370 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1874- 



cross references when several passages were illustrated 

 by one note. Frensdorff has now arranged all the notes 

 in alphabetic form, adding valuable explanatory com 

 ments. 



But welcome as these works are, the most serious 

 faults of the current Hebrew text are not to be cured by 

 MSS. or Massora. As this conviction spreads among 

 scholars, the ancient versions are becoming the subject 

 of renewed study. Among last year s publications in this 

 field, the place of honour falls to Ceriani s magnificent 

 facsimile edition of the ancient Ambrosian MS. of the 

 Peshito, which dates from about the sixth century, and, 

 in the words of the editor, holds much the same place 

 among MSS. of the Syriac Old Testament as the 

 Amiatinus among copies of the Vulgate, and the Vatican 

 and Alexandrian MSS. among those of the LXX. The 

 first part of this splendid work contains the Pentateuch 

 and part of Job. By far the most important version, 

 however, as a check on the Massoretic text, is the LXX. 

 In a pamphlet published at Moers, as the Easter pro 

 gramme of the Gymnasium there, Hollenberg discusses 

 in a very effective way the character and critical value 

 of the LXX. of Joshua, and gains several valuable correc 

 tions of the Hebrew text. It is important to note that 

 the characteristic freedom with which Hebrew scribes 

 made additions to the texts they copied continued to so 

 late a date that in the historical books the Massoretic text 

 contains quite large interpolations which were wanting 

 in the copies that lay before the Greek translators. Thus, 

 in Josh. xx. 3-6, which is an Elohistic passage, and 

 originally, as in the LXX., corresponded exactly with 

 Num. xxxv. 11-12, our present Hebrew has a large 

 insertion after Deut. iv. and xix., while in chapter xv., 

 where we now find thirty-six names in a list which should 

 contain only twenty-nine, a hint from the LXX. enables 

 Hollenberg to show that part of the list was interpolated 

 by a copyist from the book of Nehemiah. Facts like 



