JUDAISM. 141 



years they were detained in the wilderness, in order that a new and 

 more pious generation might enter Canaan ; and, during this period, 

 it was, that Moses wrote most of the Pentateuch, and established, by 

 divine command, their ceremonial and civil laws. Moses died, before 

 they entered the promised land; but its conquest and division among 

 the tribes were effected by Joshua, 1446, B. C. ;* when the Jewish 

 religion and polity may be said to have been completely established. 

 The farther pursuit of this topic must be deferred, until we come to 

 the department of Chronography. 



2. The Jewish Scriptures, or sacred writings, are called by us 

 the Old Testament ; in contradistinction from the New Testament, of 

 which we are to speak in treating of Christianity. The first five 

 books of the Old Testament, written chiefly by Moses, and sometimes 

 called the Pentateuch, are the oldest writings known to exist : with 

 the exception, perhaps, of some of the Egyptian hieroglyphics; and 

 to them alone we are indebted for the earliest history of our race. 

 These books were deposited, by the Jews, in the holy tabernacle, 

 near the ark ; and with them were placed the other sacred books, as 

 fast as they were written, till the first temple was completed ; when 

 they were all removed by Solomon to that sacred edifice, 1004 B. C.t 

 Numerous copies were made, with great care ; and after the return of 

 a part of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity, and the rebuilding of 

 the temple, Ezra the scribe, assisted by the Great Synagogue, collated 

 and arranged the sacred canon, 458 B. C. To the books thus col- 

 lated, Simon the Just, about 295 B. C., added those of Chronicles 

 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Malachi ; which made the Old Testa- 

 ment complete. It was translated into the Greek language, it is said, 

 by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 284 B. C. ; and this version, from 

 its having been made by about seventy translators, is known as the 

 Septuagint. Of other translations we have no room here to speak ; 

 but remark that most of them have been made by Christians, and in 

 connection with the New Testament. 



Ezra divided the Jewish Scriptures into 1. The Law, comprising 

 the Pentateuch ; 2. The Prophets, including the prophetical and his- 

 torical books ; and 3. The Cetubim, or poetical books, viz. the Psalms, 

 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, or the Song of Solomon. 

 But modern biblical critics divide the Old Testament into the Penta- 

 teuch, or five books of Moses ; the Historical Books, from Joshua 

 to Esther, inclusive ; the Hagiographa or poetical books, including 

 the Cetubim of Ezra, together with the book of Job ; and the Pro- 

 phetical Books, including those of the four greater prophets, Isaiah, 

 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, with the Lamentations ; and those 

 of the twelve lesser prophets, whose writings follow the preceding. 

 To insure the accuracy of these Scriptures, the Jewish Rabins have 

 prepared, chiefly since the Christian Era, a work called the Mdsora, 

 in which they state the number of chapters, verses, words, and letters, 

 in each of the sacred books ; fixing the pronunciation by peculiar 

 points ; and where different readings had crept in, they introduced 

 marginal notes, called Keri, and Chetib, from Hebrew words signi- 

 fying read, and write, affixed to the supposed corrections. 



* 1602 B. C., according to Hales. f 1020 B. C., according to Hales. 



