548 OLD TESTAMENT 



been poured from vessel to vessel nor had gone into captivity, and 

 therefore its flavor had remained in it, and its scent had not 

 changed. Yet the literary history of these secluded Arabs is in its 

 way unique. Is it not to be explained in part by the reserve power 

 inherent in this race, the survivors of the oldest and purest of the 

 Semitic peoples? The Hebrews had also a reserve power drawn from 

 their own peculiar antecedent history and from the religion of Yah we. 



Relations of the Old Testament to Sociology and Morals 



Here we come into a more practical sphere. The question arises 

 at once, Can the Old Testament be brought into relation with 

 modern life? Can the complicated social and ethical problems of 

 our time be solved or simplified by the help of any doctrine or prin- 

 ciple or conception peculiar to the Old Testament? Apparently 

 it is usually thought to be impossible. The Old Testament is very 

 little cited or appealed to in sociological discussions. The most 

 notorious and indeed almost the only instance is the case of the 

 deceased wife's sister. The Old Testament is supposed to have been 

 antiquated and replaced by the New in all matters of practical 

 moment. Apart from its acknowledged merits as literature and 

 chronicle, and its more or less formal use as a manual of devotion, 

 it is regarded as a subject of historical interest, as an expression of 

 antique ways of thinking and feeling. Histories of morals scarcely 

 ever refer to it except in the way of implied disparagement by con- 

 trasting its temporary teachings with the perpetual validity of the 

 New Testament. Histories of religion, apart from special treatises, 

 view it as the embodiment of a transient phase of Semitic thought 

 and belief, or else dispose of it summarily by pointing out that the 

 Judaism of which it is the exponent has been supplanted by Christ- 

 ianity. Even such a critic as Robertson Smith asserts that it would 

 be absurd to expect to find in the Old Testament truth that is not in 

 the New. 



Possibly the value of the Old Testament as an authority in socio- 

 logy and practical morals has been impaired through this wholesale 

 depreciation. Though the general question of its value as a guide in 

 matters of principle and conduct cannot be argued here, the special 

 case at issue may be disposed of by simply comparing the distinctive 

 social virtues of the Old Testament with those of the New. On the one 

 side we have, according to the classical passage Micah 6:8, especially 

 justice or righteousness and mercy or kindness. On the other we have 

 especially the finer virtues, forgiveness, forbearance, tolerance, 

 charity. These latter are also the choice accomplishments of modern 

 society. What does modern society stand most in need of? Justice 

 and mercy. This is the clamorous demand coming from every con- 



