The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-05-30

Messianic prediction was made IN tbo
serpent, the revisers are to he bioAlv
commended for making the chanbe
AS Hebrew has only two genders. All
English neuter nouns are either mac
culine or feminine in Hebrew. and
require in English neuter n yo.
noun, in Hebrew either a mascuIiho
or feminine. "H shall bruise thv
head" can only refer to the collective
posterity, "seed" of the woman. and
not to any single individual. Tn
Genesis x, q, Shem is called "the
father Of all the children of Eber. the
elder brother of Japheth;" but the
marginal 1.-THE brother of Japheth.
the elder" is in accordance with the
order Of the Hebrew words, thouoh
by it the Hebrews, the descendants
of Eber, lose the honor of descent
from the first born. Respect for the
Hebrew nation does not require de-
parture from the plain sense of the
Hebrew language.
In Genesis XII. 3, it is to be regret
ed that $50 to" was not replaced nv
Come" which is less obsolete and
better understood. Joseph's coat,
Genesis XXXvii., 3, is still one of
"many colors," and Joseph himself
1.-THE son of his (Jacob's) old age}}s-
though this full rendering OF words is
scarcely permissible. "coat of pieces"
and "son of old age" would be more
literal and equally expressive. The
margin explains, "a long garment
with sleeves" which would require
the translation, "cOat of eXtremi-
ties" meaning a coat that extends to
the wrists. But, to retain "son of
his old age" as applicable to Joseph,
is to forget that Benjamin was the
youngest son of Jacob, anu Joseph's
natural brother, and was, therefore,
the son of Jacobs old age, if any
was. The literal "son of old age"
carries with it the meaning that Jo-
seph was precocious yOuth-had an
| old head on young shoulders. The
Jews themselves in the Targum of
Onkelos, explain "a wise son." and
with this the history of Joseph's
dreams, abduction and exaltatiOn in
Egypt is entirely consistent, The
first occurance of "SheOl" is in Gene
sis xvii, 50, where the new version
retains grave" explaining in the
margin that it is 1.-The name of the
abode of the dead" This accompa-
nying note is ineStimable in its inn
portance to better and more intelli-
gent reading of the Bible, Many
Well-meaning Bible readers have
been puzzled to understand its appli-
cation in those places in which sheol
Is "helP' in the accepted version.
In only one nstance-Isaiah xiv, 8,
is "hell'' allowed to remain, and
in this place, as is explained in the
revisers' preface, there is little dan
ger of misunderstanding, "the dead"
being mentioned in connection in
the succeeding member. Time alone
will prove how great the obligation
bestowed by this scholarly ATTEMPT
to purge the sacred text of all false
TRANSACTIONS. 1t is step in the right
direction-an acknowledgment of
the possibility of progress even in the
department of religion. That this
work is not perfect. the revisers
themselves must honestly admit.
Many of them now have textual
preferences over the adopted read
ings; but that it is valuable that it
expresses to the present generation
the sense of the actual Scriptures
mere nearly than does the old YER
sion, will be freely and gratefully ac-
knoWledged by all friends of true re-
ligious advancement.
JIG.