The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-05-18

the stories still remain In force, and
we are learning to read them exact
| ~ for what they were originally in
tended. And SO it comes about that
the historical method restores the
| Hexateuch to our regard and recalls
it to the purpose for which it was an
GENTLY written.
the Gcneses of Hebrew Law.
The historical method restores the
! Levitical law to normal place and use
How far gone from us was Leviticus
4 under the old analysis few stop to
i think. Even the vicious vogues by
which Leviticus was spiritualized into
4 Christian symbols failed to render Le-
viticus either attractive or reasonable.
In our time the Leyitical law has al
most passed even from conservative
sermons, and also it has vanished
from thought, regard, and speech in
the pew, much to the detriment of a
rounded historical knowledge of the
| unfolding of Judaism and Christian
ity.
A chief reason for the passing Of
the IDENTICAL law is connected with
4 the story of its origin. The modern
mind is unable to credit the classic
4 drama of Mount Sinai where an an
thropoiog j Jehovah personally
4 writes tables of stone and Numbered
the complete Mosaic law into the ears
o I'D
understand half the utterance. Men
either disbelieve this, or they ban
ish the entire matter from their mind
to tat mysterious region where fan
4 cy still entertains the wee fairy folk
4 We must think better of the Divine
pedagogy than to believe that God
gave to horde of Egyptian slaves
complete and perfect system of law
4 fitted not only for the immediate wan
1 dering in the desert, but which also
! forestalled the far distant centuries
wnen, in their own land, the civilized
nation. would thrive under kingly dy-
nasties. and whes only elaborate ma
tional temples and highly organized
prlesthoods would make possible the
fulfilment of Sinai's sacerdotal rit-
ual.
And now comes the historical meth.
cd of Biblical Interpretation and re.
stores the Levitical system to its or
1ginal place and power in the develop
ment of the Hebrew people. AS we
have it in our Bibles the law is a
codification of many centuries of Lee
vitical procedure. A close study of
the laws themselves reveals their or
der and also the reason for their
origin The earliest laws were more
or less simple regulations of life and
worship in the Wilderness series
of enactments originating in the pres
ent need of the people. Then, through
long centuries of slow progress. tribal
life In Palestine added it's primitive
quota to the nations legal lore. In
due time kings and central govern
ment led inevitably to the institution
of the southern and northern TEMPLES.
which in their turn created highly
organized priestly caste and developed
an elaborate sacerdotal ritual. After
the exile came the codification, and
with it the more strict enforcement
of the ancient law. Like the British
constitution, the growth of Hebrew
law with its concommittant evolution
of Scribe and Pharisae, enriched the
years of many centuries. but unlike
tn British constitution the end was
hard-set written bond of the letter
which so certainly lacks life. In Je-
sus time the law had been codified so
long and was so thoroughly stereo-
typed In public and in private life, !
that everybody believed that it had
come thus bodily from the physical
voice of God Like the later vision
Of the New Jerusalem. the Law had
come down in wonderful completeness
directly from Heaven--much as even
TODAY, in many quarters, there is
subtle feeling that our Oxford Bibles.
helps. gilt or red edges, silk sewn and
bound in limp leather, all fully au-
thorized by the Apostle" James. came |
to us directly from the hand of God. /
What is gained bv the new inter-
probation would take a five-foot II. |
brary to set forth, and will take cen
turtles of enlightened religious life to {
live out. Henceforth, the Hebrew /
laws are mart Of the orderly devotion I