Pronaos to holy writ, establishing, on documentary evidence, the authorship, date, form, and contents of each of its books and the authenticity of the pentateuch

Preface

MOST critics read little more than the index or table of contents of the books which they criticise; few of them study an author before they attempt to laud or blame him. The author of this Pronaos to Holy Writ criticises the literature of the ancient Hebrews, and has read all those books and every word thereof in the original for a term of sixty-six years, i. e., from boyhood up to his seventy-second birthday, and has attempted to acquaint himself with all ancient versions and commentaries, and a large portion of the modern translations and commentaries of the Bible. Besides, he expounded Holy "Writ these forty-eight years in the synagogues and school-rooms, and before academical classes in the college these sixteen years.

Therefore he ought to have written a much better book than this Pronaos to Holy Writ. He should have dived into the depth of this spiritual ocean, and brought up for the reader the priceless pearls of divine wisdom and salvation, the gems and beauties of inspired eloquence, the grandeur and sublimity of divine truth. Domineering realism, however, in Biblical criticism as in all other realms of science, forbade him to make such an attempt before the authority and authenticity of the holy writings are established. God only did create light out of darkness ; man can not produce truth out of fiction, unless in his self-delusion problematic truth satisfies him. All so-called gems of truth buried under the quicksand of fiction and deception are problematic at best, if not supported by authoritative

4 Preface.

corroborants. None can speak conscientiously of Bible truth before he knows that the Bible is true, and especially in its historical data. The science commonly called Modern Biblical Criticism, actually Negative Criticism, which maintains, on the strength of unscientific methods, that the Pentateuch is not composed of original Mosaic material, no Psalms are Davidian, no Proverbs Solomonic, the historical books are unhistorical, the prophecies were written post festum, there was no revelation, inspiration or prophecy, must also maintain that the Bible is a compendium of pious or even impious frauds, willful deceptions, unscrupulous misrepresentations ; whence comes the Bible truth of which they speak? It was necessary, therefore, the author thinks, first of all things, to meet Negative Criticism with the documentary evidence — and this is undoubtedly the legitimate method of criticism — which establishes the truth of the Bible, before he could speak intelligently of Bible truth. So he could offer to the reader a mere Pronaos to Holy Writ, which will assist him in convincing himself of the truth of the Bible, and point him to the door leading into the interior of the sanctuary, which is the system of Bible truth. To this end we must know first and foremost when, where, by whom and to what end these various books were written, in order to judge correctly the quantity and quality of truth contained in them. It is this which this Pronaos chiefly offers.

The author has paid particular attention to the most ancient records of Israel's history, contained in Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Kings and Ruth, and to the semi-prophetical books, called Hagiography, for the following reasons :

1. If the historical veracity of the post-Pentateuchal records is established, as he verily believes he has done, all

Preface. 5

arguments against the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch are untenable, inasmuch as in all matters of fact the direct testimony of veracious witnesses or the documentary testimony of authentic records, are conclusively demonstrative opposite all circumstantial evidence of the a priori or a posterori category, which after all can prove probability or possibility only, and not certitude, which the direct or documentary testimony establishes. If the advocates of Negative Criticism urge that the author's arguments are insufficient to establish certitude, they must admit their sufficiency to controvert their own. This places the problem upon the statu quo of the uninterrupted tradition, and this testifies to the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch.

2. The same argument holds good with the Davidian Psalms and the Solomonic Proverbs. They not only testify directly to the existence and acknowledged authority of the Mosaic documents in the time of those kings as a heritage then of the congregation of Israel, but also to the veritable contents of those ancient documents being identical with the Pentateuch now before us. We find then in Psalms the Theology of Moses, in Proverbs the Ethics of Moses, in Job and Ecclesiastes the Apologetics of both, in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah the necessary addenda to the ancient canons ; so that the entire Book is a logical organism, with every part in its right place.

3. The authenticity of the Mosaic records is the foundation of all Bible truth. The whole system of righteousness, justice and equity for public government and the conduct of the individual, virtue and holiness as a form of divine worship, monotheism itself with all the doctrine derived from this principle, the entire canon of divinity and humanity depends for evidence on the authenticity and

6 Preface.

veracity of the Pentateuchal records ; every other evidence has been at different times refuted and is subject to skepticism now, perhaps, more than ever. If these records are fraudulent, there exists no proof that whatever the chroniclers, prophets and psalmists said or sang is not of the same kind of fraud and imposition, and there is no Bible truth. This explains the author's attempt to save the records which establish Bible truth. The kind reader will decide how successful or unsuccessful this attempt was, and at least give credit to the author for honest}^ of purpose.

*

The Author.

Cincinnati, the 3d day of the month of Nissan, 1891.

Chapter I.— Main Divisions And Claims Of Sacred Scriptures

PABAGBAPH. PAGE.

i. The Religion of the Hebrews — Name, 12

ii. The Substance of the Theology contained, 12

in. The Collection of Books called Bible, 13

iv. No book added, none changed its name, 13

v. The forty-three books connected in twenty-four vi. The twenty-four books in the three divisions of

Thorah, Prophets and Hagiography, 15

vn. The Doctrine involved in this division, 17

vin. Maimonides expounds this doctrine, - 18 ix. The division of Thorah in five books, Divisions and

Contents of each, 19

x. Antiquity of these divisions, - 23

Chapter Ii.— The First Canon

i. Canon, a Greek translation of Thorah, 25

ii. Cause of superiority and inferiority of the different in. The very first Canon. (Note on the Book of the

Covenant.) 26

iv. The Mosaic Scrolls noticed in the Pentateuch and

the matter added, ------ 27

v. Deuteronomy originally written by Moses, - - 30 vi. Moses the author of Genesis, - 41

vn. The Thorah delivered to the priests and the Thorah delivered to the Levites and Elders. (Note on

Isaiah i, 13.) 33

vin. What Documentary Evidence establishes, - 34

Chapter Iii.-the Former Prophets

i. Position of Prophets in the Synagogue, - - - 36 ii. The Authors and Editors of the Biblical books according to ancient tradition recorded in the Talmud, 36 hi. Official and cotemporary Chronography, - - 37

iv. The Historical Books are synopses or combinations

from official and cotemporary records, - 39

v. Joshua.

Its orginal material, ------ 40

vi. Divisions and Contents of the Book, - - 41

vii. Judges.

Divisions and Contents of the Book and its appendices, - T ----- 42

8 Table of Contents.

PABAGBAPH. PAGE.

vni. Characteristics of the Book', - 43 ix. Characteristics of the Appendices, being of later x. Samuel the author of Judges (note on " Dan "), - 46 , xi. Joshua, being older than Judges, was written in the

Phineas age dates for both books, 47 xii. Samuel.

Characteristics, - 48

xiii. Divisions and Contents, ----- 49

xiv. Authors, Samuel, Gad and Nathan and date fixed, 51

xv. Proofs for the Samuel portion, - 52

xvi. The objections reviewed, - 53

xvii. Kings.

Divisions and Contents, ----- 55

xviii. Four Authors in Kings, 55

xix. The last synoptic could not have written the former portions, nor could the first have written the last portions ; dates fixed, - - 56 xx. Historical value and authenticity of the four books, 57

Chapter Iv.— The Later Prophets

1. The second part of the Second Canon, the names of

the authors, 59

11. Uninterrupted succession of Prophets to Malachi, in. Joel.

Divisions, Contents, Time and Characteristics of the book, ------- 65

iv. Objections considered, ----- 66

v. The four cotemporary prophets, dates of their

prophecies, _■-.--- 67

v. Amos.

Divisions, Contents and Characteristics, 69

vi. Hosea.

Divisions, Contents and Characteristics, - 69

vii. Isaiah.

Divisions, Contents Characteristics and Unity, - 70 vni. Isaiah xl. to lxvi. Contents, Date and Characteristics, - ------- 72

Micah in paragraphs v. and vi. ix. Nahum.

Divisions, Name and Place, Date and Contents, 74 x. Habakkuk.

Divisions, Contents and Date, 75

xi. Zephaniah.

Divisions, Contents and Date, - 76

xii. Obadiah.

Divisions, Contents and Date, 77

xiii. Jeremiah.

Name, Place, Date, Political Status, his relation to the Reforms of King Joshiah, - 78

xiv. The Book of Jeremiah, Divisions, Contents and

Characteristics, ------ 80

xv. Imitation in Jeremiah xlix., -, - - - 82

Table of Contents. 9

PARAGRAPH. PAGE.

xvi. Jonah.

Divisions, Contents, Characteristics and Date, 83

xxn. Ezekiel.

Characteristics and Dates, - 84 xviii. Divisions of the book, Literature and Peculiarities of the author, 86

xix. Three distinct parts of the book, their characteristics, the prophet's place in history, 87 xx. The Three Post-Exilic Prophets, Division of the

Twelve Minor Prophets as one book, - - 89 xxi. Haggi.

Divisions, Contents, Characteristics and Date, 90

xxn. Zechariah.

Divisions, Genealogy, Contents, Characteristics and Date, -------- 91

xxiii. The Five Chapters of Zechariah ix. to xiii., - 92

xxiv. Malachi.

Divisions, Contents, Characteristics and Date, - 93

Chapter V.— Hagiography

I. Characteristics of Hagiography, and especially of

Psalms, Proverbs and Job, - 95

II. Psalms.

The Five Books of Psalms and their contents, - 95

in. The Headings in Psalms, ----- 96

iv. The "Menazeach," or Chief Musician, - - 99

v. The various Compilers and the dates of each, 99

vi. The Book of Psalms, Divisions, Characteristics, 102

vii. The Theological Doctrine of Psalms, - - 103

viii. Proverbs.

Divisions, Characteristics and Form, - 104 ix. The Three Headings of Proverbs, Author, Compilers, -------- 104

x. The Solomonic Ethics, Opinions of the Rabbis, 108 xi. The Solomonic Ethics as Commentary of the

Mosaic Ethics, - 109

xii Object of Part III of the book, 111

xiii Objections considered ; Date fixed, - 112 xiv. Job.

The Book of Job an Epos, Form and Contents, 113

xv. The Position of the Book in the Canon, - - 115

xvi. Time of its composition, - 118

xvii. The Fourth Book of Hagiography, - - - 119

xviii. Ruth,

Divisions, Contents, Form, Author and Time, 120 xix. Song op Songs.

Divisions, Form and Characteristics, - - - 121 xxi As a Profane Poem, 123

xxn. An Anagoge, Author, Compiler and Time, - 125

XXIII ECCLESIASTES

Divisions and Characteristics, - . . 127

xxiv Cause of the Apparent Contradictions in the Book, 129

xxv. Author, Compiler and Date, - 130

10 Table of Contents.

PARAGRAPH. PAGK

xxvi. Lamentations.

Divisions, Contents and Form, - 132

xxvii. Historical Foundation, Author and Date, - - 133 xxviii. Esther.

Divisions, Contents, Purim, Historical Data,

Author and Date, 135

xxix. Daniel.

Divisions and Characteristics, - 138

xxx. Daniel vii , Author and Date, - 140

xxxi. Ezra and Nehemiah

Divisions, 141

xxxii. Contents, -- 142

xxxiii. Language, Arguments on the Author, - - 144

xxxiv. Author, Compiler and Date, ... - 145 xxxv. Chronicles

Divisions, Contents and Object, - ' - - 147 xxxvi. Characteristics of Chronicles, Additions to Samuel xxxvii. The Diction of the Chronist, Author and Date, 150 xxxviii. The Nine Chapters at the head of Chronicles,

Author and Time, ------ 151

xxxix. Four Books connected in two, now again four, - 153

Chapter VI. — The Authenticity Of The Penta- Teuch

1. The Traditions of Israel, 157

11. The Documentary Evidence direct. (Notes on

Bamoth and Shiloh and Deification of the Ark), 157 in. The Indirect Evidence. (Note on Jeremiah xxxiv.), 162 iv. Argument e silentio, ------ 1^9

v. Argument from the Last Books of the Canon, - 171

vi. The Three Middle Books of the Pentateuch not edited in the time of Kings The Book of the Law found in the Temple in the time of King Joshiah, - ------- 173

vii. The existence and authority of the Thorah traced viii. The three Middle Books must have been edited by

Samuel, or before his time, - 177

ix. Documentary Evidence compels us to admit that Mosaic records were edited after the death of Moses (although none in Genesis or Deuteronomy). Causes to reject the hypothesis of

Fragments, - 179

x. The Jahvistic and Elohistic hypotheses of different

authors refuted, 184

xi. Ezra the Scribe — what is known about him, - - 187 xii. What Ezra actually did, ------ 187

xiii. The Invention of the Square-Letter Alphabet, - - 190 xiv. The Massoretic Divisions, ----- 191

xv. The Men of the Great Synod and the Correctors in the

Temple, - 192

Chapter I. Main Divisions And Claims Of Sacred Scriptures

THE religion of the Hebrews is commonly called Judaism, instead of Abrahamism or Mosaism according to its founders, Israelism or Hebrewism, according to its original votaries, or HliT HN^ Yirath Jehovah, "the Worship of Jehovah," as it is called in its own sources,* and Avhich is its main characteristic ; because the Grseco-Roman writers had no knowledge of this system of religion prior to the time of the Hebrews' Second Commonwealth, and then the land was called Judea and its people Judei, and consequently its teachings were called Judaism. The word Judaism, however, being popularly understood to designate the religion of Israel, it was deemed advisable to use it also in this treatise. 2. The substance of the theology of Judaism is contained in the Thorah, called in the Bible, rn»T fHVl "the Thorah of Jehovah," and in the Talmud, DDD^t^ iTTin "the written Thorah," or also fTTIfi >B>OPT ilfc'En " Pentateuch," in Aramaic, NJVfiN "the divine Canon." It contains not only the revelations of God's nature and will, his essentiality, and attributes conceivable to man, but also the body of ethical doctrine, following with logical necessity from the cognition of the one, only and true God, to guide man and mankind to happiness. In this second sense of " the Thorah of Jehovah," the Greeks called it Nomos, " the Law ; " for whatever follows with logical necessity from the cognition of God is canon and law to man. The Thorah is expounded, expanded, amended, and the history of its development and progress recorded in the other books of

* Isaiah xxxiii. 6 ; Proverbs i. 7, and many other places, especially in Psalms and Proverbs, always improperly rendered " Fear of the Lord.'"

the collection called the Bible, by inspired teachers, and byuninspired savants, or sages in the post-biblical literature of Israel ; for all of whom, however, the Thorah was and must unexceptionally be taken as source and standard. It is presumed that the revelations of God's nature and will in the Thorah are the ultimate for man's comprehensibility and his attainment of happiness in time and eternity. Therefore, the Thorah is eternal. This always was universal doctrine among orthodox Israelites.

3. The collection of sacred books called by G-rseco-Latin writers Biblia* " the Book" " the Bible," as it is now before us, consists of the following forty-three books :

Five books of Moses, one of Joshua, one of Judges, two of Samuel, two of Kings, one each of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and twelve of the Minor Prophets, connected under the Aramaic name of IDpHD ; five of Psalms, one each of Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and two Books of Chronicles. Each of these books is mentioned in a source of the Talmud called Beritha. (Baba Bathra, 146.) Quotations from each of these books occur in the Talmud and its sources, f The main commentaries accepted by the Israelites are contained in the Talmud, of which there exist two collections ; one compiled in Palestine at the end of the fourth Christian century, is called the Talmud of Jerusalem (Talmud Yerushalmi), and the other, compiled in Persia at the end of the fifth Christian century, is called the Talmud of Babylon ( Talmud Babli). The extant written sources of both collections, besides the Bible, are the six

* Originally the plural " books," used as a singular in Latin to denote the Book emphatically.

t See " Toldoth Aaron," by Aaron ben Moses, of Pisaro, and "Toldoth Jacob," by Jacob Sasportes, Amsterdam, 1652, added also to some editions of the Rabbinical Bible. These books furnish a complete index of Bible passages quoted in the Talmud, also in Zohir, Akedah and Ikkarim. These quotations are of the same importance for text criticism as would be a manuscript of the whole Bible from the second and third centuries.

volumes of statute law called Mishnah, on which the Talmud chiefly comments, Tosephta, Mechilta, Safra, Sifri, Pirkei Rabbi Eli'-zer, Seder Olam and Meguillath Taanith, all of which except Mishnah are called Beritha or "outside" of Mishna, and were written in the first half of the second Christian century, with additions from the beginning of the third. Other and less authoritative commentaries are the Targumim, Aramaic and Syriac versions and paraphrases of Scriptures ; the post-Talmudical homilies contained in the various collections called Midrash and Pesikta; the Moorish- Spanish and French* Rabbinical commentators and philosophers between the tenth and sixteenth centuries ; and above all the Massora, which rendered the text legible and intelligible to the common man by providing it with vocal and accentual signs according to authoritative traditions.

4. As far back into antiquity as the post-biblical literature of the Hebrews reaches, no book of the Bible, Nehemiah excepted, was added, omitted, or changed from its original name. Also, the twelve Minor Prophets are mentioned as one book in the Beritha, the Septuagint and in the book of Joshua ben Sirah (xlix. 35, in Greek 10) ; except the Book of Nehemiah, which was still a part of the Book of Ezra when the Talmud was written (Sanhedrin 936). Samuel and Kings may have been considered one book by the Greek translators, but there is no trace of it in these sources. The three books, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, were divided each into two by Hieronymus (Prol in Reg.). In the first Bibles printed in Socinio (1488) and in Brescia (1494) the ancient divisions are retained. In the Basel edition of 1534, and also in the Bomberg Rabbinical Bibles, the subdivisions of Hieronymus were adopted, to be thence copied into subsequent prints. In order to retain the traditional twenty-four books of the Sacred Scriptures, the division of Ezra into Ezra and Nehemiah was accepted, and the five books, viz. : Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther — read in the synagogue on five different days of the year — were reckoned one book. A Book of Daniel, wherein it was presumed Daniel had prophesied that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the

Persians, is mentioned in Josephus (Antiq. x. viii. 5) as having been shown in the Temple of Jerusalem to Alexander the Great.

Psalms is divided into five books, viz. :

1. Chapters i. to xli.

2. Chapters xlii. to lxxii.

3. Chapters lxxiii. to lxxxix.

4. Chapters xc. to cvi.

5. Chapters cvii. to the end of the book.

Each of the four books closes with a doxology, " Amen and Amen," or "Amen Hallelujah," similar to Nehemiah viii. 6, and I. Chronicles xvi. 35, 36, to which is added at the close of the second book >£» p Tn rf7£D V?3, ' : Finished are the prayers of David, son of Jesse."

Not all Psalms are Davidian, as their headings show. The ancient rabbis mention nine older poets, like Moses in Psalm xc. and contemporaries of David.

There can be little doubt that Psalms were written much later, or even up to the time of Simeon the Asmonean, and that the five-book division refers to five collections made at different times, all of which were accepted in the Canon without re-arrangement. Still, as part of the Canon, Psalms is counted as one book only, even in the most ancient notices ; it is evident, therefore, that those collections were made prior to the establishment of the third Canon. The division of chapters are different. Psalms had 147 chapters with them. Psalms i. and ii. were naturally counted as one, on account of the beginning of the first and the closing of the last being similar. It is uncertain which other Psalms were originally connected.

5. The forty-three books of the Bible were connected in twenty-four volumes, as they are now before us in the Massoretic text. Josephus (Contra Apion, i. 8) reports twenty-two books of Scriptures, " which are justly believed to be divine," viz. : five books of Moses, thirteen books of the Prophets, from Moses to King Artaxerxes, and four books containing " hymns to God and the precepts for the conduct of human life." Taking into the second class of Scriptures "all that was done between Moses and Artaxerxes," his thirteen books must have comprised Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, twelve Minor Prophets, Chronicles, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, Ruth and Esther. His third division must have consisted of Psalms, Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes, either with the Song of Solomon or without it, as he never refers to it. Lamentations, called in the Talmud Kinnoth, " elegies," was counted with Jeremiah

Hieronymus, although he mentions the twenty-four division (Prol. in Reg.),* and also the Hebrew names of the various parts thereof, yet adopted the twenty-two division of Josephus. The Church, according to the Index Scripturarum Nicephori, and the Anathasian Index, f retained the Hieronymus division, also in the reconstructed Septuagint.

In all rabbinical sources the twenty-four division only is mentioned. It is noted first in the Talmud ( Taanith 8a), in connection with Rabbi Adda bar Ahabah (second Christian century) as an existing fact. Ben AsherJ reports this rabbi as the first Massorite who came after 138 (Christian Era) from Palestine to Babylonia.§ It seems possible, therefore, that the twenty-four division was established in the Academy at Jamnia, under Rabbon Gamliel II. ||

6. The twenty-four books of Scriptures are divided into three canons, Thorn, Nebiim and Kethuhim, " Law," " Prophets " and " Hagiography." This division is as old as the post-biblical traditions of the Hebrews. The books belong-

i Dikdukei Hat-Taamim, Strack Edition, p. 56.

§It is maintained in Tosephoth to Baba Bathra 22a and Rnshi to Kiddushin 726, that there were two rabbis of this name and the older one was an older cotemporary of the author of the Mishnah.

II It is evident from the Talmudical statement Tl^S 1C'p2 that a revision of the Canon and the elimination of the books of Solomon and Ezekiel from it was proposed and discussed in that academy under Gamliel or his immediate predecessor, Jochanan ben Saccai, but was not accomplished, perhaps by the opposition of the then most important teacher of that day, Akiba ben Joseph, who declared even Song of Songs most holy.

ing to each canon are named in the Talmud (Baba Bathra 14). The order of the books following each other in each canon, as given in the Talmud, with but one exception, was preserved intact by the rabbinical casuists.*

In Prophets a difference of opinion prevails only as to the position of Isaiah in the prophetical canon before Jeremiah or after Ezekiel, which begins in the Talmud (in loco tit.) and reaches down to the seventeenth century. In Hagiography a difference of opinion in the order of the books prevails with the Talmud and the casuists on the one side and the authors of the written Massora on the other. f

The printed Bibles (Hebrew) follow the order laid down by the rabbis in Talmud and casuists, and place Isaiah before Jeremiah. These differences being of no particular importance, any further investigation is unnecessary in this place.

The high antiquity of this three-division is evident from the preface of the Grecian translation of Ben Sirah's book, about 125 B. C. ; from Josephus (in loco cit.) ; and from the rabbinical records of the post-biblical traditions,]; although it was not adopted in the Septuagint, Peshito, Vulgata, or in the Christian Church. Also in Maccabees II. 13 it is maintained that in the library founded by Nehemiah there were the "books" of the Kings and the Prophets, also the "writings" of David and the "letters" of kings, who sent presents to the temple. This shows that the " writings " even of David were a different class of scriptures from the books of the Kings and Prophets, supposed to have been the case in the days of Nehemiah. Ibid. xv. 9, the Law and Prophets only are mentioned in connection with Judah Maccabee, perhaps because the third Canon was not established yet in his days.

* See Maimonides, Hilch. Sepher Thorah vii. 15, and Joseph Caro, J or eh Deah, Sepher Thorah, 283, 5.

tSee Amsterdam Rabbinical Bible Koheleth Shelomo, of 1724, pp. 10, 11; also Wolff in Bibl. Hebr. Part II. p. 51, col. 5: Hieronymus, Prol. in Reg

XFot instance TnanUh 8a; Baba Bathra 9a and 136; Sabbath, 14, and ibid. Talmud, 116'/; and ibid. Yeruthalmi xvi. 1; Nedarim, 111, 9; Meguillah I. and elsewhere.

7. This involves a doctrine. The rabbis claimed plenaryinspiration for Moses only (Baba Bathra 15a, and Menacoth 30a DrVDI nDW HMD) nDW rrypri), and not also for the Prophets. In the synagogue Moses only was read and expounded, and sections from the Prophets were read in conclusion of exercises in the synagogue or academy to be expounded by the Meturgam. (See Rapaport's Erech Millin, Art. Nrnt3£tt). In regard to the Hagiography, the ancient Balacha was p K^N BHlpH OrD! JHlp |*N n^D 1 ?! nrOftll " We read not in the Hagiography except from and after the afternoon service," although it was permitted to take texts from them for the morning homilies.* So Hagiography was considered of inferior holiness to Prophets (See Yerushalmi in loco cit.), and Prophets inferior to the Pentateuch ; so much so that it was maintained that Prophets and Hagiography may in future be abolished, because the Prophets have not been permitted to add a new law to that of Moses ; and also, " If Israel had not sinned he would not have been given more than the five Books of the Law, and the Book of Joshua (Nedarim 226 and Yerushalmi Meguillah I. 7).

It appears that prior to Rabbi Jehuda the Nassi, it was held that the three divisions of the Bible must not be written in one scroll, so that they appear not of equal holiness. f Moses Maimonides, according to his responses, as given by his son Abraham, in the beginning of Maaseh Rokeach, would not permit the three divisions of the Bible to be written in one book, because reading in the Prophets or Hagiography, parts thereof would be placed upon the Thorah, which is not permitted, on account of the superior holiness of the Thorah. " Prophets and Hagiography must not be placed upon the Thorah." (Megillah 27 a) ty DWD1 DWM pjTU JW

mm *m

The rabbis of the Talmud called the Prophets tittp *-Q"T

♦Compare Tosephta Sabbath 14 to Talmud Yerushalmi, ibid. xvi. 1, and Babli ibid. 1166.

t Mescheth Sophrim III. and the Talmudical passages noted there by Naumburg in his Nachlath Jacob, and by Asulai in his Perush.

"Words of Tradition," and not 3J"D3£> iTXiH "the written Thorah " or NDHIN, and advanced the hermeneutic rule, ]¥&*> N 1 ? ("top n2lO iTDD nT\* "We teach not matters of the law (basing upon) words of the Prophets."

The Tiberian Massorites also call the Thorah Oritha, " Canon," and the other books of Scriptures Ashlamta, " supplement or addendum." The Karaites rejected this doctrine, and consider the whole Bible equally holy, as the Christians do.

8. Maimonides expounds the respective passages from the ancient rabbinical literature to this effect. \ The prophetical power of Moses, like his mission and his power to work miracles, was unique and superior to all prophets who lived before or after him. Therefore the Thorah is the holiest book ; it never was and never will be changed or replaced; it is eternal. Among the other prophets there were higher and lower degrees of perfection, so that not all passages of prophetical Scriptures are of equal divinity ; they are clearly distinguished by their various introductions. He speaks of eleven degrees of prophetical inspiration, all inferior to the inspiration of Moses and superior in nine degrees to the authors of Hagiography, including Daniel, the Judges and Kings of Israel, with David and Solomon. These Hagiographists wrote, spoke or performed deeds of valor by a divine impulse and assistance called fcJmpH 111*1 "the Holy Spirit," which comprises only the first and second degrees of inspiration, leading to the prophetical degrees. Therefore, Hagiography is less divine than Prophets, and both less divine than the Thorah.

In Moreh I. 27, Maimonides points to Onkelos, the first Aramaic translator of the Pentateuch (beginning of the sec-

*(Hagigai 106, Niddah 23a, Baba Kammah b), on which point see Skene Luchoth Habberith (T\'h&)- They also called the whole Bible fcOpo the " Reading," the literature which is read, in contradistinction of the oral laws and traditions, which were spoken and not read.

t Moreh, Part II., chap. 32, e. s. ; Yesodei hat-Thoru, chapters 7 to 10.

ond Christian century), as an additional authority for the distinction made among the prophetical passages of Scriptures according to the higher or lower degree of the prophet in the scale of inspiration. Then in Part II., chapter 45, where he describes the various degrees of prophecy, he sets down the Scriptural terms which distinguish the various passages and characterize them.