The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

&pt. n i 1855. "the completest harinony in all parts of 1 1 " Exodus ; we consider it as a perfect whole, " pervaded throughout by one spirit and the "same leading ideas." And although it is almost impossible to expect, as we think, that the book is wholly free from interpolations, especially when the numerous differences which exist between the Hebrew text and the Samaritan version be taken into account, it is most probable that Exodus is in a more perfect state than the other books of the Pentateuch. From the very nature of the narrative we can perceive why it must be so, even if we give credence to some of the hyper criticism which has been exercised upon the book, for there is not so much need of the ex planatory sentences which are found strewn here and there over the surface of the Bible, but which neither effect the authority, nor take away ftom the divine comfort to be found in the Scriptures. It is, indeed, far more likely that in many places passages have been mis placed, as, for instance, the two verses x., 28 and 29, which, according to Houbigant and Townsend, should follow xi. 8. The account of the journey of the Israelites, one of the most instructive parts of the work, is, on the other hand, an instance where there might be a little uncertainty, although the record is perhaps as minute and exact as any remi niscences of passing events could be. We must recollect that though Moses may be regarded as the author of the Pentateuch generally, he is not to be always considered respon Bible. Later editors (Shaphan and Hilkiah) in the reign of Josiah, as many pas sages of the Book of Kings prove, com pacted and revised the books ; and it is from that time that the Pentateuch must be re garded as a whole, and together with it must be taken the Books of Joshua and Judges, which complete the history of the children of Israel before the foundation of the monarchy, and close the record of the pure theocracy. Be ginning with the miseries of the children of Israel and the recital of the tyranny of the Pharaoh " who knew not Joseph," passing through the stormy interviews between the wise and wary Moses and the proud, inaccessi ble, but cowardly King, onward from desolated Egypt, through the famines and terrors of the Wilderness to the confirmation of the worship of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the promulgation of his law, and ending, after continued rebellion and ingratitude, in the final triumph of God and the erection of the Tabernacle, one spirit breathes through all the history. Perhaps the most solemn scene of sacred history is that exode of the oppressed Israelites as simply, grandly, and forcibly told In the inspired page ; and of all the events which crowd thickly on the fancy as we read the book in the calm of retrospection, none are so terrible as the judgments of Jehovah upon the Egyptian oppressors : The picture which the inspired writer draws of the plagues of Egypt, and which he executes with uncommon Care and exactness, is deeply interesting in more than one point of view. It represents the grand and imposing struggle between the boundless power of the Omnipotent and the refractory pride of a demented prince—between the wisdom of the Fountain of Knowledge and the boasting vanity , of the frail human intellect—between the Lord of the Universe and the idols of a heathen country—in a word, it depicts the eternal struggle of Truth against Error, of Monotheism against Paganism. That in this unequal combat Divine omnipotence gained an easy victory over mortal impotence, and that Truth triumphed over Fallacy, is as natural and obvious as the fact that Moses, the humble agent and instrument of the Lord, although as a mere medium he disappears almost in the narrative, ob tains in the reader's mind the superiority over the haughty magicians and their presumptuous conceit. But that God indicted ten successive plagues to break the king's contu macy, whilst he might have annihilated him with one mighty stroke, shows that God mercifully tried to convince and move the tyrant by less dangerous visitations, calm lated merely to impress him with some idea of the unli mited means at His command; and only when Pharoah's obstinacy grew more and more inveterate, the number and formidable character of the plagues were increased. And as in the hand of Providence erery event becomes a means to a higher aim, the miseries which betel Pharoah in con sequence of his own obduracy ' , were at the same time in tended by God to manifest to all the nations of the earth His supreme power, and to induce them to abandon their idolatrous worship, and to acknowledge His exclusive sove reignty. does . . . any proof that the ancient Jews had no scruples as to the question of fair-dealing with Pharoah—that the latter ean only be viewed as an anvil fur the strokes of the Divine hammer—and that we are not to look for a high outer of ethics in the biblical times. Such deductions are Q pplY(,)141)19 result of a Th.= of tuterretapon ba THE PRESS. which superficial declamation and inveterate prejudice take the place of patient research and unbiassed examination. Now, if we analyse the nature of the plagues as narrated in our text, we can but acknowledge the miraculous cha racter with which all, without exception, are stamped. . . . It is not always feasible to form an exact judgment on the nature and value of the facts and ideas communicated—a task which the commentator may with propriety leave to every reader individually, after having put him in posses sion of all materials necessary to arrive at a well-established opinion. However, it is, on the other hand, easily discer nible that all these plagues are based upon natural circum stances or phenomena of Egypt; we know that the Nile indeed assumes annually a red colour at a certain season, that the air is filled with swarms of tormenting insects, and after the same analogy in all other plagues ln fact, the whole force of the . . . narrative will be lost to those who read it without reference to the natural condition of Egypt ; whereas a careful regard to this point will inte restingly illustrate both the admirable climax of the punish ments of l'haroah, and the truthfulness and authenticity of the descriptions. But the miraculous character of those phenomena is unmistakeably observable in the following points:-1. They take place at a time contrary to their usual occurrence ; 2. They happen within a space of a few months in rapid succession, whilst . . . some of them are of very rare occurrence ; 3. Their injurious character is infinitely aggravated —as, for instance, by the first plague not only the water of the Nile is converted into blood, but also its numerous fishes die ; 4. They occur at the time predicted by Moses, and at his command ; 5. They gene rally cease at his prayer; and O. The Egyptians only are afflicted by them, whilst the Israelites are exempted from their calamitous effects. Now, the number even of the plagues is not insignificant, as ten in the Old Testament is the number of petite lion ; and the ten plagues which Reed Israel ftom the yoke of Egypt's king may be con trasted with the ten commandments, by which Israel ac cepted the sovereignty of God. (pp. 117, 118.) In the chapters relating to these plagues, important service has been rendered by the more exact translation of some passages. The word kinnom 12, lB)—the signification of which has been a matter of much controversy— Luther and the forty-seven Englishmen, follow ing the Rabbins, translate lice; the Septuagint has ertvivid; Onkelos explains pediculus ; Bohlen and Wellbeloved read properly marsh-gnats or mosquitoes ; while Cahen has vermine. But the arguments of Bohlen and Kalisch determine the question. The word ngharob (Sept. xvvopcuia, dog-fly, English version flies, Luther unyeziefer, NVellbeloved beetles, Cahen un melange d'insectes, from the verb), which occurs immediately afterwards, and again together with kinnom in Ps. lxxviii. 45, and cv. 81, Kalisch has demonstrated to signify beetles, and the meaning is now fixed. This is but a spe cimen of the care and exactitude which characterises this version. The very first verse of the translation is marked by a va riation, and with great justice. The greater the simplicity in translating Hebrew or any Oriental language, of course, the better. It is unfortunate that, in many instances, a strict adherence to a modern superaddition, such as the masoretic points, which were first em ployed by the Rabbins in the fourth century, should have led to a misunderstanding of the text. The particle aeth, translated by the Sep tuagint awe, together with, clearly applies, as Dr. Kalisch, following Cahen and Luther, translates it, to the first part of the sentence, although the superadded tonic accents, aeth ' yitkov point to a connection with the following words : the Targums translate aeth in the same manner, see Genesis 1. 1, where it is simply the sign of the accusative case While fully recognising and esteeming the care and sagacity of Dr. Kalisch, we must still remind him, in the best feeling, that alteration is not necessarily correctness. We have to regret some needless alterations from our fine old, we might say national, translation, with out increasing the exactitude of his version. For instance, Exodus i. 7, " grew exceedingly " strong," is feeble compared with the "waxed " exceeding mighty" of the authorised trans lation. So also, in verse 9, " more numerous " and stronger," in place of " more and " mightier." On the other hand, what we have to find fault with in several versions of the Bible does not apply to Dr. Kalisch. The very frequent use of the preposition was (and), as in kasha. mayim veaeth haeretz, " the heavens and the earth" (Genesis i. 1), has led many translators to disregard it and to omit it in the translation. This is done by Conant, but Dr. Kalisch does not do so. Wherever it occurs, as it does in countless instances, the ancient simplicity of the language is trans fused into English by the care of the translatoT. Space will not permit us to say more than that Dr. Kalisch has exhaust ed all the sources of information, from the remotest Rabbinical authorities, and the obscurest lucubrations of the Patristic writers, down to the latest re searches at Nineveh under Lo ft us and Raw linson, and in Egypt by Mariette and Green; his corrections of the authorised version amount to upwards of three hundred in the course of the book ; and we hope that such efforts, and such accumulative in dustry, may reap in a present and lasting reputation the rewards of scholarship they so pre-eminently deserve. But, ere we close, we may be permitted to say something of the moral and religious, as well as intellectual, influence of endeavours like the present. It is evident, we think, that much of the unhappy contention which has arisen in the theological world with reference to the inter. pretation and authority of the Holy Scriptures, is the result of unequal education. Experience has taught us the evils of finality ; and when a translation is made .final, any appeal from it to the Hebrew text is either unintelligible to those most concerned in expounding the meaning of the Word of God, or is too hasty and self-assertative for the present position of parties not to bo immediately interdicted. One most important way of giving an impetus to exegetical research is to encourage—nay, to enforce—the study of the Hebrew tongue upon all persons desiring to enter Holy Orders. The beneficial effects would immediately be visible. Instead of many persons entering the Church, as they do unfortunately now, simply with an eye to temporal advantage—instead of the Church being made, as we fear it has been too often made, a refuge for the inefficient and the indolent—we should then have men, whose end and aim would not differ a whit from the end and aim of the present clergy, but who would be far better provided against the as saults of scepticism by an intimate know ledge of the Hebrew language, and by an acquaintance with the outward relations of Oriental life. Works, therefore, like those of Cahen, De Wette, and Kalisch, have their definite and beneficial aim, and that aim is to comfort and enlighten ; and we are not so uncharitable as to suppose the Rationalistic school of criticism to bo wanting in a desire to help the wandering mind to some firm and stable faith. Free dis cussion and equal knowledge are demanded for all subjects ; and the clergy will find, in placing themselves on a par in Hebraic learning with their lay antagonists, the surest way to the conversion of infidels, and the triumph of the Christian Church. The Poems of William Shakapeare. Edited by Robert Bell. "Annotated Edition of tho English Poets." London : J. W. Parker and Son. IN bringing out this edition of the English poets, Mr. Bell has judged wisely in not fol lowing a chronological order. If he had adopted a more strictly historical method, the readers of the edition would not have the variety of his matter put before them so quickly. We felt rather curious to know how lie would manage with the most illustrious name of all, and whether he would give us a copious life of Shakspeare prefacing his dra matic works. _ _ ... The volume before us is called "The Poems of William Shakspeare," and it contains " Venus and Adonis," " The Rape of Luerece,' the "Sonnets," and "The Passionate Pilgrim." We should have preferred that the word " occasional," or " minor," had been placed before " poems" on the titliyage, as it is plain that the contents do not support the title ; and Mr. Bell does not ssy what method he will follow in dealing with the dramatic works of Shakapeare. To this volume he has prefixed thirty pages of a neatly penned dis sertation on the life of the poet. It is close in matter, and there is calm strength in its tone. He judiciously avoids that rapturous eestaey and utter prostration of the understanding with which some of our purely insular entice have grovelled on approaching even the con fines of Stratford . on•Avon. Our immortal bard stands in no need or a Juggernaut wort