Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1893. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... Deuteronomists: 'Only be strong and very courageous to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success, whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, ' etc.1 (e) The 'Priestly Writer: The Jahvist and the Elohist were historians, or rather collectors of national myths and legends, which passed for history. The Deuteronomist is the apostle of law, warmed and animated by the spirit of prophetic piety. The 'Priestly Writer' is at once historian (if we consent to use the word in its widest and lowest sense) and legislator. But his history is all constructed with a view to the legislation: sometimes, indeed, his stories are mere pegs on which a law is hung. And his legislation is almost wholly religious. His code is not adapted for a nation with its varied interests, but for a 'congregation, ' or, as we should now say, 'a church.' lastly, his religion consists, not of course wholly, but still in a large degree, of ritual: the ritual requires a priest, and to the priests he gives an eminence and importance utterly unknown to the other documents in the Hexateuch. His history from the creation to the settlement of Jacob and his family in Egypt runs parallel with that of the ' Oldest Book.' But how different is his narrative! For natural growth, we have a systematic order and chronology. The subject-matter is arranged in ten sections, marked off by the words, 'These are the genera 1 It is generally admitted, notwithstanding Wellhausen's objections, that Deut. v.--xi., and the purely legislative portion xii. seq., are by the same hand, though perhaps v.--xi. may be a later additi...