Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-05-15

alists. | afterward took two long walks
with him. / will throw the three CONVEX
sations together.
We talked of Cureton's edition of the
Gospel of st. Matthew in Syriac.
Renan-It is not the oldest copy, for il
contains corrections of errors in other cop
| les. but its numerous different readings
give to it great value.
Senior-Do you suppose that the Hebrew
which we now read is the Hebrew in which
Moses wrote?
Renan-I have no doubt that it is.
believe, indeed, that Genesis contains frag-
ments older than the time of Moses such
as the more simple and undetailed history
of the Creation contained in the fifth chap
ter, which makes no allusion to the garden
of Eden or to the Fall. All very early
books are, to certain degree, compilations.
In Genesis whole poems are sometimes IN
serted.
Senior-Can you distinguish In Hebrew
writings poetry from prose?
Mohl-In lyric poetry the iteration, the
repeating, in the two members of the sem
tenee, the same thought under different
forms is an obvious mark of poetry.
Remain narrative poetry, of which
the story of Joseph and the book of Ruth
are beautiful examples, the great mark of
poetry is the minuteness of the detail and
| think that L perceive a cadence and a
measure different from those of prose.
Senior-To what age do you attribute
the book of job?
Renan-To an age in which Hebrew was
spoken language and in its perfection.
Tho ctvla olaar fnroibla I'd MO
turesque. This disposes of the opinion that
it was written during the Captivity, when
Hebrew was becoming dead language, and
those who used it wrote stiffly and pedant-
ically. On the other hand, the peculiar
institutions which after the time of Josias
completely separated the Hebrews from the
surrounding nations either did not exist in
the authors time, or were not known to
him.
Senior-Job is mentioned by Ezekiel.
Renan-Yes, but not this book Job
was probably an historical parsonage whom
the author Of tine poem selected as an inter
locutor. / suspect that, if Ezekiel had
seen the book. he might have thought it
too bold. / believe that it belongs to the
finest period of Hebrew poetry, the age OF
Hezekiah, in the beginning of the eighth
century before Christ.
Senior-About the time of Homer.
Renan-It is interesting to compare the
two great poems of the Aryan and the
Semitic faces. Both are eminently theistic.
The intervention of God pervades both.
But the Homeric gods are distinguished
from men and women only by their power
and their responsibility. They are
shrouded in 10 mystery. They show them
selves to us as they showed themselves to
Paris, absolutely naked, and a disgusting
exhibition it is. The God of job is en-
throned in darkness He speaks out of the
whirlwind. His only attributes are Wis
dom and power. All that takes place,
takes place through his direct interference.
If He acts according to any fixed rules,
those rules are concealed from us.
While Homer's gods are merely powerful
bad men, or rather bad children, his
men are inferior gods. The gods live
with them as lovers, as friends and as en-
emies. In Job man is miserable
creature, inferior to many Of the brutes in
strength, in courage and in instinct.
What are his relations to God it is the
great object of the book to discuss. The
Christian relation between God and man,
mutual love, is not limited at. There is
some worship, but it is worship of fear.
The great problem debated is, Is, or is
not, God Just -? " Job begins with bitter
complaint that he ever was born.
Wherefore" he says, SIS light given to
him that is in misery, and life unto the
bitter in soul ?" His friends answer that
it is only to the wicked that life is a
hat ha o,onI Tho
whole, happy. This Job fiercely denies.
"The earth, he says, is given unto the
hand of the wicked. Their houses are
safe from fear; they spend their days in
wealth, and in moment go down to the
grave" He maintains that he is an ex-
ample of the absence of Gods moral gov
eminent. &C will say unto God, he says,
"show me wherefore thou contendest with
me. Is it good unto thee that thou
shouldst Cypress me, and despise the work
of thine own hands, and shine upon the
counsel of the wicked? Thou knowest
that / am not wicked, and there is none
that can deliver out of thy hand. Thine
hands have made me, yet thou dost
destroy me. Thou huntest me as a
fierce lion. Wherefore, then, has thou
brought me forth out of the womb? Are
not my days few? Cease, then, and let me
alone that | may take comfort little be-
fore | 90 whence | shall not return, even
to the land of darkness and of the shadow
of death. A land of darkness, where the
light is as darkness. Oh, that l knew
where 1 might find him, 1 would order my
cause before him, and fill my mouth with
arguments / would know the words
Il. L. nd ,,nIar
stand what he would say unto me- Oh,
that one would hear me My desire is
that the Almighty would answer me" His
prayer is granted, and he is answered out
of the whirlwind. But the answer is a
magnificent description of the power of
God and of the weakness and ignorance of
man, and of his humble place in creation.
The problem is left totally unsolved.
Senior-The problem really discussed is
an insoluble one, the origin of evil. Job
assumes that God, as the origin of every
thing, is the origin of evil, and on that as
sumption reproaches God with cruelty, first
for having created him, and secondly for
having unjustly afflicted him. The only
attempt at an answer is contained in the
last chapter, in which job is restored to
HlOIt tudi uio iOi uiOi PiooPSilVJ, III Nohoi"
diction to the general spirit of the poem.
Renan-The contradictions in the poem
are innumerable. The Semitic races can
not reason. Their languages are almost
incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
All their notions are concrete. Though
the Book of Job is controversial, there is
no argument in it. Each interlocutor con-
tents himself with mere assertions and
denials and one assertion and one denial
by the same speaker is often inconsistent
with another Job in general maintains
that God treats impartially the wicked
and the good, but from time to time he
affirms that the wicked are always pun
ished. He repeats over and over that
there is no life beyond the grave
but in one passage he expresses belief
that God will descend on the earth to
aveuge him; and, though death will have
destroyed the flesh, yet, that he, with his
own eyes, will see him. There is no such
thing in any Semitic writing as book,
except a narrative. All their moral works
IL