378 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1874- 



of Schultz s &quot; Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther,&quot; by Dr. 

 Briggs of New York, very serious fault must be found. 

 It is not only awkward, but sometimes positively mis 

 leading. For example, Schultz writing upon the subject 

 of poetical embellishment in the book of Esther says, 

 &quot; If in this main passage we must recognise the influence 

 of transforming and embellishing fiction, it would be 

 inconsequent not to admit that the same influence may 

 possibly have place in other passages also/ etc. But 

 the translator has : &quot; If we were to acknowledge the 

 influence of ... imagery in this chief stage of the drama, 

 this would still be negatived by its non-appearance in 

 other places.&quot; This is only one specimen, though the 

 most grave, of a series of changes which disguise even 

 when they do not, as in the passage cited, actually invert 

 the judgment of the German writer on the historicity of 

 Esther. Schroeder s commentary on Ezekiel, a very 

 mediocre production, is enlarged mainly by extracts from 

 the late Principal Fairbairn. To Dr. Zockler s comments 

 on Daniel are added a good many notes from Keil and 

 others, and some warm protests against the admission 

 that there are things in chapter xi. which must be post 

 eventum, and are therefore viewed by the commentator 

 as interpolations. This hypothesis of Zockler is certainly 

 not plausible ; but a translator has surely no right to 

 insinuate that, &quot; notwithstanding the author s disclaimer, 

 the insidious tincture of the prevalent rationalism of 

 German criticism is evident in his conclusion on this 

 point.&quot; Dr. Strong s own right to speak on subjects of 

 criticism may be measured by his assertions, that &quot; the 

 Revelation of St. John, if not the apostle s, is of course 

 under a fictitious name &quot; ; and that the Aramaic parts of 

 Daniel are &quot; extracts taken verbatim, and as such, from 

 the Babylonian State Records.&quot; 



In Messrs. Clark s &quot; Foreign Library &quot; we have Keil s 

 Commentary on Ezekiel, translated by Rev. J. Martin, 

 (2 vols). and the &quot;Theological Translation Fund&quot; has 



