In Psal. xxviii. 1. cxliii. 7. and Prov. i. 12. the grave is also, was the grave in which the body of our Lord was derepresented as a pit or cavern, into which a descent is neces- posited. Joseph of Arimathea, a person of distinction, by sary; containing dormitories or separate cells for receiving St. Mark called an honourable counsellor" (Mark xv. 43.), the dead (Isa. xiv. 15. Ezek. xxxii. 23.), so that each person or member of the sanhedrin, " mindful of his mortality, had may be said to lie in his own house (Isa. xiv. 18.), and to hewn out of the rock in his garden a sepulchre, in which he rest in his own bed. (Isa. lvii. 2.) These sepulchral vaults intended his own remains should be reposited. Now in the seem to have been excavated for the use of the persons of place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the high rank and their families. The vanity of Shebna, who garden a new sepulchre, wherein was no man yet laid. When was reproved for it by Isaiah, is set forth by his being so Joseph, therefore, had taken the body of Jesus, and wrapped studious and careful to have his sepulchre on high, in a lofty it in a clean linen cloth, he carried it into the tomb which he vault, and, probably, in an elevated situation, that it might had lately hollowed out of the rock; and rolled a great stone be the more conspicuous. (Isa. xxii. 16.) Of this kind of to the low door of the sepulchre, effectually to block up the sepulchres there are remains still extant at Jerusalem, some entrance, and secure the sacred corpse of the deceased, both of which are reported to be the sepulchres of the kings of from the indignities of his foes, and the officiousness of his Judah, and others, those of the Judges.3 friends. Sometimes, also, they buried their dead in fields, The following description of the Tombs of the Kings (as over whom the opulent and families of distinction raised they are termed), which are situated near the village of superb and ostentatious monuments, on which they lavished Gournou, on the west bank of the river Nile, will illustrate great splendour and magnificence, and which they so relithe nature of the ancient sepulchres, which were excavated giously maintained from time to time in their pristine beauty out of the mountains. "Further in the recesses of the and glory." To this custom our Saviour alludes in the folmountains, are the more magnificent Tombs of the Kings; lowing apt comparison: Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, each consisting of many chambers, adorned with hierogly-hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which inphics. The scene brings many allusions of Scripture to the deed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mind; such as Mark v. 2, 3. 5., but particularly Isaiah xxii. men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly 16. Thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that hew- appear righteous to men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy eth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth a habitation and iniquity. (Matt. xxiii. 27.) But though the sepulchres for himself in a rock; for many of the smaller sepulchres of the rich were thus beautified, the graves of the poor were are excavated nearly halfway up the mountain, which is oftentimes so neglected, that if the stones by which they very high. The kings have their magnificent abodes nearer were marked happened to fall, they were not set up again, the foot of the mountain; and seem, according to Isaiah xiv. by which means the graves themselves did not appear; they 18., to have taken a pride in resting as magnificently in death were ada, that is, not obvious to the sight, so that men as they had done in life-All the kings of the nations, even all might tread on them inadvertently. (Luke xi. 44.)8 From of them, lie in glory; every one in his own house. The stuc- Jer. xxvi. 23. we may collect that the populace of the lowest coed walls within are covered with hieroglyphics. They order (Heb. sons or children of the people) were buried in a cannot be better described than in the words of Ezekiel, viii. public cemetery, having no distinct sepulchre to themselves, 8-10. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the as all persons of rank and character, and especially of so wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And honourable an order as that of the prophets, used to have.9 he said unto me, go in; and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in, and saw and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. The Israelites were but copyists: the master-sketches are to be seen in all the ancient temples and tombs of Egypt." Farther, "it appears from the Scriptures, that the Jews had family sepulchres in places contiguous to their own houses, and generally in their gardens:" and the same usage obtained among the Romans and other nations.5 "Such was the place in which Lazarus was interred; and such, 994 interred, will perform a subterraneous journey into Palestine, in order that they may participate in the resurrection. S. Jarchi on Gen. xlvii.-Alber, Inst. Herm. Test. tom. i. p. 319. 2 1 Bp. Lowth on Isaiah, vol. ii. pp. 120. 170. 328, 329. 2 "Above half a mile from the wall" of Jerusalem, "are the Tombs of the Kings. In midst of a hollow, rocky and adorned with a few trees, is the entrance. You then find a large apartment, above fifty feet long, at the side of which a low door leads into a series of small chambers, hewn out of the rock, of the size of the human body. There are six or seven of these low and dark apartments, in which are hewn recesses of different shapes for the reception of bodies." (Carne's Letters from the East, p. 294. Three Weeks in Palestine, p. 75.) The "Sepulchres of the Judges, so called, are situated in a wild spot, about two miles from the city. They bear much resemblance to those of the Kings, but are not so handsome or spacious." (Carne's Letters from the East, p. 294.) "No shadow, not even of a rock, is spread over these long enduring relics, in which tradition has placed the ashes of the rulers of Israel. They consist of several divisions, each containing two or three apartments cut out of the solid rock, and entablatures are carved with some skill over the entrance. No richly carved relics, or fragments of sarcophagi remain here, as in the tombs of the kings; and their only use is to shelter the wandering passenger or the benighted traveller, who finds no other resting-place in the wild around." (Carne's Recollections of the East, pp. 135, 136.) Jowett's Researches in the Mediterranean, p. 133. Thus, the Mausoleum of Augustus was erected in a garden. Dr. Munter has collected numerous classical inscriptions, which attest the application of gardens to sepulchral purposes. (Symbolæ ad Interpretationem Evangelii Johannis ex Marmoribus, pp. 29, 30.) The modern inhabitants of Mount Lebanon have their sepulchres in gardens. The Rev. Mr. Jowett, during his visit to Deir-el-Kamar, the capital of the Druses on that mountain, says, that while walking out one evening a few fields' distance with the son of his host, to see a detached garden belonging to his father, the young man pointed out to him near it a small solid stone building, very solemnly adding, "Kabbar Beity-the sepulchre of our family." It had neither door nor window. "He then" (adds Mr. J.) "directed my attention to a considerable number of similar buildings at a distance; which to the eye are exactly like houses, but which are, in fact, family mansions for the dead. They have a most melancholy appearance, which made him shudder while he explained their use."...."Perhaps this custom, which prevails particularly at Deir-el-Kamar, and in the lonely neighbouring parts of the mountain, may have been of great antiquity, and may serve to explain some Scripture phrases. The prophet Samuel was buried in his house at Ramah (1 Sam. xxv. 1.); it could hardly be in his dwelling-house. Joab was buried in his own house in the wilderness. (1 Kings ii. 34.)" Jowett's Christian Researches in Palestine, p. 280. VOL. II. 2 C After the deceased had been committed to the tomb, it was customary among the Greeks and Romans, to put the tears shed by the surviving relatives and friends into lachrymatory urns, and place these on the sepulchres, as a memorial of their distress and affection. From Psal. lvi. 8. it should seem that this custom was still more anciently in use among the eastern nations, especially the Hebrews. These vessels were of different materials, and were moulded into different forms. Some were of glass, and some were of earthenware,10 being diminutive in size and of delicate workmanship. In order to do honour to the memory of the dead, their sepulchres were sometimes distinguished by monuments. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. pp. 139. 141, 142. The sepulchres, described and delineated by Mr. Emerson, completely elucidate the form of the Jewish tombs. Letters from the Ægean, vol. ii. pp. 55-59. The following passage from Dr. Shaw's Travels affords a striking illustra tion of Matt. xxiii. 27. "If we except a few persons, who are buried within the precincts of the sanctuaries of their Marabutts, the rest are carried out at a smaller distance from their cities and villages, where a great extent of ground is allotted for the purpose. Each family has a particular part of it walled in, like a garden, where the bones of their ancestors have remained for many generations. For in these enclosures the graves are all distinct and separated, each of them having a stone placed upright both at the head and feet, inscribed with the name and title of the deceased; while the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round with stones, or paved with tiles. The graves of the principal citizens are further distinguished, by having cupolas or vaulted chambers of three, four or more square yards built over them: and as these very frequently lie open, and occasionally shelter us from the inclemency of the weather, the demoniac (Mark v. 5.) might with propriety enough have had his dwelling among the tombs: and others are said (Isa. lxv. 4.) to remain among the graves and to lodge in the monuments (mountains). And as all these dif ferent sorts of tombs and sepulchres, with the very walls likewise of their respective cupolas and enclosures, are constantly kept clean, whitewashed, and beautified, they continue to illustrate those expressions of our Saviour where he mentions the garnishing of sepulchres, and compares the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites to whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within were full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." Shaw's Travels, vol. i. pp. 395, 396. Macknight's Harmony, sect. 87. vol. ii. p. 473. 9 Dr. Blaney's Jeremiah, p. 349. 10 Dr. Chandler's Life of David, vol. i. p. 106. Among the valuable remains of ancient art collected by Dr. E. D. Clarke among the ruins of Sicyon, in the Peloponnesus, were lachrymatories of more ancient form and materials than any thing he had ever before observed of the same kind; "the lachrymatory phials, in which the Sicyonians treasured up their tears, deserve rather the name of bottles; they are nine inches long, two inches in diameter, and contains as much fluid as would fill a phial of three ounces; consisting of the coarsest materials, a heavy blue clay or marle.... Sometimes the vessels found in ancient sepulchres are of suc diminutive size, that they are only capable of holding a few drops of fluid in these instances there seems to be no other use for which they were fitted. Small lachrymal phials of glass have been found in the tombs of the Romans in Great Britain; and the evident allusion to this practice in the Sacred Scriptures-Put those my tears into thy bottle (Psal. lvi. 8.)-seems decisive as to the purpose for which these vessels were designed." Tra vels in various Countries of Europe, &c. vol. vi. pp. 541, 542. the Egyptians, who had a great regard for the patriarch Jacob, lamented his death threescore and ten days. (Gen. 1. 3.) The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. (Deut. xxxiv. 8.) Afterwards, among the Jews, the funeral mourning was generally confined to seven days. Hence, besides the mourning for Jacob in Egypt, Joseph and his company set apart seven days to mourn for his father, when they approached the Jordan with his corpse. (Gen. 1. 10.) In the time of Christ, it was customary for the nearest relative to visit the grave of the deceased and to weep there. The Jews, who had come to condole with Mary on the death of her brother Lazarus, on seeing her go out of the house, concluded that she was going to the grave to weep there. (John xi. 31.) The Syrian women are still accustomed, either alone or accompanied by some attendants, to visit the tombs of their relatives, and mourn their loss: and the same usage obtains almost throughout the East, among Jews as well as Christians and Mohammedans; and in Persia, Egypt, Greece, Dalmatia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Servia, Wallachia, and Illyria. The custom of erecting these seems to have obtained even the days of mourning. (Gen. xxvii. 41. and 1. 4.) Thus from the patriarchal age. Thus, Jacob erected a pillar upon the grave of his beloved wife Rachel. (Gen. xxxv. 20.) This is the earliest monument mentioned in the Scriptures: it is evident from that passage that it was standing when Moses wrote; and its site seems to have been known in the time of Samuel and Saul. (1 Sam. x. 2.) The monument now shown in the vicinity of Bethlehem, as Rachel's tomb, is a modern and Turkish structure, which may, perhaps, be the true place of her interment. In later times, inscriptions appear to have been placed on tombstones, denoting the persons who were there interred. Such was the title or inscription discovered by Josiah, which proved to be the burial-place of the prophet who was sent from Judah to denounce the divine judgments against the altar which Jeroboam had erected more than three centuries before. Simon Maccabæus built a splendid monument at Modin in honour of his father and his brethren. (1 Macc. xiii. 25-30.) In the time of Jesus Christ, it appears that the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees repaired and adorned the tombs of the prophets whom their ancestors had murdered for their faithfulness, under a sanctimonious appearance of respect for their memory. The ancient Arabs raised a heap of stones over the body of the dead (Job xxi. 32. marginal rendering), which was guarded. In the year 1820, Mr. Rae Wilson observed on the plain of Zebulun, not far from Cana, piles of stones covering over or marking the place of graves. Similar cairns, also the remains of remote antiquity, exist both in England and in Scotland.2 Among the Hebrews, great heaps of stones were raised over those whose death was either infamous, or attended with some very remarkable circumstances. Such were the heaps raised over the grave of Achan (Josh. vii. 26.), over that of the king of Ai (viii. 29.), and over that of Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 17.); all which were sepulchral monuments to perpetuate the place of their interment. It does not appear that there was any general mourning for Saul and his sons, who died in battle: but the national troubles, which followed upon his death, might have prevented it. David, indeed, and his men, on hearing the news of their death, mourned and wept for them until even. (2 Sam. i. 12.) And the men of Jabesh-Gilead fasted for them seven days (1 Sam. xxxi. 13.), which must not be understood in a strict sense, as if they took no food during that time, but that they lived very abstemiously, ate little, and that seldom, using a low and spare diet, and drinking water only. How long widows mourned for their husbands is nowhere told us in Scripture. It is recorded, indeed, of Bathsheba, that when she heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for him (2 Sam. xi. 26.); but this could neither be long nor very sincere. 4"A female, with part of her robe drawn over her head, or veiled, was 332. VI. A FUNERAL FEAST Commonly succeeded the Jewish burials. Thus, after Abner's funeral was solemnized, the people came to David to eat meat with him, though they could not persuade him to do so. (2 Sam. iii. 35.) He was seen seated by the tombs of her relatives on the summit of Mount Moriah, the chief mourner, and probably had invited them to this or along its sides, just beneath the walls of Jerusalem." Carne's Letters, banquet. Of this Jeremiah speaks (xvi. 7.), where he calls "We arrived" (at one of the villages of Elephantina, an island in the it the cup of consolation, which they drank for their father or Nile) "just in time to witness a coronagh, or wailing for the dead. A poor their mother; and accordingly the place where this funeral woman of the village had that morning received the melancholy intelligence entertainment was made, is called in the next verse the that her husband had been drowned in the Nile. He had been interred without her knowledge, near the spot where the body was found; and she, house of feasting. Hosea calls it the bread of mourners. along with several of her female friends, was paying the unavailing tribute (Hos. ix. 4.) Funeral banquets are still in use among the of lamentation to his departed shade." (Richardson's Travels, vol. i. p. oriental Christians. 355.) "One morning," says the same intelligent traveller, "when standing ferry, I saw a party of thirteen females cross the Nile to perform the luguamong the ruins of the ancient Syene, on the rocky promontory above the brious dirge at the mansions of the dead. They set up a piteous wail on dirty robes of beteen. On landing they wound their way slowly and entering the boat, after which they all cowered up together, wrapt in their silently along the outside of the walls of the ancient town, till they arrived at their place of destination, when some of them placed a sprig of flowers the ground, and threw dust over their heads, uttering mournful lamenta on the grave, and sat down silently beside it; others cast themselves on tions, which they continued to repeat at intervals, during the short time that I witnessed their procedure." (Ibid. vol. i. p. 360.) Mr. Jowett witnessed a similar scene at Manfelout, a more remote town of Upper Egypt. Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, p. 162. Alber, Inst. Herm. Vet. Test. tom. i. pp. 311-319. Calmet, Dissertation sur les Funérailles des Hébreux. Dissert. tom. i. pp. 290-309. Pareau, Antiquitas Hebraica, pp. 472-477. Jahn, Archæol. Bibl. §§ 204-211. Stosch, Compendium Archæologiæ Economica Novi Testamenti, pp. 121-132. Brünings, Compendium Antiquitatum Græcarum, pp. 388 400.; and his Compendium Antiquitatum Hebræarum, pp. 257-264. The subject of Hebrew sepulchres is very fully discussed by Nicolai, in his treatise De Sepulchris Hebræorum (Lug. Bat. 1706), which is illustrated with several curious plates, some of which, however, it must be confessed, are rather fanciful. The usual tokens of mourning by which the Jews expressed their grief and concern for the death of their friends and relations, were by rending their garments, and putting on sackcloth (Gen. xxxvii. 34.), sprinkling dust on their heads, wearing of mourning apparel (2 Sam. xiv. 2.), and covering the face and the head. (2 Sam. xix. 4.) They were accustomed also in times of public mourning to go up to the roofs or platforms of their houses, there to bewail their misfortunes, which practice is mentioned in Isaiah xv. 3. and xxii. 1. Anciently, there was a peculiar space of time allotted for lamenting the deceased, which they called 1 Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo, p. 117. "It has all the appearance of one of those tombs often erected to the memory of a Turkish Santon." Carne's Letters, p. 277. 2 Rae Wilson's Travels in the Holy Land, vol. ii. p. 5. third edition. * Harmer's Observations, vol. iii. p. 19. ANALYSIS OF SCRIPTURE. PART V. ANALYSIS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. CHAPTER I. ON THE PENTATEUCH, OR FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES. SECTION I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PENTATEUCH. I. Title.-II. Argument of the Pentateuch.-III. Notice of other Writings ascribed to Moses. I. THE PENTATEUCH, by which title the five books of Moses are collectively designated, is a word of Greek original,1 which literally signifies five books, or volumes; by the Jews it is frequently termed nn (TORAH) the Law, or the Law OF MOSES, because it contains the ecclesiastical and political ordinances issued by God to the Israelites. The Pentateuch forms, to this day, but one roll or volume in the Jewish manuscripts, being divided only into paraschioth and siderim, or larger and smaller sections. This collective designation of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, is of very considerable antiquity, though we have no certain information when it was first introduced. As, however, the names of these books are evidently derived from the Greek, and as the five books of Moses are expressly mentioned by Josephus, who wrote only a few years after our Saviour's ascension, we have every reason to believe that the appellation of Pentateuch was prefixed to the Septuagint version by the Alexandrian translators. must be applied also to the nine following psalms, is not sufficient. The greater part of the titles of the psalms is not original, nor, indeed, very ancient; and some of them are evidently misplaced: we find also in these psalms the names of persons, and other marks, which by no means agree with Moses. II. This division of the sacred volume comprises an account of the creation of the world, and of the fall of man, the outlines of the early annals of the world, and a full recital of the Jewish law, and of the events which happened to the Israelites from their becoming a distinct people to their departure out of Egypt, and their arrival on the confines of the land of Canaan, a period of two thousand five hundred and fifteen years according to the vulgar computation, or of three thousand seven hundred and sixty-five years, according to the computation established by Dr. Hales. "It is a wide description gradually contracted; an account of one nation, preceded by a general sketch of the first state of mankind. The books are written in pure Hebrew, with an admirable diversity of style, always well adapted to the subject, yet characterized with the stamp of the same author; they are all evidently parts of the same work, and mutually strengthen and illustrate each other. They blend revelation and history in one point of view; furnish laws, and describe their execution; exhibit prophecies, and relate their accomplishment. "5 III. Besides the Pentateuch the Jews ascribe to Moses ten psalms, from psalm xc. to xcix. inclusive. There is, however, no solid evidence to prove that these psalms were composed by him; for the title of the ninetieth psalm ("a prayer of Moses the man of God"), which, they pretend, 1 ПETTEUXOS, from TVT, five, and Tuxos, a book or volume. Bible de Vence, tom. i. p. 310. 2 For an account of these divisions, see Vol. I. 213. p. The author of the treatise De Mundo, which is commonly ascribed to Philo Judæus, was of opinion that Moses himself divided his work into five books; but he assigned no authority for such opinion. Jesus Christ and his apostles never cite the five books of Moses under any other name than that of Moses, or the Law of Moses; as the Jews ordinarily do to this day. Calmet conjectures that Ezra divided the Pentateuch into five books. Dis sertations, tom. ii. p. 23. In his Jewish Antiquities, Josephus terms the Pentateuch the "Holy Books of Moses" (lib. x. c. iv. §2.); and in his Treatise against Apion (lib. i. c. 8.), when enumerating the sacred writings of the Jews, he says that FIVE of them belong to Moses."-Some critics have imagined that this distinction of the Pentateuch into five separate books was known to and recognised by St. Paul (1 Cor. xiv. 19.), by the term five words; but the context of that passage does not authorize such a conjecture. Bp. Gray's Key to the Old Testament, p. 76. 5th edit. Further, some of the ancient fathers have thought that Moses was the author of the book of Job: Origen, in his commentary on Job, pretends that Moses translated it out of Syriac into Hebrew; but this opinion is rejected both by Jews and Christians. Besides, if this book had really been composed by Moses, is it likely that the Jews would have separated it from the Pentateuch ?6 There are likewise ascribed to Moses several apocryphal books; as an Apocalypse, or Little Genesis, the Ascension of Moses, the Assumption of Moses, the Testament of Moses, and the Mysterious Books of Moses. The principal part of the "Little Genesis" was transferred by Cedrenus into his chronological history: it was extant in Hebrew in the fourth century of the Christian æra, for we find it cited by Jerome. From the apocalypse just noticed, it has been pretended that Saint Paul copied Gal. v. 6. and vi. 15.; and it has been imagined that what is said in the Epistle of Jude (verse 9.), respecting the archangel Michael's contention with Satan for the body of Moses, was taken from the apocryphal Ascension of Moses. Such was the opinion of Origen, who, though he cites it in another place, alludes to it as not being in the canon. All these pretended Mosaic writings, however, are confessedly spurious, and are supposed to have been fabricated in the early ages of Christianity. * On the difference between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuchs, or, rather, editions of the Pentateuch, see Volume I. p. 204.; for a view of the Genuineness and Credibility of the Pentateuch, see Volume I. pp. 32-38.; and for a List of the principal Commentators on this portion of the Sacred Scriptures, see Volume II. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX, PART II. CHÁP. V. SECT. III. § 4. SECTION II. ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. I. Title.-II. Author and date.-III. General_argument.— 1. THE first book of the Pentateuch, which is called GENESIS (TENEXIX), derives its appellation from the title it The book of Job was composed many ages before the time of Moses See chap. iii. sect. i. infra, of this volume. Cedrenus, enumerating the authorities consulted by him, says, that he "collected not a few things from the Little Genesis, & TиS ATTES Feversws. Historia Compendiaria, tom. i. p. 2. edit. Venet. 1729. Cedrenus frequently cites this apocryphal book in the course of his work. See the passages of Origen at length in Dr. Lardner's works, vol. ii. pp 483-512. 8vo. or vol. i. pp. 541-557. 4to. 1. 6. xxxviii. 26. 2. 1. 1. xl. 17. Lev. viii. 6. 2.1. 8. 2. 1. 14. 2.2 1. his sons ix. 1. Num. ix. 5. i. 3. 40. u. 1. iii. 41. 1. 1. 60. 59. Shittim, or Abel Shit. Num. xxv. In the Plains of Moab Last exhortation of Moses successor. Death of Moses A Month's Mourning Jordan VII. Few passages in the Pentateuch have more exercised the ingenuity of biblical critics, than the Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in Num. xxi. 14. Aben-Ezra, Hottinger, and others, are of opinion that it refers to this book of the Pentateuch, because in it are related various battles of the Israelites with the Amorites: Hezelius, and after him Michaelis, think it was an Amoritish writing, containing triumphal songs in honour of the victories obtained by Sihon king of the Amorites, from which Moses cited the words that immediately follow. Fonseca and some others refer it to the book of Judges. Le Clerc understands it of the wars of the Israelites, who fought under the direction of Jehovah, and, instead of book, he translates it, with most of the Jewish doctors, narration; and proposes to render the verse thus:"Wherefore, in the narration of the wars of the Lord, there is (or shall be) mention of what he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon."-Lastly, Dr. Lightfoot considers this book to have been some book of remembrances and directions written by Moses for Joshua's private instruction, for the prosecution of the wars after his decease. (See Exod. xvii. 14-16.) This opinion appears to us the most simple, and is, in all probability, the true one. Josh. iii. Num. xxv. XXV. 17. 18. Deut. xxxiv. xxxiii. 47 xxxiii. 48. 40. 1. Num. xxxiv. Josh. xv. 3. 26. Makeloth xxxiii. 25. 27. Tahath xxxiii. 26. 28. Tarath. xxxiii. 27. 29. Mitcah xxxiii. 28. SECTION VI. ON THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. I. Title, date, and chronology,-II. Scope.-III. Predictions of the Messiah.-IV. Synopsis of contents.-V. Observations. Table or harmony of the Mosaic law. I. THE Jews call this fifth book of Moses a be (ALEH HαDEBARIM), that is, "These are the words," because the xxxiii. 31. original commences with these words: by some rabbins it is called nn nn (M/SNEH TORAH), or the repetition of the law, while others term it onnon (SEPHER TUKHHUTH), or the Book of Reproofs, on account of the numerous reproofs of the Israelites by Moses. The Greeks and Latins respectively xxxiii. 36. in the Bible de Vence, tom. iii. pp. 365-405. there is an elaborate Geo- call it AETTEPONOMION, Deuteronomium (whence our graphical Dissertation sur les xlii. Stations des Israelites. English title Deuteronomy is derived), that is to say, the ANALYSIS OF SCRIPTURE. PART V. ANALYSIS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. CHAPTER I. ON THE PENTATEUCH, OR FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES. SECTION I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PENTATEUCH. I. Title.-II. Argument of the Pentateuch.-III. Notice of other Writings ascribed to Moses. I. THE PENTATEUCH, by which title the five books of Moses are collectively designated, is a word of Greek original, which literally signifies five books, or volumes; by the Jews it is frequently termed n (TORAH) the Law, or the LAW OF MOSES, because it contains the ecclesiastical and political ordinances issued by God to the Israelites. The Pentateuch forms, to this day, but one roll or volume in the Jewish manuscripts, being divided only into paraschioth and siderim, or larger and smaller sections. This collective designation of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, is of very considerable antiquity, though we have no certain information when it was first introduced. As, however, the names of these books are evidently derived from the Greek, and as the five books of Moses are expressly mentioned by Josephus, who wrote only a few years after our Saviour's ascension, we have every reason to believe that the appellation of Pentateuch was prefixed to the Septuagint version by the Alexandrian translators. must be applied also to the nine following psalms, is not sufficient. The greater part of the titles of the psalms is not original, nor, indeed, very ancient; and some of them are evidently misplaced: we find also in these psalms the names of persons, and other marks, which by no means agree with Moses. Further, some of the ancient fathers have thought that Moses was the author of the book of Job: Origen, in his commentary on Job, pretends that Moses translated it out of Syriac into Hebrew; but this opinion is rejected both by Jews and Christians. Besides, if this book had really been composed by Moses, is it likely that the Jews would have separated it from the Pentateuch 26 There are likewise ascribed to Moses several apocryphal books; as an Apocalypse, or Little Genesis, the Ascension of Moses, the Assumption of Moses, the Testament of Moses, and the Mysterious Books of Moses. The principal part of the "Little Genesis" was transferred by Cedrenus into his chrotury of the Christian æra, for we find it cited by Jerome. From the apocalypse just noticed, it has been pretended that Saint Paul copied Gal. v. 6. and vi. 15.; and it has been imagined that what is said in the Epistle of Jude (verse 9.), respecting the archangel Michael's contention with Satan for the body of Moses, was taken from the apocryphal Ascension of Moses. Such was the opinion of Origen, who, though he cites it in another place, alludes to it as not being in the canon.8 All these pretended Mosaic writings, however, are confessedly spurious, and are supposed to have been fabricated in the early ages of Christianity. II. This division of the sacred volume comprises an ac-nological history: it was extant in Hebrew in the fourth cencount of the creation of the world, and of the fall of man, the outlines of the early annals of the world, and a full recital of the Jewish law, and of the events which happened to the Israelites from their becoming a distinct people to their departure out of Egypt, and their arrival on the confines of the land of Canaan, a period of two thousand five hundred and fifteen years according to the vulgar computation, or of three thousand seven hundred and sixty-five years, according to the computation established by Dr. Hales. "It is a wide description gradually contracted; an account of one nation, preceded by a general sketch of the first state of mankind. The books are written in pure Hebrew, with an admirable diversity of style, always well adapted to the subject, yet characterized with the stamp of the same author; they are all evidently parts of the same work, and mutually strengthen and illustrate each other. They blend revelation and history in one point of view; furnish laws, and describe their execution; exhibit prophecies, and relate their accomplishment. "5 III. Besides the Pentateuch the Jews ascribe to Moses ten psalms, from psalm xc. to xcix. inclusive. There is, however, no solid evidence to prove that these psalms were composed by him; for the title of the ninetieth psalm ("a prayer of Moses the man of God"), which, they pretend, 1 ISTOTUOS, from TT, five, and Teuxos, a book or volume. Bible de Vence, tom. i. p. 310. 2 For an account of these divisions, see Vol. I. p. 213. The author of the treatise De Mundo, which is commonly ascribed to Philo Judæus, was of opinion that Moses himself divided his work into five books; but he assigned no authority for such opinion. Jesus Christ and his apostles never cite the five books of Moses under any other name than that of Moses, or the Law of Moses; as the Jews ordinarily do to this day. Calmet conjectures that Ezra divided the Pentateuch into five books. Dis sertations, tom. ii. p. 23. In his Jewish Antiquities, Josephus terms the Pentateuch the "Holy Books of Moses" (lib. x. c. iv. § 2.); and in his Treatise against Apion (lib. i. c. 8.), when enumerating the sacred writings of the Jews, he says that FIVE of them belong to Moses."-Some critics have imagined that this distinction of the Pentateuch into five separate books was known to and recogRised by St. Paul (1 Cor. xiv. 19.), by the term five words; but the context of that passage does not authorize such a conjecture. • Bp. Gray's Key to the Old Testament, p. 76. 5th edit. *On the difference between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuchs, or, rather, editions of the Pentateuch, see Volume I. p. 204.; for a view of the Genuineness and Credibility of the Pentateuch, see Volume I. pp. 32-38.; and for a List of the principal Commentators on this portion of the Sacred Scriptures, see Volume II. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX, PART II. CHAP. V. SECT. III. § 4. SECTION II. ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS. I. Title.-II. Author and date.-III. General argument.- 1. THE first book of the Pentateuch, which is called GENESIS (TENEZIZ), derives its appellation from the title it The book of Job was composed many ages before the time of Moses See chap. iii. sect. i. infra, of this volume. Cedrenus, enumerating the authorities consulted by him, says, that he "collected not a few things from the Little Genesis, o THE ATTES TEVES. Historia Compendiaria, tom. i. p. 2. edit. Venet. 1729. Cedrenus frequently cites this apocryphal book in the course of his work. See the passages of Origen at length in Dr. Lardner's works, vol. ii. pp 483-512. 8vo. or vol. i. pp. 541-557. 4to. |