THE SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. 



205 



differences between the Decalogue in Exodus and the repetition 

 of it in Deuteronomy. It is difficult to understand any 

 difierence between statements as to words spoken by God 

 Himself and written with the finger of God on tables of stone. 

 Of this difficulty the higher critics have taken every advantage. 

 Now I am prepared to show that by collating the Samarit.'in 

 with the ordinary Hebrew and tlie Septuagint, that is to say, 

 comparing three sets of MSS. — the MSS. of the S}'nagogues, 

 from wliich our English translations are made, the Hebrew 

 MSS. existing in the time of Ptolemy, from which tlie 

 Septuagint was taken, and the Samaritan manuscripts, we 

 arrive at a common text in which no difference remains between 

 Exodus and Deuteronomy, but the Ten Commandments in both 

 one and the same without the difference of a letter. 



Differences in the Ten Commandments in Exodns and 



Deuteronomy. 



Dr. Driver and the Bishop of Winchester both dwell on these 

 differences. Driver puts them in parallel columns to show how 

 different they are. I do not deny the difficulty of supposing 

 words actually spoken by God in the hearing of tlie people 

 being repeated by Moses in different forms. But I venture 

 to say that a more careful study removes the difficulty 

 altogetlier. 



In the first place, the most apparent difficulty is removed by 

 Bishop Eyle himself. He observes that the reasons assigned in 

 Exodus and Deuteronomy for the observance of the fourth 

 commandment are not part of the commandment but "ex- 

 planations of the commandment." The same thing is true 

 of the phrase : " As the Lord thy God comma.nded thee," in the 

 commencement of the fourth and fifth commandments in 

 Deuteronomy, evidently not a part of them, but a reminder by 

 Moses when repeating them on different occasions. 



Bearing this in mind, let us collate the Jewish, Israelite, and 

 Septuagint records of the ten commandments in Exodus and 

 Deuteronomy. The Greek is evidently translated from different 

 MSS. from either of the two others. 



The first difference in the commandments themselves betw^een 

 Exodus and Deuteronomy in our A.Y. and our ordinary Hebrew 

 copies is that in Exodus we have" Eemember," in Deuteronomy 

 " Keep " ; but in the Samaritan it is the same in both — " Keep." 



In both Exodus xx, 10, and Deuteronomy v, 14, the necessary 

 words " in it " are inserted in our A.V. in italics, because not 



