%, }SL .08'. ,1 \Ut ®ft<^(»%% ^ ^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ijj Presented by \ viO-\ /ooVw^ ^o\Aj \'W'~D7S). Division -rU.^^...'. ^ ^ ■^ Sec/ton Copy / ROF. W. W. MARTIN'S VIEWS. Makes a Telling Address on the Bible at the Methodist Ministers' Meeting-. t the meeting of the Brooklyn and Long nrl Methodist Preachers Association, a king address was made by the Rev. Dr. W. Martin, formerly professor of Semitic guages in Vauderbilt University. Dr. "tin is a native of Brooklyn and haa nt much time in the Oriental countries the study of the Semitic languages auu ir bearing upon the Scriptures for exegcii- and practical purposes. What he nad say -will attract attention throughout country. He said: No portion of the Old Testament scrip- es has been so successfully analyzed as flood narrative. It is assigned to the estly narrative and to the Prophetic nar- ive. It is observable that neither of these ) narratives is complete. That in the imingling of them together the compiler k great liberty in rejecting, now a portion the Priestly narrative, and now a por- Q of the Prop'ietic. For instance, the nmand to build the ark as found in the estly narrative is retained, but the corre- mdlng portion in the Prophetic narrative rejected. At times, however, the cor- ponding portions in each narrative are re- ned, as in the case of the entrance into the i. 'One feature is very noticeable in each these two narratives of higher criticism, iiely, that each narraiive apparently re- es as historical an event which in fact unbelievable. This appears in the matter the number of animals that enter the t. And it is further evident that owing the great elision oi these two narratives, s to their corjamingliiig, that one narraiive inot be ufeed to confirm the other, except a very limited degree. "Further it will be found if the princi of redactions be applied to the Priestly n Tative as it is applied to the Prophetic the flood narrative, that the style of i Priestly narrative is no more redundant £ repetitive than the Prophetic. These £ other considerations make it doubt whether the hypothesis of the higher crit is tenable." .\s an alternative hypothesis Profes Martin offers the theory of Reconstruct Criticism. This theory is that we have the narrative of the flood, as found in Ge sis, two narratives combined, a Jehovis narrative, which is the original, and Elohistic. which is a version. The origi narrative was written probably 1400, B. and the version made a thousand years lal Professor Martin gave a separation of th narratives complete in a printed pamph and these narratives were reasonable events, full and entirely independent. A resuk of the theory of Reconstructive Cr cism, when its v/ork is fully done we ^ have an original of the Hexateuch ma ar;d a versiojj which are obtainable from Hebrew text and the septuagint will found to contain a Greek version of the oi inal. also a Greek version of the Elohii version. Thus we will have every faci and ample evidence for the integrity of Jehovistic original. The address was received with everj^ < dence of approval. The Rev. Dr. J. Adams, president, appointed the commi' on nominations of officers for the ensi year, as follows: The Revs. D. A. Jorc W A. Layton, H. P. Scarborough, and the plan of preaching appointments for home for the aged, the Revs. E. H. Dutcl John Rippere and H, A. Trinkaus. THE LAW AND COVENANT. BEING The Restoration of Two of the Books of Moses, Each IN Two Versions, and Designated Herein as the Sinaitic Tora and the Book of the Covenant: According to Reconstructive Criticism. BY j^/ WILLIAM WALLACE MARTIN, Formerly Professor of Hebrew ^ Vanderbilt University, NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS. CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE. copyright by William Wallack Martin, *oo». TO REV. E. E. HOSS, D.D., LL.D., Editor of the " Christian Advocate," Nashville, Tenn., Wholly a Southern Methodist, yet Ever Nobly Fraternal: Out of Personal Regard I Inscribe This Book. (iii) TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pagb Preface , vii Analysis of the Sinaitic Tora xi Analysis of the Book of the Covenant xiii PART I.— THE SINAITIC TORA. Chapter I. MosAiSM AND Criticism i II. Hilkiah's Book of the Law ii III. Historical Introduction to the Tora 20 IV. The Commandments of Jehovah 32 V. Monotheism and National Existence 41 VI. Statutes Respecting the Sacred Seasons 53 VII. Statutes Respecting the Sanctuary 67 VIII. The Judgments of the Law 81 IX. Obedience and Blessing 88 X. Disobedience and Punishment 94 XI. Comparative View of the Two Versions 109 PART II.— THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. XII. Sin and Forgiveness 133 XIII. Critical Documents , 140 XIV. Historical Introduction 147 XV. The Tables of Testimony 153 XVI. Statutes Respecting the Altar and the Offering. 161 XVII. Statutes Respecting the Sacred Seasons 171 XVIII. Obedience and Blessing iSo XIX. Disobedience and Punishment 184 XX. Versions Compared 193 XXI. The Legislation of Moses 205 PREFACE. In this volume, entitled **The Law and the Cove- nant," I have gathered together the civil, ethical, and religious precepts of Exodus-Deuteronomy which re- mained after removing the two versions of the Tora of Moses. The material which I have used in my two books, named respectively "The Tora of Moses" and *' The Law and the Covenant," is the same which higher criticism relegates to its documents, known as the Book of the Covenant, the Words of the Covenant, the Book of Judgments, which are found in Exodus ; and the Laws of Holiness, which are found in Leviticus; and the Deu- teronomic Code, which is found in Deuteronomy. I leave it with every fair-minded reader to decide whether the three great Mosaic documents, which I have restored and named the Tora of Moses, the Sinaitic Law, and the Book of the Covenant, giving each in two versions, are not rather to be accepted than the three documents supposed to be discovered by the higher critics and called by them the Prophetic Code, the Laws of Holi- ness, and the Deuteronomic Code. The documents of reconstructive criticism are logical in arrangement, consistent as literary productions, and related to each other as an earlier to later codes, while the docu- ments of higher criticism are without any logical or- der, inconsistent with each other, and as literary pro- ductions must surely be classed as puerile productions because of the repetitions, inconsistencies, and incon- gruous arrangements of their parts. (vK) viii PREFACE. If critical scholarship accepts the codes of higher criticism, and interprets the history of Israel in ac- cordance with them, there can be but one result, name- ly, the conclusions substantially of the Grafian school; and these subvert the traditional view of the develop- ment of this chosen people. On the other hand, if critical scholarship shall receive the codes of recon- structive criticism, there can be no other view of the history of Israel than that which has come down to us through the centuries. The method of reconstructive criticism is as scientific as that of the higher criticism. Indeed, no liberty has been taken by me which I can- not parallel again and again in the investigations of higher criticism. I simply extend the fact of confusion in the records of the Pentateuch vastly beyond that recognized by them, and I take a larger liberty in trans- position. Only those scholars who have carefully undertaken critical work in the Pentateuch will recognize the al- most insuperable difficulties which beset my investiga- tions at every step. At any moment I was liable to meet with difficulty which would make impossible my theory, that the ancient codes of Israel were con- fused together in the Pentateuch, and so make nugato- ry the labor of years. It was not merely to construct three codes which would be consistent codes out of the precepts of Exodus-Deuternomy, but each code must be found in two versions. Several repetitive sen- tences I have taken from the Tora of Moses in order to complete parts lacking in the other two codes. Such errors were unavoidable. These sentences, however, are not very many in number. Also my acquiescence in the arguments of the higher critics respecting the feasts, PREFACE. IX especially the Atonement Day, led me to error at this point in the Tora of Moses. Otherwise I find nothing to retract in my former volume, except to change the length of the stay at Sinai and to exchange for linguis- tic reasons some sentences in the J version for corre- sponding sentences in the E version. Yet such cases are comparatively few. I have sought simply to reach the truth through the theory of reconstructive crit- icism, hoping to be helpful in undermining the perilous conclusions of the higher criticism. W. W. M. Brentwood, Tenn., September 23, 1901. ANALYSIS OF THE SINAITIC TORA. (Figures refer to pages.) I. HISTORICAL INTRO- DUCTION. a. Prefatory Statement.. . 109 According to J, 21. According to E, 21. b» The Chosen People .. . 109 According to J, 22. According to E, 24. c. Deeds of Jehovah no According to J, 25. According to E, 26. d. Land of Promise in According to J, 29. According to E, 30. //. THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LA W, a. Transitional Paragraph, 112 According to J, 33. According to E, 33. h. First Table of the Law,ii2 According to J, 34. According to E, 36. c, SecondTableof theLaw,ii3 According to J, 37. According to E, 38. d. Exhortation 113 According to J, 39. According to E, 39. ///. MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE, a. Fidelity to Jehovah. . . 114 According to J, 44. According to E, 45. b. Guest-right Law 115 According to J, 47. According to E, 47. c. Concerning Idolatry.. . 115 According to J, 49. According to E, 49. d. Concerning Apostasy.. 116 According to J, 50. According to E, 51. IV. STATUTES RESPECT- ING SACRED SEASONS, a. The Sabbath 116 According to J, 55. According to E, 55. h. The Sabbatic Year 117 According to J, 56. According to E, 57. c. Year of Jubilee 117 According to J, 58. According to E, 58. d. The Passover 118 According to J, 60. According to E, 61. (xi) xu ANALYSIS OF THE SINAITIC TORA. e. Three Annual Feasts.. 119 According to J, 64. According to E, 66. f. Day of Atonement.. . . 120 According to J, 66. According to E, 66. V. STATUTES RESPECT- ING THE SANCTUART. a. The Priest 120 According to J, 69. According to E, 70. b. The Levites 120 According to J, 72. According to E, 73. c. The Place of Worship. . 1 20 According to J, 76. According to E, 76. d. Unclean Animals 121 According to J, 78. According to E, 79. VI. THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LA W. a. Concerning Crimes ...122 According to J, 83. According to E, 84. b. Concerning Injuries. .. 123 According to J 85. According to E, 85. c. Truth and Judgment. . 123 According to J, 86. According to E, 86. VII. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. a. Obedience and Life. ...124 Acccording to J, 89. According to E, 89. b. Obedience and Blessing, 124 According to J, 91. According to E, 92. VIII. DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. a. Pride of Heart 125 According to J, 98. According to E, 98. b. First Triad of Punish- ments 126 According to J, 100. According to E, loi. c. Second Triad of Pun- ishments 126 According to J, loi. According to E, 102. d. Seventh Punishment. . 127 According to J, 103. According to E, 104. e. Repentance and Mercy, 1 28 According to J, 105. According to E, 106. f. Closing Exhortation... 128 According to J, 106. According to E, 107. ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. (Figures refer to pages.) /. HISTORICAL INTRO- DUCTION. a. Purpose of Signs and Wonders 148 According to J, 148. According to E, 149. b. Faith in the Promise.. . 150 According to J, 150. According to E, 151. //. THE TABLES OFTESTI- MONT. a. Introductory Sentence, 154 According to J, 154. According to E, 154. b. First Table of the Cov- enant 155 According to J, 155. According to E, 156. c. Second Table of the Covenant 157 According to J, 157. According to E, 158. d. Hortatory Words 159 According to J, 159. According to E, 159. ///. STATUTES RESPECT- ING THE ALTAR AND THE OFFERING. a. Law of the Altar 162 According to J, 162. According to E, 163. b. Law of the Offering . . 165 According to J, 165. According to E, 166. c. Law of the Victim. . . .166 According to J, 166. According to E, 167. d. Law of Game-eating. . 167 According to J, 167. According to E, 167. e. Law of Defilement.. . . 168 According to J, 168. According to E, 169. IV. STATUTES RESPECT- ING THE SACRED SEA- SONS. a. The Sabbath 173 According to J, 173. According to E, 174. b. The Passover 175 According to J, 175. According to E, 177. c. The Day of Atone- ment 179 According to J, 179. According to E, 179. (xiii) XIV ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. b. V. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING, a. Obedience i8o According to J, i8o. According to E, 180. b. Blessings 181 According to J, 181. According to E, 182. VI. DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. a. Transitional Para- graph 184 According to J, 184. According to E, 185. c. d. e. First Triad of Punish- ments 185 According to J, 185. According to E, 186. Second Triad of Pun- ishments 186 According to J, 186. According to E, 187. Seventh Punishment. . 188 According to J, 188. According to E, 188. Repentance and Mercy .189 According to J, 189. According to E, 190. Part I. THE SINAITIG TORA. (XV) EXPLANATORY STATEMENTS. 1. References are to the English version of King James. 2. The upper figures refer to chapters; the lower to verses. 3. The letters E, L, N, refer respectively to Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. 4. Where there is no letter, Deuteronomy is under- stood. 5. A reference like 1? means Deuteronomy vi. 17; but L u,25 means Leviticus vi. 14, 25. (xvi) THE SINAITIC TORA. CHAPTER I. MOSAISM AND CRITICISM. Israel under the leadership of Moses developed Mosaism; and when the tabernacle at Shiloh was de- stroyed, Mosaism was overthrown. It has been the cus- tom of theologians and theological historians to regard this period as a theocracy in which God, through some remarkable way, governed Israel. Grave errors have arisen from this mode of viewing a history, which un- folded itself in the most normal method. The period which we are now to consider covers the time when Is- rael was under the Sinaitic law which Moses gave as the first Hebrew constitution, and that determined the order of things in the body politic. Exodus-Deuter- onomy contains our records of the events in this period and also the legislation itself. The principal events in the history prior to the formu- lation of this law code, which governed the people and produced Mosaism, were the deliverance from Egypt, the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and the long sojourning in the great and terrible wilderness. The records associate with these experiences signs and wonders wrought by the power of Jehovah. The Jews verily believed these things occurred as they are nar- rated; and Christians from the first have accepted them as facts, and have conformed their view of the Holy Scriptures in accordance with this faith. 2 THE SINAITIC TORA. Higher criticism, in a most masterly way and after a prolonged conflict hotly waged for well-nigh a century, has disturbed this traditional view respecting Mosaism, a result accomplished by showing that the records of these events and of the legislation, which we have in Exodus-Deuteronomy, abound in repetitions, inconsist- encies, duplicate accounts, and that what had been re- ceived as the work of a single writer was the commin- gling of several different accounts and codes. The indisputable facts which higher criticism has established are that there is this strange confusion in the traditional Exodus-Deuteronomy. It presents also several codes and corresponding narratives as theories to account for these facts. The codes are of course only related to the legislative matter in the Exodus-Deuteronomy. And for its codes this critical school was obliged to develop a history of Israel in conformity with them. This the- oretical history is antagonistic to the view which has been the heritage of the Church. Important indeed is it to understand the character of this history of Israel which higher criticism has builded. Wellhausen speaks of the events leading to the exodus from Egypt as follows: *' Forced labor was exacted from them (the Israelites) for the construc- tion of new public works in Goshen, an exaction which was felt to be an assault upon their freedom and honor, and which in point of fact was fitted to take away all that was distinctive of their nationality. But they had no remedy at hand and submitted in despair, until Moses at last saw a favorable opportunity of deliverance. Re- minding his oppressed brethren of the God of their fa- thers and urging that their cause was his, he taught them to regard self-assertion against the Egyptians as an ar- MOSAISM AND CRITICISM. 3 tide of religion, and they became once more a united people in a determination to seek refuge from oppres- sion in the wilderness, which was the dwelling place of their kindred and the seat of their God. At a time when Egypt was scourged by a previous plague the Hebrews broke up their settlement in Goshen one night in the spring, and directed their steps toward their old home again. According to the accounts the king had consented to the exodus, had even forced it on; but it was none the less a secret flight." {^Encyclo, Brit., Art. *« Israel.") The scriptural account differs. According to it the Hebrews were made to endure enforced labor, but there is no intimation that this bondage was "felt to be an assault upon their freedom and honor." In the Scriptures it is clearly made manifest that the peo- ple were **in despair," but there is not so much as a suggestion that "Moses at last saw a favorable oppor- tunity of deliverance," when a grievous plague was ravaging the land of Egypt. There is not a line which appeals directly to the reader with impressiveness in this delineation of the exodus by this higher critic. But in the account given in the Scriptures the imagination is at every turn addressed. Marvelous doings one after another are brought to pass in the name of Jehovah to work faith not alone in Pharaoh to consent to let Israel go, but in the Israelites themselves, so that they should believe the day of their deliverance had come. Higher criticism calmly relegates these associated wonders with the exodus, which are recorded in the Scriptures, to the religious fancies of later ages. We make no outcry against the conclusion. If it be the only sure conclusion, then it should be accepted, and 4 THE SINAITIC TORA. the elements of our faith which rest on these events should be eliminated. The improbability of these oc- currences as set forth in the Scriptures cannot be al- leged as ground for their impossibility. They would have been disposed of as idle tales had they been interwoven into the Homeric legends. The Olympus of the Greeks and the gods of Zeus' s high court and such deeds as were wrought in Egypt for Israel would have been regarded only as a part of the religious folk law. But these accounts in the Scriptures are closely connected with the loftiest idea of God and with the purest code of morals. These facts have led the stron- gest minds of the past to accept the scriptural account as true. They could be true nowhere else except in connection with Hebrew history. Even here they would lack sufficient warrant, unless Moses gave a law code as striking as the events are amazing. The Exodus relates how Israel passed through the Red Sea, and also how at that time in its waters the Egyptians who pursued them were drowned. Well- hausen gives the following account of this event. He says: **The Hebrews, compelled to abandon the direct eastward road, turned toward the southwest, and en- camped at last upon the Egyptian shore of the northern arm of the Red Sea, where they were overtaken by Pharaoh's army. The situation was a critical one; but a high wind during the night had left the shallow sea so low that it became possible to ford it. Moses eager- ly accepted the suggestion, and made the venture with success. The Egyptians, rushing after, came up with them on the farther shore, and a struggle ensued. But the assailants fought at a disadvantage, the ground be- ing ill suited for their chariots and horsemen. They MOSAISM AND CRITICISM. 5 fell into confusion, and attempted a retreat. Mean- while the wind had changed, the waters returned, and the pursuers were annihilated." (^Ericyclo. Brit., Art. ^* Israel.") According to higher criticism then, only a happy oc- currence saved Israel that day. Not so, however, is it recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. The salvation was due, according to this record, to the intervention in be- half of Israel on the part of Jehovah. We must not be blind to what higher criticism will require of us, if its theories are true. If this Hebrew literature is the creation of times later by centuries than Moses's day, and the faith of these later times was crammed into some historical fancy such as higher criticism depicts, then we have this strange phenomenon, namely, a lofty religious faith imparted through a lie, unless we regard all this early history as parabolic writings. In respect to the Hebrew Scriptures biblical scholars are grouped into two schools, higher critics and the rest. It is vanity to claim for the higher critics the scientific methods, and relegate all that the remaining scholars do as work wrought out under traditional prejudices which blind men to the truth. The facts of higher crit- icism must be accepted. These ancient writings as we possess them could not have been written having the crudities of style which appear on every page. But these facts of crudities in the present state of these writings have been the means of foisting upon the think- ing mind theories which annihilate the accepted under- standing of the development of history in Israel. Pro- fessor G. H. Schodde states the result admirably in these words: *'The great evil of modern Pentateuchal criti- cism does not he in the analysis into documents, but in 6 THE SINAITIC TORA. the erection upon this analysis of a superstructure of pseudo-history and religion, that runs directly counter to the revealed and historic character of the Penta- teuch." (Pent. Analysis, p. i6o.) The only portion of the above quotation which we here emphasize is the expression, ** superstructure of pseudo-history and religion." No reader of the Pen- tateuch can doubt that the idea of Israel being a chosen people is interwoven through the warp and woof of the records. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was the deliverance of a chosen people. Now Wellhausen says: **The foundation upon which, at all periods, Is- rael's sense of its national unity rested was religious in its character. It was the faith which may be summed up in the formula, Jehovah is the God of Israel, and Is- rael is the people of Jehovah. Moses was not the first discoverer of this faith, but it was through him that it came to be the fundamental basis of the national exist- ence and history. The exigencies of their position sev- ered a number of kindred clans from their customary surroundings, and drove them into arms. He under- took the responsibility of their leadership, and the con- fidence of success which he manifested was justified by the result. . . . Alike what was done by the deliberate purpose of Moses and what was done without any hu- man contrivance, by nature and by accident, came to be regarded in one totality as the doing of Jehovah for Israel. Jehovah it was who had directed each step in that process through which these so diverse elements, brought together by the pressure of necessity, had been caused to pass, and in the course of which the first feel- ings of national unity had been made to grow." (^Eficy- clo. Brtt.jKri. *' Israel.") The one purpose of this par- MOSAISM AND CRITICISM. 7 agraph is to represent the Exodus account as unhis- torical, as an afterthought many centuries later. Well- hausen's meaning is that Israel, as every other nation of antiquity, first were migrating tribes; that Moses ap- peared at a time these tribes were more or less oppressed, and that he became the inspiring leader who delivered them and laid the foundations of the nations. Attributing the development of Israel to any other cause is, accord- ing to this view, to contravene the order of nature in national unfolding. The belief of the Christian Church and of the Jews cannot be reconciled with this view. They believe that Moses was called of Jehovah for the special service of delivering Israel from bondage and of imparting to this rescued people a new and lofty idea of God and of making this nation a mediator of the same to the world. The records of Israel, as we have them, certainly de- clare such a mission for the nation. But higher criti- cism casts suspicion upon the historical credibility of these ancient records. Reconstructive criticism accepts the facts of discordances in these writings, but claims that they are due to the intermingling of two copies of ancient Hebrew documents, and which, when restored, will establish the view of the exodus long held by Jews and Christians, making Israel's development unique. In this present volume reconstructive criticism pro- poses to restore the ancient Sinaitic Code in two copies from what remains of the Deuteronomic and the Pro- phetic codes, and the early portion of the Priestly Code according to higher criticism, after the Mosaic Tora in two copies has been taken away. Let us illustrate the method of research which reconstructive criticism fol- lows . Suppose there was found an ancient gospel which 8 THE SINAITIC TORA. was a commingling of two of our present gospels, and that the manuscripts of the present gospels had been destroyed. One section of this composite gospel would record the doings of Jesus immediately after the impris- onment of John the Baptist. Representing now Mat- thew's Gospel by Roman m and that of Mark by italic M, this section would be as follows : CHRIST AFTER JOHN'S IMPRISONMENT. M. iJ Now after that John was put in prison ; M. 12 and when Jesus had heard that John was M. 14 cast into prison, he departed and came into M. 17 Galilee. From that time Jesus began to Jif.ijM.i} preach, preaching the gospel of the kingdom M. 15 of God, and to say, saying, The time is ful- filled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : M.iji)/. 16 REPENT ye, and believe the gospel; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There is no very great inconsistency in the narrative. But a critical scholar would feel that the first principles of a good literary style were violated in the paragraph. The use of the verb say in the form of a participle and a tense, also the employment together of a participle and infinitive of the verb '*to preach" would be detect- ed. Yet these peculiarities would be explained upon the ground of mannerisms. The mention of the kingdom of God several times would be treated as a mode of par- allelism; to some a beauty, to others a tedious repeti- tion. If the matter of the writing were of incomparable worth to the world, the writing would be studied and its infirmities endured for the sake of its contents. This in brief is the history of the Pentateuch and other por- tions of the Old Testament Scriptures. Suppose now a critical school should arise and em- MOSAISM AND CRITICISM. 9 phasize these peculiarities of style and affirm that no respectable writer could be guilty of such literary ab- surdities, and should proffer a theory to account for these crudities of style as follows: '* Several accounts were at one time current, and they were joined together, keep- ing what was most important. And later this composite narrative with its inconsistencies was several times re- dacted.' ' There of course would be grave dissatisfaction on the part of those who had for a long time received the composite document as the original. In the midst of this controversy suppose one should affirm, ** The sup- posed original is not original, nor is it a composite doc- ument with supplemental additions, but simply the com- position of two narratives." If now the two narratives were reproduced, full and with an admirable literary style, the reproduction would be the demonstration of the theory. This is the position respectively of higher and reconstructive criticism. We will now give Mark's ac- count and then a part of Matthew's account. MARK'S ACCOUNT OF THIS EVENT CONNECTED WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST, Now after that John was put in prison, Je- sus came into Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark i. 14, 15.) MA TTHE WS ACCO UNT. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. . . . From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matt. iv. 12, 17.) A reference to the composite account above and a lO THE SINAITIC TORA. glance at the words in small capitals will show any one the matter which is common to each account. The dif- ficulty of separating from the composite narrative these accounts of Matthew and Mark would be very great. But if it were accomplished, there could be no reason- able doubt but that the theory of a commingling of two gospels would be demonstrated. In regard to the present investigations, we affirm that reconstructive criticism, according to its theory, consid- ers that there is a commingling together, in Deuteron- omy and Exodus-Numbers, of two copies of the Mo- saic Tora and two copies of the Sinaitic Law. In our volume upon the Tora of Moses we have established one part of this theory: in this volume we will repro- duce the two copies of the Law at Sinai. In weighing the conclusiveness of the proof of the theory of recon- structive criticism, it must be remembered that scholars have not even suspected a single copy of a complete code in Exodus— Deuteronomy, not to speak of two copies of two complete codes. When now reconstruct- ive criticism under its principles reproduces two copies of another complete code, antedating the Mosaic Code only by a few years, credence can scarcely be withheld from the theory which we advance. CHAPTER II. hilkiah's book of the law. The wand of higher criticism has changed by its magic touch the facts of the histor}- of Israel into ideal representations made by religious enthusiasts of post- exilic times. "The Chronicler reflects faithfully the spirit of his age. A new mode of viewing the past history of his nation began to prevail: pre-exilic Judah was pictured as already in possession of the institutions, and governed, at least in its greater and better men, by the ideas and principles which were dominant at a later day; the empire of David and his successors was im- agined on a scale of unsurpassed power and mag- nificence; the past, in a word, was idealized, and its history (where necessary) written accordingly. Thus the institutions of the present, which had in fact been developed gradua.lly, are represented as organized in their completeness by David; the ritual of the Priest's Code is duly observed; the passovers of Hezekiah and Josiah (the former is not mentioned in the Book of Kings at all, and the latter only briefly) are de- scribed with an abundance of ceremonial detail, sug- gested no doubt by occasions which the compiler had witnessed himself; David organizes a vast military force and amasses for the temple enormous treasures; his suc- cessors have command of huge armies and are victori- ous against forces huger even than their own. In these and similar representations there is certainly much that cannot be strictly historical : but the Chronicler must not on this account be held guilty of a deliberate perversion 12 THE SINAITIC TORA. of history; he and his contemporaries did not question that the past was actually as they pictured it, and the Chronicler simply gives expression to this persuasion." (Driver's Introduction, p. 501.) We will admit that numerical statements by the Chron- icler and other writers of the Old Testament are open to suspicion, but we hold to historical veracity in the records pertaining to cultus and to the administration of the king- dom. Post-exilic times developed nothing but a bigoted zeal for the religious cultus of the earlier times. Indeed, zeal then for the house ate up the Almighty, the owner of the habitation. Assuming now that facts are recorded in the Chronicles, what may we learn from their records of the cultus of Israel as it existed in pre-exilic times ? We will now quote Kuenen as to the teaching of the Chronicler in reference to these matters. He says: "According to the accounts of the books of the Chronicles, then, the tora, and particularly its ritual portions, had been established from the earliest times, and specially since the reign of David, as the universally recognized standard, which well-disposed persons, whether kings or people, ob- served and maintained. Thus in obedience to the precepts of the tora (Ex. xxv. sqq.) the okel 7no^ ed re- mained the only legitimate place of offering till Solo- mon's temple was completed (i Chron. vi. 17, 34; xvi. 39, 40; xxi. 28-30; 2 Chron. i. 3, 5, sqq.; v. 5); the priesthood was hereditary in Aaron's family (i Chron. vi. 34); the high-priestly office was filled by the de- scendants of Eleazar ben Aaron (i Chron. v. 30-41); the exclusive qualification of the priests to offer sacrifice was jealously guarded (2 Chron. xxvi. 16-21); the Le- vites were always distinguished from the priests and confined to those lower offices about the sanctuary with hilkiah's book of the law. 13 which they were especially intrusted (i Chron. xii. 3 sqq., 28-32); while all non-Levites were excluded from the sanctuary (2 Chron. xxiii. 6)." (Hexateuch, p. 192.) In our volume entitled '' The Tora of Moses ' ' we have given in two copies a code which requires every one of these features as connected with the cultus of Israel. A reading of this tora will show that it was given in the trans-Jordanic territory, only a short time before the Is- raelites passed over the Jordan. The presence of this restored tora as an authority in Israel would necessitate the peculiar religious institutions and practices among this people throughout their national development. We will next ask, What is that form of religious cultus which is recognized in the Book of the Kings? And we quote Kuenen again: *'In the Book of the Kings re- peated reference is made to ' the Tora of Moses.' There can be no doubt that what is meant is the tora which Deuteronomy represents Moses as delivering in the trans- Jordanic region, and subsequently committing to writ- ing." (Hexateuch, p. 186.) Now, this tora is the one which we restored in our previous volume, which dif- fers from the Kings only because of such disarrange- ment as we have found in Exodus-Deuteronomy. Mosaism flourished in that period of the history of Israel included between the crossing by the victorious tribes of the river Jordan and that wholly complete destruction of the ohel mo' ed at Shiloh by the Philis- tines. The tora, as restored by reconstructive criticism, was the constitution of the Israelites during this period. The removal of the ark of Jehovah from Israelitish ter- ritory, after its capture by the Philistines in Eli's life- time, was practically the overthrow of this constitution 14 THE SINAITIC TORA. and the downfall of Mosaism. Higher criticism denies the existence of a written Tora of Moses. It finds in the Pentateuch an historical tradition and a legislative tra- dition, and from the historical tradition only do we find information concerning Mosaism. Wellhausen says: *'From the historical tradition then it is certain that Moses was the founder of the tora. But the legislative tradition cannot tell us what were the positive contents of his tora." Writing was then known. Why not a writ- ten tora ? Here is the parting of the ways between higher criticism and reconstructive criticism. The former de- nies that a written tora was given Israel by Moses, while the latter affirms this to have been done, and to support its contention restores this tora in two copies. Higher criticism on its part analyzes Exodus-Deuter- onomy, and finds therein three codes, JE, D, and P.; and it has separated these three, but it finds in each only a partial code, much redacted. Its advocates make no claim for a consistent, full, and logical document either in JE, or D, or P. Reconstructive criticism, on the contrary, affirms that there is in this Exodus-Deuter- onomy not alone a code, which it calls the Tora of Moses, and that it is a full, consistent, and logical body of law; but produces two copies of this tora. It further holds that in what remains there is another full, complete, and logical code, which it denominates as the Sinaitic Tora, and it will produce in this volume two copies of this second tora. The determination of the chronology of its three codes ( JE, D, and P) on the part of higher criticism rests upon this statement in the Book of the Kings: ''And Hilki- ah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah." hilkiah's book of the law. 15 Wellhausen says : '* When we read then that King Josiah was moved to destroy the local sanctuaries by the discov- ery of a law book, this book, assuming it to be preserved in the Pentateuch, can be none other than the legisla- tive part of Deuteronomy, which must once have had a separate existence in a shorter form than the present Book of Deuteronomy." {£ncyclo. Brit., Art. '* Pen- tateuch.") Controversy has waxed warm among the higher crit- ics as to whether Hilkiah's law book and Deuterono- my are identical. Vatke urges the theory that Hilkiah's law book coincides with the laws in Ex. xx.— xxiv. (the Book of the Covenant), and certain ordinances now in- corporated in Deuteronomy. This contention would naturally arise. Higher criticism accepts the code known as the Book of the Covenant, and the Deuteron- omic Code. The discovered law book must be one or the other, allowing for interpolations if it is the Code of the Covenant, or for redactions if it be the Deuteron- omic Code. The question must always be an open one, unless some new theory be advocated which denies the analysis that produced these two codes. Kuenen identifies the law book of Hilkiah with the * 'kernel of the Book of Deuteronomy (v.-xxvi., xxviii.)." In regard to the characteristics of this newly discovered book of the law he says: *'The length of the book was such as to allow of its being read aloud to the king by Shaphan (2 Kings xxii. 10), and by the king in his turn to the people in the temple (xxiii. 2); and this prevents our thinking of the whole Pentateuch, but falls in well enough with the supposition that the ker- nel of Deuteronomy, or a still smaller collection, is in- tended. Hilkiah's book contained precepts about the l6 THE SINAITIC TORA. paschal feast (2 Kings xxiii. 21), and terrible denun- ciations against those who should transgress its ordi- nances (2 Kings xxii. 13 sqq.). Finally, it occa- sions a reformation of the cultus, aiming at the complete extirpation of idolatry and the suppression of the bamoth — i. e., the centralization of sacrifices and festivals at the temple of Jerusalem." (Hexa- teuch, p. 216.) A reference to the passages referred to by Kuenen will show that the denunciations are not because the ordi- nances of the paschal feast are transgressed, but because Israel had burned incense unto other gods and had forsak- en Jehovah. This book of law, discovered by Hilkiah, wrought, according to Kuenen, ''a reformation of the cultus and aimed at the centralization of worship in Je- rusalem." The record in Kings simply shows that the book led to the demolition of all altars unto other gods, and in short the obliteration of everything that savored of idolatry. Nothing more. Higher criticism revels in inferences based upon the assumption that at this time, in the reign of Josiah, we have first centralization of worship in Jerusalem. Its advocates have been misled by this assumption. There was centralization of worship in Israel when the tribes, after a career of victory, set up the tabernacle at Shi- loh. During this period the Tora of Moses was the norm according to which the body politic was conduct- ed. The tribes had their allotted territory, and lived in their cities. Justice was administered by judges ap- pointed by the citizens. Instructions were given in the tora to the judge and to the witness. The crimes of violence were brought before the court of the Levites. Appeal was made to the priests at the central sanctu- HILKIAH^S BOOK OF THE LAW. t*J ary. Laws were given for the treatment of the neigh- bor; provision was made for the poor and needy and the stranger. Indeed, the civil code is full and most admira- ble. There are also instructions in this Tora of Moses respecting the punishment those should suffer that de- parted from faith in Jehovah and worshiped other gods. The feasts were established, or rather recorded, which Israel should observe every year. The period during which the tabernacle stood at Shiloh is the period of Mosaism in Israel. Samuel witnessed the destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh by the Philistines. The overthrow was awful. All that the hate of a victorious people, which had been envious of Israel for centuries, could devise to complete the destruction of this vener- ated sanctuary was done, and the pitiless devastation shocked Israel and destroyed Mosaism and for a time there was no worship at a central shrine in Israel. The period of Samuel was a time when men returned to that mode of worship which had been practiced be- fore the tabernacle was set up at Sinai. It was in this period that the covenant of Jehovah began to assume new significance. Samuel may rightly be called the prophet of the Book of the Covenant. My next volume will be entitled *' The Book of the Covenant." This work will establish the affirmation in this paragraph as completely as my Tora of Moses will confirm the statements in the preceding one. The bamoth became common in Israel at this time. But they were legitimate places of wor- ship of Jehovah, and had the authority of the Book of the Covenant to back the custom. The popular demand in Samuel's time was not for centralized worship, but for a centralized government. The seer tried to stem this popular tide, but was powerless before its mighty l8 THE SINAITIC TORA. movement. Hence Saul was anointed king. During his reign worship was upon the bamoth. The establishment of the Davidic kingdom secured two great ends. The first was the foundation of a mon- archy with a royal residence ; the second was the cen- tralization of worship at Jerusalem and the restoration of Mosaism. The constitution of the kingdom was the Tora of Moses, and the Davidic tabernacle was but the restoration of that which had been destroyed at Shiloh. The services of the tabernacle were elaborated with greater splendor, but the rites and ceremonies and the priesthood were the same as Moses had ordained according to the command of God at Sinai. Solomon's kingdom is but the continuation of the principles of the Davidic, and only in the religious cultus does it seem that any remarkable change took place. Indeed, the chief splendor of Solomon's reign in the view of after times was the rearing of the temple. Yet David made preparation for this building, and gave carefully pre- pared plans for the edifice. Now the law which was authority in the kingdom of Solomon was of course the same which his father David had made the norm of his kingdom. At no period in the history of Israel was worship more centralized than during the existence of the united kingdom. The divided kingdom was accompanied with a decen- tralization of worship. There must have been stron- gest reason given to the Israelites of the northern king- dom before they could have been induced to worship at any place other than at Jerusalem. When Jeroboam built houses for the priests at Bethel and Dan, he must have had other reasons to persuade his people than the mere prerogative of a king. The extravagant worship at hilkiah's book of the law. 19 Jerusalem made burdensome taxation upon Israel. The worship at Bethel and Dan was simpler; at any rate, simpler or not, there must have been some strong au- thority upon which King Jeroboam rested in order to legitimatize his places of worship. The theory we ad- vance is that the constitution which the king of the northern kingdom chose was the ancient document, which was given to Israel at Sinai, and which was called the Tora of Jehovah, or the Book of the Law; that a reasonable interpretation of this document permitted several places of worship ; and that this authority was what gave a legitimate sanctity to the places of worship at Bethel and at Dan. If this theory be true, there was every reason why this document should not be well known in Judah. The home of the Tora of Moses was in the Davidic kingdom, whose royal seat was at Jerusalem. It would seem, in- deed, that this Sinaitic law book was kept as a rare doc- ument in the temple, and that not even the kings of Ju- dah were acquainted with it. A copy in Josiah's time was found in the temple by Hilkiah the high priest, and he read it to the king, and it made such an impression upon him that he was led by its vehement outcry against idol- atry to enter upon the extirpation of every sign of wor- ship in the land save worship of Jehovah. The present volume reproduces in two copies this Sinaitic Tora. CHAPTER III. THE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. Reconstructive criticism made a most bold claim when it affirmed that the Book of Deuteronomy con- tained for the most part '' the Tora of Moses " in two copies. The assertion was made in the face of the sur- est conclusions which the scholarship of our century had reached, in so far as it was interested in biblical criti- cism. Yet we established the claim by producing two copies of the Mosaic Tora. After the separation of these two copies from Deuteronomy, there remained of this book no inconsiderable part, and we, in our volume upon **The Tora of Moses," stated that this residue belonged to Exodus-Deuteronomy. The claim we now make is that the unused portion of Deuteronomy, with what remained of the ancient group of laws in Leviticus and what remained of the so-called Book of the Covenant after we had subtracted the Tora of Moses, furnishes the material out of which we will reconstruct the Tora of Jehovah, a tora given to Israel at Sinai, and which, in later times, became the tora for the northern kingdom. All that we propose to do, within the limits of this volume, is to give the recovered tora in two copies and to add the Exodus-Numbers ac- count of the events in Israel while the Sinaitic law was the civil code for the community. The introductory historical survey as found in this tora will be conclusive of its being given at Sinai, just as the historical intro- duction to the Tora of Moses proves that it was ut- tered in the trans-Jordanic regions before the crossing of the Jordan. (20) THE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 21 A most remarkable confirmation of the theory of reconstructive criticism will have been given when the Sinaitic Tora in two copies is restored by these investi- gations. In Exodus-Deuteronomy higher criticism has accepted the three codes known as the Deuteronomic, Priestly, and Prophetic. Yet not one of these, as pre- sented by higher critics, is a logical code, and each one abounds in inconsistencies and repetitions in the various provisions found in these documents. Then, too, it must be kept in mind that only a single copy of these three codes is furnished by higher criticism. The re- sults of reconstructive criticism stand in bold contrast with these codes. For they present two toras, each con- sistent with the other ; and of each tora reconstructive criticism furnishes two copies. The Sinaitic Tora has a kind of prefatory sentence, which is made to precede it in order to introduce the tora into the body of the history of Israel, of which it forms a part. The Tora of Moses was woven into this history in the same way. PREFATORT STATEMENT ACCORDING TO /. L^ These are the statutes and judgments and laws which Jehovah made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. PREFATORT STATEMENT ACCORDING TO E, LgJ Js These are the commandments and stat- ic gjutes and judgments which Jehovah com- manded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai. The words ** statutes and judgments" in the copy of E are supplied from Deuteronomy. 22 THE SINAITIC TORA. The historical situation alone can suggest the con- tent of the opening sentences of the Sinaitic Tora. Moses kept alive three great thoughts in Israel. The first was that Jehovah had delivered the people from bondage ; the second, that he had made Israel a chosen people; the third, that the experiences through w^hich they had passed in the great and terrible desert had been ample proof that Jehovah v^as faithful. These thoughts, and the theophany w^hich they had witnessed at Mount Sinai, were at this time dominant in the minds of Israel. They would naturally be alluded to in the opening words of the tora. In the restoration of the Sinaitic Tora we will desig- nate one copy by J and the other by E, adding here no reason for this method of distinguishing them. Also common matter will be in small capitals. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE ACCORDING TO J. 1, 10 * ^ Now therefore hearken, O Israel, Ye stand THIS DAY BEFORE JeHOVAH YOUR GoD, all of you, your captains of your tribes, your eld- 6 ers, and your officers. He chose thee to be a special people to himself above all the people 'that are upon the face of the earth. Jehovah did not set his love upon you nor choose you be- cause you were more in numbers than any other people ; for ye were the fewest of all people. 8 And because Jehovah loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah with a mighty hand brought you out from the hand of Pha- raoh, king of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. The history of Israel establishes each statement in THE HISTORICAL. INTRODUCTION. 23 these opening words. It was at Sinai that the people were organized into military companies. Captains were prominent in this military community. The elders were the prominent men of the people, heads of families dur- ing the bondage in Egypt. The officers were those who carried on the civil administration in Israel. It was at Horeb or thereabout that they were first ap- pointed, and the innovation was made at the suggestion of Jethro, father-in-law to Moses. The past history of Israel demonstrated that they were the chosen people of Jehovah. Moses, who at this time was speaking to them, had stood before Pharaoh and demanded in the name of Jehovah that his people should be let go out of the land in order to offer sacrifice. The august splen- dor of the power of Jehovah must have passed most vividly before the mind of Moses while he was speak- ing; for memory would recall the wonders which had gained consent from Egypt's monarch, so that Israel might depart from his land. Then this choice of Israel was due to the oath given to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. The opening words of the Tora of Moses contain somewhat of chiding. The lawgiver there reminds Is- rael of their unrighteousness, tells them that they are " a stiff-necked people." Not so here. It was no time to call up the weakness of Israel. They had just emerged from the fiery trials of the desert. They were under the potent power of the theophany at Sinai. The prom- ises that sustained them in the desert were about to enter upon fulfillment. Every word should be one of encouragement. Hence this marvelous leader simply directs their minds, so far as now the past comes in re- view, to the deliverance from Egypt and the reasons for 24 THE SINAITIC TOR A. it, to the fact that they above all the people of the earth are the chosen people. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE ACCORDING TO E, 5^5 Hear, O Israel, Ye stand this day be- fore Jehovah your God, all the men of Is- aa/a rael, elders of your tribes and officers. And he hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto 20 himself above all the nations of the earth. And Jehovah took you and brought you forth out 3} of the iron furnace of Egypt with signs and 2^ wonders and an outstretched arm to be a peo- ^Iple of inheritance unto him as at this day ; for i^Jehovah thy God loved thee. And Jehovah thy God hath kept the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. Every fact is found in E which we observed to be recorded in J. The people are to be a peculiar people ; they were delivered from Egypt by Jehovah's power. All was done because Jehovah loved Israel and had given oath to their fathers. Yet these facts are told with striking stylistic differences, evidencing some kind of independence. The next step in the historical survey, which opens this Book of the Law, is to refer to the great facts of the history of Israel. Some of these events were be- yond the ken of most of the hearers. Yet they were so near that they were known to the community through the words spoken to sons by fathers who had dwelt in Egypt, endured its rigorous bondage, and witnessed the wonderful deliverance. Hence it could be said that all Israel knew this early history. Other events had been seen by the hearers themselves, especially the strange experience of guidance and support which they had re- THE HISTORICAL. INTRODUCTION. 25 ceived in the desert, and also that marvelous occur- rence, when **the earth opened her mouth and swal- lowed '* all the members of one family and all their sub- stance. They had all seen the theophany at Sinai, when Jehovah spake unto Israel. These are the facts which Moses recalls in the next section. DEEDS OF JEHOVAH ACCORDING TO J. \ ^J And ye know his greatness and his miracles and his acts, which he did unto Pharaoh, king il of Egypt, and all his land. And Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty "hand and an outstretched arm. And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses and to their chariots, how he made the waters of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pur- sued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them. "And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, how the earth opened her mouth and swal- " lowed them up and their households. And i^what he did unto you in the wilderness, he 5 5 who led thee through that great waterless wilderness. Thy raiment waxed not old upon 4 thee, neither did thy foot swell. And Jeho- ^JvAH talked with YOU face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire in the day of J2the assembly. Behold, the heavens and the heaven of the heavens is Jehovah's thy God; and the earth also, with all that is therein. The references to the historic past of Israel are mas- ter strokes of powerful appeal. They are Egypt and de- liverance, the Red Sea and the overthrow of the army of Pharaoh, rebellion in the desert and the ingulfing of the unfaithful, a weary traversing of the wilderness and 26 THE SINAITIC TORA. the ever-present evidence of the presence of Jehovah. These were the great events of the national Hfe, which Moses brings to mind here. All is climaxed in the final allusion to the wonderful theophany at Sinai only re- cently witnessed by Israel. This brief historical survey covers the whole of their national existence. Its only purpose is to impress upon Israel that they were a cho- sen people, above all the nations of the earth. The experience at Kadesh is omitted in this review ; it was not a time to emphasize the unbelief of the nation which had as its punishment the years of wandering. Nor is the faithlessness of Israel at all alluded to in this historical review, but only the faithfulness of Jeho- vah. In this respect the historical introduction of the Tora of Moses stands in boldest contrast with what we have recorded in this place. DEEDS OF JEHOVAH ACCORDING TO E. il And remember well what Jehovah thy God "did unto Pharaoh and all Egypt, the chastise- ments of Jehovah your God, his mighty hand *3 and his outstretched arm in the midst of Egypt. Eat And Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in E 23 the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, " his chariots and his horsemen. And your eyes have seen all the great acts of Jehovah which ^6 he has done. What he did unto the sons Njoof Eliab, the son of Reuben, then the earth "opened up her mouth and swallowed them and their tents and all their substance that was in '^ their possession in the midst of all Israel. And g I led you in the wilderness, and Jehovah thy 15 God, who brought thee forth water out of the l^il flinty rock, knew thy walkings through that THE HISTORICAL, INTRODUCTION. 2*] great and terrible desert where there were ^ fiery serpents and scorpions and drought. Ye ^ ate no bread, and ye drank no strong drink, your clothes waxed not old, and thy shoe is not wax- |en old upon thy foot. And Jehovah talked WITH YOU HERE in the mount out of the midst *2, 2?of fire. And Jehovah is thy God, he is thy praise, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen. The essential agreement in this passage of the two copies is at once apparent. And here, as in J, the ring of the words is such as actual occurrences would in- spire. They sound not as *'the idealization of the past history of a nation," wrought out by the pondering of some persons under religious zeal over traditions that had come down the centuries, touching them by the sense of marvel such as the imagination of a crude peo- ple only delight in. Again, observe in the words either of J or E the depicting Jehovah as the God of Israel. For forty years Israel had been experiencing his care and help. Striking illustrations of his presence among them were known to those who were listening when this law of Jehovah was declared. A sense of reality per- meates the record. Now turn to the modern interpre- tation of this record by higher critics — one at least, Budde, in his *' Religion of Israel to the Exile." He says : ** If Israel became converted to the new God (the God of the Kenites), Yahweh, it took this step because it gave credence to Moses's preaching that this God was able and willing to grant its wish. The conviction had ripened in Moses's own bosom. It had unfolded itself to him in the solitude of the steppe, among the flocks, where Mohammed also received his revelations. It is 28 THE SINAITIC TORA. of no real consequence to determine by what means Moses received the revelations v^rhich transformed him into the enthusiastic apostle of this God of the mountain and desert. But we have every reason to assume that the oral tradition of centuries has given here as else- where a more and more objective character to experi- ence. Enough that Moses and the people which be- lieved him attributed to the mountain God of Sinai the power to perform great and warlike deeds, and at the same time the will to make use of this power in Israel's behalf. And they were not mistaken; for under his standard the deliverance from the Egyptian yoke was actually accomplished." (*' Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 25.) This mode of dealing with facts is a romancing far more than ever people were known to do with the great traditions of their national life. Not the preaching of Moses made Israel believe. The record affirms that Israel had no faith in the words of Moses. How could they believe? After Moses had wrought before Pharaoh the signs which Jehovah commanded him, Egypt's king added to Israel's hardships, and their increased burdens wrought sad havoc with the begin- nings of that faith which Israel had at first given to Moses because of his words and the signs which he dis- played before the elders and the people. Verily, if Je- hovah is whittled down to the ghostly skeleton which these words of Budde make, the God of Israel is a myth, and reverence for him is unworthy of a rational mind. The historical introduction to the Sinaitic Tora closes with a prophetic utterance. The first paragraph of this historical survey was a look at Israel as they were when standing before the speaker. The people were a chosen THE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 29 people. The second paragraph was a retrospect, call- ing to mind the deliverance and guidance of this chosen people by Jehovah. The future alone remained to be considered. As yet no significant victory had crowned the path of Israel since they had journeyed from Horeb some forty years before. Yet in their darkest hours there remained to them the promises of Jehovah. Israel would enter some time into the land which God swore unto their fathers to give them. The hour for the move- ment forward had come. Long delayed, it at last had arrived. The expectation of Israel, founded upon the promises of God, brings to a close the historical intro- duction to the Sinaitic law. THE LAND OF PROMISE ACCORDING TO /. f And ye shall go in and possess the land " which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them and their seed, a land that floweth with ^milk and honey. And Jehovah will drive out the nations from before you, and ye shall pos- sess greater nations and mightier than your- iJ J selves. Thou shalt not be afraid of them ; for j; Jehovah thy God is among you, the God of 7 7 21,23 gods, a mighty God, and terrible ; and he shall deliver them into thy hands, and thou shalt de- JJstroy them with a mighty destruction. And ye shall possess it and dwell therein. Here is an example of faith. A leader sees victory for his people over nations mightier and greater than they themselves. Yet these words are not those of an enthusiast ; rather they express a conviction resting upon evidence from the past. The land before Israel is the land of promise. The host of Israel will go forward with faith in the promise. We must not fail to notice 30 THE SINAITIC TOR A. the appropriateness of these words of Moses to Israel in view of the environment at the time. THE LAND OF PROMISE ACCORDING TO E. if Thou shalt go in and possess the good land, 15 which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, a land 23 that floweth with milk and honey. And Jeho- J i^vah thy God will be among you, to cast out all thine enemies before thee as Jehovah hath g| spoken, to drive out nations before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give i?thee their land for an inheritance. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more 21 than I, how can I dispossess them? still thou J? shalt not be affrighted at them ; for Jehovah your God is Lord of lords, a great God, mighty a^and terrible, and he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt destroy them and n their name from under heaven. And thou shalt possess it and dwell therein. The verbal differences in the copies will some day fur- nish a most interesting subject of study. But our lim- its will not permit attention to be drawn to them. Yet identity in fact and variety in the mode of expression on the part of two witnesses constitute the surest evi- dence before the bar of reason. We close in this chapter the historical survey to the Sinaitic Tora. There are proffered by reconstructive criticism two copies of it, alike as to fact, different as to expression. The contents of this introduction are most fitting for the occasion when this law was uttered. Is- rael had but recently emerged from the desert, and were about to begin the march toward Canaan. As a piece of writing either copy is a masterpiece of composition ; THE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 3I and if reference be made to the Tora of Moses, it will be noticed that in that writing and in this the same im- perial mind is at work. The great lawgiver is at him- self on both occasions. Reconstructive criticism has found in Deut. i.-xi. one historical introduction for its Tora of Moses, and another for its Sinaitic Tora; also within the same limits it has found two copies of each introduction. Higher criticism finds in these early chapters the evi- dence of one or two authors distinct from the author of Deut. xii.-xxvi. Moreover, these first nine chapters present such incongruities that higher critics are quite in despair to account for the lack of sequence in events and the senseless repetitions on any theory of respect- able authorship or sensible redaction. The worth of any critical school must of course be known by its fruits. CHAPTER IV. THE COMMANDMENTS OF JEHOVAH. The trend of higher criticism has been toward dis- covering decalogues in Exodus-Numbers. The aim of all this endeavor has been to find some kind of evolu- tion in the thought of Israel which would at last culmi- nate in the Decalogue as we find it in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. The theories of the higher critics re- quire that this Decalogue be evolved in Israel by labori- ous experimentation in moral and religious endeavors. Budde speaks in reference to the Decalogue as follows : **But many scholars, while relinquishing everything else, have tried to save the Ten Commandments, the 'Mosaic' moral law, for these oldest times. Now, the Ten Commandments base all their demands on the na- ture of the God of Israel. If, then, they really did come into existence from this period, it appears that there existed, even in the earliest times, a conception of God so sublime that hardly anything could remain for the prophets to do. This of itself should suffice to show the impossibility of the Mosaic origin of the Ten Commandments." ("The Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 32.) We say in reply, that this sublime con- ception of God was given by Moses in the Decalogue, and without its presence in Israel the history of the peo- ple would have no more world-wide signification than the history of any other ancient nation which made more or less improvement upon the fetich nature wor- ship prevalent in those far-off days. The work of the prophets was simply to enforce this sublime conception of God, which the Decalogue imparted, to guard its (32) THE COMMANDMENTS OF JEHOVAH. " 33 purity, to show its thousand-fold ramifications. The ad- ditions to the Decalogue, as found in Exodus and Deuter- onomy, are due to the same causes as produced the in- termingling of different toras in these books of Scrip- ture. The Sinaitic statement of the commandments va- ries from that given in the Tora of Moses, but only as the half-blown flower differs from the gorgeous beauty of the perfected blossom. In the Sinaitic Tora the commandments are intro- duced by an introductory paragraph. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH ACCORDING TO J. ^ Thou shalt keep his commandments which i|I command thee this day, and thou shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command thee to the right hand or to the left, ,§^ 1^ that it might be well with thee in the land 10, 13 whither thou shalt go to possess which Jeho- vah sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The paragraph echoes what goes before in the his- torical survey. The promised land is ahead of Israel, only as the commandments on Israel's part were ob- served. Only as obedience to them was maintained could Israel hope to retain the love of Jehovah and en- ter into the promise. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH ACCORDING TO B, 5 32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as Jehovah 5^32 your God hath commanded you this day. Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or the left. 3I Ye shall walk in all the ways which Jehovah {your God commandeth you, that ye may live and go in and possess the land which Jehovah God of your fathers giveth you. 3 34 THE SINAITIC TORA. We notice that the copy of E gives preference to the plural of the second person, while that of J prefers the singular form. Often does this peculiarity appear. The Decalogue, as recorded in the Sinaitic law, fol- lows after this transitional paragraph. They are ten short sentences. They are the basis of the code which fol- lows, and naturally separate themselves into two groups, one relating to God and the other relating to man. FIRST TABLE ACCORDING TO J. I. iS Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and swear by his name. II. }5 And ye shall love the stranger. III. l'} Ye shall make no idols. IV. Lja Ye shall not swear by my name falsely. v. LaS Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. Our limits in this volume will exclude any extended comparison between this early tora and the tora deliv- ered in the plains of Moab near the Jordan. But it will be suggestive to compare the separate commands in the first table of the two toras, that the reader may have opportunity to discern the gradual perfecting in modes of expression of that revelation which Moses media- ted to Israel. The first command in the Mosaic Tora is, **Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy THE COMMANDMENTS OF JEHOVAH. 35 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." We readily acknowledge the lofty conception of Jeho- vah which is given in this command. All that higher critics may say of it we indorse, and we will even add thereto. It requires a noble reverence, a hearty service, and unflagging fidelity to God; for these are essential elements in love. But the Sinaitic law requires these acts of affection. The second command of the Mo- saic Torais, ** Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The phrasing could have meaning only when neigh- bors, individual and national, were actualities. The life which Israel would enter upon when it crossed the Jor- dan would create actual neighborship. But at Sinai no such condition was present. The host of Israel was migrating; those who came into the camp were stran- gers. They were guests for the day or for the night. Hence, the command of good will to men took the form, '* Thou shalt not vex a stranger." The third command of the Mosaic Tora is, *'Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The third in the Sinaitic law is, *' Ye shall make no idols for yourselves." Here one clearly sees that the specific character of the Sinaitic command pointed more directly to the gods that were on this side of the Jordan — gods of the Amorites, and, perhaps, of the Moabites and Ammonites. Other forms of worship were found on the west side of the Jordan, and so the commandment against idolatry is the more general in the Mosaic Tora. The fourth commandment in the Tora of Moses is, *'Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain." Contrasted with the cor- responding one in the Sinaitic Tora, we notice its wider scope. The Sinaitic commandment is, *'Thou shalt not swear by my name falsely." This is only one mode 36 THE SINAITIC TORA. of taking the holy name in vain. The fifth command in the Mosaic Tora is, *' Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." The corresponding one in the Sinaitic law is, ''Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary." It is to be recalled that at Sinai the sanc- tuary was made and setup, and also that the ordinances for it and its ritual were established. Here also the sab- baths were ordained. Naturally, then, the command which respects worship would be specific. But when Israel reached the Jordan, the community was ardent in its observance of the duties which the sanctuary re- quired from Israel, and needed no detailed statement regarding it ; and so the command took upon itself the simple form, "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." FIRST TABLE ACCORDING TO E. I. aS Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and swear by his name. II. J5 Love the stranger. III. l" Turn ye not unto idols. IV. 1I2 Ye shall not profane my holy name. v. l'^ Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. The most noticeable differences in this copy are found in the third and fourth commandments. In the fourth the sense is not at variance in the two copies; for to THE COMMANDMENTS OF JEHOVAH. 37 swear falsely by the name of Jehovah was to profane that name. The third command in J of the Sinaitic Tora emphasizes the making of idols, while the corre- sponding E refers to a turning aside unto them. Strict identity, however, would give no evidence as to the trustworthiness of the two copies any more than one copy; but variations of expressions and essential one- ness of facts make a most conclusive confirmation. The second table respects the obligations of man to man. These arise out of the manifold relations which grow out of a social compact between individ- uals. They relate to the home and those safeguards which are enjoined in order to preserve it inviolable; to the protection given to human life; to matters of truth and justice. SECOND TABLE ACCORDING TO J. VI. Ei5 He who curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. VII. L20 Whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, 1. 2? betrothed to an husband, their blood be upon them. VIII. N ?6 The murderer shall surely be put to death. IX. L If Ye shall not steal. X. lJI Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. The first three carry the death penalty. They make clear what ethics are most cherished in the Hebrew 38 THE SINAITIC TORA. economy. From Israel alone could come that great Teacher, who gave us knowledge of the heavenly Fa- ther, and taught us how to pray unto him; for no na- tion ever gave higher reverence to the sacred relation of parentage. And the sanctity of home and the sa- credness of human life, which are evidenced in the second table, are necessary forerunners to that system of morals and that lofty sacrifice which are characteris- tic of Christianity. SECOND TABLE ACCORDING TO E. VI. L^2 E 16 He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. VII. L20 Thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neigh - L2?bor's wife ; they shall surely be put to death. VIII. N 55 The murderer shall surely be put to death. IX. L J3 Thou shalt do no robbery. X. lJs Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. The time will come when the verbal differences in the two toras will be carefully weighed by critics to learn their causes, but not to deny the tables themselves. Generally, it may be said that the commandments of the Sinaitic Tora and those of the Mosaic have relation to the same national economy, but only as an earlier code to a later. There is a hortatory close placed after the command- ments to complete the section. Every emphasis possi- THE COMMANDMENTS OF JEHOVAH. 39 ble Moses placed upon this Decalogue when he an- nounced it to Israel at Sinai. Nor is this strange, since the Ten Commandments inspire the whole of the Sina- itic code. EXHORTATION ACCORDING TO J. \\ Observe to do and to keep his command- ments which I have commanded thee, thou and thy son and thy son's son, all the days of E " thy life ; and they shall be for a sign for thee upon thy hand and for a memorial between 5J thine eyes, that thou mayest live and multiply, and thai Jehovah thy God may bless thee in the land w^hlther thou shalt go to possess, and that thou mayest possess it. The closing words are impressive. Moreover, the Mosaic Tora worthily echoes them. Certain it is, if these commandments are as signs upon the hands, that no one will lift the hand to steal or to commit violence. And if they are as a memorial before the eyes, no home will be robbed of its purity, because a look led to lust, nor will the heavens lead to astral worship, because the eye saw these star-marvels there and men were led to believe them, in their ignorance, gods. EXHORTATION ACCORDING TO E. ^J And ye shall keep all the commandments E }J which I command you ; and they shall be for a token upon thy hand and for frontlets between 29 thine eye, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee 1 in all the works which thou doest, and that ye " may live and multiply, and be strong and go in and possess the land whither ye go to possess. Reconstructive criticism in this chapter restores the 4© THE SINAITIC TORA. Sinaitic Decalogue. The group compasses the duties which man owes to his God and to his fellows. The several precepts enshrine universal principles. In re- gard to the second table, the family could not be built up unless the first three commands of the table were operative ; the civic community could not abide unless the fourth and fifth were observed. It may also be said of the first table that no religion could hold sway over a people, unless the principles involved in this table were more or less in exercise. But alone of the re- ligion of Israel can it be said that its civic law ex- cluded forever any worship of a god who was not Jehovah. Idolatry in Israel required disobedience to its law. CHAPTER V. MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. In the view of the Christian Church, the chief est glo- ry of Moses and the prophets is that they enforce a strictly monotheistic faith. Israel, while faithful to their creed, believed in one God. Nothing is clearer than that the Sinaitic law considers fidelity to Jehovah, this one God, as the only condition upon which the national existence of Israel depended. If they wished to pos- sess the land of promise, they must renounce all wor- ship save that of Jehovah. In the face of this belief of the Church and of the express declarations of Scripture, we are told by higher critics that Israel did not hold in its earliest history to faith in one God. Budde says: *'It is, therefore, in the highest degree improbable that Yahweh demanded at Sinai the exclusive veneration of his own godhead. True, this is the unvarying tradition of the Old Testament tradition. It is to this day the generally accepted view, and it is held even by advanced specialists. But it hardly can be maintained." ("The Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 58.) The nature of this school of criticism is the wolf un- der the lamb's skin. It means destruction of that faith in the Old Testament which has been our heritage from the first. Reconstructive criticism affirms that a mono- theistic faith is required of Israel at Sinai, and that it is at Israel's peril to consider for a moment any god other than Jehovah. Words cannot be ordered together which would set forth clearer the fact that the Sinaitic law re- quires a monotheistic faith than the utterances which are found in this ancient document. (40 42 THE SINAITIC TORA. The part of the Sinaitic law which is contained in this chapter treats of fidelity to Jehovah. The worship of him is Israel's life. Ethnic ties bound this people, which only recently had issued from the desert, to other nations. These were not unknown to Israel. When they marched northward to enter upon conquest, the land of Edom was passed by; Moab and Ammon were left unravaged. Moses in his tora, delivered later in the plains of Moab, said that Jehovah had commanded this respect for kindred nations. Wellhausen affirms that '*Moab, Ammon, and Edom, Israel's nearest kinsfolk, were monotheists in precisely the same sense in which Israel itself was." (Prolegomena, p. 440.) Higher criticism is forced to this view, holding as it does to the late development of the Hebrew literature. We know little or nothing of the theistic faith of Ammon, Moab, and Edom in that period of which we now treat. And on the theory of higher criticism, we know scarcely any more of the faith of Israel while under the leadership of Moses. It is not to be supposed that the Christian Church will accept this view complacently. Israel's faith in Jehovah was unique. Nothing in the ancient world had likeness to that conception of God which Moses promulgated to his people. And this is the faith of the Church, which has had no other basis than the Old Testament Scriptures. Higher criticism has compelled the abandonment of the traditional view of the Pentateuch. Its several parts are not consistent literary productions. Confu- sion is present in almost every paragraph of these Hebrew writings. It is in vain to deny this result of modern biblical criticism. The scholars who through marvelous critical skill discovered this strange charac- MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. 43 teristic of the Pentateuch have advanced theories to account for these phenomena. If they are right in these their views, then we should relinquish faith in the historical veracity of the Pentateuch and seek other con- firmation for our noble faith in God. Reconstructive criticism denies the theories of higher criticism founded upon these facts which it has discovered. We are justified in asking higher criticism when this lofty monotheistic faith first appeared, which Israel without question has mediated to the world. Wellhau- sen hesitates not to answer our query. He says: **To him (Elijah) was it revealed that we have not in the various departments of nature a variety of forces wor- thy of our worship, but that there exists over all but one Holy One and one Mighty One, who reveals him- self not in nature, but in law, and righteousness in the world of man." (Prolegomena, p. 462.) We do not deny that Elijah held this faith in the one Holy One and the one Mighty One; but we affirm that Mo- ses first announced this unique faith, and that Elijah only revived it in Israel. An assertion, however, is no proof. To establish, then, the position of reconstructive criti- cism, we propose to restore in this chapter the section in the Sinaitic law which deals with monotheistic faith and national existence. We assume, of course, that the Sinaitic law is Mosiac. If we were to reproduce out of what is regarded by higher critics themselves as material strangely redacted a consistent and noble ex- pression of a monotheistic faith, and this utterance is replete with the spirit that animated Israel at Sinai, the result would be more acceptable than a theory such as higher criticism advances, which leaves this matter 44 THE SINAITIC TORA. Strangely jumbled together, just as it is found in the Pentateuch, and attributes it to different authors whose writings have been frequently redacted. If, further- more, reconstructive criticism, out of matter remaining after this consistent expression of a monotheistic faith has been extracted, is able to construct a second ex- pression of this faith, confirming in every way the first, but in a style varied and beautiful, the result will be most surprising. After setting forth the Ten Commandments, the Sina- itic law treats of a monotheistic faith. Jehovah is Israel's God. No truth could be more evident to any people than this one to Israel. The fervor of the amplified worship, which at Sinai was instituted, kindled lofty en- thusiasm in the chosen people; and as they listened to this section of the law concerning the one God, nothing would have seemed to Israel so improbable as that they would forsake Jehovah for other gods. But religious enthusiasm without religious character is but a rope of sand, a tie that hath a seeming of promise, but breaks upon any strain. FIDELITT TO JEHOVAH ACCORDING TO J. 15 Behold I set before thee this day life and 16 death, good and evil, in that I command thee to love Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, i?and to keep his commandments. But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other ^gods, I denounce you this day that ye shall surely perish, and he shall not prolong your days upon the land whither you go to possess E ^Jover the Jordan ; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. 45 upon the children unto the third and fourth E ^ generation of them that hate me, and show- iner thousands of mercies unto those that love me and keep my commandments. We reiterate, that language cannot be marshaled to- gether to enforce a strict monotheism stronger and more unequivocating than these words. The last facts that a man can doubt are life and death. If we know any- thing, we are conscious of life. And death simply awaits us all. Now for Israel as a nation, its life de- pended upon love alone for Jehovah. Death would come as soon as they forsook him. This language is of the stronsfest character. The land of Israel's dreams was before them, that land the promise of which buoyed them up as they wended their weary steps through the desert. They would possess it. A short time hence would bring them into its boundaries. But it mattered not what prowess they might manifest in the overthrow of the inhabitants of that land, nor what might be the completeness of their destruction; one fact Israel must ever keep in mind, namely, that departure from Jehovah will dispossess them, and so they should not prolong their days thereon. One reason alone is given, and that is that Jehovah is a jealous God. FIDELITT TO JEHOVAH ACCORDING TO E. % I set before you this day life and death, ^blessing and cursing, to the end that thou may- est love Jehovah thy God and obey his voice and cleave unto him ; for he is thy life and the ^8 length of thy days. But if ye will not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, and ye turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye 46 THE SINAITIC TORA. 5J, 26 have not known, and serve them, then ye shall utterly perish from off the land whither ye go to possess over Jordan ; and ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly 9 destroyed ; for I Jehovah thy God am a jeal- ous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth i5 generation of them that hate me, and showing a thousand mercies unto them that love me and keep my commandments. There is a touch of exquisite beauty from a literary standpoint in this part of the Tora of E where it empha- sizes how closely life and death for Israel are dependent upon fidelity to Jehovah alone. It is found in the words, *'For he is thy life and the length of thy days." The next provision in the Sinaitic law relates to the attitude of Israel toward those who were not members of the community, but simply strangers, and whose presence might imperil a monotheistic faith. A sojourn with any people by one or several is made simply for some matter of protection or for gain. The per- mitting of foreigners to have a right to stay awhile in a nation is allowed, either because it is a guest-right law under which a traveler may remain for a night, or else because there is advantage from some com- mercial standpoint. At the time when Moses ut- tered this law, the principal motive would be the guest-right law. But strangers were not worshipers of Jehovah, and they might use the moments in which they sojourned in Israel as an opportune occasion for propagating their own faith. This danger must be warded off, and the next section is the provision. MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. 47 GUEST-RIGHT LA W ACCORDING TO D. e" Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor op- N 29 press him. Ye shall have one law for him that is born among the children of Israel and for the E 21 stranger that sojourneth among them ; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. GUEST-RIGHT LAW ACCORDING TO E. £ ^ And thou shalt not oppress a stranger. One N 1^ law and one manner shall be for you and }5 the stranger that sojourneth with you ; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. The copy of E designates how far the love for the stranger is to extend : only to food and raiment. The stranger must not worship any God but Jehovah while within the bounds of the Israelitish camp. This was no hardship for them, since it was a custom in those days to render worship to the god of a people or of a land. Israel stood antagonistic to this custom. Anywhere and everywhere the Israelite must worship Jehovah. Such was his law. Our contention with higher criticism is not that this school has pointed out the incongruities and incon- sistencies and illogical features of the Pentateuch and other books of Scripture. Indeed, no service could have been rendered of more worth to the biblical student than this one. Furthermore, no victory was ever gained over greater odds than that which higher criticism has won in making it apparent that the Scriptures could not have been written in the way and manner that tra- dition advocates. Our contention is that the conclu- sions of higher critics relative to the sacred writings are not founded on fact, but rest on a theory which 4^ THE SINAITIC TORA. breaks down at every point. One is almost tempted to believe that a cardinal rule of investigation among high- er critics is to negate every faith of the Christian world respecting the Scriptures and to set to work to prove the same. Israel was monotheistic, and its Sinaitic law required the most uncompromising monotheism. Yet Budde says: "But in any case, Yahwism could not remain Israel's only worship. In antiquity every land is animated by a god and in a god's possession. If the land consists of waste and uninhabited stretches, spirits and demons are looked for there, erratic, malevolent beings, doubly feared because no one knows how they should be met, nor what they may demand of him who sets foot upon their territory. If, on the other hand, it be a question of inhabited land, of cultivated soil, men know quite well, or can at least find out, what the characteristics of its gods are, and by what means their favor may be secured. Accordingly, whoever comes into a foreign land and wishes to take up his abode there must serve the god or gods of this land.'' ('* Re- ligion of Israel to the Exile," p. 53-) Such a philosophy of the religious life of nations may satisfy the demands of the facts which we may possess of other nations (which, however, we greatly doubt); but every fact in the history of Israel during the Mosaic period and what immediately follows antagonizes this Germanistic gen- eralization. The Sinaitic law has in it a paragraph concerning those people whose land Israel was to possess. They were idolaters. Now the attitude of Israel toward them should be one of unyielding severity, if a mono- theistic creed is to be retained by Israel. But if Budde be right, then Israel will make some concessions; but MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. 49 the fact is, however, that the Sinaitic Tora requires Israel to destroy idolatry in their land. CONCERNING IDOLATRT ACCORDING TO J. E ^S And God spake all these words, say- E ij ING : Observe that which I command thee this day, and behold I will drive out the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite. e 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor E 24 E 13 with their gods, nor shalt thou serve them ; but ye shall destroy their altars, break down their L 44 images, and cut down their groves. And ye shall be holy. There is no compromise in J on the part of Israel. All images are to be destroyed. CONCERNING IDOLATRY ACCORDING TO E. E ^J And God spake all these words, say- ^1 ING : Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee E ^2 this day, will I drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite \ and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show them E 1'^ 24 mercy, nor do after their works. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, but thou shalt quite break down their images and utterly overthrow E ^2 them. And ye shall utterly destroy all the places where these nations, which ye shall pos- sess, served their gods, upon the high moun- tains and upon the hills and under every green L 5^ tree. And ye shall be holy. There is a graphic character in the Tora of E which 4 50 THE SINAITIC TORA. is very attractive from a critical standpoint. Its writer speaks of **high mountains, green trees," in his refer- ence to the places where idolaters worshiped. But the spirit of the enactment toward idolatry is the same as that which we met in J. Israel had settled down just before the law was an- nounced at Sinai. Moses knew that danger would beset Israel from the influence of the worship which was of- fered by the Amalekites to their gods. The great lead- er always guards against the immediate danger. The Amalekites were the people of Moloch. They wor- shiped him through some form of human sacrifice. Some day we may learn what were the modes of wor- ship which they practiced in the fastnesses of the Sina- itic peninsula. Light may yet come to us on this sub- ject. Be this as it may, the only god mentioned in the Sinaitic law besides Jehovah is the god Moloch. Warn- ing is given Israel not to *'pass their seed through the fire to Moloch." The fact, not its explanation, is all we have to do with at present. The next subject treated of in the Sinaitic law is idolatry. The experience at Horeb is reflected in this provision. The image of gold, made by Israel while Moses was in the mount, was by no means a dim memory with the hearers of this Sinaitic law. CONCERNING APOSTASY ACCORDING TO J, ^2 Thou shalt not set thee up an image, which E 23 Jehovah thy God hateth, saying : Ye shall not make with me gods of silver nor gods of gold. ^1 18 And take heed lest there be among you man or woman or family whose heart turneth away L ^5 from Jehovah thy God to commit whoredom MONOTHEISM AND NATIONAL EXISTENCE. 5 1 L ^ with Moloch. Then I will set my face against that soul and w^ill cut him off from among his L 21 people. And thou shalt not let any of thy L '5 seed pass through to Moloch, then I will set my face against that man and against his fami- ly, and will cut him off from among his people ; L, ^3 because he hath given his seed unto Moloch. L 27 A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit L^ftOr that is a wizard, and all that goeth a L ^2 whoring after him, the people of the land L 2? shall stone them with stones. Antiquarian research must establish just what was the form of worship which is here alluded to by Moses in his reference to Moloch. Generally it may be said that it was some kind of idolatry, and a specially se- ductive one. Perhaps the history of the northern Ama- lekites may yet cast some light upon the subject. The attitude of the law toward this species of false worship is most severe. An Israelite who should adopt it must perish. Jehovah will cut him off. The section closes with the penalty attached to divination. The diviner and all his followers shall be stoned to death. No fea- ture in this Sinaitic law is more noticeable than the anxious care of the great lawgiver to guard Israel from every influence which might lead them to turn aside unto any other god. CONCERNING APOSTASY ACCORDING TO E. E 23 Ye shall not make with me a graven image L ^f nor rear you up a standing image nor set you up an image of stone in your land to bow down L. ^2 unto it. And whosoever of the children of Is- rael or the strangfer that dwelleth in Israel that giveth his seed to Moloch, he shall surely be put 52 THE SINAITIC TORA. L '2 to death. And if the people of the land do any- ways hide that man which giveth his seed to Mo- L ^3 loch and kill him not, then I will set my face against that man to cut him off from among his E 18 people. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. L ^g And the soul that turneth after such as have fa- miliar spirits, and after wizards to go a whoring L 2^ after them, they shall stone them with stones. The provisions of the two copies are essentially the same so far as they refer to idolatry. Nothing could be more uncompromising than the law in its attitude of in- tolerance to any and every form of idolatry. One clear truth comes to the front upon the perusal of this chap- ter, namely, that in the view of the Sinaitic law Israel alone could exist among the nations by keeping itself separate from idolatry. Obedience to the law was life for Israel, and this obedience compelled an abhorrence of every form of worship that recognized any God save Jehovah. CHAPTER VI. THE STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. The fifth commandment of the Decalogue, as it was given at Sinai, is, **Ye shall keep my sabbaths and rev- erence my sanctuary." The section of the Sinaitic Tora which is treated of in this chapter respects the first part of this precept. The people had sojourned less than a year in the desert, leading their flocks from place to place to secure a scanty pasturage. The man- na of the desert had given the people their sustenance for the most part. Israel was taught this tora after they had completed the desert sojourn and thirty-eight years before they began their march northward in order to make conquest of the land of promise. The provisions in it must not ignore Horeb, and must not be blind to the requirements of the new mode of life into which Israel would soon enter. This nomadic people were to become Bedouins, inhabiting the mountain regions and valleys where Amalek had roamed. At the time this tora was announced not a battle had been fought, not a victory won except over the Amalekites. The sabbath is the first sacred institution mentioned in the Sinaitic Tora. Higher criticism regards this sa- cred day as a foreign element taken into the *'Yahweh religion of Israel." Budde thus accounts for the cus- tom of keeping this day in Israel: " There can be little doubt, to be sure, that the seven-day week goes back to number seven of the planets of antiquity, namely. Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Sat- urn (to give their Roman names). But no valid rea- sons have thus far been found for the celebration of (53) 54 THE SINAITIC TORA. the seventh day in preference to any other. It may be that the occasional specification, in Babylon, of the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of the month led in the long run to the giving of cer- tain prominence to the seventh day as such. On the other hand, the designation of certain days as sabattu, which were looked upon as dies fiefasti^ on which par- ticular forms of activity were avoided, may have given occasion to the celebration of this day by complete rest, while its sinister significance gradually died away." (Budde, ''The Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 67.) Every tradition recorded in the records of Israel con- cerning the sabbath and its origin is contravened by this utterance of Budde. Yet it is to be kept in mind that this writer only offers his explanation as '' a may- be," a theory which has at least the merit of denying what has been held by Jew and Christian alike for cen- turies. All we affirm is that the Mosaic Tora assumes the sabbath as a well-known and ancient tradition; and also the Sinaitic Tora, older by a few years, does the same. Babylon in that time was unborn among the nations. A theory, *'a maybe," has breath only so long as it remains unshaken. Another theory account- ing for a certain usage or custom, based on the same facts, and doing so in a more acceptable and reasona- ble way, is the death-knell for the earlier one. A tra- dition, especially one persistent for centuries, must have convincing force, unless it contains elements on the face altogether improbable. The theory, then, of the origin of the sabbath, proffered by higher criticism, should be simply a something to be considered, but should have no power to overthrow ancient traditions, until the theory is indubitably established. RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 55 We will now present the statute respecting the sab- bath day as recorded in the copy of the Sinaitic Tora, which we have designated by J. THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO J. E 21 Six days shalt thou work. But the seventh 14 day thou shalt rest, and thine ox and thine ass. L 31 L ^6 It is a sabbath of rest for you, for thee and for thy servant, and for thy maid and for thy hired servant, and for the stranger that sojourn- eth with thee. The phrasing is such as would be employed to set forth an old custom, not one that was new. It is a cus- tom obligatory not alone upon a Hebrew, but also upon a stranger. It is a custom into the benefits of which all hirelings and servants, and even the ox and the ass, were to enter. There might have been something like it in Egypt or in the customs of the kindred nations; yet we are in ignorance of this fact, and the magnifi- cent industry of higher criticism has not yet brought it to light. Be this as it may, certain is it that the hu- maneness of the precept breathes out the spirit which is regnant in the Mosaic utterances. THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO E. E 12 Six days shalt thou do thy work. And on the seventh day thou shalt rest, and thine ox and thine ass. And the son of thine hand- maid and the stranger shall rest, and they shall be refreshed. The most striking difference between these two cop- ies is found in the addition in E of the words, ** and they shall be refreshed.'* ^6 THE SINAITIC TORA. The sabbatic year is the second sacred season men- tioned in the Sinaitic Tora. The institution is pecuHar- ly Hebraic. Higher criticism passes it by, making but little attempt to promulgate a theory of its origin. In regard to the antiquity of the institution, Kuenen says: '*The sabbatical year was not observed before the cap- tivity, as we see not alone by the silence of the proph- ets and historians as to its observance, but from posi- tive statement that it was neglected." (Hexateuch, p. 207.) The Sinaitic Tora requires the keeping of this sabbatic year. If now Kuenen is right, then this tora is post-exilic. Our contention is that this tora is Mo- saic, and its utterances are in more perfect accord with Moses's time and the environment of Israel at that period than at any subsequent epoch. But this proof must come after the restoration of the document. SABBATIC TEAR ACCORDING TO J. L^2 The land shall keep a sabbath untoje- L '^l hovah. Thou shalt neither sow thy fiekl nor L "% prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, nor gather in the grapes of thy vine undressed. L "% It is a year of rest unto the land. And the f^ sabbath of the land shall be meat for you, for the stranger, and the widow, and the father- L ^5 L g less child, and for thy cattle. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill. L f^ Ye shall eat of the old store until her fruits come in. The regulation is most remarkable, because found in the statute book of a nation. There was a year, one in every seven, when the growth of the field and of the vineyards belonged not to the owners of the land, but to RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 5? any one, man or beast. There was a year when the poor among Israel were not obliged to beg to glean in the fields or to ask for meat to eat. The sabbath unto Jehovah was this year; in its days the needy owned what nature grew in the fields and on the vines. Many secured in this year a new start, and during the follow- ing six escaped the hardships of want. Promise is given to the owner of the soil that they should not want, but that a bounteous old store would keep them until the harvest times came in the eighth year. SABBATIC TEAR ACCORDING TO E. i}\ L "% And the land shall keep a sabbath unto L 11 Jehovah. Ye shall not sow and ye shall not reap, nor gather the grapes in it of the vine L 12 undressed. Ye shall eat the increase there- L 11 of out of the field. That which groweth J^ by itself in it is for the stranger, and the L ^ widow, and the fatherless child. And if ye say, What shall we eat the seventh year, behold we shall not sow nor gather the in- L 21 crease thereof, then I will command (saith Jehovah) my blessings upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three L 22 years. And ye shall sow the eighth year and eat of the old fruit until the ninth year. The expansion in the latter part of this paragraph in E is noticeable. There is no difference in the enact- ment, but the mode of expressing it varies remarkably. The tendency toward the dialogue is evident, a trait of style frequently observed in this copy of the tora. The year of jubilee has always appealed to the phil- anthropic sentiments of later times. It is the third sa- cred season ordained by the Sinaitic Tora. 58 THE SINAITIC TOR A. TEAR OF JUBILEE ACCORDING TO J. ^ And it shall come to pass, when thou art come into fhe land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance and thou shalt L ^8 possess it and dwell therein, then thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee sev- L "^l en times seven years. And thou shalt cause the trumpet of jubilee to sound on the tenth L i5 day of the seventh month. And ye shall pro- claim liberty through the land unto the inhab- L J3 itants thereof. In this year of jubilee every L If man shall return unto the possession of his fathers. The tora represents the jubilee year as the time of release from bondage. The tora, therefore, contem- plates only a condition which was familiar to Israel at that time. Moses instituted a year when all Israel- ites should be set free. He knew well the hopelessness of those who suffered perpetual bondage. TEAR OF JUBILEE ACCORDING TO E. 19 And it shall come to pass, when Jeho- vah thy God shall give thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inher- it '^fitance to possess it, then the space of seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty-nine l'^J years, and on the day of atonement ye shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your L i§ land. It shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his family. The mode of designating the time for the year of ju- bilee differs in E, but the time itself is the same. Here RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 59 is mentioned the day of atonement; yet higher criti- cism contends that such a day was not known until after the exile. But our tora is the Sinaitic one, and this day is named in it. Nothing in higher criticism is so noteworthy as the ease with which its followers overturn the oldest tradi- tions of the Hebrews, and proffer in their stead a gene- sis for the feasts which is abhorrent to the very essence of the reliofion of Israel. The achievement of modern scholars in this peculiar field is quite as remarkable as if a modern engineer were to fasten a gossamer thread to the most stupendous pyramid of Egypt and topple the hoary thing from off its base, then affirm that it always had rested upon its side. We now come in this tora to the passover. We should keep in mind that with higher criticism '* original Yah- wism " is Mosaism. Budde gives the following account of the feast of the passover. He says: ** It may be per- haps asked, What part, then, of the religious practice of Israel remains for original Yahwism ? To this question a satisfactory definitive and comprehensive answer can- not of course be given. But we can name at least one ob- servance whose close and exclusive connection with Yah- weh worship is attested by the tradition, and which bears on its own face all the marks of pre-Canaanite nomadic religion, in distinction from that of Canaan. I refer to the feast of the passover. This is now, indeed, closely connected with the first of the agricultural feasts, the feast of unleavened bread. But the connection is not original, as may be readily seen. The latter feast is in- separably connected with Pentecost and the tabernacles. The passover has nothing to do with these. Tradition, it is true, now gives to the feast of unleavened bread an 6o THE SINAITIC TORA. origin which connects it as well as the passover with the exodus from Egypt; doubtless because its date of cele- bration came in course of time to be closely connected with that of this feast. But, nevertheless, the special occasion at least is different from that assigned for the passover, and, in the oldest legislation in J, the institu- tion of both feasts is kept strictly apart. . . . The pass- over belongs to the desert, Mazzoth to the cultivated land." (''The Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 73.) The claim that reconstructive criticism makes in this place is that the passover is inseparably connected with the three feasts in the Mosaic Tora, and that likewise in the Sinaitic Tora this is the case. If one be ancient, all are so. The passover is a sacrament rather than a feast, a meal eaten in memory of a manifestation of di- vine power shown when Jehovah with an outstretched arm brought Israel out of Egypt. We will now give the Sinaitic statute respecting this sacred season. THE PASSO VER ACCORDING TO J. ^2 N f The passover ye shall keep it in his appointed season according to all the rites of it at even ; ^l for in the month of Abib thou earnest forth E ^7 out of Egypt. And there shall be no leavened E^l bread seen with thee. And thou shalt show E .^7 thy son in that day, saying, It is the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our E ^6 houses. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened E J^ bread. No leaven shall be found in your houses. I2 And thou shalt remember that thou wert abond- ^2 rnan in Egypt. Thou shalt sacrifice unto Jeho- I9 vah thy God all the firstlings male that come of thy RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 6l E " herd and thy flock. And every firstUng of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem it, thou shalt break his neck. And all the firstborn of man among E II thy children thou shalt redeem. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance for thee and thy sons forever. Our limits will not allow a comparison of this state- ment respecting the passover with that which we find in the Mosaic Tora. Confining ourselves to this Si- naitic phrasing of the statute, we observe that the pass- over is referred to as a well-known institution. Indeed, all of Moses's listeners at this time had celebrated the occasion a year or so before in Egypt. No reminder is given to Israel of what the passover meal is to be. Yet emphasis is placed upon the time of day and upon the requirement that no leavened bread be eaten with the meal. The reason for this sacred season is adduced: *' For in the month of Abib thou camest forth out of Egypt." The great care of the lawgiver is that the children of Israel in the coming days should not forget the meaning of that feast. The attestation of faith in the deliverance from Egypt in after times was the an- nual dedication of the firstlings male to Jehovah, re- deeming none save the firstborn of mankind and the firstborn of the ass. THE PASSOVER ACCORDING TO E, ^5X3 The passover ye shall keep it according to N 6 N 2 all the ceremonies thereof at even, in its ap- E 18 pointed season ; for in the month of Abib thou E Jj camest out of Egypt, Ye shall put away E 26 leaven out of your houses. And it shall come 62 THE SINAITIC TORA. to pass when your children shall say, What E 2? mean ye by this service ? then ye shall say, E S E " It is Jehovah's passover, because of what Jehovah did unto me when I came out of E 15 Egypt. Then it came to pass, when Pha- E^raoh would hardly let the people go, by the strength of the hand Jehovah brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. E S, 20 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread in all your habitations; ye shall eat nothing leavened. 22 And remember thou wert a bondman in Egypt. \l And thou shalt sanctify unto Jehovah thy God E 5^ every firstling among the cattle, whether ox or eJJ sheep, and the firstborn of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb ; and if thou redeem him N II not, then thou shalt break his neck. But the firstborn of man thou shalt surely redeem. E ]^ And ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. In matters pertaining to the religion of Jehovah and the feasts of Israel, I have confined my quotations to the recently published lectures of Professor Budde, be- cause they represent the accepted conclusions of the higher criticism and were carefully prepared so as to make the radical divergences of this school from the accepted belief as palatable as possible to American scholarship. The simple purpose which I have in view is to restore the Sinaitic Code, so my plan will not allow controversy. The conclusions of higher criticism are given, and by their side the results of reconstructive crit- icism. By their fruit ye may know them, even though the multiform processes of growth may not be re- corded. The Sinaitic Tora has in it a section relating to the RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 63 three annual feasts. The following quotations are made from Budde's **The Religion of Israel to the Ex- ile" : ** But even Hosea himself knows that these feasts do not belong to the most ancient Yahweh worship, for he declares that the ultimate measure for converting and reforming unfaithful Israel will be to lead it back into the wilderness. There, where Israel has neither vine nor fig tree, it shall learn again to serve Yahweh in the days of its youth, and as in the day when it came up out of Egypt" (p. 46). Now the unfaith- fulness of Israel in Hosea's time manifested itself most conspicuously in the debauchery practiced at these feasts. And as a matter of fact, assuming that Hosea was acquainted with the Sinaitic Tora, he would have known that these feasts which were instituted at Sinai could not have been scenes of debauchery, while Israel for thirty-eight years wandered in the Sinaitic peninsu- la. And hence his exhortation would not show igno- rance of them, but simply display his wise counsel, that these feasts should have the simple, stern character they had in the desert. Again Budde says: **The Israel- ite of the olden times could expect no blessing from his god, Yahweh, upon agriculture; for he was a god of the steppe, and had no control over the treasures of the cultivated land. But the god whom the Canaanites venerated, the Baal, that is the possessor of land and soil, had his control. We learn from Hosea (!) of the people's conviction that they must serve him, if their labors were to be successful, if they would reap where they had sown. This service it learned from its Ca- naanite teachers. They told the Israelites that all the laborious work of the farmer would be of no avail if the worship, consisting of such and such rites, were not 64 THE SINAITIC TORA. paid to Baal. The sun would scorch everything; the mountain torrents would bury the crops under gravel and mire; the seed would choke in the soil; the locusts would eat everything bare; earthquakes would hurl their dwellings to the ground, if men did not show the Baal the honor due" (p. 58). If these words were said of those early German barbarians, who came over the Alps centuries ago and descended upon the Roman cities of the Italian plains, substituting only appropriate names for the deities, it might do. But Israel, when that nation entered Canaan, had two noble toras, the Sinaitic and the Mosaic ; and in these toras there were agricultural feasts, but so ordained that attending them would emphasize the difference in the religious faith of Israel and that of the Canaanites. Other reasons led Israel to abandon Jehovah and serve Baal than those which were grounded in hopes to appease Baalim. li Budde be right, the religion of Israel is not worthy of respect until after the alleged discovery of the book of law by Hilkiah, which in the view of higher criticism is a forgery. A reference to the Mosaic Tora will show how some years later the three annual feasts were reiterated in it. We will now give them as they were earlier ordained in the Sinaitic Tora. Let us not fail to remember that these feasts were instituted after Israel had emerged from the great and terrible desert, and had possessed the Sinaitic peninsula, and had reared up the tabernacle of the congregation upon some height facing Sinai. THREE ANNUAL FEASTS ACCORDING TO J, E as Thrice in a year shall all your male children E 19 appear before Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt bring the first fruits of the land unto the house of RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 65 L I' Jehovah thy God. And when ye have gathered in the fruit of thy land ye shall keep a feast unto L ^Jehovah seven days. And ye shall take on the first day branches of palm trees and willows of L II the brook, and ye shall dwell in booths seven E J' L 27 days. And ye shall observe the d^y of atone- N I ment according to all its rites. THREE ANNUAL FEASTS ACCORDING TO E. E 14 Three times in the year shalt thou keep a feast E 26 unto me the God of Israel. Thou shalt bring the first fruits of the land into the house of Je- Ejlhovah thy God. When thou hast gathered L ^f thy labors out of the field, then ye shall keep it a feast unto Jehovah seven days in the year. L^aL^And all that are Israelite born shall dwell in booths of the boughs of goodly trees and boughs L4I of thick trees, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of iJ E 1^ Egypt. Ye shall keep the feast of the atone- l^N^ment unto Jehovah thy God according to all the ceremonies thereof. The statement of these feasts in this tofa makes it evident that they have no connection at all with the Ca- naanitic agricultural festivals. This enactment does not read like one instituted centuries later and palmed off as a product of the Mosaic age. The reference to the feast of unleavened bread is as to one which had been observed. The statement in regard to the two agricultural feasts clearly indicates that these feasts were established in the Sinaitic wilderness long before 5 66 THE SINAITIC TORA. Israel entered into possession of the land of Canaan. It was needful that Israel should be trained to the cul- tus of the tabernacle, and so almost forty years were passed in obeying its regulations and making its cultus a part of their life. The reference to booths by error was placed in the Mosaic Tora. It belongs here. The abandonment of the practice of making booths took place apparently as soon as the Mosaic Tora supplanted the Sinaitic in the community of Israel. It is not strange, therefore, when Hilkiah found the Sinaitic Tora and gave it to Josiah, that he restored the custom of making booths in which Israel were to dwell during the celebration of the feast of tabernacles. The section upon the annual feasts in the copy of E is substantially the same as that which we have found in J. The chapter treating of the sacred seasons as estab- lished by the Sinaitic Tora is concluded. The legisla- tion of this subject is in harmony with that given in the Mosaic Tora. The evidential value of two witnesses to these feasts and two copies of each of these witnesses is of the highest importance, making in fact a complete demonstration of the antiquity of these institutions. CHAPTER VII. STATUTES RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. The ritual of the sanctuary of Israel is contained in the book of Leviticus. The toras, both the Mosaic and the Sinaitic, simply declare the sacred persons, the sacred place, and the sacred things. Kuenen says: " The distinctions between priests and Levites, so em- phatically enforced by P, only appears once in the whole preexilian and exilian literature. It is in i Kings viii. 4, and the passage, both on this account and on other ac- counts, lies under suspicion. Of Aaron as the ances- tor of the legitimate priesthood, no writer before Ezra knows anything. From the end of the seventh century we find the priesthood assigned to the tribe of Levi as a whole, just as it is in Deuteronomy. Ezekiel con- firms this, but ordains that in the future only one Le- vitical family, that of Zadok, shall exercise the priest- hood, while the other Levites are to occupy themselves in the lower services connected with the cultus." (Hex- ateuch, p. 203.) Reconstructive criticism contends, on the contrary, that in Israel under Mosaism there was the distinction between the Levites and the priesthood, and that at no time after the establishment of the priests at Sinai was there any other view in Israel. Calamity, such as the destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh, interrupted the functions of the priests and gave the Levites promi- nence ; but the Davidic revival of Mosaism restored the descendants of Aaron to their rightful office as the priests of Jehovah. The Mosaic Tora as restored con- (67) 68 THE SINAITIC TORA. firmed these views of the priesthood, and it will be seen that the Sinaitic Tora does the same. The Sinaitic Tora was delivered to Israel many years before the people began their march toward Ca- naan. While listening to Moses, as he uttered this law, they could see the tabernacle, which they reared and placed under the shadow of Sinai. Aaron and his sons stood near, wearing the garments which had been made to distinguish them as specially set apart unto the serv- ice of Jehovah. And near by was the tribe of Levi, who had been given to Aaron for the purpose of car- ing for the tabernacle and the services of the sanc- tuary. Tradition and the studious reading of the Exo- dus narrative have given to the Church this picture of the days at Sinai. For centuries this view has been the accepted view. But higher criticism affirms that not until the time of Ezra were the ordinances of the sanctuary known, and that what we read in Exodus regarding this subject is but the transference of later usages and customs to the period of Moses in order to give them the air of antiquity and the authority of a long sanction. Reconstructive criticism denies wholly this view of higher criticism, and contends for the truthfulness of that view which the Church has held for ages, inherit- ing it from the Jews. And to establish its claims re- constructive criticism has restored in two copies the Tora of Moses, and in these pages it will restore the Sinaitic Tora, which will show that the traditional view is substantially correct; that the tabernacle was reared in sight of Sinai; that its ordinances were given at that place; that Aaron and his sons at that time received the priesthood, and the Levites were set RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. 69 apart to special services connected with the newly or- dained ritual and the tabernacle. We will now consider the priesthood in Israel, as set forth in the Sinaitic Tora. The priesthood, as ordained in the Tora of Moses, is as follows : *' The priests are the sons of Aaron; for him Jehovah thy God chose out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of Jeho- vah and to bless in the name of Jehovah, him and his sons forever. Thou shalt sanctify him therefore, for he offereth the bread of thy God. He shall be holy; for he is holy unto his God. And he shall not profane the sanctuary of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God and the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. Je- hovah is his inheritance according as Jehovah thy God has promised." This passage from the Mosaic Tora clearly requires a priesthood that is Aaronic, and that its support shall be from the offerings at the sanctuary. The Sinaitic Tora is older by a number of years than the Mosaic, and its precepts were in force during their wanderings about Sinai until the Israelites marched to the Jordan and received in the plains of Moab the Mo- saic Tora. It is difficult to surmise just what form the Sinaitic Tora would give to the statute respecting the priesthood. One requirement would be that it be not inconsistent with the provision in the Mosaic ; the same in substance, but perhaps with a less finished and full statement. CONCERNING THE PRIEST ACCORDING TO J. N 10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait upon me in their priest's L il office. And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel which they offer unto Jehovah. *]0 THE SINAITIC TORA. We should not forget that this statute was for a peo- ple who were to be a nomadic shepherd people with their sanctuary set up at Sinai. And also we are to keep in mind that the ritual for worship in Israel was recently given, and had all the charm that an imposing religious ceremony would exercise over a people who had been exposed to slavery and to the hardships of the desert. All that is said in the provision of the Si- naitic Tora is that Aaron and his sons hold their place in the community by the appointment of its members, and that they shall watch over and not profane the holy things of the children of Israel. The ordinance is like that in the Mosaic Tora so far as the persons are con- cerned who may become priests, and so far as the care of these honored persons should exercise in order not to profane the things of the sanctuary. CONCERNING THE PRIEST ACCORDING TOE. N 14 Thou hast separated from among the chil- L 3 E ^9 dren of Israel Aaron and his sons, and the L ^2 priest's office shall be theirs. And they shall be separated as holy from among the children of Israel, and they shall not profane my holy name and the holy things which they hallow unto me. The copy of E is not unlike that of J in the Sinaitic Tora. Each copy requires that Aaron and his sons hold exclusively the priesthood, and that they keep the holy things of Jehovah unprofaned. Most interesting some day will be the study of the differences in the copies. But that must be after the tora and its kindred literature have been restored. The place of the Levite in the cultus of Israel is a storm RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. *]1 center of controversy. Higher criticism maintains that not until after the exile did they become subordinate attaches to the temple worship, that in preexilic times they were priests of Yahweh, and performed the duties of their office in Israel. Sometimes a higher critic steps into the field of the exegete. Budde does this act in reference to a passage from the *' Blessing of Moses" (Deuteronomy xxxiii. 9). The words of this verse are: "Who said to his father and mother, I know them not ; and would not recognize his brother, nor acknowledge his own sons, but followed thy word and kept thy covenant." The verse refers to Levi. Budde says concerning this passage as follows: *' Here we have, in fact, the very moment of Levi's origin, and this is how it must be understood. At Moses's call the faithful from all the tribes hasten to him to lend him their arm even against their own kindred. Those thus tested and proved remained from this time on united, and formed a new tribe, Levi. Of course the Exodus passage, where it now stands, means, and must be understood to mean, * all who were sprung from Levi, the son of Jacob, gathered themselves unto Moses.' But originally the sense was, 'all who are now called Levites,' more exactly the ancestors of the present tribe of Levi. But since later all the tribes of Israel were reckoned as sons of Jacob, Levi also re- ceived by anticipation his position among the rest, and 'all the Levites' from Moses's time received the new sense, * all the descendants of Levi, the son of Jacob."' (**The Religion of Israel to the Exile," p. 83.) This band of faithful Israelites, who in a critical moment came to the rescue of Moses, were, according to Budde, rewarded with the priesthood of Yahweh. 72 THE SINAITIC TORA. Neither the Mosaic Tora nor the Sinaitic Tora knows anything of such an origin for the tribe of Levi. And further, neither one tora nor the other recognizes the Levites as forming a priesthood. They are in the Si- naitic Tora simply assistants in the services of the sanc- tuary, especially the menial ones. A nobler function is av^arded them in the Mosaic Tora. They are there appointed the criminal judges of Israel, to enter upon their office v^hen Israel entered their possessions. THE LEVITES ACCORDING TO J. N if N 19 The Levites were a gift unto Aaron and his N \ sons from among the children of Israel. And they shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation to do the service of the tabernacle. Such is the Sinaitic regulation in reference to the po- sition of the Levites in the community. Israel at that time were ready for any service to Jehovah. A wonder- ful enthusiasm for the more fully developed worship in connection with the tabernacle pervaded the whole camp. Some had been set apart as priests, some as their assistants. The Sinaitic Tora, not the Mosaic Tora, contains the statute which refers to the separa- tion of the tribe of Levi to the service of the tabernacle. The same motive which leads men to-day to accept the duties and burdens of the ministry actuated Levi to accept their tasks. The motive is that such conduct is well pleasing to Jehovah. The requirement that the Levites should have no inheritance in Israel is found in the Mosaic Tora, but not in the Sinaitic. RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. 73 THE ,LEVITES ACCORDING TO E, N J And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and his sons ; they shall be wholly given unto N I him from among the children of Israel. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tab- ernacle of the congregation and the charge of the children of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle. The copy of E is in accord with that of J as regards the position which the Levites were to hold in Israel. A cumulative force is added to the arguments for the theory of reconstructive criticism, coming from the res- toration of each new section of the tora. As each ad- ditional part is completed, there is of course less remain- ing from which to complete the tora. As the theory requires two copies, it is likely that there would be wanting some matter in one or the other copy, if the theory was not true, the nearer this remaining matter was used up in the reconstruction. The next subject treated in the Sinaitic Tora is *^The Central Sanctuary." The Mosaic Tora makes it clear that, when Israel should enter into its possessions be- yond the Jordan, a central sanctuary is to be chosen for all the people, and that to it Israel must come to make its offerings at the times of the established feasts. It is not only interesting, but also a matter of surprise, the manner in which the Sinaitic Tora presents this same subject. But before we give this statement, let us pause to consider the conception of the worship in Is- rael which higher criticism proffers us as the result of its critical researches. Wellhausen describes the cul- tus in the century 850-750 B.C. He says: ** To the ordinary man, it was not moral but liturgical acts that 74 THE SINAITIC TORA. seemed to be truly religious. Altars of Jehovah oc- curred everywhere, with sacred stones and trees — the latter either artificial (Asheras ) or natural — beside them; it was considered desirable also to have water in the neighborhood (brazen sea). In cases where a tem- ple stood before the altar it contained an' ephod and teraphim, a kind of images before which the lot was cast by the priest. Of the old simplicit}^ the cultus retained nothing; at the great sanctuaries especially (Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba) it had become very elab- orate. Its chief seasons were the agricultural festivals, the passover, the feast of weeks, and most especially the feasts of ingathering at the close of the year. These were the only occasions of public worship properly so called at which every one is expected to attend ; in other words, each worshiper sought the presence of God only in special circumstances, as for example at the begin- ning and at the end of particular undertakings. The cultus as to place, time, matter, form, belonged entire- ly to the inheritance which Israel had received from Canaan ; to distinguish what belonged to Jehovah from that which belonged to Baal was no easy matter." (Prolegomena, p. 468.) Nothing could be more erroneous than this genesis of the cultus of Israel. We admit that just before the appearing of Amos many foreign elements had been introduced into the religion of Judah, and especially into that of the kingdom of Israel. But these were in direct violation of the cultus of the two toras. It was very easy at that time to distinguish between the cultus of Jehovah and this imported cult. One had the prestige of centuries, the authority of the Mosaic and the Si- naitic toras, while the idolatrous practices were some- RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. 75 thing taken on by Israel. Wellhausen's view of the cultus of Israel stands only if Deuteronomy with its cul- tus is subsequent to the time of Amos. The restora- tion of the Mosaic Tora demonstrates that the theory of Deuteronomy as advanced by higher criticism is not maintainable; and with the restoration of the Sinaitic Tora, which takes up most of what was left in our present Deuteronomy after the Tora of Moses was restored, reconstructive criticism places its theory upon unanswerable arguments. The central place of worship recognized in the Si- naitic Tora was first established when Israel entered into Amalek's possessions. Their great leader is ever mindful of the great traditions of the past, nor does he forget, in his great enthusiasm for that broader life upon which Israel was now entering, the sacred things of the desert. During their journeyings, when the tent of the ark was set up, Israel built an altar and sacrificed. Then the mode of life was migrato- ry. There was no permanent sanctuary, because Is- rael had no country of their own. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had builded altars and offered thereon sac- rifices. But this function of worship had been re- stricted to one family in the desert, or at least Aaron and his sons became more and more identified with the sanctuary which Israel had in their midst dur- ing those weary wanderings from Horeb to Sinai. The blossoming of Aaron's rod is a tradition which carries out this assertion. Moses is careful not to condemn the past modes of cultus, but he directs Is- rael's mind to the nobler future of the nation and to the need of the central sanctuary for worship, which they had set up in their midst in gratitude for the vie- »j6 THE SINAITIC TORA. tory at Rephidim and in reverent love for Jehovah their God. THE PLACE OF WORSHIP ACCORDING TO J. J^ Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place, where thou has Ji visions, but there is now a place where Jehovah thy God chooseth to cause his name to dwell ; }^ there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do according to all that I have 26 commanded thee. And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, thou and thy household, and Is thou shalt rejoice in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. We have altered the expression *' which thou seest'' to *' where thou hast visions." The Hebrew word per- mits this meaning. Indeed, the Hebrew word for **seer'' is from the same root. Our reason for the change is that the tradition of Israel's past was that God re- vealed himself in visions. Jacob had these. And Ha- gar had one, and gave in consequence a new name to God. Reference is made to the newly instituted cultus and the central sanctuary in the words, ** there thou shalt do according to all that I commanded thee." These commands had relation to the manner of mak- ing these offerings and sacrifices as ordained in the ritual of the tabernacle. THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE ACCORDING TO E, " Ye shall not do after that which we do here this day : every man whatsoever is right ^l in his own eyes. Ye shall not do so unto g Jehovah your God. But thou shalt offer 55 thy burnt offerings before Jehovah thy 12 12 6, RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. 77 God in the place which Jehovah thy God }i chooses to place his name; thither shall ye ^j bring all that I have commanded you. And there ye shall eat before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed you, ye and your household. In view of these statements concerning the place of worship in the two copies of the Sinaitic and the Mosaic toras, nothing could be more foreign to the religious life of Israel, as it was developed and lived for centu- ries, than to claim with higher criticism that '*the cul- tus as to place, time, form, matter, belonged entirely to the inheritance which Israel received from Canaan." The last section, under the head of '* The Worship in Israel," treats of such animals as may be eaten. Our study is simply of the facts which belong to the Sina- itic Tora, not their explanation. In regard to the laws regulating this matter of clean and unclean animals, Kellogg, in his book upon Leviticus (p. 283), says: **It may also be said that, as a general rule, the appetite of the great majority of enlightened and cultivated nations revolts against using as food the greater part of the an- imals which this code prohibits. Birds of prey, for in- stance, and the carnivora generally, animals having paws, and reptiles, for the most part, by a kind of universal instinct among cultivated peoples, are judged unfit for human food.'^ The section upon this subject in the Sinaitic Tora differs from the corresponding one in the Mosaic Tora, not in the classification, but simply in the mode of enumeration. The Sinaitic Tora is more specific. The life of Israel in Egypt and the desert would naturally have led the people to eat every living yS THE SINAITIC TORA. thing fit for food. And as the question came up in the community as to whether such an animal, which had been caught, might be eaten, the decisions were made and were characterized by mention of its name. Hence this section in the Sinaitic Tora bears upon its face the evidence of how the laws grew up in Israel, because in Egypt and as later emergencies arose the decisions were rendered. THE UNCLEAN ANIMALS ACCORDING TO J. L '2 L JS These are the beasts which shall not be eaten L " L " among all the beasts that are on the earth ; as L 2J the camel, for he cheweth the cud and divideth L " L " the hoof and is cloven-footed ; and the coney, L26 for he cheweth not the cud and is cloven-foot- le" L *} ed ; and the hare, for he cheweth the cud and L " is cloven-footed ; and the swine, though he di- videth the hoof, yet he cheweth not the cud ; ^6 and every beast which divideth the hoof and lJS cleaveth the cleft into two claws, as the chame- L 22 L 30 leon after its kind and the lizard after its kind, L 22 L 29 the mouse and the weasel after its kind. L ^2 L 29 These of them ye may eat that creep upon the L 22 earth, the locust after its kind and the grass- L J^ hopper after its kind. These ye shall have in abomination among the fowls: the eagle and L J4 the ossifrage and the osprey, and the vulture L J5 and the kite after his kind, and the raven after L {g his kind, and the owl and the night hawk and L }} the cuckoo and the hawk after its kind, and the little owl and the cormorant and the great L }J owl, and the swan and pelican and the gier L J^ eagle, and the stork and the heron after her L}Jkind, and the lapwing and the bat. And all that have not fins and scales of all that move RESPECTING THE SANCTUARY. 79 in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. This table is remarkable for the specific character which is found in it. The beasts are such as Israel were acquainted with in Egypt or met on the heights or in the scattered vegetation of the desert. The birds were such as waded the Nile and its streams, or such as flew along the shores of the Red Sea and above the mountain clifts, or over the desert. It is the zoology of the land they came from or of the desert in which they had lived which come under review in this prohib- ited list. THE UNCLEAN ANIMALS ACCORDING TO E. L 46 This is the law of the beast and the fowl and of every living creature that moveth in the waters and of every creature that creepeth upon '} the earth. Verily these ye shall not eat ; of L 26 L ^1 them that chew the cud and divide the cloven L \ ^\ foot, as the camel ; of them as the coney that chew not the cud but divide the hoof, and as L " the hares, for they chew the cud but divide not " the hoof ; and the swine, for he divideth the L 26 hoof but cheweth not the cud. That which cleaveth the cleft into claws is unclean unto L 29 you, as the chameleon after its kind, the lizard after its kind, the shrew mouse and the weasel L ^9 AFTER ITS KIND. Amoug the Creeping things L 22 ye may eat the locust after its kind and the I2 grasshopper after its kind. And these are they of which ye shall not eat : the eagle and {3 the ossifrage and the osprey, and the glede and J4 the kite and the vulture after his kind, and the {5 raven after his kind, and the owl and the night 8o THE SINAITIC TORA. hawk and the cuckoo and the hawk after his i^ kind, and the Httle owl and the great owl and \* the swan, and the pelican and the gier eagle \l and the cormorant and the stork and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing and the bat. L \l Whatsoever in the waters hath no fins nor scales, that shall be an abomination unto you. The table as found in the copy of E is characterized like that in J by a careful specification of the animals ■which are not to be eaten, also the form of the table is prohibitive. A special discussioft of these tables alone will explain their reconstruction, but we cannot enter upon this discussion in this place. We conclude this chapter by simply reaffirming that no more convincing proof need be given of the grave errors into which higher criticism has fallen respecting the worship in Israel than the production of the chap- ters in the Mosaic and the Sinaitic toras which treat upon this subject. Here we find the regulations given for the worship in Israel, and they agree in the two toras, being related to each other as a fuller to a less complete statement. Of each tora we have furnished two copies. The improbability of these two toras be- ing found in Exodus-Deuteronomy, after higher criti- cism has worked a century upon this matter and only succeeded in establishing certain so-called codes, each greatly redacted, makes the reproduction of them in two copies all the more convincing, and should win accept- ance for the theory of reconstructive criticism. CHAPTER VIII. THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LAW. In Egypt Israel as bondmen, so far as their differences became cognized by law, were subject to the Egyptian civil code. Yet it is hardly possible that any civil rights were allowed them. During the early period of their sojourn in the Egyptian territory the Israelites must have had certain usages which regulated matters of differ- ence between them. Joseph secured his people without doubt in the right to exercise these civil methods. Apart from this probable source for the civil regulations, which became law in Israel, it is certain that even in a con- dition of bondage observation would acquaint the Is- raelites with those elementary rules which must become operative in every community in order that security to property and personal rights might be conserved. Naturally their great leader became the authoritative voice which settled matters of dispute arising in that period which was included between the flight from Egypt and the coming into the region round about Ho- reb. This duty to the community was very burdensome to Moses, and at the suggestion of Jethro, his father-in- law, he appointed judges to attend to the lesser matters of difference and reserved for himself the right to de- termine the greater causes. Such was the method of civil procedure during the wanderings in the desert. Now when the people were settled in and around Sinai there was need of some definitive statement, or some code, which should gather up the principles which Is- rael had accepted as right during their wanderings 6 <8i) 82 THE SINAITIC TORA. and should add other precepts suited to a more settled life. The Sinaitic Tora contains this first codification of the legal usages in Israel. Higher criticism accepts as true all the preceding par- agraph except the last sentences. It denies that Moses ever gave any formal statement to Israel respecting cul- tus or civil law. Wellhausen says: ^' In fact, it can be shown that throughout the whole of the older period the tora was no finished legislative code, but consisted en- tirely of the oral decisions and instructions of the priests ; as a whole it was potential only; what actually existed were the individual sentences given by the priesthood as they were asked for. Thus Moses was not regarded as the promulgator, once for all, of a national constitu- tion, but rather as the first to call into activity the na- tional sense for law and justice, and to begin the series of oral decisions which were continued after him by the priests. He was the founder of the nation out of which the tora and prophecy came as later growths. He laid the basis of Israel's subsequent peculiar individuality, not by one formal act, but in virtue of his having through- out the whole of his life been the people's leader, judge, and center of union." (Prolegomena, p. 438.) It is yet to be proved that the priests (if there were any in the deserts) had anything to do with the civil judgments. And without doubt, until the emergence from the desert, all decisions were simply oral, made in accordance with a traditional standard of right, or in accordance with some principle adopted when any new case arose. We hold, moreover, that after an elaborate system of religion was established, and the people were to enter upon thirty-eight years of probation, Moses gave a formal statement of the law, civil and religious, THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LAW. 83 and this tora ruled the community of Israel until they came to the Jordan. The chapter upon the ''Judgments of the Law'' in the Sinaitic Tora is separated into three sections, name- ly, that concerning crimes, that concerning injuries, and that concerning truth and judgment. Each section is very brief. The first, that upon crime, reflects the se- verity of the legal usages which had governed Israel in the desert of Sinai. CONCERNING CRIMES ACCORDING TO J. 1^ Cursed be the man that maketh a molten or 28, 15 graven image, the work of men's hands, and setteth it up in a secret place. J5 L 16 Cursed be he that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah. iJ Cursed be he that maketh light of his father or his mother. 20 Cursed be he that lieth w^ith his father's wife ; for he hath uncovered his father's skirts. ^ Cursed be he that lieth with his sister. 21 Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beasts. 2I Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor se- cretly. The accursed one is put to death. Hence from this section we can determine what crimes in Israel were visited with capital punishment. Crimes against Jeho- vah were idolatry and blasphemy; crimes against the home were the cursing of the father or the mother, in- cest, and filthiness with beasts; crime against society is murder. The brevity of this part of the code sug- gests that crime was so abhorrent to the high ethical sense of Israel that it required only the fact of its occur- 84 THE SINAITIC TORA. rence to be known in order to have the perpetrators cer- tainly visited with speedy punishment. It is interesting to observe how in the Tora of Moses cases of crime were stated with great fullness. The penalties in each tora remained unchanged. Safeguards were placed around cases in which there might arise some doubt of the ac- cused party's guilt, in the later tora. CONCERNING CRIMES ACCORDING TO E. ^9 E 20 Cursed be he that sacrificeth to any god, i5 E 20 the work of the hands of a craftsman, save Je- hovah only. 33 L 16 Cursed be he that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah. 17 E 15 Cursed be he that smiteth his father or his mother. 16, 30 Cursed be the man who taketh his father's wife and discovereth his father's skirts. 17, 23, 22 Cursed be he who lieth with the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. iJ E 19 Cursed be every one who lieth with a beast. 25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay the innocent. The crimes here are the same as we found mentioned in J. Some little variations occur in the form of ex- pression. The curse involving murder is at heart the same. There is no mercy for a murderer. Cases where killing occurred, with doubt as to the motive, would probably have been open to investigation, and a hearing would be given. But to one who slew the in- nocent for gain, death alone was meted out. The section upon injuries is remarkably short. The sternest justice was required in case of an injury inflict- ed. There was no fine allowed, but whatever injury THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LAW. 85 was inflicted upon one, the community was obliged to inflict the same upon the malicious person. CONCERNING INJURIES ACCORDING TO J. L 19 If a man cause a blemish in a neighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done unto him. L il He that killeth a beast shall make it good, beast for beast. CONCERNING INJURIES ACCORDING TO E. L 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As one causeth blemish in a man, so L 2} shall it be done to him. He that killeth a beast shall restore it. The phrasing of this injunction is far-reaching; nor is it in any way opposed to the corresponding regula- tion in the Tora of Moses. Indeed, the two toras agree. We speak too often with harshness in regard to the **eye-for-eye " principle of the Mosaic law; but every community in its beginnings adheres to something akin to this rule. A decadent civilization has in its provisions concerning injuries manifold ways to avoid the enforce- ment of the law of *'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." And our Christian civilization holds up as the better law the forgiveness of injuries. But it is yet un- codified among modern nations what injuries may be forgiven without lessening the security which a law like the Sinaitic places about the members of a civic com- munity. The last section of this chapter is upon Truth and Judgment. It is in this part of the Sinaitic Tora that we obtain a glimpse of that form of government which regulated Israel's legal affairs while at Sinai. Down- right honest dealing was demanded, the discountenan- 86 THE SINAITIC TORA. cing of false rumors, the highest respect for the judge, adherence to truth against the trend of a multitude, the exactest justice to a poor man, and the mainte- nance of a strict equity for the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless. These are the principles which Is- rael applied to civil matters in the years of their wan- derings, and which made them invincible when organ- ized into a militant host. These principles saved the people from those excesses which too often have con- quered the victors in the history of the past. Interest therefore attaches itself to the form in which these prin- ciples are expressed in this tora. CONCERNING TRUTH AND JUDGMENT ACCORD- ING TO J. L Jl Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor. E ^1 Thou shalt not raise a false report. E 2I Thou shalt not curse the judges. E ^2 Thou shalt not follow after the multitude to do evil in a cause. E ^^2 Thou shalt not speak after many to decline E "% thy poor in his cause. S, 30, 19 Pervert not the judgment of the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless. The apothegmatic power of these precepts from a lit- erary standpoint is most noticeable. They seem almost axioms, universal in their character. It was Israel's lawgiver that first caught these fundamental truths of social life and gave them noblest expression. CONCERNING TRUTH AND JUDGMENT ACCORD- ING TO E. E ^5 Thou shalt keep thee from a false matter. L le Thou shalt not go up and down *as a tale- bearer amongst thy people. THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LAW. 87 E 28 Thou shalt not curse a judge of thy people. E ^1 Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrio-hteous witness. o E ^1 E ^2 Thou shalt not countenance the perverting E ^3 of a poor man in his cause. 1} Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger and the widow and the fatherless. The copy of E agrees with that of J in these precepts. There is not the tediousness of a repetition. Were this the case, then there would be ground to doubt the wit- ness of either tora to the ancient order of things in Is- rael. In fact, the differences constitute a most impor- tant element in the evidence which each tora brings to the truth of the theory of reconstructive criticism. Students will find that the two toras, the Mosaic and the Sinaitic, which reconstructive criticism has restored contain the Deuteronomic Code, the Book of the Cove- nant, and the Laws of Holiness, the three principal codes which higher criticism has brought to light. In consequence of this fact, students are driven either to accept the codes of higher criticism with all the illog- ical character found in them, together with all the redac- tions, inconsistencies, and contrary statements, or else to accept the theory of a Mosaic and a Sinaitic Tora, each in two copies, which reconstructive criticism proffers. The reasonableness of this claim is apparent. CHAPTER IX. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. Prophecy in Israel is no vague cloud, out of which later ages may gather uplift by throwing its own light upon the dimness and create therein the rainbow colors of hope. On the contrary, the essence of Hebrew proph- ecy is absolute certainty respecting the will and pur- poses of Jehovah. The truth which it imparts has pow- er and significance, not alone in the day of its utterance, but in the coming days, all along the history of our race, when conditions are suitable for its fulfillment. Sub- lime is Moses's confidence in his message which is con- veyed in the Sinaitic Tora. These commandments and statutes and judgments are so vital to Israel that the for- getting of them imperils existence itself. The doing of them is obedience to the will of Jehovah. Fidelity to the precepts of the tora is faithfulness to Israel's God in the view of the tora. The only practical worth of the Code of Moses above any other code, whether Roman or Grecian, is that the injunctions, if obeyed, constitute a conformity to the will of God. It is alone this peculiar character which makes the Mosaic legislation more precious than Solon's, and which makes a rational basis for our Christian faith in the Scriptures. But it is this very feature which per- ishes under that critical theory which higher criticism advances. In the hortatory close of the Sinaitic Tora we have presented the subjects of *' Obedience and Life" and ** Obedience and Blessing." The life referred to is national, not individual. In the world-movements the (88) 16 20 12 OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. 89 inevitable law is that individuals are but part of the mass. In character upbuilding the individual in himself is the world, that microcosm which is fashioned into beauty or hideousness according to the animating spirit. The life of Israel depended upon faithful adherence to this tora. Such is the announcement of Israel's lawgiver. OBEDIENCE AND LIFE ACCORDING TO J. E 15 And it shall come to pass when Jehovah shall bring thee into the land of the Canaan- ites, as he sware unto thee and unto thy fa- " thers, and shall give it unto thee, these are the statutes and the judgments which ye shall observe to do that thou mayest live and inherit '1 the land which Jehovah, God of your fathers, 40 giveth thee to possess it, and that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee in the land, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee forever. Life in the land is conditioned upon obedience to the tora. Incidentally it may be noticed how perfectly the facts accord with the theory of reconstructive criticism. This paragraph is harmonious and good writing. Yet it is restored from three different places in Deuterono- my out of what remained after almost all of the Sinaitic Tora had been reconstructed, and all of the Mosaic Tora. OBEDIENCE AND LIFE ACCORDING TO E. E ^ And it shall come to pass when ye shall come to the land which Jehovah will give you ac- 5 cording as he hath promised, then these are the statutes and judgments which Jehovah 90 THE SINAITIC TORA. your God commanded to teach you that ye \ should do them in the land which Jehovah, gf God of your fathers, will give you, that ye may live and it be w^ell with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which *i ye shall possess, all the days that ye live upon the earth. The two copies agree ; each enforces in its own way the utterance that national life and obedience to the Si- naitic Tora go hand in hand. The section upon *' Obedience and Blessing" is con- structed for the most part from Deuteronomy xxviii. i- 7 and 15-19. This twenty-eighth chapter has been the object of the most patient study of the higher critics. They agree that it is made up of *'Deuteronomic mate- rials," and Wellhausen attributes it to the author of v.-xi. of Deuteronomy. Kuenen says: '' Valeton only allov^s V. 1-6, 15-19 to the author of the hortatory dis- course (v.-xi.), and regards all the rest as later expan- sions. He points out the connection of these verses with xxvi. 16-19, and the beautiful parallelism between the blessing and the curse which marks them. Un- doubtedly the denunciation would have gained in force if the author had restrained himself within the limits proposed; but does this give us any right to deny that the elaborate development of the antithesis is his ? In v. 7-14, 20-68, I cannot discover a single indication of di- verse authorship, and the language and style are D^ throughout." (Hexateuch, p. 127.) Reconstructive criticism considers the word ''curse" in these verses (16-18) to belong to the section con- cerning the penalties of the Sinaitic Tora. The word ''blessing" appears six times in v. 3-6. The ''beauti- OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. 9I ful parallelism " of Valeton between the blessing and the curse is without foundation. Reconstructive criti- cism assumes the right of rearrangement of the words of Deuteronomy only to restore the two copies of the tora. If it fails to do this, there is no ground in reason for the liberty of taking the textus receptus to redispose it in order to make some kind of a literary production. This same right is assumed by higher critics when they caused to be printed in polychrome colors the different documents of the Pentateuch. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING ACCORDING TO J. 1^ And it shall be when Jehovah thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he ^^2 sware unto thy fathers, if thou hearken unto ^9 the voice of Jehovah thy God, and if thou shalt keep all these commandments and statutes and judgments to do them, then ALL THESE BLESSINGS shall come upon thee. Blessed shalt thou be in the city and in the 28 28 3, 16 55^ ^5 field, thy basket and thy store ; Blessed 51 shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine and the \ 19 flocks of thy sheep ; Blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out and when thou comest in. '^ And Jehovah shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee one 13 way and flee before thee seven ways. And thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be underneath. An incomparable confidence possessed Moses when he spake to Israel the sure sequence upon their obedi- ence to the law. He had said in the preceding section 92 THE SINAITIC TORA. that obedience was the condition of national life. He says here that obedience will insure blessings. An obe- dient people shall have the voices of children in their homes, shall see their fields and flocks bring forth abun- dantly. Their enemies shall flee before them. They shall be at the head. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING ACCORDING TO E. 12/1I Wherefore it shall come to pass, when thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy " God giveth thee, as he hath sworn unto thy }J^ 12 fathers, and shalt dwell therein, if ye heark- en to these commandments and statutes and ^2 judgments and keep and do them, all these '^l BLESSINGS shall overtake thee. Blessed shalt ^5 thou be in the city and in the field, thy basket ^4 and thy store ; Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of the ground, the increase ^1 of thy kine and thy flocks of sheep ; Blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out and when L '^ thou comest in. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten 1® thousand to flight. And thou shalt lend to 13 many nations and shalt not borrow. And Je- hovah shall make thee the head and not the tail. The only considerable variation in this copy is where reference is made to the enemies. Yet the meaning is one. Israel shall be invincible, if they obey. We have concluded the chapter upon '* Obedience and Blessing.*' The same supreme trust in Jehovah is found in this tora which we met in the Mosaic Tora. The commandments and statutes and judgments are es- sentially the same in each, and the logic of things would OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. 93 require that the outcome of obedience should be the same. There can be no doubt but that one mind is present in each tora. The same fundamental principles are present; the same result follows when these princi- ples find normal opportunity for working in the hearts of Israel. CHAPTER X. DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. As Moses spake the closing words of the Sinaitic Tora, a deep silence must have come upon Israel. The awful array of disasters which would succeed one an- other, in case the chosen people departed from Jehovah their God, had in itself a power that would naturally create in the listeners the hush of an overwhelming awe. These men who heard the words of this tora from Moses had also, only a short time before, witnessed the the- ophany at Sinai, when God spake and they heard and trembled. All of these men had been engaged in mak- ing and setting up the tabernacle. And their hearts were enkindled with noble devotion to a great and com- forting faith in God. The commandments and the judg- ments of the tora were not new ; they had been the civ- ic constitution during the sojourn in the wanderings. Some of the statutes were new, because they dealt with modifications in the cultus. Yet this new religious life, with its ceremonies, was simply an amplified form of what they had been bred to in the deserts, and in no way inconsistent with it. All was adapted to a larger communal existence, to a people being educated to enter among the nations of the earth as a world-power. Yet only this nation, among the nations of the earth, was taught in their law that the calamities which should overtake them in later days would be conditioned upon their attitude to the tora which governed them. (94) DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 95 Let US now recall briefly the conclusions of higher criticism in regard to its codes. Kuenen says: *'The results of the inquiry now completed show that in the year of the reformation of Ezra and Nehemiah (about 444 B.C.), the Deuteronomico-prophetic sacred history and the historico-legislative priestly work both existed independently. The union of these two gave rise to the present Hexateuch." (Hexateuch, p. 313.) The same author gives the reason and the approximate time for the union of these two independent works. He says: **As long as the two remained independent they challenged comparison, and the great difference between them could not but be observed. If this difference were regarded as amounting to contradiction, then the prestige of the two works alike must suffer under it, and the authority of the more recently introduced legislation specially be shaken. There was but one means of averting this dan- ger, namely, to weld together these two independent but related works into a single whole which might then claim, without fear of challenge, the place which Juda- ism assigned to the documents of Yahweh's revelation to the fathers. It is therefore highly probable that the Sopherim lost no time, and that before the end of the fifth century they had produced the Hexateuch . " ( Hex- ateuch, p. 314.) Our purpose in quoting the above paragraph is to bring to mind the date assigned to the various docu- ments, which higher criticism alleges to have discovered in the so-called Hexateuch. DJE existed independent- ly with P at about 444 B.C. Before the close of this century the Sopherim made all the recensions which higher criticism has pointed out. Hence D^ and D^ are supposed to have arisen just before the close of the 96 THE SINAITIC TORA. fifth century. Chapter xxviii. of Deuteronomy has been regarded as the great close which was appended to D^ some time. Wellhausen considers that the author of this chapter is not the same as that one who added D^ (v.-xi.) as a preface to D\ But in this view he is not sustained by the majority of authorities among higher critics, such as Kuenen and Graf and Klostermann and Hollenberg. These latter attribute this twenty-eighth chapter to the author of D^* We have shown in our **Tora of Moses" that the greater part of this chapter, which contains the threatened punishments for Israel in case of disobedience, furnishes the section of the Mo- saic Tora upon "Disobedience and Punishment,'' giv- ing two accounts of the same. A chapter which has been brought into comparison with this twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is the twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus. We will now quote Kuenen in regard to this latter chapter. He says: ''It is otherwise with the concluding discourse in Leviticus xxvi. 3-45. Here, too, Moses is the speaker, the con- quest of the land is in the future, Israel's attitude toward Yahweh's ordinances and judgments is uncertain, and so forth. But involuntarily, the author, like the writer of Deuteronomy xxix. sq., iv. sqq., etc., allows his own historical position to shine through. He knows that Is- rael has sacrificed on bamoth and in sanctuaries, has reared chammanim, and served idols (v. 30 sq.). He not only anticipates the dispersion of Israel, and the dev- astation of his land (v. 30), but can regard this depop- ulation and lying fallow of the land as the penalty for the neglect of the sabbath law, as the payment in full of what the soil owes to Yahweh (34, 35, 43). This last trait is decisive. The trespass could not be assumed DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 97 as a fact when the law had only just been given, nor even while it was still open to observe it, though it had already been neglected for some time. We cannot fail to recognize, under the form of prophecy, the writer's account of the fact which he actually witnessed — the land lying fallow." (Hexateuch, p. 283.) Reconstructive criticism, in opposition to this view, claims that this chapter in Leviticus, with most of what remained in Deuteronomy xxviii. after that has been re- moved which belonged to the two copies of the Mosaic Tora, furnishes the material out of which the section upon "Disobedience and Punishment" in the Sinaitic Tora is restored. The producing of this part of the Si- naitic Tora in two copies from these portions will estab- lish this view. To dogmatic theologians we owe that artificial con- ception of the history of Israel which requires the mar- velous to be present at every step in the national unfold- ing. Hence arose that theory of the inspiration of the Scriptures which demanded that the words of the writ- ers be given in such a mode as would allow basis for verbal inspiration. This view is erroneous. No national life ever developed more normally than that of Israel. The literature of this people will bear out this asser- tion. The first section in this part upon ''Disobedience and Punishment " in the Sinaitic Tora has reference to " Pride of Heart." Its phrasing reflects by contrast the life that Israel had led in the desert. They had dwelt in tents. They were to enter a land whose inhabitants lived in houses. The trees and the shrubs of the desert fur- nished little of desirable food ; but in the land to which they were to come abounded olive groves and vineyards. No orator could have shown greater skill in the mode of 7 98 THE SINAITIC TORA. his utterance than Moses when he uttered the closing words of this Sinaitic law. PRIDE OF HEART ACCORDING TO J. ^5 (And it shall come to pass), when Jehovah shall bless thee with blessings in the land which Jehovah thy God shall give thee for an 6 ; 10 inheritance to possess it to give thee great and goodly houses which thou buildest not, 11 and houses filled with goodly things which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees which thou plantedest not, when thou hast 12 eaten and art full, beware lest thou forget Jehovah which brought thee forth out of J? Egypt, from the house of bondage, and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. The paragraph is practically a universal truth with Israelitish local coloring. The elements are accession to power, emergence into wealth, the dangers which lead to the admonition ** Beware.'' It needed no proph- et who had been in some kind of solemn conclave with the Almighty, different from what was allowed to his fellows, to formulate this truth. Only the seer's inlook into the past of the nations in which he had been, or of which he had heard, was required. The same remarks apply to all that follows. To formulate it as Moses did needed as a precedent condition a sublime faith in Je- hovah such as Moses possessed from the time he re- ceived his call to lead his people out of Egypt. PRIDE OF HEART ACCORDING TO E. j^ Beware that thou forget not Jehovah thy God in not keeping his commandments and his DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 99 judgments and his statutes which I command if you this day, lest thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God which brought thee forth out of Egypt, out of the house of '2 bondage, when thou dwellest in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, yl and Isaac, and Jacob, to give them, and when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast goodly il houses and dwell therein, and thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold abound, and all that thou hast is increased. This section of E resembles closely that of J, exhib- iting the same informing spirit, yet with such variations as save the passage from the charge of being identical. These differences are of vital importance when the ques- tion of the credibility of these two copies as witnesses to the antiquity of the Sinaitic Tora comes up for con- sideration. The announcement of the first triad of punishments is the next section of this tora. Higher criticism re- gards these utterances and similar ones as the observa- tions of later times placed back in the Mosaic era, and so given the character of a prediction. The view is quite as tenable as that one held by certain Christian scholars who consider these words and others of similar char- acter as the prophet's look down the centuries, foresee- ing the events which were then to occur. The fact is that these words are predictive in the same sense that scientists often predict occurrences, simply because they know the natural laws and their working. Moses had faith in the sure working of law in national life. He knew that as soon as the uniting force of a nation was dissolved all evils came upon that people. Those he lOO THE SINAITIC TORA. announces are such as had come to other nations. Is- rael's leader saw these come to his people only when they departed from their God. This alone is the new element in these words of Moses which recount the dis- asters that follow upon infidelity to Jehovah. FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO J. L 2? But if ye walk contrary to me (saith Jeho- L 2^ vah), and will not hearken unto me, then also I will walk contrary to you and will punish 22 you seven times for your sins. Jehovah will smite thee with consumption and a fever and ^ inflammation and extreme burning. He will 23 bring upon thee the plague. Thy heavens that are above thy head shall be brass, and thy earth L 26 that is under thee shall be iron. Then they shall deliver your bread by weight. The three punishments in the paragraph are easily separable. They are sickness, the failure of crops through pests or the east wind's smiting, or the absence of the refreshing rains in their season. How this as- sumption of the tora is to be adjusted to the impartial operation of natural law will puzzle the scientists ; but can these men, wise in the knowledge of the natural law, tell when the cyclone cometh, or when the east wind will blow disaster to the growth of the fields? Scientific explanation of these occurrences follows close on to their appearing, but not before their arrival are they announced by the scientist. Accept the God of the Hebrews as Moses revealed him to Israel, and we may not deny that he can attach these penalties to dis- obedience, if so be his will. DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. lOI FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO E. L 27 But if ye will not hearken unto me, but will L 2I walk contrary to me, then also I will walk con- trary unto you in fury, and I, even I (saith Je- hovah), will chastise you for your sins seven L 16 times. I will appoint over you consumption, L 25 burning ague, and terror. I will send among L 19 you the plague. I will make your heavens as L 26 brass and your earth as iron. And when I have broken the staff of bread among you, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. Several differences appear in this part between the two copies. The three punishments are the same ; but in E the announcement is in the first person, while in J the third is employed. Then the description of the lack of bread is given most graphically in E. So little will be the supply in Israel that ten women can bake it all in one oven. The second triad of punishments relates to those in- flictions which come through war; the hard distresses, which a stronger people bring upon those whom they conquer. More pitiless is the oppressive hand of man than the powers of nature, whether through her disease comes, or plague, or drought. It is not new that the miseries of war lead to famine in a city, or to a foreign ruler; but it is otherwise with the assertion that faith in Jehovah will avert these misfortunes. In this new element the Mosaic threatenings have a most significant interest for mankind. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO J. L g^ 25 The rabble of the field, thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways be- I02 THE SINAITIC TORA. 53 fore them. Thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daugh- ters, in the straightness wherewith thine ene- L mies shall distress thee. And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. II And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land. The Authorized Version uses the words ** wild beasts'' where we have employed the expression *' rabble of the field." The three punishments are defeat, the stress of the siege, and the foreign ruler. Israel had won only one signal victory at the time these words were uttered to them. The Amalekites had been de- stroyed and their land possessed. Now Israel was to be prepared in the Sinaitic peninsula by a fort}'- years' sojourn to go forward to conquest. Moses in this Si- naitic Tora tells them that surely the distresses of de- feat will come to them if ever they depart from Jehovah their God in the coming days. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO E. l|5 And ye shall have no power to stand before L af your enemies. When ye are gathered togeth- L 29 er within your cities, ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and ye shall eat the flesh of your ^ L 17 daughters in the siege. They that hate you L f^ shall rule over you, who shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle. The three punishments are those which we found re- counted in J. The wording varies, but not the import of the section. The seventh punishment which is threatened in this tora is deportation to foreign lands from the country DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. IO3 which Israel should possess. This meant simply the destruction of national life. Higher criticism sees in this punishment surest evidence that the writer was one who was in exile and beheld what is here recorded, and who wished to impress his readers with the faith that such punishment was the reward of disobedience to Je- hovah, and in order to give his teaching impressive au- thority places the evil that Israel was under in their ex- ile as a prediction given by Moses to the children of Israel. It needed no prophetic outlook to know that this evil of deportation might come to any nation in the future, if it was subdued by a more powerful one. This was incident to national existence, and Moses in Egypt had beheld Pharaoh subdue nations and exile them. But the fundamental theory of national strength in Israel, as taught by Moses, was that it was found in Jehovah. Departure from him meant national weak- ness. The generalizations in this seventh punishment, as well as those in the preceding triad, could have been made by any great observing and reflective mind. THE SEVENTH PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO J, 27 Jehovah will scatter you among the nations, L II and ye shall be left few in number, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them. And they shall flee as fleeing before a sword, and 2J they shall fall when none pursue. And ye 5^ L 38 SHALL SERVE GODS, wood and stonc. And L ^ ye shall perish among the heathen. Then THE LAND SHALL ENJOY HER SABBATHS, when she lieth desolate without them. It is a deft touch which describes the pitiful fear of the few Israelites who should wander captives in for- I04 THE SINAITIC TORA. eign lands. So timorous are these to be that ** the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them." These inimitable strokes in the picturing of both toras show clearly a master's hand present in each. THE ELEVENTH PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO J. L ^ And I will scatter you among the heathen, L 22 and I will make you few in number. And 2I 27 there, among the heathen whither Jehovah 28 shall lead you, ye shall serve gods, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat L 36 nor smell. And I will send a faintness in their hearts in the land of their enemies upon L 3? them that are left of you, and they shall fall upon one another as it were before a sword L 38 when none pursueth. And the land of your L 2 enemies shall eat you up. And then the LAND shall be left of them, and shall en- joy her sabbaths. The copy of E depicts the few remaining Israelites in captivity as possessing an abject fear. But a com- pletely different image is used to illustrate its working in them. These poor captives shall be so timorous that they shall " fall upon one another as it were before a sword," although no immediate danger faces them. They shall ever be dreading peril, so fearful is their heart. Israel survives unto our day. Each century of the past, since they were deported among the nations, has witnessed special persecutions, and in some places so venomous that it would seem that this people must be exterminated root and branch. Still Israel survives. Their fertile land lies desolate. Its plains, once the gar- den spot of the East, are scantily cultivated. The land DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. IO5 is unloved by the rulers therein and Israel's remnant, the few who live in Palestine, are the most pitiable of the stock. Yet Israel's faith, not their mode of wor- ship, has passed into the possession of the Gentiles. The Scriptures, which Israel rightly calls her own, are the guide of the faith of the world to-day. The Roman has perished from off the face of the earth. So too the Grecian and the Mede and Persian, also the proud As- syrian as well as the Egyptian. They all have passed away from among the nations of the earth. But the Jews are in the midst of every nation: living among other peoples, yet never absorbed, never losing their national feeling and characteristics. Verily had they perished, then too would their faith have been lost to men. After the Sinaitic Tora announces the seven punish- ments which shall come upon Israel if they depart from Jehovah, the hope of a promise is extended to them if they return to faithful allegiance to Jehovah. REPENTANCE AND FA VOR ACCORDING TO /. L ^5 Then if their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they accept the punishment of 2J their iniquity because of the wickedness of thy % doings whereby thou hast forsaken me be- cause thou wouldst not obey the voice of Je- at hovah thy God, then he will not forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them, and he will not forsake thee nor destroy thee, for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God, \ who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The tender love of God for his people none could have understood better than Moses; for this leader's I06 THE SINAITIC TORA. love for Israel was marvelous. Amid all their wrong- doings Moses still pleaded for them. He was verily a good shepherd, who watched over the flock. Not strange is it that from his lips should come to Israel words of promise, even though the most direful distress should visit the people because of their unfaithfulness. REPENTANCE AND FA VOR ACCORDING TO E. L ^ And (if) they shall accept the punishment of their iniquity because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my 30 statutes, and if thou turn to Jehovah thy God and shall be obedient to his voice, when thou art in tribulation, and all these things are L 4I come upon thee in the latter day, then I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors which I brought forth out of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God. Some expressions in E are new, such as ** tribula- tion" and *' latter day." But the change in the atti- tude of God toward repentant Israel is expressed in both J and E as a remembrance of the covenant made with their forefathers. The Sinaitic Tora closes with a beautiful passage, ex- horting Israel to faithfulness in keeping these command- ments of Jehovah. To conform to these precepts is to be upright before Jehovah. Hence comes that word which had such import in later prophecies and psalms. Israel as obedient was the upright. CLOSING EXHORTATION ACCORDING TO J. ^ Observe and hear all these words which I command thee this day, that it may go well DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. IO7 with thee and thy children after thee forever, }* in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee 28 to possess it, because thou doest good and right 32 in the sight of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt 5? not add thereto nor diminish therefrom. For this command w^hich I command thee this day ?2 was not hidden from thee. It was not in the heavens, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up to heaven to bring it down to us, that we 1$ may hear and do it ? But the word is in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. This closing paragraph defines the clear difference between all other nations and Israel in matters relating to God. For other nations the word was hidden. Their seers had to ascend into the heavens and bring down knowledge. Israel, on the contrary, had the word given to them ; it was as if in their mouths and in their hearts. To Israel alone was vouchsafed revelation, as understood in the theology of the Christian Church. CLOSING EXHORTATION ACCORDING TO E. 32 Observe to do whatsoever I have command- }| ed you this day, in order to do right in the eyes 15 of Jehovah thy God, in order that thy days may be lengthened in the land which Jehovah 2 thy God giveth thee. Ye shall not add unto the word which I have commanded you, nor I diminish from it. For all this law which I set 5J^ S before you this day, it is not far off. It is not beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us 14 that we may hear and do it ? But very nigh thee E ^9 is the law of Jehovah, even in thy mouth. The unique similarity of this closing exhortation in Io8 THE SINAITIC TORA. the two copies has an especial charm. Each gives the condition upon which Israel may claim to be upright in the eyes of Jehovah. Each makes continuance in the land of promise depend upon the same manner of con- duct. Each regards the commandments as near by, even in the mouth. Yet with this likeness there is not a tedious repetition, but a free and independent mode of expression in each copy. We have brought to a close our investigations respect- ing the Sinaitic Tora. According to our statement in the early pages of this volume we have produced two copies of this tora, each consistent with the other, with- out contradictions or redactions. The only liberty which reconstructive criticism has taken is the right to rear- range the text. Yet this right is not unreasonable, since higher criticism has proved incontestably that the great- est confusion exists in the text of Exodus-Deuteronomy. The result which we have reached is most remarkable, since in our *'Tora of Moses" we took from Exodus- Deuteronomy a complete code of civil and religious laws, and gave it in two copies. Now to have restored from what remained another code, confirming the Mo- saic code in every great feature, and producing also of this Sinaitic code two copies, is to have given such proof of the theory of reconstructive criticism as ought to win recognition and belief. CHAPTER XL COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE TWO COPIES. PREFATORY STATEMENT. J. E. These are the statutes and These are the command- judgments and laws which ments and statutes and judg- Jehovah made between him ments which Jehovah com- and the children of Israel in manded Moses for the chil- mount Sinai by the hand of dren of Israel in mount Sinai. Moses. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. J. E. Now therefore hearken, O Hear, O Israel, Ye stand Israel, Ye stand this day this day before Jehovah BEFORE Jehovah your God, your God, all the men of Is- all of you, your captains of rael, elders of your tribes and your tribes, your elders, and officers. And he hath chosen your officers. He chose thee thee to be a peculiar people to be a special people to him- unto himself above all the na- self above all the people that tions of the earth. And Jeho- are upon the face of the earth, vah took you and brought you Jehovah did not set his love forth out of the iron furnace upon you nor choose you be- of Egypt with signs and won- cause you were more in num- ders and an outstretched arm bers than any other people ; to be a people of inheritance for ye were the fewest of all unto him as at this day ; for people. But because Jeho- Jehovah thy God loved thee, vah loved you and because he And Jehovah thy God hath would keep the oath which he kept the covenant and the no THE SINAITIC TORA. J. E. had sworn unto your fathers, mercy which he sware unto hath Jehovah with a mighty thy fathers, hand brought you out from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. DEEDS OF JEHOVAH, J. E. And ye know his greatness And remember well what and his miracles and his acts, Jehovah thy God did unto which he did unto Pharaoh, Pharaoh and all Egypt, the king of Egypt, and all his chastisements of Jehovah land. And Jehovah thy God your God, his mighty hand brought thee out thence and his outstretched arm in the through a mighty hand and midst of Egypt. And Jeho- an outstretched arm. And vah overthrew the Egyptians what he did unto the army of in the midst of the sea, all Egypt, unto their horses and Pharaoh's horses, his chariots to their chariots, how he made and his horsemen. And your the waters of the Red Sea to eyes have seen all the great overflow them as they pur- acts of Jehovah w^hich he has sued after you, and Jehovah done. What he did unto destroyed them. And what the sons of Eliab, the son of HE did unto Dathan and Abi- Reuben, then the earth opened ram, how the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed her mouth and swallowed them and their tents and all them up and their house- their substance that was in holds. And what he did unto their possession in the midst of you in the wilderness, he who all Israel. And I led you in led thee through that great the wilderness, and Jehovah waterless wilderness. Thy thy God, who brought thee raiment waxed not old upon forth water out of the flinty thee, neither did thy foot swell, rock, knew thy walkings And Jehovah TALKED with through that great and terri- You face to face in the mount ble desert where there were COMPARATIVE VIEW. Ill J. E. out of the midst of fire in the fiery serpents and scorpions day of the assembly. Be- and drought. Ye ate no hold, the heavens and the bread, and ye drank no strong heaven of the heavens is Je- drink, your clothes v^axed not hovah's thy God; and the old, and thy shoe waxed not earth also, with aU that is old upon thy foot. And Je- therein. hovah talked with you HERE in the mount out of the midst of fire. And Jehovah is thy God, he is thy praise, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen. THE LAND OF PROMISE. J. E. And ye shall go in and pos- Thou shalt go in and pos- sess the land which Jehovah sess the good land, which Je- sware unto your fathers to give hovah sware unto thy fathers, them and their seed, a land a land that floweth with milk that floweth with milk and and honey. And Jehovah thy honey. And Jehovah will God will be among you, to drive out the nations from be- cast out all thine enemies be- fore you, and ye shall possess fore thee as Jehovah hath greater nations and mightier spoken, to drive out nations than yourselves. Thou shalt before thee greater and not be afraid of them ; for Je- mightier than thou, to bring hovah thy God is among you, thee in, to give thee their land the God of gods, a mighty for an inheritance. If thou God, and terrible ; and he shall shalt say in thine heart, These deliver them into thy hands, nations are more than I, how and thou shalt destroy them can I dispossess them ? still with a mighty destruction, thou shalt not be affrighted at And ye shall possess it and them ; for Jehovah your God dwell therein. is Lord of lords, a great God, 112 THE SINAITIC TORA. J. E. mighty and terrible, and he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt de- stroy them and their name from under heaven. And thou shalt possess it and dwell therein. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH. J. E, Thou shalt keep his com- Ye shall observe to do mandments which I command therefore as Jehovah your thee this day, and thou shalt God hath commanded you this not turn aside from any of the day. Ye shall not turn aside words which I command thee to the right hand or the left. to the right hand or to the left, Ye shall walk in all the ways that it might be well with thee which Jehovah your God com- in the land whither thou shalt mandeth you, that ye may live go to possess which Jehovah and go in and possess the land sware unto thy fathers to give which Jehovah God of your thee. fathers giveth you. FIRST TABLE, J. E. I. I. Thou shalt fear Jehovah Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy thy God, and serve him, and God, and serve him, and swear swear by his name. by his name. II- ir. And ye shall love the stran- Love the stranger, ger. III. ni- Ye shall make no idols. Turn ye not unto idols. IV. IV. Ye shall not swear by my Ye shall not profane my name falsely. holy name. COMPARATIVE VIEW. IIJ J. E. V. V. Ye shall keep my sabbaths Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary, and reverence my sanctuary, SECOND TABLE, J. E. VI. VI. He who curseth his father He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be or his mother shall surely be put to death. put to death. VII. VII. Whosoever lieth carnally Thou shalt not lie carnally with a w^oman, betrothed to with thy neighbor's wife; an husband, their blood be they shall surely be put to upon them. death. VIII. VIII. The murderer shall surely The murderer shall surely be put to death. be put to death. IX. IX. Ye shall not steal. Thou shalt do no robbery. X. X. Ye shall do no unright- Ye shall do no unrighteous- eousness in judgment. ^ess in judgment. EXHOR TA TION. J. E. Observe to do and to keep And ye shall keep all the his commandments which I commandments which I com- have commanded thee, thou mand you ; and they shall be and thy son and thy son's son, for a token upon thy hand and all the days of thy life ; and for frontlets between thine they shall be for a sign for eyes, that Jehovah thy God thee upon thy hand and for a may bless thee in all the works memorial between thine eyes, which thou doest, and that ye that thou mayest live and may live and multiply, and be 8 114 "^^^ SINAITIC TORA. J. E. multiply, and that Jehovah strong and go in and possess thy God may bless thee in the the land whither ye go to pos- land whither thou shalt go to sess. possess, and that thou mayest possess it. FIDELITT TO JEHOVAH. J. E. Behold I set before thee I set before you this day life this day life and death, good and death, blessing and curs- and evil, in that I command ing, to the end that thou may- Ihee to love Jehovah thy God, est love Jehovah thy God and to walk in his ways, and to obey his voice and cleave unto keep his commandments. But him ; for he is thy life and the if thine heart turn away so length of thy days. But if ye that thou wilt not hear, but will not obey the command- shalt be drawn away and wor- ments of Jehovah your God, ship other gods, I denounce and ye turn aside out of the you this day that ye shall sure- way which I command you ly perish, and he shall not pro- this day, to go after other gods long your days upon the land which ye have not known, and whither you go to possess serve them, then ye shall ut- over the Jordan ; for I Jeho- terly perish from off the land vah thy God am a jealous whither ye go to possess over God, visiting the iniquities of Jordan ; and ye shall not pro- the fathers upon the children long your days upon it, but unto the third and fourth gen- shall be utterly destroyed ; for eration of them that hate me, I Jehovah thy God am a jeal- and showing thousands of ous God, visiting the iniquities mercies unto those that love of the fathers upon the chil- me and keep my command- dren unto the third and fourth ments. generation of them that hate me, and showing a thousand mercies unto them that love me and keep my command- ments. COMPARATIVE VIEW. II5 GUEST-RIGHT LA W. J. E. Thou shalt neither vex a And thou shalt not oppress stranger nor oppress him. Ye a stranger. One law and one shall have one law for him manner shall be for you and that is born among the chil- the stranger that sojourneth dren of Israel and for the with you ; for ye were stran- stranger that sojourneth gers in the land of Egypt. among them ; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. CONCERNING IDOLATRT. J. E. And God spake all And God spake all THESE WORDS, SAYING I Ob- THESE WORDS, SAYING I Only serve that which I command if thou carefully hearken unto thee this day, and behold I the voice of Jehovah thy God will drive out the Amorite and to observe to do all these com- the Canaanite and the Hivite mandments which I command and the Hittite and the Periz- thee this day, will I drive out zite and the Jebusite. Thou the Canaanite and the Amorite shalt make no covenant with and the Hittite and the Periz- them nor with their gods, nor zite and the Hivite and the shalt thou serve them ; but ye Jebusite. Thou shalt make no shall destroy their altars, break covenant with them, nor show down their images, and cut them mercy, nor do after their down their groves. And ye works. Thou shalt not bow shall be holy. down to their gods, but thou shalt quite break down their images and utterly overthrow them. And ye shall utterly destroy all the places where these nations, which ye shall possess, served their gods,upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree. And ye shall be holy. Il6 THE SINAITIC TORA. CONCERNING APOSTAST. J. E. Thou shalt not set thee up Ye shall not make with me an image, which Jehovah thy graven image nor rear you up God hateth, saying : Ye shall a standing image nor set you not make with me gods of sil- up an image of stone in your ver nor gods of gold. And land to bow down unto it. take heed lest there be among And whosoever of the chil- you man or woman or family dren of Israel or the stranger whose heart turneth away that dwelleth in Israel that from Jehovah thy God to com- giveth his seed to Moloch, he mit whoredom with Moloch, shall surely be put to death. Then I will set my face against And if the people of the land that soul and will cut him off do anyways hide that man from among his people. And which giveth his seed to Mo- thou shalt not let any of thy loch and kill him not, then I seed pass through to Moloch, will set my face against that then I will set my face against man to cut him off from among that man and against his fami- his people. Thou shalt not ly, and will cut him off from suffer a witch to live. And among his people ; because he the soul that turneth after such hath given his seed unto Mo- as have familiar spirits, and loch. A man or a woman after wizards to go a whoring that hath a familiar spirit or after them, they shall stone that is a wizard, and all that them with stones, goeth a whoring after him, the people of the land shall stone them with stones, TUB SABBATH. J. E. Six days shalt thou work. Six days shalt thou do thy But the seventh day thou shalt work. And on the seventh rest, and thine ox and thine ass. day thou shalt rest, and thine It is a sabbath of rest for you, ox and thine ass. And the for thee and for thy servant, son of thine handmaid and COMPARATIVE VIEW. II7 J. E. and for thy maid and for thy the stranger shall rest, and hired servant, and for the they shall be refreshed. stranger that sojourneth with thee. SABBATIC TEAR. J. E, The land shall keep a And the land shall sabbath unto Jehovah. Thou keep a sabbath unto Jehovah. shalt neither sow thy field nor Ye shall not sow and ye shall prune thy vineyard. That not reap, nor gather the grapes which eroweth of its own ac- in it of the vine undressed. Ye cord of thy harvest thou shalt shall eat the increase thereof not reap, nor gather in the out of the field. That which grapes of thy vine undressed, groweth by itself in it is for It is a year of rest unto the the stranger, and the widow, land. And the sabbath of the and the fatherless child. And land shall be meat for you, for if ye say. What shall we eat the stranger, and the widow, the seventh year, behold we and the fatherless child, and shall not sow nor gather the for thy cattle. And the land increase thereof, then I will shall yield her fruit, and ye command (saith Jehovah) my shall eat your fill. Ye shall blessings upon you in the sixth eat of the old store until her year, and it shall bring forth fruits come in. fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year and eat of the old fruit until the ninth year. TEAR OF JUBILEE. J. E. And it shall come to pass. And it shall come to pass, when thou art come into the when Jehovah thy God shall land which Jehovah thy God give thee rest from all thine giveth thee for an inheritance enemies round about in the and thou shalt possess it and land which Jehovah thy God dwell therein, then thou shalt giveth thee for an inheritance Il8 THE SINAITIC TORA. J. E. number seven sabbaths of to possess it, then the space years unto thee seven times of seven sabbaths of years shall seven years. And thou shalt be unto thee forty-nine years, cause the trumpet of jubilee and on the day of atonement to sound on the tenth day of ye shall make the trumpet to the seventh month. And ye sound throughout all your shall proclaim liberty through land. It shall be a jubilee unto the land unto the inhabitants you, and ye shall return every thereof. In this year of jubilee man unto his family, every man shall return unto the possession of his fathers. THE PASSOVER. J. E. The passover ye shall keep The passover ye shall keep it in his appointed season ac- it according to all the cere- cording to all the rites of it monies thereof at even, in its at even ; for in the month of appointed season ; for in the Abib thou camest forth out of month of Abib thou camest Egypt. And there shall be no out of Egypt. Ye shall put leavened bread seen with thee, away leaven out of your And thou shalt show thy son houses. And it shall come to in that day, saying, It is the pass when your children shall sacrifice of Jehovah's passover, say. What mean ye by this who passed over the houses service.^ then ye shall say, It of the children of Israel in is Jehovah's passover, because Egypt, when he smote the of what Jehovah did unto me Egyptians and delivered our when I came out of Egypt, houses. Seven days thou Then it came to pass, when shalt eat unleavened bread. Pharaoh would hardly let the No leaven shall be found in people go, by the strength of all your houses. And thou the hand Jehovah brought us shalt remember thou wert a out of Egypt, out of the house bondman in Egypt. Thou of bondage. Seven days shall shalt sacrifice unto Jehovah ye eat unleavened bread. In COMPARATIVE VIEW. Up J. E. thy God all the firstlings all your habitations ye shall male that come of thy herd eat nothing leavened. And and thy flock. And every thou shalt remember thou firstling of an ass thou shalt wast a bondman in Egypt, redeem with a lamb. And if And thou shalt sanctify unto thou wilt not redeem it, thou Jehovah thy God every first- shalt break his neck. And all ling among the cattle, whether the firstborn of man among ox or sheep, and the firstborn thy children thou shalt re- of an ass thou shalt redeem deem. And ye shall observe with a lamb : and if thou re- this thing for an ordinance for deem him not, then thou shalt thee and thy sons forever. break his neck. But the first- born of man thou shalt surely redeem. And ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. THE THREE ANNUAL FEASTS. J. E. Thrice in a year shall all Three times in the year shalt your male children appear be- thou keep a feast unto me fore Jehovah thy God. Thou the God of Israel. Thou shalt shalt bring the first fruits of bring the first fruits of the land thy land unto the house of into the house of Jehovah thy Jehovah thy God. And when God. When thou hast gather- ye have gathered in the fruit ed thy labors outof the field, of thy land ye shall keep a then ye shall keepit a feast un- feast unto Jehovah seven to Jehovah seven days in the days. And ye shall take on year. And all that are Israel- the first day branches of palm ite born shall dwell in booths trees and willows of the brook, of the boughs of goodly trees and ye shall dwell in booths and boughs of thick trees, seven days. And ye shall ob- that your generations may serve the day of atonement know that I made the children according to all its rites. of Israel dwell in booths when I20 THE SINAITIC TORA. J. E. I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Ye shall keep the feast of the atonement unto Jehovah thy God according to all the ceremonies thereof. CONCERNING THE PRIEST. J. E. And thou shalt appoint Aa- Thou hast separated from ron and his sons, and they among the children of Israel shall wait upon me in their Aaron and his sons, and the priest's office. And they shall priest's office shall be theirs, not profane the holy things And they shall be separated as of the children of Israel which holy from among the children they offer unto Jehovah. of Israel, and they shall not profane my holy name and the holy things which they hallow unto me. THE LEVITES. J. E. The Levites were a gift And thou shalt give the Le- unto Aaron and his sons from vites unto Aaron and his sons ; among the children of Israel, they shall be wholly given And they shall keep his charge unto him from among the and the charge of the whole children of Israel. And they congregation before the taber- shall keep all the instruments nacle of the congregation to of the tabernacle of the con- do the service of the taber- gregation and the charge of nacle. the children of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle. THE PLACE OF WORSHIP. J. E. Take heed to thyself that Ye shall not do after that thou offer not thy burnt offer- which we do here this day : ings in every place, where every man whatsoever is right COMPARATIVE VIEW. 121 J. E. thou hast visions, but there is in his own eyes. Ye shall now a place where Jehovah not do so unto Jehovah your thy God chooseth to cause his God. But thou shalt offer name to dwell ; there thou thy burnt offerings before Je- shalt offer thy burnt offerings, hovah thy God in the place and there thou shalt do ac- which Jehovah thy God cording to all that I have com- chooses to place his name ; manded thee. And thou shalt thither shall ye bring all that eat before Jehovah thy God, I have commanded you. And thou and thy household, and there ye shall eat before Je- thou shalt rejoice in all that hovah your God, and ye shall thou puttest thine hand unto, rejoice in all that you put your hand to, wherein Jeho- vah thy God hath blessed you, ye and your household, THE UNCLEAN ANIMALS. J. E. These are the beasts which This is the law of the beast shall not be eaten among all and the fowl and of every liv- the beasts that are on the ing creature that moveth in earth ; as the camel, for he the waters and of every crea- cheweth the cud and divideth ture that creepeth upon the the hoof and is cloven-footed ; earth. Verily these ye shall and the coney, for he cheweth not eat ; of them that chew not the cud and is cloven-foot- the cud and divide the cloven ed ; and the hare, for he chew- foot, as the camel ; of them as eth the cud and is cloven-foot- the coney that chew not the ed ; and the swine, though he cud but divide the hoof, and divideth the hoof, yet he as the hares, for they chew cheweth not the cud ; and ev- the cud but divide not the ery beast which divideth the hoof; and the swine, for he hoof and cleaveth the cleft divideth the hoof but chew- into two claws, as the chame- eth not the cud. That which leon after its kind and the cleaveth the cleft into claws 122 THE SINAITIC TORA» J. E. lizard after its kind, the mouse is unclean unto you, as the and the weasel after its chameleon after its kind, the KIND. These of them ye may lizard after its kind, the shrew eat that creep upon the earth, mouse and the weasel after the locust after its kind and its kind. Among the creep- the grasshopper after its kind, ing things ye may eat the lo- These ye shall have in abomi- cust after its kind and the nation among the fowls : the grasshopper after its kind, eagle and the ossif rage and the And these are they of which osprey, and the vulture and the ye shall not eat : the eagle and kite after his kind, and the the ossifrage and the osprey, raven after his kind, and the and the glede and the kite and owl and the night hawk and the vulture after his kind, and the cuckoo and the hawk after the raven after his kind, and its kind, and the little owl and the owl and the night hawk the cormorant and the great and the cuckoo and the hawk owl, and the swan and pelican after his kind, and the little and the gier eagle, and the owl and the great owl and the stork and the heron after her swan, and the pelican and the kind, and the lapwing and the gier eagle and the cormorant bat. And all that have not and the stork and the heron fins and scales of all that after her kind, and the lap- move in the waters, they shall wing and the bat. Whatso- be an abomination unto you. ever in the waters hath no fins nor scales, that shall be an abomination unto you. CONCERNING CRIMES, J. E. Cursed be the man that Cursed be he that sacrific- maketh a molten or graven im- eth to any god, the work of age, the work of men's hands, the hands of a craftsman, save and setteth it up in a secret Jehovah only, place. Cursed be he that bias- Cursed be he that bias- phemeth the name of Jeho- phemeth the name of Jehovah, vah. COMPARATIVE VIEW. 1 23 J. E. Cursed be he that maketh Cursed be he that smiteth light of his father or his moth- his father or his mother. er. Cursed be the man who Cursed be he that lieth with taketh his father's wife and his father's wife ; for he hath discovereth his father's skirts, uncovered his father's skirts. Cursed be he who lieth Cursed be he that lieth with with the daughter of his fa- his sister. ther or the daughter of his Cursed be he that lieth with mother, any manner of beasts. Cursed be every one who Cursed be he that smiteth lieth with a beast. his neighbor secretly. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay the innocent. CONCERNING INJURIES. J. E. If a man cause a blemish in Breach for breach, eye for a neighbor, as he hath done, eye, tooth for tooth. As one so shall it be done unto him. causeth blemish in a man, so He that killeth a beast shall shall it be done to him. He make it good, beast for beast, that killeth a beast shall re- store it. CONCERNING TRUTH AND JUDGMENT. J. E. Thou shalt not defraud thy Thou shalt keep thee from neighbor. a false matter. Thou shalt not raise a false xhou shalt not go up and report. down as a tale-bearer amongst Thou shalt not curse the ^^^ ^^^^^^^ judges. rr^l 1 1. ^ ° , , ^ „ ^ Ihou shalt not curse a i hou shalt not follow after the multitude to do evil in a ^ ^ j P P • ^,^ygg^ Put not thy hand with the Thou shalt not speak after wicked to be an unrighteous many to decline thy poor in witness, his cause. Thou shalt not countenance 124 "TK^ SINAITIC TORA. J. E. Pervert not the judgment the perverting of a poor man of the stranger, the widow, in his cause. and the fatherless. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger and the widow and the fatherless, OBEDIENCE AND LIFE. J. E. And it shall come to pass And it shall come to pass when Jehovah shall bring when ye shall come to the thee into the land of the Ca- land which Jehovah will give naanites, as he sware unto you according as he hath thee and unto thy fathers, and promised, then these are the shall give it unto thee, these statutes and judgments which are the statutes and the judg- Jehovah your God commanded ments which ye shall observe to teach you that ye should do to do that thou mayest live them in the land which Jeho- and inherit the land which Je- vah, God of your fathers, will hovah, God of your fathers, give you, that ye may live and giveth thee to possess it, and it be well with you, and that that it may go well with thee you may prolong your days and with thy children after in the land, which ye shall thee in the land, and that thou possess, all the days that ye mayest prolong thy days upon live upon the earth, the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee forever. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING, J. E. And it shall be when Je- Wherefore it shall come to hovah thy God shall have pass, when thou art come into brought thee into the land the land which Jehovah thy which he sware unto thy fa- God giveth thee, as he hath thers, if thou hearken unto the sworn unto thy fathers, and voice of Jehovah thy God, and shalt dwell therein, if ye if thou shalt keep all these hearken to these command- COMPARATIVE VIEW. 125 J. E. commandments and statutes ments and statutes and judg- and judgments to do them, ments and keep and do them, THEN ALL THESE BLESSINGS ALL THESE BLESSINGS shall shall come upon thee. Blessed overtake thee. Blessed shalt shalt thou be in the city and thou be in the city and in the in the field, thy basket and field, thy basket and thy store ; thy store; Blessed shall be Blessed shall be the fruit of the fruit of thy body and the thy body and the fruit of the fruit of thy land, the increase ground, the increase of thy of thy kine and the flocks of kine and thy flocks of sheep ; thy sheep ; Blessed shalt thou Blessed shalt thou be when be when thou goest out and thou goest out and when thou when thou comest in. And comest in. And five of you Jehovah shall cause thine en- shall chase a hundred, and a emies that rise up against thee hundred of you shall put ten to be smitten before thy face, thousand to flight. And thou They shall come out against shalt lend to many nations thee one way and flee before and shalt not borrow. And thee seven ways. And thou Jehovah shall make thee the shalt be above only, and thou head and not the tail, shalt not be underneath. PRIDE OF HEART. J. E. (And it shall come to pass). Beware that thou forget not when Jehovah shall bless thee Jehovah thy God in not keep- with blessings in the land ing his commandments and which Jehovah thy God shall his judgments and his statutes give thee for an inheritance to which I command you this possess it, to give thee great day, lest thine heart be lifted and goodly houses which thou up, and thou forget Jehovah buildest not, and houses filled thy God which brought thee with goodly things which forth out of Egypt, out of the thou filledst not, and wells house of bondage, when thou digged which thou diggedst dwellest in the land which Je- 126 THE SINAITIC TORA. J. E. not, vineyards and olive trees hovah sware unto thy fathers, which thou plantedst not, to Abraham, and Isaac, and when thou hast eaten and art Jacob, to give them, and when full, beware lest thou forget thou hast eaten and art full, Jehovah which brought thee and hast goodly houses and forth out of Egypt, from the dwell therein, and thy herds house of bondage, and thou and thy flocks multiply, and say in thine heart. My power thy silver and thy gold abound, and the might of my hand and all that thou hast is in- hath gottan me this wealth. creased. FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS, J. E. But if ye walk contrary to But if ye will not hearken me (saith Jehovah), and will unto me, but will walk con- not hearken unto me, then trary to me, then also I will also I will walk contrary to walk contrary unto you in you and will punish you seven fury, and I, even I (saith Je- times for your sins. Jehovah hovah), will chastise you for will smite thee with consump- your sins seven times. I will tion and a fever and inflam- appoint over you consump- mation and extreme burning, tion, burning ague, and terror. He will bring upon thee the I will send among you the plague. Thy heavens that are plague. I will make your above thy head shall be brass, heavens as brass and your and thy earth that is under earth as iron. And when I thee shall be iron. Then they have broken the staff of bread shall deliver your bread by among you, ten women shall weight. bake your bread in one oven, and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS. J. E. The rabble of the field, thou And ye shall have no pow- shalt go out one way against er to stand before your ene- COMPARATIVE VIEW. 12*J J. E. them and flee seven ways be- mies. When ye are gathered fore them. Thou shalt eat together within your cities, ye the fruit of thine own body, shall eat the flesh of your sons the flesh of thy sons and thy and ye shall eat the flesh of daughters, in the straightness your daughters in the siege. wherewith thine enemies shall They that hate you shall rule distress thee. And ye shall over you, who shall rob you sow your seed in vain, for of your children and destroy your enemies shall eat it. And your cattle. he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land. THE SE VENTH P UNISHMENT. J. E. Jehovah will scatter you And I will scatter you among the nations, and ye among the heathen, and I will shall be left few in number, make you few in number, and the sound of a shaken leaf And there, among the heathen shall chase them. And they whither Jehovah shall lead shall flee as fleeing before a you, ye shall serve gods, sword, and they shall fall wood and stone, which nei- when none pursue. And ye ther see nor hear nor eat nor SHALL SERVE GODS, wood smell. And I will send a and stone. And ye shall faintness in their hearts in the perish among the heathen, land of their enemies upon Then the land shall en- them that are left of you, and JOY her sabbaths, when they shall fall upon one an- she lieth desolate without other as it were before a them. sword when none pursueth. And the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And then THE land shall be left of them, AND SHALL ENJOY HER SABBATHS. 128 THE SINAITIC TORA. REPENTANCE AND FA VOR. J. E. Then if their uncircumcised And (if) they shall accept hearts be humbled, and they the punishment of their in- accept the punishment of iquity because they despised their iniquity because of the my judgments, and because wickedness of thy doings their soul abhorred my stat- whereby thou hast forsaken utes, and if thou turn to Je- me because thou wouldst not hovah thy God and shall be obey the voice of Jehovah thy obedient to his voice, when God, then he will not forget thou art in tribulation, and the covenant of thy fathers, all these things are come upon which he sware unto them, thee in the latter day, then I and he will not forsake thee will for their sakes remember nor destroy thee, for Jehovah the covenant of their ances- thy God is a merciful God, tors which I brought forth out who brought thee out of the of Egypt in the sight of the land of Egypt, out of the heathen, that I might be their house of bondage. God. CLOSING EXHORTATION. J. E. Observe and hear all these Observe to do whatsoever I words which I command thee have commanded you this day, this day, that it may go well in order to do right in the eyes with thee and thy children of Jehovah thy God, in order after thee forever, in the land that thy days may be length- that Jehovah thy God giveth ened in the land which Jeho- thee to possess it, because thou vah thy God giveth thee. Ye doest good and right in the shall not add unto the word sight of Jehovah thy God. which I have commanded you. Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. For all nor diminish therefrom. For this law which I set before this command which I com- you this day, it is not far off. mand thee this day was not It is not beyond the sea, that hidden from thee. It was not thou shouldst say, Who shall COMPARATIVE VIEW. 1^^ J. E. in the heavens, that thou go over the sea for us and shouldst say, Who shall go up bring it to us that we may to heaven to bring it down to hear and do it ? But very nigh us, that we may hear and do thee is the law of Jehovah, it? But the word is in thy even in thy mouth, mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 9 Part II. BOOK OF THE COVENANT. (■30 "And we may observe, that exactly in proportion to the majesty of things in the scale of being is the completeness of their obedience to the laws that are set over them. Gravitation is less quietly, less in- stantly obeyed by a grain of dust than it is by the sun and the moon; and the ocean falls and flows under the influences which the lake and the river do not recognize. So also in estimating the dignity of any action or occupation of men, there is perhaps no better test than the question, 'Are its laws strait.'*'" — Ruskin, (132) CHAPTER XII. SIN AND FORGIVENESS. Israel was encamped before Mount Horeb. They had come forth from Egypt in haste. Great and mighty wonders had been wrought in Pharaoh's kingdom, through the might of Jehovah, in behalf of this people. Israel made the exodus from Egypt to go to the land of promise, that land flowing with milk and honey. It was far to the north of Egypt, and it would seem that their leader, Moses, had purposed to take a direct road to this land, but changed the line of march at Jehovah's command, and went to the southeast, pitching the camp on the west branch of the Red Sea, near its head. Pharaoh repented of letting Israel go, and so sent his hosts to return Israel back to Egypt. Fear took posses- sion of the people when they saw the Egyptians. They cried unto Jehovah. Their cry was heard. Command came to Moses that Israel should pass through the sea. It was at night, yet not so dark but that the Egyptians might have seen signs of movement in the camp of the children of Israel in case an attempt should be made on their part to escape. A cloud appeared, and moved and stood between Israel and the Egyptians. It was dark toward the pursuers, but it gave light to the un- disciplined company who were to pass through the sea. They passed over dry-shod. The path through the sea was no unusual phenomenon, else the Egyptians would not have ventured to follow the Israelites. The cloud presented to the Egyptians no unnatural look, else there (133) 134 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. would have been a dread among them which would have deterred them from pressing through the sea after the children of Israel when the cloud lifted and showed the Egyptians that Israel was on the other side. But all was changed to the fugitive people. The sea parted, because Jehovah willed it for their rescue; the cloud hid them from the Egyptians and lighted for them the path which had been made in their behalf through the sea. Impatient, the Egyptians hastened to ford the sea when they saw that the people after whom they were pursuing had crossed to the other side. Chariots and horsemen hurried across. They felt no fear. But Mo- ses stood on the opposite shore, and in obedience to the word of Jehovah stretched the rod in his hand over the sea, and the waters of the sea returned to their nat- ural course. The strength of the waters prevailed, and soon laid low the horsemen and horses struggling in their midst. Then rose the first psean of victory in Is- rael. Women joined in the song of triumph; yet it celebrated not a victory won by the might of Israel's army ; rather it was a song of praise unto Jehovah for making a great deliverance. Scarcely had the notes of triumph died upon the air before Israel began to gather the spoils from the Egyptians. Some twelve thousand made up the company of the Israelites. They gathered the spoil, and then resumed their march and went southward along the coasts of the Red Sea by a nat- ural route. Sometimes they were forced some distance from the shore ; at other times they came close to the sea. There was good pasture at this time of the year for such cattle as they had. Water was scarce. They moved along slowly until they came to the wilderness SIN AND FORGIVENESS. I35 from whose northern border Horeb stood out in stately grandeur. In its shadow Moses's father-in-law met Is- rael's great leader, and to the visitor he rehearsed the wonderful doings of Jehovah for Israel. Jethro saw the burdens which Moses carried in settling the matters of dispute among the Israelites, and advised him to ap- point ''men of truth" to adjust these matters. Hence arose the first step in the education of this people as a body politic. The making of a nation is determined by its law, not by its conquests. Moses, in this halting season beneath Horeb, recalled the bush burning with fire, but not con- sumed, and the mission upon which he had been sent by Jehovah, who had spoken to him from that bush. He had seen the deliverance of Israel. His people were no longer bondmen. Faith in God is not created in men by marvels and wonders. A despairing people may be aroused to act in their own behalf by a marvel; yet a faith in God built upon wonders is sustained only by wonders. Hence such a faith is as evanescent as that rich glow of color which the clouds take on some- times when the sun is setting. The power of an older religious faith also overmasters men, when the author or mediator of a new faith suffers sudden eclipse. Israel, as bondmen in Egypt, had without doubt held more or less tenaciously to their ancestral faith ; but the powerful god was to them the gods of Egypt, until Mo- ses came. Jehovah's wonders had made converts of Israel to a larger faith in the God of their forefathers. The word came to Moses from Jehovah to go up into the mountain. He obeyed, and ascended the rugged paths of Horeb. He remained in the mount forty days and forty nights. It was, indeed, a time of communing 136 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. with Jehovah; it was also a time of self-communing. He learned in the mountain that hereafter the great fundamental principles of good morals were to be more potent in Israel than the rod wherewith he had wrought wonders in Egypt; that keeping fresh in the minds of Israel the mighty deeds which Jehovah had done for Israel would conserve faith rather than an increase of wonders. This forty days taught Moses that the slow but transforming power of obedience to laws and stat- utes was more wonderful than display of power in signs. Israel, meanwhile, had lost sight of the man with the wonder-working rod. They became impatient. They wished to advance. The wastes of the Horeb wilder- ness were no land flowing with milk and honey. They thought Moses dead. They had no man to go before them, for ''they wot not what had become of Moses" ; they therefore made for themselves a god to go before them. It was a departure into idolatry. On the mount Moses had received the two tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments. He had also received promise that Jehovah would accompany Israel on the march to Canaan; when suddenly Jehovah commands him to descend the mountain, saying, ''The people that thou broughtest out of Egypt have corrupted themselves." Moses went down the mount, carrying the tables of stone in his hand. Coming in sight of the camp, he saw the people in the wild excesses of joy such as they had seen practiced in Egypt at religious feasts, and he saw also the golden calf which they had made and worshiped. Then he understood why Jeho- vah had cast off Israel, threatening their destruction. Moses threw down and brake the tables of stone. There was no people now of Jehovah; there was no SIN AND FORGIVENESS. 1 37 need of Jehovah's law. Straight to the molten im- age he went, in the face of all the people. They were startled by his appearance. They had thought him dead or lost. Without a word, this sublime leader of men smote the idol and destroyed it with fire. Israel stood mute before that man in whose presence Pharaoh king of Egypt had stood awed. Then Moses spoke. He told them of their sin, of the anger of Jehovah, of his purpose to destroy them. He said: *'Ye have sinned a great sin, yet now will I return unto Jehovah; perhaps I may make atonement for you." Then Is- rael stripped off all their ornaments, and while Moses climbed Horeb to make, perchance, atonement for his people, they mourned at the foot of the mountain. At the place where he had received the command- ments he intercedes for Israel. The mysterious pow- er of intercession even among men seems untraceable. Much less may we hope to fathom its power with Je- hovah. Its noblest element is, that all intercession is self-renunciatory. Moses prevailed with Jehovah. He received commandment to return to Israel and make atonement for them. Here is the origin of the Day of Atonement so sacredly observed by the Jews unto this day. The scene was weird as well as most impress- ive. A sorrowful people stood before the altar which had been made. The sin offering was offered. Then were brought before the altar two young goats. Lots were cast upon them ; one was to be slain, the other was to be taken and let loose into the wilderness, bearincr the sins of the people **to an uninhabited country." All is symbol: the sin offering an act of confession on the part of the people, the flight of the goat into the wilderness the remission whereby sin was removed 138 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. away. The sun of that day in its setting shone upon Israel a forgiven people. Such is the traditional history of Israel as it is gath- ered from the present Pentateuch. Such is the history of Israel as reconstructive criticism finds it in the two histories which it separates from our present Penta- teuch. This history appeals at every turn to the imagi- nation. Because of these unique facts connected with this early history of Israel, the greatest minds of the past have accepted this Israelitic history as a part of revelation. Let us now turn to Wellhausen's "Evolu- tion of the History of Israel." He says: *' Forced la- bor was exacted of them (Israel) for the construction of new public works in Goshen, an exaction which was felt to be an assault upon their freedom and honor, and which in point of fact was fitted to take away all that was distinctive in their nationality. But they had no remedy at hand, and submitted in despair until Moses at last appeared and saw a favorable opportunity of deliverance. Reminding his oppressed brethren of the God of their fathers, and urging that their cause was his, he taught them to regard self-assertion against the Egyptians as an article of religion ; and they be- came once more a united people in the determination to seek refuge from oppression in the wilderness, which was the dwelling place of their kindred and the seat of their God. At a time when Eg3^pt was scourged by a grievous plague, the Hebrews broke up their settlement in Goshen one night in spring and directed their steps toward their own home again. According to the ac- counts, the king had consented to the exodus, and lat- terly had even forced it on, but it was none the less a secret flight. To a not very numerous people such SIN AND FORGIVENESS. 1 39 an undertaking presented no great difficulty. Never- theless, its execution was not to be carried on unim- peded. The Hebrews, compelled to abandon the di- rect eastward route (Exod. xiii. 17, 18), turned toward the southwest and encamped at last on the Egyptian shore of the northern arm of the Red Sea, where they were overtaken by Pharaoh's army. The situation was a critical one, but a high wind during the night left the shallow sea so low that it became possible to ford it. Moses immediately accepted the sugges- tion, and made the venture wdth success. The Egyp- tians rushed after them, came upon them on the fur- ther shore, and a struggle ensued. But the assailants fought at a disadvantage, the ground being ill suited for their chariots and horsemen ; they fell into confu- sion and attempted a retreat. Meanwhile the wind changed, the water returned, and the pursuers were annihilated. After turning aside to visit Sinai, as re- lated in Exodus, the emigrants settled at Kadesh, east- ward from Goshen, on the southern border of Pales- tine, where they remained for many years." (Hist. of Israel, p. 429.) One asks, "What is there in this evolved history of Israel worth keeping? It is all '* stale, flat, and unprofitable." Wellhausen considers our traditional accounts as the fictions of later time thrown back into the period of Moses. And then our German critic simply elected what in these fictions of later times seemed to him appropriate to Moses and his clan, and fabricated his history of Israel for us. CHAPTER XIII. Critical Documents. Higher criticism recognizes a Book of the Cov- enant and assigns it to E. The older criticism as- signed practically Exodus xx. 22-xxiii. to this critical document; but more recent investigation has shown that the Book of the Judgments has been interpolated into the Book of the Covenant, partitioning it into two parts, XX. 22-26 and xxiii. 19-33. Rothstein (Bun- desbuch, 1888), Bantsch (Bundesbuch, 1892), Bacon (Triple Tradition of the Exodus, 1894), have, accord- ing to the higher critics, quite established this position. There is another collection of largely cultus regula- tions found in Exodus xxxiv. This collection is as- signed to J, and is called the Words of the Covenant. Stade (Geschichte, i. 519) pointed out a decalogue in this chapter after later amplifications and redactions had been excluded. This decalogue is as follows: 1. Thou shalt not worship any other god. 2. Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods. 3. The feast of unleavened cakes thou shalt keep. 4. All that first openeth the womb is mine. 5. Thou shalt observe the sabbath. 6. The feast of weeks and the feast of ingathering thou shalt observe. 7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. 8. The fat of my feast shall not be left until the morn- ing. (140) CRITICAL DOCUMENTS. I4I 9. The best of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of Jehovah thy God. 10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Wellhausen eliminates the sabbath from this deca- logue, and divides its sixth command into two, thus com- pleting for him the required number of ten. It is con- ceded by higher critics that these Words of the Covenant are largely parallel with a decalogue in the Book of the Covenant. (Vide Exodus xxiii. andxx. 22-26.) This fact becomes evident when the commandments in the latter are separated and arranged in an order as above: 1. Ye shall not make other gods with me. 2. Ye shall not make unto you gods of silver or gods of gold. 3. The feast of unleavened bread thou shalt keep. 4- 5. Thou shalt rest on the seventh day. 6. The feast of harvest and the feast of ingathering thou shalt keep. 7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with unleavened bread. 8. And the fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning. 9. The best of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of Jehovah thy God. 10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. In this Book of the Covenant there is wanting the fourth commandment only. The Judean Prophetic Narrative (J) is assumed to have been written about 800 B.C., and the Ephraimite Prophetic Narrative (E) is as- signed to 750 B.C. It seems reasonable to affirm, on the basis of the likeness of these two decalogues, that they were derived from some common source prior to 142 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. the appearance of either; else E must have borrowed his decalogue from J. Their practical identity recalls the two copies of the Ten Words, in Exodus xx. 1-17 and Deuteronomyv. 6-21, and also that higher critics ex- plain this phenomenon of the Deuteronomic decalogue being substantially repeated in the E document by as- suming that a redactor or compiler incorporated into E these Ten Words from a Deuteronomic source. Professor Cheyne, of Oxford, England, writes in his ''Founders of Old Testament Criticism" (1893): *'Mr. Bacon strikes me as the ablest of our younger Hexa- teuch critics." With this high commendation from the only scholar in England who has had the courage to accept all the consequences of adopting the Graf-Well- hausen theory, scorning to use shuffling in any manner, we may quote from Dr. Bacon in order to show how, according to higher critics, the Words of the Cove- nant found its present place in the Pentateuch. Dr. Bacon says: '*It seems to have been the work of Rd to reincorporate with JE the Words of the Cov- enant eliminated as a duplicate by Rje. ... It is clear, however, that in the time of Deuteronomy x. i-ii E's account of the renewal of the covenant had been superseded by J's story of the giving of the Words of the Covenant, the latter presenting the tables of stone as still preserved (Deut. x. 5), whereas E's nar- rative left them shattered on the steps of Horeb. This reincorporation was not effected without displacement. While it would be foolhardy to attempt to state in de- tail what the process was, it is safe to maintain that it gave to Exodus xxxiii. f ., practically and as a whole, its present character of an intercession on the part of Mo- ses with Yahweh, resulting in the renewal of the cove- CRITICAL DOCUMENTS. H3 nant, and rewriting by Yahweh (cf. Deut. x. 4) of the tables. But two accounts of the renewal of the cove- nant, E's (xx. 22-26; xxii. 10-33; xxiv. 3-8) and J's (xxxiv. ) could not stand side by side. If both were pre- served, one must retire to a position before the apostasy in order to avoid the glaring absurdity of two consecu- tive ratifications of the same covenant before Yahweh and Israel. ' ' ( Triple Tradition of the Exodus, p. 150. ) It matters little to the general student how the Words of the Covenant was given its present place. Vital, howev- er, is it to both the general and critical student to know why, after it had been eliminated as a duplicate, it should be reincorporated a century or more afterwards. High- er critics leave us in darkness at this point. Assuming now that the documents E and J, in which we find respectively the Book of the Covenant and the Words of the Covenant, appeared in the northern and southern kingdoms on or before 750 B.C., an analysis of them makes it evident that in both kingdoms at this time monotheism was required and idolatry forbidden. So much as to the faith in God. As to the cultus in these two documents, there were three feasts; and as to gifts required by them, the firstborn of the womb and the first fruits of the earth are named. As to sacrifices, it is simply stated in each that the blood is not to be offered, the fat is not to be left until morning. A fair inference then is that in Judah and in Israel the cultus must have been essentially alike, since the authoritative code in each kingdom was essentially alike and made demands for monotheism and for the banishment of idolatry, and that it had three common feasts and two prescriptive rules pertaining to sacrifice. Yet per- haps at no time was there more bitter hatred between 144 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. the kingdoms than at this time, since in the last part of the eighth century the king of Israel dismantled part of the fortifications of Judah, robbed her palaces and her temple, and took hostages back with him to Samaria. It would take much more than a half-century to eradi- cate this bitterness from the two kingdoms. Hence we must go back some years earlier before we can find a time with such friendliness between the kingdoms as to feel warranted in deriving a common source for the cultus which was prevalent in each kingdom. More- over, it is true that unless some insuperable difficulty had been in the way there would have been a different cult in each kingdom; for the aim of Israel's ruler was to separate and alienate his subjects from the memories of a southern kingdom. Indeed, there is no adequate explanation of the relations of the two kingdoms, ex- cept on the bond of a common religious faith which could not be easily given up, and a cultus which became inoperative only when Israel became degenerate and most corrupt. Assuming a united kingdom in which a cultus with the features indicated in these two decalogues had flourished with splendor and become for united Is- rael endeared by a century of devotion to it, there is little difficulty in explaining how a similar religious cult should be practiced in the two kingdoms which were made from the one, when it was divided. The Book of the Covenant and the Words of the Covenant are regarded in the documents of E and J as mediated to Israel by Moses. Higher critics construct two narratives for the framework of these two covenant codes, and they differ very little from each other. There is the apostasy of Israel, the descent of Moses from the mount with the covenant tables, and the intercession of CRITICAL DOCUMENTS. I45 Moses for Israel. Now it must not be forgotten that the contents of these two tables, according to higher criticism, are the authoritative expression of the reli- gious life in these two kingdoms, if not before certainly as late as the earliest part of the seventh century. By these documents it was ordained for both Judah and Is- rael that Jehovah should be worshiped alone, that the firstlings and the first fruits were his, that the sabbath should be kept. If now Moses was not by long tradi- tion associated with exactly this same attitude toward Jehovah, what sense was there in ascribing these utter- ances to him ? Surely it is simpler to believe that Mo- ses verily did teach such views as these covenant writ- ings contain, and that the prominence which they as- sumed in the seventh century was due to a revival of Mosaism, than to believe that the prophets or their fol- lowers, who had faith in a God of truth, would resort to a lie in order to propagate a cult which aimed to honor Jehovah. Reconstructive criticism accepts as true the tradition- al view, namely, that Moses did mediate a covenant be- tween Jehovah and Israel. Yet the words of this cove- nant for some reason has been scattered in the Penta- teuch. We also hold that this covenant was sacredly kept in two histories of Israel for centuries, and that they are now in the jumbled mass of Exodus— Deuter- onomy. Reconstructive criticism separated the two copies of the Mosaic Tora in a previous volume, and in the first part of this volume it has given in two copies the Sinaitic Tora. From what remains it will produce in two copies the Book of the Covenant. The two cov- enant documents of higher criticism are each composed of commandments and statutes; so likewise are the two 10 146 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. versions of the covenant as recovered by reconstructive criticism . The two covenants of the higher criticism have a remarkable resemblance to each other; so also have the two copies of the covenant restored by reconstruct- ive criticism. Beyond these facts, there is but slight re- semblance between the covenant as presented by these two schools of criticism. CHAPTER XIV. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. There was a deep, powerful solemnity pervading the camp of Israel the days immediately succeeding the great Day of Atonement. It was a time of waiting for further knowledge. Jehovah had told Moses, when he called him first to the summit of Horeb, that the Tables of Testimony which he should receive would contain the words which should constitute the basis of a covenant between Jehovah and Israel. The law of forgiveness had been revealed, because repentance and interces- sion had prevailed with Jehovah. The normal state of the relation between Jehovah and Israel had been re- stored. Not strange then is it that the next step in the education of Israel should be the one which had been begun, but not completed. Moses received from Jeho- vah command to ascend again the mount and receive the Tables of Testimony. They were given him while he was in the mountain this third time, and contained the same words as the tables which he had broken when, after his first descent, he beheld the idol which Israel had made. Such is the record. Moses descended this third time, carrying in his hands the precious tables, on which were engraved the words according to which Israel should make covenant with Jehovah. The people awaited his coming. Now they gathered beneath the mountain, where Moses had build- ed an altar; and while Israel listened, Moses read the commandments and statutes, which he had written in a book. At the close of his reading, the people an- (H7) 148 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. swered, '*A11 that Jehovah commands, we will do." Then the people offered peace offerings on the altar, and Moses took of the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, '' Behold the blood of the covenant." The scene was grand. Horeb towered above Israel in solitary gloom. The wastes of sand stretched away east and south toward the Red Sea. The smoke of the peace offerings was slowly vanishing into the still air. And in the solemn quiet of each Israelite's heart, long after the earnest accents of the speaker's voice had hushed into silence, there were heard the words, ''Be- hold the blood of the covenant." Israel then turned away from the altar beneath Horeb and wended their way back to their tents, a people united in covenant with Jehovah. The nobler the emotions which actuate a man, the more perfect is the expression which he gives to his thoughts. And more, whenever a man has a message for a people, if he knows that it is to be the heritage of coming times, he becomes possessed of a rare selective power, that enables him to record only the features which can retain perennial freshness. The remarkable brevity of the historical introduction to the Book of the Covenant strikes the reader immediately. There are only two thoughts presented, namely, Jehovah had wrought for Israel wonders, and Jehovah will bring them into the promised land. Moreover, emphasis is not placed upon the marvels, but upon the sure fulfill- ment of promise. THE PURPOSE OF THE SIGNS AND WONDERS AC- CORDING TO J. E *9 " And Jehovah said : These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Is- HISTORICAL. INTRODUCTION. I49 i^ II rael ; I am Jehovah your God who brought you ^ out of the land of Egypt. And ye saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharaoh and unto his servants "^l and unto his land, the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and those great miracles, and i5^ L II the mighty hand to give unto you the land of Canaan. The appeal is made to witnesses. Israel, who was about to make a covenant with Jehovah, had seen the magnificent display of his power in their behalf. Yet Jehovah wrought not in order to make a show of that plenitude of might which was his, and his alone. What- ever purpose might be subserved by his leading in nightly procession the hosts of the stars across the heavens or by any one of his stupendous daily acts (and men might differ in judgment thereof), certain it is that the great temptations and the great miracles of Jehovah in Egypt were wrought solely to give Israel the land of Canaan. TUB PURPOSE OF THE SIGNS AND WONDERS AC- CORDING TO E. e"e^^ And Jehovah said: Thus shalt thou say unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children E '^ of Israel : I am Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of E ^4 bondage. Ye saw what I did unto the Egyp- 19 tians, the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and wonders and the out- stretched arm, whereby Jehovah brought thee af out, that he might bring us in to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. The essential likeness in these two accounts is at 150 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. once apparent. Differences are most interesting. The E account speaks of Egypt as the house of bondage. Probably Ezekiel wrote the history into which the E Book of the Covenant is incorporated, and so it is quite apparent why the thought of bondage was dominant with him. Again, the promised land with E is not Ca- naan, but the land ''which he [Jehovah] sware unto our fathers." Thus each variant feature in these two versions is accounted for. The second part of this historical introduction to the Book of the Covenant is an utterance of faith in the promise of Jehovah. The cheering power of promise was to buoy Israel in the present hardships. FAITH IN THE PROMISE ACCORDING TO J. \ For Jehovah shall bring thee into a goodly land, a land of brooks and waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, I a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and J2 honey, a land which Jehovah thy God careth iJ for. And thou shalt eat and be full, and bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he shall give thee. No words could photograph Palestine better than these few sentences. Old Testament and New Testa- ment literature abounds in metaphors and tropes taken from the physical features of this goodly land. Recall Jeremiah's ''fountain of living waters" and Christ's words regarding " the well of water springing up unto everlasting life." Even within the shadows of the walls of Jerusalem, in Christ's time, the Mount of Olives stood clad with its rich growth of the olive tree. These phys- ical traits were not unknown in the time of Moses. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. I5I There were two natural highways from Palestine to Egypt; one by the great sea, the other through what the Hebrews called the Negeb (the South). Abraham had traversed the latter; and probably the way by which Jacob went into Egypt was the same. In the time of Moses, travelers from the north probably came into Egypt by the way of the sea; for civilization was then more largely developed in the fertile regions by the shore. The common knowledge of the land of Canaan, gained from travelers, was that it was a land of valleys and hills, a land of brooks and fountains, a land of fruit trees and grain. Yet not the Canaanite, but Moses, rec- ognized that this land was a land that ** Jehovah careth for." Every Israelite who had once lived in his own land knew well the truthfulness of this description which is found in the J account. FAITH IN THE PROMISE ACCORDING TO E. JJ 11 For the land whither ye shall go to possess IJis not like the land of Egypt, whence ye came out, where thou sowest thy seed and waterest 1} it with thy foot as gardens of herbs ; but the land is a land of hills and valleys, and it drink- 9 eth the water of the rain of heaven, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass, a land where thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, and thou shalt not J2 lack anything in it. The eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. The two descriptions of this promised land are alike in the great physical features; the land in both has hills and valleys, has abundance of water, is very fruitful, and is under the care of Jehovah. Yet how various is the 152 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. language of description! There needed a compar- ison in order that the readers of E should understand. The land was not like Egypt, where irrigation was practiced. If Ezekiel wrote the E history, such a man- ner of writing would be needed. His hearers, many of them, knew not Palestine. They had long been in cap- tivity, brought there as children or born as bondmen to Assyria and Babylon. Egypt was well known to their captors; its type of civilization and its mode of life were common knowledge in Babylon. Hence Pales- tine could be explained to the Israelites in captivity by a comparison with Egypt. Other purpose was served by this method of making clear how favored was the land which was Israel's inheritance. At the time the chil- dren of this promised land were in captivity to Babylon, they knew what scarceness of bread meant. They knew also what it was to lack almost everything. Hence the writer of the E narrative used language and rhetorical figures which not only illustrated truthfully the land, but at the same time created longing in the hearts of the Jews by the river Chebar for the land which was prom- ised by an oath of Jehovah to their fathers. CHAPTER XV. THE TABLES OF TESTIMONY. The traditional belief relative to these two tables is that they contained ten precepts of incalculable worth, and obligatory not alone upon Israel but upon all man- Kind. The decalogue found in Exodus, and repeated almost verbally in Deuteronomy, has been regarded as giving to mankind the precepts upon these two tables of the law. Higher criticism, however, claims to show that these ten precepts in Exodus or Deuteronomy were unknown to Moses; and not even Samuel nor the early kings of Israel knew them ; but that they were the high- est generalizations of a late age, and were placed back in the Mosaic times to give them a high respectability. If now we consider the contents of a decalogue, which higher criticism proffers as nearest to the time of Moses, and which these critics find either in the Book of the Covenant or the Words of the Covenant, seven of the precepts cannot be regarded as universal, namely, those referring to the firsthngs and the first fruits, to the several feasts, and to the seething of the kid. Three only rank high as ethical generalizations, namely, that which requires monotheism, that which prohibits idol worship, that which institutes the sabbath. Recon- structive criticism contends that such a decalogue can hardly be regarded as suitable for a covenant to rest upon. The least requirement of a covenant among men is that unchangeable elements enter into it; much more needful is it that the terms of a covenant with Jehovah (153) 154 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. should be such as after ages would consider immutable and worthy of respect. Reconstructive criticism finds an introductory sen- tence placed before the Tables of Testimony in each of its versions, which serves as a prefatory exhortation. INTRODUCTORT SENTENCE ACCORDING TO /. ^^_ 20 -^^^ y^ shall observe to do all the testimonies and statutes which Jehovah our God commands you. INTRODUCTORT SENTENCE ACCORDING TO E. 17 And ye shall diligently keep the command- ments of Jehovah your God, his testimonies and his statutes. This utterance simply declares that the testimonies and statutes are the significant elements in this Book of the Covenant which Moses was reading to Israel. The statutes are what our modern times would call ecclesias- tical canons. They make up the second part of this civil and religious law book which Moses had prepared under the commandment of Jehovah. Of all the statutes in the Book of the Covenant, ex- cepting the statute respecting the eating of blood and the sabbath, not one has ever become adopted by a re- ligious practice among Christian nations. And yet not a statute is found in the covenant book but has left its terminology as a rich inheritance for our Christian faith. What these statutes sought to secure, we still seek to obtain. The offering, the perfect sacrifice, the sab- bath, the memorial supper, the atonement, are expres- sions to-day filled with the profoundest significance. A wonderful book then is this Book of the Covenant, since its commandments furnish the foundations for the high- THE TABLES OF TESTIMONY. I55 est ethical and social life, and its statutes embody the principles underlying our Christian faith. The two Tables of the Law which reconstructive criti- cism restores meet the requirement which we proposed, namely, that its ten precepts are universal in their character and of such a nature as to be binding not upon Israel alone, but upon all men. Before we pre- sent these two Tables of Testimony, it is but just to recall that reconstructive criticism, out of the three most ancient codes which higher criticism recognizes, has re- stored the decalogue in the Mosaic Tora, giving it in two copies ; also the decalogue in the Sinaitic Tora, giv- ing it in two copies. After extracting these decalogues, each in two copies, from the Book of the Covenant, the Laws of Holiness, and the Deutronomic Code as recog- nized by higher criticism, it was highly improbable that the residuum should contain another decalogue in two copies. We now propose to give the two Tables of the Law. Each table has five precepts, which may be char- acterized as fundamental ethical duties and fundamental social duties. If we use the expressions with some lati- tude, we may designate one table as containing the du- ties to God, and the other as containing the duties to man. FIRST TABLE ACCORDING TO J. I. L f^ Thou shalt fear thy God. II. L 55 Ye shall not oppress one another. III. E ^ Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. IV. L JJ Thou shalt not profane the name of thy God. 156 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. V. E 5 Verily ye shall keep my sabbaths. Practical atheism begins as soon as reverential fear of God is lost. That damnable law, that might is right, has its first sure recognition when man may oppress his neighbor. Spiritual worship is departed from, and man enters upon the lifeless faith of materialism, when- ever God is seen in or through an idol. The holy of holies is wrested out of the heart of man or woman so soon as the sacred name of God is profaned. Human life becomes but one mechanical, wearisome round of toil unless broken into by the sabbaths of God. These precepts are universal, and obedience to them will ever keep man conscious of that higher life in him which distinguishes a man from the brute creation. FIRST TABLE ACCORDING TO E, I. L ^ Thou shalt fear thy God. II. L 14 Ye shall not oppress one another. III. L ^\ Make not for yourselves molten gods. IV. L J® Thou shalt not profane the name of thy God. V. L ^5 Ye shall keep my sabbaths. There is almost verbal identity between these two copies of the first table. Now had we reconstructed this table before we had removed the copies of the first table in the decalogues of the Mosaic and Sinaitic THE TABLES OF TESTIMONY. I57 toras, it would not have been surprising that two such tables as these here presented could have been made. But when out of the residuum we find material which could be arranged in this fashion, it is a most convin- cing assurance that reconstructive criticism is right in its theory. The second Table of Testimony relates to funda- mental social duties. We mean by this designation that the precepts in this second table are of such high character that society loses its foundation unless they are recognized, that disobedience to any or all must disrupt sooner or later the social fabric, and catastro- phe is inevitable. SECOND TABLE ACCORDING TO J. VI. \ L ^ Every man that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. VII. L i2 He who committeth adultery with his " neighbor's wife, that man and that woman N J^ shall surely be put to death. VIII. L 1* He that killeth a man shall surely be put to death. IX. E 17 Thou shalt not covet. X. L 1? Ye shall not lie. The sixth command secures filial obedience. Aw- ful is the penalty imposed upon that child that curseth father or mother. With this precept in the civil code 158 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. of a people, it is not singular that parental regard with them amounted to one of the highest duties. And we should consider that the nation to whom we are in- debted for the expression of this duty is also the nation from whom we receive the words, *'Our Father who art in heaven." This fact gives a new significance to the thought that disobedience to God, leading to the cursing of him, is fraught with fearful penalty. Hus- band and wife are to have greatest import in Israel, since infidelity of either involves death to the guilty ones. Murder is an act of the highest violence, and it is to be visited with the punishment of death. The last two precepts secure property rights so far as pos- session is concerned, and judicial right so far as it is dependent upon truth-telling. Respecting this latter table, it is evident that no age and no community of civilized men can safely dispense with any one of its precepts. They are universal in import and applica- tion. If the requirement of the Book of the Covenant be that the commandments therein be worthy of God, their Giver, then not higher criticism, but reconstruct- ive criticism, meets the demand. SECOND TABLE ACCORDING TO E. VI. lJ}^ l ^I He that curseth his father or his mother L 5J shall surely be put to death. VII. LiS He who committeth adultery with a 22 man's wife, the man that lay with the eJI woman and the woman shall surely be put to death. THE TABLES OF TESTIMONY. 1 59 VIII. L l{ He that killeth a man shall surely be put to death. IX. 21 Thou shalt not covet. X. L {^ Thou shalt not He one to another. The sixth command was scattered widely. From lS we take **he that curseth," because ** blaspheme" was the offense ; and this incident was the occasion of one of the curses of the Sinaitic Tora. **His father and his mother" is taken from l^', because **fear" is commanded toward Jehovah, not toward man. The phrase *' shall surely die" is redundant: stoning was the punishment. The section of the Book of the Covenant which in- cludes the Tables of Testimony closes with hortatory words. The character of these words reveals how con- fident Moses was that the tables were not an ephemeral writing, but that they had grave import for Israel in all coming time, HORTATORY WORDS ACCORDING TO J. I2 And thou shalt observe and do these [com- ^omandments] that thou may est live and inherit the land which Jehovah thy God shall give 9 thee ; and thou shalt teach them to thy son and \ thy son's son, that ye may learn and keep them \ and do them in the land whither ye go to pos- sess. HORTATORT WORDS ACCORDING TO E. \ And ye shall observe to do all the command- 4 ments which I command thee this day ; and l6o BOOK OF THE COVENANT. when thou shalt beget children and children's 3I children, ye shall walk in all the way which "Jehovah your God commandeth you, and ye ^3 shall prolong your days in the land which Je- hovah thy God shall give thee to inherit. The glance down the years is made by the speaker with full confidence in Jehovah, and fear only lest Israel abide not faithful to the Tables of Testimony. The great longing of the people who were listening to his words was for the promised land. This motive Moses seizes upon, and declares that life and continu- ance in that land which they should inherit depended upon fidelity to all these commandments., Reconstructive criticism affirms that the precepts of these Tables of Testimony, which it has recovered, are in accord with the high claims which tradition has associated with the Ten Commandments; for tradition declares that the Tables of Testimony were the work of God. All history has made evident that there is no foundation for a high and noble ethics and an abiding and worthy social order except as they are reached through the principles involved in these tables. A civ- ilization wrought out under the molding power of these precepts could not but have unspeakable interest for the nations of the earth. And to-day those Scriptures which are known as the Hebrew Scriptures, have all their worth centered in either the experience of Israel as recorded when faithful to these precepts, or in the wonderful utterances of the prophets of Israel when they besought their own people to return to the cove- nant with Jehovah which they had broken. CHAPTER XVI. STATUTES RESPECTING THE ALTAR AND THE OFFERING. The Deuteronomic Code of higher criticism is im- portant to the higher critic, not only because it furnishes the first sure data in his view for the assignment of dates to his several codes and documents, but also because the statutes in this code respecting the cultus make it not difficult for him to confirm the date of the Deuter- onomic Code by cultus-facts taken from the historical books. Higher critics have pointed out that the high places (Bamoth) were legitimate places of worship for Israel. On them sacrifices were offered. Such places were Shechem, Beersheba, Bethel, Bochim, Ophrah, Zorah, Mizpah. These were places of theophany, some dating back into the patriarchal times, and were held in high veneration by the Israelites in the times of Samuel, David, Solomon, and later kings, until the times of Josiah. Wellhausen truly says: ''If the peo- ple and judges or kings alike, priests and prophets, men like Samuel and Elijah, sacrificed without hesita- tion whenever occasion and opportunity presented them- selves, it is manifest that during the whole of that pe- riod nobody had the faintest suspicion that such conduct was heretical and forbidden." (** Prolegomena," p. 21.) But when Wellhausen affirms that ''the system of high places (Bamoth), with all the apparatus thereto belonging, is certainly Canaanite originally," we simply assert that priest and prophet, judge, king, and people, one and all, were taught from the time of Moses that anything of this character, of Canaanitic origin, was an II {i6i) l62 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. abomination and abhorred by Jehovah. The Canaan- ites truly worshiped on hills and amid groves ; but this worship was foreign to Israel. And when this people Israel became apostate in the time of the judges and afterwards, and did adopt Canaanitic worship and served their gods, such conduct was in violation of the fundamental principles of Israel's religion, and brought upon them the punishments of Jehovah. In the Book of the Covenant which reconstructive criticism restores there are five statutes which are more or less closely connected with the altar and the sacri- fice. The remarkable fitness seen in these statutes for a people who had the great and peculiar ancestral tradi- tions of Israel will become apparent as soon as they are considered. LAW OF THE ALTAR ACCORDING TO J. ^\ In the place where Jehovah thy God shall E^2 choose to place his name, an altar of earth '\ THOU SHALT MAKE UNTO ME. But thoU may- est build the altar of Jehovah thy God of whole ^5 stones ; thou shalt not lift any iron tool upon E 24 them. And thou shalt sacrifice thereon thy • burnt offering and thy peace offering, thy sheep ^\ and thy oxen, and thou shalt eat there and re- E 24 joice before Jehovah thy God. And in all PLACES WHERE I RECORD MY NAME, I will come unto thee and bless thee. In places of theophany Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had builded altars and offered burnt offerings unto God. Shechem, Beersheba, and Bethel were such places. These altars must have been of earth or unhewn stones. Such altars are commanded by statute for Israel in the Book of the Covenant. A kind of offering is instituted THE ALTAR AND THE OFFERING. 163 at Mount Horeb unknown to the Hebrew traditions be- fore Moses's time. It is the peace offering. Yet Israel, while listening to the words of this book, recalled the offerings made when Moses had come down from the mountain, after he had made by intercession peace for Israel with Jehovah. Times of offering were also times of rejoicing, and from the slaughtered animals parts might be eaten ; but the feast must be in the sight of the erected altar. LAW OF THE ALTAR ACCORDING TO E. ^\ And in the place where Jehovah thy God E 24 shall choose to place his name, an altar of E^^ EARTH THOU SHALT MAKE UNTO ME. But if thou wilt make unto me an altar of stones, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones ; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. ^6 And thou shalt offer thereon unto Jehovah thy ^2, " God of thy herd and of thy flock burnt offer- ^7, 20 irigs, and thou shalt offer peace offerings, and thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, thou E^^and thy household. And in every place E ^ WHERE I RECORD MY NAME, I wiU mcct there with the children of Israel. The most striking difference in these two versions of this statute is that the E version declares the lifting up a tool to grave a stone of the altar pollutes it. Other- wise they substantially agree. It is this statute of the Book of the Covenant which makes legitimate the high places (Bamoth)that in after times were places of offer- ing for the Israelite. These places had the warrant of the Book of the Covenant, therefore neither judge nor king nor prophet dared inveigh against their sanctity. Rather judge, king, and prophet at times made offering 164 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. on these high places. With this statute in a document of Mosaic origin, the attitude of Samuel toward the high places can be understood; for it must be re- membered (higher criticism to the contrary) that the prophet Samuel knew well the cultus at the central sanctuary at Shiloh, which the Philistines had quite an- nihilated in their wrath against Israel. Though Shiloh had been destroyed, this prophet could appeal to the sanctity of the high places as the abiding possessions of Israel, which no enemy in his wrath could remove. This statute alone can explain why David, who sought in the tabernacle which he set up to centralize worship in Judah, did not dare to lift his hand against the high places; for these had the authority of ancient custom, and more, the sanction of the Book of the Covenant. Perhaps no part of the noble civilization of Israel is less understood than its sacrificial system. Like the elements of the toras, so its cultus elements were scat- tered. Higher criticism rests its inferences concerning the dates of its several codes mainly upon different sac- rificial usages. Civil regulations furnish scarcely any help to the higher critics. Canon Farrar says, respect- ing sacrifice among the Hebrews, that ** originally sac- rifice was a glad meal." The burnt offering was asso- ciated with a meal not alone in Moses's time, but in the time of Isaac, and even of Abraham, as the records show. In the statute concerning the law of the altar, Israel is commanded to " eat and rejoice before Jeho- vah." It is then most evident that Jehovah did not re- quire for himself in an offering the parts which were most suitable for food. Higher criticism recognizes the ritualistic precept in Exodus xxiii. i as very ancient, belonging in fact to the STATUTES RESPECTING THE ALTAR. 165 decalogue as found in its Book of the Covenant. This precept required that ** the fat of my sacrifice shall not be left until morning." The parallel injunction in Ex- odus xxxiv. 25 indicates also that the sacrifice is not to be left till morning; for the words '* of my passover " in the passage are considered harmonistic. Fairly then we may claim that this ritualistic statement has refer- ence simply to the flesh of the sacrifice, and that the word *' fat " is here interpolated. Again the word *' blood " is misplaced in this precept for the same reason that **fat" and ''passover" are so strangely interjected. In an offering then it is the fat which belongs to Jeho- vah. It is the fat which in Israel constitutes the princi- pal part of all that is consumed on the altar. Indeed, it may be doubtful if, until after the Israelitish worship became corrupted by the worst of Israel's kings, whole burnt offerings were ever consecrated to Jehovah. THE LAW OF THE OFFERING ACCORDING TO J. L,6,E25 All the fat is Jehovah's. And thou shalt not offer (the flesh) of my sacrifice, nor shall any of the sacrifice remain until morn- 27 ing. And the blood shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, but the flesh thou mayest eat. As this statute is reconstructed, it is in harmony with the very spirit of the Mosaic regulations. Israel is to be a separated people. It was not new that the fat should be burned; the Canaanitish custom was to arrange the wood, then the flesh, then the fat; and as the heat melted the fat, it made an oil that ran down over the flesh and made it consume the more quickly. The Mosaic statute retains the custom of making an offer- ing, removes the flesh from the altar (whose burning l66 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. must have been very offensive), retains the fat upon the altar, whose burning sends aloft a clear, high, and glowing flame. The flesh, which is taken from the altar, is handed over to the people to eat. Thus Is- rael's offering was differentiated from the Canaanitish. The blood of the offering was poured round about the altar. Whatever of the flesh was not eaten in this eucharistic feast of the people at the time of the sacri- fice must be destroyed. It may not be kept for the food of another day. If this law had been obeyed, the flesh of the sacrifices of Jehovah in after times would never have been sold in the shambles. THE LAW OF THE OFFERING ACCORDING TO E. LjJ^Eil All the fat is Jehovah's. And thou shalt not offer (the flesh) of my sacrifice. Nor shall any of my sacrifice remain until morning. 27 And the blood of thy sacrifices shall be POURED upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, 27^ ^2 but the flesh thou mayest eat it. The ordinance is the same as in J. The altar upon which this offering is made is simple in the extreme; there is not the first stroke of an iron tool upon it to give it a beautiful or a mystical form. And it is the ground round about the altar which drinketh up the blood of the sacrifice. Offerings were to be taken from the flocks and the herds. Yet care is required in the selection. The per- fect only could be brought unto Jehovah for sacrifice. LAW OF THE VICTIM ACCORDING TO/. " Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God bullock or sheep wherein is any blemish or any ill-favoredness ; for it is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God. STATUTES RESPECTING THE ALTAR. 167 LAW OF THE VICTIM ACCORDING TO E. 2? And if there be blemish therein, lame or blind, or any ill-blemish, thou shalt not sacri- fice it unto Jehovah thy God. In view of this statute, venerated by the Israelites from the beginning of their history as a nation, not strange is it that in the second dispensation, which ap- peared within the limits of the first, there should be one requirement of him who offered himself a sacrifice for all mankind, namely, that he should be without spot or blemish. The next law respects wild game. The giving of this law is evidence that in the ancient world there was a strong tendency adrift in the family of the Sethites to confine man to a strictly vegetable diet. Singular in- deed is it that there exists in the Eden regulations one that confines Adam to a diet taken from the trees and the herbs of the field. In the Book of the Covenant there is given permission to Israel to eat game. The restriction is that the blood shall not be eaten. THE LAW OF GAME-EATING ACCORDING TO J. \ 22 As the roebuck and as the hart, ye may L }J eat these ; but ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. THE LAW OF GAME-EATING ACCORDING TO E, 22 Even as the roebuck and the hart are eaten, L Ja so thou mayest eat them, but no soul of you shall eat blood. This law, although not strictly one of the cultus laws, is nevertheless associated with them. The precept is one of several by which it is sought to impress Israel to regard blood with peculiar sacredness. The last law l68 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. found in the Book of the Covenant relating to the altar and the offering is the Law of Defilement. If there were doubt of the Mosaic origin of the laws already considered, it would disappear because of the manner in which this law is attached to the history of Israel; for at this time Israel had not been six months escaped from Egypt, that house of bondage, and yet the way this law is associated with the future of Israel makes the strongest possible confirmation that this law and all that is connected with it arose out of the Mosaic epoch. LAW OF DEFILEMENT ACCORDING TO J. L 25 And ye shall not make yourselves abomina- ble with beast or fowl or any manner of living L.4J thing that creepeth on the ground. Neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them L^lthat ye should be defiled thereby. And after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I L 2? bring you, ye shall not do ; for all these abom- inations have the men of the land w^hich were L 25 before you done, and the land is defiled. And the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. L, 23 But ye shall not walk after the manner of the L agnations which I shall cast out before you, that the land spew you not out also when you defile L 26 it. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and shall not commit any of these abominations. L26 And ye shall be holy unto me ; for I Jehovah am holy, and have severed you from other L 2? people, that ye should be mine, and a land that floweth with milk and honey I will give you to possess it. There is in J no mention of Egypt; but one feels that the enumerations of the things by which abomina- STATUTES RESPECTING THE ALTAR. 1 69 tion might be wrought and defilement effected were well known to the hearers. Vague reports must have come to these enslaved Israelites, while they were in Egypt, of the practices of the Canaanites. Yet Moses tells them that such abominations as they had seen and such defilement as they had witnessed were common transgressions in the land whither Jehovah would lead them. The energetic language in which these facts are set forth immediately strikes attention. The conduct of these nations and the punishment to be visited by Jehovah upon them are warnings why Israel should keep the commandments and statutes to which they were listening. The close of the annunciation of this law emphasizes the only ground on which Israel might hope for the continued favor of Jehovah. Israel must be holy like their God. LAJV OF DEFILEMENT ACCORDING TO B. L ^ Ye shall put a difference between clean and unclean beasts, between unclean fowl and clean, L 43 and ye shall not make yourselves abominable L^ with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. L. ^1 And after the doings of the land of Egypt L 24 wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do. Defile yourselves not in any of these things ; for in all these things the nations are defiled which I lJI will cast out before you. And the land is de- filed. Therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof L ^ upon it. Ye shall therefore keep all my stat- utes and do them, that the land whither I bring L 2I you to dwell therein spew you not out as it L ^ spewed out the nations before you ; for they 170 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. committed all these things, and therefore I ab- t. 2? horred them. I am Jehovah your God which have separated you from all other people : L Jl therefore ye shall sanctify yourselves, for I am lJI l 24 holy. And I say unto you, you shall inherit their land. Apart from different phraseology, which a mere reading of E immediately discloses, there is reference to Egypt, which recalls a trait in E pointed out before. Yet with these differences we still discern essentially the same facts in both versions. Each requires that Israel should make a distinction between clean and unclean; that they should understand it was the abominations and defilements of the Canaanites which caused the land to spew them out; that Israel would be preserved from these transgressions if they would keep Jehovah's statutes; that as Jehovah is holy, so should Israel be. These five statutes concerning the altar and offering make a complete, although not an elaborate, ritual, and together constitute the first stage of the religious cultus, which Moses mediated to Israel. CHAPTER XVII. STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. The destructive views of higher criticism are perilous only as they subvert the development of the history of Israel as wrought out under the human guidance of Israel's great lawgiver and of the prophets. All the wonderful literature of the Hebrews has been strangely scattered and dispersed. Narratives of the same event have been massed into a strange conglomerate; the laws and statutes of different parts have been strangely jumbled together; the words of the several prophets are rent from their appropriate places, and left often- times without even a possible rational sequence with the associated matter. Error must ensue, if we take a col- lection of ill-arranged laws and statutes — and not that alone, but remarkably defective when viewed as a whole — and name them a code because they are found massed together in a book, whose contents have suf- fered strange commingling. Yet such has been the method of the higher critics. For what else but a senseless jumble is the code which they call the JE Code? or what else but a hodgepodge is the earliest collection of the priestly code, which Klosterman named the Laws of Holiness? or what indeed is the Deuter- onomic Code but a group of commandments and stat- utes without form or logical sequence? These facts are admitted by the higher critics themselves. It would have been more scientific to examine these collections and inquire whether they ever formed one or several consistent codes. Investigation connected with such an inquiry has been the work of the reconstructive critic. ("70 1^2 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. Perhaps Wellhausen is at his best in the romancing which he does upon the sacred feasts. The Passover is, according to his view, an old pastoral feast, dim re- minder of Israel's life as a shepherd people and deriv- able from a most ancient custom of sacrificing to God the firstlings of the flock. This critic reasons out that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is '* equivalent to that of the putting in of the sickle to the corn," a kind of Easter, a spring feast followed by Pentecost, the Feast of the Weeks, which was celebrated at the close of the reaping. The Feast of the Tabernacles is "the autum- nal ingathering of the wine and of the oil from the vat and the press, and of the corn from the threshing- floor." Omitting now the Passover, this brilliant critic accounts for the feasts of Unleavened Bread, of the Weeks, and of the Tabernacles in the following way: "Agriculture was learned by the Hebrews from the Canaanites, in whose land they had settled, and in com- mingling with whom they, during the period of the Judges, made the transition to a sedentary life. Be- fore the metamorphosis of the shepherds into the peas- ants was effected, they could not have had possibly feasts which relate to agriculture. It would have been very strange if they had not taken them also over from the Canaanites." (Proleg., p. 93.) Israel indeed had two agricultural feasts, but they were not learned from the Canaanites; rather they were established while the Israelites lived in the wilder- ness of Paran, and were observed there for thirty-eight years. The Sinaitic Tora contains the enactment. The Mosaic Tora repeats them, and in such form as to make clear that they stand as protests to such agricul- tural feasts which the Canaanites held about the same STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 1 73 season of the year. The other two feasts, those of the Passover and of the Unleavened Bread, have their origin in the exodus; and in the Book of the Covenant both are recognized as memorial seasons, but not as two feasts. The argumentiun e silentio may be urged to support the feasts as well known better than to establish the fact that they were not in existence. Indeed, what is part and parcel of a national life is not recorded con- stantly in the records of a nation. Only departures from the once recognized fundamental principles be- come matters of historic record. And the outcry of prophets that the feasts of Jehovah had been profaned is surest evidence that they had been observed for cen- turies and were regarded as vital, when rightly ob- served, to the prosperity and safety of Israel. The Book of the Covenant ordains observance of three sacred seasons. They are the Sabbath, the Pass- over, and the Day of Atonement. THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO J. E ^5 Six days shall work be done ; but the sev- enth is the sabbath of rest, holy unto Jehovah. E 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore ; for it Is E 17 holy unto you ; and it shall be a sign between E 1^ me and the children of Israel forever through- out your generations that you may know that I am Jehovah which sanctlfieth you. The sabbath is spoken of as a day holy unto Jehovah. Yet Israel is to regard it not alone in this light, but also as a sign that Jehovah sanctified them. These words assume a knowledge of the creation of the heav- ens and the earth in six days. The tradition was a persistent one in the family of Shem. No feature is more remarkable in the Mosaic documents than the 174 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. careful conservation of the mighty faiths and the sacri- ficial customs of the patriarchal ages. The larger communal life of Israel caused them to be modified; but the spirit in the early forms was retained. A fuller understanding of the earlier practices and a broader application of them merely take place ; there is no abo- lition of them. THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO E. E '2 Six days shall work be done ; but the sev- enth day there shall be to you a holy day, a E 13 a sabbath of rest unto Jehovah ; for it shall be Ejja sign between me and you of the perpetual covenant. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath throughout their generations. The brevity of the expression " perpetual cove- nant " is noticeable in E. The copy of J enlarges upon the reason of the sign ; it is because Jehovah sanctifieth : the copy of E gathers all up in the words *' a sign of the perpetual covenant." The institution in each copy is the same ; the reasons for the observance of the sab- bath in both copies are in essence alike. Not a half a year had passed since Israel in haste de- parted out of Egypt. The night was to be long re- membered. On that night there was the cry of a great mourning in all the land of Pharaoh. Not a house of the Egyptians but held great lamentations because death had come to the firstborn of the household. And royal messengers hastened to the children of Israel, bidding them to depart and to sacrifice in the wilderness to Je- hovah. Previous to their arrival, by commandment Is- rael had gathered together by families and killed a lamb, STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 1 75 and stricken its blood upon the doorposts. While thus assembled, they heard the cry to depart, and made haste to get out of the land of Egypt quickly. Such is the traditional origin of the Passover. THE PASSOVER ACCORDING TO J. E 25, ^6 (Keep) THE FEAST OF PASSOVER in the sea- ^5, ^6 son of the month of Abib, when thou earnest E ^3 forth out of Egypt ; for Jehovah brought you E ^7 out by the strength of the hand. Unleavened E " bread shall be eaten seven days. Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, man and '3 beast ; it is mine. And thou shalt remember the day thou camest forth out of Egypt all the E ^2 days of thy life. This month shall be the E ^ first month of the year to you. And this is L 13 THE ORDINANCE OF THE PASSOVER. No E 2 stranger shall eat thereof. Thou shalt not N 12 carry aught abroad out of the house, and they shall not leave any of it until morning nor break a bone of it. This service is simply and primarily a commemora- tive meal. It is celebrated in the households. Fami- lies and friends gather together at the appointed time and partake of the Passover. In the seven days follow- ing its observance unleavened bread was eaten in order that Israel might remember the haste of the march out of and away from Egypt. None but an Israelite could keep the Passover. Now it is held by the higher critics that this feast is of late origin; or that it is not known as a commemorative feast until about the time when men began to write up the noblest spiritual develop- ments of their time as really the product of the Mosaic 176 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. era. The feast is not mentioned, they say, until Jo- siah's time. The ethical turpitude in this literary fraud on the part of men who valued the loftiest standard of morals and truth is quite as unbelievable as the infer- ence of the higher critics. But what are the facts? This Passover is nothing unless a lively sense of the deliverance from Egypt was present for centuries in Is- rael. The Passover is simply a celebration of such a salvation. It is true, as higher critics show, that in the Judges and the Books of Samuel and the Books of the Kings repeated reference is made to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Unless now the memory of it was kept alive by the annual celebration of this feast in each household of Israel, there was folly in urging so frequently this historical fact upon the people. The angel of the Lord rehearses the deliverance from Egypt at Bochim ; Gideon repeats it to an angel of the Lord at Ophrah; Jehovah narrates it to Samuel; Samuel him- self recalls it to the mind of Israel; Nathan mentions it as a well-known fact to David; and Solomon himself acknowledges it to the elders whom he called together to consult in reference to the building of the temple. Indeed, if this all was an invention, such notices (con- necting the event, it must be remembered, with the most critical exigencies in Israel's history) are simply unintelligible. But if the Passover was sacredly kept according to the ordinance in this Book of the Cove- nant, then the impressive power of these references be- comes at once understood. Hosea, Amos, Micah urge this deliverance from Egypt to enforce their words upon Israel. Wellhausen's asking mankind to believe his romancing, by which the great facts of Israel's history are dragged away from the solid base of truth to the STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 1 77 shifting sand of a post-exilic f Fabrication , is as bold a venture as the spider took who fastened a filament of his web to the Colossus of Rhodes and asked the birds and the fishes to behold him drag the mighty thing from its solid base into the waters of the sea. PASSOVER ACCORDING TO E. 31 -c, 34 25 E18 (Keep) THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER in the ^l time of the month of Abib. Seven days shalt E " thou eat unleavened bread therewith. Re- member this day in which ye canie forth from N 1? Egypt, from the house of bondage. Therefore all the firstborn of the children of Israel, both man and beast, shall be mine ; on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I E " sanctified them unto myself. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. E^ThIS is the ORDINANCE OF THE PASSOVER. E 46 A stranger shall not eat thereof. In one house ^\ it shall be eaten, and there shall no flesh which thou sacrificest at evening the first day remain E J^ all night until morning. And ye shall not break a bone of it. Interest, of course, some day will center in the dif- ferences discernible in the two copies. The emphasis upon the ** house of bondage" in E has been noticed before. The same reason which would justify the ap- pearance of this phrase in E will find application when the expression ** I smote the firstborn in the land of Egypt " is considered. The history designated E, con- taining the Book of the Covenant, which we have called E, was written in Babylonian territory. The motive to encourage the captive Israelites led in all probability to 12 178 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. the introduction of these expressions, which indicate Jehovah's deeds for Israel when in bondage to Egypt. The third sacred season ordered by statute in the Book of the Covenant is the Day of Atonement. Well- hausen says : *' Notwithstanding its conspicuous impor- tance, there is nothing known of the great Day of Atonement in the Jehovistic and Deuteronomic portions of the Pentateuch or in the historical and prophetical books. It first begins to show itself in embryo during the exile." (Proleg.,p. no.) We concede immediately that the day as a fast day is not mentioned except in Exodus-Numbers. Yet this does not warrant the in- ference that it was unknown. If now it were men- tioned several times in Judges-Chronicles, such men- tion could not be regarded as proof; for the convenient hypothesis of a redactor would be brought forth by the higher critic to account for their presence. The only sure confirmation of the existence of this fast through- out the history of the Judges and the Kings is to show that the ideas which the fast commemorated were a na- tional heritage from early times. Whatever else may be associated with this fast, the chiefest thought is cer- tainly that of the mercy of Jehovah. If the law of Je- hovah was the norm according to which Israel's prophet measured the fidelity of their people and the foundation upon which they based their powerful appeals, it was the mercy of Jehovah that attuned the lyre of Israel's poets and tempered the fierce threatenings of their prophets. Without doubt the chief idea connected with the atone- ment day is the mercy of Jehovah. The central pur- pose of this statute respecting the Day of Atonement is to keep ever before Israel that Jehovah is sure to visit transgression, but yet that with him there is mercy. STATUTES RESPECTING THE SACRED SEASONS. 1 79 THE DAT OF A TONEMENT ACCORDING TO J. Lg (Ye shall keep) the day of atonement, L ^^^ \ and ye shall afflict your souls ; and (Jehovah thy God) will keep covenant and mercy vs^ith them that love him and keep his command- ments, unto a thousand generations. Only a few days before the reading to Israel of this Book of the Covenant, they, under the guidance of Moses, had humbled themselves and made sacrifice and secured peace with Jehovah. The continuance of this peace depended upon Israel's fidelity to the covenant. The joy of forgiveness pervaded the camp while Moses read the words of the covenant. THE FAST OF THE ATONEMENT ACCORDING TO E. ^l eJJ (Keep) the fast of the atonement unto Je- L 3 hovah thy God, and ye shall afflict your souls ; i5 and Jehovah thy God will keep unto thee the covenant and mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. The Hebrew word for fast is a rare one, and is the word employed by the writer of E to designate this re- markable day in the history of Israel. The statute in both versions is not in any way at variance. CHAPTER XVIII. OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. Command, obedience, and blessing are three domi- nant words in the religious faith of Israel. Yet the commands are not such as tend to enrich an ecclesias- tical establishment; rather they are directed to secure such conduct in the daily walk of the Israelites as will work out in each a noble character. Obedience to such commands is beneficent. The blessings are all material as they are enumerated in the Book of the Covenant, such as closely affect the life we live upon the earth. They therefore appealed to the Israelites and were powerful motives to secure welldoing. OBEDIENCE ACCORDING TO J. 27 10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of Jeho- vah thy God, and do his commandments and 25 his statutes, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, and thou shalt do right in the sight of Jehovah. The requirement is clear, Israel are to obey the voice of their God, that it may be well with them. This obe- dience is doing right in his sight. OBEDIENCE ACCORDING TO E, "% Keep the words of this covenant and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do, il and thou shalt do right and good in the sight of Jehovah. In the version of E we observe the expression ** words of the covenant" for *' commandments and (i8o) OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. l8l Statutes." Yet in each version there is but the same requirement, namely, obedience to the same command- ments and statutes. The outcome in each version is the same for obedience, and that is blessing. What is the blessing which is promised Israel if they obey? It is not a something which reaches into an- other life. The blessings are such as they may enjoy upon the earth. BLESSINGS ACCORDING TO J. ^\ And when thou shalt do right in the sight 18 of Jehovah to keep all his commandments, J thou shalt be blessed above all people. There shall not be a male or a female barren among E 25 you or among your cattle. And I will take Ji away sickness from the midst of thee. And I will give the rain of your land in his due sea- ls son. And I will send the grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayst eat and be full. L 10 And ye shall eat old store and bring forth old L ^6 because of the new. And I will give peace in the land and ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid, and I will rid the evil beast ^ out of the land. And I will establish my cov- enant with you ; for I will have respect unto L if you, and I will walk among you and be your God, and ye shall be my people. Consider the import of these words. Shall Moab be barren, while Israel is fruitful? Shall the pestilence devastate Moab's homes, while the houses of Israel are passed by? Shall Moab look upon his fields and see the ground parched and unfruitful for lack of rain, while the fields of Israel wave in luxurious green? Shall famine reign in the walls of Moab's city, while 1 82 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. Israel's cities shall abound in plenty? Shall the enemy create fear in the heart of Moab, but fail to touch with dread the Israelites ? Shall all these things occur to Is- rael, and in such a clear light that Moab and other na- tions must say, All is true, and because Israel obeys the commandments of Jehovah? Nothing less than this is affirmed. Indeed, unless these precepts and commandments, when obeyed, tended to make Israel free from those vices that blast the fruitfulness of the womb, from those slovenly habits that evoke the pesti- lence, from that sloth which makes rain upon the fields of no avail, from that thriftlessness which engenders waste, from that evil-mindedness which makes enemies on every side, then these promises might justly be re- garded as the idle fancies of the brain ; for otherwise to fulfill them would require the inversion of the laws of the universe. BLESSINGS ACCORDING TO E. }J And when thou shalt hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God to keep all his command- L ^3 ments, I will make you fruitful and multiply E 2? you. There shall nothing cast her young or be iJ barren in thy land. And Jehovah will take from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou know- est, upon thee, but will lay them upon all that L ^4 hate thee. And I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase L^^and the trees shall yield their fruit, and ye shall eat your bread and be full. And ye shall L ^l dwell safely in your land. And the sword shall L if not go through your land. And I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING. 183 E II abhor you. And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread and thy wa- K 26 ter, and I wrill fulfill the number of thy days. These blessings are the same in number and kind as we found in the J version. The variations are only such as we might expect in a version. It is to be re- membered that the only right to existence for a version is that it makes an ancient document intelligible to later generations. CHAPTER XIX. DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. The laws of the universe are blind. The whirling circular saw will not pause to let a beautiful jeweled hand escape, but will sever it from the arm as ruthless- ly as it would divide a stick of wood. The lake will not bear quietly on its surface the boat wherein the Master sleeps, if the winds howl above in the air; but its waters will wildly rage, obedient to law, and the boat will rock and toss and seem about to be ingulfed. Safety is to know the danger of a whirling saw, and to keep out of its reach ; to be acquainted with the wrath of the waters when the winds rage in the sky, and not to be found out upon the lake. Safety everywhere is to know law, whether in the material or the spiritual universe ; for disobedience to law brings disaster. God could not have been the author of the Book of the Cov- enant, had its provisions been unmindful of the punish- ments which disobedience to the commandments would entail. The sure revelation of the consequences was what Jehovah imparted to Moses. The language by which they were imparted to Israel was the work of the leader himself. And a review of the closing part of these three codes, the Book of the Covenant, the Sina- itic Tora, and the Tora of Moses, will make clear that, while the punishments change not, the language and the force and the beauty with which they are announced in each code are subject to change. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH ACCORDING TO J. L 14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will L. 15 not do all these commandments, and if ye will (184) DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 185 Lijf despise my statutes, I will set my face against L-Jfyou, and I will punish you seven times more for your sins. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH ACCORDING TO B. L J§ And if ye will not yet for all this hearken un- L 2! to me, and if ye will not be instructed through me by all these things, but will walk contrary L J5 unto me, so that ye will not do all my com- L 16 mandments, but will break my covenant, I L, jj also will do this unto you : I will bring seven times more upon you according to your sins. The transitional paragraph in both versions empha- sizes, by means of a conditional negation, the impor- tance which the commandments are to have in Israel. Obey them not, and there will come to the people most harassing and destructive punishments. Thus Israel is taught most clearly how fearful a thing it is to break this covenant. FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO J. L 25, 60 I WILL BRING ALL THE DISEASES of Egypt, §5 ©f which thou wert afraid of, together with the g sore botch in the knees and legs, and the scab, 35 from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy L 21 head, whereof thou canst not be healed, and "^^ plagues ; and blasting. 22 Disease, the plague, and famine are the three punish- ments first named as following upon Israel if they dis- obey the commandments. They were all known as afflictions which at times came to nations. They were dreaded. Particularly did the thought of the diseases of Egypt make Israel shudder. Now it is plainly af- firmed that disobedience to the precepts of the covenant l86 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. would lead Jehovah the God of Israel to bring these three punishments — disease, the plague, and famine — upon his people. A physician would trace disease to local causes or to individual conduct; the plague he would hand over to the scientist to explain ; the famine he would ascribe to drought or the worm. But Jeho- vah says, ** I will bring them upon Israel if they disobey my covenant." There are more things in heaven and earth than man's philosophy can attain unto ; this is one of them. FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO E. L 25,60, 27 I WILL BRING ALL THE DISEASES of Egypt, together with the botch, and the emerods, and the itch whereof thou canst not be healed, and they shall cleave unto thee, and also plagues of every kind ; and mildew. Interesting questions arise as to whether the itch and the scab are the same disease, or what reason led to the description of diseases, with such variation as is found in J. These are not questions to be discussed at present. The versions are first to be restored ; after- wards their differences in phraseology especially are to be studied, traceable to the regions in which the versions appeared. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TO J. L af And I will draw a sword out after you, L J5 L i5 and break the pride of your power ; and ye shall nbe slain before your enemies. But the stran- 44 ger that is among you shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the L fy head, and thou shalt be the tail. And I will L ^ not smell the savor of your sweet odors. But DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 187 I will destroy your high places and cut down y your images. And thy carcasses shall be meat unto all the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. These three punishments are defeat before an enemy, the rule of a stranger, and that violence which not only slaughters human life but also demolishes the sanctu- aries of a land. The first triad arrayed nature and her forces against Israel, but not so as to destroy root and branch. The second triad lifts against Israel the hand of man, threatening extermination. Israel, in generations afterwards, became unfaithful to Jehovah. Then the noble spirits of the nation bewailed in poetic measure these misfortunes that came upon the nation. There are psalms wherein a people accustomed to vic- tory are described as suffering the bitterness of nation- al defeat; and others wherein a people accustomed to noble freedom in their own beautiful city are portrayed as bemoaning abject servitude within its walls such that an Israelite must cringe in his own city to a despotic foreigner; others still, which are filled with the lan- guage of despair, recording that crushed spirit in Israel when a few of them in their own land tremblingly haunted the places of greatest sanctity and saw them in saddest ruins, inhabited by jackals and owls. These all felt the awful verity in the threatenings of the cov- enant. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS ACCORDING TOE, L jf L ^ And I also will send a sword upon you that L " shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant, and ^ ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And the stranger that is within thee shall get above 1 88 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. very high, and thou shalt come down very low. L g L 31 And my soul shall abhor you. And I will L II bring your sanctuaries into desolation, and cast out your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols. A literal version seems to be given in E of the sixth punishment. And indeed the rendering of the J copy seems to me the language that is but a verbal portrayal of what was present to the writer's own eyes. When Jeremiah wrote, he could have gone out upon the high places of Palestine and beheld slain Israelites whose *' carcasses were meat unto all the fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth," and no man was there *' to fray them away." The seventh punishment is captivity in a foreign land. Israel knew somewhat the meaning of a foreign master. They had groaned beneath the oppression of Egypt. But, severe as such bondage was, this threat- ened seventh punishment added the further bitterness that Israel should remember the land of their posses- sion and the joy of the favor of Jehovah their God which was theirs while obedient to the precepts of the covenant. THE SEVENTH PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO J. 63 And ye shall be plucked off the land whither L 3^ thou goest to possess. And they that be left of you shall pine away in their iniquities in the L 33 land of your enemies. And your land shall be L 32 desolate and your cities waste. And your en- emies which dwell therein shall be astonished. THE SEVENTH PUNISHMENT ACCORDING TO E. ^ And thou shalt be removed into all the king- ly gl doms of the earth, and those that be left of DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 189 Lglyou shall pine away in the iniquities of their L li fathers with them. And I will make your L 32 cities waste and bring your land into desola- tion. We seek in vain for any intimation of the enemy which shall waste Israel's land in after times, should the people forsake Jehovah their God. Kingdoms are mentioned, but we know not what kingdoms they are; the land of the enemy is also spoken of, but the name of the land is not given. The sketching is without lo- cal or personal coloring. The misfortunes threatened Israel in these seven punishments are such as had hap- pened to nations. The new element alone is that obe- dience to the covenant will preserve Israel against them. A supreme faith in the might of Jehovah the God of Is- rael is the foundation of this wonderful creed of Moses. The close of the Book of the Covenant is a promise of mercy upon confession. Nations that are deported lose their national characteristics. They become like their captors in faith and manners. The land whence they came becomes, after a few generations, a kind of dream. Even the national traditions are forgotten. Or, if remembered, they awaken, not longings to re- turn, but bitter curses; for to their foreign blood these bondmen owe whatever disability they suffer in the body politic where they dwell. Not thus was it with Is- rael when in centuries later they were plucked off from their own land. Their God still was Jehovah, their faith the creed of the covenant, their hope the abounding mercy of Jehovah. REPENTANCE AND MERCT ACCORDING TO J. L "% If they shall confess their iniquity and L 41 the iniquities of their fathers, and that I 190 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. brought them into the land of their enemies, L 2 L 43 then I will not cast them away, but will re- member my covenant with Jacob, and my cov- enant with Isaac, and also my covenant with L *| Abraham. Ye shall therefore keep ( my com- mandments), which if a man do he shall live in \l them. And thou shalt be perfect with Jeho- vah thy God. Stated briefly is the law of recovery from moral tur- pitude and irreligious disposition. It is confession of Israel's iniquities and those of their fathers and the acknowledgment that Jehovah brought upon them the punishments for wrongdoing. Here is God's oppor- tunity. He comes with all the plenitude of his power to recover; he remembers his covenant and shows mer- cy. The closing words of the Book of the Covenant are an injunction to keep the commandments, for in do- ing them is life. /REPENTANCE AND MERCY ACCORDING TO B, lJJl^ And yet for all this if they confess in their trespass wherein they have trespassed against me, and also that they have walked L 41 contrary unto me, and I have walked contrary L 4^ unto them, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them. L^^But I will remember them and I will remem- L^ber the land; for I am Jehovah their God. ^ And Jehovah commands us to do all these (commandments) for our good always that he might preserve us alive. Perhaps I may be pardoned by my reader if I make a personal statement; for with the restoration of this last DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT. I9I section I have concluded the reconstruction of the three books of Moses, known as the Book of the Covenant, the Law of Jehovah (Sinaitic Tora), and Deuteronomy (the Tora of Moses), giving each book in two versions. The results are only part of those reached through twenty-five years of laborious study and conflicting doubts. I could not deny the evidence of confusion everywhere present in the Hebrew Scriptures, which were startlingly made apparent in the Pentateuch by the higher critics. I could not accept the conclusions of the Grafian school; for they subverted the great tra- ditions of a nation, which, as I saw, permeated the whole of its literature ; and more, it was contrary to the teachings of history that a single nation in the despair of its overthrow should develop the noblest literature the world possesses. I was therefore forced to seek some other hypothesis to explain the strange phenom- ena in the Old Testament Scriptures. The struggle was to retain faith. One scholar alone was to me an abiding help, and he is Archdeacon Farrar. In my days in the theological school his *' Life of Christ'' and ** Epistles of St. Paul" were mainstays of faith. His words always showed fullest acquaintance with all that scholars of every school had made known, and while indisputable facts he admitted, he doubted radi- cal conclusions and retained the worthiest belief in Christ and the words of his apostles. I found also in his *' First Book of the Kings " the same just and broad- minded attitude toward the results of higher criticism, and also an unwavering faith in the revelation of God to the Israelites. So I took courage, and labored amid doubts innumerable. Years ago, while standing among the ruins of Caper- 192 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. naum on the shore of Galilee, I saw beautiful frag- ments of columns and frieze lying among the weedy growth of the desolate spot. The beauty that had been chiseled upon the stones made evident that they once belonged to some magnificent edifice, whose marvels the lovely sea mirrored in its depths day by day. Like- wise, when I saw the beauty of the commandments as they were found here and there in the Pentateuch with- out order or any structure, I was compelled to believe that some time they were recorded in a document as beautiful as a whole as the individual parts were beau- tiful in themselves. In this faith I labored year after year; and one of the results was the restoration in two versions of the three law codes of Moses. CHAPTER XX. VERSIONS COMPARED. THE PURPOSE OF THE SIGNS AND WONDERS. J. E. And Jehovah said: And Jehovah said : Thus These are the words which shalt thou say unto the house thou shalt speak to the chil- of Jacob, and tell the children dren of Israel : I am Jehovah of Israel : I am Jehovah thy your God who brought you God who brought thee out of outof the land of Egypt. And the land of Egypt, out of the ye saw all that Jehovah did house of bondage. Ye saw before your eyes in the land what I did unto the Egyp- of Egypt, unto Pharaoh and tians, the great temptations unto his servants and unto his which thine eyes saw, and the land, the great temptations signs and wonders and the which thine eyes saw, and outstretched arm, whereby Je- those great miracles, and the hovah brought thee out, that mighty hand to give unto you he might bring us in to give the land of Canaan. us the land which he sware unto our fathers. FAITH IN THE PROMISE. J. E. For Jehovah shall bring For the land whither ye thee into a goodly land, a land shall go to possess is not like of brooks and waters, of foun- the land of Egypt, whence ye tains and depths that spring came out, where thou sowest out of valleys and hills, a land thy seed and waterest it with of wheat and barley and vines thy foot as gardens of herbs ; and fig trees and pomegran- but the land is a land of hills ates, a land of olive oil and and valleys, and it drinketh honey, a land which Jehovah the water of the rain of heav- 13 (193) 194 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. J. E. thy God careth for. And thou en, a land whose stones are shalt eat and be full, and iron and out of whose hills bless Jehovah thy God for the thou may est dig brass, a land good land which he shall give where thou shalt eat bread thee* without scarceness, and thou shalt not lack anything in it. The eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. INTRODUCTORT SENTENCE. J. E. But ye shall observe to do And ye shall diligently keep all the testimonies and stat- the commandments of Jeho- utes which Jehovah our God vah your God, his testimonies commands you. and his statutes. FIRST TABLE. J. E. I. I. Thou shalt fear thy God. Thou shalt fear thy God. II. II. Ye shall not oppress one Ye shall not oppress one another. another. III. III. Thou shalt make thee no Make not for yourselves molten gods. molten gods. IV. IV. Thou shalt not profane the Thou shalt not profane the name of thy God. name of thy God. V. V. Verily ye shall keep my Ye shall keep my sabbaths, sabbaths. VERSIONS COMPARED. 195 SECOND TABLE. J- E. VI. VI. Every man that curseth his He that curseth his father father or his mother shall or his mother shall surely be surely be put to death. put to death. VII. VII. He who committeth adul- He who committeth adul- tery with his neighbor's wife, tery with a man's wife, the that man and that woman shall man that lay with the woman surely be put to death. and the woman shall surely be put to death. VIII. VIII. He that killeth a man shall He that killeth a man shall surely be put to death. surely be put to death. IX. IX. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. X. X. Ye shall not lie. Thou shalt not lie one to another. HORTATORT WORDS, J. E. And thou shalt observe and And ye shall observe to do do these [commandments] all the commandments which that thou mayest live and in- I command thee this day ; and herit the land which Jehovah when thou shalt beget chil- thy God shall give thee ; and dren and children's children, thou shalt teach them to thy ye shall walk in all the way son and thy son's son, that ye which Jehovah your God corn- may learn and keep them and mandeth you, and ye shall do them in the land whither prolong your days in the land ye go to possess. which Jehovah thy God shall give thee to inherit. 196 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. LAW OF THE ALTAR, J. E. In the place where Jehovah And in the place where Je- thy God shall choose to place hovah thy God shall choose his name, AN altar of to place his name, an altar EARTH THOU SHALT MAKE OF EARTH THOU SHALT MAKE UNTO ME. But thou mayest unto me. But if thou wilt build the altar of Jehovah thy make unto me an altar of God of whole stones ; thou stones, thou shalt not build it shalt not lift any iron tool of hewn stones ; for if thou upon them. And thou shalt lift up thy tool upon it, thou sacrifice thereon thy burnt of- hast polluted it. And thou fering and thy peace offering, shalt offer thereon unto Jeho- thy sheep and thy oxen, and vah thy God of thy herd and thou shalt eat there and re- of thy flock burnt offerings, joice before Jehovah thy God and thou shalt offer peace of- And in all places where ferings, and thou shalt eat be- I record my name, I will fore Jehovah thy God, thou come unto thee and bless thee, and thy household. And in EVERY PLACE WHERE I RE- CORD MY NAME, I will meet there with the children of Is- rael. THE LA W OF THE OFFERING. J. E. All the fat is J e h o- All the fat is J e h o- vah's. And thou shalt not vah's. And thou shalt not offer (the flesh) of my sacri- offer (the flesh) of my sac- fice, nor shall any of the sac- rifice. Nor shall any of my rifice remain until morning, sacrifice remain until morn- And the blood shall be ing. And the blood of thy POURED out upon the altar sacrifices shall be poured of Jehovah thy God, but the upon the altar of Jehovah thy flesh thou mayest eat. God, but the flesh thou may- est eat it. VERSIONS COMPARED. I97 LA W OF THE VICTIM. J. E. Thou shalt not sacrifice And if there be blemish unto Jehovah thy God bullock therein, lame or blind, or any or sheep wherein is any blem- ill-blemish, thou shalt not sac- ish or any ill-favoredness ; for rifice it unto Jehovah thy God. it is an abomination unto Je- hovah thy God. THE LAW OF GAME-EATING J. E. As the roebuck and as the Even as the roebuck and hart, ye may eat these ; but the hart are eaten, so thou ye shall eat the blood of no mayest eat them, but no soul manner of flesh. of you shall eat blood. LA W OF DEFILEMENT J. E. And ye shall not make Ye shall put a difference yourselves abominable with between clean and unclean beast or fowl or any manner beasts, between unclean fowl of living thing that creepeth and clean, and ye shall not on the ground. Neither shall make yourselves abominable ye make yourselves unclean with any creeping thing that with them that ye should be creepeth, neither shall ye de- defiled thereby. And after file yourselves with any man- the doings of the land of Ca- ner of creeping thing that naan whither I bring you, ye creepeth upon the earth shall not do ; for all these And after the doings of the abominations have the men land of Egypt wherein ye of the land which were before dwelt, shall ye not do. De- you done, and the land is de- file yourselves not in any of filed. And the land itself these things ; for in all these vomiteth out her inhabitants, things the nations are defiled But ye shall not walk after which I will cast out before the manner of the nations you. And the land is defiled, which I shall cast out before Therefore I do visit the in- 1^8 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. J. E. you, that the land spew you quity thereof upon it. Ye not out also when you defile shall therefore keep all my it. Ye shall therefore keep statutes and do them, that the my statutes, and shall not land whither I bring you to commit any of these abomi- dwell therein spew you not nations. And ye shall be out as it spewed out the na- holy unto me ; for I Jehovah tions before you ; for they am holy, and have severed committed all these things, you from other people, that and therefore I abhorred ye should be mine, and a land them. I am Jehovah your that floweth with milk and God which have separated honey I will give you to pos- you from all other people : sess it. therefore ye shall sanctify yourselves, for I am holy. And I say unto you, you shall inherit their land. THE SABBATH. J. E, Six days shall work be Six days shall work be done ; but the seventh is the done ; but the seventh day sabbath of rest, holy unto Je- there shall be to you a holy hovah. Ye shall keep the day, a sabbath of rest unto Je- sabbath therefore ; for it is hovah ; for it shall be a sign holy unto you ; and it shall be between me and you of the a sign between me and the perpetual covenant. Where- children of Israel forever fore the children of Israel throughout your generations shall keep the sabbath to ob- that you may know that I serve the sabbath throughout am Jehovah which sanctifieth their generations. you. THE PASSO VER. J. E. (Keep) THE FEAST OF PASS- (Keep) the feast of the OVER in the sea son of the passover in the time of the VERSIONS COMPARED. I99 J. E. month of Abib, when thou month of Abib. Seven days camest forth out of Egypt; shalt thou eat unleavened for Jehovah brought you out bread therewith. Remember by the strength of the hand, this day in which ye came Unleavened bread shall be forth from Egypt, from the eaten seven days. Sanctify house of bondage. Therefore unto me all the firstborn, all the firstborn of the chil- whatsoever openeth the womb dren of Israel, both man and among the children of Israel, beast, shall be mine ; on the man and beast; it is mine, day that I smote every first- And thou shalt remember the born in the land of Egypt I day thou camest forth out of sanctified them unto myself. Egypt all the days of thy life. This month shall be unto This month shall be the first you the beginning of months, month of the year to you. This is the ordinance of And this is the ordi- the passover. A stranger nance of the PASSOVER, shall not eat thereof. In one No stranger shall eat thereof, house it shall be eaten, and Thou shalt not carry aught there shall no flesh which thou abroad out of the house, and sacrificest at evening the first they shall not leave any of it day remain all night until until morning nor break a morning- And ye shall not bone of it. break a bone of it. THE DAY OF A TONEMENT. J. E. (Ye SHALL keep) the day (Keep) the fast of the of atonement, and ye shall atonement unto Jehovah thy afflict your souls ; and (Jeho- God, and ye shall afflict your vah thy God) will keep cove- souls * and Jehovah thy God nant and mercy with them will keep unto thee the cove- that love him and keep his nant and mercy which he commandments, unto a thou- sware unto thy fathers, sand generations. 200 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. OBEDIENCE. J. E. Thou shalt therefore obey Keep the words of this the voice of Jehovah thy God, covenant and do them, that and do his commandments ye may prosper in all that ye and his statutes, that it may do, and thou shalt do right be v^ell with thee and thy and good in the sight of Je- children after thee, and thou hovah. shalt do right in the sight of Jehovah. BLESSINGS. J. E, And when thou shalt do And when thou shalt heark- right in the sight of Jehovah en unto the voice of Jehovah to keep all his command- thy God to keep all his com- ments, thou shalt be blessed mandments, I will make you above all people. There shall fruitful and multiply you. not be a male or a female There shall nothing cast her barren among you or among young or be barren in thy your cattle. And I will take land. And Jehovah will take away sickness from the midst from thee all sickness, and of thee. And I will give the will put none of the evil dis- rain of your land in his due eases of Egypt, which thou season. And I will send the knowest, upon thee, but will grass in thy fields for thy lay them upon all that hate cattle that thou mayst eat and thee. And I will give you be full. And ye shall eat old rain in due season, and the store and bring forth old be- land shall yield her increase cause of the new. And I will and the trees shall yield their give peace in the land, and ye fruit, and ye shall eat your shall lie down and none shall bread and be full. And ye make you afraid, and I will shall dwell safely in your land, rid the evil beast out of the And the sword shall not go land. And I will establish through your land. And I my covenant with you ; for I will set my tabernacle among VERSIONS COMPARED. 20I J. E. will have respect unto you, you, and my soul shall not ab- and I will walk among you hor you. And ye shall serve and be your God, and ye shall Jehovah your God, and he be my people. will bless thy bread and thy water, and I will fulfill the number of thy days. TRANSITIONAL PARAGRAPH. J. E. But if ye will not hearken And if ye w^ill not yet for unto me, and will not do all all this hearken unto me, and these commandments, and if if ye will not be instructed ye will despise my statutes, I through me by all these will set my face against you, things, but will walk contrary and I will punish you seven unto me, so that ye will not times more for your sins. do all my commandments, but will break my covenant, I also will do this unto you : I will bring seven times more upon you according to your sins. FIRST TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS. J. E. I WILL BRING ALL THE I WILL BRING ALL THE DIS- DiSEASES of Egypt, of which eases of Egypt, together thou wert afraid of, together with the botch, and the em- with the sore botch in the erods, and the itch whereof knees and legs, and the scab, thou canst not be healed, and from the sole of thy foot unto they shall cleave unto thee, the top of thy head, whereof and also plagues of every thou canst not be healed, and kind ; and mildew, plagues ; and blasting. 202 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. SECOND TRIAD OF PUNISHMENTS. J. E. And I will draw a sword And I also will send a out after you, and break the sword upon you that shall pride of your power ; and ye avenge the quarrel of my shall be slain before your en- covenant, and ye shall flee emies. But the stranger that when none pursueth you. is among you shall lend to And the stranger that is thee, and thou shalt not lend within thee shall get above to him. He shall be the head, very high, and thou shalt and thou shalt be the tail, come down very low. And And I will not smell the sa- my soul shall abhor you. vor of your sweet odors. But And I will bring your sanc- I will destroy your high places tuaries into desolation, and and cut dow^n your images, cast out your carcasses upon And thy carcasses shall be the carcasses of your idols, meat unto all the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. THE SE VENTH P UNISHMENT. J. E. And ye shall be plucked off And thou shalt be removed the land whither thou goest to into all the kingdoms of the possess. And they that be earth, and those that be left left of you shall pine away in of you shall pine away in the their iniquities in the land of iniquities of their fathers with your enemies. And your land them. And I will make your shall be desolate and your cities waste and bring your cities waste. And your en- land into desolation, emies which dwell therein shall be astonished. VERSIONS COMPARED. 203 REPENTANCE AND MERCT, J. E; If they shall confess And yet for all this if their iniquity and the iniqui- they confess in their tres- ties of their fathers, and that pass wherein they have tres- I brought them into the land passed against me, and also of their enemies, then I will that they have walked contra- not cast them away, but will ry unto me, and I have walked remember my covenant with contrary unto them, when Jacob, and my covenant with they be in the land of their Isaac, and also my covenant enemies, I will not abhor them with Abraham. Ye shall to destroy them utterly and to therefore keep (my com- break my covenant with them, mandments), which if a man But I will remember them, do he shall live in them. And and I will remember the land ; thou shalt be perfect with Je- for I am Jehovah their God. hovah thy God. And Jehovah commands us to do all these (command- ments) for our good always that he might preserve us alive. CHAPTER XXI. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. The claim I make is that the three codes which I have restored, each in two versions, are the work of a single author, and that they lie at the foundation of Is- rael's history from their first entrance into Palestine. A. The Codes Have One Author, If I were asked to prove that a bud and a half-blown flower and a fully blossomed rose came from one bush, I would need to show that each flower was in structure a rose; that the same color was present in the petals; and that a like fragrance exhaled from the bud as from the blossoms. Such proof would be regarded as quite conclusive. Thus I will prove the Mosaic authorship of these three codes. EVERYWHERE ONE THOUGHT AS A COLOR PERVADES EACH CODE, AND THIS THOUGHT IS THAT JEHOVAH SHALL BE SUPREME IN THE LIFE OF ISRAEL. Turn the pages of the codes over most hurriedly and cast the eye down upon the writings, each glance can- not fail to discern the words *'Jehovah thy God." In- wrought in every part of the codes is this thought, and it is as inseparable from them as the color is from the flower. The God of Israel is Jehovah. OBEDIENCE TO THESE CODES IS REGARDED IN EACH CODE AS THE FRAGRANCE WHICH SHOULD ASCEND UNTO JE- HOVAH AS WELL-PLEASING TO HIM. The commands are given to be obeyed; yet every (205) 206 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. motive of advantage and fear is urged upon Israel to lead to obedience. The existence of Israel depends upon obedience. Peace shall reign in their dwellings, plenty shall abound in their houses, the fields shall wave with the plentiful grains, if only Israel obeys. And Je- hovah will delight in the fragrance only of obedient lives. THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT, THE SINAITIC AND MOSAIC TORAS HAVE THE SAME STRUCTURAL CHARACTER: EACH HAS AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, A BODY OF LAWS, AND A HORTATORY CLOSE. This likeness of structure argues strongly for unity of authorship. A great leader might amplify an earlier code, but he would not abrogate it, especially if his lead- ership was maintained through the authority which came to him by being the mediator of the code. The only ra- tional hypothesis to explain the three codes is that they were mediated by the same person and stand related to each other as a finished to earlier and less elaborate pro- ductions. THE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION IN EACH CODE, SO FAR AS CONTEMPORARY HISTORY COMES INTO VIEW, CON- TAINS REFERENCE TO THE SAME EVENTS, BUT THEY ARE ALLUDED TO FOR A DIFFERENT PURPOSE. Each tora refers to the deliverance from Egypt and the overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Jeho- vah wrought these deliverances for Israel. But the Book of the Covenant narrates these events to prove that Jehovah is on Israel's side. The Sinaitic Tora re- fers to them to emphasize the truth that Jehovah is the God of Israel, while in the Tora of Moses they come THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 207 in review to give point to the truth that Jehovah had been faithful, even though Israel had been a stiffnecked people, and to enforce the admonition that unless Israel were obedient Jehovah would abhor even them. EACH CODE CONTAINS A DECALOGUE ALIKE IN THE OR- DER OF THE COMMANDMENTS AND ESSENTIALLY ALIKE AS TO THE meaning: THE LATER DECALOGUES, HOW- EVER, GIVE EVIDENCE OF A MORE UNIVERSAL APPLI- CATION OF THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED, AND SHOW GREATER BEAUTY OF EXPRESSION. We may illustrate this statement by the first command- ment. That of the Book of the Covenant is, "Thou shalt fear thy God." The same command in the Sina- itic Tora is expressed as follows: *'Thou shalt fear Je- hovah thy God and serve him and swear by his name." The element of fear is still emphasized; but the idea of service is added as well as that of making him the high- est authority, in that an oath is to be made in his name. The Tora of Moses formulates this command thus: ** Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might." EACH CODE RECOGNIZES THREE FUNDAMENTAL SACRED SEASONS, NAMELY, THE SABBATH, THE PASSOVER, AND THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. The two agricultural feasts are found in the Sinaitic and Mosaic toras, but not in the Book of the Covenant. These feasts grew up because of the changed condition of Israel's life, a transition from a nomadic to a settled people. The three sacred seasons found in each code have other origin. The Sabbath was without doubt a day 2o8 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. which had been observed among the Abrahamitic de- scendants. Probably it had the sanction of a far great- er antiquity. The Passover was associated with the de- liverance of the Israelites from bondage. The Day of Atonement was remembered because of the mercy of Jehovah. Within Israel grew up the most remarkable literature which the world ever saw, simply and only be- cause the nation held sacred the ideas associated with these three observances. THE HORTATORY CLOSE TO EACH CODE MAKES BLESSINGS DEPEND UPON THE FIDELITY AND OBEDIENCE OF ISRAEL TO JEHOVAH THEIR GOD. These blessings are practically alike in each code, being abundant harvests, large flocks and herds, homes made glad by the voices of many children, security from invasion by an enemy. The increasing charm with which these several blessings are set forth in the later codes makes evident that he who formulated them for Israel ever sought to give them the most finished and perfect expression possible. THE HORTATORY CLOSE IN EACH CODE THREATENS SEV- EN PUNISHMENTS UPON ISRAEL, IF THEY REFUSED TO OBEY JEHOVAH ; AND THESE SEVEN ARE PRACTICALLY ALIKE IN EACH CODE. These punishments are sickness, the plague, drought, defeat, famine, the foreign ruler, and captivity in a foreign land. They are differently expressed in each code, showing the environment at the time of promul- gation. But the punishments change not. They are neither added to nor diminished. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 209 B. The Codes Were the Law of Israel, HIGHER CRITICS ASSIGN THEIR DEUTERONOMIC CODE TO THE AGE OF JOSIAH (689-608 B.C. ) ; AND BECAUSE THE TORA OF MOSES CONTAINS THE COMMANDMENTS AND STATUTES OF THIS DEUTERONOMIC CODE, THE MOSAIC TORA CANNOT BE ASSIGNED TO A LATER DATE. The claim is reasonable. Every reason which can be alleged to fix the Deuteronomic Code in the reign of Josiah may be alleged to prove that the Tora of Moses was known at this time. The Mosaic Tora was obtained by eliminating from the Deuteronomic code repetitions and duplicates and arranging the matter thus obtained under the demands of a system or according to the needs of a code. There can therefore be no objection for the reconstructive critic to claim that the latest date to which his Tora of Moses may be assigned is the reign of Josiah. THE JEHOVISTIC CODE OF HIGHER CRITICISM IS ASSIGNED TO THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY. SINCE NOW THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT OF RECONSTRUCT- IVE CRITICISM CONTAINS THOSE ELEMENTS OF THE JE- HOVISTIC CODE UPON WHICH CRITICS REST TO DETER- MINE ITS DATE, IT FOLLOWS THAT THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT MUST BE ASSIGNED TO THIS TIME. The presence of Bemoth and the want of a central sanctuary are the principal reasons brought forward to enable critics to fix a date for the Jehovistic Code. Now, these features are dominantly features of the Book of the Covenant as restored by reconstructive 2IO BOOK OF THE COVENANT. criticism. It is reasonable then to claim the date of the Jehovistic Code, some time in the eighth century, to be the latest which can be given the Book of the Cove- nant. AS ESSENTIALLY THE ONLY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SINAITIC AND MOSAIC CODES WHEN COMPARED WITH THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT CONSIST IN THE PRES- ENCE OF TWO AGRICULTURAL FEASTS AND THE PRES- ENCE OF JUDGMENTS, IT FOLLOWS THAT THE GROUND PRINCIPLES OF THE THREE CODES WERE WELL KNOWN IN ISRAEL AS EARLY AS THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY. The importance of this inference is at once apparent. It makes clear that the splendid reformation of Josiah's time, resulting in the adoption of the Deuteronomic principles as a new constitution, is a myth, a fabrication of the higher critic. At the beginning of the eighth century the Jehovistic code is assumed by the higher critics to have been in vogue. But this code furnishes much of the cultus-material for the Book of the Cov- enant as restored. Hence the whole of this book, in- cluding all the commandments and statutes structurally related together, must have been known at this time. Now these commandments and statutes are found in each of the three codes of reconstructive criticism ; and if the Book of the Covenant cannot be assigned to a date later than the eighth century, it follows that in the eighth century the same commandments and statutes were well known in Israel which higher critics assume to have made their appearance in Josiah's time. THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 211 IN THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH IN THE NINTH CENTURY THERE IS THE CLEAREST EVIDENCE THAT THE TORA OF MOSES WAS KNOWN. THIS BEING TRUE, SO CLOSE WERE THE RELATIONSHIPS AT THAT TIME BETWEEN ISRAEL AND JUDAH THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS TORA MUST HAVE BEEN KNOWN IN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. Jehoshaphat (914-889 B.C.) sent Levites throughout his kingdom to teach the law of Jehovah. He also es- tablished a system of courts such as is required by the Mosaic Tora. It is distinctly related by him (2 Chron. xvii. 4) that ** he walked in his [Jehovah's] command- ments." He appoints judges, as required by the Mo- saic Tora, and gives them instructions in the very words of the tora itself. We have then the Mosaic legislation well known in the ninth century in Judah. IN THE TENTH CENTURY, WHEN THE KINGDOM WAS DIVIDED THE NORTHERN KINGDOM TOOK FOR ITS LAW THE SINA- ITIC CODE, AND THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM RETAINED THE TORA OF MOSES. In the second chapter of this volume I set forth rea- sons for believing that Hilkiah's law book was the Si- naitic Tora. I will add one further suggestion. The whole trend of Israel's history controverts the po- sition that Bethel and Dan were centers of the golden calf worship. The sin of the kings of Israel was not this calf worship, but the worshiping at altars, which were profane according to the Tora of Moses. It was not the sacrificing upon a Bamah, but at Bamoth, which had not the sanction of Jehovah. When the man of God rebuked Jeroboam, it was not the golden calf that was hurled down by the might of Jehovah, but it was 212 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. the altar which the king had reared. This altar was rent in twain. If higher critics inquire, What then of the record which asserts that the calf worship was prac- ticed in Israel? I calmly reply, the '* golden calf" is a redaction in place of the word ** altar." Surely the higher critic will not refuse me one redaction. THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM WAS A RESTORATION OF MOSAISM^ AND HAD FOR ITS LAW CODE THE TORA OF MOSES. Shiloh witnessed the overthrow of the tabernacle. In Israel this central place for worship had been made a heap. Samuel heralded, however, the religious practice of the Book of the Covenant, wherein sacrifice upon the Bamoth was permitted. The people demanded a king. Saul, the first king, established his throne, with- out changing the popular mode of worship, after the destruction of the tabernacle, namely, sacrifice upon the Bamoth. His civil law was the same as had ruled Israel from the time they crossed the Jordan. David, when he ascended the throne, changed not the civil code, which was the Mosaic Tora; but he did change the mode of worship, for David's tabernacle became the central place of worship. He did not abolish the Bamoth, but he gave Israel a new Shiloh, whither they came three times a year to worship. Accept these three codes as the legislation of Moses, and the history of Israel becomes a normal develop- ment; reject them, and this history is a brilliant fabri- cation of exilic or post-exilic times. Assuming these three codes of Moses as existing, then the prophets of Israel become of right God's pleaders in Israel to lead them to return and obey the law. Without the codes as an authority of most ancient standing in Israel, these THE LEGISLATION OF MOSES. 213 the grandest figures in Israel's history plead with their own people to return to a standard that had no exist- ence ; and they are made to utter thoughts which had no meaning until centuries after their death. The prophets first of all spoke to their own times. Their words aimed to recall to Jehovah an apostate people. The very message they carried necessitated that the commandments which had been broken and the stat- utes which had been perverted should have had the sanction of the highest authority. The three codes of reconstructive criticism in their every part make claim to this high authority. A Mosaic legislation full and practiced for centuries as the law in Israel is the neces- sary antecedent to the era of the prophets in Israel. As the blood is to the body so are the Mosaic codes to the body politic of the chosen people. Impede the normal workings of the law, and disturbances arose in in every part of the domain. Corrupt the law, and dis- ease, threatening death, came to Israel. When the Gothic architect completed that part of his edifice which reached highest — those lofty spires which seem to threaten the sky — he placed as the apex a cruciform flower, symbol of that religion whose seat was within the noble cathedral. The peculiar appropriateness of this mode of completion has been recognized by later times. Likewise, when the Book of the Covenant is brought to a close, that first formulated code of Israel, most appropriate words are employed, and they are: **Jehovah commands us to do all these commandments for our good always that he might preserve us alive." Obedience to the commandments of the covenant code is life for Israel. Not until three codes, each in two copies, are proffered for consideration by higher crit- 214 BOOK OF THE COVENANT. ics, better adapted to mold Israel into a righteous na- tion that Jehovah ** might preserve them alive," than the three codes I have restored, each in two versions, namely, the Book of the Covenant, the Sinaitic Tora, and the Tora of Moses, may they hope to gain an abid- ing faith in any fabricated history for Israel to account for the peculiar phenomena in the Pentateuch. Assuming the three codes which higher critics regard as fundamental in the development of Israel, the litera- ture of the Hebrews in order to give these codes cur- rency and authority becomes brilliant novelettes of ex- ilic or post-exilic times, composite structures of differ- ent ages, such as Mohammedans have often builded for mosques by robbing of their splendors ancient temples, which the hands of the Roman and the Greek and the Christian had fashioned, and then building these carved stones into walls simply and solely to have their beauty cast upon the walls some charm which their own gen- ius could not create. Assuming, on the other hand, the three codes, each in two versions, which I have re- stored, as that Mosaic legislation that lies at the foun- dation of Israel's history, then each splendid element of Hebrew literature becomes built into a consistent and magnificent structure, a great holy temple wherein the light and beauty in each part, uniting with the grandeur of the whole, combine to make an edifice that must for- ever draw the admiring and loving study of all man- kind. THE TORA OF MOSES Being a Critical Study of Deuteronomy; Its aration into two copies of the tora; A Refutation of Higher Criticism. Sep- BV WILLIAM WALLACE MARTIN. On every page It exhibits the hand of the trained and careful scholar. One may search In vain for a single indication of rashness or a disposi- tion to set up and maintain a pre- conceived opinion, without refer- ence to the actual truth. . . . But of one thing we are certain: Prof. Martin has written a strong book, and one of which the scholars will be compelled to take notice. — Bishop E. E. Hoss, D.D. If one will carefully read these two chapters [XIX.-XX.l he cannot fail to be impressed witn the free- dom from contradiction and confu- sion, the lucidity, consecutiveness, homogeneity, and completeness of the results Prof. Martin has reached by the simple means demanded by his equally simple theory. ... If freedom from obscurity and com- plexity in both method and results were the only tests of truth, no one can withhold the verdict that Dr. Martin had routed the higher critics at the first onslaught.— Z)r. Jno.J. Ti- gert, Editor Methodist Review y M. E. Churchy South. Issue Is taken by Prof. Martin with the higher criticism in its con- clusion as to the literary analysis of the book of Deuteronomy. . . . His contribution to this ever-impor- tant discussion is bound to receive notice as one of the very thoughtful and strong essays put forth by scholarly yet conservative Chris- tian critics— men who are higher critics no less than the destruction- ists.— Pittsburg Christian Advocate. This volume seeks to counteract the tendencies of current Old Testa- ment criticism by presenting a new literary analysis of Deuteronomy. The author does not aim so much at finding flaws in the generally ac- cepted analysis as at undermining its whole structure. . . . The vol- ume is a scholarly attempt at an al- ternative theory of the composition of Deuteronomy which is full of in- terest in its side issues and sugges- tions.— i/07u2on Quarterly Review, The book as a whole, whatever may be said of the theory, Is intense- ly interesting. The language of the author is perspicuous, forcible, and concise, in certain passages partak- ing of the qualities of the best style of those sacred writings which he has so long and so earnestly studied. . . . No one who reads his work without prejudice can fall to per- ceive the admirable character of his analysis of the contents of the book, the noble style which he em- ploys, and the marks of entire con- fidence in his theory which are everywhere visible.— Z>r. J. M. Buck- ley^ Editor Christian Advocate. New York. "What hearing this hitherto silent man will get from the world of crit- ics for his radically new theory re- mains to be seen, but certainly no man will accuse him of wanting in candor or scholarship. And equal- ly certainly the man who turns from the heterogeneous jumble the book of Deuteronomy presents on its face, or the multitudinous "redactions" of the old school of critics, to Dr. Martin's exhibition of his two par- allel versions of a perfect code, wor- thy of the master hand of Moses, . . . will feel like one who, from the van- tage point of the geology of to- day, looks back on the geology of fifty years ago, with Its constant ap- peal to supposed cataclysms and ca- tastrophes.— iSeu. Thomas E. Wine- coffy D.D.y Rector St. Luke's Church. Prof. Martin antagonizes Wholly this literary analysis, and the pres- ent volume, he considers, demon- strates its failure in Deuteronomy. Many candid readers, we are sure, will share his conclusion. The sci- entific method is followed, and meets the literary analysts on their own ground. The phrase "recon- structive criticism " very admira- bly describes the method and char- acter of his work. — Methodist Maga- zine and Review, Toronto. (315) Date Due v^-. W^WBttWipW^'v PRINTED IN U. S. A. ■rM 1 1 ' i I •!M!'.niM!n HI ! \ in iiiiillllill 1 ^^ T^he law and covenant. Being the Slll(lnillSnn'.°,?;."'^^-"-y-SpeerL ibrar 1 1012 00012 1741