4

of the descent of the Eastern kings,1 of the passage of the Jordan,2 of the execution of the sons of Saul,3 of the coronation of Jeroboam. The Jews of Palestine, in their horror of a rival text-perhaps of a translation which should render their Sacred Books accessible to all the world-held that, on the day on which the Seventy Translators met, a supernatural darkness overspread the earth; and the day was to them one of their solemn periods of fasting and humiliation. But to us who know what the Septuagint was in the hands of the Apostles, as the means of spreading the knowledge of the Old Testament through the Gentile world-who, in the scantiness of any remains of the ancient Jewish literature, gladly welcomed any additional information to fill up the void-who feel what a bulwark this double version of the Old Testament furnishes against a too rigid or literal construction of the Sacred History -the Seventy Translators, if not worthy of the high place which the ancient Church assigned to them, may well be ranked among the greatest benefactors of Biblical Literature and Free Inquiry.

Heathen traditions.

(4) There is yet another class of authorities to which I have referred whenever occasion offered. It has been truly said that the history of the Chosen People is the history, not of an inspired book, but of an inspired people. If so, any record that has been preserved to us of that people, even although not contained in their own Sacred Books, is far too precious to be despised. These records are indeed very scanty. They consist of a few fragments of Gentile histories preserved by Josephus, Eusebius, and Clement of Alexandria; a few statements in Justin, Tacitus, and Strabo ; a few inscriptions in Egypt and Assyria; the traditions of the East, whether preserved in Rabbinical, Christian, or Mussulman legends; and the traditions of the Jewish Church itself, as preserved by Philo and Josephus. All these notices, unequal in value as they are to each other, or to the records of the Old Testament itself, 1 Kings xii. 14.

1 Gen. xiv. 16.

2 Josh. iv. 20.

3

2 Sam. xxi. 16.

4

have yet this use-that they recall to us the existence of the facts, independent of the authority of the Sacred Books.

Eastern

It is true that the larger part of the interest and instruction of the Jewish history would be lost with the loss of the Hebrew Scriptures. But the original influence of the Hebrew race on the world was irrespective of the Scriptures, and must always continue. Even had we only the imperfect account of the Jews in Tacitus and Strabo, we should know that they were the most remarkable nation of ancient Asia. This argument applies with still greater force to the traditions of the East, and to the traditions of Josephus. With regard to the former, traditions. it is impossible without greater knowledge than can be obtained by one who is ignorant of Arabic, and who has only visited the East in two or three fugitive journeys, to ascertain how far they have a substantial existence of their own, or how far they are mere amplifications of the Koran and the Old Testament. Some cases-such as the wide-spread prevalence of the name of 'Friend' for Abraham, too slightly noticed 1 in the Bible to have been derived from thence, and the importance assigned to the Arabian Jethro or Shouayb 2-seem to indicate an independent origin. But, whether this be so or not, they continue to form the staple of the belief of a large part of mankind on the subject of the Jewish history, and as such I have ventured to quote them, partly in order to contrast them with the more sober style of the Sacred records, but chiefly where they fall in with the general spirit of the Biblical narrative, and thus furnish an instructive, because unexpected, illustration of it. Many common readers may be struck by the Persian or Arabian stories 3 of Abraham or Moses, whose minds have by long custom become hardened to the effect of the narrative of the Bible itself.

The traditions of Josephus are yet more significant. It is remarkable that, of his four works, two run parallel to the Old Testament, and two to the New. Whilst the histories of the 2 See Lectures V., VI.

See Lecture I.

3 See Lectures I., VIII.

'Wars of the Jews' and of his own 'Life' throw a flood of light, by contemporary allusions, on the time of the Christian era, the 'Antiquities' and the 'Controversy with 'Apion' ilJosephus.

lustrate hardly less remarkably the times of the older Dispensation. The Controversy with Apion,' indeed, is chiefly important for its preservation of those Gentile traditions to which I have before referred. But the Antiquities' furnish an example, such as hardly occurs elsewhere in ancient literature, of a recent history existing side by side with most of the original documents from which it is compiled. It would be a curious speculation, which would test the value of the style and spirit of the Sacred writers, to imagine what would be the residuum of the effect produced by the Jewish history if the Old Testament were lost, and the facts were known to us only through the Antiquities' of Josephus. His style is indeed a continual foil to that of the Sacred narrative-his verbosity contrasted with its simplicity, his vulgarity with it sublimity, his prose with its poetry, his uniformity with its variety. But, with all these drawbacks, to which we must add his omissions and emendations, as if to meet the critical eye of his Roman masters, the main thread of the story is faithfully retained; occasionally, as in the case of the death of Moses and of Saul,1 a true pathos steals over the dull level; occasionally, as in the case of the story of Balaam, a just discernment brings out clearly the moral elevation peculiar to the ancient Scriptures. But there is a yet further interest. His account is filled with variations not to be explained by any of the differences just cited. To examine the origin of these would be an interesting task. Sometimes he coincides with the variations of the Septuagint; and, in cases where he seems not to have copied from that version, his statement must be considered as a confirmation of the value of the text which the Septuagint has followed. Sometimes he supplies facts which agree with existing localities, but have no direct connexion with the Sacred narrative either

1 Ant. iv. 8, § 48; vi. 14, § 7.

in Hebrew or Greek, as in his account of the mountain (evidently Jebel Attaka) which hemmed in the Israelites at the Red Sea, of the traditional sanctity of Sinai, and of the still existing manna.1 Sometimes he makes statements which are not found in the narrative itself, but which remarkably illustrate indirect allusions contained either in the history or in other parts of the Old Testament-as, for example, the thunder-storm at the Red Sea, which coincides very slightly with the narrative in Exodus, but exactly and fully with the allusions in the 77th Psalm; or the slaughter in the torrent of Arnon, which has no foundation in the Mosaic narrative, but is the natural explanation of the ancient song preserved in the Book of Numbers.2 In a more critical historian these additions might be considered mere amplifications of the slight hints furnished by the original writers, but in Josephus it seems reasonable (and, in that case, becomes deeply interesting) to ascribe them to an independent source of information, common to the tradition which he used and to the occasional allusions in the Sacred writers. Sometimes his variations consist simply of new information, capable neither of proof nor disproof, but receiving a certain degree of support from the simplicity and probability which distinguish them from common Rabbinical legends; such as the story of Hur being the husband of Miriam,3 or of the rite of the red heifer having its origin in her funeral.1 Finally, other statements exist, which agree with the Oriental or Gentile traditions already quoted, and thus reciprocally yield and receive a limited confirmation; as, for instance, Abraham's connexion with the contemplation of the stars, and the great deeds of Moses in Egypt.6

5

Such are the main authorities. In using them for these Lectures, it will sometimes happen that they hardly profess, or

1 Ant. ii. 15, § 1 ; iii. 1, § 6, 7 ; iii. 5, § 1.

Ant. ii. 16, § 3; iv. 5, § 2.

3 See Lecture VI.

* See Lecture VIII.

5 See Lecture I.

See Lecture V.

can hardly be proved, to contain the statement of the original historical facts to which they relate. But they nevertheless contain the nearest approach which we, at this distance of time, can now make to a representation of those facts. They are the refraction of the history, if not the history itself the echo of the words, if not the actual words. And throughout, it has been my endeavour to lay stress on those portions and those elements of the Sacred story which have hitherto stood, and are likely to stand, the investigations of criticism, and from which may be drawn the most solid instruction for all times.

There may be errors in chronology exaggerations in numbers-contradictions between the different narrativespoetical or parabolical elements interspersed with the historical narrative, and at times taking its place. These may compel us to relinquish one or other of the numerous hypotheses which have been formed respecting the composition or the inspiration of the Old Testament. But as they would not destroy the value of other history, so they need not destroy the value of this history because it relates to Sacred subjects; or prevent us from making the very most of those portions of it which are undeniably historical, or full of the widest and most permanent lessons, both for the example of life and instruction of 'manners,' and for 'the establishment of' true religious 'doctrine.'