The Cecil Whig., 1885-05-30

taneOuS, would leaVe the origin OF the
earth's matter unrevealed, and would
deprive the argument against the relia-
bility of the account of much of it's effec-
tiveness. Nor does this translation lack
defenders. Professor Taylor Lewis, the
translator of Scribner's edition Of Lang $
Commentary, says that this is not only
linguistically possible, but that it is pre-
ferable to the other. Professor Sayre. of
Oxford University, England, makes this
improvement on the accepted version a
test of accurate knowledge of the He
brew verb. He says: "What fresh vivid
ness is given to the picture, God hewed
out the heaven and the earth; now the
earth had been waste and des0late." :"
The Hebrew of create means originally
to hew trees, to clear a forest; ard its
more abstract meaning, form, ''make, :"
is secondary and derived meaning, lust
as the word for reveal primarily means
''to uncover" So, in all lsnguages, the
concrete and material mea anings of words
are primary, and the abstract and figura
tive secondary. In Genesis l., 30, Let
the waters bring forth abundantly the
moving creature has been retained by
the revisers, and ''Let the waters swarm
with swarms of living creatures intro
duced into the margin. The latter read
ing is plainly the correct one, and why
its insertion into the text was not found
consistent with faithfu,ness is not ex-
planned. We are glad 70 notice the
change made in Genesis ii ), NO plant
of the field WAS yet in the eurub au,i 10
herb of the field had Yet sprung up" iu-
stead of the authorized reading tiiat G. ID
made ''every plant of the field before it
was in the earth, and every herb of the
field before it grew" Tnis verse is re-.
vised enables us to see in the ..slisll
text some evidence of the G0cun antarN
nature of at least this portion ot & nesis.
A comparison with l., .; LET the earth
put forth grass, hero yelling seed, -
ETC., will clearly show that there is some
thing that seems to favor the theory t!lat
more than one author comp ,sc,i the
book. In chapter iii, 10, Between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruisr t..y
head, and thou shalt bruise his hct y
the exchange of che for lit is an az
ce!ient example of interpretation aid
translation at the same time. Either
would fairly represent the original; but,
as many sincere Christians have I'll ,!u.it
t!l-t 'he'' referred to Christ, and that
the first Messianic prediction WAS made
to the serpent, the rcviscrs arc to he
hiyi ly commended fer making the
Cha ge. AS hebrew has only two gen
Ges. all English neuter nouns are either
mas, uline or femiHine in Hebrew, and
require in English Eeutar pronoun, 10
Hell rev either masculine OF te.miai;l,,
81 $! all bruise thy head can only refer
to the collective po.terity, seed of tie
woman, and not to any single individual
In Genesis X, 21, Shem is called the
faith of all tho children of Ebar the
elder brother Of Japheth;" but tha - II
ginal the brother Of Japheth, the elder
is in accordance with the order of the
Hebrew words, though by it the He,
brewS, the descendants Gf Eber, lose the
honor OF descent from the first born Re-
spect for the Hebrew nation does rot re-
quire a departure from the plain sense of
the Hebrew language.
In Genesis XII, 3, it is to be regretted
that ''Go to" was not replaced BY
Come" which is less obsolete and bet
ter understood. Joseph's coat, Genesis
xxxvii., 3, is still one of many colors, .
and Joseph himself "the son of his
(Jacob's) old age" although this full
rendering of the words is scarcely per
missible, ''coat of pieces and 'scn of
old age" would be more literal and
equally expressive. The maro in explains.
"a long garment with Sleeves" which
would require the translation ''coat of
extremities, meaning coat that ex-
tends to the wrists. But, to retain ''son
of his old age'' as applicable to Joseph,
is to forget that Benjamin was the young
est son of Jacob, and ,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 Joseph was plecocious
youth-had an old head on young shoul-
ders. The Jews themselves, in the Tar
gum of Onkelos, explain "a wise son."
and with this the history OF Joseph 6
dreams, abduction and exaltatiGn in
Egypt is entirely consistent. The first
occurrence of ''Sheol' is in Genesis xxi,
30, where the new version retains
grave, explaining in the margin that
it is 'the name Oft abode of the dead"
This accompanying note is ineStimable
in its Importance to a better and more
intelligent reading of the Bible. Many
well-meaning Bible readers have been
puzzled to understand it's application in
those places in which sheol is "hell'' in
the accepted version. In only one in-
stance-lsaiah xiv, 9-is "hell' allowed
to remain, and in this place, as is cx-
planned i'll the revisers' preface. there is
little danger 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 translations. 1t is
step in the right direction-an acknowl
edgement 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 preference over
the adopted readings; but that it is valu-
able; that it expresses to the present gen
Grafton the sense of the actual Scriptures
more nearly than does the old version,
will be freely and gratefully ackuowl-
edged by all friends of true religious ad-
vancement. j. G.