THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
Vol.60.No.417.] DECEMBER 1, 1825. [Price 2s. 
On the Antiquity of the different Parts 
of the Oty TESTAMENT. 
N forwarding to you the following 
observations on the antiquity of the 
different parts of the Old Testament,* 
I am solely actuated by the desire of 
assisting in throwing some light on an 
important philological question, viz. to 
determine the precise antiquity of the 
most ancient monument of human 
speech in existence. I have no wish 
to contest its authenticity. 
The Hebrew is, unquestionably, one 
of the most ancient languages, or, at 
least, a very ancient dialect of a lan- 
guage, once spoken over a very exten- 
sive portion of Western Asia (Arabia, 
Palestine, Phenicia, Syria and Chal- 
dea), and of which the Arabic is the 
only surviving, and most cultivated, 
branch. The Bible is the only docu- 
ment left of a language which, from the 
time of the first captivity of the Jews, 
ceased to be a living one, and was only 
continued in writing, although dete- 
riorated by a strong admixture of words 
and phrases from the collateral dialects. 
But not to anticipate the order of 
time, I will begin with the examination 
of the most ancient portion of the 
Bible, viz. the Pentateuch. 
We are no where told, although it 
has been the general belief, that those 
books were written by Moses; on the 
contrary, we have the evidence of the 
Bible itself, that the whole of the sa- 
cred yolume was re-edited by Ezra; 
and many passages in the Pentateuch 
seem plainly to indicate that it was, 
* I am entirely indebted for them to 
the excellent work of Mr. Gesenius, called 
“ A History of the Hebrew Language and 
Literature,” written in German, and which 
ought tobe translated. Indeed, I should 
have ventured on the task myself, had I 
not been dissuaded by those who pretend 
to know the trade, and who told me that, 
as the Hebrew language was little studied, 
in this country, but by those who are either 
in, or destined for, the church,—a work 
that did, in any way, attack the opinions re- 
ceived among that enlightened body, would 
never receive its countenance. I hope, 
for the honour of the clergy, to be told, by 
one of their cloth, that such an assertion is 
an unfounded libel.—Y. Z, 
Mewruty Mac. No. 417. 
at least, re-written at a later pe- 
riod, when “ Israel had kings.” But 
the object of this essay being purely 
philological, I throw aside every other 
argument but such with which the dan- 
guage of the Bible can furnish us, in 
order to determine on the relative anti- 
quity of the parts that compose it. There 
can be no doubt that the golden age of 
Hebrew literature took place during the 
time of David and Solomon, when the 
Jewish nation reached the zenith of its 
glory in arts and arms, an eminence 
from which it sunk but too soon, never 
to rise again. If, therefore, we find the 
language of the Pentateuch, in its his- 
torical parts, as well as in its poetry, 
corresponding in form and idiom (some 
unimportant idiotisms excepted)* a 
the 
’ 
* ST (he) stands also for the femi- 
nine Rv, which only occurs eleven 
times; YJ (youth) for Myd> a mai- 
den, which only occurs in 5 Moses, xxii. 
19, as it does in all the other parts of 
scripture; the latter peculiarity, however, 
may, perhaps, also be found in Ruth ii. 21. 
To these may also be added the pronoun 
ON NTT for TDN; MONT, which oc- 
curs frequently in the Pentateuch, other- 
wise only in Chron. xxviii. 8. 
The diction of Deuteronomy differs, how- 
ever, materially from the first four books. 
Its principal character consists of a certain 
diffuse rhetorizing and moralizing tone, and. 
a frequent use of favourite phrases ; indeed, 
its language already approaches that of the 
latest period. Some of the phrases al- 
luded to are mina pl to adhere to 
Jehoyah, O73 3d Greatness, ma- 
jesty of God; pT" muita, business ; 
TAPP yay mvp ye shall re- 
move the eyil from amongst you, a later 
expression for the older one, his soul shall 
be rooted out; the repeated Synonymes, 
POM OSV AW: the 
3 D rhetorical 
