BIBLICAL CRITICISM. GEN. i. 2.-Heb. When the earth Heb. And there was the spirit (or breath) of the Aleim, i. e. the ever-blessed Trinity, causing a tremulous motion on the faces of the waters. So Milton, P. L. 1. 19. sqq. Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread And mad'st it pregnant But by the epithet dove-like, Milton, whose mind was a complete store-house of classical images, probably meant to express (Hom. Od. x. 468.) ὡς δ' ότ' ἂν ἢ κίχλαι ΤΑΝΥΣΙΠΤΕΡΟΙ, ἠὲ πέλειαι. Where, however, the ravvoinтepou must be referred to kiλa rather than to wéλeial, unless it may be regarded as a commune epitheton. 5. Heb. And there was E. and there was M. day the first-kai ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα, καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα μία—LXX. Perhaps more correctly, at least more correspondently with the Jewish idiom, vvx0ńμερον πρῶτον. ' So St. Paul, (2 Cor. xi. 25.) νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα. 10. The dry land—Heb. to the dry lands. Tùv Enpáv. LXX. So Matth. xxiii. 15. Περιάγετε τὴν θαλάσσαν καὶ τὴν ξηράν. It may, however, be remarked, that the sacred writers of the New Testament do not follow the version of the Seventy, so scrupulously as they are in general imagined to do. For many remarkable instances of discrepancy, see "Scripture authentick and Faith certain, by Edward, Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse." 14. Lights. Heb. Instruments or sconces of light.. Qworn`pes. LXX. i. 2. candelabra. So philosophical and accurate is the Mosaic cosmogony, and so early in his history does the great Lawgiver direct our view to the great Father of Lights, from whom all illumination emanates! 24. Beast of the earth. Heb. wild beasts-Onpía. LXX. Cap. ii. 9. Pleasant to the sight. Heb. to be desired-the verb is in Niphal. 12. Bdellium and the onyx stone—ékeï čorìv å äv◊paž kai i Xílos ó πрúσivos. LXX. Qu. the carbuncle and chrysoprase? Parkhurst interprets, a pearl. Being joined with D, the hoof, or onyx stone, it can scarcely be the resinous gum described by Pliny. H. N. xxxvii. 8. Perhaps some of your correspondents, who have made the Mineralogy of Scripture their study, will favor me with their sentiments on this point. VOL. XVIII. Cl. Jl. NO. XXXVI. S iii. Dust shalt thou eat-so in Deut. xxxii. 24. the poison of serpents of the dust. Τω δ' ἐξειλύσθεντες ἐπὶ χθονὶ γαστέρας ἄμφω αἱμο βόρως ἐκύλιον (Theocr. Ἡράκλισκ. 17.) 20. Eve-so the LXX. Zwń. 21. Coats of skins. Heb. tunics-LXX. Xır@vas. 24. Placed at the east of the garden. Heb. placed or caused to dwell in a tabernacle. . So great is the antiquity of the Jewish tabernacle-worship. Which turned every way. Heb. which turned upon itself. The verb is in Hithpael. iv. 7. Šin lieth at the door. Heb. a sin-offering croucheth a word particularly applied to that attitude of beasts which heralds denominate seiant. 8. Cain talked with Abel. The LXX. give us some words addressed by C. to A. διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον. 14. My punishment is greater than I can bear. Heb. My sin is greater than can be expiated-referring to v. 7. Our translators have, as usual, referred us to the margin for an interpretation much more correct than that in the text-Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. This is one among a multitude of instances which prove, that it is of little use to print Bibles without marginal references; since, where the text and margin are at variance, the true rendering, in nine instances out of ten, is contained in the latter. 17. He builded a city. Heb. he was building. So LXX. v oikodoμῶν. 22. An instructor of every artificer. Heb. a sharpener, or, as in our margin, a whetter of every instrument: a remarkable instance of negligence on the part of our translators; since, if we put the text and margin together, we shall have a whetter of every artificer. 24. If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold. Rather, If seven-fold vengeance shall be taken on Cain—or, more accurately still, If God shall rise up op to take seven-fold retribution on Cain ὅτι ἔπτακις ἐκδεδικήται ἐκ Κάϊν. LΧΧ. v. 1. The book of the generations. Heb. the record or account. vii. 14. Every bird of every sort-or, of every wing, as in the margin. The French expression volaille, applied to poultry, exactly expresses the periphrasis of the original. Πᾶν ὄρνεον ποτεινόν. LXX. 23. Both men and cattle. Heb. from man to cattle. viii. 13. Dried up from the earth. Rather, diminished—. Denoting a less degree of exsiccation than the i. e. completely dried up, of v. 14. This latter process, it appears, did not take place until nearly two months after the former. ix. 6. For in the image of God made he man. This consideration appears to have constituted the peculiar heinousness of murder. Such is the reasoning of the Chorus in the Medea σᾶς γὰρ ἀπὸ χρυσέας γονᾶς ἔβλαστεν• θεῶν δ' αἷμα πιτνεῖν φόβος ὑπ' ἀνέρων. (Eur. Med. 1251.) 20. An husbandman. Heb. a man, i. e. husband, of the earth.. אִישׁ האדמה TT-: T x. 4. The sons of Javan. Hence the Iάoves mentioned by Homer. II. N. 685. (i. e. Athenians) and by Eschylus, Pers. 182. On which latter passage see Blomfield's note, and that of Müller on v. 178. of the same Play, in Butler's edition. See also Milton, P. L. i. 508. Th' Ionian Gods, of Javan's issue And Bishop Newton's note. The value and importance of this chapter, as a geographical and historical record, is forcibly insisted upon by Bishop Watson, in his Apology, addressed to T. Paine, pp. 7678. Ed. 1796. xiv. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits. Rather, pits of asphaltum or bitumen. 2. Hence the name Lacus Asphal titus. See Tacit. Hist. v. 7. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 26. ppéara åøpáλrov. LXX. Parkhurst (Heb. Lex. voc. . v.) judiciously says, "It seems emphatically observed by the sacred historian, (Gen. xiv. 3.) that this place, which had been thus idolatrously dedicated to the genial powers of nature, was changed into the salt sea, barren and waste." See also his note at p. 636. of that elaborate and admirable work. (8vo. edit.) xxxii. 24. Cf. Æsch. P. V. 956. τοῖον παλαιστὴν νῦν παρασκευάζεται ἐπ ̓ αὐτὸς αὐτῷ, δυσμαχώτατον τέρας, xxxvi. 15. There were dukes of the sons of Esay. Rather, heads, or chiefs of the family of Esau or Edom. . Ouτoι hyeμóves; vioũ 'Hoav. 24. The mules in the wilderness. See Tacit. Hist. v. 3., and Brotier's note. Exod. i. 12. The more they afflicted them, the more they grew.. Hor. Od. (iv. 4. 54.) Gens, quæ cremato fortis ab Ilio, Per damna, per cædes, ab ipso vi. 3. The name of God Almighty. Heb. God, the dispenser or scatterer of blessings, a. Hence probably the heathen deities. obtained the title so generally added to their names-Deol, Swrpes ξάων. Numbers, xxii. 22. Because he went. Rather, as or when he was going. xxiv. 4. Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open. Heb. whose eyes were opened while he lay entranced. Or simply, while he was in the act of falling. Cujus, dum excidebat, retecti sunt oculi. See Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, i. p. 128. Judges, ix. 11. My good fruit. LXX. offspring-yevvýpara. So Matt. xxvi. 29. ἐκ τούτου τοῦ γεννήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου. xiii. 24. Called his name Samson. From the solar light. Samson was, in many important respects, a type of Christ the Sun of righteousness. (See Mather on the Types, 4to. p. 104.) 1 Kings, xxi. 10. Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. Rather, thou didst bless (or worship) the Aleim. i. e. the false gods of the heathen--an offence punishable with death by the law of Moses. (See Deut. xiii. 6-9. xvii. 2, &c.) 2 Kings, v. 10. The seven-fold ablution here prescribed by Elisha was in succeeding ages deemed equally sacred and efficacious by the Pythagoreans. See Apul. Met. Lib. xi. sub init. "Confestim discussâ pigrâ quiete, alacer exsurgo; meque protinus purificandi studio marino lavacro trado: septiesque submerso fluctibus capite, quod eum numerum præcipuè relligionibus aptissimum divinus ille Pythagoras prodidit, lætus et alacer Deam præpotentem lacrymoso vultu sic adprecabar." 2 Kings, xix. 7. Behold, I will send a blast upon him. This, in all probability, according to the conjecture of Dr. Johnson, was the Simoom, or burning wind of the desert. See a very intelligent Essay towards confirming this hypothesis, in the 'Fragments to Calmet.' 1st Hundred. F. 5. pp. 12, 13. Nehem. x. 29. They entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, &c. So Pliny, in his 97th Epistle to Trajan, respecting the early Christians. " Seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent." Job, xxxi. 27. My heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand. After the manner of the heathens (Min. Fel. Octav. ii.) "Cæcilius, simulacro Serapidis denotato, ut vulgus superstitiosus solet, manum ori admovens, osculum labiis pressit." Isa. xviii. For a curious illustration of this remarkable chapter, see Fragments to Calmet.' 4th Hundred. p. 25. xxix. 8. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, &c. Compare Ovid's fine description of the starving Eresicthon: capit ille dapes sub imagine somni, Oraque vana movet, dentemque in dente fatigat, &c. (Met. viii. 824. sqq.) lxi. 1. Liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. The LXX. render this καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν. With this text compare a remarkable passage in Min. Fel. Octav. vii. "Inde adeo pleni et mixti Deo vates futura præcerpunt, dant cautelam periculis, morbis medelam, spem afflictis, opem miseris, solatium calamitatibus, laboribus levamentum." |