THE REV. J. J. LIAS, M.A., ON THE UNITY OF ISAIAH. 83 



the Hebrew text under the pretence that somebody else has 

 tampered with it before. The name Cyrus is spelled E^3 or 

 fi5HJ3 (Koresh). Now, the ingenious suggestion is made that 

 somebody in early times found the word spelt with the initial letter 

 n (chcfh) instead of D (caph), and meaning "a workman," so that 

 the objectionable verse would read : " Thus saith the Lord to His 

 anointed, to the workman whose right hand I have holden," etc. 

 But verse 4 is a very awkward one for this interpretation : "I have 

 even called thee by thy name : I have surnamed thee, though thou 

 hast not known me." Another awkward fact is that the name of 

 Cyrus is found in the previous chapter, vv. 27 and 28, but that is 

 got over by the familiar device of calling those verses an " interpola- 

 tion," without the least evidence from Hebrew MSS. Josephus 

 knows nothing of any such faking of the text, for he tells us that 

 the passage in Isaiah was shown to Cyrus, and the fact of his own 

 name being in the text greatly encouraged him to carry out the 

 prediction. Such are the shifts to which modern criticism resorts to 

 evade the evidence for the supernatural element in Holy Scripture, 

 and yet this criticism calls itself scientific ! 



A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the learned and venerable 

 author of the paper, and the meeting adjourned at 6 p.m. 



In comment on the discussion the Lecturer wrote : — 

 I should like to thank the hearers of my paper for their extremely 

 kind reception of it. There are no criticisms. I should like, how- 

 ever, to give the explanation of some of its deficiencies. 



1. I desire to say that I was specially asked to confine my paper 

 within as narrow limits as possible on account of the increased cost 

 of printing brought about by the War. It therefore contains barely 

 half what I could have put into it. I trust that those interested in 

 the subject will do me the favour of referring to my fuller paper on 

 this subject, written, as already mentioned in the footnote on p. 65, 

 for the American Bibliotheca Sacra, which may be obtained of 

 Messrs. Higham and Company, Farringclon Street, London, E.C. 



2. Prebendary Fox (whom I beg to thank for his kind words) has 

 mentioned his indebtedness to Mrs. Jeffreys' little book on The 

 Unity of Isaiah. Only want of space prevented me from saying 

 that I am also greatly indebted to that book, as Prebendary Fox 

 must have perceived. I am happy now to be able to make amends 



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