we have in this ode of Moses an excellent example of the poetical construction, or sententious style characteristic of the Hebrew poetry. It appears here in its just form, and full beauty; though properly tempered and chastised, nor carried to its utmost precision, and most laboured accuracy; which would not have been so suitable to the great sublimity of the subject. And a like instance of judgment may be observed in Isaiah's ode above-mentioned; for though that prophet is perhaps of all the Hebrew poets the most elegant composer in that style, yet in this ode he has not aimed at a studied exactness of the short sententious construction, but has chosen a more free and flowing' manner of composition. It may perhaps be said, that this perfect accuracy of the sententious style was not yet acquired, but was the late effect of progressive refinement: and that for this reason the author of Job, who is acknowledged to be very accurate in this manner of writing, was of a later age. That this is not so, will evidently appear from other examples of the earliest times, which are most perfect in the sententious manner. In short, Moses's writings, in various forms and characters of composition, are in no respect inferior to the productions of later ages of the Jewish republic: and the language of Moses is the very purity of the Hebrew tongue. However succeeding writers may differ from him in style and manner; this difference is to be ascribed to the peculiar turn and genius of those writers, not to any improvements of science, or refinements of language, in a more civilized and polished age. "But further: in the poetical style Moses has not only given some excellent examples of his own faculty, but has likewise preserved several specimens of poetry from other hands, and of a higher age. He has given us the prophecies of Jacob, which were in all probability delivered down to posterity in their genuine form, as taken from the mouth of the patriarch: these are in the same short sententious style; which, as it is the most distinguishing character of the Hebrew poetry, so it appears by this, and the other examples, to have been the most ancient, the genuine and original mark of it. He has given us the prophecies of Balaam; which are in this style the most perfect, the most polished, the most exquisite examples, that can be produced. There are certain odes of Horace, which, for their exquisite taste, the delicacy of composition, purity of diction, and elegance of form, one might safely pronounce to be peculiar to the Augustan age, and that no succeeding age could possibly have produced them. The prophecies of Balaam seem to me to have something of this kind of peculiar cast; a neatness, a purity, and precision in the sententious manner, which later ages seldom attained. I hardly know any thing in this kind, which can be set in competition with them: except the cxivth psalm, of a later age (not higher, I guess, than the time of David), and some parts of Job, of an age, as I suppose, somewhat earlier than that of Balaam. From these considerations I presume to mark the age of Moses as an age in which Hebrew composition, both prose and verse, was arrived at its full form of maturity and perfection; and to conclude that the excellence of the composition of the poem of Job is no bar to its being ascribed to that age.-And upon the most strict examination of the style, manner, language, and poetical composition of that poem, I believe it will appear to all proper judges to be more suitable to that age, the age equal or somewhat prior to the time of Moses, than to any other whatever." But the grand topic in recommending the cultivation of the Hebrew language is the importance of the treasures which it unfolds. The venerable books written in Hebrew are indeed highly curious and instructive, apart from religious considerations. The historian, the geographer, the chronologer, the antiquarian, the naturalist, the poet, the orator, the legislator; the observer of human nature in its original simplicity, of the sources whence nations sprang, of society in its earliest stage, and of ancient eastern manners in their only genuine representation; will here find their researches amply rewarded, no less than the divine who raises his eye to the adorable ways of Providence in the religious and civil history of mankind. Such a vein of Hebraism runs through the writings of the New Testament, that even these divine oracles cannot be accurately understood, nor the anomalies of their style explained, without some knowledge of Hebrew literature: and, as Luther observes, "those who read only versions of the Hebrew Scriptures see with the eyes of others; they stand with the people in the courts, and view the sacred rites at a distance: but whoever is acquainted with the original text itself, is admitted with the priests into the sanctuary, and is himself a witness and judge of all that is transacted in the recesses of the temple. Hence," says this learned Reformer, "though my knowledge of the Hebrew tongue is small, I would not barter it for all the treasures of the whole world." The learned author of Critical Observations on Books Ancient and Modern [London, 1776. White] advances this ingenious position, that the prophets "never depart from the chronologic order of deli 1 Quoted in the London Polyglot. Proleg. p. 20, very, unless when they substitute a better order of arrangement; namely, either the order of historic accomplishment, or the still better order of oratorical and persuasive arrangement." He quotes Jerom's words, Non curæ erat prophetis tempora servare, quæ historiæ leges desiderant; sed scribere utcunque audientibus atque lecturis utile noverant. Vol. II. 139. He quotes Le Clerc as saying, that "the prophets, before they put their last hand to their works, interspersed some historic additions for the benefit of their readers :" and Carpzovius, as "not only allowing, with Le Clerc, that the present body of prophecies are the genuine ones of the prophets, without being corrupted by any additions of later collectors; but also that they are not fragments, and that even the present disposition of them proceeded from the prophets themselves, and that this disposition was not made at random, but rather contrived with an express view to some particular useful end, and this even in regard to Jeremiah the most intricate of them all in arrangement." Ib. 159. The reader will find in the notes a few extracts from this useful work, relating to the method of arranging some prophecies in Ezekiel, which will be sufficient to shew how well the author's idea deserves to be studied and pursued. However, in the first place the genuine dates should be critically ascertained. It must be observed that Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. added together often constitute the number of MSS. referred to in the following notes. |