The Jewish outlook., 1908-01-31
The Oldest Biblical Book
BY REV. EDWARD DAY.


operative in nature there was recOg
milton of it as law which had to do
with ancient literatures. 1t was
clearly seen that among all the litera-
lures of antiquity there had been a
struggle in which only the fittest, or
what has been specially priced, had
survived. The Egyptians, the Greeks,
the Romans, the Hebrews, and other
people had, as we could readily see.
preserved only a part of their enor-
nous literature. OF their chronicles.
their epics, and, in the case of the
Greeks, their tragedies, only part,
apparently a small part, survived; for,
if in those distant times there was rel
atively far less literary activity than
there has been in our own time in
America and Europe. there seems to
have been many different literary
craftsmen among all ancient peoples
as there were centuries in which to do
their work. Students of the past and
all lovers of the old literatlres of the
world have always keenly regretted
that so much has been lost which
would now be considered priceless. as
IL Noultl ali dIl
in imaginatively re-crcating antiquity.
But. if among these litcraturcs there
has been Il struggle for survival. has
there not also been ii struggle for an
tiquity? What is our oldest Egyptian
literary composition or book our old
est Greek our oldest Roman? These
questions. and kindred ones. call to
mind considerable differences of opin-
ion among scholars SO it is as re-
CARDS the Hebrew literature. or what
is known to us as our Old Testament.
which. if we include the Apocrypha.
as we ought, represents the larger
part of the pref Christian Hebrew lit
crature which has been preserved.
What is here our oldest book? Were
the question. what is our oldest writ
ten literary composition9 we should
have to reply the j. or the Jehovistic
narrative of the historical books of the
Old Testament. although it may not be
older than the eighth century B. G.
AS. however. it is this. what is the
oldest of our present Old Testament
books? The question is not SO easily
answered. even by wcll-informed crit
"di S'upidIS. 'i'' Sttn SCHVIdiS
might have said unhcsitatingly.
"Job:' but they are now agreed i'm
assigning ''.Job' to the third century.
B. c. More recently there has been a
disposition to look upon the so-called
literary prophets who are supposed
to have flourishcd in the eighth cen
tury. Amos and Hosea. as the ones
whose work may be spoken of as the
Oldest. But there are those. among
whom the writer frankly confcsses
himself to be one. who very conf
IDENTIFY look upon these short written
prophetic pieces as pseudOpigraphic
and late. Certainly if they are not to
Ike so regarded. then we have occasion
to marvel that the said prophets find
no mention i'm the historical annual of
their time. We are also forced to ear
ry over into the post-exilic time large
portions of the little books which bear
their names. as scholars are wont to
assert.
Genesis. Exodus, Numbers and 9th
er historical books of our Old Testa-
mcnt canon we have naturally come to
regard as old because they contain
material. largely consisting of folk
stories and genealogical tables. But
we should remember that the .JE mar
ratives, our of which, as a substratum.
they were largely constructed. re-
ceived considerable additions at the
hands of Deuteronomists, who gave