140 REV. fl. J. WHITE, M.A., OX CONNECTION BETWEEN VULGATE 



it " Adoravit Israel Deum conversus ad lectuli caput " ; our 

 own R.V. lias " And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head." 

 The LXX translators, according to Driver, wrongly vocalized 

 the last word as 71X1^71 instead of ntSftn ("staff" instead of 

 " bed ") ; if the word were intended to mean Jacob's staff it 

 would have to be "his staff," VnW2, instead of Hl^H. The 

 original Hebrew means that Jacob turned himself over upon 

 his bed, and bent himself towards the head of the bed, imitating 

 actual prostration as far as possible. The LXX, however, as 

 we have seen, translated it irpocreicvvricrev eirl to aicpov rrj^ 

 pdftSov ai'Tov, where the hiri, as always with irpoaKVpelv (7775. 

 eirl rrjv <yr)v, eirl irpoawirov, k.t.X.) must be taken locally; 

 Jacob worshipped, bending over, or leaning upon the head of 

 his staff. The Vulgate went a step further and translated it 

 here " adoravit fastigium virgae eius," " he worshipped the top 

 of his staff" ; and consequently in this passage has been found 

 Scriptural warrant for the worship of images ; Jacob, it is said, 

 worshipped an image which was on the top either of his own 

 staff or of Joseph's staff. Estius imagined the latter ; Jacob 

 saw in Joseph the type of Christ, and in Joseph's staff ("virgae 

 ejus" not " virgae suae ") he acknowledged the royal dignity of 

 Christ, and consequently worshipped it. A Lapide takes it 

 much the same way ; Jacob worshipped the staff, that is, the 

 sceptre and power and princely dignity of Joseph ; for J oseph 

 was second in the kingdom only to Pharaoh, and Joseph also 

 was a type of Christ. 



It was, according to a Lapide, on the ground of this text 

 that the Second Council of Nicrea (a.d. 787) approved the 

 worship of images. Certainly, Leon this (Bishop of Xeapolis in 

 Cyprus), in his Sermo contra Judaeos* defended himself against 

 the charge of idolatry in worshipping the Cross, by this example 

 of Jacob, it being clear that Jacob did not worship the wood, 

 but J oseph through the wood ; as we also worship Christ through 

 the Cross. Also Pope Hadrian I., in his letter to Constantia 

 and Irene,f refers in the same way to Jacob, who " summitatem 

 virgae filii sui Joseph deosculatus est, fidei dilectione hoc agens 

 . . . non virgae sed tenenti earn honoris ac dilectionis exhi- 

 buit affectum " ; and both of these documents were read at the 

 Council. 



* Migne (Patr. Gr., xciii, 1601). 



t Migne (Patr. Lat., xcvi, 1225). I owe these references to Dr. Stone, 



