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LY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS

THE WARBURTON1AN LECTURES FOR 1880-1890

Crown Svo. 6s. MACMILLAX AND CO., LTD., LONDON.

THE DIVINE LIBRARY

OF THE

OLD TESTAMENT

"As we are in no sort judges beforehand, by what laws or rules, in what degree, or by what means it were to have been expected that God would naturally instruct us ; so upon supposition of His affording us light and instruction by revelation, additional to what lie has afforded us by reason and experience, we are in no sort judges by what methods and in what proportion it were to be ex pected that this supernatural light and instruction would be afforded us. . . .

" Neither obscurity nor seeming inaccuracy of style, nor various readings, nor early disputes about the authors of particular parts, nor any other things of the like kind, though they had been much more considerable in degree than they are, could overthrow the authority of the Scripture ; unless the Prophets, Apostles, or our Lord, had promised that the book containing the Divine revelation should be secure from those things." — Bishop Butler, Analogy, Part ii. ch. 3.

THE DIVINE LIBRARY

OF THE

OLD TESTAMENT

ITS ORIGIN, PRESERVATION, INSPIRATION, AND PERMANENT VALUE

FIVE LECTURES

BY

A. F. KIRKPATRICK, D.D.

MASTER OF SELWYN COLLEGE

LADY MAROARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OK CAMBRTDCK AND HONORARY CANON OF ELY CATHEDRAL

MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1909

il4o

First Edition 1891 Reprinted 1892, 1896, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1909

19 1944

PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

OF the Lectures contained in this volume four were delivered in the Cathedral of St. Asaph, at the invitation of the Dean and Chapter, to a gather ing of clergy and laity from different parts of the Diocese, in Whitsun week of 1891. The third Lecture is one of a course given at Ely in 1885, with reference to the appearance of the Revised Version of the Old Testament. I have added it here, as I had originally intended to include the subject of the Preservation of the Old Testament in the course of Lectures at St. Asaph, and it forms a natural sequel to the two Lectures on the Origin of the Old Testament.

The Lectures are now published in accordance with a wish expressed by some of those who heard them at St. Asaph, and in the hope that they may be a contribution, however humble, towards the propagation, I will not say of right opinion, but of a right temper and attitude, with reference to the questions which are exercising the mind of the Church at the present time with regard to the Old Testament. The spirit in which these

vi PREFACE

questions are approached is more important than an immediate solution of them; and I rejoice to think that there are abundant and increasing signs of the spread of a right and wise spirit.1 Solutions of some of the questions at issue can only come with time, after patient examination and re-exam ination of the evidence, and — I will venture to say — after first-hand investigations carried on independ ently by English scholars from every possible point of view ; for which, alas ! so few have the necessary ability, taste, training, and leisure in combination.

Meanwhile the temper and attitude of the Church, and especially of the clergy, are of prime importance for the future of the Church and of Belief. The attempt to decry the critical study of the Old Testament on a priori grounds can only prove mischievous in the end. The intelligent Christian will not say, " These views are contrary to my theory of inspiration," or " They are incom patible with this or that dogma, and therefore they cannot be true "; but "Are these views grounded upon facts ? and if so how must I modify the theory, or qualify the inferences I have drawn from the dogma, and perhaps re-state it ? " Their apparent opposition to what we have received to hold may be good reason for special caution and reserve in accepting new ideas, but it is idle to invoke dogma to defeat critical and historical research, conducted upon sound principles, and limited to its proper fsphere. 1 See Note A.

PREFACE vi]

Some words of that great theologian Dollinger may well be applied to the study of the Old Testament at the present moment.

" The work of a true theologian is to dig deep, to examine with restless assiduity, and not to draw back in terror should his investigation lead to con clusions that are unwelcome or inconsistent with preconceived notions or favourite views. ... It is a law as valid for the future as for the past that in theology we can only through mistakes attain to truth. . . . Use none but scientific weapons in philosophical and theological inquiries, banish . . . all denunciation and holding up to suspicion of those who differ from us." l

I have endeavoured in these Lectures to state and illustrate some fundamental principles which are helpful to myself, and I trust may be helpful to others, though they only form as it were a standing ground from which to survey more dim- cult questions.

On the one hand, no devout Christian who be lieves the facts of the Incarnation and Eesurrection can possibly regard Christianity as merely one among the great religions of the world ; or view the religion of Israel, which formed the preparation for it, as merely a natural development out of the conscious ness of a naturally religious people. He must hold fast without wavering to the conviction that Chris-

1 Quoted in the Preface to Oxenharn's translation of The First Age of the Church.

viii PREFACE

tianity occupies a wholly unique place in the history of religions ; that it is not merely somewhat superior to other religions, but differs from them in kind, as being God's supreme and final revelation of Himself to mankind in His Son. He must hold fast with equal tenacity to the conviction that the history of Israel was a divinely ordered history, and the religion of Israel a divinely given revelation, leading up to the Coming of Christ, and preparing for it in a wholly different way from the negative preparation which went on silently in the heathen world.

This belief we accept as Christians on the author ity of our Lord and the Apostles whom He taught. And when we pass from the consideration of the history of Israel and the revelation made to Israel to the consideration of the documents in which that history and that revelation are recorded, we cannot but accept them on the same authority as possessing a Divine element, as being, to use our ordinary word, inspired. But, on the other hand, they have a human element in them also. God speaks to men through men. The extent and nature of this human element, and its relation to the Divine element of which it is the vehicle, must be investigated with the fullest freedom, combined, it need hardly be said, with the most thorough reverence. The inductive method must be applied to the examination. Facts must be carefully ascertained and co-ordinated. From them we may frame a working hypothesis which must be verified by fresh comparison with facts.

PREFACE IX

and may lead us on a step farther. But nothing can be more fatal than to approach the study of Scripture with a rigid theory, and to attempt to force phenomena into agreement with that theory. " It is/3 as the Archbishop of Canterbury has pointed out, " of the transition from the spiritual into the natural that we are least able to form an idea . . . and it is to such a region that the thought of inspiration belongs, the thought of God passing into the limited thought of man." In defining inspiration, if indeed it is possible to define it at all, we must proceed with the greatest caution, and recognise that the definition can be only provisional.

The analogy of Creation helps us. By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed, by the word of God\ but that belief does not hinder us from examining by all the scientific methods within our power into the processes by which the worlds were made. Such an examination must in the end enlarge our knowledge of God and of His ways of working.

The plan of these Lectures is a simple one. The first two treat of the origin of the Old Testament on its human side. Their object is to show to what a large extent the books of the Old Testament have grown to their present form by the action of literary processes. The human element in them is large, larger perhaps than we are readily willing to admit ; and so far as this element is concerned they cannot be exempted from literary and historical criticism,

x PREFACE

nay they cannot be explained without it. Sobei criticism is the ally, not the enemy, of theology and religion.

The third Lecture illustrates the same idea from the history of the text of the Old Testament. Once men found it possible to believe in a miraculous preservation of the text of the Old Testament from all error. Now, by the examination of facts, we know that this has not been the case. Here, too, a human element comes in. While we gratefully recognise that a superintending Providence has watched over the preservation of the Scriptures, candour compels us to acknowledge that it has not been part of the Divine plan to protect them supernaturally from all change and error in the manifold vicissitudes of a long textual history.

The fourth Lecture deals briefly with the Divine side of this Divine-human book. The fact of its inspiration is recognised, and some characteristics of inspiration, negative and positive, are considered ; but here again stress is laid on the necessity of deducing our conception of inspiration from the examination of inspired books, instead of approach ing them with an a priori theory as to what inspira tion can and cannot include.

The fifth Lecture treats of the permanent value of the Old Testament for the Christian Church, which is the natural corollary to its inspiration ; and of the sense in which it is still valid for the Christian Church as ' fulfilled ' in Christ.

PREFACE xi

The Lectures do not attempt to deal with many of the graver questions which are being raised as to the Old Testament. I may have miscalculated, but it seemed to me that a frank and full recognition of the extent of the human element in the Old Testament, associated with an equally frank and full recognition of its Divine character, is the necessary preliminary to the solution of more difficult questions ; and that this step has still to be made by many who have grown up in traditional views of the origin of the Bible. It is for such readers that these Lectures are intended.

I venture to ask my readers, as I asked my audience, that this course of Lectures should be taken and judged as a whole ; that they should not throw down the book in disgust after the perusal of the first two Lectures without going on to the fourth and fifth, which form the necessary supplement and corrective to them. The human and Divine elements in the Old Testament are inseparably joined together, though we are perforce obliged to consider them separately. We cannot see the whole of the sphere at once.

And for my own part let me disclaim any wish dogmatically to impose certain views upon my readers. All I ask is that they should search the Scriptures, whether these things are so. The Lectures will not have been wasted, if they may serve to stimulate any hearer or reader to a more diligent study of the Old Testament. Each age has some-

xii PREFACE

thing fresh to contribute towards the better under standing of it. Each age has some fresh lesson to learn from it. If the special work to which our age is called is that of the historical study of the Old Testament in its origin and growth, as the record of the Divine education of Israel, one special lesson which we may learn from it is the lesson of the certain and wonderful accomplish ment of God's purposes for His people, and through them for the world — a lesson of infinite encourage ment in times when faith and patience are often severely strained.

I must not conclude without a word of hearty thanks for much kindness shown me in connexion with the delivery of these Lectures, and an ex pression of my sincere admiration for the way in which the Dean and Chapter of St. Asaph, by gathering the often isolated and much-tried clergy of a scattered diocese for a short period of social reunion and theological instruction, are making the Cathedral a real centre for the diocese. To have been allowed to take part in such a gathering is no common privilege. It leaves behind many pleasant recollections, only tempered by the wish that the duty imposed on the lecturer could have been more faithfully discharged.

Lastly, my thanks are due to my friend the Rev E. Appleton for his kind help in revising the proofs.

THE COLLEGE, ELY, August 1891.

CONTENTS

LECTURE I

THE ORIGIN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

PAGE

THE origin of the books of the Bible a legitimate subject for investigation — Such investigation not to be feared, in spite of the difficulties which it raises — Like the scientific investigation of Nature, it must ultimately teach us more of the Divine methods . ...... 1-3

The Divine Library an instructive title for the Bible — The broad distinction between the Old and New Testaments — The triple division of the Old Testament into Law, Pro phets, and Writings ........ 4-7

The function of Biblical criticism to confirm, correct, or supplement the traditional accounts of the origin of the books of the Bible — Criticism an inductive science ; its con clusions more or less probable — Questions of authorship are not settled by New Testament references, which necessarily adopt the current nomenclature of the time . . . 7-11

The books of the Old Testament to a large extent the result of processes of compilation and editing . . . 11

(a} The Historical Books based upon earlier prophetic narratives — The method of Oriental historiography and its bearing on their character . .• . . . . 12-15

(b) The Prophetical Books may in some cases owe their present form to the prophets whose names they bear, but in ^ others are of composite origin — Much prophetic teaching in the first instance" oral, and subsequently recorded in sum mary by the prophet himself or his disciples— The teaching of different prophets may be combined in the same volume . 1 G, 17

xiv CONTENTS

PACK

A prophet's modus opcrandi illustrated from Jeremiah — The teaching of more than twenty years summarised in the roll dictated to Barucli — This roll the basis of the existing book — Internal evidence points to the freer intervention of ^ an editorial hand in the later parts of the book — Probable method of arrangement of prophecies in the roll — The two recensions of the book of Jeremiah ..... 17-22

Important bearing of investigations into the origin and character of the prophetic books upon their inter pretation . 22, 23

LECTURE II

THE ORIGIN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT — continued

COMBINATION of the works of different prophets in the same volume illustrated by the book of Isaiah — Grounds for at tributing Is. xl.-lxvi. to a prophet living in Babylonia towards the close of the Exile — The Exile an existing fact- Cyrus already in full career of conquest — The restoration of the exiles close at hand 24-29

Evidence of style and language confirms the conclusion that the prophecy cannot be Isaiah's — Probable incorpora tion of older prophecies in the \vork — The author a true disciple and successor of Isaiah, worthy to share his master's fame — This view involves no denial of prediction, and is in accordance with the general principle of the circumstantial origin of prophecy — Gain to the interpretation of this pro phecy when it is brought into vital connexion with the history of the time 29-33

(c) The Hagiographa —

The book of Proverbs a clear example of a composite- work, consisting of three principal divisions, distinguished ^ by marked characteristics — The product of the wisdom not of one individual or of a single age, but of many men and ages 34-36

The Psalter a composite work — Positive evidence of editing, adaptation, and combination in particular Psalms — Similar processes probably went on elsewhere also — The ^/ main divisions of the Psalter — Previously existing collec tions included in them — Meaning and value of the title a Psalm of David — No good reason for regarding all the Psalms as post-exilic ......... 36-41

CONTENTS XY

PAOE

(d) The Law- Pentateuch or Hexateuch ? — Mosaic authorship of the whole Pentateuch a Jewish tradition, nowhere asserted in the Pentateuch itself— Comparatively small portions only said to have been written by Moses — Grounds for maintain ing its composite origin from four principal documents : the ' Priests' Code, ' the ' Elohistic ' and ' Jehovistic ' his tories ; and Deuteronomy — These documents based upon still older materials ........ 41-47

Ancient Babylonian narratives of the Creation, Fall, and Flood, resembling those of Genesis — These traditions may have been brought with them by the Hebrews in their original migration to Canaan . . . . . . . . 47, 48

Critical investigation of the origin of the Bible the duty of the Christian student, not for its own sake, but for the better understanding of the Divine message . . . 49, 50

LECTURE III

THE PRESERVATION OP THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE history of the preservation of the Old Testament a natural sequel to the history of its origin — The Scriptures not supernaturally exempted from error in transmission . 51-53

Wide difference between the documentary authorities for the text of the Old Testament and those for the text of the New Testament in (1) age ; (2) character — Hebrew MSS. of the Old Testament comparatively recent, and all of the same type — This uniformity due to the adoption of a standard text, probably in the first century A.D., which superseded other forms of text ........ 53-55

Disappearance of ancient MSS. accounted for — Hebrew MSS. are either rolls for synagogue use, without vowels ('unpointed'), or volumes for private use, with vowels ('pointed') — Hebrew originally written without vowels; the ' vowel points ' a later addition ..... 55-57

The history of the text may be divided into four periods —

(i. ) Before Ezra. The old Hebrew character in use, as seen on the Moabite stone, the Siloam inscription, and Macca- baean coins . . . . . . . . . 58, 59

(ii.) From Ezra to 70 A.D. Introduction of the ' square ' character— The existence of various forms of text in this

xvi CONTENTS

PAGE

period proved by the evidence of the Samaritan Pentateuch

and the LXX 60-63

(iii. ) From 70 A.D. to 500 A.D. Determination of a standard text probably connected with the reconstruction of Judaism after the Fall of Jerusalem — Evidence of the Greek Versions of the second century ; of Origen ; Jerome ; the Targums ; and the Talmud— Labours of the scribes in this period — K'tlubh and Q'ri — The exegetical tradition gradu ally fixed, but no vowel signs yet employed — Gradual development of the system of pronunciation . . . 63-69

(iv. ) From 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D. Deduction of the exe getical tradition to writing by the addition of vowel points and accents to the text in the seventh and eighth centuries — Kival schools of Babylon and Tiberias — Elaboration of the Massora as a safeguard for the exact preservation of the text — Character and value of the Massoretic Text . . 69-74

Controversies of the seventeenth century between the Buxtorfs and Cappel and Morin— Proofs of the imperfec tion of the Massoretic Text from (1) internal evidence ; (2) parallel passages ; (3) the Versions — Examples of pas sages needing correction — Treatment of the text by the Revisers — Relative superiority of the Massoretic Text . 74-82

Textual criticism not merely negative and destructive — Its bearing on the study of the Old Testament . . . 82-84

LECTURE IV

THE INSPIRATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

IN all the variety of the books of the Old Testament there is a unity which testifies to a common origin — The fact of inspiration assumed in the New Testament and in the Christian Church, but no definition of inspiration given — We are left to deduce from Scripture what inspiration means .......... 85-90

The Divine and human factors in Scripture have been alternately exaggerated, and inspiration consequently re garded as purely mechanical, or merely subjective — A true view must take full account of both factors . . . 90-93

The question of the inspiration of the Old Testament best I

approached from the consideration of its character as the /

record of God's revelation of Himself to Israel in His purpose

CONTENTS xvii

PAGE

of redeeming love with a view to the establishment of His universal kingdom — Israel chosen and trained to be the bearer of God's revelation of Himself and the mediator of His pur pose of Redemption to the world — This revelation gradual, progressive, manifold — It required a record, which must correspond to the revelation, and be at once superhuman, as describing the will and action of God, and human, as written by men in a language intelligible to men . . 93-95

The characteristics of inspiration must be deduced from an examination of the inspired books . . . . . 95, 96

(1) Some positive characteristics. It takes primitive traditions and purifies them — It treats history from the religious point of view — It is readily recognised and gener ally acknowledged in Prophecy and the Psalms — General evidence of the Providential superintendence of the record 97-103

(2) Some negative characteristics. It does not involve independence of existing materials, or of research, or of current literary methods— It docs not guarantee immunity from error in matters of fact, science, or history — It does not exclude imperfection, relativity, accommodation . 103-107

Difficulties raised by the neglect to observe the progress ive nature of revelation ...... 107,108

Double proof of the inspiration of the Old Testament in its unity and in the response of the soul to its message 109-111

LECTURE V

THE USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

THE permanent value of the Old Testament for the Christian Church attested in the New Testament by positive state ment, and even more by the use made of it — The use of the Old Testament i:i the New Testament recognises a deeper sense in it, but differs widely from the arbitrary use found in Jewish and later Christian writings — Use of the Old Testament not merely transitional .... 112-116

Alleged neglect of the Old Testament in the present day — Danger of such neglect — Due partly to past misuse, but more to vague suspicions — Critical uncertainties must not be allowed to deprive us of the use of the Old Testament 116 123

xvni CONTENTS

PAGE

Some uses of the Old Testament for the Christian Church —

(1) Its historic use as the record of the preparation for \ the Incarnation can never become obsolete — It must not be / left to apologists, but is indispensable for the confirmation

of faith — The argument from prophecy — The fulfilment of prophecy ......... 1:23-126

(2) The Old Testament indispensable for the interpreta tion of the New Testament, in regard to language ; theological ideas ; our conception of the course and methods of divine Providence and the establishment of Christ's kingdom 126-129

(3) National lessons from the Old Testament — The re sponsibility of nations — Personality of nations — Continuity

of national life 130, 131

(4) Social lessons ........ 131

(5) Devotional and practical value — Some religious ideas most easily comprehended in simple and concrete forms —

The religious imagination — The language of the soul . 131-133

The Old Testament must not be confounded with the New Testament — The Christian interpretation of the Old Testament as fulfilled in Christ — It must be read in the light of that fulfilment — The deeper meaning of the Old Testament necessarily involved in the idea of its inspiration 133-141 Conclusion . 141-143

Notes , . 145

LECTURE I

THE ORIGIN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

ro\v/j,epu)s Kal iroXvTpbTrws TrdXcu 6 0e6s \a\rjffas roZV irarpaffiv £v s. — HEB. i. 1.

THERE have been times in which it would have been thought a sufficient answer to the question, What was the origin of the Old Testament ? to reply that men spake from God, being moved ly the Holy Ghost, and the result was_the book which we call the Bible. The Bible, it would have been said, is an Inspired Book.; further inquiry into the processes by which the several books which it contains came into their present form is superfluous, if not irreverent.

Such an answer, however, cannot be accepted as satisfactory in the present day. We cannot fail to recognise that this Book, the unity of which we can still affirm in virtue of its Divine origin, is, on its human side, a collection of books of the most varied character and origin. The Bible is in itself a litera ture ; it records a history. It could not be exempted, if we wished it, from the laws and the methods of

& B

2 THE ORIGIN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT LECT.

literary and historical criticism. We should not wish to exempt it, if we could. The fact that the Bible is placed in our hands as the record of God's revelation of Himself to man, and the history of His gracious purpose for the redemption of the world, does not exclude, but rather invites, the fullest investigation of the methods of that purpose, and of the character of the record of it. We must not hesitate to subject the title-deeds of our faith to the closest and most searching scrutiny.

It is true that the critical investigation of the Bible raises not a few questions of grave difficulty. The answers to these questions may not prove to be altogether such as we should have anticipated. But the criticism and interpretation and application of the Bible must be progressive ; different aspects of its character and teaching have come into promin ence in different ages ; and the aim of true biblical students will not be " to defend what once they have stood in," but "to find out simply and sincerely what truth they ought to persist in for ever." J

Attention has often been called to the analogy between " the sacred volume of the Word of God and the Scriptures " and " the great volume of the works of God and His creatures." The comparison is fruitful and suggestive in many ways. Modern scientific research may sometimes seem to remove God farther from us, nay, even to banish the Creator from His creation. The uniformity of the laws of 1 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. iii. 8, 8,

I A SUBJECT FOR INVESTIGATION 3

nature may appear to resemble the resultant of blind Force rather than the expression of sovereign Will. The methods by which creation, as we are now learn ing, has been moulded into its present form may prove to be far different from those which we should have expected Divine Omnipotence to employ. Scien tific research has raised problems which call for a readjustment of old conceptions of the relations of God and nature. Yet there is no doubt that religion has been the gainer. Even those of us who only pick up at second hand some disconnected fragments of the marvellous discoveries of modern science, know vastly more than previous ages could know of the wisdom and power and goodness of the Creator; of His inexhaustible patience and resourcefulness and adaptation of means to a distant end. Paradox as it may seem, the laws of nature as they are revealed to us by scientific research, stand to this age in the stead of the miracles which were given to former ages, And so it is with the Bible. As we let the light of historical research and literary criticism shine freely upon it, we learn more of the methods of God's dealings with men ; of His patience and resourcefulness and silent ways of working, unseen by any human eye, so that the seed of His purposes springs up and grows, man knows not how, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And if we find that in the record of His dealings with men He has left more to the human instruments through whom He spoke than was once supposed, is

4 THE OLD TESTAMENT LECT.

it not rather cause for marvel at His condescension, than for distrust of the message ?

The earliest collective title of the whole Bible,1 first found in St. Jerome in the fourth century, is singularly instructive. " The Divine Library " (BiUiotheca Divina) at once reminds us that we have in the Bible not one book, but many. The same truth indeed is latent in the familiar word Bible. The word BiUia, which was borrowed by Latin from Greek, means " the books," and it was not until the thirteenth century that " by a happy solecism, the neuter plural came to be regarded as a feminine singular, and ' the books ' became by com mon consent ' the Book ' (Biblia, sing.)." 2 But the idea has been wholly lost in the modern usage of the word, and it is worth while to revive the older title in order to emphasise the fact that the Bible is in deed a collection of literature of the most varied kind. History, codes of law, oratory, poetry, philosophy speculative and practical, epistolary correspondence public and private, are included in it.

In this Library there are two great divisions, distinct, but linked together by the closest ties, and rightly regarded by the Christian Church as complementary each to the other. Yet how vast are the differences which distinguish the Old Testament from the New ! It is not merely that in the one. we have the litera ture of a nation extending over a period of a thousand years, in the other the writings of a Church during

1 See Bishop Westcott's Bible in the Church, p. 5. 2 Ibid.

r A DIVINE LIBRARY 6

little more than the first half century of its existence ; not merely that the contents of the Old Testament are more varied in their character than those of the New ; not merely that their original languages, and therefore to some extent their modes of thought and expression, are different ; not merely that they are separated by an obscure period of silence unbroken by the voice of authoritative revelation ; but that between them lies the unique and central event of the world's history, for which all that went before was the preparation, and of which all that follows after is the interpretation and application.

It is with the- first of these collections only that we are concerned in the present course of lectures. Let us begin by taking a broad general survey of its contents and divisions. The Jewish name for the Old Testament is ' Law, Prophets, and Writings.' This triple division of the'sacred books is referred to in the New Testament in the words, All things . . . which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms (Luke xxiv. 44) ; and it is at least as old as the second century B.C. The wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, which we commonly call Ecclesiasticus, was translated into Greek by the author's grand son, and in the preface to his translation, which is dated about 130 B.C., he speaks of the diligent study which his grandfather Jesus had bestowed upon the law and the prophets and the other hooks of our fathers. It would be rasli to infer that the Canon of the Old Testament was finally closed

6 THE TRIPLE DIVISION LECT.

against all fresh additions in the time of Jesus the son of Sirach ; but it is important to observe that a clear distinction is already implicitly drawn between the primary Canonical Books and secondary books like Ecclesiasticus.

The titles of these divisions deserve a moment's consideration. The Law or Pentateuch is obviously much more than a code of law or a history of legisla tion. It derives its name from that part of its con tents which came in the later history of the Jewish Church to be regarded as the chief and distinctive part of Divine revelation, the great barrier erected between Israel and heathenism. But it is well to re member that the Hebrew word tor ah, translated "law," originally meant " instruction " or " direction." It was synonymous with the word of Jehovah (Is. ii 3), and included all Divine revelation as the guide of life. It was only by degrees that the word came to be narrowed and petrified, so as to suggest the idea of restriction of liberty rather than direction of conduct.

The 'Prophets' are divided into the 'Former Prophets ' and the ' Latter Prophets/ the first of these divisions including what we commonly call the iHistorical Books' of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings ; the second consisting of the books which we are accustomed to regard as ' Prophetical,' Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets. This wide conception of Prophecy is very noteworthy. The Prophets were the historians of Israel ; it was

I OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 7

the function of Prophecy not only to foretell the future and to declare the Divine will in the present, but to record and interpret the lessons of the past for the instruction of the future.

Among the 'Writings' or Hagiographa are in cluded books of the most various kinds. The book of Psalms is in itself a library in miniature, a golden treasury of sacred song gathered out of many centuries of Israel's history, giving expression to personal and national feelings of devotion in manifold forms of meditation and prayer and praise. The books of Job and Ecclesiastes are monuments of the ' Wisdom ' or religious philosophy of Israel on the speculative side, while the book of Proverbs collects its teaching through many generations in the sphere of practical ethics.

We are considering the Bible, for the present, simply as a literature, and we naturally ask whether any light can be thrown upon the question, What was the origin of these different books ? How were the histories written, the prophetic utterances pre served, the poetry and philosophy of the nation collected and arranged ? The traditions of the Jewish Church go some way, but only a little way, in furnish ing an answer. But they are incomplete, and perhaps not always trustworthy ; and the science of biblical criticism endeavours to go further, and by interrogat ing the books themselves, to ascertain whether they corroborate those traditions, or, in their absence, supply materials for a probable answer. " Criticism,"

8 THE FUNCTION tiot.

to quote the words of an admirable and sober critic, Professor A. B. Davidson, " in the hands of those who use it with reasonableness, is entirely an in ductive science. Its argumentation is of the kind called probable, and its conclusions attain to nothing more than a greater or less probability, though the probability may be such as entirely to satisfy the mind." The criticism of the Old Testament (if I may venture somewhat to enlarge Professor Davidson's words so as to apply to our present subject) starts with no a priori principles as to the nature of Inspiration or Prophecy, or the capabilities of the prophetic gift. It examines the books and observes the facts, and its conclusions are those which such an observation leads it to consider probable.1 Opinions will differ as to the relative weight which is to be attached to such probable conclusions from internal evidence and to the apparently definite statements of tradition, for example, in such a question as the authorship of Psalms ascribed to David, or of different parts of the book which bears the name of Isaiah ; but the general consensus of sober opinion tends in the direction of attaching greater weight to the verdict of internal evidence, when it is fairly conclu sive, than to traditions which sprang up in an entirely uncritical age, and which have perhaps been supposed to mean more than may have been originally intended It may indeed be asked whether the New Testa ment references do not at once decide many of these 1 Expositor, vol. vi. p. 91.

t OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM 9

questions for the reverent believer, and preclude critical investigation. If the Pentateuch is referred to as the law of Moses, or the latter chapters of Isaiah are quoted as the look of the prophet Isaiah, are we not bound to believe that the one was written by Moses, the other by Isaiah ? If this position could be maintained, Christian criticism would be an anomaly and an impossibility. And there are some teachers who do not scruple to put before us the awful dilemma, "You must choose between Christ and criticism." I call it an awful dilemma, because, as it seems to me, it may amount to telling the student of the Old Testament that he must be false to his Divine Master, or false to the leading of the reason which God has given him, — and that not in mysteries which are outside the province of reason, but in matters where reason is perfectly capable of judging. The teachers who have presented us with this dilemma can scarcely have realised the strain to which it must subject the faith of some of the younger generation. But I firmly believe that we are not forced to make the choice. It is not, I believe, contrary to the catholic doctrine of our Lord's Person to suppose that in such matters His knowledge was the knowledge of His time. There can, it seems to me, be no impropriety or irreverence in such a view, when we are expressly told that He advanced in wisdom as well as in stature (Luke ii. 52) ; and when in regard to at least one matter He Himself expressly declared that His knowledge was limited, when He

10 QUESTIONS OF AUTHORSHIP LECT.

said, of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, lut the Father (Mark xiii. 32) ; and this, although it was a matter of supreme importance, and intimately connected with the consummation of His own work. But apart from this deep and mysterious question of the limita tion of our Lord's knowledge as man, it is difficult to see how He could (with reverence be it said) have done otherwise in literary matters than adopt the ordinary language of the time. He used, as we still use, popular and not scientifically accurate language with regard to natural phenomena such as the rising and setting of the sun. And in like manner it is difficult to see how He could have avoided using the language of tradition with regard to the nomenclature of the books of the Old Testament. If this is true as regards our Lord, it will be true for the Evan gelists and Apostles also. Inspiration did not super sede the current language of the day in such matters. There was nothing misleading in such usage at the time, but it must not be misunderstood and mis applied to hinder the freedom of reverent critical research. I am glad to be able to refer to the Bishop of Manchester's admirable treatment of this subject in his recent volume, The Teaching of Christ. The whole sermon on the "Limitations of our Lord's Knowledge " should be read, but I may venture to quote a few sentences from it.

"The question of the age or the authorship of any passage in the Old Testament was never either started

I NOT DECIDED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT 11

by our Lord Himself or raised by His opponents. He did not come into the world to give instruction on such subjects. . . . When, however, we affirm our Lord's human ignorance of natural science, historical criticism, and the like, we are not to be understood as denying the possibility of the miraculous com munication of such knowledge ; but only the affirma tion, so often confidently made, that the union of our Lord's humanity with His divinity necessarily implies the possession of such knowledge. He might be with out it. We know that in one case He was without it. He never claimed to possess it ; nor did His mission require that He should possess it " (pp. 42-44).

The Christian student then may and must claim the fullest liberty to examine the internal evidence respecting their origin which may be gathered from the contents of the books of the Old Testament, and to apply that evidence