion of Solomon's mar- 
 riage to the daughter of the Egyptian king. It praises 
 the Jewish king's beauty and majesty, and tells the 
 queen, on leaving her father's house, that, instead of 
 forefathers, she shall have children. It was Avritten 
 after the voyage to Ophir, which place is here men- 
 tioned. B.C. 990. 
 
 Psalms XV, xxiv, and xxvi, all speak of the temple 
 as already built ; and thus must belong to the reign of 
 Solomon, or later. 
 
 Psalms lii and xcii were written after the temple was 
 built, and before the trees were removed from it in the 
 reign of Josiali. 
 
 Psalms Ixxxi and cxiv are psalms for the service of 
 the temple at the Passover. 
 
 Psalm Ixviii praises God for the defeat of the Syrians, 
 at the foot of Mount Bashan, by King Jehosliaphat, 
 when the enemy's chariots were supposed to be routed 
 by the fear of chariots from heaven (2 Kings vii). The 
 writer hopes that Egypt and Ethiopia will soon ackow- 
 ledge the Jewish power, as the king was fitting out a 
 fleet on the Red Sea. B.C. 897. 
 
 Psalm Ixxviii blames the men of Ephraim for cowardice 
 in the battle, possibly the battle above spoken of. 
 
 Psalm Ixxxiii mentions the Assyrians invading the 
 country at the same time that it was overrun by 
 Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, and Tyrians. It was, 
 therefore, written about B.C. 742, in the reign of King 
 Ahaz, whose troubles under those invasions are de- 
 
142 ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 
 
 scribed in 2 Chron. xxviii, and at tlie same time that 
 the prophet Joel wrote his earnest and eloquent call to 
 the nation. 
 
 Psalm ii speaks of an invasion by foreign enemies, 
 perhaps the invasion by the Assyrians under Senna- 
 cherib in the reign of Hezekiah, B.C. 714. 
 
 Psalm xi is written in confidence that it is not neces- 
 sary to quit Jerusalem to avoid the danger. 
 
 Psalm xlviii speaks of Jelusalem being threatened 
 with a siege, and of the enemy's retreat. 
 
 Psalm xlvi speaks of sufferings under an invasion by 
 the enemy. 
 
 Psalm Ixxvi describes the destruction of Sennacherib's 
 army, as related in 2 Kings xix. 
 
 Psalm XX is a psalm of thanksgiving for danger 
 escaped. While it mentions the uselessness of chariots, 
 it means to blame the Egyptian alliance. The thoughts 
 are taken from Isaiah xxxi. It was written in 
 Hezekiah's reign, before burnt-offerings were discon- 
 tinued. 
 
 Psalms Ixi and Ixiii are by writers who had been 
 carried into captivity in some early invasion — earlier 
 than the great carrying off to Babylon, because the 
 monarchy was not yet overthrow^n. 
 
 Psalms xxi and cxvi may both have been written 
 on the recovery of King Hezekiah from sickness. 
 B.C. 714. 
 
 Psalm xix was written after the publication of the 
 Law in the reign of Josiah, after B.C. 230. 
 
 Psalm i, which has been placed as a suitable introduc- 
 tion to the Avliole collection of psalms, was also written 
 when the Law was in everybody's hands. 
 
 Psalm 1 was also written after the publication of the 
 Book of Deuteronomy, and Avhen burnt-offerings were 
 no longer valued. 
 
 Psalms xlii and xliii are but one psalm, and were 
 written when the w^'iter was a prisoner in a foreign 
 land, and no longer able to go to the house of God with 
 praise. They belong to the time of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 invasion, B.C. 580. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 143 
 
 Psalms Ixxvil, Ixxxvi, Ixxxix, and xc were written in 
 trouble, and, perhaps, during the Babylonian captivity. 
 
 Psalm Ixxx is also by a captive, and one who 
 belonged to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It 
 is one of the few that are not written by natives of 
 Judah. 
 
 Psalms xl, and Ixx, which forms part of xl, and Ixxi, 
 which is a continuation of Ixx, have been thought to 
 be the work of Jeremiah, and they agree well with the 
 character of tliat persecuted prophet. 
 
 Psalm Ixix is probably by a writer who, like Jeremiah, 
 had fled into Egypt, as he compares his troubles to sink- 
 ing in deep mire, or being overwhelmed by a flood. The 
 Hebrew writers usually liken their sufferings to the 
 want of water in the desert. 
 
 Psalm cxxxix contains a trace of the Egyptian opinions 
 when it describes the creation, and speaks of matter 
 yet imshaped having been curiously wrought by the 
 Almighty in the lowest parts of the earth. 
 
 Psalms xxxi, xxxix, xliv, and cix are, in cast of 
 thought, very like the writings of Jeremiah, and were 
 probably written about this time. 
 
 Psalm Ixxix quotes a verse from Jeremiah x, 25. 
 
 Psalms XXV, xxxiv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxix, and cxlv 
 are alphabetical psalms, in which the first letters of 
 every line, or verse of several lines, follow the order of 
 the Hebrew alphabet. In this manner, the first four of 
 the Lamentations are written ; and it is probable that 
 these seven psalms are of about the same age. Of these 
 psalms, xxxvii refers to the latter part of Isaiah. Thus 
 the prophet had just written, '^ I will not rest until the 
 righteousness of Zion go forth as brightness, and the 
 salvation thereof as a lamp that burnetii " (Ixii, 1). And 
 the Psalmist says, "The Lord will bring forth thy 
 righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the 
 noon-day" (verse e). Psalm xxxvii also borrows 
 thouglits from the Book of Proverbs. Thus verse 1 is 
 from Prov. xxiv, 19, and verse 5 from Pro v. xvi, 3. 
 
 Psalm Ixxiv is a lament for the destruction of the 
 temple, and of the synagogues throughout the land^ and 
 
144 ON THE BOOK OF TSALMS. 
 
 belongs to the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. It 
 borrows a figure from Ezekiel, and calls the king of 
 Egypt, when defeated in the time of Moses, a dead 
 crocodile thrown up into the desert. B.C. 580. 
 
 Psalm cxxxvii mentions the writer's dwelling in Baby- 
 lon; but as it threatens vengeance on his enemies, it 
 seems that the captives had already a prospect of return- 
 ing home. 
 
 Psalm Ix also threatens punishment upon the nation's 
 enemies upon the return home from captivity. 
 
 Psalms xiv, and liii, which is nearly in the same words, 
 and cii, were all written with the hope of a speedy 
 return home from captivity. 
 
 Psalm Ixxv is by a writer dwelling in Jerusalem, who 
 sees relief coming through Cyrus from the north, the 
 route by which Palestine was entered from the east. 
 B.C. 536. It refers to Jeremiah xxv, 15. 
 
 Psalms Ixv and Ixxxv were written after the return 
 home, in B.C. 536. 
 
 Psalms Ixvi and Ixvii seem of the same time. 
 
 Psalms cv and cvii are thanks to God for being allowed 
 to return. 
 
 Psalms V, xvii, xxvii, xxviii, Iv, Ivi, lix, Ixxxii, cxl, 
 cxli, cxlii, cxliii, and cxlvi seem all to speak of the 
 enemies and troubles with which they were surrounded 
 on their return home to Jerusalem. These troubles are 
 described in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
 Psalms cxx to cxxxiv form a series called Songs of 
 Degrees or Ascents, and bear marks of having been 
 written on the return home. Psalm cxxvii is encourage- 
 ment in rebuilding the temple. The writer of Psalm 
 cxx complains that dwelling in Jerusalem at this time, 
 surrounded with jealousies, is like dwelling in the tents 
 of Kedar. Psalm cxxxii is on the dedication of the 
 temple when rebuilt in B.C. 516. 
 
 Psalm cxviii is probably that sung on the dedication 
 of the temple as quoted in Ezra iii, ii. 
 
 Psalm Ixxxiv also was written after the rebuilding. 
 
 Paslm li is a prayer for the rebuilding of the city 
 walls after the temple had been rebuilt in B.C. 445. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 145 
 
 Psalm cxlvii was written after the walls were rebuilt. 
 
 Psalms xxii, cxv, and cxxxv, like cxviii, distinguish 
 between Israelites and those that fear the Lord ; and 
 thus seem of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or later, 
 as the separation was then made between the Jews and 
 the pious Gentiles. 
 
 Psalms xxxiii, Ixiv, xciii, xcv, xcvii, xcix, c, ciil, civ, 
 cxiii, cxvii, cxxxvi, cxxxviii, cxlviii, cxlix, cl, are psalms 
 of praise, in which the style of thought seems to mark 
 them later than the captivity. Psalm cxiii is in part 
 copied from Hannah's song in 1 Samuel chap. ii. Most 
 of the thoughts and words in Psalm c are to be found in 
 Psalm xcv. 
 
 Psalms Ivii, xciv, and cvi are prayers for help, written 
 after the return from the captivity. 
 
 Psalm xxili and Ixxiii contain the earliest faint hints 
 of any belief among the Jews of a future state after 
 death. 
 
 Psalm Ixxxviii speaks of the dead rising again, though 
 with doubt and even denial. Here also not drought, 
 but too much water, is the figure of speech under which 
 the writer describes his sufferings and dangers. 
 
 Psalm xlix has many of the later opinions of the Book 
 of Ecclesiastes. 
 
 Psalms ix, x, xlvii, Ixxxvii, xcvi, and xcviii are thanks 
 for the land being freed from the heathen, and, perhaps, 
 belong to the time of the Maccabees. Psalm xcviii 
 has many thoughts and expressions the same as in 
 Psalm xcvi. 
 
 Psalm cxliv is composed by the help of Psalm xviii. 
 
 Psalm cviii is wholly composed out of Ivii and Ix. 
 
 In the greater part of the Psalms, however, the warm 
 feelings of prayer or thanksgiving, always accompanied 
 with earnest praise to Jehovah, are much more marked 
 than the occasions for which they may have been written. 
 And by as much as there is a doubt about the time 
 when each was written, by so much is it more fitted for 
 our use in worshipping the Almiglit}^ They have been 
 Avisely taken as the models of devotional poetry by all 
 Christendom. 
 
146 
 
 ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMOX. 
 
 We are told in the First Book of Kings, cli. iv, that 
 " Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the 
 children of the East country, and all the wisdom of 
 Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan 
 the Ezrahite, and Hcman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons 
 of Mahol ; and his fame was in all nations round about. 
 And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs 
 were one thousand and five." Of these proverbs and 
 songs, many are doubtless contained in the work which 
 now bears the name of the Hebrew monarch, though 
 some portions of the Book are additions by other 
 writers. It is divided into six parts. 
 
 Part I. (chap, i-ix) contains a series of rules for 
 knowing wisdom and instruction, addressed by a teacher 
 to his pupil. The burden of this part is " Wisdom is 
 the chief thing, get wisdom; and with all thy posses- 
 sions get understanding" (iv, 7); and]" The fear of the 
 Lord is the beginning of wisdom " (ix, lo). This is a 
 preface to what follows, and it is perhaps of a later age. 
 
 Part II (chap, x-xxiv, 22) begins Avith a new title, 
 " The Proverbs of Solomon," and is no doubt the 
 original work, to which the other parts have been 
 added, one as a preface and four as sequels. It con- 
 tains three hundred and seventy-five proverbs or 
 maxims, each containing two lines, one of which is 
 antithetic to the other (xxii, le). These are followed 
 by a few longer sentences of various length, which are 
 probably part of the one thousand and five songs 
 spoken of in the Book of Kings. 
 
 Part III (chap, xxiv, 23-34) contains the first addition 
 to Solomon's work. It has its own title, " These also 
 are the sayings of wise men." 
 
 Part IV (chap, xxv-xxix) is another addition to the 
 original work, and it has its own title ; " These also are 
 proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king 
 of Judah, copied out." But these proverbs are more 
 obscure and far less simple than the maxims in Part II, 
 
ON THE rnOVERBS OF SOLOMON. 147 
 
 which more particularly bear Solomon's name. As 
 these were not collected till tAvo hundred and fifty' 
 years after Solomon's deaths, they can hardly have been 
 written by him. 
 
 Part V (chap, xxx) is another addition with its own 
 title, " The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the 
 wise sayings which the man spake unto Ithiel, even 
 unto Ithiel and Ucal." Here the teacher and his two 
 pupils are alike unknown, and throw no light on the 
 time when these sayings were written. 
 
 Part VI (chap, xxxi) is the last addition to Solomon's 
 proverbs. It contains " The words of King Lemuel, the 
 wise sayings that his mother taught him." This part 
 ends with an acrostic, or alphabetical poem, in praise 
 of a virtuous wife. Its age and author are alike 
 unknown. 
 
 The proverbs in these books contain the wisdom and 
 experience of many minds, thrown into short pointed 
 rhythmical sentences, as the form in which advice can 
 be best understood and best remembered. They lay 
 open to us the opinions and character of the nation. 
 They teach the wisdom and power of God, and that it 
 is our duty to fear, and worship, and trust Him ; that 
 wickedness leads to misery, and goodness to happiness. 
 They praise wisdom, and the several virtues of industry, 
 temperance, chastity, meekness, friendship, truth, and 
 justice. But not a few are in favour of a rather worldly 
 prudence, and they particularly dissuade from becoming 
 surety, from quarrelling, from neglect of advice, and 
 from an unbridled tongue. 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 This is a philosophical treatise on the purpose of life, 
 on the ends which are worth our pursuit; and the 
 writer sums up his experience with the painful and un- 
 happy conclusion, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." 
 He looks abroad through nature for variety. He sees 
 that the sun ariseth only to go down, and hasten to the 
 
 L 2 
 
148 ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 place Avhere it arose. He sees that the rivers run into 
 the sea without filling it, for unto tlie place from whence 
 they came thither they return again. He finds nothing 
 new under the sun (chap, i, 9). He applies his mind to 
 gain learning, and says, " I have gotten more wisdom 
 than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem.*' 
 But he perceives that this also is vexation of spirit ; 
 *'For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that 
 increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow" (i, is). 
 
 He then rushes into pleasure, indulges in wine, builds 
 houses, plants gardens and orchards, makes pools to 
 water them, buys slaves, gathers together silver and 
 gold ; but finds it all vanity (ii, 11). He sees, however, 
 the superiority of wisdom over such folly. But w^ien 
 he observes that what happeneth to the fool, the same 
 happeneth to the wise man, they both die together ; he 
 then hates life and all the labour which he had taken 
 under the sun (ii, is). He thereupon concludes, that 
 there is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink 
 and make his soul enjoy the fruit of his labour (ii, 26). 
 
 He observes, however, that there is a time for every- 
 thing under heaven ; a time to be born and a time to 
 die ; a time to weep and a time to laugh ; a time to love 
 and a time to hate ; and thereupon feels sure that sooner 
 or later God will judge the righteous and the wicked; 
 as there is a time for every purpose and for every work 
 (iii, 17). When he sees the oppressions done by the 
 rich, and the tears of the oppressed, he thinks that the 
 dead are more to be envied than the living ; and better 
 is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full 
 with travail and vexation of spirit (iv, e). 
 
 He adds a number of wise proverbs; such as, Be 
 more ready to hear than to speak ; When thou makest 
 a vow unto God, delay not to pay it ; He that loveth 
 silver will not be satisfied with silver ; The sleep of a 
 labouring man is sweet (v) ; It is better to go to the 
 house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for by 
 the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better ; 
 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof 
 (vii). 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. . 149 
 
 His doubts are relieved by seeing that sentence 
 against an evil work is not executed speedily ; and lie 
 adds, ^' Tliough a sinner do evil an liundred times, and 
 his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it will be 
 well with them that fear God, and it will not be well 
 with the wicked" (viii). 
 
 He knows of no reward or punishment beyond the 
 grave ; one event happeneth unto all men ; and a living 
 dog is better than a dead lion ; for the dead know not 
 anything, neither have they any more a reward (ix, e). 
 He accordingly wavers backwards and forwards, not so 
 much, however, in respect of how it is wise to live, as 
 in respect to the motives for wise conduct and the con- 
 sequences of it. He first advises, " Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for there is 
 no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the 
 grave whither tliou goest." But he can give little 
 reason for this advice, when he observes, that "the 
 race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but 
 time and chance happeneth to them all" (ix, ii). Even 
 wisdom seems of little value when the poor man's 
 wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard (ix, ic). 
 Nevertheless, actions are followed by their natural con- 
 sequences, and " Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent 
 will bite him;" " A¥hoso removeth a boundary-stone, 
 will be hurt therewith : " " He that cleaveth a wooden 
 fence, will be endangered thereby." 
 
 Upon this painful view of life, which affords very 
 little foundation either for a true philosophy or a wise 
 rule of conduct, does our au.thor build. Though his 
 own observation has been so discouraging, yet, true to 
 the religion of his nation, he advises a firm trust in the 
 Almighty : " Cast thy seed upon the waters, and thou 
 shalt find it after many days ; " " He that watcheth the 
 wind will never sow ; he that looketh to the clouds will 
 never reap" (xi, 4); "Remember thy Creator in the 
 days of thy youth;" for shortly "' the dust will return 
 to earth as it was, and the spirit unto God who gave it." 
 However, " Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher ; all 
 is vanity;" " The words of the wise are a goad;" " Of 
 
150 ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 making many books there is no end ; and much study 
 is a weariness to the flesh." " Let us hear the con- 
 chision of the whole matter : Fear God, and keep his 
 commandments; for this is the whole duty of man" 
 (xii). 
 
 [The unknown writer of this book puts his remarks 
 on the vanity of all earthly happiness, of riches, of 
 pleasures, and of wisdom, into the mouth of Solomon, 
 since nobody could be supposed better fitted to pro- 
 nounce such an opinion than that most prosperous of 
 monarchs. But the writer by no means wishes us to 
 believe that he was the king of Israel, and he always 
 speaks of himself and his observations as long past 
 (i, 12 ; ii, 9-12). 
 
 This book must be classed among the most modern 
 in the Old Testament. It would seem to have been 
 written some time after the return from the Babylonian 
 captivity, and after the division had arisen between the 
 sect of Sadducees and the sect of Pharisees ; as the 
 belief in a future state is denied in a manner which 
 shows that disputes about that opinion had already 
 begun. It w^as written after books were already com- 
 mon, and when authors had taken up the custom of 
 publishing their writings under the name of distin- 
 guished men, as in the case of the Book of Daniel, the 
 Book of Enoch, and the Wisdom of Solomon. It is 
 the only work that we possess which teaches the opinions 
 of the Sadducees ; the only Hebrew writing in which 
 God's watchful care of us is so far forgotten as that 
 Chance should be allowed to have any power over 
 our lives.] 
 
 OX SOLOMON'S SOXG. 
 
 This is a pastoral poem in honour of Solomon's marriage 
 with one of his many wives. It is a regu ar drama 
 with several speakers, though it is not necessary to 
 suppose them more than four in number. They are 
 
ON SOLOMON'S SONG. 151 
 
 the bride^ the bridegroom, the chorus of women atten- 
 dants on the bride, and the chorus of men attendants 
 on the bridegroom. Of the various divisions of the 
 poem into its parts, that proposed by Mr. Taylor, the 
 translator of Calmet's Dictionary, seems the best. Ac- 
 cording to his views the time occupied by the drama is 
 the marriage week of six days. Each day is divided 
 into two Eclogues, one in the morning, and one in the 
 evening; except the last day, which has no evening 
 Eclogue. The bride has been already betrothed, and 
 is come to meet her future husband, whom, according 
 to the Eastern custom, she has never yet seen. 
 
 First day : Eclogue I. (chap, i, 2-8). 
 Bride and her attendants in her chamber. 
 
 Eclogue 11. (chap, i, 9 — ii, 7). 
 Bride and her attendants in her chamber, the 
 bridegroom speaking without. 
 
 Second day : Eclogue III. (chap, ii, 8-17). 
 Bride in her chamber, and bridegroom and his 
 attendants speaking without. 
 
 Eclogue IV. (chap, iii, 1-5). 
 Bride alone in her chamber. 
 
 TJiird day ; Eclogue Y. (chap, iii, 6 — iv, e). 
 Bride and her attendants at her chamber window, 
 and the bridegroom without, Avho sees her for 
 the first time. 
 
 Eclogue VI. (chap, iv, 7 — v, 1). 
 Bride and bridegroom and his attendants, in the 
 bride's chamber. 
 
 Fourth day: Eclogue VII. (chap. v. 2 — vi, 3). 
 Bride and her attendants in her chamber. On her 
 waking she relates her dream. 
 
 Eclogue VIII. (chap vi, 4-13). 
 Bride and bridegroom and their attendants, in the 
 bride's chamber. Then the bride withdraws. 
 
152 ox SOLOMOX'S SOXG. 
 
 Fiftli day: Eclogue IX. fchap. vil, i-s). 
 
 Bride and her attendants, who have been dressing 
 her for the ceremony of her wedding. 
 
 Eclogue X. (chap, vii, 6 — viii, 4). 
 Bride and bridegroom alone together. 
 
 Sixth day: Eclogue XL (chap, viii, 5-14). 
 
 Attendants at the palace gate, as the bride and 
 briden^room enter ton;ether after their marriatre. 
 
 Of these eclogues the second, fourth, and tenth end 
 with the same burden, which well marks the close of the 
 dayj the third and eleventh end with a second burden ; 
 while the fifth and seventh end with thoughts not 
 unlike the last. 
 
 In this poem the bridegroom seems to be Solomon, 
 who says that he has already sixty wives and eighty 
 concubines (vi, s). But it is not probable that the 
 bride should be the Egyptian princess w4iom Solomon 
 married late in life. She is a native of Palestine, her 
 mother's house is in Jerusalem, her brothers are her 
 guardians ; no mention is made of a royal father, nor of 
 her arrival with any princely magnificence. From the 
 unwillingness of commentators to grant a place in the 
 canon of Scripture to a nuptial poem, they have usually 
 endeavoured to find here some mystical allegory or 
 religious argument hidden beneath the surface; but 
 with very little success. 
 
 OX THE PROPHETS. 
 
 The Hebrew prophet w^as a man who had wisdom to 
 foresee the future, who had the power of writing and 
 speaking, and who had that poetic genius which gives 
 persuasiveness and force to the words uttered. He was 
 not a priest, or Levite, or man appointed to a task; but he 
 
ON THE PROPHETS. 153 
 
 stepped forward of his own accord to the high office of 
 warning the nation and its rulers. His voice was 
 against sin of all kinds, against injustice, against idolatry, 
 against deserting Jehovah for the Egyptian or Assyrian 
 gods. His wish was to preserve to the chosen people 
 their nationality, to check foreign marriages, foreign 
 treaties, and foreign customs. Egyptian chariots and 
 cavalry were hateful in his eyes; fortifications were 
 blameable. He called upon his countrymen to trust in 
 themselves and their God. His w^ords were warm with 
 earnestness, with piety, and with hope. When the 
 nation was overrun by foreign armies, was plundered, 
 or was even carried into captivity abroad, he saw in all the 
 hand of a just God punishing them for their sins. He 
 assured them that the day of punishment would be 
 followed by a day of prosperity. He taught them to 
 look forward to that day, the day of the Lord, as a time 
 when peace would be on earth, their nation prosperous, 
 and Jerusalem would give laws, and Jehovah be ac- 
 knowledged as the only God. 
 
 Writings such as these are sometimes hard to be 
 understood. Earnest feelings poured forth 2,500 years 
 ago in a poetic torrent, by an Asiatic, may easily be 
 misunderstood by a Western reader. While writing 
 about the future, and to a people who were familiar 
 with the past and the present, the prophets do not 
 always describe even history clearly. Sometimes they 
 even had a reason for not naming the persons whom 
 they speak about. But by comparing their writings 
 with the Books of Kings and Chronicles, we can, for the 
 most part, learn the times when they wrote, and the 
 events which gave rise to their feelings. 
 
 The following slight chronological table will show the 
 dates of the prophetic books, and the events mentioned 
 therein : — 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Jeroboam II., Zachariah, and Shallum, kings of Israel, die 
 
 within the year (2 Kings xv, 8, 14) . . . .773 
 A prophet Zechariah writes, in the reign of Uzziah, 
 chap. xi. (see 2 Chron. xxvi, 5). 
 
154 ON THE PROPHETS. 
 
 After Jndah had been invaded by the Syrians, by the 
 Edomites, and by the Philistines, the Assyrians, on the 
 invitation of King Ahaz, come in and complete the ruin 
 (2Chron. xxviii,^20) . . . . . • .745 
 The prophet Joel writes. 
 
 The Syrians arc led captives to Kir by the Assyrians 
 
 (2 Kings xvi, 9) 745 
 
 Many Israelites are' taken into captivity by Tiglath Pileser 
 
 (2 Kings XV, 29) 745 
 
 Pekah is murdered (2 Kings xv, 30) . . . 731 or 740 
 
 The prophet Amos writes. 
 
 The captivity of the Israelites by King Shalmau, or Shal- • 
 
 maneser (2 Kings xvii, 6) 722 
 
 Jareb or Sennacherib becomes King of Assyria . . . 720 
 The prophet Hosea writes. 
 
 Hezekiah pays tribute to Sennacherib at Lachish (2 Kings 
 
 xviii, 14) 715 
 
 The prophet Micah writes. 
 
 The Assyrians encamp under the walls of Jerusalem 
 
 (2 Kings xviii, 17) 715 
 
 The Assyrian war ceases, perhaps on the accession of Esar- 
 
 haddon (2 Kings xix, 37) 713 
 
 The prophet Isaiah writes (2 Kings xix, xx). 
 The prophet Zechaeiah, the son of Jeberechiah, writes 
 chap. Lx and x. (See Isaiah viii, 2.) 
 
 Nabopulassar defeats the Assyrians G'lS 
 
 The prophet Zephaniah writes. 
 
 Nabopulassar, the Chaldee king of Babylon, besieges and 
 
 conquers Kineveh 612 
 
 The prophet Nahum writes. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldee invades Judea . . . 605 
 
 The prophet Habakkuk writes. 
 
 A prophet Zechariah in the reign of Jehoiakim writes 
 
 chap, xii, xiii and xiv. 
 
 The captivity in Babylon begins 600 
 
 Zedekiah is put to death, and Johanan retreats into Egypt . 588 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah writes. 
 
 The prophet Ezekiel writes. 
 
 The prophet Obadiah writes. 
 
 The Book of Jonah is written. 
 
ON THE PROPHETS. 155 
 
 Cyrus grants permission for the Jews to return home . . 535 
 The later Isaiah writes eh. xl — Ixvi. 
 
 Darius decrees that the temple is to be built . . . 520 
 The prophet Zechariah, son of Baeachiah, writes 
 ch. i. — vii. 
 The prophet Haggai writes. 
 
 Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, and censures the neglect of 
 paying tithes and the marrying foreign wives 
 
 (chap, xiii) 432 
 
 The prophet Malachi Avrites. 
 
 One only of the Hebrew books seems written at a 
 later period than it purports. The Book of Daniel 
 speaks of circumstances of history in the style of pro- 
 phecy, but in a manner which leads us to think that 
 they were already past. It was certainly written at 
 various times ; and by the help of the events mentioned, 
 we may date its chapters as follows : — 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus gives his daughter in marriage to 
 
 Antiochus Theos of Syria 249 
 
 Chapters i. — ^d. were written. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes defeats the Egyptians . . .169 
 
 Chapters vii and viii were written. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes is stopped in Egypt by the Eomans, 
 B.C. 168. The Parthians and Armenians revolt against 
 
 him 165 
 
 Chapters x, xi, xii were written. 
 
 Hyrcanus begins to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem; the 
 Romans change the form of Government into an 
 aristocracy, 483 years after the first year of Cyrus, 
 when the decree was issued for rebuilding the temple 
 
 (Josephus, Wars, I, viii, 2-5) 53 
 
 Chapter ix was ^Yritten. 
 
 The poetry of these writers is of the very highest 
 order. In some, the style is earnest, short, :and full of 
 fire; in others, ornamented, and more flowing. As 
 prophecies, they all point to a coming day, called the 
 Day of the Lord, before which the nation is to have 
 misery and trouble, but which is to be folloTved by 
 peace and prosperity. In the earlier of these writings, 
 that [great day is to be followed by the union of the 
 
156 ON THE PROPHETS. 
 
 kingdoms of Israel and Judali under one sceptre, by 
 t]ie return of tlie captives, and by the defeat of the 
 Assyrians. In the later writers, this same day is to be 
 marked by the re-establishment of Jerusalem; by tlie 
 coming of a prince of the line of David, either as an 
 earthly or as a spiritual ruler ; by the Gentiles turning 
 to the Jews as their teachers of religion ; and by God's 
 reign upon earth. 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF JOEL. 
 
 The prophecy of Joel is a bold and forcible descrip- 
 tion of the whole country being laid waste by a flight 
 of locusts, by which the writer seems to mean the 
 inroad of the Assyrians under Tiglath Pileser in the 
 reign of Ahaz, king of Judali, about the year B.C. 742. 
 The event is described in 2 Chron. xxviii. 
 
 The Edomites living between Judea and the Red Sea 
 had rebelled and invaded the kingdom of the two tribes, 
 already weakened by the attacks of the ten tribes of the 
 Israelites and the Syrians of Damascus. Then the 
 Philistines invaded the cities of the south. King Ahaz, 
 in his despair, most unwisely sent to ask for help from 
 his powerful neighbours the Assyrians. Tiglath Pileser, 
 king of Assyria, who reigned in Nineveh, accordingly 
 sent an army into Judea, not, however, to help the Jews, 
 but to add to their troubles. King Ahaz gave to the 
 Assyrians as tribute the gold ornaments of his palace 
 and of the princes' palaces, and even the sacred gold 
 from the temple; but the Assyrians gave no help in 
 return. They plundered the country of whatever 
 had escaped the Syrians, the Philistines, and the 
 Edomites. 
 
 It was then that the prophet Joel, the son of Pethuel, 
 burst out in a strain of scornful eloquence against the 
 unheard-of folly of calling in this body of armed plun- 
 derers : " Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye 
 inhabitants of the land. Hath such a thins been in 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOEL. 157 
 
 your days, or even in your fathers' days ? Tell your 
 children of it, and let your children tell their children, 
 and their children another generation." It was sad 
 enough to be plundered by the Syrians, the Philistines, 
 and the Edomites ; but much worse to have the whole 
 country laid waste by the Assyrians. " What the grass- 
 hopper left the caterpillar hath eaten ; what the cater- 
 pillar left the cankerworm hath eaten ; and what the 
 cankerworm left the locust hath eaten." 
 
 The prophet then describes the march of the Assy- 
 rians, whom at the time it was, perhaps, wise not to 
 name, in language wdiich leaves it doubtful whether he 
 means an army or a flight of locusts. " A nation is 
 come up upon my land strong and without number, 
 whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the 
 cheek-teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine 
 waste, and barked my fig-tree." " The field is wasted ; 
 the land mourneth." But the prophet adds : " Be ye 
 ashamed, ye husbandmen," reproaching his countrymen 
 with these misfortunes, as having brouglit them upon 
 themselves. 
 
 The whole book is one of the finest pieces of Hebrew 
 poetry. The misery caused by hostile armies was never 
 more finely described : " A fire devoureth before them, 
 and behind them a flame burneth. Before them the 
 land is as the garden of Eden, and behind them a 
 desolate wilderness." Equally fine is the call to arms, 
 among men wdth whom iron was scarce : " Beat your 
 ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into 
 spears." The miseries of the people are to be healed 
 by turning devoutly to the Lord : " Blow a trumpet in 
 Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather 
 together the people; sanctify the congregation; assemble 
 the elders. Let the priests, the servants of the Lord, 
 weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say. 
 Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage 
 to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them ; 
 lest they should say amons; the peoi)le, Where is their 
 God?" ^ o 1 1 > ^ 
 
 The fate that the prophet foretold or wished for these 
 
158 ON THE BOOK OF JOEL. 
 
 northern invaders was, that, through ignorance of the 
 country, they should march into the desert of Judea. 
 They had marched forward without supplies, meaning 
 to live upon what they could seize ; and such a blunder 
 would leave them to perish on the western shore of the 
 Dead Sea. " I will remove," said Joel, speaking in 
 the name of the Lord, " I will remove far off' from yon 
 the northern host, and will drive it into a land desolate 
 and barren, with its face toward the eastern sea [the 
 Dead Sea], and its back towards the western sea [the 
 Mediterranean] ; and its stink shall come up," as it 
 perishes in the desert. 
 
 The prophet names the other enemies of Judea freely. 
 " What have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon, and 
 all the coasts of Palestine ? Swiftly and speedily will 
 I return your recompense upon your own head." 
 The Egyptians had, no doubt, helped the Edomites; 
 for the prophet includes them in his curse : " Egypt 
 shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate 
 wilderness, for their violence against the children of 
 Judah." 
 
 Some critics have thought that the prophet was 
 simply describing an unusual flight of locusts : but his 
 remarks point too closely to the history above quoted 
 for us to doubt about his meaning. Moreover, locusts 
 are brought into Judea by a south wind from Arabia : 
 and the host described by Joel came from the north. 
 Amos and Nahum afterwards use the locusts as a figure 
 to which they compare the Assyrians. 
 
 The writer, with that devout spirit which is the mark 
 of the Hebrew prophets, accepts the misfortunes as 
 sent upon his nation by God, and looks to God for 
 help. He thinks that the greatness of their sufferings 
 marks the approach of that time of help from heaven, 
 to Avhich the Jews always looked in their troubles. 
 The more their nation was humbled, the more earnestly 
 they looked for its re-establishment by Jehovah. " The 
 day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand ; a day 
 of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and of thick 
 darkness." But it is to be followed by the re-establish- 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JOEL. 159 
 
 ment of Judea ; the recall of the ten rebellious tribes 
 to the sovereignty of Jerusalem ; and the punishment 
 of their enemies. " In that time, said the Lord, when 
 I shall bring back those who have been taken as captives 
 from Judali and Jerusalem, I will gather together all 
 nations, and bring them down to judgment in the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat, and plead against them for my 
 people, and for Israel my heritage, whom they have 
 scattered." 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF AMOS. 
 
 The prophet begins by threatening woe and punishment 
 on Judah and Israel and the neighbouring nations. Woe 
 upon Damascus and the palace of King Benhadad, 
 for the invasion of Gilead ; the Syrians shall be led 
 captives to Kir. Woe upon Gaza, for it seized captives 
 and gave them up to the Edomites. Woe upon Ashdod. 
 Woe upon Tyre, for it also helped the Edomites and 
 forgot its old treaty w^ith the Jews. Woe upon the 
 Edomites for their unceasing wars. Woe upon the 
 Ammonites, for they also invaded Gilead. Woe upon 
 Moab. Woe upon Judah for their idolatry. Woe 
 upon Israel for their wickedness (i and ii). 
 
 The prophet tells Israel that the land shall be sur- 
 rounded, and the palaces plundered (iii, ii); and, like 
 Joel, he does not name the Assyrians, who were the 
 invaders. The idolatrous altars at Bethel shall be 
 broken (iii, 14). The famine in Israel was sent as a 
 punishment for the idolatry in Gilgal and Bethel (iv). 
 Woe upon those who wish for the day of the Lord ; to 
 them it will be a day of darkness, not of light. Their 
 offerings will be rejected, for they have worshipped the 
 god Moloch and the goddess Chiun. They shall go 
 into captivity beyond Damascus (v). Judah and Israel 
 are alike rebuked ; they that are at ease in Zion, and 
 they that trust in the mountain of Samaria. A great 
 nation, that is the Assyrians, shall be raised up to 
 punish them (vi). This nation is compared in a vision. 
 
160 ON THE BOOK OF AMOS. 
 
 with Joel's simile, to locusts who devour the grass of the 
 land (viij 2). 
 
 Amor says that King Jeroboam, by which name he 
 seems to mean the idolatrous Pekah, king of Israel, will 
 die by the sword ; and the priest of Bethel reproachfully 
 tells him to go and prophecy in Judea (vii). There is 
 afterwards to be a famine of hearing the word of the 
 Lord (viii). And at length the day of the Lord will 
 come, when prosperity will return, and Israel will be 
 brought back from captivity (ix). 
 
 [According to the introductory verse, Amos lived in 
 tlie reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king 
 of Israel; that is, he was born before the year B.C. 773. 
 But he wrote after the invasion by the Assyrians ; 
 after the first captivity of Israel by Tiglath Pileser 
 (2 Kings XV, 29) ; after the Assyrians had been carried 
 away into captivity to Kir (2 Kings xvi, 9 ) that is, after 
 B.C. 745. It was also after the violent death of the king, 
 here called Jeroboam, but whom we suppose to be 
 Pekah (2 Kings xv, so); that is, after B.C. 731. Thus 
 Amos was warning Israel of their sins soon after Joel 
 had warned Judah. He, perhaps, had read Joel's 
 writings. Like Joel, he speaks of the Assyrians as 
 locusts, and does not once name them. He had also 
 read the Book of Genesis, or at least the History of the 
 patriarch Joseph and his children; since he uses the 
 word Joseph as another name for the two tribes Ephraim 
 and Manasseh. 
 
 There seems a difficulty in the prophet's speaking of 
 the violent death of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Avho died 
 about forty years earlier than the date we are giving 
 to this book. But it is King Pekah, whom, for his 
 idolatries, he calls in anger by the name of the wicked 
 Jeroboam. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who rebelled 
 against Solomon's son, set np the golden calf at Bethel 
 (1 Kings xii, 29), and Pekah, says the historian, departed 
 not from the sin of Jeroboam (2 Kings xv, 28). The 
 prophet could give to the idolatrous Pekah no more 
 reproachful name than Jeroboam. The second Jeroboam, 
 the son of Joash, in whose reign Amos was perhaps 
 
ON THE BOOK OF AMOS. 161 
 
 born, was equally idolatrous ; but he died quietly, and 
 slept with his fathers (2 Kings xiv, 29). 
 
 The name of this prophet is, in the Hebrew, spelt 
 differently from Amoz, the father of Isaiah. But in 
 the Septuagint the two names are the same ; and from 
 the times in which they lived, it is not impossible that 
 the one writer may have been the father of the other.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 
 
 AccOEDiNa to the introductory verse, Hosea lived in 
 the reigns of Jeroboam, king of Israel, and of Uzziah, 
 Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah ; that is, 
 he was born before the year B.C. 773, and died after the 
 year B.C. 728. He mentions Shalman, or Shalmaneser, 
 king of Assyria, who conquered Samaria, and his suc- 
 cessor Jareb or Sennacherib. The book, therefore, was 
 written a little later than B.C. 721. 
 
 The first three chapters have less of poetry than the 
 rest They describe the idolatries of Ephraim, or the 
 ten tribes of Israel, under the figure of an adulterous 
 marriage. The first offspring of that marriage is called 
 Jezreel, the name of the fatal spot in which Jehu killed 
 his king (5^6 2 Kings ix, ig); and the new Jezreel caused 
 the destruction of the kingdom and of Jehu's successor 
 on the throne: that is, that Israel's wickedness in the 
 reign of Jeroboam led to the murder of Zachariah, the 
 last of Jehu's race, in the year B.C. 773 (2 Kings xv, s). 
 With this began the alliance of Israel with Assyria, and 
 the nation's weakness and ruin. The second offspring 
 of this evil marriage is Lo-ruhamah, or No-Mercy, for 
 the nation is to be utterly carried away (i, e). The third 
 offspring is Lo-ammi, or Not-my-people, for Ephraim is 
 no longer God's people. But afterwards they will forsake 
 Baalim, the false gods, and be allowed to return and seek 
 Jehovah and a king of the line of David (iii). [Thus 
 he foretells that the tribes will some day be allowed 
 to return home.] 
 
 M 
 
162 ON THE BOOK OF HOSE A. 
 
 In the second part the prophet reproaches tlie people 
 and the priests with their sins ; like people, like priests 
 (iv..9). The nation of Ephraim hath gone after idols 
 (iv, 17). He hopes Judah will continue faithful to 
 Jehovah, and go not up to Gilgal, the capital, now 
 a city of idolatry, nor to Bethaven, a reproachful name 
 for Bethel, where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf as 
 the nation's God (1 Kings xii, 29). But when Ephraim 
 shall fall in their iniquity, Judah will fall with them 
 (v, 5); for one of these little kingdoms cannot stand 
 without the other. When Ephraim saw his sickness 
 and Judah his wound, then Ephraim w^ent to the 
 Assyrian, and [Judah] sent to King Jareb ; but he does 
 not heal them (v, 13. [This offer of tribute to Sen- 
 nacherib by the king of Judah is mentioned in 
 2 Kings xviii, 13.] 
 
 In the third part the prophet continues : Ephraim 
 have mixed themselves with the Gentiles (vii, s) ; they 
 call to Egypt for help; but in vain; and they go to 
 Assyria into captivity (vii, 11). Their calf, the Sama- 
 ritan idol, hath cast them off (viil, 5). [This took place 
 in the year B.C. 722, after Hoshea had sought for assist- 
 ance from Sevechus, king of Egypt. Samaria was then 
 conquered by Shalmaneser, and the nobles carried into 
 captivity (2 I^ngs, xvii).] 
 
 At the same time Judah did w^rong in multiplying 
 their fenced cities which are threatened with destruction 
 (viii, 14). [This attack upon the fenced cities was made 
 by Sennacherib. See 2 Kings, xviii, 13.] 
 
 At the time of this trouble it seems that many 
 Israelites escaped into Egypt from the danger ; and the 
 prophet adds, they shall not dwell in the Lord's land, 
 but part of Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and part eat 
 unclean things in Assyria (ix, 3). They will be de- 
 stroyed, Egypt shall gather them up, and Memphis 
 shall bury them (ix, e). [The pyramids, the tombs of 
 Memphis, Avere famous over the world.] 
 
 The carrying away of the inhabitants, in order to 
 check future rebellions, was not completed by Shal- 
 maneser. Many more are now to be sent into Assja^ia 
 
ON THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 163 
 
 as a present to Jareb, lils successor (x, 6). The king of 
 Samaria was cut off like foam upon the water (x, 7). 
 Indeed, Hoshea was a wicked king ; God gave him to 
 the nation in anger and took him away in wrath (xiii, 11). 
 
 The prophet also warns Judah to seek the Lord ; for 
 while Ephraim draws like a yoked heifer, Judah shall 
 plough (x, 11). They have trusted in the multitude of 
 their mighty men ; therefore all their fortresses shall be 
 spoiled, as Shalmaneser spoiled Betharbcl in the battle 
 when Samaria was conquered (x, ii-u). 
 
 But when Israel repent of their idolatry and return 
 to Jehovah,. his favour shall fall upon tliem like dew; 
 they shall grow as the lily, and their beauty be as an 
 olive-tree (xiv, 5). 
 
 [Hosea addresses his advice and remonstrance chiefly 
 to Israel, his comitrymen; but not wholly. Part of 
 liis warning is to Judah, and we must suppose that 
 while writing he was dwelling in safety within the 
 latter kingdom. He was perhaps one of those Israelites 
 w^ho went up to Jerusalem from Samaria when invited 
 there to keep the passover by Hezekiah, while the 
 dancrer which had overwhelmed Israel was lianmno; 
 over Judah (2 Chron., xxx, 1).] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF I^nCAH. 
 
 MiCAH lived in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Heze- 
 kiah, kings of Judah. He wrote about the same time 
 as Hosea, while Samaria was in the hands of the As- 
 syrians, and Jerusalem was threatened at its very gates. 
 This vv^as in the reign of Hezekiah, about B.C. 715. At 
 that time " the Lord bore witness against Israel and 
 against Judab by all the prophets and all the seers, 
 saying. Turn ye away from your evil ways and keep 
 my commandments and my statutes according to all the 
 law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent 
 to you by my servants the prophets" (2 Kings, xvii, i3)» 
 
 M 2 
 
164 ON THE BOOK OF MIC AH. 
 
 The prophet says that the Lord is coming forth to 
 tread down the high places of the earth. Samaria 
 shall be like a heaj) of rubbish. Her disease is incur- 
 able ; it has spread even to Jerusalem (i, 9). History 
 tells us that even the good King Hezekiah in his alarm 
 was willing to ^make a treaty with the Assyrians, and 
 sent the sacred gold as a tribute to meet Sennacherib at 
 Lachish (2 Kings xviii, 14). And the prophet in shame 
 says, " O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot 
 to the swift beast ; she is the beginning of the sin to the 
 daughter of Zion " (i, 13). He rebukes the iniquity of 
 the people, but adds that hereafter God will unite 
 together the whole of the tribes of Jacob ; he will gather 
 together all that remains of Israel, and make of them 
 one flock (ii). He reproves the princes and the pro- 
 phets who mislead the people by advising peace. It 
 will be the destruction of Jerusalem (iii). But in the 
 last days Zion will be again established ; nations shall 
 come up in peace to the House of God. Then, using 
 the w^ords of Joel, but in the opposite sense — then they 
 will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their 
 spears into pruning-hooks, and Jerusalem shall be the 
 peaceable capital of nations (iv, 3). 
 
 Now, O Zion, thou shalt march against Babylon, and 
 be delivered from thine enemies. Gather thyself against 
 the besiegers. A saviour shall arise out of Bethlehem, 
 by whose help thou shalt defeat the Assyrians, and lay 
 waste the land of Nimrod. And the remnant of Jacob 
 shall be like a lion among the nations. But in that day 
 thou shalt lay aside thy cavalry and war chariots, and 
 throw down thy fortifications, and break thine idols, and 
 root up thy sacred groves, and execute vengeance on 
 the heathen (v). 
 
 The people are reminded of Balaam's wise answer to 
 Balak in the Book of Numbers, and are reproved for 
 following tlie idolatrous statues of King Omri, and the 
 evil deeds of his son Aliab (vi). But when in trouble 
 the Lord will be a liglit to them, and the walls will be 
 re-built, and a certain unjust decree removed; and they 
 are comforted with the thought that God will pardon 
 
ON THE BOOK OF MICAH. 165 
 
 them ; that he retaineth not his anger for ever, but 
 clelighteth in mercy (vii). 
 
 [Micah wrote a very short time before Isaiah, but 
 Isaiah does not speak of Hezekiah's tribute to Senna- 
 cherib, which Micah seems to blame severely. The 
 unjust decree that is to be repealed is spoken of in 
 Isaiah x, i. Micah is mentioned and quoted in 
 Jeremiah xxvi, where king Hezekiah is praised for 
 bearing patiently the prophet's reproof.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 IsATAH,the son of Amoz, lived, says the introductory verse, 
 in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. 
 Thus he was born before the year B.C. 759. The history 
 related in his writmgs belongs to the reigns of Ahaz and 
 Hezekiah. He describes the sufferings of Judah. He 
 points out that they w^ere sent from God as a punish- 
 ment. He foretells the downfall of the Assyrians and 
 the other nations through whom his countrymen were 
 afflicted, and then a time of prosperity. But the events 
 mentioned as already past in the latter part of the book 
 show that those chapters were written more than a 
 hundred years later, during the Babylonian captivity. 
 And the same may be said of some smaller portions 
 mingled with Isaiah's writings. Two larger parts, that 
 by Isaiah, and that at the end, sometimes called the work 
 of the later Isaiah, are of high interest, as containing 
 many of those passages which led the Jews to look for 
 a Messiah. The circumstances under which the two 
 prophets wrote are so unlike, that they may be separated 
 with tolerable certainty. 
 
 Chaps, i-v. — Isaiah rebukes his countrymen as a 
 sinful nation that have forsaken the Lord; and, as a 
 punishment, their country is desolate, their cities are 
 burned, their land is devoured by strangers. Zion alone 
 is left as a besieged city. He calls them rulers of Sodom 
 and people of Gomorrah. The Lord refuses their 
 
166 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 offerings, and abhors their sabbaths and feasts, till they 
 learn to do well and seek judgment. But hereafter 
 Zion shall be cleansed and called the city of righteous- 
 ness. Her judges shall be restored and the wicked 
 punished (i). And in the last days the nations will go 
 up to the mountain of the Lord's house, for out of Zion 
 shall go forth the law. He calls upon the people to 
 walk in the light of the Lord ; for Thou hast forsaken 
 Thy people, because their land is full of idols, and they 
 worship the work of their own hands. But their 
 haughtiness shall be brought down, and in the day of 
 the Lord men shall hide themselves in the rock through 
 fear (ii). The Lord will then allow Jerusalem to be 
 ruined and Judah to be brought low for their sins (iii). 
 But in that day, when the filth has been washed away 
 from Zion, all that remains in Jerusalem will be holy 
 
 The prophet tells a parable of a vineyard with a 
 tower in it. The vineyard is the house of Israel, the 
 tower is Jerusalem. The owner digs and plants the 
 vineyard, but it brings forth only w^ild grapes. So he 
 lays it waste as a punishment. Thus for their sins the 
 people are gone into captivity. They called good evil, 
 and evil good. Therefore the Lord's anger was kindled, 
 and is not yet turned away ; but his hand is stretched 
 out to punish (v). 
 
 [The captivity here spoken of is that of Israel and 
 some of Judah by the Assyrians, not the great captivity 
 by the Babylonians. In this part is a passage (ii, 1-4) 
 quoted from the prophet Micah (iv, 1-3). The descrip- 
 tion of peace as a time when men shall beat their swords 
 into ploughshares (ii, 4), is borrowed from Joel's grand 
 command to beat your ploughshares into swords, and 
 prepare for war (iii, 10).] 
 
 Chap. vi. Isaiah's Call to the Office of Projyhet. — 
 In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a 
 vision. He saw Jehovah on his throne in the temple, 
 and around him were seraphs singing his praises. He 
 w^as awe-struck, as being too unclean to look upon the 
 Lord. But one of tlie seraphs touches his lips with a 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 167 
 
 live coal to purify him ; and the Lord tells him to go as 
 a prophet to his countrymen, but not to let them see, or 
 hear, or understand, till the land is utterly desolate. 
 
 [This was in the year B.C. 759, when Isaiah was a 
 very young man, and while the land was being overrun 
 by the Assyrians.] 
 
 Chap, vii-xii. Against the Assyrians. 
 
 It was in the reign of Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, 
 that the kings of Israel and Syria came up agahist 
 Judah. Isaiah then went to meet King Ahaz, and told 
 him, from Jehovah, that within sixty-five years Israel 
 should cease to be a nation. As a sign, he told him 
 that a young woman, probably the king's wife, should 
 have a son, to be named Immanuel, and before that 
 child should grow to manhood those tw^o kings should 
 be cut off". The Lord will cut them off by means of the 
 king of Assyria, as with a hired razor (vii). The 
 prophet also supposes a child born to himself, borrowing 
 the figure from Hosea, and the Lord tells him that before 
 this cliild shall be able to say. My father, My mother, 
 Damascus and Samaria shall be plundered by the king 
 of Assyria. He will overshadow the whole land of 
 Judah. Darkness and trouble will be over the land (viii). 
 The trouble shall be heavier than what before fell on 
 Zebulon and Naphtali, or even than what afterwards 
 befell the coasts of Galilee (ix, i). 
 
 But already a light dawns upon the nation of Judah. 
 To us a child is born on whom the government will 
 rest. He will be the Prince of Peace. Israel, on the 
 other hand, will be cut off root and branch by the 
 Syrians and Philistines, wdiile civil war between 
 Ephraim and Manasseh Avill add to the misery (ix). 
 Woe unto them that make unrighteous decrees ; the 
 Assyrians shall be brought in to punish them. But 
 when the Lord hath performed his whole work against 
 Zion, he will break the power of the Assyrians. The 
 nation need not despaii-; after a little time the foreign 
 yoke shall be broken. 
 
 For the present the enemy has marclied through 
 Galilee and Samaria, and is encamped within the land 
 
168 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 of Benjamin, around Jerusalem. He has arrived at 
 Aiath and Migron. On reaching the hills he has laid 
 up his carriarres at Michmash. The people have fled. 
 He shakes his" fist at Mount Zion (x). But a rod has 
 sprung out of the stem of Jesse, and the spirit of the 
 Lord is upon him. He will govern in righteousness and 
 meekness. Peace will return to the land. Israel and 
 Judah will be united. He will defeat the Philistines, 
 the people of the East, the Edomites, the Moabites, and 
 the children of Amnion. The dispersed will return 
 from Egypt and Assyria (xi). Praise and glory will be 
 given to God for his mercies (xii). 
 
 [Here we have the events of history from the reign 
 of Ahaz till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah ; the 
 invasion of Tiglath-pileser against the north-east of 
 Galilee, of Shalmaneser again'st the coast ; the birth 
 of Hezekiah; Israel taken captive; and the march of 
 Sennacherib to the walls of Jerusalem. Then is sha- 
 dowed out the peace with the Assyrians, and perhaps 
 Hezekiah's summons to the Samaritans to come up to 
 Jerusalem and keep the passover with the Jews. {See 
 2 Chron. xxx). 
 
 Chap, ix, 8, to X, 4, is a regular poem of four long 
 sentences, each ending with the same w^ords.] 
 
 Chap, xiii, xiv., 1-23. The Sentence upon Babylon, by 
 a letter icriter. — The prophet, speaking in the name of 
 Jehovah, says, that he has commanded kingdoms and 
 nations to be gathered together to destroy the whole of 
 Chaldea. He will stir up the Medes against them ; and 
 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the pride and boast of 
 the Chaldees, shall be like Sodom and Gomorrah. It 
 shall not be inhabited. The Arab shall not pitch his 
 tent there, nor the shepherd fold his sheep there (xiii). 
 Then the Lord will rescue Israel, and give them rest in 
 their own land; and they will say. How hath the tyrant 
 fallen, and the tribute ceased ! The Lord hath broken 
 the sceptres of the rulers who smote the people. How 
 art thou fallen, O son of the East! Is this the man 
 that shook kingdoms, and opened not his prisons? 
 (xiv, 1-23). 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 169 
 
 [This portion is the work of a later ^^riter. It was 
 written during the captivity of the Jew^s in Babylon, 
 and while that capital of the Chaldees was on the point 
 of being conquered by the Modes. This must have 
 been in the reign either of Astyages or of Cyaxares II. ; 
 perhaps after the year B. c. 583, when the young Cyrus 
 led the IMedlan army against Babylon, and before the 
 year B. c. 536, when Media lost its name in history, 
 and became part of the more famous kingdom of the 
 Persians.] 
 
 Chap. xiv. 24-27. Against the Assyrians, continued. — 
 Isaiah, speaking in the name of Jehovah, says, I will 
 crush the Assyrian in my land, upon my mountains I 
 will tread him under foot, and his yoke shall depart 
 from off them. 
 
 [These three verses should follow chap. x. They 
 speak of the Assyrian army as still encamped in the hill 
 country around Jerusalem.] 
 
 Chap, xiv, 28-32. Sentence upon the Philistines. — In 
 the year that King Ahaz died, Isaiah cries out, Rejoice 
 not, Philistia, because the rod that smote thee is broken, 
 for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk. 
 And I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant 
 shall be slain. 
 
 [Uzziah, the grandfather of Ahaz, had defeated the 
 Philistines {see 2 Chron. xxvi, e), and they were soon to 
 be wholly overthrown by Hezekiah. {See 2 Kings xviii, s). 
 But as the prophet mentions a smoke from the north, he 
 perhaps means that their overthrow is to come from the 
 Assyrians.] 
 
 Chap, xv, xvi. Tiuo Sentences upon Moah, hy a later 
 writer. They should perhaps he joined to Chap, xxxiv, 
 XXXV. — The cities of Ar-moab and Kir-moab are laid 
 waste. The people are fled to Bajith and Bibon on the 
 hills to weep. They will howl over the towns Nebo and 
 Medeba. The towns of Heshbon and Elealeh shall 
 cry, and their voice be heard even to Jahaz. They 
 flee towards Judea; some southwards by Zoar, others 
 northwards by Luhith and Horonaim. The waters of 
 Nimrim shall be desolate, and the river Dimon full of 
 
170 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 blood. Send 'tlie present of a lamb from Selah in the 
 desert to Zion. The women will run towards the fords 
 of the river Arnon towards Judea. But take counsel. 
 Do what is right. Let oppression cease. Shelter the 
 Jewish fugitives^ and in mercy shall thy throne be esta- 
 blished (xv, xvi, 5). 
 
 Again, 
 
 The pride of Moab will be humbled. They will 
 mourn for Ivirhareseth. The fields of Heshbon and 
 vineyards of Sibmah languish. The heathen have over- 
 run them. They have come even to Jazer in Gilead. 
 Gladness is taken away, and there is no joy in the field. 
 And Moab will go to the sanctuary to pray, but will not 
 prevail. This is the word that the Lord afterwards spoke 
 concerning Moab. And within three years the glory of 
 Moab shall be brought low, and the remnant shall be 
 very small (xvi). 
 
 [The invasions of Moab here spoken of were from 
 the East, and at a time when Judah had been afflicted. 
 The Assyrians or Persians were no doubt the invaders ; 
 but history does not help us to fix the time spoken of. 
 It may, perhaps, be that of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion, 
 B. c. 591 : as we find the same reproaches upon Moab 
 and Edom in Ezekiel xxv. Moab is here spoken of as 
 containing the Edomite city of Selah or Petra.] 
 
 Chap, xvii, 1—11. Sentence on Datnascus. — The capital 
 of Syria is to be ruined, and at the same time Ephraim 
 is to l^e overthrown and Judah to wax very thin. In 
 that day a man will look to his Maker, and have respect 
 to the Holy One of Israel. 
 
 [Assyria was to cause the ruin of the three king- 
 doms.] 
 
 Chap, xvii, 12-14. — These three verses contain a threat 
 of woe against the Assyrians. They seem to belong to 
 the end of chap, x, perhaps to follow chap, xiv, 24-27. 
 
 Chap, xviii. On Southern Etliiopia, or Abyssinia. — 
 The prophet hastens forward the ambassadors towards 
 a land beyond Ethiopia, a country divided by rivers. 
 But he adds, that the time will come when these people 
 will be brought low ; and then, on the other hand, they 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 171 
 
 will send ambassadors to Judali witli presents to Mount 
 Zion. 
 
 [This may describe an embassy from Hezekiali to 
 Seve or So, king of Ethiopia, to ask for help against the 
 Assyrians. Hoshea, king of Israel, had before sent 
 ambassadors to tlie same distant king, who was then 
 conquering Egypt (2 Kings xvii, 4). But, on the other 
 hand, as the embassy was to go by sea, the prophet may 
 mean Abyssinia.] 
 
 Chap. xix. Sentence on Egypt. — Isaiah describes the 
 civil wars in Lower Egypt which followed upon the fall 
 of Thebes, and adds, A fierce king shall rule over 
 them. The princes of Tanis are fools, the princes of 
 Memphis are deceived. There are to be five cities in 
 the land of Goshen so full of Jew^s that they speak the 
 language of Canaan, and one w^ill be called. The City 
 of Destruction. And there shall be an altar to the 
 Lord in Egypt ; and both Egypt and Assyria shall be 
 at peace with Israel, and turn to the Lord. 
 
 [Seve or Sevechus, king of Ethiopia, who conquered 
 Egypt in about b. c. 729, seems here spoken of To 
 relieve the city which held the altar from the prophet's 
 reproach, the Septuagint changes the reading to The 
 City of Righteousness.] 
 
 Chap. xx. On Egypt and Ethiopia. — In the year that 
 Tartan, the Assyrian general, took the Philistine city 
 of Ashdod in the name of his master King S argon, 
 Isaiah foretells that the king of Assyria shall lead cap- 
 tive both the Ethiopians and the Egyptians. Israel 
 shall be ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of 
 Egypt their boast. 
 
 [Tartan w^as general of the Assyrians in the reign of 
 Sennacherib {see 2 Kings xviii, 17), but probably did not 
 end the siege of Ashdod till the ben;innino; of Esarhad- 
 dons reign in B.C. 713. Esarhaddon's name may be 
 corrupted into Sargon, as it is Sarchedon in the Book of 
 Tobit. It was not till then that Ethiopia and Egypt 
 became one kingdom in the eyes of the prophet, under 
 Tirhakah. Under his predecessor Seve, Isaiah had con- 
 sidered Egypt and Ethiopia as two nations. He thought 
 
172 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 Ethiopian friendship desirable (chap, xviii), but Egyp- 
 tian friendship not to be sought for.] 
 
 Chap, xxi, i-io. On Bahijlon ichen conquered hy the 
 Medes and Persians, hy a late icriter. — The prophet says. 
 Go up, O Elam ! Besiege, O Media ! He sees a vision 
 of horsemen and chariots, and then cries out, Babylon 
 is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her 
 gods are broken to the ground. 
 
 [This was written about the year B.C. 583, when 
 Media joined Elam or Persia in the fatal attack upon 
 Babylon.] 
 
 Chap, xxi, 11-17. Sentence upon Diimah and Arabia. — 
 By Arabia is meant only a northern portion of what 
 now bears that name. Dumah is a part of Northern 
 Arabia, mentioned in Genesis xxv, 14. 
 
 Chap. xxii. Judea invaded by the Assyrians. — It is a 
 day of trouble and perplexity. Elam bears the quiver, 
 with chariots and horsemen. Kir uncovereth the shield. 
 The valleys are full of horsemen. Breaches are made 
 in the city walls. 
 
 The Lord sends the prophet to Shebna, the treasurer 
 of the household. He tells him that he will be driven 
 from his post, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, appointed 
 in his stead. 
 
 [This was written while Jerusalem was besieged by 
 Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah. Shebna and 
 Eliakim are mentioned in 2 Kings xviii. Kir is part of 
 Assyria, perhaps the modern Georgia {see 2 Kings xvi, 9) ; 
 Elam, or Western Persia, was then under Assyria.] 
 
 Chap, xxiii. Sentence on Tyre. — Howl, ships of Tarsus; 
 Tyre is laid waste, the city that the merchants of Sidon 
 crowded. The corn of the Nile was her revenue. She 
 was the maker of kings, her merchants were princes, 
 her tradesmen the nobles of the earth. The Assyrians 
 will destroy the city, and at the end of seventy years it 
 "svill be a by -word. 
 
 [This siege of Tyre is mentioned by Menander, as 
 quoted by Josephus. It was in the reign of Shalma- 
 neser. Sidon was not included in the ruin, because it 
 joined the Assyrians.] 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 173 
 
 Ceap. xxivj-xxvii. On the Desolation of Judea; the 
 Destruction of Babylon; and the Return from Captivity; 
 by a later icriter. — The land is utterly \Yaste, because 
 the people forsook the law. Mirth has ceased. The 
 city is empty, the gates ' are broken. But in that day 
 the Lord will punish the kings of the earth, and reign 
 in Moimt Zion in glory. 
 
 O Lord, I will praise thy name. Thou hast made 
 the fortified city a ruin. The palace of the stranger is 
 destroyed. The tyrants are brought low. 
 
 In that day Judah will say, Open the gates, that the 
 righteous nation may enter. Wait for a little moment, 
 till God's anger be passed, when he will punish the 
 oppressors. Li that day Jacob shall take root, and 
 Israel shall flourish. In that day the Lord will gather 
 again the children of Israel from the Euphrates and the 
 Nile, and the outcasts shall return and worship the 
 Lord in Jerusalem. 
 
 [This is one of the modern portions, written in the 
 reign of Cyrus, when the captivity was drawing to a 
 close.] 
 
 Chap, xxviii-xxxiii. The Sufferings of Ephraim and 
 Judah ; Alliance ivith Egypt blamed; Happy times ivill 
 follow. — Woe on the pride of Ephraim ; it shall be 
 trodden under foot. The people, and the priest, and the 
 prophet have all gone astray. The Lord taught them 
 with precept upon precept, and line upon line ; but 
 they would not hear. But he will lay in Zion a 
 precious corner-stone, a sure foundation (xxviii). 
 
 Woe on Jerusalem. The enemy will encamp around 
 it, raise mounds against it, and forts against it. But, 
 though the foreigners are countless as the sands, all that 
 fight against Jerusalem will pass away as a dream of 
 the night. The meek shall increase in joy, and the 
 terrible one be brought to nought (xxix). 
 
 Woe on the rebellious people who look to Egypt for 
 help, and trust in Pharaoh. They sent to Tanis and 
 Daphn^e ; but the Egyptians will help in vain. The 
 prophets are not listened to. Nevertheless, by the voice 
 of the Lord the Assvrian will be overthrown. The 
 
174 ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 yalley of Tophet was of old appointed for their bodies 
 to be burnt in (xxx). Woe on those who look to Egypt 
 for help, and trust in chariots and horses. The Assyrian 
 shall fall, but not by the sword (xxxi). 
 
 Then a king sliall reign in righteousness, and princes 
 rule in justice. The spirit shall be poured on us from 
 on high, and the people sliall dwell in peace (xxxii). 
 
 Woe to the spoiler ; salvation is from the Lord. The 
 highways lie waste, the land mourneth. But Jerusalem 
 shall be a quiet habitation. Not one of her stakes shall 
 ever be removed. For the Lord is our king ; he will 
 save us (xxxiii). 
 
 [These six chapters seem to speak of the wars of 
 Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah, and of the treaty 
 with Tirhakah, king of Egypt (2 Kings xix).] 
 
 CiiAP. xxxivj XXXV. Sentence on Bahylon, continued; 
 hy a later writei\ — The indignation of the Lord is upon 
 all the hostile nations ; there will be a great slaughter 
 in Bozrah and Edom. It is the day of the Lord's 
 veno-eance, and a year of recompense for Zion. The 
 streams of the enemy's city shall become pitch, and her 
 dust brimstone. The beasts of the desert shall dwell 
 therein (xxxiv). But the desert shall blossom like 
 Sharon. The blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the 
 lame man shall leap. There shall be a highway, over 
 which the unclean shall not pass, nor the wild beast 
 roam ; but the ransomed of the Lord shall return by 
 it, and Zion shall sing for joy. 
 
 [This clearly points to the return from captivity, and 
 was written while the prisoners were yet at Babylon. 
 That city is not mentioned : but the destruction threat- 
 ened to all hostile nations seems more particularly meant 
 for Babylon. It was at that time also that Bozrah 
 had flourished and was overthrown. (^See Jeremiah 
 xlix, 13, 22). When in chap. xxxIa'. in, 17 the writer 
 quotes the Book of the Lord, for the division of the land 
 among the tribes, he seems to refer to the Book of 
 Joshua, which probably formed part of the larger 
 book.] 
 
 Chap, xxxvi-xxxix. The History of Hezekiah, hy a 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 175 
 
 later loriter. — These four chapters are far more modern 
 than the time of Isaiah, and are taken out of the Second 
 Book of Kings, from chap, xviii, 13 to chap, xx, 20. 
 They contain all that history has told us of the life of 
 Isaiah. The editor, however, has dropped the account 
 of Hezekiah's giving the royal and sacred treasures as a 
 tribute to Sennacherib at Lachish. (^See 2 Kings xviii, 
 15-17). This act of liezekiah, which is so honestly told 
 in the Book of Kings, seems to be severely blamed by 
 the prophet Micah (i, 13), but is not mentioned by 
 Isaiah in its place in chap x. 
 
 The editor has also given us, in addition, Hezekiah's 
 song of thanksgiving (xxxviii, 9-20) which is not now in 
 the history. This song was written with the help of 
 Psalms cii and cxv, from which some of the thoughts 
 are borrowed, though not in the same words ; and we 
 see that the song was an original part of the history 
 from our finding that some of the thoughts in the history 
 are also borrowed from the first of these Psalms. Thus 
 the Psalmist, speaking of his illness, had said, " My days 
 are like a shadow that decllneth ; " so the historian says 
 that Hezekiah's recovery from his illness was typified 
 by the shadow going back upon the dial. 
 
 Chap. x\-End, by a later luriter. — The last twenty- 
 seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah were written by 
 an unknown author about the year B.C. 536. They 
 speak of the Jews as in captivity (xliii, 22-24). But 
 Babylon is fallen. Her gods are humbled. Bel boweth 
 down, Nebo stoopeth (xivi, 1). Cyrus the Persian is 
 king, and is shortly to rebuild Jerusalem (xliv, 23). The 
 people are to return from Babylon (xlviii, 20) : and as 
 Cyrus is on his march westward, the prophet declares 
 that God will give him Egypt and Ethiopia and Arabia 
 as a ransom for the Jews whom he is setting free 
 (xliii, 3. xlv, u). Two verses, xli, 6 and 7, are out of 
 place ; and should follow upon xl, 19. 
 
 [The writer of these latter chapters mentions less of 
 past history than Isaiah. He is unlike him also in his 
 style, and, still more, in his religious feelings and hopes. 
 His poetry is more flowing, more ornamental, and less 
 
176 ox THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 
 
 abrupt. He has more earnestness of feeling and less 
 earnestness of action. He is more lofty in liis religious 
 thoughts. He has more sweetness and less strength. 
 The "nation had suffered sixty years of captivity and 
 disappointment, and their religious feelings had been 
 softened and spiritualised by adversity. His chief 
 peculiarity is the expression of religious hope, which 
 ennobles every wish for the worldly prosperity of the 
 nation. Indeed, he continually leaves us in doubt 
 whether the Saviour he is looking for is to recall the 
 world from idolatry and sin, or to bring back the Jews 
 from Babylon ; whether he is to establish God's king- 
 dom upon earth, or the Jewish nation in Jerusalem. 
 When he says, " Prepare ye in the wilderness the way 
 of the Lord, make ye in the desert a highway for our 
 God" (xl. 3), it is hard to believe that he is speaking 
 only of the route for the return of the captives from 
 Babylon. When he says to the anointed one, " I will 
 go before thee, and make the crooked places sti'aight ; 
 I will break in pieces the gates of brass. For Jacob 
 my servant's sake, and for Israel mine elect, I have 
 called thee by name" (xlv. 1), — his thoughts rise far 
 above Cyrus, who was then delivering the Jews from 
 captivity. The prophet, throughout, calls upon the 
 people to keep justice and practise righteousness, for the 
 coming of their salvation is at hand. These latter 
 chapters contain many of the passages which led the 
 Jews to look for a Messiah, or anointed saviour ; they 
 have furnished many of the most important quotations 
 in the New Testament. As a religious writer, this 
 unknown author stands among the first in the Old 
 Testament. As a poet, though he must yield in some 
 points to Joel and the old prophets, yet, upon the whole, 
 he ranks among the first in any language. 
 
 In chap, lii, he quotes from the prophet Nahum the 
 words " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet 
 of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth 
 peace." In chap, li, he quotes from the four or five last 
 verses of Ps. cii, and then from Ps. viii, verse 4. 
 
 He had read Jeremiah, and seems to be speaking of 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. 177 
 
 him in chap, liii, beginning, " Which of us believed 
 what we heard?" When he describes the prophet as 
 despised and rejected of men, he says, " He was brought 
 as a lamb to the slaughter." In these latter words, 
 Jeremiah had described himself in chap, xi, 19.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 Zephaniah wrote in the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, 
 when the kingdom of Israel had been conquered by the 
 Assyrians, and a few years before Nebuchadnezzar 
 invaded Judea. 
 
 He says that the Lord will cut off the worshippers 
 of idols, and those who bow to the stars on the house- 
 tops. The day of Jehovah is at hand. There will be 
 a howling through Jerusalem. There will be distress 
 and anguish, and sound of trumpet, and war-shout 
 against the fortified cities, because of the people's sins. 
 He calls upon them to turn to Jehovah before the day 
 comes. Gaza will be forsaken ; Askelon will be deso- 
 late; Ashdod shall be driven out, and Ekron rooted 
 up; the land of the Philistines shall be without inha- 
 bitants. Moab and Ammon shall be a salt-pit, and 
 shall be possessed by the residue of Judah. Even the 
 Ethiopians shall be slain and Nineveh destroyed. 
 
 Alas for the rebellious Jerusalem! It shall be 
 punished; but the Lord will be just, and utterly cut 
 off the hostile nations. Then shall all men call upon 
 his name, and serve him with one consent. The dis- 
 persed Israelites shall bring offerings to the temple even 
 from Abyssinia beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia, and the 
 residue at home shall cease from injustice and live in 
 23eace. Then Jerusalem may rejoice; for God will 
 ])ardon her, and gather together the scattered, and make 
 for her a name among the nations. 
 
 [This was probably written after the Assyrians had 
 been weakened by the loss of Babylon in B.C. 625, 
 while Judah was for a moment freed from invasion, 
 and while King Josiah was putting down idolatry.] 
 
 N 
 
ON THE BOOK OF KAIIUM. 
 
 The kingdom of Judali was saved from the northern 
 invasion during the reign of Josiah by the wars be- 
 tween the Chaldees and the Assyrians. The latter 
 were now sinking. By the seventeenth year of Josiah, 
 Nabopulassar the Chaldee was master of Babylon, 
 which the Assyrians had held for three reigns. A few 
 years later he marched against Nineveh, which was then 
 the greatest and richest city known to those nations. 
 He laid siege to it and conquered it in the thirtieth year 
 of Josiah, B.C. G12. It was during this siege that the 
 prophet Nahum wrote. Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, and 
 Isaiah, had written in words of lamentation, of conso- 
 lation, and of hope. But Nahum writes in triumph. 
 The Assyrians were now to be humbled. They had 
 been the enemies of Israel and Judah f*r one hundred 
 and sixty years. They had carried Israel into captivity, 
 and had made Judah pay tribute. But the sufferers 
 now hope for rest in the wars of their enemies. 
 
 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that 
 bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, O Judah I 
 For the wicked shall no more pass through thee, he is 
 utterly cut ofF (i). Chariots shall rage in the streets, 
 and jostle one another in the broadways of the conquered 
 city. They hasten to the wall and prepare the defence. 
 But in vain; the gates are opened; the palace is de- 
 stro3'ed. The people of Nineveh flee away. Stand, 
 stand, they cry ; but none will look back. Take the 
 spoil of silver and gold. She is empty and waste (ii). 
 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord. I will show 
 the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 
 Art thou better than the great Thebes, whose moat was 
 a river and floods her defence? Ethiopia and Egypt 
 were her strength, Africa and Libya were her allies. 
 But she was carried away into captivity (iii, lo). 
 
 Then the prophet takes up Joel's simile, and taunt- 
 ingly speaks of the Assyrians as locusts, who are only 
 terrible in the cool of the mornino-, but when the sun 
 
ON THE BOOK OF NAKUM. 1V9 
 
 arisetli tliey flee away, and their place is not known 
 (iii, 17). 
 
 [Nalmm's style is equal to the best of the prophetic 
 writings. He is earnest and full of fire. His sentences 
 are short. He speaks pictures.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 
 
 Hitherto the prophets have been writing in indignation 
 against the Assyrians, who had overthrown the kingdom 
 of Israel, and at times made the kingdom of Judali 
 tributar}'. They speak of the sufferings of their coun- 
 trymen under the invasions of Tiglath Pileser, of Shal- 
 maneser, of Sennacherib, and of Esarhaddon, But now 
 the language is changed. A new enemy appears. The 
 Chaldeans, another northern race, under Nabopulassar, 
 had defeated the Assyrians, and from them gained 
 possession of Nineveh. Nebuchadnezzar, the next king, 
 marched against Jehoiakim, king of Judah, about the 
 year B.C. 605. " The Lord sent against Jehoiakim 
 bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and 
 bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, 
 and sent them against Judah to destroy it^ according to 
 the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants 
 the prophets" (2 Kings, xxiv, 2). It was then that 
 Habakkuk wrote. His book is in the form of a 
 dialogue. 
 
 The prophet begins by complaining that the righteous 
 are spoiled by the wicked, that his nation is overrun by 
 their enemies (i, 2-4). 
 
 The Lord answers that he has raised up the Chaldees 
 to punish them. They are a dreadful nation, powerful 
 in cavalry ; they will laugh at fortifications, heap their 
 mounds around them, and take them (i, 5-11). 
 
 The prophet bows to God's judgments, but asks if the 
 enemy shall never cease to slay the nations (i, 12 — ii, 1). 
 
 The Lord answers, without naming the Chaldees, 
 that their souls are not upright, and that in due time 
 
 N 2 
 
180 ON THE BOOK OF IIABAKKUK. 
 
 tliey shall be punished for their violence, their cruelt}-, 
 and their idolatry (ii). 
 
 The prophet concludes ^vith praising God's majesty 
 and power, and declares that though his fig-tree, his 
 ■vine, and his olive shall fail, and his flocks and his 
 herds die, yet he will trust in the Lord (iii). 
 
 [Habakkuk had read Isaiah, whose words he is using 
 in chap, ii, 14. His style of poetry is regular, but most 
 rich with lofty flights of imagination. While foretelling 
 the sad misfortunes of his nation, his devout trust in 
 God is as firm as it is beautifully expressed.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 No Hebrew writer has left us so many particulars of 
 his own life as Jeremiah. He was a native of Anathoth, 
 a town near Jerusalem. His father, Hilkiah, was a priest 
 there, and was the person by whom the Book of Deu- 
 teronomy w^as made public ; and thus he felt that he was 
 chosen by God for the prophetic ofiice even before he 
 was born into the world. He began to preach in the 
 thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, or B.C. 629 (i). 
 After a short time he visited the capital, and called u]3on 
 the people of Jerusalem to leave their Assyrian and 
 Egyptian idols and to return to the God of their fathers. 
 The Pagans never changed their gods ; but the Israelites 
 had forsaken Jehovah (ii). 
 
 He mourns over faithless Judah as more guilty than 
 rebellious Israel. But if they return to their God they 
 will be received; Jerusalem will be called Jehovah's 
 throne ; nations will resort to it ; and Israel and Judah 
 will be united (iii). 
 
 He threatens Jerusalem with a great evil wdiicli 
 Jehovah will bring from the North — wlien the cities 
 shall be laid w^aste, the priests shall be amazed, and the 
 prophets confounded. The destroyer will come like a 
 storm, with chariots like a whirlwind, and horses swdfter 
 than eagles. At the noise of horsemen and bowmen the 
 
ox THE BOOK OF JEEEMIAH. 181 
 
 cities are forsaken ; men flee into the thickets and to the 
 rock (iv). If God could find in Jerusalem only one 
 man doino- justice, he -svould spare the city. But Israel 
 and Judah have denied Jehovah; therefore he will 
 bring down upon them a nation from afar, whose 
 language they do not understand, who will lay waste 
 the country and kill their sons (v). The prophet advises 
 the people to leave Jerusalem, to light the beacon on 
 the hills, for destruction is coming from the North. 
 The enemy will hew down trees, and raise a mound 
 against Jerusalem ; and unless the people repent of their 
 sins, it will be made a desolation (vi). 
 
 At another time Jeremiah, standing at the gate of the 
 temple, calls on the people to repent. He reminds 
 them how Shiloh, the capital of Samaria, had been 
 destroyed for its idolatry; and if Judah continues to 
 make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, they will be 
 destroyed like Israel. He tells them to mourn for 
 God's wrath ; there will be slaughter in the valley of 
 Hinnom (vii). The graves of their kings will be broken 
 open. The snorting of the enemy's horses is already 
 heard from Dan (viii). He wishes that his eyes were 
 a fountain to weep for the slain, or for a lodge in the 
 desert, that he might not see the people's sin and pun- 
 ishment; for Judah will be punished with Egypt, and 
 Edom, and Amnion, and Moab (ix). 
 
 Jeremiah's reproaches against his countrymen's ido- 
 latry, and his melancholy forebodings of the coming 
 woe, gave great offence to many. The men of Ana- 
 thoth, his native town, plotted against his life ; and, he 
 says, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. They 
 threatened to kill him if he continued to prophesy in 
 the name of Jehovah. But he escaped, and forsook his 
 liome and his inheritance (xii). 
 
 He, perhaps, then fled to the banks of the Euphrates, 
 whence he continued to reproach the obstinacy of the 
 people (xiii). He wept for their misfortunes and his own. 
 He was an outcast; though he had neither borrowed 
 nor lent money, yet every one cursed him (xv). But 
 while he foretells their captivity, he also foretells their 
 
182' ON THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 return. He says, that then they will call God, not 
 Jehovah who brought Israel from the land of Egypt, 
 but Jehovali who brought them from tlie land of the 
 North (xvi). 
 
 He afterwards preached in Jerusalem, and in Tophet 
 in the neiglibourhood (xix). Once, on coming into the 
 city to ])reac]i, Pasliur, the priest of the temple, heard 
 him, and put him into the stocks at one of the temple 
 gates, called the high gate of Benjamin. But he was 
 released the next day. He then prophesies that Pashur 
 and all his house will be carried captive to Babylon 
 (xx, continued at xxv). 
 
 In the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar 
 [b.C. 605], Jeremiah more exactly prophesies that Judah 
 will be made captive and serve the king of Babylon for 
 seventy years, after which the Chaldees will themselves 
 be overthrown (xxv). For thus foretelling ruin to his 
 country, and that Jerusalem would be desolate like 
 Shiloh, the priests accuse him before the jorinces of the 
 people as worthy of death. But he is saved by Aliikam 
 (xxvi, continued at xxxv). 
 
 When Nebuchadnezzar entered the country in his 
 march against King Jehoiakim, among others who fled 
 to Jerusalem for safety was a body of men called 
 Rechabites, who dwelt in tents without tilling the soil, 
 and who drank no wine. Jeremiah praises them for 
 their obedience to the religious customs of their race, 
 and promises them that, when the disobedient people 
 of Jerusalem are cut off, they shall be spared (xxxv). 
 
 For thus threatening the people and the rulers, Jere- 
 miah was put in prison. He there employed Baruch as 
 a scribe to write down for him in a book what he wished 
 to preach to the people ; and he sent Baruch to read it 
 on a fast-day at tlie temple gate. But the king sent for 
 the book and had it burned ; and he would have seized 
 Baruch and Jeremiah, but the rulers let them escape. 
 Baruch continued with Jeremiah, and again wrote down 
 for him what had been burned, together with other 
 prophesies (xxxvi). 
 
 Among the prophecies then written down by Baruch 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JERE^IIxVH. 18-3 
 
 were probably those about the foreign nations, from- 
 chap, xlv to xlix, 33. The first is against the Egyptian 
 army, under Pharaoh Necho, which was defeated at 
 Carchemish, on the Euphrates, by Nebuchacbiezzar, in 
 the fourth year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 608. The next is on the 
 intended invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (xlvi). 
 The third is against Gaza and Askelon and the hmd. of 
 the Philistines ; indeed, against the allies of Tyre and 
 Sidon (xlvii). The fourth is against Moab, who shall 
 be ashamed of their idols (xlviii). The fifth is against 
 the land of Amnion ; the sixth against Edom, from 
 Teman to Dedan ; the seventh against Damascus ; and 
 the last against Kedar and Hazor, in Arabia (xlix, 33). 
 
 When Zedekiah came to the throne [b.c. 600] and 
 was threatened by the Chaldee invasion, he sent to 
 Jeremiah, and asked him to inquire of Jehovah as to 
 the event of the war. But the prophet gives him a 
 terrible answer — that God will fight against him, and 
 deliver into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar all that escape 
 the famine and the sword (xxi). Jeremiah goes to the 
 palace, and tells the king to do justly, or his house shall 
 be overthrown. Shallum, or Jelioahaz, the son of Josiali, 
 who has been carried into Egypt, v/ill not be allowed to 
 return. Josiali was a just ruler ; but Jehoiakim will 
 die unlamented. Coniali, or Jeconiah, his son, [who is 
 called Jehoiachin in 2 Kings xxiv] will be taken captive 
 to Babylon (xxii). Jeremiah then threatens the rulers 
 of the people and the prophets, and reproaches them 
 with their evil doings. He tells the people not to listen 
 to the prophets ; but God hereafter will raise righteous 
 shepherds, and a branch of the house of David, a king 
 under whom Judali shall be saved and Israel dwell in 
 peace (xxiii). Pie has a vision of good figs and bad figs, 
 and is told that Jeconiah, and those who have been 
 carried off to Babylon, are better, and will fare better, 
 than Zedekiah and those who are left in Judea, and 
 those that flee into Egypt (xxiv, continued at xxvii). 
 He strongly urges that the nation should submit quietly 
 to the king of Babylon. God had given them and the 
 neiojhbourinff nations into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar; 
 
184 ON THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 and those are false prophets who say that the captivity 
 will be over shortly (xxvii). In the fourth year of the 
 reign, Hanaiiiah of Gibeon propliesies to the people, that 
 within two years the captives shall be brought back from 
 Babylon. Jeremiah tells him he wishes it might be so, 
 but it is not true (xxviii). And he then writes a letter 
 to the elders and people in captivity, telling them that 
 it is God's wish that they should build houses, and plant 
 gardens, and live quietly in Babylon ; for seventy years 
 must be completed before the return (xxix). Neverthe- 
 less, he says, they will hereafter be brought back home, 
 and the city will be inhabited as of old (xxx, xxxi, 
 continued at xlix, 34) Persia will be scattered to the four 
 winds, and Babylon will be conquered by the Medes 
 (xlix,l,li> 
 
 In the tenth year of Zedekiah, [b.c. 591] the eighteenth 
 of Nebuchadnezzar, when the Chaldee army was besieg- 
 ing Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was in prison as a traitor 
 for his advice to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, his cousin 
 offers to sell him the family farm at Anathoth. It was 
 then in the hands of the enemy ; but Jeremiah bought 
 the farm in full trust that one day the kingdom would 
 be delivered from the enemy to whom he was then 
 advising them to submit (xxxii). And from his prison 
 he declares, that hereafter Jerusalem will be restored, 
 and there shall never be wanting a king from the 
 house of David to sit upon the throne, with priests 
 and Levites to offer burnt-offerings in the temple 
 (xxxiii). 
 
 He tells King Zedekiah that the Chaldees will be 
 successful and carry him away as a prisoner. The king 
 then made a proclamation in his distress that all the 
 Hebrew slaves shall be set free. But the princes did 
 not set them free, Avhereupon Jeremiah tells them they 
 will be given up to sword and pestilence and famine 
 (xxxiv, continued at xxxvii). 
 
 When Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, sent an army 
 to the relief of Jerusalem, the Chaldees retire ; but 
 Jeremiah says that it is only for a time, and that they 
 will burn the city. He goes forth, however, when the 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 185 
 
 besieged open the gates, to take possession of the mhe- 
 ritance which he had bought at Anathoth ; but a captain 
 of the guard puts him in prison on suspicion of his 
 intending to desert to the Chaldees (xxxvii). He is 
 then let down by cords into the dungeon-keep of tlie 
 prison to perish, but is saved by the Ethopian eunuch, 
 and he repeats to the king in private his advice to give 
 himself up to the Chaldees (xxxviii). Jerusalem is 
 then taken by Nebuchadnezzar [b. c. 588] ; Zedekiah 
 attempts to escape, but his eyes are put out, and his 
 sons are slain (xxxix). Jeremiah has leave given him 
 by the conqueror to go free to Babylon, or to remain 
 in Jerusalem with the few that are left under the 
 command of the Chaldee governor ; and he chooses to 
 remain (xl). 
 
 Shortly afterwards, Johanan and a few others rebelled 
 against the Chaldees (xli). They applied to Jeremiah 
 to learn from him God's will as to what they shall do ; 
 whether they shall be able to resist their oppressors, 
 or whether they should flee into Egypt. Jeremiah told 
 them that if they went into Egypt they would perish, 
 but if they stayed at home they would be successful in 
 their struggle against the foreign governor of Judea, 
 and be safe (xlii). But they did not believe him. 
 They before thought him a traitor when he advised 
 submission to Nebuchadnezzar, and they now^ think him 
 a traitor w^hen he advises them to resist. So Johanan 
 retreats into Egypt, and carries Jeremiah prisoner with 
 him. And at Tahpanhes or Daphnge, the first Egyptian 
 town they come to, Jeremiah prophesies that Egypt 
 will be defeated by Nebuchadnezzar (xliii). He at'ter- 
 w^ards adds that Hophra, king of Egypt, will be given 
 up to his enemies, as Zedekiah had been given up to 
 Nebuchadnezzar (xliv). 
 
 The last chapter (lii) is an account of the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, taken word for word 
 from the end of the Second Book of Kings, beginning 
 at xxiv, 18. 
 
 [Jeremiah quotes the Book of Deuteronomy, as men- 
 tioned at page 35. He also three times quotes the 
 
186 ON THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 Book of Leviticus, " I will be your God, and ye shall 
 be my people " (Lev. xxvi, 12 ; Jer. vii, 23, xi, 4, xxx, 22). 
 But as he says that on the march out of Egypt, the 
 Lord gave no command about burnt-offerings and 
 sacrifices (vii, 22), he must liave thought that much of 
 the Pentateuch was not of the age of Moses. He also 
 quotes from the history of the creation in the Book of 
 Genesis at chap, iv, 2.3. 
 
 TJie lament for Moah in chap, xlviii, is borrowed from 
 Isaiah xvi. 
 
 There are some additions to Jeremiah which bear 
 marks of a later age than when he was alive. Such is 
 the prophecy in chap, xxv, 11-14, which foretells the end 
 of the captivity in seventy years, and the downfall of 
 Babylon, and which interrupts and contradicts the pro- 
 phecy that Babylon shall conquer Judah, and Egypt, 
 and Persia, and Media. Siicli also are the words in 
 chap, xxix, 10-14, which contain the same prophecy, 
 and interrupt the blame on the false prophets who 
 encourage the Israelites to resist the Babylonians. 
 Such also is chap, xxxiii, which again fixes that the 
 return from captivity is to take place after seventy 
 years. These additions seem to belong to the age of 
 Darius. The latter in particular has some thoughts 
 like those in Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, who was 
 then writing.] 
 
 The Lamentations of Jeremiah are mournful poems 
 on the conquest of his country and on his own misfor- 
 tunes. They may have been written while he was 
 living in Egypt. They are more regular and finislied 
 than his other writings. In the first and second 
 chapters the verses are of three lines each, in the third 
 chapter of two lines each, in the fourth chapter of four 
 lines each, and in the fifth chapter they are of two 
 lines each. 
 
 These poems arc also alphabetical, or so written that 
 every verse begins with a letter of the alphabet. Thus 
 chaps, i, ii, and iv have each 22 verses, while chap, iii 
 has three times that number of verses. Chap, v is not 
 alphabetical, but it has the same number of verses, one 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. 187 
 
 for each letter, tliougli not so marked. Some of the 
 Psalms, which are also alphabetical, were probably 
 written in the time of Jeremiah. 
 
 A Book of Lamentations, including those by Jere- 
 miah, is spoken of in 2 Chron. xxxv, 25. Jeremiah is 
 also quoted in 2 Chron. xxxvi, 21. 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL. 
 
 In the fifth year of the captiyity of the Jews (b. c. 595), 
 while Hying in the land of the Chaldees, by the riyer 
 Chebar in JMesopotamia, Ezekiel sees a vision. There 
 are four liying creatures with four faces and four wings 
 each. Aboye them, Jehoyah is sitting on a throne. 
 Jehoyah calls him Son of Man, and sends him as a 
 prophet to the Jews liying in captiyity, and giyes him a 
 book-roll to swallow (i). He is to take a tile to repre- 
 sent Jerusalem, and to lay siege to it. He is to shaye 
 his head, and burn one-third part of his hair, and smite 
 a third part with the sword, and scatter a third part to 
 the winds. So it is to be with the Israehtes, because 
 they kept not the commandments (y). He is ord,.ered 
 to prophesy the slaughter, and pestilence, and famine 
 which are to fall on the land, and the scattering of the 
 people (vii). 
 
 In the sixth year (e. c. 594), he sees a yision of the 
 idolatry of Jerusalem ; idols in the yery temple ; women 
 there lamenting for the Syrian god Thaumuz. He is 
 ordered to prophesy the punishment of the city (ix). He 
 there sees the four cherubs and Jehoyah, as he saw them 
 in ChaldjBa. Jehoyah tells him that, though he will 
 scatter the people, he will guard them in their captiyity 
 (xi). He says that the king, meaning Zedekiah, will be 
 taken prisoner, haye his eyes put out, and die blind and 
 in fetters in Babylon fxii, 13). And the people shall be 
 scattered. Tliough yisions have often failed, this shall 
 not fail (xii). 
 
 He denounces the false prophets and those who set 
 
188 ON THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL. 
 
 up idols. The land has sinned, so that if Noah, Daniel, 
 and Job were in it, their righteousness should only 
 save themselves. But in mercy a remnant shall be 
 spared (xiv). 
 
 As a vine that is unfruitful, so Jerusalem shall be 
 burnt (xv). The idolatry of Jerusalem is described as 
 adultery with Egypt, Assyria, Canaan, and Chaldsea. 
 Samaria was not half so sinful (xvi). 
 
 The prophet tells a parable, which he afterwards 
 explains, of an eagle, the king of Babylon, who plants 
 a vine. King Zedekiah. This vine leans towards another 
 eagle, the king of Egypt. But the king of Egypt shall 
 be of no use to him, and Zedekiah shall be carried pri- 
 soner to Babylon (xvii). 
 
 He defends God's justice, in answer to the proverb, 
 that the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and therefore 
 the children's teeth are set on edge (xviii). 
 
 He compares Jerusalem to a lioness with whelps. 
 One young lion, perhaps Jehoahaz, is brought with a 
 nose-ring to Egypt. So a second young lion, perhaps 
 Jehoiachin, is put in his place. But he is taken with 
 a nose-ring in a cage to Babylon (xix). 
 
 In the seventh year (b. c. 593), he relates the old 
 rebellions of the people in Egypt, in the desert and in 
 the promised land; and how they were spared. He 
 adds that now also God will not deal with them accord- 
 ing to their evil ways, but spare them for his name's 
 sake (xx, 44). 
 
 He prophesies that the king of Babylon will come 
 down against the Ammonites, and against Judah. 
 Jerusalem shall be utterly destroyed; it shall be no 
 more, until He come to whom judgment belongeth, and 
 to whom God will give it (xxi). 
 
 He describes the sins and unrighteousness of the 
 people, and the ruin which comes upon them as a 
 punishment (xxii). 
 
 Samaria and Judah are compared to two lewd women. 
 Samaria dotes on the Assyrians, and is therefore deli- 
 vered up into their hands. Eor the same reason, Judah 
 is delivered into the power of the Chaldees. They 
 
ON THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL. 189 
 
 shall both be stoned to death as a punishment, 
 (xxiii). 
 
 In the ninth year (b.c. 591), he relates that the king 
 of Babylon marches against Jerusalem, and the city 
 shall be burnt, as an impure vessel is purified in the 
 fire (xxiv). And the Ammonites shall be cut off, 
 because they rejoiced when the temple was profaned. 
 For the same reason, Moab shall be given up to the 
 sons of the East. Edom shall be desolate from Teman 
 to Dedan, because they were revengeful against Judah ; 
 and the remnant of the Philistines shall be cut off on 
 the sea-coasts (xxv). 
 
 In the eleventh year (b. c. 589), he relates that 
 because Tyre laughed at the misfortunes of Jerusalem, 
 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, shall com.e against it 
 with horses and chariots. He shall destroy the walls, 
 and break down the towers, and make Tyre like a 
 naked rock, for fishers to spread their nets on (xxvi). 
 The planks of the Tyrian ships were of cypresses from 
 Mount Hermon, the masts of cedars from Lebanon, the 
 oars of oaks from Baslian, the benches of ivory and 
 cedar from the Chittians, the sails of linen from Egypt. 
 Their trade was with Tarsus and Greece, and Syria, and 
 Arabia. But they shall be ruined, and Tyre be a deso- 
 lation for ever (xxviii, 19). And Sidon shall be humbled 
 (xxviii). 
 
 In the tenth year (b.c. 590), he prophesies against 
 Egypt. Pharaoh, the great crocodile, shall be pulled 
 out of his river by a hook, and left to die in the desert, 
 because the Egyptians did not save the house of Israel. 
 Egypt shall be waste from Migdol to Syene on the 
 borders of Ethiopia. After forty years, the Egyptians 
 shall be brouolit back, but be a mean kino-dom 
 
 (XXIX, 16). 
 
 In the twenty-seventh year (b. c. 573), he adds : Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has conquered Tyre; 
 and God will give him the land of Egypt as wages for 
 his army. The images shall be destroyed in Memphis. 
 Upper Egypt shall be laid waste. Tanis shall be 
 burned, and Thebes punished. Aven and Bubastis 
 
190 ON THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL. 
 
 sliall fall by tlie sword, and at Talipanlies shall tlie day- 
 be darkened (xxx, 19). 
 
 [Aven, vanity, idolatry, is probably a nickname for 
 the city of On, formed in Hebrew by the addition of a 
 single letter, and given to it by the Hebrews because 
 the Greek Jews of Lower Egypt had there set up an 
 altar to the Lord to save them from the duty of going 
 up to the Temple of Jerusalem at the great feasts. See 
 Isaiali xix, 18, who calls it the City of Destruction. 
 Afterwards under the Ptolemies, the Egyptian Jews built 
 a temple in the same city, then called Onion, and to 
 shield themselves from the blame of the two prophets, 
 altered the reading in Isaiali, from the City of Destruc- 
 tion to the City of Righteousness, and said that Aven 
 and On were not Onion but Heliopolis. 
 
 Tape-Hanes, called DaphnjB by the Greeks, is the 
 City of Hanes. See Isaiah xxx, 4.] 
 
 In the eleventh and twelfth years, he also prophesies 
 against Egypt that it w^ill be conquered by Babylon. 
 Assyria has been overthrown ; Elam has fallen by the 
 sword ; Armenia and Iberia are slain ; Edom is slain ; 
 Sidon is slain ; and Pharaoh also and his army shall be 
 slain by the sword (xxxii). 
 
 The prophet is to tell the people that the wicked who 
 lurn from their evil ways shall live, and the righteous 
 who do wrong shall die. And in the twelfth year he 
 tells those who remain in Judea that the land shall be 
 laid w^aste (xxxiii) ; that the rulers are unjust; but 
 hereafter God will recall the scattered flock, and again 
 feed them on the mountains of Israel. God will raise 
 up a new David as a prince or ruler over them. They 
 shall no more be a prey to the nations, but dwell in 
 safet}^ (xxxiv). 
 
 The Edomites are to be punished because they were 
 the enemies of the Israelites in the time of their calamity 
 (xxxv). But Israel shall be multiplied, the cities shall 
 be inhabited, and the ruined places rebuilt. God w^ill 
 cleanse the people from idolatry, not for their own sakes, 
 but for his holy name (xxxvi). The dry bones of Israel 
 will come together, bone to bone, skin will grow upon 
 
ON" THE BOOK OP EZEIQEL. 191 
 
 them, and God will breathe life into them, to people the 
 land. So shall the tribes be united, not into two king- 
 doms, but into one kingdom, and David shall be their 
 prince for ever (xxxvii). 
 
 The prophet is ordered to pass sentence on the 
 Scythians, whose leader he styles Gog, of the land of 
 Magog. These fierce rovers were overrunning the land 
 of Judali. Many of them w^ere on horses, with shields 
 and swords. Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans were 
 with them. They plundered the unarmed villages of 
 the cattle and goods. But after marching to the 
 south, they turned northw^ard along the coast, where 
 they were routed, and perished by the w^ay of the sea 
 (xxxix). 
 
 In the twenty-fifth year of the captiA'ity (b.c. 575), 
 the prophet, to keep alive in his countrymen the hope 
 and the wish to return, describes at great length, 
 through the last nine chapters, the manner in which the 
 temple is to be rebuilt and consecrated, the altars, the 
 •ceremonies, the festivals, and the fountains, and the new 
 ■division of the land among the people (xlviii). 
 
 [Ezekiel's style of imagery is very peculiar, and was 
 perhaps gained from the place of his captivity. In force 
 and in poetic beauty, he falls far short of the older Hebrew 
 prophets. In chaps, xvi, and xxiii, he is unpardonably 
 gross, and his images prove the low state of society in 
 which he was living. His faith is strong in the restora- 
 tion of the kingdom, and in the coming of a second 
 David to rule over Israel for ever. And every bless- 
 ing that he wished for the people, he only hoped for as 
 a reward for their obedience to God. He was writing- 
 in captivity in Mesopotamia at the same time that 
 Jeremiah was writing under still greater hardships at 
 liome.l 
 
192 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. 
 
 The fpropliet threatens that tlie nations shall arise 
 against Edom. Though she dwells in the clefts of the 
 rock, and her habitation is on higli with the eagle, she 
 sliall be brought low. The city of Teman shall be 
 destroyed, and every one cut off from the mountain of 
 Esau. For the Edomites rejoiced when Jerusalem was 
 conquered and the people taken captive. They stopped 
 those who would have escaped, and delivered them up 
 to the enemy. But the house of Jacob shall regain its 
 possessions, and the house of Esau be burnt like stubble. 
 The men of Judah shall hold the mountain of Esau, 
 and Philistia, and Samaria; and the men of Benjamin 
 shall hold Gilead. And the captives shall return to 
 Mount Zion. 
 
 [This is nearly the same as chaps, xxv and xxxvi of 
 Ezekiel, and the first nine verses are made use of in 
 Jeremiah xlix, so that we may safely consider them as 
 written at the same time, about B.C. 575. The city of 
 Petra is well described as a cleft in the rock. It was 
 through this part of Edom that Moses sent the spies, 
 but was himself and his followers forbidden to pass. 
 See Numb, xiii and xx.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JONAH. 
 
 The prophet Jonah lived in the reign of Jeroboam II., 
 about B.o. 825, and is mentioned hi 2 Khigs xiv, 25. 
 This book, by an unknown author, purports to be the 
 history of some circumstances in his life. 
 
 The Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh to prophesy 
 against it for its wickedness. He hastens from the 
 Lord to Joppa, and thence sails by ship for Tarsus. 
 While on the voyage, a great storm arises, and he is 
 thrown overboard by the mariners, as tlie cause of the 
 evil which is coming upon them. He is not drowned, 
 
ON THE BOOK OF JONAH. 193 
 
 but is saved by being swallowed by a great fisli. In 
 the fish's belly he prays to God, and after three days he 
 is thrown out on dry land. He then goes on to 
 Nineveh to prophesy against it, and tells the people that 
 in forty days the city shall be overthrown. The king 
 and people of Nineveh then humble themselves in 
 sackcloth and ashes ; and God forgives them for their 
 repentance, and spares them. Jonah thereon leaves the 
 city in anger against God, and rests under the shade of 
 a gourd. When the sun rises the gourd withers, and 
 Jonah's grief is increased. Then the Lord says to him ; 
 You pitied the gourd, though you neither planted it nor 
 made it grow, and shall I not pity the helpless people of 
 Nineveh? 
 
 [This is the only one of the books called Prophetic 
 that contains no prophecy. It is a moral tale, and is 
 not to be taken for a true story. It was written to 
 teach the Jews that they were not the only people cared 
 for by God ; and that the heathen nations also, if they 
 repented of their wickedness, would be forgiven and 
 spared. Its date is very uncertain. But it quotes not 
 only the Book of Joel, ii, is, 14, but also Psalm Ixix, i, 
 which was written during the captivity, and in all pro- 
 bability by a companion of Jeremiah in Egypt. Hence 
 the Book of Jonah cannot be older than the year 
 B.C. 600. It has no great literary merit. But no other 
 Hebrew book shows a kinder feeling towards the nation's 
 enemies. 
 
 Jonah's voyage seems to have been an act of dis- 
 obedience ; but if he chose it as part of his route from 
 the neighbourhood of Jerusalem to Nineveh, though 
 seemingly round about, he may have meant to save 
 himself fatigue, as its ease would make up for the 
 increased distance. To avoid the desert on the east of 
 Palestine it was necessary for a traveller to go as far 
 north as Vv^here the valley of the Euphrates almost joins 
 the^ valley of the Orontes ; and the coasting vessel in 
 wdiich he sailed would have been able to drop him near 
 the mouth of the Orontes, if no accident had happened. 
 From thence to Nineveh was a well-trodden route.] 
 
 
 
194 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF HAGGAI. 
 
 Haggai wrote in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, 
 kincr of Persia, e.g. 520, when Zerubbabel was governor 
 of Judea nnder the Persians, and Joshua was high- 
 priest of Jerusalem. The Jews were then rebuilding 
 their temple by permission of Darius. They had 
 received the same permission from Cyrus sixteen years 
 before, when they returned home from captivity, but 
 had been hitherto interrupted by the foreigners and 
 others whom they then found living in Jerusalem, and 
 who Avere enemies to the undertaking. (aS^^ Ezra, iv, v). 
 The burthen of Haggai's writing is to encourage the 
 nation in this pious work of building the house for the 
 Lord. 
 
 Is it right to dwell in roofed houses while the temple 
 lies in ruins ? Consider how it goeth with you. Nothing 
 now prospers. Go to the mountain, and bring wood, 
 and build. For the land is less fruitful while the 
 temple is unbuilt. 
 
 Then the governor and the high-priest and the people 
 begin to work upon the temple on the twenty-fourth day 
 of the sixth month (i). 
 
 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, 
 Haggai reminds those who had seen the former temple 
 of its glory. Now it is as nothing. But work, and 
 God will be with you. In a short time all the nations 
 shall send presents of silver and gold, and the glory of 
 this latter temple shall be greater than that of the 
 former (ii, 9). 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, 
 Haggai calls upon the people to remark that during 
 this delay, from the day when the new foundation was 
 laid till now, the land has been suffering from famine ; 
 the vine, the fig-tree, and the olive-tree, have not borne. 
 But henceforth the people shall prosper (ii, 19). 
 
 Again, on the same da}', Haggai tells Zerubbabel, the 
 governor, that though kingdoms shall be overthrown. 
 
ON THE BOOK OF HAGGAI. 195 
 
 and armies destroyed, the Lord will guard him as his 
 chosen servant ( ii). 
 
 [Hago'ai writes with but little poetry or energy. 
 The captivity was at an end, but yet the nation was not 
 free. Its zeal could only work as far as allowed by the 
 edicts from Persia. The sufferings which threw a 
 melancholy feeling into Jeremiah's poetry were over. 
 The return from Babylon, which warmed up the latter 
 chapters of Isaiah with pious hope, was past. But yet 
 the nation was not free. Haggai's promises rise no 
 higher than that foreign Jews shall send ornaments to 
 the temple, and that Prince Zerubbabel shall be God's 
 chosen servant.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 
 Paet L 
 
 Chap, i-viii, hij Zecliariali, the Son of Baracliiah. — 
 Zechariah wrote nearly at the same time as Haggai, 
 and under nearly the same circumstances. 
 
 In the eighth month in the second year of Darius's 
 reign, the prophet calls upon the people not to be like 
 their fathers, who would not listen to the warnings of 
 the prophets, and who were punished (i, e). 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month he 
 sees a vision of a man on a red horse, followed by other 
 horses, red, spotted, and white. An angel tells him to 
 proclaim that the Lord is now friendly to Jerusalem and 
 displeased with the nations; the temple shall be built 
 and Judea overflow with prosperity (i, 17). He then 
 sees four horns ; and the angel tells him that they are 
 the horns that have scattered Israel (i, 21). 
 
 He then sees a man with a measuring-line, measuring 
 the city for the builders. An angel says it is to have 
 no walls, as the Lord will guard it. He calls upon 
 Zion to rejoice, and all flesh to be silent before Jehovah. 
 
 (ii). 
 
 He sees the high-priest Joshua standing before 
 
 o 2 
 
196 ON THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 
 
 Jehovah, and Satan standing beside him to accuse him. 
 Jehovah rebukes Satan, and says that Joshua is a brand 
 plucked out of the fire. The angel orders Joshua to be 
 clothed with a mitre and new garments. He tells 
 Joshua that if he walks in the way of the Lord, the 
 Lord will send his servant the Branch, and the land 
 shall be pure and prosperous (iii). 
 
 The angel then shows him a lampstand with seven 
 lamps on it, and an olive-tree on each side of it, feeding 
 the lamps with oil. The olive-trees are explained to 
 mean the two anointed ones, probably Zerubbabel and 
 Joshua (iv). 
 
 The prophet then sees a book-roll flying through the 
 air, twenty cubits long. On it is written the curse upon 
 those who do wrong. He sees a vessel closed wdth a lid 
 weighing a talent. The lid is lifted up, and within is 
 seen Wickedness in the form of a woman sitting. The 
 lid is shut down again, and two women w^ith wings carry 
 away the vessel with Wickedness in it, into the land of 
 Babylon (v). 
 
 The prophet sees four chariots. One has red horses. 
 A second with black horses, and a third with white 
 horses, execute judgment in the north country. The 
 fourth Avith spotted horses goes into the south country 
 (vi, s). [The north country is probably Assyria and 
 Babj'lon, whose armies always entered Palestine from 
 the north ; and the south country is Egypt.] 
 
 The Lord tells the prophet to take silver and gold 
 from those who have returned home from captivity, 
 and make a crown, and put it on the head of the high- 
 priest Joshua. He is then to say, Behold the man 
 wdiose name is the Branch. He shall build the temple 
 and rule in peace. And this shall come to pass if you 
 obey your God (vi). 
 
 In the fourth year of Darius, e.g. 518, Jehovah 
 charges the prophet to tell the people to be just and 
 merciful to the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, 
 and He will dwell in Jerusalem, and Zion shall be a 
 holy mountain. The men shall live to be old ; children 
 shall play in the streets. The solemn fasts shall be 
 
ON THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 197 
 
 joyful festivals, if they love trtitli and peace. The 
 Gentiles will learn from the Jews, for they will see that 
 God is with them (viii). 
 
 [Zechariah, like the writer of the Book of Job, speaks 
 of Satan as an angel who accused men before Jehovah. 
 This opinion the Jews may have learnt from Chaldea 
 in their captivity. Thence also the writer of Job may 
 have received it, as he lived to the east of Judea. 
 
 In speaking of the servant of the Lord to be named 
 the Branch, we see that Zechariah had read Isaiah, or 
 Jeremiah, or both. In one place he says that the high- 
 priest, who was then building the temple, is the Branch. 
 But in another place he speaks of the Branch as a 
 prophet yet to appear. Most interesting is the prophecy 
 with which the eighth chapter ends, that in the latter 
 days all the nations of the earth will look to the Jews 
 as their teachers in religion. 
 
 These chapters were written in B.C. 520 and B.C. 518 ; 
 and their purport agrees with these dates. The people 
 had returned to Jerusalem from their captivity, and 
 were rebuilding the temple, but were not allowed to 
 fortify the city. The following chapters are of a far 
 earlier date.] 
 
 Part II. 
 
 The latter chapters of this book are of an older date 
 than the first eight, and as we know of four or five 
 prophets of the name of Zechariah, it is not improbable 
 that we here have the writings of more than one of 
 them. The first Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, pro- 
 phesied in the reign of Joash, and w^as stoned in the 
 temple by the king's orders in the year B.C. 826 
 (2 Chron., xxiv, 20). A second Zechariah was the wise 
 adviser of King Uzziah, between B.C. 811 and B.C. 760 
 (2 Chron., xxvi, 5). A third Zechariah, the son of 
 Jeberechiah, is mentioned by Isaiah in the reign of 
 Ahaz (Isaiah viii, 2), though it is possible that this may 
 be the same person as the former. A fourth Zechariah 
 was a ruler in the temple in the reign of Joslali 
 (2 Chron., xxxv, s). And, fifthly, yve have Zechariah, 
 
198 ON THE BOOK OF ZECHAEIAH. 
 
 the son of Baraclilali, the autlior of the first eight 
 chapters. The contents of the following prophecies 
 make it not improbable that chapters ix and x were 
 wiitten by the third-mentioned Zechariah, in the reign 
 of Ahaz ; chapter xi by the second-mentioned Zechariah, 
 in tlie reign of Uzziah ; and chapters xii, xiii, and xiv, 
 by the fourth-mentioned Zechariah, soon after the reign 
 of Josiah. 
 
 Chap, ix and x, hy Zechariah, the son of Jeherechiah. — 
 The sentence against the land of Hadrach, and Syria, 
 and Tyre, and Sidon. Tlie power of Tyre shall be 
 broken ; Gaza shall tremble ; Askelon shall not be 
 inhabited ; strangers shall dwell in Ashdod ; the Philis- 
 tines shall be humbled. God will guard Jerusalem ; 
 oppressors shall no more pass through it. The king 
 •comes, victorious and just, riding upon an ass. The 
 chariot, and horse, and battle-bow, of the foreigners 
 shall be broken. He shall speak peace to the nations, 
 and the prisoners shall be set free. Judah and Ephraim 
 will defend themselves against Greece. God's people 
 .shall be prosperous (ix). 
 
 Pray to Jehovah for blessings. The Teraphim and 
 the diviners are false ; their consolations are vain. 
 Judah shall tread down the enemy ; Ephraim shall be 
 as a mighty man. They shall be redeemed, and as 
 numerous as before. Though scattered, they shall 
 remember their God. From Egypt and from Assyria 
 they shall be brought back. The pride of Assyria 
 shall be brought down, and the sceptre shall depart 
 from Egypt. 
 
 [This must have been written at the same time with 
 Isaiah ix, x, xi. (About B.C. 710). We have the same 
 hopes and fears for the nation. The same enemies are 
 threatened ; a peaceful king is promised, and the return 
 of the outcasts from Egypt and Assyria.] 
 
 Chap, xi, hy Zechariah, a Prophet in the reign of 
 Uzziah. — The cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan 
 shall be burnt. The pride of the Jordan is destroyed. 
 The owners slay the flock, the shepherds spare them 
 not. They shall be delivered to their king to be smitten. 
 
ox THE BOOK OF ZECHAEIAH. 199 
 
 The prophet says that he has cut off three shepherds in 
 one month, for he was weary of them, and they abhorred 
 him. He breaks his staif to show that he will break 
 the covenant that he had made with the people. He 
 asks for his wages, and they give him thirty pieces of 
 silver, which he casts into the House of the Lord, into 
 the mint. He breaks his other staflP, to break the alliance 
 between Israel and Judah. God will raise up a wicked 
 shepherd, who will not care for the perishing flock, but 
 eat them to the very hoofs. 
 
 [The prophet here is wholly addressing the kingdom 
 of Israel. The three wicked shepherds are probably 
 Jeroboam II., Zachariah, and Shallum, kings of Israel, 
 who all died within seven months, in the year B.C. 773 
 (2 Kings XV, 8, u). The fourth shepherd is their suc- 
 cessor, Menahem, who raised heavy sums of money 
 from the people to pay to the Assyrians. The alliance 
 between Israel and Judah was shortly afterwards 
 broken ; and in the year B.C. 743, Israel invaded Judah, 
 (2 Kings xvi, 5). This chapter was, therefore, pro- 
 bably written about the year B.C. 770. The prophet 
 seems to have removed from Samaria to live in Jeru- 
 salem ; and the wages given to him on parting were the 
 price of a slave, as fixed by law in Exodus xxi, 32.] 
 
 Chap, xii, xiii, xiv, hy Zeclmriah, a ruler of the Temple 
 under King Josiah. — Jerusalem shall be besieged, but it 
 shall be a stumbling-block to those who come against 
 it. Nations will gather themselves against it, but they 
 shall be struck with blindness. Jehovah will defend 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The people will turn to 
 God in prayer and in mourning, as in the valley of 
 Megiddo (xii). The idols shall be cut off from the 
 land. The people will persecute the prophets, and 
 the prophets will deny that they are prophets. Two- 
 thirds of the people shall be cut off ; and one-third shall 
 be tried like gold in the fire (xiii). Jerusalem shall be 
 taken : one half of the people shall go into captivity, 
 and the other half shall be left. But in that day 
 Jehovah will fight against the nations, and be King over 
 all the earth. Jerusalem shall remain secure (xiv, 11). 
 
20O ON THE BOOK OF ZECIIARIAH. 
 
 There shall be war amonir the nations, which fought 
 against Jerusalem. All the people who have been 
 spared by the nations shall go up every year to Jeru- 
 salem to worship and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 
 And if any do not go up to keep the feast, they shall 
 have no rain. 
 
 [This must have been written soon after the mourn- 
 ful battle of Megiddo, where the Assyrians and Josiah, 
 king of Judah, were defeated by Necho, king of Egypt, 
 in the year B.C. 611, and perhaps after the conquest of 
 Jerusalem in the year B.C. 600, and before the last 
 carrying away of the captives in the year B.C. 588.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF MALACHI. 
 
 History tells us that in the thirty-second year of 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus (b.c 433), Nehemiah came a 
 second time from Babylon as governor of Jerusalem. 
 The new temple had been some time finished, and he 
 then corrected several abuses. He ordered that the 
 tithes should be paid more regularly to the Levites. 
 He made the Levites put away their foreign wives. He 
 shut the gates of Jerusalem during the Sabbath against 
 all who would bring merchandise into the city 
 (Nehem. xiii). It was then that the prophecy of 
 Malachi was written, and these circumstances are men- 
 tioned in it. Nehemiah has sometimes been considered 
 as the author. 
 
 The prophet, In answer to the Jews, who in their 
 troubles doubt God's goodness to them, shows them 
 that their enemies the Edomites have suffered more. 
 He blames the priests for bringing polluted food to the 
 altar, and assures them that from the east to the west 
 God's name will l^e great among the nations. He 
 orders the people to obey the Levites. He rebukes 
 those Avho worship idols, or have married idolatrous 
 wives (i, ii). He says that Jehovah will come to judge 
 and purify both the people and the Levites ; and he will 
 
ON THE BOOK OF MALACIII. 201 
 
 send a messenger before his face, to prepare the way 
 before him. 
 
 He says that the people have robbed God in not 
 bringing in the tithes to the altar. He advises them 
 to try Jehovah's justice, whether he will not pour out 
 blessings upon them, if they bring in the tithes and 
 offerings. He tells them that they will soon see the 
 difference between the righteous and the wicked. For 
 behold the day cometh that shall burn up the wicked 
 like stubble, when the sun of salvation shall arise, and 
 the righteous shall leap for joy. But before the day of 
 Jehovah comes, the great and terrible da}^, he will send 
 Elijah the prophet to turn the fathers to the children and 
 the children to the fathers, that he may not have to 
 curse the land (iii, iv). 
 
 [Malachi, the last of the prophets, argues with his 
 readers, as if conversing with them. He has but little 
 of poetry or loftiness of expression. He follows the 
 older prophets in foretelling that God will come to judge 
 the people, but adds for the first time, that before that 
 great and terrible day he will send Elijah to them, to 
 prepare the way by turning them from evil.] 
 
 OX THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 The first part of this book is narrative, and contains 
 an account of the prophet Daniel's life at Babylon under 
 Nebuchadnezzar. The latter chapters contain several 
 prophecies supposed to be delivered by the prophet. 
 But it is the work of various unknown authors and of 
 various times. Every part seems to have been written 
 long after the time of Nebuchadnezzar ; and the pro- 
 phetic parts in particular were written later than the 
 events which they profess to foretell, while the narrative 
 contains many historic mis-statements. The several 
 parts must be considered separately. 
 
 Chap. i-vi. — In the third year of Jehoiakim, king of 
 Judah^ B.C. 608, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 
 
202 ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 conquered Jerusalem, and carried away many of tlie 
 nobles as captives. Among these were Daniel and three 
 other righteous youths, named Hananiah, Mishael, and 
 Azariah. God gave these young men wisdom and 
 favour with Nebuchadnezzar ; and they were ten times 
 wiser than all the magians in the kingdom of Babylon 
 (i). In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar the king 
 dreamed a dream, which he forgot before he could tell 
 it to the magians for their interpretation. Therefore, 
 xxs the magians could neither interpret the king's dream 
 nor tell him wdiat it was, he published a decree that 
 they should all be put to death. When Daniel and his 
 companions were brought to be put to death with the 
 other wise men of Babylon under this decree, Daniel 
 said that he could tell the king his dream, and interpret 
 it to him. He said that the king saw in his dream a 
 great statue, of which the head was gold, the breast 
 silver, the body and thighs brass, and the legs and feet 
 iron mixed \vith clay ; and this statue was broken by a 
 stone not cut w^itli hands. He explained that the gold 
 meant the Babylonian monarchy ; the silver, a second 
 monarchy, which will be less powerful [namely, the 
 Median] ; the brass, a third kingdom, which will be 
 over all the earth [namely, the Persian] ; and the iron, 
 a fourth and yet more powerful kingdom [namely, 
 Alexander and his successors]. This, however, will be 
 broken to pieces, because it is mixed v/ith clay ; but its 
 parts will be united in marriage [in the reign of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus]. The stone not cat with hands is God's 
 own kingdom, which will follow these, and last for ever. 
 In consequence of tliis interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar 
 acknowledged that Daniel's God w^as the God of gods, 
 and the revealer of secrets. He made Daniel's three 
 friends rnlers over the affairs of the province of Babylon, 
 and placed Daniel at the king's gate (ii). 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar then set up a golden statue, sixty 
 cubits high, in the plain of Dura, in the province of 
 Babylon. And he ordered all his prefects and officers 
 to come together to its dedication, and all his people to 
 worship this statue. Whoever will not worship this 
 
ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 203 
 
 statue is to be thrown into a fiery furnace. Upon tins, 
 Daniel's three friends, true to their own religion, refused 
 to worship the statue, and were thrown alive into the 
 furnace. But the fire did not burn them; and they 
 were seen walking about in it with an angel of the Lord, 
 "who saved them from death. Then Nebuchadnezzar 
 made a decree that all his people should w^orship the God 
 of the Jews, and he promoted Daniel's three friends in 
 the province of Babylon (iii). 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, in a public decree, declared wdiat the 
 Most High God had done for him. In his dream he 
 had seen a lofty tree. The birds dwelt in its boughs, 
 and the beasts found shadow under it. But a holy one 
 from heaven declared that it should be cut down, and, 
 speaking of it as a man, added, that his heart shall no 
 longer be that of a man, but that of a beast. This 
 dream Daniel explained. The great tree w^as the 
 king himself, whose power was unlimited. But he is 
 to lose his reason, to become as a beast in the field, to 
 teach him to own God's power. Accordingly, while 
 Nebuchadnezzar w-as boasting of his capital and his 
 power, he was changed in form, he became covered 
 with feathers like a bird, his nails became claws, and he 
 ate grass like oxen. When his reason returned, he 
 owned God's power, and published this decree to his 
 praise and honour (iv). 
 
 When Belshazzar, the son and successor of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, w^as one day giving a grand feast in his palace, 
 to a thousand of his nobles, and they were all drinking 
 wine, and praising the idols, the gods of their country, 
 there appeared in the room a hand, and it wrote on the 
 wall four mysterious words. The king was of course 
 greatly moved wdth fright, and he sent for the wdse 
 men of Babylon to explain it to him. He declared that 
 whoever could read this writing should have the third 
 rank in his kingdom. None were able to read it. The 
 queen then advised the king to send for Daniel, the 
 captive Jew, who had been made by the late king 
 master of the magians. Daniel was sent for, and Bel- 
 shazzar told him that if he could explain this frightful 
 
204 ON THE BOOK OF DAXIEL. 
 
 writing, he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
 Daniel refused the offered reward, but explained the 
 writing to mean that God had ]Hit an end to the 
 Babylonian monarchy, and divided the kingdom, and 
 given it to the Modes and Persians. And in that 
 very night Belshazzar, the last Chaldee king, was 
 slain, and Darius the Mode [that is, Cyaxares] took the 
 kingdom (v). 
 
 Darius set over his kingdom one hundred and twenty 
 satraps, of whom Daniel was made the chief, because of 
 his wisdom. The other satraps were jealous of him 
 because he was a Jew\ But as no fault could be found 
 with him, to ruin him, they asked Darius to make a 
 decree that whoever should pray to any god or man 
 for the next thirty days, except to the king himself, 
 should be thrown into the den of lions. The decree 
 was made. But Daniel continued as before to open his 
 window towards Jerusalem three times a day, and to 
 pray and give thanks to God. For this disobedience 
 he was thrown into the lions' den, though much to 
 the king's grief. But God shut the lions' mouths, so 
 that they did not hurt Daniel; and next day he was 
 taken out of the den safe. And Darius made a decree 
 that his people should worship no other god but the 
 God of Daniel, wdio had saved him from the power 
 of the lions. And Daniel was in prosperity through 
 the reign of Darius the Mede, and in the reign of Cyrus 
 the Persian (vi). 
 
 [The history of Daniel in the lions' den, and of his 
 three friends in the fiery furnace, is mentioned in 1 Mac- 
 cabees ii, 59, 60.] 
 
 Chap. vii. — In the first year of Belshazzar, king of 
 Babylon, Daniel had a dream. He saw four great 
 beasts come up from the sea. The first was like a lion 
 w^ith eagles' wings. The second was like a bear with 
 three ribs in its mouth. The third was like a leopard 
 with four wings and four heads. The fourth w^as great 
 and terrible. It had iron teeth and ten horns. And 
 another little horn came up, before which three of the 
 first horns were plucked up. Then there was an Aged 
 
ox THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 205 
 
 Person seated on a throne, before whom stood ten 
 thousand times ten thousand, while thousands of thousands 
 ministered to him. The horns spake great words against 
 him ; but the beast was slain and thrown into the fire. 
 And one like a Son of Man came with clouds to the 
 Aged Person, and to him was given a kingdom over all 
 the world for ever. 
 
 Then Daniel asked the interpretation of this from one 
 ■Nvho stood near ; and was told that the four beasts were 
 four kings [namely, the Babylonian, the Median, the 
 Persian, and the Greek] : after which the saints of the 
 Most High would possess the kingdom for ever. The 
 ten horns were ten kings [namely, Antigonus and Deme- 
 trius of Syria ; Ptolemy Soter, Philadelphus, Euergetes, 
 Philopator, Epiphanes, and Philometor, of Egypt ; An- 
 tiochus the Great, and Seleucus of Syria]. The small 
 horn before whom three fell [namely, Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes, who conquered Seleucus, Demetrius his son, 
 and Ptolemy Philometor], is to make war against the 
 saints [of Jerusalem] until the Most High establishes 
 his everlasting kingdom. 
 
 Chap, viii. — In the third year of Belshazzar, Daniel 
 saw another vision. He saw a ram with two horns 
 [namely, the Median and Persian kingdoms], and the 
 higher of the two horns [namely, the Persian] came up 
 last. Then a he-goat [namely, the Macedonian power] 
 came from the west, and he cast down the ram and 
 trampled on him. The he-goat had one great horn 
 [namely, Alexander the Great] ; and when this was 
 broken there grew up in its place four others [namely, 
 the kings of Macedonia, Asia Minor, Egypt, and 
 Babylon]. Out of one of these came forth a small horn 
 [namely, Antiochus Epiphanes], wdio became very great 
 against the south and the east and Judea; and he 
 magnified himself with impiety against the Prince of the 
 host [namely, God himself]. 
 
 Chap. ix. — In the first year of Darius the Mede, 
 Daniel considered the prophecy of Jeremiah, that Jeru- 
 salem should be in ruins for seventy years, and prayed 
 to God on behalf of the temple. He is then told by the 
 
206 ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 angel Gabriel that seventy weeks [or 490 years] are 
 appointed to the people to fill up the measure of their 
 sins, to expiate their guilt, and to bring back tlie 
 righteousness of former times. 
 
 It is explained that from the going forth of the com- 
 mand that Jerusalem should again be built [that is, 
 from the first year of Cyrus, B.C. 535], to an anointed 
 prince, are seven weeks [that is forty-nine years to 
 Xerxes, who, in B.C. 486, came to the throne, and in the 
 seventh year of his reign repeated the command]. Then 
 after sixty-two weeks [or 434 years], the street and the 
 wall shall be built again in troublous times [that is, to 
 B.C. 53, when Hyrcanus begins to rebuild the walls that 
 had been thrown down by Pompey. Josephus, Wars, 
 1, viii, 2.] The people of the prince that will come, will 
 then establish a covenant with ]\Iany for one week [that 
 is, the Romans will change the government of Judea into 
 an aristocracy. See Josephus, Wars, 1, viii, 5,] and 
 during half of this week the sacrifices are stopped. And 
 the abominations of the destroyer [that is, the Roman 
 ensigns] shall be upon the battlements until the appointed 
 destruction is poured out on the destroyer. 
 
 Chap, x-xii. — In the third year of Cyrus, king of 
 Persia, Daniel had a vision, which is true, and relates to 
 long warfare. An angel appears to him who is going 
 to fight against Persia. He says that he is the angel 
 who had appeared in the first year of Darius the jNIede 
 (xi, 1, comp. ix, 22). 
 
 This ang;el tells him that there will yet be three kings 
 of Persia [^that is, three after Cyrus, namely, Cambyses, 
 Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes]. And the fourth will 
 be far greater than all [namely, Xerxes] ; he will fight 
 against Greece. Then will a mighty king arise [namely, 
 Alexander the Great] ; and his kingdom will be divided 
 to the four winds, and not to his posterit}^ The king 
 of the south [namely, Ptolemy, king of Egypt] will be 
 strong ; but one of the princes will be stronger [namely, 
 Antiochus, king of Syria]. And the daughter of the 
 king of the south will come to the king of the north to 
 make peace [namely, Berenice, daughter of Philadelphus, 
 
ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 207 
 
 who was married to Antioclius] ; but she will not stand, 
 nor her offspring [she and her children were i)ut to 
 death bv her step-son]. But of her family will one 
 arise with an army against the king of the north, and he 
 will prevail [namely, Euergetes, who conquers Seleucns 
 Callinicus]. He will carry into Egypt their statues and 
 precious vessels. So the king of the south will come up 
 against tlie kino' of the north, but he will return. But 
 his sons [those of Syria] will be stirred up, and one of 
 them [namely, Antiochus the Great] will invade. After- 
 wards be will give his daughter in marriage to ruin the 
 land [that is, Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus, is given 
 to Ptolemy Epiphanes, to betray him]. But it shall not 
 succeed [Cleopatra is true to her husband]. After 
 this he will turn his face to the Isles, and conquer many 
 [that is, Antiochus attacks Greece]. But a commander 
 will put an end to his scorn [the Roman general Scipio 
 stops his success]. He will fall and not be found 
 (xi, 19). 
 
 Then will arise in his place an exactor of tribute 
 through the glory of his kingdom [namely, Seleucus 
 Philopator, who levies tribute on the temple. See 
 2 Maccab. iii, 7]. In his place will arise a despised 
 person [namely, Antiochus Epiphanes], who will obtain 
 the kingdom by flatteries [that is, by courting the 
 Romans]. Forces will be overwhelmed before him, 
 also the prince that is allied to him [namely, Ptolemy 
 Philometor, his nephew, who is conquered by him.] 
 
 After a time he shall again go against the south, but 
 unsuccessfully, for Chittian ships shall stop him [that is, 
 his second invasion is stopped by the Romans]. From 
 after attacks upon Egypt he will be called away by 
 tidings out of the east and the north, which trouble him 
 [that is, by the Parthian and Armenian war]. 
 
 After this there will be trouble, such as never was 
 before ; and then the people will be delivered, at least 
 such as are written in the book of life. Many of the 
 dead will then arise, some to everlasting life, and some 
 to everlasting punishment (xii). 
 
 [It would thus seem tliat the greater part ^of the 
 
208 ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Book of Daniel was written in tlie reign of Antioclius 
 Epiphanes, about the year B.C. 16.5. Chap. ix. seems to 
 have been written even one Inindred years later. The 
 arguments against the authenticity of the book from its 
 style and tenor are overwhelming. Moreover, it 
 contains Greek words, which could hardly have been 
 used by one then living in Babylon. It quotes Jeremiah, 
 who was only writing when Daniel is said to have lived. 
 Daniel is mentioned by Ezekiel as an eminent man Avith 
 Noah and Job, which contradicts this writer, who makes 
 Daniel Ezekiel's junior by about twenty years. The 
 book praises Daniel in a way that no writer ever speaks 
 of himself. It speaks in chap, xii, 2, of the resurrection 
 of the dead to judgment, which is not otherwise men- 
 tioned in the Old Testament. Verse 1 of chap, xi, is an 
 after addition ; as it refers to chap, ix, and particularly 
 to verse 21 ; whereas chap, ix, was not written till one 
 hundred years after this chap. xi. Moreover this verse 
 speaks of Daniel in the third person while it forms part 
 of a speech addressed to him.] 
 
 ' OX THE BOOKS OF THE APOCRYPHA. 
 
 These books form an addition to the Old Testament ; 
 but they are divided from the rest because they are not 
 found in the Hebrew. Some were written in Greek, 
 and some only in Latin. As in age, so in worth, they 
 have little claim to rank with the old Hebrew writings. 
 Some we can only consider as forgeries, others are 
 trustworthy portions of history, and others contain good 
 moral and religious thoughts. But even those which 
 are most justly thrown aside as unworthy to form part 
 of the Bible, are not without their worth, as specimens 
 of Jewish writings of a later age, and they help us to 
 understand the more valuable books. 
 
209 
 
 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF ESDRAS. 
 
 This is a free and careless Greek translation of the 
 Book of Ezra, with some additions, and several mis- 
 takes. 
 
 The chief additions are — chap, i, Avhich is a sketch of 
 the history of Judah from the reign of Josiah to the 
 captivity, translated from the last two chapters of the 
 Second Book of Chronicles ; chap, iii-iv, an account of 
 three young men at the court of Darius striving to excel 
 one another in wise speeches ; and chap, ix, 37-55, an 
 account of the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated by Ezra, 
 which is not in the Hebrew original, but whicli is found 
 in Nehemiah vii, 73 — viii, 12, as a quotation from Ezra. 
 
 As a mistake, we may notice the translator's not 
 understanding the word " Tirshatha," the governor 
 (Ezra ii, 63). In the copy which lay open before him 
 we must suppose that the name of the governor was 
 given, and that he should have read " Nehemiah the 
 Tirshatha;" but he has rendered it in chap, v, 40, 
 " Nehemias and Atherias." So when the word is again 
 used in the sentence quoted by Nehemiali (viii, 9), and 
 we read, " Nehemiah the Tirshatha, and Ezra said," the 
 translator (ix, 49) renders it, " Attharates said unto 
 Esdras." 
 
 O^ THE SECOND BOOK OF ESDRAS. 
 
 This Second Book is wholly foreign from the first of 
 the same name. It is known only in Latin, and was 
 probably written in that language. The writer was a 
 ChristicUi Jew, and he wrote about the year 220 of the 
 Christian era, soon after the death of the Emperor 
 Caracalla. It is written in the form of a prophecy, 
 supposed to be delivered by Ezra, who lived more than 
 600 years earlier. He describes a vision of an eagle 
 with twelve feathered wings, and eight smaller feathers, 
 
 P 
 
210 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF ESDRAS. 
 
 and three lieads (xl). These he explains to mean Rome 
 and its first twenty-three emperors. The twelve wings 
 are the twelve Ciiesars, of whom the second [Augustus] 
 reigned longer than any of the rest (xii, 15). Of the 
 three heads, one of them shall die upon his bed, and yet 
 Avith pain [Septimius Severus]. Of the two that remain, 
 the sword of one [Caracalla] shall devour the otlier 
 [Geta] ; and at the last he shall himself fall by the 
 sword (xii, 28). 
 
 [In this way our author allows us to discover when 
 he lived and wrote. But his political or religious aim 
 is by no means clear. He shows his Christianity by 
 mentioning Jesus Christ as dying that all men may have 
 life (vii, 28-29). At the same time the whole tenor of 
 the book, and its references to the Old Testament, prove 
 that he was of the stock of Israel. 
 
 In chap, i, 30-33, this writer quotes some w^ords from 
 Matt, xxiii, 37-38, and in chap, iii, he uses several images 
 borrowed from Revelation vii.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF TOBIT. 
 
 This is the history of a pious Israelite named Tobit, 
 and of his son Tobias, wdio were carried away from 
 their home when the northern tribes were conquered by 
 the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, here called Emen- 
 essar. They were carried captive to Nineveh. There 
 and in Media, Tobit lived in trouble during the reign 
 of Sennacherib, the next king, doing good to all the 
 poorer among the captive Israelites, giving alms, cloth- 
 ing the naked, and burying the dead. But upon Sen- 
 nacherib's death Tobit's fortunes were rather improved, 
 as his nephew held the high office of cupbearer to 
 Esarhaddon, here called Sarchedon. 
 
 From Nineveh, Tobit sends his son Tobias back into 
 Media to fetch a sum of money wdiich he had there 
 left; and Tobias, looking out for a guide, meets with 
 
ox THE BOOK OF TOBIT. 211 
 
 the angel Raphael, who offers to show him the way. 
 On theu* journey Tobias catches a fish, and, by the 
 advice of the angel, he saves the heart and liver ; as, 
 when burnt, their smoke will drive away a devil or evil 
 spirit. By the advice also of the angel, he offers to 
 marry a relation named Sara, whom he meets in Ecba- 
 tana, whose evil spirit had already killed seven hus- 
 bands ; and he drives away this evil spirit by means of 
 the smoke of the fish's burnt heart and liver. So he 
 stays with his new wife to keep the marriage feast of 
 fourteen days, and sends the angel forward to fetch the 
 money. 
 
 At the end of the fourteen days Tobias returns home- 
 ward towards his father and mother, bringing with him 
 the angel who had been his faithful servant and guide, 
 and his young wife, and the money he went for, and the 
 property given to him by his father-in-law. When he 
 arrives at home in safety, he offers to give one-half of 
 all that he had brought with him to the angel as pay- 
 ment for his trouble ; but his guide reveals himself, and 
 says that he is Raphael, one of the seven holy angels 
 who carry up the prayers of the saints to God, and that 
 he had taken care of him in return for the piety shown 
 to his poor brethren in burying the dead. 
 
 Tobias had six sons born to him in Nineveh. But 
 when Tobit, his father, was old and near to die, he told 
 Tobias to remember the words of the prophet Jonah, 
 that Nineveh should be destroyed, and peace should 
 rather be found in Media. So Tobit died, and Tobias 
 withdrew into Ecbatana in jNIedia, where he lived to see 
 Nineveh conquered and destroyed by Nebuchodnosor 
 and Asuerus. 
 
 [The Book of Tobit w^as written between the years 
 B.C. 19, when the temple was rebuilt by Herod, and 
 A.D. 70, when it w\^s again destroyed by the Romans. 
 This appears from its knowledge of history. Thus it 
 tells us that the prophets had foretold the destruction of 
 the first temple, and the captivity of the nation; the 
 return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the temple 
 less beautifully than before; and, lastly, a yet more 
 
 p 2 
 
212 ON THE BOOK OF TOBIT. 
 
 glorious building of the temple. This was the third 
 temple as built by Herod. 
 
 The writer's knowledge of ancient history is not 
 great, as he says that Tobias was born before the con- 
 quest of Israel by Shalmaneser (in the year B.C. 722), 
 and that he lived to see the conquest of Nineveh (in 
 B.C. 612). He may be right in saying that Nineveh 
 was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, as that prince had 
 acted as general to his fiither, Nabopulassar ; but when 
 lie mentions King Asuerus, or Ahasuerus, he can only 
 mean one of the kings of Persia who bore that name, 
 the earliest of whom, Cambyses, reigned yet one hundred 
 years later.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF JUDITH. 
 
 The account of the murder of Holofernes by Judith, 
 when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar were attacking 
 Judea, is a feigned story unknown to history. It was 
 probably written on a very late occasion, when the 
 Jews were suffering under a similar invasion, to encou- 
 rage them to make the resistance here described, and 
 to urge one of their countrywomen, in imitation of 
 Judith's conduct, to attempt the assassination of the 
 hostile general. The moral of it is, that if the gover- 
 nors of the besieged city continue their resistance, and 
 I'efuse to yield, God will relieve them. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, after conquering Nineveh, and 
 Media, and Asia Elinor, and the coast of the Phoeni- 
 cians, sends an army under the command of Holofernes 
 against Judea. The Jews had lately returned home 
 from captivity, and had purified their temple after its 
 profanation. They retreat before the coming danger 
 into the hill country around Jerusalem. Holofernes 
 lays siege to a town named Bethulia. He encamps in 
 the valley near the fountain ; and by the advice of the 
 Edomites and Moabites in his army, he is content with 
 turning the siege into a blockade, and depriving the 
 
ON THE EOOK OF JUDITH. 213 
 
 city of all water. The inhabitants in their distress call 
 upon the governors of the city to surrender, as death 
 from starvation seems more terrible to them than the 
 spears of the enemy. In this difficulty a young widow 
 of the name of Judith seems the only person of courage 
 within the walls ; she tells the governors not to be 
 afraid, but to trust in God and not to yield to the 
 besiegers. She lays aside her widow's dress, and puts 
 on her best and gayest garments, and ventures out of 
 the city. Her beauty gains her admission to the tent of 
 Holofernes; and in the uight, when he is asleep, she 
 cuts off his head with his ow^n sword. The besieging 
 army takes to flight in dismay, and the people of Israel 
 are relieved from all further inroads of their enemies 
 during the life of Judith, and for a long time after her 
 death. 
 
 [That the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar 
 should here be described as successfully resisted, and 
 that he should be said to have lived after the Jews 
 returned home from captivity, is the chief, but by no 
 means the only, historical blunder. The mistakes in 
 geography are equally marked. It is clearly a feigned 
 story, written for a purpose which was, no doubt, to 
 bring about the death of an invading general. Judith, 
 the brave and beautiful widow^, is meant for any young 
 Jewess. If it was written in the year a.d. 66, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is Nero ; Holofernes is Vespasian, who com- 
 manded the Roman armies in Syria; and the city of 
 Bethulia is one of the Jewish cities which bravely 
 resisted his attacks. This is the more probable date of 
 the book. But if it w^as written in a.d. 68, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar is Vespasian ; Holofernes is his son and lieutenant, 
 Titus ; and Bethulia is Jerusalem, which Titus was then 
 besieging. The book cannot be more modern, as it is 
 quoted by Paul's friend, Clement of Rome, in his 
 Epistle to the Corinthians.] 
 
214 
 
 OX THE WISDOM OF SOLO:\IOX. 
 
 The time, the place, and the author of this work are 
 alike unknown ; but may in part be guessed from his 
 opinions and his expressions. He was a Jew of the 
 Alexandrian school, and seemingly a convert to Chris- 
 tianity. He teaches that God created man to be im- 
 mortal (ii, 2.3). He shows his Egyptian opinions by 
 praising an unmarried life (iii, u), and by saying that 
 God did not create death (i, 13). He further shows the 
 place where he was writing by blaming the Egyptians 
 throughout, and calling them the enemies, but without 
 naming them. He hastily runs over many of the events 
 in Jewish history without ever naming the persons. He 
 calls Cain the unrighteous man; and Noah, Abraham, 
 Lot, Jacob, and Joseph, are each in his turn, when 
 spoken of, called the righteous man (x). But the righteous 
 man described at greatest length we must believe to be 
 meant for the crucified Jesus. He is reproached by 
 unrighteous men with professing to have the knowledge 
 of God, and calling himself the servant of the Lord 
 (ii, 1.3). " His life is not like other men's, his ways are 
 of another fashion. He maketh his boast that God is 
 his father. Let us see if his words be true, and let us 
 prove what will be his end. For if the righteous man 
 be the son of God, He will help him, and deliver him 
 from the hand of his enemies. Let us examine him 
 Avith despiteful ness and torture, that we may know his 
 meekness and prove his patience. Let us condemn him 
 with a shameful death, for by his own saying he shall 
 be respected." Such things did they imagine and were 
 deceived (ii, 21). But though the righteous man be 
 prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. He 
 pleased God, and was beloved by him, so that living 
 among sinners he was translated (iv, 10). 
 
 When the writer says, " Blessed is the wood whereby 
 righteousness cometh" (xiv, 7), he means as much the 
 cross which saves sinners, as the ark which saved Noah 
 
ON THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 215 
 
 in the flood. The wood is spoken of Avith the same 
 secondaLy meaning in the Epistle of Barnabas, chap, x, xi. 
 
 He may have written after the beginning of the 
 Jewish war in the reign of Nero, as he says that God's 
 people were crushed by their enemies (xv, u). But 
 nothing leads us to believe that the temple was already 
 destroyed. 
 
 The writer was a Platonist in his philosophy, of the 
 school called the Alexandrian ; but which more proba- 
 bly took its rise in Heliopolis. The praise of God's 
 Wisdom is in terms more befitting a person than those 
 used in the Proverbs of Solomon ; and it shows a trahi 
 of thought which we trace through the Son of Sirach, 
 and find as strongly marked in Philo. God's Word is 
 also spoken of figuratively as a person. The Book of 
 Genesis says, that at the creation the SPIRIT of God 
 moved upon the face of the v^-aters; and afterwards 
 God SAID, Let there be light .... Let us make 
 man.. So our author, taking the Eastern figure in a 
 more literal sense, says, God made all things with his 
 Word, and ordained man through his Wisdom (ix, i). 
 And again. Wisdom knoweth thy works, and was pre- 
 sent when thou madest the world, and knew what was 
 acceptable in thy sight. And afterwards, to punish the 
 Egyptians, Thine almighty Word leaped down from 
 heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war 
 (xviii, 15). So when the word Trinity is first used for 
 the Almighty by a Christian writer, Theophilus, bishop 
 of Antioch, it is, as in this author, God, his Wisdom, and 
 his Word. 
 
 Wisdom also teaches Plato's four cardinal virtues — 
 Temperance, Prudence, Justice, and Fortitude; which 
 are such things as men can have nothing more profit- 
 able in their life (viii, 7). She is, moreover, the breath 
 of God's power, a pure influence flowing from the 
 Almighty's glory; the brightness of the everlasting 
 light, the unspotted mirror of God's power, and the 
 image of his goodness (vii, 25); which last words are 
 not unlike some used at the beginning of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews. 
 
216 ON THE WISDO:\I OF SOLOMON. 
 
 This work would seem to be one of the earliest Chris- 
 tian writings, written by one who had not seen any of 
 the books of the New Testament, if they were already 
 written. But the author is not free from the charixe of 
 wishing his book to pass for the work of the Hebrew 
 monarch. He speaks of himself as King of God's 
 people and builder of the temple (ix, 7). For this 
 reason the book is very properly placed among the 
 Apocryphal writings. 
 
 OX THE WISDOM OF JESUS, THE SOX OF SIRACH, 
 OR ECCLESIASTICUS. 
 
 This book, as we learn from the preface, was written in 
 Hebrew, and translated into Greek by the author's 
 grandson, who came to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year 
 of Euergetes H., or B.C. 132. A second preface, by an 
 unknown author, tells us that the grandson not only 
 translated it, but wrote part of it. This is fully borne 
 out by the contents of the book, which has many traces 
 of the Alexandrian opinions of his day. 
 
 It begins with the praise of Wisdom, which is. in 
 part, copied from the Proverbs of Solomon. But Wis- 
 dom is here made into a person. This is followed by 
 a number of wise proverbs and moral rules. Then are 
 spoken of with praise many of the most famous of the 
 holy men mentioned in the Bible from Enoch to Simon 
 the high-priest, who lived about B.C. 200, whom the 
 writer seems to have been serving at the altar before 
 the temple. That we find no mention of the prophet 
 Daniel in this honourable list, is a pretty good proof 
 that the book bearing his name at that time formed no 
 part of the Bible. 
 
 The writer mentions with strong dislike the Sama- 
 ritans of Sichem, and those that dwell among the 
 Philistines, meaning the Idumeans. 
 
 He looks forward to the second coming of Elijah, 
 who was ordained to appease God's anger, to turn the 
 heart of the Father unto the child, and to restore the 
 
ON THE WISDOM OF JESUS. 217 
 
 tribes of Jacob (xlvlii, lo). He thus misquotes the last 
 verse of Malachi to support a stern view of the Almio-hty's 
 character. He says that arms and good deeds make an 
 atonement for sins ; but he gives a warning against 
 relying upon this doctrine of propitiation lest we add 
 sin to sin (v, 5). 
 
 [This book is an important link in the chain which 
 joins the Alexandrian Platonists to the Hebrew writers. 
 We may trace Solomon's description of Wisdom in the 
 Proverbs through the son of Sirach, and Philo, and the 
 Book called the Wisdom of Solomon, till, in the Coptic 
 treatise of Pistis-Sophia, she becomes a person, and 
 almost another God.] 
 
 ON THE BOOK OF BARUCH. 
 
 BArtUCii was the servant and friend of Jeremiah. He was 
 tlie scribe wdio wrote into a book the prophecies which 
 Jeremiah delivered by Avord of mouth (Jerem, xxxvi), 
 and when the prophet was carried away captive into 
 Egypt, by the brave remnant of Judah, who refused 
 to live at home in slavery, the scribe was carried off 
 with him. 
 
 This book is supposed to be an epistle written by the 
 scribe Baruch, in the name of the Jewish king Jechonlah 
 and his nobles, while prisoners in Babylon in the fifth 
 year of the captivity. Its purport is to exhort the 
 people of Jerusalem to pray for the life of their Baby- 
 lonian conqueror. King Nebuchadnezzar, and of his son 
 Balthazar, and to live quietly under their foreign rulers. 
 It adds a prophecy that the nation will hereafter be 
 again prosperous, and that if Jerusalem looks towards 
 the east she will see joy coming unto her from God. 
 
 This book is very deservedly set aside as not genuine. 
 Baruch, instead of being with the larger part of the 
 captives in Babylon, was then a prisoner in Egypt with 
 Jeremiah. Nor could Baruch have said that the sacred 
 vessels were sent back to the temple by Nebuchadnezzar ; 
 
218 ON THE BOOK OF BARUCII. 
 
 since tliey were not sent back till the rcign of Cyrus 
 (Ezra i, 7). Indeed, if we may believe the book to be 
 so old, its matter seems to belong to the reign of Cyrus, 
 when joy was coming from the East, and every friend 
 to Israel would advise them to pray for the life of the 
 king. In chap, ii, 23, he makes use of the words of 
 Jeremiah vii, 34, respecting the desolation of the land. 
 And in chap, ii, 3, he uses the words of Jeremiah xix, 9, 
 respecting the famine which v/ould cause men to eat 
 their children ; words which Jeremiah had before bor- 
 rowed from Dent, xxviii, 53. 
 
 OX THE EPISTLE OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 This is a short piece of very little worth, in the form 
 of a letter to those who are being carried captive to 
 Babylon ; and it mentions their return home after seven 
 generations. It is upon the folly of worshipping idols 
 made by men's hands. There is very little whereby 
 to fix its date, but it may belong to the time of the 
 Maccabees. Among the writings given to Jeremiah we 
 find in chap, xxix such a letter to the captives in Baby- 
 lon ; and these fevr sentences seem to have been written 
 as a companion to it. They are now added at the end of 
 the Book of Baruch. 
 
 OX THE ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK OF DAXIEL. 
 
 The Book of Apocrypha contains three portions of the 
 Book of Daniel, which are cut off from the Greek of 
 that Book, and here placed, because they are not found 
 in Hebrew. These are The Soxg of the Three Holt 
 Childeen, when walking in the midst of the fiery 
 furnace, a continuation of chap, iii ; The History of 
 Susanna, and The History of Bel and the Dragon, 
 cut oft' from the end of Daniel. 
 
 These are valuable proofs of the sad habit which 
 
ON THE ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 219 
 
 prevailed among the Jews, of making continual additions 
 to their Sacred Books. ]Many such additions now form 
 part of the Bible; and very possibly these would not 
 have been rejected if they had been written in Hebrew 
 instead of Greek. 
 
 OX THE PRAYER OF MAXASSES, KING OF JUDAII- 
 
 This is another addition to the Bible. In 2 Kings xxi, 
 we are told that Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, vv'as a 
 very wicked king ; and a prophecy is added that in 
 consequence the Jews shall be delivered into the hands 
 of their enemies. In 2 Chronicles xxxiii it is added 
 by the modern historian, that for this wickedness the 
 king of Assyria carried away Manasseh, and left him 
 prisoner in Babylon; that when there he repented and 
 humbled himself before God, and "svas allowed to return 
 home to Jerusalem. And this prayer is a further addi- 
 tion, and is supposed to contain the words in which he 
 expressed his repentance for his sins. Such a prayer 
 is mentioned in 2 Chron. xxxiii, is. 
 
 OX THE FIRST BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 This book contains the history of the rebellion of the 
 Jews against the Syrian kings, and of the wars which 
 they bravely carried on, in the attempt to regain their 
 independence, for about forty years, under the leader- 
 ship, first of Judas Maccaba3us, then of Jonathan his 
 brother, then of Simon another brother, and then of 
 John Hyrcanus, Simon's son. 
 
 In the year 137 of the Seleucidjs, or B.C. 175, Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes came to the Syrian throne, and attempted 
 the invasion of Egypt. Seven years afterwards he led 
 his forces against Judea, and entered Jerusalem. There 
 he plundered the temple, set up an idol on the altar, 
 and made severe laws against the Jewish religion. He 
 
220 ON THE FIRST BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 burnt the Books of the Law wherever they could be 
 found (i). E^'ery Jew was ordered, under pain of 
 death, to sacrifice to the Pagan idols. Against this 
 tyranny, Mattatliias, a priest of the town of Modin, near 
 Jerusalem, rebelled, and fled to the mountains, where 
 many followers put themselves under his leadership ; 
 and "on his death his son Judas Maccabaius took the 
 command (ii). Against these rebels King Antiochus 
 sent a large army (iiij; but it was defeated in several 
 battles by Judas, who thereby gained possession of the 
 temple, and i)art of the city of Jerusalem, and he re- 
 established the service in the temple as of old (iv). The 
 whole of the Israelites now rallied round Judas, who 
 was master of the greater part of the country except the 
 fortified places. He defeated the Edomites in battle, 
 and fought aoainst other enemies with various success 
 
 (V). " 
 
 Aljout that time Antiochus Eupator succeeded to the 
 throne of Syria, and he sent a larger army into .Tudea, 
 which regained from the Jews that part of Jerusalem 
 which had been in the hands of the rebels (vi). 
 
 Demetrius, the next king of Syria (b.c. 162), con- 
 tinued the endeavour to reconquer Judea, but his forces 
 were twice defeated by Judas, and the land had rest for 
 a short time (vii). Judas then sent an embassy to Rome 
 to ask for help, but gained nothing more than an 
 encouraging answer (viii). Soon afterwards he was 
 defeated and slain in battle, and his brother Jonathan 
 succeeded to the government (ix). 
 
 The rising of Alexander Balas, and the civil war in 
 Syria, for a time gave rest to the afflicted Israelites. 
 Demetrius and Alexander both asked for the friendship 
 of Jonathan ; and Alexander gave him hostages that the 
 Jews who held the temple should not be attacked by 
 the royal forces in Jerusalem ; and Demetrius made yet 
 further offers of releasing the country from all tribute. 
 Demetrius, however, was soon slain in battle by Alex- 
 ander, who appointed Jonathan governor of the province 
 (x). And afterwards Alexander was slain in battle with 
 the king of Egypt. 
 
ON THE FIRST BOOK OF TPIE MACCABEES. 221 
 
 Notwithstanding the deaths of the two kings, there 
 remained two claimants to the crown of Syria — Deme- 
 trius, the son of Demetrius, and Antiochus, the son of 
 Alexander — and they both asked for the friendship of 
 Jonathan. Jonathan at first helped Demetrius ; but as 
 Demetrius would not give up the castle of Jerusalem to 
 him, he turned to the side of Antiochus, from whom he 
 received the office of high-priest (xi). Jonathan then 
 made treaties of peace with Rome and Sparta. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Tryphon, the chief general in the 
 service of King Antiochus, rebelled, and claimed the 
 throne of Syria for himself. At the same time he car- 
 ried on the war against the Jews. He took Jonathan 
 prisoner in the city of Ptolemais (xii). Thereupon the 
 people chose Simon for their leader in the place of his 
 brother Jonathan ; and Tryphon i)Lit Jonathan to death. 
 Tryphon then slew the young King Antioctius, and 
 made himself king of Syria. 
 
 After this Demetrius, the other claimant to the 
 throne, made peace with Simon, and appointed him 
 high-priest. The garrison that held the castle of Jeru- 
 salem surrendered to the Jews, and for a time the land 
 had rest (xiii). Demetrius Avas taken prisoner in his 
 war with the Persians; and Simon, in order to strengthen 
 his power, made new treaties of peace with Rome and 
 Sparta (xiv). 
 
 When Antiochus Sidetes, the son of Demetrius, came 
 to the throne of Syria (b.c .140), he renewed the appoint- 
 ment of Simon as high-priest of Judea, while engaged 
 in the war against Tryphon. But when Tryphon was 
 defeated, Antiochus quarrelled with the Jews. In the 
 meantime the Romans had sent embassies to the neigh- 
 bouring kings, declaring that they would protect the 
 independence of Judea under Simon ; but this did not 
 stop Antiochus, who was now anxious to re-establish 
 Syrian autliority in that country (xv). 
 
 Simon was now getting old, but his sons were able to 
 help him in his efforts to maintain the nation's indepen- 
 dence. He was, however, treacherously slain Avitli two 
 of his sons, Mattathias and Judas, by the governor of 
 
222 OX THE FIEST BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 Jericho ; and John Hyrcanus, another of his sons, Avas 
 then made high-priest as successor of his father. 
 
 [This is the short but careful trustworthy account of 
 the Jews regaining their independence under the Mac- 
 cabees. Who the people in this history called Spartans 
 were is wholly unknown. They cannot have been 
 Greeks of Laceda3mon. The book is written in exact 
 chronological order. The author is unknown, but he 
 lived soon after the time of John Hyrcanus.] 
 
 ON THE SECOXD BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 This Second Book is not by the author of the First 
 Book, nor is it by any means of equal value. One 
 Jason of Gyrene had written in five books a history of 
 Judas Maccaba3us, of his wars against Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes and Antiochus Eupator, and of his purification 
 of the temple of Jerusalem. Our Second Book of 
 Maccabees is an abridgment of this work by an un- 
 known Alexandrian writer (ii, 23). He begins wdth a 
 letter written from the Jews of Jerusalem to their 
 brethren in Egypt, asking them to join in celebrating 
 the purification of the temple, which they were about 
 to celebrate, after being delivered from some great 
 troubles not therein described (i-ii, is). This letter 
 quotes two former letters of nearly the same purport, 
 both asking the Egyptian Jews to join them in keeping 
 the Feast of Tabernacles in the month of Gasleu, on 
 the purification of the temple from defilement by the 
 Gentiles. The first w^as written in the year of the 
 Seleucidse 169, or B. c. 143, when they purified the 
 temple after Simon jMaccaba?us had made the nation 
 independent (i, 7-9). The second (i, lo-is) was written 
 twenty-one years earlier, by Judas Maccabaeus and his 
 council, when they purified the temple after the death of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 This letter is dated by mistake in the year of the 
 Seleucida} 188, which wc must correct to 148, or B.C. 164. 
 
ox THE SECOND BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 223 
 
 It was written to Arlstobulus, a peripatetic pliilosoplier 
 of Alexandria, who was at that time the head of the 
 Egyptian Jews, and had been employed in the education 
 of Ptolemy Euergetes II. 
 
 The longer letter, ending at chap, ii, is, which quotes 
 the two former letters, would seem to have been written 
 soon after that by Simon, as it gives no explanation of 
 the well-known occasion on Avhich that was written. In 
 the want of evidence, we may conjecture that this third 
 letter was written by order of John Hyrcanus soon after 
 the siege of Jerusalem by King Antiochus Sidetes in the 
 year b. c. 137. The writer offers to the Egyptian Jews 
 the use of the sacred writings which Nehemiah had 
 gathered together in his library, and which were again 
 brouo;lit too;ether by Judas Maccabasus after they had 
 been scattered in the wars. 
 
 After this letter and a preface (ii, 19-32), there 
 follows the history abridged from the larger work by 
 Jason. 
 
 In the reign of Seleucus [Philopator], when Onias 
 was high-priest, Heliodorus, the king's treasurer, was 
 sent to claim the sacred gold and silver out of the 
 temple of Jerusalem ; but as he entered the building he 
 was stopped by a miracle. A terrible man on horseback 
 trod him to the ground, and two others on foot scourged 
 him till he was carried out speechless (iii). Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, the next king of Syria, first displaced Onias 
 from the priesthood, and put his brother Jason into his 
 place; and then displaced Jason and made Menelaus 
 high-priest, as likely to be a more willing instrument 
 in raising tribute from the Jews. 
 
 Under the tyranny of INIenelaus the Jews revolted ; 
 but Antiochus, on the return from his second invasion 
 of Egypt, put down the rebellion by force, led his 
 army into Jerusalem, and himself entered the Holy of 
 Holies to seize the treasures on the altar. Upon'^this 
 outrage the rebellion again broke out ; and Judas 
 Maccabseus withdrew into the mountains, where a body 
 of brave men gathered themselves about him (v). All 
 Jewish ceremonies were now forbidden under pain of 
 
224 ON THE SECOND BOOK OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 death (vl), and many were put to death because they 
 refused to eat pork (vii). 
 
 Judas then stood forward as head of the Jews, and 
 leader of such as were willing to oppose the Syrian 
 tyranny. He defeated the kings' armies in several bat- 
 tles (viii), and on the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 Judas recovered Jerusalem, and purified the temple 
 from the defilement by the Gentiles (x, s). 
 
 Antiochus Eupator, the next king (e.g. 164), renewed 
 the war against the Jews. But Judas was still able to 
 keep the field. He defeated an attack on the temple 
 of Jerusalem, and obtained a treaty of peace from the 
 king (xi). The war, however, did not cease in other 
 parts of Judea, and in the next year (b. c. 163), Antio- 
 chus led a large army in person against the Jews. But 
 he met with considerable resistance, and again made a 
 treaty with Judas, and appointed him governor of the 
 province (xiii). 
 
 Demetrius, the next king of Syria, sent Nicanor 
 against Judea ; but after some time Nicanor made peace 
 with Judas, and the land again had rest (xiv, 25). 
 And w4ien Nicanor again renewed the war he w^as slain 
 in battle (xv). 
 
 [The history in this Second Book begins at an earlier 
 period than the former, and embraces a shorter time. 
 Its aim is to explain the letter with which the book 
 begins. The author of it had not seen the former 
 book ; indeed, they were y^robably both written at the 
 same time under the priesthood of John Hyrcanus. 
 We may remark, that the letter quoted may be under- 
 stood to say that Antiochus died in Persia (i, is-ie); 
 whereas our author more correctly states that he returned 
 from that country (ix, 1-3). The book is wanting in 
 simplicity ; but its devout feeling is worthy of a better 
 style. He beautifully accepts the nation's misfortunes 
 as a chastening sent by God for their good ; and rejoices 
 that it is not delayed till they have come to the height 
 of their sins, lest then he should have to take vengeance 
 on them (vi, 12).] 
 
ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 The New Testament, or New Covenant as the name 
 should be translated, contains books of various kinds 
 and by various authors. These writers were either 
 Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, or com- 
 panions of the Apostles, except perhaps, in the case of 
 one or two books of doubtful authorship. It contains 
 the history of the foundation and early spread of the 
 Christian religion. It consists of, first, 
 
 Four separate histories of the life of Jesus, each 
 called the Good Tidings, or the Gospel, an old Saxon 
 word of the same meaning. Then follow. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles, containing the events from 
 the death of Jesus till Paul's imprisonment ; 
 
 Thirteen Epistles, or if properly divided, perhaps 
 fourteen Epistles by Paul ; 
 
 One Epistle to the Hebrews, by an unknown writer ; 
 
 Seven Epistles by James, Peter, John, and Jude, of 
 which the second of Peter is probably not genuine ; and 
 lastly. 
 
 The Revelation, by John. 
 
 It is not known how soon these several writings were 
 gathered together into one collection. There had been 
 written other Gospels or lives of the Saviour, and other 
 Epistles by early disciples ; but even within a century 
 and a half after the crucifixion, we meet with proof tliat 
 most of those writings which now form our New Testa- 
 ment were received by the majority of Christians as of 
 a value and authority which bore no comparison with 
 the others which were thrown aside. But these early 
 proofs do not go so far as to support every sentence and 
 
 Q 
 
226 ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 word in the volume. Additions 'and alterations may 
 certainly have been made in the four Gospels, between 
 the time of the writers and the time when evidence by 
 the quotations can be brought forward to support the 
 single words. The earliest and most trustworthy of 
 the manuscripts of the New Testament, those in the 
 Vatican, the British Museum, and Paris, were written 
 in Alexandria about the year a.d. 450. More than one 
 hundred years earlier, however, Athanasius, bishop of 
 Alexandria, wrote a catalogue of the books ; and they 
 are the same as those which we now possess. The 
 Syriac translation, made about a.d. 200, contains all our 
 books except tlie Second Epistle of Peter, the Epistle of 
 Jude, the Second and Third of John, and the Revela- 
 tion. The writings of Origen about a. d. 230 ; of 
 Cyprian a little earlier, of Clement of Alexandria, about 
 A.D. 190, and of Irenseus about a.d. 170, are full of 
 quotations which are word for word the same as our 
 New Testament. Thus far we go back with certainty 
 for the Gospels as well as for the other books. In the 
 earlier century the evidence is more general and less 
 minute ; it only proves the existence of writings such as 
 our scriptures, and the reverence in which they were 
 held, but not that they then contained all the words 
 Avhich they now contain. Justin Martyr, in about A. D. 
 130, has several quotations from our Christian books, 
 and says that the Gospels were read every Sunday in 
 all the principal cities in which Greek was spoken ; 
 Polycarp, the disciple of the Apostle John, has nearly 
 forty allusions to the New Testament, though not direct 
 quotations ; and Papias, his companion, speaks of the 
 Gospels of Matthew and Mark. {See Lardner's Cre- 
 dibility). 
 
 For the Acts and Epistles the case is, however, 
 stronger. In these, the strict uniformity of style is such 
 that we may be sure that no part is an after addition. 
 When, therefore, the early writers by their quotations 
 from the latter half of the New Testament prove that 
 parts at least of these several writings are of the age 
 which they profess to be, they prove all that is necessary. 
 
ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 227 
 
 We mav, from the style alone, rest assured in the case 
 of each that it is unaltered and that the whole of each 
 Epistle or writing quoted, is by one author and of one 
 date. 
 
 After the evidence for the written word of the New 
 Testament comes that which supports the main facts in 
 the Christian history, including the teachings of our 
 Saviour and the opinions of the Apostles. For this we 
 may bring forward the unbroken chain of Christian 
 writings. This chain begins with one short Epistle of 
 Barnabas, one of Clement of Rome, and three of 
 Ignatius; of which writers, the first two were com- 
 panions of the Apostles. These are followed by the 
 longer writings of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, their 
 immediate successors, and then by the copious works of 
 Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, within the 
 second century, and by those of Origen and countless 
 others after the year 200. 
 
 This testimony of the Christians is not a little sup- 
 ported by several Pagan writers, who mention the acts 
 of the early Christians and. the sufferings which they 
 willingly bore sooner than renounce their religion. 
 Tacitus (Ann. xv, 44) writing in a.d. 100, mentions the 
 origin of the sect; Suetonius (Nero, ig), at the same time 
 describes the persecution of the Christians ; and Juvenal 
 {Sat 155) alludes to it, but without naming them. 
 Pliny, w^ho was then governor of Bithynia, writes to the 
 emperor Trajan for orders how to act towards them. 
 Martial in one of his epigrams ridicules their sufferings; 
 while the philosopher Epictetus, (iv, 7) in about a. d. 
 150, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius, ten years later, 
 praise their firmness and courage. 
 
 These are some of the arguments from without, which 
 are used to prove the genuineness of the Books of the 
 New Testament and the truth of Historic Christianity. 
 But as a support to the Religion of Christ, with the 
 larger class of mhids the internal evidence probably 
 carries far greater weight. The divine author of 
 Christianity teaches us that the Creator is not only all 
 powerful but all good, that he governs not only as a 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 judge, but as a father, and that we should trust in his 
 wisdom and kindness in all humility as children. He 
 teaches us that we shall find happiness in loving one 
 another, in helping those around us without seeking for 
 thanks or praise, in bearing injuries without anger, and 
 in forgiving those that wrong us. He tells us that we 
 shall find comfort in thanksgiving, in prayer, and in the 
 confession of our faults, and strength to bear our trials 
 in an acknowledgment of our weakness. He strengthens 
 our motives for doing what we think right and our fear 
 of doing what we think wrong by showing, that we are 
 not formed to die, and that after this life we shall meet 
 with a reward or punishment for our conduct in this 
 world of trial. And he adds the " Good tidings," that 
 if we repent of what we have done wrong, and amend 
 our lives we shall be forgiven. He helps us thus 
 to live in the love and fear of God, not only by his 
 advice, but by his example ; and to most of us the best 
 proof of the truth of his religion is found in the readiness 
 with which the head and the heart answer Amen to all 
 that he says. Such teaching as this might well be called 
 the " Good Tidino;s," or as our Saxon translators call 
 it"TheGospeL"^ 
 
 ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 The language of history is easily translated, and needs 
 little remark; the actions and the things named are 
 nearly the same at all times ; a horse, a camp, a general, 
 a battle, a sword, find words in all languages. But it 
 is far otherwise with our philosophical thoughts and 
 religious feelings. The words which express these in 
 one age of the world, are not easily understood in 
 another. They must be explained by the help of the 
 known opinions of the people who have used them and 
 adapted them to their wants. The simple language of 
 the Gospels, which speak to the heart, which describe 
 the Saviour's life and acts of mercy, is more easily 
 
LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 229 
 
 understood by everybody, than the philosophical argu- 
 ments of the Apostle Paul, which have often been 
 wrested by the unlearned to the defence of opinions 
 which the Apostle never held. But even in the simplest 
 parts of a book written eighteen centuries ago, there are 
 many words which a translation leaves obscure, and 
 which require the help of a commentator. 
 
 The word God, which is now always pronounced 
 with reverence as a proper name for the Creator, had, 
 eighteen hundred years ago, been used among nations 
 of polytheists, for Jupiter and Juno, for Osiris, for Baal, 
 for statues and sacred animals, for kings and their 
 favourites. When the Greeks of Egypt or Syria called 
 Ptolemy or Antiochus a god, they never for a moment 
 supposed that he had any share in creating or governing 
 the world. The word bore no such lofty meaning. 
 Moreover, it was a common name, not a proper name. 
 To speak of the Almighty ; it was necessary to say The 
 God. Thus Paul did not write (Rom. ix, 5), " He that 
 is over all, namely God, be blessed for ever," but " He 
 that is God over all." Jehovah, on the other hand, was 
 a proper name, and a word free from misunderstanding. 
 But then it was a word too sacred to be written in 
 Greek letters : it finds no place in the New Testament, 
 or in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. 
 The word used hi its place is Lord, and more often as a 
 proper name, and therefore not The Lord, as we are 
 obliged to write it in English. Thus, while the word 
 Lord is used in some places as a mere title of civility to 
 a centurion or a nobleman, it is in other places used as 
 a proper name in a sense more solemn even than God. 
 
 Sometimes the Jewish reverential custom of not 
 writing or speaking the name of Jehovah, leaves the 
 meaning doubtful. Thus, in Coloss. i, 19, "For He was 
 well pleased that in him all fulness should dwell ; " means 
 that God was well pleased. Again, in Heb. iii, 5, 
 ^* Moses truly was faithful in all His house;" means 
 God's house. Sometimes, in order to avoid speaking 
 of Jehovah too lightly, they say the Spirit of Jehovah, 
 or the Holy Spirit, when they simply mean Jehovah 
 
230 LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 himself; though at other times the Spirit means GodV 
 influence on the hearts of men. 
 
 The word which we render Worship is applied not onlj 
 to God, but also to any men of rank ; as, " The slave, 
 falling down, worshipped him " (Matt, xviii, 26). The 
 word which is more solemn and is applied only to God, 
 is to Serve or perform religious service ; as, " God whom 
 I serve in my spirit" (Rom. i, 9); and again, "They 
 shall serve me in this place " (Acts vii, 7). 
 
 Good feeling has led all nations to speak to inferiors 
 as youthful, to call servants lads, boys, or maidens ; and 
 thus a word which in the time of Homer meant a Son, 
 in the New Testament and Septuagint means a Servant. 
 In Acts iv, 25, 27, we meet with " Thy servant David," 
 and " Thy holy servant Jesus." 
 
 Many words by use gain a meaning more limited and' 
 more particular than they at first bore. Thus the Jews- 
 had such strong national feelings, that their word Nations-^ 
 means Foreign Nations, and we leave it untranslated — 
 the Heathen, or the Gentiles. So Paul, in 1 Cor. xiv,. 
 speaking of a Language, means a foreign language.. 
 Since the conquest of Judea by the Assyrians, the Jews, 
 had been very much scattered among the neighbouring: 
 nations, but never lost their love of home. The word 
 Dispersio7i thereby gained a peculiar meaning; and 
 Peter, writing to his countrymen abroad, calls them the 
 Pilgrims of the Dispersion (I Peter i, i). James also, 
 writes to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion. 
 
 "Words which have two meanings in the same sentence 
 can seldom be properly translated. Thus, in John iii, 8, 
 we have one word meaning both Wind and Spirit. In 
 Mark viii, 35, 37, we have a word meaning Ijoth Life 
 and Soul. In Hebrews ix, 15, 20, we have a word 
 meaning both Testament and Covenant. In each of 
 these case, the argument rests on the ambiguity of the 
 word, and is lost in a translation. It must be left to> 
 the commentator to explain them. 
 
 Even the very simple words, GreeJcs, Jews, and' 
 Hebreivs, are not without two meanings each. The 
 Apostle Paul, by Greeks, often means all who are not 
 
LA2TGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAJklENT. 231 
 
 Jews ; as, " There is no clifFerence between Jew and 
 Greek" (Rom. x, 12). By Jews, Paul means all who 
 were of the Jewish religion ; but the Evangelist John 
 means natives of Judea only. By the word Hebrews, 
 the writer of the Acts (chap, vi, 1) means those only 
 who spoke Hebrew ; while he calls the Jews who spoke 
 Greek, Grecians or Hellenists. On the other hand, the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews means to address 
 all of the Jewish faith ; but he certainly wrote in Greek ; 
 and, though he calls his readers Hebrews, he did not 
 write for the use of those who used the Hebrew 
 language. 
 
 The Jews of all sects had a strong belief that the 
 age of the world in which they were then living was 
 drawing to a close. Whether the end of the age was to 
 arrive sooner or later — whether it was to be followed by 
 the day of judgment, or by the destruction of the world, 
 or by the beginning of a new age, they were not agreed. 
 But so strong was this belief, that it appears in their 
 religious language ; and when a writer says that any- 
 thing will last till the end of the age, he leaves us in 
 doubt whether he means for ever, or for a short and 
 fixed period of time. The words, "So will it be in the 
 end of this age" (Matt, xiii, 4o), refer to the day of 
 judgment. "He hath no forgiveness till the end of 
 the age" (Mark iii, 29), may mean for ever. Paul 
 (1 Tim. i, 17), to make it clear that he means for ever, 
 says, "' Honour and glory for ages of ages." When the 
 author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says (i, 2), that 
 God through Jesus made the Ages, he is using language 
 not unlike that of some of the Gnostics, who said that 
 the ^ons or Ages were spiritual beings that proceeded 
 out of the everlasting God, and to whom he trusted the 
 government of the w^orld. See Theodoret, Heret., ii. 
 
 It would be more satisfoctory if a Greek word, 
 wherever it is met with, could be translated into the 
 same English word ; but this is often impossible, as it 
 may have several distinct meanings. Thus we have 
 one Greek word which seems to mean messenger , 
 angel, ghost, preacher, as in the following sentences. In 
 
232 LANGUAGE OF TIIR NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Luke \'ii, 24, we have, " And when John's messengers 
 were gone, he began to say." In Acts v, 19, we find, 
 "An angel of the Lord by night opened the prison 
 doors." In Acts xii, is, when Peter appeared at home, 
 while he was thought to be at a distance in prison, 
 we have, "Then they said, It is his ghost;'' and in 
 1 Tim. iii, 16, we have " One who was made manifest 
 in flesh, was justified in spirit, was seen by preachers, 
 was proclaimed among the Gentiles, was believed on 
 in the world, was received up in glory." In these four 
 quotations we find four English words in the place 
 of one Greek word. So also the word translated 
 prophet, generally means a man gifted with the power 
 of foretelling future events, as in Matt, xxvi, 56 : " All 
 this hath been done, that the writings of the prophets 
 might be fulfilled." But this word sometimes means a 
 man who has the power of extempore speaking, as in 
 Acts xiii, 1 ; " Now there were at Antioch, in the 
 church there, certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas, 
 and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Gyrene, 
 and Manaen the schoolfellow of Herod the tetrarch, and 
 Saul." 
 
 The writers suppose their Jewish readers to have a 
 most thorough knowledge of the Old Testament. They 
 quote it without naming it, knowing that the words of 
 the oracle would be at once recognised and bowed to. 
 Thus — " For he must reign till he hath put all enemies 
 under his feet,'' says the Apostle (1 Cor. xv, 25);^ "The 
 things which the Gentiles sacrifice theij sacrifice to 
 demons, not to gods" (1 Cor. x, 20); "For loho hath 
 known the mind of the Lord?" (Rom. xi, 34); "' For all 
 flesh is as grass" (1 Peter i, 24). In each of these cases 
 the writer quotes the Old Testament without saying so. 
 
 The references to the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
 ment are not only to the sense, but usually to the exact 
 words. Thus Jesus is called The Christ, or The 
 Anointed, because they applied to him the following 
 words from Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me; because he hath Anointed me to preach good 
 tidings to the poor" (Luke iv, is). So, when the 
 
LANGUAGE OF THE NEAY TESTAMENT. 233 
 
 Baptist says he is not tlie Christ, he is asked, " What 
 then, art thou Elijah?" (John i, 21), referring to the 
 words of Malachi : " Behold, I will send you Elijah, 
 the prophet, before the coming of the great and dread- 
 ful day of the Lord." The next question is, " Art thou 
 the Prophet?" referring to the words of Deuteronomy, 
 *^ The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet 
 from among thy brethren " (see Acts iii, 22, and vii, 37). 
 But the Baptist, quoting Isaiah, says, " I am tlte voice 
 of one CTTjing in the desert.''^ When the Saviour says 
 that "John was the lamp that burneth and shineth " 
 (John V, 35), he probably refers to Isaiah Ixii, 1 ; " I 
 will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as 
 brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
 burneth." The title given to Jesus of the Son of Man 
 is probably taken from the prophet Ezekiel, who uses it 
 throughout. After the time of Ezekiel it was stamped 
 with still more importance, in Daniel vii, 13 : " Behold, 
 one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of 
 heaven." 
 
 But the practice of referring to the words of the 
 prophets, has in one or two cases led the writers to 
 overlook the sense. Thus Matt, il, 23 : " He dwelt in 
 a city called Nazareth ; so that it might be fulfilled 
 which was spoken through the prophets. He will be 
 called a Nazarite." Here the writer of this chapter 
 mistakes a Nazarite, or man under a a^ow, for a Naza- 
 rene, or native of Nazareth. He perhaps refers to 
 Judges xiii, 5, where Samson is called a Nazarite ; 
 though more probably to Isaiah xi, 1, where the expected 
 Messiah is called a Nazar or Branch. The writer of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, quotes from the Psalm, 
 " What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the 
 son of man, that Thou visitest him ? " — as if the words 
 son of man could there mean Jesus, or indeed any one 
 man in particular. 
 
 Sometimes the quotation is so short that it must be 
 misunderstood by an unlearned reader. Thus John 
 (xii, 40) quotes from Isaiah, " He hath blinded their 
 eyes and hardened their hearts." But those who re- 
 
234 LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTA]MENT. 
 
 member the words in the Old Testament, know that 
 tliey are wholly different in meaning ; namely, " This 
 people hath blinded their own eyes and hardened their 
 own hearts," 
 
 The quotations are usually taken from the Greek 
 translation, called the Septuagint. When the writer to 
 the Hebrews quotes a text, as if about the nature of 
 angels, " Who maketh his angels spirits, and his minis- 
 ters a flame of fire," — his argument would have been 
 spoiled if he had quoted from the Hebrew — " Who 
 maketh the winds his messengers, and the lightnings 
 his servants." When Paul says that the Law was 430 
 years after the Covenant (Gal. iii, 17), he is quoting from 
 the Septuagint, which says that there were 430 years 
 between Abraham and Moses (Exodus xii, 40) ; not from 
 the Hebrew Bible, which says that there were 430 years 
 between Joseph and Moses. 
 
 One Hebrew mode of expression is often a cause of 
 ambiguity; namely, placing two clauses in a sentence 
 as if they were parallel, whereas one is in reality de- 
 pendent on the other. Thus, " Be angry, and sin not"" 
 (Ephes. iv, 26), means. If ye be angry, then sin not. 
 Again, " I thank Thee, O Father, because Thou hast 
 hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes" (Matt, xi, 25), means. Be- 
 cause, whereas Thou hast hid these things, &c. Again ; 
 " But thanks be to God that ye were the slaves of sin, 
 but have obeyed from the heart" (Rom. vi, 17), means^ 
 that whereas ye were the slaves of sin, &c. 
 
 These few remarks are perhaps enough to show, that 
 after the difficulties of translation have been overcome, 
 there still remain a large number of words and sentences 
 which ask for help from critical skilL They show that 
 though no learning is necessary when we read the New 
 Testament for purposes of devotion and as a guide 
 towards our duties, yet that the unlearned will not da 
 right to quote it in theological controversy without help 
 from a commentator. 
 
235 
 
 OX THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Of these lives of the Saviour, two bear the names of fol- 
 lowers of the Apostles, namely, Mark and Luke; and 
 two bear the names of Apostles, namely, Matthew and 
 John. But the titles do not tell us whether the four 
 Evangelists themselves wrote the Gospels, or whether 
 they were written by others from information whicli 
 they reported. The most careless reader of these 
 histories may observe that there are many parts of the 
 first three — namely, Matthew, Mark, and Luke — which 
 agree in thoughts, and even in words, so closely as to 
 prove they were copied either one from another or from 
 some common writings. But the fourth has no such 
 agreement with the rest. The first three are marked 
 by a greater simplicity in the narrative ; the fourth by 
 more argumentative and philosophical speeches, by 
 greater depth of feeling and elevation of thought. The 
 first three relate the Saviour's miracles and teachings, 
 chiefly while he dwelt in Galilee; the fourth more 
 particularly during his visits to Jerusalem. The first 
 three report his speeches as if noted down soon after 
 they were delivered; but in the fourth they seeni 
 coloured by the historian's own frame of mind ; so mucli 
 so, indeed, that it is not always easy to separate the 
 Saviour's speech from the reasoning that follows it. 
 There is no very certain end to the speech of the Saviour 
 beginning at chap, iii, lo, nor to that of the Baptist 
 beginning at chap, iii, 27. Hence we may suppose that 
 the fourth Gospel was written rather later than the 
 others; and that it was written when the writer w^as- 
 not living in Palestine is shown by the manner in whicli 
 it speaks of the Jews of Judea. 
 
 A careful examination of the first three Gospels will 
 show that the writers did not copy one from another;. 
 no one had probably ever seen the other's writings, at 
 least in the form in which they now stand. But they 
 each made use of several common writings. How many 
 of these original narratives there may have been in the 
 
236 ON THE EOUR GOSrELS. 
 
 hands of the Christian disciples before our present 
 Gospels were written we have no means of determining ; 
 but several such may be distinguished with certainty. 
 One writing, or class of writings, contained those 
 portions of history which are told in the very same 
 words by all the three historians ; a second writing, or 
 class of writings, contained those portions which are 
 word for word the same in Matthew and Mark ; a third 
 contained those which are the same in Matthew and 
 Luke ; a fourth, those which are contained in Mark and 
 Luke. A yet more careful examination seems to show 
 that some portions of the three Gospels were taken from 
 a common Hebrew original ; because, though they are 
 not here word for word the same, yet they agree so 
 closely as to seem like three translations from one 
 history. The rest of these three Gospels, like the 
 fourth, was written from the writers' own knowledge of 
 the facts, or from information gained from the Saviour's 
 disciples, or from other writings within their reach. 
 
 The third Gospel is clearly marked as a compilation, 
 and is even called so. Luke, the author, tells us in his 
 preface that already before him many writers had under- 
 taken to set forth in order the history of the Saviour's 
 life. These writings he may have seen and taken copies 
 of during his visit to Jerusalem with St. Paul. Some 
 of them were, no doubt, those we have been already 
 describing. Others, used by himself alone, may be 
 traced in his Gospel by the peculiarities of their style. 
 One of these, of course, is the Saviour's genealogy in 
 chap. iii. A second is the account of the birth of John 
 the Baptist and Jesus, and is marked by the speeches 
 being written in poetry — namely, chap, i, 5 — ii, 52. A 
 third is marked by its calling Jesus, not by his name, 
 but the Lord : as chap, x, i ; xi, 39 ; xii, 42 ; xvii, 5 ; 
 and xix, 9. He had not been usually thus named so 
 early as when Paul was asserting it as an article of 
 belief that Jesus Christ was the Lord. Under these 
 circumstances, as it is so evidently a compilation, it 
 would be difficult to prove that Luke was the author of 
 the whole of this Gospel, and that no portion was added 
 
ON THE rOUR GOSPELS. 237 
 
 after he had published it. On the other hand, no portion 
 bears marks of being more modern than the time of his 
 life. He joined himself to the Apostle Paul as his 
 disciple when a young man in about the year a.d. 51, 
 and he may, therefore, easily have been alive ten years 
 after the destruction of Jerusalem. The prophecy of 
 the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in chap, xxi, 20-26 
 may have received some descriptive particulars after 
 the event. The evangelist would also seem to have 
 read the bold figures applied to the same terrible event 
 in Revelation vi, 12-15. 
 
 The Gospel of Mark shows few traces either of 
 having received any additions, or of being the work of 
 more than one author. The last twelve verses, indeed, 
 wdiich mention the Saviour's appearing bodily after his 
 resurrection, are proved to have been absent from the 
 older copies ; the rest we may suppose to be in the 
 state in which the Evangelist left it, having been written 
 with the help of those earlier writings already spoken 
 of, which also form part of both Matthew and Luke, or 
 one of them. This Gospel is the shortest of the first 
 three. Many events in the Saviour's life which are 
 mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew iind Luke, are 
 not mentioned in this. But then, on the other hand, 
 when an event is told by all three of these historians, 
 we usually find that Mark has related it at greater 
 length, and with the greater number of particulars. 
 
 Mark was a disciple both of Paul and Peter, and a 
 much younger man than either of them ; perhaps of 
 about the same age with Luke. But as the ecclesias- 
 tical historian tells us that he wrote his Gospel by the 
 help of the Apostle Peter, one of the Saviour's earliest 
 followers, it must have been written within Peter's life- 
 time and earlier than that of Luke, and some years 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 The Gospel of Matthew probably contains much that 
 is not the work of the Apostle whose name it bears. 
 Matthew was one of the earliest disciples of the Saviour ; 
 he was a witness of much that Jesus did and taught. 
 His history might have been written from his own 
 
238 ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 recollections ; it would have Lecn one of the first which 
 related to the Christians their master's acts and words. 
 Instead of writing a history with the help of earlier 
 writings, as our first Gospel was evidently written, we 
 must rather suppose that Matthew was himself the 
 author of one of these earliest writings. Moreover we 
 are told by the ecclesiastical historians, that Matthew 
 wrote his Gospel in Hebrew ; and, therefore, we are 
 driven to the opinion that our present Greek Gospel is 
 a translation from that written by Matthew, but with 
 many large additions perhaps added by the translator. 
 When the later writers, Luke and Mark, obtained pos- 
 session of several early w^ritings, with the help of which 
 they wrote their Gospels, it is difiicult to believe they 
 were unacquainted with what hud been written by Mat- 
 thew; and it is, therefore, probable that the original 
 writing by Matthew was part of that which we now 
 trace as the basis of all the three Gospels. Among the 
 additions to it we may mention the account of the 
 -Saviour's miraculous birth in Matt, i-ii, which was 
 unknown to Mark and Luke, and which can have 
 formed no part of the Apostle's original Gospel; and 
 .gome of the particulars respecting the invasion of Judea 
 and siege of Jerusalem by the Komans in chap, xxiv, 
 which seem rather description than prophecy. The 
 words of the Old Testament are so familiar to the 
 writer's mind that he uses them not only as quotations, 
 but as part of the narrative, and thus the words of the 
 command to Joseph to take the child home from Egypt 
 are borrowed from Exodus iv, 19, where Moses is 
 ordered to return from Midian ; and Herod's murder of 
 the cliiklren is described in words copied from Pharaoh's 
 murder of the children in Egypt. 
 
 We may safely lay it down as a rule in sacred criti- 
 cism, that if two sentences or portions of history are 
 :S0 nearly in the same words that we consider one bor- 
 rowed from the other, then the shortest is always the 
 oldest. Li no case did the second writer mean to omit 
 from his history anything that had been already written; 
 the narrative was too valuable, or rather too sacred, to 
 
ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 239 
 
 be shortened. But he freely added new portions of 
 history either from his own recollections or from the 
 information of others; and he added words and sen- 
 tences to explam and make more complete those 
 shorter narratives that he was making use of for his own 
 history. Guided by this rule, we may conclude that of 
 the three Gospels as we now have them, Mark's is older 
 than either Matthew's or Luke's, because it is less full. 
 We may also conclude that yet older than the whole of 
 Mark are those portions of Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
 which are common to all three ; because they are free 
 from the additional words and sentences which are added 
 in Mark. 
 
 Luke was for many years a companion of Paul, and 
 hence we see a natural agreement in their writings. 
 Paul may have learned some of his facts from Luke ; 
 and Luke may have gained some of his opinions from 
 Paul. The account of the institution of the Lord's 
 Supper is given by both of them in nearly the same 
 words : compare Luke xxii with 1 Cor. xi. The occa- 
 sions on which Jesus was seen by his disciples after his 
 resurrection, are nearly the same in Luke xxiv, and 
 1 Cor. XV, if we suppose Cleopas to be another name 
 for James. The writings of both teach that no meats 
 need be set aside as unlawful : compare Luke x, 8, and 
 1 Cor. X, 25. Luke's written Gospel, like Paul's teaching, 
 seems particularly addressed to Gentile Christians. 
 
 Matthew's Gospel, on the other hand, by an equal 
 number of peculiarities, may be shown to have been 
 written for Jewish Christians. Jesus therein says, that 
 he is sent especially to the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel (xv, 24, x, 6, and xix, 28). The threats that the 
 kingdom of heaven shall be given to the Gentiles, may, 
 perhaps, be part of the later additions ; such are 
 chap, viii, ii, 12, and chap, xxi, 43. This Gospel is 
 more full than the others of quotations from the Old 
 Testament; and is also more full of rebukes on the 
 pride and hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. 
 Moreover it does not explain the Jewish customs, 
 although it shows greater knowledge of them. In this 
 
240 ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Gospel the Saviour says, " Let him that wisheth to 
 have judgment against thee, and to take thy under-coat, 
 let him have thy outer-cloak also." But Luke, who did 
 not understand the Je^yish law of clothes seized for 
 debt, alters the order of the words, and says, " From 
 him that taketh away thy outer-cloak, forbid not thy 
 under-coat also." Luke's knowledge of the Old Testa- 
 ment was less than that of the first two Evangelists. 
 Thus the Saviour in Matthew, chap, x, 35, uses the 
 words of the prophet Micah, that the son will he against 
 his father, the daughter against her mother, and the 
 daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; but Luke, in 
 chap, xii, 53, enlarges the remark, and alters it by 
 saying that , the parents will also be divided against 
 their children. 
 
 On a comparison of the first three Gospels, there are 
 several passages which seem less to be relied upon in 
 that of Matthew. Such is the sending for an ass and 
 its colt for the .triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when 
 the other Evangelists only speak of one animal. Such 
 is the feeding miraculously, first, the five thousand 
 (chap, xiv), and then the four thousand (chap, xv), 
 whereas only one such event is mentioned in Luke and 
 John. 
 
 The Gospel of Mark shoAVs no leaning either to 
 Jewish or to Gentile Christians. Mark first travelled 
 and taught in company with Paul and Barnabas. He 
 then travelled with Barnabas alone (Acts xv, 36-39). 
 "We afterwards again find him with Paul during his 
 imprisonment in Rome (Col. iv, lo) ; and lastly, we 
 find him a companion of the Apostle Peter in Babylon 
 (1 Peter v, is). He was thus educated in both views 
 of Christianity, that of Paul and that of Peter ; and his 
 Gospel shows no leaning towards either. 
 
 The Gospel according to John does not seem to have 
 been written by the help of those early writings which 
 were the foundation of the first three. It is a wholly 
 independent narrative, and differs from the others in 
 many particulars. It is less simple as a history-, and 
 was written after the views entertained about the 
 
ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 241 
 
 Saviour had become more elevated, and after philo- 
 sophical discussions had arisen about his person and 
 nature. In the preface the writer makes use of words 
 and thoughts which were peculiar to the Gnostic philo- 
 sophers, and which afterwards marked the sect of 
 Christian Gnostics. It is not wholly free from addi- 
 tions ; the last chapter in particular was written after 
 the former part had been brought to a close. 
 
 This gospel begins the day and counts the hours from 
 midnight according to the Roman custom, instead of 
 beginning the day at sunset, and counting the hours 
 from sunset and again from sunrise, according to the 
 Jewish custom, as the first three gospels and the 
 Acts do. 
 
 The writer seems to say that he was not the apostle 
 John, nor himself an eye-witness of what he relates, but 
 that he wrote wdiat he had received from John, who 
 was a witness to the Saviour's teaching (iii, 33). The 
 whole has great uniformity of style , and those difficul- 
 ties in the narrative which seem to argue sometimes 
 in favour of an early date and sometimes in favour of 
 a later date for this portion of scripture, are to be ex- 
 plained not as in the case of Matthew and Luke, by 
 supposing it a compilation, but by considering it as 
 re-written from John's record. The writer says that 
 John, who saw the events, bore witness to them, and 
 that his record is true; and he adds, that a certain 
 adversary, whom he does not name, knows that John's 
 record is to be trusted (xix, 35). John would seem to 
 be still alive and of a great age (xxi, 22-24). The 
 writer styles him the disciple whom Jesus loved ; and he 
 was of all the Apostles the one most intimate with his 
 master. This was particularly shown on the occasion 
 of the Last Supper, when Jesus confided to him which 
 of the twelve would be the traitor. The exact account 
 of the manner in which the question was asked and 
 answered, looks as if the writer was an actor in the 
 scene. John was lying at meat next to Jesus on that 
 part of the couch called 'in Jesus' bosom.' He was 
 able, therefore, when asked by Simon Peter, to lean 
 
 E 
 
242 ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 back with his head on Jesus' breast, and ask, in a 
 whisper, who it was that would be the traitor: and 
 Jesus was in the same way able to answer without 
 being overheard, " He it is to whom I shall give the 
 sop." The account is told less accurately by Matthew, 
 Mark, and Luke. After the crucifixion John remained 
 in Jerusalem, where he was counted a pillar of the 
 church (Gal. ii, 9). 
 
 Besides the difference in the narrative already men- 
 tioned between the first three Gospels and that of John, 
 they all differ in the order of the events in the Saviour's 
 ministry. John gives to the ministry the very probable, 
 limit of eighteen months, and also gives something like 
 a date to the chief events by means of the feasts in the 
 Jewish calendar. The other Evangelists do not write 
 with the same appearance of method ; but yet, perhaps, 
 it may be safer to rely upon Matthew or Mark for the 
 order of events. In particular, the account of the 
 Saviour's first visit to Jerusalem and his turning the 
 money changers out of the Temple, in John ii, 13 — iii, 21, 
 seems to belong to a later part of his life. 
 
 The following tables of the contents of each Gospel 
 are arranged according to the Saviour's journeys, and 
 thus conveniently show the agreement or disagreement 
 between the four narratives : — 
 
 The genealogy. 
 
 Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Judea. 
 He is BAPTIZED by John in the Jordan. 
 He is TEMPTED in the desert. 
 He returns to Galilee when John is de- 
 livered up. 
 To Capernaum. 
 The first four disciples called. 
 The sermon on the mount. 
 
 He HEALS A LEPER. 
 
 To Capernaum, where he heals the cen- 
 turion's 
 mother. 
 
 i. 
 
 1. 
 
 iij 
 
 1. 
 
 iii, 
 
 13. 
 
 iv. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 12. 
 
 
 13. 
 
 V, 
 
 1. 
 
 viii, 
 
 2. 
 
 
 5, 
 
ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 243 
 
 Matthew 
 viii, 18. He teaches by the lake, and rebukes the 
 storm. 
 28. He crosses to the Gergesei^es and heals two 
 demoniacs. 
 ix, 1. To his own city, where he heals the paea- 
 
 LYTIC. 
 
 Matthew Is called. 
 
 The Twelve are chosen and sent forth. 
 He preaches in their cities. 
 He teaches in the cokn-field, and heals the 
 withered hand. 
 
 To his OWN COUNTRY. 
 
 He feeds the five thousand. 
 
 He walks on the water. 
 
 To Gennesaret, 
 
 To Ttre and Sidon. 
 
 He feeds the four thousand. 
 
 To the other side of the lake. 
 
 To Csesarea Philippi, where he is acknow- 
 ledged as the Messiah. 
 
 The transfiguration. 
 
 In Galilee. 
 
 To Capernaum. 
 1. To the neighbourhood of Judea, beyond the 
 Jordan. 
 
 Towards Jerusalem. 
 
 At Jericho. 
 
 To Bethphage. 
 
 To Jerusalem, where he is crucified. 
 
 He is seen by the two Marys and by the 
 eleven in Galilee. 
 
 Mark 
 i, 9. Jesus is baptized by John. 
 14. He returns to Galilee when John is deli- 
 vered up. 
 The first four disciples are called. 
 21. To Capernaum, where he heals Simon's 
 wife's mother. 
 
 R 2 
 
 
 9. 
 
 X. 
 
 1. 
 
 xi, 
 
 1. 
 
 xil. 
 
 1. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 54. 
 
 xiv, 
 
 14. 
 
 
 26. 
 
 
 34. 
 
 XV, 
 
 21. 
 
 
 29. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 13. 
 
 xvii, 
 
 1. 
 
 
 22. 
 
 
 24. 
 
 xix. 
 
 1. 
 
 XX, 
 
 17. 
 
 
 29. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 1. 
 
 
 10, 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 
244 ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 Mark 
 i, 40. He HEALS a lepee. 
 ii, 1. To Capernaum, where he heals the paea- 
 
 LYTIC. 
 
 14. Teaches by the lake ; Levi is called. 
 23. Teaches in the cokn-field, and heals the 
 withered hand. 
 iii, 14. Chooses the Twelve, 
 iv, 1. Teaches by the lake ; rebukes the storm. 
 V, 1. Crosses to the Gadarenes, and heals a 
 
 demoniac, 
 vi, 1. To his OWN couNTRy, and sends forth the 
 Twelve. 
 31. He feeds the five thousand. 
 
 45. He walks on the water. 
 53. To Gennesaeet. 
 
 vii, 24. To Tyee and Sidon. 
 
 31. To the Lake of Galilee, near Decapolis. 
 viii, 1. Feeds the four thousand. 
 
 10. To Dalmanutha. 
 
 13. To the other side of the lake. 
 
 22. To Bethsaida, and heals the blind man. 
 
 27. To CiESAEEA Philippi, where he is acknow- 
 
 ledged as the Messiah. 
 ix, 2. The transfiguration. 
 
 33. To Capernaum. 
 X, 1. To Judea, by the further side of the 
 
 Jordan. 
 
 32. Towards Jerusalem. 
 
 46. At Jericho. 
 
 xi, 1. To Bethphage and Bethany. 
 
 11. To Jeeusal:pm, where he is crucified. 
 
 xvi, 1. He is seen by Mary Magdalene, by two 
 
 disciples, and then by the Eleven. 
 Luke 
 i, 1. Preface. 
 
 5. Zacharias and Elizabeth. 
 
 28. The salutation of Mary. 
 
 ii, 1. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. 
 
 42. He goes to Jerusalem when twelve years old. 
 
^ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 245 
 
 Luke 
 
 iii, 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius he is bap- 
 tized by John in the Jordan. 
 23. The genealogy, 
 iv, 1. He is tempted in the desert. 
 14. He returns to Galilee. 
 16. To Nazareth. 
 23. (He has been at Capernaum). 
 31. To Capernaum, where he heals Simon's 
 wife's mother. 
 V, 1. He teaches by the lake; the miraculous 
 draught of fishes. 
 
 10, The first three disciples are called. 
 12. He HEALS a leper and a paralytic. 
 
 27. Levi is called. 
 
 vi, 1. He teaches in the corn-field, and heals the 
 withered hand. 
 12. The Twelve are chosen and sent forth. 
 
 21. The sermon (on the mount). 
 
 vii, 1. To Capernaum, where he heals the cen- 
 turion's slave. 
 
 11. To Nain, where he heals the widow's son. 
 viii, 1. He preaches through the cities. 
 
 22. He crosses the lake, and rebukes the storm, 
 26. He crosses to the Gadarenes, and heals a 
 
 demoniac, 
 ix, 10. To Bethsaida, where he feeds the five 
 thousand. 
 18. He is acknowledged as the Messiah. 
 
 28. The transfiguration. 
 51. Towards Jerusalem. 
 
 X, 1. The Seventy sent. 
 
 30. Parable of the good Samaritan, 
 xvii, 11. Through Samaria and Galilee, 
 xviii, 35. To Jericho. 
 xix, 29. To Bethphage and Bethany. 
 
 41. To Jerusalem, where he is crucified, 
 xxiv, 13. He is seen after his resurrection by Cleopas 
 [James] and another disciple. 
 36. And by the Eleven. 
 
246 ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 
 John 
 i, 1. The introduction (i, is). 
 19. John baptizes in Bethany beyond the 
 Jordan, and bears witness that Jesus is 
 the Son of God. 
 i, 43. Jesus goes into Galilee. The marriage in 
 
 Cana. 
 ii, 12. To Capernaum. 
 
 13. To Jerusalem, to the Passoyer ; the con- 
 versation with Nicodemus. 
 iii, 22. Into Judea, while John was baptizing in 
 
 iEnon. 
 iv, 5. To Stchar in Samaria, to Jacob's welL 
 
 43. Into Galilee, and heals the nobleman's son. 
 V, 1. To Jerusalem to a feast, and heals at the 
 
 pool of Bethesda. 
 vi, 1. He goes beyond the Lake of Galilee, and 
 feeds the five thousand. 
 16. He crosses the lake to Capernaum, walking 
 on the water, 
 vii, 1. He goes up to Jerusalem in the middle of 
 the feast of Tabernacles, and teaches in 
 the temple. 
 X, 22. He is at Jerusalem at the feast of Dedi- 
 cation in the winter, and teaches in the 
 temple. 
 40. He goes to the place beyond the Jordan, 
 where John at first baptized, 
 xi, 1. To Bethany, near Jerusalem, to heal 
 
 Lazarus, 
 xii, 1. He arrives six days before the Passover, 
 and then enters Jerusalem, where he is 
 crucified. 
 XX, 11. He is seen after his resurrection by Mary 
 Magdalene ; 
 1 9. And by the disciples without Thomas, and a 
 second time with Thomas ; 
 xxi. And at the lake of Tiberias by Simon Peter 
 and six others. 
 
247 
 
 ON THE DATE OF THE CRUCIFIXIOX. 
 
 First ; according to the tradition of the Christians, as 
 recorded by Lactantius, who wrote about a.d. 320, and 
 by other Christian writers, the Saviour was crucified in 
 the consulship of the two Gemini, that is, in the spring 
 of the year of our era 29. These consuls held their 
 office from January to Midsummer in that year. 
 
 Secondly ; Origen, in his answer to Celsus, written 
 about A.D. 220, says that the temple was destroyed by 
 Titus zvitJiin forty-two years of the crucifixion. The 
 destruction .took place, according to Josephus, in 
 September, A. d. 70, that is, forty-one years and a half 
 after Easter, a.d. 29, the date of the crucifixion as 
 stated above. These two authorities therefore confirm 
 one another. 
 
 Thirdly; the evangelist Luke tells us that the 
 Saviour's baptism by John took place in the fifteenth 
 y^ear of Tiberius. In Rome it was not the custom to 
 date events by the year of an emperor's reign ; and in 
 the East, where it was the custom, they counted the 
 years, not from the return of the day of accession, but 
 from the civil new-year's day — a rule which must be 
 attended to, or we shall be a year wrong in our calcu- 
 lation. 
 
 Now Augustus died on the 19th of August, A.D. 14. 
 Then began the first year of Tiberius. On the 29th of 
 August or ten days afterwards, fell the new-year's day 
 in Syria, Egypt, and Babylon. Then began the second 
 year of Tiberius, although he had only been emperor for 
 those few^ days. In this way, the fifteenth of Tiberius 
 began 29tli of August, A. d. 27, when he had been 
 <emperor only thirteen years and a few days. The 
 baptism was immediately followed by the fasting in the 
 ■desert, which was probably at the time of the public fast 
 of the Jews. This fixes the time for the beginning of 
 the Saviour's ministry at the autumn of A.d. 27. If w^e 
 then allow eighteen months for the length of the ministry. 
 
248 ON THE DATE OF THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 we are brought to Easter, a.d. 29, for the date of the 
 crucifixion, as before. 
 
 Fourthly ; the evangelist John places the Saviour's 
 driving the dealers out of the temple shortly before the 
 first Passover in his Ministry ; but the other evangelists 
 place it shortly before the last Passover. The authority 
 of the three would lead us to believe that the events in 
 John, from ii, 13 to iii, 21, belong to the latter Passover; 
 and the removal of this passage about transactions in 
 Jerusalem is further required by the words which 
 follow it, which say that the Saviour then,1 and not 
 before, goes into Judea. 
 
 The removal of this passage to a later part of the 
 Gospel carries with it an important chronological remark, 
 for it was after driving the dealers out of the temple that 
 the Jews said to the Saviour that the temple of Jerusalem 
 had been forty-and-six years in building. This, then, we 
 must suppose to have been said within a few weeks or 
 days of the crucifixion. 
 
 According to Josephus (Antiq. xiv, I6, 4), Herod 
 began to reign at the time of the last, that is, soon after 
 Michaelmas, or at the beginning of the Jewish year, in 
 the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus, or B.C. 37 ; and 
 he began to rebuild the temple towards the end of the 
 eighteenth year (Antiq. xv, 11, 1). This would be 
 about Midsummer in B.C. 18 ; and forty-six years later 
 brings us to Midsummer in A. n. 28. When the Jew^s, 
 therefore, speaking shortly before the Passover, said 
 that the temple had already been forty-six years in 
 building, they must have made that remark in the spring 
 of A.D. 29. This, again, fixes that year as the date of 
 the crucifixion. 
 
 Fifthly ; in the j^ear A.D. 29, the first new moon after 
 the spring equinox fell on the evening of Saturday, the 
 2nd of April, one hour after sunset in Jerusalem. For 
 this calculation I am indebted to Mr. Adams of Cam- 
 bridge. The next day, therefore, was the first day of 
 the month of Nisan. Hence, the fourteenth day of 
 Nisan was a Saturday, or Sabbath. That day was the 
 feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover was to 
 
ON THE DATE OF THE CRUCIFIXION. 249 
 
 be slain, and it was to be eaten that same evening after 
 sunset (Sec Exod. xii, xiii). This gives a full agreement 
 with John's Gospel, where we are told the crucifixion 
 took place on the day before the Passover, on a year 
 when the following day was a High Sabbath, because it 
 was at the same time the Sabbath and the Passover. 
 That day, according to these calculations, was Friday, 
 the 15th of April, a.d. 29. 
 
 Here, however, agreement ends and difficulties begin. 
 Matthew, Mark and Luke say that the last supper of 
 our Lord with his disciples was the Passover supper, 
 and that the crucifixion took place after the Passover, 
 and not before the feast, as we read in John. To 
 reconcile the two accounts is hopeless. We must believe 
 that one or other is incorrect ; and upon an examination 
 of all particulars, we shall find that more are satis- 
 factorily explained by supposing that the Passover 
 followed the crucifixion, as we are told by John, than by 
 supposing that the Passover supper was before the 
 crucifixion, as stated by tlie other three. Indeed, the 
 other three evangelists seem to contradict themselves, 
 when they make the Last Supper a Passover supper ; 
 and again, when they place the day of Preparation after 
 the Passover, and make it a preparation for the Sabbath. 
 The Last Supper was not eaten as a Passover Supper, in 
 haste, standing, with the loins girded, and staff in hand ; 
 see Exodus xii, ii: and again, only one preparation 
 service is known to the Jews, namely, that on the search 
 for leaven after sunset, usually twenty-four hours before 
 the Passover supper. 
 
 In one point also, the account in John is contradicted 
 by the Jewish tradition. According to the Jews, when 
 the 14th day of the month, the day of the Passover, falls 
 on a Sabbath, then the Preparation, or ceremonial search 
 for leaven, is to take place not on Friday evening, 
 because then the Sabbath has begun and all such work 
 is improper, but one day earlier, namely, on Thursday 
 evening. According to this view of the case, we ought 
 to suppose, after reading John's Gospel alone, that the 
 crucifixion took place on Thursday. 
 
250 ON THE DATE OF THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 And, lastly, to complete the difficulty, the evangelists, 
 writing about events which happened in Judea, where 
 the evening was counted as the beginning of the day, 
 but writing in Greek and to be understood by Greeks, 
 who counted the evening as the end of the day, have 
 left us in doubt which custom they were following in the 
 use of these most common words. But upon the whole 
 it seems probable that the first three evangelists mean 
 to say, that the crucifixion ,took place on Thursday 
 before noon, the death on Thursday afternoon, the pre- 
 paration service on Thursday when the sun set, the 
 burial on Thursday night, and the preparation of spices 
 mentioned by Luke, and application to Pilate for a guard 
 on Friday, but before sunset, when the Sabbath began. 
 From sunset on Friday, to sunset on Saturday, was the 
 Sabbath, when nothing was done, and the preparation 
 of spices, mentioned by Mark, was on Saturday after 
 sunset, when the Sabbath was ended. 
 
 The evangelists mention several prophecies relating 
 to the time that passed between the death and resur- 
 rection of the Saviour ; that the Son of Man was to be 
 three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth 
 {Matt, xii, 4i) ; that he had said he would destroy the 
 temple and build it again in three days (Matt, xxvi, 6i); 
 and that he had said, "After three days I am to be 
 raised again," (Matt, xxvii, 63). They considered that 
 these prophecies were all fulfilled. This can hardly 
 have been the case, unless we place the crucifixion on 
 the Thursday; which will allow the Saviour to have 
 remained in the tomb two days and a half. 
 
 The day of the crucifixion, therefore, according to 
 the above testimony and calculations, corrected by such 
 •conjectures as seem best to reconcile the first three 
 Gospels with the fourth, was Thursday, the 14th of 
 April, A.D. 29. 
 
251 
 
 ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 This history clearly declares itself to be the work of 
 Luke, the writer of the third Gospel, by its dedication 
 to the same person, by its calling itself the continuation 
 of a former history, and by its style. It naturally 
 divides itself into two parts. The first contains the 
 events among the Christians in Judea, from the cruci- 
 fixion till the apostles were scattered by Herod's per- 
 secution of the church. Here the circumstances are 
 told as if the writer had not been present, but had his 
 information from otliers ; and we trace many little inac- 
 curacies. The most important of these is his disagree- 
 ment with the Epistle to the Galatians as to the number 
 and dates of Paul's journeys to Jerusalem. The second 
 part contains the history of Paul's missionary journeys ; 
 of his being arrested at Jerusalem and being sent as a 
 prisoner to Rome. In this the writer speaks with greater 
 exactness, as of circumstances for the most part within 
 his own knowledge. It ends abruptly without telling 
 us of the Apostle's fate. 
 
 The writer seems to have joined Paul as the com- 
 panion of his journeys at Troas, in Asia Minor. He 
 had said, " They came down to Troas," but, after his 
 joining his party, he says, " We sought to go out to 
 Macedonia" (Acts xvi, 8-10). If we may judge by 
 his use of the first person, he did not accompany Paul 
 beyond Philippi. Paul went on through Macedonia 
 to Corinth, and from there sailed for Syria, without 
 returning through Philippi. He went up to Jeru- 
 salem, he travelled through Galatia and Phrygia, and 
 returned to Ephesus. From Ephesus, after the riots, 
 he again travelled through Macedonia into Greece, and, 
 on his return from Greece into Macedonia, the writer of 
 the Acts again joined Paul's party in the city of Philippi, 
 where they had before parted company (Acts xx, 5). 
 From Philippi the writer accompanied Paul on his last 
 journey to Jerusalem, and thence attended him while a 
 prisoner to Caisarea, and on his voyage to Home. 
 
252 ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 Luke was with Paul in Rome when the Epistles were 
 written to the Colossians and to Philemon ; and, soon 
 afterwards, he Avas the only companion remaining with 
 him, when the Second Epistle to Timothy was written. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles, as a religious work, is of 
 less value than many other parts of the New Testament ; 
 but is of tlie greatest importance for the evidence of the 
 genuineness of the collection of sacred writings. It 
 forms, with the help of Paul's Epistles, the basis on 
 which we must build to prove the truth of the gospel 
 narratives. 
 
 ON THE TAVEXTY-ONE EPISTLES. 
 
 These letters contain a variety of religious advice and 
 encouragement, with many commands relating to the 
 management of the churches and the behaviour of the 
 persons to whom they are addressed. From the circum- 
 stances mentioned, we can, for the most part, fix the 
 date of each, or, at least, what is more important, the 
 order in which they were written. In this we must be 
 mainly guided by the history of the journeys mentioned 
 in the Acts of the Apostles ; and as the writers usually 
 state what cities they have lately visited, and, in the 
 greetings, give the names of their companions, there are 
 not many cases in which the determination is doubtful. 
 
 It is in the Epistles of Paul that the determination 
 of the date is chiefly valuable, as we thereby gain an 
 insight into the history of the Apostle's opinions, and 
 his change of mhid from an earnest attempt to convert 
 the Jews to Christianity, to giving up the task as hope- 
 less. He called himself the Apostle to the Gentiles ; 
 but did not mean thereby that he should omit the Jews 
 living among the Gentiles ; it was only after some years 
 that he preached to the Gentiles almost exclusively. 
 The Epistles of Paul are the very pillar and support 
 on which the evidences of historic Christianity rest. If 
 we would make use of an ancient writing to prove a 
 
ON THE TWENTY-ONE EPISTLES. 253 
 
 truth in history, we must show not only by whom it 
 was written, and the truthfuhiess of the writer, but also 
 that it is, for the most part, free from additions and 
 alterations. Now, every one of the four Gospels contains 
 sentences which are evidently additions, and which may 
 perhaps not be the work of its original author. But, in 
 the case of Paul's Epistles, there is not a sentence that 
 betrays another writer ; there is not a line that looks 
 like a later addition ; the whole of them are marked by 
 the style and the train of thought as the work of one 
 writer. Every opinion and statement contained in these 
 Epistles has the authority of the Apostle Paul as a 
 voucher for its truth. 
 
 The chronology of the whole will be best understood, 
 if the later journeys and other events mentioned in the 
 Acts be thrown into the form of a table. 
 
 THE ORDER OF THE EPISTLES AS DETERMINED BY PAUL's 
 JOURNEYS. 
 
 The Apostle Paul visits Thessalonica in Macedonia. 
 He teaches in the synagogue, Silas Is with him. He 
 leaves because of a riot against him by the Jews. 
 (Acts xvii, i-io). 
 
 He goes to Berea, and teaches In the synagogue. 
 There he leaves Silas and Timothy (Acts xvii, lo-u). 
 
 He goes to Athens, and teaches in the synagogue and 
 in the market-place. He sends back a message for Silas 
 and Timothy to follow him. (Acts xvii, 15.) 
 
 He goes to Corinth, and teaches in the synagogue, till 
 driven to teach In a house near. He meets with Priscilla 
 and Aqullas. Silas and Timothy join him from Mace- 
 donia. (Acts xvili, 1-7.) A.D. 51. 
 
 The above-mentioned journey of Timothy seems 
 to be that described as his hrst mission to Thessa- 
 lonica, in 1 Thess. Hi, 1. 
 
 At Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, Paul shaves his 
 head. From thence he sails for Syria, taking with him 
 Priscilla and Aquilas. (Acts xvlii, I8.) 
 
 He comes to Ephesus, and leaves Priscilla and Aqui- 
 las. He teaches in the synagogue. (Acts xvili, 19.) 
 
254 ON THE TWENTY-ONE EPISTLES. 
 
 Thence he sails to Caesarea, where he lands, and goes 
 up [to Jerusalem] and salutes the church, and then goes 
 to Antioch. (Acts xviii, 22.) 
 
 He makes a journey through Galatia and Phrygia, 
 strengthening the disciples. (Acts xviii, 23.) 
 
 (He had visited those churches a few years before 
 — xvi, 6). 
 
 He returns to Ephesus soon after Apollos had gone 
 from that city to Corinth. (Acts xix, 1.) a.d. 53. 
 
 There he preaches for three month in the synagogue. 
 (Acts xix, 8.) 
 
 The Epistle to the Romans is written (omitting 
 
 chaps, xii, 1 — xv, 7, and xvi, 1-27, which are no 
 
 part of it). It is addressed to Jews, and he hopes 
 
 soon to visit them in Rome. 
 
 He is driven by the Jews to leave the synagogue, 
 
 and he teaches for two years in the school of Tyrannus. 
 
 (Acts xix, 9, 10.) 
 
 He declares his purpose of going through Mace- 
 donia and Achaia to Jerusalem, and then to Rome. 
 (Acts xix, 21.) 
 
 He sends Timothy and Erastus forward into Mace- 
 donia. (Acts xix, 22.) 
 
 This is Timothy's second mission to Thessalonica, 
 as mentioned in 1 Thess. iii, 6. 
 
 The First Epistle to the Corinthians is written 
 after Timothy was sent forward, and after Apollos 
 had been in Corinth. It mentions Paul's proposed 
 journey through Macedonia to Jerusalem. Aquilas 
 and Priscilla are with him. 
 After the dangerous riots in Ephesus, Paul goes to 
 Macedonia. (Acts xx, 1.) A.d. 56. 
 
 Paul may now have passed through Troas, as 
 mentioned in 2 Corinth, ii, 12. 
 
 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is written 
 after the riots in Ephesus, and after passing through 
 Troas. 
 
 The Epistle of James is written after Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans had been made public, and 
 before the Epistle to the Galatians. 
 
ON THE TWENTY-ONE EPISTLES. 255 
 
 Paul may now have been hindered from visiting 
 
 Thessalonica, as mentioned in 1 Thess. ii, is. 
 
 From Macedonia Paul goes into Greece (Acts xx, 2). 
 
 Here his companions were, Sopater, Aristarchus, 
 
 Secundus, Gains, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus. 
 
 (Acts XX, 4.) 
 
 An Epistle to the Ephesians is written, being 
 chaps, xii, 1 — xv, 7, and xvi, 1-27, of the Epistle to the 
 Romans. Timothy, Sosipater, Gains, and Erastus, 
 are with him. It is addressed to Pagan converts 
 for the most part, and greets twenty-six friends by 
 name, including Aquilas and Priscilla. 
 
 The Epistle to the Galatians is written after the 
 Epistle of James, after two visits to Galatia. He 
 strongly blames the Judaizing Christians. 
 
 When Paul left Corinth, Erastus may have re- 
 mained behind, as mentioned in 2 Tim. iv, 20. 
 From Greece Paul hurries away to avoid a plot of 
 the Jews. He passes through Macedonia and comes to 
 Philippi. (Acts xx, 3-6.) a.d. 57. 
 
 On this journey he may have been a second 
 time hindered from visiting Thessalonica, as men- 
 tioned in 1 Thess. ii, 18. 
 
 The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is written 
 after Timothy had been twice sent to visit them,, 
 and Paul had been twice hindered by Satan. It 
 strongly reproaches the Jews. 
 
 The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is. 
 written about the same time. 
 From Philippi Paul sails to Troas. (Acts xx, 6.) 
 
 Then he may have left with Carpus a travelling- 
 bag, with books and parchments. (2 Tim. iv, 13.) 
 [Having thus lightened his bundle,] from Troas he 
 walks to Assos. (Acts xx, 14.) 
 
 He sails to Mitelene, and thence to Miletus. (Acts 
 
 XX, 15.) 
 
 Then he may have left his travelling companion, 
 Trophimus, behind sick. (2 Tim. iv, 20.) 
 From Miletus he sails to Ptolemais and Ca^sarea, and 
 thence goes up to Jerusalem. (Acts xxi, 1-17.) A.D. 58. 
 
256 ON THE TWENTY-OXE EPISTLES. 
 
 At Jerusalem he is arrested and sent as a prisoner to 
 
 Csesarea, where Felix, the governor, dwelt. (Acts xxiii.) 
 
 There he remains a prisoner till Festus, the new 
 
 governor, sends him to Rome, in the year a.d. 60. 
 
 (Acts xxvii, 1.) 
 
 His friends are allowed to accompany him on the 
 voyage. (Acts xxvii, 2.) 
 
 His ship touches at Sidon, where he is allowed to 
 land and visit friends. (Acts xxvii, 3.) 
 
 Thence he reaches Myra, in Lycia, where he is put 
 on board another ship. (Acts xxvii, 5-G.) 
 
 This ship touches at Fair Havens, near Lasea, in the 
 island of Crete. (Acts xxvii, 8.) 
 
 Here the Apostle may have left Titus to appoint 
 elders in each city. (Titus i, 5.) 
 After sailing from Crete, the ship is wrecked on the 
 island of Malta. (Acts xxviii, i.) 
 
 A third ship carries the Apostle, with the other pri- 
 soners and his friends, to Puteoli, from whence he is 
 taken by land to Rome. (Acts xxviii, ii-ie). a.d. 61. 
 The Epistle to the Colossians is written while 
 the same friends are with him. It is sent by the 
 hands of Tychicus travelling with Onesimus. 
 
 The Epistle to the Laodiceans (commonly called 
 to the Ephesians) is written at the same time with 
 the last, and sent by Tychicus. 
 
 The Epistle to Philemon is written while the 
 
 Apostle is a prisoner in Rome. Timothy, Epa- 
 
 phras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, are 
 
 with him. It is sent by the hands of Onesimus. 
 
 The Apostle hopes soon to be released from prison, 
 
 and to visit Philemon at Coloss?e. (Phllem. 22.) 
 
 The Epistle to the Philippians is written while 
 he is a prisoner, but in hopes of his release ; and it 
 is sent by Epaphroditus. (Philip, ii, 25.) 
 The Apostle proposes soon to send Timothy to 
 Philippi. (Philip, ii, 19.) 
 
 The Second Epistle to Timothy is written from 
 Rome to Ephesus, after sending Tychicus to 
 Ephesus (no doubt on his way to Colossse and 
 
ON THE TWEXTY-ONE EPISTLES. 257 
 
 Laodicea). Titus is now in Dalmatia. Mark is 
 no longer with Paul. Luke is with him. 
 The First Epistle of Peter is written about a.d. 62. 
 The writer is at Babylon, Mark is with him. It is sent 
 by Sylvanus to the Jewish converts in Asia Minor. 
 
 Mark died in the eighth year of Nero's reign a.d, 62, 
 according to Eusebius. 
 
 Paul is released from prison, perhaps in a.d. 63. 
 
 The Epistle to Titus is written after the Apostle's 
 release from prison. He proposes to spend the 
 winter at Nicopolis, in Epirus. 
 
 The First Epistle to Timothy is written after 
 
 Paul had lately gone to Macedonia, and while 
 
 Timothy was still in Ephesus. a.d. 64. 
 
 The Book of Revelation is written a.d. 69, in the 
 
 reign of Vespasian, immediately before the destruction 
 
 of the temple. 
 
 The Epistle of Jude is written to the Jewish Chris- 
 tians, perhaps of Assyria, about a.d. 70. 
 Jerusalem is taken by the Romans a.d. 70. 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews is written. 
 The Second and Third Epistles of John are written, 
 probably from Ephesus to Corinth, after Paul's death. 
 
 The First Epistle of John is written, probably to the 
 church among which he was dwelling. 
 
 The Second Epistle of Peter is written by some un-^ 
 known writer some years later. 
 
 OX PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 The ancient MSS. do not authorise us to make any- 
 great change in this Epistle beyond removing the last 
 three verses from the end of chap. xvi. to the end of 
 chap, xiv ; but this shows that at some very early time 
 it had been badly edited. It seems probable that it is 
 formed of two Epistles joined together. If we judge 
 the aim and meaning of the parts, and thus venture to 
 divide them, we may suppose, that while the first was 
 
 s 
 
258 ON PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 written to tlie Christian church in Rome, to men of 
 Jewish blood and prejudices, and personally unknown 
 to the writer, the second was written to another Chris- 
 tian church, formed chiefly of Gentiles, and many of 
 them his intimate friends. If we judge from the names 
 of the friends greeted, this latter church was at Ephesus. 
 The Epistle to the Romans may consist of the first 
 eleven chapters, together with the last half of chap, xv, 
 beginning at verse 8. The rest may be an Epistle to 
 the Ephesians. 
 
 Chaps, i-xi, and xv, 8-33. — To the Romans Paul 
 writes as to men not less acquainted with the Jewish 
 Scriptures than himself, and far more literally strict in 
 the interpretation of them. He does not speak as with 
 authority, but reasons with them as men who are to be 
 convinced, and as men whose prejudices were strongly 
 against considering Gentiles as receivers with themselves 
 of God's grace; and yet the Apostle himself thinks 
 that salvation through the Gospel is for the Jew first, 
 and only secondly for the Gentiles (i, le). 
 
 To remove these Jewish prejudices by arguments 
 fitted for the Jewish mind, and by the authority of 
 quotation from the Hebrew Scriptures, is the object of 
 the Epistle. He recounts the wickedness of the Gen- 
 tiles in old times (i, 3o), and the hard-heartedness of the 
 Jews, and adds, that punishment will fall on the Jews 
 fir^, and only secondly on the Gentiles (ii, ii). Those 
 who sin without having a law will be punished without 
 a law ; and those who sin under the Law will be pun- 
 ished under the Law (ii, le). The Jew must perform 
 the duties which he teaches; and outward rites alone 
 without inward purity will not make a true Jew (ii, 29). 
 
 Nevertheless, the Jew has his advantages ; the Scrip- 
 tures were intrusted to him. But he will not be justified 
 l)y ceremonial works of the Law, but by faith in God, 
 That righteousness by faith will justify a man was shown 
 in the case of Abraham, who was not under the Law 
 when he received the promises. And righteousness will 
 be counted on all who believe in God, who raised up 
 Jesus from the dead (iv). 
 
ON PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 259 
 
 Christ died to reconcile us to God (v, ii); and as 
 Adam's transgression made all men sinners, so Christ's 
 obedience made all men righteous (v, 21). We must 
 not, however, continue in sin in order to try God's 
 grace. Though no longer under a law, but under grace, 
 those that sin are slaves to sin ; and the wages of sin is 
 death (vi). 
 
 It is a relief to be freed from the Law by Christ's 
 death, not that the Law was sinful, but that our carnal 
 minds led us to disobey it (vii) ; whereas, if the spirit of 
 Christ be in us, we are become alive unto righteousness 
 (viii, 10); and we now suffer for Christ because with 
 Christ we are jointly children of God (viii, 17). These 
 sufferings are far short of the glory reserved for us if we 
 continue in Christ ; but the Apostle would wish himself 
 accursed and lost to the blessings of Christianity if 
 thereby he could save his brethren, the Israelites, of 
 whom Christ was one, and to whom the promises were 
 given (ix, s). ^ 
 
 And God's promises to the Israelites will not fail ; but 
 the prophets have added, that he will call others to 
 righteousness as well as the chosen people (ix, 29). For 
 many of the Israelites have not obeyed the Law ; and of 
 the Gentiles, whoever doeth righteousness is righteous 
 (x, xi, 22). But at last all v\'ill be saved, and, as it is 
 written, " Out of Zion will come the deliverer." Such 
 are the riches and unsearchable ways of God's judgments 
 (xi, 36). 
 
 The Apostle then apologises for having ^been thus 
 bold wdth them in argument, and adds that he hopes 
 soon to see them on his way to Spain (xv, 8-33). 
 
 [This Epistle to the Romans was probably ^vritten at 
 Ephesus, as it was in that city that the Apostle Paul 
 formed the plan here mentioned, of going to Rome after 
 he had first visited Jerusalem (^See Acts xix, 21). He 
 had been teaching for three months in the Jewish syna- 
 ogue in Ephesus, but then removed to the school of 
 yrannus, where he taught daily for two years {See 
 Acts xix, 8-10). This removal of the Apostle from the 
 synagogue to a Pagan school of philosophy was probably 
 
260 ON PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE PvOMANS. 
 
 caused by his want of success in preaching to the Jews, 
 and it is natural to suppose that tlie Epistle to the 
 Romans was written before that removal, that is to say, 
 before he found that the arguments with which the 
 Epistle abounds were wholly wasted on his countrpnen. 
 It was also written sufficiently early to have become 
 public, and given rise to the Epistle of the Apostle 
 James, which again gave rise to Paul's Epistle to the 
 Galatians. It was, indeed, the earliest of his Epistles, 
 and is, accordingly, that which is most full of quotations 
 from the Old Testament.] 
 
 Chaps, xii-xv, 7, and xvi, being an Epistle to the 
 Epliesians. — In the four chapters and a half which seem 
 not to belong to this argumentative Epistle to the Jewish 
 church in Rome, the Apostle writes to a church of 
 Jewish and Gentile converts united. To these he speaks 
 with authority, as an old acquaintance. He exhorts 
 them to devotion towards God, to purity of life, to 
 humility, to fulfilling properly the duties to which God 
 has fitted each, to forgiveness (xii), to obedience to all 
 in authority, and to brotherly love (xiii, le). 
 
 Here the Gentile converts seem more numerous than 
 the Jewish. He desires them to avoid disputes about 
 their differences of opinion, whether as to food that was 
 thought clean or imclean, or as to days that were holy 
 or unholy. He recommends peace and mutual forbear- 
 ance (xiv). The Gentiles, who seem to be the majority, 
 should have a regard to tjje scruples of the Jews. The 
 strong-minded who feel free from traditional prejudices 
 should bear with the weak and more scrupulous. He 
 prays God that they may have patience one with 
 another (xv, is). 
 
 The Apostle sends the Epistle by the hands of Phoebe, 
 a servant of the church at CenchrejG, ^near Corinth. 
 Erom this latter city he was probably writing, as he 
 sends the greeting of his host, Gains, who lived there. 
 (See 1 Cor. i, 14). 
 
 That he was writing to Ephesus is chiefly show^n by 
 his greeting Aquilas, a Roman Jew, and his wife, 
 Priscilla, or Prisca, and the church that met for worship 
 
ON PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 261 
 
 in their liouse. It was at Epliesus tliat these zealous 
 converts so received their fellow-worshippers. (See 
 Acts xviii, 19, and 1 Cor. xvi, 19). Epenetus, the first 
 fruits of Asia, of course lived in that neighbourhood. 
 Andronicus and Junias, his fellow-prisoners, lived in 
 some city wdiere Paul had already suffered imprison- 
 ment, of which Ephesus was one. The affectionate 
 greeting to so many others, whom he calls his fellow- 
 labourers, particularly Mary and Rufus's mother, prove 
 at least that he was writing to a city in v/hich he had 
 dwelt for some months or years. At Ephesus we know- 
 that he had once lived for three years (S6'e Acts xx, 31); 
 "whereas at Rome, when he afterwards arrived there, he 
 had not any acquaintance. 
 
 It may be, because this Epistle to the Ephesians had 
 been lost by being thus joined on to that to the Romans, 
 that the Epistle to the Laodiceans received the name of 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 
 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 This Epistle was written in answer to one from the 
 Corinthian church, which was sent to inquire of the 
 Apostle about some points of conduct that had caused 
 divisions among them. These were about marriage and 
 divorce, about eating meat that had been offered to 
 Pagan idols, and about spiritual gifts. The Apostle 
 also rebukes them for their faults, for their division into 
 sects, for their not putting a sinner out of their church, 
 and for their going to law with one another; and he 
 gives directions about their collecting money for the 
 poor Christians of Jerusalem. 
 
 The four sects into which the Corinthians were divided 
 w^ere: — 1st, those who followed the more philosophic 
 and learned Apollos ; 2nd, those who followed Peter and 
 refused to admit Pagan converts to an equality wdth the 
 Jewish converts ; 3rd, those who followed Paul in 
 admitting the Pagan converts to that equality ; and 4th, 
 
262 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 a party who called themselves Christ's, and perhaps 
 denied the authority of the Apostles, or at least of Paul. 
 
 The Epistle contains some quotations from that which 
 the Corinthians had written. These are, "All things 
 are lawful to me " (chap, vi, 12, and x, 2.3) ; " Meats are 
 for the belly, and the belly for meats " (vi, 13) ; " We 
 know," and, " We all have knowledge," (viii, 1); " We 
 know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there 
 is none other God but one. For though there be what 
 are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there 
 be gods many and lords many), yet to us there is one 
 God, the Father, of whom are all things and we for 
 him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all 
 things and we through him " (viii, 4-6) ; " And meat 
 bringeth us not before God ; for neither if we eat are 
 we the better : nor if we eat not are we the worse " 
 (viii, s). Against the vain boasting of these remarks 
 the Apostle argues. 
 
 The Epistle was written from Ephesus, after Timothy 
 had been sent forward into Macedonia, as mentioned in 
 Acts xix, 22. 
 
 ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 After writing his First Epistle to the Corinthians, the 
 Apostle was driven away from Ephesus by the riots 
 raised against him by the Pagans. He then departed 
 for Macedonia, as mentioned in Acts xx, 1. He must 
 have passed through Troas, and from thence crossed 
 by ship to Philippi on the coast of Macedonia. He 
 had sent forward Titus to Corinth to inquire about 
 the church, and here Titus met him on his return 
 (chap, vii, 5, e). From hence he wrote this Second 
 Epistle, which he sent by Titus, with some companions 
 who were to collect money for the poor Christians of 
 Jerusalem (viii, 1 8-2.3). 
 
 In this Second Epistle, Paul's chief anxiety is lest 
 his Corinthian converts should be misled by the Judaiz- 
 ing party, the Israelites, whose minds are still blinded 
 
ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 263 
 
 by a veil whicli lies bet^Yeen their hearts and the reading 
 of the Old Covenant (iii, 14). One of this party had 
 probably been among them, introduced by letters from 
 the Apostles in Jerusalem (iii. 1). And a second teacher 
 of the same party was expected in Corinth, and against 
 liim Paul gives them a special warning (xi, 4), declaring 
 of himself that he is as good as the very best of the 
 Apostles (xi, 5). 
 
 Out of respect to the teacher w^ho was coming to 
 Corinth, Paul does not add his name. He was perhaps 
 one of the twelve Apostles. Or he was perhaps Barnabas, 
 wdio had accepted with Paul the charge of preaching 
 am.ong the Greeks, and had then quarrelled with him 
 (Acts XV, 39). x\nd this indeed is made probable by the 
 w^arning which Paul afterwards gave to the Colossians 
 against Barnabas (Colos. iv, 10). 
 
 OX THE EPISTLE OF JAIMES. 
 
 There were two Apostles of the name of James ; 
 James the elder, the son of Zebedee and brother of John 
 (Matt. X, 2) ; and James the less, the son of Alplijeus 
 (Matt. X, 3) and brother of Joses and Judas and Simon 
 (Mark xv, 40 ; Acts i, 13 ; Matt, xiii, 55). As James the 
 less was a son of Mary, a sister of Jesus's mother 
 (Matt, xxvii, 56, and John xix, 25), he is often called 
 the brother of the Lord. James the elder was put 
 to death by Herod Agrippa in the first persecution 
 (Acts xii, 1), and therefore could not be the writer of 
 this Epistle. James the less w^as some time afterwards 
 present with Peter, and John, and Paul, and Barnabas, 
 at the first council in Jerusalem ; and it was his zeal for 
 Judaism which swayed Peter's mind when he would not 
 eat with Gentiles (Gal. ii, 9-12). To this latter James 
 the Epistle has usually been given, and with his character 
 it well agrees. 
 
 This James was probably the same person as Cleopas, 
 because Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all say that Mary 
 
264 ON THE EriSTLE OF JAMES. 
 
 IMagdalene at the tomb was accompanied by Mary the 
 [mother] of James, meaning the wife of Alpha^us, Jesus's 
 mother's sister; and John says tliat the JNIagdalene at 
 the cross was accompanied by Cleopas's Mary, Jesus's 
 mother's sister. Hence, either Alpha^us, the husband 
 of this Mary, Jesus's mother's sister, or James, her son, 
 must also have borne the name of Cleopas. Again, 
 Luke says that Jesus after his resurrection was seen by 
 Cleopas, on the road to Emmaus; and Paul (1 Cor. xv, 7), 
 who probably had his information from Luke, says that 
 Jesus had been seen by James. This passage of Paul 
 can hardly be explained, except by supposing that 
 Cleopas and James were one and the same person. 
 Moreover, Cleopas is a Greek translation of the Hebrew 
 name Jacob, Jacobus, or James. They both mean a 
 thief or one that sup^ylanteth. 
 
 The Epistle is addressed to the Israelites of the 
 Dispersion, and was probably written in Jerusalem. 
 It exhorts to prayer, to humility, to bridling the 
 tongue, to living peaceably, and to waiting patiently 
 for the coming of the Lord. But the most important 
 part of it is the latter half of the second chapter, 
 which is controversial, and on the value of faith. Paul 
 had lately written his Epistle to the Jews living in 
 Rome, wherein he had argued against the value of the 
 ceremonial works of the Jewish law, and in praise of 
 faith in Jesus (Rom. iii, 20-26). He had quoted the 
 case of Abraham, whose faith in God was counted as 
 righteousness (iv, 3), and thus concluded that Christians 
 were to be justified by faith (v, 1). This reasoning may 
 easily have led many to think lightly of good actions. 
 Paul's argument against ceremonial works may have 
 been turned against moral works; and his praise of 
 faith, meaning trust, may have been understood for faith 
 meaning belief. Against this mistake the Apostle 
 James writes ; and he probably had Paul's Epistle in 
 his hands. He says that faith without actions is dead ; 
 Abraham believed God, but he was justifiied by the 
 conduct which followed upon that belief. 
 
 Lanoruan;e is iiardlv exact enouirh for controversies 
 
ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 265 
 
 such as these ; words are often understood by a reader 
 m a sense different from that meant by the writer. As 
 the words of Paul may have led some to undervalue 
 moral works, so the words of James may have led 
 others to place trust in ceremonial works. This may 
 have been the case with some Jews of Galatia in Asia 
 Minor; and accordingly Paul soon afterwards, in his 
 Epistle to the Galatians, returns again to the case of 
 Abraham's faith, and not without some sharpness against 
 Peter and James. 
 
 This Epistle was probably written a.d 57. Its 
 Greek is the most pure of any in the New Testament. 
 It has but few Hebraisms, while its style reminds us of 
 the beauties of the Hebrew prophets. Its sentences are 
 short and plain, and without parenthesis, and rich in those 
 figures of speech which mark the true orator. 
 
 ON THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALOXIAXS. 
 
 In the first of these Epistles, the Apostle mentions his 
 having been forced to leave the city of Thessalonica at 
 an hour's warning, his consenting to be alone in Athens, 
 in order that Timothy might again visit the Thessalo- 
 nians and encourage them in their faith, and Timothy's 
 return to him. Now, in Acts xviii, 1-5, we find an 
 account of Timothy's first rejoining the Apostle from 
 Macedonia. This was at Corinth, and at that time the 
 Epistle may possibly have been written. 
 
 But the Epistle also mentions the Apostle having 
 wished to revisit the Thessalonians once and again, and 
 being hindered by wicked men ; and wlien it speaks of 
 Timothy's return from Thessalonica, it seems to speak 
 as if he had been twice sent there, the second time to 
 know the strength of their faith when temptations 
 might have misled them. Now, in Acts xix, 22 — xx, 5, 
 we find that Timothy was sent a second time into 
 Macedonia, when he may perhaps have visited Thessa- 
 lonica ; Paul then follows him through Macedonia, 
 when the Apostle may perhaps have been the first time 
 
266 ON THE EPISTLES TO THE TIIESSALONIANS. 
 
 hindered from visiting that city ; and then the two meet 
 in Greece, which would be Timothy's second rejoining 
 Paul from Macedonia. After this Paul agaua travels 
 with Timothy through Macedonia, when he may have 
 been a second time hindered from visiting the Thessa- 
 lonians. He then made some stay at Philippi, and at 
 this time it seems probable that be wrote the First Epistle 
 to the Thessalonians, rather than four or five years 
 earlier from Corinth. 
 
 The severe tone of the writer with respect to the 
 Jews, and his hopelessness as to being able to be of 
 use in converting them to Christianity, are strongly in 
 favour of the later of these two dates for the Epistle. 
 Since Paul's first visit to Corinth above spoken of, he 
 had taught in the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus 
 (Acts xviii, 19); he had visited the church of Jewish 
 Christians at Jerusalem (Acts xviii, 22) ; he had again 
 taught for three months in the synagogue in Ephesus 
 (Acts xix, 8); he had written his Epistle to the Romans, 
 containing arguments wholly addressed to the Jews ; and 
 he had then found it necessary to leave the synagogue 
 to teach in the Pagan school (Acts xix, 9). He had also 
 written the tw^o Epistles to the Corinthians, and perhaps 
 that to the Galatians, all full of arguments addressed to 
 Jews; whereas this Epistle to the Thessalonians does 
 not contain a single quotation from the Old Testament, 
 and speaks of the Jews as persecutors of the church in 
 Jerusalem, as displeasing to God, contrary to all men, 
 and as deserving wrath to the utmost. 
 
 The main object of the letter was to relieve the 
 Christians of Thessalonica from an anxiety which they 
 felt in consequence of the delay in the second coming of 
 Jesus from heaven. They had expected it to take place 
 before this time, and they feared that such of their 
 friends who had died since their conversion might in 
 consequence of that delay lose the benefit of his presence. 
 But Paul tells them that they are mistaken, and that at 
 the Lord's coming, first the dead will arise to earth, and 
 then they and the living will be taken up to heaven 
 together. 
 
ON THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS. 267 
 
 The Second Epistle is on nearly the same's ubject as 
 the First. The Apostle repeats his assurance of the 
 coming sooner or later of the Lord Jesus, who will 
 comfort them for their sufferings, and take vengeance 
 on those who will not hearken to the Good Tidings. 
 It seems that the Thessalonians had been reading some 
 w^ritings purporting to be by the Apostle Paul, which 
 had led them to suppose that this coming of the Lord 
 was close at hand. This may perhaps have been the 
 15th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. 
 But the Apostle tells them that, first, the falling away 
 must come, and then the cheats of a certain man of sin 
 be laid bare before they will see the second coming of 
 Jesus. 
 
 The man of sin here spoken of, who, while Paul was 
 writing, was opposing himself to everything that ought 
 to be worshipped, and setting himself up as a god, may 
 have been Apollonius of Tyana. He had lately returned 
 from Babylon, was at this time travelling and teaching 
 through Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Athens, and 
 Crete, and was very succesful in cheating a crowd of 
 followers by his magical arts and pretended miracles. 
 Thirteen years later he is spoken of as the False Prophet 
 in the Book of Revelations xix, 20. 
 
 This Epistle agrees in matter so closely with the 
 former, that we must believe them both written within 
 a very short space of time. And this makes it probable 
 that it was written from some place like Philippi not 
 very far distant; so that the Apostle could send the 
 first, receive an answer, and write the second while the 
 same thoughts were in his mind. 
 
 ON THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAXS. 
 
 This Epistle is written in disappointment, or rather in 
 anger, at heai^ing that the Galatians w^ere being misled 
 by some new teachers, who required them to adopt the 
 ceremonies of the Jewish law as a necessary part of 
 
268 ON THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 Christianlt3\ Paul had twice visited them and formed 
 among them a church, for the most part of Pagan con- 
 verts, but with some Jews among them (^See Acts xvi, 6, 
 and xviii, 23). Since that time he had written his 
 Epistle to tlie Romans, strongly declaring the little 
 worth of the ceremonial works of the Law, and explain- 
 ing his argument by the history of Abraham, who, he 
 said, was justified by his faith. This Epistle, or a mis- 
 understanding arising from it, had called forth the 
 Epistle of James, in which that Apostle warns the Jews 
 of the Dispersion of the danger of despising moral good- 
 ness, and tells them that faith without works is dead. 
 And, in answer to Paul's argument, he says, that 
 Abraham was justified by his works, not by his faith. 
 This Epistle of James had probably been read by some 
 of the Galatians ; and the Jews among them had pro- 
 bably made use of it in their endeavours to persuade 
 the Pagan converts that Judaism was a necessary step 
 to Christianity, and more particularly that they ought 
 to submit to the rite of circumcision. Paul had heard 
 of this attempt to bring the Galatian Christians under 
 ceremonial bondage, and, accordingly, he w^rites to 
 recall them to those opinions which he had at first 
 taught among them. 
 
 He says that he had been himself a most zealous Jew 
 before his conversion, and that he was taught Christianity 
 from heaven, not by the companions of the Saviour ; 
 that when he had not even seen any of the Apostles, 
 except Peter and James for fifteen days, he preached 
 Christianity through Syria and Cilicia ; and that when 
 he again saw them at Jerusalem he learned nothing from 
 them ; and that Peter himself, when at Antioch, kept 
 company with Gentile Christians, until frightened by 
 some persons wdio came from James. He then argues 
 that Abraham was justified by liis faith. He warns 
 them of the folly of wishing to come under the Law, 
 and shows tliat if they justify themselves by the Law 
 they have fallen from grace. 
 
 There is very little to fix the date of this Epistle. It 
 was written when Paul had many companions, as he 
 
ON THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAXS. 269 
 
 sends the greeting of " all tlie brethren that are with 
 me." And as we must allow many months to have 
 passed between the writmg of the Epistle to the 
 Romans and that of James, and again many months 
 between the Epistle of James and that to the Galatians, 
 it can hardly have been w^ritten much before his last 
 hurried journey from Greece through Macedonia and 
 Asia to Jerusalem. He then travelled with only two 
 companions, Sopater and the writer of Acts. He had 
 sent six other friends before him to Troas (Acts xx, 3-5). 
 Till he came to Philippi he was journeying tow"ard.s 
 Galatia ; he there had to turn southward, and from that 
 city he perhaps sent off his Epistle to the Galatians, 
 which may have been written in Greece before the six 
 companions left him. 
 
 ON THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 While Paul was a prisoner at Rome he was visited by 
 Epaphras or Epaphroditus, who had been employed in 
 building up a Christian church at Colossi in the Roman 
 province of Asia. Paul himself had never been at 
 Colossse, but we may suppose that he sent Epaphras 
 there to make converts to Christianity; and Epaphras 
 has now followed him to Rome to give an account of 
 his success. Thereupon, the Apostle writes to them 
 this Epistle to encourage them to faith and to warn 
 them against false doctrine. The Apostle warns them 
 against Greek philosophy and Jewish tradition, against 
 being made the slaves of meats or Sabbaths, and against 
 the worship of angels. These were the opinions of the 
 Alexandrian Jews. They may perhaps have been 
 among the doctrines taught by Apollos of Alexandria, or 
 Barnabas of Cyprus, and they show themselves in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrew^s. They w^ere not far removed 
 from the doctrines of the Gnostics; and to warn the 
 Colossians against these errors was the chief aim of 
 Paul's Epistle. 
 
270 ON THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 From the greetings at the end of the Epistle we may 
 guess who was the teacher of these opinions, against 
 whom Paul wished to warn the church of Colossse. 
 When he mentions Mark, he describes him as the 
 cousm of Barnabas. So then it appears that Bar- 
 nabas was already known to them. At the mention 
 of Barnabas, he adds, " about whom ye have received 
 commands." These commands respecting Barnabas, 
 which had probably been given by Epaphras, Paul 
 thus confirms; and that they were painful commands 
 is proved by his avoiding the particulars, and also by 
 his adding, as though to soften them, the words " if he 
 come to you, receive him." Paul, we may remember, 
 had quarrelled with Barnabas several years before at 
 Antioch (Acts xv, 39), and had never since laboured 
 with him in the cause of Christianity. 
 
 ON THE EPISTLE TO THE LAODICEANS, 
 Commonly called The Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 
 This was written to a church formed wholly of Gentile 
 converts. It contains little more than such encourage- 
 ment and advice as might be written to any church of 
 Gentile converts about which the writer knew but little. 
 It was a church that Paul himself had never visited, 
 and therefore it could not have been to the Ephesians. 
 Such a church was that at Laodicea {See Coloss. ii, 1). 
 
 Paul, at the end of his Epistle to the Colossians, tells 
 them, when they have read it, to send it to the church 
 at Laodicea, that it may be read there, and at the same 
 time to read another Epistle which will be sent from 
 Laodicea to them. Our Epistle, entitled " to the Ephe- 
 sians," seems to be the Epistle spoken of by Paul. Our 
 two Epistles, that to the Colossians and this, called to 
 the Ephesians, agree so much in matter, and even in 
 words, as to prove that they were both written at the 
 same time. They were both sent by the hands of 
 Tychicus ; and the two towns were within a few miles 
 
ON THE EPISTLE TO THE LAODICEAXS. 271 
 
 of one another ; and the bearer must have passed 
 through Ephesus in his way to them. Ephesus, indeed, 
 was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. When 
 copies of the Epistles were circulated among the 
 neighbouring churches, they would be chiefly found at 
 Ephesus ; and hence may have arisen the mistake in 
 the title of that to the Laodiceans. 
 
 In chap. V the Apostle quotes three lines of Greek 
 poetry; 
 
 " Awake thyself O sleeper, 
 
 And arise from among the dead, 
 
 And Christ will give thee light." 
 
 This is in Iambic verse. The thought seems borrowed 
 from the words of the later Isaiah in chap. lii. It is the 
 earliest Christian poem known to us. 
 
 01^ THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. 
 
 While Paul was living a prisoner at Rome he was 
 assisted by a runaway Asiatic slave, named Onesimus. 
 He converted him to Christianity, and persuaded him 
 that he had done wrong to leave his master, wlio was 
 named Philemon, and who was a member of the Chris- 
 tian church at Colossse. Paul was now sending a letter 
 to ColossjB by the hands of Tychicus, and he persuaded 
 Onesimus to return home with Tychicus. At the same 
 time he wrote this short but moving Epistle to Philemon, 
 begging him to receive back the runaway slave without 
 punishment, and to forgive him what he had stolen ; and 
 he added, in what was probably a legal form of words, 
 *^ If he oweth thee aught, put that to my account; I, Paul, 
 have written it with my own hand, I will repay it." 
 
 Paul had never been at Colossse, and had probably 
 never seen Philemon. He calls him his beloved fellow- 
 labourer, because he had heard of his zeal in the cause 
 of Christianity ; and when he speaks of Philemon owing 
 to him even his ownself, he probably means that he had 
 been the cause of his conversion to Christianity by 
 means of Epaphras whom he had sent to preach there. 
 
272 
 
 OX THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAl^S. 
 
 This Epistle, unlike some of the others, contains very 
 little of blame or controversial arguments. It is written 
 to a church which the Apostle had often visited on his 
 journeys, and Avhich had several times sent him money 
 to relieve his necessities while he was preaching the 
 good tidings in the neighbouring cities. And now that 
 he was a prisoner at Rome they had sent Epaphroditus 
 to him wdth a further supply. Epaphroditus, wdio is 
 also called Epaphras had been in Rome many months. 
 He had arrived there before the Epistles to Philemon, 
 to the Colossians, and to the Laodiceans were written. 
 He had fallen ill. His friends at Philippi had heard of 
 his illness, and he had heard of their anxiety for his 
 health. And now at length Paul sends him back to 
 Philippi as the bearer of this letter, overflowing wdth 
 thanks for their generosity. The Apostle says that he 
 means soon to send Timothy to them, and hopes that he 
 shall himself be soon released from prison and able to 
 visit them. 
 
 OX THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 This was written after Paul had been tried in Rome, 
 and when he w^as " delivered out of the lion's mouth." 
 But it is not clear that he was thereupon set free, for he 
 continues to call himself a prisoner, and adds, in low 
 spirits, that he has fought the good fight, he has finished 
 his course, and is ready to be offered up. He, however, 
 tells Timothy to come to him before the winter, and to 
 bring with him the books and parchments wdiich he left 
 at Troas when last there. It was from Troas that he 
 walked to Assos (Acts xx, u), and therefore he may 
 then have left his books behind to lighten his bundle. 
 
 He mentions Timothy's tears at parting ; and all his 
 advice to him show^s the affection of a father tow^ards a 
 son who had quitted liis side almost for the first time. 
 
ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 273 
 
 Moreover, this Epistle was written soon after those to 
 Colossa) and Laodicea (or Ephesus), as those were sent 
 by the hands of Tychicus, whose departure is here 
 spoken of; and also soon after that to the Philippians, 
 as that mentions his intention of sending Timothy away. 
 The Epistle, therefore, was written during Paul's first 
 residence in Rome, if indeed he ever was in that city a 
 second time. The greeting to Prisca and Aquilas tells 
 us that Timothy was then in Ephesus. 
 
 The Apostle wishes Mark to come to him. This 
 epistle therefore could not be later than the eighth year 
 of Nero's reign a.d. 62, when, according to Eusebius, 
 Mark the Evangelist died; unless indeed we suppose 
 with some critics, to escape this difficulty, that Mark 
 the friend of Paul, and Mark the Evangelist, were two 
 different persons. 
 
 The only difficulty in our view of the case, indeed 
 the only reason for the more common opinion that this 
 Epistle was written some years later, and after a second 
 journey to Rome is, that Paul mentions leaving Tro- 
 phimus behind at Miletus as if he had not seen him 
 since. But from Acts xxi, 29, it would seem that Tro- 
 phimus, if left at Miletus just before the well-known 
 journey to Rome, must have followed the Apostle, and 
 been with him in Jerusalem. This slight contradiction, 
 however, which may have arisen from a forgetfulness 
 either on the part of Luke when writing the Acts, or of 
 Paul when writing his Epistle, can by no means justify 
 two such bold suppositions as that the Apostle a second 
 time travelled over the same journey from Miletus to 
 Jerusalem, and thence a second time as a prisoner to 
 Rome; and that Mark, the friend of Paul, was a 
 different person from Mark the Evangelist and friend of 
 Peter. 
 
274 
 
 OX THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 
 
 This Epistle agrees so closely in its thoughts and words 
 with those to Timothy that we must suppose that they 
 were all three written nearly at the same time. The 
 political difficulties of the times made it unsafe for Paul 
 to write about his trial or imprisonment; but as he 
 proposes to winter in Nicopolis, a city of Epirus, he had 
 certainly been released from prison. His only mention 
 of politics is an exhortation to be obedient to the powers 
 and to obey the authorities. 
 
 He mentions his having left Titus in Crete, which 
 was, no doubt, when he touched there on his voyage to 
 Rome as a prisoner. On that occasion he sailed in a 
 trading vessel; and many of his friends accompanied 
 him as fellow passengers. 
 
 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 That this was written at a later time than the Second 
 Epistle appears from the higher duties which Timothy 
 now undertakes in regulating churches and ordaining 
 presbyters. Moreover, in this the writer refers to the 
 former. He had there written, " Alexander, the copper- 
 smith, did me much wrong ; may the Lord rew^ard him 
 according to his works." And here he says, " that he 
 had delivered Hymenceus and Alexander over to Satan 
 that they might be tauglit not to blaspheme." And the 
 former prophecies of Timothy's trustworthiness here 
 spoken of seem to mean those made by Paul in the other 
 Epistle. 
 
 When this was written Timothy was still in Ephesus ; 
 Paul had himself been there, and was gone into Mace- 
 donia. This seems to be the last mention of Paul's 
 movements that we find in the New Testament. 
 
275 
 
 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 
 
 Ihe Apostle Peter was the first to preacli tlie Gospel 
 in Jerusalem after the crucifixion (Acts ii, u). In con- 
 sequence of his zeal in preaching the resurrection from 
 the dead, he was three times taken into custody by the 
 chief priest in authority, who happened that year to 
 belong to the sect of Sadducees (Acts iv, i ; v. 18-26) ; 
 but when brought before the high council he was released 
 by the advice of Gamaliel, the celebrated teacher of 
 the Law, who belonged to the rival sect of Pharisees, 
 (Acts V, 34). The Pharisees at all times formed the 
 majority in the high council, and they were perhaps not 
 unwilling to decide against the wishes of the chief priest, 
 who was a Sadducee. Soon after the murder of Stephen 
 and the persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem, Peter 
 went down to Samaria, where he met with Simon Magus 
 (Acts viii). He then went through Lydda to Joppa and 
 Ccesarea on the coast (i\cts ix, x). On his return to 
 Jerusalem he was visited by the Apostle Paul, who dwelt 
 with him for fifteen days (Gal. i, is). This was in the- 
 year A. d. 42, three years after Paul's conversion. After 
 some time Peter was again put into prison by King 
 Herod Agrip]m ; but he escaped and departed privately 
 (Acts xii). This was in the year A. d. 45, shortly befora- 
 the death of Herod. 
 
 For the next seven years we know nothing of Peter 
 till we meet with him again in Jerusalem among the- 
 elders and other Apostles, when Paul and Barnabas 
 were sent up from Antioch to inquire how much of the 
 Jewish law they ought to enforce upon the Christians^ 
 This first of Christian councils then made a useful 
 compromise between the Jewish and the Gentile parties; 
 and by the advice of Peter, but probably against the 
 opinion of James, it decided not to put upon the Gentile 
 converts a yoke which the Jews themselves were hardly 
 able to bear (Acts xv, 7). On this occasion it was 
 agreed among the Apostles, in order to avoid future 
 
 T 2 
 
276 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 
 
 differences, that while James, and Peter, and John went 
 as preachers among the Jews, Paul and Barnabas should 
 address themselves to the Gentiles (Gal. ii, 9). 
 
 Shortly afterwards Peter passed through Antioch, 
 and while there received from Paul a deserved rebuke 
 for his want of moral courage. For at first, like Paul, 
 he did not refuse to eat with the Gentile converts ; but 
 •on the arrival of certain persons from James, who was 
 much more zealous for the Jewish traditions, Peter sepa- 
 rated himself from his Gentile friends (Gal. ii, 11). 
 
 These are the last notices that we find in the New 
 Testament respecting Peter's movements ; and it was 
 no doubt after this visit to Antioch that he travelled 
 through Syria and Mesopotamia to what was once the 
 great city of Babylon. These were the countries in 
 which the greatest number of Jews were to be found 
 out of Palestine; and therefore, in the spirit of his agree- 
 ment with Paul, when Paul went westward on his 
 missionary tour to the Gentiles, Peter went eastward. 
 
 From Babylon Peter wrote the first Epistle which 
 bears his name. In this also he only addresses himself 
 to Jewish converts, "the Pilgrims of the Dispersion" 
 (as Jews out of Palestine were usually called), who 
 were dwelling in Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia, Asia, 
 and Bithynia. It does not appear that he had ever 
 visited those churches, or was acquainted with the 
 persons to whom he was writing; but he sends his 
 letter by the hands of Silvanus, who probably was 
 acquainted with many of them. He exhorts them to 
 patience under their persecutions, to the performance 
 of their duties, and to trust in the Jewish and Christian 
 promises. He reminds them that they are " a holy 
 nation, a people for a purpose" (ii, 9), and ends with 
 assuring them that they were standing in the true 
 grace of God. 
 
277 
 
 ON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 
 
 This Epistle was written by Judas, the brother of 
 James; but he does not call himself either an Apostle 
 or a brother of the Lord. Hence a difficulty about the 
 person. 
 
 In the list of Apostles given to us by Matthew and 
 Mark we find no Judas, except the Iscariot ; but we find 
 the name of Lebbgeus, surnamed Thaddseus (Matt, x, 3 ; 
 Mark iii, is). But Luke, in his list of the Apostles, 
 instead of Lebb^us, has the name of Judas, the brother 
 of James. John also (xiv, 22), and the writer of the 
 Acts (i, 13), both mention Judas, the brother of James, 
 among the Apostles ; hence many critics, unwilling to 
 believe that the Evangelists contradict one another, 
 have fancied that LebbjBus, surnamed Thaddseus, Avas 
 the same person as Judas, the brother of James. 
 
 Again, Judas is sometimes called the brother of 
 Jesus (Matt, xiii, 55), and, by a comparison of other 
 passages (see notes on the Epistle of James), he is 
 shown to be the son of Alphseus and of Mary, the 
 sister of Jesus's mother. Hence critics, not willing to 
 believe that the word brother may mean cousin or other 
 relation, have thought that Judas, the brother of the 
 Lord, and Judas, the brother of James, were two 
 different persons. 
 
 The more probable solution of these difficulties is, 
 that Luke and John are wrong in calling Judas, the 
 brother of James, an Apostle — he was only an Apostle 
 in the same sense that Paul was an Apostle ; and that 
 Matthew would be more correct if he had called James, 
 and Joses, and Simon, and Judas cousins of the Lord, 
 instead of brethren. This agrees with the first verse of 
 the Epistle, where the writer styles himself a servant 
 of Jesus Christ and brother of James, without any other 
 title. 
 
 This Epistle is one of the least valuable in the New 
 Testament. It was placed by the early Christians 
 among the disputed writings; but there seems no reason 
 
278 ON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 
 
 lo doubt its genuineness. The chief interest in it arises 
 from the writer's repeating a Jewish tradition about 
 Michael, the archangel, contending with the devil for 
 the body of Moses, and from his quoting a sentence out 
 of an apocryphal book, said to be written by Enoch, the 
 seventh from Adam. 
 
 The Book of Enoch is a Jewish book, written about 
 the year B.C. 30. The writer lived far to the north of 
 Palestine, as he tells us that at midsummer the day 
 was exactly twice as long as the night. He may have 
 belonged to the Jewish colony placed by Tiglath- 
 Pileser, seven hundred years earlier, on the river Kur, 
 which flows into the Caspian Sea, or to the colony 
 placed among the j\Iedes by Shalmaneser, the next king 
 of Assyria. 
 
 The Epistle of Jude was not written to Christians in 
 general, but to certain Jewish Christians, among whom 
 the writer had been dv/elling, and it is not improbable 
 that these were natives either of Syria or Assyria, to 
 whom he may have travelled as a missionary when 
 driven away from Judea by the Jewish war. Its date 
 we may suppose to be not earlier than a.d. 70. 
 
 OX THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 This Epistle is written to a particular chui'ch, to which 
 the writer hopes soon to pay a second visit. It was to a 
 church not in Judea, but consisting of Hebrews of the 
 Dispersion, as it was written in Greek with quotations 
 from the Greek Old Testament, which would be un« 
 suitable if taken from the Hebrew. It was a church to 
 whom Timothy was also known (xiii, 23). The writer 
 was not an Apostle, but one of the apostolic fathers, 
 who received their religion, not direct from the Saviour, 
 but had it confirmed by those that heard him (ii, 3). 
 This alone is enough to prove that Paul was not the 
 writer, smce the Apostle declares that he was taught, 
 Qiot by man, but by revelation of Jesus Christ. More 
 
ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 279 
 
 over, Paul's opinions are not quite the same as here 
 expressed. Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans, speaks 
 of the merit of faith — saying that Abraham'' s faith icas 
 counted for righteousness — so strongly that James thought 
 it necessary to remark that Abraham was justified by 
 his works, not by his faith. And we see, in the Epistle 
 to the Galatians, that the arguments of J ames made no 
 change in Paul's opinions. But this writer to the 
 Hebrews agrees for the most part with James, and only 
 praises faith as a cause of good works, saying, that hi/ 
 faith Abraham obeyed the command; by faith Noah 
 prepared the ark. Moreover Paul advises Titus to 
 avoid foolish questions ^ and genealogies , and disputes , 
 and strife about the Law; but this writer does not 
 think such inquiries idle, but thinks Jesus was, like 
 Melchisedec, without a genealogy. He was of the class 
 of believers mentioned in John vii, 27, who argued that 
 when the Christ came no one would know whence he 
 was. 
 
 It may be doubted whether this Epistle was written 
 before or after the destruction of the temple in the year 
 A. D. 70. Verbs in both tenses are used when it is 
 spoken of. The writer says that the first covenant had 
 ordinances of worship; and then adds that the priest 
 enters the temple continually. But when he speaks of 
 the imperfect work of the Levitlcal priesthood, and that 
 Jesus is now the high-priest of a heavenly sanctuary 
 and of a truer tabernacle, it certainly appears as if he 
 was consoling himself and his readers for the destruc- 
 tion of the temple of Jerusalem. The political tyranny 
 of the times did not allow him to express his own 
 feelings about his nation's sufferings. IMoreover, when in 
 xii, 22-24, 'he speaks of "the heavenly Jerusalem," "the 
 tens of thousands of angels," "the general assembly 
 registered in heaven," " God the Judge of all," and 
 " the spirits of just men made perfect," he seems to be 
 referring to the Book of Revelation, and in particular 
 to xiv, 1; iii, 12; xxi, 10; v, 11; xxii, 12; xxi, 27 ; 
 vii, 9-14 ; which was written in the very year that Jeru- 
 salem was overthrown. 
 
280 ON THE EriSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 The Christians were ah'eady divided into three sects, 
 more or less Judaizing, as the followers of Peter, of 
 Apollos, and of Paul (1 Corinth, i, 12). And as this 
 Epistle does not represent the opinions of Paul, so 
 neither does it agree with those of Peter and James ; 
 but it contains many traces of that philosophical Judaism 
 which was peculiar to the Alexandrian school, and it 
 may he supposed to represent the opinions of Apollos of 
 Alexandria and Barnabas of Cyprus. The island of 
 Cyprus, of which place Barnabas was a native, had 
 been for three centuries governed by the Ptolemies, 
 and been united to Alexandria in literature and opinions; 
 and the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Wisdom of Solo- 
 mon in the Apocrypha, both represent the opinions of 
 the Jewish Christians of the Alexandiian school. 
 
 OX THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES OF JOHX. 
 
 These two letters w^ere w^'itten at the same time, and, 
 no doubt, sent by same messenger. One is a public 
 letter written to the church, and the other a private 
 letter to Gaius, mentioning the writer's likings and 
 dislikes in a way that he did not choose to use in the 
 former. In both he says that he has many things to 
 w^rite which he will not trust to ink and paper ; in both 
 he calls himself the Elder; in both he says that he hopes 
 shortly to follow his letter. 
 
 In the public letter the writer calls the church to 
 which he is writing, " The Elect Lady and her Chil- 
 dren ; " and the church from which he is writing, 
 " The Elect Sister." He shows his w^ell-known views 
 and opinions in charging his readers to love one another, 
 and in warning them against the Antichrist, or the 
 deceivers who deny that Jesus is the Christ come in 
 the flesh. — He writes in displeasure ; he gives very cold 
 praise, because " some of thy children " are walking in 
 truth. He adds, " Look to yourselves ; " and, " AYhoso 
 transirresseth hath not God." If any one come with 
 
ON THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES OF JOHN. 281 
 
 any other doctrine, " receive him not into your house : 
 for he that biddeth him hail is partaker of his evil 
 deeds." 
 
 In the private letter to his friend Gains, the writer 
 mentions the other letter to the church, and explains 
 what had pained him : " Diotrephes, who wisheth to be 
 first among them, heedeth us not. Wherefore, if I 
 come, I will make him remember the w^orks which he 
 doeth, prating against us with evil words." With the 
 conduct of Demetrius, on the other hand, the writer 
 is well satisfied. 
 
 The place from which these letters were written, and 
 to which they were sent, is uncertain. As tlie Apostle 
 John lived in his old age in Ephesus, they may have 
 been written by him from that city. Gains, to whom 
 the private letter is written, was probably the friend of 
 Paul, who entertained Paul when he was at Corinth. 
 He was a w^ealthy man, in whose house the church of 
 Corinth met for worship, as mentioned in the Epistle to 
 the Romans. The Elect Lady and her Children, there- 
 fore, in the public letter, are probably the church of 
 Corinth, and the Children of the Elect Sister who greet 
 her are the church of Ephesus. On the other hand, as 
 the writer styles himself not the Apostle, but the Elder, 
 there seems no reason why we should not suppose that 
 he was John the Presbyter or Elder, who lived and 
 wrote while some of the apostles were yet alive, and is 
 quoted by Eusebius. 
 
 OX THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 
 
 This Epistle does not begin in the usual form with 
 a salutation and the name of the writer, nor does it end 
 with any greetings or messages or any mention of its 
 bearer. It does not mention the persons to whom it 
 was written ; nor does it contain any advice which is 
 fitted only for one church or body of Christians. Hence 
 it has been called a General Epistle. But it seems more 
 
282 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 
 
 reasonable to consider it a letter of advice written for 
 the use of the Christian community in which the writer 
 was dwelling. It was probably written for a commu- 
 nity consisting chiefly of Pagan converts. The last 
 words, " Children, keep yourselves from idols," would 
 be wasted if addressed to Jews ; and the writer never 
 enforces his arguments by a passage from the Old 
 Testament, for such would have been wasted on readers 
 who had been born Pagans. Hence it was probably 
 written in Western Asia, where the Apostle John is 
 believed to have spent the latter years of his long life. 
 
 Both in its thoughts and in its words this Epistle is 
 very like the two smaller Epistles, and also the Gospel 
 of John. It is like the smaller Epistles in the force the 
 wTiter gives to his command that his disciples should 
 love one another ; in the use of the word Antichrist, 
 which is not elsewhere found ; and in the meanmg given 
 to that word, namely, that it is not a rival Christ, but a 
 deceiver who denies that Jesus is the Christ come in the 
 flesh. This First Epistle is probably of a rather later 
 date than the short Epistles ; as the writer here uses the 
 same words over and over again, and shows much of the 
 talkativeness of an old man. 
 
 This Epistle agrees also most closely with John's 
 Gospel in its doctrinal views. They both state as the 
 chief proposition, that Jesus was the Christ to come in 
 the flesh. The conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus, 
 about a man being born of water and spirit (John iii, 5), 
 is like the argument in the Epistle that Jesus came by 
 water and blood ; as also is the disputed, but asserted, 
 statement in the Gospel, xix, 34, that blood and water 
 both flowed from the Saviour's wound. The loving 
 nature and gentle goodness of the spiritually-minded 
 writer appear in the Gospel and Epistle alike; and 
 the agreement in word and thought between the two 
 writings is the best proof that they are by the same 
 author. In the same way the disagreement between 
 these writings and the Book of Revelation, proves that 
 John, the author of that book, is a very different person 
 from John the writer of the Gospel and Epistles. 
 
ON THE EIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 283 
 
 This Epistle is remarkable for the well-known pas- 
 sage respecting the Trinity of the Godhead, which has 
 been thrust into it by the Latin chmxh. The Apostle 
 is arguing that Jesus is the Son of God, and says 
 (v, 7), " For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, 
 and the water, and the blood ; and these three agree in 
 one ; " and into the middle of this sentence, the Latm 
 editors of the Bible, in disregard of the sense and 
 argument, have thrust an assertion of the Trinity in 
 Unity. 
 
 ON THE SECOXD EPISTLE OF PETER. 
 
 The voice of the early church and the internal evidence 
 both pronounce strongly against the authenticity of 
 this Epistle. It fonns no part of the Syriac New 
 Testament, though the writings of the Apostle Peter 
 were likely to be particularly valued among the Syrian 
 churches. The object of the writer betrays the time 
 when it was written. The Apostle Paul had clearly 
 declared his opinion that Christ would return to earth 
 during the lives of men then living, particularly in his 
 Eirst "Epistle to the Corinthians (xv, 23 and 5i), and 
 First Epistle to the Thessalonians (iv, 15-17). For 
 this coming of the Lord the Christians had been 
 anxiously waiting, and already scoffers had begun to 
 reproach them with their false hopes : " Where is the 
 promise of his coming, for since the patriarchs went 
 to their rest, all things remain as they were from the 
 beginning of the creation." To remove this objection, 
 the writer of the Epistle reminds his readers that the 
 delay is meant in kindness to us, so that we may all 
 iirst come to repentance; that a thousand years with 
 the Lord is not as with us, and that the clay of the 
 Lord will come upon us as a thief in the night 
 (iii, 1-10). 
 
 But besides the Epistle of Paul already mentioned, 
 the writer had read and particularly refers to the 
 Epistle to the Philippians, chap, ii, 15-16, when he tells 
 
284 ON THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETEK. 
 
 his readers to endeavour to be found by Christ spotless 
 and blameless, as our beloved brother Paul wrote to 
 you. Moreover, Paul's Epistles had already been 
 gathered together in a collection, as the writer says that 
 he is acquainted with all of them ; they were in the 
 hands of many besides those to whom they were written 
 and sent, as he says some of their readers found them 
 hard to be understood ; and they had even been added 
 as part of the Bible, as he says they were classed with 
 the other Scriptures (iii, u-ie). 
 
 He refers repeatedly to the Book of Revelation, when 
 he says the heavens will pass away with a great noise, 
 and the elements will melt with heat, and the earth and 
 the works therein will be burned up (iii, lo; Rev. viii, 1, 
 vi, u), and that we should look for new heavens and a 
 new earth (iii, 13 ; Rev. xi, 1). 
 
 In chap, il, he borrows largely from the Epistle of 
 Jude, in particular when speaking of the fallen angels 
 being reserved in hell for judgment, and of good angels 
 who would not do so much as bring a railing accusation 
 against a sinner. 
 
 The writer, like the Apostle, whose name he adopts, 
 belonged to the Judaizing party among the early 
 Christians. He blames those who " promised freedom 
 to them " from the Jewish law, being themselves, 
 he says, slaves to Pagan corruptions. And he warns 
 them against following the way of Balaam the son of 
 Bosor, which, we learn from the Book of Revelation, 
 meant eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols, and 
 intermarrying with Pagans. 
 
 The writer does not say from what place he writes, 
 nor to what place, nor does he send any greetings, nor, 
 as was usual, name his messenger ; but he calls this his 
 Second Epistle, though he describes the first very in- 
 correctly, when he says, " In both I stir up your pui'e 
 mind by reminding, that ye remember the words spoken 
 beforehand by the holy prophets, and the command of 
 our Apostles of the Lord and Saviour " (iii, 1-2). This 
 Epistle can hardly have been written before the latter 
 half of the second centurv. 
 
285 
 
 ON THE REVELATION". 
 
 The Apocalypse or Revelation of John begins in the 
 form of a letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor. 
 These were at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, 
 Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. But after the 
 greeting at the beginning it is no longer an Epistle, 
 but a series of visions, mostly prophetic, like the Books 
 of Daniel, Zechariah and Ezekiel ; and from these books 
 the writer has borrowed many of his images. 
 
 In the introductory vision (i, 9), Christ in his glory 
 in the middle of seven candlesticks, with seven stars in 
 his hand, orders the author to write to the preachers of 
 the seven churches. To the church of Smyrna and the 
 church of Philadelphia, he is to write in praise ; to the 
 others partly in blame. The praise is chiefly given for 
 their Judaizing bias, and to the Ephesians for rejecting 
 some teachers, who called themselves Apostles, meaning, 
 perhaps, the Apostle Paul. 
 
 Christ then calls the writer up to himself (iv, 1), and 
 shows him several other visions. In the first of these 
 he sees the Almighty on a throne, with four-and-twenty 
 elders on their thrones. Before the throne are the 
 seven spirits of God; and around are four living 
 creatures — one like a lion, one like a calf, one like a 
 man, and one like an eagle. In the Almighty's hand 
 is a book sealed with seven se-als. A Lamb standing 
 before the throne, as though slain, is alone found 
 worthy to open the seals. 
 
 When the first seal is opened, he sees a conqueror, 
 probably Peace, on a white horse. 
 
 When the second seal is opened, he sees War on a 
 red horse. 
 
 When the third seal is opened, he sees Famine on a 
 black horse. 
 
 When the fourth seal is opened, he sees Death on a 
 pale horse, and Hell following after him. 
 
 When the fifth seal is opened, he sees under the altar 
 the souls of the murdered saints. 
 
 When the sixth seal is opened, it is the great day of 
 
286 ON THE REVELATION. 
 
 God's wrath. The sun is darkened, the moon becomes 
 as blood, and the stars fall from heaven; and he sees the 
 great men of the earth hide themselves from judgment, 
 while the heavens are rolled aside as a scroll, and the 
 earth shaken as with an earthquake. But the wrath is 
 delayed until the elect saints are sealed with God's seal. 
 These are twelve thousand from each of the twelve 
 Jewish tribes, from w^liich list the tribe of Dan is 
 omitted, while Levi is named to complete the number, 
 
 [The fearful signs in heaven are those mentioned 
 in Luke xxi, 25, as to be seen before the siege of 
 Jerusalem. The flight of the great men is spoken of in 
 Matt, xxiv, 15-20, also in Josephus, Wars II, xx, i.] 
 
 When tlie seventh seal is opened, he sees seven 
 angels standing before God, each holding a trumpet; and 
 they sound their trumpets in turn. 
 
 When the first angel sounded, a third part of the 
 trees and green grass were burnt up. 
 
 When the second angel sounded, a third part of the 
 sea was made blood, and a third part of the fish and of 
 the ships Avere destroyed. 
 
 When the third angel sounded, a third part of the 
 rivers became bitter and poisonous. 
 
 When the fourth angel sounded, a third part of the 
 sun, moon, and stars were smitten. 
 
 When the fifth angel sounded, the bottomless pit 
 w^as opened, when locusts came up therefrom like men 
 prepared for battle, who tormented for five months 
 every mortal who had not God's seal on his forehead. 
 
 [The locusts mean the Roman troops under the com- 
 mand of Cestius ; and the five months of torment, are 
 the time of his unsuccessful campaign against Jeru- 
 salem in A.D. 66. See Josephus, Wars, II, xix.] 
 
 When the sixth angel sounded, the four angels that 
 w^ere bound at the great river Euphrates w^ere loosed 
 w4th their armies, amounting to twenty thousand time* 
 ten thousand horsemen. They killed a third part of 
 mankind. The holy city of Jerusalem was trod under 
 foot, but this w^as only to continue for forty-two months. 
 At this time the Saviour's two Witnesses were to pro 
 phecy, and to be put to death. 
 
ON THE REVELATION. 287 
 
 [The two witnesses seem meant for Simon and John, 
 the two bold and unscrupulous generals, who defended 
 Jerusalem against Titus and the Roman armies. Jose- 
 phus, Wars, v, vi ; Tacitus, v, 12.] 
 
 When the seventh angel sounded, God's kingdom 
 came upon earth. The saints were rewarded, and the 
 temple was opened in the heavens. 
 
 The next vision (chap, xii), is of a war in heaven 
 between Michael and his angels, and the Dragon and 
 his angels. The Dragon wished to devour the man 
 child tiiat had been born to the Woman clothed with 
 fire, standing on the moon, with a crowai of stars on her 
 head. The Dragon and his angels were driven out of 
 heaven, but the woman and her child had to hide them- 
 selves for fort J- two months. 
 
 [The Dragon seems meant for Paganism, or the 
 power of Rome, and the Child for Christianity, or 
 rather the Christians, who had to hide themselves 
 during the Roman war in Judea and the sieije of 
 Jerusalem.] 
 
 A Beast then rises out of the sea, having, like the 
 Dragon, seven heads and ten crowned horns. He has 
 the power of the Dragon given to him for forty-two 
 months, to make war against the saints. And every 
 man worships him, except those whose names are 
 written in the book of life. 
 
 [The Beast seems meant for Vespasian, who began 
 the Jewish war as Nero's lieutenant, and carried it on 
 as emperor. The forty-two months must be reckoned 
 from the beginning of the war, or perhaps the beginning 
 of the siege. The ten horns are in part explained in 
 chap, xvii, and are ten legions, or their generals, under 
 the command of Vespasian. 
 
 There were in the war, according to Tacitus, eight 
 legions, and according to the coins, parts of three more, 
 stationed in the province. These were the following, 
 which include the two brought by Titus : — 
 
 Legio iii. Gallica . . Tacitus, Hist, ii, 74, iv, 39. 
 
 iv. Scythica Ann. xv. 6, 7, 26. 
 
 Y. Macedonica .... Plist. v, 1. 
 
288 ON THE TvEVELATIOX. 
 
 Legio vi. Ferrata Ann. xv, 6. 
 
 viii. Augusta . . on coins of Beryttus. 
 
 ix on coins of Ptolemais. 
 
 X Hist. V, 1. 
 
 xi on coins of Ptolemais. 
 
 xii. Fulminifera .... Hist, v, i. 
 
 XV. Apollinaris .... Hist, v, i. 
 
 xxii Hist. V, 1.] 
 
 One of the beast's heads is wounded as unto death, and 
 his wound is then healed. [This seems to mean the 
 attempt of Vitellius against Vespasian, which was suc- 
 cessfully put down.] 
 
 A second Beast then rises out of the earth, with two 
 horns. He is a deputy to the first beast. He causes 
 everybody to have the mark of the first beast stamped 
 on his right hand or on his forehead. And the mark 
 of the beast is the number or the numeral letters of 
 his name, Ch, X, F ; or, according to other manuscripts, 
 Ch, I, F. 
 
 [The second beast seems to be Titus, who came 
 up by land out of Egypt to help his father. His two 
 horns are the two Legions which he brought with him. 
 {See Josephus, Bell. Jud. iii., i, and Tacitus, Hist, v, i ; 
 though they differ as to which were the legions.) When 
 Tacitus (lib. v, is) speaks of Vespasian and Titus as 
 being darkly hinted at in the Jewish books, he was 
 perhaps led by some report of the contents of this Book 
 of Revelation. The requiring men to have marks pricked 
 on their skin to prove they were not Jews, is explained 
 in 3 Maccabees ii, 29, when it was enforced by Ptolemy 
 Philopator. The numeral or initial letters of the beast's 
 name do not suit Flavins Vespasianus Cassar, as we 
 should expect ; but that they were meant for the first 
 letters of the Emperor's name is made probable by our 
 seeing that mode of pointing out the Emperors used in 
 the Christian Sibylline Verses, an Alexandrian work of 
 about that date.] 
 
 Then the hundred and forty-four thousand elect 
 saints, who are followers of the Lamb, and have never 
 
ON THE REVELATION. 289 
 
 been married, sing before the throne (chap, xiv); and 
 an angel proclaims that the hour of judgment is come, 
 that the great Babylon is fallen. Another angel thrusts 
 in his sickle to reap the harvest of mankind. 
 
 Seven angels then pour out the vials of God's wrath 
 on the earth (chap. xvi). The first pours out a sore on 
 all who worship the Beast. The second vial makes the 
 sea into blood. The third vial makes the rivers into 
 blood. The fourth vial is poured on the sun, which 
 then scorches mankind. The fifth vial is poured on 
 the throne of the Beast, and it darkens his kingdom. 
 The sixth vial is poured on the Euphrates, and dries up 
 its water. The seventh vial is poured out on the air, 
 when thunder and lightning go forth, and a voice from 
 heaven cries out. It is done. 
 
 Then it is explained (chap, xvii) that Babylon means 
 the city on seven hills, or Rome. And the date of the 
 vision is fixed at about a.d. 69, for " there are seven 
 kings " or emperors ; " five have fallen," viz. Augustus, 
 Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. " One is," viz. 
 Vespasian, for in Judea he immediately followed Nero ; 
 there the short reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, 
 were unknown. Then the seventh king is to continue 
 a short time. [Thus the great day to which this part 
 of the prophecy points was to take place within two 
 reigns, which we may call forty years, from the time of 
 writing, or a.d. 110]. The city is then to be overthrown 
 on the rebellion of the ten horns. The wealth of the 
 fallen city is next described, and her trade in metals, 
 linen, spices, corn, cattle, slaves, and men's souls. 
 
 In the next vision (xix, ii), the Word of God is seen 
 riding on a white horse. With the armies of heaven 
 he overthrows the kings of the earth, and the Beast, 
 and the False Prophet that wrought miracles in the 
 Beast's presence ; and he drives them into the lake of 
 fire. The Dragon, or Satan, is then locked into the 
 bottomless pit for a thousand years. 
 
 [The false prophet is Apollonius of Tyana, whose 
 pretended miracles and friendship with Vespasian are 
 described by Philostratus. His importance in the eyes 
 
 u 
 
290 ■ ON THE REVELATION. 
 
 of the Pagans was sucli, that it quite explains his being 
 here mentioned.] 
 
 The vision continues (xx, 4) with the first resurrec- 
 tion, when the elect saints live and reign with Christ 
 for a thousand years. At the end of this millennium 
 the rest of the dead rise in the second resurrection, 
 when Satan also is loosed out of prison. Then the sea 
 and hell give up their dead. Then the books are opened, 
 and every man judged according to his works. Then is 
 the second death for those whose names are not written 
 in the book of life. 
 
 The last vision is of a new heaven, and a new earth, 
 and a new^ Jerusalem, w^hich is measured and described ; 
 which has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of 
 God lightened it, and the Lamb was the lamp thereof. 
 
 [Such are the contents of this curious book. It has 
 more of Hebrew in its style, and more grammatical 
 faults in its language, than any other in the New Testa- 
 ment. It was certainly written during the siege of 
 Jerusalem while the writer's thoughts w^ere earnestly 
 drawn towards that most dreadful struggle ; and before 
 the destruction of the temple, which in one vision the 
 writer is ordered to measure (xi, 1). The writer's 
 name was John ; but his unpolished though learned 
 language is wholly unlike the more pure and simple 
 Greek of the writer of the Fourth Gospel, who has by 
 some been thought the author. That earnest teacher of 
 love to one another would hardly have expressed so 
 great severity against his enemies. No other writer in 
 the New Testament is so much of a Jew, or claims for 
 the Jews, that " the sealed servants of God" were all to 
 be pure from marriage, and to be found within the 
 twelve tribes ; no other writer makes Jesus a warrior on 
 horseback, followed by the armies of heaven (xix, 11), and 
 so little a teacher of meekness ; no other writer describes 
 the Almighty as in the form of a man sitting on a throne. 
 If this was written by the Apostle John, which the date 
 well allows it to be, the Gospel and three Epistles bearing 
 the name of John must have been either written or 
 re-written by the later writer, John the Elder.] 
 
291 
 
 ON THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 The Temple was not a covered building, as the Englisli 
 ■word might lead us to suppose, but a holy place, which 
 is the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words. It 
 included several courts, in one of which stood the 
 covered building, or House of the Lord. The temple, 
 that is, the walls to the courts and the House, was built 
 by Solomon about the year B.C. 1010. After its first 
 destruction by the Babylonians in the year B.C. 588, it 
 was rebuilt by Zerubbabel and Ezra, about B.C. 535, with 
 little or no change in its courts. After the second 
 destruction it was rebuilt by Herod the Great, in 
 B.C. 18, with more magnificence than before. Herod's 
 Temple was destroyed by the Romans under Titus ; 
 and two Turkish mosques now stand within its holy 
 area. But the shape of this remarkable plot of ground 
 remains unchanged ; even the foundations of the fortifi- 
 cations are as of old ; and by the help of these and of 
 the notices in Josephus and the Bible, we may attempt 
 to restore the ground-plan. 
 
 We must begin with the plan and measurement oi the 
 Hill of Moriali as it now is, and as we find them given 
 in Mr. Bartlett's " Walks about Jerusalem," from Mr. 
 Catherwood's survey. 
 
 V W is the south wall, 940 feet long, with the marks 
 of a gate now closed. 
 
 W X. The east wall, 1,520 feet long, with a gate, 
 through which a path leads, across the valley, to the 
 Mount of Olives. The south-east corner has been built 
 up from the valley to make the top of the hill level, 
 while, for the same reason, the north-west corner has 
 been cut down many feet below the original surface of 
 the hill. 
 
 X Y. The north wall, 1,020 feet long. Beyond this 
 is part of the city. 
 
 Y y. The west wall, 1,617 feet long. A narrow 
 valley divides this from the city. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 $!OTltll 
 
 w 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF Til 
 3 ^Ve si 
 
 E TEMPLE. 
 
 ' ( 1 
 
 
 
 4 
 ^1 » 
 
 ^n 
 
 1 
 
 / 1 
 
 J / K-otTT* 
 
 Ert5t 
 
 1000 feet 
 MR. CATHERWOOd's PLAN OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 h. A plot of ground, or rock, 15 feet high, 550 feet 
 lono-, and 450 feet wide, near the middle of the hill. It 
 is a paved platform mounted by flights of steps. On 
 this stands the Turkish Mosque of Omar. 
 
 a. A round and flat piece of the rock, 5 feet high, 
 and 60 feet across, now within the Mosque. 
 
 d. A plot of ground marked out as a garden. It is 
 about 90 feet by 50. 
 
 z. Ruins of an ancient bridge across the valley from 
 the Temple to the city. 
 
 D. The Governor's house, built on ancient founda- 
 tions, on the original hill-top, and thus many feet above 
 the level of the court below. 
 
 K. A flight of steps cut in the face of the rock on which 
 the Governor's house stands, and by which it is entered 
 from the court below. These are taken from a drawing 
 by Mr. Bonomi. 
 
 The first notice that we meet with in history respect- 
 ing this plot of ground is even earlier than Solomon. 
 Part of it was the threshing-floor of Araunah, which 
 David bouo-ht of him, and then made use of as an altar 
 for burnt offerings to the Lord {See 2 Sam. chap. xxiv). 
 a We may suppose was the threshing-floor, the round 
 piece of rocky ground, at the very top of the hill, most 
 
DESCEIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 293 
 
 SoTttll, 
 
 f^llLlr T 
 
 : ifsTB 
 
 
 Lt S B t P 
 
 MC/ 
 
 IT 
 
 I ! I 
 
 500 Greal CtlHIs 
 
 ATTEMPTED RESTORATION OF THE PLAX. 
 
 suitable for David's altar, as being most easily to be 
 seen by the surrounding multitude. 
 
 When Solomon built the House of the Lord, he so 
 placed it that this holy altar stood in the middle of a 
 court in front of it (1 Kings viii, 64). He probably 
 copied the plan of some of the Egyptian temples, the 
 simplest of which consisted of a covered building with 
 a court in front surrounded by a wall, or colonnade. 
 Such are the plans of the temples of Upper Efvypt. In 
 the Temple of Bubastis, in Lower Egypt, there was 
 a wall surrounding the whole, so that the building stood 
 not at one end of a court, as in the Theban temples, but 
 in the middle of it. 
 
 Solomon's Temple, we shall see, in some respects 
 resembled both of these. There was a court in front 
 of the House, and a yet larger court which enclosed 
 the House together with the inner court. 
 
 We may naturally suppose that David's altar was 
 enclosed within a fenced court, to be used by the 
 attending priests, and the shape of the ground leads 
 us to conjecture its size. It was, probably, the plot 
 marked b in Mr. CatherAvood's plan. The court 
 surrounding David's altar would of course be the court 
 in front of the House of the Lord, when Solomon raised 
 his buildino-; and we shall hereafter see reasons for 
 
294 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 tliinkino; tliat the House stood on tlie south side of the 
 court. We thus proceed to compare our plan with the 
 notices left to us from the history of Solomon's reign, 
 and we make the following additions to it : — 
 
 h is the Inner Court, whicli was w^alled with three 
 rows of hewed stone and a row of cedar posts 
 (1 Kings vi, 36). This was also called the Court of 
 the Priests. (2 Chron. iv, 9). 
 
 d is the House of the Lord, 60 cubits long by 
 20 wide; or 90 feet by 30. (1 Kings vi, 2). It 
 probably stood on the spot which is now^ the garden. 
 In front of it, tow^ards the north, is the Porch of the 
 House, 20 cubits wide, or as wide as the House, and 
 10 deep (1 Kings yI, 3); and behind is the Oracle, 
 or place of the ark. This w^as 20 cubits by 20. 
 (1 Kings vi, 19-20). It held the cherubim and the 
 t\YO tables of the law. (1 Kings viii, 6-9). In the 
 Epistle to the Hebrew^s, it is called the Holy of Holies, 
 (ix, 3). On each side of the House are a number 
 of small chambers round about the w^all of the House. 
 (1 Kings vi, 5). These did not open into the House. 
 
 Ji. The Porch of the Temple, with two square 
 pillars, each standing on a base of 50 cubits by 30. 
 (1 Kings vii, e). The right-hand pillar was named 
 Jachin, and the left pillar Boaz. (1 Kings vii, 21). 
 These tw^o pillars may be explained by the pillars in 
 front of an Egyptian temple. 
 
 m n. The places of the two pillars whicli stood before 
 the House, which w^ere not the same as the two pillars, 
 Jachin and Boaz, wdiich stood before the Temple. 
 
 i. The place where the Levites stood, on the east 
 side of the altar, when Solomon's new^ Temple was 
 dedicated. (2 Chron. v, 12). 
 
 j. The place where Solomon may have kneeled on 
 his raised platform, on the same occasion. It w^as 
 probably opposite to the place of the priests. (2 Chron. 
 vi, 12-13). At this spot, in later days, stood the 
 treasure-chest, for the receipt of money for the repair 
 and maintenance of the Temple. (2 Kings xii, 9). 
 
 k. The place where Zachariah the son of Barachiah 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE TE^IPLE. 295 
 
 was slain, between tlie altar and the House. (Matt, 
 xxiil, 35). 
 
 /. The place where the priests stood, in the reign of 
 Ahaz, when they lamented and wept, between the porch 
 and the altar. (Joel ii, 17). Here also, on the north 
 side of the altar, King Ahaz placed the smaller brazen 
 altar, when he removed it from its former place, between 
 the altar and the House. (2 Kings xvi, u). 
 
 ABB. The outer courts, in which stood the assembled 
 people. 
 
 We now come to Ezekiel, who describes (chap, xl-xlii) 
 a temple in a vision, bj which he means to prophesy 
 that the Temple of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed 
 by the Babylonians, is to be rebuilt. He gives its 
 measurements rather minutely. He makes use of the 
 great cubit, which is a cubit and a hand-breadth in 
 length, or, according to the Egyptian measure, 20 J inches. 
 He also uses the reed of six great cubits, or 10 feet 
 3 inches. But he was writing in banishment at a 
 distance; and though his description may agree in its 
 main features with the Temple which had lately been 
 destroyed, yet we can have no certainty that he meant 
 the measurements to be exact, even if he were acquainted 
 with them. 
 
 Ezekiel distinguishes between the porch of the House 
 (xl, 48) and the porch of the gate (xl, 39). This justifies 
 our placing Solomon's porch at one end of the court, 
 while the house is at the other. 
 
 He tells us that the altar was in front of the House 
 (xl, 47). He says that the tables on which the people 
 laid their offerings were in the porch of the gate, and, 
 further, that this was the north gate of the court 
 (xl, 35-43). This determines for us that the House was 
 at the south end of the court. 
 
 Ezekiel's measure of the House, one hundred cubits 
 long (xli, 13), agrees with that already quoted from the 
 book of Kings, namely, 60 the house, 20 the porch in 
 front, and 20 the oracle behind. His measure, however, 
 of the inner court, which held the altar, 100 cubits long 
 and 100 cubits broad (xl, 47), that is, 220 feet each way. 
 
296 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 makes it rather less than half the natural plot of ground 
 which we have given to this court. On the other hand, 
 his measure of the outer court, 500 reeds long and 500 
 broad (xlii, I6-19), that is, 5,000 feet each way, is many 
 times as large as the space allotted to it in our plan, 
 which is about 500 great cubits ; or 850 feet each way, 
 instead of 500 reeds. 
 
 After the time of Solomon, but long before the time 
 of Ezekiel, the Temple-hill was enclosed within strong 
 walls, which formed part of the fortifications of the 
 city. They were built before the siege of Jerusalem 
 by Sennacherib, mentioned in 2 Kings xviii. The 
 natural shape of the ground, which falls on three sides, 
 makes it certain that the foundations of these old walls 
 are the same as those which are now remaining, and 
 which are marked on the plan by the lines v W x y. 
 Beyond these lines the outer court cannot have reached ; 
 and we must either give up the opinion that Ezekiel's 
 measures were meant for the actual Temple, or believe 
 that he wrote 500 cubits, instead of 500 reeds, in chap. 
 
 xlii, 16-20. 
 
 After the Captivity, when the Jews had leave from 
 the King of Persia to rebuild their Temple, in the first 
 instance Zerubbabel was not allowed to rebuild the 
 fortification walls, and again make it into a citadel, as 
 it had been made after the time of Solomon. (Ezra iv, v). 
 These walls were, however, soon afterwards rebuilt by 
 Ezra. (Nehem. ii, 17; iv, 6; xi, le). Ezra also made 
 a change in the use of the building, which was called 
 for by the religious jealousy which had grown up against 
 the strangers in the cit}^ He forbade the Gentiles to 
 enter the outer court of the Temple with the Jews. 
 They were required to stand in the space in front of 
 the Temple, which was thus named the Court of the 
 Gentiles. (Nehem. ix, 1-2). The steps to the house 
 were now the place on which the priests stood to read 
 the Law (Nehem. ix, 4), not as in the time of Joe], 
 when they stood between the porch and the altar. 
 That place was no longer the most convenient for theii' 
 Jewish hearers. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 297 
 
 After its second destruction, tlie Temple was built a 
 third time by Herod. The House of the Lord was 
 made rather larger than before. The walls of the forti- 
 fications, and of the courts, were built on the old 
 foundations ; but the whole was far more magnificent, 
 with new cloisters and columns. Josephus describes it 
 carefully; and with his description we must compare 
 the notices about it in the New Testament. 
 
 A. The Court of the Gentiles, out of which Jesus 
 drove the money-changers. (Matt, xxi, 12). The 
 Pharisees, in contempt of the Gentiles, had allowed 
 this court to be made common. Here the Saviour 
 taught daily (xxvi, 55), and, as he was a Galilean, was 
 probably never allowed to enter further. The Galilean 
 apostles, when in Jerusalem, lived in fear of the Jews, 
 or natives of Judea. (See John xx, 19). The walls 
 round this court measured 3,600 feet; Josephus says 
 they were six stadia, which is nearly the same 
 (Wars, V, 5, 2). 
 
 q r. The middle wall of the partition, beyond which 
 Jews only might pass. (Antiq. XV, xi, 5). Paul, 
 speaking figuratively, said that Jesus had removed this 
 wall. (Ephes. ii, u). This was built in a more massive 
 way than the other three sides of the Temple proper, 
 so that with the fortified walls around the hill, it formed 
 a fortress by itself, independent of the court of the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Thus in the Gospels, and by the enlightened Paul, 
 the court of the Gentiles is called a part of the Temple. 
 But it was not so before the time of Nehemiah, nor in 
 the Acts of the Apostles; when Paul is accused of 
 taking Greeks into the Temple, it meant that he took 
 them beyond the middle wall. (Acts xxi, 28). So also 
 the soldiers of Titus are said by Josephus to fight 
 between the Castle and the Temple. Josephus was too 
 strict a Jew to call the court of the Gentiles part of 
 the holy place. (Wars, VI, ii, e). In the book of 
 Revelation, the doubt in the meaning of the word is 
 acknowledged ; but the writer does not wish the wall 
 of partition to be removed. He says, " Rise, and 
 
298 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 measure the Temple of God, and the court of the altar, 
 and the courts of them that worship therein. But the 
 court without the Temple leave out, and measure it not ; 
 for it is given to the Gentiles." (Chap, xi, i). 
 
 BBC. The courts into which Jews might enter. 
 Women as well as men might enter the court (7. 
 (Josephus, Antiq. XV, xi, o). 
 
 In the church of St. Clement in Rome, one of the 
 oldest Christian churches, this arrangement of the courts 
 seems to have been copied. There the raised enclosure 
 for the priests, reseml^ling our Court of the Altar, is 
 not in the middle; the aisle on one side is wider than 
 that on the other. 
 
 F GJ. The three gates on the north side. (Ibid.) 
 
 LMN. The three gates on the south side {Ibid.) 
 
 By either of these gates the men could walk straight 
 through the Temple from north to south, or from south 
 to north, as directed in Ezekiel xlvi, 9. 
 
 H. The large gate through v/hich men and women 
 might both enter. It faced the east. {Ibid.) This 
 may have been the Beautiful Gate, at which the beggar 
 sat to ask alms. (Acts iii, 2). He probably sat where 
 women passed as well as men. Josephus calls it the 
 Corinthian Gate, and says that it was outside of the 
 Temple proper (Wars, xv, 5, 3). 
 
 P. The second gate on the east side, through which 
 the women might not pass (Wars, v, 5, 2). 
 
 J/ and J. The nortliern and southern gates into the 
 courts of the women (Wars v, 5, 2). 
 
 D. The castle built by the iNIaccabees. (Antiq. XY, 
 xi, 4). It was called by Herod the Castle of Antonia. 
 On its foundations the Governor's house now stands. It 
 was at the north-west corner of the Temple (Wars, 
 
 V, 5, 8). 
 
 K. The castle steps, where Paul stood to speak to the 
 people. (Acts xxi, 40). So he was carried by the 
 soldiers across the court of the Gentiles, from F ov G, the 
 gate through which he was accused of taking Greeks. 
 
 I. The gate from the Mount of Olives, through 
 which Jesus entered the Temple every morning during 
 
DESCEIPTIOX or THE TEINITLE. 299 
 
 the last Passover. (Luke xxi, 37). He there taught 
 daily in the court of the Gentiles. 
 
 A, Solomon's porch, where the Apostles taught the 
 people. (Acts v, 12.) This is particularly described in 
 Ezekiel (chap, xl, 39-43), with the hooks and tables for 
 the meat-offerings. It was then called the Porch of the 
 Gate. 
 
 z. The gate which led from the king's palace, by a 
 bridge over the valley, to the Temple, and through the 
 royal cloisters. (Antiq. XV, xi, 5.) 
 
 e f g may be the three other gates on that side. 
 
 Herod's cloisters ran all round the walls with a single 
 row of columns ; they were 30 feet wide. At the south 
 end they were called the royal cloisters, and were formed 
 of three rows of columns. 
 
 If we now review the reasons for giving its size and 
 shape to the Temple proper, exclusive of the court of 
 the Gentiles, we remark that Josephus and Ezekiel both 
 say that it w^as square ; that it certainly stood within 
 the fortification walls on the Temple-hill, so that it could 
 not be larger than 900 feet square ; and when vfe allow 
 for the pavement, and the cloisters between this square 
 inclosure and the fortifications, it may even have been 
 less; and that Josephus says it was 2i stadium, or 610 
 feet square. Ezekiel, on the other hand, says that it 
 was 500 reeds, or 5,000 feet square ; but if we suppose 
 that we ought to read 500 great cubits, it was 850 feet 
 square. In our figure it is drawn about 900 feet 
 square. 
 
 That the court of the altar was not surrounded by 
 the square inclosure of the Temple, but at one end, 
 seems meant by Josephus, who describes the courts on 
 each side of the court of the altar, but mentions no 
 space within the Temple and yet in front of that court. 
 If it were otherwise. Gentiles could not have brought 
 their offerings directly to the priests, as we see in 
 Ezekiel was the case. And this arrangement leaves 
 just the space needed for the royal cloisters on the 
 south, and for the court of the Gentiles on the 
 north. 
 
300 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Ezekiel, indeed, says (chap, xlvil, i ), that the front 
 of the house was towards tlie east, which seems to con- 
 tradict our view of the ground plan. But he adds, 
 that this was the right side of the house, and that it was 
 on the south of the altar ; so it is not improbable that 
 the east side of the house may have been the more 
 ornamented front, while the north side was the architec- 
 tural front. 
 
 There were also two other walls (perhaps s t), which 
 placed the house within a court of its own, separated 
 from the courts of the men and women. It was, perhaps, 
 the court of the priests, called by Ezekiel the Inner 
 Court (xl, 44). Herod, not being a priest, was excluded 
 from three places — the court of the altar, the court 
 of the priests, and the house of the Lord. ( Antiq. XY, 
 xi, 6.) _ ^ 
 
 But it is possible that at times there may have been 
 no division [t-t) between the court of the Altar and 
 that in which the House of the Lord stood, as in 
 Josephus alone is that division clearly marked. From 
 1 Kings vi, 36, 2 Chron. iv, 9, and Ezekiel xl, 44, we 
 might suppose that one court, called either the Inner 
 Court, the Court of the Priests, or the Court of the 
 Altar, held within its bounds both the Altar and the 
 House of the Lord. 
 
 London : Printed by Smith, Elder and Co., Little Green Ai-bour Com't, E.G. 
 
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