Full text of "A Book about the English Bible"

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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http: //books .google .com/I i 7 1>- .r U' •»*.> ♦ f IfUUsioutf fHitmt and ^ittmaxt ^tfAte Editsd bt £. HsusHET Snbatb» Ph.D., LL.D. A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE THE MACMUXAN COMPANY MSW TORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DAXXAl AXLAMTA • SAN ISANCBCO MACMILLAN & (X)., LmmD LONDON • BOICBAT • CALCUTTA MXLBOUUIB THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. Ltd. TORONTO A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE BY JOSIAH H." PENNIMAN, Ph.D., LL.D. VIC1-PR0V08T AMD PKOPBSSOR OP UfOLISH UTSRATV&S IN THB UNIVB&8ITT OP PENNSYLVANIA Vhm f fitk THE MACMILLAN CX)MPANY 1919 10X9 By the liACMILLAN COMPANY Set up wd dtcCxQtyptd. PuUbbtd JoM, 19x9 The Bible text uted in this volume^ except where otherwise marked, is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, (in sereral passages referred to as the American Revised Version) copyright 1901 by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. \ ^ ^J ^ I h TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER AND MOTHER J. 338024 V. * PREFACE This volume is simply what its title indicates, "A Book about the English Bible." It has grown out of a series of lectures delivered to students in the University of Pennsylvania, the purpose of which was to give a brief account of the English Bible, its immediate sources and their contents, their literary background and surroundings, the forms and characteristics of the constituent books and their relation to each other. To the chapters, in which these subjects are suggested, rather than discussed, have been added several others containing a short history of the translation of the Bibie into English, from Saxon times to our own day. Attention is called to the differences between the commonly used English versions as regards contents and translation, and to the reasons for the differences. It is hoped that the reader may be sufficiently in- terested by what is said in the various chapters, to de- sire to pursue the study further by means of other books such as those named in the appended Bibliography. To my colleagues Dr. C. G. Child and Dr. J. A. Montgomery, of the University of Pennsylvania, and to Dr. F. C. Porter and Dr. E. H. Sncath, of Yale University, all of whom read the manuscript, or special portions of it, and to my brother Dr. James H. Penni- man who read the proof, I desire to express my gratitude for suggestions and corrections. To Dr. Montgomery I am indebted also for his kind permission to print his translation of several of the poems of Isaiah. Thanks are due to publishers for permission to make quotations from their copyrighted books; to Houghton Viii PREFACE Mifflin Company for passages from The Syrian Christ by A. M. Rihbany; to Charles Scribner's Sons for passages from The Study of Holy Scripture by C. A. Briggs, from Jn Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament by S. R. Driver, and from Jn Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament by J. Moffatt; to the Jewish Pubhcation Society of America for passages from The Story of Bible Translations by M. L. Margolis, and from the Preface to The Holy Scriptures; to the American Sunday School Union for passages from Arckesology and the Bible by G. A. Barton; to Moffat Yard and Company for passages from The Book of Job as a Greek Tragedy by H. M, KaUen; to the Oxford University Press for passages from Records of the Eng- lish Bible by A. W. Pollard. Scripture passages, unless otherwise indicated, are from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, published by Thomas Nelson and Sons. To the many authors whose works are quoted, or referred to, in this volume, or were consulted in the preparation of it, I here acknowledge my indebtedness. JosiAH H. Penniman. Thb University of Pennsylvania, JUM. .918. i CONTENTS Chapter Page I. The Sources of the English Bible i 11. The Background of the Old Testament. . 22 III. The Background of the New Testament. 40 IV. Poetic Forms in the Bible 70 V. The Uses and Sources of Imagery and Allu- sion IN THE Bible 97 VI. Biblical History - 124 yil. Biblical Stories 157 VIII. The Psalms 180 IX. The Song of Solomon 200 X. The Wisdom Books 210 XL The Book of Job 231 XII. Parables 268 XIII. Prophets 280 XIV. Letters and Homilies 298 XV. Apocalypses 309 XVI. The English Bible in Manuscript 323 XVIL The Printed English Bible, 1525-1539.... 344 XVIII. The English Versions, 1539-1582 366 XIX. The English Versions, 1582-1611 377 XX. The English Versions, 1611-1881 391 XXL Modern Revisions of the English Bible, 1881-1917 410 Bibliography. 429 ix »'. ' A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE Over the entrance to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania are the lines:— "O blessed letters that combine in one All ages past, and make one live with all. By you we do commune with who are gone, And the dead-living unto counsel call," Impressive words! reminding the student who may chance to read them that in literature the world has a heritage with which no other of its possessions can compare in value, for by words, more than by any other form of expression, the mind and heart are re- vealed and the intellectual and spiritual treasure of the race preserved. Through books we may know the mind of the past and transmit the mind of the present. The greatest book is the Bible, and the reason for the place assigned to it is that it contains interpretations of human life, actual and ideal, which reveal man tb himself, in his joys and sorrows, his triumphs and his defeats, his aspirations and his possibilities, his rela- tions to other men, and, comprehending and enveloping all, his relations to God, Men may differ about what 2 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE the Bible is, but the fact remains that for centuries millions of men, of ail grades of intelligence and learning, have believed that the Bible speaks to them as no other book has ever spoken, and that what it says comes with an authority derived from God himself. The primary spiritual problem of man is his relations to God. Men, everywhere, recognize the existence of an intelligent power outside and higher than themselves that con- trols and regulates the universe. The individual who doubts or denies the existence of God is exceptional, and his opinions are at variance with human belief and experience. The Bible, concerned as it is in its component parts with the revelation of God to man, and the relation of man to God, has held the attention of men because it is true to the truths of life and sat- isfying to the yearnings of the human spirit. Men have found it so, and there is an abiding faith that men will continue to find it so. Beliefs concerning the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the worship of Jehovah, existed long before any accounts of such beliefs and worship were ever written. The writings we have are not the earliest. Included in the Old Testament are portions of writings that long antedate any of the existing books as we have them, and that may properly be regarded as important sources of the books. The teachings of Jesus were re- lated orally for some years before any part of the New Testament was written. Reverence for the Bible is increased by a knowledge of the history of its transmission down the centuries, through many languages, and many versions, preserv- ing always its distinctive qualities unimpaired by the frailties of human copyists, and unchanged through the lapse of time. THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES The title-pages of the modern English versions of the Bible, with the exception of the Douay Bible, state that they are translations from the original tongues. A copy of the latter states that it is "translated . . . out of the Authentical Latin . . . conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke and other Editions in divers lan- guages." The Old Testament is in Hebrew, with the exception of a few passages, which are in Aramaic, Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26, Daniel l-^b-y.iS, Jeremiah 10:11. The New Testament is in Greek. These are the original lan- guages. The conquests of Alexander spread the knowl- edge of Greek in the East, and in cities like Alexandria, great and populous, were many Jews who adopted the language as their own. In the time of Jesus the con- quests of Rome had brought Latin also into the East where it became the language of the government. At the Crucifixion, the inscription placed on the cross was "in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek." John 19: 20. These three languages contain the immediate sources of our Bible. The original language of the Old Testa- ment was Hebrew, but our oldest manuscripts con- taining it are in Greek, into which the Jewish Scrip- tures were translated. Some of the Greek versions antedate by centuries our oldest Hebrew copies, which are the Petrograd Codex of the Prophets 916 A. d. and a manuscript of the entire Scriptures, also at Petrograd, and dating perhaps as early as 1009 a. d. The Jewish Scriptures have come down to us with what is known as an "accepted text" as a result of the care of the Sopherim, who were the custodians of the sacred text until the sixth century, when it was taken 4 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE over by the Massorites, the work of the two groups of scholars being thus differentiated by Dr. C. D. Gins- burg: "The Sopherim . . . were the authorized revisers and redactors of the text according to certain principles, the Massorites were precluded from developing the principles and altering the text in harmony with these canons. Their province was to safeguard the text delivered to them, by 'building a hedge around it,' to protect it against alterations, or the adoption of any readings which still survived in man- uscripts or were exhibited in the ancient versions." ^ The Jewish Scriptures, which the early Christian Church accepted as inspired, consisted of three sep- arate collections as follows: I, "The Law"; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuterqpomy; 2, "The Prophets"; Joshua, Judges, I Satnuef, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, (The Twelve), Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; 3, "The Writings"; Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, I Chronicles, II Chronicles. It will be seen that the order in which the books are placed in the English Bible is not that of the Hebrew Scriptures. The latter vary slightly in the order of the books in "The Prophets" and "The Writ- ings," but no book of one collection is ever placed in another. The three collections are each definite in text and in contents. "The Prophets" are subdivided into the "Former," Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, and the "Latter," Isaiah-Malachi. The "Latter" are divided by length of books into "The ' C. D. Ginsburg, Iniroditction to the Hibrrw BibU, London, 1B97, p. ^^l. THE 90URCE3 OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE Major," Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,' and "The Twelve" or "The Minor," Hosea-Malachi. Included in "The Writings" is a group known as the "Five Rolls" or "Megilloth," the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, which were and are read in the synagogues at the celebration of the Passover, Pentecost, 9th of Ab (destruction of Jerusalem), Tab- ernacles, Purim, respectively. There are two distinct series of historical books in the Old Testament, one of which consists of Genesis— II Kings,* inclusive, that is, from Creation to the release of Jehoiachin from Babylon 562 B, c. ; the other is I Chronicles— Nehemlah, inclu- sive. This begins with Adam, I Chronicles l:i, and closes with the second visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem, 432 B. c. The Hebrew Scriptures ended with II Chron- icles and this will explain the reference in Matthew 23:35, "al! the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of Abel (Genesis 4:8) .. . unto the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah," (II Chronicles 24:20, al- though he is there called the son of Jehoiada^). The dividing, into two books each, of Samuel, Kings, 1 Daniel is in " The Writings " >n the Hebrew St^rlptures, not in " The Prophets." 'Except Ruth, which, because of its openinH reference to the Judges, was pUced in the Septuagint, and consequently in the Latin and Enghsh versions, immediately after Judges. 'There are many such apparent discrepancies in the Bible. In Eira 5:1, Zechariah is called "the son of Iddo"; in Zechariah 1:1, "the son of Bere- chiah," "the son of Iddo." Similarly Zerubbabel is in I Chronicles 3:19 the son of Pedaiah; in Ezra j-.x, Nehemiah 12:1, and Haggai i:t he Is the sonof Shealdel." Salah (Shdah) isin Genesis ll:lz,theson of Arpachshad, and in Lulte 3:55-36, the son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad. There are twenty seven differences between the two lists of names given in Ezra 2:z-6o, and Nehemiah 7:7-62. These and other discrepancies are usually easily ex- plained. In Matthew 27:5, we are told that Judas "hanged himself," ' ' in Acts I :lS, we read of him " and falling headlong, he burst asunder midst, and all his bowels gushed out." One statement does not exclude the isibility of the other. He may have hanged himself on some high pti which he afterwards fell. ^^■ftwn I ( the wc 6 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles, which Jerome called "double books," and the counting of the "Minor Prophets" as twelve, where the Jews counted them as one book, causes our Old Testament to include as thirty- nine the books, which in the Hebrew Scriptures were counted as twenty-four. Among Jewish scholars were differences of opinion as to the inclusion of Esther, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Ezra and Chronicles, but as a result of the Rabbinical Councils at Jamnia about 90 A, D. and 118 a. d. the third collection of the Hebrew, as we have it, was finally decided upon, There is reason for believing that the Scriptures of the Palestinian Jews were complete as early as the time of Judas Maccabffius, although among different sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots, were differences of opinion concerning the books, which continued until the Councils of Jamnia. The threefold coliection is thought to be referred to in the Prologue of the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach: — "My grandfather Jesus, . . . having much given himself to the reading of the law, and the prophets, and other books of our fathers, etc," In the time of Jesus the Son of Sirach, the Hebrew Scriptures were accessible in Greek. About that time, in the persecution by Antiochus, "sacred books" of the Jews were burnt and possessors of a copy of the book of the Covenant were put to death. When the Hebrew collections were made we do not know. The book of the law was fundamental and there was doubtless some written form of the law very early. In Joshua 8:32-35, a book closely associated with Deuteronomy, we are told that Joshua read "all the words of the law . , . written in the book of the THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE / law" and also that he wrote upon "stones a copy of the law of Moses." According to an ancient tradition the inscriptions here mentioned were in all the languages of the world. Jehoshaphat appointed men to teach the law to the people, II Chronicles 17:7-9, and Ezra read to the people from the book of the law of Moses, Nehemiah 13:1. In the reign of Josiah a copy of the [ law was found by Hilkiah the priest, II Chronicles [ 34:14. This book, so often referred to, was not our ■.Pentateuch, as we have it, but it seems certain that ■ our Pentateuch includes a large part, if not all of what in these passages called "the law of Moses." It is probable that the following statement has reference to the preservation of the collections which now constitute the Old Testament: — "And the same things were related both in the public archives and in the records that concern Nehemiah; and how he, founding a library, gathered together the books about the kings and prophets, and the books of David, and letters of kings about sacred gifts. And in like manner Judas also gathered together for us all those writings that had been scattered by reason of the war that befell, and they are still with us." II Maccabees 2:13-14, There is an old story that the Hebrew Sacred Books were lost during the Babylonian captivity, 605 to 536 B. c, and that their preservation is due to Ezra. In the Fourth Book of Esdras (II Esdras of the Apocry- pha), which dates probably from about loo a. d., is a passage, 14:23-48, in which it is stated that Ezra, from memory, with the aid of five skillful scribes pro- duced in a forty-day period "ninety-four" (Syr. Eth. Arab, Arm. versions, reading "two hundred and four," , Latin copies varying) books, of which twenty-four L of the ^^H^ words : 8 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE (the Hebrew Scriptures?) were to be published openly and the remaining "seventy" kept for "such as be wise among the people." This story is connected with another tradition, equally without foundation in fact, that Ezra and a group of learned men known as the "Great Synagogue" or "Assembly," connected with the second Temple, after the return from Babylon, collected and edited the Hebrew Sacred Scriptures, During the third century b. c. we find the Hebrew "Law" being translated into Greek, a language into which all the Scriptures were put, forming ultimately what became known as the Septuagint, or Greek Old Testament. The Hebrew collections are referred to in the New Testament in a number of passages, such as Matthew 7:12, "this is the law and the prophets"; Luke 16:31, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets." "Psalms" in the following passage may refer simply to the book of Psalms or to the third collection, called by the name of the book which'is usually placed first in it; at all events the three collections were evidently in mind when the words were spoken: — "All things must needs be fulfilled, which are in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms con- cerning me." Luke 24m. Upon the restoration of the Jewish State, as related in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, it was necessary that the people should become familiar with the an- cient law of Moses. There was, however, a difficulty, the Hebrew of the law was not the spoken language of the people. This is probably the meaning of the words : J p THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE "And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly (margin 'with an interpretation'); and they gave the sense, | so that they understood the reading." Nehemiah 8:8. "The Rabbis perceived in this activity of the first I generation of the Sopherim the origin of the Aramaic | translation known as the Targum, first made orally, and afterwards committed to writing, which was neces- sitated by the fact that Israel had forgotten the sacred language, and spoke the idiom current in a large part of western Asia. All this, however, is veiled in obscurity as is the whole inner history of the Jews during the Persian rule," ^ The Aramaic Targum is of importance because, as Dr. Margolis says:— " . . , it enables us to gain an insight into the Interpretation of the Scriptures at a time when tradition had not yet wholly died out." " The Baby- lonian Targum of Onkelos contained the Pentateuch, as did also the Palestinian Targum of Jerusalem, Of the "Prophets" there is a Babylonian Targum and fragments of a Palestinian. The Targum of the "Writ- ings" is Palestinian, There are other Targums which differ somewhat from each other in being freer, or more literal, in their translation of the Hebrew text. THE SEPTUAGINT It was but natural that books held in such reverence by the Jews should become known to others, and a Greek translation of the Scriptures was sure to be made. Special reasons for it existed at Alexandria, that being a great center of Greek learning and the seat of a famous ' Preface to Tks Holy Scriplurts, x new translation, The Jewish Publica- tion Society of America, 1917. • M. L. MarEolis, Thi Slory of Bible Translaliom, Philadelphia. 1917, p. 21. A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE library. There had been Jews in Egypt for centuries before the time of Alexander, who, when he founded Alexandria {332 B. c), recognized the loyalty and courage of a race, representatives of which had fought in his armies, by setting apart in the new city a special place for Jewish colonists, whom he admitted to full citizenship.' They were allowed to transform an Egyptian temple at Lcontopolis into a replica of the Temple at Jerusalem, and to celebrate Jewish rites there until the coming of the Romans ended this. An idea of the wide dispersion of the Jews and also of their loyalty to their religion and to Jerusalem its center, is given in the opening of the second chapter of Acts. The Greek version of the Scriptures was in circulation in the time of Jesus. A story of how this version came into existence is told in an ancient letter of Aristeas to Philocrates. This letter was quoted by the Alexandrian writers Aristobulus and Philo, and by Josephus, the historian of the Jews, We know, therefore, that the letter was in existence as early as the first century of the Christian era, Aristeas says that the Greek transla- tion of the Pentateuch was made by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 b. c.) at the suggestion of Demetrius Phalereus, librarian of the royal library at Alexandria. An embassy was sent to Eleazar the High Priest, at Jerusalem, with the request that he send to Alexandria, with a copy of the Hebrew Law, six elders, from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to make a translation for the royal library. Philo states that the anniversary of the completion of the translation was celebrated yearly. This story, while for many reasons in Gfteh, Cambridge, igoo, I iny reasons j 1900, Introduc- i » THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE of doubtful accuracy and authenticity, is quoted by early Christian writers as authority. An interesting variant of the story makes the number of translators seventy, instead of seventy-two, and states that they worked independently, each in a separate cell, and that when they compared their work, on its completion, every copy agreed, verbatim et literatim, with the others. The Talmud gives the story of the seventy-two trans- lators, but speaks also of another tradition which attributed the Greek version of the Law to five elders. What we are sure of is that a translation of the Old Testament into Greek was made, beginning probably with the Pentateuch, about the time of Philadelphus, and completed in later years, by different hands. This Greek version came to be known as the "Septua- gint" (Latin, Septuaginta) commonly written LXX, and is referred to in ancient Greek manuscripts as the version "according to the Seventy." Jerome, whose name is associated with the Latin version of the Bible, doubts the story of the cells and says: — ' "Nescio quls primus auctor LXX cellulas Alexandrise mendacio suo exstruxerit, etc," In Book II of his Apology for Himself against the books of Rufinus, 402 a. d.,^ Jerome mentions the important differences in text between different Greek versions of the Old Testament and differences between the Greek versions and the Hebrew text. We are con- cerned with the Septuagint, in this volume, only so far as it contributes one of the early sources of our text of the Old Testament, for the most ancient texts of it ithat we possess are in Greek. The Old Testament of 'le early Christian Church was in Greek, not in Hebrew, I, New York, 1893, Vol. Ill, pp. 516-17. 12 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE and quotations in the New Testament are from the Greek, version. Of Greek manuscripts the most important are :— The Codex Vaticanus, brought to Rome in 1448 and believed to have been copied in Egypt in the fourth century. The Codex Sinaiticus, of the fourth century, found in 1844-1859 in the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now In the Imperial Library in Petrograd. The Codex Alexandrinus sent in i6z8 by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Charles I as a gift. It was prob- ably made at Alexandria in the fifth century and since 1753 has been in the British Museum. Each of these three contains almost the whole Bible and Apocrypha. The Ephraem manuscript, now in the National Li- brary in Paris, belongs also probably to the fifth century. It is a bundle of fragments representing about three- fifths of the original manuscript. The Manuscript of Beza, so called because once owned by that scholar, was presented by him to the University of Cambridge in 1581. It is generally re- ferred to the sixth century. It contains the Gospels and Acts and is remarkable as being the earliest to contain John 7:53-8:11. These manuscripts and the hundreds of others, of different dates, and of a more or less fragmentary char- acter, are the oldest versions we have of any parts of the Bible either Old Testament or New. The discovery of additional manuscripts often throws light on the text, and It will be noticed that most important man- uscripts have come to our knowledge since the comple- tion of the King James Version In l6ll. In addition to the Hebrew and Greek sources of the text of the THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 13 u ^^ Th Bible, we have also manuscripts, of various ages, of a fifth century Armenian translation of the whole Bible, fragments of a Gothic version made by Wulfilas in the fourth century, of several different Egyptian (Coptic) versions of parts of the Bible, of an Ethiopic version and of a Syriac version. All of these, as well as early quotations from the Bible, are important as indicating ■what the contents and text were regarded as being, for the manuscripts differ in text, and do not ail contain the same books. There are important differences, the Syriac Peshitto version, for example, omitting the Apocrypha entirely. The name Apocrypha meaning "hidden" or "secret," had been applied to the books of certain sects. It was used by Jerome of a number of books which had been included in the Greek version. Of these, some were originally in Greek, while others were a Greek translation of Hebrew or Aramaic writings. The original Hebrew of the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach was found in a Cairo manuscript now in the Cam- bridge University Library. None of the books of the Apocrypha was ever included by the Jews among their Scriptures. THE LATIN VERSIONS Just as the conquests of Alexander and the spread of Greek language and learning throughout the East re- sulted in a Greek version of the Old Testament, so the Roman conquests spread the Latin language, and of course a Latin version of both Old Testament and New was inevitable. Christianity spread through the preaching of the Apostles, and this fact made even more important the Greek versions, and made necessary the Latin. The oldest Latin version, which was known to j_J A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Jerome, and others of the Fathers, was probably made in the second century from the Septuagint, and there appear to have been different varieties of the text. Augustine com- mends the Itala, and there were also an African and some European versions. The oldest form of the Latin version is in the opinion of critics the African. Por- tions of the Old Latin versions are still in existence in about forty manuscripts. It was the lack of uniformity in the early Latin versions that led Damasus, Bishop , of Rome, to commission Jerome, a Dalmatian, to pre- pare a Latin translation of the Psalms and Gospels. He finished this work and the New Testament on the basis of Greek texts. A short time later Jerome revised his Psalter on the basisof Orlgcn's work. Origen (184- 254 A. D.) endeavored to produce an accurate Greek text of the Old Testament, and edited a Tetrapla, or four-text, and later a Hexapla, or six-text work, of which all that remains are fragments quoted in the Church Fathers, and a fragment of some of the Psalms, the latter found in the Ambrosian Library in 1896. In the same library were found also, in 1874, a copy of a Syriac translation of the Septuagint text of the Hexapla made in 616 A. d. Origen arranged in col- umns, I, the Hebrew text, 2, the Hebrew text in Greek characters, 3, 4, and 5, versions of Aquila, Sym- machus, and Theodotion, 6, a revised Septuagint text. Origen worked on the New Testament as well, endeavoring to fix a canon. He and Jerome were the two great textual critics of the early Church. Jerome was not content to translate from Greek, but went to live at Bethlehem, where, for fifteen years (390-405 A. D.), he devoted himself to the study of Hebrew, and the translation of the Old Testament from THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE IS Hebrew into Latin. At the request of several bishops, he translated also the books of Judith and Tobit, which a friend of his translated from Aramaic into Hebrew for him. He then translated the Hebrew version, though he regarded as canonical only the ancient Hebrew books. The oldest Latin versions were made from the Greek and included the Apocrypha, books rejected by the Jews, but received, with differences of opinion, by the Church. Their inclusion was, against the opinion of Jerome, and owing to the influence of Augustine, decided upon by the Synods of Hippo 393 A, D. and Carthage 397 a. d, It is interesting to note that in Latin Bibles until 1566 the Old Latin translation of the Psalms revised by Jerome and known as the Roman Psalter was re- tained, the second revision of Jerome, known as the Galiican Psalter, replacing it in that year. Jerome's third and later translation directly from Hebrew never came into general use. This retention of an older version of the Psalms is similar to the continued use of the Bishops' version to-day in the Book of Common Prayer. The Council of Trent, at its fourth session 1546, decreed that the Vulgate, Jerome's Latin version, was the Authentic Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. This contains the books of the Apocrypha (except the Prayer of Manasses and I and H Esdras), among the other books. The books of the Apocrypha, included in the Vulgate, and therefore in the Rheims-Douay Ver- sion, are sometimes distinguished from the canonical Hebrew Scriptures by the title "deutero-canonical" ' ' The same term has been applied to cercainNew Testament boob which wne accepted as canonical only after long discussion, hence another title "Antileaomcna," by which they were known. The books are Hebrews, James, Jude, II Peter, 11 and III John and Revelation. i -1^ i6 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE meaning that they arc a supplement to the Hebrew canon. Protestant opinion concerning the Apocrypha ranges from the rejection of it as uninspired and the consequent exclusion of it from the Bible, to the view expressed in Article of Religion VI of the Church of England, which is as follows :— "And the other books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following: The Third, [First] Book of Esdras, The Fourth [Second] Book of Esdras, The Book of Tobias, The Book of Judith, The rest of the Book of Esther, The Book of Wisdom, Jesus the Son of Sirack, Baruck the Prophet, The Song of the Three Children, The Story of Susanna, Of Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasses, The First Book of Maccabees, The , Second Book of Maccabees." In the Larger Catechism of the Russian Greek Church, 1839, the Apocrypha is not included among canonical books, because "they do not exist in Hebrew." After the Reformation, Protestants did not regard these books as inspired, but did regard them as val- uable for their teachings, and they were therefore commonly printed in Protestant English versions, fol- lowing the example of Luther's version 1534 in a collection by themselves, between the Old Testament and the New, but for many years they have usually not been printed in English Protestant versions. The omission of the Apocrypha dates from 1826 and is the result of a controversy in the British and Foreign Bible Society, some members of which objected to circulating with the canonical books others which were not regarded as inspired.' We find, therefore, a difference, as to > See The Book and Its Slory, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the BritiA and Foreign Bible Society, 1834, p. 319. THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLl 17 lxx)ks and 1 ' books, between the Vulgate, and translations of it, used by Roman Catholics, and the Bible as commoniy accepted by Protestants. The oldest Christian list of the books of the Old Testament is that of Melito, Bishop of Sardis 170 a. d., which omits the Apocrypha and also Esther. There were, of course, many versions and variants of the Latin Bible, and it became necessary for the Roman Catholic Church to fix upon a text that should be standard. A particular edition of the Vulgate was designated and, after that of Pope Sixtus V, 1590, had been found unsatisfactory, one issued by Clement VIII was, by Papal Bull of 1592, declared to be Authentic. I No word of it is permitted to be altered. The action !of the Council of Trent in 1546 in regard to the Vulgate, was reaffirmed by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in 1870. In the spring of 1907 announcement was made that Pius X had determined upon a critical revision of the Latin Bible. This work is being done by a Commission under the leadership of Father Gas- quet, who are at work studying and collating man- uscripts for the purpose of creating a text that shall be superior to that of the Clementine edition of 1592.^ With regard to the canon of The New Testament there is no difference between the versions. Here there was no collection of ancient writings to be adopted, whole, or with exceptions or additions, by the early Christian Church. By a gradual process of acceptance and approval the New Testament came into existence as the authoritative fundamental book of Christianity. Of the twenty-seven books, which it contains, a few ' were accepted finally only after long discussion. Books, , which for a time were read in churches, but which e the article "Vulgate, the Revision of," in Thi Catholic Encyclopedia. A-i l8 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE were never regarded as inspired, were the Clementine Epistles, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas. There exist also other boobs such as the Apocalypse of Peter, Epistle to the Laodiceans, Acts of Paul, and many so-called Gospels. Of the various early lists of writings permitted to be read in churches that of Athanasias d. 373 is the earliest to include the present twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In his Easter Pastoral Letter in 365 A. D., Athanaslus gave a complete list of the Old Testament books, placing the Apocrypha in a separate classification, and naming the books of the New Tes- tament as we have it. Other early lists vary in regard to Hebrews, James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation, which have been mentioned' as the "Antilegomena," or books "spoken against." The Hebrew Scriptures, the Greek and Latin ver- sions of them, the New Testament in Greek, and in Latin, these underlie the English versions of the Bible, ■which differ in contents, or in arrangement of contents, according to the texts from which they have been de- rived. The order of the books of the Old Testament in English versions, except the Jewish, which retains the ancient Hebrew groupings, is due to the Greek and Latin translations, as are also the names of the books. In the following lists the contents of the Revised Ver- sion which represents the Protestant view of the Old Testament canon, are placed parallel to the contents of the Rheims-Douay Version, which, following the Vulgate, represents the canon as accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, So long as the books were on separate rolls of parchment the order was unim- ' Above, p. IS, note. THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 19 portant, except in the contents of each roll. When the books were put into a volume the order became nec- essarily fixed. It must always be remembered that the Bible as known and read in Western Europe until the time of the Reformation was the Vulgate, or Jerome's Latin version. It was from the Vulgate, Exodus 34:29, for example, that Michelangelo derived his authority for placing horns on the head of his statue of Moses. The Vulgate was back of the literature and art of Western Europe from the time that Christianity became the pre- vailing religion. CONTENTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Revised Version Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Joshua. Judges. Ruth. I Samuel. II Samuel. I Kings. II Kings. I Chronicles. II Chronicles. Ezra. Nehemiah. Esther. Job. rsalms. Prorerbs. Ecdesiastes. jSong of Solomon. I Isaiah. Jeremiah. RkeimS'Douay Version Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Josue. Judges. Ruth. I Kings. II Kings. III Kings. IV Kings. I Paralipomenon. II Paralipomenon. I Esdras. II Esdras, alias Nehemias. Tobias. Judith. Esther (including additional chap- ters). Job. Psalms. Proverbs. Ecdesiastes. Canticle of Canticles. Wisdom. Ecdesiasticus. Isaias. Jeremias. 20 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE Revised Version JUieinwDouay Version Lamentations. Lamentadons. . Baruch. Ezekiel. Ezechid. _ .. _ DanieL Danid, (including The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna and, Bd and the Dragon). Hosea. Osee. Jod. Jod. Amos. Amos. Obadiah. Abdias. Jonah. Tonas. Micheas. Micah. Nahum. Nahum. Habakkuk. Habacuc. Zephaniah. Sophonias. Haegai. Zecnariah. Aggeus. Zacharias. Malachi. Malachias. I Machabees. II Machabees. The ApocrypluLi nonrcanonical. I Esdras, (commonly called III £s- dras). II Esdras, (commonly called IV Esdras). • Tobit. Judith. Esther, (addidonal chapters. the Septu^nt adding ten verses, the Vulgate six chapters). and Wisdom of Solomon. Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, (Ecdesiasticus). Baruch. Song of the three Holy Children, (addidon to Danid). History of Susanna, (addition to Danid). • Bd and the Dragon, (addition to Danid). Praver of Manasses. I Maccabees. II Maccabees. The Rheims-Douay version differs In the names of some books. J^^ehemiah is called II Esdras, Ezra being THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 21 called I Esdras, as was formerly done in all Bibles. I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings are I, II, III and IV Kings, while Chronicles appears as Paralipomenon, from the Septuagint title. In the New Testament we have quotations from thirty books of the Hebrew canon, but no quotation, as such, from any of the books of the Apocrypha, al- though there are many passages, which will be dis- cussed in another connection, which indicate that the New Testament writers were familiar with some of the books of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.^ J The Apocrypha and Pseudefi^rapha of the Old Testament in English^ 'edited by K. H. Charles, Cambndge, I9i3> is the first complete Enelish edition of the non-canonical Jewish literature of the period extending from about 2CX> B. C. to loo A. D. Under the title The Apocryphal New Testament^ the non-canonical books of the early Christian centuries nave been reprinted (1906) from an edition of 1820, printed in London for William Hone. CHAPTER II THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Back of the Old Testament was an extensive liter- ature, the product of high culture. The Old Testament historical writings cover, in de- tail at some places, and in broad outline at others, the history of Jehovah's dealings with the descendants of Abraham, at first as the patriarchs, then as the tribes, and later as the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Dispersion, the build- ing of cities, the confusion of tongues — these occupy the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The twelfth chapter records the call of Abraham, an event which occurred about twenty-two centuries before the Chris- tian era. In addition to history, are the laws governing the religious ceremonies and social organization of the Jews, and there are also examples of various kinds of poetry, of wisdom literature, of stories of remarkable people and events, and the utterances of the prophets with their messages directly from Jehovah himself. Probably the most interesting and important result of the work of the archseologists in their researches in the Orient has been in the reconstruction of much of the background of the Old Testament writings. The gen- eral reader no longer regards the ancient Hebrew Scrip- tures as shrouded in mystery as to their sources, and as representing ages in which the life of man was lived in a manner unlike that of any other time. The Tell el Amama tablets, discovered in 1 887, some of which THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 23 contain correspondence between Egypt and Palestine of about the time of Moses, indirectly throw light on the story of Joseph, for example, by indicating that r close relations existed between the two countries, in- Ivolving, probably, frequent communication by means F of just such commercial caravans as that which passed ' along the ancient road and purchased Joseph as a slave from his conspiring brothers. The Code of Hammurabi, discovered in 1901 on a stone column at Susa, throws a flood of light on the Law of Moses_ as given in the Pentateuch. Hammurabi has been identified with Amraphel, King of Shinar, Genesis,: 14:1, thus making him contemporary with Abraham. As Professor Driver says: — "The civilization, including the history, the institutions, the art, and the society' of ancient Babylonia and Assyria, is now known to us in many respects more completely than that of ancient Egypt. Mr. Leonard King's Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, King of Babylon in the twenty-second century B. c, contains almost as vivid a picture of life and character as do the Life and Letters of some states- 1 or prelate deceased among ourselves a few years |»go." ' The Code, elaborate in its details, which specify offenses and punishments, resembles in many ways the contents of Leviticus and shows that the Law of Moses was for the Jews a Code such as other peoples possessed in even earlier times. Inscriptions have been found containing records of Kings mentioned in Genesis, ch. 14, once pronounced, by some confident I critics, mere "etymological inventions of imaginary rcharacters," and it has been proved by these independ- JJ 24 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH B13LE ent sources of informatioQ that the story of the Etam- itic invasion, told in Genesis, is not myth but veritable history.' Concerning the relation of archeology to the Bible, in matters about which there has been discussion by the critics, we may repeat here what Professor Driver says: — "The fact is, while archeology has frequently corroborated Biblical statements, of the truth of which critics never doubted, such as Shishak's invasion of Judah, the existence of such Kings as Omri, Ahab, Jehu and Sargon, and Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, it has overthrown no conclusion, at variance with tradition, which has met with the general acceptance of critics." ^ Archeological discoveries have brought to us a considerable amount of literature similar In contents and form to parts of the Old Testament and revealing to us much concerning the life and thoughts of men in the ancient world. In Professor Petrie's Egyptian Tales are many old stories, one of which. The Tale of the Two Brothers, is similar in several ways to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife.' Genesis, ch. 39. A tablet in ancient Sumerian, now in the Yale Univer- sity collection and translated by Dr. A. T. Clay, throws light on the parable of the Prodigal Son. The tablet contains the oldest laws known, antedating by hundreds of years even the Code of Hammurabi, The laws of inheritance were of great importance, as we know from the Old Testament, Numbers 27:1-11, 36:1-10, and are given at length in the Code of Hammurabi, This *G. A. Bannn, Jrchaohgy and ike Bible, Philadelphia, 1916, is » re- liable source of information on ihls and similar lubjecls. 'S. R. Driver, Introdvclwn to thf Lileralare of the Old TeHamtnl, New York, 1914, preface, p. xxi. • Flinders Pctrie, Egyptian Talts, Second Series, London, iSgj, pp. 36ff. THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 2$ older Sumerian Code shows, as Dr. Clay says, that the parable has a legal aspect not "surmised by the com- mentarians." The law concerning inheritance reads: — "If a son say unto his father and his mother, [thou art] not my father, not my mother; from the house, field, planta- tion, servants, property, animals he shall go forth, and his portion to its full amount he [the father] shall give him. His father and his mother shall say to him 'not our son.' From the neighborhood of the house he shall go," The Prodigal Son received his share, and then went to a far country, in accordance with the law, and not as the result of an importunate demand on an indulgent father. "It heightens the contrast between the father, who, on the one hand, complied with what the law permitted the son to demand; and, on the other hand, the forgiving father, who rejoiced over his return, not as a legal heir, but as a son." ^ Another ancient in- scription on clay, in the Yale collection, which dates earlier than 2000 b, c, is a dialogue, the earliest example known, between a father and his son. Tab- lets concerning dreams and their interpretations have also been found, which are of great interest in connec- tion with the many dreams of which the Bible con- tains accounts. The Babylonian epic of Creation has been known since 1872, when George Smith of the British Museum deciphered tablets telling of the Flood, and it is easily accessible in translated form.^ Since then a num- ber of additional inscriptions containing Creation and Eden stories have rewarded the work of the archsolog^sts. The excavations of the University of 26 BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE Pennsylvania on the site of Nippur brought to light many tablets, on some of which are accounts of Creation, Paradise and the Deluge, which have been published, the most recently deciphered inscription being presented by Dr. Barton, who says of it, and of the other tablets found at Nippur: — "This tablet, together with those discovered by Poebcl and Lang- don . . . proves that at Nippur there existed in the third millennium b, c. a cycle of creation myths."' These, and many more things which help us to under- stand the Bible, have become known from the dis- covery and reading of inscriptions, which have been preserved in clay and stone for thousands of years, and ; which antedate, not only any existing copies of the Biblical writings, but antedate also by many centuries the most ancient of those writings. The Babylonian I narratives of Creation, and the Flood are older than '.the Hebrew, and show the existence of those stories in literary form in the East, probably before any such book as Genesis ever contained the record of them. There is also a Babylonian story ^ similar to that of Job. From many examples of ancient literature, preserved . on the tablets dug in recent years from the ruins of j ancient cities, in the plains of Babylonia, and elsewhere, ' we know that, long before the time of Abraham, the world had reached a high state of development in all that concerned the organization and government of society, and that the human soul was finding expression in art and literature. Not rude, barbarous, uncivilized '"Material concerning Creation and Paradise." The American Journal of Tkeolo^, October, 1917, p. 595. • This Babylonian poem may be found in G. A. Barton's Arduzalo^y and ike BibU, pp. 392-297, and is discussed at length by Professor Morns Jas- trow in the Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. ij, pp. 135-191, "A Babylo- nian Parallel to the Story of Job." THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 27 ^ and undeveloped were the people from whom came the Old Testament writings, and this Is shown clearly, not only by the remains of Babylonia and Egypt, whether in inscriptions, in examples of sculpture and design, in magnificent structures like the Pyramids or Sphinx, or superb ruins like the temples, of Egypt and the palaces of the Pharaohs, but it Is shown also by what i^the Old Testament writings tell us concerning them- Ives. The form in which we have these ancient Hebrevy books is almost certainly, in many cases, not that in which they first appeared in writing, for they have come to us through the work of many editors and copyists in the intervening centuries. We may not be certain that they are contemporary accounts of the events of which they tell, but we do know that what we have has been preserved by the reverent efforts of men who regarded these writings as inspired by God, and there- fore holy and authoritative, and as containing the history of God's dealings with his chosen people, and the utterances of great men, through whom the word of God was communicated. That the past should never be forgotten and that the history of Israel and its prophets should be preserved, Is the meaning of the words : — "We have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. I We will not hide them from their children, telling to the 1 generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, 1 and his wondrous works that he hath done." Psalm 78:3, 4. That special care was taken to preserve writings is shown in Exodus 17:14, where Jehovah tells Moses to "write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in : ears of Joshua"; and in: — [8 A BOOK ABOtJT THE ENGLISH BIBLE "Take thee again another roU, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah hath burned." Jeremiah 36:28. That writings were collected in later times and pro- tected against loss is indicated by the following state- ment, in which what was evidently a literary commis- j sion of King Hezekiah is mentioned in connection with 9l supplementary collection of proverbs:— "These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out." Proverbs 25:1. Added to this collection are Proverbs ch. 30, The Words of Agur and ch. 31, The Words of King Lemuel. This note about Hezekiah, who was himself a poet (see Isaiah 38:9), is of great interest because of what it sug- gests concerning a library at Jerusalem and a trained group of copyists such as were the scribes in Nineveh. Professor Sayce thinks that there must have been a royal library at Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah, and says : — "The vassalage of Judah to the king of Assyria in the reign of Ahaz had necessarily led to the introduction of Assyrian culture into Jerusalem. Ahaz himself had led the way. In the court of the palace he had erected a sundial, a copy of the gnomons, which had been used for centuries in the civilized kingdoms of the Euphrates and the Tigris. But the erection of the sundial was not the only sign of Assyrian influence. The most striking feature of Assyrian and Baby- lonian culture was the libraries, where scribes were kept constantly employed, not only in writing and compiling new books, but in copying and reediting older ones. The 'men of Hezekiah' who 'copied out' the proverbs of Solomon per- I UUUK.a, UUL III I. ^^^ Hezekiah' wh( THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT formed duties exactly similar to the royal scribes in Nin- eveh." ^ Hezeklah is credited with having done much to re- store and preserve the customs of the past. We are told, II Kings, chs. 18-20, and II Chronicles, chs. 29-32, that he destroyed the brazen serpent, which Moses had made, and which the people worshipped, restored the laws of Moses, the services of the Temple, the observance of the Passover, and "commanded the Levites to sing praises unto Jehovah with the words of David and Asaph the seer." He likewise believed in civic improvements and "made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city." II Kings 20:20. We see in these references evidence that litera- ture was preserved, i, by oral transmission, 2, by care on the part of authors and scribes, and 3, by special care In collecting on the part of authorities and com- missions like those of Hezekiah. We now come to what is one of the most interesting facts concerning ancient Hebrew literature and that is, that what we know as the Old Testament, which is com- posed of the three sacred collections of the Jews, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, is, with a few exceptions, all that has come down to us of what we know, indirectly, from the literary qualities of the ex- tant books, and from evident quotations, and directly, from the names of other books referred to in the Old Testament, must have been a highly developed and diversified literature. The oldest Hebrew inscriptions found are those on the Moabite Stone, found in 1868, and the Siloam inscription, found in 1880, The former is now in the Louvre and dates from the time of Ahab, ' The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monumeals, 4th edicion, London, 1894, pp. 475, 476. 30 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGUSH BIBLE About 850 B. c. It is Mesha's account of a revolt men- tioned in II Kings 3 4, 5. The inscription which is quite long contains much of the deepest interest to students of the language and the contents of the Old Testament. The Siloam inscription, found in 1880 on the wall of a tunnel connecting the Pool of Siloam with the Virgin's Well at Jerusalem, is now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. It is believed to date from the time of Hezekiah, 700 e. c. who built a conduit. The inscription records the completing of such a con- duit drilled through the rock.' In Numbers 21:27-30, we have a quotation from an old collection of proverbs that had been preserved orally or in writing. Evident quotations, either from oral transmission or from earlier writings, are the Song of the Sword, Genesis 4:23, 24, and the Song of the Well, Numbers 21:17-18, and such poetical passages as the words of Isaac to Jacob, Genesis, 27: 27-29, 39-40. It is probable that such passages as the Blessing of Jacob, Genesis, ch. 49 and the Song by the Sea, Exodus, ch. 15, the Song of Deborah, Judges, ch. 5, and others, were preserved in books from which the writers of our present books took them. That was the way in which the present book of Psalms was formed. Poems were selected from earlier collections in which they had been preserved. Two books, which were themselves collections of writings, are mentioned as sources, one is the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, quoted in Numbers 21:14, the other is the Book of Jasher which is referred to twice, in Joshua 10:13, ^^ ^he source of Joshua's ad- dress to the sun and moon, and in II Samuel r:r8, as be round in Archaoiagy and ike BibU, THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 31 ¥ :hc source of ihc Song of the Bow, or David's Lament over Saul and Jonathan. Except for these quotations, the two collections are lost. Existing books to which the title Book of Jasher is given are, one of them, a collection of legends and stories based on the Old Testament, and dating from the 12th century, the other an l8th century forgery. That there was a collection of psalms attributed to ,saph is indicated by the existence In Psalms of such poems, evidently taken from an earlier collection. In I Chronicles 16:7, David gives thanks unto Jehovah, "by the hand of Asaph and his brethren," biit the psalm then sung, made up of Psalms 105:1-15, 96:1-13, 106:1, and 106:47-48, is not stated to have been by him, the passages referred to, in the Psalter, being all of them anonymous. There were doubtless other collec- tions of poetry in which were preserved the poems, other than psalms, of which a considerable number are given in the Old Testament. In I Kings 4:29-34, is a remarkable passage concern- ing Solomon which contains references to what we must suppose to have been writings on a variety of subjects. Except for such as may be contained in the Old Testa- ment, these works of Solomon have been lost. The passage is: — "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding ex- ceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahlte, and Heman,^ and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was In all the nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a ' To Ethan is ascribed Psalra Sg and 10 Hem^n Psalm 88. 32 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE I thousand and five^ And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wail: he spate also of beasts, and of birds, and of creep- ing things, and of fishes. And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the eartht who had heard of his wisdom." Besides these general statements concerning olher literature by which the Old Testament writings were surrounded there are in the historical books, especially the later ones, Chronicles, references by title to books and authors from which information has been drawn, or to which the reader is directed for a fuller account than that given. Here are the titles of some books thus mentioned: — I Samuel 10:25, ^ hook written by Samuel telling "the manner of the Kingdom," perhaps the "book of Samuel the seer" {mentioned in I Chronicles 29:29), I Kings 1 1 41, "the book of the acts of Solomon." I Kings 14:29, "the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah." (Often referred to in I and II Chronicles.) II Kings 15:15, "the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel." (Often referred to in I and II Chronicles.) I Chronicles S:i7i "genealogies in thedaysof Jotham King of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, king of Israel." I Chronicles 23 :27, "the last words [or acts] of David," I Chronicles 27:24, "the chronicles of king David." I Chronicles 29:29, "the history of Samuel the seer;" "the history of Nathan the prophet," "the history of Gad the " II Chronicles 9:29, " the history of Nathan the prophet," "theprophecy of Ahijah, theShilonite, " "the visions of Iddo the seer." II Chronicles 12:15, "the histories of Shemaiah the prophet" and of "Iddo the seer after the manner of geneal- ogies." I THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 33 i;j:22, "the commentary (Midrash) of the I, "the book of the kings of Judah and II Chronicles i prophet Iddo." II Chronicles i Israel." II Chronicles 20:34, "the history of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel." II Chronicles 24:27, "the commentary [Midrash] of the book of the kings," II Chronicles 26:22, "the acts of Uzziah," by Isaiah the prophet. II Chronicles 32:32, "the vision of Isaiah the prophet— in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel." (Compare Isaiah 36-39, with II Kings 18:13-20:21.) II Chronicles 33:18, 19, "the acts of Manasseh . . . among the acts of the kings of Israer'^"his prayer . . . written in thehistory of Hozai" (or theseers]. The Prayer of Manasseh is preserved in the Apocrypha. II Chronicles 35:25, "the lamentatiohs. " (Not the book in the Bible called the Lamentations of Jeremiah.) I Maccabees 16:24, "chronicles" of John the High Priest. II Maccabees 2:23, "five books" of Jason of Cyrene. The term "Midrash" applied to the book of Iddo> ' 11 Chronicles 13:22, and to the book of Kings, II Chronicles 24:27, is perhaps better translated "story" as in the King James Version, than "commentary" as in the Revised Version. Such books as Tobit and Judith are properly "Midrashim," that is, stories with emphasis laid on the didactic or moral aspects of the various incidents. It has been noted by critics that I the moral teaching is the motive of most of the stories [told in Chronicles.^ Oral transmission played an important part in keep- I'jng alive in the minds of the people the history of their ■ past, and many of the stories contained in the Bible ' Examples may be found in II Chronicles 21:10, 14:14, 26:5, etc. 34 BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE circulated among the peoples, not only of Israel and Judah, but also of the surrounding nations. The Exodus must have been a constant source of interest and the fact that we have three accounts, in different styles, of the plagues of Egypt is not without literary significance. In Exodus 7-15, the account is epic, in Psalm 78, lyric, and in the Wisdom of Solomon chs. ri, 17, 18, is an- other account which has been called the picturesque. These are of different dates, but show what use was made of the material. There were probably oral or written stories and songs about the patriarchs and Moses, and also about Samuel, Samson, David, Solo- mon, Saul, and other heroes. Such a song is mentioned in I Samuel 18:7. Ballads and folk-songs existed, all of which, whether preserved orally, as was probably the Song of the Well, Numbers 21 :i7, or in writing, as was probably the story of Balaam, which we have in Numbers chs. 22-24, '" a form part prose and part verse, were accessible to the Hebrew writers of the Old Testament. From the evidence afforded by the text of the Old Testament there were probably collections of writings,, in different parts of Palestine, which contained local versions of histories or laws, and which may have been the varying sources of those portions, especially of the Pentateuch, which scholars generally regard as parallel, but distinct. The Pentateuch is ascribed to-day to four main sources designated as J(ahvistic}, because God is called Jahveh in these passages, E(Iohistic), because God is called Elohira, D(euteronomy), and P(riestly), the last so named because concerned especially with religious regulations. To different sources are ascribed, for example, the two accounts of creation, Genesis i :i- 2:3, and 2:4-25, and the versions of the Commandments, I I THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 2S Exodus 20:1-17, Exodus 34:1-27, Leviticus 19:1-37, Deuteronomy 5:1-21. Not only from books now lost did the Old Testament ■writers draw, but also from other books of the Old t Testament, unless indeed, as may be possible, the same I passage from a lost book was taken by more than one author or editor. We cannot tell which really occurred, because usually no acknowledgment of indebtedness was made. Isaiah contains a long passage which occurs in II Kings (cf. Isaiah chs. 36-39, with II Kings 18:13- I 20:21), ch. 37 of Isaiah and ch. 19 of II Kings being I the same, I Chronicles 10:1-12, is evidently from I Samuel 31:1-13, II Chronicles ch. id, is evidently from I Kings 12:1—19. In fact the whole of I and II Chronicles is based on the older books, I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings, as well as on other books, specifically men- tioned, and doubtless still others not mentioned. The closing verses of II Chronicles appear as the opening verses of Ezra. In Micah 4:1-3, we have the same passage as Isaiah 2 :2-4, the most familiar portion of it being: — "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they leam war any more," [ A less familiar passage evidently related to the other, I Occurs in Joel 3:9-10; — "Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of t war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." There are examples of the double use of the same [ earlier material in the collections of religious poetry 36 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE which we have in the Psalms, which consists, as the doxologies at the end of each book indicate, of five divisions, 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; J07-150, each of which was probably an independent collection. Psalm 14 of the first book appears again in the second book as Psalm 53. Psalm 70 is the same as Psalm 40: 13-17. Psalm 108 is composed of Psalms 57:7-11, and 60:5-12. The versions are slightly different in the two appearances of the same Psalm and the duplica- tions are always in different books. Similarly the poem of David, which is Psalm 18, is put into its historical setting In 11 Samuel 22, in a different version. Associated with the Old Testament, but not regarded by the Jews as part of their Scriptures, are the books of the Apocrypha, which found their way into the Bible, of the early Church, and which, with the exception of the Prayer of Manasses and I and II Esdras, are in the Bible of tiie Roman Catholic Church, because in the Vulgate. Protestant versions place the Apocryphal books in a group between the Old and the New Tes- taments. From the references to lost books, and from the use of materials in our Old Testament we see that there existed earlier, and also contemporaneously, a con- siderable literature, of which we have in the Bible only such examples as have been preserved for us by the reverent care of men who made it their business to see that the best thought of the best minds should be to the race a perpetual possession, and that the records of the Jews should be preserved. To this lit- erature of the ancient world the archteologists have added considerable stores of the writings from the extensive literatures of Egypt and Babylonia con- temporary with, or earlier than the records of the Jews. THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT yj Of various dates, some doubtless fairly early, and others much later than any parts of the Old Testament, are a number of books containing material concerning much of the contents of the Old Testament, and purporting to give information about the prophets, patriarchs and others, supplementing what we learn from the Bible. These books In many cases show the thought of the time concerning matters to which the Bible refers as of general knowledge, but about which it has little to say, for example, Satan and the sons of God, and the councils in Heaven, spoken of in Job 1 and 2; I Kings 22:19; Zechariah 3:1; the func- tions of Satan as mentioned in I Chronicles 21:1, which refers to the same event as II Samuel 24:1; the war in ' heaven and the fall of the bad angels, referred to as well-known stories in II Peter 2:4, and Jude v. 6; the vision of judgment, Jude vs. 14, 15, quoted from the book of Enoch; the quarrel between Michael and the devil, Jude v. 9, a story which Origen said was from the Assumption of Moses; the contest between Moses, and Jannes and Jambres, II Timothy 3 :8, who are not named elsewhere in the Bible.' There are many things spoken of in the Old Testament which were evidently a part of the literature or thought of the time, or of earlier times, Dr. R. H. Charles,^ refers to the following beliefs which find expression in the Bible or In early Christian writings, as being either partially or wholly elucidated by the Secrets of Enoch, written about the beginning of the Christian era, and preserved to us, so far as is yet known, only in Slavonic: i. Death was caused by 'They were the sorcerers of Exodus 7:1 1, Jewish tradition states. ■ Thi Book of the Stents of Enoch, translated from Slavonic by W. R. Moifill. Edited with Introduction and notes by R. H. Charles. Oxford. 1896. J^ A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE sin; 2. The millennium; 3. Of the creation of man with free will and knowledge of good and evil; 4. The Ser- aphim; 5. The intercession of saints; 6. The seven heavens, an early Jewish and Christian belief.' How extensive the extant literature on these and other Biblical topics is, may easily be ascertained by examining the contents of The Apocrypha and Pseu- depigrapha as given by Dr. Charles in his work of that title. In volume II will be found the following, I classified by the nature of the books : — Law — ^The Book of Jubilees. ( The Letter of Aristeas. Legend \ The Books of Adam and Eve. [The Martyrdom of Isaiah. Enoch. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The Sibylline Oracles. The Assumption of Moses. II Enoch, or Secrets of Enoch. II Baruch or Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch. in Baruch or Greek Apocalypse of Baruch. IV Ezra. Apocalyfsei Psalms — Psalms of Solomon. Wisdom Books IV Maccabees. Pirke Aboth, or Sayings of the Fathers, The Story of Ahikar. History — Fragments of a Zadokite Work. Many of these books, while not themselves very an- 'Cf. such expressions as "the third heaven," 11 Corinthians \l:2, and "the heaven of heavens" Deuteronomy 10:14; I Kings 8:27, Psalm 148-4. THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 39 cient, yet contain ancient stories some of which under- lie the Bible books. ^ ^ As do also such books as were published in a volume^ bearing the title The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament^ found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazarus, translated into English by the Rev. Jacques Issaverdens, Venice, 1901. In this book are found the fdlow^ The Book of Adam. The History of Assaneth. The History of Moses. Concerning the Deaths of the Prophets — Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micahj Joel, Obadian, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, lalachi, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Concerning King Solomon. A Short History of the Prophet Elias. Concerning the Prophet Jeremiah. The Vision of Enoch the Just. The Seventh Vision of Daniel. The Testaments of the XII Patriarchs. The Third Book of Esdras. Inquiries made by the Prophet Esdras. CHAPTER III THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Back of the New Testament is the Old Testament, and not only this, but an extensive literature that came into existence after the latest events of which the Old Testament treats. The Old Testament Scriptures are concerned, except for the opening chapters of Genesis, with the personages and events of about seventeen hundred years, from Abraham to Nehemiah; the New Testament, except perhaps the book of Revelation, with the personages and events of probably less than one hundred years. The Old Testament, while con- taining many biographies, falls much of it in the domain of national history, political as well as religious, though chiefly the latter. The New Testament, some of which falls in the domain of history, belongs rather to biog- raphy, containing as it does, except Revelation, ac- counts of the birth, life, teachings, death and resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ, the efforts to promulgate and Inter- pret those teachings, and to organize a Church founded upon them. The Revelation, a type of literature rep- resented in the Old Testament in Daniel, and in the Apocrypha in II Esdras, sets forth the events of the future as visions; there are to be a new heaven and a new earth, in which God shall dwell with man, *' and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more," Revelation 21:4. To the period between the Old Testament and the New belong some of the books of the Apocrypha. The THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 41 Dka of the Maccabees give us the history of the re- action against Greek power and influences. The Per- sian gave way to the Greek who was succeeded by the Roman. These changes from the conditions in the time of Ezra bring us to the Palestine of Jesus and his disciples. The four centuries immediately preceding the Christian era saw not only changes in the political conditions, but also the development of certain ideas which are later more clearly set forth in the New Tes- tament. It is in the Wisdom of Solomon that we find ex- pressed such thoughts as these_on personal immortality : — "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, And no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died; And their departure was accounted to be their hurt, And their journeying away from us to be their ruin: But they are in peace. For even if in the sight of men they be punished, Their hope is full of immortality; And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good; Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself, As gold in the furnace he proved them, And as a whole burnt offering he accepted them. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth. And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro, They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore." The Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-8. In Daniel we read: — "They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Daniel 12:3. J \2 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE Not as new ideas then came these words in the New I Testament:— "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matthew 1343. "When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, : also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matthew 19:28. "Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" I Corinthians 6:2. The immortality of the soul is set forth in the Old \ Testament in a number of passages,' such as the fol- \ lowing: — " For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of fife: In thy presence is fulness of joy; In thy right-hand there are pleasures for evermore," Psalm 16:10, II. "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For he will receive me." Psalm 49:15. "As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake, with beholding thy form." Psalm 17:15. "But as for me I know that my Redeemer (Heb. gofl, vindicator] liveth. And at last he will stand up upon the earth: And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed. Then without my flesh shall I see God; Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger." Job 19:25-27. ' Clitics express doubts as to whether such p to national ddiveratite, or 10 individual escapi There is danger of attributing m Old Testament the New Testament, which the Old Testament w s do n THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 43 The doctrine of the resurrection of the body is a clear and definite belief of the mother and her seven sons, who suffered death rather than eat swine's flesh at the King's command. We read that the second son said to his murderer: — "Thou, miscreant, dost release us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise up us, who have died for his laws, unto an eternal renewal of life." 11 Maccabees 7^. The fourth e 1 said:— "It is good to die at the hands of men and look for the hopes which are giWn by God, that we shall be raised up again by him ; for, as for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection unto life," II Maccabees 7:14. This last is the idea in the Gospel of John: — "They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg- ment." John 5:29. This idea Is expressed also in the Old Testament: — - "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Daniel 12:2. Compare the ideas of national, and also personal, I resurrection contained in the following passages: — ' "Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake I and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew A distinction must be recognized between resurrection of the body and , nortality of the soul, wbieb are quite separate ideas. See also the vision > of the valley of dry bones, Ezekicl, th. 37. lJ ^ 44 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead." Isaiah 16:19. "Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him," Hosea 6:1, 2. The relation of the New Testament to the Apocrypha, which will be discussed a little further on, is mentioned here as connecting the Old with the New, as forming part of the background of the New, and as showing that the doctrines of personal immortality and the resurrection of the body, so all-important in the New Testament, were current in Palestine, in the lime of Jesus, and earlier, the Sadducees constituting a dis- tinct sect, among the peculiarities of which was the fact that they did not believe in the resurrection. Matthew 22:23-32. There is in the New Testament no quotation from or reference to any of the books of the Apocrypha, by name, or as authority, although there are many pas- sages, such as those already quoted, from which we are almost sure that the Apocryphal books, or some of them, were known to the New Testament writers. The Apocrypha may be regarded as a direct literary influence on the New Testament. The ancient Scriptures composed of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, were to the early Christians, as to the Jews, inspired books. Their view of them is expressed in a phrase, in Hebrews 5:12, "the oracles of God," which Is repeated in the declaration: — "What advantage then hath the Jew? . . . much every way: first of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God," Romans 3:1-2, Jesus quoted "the Scriptures," referred to "the Law," "the Prophets" ^^H Scriptures J [ ow I em THE BACRGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 45 and "the Psalms," and said to his disciples:^" Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life." John 5:39. Paul writes to Tim- othy : — " from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salva- tion through faith which is in Christ Jesus," II Timothy 3 :is. In time the Epistles of Paul came to be regarded as inspired, and are referred to as "scrip- tures"; — "... even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to htm, wrote unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and un- stedfast wrest, as tlify do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." II Peter 3:15-16. Other writings were also regarded as Inspired, and lUectively they became known as the "New Cov- enant," in distinction from the "Old Covenant," II Corinthians 3:6-14, or the Old Testament and the New Testament, Just as Antiochus Epiphanes (d. 164 b. c.) had en- deavored to eradicate the Jewish religion by destroying the Hebrew Scriptures, I Maccabees 1:44-57, ^^'i putting to death those who were found possessing a copy, so Diocletian (d. 313 A. d.) endeavored to destroy Christianity. Eusebius wrote of this effort: — "I saw with my own eyes the houses of prayer thrown down and razed to their foundations, and the inspired and sacred scriptures consigned to the fire in the open market " lace." Ecclesiastical History, Book 8, ch, 2, In spite of all these attempts to destroy them, the iriptures, Old and New, remain to-day in literature, 46 what they ha' BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE 1 for < , the world's most ■ centunes, t cherished spiritual possession. Let us see what the Uterary background and imme- diate surroundings of the New Testament were. For convenience we will discuss them as follows: — I. The Old Testament, 2. The Apocrypha and other non-canon- ical writings, 3. Stories, preserved in other ancient lit- erature, 4. Greek literature, 5. Authors like Josephus and Philo, 6. Lost writings of Paul and other early Christians, including " Sayings " of Jesus. These groups are not always mutually exclusive, but they will serve our purpose.^ I. The Old Testament. There are in the New Tes- tament quotations from thirty of the Old Testament books. Some of the quotations are literal, others are what may be termed composite, being made up of a combination of several passages. Examples of the latter are Romans 9:32—33, which combines Isaiah 8:14, and 28:16, as does also I Peter 2:6-8. It is Hkely that Mark i :2-3, is a combination of Malachi 3 :i and Isaiah 40:3, perhaps from some manual.^ One of the most interesting instances of composite quoting from the Old Testament is found in Romans 3:10-12. Paul quotes Psalm 14:1—3, He then quotes Psalms g:g, 140: 3, 10:7, Isaiah 59:7-8, Psalm 36:1. This composite passage found its way into the Septuagint version of Psalm 14, and thence into the Vulgate. It is included in ail translations of the Vulgate and through the Great Bible passed into the Psalter in the Book of Common Prayer, where it remains. ' For 3 more detailed discussion of this subject with additional references, see James Moffatt, Introduction to the Liurature of tht Nni/ Testament, New York, 1914, pp. si-JS- • For a discussion of this see James Moffatt, InlroitKtion to the LileraUtrt ojthf Nea Trstament, pp. J3-a4. 11 r Ti THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 47 2, Quotations from non-canonical hooks. Examples ; found in Jude as mentioned before:^' "But Michael the archangel, when conrending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a raihng judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Jude v. 9. Origen said * that this incident is from the Assump- ion of Moses. Enoch is quoted as an apparently well-known book. The passage is: — ' And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying. Behold the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to con- vict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude vs. 14.-15- The verses in Enoch are: — "And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of [His] holy ones To execute judgment upon all. And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed. And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." I Enoch 1:9.' ' There are many passages in the New Testament ivhich are strikingly similar in idea and language to "passages in I Enoch, A list Is given by Dr. Charles in an appendix to his edition. The following will 'P, 37- ■A'A.W.pm. III. li. I. Tlu Book of Enoch or / Enoch, edited by R. H. Charles, Oiiford, 1912. 48 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE show how close the ideas of the canonical and of the non-canonical books were to each other:— "... the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," Matthew 19:28. "... when they see that son of man sitting on the throne of his glory." Enoch 62:5. "... woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been bom." Matthew 26:24. "And where the resting place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits? " It had been good for them if they had not been bom." Enoch 38:2. "For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son." John 5 -.zz. "And he sat on the throne of his glory. And the sum of judgement was given unto the Son of Man." Enoch 69:27. "All things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Hebrews 4:13. "All things are naked and open in Thy sight, and all things Thou seest, and nothing can hide itself from Thee." Enoch "... who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power ..." Hebrews 1:3. "For she [wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, And a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty; . . . For she [wisdom] is an effulgence from everlasting light) And an unspotted mirror of the working of God, And an image of his goodness. And she being one hath power to do all things." The Wisdom of Solomon 7:25-27. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31. w. THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT " For even if for the present time I shall remove from me the punishment of men, yet shall I not escape the hands of the Almighty, either living or dead." II Maccabees, 6:26. These and other passages indicate that some ideas which are commonly supposed to have been original with the New Testament writers were the thought of the time and had been expressed before. The following passages probably indicate that there was a " 'small apocalypse,' consisting of material set in the ordinary triple division common to apocalyptic literature (cf. Apoc. 9:12, 11:14)." ' Mark 13 7-8 = Matthew 24,:6-8 = Luke 21:9-11. Mark i3:i4-20 = Matthew 24:i5-22 = (Luke 21:20-24). Mark 13 :24-27 = Matthew 24:29-31 = (Luke 21 :25-27,28). There is perhaps evidence of the existence of a lost wisdom book in Luke 11:49-51:— "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute," etc. From another lost book perhaps came John 7:38:— ire hath sai He that believeth on me, as the sc from within him shall flow rivers of living water." These and other passages from the New Testament are similar to the words of Ecclesiasticus: — "If a man love me he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him," John 14:23. James Moffati, Inirodiution to tkt Liifrature of tke Nna Testament, pp. 107-109. The three divisions of ihe ApQcaIypse_^a ^. , . . '.. Tribulations (ffXtfu), 3. The coming of the Lord go A BOOK ABOUT THE EKGUSR BIBLE "They that fear the Lord will not disobey his words; And they that love him will keep his ways." Ecclesias- ticus2:rs. "Rejoice with them that rejoice; Weep with them that weep." Romans li:!5. "Be not wanting to them that weep; And moum with them that mourn." Ecclesiastic us 7:34- "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentle- ness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted," Gala- "Reproach not a man when he tumeth from sin: Remember that we are all worthy of punishment." Ecclesiasticus 8:5. "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; For what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity ? or what commun- ion hath light with darkness?" II Corinthians 6:14. "What fellowship shall the wolf have with the Iamb? So is the sinner unto the godly." Ecclesiasticus 13:17. "He hath put down princes from their thrones. And hath exalted them of low degree," Luke i ijj. "The Lord cast down the thrones of rulers. And set the meek in their stead." Ecclesiasticus 10:14, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. "Put your neck under the yoke. And let your soul receive instruction. She is hard at hand to find, Behold with your eyes. How that I laboured but a little, "And found for myself much rest." Ecclesiasticus 51:16- 27. "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall not w- THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SI lunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." John 6:35. "They that eat me shall yet be hungry; And they that drink me shall yet be thirsty." Ecdesias- ;us 24:21. The following passage: — Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And tahick entered not into the heart of man. Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him." I Corinthians 2:9. was said by Origen (in a comment on Matthew 27:9) to be from a lost book, the Secrets of Elijah the Prophet, Chrysostom and Theophylact state that the words are either from a lost book, or are a paraphrase of Isaiah 52:15, .while Jerome thought them to be a paraphrase of Isaiah 64:4. "Awake thoL that sieepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee." Ephesians 5:14. has been attributed to the lost Secrets of Elijah, to a paraphrase of Isaiah 60:1, 19, 20, or to a Christian hymn. 3. Ancient Stories. Many of these have been pre- served in Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, and in Rabbinical literature. The Ahikar stones contain parallels to the parable of the fig tree that bore no fruit, Luke 13:6-9, the parable of the evil servant, Matthew 24:45-51, and Luke 12-47, and to the story of Judas.' There was also ' Thf Stoty of Akikar. edited by J, Rcndel Harris, London, 1898, p. x. This story is given also in The Apocrypha and Fsrudepigrapha of Ike Old Testament, edited by R. H. Charles. ^^H Testament, t SZ A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE a great body of legends both oral and written, cur- rent among the people, and discussions and opinions of the Rabbis, especially concerning the interpretation of the Pentateuch. 4. Quotations from Greek Poets. Paul quotes, Acts 17:28, "certain even of your own poets," as having said of God "For we are also his offspring," a state- ment made by Aratus in the opening of his poem the Phsenomena, and by Oeanthes in his Hymn to Zeus. He quotes, Titus l :I2, the Cretan poet Epimenides, "a prophet of their own," (who, according to Jerome and Epiphanius, is quoted by Callimachus in his Hymn to Zeus), as saying: — "Cre e always liars, evil be: idle gim An iambic trimeter occurs in the Greek of I Corin- thians 15:33: — ^$upovatv ^^ )(pi)irTa djuXuu Koxai, This is found in a fragment of Menander, and is translated: — "Evil companionships corrupt good morals." An hexameter line, perhaps a quotation, occurs in James 1:17. Ilaoa Sock iyafli; rnu Tray ^uiprj/Lo. reXtiov. " Every good gift and every perfect gift." In I Timothy 3:16, and H Timothy 2:1 1-12, the Greek shows unmistakably quotations from a Christian hymn, and I Corinthians 15:42-43, may, from its form, be such a quotation. 5. Influence of fosepkus and Pkilo. Writers such as THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 53 Josephus, are from similarities of ideas and language, thought by some to have been well-known to the authors of II Peter, and the Gospels of Luke and John,' The teachings of Christianity influenced, and were t influenced by, philosophic ideas of the early centuries. I In the writings of Philo, an Alexandrian Jew, we find many similarities of thought to the Gospel of John and to the Epistle to the Hebrews, both of which use concerning Jesus expressions used by Philo of the Logos of God. The writings commonly known as Hermes Trismegistus, a collection of Christian Neoplatonic works of probably the latter part of the first century, contain ideas of God that are much the same as those of John, Hebrews and Revelation; for example, in Hermes Trismegistus we read: — "But the Mind, The God, being masculine-feminine, orig- inating Life and Light, begat by Word another Mind Creator, Who being God of the Fire and Spirit, created Seven Admin- istrators, encompassing in circles the sensible world; and their administration is called Fate." Poemandres i -.g. In Revelation we read of " the seven Spirits of God," and the seven stars," i;20, 3:1, "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God," 4:5, "The seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." 5 :6. 6. Lost Writings. A lost epistle of Paul is probably referred to in I Corinthians 5:9, "I wrote unto you in my epistle" and there may easily have been other epistles lost,^ Just as we have probably lost some of the ' In regard to Josephus critics differ, some maintalnin ddences. See James Moffatt, Inlroductiun lo the LiitTam lamftU, pp. 28-31. 'Sec Colossians 4:16, where a letter from Laodicea is that similaritie* r 0/ thi Niv/ Tes- meationea. J 54 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE writings evidently referred to by Luke i:i, where he . says "many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative « concerning those matters which have been fulfilled 1 among us." It seems certain that II Corinthians, chs. 10-13, 's ^ separate letter and belongs, not where it is now placed, but between I and II Corinthians, There were therefore probably four letters of Paul to the Corinthians, of which we possess three. The necessity of authenticating his epistles, under some circumstances, is indicated by Paul in his expression II Thessalonians 3:17, "... with mine own hand, which is a token in every epistle." Paul asked Timothy to bring him "the books, especially the parchments," II Timothy, 4:13. We do not know what books or rolls were meant. Perhaps they were copies of the Scriptures. That Paul was a scholar is well known, but the words of Festus, Acts, 26 124, " thy much learning " may also be translated "those many writings," perhaps referring to parch- ments, which Paul was accustomed to carry with him in his travels. He had left such a lot of parchments at Troas and desired Timothy to bring them To him. The discovery of " Sayings " of Jesus in 1897 and 1904' may be connected with a statement of Paul, Acts 20:35, when he quotes a "saying" that is not included in any collection we have, but which was well-known to his hearers at Ephesus, "... remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive,'" Paul was not quoting anything he had himself heard. The Formaiion of the New Testament Consider now how the New Testament came into being. Like the Old, it consists of a collection of books ' See belon, p. 67. i THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 55 Written, for the most part, independently of each other, but in process of time grouped together and regarded as authoritative and inspired. Among the early Chris- r tian writers there were differences of opinion concern- I ing the authenticity or inspiration of some of the books 1 now included in the New Testament. The earliest f list known of the books recognized by the Christian [ church is the Muratorian Fragment first published in 1740 by L. A. Muratori. It was found in the Ambrosian I Library at Milan and is thought to date from about 1 170 A. D, The names of Matthew and Mark are I evidently torn off, the list beginning with "The Gospel I of St. Luke, the physician, companion of St. Paul, ] stands third." The Gospel of St. John comes fourth. I Next comes Acts, then thirteen Epistles of Paul, The Fragment omits James, I and II Peter, Hebrews, and III John which were accepted later, and states "there is in circulation an Epistle to the Laodiceans and one to the Alexandrians forged in Paul's name, and several others which cannot be received in the Catholic Church. The Epistle of Jude however and two with the name of John are held in the Catholic Church. We receive also that Revelation of John and the Revelation of Peter, which latter some of our body will not allow to be read in church," Origen (210 A. D.) omits James and Jude from his list, but includes them in other passages. Eusebius (315 A. D.) gives the list of books as now accepted, but mentions that some doubted concerning the Epistles of James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John and the Revelation. Athanasius, a contemporary of Eu- sebius, gives the list as we have it. Cyril {340 a. d.), Gregory Nazianzen, (375 a. d.) and Philastrius (380 . D.) omit the Revelation, as do also the Bishops in J 56 A BOOK ABOUT THE ENGLISH BIBLE the Council of Laodicea {363 A. d.)- Jerome {382 . A. D.) gives our list, but is doubtful about the Epistle to the Hebrews. Rufiuus (390 a. d.) and Augustin (394 A. D.) give our list, and the forty-four Bishops at the Council of Carthage (the third, having been preceded by the Councils of Nicaaa and Laodicea) pronounce canonical the books of the New Testament as we have them. Various lists of New Testament books from early times differ somewhat in the order in which the books are arranged. The Gospels usually are put first and the Apocalypse last, with the Acts, the Pauline Epistles, and the General, or Catholic Epistles, in that order, between. It was logical to group the Gospels and the Acts first, as historical books, but Jerome placed the Pauline Epistles before Acts in his arrangement, while Chrysostom placed the Pauline Epistles before the Gospels in his list. Early lists differ in the order in which they put the Gospels. Commonly, but not always, Matthew comes first, because it was supposed that this was the earliest. Chrysostom arranged the Gospels, John, Matthew, Luke, Mark, while some old Latin manuscripts give Matthew, John, Luke, Mark. Almost every other arrangement is to be found, but the Council of Laodicea (363 a, d.) adopted the order of the Gospels as we arc accustomed to find it. The order of the Epistles is likewise variously given. It is thought that the form in which we have the present books of the New Testament may have been affected by editing to make them conform better to the unity of the canon. We are not concerned with these prob- lems in this volume. They are mentioned, however, as of interest in any discussion of the New Testament as literature. THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 57 ^ The Gospels are believed to have been written in the order l, Mark, 2. Matthew, 3. Luke, 4. John, the last named having been, as we know from a state- ment of Clement of Alexandria ^ (d. about 220 a, d.), written after the other three. From the nature of the contents, as well as from tradition, and from the state- ments of Papias, it has been concluded that Mark was the first written, almost, but not quite, the whole of