initial commit of ebook 8566HEADmain

5 files changed, 5840 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/8566-8.txt b/8566-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3821ed3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/8566-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5824 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old
+Testament, by Charles Foster Kent
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament
+
+Author: Charles Foster Kent
+
+Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8566]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on July 23, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, David Widger
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+THE ORIGIN AND PERMANENT VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES FOSTER KENT, PH.D.
+
+WOOLSEY PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY
+
+
+
+
+  "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free"
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+During the past generation the Old Testament has commanded equally with
+the New the enthusiastic and devoted study of the great body of biblical
+scholars throughout the world. Two out of every three graduate students
+in our universities who specialize in the general field of biblical
+literature choose the Old as the special centre of their work. At the
+same time the tendency of the rank and file of the Christian church
+within the past decade has undoubtedly been to neglect the older
+Testament. Preachers as a rule select less than a fourth of their texts
+from it; the prevailing courses of Bible study devote proportionately
+less time to it; and teachers and scholars in the great majority of
+cases turn to the Old Testament with much less enthusiasm than they
+do to the New. Why are these two great currents setting in opposite
+directions, and what are the causes of the present popular neglect of
+the Old Testament? If the Old Testament should be relegated to a second
+place in our working canon of the Bible, let us frankly and carefully
+define our reasons. If, on the other hand, the prevailing apathy and
+neglect are due to ignorance of the real character and value of the Old
+Testament, let as lose no time in setting ourselves right.
+
+The present volume has been suggested by repeated calls from ministerial
+bodies, popular assemblies, and groups of college students for addresses
+on the themes here treated. The aim has been to give in concise, popular
+form answers to some of the many questions thus raised, with the
+conviction that they are in the mind of every thoughtful man and woman
+to-day, and especially on the lips of earnest pastors, missionaries,
+and Sunday-school teachers. There are indications on every side of
+a deepening and far more intelligent interest in the needs and
+possibilities of religious education. Its vital importance to the life
+of the Church and the nation is being understood as never before.
+Earnest and fruitful efforts are being put forth to improve the methods
+and courses of instruction. The first essential, however, is a true
+understanding and appreciation of that Book of Books, which will
+forever continue to be the chief manual "for teaching, for reproof, for
+correction, for instruction, in righteousness, that the man of God
+may be perfect, completely fitted for every good work." The supreme
+importance and practical value of the New Testament are recognized by
+all, but we usually forget when we quote the familiar words of Paul that
+he had in mind simply the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
+
+In divine Providence mighty forces have been quietly at work during the
+past century removing false rabbinical traditions and misconceptions
+that had gathered about these ancient Scriptures, while from other
+sources has come new light to illumine their pages. The result is that
+in the Old Testament the Christian world is discerning a new heritage,
+the beauty and value of which is still only half suspected even by
+intelligent people. This fact is so significant and yet so little
+recognized that one feels impelled to go out and proclaim it on the
+housetops. The Old Testament can never be properly presented from the
+pulpit or in the class-room while the attitude of preacher and teacher
+is apathetic and the motive a sense of duty rather than an intelligent
+acquaintance with its real character and genuine admiration and
+enthusiasm for its vital truths. The irresistible fascination which has
+drawn many of the most brilliant scholars into the Old Testament field
+is a proof that it has lost nothing, of its power and attractiveness.
+Already the circle of those who have rediscovered the Old Testament is
+rapidly broadening. Observation and experience confirm the conviction
+that all that is lacking to make that devotion universal is a right
+attitude toward it and an intelligent familiarity with its real origin,
+contents, and teachings. The sooner this is realized the sooner some of
+the most difficult problems of the Church, of the Sunday-school, and of
+popular religious education will be solved.
+
+As the repository of a great and varied literature, as a record of
+many of the most important events in human history, and as a concrete
+revelation of God's character and will through the life and experiences
+of a race and the hearts of inspired men, the Old Testament has a vital
+message marvellously adapted to the intellectual, moral, social, and
+spiritual needs of to-day and supremely fitted to appeal to the thought
+and imagination of the present age.
+
+This little volume is intended to be simply a very informal introduction
+to it. Since of the two Testaments the New is by far the more easily
+understood and the better known, it is made the point of departure in
+the approach to the more complex field represented by the Old. Many
+unexpected analogies will aid in understanding the intricate literary
+history of the older Scriptures. The point of view assumed throughout is
+that of the busy pastor, missionary, Sunday-school teacher, and scholar,
+who have little time for technical study, but who are not afraid
+of truth because it is new and who firmly believe that God is ever
+revealing himself more fully to men and that his truth shall make us
+free. It is hoped that this general survey will prove for them but an
+introduction to a far deeper and more profitable study.
+
+To the Reverend J.F. McFarland, D.D., of the Bible Study Union, to the
+Reverend S.A. Cooke, D.D., of the Methodist Book Concern, to Mr. John
+H. Scribner of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sunday-school
+Work, to the Reverend M.C. Hazard, D.D., of the Pilgrim Press, and to
+the Reverend F.K. Sanders, Ph.D., of the Congregational Sunday-school
+and Publishing Society, who have generously read the manuscript of this
+book, I am deeply indebted, not only for their valuable suggestions, but
+also for their strong expressions of personal interest in the practical
+ends which it seeks to conserve, I am also under great obligation to the
+Reverend Morgan Miller, of Yale, for his untiring vigilance in revising
+the proof of a volume written within the all too brief limits of a
+Christmas vacation.
+
+C.F.K.
+
+YALE UNIVERSITY,
+
+January, 1906.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I. THE ECLIPSE AND REDISCOVERY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+II. THE REAL NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+III. THE EARLIEST CHAPTERS IN DIVINE REVELATION
+
+IV. THE PLACE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN DIVINE REVELATION
+
+V. THE INFLUENCES THAT PRODUCED THE NEW TESTAMENT
+
+VI. THE GROWTH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC HISTORIES
+
+VII. THE HISTORY OF THE PROPHETIC SERMONS, EPISTLES, AND APOCALYPSES
+
+VIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER OLD TESTAMENT LAWS
+
+IX. INFLUENCES THAT GAVE RISE TO THE PRIESTLY LAWS AND HISTORIES
+
+X. THE HEBREW SAGES AND THEIR PROVERBS
+
+XL THE WRITINGS OF ISRAEL'S PHILOSOPHERS
+
+XII. THE HISTORY OF THE PSALTER
+
+XIII. THE FORMATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON
+
+XIV. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+XV. PRACTICAL METHODS OF STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+XVI. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION--THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM OF TO-DAY
+
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+THE ECLIPSE AND REDISCOVERY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _Jesus' study of the Old Testament_]
+
+The opening chapters of the Gospels record only three or four meagre
+facts regarding the first thirty years of Jesus' life. The real history
+of those significant years ran so far beneath the surface of external
+events that it completely escaped the historian. The history of the
+mental and spiritual life of the Master is recorded in his mature
+character and teachings. The fugitive hints, however, vividly illustrate
+the supreme fact that he ever _grew stronger, becoming filled with
+wisdom;--and the grace of God was upon him_ (Luke ii. 40). They reveal a
+soul not only in closest touch with God and with human life, but also in
+eager quest for the vital truth regarding God and man recorded in the
+Scriptures of his race. It requires no imagination to picture the young
+Jew of Nazareth eagerly studying in the synagogue, at the temple, and
+alone by himself the sacred writings found in our Old Testament, for
+this fact is clearly recorded on every page of the Gospels.
+
+[Sidenote: _His familiarity with all parts of it_]
+
+The events of Hebrew history, and its heroes --Abraham, David, Elijah--
+were all familiar to him. The Old Testament was the background of a
+large portion of the Sermon on the Mount. From Deuteronomy vi. 4, 5, and
+Leviticus xix. 18 he drew his marvellous epitome of all law and duty. In
+the wisdom literature, and especially in the book of Proverbs, he found
+many of those practical truths which he applied to life with new
+authority and power. From the same storehouse of crystallized experience
+he derived certain of those figures which he expanded into his
+inimitable parables; he adopted also, and put to new use, the effective
+gnomic form of teaching of the wisdom school. As in the mouth of his
+herald, John the Baptist, the great moral and spiritual truths, first
+proclaimed by the ancient prophets, live again on the lips of Jesus. At
+every point in his teachings one recognizes the thought and language of
+the older Scriptures. At the moments of his greatest temptation and
+distress, even in the last agony, the words of the ancient law and
+psalms were on his lips and their consoling and inspiring messages in
+his mind.
+
+[Sidenote: _Attitude of the apostles_]
+
+What is so strikingly true of Jesus is equally true of the apostles and
+disciples who have given us the New Testament books: the atmosphere in
+which they lived, the thoughts which they thought, and the language in
+which they spoke, were those of the Old Testament. Not bowing slavishly
+before it, as did their Jewish contemporaries, but with true reverence,
+singling out that which was vital and eternal, they made it the basis of
+their own more personal and perfect message to humanity. But for them,
+and for the early Church, until at least the middle of the second
+Christian century, the only scriptures regarded as authoritative were
+those of the Old Testament. Even then, only gradually, and under the
+pressure of real needs, were different groups of Christian writings
+added and ascribed an authority equal to that of the older Scriptures.
+
+[Sidenote: _Attitude of the later Church, and especially Puritanism_]
+
+Throughout the Middle Ages and in the eyes of the Protestant reformers
+the two great divisions of the Bible continued to command equal respect
+and attention. From the Old Testament and its reflection in the
+teachings of Paul, Puritanism and the theology of the past three
+centuries derived most of that which revealed their strength as well as
+their weakness. From the law, the prophets, and the book of Proverbs
+they drew their stern spirit of justice, their zeal for righteousness,
+and their uncompromising condemnation of everything that seemed to them
+wrong. Their preachers nobly echoed the thunders of Sinai and the
+denunciations of an Elijah, an Amos, and an Hosea. They often failed,
+however, to recognize the divine love which prompted the stern words
+of the prophets, and to see that these denunciations and warnings were
+simply intended to arouse the conscience of the people and to make
+them worthy of the rich blessings that God was eager to bestow.
+Misinterpretation of the spirit of the later Old Testament reformers,
+who dramatically portrayed Jehovah's hatred for the abominable heathen
+cults in the form of commands to slaughter the peoples practising them,
+frequently led the Puritan fathers to treat their foes in a manner
+neither biblical nor Christian. To this narrow interpretation of the
+letter rather than the spirit of the Old Testament, and the emphasis
+placed upon its more primitive and imperfect teachings can be directly
+traced the worst faults of that courageous band who lived and died
+fighting for what they conceived to be truth and right.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reaction against the Bible of Puritanism_]
+
+It is undoubtedly true that during the past two decades the Old
+Testament has in fact, if not in theory, been assigned to a secondary
+place in the life and thought of Christendom. This is not due to the
+fact that the Christ has been exalted to his rightful position of
+commanding authority and prestige. All that truly exalts him likewise
+exalts the record of the work of his forerunners which he came to bring
+to complete fulfilment and upon which he placed his eternal seal of
+approval. Rather, the present eclipse of the Old Testament appears to be
+due to three distinct causes. The first is connected with the reaction
+from Puritanism, and especially from its false interpretation of the
+Bible. Against intolerance and persecution the heart of man naturally
+rebelled. These rang true neither with life nor the teaching of Jesus.
+Refuge from the merciless and seemingly flawless logic of the earlier
+theologians was found in the simple, reassuring words of the Gospels.
+The result was that, with the exception of a very few books like the
+Psalter, the Old Testament, which was the arsenal of the old militant
+theology, has been unconsciously, if not deliberately, shunned by the
+present generation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Doubts aroused by the work of the "Higher Critics"_]
+
+Within the past decade this tendency has been greatly accelerated by the
+work of the so-called "Higher Critics." Because it presents more
+literary and historical problems, and because it was thought, at first,
+to be farther away from the New Testament, the citadel of the Christian
+faith, the Old Testament has been the scene of their greatest activity.
+With what seemed to the onlooker to be a supreme disregard for the
+traditions long accepted as established by the Church, they have
+persistently applied to the ancient Scriptures the generally accepted
+canons and methods of modern historical and literary study. In their
+scientific zeal they have repeatedly overturned what were once regarded
+as fundamental dogmas. Unfortunately the first reports of their work
+suggested that it was only destructive. The very foundations of faith
+seemed to be shaking. Sinai appeared to be enveloped in a murky fog,
+instead of the effulgence of the divine glory; Moses seemed to become a
+vague, unreal figure on the distant horizon of history; David's voice
+only faintly echoed through the Psalter; and the noblest messages of
+prophet, sage, and psalmist were anonymous.
+
+[Sidenote: _The mistakes of the critics_]
+
+Little wonder that many who heard only from afar the ominous reports of
+the digging and delving, and vague rumors,--all the more terrifying
+because vague,--either leaped to the conclusion that the authority of
+the Old Testament had been undermined or else rallied in a frantic
+effort to put a stop, by shouting or compulsion, to the seemingly
+sacrilegious work of destruction. When the history of the Higher
+Criticism of the Old Testament is finally written, it will be declared
+most unfortunate that the results first presented to the rank and file
+of the Christian Church were, as a rule, largely negative and in many
+cases relatively unimportant. In their initial enthusiasm for scientific
+research scholars, alas! sometimes lost the true perspective and failed
+to recognize relative values. The date, for example, of Isaiah xl.-lv.
+is important for the right understanding and interpretation of these
+wonderful chapters, but its value is insignificant compared with the
+divine messages contained in these chapters and their direct application
+to life. Moreover, instead of presenting first the testimony and then
+patiently pointing out the reasonableness and vital significance of the
+newer conclusions, scholars sometimes, under the influence of their
+convictions, made the fatal mistake of enunciating those conclusions
+simply as dogmas.
+
+[Sidenote: _Resulting loss of faith in the Old Testament_]
+
+History demonstrates that established religions and churches always hold
+tenaciously to old doctrines, and therefore regard new conclusions with
+suspicion. This tendency is clearly illustrated in the experience of
+Jesus; for with all his divine tact and convincing authority, he was not
+able to win the leaders of Judaism to the acceptance of his
+revolutionizing teachings. Yet one cannot escape the conviction that if
+in this age of enlightenment and open-mindedness, the positive results
+of modern scholarship had been presented first, this latest chapter in
+God's revelation of himself to man would have been better understood and
+appreciated by the leaders of the Church, and its fruits appropriated by
+those whose interests are fixed on that which is of practical rather
+than theoretical import. At least many open-minded people might have
+been saved from the supreme error of writing, either consciously or
+unconsciously, _Ichabod_ across the pages of their Old Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _Difficulties in understanding it_]
+
+The third reason why the Old Testament has suffered temporary eclipse in
+so many minds is more fundamental; it is because of the difficulties in
+understanding it. The background of the New Testament is the Roman world
+and a brief century with which we Western readers are well acquainted;
+but the background of the Old is the ancient East--the age and land of
+wonder, mystery, and intuition, far removed from the logical, rushing
+world in which we live. The Old Testament contains a vast and complex
+literature, filled with the thoughts and figures and cast in the quaint
+language of the Semitic past. Between us and that past there lie not
+merely long centuries, but the wide gulf that is fixed between the East
+and the West.
+
+[Sidenote:_The new light from the monuments_]
+
+With three such distinct and powerful currents--reaction, suspicion, and
+misunderstand--bearing us from the Old Testament, it might be predicted
+that in a decade or two it would lie far behind our range of vision.
+Other forces however are, in divine providence, rapidly bringing it back
+to us again, so that we are able to understand and appreciate it as
+never before since the beginning of the Christian era. The chasm between
+us and it is really being bridged rather than broadened. The long
+centuries that lie back of the Old Testament have suddenly been
+illuminated by great search-lights, so that today we are almost as well
+acquainted with them as with the beginning of the Christian era. From
+ancient monuments have arisen, as from the dead, an army of contemporary
+witnesses, sometimes confirming, sometimes correcting, but at all times
+marvellously supplementing the biblical data. Now the events and
+characters of Old Testament history no longer stand alone in mysterious
+isolation, but we can study in detail their setting and real
+significance. At every point the biblical narrative and thought are
+brought into touch with real life and history. The biographies and
+policies, for example, of Sennacherib and Cyrus, are almost as well
+known as those of Napoleon and Washington. The prophets are not merely
+voices, but men with a living message for all times, because they
+primarily dealt with the conditions and needs of their own day. The
+vital relation and at the same time the infinite superiority of the
+religious teachings of the Old Testament to those of earlier ages and
+peoples are clearly revealed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Modern aids in interpreting the Old Testament_]
+
+Interpreted in the light of contemporary literature and language, most
+of the obscurities of the Old Testament melt away. Modern research in
+the fields of Semitic philology and syntax and the discovery of older
+texts and versions have put into the hands of translators new and
+valuable tools for making clear to all the thoughts in the minds of the
+original writers of the Old Testament. Studies in comparative religion,
+geography, and modern Oriental life and customs have illuminated and
+illustrated at every point the pages of the ancient writings. To utilize
+all these requires time and devotion, but he who is willing to study may
+know his Old Testament to-day as well as he does the New.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rejection of rabinical traditions_]
+
+Fully commensurate with the great light that has been shed upon it from
+without, is that which has come from a careful study of the testimony of
+the Old Testament itself. Until recent times the Church has been content
+to accept blindly the traditions of the late Jewish rabbis regarding the
+origin, history, and interpretation of their scriptures. Handed down
+through the Church Fathers and interwoven with creeds and popular
+beliefs, they have been identified in many minds with the teaching of
+the Bible itself. Yet, when we analyze their origin and true character,
+we find that many of them have absolutely no support in the Scriptures,
+and in many cases are directly contradictory to the plain biblical
+teachings. Too often they are but the fanciful conjectures of the
+rabbis. Developed in an uncritical age, and based upon the unreliable
+methods of interpretation current among the Jews in the early Christian
+centuries, they are often sadly misleading. A close analogy is found in
+the traditional identifications of most of the Palestinian sacred sites.
+To-day the Oriental guide shows the skull of Adam beneath the spot where
+tradition places the cross of Christ. If the traveller desires, he will
+point out the very stones which Jesus declared God could raise up to be
+children of Abraham. Every question which curiosity or genuine interest
+has raised is answered by the seemingly authoritative voice of
+tradition. Investigation, however, proves that almost all of these
+thousand identifications are probably incorrect. The discovery is a
+shock to the pious imagination; but to the healthy mind uncertainty is
+always better than error. Furthermore, uncertainty often proves the door
+which leads to established truth.
+
+[Sidenote: _Acceptance of the testimony of the Old Testament regarding
+its origin and history._]
+
+Even so the modern historical and critical spirit has led men to turn
+from the generally accepted but exceedingly doubtful rabbinical
+traditions regarding, for example, the date and authorship of many of
+the Old Testament books, to the authoritative evidence found in those
+writings themselves. In this they are but following the example of the
+Great Teacher, who repeatedly appealed from the same rabbis and their
+misleading traditions to the same ancient Scriptures. The saddest fact
+is that many of his followers, even to-day, hesitate to follow his
+inspired leadership. Fortunately, as the varied, strata and formations
+of the rocks tell the story of the earth's early history, so these early
+writings furnish the data for reconstructing the illuminating history of
+their origin, growth, and transmission. Often the testimony of the facts
+differs as widely from the familiar inherited traditions as the
+conclusions of modern science from the vague guesses of primitive man
+regarding the riddles of existence. Neither may represent absolute and
+final truth, and yet no serious-minded man can question which is really
+the more authoritative. To-day one of the most vital issues before the
+Christian. Church is whether it will follow the guidance of its Founder
+and accept the testimony of the Bible itself or cling blindly to the
+traditions of the rabbis and Church Fathers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Historical significance of the modern movement_]
+
+The student of history at once recognizes in the modern movement, of
+which the watchword is, "Back to the testimony of the Bible," the direct
+sequel to the Protestant Reformation. The early reformers took the
+chains off the Bible and put it into the hands of men, with full
+permission to study and search. Vested interests and dogmatism soon
+began to dictate how it should be studied and interpreted, and thus it
+was again placed practically under lock and key. It is an interesting
+fact that a young Zulu chief, a pupil of Bishop Colenso of South Africa,
+first aroused the Anglo-Saxon world to the careful, fearless, and
+therefore truly reverential study of its Old Testament. With this new
+impetus, the task of the Reformers was again taken up, and in the same
+open, earnest spirit. For two generations it has commanded the
+consecrated energies of the most thorough scholars of Christendom. Those
+of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
+Norway, Sweden, America, and Canada have worked shoulder to shoulder,
+dividing the work, carefully collecting and classifying the minutest
+data, comparing results, and, on the basis of all this work, formulating
+conclusions, some assured and some hypothetical, which best explain the
+facts.
+
+[Sidenote: _The unveiling of the Old Testament_]
+
+Often, to those who have not followed the detailed steps, these
+conclusions have seemed only destructive. Many of them are assuredly so;
+but the vital question which every honest man should ask is, Do they
+destroy the Bible, or simply the false traditions that have gathered
+about it? Fortunately, most of the leaders of the Church and most
+intelligent laymen have already discerned the only emphatic answer to
+this question. The Church is undoubtedly passing quietly through a
+revolution in its conception and attitude toward the Bible, more
+fundamental and far-reaching than that represented by its precursor the
+Protestant Reformation; but its real significance is daily becoming more
+apparent. Not a grain of truth which the Bible contains has been
+destroyed or permanently obscured. Instead, the _débris_ of time-honored
+traditions and dogmas have been cleared away, and the true Scriptures at
+last stand forth again in their pristine splendor.
+
+[Sidenote: _The true Old Testament_]
+
+Freed from the misconceptions and false traditions which have gathered
+about it, the true Old Testament rises from amidst the dust and din of
+the much digging and delving. To those who have known only the old it is
+a fresh revelation. Its literary beauty, its naturalness, its dignity,
+its majestic authority are a surprise to those who have not followed its
+unveiling. The old vagueness and mystery have in part disappeared, and
+instead it is found to contain a thousand vital, living messages for to-
+day. Its human as well as its divine qualities command our interest and
+attention. Through it all God speaks with a new clearness and authority.
+Thus, that which we thought was dead has risen, and lives again to
+inspire us to noble thought and deed and service.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE REAL NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _A large and complex library_]
+
+Turning from the Jewish and mediæval traditions and theories which so
+easily beset us, we ask, What is the real nature of the Old Testament as
+it is revealed in this new and clearer light? The first conclusion is
+that it is a library containing a large and complex literature,
+recording the varied experiences, political, social, ethical, and
+religious, of the Israelitish race. The fact that it is a library
+consisting of many different books is recognized by the common
+designation of the two testaments. As is well known, our English word
+_Bible_ came originally from the Papyrus or Byblus reed, the pith of
+which was widely used in antiquity as the material from which books were
+made. It was natural, therefore, that in the Greek a little book should
+be designated as a _biblion_. About the middle of the second Christian
+century the Greek Christians (first in the so-called Second Epistle of
+Clement xlv. 2) began to call their sacred scriptures, _Ta Biblia_, the
+books. When this title was transferred to the Latin it was, by reason of
+a natural and yet significant error, treated as a feminine singular,
+_Biblia_, which, reappears In English as _Bible_. This most appropriate
+name emphasizes the fact that the books thus described are a unit and
+yet a collection of little books, selected from a larger literature and
+given their present position of preeminent authority.
+
+[Sidenote: _The record of God's vital, personal relations to the
+Israelitish race_]
+
+The term Testament suggests not the form and authority of the books, but
+their theme. It is the English translation, through the Latin and Greek,
+of the Hebrew word, _berîth_, usually rendered, _covenant_. It means a
+_bond_ or _basis of agreement_. It implies a close and binding contract
+between two parties, and defines the terms to which each subscribes and
+the obligations which they thus assume. The _Old Covenant_ or
+_Testament_, therefore, is primarily the written record of the origin,
+terms, and history of the solemn agreement which existed between the
+Israelitish nation and Jehovah. The early narratives preserve the
+traditions of its origin; the lawgivers endeavored to define its terms
+and the obligations that rested upon the people; the prophets
+interpreted them in the life of the nation, and the sages into the life
+of the individual; and the historical books recorded its practical
+working. The significant fact is that back of the Old Testament records
+exists something greater and deeper than pen can fully describe: it is a
+vital, living connection between Jehovah and his people that makes
+possible the unique relation which finds expression in the remarkable
+history of the race and in the experiences and souls of its spiritual
+leaders. Thus through life, and in the concrete terms of life, God
+reveals himself to the life of humanity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Written in history and human minds and hearts_]
+
+In the light of this truth the Jewish and medieval dogma that every
+word, and even every letter of Scripture, was directly dictated by God
+himself, seems sadly mechanical and bears the marks of the narrow
+schools of thought in which it took form. Hebrew was not, and probably
+will never be, the language of heaven! Not on skins and papyrus rolls,
+but in the life of the Israelitish race and on the minds and consciences
+of enlightened men, God wrote his revelation. History and the character
+and consciousness of the human race are its imperishable records.
+Fortunately he also aroused certain men of old, not by word and act
+only, but by the pen as well, to record the revelation that was being
+perfected in the life of their nation and in their own minds and hearts.
+He did not, however, dictate to them the form of their writings nor
+vouch for their verbal inerrancy. In time, out of their writings were
+gradually collected and combined the most significant passages and
+books, and to these was finally attributed the authority that they now
+rightfully enjoy.
+
+[Sidenote: _Secondary sources of its authority_]
+
+The ultimate basis of that authority, however, is not their presence in
+the canon of the Old Testament. At the same time their presence there is
+deeply significant, for it represents the indorsement of many ages and
+of countless thousands who, from the most varied points of view and amid
+the most diverse experiences, have tested and found these ancient
+scriptures worthy of the exalted position that has gradually been
+assigned to them. It is not the support of the Church, although this
+also for the same reason is exceedingly significant. It is not the calm
+assumption, of authority that appears at every point throughout the Old
+Testament, although this is richly suggestive; the sacred writings of
+other religions make even more pretentious claims. It is not that its
+commands and doctrines come from the mouths of great prophets and
+priests, like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. This fact undoubtedly
+had great weight with those who formed the final canon of the Old
+Testament, and the authority of a strong, noble personality is supremely
+impressive; but divine authority never emanates primarily from a man,
+however great be his sanctity. Furthermore, to establish the authority
+derived from a Moses or a Samuel it is necessary in every case to prove
+that the books attributed to them by late tradition actually came from
+their pens. Even if this could in every case be done, some of the
+noblest passages in the Old Testament remain avowedly anonymous; for the
+tendency of the great majority of its authors was clearly to send forth
+their messages without any attempt to associate their own names with
+them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its ultimate basis of authority_]
+
+The ultimate authority of the Old Testament, therefore, is not dependent
+upon devoted canon-makers, nor the weighty testimony of the Church, nor
+upon its own claims, nor the reputation of the inspired men who have
+written it, nor the estimate of any age. Its seat of authority is more
+fundamental. It contains the word of God because it faithfully records
+and interprets the most important events in the early religious history
+of man, and simply and effectively presents God's revelation of himself
+and of his will in the minds and hearts of the great pre-Christian
+heralds of ethical and spiritual truth. Back of the Old Testament is a
+vast variety of vital experiences, national and individual, political
+and spiritual, social and ethical, pleasurable and painful. Back of all
+these deeply significant experiences is God himself, through them making
+known his character and laws and purpose to man.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its authority ethical and religious, not scientific_]
+
+Students of the rediscovered Old Testament also recognize, in the light
+of a broader and more careful study, the fact, so often and so fatally
+overlooked in the past, that its authority lies not in the field of
+natural science, nor even of history in the limited sense. Time and
+patience were destined to increase man's knowledge in these great
+departments and also to develop his mind in attaining it. The teaching
+of the Old Testament is authoritative only in the far more important
+realm of ethics and religion. Paul truly voiced its supreme claim
+when he said that it was _profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
+correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be
+perfect, completely fitted for every good work_ (II Tim. iii. 16, 17).
+The assertion by the Church in the past of claims nowhere made or
+implied by the Old Testament itself is unfortunately still a fertile
+source of perplexity and dissension to many faithful souls. Their
+salvation is to be found in a clear and intelligent appreciation of the
+real nature and claim of these ancient writings.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its dominant purpose to teach spiritual truth_]
+
+One dominant aim determines the form of each book and the selection of
+individual passages and binds together the whole: it is effectively to
+set forth spiritual truth and to mould in accordance with God's will the
+characters and beliefs of men. It was the supreme bond that bound
+together prophets, priests, sages, and psalmists, although the means by
+which they accomplished their common purpose differed widely. Many a
+current tradition, and the crude conceptions of the ancients regarding
+the natural world, are recorded in the Old Testament; but they are not
+there merely to perpetuate history nor to increase the total of
+scientific knowledge, but rather because they concretely illustrate and
+impress some vital ethical and spiritual truth. Such singleness of
+religious purpose is paralleled nowhere else except in the work and
+teachings of Jesus and his apostles.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its present fruits the proof of its inspired authority_]
+
+The ever-present evidence of the divine authority back of the spiritual
+teachings of the Old Testament as a whole is that they ring true to
+life and meet its needs. By their fruits we know them. It is the
+demonstration of the laboratory. We know that they are inspired because
+they inspire. The principles underlying the social sermons of Amos are
+as applicable to present conditions as when first uttered. The sooner
+they are practically applied the sooner our capitalistic civilization
+can raise its head now bowed In shame. The faith that breathes through
+the Psalms is the faith that upholds men to-day in the midst of
+temptation and trial. The standards of justice, tempered by love, which
+are maintained in the Old Testament laws make good citizens both of
+earth and heaven. As long as men continue to test the teachings of the
+Old Testament scriptures in the laboratory of experience and to know
+them by their fruits, nothing can permanently endanger their position
+in the Christian Church or in the life of humanity. Neglect and
+indifference, not Higher Criticism, alone permanently threaten the
+authority of the Old Testament as well as that of the New.
+
+[Sidenote: _Significance of the variations and inconsistencies_]
+
+Recognizing the real nature and purpose of these ancient records, the
+true student neither denies nor is disturbed by the marks of their human
+authorship. As in the case of the Gospels, the variations between the
+parallel narratives are all evidence of their genuineness and of the
+sincerity of their purpose. They demonstrate that God's revelation
+is adapted to the needs of life and the comprehension of man, because it
+was through life and expressed in the terms of life. Their individual
+peculiarities and minor errors often introduce us more intimately to
+the biblical writers and help us to understand more clearly and
+sympathetically their visions of truth and of God. Above all, they teach
+us to look ever through and beyond all these written records to the
+greater revelation, which they reflect, and to the infinite Source of
+all knowledge and truth.
+
+[Sidenote: _The record of a gradual revelation_]
+
+The inconsistencies and imperfect teachings which are revealed by a
+critical study of the Old Testament are also but a few of the many
+indices that it is the record of a gradually unfolding revelation. Late
+Jewish tradition, which is traceable even in the Old Testament itself,
+was inclined to assign the origin of everything which it held dear to
+the very beginnings of Hebrew history, and in so doing it has done much
+to obscure its true genesis. Fortunately, however, the history of God's
+gradual training of the race was writ too plainly in the earlier Old
+Testament scriptures to be completely obscured by later traditions. The
+recognition that God's all-wise method of revealing spiritual as well as
+scientific truth was progressive, adapted to the unfolding consciousness
+of each succeeding age, at once sweeps away many of the greatest
+difficulties that have hitherto obscured the true Old Testament. Jesus
+with his divine intuition appreciated this principle of growth.
+Unhesitatingly he abrogated certain time-honored Old Testament laws with
+the words, _Ye have heard that it was said ... but I say to you_. His
+own interpretation of his relation to the sacred writings of his race
+was that he came to bring them to complete fulfilment. Rearranged in
+their approximately chronological order, the Old Testament books become
+the harmonious and many-sided record of ten centuries of strenuous human
+endeavor to know and to do the will of God and of his full and gracious
+response to that effort. The beatitude of those who hunger and thirst
+after righteousness was as true in the days of Moses as it was when
+Jesus proclaimed it.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its different books of very different values_]
+
+Finally, the right and normal attitude toward the Old Testament leads to
+the wholesome conclusion that its different books are of very different
+values. The great critic of Nazareth again set the example. As we have
+just seen, certain of the Old Testament laws he distinctly abrogated;
+others he quietly ignored; others, as, for example, the law of love
+(Deut. vi. 5, and Lev. xix. 19) he singled out and gave its rightful
+place of central authority. A careful study of the Gospels, in the light
+of the Old Testament, demonstrates that a very important element in his
+work, as the Saviour of men, was in thus separating the dross in the
+older teachings from the gold, and then in giving to the vital truth a
+clearer, more personal, and yet more universal application. For the
+intelligent student and teacher of to-day the Old Testament still
+remains a great mine of historical, ethical, and religious truth. Some
+parts, like Genesis, Deuteronomy, Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah xl.-lv., and
+the Psalter, are richly productive. Others, like Numbers, Chronicles,
+and Esther, are comparatively barren.
+
+[Sidenote: _Application of this truth_]
+
+Since the Old Testament is the record of a progressively unfolding
+revelation, it is obvious that all parts do not possess an equal
+authority. To place the example of the patriarchs or of David, who lived
+when ethical standards and religious beliefs were only partially
+developed, on an equality with the exalted ideals of the later prophets,
+is to misinterpret those ancient Scriptures and to reject the leadership
+of the Great Teacher. At the same time, studied from the newer point of
+view, the examples of those early heroes are found to illustrate vital
+principles in human life and to inspire and warn the child of to-day as
+effectively as they did far back in the childhood of the race.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Old Testament not a fetish but a spiritual guidebook_]
+
+In these later days God has taken the Bible from the throne of
+infallibility on which Protestantism sought to place it. By a gradual
+yet benign process, which we were nevertheless at first inclined
+bitterly to resent, he has opened our eyes to its true character and
+purpose. Again, he has pronounced his _Thou shall not_ to the natural
+and yet selfish human desire to transfer moral and intellectual
+responsibility from the individual conscience to some external
+authority. Again, he has told us that only in the sanctuary of the human
+soul is the Infallible One to be found. Yet in order that we each may
+find him there, the cumulative religious experience of the countless
+thousands who have already found him is of inestimable value. The Old
+Testament contains not merely the word of God, but, together with its
+complement the New, is the great guide-book in finding and knowing him,
+It blazes the way which, the pilgrim of to-day, as in the past, must
+follow from his cradle to the throne of God. At each point it is richly
+illustrated by the actual religious experiences of real men and women.
+Their mistakes and their victories, are equally instructive. From
+many vantage-points reached by prophets and priests and psalmists,
+we are able to catch new and glorious visions of God's character and
+purpose for mankind. Through its pages--sometimes dimly, sometimes
+brightly, But growing ever clearer--shines the giving light of God's
+truth and revelation, culminating in the Christ, the perfected
+revelation and the supreme demonstration that man, though beset by
+temptation, baffled by obstacles, deserted by friends, and maligned
+by foes, can nevertheless, by the invincible sword of love and
+self-sacrifice, conquer the world and become one with God, as did the
+peerless Knight of Nazareth.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE EARLIEST CHAPTERS IN DIVINE REVELATION
+
+[Sidenote: _The nature of inspiration_]
+
+Since the days of the Greek philosophers the subject of inspiration and
+revelation has been fertile theme for discussion and dispute among
+scholars and theologians. Many different theories have been advanced,
+and ultimately abandoned as untenable. In its simplest meaning and use,
+inspiration describes the personal influence of one individual upon the
+mind and spirit of another. Thus we often say, "That man inspired me."
+What we are or do under the influence of that intellectual or spiritual
+impulse is the effect and evidence of the inspiration. Similarly, divine
+inspiration is the influence of God's spirit or personality upon the
+mind and spirit of man. It may find expression in an exalted emotional
+state, in an heightened clarity of mental perception, in noble deeds, in
+the development of character, indeed in a great variety of ways; but its
+seat is always the mind of man and its ultimate cause the Deity himself.
+
+[Sidenote: _In the Old Testament_]
+
+The early Old Testament expression most commonly used to describe
+inspiration was that _the Spirit of God rushed upon the man_, as it did
+upon Saul, causing him to burst forth into religious ecstasy or frenzy
+(I Sam. x. 6, 10), and upon Samson, giving him great bodily strength or
+prowess in war (Judg. xiv. 6, 19, xv. 14). Skill in interpreting dreams
+and in ruling was also regarded as evidence that the Spirit of God was
+in a man like Joseph (Gen. xli. 38); but above all the prophetic gift
+was looked upon as the supreme evidence of the presence of the Spirit of
+Jehovah (Hos. ix. 1; Micah ii. 7, iii. 8). The word _spirit_ as thus
+used in the Old Testament is exceedingly suggestive. It means primarily
+the breath, that comes from the nostrils. Though invisible to the eye,
+the breath was in the thought of primitive man the symbol of the active
+life of the individual. In the full vigor of bodily strength or in
+violent exercise it came quick and strong; in times of weakness it was
+faint; when it disappeared, death ensued; the living personality was
+gone, and only the play remained. The same Hebrew word, _rúach_,
+described the wind--unseen, intangible, and yet one of the most real and
+irresistible forces in all the universe. Thus it was a supremely
+appropriate term to describe the activity of God, as it produced visible
+effects in the minds and lives of men. In the later Old Testament
+literature its use was extended, so that to the Spirit of God was
+ascribed activity in the natural world and in human history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Nature of revelation_]
+
+Of the two terms, _revelation_ is broader than _inspiration_. Sometimes
+it is used collectively, to designate the truth revealed, but it more
+properly describes the means or process whereby it is made apparent to
+the human mind. It implies that truth is always existent, but only
+gradually recognized. Inspiration is one of the chief means whereby the
+human vision is clarified so as to perceive it. Natural phenomena,
+environment, and above all experience, are also mighty agents in making
+the divine character and truth clear to the mind of man. The author of
+the Epistle to the Hebrews declares, with true insight, that _God spoke
+in divers manners_. All the universe, all history, and all life reveal
+him and his ultimate truths, for each is effective in opening the mental
+and spiritual eye of man to see the realm long awaiting him as
+conqueror.
+
+[Sidenote: _Man's role in the process of revelation_]
+
+For countless ages electricity has inscribed its magic tracery on the
+storm-cloud and performed its all-important functions in organic life,
+but not until men's eyes were opened by experience and trained
+observation to recognize its laws, was it practically applied to the
+needs of civilization. Similarly, unchanging moral and spiritual laws
+have existed through all time, but they have not become operative in
+human life until the eye of some seer is opened by a great experience,
+or under the direct influence of the Spirit of God he is led to see and
+proclaim them. Thus God is in all and reveals himself through all nature
+and life, but it is only through the mind and on the lips of his highest
+creature, man, that truth is fully appreciated, formulated, and applied.
+
+[Sidenote: _The revelation recorded in the Bible_]
+
+In the broader sense all revelation is divine, for it reveals God and
+his laws; and yet it is obvious that there is a real difference between
+the revelation recorded in a scientific book and that of the Bible. It
+is a difference both in subject-matter and in the ends to which the
+truth thus made manifest shall be applied. The one relates to the
+objective world, the world of things; the other relates to human
+beliefs, emotions, and acts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its breadth and gradualness_]
+
+Moreover, it is evident that the spiritual revelation which is in part
+recorded in the Bible was not limited to the Israelitish race or to the
+twelve centuries represented by the Old and New Testaments. The biblical
+writers themselves assume this fact. According to the early Judean
+prophetic narratives, Enoch, who lived ages before Abraham and Moses,
+was a worshipper of Jehovah (Gen. iv. 26). Cain and Abel are both
+represented in the familiar story of Genesis iv., as bringing their
+offerings to Jehovah. One of the chief teachings of the earliest stories
+in the Old Testament is that men from the first knew and worshipped God
+and were held responsible for their acts according to their moral
+enlightenment. History, science, and the Bible unite in testifying that
+the revelation of spiritual truth to mankind was something gradual,
+progressive, and cumulative; also that it is dependent upon the ability
+of men to receive it. This capacity of the individual to receive is,
+after all, the determining factor in the process of divine revelation;
+for God's truth and his desire to impart it are always the same. Hence,
+whenever conditions favor, or national or private experiences clarify
+the vision of a race or group of men, a revelation is assured.
+
+[Sidenote: _Antiquity of human civilization and religion_]
+
+In the light of ancient history and the result of recent excavations it
+is possible, now as never before, to study the varied influences and
+forces employed by God in the past to open the spiritual eyes of mankind
+to see him and his truth. The geological evidence suggests that man, as
+man, has lived on this earth, fifty, perhaps one hundred thousand years.
+Anthropology, going farther back than history or primitive tradition,
+traces the slow and painful stages by which early man learned his first
+lessons in civilization and religion. From the beginning, man's
+instincts as a religious being have asserted themselves, crude though
+their expression was. The oldest mounds of Babylonia and Egypt contain
+ruins of ancient temples, altars, and abundant evidence of the religious
+zeal of the peoples who once inhabited these lauds. The earliest
+examples of human literature thus far discovered are largely religious
+in theme and spirit.
+
+[Sidenote: _Primitive unfolding of the innate religious instinct_]
+
+All these testify that early man believed in a power or powers outside
+himself, and that his chief passion was to know and do the will of his
+god or gods. Jesus himself bore witness in the opening words of the
+prayer which he taught his disciples, that this is the essence of
+religion. It was natural and inevitable that primitive man, with his
+naive view of the universe, should believe not in one but in many forces
+or spirits, and that he should first enthrone the physical above the
+ethical and spiritual. It is the instinctive tendency of the child
+to-day. The later identification of the divine powers with the sun, that
+gave light and fertility to the soil, or with the moon, that guided the
+caravans by night over the arid deserts, or with the other heavenly
+bodies, that moved in majestic array across the midnight sky, was
+likewise a natural step in the evolution of primitive belief.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reasons why Babylonia developed an early civilization_]
+
+Civilization and religion in antiquity developed, as a rule, side by
+side. The two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, commanding
+the trade of the north and the south; proximity to the desert with its
+caravans of traders going back and forth from the Euphrates to the Nile;
+the rich alluvial soil, which supported a dense population when properly
+drained and cultivated; and the necessity of developing in a higher
+degree the arts of defence in order to maintain the much contested
+territory,--these were a few of the many conditions that made ancient
+Babylonia one of the two earliest if not the oldest centre of human
+civilization. The commercial habits and the abundance of the plastic
+clay, which could easily be moulded into tablets for the use of the
+scribe, also fostered the early development of the literary art. The
+durability of the clay tablets and the enveloping and protecting
+qualities of the ruined mounds of ancient Babylonia have preserved in
+a marvellous way its early literature. The result is that we can now
+study, on the basis of contemporary documents, this early and yet
+advanced chapter in that divine revelation, the later culmination of
+which is recorded in the Bible.
+
+[Sidenote: _Progress during the period of city states_]
+
+It begins as far back of Moses as he is removed from us in point of
+time. Its political background at first is the little city states of
+Babylonia, each with its independent organization and its local schools
+of artists, whose products in many respects surpass anything that comes
+from the hands of later Semitic craftsmen. Each city had its temple, at
+which the patron god of the local tribe and district was worshipped. In
+some places it was the moon god Sin, as at Haran and Ur beside the
+desert; elsewhere, as at Nippur, Bel, or at Eridu near the Persian Gulf,
+Ea, the god of the great deep, was revered. In the name of the local
+deity offerings were brought, hymns were sung, and traditions were
+treasured, which extolled his might. The life of these little city
+states centred about the temple and its cult. To make it more glorious
+the artisans vied with each other, and the kings made campaigns that
+they might dedicate the spoils to the deity.
+
+[Sidenote: _The growth of extensive empires_]
+
+In time, perhaps as early as 4000 B.C., certain more energetic and
+ambitious kings  succeeded in conquering neighboring cities; they even
+broadened their boundaries until they ruled over great empires extending
+to the Mediterranean on the west and the mountains of Elam on the east.
+In the name of the local god, each went forth to fight, and to him was
+attributed the glory of the victory. Naturally, when the territory of a
+city state grew into an empire, the god of that city was proclaimed and
+acknowledged as supreme throughout all the conquered territory. At the
+same time the local deities of the conquered cities continued to be
+worshipped at their ancient sanctuaries, and many a conquering king won
+the loyalty of his subjects by making a rich offering to the god and at
+the temple of a vanquished foe.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its effect in developing the pantheon and popular theology_]
+
+The logical and inevitable result of political union was the development
+of a pantheon, modelled after the imperial court, with the god of the
+victorious city at its head and the leading deities of the other cities
+in subordinate positions. When, during the latter part of the third
+millennium before Christ, Babylon's supremacy was permanently
+established under the rule of Hammurabi. Marduk, the god of that city,
+was thus placed at the head of the Babylonian pantheon. The theologians
+of the day also recast and combined the ancient legends, as, for
+example, those of the creation, so as to explain why he, one of the
+later gods, was acknowledged by all as supreme. A relationship was also
+traced between the leading gods, and their respective functions were
+clearly defined. Corresponding to each male deity was a female deity:
+thus, the consort of Marduk was Ishtar, while that of Bel was Belit.
+Furthermore, the ancient myths appear to have been, coördinated, so that
+from this time on Babylonian, theology presents a certain unity and
+symmetry, although one is constantly reminded of the very different
+elements out of which it had been built up.
+
+[Sidenote: _Development of ethical standards and laws_]
+
+Parallel to the evolution of Babylonian religion was that unfolding of
+ethical ideals and laws which finds its noblest record and expression in
+the remarkable code of Hammurabi (about 2250 B.C.). In its high sense of
+justice; in its regard for the rights of property and of individuals; in
+its attitude toward women, even though it comes from the ancient East;
+and above all in its protection of widows and orphans, this code marks
+almost as high a stage in the revelation of what is right as the
+primitive Old Testament laws, with which it has points of striking
+resemblance.
+
+[Sidenote: _A general comparison between the religions and laws of Egypt
+and Babylonia_]
+
+The evolution of ancient Egyptian civilization and religion was parallel
+at almost every  stage with that of Babylonia, only in the dreamy land
+of the Nile the pantheon and the vast body of variant myths were never
+so thoroughly coördinated. The result is that its religion forever
+remains a labyrinth. Since all interest centred about the future life,
+instead of commercial pursuits, there is no evidence that the Egyptians
+ever produced a legal code at all comparable with that of Hammurabi.
+They did, however, develop a doctrine of sin which anticipates that of
+the Hebrew prophets. While the Babylonians conceived of sin as simply
+the failure to bring offerings, or to observe the demands of the ritual,
+or, in general, to pay proper homage to the gods, the Egyptians held
+that each individual was answerable, not only to the state, but also to
+the gods, for his every act and thought.
+
+[Sidenote: _Significance of this early religious progress_]
+
+If they admitted of a comparison, it would be safe to say that the
+Babylonian religion and law in the days of Hammurabi were as far removed
+from the crude belief in spirits and the barbarous cults and practices
+of primitive man as the teachings of Jesus were from those of the kingly
+Babylonian lawgiver and his priestly advisers. Humanity's debt is
+exceedingly great to the thousands of devoted souls who, in ancient
+Babylonia and Egypt, according to their dim light, groped for God and
+the right. In part they found what they sought, although they never
+ceased to look through, a glass darkly.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its arrest and decline_]
+
+The sad and significant fact is that from the days of Hammurabi to those
+of Nebuchadrezzar, Babylonian religion, law, and ethics almost entirely
+ceased to develop. No other great kings with prophetic insight appear to
+have arisen to hold up before the nation the principles of justice and
+mercy and true piety, The old superstitions and magic also continued in
+Babylonia as in Egypt to exercise more and more their baneful influence.
+Saddest of all the priesthood and ceremonialism, which had already
+reached a point of development commensurate and strikingly analogous to
+that of later Judaism, became the dominant power in the state, and
+defined religion not in terms of life and action, but of the ritual, and
+so constricted it that all true growth was impossible. Hence the
+religions of the Babylonians and Egyptians perished, like many others,
+because they ceased to grow, and therefore degenerated into a mere
+worship of the letter rather than the spirit.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE PLACE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN DIVINE REVELATION
+
+[Sidenote: _Advent of the Hebrews_]
+
+Modern discovery and research have demonstrated that the truth revealed
+through the Babylonians and with less definiteness through the people of
+the Nile was never entirely lost. Such a sad waste was out of accord
+with the obvious principles of divine economy. As the icy chill of
+ceremonialism seized decadent Babylonia and Egypt, there emerged from
+the steppes south and east of Palestine a virile, ambitious group of
+nomads, who not only fell heir to that which was best in the revelation
+of the past, but also quickly took their place as the real spiritual
+leaders of the human race. Possibly their ancestors, like those of
+Hammurabi, belonged to that wave of nomadic emigration which swept out
+of overpopulated northern Arabia about 2500 B.C., part of it to settle
+finally in Babylonia and part in Palestine.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why were they the chosen people?_]
+
+Whatever be the exact date of their advent, the much mooted and more
+fundamental question at once presents itself, Why were the Hebrews "the
+chosen people"? It is safe to assert at once that this was not arbitrary
+nor without reason. Moreover, the choice was not that of a moment, but
+gradual. Rather the real question is, By what divine process were the
+Israelites prepared to be the chosen people that their later prophets
+and the event of history declare them to be? Certain definite historical
+reasons at once suggest themselves; and these in turn throw new light
+upon the true relation of the Old Testament to divine revelation as a
+whole.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their preparation to be the chosen people: genius for
+religion_]
+
+There is undoubtedly a basis for what Renan was pleased to call, "the
+Semitic genius for religion." It is a truly significant fact that the
+three great conquering religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity,
+and Mohammedanism, sprang from Semitic soil. To this might be added the
+religion of Babylonia, which, was unquestionably the noblest of early
+antiquity. In general the Semitic mind is keen, alert, receptive, and
+intuitional rather than logical. Restless energy and the tendency to
+acquire have also tended to make them leaders in the widely different
+fields of commerce and religion. The patriarch Jacob is a remarkable
+example of these combined qualities and results. By day he got the
+better of his kinsmen, and by night he wrestled with God. These combined
+and highly developed characteristics of mind and nature at least suggest
+why the Semites have furnished the greatest prophets and prophet nations
+for the moulding of the faith of the world.
+
+[Sidenote: _Inheritance through their Arabian antecedents_]
+
+In contrast with contemporary Semitic nations, and especially the highly
+civilized Babylonians, the Hebrews were fortunate in their immediate
+inheritances through Arabian or Aramean ancestors. The wandering,
+nomadic life leaves no place for established sanctuaries, with their
+elaborate ceremonial customs and debasing institutions inherited from
+more primitive ages. Instead, that life imposes limitations that make
+for simplicity. The mysteries and constant dangers of the wild desert
+existence also emphasize the constant necessity of divine help. The long
+marches by night under the silent stars inspire awe and enforce
+contemplation. The close unity of the tribe suggests the worship of one
+tribal god rather than many. From the desert the ancestors of the
+Hebrews brought strong bodies, inured to hardship, and a grim austerity
+that found frequent expression on the lips of their prophets and a
+response in the minds of the people, when luxury threatened to engulf
+them. They also inherited from their desert days those democratic ideas
+and high ideals of individual liberty which, enabled Elijah and Isaiah
+to stand up add champion the rights of the people even though it
+involved a public denunciation of their kings.
+
+[Sidenote: _Contact with Babylonian civilization_]
+
+On the other hand, the Israelites undoubtedly became in time the
+inheritors of the best in religion and law that had been attained by the
+older Semitic races. Their late traditions trace back their ancestry to
+ancient Babylonia. Already for long centuries, by conquest and by
+commerce, the dominant civilization of the Euphrates valley had been
+regnant in the land of Canaan, The Tell-el-Amarna letters, written from
+Palestine in the fourteenth century, employ the Babylonian language and
+system of writing, and reveal a high Semitic civilization, closely
+patterned after that of Babylonia. When the Israelites settled in Canaan
+and began to intermarry and assimilate with the older inhabitants, as
+the earliest Hebrew records plainly state (_cf_. Judg. I.), they found
+there, among the Canaanites, established civil and religious
+institutions and traditions which were largely a reflection of those of
+Babylonia. Also, when in the eighth and seventh centuries Assyrian
+armies conquered Palestine, they brought Babylonian institutions,
+traditions, and religious ideas. We know that during the reigns of Ahaz
+and Manasseh these threatened to displace those peculiar to the Hebrews.
+Again, during the Babylonian exile the influence of the same powerful
+civilization upon the thought and religion of Israel was also strongly
+felt. Thus the opportunities, direct and indirect, for receiving from
+Babylonia much of the rich heritage that it held were many and varied.
+
+[Sidenote: _Heirs of the older Semitic civilizations_]
+
+Certain parts of the Old Testament itself testify that the wealth of
+tradition, of institutions, of laws, and religious ideas, gradually
+committed to the Semitic ancestors of the Hebrews and best preserved by
+the Babylonians, was not lost, but, enriched and purified, has been
+transmitted to us through its pages. A careful comparison of the
+biblical and Babylonian accounts of the creation and the flood leaves
+little doubt that there is a close historical connection between these
+accounts. Investigation reveals in language, spirit, and form many
+analogies between the laws of Hammurabi and those of the Old Testament
+which suggest at least an indirect influence. Many of the ceremonial
+institutions of later Judaism are almost identical with those of
+Babylonia. While it is exceedingly easy to over or under estimate this
+influence, it is a mistake to deny or ignore its deep significance.
+
+[Sidenote: _Recipients of all that was best in earlier revelation_]
+
+Thus one of the chief elements in the providential training of the
+Hebrews as the heralds and exponents of the most exalted religious and
+ethical truths revealed before the advent of the Prophet of Nazareth was
+the fact that they were the heirs and interpreters of the best that had
+been hitherto attained. Babylonia, Egypt, and later, Persia and Greece,
+each contributed their noblest beliefs and ideals. In the Israelites the
+diverse streams of divine revelation converged. The result is that,
+instead of many little rivulets, befouled by errors and superstitions,
+through their history there flowed a mighty stream, ever becoming
+broader and deeper and clearer as it received fresh contributions from
+the new fountains of purest revelation that opened in Hebrew soil.
+
+[Sidenote: _In close geographical relations to the earlier civilizations_]
+
+Clear evidences of the divine purpose to be realized through the obscure
+peasant people who lived among the uplands of central Canaan are found
+in a study of the characteristics of the Old Testament world. It is
+indeed the earliest and one of the most significant chapters in divine
+revelation. Most of its area is a barren wilderness, supporting only a
+small nomadic population. The three fertile spots are Babylonia, Canaan,
+and Egypt. The first and last are fitted by nature and situation to be
+the seats of powerful civilizations, destined to reach out in every
+direction. Canaan, on the contrary, is shut in, with no good harbors
+along the Mediterranean; and its largest river system leads to the Dead
+Sea, far below the surface of the ocean,--an effective negation to all
+commerce. Although thus shut in by itself, Canaan lies on the isthmus of
+fertile land that connects the great empires of the Nile and the
+Euphrates. On the east and south it is always subject to the influences
+and waves of immigration, that come from the Arabian desert. It
+attracted from their nomadic life the ancestors of the Israelites, and
+during their early period of development gave them a secluded home. When
+they were ready to learn the larger lessons in the stream of life, Egypt
+and the great empires of the Tigris and Euphrates valley contended for
+them, conquered and ultimately scattered them throughout the then known
+world. While their conquerors, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia,
+Greece, and Rome, the greatest powers of the ancient world, took from
+them their gold and their freedom, from the same conquerors they appear
+to have received the infinitely more precious treasures of tradition and
+thought.
+
+[Sidenote: _Trained by remarkable national experience_]
+
+Great as was their heritage from the past, the truth that came through
+the Hebrews themselves constitutes by far the greatest and most
+significant part of that revelation which the Old Testament records.
+Their history suggests the ways in which, Jehovah opened the spiritual
+eyes of the people. From the beginning to the present day it has been
+characterized by a series of crises unparalleled in the life of any
+other race. Experiences, intense and often superlatively painful, have
+come to them in rapid succession, forcing them to think and develop. The
+little street Arab, alert, resourceful, uncanny in his prematurity, is a
+modern illustration of what grim necessity and experience can produce.
+It was in the school supremely adapted to divine ends that Jehovah,
+trained his people to be his spokesmen to the world.
+
+[Sidenote: _Guided by unique spiritual teachers_]
+
+Other peoples, however, had their crises and yet had no such message as
+did the Israelites. What made the crises in the history of the
+Israelites richly fruitful in ethical and spiritual truth was the
+presence within their midst of certain devoted, responsive teachers, and
+especially the prophets, who guided them in their time of peril,
+interpreted its significance, and appealed to the awakened conscience of
+the nation. Like begets like. At the beginning of Israel's history
+stands the great prophet Moses, and during the long centuries that
+followed the voice of the prophets was rarely hushed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Taught by inspired prophets_]
+
+In seeking the ultimate answer to our question, How were the Israelites
+prepared to be the chosen people, we are confronted by a miracle that
+baffles our power to analyze: it is the supreme fact that the Spirit of
+the Almighty touched the spirit of certain men in ancient Israel so that
+they became seers and prophets. This is their own testimony, and their
+deeds and words amply confirm it. The experiences of men to-day also
+demonstrate its possibility. Indeed it is not surprising, but most
+natural, that the one supreme Personality in the universe should reveal
+himself to and through human minds, and that the most enlightened men of
+the most spiritually enlightened race should be the recipients of the
+fullest and most perfect revelation. It is the truth that they thus
+perceived, and then proclaimed by word and deed and pen, that completed
+the preparation of the chosen people, for it was none other than the
+possession of a unique spiritual message that constituted the essence of
+their choice. Furthermore, as the greatest of the later prophets
+declares (Is. xl.-lv.), that divine choice did not mean that they were
+to be the recipients of exceptional favors, but rather that they were
+called to service. By the patient enduring of suffering and by voluntary
+self-sacrifice they were to perfect the revelation of God's character
+and will in the life of humanity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Jesus' relation to the Old Testament_]
+
+The Old Testament, therefore, is the final record of a revelation
+extending through thousands of years, finding at last its most exalted
+expression in the messages of the Hebrew prophets, and its clearest
+reflection in the thoughts and experiences of the priests, sages, and
+psalmists of ancient Israel. In varied literary forms and by many
+different writers the best fruits of that revelation have been
+preserved. Ancient traditions, songs, proverbs, laws, historical
+narratives, prophecies, and psalms, each present their precious truth.
+The Israelitish race, however, never fully completed the work to which
+it was called. A master was needed to distinguish between the essential
+and the non-essential, to simplify and unify the teachings of the Old
+Testament as a whole, and to apply them personally to individual life, A
+man was demanded to realize fully in his own character the highest
+ideals of this ancient revelation. A divinely gifted prophet was
+required to perfect man's knowledge, and to bring him into natural,
+harmonious relations with his Eternal Father. The world awaited the
+advent of a Messiah who would establish, on the everlasting foundations
+of justice and truth and love, the universal kingdom of God. These
+supreme needs were met in fullest measure by the Master, the perfect
+Man, the Prophet, and the Messiah, whose work the New Testament records.
+
+[Sidenote: _Points of likeness and contact between the two Testaments_]
+
+While there are many superficial points of difference in language,
+literary form, background, and point of view between the Old and the New
+Testaments, these are insignificant in comparison with the essential
+points of likeness and contact. Each Testament is but a different
+chapter in the history of the same divine revelation. The one is
+the foundation on which the other is built. The writers of the New
+constantly assume the historical facts, the institutions, and the
+teachings of the Old. Although in Greek garb, their language and idioms
+are also those of the Old. On many themes, as, for example, man's duty
+to society, Jesus said little, for the teachers of his race had fully
+developed them and there was little to add. Repeatedly by word and act
+he declared that he came not to destroy the older teachings, but simply
+to bring them to full perfection. The Old Testament also tells of
+the long years of preparation and of the earnest expectations of the
+Israelitish race; the New records a fulfilment far transcending the
+most exalted hopes of Hebrew seers. The same God reveals himself through
+both Testaments. One progressively unfolding system of religious
+teachings, one message of love, and one divine purpose bind both
+together with bonds that no generation or church can break.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE INFLUENCES THAT PRODUCED THE NEW TESTAMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of the study of origins_]
+
+The present age is supremely interested in origins. Not until we have
+traced the genesis and earliest unfolding of an institution or an idea
+or a literature do we feel that we really understand and appreciate it.
+Familiarity with that which is noble breeds not contempt but reverence,
+and intelligent devotion. Acquaintance with the origin and history of a
+book is essential to its true interpretation. Therefore it is fortunate
+that modern discovery and research have thrown so much light upon the
+origin of both the Old and the New Testaments.
+
+[Sidenote: _The growing recognition that the natural is divine_]
+
+Equally fortunate is it that we are also learning to appreciate the
+sublimity and divinity of the natural. The universe and organic life are
+no less wonderful and awe-inspiring because, distinguishing some of the
+natural laws that govern their evolution, we have abandoned the
+grotesque theories held by primitive men. Similarly we do not to-day
+demand, as did our forefathers, a supernatural origin for our sacred
+books before we are ready to revere and obey their commands. With
+greater insight we now can heartily sing, "God moves in a natural way
+his wonders to perform." Our ability to trace the historical influences
+through which he brought into being and shaped the two Testaments and
+gave them their present position in the life of humanity does not in a
+thoughtful mind obscure, but rather reveals the more clearly, their
+divine origin and authority.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of the comparative study of the origin of both
+Testaments_]
+
+Through contemporary writings and the results of modern biblical
+research it is possible to study definitely the origin of the various
+New Testament books and to follow the different stages in their growth
+into a canon. This familiar chapter in the history of the Bible is
+richly suggestive, because of the clear light which it sheds upon the
+more complex and obscure genesis and later development of the Old
+Testament. It will be profitable, therefore, to review it in outline,
+not only because of its own importance, but also as an introduction to
+the study of the influences that produced the older Scriptures; for
+almost every fact that will be noted in connection with the origin and
+literary history of the New has its close analogy in the growth of the
+Old Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _The threefold grouping of the New Testament books_]
+
+We find that as they are at present arranged,  the books of the New
+Testament are divided into three distinct classes. The first group
+includes the historical books: the Gospels and Acts; the second, the
+Epistles--the longer, like the letters to the Romans and Corinthians,
+being placed first and the shorter at the end; while the third group
+contains but one book, known as the Apocalypse or Revelation. The
+general arrangement is clearly according to subject-matter, not
+according to date of authorship; the order of the groups represent
+different stages in the process of canonization.
+
+[Sidenote: _Why the Gospels are not the earliest_]
+
+Their position as well as the themes which they treat suggest that the
+Gospels were the first to be written. It is, however, a self-evident
+fact that a book was not written--at least not in antiquity, when the
+making of books was both laborious and expensive--unless a real need for
+it was felt. If we go back, and live for a moment in imagination among
+the band of followers which Jesus left behind at his death, we see
+clearly that while the early Christian Church was limited to Palestine,
+and a large company of disciples, who had often themselves seen and
+heard the Christ, lived to tell by word of mouth the story of his life
+and teachings, no one desired a written record. It is not surprising,
+therefore, that the oldest books in the New Testament are not the
+Gospels. The exigencies of time and space and the burning zeal of the
+apostles for the churches of their planting apparently produced the
+earliest Christian writings.
+
+[Sidenote: _Origin of the earliest epistles_]
+
+In his second missionary journey Paul preached for a time at
+Thessalonica, winning to faith in the Christ a small mixed company of
+Jews and proselyte Greeks. His success aroused the bitter opposition of
+the narrower Jews, who raised a mob and drove him from the city before
+his work was completed. But the seed which he had planted continued to
+grow. Naturally he was eager to return to the infant church. Twice he
+planned to visit it, but was prevented. In his intense desire to help
+the brave Christians of Thessalonica, he sent Timothy to inquire
+regarding their welfare and to encourage them. When about 50 A.D.
+Timothy reported to Paul at Corinth, the apostle wrote at once to the
+little church at Thessalonica a letter of commendation, encouragement,
+and counsel, which we know to-day as First Thessalonians and which is
+probably one of the oldest writings in our New Testament, Galatians
+perhaps being the earliest.
+
+[Sidenote: _Paul's later epistles_]
+
+Another letter (II Thess.) soon followed, giving more detailed advice.
+As the field of Paul's activity broadened, he was obliged more and more
+to depend upon letters, since he could not in person visit the churches
+which he had planted. Questions of doctrine as well as of practice which
+perplexed the different churches were treated in these epistles. To
+certain of his assistants, like Timothy, he wrote dealing with their
+personal problems. Frankly, forcibly, and feelingly Paul poured out in
+these letters the wealth of his personal and soul life. They reveal his
+faith in the making as well as his mature teachings. Since he was
+dealing with definite conditions in the communities to which he wrote,
+his letters are also invaluable contemporary records of the growth and
+history of the early Christian church. Thus between 30 and 60 A.D.,
+during the period of his greatest activity, certainly ten, and probably
+thirteen, of our twenty-seven New Testament books came from the burning
+heart of the apostle to the Gentiles.
+
+[Sidenote: _Growth of the other epistles_]
+
+Similar needs impelled other apostles and early Christian teachers to
+write on the same themes with the same immediate purpose as did Paul.
+The result is a series of epistles, associated with the names of James,
+Peter, John, and Jude. In some, like Third John, the personal element is
+predominant; in others, the didactic, as, for example, the Epistle of
+James.
+
+[Sidenote: _Purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews_]
+
+A somewhat different type of literature is represented by the Epistle to
+the Hebrews. Its form is that of a letter, and it was without doubt
+originally addressed to a local church or churches by a writer whose
+name has ever since been a fertile source of conjecture. The only fact
+definitely established is that Paul did not write it. It is essentially
+a combination of argument, doctrine, and exhortation. The aim is
+apologetic as well as practical. Most of Paul's letters were written as
+the thoughts, which he wished to communicate to those to whom he wrote,
+came to his mind; but in the Epistle to the Hebrews the author evidently
+follows a carefully elaborated plan. The argument is cumulative. The
+thesis is that Christ, superior to all earlier teachers of his race, is
+the perfect Mediator of Salvation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of the Epistles_]
+
+Thus the Epistles, originally personal notes of encouragement and
+warning, growing sometimes into more elaborate treatises, were made the
+means whereby the early Christian teachers imparted their doctrines to
+constantly widening groups of readers. At best they were regarded simply
+as inferior substitutes for the personal presence and spoken words of
+their authors. Like the Old Testament books, their authority lies in the
+fact that they faithfully reflect, in part at least, the greater
+revelation coming through the lives and minds of the early apostles.
+
+[Sidenote: _The larger group_]
+
+As is well known, the twenty-one letters in our New Testament were
+selected from a far larger collection of epistles, some of which were
+early lost, while others, like the Epistles of Barnabas and Polycarp and
+Clement, were preserved to share with those later accepted as canonical,
+the study and veneration of the primitive Church.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that gave rise to the earliest Gospels_]
+
+The influences which originally produced the Gospels and Acts were very
+different from those which called forth the Epistles. The natural
+preference of the early Christians for the spoken word explains why we
+do not possess to-day a single written sentence in the Gospels which we
+can with absolute assurance assign to the first quarter-century
+following the death of Jesus. Two influences, however, in time led
+certain writers to record his early life and teachings. The one was that
+death was rapidly thinning the ranks of those who could say, _I saw and
+heard_; the other was the spread of Christianity beyond the bounds of
+Judaism and Palestine, and the resulting need for detailed records felt
+by those Christians who had never visited Palestine and who had learned
+from the lips of apostles only the barest facts regarding the life of
+the Christ.
+
+[Sidenote: _Testimony of Luke's Gospel_]
+
+The opening verses of Luke's Gospel are richly suggestive of the origin
+and growth of the historical books of the New Testament:
+
+Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning
+those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they delivered
+them unto us,--they who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
+ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having traced the
+course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in
+order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty
+concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.
+
+This prologue states that many shorter Gospels had previously been
+written, not by eye-witnesses, but by men who had listened to those who
+had themselves seen. Luke leaves his readers to infer that he also drew
+a large number of his facts from these earlier sources as well as from
+the testimony of eye-witnesses. The implication of the prologue is that
+he himself was entirely dependent upon written and oral sources for his
+data. This is confirmed by the testimony of the _Muratorian Fragment_:
+
+Luke the physician, after the ascension of Christ, when Paul had taken
+him, as it were, as a follower zealous of the right, wrote the gospel
+book according to Luke in his own name, as is believed. Nevertheless he
+had not himself seen the Lord in the flesh, and, accordingly, going back
+as far as he could obtain information, he began his narrative with the
+birth of John.
+
+His many literal quotations from it and the fact that he makes it the
+framework of his own, indicate that Mark's Gospel was one of those
+earlier attempts to which he refers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Luke's motive in writing_]
+
+The motive which influenced Luke to write is clearly stated. It was to
+prepare a comprehensive, accurate, and orderly account of the facts in
+regard to the life of Jesus for his Greek friend Theophilus, who had
+already been partially instructed in the same. His Gospel confirms the
+implications of the prologue. It is the longest and most carefully
+arranged of all the Gospels. The distinctively Jewish ideas or
+institutions which are prominent in Matthew are omitted or else
+explained; hence there is nothing which would prove unintelligible to a
+Greek. The book of the Acts of the Apostles, dedicated to the same
+patron, is virtually a continuation of the third Gospel, tracing, in a
+more or less fragmentary manner, the history and growth, of the early
+Christian Church, and especially the work of Paul.
+
+[Sidenote: _Purpose of Mark's Gospel_]
+
+Very similar influences called forth the shortest and undoubtedly the
+oldest of the four Gospels, the book of Mark. The testimony of the
+contents confirms in general the early statement of Papias and other
+Christian Fathers that it was written at Rome by John Mark, the disciple
+and interpreter of the apostle Peter, after the death of his teacher.
+The absence of many Old Testament quotations, the careful explanation of
+all Jewish and Palestinian references which would not be intelligible to
+a foreigner, the presence of certain Latin words, and many other
+indications, all tend to establish the conclusion that it was written
+for the Gentile and Jewish Christians, probably at Rome, and that its
+purpose was simply historical.
+
+[Sidenote: _The two-fold purpose of the Gospel of Matthew_]
+
+The memoir of Jesus, which we know as the Gospel of Matthew, is from the
+hand of a Jewish Christian and, as is shown by the amount of material
+drawn from Mark's Gospel, must be placed at a later date. The great
+number of quotations from the Old Testament, the interest in tracing the
+fulfilment of the Messianic predictions, and the distinctively Jewish-
+Christian point of view and method of interpretation, indicate clearly
+that he wrote not with Gentile but Jewish Christians in mind.
+Nevertheless, like that of Mark and Luke, his purpose was primarily to
+present a faithful and, as far as his sources permitted, detailed
+picture of the life and teachings of Jesus. His arrangement of his
+material appears, however, to be logical rather than purely
+chronological. The different sections and the individual incidents and
+teachings each contribute to the great argument of the book, namely,
+that Jesus was the true Messiah of the Jews; that the Jews, since they
+rejected him, forfeited their birthright; and that his kingdom,
+fulfilling and inheriting the Old Testament promises, has become a
+universal kingdom, open to all races and freed from all Jewish bonds.
+[Footnote: Cf. e.g., x. 5, 6; xv. 24; viii. 11, 12; xii. 38-45; xxi. 42,
+43; xxii. 7; xxiii. 13, 36, 38; xxiv. 2; xxviii. 19] This suggests that
+the First Gospel represents a more mature stage in the thought of the
+early Church than Mark and Luke.
+
+[Sidenote: _Origin of Matthew's Sayings of Jesus_]
+
+Its title and the fact that the Church Fathers constantly connect it
+with Matthew, the publican, and later apostle is explained by the
+statement of Papias, quoted by Eusebius:
+
+Matthew accordingly composed the oracles in the Hebrew dialect, and
+each one interpreted them as he was able (H.E., iii. 39). These oracles
+evidently consisted of a written collection of the sayings of Jesus.
+Since they were largely if not entirely included in our First Gospel,
+It was therefore known as The _Gospel of Matthew_. There is no evidence
+that the original Matthew's _Sayings of Jesus_ contained definite
+narrative material. The fact that the First Gospel draws so largely from
+Mark for its historical data would indicate that this was not supplied
+by its main source. The _Sayings of Jesus_ was probably the oldest
+written record of the work of Jesus, for, while oral tradition, easily
+remembers incidents, disconnected teachings are not so readily preserved
+by the memory. Their transcendent importance would also furnish a
+strong incentive to use the pen. It was natural also that, of all the
+disciples, the ex-customs officer of Capernaum should be the one to
+undertake this transcendently important task.
+
+[Sidenote: _Aim of the The Fourth Gospel_]
+
+The Fourth is clearly the latest of the Gospels, for it does not attempt
+fully to reproduce the facts presented in the other three, but assumes
+their existence. Its doctrines are also more fully developed, and its
+aim is not simply the giving of historical facts and teachings, but
+also, as it clearly states, that those reading it _might believe that
+Jesus was the Christ, the son of God, and that believing they might have
+life in his name_ (xx. 31). The motive that produced it was, therefore,
+apologetic and evangelical rather than merely historical.
+
+[Sidenote: _Review of growth of the Gospels_]
+
+A detailed comparison of the differences between the Gospels, as well as
+of their many points of likeness which often extend to exact verbal
+agreement, furnishes the data for reconstructing their history. In
+general the resulting conclusions are in perfect harmony with the
+testimony of the Church Fathers. Mark, the shortest and more
+distinctively narrative Gospel, is clearly the oldest of the four.
+Possibly it was originally intended to be the supplement of the other
+early source, Matthew's _Sayings of Jesus_, now known only through
+quotations. These two earliest known Christian records of the work of
+the Master in their original form were the chief sources quoted in the
+First and Third Gospels. So largely is Mark thus reproduced that, if
+lost, it would be possible from these to restore the book with the
+exception of only a few verses. But in addition, Matthew and Luke each
+have material peculiar to themselves, suggesting other independent
+written as well as oral sources. To such shorter written Gospels, and
+also to the oral testimony of eyewitnesses, Luke refers in his prologue.
+In the Fourth Gospel, the doctrinal motive already apparent in Matthew,
+and prominent in the Church at the beginning of the second Christian
+century, takes the precedence of the merely historical. A distinct
+source, the personal observation of the beloved disciple, probably also
+furnishes the majority of the illustrations which are here so
+effectively arrayed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that produced the apocalypses_]
+
+More complex were the influences which produced the single example of
+the third type of New Testament literature,--the Apocalypse, or Book of
+Revelation. The so-called apocalyptic type of literature was a
+characteristic product of later Judaism. The Book of Daniel is the most
+familiar example. Although in the age of scribism the voice of the
+prophets was regarded as silent, and the only authority recognized was
+that of the past, the popular Messianic hopes of the people continued to
+find expression anonymously in the form of apocalypses. In the periods
+of their greatest distress Jews and Christians found encouragement and
+inspiration in the pictures of the future. Since the present situation
+was so hopeless, they looked for a supernatural transformation, which
+would result in the triumph of the right and the establishment of the
+rule of the Messiah. Underlying all the apocalypses is the eternal truth
+voiced by the poet: "God's in his heaven and all's right with the
+world."
+
+[Sidenote: _Origin of the Book of Revelation_]
+
+The immediate historical background of the Apocalypse is the bitter
+struggle between Christianity and heathenism. Rome has become _drunk
+with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus_
+(xvii. 6). The contest centres about the worship of the beast,--that
+is, Caesar. The book possibly includes older apocalypses which reflect
+earlier conflicts, but in its present form it apparently comes from
+the closing years of Domitian's reign. The obvious aim of its Jewish
+Christian writer was to encourage his readers by glowing pictures of
+the coming victory of the Lamb, and thus to steel them for unfaltering
+resistance to the assaults of heathenism. The purpose which actuated the
+writer was therefore in certain respects the same as that which led Paul
+to write his letter to the persecuted church of Thessalonica, although
+the form in which that purpose was realized was fundamentally different.
+
+[Sidenote: _The literary activity of the first four centuries_]
+
+Many other apocalypses were written by the early Christians. The one
+recently discovered and associated with the name of Peter is perhaps the
+most important. Thus, the second half of the first century after the
+death of Jesus witnessed the birth of a large Christian literature,
+consisting of epistles, gospels, and apocalypses. The work of the next
+three centuries was the appreciation and the selection of the books
+which, to-day constitute our New Testament. The influences which led
+to this consummation may be followed almost as clearly as those which
+produced the individual books.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that led to the canonization of the Gospels_]
+
+Early in the second century the motives which had originally led certain
+Christians to write the four Gospels induced the Church to regard those
+books as the most authentic, and therefore authoritative, records of the
+life and teachings of the Master. We have no distinctive history of the
+process. It was gradual, and probably almost unconscious. The fact that
+three of the Gospels were associated with the names of apostles and the
+other with Luke, the faithful companion of Paul, undoubtedly tended to
+establish their authority; but the chief canonizing influence was the
+need of such records for private and public reading. The production,
+early in the second century, of spurious gospels, like the Gospel of
+Marcion, written to furnish a literary basis for certain heretical
+doctrines, also the desire of the Church Fathers to have records to
+which they could appeal as authoritative hastened the formation of the
+first New Testament canon. The use of the Gospels in the services of the
+church, which probably began before the close of the first Christian
+century, by degrees gave them an authority equal to that of the Old
+Testament Scriptures. The earliest canon consisted simply of these four
+books. They seem to have been universally accepted by the Western Church
+by the middle of the second century. About 152 A.D. Justin Martyr, in
+proving his positions, refers to the _Memoirs of the Apostles compiled
+by Christ's apostles and those who associated with them_, and during the
+same decade his pupil Tatian made his _Diatessaron_ by combining our
+present four Gospels.
+
+[Sidenote: _The second edition of the New Testament_]
+
+Meantime the natural desire to supplement the teachings of Jesus by
+those of the Apostles led the Church to single out certain of the
+epistles and associate them with the Gospels. Already in the first
+century the apostolic epistles and traditions were cherished by the
+individual churches to which they had been first directed. In time,
+however, the need for a written record of the apostolic teachings and
+work became widely felt. Hence, by the end of the second century, Acts
+and the thirteen Pauline epistles, First Peter, First John, and the
+Apocalypse, were by common consent placed side by side with the Gospels,
+at least by the leaders of the Western Church.
+
+[Sidenote: _The disputed books_]
+
+Regarding the authority of the remaining New Testament books, Hebrews,
+James, First and Second John, and Jude, opinion long remained undecided.
+Concerning them an earnest discussion was carried on for the next two
+centuries. By certain leaders in the Church they were regarded as
+authoritative, while elsewhere and at different periods, other books,
+like the Gospel to the Hebrews, the Epistle of Barnabas, Clement's
+Epistle to the Corinthians, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Apocalypse
+of Peter, were included in the canon and even given the priority over
+the disputed books later included in our New Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _Final completion of the New Testament canon_]
+
+The final decision represents the result of an open and prolonged and
+yet quiet consideration of the merits of each book and of its claims to
+apostolic authority. The ablest scholars of the early Christian Church
+devoted their best energies to the problem. Gradually, thoughtfully,
+prayerfully, and by testing them in the laboratory of experience, the
+Christian world separated the twenty-seven books which we find to-day
+in our New Testament from the much larger heritage of kindred writings
+which come from the early Christian centuries. Time and later
+consideration have fully approved the selection and confirmed the belief
+that through the minds of consecrated men God was realizing his purpose
+for mankind. As is well known, at the Council of Carthage, in 397 A.D.,
+the Western world at last formally accepted them, although the Syrian
+churches continued for centuries to retain a somewhat different canon.
+
+[Sidenote: _Conclusions from this study of the influences that produced
+the New Testament_]
+
+This brief historical study of the origin of our New Testament has
+demonstrated twelve significant facts: (1) That the original authors of
+the different books never suspected that their writings would have the
+universal value and authority which they now rightfully enjoy. (2) That
+they at first regarded them as merely an imperfect substitute for verbal
+teaching and personal testimony. (3) That in each case they had definite
+individuals and conditions in mind. (4) That the needs of the rapidly
+growing Church and the varied and trying experiences through which it
+passed were all potent factors in influencing the authors of the New
+Testament to write. (5) That certain books, especially the historical,
+like Luke and Matthew, are composite, consisting of material taken
+bodily from older documents, like Matthew's _Sayings of Jesus_ and the
+original narrative of Mark. (6) That our New Testament books are only
+a part of a much larger early Christian literature. (7) That they are
+unquestionably, however, the most valuable and representative writings
+of that larger literature. (8) That they were only gradually selected
+and ascribed a value and authority equal to that of the Old Testament
+writings. (9) That there were three distinct stages in the formation
+of the New Testament canon: the gospels were first recognized as
+authorative; then Acts, the Apostolic Epistles, and the Apocalypse; and
+last of all, the complete canon. (10) That the canon was formed as a
+result of the need felt by later generations, in connection with their
+study and worship, for reliable records of the history and teachings of
+Christianity. (11) That the principles of selection depended ultimately
+upon the intrinsic character of the books themselves and the authority
+ascribed to their reputed authors. (12) That the process of selection
+continued for fully three centuries, and that the results represent the
+thoughtful, enlightened judgment of thousands of devoted Christians.
+Thus through definite historical forces and the minds and wills of
+men, the Eternal Father gradually perfected the record of his supreme
+revelation, to humanity.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GROWTH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC HISTORIES
+
+[Sidenote: _Analogies between the influences that produced the two
+Testaments_]
+
+Very similar influences were at work in producing and shaping both the
+Old and the New Testaments; only in the history of the older Scriptures
+still other forces can be distinguished. Moreover, the Old Testament
+contains a much greater variety of literature. It is also significant
+that, while some of the New Testament books began to be canonized less
+than a century after they were written, there is clear evidence that
+many of the Old Testament writings were in existence several centuries
+before they were gathered together into a canon and thus crystallized
+into their final form. The inevitable result is that they bear the marks
+of much more elaborate editorial revision than those of the New. It is,
+however, not the aim of the present work to trace this complex process
+of revision in detail, nor to give the cumulative evidence and the many
+data and reasons that lead to each conclusion. These can be studied in
+any modern Old Testament introduction or in the volumes of the present
+writer's _Student's Old Testament_.
+
+[Sidenote: _The present classification of the Old Testament books_]
+
+In their present form, the books of the Old Testament, like those of the
+New, fall into three classes. The first includes the historical books.
+In the Old, corresponding to the four Gospels and Acts of the New, are
+found the books from Genesis through Esther. Next in order, in the Old,
+stand the poetical books, from Job through the Song of Songs, with which
+the New Testament has no analogy except the liturgical hymns connected
+with the nativity, preserved in the opening chapters of Matthew and
+Luke. The third group in the Old Testament includes the prophecies from
+Isaiah through Malachi.
+
+[Sidenote: _Close correspondence between the Old Testament prophecies and
+the New Testament apocalypses and epistles_]
+
+One book in this group, Daniel, and portions of Ezekiel and Joel, are
+analogous to the New Testament Apocalypse, but otherwise the prophetic
+books correspond closely in character and contents to the epistles of
+the New. Both are direct messages to contemporaries of the prophets and
+apostles, and both deal with then existing conditions. Both consist of
+practical warnings, exhortations, advice, and encouragement. The form is
+simply incidental. The prophets of Jehovah preached, and then they or
+their disciples wrote down the words which they had addressed to their
+countrymen. When they could not reach with their voices all in whom
+they were interested, the prophets, like the apostles, committed their
+teachings to writing and sent them forth as tracts (_cf_. Jer. xxxvi.).
+At other times, when they could not go in person, they wrote letters.
+Thus, for example, the twenty-ninth chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah
+opens with the interesting superscription:
+
+Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent
+from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders of the captivity, and
+to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom
+Nebuchadrezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; by
+the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah,
+whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadrezzar.
+
+If it were not for this superscription, no one would suspect from the
+nature of the letter which follows that it was anything other than a
+regular spoken or written prophecy. Its contents and spirit are exactly
+parallel to those of Paul's epistles. Undoubtedly many prophecies were
+never delivered orally, but were originally written like Paul's Epistle
+to the Ephesians, and sent out as circular letters. The Babylonian
+exile scattered the Jews so widely that the exilic and post-exilic
+prophets depended almost entirely upon this method of reaching their
+countrymen and thus became writers of epistles.
+
+[Sidenote: _The oldest literature poetry_]
+
+Like the Epistles in the New, certain of the prophecies,--as, for
+example, those of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah,--are among the earliest
+writings of the Old Testament. But in the light of modern biblical
+study, it has become apparent that prose was not the earliest form of
+expression among the Hebrews, In this respect their literary history
+is parallel with that of other early peoples; for first they treasured
+their thought in heroic song and ballad. While they were nomads,
+wandering in the desert, and also while they were struggling for the
+possession of Canaan, they had little time or motive for cultivating the
+literary art. The popular songs which were sung beside the camp-fires,
+at the recurring festivals, and as the Hebrews advanced in battle
+against their foes, were the earliest records of their past. There is
+evidence that many of the primitive narratives now found in the opening
+chapters of Genesis were also once current in poetical form. In some
+cases the poetic structure has been preserved.
+
+[Sidenote: _Israel's early song-books_]
+
+The earliest collections of writings referred to in the Old Testament
+bear the suggestive titles, _The Book of the Upright_ (i.e., Israel),
+and, _The Book of the Wars of Jehovah_. From the quotations which we
+have from them it is clear that they consisted of collections of songs,
+recounting the exploits of Israel's heroes and the signal victories of
+the race.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Song of Deborah_]
+
+That stirring paean of victory known as the Song of Deborah was perhaps
+once found in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah. It is one of the oldest
+pieces of literature in the Old Testament, and breathes the heroic
+spirit of the primitive age from which it comes. Through the eyes of the
+poet one views the different scenes in the mighty conflict. [Footnote:
+The translation is from "The Student's Old Testament," Vol. I., pp.
+320-323.]
+
+[Sidenote: _Exordium_]
+
+  That the leaders took the lead in Israel,
+  That the people volunteered readily,
+  Bless Jehovah!
+  Hear, O kings,
+  Give ear, O rulers.
+  I myself will sing to Jehovah,
+  I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel.
+
+[Sidenote: _Advent of Jehovah_]
+
+  Jehovah, when thou wentest forth from Seir,
+  When thou marchest from the land of Edom,
+  The earth trembled, the heavens also dripped,
+  Yea, the clouds dropped water.
+  The mountains quaked before Jehovah,
+  Yon Sinai before Jehovah, the God of Israel.
+
+[Sidenote: _Conditions before the war_]
+
+  In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
+  In the days of Jael, the highways ceased to be used,
+  And travellers walked by round-about paths.
+  The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased,
+  Until than didst arise, Deborah,
+  Until thou didst arise a mother in Israel.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Sidenote: _The rally about Deborah and Barak_]
+
+  Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates, crying,
+  "Arise, arise, Deborah,
+  Arise, arise, strike up the song!
+  Arise Barak, and take thy captives, thou son of Abinoam!"
+  So a remnant went down against the powerful,
+  The people of Jehovah went down against the mighty,
+  From Ephraim they rushed forth into the valley,
+  Thy brother Benjamin among thy peoples,
+  From Machir went down, commanders,
+  And from Zebulun those who carry the marshal's staff.
+  And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
+  And Napthali was even so with Barak,
+  Into the valley they rushed forth at his back.
+
+[Sidenote: _The cowards who remained at home_]
+
+  By the brooks of Reuben great were the resolves!
+  Why didst they sit among the sheepfolds,
+  Listening to the pipings for the flocks?
+  By the brooks of Reuben there were great questionings!
+  Gilead remained beyond the Jordan;
+  And Dan, why does he stay by the ships as an alien?
+  Asher sits still by the shore of the sea,
+  And remains by its landings.
+
+[Sidenote: _The battle and defeat of the Canaanites_]
+
+  Zebulun was a people who exposed their lives to deadly peril,
+  And Napthali on the heights of the open field.
+  Bless Jehovah!
+  Kings came, they fought;
+  Then fought the kings of Canaan,
+  At Taanach by the waters of Megiddo;
+  They took no booty of silver.
+  From heaven fought the stars,
+  From their courses fought against Sisera.
+  The river Kishon swept them away,
+  The ancient river, the river Kishon.
+  O my soul, march on with strength!
+  Then did the horse-hoofs resound
+  With the galloping, galloping of the powerful steeds.
+
+[Sidenote: _David's dirge over Saul and Jonathan_]
+
+  In the Book of the Upright is included that
+  touching elegy which David sang after the
+  death of Saul and Jonathan, and which stands
+  next to the Song of Deborah as one of the
+  earliest surviving examples of Old Testament
+  literature.
+  [Footnote: "Student's Old Testament," Vol. II., pp. 113,114.]
+
+[Sidenote: _The greatness of the calamity_]
+
+  Weep, O Judah!
+  Grieve, O Israel!
+  On thy heights are the slain!
+  How have the mighty fallen!
+
+  Tell it not in Gath,
+  Declare it not in the streets of Askelon;
+  Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
+  Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
+  Ye mountains of Gilboa, may no dew descend,
+  Nor rain upon you, O ye fields of death!
+  For there was the shield of the mighty cast away,
+  The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
+
+[Sidenote: _Bravery and attractiveness of the fallen_]
+
+  From the blood of the slain,
+  From the fat of the mighty,
+  The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
+  The sword of Saul returned not empty.
+
+  Saul and Jonathan, the beloved and the lovely!
+  In life and in death they were not parted;
+  They were swifter than eagles,
+  They were stronger than lions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Saul's services to Israel_]
+
+  Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
+  Who clothed you daintily in fine linen,
+  Who put golden ornaments on your garments, [and say:]
+  "How have the mighty fallen in the midst of battle!"
+
+[Sidenote: _David's love for Jonathan_]
+
+  Jonathan, in thy death hast thou wounded me!
+  I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan!
+  Thou wert surpassingly dear to me,
+  Thy love to me was far more than the love of woman!
+
+  How have the mighty fallen,
+  And the weapons of war perished!
+
+[Sidenote: _The blessing of Jacob_]
+
+The so-called _Blessing of Jacob_ (Gen. xlix, 2-27) is a poetical
+delineation of the strength and weakness of the different tribes of
+Israel with references to specific events in their history. These
+historical allusions suggest that it probably comes from the reigns of
+David and Solomon, when the tribes were for the first time all united
+under a common rule and had passed through certain of the experiences
+alluded to in the poem.
+
+[Sidenote: _Israel's heritage of oral traditions_]
+
+The Israelitish race was supremely rich in possessing not only many
+ancient songs, but also a large body of oral traditions which had
+long been handed down from father to son or else treasured by the
+story-tellers and by the priests of the ancient sanctuaries. Many of
+these traditions were inherited from their Semitic ancestors, and, in
+the light of recently discovered Babylonian literature, can be traced
+back far beyond the days of Abraham and Moses. Some were originally
+the possessions of certain nomadic tribes; others recorded the early
+experiences of their ancestors or told of the achievements of early
+heroes. In the process of continuous retelling, all unnecessary details
+had been eliminated and the really dramatic and essential elements
+emphasized, until they attained their present simple, graphic form,
+which fascinates young and old alike.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of these oral traditions_]
+
+The superlative value of these varied traditions is apparent. They were
+the links which bound later generations to their prehistoric past.
+Incidentally, in the characteristic language of Semitic tradition, they
+preserved the memory of many important events in their early tribal
+history. They are also the illuminating record of the primitive beliefs,
+customs, and aspirations of their Semitic ancestors. Subject as they
+inevitably were to the idealizing tendency, they became in time the
+concrete embodiment of the noblest ideals of later generations. Thus
+they presented before the kindled imagination of each succeeding age,
+in the character and achievements of their traditional ancestors, those
+ideals of courage, perseverance, and piety which contributed much toward
+making the Israelites the chosen people that they were.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that led to the writing of history_]
+
+In time this growing heritage of traditions became too great for even
+the remarkable Oriental memory to retain. Meantime the Hebrews had also
+acquired that system of writing which they learned from their more
+civilized neighbors the Canaanites and Phoenicians. From, the days of
+Solomon, scribes were to be found in court and temple, and probably
+among the prophetic guilds; although the common people, as in the same
+land to-day, doubtless had little knowledge of the literary art. While
+the nation was struggling for the soil of Canaan, or enjoying the full
+tide of victory and achievement that came under the leadership of David,
+there was no time or incentive to write history. But with the
+quieter days of Solomon's reign, and the contrasting period of national
+decline that followed his death, the incentive to take up the pen and
+record the departed glories became strong. With a large body of definite
+oral traditions dealing with all the important men and events of the
+earlier periods, the task of the historian was chiefly that of writing
+down and coordinating what was already at hand.
+
+[Sidenote: _The early Judean prophetic history_]
+
+The oldest Hebrew history that has been preserved in the Old Testament
+was the work of an unknown Judean prophet or group of prophets who lived
+and labored probably during the latter part of the ninth century before
+Christ. This history corresponds closely in relative age and aim to
+Mark's graphic narrative of the chief facts in the life of Jesus. The
+motive which influenced the earliest historians both of the Old and New
+Testaments to write was primarily the religious significance of the
+events which they thus recorded. This early Judean prophetic history
+(technically known as J) begins with the account of the creation of man
+from the dust by the hand of Jehovah, and tells of the first sin and its
+dire consequences (Gen. ii. 4 to iii. 24); then it gives an ancient list
+of those who stood as the fathers of nomads, of musicians and workers in
+metal (Gen. iv. 1, l6b-26). This is followed by the primitive stories
+of the sons of God and the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 1-4), of Noah the
+first vineyard-keeper (ix. 20-27), and of the tower of Babel and the
+origin of different languages (xi. 1-9). In a series of more or less
+closely connected narratives the character and experiences of the
+patriarchs, the life of the Hebrews in Egypt and the wilderness, and the
+settlement in Canaan are presented. Its basis for the history of the
+united kingdom was for the most part the wonderfully graphic group of
+Saul and David stories which occupy the bulk of the books of Samuel.
+Thus this remarkable early Judean prophetic history begins with the
+creation of the universe and man and concludes with the creation of the
+Hebrew empire.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its unity and characteristics_]
+
+In its present Old Testament form it has been closely combined with
+other histories, just as Mark's narrative is largely reproduced in
+Matthew and Luke; but when, it is separated from the later narratives
+its unity and completeness are astounding. Almost without a break it
+presents the chief characters and events of Israel's history in their
+relations to each other. The same peculiar vocabulary, the use of
+Jehovah as the designation of the Deity, the same vivid, flowing
+narrative style, the same simple, naïve, primitive conception of
+Jehovah, the same patriotic interest in the history of the race, and the
+same emphasis upon the vital religious significance of men and facts,
+characterize every section of this narrative and make comparatively easy
+the task of separating it from the other histories with which it has
+been joined.
+
+[Sidenote: _The early Ephraimite prophetic history_]
+
+A little later, sometime about the middle of the eighth century before
+Christ, a prophet or group of prophets in Northern Israel devoted
+themselves to the similar task of writing the history of Israel from
+the point of view of the northern kingdom. Since this state is called
+_Ephraim_ by Hosea and other writers of the North, its history may be
+designated as _the early Ephraimite prophetic_ (technically known as E).
+Naturally its author or authors utilized as the basis of their work
+the oral traditions current in the North. Sometimes these are closely
+parallel, and sometimes they vary widely in order and representation
+from the Judean versions. In general the variations are similar,
+although somewhat greater than those between the parallel narratives of
+Matthew and Luke.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its characteristics_]
+
+Marked peculiarities in vocabulary and literary style distinguish
+this northern history from the Judean. Since _Elohim_ or _God_ is
+consistently used to describe the Deity, it has sometimes been called
+the _Elohistic_ history. Interest inclines to the sanctuaries and heroes
+and events prominent in the life of the North. In that land which
+produced a Samuel, an Elijah, an Elisha, and an Hosea, it was natural
+that especial emphasis should be placed on the role of the prophet.
+Throughout these narratives he is portrayed as the dominant figure,
+moulding the history as God's representative. Abraham and Moses are here
+conceived of as prophets, and the Ephraimite history of their age is
+largely devoted to a portrayal of their prophetic activity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its scope_]
+
+The interests of later editors who combined these early prophetic
+histories, as we now find them in the Old Testament, were centred in the
+Judean, and hence they have introduced citations from the Ephraimite
+narratives chiefly to supplement the older history. Possibly it never
+was as complete as that of the South. At present it begins with Abraham
+and traces the parallel history of the patriarchs and the life of the
+Hebrews in Egypt and the wilderness. Its account of the conquest, is
+somewhat fuller, probably because Joshua was a northern leader. It also
+preserves many of the stories of the heroes in the book of Judges. With
+these the citations from the early Ephraimite prophetic history seem to
+disappear, but the opening stories in the book of Samuel, regarding the
+great prophet whose name was given to the book, apparently come from the
+pen of later disciples of this same Ephraimite group of prophets.
+
+[Sidenote: _Later editorial supplementing and combination of the two
+histories_]
+
+The eighth and seventh centuries before Christ were periods of intense
+prophetic activity both in the North and the South. It was natural,
+therefore, that these early prophetic histories should be supplemented
+by the disciples of the original historians. Traditions that possessed a
+permanent historical or religious value, as, for example, the familiar
+story of Cain and Abel (Gen. iv. 2-16), and the earlier of the two
+accounts of the flood, were thus added. Also when in 722 B.C. the
+northern kingdom fell and its literary heritage passed to Judah, it was
+most natural that a prophetic editor, recognizing the valuable elements
+in each, and the difficulties presented by the existence of the two
+variant versions of the same events, should combine the two, and
+furthermore that, in the days of few manuscripts, the older originals
+should be lost and only the combined history survive. To-day we find
+this in turn incorporated in the still later composite history extending
+from Genesis through Samuel.
+
+[Sidenote: _Method of combining_]
+
+The later editor's method of uniting his sources is exceedingly
+interesting, and is analogous in many ways to the methods followed
+in the citations in Matthew and Luke from their common sources, the
+original Mark and Matthew's _Sayings of Jesus_. Where the two versions
+were closely parallel, as in the account of Jacob's deception of
+his father Isaac, or the story of the spies, the two are completely
+amalgamated; short passages, verses, and parts of verses are taken in
+turn from each. In other cases the editor introduced the different
+versions--as, for example, the two accounts of the flight of Hagar--into
+different settings. From subsequent allusions to two versions, of which
+only one survives in the Old Testament, it is to be inferred that
+sometimes he simply preserved the fuller, usually the Judean. As a rule,
+however, there is clear evidence that he made every effort to retain
+all that he found in his original sources, even though the resulting
+composite narrative contained many inconsistencies.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practical value of the rediscovery of the original histories_]
+
+To the careful student, seeking to recover the original narratives in
+their primal unity, these inconsistencies are guides as valuable as the
+fossils and stratification of the earth are to the geologist intent upon
+tracing the earth's past history. Guided by these variations and the
+distinctive peculiarities in vocabulary, literary style, point of view,
+religious conceptions, and purpose of each of the groups of narratives,
+Old Testament scholars have rediscovered these two original histories;
+and with their recovery the great majority of seeming inconsistencies
+and many perplexing problems fade into insignificance. Supplementing
+each other, as do the earliest Gospels, these two independent histories
+present with new definiteness and authority the essential facts in
+Israel's early political, social and religious life. Like eye-witnesses,
+they testify to the still more significant fact that from the first God
+was revealing his character and will through a unique race.
+
+[Sidenote: _The brief late prophetic history_]
+
+A third survey of the period beginning with the sojourn in Egypt and
+concluding with the conquest of the east-Jordan land is found in the
+introduction to the book of Deuteronomy. It is the prologue to the laws
+that follow, appropriately and effectively placed in the mouth of the
+pioneer prophet Moses. A comparison quickly demonstrates that it is in
+reality a brief summary of the older histories, and especially of the
+early Ephraimite prophetic. Like the Gospel of Matthew, its aim is not
+merely to present historical facts, but to illustrate and establish a
+thesis. The thesis is that Jehovah has personally led his people, and
+that when they have been faithful to him they have prospered, but
+when they have disobeyed calamity has overtaken, them. The message is
+distinctly prophetic; and to distinguish this third history, which was
+probably written near the close of the seventh century before Christ,
+from the earlier, it may be designated as the late prophetic or
+_Deuteronomic history_ (technically represented by D).
+
+[Sidenote: _Comparison of the Old with the New Testament histories_]
+
+These three prophetic histories correspond strikingly to the three
+synoptic Gospels: Mark, Luke and Matthew. The essential differences in
+their literary history are that they come, not from a single limited
+group of writers and a brief quarter century, but represent the work
+of many hands and at least two hundred and fifty years of literary
+activity. Two, at least, of these histories, are no longer extant in
+their original form, but only as they have been quoted verbatim by
+later historians and closely amalgamated. Similarly, as is well
+known, Tatian, the pupil of Justin Martyr, in the middle of the second
+Christian century, did for the four Gospels precisely what an Old
+Testament editor did for the two early prophetic histories,--he combined
+them into one composite, continuous narrative. By joining passages
+and verses and parts of verses taken from the different Gospels,
+by omitting verbal duplicates, by rearranging in some cases and by
+occasionally adding a word or phrase to join dissimilar parts, Tatian
+produced a marvellous mosaic gospel, known as the _Diatessaron_. All of
+the Fourth Gospel is thus preserved, and most of the first three.
+So successfully was the work done that the volume was widely used
+throughout the Eastern Church. If, as once seemed possible, it had
+completely supplanted the original four Gospels, the literary history of
+these would have been a repetition of that of the earliest Old Testament
+records.
+
+[Sidenote: _The dominant motive of the prophetic historians_.]
+
+It is very important to note that the motive which led the prophetic
+historians to commit to writing the earlier traditions of their race was
+not primarily historical. Like the author of the Fourth Gospel, they
+selected their material chiefly with a view to enforcing certain
+important religious truths. If an ancient Semitic tradition illustrated
+their point, they divested it of its heathen clothing and, irrespective
+of its origin, pressed it into service. For example, it seems clear that
+the elements which enter into the story of the Garden of Eden and man's
+fall were current, with variations, among the ancient Babylonians
+centuries before the Hebrews inherited them from their Semitic
+ancestors. The early prophet who wrote the second and third chapters
+of Genesis appreciated their value as illustrations, and made them the
+medium for imparting some of the most important spiritual truths ever
+conveyed to mankind. Like the preachers or moral teachers of to-day, the
+first question the prophets asked about a popular story was not, Is it
+absolutely historical or scientifically exact? but, Does it illustrate
+the vital point to be impressed? Undoubtedly Israel's heritage of oral
+traditions was far greater than is suggested by the narratives of the
+Old Testament; but only those which individually and collectively
+enforced some important religious truth, were utilized. Just as Jesus
+drew his illustrations from nature and human life about him, so these
+earlier spiritual teachers, with equal tact, took their illustrations
+from the familiar atmosphere of song and story and national tradition in
+which their readers lived. A secondary purpose, which they obviously
+had in view, was also to remove from certain of the popular tales the
+immoral implications which still clung to them from their heathen past,
+and to reconsecrate them to a diviner end.
+
+[Sidenote: _The permanent and vital value of these narratives_]
+
+Questions of relative date and historical accuracy concern the
+historian, but they should not obscure the greater value of these
+narratives. To the majority of us, who turn to the Old Testament simply
+as the record of divine revelation and as a guide to life, the essential
+thing is to put ourselves into touch with these ancient prophets, who
+taught by illustration as well as by direct address, and ask, What was
+the ethical or spiritual truth that illumined their souls and finds
+concrete expression and illustration through these primitive stories? To
+discuss the literal historicity of the story of the Garden of Eden is as
+absurd as to seek to discover who was the sower who went forth to sow
+or the Samaritan who went down to Jericho. Even, if no member of
+the despised Samaritan race ever followed in the footsteps of an
+hypocritical Levite along the rocky road to Jericho and succored a needy
+human being, the vital truth abides. Not until we cease to focus
+our gaze on the comparatively unimportant, can we discern the great
+spiritual messages of these early narratives.
+
+[Sidenote: _The sequel to the early prophetic histories_]
+
+The sequel to the great prophetic histories which underlie the Old
+Testament books, from Genesis through Samuel, is in the books of Kings.
+These carry the record of Israel's life down to the Babylonian exile.
+The opening chapters of First Kings contain the conclusion of the Judean
+prophetic David stories. Fortunately the rest of the biblical history to
+the exile was largely compiled from much earlier sources. As in most of
+the historical writings, the later editors, also, quoted _verbatim_ from
+these earlier records and histories, so that in many cases we have the
+testimony of almost contemporary witnesses. The titles of certain of
+these earlier books are given: _The Book of the Acts of Solomon_, _The
+Chronicles of the Kings of Israel_, and _The Chronicles of the Kings of
+Judah_.
+
+[Sidenote: _Earlier sources quoted by the editor of Kings_]
+
+A careful study of the books of Kings suggests many other ancient
+sources. For the reign of Solomon, state annals, temple records, and
+popular Solomon traditions appear to have been utilized. The graphic
+account of the division of the Hebrew empire was probably drawn from
+an early Jeroboam history. In the latter part of First Kings appear
+citations from an early Ahab history and a group of Ephraimite Elijah
+stories. The political data throughout First and Second Kings were
+probably drawn from the annals of the northern and southern kingdoms.
+Furthermore, in II Kings ii.-viii. appear long quotations from two
+cycles of Elisha stories, centring, respectively, about the ancient
+northern sanctuary of Gilgal, near Shiloh, and about Samaria. The rest
+of the book includes citations from sources which may be designated as a
+prophetic Jehu history, temple records, a Hezekiah history, and a group
+of Isaiah stories.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that produced this later prophetic history_]
+
+These valuable quotations the late prophetic editor of Kings has
+arranged in chronological order and fitted into a framework which gives
+the length of each reign and the date of accession of the different
+kings, according to the chronology of the other Hebrew kingdom. To this
+data he adds a personal judgment upon the policy of each ruler, thereby
+revealing his prophetic spirit. History is to him, as to every true
+prophet, a supreme illustration of fundamental spiritual principles.
+Clearly the influence that led him to compile and edit his great work
+was his recognition of the fact that the record of Israel's national
+experience as a whole was of deep religious import. The same motive
+undoubtedly guided him in the selection of material from his great
+variety of sources. Only that which was essential was presented. Thus
+he, or a later editor of his book, traced Israel's remarkable
+history down to the middle of the Babylonian exile (560 B.C.), and
+completed that wonderful chain of prophetic narratives which record
+and interpret the first great chapter of divine revelation through the
+chosen race.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE PROPHETIC SERMONS, EPISTLES, AND APOCALYPSES
+
+[Sidenote: _Real character and aims of the prophets_]
+
+To understand and rightly interpret the prophetic writings of the Old
+Testament it is necessary to cast aside a false impression as to the
+character of the prophets which is widely prevalent. They were not
+foretellers, but forth-tellers. Instead of being vague dreamers,
+in imagination living far in the distant future, they were most
+emphatically men of their own times, enlightened and devoted
+patriots, social and ethical reformers, and spiritual teachers. Their
+characteristic note of conviction and authority was due to the fact
+that, on the one hand, they knew personally and distinctly the evils
+and needs of their nation, and that, on the other hand, their minds and
+hearts, ever open to receive the truth, were in vital touch with the
+Infinite. Thus, just as Aaron became Moses' prophet to the people,
+publicly proclaiming what the great leader imparted to him in private
+(Ex. vii. 1, 2), so the Hebrew prophets became Jehovah's heralds and
+ambassadors, announcing by word and life and act the divine will.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences that led the prophets to write down their
+sermons_]
+
+While the historians were perfecting their histories certain prophets
+also were beginning to commit their sermons to writing. The oldest
+recorded address in the Old Testament is probably that of Amos at
+Bethel. His banishment from the northern kingdom under strict injunction
+not to prophesy there (Am. vii. 10-17) may well explain why he resorted
+to writing to give currency to his prophetic message, though, like Paul
+in later days, he undoubtedly regarded writing as an inferior substitute
+for the spoken word. Jeremiah appears to have preached twenty years
+before he dictated a line to his scribe Baruch, and then it was because
+he could not personally speak in the temple (xxxvi. 1-5). Sometimes
+complete sermons of the prophets are preserved, but more often we seem
+to have only extracts and epitomes. In some of the prophetic books, like
+that of Jeremiah, there are also popular reports of a prophetic address,
+and narrative sections, telling of the prophet's experience.
+
+[Sidenote: _The editing of the earlier prophecies_]
+
+Evidences of editing are very apparent in the earlier prophecies. Sudden
+interruptions, and verses or clauses, in which appear ideas and literary
+style very different from that of the immediate context, indicate that
+many of the prophecies have been supplemented by later notes, some
+explanatory and some hortatory. Other longer passages are intended to
+adjust the earlier teaching to later conditions and beliefs and so to
+adapt them to universal human needs that they are not limited to the
+hour and occasion of their first delivery. Some of these passages come
+from the hands of disciples of the prophets and often contain valuable
+additional data; others are from later prophetic editors and scribes. A
+detailed comparison, for example, of the Hebrew and Greek versions of
+Jeremiah quickly discloses wide variations of words, verses, and even
+long passages, added in one or the other text by later hands. All these
+additions testify to the deep interest felt by later generations in the
+earlier writings, even before they were assigned a final place in
+the canon. It is one of the important tasks of biblical scholars to
+distinguish the original from the additions and thus determine what were
+the teachings of each prophet and what are the contributions of later
+generations.
+
+[Sidenote: _The background of Isaiah xl.-lv._]
+
+Many of the later additions possess a value and authority entirely
+independent of that possessed by the prophet with whose writings they
+have been joined by their original authors or later editors. Thus the
+sublime chapters appended to the original sermons of Isaiah contain some
+of the noblest teachings in the Old Testament. The different themes
+and literary style; the frequent references to the Babylonians, not as
+distant allies, as in the days of Isaiah the son of Amoz, but as the
+hated oppressors of the Jews; the evidence that the prophet's readers
+are not exiles far from Judah; the many allusions to the conquests of
+Cyrus,--all these leave little doubt that chapters xl.-lv. were written
+in the latter part of the Babylonian or the first of the Persian period.
+Interpreted in the light of this background, their thought and teachings
+become clear and luminous. Similarly, the varied evidence within the
+chapters themselves seems to indicate that Isaiah lvi.-lxvi. contain
+sermons directed to the struggling Jewish community in Palestine during
+the days following the rebuilding of the temple in 520 B.C.
+
+[Sidenote: _The order and date of the prophetic books_]
+
+The prophetic sermons, epistles, and apocalypses fall naturally into
+five great groups. The books prophets of the Assyrian period were Amos
+and Hosea, who between 750 and 734 B.C. preached to Northern Israel;
+also Isaiah and Micah, whose work lies between 740 and 680 B.C. Nahum's
+little prophecy, although much later, echoes the death-knell of the
+great Assyrian kingdom, which for two or three centuries dominated
+southwestern Asia. The prophets of Judah's decline were Zephaniah (about
+628 B.C.), Jeremiah (628-690), and Habakkuk (609-605). To the same
+period belong Ezekiel's earlier sermons, delivered between 592 and 586,
+just before the final destruction of Jerusalem. The prophets of the
+Babylonian exile were Obadiah, whose original oracle belongs to its
+opening years; Ezekiel (xxv.-xlviii.), who continued to preach until 572
+B.C., and the great prophet whose deathless messages ring through Isaiah
+xl.-lv. The prophets of the Persian period were Haggai and Zechariah,
+whose inspiring sermons kept alive the flagging zeal of those who
+rebuilt the second temple; the authors of Isaiah lvi.-lxvi.; the author
+of the little book of Malachi; and Joel. To this list we may perhaps
+add the prophet who has given us that noble protest, found in the much
+misunderstood book of Jonah, against the narrow and intolerant attitude
+of later Judaism toward foreigners.
+
+[Sidenote: _Growth of anonymous and apocalyptic literature_]
+
+With the exception of Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Joel, all the
+prophecies which come from the centuries following the fall of Jerusalem
+in 586 B.C. are anonymous. The worship of the authority of the past had
+begun, and there is evidence that the belief was gaining currency that
+the days of the prophets were past. Hence the natural tendency to resort
+to anonymous authorship or else to append a later message to an earlier
+prophecy. Chapters ix.-xiv. of the book of Zechariah illustrate this
+custom,--chapters which apparently come from the last Old Testament
+period, the Greek or Maccabean. The habit of presenting prophetic truth
+in the highly figurative, symbolic form, of the apocalypse also became
+prominent in later Judaism. This has already been noted in the study of
+the growth of the New Testament, and is illustrated by the book of
+Revelation. It was especially adapted to periods of religious
+persecution, for it enabled the prophet to convey his message of
+encouragement and consolation in language impressive and clear to his
+people, yet unintelligible to their foreign masters.
+
+[Sidenote: _The historical background of the book of Daniel_]
+
+To the mind of one who has carefully studied the book of Daniel in the
+light of the great crisis that came to the Jews as a result of the
+relentless persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, between the years 169
+and 165 B.C., there remains little doubt that it is in this period the
+wonderful apocalypse finds its true setting and interpretation. The
+familiar examples of the heroic fidelity of Daniel and his friends to
+the demands of their religion and ritual were supremely well adapted
+to arouse a similar resistance toward the demands of a tyrant who was
+attempting to stamp out the Jewish, religion and transform the chosen
+people into a race of apostates. The visions found in the book trace
+rapidly, in succession, the history of the Babylonian, Median, Persian,
+and, last of all, the Greek kingdoms. The culmination is a minute
+description of the character and reign, of the tyrant Antiochus
+Epiphanes (xi. 21-45). He is clearly the little horn of chapter viii.
+But suddenly, in the midst of the account of the persecutions, the
+descriptions become vague and general. Nor is there any reference to the
+success of the Maccabean uprising; instead, the prediction is made that
+Jehovah himself will soon come to establish his Messiah's kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: _Date of the book_]
+
+The inference is, therefore, that the prophecy was written a short time
+before the rededication of the temple in 165 B.C. This conclusion is
+confirmed by many other indications. For example the language, in part
+Aramaic, is that of the Greek period. The mistakes regarding the final
+overthrow of the Babylonian empire, which was by Cyrus, not Darius,
+and brought about not by strategy, but as a result of the voluntary
+submission of the Babylonians, are identical with the errors current
+in Greek tradition of the same late period. Here, as in the early
+narratives of Genesis, a true prophet has utilized earlier stories as
+effective illustrations. He has also given in the common apocalyptic
+form an interpretation of the preceding four centuries of human history,
+and showed how through it all God's purpose was being realized, The book
+concludes with the firm assurance that those who now prove faithful are
+to be richly rewarded and to have a part in Ms coming Messianic kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: _The common motive actuating the prophets and the authors of
+the New Testament_]
+
+Thus, from the minds of the prophets come the earliest writings of the
+Old Testament. They consist of exhortations, warnings, messages of
+encouragement, or else stories intended to illustrate a religious
+principle or to present, in concrete form, a prophetic ideal. The
+fundamental motive which produced them all was identical with that which
+led the disciples and apostles to write the Gospels and Epistles of the
+New. In the case of the historico-prophetic writings, like Samuel and
+Kings, the desire to inspire and mould the minds and wills of their
+readers was combined with the desire to preserve in permanent form a
+record of the events which, in their national history, revealed most
+clearly Jehovah's character and purpose. In this respect they correspond
+perfectly to the Gospels and Acts of the New Testament. It is easy to
+see, therefore, that kindred aims and ideals actuated these unknown
+prophetic writers and their later successors, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
+Their literary products differ only because their subject-matter is
+different. The one group records Jehovah's revelation of himself through
+the life of the Messianic nation, the other through the life of the
+perfect Messiah.
+
+[Sidenote: _The New Testament the sequel of the prophetic writings_]
+
+It is interesting to note, in conclusion, that from the point of view of
+the Old, all the literature of the New may be designated as prophetic.
+The three distinct groups of writings found in the New, namely, the
+Gospels and Acts, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse, correspond exactly
+to the three types of prophetic literature found in the Old: the
+historico-prophetical writings, direct written prophecies, and
+apocalypses. If the final canon of the Old Testament had been completed
+before the days of Josiah, there is every reason to believe that it
+also would have contained little beside prophetic writings. In divine
+providence it was not closed until seven centuries later, so that, as it
+has come to us, it is a comprehensive library, representing every stage
+and every side of Israel's development. It is, however, in perfect
+keeping with the spirit of the Master that the New Testament should
+contain significant facts and broad principles rather than detailed laws
+or even the songs of worship. He whose ideals, teachings, and methods
+were in closest harmony with those of the Hebrew prophets, naturally
+begat, through his immediate followers, a group of distinctively
+prophetic writings.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER OLD TESTAMENT LAWS
+
+[Sidenote: _First the principle, and then the detailed laws_]
+
+If the canon of the New Testament had remained open as long as did that
+of the Old, there is little doubt that it also would have contained many
+laws, legal precedents, and ecclesiastical histories. From the writings
+of the Church Fathers and the records of the Catholic Church it is
+possible to conjecture what these in general would have been. The early
+history of Christianity illustrates the universal fact that the broad
+principles are first enunciated by a great prophetic leader or leaders,
+and that in succeeding centuries these new principles are gradually
+embodied in detailed laws and ceremonials. Also the principles must be
+accepted, partially at least, by the majority of the people before the
+enactments based upon them can be enforced. This important fact, stated
+in Old Testament terms, is that the prophet must and always does precede
+the lawgiver.
+
+[Sidenote: _Meaning of the Hebrew word for law_]
+
+_Torah_, the common Hebrew word for law, comes from a Hebrew word
+meaning to _point out_ or _direct_. It is probably also connected
+with the older root signifying, to cast the sacred lot. The _torah_,
+therefore, was originally the decision, rendered in connection with
+specific questions of dispute, and referred to Jehovah by means of the
+sacred lot. Thus the early priests were also judges because they were
+the custodians of the divine oracle.
+
+[Sidenote: _Origin of this Hebrew belief in the divine origin of law_]
+
+Here we are able to trace, in its earliest Hebrew form, the universal
+belief in the divine origin of the law. In the primitive laws of Exodus
+xxi.-xxiii., in connection with a case of disputed responsibility for
+injury to property, the command is given: _the cause of both parties
+shall come before God; he whom God shall condemn shall pay double to his
+neighbor_ (xxii. 8, 9). In ancient times all cases of dispute were thus
+laid before God and decided by the lot or by God's representatives,
+usually the priests. When, in time, customs and oral laws grew up on the
+basis of these decisions, a similar divine origin and authority were
+naturally attributed to them. Individually and collectively they
+were designated by the same suggestive term, _torah_. When they were
+ultimately committed to writing, the legal literature bore this title.
+In the Hebrew text it still remains as the designation of the first
+group of Old Testament books which contain the bulk of Israel's laws.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its ultimate basis in fact_]
+
+A belief in the divine origin of law was held by most ancient peoples.
+In connection with the tablet which records the laws of Hammurabi, we
+have a picture of Shamash the sun-god giving the laws to the king. In
+the epilogue to these laws he states that by the command of Shamash, the
+judge supreme of heaven and earth, he has set them up that judgment may
+shine in the land. The statements in the Old Testament that Jehovah
+talked face to face with Moses or wrote the ten words with his finger on
+tablets of stone reflect the primitive belief which pictured God as a
+man with hands and voice and physical body; still they are the early
+concrete statement of a vital, eternal truth. Not on perishable stone,
+but in the minds of the ancient judges, and in the developing ethical
+consciousness of the Israelitish race, he inscribed the principles of
+which the laws are the practical expression. If he had not revealed
+them, there would have been no progress in the knowledge of justice
+and mercy. The thesis of the Old Testament, and of Hammurabi also, is
+fundamentally true. The vivid forms in which both expressed that thesis
+were admirably fitted to impress it upon the mind of early man.
+
+[Sidenote: _Method in which Hebrew law grew_]
+
+The early Israelitish theory of the origin, of law provided fully for
+expansion and development to meet the new and changed conditions of
+later periods. Whenever a new question presented itself, it could be
+referred to Jehovah's representatives, the priests and prophets; and
+their _torah_, or response, would forthwith become the basis for the new
+law. Malachi ii. 6,7 clearly defines this significant element in the
+growth, of Israel's legal codes: _the torah of truth was in the mouth
+of the priest... and the people should seek the torah at his mouth._
+Similarly Haggai commands the people to ask a _torah_ from the priests
+in regard to a certain question of ceremonial cleanliness (ii, 11).
+Until a very late period in Israelitish history, the belief was
+universal that Jehovah was ever giving new decisions and laws through
+his priests and prophets, and therefore that the law itself was
+constantly being expanded and developed. This belief is in perfect
+accord with all historical analogies and with the testimony of the Old
+Testament histories and laws themselves. Not until the days of the
+latest editors did the tendency to project the Old Testament laws back
+to the beginning of Israel's history gain the ascendency and leave
+its impression upon the Pentateuch. Even then there was no thought of
+attributing the literary authorship of all of these laws to Moses. This
+was the work of still later Jewish tradition.
+
+[Sidenote: _Moses' relation to Israelitish law_]
+
+The earliest Old Testament narratives indicate clearly the real
+historical basis of the familiar later tradition, and vindicate and
+help us in the effort to define the title, _Law of Moses_. The early
+Ephraimite narratives describe Moses as a prophet rather than as a mere
+lawgiver. In Exodus xviii. they give us a vivid picture of his activity
+as judge. To him the people came in crowds, with their cases, _to
+inquire of God_ (15). In 16, to his father-in-law Jethro, he states:
+_whenever they have a matter of dispute they come to me, that I may
+decide which of the two is right, and make known the statutes of God and
+his decisions (tôrôth)_. Jethro then advises him to appoint reliable
+men, gifted with a high sense of justice, to decide minor cases,
+while he reserves for himself the difficult questions involving new
+principles. The origin and theory of Israel's early laws are vividly
+presented in Jethro's words to Moses in verses 19, 20: _You be the
+people's advocate with God, and bring the cases to God, and you make
+known to them the statutes and the decisions, and show them the way
+wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do._
+
+[Sidenote: _Historical basis of the tradition of Mosaic authorship_]
+
+It appears from these and other passages that Moses' traditional title
+as the father of Israelitish legislation is well established. As a
+prophet, he proclaimed certain fundamental principles that became the
+basis of all later codes. As a judge, he rendered decisions that soon
+grew into customary laws. As a leader and organizer, he laid the
+foundations of the later political and institutional growth of the
+nation. Furthermore, it is probable that he taught the people certain
+simple commands which became the nucleus of all later legislation.
+Naturally and properly, as oral laws subsequently grew up and were
+finally committed to writing, they were attributed to him. Later, when
+these laws were collected and codified, they were still designated
+as _Mosaic_, even, though the authors of these codes added many
+contemporary enactments to the earlier laws. Thus the traditions, as
+well as the theory, of Israelitish law fortunately raised no barrier
+against its normal growth. It was not until the late Jewish period, when
+the tradition became rigid and unnatural, that the rabbis, in order to
+establish the authority of contemporary laws, were forced to resort to
+the grotesque legal fictions which appear in the Talmud.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidences that the earliest laws were oral_]
+
+The earliest Hebrew laws, like the traditions, were apparently long
+transmitted in oral form. The simple life of the desert and early Canaan
+required no written records. Custom and memory preserved all the laws
+that were needed. Also, as we have seen, before the Hebrews came into
+contact with the Canaanites and Phoenicians, they do not seem to have
+developed the literary art. Instead, they cast their important commands
+and laws into the form of pentads and decalogues. The practical aim
+seems to have been to aid the memory by associating a brief law with
+each finger of the two hands. The system was both simple and effective.
+It also points clearly to a period of oral rather than written
+transmission.
+
+[Sidenote: _The earliest Hebrew laws_]
+
+The nucleus of all Israelitish law appears to have been a simple
+decalogue, which gave the terms of the original covenant between
+Jehovah and his people, and definitely stated the obligations they must
+discharge if they would retain his favor. The oldest version of this
+decalogue is now embedded in the early Judean narrative of Exodus xxxiv.
+There is considerable evidence, however, that it once stood immediately
+after the Judean account of Jehovah's revelation of himself at Sinai,
+and was transposed to its present position in order to give place
+for the later and nobler prophetic decalogue of Exodus xx. 1-17. Its
+antiquity and importance are also evidenced by the fact that it has
+received many later introductory, explanatory, and hortatory notes.
+Exodus xxxiy. 28 preserves the memory that it originally consisted of
+simply ten words. The slightly variant version of these original ten
+words Is also found in Exodus xx. 23, xxiii. 12, 15, 16, 18, 29, 30.
+Furthermore, it probably once occupied a central position in the
+corresponding Northern Israelltish account of the covenant at Sinai.
+
+[Sidenote: _The oldest decalogue_]
+
+With the aid of these two different versions, that of the North and
+that of the South, it is possible to restore approximately the common
+original:
+
+I. Thou shalt worship no other God.
+
+II. Thou shalt make no molten gods,
+
+III. Thou shalt observe the feast of unleaven bread.
+
+IV. Every first-born is mine.
+
+V. Six days shalt thou toil, but on the seventh thou shalt rest.
+
+VI. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks and ingathering at the end of
+the year,
+
+VII. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. VIII.
+The fat of my feast shall not be left until morning.
+
+IX. The best of the first-fruits of thy land shalt thou bring to the
+house of Jehovah.
+
+X. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its date_]
+
+These laws bear on their face the evidence of their primitive date and
+origin. They define religion not in the terms of life, as does the
+familiar prophetic decalogue of Exodus xx., but, like the old Babylonian
+religion, in the terms of the ritual. Loyalty to Jehovah, as the God of
+the nation, and fidelity to the demands of the cult is their watchword.
+Their antiquity and the central position they occupy in Old Testament
+legislation are shown further by the fact that all of them are again
+quoted in other codes, and most of them four or five times in the Old
+Testament. Three of them apply to agricultural life; but agriculture is
+not entirely unknown to the nomadic life of the wilderness. Possibly
+in their present form certain of these commands have been adapted to
+conditions in Canaan, but the majority reflect the earliest stages in
+Hebrew history. In all probability the decalogue in its original form
+came from Moses, as the earliest traditions assert, although comparative
+Semitic religion demonstrates that many of the institutions here
+reflected long antedated the days of the great leader.
+
+[Sidenote: _The_ Judgements _of Exodus xxi., xxii_]
+
+Although in part contemporary, the next stage in the development
+of Israelitish law is represented by the civil, social, and humane
+decalogues in Exodus xx. 28 to xxiii. 19. The best preserved group is
+found in xxi.1 to xxii.20, and bears the title _Judgments_, which recalls
+Hammurabi's title to his code, The _Judgments_ of Righteousness. Like
+this great Babylonian code, the Hebrew _Judgments_ deal with civil and
+social cases, and are usually introduced by the formula, _If so and so_,
+followed by the penalty or decision to be rendered. They are evidently
+intended primarily for the guidance of judges. The parallels with the
+code of Hammurabi are many, both in theme, form, and penalty, although
+there is no conclusive evidence that the Hebrew borrowed directly
+from the older Babylonian. Undoubtedly many of the striking points of
+resemblance are due simply to common Semitic ideas and institutions and
+to the recurrence of similar questions. But on the whole, the Hebrew
+laws place a higher estimate on life and less on property. They reflect
+also a simpler type of civilization than the Babylonian.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their arrangement and contents_]
+
+When three or four obviously later additions have been removed, the
+_Judgments_ are found to consist of five decalogues, each divided
+into two pentads which deal with different phases of the same general
+subject. They are as follows:
+
+_First Decalogue: The Rights of Slaves._
+
+First Pentad: Males, Ex. xxi. 2,3a, 3b, 4,5-6. Second Pentad: Females,
+xxi. 7, 8, 9,10, 11.
+
+_Second Decalogue: Assaults._
+
+First Pentad: Capital Offences, xxi. 12, 13,14, 15, 16.
+
+Second Pentad: Minor Offences, xxi. 18-19, 20, 21, 26, 27.
+
+_Third Decalogue: Laws regarding Domestic Animals._
+
+First Pentad: Injuries by Animals, xxi. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.
+
+Second Pentad: Injuries to Animals, xxi. 33-34, 35, 36; xxii. 1,4.
+
+_Fourth Decalogue: Responsibility for Property._
+
+First Pentad: In General, xxii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
+
+Second Pentad: In Cattle, xxii. 10-11, 13, 14, l5a, I5b.
+
+_Fifth Decalogue: Social Purity._
+
+First Pentad: Adultery, Deut. xxii. 13-19, 20-21, 22, 23-24, 25-27.
+
+Second Pentad: Fornication and Apostasy, Ex. xxii. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their date_]
+
+Many of these laws anticipate the settled agricultural conditions of
+Palestine. Society, however, is very simple. The decalogue and peatad
+form also points clearly to an early period, when the laws were
+transmitted orally. Many of the laws probably came from the days of the
+wilderness wandering, and therefore go back to the age of Moses, in some
+cases much earlier, as is shown by close analogies with the code of
+Hammurabi. Although in their present written form these oral _Judgments_
+bear the marks of the Northern Israelitish prophetic writers who have
+preserved them, the majority, if not all, may with confidence be
+assigned to the days of David and Solomon.
+
+[Sidenote: _The early humane and ceremonial laws_]
+
+The remaining verses of Exodus xx. 23 to xxiii. 19, contain, groups of
+humane and ceremonial laws. In the process of transmission they have
+been somewhat disarranged, but, with the aid of the fuller duplicate
+versions in Deuteronomy, four complete decalogues can be restored and
+part of a fifth. The following analysis will suggest their general
+character and contents:
+
+
+HUMANE AND CEREMONIAL LAWS
+
+_First Decalogue: Kindness._
+
+First Pentad: Towards Men, Ex. xxii. 2la, 22-23, 25a, 25b, 26-27.
+
+Second Pentad; Towards Animals, Ex, xxiii. 4 [Deut. xxii. 1], Deut.
+xxii. 2, 3; Ex. xxiii. 5
+
+[Deut. xxii. 4], Deut. xxii. 6-7.
+
+_Second Decalogue: Justice_.
+
+First Pentad: Among Equals, Ex. xxiii. 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3.
+
+Second Pentad: On the Part of those in Authority, xxiii, 6, 7a, 7b, 7c,
+8.
+
+
+_Third Decalogue: Duties to God._
+
+First Pentad: Worship, Ex. xx. 23a, 23b, 24, 25, 26.
+
+Second Pentad: Loyalty, Ex. xxii. 28, 29a, 29b, 30, 31.
+
+_Fourth Decalogue: Sacred Seasons._
+
+First Pentad: Command to Observe them, xxiii. 10-11, 12, l5a, 16a, 16b.
+
+Second Pentad: Method of Observing them, xxiii, 17, 18a, 18b, 19a, 19b.
+
+[Sidenote: _Period represented by the primitive codes_]
+
+Here the primitive ceremonial decalogue has been expanded into the third
+and fourth group given above. Like the _Judgments_, these decalogues
+bear testimony to their northern origin, and probably they also have
+had much the same history, although their relation to the primitive
+decalogue and the fact that they are prefixed and added to the solid
+group of _Judgments_, would seem to indicate that they were somewhat
+later. These two collections, together with their older prototype, the
+ancient decalogue, represent the growth of Israel's laws during the
+four centuries beginning with Moses and extending to about 800 B. C. To
+distinguish them from later collections they may be designated as the
+_Primitive Codes_.
+
+[Sidenote: _The need for new laws_]
+
+The eighth and seventh centuries before Christ which brought to the
+Hebrews great crises and revolutionary changes in both their political
+and religious life, witnessed the epoch-making work of Amos, Hosea,
+Isaiah, and Micah. This remarkable group of prophets proclaimed so many
+new principles that a fundamental revision and expansion of Israel's
+primitive codes became necessary in order to adapt the latter to the new
+needs of the age. The reactionary reign of Manasseh had also brought out
+plainly the contrast between the older heathen cults, still cherished
+by the people, and the exalted ideals of the true prophets. If the
+prophetic teachings were to become operative in the life of the
+nation, it was also seen that they must be expressed in concrete legal
+enactments, which could be universally understood and definitely
+enforced.
+
+[Sidenote: _Application of prophetic principles in the life of the
+people_]
+
+Accordingly, a group of prophets, disciples of the older masters,
+and inspired by the spirit of reform, devoted themselves to this
+all-important task. The results of their work are represented by the
+prophetic law-book of Deuteronomy. Through its pages glow the new
+ethical teachings of the prophets of the Assyrian period. The elements
+of Hosea's doctrine, love to God and love to men and kindness to the
+needy and oppressed, in their new setting and application, make it one
+of the evangels of the Old Testament. Its lofty standards of justice
+and social responsibility reflect the impassioned addresses of Amos
+and Hosea. Since the new laws, as a whole, represented the practical
+application of the messages of the prophets to life, they were justly
+and appropriately placed in the mouth of Moses, the real and traditional
+head of the nation and of the prophetic order.
+
+[Sidenote: _Relation to the older laws_]
+
+A comparison of this prophetic law-book with the older primitive laws
+shows that the latter were made the basis of the new codes, since most
+of them, in revised form, are also found in Deuteronomy. The prophetic
+lawmakers, however, in the same spirit that actuated Jesus in his
+attitude toward the ancient law, freely modified, supplemented, and in
+some cases substituted for the primitive enactments, laws that more
+perfectly embodied the later revelation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Promulgation and date of the prophetic codes_]
+
+The nature of the reforms instituted by Josiah, according to II Kings
+xxii., clearly prove that the laws which inspired them were those of
+Deuteronomy, and that this was the law-book discovered in the temple by
+Hilkiah the priest and publicly read and promulgated by the king in 621
+B.C. Originally it was probably prepared by the prophetic reformers as a
+basis for their work; but it incorporates not only most of the primitive
+codes, but also many other ancient laws and groups of laws, some
+doubtless coming from the earliest periods of Israel's history. It also
+appears to have been further supplemented after the reformation of
+Josiah. In general it represents the second great stage in Old Testament
+law, as it rapidly developed between 800 and 600 B.C. under the
+inspiring preaching of the remarkable prophets of the Assyrian period.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their historical and permanent value_]
+
+These laws represent, in many ways, the high-water mark of Old Testament
+legislation. Every effort is made to eliminate that which experience had
+proved to be imperfect in the older laws and customs. The chief aim
+is to protect the rights of the wronged and dependent. The appeal
+throughout is not to the fear of punishment--in a large number of laws
+no penalty is suggested--but to the individual conscience. Not merely
+formal worship is demanded, but a love to God so personal that it
+dominates the individual heart and soul and finds expression through
+energies completely devoted to his service. These laws required strict
+justice, but more than that, mercy and practical charity toward the
+weak and needy and afflicted. Even the toiling ox and the helpless
+mother-bird and her young are not beyond the kin of these wonderful
+laws. Under their benign influence the divine principles of the prophets
+began to mould directly the character and life of the Israelitish race.
+The man who lives in accord with their spirit and injunctions to-day
+finds himself on the straight and narrow way, hallowed by the feet of
+the Master.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+INFLUENCES THAT GAVE RISE TO THE PRIESTLY LAWS AND HISTORIES
+
+[Sidenote: _Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial
+laws_]
+
+The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the
+further development of written law. While the temple stood, the
+ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were
+transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence,
+there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests
+were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later
+the temple was laid in ruins and all sacrifice and ceremonial worship
+suddenly ceased, written records at once became indispensable, if the
+customs and rules of Israel's ritual were to be preserved. The integrity
+and future of the scattered Israelitish race also largely depended upon
+keeping alive their distinctive traditions. Torn from their altars,
+the exiled priests not only had a strong incentive, but likewise the
+leisure, to write. The ritualistic zeal of their Babylonian masters
+doubtless further inspired them. The result was, that during the
+Babylonian exile and the following century most of the ceremonial laws
+in the Old Testament appear to have been first committed to writing.
+
+[Sidenote: _Ezekiel's Code_]
+
+Even Ezekiel, the prophet of the early exile, yielded to the influence
+of his early priestly training and the needs of the situation. In 572 he
+issued the unique code found in chapters xl.-xlviii. of his prophecy. It
+provides for the rebuilding of the temple, and defines the duties of its
+different officials and the form of ritual that is to be observed. The
+whole is intended primarily to emphasize, through the arrangement of the
+sanctuary and the forms of the ceremonial, the transcendent holiness of
+Jehovah. Ezekiel also proclaims, through this elaborate program for the
+restored community, the certainty that the exiles would be allowed to
+return and rebuild the temple. He evidently reproduces many of the
+proportions and regulations of the first temple, but, with the same
+freedom that characterizes the authors of the Deuteronomic codes, he
+unhesitatingly sets aside earlier usages where something better has been
+revealed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Genesis and character of the Holiness Code_]
+
+Ezekiel's code was never fully adopted by the later Jews, for much of
+it was symbolic rather than practical; but it powerfully influenced
+subsequent lawmakers, and was indicative of the dominant tendency of
+the day. Even before he issued his code, some like-minded priest had
+collected and arranged an important group of laws, which appear to
+have been familiar to Ezekiel himself. They are found in Leviticus
+xvii.-xxvi., and have felicitously been designated as the _Holiness
+Code_, because they constantly emphasize the holiness of Jehovah and the
+necessity of the people's being holy in thought and act. In chapters
+xvii.-xix. most of the original laws are still arranged in the decalogue
+and pentad form. This strong evidence that they had been transmitted by
+word of mouth from a much earlier period is supported by their contents.
+They resemble and supplement the primitive laws of Exodus xx. 23
+to xxiii. 19. Many of them probably came from the early periods of
+Israelitish history. Most of the laws, like those of the prophetic codes
+in Deuteronomy, are ethical and humane rather than ceremonial. The
+code, as a whole, is a remarkable combination of prophetic and priestly
+teaching. It marks the transition from the age of the prophets,
+represented by Deuteronomy, to that of the priests and ritual,
+represented by the priestly codes proper. Like every important early
+collection of laws, It also has been much supplemented by later editors;
+the original Holiness Code, however, may be given a date soon after the
+first captivity in 597 B.C.
+
+[Sidenote: _The priestly codes_]
+
+The influences represented by Ezekiel and the Holiness Code have given
+us the remaining laws of the Old Testament. These are found in Leviticus
+i-xvi., xxviii., and, excepting Exodus xx.-xxiii., xxxiv., in the legal
+sections of Exodus and Numbers. They deal almost entirely with
+such ceremonial subjects, as the forms and rules of sacrifice, the
+observation of the annual religious festivals, and the rights and duties
+of priests. Many of them incorporated laws and customs as old or older
+than the days of Moses. An early and important group, technically known
+as the Priestly teaching (Lev. i.-iii., v.-vii., xi.-xv.; Num. v.,
+vi., xv., xix. 14-22), is repeatedly designated as _the torah of the
+burnt-offering_ (Lev. vi. 9), or _the torah of the meal-offering_ (vi,
+14), or _the torah of the unclean and clean beast or bird_ (xi. 46, 47).
+It is evidently based upon the _toroth_, or decisions, rendered by the
+priests concerning the various ceremonial questions thus treated. The
+recurring phrase, _according to the ordinance_, probably refers to the
+fixed usage observed in connection with the first temple.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their date_]
+
+The atmosphere and point of view of these priestly laws as a whole are
+the exilic and post-exilic periods. The ritual has become much more
+elaborate, the position of the priests much more prominent, and their
+income far greater than before the exile. The distinction between priest
+and Levite, which was not recognized before the exile, is clearly
+defined. The annual feasts have increased, and their old joyous
+character has largely disappeared under the dark shadow of the exile.
+Sin-offerings, guilt-offerings, trespass-offerings, and the day of
+atonement (practically unknown before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.)
+reflect the spirit of the later Judaism which sought to win Jehovah's
+favor by its many sacrifices. Within these priestly codes there is also
+evidence of development. The older collections, such as the priestly
+teachings, were probably made early in the Babylonian exile. Others
+represent the gradual expansion and supplementing of these older groups,
+the process apparently continuing until the days of Nehemiah and Ezra.
+The whole, therefore, is the fruit of the remarkable priestly literary
+activity between 600 and 400 B.C., and possibly extending even later.
+
+[Sidenote: _Adoption of the priestly law about 400 B.C._]
+
+The Jewish community which Nehemiah found in Palestine was still living
+under the Deuteronomic law, and apparently knew nothing of the very
+different demands of the priestly codes. His reform measures recorded in
+Nehemiah v. and xiii., as well as his effective work in repairing the
+walls, prepared the way for the sweeping innovations which followed the
+public acceptance of the new law-book, brought according to tradition by
+Ezra. Five out of the eight regulations specified by the oath then taken
+by the leaders of the nation (Neh. x. 30-39) are found only in the
+priestly codes; one of them, indeed, is not presented elsewhere in the
+Old Testament. Henceforth the life of the Jewish race is moulded
+by these later codes. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that they
+constituted the essence of the new law-book solemnly adopted by the
+Jewish community as its guide somewhere about 400 B.C.
+
+[Sidenote: _Aim and characteristics of the priestly narratives_]
+
+Inasmuch as the interest of the priests centred in ceremonial
+institutions and the history of the law rather than about individuals
+and politics, it was natural that they also should write their own
+history of the race. Their general purpose was to give an introduction
+and setting to their laws. As might be anticipated, this priestly
+history incorporates the traditions of the late priestly school, and
+therefore those current long centuries after the events recorded
+transpired. As in the case of the prophetic narratives, the aim is not
+primarily historical, but doctrinal. The peculiar vocabulary, language,
+and theological conceptions are those which distinguish the post-exilic
+priestly editors of the latest Old Testament laws.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their sketch of the earlier history_]
+
+Their history begins with the majestic account of creation in Genesis i.
+1 to ii. 4a. God does not form man from the dust, as in the primitive
+prophetic account, but by a simple word of command; and by progressive
+acts of creation he realizes his perfect plan, which culminates in the
+creation of mankind. The literary style is that of a legalist: formal,
+precise, repetitious, and generic. The ultimate aim of the narrative
+is to trace the origin of the institution of the Sabbath back to the
+creation. The genealogical history of Genesis v. connects this account
+of creation with the priestly version of the flood story which leads
+up to the covenant with Noah. The priestly genealogical histories of
+Genesis x. and xi. 10-27 trace the ancestry of the Hebrews through
+Abraham. Regarding this patriarch these later historians present only a
+brief sketch; in Genesis xvii., however, they expand their narrative
+to give in detail the origin of the rite of circumcision, which they
+associate with him. Jacob is to them chiefly of interest as the father
+of the ten tribes.
+
+[Sidenote: _from Egypt to Canaan_]
+
+The history of the experiences of the Hebrews in Egypt is briefly
+outlined as the prelude to the traditional institution of the feast
+of the passover. Sinai, however, is the great goal of the priestly
+narratives, for about it they group all their laws. It is their concrete
+method of proclaiming the antiquity and divine origin of Israelitish
+legislation. The period of the wilderness wandering is also made the
+background of many important legal precedents. The priestly history
+concludes with an account of the conquest of Canaan and the allotment of
+the territory to the different tribes.
+
+[Sidenote: _The lack of historical perspective_]
+
+In these late priestly narratives the historical perspective is
+sometimes considerably shortened and sometimes lengthened. Moreover,
+their representation often differs widely from that of the parallel but
+much earlier prophetic histories. The original traditions have also
+assumed larger proportions, and the supernatural element is much more
+prominent. This is evidently the result of long transmission, in an age
+that had largely lost the historic sense, and among the priestly exiles,
+who were far removed from the real life of Palestine.
+
+[Sidenote: _Variations between the older and later narratives_.]
+
+The wide variations between the older prophetic and late priestly
+accounts of the same events might be illustrated by scores of examples.
+The following parallel account of the exodus will suffice:
+
+[Sidenote: _Early Judean Prophetic Account_]
+
+Ex. xiv. l9b. Then the pillar of cloud changed its position from before
+them and stood behind them. (20b) And the cloud lighted up the night;
+yet throughout the entire night the one _army_ did not come near the
+other. (21b) And Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind
+all the night, and made the bed of the sea dry. (24b) And it came to
+pass in the watch before the dawn that Jehovah looked forth through the
+pillar of fire and of cloud upon the host of the Egyptians, (25) and he
+bound their horsemen.
+
+[Sidenote: _Late Priestly Account of the Exodus_]
+
+(21a, c) Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the waters
+were divided, (22) so that the Israelites went into the midst of the sea
+on the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right
+hand and on their left. (23b) And the Egyptians went in after them
+into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his
+horsemen. (26) Then Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over
+the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon
+their chariots and their chariot wheels, so that they proceeded with
+difficulty. Then the Egyptians said, Let us flee from before Israel;
+for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians. (27b) But the sea
+returned to its ordinary level toward morning, while the Egyptians were
+flying before it. And Jehovah shook off the Egyptians into the midst of
+the sea, (28b) so that not one of them remained. (30) Thus Jehovah saved
+Israel that day out of the power of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the
+Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore.
+
+(27a) So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, (28a) and the
+waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the
+host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea. (29) But the
+Israelites walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, the waters
+being a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. [Footnote:
+"Student's Old Testament," Vol. I., 175, 176.]
+
+[Sidenote: _Inferior historical value of the priestly narratives_]
+
+No one can doubt for a moment that the older, simpler, and more natural
+version is, from the historical point of view, the more accurate.
+The normal man to-day has outgrown the craving for the grotesquely
+supernatural. The omnipotent, omniscient, loving Creator, who
+reveals himself through the growing flower, commands our admiration
+as fully as a God who speaks through the unusual and extraordinary.
+Everything is possible with God, and the man is blind indeed who would
+deny the Infinite Being, who is all and in all, the ability to pass
+beyond the bounds of that which we, with our extremely limited vision,
+have designated as natural. The real question is, How did God see fit to
+accomplish his ends? Our judicial and historical sense unhesitatingly
+inclines to the older and simpler narratives as containing the true
+answer. In distinguishing these different strands of narrative, it must
+be acknowledged that modern biblical scholarship has performed a service
+invaluable alike to the student of literature, of history, and of
+revelation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Recognition of their defects and real value_]
+
+In passing, it is instructive to note that, almost without exception,
+Ingersoll's once famous examples of the mistakes of Moses were drawn
+from the priestly narratives. It is safe to predict that had that
+learned jurist been introduced, when a boy, to the Old Testament, as
+revealed in modern light, he would have enjoyed a very different popular
+fame. In the divine economy, however, even the sledge-hammer of ridicule
+may play an important rôle in shattering false claims and the untenable
+theories which obscure the real truth. It is wholesome to apply the
+principle of relative values to the Bible, since one cannot fully
+appreciate the best without recognizing that which is inferior. These
+priestly narratives come from a school which, in its reverence for the
+form and the letter, had began to lose sight of the vital and spiritual.
+Its still later product is that ritualistic Judaism which stands in such
+unfavorable contrast to the perfected spiritual revelation which came
+through Jesus. At the same time, the recognition of the defects of the
+late priestly school should not deter us from appreciating the rich
+religious teaching of a narrative like the first chapter of Genesis,
+nor from accepting its great message, namely, that through all natural
+phenomena and history God is revealing and perfecting his gracious
+purpose.
+
+[Sidenote: _The ecclesiastical history of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah_]
+
+The long ecclesiastical history found in I and II Chronicles and the
+original sequel of these books, Ezra and Nehemiah, were written from the
+same general point of view as the late priestly narratives, but in a
+much later period. The same peculiar literary style and conceptions,
+which recur throughout these four books, show clearly that they are from
+one author and age. Since they trace the history to the beginning of the
+Greek period and speak of the kings and events of the Persian period as
+if they belonged to the distant past, it is evident that the anonymous
+author, who is usually designated as the Chronicler, lived after the
+conquests of Alexander. The internal evidence all points to the middle
+of the third century before Christ as the date of their composition.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its general point of view_]
+
+From the author's evident interest in the ritual of the temple, and
+especially its song service, it would appear that he belonged to one of
+the guilds of temple singers that became prominent in the post-exilic
+period. His history centres about the sanctuary and its services. Since
+Judah, not Israel, is the land of the temple, Northern Israel is almost
+completely ignored. Like the late priestly historians, his chief aim
+is to trace the origin of the ceremonial institutions back to the
+beginnings of Hebrew history. Thus he represents the song service and
+the guilds of singers as having been established in the days of David.
+Living as he did under the glamour of the great Persian and Greek
+empires, he, in common with his contemporaries, idealized the past
+glories of his race. As we compare his versions of early events with
+the older parallel accounts of Samuel and Kings, we find that iron
+has become gold, and hundreds have become thousands, and defeats are
+transformed into victories. No mention is made of the crimes of such
+kings as David and Solomon, since they are venerated profoundly as the
+founders of the temple.
+
+[Sidenote: _Sources of I and II Chronicles_]
+
+The basis of I and II Chronicles is the prophetic history of Samuel and
+Kings; from these the author quotes _verbatim_ chapter after chapter,
+according as their contents are adapted to his purpose. This groundwork
+he supplements by introducing the priestly traditions current in his
+own day. Possibly he quotes also from certain somewhat earlier written
+collections of traditions, for to those, following the example of
+the author of Kings, he frequently refers his readers for further
+information. In some cases these later traditions may have preserved
+authentic, supplemental data; but when the representation of Chronicles
+differs, as it frequently does, from that of Samuel and Kings, the older
+and more sober prophetic history is undoubtedly to be followed.
+
+[Sidenote: _The older sources quoted in Ezra-Nehemiah_]
+
+In Ezra and Nehemiah the author has preserved some exceedingly valuable
+historical material, for he has quoted, fortunately, long sections from
+two or three older sources. Oae is the document in Ezra iv. 7 to vi. 14,
+the original Aramaic of which is retained. This appears to have been
+a temple record, dating from the middle or latter part of the Persian
+period, and tells of the interruption of the temple building in the days
+of Darius and the finding of the original decree of Cyrus sanctioning
+the restoration of the shrine of Jerusalem. Still more important is the
+wonderful memoir of Nehemiah quoted in Nehemiah i., ii., iv. to vii. 5,
+xii. 31, 32, 37-40, and xiii. 4-31. Here we are able to study the events
+of an exceedingly important period through the eyes of the man who, by
+his able and self-sacrificing efforts, did more than any one else
+to develop and shape later Judaism. Less important, yet suggestive,
+citations are taken from the priestly traditions regarding the work of
+Ezra. The final editor has apparently rearranged this material in order
+to give to the work of Ezra the scribe such precedence over that of
+Nehemiah the layman, as, from his later Levitical point of view, he
+deemed proper. Restoring what seems to have been the original order
+(_i.e._, Ezra vii. viii., Neh. vii. 70 to viii. 18; Ezra ix., x.; Neh.
+ix., x.) and studying it as the sequel of Nehemiah's essential pioneer
+work, the obscurities of this period begin to disappear and its
+significant facts to stand out in clear relief.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of the writings of the priestly school_]
+
+Thus we find that, quoting largely as he does, from much older sources,
+the author of this great ecclesiastical history of Judah and the
+temple has given us, in Ezra and Nehemiah, some exceedingly important
+historical data. His writings also clearly reveal the ideas and
+institutions of his own day; but otherwise it is not as history that his
+work is of permanent value. Rather it is because, in common with all the
+great teachers who speak to us through the Old Testament, he believed
+firmly in the moral order of the universe, and that back of all events
+and all history is an infinitely powerful yet just and merciful God who
+is constantly revealing himself to mankind. While these later priestly
+writers were not in such close touch with fact and life as were the
+prophets, and while they were subject to the defects of all extreme
+ritualists and theologians, they were faithful heralds of truth to their
+own and later generations. Behind their symbolism and traditions lie
+certain great universal principles which amply reward an earnest quest.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE HEBREW SAGES AND THEIR PROVERBS
+
+[Sidenote: _Rôle of the sages in Israel's life_]
+
+In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. xviii. 18; Ezek. vii. 26)
+three distinct classes of religious teachers were recognized by the
+people: the prophets, the priests, and the wise men or sages. From
+their lips and pens have come practically all the writings of the Old
+Testament. Of these three classes the wise men or sages are far less
+prominent or well known. They wrote no history of Israel, they preached
+no public sermons, nor do they appear to have been connected with any
+sanctuaries. Quietly, as private teachers, they appealed to the nation
+through the consciences and wills of individuals. Proverbs viii. 1-5
+reveals their methods:
+
+  Doth not wisdom cry,
+  And understanding put forth her voice?
+  On the top of high places by the way,
+  Where the paths meet, she standeth;
+  Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
+  At the coining in at the doors, she crieth aloud:
+  Unto you, O men, I call;
+  And my voice is to the sons of men.
+  O ye simple, understand prudence;
+  And ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
+
+At the open spaces beside the city gates, where legal cases were tried,
+at the intersections of the streets, wherever men congregated, the sages
+of ancient Israel could be found, ready and eager to instruct or advise
+the inexperienced and foolish.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their functions_]
+
+The wise man or sage is a characteristic Oriental figure. First Kings
+iv. 30 speaks of the far-famed wisdom of the nomadic tribes of northern
+Arabia and of the wisdom of Egypt. The sage appears to have been the
+product of the early nomadic Semitic life, in which books were unknown
+and the practical wisdom gained by experience was treasured in the minds
+of certain men who were called the wise or sages. In our more complex
+western life such functions have been distributed among the members of
+the legal, medical, and clerical professions, but even now, in smaller
+towns, may be found an Uncle Toby who is the counterpart of the ancient
+Hebrew sage. To men of this type young and old resort with their private
+problems, and rarely return without receiving real help and light. In
+the East, sages are still to be found, usually gray-bearded elders,
+honored and influential in the tribe or town.
+
+[Sidenote: _Source of their knowledge and inspiration_]
+
+Of the three classes of Israel's teachers the sages stood in closest
+touch with the people. They were naturally the father-confessors of the
+community. Observation was their guide, enlightened common sense their
+interpreter, and experience their teacher. The great book of human life,
+which is one of the most important chapters of divine revelation, was
+thrown open wide before them. The truths that they read there, as their
+eyes were divinely opened to see it, are recorded in the wisdom books of
+the Old Testament,--Proverbs, Job, The Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
+
+[Sidenote: _The objects of their attention_]
+
+It is significant that neither Israel nor the nation is mentioned in all
+the wisdom literature, and that man is spoken of thirty-three times
+in the book of Proverbs alone. Man was the object of their study and
+teaching; the nation, only as it was made up of individuals. In this
+respect the sages stand in contrast with the prophets, whose message
+usually is to the nation. They also have little to say about the ritual
+or the forms of religion. _To them the fear and knowledge of God is the
+beginning of wisdom_, and its end a normal relation to God, to one's
+fellowmen, and to life. Their message is directed equally to all
+mankind. The subjects that command, their attention are of universal
+interest: the nature and tendencies of man, and his relations and duties
+to God, to society, to the family, and to himself. Everything that
+concerns man, whether it be the tilling of the soil, the choice of a
+wife, the conduct of a lawsuit, or the proper deportment in the presence
+of a ruler, commands their earnest consideration.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their aims not theoretical but practical_]
+
+The Hebrew sages, however, were not mere students of human nature or
+philosophers. Knowledge to them was not an end in itself, but only a
+means. Their contribution to Israel's life was counsel (Jer. xviii.
+18). Their aim was, by the aid of their tried maxims, to so advise the
+inexperienced, the foolish, indeed, all who needed advice, that they
+might live the fullest and best lives and successfully attain all worthy
+ends. While their teaching was distinctively ethical and religious, it
+was also very practical and utilitarian. As pastors and advisers of the
+people, they drew their principles and ideals from Israel's prophets,
+and applied them to the practical, every-day problems of life. It is
+obvious that without their patient, devoted instruction the preparation
+of the chosen people for their mission would have been imperfect, and
+that without a record of their teachings the Old Testament would have
+been incomplete.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their teachings preserved in proverbs_]
+
+The proverb was the most characteristic literary form in which the sages
+treasured and imparted their teachings. Poetical in structure, terse,
+often figurative or epigrammatic, the proverb was well calculated to
+arouse individual thought and make a deep impression on the mind.
+Transmitted from mouth to mouth for many generations, like the popular
+tradition or law, it lost by attrition all its unnecessary elements, so
+that, 'like an arrow,' it shot straight to the mark. Based on common
+human experience, it found a ready response in the heart of man. In this
+way crystallized experience was transmitted, gathering effectiveness
+and volume in each succeeding generation. Job viii. 8-10 speaks of this
+accumulated wisdom handed down from _the former age, that which the
+fathers have searched out. They shall teach man and inform him, and
+utter words out of their heart_. Job xv. 18 also refers to that _which
+wise men have told from their fathers and have not hid it_. A proverb
+thus orally transmitted not only gains in beauty of form but also in
+authority, for it is constantly being tested in the laboratory of real
+life and receives the silent attestation of thousands of men and of
+many different generations.
+
+[Sidenote: _Expansion of the proverb_]
+
+When the sages desired to treat a many-sided subject, as, for example,
+intemperance, they still used proverbs, but combined them into brief
+gnomic essays (_e. g_., xxiii. 29-85, xxvi. 1-17). Sometimes, to fix the
+attention of their hearers, they combined two proverbs, so as to produce
+a paradox, as in Proverbs xxvi. 4, 5:
+
+  Answer not a fool according to his folly,
+  Lest them also be like unto him.
+  Answer a fool according to his folly,
+  Lest he be wise in his own conceit.
+
+Later they developed the simple gnomic essay into a philosophical
+drama, of which Job is the classic example, or into a homily, like
+Ecclesiastes.
+
+[Sidenote: _Use of fables and riddles_]
+
+Side by side with the proverb, the sages appear from the earliest times
+to have used the fable also; this is illustrated by the fable of Jotham
+in Judges ix. 6-21. Of the riddle a famous examples is that of Samson
+in Judges xiv. 14, 18, which combines rhythm of sound with rhythm of
+thought and well illustrates the form of the earliest popular Hebrew
+poetry:
+
+  Out of the eater came something to eat,
+  And out of the strong came something sweet,
+
+  And its answer: If with my heifer you did not plow,
+  You had not solved my riddle now.
+
+Proverbs xxx. 15-31 contains a collection of numerical riddles, combined
+with their answers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Traces of proverbs and the work of sages in the Hebrew
+history_]
+
+Proverbs are found in the oldest Hebrew literature. The Midianite kings,
+awaiting death at the hand of Gideon, cite a popular proverb, _For as
+the man, so is his strength_. David in his conversation with Saul says,
+_As runs the proverb, "Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness"_ (I
+Sam. xxiv. 13). Frequent references are also found to wise men and
+women, and examples are given of their prudence and insight Thus Joab,
+David's iron-hearted commander, brings a wise woman from Tekoa, the
+later home of the prophet Amos, to aid him in securing the recall of the
+banished Absalom. By her feigned story she succeeds in working upon the
+sympathy of the king to such a degree that he commits himself finally to
+a principle which she at once asks him to apply to the case of his own
+son (II Sam. xiv. 1-24).
+
+[Sidenote: _Basis of Solomon's reputation for wisdom_]
+
+The stories told in I Kings iii. 16-28, to illustrate the wisdom of
+Solomon, suggest the historical basis of the reputation which he enjoyed
+in the thought of succeeding generations. Such stories also indicate, as
+do the other early examples of the work of the wise, the conception of
+wisdom held in that more primitive age. Such wisdom does not necessarily
+include ethical righteousness or even practical executive ability, for
+the true Solomon of history was lacking in both; but rather a certain.
+shrewdness, versatility, and keenness of insight which enable its
+possessor to discern what is not clearly apparent. First Kings iv. 29-34
+contains the later popular tradition of Solomon's wisdom:
+
+(29) And God gave Solomon wisdom and insight in plentiful measure, and
+breadth of mind, even as the sand that is on the seashore, (30) so that
+Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the eastern Arabians and
+all the wisdom of Egypt. (31) For he was wiser than all men: than Ethan
+the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame
+was in all the surrounding nations. (32) And he uttered three thousand
+proverbs, and his songs were five thousand. (33) And he spoke of
+different varieties of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to
+the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, of
+birds, of creeping things, and of fishes. (34) And there came some from
+among all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, deputed by all
+kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reason why all ancient proverbs were attributed to him_]
+
+A popular proverb, like a primitive oral law, usually grows out of
+common human experience, and is gradually formulated and moulded into
+its final literary form by successive generations. No one man can claim
+it as his own, and even if he could, the ancient Semitic East, which
+cared so little about authors' titles, would have quickly forgotten his
+name. That Solomon did utter certain brilliant aphorisms, embellished by
+illustrations drawn from animal and plant life, cannot be doubted;
+and that some of them have been preserved in the book of Proverbs is
+probable. These facts and the popular tradition that tended to exalt his
+wisdom clearly explain why all Hebrew proverbs were attributed to him
+(Prov. i. 1), in the days of the final editing of the book of Proverbs.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidence that Proverbs comes from many different writers_]
+
+That our present book of Proverbs is the work of many unknown sages,
+and consists of a collection of smaller groups coming from different
+periods, is demonstrated by the superscriptions which recur throughout
+the book, such as, _These are the proverbs of Solomon_ (x. 1), _These
+also are the sayings of the wise_ (xxiv. 23), _These are the proverbs of
+Solomon which the men of_ _Hezekiah king of Judah copied out_ (xxv. 5),
+_The words of King Lemuel_ (xxxi. 1), The same proverbs also recur In
+different groups, indicating that originally they were independent
+collections, gleaned from the same field. When the first collection was
+made, the title _Proverb of Solomon_ evidently meant a popular maxim
+handed down from antiquity and therefore naturally attributed to the
+most famous wise man in Israel's early history. It is an instructive
+fact that later proverbs, the immediate superscriptions to which plainly
+state that they come from many different sages, are still called
+_Proverbs of Solomon;_ it betrays an exact parallel to the similar
+tendency, apparent in the legal and prophetic literature, to attribute
+late anonymous writings to earlier authors. This is also further
+illustrated by such late Jewish books as _The Wisdom of Solomon_ or the
+_Psalms of Solomon._
+
+[Sidenote: _Testimony of the individual proverbs_]
+
+The individual proverbs confirm the general conclusion that they come
+from many different authors. Those which commend fidelity to one wife
+and kingly consideration for the rights of subjects, qualities in which
+Solomon was sadly lacking, do not fit in his mouth. Many are written
+from the point of view of a subject, and describe what a man should do
+in the presence of a ruler. Furthermore, the ethical standards upheld
+are those of prophets who lived and taught long after the days of the
+Grand Monarch who fascinated his own and succeeding generations by his
+brilliant wit rather than by his sterling virtues.
+
+[Sidenote: _Real nature of Proverbs_]
+
+The book of Proverbs is far more than an epitome of his versatile
+sayings: it represents at least ten centuries of experience divinely
+guided, but won often through mistakes and bitter disappointments. It
+contains the many index hands, set up before the eyes of men to point
+them from error to truth, from folly to right, and from failure
+to success. Like most of the Old Testament books, it embodies the
+contributions of many different teachers writing from many different
+ages and points of view. Their common aim is well expressed by the sage
+who appended to Proverbs the preface:
+
+  To acquire wisdom and training,
+  To understand rational discourse,
+  To receive training in wise conduct,
+  In uprightness, justice, and rectitude,
+  To impart discretion to the inexperienced,
+  To the young knowledge and insight;
+  That the wise man may hear and add to his learning,
+  And the man of intelligence gain education,
+  To understand a proverb and a parable,
+  The words of sages and their aphorisms.
+
+[Sidenote: _The first edition of Proverbs_]
+
+The structure and contents of the book suggest its literary history.
+Like the New Testament, it appears to have passed through different
+stages, and to have been supplemented repeatedly by the addition of new
+collections. The original nucleus is probably found in x. 1 to xxii.
+16; this is introduced by the simple superscription, _The Proverbs of
+Solomon_. The form of the proverb is simple; the atmosphere is joyous,
+prosperity prevails, virtue is rewarded; a king who loves justice and
+righteousness is on the throne (xiv. 35, xvi. 10, 12, 13, xx. 8, xxii.
+11); the rich, and poor stand in the same relation to each other as
+in the days of the pre-exile prophets; and the teaching of their
+prophets--righteousness is more acceptable than sacrifice--is frequently
+reiterated (xv. 8, xvi. 6, xxi. 3, 27). While this long collection
+doubtless contains many proverbs antedating even the beginnings of
+Israel's history and possibly some added later, the indications are that
+they represent the original edition of the book which the Jews carried
+with them into the Babylonian exile. This early collection was perhaps
+made under the inspiring influence of the reign of Josiah.
+
+[Sidenote: _Dates of the other collections_]
+
+Undoubtedly the remaining collections also contain many very ancient
+proverbs, but as a whole their literary form and thought is more
+complex. The descriptions of the kings suggest the Persian and Greek
+tyrants who ruled over the Jews during the long centuries after the
+exile (_cf._ xxv. 1-7, xxviii. 2, 12, 15, 28, xxix. 2, 4, 16, xix. 14),
+The age of the prophets has apparently been succeeded by that of
+the priest and the law (xxix. 18). Already the Jews have tasted the
+bitterness of exile (xxvii. 8). There are also certain points of close
+contact with proverbs of Ben Sira, written about 190 B.C. The sages as a
+class are very prominent, as in the later centuries before Christ. These
+and many other indications lead to the conclusion that the different
+collections were probably made after the exile, and that the noble
+introduction, i.-ix., and the two chapters in the appendix were not
+added until some time in the Greek period,--not long before 200 B.C. The
+date, however, when these proverbs arose and were committed to writing
+is comparatively unimportant, save as a knowledge of their background
+aids in their interpretation, and as they, in turn, reveal the life and
+thought of the persecuted, tempted Jews, whose religious life centred in
+the second temple.
+
+[Sidenote: _Teaching of the Song of Songs_]
+
+Probably in the Greek period also a poet-sage collected and wove
+together certain love and wedding songs of his race. The result was
+called the Song of Songs, that is, the Peerless Song. According to one
+interpretation, it presents, in a series of scenes, the heart struggle
+of a simple country maiden with the promptings of a true, pure love for
+a shepherd lover and the bewildering attractions of a royal marriage;
+and true love in the end triumphs. Whatever be the interpretation, it is
+clear that this exquisite little book, so filled with pictures of nature
+and simple country life, was intended to emphasize the duty and beauty
+of fidelity to nature and the promptings of the human heart. This
+thought is expressed in the powerful passage which seems to voice the
+central teaching of the poem:
+
+  Love is strong as death;
+  Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol;
+  Its flashes are flashes of fire,
+  A very flame of Jehovah.
+  Many waters cannot quench love,
+  Neither can floods drown it:
+  If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
+  He would utterly be condemned.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE WRITINGS OF ISRAEL'S PHILOSOPHERS
+
+[Sidenote: _Discussions the problem of evil_]
+
+An intense interest in man led certain of Israel's sages in time to
+devote their attention to more general philosophical problems, such as
+the moral order of the universe. In the earlier proverbs, prophetic
+histories, and laws, the doctrine that sin was always punished by
+suffering or misfortune, and conversely that calamity and misfortune
+were sure evidence of the guilt of the one affected, had been reiterated
+until it had become a dogma. In nine out of ten cases this doctrine was
+true, but in time experience proved that the tenth case might be an
+exception. While most of the teachers of the race denied or ignored this
+exception, certain wise men, faithful and unflinching in their analysis
+of human life, faced the fact that the innocent as well as the guilty
+sometimes suffer. Their quest for the answer to the eternal question,
+Why? is recorded in the books of Job and Ecclesiastes.
+
+[Sidenote: _The primitive story of Job_]
+
+The basis of the book of Job Is undoubtedly a primitive story. Traces
+of a tradition somewhat similar have recently been discovered in the
+Babylonian-Assyrian literature. The Babylonian treatment of the moral
+problem that it presents is even more strikingly similar. Ezekiel also
+refers to a well-known popular Hebrew version of the story of Job (xiv.
+14): _though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it_
+(the guilty land), _they would deliver simply their own lives their
+righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah_ (_cf._ also xiv. 20). Evidently
+in Ezekiel's day these names represented three ancient worthies, each
+conspicuous for his superlative piety. The Hebrew word here used also
+indicates that the righteousness attributed to them was conformity to
+the demands of the ritual. This agrees closely with the representation
+of the prose version of the story found in Job i. ii. and xlii. 7-17;
+here the supreme illustration of Job's piety is that he repeatedly
+sacrifices burnt-offerings, whenever there is the least possibility that
+his sons have sinned (i. 4, 5). Also in describing his perfection (i.
+1), the same unusual term is employed as in the priestly narrative of
+Genesis vi. 9, where Noah's righteousness is portrayed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Original teaching and application of the prose story_]
+
+It seems probable, therefore, that the ancient story of Job was committed
+to writing by some priest during the Babylonian exile. Since Job and his
+friends live out on the borders of the Arabian desert to the east or
+southeast of Palestine, it seems clear that the tradition came to the
+Hebrews originally from some foreign source; but in the prose form in
+which we find it in Job, it has been thoroughly naturalized, for Job is
+a faithful servant of Jehovah and the law. Ignoring for the moment the
+poetical sections (iii. 1 to xlii. 6), we find that the prose story has
+a direct, practical message for the broken-hearted exiles, crushed
+beneath an overpowering calamity. Jehovah is testing his servant people,
+as he tests Job in the story, to prove whether or not they _fear God for
+nought_ (i, 9). If they bear the test without complaint, as did Job, all
+their former possessions will be restored to them in double measure
+(xlii. 7-17).
+
+[Sidenote: _The problem of the poetical sections of Job_]
+
+This prose story has apparently been utilized and given a very different
+interpretation by a later poet-sage in whose ears rang Jeremiah's words
+of anguish, found in chapter xx. 14-18 of his prophecy (_cf_. Job iii.),
+and to whose ears came also the cry of the pious voiced in Malachi ii.
+17: _Every one who does evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he
+delighteth in_ _them. Where is the God of justice_? The old solutions
+of the problem of evil were being openly discarded. _They who feared
+Jehovah_ were saying (iii, 13, 14), _It is vain to serve God; and what
+profit is it to have kept his charge or to have walked in funeral garb
+before Jehovah of hosts? Even now we must congratulate the arrogant;
+yea, they who work wickedness are entrenched; yea, they tempt God and
+escape!_ With a boldness and thoroughness that must have seemed to his
+contemporaries dangerous and heretical, the great poet-sage presents the
+problem in all its intensity.
+
+[Sidenote: _The role of Job and his friends in presenting the problem_]
+
+He adopts the popular story, utilizing it as his prologue and epilogue:
+but as we pass to chapter iii, the simple, pure Hebrew yields to sublime
+poetry, shot through with the words and idioms and ideas of a much later
+age. The designation of God is no longer _Jehovah_ but _El_ or _Eloah_
+or _Shaddai_. The character of Job suddenly changes; instead of being
+the patient, submissive servant of the law, he boldly, almost defiantly,
+charges God with injustice. The role of the friends also changes, and
+they figure as champions of the Deity. In their successive speeches they
+present in detail the current dogmas and the popular explanations of
+suffering. In his replies Job points out their inapplicability to the
+supreme problem of which he is the embodiment. The action and progress
+in this great drama is within the mind of Job himself. By degrees he
+rises to a clear perception of the fact that he is innocent of any crime
+commensurate with the overwhelming series of calamities which have
+overtaken him; and he thus throws off the shackles of the ancient dogma.
+From the seemingly cruel and unjust God who has brought this undeserved
+calamity upon him, he then appeals to the Infinite Being who is back of
+all phenomena.
+
+[Sidenote: _The message of the book_]
+
+The reply to this appeal, and the author's contribution to the eternal
+problem of evil, are found in xxxviii. I to xlii. 6. It is not a
+solution, but through the wonders of the natural world, it is a fuller
+revelation to the mind of Job, of the omnipotence, the omniscience,
+the wisdom, and the goodness of God. Even though he cannot discern the
+reason of his own suffering, he learns to know and to trust the wisdom
+and love of the Divine Ruler.
+
+  I had heard of this by the hearing of the ear;
+  But now mine eye seeth thee (xlii. 5).
+
+[Sidenote: _Teaching the Elihu passage xxxii-xxxvii_]
+
+Faith triumphs over doubt, and the problem, though unsolved, sinks into
+comparative insignificance. Apparently another poet-sage has added, out
+of the depths of his own experience, his contribution to the problem
+of suffering in the speeches of Elihu (chapters xxxii-xxxvii). It is
+that suffering rightly borne becomes a blessing because it is one of
+God's ways of training his servants. This indeed is an expansion of the
+explanation urged by Eliphaz in v. 17, _Behold, happy is the man whom God
+correcteth_. While these speeches of Elihu are written in a different
+literary style and have, in fact, no vital connection with the original
+poem of Job, they nevertheless contain a great and intensely practical
+truth; they have rightly found a place in this marvellous book.
+Similarly the sublime description of wisdom in chapter xxviii. makes
+good its title; it can, however, be studied best by itself apart from
+Job's impassioned protestations of his innocence (chapter xxix.).
+
+[Sidenote: _Probable history of the book of Job_]
+
+Thus the book of Job, like so many other Old Testament writings, has its
+own literary history. Somewhere and sometime, back in an early Semitic
+period, there doubtless lived a man, conspicuous for his virtue and
+prosperity. Upon him fell a misfortune so great and apparently
+undeserved that it made a deep impression, not only upon his
+contemporaries, but also upon the minds of later generations. Thus there
+grew up a common Semitic story of Job which was in time thoroughly
+naturalized in Israel. Probably a Jewish priest in the exile first
+committed it to writing in order to assure his fellow-sufferers that
+could they but be patient and submissive Jehovah would soon restore them
+to their former prosperity. The painful experiences that came to the
+Jews, especially to the pious, during the middle and latter part of the
+Persian period (sometime between 450 and 340 B.C.), convinced a poet-
+sage that the old interpretations of the meaning of suffering did not
+suffice. Accordingly into the heart of the familiar story of Job he
+injected his powerful, impassioned message. Later writers, inspired by
+his inspiring genius, added their contributions to the solution of the
+perennial problem. Hence by 200 B.C., at least, the book of Job was
+probably current in its present form.
+
+[Sidenote: _Age and point of view of Ecclesiastes_]
+
+The same ever-recurring, insistent questions regarding the moral value
+and meaning of life led another later wise man to embody the results of
+his observation and experience in what we now know as the book of
+Ecclesiastes. Although i. 16 and ii. 7, 9 clearly imply that many kings
+had already reigned in Jerusalem, the author seems to put his
+observations in the mouth of Solomon, the acknowledged patron of wisdom
+teaching. The evidence, however, that the book is one of the latest in
+the Old Testament is overwhelmingly conclusive. The language is that of
+an age when Hebrew had long ceased to be spoken. The life mirrored
+throughout is that of the luxurious, corrupt Greek period. If not
+directly, at least indirectly, it reflects the doctrines of the Stoics
+and the Epicureans. It was a crooked, sordid, weary world upon which its
+author looked. It is not strange that a vein of materialism and
+pessimism runs through his observations and maxims. _All is vanity_ is
+the dominant note, and yet light alternates with shadow. He loses faith
+in human nature; yet he does not give up his faith in God, though that
+faith is darkened by the desolateness of the outlook. While the book has
+practical religious teachings, perhaps its chief mission, after all, is
+vividly to portray the darkness just before the dawn of the belief in a
+future life and before the glorious rising of the Sun of Righteousness.
+
+[Sidenote: _Significance of the later additions_]
+
+Its teachings naturally called forth many protests, explanations, and
+supplements, and these have found the permanent place in the book that
+they rightfully deserve. Its fragmentary structure and abrupt
+transitions also made later insertions exceedingly easy. These are the
+simplest and the most natural explanation of the sharp contradictions
+that abound in the book (_cf. e.g_., ii. 22 and iii. 22, or iv. 2 and
+ix. 4, or iii. 16 and iii. 17, or viii. 14 and ix. 2, or iii. 1-9 and
+iii. 11). The preacher, whose painful experiences and prevailingly
+pessimistic teachings are the original basis of the book, appears to
+have been consistent throughout. He ends in xii. 8 with the same
+refrain, _Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!_ In a divine library like
+the Old Testament, reflecting every side of human thought and
+experience, such a book is not inappropriate. Its contradictions provoke
+thought; they beget also a true appreciation of the positive notes thus
+brought into dramatic contrast with the ground tones of pessimism which
+resound through all literature and history.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE PSALTER
+
+[Sidenote: _Nature of the Psalter_]
+
+Corresponding to the book of Proverbs, itself a select library
+containing Israel's best gnomic literature, is the Psalter, the
+compendium of the nation's lyrical songs and hymns and prayers. It is
+the record of the soul experiences of the race. Its language is that of
+the heart, and its thoughts of common interest to worshipful humanity.
+It reflects almost every phase of religious feeling: penitence, doubt,
+remorse, confession, fear, faith, hope, adoration, and praise. Even the
+unlovely emotion of hatred is frankly expressed in certain of the
+imprecatory psalms. The Psalms appeal to mankind in every age and land
+because, being so divine and yet so human, they rest on the foundations
+of universal experience. Whenever a heart is breaking with sorrow or
+pulsating with thanksgiving and adoration, its strongest emotions find
+adequate expression in the simple and yet sublime language of the
+Psalter.
+
+[Sidenote: _Influence of the prophets upon it_]
+
+In the familiar doings of Mary and Zacharias, found in the opening
+chapters of Luke, we may trace the beginnings of the hymn literature of
+the early Christian Church, a literature which later became one of the
+Church's most valued possessions. If the canon of the New Testament had
+been closed in 1000 instead of 400 A.D., its books would doubtless have
+included a hymnal which would have corresponded closely to the Psalter
+of the Old. Just as the Psalms represent the application of the great
+doctrines of the Hebrew prophets in the spiritual life of the community,
+so this new hymnal would represent the personal application of the
+teachings of Jesus and the apostles to the religious life of the Church
+and the individual. The Psalter is also what it is because its
+background is a period of stress and severe trial. In the hot furnace of
+affliction and persecution the psalmists learned to appreciate the
+truths which they so confidently and effectively proclaim. Then the
+spiritual teachings of the earlier prophets, which were contemptuously
+rejected by their contemporaries, were at last appropriated by the
+community. The Psalter as a whole appears, therefore, to be one of the
+latest and most precious fruits of the divine revelation recorded in the
+Old Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidence of distinct collections of psalms_]
+
+In its present form, the Psalter is divided into five books or
+collections. At the end of each collection there is a concluding
+doxology (xli., lxxii., lxxxix., cvi). The last psalm (cl.) serves as a
+concluding doxology, not only to the fifth collection, but also to the
+Psalter as a whole. Certain psalms are also reproduced in two different
+collections with only slight variations. For example, xiv. is
+practically identical with liii., except that in the first _Jehovah_ is
+always used as the designation of the Deity, and in liii. _Elohim_ or
+_God_; again Psalm xl. 13-17 is reproduced in lxx.; lvii. 7-11 and lx.
+5-12 are together practically equivalent to cviii. These and kindred
+facts indicate that the Psalter, like the book of Proverbs, is made up
+of collections originally distinct. The division into exactly five
+groups appears to be comparatively late, and to be in imitation of the
+fivefold division of the Pentateuch.
+
+[Sidenote: _The oldest collection_]
+
+The genesis of the book of Proverbs is exceedingly helpful in tracing
+the closely analogous growth of the Psalter. The prevailing form of the
+superscriptions and the predominant use of the name _Jehovah_ or
+_Elohim_ also aid in this difficult task. Psalms i. and ii. are
+introductory to the entire book. Psalms iii-xli. all bear the Davidic
+superscription and use the designation _Jehovah_ two hundred and
+seventy-two times, but _Elohim_ only fifteen. The form and contents of
+these psalms, as well as their position, suggest that they are the
+oldest collection in the book. In the Greek version all the psalms of
+the collection found in li-lxxii., excepting Psalm lxvi., which is
+anonymous, and lxxii., which is attributed to Solomon, have also the
+Davidic superscription. Although certain subsequent psalms are ascribed
+to David, as, for example, lxxxvi., ci., and ciii., the close of the
+collection, is the significant epilogue (lxxii. 20), _the prayers of
+David the son of Jesse are ended._
+
+[Sidenote: _Meaning and value of the superscriptions_ ]
+
+Before the approximate date of these collections can be determined the
+significance of the Davidic title needs interpretation. In the Hebrew
+version, this title is borne by seventy-three psalms. Two are ascribed
+to Solomon (lxxii. and cxxvii.), one to Moses (xc.), and twenty-four to
+the members of the post-exilic guilds of temple singers. The
+superscriptions of the Greek and Syrian versions contain many variations
+from those in the Hebrew. This is probably due to the fact that
+superscriptions are usually added by later scribes in whose minds the
+question of authorship first became prominent. In earlier Hebrew the
+phrase commonly translated _Psalm of David_ would more naturally mean a
+_psalm for David_ or _dedicated_ or _attributed to David._ The latter
+appears to have been its original significance. Like the title,
+_Proverbs of Solomon,_ it was used to distinguish an ancient poem,
+which, being a psalm, was naturally ascribed to David, and to him later
+Judaism, in common with the New Testament writers, attributed all psalm
+literature. A detailed study of the superscriptions soon demonstrates
+that the majority of them represent only the conjectures of scribes who
+were guided by current traditions or suggestions embodied in the psalms
+themselves. In this manner, to Solomon, the builder of the temple, is
+ascribed Psalm cxxvii., because it refers to the building of the house
+in its opening verse. The Greek version even attributes to David Psalm
+xcvi., which, it states, was written _when the temple was being built
+after the captivity._
+
+[Sidenote: _David's relation to the psalter_]
+
+Since the superscriptions to the Psalter were only very late additions,
+the question still remains, What was the basis of the late Jewish
+tradition that makes David the father of the psalm literature, as was
+Solomon of the wisdom, Moses of the legal, and Enoch of the
+apocalyptical? The other Old Testament books give no direct answer. They
+tell us, however, that the warrior king was skilled in playing the lyre,
+and we are aware that to this, in antiquity, an improvised accompaniment
+was usually sung. We also have the account of David's touching elegies
+over the death of Saul and Jonathan and of Abner (II Sam. i., iii. 33,
+34). Moreover, the early historical books vividly portray the faults of
+David, the limitations which he shared in common with his
+contemporaries, and his deeply religious spirit; but they leave the
+question of his relation to the Psalter to be settled by the testimony
+of the individual psalms. Here the evidence is not conclusive. It is
+clear that many of the psalms attributed by tradition to him were
+written in the clearer light of later prophetic teaching and amid very
+different circumstances from those which surrounded Israel's early king.
+Still it would be dogmatic to assert that nothing from his lips is to be
+found in the Psalter; and to point out with assurance those passages and
+psalms which must be Davidic is quite as unwarrantable.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidence of pre-exilic elements in the Psalter_]
+
+The Psalter is clearly the repository of that which was best in the
+earlier spiritual life and thought of the race. While there are no
+direct references to songs in connection with the pre-exilic Jewish
+temple, Amos (v. 23) found them in use at the sanctuary at Bethel; and
+from Psalm cxxxvii. 3, 4 it would appear that the exiles in Babylonia
+were acquainted with certain _songs of Zion_ or _songs of Jehovah_.
+Treasured in the hearts of the people, and attributed, perhaps even by
+the time of the exile, as a whole to David, they constituted the
+basis of the earliest collections of psalms, which, as we have noted,
+practically without exception bear the Davidic superscription. The date
+of each individual psalm, however, must be determined independently on
+the basis of its own testimony, although the historical allusions are
+few and the data in many cases are far from decisive.
+
+[Sidenote: _Approximate date of the earliest collections_]
+
+Just when the earliest collections, found in iii.-xli. and li.-lxxii.,
+were made is a comparatively unimportant yet difficult question to
+decide. Probably the rebuilding of the temple in 516 B.C. was one of the
+great incentives. The example of the Babylonians, who possessed a large
+and rich psalm literature, may also have exerted an indirect influence.
+At least it is certain that the guilds of temple singers and the song
+service became increasingly prominent in the religious life of the
+Jewish community which grew up about the restored temple. The presence
+of alphabetical psalms, as, for example, ix., x., xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii.,
+in the earliest collection suggests also the leisure of the exile. The
+historical background of many of these psalms is clearly the exile and
+the long period of distress that followed. They voice the experiences of
+the poor, struggling band of the pious, who, living in the midst of
+oppressors, found in Jehovah alone their refuge and their joy. Some of
+these psalms also reflect the prophetic teachings of Jeremiah (_e.g._,
+xvi., xxxix) and of Isaiah xl.-lxvi. In general their attitude toward
+sacrifice is that of the prophets:
+
+  For thou desirest not sacrifice;
+  Else would I give it.
+  Thou delightest not in burnt offering.
+  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
+  A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
+
+Religion is defined in the terms of life and acts. Ceremonialism has not
+yet cast its chilling influence over the heart of the nation. Therefore
+the earliest collections may, with considerable assurance, be assigned
+to a date not later than the days of Nehemiah (about 400 B.C.).
+
+[Sidenote: _Later collections_]
+
+Psalms xlii.-l. and lxxiii-lxxxiii. constitute a collection of Levitical
+hymns. If we may follow the indications of their superscriptions,
+they consist of two originally distinct groups, the one, xlii.-xlix.,
+associated with and possibly at first collected and preserved by the
+post-exilic guild of temple singers, known as the sons of Korah, and the
+other, l., lxxiii.-lxxxiii., similarly attributed to Asaph, the guild of
+temple singers, mentioned first in the writings of the Greek period. In
+these two groups the priests and Levites and the liturgy are prominent.
+Psalms lxxxiv.-lxxxix. constitute a short Levitical supplement.
+The remainder of the Psalter is also made up of originally smaller
+collections, as, for example, the Psalms of Ascent or the Pilgrim Psalms
+(cxx.-cxxxiv.), and the Hallelujah Psalms (cxi.-cxiii. and cxlvi.-cl.).
+Some of the latter come perhaps from the Jews of the dispersion. Each
+collection appears to represent a fresh gleaning of the same or slightly
+different fields, incorporating ancient with contemporary psalms, and,
+as has been noted, not infrequently including some already found in
+earlier collections.
+
+[Sidenote: _Completion of the Psalter_]
+
+Certain of the psalms, such as lxxiv., lxxix., lxxxiii., seem clearly
+to reflect the horrors of the Maccabean struggle (169-165 B.C.). Later
+Jewish literature bears testimony that in the last two centuries before
+Christ psalm writing increased rather than decreased (_cf. e.g._, Psalms
+of Solomon). Certainly the experiences through which the Jews passed
+during the middle of the second century were of a nature to evoke psalms
+similar to those in the Psalter. The probabilities, therefore, are that
+the Psalter, in its final form, is, like the book of Daniel, one of
+the latest writings in the Old Testament. It was possibly during the
+prosperous reign of Simon, when the temple service was enriched and
+established on a new basis, that its canon was finally closed.
+
+[Sidenote: _The book of Lamentations_]
+
+The fact that they all gather about a definite event in Israel's
+history, and probably antedate the majority of the psalms in the
+Psalter, explains why the little collection of lyrical poems, known as
+the book of Lamentations, never found a place beside the kindred psalms
+(_e.g._, Pss. xlii., xliii) in the larger book. Their theme is the
+Babylonian exile and the horrors and distress that it brought to the
+scattered members of the Jewish race. Their aim is prophetic, that is,
+to point out and confess the guilt of the nation and its dire
+consequences. They reflect the teachings of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
+While it is not strange that later tradition attributed the collection
+to the first of these prophets, its contents do not support the
+conjecture. Four out of the five poems are alphabetical, and distinctly
+different points of view are represented. Chapters ii. and iv. probably
+come from the middle of the Babylonian exile, and to the remainder must
+be assigned a still later period.
+
+[Sidenote: _The national and individual element in the Psalter_]
+
+The Psalter, with its natural appendix, the book of Lamentations, was
+the song and prayer book of the Jewish community. A majority of the
+psalms, and especially those in the latter part of the book, were
+doubtless originally intended for liturgical use. Many, particularly
+where the first person singular is used, are to be interpreted
+collectively, for here, as often in the book of Lamentations, the
+psalmist is speaking in behalf of the community. Others have been
+adapted to liturgical ends. But in the final analysis it is the
+experience and emotions of the individual soul that find expression
+throughout all the psalms. Since these experiences and emotions were
+shared in common by all right-minded members of the community, it was
+natural that they should in time be employed in the liturgy.
+
+[Sidenote: _E pluribus unum_]
+
+Again, as we review the history of the Psalter, we are impressed with
+the many sides of Israel's life and human experience that it represents.
+Not one, but perhaps fifty or a hundred, inspired souls, laymen,
+prophets, priests, sages, kings, and warriors, have each clothed the
+divine truth that came to them or to their generation in exquisite
+language and imagery, and given it thus to their race and humanity.
+Successive editors have collected and combined the noblest of these
+psalms, and the Psalter is the result. The exact date of each psalmist
+and editor is comparatively unimportant, for though differing widely in
+origin and theme, they are all bound together by a common purpose and
+a common belief in the reality and the immediate presence of God. All
+nature and history and life are to them but the manifestation of his
+justice and mercy and love. In direct communion with the God whom they
+personally knew, they found the consolation and peace and joy that
+passeth all understanding, even though the heathen raged and their foes
+plundered and taunted them. To that same haven of rest they still pilot
+the world's storm-tossed mariners.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE FORMATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON
+
+[Sidenote: _Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century
+before Christ_]
+
+Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400
+B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1)
+The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean,
+Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their
+continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic
+prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old
+Testament laws, combined with the late priestly history; (3) the
+wisdom, represented by the older small collections of proverbs; (4) the
+devotional or liturgical, represented by Lamentations and the earlier
+collections of psalms.
+
+[Sidenote: _The combining of the prophetic and priestly histories_]
+
+Even before all the Old Testament books were written, the work of
+canonization began; before the first large canon was adopted, the
+prophetic and priestly narratives, and with them the earlier and later
+laws, were combined. This amalgamation was the work of a late priestly
+editor. The Pentateuch and its immediate sequel, Joshua, is the result.
+
+[Sidenote: _The method of combining_]
+
+A study of these books makes clear the editor's method. Naturally he
+gave the late priestly versions the precedence. He placed, therefore,
+its version of the creation first,--a position that it well deserves.
+Probably as a result of this arrangement the older and more primitive
+prophetic version of Genesis ii. 4a-25 was somewhat abridged, for it
+begins with the picture of a level plain, watered by a daily mist, and
+is immediately followed by the account of the creation of man. Genesis
+iii. and iv. are taken entirely from the prophetic, and practically all
+of v. from the priestly, group of narratives. Confronted by two variant
+versions of the flood, he joined them together into a closely knit
+narrative; but all the elements of both versions are so faithfully
+preserved that when they are again separated, behold! the two originally
+complete and self-consistent versions reappear. The story of Noah,
+the first vineyard-keeper, in ix. 20-27, is taken entirely from the
+prophetic history, but in x. two distinct lists of the nations are
+joined together. All the story of the tower of Babel in xi. 1-9 is from
+the prophetic, while the genealogical list in the remainder of the
+chapter is from the priestly history. The patriarchal and subsequent
+narratives are likewise combined with, the same remarkable skill.
+
+[Sidenote: _Later biblical analogies_]
+
+Thus the first six Old Testament books were given their final form. The
+method in general was the same as that followed by the authors of the
+First and Third Gospels in their use of Matthew's Sayings of Jesus and
+the original Mark narrative, or by the authors of Samuel, Kings, and
+Chronicles in their citations from the older sources. In his close
+fusion of three or four parallel narratives the editor's work resembled
+most closely that of Tatian, who thus combined the four Gospels in his
+_Diatessaron_. So far as we are able to observe, the final editor of
+the Hexateuch preserved, like Tatian, most of the material in his older
+sources, except where a parallel version verbally duplicated another.
+The prophetic and priestly narratives also followed lines so distinctly
+different that cases of duplication were comparatively few.
+
+[Sidenote: _Deep significance of the work of the later editors_]
+
+To the latest editor of the early narratives we owe the preservation of
+some or the oldest and most valuable sections of the Old Testament. In
+that age and land of perishable writing materials, the prevailing method
+of compilation was one of the effective means whereby the important
+portions of primitive records were handed down in practically their
+original form. It is well that we are beginning to understand its
+significance in the realization of the divine purpose. Important beyond
+words, although often overlooked, were the services of the faithful
+editors who without the slightest desire for personal glory or reward,
+other than the perpetuation of truth, carefully selected, condensed, and
+combined material gleaned from earlier and fuller sources. To them is
+due the marvellous preservation of our Old Testament, To the honored
+rôle of the prophets and apostles, therefore, let us add the anonymous
+redactors.
+
+[Sidenote: _Date of the beginning of the cannonization of the Law_]
+
+The final editors were the immediate precursors of those who formed the
+successive canons of the Old Testament. Indeed, between the work of the
+former and the latter there is no clear line of demarcation. A period
+shortly after 400 B. c. is the date usually accepted for the work of
+the final editor of the Pentateuch; the canonization of the law, which
+included these five books, is dated between 400 and 300 B.C. The real
+canonization of Israel's laws had, however, begun much earlier. The
+primitive decalogue, represented by Exodus xxxiv., and probably from
+the first associated with Moses, appears, in the earliest periods of
+Israel's history, to have enjoyed a canonical authority. The primitive
+accounts, in Exodus xix., of the establishment of the covenant
+by Jehovah with his people mark the real beginning of the process of
+canonization,--a process, that is, of attributing to certain laws a
+unique and commanding authority.
+
+[Sidenote: _Popular acceptance and promulgation of the earlier codes_]
+
+Likewise the successive civil, humane, and ceremonial decalogues appear
+from the days of the united kingdom to have occupied a similar position.
+Primarily this was probably due to the fact that each was based upon a
+divine _torah_ or decision, received from Jehovah through the priestly
+oracle. The public reading and promulgation of the Deuteronomic laws in
+the days of Josiah, with the attestation of the prophets and the solemn
+adoption by the people, was an act of canonization far more formal than
+the final acceptance of the New Testament writings by the Council of
+Carthage.
+
+[Sidenote: _Adoption of the late priestly law_]
+
+The next great stage in the canonization of the law is recorded in
+Nehemiah x. Then the representatives of the Jewish community _entered
+into a solemn obligation and took oath to walk in God's law, which was
+given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe to do all the commands
+of Jehovah our Lord and his ordinances and his statutes_ (v. 29.) This
+action appears to be the historical basis of the fanciful and incredible
+Jewish traditions concerning the work of the Great Synagogue and the
+authority of Ezra. The new law thus adopted was evidently the one
+gradually developed and finally formulated by the Jewish priests in
+Babylonia. It was accepted, as was the earlier Deuteronomic code,
+because it met the needs and appealed to the moral and religions sense
+of those by whom it was adopted.
+
+[Sidenote: _Acceptance of the completed Torah_]
+
+To set completely aside the Deuteronomic lawbook and the primitive
+decalogue of Exodus xx.-xxiii., already in force among the Jews of
+Palestine, was impossible and unnecessary. Hence, as we have noted, it
+was the task of some editor of the next generation to combine these
+and the earlier prophetic histories with the late priestly law and its
+accompanying history. Naturally this whole collection was still called
+the _Torah_ or _Law_ and was at once accepted as canonical by the Jews.
+This step was also most natural because their interests all centred
+about the ritual, and for two centuries the dominant tendency had been
+to exalt the sanctity of the written law.
+
+[Sidenote: _Date of the final canonization of the Law_]
+
+It is possible to fix approximately the date of this first edition of
+the Old Testament writings, since the Samaritans adopted and still
+retain simply the Pentateuch and an abbreviated edition of Joshua as
+their scriptures. Although Josephus, following a late Jewish tradition,
+dates the Samaritan schism at about 330 B.C., the contemporary evidence
+of Nehemiah xiii. 28 suggests that it was not long after 400. It is
+therefore safe to conclude that by 350 B.C. the first five books of our
+Old Testament had not only been singled out of the larger literature
+of the race, but were regarded as possessing a unique sanctity and
+authority.
+
+[Sidenote: _Principles of canonization_]
+
+As the name _Law_ suggests, the chief reason for this was the fact that
+these five books embodied laws long since accepted as binding. The
+second reason was probably because they were by current tradition
+ascribed to Moses. The third, and not the least, was, doubtless, because
+they met the need felt by the community for a unified and authoritative
+system of laws and for an authentic record of the earlier history of
+their race, especially that concerning the origin of their beloved
+institutions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidence that the Law was first canonized_]
+
+The priority of the canon of the law is also proved by the fact that,
+although it contains some of the later Old Testament writings, it stands
+first, not only in position but in the esteem of the Jewish race.
+Furthermore, it became in time the designation of all the Old Testament
+canonical writings. The term _Law_ is thus used in the New Testament
+(_e.g._, John x. 34, xii. 34; I Cor. xiv. 21), in the Talmud, and by the
+rabbis, indicating that the later groups of historical, prophetic, and
+poetical books were simply regarded as supplements.
+
+[Sidenote: _Canonization of the prophetic writings_]
+
+The history of the canonization of the next group, known as the
+_Prophets_, is very obscurely recorded, and this largely because it
+reached its culmination in the Greek period, concerning which we have
+only the most meagre information. Here analogy with the history of
+the New Testament is helpful. The same influences which led the early
+Christians to add the Epistles and Acts undoubtedly operated upon the
+minds of the Jews. The Law represented only a limited period in their
+national and religious history. But the addition of the early prophetic
+and legal histories to the detailed laws prepared the way for the
+expansion of the canon. This included first, the four historical books,
+Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, with the exception of Ruth. These
+were designated as the _Former Prophets_. Thus even the later Jews
+recognized their true character and authorship. The second division of
+the _Prophets_ included Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the
+Twelve, which contained the minor prophets.
+
+[Sidenote: _Evidence that the historico-prophetic books were first added
+to the Law_]
+
+The order of the book and the probabilities of the situation suggest
+that the _Former Prophets_, since they were the immediate sequel of the
+prophetic histories of the Pentateuch, and recorded the deeds of such
+heroes as David, Solomon, and Isaiah, were added first. That they also
+bear the marks of late priestly revision, is direct evidence of the
+esteem in which they were held by the late priestly school that
+completed the canon of the Law. They therefore may have been added as
+early as 300 B.C. They were certainly known to the author of Chronicles,
+as his many quotations from them show, although it is difficult to see
+how he would have felt as free as he does to substitute the testimony of
+later tradition, if they were regarded as equally sacred with the Law.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reverence for the prophetic word_]
+
+The reference to the prediction of Jeremiah, in the opening verse
+of Ezra, suggests the reverence with which the author of Chronicles
+regarded the words of this prophet. The post-exilic Jews never ceased
+to revere the prophetic word. The popular belief, current in the Greek
+period, that the prophets had ceased to speak only deepened their
+reverence for the teachings of Moses' successors (Deut. xviii. 15-19).
+The devotion of the later scribes is evinced by the scores of glosses
+which they have added to the older prophecies. It is manifest,
+therefore, how strong was the tendency, even in priestly circles, to add
+the Prophets to the Law.
+
+[Sidenote: _Date of completion of the prophetic canon_]
+
+The process was probably gradual and perhaps not complete until the Jews
+had learned fully to appreciate the value of their ancient Scriptures,
+after martyrs had died for the sacred writings during the Maccabean
+struggle. Aside from supplements made to older books, as, for example,
+Zechariah ix.-xiv., the canon of the prophets was probably closed not
+later than 200 B.C. From direct evidence it is clear that the book of
+Daniel (written about 165 B.C.) did not find a place in this canon. It
+is also significant that in the prologue to the Greek version of Ben
+Sira or Ecclesiasticus (132 B.C.) the translator refers repeatedly--as
+though they were then regarded as of equal authority--to the _Law and
+the Prophets and the rest of the books_, or to _the other books of the
+fathers_. But most significant of all, Ben Sira, who wrote about 190
+B.C., includes in his list of Israel's heroes (xliv.-l.) not only those
+mentioned in the _Torah_, but also David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and the
+chief characters in the _Former Prophets_. Furthermore, Isaiah and
+Jeremiah and Ezekiel are introduced in their proper settings, and the
+panegyric closes with a reference to the twelve prophets collectively,
+indicating that Ben Sira was also acquainted with the _Latter Prophets_
+as a group.
+
+[Sidenote: _The beginning of the last stage in the canonization of the
+Old Testament_]
+
+The reference to _the rest of the books_ in the prologue to Ben Sira
+indicates that even before 130 B.C. certain other writings had been
+joined to the canon of the Law. Ben Sira himself, to judge from his
+description of David (_cf_. xlvii. 8, 9, and I Chron. 25), Zerubbabel,
+Joshua, and Nehemiah, was acquainted with the books of Chronicles, Ezra,
+and Nehemiah. Chapter xlvii. 8 apparently contains an allusion to a
+hymn-book attributed to David. Evidently he was also familiar with the
+book of Proverbs, including its introductory chapters. Thus we have a
+glimpse of the beginning of that third stage in the canonization of the
+Old Testament which, as in the case of the New, continued for fully
+three centuries.
+
+[Sidenote: _Canonization of the Psalter and Lamentations_]
+
+The Psalter doubtless passed through different stages of canonization,
+as did the Old Testament itself. The earliest collection was, in the
+beginning, probably made for liturgical purposes, and its adoption in
+the service of the temple was practically equivalent to canonization.
+When successive collections were added, they too were thus canonized.
+The result was that the Psalter, when complete, enjoyed a position
+somewhat similar to that of the Law and the Prophets, although the
+authority of each rested upon a different basis. That the Psalter was
+early canonized is further demonstrated by a quotation in I Maccabees
+vii. 17 (about 125 B.C.) from Psalm lxxix. 2, 3, introduced by the
+words, _as it is written in the Scriptures_. This conclusion is also
+supported by the significant reference in the New Testament to the _Law,
+the Prophets, and the Psalms_ (Lk. xxiv. 44). Jesus' use of the Psalter
+indicates that in his day its canonicity was already thoroughly
+established. Lamentations, by a late tradition attributed to Jeremiah,
+was probably also canonized contemporaneously with the Psalms.
+
+[Sidenote: _The other books of the fathers_]
+
+The canonization of the book of Proverbs, like that of the Psalter, was
+undoubtedly by successive stages. The Jews of the Greek and Maccabean
+period were especially appreciative of this type of literature, and it
+was doubtless accorded its position of authority primarily because it
+rang true to human experience. That it was attributed to Solomon also
+told in its favor. Ben Sira's indirect testimony suggests that it and
+the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, which were in close accord
+with the point of view of later Judaism, were already in his day
+associated with the Law and the Prophets. The book of Ruth was probably
+at this time added to the other historical books.
+
+[Sidenote: _Canonization of the book of Daniel_]
+
+The absence of any reference in Ben Sira to Daniel is significant. The
+first allusion to it comes from the last half of the second century
+before Christ. First Maccabees i. 54 appears to quote the prediction of
+Daniel ix. 27, and in I Maccabees ii. 59, 60, Daniel and his three
+friends are held up as noble examples of virtue. Thus it would seem that
+within a half century after the book of Daniel was written its authority
+was recognized. In New Testament times its canonicity is fully
+established (_e.g., cf_. I Cor. vi. 2, and Dan. vii. 22).
+
+[Sidenote: _Date of the completion of the Hebrew Old Testament canon_]
+
+Concerning the canonicity of two books, Ecclesiastes and the Song of
+Songs or Canticles, the opinions of the rabbis continued to differ until
+the close of the first Christian century. From the Mishna we learn
+that the school of Shammai accepted Ecclesiastes, while that of Hillel
+rejected it. Finally, in a conference in Jamnia, about 100 A.D., the two
+schools finally agreed to accept both books as canonical. From Second
+Esdras and Josephus, however, we learn that the present Hebrew and
+Protestant canon of the Old Testament had already for some time been
+practically adopted by common consent.
+
+[Sidenote: _Contents of the last group of writings_]
+
+The last collection, which includes eleven books known as the
+_Hagiographa_ or _Sacred Writings_, constitutes the third general
+division of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is a heterogeneous group of
+histories, prophecies, stories, and wisdom books. Some, like the
+Psalter, were, as we have seen, probably canonized as early as the
+Prophets; although the final canon of the Old Testament was not closed
+until 100 A.D. Even later the canonicity of Ecclesiastes, the Song of
+Songs, and Esther was sometimes questioned; most of them were regarded
+as authoritative as early as 100 B.C. Here, as in the case of the New
+Testament, the real decision was not the work of any school or council;
+but gradually, on the basis of their intrinsic merit, the twenty-four
+books of the Hebrew Bible were singled out of a much larger literature
+and recognized, at least by the Jews of Palestine, as the authoritative
+record of God's revelation through their race.
+
+[Sidenote: _Differences between the Palestinian and Alexandrian canons_]
+
+Jewish tradition, represented by Second Esdras xiv. and the Talmudic
+treatise _Baba Bathra_ xv. a, states that all the canonical books were
+in existence in the time of Ezra. While the tradition is refuted by the
+historical facts, it appears to have influenced the Jews of Palestine in
+shaping their canon; since no books purporting to come from a later date
+or author are found in it. The broader-minded Jews of the dispersion,
+and especially Alexandria and the early Christian Church, refused to be
+bound by the narrow principle that divine revelation ceased with Ezra.
+Accordingly we find them adopting a larger canon, that included many
+other later writings known in time as the apocryphal or hidden books.
+
+[Sidenote: _Additional books in the Greek and Christian canon_]
+
+These consisted of three genuine works,--I and II Maccabees and Ben Sira
+or Ecclesiasticus; two didactic stories,--Tobit and Judith; four books
+wrongly ascribed to earlier authors,--the Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, the
+Epistle of Jeremy, and Second Esdras (Gk. IV Esdras); and four additions
+to the Hebrew canonical books,--First Esdras, an expansion of the book
+of Ezra, the Prayer of Manasses, and additions to Esther and Daniel.
+
+[Sidenote: _History of the Apocryphal books in the Christian Church_]
+
+As is well known, these books were retained by the Christian Church,
+as they still are by the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, until the
+Protestant reformers relegated them, as a whole, to a secondary place.
+Ultimately the Bible societies, during the first part of the last
+century, ceased to print them in the ordinary editions of the Bible.
+The result is that the present generation has almost forgotten their
+existence. The last decade or two, however, has witnessed a significant
+revival of interest among the scholars of Christendom, and the wholesome
+tendency to restore certain of the Apocrypha to the working Old
+Testament canon is very marked. This is only a correction of the error
+of the Protestant reformers in estimating the Apocryphal books, not by
+the intrinsic merit of each individual writing but of the group as a
+whole.
+
+[Sidenote: _Great value of these later Jewish writings_]
+
+Some of the Apocrypha and kindred books like the apocalypse of Enoch,
+were quoted and recognized by New Testament scholars as having authority
+equal to that of the other Old Testament Scriptures. The rejection of I
+and II Maccabees and Ben Sira from the Palestinian canon because they
+were written after the days of Ezra and not associated with the names
+of any early Old Testament worthies, was due to a narrow conception
+of divine revelation, directly contrary to that of Christianity which
+recognized the latest as the noblest. These later Jewish writings
+also bridge the two centuries which otherwise yawn between the two
+Testaments--two centuries of superlative importance both historically
+and religiously, witnessing as they do the final development of the life
+and thought of Judaism and the rise of those conditions and beliefs
+which loom so large in the New Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _The larger working canon of the Old Testament_]
+
+While they will always be of great value in the study of later Jewish
+history, literature, and religion, the majority of the apocryphal books
+undoubtedly belong in the secondary group to which the Palestinian Jews
+and the Protestant reformers assigned them. Three or four, however,
+tested by the ultimate principles of canonicity, are equal, if not
+superior, to certain books like Chronicles, Esther, and Ecclesiastes.
+First Maccabees records one of the most important crises in Israelish
+history. As a faithful historical writing, it is hardly equalled in
+ancient literature. Its spirit is also genuinely religious. The later
+but parallel history of II Maccabees is not the equal of the first,
+although its religious purpose is more pronounced. Its historical
+character, style, aim, and point of view are strikingly similar to those
+of the book of Chronicles. The proverbs of Ben Sira, while not all
+of the same value, yet abound in noble and practical teachings, very
+similar to those in the book of Proverbs. Not only does the Wisdom of
+Solomon contain many exalted and spiritual passages, but it is also of
+unique importance because it represents that wonderful fusion of the
+best elements in Hebrew and Hellenic thought which formed the background
+of Christianity. Probably the Church, will ultimately restore to its
+larger working Old Testament canon the beautiful Prayer of Manasses,
+already largely adopted in the prayer-book of the Anglican Church.
+
+[Sidenote: _Conclusion_]
+
+Our rapid historical study has revealed the unity and the variety of
+teaching reflected in the Old Testament, and has suggested its real
+place in the revelation of the past and its true place in the life of
+to-day. This older testament is the record of God's gradual revelation
+of himself through the history of the Israelitish race and the
+experiences and minds of countless men and women whose spiritual eyes
+were open and whose ears were attentive to divine truth. The same benign
+Father who has always spoken to his children has influenced them also to
+recognize the writings that most faithfully and fully record the
+spiritual truth thus revealed. Had the task been entrusted to our own or
+later generations, it is not probable that the result would have
+differed in any important essential. For a few brief centuries false
+theories and traditions may partially obscure the truth, but these, like
+the mists of morning, are sure in time to melt away and reveal the
+eternal verities in their sublime beauty and grandeur.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of regarding each story as a unit_]
+
+Of all the different groups of writings in the Old Testament,
+undoubtedly the early narratives found in the first seven books present
+the most perplexing problems. This is primarily due to the fact that
+they have been subject to a long process of editorial revision by which
+stories, some very old and others very late and written from a very
+different point of view, have been closely joined together. While there
+is a distinct aim and unity in the whole, in approaching them it is
+simplest to study each story as a unit in itself. Not only is this
+practical, but it is justified by the fact that almost every story was
+once current in independent form. Often, as in the case of the accounts
+of creation and the flood, it is possible to recover the older versions
+and even to trace their origin and earlier history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Classification necessary to determine the point of view_]
+
+The first essential, however, is to determine to the point of view and
+purpose of the biblical writer, who has taken the given story from the
+lips of his contemporaries and incorporated it in the cycle of stories
+in which it is now found, Here the language, literary style, theme, and
+conceptions of God and religion are the chief guides. If, as in the
+first chapter of Genesis, the Deity is always designated as _God_ or
+_Elohim;_ if the literary style is formal, repetitious, and generic; if
+the theme is the origin of an institution like the Sabbath; and if
+the Deity is conceived of as a spirit, accomplishing his purpose by
+progressive stages through the agency of natural forces,--it is not
+difficult to recognize at once the work of a late priestly writer. If,
+on the contrary, as in Genesis ii. 4b to iii. 24, _Jehovah_ is the name
+of the Deity; if the style is vivid, picturesque, and flowing; if the
+interest centres in certain individuals instead of species; if the
+themes vitally concern the spiritual life of man; if the Deity is
+conceived of after human analogies, as intimately associating with
+men, and as revealing himself directly to them by word and visible
+presence,--the work of an early prophetic writer is evidently before us.
+The identification of the point of view of the author at once puts us
+into appreciative sympathy with him.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of knowing an author's point of view_]
+
+It also enables us intelligently to interpret his words and figures.
+Knowing, for example, that the first chapter of Genesis was written by a
+priest who lived long after his race had ceased to think of God as
+having a body like a man, we cannot make the common mistake of
+interpreting verse 26 as implying physical likeness. Rather, as his
+conception of God as a spirit demands and the latter part of the verse
+proves, his sublime teaching is that man, the end and culmination of the
+entire work of creation, is like his Creator, a spiritual being, endowed
+with a mind and a will, and as God's viceregent, is divinely commanded
+to rule over all created things.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practical value of the critical analysis_]
+
+Where two distinct versions of the same narrative have been amalgamated
+in the process of editorial revision, the analysis of the original
+sources is indispensable to a true understanding and interpretation of
+the thought of the prophet and priest who have each utilized the
+ancient story,--as, for example, that of the flood,--to illustrate the
+inevitable consequences of sin and God's personal interest in mankind.
+Here the culminating purpose of the prophet, however, is to proclaim
+Jehovah's gracious promise that he will never thus again destroy man or
+living things; that (viii. 21, 22):
+
+  While the earth remains,
+  Seedtime and harvest,
+  Cold and heat,
+  Summer and winter,
+  Day and night
+  Shall not cease.
+
+The priest, on the other hand, is interested in the renewal of the
+covenant which insures man's dominion over the natural world, and in the
+sanctity of blood, and in the primitive, divine origin of the command,
+Thou shalt not kill (ix. 1-6).
+
+[Sidenote: _The necessary basis for intelligent interpretation_]
+
+Fortunately the work of analysis has been so thoroughly carried out
+during the last century that there is practical agreement among the
+Christian scholars of the world on the essential questions. These
+results are now also available in popular form, so that, without wasting
+time on technicalities, the pastor and teacher of to-day can utilize
+them as the basis for more important study and teaching. The origin,
+the literary form, and the scientific and historical accuracy of each
+narrative all suggest definite and interesting lines of study, but, as
+has been noted (p. 106), these are of secondary value compared with the
+religious truths that each story is intended to illustrate.
+
+[Sidenote: _Principles of religious interpretation_]
+
+Since these stories were preserved because they conserve this higher
+purpose, it is always  safe to ask, What are their distinctive
+contributions to the grand total of ethical and spiritual teaching found
+in the Old Testament? At the same time it is exceedingly important
+always to be sure to read the teachings out of, and not into, a given
+narrative. By unnatural and fanciful interpretation of these simple
+stories the friends of the Bible in the past have often wronged it more
+than have its avowed foes. Each story, like the parables of Jesus, had
+its one or two central teachings, usually conveyed to the mind by
+implication rather than by direct statement. The characters who figure
+in them by their words and deeds proclaim the practical truths and
+embody the ideals in the minds of the ancient prophets and priests.
+
+[Sidenote: _Theme of Genesis ii. and iii._]
+
+The heterogeneous group of stories found in Genesis i.-xi. constitute
+the general introduction to the succeeding narratives which gather about
+the names of the traditional ancestors of the Hebrews. Each of these
+originally independent stories illustrates its own peculiar religious
+teachings. None has taken a deeper hold on the imagination and made a
+deeper impression on the thought and literature of the world than that
+which is found in the second and third chapters of Genesis. Its theme--
+the origin and nature and consequences of sin--is of vital, personal
+interest to every man of every age.
+
+[Sidenote: _The problem of presenting it in a form intelligible to
+early man_]
+
+The problem that confronted the early Judean prophet was to present in
+form intelligible to the minds of his primitive readers a subject that
+has taxed to the utmost the resources of the world's greatest
+philosophers and theologians. The task was comparable to that which fell
+to the Master when he sought to make clear to his untutored disciples
+the real nature of the mighty tempest of temptation that raged in his
+soul at the beginning, and, indeed, later in his ministry. The method
+adopted was strikingly similar in each case. If the language of modern
+philosophy and psychology had been at the command of these great
+religious teachers, it would have but obscured the great truths. These
+truths must be made objective; they must be expressed in the familiar
+language of the people. Even the inner struggle of conflicting motives
+must be presented in words so simple that a child could understand.
+
+[Sidenote: _Pictorial elements drawn from popular tradition_]
+
+The second and third chapters of Genesis record the effective way in
+which a great early prophet dealt with his difficult problem. From the
+lips of the people he took fragments of ancient Semitic traditions.
+Almost all of the elements which enter into the story of man's fall have
+been traced to far earlier sources; but the narrative in its present
+unity and suggestiveness never has and never will be found outside the
+Bible. How far the prophet adapted to his higher purpose the current
+Hebrew version can not be absolutely determined. The fact alone remains
+that it is one of the truest bits of history in the Old Testament, and
+this not because it is a leaf from the diary of Adam and Eve, but
+because it concretely and faithfully portrays universal human
+experience.
+
+[Sidenote: _Creation of man and the elements necessary for his
+development_]
+
+In the simple language of popular tradition it proclaims, among other
+truths, that Jehovah, Israel's God, created man, breathing into him from
+his own nostrils the vital principle of life and making him the
+commanding figure in the universe; then that the Creator graciously
+provided all that was needful and best for his true physical and
+spiritual development. Incidentally the prophet calls attention to that
+innate and divine basis of the marriage bond which Jesus re-emphasizes
+(Matt. xix. 4-6). Physical death, according to the story in its present
+form, was not a necessary part of Jehovah's plan; the implication is
+that man would not die while he remained in the garden and ate of the
+life-giving tree. Temptation is not in itself evil, but necessary, if
+man is to develop positive virtue, for beside the tree of life grows the
+tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with its attractive, alluring
+fruit guarded by the divine prohibition.
+
+[Sidenote: _The struggle in the woman's heart_]
+
+The elements of the temptation are all presented in chapter ii., but the
+serpent, the craftiest of animals, in his conversation with the woman is
+required to make clear and objective the real nature of the conflict
+within her mind. The rôle of the serpent is the opposite of that of
+Balaam's ass, which figures in a story which comes from the same early
+Judean prophetic school. In the conversation between the woman and the
+serpent the true character of all temptation is revealed: it is the
+necessity of choosing between two courses of conduct neither of which is
+altogether bad. Curiosity, which is the guide to all knowledge, the
+beauty of the apple, which appeals to the aesthetic sense, and physical
+appetite, not in itself bad,--all these powerfully attracted the
+Oriental woman of the ancient story. On the other side she felt the
+compelling power of love and gratitude and the definite divine command.
+
+[Sidenote: _The essence of all temptation_]
+
+The prophet saw clearly that all the elements of temptation are within
+man--a truth sometimes obscured in later Jewish thought. Milton has also
+led us astray in identifying the crafty serpent with the Satan of later
+Judaism. The prophet graphically presents another great fact of human
+experience, namely, that what is one man's temptation is not another's,
+that the temptation to be real must appeal to the one tested. The crafty
+serpent is not represented as speaking to the man; he would probably
+have turned away in loathing. His wife, she who had already sinned, the
+one whom Jehovah had given him as a helpmeet, herself appeals to the
+sense of chivalry within him. Hence the conflict rages in his soul
+between love and obligation to Jehovah and his natural affection and
+apparent duty to his wife. Thus in all temptation the diviner impulses
+struggle with those which are not in themselves necessarily wrong but
+only baser by contrast. Duty is the call of the diviner, sin is the
+yielding to the baser, motives.
+
+[Sidenote: _The real nature of sin_]
+
+The Hebrew word for sin, which means the missing of the mark set up
+before each individual, is the only altogether satisfactory definition
+of sin ever devised, for it absolutely fits the facts of human
+experience. Deflection from the moral standard set up by each man's
+conscience, even though his resulting act seem in itself noble, is for
+him a sin. Although the influences which led the man and woman of the
+story to disobey were exceedingly strong, the higher standard had been
+set up, and in falling short of it they sinned. Thus sin is not God's
+but man's creation, and results from the deliberate choice of what the
+sinner knows to be wrong.
+
+[Sidenote: _The effects of sin_]
+
+In the same simple yet powerful way the prophet depicts the inevitable
+consequences of sin. At every point the picture is true to universal
+experience. The most appalling effect of a wrong act is that it destroys
+peace and purity of mind. It also makes cowards of brave men, and the
+presence and tender affection of the one wronged suddenly become
+intolerable. Sin also begets sin. To the cowering fugitives Jehovah
+comes, as he always does, with a message intended to evoke a frank
+confession which would tear down the hideous barrier that their sin had
+reared between himself and them; but, like most foolish, blind Adams and
+Eves, they hug their crime to their breasts and raise the barrier heaven
+high by trying to excuse their guilt. Thus they pronounce their own
+doom. For God himself only one course of action remains: it is to send
+them forth from his presence and from the life-giving tree, out into the
+school of hardship and bitter pain, that there they may learn the
+lessons which are necessary before they can again become citizens of the
+true Garden of Eden.
+
+[Sidenote: _The sequel to the story of man's fall_]
+
+Two simple yet exceedingly significant touches lighten the gloom of this
+universal tragedy of human life. The one is that for the guilty,
+unrepentant pair, Jehovah himself made tunics of skins to protect them
+from the inclemency of their new life,--evidence that his love and care
+still went with them. The other is the implication that the true garden
+of Eden was still to be found on earth, and was closed simply to the
+guilty and unrepentant. The Bible is the record of how men learned the
+all-important lessons in the painful school of experience. Israel's
+teachers, each in his characteristic way, led their race on toward the
+common goal. The Gospels tell of how _a man, tempted in all points as we
+are_ in a distant day and land found his way again into the abiding
+presence of God. He _was one with the Father_, not because he did not
+meet temptation in all its power, but because, unlike the actors in the
+primitive story, and all other participants in the drama of life, he
+yielded only to the guidance of divine impulses. Not content with
+achieving the goal himself, he gave his energies and his life to showing
+others how they also might overcome the baser impulses within them and
+find their way to God's presence and become one with him. Thus, because
+of what he did and said and was, he forever vindicated his title of
+Saviour of Mankind.
+
+[Sidenote: _The religious teachings of other early stories_]
+
+No other early Old Testament narrative is perhaps so full of rich
+spiritual suggestion as the one just considered, and yet each has its
+valuable contribution. Even such a story as that of the killing of Abel
+by Cain forcibly teaches the great prophetic truth that it is not the
+form of the offering, but the character and deeds back of the sacrifice,
+that determine Jehovah's favor or disfavor (iv. 7). Graphically it sets
+forth the spirit that prompts the greatest of crimes. In contrast to
+Cain, defiant yet pursued by haunting fear of vengeance, it also
+presents the divine tenderness and mercy in granting him a tribal mark
+to protect him from the hand of man. The similar story of Noah, the
+first vineyard-keeper, preaches the first temperance sermon in all
+literature, and also suggests the inevitable consequences of moral
+depravity so forcibly illustrated in the history of the ancient
+Canaanites. Even the prosaic table of the nations in Genesis x.
+emphasizes the conception of the unity of the human family which was
+destined in time to become the basis of Israel's belated missionary
+activity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Ideals presented in the early prophetic portrait of Abraham_]
+
+When we pass to the twelfth chapter of Genesis the independent stories
+coalesce into cycles, and each cycle, as well as each narrative, has its
+own religious purpose. In definite outlines each successive group of
+teachers painted the character of Abraham, the traditional father of the
+Israelitish race, and held it up before their own and succeeding
+generations as a perpetual example and inspiration. In the early Judean
+prophetic narratives he is pictured as the friend of Jehovah. His own
+material interests are entirely secondary, as illustrated in his dealing
+with Lot. Without hesitation he leaves home and kindred behind, for his
+dominating purpose in life is simply to know and do the will of Jehovah.
+To this end he rears altars throughout the land of Canaan. His chief joy
+is in communion with God and in the promises to be realized in his
+descendants. Through warring, hostile Canaan he passes unscathed, for
+his eyes are fixed on things heavenly.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its significance_]
+
+It matters little whether or not, far back in the primitive days of
+Israel's history, a Bedouin sheik anticipated in actual character and
+life all that was gradually revealed to the prophets of a much later
+age. The supremely significant fact is that the noble ideal of Israel's
+earliest teachers was thus vividly and concretely embodied in the
+portrait of him whom the Hebrews regarded with pride and adoration as
+the founder of their race. In Hosea and Jeremiah, and less imperfectly
+in the nation as a whole, the ideal in time became an historical
+reality.
+
+[Sidenote: _Later portraits of Abraham_]
+
+The early Ephraimite school of writers picture Abraham as a prophet
+(Gen. xx. 7), and therefore as an exemplification of their highest
+ideal. In the remarkable fourteenth chapter of Genesis he is a
+courageous, chivalrous knight, attacking with a handful of followers the
+allied armies of the most powerful kings of his day. Returning
+victorious, he restores the spoil to the plundered and gives a princely
+gift to the priest of the local sanctuary. In the later priestly
+narratives the picture suddenly changes, and Abraham figures as the
+faithful servant of the law, with whom originates the rite of
+circumcision, the seal of a new covenant (xvii). Later Jewish and Moslem
+traditions each have their characteristic portrait. One, which pictures
+him as in heaven the protector of the faithful, is reflected in the New
+Testament (Luke xvi. 23-30), Thus each succeeding age and group of
+teachers made him the embodiment and supreme illustration of its noblest
+ideals, and it is this ideal element that gives the Old Testament
+stories their permanently practical value.
+
+[Sidenote: _Practical teachings of the Abraham stories_]
+
+Having noted the teachings that each individual story and the cycle as a
+whole conveyed to the minds of their first readers, it only remains for
+the teacher of to-day to translate them into modern terms. Some of the
+most important implications of the Abraham stories thus interpreted are,
+for example: (1) God calls each man to a high mission. (2) He will guide
+and care for those who are responsive. (3) To those who seek to know him
+intimately, and to do his will, he will reveal himself in fullest
+measure, and for such he has in store his richest blessings. (4) _He
+that findeth his life_ (Lot) _shall lose it, and he that loseth his
+life_ (Abraham) _shall find it_.
+
+[Sidenote: _Significance of the character of Esau_]
+
+The Jacob and Esau stories contain marvellously exact and realistic
+portraits of the two races (the Israelites and the Edomites) that they
+respectively represent. Of the two brothers, Esau is in many ways the
+more attractive. He suggests the open air and the fields, where he loved
+to hunt. He is easy-going, ingenuous, and impulsive. His faults are
+those of not being or doing. As long as he had enough to eat and was
+comfortable, he was contented. He is the type of the world's drifters.
+Since Aram was far distant he disregards the wishes of his parents and
+marries one of the daughters of the land. No ambition stirred him and no
+devotion to Jehovah or to the ideals of his race gave content and
+direction to his life. Thus he remained a laggard, and the half-nomadic,
+robber people that he represented became but a stagnant pool, compared
+with the onrushing stream of Israel's life.
+
+[Sidenote: _Jacob's faults_]
+
+Jacob's faults are also presented by the early prophets with an
+astonishing fidelity. Rarely does a race early in its history have a
+portrait of its weaknesses as well as its strength held up thus
+prominently before its eyes. Jacob is the antithesis of Esau. While his
+brother was hunting care-free in the fields, he was at home plotting how
+he could farther his own interests. When the opportunity offers, he
+manifests a cold, calculating shrewdness. To make good the title to the
+birthright thus acquired he does not hesitate to resort to fraud and
+lying. Then he flees, pursued by his own guilty conscience, and, tricked
+by Laban, he serves as a slave fourteen years to win the wife whom he
+loves. At last, again a fugitive from the consequences of his own
+questionable dealing, he returns with quaking heart to face the brother
+that he had wronged.
+
+[Sidenote: _The elements of strength in Israel's character_]
+
+The character is far from a perfect one, and yet the ancient stories
+suggest its elements of strength. By nature he was selfish and crafty;
+and yet he has what Esau fatally lacks: energy, persistency, and a
+commanding ambition. From the first his ambition looks beyond himself to
+the future of his descendants. Measured by our modern standards, his
+religious professions seem only hypocrisy; but as we analyze his
+character we find that a faith in Jehovah, narrow and selfish though it
+be, was ever his guiding star. Out of the tortuous windings of his
+earlier years it ultimately led him to a calm old age. Imperfect though
+his character was, like that of the race which he represented, the
+significant fact is that God ever cared for him and was able to utilize
+him as an agent in divine revelation.
+
+[Sidenote: _The noble teachings of the Joseph stories_]
+
+Even more obvious and universal are the practical lessons illustrated by
+the Joseph stories. In the early prophetic narratives, Abraham is the
+perfect servant of God, Jacob the type of the Israelitish race, but
+Joseph is the ideal man of affairs. Graphically the successive stories
+picture the man in his making and reveal his true character. He is
+simple, affectionate, and yet strongly ambitious. His day-dreams make
+him odious, as in the case of many a boy to-day, to his unimaginative
+brothers. A seemingly hard fate rudely snatches him from the enervating
+influences of his childhood home and places him in the severe school of
+experience, where he is tested and trained. It also opens wide the door
+of opportunity. Fidelity to every interest and an unselfish response to
+every opportunity for service soon bring him into the presence of the
+Pharaoh. His judicious counsels, diplomacy, and organizing ability win
+for him the highest honors Egypt can confer. With modesty and fidelity
+he endures this supreme test--success. Toward his brothers, who had
+bitterly wronged him, he is nobly magnanimous, and to his kinsmen, who
+belong to the shepherd class especially despised as boors by the
+cultured Egyptians, he is loyal and considerate. Above all, not by
+professions, but by deeds, he reveals the true source of his strength,--
+a natural faith in the God of his race and an unfailing loyalty to him.
+
+[Sidenote: _Conclusion_]
+
+In the same way Moses, the exodus, and the great men and events of
+Israel's dramatic history, all have a religious importance and
+significance far surpassing the merely historical. At the same time the
+methods of modern literary and historical investigation reveal rather
+than conceal the deeper spiritual truths that they illustrate. The more
+light that can be turned upon them the more clearly will their essential
+teachings stand forth. Like the Old Testament as a whole, they grew up
+out of real life and truly reflect and interpret it, and therefore have
+a living, vital message to life to-day. Any interpretation that does not
+ring true to life may well be questioned. Finally, the authority of
+these ancient narratives depends not upon the historical or scientific
+accuracy of the individual story that is used as an illustration, but
+upon the fact that through the experiences and hearts of those who
+employed them God was seeking to make men free by the knowledge of the
+truth.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+PRACTICAL METHODS OF STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+[Sidenote: _The various methods of approach_]
+
+The Old Testament may be studied as literature, as history, as the
+record of an important stage in the evolution of religion, as the
+revelation of God to the race, or as a practical aid to the individual
+in living the true life. Each angle of approach calls for different
+methods and yields its correspondingly rich results. Studied in
+accordance with the canons of modern literary investigation, a
+literature is disclosed of surpassing variety, beauty, and fascination.
+After the principles of historical criticism have been vigorously
+applied, the Old Testament is found to contain some of the most
+important and authentic historical data that have come down to us from
+antiquity. To the general student of religion there is no group of
+writings that equals in value those included in these ancient
+Scriptures. As a simple, clear revelation of the character and will of
+the Divine Ruler, present and regnant in all life, the Old Testament is
+surpassed by only one other volume, and that is its complement, the New.
+
+[Sidenote: _The supreme aim of Old Testament study_]
+
+It is, however, as the guide to right thinking, and being, and acting,
+_that the man of God may be perfect, completely equipped for every good
+work_, that the Old Testament is and always will be studied by the
+majority of people. In so doing they will be realizing its primary and
+supreme purpose. Like true religion, it is not an end in itself, but
+simply an effective force, drawing and binding individual men to God and
+to the right. Any method of study that fails to attain this definite
+and practical end does not achieve the chief aim of the Old Testament
+writings.
+
+[Sidenote: _Necessity of studying the Old Testament as an organic
+whole_]
+
+This practical and personal end, however, cannot be attained at a leap.
+It is impossible to achieve the best results by taking a truth or a
+passage here and there and applying it at once to the individual. Both
+the Old Testament and the individual are something organic. Each book
+has a unity and a history that must be understood, if a given passage is
+to be fairly interpreted or its truths intelligently applied, Individual
+books are also related to others and to their historical background.
+Also, as has already been shown, to appreciate fully the vital message
+of a given writer it is necessary, not to know his name, but his place
+in history, his point of view, his method of expression, and his
+purpose. The Old Testament and Israelitish history as a whole are the
+best and most essential interpreters of individual books and passages.
+The most serious handicap to the ordinary Bible teacher and scholar
+is the lack of this broader, systematic, constructive knowledge. Much
+earnest, devoted study, especially in the Old Testament fields, is
+deficient in inspiration and results, because it is simply groping in an
+unknown land. It is all important, therefore, to ascend some height and
+spy out the land as a whole, to note the relation of different books and
+events to each other, and to view broadly the great stream of divine
+revelation which flows out of the prehistoric past on through the Old
+and New Testaments to the present.
+
+[Sidenote: _Remarkable adaptation of the Old Testament to different ages
+and degrees of moral culture._]
+
+In order effectively to apply the truths of the Old Testament to life,
+it is also necessary to regard the point of view of the individual to
+be taught. This fundamental principle of all education was fully
+appreciated and applied by Israel's great spiritual teachers. The result
+is that the Old Testament contains truths marvellously adapted to every
+age and type of mind. The importance of the religious culture of the
+child is emphasized by the comparatively large proportion, of writings
+especially fitted to hold the attention and arouse the imagination and
+shape the ideals even of the youngest. Nearly half of the Old Testament
+consists simply of narratives. Those inimitable stories, which come from
+the childhood of the race, have a perennial fascination for the child of
+to-day. They find him on his own mental and moral plane, as they did the
+primitive child, and by natural stages lead him on and up to the higher
+standards and broader faith of Israel's later prophets and sages, and
+thus prepare him to understand and appreciate the perfected life and
+teachings of Jesus.
+
+[Sidenote: _The prophetic stories the children's Bible_]
+
+In the modern use of the Old Testament, the faithful application of this
+fundamental principle also leads to a most practical conclusion; the
+stories peculiarly adapted to children are not the mature, legalistic
+narratives of the late priestly writers, but the early prophetic
+stories, which begin in the second chapter of Genesis. If children are
+taught only these, they will not be disconcerted by widely variant
+versions of the same events. Above all, they will be delivered from the
+inconsistencies and erroneous impressions which are often the cause of
+stumbling to the child. The later process of unlearning, which is
+always dangerous, will be avoided. If the problems presented by the
+priestly narratives be reserved until they can be studied from the
+broader and truer point of view, they will be readily solved, and the
+great positive teachings of these later didactic stories will be fully
+appreciated.
+
+[Sidenote: _The prophets the best story-tellers_]
+
+The subject-matter, therefore, supremely suitable for the earliest
+moral and spiritual culture of the child, is clearly the simple and yet
+profound prophetic stories of the Old Testament. It is very questionable
+whether the many excellent paraphrases now current are a gain or a
+hindrance. The ancient prophets and the generations who have retold them
+were inimitable story-tellers. To attempt to improve upon their work is
+futile. A simple, clear translation is all that is required. [Footnote:
+A Children's Bible is now being prepared according to the plan suggested
+above.] The interpretation and application of their practical teachings
+can best be left to the intuition of the child and the direction of the
+intelligent parent and teacher.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their effective methods of presenting truths_]
+
+It is also astonishing how readily even a little child appreciates the
+essential lessons, as, for example, those regarding the nature and
+consequences of sin, presented by the story of the Garden of Eden. Under
+the charm of the attractive personalities that figure in them, and
+the stirring achievements, so dramatically presented that they command
+breathless attention, the early prophetic narrations unconsciously and,
+therefore, all the more effectively, instil into the mind of the child
+the most essential truths regarding God and life and duty. At the same
+time, as they study in order the deeds of the heroes and makers of
+Israel's history, they are becoming familiar with the real background of
+the earlier revelation recorded in the Old Testament.
+
+[Sidenote: _The present position of these stories_]
+
+Therefore scattered throughout Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges,
+Ruth, Samuel, Kings, and the older sections of Ezra, Nehemiah, and I
+Maccabees, are to be found in rich profusion the material for the
+earliest years of Bible study. These should naturally be supplemented by
+the stories of the prophets, found in such books as Isaiah, Jeremiah,
+and Haggai. Their sequel and culmination are the corresponding stories
+in the Gospels and Acts.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the direct personal teachings of the Old
+Testament_]
+
+In connection with the earliest study of the achievements of Israel's
+heroes and spiritual leaders, many of their greatest teachings would be
+appropriated and applied, but when the years of early adolescence are
+reached, the prophets in their sermons, the priests in their laws, the
+usages in their proverbs, and the psalmists in their psalms, each have
+certain personal messages, superbly adapted to the critical, formative
+years, when childhood begins to unfold into maturity. To make this
+material available, judicious selection and interpretation are required.
+The organism of each book and of the child must both be carefully
+regarded to make the adjustment perfect. Naturally this most vital line
+of study would be the introduction to a corresponding study of the
+direct, personal teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the origin and growth of the Old Testament_]
+
+This intensely practical work could profitably be preceded or followed
+by a study of the origin and growth of the different books and groups of
+Old Testament writings and the gradual stages whereby these Scriptures
+attained their present form and authority. The guides in this
+investigation should not be the Jewish rabbis or even the traditions of
+the Church Fathers. We have been misled too long by the pious guesses of
+the mediæval saints; but rather the testimony of the Bible itself and
+the evidence of contemporary writings should be the guides. The spirit
+should also be frank and constructive. The results cannot fail to be
+practically helpful in a great variety of ways. Thus on the basis of
+facts, in the light of history, and by the use of those methods of
+research which alone command respect and acceptance in other kindred
+lines of investigation, the questions which come to every thoughtful
+boy and girl will be fairly and truly answered. In this way those
+experiences which are inevitable in this critical age will deepen and
+broaden rather than destroy the foundations of individual faith.
+
+[Sidenote: _The historical method of approach_]
+
+With this general introduction, many students and classes will find it
+profitable to approach the Old and New Testaments from the distinctively
+historical point of view. Beginning with the unfolding of the
+civilization and religion of ancient Babylonia, they will study in
+conjunction the history, the strong personalities, the literature, and
+the thought of each successive period. The advantages of this method of
+study are many. Each book will be read and its messages interpreted
+in the light of the conditions and forces that constitute its true
+background. The different characters will live again, and the
+significance of their work and words will be fully appreciated as they
+are viewed in the clear perspective of history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its practical aims and results_]
+
+Above all, such a synthetic study of the unfolding of the supreme truths
+of revelation lays a foundation for the individual faith as broad as
+human experience. This is to attain one of the chief aims of all study,
+which is to put the individual into practical possession of all that is
+vital and best in the experiences and achievements of the past, that,
+thus equipped, he may go forth to fight the battle of life, valiantly
+and successfully.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its natural sequel_]
+
+This last course of study would call for several years, and, more than
+that, for enthusiasm, devotion, and real work. It would also take the
+student in time through the New Testament period, with its literature
+and commanding personalities and events, and perhaps beyond to the great
+epochs of Church history. Many would not stop until they had studied
+the latest chapter in Church history, the noble missionary activity and
+achievement of the past and present century.
+
+[Sidenote: _Advances courses of study_]
+
+When the Bible had thus been studied, the scholars in our schools would
+not be ready to graduate, but rather to enter upon that still deeper
+and more fundamental study which would mean an ultimate conquest of the
+broad field that it represents. Then it might be safe and profitable to
+adopt the topical method and study some one of the vital themes that are
+treated from many different points of view in the various parts of the
+Bible.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of Old Testament history_]
+
+It will, however, probably be found easier and more natural next to
+take up in succeeding years the detailed study of the nine or ten great
+groups of writings which are found in the Bible. The natural and easiest
+method of approach to those of the Old Testament would be through a
+careful, constructive study of the history of the Israelitish race,
+perhaps beginning with the definite historical period of Saul and Samuel
+and concluding with the advent of Rome. Far better than any modern
+history of Israel is that marvellous history written by its own
+historians, which begins with the book of Samuel and ends with I
+Maccabees. Analyzed and arranged in their chronological order, these
+narratives tell the story with rare fascination and suggestiveness.
+[Footnote: Volume II of the "Student's Old Testament": contains the
+narratives from Samuel through I Maccabees, thus arranged.]
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the prophecies and earlier narratives_]
+
+On the basis of this detailed study of the historical background, the
+work and teachings of the prophets could next be traced in their true
+and chronological order. No Old Testament field is more neglected and
+none is more intensely interesting, when once the student understands
+the problems and aims of each great prophet. None has a more practical
+message for to-day, provided its supreme truths are interpreted into
+modern terms and conditions. After becoming intimately acquainted with
+the Hebrew prophets, it would be possible to go back and study with a
+new understanding and appreciation the early narratives which gather
+about the beginnings of Hebrew history. Then the intricate problems of
+the first eight books of the Bible would vanish in the light of a fuller
+knowledge. Above all, that which is essential and permanent would stand
+out in clear relief.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the devotional literature_]
+
+From the earliest fruits of prophetic activity it would then be
+profitable to turn to the later, represented by Lamentations and the
+Psalter. Here the best results require a classification of the different
+psalms according to their themes, so that their teachings can be studied
+systematically and as a whole. In this field of study the student comes
+very close to the heart of the Old Testament and the heart of the God
+who speaks through it.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the wisdom literature_]
+
+Less spiritual and yet intensely interesting and practical is the great
+department of the Old Testament known as the wisdom literature. _He that
+walketh with the wise shall be wise_ (Prov. xiii. 20) is as true to-day
+as when first uttered. This literature is a great mine of truth, almost
+entirely neglected by the Christian world. Systematic classification
+is the first requisite for the profitable study of the Proverbs and the
+later Wisdom of Ben Sira. From these the student may pass on to the
+fuller treatment of the omnipresent human problem, so sublimely
+presented in the book of Job, and to the many fundamental questions
+raised by Eccleslastes and the Wisdom of Solomon.
+
+[Sidenote: _Study of the Old Testament laws and institutions_]
+
+Last of all a year might well be spent in the study of the unfolding and
+concrete application and illustration of Israel's ethical and religious
+principles in the legal codes and institutions of the Old Testament.
+Many of these have found a higher expression, some are but symbolic, but
+others still have permanent authority and value. Studied as a whole and
+on the basis of a logical classification, this little understood field
+would also cease to be a jungle, and Instead would yield its own
+practical spiritual fruits.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+RELIGIOUS EDUCATION--THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM OF TO-DAY
+
+[Sidenote: _The practical realization of these possibilities_]
+
+This very brief and fragmentary outline of methods and possibilities of
+Old Testament study is not an impossible dream. In colleges and in a few
+Bible schools it is already being tried with the gratifying results
+that might be anticipated. To put it at once into force in most of our
+Sunday-schools would be absolutely impracticable. It is presented simply
+as a suggestion of a definite and practical goal toward which to work.
+With careful adjustment, these courses, adapted to different ages,
+could be arranged so that at least the intermediate grades in the
+Sunday-school would be studying in the same field at the same time. This
+plan provides for no graduation from the school of the Bible. It assumes
+that the Christian world is at last awakening to the real significance
+of religious education and to a recognition of the fact that the
+ultimate solution of our gravest national and social problems is to be
+found only in the inculcation of the true ethical ideals in the mind of
+the individual. It also assumes the fundamental principle that no
+worthy ends can be attained without real work, enthusiastic devotion,
+systematic methods, and above all a definite and worthy goal. It rests
+on the belief that the sense of gradual conquest and the attainment
+of practical results will alone inspire permanent devotion and evoke
+faithful work, and in the end prepare the individual scholar for the
+intelligent and loyal service of God.
+
+[Sidenote: _The overwhelming responsibility of the Sunday-schools_]
+
+Frank confessions are good for a cause as well as for the soul. We must
+admit that most of our Sunday-schools, with their vast resources in
+opportunity, in financial support, and in the devotion of the teachers
+and officers, do not permanently hold their scholars, and in the great
+majority of cases do not give them a thorough or systematic knowledge,
+even of the most vital teachings of the Bible. The ignorance of its
+literature and history on the part of even, the more intelligent
+students who enter college, is almost past belief, as many of us can
+testify from personal observation. The limitations in time and equipment
+of the Sunday-schools are undoubtedly great in comparison with those
+of the secular schools; and yet the responsibility now thrown upon the
+Bible schools is even greater than upon the latter. Parents have ceased
+to instruct their children in spelling and the multiplication-table
+because they have found that the teachers can do this better. Without
+justification, but by analogy and because they are themselves often
+unacquainted with the Bible, or uncertain regarding its interpretation,
+they are more and more leaving the religious education of their sons and
+daughters to the Church and the Sunday-school.
+
+[Sidenote: _The transcendent importance of religious education_]
+
+It is safe to say, and this without reservation, the most fundamental
+problem in England and America to-day is the problem of religious
+education, because this lies at the roots of all else--political,
+social, and theological. When the Christian world awakens to its
+profound significance, and when its ideals and methods are raised, even
+to a level with those of the public schools, the other grave problems
+will be near their solution. If the individual is thoroughly taught
+during the impressionable years of childhood and youth, the fundamental
+principles of ethics and religion, society and the state will have no
+difficulty in meeting their problems; but if not, these will perforce
+continue to remain unsolved.
+
+[Sidenote: _Important that the Old Testament be taught in the
+public schools_]
+
+It is a time for all earnest men of every denomination or creed to unite
+in meeting this need. In the Old Testament, Jew and Christian, Catholic
+and Protestant, stand on common ground. The modern inductive historical
+methods of study have prepared the way for union; for they aim to
+support no denominational interpretation, but simply to attain the
+truth. The last reasons, therefore, why the literature, history,
+geography, and ethical teachings of the Old Testament should not be
+taught in our public schools are rapidly disappearing, and the hundreds
+of reasons why any system of secular education is incomplete without it
+are coming to the front. With this fundamental basis of knowledge and
+instruction, the work of the Sunday-schools could also at once be placed
+on a far more effective plane. It is a consummation for which every
+intelligent citizen should earnestly work.
+
+[Sidenote: _The task of the Church in the present century_]
+
+The achievement of the last century was to complete the work of the
+Protestant Reformation and rediscover the Bible. The task of the present
+century is to instil its essential teachings, thus revealed, into the
+mind of the individual, so that they will become controlling factors in
+human life. Here lies the great responsibility and opportunity of the
+Christian Church. If it is to renew its hold on modern men, it will be
+through the mind as well as the heart, and its most efficient method
+will be--as it always has in reality been--religious education. Horace
+Bushnell proclaimed the watchword of the Church triumphant: "Christian
+culture."
+
+[Sidenote: _The examples of the prophets and Jesus_]
+
+His, however, was no new discovery. The Hebrew prophets, priests, and
+sages were not primarily preachers, but teachers. The prophetic messages
+which fell on deaf ears, instilled into the minds of a few humble
+disciples, in time won acceptance from the nation. Jesus himself was not
+so much the preacher as the Great Teacher. His earliest public preaching
+was but the net cast to catch the few faithful disciples. When these had
+been secured, he turned his back upon a popular preaching ministry, and
+devoted the best part of his brief public work to instructing a little
+group of disciples. History completely vindicates the wisdom of his
+method. Only by following closely on his footsteps can the Church hope
+to realize its true mission, especially in this age, when the heart and
+will must be reached through the mind. In this respect, it must also
+be confessed that the Catholic are far in advance of the Protestant
+churches and Sunday-schools, where the preaching still overshadows the
+teaching.
+
+[Sidenote: _The call for a teaching ministry_]
+
+To inspire and direct thorough religious instruction, carefully trained
+leaders are needed. The demand to-day is for a teaching as well as a
+preaching ministry, with an apostolic sense of a mission and a message.
+Men with natural gifts and the most thorough preparation are wanted to
+raise the standards and to organize and transform, as they alone can,
+by personal contact, the teaching corps of our Sunday-schools into
+effective forces. Such men and women certainly can be found. It is a
+conviction, based on a wide experience, that many of the ablest students
+in our colleges and universities, who for many valid reasons do not
+feel the call to a preaching mission, would gladly and enthusiastically
+devote themselves to the work of religious instruction, could they be
+sure of a field, when their preparation was complete. Our universities
+and seminaries already have the facilities and could readily assume this
+important responsibility. As soon as our large city churches and the
+federated churches in our smaller towns, demand a teaching pastor as
+the permanent director of their Sunday-schools, and of the religious
+educational work under their charge, they will enter upon a new career
+of permanent conquest. The needs are undoubtedly great, the volunteers
+are at hand, thorough preparation can be assured; but the call must
+come from the Church, united and awake to its supreme opportunity and
+responsibility.
+
+[Sidenote: _The antiquated methods of our Sunday-schools_]
+
+It must also be confessed that our religious systems--if such they may
+be called--are still in the experimental stage. They are far inferior in
+every respect, except in the self-sacrificing devotion of the teachers
+and officers, to those of the secular schools. What is most vital to our
+national and individual life is most neglected. Instead of the latest
+and best pedagogical methods, the most antiquated largely prevail.
+Saddest of all, the Bible which is being taught in the majority of our
+schools is the Bible of later Judaism and the Middle Ages, not the Book
+of Books which stands forth in the light of God's latest revelation, as
+a message of beauty and life to the present age. It is not strange that
+there is a growing distrust of the Sunday-school among many intelligent
+people, and an appalling apathy or distaste for Bible study in the mind
+of the rising generation.
+
+[Sidenote: _The crying need for improved courses of study_]
+
+If we shut our eyes to these facts, they will remain; but if we frankly
+face them, a decade of intelligent and devoted work will effect a great
+transformation. The first step is obviously along the line of improved
+courses and methods of study. Many different courses are at present in
+the field. All have their merits, and to those who have developed them
+highest praise and credit is due. Some have been prepared to meet
+immediate and practical needs, but ignore the larger unities and the
+historical background, and in general neglect the results of modern
+educational and biblical knowledge. Some have been worked out in the
+study and have a strong academic flavor, but do not meet the needs of
+the average scholar or teacher. Others are models of pedagogical
+perfection, but lack content. Progressive Sunday-schools are trying one
+system after another, and meantime the note of discontent is rapidly
+rising. The crisis is too serious to admit of personal rivalries or
+prejudices.
+
+[Sidenote: _How to meet this need_]
+
+The moral of the situation is simple: that which will fully meet the
+needs of the present must be a combination of all that is good in
+existing courses, and embody what is best in the scholarship and methods
+of to-day. Like the most effective systems in the past, it must be
+wrought out in the laboratory of practical experience. It must be
+planned from the point of view of actual needs and conditions. It
+must also have a worthy and definite goal and a high ideal. It should
+emphasize the importance of fundamental religious instruction, as well
+as preaching. All that is practical and permanent in modern educational
+methods should be utilized. It should preserve the existing superb
+Sunday-school organization, and, as far as possible, the unity of the
+splendid system now under the direction of the International Committee.
+Finally, it should incorporate the positive and illuminating results of
+modern constructive biblical research. The task cannot be accomplished
+in a moment, nor by one man nor a small group of men. It is certainly
+important enough to command the best experience, the ripest scholarship,
+and the most unselfish devotion.
+
+[Sidenote: _The advent of a new era in the history of the kingdom of
+God_]
+
+When this task has been thoroughly performed, and the ablest of our
+educated men and women have been enlisted in our Bible schools, the
+cause of religious education will command the respect of the world, not
+merely because of the fundamental need which it aims to meet, but also
+because it is effectually meeting it. The Christian Church will also
+find itself in sympathy and touch with that which is best and most
+significant in modern life and thought. Religious teachers and
+scientific investigators will work shoulder to shoulder in a common
+study and interpretation of God's many-sided revelation. Pastors will
+feel the solid foundations of historical truth beneath their feet.
+Leaving behind the din and distractions of the transitional period, the
+disciples of the Great Teacher will go forth with fresh zeal to make the
+eternal truths of the Bible regnant in the lives of men, and the kingdom
+of God a reality in human history.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Origin & Permanent Value of the
+Old Testament, by Charles Foster Kent
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ***
+
+This file should be named 8566-8.txt or 8566-8.zip
+
+Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, David Widger
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+https://gutenberg.org or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/8566-8.zip b/8566-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88c0052
--- /dev/null
+++ b/8566-8.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f0a345
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #8566 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8566)