107 



BIBLE. 



BIBLE. 



103 



of r4*n ra) wft^m, " the law and the prophet*.* " Whereas many 

 and great things have been delivered to u* by the Uw and the prophet*, 

 and by other* that hare followed their *tep*. for which thing* Israel 

 ought to be commended for learning and wisdom, and whereof the 

 reader* mint not only become skilful themselves, but they also that 

 desire to learn be able to profit them which are without both by 

 peaking and writing ; my grandfather, Jesun, when he had given him- 

 self much to the law and the prophets, and the other book* of our 

 fathers, and had gotten therein good judgment, was drawn out also 

 himself to write something pertaining to learning and wisdom, to the 

 intent that those who are desirous to learn and are addicted to these 

 things, might profit much more by living according to the law." With 

 this we may compare Luke, ch. xxiv. ver. 44 ;" All things must be ful- 

 filled which were written in the law of Moees, and in the prophets, and 

 in the Psalms concerning me." The Psalms seem here to be the re- 

 presentatives of the Hagiographa or holy writings, which constituted 

 the third part of the Old Testament and followed the law and the 

 prophet*. 



From the above passages we infer that the Old Testament existed as 

 a collection in the two centuries preceding Christ. 



Phil", who flourished about B.C. 41, seems likewise to appeal to the 

 Old Testament as to a collection of books. (See Hornemann, ' Obser- 

 vationes ad lllustrat. Doctrina de Canone Vet. Test, ex Philone,' 1 775,) 

 Rut the clearest proof for the existence of our present canon of the 

 < 'lil Testament is to be found in the first book of Josephus ' against 

 Apion,' c. 8 ; and compare ' Antiq. Jud.' lib. xi. cap. 6, s. 19. 



When the Hebrew language died away, the canon of the Old Testa- 

 ment became closed. 



The Samaritans recognised the authority of the Pentateuch only, 

 and of the book of Joshua. They slightly interpolated the Pentateuch, 

 but considerably altered the book of Joshua, Their rejection of the 

 other books of the Old Testament may be compared with the opinion 

 of Philo, according to which Moses alone is the teacher of religious 

 mysteries, although he ascribes inspiration to the other books of the 

 Old Testament as well as to his own writings. 



During the first centuries after Christ, the writings of the New 

 Testament were placed on a level with those of the Old. Both Testa- 

 ments were publicly read ; the Old Testament was read in the Sep- 

 tuagint translation or the Alexandrine version of the Hebrew into 

 Jewish Greek. Hence it has arisen that Christian writers frequently 

 cite as Scripture the Apocrypha which were mixed up in the Septuagint 

 with the canonical books ; but as soon an the attention of the learned 

 was directed to the canon, the later products of Jewish literature sub- 

 sequent to the extinction of the Hebrew language, were again separated 

 from the canon. The canonical books were therefore called 'Libri 

 Regulares,' or Regular Books, and the Apocryphal books ' Libri Secret!,' 

 or Secret Books. But the reading of the ' Libri Secreti ' continued 

 during the 3rd century. In the 4th century several lists of Biblical 

 books were promulgated by the orthodox Greek Church in order 

 to prevent the use of Apocryphal or uncanonical books (cucovivurru 



These HatB generally adhere, in the Old Testament, to the Jewish 

 canon ; but fluctuate in the New Testament concerning the Apocalypse. 

 The name ' Apocrypha ' signifies in these lists fictitious and heretical 

 writings ; but between the canonical and Apocryphal is placed a third 

 class of writings, the reading of which is permitted to the Church. 

 The Latin Church adopted, with reference to the Old Testament, laxer 

 principles, and admitted several Apocryphal writings into the canon ; 

 although the learned, like Hieronymus, adhered to the twenty-two 

 books, according to the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Hilarius also 

 mentions that the law of the Old Testament was divided into twenty- 

 two books, corresponding in number to the letters of the Hebrew 

 alphabet ; but adds that, according to the opinion of others, Tobit and 

 Judith should be added in order to complete the number of the Greek 

 alphabet ; which contains twenty-four letters. The Protestants, re- 

 turning to the Jewish canon, separated the Apocryphal additions of 

 the Alexandrine version, which were for the first time decidedly made 

 canonical by the council of Trent in opposition to the Reformers. The 

 council of Trent decree*, in its fourth session, that if anybody will not 

 admit a* holy and canonical all the entire books and all their ports 

 extent in the Latin Vulgate, be shall be anathema. 



After these general remarks concerning the formation of the canon, 

 we shall briefly surrey the history of the text 



Before the Babylonian exile the Biblical books were written in the 

 character* still extant in the legends of the Aamonxan coin*, of which 

 we have given ipecimen* in the article ALPHABET. Instead of the 

 antique Hebrew character which is nearly allied to the Samaritan, there 

 was employed after the Babylonian captivity a sort of Aramaic alpha- 

 bet, which was gradually changed by transcribers into the present 

 square character, of which the Spanish, the German, and the inter- 

 mediate or Italian are three modifications found in Hebrew manuscript*. 

 The character* printed in modern edition* of the Hebrew Old Testa- 

 ment are formed according to the Spanish manuscript*, which are the 

 meet beautiful. The character* employed in the publication* of 

 8eb**tianus MunsU-r at Basel about 1630, are imitations of German 

 manuscript*. 



The Italian and French Jew* wrote in a middle style, between the 

 Bpaniih and German. The Rashi, Rabbinical, and cursive Hebrew 



character* represent the gradual change* of the square character* to a 

 Hebrew running hand, which are also occasionally employed in manu- 

 scripts written for private use, and are therefore lea* accurately revised, 

 and consequently of lea* authority than those written for public use in 

 synagogue*. The most ancient manuscript* had neither vowel* nor 

 diacritical marks, nor were the words alway* divided. (See HupiYM. 

 ' Beleuchtung dunkler Stellen in der alt-teetamentlichen Textgeschichte. 

 In den Studien und Kritiken,' 1830.) 



Verses and punctuation, which are already mentioned in the Talmud, 

 are marked in Hebrew by accents, which served also as rhythmical 

 marks to be observed in the Oriental style of reading, which approaches 

 to singing. Hieronymus followed probably the C'jTIDB, tectuna, 

 mentioned in the Talmud, in dividing the prophetical and poetical 

 books into eola et mmmata, and the historical books into cola only. 



In old Hebrew manuscripts, as well as in those of the Septuagint 

 and Italian version, the poetical books are written in hemistich* or 

 half verses, thus : 



Stpulclirnm patent c#t yuttur corum. 

 Ltnguii uii doloM agt but. 

 Vcncnum upidum sub lubiis corum. 



The present division into chapters, which the Jews have adopted, is 

 of Christian origin, and does not occur before the 18th century. By 

 some it is ascribed to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who 

 died in 1227 ; by others to Cardinal Hugo von St. Caro, who died in 

 the same century. The Psalms was the first portion of the Old 

 Testament numbered in verses, in the edition of Jaques le Febre, 

 printed by H. Stephens in 1589. The cajtiluta of Hieronymus, the 

 Tituli and Breves in the Latin, the DT1D or pTID, ordert, and D'JOD 

 (irriiu7a) marl-t, of the Hasoreths, were-so fluctuating that, before the 

 introduction of the present chapters and verses, the quotations were 

 very vague. The Pentateuch alone was in ancient times divided iuto 

 fifty-four " sections." nvanfi, according to the number of the Sabbaths 

 in the Jewish leap year. 



On every Sabbath a certain sederah, or parasha or section, is read, 

 and in the common year, which does not contain fifty-four Sabbaths, 

 two sections are to be read on some Sabbaths, so as to complete the 

 reading of the Pentateuch every year. The Parashioth, or " sections," 

 are subdivided into seven smaller divisions, according to the number of 

 men who are usually honoured by being called upon on the Sabbath 

 to read publicly the law in the synagogue. But in these divisions and 

 in accounting for them, neither the Jews nor the learned perfectly 

 agree among themselves. 



The Parashioth, which in regularly written manuscript* commenced 

 a line, are called rnmns, open, and are marked in printed Hebrew 

 Bibles E2D or D. Those which commence in the middle of a line are 

 called moiriD elated or that up, and are marked ODD or D. But in 

 printed Bibles D stands sometimes at the commencement, and B in 

 the middle of a line. 



The open sections seem to point out the different topics treated of ; 

 the clote mark, the most prominent and natural divisions of the open 

 ones, such as the change of speakers, the incidents of a narrative, ic. 

 The date of this division is not known, but is certainly older than the 

 Mislma, in which it is quoted. 



Notwithstanding the great care bestowed by the Jews after the 

 Babylonian exile upon the preservation of the Hebrew text, some 

 transpositions have crept in ; letters, words, and sentences have been 

 omitted; and gome mistakes between Tl. D D. p'. i 3 &c., as well a* 

 errors in the division of the words and the filling up of abbreviations, 

 &c., have been made ; sometimes letters of a similar sound, synonymous 

 words, and those of similar sound and parallel passages were ex- 

 changed. Some alterations were also introduced by the ofnciousness 

 of critics in removing expressions which they either deemed offensive 

 or hard to be understood, or not perfectly analogous to parallel passage*. 

 A comparison of the parallel passages in the Old Testament show* that 

 these alterations happened most frequently in the most ancient times 

 before the ecclesiastical authority of the canon was established. Comp. 

 Ps. xiv. with liii. ; xl. 14th seq. with Ixx. ; xviii. with 2 Sam. xxii. ; 

 Ps. cviii. with Ivii. 812 ; Ix. 714 ; Ps. ev. with 1 Chron. xvi. 8 

 22 ; Ps. cxvi. with 1 Chron. xvi. 2383 ; Is. xxxvii. xxxviii. with 

 2 Kings xviii. xix. ; JIT. lii. with 2 Rings xxiv. Compare also the 

 parallel passages in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicle* ; 

 1. xv. xvi. with Jer. xlviii. and other passages cited in Eichhorn's 

 ' Einleitung,' i pp. 139, 6 ; Bauer, ' Critica Sacra,' p. 236, seq. ; Ge*e- 

 nius, ' Geschichte der hebraiscben Sprache,' p. 88, seq. Although 

 these alterations do not materially affect the tenor and scope of 

 biblical doctrine, it has been the business of critics to collect and to 

 compare the various readings of the Hebrew text, and thus to restore 

 its original purity. 



The oldest recension of the Hebrew text, coming from a quite dif- 

 ferent quarter, and being independent of the usually received text, is 

 that of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which seems to be closely related to 

 the copy from which the Septuagint interpreters translated. The 

 various readings of the Samaritan Pentateuch were for a considerable 

 time overvalued by some and despised by others, and herein both 

 parties frequently .showed more zeal than knowledge. But the 



